Aiji/Maya (LM.C) - Crossover - Elections of the Heart - Chapter 17
Author: Sabina or Destiny or![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
destiny_1989
Rating: PG-13 on the verge of NC-17
Summary: What better way to settle a battle among men than a “duel of balls” a.k.a. putting contest? Aiji and Kirito seem to think it’s perfect. Question is: do Jun and Maya feel the same?
Warnings: (overall) it's AU so fear teh OOC + yaoi, cheating at golf, doggie humping, swearing, vicious ex-wives…uh, husbands, politics, violence, high school bullies, lingerie, sap, angst, rape
Pairings: Aiji/Maya (main)
Disclaimer: I would be bathing in money if I owned them. So no sue from you.
Pre Notes: N/A
|promotional poster| |cast of characters| |pairings
01| |02| |03| |04| |05| |06| |07| |08| |09| |10| |11| |12| |13| |14| |15| |16
The next day found me at the Silvervale golf course. It wasn’t as big as any professional courses since there were mainly amateur players in town but we got around. I was overlooking the course, mainly the distance to the first hole when the former president arrived.
“So, what are the stakes? Mayor?!” How I wanted to sock him one and wipe that smirk off his face.
“No, sir. Maya – the loser backs off of Maya. We’re both a ten handicap so it would be a fair fight.”
“You’re on.” Again that smirk. It should be illegal for someone to feel so superior and egocentric.
“Um, sir, I need to have a word with you…” Takeo tried to get Kirito’s attention. The former president raised his index finger and interrupted Takeo.
“Eye line, Takeo.”
Takeo took a few steps back obediently and I inwardly shook my head. I felt sorry for the poor guy.
I placed my tee on the ground and a ball on it. I took a deep breath and, gripping the club, swung as hard as I could. I thought I would deflate because of the relief I felt when I saw the ball went in the general direction it was supposed to.
“Nice shot.” said the president and got his tee and ball ready.
He swung but before he could hit the ball a golf car came near us and honked loudly, causing Kirito to swing his club like a baseball bat.
“Hello! Wait for us!”
The car stopped and Toshiya and Gackt got off.
“What are you doing here?” Kirito asked Toshiya.
“We’re here to make sure a fair fight’s fair.” the brunette answered and approached Kaoru. “Call them out, Kaoru.” he said, lowering his sunglasses.
I was leaning on my club waiting for everybody to finish whatever it was they were doing. I looked at Gackt but thanks to those sunglasses he was wearing I couldn’t tell if he was glaring, looking at me pensively or just looking through me. But I can bet Plunger’s year-time supply of dog food that he was glaring.
I raised an eyebrow when I saw Toshiya take a few steps toward me and the president and even pass us. I blinked stupidly when he whistled… really loud.
“Die! You and your men come on out!” I looked from him to the field he was looking at and back at him. Talk about weird. Being relatively close to him, I flinched when he yelled again. “Come on, I know you’re there!”
I thought I heard some murmuring behind but my attention was grabbed by agents coming out of the bushes and from behind the trees. They were enough for a football team, I swear!
“We were securing the perimeter, sir!” yelled one of them, possibly the one under the command of Kirito’s chief of security.
“Secure it from there!” responded Toshiya and then turned to Kirito. “Hit it away, lambkins.” he said with a smirk and readjusted his sunglasses.
I leaned on my golf club and looked at Kirito. He didn’t seem too happy with Toshiya’s presence there and as the taller brunette went back to the golf car to lean on it, the president shot invisible daggers at him.
He finally sighed dejectedly, realizing that neither Toshiya nor Gackt were going to be leaving soon, and got ready to hit the ball again. He swung his club, hit and the ball went into the trees.
“Wait for the bounce…”
We all held our breaths, don’t ask why, waiting for something quite unnatural to happen. After a few seconds of deadly silence, if you count out the birds that were happily chirping in the warm daylight, the president resigned himself that the ball was out of bounds and would stay there.
“Damn. I’ll take a mulligan.”
“Wait, sir. We’re playing for a person, there are no mulligans.” I told him. It was true that we hadn’t set the rules but something like that shouldn’t have been able to slip by him.
“What do you expect me to do? I haven’t hit a ball out of bounds since I was governor.”
