(no subject)

[snoozing_kitten]

Hitler, a priest and a zebra walk into a bar...


Shinya,” Toshiya said softly, standing up…

“Toshiya?” Shinya asked sounding surprised, he was trying to untangle himself from an oddly quiet Die.

“Die?” Toshiya asked, the fallen man, Die didn’t look so well his face was sad and his eyes kept darting over to the direction Kaoru ran off in, Toshiya bit his lip feeling tears well in his eyes, this was all his fault…

“Toshiya…” Shinya said sadly, he could feel his own heart breaking, Die liked Kaoru and not him, and Toshiya looked so sad…

“Kaoru…” Die whispered softly, it had happened so fast, he’d hurt Kaoru.

Miyu whimpered, she wanted someone to say her name; that and they had almost fallen on her. Her heart was still beating way to fast and she felt shaky, they could have crushed her alive…

“Shinya I’m so sorry…” Toshiya said softly, he walked out of the bushes and knelt quickly undoing the leash so he could help get them both off the cold ground.

“It’s okay,” Shinya looked away and picked up his dog, Miyu must have been cold she was shaking.

“Where does Kaoru live?” Die asked, he would have stopped and wondered what the hell the other two were talking about but he was still thinking about how sad Kaoru looked.

“I don’t know,” Toshiya admitted, Die growled in frustration. Toshiya shrank away, cringing; how could he have been so blind? Sighing Toshiya realized that he truly did belong with this group of friends; he couldn’t see a bright red barn in the middle of a field…

“Before Kaoru we should talk,” There was a tone of finality in Shinya’s voice, and Die looked scolded while Toshiya only nodded obediently.

“Kyo’s is closest,” Die said looking in the direction on the small man’s house,

“Right,” Toshiya nodded, his slim shoulders slumped.

~~

Kaoru ran. And he ran, and he got lost again, he tripped and fell in a pile of leaves. Sitting up he picked the leaves out of his hair and whipped his cheeks, only absently noting that this was hell on his makeup. He walked a little calmer, the memory of Die chasing him like a bad dream, was I that bad? Kaoru thought absently, he figured sex was one of their things that one couldn’t do wrong but apparently he had done it all wrong. Why else would Die be kissing Shinya? Other then the fact that Shinya was prettier then him, Kaoru hung his head low, he could feel the tears well in his yes ‘will not cry, will not cry, why am I crying?’

Kaoru bit his lip, he shouldn’t be this upset it was one night, one night it shouldn’t mean so much; did the weeks up till that night mean nothing too? Kaoru wondered to himself; it was impossible to deny, he had watched enough sappy romance movies in his life to know what stared him in the face, to know what was tearing his heart apart. He had fallen in love with Die, probably even when he had first looked down at him while he was laying on the street in pain.

“Die…” Kaoru whispered to himself, he was cold he was miserable, he was slightly lost, and his make-up was ruined. Oh and he had just caught Die kissing another boy, what else did fate have in store for him? Another pole?

“Kaoru?” Kaoru looked up, in his self induced misery he had found his way back to the bar, Yoshiki was still sitting there smoking casually –the difference being the pile of butts in the tray- Yoshiki ran his eyes over him with worry. “Are you okay?” The other looked terrible, his eyes were puffy -the tears and the contacts not blending well- his hair was messed and had leaves stuck in it, make-up had two runny tracks down his smooth cheeks, the black bleeding down his face. ‘You look like you got hit by a bus’ Yoshiki wanted to say but was too polite.

“I’m fine” Kaoru looked at his plat-formed feet, why had he done this again? Oh yeah for Die, the thought stung; he gave a small smile at Yoshiki, the other looked really off guard.

“You seem a little …distressed” Yoshiki commented, a needless comment, Kaoru knew he looked like shit. He would have preferred it if Yoshiki hadn’t seen him like this, all he wanted to do was go back home with his dairy –to miserable to call it a journal- and his tissue box and think –cry- for a while.

“I- …I…” Kaoru stopped and Yoshiki smiled, he could remember a time when he was younger; when he would go out and get his heart broken, hell he could remember a time standing in front of his mentor wearing a mini skirt after getting his heart broken, but his hair hadn’t been pink it had been long then…so very long and pretty. “I really think I loved him…” Kaoru sighed, Yoshiki looked at him, a small smile on his face.

“I think we’ve all been there,” ‘Some of us a few times more then others’ Yoshiki thought sadly, he wished he could be young again before he stopped that thought…he wasn’t old and he still was part of the ‘scene’ chucking to himself. His younger lover must be affecting him he if was starting to actually believe he was old. “Want a drink?”

“…Okay,” Come from any other person sitting outside of their own bar that would have sounded tacky, but instead Yoshiki made it sound comforting and Kaoru was left in awe over the pure …coolness of the man before him. Yoshiki stood gracefully and smiled at Kaoru walking towards the parking lot.

“Where are you going?” Kaoru asked confused, were they not standing in front of the bar Yoshiki owned?

