Chapter 2

Tesla had screwed up. Big time.

He'd give everything to fix his stupid mistake. No scratch that. He'd give everything to know how to fix his mistake. He always knew Nnoitra was a touchy person, he should've known better! But, moping around was going to do him any good. Tesla rose to his feet and walked to the bedroom.

Fifteen minutes later Tesla was dressed and fed, ready to leave his apartment for one he felt more welcome in. He was going to visit his neighbor from the first floor, Harribel. Yeah, she'd know what to do! The fortune teller was his only friend now; his other friends had tried to keep in touch for a while but ended up all being chased away by Nnoitra.

Tesla locked the door behind him glancing over his shoulder at the out-of-service elevator. The damn thing hadn't worked since before they moved into that building and goddamned landlord didn't give a rat's ass about it. Tesla sighed. That was you got in this part of town. Ran down buildings, people ignoring situations they were scared of being in, cops looking away. Still, it wasn't that bad, not lately at least. Nnoitra's boss sort of owned their neighborhood now, gangsters, drug dealers, murderers… they all seemed to have evaporated. Aizen Sousuke was the guy's name. Tesla wasn't really sure what he did, but he sure as hell didn't dare to ask Nnoitra. It was best to leave it alone. It wasn't like he could ask him now anyway.

Racing down the stairs, Tesla reached the first floor in a matter of seconds. His current relationship status was making him jumpy. He wondered if he'd be labeled as 'single' by the end of the week.

Tesla knocked on the door of apartment 1B. Seconds later a woman with the same hair color as his opened the door.

"Hello Tesla-kun! It's a pleasure to see you." Harribel greeted him with a warm smile. "How are you today?"

The tanned woman wore a simple long-sleeved white shirt with dark-blue jeans and knee-high black boots. From how she dressed most of time it didn't even occur to most people to ask she was a fortune teller. Tesla liked that, she didn't need be a stereotype to be good at her job. Well actually she really didn't need that; she was an amazing fortune teller. Right every single time! So if there was anyone to ask advice from, it was Harribel.

"Hello Harribel-san. Do you have time right now? I really need to talk to you!" The blonde frowned."Hum, it's okay if you can't right now. I'll just come back some other time…"

"Of course it's okay, Tesla-kun! Come in!"

Tesla took a step inside the apartment. Immediately he was overwhelmed by the rich scent of the incense burning not far from the entrance, cinnamon mixed with apples.

"Do you like it?" Tesla realized he was staring at the burning stick when Harribel put a hand in his shoulders.

Somehow it made him feel lighter. It…

"It's soothing." He said.

"Indeed." She replied, moving to the sofa. She sat down in and patted on the burgundy cotton. "Come, sit."

Tesla did as asked and sat. He knew Harribel probably knew what he wanted to ask about already. She was like that. Tesla took a deep breath and examined the familiar surroundings preparing himself mentally for what he was about to dump into the woman's lap.

The walls were painted in warm beige, with a very beautiful dark wooden floor. The burgundy sofa matched the burgundy velvet curtains. Like in his own apartment, in here the kitchen was connected to the living room. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling with shelves filled with old book, new books, candles and wooden incense burners. Next to the sofa lay a small table with a yellow lampshade decorated with several pink spirals.

In the corner there was an indoor archway covered with more burgundy curtains. There, Tesla remembered, was where she'd read his fortune the first day they met. It was a mostly dark room, except for the table zone which was candle-lit. Tesla didn't really remember much of it; the main thing that remained in the memory of that day was the spicy smell that hovered in the air.

"It's okay Tesla-kun, you can trust me."

"I know, Harribel-san."

Tesla took another deep breath and blurted out what happened. About Nnoitra and Grimmjow, about what he felt Nnoitra and about his worries triggered by Grimmjow. By the time Tesla was done, tears poured down from his eyes but Harribel remained with the same warm expression she now always had.

She'd change so much since he first met her. She used to be cold and slightly insensitive. Then she met Starrk. It was like someone had turned on the light in the darkness and for the first time Harribel could see! It was weird really. Tesla didn't know someone could change that much with love. Tesla hadn't changed. Nnoitra hadn't changed… Yeah, Nnoitra really hadn't changed…

"I don't know what to do!" He sobbed.

"It's okay, Tesla-kun. Don't worry."

Suddenly Tesla's face brightened up "You mean things will go back to how they were?"

Tesla was glad he came to Harribel. She always knew what the right thing to do was! And just like her fortunes were always right, whatever she said would happen, would happen.

"No, they won't. But it's going to be okay. You're going to be okay. Trust me, Tesla-kun."

What?

"What do you mean, Harribel-san?" All color had left Tesla's face.

"Trust me, Tesla-kun. When this is all over you'll be happier than you were before."

