Chappy quarto! This was a FUN chapter to write! You'll see in a minute. It is also a LONG chapter, the longest so far I think. You'll notice Canaan developing a distinct personality. I'm trying to give him kinda a Yuki Eiri (from Gravitation, it's scary how much they look alike) personality, but maybe not that cold. chaos will be having a mix of his personalities from both Eps. I and II. Meaning kinda happy and smiley and mysterious, but still very sexy. Nehe.

To my reviewers…

Wendy: Glad you like! I am making people's days now, yay! I hope you'll find this chapter to your funny bones liking, yes?

SephirothsGoddess: Never fear! It is here ahead of schedule! I am trying to keep them in their characters as much as I can, thanks for the recognition!

Kyone: Yes, love is uncomfortable. Curse the fool who is close minded. Please, go on though, you do not bore me!

Deona Lindholm: Yes, I considered having chaos come upon him, but I figured while he was an engineer, he still wouldn't know a whole lot about Realians. That's why he asked MOMO to help!

OOOOOONNNNNNNNNNN with el fic.

My mind was having trouble processing what had just taken place.

chaos and I roommates?

As in, sharing a room?

Waking up together?

Going to sleep together?

Well, in separate beds, of course.

Taking turns for the shower?

CHANGING in front of each other?

Ohhhhh dear.

He looked at me strangely.

"Something wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"N no," I stuttered, "Nothing like that, just..."

He sat on the bed next to mine.

"I understand. You're probably still a little disorientated. You had a pretty hectic day, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I...wait. How did you know?"

"MOMO. She's very good at her job."

"What? Her job?"

"Well, she is an Observational Realian. She had orders to report back to me anyway."

Crafty aren't we?

He leaned a little closer, with this calm smile on his face.

"So, Canaan, MOMO says you wouldn't tell her where you got the technology for your little "procedure," true?"

"True. And I'm not telling you either."

"Oh, you don't have to. I already know you got that code from Wilhelm."

What? How the hell did he figure that out? He wasn't spying on me, was he?

His smile widened.

"I'm not a simpleton Canaan. Only the director of Vector Industries could have that kind of resource at his disposal. And the look on your face after I made that statement was proof enough."

I had fallen right into his trap.

"You're a rather manipulating person, aren't you?"

He just smiled his mysterious smile.

"Now, while I think I know who gave you that cord as well, I won't get into because I need to change into something a little more appropriate for our trip to the Foundation."

He stood up and his eyes looked me over.

"And I suggest you do the same. I don't think you want to go there dressed like that."

He was referring to my current outfit.

"Ummm...I, er..."

"Something wrong?"

I meekly cleared my throat. "I've, ahem, got nothing to wear..."

He raised his eyebrow.

"Nothing?"

"Except for that flight suit, nothing."

"That is a bit of a dilemma."

He pondered the problem for a while.

"Stand up," he said suddenly.

"What?"

"I've got an idea. Stand up."

I was rather self-consciousness about the fact that I was still in my undergarments. Especially while I was in front of him. But I guess I didn't really have a choice.

So, I unraveled myself from the blankets, got up, and stood there. He eyed me carefully.

What in the world is he doing?

After that, he started circling me and seemed to be analyzing every single detail about my figure. I thought my face was going to catch on fire.

A few eternities later, he said, "Don't move. I'll be right back."

He briskly walked out of the cabin doors to an unknown destination.

I don't think I'm ever going to understand him.

While I stood there waiting for him, and while my face was returning to normal temperature, I had a little time to think of what had just taken place.

He certainly is an odd one. He just does what he pleases and doesn't really care what others think about it. He's so reserved and quiet, so it's impossible to know what he's thinking. But, I wonder…I wonder…what he thinks...of me. I mean, physically. I guess I'm not that bad looking. I am tall and muscular; two traits admired by most humans. Technically, I was designed to have a generally attractive appearance. I don't know why I have orange hair though. But, I still want to what he thinks, how he thinks. He didn't cringe back in disgust during his little analysis, so that was a start.

But, I shouldn't be daft. He didn't see anything. I'm still a guy, I can't forget that.

The swish of the doors told me he had returned. In his arms he carried a shirt, jacket, shoes, and pants.

"Here, catch." He said, tossing over the clothes.

"Where did you get these?" I asked, admiring them.

"I just borrowed them out of Tony's closet. You two should have about the same sizes. Although they might be a little small."

Small?

"We'd better hurry. The others are almost ready."

