Ah, it´s already chapter 11 again... This wasn´t supposed to become that long actually, but there´s certainly more to come^^

Thanks to PfenixB for the wonderful betaing and to everyone for reading and reviewing!

11

"Ya okay?" Cid asked dubiously from the kitchen, where he made some of his awful coffee. His gaze was fixated on Yazoo though, the taciturn, withdrawn attitude of the boy bothering him a bit.

He didn´t get an answer, and with a grumpy look, he brought the cup and a plate with roasted potatoes to the living room, placing both before his apprentice.

Yazoo was stiffly sitting on the sofa, plastic bag still unpacked lying beside him.

Cid sat down in the worn chair opposite him, taking a sip from his own cup, and after a meaningful look at the plate, ordered "Eat."

The young man however, remained still, making no attempt to do what he was told. Instead he narrowed his eyes at his employer, saying flatly "Why can´t you just leave me alone."

Cid frowned at that, but he felt that this wasn´t just about the food. Despite his blank, indifferent expression and the uncaring attitude he tried to give off, the mechanic could feel the rejection screaming from Yazoo´s behaviour, the anger and maybe even some uncertainty.

So instead of giving a snappy reply, like he was first inclined to, the blond sighed, setting his cup on the table and after a minute of thinking answered in a calm voice, "Cos you´re a good boy Yazoo. Ya might nat believe an old man, but ya actually a clever, neat fellow –bitching aside- an´strangely enough I do care if ya gettin´ hurt or nat."

He made a pause, rubbing over his chin, and then lighted another cigarette, blowing the smoke out of his nose. "Look, I understand that ya ain´t want me ta butt in ya business. But what ya doin´is dangerous. Jest… stay here for a couple o´ days, think ´bout it an´ if ya still wanna go back, I won´t hold ya back, a´right?"

There certainly was no use in holding Yazoo here against his will if he absolutely refused to stay, but Cid had to try at least, hadn´t he? The boy had come to him, after all, and if there was a slight chance to make Yazoo see that things were wrong how they went right now, he´d take it. This wasn´t any longer about 'your business – my business', he felt that he now had a certain responsibility for the boy, whether Cid liked it or not. He might be a grumpy, sometimes difficult guy, but he was no monster and right now the destructive 'relationship' these two had was nearly breaking his wrinkled, stony heart.

Yazoo looked a little taken aback, staring at the man with parted lips, mouth hanging slightly open. He certainly had expected a lot of answers, but nothing like that. And somehow he didn´t like it (well… maybe a little?), because it wasn´t done just with a snappy reply from his side…

They remained silent for a while, Cid puffing at his cig and occasionally taking a sip from his cup, when Yazoo finally closed his mouth and tilted his head.

"That´s the first nice thing you said to me." It really was the only thing that came to his mind.

The mechanic arched a brow at that, stubbing his cig into the ashtray and remarking grouchily, "Yeah? Tch, ya betta nat get used to it." He cracked a half smirk that softened his words somewhat.

It wasn´t answered, Yazoo still sitting blank faced on the couch and watching the man with slight confusion, but at least the hostility was gone and he had relaxed somewhat.

"A´right pal, eat up an´then let´s get back ta work. We´ve already lost half a day."

*

Yazoo was slouched down over the counter, looking through some paper work. He was almost done with sorting the stack-room and went over the inventory list again, when the light bell over the door rang, announcing a visitor and making him look up.

"Good afternoon. Can I help you?" he said professionally, laying the pen aside and bestowing all his attention on the client. He wasn´t all smiles and eager handshakes (he despised this Harry-the-happy-car-salesman-cliché), but he was polite and attentive, and so far he had only made good experiences with it.

The man that walked to the counter was simply impressive, in height, as well as in the rest of his appearance. His dark tan stretching over bulky muscles made him look rather intimidating, as did the scowl he was wearing. His black, curly hair was had been tamed by braids and on the right hand he wore a gigantic prostatic instead of a human arm.

