Weiss Kreuz; Nagi/Crawford; PG-13
Title: Awkward Age
Author: daegaer
Fandom: Weiß Kreuz
Pairing: Naoe Nagi/Brad Crawford
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Thanks to louiselux for beta-ing!
There were a lot of plusses to being a member of Schwarz - not needing to go to school, getting to kill people, knowing that your team mates really, really got it and understood you in a way others didn't. There were minuses as well - all your friends were psychopaths, Schuldig always used up all the hot water, there was damn all privacy and having a crush on a guy twelve years older than you was awkward, given that he was a guy, and almost twice your age. And your boss. Nagi groaned. He was sure he must have strained something, he was trying so hard not to think about Brad in any but the most professional terms. He'd succeeded too, he knew. If he hadn't, Schuldig would have been making his life more hellish than it already was.
Luckily, Schuldig had been thrown off the scent. It had been a mistake, Nagi knew, to go to the swimming pool in the first place. At the time it had seemed like an innocuous-enough pastime. Now that Farfarello had run off there was no need to worry about outsiders being drowned, and a nice relaxing swim had seemed like an excellent use of their free time. Nagi'd known he was in trouble the moment Crawford had complained that his swimming trunks were missing from his bag and Schuldig had said in his most innocent tone that it was lucky he'd brought a spare pair. To Schuldig it was just another practical joke, to be laughed at and forgotten. To Nagi, it meant a dry mouth and the knowledge that though he wanted to lock himself in the bathroom and think about Crawford in Schuldig's ridiculously skimpy swimwear, he absolutely couldn't. He'd avoided the danger by staring fixedly at a girl his own age, mentally repeating tits-tits-tits-tits-tits till she marched up, slapped his face and called him a pervert. Schuldig hadn't stopped laughing about it yet, but it was better by far than Schuldig laughing over what was really on his mind.
"Hey, Nagi! Have you decided what you want for your birthday yet?" Schuldig said, grinning at his own cleverness. "We could go swimming. If that girl's there, I could make her do you as a birthday treat!"
"Thanks," Nagi said, his voice dripping with as much sarcasm as he could manage. "Is that how your dates normally work?"
"Well, yeah," Schuldig said, like he couldn't see the point. "C'mon, cake, ice cream, teenage girls in bikinis -"
"Take me to a strip club," Nagi said. He ignored the reaction he was sure that got, just feeling marginally safer and more sure that another false trail had been successfully laid. Successfully laid, he thought, and rested his head on the desk. He wished.
* * *
"Did you enjoy the club?" Brad asked, looking cool and amused.
"Er. Yeah. I suppose," Nagi mumbled.
Schuldig slapped him on the back. "Who needs to worry about a no-touch rule when you're a TK, right?"
Nagi wondered if his face would actually burst into flames. Then he decided to just get over it. He was a teenager after all. He just wished Schuldig would get over it too and stop embellishing details for the audience.
"I didn't do all that stuff he's saying," Nagi muttered.
"Just most of it," Schuldig agreed cheerfully. "I've never seen those girls kick quite so high before. We got some great pictures."
"Wouldn't a biology textbook have been less effort?" Brad asked.
He was laughing. Damn it. Nagi managed to keep his exit down to under a sprint. "I'm going to check my email," he said sullenly, and locked himself away.
* * *
"Get your coat," Brad said the next day. "We're going out."
"Why?" Nagi said. He was too close to leveling up to stop now -
"It's dinner time," Brad said. "And I'm taking you to dinner. Sorry I couldn't make the actual birthday celebrations."
"I'm sorry I did," Nagi muttered. "Is Schuldig choosing the restaurant? Because it's my turn -"
"He's not coming," Brad said. "And yes, you are choosing the restaurant." He blinked at Nagi's sudden leap from the seat.
"Greek," Nagi said. "I want baklava."
"Sure," Brad said. "It's your birthday. More or less."
It was nice to have Brad to himself. It was nicer to be able to eat without a running commentary on what everyone in the room was thinking. The nicest thing of all, Nagi thought glumly, would be if he hadn't dried up totally and if he wasn't sitting there in what had to look like moody, sulky silence. Still, Brad seemed happy to do most of the talking, and even steered things round to computer hardware a couple of times, which let Nagi at least feel confident enough to say something.
The baklava was worth waiting for. Nagi wasn't sure he'd ever seen so much in one place before, and while the carefully-inserted candles looked pretty idiotic, it was still nice to have his birthday marked out.
"When I was your age," Brad said, "Whatever anybody gave me for my birthday was always wrong. So, here -" He handed over an envelope.
Nagi peeked in and felt a warm glow at how thick the wad of banknotes was. Schuldig had given him money too, which was just fine by him.
"Sixteen," Brad said. "You're getting old, like me."
"You're not old," Nagi said, and then wondered if he'd been too fervent, to obvious, too much of a transparently stupid teenage moron -
"I'm not, you know," Brad said. "I'm just old in comparison to the rest of you, and that was Schuldig and Farfarello turning me prematurely grey." He smiled a little. "Not you, though. Not usually. You're a good team mate, Nagi."
