zax_fair | For deus_ex

"Well, I can tell it wasn't as horrible as it could have been. You aren't trying to absorb it right to your liver." She chuckled. "I don't mind the details, if you want. Otherwise, feel free to vent."

She sipped at her own drink, relaxed as it became apparently that Kunsel wasn't massively broken up over this. It looked more frustration than anything else.

"Feel free to moan if you like." She waggled her eyebrows at him, giving the innuendo with that line.

Kunsel snorted, halfway through another sip of his drink, which probably wasn't the best timing on his part. But oh well, at least he didn't spit any out, and that earned a genuine laugh from him.

"Well, you know, since my whole problem with tonight is a lack of moaning..." He trailed that sentence off deliberately, waggling his eyebrows right back.

After a moment, though, he let his smile fade back. Joking around helped, but Zax was right (again). He needed to vent about this.

"I thought things were going well with her. Tonight was supposed to end with a corny 'your place or mine' pickup line. She liked corny jokes, you know?" He swirled his drink, staring at the liquid in his glass. "But then she just started flipping out about how I was just using her to get information."

"...I'm going to kick her ass." Zax wasn't happy with that. Anyone who knew Kunsel knew he collected information like a sponge. But he never used anyone like that.

She moved her chair towards Kunsel, getting close enough that she could bump her shoulder against his. It was silent support, and she was willing to listen to him for as long as he wanted to vent. Because she cared about him, and hated to know that someone had hurt him.

Whether it was the comment or the bump on his shoulder, Zax earned a small smile from Kunsel. He nudged her back, letting her know he was grateful, and took another drink from his glass.

"At least it came out before I got too attached. No messy breakup, no figuring out who owns what. I don't even have to go to her place to try to get any of my things back from her. Really, I got pretty lucky here." He paused, cracking an expectant smile. Because that was a perfect opening, and he fully expected to be teased. "Just not the kind of lucky I wanted."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Zax teased. she grabbed some chips and nibbled on them. "Just so you know, if you break up with being my friend, I'm keeping all of your things."

Her tone clearly stated that she never expected that to happen. She and Kunsel had made friends earlier, and Zax had no intention of stopping any time soon.

Actually, the shirt she was wearing now used to be Kunsel's. It was soft and she had stolen it with no shame.

"I can still to kick her down a few flights of stairs if you want. Should only take me a few minutes."

"Oh, like you're not keeping them already?" he teased right back. He knew exactly whose shirt that had once been, even if he'd never put up a fight about getting it back.

Setting his drink down, he reached out to snag the bag of chips shamelessly off the table from right in front of her. Hey, at least he'd let her get some first, right?

"You don't have to do anything, Zax. I don't need you to defend my honor." His tone was playful, even though he meant it. "Honestly, I'd just rather put it behind me and forget I tried to date her at all. How much alcohol do you think that'll take?"

Sticking her tongue out at him, Zax didn't put up a fuss when he grabbed the chips. Hey, she had gotten them to be shared.

Instead of saying anything about the chips, she just sat up to grab the bottle and refilled her glass before offering to do the same for Kunsel. "I'm not sure. But I have plenty, and we don't have any missions for the next few days."

He wasn't the only one who could arrange things, and Zax figured that, date gone well or not, Kunsel might need a few days to focus on being in Midgar.

"Wow, good alcohol and a vacation. Either I did something really awesome, or you're buttering me up for something, Zax." Or she was just the best friend anyone could ever ask for, but that was true anyway.

Once she was done refilling their drinks, he reached into the bag for a chip, then flipped it her way, interested in seeing how she might try to catch it. Somewhere in the back of his mind where he honestly didn't care, it occurred to him that the alcohol was probably already sinking in. Didn't care, because getting drunk was the point, and he could just help clean up in the morning if this ended up making a mess.

"So, which is it?"

"Yes," Zax said cheerfully, giving him a grin and a completely non-straight answer. It was fun to tease a bit, and giving him a puzzle would be fun.

