One.

I knew he was pretty much unconscious and dead to the world and not even an elephant falling on the house would wake him up, but that didn't stop me from tiptoeing around him. I knew Lavi would bring something, he always did, but I felt a bit dirty with him doing the stealing all the time, so I had to grab something, even if it was just something small. Something small was all I could ever get away with anyway. Cross kept a close eye on his stash, but he tended to neglect the cheaper stuff. He always had a small pile of cheap alcohol around for 'emergencies', this meant the stuff he would turn to when he had run out of the good stuff and needed just that little bit more alcohol to completely tip him over the edge. Most of the time he was so drunk when he got to this stage that he wouldn't notice if some of it was gone.

He was currently passed out on the couch, I sometimes wonder why he even bothered having a bed and a bedroom as he seemed to spend all down time on the couch. He was snoring slightly with an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth. He had been stumbling about a little over an hour ago, dead drunk, as usual even if it was five o'clock in the afternoon when he had finally keeled over. I knew he was going to be out of it probable until the next day, but the fact still remained, that I was scared shitless of him. If he ever found out that I had even thought about touching his alcohol, well, I didn't want to think about the repercussions. But as I said earlier, I just felt dirty showing up empty handed with Lavi having to put in all the effort.

Cross kept all his good stuff proudly displayed on top of a wooden antique filling cabinet. It looked like something you would see in an old war movie. Big bulky and stained dark wood, with draws that had a shriek of metal against metal if you opened it too fast. As mentioned the good stuff was always kept on top, I think he liked to look at it. He had it ordered in from all over the planet and went through it so quickly the amount he paid for it was beyond ridiculous. I don't know why he bothered displaying it so, except for I think he truly did just like to look at it.

My problem was that the cheap stuff was kept in the top draw of the filing cabinet. Yes I know a filing cabinet that held alcohol, but it wasn't so bad that it was organised alphabetically. The other two draws actually held documents, well actually only the second one did. The second draw was full of my school reports, power bills and old tax returns, the fact that Cross actually did his tax every year honestly surprised me at first, until I realised he could claim money back. The third draw, for a reason entirely unknown to me, was filled with power boards, extention leads and torches, Cross owned about seven torches, five in the cabinet and another two keep under the sink. And he didn't just have torches he had old lamps in the bottom draw, I had to wonder if Cross had a fear of the dark, or just hated being left in it. There were old kerosine lamps dotted around the place, it was a good thing because every time there was a storm or even a bit of rough wind the power went out. But lamps and torches were not of my concern right now.

At this point in time I had to some how open the top draw without it shrieking or making the bottles inside rattle too much. I hooked my fingers under the old slightly green brass handle and just as I did I heard a small tweet. It was a warning I knew it. I turned my head from the cabinet to stare at Cross's bird Timcampy, it was a deep gold and a very beautiful bird. It loved me, I knew it did, unfortunately it had some deep undying loyalty to Cross. I don't know how but I swear Cross had trained the bird to keep an eye on me. I pressed a finger to my lips, directed at the bird and turned back to the cabinet pulling the draw out quietly. Timcampy tweeted again, slightly louder, a second warning. I was going to have to bribe the bird.

I quickly walked to the kitchen and grabbed a packet of almonds. I shook the packet, just loud enough for Tim to hear, and shortly after the bird flew into the kitchen. What can I say? The bird went nuts for nuts. I tipped a handful out onto the counter and watched at the bird waddled over to the almonds and grabbed one in his tiny claw, bringing it to his mouth. Bird and alarm taken care of I went back to the cabinet. I inched it open slowly, a few squeaks and the slight rattling of bottles sounding like a bloody canon going off to me. Opening the draw I found it fully stocked with small bottles, about six hundred mill size, of vodka. He must have come across a deal because I knew he wasn't particularly fond of vodka. I picked up one careful not to accidentally bang it against another bottle, it was like playing a game of 'Operation'.

I safely retrieved the bottle and slipped it into my back pack. But the mission was only half over, I had to make it look like I hadn't taken anything. With steady hands I spread the remaining bottles out a bit to cover the hole I had created. As I did this a moth the size of my hand flew out of the depths of the draw and into my face. I suppressed a squeak and flapped my hands in front of me in an attempt to get it the hell away from me. I swear I would never get use to the size of everything in this country. Maybe it was because I had spent most of my life in a big city, or maybe everything in England was just smaller. I don't know which one , but when I first moved to this country I was terrified of everything. Moths were huge, as were ants, spiders and every other insect I had ever encounters. Also the amount of snakes that inhabited this country was just ridiculous. I had been in the country for about two weeks when some arsehole informed me that an octopus smaller than a bread plate could kill me. Yep, it took me awhile to adjust.