“My house, you coming?” Yoshiki smirked when Kaoru looked away an embarrassed expression on his face. ‘Still the same.’

~~

It took about five rings on the doorbell and small teeth sinking into his finger to wake Kyo up.

“Fuck….smmm…grrrr,” Kyo murmured, he wore only his boxers; stumbling his way to the door –Puchi and Buchi went scurrying under the desk to avoid being stepped on- he glared at it.

“Kyo open up,” That was Shinya’s voice, standing there with a foul look on his face Kyo opened the door, there all his friends stood.

“Go away.” Kyo growled, Shinya rolled his eyes;

“Let us in.” Kyo moved out of the way for his friends to come in. Kyo shrugged to himself and went into his small kitchen to get himself a drink, they had woken him up; they could get their own damned drinks.

“…” Silence settled over he living room, Die was upset, Toshiya blamed himself and Shinya was dejected. Kyo walked in –not even bothering to but pants on, he hated clothing- with Puchi and Buchi on his heels squeaking happily. Kyo sighed and sat down heavily on his couch.

“Why the fuck did you wake me up?” Kyo growled, he was by far the most blunt and to the point of all of them.

“I made a mistake…” Toshiya sniffled looking on the verge of tears again,

“Me too,” Shinya said holding his dog like a teddy bear,

“Me three.” Die said softly looking at his hands,

“Waking me up was a mistake,” Kyo said crossly, but sighed none the less, “Now tell Daddy-Kyo what you did wrong,” Kyo snickered and smiled inwardly when each of his friends smiled a little.

“It was my fault, all my fault,” Toshiya started, Kyo nodded –isn’t it always?- “I thought Shinya was lonely, and he really liked Die…” There was a small yelp where Shinya had gripped his dog a little to tightly.

“Sorry,” Shinya muttered, he put Miyu on the ground where she was promptly rushed by two tan blurs.

“Continue on,” Kyo sighed, he could feel that this was going to leave him with one hell of a headache; so far this was turning into a nice plot for a shojo manga…not that he did any of those.

“So I tried to get Die and Shinya together in the park,” Toshiya looked miserable, Kyo lifted an eyebrow,

“You didn’t know about Kaoru?” Kyo asked, Toshiya looked angry,

“You did?!” Die had been quiet through all of this so far.

“Kyo knew, no one else” Die answered softly looking at Toshiya with a little shrug, “I wanted him to myself for a while,” Toshiya bit his lip.

“So then what happened?” Kyo asked in his head he was making notes, why had he not noticed that this would make the perfect story before?

“Well me and Miyu got them kissing in the moon light,” Shinya turned a bright red, Die’s hands tightened,

“Miyu?!” Kyo asked confused but Toshiya only nodded.

“…Kaoru,” Kyo looked at Die, he could tell where this was going but it was better to let them say it. “Kaoru saw us.”

“So you woke me up for this!” Kyo huffed,

“It’s important to us.” Toshiya said crossing his arms,

“Yeah yeah I know,” Kyo waved his hand dismissively, he had inspiration now, and he wanted his pens…

“I need a smoke,” Toshiya whined before he stood, stressful situations always made him want to smoke. Toshiya stood to go out on Kyo’s small balcony,

“I’ll join you,” Kyo stood and followed Toshiya, little did he know how cold it was and how soon he would be wishing he were wearing clothing.

“So you like me?” Die asked Shinya once they were alone, the other nodded miserably. “…” Die couldn’t think of anything to say to that…he had actually never noticed.

“Yeah…Listen I’m really sorry,” Shinya apologized slowly, “I’ll…I’ll get over it…” Die only looked sadder,

“I’m sorry too,” Die took Shinya’s hand in his, “I can’t…I …l…l-love,” Die all but chocked on the word, “Kaoru…”

“How!” Shinya shrieked standing up suddenly –this sent all three small animals hiding under the couch- “How can you love him when you’ve only known him for a month when you’ve known me for years!” Shinya was upset and Die could see that, he didn’t quite know what to do about it though.

“Fuck it’s cold…” Kyo came back in the room rubbing his bare arms, he hadn’t even got to finish his cigarette. Shinya stormed past him in an angry fit, “Should I ask?” Kyo said to Die who was looking at the pretty boy who had just left him.

“I’m bad at this love business…” Die grinned at the shorter man; Kyo nodded his agreement.

“Die, you suck.” Kyo agreed amiably before plopping on the couch in the spot that Shinya had left just moments earlier. “But what are you going to do about it?” Kyo asked seriously.

“I don’t know…I want to talk with him,” Die sighed, “But I have no clue where he lives or what his phone number is…” Die sighed in defeat, “I could stake out his bar…”

“If I told you I can give you his phone number would you agree to leave so I can sleep?” Kyo smirked at the red head.

“…Should I even ask Kyo?” Die felt a bubble of hope, he hadn’t totally fucked up yet, what did Auntie always say? No matter what never give up hope? Die was quite sure Auntie had never said that but it sounded fitting for his situation.

