A/N I don't own the characters, but I enjoy playing around with them a bit more than I should I suppose. This story is SLASH (hence the kikiSLASHa) or in other words, boys will be loving each other--or thinking about loving each other--or being confused about loving each other. If you don't wanna read it, don't read it. Simple.

For those of the wonderful slashy mindset like myself, please enjoy this little brainchild. Nurture it with candy and comments. I love you.

Happy reading!

~Kiki

The bowl was filled with pebbles water and a small ceramic castle. Yazoo tipped the apartment's newest tenant into his new home gently.

The small orange fish splashed his tail fin as his set to exploring his small new world. Yazoo wiped the fleck of water from his cheek.

His roommate appeared over the rim of the fishbowl from the bathroom--the towel he'd wrapped haphazardly around his waist didn't hide much.

"Oh, hey Zoo." He called out when he noticed his roommate in the kitchen. "You know where my green shirt is?"

You mean the green shirt that dips just low enough at the collar to show off you smooth chest and hugs the line of your waist?

"Uh, unless it was brought up with the rest of your laundry you threw in with mine..."

"Oh, yeah, probably." Reno smirked and stalked off to his room to retrieve it.

Yazoo turned his attention back to his fish, trying hard to resist the urge to look at the outline of Reno's ass as he walked away. 

I didn't work, it was very nice. Not that Reno even noticed that Yazoo liked him. Looked at him. Was gay.

"He's so tragically straight." Yazoo sighed, tapping the glass bowl. The fish followed his finger, kissing the inside of the glass as if to reassure him. Yazoo smiled.

It was a stupid crush really. Reno had been his roommate after answering Yazoo's newspaper ad for another student to split rent with seven months prior. In that time, there had been sixteen different girls--seven having a return visit and only one coming back for a third time.

The man was a player, and not ashamed of it at all.

That didn't stop him from being incredibly sexy and desirable at any time of day and in all states of dress. It was completely unfair.

"Just watching though." Yazoo confided in the fish. "Kinda like how you must feel in there...right?"

The goldfish blew a bubble and went to sit in his castle. Yazoo laughed.

"Yeah, didn't really convince me either." He lifted the bowl from the counter and carried it over to his neat bookshelf.

"What should I name you?" He poked the outside of the bowl again, once more calling the goldfish to the inside of the glass.

"Hm, I could call you Turk." He laughed--but that would be silly. It was Reno's nickname with "the boys" after all. Usually the boy's night also coincided with the nights Yazoo had a lot of studying. The other boy's names were worse though--Chesty, Skimpy and Lug. Yazoo grinned.

"Hmm, Turkey...no, Maybe Chicken. I could call you Chicken." The fish offered another bubble as response. "Chicken it is. A good name in a rather ironic way."

"Who are you talking to Zoo?" Reno reemerged, still looking a bit damp but now dressed in that green shirt and a pair of worn jeans.

So unfair. Yazoo thought again.

"Just my fish. I bought him today."

Reno came over for a closer look, poking at the glass and scaring the goldfish into the confines of his castle.

"Huh. I don't think he likes me." He laughed. "I don't have to do anything with him, right?"

Oh, and Reno was awfully lazy too--until things got unavoidable. Another reason why this crush was stupid.

"No, Reno." Yazoo sighed, heading back towards the kitchen to clean up from the fishbowl setup. "He's my fish, so I'll look after him."

"Cool yo." Reno followed Yazoo like an over eager puppy. The reason was obvious, "You gonna cook something for dinner or--" Yazoo couldn't help but roll his eyes but he smiled. In a strange way, his he enjoyed Reno's dependency on him. It made him feel better than all those "chicks" Reno brought home.

"Well, if you could cut up some of these for a salad--" He pointed towards some carrots and peppers. "I may be persuaded to cook up some chicken and rice."

"Now that's why I love living here." Reno exclaimed happily as he reached for a knife and showed off a little by twirling it in his hand. The sound of precision chopping made Yazoo's smile wider as he sorted out the chicken and rice.

"Hey Zoo, I'm gonna be heading out tonight again." Reno remarked casually but it caught Yazoo off guard. That meant "the boys" would come over first, play loud drinking games until after eleven and then one of them would come ask Yazoo if he could drive them to the bar--where Reno would inevitably pick up. "So you wouldn't mind doing up some extra too you know--for the boys, yeah?"

Yazoo cursed himself, even as he took out some extra chicken breasts.

"Yeah, fine."

"You don't have to study for anything tonight, do you?"

"Not particularly. I can wait till you guys leave to do my reading." The pan sizzled as he threw the chicken in, adding oil and spices.

