Note: This is the last chapter that will be up for a little bit. I have to do some editing and rechecking of the plot for the rest of this act before I continue any further. A lot of it wasn't really as good as I thought when I went back to reread, so I'm going to change some stuff before I continue on.

Chapter 3

"He's living at your house?" Koujaku's voice carried down the street and echoed off the the buildings in the early morning air. It was still nippy and Aoba clutched his jacket around his shoulders tightly as he waited in front of the salon for it to open with his best friend. Koujaku lit a cigarette and was puffing on it anxiously, though Aoba couldn't help but feel that he was being a little melodramatic.

"He's just sleeping on the couch some nights," Aoba said with a shrug, leaning against the door with his cheek against Koujaku's shoulder. It was early and he was cold, but it had been a week since the two of them had seen each other, since the situation with Clear—whom Aoba had finally gotten a name out of—and he was hoping that Koujaku wasn't taking the situation as badly as he was wont to do with many things.

He was.

Aoba frowned. He knew Koujaku worried about himself and his grandmother, but he wondered if he realized that Aoba also knew how to take care of himself sometimes too. There was a time when Koujaku wasn't around and when Aoba got himself into a lot of trouble and had to do things on his own terms, so sometimes when his friend expressed all that worry, it was a little annoying. Aoba wasn't helpless as people seemed to think.

"You're both too loud for it being this early in the morning," someone said with a laugh and Aoba recognized the voice instantly. The man who spoke was thin and a bit taller than Aoba, and had the greenest eyes that he had ever seen on a person. His hair was red and short and he had green tattoos on his face and throat that made Aoba cringe a little every time he saw them. They must have been painful.

"Mizuki!" Aoba said cheerfully, raising a hand in greeting and smiling at his friend. Mizuki had been a friend of Aoba's for several years now, before Koujaku came back from the mainland, and they were pretty close. Though he and Koujaku were from opposing gangs, they got along really well and hung out occasionally, even without Aoba.

He grinned. "Aoba, Koujaku, you two fight like old lovers sometimes." Aoba felt the rush of heat from his cheeks to his ears and rolled his eyes as Koujaku laughed it off, setting up the sign that he always put out when he was open for business. Mizuki said that nearly every time he caught them bickering but Aoba wasn't sure why it bothered him so much each time it was said. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to hang out today, but it looks like Koujaku is going to be pretty busy I think, with all the girls that are going to come up today when they see this."

Aoba frowned, not enjoying the implications but understanding why they were said. He did, after all, have a reputation. "I won't be around here for too long once the girls start showing up, so I'll be free Mizuki."

"Deal. Meet me at Black Needle in a little while, we'll have a drink." Aoba nodded and Mizuki waved to them as he headed off back towards his parlor. He was a tattoo artist, a really great one in fact, and Aoba was always impressed by his work no matter how many times he saw the art on the walls and the patrons leaving with beautiful ink creations on their skin and fresh piercings in their faces or ears. None of it ever enticed Aoba himself to get any of it done though not from a lack of Mizuki trying to convince him.

"Don't let him put any ink on you," Koujaku said with a grumpy expression, opening the door to his shop that was situation right below where he lived. Aoba frowned at him, almost tempted to get something small just to make Koujaku look even more miffed, but he knew he would regret something like that just for a simple joke, so he quickly pushed the idea from his mind.

Aoba grumbled, "You always say that. And sometimes in the same breath beg to chop off all my hair. Am I allowed make any decisions myself?" He was joking for the most part, but the way he phrased it must have set him off because Koujaku dropped the scissors he had just been laying out previously, startled. He felt the urge to apologize for being so crude, but before he could say anything Koujaku stooped down to pick the scissors back up, a dark expression on his face.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said with a frown, setting the scissors aside to be sanitized later and setting up the other things he would need. "I just don't want you to have something so permanent on your skin that you would regret later." Aoba didn't reply for a moment, wondering if Koujaku meant something more than what he gathered from the surface of those words. He nodded slowly, uncertain of what to say to his friend and waited for another half an hour as the Old Resident's District began to wake up and get busy. He was inside looking at the decorations that Koujaku had hung up in his shop when he heard the first girl squeal.