“Please don’t” Kyo grimaced, “You’ll need to wait a moment,” Kyo stood to find his phone, he had the sneaking suspicion that it was lost in the couch…

~~

“Shinya?” Toshiya asked surprised when Shinya came out on the small balcony, Shinya hung his head low.

“Why?” Shinya asked softly, Toshiya frowned; he put out the cigarette and stared at the other man intently. “Why couldn’t he like me, and why did you give me hope,” Shinya all but snarled at the other man, Toshiya flinched. He knew this was all his fault; and Shinya’s pain only hurt him more.

“Shin-chan I’m sooo sorry,” Toshiya hung his head now, “I only wanted to make you happy,” Toshiya looked so sad and dejected Shinya couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. After all Toshiya really did want to help… Shinya sighed; he couldn’t stay mad at Toshiya.

“I know Toshiya I know,” And Shinya hugged Toshiya, it was okay, everything would be okay…

~~

Somewhere inside Miyu thought she was going to go insane, they wouldn’t leave her alone,

OMG!!! What is that! Puchi and Buchi had been following it, it wasn’t really big but it was bigger then them. It smelled good and it made a funny noise when Puchi did catch it and take a bite. Things weren’t supposed to make noises when you bit them…therefore the brothers decided that it wasn’t food.

Miyu barked, she wanted out, she wanted away from the annoying little things that wouldn’t shut up. Little did Miyu know that was the exact same thing Kyo thought about her.




A man drinks a shot of whiskey every night before bed. After years of this, the wife wants him to quit; she gets two shot glasses, filling one with water and the other with whiskey.

After getting him to the table that had the glasses, she brings his bait box. She says "I want you to see this." She puts a worm in the water it, and it swims around.

She puts a worm in the whiskey, and the worm dies immediately. She then says, feeling that she has made her point clear, "what do you have to say about this experiment?"

He responds by saying: "If I drink whiskey, I won't get worms!"


“Here,” Yoshiki held the can of beer out for the slim man slitting on his couch; Kaoru looked at him and took it before looking at his feet. Yoshiki was about to open his mouth to offer a fatherly –if not innuendo laced- comment when the shrill sound of his cell phone ringing cut him off.

Kaoru looked up when Yoshiki smiled, “Sorry I’ll be with you in a moment,” Kaoru nodded at Yoshiki and the older man stood up to search for his light jacket to find his cell phone.

While Yoshii left the room Kaoru let his eyes wander around the spacious living room, why did a single man need such a big house? Did Yoshiki-sama make so much money owning a bar that he could afford such a big house? Kaoru secretly wondered if Yoshiki was like a secret spy sometimes, he knew many important people, and he wore such expensive clothing, and he drove one of the nicest cars Kaoru had ever seen!

Indeed Kaoru was trying to distract himself from the anger and frustration building in his heart. And so he continued to look around the room for proof of his suspicions. The only thing that looked out of place in the stylishly decorated room was sitting on the table in front of him. ‘A cowboy hat?’ Kaoru wondered, it defiantly clashed with anything that Kaoru had ever seen Yoshiki wear but at the same time it looked oddly familiar.

“Hey gorgeous,” Yoshiki all but purred into the phone, looking at the call waiting he knew that number off by heart.

“Call me that again and I’ll rip off your-“ Kyo suddenly shut up, and Yoshiki smirked into the phone knowing that Kyo would know he was smirking; he leaned casually on the wall.

“So is this a casual call? Don’t you normally sleep at this hour?” Yoshiki could almost feel the other pouting cutely through the phone, “Or did you miss me?”

“As if.” Kyo hissed, Kyo looked to the side; Die was looking at him odd, god he wished he had a cordless phone… “I need to ask you a favour…” Kyo was hating every moment of this.

“Do I get a reward?” Yoshiki purred and Kyo much to his mortification could feel the blush rising in his cheeks, Die looked amused and Kyo wanted to hit him.

“Fuck off.” Kyo snarled, just to make things worse Toshiya and Shinya had just walked into the room,

“That’s no way to talk if you want a favour,” Yoshiki leaned his back against the wall, he took a long sip from his own drink; wait a little longer.

“…’m sorry…” Kyo mumbled, his friends were looking at him with shock, Toshiya turned to Die ‘who is it?’ he lipped to the red haired man, Die only shrugged his shoulders.

“Okay, I’ll forgive you,” Yoshiki could hardly suppress his laughter, how he loved playing with the younger man. “What did you want?”

“Can you give me Kaoru’s phone number?” Kyo asked his voice was quiet, silently pleading Yoshiki not to tease him. Yoshiki’s eyebrows shot up; what would Kyo need that for, did it have anything to do with the reason Kaoru looked so crushed?

“…What do you want with it?” Yoshiki thought about it,

“…Please?” Kyo asked, he felt flushed again his friends were all staring at him with shock, Kyo wasn’t known for his manners. ‘Die had better fucking appreciate this’ Kyo mentally snarled; he’d managed to keep his relationship with the older man secret for so long.

