This is a happy birthday fic to a friend of mine. Tis not the best fic but, I hope you like it. ^^

Note: I don't know Cuba's human name, but I saw somewhere someone said it was Carlos, so I stuck with that. |D

XXX

The night sky loomed over the city, and if it wasn't for the stars it would seem a little too scary, but not for Carlos. Carlos walked down the street not paying any mind to the people passing by him. There wasn't that many people out anyways to care who's looking at him funny or not. In this part was probably the worst part of the entire city. Racist's, drug dealers, gangs, homophobes, the list went on. Carlos took out a cigar from his cigarette box. He pulled out a lighter and lit the cigar. Hmmph, It's a good thing I'm moving soon, though, I don't have much to take with me in my dinky little house...

Soon enough, Carlos stopped where he was; he looked around to find he had wandered into an alleyway. Dammit, I hate when I do that. He turned around, but just before he could even take a single step away he heard a shrill cry for help. Carlos, as tough and as a man he looked he could never ignore a cry for help, especially not in the night. He rushed to wear the scream came from, he looked in every corner all over the alley until he found a group of men cornering a younger looking man, a boy about seventeen to twenty maybe. One man grabbed the boy and pulled out a knife. Carlos wasn't going to let this be. He clenched his fists and dashed to the first guy striking him as he turned to see who was there. The second man just about pulled out a gun on Carlos until Carlos upper cut his jaw knocking the man out cold. The third man, grabbed the boy by the arm and held the knife to his throat.

"Stop or I'll cut his throat!"

Carlos stopped where he was; his eyes looked down at the gun that lay beside his foot. He turned his attention back to the man, then suddenly kicked the gun up with his foot. He grabbed the gun and fired at the knife knocking it out of the man's hand but not hurting the boy. Good thing I have a good aim when it comes to guns.

"Now go" Carlos said as he took the cigar out of his mouth. The gun pointed in the man's direction.

The man quickly hurried off and away from them as fast as he could, looking back a couple times before he was out of site. Carlos dropped the gun and looked over at the boy.

"You alri-"

Before he could finish he was suddenly tackle hugged by the boy. He could feel his arms wrapping themselves tightly around him, almost squeezing the life out him. The boy was soft, his soft hair against Cuba's chin, and his soft body was close to Carlos's. Why Carlos liked it, he did not know, but he could not help but hug back.

"Thank you" The boy said in a soft shaky voice.

Carlos felt his cheeks burn. He was blushing? It only took this one boy to make him do just that.

"What's your name?" Carlos asked.

"Matthew"

It was a beautiful name for a boy. This boy himself sounded and felt beautiful, but Carlos didn't get a good look at his face, he was curious. He let go and Matthew did the same. Matthew looked up at Carlos, a shy smile, and thankful eyes. Carlos's eyes widened in amazement; this boy, Matthew, he was more than just beautiful, to Carlos he was perfect. His hair was a gorgeous blond, somewhat wavy and sort of long. His eyes were as dark as the blue night sky in the city. And his skin was fair and a little pale.

"What's your name?" Matthew asked, his voice was still soft, was his voice always this soft?

"U-uh..." Carlos couldn't bring himself to say anything, he felt spellbound.

He smacked himself trying to get his mind off of all this.

"E-Eh? Are you alright?" Matthew asked, "Why did you do that?"

"Sorry, um, I'm Carlos..."

"O-Oh, that's a nice name" Matthew smiled.

"Well, should I take you to your house, or..."

"Oh... N-No, I'm homeless as of, an hour ago..."

"What? How?"

Matthew put his hand on his right arm and looked away. It seemed he didn't trust Carlos all too much to tell him.

"It's ok, you can tell me" Carlos said reassuringly.

"You sure?"

"Yes"

Matthew looked back at Carlos, his eyes were more worried than thankful this time.

"It's because... my parents kicked me out... b-because, I-I..."

"Yes?"

"They found out I was..."

Carlos didn't know what Matthew was trying to say but he took a wild guess.

"Gay?"

"M-More like... Bi"

"I see"

Matthew stepped away from Carlos, just seeing Matthew do this made Carlos feel a little rejected.

"M-Maybe I should go" Matthew said as he walked around Carlos.

Just then Carlos grabbed Matthew's arm causing Matthew to yelp in fear.

"P-Please let me go!" Matthew cried.

Carlos just gave him a strange look. Dammit, why does he have to be afraid of me?

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you just because you're Bi, I'm not like that"

Matthew calmed. Carlos smiled gently at him.

"Why don't you come home with me?"

Matthew began to pull away again, he didn't seem to sure about the idea of going anywhere with Carlos.

"It's not g-good to go anywhere w-with strangers"

"What are you, five?"

"N-No! I'm nineteen and it doesn't matter how old you are you still shouldn't do it"

"What's your other option? Stay out here and starve? Become a prostitute and sell your body to strange men and women? Or end up dead next time someone corners you?"

Matthew's eyes grew a little at the facts he had to face. What could he do? Matthew sighed.

