Shifting

Shifting

*****

Chapter 3

Headaches

*****

Disclaimer: I don’t own Weiss in any way shape or form. I am not making money from this. That pretty much covers it. ^^

Pairings: Yohji x Ran, Crawford x Schuldig, Omi x Nagi (+ perhaps reverse), Ken x Aya-chan. The usual. ^^

Warnings:

AN: Happy comments make me write faster! ^^ Thank you all for the lovely reviews so far! Okay, now for the real author’s note: Number one is Aya-chan. No one’s really said anything but I thought I’d elaborate a tiny bit on her. I actually lik her quite a bit (perhaps because in the canon story line she is mostly lifeless and all we know is that she’s very nice and cares about her brother, making her personality easily moldable). Anyway, in my head she is very much like her brother, only more vocal. I hope that’s how she seems ^^.
Number two is Nagi. I haven’t looked at much of the Weiss manga and he was never a big player in the anime (the first TV series, anywway), but he’s always struck me as appearing more normal a teen than any of the other characters. Generally quiet and morose but probabaly with a stinging with and having no qualms about telling you how he sees it. And with a hidden but extensive vocabulary of vulgar words and phrases that, this being Nagi, he probably doesn’t use all that often.
Number three is, well, Farf. I’m not real familiar with him, as he’s just not one of my favorite characters. For the time being I’ll prolly try to keep his appearances to a minimum, but if there’s anyone out there with a real good knowledge of the Farf who’d like to help me out with his character, I’d love the advice!

And!! Go here to see some art I did for this chapter ^^. http://yaoi.y-gallery.net/view/278262/ and http://yaoi.y-gallery.net/view/278264/ ^_^

*****

Yohji hated grocery shopping. Ran had never really seemed to mind it. He probably thought of it as just another necessary function. Yohji disagreed. One could always eat out, right? Although perhaps grocery shopping was the more prudent choice right now. That still did not mean that he had to like it. No, this trip would have been a total waste is it weren’t for Ran.

Somehow, the man had yet to realize why Yohji kept grabbing the things that were within normal reach or up high, and asking Ran to get whatever was on the low shelves. It was the way Ran bent over like that. He didn’t bother to kneel, they hadn’t really gotten anything yet that had been on a shelf that low, but the sight of that delicious ass sticking up in the air like that ... Oh shit. Ran would kill him if Yohji started pawing him in the grocery store. That meant that dragging him out to the car for a quickie was not an option either. Maybe he should start getting the things on the low shelves. Yeah, that was it.

They had just stopped on a row of canned foods. Yohji bent down to pick up a few cans and glanced over at Ran. Nope this idea had not worked at all. Ran was reaching for something above his head but Yohji could not be bothered to look at what it might have been. The vision of Ran stretching up like, his t-shirt riding up and exposing a very tempting line of belly over the edge of the tighter-than-normal jeans ... it was at least as tasty-looking as the other situation.

“Yohji!” Ran snapped, quietly. “Stop staring at me, dammit. We’re supposed to be shopping and not drawing attention.”

Yohji, remembering where they were, did his best to stop leering at his lover. “It’s not as easy as it sounds, kitten.” Yohji remarked after making certain there was no one else on the aisle. Actually it was probably unecessary, as Ran had likely checked before telling Yohji to knock it off.

“Kudoh, why don’t you just go pick out a book or something? It’ll be easier to concentrate then.” Ran suggested.

“A book? Ran, I’m not reading some crappy grocery store novel.” Yohji replied. Honestly, the things these places carried were terrible. They never had any of the best-sellers, whatever they did get tended to be badly written and with little to no interest points at all. Of course, it was fun to peruse that little section of romance novels these places usually had. The things were so bad they were funny. No! No, Yohji was trying not to draw attention. He was sure he’d end up drawing quite a bit of attention if he caused a scene, so books were out.

“At least go browse the magazines or something. We’re almost done, I just need to go grab a few things in the produce section. Don’t act clingy.” Ran told him.

