Overtime

(Read End Game first, if you haven't already, otherwise parts of this may not make sense.)

(This installment is dedicated to Jei Svenka, LovelessAngel, mm-c, Psychopomp, luvsjazz, and NightWriter for the lovely reviews they left in End Game.)

---

Yohji had spent the rest of the day in the chaotic household of his former enemies. Things settled down between breakfast and dinner - Nagi left for his school, and Crawford managed to keep a lid on Schuldig's exuberance.

Farfarello was surprisingly meek. He spent the majority of the day on th couch next to Yohji, content to watch whatever Schuldig decided was most interesting. Of course, Schuldig's idea of interesting, and Yohji's idea of interesting differed vastly, and he spent more than an hour arguing with the German about whether to watch Nokabe or SMAPxSMAP.

It was nearing ten o'clock at night by the time he got back to his modest apartment over the Koneko no Sumu Ie, and he was intimately aware of which stairs creaked the most. It was just his luck that he'd gotten stuck with the squeakiest apartment on the top floor. Avoiding the noisiest parts was second nature by now, but he still wasn't prepared for the angry glare that greeted him when he slipped into his apartment.

"Where've you been?" It was a solid, no nonsense tone, and Yohji nearly didn't recognize his team-mate. Omi was standing there, posture hard and angry. "You've been gone for over twenty four hours. I was ready to mount a search party for your body. The last place anyone knew you'd been to was that damned warehouse, but we found it empty. You're old enough to take care of yourself, and I don't care if you go out at night. It doesn't matter to me if you stay out all night and sleep all day, as long as you're ready to go when we have missions, and help out in the shop somedays. I know you and Ken look to Ran as the 'leader' and that's perfectly fine by me, but as a Kritiker senior member I outrank you, and I expect to be notified before you disappear, am I understood?"

"Yes, Omi," he said quietly, understanding when to argue and when it was better to just accept what was inevitable. He stood to the side and let the younger man past him, leaning against the door in relief once he was alone again. That was something he was never going to explain to the little hacker, but he resolved to at least call if he was planning to do it again.

Which, he realized, he was. If Farfarello proved amenable, he was actually thinking about making it a semi-permanent arrangement. Not staying over all the time, of course, and he'd been looking into getting an apartment away from the flower shop for a while anyway -

He abruptly cut off that chain of thoughts. So the man was a good fuck, it didn't change the fact that he was also a maniacal murderer who took joy out of dismembering people. In Yohji's former life, he'd hunted people like Farfarello down, not slept with them. Of course, in his former life, he'd had Asuka.

He sliced that thought off in the bud, and returned his attention to the present. So. He wasn't adverse to spending time in Farfarello's company, and Schuldig had a few things to learn about gameshows. He owed Crawford breakfast, and Nagi wasn't important. Three out of four reasons to go back.

But on the other hand, Omi had torn a chunk out of him for staying out all night and day without letting them know where he was, and the archer probably would have ripped his beating heart out of his chest and fed it to him if he'd found out where and with whom he'd actually been.

He was pulling his shirt off and preparing for bed when a knock sounded on his door. Hoping it wasn't Omi again, he pulled it open and peeked out. Ran stood there, normal blank expression in place.

Yohji pulled the door open wide, and tugged him inside. "What's up, Ran?"

"Where were you last night?" he asked, not bothering with pleasantries. Yohji gave him a hard stare.

"I'll be honest. With Farfarello."

If Ran had any negative thoughts on this, he didn't express them. "That's what I'd thought. I didn't tell Omi anything, if you're wondering."

"I wasn't, but thanks." There was a strange sort of tension in the air, one Yohji wasn't sure how to diffuse. "Ran-"

"It's not my business who you sleep with," Ran said finally, his voice brusque. "But just make sure you separate your own business and pleasure. If this intereferes with Weiss, I will go to Kritiker." With that said, he turned and left the room, not quite slamming the door behind him. Yohji sighed. Next all he'd need would be Ken coming and yelling at him for something.

Deciding to go to bed before the soccer player had a chance, he locked the door, and flopped down onto his mattress.

---

It was nearly two weeks later before he had a chance to even think about Farfarello. After his momentous return, Manx had flattened all four of them with missions, taking care of a drug syndicate that had begun trafficking in children as well as heroin. To annhilate them all at once was the goal because Kritiker was well aware that once it got around that one of their member had been killed, the rest would go into hiding. So it was constant - even in daylight, they'd been hunting down the top members, certain that once the head of the monster had been cut off, the body would die.

