I don't own KH.

Life Out of Costume

Part 1

Anything on the top of the pile would do. Top of the pile means that it at least has some chance of being clean. Don't look at me like that, it's the butt-ass crack of dawn and honestly what I wear to work isn't exactly top priority for me right now. I need me some caffeine!

Hi, I'm Axel, I work at a thankless (and it may only be thankless because I don't really do anything) job, 9 to 5, downtown. Yeah, I'm one of those suit and tie wearing assholes.

This morning is off to a great start already. I should really video tape my daring escapes from my apartment each morning as my balancing act between a pop tart, bag, cell phone (that I could have just as easily put in my bag), and locking my door takes place. I impress myself some times. I honestly think it's harder for me to get going in the morning knowing that my roommate is still fast asleep and doesn't need to even attempt to get up until somewhere around noon. And that's on an early day.

As I already told you, I do nothing at work. I'm an assistant to some director for the company. He does nothing, so therefore I don't need to assist him in 'doing nothing'. My day is spent entertaining myself by surfing the internet and watching my co-workers. I can tell you now that half of them are closet QVC shoppers, bunch of obese shut-ins that they are. Being 22, I'm easily the youngest employee in our unit by 10 years, therefore causing them to fuss over me and live vicariously through my antics. These people are ridiculous.

About that caffeine… as a morning ritual I gather up Xigbar from the mail desk. His hangover looks worst than usual. "Morning sunshine!"

He looks up at me with a mild hint of disgust and just pulls his hood over his head. "What time is it?"

"9:15."

"Pffft! It's too early to be here. What the fuck is wrong with people?" He pushes his chair back with resign and works himself up and out of his seat.

I don't say anything because it will just trigger some rant about how the people in our office are all just sheep, complacency killing us slowly, and the uniformed masses snuffing out any creativity that an artistic soul like him may possess. Yeah, I can't take that kind of preaching before lunch.

We make our way off the elevator and out of the building; Starbucks is only a block away. "Dude, it's only Wednesday, the rest of the week is going to be rough." Thinking out loud happens to me a lot. At the moment I'm in a glass is half empty kind of mood.

"I hear you on that." Xigbar agrees and wipes a hand down the side of his face. "We should get Wednesdays off. It would be like time off for good behavior, ya know?" I laugh and watch my feet as we cross the street. "Like, we made it in for two whole days in a row, it's break time, take a day for yourself, come back for Thursday and Friday, and we'll give you TWO more days off!" I can tell he's silently contemplating this idea, most likely wondering why this system isn't already put into effect. "I could do that."

"But then you'd have to be here longer on the days that you were supposed to come to work."

His face screws up like he just ate something particularly sour, "Well fuck that."

I just laugh at him and we push our way into Starbucks. As usual there's a line, because nothing can be easy. Glass half empty mood, remember? "What did you end up doing last night anyway?"

"Well," and I brace myself for some circus of a story that is undoubtedly about to spill forth from his mouth, until that is, I spot him. Xigbar's blah blah blahing is pushed to the back of my mind as I lean out of line to catch a glimpse of the cashier taking orders. He's probably about 19, much shorter than myself and has one of those completely trendy emo-fag hair cuts. But holy crap does this kid have some amazing eyes. "… I mean really, come on, I'd say sacrificing a few hours of sleep for that is justifiable, wouldn't you?"

"Uh, yeah sure." My attention is brought back to Xigbar, I'll make it up to the front of the line eventually, or maybe not. This cashier kid is interesting but damn is he slow as hell.

"Next time I'm dragging your ass along with us."

I pull out my wallet to see what I'm working with here. I sigh as I see my dreams of a venti fly out the window when I realize I don't have enough. "I can't afford a large coffee, don't think I could do what you do all week long." I show him my sparse money collection to drive the point home.

Xigbar shoves my hands back at me, "Dude, this one is on me."

I raise an eyebrow at him, well this is a first. "Oh, what's the occasion?"

"You didn't listen to a word I was saying earlier, did you?"

I pretend to look offended and gasp, "That's not true!" His face is the picture of 'right, I'm not buying this crap so stop trying to sell it to me', "I did catch something about petty larceny and slurpees."

"Wow, you're tall." It was that kid, in our bickering we managed to make it to the head of the line.