Yohji sighed. He decided, although it was not terribly easy, not to take that as an insult. Kudoh Yohji was not clingy. And even if he was, Ran loved it. Yohji was sure of it. But the redhead was right. Yohji gave a light pout. “I’ll meet you at the car.” He said.

“Hn.” A positive answer in Aya-speak. Yohji turned and headed over to the tiny wire rack the store called a magazine area. Not a single interesting magazine either. Plenty of rags talking about celebrities and their love lives, plastic surgery, how to make a guy fall for you. A few cooking magazine designed for women were tucked back in one corner while the opposite corner held a stack of magazines on the economy. Next to the wire rack was a stack of newspapers. Dull!

Yohji turned and wandered out of the store. Really, there was just no fun in these places. Well, there was no fun so long as he was quite well assured that Ran would start cutting off things he valued if he started acting all lovey in the store. Precious as the expressions on the faces of the other people there might have been, Yohji preferred to keep his body in tact and alive. After all, wasn’t that why they were here?

Damn, he was starting to get a headache. Maybe it was all the stress of being near his unnaturally gorgeous lover for hours and knowing that he was not allowed to touch.Yohji found himself suddenly wishing that Schuldig didn’t have to stifle his power here. While it was still a very strange feeling to wish that the german was able to use his telepathy, Yohji really did wish it. At least then he would have someone to talk to while Ran finished shopping. Schuldig had turned out to be a better guy than Yohji had thought.

They had been at this strange little Schwarz safehouse for about two days now.In that time, since Schuldig had not been able to entertain himself, the german had decided that others would have to do it for him.Actually, it wasn’t that bad. That first night, when he had interrupted Yohji’s own playtime had not repeated itself yet. Yesterday, Yohji had spent quite a bit of time hanging out with Schuldig and Ken. It seemed like an odd group at first but they all seemed to get along pretty well. Yohji had been amazed at Ken’s ability to get over his fear fot the telepath’s power. Of course that may have had something to do with the fact that they all knew Crawford wouldn’t allow the redhead to use it. There was something about Crawford that just commanded one’s attention. He was a true leader and none of them doubted that Schuldig would follow his orders.

Although Yohji, having picked up on several similarities between himself and Schuldig, had a feeling that Schuldig would have his revenge for this whole incident eventually. For a brief moment Yohji wondered what sort of punishment Crawford might be in store for, and when. Then the burgeoning headache intensified and Yohji decided he needed to rest a bit, He unlocked the car, a silver sedan that had been at the safehouse when they had arrived. Schuldig had given him the keys, so he assumed the car belonged to the redhead, although no one had actually said. It didn’t really matter. More than likely, they would be abandoning it soon enough.

At the moment, the plan was to remain in this little safehouse until Crawford had prepared a more secure hiding place for them. Apparently there was some work to be done before they could go after these Gottheit people, and that work was best done in secret. Schuldig had seemed very irritated during that little meeting. Yohji wondered about what else could have gone wrong for the telepath. Yohji knew that if he were stuck in the german’s situation, he would be ready to die right about now.

Of course, Yohji had found himself wondering about the two eldest Schwarz the past couple days. Before this whole fiasco began, Weiss only knew them as enemies. As far as Weiss was concerned, none of them had relationships or families or anything. Well, by now none of them had any blood relations running around out there. Schuldig had decided to share some of those stories while he had been drinking with Yohji and Ken. They were actually as bad off as Weiss in that regard.

But it was something of a surprise to find that Crawford and Schuldig were sleeping together. Or it had been. Actually, after spending two days cooped up in the same house, it made some sense. Schuldig was a lot more like Yohji than the blond had ever thought. In fact he had been surprised to learn that the telepath was not so much devious, as he had always believed, as he was ruthless. Schuldig was surprisingly loyal to his teammates. Yohji had always gotten the impression that Schuldig would kill anyone, any time, if not for Crawford’s orders making his attacks specific. As it turned out, Schuldig seemed to truly care about his team. And so did Crawford.

