A Question Too Many

By: Araki

Disclaimer: I do not own Medabots

Summary: When Ikki continuously shows up at the shop, never purchasing anything, Henry becomes curious. A simple question led to much embarrassment for the clerk.

Notes: Having seen no episodes, and only reading 1 book, I was tempted to see what you people have written. Being a huge yaoi fan, and finding very few yaoi fanfictions in the Medabots fandom, I had to make up for the loss. This is a oneshot until I decide otherwise, merely written on spur of the moment.

Glancing over the cash register, coal eyes met coal eyes. The same eyes that had been in the store every day, just sitting, waiting. Henry shook his head, unable to follow through with the manager's instructions the night before to tell the kid that loitering was not allowed. Ikki smiled. Handing over the change to the customer, Henry waited until the door chimed before looking back at the young boy. "Shouldn't you be in cram school right now?" He asked.

Six years had passed since they first met, the young boy was finally started to get more adult features. His face was slowly losing some of the extra baby fat that lined his cheeks, though a bit remained. His eyes had narrowed some, but not enough to make him lose the aura of innocence that age often took away. He'd also grown a lot. No longer was he barely chin to the counter or even a little more. He was growing steadily and looked as if he would become a tall man by the age of eighteen. "Don't you ever have class, college student-san?" He harassed in a joking manner.

With a grin, Henry brushed his fingers against his cheek, scratching the skin. "Ah. Morning classes, Ikki-chan. While you're in class, I'm in class. When you're released from school, I've long since been here and working. Have to pay the bills to get to that college."

"Would have thought you'd get out of this dump by now." Ikki looked around. Henry smiled. He might have said it was a dump, but the boy had many memories wrapping around the small convenience store.

"Hm." Henry ignored the sentence. "Are you going to buy anything today, Ikki, or are you just going to stare at my pretty face again?" For every day for the last two weeks, he didn't add. Patience was wearing thin at this point of the time. Ikki probably wanted something, just like the time he wanted a medabot and just stared at the boxes for hours every day for a year.

"Staring at your 'pretty face' will do." Ikki said. Henry jerked, trying to decide if he heard the boy right. "Hey, Henry! Can I ask you a question?"

Nodding, Henry looked up, deciding to forget that Ikki had ever said anything about his face. To pretend that the boy was just be sarcastic and defying as all teenagers were (Henry knew from experience on many levels). "Sure."

"Are you seeing anyone? You know, dating girls…or boys!"

Taken back by the question, the clerk slammed against one of the displays behind him, knocking everything over along with himself. "Henry! Henry, are you okay?" Ikki yelled staring over the counter at the fallen adult. In a bout of shock and anger at his own clumsiness, the male threw one of the items on the rack effectively against one of the new glass counters. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you, Henry!" The boy yelled.

"You didn't upset me." Henry sat up, the merchandise that had been on his chest and above falling into his lap. "Just caught me off guard. No. I'm not dating anyone, Ikki. Why are you asking?" He rushed out, nervousness taking over.

The teenager leaned on his elbows, staring down at the counter. "No reason. Just thought I'd ask."

"Want to talk about it?" Henry gazed over his shoulder as he lifted up the display, grimacing as more of the merchandise landed in a pile on the floor.

Ikki's face turned beet red, his fingers numbly played together. "Well…I have a crush on someone." He started off, his voice cracking with embarrassment as he continued to talk. A Cheshire cat grin etched over Henry's face. "W-we've known each other for a couple years now, and I just began to realize these feelings, and I don't know how to approach the subject with h-her." He corrected himself at the end, Henry noted. So, it's a 'him'. Poor guy, no wonder why he doesn't know how to approach. "I…I value our friendship, and I don't want to ruin it by coming out suddenly. She might hate me."

"I see." Henry nodded, placing the last item on the display case before standing up. "Well, I think you should approach her," he played along so the teenager didn't run off, "and give a subtle hint, be sweet and say 'I love you', maybe she will feel the same. If she hates you, then the friendship relationship wasn't worth it anyway." Very good advice, inner Henry cheered himself on.

The boy thought about it, his gaze glancing upward towards the ceiling of the convenience store, at the installed security camera. A red light flickered, far too dim to really tell if it was actually working. "Hm." He stared back down before walking behind the counter.

"Ikki! You can't be back here!" Henry yelled at his friend, but the boy ignored him. Instead, he jumped the older male, wrapping his arms around the clerk's neck and pecked the boy's cheek.

"I'll take your advice, Henry-kun!" He laughed. Jumping down, he ran out from behind the counter, his arm waving in the air. "But you're right; I'm late for cram school. Later!" And with that, he was no longer in the store, running hazardously down the road.

Standing flushed, Henry ran a hand were Ikki's lips had touched his flesh. Everything seemed to click with that bit of affection, and now the man didn't know what to say. Perhaps he'd sleep on it, and when he saw the young medabattler the next day, he'd share affection, or reason why a relationship was impossible. Nodding at the plan, Henry plastered on a fake smile as the door chimed a greeting for a new customer.

Japanese Learning from Story:

-san: The common suffix, -san is equivalent to Mr. Or Ms.

-chan: indicated friendly familiarity; most often applied towards girls

-kun: indicated friendly familiarity; most often applied towards boys or by someone of higher social status to someone beneath them.

Cram School: "Translated from Juku is a way of life for millions of Japanese students in Japan, where entrance into top high schools and universities is notoriously tough. Many students spend many hours of additional studying each day to prepare for entrance exams. As many as 60 percent of all Japanese students enroll in Juku some starting as early as preschool, in order to get an edge over the competition. Classes are offered after school, as well as on weekends and during holidays. But as participation is voluntary, student attend because they want to learn (well, parents might have a say in that too…)

Japanese college: A blessing and a curse. In Japan, college is free and paid based on taxes, but not everyone gets to go to a college or university. Like in European nations, to be chosen for a college requires much testing and some of the highest marks. While in college, retaining these marks means everything, if they drop, that student is dropped.