Disclaimers: All characters belong to rightful owners.
Story concieved by Lee.


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"They'll never get the stains outta the booth," Lukas agreed cheerfully as they set off once again. "When I mentioned that I was escortin' a young lady, well... Sammy's mind jumped right into the gutter... an' no doubt, Kiso's was right behind... So, when we walk in together, I 'magine the reaction'll be... worthwhile..."

True to his word, the pizza place wasn't all that far away, and when they arrived, Lukas held the door for Sophia, ushering the girl inside. He stood in the doorway for a moment, scanning the booths for his friends.

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"Grrrrr. Yip!"

Apparently, Stubby wasn't all that impressed with Alexei's apology.

Tesu blinked at the crazy boy as he made his rather... odd... speech, and then checked Stubby for damages - nothing *too* severe, fortunately... although Tesu was still having a bit of trouble removing the dog from his perch atop Tesu's head.

"What do you mean, he got in your way?" he asked, still a trifle angry over the incident, "He was just sitting here next to me on the bench, minding his own business... er... and who's Them, anyway?"

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"I... I'm really sorry!!!!!!!" Arvel apologized from his position on the floor, "I didn't mean to, honest!" He pulled himself to his feet. And then he realized he'd just knocked into a table of hotties, which left him stammering even more incoherent apologies.



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Shittsui noticed the blonde walking by himself and, deciding the man was attractive, ambled over. "Are you all by yourself on such a joyous day?"

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"Oh, hello." Nevan smiled brightly to the stranger and, tipping his head slightly, he nodded to the latter question. "For the moment, I'm all by myself, but I was thinking of walking on toward the Park; there are so many people there that it'd be really hard to really be all alone."

"And yourself?" He inquired softly as he renewed his smile. "Are you all by yourself? If you are, do you want to join me? We could be together for a while..."

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Hm. It didn't really seem like the right time to be going for a slice of pizza, what with, apparently, a minor emergency just barely ending. Sophia couldn't tell what had happened or why the redheaded boy was apologizing so profusely, but then, perhaps she'd rather not anyway. At any rate, she simply glanced up at Lukas and waited for him to acknowledge the friends he'd mentioned before.

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"Quite alright, kid. Quite alright..." Kisoku smiled warmly at the panicing teenager. He eyed the boy carefully, searching for any sign of injury that had come from their little run-in. "You're not to bruised and beat-up, are you?"

It was that moment of careful examination that allowed Kisoku a glance at the door, and lo and behold, who should walk in but everyone's favorite Cajun. "LUKAS!"

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As Lukas continued to scan the interior for signs of his friends, his cobalt gaze homed in on a small disturbance going on in one corner. Although he'd hoped differently, he was, nevertheless, far from surprised to see that it was Kiso rolling around on the floor with some red-headed kid, while Sam sat close by, gleefully stuffing himself with pizza.

"Well... so much for our grand entrance, eh Sophia?" he said wryly, gesturing toward the tableau. "I hate to be the one to break it to you... but *those* are my friends... Maybe we better get over there 'fore Kiso gets the place raided, eh?" Gesturing for her to precede him, Lukas made his way over to his friends' booth, sardonically arching an eyebrow at the scene.

"If I'd of known you liked redheads, Kiso... maybe I'd of given you a tumble after all..."

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Arvel was thoroughly mortified. "I'm really sorry!" He squeaked again, "I just... well... you know..." At that moment the roach reappeared, causing Arvel to flatten himself against the wall in fear.

"Arvel! We know you're desperate for a date, but stop harassing the poor upperclassmen!" Jeremy teased.

Arvel merely glared at him.

Estelle added her own glare before moving to pry Arvel off the wall. "I'm so sorry," she told the older boys, "He has a phobia of insec -- OMIGOD! It's Wingless!!!!!!!!" She squealed.

"I don't care if it doesn't have wings!!" Arvel wailed, "It's still evil!!!!"

"No, stupid, the band Wingless! They're, like, super popular at school, and you just sat on one of them! All the girls will be uber jealous! XD Aah, no. I'm jealous!"

"...I didn't know there was a band called Wingless..." Arvel muttered.

