.Silhouette Serenade- A Vampire Knight Fanfiction by Clue-sama.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything legally affiliated with Matsuri Hino's Vampire Knight and am not making money with these fanworks.

Rating: M. T to start with, but it will probably get to M eventually.

Overall Warnings: yaoi.(m/m relationships) probably a bit of language. very mild typos which will be betaed eventually. ^^

Author's Notes: Okay! Here is the AU fic that was decided upon in the poll in which "waiter and patron" was voted on. This will be a multi-chaptered fic like MLC and The Used. Storyline and all. :3 Very excited- I've been waiting for a chance to start this...yaaay~ Anyway, a few things: I know I put 'no vampirism' in the poll, but I've changed my mind. One of them will be vampire and the other will have no idea about vampires even existing. Not hard to guess who's who, but I didn't want to say, just in case. XD I hope you'll enjoy this new ficcy and on a side note, MLC3 is on hold for now but it is going to exist one day.

Ah and... The title is also the name of a song by Vendetta Red, a very inspirational band. :3 Check out the song to hear what this story runs on.

Credits: A bit of a mention to lightpathetic because just as this idea struck me, she came out with Pure Blood which featured Zero being a waiter at a bar. I didn't know what type of waiter Zero was going to be when I started and I thought "Zero would totally be a waiter at a bar!" So I just wanted to thank her for making Zero a bar waiter... XD (very lovely credit, this was)

Read, enjoy, review~!

-x-X-x-

Chapter One

Zero hated it when the girls at his job swooned over a 'hot' male customer. They would totally forget that they were at work and should do their damn jobs instead of flocking around a table, trying to get the patron's attention. The girls would make such noise, disrupting their other customers, and not only were they obnoxious, Zero would have to take over whatever they weren't doing. Ah... and sometimes his boss, Yagari, got involved... Zero shook his head just thinking about it. It only got worse when Yagari came down from his office above the pub to the working floor.

Adjusting his black apron, Zero came out of the employee's lounge, grabbing his tray and heading to where he picked up orders. Tonight, it would be rough. There was some new guy around that seemed to like the bar where Zero worked... And in turn, the girls here seemed to like the new guy. There was a private area in the back for reservation and, naturally, the mystery man bought that out every night since the beginning of this week. It was now the middle of the week, but every time, the girls gathered around the curtained-in entrance, squealing. Zero rolled his lavender eyes as he passed there now, seeing the females crowded around already.

Apparently, the new guy had already gotten here before Zero's shift. He had the night shift, but he didn't mind. There was nothing better to do than work. Ever since his parents were murdered by some crazy convict and his brother took off to God knows where, Zero was alone. He just graduated from high school, but he had yet to get into any university where he could major in marksmanship. Zero lived in an apartment which he worked his ass off to maintain rent on, but other than that miniscule acheivement... he was by himself and had nothing to look forward to. He didn't mind it much, as long as he ignored it, but man... There was nothing like a mob of excited girls to remind a guy of how lonely he was.

Zero approached the wide, short window that attached the kitchen to the main floor to pick up an order, but as he got there, he didn't see any for his section of tables. Plenty for the girls, but no one had come in on his yet. He sighed- that was just as well. He was rather tired tonight, he got paid by the hour either way, and tips would come in time. However, just as he turned to go see if anything needed sweeping or if a table needed clearing, the cook called out to him from the window.

He stepped back over, shaking his silver hair from his eyes to avoid actually touching it.

"Yeah?"

The cook plucked one of the paper slips from the window sill that was sitting under a plate of kebabs.

"Harumi-san is sick tonight, so you have her tables, Kiryuu-kun."

Zero's white dress shirt-clad shoulders sagged. He had two sets of tables tonight? Great. He thanked the cook for telling him, but as he gathered up the plates this particular order sheet specified onto his tray, he internally grumbled. He hated working two sets. Why couldn't one of the stupid girls over there take the other section? His night got a little worse as he noticed that he would need two trays to carry all of the customer's food. Loading up the second tray and balancing it on his other arm, Zero tried to calm himself.

