bunnyfic 30
Aaand this is what you would call a gag/filler ep. 8D Nothing much happens bar the passing of time, and minor bridging. ♥ I indulge myself writing shitloads of pointless dialogue. :D
TRIVIA! This fic currently stands at 62629 words long, excluding external contributions. :D 148 pages in doc default. *throws glitterstim*
A random cast: 21-K, 53-N; K17, T41, Y00, I14; the Second Guard.
( 30: and the evening and the morning were the third day )
"If you two manage a faceplant double suicide, I'm taking no responsibility," Kitayama said. "Why aren't you asking Taisuke?"
Senga sighed. "He still thinks I suck, and he'll squash me like nutricubes if I mess up his skates."
"And I won't?" Kitayama inquired, not budging from the couch.
Senga paused. Then smiled with faux confidence, the borrowed footwear in his hands suddenly weighing a little heavier. "You won't right, Hiromii?"
"Hm," Kitayama said. "We'll see how it goes if you come back."
"You still think I suck, too!" Senga was indignant.
"You haven't skated before," Kitayama told him, patient. Dozing.
"I've been practicing with Yokoo-kun's program--!" Senga protested.
"Oh, right. The one you pestered from Tamamori?" Kitayama chuckled. Finally, he sat up to look over the back of the couch. His hair was fluffy, messily framing his face, and Senga might have thought it cute if it was anybody but Kitayama -- well, he did think it was cute, but tried to suppress the idea lest it show on his face.
"Ken-chan," Kitayama said, handily distracting him anyway, "my skates aren't anything like Yokoo-san's."
Senga blinked. "...they're different?"
"They're heaps different," Kitayama said, and flopped back down. "They're smaller, heavier; their reactors are denser."
"Reactors come in different types?" Senga asked.
"Yes, Ken-chan," Kitayama said, eyes sliding shut. "They do. High density is high power is high volatility. What're they teaching you at school?"
After a moment of thought, Senga said, "...ohhh, that's why Yokoo always tells you off for sleeping with them on."
Kitayama snorted. "No, that's just because he hates it when things aren't in their right place. Apparently, people simply don't sleep up near the ceiling."
"Ohhh..." Well, that made an equal amount of irrelevant sense to Senga. "Well, okay. Nika-chan's waiting, so I'll see you at dinner okay, Hiromii?" He turned toward the door.
"Ken-chan?" Kitayama said.
"Hm?"
"Don't suck too much. I'll squash you like nutricubes if you mess up my skates."
*
"So, what'd you sell to get your hands on those?" Nikaido teased, only half serious. "Your body? Your soul? Hey?" He hovered by Senga's side, the two of them under a dry drain just below the Capital's surface.
"Shut up," Senga grumbled. Even if he'd traded something, he wasn't going to tell Nikaido. "Just be nice if you like me alive. 'Cause if I ruin these, I'm dead."
"As if I'm not the one doing you a favour here," Nikaido snerked. He knew full well though, that teaching Senga to skate was for their mutual benefit. Nikaido had already come to hate mass public transport in the handful of days he'd taken it to school and back again. "Look, it'll help if you put them on right."
"They're boots with straps!" Senga said. "How can I be putting them on wrong?"
That turned out to be a stupid question as Nikaido dropped to the ground and yanked and Senga winced, feeling like his circulation had been halved. "If they fall off, you die," Nikaido deadpanned. But then grinned. "These are probably too small for you though, a bit. But you're gonna have to deal."
"My toes are gone..." Senga said, bemoaning the loss.
He shut up though, when Nikaido grabbed his hands, right in left and left in right, hovering in front of Senga where Senga stood on solid ground. "Let's just get going," Nikaido said. "They're uncomfortable at first, but you forget about it soon enough."
Senga grinned and said, "Okay!" with an enthusiasm belying how his hands tightened in Nikaido's grip, already sweating. "Okay..."
*
Much to Nikaido's relief, they didn't have that much to worry about.
It turned out Senga was a fast learner. Minimal training with Yokoo's program aside, he had great balance, great timing, and an awareness of his surroundings that Nikaido thought was unusual for most people off the network. But then, Senga was a dancer. He seemed to take great pleasure in showing Nikaido some of the things he could do, 'for real.' It explained a lot of his in-scenario skills.
It also explained why he seemed to be a natural skater. Pretty soon, he was moving freely enough. Not quite keeping up with Nikaido yet, but clearly going to get there sooner rather than later. He was confident enough to laugh as he moved, and Nikaido discovered that he really liked Senga's laugh -- especially when it echoed through the underlayers, Senga just out of sight as they soared and jumped.
They tumbled and fell and flew, laughing and chasing each other between pipes and platforms, Nikaido playing hard to get with tag and other games, while he still could. It was a million times better than rolling his bunny avatar down a hill, or even riding on Senga's shoulder as they bounced through the trees.
