~..Hello, Rain..~ (Daft! ^-^)

[Anonymous]

Beacon tossed his platinum white hair out of his face and watched as a festival began to take shape just a few feet away from his job. He worked at a sweetshop and loved every moment of itâ€"really, he just liked flirting with the young lady who kept coming to visit him. And the children, the children were nice, too.

Beacon’s liquid, mellow-green eyes watched his handiwork as he began rolling out a fluffy globe of dough, shaping it into a perfect shape. This one would be an éclair. He shaped another, this one having to be braided very carefully. This would be one of those braided donuts…

Hearing thunder growl nearby, he looked up and noticed that the sky was clear. And yet, it was about to rain. Why now? He was just beginning to enjoy the music that was being played in the festival nearby. Hopefully, it was a festival for the rain itself…

Both soundsâ€"the tunes of the festival and the rainâ€"were welcome as far as Beacon was concerned. He was a romantic at heart, honestly. His hormones just kept getting in the way of his more…his more sophisticated side.

He began rolling out another ball of dough when his boss made a noise in the back. “Sir?�

“…advertise.�

Beacon raised his voice as if she hadn’t heard him. “What?â€?  

“You need to go out there and advertiseâ€"it’s a perfect opportunity.â€?

“Not in the rain, it’s not.â€? He laughed. Hey, he loved the rainâ€"he just didn’t like frolicking around in it.

“Beacon Cedée…â€? Eucio emerged from the storage closet carrying a little baggie of sugar. That type of sugar, she’d told him months ago, was only used on special occasionsâ€"it had a certain flavor to it that kept customers coming back until they were absolutely stuffed with sweets. “…go…and advertise. Here. Take a tray of soft caramels and chocolate dots.â€? With a graceful, fluid movement, she grabbed a tray with her free hand and handed it to an ever-surprised Beacon.

“You really want me to go out there? It’s gonna rain…and…and the treats’ll get wet.� What a great excuse.

“So? I’m your bossâ€"do as I told you.â€? When Beacon went to protest, she added, “Unless you want to stop speaking with that woman who keeps dropping by…â€?

With that, Beacon was looking about the room for a coat or some other type of protection. Upon finding none, he stood directly underneath the sweetshop’s roof, refusing to move out any further into the rain. His limited amount of shelter was acceptable…for now, at least. “Sweeeeets! Get your sweets here!� Children turned their heads, but kept looking up at the sky and at the festival with an ADHD type of vigor. Under his breath, a “dammit� could be heard. “SwEEEEEETS! Get your SWEEEETS here!�

((There we go! Oh. And if you have trouble picturing Beacon, he looks like Hitsugaya from Bleach. ^-^ ))

[Anonymous]

Nick lifted a calloused hand to brush the strong fingers through his already tussled hair. Right now he was leaning against some random stand, and an elderly woman kept hitting his arm with a spoon, telling him to leave, that he was distracting all of her workers. Slowly he turned his head to see he had been leaning against a sort of jewelry shop, and young women were behind there, beading. Most of them were giggling and looking in his direction, pointing only to be scolded by the old woman again.

“Relax, m’lady, relax. I’ll just be on my way.� He spoke with a deep, rich voice, and took a step away from the stand. He gave a sweeping boy to the woman, and to the ladies, and winked towards a particularly cute blonde, who flushed a deep red.

As he walked away he chuckled to himself, taking a bite out of a perfectly shaded red apple. How had he found such an apple? A bit of sweet words and kisses and the girl selling them had offered an entire basket. He’d picked one. The most perfect one he could find, and it now had a large bite mark in the skin.

Nikolai was one to draw a woman’s stare, and he knew it. His black pants shifted with each step he took, and his rugged leather boots kicked up dirt as he walked. The shirt covering his stop had no sleeves, and was a thin white fabric. This only drew even more gazes to the long, lean muscled arms of his. The downfall of his looks was one thing, he was cocky, cocky, cocky. Somehow Nick believed that because he was just so darn good-looking, that he could go whatever he pleased. In most cases, this was true. Even to snag a piece of candy from the cute boy in front of a candy stand.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?� Nick asked in that deep voice. He reached his other hand, the one not holding the apple, forward to pluck a piece of candy from the tray and pop it into his mouth.

“Two different sorts of sweets right in front of my eyes.� A smirk curled along his lips so his white teeth flashed against his tanned skin.

[Anonymous]

Beacon was right in the middle of calling out again when this…this creature popped into his field of vision. He jumped back as the man took a piece of candy. Hopefully he liked itâ€"he’d made it himself. Of course, this was the batch of candy that he made which consisted of three times the normal amounts of sugar. Blinking at his words, it took him a minute. Oh, right. The treats…“Um…yeah. There’s…there’s more inside,â€? he uttered, jerking his head at the sweetshop.