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"Is that what it takes?" Sam tipped his head as he set his current slice of pizza aside. Lunging smoothly from his seat, he attempted to pounce the redhead as he grinned. "Then I just _adore_ redheads, Lukie."

"Ne, sempai, I think you have a few admirers, here! Maybe this makes up for Eli, after all..." After a brief grin to Kisoku, he turned his attention to the female speaker. "Ah, maybe if you're jealous, hon, sempai'll let you sit on his lap once he's finished with your friend..."

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"I am," Shittsui answered, "Quite alone for the moment..." He gave the man his most charming smile, "and would be delighted with the company." Yes, because he intended a good bit more than just walking through the park. He intended things Nev would probably not be pleased with at all.

"I am Shittsui Barano, by the way. You are...?" Sui tilted his head to one side and held out his hand.

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"Ah, nice to meet you, Mr. Barano." Nevan offered the other another bright smile as he shook the offered hand. "I'm Nevan Alraune. It's very nice to meet you."

Of course, being the dullwitted, niave man that he was, Nevan had no idea that Shittsui had more sinister plans behind the charming smile. Really, he was only thinking that, maybe, this nice man'd like to see the Christmas tree, as well, and enjoy the general Holiday spirit.

Poor stupid Nev.

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Rolling his eyes, Lukas caught Sam gently by the shoulders, fending off the pounce while at the same time preventing his friend from hurtling into someone else's table. "Yeah, yeah... redheads, blondes, brunettes... I know, I know..."

Glancing over at Sophia, Lukas smiled a bit sheepishly, "We're not always this crazy, petite... Most of the time we be a lot worse..."

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"No... I'm not... I mean... he's hot, but... I didn't..." Arvel spluttered.

Estelle went starry-eyed, "But you're my favorite member, Sam! You're just so cool! And you overcame a serious physical impediment! But Luke reminds me of Arvel, sometimes, because they're both Southerners and their both redheads! Luke isn't as stupid as Arvel is, though." She whirled on her friend, "How could you not know Wingless!!!????????? Everyone knows them!"

"But... Estelle... I really haven't ever heard of them before..." Arvel cowered.

"Ooh, ooh, I have!" Jeremy volunteered. "But the members are all gay, so why'd I want to listen to them?"

This second tactless remark from his friend and crush earned him another glare and another crying redhead.

"Errr... I didn't mean it like that, Arvel... just that I don't much care for guys m'self..."

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Sophia sighed sharply to Lukas' apology. She could well imagine it. "It was kind of you to invite me, Lukas, but perhaps this wasn't such a good idea." Having said that, she clamped down tightly on her words; he'd been pleasant to her, and seemed a perfectly nice person, so she felt she somewhat owed it to him to remain civil.

Even if his friends were already getting thoroughly on her nerves.

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Sasurai smiled, a little brighter of a smile than the earlier ones, "It's nothing... it's just... someone who loves sweets shouldn't be kept from them... even if it's a milkshake..." Seeing that bright smile on his face made her cheeks red again but not from emabarassment but something else... what was the feeling she felt...?

...Pride ...she felt pride. She actually felt good about herself... she did something to make someone smile so brightly... to smile because of her! It was such a small thing she did... and yet it lead to a feeling she never thought she could feel again. Finishing her pizza, she tried hard to comprehend that this was reality... this was real.

This was... the best day of her life.

"Lemy-san... doumo... arigatou gozaimasu... thank you..." If she wasn't so timid or afraid of her emotions, she thought she may cry, "Thank you... for your kindness." She looked down, smiling to herself, the spirit of christmas was alive again... now...

All that was left was to make sure it lasted...

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Jeremy's comment earned the younger boy a rather derisive snort from the Cajun, "Hn... Yeah, right... An' 'course nobody gay'd have nothin' relevant to say to *normal* folk, eh?" He didn't even bother to mention the fact that he and Sam, at least, were bi-sexual - those kinds of distinctions were usually lost on people who adopted this sort of attitude, so why waste his breath? It would only make him sound defensive.

Turning his attention back to Sophia, Lukas could tell that the girl was getting annoyed. He'd hoped that his friends would amuse her at least a little - but then he hadn't counted on walking immediately into chaos. He'd figure Sam and Kiso would at least wait til the introductions had been performed before launching into their usual brand of bullshit. Stupid him.