The adrenaline was real, the burn in his muscles was real and Senga -- Senga most of all, was real and wouldn't go away when he logged off. He was right here.
That fact hadn't stopped being awesome yet.
As they tumbled onto the sleep pad left where Nikaido'd last spent a night underground -- a week ago now, or ten days? It felt like a lifetime -- Nikaido couldn't have been happier. Senga's breathless laughter filled his senses as they flopped onto their backs, fingers of one hand entwined together.
"Ahhhh," Nikaido sighed, "that was brilliant!"
"It was!" Senga rolled over a bit to grin at him, and Nikaido's breath caught in his throat.
"Senga…"
"Ahaha, I'm so tired!" Senga laughed, tucking closer to Nikaido and resting his head on Nikaido's shoulder. "Let's sleep, okay?"
And just like that, Senga's breathing evened out, as Nikaido's slowly returned. A glance down at Senga's sleeping face did nothing to calm his racing heart. Knowing that he was not going to get any sleep himself, Nikaido settled in to stare up at nothing, trying his best to think of something other than how much he might actually like to kiss Senga senseless and hoping that when Senga woke up, maybe, maybe Senga might like to kiss him, too.
*
"You mean to say," Fujigaya said testily, "that you're stuck on this couch because Senga has your skates?"
Fujigaya was on the couch too, but not the one lying down and hogging it all. And certainly not stuck.
"Yeah, more or less~" Kitayama hummed. "You're going to have to take the Onodera job." He cracked an eye open, smile lopsided. "Not that you'll mind."
"Whether I mind or not is totally not the point," Fujigaya remarked. "The point is that you've lent Senga your skates, and Wataru gave his away to that weird errant, so I'm the only one with mine left right now and what if something else comes up while I'm out?"
"The Honor Guard's competent," Kitayama shrugged, not really caring. "Or I can field it on foot." Another job wasn't going to come up, he was pretty sure; the Onodera one wasn't even urgent. It had been a hellishly slow week after the whole deal with Nikaido moving in, and nothing had come of Iida's suspicion that something was set up to fall on the head of that M15 agent (yet). "Yokoo hasn't skated for ages anyway, so that argument doesn't even count. And Senga said they'll be back before dinner."
"You owe me, just so you know," Fujigaya groused, shoving his feet into his skate boots. He didn't mind going out -- and actually did prefer it to staying in -- but doing so on Kitayama's behalf just rubbed him up all the wrong ways.
Cracking an eye open, Kitayama grinned indulgently. "Yeah, that's alright. Ken-chan owes me in turn, so we can work something out."
Fujigaya snorted and slapped his boot straps down. "Senga couldn't work his way out of a paper bag, but whatever. Let me know."
Kitayama just snuffled sleepily in response, and Fujigaya left with a roll of his eyes, detouring over to Kawai's room on his way out in search of company, since Kitayama was a loser and working missions alone sucked even more than a certain stupid charge who sucked a lot.
*
Dinner came and went. Fujigaya returned; Senga and Nikaido did not. Night fell, and midnight rolled around.
It was halfway to dawn by the time Kitayama went online.
"Iida," he said without preamble. "Did you know he gave his skates to 74-M? Just wondering if he told you."
Iida was silent for a long moment. "Yes," he said at last. "He did. Why are you here?"
Kitayama shrugged, appropriating a virtual couch. "Premature," he admitted, "but I want you to see if Taisuke's charge has gotten mine killed, or the other way around. They've been gone for about twelve hours."
"Taipi told me Senga was supposed to be back after dinner, when he popped in earlier?" Iida had a smile in his voice as he ran an up-to-the-second scan just in case. His flags hadn't reported any hits yet. "You're both very nice for checking. It's cute."
Kitayama pouted for posterity's sake. "I'm not taking that from you."
"No change in either status," Iida said. "Meaning no satellite hits, no remote logins, no reports of bodies found matching their respective descriptions."
"Thanks," Kitayama said. As expected. Settling in for a long night, he swung his legs up onto the couch-that-wasn't and tucked his hands behind his head. "Let me know if anything happens."
Iida was silent again, processing that rudimentary order. "Of course," he said. "But Kitayama-kun, you can't sleep online." Sleep changed brainwave patterns and resulted in netgear auto-logoffs. Which was why Iida never slept, and also why Kitayama wasn't online as much as most.
"I know," Kitayama said, cracking an eye open with a lopsided smile into the endless white. "Oh I know, but hell if I should look like I care, right? Taisuke would never let me live it down."
"You're both the same," Iida chuckled. "Taipi told me to page Wataru if something comes up. They are bunking in his room."
