Title: Styrafoam Cup
Pairings: WolfwoodxVash
Warnings: Yaoi aka mansex, don't like, don't read
Summary: Vash is a loser, rejected at his job and shunned by his co-workers. Except for one, who seems to think he is special and not so much of a strange person after all when he takes Vash under his wing.
A/N: Second revamped chapter, pardon any mistakes I missed. Slight changes in this one, nothing big

Part Two

Vash had lived through another day of hell, another day of ridicule, another day of typing with calloused fingers and staring at a screen until he couldn't even think straight.

Now it was after-hours and he was standing like a sentinel outside his cubicle, checking his watch every so often. Mr. Wolfwood, as he now thought was appropriate to call him, was late and Vash's stomach was twisting in anticipation.

He had dreaded the thought of having a 'mentor', so to speak, especially since Wolfwood was going to be teaching him how to type properly and how to act like a better employee, things he thought he already knew how to do. Well, sorta. It was just pulling them off that was the hard part. The blonde sighed, wondering what disasters the Fates would hand him next.

On the other hand, it wouldn't be that bad. He was having his lessons with the only man in the building who had ever been nice to him... That in itself made him smile.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

He continued smiling until he heard the bell on the elevator hit his floor. Turning from his post, he looked towards the glossy, metal doors, seeing Wolfwood's head pop out from the door, checking to see if this was the right floor. As it was, he slipped out from the machine and strolled lazily towards the labyrinth of cubicles filling the room.

He was a good two feet above the walls, thus he easily sighted Vash, who was almost as tall. Wolfwood waved and started walking towards him a little faster. The blonde gave a hesitant wave in reply. He waited for the other man to make it across the room while he rocked on his heels.

"So, Tongari. Ready for your first lesson?"

Wolfwood reached him and grinned cheekily. Vash nodded briefly, his tongue temporarily tied, as it always was when he was around superiors, especially now that he knew Wolfwood was higher up than he was. He couldn't believe he had actually joked around yesterday with him in the lounge. Hopefully, the dark haired man would put it off and forget about it eventually.

"Alright, first we're going to have a test of sorts."

"What kind of test?"

Vash had asked the question rather more meekly than he had wanted to. He was shuffling his feet and his hands were shoved into his pockets. He had subconciously hunched his shoulders when Wolfwood had come up to him, making him appear shorter than he really was.

"Well, first off, if you want to be a better employee, you have to look like you actually know what you're doing, despite the fact that you have no clue what's going on."

The blonde wasn't sure if that was an insult directed towards him, or if Wolfwood was speaking of himself, but that thought fled from his mind as the other man took a step forward, placing both his hands on Vash's shoulders. The blonde looked up, startled by the sudden contact. He felt... embarrassed for some reason and quickly turned his head to the side as he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. He blinked furiously at the floor for a moment, trying his best not to look at Wolfwood for a reason he wasn't quite sure why.

"Oh no you don't. Look up."

Wolfwood had pushed his shoulders back, making him stand straighter. After that he reached out with long fingers and grabbed Vash's chin. A bit shocked, the blonde gaped and stared at Wolfwood with large eyes, questioning him.

"W-What?"

"You slouch and stare at the ground all the time... You need to stand up, straighten out and look at a person when they're talking to you, not avoid them. That'll make a good first impression with new clients."

Vash was staring at Wolfwood, feeling a blush stain his cheeks. The other man didn't seem to notice though, simply letting go of the blonde's shoulders and stepping back from him.

Wolfwood's eyes raked up from one of Vash's untied loafers to his unbuckled belt, untucked shirt, and loose tie. Shaking his head back and forth in pity, he reached out and started pushing the blonde away from his cubicle.

"Where're we goin'?"

"I'm not gonna mess with your clothes out in the open."

"W-What!"

Wolfwood rolled his eyes and started to drag the younger man by his collar.

"I'm just gonna make you straighten up a bit more! Now, COME ON!"

On Wolfwood's last words, he pushed Vash forward and towards the restrooms that stood close to the elevators. Stumbling over his untied shoelace, Vash hit his nose on the door frame before he groped for the handle, holding his sore nose with his hand.

Wolfwood chuckled quietly before following the unfortunate blonde into the bathroom.

Vash was turning around and looking at himself in the mirror, trying to figure out what was so wrong with his appearance. He glanced up when the older man entered, twisting himself back around and running a hand through his spiky hair.

"Look at the mirror. See anything wrong, Tongari?"

Vash shifted his gaze from the floor to the large mirror and sink to his side. He noticed that his shirt was untucked, his tie, his wrinkled pants, etc. Sighing, he ran his hands over his pants, trying to smooth them out as much as possible. He buttoned the cuffs on his shirt and straightened the ends out before tucking it in. He buckled his belt, tied his shoe, redid his tie and glanced to Wolfwood, running his fingers through his hair again.