As much of a surprise as Schuldig had been, Crawford was a bigger one. Yohji had always seen him as a cold, calculating megalomaniac type. The kind of person who was focused on attaining power and nothing else. Turned out that had been wrong as well. Crawford also seemed to care for his team. It had been a little harder to pick up on from him than it had from the telepath, but Yohji was sure. The brunette had shown many facets that Weiss had never seen before, including a biting sense of humor. Crawford was amazingly father-like with Nagi. Actually, he wasn’t all that different with Omi, which sort of disturbed Yohji. But the telekinetic boy really trusted Crawford and in the past couple days Yohji had noticed Crawford doing things that blew him away with their apparent kindness. Mostly it was nothing big, just a familiar pat on the boy’s head or a smile at something he said. Yohji had to get rid of his mental image of Crawford spending his days alone in a dark room with computer light shining off his glasses, hands folded in the traditional super-villain pose.

The thing that had surprised Yohji the most, though, had been something Ran had told him. It had happened last night. They had gone to bed but Ran had woken up in the middle of the night. Yohji suspected a nightmare, but Ran hadn’t wanted to talk about it. Instead he had gone downstairs to get a glass of water, promising to come right back up. When he returned, he had an odd look on his face and no water.

When Yohji asked what had happened Ran told him the strangest thing. He had gone down to the kitchen but stopped just outside when he heard voices. He recognized Omi’s voice, but it took him another moment to recognize Nagi’s and Crawford’s voices.

“They’re your team, Omi. They will deal with it.” Crawford was saying.

“You think so?” Omi asked.

“They will.” Nagi said. “I know they will.”

“I hope so. I don’t know what I’ll do if they can’t handle it.” Omi said.

“I assure you,” Crawford had said in that voice which apparently meant he had seen it in a vision, “they will be able to handle it.”

The scraping of chairs had caused Ran to return to their bedroom, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping.

Yohji still wasn’t quite sure he could reconcile the two images. The Crawford they had known before was heartless, calculating, and very much evil. This man, however, was strong, fierce, loyal, and apparently caring. Those words did not seem right for Crawford but ... well, the man had been reassuring Omi. Although Ran had not heard them give the topic of their discussion, he and Yohji knew it had to be the fact of Omi and Nagi’s relationship. After all, Weiss were the only ones having a problem with it. Well, Ken and Ran. Yohji was pleased to see the chibi so happy and so was Aya-chan.

“Yohji?” Ran’s voice seemed faint at first, then the car door opened. “Yohji, stop day dreaming.”

“Nn, Ran, you should drive home. My head’s killing me.” Yohji said, not taking his hand from where he had placed it over his eyes.

“You were okay a few minutes ago in the store.” Ran pointed out.

“It came on fast. Please?” Yohji said.

“Yeah.” Ran said, nodding once. He walked around to the driver’s side, waiting for Yohji to move. Yohji peeked out from under his hand, saw Ran, and smiled weakly.

“I don’t suppose you wanna walk me to the other door?” Yohji asked.

“What did you do?” Ran replied.

“Huh?” Yohji asked.

“What did you do to get a headache so bad you can’t walk on your own?” Ran repeated.

“Oh. Nah, it’s just the light.” Yohji said. “It stings like hell. I’m okay.” With that Yohji got to his feet, using his hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight, and made his way aorund to the passenger seat. Once in and wearing his seatbelt, Yohji tugged his sunglasses out of the glove compartment. He had tossed them in there earlier because Ran had said they should try to look normal. Yohji wasn’t sure why sunglasses weren’t normal, but he didn’t want to fight over it. It hadn’t seemed worth it to lean over the wheel to retrieve them, but now they were within easy reach. He slipped the wonderfully dark glasses on and carefully opened his eyes.

Well, his head still hurt but the light wasn’t stinging his eyes anymore. He looked over at Ran, who already had them out on the main road. The redhead was as beautiful as ever, even with a slight furrow in his brow. Aw, he was worried over him. Yohji flashed the redhead a smile.

“I’ll be okay.” Yohji said. “It’s nothing.”

“Hn.” Another positive.