“Okay, but you have to promise to make him happy again, I don’t want any more depressed; two in less then a week is enough,” Yoshiki figured that despite the younger man’s crude nature he was a nice boy, and if this had anything to do with the reason his bartender looked so sad the smaller man was only trying to help. “But first say it,” he couldn’t help it.

“What!” Kyo yelped; his face took on a dark look, glaring at his friends, just daring them to laugh. “Why is Kaoru at your house,” He tried to hide his minor outburst by giving away that piece of information, it worked but only on one of his friends. Die’s eyes widened; Kyo was suddenly struck by the fear that Die was going to run over to him and snatch the phone away. Die smouldered silently, Kaoru was with Yoshiki, if he knew where Yoshiki lived he could go and rescue his fair maiden from the clutches of the evil older man. What if Yoshiki tried to seduce him and in Kaoru’s sadness he picked Yoshiki- Kyo was already stretching the cord as for as it would go and could not get any further from the normally docile red head- what if Yoshiki stole his Kaoru away! Die seethed,

“I’ll give you the phone number after you beg for it.” It’s always the pretty ones who were the most sadistic.

“…Please?” Kyo asked again,

“Not good enough,” Yoshiki commented, “I’ve heard you do better when I-“

“Okay!” Kyo cried suddenly, “please Yoshiki-sama give it to me,” Kyo voice had that pleading tone to it he knew the older man loved and he phrased his wordsjust to awaken the lust that Kyo knew –very well- lay just beneath the surface of Yoshiki’s calm face. There was a gasp from behind him that must have belonged to Toshiya and he wanted to fling the phone at them, the snickering must have been Die.

Yoshiki restrained a moan, ‘little brat’ he thought fondly, “Okay,”

~~

Die was at home pacing back and forth; he had been doing so for the last ten minutes or so.

“What to do, what to do, what to do!” He muttered angrily to himself; he had fucked this whole thing with Kaoru up –with a little help from his friends- and now he was given a chance to fix it. But how? The small piece of paper was practically burning in his wallet, phone number and address, all he needed to get Kaoru back, all he needed; but a plan.

Die flopped boneless on the couch –the couch that Kaoru liked so much- he needed a plan, a plan. His hands clenched in his hair and he was surprised to find his eyes fill with hot tears of frustration. The longing was too much, the anger was too much, Die had never felt this intense about a person before. Die had been scared to feel like this, a fear of falling and not being able to leave, a fear of pain that love inevitably causes. So whenever he had started to really like someone he always left, the minor pain would fade and he could go on with his life. This time it happened to fast, this time he had no control over it; he was in love with Kaoru faster then the beat of his heart –a heart that belonged to a certain pink haired man-; and look they were hurt. That’s all love is, pain.

“Kaoru…” Die sighed, and wiped away salty tears; it was to late he was in love, and he knew he would be miserable unless he got Kaoru back. He would think of a plan in the morning, it was late and he was tired, so tired.

And so Die fell asleep and dreamed of his love.

~~

Kaoru woke up on an unfamiliar couch, he looked around sleepily, his eyes unfocused; the blanket wrapped around him was comfortable and so he just slumped into it. He knew he couldn’t hide here forever; he would have to get up and go home, he would have to face the world again. Rolling on to his side he curled up into a tighter ball. What was he going to do, Die didn’t want him anymore; was everything Die did a big ploy to get in his pants?

It did feel like it, god he hoped it wasn’t; he liked Die too much for that. It didn’t seem like Die would do a thing like that. He was so confused; he curled up tighter, too much thinking to early hurt his brain.

~~

Toshiya woke early, he still felt awful, he’d hurt those closest to him. Toshiya had been told many times that he was too emotional, that he put to much attachment on the people and objects around him. Sitting in his bed holding his pillow he stared at his wall, the wall itself was red –the colour soothed him and the whole room was painted in that shade- and there were pictures of him and all his friends on said wall. A silent testament of his attachment.

It was all his fault. He’d been to stupid to see that Die wanted Kaoru; or maybe subconsciously he just wrote off the attraction as another conquest of the great Die. He just wanted them to be happy, but the look of actual pain that crossed Die’s face, the look of shock on Kaoru’s and the rejection of Shinya’s face. Toshiya whimpered, what had he done?

~~

Shinya looked at his food, the food looked back, his eyes seeing the soup but not thinking about it; Miyu was under the table crunching loudly on her gourmet dog food. Shinya had classes soon but felt listless, he didn’t want to go there, he didn’t want to sit though anything knowing that he couldn’t fantasize about Die, his fantasies had gotten him through many a boring lecture. The rejection was harsh but at the same time it was expected, he’d been trying to get Die and Kaoru together after all; he knew that the attraction was there, he knew that Die was already hooked on some one, someone who was not him.

“I’ll always have you wont I?” Shinya smiled sadly to himself and looked under the table to where the small dog was eating.

~~

“Die if I get one more paper cut I’m going to kick your ass,” Kyo snarled at the red haired man.