"He's cutting hair today, go tell the others!" Aoba rolled his eyes and took a step back from the wall, glancing around the corner to see where Koujaku was leaning against the doorframe expectantly. He arms and shoulders were beautifully shaped, he could tell even through the kimono, and his profile spoke volumes about what he was thinking in that moment. Aoba felt embarrassed that he was thinking such things about the man, but he almost couldn't help it. He was so different now than when he left all that time ago, he felt like he didn't know him at all anymore. He wanted to though.

More than anything.

Clearing his throat he reached out and touched Koujaku's arm gently, startling the man out of his thoughts as he turned to look at Aoba. "I'm heading out before your pack of raving fans get here," he said with a chuckle, waving goodbye and edging around him towards the door.

"See you soon, then Aoba. Don't be a stranger."

Same to you, he wanted to say, but he held his tongue and hurried down the street to his home to wait it out before going to see Mizuki, as it was still a little early to be drinking. The streets were becoming more crowded and he passed several shops on his way from the shopping district towards where he lived with his grandmother, his thoughts on a thousand different things at once, more specifically on Koujaku. But as he passed an electronics shop, his eyes were drawn to a familiar looking man in front of a familiar looking building.

Everyone knew Toue, either from sight or reputation, but it didn't mean that they all had to like him. He was a most powerful man in Midorijima, and not one that Aoba liked to think about or ever wish to get involved with. They were playing a rerun of one of his recent speeches and he tried to tune it out as he passed, his mouth pressed into an annoyed line and his eyes averted from the screens. It was almost impossible to not hear his speeches, since they were played constantly after he gave them as one of the only approved things to be on television in public. It made Aoba a little sick to think about.

The Toue Conglomerate owned practically everything on this island, and the only people who had decided to put up a fight were those who were left in the Old Resident's District, not wishing to see their homes or their way of life demolished at the whims of a man who tried to pay them off. Aoba and Sei were only small babies when it all happened, but his Granny would talk about it from time to time when she was upset with something new that Toue decided to do to them as incentives to leave their homes.

But they didn't leave. Despite the harsh living conditions and the near constant threat of police brutality, the residents here were far too protective of their homes to allow Toue to take it over. And while if you went anywhere outside of the District, all you saw was the shiny, platinum feel of everything new and rich that Toue had installed. Anyone who had money lived in his little utopia and many people in the Old Resident's District had been invited out to visit and experience the 'better' way of life for themselves, including Granny. But, of course, she declined.

The corporations here were all talk, and Aoba's Granny wasn't one to accept that. He worried about her declining those invitations, but so far there had been no heads on the chopping block that he could see. Aoba loved his home, he loved the rustic feel and the sight of everyone else trying to live their lives the same as them. He loved the idea of everything being used and worn down but still working, as if it were a metaphor for the daily lives of everyone that lived in this district. They would never give up and he wouldn't either, no matter what Toue threw their way to try and break their spirits.

Some people weren't quite so tame, though, giving rise to the various gangs around the city. Koujaku was in one called Beni-Shigure and Mizuki was in one called Dry Juice, and while they were the only ones that he was closely familiar with, he worried constantly about the safety of his friends when they got into trouble. He knew they were strong and could hold their own, but past memories of watching them come to him injured were always strong in the back of his mind.

Aoba was wrapped in this thoughts so much that he didn't realize that someone was suddenly walking beside him in the same direction he was heading. He looked up, not realizing that he had inadvertently changed directions to head towards Black Needle rather than home. His watch told him it wasn't even 1pm yet, but maybe seeing Mizuki had taken hold of his mind. Certainly he didn't go out very often these days so as not to worry his grandmother, but today just seemed like a day that was he was meant to do something different. His eyes darted to the left to see who had joined him on this venture, and realized he had never seen the person before in his life.