"Better?"

"Much. But I don't know about your hair..."

Vash removed his hand from his blonde locks and stared irritably at the ground.

He liked his hair and he didn't particularly want to change it. He would if he just had to, but it wasn't going to be fun wearing his hair down all the time. It wasn't really distracting anyone, was it...?

The older man walked forward again and roughly untucked Vash's shirt before reaching up and holding his hand a little above the blonde locks, pausing, as if he was making up his mind. Shaking his head, Wolfwood smiled and stepped back, looking his work over.

"Much better. You look a little nicer now."

"But my shirt... you untucked it."

"You look better with it untucked. You don't look like such a tight-ass."

Vash furrowed his brow in anger, but Wolfwood simply laughed and left the restroom, leaving the blonde standing there for a moment.

Following the older man out in a rush, Vash watched him push the button on the elevator. Confused even further, Vash opened his mouth to ask a question.

"Didn't you say I had a test?"

Placing his folded hands on the back of his neck, Wolfwood leaned back on his heels and rocked while shaking his head, his bangs flitting from side to side.

"That was it. You passed your first examination with flying colors. Just remember to keep your chin up at work in the morning and I'll be sure to continue our lesson after-hours. You can wait like you did today, if that's cool with you?"

Vash nodded vigorously and watched the small arrow above the elevator light up and 'ding'. Wolfwood held up his hand in farewell and the blonde waved feebly in reply. Scratching his neck, he started to go back to his cubicle, glancing at his watch. His first 'lesson' had only lasted about fifteen minutes.

"That's really not that long... He must have had somewhere to go."

Vash shut down his computer and pushed his chair up under his desk, shoving all of his things into his drawer before locking it and stuffing the key in his pocket. He paused as he straightened.

"That was ... odd."

Vash waited for the elevator to come back up to his level before he stepped inside the machine and let it lower him to the ground. He slipped out of the large, rotating doors at the front of his work place and started walking towards his house many blocks away. Vash passed underneath a flickering streetlight, being sure to watch his back at every turn.

"Damn. I need a car."

He stuck the key into the lock and turned the rusty doorknob. The dull shine of a '9' near the middle of the door reflected the dingy light from the ceiling of the hallway. His door squeaked open, its hinges needing oil desperately.

Or maybe Vash just needed a new door.

In fact, he needed a whole new place to stay. His apartment was horrible. But it was home for the moment, something he could afford. The blonde walked in and placed his Chinese take-out on a floor next to his mattress/bed. He walked to the other side of the room and turned on the sink at his bathroom/kitchen and washed his face.

Vash sighed and plopped himself down on his mattress, opening the box of food in his brown paper bag and pulling out the pair of wooden chopsticks to eat with. He slurped noodles for a minute before chewing and leaning his head back against the dirty wall behind him.

He thought of his lack of a vehicle first, which led him to think of his terrible job, and then to the latest captor of his thoughts, Mr. Wolfwood.

"Mr. Wolfwood... Nicholas sounds so much better."

He chewed thoughtfully, hunching forward as he stared at his hardwood floor in a daze.

"What is it about him? There's just... something."

He turned to his side to inquire a plant on his windowsill.

"What do you think? Is it the way he doesn't seem to care about anything in the whole wide world? Is it just the way he talks like he couldn't give a damn if the entire building collapsed on him? Is it... "

His thoughts wandered back to today's lesson. It was so short. He wished it had lasted longer. It was a nice form of entertainment, even if he was being scrutinized for his appearance. The blonde didn't actually mind being around his superior. He was funny and witty... Just an all around nice guy. Vash found himself putting his chopsticks down and resting his head on the wall again.

He felt warm and fuzzy, a good kind of feeling, washing itself through his body. He smiled faintly.

"There's just... something..."

He fell to the side and landed on his pillow, watching his brown paper bag until his eyes grew heavy with sleep and he closed them for the night.

"One, two, three, fo--No, Tongari! Don't use that finger! Use the other one!"

Wolfwood was pulling at his black bangs, closing his eyes in exhaustion from his confused underling. The clueless blonde was learning how to type and proofread properly today and it was much, much harder than Wolfwood thought it was going to be. Bringing up his other hand, he took a long drag from his dwindling cigarette before squishing it out in the ashtray he had placed on Vash's desk.

"I-I'm sorry... I just... I just can't get my fingers to work right."

Vash laid his head down on the smooth wood beside his keyboard, closing his eyes as he rested for a moment on his desk. Wolfwood opened his ash-grey eyes and stared tiredly at Vash.