With the moth crisis averted I finished my cover job and closed the draw slowly, feeling a little proud that I had managed to close it without a sound. One thing taken care of I went in search of cigarettes or cigars, or whatever Cross was smoking at the time. He usually had more than one packet open at a time. It was just a matter of me going around to ever open pack and stealing a few from each. I had collected about ten smokes from various half empty packets when I stumbled across a tin of small cigars. When full there were ten to a tin, so stealing one was going to be very risky. Cross didn't care if I smoked or drank, just as long as I didn't smoke or drink any of his stuff. But it was too tempting to resist, I opened the tin. There was two missing and I took a third leaving seven in the tin. It was a good amount, I doubt he would notice. I shoved all the stolen smokes into an empty packet and added it to the bottle in my back pack. Mission accomplished. I grabbed my shoes and shuffled into them before grabbing a set of keys and locking the door behind me, leaving behind the drunken Cross who hadn't budged the whole time.

Outside the sun was slowly setting, another thing I had to adjust to when I moved here. In England, to me at least, the sun had set very suddenly. It was light one minute and then it was the dark of night, here, the sun set slowly, stretching out forever. It was probable because all the land to the west was completely flat, there was nothing, absolutely nothing. The town seemed to have been built on a cusp of rugged wilderness and barren desert. The east side of town was surrounded by thick bushland with rolling hills and mountains in the distance. The west side of town, no matter which way you looked, was flat, there were minimal trees, and the ground was hard and dusty, nothing being able to grow on it. I lived on the west side of town, we had a backyard, another new thing to me, but it was covered in dry and dead grass and full of cracks, and to walk on it bare foot was to risk cutting open your feet. The grass that dry and deadly.

I walked out the door and out onto the street, looked to my left I looked down the end of my street. And it was an end, a complete and utter end, there wasn't anything beyond it. The street ended with some broken road and a barbed wire fence, beyond the fence was the great expanse of flat dry nothing. When I had first moved here there had been a dead snake handing from the fence. Apparently it deterred other snakes of that breed from going further, it was a sign of danger. It didn't always work though, I had found more than one deadly snake in the backyard. Every summer dead snakes were thrown on the fence, it was almost like a bonding ritual to the people on the street. Hey, you killed a snake, go hang it on the back fence to deter other snake and keep you and your neighbours safe. As I said earlier I don't think I'll ever get use to this country.

I turned away from the endless nothing to the right and began walking to the end of my street that actually went some where. The whole town, from above, looked like a set of rail way tracks. There were two long streets that ran parallel to each other, and other smeller streets cut across these streets, giving it it's track like appearance. I lived closer to the top of the town, two streets up from me, if I turned to the left, the roads became dirt and eventually disappeared. If I turned to the right I would eventually come across the centre of town, if you could call it that. The centre of town was composed of a grocery store, that was also the towns petrol station and video store, that still hired out actual videos, not DVD's, but video cassette tapes. Also in the centre there were two hotels, one at the beginning of the strip, one of the other end, both serving the same thing but giving people a change of view. Other than the store and the hotels there was a laundromat with three machines and one dryer, a fish and chip shop that was a fruit grocer on the side, a bank with no ATM and two tellers, a doctors surgery, a bakery with the butchery shoved out the back of it and that was about it.

I walked towards the centre of town but it wasn't my destination. My destination I reached after walking for about ten minutes. A dry creek cut through the centre of town, roads had been built over it and one small foot bridge. The foot bridge was the first part of my journey. As I reached it I grasped the edge of the metal 'safety' pole and swung myself down into the creek and landed with a soft thud, stumbling only slightly. I then turned around and walked along the creek bed, swirls of brown dust rising as I walked. I passed under one road, walked between open houses and then passed under the second road and found myself in a park. It was the only park in town and as the creek reached the park it cut sharply to the north. I had to duck under an old abandoned bridge with rotting boards that no one dared walk under anymore.

As the creek had cut to the north I had to pass under another road, on the the horizontal ones, but this time I couldn't just walk under it. I had to duck and shuffle under and into a wide, dark pipe. When I broke free of the oppressive and continuously damp smelling pipe it felt like I had stepped into another world. On the other side of the pipe I was officially on other side of town where the harsh wilderness reined free. The grass was long and trees hung low over the dry creek bed. They were sparse at first but as I continued to walk they became thicker and thicker and I actually came across a small puddle of foul smelling water. It was amazing to see any form of water that wasn't in a tank or a dam around these parts. Water restrictions, another foreign concept to me, upon hearing I was banned from having a shower more than four minutes long, that was probable the biggest shock I'd had. There were so many new things to learn, but Lavi had helped me, in his own way.