Kitayama smiled. "Ah~ always having fun without me..." Stretching, he turned over and shifted until he was comfortable, closing his eyes. "It's plenty nice enough here, though."
"And to think Wataru told me to pick up interior decoration," Iida said dryly, going back to his code as Kitayama pretended to sleep. "I'm sure your charges are fine."
*
Hours passed, and dawn broke. "You should have some breakfast," Iida said, breaking the whiteroom's silence too. "Since you're actually awake."
Kitayama growled instead. "They are so lucky they don't have school today."
"It'd be tiring after spending all night out," Iida agreed.
"Hardly," Kitayama said. "Their problem is going to be their being unable to sit right when Taisuke and I are through with payback."
"For making you worry?" Iida said, amused. "Caning children was outlawed a long time ago."
Kitayama snorted. "Who says we'll cane them. They'd be lucky to get off so light."
"Ah." And the whiteroom lapsed back into silence, apart from a yawn every handful of minutes. By the fifth one, Iida said, "Kitayama-kun, if you don't go have some breakfast, I think you might really fall asleep."
Kitayama gave an incoherent grunt -- the tone of which Iida chose to interpret as make me -- and was jerked awake the next moment when his couch 'disappeared', dumping him a half-metre down from where he'd been.
"Sorry," Iida said.
Kitayama squinted upward. "You're mocking me, aren't you," he accused, flat on his back. "That was uncalled for."
"Wataru says he and Taipi are getting food now," Iida said instead. "If you go join them, I can page you all at once if something happens."
"Okay, okay, since you clearly don't want me here," Kitayama said, all mock petulance.
"You'll be impossible to wake if you sleep," Iida said apologetically. "Then you'll get angry that nobody told you what was going on."
Kitayama grinned wryly. "Thanks for your vote of confidence."
"Anytime."
*
"Wow," Fujigaya observed, "cat dragged in something nasty this morning."
"It's actually awake," Yokoo said, arching a brow.
Kawai prodded Kitayama's arm, earning a kick to the shin -- that he sidestepped and took as a glance off of his calf easily enough, Kitayama too grumpy to bother with follow-up. "Not even a zombie," Kawai grinned. "Guess Wattan's only going to be able to have one helping today."
Yokoo rolled his eyes, before shifting over to make room for Kitayama at their table. "I'm sure I'll live."
Plunking himself down, Kitayama regarded his rehydrated rice and beans and nutricubes for a heartbeat, none of it fermented, before shoveling it into his mouth with efficient inelegance. Fujigaya narrowed his gaze. "You didn't sleep, did you, Shorty," he said, critical.
"Our charges," Kitayama announced around a mouthful of food, "are so dead."
Yokoo snorted. "You mean if they're not already."
"If they're already dead, you should kill them," Kawai recommended.
"I could go do a search grid run," Fujigaya said, looking at his fingernails. But he didn't fancy his chances. Two boys on skates with sixteen hours underground might already be halfway out through the wastelands if they wanted. And besides--
Kitayama made a noise of dissent. "Don't go look. The angrier I am, the sweeter revenge will be."
"My thoughts exactly," Fujigaya concurred.
Yokoo's pager beeped. In tandem, Fujigaya and Kitayama turned to Yokoo, while Kawai went on eating.
"So demanding," Yokoo said mildly, flicking the device's speakers on. "Kyon?"
"They just passed the first perimeter, going the usual route," Iida's tinny voice reported. Fujigaya pushed his chair back but, as if knowing this, Iida continued: "Senga is on foot though, so you've got plenty of time to finish eating."
"What?" Kitayama demanded. "What's he done with my skates?"
"He's holding them," Iida said. "Zooming in... no cosmetic damage discernible. Awkward gait." Pause. "Maybe he just pulled something?"
Kitayama eyed Fujigaya imperviously. "Your charge is an idiot. I don't care how good his scenario skills are."
"My charge?" Fujigaya said. "What about yours? Whose idea do you reckon this probably was, anyway?"
"Um, guys..."
"Your voice is too high and too loud," Kitayama snapped. "It's too early for this."
"You haven't even slept yet, Fatty!"
"Because your charge is an idiot!"
"He wasn't nearly so stupid 'til yours came along!"
"Want to take that back before I write it down, Taisuke?"
"What! --shut up. He wasn't so corruptible, then. If he finds out I'm defending him right now, you're going to hell..."
The argument slowly migrated out into the hall, and static crackled across the speakers as Iida sighed.
"Well," Yokoo said. "Thanks, Kyon. I'll catch you later." Clicking off his pager. he appropriated Kitayama's abandoned meal and tucked in.
"Mm," Kawai said, himself picking the nice beans out of Fujigaya's bowl. "Peace and quiet."
"You don't even like peace and quiet," Yokoo said.
