A/N: Chapter Three, what, what! This is so rare for me to have done this much work in a week. I'm not sure when I'll be posting this up, but as a little bit of trivia for all my bropancakes out there, I actually finished the first three chapters seven days.

Soooo, as it stands now, there are going to be thirteen planned chapters and an epilogue, and I have actually done the responsible thing and made myself a storyline with ideas to stick to, so I shouldn't have to have a fight with writer's block due to my Muse going south for the year. Little asshole. I may have to add or remove chapters based on length, just to keep everything just about uniform, so we'll play it by ear. Having said that, I also have plans for AT LEAST four side stories to be published as one-shots alongside YH; not sure if I'll do them during or after. Most likely after.

Now it's all down to, when can I get time to get to the library to put these up? Just one problem after the other, I suppose; but that's life.

Also, from now on, I'll answer my reviews at the end of each chapter.

xXXx

Your Heaven

Chapter Three – Call Me When You're Sober

The Hunter Society was a small dive just a few buildings down the street from where Zero lived, and from what Kaito had told him, it wasn't a bad place either. About two weeks ago he'd gotten his holiday bonus and then suffered through working two back-to-back shifts on Christmas, wearing a brand new graphic tee, black skinnies and a pullover Monster hoodie—black with the giant green M logo on the front. He hadn't been a big Monster drinker until Yamakawa had asked Zero to trade the last three weeks' worth of shifts, so Zero had been abruptly shoved into a different sleep schedule without time to adjust. That was fine though. He didn't have to accept the trade… just that the graveyard shift was from eleven to eight—a nine hour shift, when he normally only worked a four hour shift, six to eleven. His next paycheque was exponentially higher than what he'd been getting before, and he was able to splurge on a bottle of cologne, rented a movie for once, and bought a block of tofu for his miso soup.

He wondered deftly what Yamakawa wanted to trade shifts for. There was nothing someone would need to do between eleven and eight in the dead of night unless they were involved in some shady activities. Knowing Yamakawa, that wasn't outside the realm of possibility. He was a big guy, a little on the dumb side, but no one who came in there with malicious intent was going to walk out of there in one piece if they crossed Yamakawa. Yet, he also had a kind streak and greeted Zero fondly whenever they met outside work, not even worried about what people might think of him—in fact, Yamakawa seemed to be increasingly persistent in learning all the details concerning Zero's incarceration. Not that Zero was readily keen on sharing…. It made the whole thing somewhat annoying, but who was going to stop Yamakawa from bothering him?

Generally Zero gave him enough to satisfy him and then made a break for it as soon as possible. Still, he was thankful, even if the switch hadn't been intentionally to give Zero a boost in his pay. Why should he complain? He had some money in the bank now, which meant that he felt comfortable heading out for drinks on New Year's Eve.

Zero stood outside the bar in a short line, remarking at how well the new place fit in among South Third Street. The little bar was exactly what one might expect, given the kind of neighbourhood that this end of Third was. The south end was a little on the greasy side; everything was bathed in shadow and buildings all looked at least a little rundown where they lined the street, which narrowed considerably from the uptown's six lanes of traffic, down to just two. There was an expanse of disintegrating brick, tons of graffiti, and every now and again there was a place all boarded up because of coding issues. In the middle of such a strip, and across the street from The Hunter Society, was a big concrete courtyard with six-foot chain link fencing all around it—set back farther off the street was an ominous-looking grey flagstone structure with bars over the windows, almost like a prison. This was The Orphanage On Third, as it was called by locals; the faded sign out front labelled it Cross' Children's Shelter.

If Zero remembered correctly, before he'd been chucked in the slammer, the Hunter Society had been a family restaurant. Yagari's Grill or something like that. The director at the orphanage had taken him and Ichiru there for their birthday once, and he remembered it having a very backwoods barbeque type feel. That's why it didn't surprise him when he stepped inside to see that the décor had changed very little except that there was a huge rack of bottles behind the bar, which had once been a buffet, and over to the left where there used to be a large seating area, there were now two pool tables, a small dance floor with a pole in the middle of it, and a row of booths which were already filled.

