Noah hadn't been having the best day
of his life when he'd walked into a street
fight - purely on accident. So his
attitude was less than pleasant as he
quickly ducked under a stray punch,
just barely escaping the pain that was
sure to come from that blow.

"Sweet Jesus!"

He ducked again. This time, though, he
made sure to move out of harm's way
and quickly scurried over to the small
crowd of people watching the fight from
a hopefully safe distance.

A few were smirking when he finally
made his way over there. "What's a brat
like you doin in the middle of a brawl
like that?"

"Not out of my own choice, I can assure
you." He ground out, annoyance leaking
into his voice.

The group of men glanced at each other
and shook their heads. A brat for sure.
They quickly resumed to watching the
fight and left Noah to stew by himself.
Grumbling, Noah propped himself
against a brick wall and closed his
eyes. He waited a few seconds to clear
his head and then finally opened them
to take in his surroundings.

He was in an alley.

That much was obvious, but where
exactly that alley was located and how
far it was away from home, he wasn't
so sure.

Great. Just great.

He had no idea where he was. Guess
that's what he got for storming off in an
angry haze. Lost in an alley. Next to two
people fighting and surrounded by most
likely criminals.

He sighed.

It just couldn't get any better than this.

Or....it can.

The faint sounds of a siren grew louder
and louder as it neared them.

Oh this was really going to be a funny
story for Henry when he got home.

"Who the f*** called the cops?!"

"Go! Go! Go!"

"Hold on! Where the hell's my money?!"

"He didn't win s***!"

"Run! Run!!"

Feet pounded past him, away from the
sirens.

"I want my money!" This voice was
closer to him now.

"And I said he didn't win!"

"He had 'im. He was done and out! I
want my money!"

Too stupified to care about ending up at
a police station, Noah stared at the
scene unfolding in front of him.

There was a skinny blonde clutching
the shirt of an older gentleman, his fist
poised high in the air and his lips curled
into what looked like a snarl. "You owe
me and you know it!"

"Look kid, we made a bet on the winner!
But no one won! We win none and lose
none!" The man pulled at the wrist
holding him captive.

"I don't give two-"

A car screeches and stops.

The blonde glances away, finally
seeeming to notice the dilemna he's in.
He turns back with a nervous twitch.
Noah watches the younger man lick his
lips and lower his fist. "Okay."

"Okay" breathed out the man, relieved at
his attacker's sudden change of heart.
"We're cool." He then sets off running,
to avoid the pair of cops that are much
closer now.

Noah's just a second too late in his
warning.

"Wai-"

Bam.

The man falls down, out cold. His
crumpled body unmovimg and slightly
a traumatizing scene for Noah.

The blonde stands over the body,
breathing heavily, clutching the piece of
pipe he'd seen near him in the trash
filled alley. He doesn't wait any longer
to drop to his knees and dig around for
the man's wallet.

"Found it!" He sings aloud to himself.

The square leather flashes in the air for
a second before being stuffed into a
baggy pair of cargos.

Loud steps are almost upon them.

Looking up at Noah, almost as if he
didn't care he'd been seen, he says, "We
better get out of here, right?"

Noah feels himself being tugged the
opposite direction of the police and so
he starts running, his brain obeying the
command at his wrist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several blocks later and Noah still
doesn't know where he is. In fact, he's
more lost than before, something which
he hadn't even considered possible.
They've finally slowed down to walking
when what happened finally started to
sink in. He was walking with a
murderer.

Scenarios started to run around his
head, all of which ending with his death,
each more painful and gruesome than
the last.

Tentatively he tries to make his escape.

"Well..it's been nice, but I have to be
somewhere else.."

"Ya sure?" His would be killer asks.

"Yeah..."

"Really? Cos, I was so sure you were
lost when you stumbled into that fight
back there."

He winced. "You noticed."

A bark of laughter. "Sure as hell I did. A
prissy kid in a suit kinda makes an
impression, dontcha think?"

