Taking a Break (Timeranger/Gaoranger. Ayase/Shirogane. #22)
Title: Taking a Break
Fandom: Time/Gao
Pairing: Ayase/Shirogane
Theme: #22 - Vintage
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Time and Gao belong to Toei, as far as I know.
“Are you sure about this?” Ayase asked dubiously, staring at the closed sign on the door.
“Yes. Why?” Shirogane looked back at him with a confused expression on his face, brow furrowed, mouth quirked in a barely-there pout.
“It’s closed?” Ayase replied, pointing at the sign on the door.
Shirogane’s expression didn’t change as he pushed the door open, exactly as if the closed sign didn’t apply to him. By now, Ayase was beginning to wonder just how much of that was real and how much was just an act; Shirogane might be from a thousand years in the past, but he’d been living in the twenty-first century for a few years now, he had to have picked up the basics at least in that amount of time. With a shrug, he followed the other man inside, somehow not entirely surprised that Shirogane had managed to find a billiards hall. He wasn’t sure what time period was supposed to be recreated here, but it definitely wasn’t twenty-first century. Tatsuya would know, of course, but Tatsuya wasn’t here.
He was pretty sure that they shouldn’t be here, though, not when they were still searching for Tatsuya, but Shirogane had been right when he’d said there wasn’t anything else they could that evening, not while Sion was still tracking down information. If he found anything, Yuuri would let them know, and coming out for a while was better than hanging around doing nothing and going crazy from inactivity. Besides, he needed the space anyway. Domon and Sion seemed to have finally got their act together and while he was happy for them, he couldn’t help but be a little envious that they had each other; better to get his head sorted before he let that feeling get in the way.
“I suppose you want your dog back,” someone was saying and he looked around to see Shirogane crouching down, petting a dog that seemed determined to lick his face off, and next to them an older man that was probably the owner of the place, still in his work clothes and leaning against the bar.
Shirogane smiled, moving his head away from the enthusiastic greeting to look up at the man. “Want, yes, but I can’t. Not yet.”
“In that case, I suppose you want a table,” was the dry reply and Shirogane nodded, standing up again.
“Yes, actually. If it’s not too much trouble?”
“Knock yourself out.” And with that the man ducked behind the bar for a minute, then tossed a set of keys in Shirogane’s direction. “Lock up when you leave.”
“I will.”
Despite himself, Ayase’s eyebrows shot up. Clearly Shirogane had some kind of relationship with the owner, considering that the man didn’t mind him coming in after hours and trusted him to lock up the place afterwards. He didn’t like the look the man sent his way, though; it was speculative, curious, flickering between himself and Shirogane, and it left Ayase very uneasy. He stared the man down, frowning a little as the only response he got was a faintly amused expression.
“Alright,” he said, when the door closed and it was just the two of them. “Why did you bring me here?”
“You need to get your thoughts in order,” Shirogane said as he examined the cue sticks in the stand and picked one. “This is a good place to do that.” Satisfied, Shirogane gestured at the stand, then moved over to a table. “Come on.”
“Don’t you think you’ve got an unfair advantage?” Ayase asked, running his fingers over the sticks before deciding on one and making his own way over to the table. This was one of GaoSilver’s attacks, after all, although that in itself was confusing; he was pretty sure they hadn’t had snooker or billiards during the Heian era.
Shirogane gave him an innocent look as he put the chalk back on the side of the table. “No.”
“Liar.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
Shirogane shrugged and settled himself at the table, sinking the balls with ease. “You’re a fast learner.”
Ayase snorted and waited for his turn at the table. “Your friend seemed surprised to see me,” he said instead and Shirogane shrugged, studying the table for a moment.
“I don’t generally bring people here.”
Oh. For some reason that statement left Ayase feeling distinctly odd. If Shirogane didn’t bring people here, why would he bring him and not his teammates? Still, it might not mean anything, and anyway he had wanted some space, away from new lovebirds and overly perceptive teammates; not that Yuuri would call him on it or anything, but it would be enough that she knew. Then again… last he’d seen, she was strongly discouraging that GekiChopper guy from getting too friendly and he was pretty sure the guy had got the point.
And besides, he thought, as Shirogane looked up at him from under his eyelashes, smile just this side of predatory playing around his mouth, there were a lot worse places to be than here.