“Well, sir, it means that now you’re shooting three.”
“Three?!” he asked. Why was he so surprised? One was out of bounds, two back on the tee and three when he would he it again. My counting doesn’t suck as much as I thought so I was pretty sure it was three.
“Three.” piped in Toshiya, holding up three fingers and smiling innocently. Yeah, right! If that was an innocent face, I’ll eat my snickers!
“Sir, I really need to talk to you.”
“What is it, Takeo?”
“You, um, you can’t beat him.” Takeo whispered.
“What do you mean? We’re the same handicap, for Pete’s sake.”
Takeo swallowed before continuing. I believe you can guess this conversation couldn’t have had a pleasant ending.
“Well, your handicap is sort of augmented.” When Kirito looked at him like he just said he was pregnant, Takeo explained. “It was actually Jun’s idea; he would have Kaoru or Die and, occasionally, me and we would help you with lucky bounces and the like… So, you can’t beat him.”
***
The sun was shining, birds were singing, Ruki was still sleeping and Maya was almost sequestrated in Miyavi’s house. The brunette didn’t want his friend out on the harsh paths of life so soon after having his big and fragile heart broken by an insecure jerk like me. So what? Something like that never stopped Maya from doing what he wanted and it didn’t make him sway the least bit when Miyavi threatened to tie him to a table leg.
Maya wanted some peace and quiet, he wanted to be alone. So that’s what brought him to the little coffee house at the golf course.
“Hey, Peggy. Can I get a black coffee?” he asked as he took a seat at the bar/counter.
“You’re Maya, right?”
He looked to his right and saw a brunette with a big smile on his face. Just looking at him made a chorus of angels start singing and all the clouds above disperse.
“Yeah, I am. Do I know you?”
The brunette smiled wider, if that were possible, and shook his head. “No, I haven’t had the pleasure. My name is Kai – I’m the president’s cook.” He extended his hand and Maya shook it.
“Taking a break from cooking Kirito’s geese?”
Both Maya and Kai laughed at that.
“Actually I’m here with a friend. He’s not in the best of moods.” Kai said and motioned to one of the table behind them. Maya looked over his shoulder and turned around when he saw Jun.
“Hello.” Maya greeted him and Jun smiled and nodded.
“Here you go, Maya.”
He turned and picked up his cup but he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He looked through the big window overlooking the golf course that was behind Jun and saw the lot of us still gathered at the beginning of the course.
“What are they playing for? Mayor?” Maya asked Jun as he took a sip from his coffee.
“Actually, they’re playing for you.” Jun answered.
Maya stilled with a blank look on his face. “No…” he said shaking his head and smiling disbelievingly.
Jun smiled back and nodded. Maya shook his head again, making a disapproving sound, the smile still on his face.
Jun nodded, still smiling as well. “Uh huh.”
“Peggy, can I make this an Irish coffee?” Maya asked the lady at the counter.
She gave him a bottle of whisky and Maya walked to Jun’s table and sat down across from him. Maya poured some whisky into his coffee and asked Jun if he wanted some as well. After pouring himself a generous amount of whisky in his coffee, Jun joined Maya in looking out the window at my and Kirito’s spectacular duel of balls.
***
Last hole, tension is high, spirits are fired up… I could make a living out of being a commentator, right? But I don’t really have the gift of talking so low – I tend to fall asleep.
Anyway, as I said, we had reached the last hole and I successfully put the ball in the hole – that was my fifth stroke. Pretty good, if I do say so myself. The president hit his ball but it passed right beside the hole.
“That was a gimmie.” he said and leaned down to pick up the ball.
“No, sir. There are no gimmies.”
“It’s inside the leather.”
“You have to get it in the hole, sir.”
With a sigh he positioned himself and hit the ball again, this time sending it into the hole.
“That was fifteen, sir.” I inform him of the number of strokes he used.
“Fifteen?! No way?!” he exclaimed. Was it really that hard to believe after how bad he played?
“Yes way!” smirked Toshiya, while holding the flag from the last hole.
“Well, let’s count them.” said Gackt. Those were the first words he had spoken the entire time we had been there and I felt he was still on my side so I started counting.