This is awkward. He turned his head and started to call Eucio’s name. However, she knew Beaconâ€"and she knew that she wasn’t about to let him off the hook so easily.

“Keep working, Beacon!�

“Eucio, please!�

“Stay out there!�

He hung his head in the way that enthusiastic fighters do when they’ve had a good winning streak…and then suddenly fail. He closed his eyes and opened them again, glancing at the man before him. Pah. Look at him. He shamed Beacon’s appearance, which was lean but not as muscular, graceful but not suave, and…

…stop thinking about it. “Well…� This is still awkward. “Uh…go inside if you don’t want to get rained on…� Beacon hesitated at calling this man a “sir.� He certainly didn’t look like one.

Damn. This was so awkward. “Eucio, I didn’t finish the doughnuts!�

“I got them for you.�

“Fine,� he sighed. He closed his eyes before turning to face the crowd near the festival. “Sweeeets? Sweets?� Dammit, try some sweets! His thoughts were torn between getting rained on, the festival, the sweets, and this…this man. Why did he have to be so close? Couldn’t he back up a tad? He was already almost backed up against the wall anyway…

((Sorry if this sounds repetitive.))

[Anonymous]

Nick chuckled deeply as he looked at the young boy, tilting his head to the side. Rather than leave, he remained standing there, letting the rain fall onto his body. The girls that passed by giggled and fluttered their wet eyelashes at him. The rain made his arms slick and his hair drip about his face. He tilted his head down to stare at the face of the boy, giving a smile.

“I rather like the rain.� He replied back to him, lifting a hand to sweep through the wet strands, but the heavy hair fell back about his face. Without asking he reached forward and grabbed another candy to pop into his mouth. He’d admit, he had quite the sweet tooth.

“These are pretty good. You make these?� He asked, taking a step forward to be even closer to the young boy. He could tell the boy thought all of this was rather awkward, which made it all the more fun for Nick. He loved how he intimidated people, loved how he could make a situation tense.

((Gah! Sorry it's so short!))

[Anonymous]

He wanted to say, "well, so do I, but get away from me," but he'd probably lose his job in the process. He took another step back, bumping into the wall. He pressed his back against it and blinked. "Ahh, umm..." He was eating them. Well...sooner or later, he had to stop, right? He began to fluster--was this what it felt like to be in a situation odd yet...yet...? "Yes, I did."

He tried again after a full fifteen seconds of silence. "EUCIO!"

No reply. She was fumbling about in the back again.

Great.

She rarely came out of that back room unless it was an emergency. And an emergency to Eucio was a "too much, too little, too late" situation. She even said people have joked that even when an employee died, she wouldn't come out of that hobble.

"Damn." The word was trembly and embarrassed. "Look...there're more inside, and..."

Drip. Drip, drip.

He was getting wet.

"No...no, no, no!" Beacon pressed up against the wall even moreso, trying to stay as dry as possible. "Pardon..." He inched his way to the front door to find...

...that Eucio had locked it. "DAMMIT, EUCIO!" He heard a faint laugh from inside. He turned back to the man. "Weren't you going somewhere?" The festive music continued playing--maybe the festival was for the rain. "You were walking like you had something to do..."

((It's okay. ^-^ Sorry--my guy characters tend to swear a bunch.))

[Anonymous]

Nick couldn’t help but laugh at how the young boy was reacting to, well, everything. As the boy inched towards the door, he leaned forward to take yet another candy.

“You’re kind of jumpy.� He spoke out just as calmly as if they were talking about the rain that continued to fall down about them. At his question about him going to the festival, Nick simply shrugged and lifted the momentarily forgotten apple to take a bite out of that.

“I think I’ll stay out here with you, if you don’t mind. Why go inside and eat the candy, when I enjoy the rain so much, and here you stand with an entire platter of the sugary goods.� He said and chuckled, brushing his hair from his face once more, but it was fighting a losing battle with those unruly locks of brunette hair.

“Nope. Just wandering about. I make a habit of not really planning on what I’m doing. Good thing too or I’d never have ran into you or your…sweets.� He said with a devilish grin. A handsome devilish grin, mind you.

“Lady you work for doesn’t seem to like you much. Likes to see you suffer, it appears to me.� He said with a laugh, nodding his head towards the door. After a moment he took a step forward, and if the boy didn’t stop him, he swept the platter into his hands, and moved to stand just beneath the overhang of the building.

