Vexen subconsciously fingered the tiny slip of paper that had Marluxia's phone number written on it in his pocket as every single other person on the bus home yelled in his face. At least, that was what it seemed like to his drunken, disorientated mind. Eventually it rolled up next to his road, and he thanked the driver - a man he'd known since he'd been to secondary school - as he stepped out of the bus to wobble down the street to his parent's house. He found himself wondering what kind of house Marluxia lived in - and he somehow doubted that it was his parents' basement.

After a few futile attempts at searching for his keys in the bottom of his bag, Vexen resorted to ringing the doorbell, hoping that at least one member of his family would already be awake. Eventually it was Naminé, his seventeen-year-old sister, who opened the door.

"I thought you were going to be back last night," She said curtly, blocking the doorway so Vexen couldn't come in. "Tifa was worried," Tifa was their stepmother of seven years. Their father, Cloud, had remarried after their real mum died in a car crash when Naminé was just nine.

"I ended up staying over," Vexen grit his teeth, hoping that Naminé wouldn't ask questions. He was in luck, though. Naminé let him in without another word. "Is dad in?"

"Nope," Naminé said from the stairs. "He's coming home tonight,"

"And Tifa?"

"Going out in the evening,"

"Thanks," Vexen dumped his coat down, pulling the little note out from the pocket. Naminé noticed.

"Meet a hot guy?" She ran back down the stairs to peer at the slip of paper. Vexen snatched it away from her.

"None of your business,"

"Aw, come on! Is he cute?" Naminé poked him all the way downstairs to his room.

"I don't know him," Vexen tried to push her away, not wanting a session of Q&A from his little sister.

"You must have talked, right?"

"Not that I remember," Vexen admitted.

"Come on! I want juicy details!" Naminé could be far from innocent when she wanted.

"You won't tell Tifa?"

"Not a word," Naminé promised, lifting a finger which did nothing to hide the wide grin on her usually composed face.

"There are no juicy details. I don't remember any of last night. All I know is that I woke up this morning, naked, in bed with this total stranger from London," He waved the slip of paper in the air. Naminé clamped her hands on her mouth, smile even wider.

"Oh my God! Vexen got laid~!!"

"Keep it down!" Vexen hissed. "I don't know that for certain,"

"Vexen," Naminé pointed to her older brother's neck, grinning. "You have love bites all over your neck,"

Vexen glanced down, only now noticing the horribly obvious red marks on his neck and collarbone.

"Oh, fu-"

---

The phone rang halfway through the afternoon. Vexen was already sitting next to the headset, waiting agitatedly. He'd had a shower since arriving home, but the marks on his body just wouldn't go away... so he'd dug out his only turtle neck and donned it to cover up the bites.

He let the phone ring a few times before picking it up.

"I just arrived home," Marluxia said all the way from London, voice even silkier than Vexen remembered. "I'm about to have a bath but I can put it on speaker phone if you like,"

"Uh...sure," There was a click and suddenly Marluxia's voice became a lot more distant.

"So. Tell me about yourself,"

"There's not really much to tell," Vexen said quietly, clutching the old phone to his ear. He almost wished that he could take it downstairs to his room but the cord meant that he could only move a couple of feet from the desk. "I already told you I was a scientist, that's about it,"

"You must have hobbies," Marluxia replied from miles away. There was a gentle splash as the other man presumably got into his bath, and a pleased sigh. "Perfect,"

"Uh... Video games, I guess?" Vexen played them occasionally, but wasn't sure whether to tell Marluxia incase he thought Vexen was some kind of hardcore gamer.

"Really? We must be kindred spirits," Marluxia laughed, thankfully. "So what kind of games to you play? RPG? Action? Or are you an old school gamer?"

"Role play, mostly. Whatever I have lying around,"

"Any favourite consoles?" It seemed like the conversation was flowing freely now. Vexen was glad that they'd already found common ground between them. There had been something about Marluxia that made him want to get to know the odd man better.

"I managed to get my hands on a Play Station 3 the other week. It's amazing,"

"Great! I have one too! We'll have to get connected via the internet. You wouldn't happen to have Little Big Planet, would you?"