*****

Ran was concerned over Yohji’s headache. Yes. That was this feeling in his gut. Not deep, passionate lust for his lover who was in apparently great pain. That was what Ran tried to tell himself. Problem was, it was a lie.

Since he had left the store, Yohji had apparently become absurdly enticing. Or Ran had gone mildly insane ... Well, more so. It wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t driving. Ran was having great difficulty in keeping his eyes on the road. Yohji usually smelled wonderful, but right now Ran wanted to bury his nose under the blond’s hair, when his scent was strongest. He just couldn’t get enough of Yohji’s smell. He chanced a peek at the blond. He was leaning against his window, legs splayed in a way that he had to know was arousing, sunglasses pushed up over his eyes.

There was something to those sunglasses. They didn’t do anything for him when he had them down below his eyes but when he wore them properly they made him appear more his age. He was definitely handsome, there was no questioning that, but these added a bit of mystery to his look. Even though Ran knew intimately well what every piece of clothing Yohji wore was concealing, from the gorgeous green eyes to the second tattoo that no one be he knew about, it was still incredibly sexy.

Ran breathed a quiet sigh of relief when they pulled into the garage. They had made it home alive. Good. He got out of the car, intending to just head upstairs and hope Yohji followed him.

“Kitten?” Yohji asked, getting out of his side of the car. Ran turned to his lover before he could think about it. Mistake. Yohji looked amazing. His t-shirt was tight enough to show his form, but not too much so. His jeans were always tight and Ran was amazed the man could move in them. His watch was strapped around one wrist, a simple leather bracelet around the other . For some reason they were a turn on, if Ran could be any more turned on. His own pants felt about three sizes too small right now. Before he had time to think at all, he had started toward the blond. “Are you ok? You were driving ... well pre- mph!”

Yohji had been stopped mid-sentence by Ran’s mouth. The blond did not complain, for which Ran was glad. The redhead wrapped his around Yohji’s neck, deepening the fierce kiss until he had to breathe. When he pulled away from Yohji’s mouth he tucked his face down beside the other man’s neck, kissing and licking and burying his face in the long blond hair.

“Yohji,” Ran sighed, pressing his body against Yohji’s. He groaned at the feel of Yohji’s own erection pressing against his lower belly. “Yohji ... want you ... now.”

Yohji let out a little moan as well when Ran pressed against him. “Yeah ... anything you say, kitten.”

The next thing Ran knew he was in Yohji’s arms, legs wrapped around his waist, and being carried through the living room and up the stairs, mouth firmly attached to Yohji’s neck He thought Yohji might have shouted something about groceries, but he wasn’t sure. He really didn’t care. As long as Yohji fucked him, he didn’t care about anything else. Somewhere in the back of his mind that thought was disturbing, but it was too far away to be concerned with.

Then he heard a door open and close, felt Yohji pressing him hard against something as he kissed him. Ran kissed back desperately. Yohji’s hands seemed to be everywhere at once, pulling off his shirt, opening his pants. Ran had to be told three times to unwrap his legs from around Yohji’s waist so that the blond could remove their jeans. Although it took far longer than Ran would have liked, they were finally both naked. He didn’t know where Yohji had gotten the little tube of lubricant he was holding and he didn’t care.

“Yohji, don’t wait. Don’t tease. I ... I need you now!” Ran gasped. Yohji let out a feral-sounding growl. Ran’s insides melted at that sound. He cried out a bit as he was pressed back up against the door. Yohji kissed him roughly, shifting his hips to position himself under Ran’s entrance.

“Yes, Yohji!” Ran gasped as Yohji began to push his way inside. Ran moaned loudly burying his face in Yohji’s neck, wrapping his legs back around Yohji’s waist. He held on tightly as Yohji sheathed himself in his body. There was no moment of paus for Ran to adjust to the large cock now encased within him. Yohji pulled out quickly, only to thrust back in roughly.

Ran groaned and cried out and encouraged his lover, wanting it harder and faster than he ever had before. Yohji obliged most willingly, grunting and moaning in his own right. “Ran ... you feel ... so good, oh gods! So hot ... so good ...”