“Come and get your candies darlings! Come get some sweets ladies!� He called out, his voice loud and easily projected across the nearest clumps of people. Aw, what a nice guy, doing this for the young boy.

[Anonymous]

"Jumpy? Oh....I'm-I'm normally not so jumpy." Said the liar. "It's just the rain and you appearing out of nowhere and all. And me being LOCKED OUT." The liar hollared at the shut glass doors. Again, faint laughter could be heard from within.

He blushed slightly at the man's words and smile. What a figure he was! Man...I need to work out a little more...And I think I'll get a tan while I'm at it.

At his statement about Eucio. How dare he? She was really a sweet girl... "Nah, she's just like that--I think she does it because she says I'm not too socia--hey." He watched his tray of candies be lifted from his grasp and the man began calling out to passersby.

Instead of ignoring him as they did Beacon, women flocked to the man in coy groups of twos and threes. They all took a candy and admired the strange, tanned man as they ate them. Thanking him and, sparing Beacon leftover smiles, walked away chittering amongst themselves.

The platter was empty.

What was Beacon doing wrong? He looked up at the man and smiled sheepishly. "Thanks..." What a guy. A nice guy at that.

[Anonymous]

“Well, she’s a smart girl then. You don’t seem to social to me.� Nick said just before he went to grab the platter from the boy.

After he had grabbed the plate and people, mainly girls, began to come towards him, Nikolai flashed smiles and winks and all sorts of manners of flirting towards the girls. He even went as far as reached forward to tuck a strand of hair behind a girls ear. When the candies were gone he turned to grin towards the boy, and he bowed, offering him the empty tray.

“Anytime.� He said and if he took the platter, Nick would stand straight once more to tilt his head towards the boy.

“What did you say your name was?� He asked, reaching his hands up to try and squeeze the water from the dark locks of hair. Nick waited silently, which was quite a task for the man, behaving and being quiet. Needless to say, he wasn’t the type to stand around and wait without at least saying something. His adrenaline level was usually through the roof, and he needed to stay active. But, right now, he could wait, for a bit.

“I’m Nikolai, by the way. Nick.� He said with a shrug, and moved to hook his thumbs into the belt that held his black pants up around his waist. Okay, now he would wait silently…maybe.

[Anonymous]

"Hup!" That was Beacon's way of holding back his surprise at the man's words. Well...maybe he did need to loosen up a bit...

Slowly, Beacon took the tray and tilted his head at the man before him. Nikolai. "Very pr--handsome." He was used to talking to women, not men. Maybe that was why he felt so awkward around men...

"My name?" His white hair shivered a little as Beacon proceeded to tilt his head back and shake droplets of water out of his hair. "I..." He bowed gracefully and glanced up at Nikolai. "...am Beacon. Beacon Cedée." Man. The only thing graceful about him was his name and the way he introduced himself. Truly, he needed more people skills.

He straightened back up, those liquid, mellow-eyes looking up at Nick expectantly. They had a shy, singing melody within them that showed he wanted to learn to be a little like Nick. Just a little bit. "A-a pleasure to meet you, N-Nick." Why was he stammering? Oh, that's right...

Click. Beacon turned about to see that Eucio had unlocked the door. He faced the shorter, innocent young woman, seeing a hint of a knowing smile on her face as she sashayed off.

Now he didn't want to go back inside.

[Anonymous]

Nick nodded his head as he heard Beacon, grinning.

“Beacon. That’s a nice name.� He said without a stammer or hint of embarrassment or nervousness. Then, he heard the click of the door and turned to look to the woman, flashing his all to famous smile. He gave a magnificent bow of his own, before straightening his back.

His dark eyes turned to look at Beacon, watching him carefully as he didn’t seem to move any closer to the door he had wanted open so desperately before. After a few seconds of thought, he reached forward to snatch the tray, threw his other arm around Beacon’s shoulders, and walked to the door.

“Miss!� He called after the young, seemingly innocent woman. If she were to turn around he would lean forward to hand her the empty tray.

“You can see that young Beacon has done a terrific job of handing out the samples of the delicious candy. If it wouldn’t be too bold to ask, could I possibly snag him off for a bit? I’m sure he would love to enjoy the festival.� He nearly pleading with the woman. He was so used to getting his way though, that he was fully expecting this woman to let him steal away her employee for a bit of fun.

[Anonymous]

After blushing a thank-you, Beacon yipped as Nick began escorting him towards the sweetshop.

Eucio turned around in her silver-and-blue outfit, which resembled what we would think of as a more modest version of a French maid's costume, her big hazel eyes blinking at this man. She jumped as he handed her the empty tray. Immediately, she went into her scolding attitude. "Beacon!" She said, taking the tray. "You ate them all, didn't you?"