As I pushed my way further into the dense wilderness I thought about Lavi. Who he really was and about how I had first met him. After three years he was still a mystery to me. He had more or less forced his way into my life, but I was happy he did. I don't think I would have survived here without him. In a place were some thing even slightly different stuck out like a sore thumb I was definitely going to have a hard time. In this town there were very few 'new' people arriving. The town had a population of 1,123, and someone moving in from England, with naturally white hair and very obvious facial scaring was definitely going to cause a stir. In a town where everyone knew everyone, the whole town knew of Master Cross's and my arrival before we had even unloaded the first box. It was an uneasy feeling. Even though I couldn't see anyone I could feel eyes on me. And then he had strolled along.

I was sitting out the front of the house on a large red rock. I was having, I suppose you could say, a mild panic attack. Just one month ago I had been living in a small house in England with my adoptive father and living a fairly normal and boring life. And then Mana had died and I was sent to Marian Cross, on the other side of the world, who was living in seedy places saying he was going to get a house soon. My brain was stuck in 'What the fuck?' mode the whole time. We moved around a lot in a small city before suddenly moving to the middle of no where. I was completely lost, I was with someone I had met maybe two or three times in my life and was for the first time realising what it meant to be in the middle of no where. I had unpacked what little items I had and Cross had gotten as far as unpacking his stash of alcohol before hooking in and passing out on the floor of what was to be our living room. I had gone and sat out the front of the house on that big red rock, resting my head in my hands, panicking, wondering what the fuck to do.

Lavi had strolled up like it was nothing. I was twelve and he was fourteen at the time. He had walked up casually bare foot, as he always was, smoking a rollie. He walked up and stood right in front of me, not close enough to be intimidating, but not far enough away to be polite.

"Word around town is that you're from England." He had said, not even looking at me.

"Yeah?"… It was all I could think to say.

"How'd you end up in the arse hole of the world?"

I'd looked up at him and had seen an inquisitive smirk on is face.

"I've been wondering that myself."

"Walk with me."

"What?"

He had leaned down and grabbed my wrist pulling at it, forcing me to stand. I subconsciously grabbed his wrist at the same time and felt the uprise of scared skin along it.

"Common, you're more interesting than anything else that's happened around here."

"What?" I had said again. "Why how come?"

I asked the question, even knowing the answer, I had just wanted to hear someone say it. Because of my hair, my scar, my arm, I, for some reason, had just wanted to hear someone say it. But he had a completely different answer that I wasn't expecting.

"Because you don't belong here." He had said, making me feel like shit, but then he just followed on and said, "Just like me."

I could understand his meaning after that, he felt just as out of place as me in this town as I did and that day I let him drag me along with him.

Now almost three years later I was going to meet with him because he was my only real friend, he was probably my best friend. People who I had called my friends in the past weren't really friends, but Lavi, I think he was someone I could call a true friend. Even if he was prone to disappearing for weeks at a time, without a word. Only to show up at my window sill a few weeks later, requesting to hang out.

I pushed my way trough dense foliage, well and truly out of town by this point. I pushed one more dense branch out of my way before catching sight of out meeting place. There was already a large build of dead wood piled up onto of a large flat rock that jutted over a small ledge. It was on the edge of what would be a small waterfall if water was actually running through the creek. It was only a small drop, about three feet, but big enough for me to struggle slightly as I pushed up. I sat by the pile of dead wood, waiting for Lavi to come. I knew he was probable searching for fire wood somewhere and would return shortly. I let my back pack sling off my shoulder and sat down on a large log. I noticed that besides the mount of small twigs there was a pile of thicker dead wood. Fuel for the fire for later, the mound in front of me was made up of small twigs and small hunks of wood, it was just something to get the fire started.

"You've arrived." I heard a voice behind me say.

"Yeah." Was all I could say, elequaint as always.

"What did you manage to score?" Lavi said finally appearing.

His arms were full of fire wood as he walked passed me and dumped the wood on the pile net to the fire. In response to his question I picked up my back pack and pulled out the small bottle of vodka and the half filled packet of cigarettes and lauded them out.

"Not too bad." Lavi said, kneeled beside the stack of wood.

He pulled a lighter from his pocket and shoved it into the depths of the stack which quickly lit up. He stepped back and threw a few heavier logs onto the fire, even though the fire only appeared to just being started. I didn't questing him though, i knew that Lavi knew how to light a good little camp fire.