“Kyo you just lack the elegance to do this right,” Toshiya laughed, the paper in his hands folding easily under his long fingers.

“Sorry I’m not a girl,” Kyo snarled at the other man, he was irritable; Toshiya hadn’t stopped prodding him about his relationship with the bar owner all day, not to mention the minute he finally kicked them out of his house last night he had rushed over to Yoshiki’s to see if Kaoru’s modesty was still intact –he’d told himself it was for Kaoru but a deeper part was jealousy that Kaoru was with Yoshiki and not him. At Yoshiki’s Kyo had found the small man sleeping on the couch and Yoshiki gone, Kyo tried to get out again- he failed. Kyo was tired and sore, he hated the older man for always being able to catch him –to tame the one who would not be tamed so the ledged goes- and then to wake him up at six and kick him out the door to go to class. Insensitive prick- he let Kaoru sleep. So Kyo was tired, he was sore, he was miffed at his lover, and he was hungry on top of it all; it seemed fate was intent of ruining him for the day so he could better match his emotionally fucked friends.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Shinya said loftily, eyes glaring at the small man who only shrugged his shoulders, face set in a scowl.

“I’m a man and I’m doing fine,” Die said affronted slightly; Kyo only rolled his eyes,

“You’ve been doing this since you were a little kid,” Kyo snapped back, Die only grinned at the small man, he felt much better now that he was doing something; he was going to get Kaoru back no questions asked. It was about four in the afternoon and the four friends were sitting around Die’s living room in a loose circle, they had been here for about an hour; the huge stack of origami paper had slowly been used up and was now only a mere shadow of it’s former glory. In the middle of their circle was a large stack of multicoloured origami flowers.

If one looked close enough one could easily see the difference in each flower. Die’s were sure and perfectly formed, each line sure and straight years of practice at origami morphed into perfectly shaped petals. Kyo’s first few attempts had needed to be put out of their misery but as time went along he stopped feeling sorry for his creations, and they even began to look vaguely like flowers. Shinya’s flowers were elegant, tending more towards style then form –unlike the other’s Die were of a perfect form and Kyo had no form- it was paper at it’s most elegant. Toshiya’s flowers weren’t perfect but he wasn’t bad at it either; you could tell his because he tended towards the pastel blue ones, he liked that colour.

“Do we have enough yet I’m tired of this,” Kyo muttered, yeah origami could be fun, but this was too much. Kyo was all for Die’s plans to get Kaoru back, as long as it didn’t include hours of folding paper. Short attention spans do not help with origami.

“Maybe, Kyo why don’t you go down stairs and ask if we can borrow a big basket from Auntie?” Die didn’t look up he was focused on another flower, to him each flower was made with a thought, each flower was a part of himself that he wanted to give to Kaoru, each a small offering for their happiness.

Kyo was gone for a good half an hour, when he did come back he had the basket and a bag full of what can only be assumed food Auntie had given him. He was grinning devilishly, Shinya rolled his eyes.

“Okay,” Die sighed, “Thanks for all your help, I’ll get the rest done,”

“No you won’t,” Toshiya said pouting slightly, “I screwed everything up, I’m going to help you.” He gave his head a firm nod, he tried to look imposing but it came of as more of a pout.

“I want you to be happy Die, so I’m helping too,” Shinya nodded at Die and Toshiya smiled at the pretty man.

“I’m just curious,” Kyo said with a shrug, “So I’m helping too.”

“Thanks guys,” Die smiled at them. “So this is the plan…”

~~

Kaoru had been hiding, as much as he would have loathed calling it that it was the truth- he was hiding. Kaoru hadn’t left his house since he’d gotten back from Yoshiki’s, he needed food and he should have gone to class. But the thought of leaving pissed him off and so he stayed, after all Die didn’t know where he lived; and to him this was a small form of revenge.

Kaoru couldn’t sit down and watch a movie, all the romance made him think of Die, his and Die’s romance, it would make a good story, ‘It all started with a pole’ Kaoru thought with a pathetic sigh, the perfect cliché. He couldn’t bring himself to watch some horror gore-fest either, and so after cleaning his already tidy apartment from top to bottom he had turned to the next best thing to keep him occupied –baking. Lo and behold one batch of cookies and one cake, and one lone Kaoru to eat it all. Looking at the lonely cake and wondering if Die liked cake he was hit with another wave of sadness and anger.

He was brought out of his silent angst but the sound of his doorbell resounding thought his lonely house. Frowning in confusion Kaoru left his silent vigil over his cooking and made his way to the door. He really hoped that it wasn’t someone important; he was wearing his pyjamas and covered in flour, his hair was messy and he must have looked like a flour tornado blew through his home.

Kaoru opened the door a crack, nothing. Opening it further he looked around, there was no one; frowning in confusion a riot of colour out of his peripheral vision caught his attention; looking down at his feet he felt his knees go suddenly weak.

Die hadn’t forgotten about him, the sheer mass of flowers proved that.

