Title: Can I Buy You a Drink?

Summary: AU Yuki meets Tohru at a bar, but he's having trouble working up the courage to approach her, and neither of them really seem to understand how the bar scene works.

Genre: Romance/Humor

Rating: T (For alcohol?)

Word Count: 1,670

She was sitting by the corner of the bar with her legs swinging idly since her feet couldn't quite reach the rung near the bottom of the stool. With both her elbows propped on the countertop, she absentmindedly stirred her pink drink with the small red straw. She was drinking one of those drinks that contained more juice than alcohol. It even had a strawberry slice and an orange umbrella on the side. She wore a simple white top with a short pink skirt- which he suspected she deemed a tad too short by the way she kept tugging on the edge. Her long mahogany hair hung down her back in loose curls. Everything seemed a little too much for her. She didn't seem too comfortable in this bar or even with the bit of makeup she wore.

He believed her two friends had dragged her along, but they left her alone. One—the one with long, wavy, dark hair, who had worn a black lacy outfit more fitting with a funeral than a bar—had left half an hour ago after receiving a phone call. He couldn't even guess what the call had been about. She hadn't even reacted—just left after briefly explaining and giving her friend a hug. Her other friend with the dyed-blonde hair had clearly had more to drink than she had had and was currently seated in a booth, slobbering over a drunk man.

She had snuck glances back at her blonde friend just as often as she peered down at her wristwatch. She seemed very eager to leave, but her friend seemed too distracted. By now, she had finished half of the pink drink, which meant a lot since she only seemed to take a sip every ten minutes. She had moved on to chewing on the strawberry and let out another sigh. He thought she seemed very lonely, even though several different men had tried to approach her. She always offered each of them a smile and seemed to talk to them cheerfully enough, but every one of them always made a sort of strange expression after a couple minutes and they would leave. He didn't know how to interpret their expressions. They contained disbelief, disappointment, and something like self-consciousness. She just seemed confused after each of them left, and he would just smile to himself. For some reason, each time a man would approach her, a burning rage would stir inside of him that would only quell when she was alone again.

He preferred her to be alone even though that seemed to sadden and discomfort her. Perhaps he didn't really want her to be alone, but he hadn't figured out how to approach her without ending up like those other men. He sympathized greatly with her. He was, after all, in a very similar situation, which included the flirtatious drunk guys—though those men left with a very different expression. His cousin had dragged him here but had spent the past two hours getting intimate with his girlfriend in a booth by her friend. The only difference between them was probably their drinks. He didn't dare order anything like hers—he had too many guys approach him already—even though hers probably tasted better than the golden liquid in his glass. Well, and she didn't seem to be creepily watching him.

Sighing, he swallowed another gulp of his drink, trying to build his resolve. He could either just sit here and watch her for another hour, and leave both of them sitting alone, or he could try to summon enough courage to force himself off his stool and take the ten steps required to reach her. He took two more gulps before he managed to clamor to his feet and then one more before he could take the first step forward. By the time he slid into the seat beside her, he had drained the glass. She didn't look up at first, too distracted playing with her straw, but she did turn towards him as soon as he cleared his throat.

She smiled at him but didn't say anything, so Yuki steeled himself to force the line Haru had taught him out of his mouth.

"Can I buy you a drink?" Then he held hid breath to await her response.

"Um… No, thank you!" she replied at first but seeing the disappointment cross his face, she explained, "I don't drink very much! And this will be more than enough for tonight!"

"I see…" he trailed off, still disappointed even though he could see that she did have a substantial amount of her drink remaining.

Noticing that she had hurt him, she quickly exclaimed, "But I can buy you a drink! Your glass is empty! What were you drinking? Or I could get you something else if you'd like!"

"Ah… No… that's really all right—"

"How about one like mine? It's really good! Trust me! Oh wait! Why would you trust me? You just met me! And I haven't done much to earn your trust or anything—"

"I'm sure it is very good—"

"Okay then! I'll get it for you!" she told him before she politely called over the bartender and ordered another drink.