Tesla should trust her. He should believe her. Harribel was always right. He should trust her. His mind told him that, but his gut told him Nnoitra would leave him and he'd be all alone while Nnoitra was with another man. Tesla wasn't sure if he could take that. He didn't have anyone besides Nnoitra! He was his everything! Tesla loved him with all his heart! What was he supposed to do if he left him!? The other man had never once told him he loved him! What if he had never cared? What if… What if… Tesla didn't want to think about that possibility but…. What if Nnoitra was just playing with him? What if he always had been? When you love someone, you usually want to tell them, right? So they know they're loved! (Or at least you show more signs of affection than Nnoitra did, right?)

Tesla sighed. Where the fuck was his life going!?

…

After he left Harribel's place, Tesla was in an even darker place than he was before. Thorn between believing Harribel and the idea of losing Nnoitra, he roamed around the city. Surrounding him were unfamiliar places, unfamiliar faces….

It was around 3PM now. His stomach complained for the lack of food but he wasn't going back to that empty apartment.

The streets of Tokyo were as busy as ever. Everyone went and came but unlike Tesla, they had a destination set in their minds.

What was he going to do now? He had nowhere to go.

Suddenly, his foot got caught in something and the weight of his body brought him down. The ground was quickly getting closer. Just a few more inches and— Except he didn't hit the ground. Almost as if waking up Tesla looked around disoriented. A long-haired blonde guy had put an arm around his stomach, preventing him from falling. Repositioning his legs Tesla straightened up.

"Thanks." He muttered and just before he turned his back on the guy, his stomach growled loudly.

With a short laugh, the guy put his hand on Tesla's back and pushed him inside the bar they were standing in front of. "Come one, you're having lunch with me today boy!"

"Wha—" He forced into sitting at the counter. Who the hell was he? Why would he want to have lunch with him!? 'Oh God' Tesla sighed 'Don't tell me he think I'm homeless!?' Homeless people weren't that unusual in that town. Or in any town actually. They just were more frequent in that part of town to be more precise.

"So what would you like to ea—"

"I'm not homeless, okay!? Just carry on with your life now that you know I'm not count as charity like everyone else in this god damned town!" Tesla snapped. All of this… Shit, yes this was shit. There was no use in sugarcoating it! It was pulling him to hell. He was losing himself!? Just look at what he did right now!? He had just snapped at a guy he didn't know because he offered him lunch? This wasn't him, no. This definitely was not Tesla.

"I didn't think you were homeless. I can pretty much tell that by looking at your clothes. They're in a pretty good condition, you know? I invited you to lunch because you were obviously hungry and I was hungry too and by the way in case you didn't notice, you almost fell face flat in the ground because you tripped on the sidewalk just outside my bar, so yeah I just felt like having lunch with you." Tesla stared dumbfounded at the guy. "Do you want to have lunch with me or not?"

Okay… Why not? It's not like things could get much worse in his life, right?

"Sure…" He managed to say still a bit astonished.

"Great. I'm Yylfordt." He smirked.

"Tesla."

Yylfordt entered a room through a door the other side of the counter and then Tesla heard various noises as if he was searching for something.

A few minutes of silence passed as Yylfordt did something in the room that Tesla assumed was the kitchen. Tesla took a second to look around.

The bar was pretty nice actually. The name… What was the name again? Ah, yes right – Insanity. What an odd name, Tesla thought. The counter and tables were made out of mahogany. The stools and seats were all covered in black leather. Behind the counter, in between bottles was a picture frame of two men. Yylfordt and a skinnier pink-haired man with glasses. 'Maybe his brother?'

"So Tesla, what do you do for a living?" He shouted from the room.

"Nothing actually." He replied.

"But are you looking for a job or something?" He came out with two plates with sandwiches in his hands. "Sorry I use this place as a bar so the kitchen doesn't have that much food. Besides I can't cook."

"It's okay. And yes, I'm looking for a job."

"Hum…" The blond seemed to think about that for a second. "Do you wanna work here?"

He stared dumbfounded at the long-haired man yet again. They'd met less than an hour before and he'd already invited him for lunch and offered him a job. Who the hell was this guy?

"Sure." He muttered.

"Cool." Yylfordt grinned and put the plate in front of Tesla.

A/N:

I just realized there's a small chance Yylfordt is OOC. To be fair Yylfordt didn't get much airtime. Like three or five episodes, right?

Also, I was meaning to make this the last chapter - it wa also supposed to be longer if that was the case but because I had already said I'd be posting it before the 31st I kind of just wrote this.

I was actually thinking of leaving it in a huge cliffhanger like the first one but then I thought nah, poor readers. If I had any XD

One question though, I kidn of feel like this isn't very good, not very good as in crap, you know... So is it?

Feedback is needed! Seriously, I'm trying to improve my writing so if you could be as kind as to say if there's anything I could/should improve I'd appreciate it!