“One was out of bounds, two was back on the tee, three was in the rough; four, in the sand; five, you missed completely; six, almost out of the sand but still in it; seven, out of the sand… into that sand.” I pointed from a sand pit and then moved my hand to another sand pit right across from it. “Eight, out of the sand and into the rough – that’s when you threw your club at the tree. Nine, you almost hit me; ten, you did hit me. Eleven, on the green; twelve, it simply passed the hole – that’s when you said the very colorful curse that would make Mike Tyson blush. Thirteen, the ball stopped one foot from the hole; fourteen, you missed the putt – you said that that was a gimmie and fifteen, in the hole.”
***
Fits of giggles could be heard from the coffee house and two pairs of eyes watched in amusement as Maya and Jun, a bit too happy from their earlier Irish coffees, prepared an improvised mini golf course.
“Okay, through the sugar holders, around the saucer and through the ketchup bottles.” instructed Jun as he relayed the course to Maya, from closest to the hole and coming towards themselves.
“Don’t you mean the other way around?” Maya asked and they both burst out laughing.
“Whatever. Now, the winner gets Sugizo.” stated Jun after his laughter subsided a little.
“Married.” said Maya, pointing his coffee cup at Jun. “Miku’s his son.”
“Okay, then Ken.”
“Are you trying to get me to throw the match?” asked Maya after he broke out laughing again.
“Inoran” he said as he got up from his chair and went to pick up a club.
“Inoran? Who?”
“I SAID GET THE PRESIDENT!” Maya impersonated Inoran and Jun started laughing but he agreed.
Maya got ready, swung the club but missed the ball and hit the milk bottle that acted as a support for one the ketchup bottles, breaking it and sending the ketchup bottle flying. He and Jun were almost rolling on the floor laughing after that incident.
Peggy, the waitress that served Maya earlier, grabbed another bottle of whisky and took a swig of it after having her heart jump into her throat at the sound of breaking glass. Kai just laughed at the show the two inebriated blonds put on.
“Kai, get over here and play with us.” said Jun, making a woozy motion with his arm for Kai to approach, almost hitting Maya in the face.
“No, thanks. I’m fine with just watching.” He answered with a smile plastered on his face.
“Oh, come on. Don’t be a spoil sport.” said Maya.
Kai shook his head and eventually got up, walking toward the two. “Alright but I’m not joining in on the prize.” he added as a condition. Jun and Maya started laughing again.
***
“Aiji, I have a proposition.”
I turned around from my trek out of the golf course after winning the game and looked at the president.
“How about we play once more? This time double or nothing.”
“What’s double and what’s nothing?” I asked.
“Double is I back off of Maya and drop out of the mayor race. Nothing is we’re even, status quo. What do you say?”
He was going to back out of the mayor race?! There had to be a catch – he saw that I was better than him. I couldn’t help but be skeptical.
“Okay, fine. Go ahead, you hit first.” Good thing we were right at the starting position.
“You know, if I risk all that, you have to give me something, an advantage.”
“Like what?” I knew there was a catch.
“One throw, for example. You have local knowledge, you’re killing me.” Oh, cut the act, drama queen.
“He can’t throw either. He can’t do anything right with his hands for that matter. Let him do it.” said Toshiya. Somehow I don’t think I needed to know the hidden meaning behind that statement.
“Okay, you get one throw.”
I got my club and ball ready and waited for him to hit… or throw. It seemed he preferred to hit at the beginning. Saving the way out for when you’re in a pinch – good strategy. He hit the ball and it landed right on the leather.
“There’s the old form back.” he said.
I put my tee and ball on the ground and got ready. I swung my club but before I could bring it down, Kirito took my ball and threw it. He just grabbed it with his club from the tee, picked it up and threw it out of bounds. I was left gaping, my club still in mid swing.
“What was that for?”
“I said one throw; I didn’t say whose ball.”
I heard Toshiya humph behind me and I was certain he had his hands on his hips. So that meant I started off with three strokes already. And that, my dear listeners, was the catch I was talking about.
***
Phones were ringing but Yoshiki still managed to hear the front door open and he went to greet the returning party.
“Welcome back, Kirito. Is everything alright?”