Finally, Omi called a break. They had a week to themselves, in which the flowershop wasn't even going to be opened. Ken was taking off to a five-day soccer camp under a false name - wasn't that a surprise - and Ran was going to visit his sister in Kyoto. Who the hell knew what Omi would get up to, and Yohji himself had plans. He was going apartment hunting, for one.

/If you're interested, the place across from us is going to open up in a few days./ Schuldig's unexpected intrusion caught him by surprise, and he wondered how close they were.

/Right beside you,/ the telepath whispered, and for a moment it actually sounded as if he was. Yohji resisted the urge to turn, however, and ignored the German.

It's not like I've got much, but I've got a lot of money stored up. I'll leave the bed behind, it's too lumpy anyway. Should I tell Omi or just go straight to Kritiker?

/Kritiker, definitely. Kiddie thinks of you guys as one big happy family, and you moving out is going to crack that little illusion. Better to just go straight over his head, especially if he's going to pull rank on you in the first place./

Schuldig, when I want your commentary, I'll ask for it, Yohji said pointedly, and tuned him out. He briefly wondered if irritating the telepath would keep him away, and thought up the most annoying ditty he could. It's a small world after all-

/Fine! You win! I'm out! Save me from paladins with an annoying repertoire of songs./

Yohji wondered, Paladin? but fortunately his eavesdropper was already gone. Decision made, it was a simple matter to give Manx a call and let her know his plans. She wasn't happy about it, but promised to alert him in time for missions, and got his assurance that he would still haul his lazy ass over to the shop to help out, especially during the summer when it would be busiest. That done, he headed to the store and picked up boxes, and checked his account balance.

The sum displayed on the screen startled him for a moment. He didn't really have anything to spend his money on, and had let it accumulate for years. He'd more than enough to buy his apartment that day and probably enough left over to furnish it as well.

Whistling happily, he made his way over to the complex he'd been considering for some days.

---

It all happened rather quickly. He was approved on the spot - Kritiker's influence, no doubt - bought the tidy, one-bedroom house, and was on his way to the furniture store in less than three hours. He'd always felt awkward about adding things to his rooms above the Koneko - they did, after all, belong to Kritiker, not him - but the freedom of knowing he could do whatever the hell he wanted with his new apartment sent his mood soaring. The idea of inviting Farfarello over either that night or the next kept it going even higher.

The knowledge that even if he invited all of Schwarz over for a rousing house party and none of his team-mates even had to know, much less be there, ensured that he was probably in the best mood of his life.

---

Back at the Koneko, Ran sat at the table in the middle of the empty shop and blew his bangs up out of his eyes. It was completely useless endeavor, as the red hair just settled back into it's accustomed place, but it made him feel better to try.

Yohji was gone, Ken was packing for his trip, Omi was nowhere to be found, and he didn't even have the distraction of the shop.

In short, he was bored. He'd called Aya as soon as he knew he was going to have free time, and she told him he could come in two days because her apartment was a mess - which left him with two and a half days and nothing to do.

He didn't like having nothing to do. It went against his nature. His small apartment was immaculate, as usual, the flower shop was still clean, he didn't dare go into any of his team-mates rooms.

Disinterestedly, he blew his hair out of his face again, and stared out the window into nothing.

---

Omi was suspicious. It wasn't that he thought that Yohji was really up to anything that would bring harm back to the team, but his sixth sense was prickling at the back of his head, telling him that something wasn't quite what it seemed. Yohji was out, but a quick peek into his room confirmed the thought that Yohji was leaving. Omi felt a momentary stab of hurt, but decided that it Yohji wasn't going to live there any more, he wasn't going to live there any more. It wasn't going to hurt any of them in any way, and in fact it would probably be better if they'd split up - less of a targe that way. He tucked this thought away for future inspection, and returned to his room. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but it would be soon.

---

Yohji's cell phone rang as he was reaching out for the door handle. "Yo," he said, picking it up despite not recognizing the number.

A faintly familiar voice rasped out, "Schuldig said you were looking for me?" It took him a few brief moments to place the voice.

"Farfarello? Yeah. I got a new house - away from the rest of them. If you're free," The hell am I doing? Farfarello's not one of the girls I used to pick up! "-I'd love it if you could come over and help break in the new bed." There was silence on the line, and Yohji placed his pride down. "You can top,"

Farfarello let out a husky chuckle, and agreed. Yohji was taking a breath to ask if he needed a ride when the connection cut off.

---

(This chapter refused to go further. I promise - PROMISE - that I will write smut for these two 'installments' of the story, but as of now, it just won't come out. It's hiding like a timid animal in the back of my brain. Dedications at the beginning (for those of you who are like me and tend to skip author's notes at the top) and another installment coming soon.)
(Nokabe and SMAPxSMAP are real game shows. I looked it up.)