He didn't need to tell me twice. I turned around for some privacy and quickly yanked the clothes on. They were a little snug like he said, but otherwise fit fine.

I turned around and began to say, "I'm rea..."

Then I noticed that he was busily "changing" as well. In other words, he was standing there folding up his normal outfit while wearing these little black under shorts that left rather little to the imagination.

I quickly whipped back around in embarrassment.

Why does he wear stuff like that? Is he trying to make me have a heart attack?

Despite the fact my embarrassing "turn around" only lasted a few seconds, I still had a chance to, erm, get a good look. I had always thought he was a very good-looking person, but, now, after that, my opinion had drastically changed.

His frame was long and he had decent sized muscles, despite his rather petite appearance. He was still pretty skinny, though. Enhancing his figure were his long arms and legs, slender neck, and attractive lower back end. Plus, that silky snow-white hair seemed to fall in all the right places...

Get your head out of the gutter. He would be mortified if he found out you were thinking of him that way.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Canaan? Are you ready?"

I slowly turned around, still trying to hide my flushed face.

"Yes..." I stammered out.

My heart then skipped a beat.

I thought he looked stunning just a second ago.

He was wearing a long-sleeved black v-neck shirt that was tight-fighting and emphasized his trim figure. Baggy black pants clung at his legs, and he was wearing plain black boots. To top it off, he had a necklace that was wrapped twice around his neck, and on it hung a small aqua green stone. It was the same color of his eyes.

"You look..." I began to say.

Gorgeous? Hot? Sexy? Voluptuous? All of the above? Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

"...nice."

...Pathetic. Way to go flattering the guy, you twit.

He still took it as a compliment. "Thanks. You don't look bad yourself. Shall we go?"

I followed him in tow out the door.

Maybe this roommate thing isn't such a bad idea after all.

We met everyone in the Durandel docking area and got aboard one of the transports. It was a little crowded, but not so much to the point of discomfort. I did get to sit next to chaos, which was a bonus. It was so crowded because everyone was there. Everyone.

Well, except Hammer. Matthews had ordered him to watch the ship. Poor guy.

Anyway, so other than him, everyone had decided to join in the "festivities." Even Ziggy, Jin, and...her... She was there too. Why did she have come and prematurely spoil my evening? She couldn't eat, required no items of material value, and had absolutely no reason in being present. Wasteful, in my opinion. But, chaos had asked her to come. For some reason, that bothered me the most.

We rode in silence for a bit, and then MOMO piped up, "Hey Jr., what exactly are we planning to do once we get there?"

"Well, I figured we would all want to do our own thing for a while. How about after a few hours, we could all meet at the Iron Man for dinner? They have this great special for large groups of people."

"That sounds great!" Shion said, "Hey MOMO, there's this new shop I want to take you too. They have the cutest..."

Conversations quickly began springing up.

"There's this shop where I think they sell some rare books."

"Books? Really? Where?"

"Chief? Chief? Can I come with you? I thought maybe we could ..."

"Did you say something Allen?"

"I can't wait to see all the lights!"

"I wonder what kind of women they have there..."

I tuned everyone out and focused on observing the only one not engaged in conservation. chaos was looking wistfully out the window, oblivious to everything around him.

Trying to strike up a conversation, I asked, "I've never seen much of the Kukai Foundation before. What exactly is it like?"

He snapped out of his daze and answered, "Well, during the day there's not a whole lot to see. But right now it's nighttime over there. The whole place is lit up, and there are usually a lot more stores open. The setting is a bit more…active, I guess."

The ship came to a sudden jolt, which told me we had arrived. Everyone hurried out, eager to look around. We then split up into our respective groups:

Shion was taking MOMO and KOS-MOS shopping. Allen was tagging along with them.

Jin went to look for his "rare books" and promised to tell Jr. if he found any.

Ziggy said he needed some updating, and would be near the E.S. shop.

Tony went off...somewhere.

Matthews said he was going to meet up with some old friends of his.

That left Jr., chaos, and me.

"Hey," said Jr., "There's this new bar that has just set up a ways from here. I've been meaning to check it out. Wanna come?"

"Glad too." chaos answered. "But first Canaan and I have some business to attend to."

"Suit yourselves. See ya later then."

As Jr. walked off, I asked, "What business? Did something come up with Helmer?"

"Oh no no, nothing like that."

"Then..."

He grinned. "Well, Canaan, since I can't keep raiding Tony's closet for you, I figured we could go and buy you some proper attire."

"Go shopping for clothes?"