"This is all I could manage." He said pulling a half empty both of rum out from behind a tree. "I did manage to get his though." He said as he pulled a full pouch of tabacco from no where as he did the rum.

"I'd say we're set then." I said leaning back to rest on my elbows, enjoying the warmth of the slowly growing fire. I picked up the bottle of vodka I had brought and cracked the top. I threw the lid out into the wilderness, not caring if it was found and not expecting it to be found. I gulped from the bottle, the vodka burning my mouth, tongue and throat. I cough slightly and a small drippily of vodka escapes my mouth and falls down my chin.

"Amateur." Lavi scoffed. He picked up his bottle of rum and lifted it to his lips. He raised his eyebrows at me, initiating a challenge, then threw his head back. He took three large gulps without shuddering or grimacing, before pulling the bottle away. He then held the bottle out to me. I would now have to take an equal amount plus one more, or other wise be called a chicken the rest of the night. I took the bottle, excepting the challenge and pressed it too my lips, I didn't really want to do this, but I wasn't backing down, I did however take a moment to pace myself. While I was mentally preparing myself Lavi took his pouch and rolled smoke in seconds, with out a filter, and popped it into his mouth, lighting it.

"I don't have all day Princess." He said with a smirk, blowing out a puff of smoke.

I glared at him at the name 'Princess' and swung my head back taking gulps from the bottle. The first one went down okay, the second made me shudder, the third was pure torture. I sat with my head held back, the bottle pressed against me closed lips, the liquid burning a ring onto my lips. I was finding it hard to open my mouth to let one more mouthful it. I was telling my mouth to open and just take one more swig but my body was not obeying me. I heard Lavi chuckle and that was all the motivation I needed. I took the last mouthful, tearing the bottle away and thumping it to the ground. I shuddered and a small sound of disgust escaped my mouth. I felt the scorching liquid travel it's way down my gullet and settle in my stomach. From there the warmth spread throughout my body and travelled up my face. I felt hot all over and the fire seemed to be burning me.

I handed the bottle back to Lavi who in return threw me a rollie, my reward for accepting and completing his challenge. I wasn't really in the mood, currently trying not to let the liquid come back up, but since he had gone to the effort of rolling it for me, even putting a filter in it, I figured I better smoke it. Lavi stood tossing the small stump of his cigarette into the fire.

"I'll get cooking." He said walking off.

I suppressed a groan wondering what it was Lavi had this time. While i never turned down food, some of the things Lavi came up with were close to horrendous. His 'cooking' usually began with him saying something like, 'So I found out if you put a can of braised steak and onions, on top of 2 minute chicken noodles and cover it with chill sauce it's really awesome!'. I wasn't a fan of that particular concoction but other times he got it right. His noodle omelette turned out to be pretty tasty despite its appearance. Another time he cut holes in a green apple, stuffed it with marshmallows, wrapped it in foil and shoved it in the coals of the fire. I was nervous about it, but it actually turned out really tasty. While I was thinking about what Lavi could have possible come up with, and trying to ignore they way my head was swaying, Lavi returned. In his hands were a collection of very normal and for once edible looking objects.

"Alright." Lavi said sitting down next to me with a thump. "I've got, four potatoes, well shove em in the coals a bit later. I've got a couple of tins of soup and some bread. You do the bread and I'll watch the soup."

Even as he said this he was pulling the lids of the soup and dumping it into a pot he had brought with him. I got up, with just a little bit of difficulty, and wondered off to find a suitable stick. I returned triumphantly with a stick not too think, not to thin and a fork at the end. I grabbed a slice of bread and speared it, holding it out over the fire. It took me a long time to learn how to cook a bit of toast over the fire properly, the amount I'd set on fire in the past was ridiculous. But it was something I was glad I had learnt, the taste was amazing.

I made a stack of toast and then we both dug in, digging the toast and spoons into the pot of peppery soup, not caring that we had to share or were making a mess. We were having a good time.

…

The sun was down but the sky was far from pitch black. There were millions of stars that lit up the whole sky, I had never realised how many there were until I moved here. I was looking up at them, my head hanging back limply. It would take just a little bit too much effort to lift it up and look anywhere else. The bottle of rum was empty and about an inch of liquid remained in the bottle of vodka. I was well and truly drunk, knowing I was going to have to spend the night here as there was no way I could make it back in the state I was in. A part of me believed that this was exactly as Lavi had planed when he had challenged me with rum earlier. He liked getting me drunk, and most of the time I didn't mind, it was just the waiting that annoyed me.