“Oh god…” Kaoru whispered, he knelt in front of the basket, it was a huge basket –what practical use it had for anything escaped him; but he ignored that- filled and over flowing with paper flowers. There were flowers in every colour he could think of the colours of the rainbow in paper plus a few, they made a bed for the single red rose laying on top, attached to the rose was a pure white card –natural colours, stark white and the many violently bright shades of the origami contrasted beautifully and reminded him of Die. Kaoru looked around for who had delivered the basket but finding no one still he dragged it inside his house. Lifting the rose he took off the card from the long thornless stem, he flipped open the card a sense of joy and anticipation welling inside him.

‘Meet me by the fountain at sunset, please?
Daisuke,’

Kaoru held the card to his chest and smiled at the mass of paper flowers spilling from the huge basket –he decided that it could be used to hold fruit- had paper flowers ever smelled so sweet?



An Irishman walks into a bar in Dublin, orders three pints of Guinness and sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more. The bartender asks him, "You know, a pint goes flat after I draw it; it would taste better if you bought one at a time." The Irishman replies, "Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in America, the other in Australia, and I'm here in Dublin. When we all left home, we promised that we'd drink this way to remember the days when we drank together." The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there.

The Irishman becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same way: ordering three pints and drinking them in turn. One day, he comes in and orders two pints. All the other regulars notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, "I don't want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your great loss." The Irishman looks confused for a moment, then a light dawns in his eye and he laughs. "Oh, no," he says, "Everyone's fine. I've just quit drinking."


“Is everything ready?” Die looked around at his friends; the two were busy moving around like ants under his cruel dictatorship. Shinya was setting the blanket up, he placed the cloth on the ground; smoothing out every wrinkle that had the misfortune to fall under his hands. Toshiya was playing with the leftover flowers waiting for Shinya to finish with the blanket so that he could decorate it. Kyo was absent at the moment; he was meeting them with the rest of the supplies. Die chewed on his full lip; he looked at the guitar sitting in its case shining in the light. He had thought for a long time, and thought; he couldn’t express himself with the words he wanted- all his high marks in English meant nothing when Kaoru smiled at him and he forgot what he was supposed to say. He couldn’t draw like Kyo nor was he able to express himself without conscious effort –a la Shinya- and so he resorted to what he was good at, using his hands. How badly he wanted to run said hands all over pale skin worship that slender body while begging for forgiveness, but alas Kaoru was still mad at him and he should at least mend their bond before jumping straight to the sexy fun.

Die had learned many interesting things as a child –origami, kendo, ikebana, and last but not least how to play the guitar- and out of all the things that he had learned in his traditionally inclined family he liked the guitar the most. He had already made Kaoru paper flowers, he could have made Kaoru a beautiful flower arrangement, or challenged him to a kendo match and the winner could keep the loser’s heart, but decided that this was by far the most effective.

“Almost, Shinya you missed one!” Toshiya snickered when Shinya looked for the one wrinkle that would have escaped his wrath. Shinya rolled his eyes at the older man who just giggled to himself.

“If it’s not Die it Kyo if it’s not Kyo it’s you…” Shinya muttered, and it was the truth, Die liked to tease him about his size and the fact that Die could easily lift him up and throw him in a pond –which had happened on several occasion Toshiya landing beside him. Kyo bothered him about his looks, the midget man seemed intent on the belief that Shinya was secretly a woman; this pissed Shinya off simple because even if he did have a liking for skirts that didn’t mean he couldn’t stand up for his masculinity. Toshiya, well Toshiya would be Toshiya, the older man was a lot of things, he liked to joke and kid around but he would never hurt anyone on purpose. Besides out of all his friends if not for Toshiya who else would he go shopping with? Kyo, eww no, he had the fashion sense of a blind monkey.

“We only do it because we love you!” Toshiya fluttered pretty eyelashes at his friend; a coy smile curling on glossed lips.

“Are you two done yet?” Die looked cross, “do I need to do that?” Mocha eyes levelled on the two bickering pretty boys and both shrank away. Toshiya began to artfully strew the flowers on the black blanket, these flowers were only a deep red colour, they landed like bloody snow drops on the blanket and Toshiya was very proud of himself for his work. If Kaoru didn’t fall for Die at least let him be wooed by the pretty setting! Toshiya gave a teasing smile to Shinya; the other was playing with a corner of the blanket,

“Ne Shin-chan, Die needs to relax maybe we should…” Toshiya let his voice trail off leaning in close to the shell of the other’s ear he blew in it softly making a slight whistling noise to make it sound like he was whispering. As planned Shinya blushed at the close contact and Die’s eyes widened, Toshiya couldn’t control the evil smile that spread across his face, be mean to him? Nope, Toshiya always got his revenge!

“Stop fooling around,” Die said, he looked away from them; he could feel heat rise in him, stupid stupid them and their sexy thoughts. Thinking about sex at all led his mind straight back to the pink haired man, Sex + Kaoru = Happy Die. Sunset couldn’t come fast enough.