“Just dandy! I’m a 10 handicap and I shot a 142. You and I need to have a serious talk about my handicap, Jun.”
“Now?” Jun asked, holding his head.
“Later.” Kirito said, gave Kaoru his bag and walked to his office.
“At least you didn’t lose.” Yoshiki tried to make Kirito feel better but it really wasn’t working.
“Time to take the gloves off, Yoshiki. We need to bury this guy.” Kirito said as he sat down in his chair at his desk.
“He’s as clean as a whistle, Kirito.”
“He must have done something: knocked up a local, grew marijuana? Hell, even I grew marijuana!” Kirito chuckled.
“We’ll find dirt, don’t worry. Even if we have to make it up.”
He didn’t get to say anything else because Jun came into the room and strongly voiced his disapproval.
“I don’t believe this!” He walked up to Kirito’s desk and took a slow breath to calm down.
“Mister President, I’m giving my notice.”
Kirito straightened in his chair. “Your notice?!”
“Yes. I can’t work here any longer.” Jun calmly stated.
“Are you drunk?! We’ve been together for years!”
“Yes… I’m mean no, I’m not drunk and yes, we’ve been together for years and in all that time, not once have you gone negative.” He looked Yoshiki right in the eye. “At least not first.” He turned back to Kirito. “And not once have you stooped to threats or harassment.”
“Jun, he brought in Toshiya. Toshiya! If that’s not harassment, what is?!”
“Mister President,” Jun said with a calm tone of voice, “you have two days…” he looked at his watch, “two hours and twenty minutes until this election is over. And then I’m gone.”
He walked out of the office without waiting for an answer from Kirito and, in his hung over state, tripped over the threshold but managed to keep himself on his feet.
Kirito rubbed his eyes and sighed heavily.
“What’s that?” he asked Yoshiki after he opened his eyes.
“I think he quit.”
“Not that!” Kirito snapped. “That!” he said again, motioning to a piece of paper Yoshiki was holding.
“This? It’s the new poll – five points.” And he showed a thumb down.
“What the sample size?” Kirito asked, concerned. Yoshiki didn’t answer. “Come on, what’s the sample size?”
“Everybody.” Yoshiki finally said.
“Everybody?! This is a disaster! Crap!” Kirito got up from his chair and started pacing around the office. “It’s like some mythical Greek puzzle – the riddle of the handyman: Somewhere, the answer!”
He kept pacing, ignoring Yoshiki’s advice of not panicking. He suddenly stopped.
“Wait a minute.” He turned to Yoshiki and Takeo. “What’s wrong with us? I’ll give it to him, it’s that simple.”
“You don’t mean quit? You can’t quit, Kirito.” said Yoshiki.
“I wouldn’t, that’s the beauty of it. I’ll say how qualified he is, that he’s the best man for the job. And tomorrow night at the debate, I’ll give him my support. If I win, I win but if I lose it’s because I did the most selfless gesture in political history and people took my advice.”
Yoshiki and Takeo smiled. “That’s brilliant, sir.” said Takeo.
“And then I get myself a cute blonde sweetheart.” Kirito smirked to himself as he sat down at his desk again.
Post Notes:
1. Mulligan: Most simply put, a "do-over." Hit a bad shot? Take a mulligan and hit it again. Mulligans are played only when expressly agreed upon by all partners in a friendly match, and are never allowed when the official rules are being followed (i.e., in a tournament or handicap round). Mulligans are most commonly played on the first tee, or played as one mulligan per nine holes. Mulligans are often sold at charity tournaments (as distinguished from official tournaments) - for example, if you would like to have five mulligans to use during a round, you would pay to purchase them. Then, five times during a round when you wanted to hit a shot over, you would be able to do so.
2. Gimmie: A putt that one player requests be conceded by another player, allowing the first player to pick up and move on as if the putt had been holed.
The word derives from "give me," as in, "Will you give me that one?" Many golfers play using gimmies for any short putt. The unofficial rule is "inside the leather" - that is, if a ball is closer to the hole than the distance from your putter head to putter grip when laid flat on the green, it's a gimmie and you can pick up.
The key word there is "unofficial." Because gimmies are never allowed under the official rules. In match play, an opponent can concede a putt of his or her own volition (without being asked), but the rules never allow gimmies.