I rolled my head around to focus on Lavi, who in front of the fire, which was now mostly a glowing pile of coals. He was poking through the ashes checking on the potatoes. You couldn't just throw a potato in the fire, you had to wait for a nice pile of coals and cook in nice and slow, turning them every so often.

"They'll be a little while yet." Lavi said turning back to me.

He sat down next to me, so close that our thighs were touching. I knew what was coming next, I still didn't know if I wanted it or not. Lavi raised his left hand placed it on the right side of my neck, pulling me over to him so he could press his lips to the side of my neck. His lips and his touch were gentle as he kissed a line up my neck.

"Lavi." I said unable to suppress a small moan. "You shouldn't."

But even as I said this I reached up and placed a hand on the back of his head, pushing him further into my neck. He laughed softly against my neck, his breath tickling me and making me shudder slightly. He grazed his teeth over my neck and the licked my neck slightly, before kissing it again. I moaned softly again, liking the feeling, as he massaged my neck with his mouth.

He always waiting until I was a little too drunk and then this would begin. Some part of me knew that it was wrong that he would do this when I was too drunk to do anything. Another part of me loved the feeling of it. Another part of my mind, the part way in the back, was usually just confused. I knew I liked what he was doing, and I knew that I lilac Lavi, a lot, what troubled me though was that I didn't know if I liked Lavi THAT way or not. It felt good, it turned me on, but the idea that I shouldn't get turned on my another male always annoyed and confused me. When I wasn't with Lavi I found myself looking at other guys, wondering if I found them attractive or not, then I would look at girls and think the same thing. I never really found my self overly attracted to anyone, which confused me all the more. I both craved and hated these situations.

Lavi moved up further and kissed along my jaw line before coming to my mouth and pressing his lips to mine gentle. There were a few small, chaste kisses, before he moved his hand to the back of my head and pushed his mouth against mine harder. I let out a gasp and Lavi took the opportunity to deepen the kiss with his tongue. I rolled my hand into his hair, grabbing a handful, before pressing back against his mouth. He withdrew some what and then bit my bottom lip softly, running his tongue over it before plunging back into my mouth. I was panting softly by this point, my body tingling with his touch and from the alcohol, eye's squeezed shut, one hand resting on his shoulder. He pushed against me suddenly, our teeth clacking together from the force and I felt myself being pushed back onto the ground.

With my back pressed against the dirt Lavi moved down again, kissing and licking at my neck again. Moving over the whole thing instead of just focusing on one side. I was taking deep ragged breaths and I could fell my face was flushed, and slightly sweaty. As he moved back up to my mouth I felt his fingered ghost across my chest before moving down and then up under my shirt. His fingers felt cold and fingernails sharp, as he scratching my skin lightly. I shuddered again at the touch, lifting my head to force my way into Lavi's mouth instead of him in mine. His hand continued to move up and down the left side of my body before coming to a stop on my upper chest. He then lightly pressed his thumb to my nipple. I gasped and pushed him up and away from me, rolling out form beneath his as I did.

"T-that's enough." I panted, trying to steady my swimming world.

"When are you going to let me in?" Lavi asked, as he ran a hand up my leg.

I kicked it away and sat up, wrapping my arms around me.

"When I know for sure what I'm feeling." I mumbled, unable to look at him.

I heard Lavi stand and walk away. Followed by the sound of him stocking the fire.

"By the noises you were making I'm pretty sure I know what you were feeling."

"Those aren't the feelings I was referring to." I said feeling embarrassed at the mention of the noises I was making.

Lavi laughed at me again before returning. There were four thumps and turned to look at the foil wrapped potatoes from the fire.

"Eat up and then go to sleep."

I let the potatoes cool for a bit, then slowly peeled the foil off. The skin was crispy and crunchy, but the inside was so soft it melted in your mouth. I finished off three of them in the time it took Lavi to eat one. As the warmth settled in my stomach I felt my eyes start to close. My world was slowly turning black and next thing Lavi was there, dragging me closer to the warmth of the fire. He threw a few more logs on the fire before returning to me. He sat down behind me and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to the side, forcing me to lay down. He pulled me close against his body and found I didn't mind at all, it was comforting and warm. I let myself fall asleep.

….

This is set in Australia because that is where I'm for and it's easier for me to write in a setting I'm familiar with. The outlay of the town is roughly based on the town I grew up in. Th isolation of it (mentioned in later chapters) is based on another town I've been to a few times. I'm trying to be more descriptive, let me know if I fail miserable or not.

Opinions and reviews more than welcome.