I owe you guys an apology. I have chapters written long before they ever get posted, and, well, if I'd realized what chapter this is, I wouldn't have made you wait for so long. Please don't be mad – I feel like it's going to be a major let-down when you realize what this chapter is…Um, that is, it's the last chapter of this particular story arc. (winces)

"Shithead."

"Pervert."

"Ung…jackass…"

"Hooker."

"Hold on a minute. I need a rest."

"Another one?" with an irritated grunt, Ken heaved Yohji's arm off from around his shoulders and shoved him up against the wall. "You're such…a baby!" he huffed, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Uh – excuse me? Bleeding?" Yohji demanded, motioning to his blood-soaked torso.

"Most of that's…not even yours…you baby!"

"Listen to you, all out of breath!" Yohji wheezed. "I thought you were supposed to be…some kind of athlete?"

"You're one…to talk."

"Longtime smoker…remember?"

Yohji was thankful as hell that, knowing they were bound to come under fire, they'd worn Kevlar under their uniforms. Those guards had been well-armed and ready for them. He and Ken had managed to kill them all, but not without taking damage themselves. Yohji still wasn't sure how they'd managed to get away with their lives, much less the very minor injuries they had sustained.

"Balanese? Siberian? You guys aren't out yet?" Omi's voice piped from over their com system. "The explosives are all set."

"Balanese needed to rest his giant ass again," Ken answered sourly.

Aya, finished with his part of the mission, had found them bleeding and griping at one another on his way to the stairs. After ascertaining that they were both going to live, and that they could, in fact, both move under their own power, he'd coldly informed them that they had fifteen minutes to get downstairs or they would be left behind.

And then he had abandoned them. The bastard.

Apparently he decided that now was the right time to remind them of his threat.

"No more playing," he snapped over the headset. "Five more minutes, and we're setting the explosives – with or without you."

"Fucking hell!" Yohji hissed, half-laughing because, pained and exhausted as he was, laughter and curses were the only things he could manage. He eased himself carefully out of his jacket, cursing again when drying blood pulled at the cloth.

He jumped, moving a little too quickly, when the door banged open.

Aya's eyes raked over him once, sharply, and then he closed the door after himself, fingers quickly flicking the lock.

"Sit down," he ordered coldly.

Yohji grinned, noting the first aide kit tucked under the man's arm.

"Aw. You came to patch me up? Darling, I'm flattered."

"Don't be," he answered shortly, shoving him down onto the bed.

"Omi busy with Ken?"

"Omi's too angry to mess with either of you idiots," Aya informed him, grabbing his arm to examine a wound there.

In all, Yohji'd been grazed by three bullets: one in his upper arm, one in his thigh, and a third – the deepest – in his side. Nothing serious – not simply because of luck, but also because his long mission jacket (the body of which was lined with Kevlar) offered him extra protection. Of course, with his navel-area exposed, he was always at a little extra risk, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make for the sake of sexiness.

"So you decided to help me first?" Yohji asked, batting his eyelashes.

"He doesn't need any help. I checked."

"Bastard – can't you just pretend?" he demanded. "You know – save my ego?"

"No."

Aya's voice was so cold and harsh that Yohji nearly slipped into old habits of letting him brush him aside. Aya was clearly Not In The Mood to be teased tonight. Yohji couldn't pinpoint what it was, exactly, that made this mood any different from any of his other, more usual, ones, just that continuing to tease him would most definitely be a Bad Decision.

Yohji was too tired to try to push him, anyway.

"Did you have any trouble with your part of the mission?" he asked instead.

Aya only grunted.

Clearly he wasn't in the mood to talk, either.

Yohji reluctantly let silence fall. Aya's hands were steady and sure and surprisingly careful. He worked quickly and quietly, completely focused on his task.

"I told you…" Aya began suddenly. He stopped, hands pausing.

"Told me?"

"That I couldn't afford to feel during a mission."

"Yeah?"

Aya returned to his task – a little more roughly than necessary.

"So, then, why would you do something so stupid?" the small redhead demanded.

It took Yohji a moment to understand.

"You were worried about me?"

Aya didn't answer, instead finishing off the last of Yohji's stitches. When he cut the thread, Yohji reached out, taking hold of his wrist and pulling him around in front of him.

"Hey – you were worried?"

"No." Aya glared and tried to pull away.

Yohji refused to let him.

"Go on and admit it."

"Irresponsible ass!" he snarled. He twisted his hand to grab Yohji and hauled him to his feet. For a moment, Yohji felt nothing but frozen shock, and then he realized that his face was in Aya's hands, and Aya – Aya – was kissing him.

He wrapped his arms around him and – ignoring or forgetting his injuries, fell backwards onto the bed, pulling Aya with him and carefully, stubbornly, refusing to let the kiss end.

Not that Aya was exactly trying to get away.

The man was so needy! So desperate, so hungry, and gods but he tasted delicious! Yohji groaned, sliding his hands up to begin pulling off the man's jacket and Aya, with an annoyed grunt, took his hands from Yohji's face only long enough to shrug impatiently out of the garment.