"O-Ok, I'll come with you"

"Good, follow me"

Carlos led the way to his house and Matthew followed behind, Carlos knew that Matthew was a little scared. To trust a stranger even if they did save you.

Once the two finally reached Carlos's house, they entered still not saying a word to the other. Carlos looked over at Matthew, who was looking around the place curiously. I have to say something to him, anything.

"Um, it's not much for a house, but it's home. Heh, for me anyway"

"That's ok, I-I guess I'll get used to it"

He certainly stutters a lot. Carlos blushed. ...cute...

:::

Later that night, after getting permission from Carlos, Matthew took a shower in the only bathroom in the house. Carlos was in his room flipping through channels on his old t.v. and as usual, there was nothing good on until his favourite show comes on.

"Stupid t.v." Carlos growled.

Lucky him he had a t.v. in the bedroom, he could barely fit the bed and the chair he was sitting on in there, especially his dresser too.

"um, I'm sorry to bother you, but-" Came Matthews voice from the door.

"Huh?" Carlos noticed Matthew was in nothing but a towel.

Carlos's face heated up immediately, a little too much as he stared at the boy.

"I-I don't have any pj's or other clothes to wear..." Matthew said.

"Uh, that's... ok, I have some clothes you can wear until we get you some of your own"

Carlos got up from his seat and went over to the dresser and looked through it for some good clothes that might fit Matthew. He tried not to look at the boy's body, that would have been weird, plus he needed to gain the trust of this boy anyway, checking him out, as tempting as it sounded, would just scare him off.

"Too big, still too big, dammit!" Carlos started cursing like a mad sailor as he searched through the clothes. Everything was too big for Matthew. Then, he stopped himself once he remembered Matthew was in the same room with him.

He looked at him to see if there would be any sort of reaction, but he got none.

"I could, um, just wear one of your long shirts..." Matthew said, a little blush on his face.

"O-oh, ok..." Carlos picked out a white button shirt and threw it to Matthew.

Matthew caught the shirt and headed back in the bathroom to get changed.

Carlos sat down on his chair again. He decided to turn the t.v. off for now. For some reason he couldn't even enjoy his favourite show which had just started. He just sat in his chair and placed his face in his hand, and groaned. He looked over at the door to where Matthew should be walking through any minute now. What's wrong with me? I was just feeling a little high when I saw him again, now I feel a little... terrible.

Then, Matthew came in the room, half dressed in the long shirt and, most likely, underwear underneath. Carlos couldn't help but blush as he stared at Matthew's bare legs. He took his face out of his hand and stood up before speaking.

"Um, you sure you don't need pants?"

"Eh? O-Oh, I would like pants, but, I don't think you have any that would stay up on me"

"Oh... yeah..."

Carlos then noticed a strand of Matthew's hair was longer than the others, he was curious. He walked over to Matthew and pointed at the hair strand.

"Why is this piece of hair longer than the rest, if that just some sort of style for you?"

"U-um, yes, I just" Matthew stepped back a little, being a little too uncomfortable to be so close to a stranger, only to fall backwards. "EEP!" He yelped as he grabbed Carlos's shirt pulling him down with him. Both of them fell on the bed, Carlos on top of Matthew.

Carlos stared at Matthew, the blush on his face darkening as Matthew stared back. The awkward moment made Carlos feel a little uncomfortable for Matthew's sake, but, he felt proud to be this close to him again, though he wanted to be closer. He didn't think that would be the smart thing to do though.

"Um, Sorry" Was Carlos could mutter.

"N-no, I-I should be sorry, I grabbed you..."

He was so cute when he stuttered, and in this position. Carlos just wanted to take him right then and there, but what good would that do? Dammit, why did I have to find this guy? Why is fate torturing me like this? Why... why should I... Carlos couldn't hold it back any more, he leaned in close to Matthew and kissed his lips softly, he could hear Matthew's breathing quicken, probably from fear. Carlos immediately pulled away to look at Matthew's frightened face, but he didn't look frightened at all, just a little nervous.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that to you"

Dammit, I keep screwing up, he's going to leave for sure... Carlos was just about to get off of Matthew when Matthew grabbed his shirt again. Carlos glanced at Matthew, a little surprised.

"I-It's ok, I'm not upset, but, I'm too tired to do that sort of thing"

Wait, he was ok with it? He didn't mind if Carlos would do something like that to him? This meant that, Carlos didn't have to take it easy at all, perhaps this boy was feeling the same way about Carlos that Carlos felt about him. Carlos smiled and crawled off of Matthew and to one side of the bed. Matthew sat up and crawled next to Carlos, and cuddled up next to him. Carlos wrapped his arms around Matthew, holding him comfortably. Heh, my arm's going to be numb in the morning He thought as he closed his eyes to sleep, but it'll be worth it...

XXX

Happy birthday ReverseAlchemist. ^^ I know, there's no smex, I don't do that kind of thing. |D So i hope you enjoyed the cute romantic stuff. XD