Nightshift 24 -- Hallway outside M-Blocks

[repolarization]

Ginji peered around before he started to walk again. This place was pretty empty. It was still pretty early in the night so he wasn't too worried. He wanted to get to Kurama as soon as he could. That way he could also find the stuff he needed to find tonight

Comments

[never_learns]

[From here]

Yohji gave each of the hallways he passed a cursory glance as he moved past them, but he didn't see any sign of anyone he knew so moved quickly away. He slid carefully out into the main hallway, looking both ways along it to make sure nothing was ready to leap out at him from the darkness.

Now, just had to wait for Cliff to arrive.

[gotahunch]

[From here]

Cliff paid half an ear to the intercom and the radio as he moved. He didn't like the idea of being a pedestrian caught in the crossfire - Mr. Big Bad Head Doctor was emo tired of playing games and the radio guy seemed like he just wanted a showdown. He didn't care what they were going at. He wasn't interested in being caught in the crossfire.

Compared to that, keeping an eye out for monsters was secondary. It had been a long time since his thoughts had kept him that preoccupied. It was a miracle he'd made it to Yohji in one piece.

"Hey," He greeted the familiar silhouette as he got closer. "I'd be late to my own wedding, huh?"

[never_learns]

Yohji looked up sharply when he heard Cliff's voice, offering the man a wan smile. The conversation they'd had earlier was still running through his mind, making him question himself and this friendship he'd built. Coupled with the thing with Kurama, he wasn't feeling up to his usual standard.

"Hey," he said, forcing himself to at least appear normal. "Heh, the brides are allowed to be late, don't see why the grooms can't be either."

He swallowed thickly, wondering how much Cliff had read of what Schuldig had said on the bulletin. It was pretty bad stuff, even for an assassin.

[gotahunch]

"Because the bride has high heals and she knows how to place a kick." Cliff replied without missing a beat. It was an old saying he'd picked up on Klaus.

There was something flat and strained in Yohji's voice that he didn't notice right away. He started to gesture for Yohji to follow him and paused about halfway though. He didn't know if this was something he should be picking at. He only read so much of the bulletin. "You ok?"

[never_learns]

He gave a weak laugh at Cliff's words. "Good point." Women with high heels were dangerous and often pissy. Brides probably more so.

Yohji sighed when Cliff asked that question, exactly what Yohji couldn't really answer without revealing everything he didn't want the other man to know. "It's nothing," he said, forcing a smile for his friend. He couldn't hide it entirely if Cliff had already noticed, but he could shrug it off maybe, play it down enough to make him ignore it.

He shouldn't be burdening Cliff with his crap anyway.

[gotahunch]

Yohji seemed more avoidant than angry. Cliff took that as a green light. There was a lot of nightshift left and if they were going to talk anywhere, he wanted it to be somewhere with no killer shrimp.

"You're a shitty liar." He replied, folding his arms. "What happened?"

[never_learns]

Yeah, he really was. Always had been, even back then. About personal stuff anyway. He could tell a woman pretty lies to get into her bed, deceive a target flawlessly, but when it came to himself, it would just write itself all over his face.

He turned his head away guiltily, not wanting to meet Cliff's eyes. "How much of the bulletin did you read?" he asked after a moment, deciding to go right for the worst.

[gotahunch]

Cliff shrugged, deceptively nonchalant. "Not enough. Whatever this is about, I must have missed it."

Again with the puppy kicking. That look was just unfair on so many levels. But no one was making him do this so he had no right to complain. He should have gone through all of those comments from a certain psychic anyway - now was just the time for that to come back and bite him in the ass.

[never_learns]

Fuck, he could really use a cigarette about now, seriously.

He sighed softly. At least Cliff hadn't read the worst of it, he supposed. He could probably just skim over the issue. Maybe?

"He posted some very... personal stuff on there and Omi's roommate took it upon himself to check if I was 'okay'. I'd talked with him this morning and both he and Omi pretended he didn't know anything about what I did, just let me sit there and avoid the issue. Some kind of fucking test and I'd thought that Omi was better than Mamoru at least." Hell, how wrong he'd been. Guess he should've expected it really.

He shook his head, running a hand through his hair in a gesture of frustration. "Forget it. I'm a damn food for thinking anything could be different."

[gotahunch]

"You said you betrayed them. I don't know anything about the roommate, but maybe Omi needs to know if he can trust you." Cliff paused. "And you've gotta figure out whether you're going to keep trusting him."

Cliff was feeling more like a mediator than ever. His friends had never been as volatile as Yohji's, and the other man looked just about ready to crack. It was harder in a place like this where everything counted.

The blond relaxed his shoulders a bit, finally reaching out to ruffle Yohji's hair. "Quit sulking and go talk to them later. This kinda thing is hard enough as is."

[never_learns]

He shrugged, keeping his eyes downcast. "Kinda' sucks though after he went to great lengths yesterday to tell me that he didn't care what happened in the future." It kinda' hurt to think Omi had said those things only to go back on them so quickly and to bring someone else into it even after Yohji had alreadyb warned him.

Yohji looked up at Cliff again when the older man ruffled his hair, surprise clear on his face. It had been well... a long time since anyone had touched him in a friendly way. Anything outside of sex or violence was a rarity and not something he was used to. He forced a smile for his friend and nodded, grateful for his practicality. "Yeah, you're right," he said, stretching slightly and trying to push those thoughts to the back of his mind. "Things to do, offices to break into, right?"

[gotahunch]

He was pretty sure that wasn't the end of it, but there wasn't much to be done unless they ran into Yohji's friends on the way to the offices. If nothing else, maybe a little bit of distraction would help.

"Yeah, sure, larceny makes everyone feel better! Kids these days." Cliff grumbled good natured. "Ready to take off?"

[never_learns]

Yohji laughed softly at that. "Yeah, a little bit of breaking and entering always makes my day," he said dryly. At least it wasn't killing. That made it just a little better.

He flashed Cliff a smile which was closer to his normal flirtacious one. "Sure. Lead the way, Cliff-sama!"

[gotahunch]

"Back in my day kids played sports for fun. What's the world coming to?" Right, as if he wasn't the one who needed to get the larceny done. Ah well, that looked a little more genuine at least.

"'Cliff-sama'..? Now you're taunting me in other languages?"

[to here]