"Hey," Yohji called as he entered the kitchen from the door to the outside. He paused long enough to remove his shoes and hang his jacket on a hook just inside the door. "Where's Aya?" he asked.
Omi was sitting at the kitchen table, tapping away at his laptop. He had turned to watch Yohji, and now he smiled at the older man. "In there," he replied, tilting his head to the side to indicate the living room.
Yohji frowned. "What?! I didn't tell him he could be up and wandering around. He's supposed to be in bed, resting." He shook his head irritably. "That guy. What a pain in the ass." He started to push past the table to enter the living room, but Omi's voice stopped him.
"Don't go off half-cocked, Yohji. He's sleeping on the sofa. That's all. He only came downstairs about twenty minutes ago. Otherwise, he hasn't been out of bed all day."
"Oh," Yohji commented. He continued toward the living room, but paused just in the doorway. "By the way," he asked, turning back toward Omi, "How's your school report going? Isn't that the one you were supposed to finish the night Aya got sick?"
Omi nodded. "Yeah. I've been playing hooky from school trying to finish it, and I can't stay away that much longer without getting held back." He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I hate history," he said, with a sigh. "But, it's almost done finally!"
Yohji laughed and continued into the living room. He stopped behind the sofa, leaning on its back, and watched Aya sleeping. Another week had passed since the redhead had passed out in the shop, and Yohji had had his hands full keeping Aya in bed since then. But, it had been worth it. He still needed a lot of sleep, but it seemed that his fever had finally disappeared for good, and his color was almost back to normal.
"Anything wrong?" Omi asked as he came to stand next to the tall blonde.
Yohji glanced down at the youngest Weiss member and shook his head. "Nah," he said, "I was just thinking. He's almost cute, don't you think?"
"Yeah," Omi said, laughing, "When he's sleeping."
Yohji chuckled in return. "How did things go in the shop today?" he asked.
"Fine," Omi said, shrugging. "Aya wanted to work a shift, but Ken wouldn't let him. I think he's almost as afraid of you as he is of Aya."
Yohji laughed in response to Omi's statement. Before leaving that morning, he had told both Omi and Ken that, under no circumstances, were they to allow Aya to do anything other than sleep. Ken had initially protested, since Yohji's absence would leave them short-handed, but the ex-goalie had been wise enough to let any additional complaints go unspoken when the oldest Weiss member had threatened to skin him alive if he let Aya do any work.
"Anyhow," Omi continued, "Hank worked all day with Ken, so I didn't even have to do one shift today. Ken thought that someone should keep an eye on Aya, you know since you weren't around. You know how scared he is of Aya. Even being sick like this well, Aya would just run right over him. So, Hank offered to work the store so I could look after him. Besides, I think he was trying to do me a favor. He overheard me yesterday telling Ken that I really needed to finish this report. He's a really nice guy." Omi turned back toward the kitchen and his waiting laptop, but he called back over his shoulder, "This morning, when it was slow, he went up to sit with Aya for a while. When I went up a few minutes after, to check on them, they were playing cards. Aya was laughing." He shook his head and repeated, "Laughing. I can't remember ever hearing him do that before."
"Yeah," Yohji said. "Birds of a feather. Go figure. I think having Hank around might be good for him. And, maybe for all of us."
"By the way," Omi called from the kitchen, "Ken said that Hank was a huge hit with the fangirls this afternoon. He apparently already has quite a following, even after only one day."
"Really," Yohji said. He turned around to face the kitchen, leaning against the back of the sofa. He laughed. "Must be that Texas charm."
A small sound drew his attention back toward the sofa, and he turned around to see two tired, slightly irritated, bluish-violet eyes blinking up at him. "Hey," he said, leaning forward, over the back of the sofa.
"Ugh," Aya said, rolling his eyes, "You are stalking me. You're a sick, sick man."
Yohji chuckled. "That sounds suspiciously like the "ice man" just cracked a joke."
"Yeah, well, shit happens," Aya said in a flat tone. He rolled over onto his side, so that he was facing the sofa's back, and snuggled further into the warm upholstery.
"Hey, wait a minute," Yohji said, reaching down to shake Aya slightly. "Before you go back to sleep, I have something for you." He reached down to pick up a large white box he had carried in and set on the floor next to him. Aya had turned over to lie on his back, and Yohji deposited the box on his stomach.
The redhead gave Yohji a suspicious, narrow-eyed glance, and asked, "What's this?" He regarded the box warily, as if he expected it to explode at any moment.
"A present, junior. Open it."
Aya gave Yohji another suspicious glance, but he opened the box and peered inside. He was still glaring at Yohji as he pulled out the item contained within the box and found himself face to face with a statue. It was a blue, dancing hippo wearing a pink tutu and ballerina slippers. The hippo's eyes were closed, but it had long eyelashes and huge, red lips. It's "arms", for lack of a better word, were raised above its head, and it stood on one foot with the other slippered foot held at a dainty angle, in depiction of a perfect pirouette. Aya's wary expression quickly changed to one of confusion and then to one of amusement as he held the statue up to inspect it.
"So?" Yohji asked, "What do you think?"
"It's hideous," Aya said, laughing. "Absolutely hideous."
"Glad you like it," Yohji replied.
"But why?" Aya asked as he carefully placed the statue on the floor next to the sofa.
"I just thought that maybe, the next time you're feeling alone it might sort of I don't know remind you of where you belong, and that there are people who care," Yohji said. He reached out and gently ruffled Aya's hair, smiling when the redhead slapped at his hand in what was an almost involuntary gesture.
Aya picked up the statue and took another good, long look at it. He finally placed it back onto the floor and turned onto his side again, facing the back of the sofa. Just before he fell asleep, he smiled crookedly at Yohji and mumbled, "Thanks, Yohji."
The tall blonde stood there for a few more minutes and watched as Aya slipped into a deep sleep. He smiled and pulled a blanket up over his friend as he whispered, "You're welcome."