Xigbar rolled his eyes and glanced up at the menu. "Way to go Captain obvious." Sora, at least his name tag said his name was Sora, looked down with his brow furrowed. "I'll have a large- you know what that is right? None of that venti crap, LARGE caramel macchiato, two of these here giant cookies, and Axel? What do you want?" Xigbar turned to me expectantly.

I looked at Sora apologetically, "I'm sorry, he's actually retarded," I gestured towards my eye-patched companion, "can I get a venti chai latte?" The kid did look grateful for the explanation of Xigbar's behavior.

True to his word Xigbar paid, muttering the whole time about how I was a douche bag under his breath.

"I just don't know what to do any more. How do these situations keep finding me and getting me involved?!" That ladies and gentlemen is Aerith, one of my coworkers that works in the web unit.

"I know! You just have the worst luck!" This is her close personal confidant, (read as whine-to-buddy) Yuffie. No matter what story Aerith feeds her, she will eat it up with a shovel.

Shit, they're looking at me. Must look busy…

"Axel," Aerith leans over, "you're a guy…"

Thanks for noticing.

"… am I being irrational? Isn't he just being a jerk?"

"Yes, you're being irrational." Crap, now I've gotten involved.

Completely outraged on Aerith's behalf, Yuffie gets right in my face, "How can you say that?! He's seeing someone else, he should have asked her first about it!"

"Listen," I stand up, hoping to make an escape towards the men's room where they can't follow me, "Cloud can date/see/fuck anyone he wants to without having to run it by Aerith. If she wants him to get her permission first, or even to not do it at all, then she is looking for a completely different relationship then what she's telling him they're in." Before either of them can even open their mouths to interject I add, "Besides, aren't they supposed to be dating in secret? We're not even supposed to know anything about it." With this I shot a pointed look at Aerith and then I flee.

The background on Aerith and Cloud is this: I personally think that Cloud is embarrassed to be seen in public with her. Aerith thinks, and will tell you otherwise.

Aerith was married to a man, whom I've never met, named Zack. She found out that Zack was cheating on her, so she began seeing Cloud, who worked in her office. This is all before I came to the office. Eventually Aerith left Zack, but the relationship she had with Cloud was never public knowledge. Aerith's excuse for dating Cloud in secret was that she didn't want commitment, she just wanted someone around for fun without obligation. This is what she tells herself.

Here we are three years and one abortion later and Cloud has started seeing someone else, who happens to work in our office, while he's still seeing Aerith on the side. Yeah, drama. Cloud has no idea that anyone in the office knows about him and Aerith, but little does he know that she's told nearly everyone 'in confidence'.

Now that you're caught up on the 'need to know' background of their sordid and twisted little love affair you can understand my point. Fuck buddy no commitment.

It's Friday and the day just won't go by fast enough for my tastes. I came in late this morning, as I usually do on Fridays, because I end up being progressively late as the week goes on. If anyone cared to notice maybe I'd make more of an effort, but until they do, why bother?

Not wanting to go back to my desk immediately once I've finished my 'business', I find myself back at Starbucks. There's no line and the place is relatively deserted due to the hour. As I approach the counter I notice that Sora, the kid on register from Wednesday, is talking to some other coffee jockey using big hand motions. I'm normally complete crap with names, but this kid's name just kind of stuck there.

Sora seems to be explaining/reenacting some story and it's clear to anyone that he's been sampling a good amount of coffee today. "… and I can't wait to wear it just to see her face!"

"Customer." The other kid points out and Sora turns towards me. You know how you can just tell when someone is gay? Like they ooze gayness from their person? Yes? Well this was Sora. If this kid isn't gay, then… nothing, this kid is gay, no question.

"Hey!" The kid is practically twitching with energy. "How's your retarded friend today?"

It takes me a minute to realize that he's referring to Xigbar, but eventually I have to laugh, a little flattered that he remembers me at all. "Fine, the meds have kicked back in and he's back to wearing his helmet in public again."

"Oh shit man, I'm sorry, I didn't think he was really retard- I mean handicapped."

I look at the kid skeptically, okay… maybe Sora's a bit retarded himself. "Uh, I was just kidding." I can practically feel the heat from Sora's blush from across the counter. He looks kind of cute.

What.the.fuck?