"Right," Kawai agreed, chewing absently. "Where's Gocchi? He's usually here pretty early."
"Last I heard, Tottsu was out on a Hasshi run." Yokoo shrugged. "Maybe he went with."
"Hashimoto again?" Kawai said, exasperated. "These kids should all be shot."
"And you?" Yokoo asked.
"And me what?" Kawai said.
"You're one of them, too." Yokoo gave a toothy grin.
"Blasphemy," Kawai declared. "I have totally awesome skill at the job I do."
Yokoo raised a brow. "Let's see, your Guard exists to sit still and be pretty when Tono has to look official." He counted off on two fingers: "Sitting still? Nope. Being pretty? Nope. Sucks to be you."
"Shut up, Yaiba," Kawai laughed. "As if you skaters do any better in the looks department."
Yokoo just snickered. "I'll be sure to pass on your opinion, since it's only Mitsu, Taipi and Nikaido on skates these days."
"Oi oi oi, you can't!" Kawai waved. "Don't! I hate it when I dig my own grave."
Yokoo grinned. "But you do it with such totally awesome skill."
"I hate you, too."
"I know."
*
"We totally slept too long," Senga said, nervous as they made their way slowly back to Takizawa's. Trying to skate again after waking up had felled him flat on his back within seconds, from a combination of random muscles aching in ways dance didn't kill, and blisters and chaffing from Kitayama's too-small boots. Walking was slower, but less painful... (Nikaido had preemptively refused to carry him on principle.) "We slept way, way too long."
"You were the one who said he was so tired," Nikaido said.
"But you were sleeping when I woke up!"
"So naturally you went back to sleep!"
"It's totally cold underground! Of course I did..."
Nikaido smirked, slipping behind Senga to drape over his back. "Still cold?" he whispered by Senga's ear, deliberately low, husky. "Because we could totally try fixing that again."
Senga squirmed, fighting down a shiver. "Nika~" he whined, turning his head. "We're already late."
"By hours and hours," Nikaido snerked. "Who's gonna care about a few more minutes?"
"Hiromii'n Taipi are gonna kill us..." But that was the end of the protest when Nikaido kissed him again.
"Tell me it's not worth it," Nikaido smirked.
Sly, Senga matched the expression. "Oh, I dunno. Might need a bit more convincing~"
"Bastard," Nikaido said. But a challenge was a challenge...
*
"Okay, so it was worth it," Senga chirped a little later. "Even if Taipi kills me, and Hiromii strings your guts from the rafters. Plus, I can skate as good as you now!"
"You can not," Nikaido snerked. "Not by a long shot. And what the hell are rafters anyway?"
"I dunno, Yokoo-kun just says that." Senga crossed his arms in thought. "And yeah, maybe I'm not as good yet. But I totally will be soon."
"Like hell. But even if you do get as good as me, you're still gonna be limping online 'cause of your blisters."
"Just because Hiromii's skates are too small...!"
"You mean just because you can't get anything except your real avatar. I bet you couldn't even bunny-- hey!" Nikaido nearly ran into Senga's back as he stopped walking. "What gives?"
When Senga said nothing, Nikaido looked up.
The hatch up ahead had swung open, and Kitayama looked back at him from its doorjamb, arms crossed and glare kind of scary for the smudges under his eyes. Beside him, the scowl Fujigaya had fixed on Senga looked even more intimidating and Nikaido swallowed.
"Uh... oh," Senga whispered almost inaudibly, echoing Nikaido's thoughts from where he was glued to the spot. "We are so dead."
"I hope you remember last night," Nikaido muttered, hand clamping onto Senga's wrist.
"Did I hear something about 'last night'...?" Fujigaya said, taking a step forward.
Senga took a step back. Into Nikaido.
"Yeah," Nikaido grinned with a bravado he didn't really feel. "Just saying you wish you'd been there."
"Nika--"
"Really, brat," Fujigaya laughed darkly, kick-activating his skates.
"Go ahead and kill him, Taisuke," Kitayama said.
"I don't take orders from you."
"He's my charge. Just saying."
"Nika--!"
"Oops~ look, they're getting away~"
"Nika, Nika, stop!" Senga flailed, thrown over Nikaido's shoulder as he bolted back the way they'd come.
Fujigaya tsk'd. "Pain in the ass kouhai. Ten years too early."
Leaning back, Kitayama watched the two-and-a-half-man chase with unholy amusement, smiling.
Definitely worth it.
Half this Senga/Nikaido brought to you by snowqueenofhoth (originally the second part of Friends For Real, full version featuring more 2000 here, written prior to ch.17). Modified with graceful permission. ;Db Thank you!
A SenNika outtake from this chapter:
(1) Wake Up Call, by mousapelli; and
Following this chapter is set
(2) Five Times Senga Wasn't A Bunny, a collaboration between mousapelli and myself. ♥ Enjoy!