He was wearing a lot of green, and had short blond hair mostly covered by a dark, oversized winter cap with white puffballs attached to the tassels. His face was stoic and covered in piercings, in his mouth and nose and his eyebrow. The young man's face was smooth, and Aoba had a feeling he was younger than his own 23 years, though by how much he could not say. Lime green eyes stared straight ahead, never acknowledging Aoba though they walked almost in perfect step with each other. He asked nervously, glancing up at the kid's face, "Can I help you?"

He barely reacted to the question, taking a moment to meet Aoba's eyes and then looked back to where he was heading. "No." The answer incensed Aoba and he frowned in annoyance, giving the kid a glare before facing forward too. Why they were walking together was beyond Aoba, but the blond haired man wasn't going to tell him and despite the fact that they seemed to be going the exact same way, he was a little too intimidated to ask.

They said nothing more as they arrived to the door of the Black Needle and the two entered together. A few of the patrons glanced up from their drinks and one waved at Aoba, but it was Mizuki who spoke first. "Aoba, Noiz! Didn't know you two knew each other." Aoba raised an eyebrow at the kid, Noiz, and shook his head.

"We don't," he replied back, pushing past Noiz to get to the station where Mizuki had a female client on his chair. She was getting something tattooed and Aoba could see the dark ink stains on the black gloves that Mizuki was wearing as he inched around to see what he was inking on her. Noiz said nothing, just lounged in one of the waiting chairs as he pulled out his cell phone and began typing madly on it. Aoba ignored him and took a seat in the spare chair in Mizuki's station. The girl didn't seem to mind him watching her get tattooed and smiled at him, one that he returned awkwardly before crossing his legs and leaning on the arm of the chair.

"Thinking about getting something done yet?" Mizuki asked with a chuckle, wiping the mixture of ink and blood from the girl's shoulder blade and continuing on with his work. He knew Aoba would say no like he always did, but had the tendency to ask if he wanted anything out of habit, it seemed. Or maybe if he kept asking Aoba might cave and get something done. He had to admit, watching the draw and pull of the needle gun was almost intoxicating as he saw the girl get the colors permanently inked into her skin. What Koujaku had told him came back as an annoying echo in his mind and he pushed it away because he never planned to get anything done in the first place.

He replied with a shake of his head, "Absolutely not, Mizuki, you know that." The girl laughed and held out her arm to Aoba. It was completely covered in colors and shapes that didn't really make any sense to Aoba, though he recognized it as what Mizuki had referred to as 'geometric' tattoos. Definitely not something Aoba would ever think to get done, but if she liked them then, well, all the power to her.

"Mizuki does great work though, if you do decide to get something you better come here!"

"Ah don't pressure him, he'll do what he likes anyway." Aoba rolled his eyes and the next twenty minutes passed in silence as Mizuki finished the tattoo and accepted payment from the girl. She waved goodbye to Aoba before she exited the shop and he lifted his hand a little too late before she closed the door behind her. He bit his lip as Mizuki began to clean up his station, humming to himself as he stuffed his tip into his pocket.

Aoba said, "First tattoo of the day?"

As he was throwing away the excess ink from her tattoo and removing the needle from the gun, he answered, "Sure is. She went somewhere else to get a cheaper tattoo and then had to come here anyway to get it covered up and tipped me extra this time. She'll never go anywhere else again." He was laughed and Aoba shook his head slightly, crossing his arms. "But, we'll get to that drink in a second, okay? Noiz has an appointment." He felt someone standing behind him and leaped out of the way when he realized he was blocking the entrance to Mizuki's station and Noiz was waiting right behind him.

"Sorry," he said, bemused, but Noiz said nothing in return and just settled himself comfortably in Mizuki's chair as the man danced around to get everything ready. He didn't see any ink anywhere nor the needle gun he usually used to do tattoos, and he wondered what Noiz was there for. Though instead of being rude to watch whatever it was, he backed out of the station to head for the bar to wait for Mizuki.

