The Black Cross

Ken returned home juggling two large pizza boxes and one small one, along with a grocery bag of mysterious contents. He seemed quite pleased with himself.

After spending a few minutes fussing around in the kitchen, he grabbed a newly purchased Pocari Sweat and searched the house until he found Yohji.

"Food's here." He announced with a pleasant smile. "Want me to bring you a slice?"

From:

Yohji looked up at the sound of someone entering and smiled at Ken.

"Well..." he said, carefully, "Omi said something along the lines of wanting to have a group meeting over dinner.... But seeing as I couldn't find a trace of anyone when I came down here I suppose it's fair game. Would love one, actually."

He regarded Ken with a little bit of anticipation, not sure if Ken was expecting things to pick right up where they had left off in the car. The previous night already felt like eons ago, and Yohji felt as though his reality had once again been subtly shifted.

From:

"Mmm." Ken made a non-commital noise and hiked back up the stairs. A minute later he was back with the small pizza box.

"Today was your lucky day." He set the box on the table in front of Yohji, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "The pizza place wasn't that crowded, so they were happy to take a special request. They charged me extra though, so you owe me."

He flipped open the box lid to reveal a personal sized pizza, topped with bubbling extra cheese, huge succulent chunks of pineapple...and mounds of saurkraut.

"Just like you asked for," Ken managed to blurt out before dissolving into a mild fit of laughter.

From:

Yohji looked at the pizza in disbelief.

"Ken Hidaka, you are seriously warped."

It looked positively toxic. On the other hand, Yohji had a fairly extensive repertoire when it came to ingesting toxic substances.

He poked at it cautiously, shrugged, and took a piece. He almost managed to keep a straight face as he chewed.

"Hm," he mused, "This beer is totally wrong for it. If I'd known you were going to take me seriously, I would have asked you to pick up a bottle of Shiraz."

From:

Ken watched, slightly agog, as Yohji actually ate some of that awful slop.

"This beer is totally wrong for it. If I'd known you were going to take me seriously, I would have asked you to pick up a bottle of Shiraz."

That sent Ken into an almost painful laugh as the mental picture of Yohji in a plush velvet smoking jacket, glass of wine in one hand and a slice of that terrible pizza in the other. He doubled over in the chair, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

It wasn't all *that* funny, but that made it even more hilarious. Or maybe it was the release of being so tightly wound up, that laughing just felt *great*, and now he couldn't stop.

From:

Yohji's disbelief grew as he watched Ken's overreaction to his comment.

He'd spent almost the entire day agonizing over what a big fuck up he was, and not only had Omi reacted far more mildly than Yohji felt he'd deserved, but here Ken was acting so completely and utterly normal that he could almost pretend the previous night had never even happened.

Pizza and joking around. It seemed unreal.

He found himself grinning in spite of the unappetizing aftertaste of his unfortunate pizza.

"This is a positively spectacular culinary creation," he said facetiously, "I insist you have a piece."

From:

The sound of laughter was coming from the mission room when he and Aya-chan reached the door. He didn't get a chance to see why, though, because he was suddenly hit with a wave of the most disgusting smell he'd had to experience in a long while.

He wrinkled his nose and stared at the offending pizza box. He couldn't even tell what was on it.

"What is that?" He demanded.

And why the hell was it inside the Koneko?

Wait...

His eyes widened in disbelief when he caught sight of Yohji. "Are you eating that?"

From:

Ken was just starting to get his breath back when Yohji made the offer, but before he could exclaim over how gross it was, a voice like an icy ocean wave broke over the peaceful little scene.

But the expression on Ran's face was even better than Yohji's. Suddenly there was a way to meet Yohji's challenge and irritate Ran in one move. It was a prime opportunity he just couldn't pass up.

Maybe Yohji's a bad influence on me after all...oh well.

"What, this? Pineapple and sauerkraut is the latest in gourmet pizza." Ken got up and deliberately stole a bite from Yohji's slice, forcing himself to keep a mostly straight face after doing so.