"Not yet. Is it good?"

"One of the best. I highly recommend it. Anyway, enough of video games. I have a question for you." He paused slightly. "Would you be interested in starting a relationship with me one day? I know we don't know each other very well yet, but you seem like an interesting person, and I'm certainly attracted to you," He tailed off, waiting for his answer.

"I'm not sure why," Vexen joked. "I'm ugly,"

"Who told you that?" Marluxia demanded.

"Me, every day in front of the mirror,"

"Why on earth would you do that to yourself? Vexen, you're beautiful and that was when you were naked and hung over,"

"No offence, but you were probably still looking at me through beer goggles,"

"I know a beautiful man when I see one, Vexen,"

"Still,"

"I see there's no converting some people,"

"I'm entitled to my own opinion,"

"Not when it goes against solid fact. If I told you that grass was pink, you'd call me a madman,"

"Anyway," Vexen was eager to get off the subject. "You haven't said much about yourself. What's your profession?"

"I wanted to be an artist but I've ended up being an actor instead,"

"Wow. What kind of stuff do you do?"

"Short films, usually. A lot of romance and a bit of action,"

"I'll have to see some of your work some time,"

"It's not very good," Marluxia laughed again but there was a bit on an edge to his voice. Vexen wondered if there was anything the odd man wasn't telling him. Perhaps it was a lie.

"So why didn't you become an artist then?"

"When I was doing my GCSEs, I broke my wrist the day before the exam. Without the GCSE, I couldn't do art at A-level or get any other qualifications. I still do it as a hobby but I'm really not good enough to do it professionally,"

"That must really suck,"

"It's not so bad. I enjoy what I do and it earns me money. How's your job searching going?"

Vexen was quietly pleased that Marluxia had remembered that he was still looking for a job.

"Well, I had an interview a couple of days ago but I'm still waiting for a reply from the company,"

Just then Tifa called down the stairs.

"Vexen! Is that you on the phone?! I need to use it!"

"Who's that?" Marluxia asked.

"My step mum," Vexen admitted.

"You still live with your parents?"

"Until I get a proper job, yes. Anyway, I need to go. See you soon?"

"Yeah. Think about my proposition, okay?"

"Will do. Bye," Vexen waited for Marluxia to hang up before he put the phone down with a click. He sighed and went downstairs to his room, thinking hard about the odd man.

Marluxia hadn't left his thoughts ever since this morning. Even given their fairly unorthodox manner of meeting, it seemed like they were moving so quickly. And to be honest, Vexen was beginning to think that Marluxia was a pervert. But somewhere deep inside his mind, Vexen wanted to take the risk and get to know Marluxia a little more. It was odd to think that they'd had sex and neither of them even knew each other's surnames. In fact, it was odd to think that they'd had sex at all. Vexen sighed, rubbing his forehead. Whatever Marluxia was, whatever they did, it was clear that his life was never going to be the same again.

---

There was nothing for him in the post the following morning, or the morning after. Vexen sent off another application for another job. Marluxia called him twice, and gave him his MSN address. They'd spent hours talking on the computer and Marluxia even sent him some photos of his art. Most of them were beautiful watercolour landscapes, or studies of delicate flowers in vases. It also turned out that the other man occasionally did floristry for his local church (though he himself wasn't religious) and the elderly home a couple of blocks away. He lived alone in a small suburban apartment, but wanted to move closer to the countryside one day so he could have his own garden. He'd barely even mentioned his family, though, and Vexen asked him why. It turned out that he'd never known his father and his mother had turned his back on him when she found out that he was gay. Marluxia didn't mind, though; and he still kept in touch with his brother, Reno, who had moved to New Zealand a few years ago.

On Wednesday Vexen got a letter and a parcel in the post. Intrigued, he opened the parcel first. Inside was a present, neatly wrapped in blue striped wrapping paper. Attached to it was a note saying "Sorry about the wrapping paper. It was all I had at the time," but no clue as to the sender of the mysterious parcel. He wondered what the note could have meant as he peeled the paper away. It didn't look to bad. He soon realised, though, as he revealed the other side of the wrapping - a collage of scantily clad men. Shaking his head at the offensive packaging, Vexen pulled out what was inside. It was a game - Little Big Planet. The one that Marluxia had recommended a few days ago. There was also another note:

"Vexen~

Just a little present from me, since I figured that you'd be better spending your money on getting your own place than video games. Before you think I'm a stalker for knowing your address! I got it off your dad (he's a very nice man by the way), and I wanted this to be a surprise. Enjoy.