Before he was more than a couple of steps away, Noiz finally spoke. "You can watch. I don't really care." Aoba turned around with a suspicious expression. Noiz's voice was relatively deep and incredibly impassive, but for some reason it managed to stop Aoba from moving despite the fact that he had previously been uninterested in him minutes prior.

Frowning and edging back towards the station, he asked, "What are you getting done?" Without saying anything, Noiz stuck out his tongue and pointed to the unblemished flesh, making Aoba flinch. A piercing? There? He was suddenly very aware of his own tongue and blanched, wondering if this kid was some sort of sadist or something. When he returned his attention back to him, he realized that Noiz was smirking at him and he grimaced. "That sounds like a stupid idea," he declared in irritation, sitting down by Mizuki and pointedly looking away from Noiz.

Mizuki gave Aoba a humored expression. "Plenty of people get it done, it's not a big deal."

"What's even the point of it?" he asked, trying to decide what reason might ever come over him that would convince him to get his tongue pierced. He couldn't even think of one thing.

"Better head," Noiz supplied casually, his thumb tapping on his phone screen as he waited for Mizuki to get started. Better... oh. Aoba felt a flush creep up his cheeks and he heard Mizuki laughing loudly beside him, as he obviously noticed Aoba's discomfort at Noiz's statement. He had never been so embarrassed in his life, but how could anyone expect him to just take that statement without some sort of reaction? Most guys didn't just go around admitting that they liked to be with other guys and it took him by surprise, that's all. And maybe made him a little flustered. A little.

Mizuki stepped away from his prepping table with a pair of what looked like scissors with hoops on the end and an unopened needle, still in the packaging. "Ready?" he asked, setting the items down and washing his hands. Noiz put his phone away and nodded, watching Mizuki dry his hands and pull on his black plastic gloves. Aoba had to admit he was incredibly interested as he had never seen Mizuki give someone a piercing before, just tattoos. He inched forward and watched as he clamped the scissor looking thing on Noiz's tongue in the middle, towards the front and reached to open the needle.

Aoba noticed that Noiz's hands were slightly clenched against his black pants and bit his lip for a moment as he reached out to tap his fist. "You okay?" Noiz frowned, looking ridiculous with the clamp still hanging onto his tongue but unable to say anything as Mizuki peeled open the needle and the package with the bar that was very shortly going to go in Noiz's mouth. The entire process was kind of making Aoba's stomach churn, but he was more interested to see it done then to look at the aftermath later. Mizuki lifted the clamps and positioned the needle below Noiz's tongue after checking to make sure that the clamps were in the proper location for the piercing.

"See that?" Mizuki said, motioning to the underside of Noiz's tongue. There were two thin veins on either side of the clamp and Aoba felt like an elementary school kid looking at them. Noiz's eyebrows were brought together in annoyance, but Aoba ignored him and apparently so was Mizuki. "You have to get the piercing in the middle of those, otherwise you'd be in a world of hurt. Well, mostly this guy, but it's such an easy thing and I've seen piercers do it wrong somehow." He grinned at Noiz who was staring at him with such a steely expression that Aoba wondered why Mizuki didn't just get a move on with the piercings. He obviously wasn't that put off by Noiz, but he did lift the clamps up. "And just put the needle in the middle," he said and suddenly Aoba felt someone's fingers digging into his hand as the needle went through Noiz's tongue.

He felt Noiz retract his hand as soon as the needle was replaced with the metal bar and Mizuki screwed the ball onto the end, pulling his fingers away from Noiz's mouth. Aoba watched Noiz in surprise for a moment but the man didn't make any indication that he had just been holding Aoba's hand while getting a needle stabbed through his tongue. Mizuki began to explain the aftercare and how he should eat for the next week or so, but Aoba wasn't paying attention to it, he was too buy focusing on Noiz's face in shock. Mizuki didn't seem to notice what had happened during the procedure and Noiz's expressionless features didn't give anything away either. Aoba was starting to wondering if he imagined it, to be honest.