"Hey, don't get upset. You could come with us--"

"No, really, it's no problem Reno." Yazoo didn't want to remind the redhead that he couldn't afford to go out--scholastically or financially. "When are they coming?"

"In about half an hour." Reno plunked the vegetables in a large bowl and scooted around Yazoo to find the lettuce in the fridge. "We're gonna have a few with the game before we go." He bent down to get at the crisper and Yazoo couldn't help but peek. 

"That's fine." Yazoo snapped his attention back to his pan before Reno stood back up.

This was how things always were and Yazoo was convinced they always would be.

Reno was hot, annoying and totally oblivious and Yazoo was unsatisfied but dependable. Always used but never resentful.

It almost worked.

The night had gone as usual, Yazoo ended up driving the rowdy four to the bar and waved goodbye as he always did.

He was about to back out when Reno leaned in on his driver's window. Yazoo rolled it down.

"Hey, thanks again, really. I owe you."

"It's fine Reno--"

"No, I'm serious man." Reno said, the alcohol he'd already had made it pertinent. "You should come out some time."

Yazoo smiled and nodded. Promised he would and knew that Reno wouldn't remember the day after. He watched them go in and a loud yell erupted at their entrance. He pulled the car out and went home to do his reading. He hated how predictable it all was.

The apartment was quiet when he threw his keys to the table and went over to the bookshelf.

His fish bubbled at him.

"Yeah, I'm back. Boring old me." He tapped the glass gently and the fish kissed the inside--it was almost like he was reassuring him. "Thanks Chicken." He smiled and grabbed his book--already littered with post-its and blue inked notes in the margins.

He didn't realize how late it was or how tired he'd gotten until he was woken up by loud knocking on the door.

His book had fallen to the floor and he discovered a crick in his neck from falling asleep in the chair. He checked his watch. Four twenty-three a.m. Shit. He got up stiffly, plodded to the door and checked through the peephole. Reno was slumped against it, the only distinguishing feature his shocking red hair.

"You're home early." Yazoo said dryly as he opened the door. Reno fell inside and burst out laughing. "You didn't bring anyone home with you, did you?"

"Oh man Zoo, there was this one chick. She was all over this shit yo." He picked his way along the wall to collapse in the chair in the livingroom. 'Shoulda' seen the ass on this girl..." he laughed again. Yazoo crossed his arms unimpressed.

"You forgot your key."

"Yep. She was so hot man."

"You should go to bed Reno. Goodnight." Yazoo turned to go to his own room, not really wanting to hear about his straight roommate's escapades.

"I don't think I can." Reno laughed. Yazoo stopped and sighed as he turned around.

"Right."

"Serioush--serviouss--ly." Reno closed his eyes halfway. He looked like shit. No wonder the "chick" didn't follow him home tonight.

"So is that how you ask for help?" Yazoo crossed his arms again, but could feel his resolve weaken. He never pretended to have much willpower around Reno.

"Umm, yes." Reno grinned idiotically for a moment before launching in again. "You know, Lug wash--was really funny tonight."

"Uh huh." Yazoo said, pulling one of Reno's arms over his shoulder to try to drag him from the chair.

"Yeah. He said this thing--shit..." Reno appeared deep in thought and oblivious to the fact that Yazoo was trying to move him. "Oh yeah! He said that if you were a chick; it'd be even more handy to have you around!"

Yazoo dropped his arm and the redhead burst out laughing. The sense that would have normally told him to shut up had been left, probably unconscious, at the bar. He went on.

"Cause he said for a boy--you know, if you squint--you could be a pretty hot girl, you know?"

"No Reno, I don't know." Yazoo said coldly and grabbed his book up from the floor. He should have known better than to get offended by Reno's drunken nattering, but that had stung. "You can sleep there. I'm going to bed."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Reno sprung from the chair as if his stupor could no longer hold him back. "What'd I say?"

Yazoo stared at him for a moment, unable to put it into small enough words for Reno's one working brain cell.

"You're offended by being called a girl?" Reno teased. "It's your own fault you know--long hair," he flicked the ends of Yazoo's fringe, "thin arms, thin waist; heh; tight ass." He gave Yazoo ass a light slap, and the resulting smack across his jaw was almost instantaneous. Reno recoiled, his drunken bravado shattered as he clutched at his chin.

"Wha?--"

"Don't you ever treat me like one of your fucking night conquests, understand?" Yazoo pointed finger an inch from his nose gave Reno something to focus on. "Drunk or sober, you're going to have to live with me and I won't put up with your shit towards me."

Green eyes flashing, Yazoo swirled towards his room and slammed the door.

Reno had approximately five hours to sober up before he'd be late for class.