Nagi felt his face go hot again. It was nice to be praised, even if it was for being a quiet kid. "You're only twelve years older than me, I don't think you're too old at all," he said quietly.
Brad was silent, and Nagi quailed. Even if he hadn't been totally obvious Brad could see the future, and maybe he was about to say something that would have Brad running for the car.
"It's not easy, being a kid," Brad said at last. "Not when Schuldig's stuck in permanent adolescence, Farfarello was just crazy and I'm trying to keep the whole thing on track. You've done OK. I wouldn't have wanted you to be any different. It's OK. You're not going to be a kid forever."
"Yeah," Nagi said, poking at his baklava to hide the fact he could hear the brush-off loud and clear. Brad wasn't stupid, of course he'd worked things out. And of course he wasn't interested in someone so much younger. "I can see it now. I'll be a little bit taller, a little bit broader, but mostly still a skinny little rat-faced bastard." It didn't come out quite as much of a joke as he'd meant.
"Schuldig shouldn't have said that," Brad frowned. "You didn't know that was his chocolate anyway."
"Yes, I did," Nagi said. He looked up as Brad put a hand on his. Brad looked serious under the glaze of amusement that was usually there.
"You're going to be just fine," he said. He looked at the candles, burning together where Nagi had carefully balanced them. "You're going to be Naoe Nagi, Burner of Cities."
That sounded kind of cool. "Are you making that up to make me feel less like a kid?" Nagi said.
"We still have to take over the world," Brad shrugged. "There's bound to be some collateral damage." He gave Nagi's hand a quick squeeze. "Any chance of getting some of that baklava?" he asked.
Nagi handed him a spoon and shoved the plate between them and tried to pretend he wasn't watching Brad eat.
"So, d'you think I should get swimwear like Schuldig's?" Brad said round a mouthful of pastry. "What's your opinion on how it shows off my legs?"
Nagi coughed and choked till Brad managed to pound on his back enough to dislodge the hastily-inhaled dessert. He looked, eyes streaming, at Brad's amused yet not malicious expression. Maybe, he thought, he hadn't got as much of a brush-off as he'd thought. Brad wasn't ever not going to be twelve years older, but like he'd said, Nagi wasn't going to be sixteen forever either.
"I'll tell you in a few years," Nagi said. "If the topic still holds any interest."
"I'd be pleased to hear your opinion," Brad said, his amusement wider and more obvious. "If you're still interested. More baklava? You probably won't have such a sweet tooth as an adult."
"More baklava," Nagi agreed.
He could deal with being a kid for a while longer, he decided.
Author: daegaer
Fandom: Weiß Kreuz
Pairing: Naoe Nagi/Brad Crawford
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Thanks to louiselux for beta-ing!
There were a lot of plusses to being a member of Schwarz - not needing to go to school, getting to kill people, knowing that your team mates really, really got it and understood you in a way others didn't. There were minuses as well - all your friends were psychopaths, Schuldig always used up all the hot water, there was damn all privacy and having a crush on a guy twelve years older than you was awkward, given that he was a guy, and almost twice your age. And your boss. Nagi groaned. He was sure he must have strained something, he was trying so hard not to think about Brad in any but the most professional terms. He'd succeeded too, he knew. If he hadn't, Schuldig would have been making his life more hellish than it already was.
Luckily, Schuldig had been thrown off the scent. It had been a mistake, Nagi knew, to go to the swimming pool in the first place. At the time it had seemed like an innocuous-enough pastime. Now that Farfarello had run off there was no need to worry about outsiders being drowned, and a nice relaxing swim had seemed like an excellent use of their free time. Nagi'd known he was in trouble the moment Crawford had complained that his swimming trunks were missing from his bag and Schuldig had said in his most innocent tone that it was lucky he'd brought a spare pair. To Schuldig it was just another practical joke, to be laughed at and forgotten. To Nagi, it meant a dry mouth and the knowledge that though he wanted to lock himself in the bathroom and think about Crawford in Schuldig's ridiculously skimpy swimwear, he absolutely couldn't. He'd avoided the danger by staring fixedly at a girl his own age, mentally repeating tits-tits-tits-tits-tits till she marched up, slapped his face and called him a pervert. Schuldig hadn't stopped laughing about it yet, but it was better by far than Schuldig laughing over what was really on his mind.
"Hey, Nagi! Have you decided what you want for your birthday yet?" Schuldig said, grinning at his own cleverness. "We could go swimming. If that girl's there, I could make her do you as a birthday treat!"
"Thanks," Nagi said, his voice dripping with as much sarcasm as he could manage. "Is that how your dates normally work?"
"Well, yeah," Schuldig said, like he couldn't see the point. "C'mon, cake, ice cream, teenage girls in bikinis -"
"Take me to a strip club," Nagi said. He ignored the reaction he was sure that got, just feeling marginally safer and more sure that another false trail had been successfully laid. Successfully laid, he thought, and rested his head on the desk. He wished.
* * *
"Did you enjoy the club?" Brad asked, looking cool and amused.
