Warning France x Switzerland
trigger warning france?

August 21st, 1999

In a brothel in Geneva, a popular event was about to take place, this being the "Blackout" event, where after all the patrons arrive the lights are turned off and they're left to do whatever they so please with the workers present and other patrons.

Before during, and after this event, the bar is entirely free of charge, this is where Vash works, he is a bartender.

Getting ready for the Blackout was always a challenge, some of the patrons would just use this opportunity to drink as much as possible before passing out and throwing up on the floor and bathrooms, so not only did they have to stock up on alcohol but also cleaning supplies and hope to not mix them up.

As much as Vash did not care for the sexual aura of the place, he did get along with some of his coworkers, mainly Elizabeth, one of the waitresses, and Kiku, one of the Janitors, since these are the people that most often come to his stall, delivering alcohol and cleaning after the people who can't hold it in.

As the night came rushing in closer and closer to their opening time Vash was preparing both the glasses and himself for what's to come, before he knew it, people were coming in with rather shifty eyes that were unashamed of their intentions with the blond.

After serving more people than he can count someone caught his attention for actually looking well kept, pretty classy for this kind of hole-in-the-wall brothel, an interesting fellow for sure.

He approached the bar and kindly asked him;

"One Vieux carré, with a cherry please."

The bartender was quite perplexed by someone, not only ordering a cocktail that is not mostly vodka or gin, but also pronouncing its name correctly.

"Coming up, sir," he replied.

As he was preparing the drink he noticed the classy patron looking at him, not with the hungry eyes he was accustomed to, but strangely fond ones instead, weird, but he didn't think much of it, not like he wanted anything but to get paid at the end on the month from this.

Thinking about it, he couldn't even pursue anything even if he wanted, since he'd be very busy all night.

Kind of lost in thought and kind of tired he almost messed up one of the measurements for the beverage, almost.

"Your drink sir."

"Francis, my name is Francis, are you new here?"

"No sir, I've worked here for two years now."

"You must be pretty tired, its been a long night hasn't it?"

Vash was used to customers trying to do small talk with him, he wasn't exactly the most talkative, but he has to keep his inoffensive persona until the night ended, no matter how uncomfortable the chit-chat made him.

"I'm ok don't worry sir."

After that conversation with the curious patron, the small blond kept doing his work until the closing time, he was ready to leave when he noticed his bike was missing.

This wasn't even the first time this had happened to him, but he couldn't afford to buy another, not with how unfavorable the tips are to this mostly uncharismatic flaxen-haired.

"Are you ok?"

He heard a similar voice, it was the very charismatic patron, Francis, he recalled him being called.

"Not so much, my bike got stolen."

"Do you need a ride?"

Not having many options, the swiss agreed.

"Hm... Ok but let me call home first, my sister is waiting for me"

"That shouldn't be an issue, we'll be there quickly."

He didn't like the idea of hopping into a stranger's car, but with little to no money in his pockets and it being so late in the night there were almost no public transit options for him, this was probably his only way home.

He thought about telling the very handsome stranger to drop him off at a nearby park so that he could walk the rest of the way to his home and not give just some random person his home address, however, his thought was cut off by the aforementioned stranger's voice.

"I'm sorry if this sounds incredibly creepy, and you're entirely in your right to reject this, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of you, would you do me the favor of drinking some coffee with me someday?"

Francis's eyes made Vash feel something that he didn't know he could feel in the first place.

He felt inclined to agree right away, but he knew better than that.

"Uh, How about I give you my number, and then we'll see."

"Thank you, I'll text you tomorrow."

Vash hopped into Francis's car and told him to drop him off near the Pâquis neighborhood, which wasn't too far away from were they where, so their ride together didn't last long, not that the swiss minded, he was kind of uncomfortable, but equally so intrigued.

"Talk to you tomorrow!" Said the frenchman, not as 'goodbye' but rather a 'till next time'

"Uh- Y-you too." Said the swiss in a sudden panic as he left the car, realizing way too late the way he responded. The french found it endearing.