Title: Moonlight in a Martini Glass
Chapter: 1
Story Notes: Going through some minor revisions. Please see all the chapters. Nothing to major however.

Chapter Notes: Small revisions are going on with this story starting here. I got to re-reading it and had ideas start flowing, so I figured I'd better pay a little attention to it.


It was terribly late, by a good part of the population's standards, but by bar time the night had just begun. The room slowly filled up, some regulars, many college students, and even a few who were probably too young to be there... All in all a typical beginning to the start of his shift. There was alcohol in the air, music over the sound system. Bodies conversed, danced, and played the various games around the room.

Duo watched with a keen, yet twinkling eye from his key position behind the large cherry wood bar. Using a clean white towel he wiped the water off a newly cleaned beer glass and set it with its mates on the lower shelf. The stools that lined his workstation were all filled except for one at the farthest corner. For whatever reason, people rarely sat there, it was the only one on the perpendicular to the main stretch. Set back in an overly dark corner.

Personally, it was Duo's favorite when he stopped in on his nights off. Reason being that it gave him full view of the floor instead of having his back to it. Even if he wasn't working he still watched for trouble, waiting for it to happen. Drunks could be very unpredictable and always found the worst times to start trouble. He had learned that far earlier that he would have liked.

The large red pool table being the hard end of his grief when he first starting bartending. It was set up to the right of the door, near the bathrooms. You tell a person 'no' and suddenly pool sticks become perfectly balanced javelins. People hate it when you tell them 'no', but that was part of his job. Making sure the drunks didn't get 'too' drunk. What people don't realize is that the bartender is basically your legal guardian when you decide to have a late night drink, and as so, responsible when the authorities get involved. So it was say 'no' or lose their liquor license. And that would just ruined everyone's fun.

He picked up a short glass as it was pushed across the bars surface to be refilled. The left over auburn decorating the cracks in the ice and sweet smell told him an Amaretto and Sour. "Does it seem busier in here to you tonight?" The Amaretto guy asked over the music, sampling the new drink shortly after it was handed back across the bar. By his appearance he was about Duo's age, maybe slightly older. Naturally tan in the skin and shoulder length onyx hair pulled into a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck. Features that a full-blooded American wouldn't posses Duo observed, not with the slant those dark eyes possessed, maybe Chinese or Korean.

"I heard there was some big street race down on Colfax early. Looks like they all decided to drink after driving." By the simple observation made the braided bartender figured that the Amaretto guy must have been more then just a one timer, and only on his first drink. The bar was normally packed full on weekend nights, but it was, as the customer stated, a little busier then the norm.

The unique features did have a way of standing out in Duo's mind, like he had served the guy before tonight. The drink and position he sat on the bar was more what he was remembering. Names weren't a normal exchange in the bar system, unless you were a good regular. It was more a well trained photographic memory, the light brown drink going to the third seat from the end. The seats never changed in name therefore were easier to remember. And if you were served enough times you might earn a nickname to the workers, drinking Tequila dubbed you the Tequila guy.

"One of these nights they're going to get into trouble with the authorities."

The bartender laughed, though not in an offending manner, but in more of a facetious tone. "The day I see a cop around here is the day I stop serving minors!"

Thin lips curled slightly upward at the corners, hinting that the comment was taken the way he intended. "I would hope so. That other bartender could never make a drink like this." He rattled his glass in the air, causing the cubes of ice to clink together.

Duo took a shallow bow, one arm crossed over his chest, the waist length braid of chocolate hair falling over his left shoulder. "I try."

The front door creaked open, letting a wisp of the cooling night air to travel in. A small blonde followed the current inside seeming almost out of placed walking through the crowd of swaying bodies. A large brown briefcase was kept carefully at his side, maneuvered just so to keep it from bumping into anyone. He slowly made his way to the crowded bar, stopping just a few feet before it to take a look from one end to the other before taking up the sole lonely chair in the corner.

Leaving the Mister Amaretto to his drink Duo took long strides to the end of the bar, making eye contact as he did and flashing a white grin to the newcomer who was carefully pulling papers out of his case and arranging them in several neat piles on the wooden surface. "Care for a drink? Or maybe a couple of paper weights?" He asked when in talking distance.

Aquamarine eyes looked up at him through windswept bangs, blinking once before the words finally filtered out of the background noise and into his brain. "Um... a Martini no ice, please."

"Good," grabbing a clear bottle of Vermouth off the top shelf Duo made a show of twirling it over the back of his hand and into the other. "Cause I wouldn't give you any, that just ruins a good drink. Now, what kind?"

"What kind of what?"

"Martini!... Gin? Vodka? Or maybe a Pop Rock one would suit you better?" He chuckled lightly in the back of his throat.

"Gin." Sure it was just a simple repeating of the first thing that had been suggested, meaning the blond didn't have a clue what it was that he was ordering. Oh well . . . Not his problem.

A fat green bottle was flipped skillfully over the braid still positioned on his shoulder before being caught behind the bartender's back. "You really know how to drink my friend. Though you look old enough to be my little sister, maybe I'd better card ya too, hmmm?" A small laminated rectangle was held just inches from Duo's nose, the blond had obviously been prepared for the question. One hand ID the other remained focused on his paperwork.

"I was just kidding, geeze." Duo mumbled under his breath, not really caring if the other heard him or not. "I don't even have a little sister." Violet eyes crossed slightly in order to read the small print of the driver's license; maybe setting a good example every once in awhile was not that bad.

Name: Quatre Raberba Winner.

Date of Birth: November 17, 180.

A bit of quick mental math proved that the newcomer 'was' of legal age to be present at a bar and drinking, barely, but he was. Not that a simple plastic card held people back from getting drunk. There were plenty of other ways of getting booze. At least here they could be monitored as they indulged in their bad habits.