He bristles. What's with everyone
thinking he was a kid? His momentary
fear of this killer gone as he retorts. "I'm
no kid and I knew perfectly well where I
was going."

"Sure ya did." The blonde stops in his
tracks and carefully looks over his
companion. He was young, sure. But, a
kid? He may have a point. This man
was no kid. "And so you ain't a kid. I'm
guessing around 24 or 25?"

"23."

He shrugs. "Close enough." Resumes
walking. "And seeing as you didn't deny
my first claim, I'n guessin' you were lost
and still are, so want some help?"

No. A million times no.

He's so sure 'help' means that his body
will turn up later in a ditch somewhere.
Not today.

"I don't need help."

Hearing the slight hitch in the man's
tone, the blonde faces the man again.

"Come on, I don't bite."

"Not the issue, here."

"Is this about the thing with the pipe
earlier?"

Noah blinks.

"Is it?" His tone taking on a teasing
note. "Is big guy here mad about that?"

Noah's jaw sets. There is no longer fear,
but anger. And generally, he is not very
good with his temper.

"It is." The blonde giggles. "Why are you
holding onto something that didn't
happen to you?"

He explodes. "You killed him! You
murderer! You piece of s***! You
bludgeoned him, stole his money, and
then walked away as if nothing
happened!"

The blonde pauses, eyes wide. He
blinks. And blinks again. His mouth
opens and peals of laughter fill the air.
Wiping a few tears of hilarity away he
chuckles, "We ran, you know..."

Noah doesn't think twice before
swinging his fist at him.

"Eeeeep!" Shrieked the blonde, darting
away. "Don't hit! Don't hit!"

Startled, Noah dropped his fist, his
thirst for blood quelled.

Safely a few feet away, the blonde
waves cheekily before yelling, "He
wasn't dead, ya know. I didn't hit him
hard enough for that plus he was still
breathing when we left. Course, he'll
have a headache and will spend a night
in jail, but he'll be alright."

The blonde continues, grinning happily,
"A guy's gotta eat. You can't blame me
for taking what he owed me."

"It's not right!"

"So what? A bunch of things aren't
right. Don't make a difference."

"You..." Noah pauses, trying to think of
a new insult but fails.

The blonde smiles wider, shifting his
weight from foot to foot, glee obvious in
the way his body wiggled.

Then the blonde looked at the watch on
his arm, noting the time, and furrowing
his eyes for a moment. It was late. He
had somewhere to be. Somewhere
important.

"Well I've gotta split so...see ya!"

He took off, sprinting away, calling over
his shoulder while waving a goodbye
fist in the air.

Not prepared for the blonde's sudden
departure, Noah scrambles after him.

"Waiiiiit! You're right! I don't know
where I am!"

"You've got money! You'll make it! Call a
cab or something!" Was all he got as he
watched the blonde body quickly
disappear through the maze of streets
before him.

This was so not his day.

Noah was generally a peaceful kind of
guy. Generally.

He usually had a cool temperament and
really tried not to get into as many
arguments as he used to. He also really
tried his hardest to stay away from
situations that would cause his horrible
temper to arise and he did his best to
smile when he felt like strangling the
people around him.

So yeah, he was a pretty peaceful, calm
guy.

A pretty calm and peaceful guy who
almost knocked his butler over and
about slammed the door off it's hinges.

"Master Reynolds?"

"Not my name!" He screamed and
stomped his way up the stairs to his
room. He threw open his door and
loosened his tie with jerky movements
before sitting down on the corner of his
bed, fists curled tight.

He was livid. If he were a dragon he'd
be snorting fire out of his nostrils by
now.

Three hours. Three hours. It took him
three hours to finally get home. His
phone had died without him realizing it
so he had not even been able to call a
taxi like that stupid blonde had advised
him to. He ended up walking
desperately around the streets, calling
out to those whom he saw passing by
him, but it hadn't worked.