TRIVIA! This fic currently stands at 62629 words long, excluding external contributions. :D 148 pages in doc default. *throws glitterstim*
A random cast: 21-K, 53-N; K17, T41, Y00, I14; the Second Guard.
( 30: and the evening and the morning were the third day )
"If you two manage a faceplant double suicide, I'm taking no responsibility," Kitayama said. "Why aren't you asking Taisuke?"
Senga sighed. "He still thinks I suck, and he'll squash me like nutricubes if I mess up his skates."
"And I won't?" Kitayama inquired, not budging from the couch.
Senga paused. Then smiled with faux confidence, the borrowed footwear in his hands suddenly weighing a little heavier. "You won't right, Hiromii?"
"Hm," Kitayama said. "We'll see how it goes if you come back."
"You still think I suck, too!" Senga was indignant.
"You haven't skated before," Kitayama told him, patient. Dozing.
"I've been practicing with Yokoo-kun's program--!" Senga protested.
"Oh, right. The one you pestered from Tamamori?" Kitayama chuckled. Finally, he sat up to look over the back of the couch. His hair was fluffy, messily framing his face, and Senga might have thought it cute if it was anybody but Kitayama -- well, he did think it was cute, but tried to suppress the idea lest it show on his face.
"Ken-chan," Kitayama said, handily distracting him anyway, "my skates aren't anything like Yokoo-san's."
Senga blinked. "...they're different?"
"They're heaps different," Kitayama said, and flopped back down. "They're smaller, heavier; their reactors are denser."
"Reactors come in different types?" Senga asked.
"Yes, Ken-chan," Kitayama said, eyes sliding shut. "They do. High density is high power is high volatility. What're they teaching you at school?"
After a moment of thought, Senga said, "...ohhh, that's why Yokoo always tells you off for sleeping with them on."
Kitayama snorted. "No, that's just because he hates it when things aren't in their right place. Apparently, people simply don't sleep up near the ceiling."
"Ohhh..." Well, that made an equal amount of irrelevant sense to Senga. "Well, okay. Nika-chan's waiting, so I'll see you at dinner okay, Hiromii?" He turned toward the door.
"Ken-chan?" Kitayama said.
"Hm?"
"Don't suck too much. I'll squash you like nutricubes if you mess up my skates."
*
"So, what'd you sell to get your hands on those?" Nikaido teased, only half serious. "Your body? Your soul? Hey?" He hovered by Senga's side, the two of them under a dry drain just below the Capital's surface.
"Shut up," Senga grumbled. Even if he'd traded something, he wasn't going to tell Nikaido. "Just be nice if you like me alive. 'Cause if I ruin these, I'm dead."
"As if I'm not the one doing you a favour here," Nikaido snerked. He knew full well though, that teaching Senga to skate was for their mutual benefit. Nikaido had already come to hate mass public transport in the handful of days he'd taken it to school and back again. "Look, it'll help if you put them on right."
"They're boots with straps!" Senga said. "How can I be putting them on wrong?"
That turned out to be a stupid question as Nikaido dropped to the ground and yanked and Senga winced, feeling like his circulation had been halved. "If they fall off, you die," Nikaido deadpanned. But then grinned. "These are probably too small for you though, a bit. But you're gonna have to deal."
"My toes are gone..." Senga said, bemoaning the loss.
He shut up though, when Nikaido grabbed his hands, right in left and left in right, hovering in front of Senga where Senga stood on solid ground. "Let's just get going," Nikaido said. "They're uncomfortable at first, but you forget about it soon enough."
Senga grinned and said, "Okay!" with an enthusiasm belying how his hands tightened in Nikaido's grip, already sweating. "Okay..."
*
Much to Nikaido's relief, they didn't have that much to worry about.
It turned out Senga was a fast learner. Minimal training with Yokoo's program aside, he had great balance, great timing, and an awareness of his surroundings that Nikaido thought was unusual for most people off the network. But then, Senga was a dancer. He seemed to take great pleasure in showing Nikaido some of the things he could do, 'for real.' It explained a lot of his in-scenario skills.
It also explained why he seemed to be a natural skater. Pretty soon, he was moving freely enough. Not quite keeping up with Nikaido yet, but clearly going to get there sooner rather than later. He was confident enough to laugh as he moved, and Nikaido discovered that he really liked Senga's laugh -- especially when it echoed through the underlayers, Senga just out of sight as they soared and jumped.
They tumbled and fell and flew, laughing and chasing each other between pipes and platforms, Nikaido playing hard to get with tag and other games, while he still could. It was a million times better than rolling his bunny avatar down a hill, or even riding on Senga's shoulder as they bounced through the trees.