The card was set back on the dark wood with a light tap and a delicate, and a long stemmed martini glass was placed right beside it. Balanced on top of a thick wooden coaster whose face was engraved with a scripted 'S."

A delicate mix of crystal clear liquids filled the glass up to the two-thirds mark accented by the two speared green olives that rested against the rim. No straw and defiantly no ice.

And last to the picture was a freshly cracked can of Coke. Though it broke the clarity of the picture the bartender had painted in front of him, Duo figured it was also a necessity. So it was also placed in front of the blond with a smirk.

"Thanks, but I didn't-"

"It's on the house dude. Trust me, you'll be needing it."

Before any further protests could be made Duo quickly scooted off to please another customer who was waving a twenty from the opposite end of the bar. His trained ears never missing the sip, the gag, then the instantaneous gulp of an oh-so-handy soda. Gin... the thought gave even 'him' shivers... That shit tasted like it was straight off of a pine tree, a really, REALLY healthy pine tree. Only the richest of the rich seem to pride themselves in being able to stomach the stuff. And the Safe Haven bar was defiantly no place for rich snobs. They'd probably be mugged before ever reaching the front door.

As the hours slithered by, counted in terms of the number of drinks served, wandering tenets came and left as they usually did. Even a great number of the regulars left to seek the comforts only a bed could bring to them.

All in all the night went great for sales and uneventful in the way of things broken. Which was both good and bad. Sure nights like these meant he didn't have to worry about losing his job over something stupid, but they really bored the hell out of Duo. A little action never hurt anyone. He could easily hold his own if need be, and it would prove to keep him awake until he was finally able to lock the doors and go home, which was normally around three in the morning.

A buck out of Duo's tip money allowed the jukebox to select a Lou Reed CD out of the masses it offered, setting the mood for things to slowly wind down. Proving its worth as great song night after night even after all those years, it was still one of Duo's favorites. "Do... do do... do do... do... do do do..." Duo's deep tenor vibrated with the music as he wiped up one spill after another; shining the cherry wood as he moved down the bar's surface.

The Amaretto guy had stood from his seat just a minute before, pushing in his chair and Wrapping his dark brown suede jacket around lean shoulders. He had steered away from the alcohol about an hour back, instead sipping on soda while he chatted pleasantly with the black clad employee behind the counter.

"Last Call!" Duo shouted to the nearly empty room, before making his way to the only other occupant sitting at the bar, he wanted to see if the blond really was asleep as it appeared or had just maybe laid his head down for a moment. His glass was set off to one side, finished off of its contents, making the first thought a very good possibility. "You awake man?"

The moon had sunk enough in the dark sky to shine a beam through one of the large front windows of the tavern, it was an unnatural occurrence for most of the street level buildings, seeing that a much wider array of multi-tiered towers nestled around them, closing the bar off to the sky. But if one stayed late enough the dust would surround the silver light making it almost tangible. Tonight it reached out long fingers to the lone glass set on the bar's red corner. Shattering into a rainbow of colour when as they met.

"Mmhmm..." Came a soft reply from the blond. His stacks of documents from before were now condensed into two taller piles. The young man had his head resting on his elbow over top of one, using it as prop. A single sheet of cream paper was set in the middle of it all, a black pen, held in a lazy hand was dancing in slow strokes over the smooth surface.

"Gave up on work huh?" Leaning casually on the bar Duo observed the image coming to a full life under the other's hand. Line varying in thickness depicted a pool player, carefully set marks in the face indicating age probably twice their own. Only the perspective was not in the norm, instead being center at the point of a pool cue then looking out. Only like you were a ball in the mist of a game, targeted and in the line of fire. It was simple tools creating art well above his pay grade.

Golden locks shifted in the tiniest of nods. "Work is all I have looked at it since seven this morning. At some point the letters just tripped over each other."

"I bet." Duo chuckled softly. "You gonna be able to make it home, or should I just call you a cab?" His voice took on a more serious tone.

"No thanks. I can make it." The smaller boy raised his head off his arm, and quirked a pale brow as the room tilted strangely. "I think..." He couldn't figure out if it was walls that were dancing or just him. He raised his hand up in front of his face and concluded that 'Nope'... it was definitely him.

And along with that everything that was 'him' felt pleasantly warmed. Quatre carefully put his paperwork back into his briefcase, safely storing the drawing in the back leather pocket.

"I can give you a ride if you like." Amaretto man offered, coming over. "I wouldn't trust the taxi service around here anyway. Too many aren't truly working for the company now a days." He dug around in his pocket for a ring of keys.

"No, no, that's okay. It's not terribly far away. And I'll need my car in the morning. Besides I'd rather not be a burden. Especially since I don't, in truth, know you. Or even your name for that matter. It late and I'm sure you are wanting to get home as well. May-"

"It's Wufei." The tan man cut in quickly. "And are you sure? Your babbling alone makes we worried about your ability to drive even a short distance."

The blond coughed softly, his cheeks flushed light pink. "I'm sure, really."

Holding his hands out in front of him, bartender chuckled and shook his brown head. "How about this, let Wufei at least make sure you get to your car alright. As much as I like it here, this isn't exactly the best neighborhood." There was a second of thought before the blond ducked his head in agreement, swaying slightly as the room tilted. "Good, it's settled then!"

The door was locked behind the last two customers and Duo went back to his cleaning so he could finish and get to his own home. His feet ached, his hands were uncomfortably dry from the constant washing of dirty glasses, and his hair held the pungent and unmistakable aroma of cigarette smoke and booze. A shower and a bed sounded almost too good to be true.