Finally, one boy had wordlessly directed
him through several streets to stop in
front a dingy bar. The boy had jerked
his thumb at the old building saying one
word, "Telephone."

Relieved, Noah repeatedly said thanks
unaware that the child's hand was now
stretched out in front of him, palm flat
and facing the sky.

The boy coughed lightly to get his
attention.

"Hmm?"

The hand opened and closed.

"Oh." Of course. He shouldn't have
thought that help was free around these
parts. By now he had figured out what
area he was in, because there was only
one place he could be in. The Slums. No
other place could reek this much of
poverty and wretchedness, but the
slums.

He dug into his pockets for loose cash,
not quite willing to take out his wallet.
$20. He placed that into the boy's
waiting palm, hoping the money was
going towards something good rather
than something bad.

The boy vanished quickly. His hole filled
sneakers managing not to make too
much slapping noises as they hit the
pavement.

The bar had been as bad as it looked,
Noah reminisced. Though it had been
darker than expected It had taken him
some time to convince the bartender to
let him use the phone. Of course, had
he shown the twenty at first instead of
ten minutes later, all would have gone
much quicker.

It had taken about an hour for the taxi to
get there and the ride home fared no
better time-wise. It had simply been
dreadful.

He gave out a long sigh and slowly
unclenched his fists. There was no
point in holding his anger. He had made
it home in one piece and while had lost
quite a bit of money (taxis are quite
expensive nowadays aren't they?) he
had gotten himself home without the
help of a potential murderer. He was
thankful for that small miracle.

The sound of knocking interrupted his
thoughts. "Master Noah?"

"Come in, Henry." A bit meek, knowing
how childish he had behaved.

The door opened and his butler stepped
into his room, face void of emotion.

"Due to your obvious present mood, I
take it that you don't want to join your
father for supper so I've gone ahead
and informed him. As he is no longer
expecting you, would you like me to
bring you your dinner now?"

Noah ran his fingers through his hair,
mussing it up, before looking at Henry
with sad eyes. "No thanks."

Heart softening, Henry stepped forward.

"Noah?" He reached out to pull the
young man's hand away from his hair.
"What's wrong?"

Back again was the boy he mostly
raised ever since he was a babe, with
those lost eyes and weary smile.

"Nothing Henry. I'm just a little tired."

"Alright then." Henry straightened, a
comforting and knowing look on his
face. "Go to bed early then. You have
much to do tomorrow."

Noah nodded, getting up to shrug out
his suit. "I will."

Mostly satisfied, Henry left the room.

Noah continued to get undressed then
once clad only in his boxers he flopped
onto his bed, flingng an arm out to grab
a pillow. He was really tired more so
than he had thought. Very quickly, he
slipped away into the land of the
unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This blows doesn't it?"

Noah couldn't help but agree. "Yeah,
yeah it does. At least, we have coffee
this time."

Both men shuddered, remembering the
day when the coffee machine broke.

"You're right. That, that was hell."

"Worse than hell," Noah whispered as
he toyed with his pen, trying to find a
blank spot he could doodle on his
paper.

Both men semi-returned their attention
to the presentation at the front of the
room. They had to at least look like they
were paying attention. It was hard
though, but at least it could be said that
they weren't the only ones suffering
through yet another meeting.

Yanez, Noah observed, was having a
very hard time keeping her eyes open.
He nudged his friend in the arm then
tipped his head towards her direction.
He saw Levi grin and then tear off a
piece of a sheet from his packet. The
sliver of paper was quickly balled into a
ball and then was soaring across the
table to smack their friend on the
forehead.

A direct hit.

Starlted, Yanez jerked in her seat, eyes
wide and blinking rapidly. The little ball
of paper fell into her cup of coffee and
her fingers tightened around the pen in
her right hand. Noticing Noah's and
Levi's smothered snickers, she
muttered, "Jerks." And turned to face
forward completely.