Kind of cute?

Quick instance of putting my sexuality, my completely STRAIGHT sexuality back into check.

"Can I get a venti chai?"

"Sure." Sora rings up the order and his other emo co-worker gets it ready. Seriously, is it a pre-requisite to work at Starbucks you have to be emo?

The entire way back to work I am thinking about Sora. I admit that I overreacted a bit, ok a lot, to finding him a bit attractive. Just because I can admit that another man is attractive doesn't mean that I want to get in his pants. To further prove my point, I stare at every woman's chest, old, young, droopy, lopsided, it doesn't matter, I openly stare.

Aerith and Yuffie don't talk to me for the rest of the day. At least something is going right.

My roommate, Demyx, is rifling through the couch cushions looking for his lighter. I refuse to tell him that it's sitting in my pocket. What? I really like this lighter.

"You're going to be late", I remind him hoping to get him to leave so I can finally have a cigarette. The only thing keeping me from enjoying one right now is the fact that the only way I have of lighting said cigarette is by using the lighter that is in my pocket, the lighter that Demyx is currently looking for.

He appears to give up his furious search in defeat. His band is playing at some club a few blocks away. Being only a few blocks away means that poor Demyx has to lug his bass over there instead of getting a ride. Good, suffer. Yes, I'm bitter. Demyx works at a catering company part-time and has some side gigs with his band a couple nights a week. He makes enough money to pay the bills and to feed himself. That's all he wants, and he loves his job and his band. Now do you see why I'm bitter?

"Alright, I'm heading out." Thankfully he has better luck at finding his keys, "I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, yeah" I wave him off in dismissal. I usually go to his shows for lack of something else better to do. Don't get me wrong, his band is good, they're never going anywhere, never going to get a record deal or have a million adoring fans, but they are good and that's not what they want anyway.

I head down to the bar that Demyx's band is playing at around 10:30 and have a pretty good buzz going on by midnight. The band members' girlfriends are all there, as usual, and so are their groupies. Oh god, you can laugh with me, they are pathetic. These 'groupies' are about five or so people that come to every show, no matter where it is. They're harmless and will just hang back and generally scoff at anyone who didn't know of the band 'back in the day'. Like that's something to be proud of. The band sucked 'back in the day' and 'back in the day' was only like three years ago.

By 1:00 I'm walking out of the bar with a girl that I'm pretty sure wasn't at the bar to see the band, and only there to get drunk.

A little after 2:00 said girl is leaving my apartment, looking a little worse for wear, but still satisfied, if I do say so myself.

I don't hear Demyx come home.

I avoid going to Demyx's shows and that particular bar for about a week, just in case. I have some serious regrets about bringing that girl back to my place, I must have been a little drunker than I thought. I don't feel comfortable with my one night stands knowing where I live. Here's to hoping this girl is a) sane enough not to be a stalker or b) a drunk who blanks out important information.

Sora hasn't been at Starbucks on the mornings that I manage to make it to work somewhat on time and I can't decide whether or not I'm thankful for this or not. I'm just about to start thinking that he's avoiding me out of embarrassment from our last encounter when I see him while getting an afternoon pick-me up.

"I thought you'd quit." I tell him as I lean against the counter. It's again around 3:00 in the afternoon, that magical time when the place seems to be deserted, which also happens to be my afternoon cigarette break.

Sora smiles, and seems genuinely happy with my statement. "It's nice to know that you remembered me."

"Well you remembered my retarded friend, it's only fair."

He blushes a bit at the reference, "I switched my shift, I don't work mornings any more."

"Chai latte." I throw that out there as I'm opening my wallet.

"Venti?" He asks and I nod. "This one is on the house." I look up in time to see his co-worker shoot him a 'wtf?' glance and I just smile.

"Thanks."

"Axel, when's the last time you went on a date?"

Jesus you harpy, leave me the fuck alone.

I look away from my computer and over my shoulder at her. "I'm not going to go out with you Yuffie."

"Like I'd ever go out with you any way."

"You know you want me." I waggle my eyebrows at her for effect, when in fact I wouldn't even touch her with your dick.

Aerith isn't in today, so Yuffie must be bored. "No, really, why don't you date?"

"Who says that I don't date, just because I don't broadcast it around the office, like you seem to think I should, doesn't mean that I don't date."