Needless to say, five hours wasn't be enough time for Reno to wake up from the night's drinking. When Yazoo woke up at seven thirty for his own class, he considered waking his roommate from where he sprawled on the couch, but couldn't bring himself to forgive him yet.

The extra from his breakfast did get arranged on a plate, plastic wrapped and left on the counter for his roommate though. The note he left beside it would negate the nice gesture however.

Breakfast. You're late for class you retard.

Yazoo still crunched on a piece of toast and had filled up his travel mug with coffee to head out the door. It was lucky he was a morning person or this schedule would have killed him.

He'd run a few errands after class and wasn't expecting Reno to be in the apartment when he returned. He had been assigned a huge reading complete with criticism--so he was surprised enough to drop his bookbag when a loud snore resounded through the apartment.

"Reno?" He rounded the corner of the hallway to see Reno sprawled further across the couch--face half buried in pillow and clothes and hair rumpled from his fitful sleep.

"Nice one there Turk." Yazoo said, picking up his books again and going to the kitchen for another cup of coffee. That would get Reno up.

He returned with two mugs and the plate of breakfast balanced on his arm. He didn't look very impressed.

"Reno." He said loudly, breaking the silence. He watched the Reno jump awake as he sat down across the coffee table from him.

"What? What?...What time is it?" Reno blinked, the look of surprise quickly morphing to one of dazed lethargy.

"Eleven."

"Eleven." Pause. "Oh...fuck." Reno brought his hands to cover his eyes--to block out the light. He sunk back down into the couch.

"Yep. Your class was at ten this morning, wasn't it?" Reno nodded, looking dejected. "Here. It's cold." Yazoo pushed the plate towards Reno. "And some coffee."

He took his won with him as he got up to stand by the bookshelf and feed his fish.

"Thanks Zoo." Reno said, recovering from the tragedy of missing a class relatively quickly. "You're a lifesaver." He attacked the plate of food. "I don't even know how much I had last night. What time did I get back?"

"Late."

"And I fell asleep here? Not unusual." Reno laughed, wincing only a little at the resulting throb of his cheek. "Hey, I must have gotten in a fight last night or something." He laughed again and tested his jaw. "Something hit me pretty hard."

"Really."

Reno paused. This was unusual too. Yazoo was normally very cheerful and helpful after his benders. A bottle of aspirin, some hot greasy food, a word or encouragement...

Great, what had he done?

"Hey Zoo, I didn't say anything to you last night, you know, anything stupid? Cause I was pretty drunk--"

"You're always pretty drunk Reno."

Oh shit, he had.

"I'm sorry." He was quick to say, although he had no recollection for what he was apologizing. "You know how I get yo--I don't mean any of it."

Yazoo rolled his eyes, his back still turned to Reno. He poked at Chicken's tank but the fish had disappeared into his castle with his fish flakes...

"You know," he started, "I don't really care what your friends think about me behind my back. I don't need to hear it. Really. I don't want to hear it."

Reno pushed the last corner of his toast around his plate, felling guilty. He couldn't remember exactly what had been said, but he knew the general agreement about Yazoo, about his mothering, his girlish figure... He'd fucked up.

"Right, sorry."

Yazoo finally turned.

"And it was me who hit you, if you were wondering. For grabbing my ass because you couldn't find a girl that was drunk enough to follow you home."

Reno opened his mouth, but couldn't make up an excuse fast enough for such a surprising fact.

"So now I'm going to the library to do my reading because it doesn't look like you're going anywhere soon and I really don't want to see you right now."

Yazoo grabbed his bag again and was gone as soon as he had grabbed a granola bar and shut the door loud enough to remind Reno that he had a headache.

And what a headache.

Not only had he spilled the beans on that inside joke, but he'd also drunkenly made fun of his roommate--at the same time lewdly making an ass of himself too.

Great.

He poured himself off the couch and another cup of coffee.

You know, for a boy-who-was-a-bit-girly, he packed a punch.

Ow.

These large land fish were strange. Aggressive behaviour was natural, but usually after the showing of interest and flourishes for a prospective mate, the one initiating the advances did not attack the mate...

Chicken blew another bubble.

The flashier red one was male, he could tell. No other land fish he'd seen displayed the same vibrant colours, obviously he was the best choice for his demurely coloured food provider.

There was very little difference between the land fish's genders except for their colouring and the silver one was clearly displaying the more female qualities--preparing food, a nesting habitat, and the more intricate displays of mating rituals.

Chicken's little mind spun with the complexity of the land fish's mating ritual.

But then again, the silver female had shown male-like dominance and aggressiveness towards the red--perhaps she was able to switch genders if the environment called for it.

Chicken decided that must be it and swam back into his castle to gloat over the fact that the silver landfish favoured him to give him all the delicious fish flakes.