"Yes."

"But, I don't have any money."

"I've got plenty."

"I can't pay you back."

"Don't worry about it."

"I don't know where to shop."

"I do."

"But..."

"Don't worry about it so much. Listen, I'll pick out all the clothes for you and pay for them. All you have to do is stand there and hold everything. Ok?"

I gave in. "Fine. But I want to get out of there as quickly and painlessly as possible."

"Agreed. Let's go."

I followed chaos to what I presumed was a clothing shop. As we walked, I couldn't help but notice the hustle and bustle around us. He was right; it was more active. Children were tugging at their parent's sleeves, women were gossiping, men were laughing, couples were walking hand in hand, stealing kisses when they thought no one was watching...

My eyes lingered on the couples a little longer.

The city itself was lit up, and it glowed with a light you could probably see for thousands of miles away. One might have thought it was caught in flames. And the stars...

chaos noticed my expression "Beautiful, isn't it?"

I said nothing. But he knew what I was thinking.

"Ah, here we are." He said, "Come on."

He briskly walked in and I slowly shuffled behind him. There were mostly women in the store, and very few men. The ones that were there I assumed were in a similar position to mine. At least I had a decent reason for being in here. chaos didn't waste any time, and quickly began pulling clothes from the racks and inspecting them. Sometimes he would put them in my arms, sometimes he put them back. He grabbed numerous things; a shirt here, a pair of pants there. The whole process took less then ten minutes, and when he was finished I had a decent stack of tasteful clothes that were pilled on my arms.

"That was fast." I commented.

"You said you wanted to do this as "quickly and painlessly as possible," remember?"

We were standing in line waiting to buy my new wardrobe.

"Actually," He continued,"the reason I didn't want to linger too much was that I'm a little worried about Jr."

"Jr.? Why?"

"Let's just say he's had a...history with bars."

A history? What does that mean?

While I pondered this, the line slowly inched its way to the front.

This is taking forever. It's going to take twice as long to buy these clothes as it was to pick them out.

Standing there bored and restless, while still holding the piles of outfits, I heard a high-pitched giggle erupt from somewhere. Uninterested, I ignored it. There was another one. I still ignored it. Then a gush of giggles burst forth from behind us.

That's getting really bothersome. Who's doing that?

I glanced around and found there was a group of young girls right behind us that I hadn't noticed before. They were giggling and pointing at someone. I tuned into their conversation.

"...if he looks at me, I swear I'm gonna faint."

"Do you think his skin's natural, or does he have a tan?"

"Duh, that's natural."

Giggle giggle.

"Mmm, mocha."

Giggle giggle.

"How do we know he's not an old guy? I mean, he does have white hair."

"But an old guy doesn't have a figure like that!"

Giggle giggle.

What...the...heck. They were talking about chaos weren't they? Why those little...

"chaos," I hissed, "Aren't you irritated that those little girls behind us are talking that way about you?"

"Not really," He whispered back, "There's just having fun."

"Well it's irritating me."

"You know Canaan, I'm sure you've gotten a few stares from girls exactly like that since we've been here."

"Besides, a girl is just a girl. And some of them aren't that bad looking if you just take a look."

I snorted. "That's just it. They all look the same. I see nothing."

He smiled. "Touché, yes, I guess they do all look a little alike."

"My point exactly. And they still haven't stopped giggling."

Time for drastic measures.

I turned to chaos and said rather loudly and obnoxiously, "I hope we get out of soon. Those children behind us should really learn some manners."

chaos covered his mouth to hide his smile. "Canaan! That wasn't very nice…"

"So? They've stopped giggling."

Sure enough, they had suddenly become silent.

I enjoyed the rest of the now quiet trip to the front of the line.

When we did get there, chaos paid and we gathered up our purchases. On our way out, I noticed the girls that were behind us were giving me some very ugly stares. I just smirked straight back.

Go ahead and seethe at me, ladies. Just keep your hands off of him while you're at it.

"So chaos," I said, "Where exactly is this bar of Jr.'s that you're so worried about?"

"It's not really the bar itself. Like I said, Jr. has a history. You'll see in a minute."

We walked a short ways, and came to another building. "Hmm, this is probably it."

I glanced up at the place we had just arrived at. It looked like every other store, except there was The Grey Bronco above the entrance in huge neon lights. And it sounded like there was a bit of commotion going on inside.

"Oh dear, not again...come on Canaan."

We entered the bar only to find Jr. in an extremely heated argument with a middle aged man, whom I assumed to be the owner. Jr. was standing on a bar stool so he could yell at the man face to face.