So that's how Yuki Sohma wound up with a pink drink with a yellow umbrella decorated with printed tropical flowers, which the bartender slid over to him after tossing him a strange look. Not wanting to offend the woman he had intended to impress, he stiffly took the drink in his hand and took a sip, swallowed, and turned back towards her with a smile since she had been watching him expectantly the whole time.

"You're right. It tastes very good."

"I'm glad! But if you'd still prefer another drink, I can get that for you too! I got my paycheck today!" she remarked cheerfully.

He tried not to cringe at her words, forcing a smile instead while she continued to look at him obliviously. He decided to change the subject.

"What's your name?"

"Oh! It's Tohru! Tohru Honda! What's your name?"

"Yuki Sohma. It's nice to meet you, Honda-san."

"You too, Sohma-san!"

Her growing grin infused him with courage. Somehow, he managed to conjure up a conversation between them. He didn't have much experience with this 'small talk' business, and he wasn't quite sure he was talking about the right things or asking her appropriate questions, but she seemed more than ready to answer all his inquiries, and her continuous beaming quelled his fears that he was boring her or scaring her. So far, he learned that her favorite color was pink, that she had come with her two friends, 'Uo-chan' and 'Hana-chan', because Uo-chan had just broken up with her boyfriend, though Tohru insisted that this would only last a few days at the most, and was trying to enact some sort of revenge, that both her parents were dead, and that she loved strawberries. The last fact led him to tell her that he was currently growing some strawberries in his garden, which of course prompted him to promise to show her some time since she seemed so excited at the prospect of home-grown strawberries.

This 'small talking' seemed pretty intense to him. He just prayed that she couldn't tell how nervous he was, just sitting here and talking to her, but she hadn't stopped smiling at him yet. In fact, she had scooted closer to him, but perhaps that was because she couldn't hear his soft voice over the blasting dance music and loud chatter surrounding them. When he dared to gently lay his hand over hers that she had left resting on the bar top, though, she didn't pull away. Her cheeks actually flushed before she slowly laced their fingers together. Then he knew he had to do something to ensure he'd be able to hold this hand again, but it still took him three tries before he could find his voice.

"Honda-san, do you think you wouldn't mind giving me your number? You know so I can call you or something… so we can arrange a time or place for me to repay you for the… uh… drink?"

"Sure!" she readily agreed.

She looked around the counter before reaching for one of the square cocktail napkins stacked in a small bin before them. Scrounging around in her purse, she found a pen and scrawled her number and name on it. She slid it over and he took it just in time. Seconds after he had looked it over and pocketed it, her blonde friend slapped her hand down on the counter between them, shooting him a deathly glare that made the grin slide off his face.

"What do you want, punk?" she practically snarled at him.

"U-Uo-chan! Don't be mad! I was just buying him a drink!" Tohru explained frantically.

"What?"

"I just bought him a drink! And he was just offering to pay me back!"

Uo studied the pink drink in his hands for a while before she snuck him a suspicious glance. Then she grabbed Tohru's wrist and yanked her off the stool, breaking the hold of their clasped hands rather roughly. Despite Tohru's whimper of protest, Uo started dragging her out the bar.

"Forget it, Tohru. I'll give you the money. You shouldn't associate with creeps like him!"

"That's not what I meant by repay…" he trailed off.

Neither of them could possibly have heard him though. The blonde had started ranting about stalkers and rapists rather loudly as she ushered Tohru past the door, sending him accusatory glares over her shoulder all the while.

Well, at least he had two things to keep this from upsetting him too much. First, he still had her number. Second, he could hear her defending him and insisting that he was actually a good guy.

So smiling, he finished the pink drink and headed out the door before Uo could discover that Tohru had given him her number.

Just some silly awkwardness because it's not fun just to write a serious/non-fluffy story!