Yohji was babbling but Ran wasn’t listening. He was too focused on the ever-rising pleasure Yohji was driving into him. He could feel it filling his body, warming him, burning him. The pleasure intesified as Yohji wrapped his hand around Ran’s own stiff cock. Yohji’s hand was so good, just tight enough and it felt so wonderful as he ran a fingertip over the slit. Ran screamed Yohji’s name as he came. Moments later Yohji’s voice joined his, but Ran was too lost in himself to notice.

Gasping for air and feeling as if someone had cut the lines usually used to tell his limbs to move, Ran slumped against Yohji, who was still partially buried inside him. After a few moments, the only sound the harsh gulping of air as they attempted to catch their breath, Yohji shifted, slipping out of his lover and moving them over the to the bed.

They didn’t actually make it all the way there. Yohji’s legs gave out before he could set Ran down and the both went tumbling to the floor beside the bed. Ran made a sound that might have been a laugh. Yohji muttered something Ran didn’t understand and reached up to pull the blanket down off of the bed. Neither were able to pay much attention to the fact that they were still covered in the results of their love-making as Yohji draped the blanket over them.

“Hey kitten?” Yohji said quietly. Ran had almost fallen asleep, now that he could breathe again.

“Hn?”

“My headache’s all gone.” There was a definite smile in the blond’s voice, but Ran was too tired to reply. He breathed in the scent of his lover deeply and let himself drift into sleep.

*****

Schuldig was glaring daggers at his lover. This was completely unfair. Fujimiya, the reputed ice prince, could drag his lover through the damn living room while attached to his neck so they could fuck loudly with barely a door between them and the rest of the house, but Schu wasn’t getting anything. Not even a lousy handjob. It was getting to him.

Nagi looked vaguely unnerved at the blatant display that had just rampaged through the living room, but was otherwise fine. Omi, on the other hand, looked quite traumatized. So did Ken and Aya-chan. After a moment Ken chuckled. Aya-chan gave him an incredulous look and when he didn’t stop she elbowed him in the ribs.

“Ow.” Ken complained.

“What is so damn funny?” Aya-chan asked.

“You really want me to tell you?” Ken asked. “I’ve actually seen more of your brother’s sex life than I ever wanted to. I don’t think you’ll like the answer, babe.”

“You ... Yeah. I don’t wanna know. But you will explain what you mean by ‘seen’.” Aya-chan’s eyes narrowed.

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault!” Ken defended quickly. “Back at the koneko, you know? Before Omi or I knew they were together they were both in Yohji’s room and I had to go wake him for his shift and, well, that usually involved dragging him out of bed. And trust me, even if I had intended to see it, which believe me I did not, Ran already made sure it was a painful experience. I seriously thought he was gonna kill me.” Ken paused, then added, “I mean seriously. Like a few days ago when he found out about us.”

“Really, Ken?” Aya-chan asked. “You truly though he was gonna kill you over that? You’re his friend.”

“And co-worker. And those are the two main reasons I was afraid of that.” Ken said.

“You know I wouldn’t let him do it, right?” Aya-chan asked.

“I know, babe.” Ken smiled a brilliant smile for her.

“Course that doesn’t do anything to change how freaking weird that was.” Aya-chan said. “Ken, we should go for a nice distracting drive.”

“Huh?” Ken asked. “A drive, why?”

“Ken ...” Aya-chan sighed. She swore that he pretended not to get it sometimes. “From the noises we heard, I’m pretty sure I know what role each of them played just now. I don’t wanna think about that.”

“Ah, right.” Ken nodded, getting up from the couch. Good thing it hadn’t been a game that was on TV, because he would have hated to have to leave in the middle of it.

Omi watched the other couple leave, then turned to Nagi. “That didn’t bother you?” he asked.

“Not really.” Nagi shrugged, continuing his work on his laptop.

“Why not?” Omi asked.

“Two reasons, I guess.” Nagi said. “I don’t them as well as you do and I’ve seen far worse.”

