Flight III: Holding Pattern

Aoe settled into his favorite chair catching Naoya's eyes before pointedly looking at his watch. The newspaper was draped across the arm of the chair and Aoe picked it up, scanning it without any real interest.

Hidden behind the paper, he made a face at the one-sided conversation taking place across the room.  He couldn't get away from Takamiya's brat even when they were half a world apart.

Naoya laughed and Aoe snuck a look over the top of the paper. The young man was blushing faintly, his face turned down to watch as that cat played with a string.

A murmur of excited conversation streamed from the phone, none of it loud or clear enough for Aoe to distinguish the words. From the tone, it seemed that the brat was happy at least.

"Okay," Naoya spoke into the phone, nodding his head. "Later." He held the phone out with a smile. "Takamiya-san wants to talk to you."

"What," Aoe barked into the phone, hiding a smile when Naoya and the cat gave him matching looks of surprise.

"Charming as ever, Aoe." Takamiya was laughing.

"Get to the point. I'm late for a dinner appointment," Aoe snapped, motioning for Naoya to get ready to leave.

"Kiichi can wait. He knows how to amuse himself."

Aoe knew that all too well, which is why he didn't want to make his brother wait at the restaurant. Kiichi with time to think was never a good thing.

"Was there a point here?" Takamiya was so easily distracted; it made Aoe crazy sometimes. He could spend an hour talking to the man only to have Takamiya call back ten minutes later, having finally remembered why he'd called in the first place.

"You sound like you need a vacation," Takamiya replied sounding even more cheerful than usual - either he was having a very good time with the brat or he'd been into the complimentary champagne.

"Takamiya..." Aoe grumbled a warning.

"You're so irritable. You should bring Naoya to the house in England at the end of the month. We could spend a week there doing nothing. You need to relax."

"I need to get to my dinner appointment."

"Tell Kiichi I said hello," Takamiya replied pleasantly, unfazed by his friend's gruffness.

"Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Can't I just say hello to a friend?"

"I'm hanging up now."

"Think about joining us?" Takamiya insisted.

"I'll think about it.” Aoe disconnected the call and Joined Naoya who was waiting by the door.

"Izumi sounds like he's enjoying himself," Naoya commented as they took the elevator to the parking garage. He spared Aoe any of the details Izumi had let slip while recounting his adventures since joining Takamiya in Europe.

Aoe made a non-committal sound and exited the elevator, striding quickly to his car. Kiichi wouldn't mind if they were a few minutes late, but he would be sure to tease them about it.

"Izumi enjoyed the DVD you gave him." Naoya fastened his seatbelt and took a deep breath to calm himself, as he did every time he got into a car. "He sent his thanks."

Aoe turned the key in the ignition, glancing over at Naoya before putting the car in gear. "He can tell me himself in two weeks when we see him in England."

Naoya nodded once and smiled, remaining silent as the car accelerated out of the garage. He made a mental note to take the already packed suitcases out of the closet when they got home.

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