"I do think the lady protests too much." Xigbar, of course has to walk by at this precise moment. "Maybe he dates ugly chicks like you, or maybe he dates men and is embarrassed to tell the world he's gay?"

It kind of hurts when my head falls down to bang on my keyboard, I hate him right now.

"He's not gay, I would know. I have EXECELLENT gay-dar." Yuffie reassures him. Notice that she doesn't dispute the claim that she's ugly? That's called being resigned to your physical limitations kids. "I mean look at him. A gay man would not wear a black belt with a brown pair of shoes. Look, his socks don't even match one another."

"Fuck off Yuffie."

Xigbar laughs and leans back doing an excellent impression of a feminine fashionista, and in the campiest voice states that she's right and I'm a hot mess. They share a pretty good laugh at my expense but drop the subject nonetheless.

"Come on lover boy, let's get some fuel." Xigbar switches off my monitor and pulls my cigarettes from my jacket pocket. "You owe me a coffee."

"And a smoke apparently."

"Yeah well, what are friends for?"

We make our way along our usual path to Starbucks all the while Xigbar is telling me about this party that he's having at his apartment this weekend and how I should show up because there's this girl with a nice ass and a bad reputation that he wants to introduce me to. I think he took Yuffie too seriously.

Sora is working again, with the same co-worker as before. "3:00 cigarette and a venti chai?" He asks as Xigbar and I enter.

"Of course!" I smile at him and hear Xigbar make a strange laugh/snort sort of noise behind me.

Sora manages to take Xigbar's order without a repeat of their previous meeting and slips me a cookie as we leave.

Now with a cup of mood enhancer and a cookie in my hands the afternoon is looking better already. "I think that little fag has a crush on you." Xigbar says out of nowhere.

"What little fag? Sora?"

"Oh, we're on first name basis with him now are we?" He raises an eyebrow at me. "Maybe Yuffie was wrong, maybe you do bat for the other team, or at least play both sides."

"Yeah, you've figured me out. That cookie that he slipped me was queer speak for 'meet me after my shift'. God, you're as bad as those gossiping bitches on my floor." I munch angrily on my cookie that just doesn't taste quite as good as it had moments ago.

"Whatever man, you're not denying it."

"Don't get your hopes up, I'm straight, you'll have to look elsewhere for your prom date." I tell him as we separate for our own desks.

He walks away laughing his ass off and calls back over his shoulder, "Too bad man, I bet he would have let you top too!" Then he's gone, leaving me on an elevator filled with people who are now, thanks to him, giving me a mixture of questioning looks.

"Dem?"

"What?"

"Have you ever thought I was gay?"

"No."

…

"Have you ever thought you were gay, Axel?"

"No."

"Then where's the problem?"

As much as it killed me, I avoided going to Starbucks for the rest of the week. It was strange, even though I didn't go there, I still thought of Sora.

Saturday rolled around and found me dragging Demyx out of our apartment to go to Xigbar's party. Don't ask my why I was going to it in the first place, because I don't know myself.

"This is that stoner from your work in the mail room, right?" Dem was all up for heading out to a random house party, not like he ever wouldn't be.

"Asks the man who just shared a joint with me before leaving the apartment."

He makes a noise of indignation, "lighting up to take the edge off of what could be a dull party and spending your days completely fried are two totally different things."

"Point."

Xigbar's apartment isn't far from the bar that I last saw Dem's band in, and we have to walk by it. I slink inside my jacket a little bit on the odd chance that my random one night stand could be in there and have the ability to peer through brick walls.

We show up 'fashionably late' though it's not at all on purpose. Truth be told, I'm glad we didn't arrive any earlier because I hate those awkward pre-party moments, before people get enough alcohol in them to loosen up a bit, of forced socialization. I feel around for my contribution to the festivities in a paper bag at my hip as we make our way up the stairs of his building.

The party is in full swing, and spilling out into the hallways. His neighbors must love him. "Axel! Good to see you without the tie, man!" Xigbar, three sheets to the wind and going for more throws his arm around my shoulders. "Demy Moore! Good of you to come too man."

"'Sup?" Demyx smiles, clearly amused by Xigbar and not at all put off by being referred to as a woman.