"Want you…" Yohji moaned against his skin, moving his lips to his neck. "Why d'you think I screwed up tonight?" he shoved Aya's shirt up, indulging in running his fingers over those smooth, tight abs, even as he set to devouring his collar bone.

Aya pulled back, frowning at him.

"What?"

Yohji slid his hands along Aya's thighs and grinned at him. "Do you have any idea how sexy you look?" oh, but that expression on Aya's face was priceless. "We're gonna have to find a way t' keep me from getting so distracted."

Aya sat up, still frowning.

"You got injured…because you were thinking about me?"

"Kind of," he grinned.

Somehow, he hadn't been expecting Aya to hit him. How he missed expecting that, he would never know.

"I was worried about you!" Aya snarled, looking murderous.

Yohji worked his now-throbbing jaw, grinning stupidly at him. Aya's eyes narrowed further, his cheeks flushing pink.

"Are you upset because I was irresponsible?" Yohji asked. "Or because you just don't see yourself the way I do?"

"Perverted son of a bitch!"

"Yeah, but you knew that before."

Aya shifted uncomfortably, looked away, crossed his arms. He did not, however, get up.

Yohji rubbed his hands up and down Aya's thighs – less as a gesture of sexual interest and more of comfort this time. He'd found that soothing, repetitive motions were quite effective when the man was upset about something.

"I know I need to be more responsible," he admitted. "I just…got caught by surprise, that's all."

"Surprise," he echoed flatly.

"Yeah – surprise. I didn't expect to have such a strong reaction, that's all." Yohji smiled, hoping to put Aya at ease and maybe, if he was lucky, even bring back whatever-the-hell had made Aya kiss him earlier. "I mean, I've seen you in your mission attire plenty of times…but now that I'm allowed to want you, well…"

"Who the hell ever said you were allowed?"

Yohji pushed himself up on his elbows, grinning up at the man still seated on his hips.

"Comes hand-in-hand with the whole 'dating' thing," he stated.

Aya frowned. "Don't do it again."

"What? Want you?"

"Want me during a mission," he corrected sternly.

"I can't promise that."

"Kudoh!"

Yohji's grin widened. Reaching up, he slid his hand around to the back of Aya's neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

"I don't want you dying because you're a horny bastard," Aya glared, fisting a hand in his hair and yanking his head back. "I'd rather be alone now that have you die after I've started to care about you."

That sobered him.

"Trust me, Aya," he said. "I understand that."

Perhaps it was something in his expression, or some lingering pain in his voice, but Aya's expression softened.

"It's…been a long time since I've been so frightened for someone else," Aya said quietly, rising. Yohji sat up and watched him rifle through the pockets of his jacket, at last producing pain meds and a small water bottle. "I…don't like that feeling."

"No one does," Yohji reassured him. He took the medicine Aya shook into his hand and saluted the smaller man with the water bottle before swallowing them down. "By the way," he said, "I told Ken we were dating."

Aya rubbed the bridge of his nose, his expression annoyed. "Kudoh…"

"What? Bastard wouldn't leave me alone about it. Still won't leave me alone about it. Seems to think the idea is bad for Weiss."

"It is bad for Weiss," Aya scowled.

"Aw, hell. But we're gonna do it anyway, right?"

Aya was silent for a long moment. He stared at Yohji with that damned unreadable expression, his entire body gone still and almost lifeless. Yohji had come a long way since their strange relationship had begun, but he still had problems reading Aya when he went so still and frozen.

If he had learned anything through bugging the man, though, it was that letting that look scare him off was the absolute worst thing he would do.

Yohji rose and, doing his best to ignore the flat, scary look, sidled up close. He wrapped his arms around t smaller man and held him close, nuzzling his neck teasingly.

"Aya?" he asked, swaying his body against the other man's suggestively. "We are going to keep going, aren't we?"

"Yes," Aya whispered. "I would like that."

"You mean that, or you going to take it back later?"

"I mean it," he admitted softly. He hesitated, and then his arms encircled Yohji's waist, his hands cool against the warm, bare skin of his back. He let his head come to rest against the blonde's chest. "I…want to be near you. Whatever that means."

Yohji had held him – simply held him – until his medicine kicked in. Aya helped him into bed, reluctantly repeated his promise that he wanted to stay with him, and retreated to his own room.

He supposed he was simply weak. He hadn't been able to summon the strength to fight Kudoh's persistence, his humor, or his charm. He hadn't been able to find the willpower to turn away from the comfort and warmth of his touch.

The next morning at breakfast, Aya was greeted by Ken's suspicious glare and Omi, who was still angry over the irresponsible actions of their teammates the night before.

And then Yohji had come down and, in front of the shocked and dumbfounded faces of both younger men, greeted Aya with a sloppy and enthusiastic good morning kiss.

Aya couldn't bring himself to end the relationship he had so foolishly started. He couldn't bear to pull away from that vibrant, golden man.

And despite himself, he couldn't bring himself to believe that that was a bad thing.

End

I do have plans for more stories along this timeline, and plan to have them up just as soon as I can decide what I want to do. The purpose of this story was just to set up their relationship, and even though not everything has been tied up in a neat little bow, it's gone as far as it can within the "Strangers" context. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again soon.