"If's goo'. Wan' sumpf?" he asked around a mouthful of the vile creation, giving Aya-chan a playful eyebrow wriggle.

From:

Yohji's answer to Ran got lost in his surprise as Ken dove and snatched some of the pizza right out of his hand. There was a whole box of untouched slices between him and Ken, there was no reason for him to have done that.... Except to prove something in front of Ran. If someone was going to make a show for Ran, shouldn't it have been him? What was Ken doing?? Yohji found himself momentarily baffled at how to react.

He quickly shook off his hesitation though, and his grin easily returned at the look of disgust plastered across Ran's face. In the turmoil of the past several hours he'd almost managed to forget how much he enjoyed antagonizing the man.

"Definitely," Yohji nodded, and bit back a laugh, "you're missing out big time."

From:

His teammates had lost their minds, and the look Ran gave them told them so.

"That's disgusting," he informed them.

Although, Ken almost, almost looked...but no. The slight grin at the corner of his mouth gave him away. But Yohji...well, of course. Yohji would think that was actually food.

He shot a look back at Aya-chan and took a piece of the pizza that wouldn't kill him.

From:

Yohji took another bite out of his violated slice and this time didn't bother to mask his grimace. "It is, kinda," he agreed, letting go of the notion that he and Ken might actually somehow coerce Ran into trying it, "not the worst thing I've eaten though." He paused for a moment to reflect on what had been the 'worst' thing he'd eaten, but nothing specific came to mind. Probably something unidentifiable that had gone off in the fridge....

"It's sort of got a 'sweet and sour' thing going for it, anyway," he added cheerfully.

From:

Yohji's comical expression forced Ran to reveal a small smile, but he lost it as his mind immediately began supplying him with "worse" things that Yohji could have eaten.

He did not need to think about that.

From:

7bladed.livejournal.com

Aya-Chan switched her gaze from Ken to the slice of pizza in Yohji's hand, and then to Yohji, unsure of how to react. At least this was better than the fighting that had been occurring lately. She followed her brother's example and took a slice of 'normal' pizza, deciding it would be wise to just keep her mouth shut.

From:

Ken swallowed the vile mouthful only by force of will, and he could feel it going down. Ugh. However, the desired effect (joking Yohji, relaxed atmosphere, and amazingly, an almost smile from *Ran*) was well worth the punishment that pizza was going to inflict on him later.

It made him happy, the same way clearing weeds around the shrine or cleaning up the mess in his room did. It may not make a huge difference in the long run. Weeds grew back; his punching bag was still busted...

Had he really gone that far out last night? He replayed the time in his room trying to tire himself out, and relentlessly pounding, the surprise of the bursting seam overriding the dull ache of his knuckles.
That was unpleasant, and not worth dwelling on, so he wouldn't. There was pizza, and jokes, and laughter here and now, something to hold fast to.

"I got mushroom pizza like you asked," he pointed out to Aya-chan, being a master of the obvious. "Hope it's ok. It looks like they may have skimped out a bit." He gave her a warm, slightly apologetic smile and a half shrug.

From:

By his third bite Yohji had mentally inoculated himself against the taste of the pizza, and had little trouble finishing off his slice and starting another. To continue eating it was probably unnecessary at this point, but he felt like Ken had issued some sort of a challenge, and he rarely backed down when his machismo was at stake. Besides, Ran’s obvious disapproval was enough to egg him on alone.

“Does Omi know the food’s here?” It suddenly occurred to him to ask, “I’d really hate for him to miss out on something this…” he gestured at the slimy wedge dangling from his hand while he searched for an appropriate adjective, “special.”

He immediately felt a twinge of regret at his comment and just as quickly guilt for having it. When Omi showed up the jovial atmosphere would quickly be transformed into a business meeting, of which Yohji was in no hurry to be participating.

