Thursday 1.7 – Afternoon

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

Yohji quietly watched the hours slide by, his surprise at Ran’s continued presence failing to wear off, in spite of it being only the last in a long line of unexpected behavior. He should be getting used to it by now, the concept that Ran wasn’t half as predictable as he’d always assumed. It would probably take substantial time to really adjust to that though; Yohji had years of assumptions to overwrite.

Nonetheless, the unexpectedness of it gave Yohji difficultly in believing things would last. So he remained in bed, stubbornly refusing to leave so long as Ran was willing to stay as well, his subconscious convinced that such a moment wasn’t likely to give him a repeat performance. It was probably simply a testament to how badly Ran had been injured….

Eventually though, the daylight started to fade, and the sustenance of breakfast had long worn off. When Ran finally pushed reluctantly out of bed Yohji couldn’t reasonably contend it. He took his time in following though, appreciating the view of the younger man collecting his clothes and carefully dressing himself.

It pained him to see Ran’s awkward limping movements. And it was almost certainly his fault Ran had been shot. He covered his frown at the thought by rummaging in his bedside table drawer, in search of a replacement lighter. He found it and a pack of cigarettes as well. He dressed himself quickly, shoving both hastily in his pocket.

When Ran left, Yohji guessed it was to check on the shop, or his sister, or more likely both. He decided to make an appearance in the shop too, although with no intention of actually working. But first he was far overdue on a rendezvous with his smoking habit, of which he’d had particular difficultly indulging lately.

He silently slipped out the back door and sat down on the steps, a grin on his face as he lit up.

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[plotbunnytiff.livejournal.com]

With the awkwardness of breakfast fading and a weighty silence descending on the kitchen after Omi and Aya-chan left for school, Ken momentarily found himself at a loss. But he couldn’t afford the luxury of stewing in a muddle of conflicting thoughts all day, so he did what came naturally.

He got to work.

By midmorning the shop was decently clean, the plants watered, and the window washed. He even found the time to do a bit of trimming and dead leaf removal from most of the growing plants. As lunchtime grew nearer, he contemplated yelling up the stairs for someone-anyone-to come lend him a hand. He even went as far as the bottom of the stairs, opening his mouth…and snapped it shut again.

For some reason Ken couldn’t bring himself to just go up and knock. It wasn’t that he was afraid of what he might accidentally see (~yes it is, liar, coward~) but it felt wrong to bother Yohji and Ran. Who knew how many moments they would get to spend in peace before the next wave of tragedy swept over them? Because that’s what was so strange about them earlier: beneath the familiar argumentativeness that defined their relationship, there was also a settled feeling about them.

And Ken was glad things worked out. He was the one that kept shoving Yohji in that direction to start with, and he was proud of what he’d done.

~PROUD?! Honestly, Hidaka, you should be damned grateful they haven’t kicked your ass to the curb. If you hadn’t flipped, Yohji could have defended himself, and Ran wouldn’t have been as injured. If you’d driven the car, you probably wouldn’t have crashed; you could’ve caught up with those Schwartz bastards before they got away. Proud he says. You unbelievable ass.~

“Shut up, dammit!” Ken snarled, freezing when he realized he’d said it out loud. Suddenly wiping down the counter became the most important task on the planet.

[plotbunnytiff.livejournal.com]

"I guess you'd know best out of anybody." Ken chortled. "It's a pain in the butt having to clean up the wake of girl drool they leave behind when you turn on the 'Kudoh Charm'."

He crossed his arms, sliding into deeper thoughts. "Ah, that reminds me. You think-mmm, what I mean is, how am I supposed to act? Around Ran, at least, about this?" He ran a hand through his hair as his smile settled into a neutral expression.

"I can joke around with *you*, and you know I won't blab or anything in public. I just, well, he can barely stand me as is, so I don't do something dumb."

He made a rather helpless hand motion, failing to fully get across what he wanted to say.

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

Yohji followed Ran’s gaze across the street to the approaching swarm. He knew that if they let them into the shop, closing early would become an almost futile endeavor. For all of the flowers they didn’t buy, those girls had a tendency to linger like the plague.

He shot both Ran and Ken quick glances, conveying that if either of them wanted to object to the early closure, they’d better speak up. As neither did, Yohji quickly departed for the front of the shop.

Out of earshot, he could be seen speaking to them for what dragged into several moments. A particularly persistent specimen had to be physically pried off his arm. Yohji handed an errant daisy to the nearest one, and then promptly closed the grate as the rest of the crowd practically jumped the poor girl.

He dusted his hands off dramatically as he returned to where Ran and Ken stood.

“So,” he announced cheerfully, “anyone up for a movie?”