Harumi-san was a little older than the rest of the waiters and waitresses that worked here, so it was okay, he supposed. That, and it wasn't like his own section was packed right now. It could be worse... Zero felt a bit better as he told himself this, but once he glanced at what table this order was for, he nearly let the trays fall to the floor.

He was to take waiting on the private table tonight? The table with that pretty boy and whatever pretty company he had at it?

"Damnit..." he hissed, storming over to the crowd of girls while balancing the trays on his arms. He wasn't worried about the trays- he'd done this many times, but he had developed a kind of loathing for whoever sat at the private tables. He had never waited on them until now, but, for the aforementioned reasons, when the rich people came, it only made his life worse for a shift.

"Kiryuu-kun?" some of the girls questioned as he approached, looking pissed. They weren't really surprised that he looked angry because he usually was, but... was he going back there?

He ignored their curious looks and mumbled, "Can you open the curtain?"

After a moment of shock, a few of the girls almost tore the curtain down trying to open it. Zero scowled as they finally got it open and he stepped in, glaring over his shoulder for them to shut it back. Stupid girls...

He turned around to offer his polite dialogue to the patron like he was supposed to, but as he looked down, his mouth went dry and his mind went blank. There was more than one customer, as he previously figured- about four more, but the one that was making him stall was... was unreal. The dark, mahogany-colored eyes were watching him intently, half covered by wavy sorrel locks that caught the dim lighting of the establishment wonderfully. His hair led Zero's eyes to the other's strong shoulders where the tresses fell over a bit on the silky dark blue shirt the guest was wearing. His skin seemed to glow a soft golden color from said low light, but Zero knew that it was probably a pale milky color. The lines and angles of the other's face were perfect and Zero usually did not believe in perfection, but here it was. Perfection incarnate. Zero couldn't see much else since the table got in the way, but even if he could have looked all the way down and back up again, a sharp clearing of someone's throat yanked the waiter back to attention.

He sluggishly glanced to the godly patron's right to see an irritated-looking blonde kid glaring at him. None of the people sitting here looked much older than Zero, but as a rule, Zero had to treat everyone as if they were his parents.

"I... I'm sorry. How is everyone tonight?" he asked formally, only half-listening to the responses. He felt his face warming up and he hoped the low light didn't allow any of them to see it. God... plenty of beautiful people came in here, but... no one had ever made him slip up like this. He made himself focus on sitting the trays down on the low table without destroying everything and making himself look even more incompetent.

The blonde huffed at his question, turning his icy blue eyes away from Zero to express that he didn't like him and wouldn't be getting a tip from him... Another blonde with friendly green eyes seated beside the first blonde smiled and said, "Fine, thank you." Zero bent to slip the first tray from his arm and he wondered if the dark haired man was still watching him... It... It sure felt like it. They were less than two feet away from each other now that he was bending at the waist... He automatically responded to the second blonde's answer.

"That's good."

He straightened up after situating the dishes and drinks on the table, placing the empty tray on another table behind him before sitting the other items from the second tray down quickly. They had ordered large platters, empty plates and all water so Zero didn't have to ask who ordered what, thank God. As he set the last large plate of food down, he tucked the tray under his arm, saying, "Will that be all?" Zero didn't mean to, oh, he didn't mean to, but he looked up to the captivating male at the table to see a soft smile on the other's sculped lips directed back at him.

"For now. Thank you."

All he said were those four soft words, but the gentle timbre of them somehow made Zero's muscles decide to take a moment's break and he nearly dropped the tray he was holding. It was a good thing it was already unloaded, but his cheeks still burned as he clutched it tight in his hands after he scrambled to keep it from hitting the floor. The blue-eyed blonde laughed, but so did a previously unnoticed girl. She was to the beautiful man's left and her hair was of the same color as his, a dark brown hue. It was long and looked like it reached her waist at least. She giggled behind a delicate hand and said, "Are you okay?"

Zero pursed his lips and grabbed the other tray behind him.

"Yeah."