This second lesson had been much longer. They had already been at the office for a long while and time was slowly dragging by. The blonde sat up and flexed his aching fingers. He grimaced at the shock of pain he felt and placed his digits back on the home keys of his keyboard. Wolfwood watched him, making sure he was going to do things correctly this time.

"Alright, Tongari. One, two, three, four--good. And your thumb goes on ... the what?"

"The spacebar."

"Good. Very nice, Tongari."

"Can we quit now?"

"No."

"Why not? We've been practicing for over a hour!"

"I know."

"Well, then why not!"

"Cause I don't have anything better to do, and you can improve your skills by practicing. Believe me, they need it."

Vash sat glaring at Wolfwood, trying to feel angry. But he found it awfully hard. Even just by looking at him, Vash felt that strange feeling welling up inside again, threatening to engulf his other senses in an over-whelming emotional rush. The blonde blinked and turned back to his computer, wrinkling his brow and frowning, his nose squinching up tightly.

Wolfwood looked down on him from his position beside his chair. He grinned faintly at Vash's expression.

Hah... he looks cute.

Wolfwood's eyes widened at his own remark. He looked up and blinked several times, as Vash had done earlier, and quickly took out another cigarette, lighting it with practiced ease.

What the hell am I saying!

He puffed on it momentarily, feeling the calming effect filter through his system. He released the smoke, letting it float to the ceiling and out into the air where is quickly dispersed. His thoughts became as collected as the smoke wreathing about his head.

I'm just a bundle of nerves...

Eventually, he remembered where he was and glanced down at his watch.

"Ah, damn, Tongari! You can stop! We've been here for three and a half hours. I'm sorry -- Just lost track of time, I guess."

Vash squinted at the clock on his computer and widened his eyes in surprise. He apparently hadn't thought it was that late either. He immediately clicked off his computer and stood quietly, watching Wolfwood stretch, his cigarette hanging loosely out of the side of his mouth.

The blonde briefly let his eyes wander over the lithe figure of the man in front of him. His button up shirt was very becoming when he stretched. Vash could almost imagine the sun-kissed, smooth skin underneath, the subtle muscles that rippled when he--Vash rammed his palm into his forehead, biting his lip in the process. He yelped in pain and stuck out his tongue to see if he could measure the damage. Not too bad, but he could feel his lip bleeding.

Reaching up with two fingers, he gently touched his wound and raised them to his eyes to see the blood. He flicked out his tongue and brushed it over his lips, wincing at the pain.

Wolfwood happened to look down and see Vash flicking his tongue back and forth, mesmerizingly. He shook his head quickly to suppress his shivers and silently reprimanded himself, blaming the trembling on the cold weather.

"Let's go."

"Alright. I'll... see you later."

Wolfwood began to walk off, but Vash remained where he was standing, trying to look casual, but failing tremendously. The dark-haired man stopped in his tracks, seeing that Vash was not following him. He turned on his heel and stared at the blonde, wondering why he wasn't coming.

"What're you doing? Aren't you leaving, yet?"

"I have some work to do."

"You told me you were finished with your work."

"Uhm. Well, I uhm... you see... There was .. uh... "

The truth was, Vash was ashamed of not having an active mode of transportation. The subway was further from work than his house and the bus didn't even come close to where he was. Taxis were pretty much out of the question. Vash was paranoid about them and it would cost him a fortune to spend so much money everyday to drive to his apartment.

"Tongari, what is it?"

"I... I... "

"Come on, I'll walk you to your car."

Wolfwood came forward and started dragging Vash to the elevator. Vash protested, trying to throw his weight back, but the superior nearly pulled the blonde's feet out from underneath him and yanked him into the elevator. Mashing the button for the first floor, Wolfwood leaned back comfortably on the wall of the machine and closed his eyes, waiting for the box to hit the first floor.

Vash closed his eyes too, feeling depressed. He was going to be even more of a loser now. He didn't have a car and he would probably hear about it tomorrow from his unfriendly co-workers.

The machine dinged and the doors shuttered open.

Vash and Wolfwood opened their eyes and began to walk forward, one of them not bothered at all, the other having a slow, timid step. They reached the front doors and walked outside to the brisk night air. Wolfwood smiled and turned to Vash.

"So, where's your car?"

Vash frowned. He shook his head.

"I don't have one."

"...What?"

"I don't have one."

"How can you not have a car?"

"I just don't have the money."

Wolfwood stared at Vash blankly for a moment, a freezing wind beginning to blow around them, chilling them to the bone.

"So how do you get home?"

"I walk."

"Walk! In this kinda weather! You're gonna catch your death of cold! Come on. Let's go."

Vash looked to the retreating form of Wolfwood. He opened his mouth for a moment, watching him leave.

"Go where?"

"I'm gonna drive you home."