"Are you deaf old man? I said I wanted a drink!"

"I ain't deaf, but you must thing I'm blind! I don't serve drinks to minors!"

"I have an ID!"

"Pwah, you think I'm stupid or somethin'? You faked that thing!"

"No I didn't!"

"Scram before I call your parents, kid!"

"I'm 26 years old dammit, and I want a drink!"

chaos wasted no time in walking over a grabbing Jr. by the scruff of the neck before he pounced on the bar tender.

"There you are Jr.; we've been looking all over for you."

He bowed apologetically to the owner while still holding a thrashing Jr.

"Sorry if he's caused you any trouble. We can take him from here. Come on Canaan."

With that, he quickly walked back out the door.

"chaos you jerk!" Jr. yelled, "Put me down!"

"Jr., I don't understand why you can't accept that people won't serve drinks to people who look their underage. No matter what the circumstances."

"It's not fair!"

"I know, I know." chaos said sympathetically, putting him down outside.

"I assume you've gone through this before." I asked.

Jr. dusted himself off. "Yeah, it's always the same. I want a drink, they won't give me one, and in the end chaos has to yank me out of there before I start throwing punches. Speaking of which..."

"You are not going back in there Jr." said chaos.

"What? You gonna try and stop me?"

"Well, no, but…"

Then chaos got this eerily calm and almost sinister look on his face.

Uh oh.

"Actually Jr., Canaan just finished telling me this funny story on how you were the one hording Realian hacking tech, and you gave him some for his…experiment."

Jr. got a horrified look on his face and whirled around, yelling, "CANAAN! You bastard! I told you not to tell anyone!"

I rolled my eyes.

chaos and his little traps…

"Idiot. I didn't tell him. But you just did."

Jr. paused for second, processing what just happened. Then it hit home, and it showed on his face. He slowly turned toward chaos.

"I...hate...you..."

chaos grinned and ruffled his hair affectionately. "And now I own you for the time being, and I command you to behave yourself. Now why don't we head out before I accidentally tell Gaignun about this little incident, hmm?"

Those two have a very interesting relationship.

"Try not to get into a fight before we get to the restaurant, okay Jr.?"

"Shut up chaos."

We got to the Iron Man with little to no problems. The restaurant was empty besides two men in suits talking with each other. We requested a huge table be set up for the "impending rush." I made a specific point to reserve the seat next to chaos, and he was sitting at the end of the table. That meant there would be no unwanted intrusions. The others began coming in group by group.

First to arrive was Jin carrying stacks of books. Jr. quickly snagged him and they sat down, deep in conversation. Next to come was Ziggy. Closely following him were Shion, MOMO, and KOS-MOS. Allen trudged in weighed heavily down by bags of clothes. Matthews came in and headed straight for the bar. Jr. glared at him with envy. Tony was still mysteriously missing...

"Where are we supposed to sit?" Shion asked.

"I dunno." said Jr. "Pick a seat, I guess."

MOMO sat next to Jr. Shion sat next to MOMO. Allen sat next to Shion. Ziggy sat a seat down from mine. That left KOS-MOS to sit in the seat next to me.

Well, well, looks like this was nicely arranged. Hope you get comfortable there my metallic beauty.

"Canaan," said chaos suddenly, "Would you mind moving down a seat?"

Huh?

"I wouldn't mind sitting next to KOS-MOS for dinner, that is, if it doesn't bother you."

Whaa…

I was too proud to say I cared, so I just shrugged and wordlessly moved down a seat.

This sucks.

KOS-MOS sat in the seat that was supposed to be mine.

chaos started talking with her, asking her things like how her day was, what did she do, did she have fun shopping...

Words that were supposed to be said to me.

He smiled his dazzling smile at her.

The smile that was meant for me.

"KOS-MOS," he asked, "Don't you ever wonder what it would be like to be able to eat?"

"I require no nourishment of that kind. I do not think about it."

"What do you think about?"

"Battle algorithms."

He just laughed.

When our food came, I didn't eat a bite. I just sat there stabbing my meal with a knife. I couldn't seem to stop listening to chaos flirt with her.

Why was he doing this to me?

He could have moved down too so I could have still sat next to him.

But, he probably wouldn't have said more than two words to me anyway.

He would be too busy worshiping her.

"Oh, look at me, I'm so pretty and have long blue hair and a chest that's larger than most people's heads."

Humph. She's not really even that attractive.