Minutes later, he found himself at the bar with Mizuki, a vodka and pineapple in his hands and listening to Mizuki chatter on about his gang, Dry Juice. Most of the people in the bar were part of the gang, though he wondered why he was talking about it so openly in front of people who may not be so friendly towards them? Aoba was around when it was first founded and while he declined Mizuki's various attempts to join, he still was regarded as a friend of the family and everyone there tended to look out for him regardless.

The gangs had initially started as a struggle for power and control of the various regions of the city. Aoba hadn't really paid too much attention to it until Dry Juice had started, and when Koujaku came back and became really prominent in Beni-Shigure. It was mostly like they treated the city as a giant chess board between several different people, and while Dry Juice and Beni-Shigure were always the last people anyone would ever mess with, there were plenty of other gangs that would love to knock them off one by one and control their territory. Because, as Mizuki explained to him once, when you have territory, you have power and when you have power, you're safe. Mostly because the cops and yakuza will leave you alone.

Many people joined Dry Juice in the past few years and Aoba saw a couple new faces whenever he came to visit these days. He supposed the protection of Dry Juice as a brand was enough to encourage new comers to join. Besides, Mizuki was a fair leader and treated everyone with respect, so people from gangs that weren't quite so ideal tended to come looking for support here. Aoba had Sei and Granny and didn't really need any more familial support like a lot of these kids did. "So how's everything been?" Mizuki asked, taking a shot of something off the bar and watching Aoba with the first serious expression he's worn all day.

Aoba took a sip of his drink and watched Noiz pop a handful of ice cubes into his mouth, not taking his eyes away from his cell phone as he absently spun on the round barstool. "Sei's not getting much better, but he's not as bad as he's been so Granny is hopeful. We just don't want him to have to get surgery if he doesn't have to, because you know how dangerous that could be." Mizuki nodded and sat down next to Aoba, his elbows resting on the edge of the bar. "Granny is doing good, and I'm still working on Heibon so obviously nothing much has changed for me." He laughed quietly and drank a little more, his eyes fixated on the tile floors as he realized how boring his life really was.

But, honestly, it was better this way. Better than the way he had been living, at least.

Mizuki nudged Aoba with his elbow. "You know, I respect you a lot Aoba." That took him by surprise and he watched Mizuki for a moment, uncertain of what to say. "I remember the days when you used to fight a lot, when I first met you and you were such a big troublemaker." Mizuki grinned at him and took another shot, clinking the tiny glass down on the slick black bar and tilting his head in Aoba's direction. "You really cleaned up your act, you know. Back then, I wouldn't have asked you to be in Dry Juice because you were so unpredictable. Now you're one of the most reliable guys I know."

"Thanks, Mizuki," Aoba replied back, slightly embarrassed by the sentiment and downed half of his drink to hide that fact. The two shared less intense banter for the next hour or so as the seemingly disinterested Noiz continued to munch on ice as he played games on his phone, drinking and poking fun at Koujaku and other things they had in common. It wasn't until Aoba stood up to use the restroom that he realized he drank more than anticipated and he walked cautiously towards the door to avoid any unnecessary embarrassment. He relieved himself and washed his hands, wondering first why he drank so much and second how he was going to manage to get home. It was only five, but the days were short and it was nearly completely dark outside.

When he headed back to the bar, he saw that Noiz was showing Mizuki something on his phone and he sat down heavily beside the man in green. The two of them glanced to him, suddenly understanding what was going on, and Mizuki snickered quietly. "Aoba, you going to be okay?" he asked, patting his leg and giving him a knowing stare above his impish grin. He glared at Mizuki and shook out his hair for a moment before standing from the barstool, holding on to the edge of the bar for support.