"Er. Yeah. I suppose," Nagi mumbled.
Schuldig slapped him on the back. "Who needs to worry about a no-touch rule when you're a TK, right?"
Nagi wondered if his face would actually burst into flames. Then he decided to just get over it. He was a teenager after all. He just wished Schuldig would get over it too and stop embellishing details for the audience.
"I didn't do all that stuff he's saying," Nagi muttered.
"Just most of it," Schuldig agreed cheerfully. "I've never seen those girls kick quite so high before. We got some great pictures."
"Wouldn't a biology textbook have been less effort?" Brad asked.
He was laughing. Damn it. Nagi managed to keep his exit down to under a sprint. "I'm going to check my email," he said sullenly, and locked himself away.
* * *
"Get your coat," Brad said the next day. "We're going out."
"Why?" Nagi said. He was too close to leveling up to stop now -
"It's dinner time," Brad said. "And I'm taking you to dinner. Sorry I couldn't make the actual birthday celebrations."
"I'm sorry I did," Nagi muttered. "Is Schuldig choosing the restaurant? Because it's my turn -"
"He's not coming," Brad said. "And yes, you are choosing the restaurant." He blinked at Nagi's sudden leap from the seat.
"Greek," Nagi said. "I want baklava."
"Sure," Brad said. "It's your birthday. More or less."
It was nice to have Brad to himself. It was nicer to be able to eat without a running commentary on what everyone in the room was thinking. The nicest thing of all, Nagi thought glumly, would be if he hadn't dried up totally and if he wasn't sitting there in what had to look like moody, sulky silence. Still, Brad seemed happy to do most of the talking, and even steered things round to computer hardware a couple of times, which let Nagi at least feel confident enough to say something.
The baklava was worth waiting for. Nagi wasn't sure he'd ever seen so much in one place before, and while the carefully-inserted candles looked pretty idiotic, it was still nice to have his birthday marked out.
"When I was your age," Brad said, "Whatever anybody gave me for my birthday was always wrong. So, here -" He handed over an envelope.
Nagi peeked in and felt a warm glow at how thick the wad of banknotes was. Schuldig had given him money too, which was just fine by him.
"Sixteen," Brad said. "You're getting old, like me."
"You're not old," Nagi said, and then wondered if he'd been too fervent, to obvious, too much of a transparently stupid teenage moron -
"I'm not, you know," Brad said. "I'm just old in comparison to the rest of you, and that was Schuldig and Farfarello turning me prematurely grey." He smiled a little. "Not you, though. Not usually. You're a good team mate, Nagi."
Nagi felt his face go hot again. It was nice to be praised, even if it was for being a quiet kid. "You're only twelve years older than me, I don't think you're too old at all," he said quietly.
Brad was silent, and Nagi quailed. Even if he hadn't been totally obvious Brad could see the future, and maybe he was about to say something that would have Brad running for the car.
"It's not easy, being a kid," Brad said at last. "Not when Schuldig's stuck in permanent adolescence, Farfarello was just crazy and I'm trying to keep the whole thing on track. You've done OK. I wouldn't have wanted you to be any different. It's OK. You're not going to be a kid forever."
"Yeah," Nagi said, poking at his baklava to hide the fact he could hear the brush-off loud and clear. Brad wasn't stupid, of course he'd worked things out. And of course he wasn't interested in someone so much younger. "I can see it now. I'll be a little bit taller, a little bit broader, but mostly still a skinny little rat-faced bastard." It didn't come out quite as much of a joke as he'd meant.
"Schuldig shouldn't have said that," Brad frowned. "You didn't know that was his chocolate anyway."
"Yes, I did," Nagi said. He looked up as Brad put a hand on his. Brad looked serious under the glaze of amusement that was usually there.
"You're going to be just fine," he said. He looked at the candles, burning together where Nagi had carefully balanced them. "You're going to be Naoe Nagi, Burner of Cities."
That sounded kind of cool. "Are you making that up to make me feel less like a kid?" Nagi said.
"We still have to take over the world," Brad shrugged. "There's bound to be some collateral damage." He gave Nagi's hand a quick squeeze. "Any chance of getting some of that baklava?" he asked.
Nagi handed him a spoon and shoved the plate between them and tried to pretend he wasn't watching Brad eat.
"So, d'you think I should get swimwear like Schuldig's?" Brad said round a mouthful of pastry. "What's your opinion on how it shows off my legs?"
Nagi coughed and choked till Brad managed to pound on his back enough to dislodge the hastily-inhaled dessert. He looked, eyes streaming, at Brad's amused yet not malicious expression. Maybe, he thought, he hadn't got as much of a brush-off as he'd thought. Brad wasn't ever not going to be twelve years older, but like he'd said, Nagi wasn't going to be sixteen forever either.
"I'll tell you in a few years," Nagi said. "If the topic still holds any interest."
"I'd be pleased to hear your opinion," Brad said, his amusement wider and more obvious. "If you're still interested. More baklava? You probably won't have such a sweet tooth as an adult."
"More baklava," Nagi agreed.
He could deal with being a kid for a while longer, he decided.