Marluxia :3"

There was also a code for connection to Marluxia's PS3. Vexen sighed, folding the wrapping paper carefully to cover the rude parts before he put it into the recycling box. After Marluxia had gone to all this trouble, he couldn't really send the game back, but he didn't really want to accept the gift. Eventually he went to his room and turned his console on, slotting the game in. It was then that he remembered the other letter, so he ran back upstairs to fetch it. It was from the lab he'd last applied for.

Just then Cloud popped in.

"Vexen. I'm about to go now - is that the reply from the labs?"

"Yeah, I was just about to read it,"

It was tense reading through the letter with his Dad peering over his shoulder, reading too. Besides, whoever had written it seemed to be deliberately trying to take as long getting to the point as possible.

"... We feel that someone of your high standards would be an asset to the company and would be pleased to offer you employment at our Plymouth Laboratory. For more information and to finalise the position should you choose to accept it, please call the following number."

Vexen could feel the grin on his face as he finished reading the letter. Even Cloud, generally stoic in his manner, seemed pleased.

"I expect Tifa will be glad that you'll be finally earning your own keep," He commented. When Cloud had first married her, Tifa had gone through a phase of wanting to be called "Mum" by Vexen and Naminé, but she'd come to realise that she'd never be any substitute for their real mother, and was now content to be known by her name.

"Oh, come on! I have three part time jobs already, what more does she want?" Vexen set down the letter. Cloud smiled a little.

"I dare say she'll be extremely proud of you. I am,"

"Thanks, Dad,"

"I'll let you break the news to her and Naminé. And I'll see you on Friday,"

"Yeah. I will,"

Vexen watched him climb the stairs again and disappear out of the door.

"Bye!" He called, hearing the front door close just a few moments later. He turned back to the PS3 and turned on the game Marluxia had sent him. It only took a few moments to connect to Marluxia, who was online.

Hey sweet ~ Marluxia's sack boy said as they chose a world to go to. Looks like you got my present. How's life at the bleak end of the country? They'd taken to calling sleepy Cornwall by that name. The drizzle had been almost constant these past few days.

Not as bleak as usual, actually. He typed back. The words appeared on the screen in a little green bubble. I got the reply from the labs I applied for the job from,

Tell meee~ Marluxia's sack boy accidentally hit a wall and blew them both up.

Well, I got the job...

Kidding! Awesome! This time it was Vexen who blew up. You know, we really suck at this game... Marluxia typed back.

Hey! This is only my first time! Vexen argued. Finally they managed to negotiate the tunnels and sped on to the next section of the level.

Excuses excuses, Marluxia replied. They blew up again and Marluxia had to go it alone before they got to a save point and Vexen popped back into play. So I was thinking...

Vexen finally did something right and they finished that world. They returned to the pod to talk.

Wanna meet up soon~? Marluxia asked. I told the guy who lives opposite that I'd get some pictures of you,

You told him about me? Vexen was surprised. So far, he'd only told Naminé about Marluxia.

Told everybody. You can't really keep secrets in my block.

XD Vexen typed, and the program turned it into a little emoticon. So about meeting up?

Oh yeah. You free this weekend? I know London's kinda far to visit but you could come on Saturday and stay a night at mine. Or we could meet up half way between. How long's the journey? About 4 hours. Hmmm...

I quite like the idea of doing Saturday to Sunday, if that's okay. Vexen replied. A small part of him wondered what on Earth he was doing, agreeing to stay a night with a guy he'd met not even a week ago, but he quashed the thought. He'd made up his mind. He was going to pursue the strange new part of his life that was Marluxia.

So it came to be that, ridiculously early on Saturday morning, Vexen found himself boarding a train at the beginning of a five hour journey to London where a weekend with Marluxia would be waiting.