~~

“AHHH!” Kaoru threw himself at his bed amidst the piles of clothing, moaning he rolled over. What was he going to wear? What did Die want him to wear? What time was sunset exactly? Should he bring some cookies? Lots of question and very few answers. Why couldn’t he have a fairy grandmother who would come along and poof him up the perfect outfit? Looking out his window he cursed that his apartment faced east, it must be time to go soon anyway…

Die, Die, Die, words can’t fit feelings and so the voices go unanswered and the journal left untouched.

~~

Kaoru walked paths that should have been familiar but since in to him the paths changed with the light –day light, half-light, and moon light- he was on a totally new path today. A new path that would lead him to Die, he smiled to himself at the thought; he couldn’t help, didn’t want to help, the romantic thoughts that played tag in his head. He wanted with all his heart to believe that Die would tell him that it was a misunderstanding, and that he was the only boy for Die. And so Kaoru continued walking thinking about love and about life, and about wasted tears and wasted fears.

Then he was grabbed suddenly, Kaoru made a very dignified noise –like if you stepped on one of Kyo’s rats- as he titled and fell against strong thin chest.

“Hush!” Kaoru stilled glaring heatedly,

“Toshiya if you don’t get your hands off of me I’ll hack them off with a butter knife!” Kaoru squirmed in the taller man’s arms; Toshiya was totally ruining his hair!

“You sound like Kyo,” Toshiya laughed, “calm down, I’m only helping” ‘Really helping this time’. Kaoru pushed away from Toshiya, he was facing back the way he came so he couldn’t see the clearing ahead of him where Die was swiftly –and silently- double checking everything, was there forks to go with the picnic?

“What do you want then?” Kaoru asked, he had never been fond of Toshiya but recently he’d gotten used to other and it was almost bearable to be in the same room with him. This time did not apply; he had some sort of odd notion that he should be mad at Toshiya though he couldn’t think of a single reason why…

“I’m just distracting you!” Toshiya said with a wink, Kaoru only blinked stupidly at him.

“I’ll hold you tie!” Kyo’s voice was suddenly behind Kaoru and he stiffened, two sets of hands grabbed him so he couldn’t escape. Kaoru was more or less shocked and the thought of struggling didn’t even cross his mind; what the hell was going on?!

“Don’t worry,” the deep voice belonged to Shinya, cold hands on his face must have therefore also belonged to Shinya,

“About what? Being kidnapped by you psychos?” Kaoru asked back slightly jokingly –ever so slightly serious- a blindfold was being slipped over his eyes, the silky black material caressed his eyelids, and he was cut off from sight.

“Very funny,” That would be Kyo…

“Walk this way,” Toshiya on the other side, Kaoru tried to peek through the material but he couldn’t see anything. Putting all his faith in the three of them to walk him around when he was blind was difficult; his phobia of poles seemed to amplify despite his knowledge that there were no poles here in the park.

“Here sit…” That would be Shinya…behind him. Kaoru eased himself onto the ground slowly; something made an odd crunching noise under him.

“…ummm,”

“Don’t worry it was only a flower,” Kyo’s voice in his ear, ‘more paper flowers?’ Kaoru thought wildly, where did they find time to make so many flowers!

“I’m really sorry,” Shinya said softly, long blond hair ticked the side of his face when Shinya poke to him; and Kaoru could hear him moving away –the rustle of a long skirt- and was stunned for a moment not quite realizing why Shinya would be apologizing, he could only remember how it had felt to see Die kissing someone else; it had completely become irrelevant that that someone was Shinya.

“Me too,” Toshiya said softly and Kaoru wondered what Toshiya was apologizing for, did he make him step in something unpleasant?

“I’m not,” Kyo’s light joke eased a small knot of tension in him, “good luck,” Kyo said next before he too left. Silence filled the air and Kaoru wondered where they had left him.

Die stared at Kaoru; his friends had all smiled at him when they set the blindfolded boy down with him on the blanket. Kaoru looked nice in a pair of pinstriped pants –in case it was cold again- and a white button up vest. Die took a deep –but silent- breath and let it out, now was his chance, he had to make Kaoru see that even if it was too fast, even if it seemed impossible, he was head over heels in love.

“Die?” Kaoru called, okay he was a bit freaked out; the seconds ticked by and he felt all alone.

“Yes?” Die answered; he smiled on the look of relief that flooded through Kaoru’s face.

“I just wanted to know you were there…” Kaoru said, he couldn’t decide what he actually wanted. He wanted to be angry at Die, he wanted to forgive Die, and he wanted… he wanted to be able to see.

“I’m here…” Die said, Kaoru was looking at him, or at least looking in the direction of his voice. “I’ll always be here…” Die said it softly; to soft to hear? Maybe.

“Good, I really don’t want to be alone,” Die could see the slight flush on pale skin; it gave him strength. The blush that suited Kaoru so well, the look Kaoru had when they were the closest, the look that let him know that forgiveness was an option –Kaoru still cared enough about him to be embarrassed by him.