Xigbar steers me around towards the kitchen, while Demyx follows closely behind. I have fleeting thoughts of getting to sneak a peek under his eye patch when he passes out, but they are forced out of my mind as I feel my head being smashed into a pair of breasts.

"Axel this is Yuna. Yuna, this is Axel. Have fun." Xigbar waves as he walks away smiling with pride like he's just accomplished what no other man could do.

Demyx is making sounds like he's choking down some laughter behind me and Yuna is just smiling at me like what just happened is a normal occurrence. "Hey, sorry about that, I had nothing to do with it." Yuna smiles and offers her hand.

"Trust me, I didn't think you did." I state shaking her hand.

"Drink?" Yuna holds her drink in front of her as an offer.

I salute her with my own bottle. "Came prepared."

I swear this girl must think she's drowning, that's the only way to explain why she's clinging onto and hanging off of me the way she is. Yuna is spread out below me and her brown hair is messed up and wildly splayed around her head. The thought that her hair resembles Sora's like that briefly flashes through my mind, but I just as quickly push it out.

Her mouth is roaming my face and at this point I'm just trying to finish the job to get the hell away from this chick. How do some girls go from being completely normal, relatively intelligent human beings, to being completely sexually depraved feigns in the bedroom? Don't get me wrong, a few kinks here and there I'm all up for, but this chick seems like she wants to eat me whole!

Fuck this!

I roughly detach her from myself and flip her over on her stomach where her arms can't grapple at me any more. "Oh yeah! Unnnn!" She clearly didn't mind the switch up of positions and I can only wonder what the hell is wrong with this chick as she presses her face down into the bed and props her ass up right in my face.

Wondering if I'm not drunk enough for this any more, I feel her guiding my cock to her entrance… only it's not the one I'd just been abusing. "Come on Alex", she whines signaling that I'm not going fast enough for her.

Alex? Nice to know you at least go it close.

I don't know about you, but most chicks I've been with wouldn't even dream of letting me in the back door. Now this one is begging for it? Of course I can't deny her and pass up an opportunity like this. Even though she's a complete drunk-ass whore at this point doesn't mean that I can't show a little mercy, right? I rub my cock along her already dripping crotch for some form of lube and then slide in with one clean push. Her back arches and I'm amazed at how tight she is around me. It doesn't take me long after that and when I'm done I swear that the face that turns around to flash me a sloppy smile is Sora's.

I'm under the distinct impression that thoughts, no matter how ludicrous they are, can not cause any damage if not said out loud. Therefore, any thoughts that I entertain for the rest of the weekend about how exactly gay guys can do what they do, don't count. I pass it off as pure curiosity. You know what I'm talking about, like when you were five and took apart your mother's hair dryer to find out how it worked.

Demyx walks by in a pair of pajama pants and with a bowl of cereal in hand.

I wouldn't put his dick in my mouth.

WTF?! Seriously, what the hell? Where did that thought come from? Of course I wouldn't put his dick in my mouth, I wouldn't put anyone's dick in my mouth!

"You alright?" Demyx manages to get out around a mouthful of Capn' Crunch.

At this point my head is cradled in my hands and I'm staring at the floor like I'm making sure it won't open up and drop me into the apartment below. I kind of wish it would to be honest. "Dude, I'm so far from alright at the moment."

A plastic bottle bounces off my head and falls somewhere around my left foot. Advil. "It sucks getting older. We can't drink like we used to." Demyx 'sympathizes' with me and goes back to eating his cereal and reading the funnies.

I spend the next week studying Sora, and every other openly gay man that I come across, to see what makes them different… or similar to me. My results, we all wear pants. God, I'm seriously starting to feel messed up in the head.

Last night I had this dream where Sora and I were floating in the middle of a lake in a small boat. I was rowing and Sora was staring at me with a smile and a parasol. He kept asking me if I liked hot dogs, bananas, cucumbers, and popsicles.

By the end of the week I practically jump at an invitation from my friend Larxene to go to a fashion show that she's designing for at a local gay bar. I may have seemed overly anxious to go but knowing Larxene, she probably took it as my enthusiasm to support her. I've been to some of the other shows that she's participated in and they're boring as hell. The whole thing is a no budget production that rivals a last minute, thrown together, high school function to placate 'under appreciated genius'. The models are pretentious bar flies that Larxene has convinced that they were beautiful enough to walk her cat walk. Ok, that's a little cruel, some of them are actually pretty hot.

What I didn't realize was that my invitation doubled as an excuse to get me to help lug shit around for the 'designers', and I use the term loosely. "Axel, you're the best friend a girl could ask for." Larxene tells me as she piles another dress across my outstretched arms. "I don't know what I would have done without you." She's got herself completely overly worked up about this, and I still can't see what the big deal is.

"Yeah well, you know me, I work for beer." I grin, reminding her that there are still some strings attached.

"Ooo, a cheap date, I like that in a man", one of the FLAMINGLY gay inhabitants of the bar throws at me in passing. I can't help but grin at the well worn line being thrown at me. Hey, even if you're not going to the party, it's still nice to be invited, I suppose.

Larxene smiles at me, adding the final garment for this trip to the pile, "I don't think you're going to be needing me to buy you drinks tonight."

"I am a sexy beast, aren't I?" I waggle my eyebrows at her and lumber off to unload my burden and hopefully enjoy a well deserved pint.

The night is actually quite entertaining and educational. Let's just say that if I had any holes in my self-esteem before coming here tonight, the compliments, come-ons, phone numbers and a few random gropes patched them up just fine. Larxene parades around as my girlfriend, probably thinking that I'll be uncomfortable with guys picking up on me, and I can't help but think that I probably would have been two weeks ago.

"Fuck Starbucks today." Xigbar seems a bit grouchy today, could you tell? "I need something a little stronger than coffee."

I eye the green and white sign over my haven and sigh. Hold on, I've never actually thought about it before, but what exactly is that a picture of? A freakish mermaid with two tails? What about that says coffee?

"Yuna won't shut the fuck up about you, she says that you haven't called her." My attention is brought back round to Xigbar. We're walking away from Starbucks and into the bar closest to our office.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she seems to think that you guys really hit it off at the party."

I roll my eyes and take a seat at the bar. I don't know what I'm going to order yet and wait for Xigbar to order before I make my decision. "You know she was calling me Alex all night, right?"

Xigbar laughs and orders two shots of Blackhause with two Guinnesses for chasers, "Now that you remind me, yeah, that was pretty funny."

"That chick was nuts."

"Fuck, and here I was thinking I could get you to pay because you owed me one."

"If anything your ass should be buying me a drink for putting up with that leech", I snort into my beer. "I swear she was trying to take me into her by process of osmosis and suck my face off at the same time."

That one caused Xigbar to choke a bit but soon enough he rolled into another bout of laughter. "My bad…" more laughter, "dude…", still more laughter, "… Alex."

"Ass."

"I'll tell her you contracted herpes or something, that'll shut her up."

The bartender, who is smoking hot and way out of my league, gives me a look like I really have herpes. "Dude, shut the fuck up." I shoot at Xigbar and I can't look the bartender in the eye again. "And don't set me up with any of your sucubuses again."

There's an amicable silence over the bar, it's not really a happening place at 3:00 in the afternoon on a weekday. I'm towards the end of my beer when Xigbar orders us another round. "I've actually got to go back to work today you know." I mention, half serious.

"Who are you kidding, no you don't." He pulls out his wallet and pays for this round as well. Maybe I really did make him feel bad for siccing Yuna on me. It does occur to me that I probably make twice as much money as he does, but then again, I don't think I want to know where he comes up with all of his spare cash.

Curiosity gets the better of me and I find myself asking what's crawled up his ass today. Xigbar is pretty fucked up but he's not a 'piss the afternoon away in a bar every day' kind of guy. It comes out that he's had some bad dealings with his girlfriend and his buddy lately but cuts himself off before the whole conversation turns into an episode of male bonding.

"Listen," I tell him about half way into our second beer, "I can blow off the afternoon if you want to go paper bag it with me in the park, I've just got to call Aerith and have her cover for me."

He smiles down into his glass and gives me a nod. "Really, everything should be as simple as drinking 40s in the park."

"Yup" I agree and before I know it we're out of the bar and into the bodega just outside of the park. I feel like I'm back in high school again and skipping class. Some how things just feel really comfortable, like this is a break that I've been needing for a while and I realize that I'm doing this just as much for myself as I am for Xigbar beside me.

It's a short walk 'til we're in the park and to the shady benches. "Why'd you buy two 40s? You know that second one is gonna be piss warm by the time you get around to drinking it." I don't answer him immediately and just nod to the only other occupied bench in the area.

The bum that's taken up residency on that particular bench is a man that I pass every morning on my way to work and get my weather forecast from. "Cid," I walk up to him, and push one of the paper bagged 40s into his hand, "just as predicted, not a cloud in the sky." Cid grins a surprisingly toothy grin up at me and salutes.

Xigbar and I spend a good hour or so in the park, talking about bands, movies and our own version of politics when Sora comes into sight. I smile at him and give him a wave with my drink in hand. "So, this is why I didn't see you this afternoon." He laughs and stops in front of our bench. "And I actually thought you might have been sick."

"Oh, he's sick alright." Xigbar elbows me before taking a pull off his bottle, "believe you me.

I can't help but laugh at his antics, Xigbar's mood has definitely improved as he's worked his way down the bottle. "No, not sick in the conventional sense," I agree and finish my drink. "Sometimes coffee just doesn't cut it." I stretch and stand up before Sora, the kid only comes up to my shoulders.

"Amen!" Xigbar adds, standing to join us. "Come on kid, I'm feeling generous, I say the three of us go get some pitchers and shoot some pool."

Sora looks at Xigbar like he's just grown another nose on his face and then to me as confirmation that he did, in fact, just say those words. "You want me to go drinking with you guys?"

"Are you slow? Yes, that's what I just said."

Sora looks at me for help, but my brain isn't feeling too generous at the moment. I'm actually wondering what it would feel like to get a little closer to Sora and have one of his little emo hair spikes go up my nose. Shit, I think I'm getting drunk.

"I was under the impression that well…" Sora looks around himself like the words he wants to say are on a cue card near by. Haha, that would be so helpful some times if it were true. "Dude, you don't like me", he settles with and looks Xigbar straight in the eye.

"Hey," Xigbar throws an arm over Sora's shoulders and I've seen that look on his face before, it's reminiscent of the one he gave me before shoving my face in Yuna's tits. "Why would you go and say a thing like that? I'm a good guy, I'm just trying to buy you a beer and have fun."

"You can buy me a beer", I suggest rather unhelpfully.

Sora manages to squirm his way out from under Xigbar's arm and backs away a little. I'd be scared too. "Maybe some other time," he explains clearly not wanting to just tell Xigbar that he can fuck off, "I've got other plans at the moment."

Xigbar asks, "Pffft, are they more fun then us?"

"Yeah, are they better looking then me?" I ask with an admittedly arrogant smile and a pose.

Sora shakes his head and laughs "no, and maybe. I'll see you guys later." I'm not going to lie that I'm disappointed to see him leave.

It's been three days in a row that I've gone to Starbucks and have not seen Sora. I understand that the kid gets days off and all, but what I can't understand is why I feel like he should have told me.

Fuck, I'm turning into Aerith.

Today is the fourth day that Sora isn't working and curiosity gets the better of me. "Where's Sora been?" Sora's regular emo counterpart doesn't even bat an eye at the question.

"He's going to one of his conventions this weekend and asked for the week off."

A mental image of Sora in a Star Trek uniform pops into my head, and the weird part is that he's wearing a skirt. Store that one away for later. There are other types of conventions, he could be going to a barista convention or an S&M, sex toy convention. Shit, where was I again. This emo kid is looking at me like I'm retarded. "Venti chai?" It comes off as a question because I'm seriously wondering if I voiced any of my thoughts. He rings me up and goes off to make my drink.

"Dude, have you ever been to a convention?"

"What?"

"A convention, Dem, you know a convention."

"I know what a convention is, asshat. I mean what kind of convention."

"I dunno, like a freaky freak convention."

"Ooo, like sexual deviant gatherings?"

"Uh, sure."

"No."

"Yeah, me either."

Sora, for a lack of a better term, looks busted today, then again, it is Monday, and so as a general rule I don't judge people too harshly. It looks like he's run out hair gel, slept in his clothes and- is that eyeliner?

"Rough weekend?" I ask opening my wallet with a bit of a grin.

Unexpectedly he smiles this lopsided smile, you know the smile that you sport right after you've just eaten a particularly satisfying dessert. Great, now I want a piece of lava cake. "It was long but fun."

Oh god, my horrible, dirty mind and the things it's conjuring. Rough, long and fun – Sora being gay… I'm a bad man. "What'd you do? That-" I gesture over toward his co-worker, "doesn't make my latte as well as you do."

"Did you miss me?" Baww, he looks a little hopeful.

I bend down and lean on the counter, looking him straight in the eye. "And what if I did?" Holy balls, am I flirting with him? Fuck yeah I am, and it's kind of fun. This is kind of flattering. Sora's face turns the most brilliant shade of embarrassment I've seen in a while, and I feel the need to save him from his awkward predicament. "I heard you went to a convention of sorts."

His face washes over with relief, "yeah, it was an anime convention." He's suddenly very excited to make my drink and sprint around his little work station while he's telling me about the convention. "Do you watch anime?"

"I've seen some with a lot of tentacles before."

"Hentai," he laughs and hands me my drink. "You should check out some more subtle shows. Maybe next time you can go with us!"

"Go with you?"

"To the convention! It's always great to have another person to help split the gas and room costs with."

I look at him skeptically, "we'll see."

Blockbuster has a whole rack of anime when Demyx and I stroll through on Thursday night. It's pouring outside and he doesn't have a show tonight so we plan to sit in and watch a movie like an old married couple, but with beer. We pick out a new release comedy, a movie Demyx insists that the world will end if we don't rent, and I slide in an anime that has a girl with big boobs on the front for later viewing.

"Let's get that coffee kid to come out with us."

"His name's Sora" I find myself correcting Xigbar, though it's a futile attempt, I'm sure.

"Yeah, yeah- coffee kid. I bet he's funny drunk."

"Why do you want to get him drunk so badly?"

He shrugs in reply and by now we're almost to Starbucks. "It's like, I dunno, fun watching someone stagger through the motions the first few times around."

"No it's not, I've always had bad experiences with pukers." Fuck pukers, if you can't hold your liquor, don't throw it up on me. I used to shove my dog's face in it when he shit on the carpet, I will shove your face in it if you puke on me. Got it memorized?

"Come on, he's all emo, it's like an outreach project. Just think, we may be saving him from becoming a cutter or something."

"Jesus, you sound like some fucked up guidance counselor. Emphasis on the fucked up part." I spot Sora working behind the counter and he's looking much better than he was at the beginning of the week. I silently try to warn him what's about to happen to him with my eyes, but I've yet to master the Jedi mind trick.

"You're settling for coffee today, huh?" He asks with amusement and Xigbar just shrugs as though it was a toss up in the first place. "LARGE caramel macchiato and a venti chai?"

"Kid, I like you more and more each day." Xigbar grins and slaps down a cookie on the counter from the basket beside the register.

"I do what I can." He goes off to make our drinks but has somewhat of a nervous stance about him when he comes back. "Uh, Axel, right?" I nod, because, well, that's my name. "Remember how I was telling you about those conventions that I go to? Well there's one coming up next weekend and someone bailed on us so now we're kinda screwed if we can't find someone else to ride and stay with us."

"Awww, are you asking him out on a date?" Xigbar is in his element and has a shit eating grin on his face. "I tell you what kid, you may have a chance, I've already had to cross lecherous women from my list of things that Axel here will date."

"So yeah, anyway", Sora looks from Xigbar, probably trying to pretend that he hadn't spoken in the first place. "It's going to be about 75 total for the weekend. Wanna go?"

What the hell am I supposed to do? He's really expecting an answer from me right now? In front of Xigbar? Fuck. Is it just me or is it a little strange that this kid is asking me to go away with him for the weekend? "I don't know…"

"Come on, puh-lease?! I will get you a free badge and I'll even get a costume together for you."

"A costume?!" Xigbar's eyes are impossibly wide and I just want him the get the fuck out of here. I'm intrigued at this point. A costume, huh? Sora, you kinky little bastard. By the look that Sora's giving me, I know I'm going to give in and go with him.

End Part 1.

This is AkuRoku, I promise. They say you're supposed to write about what you know, and well, I know about Starbucks, beer, conventions, cosplay, and batshit friends.