Noah and Levi grinned devilishly like
boys back in middle school, this
temporarily keeping them from being
bored.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know, you guys are terrible, right?"
grumbled Yanez.

"Aww, you know you love us," cooed
Levi.

"Quite the opposite, actually."

Levi laughed. "Sure."

"It's true!" She insisted. "I hate you
guys!"

"Hate and love are separated by a very
thin line, Yanez," chimed in Noah.

"Still hate, though."

"Uh huh..."

They were finally free from work, taking
their lunch break as far from the
building as possible. The restuarant
they were at served great food and
wasn't as high class as they'd normally
be at but it helped keep them on the
down low. It was more peaceful there.
Slipping into small chatter and idle talk,
they quickly finished their meals and
headed out. It was a sore relief to be
able to walk along a street he knew and
to have his closest friends with him.
But like all good things, it came to an
end.

"Get the hell out of here street scum!"

"You can kiss my pasty a-oof!" A body
came barreling towards them,
successfully slamming into Noah and
toppling them both to the ground.

"Ow..." He rubbed his head, "what the
hell just happened?"

"Oh fuuuccck," he heard a muffled wail
coming from his chest. "That
huuuuurrrrt."

"Stay away from my store or there'll be
more where that came from!"

Noah stared up at an angry middle aged
man looming over them. He was
shaking his fist and spittle was flying in
all directions. And then he was gone
and his friends took the man's place.
Noah heard a distinct slam of a store
door and sighed looking up at Levi then
Yanez.

Levi was holding out his hand when
Yanez recieved a call. "Uh huh, ok.
Yeah, understood. Yes he's with me.
We'll take care if it right away."

She looked over at Levi and jerked her
head. "We got to go, we're needed.

Levi paused in helping Noah and asked,
"Shelly?"

She nodded causing him to groan. "We
better get going."

Another nod and they both were off,
leaving Noah behind, forgetting him
instantly.

"Guys?!"

He watched their quickly retreating
forms. "Screw you both."

Then remembering the body on top of
him, he looked down at the very familiar
mess of blonde hair he had
encountered before.

Oh no. Oh please no. Please. Please.
Please...

The head lifted up and two emerald
eyes greeted his navy blue ones.

Oh christ.

The right eye appeared redder than the
other and by the way the blonde was
squinting, it was probably the one that
had been hit.

"Heeey, why if it isn't prissy suit guy!"

God hated him. He was sure of it. There
was no way this kind of thing just
happened on accident. God is a troll, he
concludes.

"What are you doing here?"

"What are YOU doing here?" Retorted
the blonde.

"I asked you first."

"Well, I asked you second."

"That doesn't..."

"Sure it does!"

Noah growled low in his chest. He was
getting more pissed and disturbed the
longer he talked to this blonde.

The blonde seeming not to notice,
bubbled happily, his pain long
forgotton. "Seeing as we've met before
we should already know each others'
names, right?"

Noah blinked. Damn, this was starting
to get way too familiar for him.

"So what's your name?"

"Noah..." he said slowly, worried about
his own sanity.

"Nice," he chirped. "I'm Cade, just so
you know."

"Mmm..." murmured Noah, still laying
on the cold ground and beginning to
count the birds flying across the sky.

Slap.

"Ow! What the hell?!" Screamed Noah
suddenly. "What was that for?!"

"That was for ignoring me," pouted
Cade. "I don't like being ignored."

Noah clutched his reddening cheek and
stared incredously at the Cade.

Cade leaned up so that he was sitting
on Noah's lap. "Don't ignore me." He
repeated more aggressively this time.

That was it. Noah had it with this
blonde. His eyes narrowed into
dangerous glinting slits and he balled
his hands into fists. "Get. Off. Me. Now."

"No."

"Get. Off."

"Bite me, Noah."

Wham.

"Owwwww!"

Cade rolled off Noah clutching his other
eye. "Shiiiit."

Noah got to his feet and stalked off
angrily with no regrets.

Stupid Blonde