“What do you mean ‘worse’?” Omi asked. Half of him really wanted to know. The other half was afraid it would disturb him far more than he needed to be disturbed.

“Once I came home from school and found Crawford fucking Schuldig in the living room. Full-on bondage gear and a sling.” Nagi deadpanned.

“That doesn’t really seem so surprising.” Omi said.

“Crawford was the one in the sling.” Nagi clarified. “He wasn’t bottoming, or he wasn’t then. I guess it was a strong sling.”

Omi blinked at his boyfriend. “Okay, too much information.” Then he returned his gaze to the laptop’s screen. “So anyway, how’s the search going?”

“Mm, still looking for credible accounts of their numbers and abilities, but we know they do exist.”

“Damn. Numbers and abilities are what we really need to find out about.” Omi commented. Nagi nodded and continued searching.

*****

“How much longer is this going to take, Bradley?” Schu asked, irritated. “It’s ... it’s worse than unfair!”

“You know I can’t give you a concrete amount of time, Schu.” Crawford answered. He really hated not being able to use his power right now. He wanted to know when there would be an end to these things as well, but he dared not use more than the tiniest bit of his power necessary to be sure no one would die soon.

“Well you damn-well better be able to soon! I am starting to get really pissed off. At this rate ... well, you oughtta know better by now.”

“Schuldig, what do you expect me to do?” Crawford asked, sitting down on the bed beside his lover.

“Brad, I can’t ...” Schuldig paused, restarted. “I haven’t had to do this since Rozenkreuz.”

“I know, Schu.” Crawford’s voice was soft but firm. He wouldn’t give in. He couldn;t afford it.

“Fuck, Brad, it’s been ten years.” Schu whined, putting his head in his hands. “Ten years of you beside me damn near every night, usually fucking me before falling asleep. I love it, you know I do, and now ... but at least ... gah, I can’t fucking sleep, Brad! As soon as I get to sleep, my shields weaken. I don’t dream, dammit ...”

Despite the redhead’s apparently fractured speech, Crawford knew what he was trying to say. Schuldig’s shields were different than his or Nagi’s, simply because of the way his telepathy worked. Part of the reason most telepaths, even those with good shields, went mad was because it was hard for them to dream. The only way to guarantee it was to find a way to shieldld the telepath’s mind from the outer world while they were asleep. This was fairly simple to do for a telepath of low or normal levels but those of Schuldig’s level often died quickly because there were very people with shields strong enough to prevent it.

Crawford was one of those people, which made them both very lucky. With very few exceptions, Crawford and Schuldig were inseparable. Not necessarily because they were lovers, but because it was safest for the team. They needed Schuldig and he needed Crawford. Perhaps becoming lovers after all that time together was only natural.

The past two nights must have been bad for Schuldig, as Crawford had done his best not to touch the redhead. Not being able to have sex, it seemed rather cruel. If they didn’t touch, perhaps it would be easier. At least that was what he had thought. It seemed that Crawford’s limits on his own power were beginning to backfire. At least this problem was somewhat easily rectified.

“Don’t worry about it Schu.” Crawford told him. “It won’t be a problem anymore.”

“Yeah, now the problem will just be the no sex thing. So much easier.” Schu said sarcastically.

“At least you’ll survive it.” Crawford pointed out.

“So you say,” Schuldig replied. “I’m not so sure.”

“Perhaps it won’t be too much longer. Kudoh’s power has obviously been released. The other’s might be soon as well.” Crawford said. Schuldig looked at him curiously.

“What powers?” The redhead asked.

“I only want to say it once, if I can manage that. We’ll talk about it in a few hours, after everyone’s awake again.”

*****

Okay so it’s short but this is chapter 3. I know I’ve said it before but the next one should be up a bit more quickly. There was actually going to be more to ch3 but I decided this was a good enough place to end it so that means I’ve already got an outline for ch4 ^^. See, already working on it! Please review.

Also I think I caught all the spelling errors but there could be some grammar errors, so feel free to tell me if you see them. ^^