Day 37: Men's Showers

[pleading-ngri.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't really call this a locker room. More like a bathroom with lockers. The place was uncomfortably crowded, with almost every adult male patient being hustled into the showers at once, but Phoenix wasn't as annoyed by the claustrophobic, milling throng of bodies as he might have otherwise been. Every extra person was one more person who might end up standing between himself and Edgeworth.

He knew that the prosecutor would have a fit if he found out about this. He'd known since he'd tacked that first response up on the bulletin board. And in a way, he couldn't blame him. Phoenix knew that he jumped into things all-or-nothing more often than most people. At the same time, he had some kind of reality testing. He wasn't going to learn the basics of how to defend himself and suddenly decide that he was Rambo.

He found an unoccupied locker in the southwest corner and glanced around, trying to gauge how long he could possibly stall in a locker room, looking as if he was expecting something, before people started looking at him strangely. It would have been easier if he'd known something of the description of the man he was supposed to be meeting. As it was, all he had was handwriting and a military rank, neither of which guaranteed any particular appearance.

It's not as if there was a better way to plan this, though. "Yeah, meet me by the lockers. I'll be wearing gray and a smiley face, just like about a hundred other guys."

[for Hughes]

Comments

[never-learns.livejournal.com]

"Well, personally, I suggest we dress up as pizza delivery people, knock on the front door at the beginning of nightshift and surprise him." It made about as much sense as some of Weiss' plans anyway. Dressing up as flight staff and killing someone on an aeroplane? Yeah, he was thinking of that one.

He flashed a brief smile at Ken for not making him explain anything more about it, because he honestly wasn't sure that he could explain it himself.

[gentiana-clusii.livejournal.com]

The thought of that was so ridiculous, Ken just froze for a moment before breaking into laughter.

"As long as I don't have to wear a skirt like that cockup with the airplane," Ken managed after a moment or two, obviously of the same mind as Yohji.

[never-learns.livejournal.com]

Ken's laughter was infectious and soon Yohji joined in, a genuinely amused sound which felt good after too long spent with false smiles. "I don't know. I think you made a cute air hostess," he said, giving Ken a lascivious wink. It had been one hell of a weird mission that one, bizarre in fact.

[gentiana-clusii.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well, fuck you," Ken shot back good naturedly. "You weren't the one in a dress." Ken ducked back under the water then, rinsing the soap out of his hair. "I still don't know how the fuck anyone bought that."

[never-learns.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure I've told you before that I'm here if you need me," Yohji replied teasingly, smirking at his friend. "And no, I wasn't in a dress, but I'm also nearly a foot taller than most Japanese women." Personally, he thought that Aya would have pulled off the dress pretty damn well. "Although I admit I'm amazed that you managed to fit one of the uniforms." Ken didn't exactly have a feminine build after all.

He shrugged in response. "Like hell I know. I think maybe Kritiker had a hand in the security aspects of that though. And the guy we were after was probably pissing himself by that point."

[gentiana-clusii.livejournal.com]

"Thaaanks." Ken rolled his eyes and turned to face the wall. He quickly and unabashedly washed the rest of his body, remaining silent while doing so--it seemed a bit too awkward for him to keep talking while doing so.

"Bet it was in laughter for the first few seconds," Ken grumbled. At least until they started in with the 'we will end you' speech.

[never-learns.livejournal.com]

Yohji bit his lip to keep from laughing at Ken's characteristic but still surprising display of embarrassment. He was really far too easy to tease sometimes, especially when it came to matters like that. You'd have thought that he'd have grown out of it by now, but he never did.

"Mmmm," he replied noncomittally. "Or possibly thinking what a hot hostess you made." He was going to get punched, wasn't he?

[gentiana-clusii.livejournal.com]

Ken sputtered and glared, his face turning red. "Bastard," he grumbled, hitting Yohji in the arm.

[never-learns.livejournal.com]

"Ow," Yohji said, rubbing his arm with exaggerated care. "You never figured out how to pull your punches, did you?" It was worth it to make Ken turn red like that and be acting like nothing had changed since they were living in the Koneko.

[gentiana-clusii.livejournal.com]

"That was pulling my punches," Ken shot back. If he hadn't, Yohji probably would've gone ass over elbows, and then there would've been all sorts of trouble.

[never-learns.livejournal.com]

He did have a point, Yohji had to admit. He'd probably have ended up with a broken jaw if Ken really decided to hit him sometime. "Well, learn to pull them more," he replied, rolling his eyes at his friend.