(courtousy of http://golf.about.com)
Author: Sabina or Destiny or
destiny_1989Rating: PG-13 on the verge of NC-17
Summary: What better way to settle a battle among men than a “duel of balls” a.k.a. putting contest? Aiji and Kirito seem to think it’s perfect. Question is: do Jun and Maya feel the same?
Warnings: (overall) it's AU so fear teh OOC + yaoi, cheating at golf, doggie humping, swearing, vicious ex-wives…uh, husbands, politics, violence, high school bullies, lingerie, sap, angst, rape
Pairings: Aiji/Maya (main)
Disclaimer: I would be bathing in money if I owned them. So no sue from you.
Pre Notes: N/A
|promotional poster| |cast of characters| |pairings
01| |02| |03| |04| |05| |06| |07| |08| |09| |10| |11| |12| |13| |14| |15| |16
The next day found me at the Silvervale golf course. It wasn’t as big as any professional courses since there were mainly amateur players in town but we got around. I was overlooking the course, mainly the distance to the first hole when the former president arrived.
“So, what are the stakes? Mayor?!” How I wanted to sock him one and wipe that smirk off his face.
“No, sir. Maya – the loser backs off of Maya. We’re both a ten handicap so it would be a fair fight.”
“You’re on.” Again that smirk. It should be illegal for someone to feel so superior and egocentric.
“Um, sir, I need to have a word with you…” Takeo tried to get Kirito’s attention. The former president raised his index finger and interrupted Takeo.
“Eye line, Takeo.”
Takeo took a few steps back obediently and I inwardly shook my head. I felt sorry for the poor guy.
I placed my tee on the ground and a ball on it. I took a deep breath and, gripping the club, swung as hard as I could. I thought I would deflate because of the relief I felt when I saw the ball went in the general direction it was supposed to.
“Nice shot.” said the president and got his tee and ball ready.
He swung but before he could hit the ball a golf car came near us and honked loudly, causing Kirito to swing his club like a baseball bat.
“Hello! Wait for us!”
The car stopped and Toshiya and Gackt got off.
“What are you doing here?” Kirito asked Toshiya.
“We’re here to make sure a fair fight’s fair.” the brunette answered and approached Kaoru. “Call them out, Kaoru.” he said, lowering his sunglasses.
I was leaning on my club waiting for everybody to finish whatever it was they were doing. I looked at Gackt but thanks to those sunglasses he was wearing I couldn’t tell if he was glaring, looking at me pensively or just looking through me. But I can bet Plunger’s year-time supply of dog food that he was glaring.
I raised an eyebrow when I saw Toshiya take a few steps toward me and the president and even pass us. I blinked stupidly when he whistled… really loud.
“Die! You and your men come on out!” I looked from him to the field he was looking at and back at him. Talk about weird. Being relatively close to him, I flinched when he yelled again. “Come on, I know you’re there!”
I thought I heard some murmuring behind but my attention was grabbed by agents coming out of the bushes and from behind the trees. They were enough for a football team, I swear!
“We were securing the perimeter, sir!” yelled one of them, possibly the one under the command of Kirito’s chief of security.
“Secure it from there!” responded Toshiya and then turned to Kirito. “Hit it away, lambkins.” he said with a smirk and readjusted his sunglasses.
I leaned on my golf club and looked at Kirito. He didn’t seem too happy with Toshiya’s presence there and as the taller brunette went back to the golf car to lean on it, the president shot invisible daggers at him.
He finally sighed dejectedly, realizing that neither Toshiya nor Gackt were going to be leaving soon, and got ready to hit the ball again. He swung his club, hit and the ball went into the trees.
“Wait for the bounce…”
We all held our breaths, don’t ask why, waiting for something quite unnatural to happen. After a few seconds of deadly silence, if you count out the birds that were happily chirping in the warm daylight, the president resigned himself that the ball was out of bounds and would stay there.
“Damn. I’ll take a mulligan.”
“Wait, sir. We’re playing for a person, there are no mulligans.” I told him. It was true that we hadn’t set the rules but something like that shouldn’t have been able to slip by him.
“What do you expect me to do? I haven’t hit a ball out of bounds since I was governor.”