The adrenaline was real, the burn in his muscles was real and Senga -- Senga most of all, was real and wouldn't go away when he logged off. He was right here.
That fact hadn't stopped being awesome yet.
As they tumbled onto the sleep pad left where Nikaido'd last spent a night underground -- a week ago now, or ten days? It felt like a lifetime -- Nikaido couldn't have been happier. Senga's breathless laughter filled his senses as they flopped onto their backs, fingers of one hand entwined together.
"Ahhhh," Nikaido sighed, "that was brilliant!"
"It was!" Senga rolled over a bit to grin at him, and Nikaido's breath caught in his throat.
"Senga…"
"Ahaha, I'm so tired!" Senga laughed, tucking closer to Nikaido and resting his head on Nikaido's shoulder. "Let's sleep, okay?"
And just like that, Senga's breathing evened out, as Nikaido's slowly returned. A glance down at Senga's sleeping face did nothing to calm his racing heart. Knowing that he was not going to get any sleep himself, Nikaido settled in to stare up at nothing, trying his best to think of something other than how much he might actually like to kiss Senga senseless and hoping that when Senga woke up, maybe, maybe Senga might like to kiss him, too.
*
"You mean to say," Fujigaya said testily, "that you're stuck on this couch because Senga has your skates?"
Fujigaya was on the couch too, but not the one lying down and hogging it all. And certainly not stuck.
"Yeah, more or less~" Kitayama hummed. "You're going to have to take the Onodera job." He cracked an eye open, smile lopsided. "Not that you'll mind."
"Whether I mind or not is totally not the point," Fujigaya remarked. "The point is that you've lent Senga your skates, and Wataru gave his away to that weird errant, so I'm the only one with mine left right now and what if something else comes up while I'm out?"
"The Honor Guard's competent," Kitayama shrugged, not really caring. "Or I can field it on foot." Another job wasn't going to come up, he was pretty sure; the Onodera one wasn't even urgent. It had been a hellishly slow week after the whole deal with Nikaido moving in, and nothing had come of Iida's suspicion that something was set up to fall on the head of that M15 agent (yet). "Yokoo hasn't skated for ages anyway, so that argument doesn't even count. And Senga said they'll be back before dinner."
"You owe me, just so you know," Fujigaya groused, shoving his feet into his skate boots. He didn't mind going out -- and actually did prefer it to staying in -- but doing so on Kitayama's behalf just rubbed him up all the wrong ways.
Cracking an eye open, Kitayama grinned indulgently. "Yeah, that's alright. Ken-chan owes me in turn, so we can work something out."
Fujigaya snorted and slapped his boot straps down. "Senga couldn't work his way out of a paper bag, but whatever. Let me know."
Kitayama just snuffled sleepily in response, and Fujigaya left with a roll of his eyes, detouring over to Kawai's room on his way out in search of company, since Kitayama was a loser and working missions alone sucked even more than a certain stupid charge who sucked a lot.
*
Dinner came and went. Fujigaya returned; Senga and Nikaido did not. Night fell, and midnight rolled around.
It was halfway to dawn by the time Kitayama went online.
"Iida," he said without preamble. "Did you know he gave his skates to 74-M? Just wondering if he told you."
Iida was silent for a long moment. "Yes," he said at last. "He did. Why are you here?"
Kitayama shrugged, appropriating a virtual couch. "Premature," he admitted, "but I want you to see if Taisuke's charge has gotten mine killed, or the other way around. They've been gone for about twelve hours."
"Taipi told me Senga was supposed to be back after dinner, when he popped in earlier?" Iida had a smile in his voice as he ran an up-to-the-second scan just in case. His flags hadn't reported any hits yet. "You're both very nice for checking. It's cute."
Kitayama pouted for posterity's sake. "I'm not taking that from you."
"No change in either status," Iida said. "Meaning no satellite hits, no remote logins, no reports of bodies found matching their respective descriptions."
"Thanks," Kitayama said. As expected. Settling in for a long night, he swung his legs up onto the couch-that-wasn't and tucked his hands behind his head. "Let me know if anything happens."
Iida was silent again, processing that rudimentary order. "Of course," he said. "But Kitayama-kun, you can't sleep online." Sleep changed brainwave patterns and resulted in netgear auto-logoffs. Which was why Iida never slept, and also why Kitayama wasn't online as much as most.
"I know," Kitayama said, cracking an eye open with a lopsided smile into the endless white. "Oh I know, but hell if I should look like I care, right? Taisuke would never let me live it down."
"You're both the same," Iida chuckled. "Taipi told me to page Wataru if something comes up. They are bunking in his room."
Kitayama smiled. "Ah~ always having fun without me..." Stretching, he turned over and shifted until he was comfortable, closing his eyes. "It's plenty nice enough here, though."