Offering the girl another apologetic smile, he gently turned Sam around so that his friend was now more or less facing Sophia, and said, "Sophie-girl, this's Sam, an' the one molestin' the underage redhead's Kiso... An' yeah, you're prob'ly right that makin' their acquaintance prob'ly ain't the best idea in the world, but they're actually pretty harmless... most of the time..."

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Kisoku could sense that Lukas was a less than happy camper, but he'd leave that up to Sam to deal with. Everytime he tried to deal with the cajun, it usually wound up badly. Kisoku took note of the young girl that Lukas was currently trying to appease. He would have made some comment about the redhead's hot date, but his mind was suddenly preoccupied with other matters.

The boy who had bumped into him seemed as though he had been really affected by his friend's comment. He immediately stood up, peering at the young boy curiously. It was a royal emotional pain in the ass sometimes... having to accept and deal with being gay. Kisoku knew that better than anyone... he didn't even publicly acknowledge the fact that he was 100% homosexual. Placing a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder, he offered the other a kind smile. "Hey, don't fret too much... friends are liable to say stuff they don't really mean. People just forget how strong words can be sometimes."

He turned to the the boy's friend with something of a killer glare. "And for your information, young man, I've dated supermodels-- female supermodels--that you could only dream of ever getting to talk to, kid. So try appreciating the music instead of lunchroom gossip, cuz gay, straight, or bisexual is what happens in the bedroom, not on stage."

Kisoku shot Lukas a grin. He knew how much the cajun got ticked off by the appearance driven success of the band, so he could only hope that it would please Lukas to hear the most vain, appearance- oriented member of the band stand up for their artistic merit. He turned back to the younger redhead with a wink.

"Look kiddo, it was nice talking to you, but I have friends in dire need of some "bask in the radiance of Kisoku" time, so that's all for today's pep talk. Try to make it to one of our concerts. You might enjoy it! Oh, and he's another little something to make the ladies around school jealous." He placed a soft kiss on the other's cheek before returning to his seat at the table.

"Well boys, my karma just went up up up, I'd say!"

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It was probably odd, but Sam was likely the least effected by Jeremy's small slight. After all, it was just words and, well, if one guy didn't want to listen to them because they were gay, then that was his choice; nothing could be done and it was rare that anything could be said so as to change the mind. Figuring that Lukie and sempai'd covered the ground regarding that pretty well, Sammy turned his attention to Estelle with a broad smile.

"Ah! You have good taste, oniichan!" He chuckled as he flipped a bit of hair over his shoulder. Still, at the mention of overcoming great physical impediment, he merely shrugged. He never really thought of it like that, really, and, since he was so young when it all happened, he couldn't even really remember a time when he _wasn't_ blind. "Really, really sweet, too! You really _must_ come to our next concert, ne? Maybe even come and hang out with us a bit?"

"Still, I don't know if Arvel's as dumb as Lukie..." Grinning, he slung his arm around his friend and, leaning his head on the other's shoulder, he sighed. "Not that it matters. With these Southerners, _everything_ is charm."

"Ah! Sophia-niichan!" Turning his attention to Lukie's 'date', he grinned widely and, offering his hand, he tipped his head. "It's a great pleasure to meet the woman about to make a man of our dear Lukas! Welcome to the family!"

"Tch. No fair, sempa-----i!" Sam whined once Kisoku had returned to their table. Huffing just as cutely as he can, he crossed his arms. "First you shun me for your little redheaded lover, then you even go on to kiss him--or at least I _hope_ that's what that sound was--then you even get a boost in karma? No fa------ir! I call foul!"

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"Hmm?" From around his straw, Lemy made a soft, inquisitive sound as the girl thanked him and, blinking, he tipped his head on side. Why would she be thanking him? Had he done something? Not that he could recall, anyway. Really, _he_ should be thanking _her_ for everything-- and not just for the freeing up of his milkshake. Still, taught to be polite and accepting, he inclined his head slightly as he offered Sasurai a soft, gentle smile. "I... I don't really know what I did, but you're certainly welcome..."

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