He didn't dare look at the dark-haired patron and he practically knocked a few of the waitresses down shoving his way out of there. He'd made a fool of himself, but he would have to go back in there every once and a while to make sure everything was okay to keep from losing his job. He tried to take his mind off of the attractive patron while he waited on his own tables which had gotten filled while he was in there fumbling around, but it was hard. If he wasn't thinking about his voice, it was his eyes; if not those, then his skin...

Zero shook his head like that would scatter the thoughts as he returned from serving some other people. They were all eerily comely, the patrons back there, but why did he get pulled to the dark-haired male? It didn't mean a lot that they were both guys, though. Zero was well aware that attraction was attraction (and all feelings above and below), but, good Lord, he wasn't gay. He had never thought of another boy as sexy and would never admit this aloud, but... the patron back there... was sexy. Something about those eyes called to Zero on a physical level as well as an emotional one. It almost reminded the silver-haired waiter of what he saw when he looked at himself in the mirror in the mornings. A bit cold. Lonely...

"Kiryuu-kun, Kuran-san and his guests need more plates!" one of the waitresses gathered about the curtain called, eager to help. Zero tensed. Kuran? Was that the dark-haired customer's surname? He stiffly got some more plates and carried them to the curtain. He had popped in a few times earlier to quickly ask if they needed anything, but as soon as who he now guessed was Kuran said everything was fine, he hightailed it out of there. Telling himself to calm down because this sort of behavior would get him nowhere, Zero pushed the curtain aside with his free hand and closed it behind him.

"Your plates..." he murmured, keeping his eyes down.

The green-eyed blonde moved an empty cup out of the way and Zero thanked him quietly, putting the dishes down. He ignored the feel of eyes on him as he did this and when he stood up, he made sure to look at no one in particular as he said, "Is that all you need for now?"

He thought they were going to dismiss him, but the girl piped up and requested, "Can I have dessert?"

Zero looked more directly at her and gave a work-oriented smile. She was much easier to look at and he didn't feel his stomach tighten when she smiled back at him...

"Of course. Here is a menu."

He pulled one of the small, laminated menus out of one of his apron's pockets and handed it to her. He didn't expect the dark-haired male to reach out instead, coolly taking the menu from his now numb fingers. Their hands brushed briefly and when they did, Zero began to tremble. He didn't know why, but he gulped as he felt the other patron's eyes on him. He lowered his head and clenched his fingers into fists. He would have probably started to slip from the area, but the other was now speaking to the girl and it chased the strange shivers away.

"Yuuki, you've eaten so much already."

She pouted and whined, "But, brother..."

Zero felt a little dizzy and he closed his eyes momentarily, listening to their words. He must be getting a cold or something... But her name was Yuuki... and they were siblings...

Kuran spoke again, the tone of brotherly affection now apparent in his lovely voice.

"We have to go now... The day after tomorrow, you can get as much dessert as you'd like though. I promise."

Zero opened his eyes to see Kuran offering the menu back and saying words to him now.

"I'm sorry. May I have the bill?"

He shakily took the menu, and failed to notice how Kuran seemed to be holding onto the very corner of it this time while he merely nodded. He couldn't speak at the moment...

Zero dazedly got the bill, put it into the leather cover and returned to the closed-in area. Kuran was watching him again and Zero did look at him for a moment to let him know that he, Zero, knew the brunette was looking. A man like Kuran didn't seem like he would look away from something like that, but he did and he reached into his coat pocket for something casually. Zero sighed and sat the bill down before leaving once more. Was it just him or did it feel like they were all watching him as he turned? The hairs on the back of his neck prickled uncomfortably. It might have been nice to have some eye candy that had such an effect on him, but he didn't particularly like serving them. They were like something in his dreams.

At the end of the night, when the sun was beginning to rise, Zero clocked out, yawning. He folded his apron up and headed home, bidding farewell to the waitress who had to lock up. The bar wasn't open in the morning and didn't reopen until around three-o-clock, but he kind of wanted to stay and work now. When he had a moment to stop and think, he couldn't help but wonder about those strange patrons...Especially Kuran.

--

Author's Notes: "Major in marksmanship." Can anyone say, "fail?" XD Don't think there is such a thing, is there? I won't change it, regardless, but still. And I have no idea how a bar/pub thing works or how being an employee in one goes so bear with me...