"And to think Wataru told me to pick up interior decoration," Iida said dryly, going back to his code as Kitayama pretended to sleep. "I'm sure your charges are fine."
*
Hours passed, and dawn broke. "You should have some breakfast," Iida said, breaking the whiteroom's silence too. "Since you're actually awake."
Kitayama growled instead. "They are so lucky they don't have school today."
"It'd be tiring after spending all night out," Iida agreed.
"Hardly," Kitayama said. "Their problem is going to be their being unable to sit right when Taisuke and I are through with payback."
"For making you worry?" Iida said, amused. "Caning children was outlawed a long time ago."
Kitayama snorted. "Who says we'll cane them. They'd be lucky to get off so light."
"Ah." And the whiteroom lapsed back into silence, apart from a yawn every handful of minutes. By the fifth one, Iida said, "Kitayama-kun, if you don't go have some breakfast, I think you might really fall asleep."
Kitayama gave an incoherent grunt -- the tone of which Iida chose to interpret as make me -- and was jerked awake the next moment when his couch 'disappeared', dumping him a half-metre down from where he'd been.
"Sorry," Iida said.
Kitayama squinted upward. "You're mocking me, aren't you," he accused, flat on his back. "That was uncalled for."
"Wataru says he and Taipi are getting food now," Iida said instead. "If you go join them, I can page you all at once if something happens."
"Okay, okay, since you clearly don't want me here," Kitayama said, all mock petulance.
"You'll be impossible to wake if you sleep," Iida said apologetically. "Then you'll get angry that nobody told you what was going on."
Kitayama grinned wryly. "Thanks for your vote of confidence."
"Anytime."
*
"Wow," Fujigaya observed, "cat dragged in something nasty this morning."
"It's actually awake," Yokoo said, arching a brow.
Kawai prodded Kitayama's arm, earning a kick to the shin -- that he sidestepped and took as a glance off of his calf easily enough, Kitayama too grumpy to bother with follow-up. "Not even a zombie," Kawai grinned. "Guess Wattan's only going to be able to have one helping today."
Yokoo rolled his eyes, before shifting over to make room for Kitayama at their table. "I'm sure I'll live."
Plunking himself down, Kitayama regarded his rehydrated rice and beans and nutricubes for a heartbeat, none of it fermented, before shoveling it into his mouth with efficient inelegance. Fujigaya narrowed his gaze. "You didn't sleep, did you, Shorty," he said, critical.
"Our charges," Kitayama announced around a mouthful of food, "are so dead."
Yokoo snorted. "You mean if they're not already."
"If they're already dead, you should kill them," Kawai recommended.
"I could go do a search grid run," Fujigaya said, looking at his fingernails. But he didn't fancy his chances. Two boys on skates with sixteen hours underground might already be halfway out through the wastelands if they wanted. And besides--
Kitayama made a noise of dissent. "Don't go look. The angrier I am, the sweeter revenge will be."
"My thoughts exactly," Fujigaya concurred.
Yokoo's pager beeped. In tandem, Fujigaya and Kitayama turned to Yokoo, while Kawai went on eating.
"So demanding," Yokoo said mildly, flicking the device's speakers on. "Kyon?"
"They just passed the first perimeter, going the usual route," Iida's tinny voice reported. Fujigaya pushed his chair back but, as if knowing this, Iida continued: "Senga is on foot though, so you've got plenty of time to finish eating."
"What?" Kitayama demanded. "What's he done with my skates?"
"He's holding them," Iida said. "Zooming in... no cosmetic damage discernible. Awkward gait." Pause. "Maybe he just pulled something?"
Kitayama eyed Fujigaya imperviously. "Your charge is an idiot. I don't care how good his scenario skills are."
"My charge?" Fujigaya said. "What about yours? Whose idea do you reckon this probably was, anyway?"
"Um, guys..."
"Your voice is too high and too loud," Kitayama snapped. "It's too early for this."
"You haven't even slept yet, Fatty!"
"Because your charge is an idiot!"
"He wasn't nearly so stupid 'til yours came along!"
"Want to take that back before I write it down, Taisuke?"
"What! --shut up. He wasn't so corruptible, then. If he finds out I'm defending him right now, you're going to hell..."
The argument slowly migrated out into the hall, and static crackled across the speakers as Iida sighed.
"Well," Yokoo said. "Thanks, Kyon. I'll catch you later." Clicking off his pager. he appropriated Kitayama's abandoned meal and tucked in.
"Mm," Kawai said, himself picking the nice beans out of Fujigaya's bowl. "Peace and quiet."
"You don't even like peace and quiet," Yokoo said.
"Right," Kawai agreed, chewing absently. "Where's Gocchi? He's usually here pretty early."