"Of course not," he replied coolly, "I made those. Why would I eat anything I made?"

Eucio gave him a dangerous look before listening to this strong man plead with her. "What?" Her question was a whisper. "Go to...?"

Beacon nodded, expecting the best answer.

"No." Beacon's face dropped. "Get back to work." Of course, she was kidding. She wanted Beacon to ask.

"Please?"

"No. I need you to go and--"

"--Oh, PLEASE!" He got on his knees and, playfully, took her hands in his, acting as if this were a life or death situation. Eucio giggled as he did so. "Please let me go with Nick to the festival! I--"

Eucio looked up at Nickolai. "--Nick? For how long have you known Nick?"

"Um...uhhhhhhhhhh...." Beacon's eyes darted about the room. "Ahh, for a while."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You're a terrible lia--"

"--Oh, PLEASE! Let me go to the festival with Nick! For the love of the sun, the stars, the moons, the heavens above, you'll let me go to the f--!"

Eucio stuck a small candy stick in his mouth, a wafer dipped in white chocolate. "Fine. Go ahead. Have fun for me, okay?"

Beacon stood and brushed his knees off, eating the candy stick quickly. "I will. Thank you, Eucio. You know you're the greatest, right?"

"Well, of course." She went behind the counter, rolling out more dough. "And don't flatter me--I hate being flattered unnecessarily. I already know I'm great."

"Sure, Miss Eucio." Beacon walked out, holding the door for Nick. This was odd. Already, he was going to be out and about with this guy? Oh, well...at least it gave him an excuse to take off work early.

[Anonymous]

Nick had a hard time not laughing at the twos bickering. He lifted a large hand and placed it over his mouth before Beacon was finally allowed to go off to the festival with him. He clasped his hands together, placed his knuckles against his chin, and bowed his head to the lady.

After the two of them finished, he once more placed his arm around Beacon’s shoulders and steered him out of the shop and to the street, not minding the rain that continued to fall about them. He squeezed the younger male’s shoulders before letting his arm drop down, turning his head to look down at him.

“You really wanted to go with me to the festival? Big, bad man that can do your job better than you?� He asked with a cocky grin, reaching a hand out to give the boy a shove.

“It’s alright if you don’t want to admit it. I get that a lot though, people wanting to go places with me.� He continued to inflate his own ego.

After a few moments of walking, he reached his large hand down to encircle the boy’s wrist, and then, without warning, he would begin to run through the crowd, hopefully pulling Beacon behind them.

[Anonymous]

Beacon hadn't minded Nick's laughter. It was something he did--make people laugh. And the more laughs he got, the better he felt. Of course, there was still that fine line of "I'm trying to be funny" and "I'm serious" that some people just kept stomping around on without respect for it at all.

Eucio curtsied at Nick, something she did as a habit whenever customers were taking their leave. She then continued rolling the dough.

He looked up at the man as he guided him along, boasting. "W-well..." He blushed madly. Not because he was holding shoulder...okay, maybe because of that...but also because he was somewhat downing him.

"It's just that I don't get to do a lot of stuff outside of work. That's all," he sniffed.

Then...

"WAAAAH! Where're we going?!" He ran behind Nick, tripping over his own feet on the way...

[Anonymous]

Nick laughed as he pulled Deacon through the rain and the crowds. His fingers remained tight around the boy’s wrist, but not enough to be painful.

Finally after a bit of running he reached the edge of the crowd and ran through a dark alley, making sure that Deacon was always behind him. He obviously knew his way about the area, and soon they would be going up a dark staircase with limited amount of room, and Nick finally slowed down.

“You wanted to go to the festival, so we’ll have the best view.� He said and turned to look over his shoulder, his teeth bright in the darkness of the area. He hadn’t let him go, and continued to pull him up the stairs.

Soon, he exited the staircase and walked into an old room in the top floor of a building. There were cobwebs and white sheets over furniture. And a window. Nikolai finally let go of Deacon’s wrist and walked to the window, pushing the window open, letting a breeze and droplets of rain fall in.

“Come on.� He waved over to Deacon, and without waiting he stepped out of the window onto the slightly slick shingles of the building. Just beneath the building was the majority of the festival, and a perfect view from the roof. He positioned his feet carefully along the shingles, just so he wouldn’t fall, and turned to look into the window towards Deacon.

He lifted a hand out and extended it to Deacon, flashing another smile was droplets of water slid down her face.

[Anonymous]

((^-^;; Oops. A little typo, there. It's Beacon.))