He came to stand before the counter, giving Yazoo a suspicious look from above. "Who the friggin' hell are ya?"

The young man supressed the urge to arch an eyebrow at that, instead replying calmly, "My name is Yazoo, sir. I´m helping Mister Highwind out for a while." This man wasn´t the first one to ask him that particular question; especially amongst Cid´s regulars there seemed to be a significant surprise that the man let someone else beside himself near his precious tools.

"Oh yeah?" the man replied, still not looking very convinced, "I´m Barret Wallace, I´m a pal o´ Cid´s."

Yazoo briefly wondered why he said this in a threatening manner (being ignorant as he was, he also hadn´t heard about Wallace The Wall, a name almost even more famous than the one of Cid Highwind) and replied, friendly.

"It´s nice to meet you, Mr. Wallace. Can I help you?"

Barret narrowed his eyes at the young man, feeling that he wasn´t given the response he deserved (a little trembling and nervous fidgeting would have been appropriate), but then he just shrugged, crossing his arms and said "Yeah, ya get me a triple square screwdriver and a pack o´ screws."

Yazoo nodded, asking the customer to please wait a moment and went to one of the shelves behind the counter to get the requested items.

Barret eyed him out of the corner of his eye with a huff, but the boy was quick, and soon returned back with everything he had wanted.

The big man took the offered items in hand, giving them a skeptic look but not finding anything to his dislike. So he huffed again, putting them in his pocket and was about to leave.

Surprised, Yazoo hurried to call out to him. "Excuse me sir, but you may have forgotten something."

He gave the man a meaningful smile, not wanting to embarrass him by pointing it so bluntly out to him. He didn´t know what Cid´s politics with his clients were, but he´d rather be polite.

"Yeah?" Barret turned his head around, throwing Yazoo a look over his shoulder. "An what might that be?!"

"Well," the silver haired youth said, tilting his head a bit, but still remaining friendly "you might want to pay for this"

"Tch," the man made, looking annoyed, but then just waved a hand in dismissal "jest put it on ma tab."

At that Yazoo furrowed his brows, leaning a little forward on the counter, and replying "I am sorry, I don´t know anything about a tab… I am afraid I must insist that you pay it now."

"What the hell?!" Barret growled, turning around fully and marching back to the counter. "Look, kiddo, I dunno who ya are an I dun give a shit, bud I´ve been a pal o´ Cid´s long before ya were even more dan a sperm in ya old man´s wrinkled sacks so don't ya tell me ta pay again!"

"Listen, I don´t know anything about a tab, so why don´t you just pay up pleas-" Yazoo didn´t come any further in his tightly spoken request, since suddenly the man grabbed him by his collar and roughly pulled him closer over the counter, right into his furious, scowling face.

"Na, you listen, asshole! I´m a busy man an' I dun have time ta deal with ya shit so get ya skinny ass off ma back an-"

"Oy, whatcha doin´with ma assistant?!" Cid just came out of the garage to find Yazoo in the iron grip of one of his buddies, and that of one pissed Barret Wallace at that.

Quickly walking over to them, he shot his friend a stern look, and grudgingly the man let go off poor Yazoo, pushing him back.

Stumbling a little, the youth coughed, letting his employer steady him with a firm grip to the arm. "Ya alright?"

Yazoo just nodded, and Cid sighed, reaching for the cig behind his ear and then, miffed, turning his attention towards Barret who had folded his arms again, in a somewhat defensive manner this time though.

"What´s goin´on ´ere?" the mechanic demanded to know, swaying out the match and throwing it into the bucket behind the counter where all their trash went.

"Dat fella wouldn't put ma things on ma tab," Barret declared almost sullenly, throwing the pale youth an accusing look. "Said he didn´t know who I was," he added in an incredulous manner.