"Last I heard, Tottsu was out on a Hasshi run." Yokoo shrugged. "Maybe he went with."
"Hashimoto again?" Kawai said, exasperated. "These kids should all be shot."
"And you?" Yokoo asked.
"And me what?" Kawai said.
"You're one of them, too." Yokoo gave a toothy grin.
"Blasphemy," Kawai declared. "I have totally awesome skill at the job I do."
Yokoo raised a brow. "Let's see, your Guard exists to sit still and be pretty when Tono has to look official." He counted off on two fingers: "Sitting still? Nope. Being pretty? Nope. Sucks to be you."
"Shut up, Yaiba," Kawai laughed. "As if you skaters do any better in the looks department."
Yokoo just snickered. "I'll be sure to pass on your opinion, since it's only Mitsu, Taipi and Nikaido on skates these days."
"Oi oi oi, you can't!" Kawai waved. "Don't! I hate it when I dig my own grave."
Yokoo grinned. "But you do it with such totally awesome skill."
"I hate you, too."
"I know."
*
"We totally slept too long," Senga said, nervous as they made their way slowly back to Takizawa's. Trying to skate again after waking up had felled him flat on his back within seconds, from a combination of random muscles aching in ways dance didn't kill, and blisters and chaffing from Kitayama's too-small boots. Walking was slower, but less painful... (Nikaido had preemptively refused to carry him on principle.) "We slept way, way too long."
"You were the one who said he was so tired," Nikaido said.
"But you were sleeping when I woke up!"
"So naturally you went back to sleep!"
"It's totally cold underground! Of course I did..."
Nikaido smirked, slipping behind Senga to drape over his back. "Still cold?" he whispered by Senga's ear, deliberately low, husky. "Because we could totally try fixing that again."
Senga squirmed, fighting down a shiver. "Nika~" he whined, turning his head. "We're already late."
"By hours and hours," Nikaido snerked. "Who's gonna care about a few more minutes?"
"Hiromii'n Taipi are gonna kill us..." But that was the end of the protest when Nikaido kissed him again.
"Tell me it's not worth it," Nikaido smirked.
Sly, Senga matched the expression. "Oh, I dunno. Might need a bit more convincing~"
"Bastard," Nikaido said. But a challenge was a challenge...
*
"Okay, so it was worth it," Senga chirped a little later. "Even if Taipi kills me, and Hiromii strings your guts from the rafters. Plus, I can skate as good as you now!"
"You can not," Nikaido snerked. "Not by a long shot. And what the hell are rafters anyway?"
"I dunno, Yokoo-kun just says that." Senga crossed his arms in thought. "And yeah, maybe I'm not as good yet. But I totally will be soon."
"Like hell. But even if you do get as good as me, you're still gonna be limping online 'cause of your blisters."
"Just because Hiromii's skates are too small...!"
"You mean just because you can't get anything except your real avatar. I bet you couldn't even bunny-- hey!" Nikaido nearly ran into Senga's back as he stopped walking. "What gives?"
When Senga said nothing, Nikaido looked up.
The hatch up ahead had swung open, and Kitayama looked back at him from its doorjamb, arms crossed and glare kind of scary for the smudges under his eyes. Beside him, the scowl Fujigaya had fixed on Senga looked even more intimidating and Nikaido swallowed.
"Uh... oh," Senga whispered almost inaudibly, echoing Nikaido's thoughts from where he was glued to the spot. "We are so dead."
"I hope you remember last night," Nikaido muttered, hand clamping onto Senga's wrist.
"Did I hear something about 'last night'...?" Fujigaya said, taking a step forward.
Senga took a step back. Into Nikaido.
"Yeah," Nikaido grinned with a bravado he didn't really feel. "Just saying you wish you'd been there."
"Nika--"
"Really, brat," Fujigaya laughed darkly, kick-activating his skates.
"Go ahead and kill him, Taisuke," Kitayama said.
"I don't take orders from you."
"He's my charge. Just saying."
"Nika--!"
"Oops~ look, they're getting away~"
"Nika, Nika, stop!" Senga flailed, thrown over Nikaido's shoulder as he bolted back the way they'd come.
Fujigaya tsk'd. "Pain in the ass kouhai. Ten years too early."
Leaning back, Kitayama watched the two-and-a-half-man chase with unholy amusement, smiling.
Definitely worth it.
Half this Senga/Nikaido brought to you by snowqueenofhoth (originally the second part of Friends For Real, full version featuring more 2000 here, written prior to ch.17). Modified with graceful permission. ;Db Thank you!
A SenNika outtake from this chapter:
(1) Wake Up Call, by mousapelli; and
Following this chapter is set
(2) Five Times Senga Wasn't A Bunny, a collaboration between mousapelli and myself. ♥ Enjoy!