What could he possible see in her?

It didn't take an E.S. scientist to know what I was feeling:

Pure,

unrelenting,

unadulterated,

unaltered,

jealousy.

I knew I really wasn't being very fair to KOS-MOS, but at this point I certainly didn't care. I sat there with a scowl on my face. Not just the uncaring one I usually had, but a scowl. I didn't say anything to anyone or join in any conversations. I nearly bit Jr.'s head off when he asked me what I was going to do on my break.

"How should I know? It's none of your business anyway."

"Okay! Jeeze!"

Trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, I let them instead wander around the room. Matthews was still at the bar, I noticed.

We are going to have to drag him back to the ship at this rate.

The two men in suits were still there, still deep in their conversation. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I noticed that they would talk, then glance up at our table, then dive back into their conversation.

Interesting...

I wonder who they were talking about.

The others were finishing up eating by now. I still hadn't eaten a bite; I was too busy sulking to be hungry. And my food by that time had been reduced to a nice mushy paste.

Jr. took the liberty of paying the bill, Ziggy took the liberty of carrying a now loopy and half-conscience Matthews, the two suites took the liberty of staying there, still talking, and everyone started walking back toward the ship.

I just grabbed my clothes and walked behind everyone, still visibly ticked off. However, I did notice that Tony had finally decided to rejoin us.

When we got to the ship, everyone said their good nights and fell into their respective bunks.

Leaving chaos and me. Together. Alone. In a nice big comfy room.

Normally I would have been thrilled, but I refused to forgive him just yet.

I walked in and stood there, arms crossed, with my back to him.

"Canaan," he asked, not noticing my expression, "You didn't eat anything at dinner, weren't you hungry?"

"…"

"Are you feeling all right? I know you had a tough day."

"…"

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

"…"

"Ahh, I get it. You're mad because I kicked you out of your seat at the restaurant, right?"

"…"

"Hey..." he said, walking over and lightly touching me on my back, "If it bothered you that much, you should have said something. But, I do apologize, and I hope you'll forgive me."

"…"

"Tell you what, how about tomorrow we go get breakfast at the Foundation, just the two of us? My treat."

"...it better be a good breakfast."

"It will. Promise."

I felt his hand leave my back. I noticed it was particularly warm in the spot where it had been. Trying to shake off the fuzzy feeling from his touch, I proceeded to get ready for bed. Which mostly consisted of me yanking off my clothes and throwing them on the floor.

I heard chaos go into the bathroom and brush his teeth. He came out and pulled off his clothes, with me trying not to stare, and he pulled on his long cotton pants he slept in.

"Where should I put these?" I asked, pointing to the bags of clothes that he had bought for me.

"There's a closet in the bathroom. Just stick them in there."

I gathered them up and headed for the bathroom. It was decent size, with a large tub in the middle. There was a large sliding door to the side, which I assumed was the closet. I slid it opened and found there were already outfits inside, presumably his. I couldn't help but notice that those white shorts he used to wear were hanging up nice and neat. I quickly shoved my clothes in and shut the door before my mind wandered off too far.

I walked in on chaos as he was performing his nightly ritual of yanking all the covers and pillows off his bed.

"Why do you do that?" I curiously asked.

"Do what?"

"Sleep like that."

He smiled. "You know, I've never been able to figure it out myself. I just can't go to sleep with all that stuff on me."

"Don't you get cold?"

"Nope."

"I see…..can I have them then?"

"What?"

"The blankets and pillows and stuff."

"Sure Canaan."

I happily scooped up the discarded blankets and pillows and pilled them on my bed. I nestled down in the fluffy masses.

chaos flopped on his empty bed and curled up in a fetal position, facing me.

We must have been quite a sight. I was vacuumed into my cocoon of a bed, and he was sleeping without as much as a sheet.

Quite the odd pair, aren't we?

"Good night Canaan." I heard him sleepily say.

"Good night..." I replied.

I felt, happy. I was sleeping in a warm bed, with the only person I had ever cared about resting only a few feet away.

And now I have the morning to look forward too, when I'll have him all...too...myself.

Hehe. Crafty little chaos will be running rampart much more, I assure you. I will be gone over spring break, so you probably won't hear much from me for a while. But fear not, I will still be writing away! Are there any rules about placing links to other websites on your bio? Just asking cause I have no idea.

Cheers-ATA

March 20: I went back and read this and realized that QuickEdit killed some things I had at the end. So i went back and changed them. Sorry! Stupid QuickEdit...