“Well, sir, it means that now you’re shooting three.”
“Three?!” he asked. Why was he so surprised? One was out of bounds, two back on the tee and three when he would he it again. My counting doesn’t suck as much as I thought so I was pretty sure it was three.
“Three.” piped in Toshiya, holding up three fingers and smiling innocently. Yeah, right! If that was an innocent face, I’ll eat my snickers!
“Sir, I really need to talk to you.”
“What is it, Takeo?”
“You, um, you can’t beat him.” Takeo whispered.
“What do you mean? We’re the same handicap, for Pete’s sake.”
Takeo swallowed before continuing. I believe you can guess this conversation couldn’t have had a pleasant ending.
“Well, your handicap is sort of augmented.” When Kirito looked at him like he just said he was pregnant, Takeo explained. “It was actually Jun’s idea; he would have Kaoru or Die and, occasionally, me and we would help you with lucky bounces and the like… So, you can’t beat him.”
The sun was shining, birds were singing, Ruki was still sleeping and Maya was almost sequestrated in Miyavi’s house. The brunette didn’t want his friend out on the harsh paths of life so soon after having his big and fragile heart broken by an insecure jerk like me. So what? Something like that never stopped Maya from doing what he wanted and it didn’t make him sway the least bit when Miyavi threatened to tie him to a table leg.
Maya wanted some peace and quiet, he wanted to be alone. So that’s what brought him to the little coffee house at the golf course.
“Hey, Peggy. Can I get a black coffee?” he asked as he took a seat at the bar/counter.
“You’re Maya, right?”
He looked to his right and saw a brunette with a big smile on his face. Just looking at him made a chorus of angels start singing and all the clouds above disperse.
“Yeah, I am. Do I know you?”
The brunette smiled wider, if that were possible, and shook his head. “No, I haven’t had the pleasure. My name is Kai – I’m the president’s cook.” He extended his hand and Maya shook it.
“Taking a break from cooking Kirito’s geese?”
Both Maya and Kai laughed at that.
“Actually I’m here with a friend. He’s not in the best of moods.” Kai said and motioned to one of the table behind them. Maya looked over his shoulder and turned around when he saw Jun.
“Hello.” Maya greeted him and Jun smiled and nodded.
“Here you go, Maya.”
He turned and picked up his cup but he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He looked through the big window overlooking the golf course that was behind Jun and saw the lot of us still gathered at the beginning of the course.
“What are they playing for? Mayor?” Maya asked Jun as he took a sip from his coffee.
“Actually, they’re playing for you.” Jun answered.
Maya stilled with a blank look on his face. “No…” he said shaking his head and smiling disbelievingly.
Jun smiled back and nodded. Maya shook his head again, making a disapproving sound, the smile still on his face.
Jun nodded, still smiling as well. “Uh huh.”
“Peggy, can I make this an Irish coffee?” Maya asked the lady at the counter.
She gave him a bottle of whisky and Maya walked to Jun’s table and sat down across from him. Maya poured some whisky into his coffee and asked Jun if he wanted some as well. After pouring himself a generous amount of whisky in his coffee, Jun joined Maya in looking out the window at my and Kirito’s spectacular duel of balls.
Last hole, tension is high, spirits are fired up… I could make a living out of being a commentator, right? But I don’t really have the gift of talking so low – I tend to fall asleep.
Anyway, as I said, we had reached the last hole and I successfully put the ball in the hole – that was my fifth stroke. Pretty good, if I do say so myself. The president hit his ball but it passed right beside the hole.
“That was a gimmie.” he said and leaned down to pick up the ball.
“No, sir. There are no gimmies.”
“It’s inside the leather.”
“You have to get it in the hole, sir.”
With a sigh he positioned himself and hit the ball again, this time sending it into the hole.
“That was fifteen, sir.” I inform him of the number of strokes he used.
“Fifteen?! No way?!” he exclaimed. Was it really that hard to believe after how bad he played?
“Yes way!” smirked Toshiya, while holding the flag from the last hole.
“Well, let’s count them.” said Gackt. Those were the first words he had spoken the entire time we had been there and I felt he was still on my side so I started counting.