Zero huffed; there were only a few empty places to sit, two of them at the bar and the other a table meant for a party of four. He wasn't going to take the table when it was possible that a larger group may want to sit there later, so he considerately, and reluctantly, seated himself at the bar.

The music was too loud for his liking, but this was happy hour when everyone was out and apparently The Hunter Society was going to be the It Spot for Third until around midnight. The DJ was making sure that everyone stayed pumped, the bar kept them plastered, and it made for a very sexual atmosphere altogether. Most people here, Zero observed, were single, and he suddenly regretted coming out without a date. The spot next to him stayed empty for the most part while he sipped his beer, but people came and went, too shit-faced for him to believe they actually found him attractive enough to want to flirt. It was probably just because he was available and alcohol made everyone easy.

Again, he huffed.

At eleven, someone made a fairly good show of walking in a straight line up to that empty stool, seated himself, and called the bartender by name to demand another Grey Goose martini, extra dry, no olives. He didn't think anything of it—well, except for who drinks a martini in a place where everyone was drinking a variety of choice beers and taking shots of straight whiskey—until he looked over and saw the guy dressed in a crumpled white button-down, a black silk tie thrown over his shoulder, his hair all a mess. Other than the bags under his eyes and the swatch of stubble across his chin, he was strikingly handsome, with that dark chocolate hair and rust coloured eyes….

It hit him.

It was the guy from the Grab 'N' Go. The rich business guy that came in and bought bentos and energy drinks all the time! Holy shit, what a turn around. Zero had last seen him three weeks ago in what was comparably impeccable condition and instantly recanted whatever it was he'd thought about this guy at the time. He obviously had some unresolved hardships outside of just being too rich to know what to do with the swimming pool full of money that only overflowed as he rode the asses of the working class, and hard. This was borderline emotional trauma.

This was Zero between Ichiru's murder and being stuffed in jail. He could relate. He felt sorry.

The man looked up at him, squinted in a very non-confrontational sort of way, and frowned. Hard. "You're that kid from the convenience store," he belted over top of the music, making Zero jump up in surprise. Not only had he been caught staring, but this guy knew him, and the fact that he wasn't slurring his speech to go along with the dilation in his pupils was the cherry on top. Maybe this was some kind of medical mystery or something, but the way he'd thrown back three extra dry martinis in the last twelve minutes suggested that he should have puked all over his shoes ages ago. It was obvious he'd been here a while…. Who went to a bar when they had such an impossibly high tolerance?

In response, Zero nodded. "Bento and Monster Guy," he returned just as loud, and the man's eyebrows knit together, creasing his brow.

"Kaname," he corrected swiftly, without missing a beat. "And you?"

"Zero."

There was a short pause, as much a silence between them as there could be with the music cranked up, and after it, the dark-haired man who had introduced himself as Kaname let out a short laugh, muttering something that sounded like, "Of all the places." But Zero couldn't really tell. He figured that Kaname was probably embarrassed being caught in a junk heap like The Hunter Society. For sure, Kaname was on the wrong side of the tracks, and this was the sort of place that his kind didn't belong—generally weren't welcome either. Zero wanted to know why he was here, what he was doing drinking in a place like this when he could be holed up in a cozy VIP lounge somewhere with a classy babe on each arm. It didn't make a whole lot of sense, but who was he to complain? As long as it wasn't threatening Zero's well-being, he had no say in the matter.

Time wore on and the two exchanged small talk, watched as the celebrations went down at midnight, and remained while everything quieted down afterward. Eventually there came a point where there wasn't any need to blare the music any longer; and by then, Kaname was leaning on the bar with his head in his hand, staring at Zero who monologue about his early childhood happily. The words just fell out and he couldn't stop himself; and it didn't appear that Kaname wanted him to stop. Somewhere in the back of his head he thought it wouldn't matter anyway because neither of them were going to remember anything the next morning.