Fandom: Time/Gao
Pairing: Ayase/Shirogane
Theme: #22 - Vintage
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Time and Gao belong to Toei, as far as I know.
“Are you sure about this?” Ayase asked dubiously, staring at the closed sign on the door.
“Yes. Why?” Shirogane looked back at him with a confused expression on his face, brow furrowed, mouth quirked in a barely-there pout.
“It’s closed?” Ayase replied, pointing at the sign on the door.
Shirogane’s expression didn’t change as he pushed the door open, exactly as if the closed sign didn’t apply to him. By now, Ayase was beginning to wonder just how much of that was real and how much was just an act; Shirogane might be from a thousand years in the past, but he’d been living in the twenty-first century for a few years now, he had to have picked up the basics at least in that amount of time. With a shrug, he followed the other man inside, somehow not entirely surprised that Shirogane had managed to find a billiards hall. He wasn’t sure what time period was supposed to be recreated here, but it definitely wasn’t twenty-first century. Tatsuya would know, of course, but Tatsuya wasn’t here.
He was pretty sure that they shouldn’t be here, though, not when they were still searching for Tatsuya, but Shirogane had been right when he’d said there wasn’t anything else they could that evening, not while Sion was still tracking down information. If he found anything, Yuuri would let them know, and coming out for a while was better than hanging around doing nothing and going crazy from inactivity. Besides, he needed the space anyway. Domon and Sion seemed to have finally got their act together and while he was happy for them, he couldn’t help but be a little envious that they had each other; better to get his head sorted before he let that feeling get in the way.
“I suppose you want your dog back,” someone was saying and he looked around to see Shirogane crouching down, petting a dog that seemed determined to lick his face off, and next to them an older man that was probably the owner of the place, still in his work clothes and leaning against the bar.
Shirogane smiled, moving his head away from the enthusiastic greeting to look up at the man. “Want, yes, but I can’t. Not yet.”
“In that case, I suppose you want a table,” was the dry reply and Shirogane nodded, standing up again.
“Yes, actually. If it’s not too much trouble?”
“Knock yourself out.” And with that the man ducked behind the bar for a minute, then tossed a set of keys in Shirogane’s direction. “Lock up when you leave.”
“I will.”
Despite himself, Ayase’s eyebrows shot up. Clearly Shirogane had some kind of relationship with the owner, considering that the man didn’t mind him coming in after hours and trusted him to lock up the place afterwards. He didn’t like the look the man sent his way, though; it was speculative, curious, flickering between himself and Shirogane, and it left Ayase very uneasy. He stared the man down, frowning a little as the only response he got was a faintly amused expression.
“Alright,” he said, when the door closed and it was just the two of them. “Why did you bring me here?”
“You need to get your thoughts in order,” Shirogane said as he examined the cue sticks in the stand and picked one. “This is a good place to do that.” Satisfied, Shirogane gestured at the stand, then moved over to a table. “Come on.”
“Don’t you think you’ve got an unfair advantage?” Ayase asked, running his fingers over the sticks before deciding on one and making his own way over to the table. This was one of GaoSilver’s attacks, after all, although that in itself was confusing; he was pretty sure they hadn’t had snooker or billiards during the Heian era.
Shirogane gave him an innocent look as he put the chalk back on the side of the table. “No.”
“Liar.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
Shirogane shrugged and settled himself at the table, sinking the balls with ease. “You’re a fast learner.”
Ayase snorted and waited for his turn at the table. “Your friend seemed surprised to see me,” he said instead and Shirogane shrugged, studying the table for a moment.
“I don’t generally bring people here.”
Oh. For some reason that statement left Ayase feeling distinctly odd. If Shirogane didn’t bring people here, why would he bring him and not his teammates? Still, it might not mean anything, and anyway he had wanted some space, away from new lovebirds and overly perceptive teammates; not that Yuuri would call him on it or anything, but it would be enough that she knew. Then again… last he’d seen, she was strongly discouraging that GekiChopper guy from getting too friendly and he was pretty sure the guy had got the point.
And besides, he thought, as Shirogane looked up at him from under his eyelashes, smile just this side of predatory playing around his mouth, there were a lot worse places to be than here.