“I-“ Die faltered, his words failed him; looking at Kaoru he couldn’t find the words he had so carefully set up, long speeches he had put together, the little Dies in his head were all spacing out completely tangled in the web of his own doubt and Kaoru’s alluring –and distracting- helpless beauty. Sighing Die did what he always did, when in doubt; resort to touch, he lifted his hand to let it brush one cheek, Kaoru turned his head in that direction. “I’m sorry.” He said finally.

And Kaoru might have said something back if he wasn’t so busy being kissed. It had been what a full twenty-four hours since Die had kissed him? And still he drank it up like a starving man, while kissing back Kaoru felt like his insides were melting. Die cupped the back of Kaoru’s head and kissed him deeper, who needs insides?

Behind a conveniently placed ring of trees, to the left of where Toshiya had hid the night before, four people watched this little drama unfold.

“Oh my gosh!” Toshiya whispered, “They are so cute,”

“Yeah…” Shinya nodded, as much as it pained him; it was clear that Kaoru was meant for Die.

“It’s so sweet I think my teeth are rotting,” Kyo said with a nod also watching them; they couldn’t hear what they were saying but the pure perfection in the atmosphere around them gave it away. The only way it could get clearer that this was two people in love was if there were tacky anime hearts floating around them.

“They make a perfect couple,” Yoshiki nodded, he had been snared into this little plan by Kyo, he had a car and was needed to transport. That and he had gotten bored since You had left for Milan and Kaoru was here there was no way to open the bar.

“Hug me!” Toshiya cried, small tears forming in his eyes, with all the spare love floating around in the air he was feeling lonely. Shinya rolled his eyes before hugging his emotional friend. Yoshiki grabbed Kyo faster then the small man could dart away, pulling the younger man into a tight embrace he cut off any objections with a demanding kiss.

“I want to share this with you, actually I had them blind fold you for this…” Kaoru looked confused, Die grinned at the other man before remembering that he couldn’t see.

“Share what?” Kaoru really hoped that Die didn’t want to do anything perverted in the park; Kaoru didn’t think he could live through the embarrassment if they were ever caught.

“I wrote this when I was thinking about you,” Die grinned, there hadn’t been a time in the last day or two where he *hadn’t* been thinking about Kaoru.

“???” Kaoru said elegantly.

“I think I’ll call it ‘First sight’,” Die stopped to make a cheesy grin that he knew Kaoru couldn’t see, “because I fell in love with you at first sight, ”

“Aww,” was Kaoru’s first reaction, “if this has anything to do with poles…” was his second; Kaoru said it with an embarrassed flush on his high cheekbones.

“Just listen,” Die said softly to the other man, he set his guitar up on his lap and looked again at the sheet of music in front of him.

“Hug me again!” Toshiya squealed silently while clinging to Shinya; it was too much romance for him, he wanted a sweet caring boyfriend like Die! Shinya sighed again and held Toshiya close to himself, thank god for the tall man, Shinya didn’t want to think of the jealousy that would consume him if the other man weren’t here to distract him.

“Why don’t we go and get a drink, leave them alone,” –as Kyo had dragged Yoshiki back to the older man’s car moment’s ago, weather or not they got past the car was something Shinya found he really didn’t want to know- Shinya asked,

“Okay!” Toshiya smiled at Shinya, his smile charming and beautiful, Shinya’s heart skipped a beat ‘fuck.’

Kaoru was for once glad that he was wearing a blindfold; as the black material caught the salty tears that fell from his eyes. Twice in less then a day Die had made him cry, once in despair and once in pure joy. Die’s song was beautiful and Kaoru was amazed at the level that Die could play, was there something that Die *couldn’t* do?

The song was soaring; it was the feeling of riding a roller coaster to the top and watching the sky for that spilt second before you fall straight to the earth. It was the feeling of longing and desire; if sex were a song this would be it. It was love; it was Die’s love for Kaoru.

As the last resonating chords echoed through the night Kaoru clawed off his blindfold, fingers tearing blindly at the material. He even lost a few hairs in the fray but once he was on top of Die kissing him senseless his hair didn’t seem so important. Die moved his guitar so as to not hurt it or Kaoru –as Kaoru was very good at hurting himself on many odd things- and gripped the other man back. Kaoru let Die’s lips go with a wet smack; he looked into deep mocha brown eyes.

“I guess I’m forgiven?” Die asked with a smirk and Kaoru’s laughed replaced the space left by the absence of music, but it was no less sweet.

“Only if you promise to only kiss me” Kaoru’s cheeks were a delightful shade of red and he had tears of happiness rolling down his face, he kissed Die’s cheek.

“Only you,” Die repeated, words that Kaoru had said to him; words that had led to the best experience of Die’s short life, they seemed like a good enough charm to use in this situation. Like the magical words ‘I do’ for a wedding, under the light from the full moon, the words ‘Only you’ would be enough to hold two souls together.

And they lived happily ever after or as happily as two dysfunctional adult males can, meaning there would be many arguments, and fights galore, but it also means that through pure stubbornness and a unwillingness to give up on love they would stay together to their after.