Finally, the story made it up to three years ago, and Zero went quiet, unsure of whether or not he should continue. What if this man's inhuman alcohol tolerance meant that he would remember? And then he might stop coming to the Grab 'N' Go altogether; that would be his fault. The boss would never forgive him. He'd probably get fired.

"Zero? What were you saying about your brother?"

He was so suave and persuasive…. "Ichiru got mixed up with the Yakuza. I tried to get him to give it up, but he was dead set 'cause apparently he found the bitch that ganked our parents." His speech was shockingly level despite his numb lips. "But I told him that it had trouble written all over it and he wouldn't listen. I caught him going toe-to-toe with some sonofabitch and tried to stop him; in the end, the guy massacred him, and they planted the remaining bits of evidence the court needed to convict me. So I spent the next four years in jail."

Kaname sat up straight, looking almost impressed though he swayed a little when he wasn't leaning over. "Just four years? How did you manage to pull that off?"

"Good behaviour."

Kaname went silent. He studied Zero under the dim lighting, the way the dull orange glow illuminated his silver hair and glinted off the piercings in his ear. Even despite the shadow, Kaname could make out the tattoo on his neck and confirmed that yes, Zero looked the type to have been to jail at least once. He also looked like he might work for the Yakuza as well, though there was no way he'd be working in a convenience store if that were the case. It was that hard look in those remarkable but stark and cold lavender eyes; he looked like he'd seen some rough things in his life, so Kaname had no problem taking him at his word. But he could see Zero growing restless as he sipped his beer and eyed Kaname suspiciously. He was much calmer when he talked. "So… what's jail like?"

"It's not actually that different from normal society," Zero responded, a little sombrely. He tipped his bottle back for the last mouthful before he continued. " You do your work during the day, you get some time to hang out with friends, if you misbehave you get punished, you have sex when you can, and at the end of the day you go back to your cell."

"Sex. So are you…?"

"Gay? No. You just can't go four years without sex; that's insane."

"Why? I'm going on six."

There was a short period where Zero couldn't find a way to respond. He wasn't sure if he could laugh or not, because while that was a pretty hilarious thing to hear, it was also tragic to the point of ranking up there with death in the immediate family. Eventually he calmed that part of him that was pretty sure Kaname was a stand-up comedian, and reasoned with the one that was dead-set on this being nigh on catastrophic. "Six years, dude? I don't believe that." He clapped Kaname reassuringly on the shoulder. "Tonight you're getting laid if I have to fuck you myself."

At this point, Kaname, who had been busying himself in his martini, began to cough and choke as the vodka burned down his throat, caught in the confusion. Finally he held his breath until he could swallow and dabbed his mouth with his sleeve, giving Zero a bewildered, dark-circle-eyed look. Purely, he was not sure how to react. Eventually he gathered the broken pieces of his composure, dusted the shame off them and began to glue them back together with Grey Goose. "I'm going to drink my martini and pretend you didn't say that."

"Yeah, and that's the other thing." In a moment of blind passion, Zero grabbed the martini out of Kaname's elegant hand and slid it down the bar away from them. It went about three feet before it wobbled, lost balance and toppled over, smashing on the floor at the bartender's feet. "Fuck your… fucking… girly martini. Have a Goddamned beer." With that he stood up and slammed his hands down, turning to the bartender who was a rough-looking guy with wild dark hair that brushed his shoulders and one piercing periwinkle blue eye. The other was hidden under a patch. He was wearing a red plaid flannel shirt and a pair of blue jeans, cowboy boots, and his hair was pulled back in a ponytail under an overly abused cowboy hat. Zero stared, narrow-eyed for a moment wondering when Brokeback Mountain cosplay became cool, but shook it off. At least he matched the décor. "Barkeep, get this guy a man's drink! He needs a beer, stat!"

"I'm sorry Touga. Don't worry about it." Kaname waved him off, but Touga just ignored him, cracking open a Bud and slamming it down in front of him.

