Bar that was waaay too packed for Vash's taste.
"Well... and what about you?"
"What about what?" Vash asked, nervous. "Ehm... we could just buy something and eat it on our way back."
"What? Do you want to eat in the room?"
"I..." the problem was that so many people just made him nervous. Roderich glanced at him. "I just think the place is too noisy and... full of people... and smoke."
"And what's the matter of it?"
"It makes me nervous" He approached the counter really pretending to order and then go.
"Why?"
"Back at home... well, I only have mountains and, well, probably the church is the most crowded place where I've been, and it is ordered and quiet."
"And do you prefer to be with the sheeps and goats?"
"I... well, they are easier to understand, and they don't smoke... at least I do not feel trapped with them."
"What's the problem with smoke?"
"Well... don't you feel as if you were choking? It's like having a dense fog around us"
"No. I don't like it because is expensive to be something that will burn in the end, but it doesn't annoy me."
"It does not usually annoy me but here the smoke is DENSE." He protested. To be honest the principal problem was the people in there, not the smoke.
It took only one minute to Roderich to go to someone and ask him for a cigarette. Then he came back with Vash, smoking. Vash stared the whole movement not believing it.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Smoking" and he did it once, slowly. Vash blushed a bit.
"So I tell you that I do not like something and you go ahead and do it?"
"Maybe."
He frowned and looked away.
"What do you want for dinner?"
"Something with cheese" Roderich offered the cigarrette to Vash.
"No, thanks, I do not smoke" He responded, although the frown disappeared with the mention of cheese.
"Have you ever tried it?"
"No" He only do hardcore drugs, like LSD.
"You need try it to know if you don't like it"
"I... Ehm... ok, I... could try it."
"Let's go to our room."
Vash smiled a bit, appreciating the idea of leaving this place. He waited for a couple of minutes to the guy who was preparing their cheese breads and received the bag with them. He paid, making mental note that his room mate owed him one dinner and gestured Roderich to go to the door.
Roderich followed him.
"So...would you teach me how to smoke?" Asked Vash still smiling a bit.
"Yes. It is a social convention for men. I think you need to know how to do it if you don't want to be a weird man."
"I..." Vash sighed because he... had never had an issue with being a bit weird, however he was now living in a... society, and probably Roderich was right and he needed to learn some things that were conventional. "Alright."
Roderich smiled.
"What do I have to do?"
"You have to think for a moment that the cigarette is... a straw. The initial idea is not to breath with your lungs, but with your mouth. Once the smoke is in your mouth you breathe in to your lungs."
"A... straw" Vash frowned in concentration breathing imagining he had a... straw.
"Yes, try it" He offered again. Vash reached for the cigarette touching Roderich hand and taking it a bit clumsily.
Roderich smiled, sitting on the bed. And then... Vash put the smoke on his mouth... and proceeded to breath it into his lungs... aaaaaand... he coughed his guts out...
Roderich expected exactly this and laughed a little, slaping the Vash back.
"Ugh... it's... awful" He protested between coughs.
"No, no, try again, look at me" Roderich did it again.
Vash observed him intently, paying special attention to his lips and mouth.
He tried to do it as slow as possible. Vash opened his mouth thinking, without even knowing it, that his lips were beautiful. (rolls eyes at Vash)
After that, Roderich offered again the cigarette to Vash, who blushed again, this time even more, thinking for the first time that the cigarette had already been in Roderich lips... and now he was going to do the same movement. It was almost like a... kiss.
He coughed with the thought, not even getting the cigarette to his lips.
"Are you ok?"
"S-Sure, sure... I was only... I... only... "
"I can go to search some doctor... I suspect that I could find one here."
Vash smiled again a bit, still blushed.
"No... I'm fine, I'm fine. Let's try... a-again."
Roderich waited, smiling. Vash closed his eyes when placing the cigarette in his lips, concentrating, then he inhaled as Roderich told him to do... aaand he managed to hold his breath a bit before coughing again.
"That's was better!"
"Ugh... It still tastes bad!"
"The people don't do it for the taste.
"They do it because it is... Conventional? Only?"
"No... After a while it makes you feel relaxed."
Vash looked impressed at the cigarette, raising an eyebrow.
"Does it? "he tries it again almost immediately.
"You know" he shrugged.
"I wouldn't mind being able to feel relaxed here" He explained after coughing again.
"Why not?"
"Well... I feel tense... All the time"
"There are better things than a cigarette for that"
"Like what?"
"Some medicines"
"My father doesn't believe in those kind of medicines, I've never been able to try them" Vash responded thoughtfully. "I would try them if I had the chance."
"Maybe we can get some."
"That could help!" Vash smiled again and Roderich smiled too.
"I knew... a guy."
"Did you? How? When?!"