He shook his head every once in a while as he ran, shaking as much water from his hair as possible. "O-okay..." What're we doing? Is he gonna do something weird? And by weird he meant...well...he meant was Nick going to murder him.

Damn. He should've written his will.

Up in the room filled with cobwebs and covered furniture, Beacon rubbed his arms as if to warm himself. His green eyes flitted about the room before noticing Nick was stepping onto the roof. "WHAT'RE YOU--!" Beacon dashed over and grabbed Nick's hand, attempting to pull him back inside. "Are you crazy?! You'll slip! Get back in here!"

This crazy guy was serious...was he insane?? Despite his pulling, he feared that the end result wouldn't be anything like he expected. "Get...back...in here!"

[Anonymous]

Nick stopped and turned to look over his shoulder towards Beacon, blinking before he broke into a laugh and smiled. He braced himself through against the window frame with his free hand, and refused to be pulled in.

“I will not. I’ve been up here a thousand times while it was raining and I’m still in one piece. Besides, if I do fall, it’s not that far to the ground. “ He said and leaned into the window, only to sweep Beacon up into his arms, and step back onto the roof. If the younger boy didn’t somehow manage to twist out of his grasp, he would set him on his two feet, but keep a hand on his shoulder.

“See, nothing to be afraid of. I’ve got you.� He said with another laugh, obviously amused at how Beacon had reacted to all of this. If the boy had finally calmed down he would step forward a few of the shingles, making sure to keep a tight hand on the young boys shoulder.

[Anonymous]

"Yeah, well you'd be better off not risking your life so get i---AUGH!"

He was standing. On a roof. Beacon was standing on a freaking roof. Why hadn't he struggled? Maybe he was too fearful of squirming out of Nick's hands and falling down towards the ground because he missed the roof...or something.

His voice was excitedly shaky, holding his arms out like a scarecrow, trying to gain his balance. "AH! Ooookayyy...I've got this....this is fine...I..AH!" As Nick moved, Beacon became more nervous and almost lost his balance. "Do you do this for a...a living or something?"

The music below continued to play. They were having a battle of artistic abilities...he would compete, but...he was so shy of other people's opinions...

[Anonymous]

Nick laughed as he turned to look at the young boy and rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I do this for a living. This is nothing! It’s just a roof. If we fall, we break a bone or two, nothing big. It heals. Hey, I bet they even have a really nice healer here!� He said, but he was obviously joking. He was hoping the boy wouldn’t take it seriously.

“Come on, I won’t let you fall. I promise.� He turned to look at him with his brown eyes, before he slid down along the shingles, the bottoms of his rugged boots slipping along the roof. Finally, he hit the gutter and stopped. He was resting on the edge of the roof, one foot on the gutter, the other on the shingles, but he was perfectly balanced.

“You can see it perfectly from here! Just turn to the side a little bit, lean back, and slid down. I’ll catch you, and won’t let you fall.� He lifted his hands and beckoned Beacon towards him, smile still in place as he watched him, waiting.

[Anonymous]

Beacon didn’t laugh because he knew that Nick was kidding; he laughed because he thought Nick’s words were unbelievable. He looked down at the festival as Nick slid away from him. Beacon got so lost in the music that it took a few of Nick’s words to bring him back to reality. “Huh? Lean back?�

And, thus, the balancing game began.

He did as he was told, but his shoes, with soles made of very cheap leather, began to slip. He fell and slid a great ways and grabbed the edge of the gutter before completely falling off. “Okay…now how’d I do that…?� He caught his breath a moment before proceeding to push off with his knees from the gutter. After a while, his body went straight up into the air, his feet in the air, hand holding onto the gutter still. He stayed that way until he found a place to rest his feet. He lay down next to Nick, pale as his hair, his eyes wide from being momentarily terrified.

“There. Nooo problem.â€? However, he was facing the window, not the festival. He didn’t feel like turning around  right now…right now, he had to catch his breath and a little of his lunch.

[Anonymous]

Nick watched him carefully before he began to slide down. He took a step forward as he grabbed onto the gutter, but didn’t move to help him. He would, if he saw his fingers slip, but for now, the boy seemed to be fine. When he finally pulled himself up he laughed and dropped back onto the roof to sit there, his knees bent and the heels of his boots shoved into the gutter so he could sit comfortably.

“There, that was easy.� He said and leaned forward a bit to look down at the festival. He turned to Beacon to comment on some of the girls that were dancing, before seeing the boy turned away. Nick laughed and reached forward to grab onto Beacon’s shoulder and his other hand went to his side, and he turned him onto his back so that he was now facing the festival.

“Figures I would kidnap the one person in the city scared of everything.� He poked Beacon in the side and chuckled down at him.