“One was out of bounds, two was back on the tee, three was in the rough; four, in the sand; five, you missed completely; six, almost out of the sand but still in it; seven, out of the sand… into that sand.” I pointed from a sand pit and then moved my hand to another sand pit right across from it. “Eight, out of the sand and into the rough – that’s when you threw your club at the tree. Nine, you almost hit me; ten, you did hit me. Eleven, on the green; twelve, it simply passed the hole – that’s when you said the very colorful curse that would make Mike Tyson blush. Thirteen, the ball stopped one foot from the hole; fourteen, you missed the putt – you said that that was a gimmie and fifteen, in the hole.”
Fits of giggles could be heard from the coffee house and two pairs of eyes watched in amusement as Maya and Jun, a bit too happy from their earlier Irish coffees, prepared an improvised mini golf course.
“Okay, through the sugar holders, around the saucer and through the ketchup bottles.” instructed Jun as he relayed the course to Maya, from closest to the hole and coming towards themselves.
“Don’t you mean the other way around?” Maya asked and they both burst out laughing.
“Whatever. Now, the winner gets Sugizo.” stated Jun after his laughter subsided a little.
“Married.” said Maya, pointing his coffee cup at Jun. “Miku’s his son.”
“Okay, then Ken.”
“Are you trying to get me to throw the match?” asked Maya after he broke out laughing again.
“Inoran” he said as he got up from his chair and went to pick up a club.
“Inoran? Who?”
“I SAID GET THE PRESIDENT!” Maya impersonated Inoran and Jun started laughing but he agreed.
Maya got ready, swung the club but missed the ball and hit the milk bottle that acted as a support for one the ketchup bottles, breaking it and sending the ketchup bottle flying. He and Jun were almost rolling on the floor laughing after that incident.
Peggy, the waitress that served Maya earlier, grabbed another bottle of whisky and took a swig of it after having her heart jump into her throat at the sound of breaking glass. Kai just laughed at the show the two inebriated blonds put on.
“Kai, get over here and play with us.” said Jun, making a woozy motion with his arm for Kai to approach, almost hitting Maya in the face.
“No, thanks. I’m fine with just watching.” He answered with a smile plastered on his face.
“Oh, come on. Don’t be a spoil sport.” said Maya.
Kai shook his head and eventually got up, walking toward the two. “Alright but I’m not joining in on the prize.” he added as a condition. Jun and Maya started laughing again.
“Aiji, I have a proposition.”
I turned around from my trek out of the golf course after winning the game and looked at the president.
“How about we play once more? This time double or nothing.”
“What’s double and what’s nothing?” I asked.
“Double is I back off of Maya and drop out of the mayor race. Nothing is we’re even, status quo. What do you say?”
He was going to back out of the mayor race?! There had to be a catch – he saw that I was better than him. I couldn’t help but be skeptical.
“Okay, fine. Go ahead, you hit first.” Good thing we were right at the starting position.
“You know, if I risk all that, you have to give me something, an advantage.”
“Like what?” I knew there was a catch.
“One throw, for example. You have local knowledge, you’re killing me.” Oh, cut the act, drama queen.
“He can’t throw either. He can’t do anything right with his hands for that matter. Let him do it.” said Toshiya. Somehow I don’t think I needed to know the hidden meaning behind that statement.
“Okay, you get one throw.”
I got my club and ball ready and waited for him to hit… or throw. It seemed he preferred to hit at the beginning. Saving the way out for when you’re in a pinch – good strategy. He hit the ball and it landed right on the leather.
“There’s the old form back.” he said.
I put my tee and ball on the ground and got ready. I swung my club but before I could bring it down, Kirito took my ball and threw it. He just grabbed it with his club from the tee, picked it up and threw it out of bounds. I was left gaping, my club still in mid swing.
“What was that for?”
“I said one throw; I didn’t say whose ball.”
I heard Toshiya humph behind me and I was certain he had his hands on his hips. So that meant I started off with three strokes already. And that, my dear listeners, was the catch I was talking about.
Phones were ringing but Yoshiki still managed to hear the front door open and he went to greet the returning party.
“Welcome back, Kirito. Is everything alright?”
“Just dandy! I’m a 10 handicap and I shot a 142. You and I need to have a serious talk about my handicap, Jun.”
