"One okonomiyaki with extra sauce and yakisoba coming up ^__^!" Die flipped the batter over on the hot pan, catching the ball of yakisoba Kyo threw at him. Kyo filled in a cup of sake for a customer. Their stall was open for the night. Lucky he had took a nap in the evening. But the smell of okonomiyaki sizzling on the pan was making Kyo hungry. Gluh…

"Kyo, don’t drool into the mix," the redhead stuffed a wad of rolled up toilet paper into Kyo’s mouth.

"Oh, shut up!"

Die plopped the pizza onto a plate and served it to the pretty lady sitting in front of him. There were several yatai stalls lined up on that street and tonight the business was fairly good. Die smiled. At this rate, dinner date at a French restaurant wouldn’t be a problem ne! Heh!

"Hey…" Kyo pointed at the car passing by. "Isn’t that Kaoru’s car?"

Die blinked and squinted to see the number plate. "What is he doing here? And he didn’t even stop to say hi! What kind of friend is that?!"

"A rich friend with a -date- to pick up?" Kyo nudged his ribs with his elbow, stressing the ‘date’ word with suggestive pressure..

Die scowled. "What? We’re making money too! Clean money!" Die shook the yen bills in his hand in front of Kyo, dirtying them with his oily fingers. -___-; "And what do you mean -date-?" he said it the way Kyo did.

Kyo whistled. "What I told you earlier today…"

***

The night was cold but there were many people walking around. Shinya slid his hands into his coat pockets as his eyes flicked up to the big clock tower. Kaoru was late. He said 10. 30 but now was already 10.40. He had waited ten minutes in the cold for him. Shinya pouted.

Could it be Kaoru changed his mind and he’s going to stand me up? Shinya frowned and fished his cell phone from his bag. Funny, he rarely called Kaoru but he had the older man’s number set on his auto-dial…

An engage tone came on when the line connected. "Grr, what happened to him?!" Shinya muttered under his breath. People walked in couples and groups past him, making him feel dumb for standing there alone. He took another look at the clock.

10.45

Fine, I’ll wait for another 15 minutes then if he doesn’t come…I’ll go home and study. Hmph.

He leaned against the glass wall, watching the fun fair going on in the middle of the square. He wondered if Toshiya was already at work. He had known Toshiya for a year now but he had never really visited him at work ne…

Shinya jumped up and gasped in shock as a pair of arms slid around his waist. He turned around swiftly and came face to face with Kaoru. "Kaoru!!!"

"Hello! Waited for me long?" Kaoru let go of him and took his arm instead.

Shinya pouted. "You’re late."

They walked in the midst of the crowd. Kaoru’s head was tilted upwards as if he was sniffing the night air. "I know… Gomen ne?"

Shinya nodded. He leaned lightly against Kaoru’s arm and he could smell the man’s cologne. Kaoru looked beside him and saw the smile on Shinya’s face.

"You seem happy," he commented.

"Hm?" Shinya blushed and he touched his own cheeks.

Kaoru laughed at his reaction, earning a playful slap on his arm. "You know, Shinya…"

"What?"

"You’re cute."

"Huh?"

Kaoru didn’t say anything more as the club loomed ahead. There was a long queue to get in but Kaoru just walked to the guards at the entrance coolly. Shinya shot him a puzzled look. But the guards took one look at Kaoru then at Shinya then back to Kaoru again and let them in.

It was dark and it was filled with people and the vibrating pulse of music. Purple smoke curled and twisted upwards from the ground and Shinya just walked ahead blurly with Kaoru holding his hand and leading him. Someone groped his ass and he gasped out and turned to find the culprit but there was too many people, meshed together, unidentifiable.

He felt Kaoru tug his hand. "See…look there," he saw Kaoru’s lips mouth the words.

Then his eyes followed where Kaoru’s finger was pointing. And suddenly his mouth went dry and his face heated up. There on the stage was this beautiful creature, painted in the incandescence of purple and red light, with nothing hiding the beauty of his skin and flesh except for the elaborate Celtic chains he wore and the lacy cloth tied low on his hips with just one loose knot.

Shinya wanted to look away but he couldn’t. It was as if he was hypnotised and for those few moments, all that existed seemed to be the almost nude creature in front of him and the heavy pounding of music that merged together with the light and the smoke in a sensually erotic manner matching the motions of the dancer on the stage.

The creature’s long arm stretched out gracefully and beckoned to the crows with long white fingers. ‘Come to me…’ the words formed by his lips. His eyes washed over the sea of people on the floor, his eyes were dark and the lashes long and thick with mascara. Those eyes stopped on Shinya and black painted lips curled up in a smile and he winked at him before swirling around with his hand tugging the knot of the skirt he wore. And the cloth fell away and the crowd made a cheering sound. But it was just a tease coz the light went off and when it came back on, he was gone.

"He’s beautiful, isn’t he?" Shinya felt Kaoru breath on his face, his lips close to his ears.

Shinya realized he had stopped breathing while watching. "Yes, he is… beautiful Toshiya…" he whispered.