"I'm fine. I need to head home soon though, Granny and Sei—" He didn't finish that sentence as Noiz stood up and tucked his phone into his pocket, standing before Aoba and watching him carefully with his lime green eyes. He stopped talking, confused and startled and looked to Mizuki who simply shrugged. "What?" he asked, perhaps a little more aggressively than he meant to. Maybe it was the alcohol. Who knows. He needed to stop allowing Mizuki to get him into this state.

Noiz said, reached out and gripping Aoba's arm. "I'll take him home. I didn't drink." Before Aoba could protest Mizuki was waving them out the door and trying not to laugh, a drunk flush on his cheeks and pouring himself another shot from the bottle. Aoba allowed himself to be tugged along in a daze for a few minutes before he wrestled his arm out of Noiz's grasp, aggravated and confused. "Where do you live?" Noiz asked impassively, one eyebrow quirked slightly up and Aoba watched the glimmer of the streetlights reflect off the piercings on his face. It was actually a bit distracting, he thought to himself.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Aoba replied back with a frown, turning away from him and storming off in the general direction of his home. He didn't need a babysitter, especially not one so much younger than himself. He wondered what Mizuki had been thinking, letting this guy he just met cart him off. What if he was never seen again? Would Mizuki feel guilty? He doubted it, that guy was almost as bad as Koujaku. The thought of Koujaku tugged at his heart and he felt twice as fired up as before, deciding that he was going to see Koujaku instead of going straight home.

Noiz clicked his tongue and followed closely behind Aoba as he weaved in and out of people down the sidewalk, on a mission to get to Koujaku for some reason. It just seemed like the best idea at the time, and while he was paying little to no attention to Noiz, the man still followed beside him, a huge cup of ice cubes in his hand that he kept sucking on every few minutes. Aoba was unconcerned until he rounded a corner and realized he had taken a wrong turn, stomping accidentally in a puddle of water and freezing when he saw a group of people that he didn't know.

"Better take a step back kid," someone said dangerously to him. His hair was dark and his face was covered in more piercings than Noiz had, and his cracked his knuckles menacingly. On a good day, completely sober, Aoba would have made short work of this guy, but right now he was just scared and anxious, and he fell back a step in fear. When he did, he felt himself walk into the warm body behind him, and felt Noiz wrap his arm around Aoba's chest protectively. He wasn't sure what was going on as Noiz examined the men silently and they glared at him in return.

"You too, brat. Time to get going home to mommy," the man spat, standing up from his seat on a plastic crate and motioning his fist towards Noiz. For a moment no one moved, and then Aoba felt Noiz remove his arm from around him and step out into the alleyway with what appeared to be a dangerous grin on his face. Aoba stared at him as he casually strolled towards those men, his voice caught in his throat as he tried to tell him that it wasn't worth it and that they should go. Before the words fell from his lips, Noiz was already on the move. His hand gleamed with something metallic as his fist connected with the first man's face, efficiently knocking him off his feet to the dusty alley floor.

Aoba was shocked and watched as Noiz ducked below the next attacker, easily evading his punch and sinking his own fist into the man's gut. He doubled over, spitting up on himself, and collapsed beside his friend just as quickly. The other three men stepped away from Noiz, afraid, but he did not care as he made short work of them as well. It happened so fast that Aoba could barely keep up with what happened until Noiz was before him again, removing the metal gauntlets from his knuckles and slipping them back into the pockets of his pants. He was against the wall of the alley and Noiz walked back to him, his eyes still as intense as they were when he was fighting.

"Are you okay?" Aoba asked quietly, feeling his heartbeat accelerating with each of Noiz's steps towards him. Noiz placed his hands on the alley wall on either side of Aoba's head and he couldn't look away from his beautiful green eyes as they watched each other in silence for several minutes. Before Aoba could speak again, Noiz leaned down and he felt the warm, wet feeling of their lips being pressed together tenderly.