"Well... not me exactly. The italian boys, do you know which ones? They said... well, they are always talking. But not long ago, they told us about a guy who was studying forensic medicine..."
"Oh, and this guy knows where they sell those drugs? I... I'd need to find a job before buying anything."
"Isn't your father sending you money?
"Yes, he is sending me enough money to cover my expenses and to pay the school... I am not requesting extra money for being relaxed. He will say no, anyway..." Vash shrugged. "But I'm a good worker, And I was thinking about working a few hours a day anyway..."
"I will ask for more money" Roderich shrugged.
"Your father is rich, isn't he?"
"Yes, and doesn't usually ask questions."
"You have an extremely easy life" Vash smiled returning him what's left of the cigarette.
"Not really" He took it back. "But I'm dad's favorite"
"Are you? What about your mother?"
"She prefers my little brother"
"You don't talk much about him"
"Well... I prefer my father too."
"Why?"
"Because..." He leaned back a little in the bed when the cigarette finally ended. "My father, in some things, thinks quite like me."
"And your mother doesn't think that way?" Vash asked changing clothes for his pajamas.
"Mmmm... not exactly. For example, my mother loves the idea of me being a musician. Thing that my father doesn't approve, but my mother is extremly imaginative and disordered. My father is more realistic, like me."
"So you have a bit of both. And what about your brother?"
Roderich rolled his eyes.
"He is really really similar to my mother."
"Oh...disorganized and imaginative. No one in my family is disorganized or imaginative..."
"No? How are your parents?"
"Both are very... rational and practical. Their whole life goes around medicine and helping people."
"Sounds good."
"They are both good simple people, completely selfless... My sister and I help them all the time, and now that I am not there they have to work harder to do my part."
"Wait! You always had a sister? It's the first time I hear of her"
"Lili, my little sister" Vash smiled and pointed at the desk. "She is the one who writes me all the time, not my mother."
"Really?"
"Yes. She is the family's favorite, and with reason. She is sweet, and perfect."
"And... you are the black sheep?"
"Well... no. I would not say that. I wlil be if I become a psychiatrist."
"That's a little weird... again. What she wants to do?"
"What's weird? She will for sure become a nurse."
"It's not so bad to be a psychriatrist"
"My father will not agree. It is not practical to become a psychiatrist. You cannot save wounded, for instance..."
"But you can save another kind of wounded."
"You do not have to convince ME, you know?" Vash smiled. Roderich smiled too and shrugged.
"And... how old is your sister?"
"She's sixteen... Though I always see her as a ten year old."
"Mmmm... sixteen... she isn't so young. Do you have a photo?" Roderich smiled thinking of her like a... girl.
"Yes, I do have a picture of her" He went to his bedside table.
"Is she pretty?"
"She is beautiful!"
"Let me see" Roderich smiled more. Vash looked at his face... and frowned.
"Wait..."
"What?"
"She is just a little girl!"
"Come on..."
"Well keep that in mind, ok?"
"Of course..." he lied. Vash showed him a small frame. Roderich took it to see, and smiled, bowing his head.
"What?"
"Yes, she is pretty. She looks like you, but in feminine."
"L-Like me?" Vash babbled.
"Yes" the brown-haired looked the photo and then to Vash. The swiss blushed. "Do you mind if I courtship her?"
"If you WHAT?"
"Courtship her."
"Y-You? My... sister?"
"Why not?"
"She is just a little girl!"
"She is only three years old less than me."
"She is small and innocent!"
"Oh, come on"
"No, you cannot courtship her!"
"Why not?"
"Because she is my little sister!"
"And?"
"What do you mean "and?" That's more than enough. You go and find another person!"
"Why? Don't you want to be part of my family?"
"Why would I?" Its a sincere question.
"Because we are friends and you like me?"
"I do not like you!"
"No? Why are we friends then?"
"I... I... I mean..." Vash looked at him in the eye suddenly distracted of his previous idea. "Are you really my friend?"
"Aren't you?"
"I am. Of course I am!"
"Then?"
Vash seemed relieved.
"Are you Ok?"
"You are really a friend of mine!"
"What?"
"I have never had a friend like you before."
"How are your old friends?"
"They are... not really my friends."
"Why not? They cheated you or something?"
"No, we were not that close"
"Is for your social disability again?"
"It is not a disability!"
"No?"
"Well.. it is but..."
"Aja?"
"But well, do not say it that way!"
"Then?"
"OK, you win. Yes, it is because my... thing"
"And?"
"And what?!"
"What is the diference with me?"
"I don't know, I have to talk to you, probably"
"You have?"
"And also well... I don't know. I like you"
"Do you?"
"Yes, I like having a friend"
Roderich smiled and Vash smiled a bit too.