Cid threw a look back at Yazoo who was still softly coughing, and then sighed, rolling his eyes "Ya, he probably really didn´know ya… Anyway, it´s nat his fault, hadn´t time ta tell 'im ´bout the tab thing yet."

"Hrmph," came from the bulky man, but he didn´t look very appeased.

"Look, Wallace, why dun ya jest take it an' we forget about it?" the mechanic offered, leaning with his hands against the counter and giving the man an expectant look.

"Ya.. a´right, fine," Barret finally grumbled, unfolding his arms and then pushing the knuckles of his left fist against the ones offered from Cid, in a friendly gesture of brotherhood.

"An ya betta remember me next time," the dark man growled warningly into Yazoo´s direction before he finally marched out of the shop, slamming the door shut behind him.

"What was that?" the silver haired youth managed between two coughs, still clinging to his throat.

Cid threw him an awkward look, taking the cig out of his mouth with two fingers. "Ya really don´t know him do you?" Seeing the young man narrowing his eyes in slight annoyance, because no, he didn´t, the mechanic just shook his head, mumbling "Nevermind."

Then he explained in a bored tone "That´s Barret Wallace, the owner of a gas station and a weapon shop, not far from 'ere. He´s one of the regulars an' his purchases go directly on tab, ya hear me?"

"Hn," Yazoo affirmed, slightly moody, but then felt the need to ask (he wanted to be prepared for future encounters with Barret, when his life was at stake here), "So where are they?"

"Where are what?" Cid asked back, dumfounded.

"The tabs," the youth retorted, again resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"The… tabs," the blond frowned, thinking, and then suddenly scratching his chin, a concentrated look on his face that bordered on despair.

Narrowing his eyes, Yazoo assessed the situation with curt, flat words of utter disbelieve.

"You have forgotten, haven´t you?"

Cid frowned even harder, looking almost guilty, but then he threw his hands in the air, dismissing it with a "Ah, what the hell! He´s a friend of mine, jest make a new one. I´m back in the garage."

And with that he fled into the safe haven, leaving the rest to his clearly not happy apprentice.

TBC

jennie300303: Ahaha, I am glad you did so! And I feel so very flattered, because I know this dilemma from own experiences. Still it is not to say that Reno cannot change, but it will not be easy... As you said, things need time to develop sometimes, but I will see that I won´t drag it on for too long ;)

Valitiel: Oh we´ll see soon how Reno´ll react. Of course he doesn´t give up that easily, after all he isn´t a total asshole! He just has some issues, but that doesn´t mean he doesn´t care for Yazoo. In his own little deranged way.

sareyva: Haha, I guess the neighborhood was very cliché, because I really only know this from the movies... And Cid IS sweet! Even though he doesn´t want to hear it ;) But he does care, and he´ll get thrown into the trouble even deeper^^ Cos you´re right: Reno just won´t take it!

Koumori-chan: I´m glad you like Cid! I must say in the beginning it was a bit hard to get a grip on his personality and I´m still not sure if I got him right, but I´m happy to hear that you like him. Well Yazoo... He needs to start seriously working on his issues^^

kiki-slasha: Haha, oh yes, he gets protective-he has no choice but to do so^^ And there´ll be physical contact in the next chapter, much of it *cough* Thanks for reading :)

Xyleel: Doch na klar gibt´s noch Reno hier!!! Als ob der so einfach aufgeben würde, nur weil Cid in sein Apartment gestiefelt kommt und ein bissl böse rumstiert ;) Der wird schon einiges dransetzten Yazoo zu 'überzeugen' zurückzukommen. Er hat da ein paar schlagende Argumente... *hüstel* Tja, ehrlich gesagt, weiß ich selber noch nicht so richtig, mit wem Yazoo letztendlich zusammenkommt. Das ist das Problem bei Dreiecksbeziehungen. Ich hoffe aber, es fällt mir noch ein. Oder ich lasse hier einfach abstimmen^^

Thanks everyone for reviewing and reading and faving and... for whatever support you gave me :)

Review please?