“Now?” Jun asked, holding his head.
“Later.” Kirito said, gave Kaoru his bag and walked to his office.
“At least you didn’t lose.” Yoshiki tried to make Kirito feel better but it really wasn’t working.
“Time to take the gloves off, Yoshiki. We need to bury this guy.” Kirito said as he sat down in his chair at his desk.
“He’s as clean as a whistle, Kirito.”
“He must have done something: knocked up a local, grew marijuana? Hell, even I grew marijuana!” Kirito chuckled.
“We’ll find dirt, don’t worry. Even if we have to make it up.”
He didn’t get to say anything else because Jun came into the room and strongly voiced his disapproval.
“I don’t believe this!” He walked up to Kirito’s desk and took a slow breath to calm down.
“Mister President, I’m giving my notice.”
Kirito straightened in his chair. “Your notice?!”
“Yes. I can’t work here any longer.” Jun calmly stated.
“Are you drunk?! We’ve been together for years!”
“Yes… I’m mean no, I’m not drunk and yes, we’ve been together for years and in all that time, not once have you gone negative.” He looked Yoshiki right in the eye. “At least not first.” He turned back to Kirito. “And not once have you stooped to threats or harassment.”
“Jun, he brought in Toshiya. Toshiya! If that’s not harassment, what is?!”
“Mister President,” Jun said with a calm tone of voice, “you have two days…” he looked at his watch, “two hours and twenty minutes until this election is over. And then I’m gone.”
He walked out of the office without waiting for an answer from Kirito and, in his hung over state, tripped over the threshold but managed to keep himself on his feet.
Kirito rubbed his eyes and sighed heavily.
“What’s that?” he asked Yoshiki after he opened his eyes.
“I think he quit.”
“Not that!” Kirito snapped. “That!” he said again, motioning to a piece of paper Yoshiki was holding.
“This? It’s the new poll – five points.” And he showed a thumb down.
“What the sample size?” Kirito asked, concerned. Yoshiki didn’t answer. “Come on, what’s the sample size?”
“Everybody.” Yoshiki finally said.
“Everybody?! This is a disaster! Crap!” Kirito got up from his chair and started pacing around the office. “It’s like some mythical Greek puzzle – the riddle of the handyman: Somewhere, the answer!”
He kept pacing, ignoring Yoshiki’s advice of not panicking. He suddenly stopped.
“Wait a minute.” He turned to Yoshiki and Takeo. “What’s wrong with us? I’ll give it to him, it’s that simple.”
“You don’t mean quit? You can’t quit, Kirito.” said Yoshiki.
“I wouldn’t, that’s the beauty of it. I’ll say how qualified he is, that he’s the best man for the job. And tomorrow night at the debate, I’ll give him my support. If I win, I win but if I lose it’s because I did the most selfless gesture in political history and people took my advice.”
Yoshiki and Takeo smiled. “That’s brilliant, sir.” said Takeo.
“And then I get myself a cute blonde sweetheart.” Kirito smirked to himself as he sat down at his desk again.
Post Notes:
1. Mulligan: Most simply put, a "do-over." Hit a bad shot? Take a mulligan and hit it again. Mulligans are played only when expressly agreed upon by all partners in a friendly match, and are never allowed when the official rules are being followed (i.e., in a tournament or handicap round). Mulligans are most commonly played on the first tee, or played as one mulligan per nine holes. Mulligans are often sold at charity tournaments (as distinguished from official tournaments) - for example, if you would like to have five mulligans to use during a round, you would pay to purchase them. Then, five times during a round when you wanted to hit a shot over, you would be able to do so.
2. Gimmie: A putt that one player requests be conceded by another player, allowing the first player to pick up and move on as if the putt had been holed.
The word derives from "give me," as in, "Will you give me that one?" Many golfers play using gimmies for any short putt. The unofficial rule is "inside the leather" - that is, if a ball is closer to the hole than the distance from your putter head to putter grip when laid flat on the green, it's a gimmie and you can pick up.
The key word there is "unofficial." Because gimmies are never allowed under the official rules. In match play, an opponent can concede a putt of his or her own volition (without being asked), but the rules never allow gimmies.
(courtousy of http://golf.about.com)
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