From:

7bladed.livejournal.com

"Oh, no!" Aya-Chan shook her head towards Ken, returning his smile. "It's good, really." She tried to keep herself from almost cringing as Yohji reached in for his second slice. "Plus, I think looking at that... 'stuff' makes this one taste even better."

From:

Ran regarded Ken for a moment. It was unnecessary of him to have done that, but with most of the teammates in one room and Omi supposedly coming, it was almost...

He let his thought trail off. "Thank you," he said.

Ran smiled at Aya-chan's comment, face lightening, then watched in disbelief as Yohji took another piece of that concoction.

There was no way he actually liked that. He would have let Yohji eat himself into an all-night ticket to the bathroom but he suspected that a joke was being played on him somehow.

"You've proved your point," he said.

From:

Yohji looked at Ran, surprised to have been called out on his behavior. What did he care if Yohji ate himself sick, anyway?

“I don’t know what ‘point’ you could possibly be talking about,” his grin had turned somewhat sheepish, “Sauerkraut is good for you.”

He didn’t for a second expect anyone to have bought that. A change in topic was definitely in order.

“You know….” Yohji fixed Ran with a more intent look, and leaned back in his seat for emphasis, “just now, you almost sounded liked you were actually worried about me.”

“But it could just be the pizza making me hallucinate,” he added with a smirk.

From:

Ran turned his nose up slightly. He didn't like it when Yohji actually turned out to be perceptive. "You're hallucinating," he affirmed. "The vents aren't that soundproof. I don't want you keeping us all up tonight when you get sick off of that."

From:

"That's too bad," Yohji pouted in an exaggerated way that he usually reserved for girls, "I might have stopped eating it if you actually cared...." He took a deliberate bite out of the pizza he was still holding, "not that it really matters, because it would take a hell of a lot more than this to make me sick. One time I...." he trailed off, realizing that the story he had in mind was less appropriate for his current company than he'd initially judged.

"This won't make me sick," he reinstated.

From:

Tripping mentally on what seemed to be Yohji almost flirting with him, Ran brushed it off - he'd just spent too much of his time with girls, there was no way... and turned to his sister. "It's probably better not to think too hard about that," he suggested.

From:

Ken was having a hard time keeping something resembling a straight face. Looks like Yohji scored a direct hit.

Ken did take the risk of flashing Yohji a brief thumbs up. He hoped that Omi would notice that things felt better with all of them. Ken just had to make sure that everything stayed on this positive track.

Best way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time. He chuckled a little. The same could be said for that misbegotten pizza. Even Ken had to admit that Yohji was a serious contender in the "iron stomach" department.

"Bet I can find something even you can't eat." The gaunlet was thrown down in a jovial manner, but with the full weight of masculine pride behind it. Ken grabbed a slice of mushroom and flopped in a chair.

From:

Yohji raised an eyebrow at Ken's challenge. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to get involved in a juvenile competition of nauseating proportions. He'd mainly accepted the pizza since he'd more or less started that particular fiasco.

On the other hand his curiosity was now getting the better of him. He possessed a fair amount of finesse when it came to that sort of thing....

He kept his response noncommittal. "Oh?"

From:

pichi.livejournal.com

Omi stood at the top of the spiral stairs, invisible to the occupants in the mission room below. He heard the laughter, the playful banter, the voices of everyone else down there. Even Aya-chan. It was such a warm aura down there. Almost like real family. With all the tension and arguing he'd seen, he was afraid of treading down and disrupting the atmosphere. He liked hearing them get along.

Part of him wanted to join, to be down with everyone in his life that he had left to love. And yet his body didn't move, not daring to transcend the invisible divider from looking in to joining in.

It wasn't really a waste of time to hold back. They couldn't very well discuss anything with Aya-chan down there anyway. Omi quietly sat down at the top of the stairs, keeping himself hidden, and contented himself, for the time being at least, to simply listen and appreciate the good mood from a safe distance.

It sounded fun down there.

From: