The next morning when Vexen woke up, his head was pounding and he was very confused. He padded out of the room for another glass of water, ended up turned around, and stumbled into the living room eventually, where he saw Marluxia on the couch, sleeping. He sat down next to the couch, grabbed the wine bottle and took a sip. He'd heard somewhere that the cause was the best cure and his brain was too addled at the moment to figure out that that was complete bullshit.

"That stuff's expensive." Marluxia mumbled, before he'd even opened his eyes. "And doesn't cure hang overs." He sat up, pushing back his hair. "Breakfast?"

"Can I have you for breakfast?" Vexen mumbled, resting his head against the couch. He wasn't thinking clearly. "Or maybe an omelet. Where are we? Why did you bring me here?"

"My place. I don't know your address." Marluxia stood, offering a hand to Vexen as he did so. "I can make an omelet. C'mon."

Vexen accepted Marluxia's hand and stood shakily, his name tag jingling as he did. The sound sent a thousand searing needles through Vexen's skull. He put a hand to his collar to silence it. Marluxia smirked to himself as he led Vexen into a spacious kitchen, seating him at the breakfast bar. "What do you want in your omelet? Here-" He ran a dishcloth under the tap, rung it out and offered it to Vexen. "Press it to your forehead."

Vexen did so and thought about the question. "I want... eggs... tomato... cucumber... avocado... steak... and maybe pepper jack and chocolate," he said. "Marluxia... why did you take me to your apartment instead of just leaving me at the club?"

"Cheese and ham it is." Marluxia said quietly as he dug through the fridge for what he needed. As he beat the eggs, he thought over the question. "Well. I couldn't just let you throw away something that you seem so protective over. Not when you were in that state."

"Why not? You hate me."

"I never said that." Marluxia pointed out, not looking up from his cooking. "Never even implied that, Vexen."

Unfortunately, Vexen wasn't experienced enough in normal, healthy relationships to understand that when someone didn't stick around, it didn't automatically imply hatred. He knew that Marluxia had left him twice, and then refused to go away when Vexen had actually wanted him to. He puzzled over this for a moment. On the other hand, Marluxia had taken Vexen home instead of just leaving him at the mercy of a lech, had brought him water that he'd asked for, and was making him breakfast. Were they friends? Enemies? They certainly weren't lovers. Finally, Vexen looked up and said, "I like you, but I still wish you'd left me with him."

"You're only saying that because I didn't." Marluxia replied, putting Vexen's plate down in front of him and starting on his own meal. "It's a shame you had some of that wine. Now I can't give you any painkillers."

"Sure you can," said Vexen dryly, though as a pharmacist, he knew better. "What's wrong with me having a one-night stand, anyway? I should think you wouldn't object to it."

"That is a completely different situation. Outside of business, I avoid one night stands." Marluxia huffed, pulling down a cup and pouring Vexen a glass of water. "Eat your breakfast."

Vexen ate slowly. Truthfully he was ravenous, but still confused. Marluxia was an interesting person, all right. He respected the younger man's right to choose his own career, but something about the way Marluxia acted on and off the job puzzled him. It was like he was two different people, whereas Vexen was just Vexen: Stubborn, hard to get along with, and mostly introverted.

"This would make a lot more sense to me if Zexion had put you up to it," Vexen said, almost to himself. "I didn't get the impression that you cared much for me."

"Zexion put me up to getting you out of there; I could've easily said no, but I didn't and not just because he promised to buy me drinks for a week," Marluxia said, and it was very much the truth, despite what he'd said to Zexion the night before. "I'm not heartless and greedy, despite what you seem to think. I didn't have to bring you here, give you my bed and make you breakfast."

Vexen brooded at his food. Zexion had offered drinks for a week? But that man was a complete cheapskate. What was really going on? He looked up at Marluxia, then nodded his thanks, but kept frowning from puzzlement.

"He can replace that bottle of wine, come to think of it." Marluxia said, thinking aloud as he ate his omelet straight out of the pan.

Vexen gave into his hunger and ate the rest of his omelet, which was pretty good. When he was done, he washed his dish and sat down next to Marluxia. "Tell me more about yourself," he said curiously

"Not much to say." Marluxia admitted as he examined a piece of omelet hanging off his fork. "Live alone, work, throw money around on buying shiny things I don't need and expensive booze." He shrugged. "And I didn't finish high school."

"And you're a wealthy prostitute who doesn't like one-night stands. You're just a walking paradox, aren't you?"

"My work does not define who I am." Marluxia said matter-of-factly, mashing up the rest of his eggs with his fork.

"Then why do something that doesn't suit you? Your job seems so contradictory to your personality." Besides wanting to get to know Marluxia better, Vexen was a little jealous. He'd never been confident enough to pull off sexy outfits- except maybe last night, but then, he'd been hammered out of his mind. Most of his "wild" clothes were gag gifts from his colleagues, who always talked about how uptight Vexen was. Last night had been the first night Vexen had actually worn any of them.

"I like it." Marluxia shrugged. "It's not that much of a contradiction. I'm close with my clients- well, as close as I allow myself to be- I've had some of them for years."

Vexen looked away. Now he felt jealous for an entirely different reason, one he didn't like to admit to himself. No! he scolded himself. You are not going to fall for this man. He stands completely against everything you were brought up to believe. He stood up and went over to the bottle, draining the rest of it and curling up on the couch, his head on the armrest. "I should probably go, but I can't find my vest," he said. "I don't want to be a burden."

"You don't have to go," Marluxia said as he went over to the couch, clearing away his empty wine glass and the now-empty wine bottle. "And I don't believe you had a vest when I found you. Stay here, sleep it off. I might have a shirt that'll fit you. Right now though, I'm going to have a shower."

"I wore a vest out," Vexen insisted, following Marluxia. He wondered what the pinket's body looked like naked. He wondered if Marluxia would let Vexen shower with him. "It was leopard-fur, it had buttons, and it only covered my upper torso."

"I didn't see it." Marluxia insisted right back. He wandered in to the bathroom, not really noticing Vexen was following, and stripped off his shirt before flicking on the water.

"But..." said Vexen, following Marluxia into the bathroom. "I liked that vest. It was a gift." Suddenly, thought! He pulled out his cell phone and went to his Facebook, where he was bombarded with notices informing him that he was tagged in several photos. Sure enough, all the photos had Vexen in the silver jeans, vest, and collar. Most of them had him sprawled across Xigbar's lap, drinking heavily, or grinding against a muscular man with Medusa-hair and sideburns.

"Maybe you'll find another one like it." Marluxia tried, tugging off his pants- no need for him to bashful, he'd decided a long time ago.

"I don't even know where it was bought, let alone how to find another one," said Vexen sadly. "I'll just have to go back tonight and see if anyone else has seen it." He stared at Marluxia's body while trying to look like he wasn't. His form was perfect. Beautiful. He had a graceful figure that rivalled any that Vexen had ever seen and Vexen now understood why a man like that would want to become a sexual conquistador. A body like that was just a crime to keep locked up in clothing. Whereas a body like Vexen's, he felt, was a crime to reveal.

Marluxia sighed as he stepped under the running water, running his fingers through his hair and over his face. "Good idea. Hopefully Zexion is there so he can buy me a drink."

Vexen took his pants off and nervously walked into the shower with Marluxia. "Are you planning to come with me, then?" he asked.

"Don't want you to get roaring drunk again, so I guess so." Marluxia replied, glancing at Vexen, but not saying anything about his self-invite.

Vexen wasn't sure what to say to that. Thanks for caring? What good fortune? Hopefully you have better self-control as you'll be the one getting free drinks? He chose to stay silent and keep ogling Marluxia's naked body until science occurred and he had to turn away to hide his blush, among other things.

"You don't have to hide. It's not like I haven't seen it before." Marluxia laughed as he ran soap over his chest and under his arms.

Vexen's response was to blush redder and try to hide even more. He wished a hole would open up in the floor and swallow him. And then he wished to be swallowed by something, or rather someone, else. He shook his head, hoping to clear the thoughts from his mind. This didn't work. "If you mean on me, then I wasn't aware that you looked at me that closely," he said tartly.

"Such a prude." The pinket giggled, running a finger down Vexen's spine.

Vexen flinched away, but he was giggling. "That tickles," he protested.

"It's supposed to." Marluxia laughed and he ran his fingers up Vexen's sides this time.

Vexen turned around, grabbed Marluxia's wrists, and pinned him against the shower wall, still laughing. "Don't tickle me," he complained gently.

"Don't bruise me." Marluxia said, just as gently, wriggling against Vexen's hold.

"I won't," Vexen said, and gave Marluxia a soft kiss on the cheek before releasing him.

"That's it?" Marluxia said, sounding both mocking and disappointed, leaving himself against the wall.

"You don't want me to bruise you," Vexen reminded Marluxia. "What were you expecting?"

"Something a little more than a kiss on the cheek." Marluxia said with a pout.

"Be more specific," said Vexen, leaning against the back wall and letting the warm spray stimulate him.

"But I'm sure you had ideas of your own. I'm not giving you instructions." said Marluxia as he absently soaped his stomach.

Vexen had had ideas of his own. They involved pressing Marluxia against the wall, kissing him fiercely on the mouth, possibly grinding against him, maybe more. His blush, which had faded slightly, now returned with reinforcements as his eyes tracked the soap around Marluxia's stomach.

"Well, are you going to do anything about those thoughts of yours?" Marluxia asked, his head tilted to the side just slightly and a tiny, seductive smirk playing on his lips.

Don't do it, a voice warned Vexen. He's only acting interested because he wants to sleep with you, and once you give in, he'll leave you forever. Never one to ignore the voices in his head, no matter how asinine their advice was, Vexen was crestfallen. "I can't," he said. "I'm-" Don't apologise for it, the same voice, which sounded uncannily like his mother, warned.

Marluxia seemed to only shrug, stepping under the water to wash away the soap before hoping out of the shower. "Didn't think so."

Vexen sighed and quickly washed himself and his hair, then stepped out of the shower and checked his phone for updates. Yup, his picture was posted all over the internet. There were a couple of links on his wall to YouTube videos of him grinding against the muscular man with the braids and making out with Xigbar. He shook his head. He'd catch hell for this in the office, he was sure.

"It's not you, it's my parents," he murmured to Marluxia. "They conditioned me. I... I can't sleep with you for that reason. Unless I happen to have had upwards of four glasses of hard liquor."

"We'll see about that." Was all Marluxia said, something menacing lurking under his tone as he wrapped a towel around his waist and made his way to his bedroom.

Vexen stayed where he was, naked, dripping wet, and still holding his phone. He was darkly ashamed of himself for ruining his chances with Marluxia yet again. A gorgeous man in front of him, supplicating himself... why hadn't Vexen just taken what was offered?

Before vanishing into his bedroom, Marluxia glanced back over his shoulder, smiling. "The offer is still standing, Vexen. Don't forget that."