"Like Hell; if I have to make you one more fucking martini, you'll be out on your ass."

As he strode away, Kaname pouted, lifting the bottle to his lips and grimacing when the liquid hit his tongue. "Jesus, tastes like crayons." He didn't complain much more though, just didn't let it touch his tongue. "Anyway, what are you going to do now that you're out? Fuck guys and work shitty hours at the Grab 'N' Go for the rest of your life."

Zero looked away then. This was the part of the story he wanted to avoid. "Actually, now that I know who she is, the woman that killed my parents…. I plan on making her pay. I want her to suffer and scream just like they did, see her fucking bleed out all over the place while her loved ones watch—" He would've continued, but….

"So… can I just…. Let me get this straight," Kaname blurted out after choking down another mouthful of beer. "You just got out of jail, what? half a year ago, and now you're already planning to kill this bitch… so you can go back to jail…? I'm not seeing the logic here."

"Yeah, well you wouldn't. Your family hasn't had a target on their back for whatever reason for the last eight years. She's the one who killed my parents, and it was her guys who killed my brother. I just think it's her turn." Zero's voice was low and cold as he sat back down on his barstool, tossing back the last few mouthfuls of his beer with ease.

There was a silence that followed, and in it, Kaname took another chance to examine Zero. He wasn't Kaname's usual crowd, obviously, but something in him—something broken and looking for refuge, reprieve from the pain, something rebellious—wanted to take him home, use him to comfort himself just one time, and then drop him like a hot iron. He wanted to feel like he was hurting Zero just as much as Yuuki had hurt him. He also examined Zero's statement, finding no trace of logic that he could understand and no ability to sympathize with him.

"You're insane."

"I know."

"Like, criminally insane."

"Rub it in."

"No, seriously. You might be institutionalized."

The silence continued to ring out and the two stared at each other for a long moment, Zero's lavender-coloured eyes hard, and Kaname's rust-coloured eyes glazed. It took them both a while to notice that the music had completely waned out now, and Touga pounded his fist down in between them. They both started violently, switching their gazes to where he glowered down at the two who had collectively emptied twenty-seven beers and a bottle of Grey Goose. "Alright you two, pay up and get out. It's closing time."

xXXx

Son of A/N: A side-story about Kahne-chan's life. As I write this, I am gravely ill, to the point where I'm basically couch-ridden and cut off from eating anything but soup. I have really bad vertigo too, so I can't really get up to do much. That mean no chores for me. Yay. Conversely, it also means I can't even go see Lila, let alone ride her, which is probably worse than being sentenced to death like I already have been. Like… salt in the wounds. Okay, I'm exaggerating. I have the flu really bad. Anyway, my kitty, Yuuki (oh yes I did; that's really her name.) stays by my side all the time, and every time I sneeze, she yells at me. In the middle of this chapter, she even hissed at me for blowing my nose. Hah, she's so precious~ That's my little personal anecdote for the day.

Now, reviews.

UltimateSoULReApeR5960: Your review made me laugh harder than any review I've gotten previously. This was seriously the best. I promise, you'll get your wish in the fourth installment. ;D Also, should you review again later, I'm giving you a nickname because that was the most God-awful thing to type while I'm buzzed. So thanks.

hotxhotguy: Trust me, as the author I know exactly how you feel. Yuuki is a friggin cow and I felt like carrying that over to my fic. As far as your bonus, I know that there are a lot of people out there who don't care for Mpreg, and I don't want to ruin the series for them with it; but I'm actually planning to write a fun little AU of the AU one-shot after this where that will happen, because Kahne-chan happens to like the Mpregs herself. ^ ^;

Everyone Else: Thanks for all your reviews. This one is for everyone who took the time to leave a review, no matter how generic, and for those who didn't leave their usernames. I would really appreciate it if you could all take the time to log in so I could check out your fics too! But thank you for reading this fic anyway! *bows*I'm really hoping this fic will continue to satisfy your Kaname/Zero cravings and that you're not too upset with how long you have to wait between chapters.