She swayed a bit, catching the chip in her mouth. Go hand-eye coordination. Wouldn't be able to do that in a little bit, giving how strong this stuff could be. But that was the point of the chips, to put something in their stomachs besides alcohol.

"Maybe I'm just super awesome and can do things for multiple reasons." Maybe not in this case, but teasing was always fun with Kunsel. It was a challenge for each other. Her to try to sneak info past him, and him to figure out what she was doing.

Hey, she actually caught it in her mouth. Kunsel's mouth lifted into a smile with amusement. "Well, let's see," he mused, tossing another chip. "I think I can rule out the 'just reward' theory, since I'd know better than anyone if I'd done something awesome. So. Pretty sure that means you're trying to get into my good graces. That just leaves the question of why."

He paused then, holding up another chip in his hand, and gave her a mock-accusing look. "Alright, Zax, what did you do that you're trying to get me to forgive?"

Catching the second chip as well, Zax snorted. She lazily poked at her friend's shoulder. "If I had done something, you'd have already known about it. You have special powers like that."

She grinned at him, eyes amused. "Besides, maybe I just like making you grin when you've had a bad day."

It was good to see him relaxing a bit. While he hasn't gone out with the woman long, it had been more than one date. Zax thought she was completely allowed to worry. Friend privilege.

"I've been out of touch with my contacts for about three hours now," Kunsel bantered back, reaching up to catch her hand. "You could have slipped something by me in that time that I wouldn't know about yet." He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze, reassuring her that he was just teasing.

But more than that, he wanted to let her know that he was grateful, both for the favor that she'd clearly done for him, and for just being there, for helping him get his mind off of things, for just all around being her. The smile he returned to her was warm.

"You know, I didn't even check my PHS before I came here." And while that spoke volumes about how upset he'd been, it also said a lot about their friendship. Hers was the voice he wanted to hear more than any rumors right now.

Giving him a look of faux-despair, Zax set her glass down to rest it against his forehead. "Oh, you are sick, aren't you? You should have said something."

She did squeeze his fingers back, as best she could with the angle of the grip. Kunsel, no matter what else happened, was always going to be her friend. She'd stand up with him no matter what happened.

Even if it was a repeat of that time in the cafeteria and the runny oatmeal.

"All your contacts will think you've been murdered. You'll have to start from scratch."

Collecting her glass again, Zax gave him a small smile. He was always going to be welcomed here, and she was glad he knew he could come.

Hey, that oatmeal incident was not his fault. He was as much a victim as anyone else. Just because he knew more didn't mean that he was guilty. More people than Zax should have taken his word that he just had really good contacts.

Though speaking of his contacts, he can't help but laugh at Zax's exaggeration. "I'm allowed to take breaks from my PHS without it meaning that I'm sick!" He swatted her hand away from his head. "I do sleep sometimes, you know? And other things!"

Even if he might give people the impression that he doesn't, because he keeps waking up every time his PHS goes off, and he can't just go back to bed without checking to see what just came in.

Relaxing against Kunsel, Zax grinned at him. "Well, I suppose you do sleep now and then. Though we all know you survive off gossip and rumor." Her tone was full of teasing, and she let her head tip to rest on his shoulder.

In any case, this was nice, and she sipped at her drink some more. "One day, you are going to take over the entire blackmarket and everyone will regret not getting in on the ground floor of being your friend." Even now, Kunsel's awareness of what was going on made him the perfect person to find out who to buy what from.

"Are you kidding?" Kunsel made a face, deliberately exaggerated to wrinkle his nose. "If I took over the whole black market, I'd have to interact more directly with the slum lords." Implying that he interacted with them less directly right now, but details. "Can you imagine having to talk to someone like Don Corneo?"

Although, come to think of it, it might be pretty funny if it was Zax who had a conversation with the Don. Between his imagination and the alcohol, Kunsel had to hide a grin in his drink, and he took the opportunity to sling an arm around her shoulders. You know, just in case that suddenly sounded like a good idea.

"I would terrify someone like the Don. When he wasn't trying to work up the nerve to hit on me." Zax was pretty confident in that. Though it was something she saw on a regular basis, that mix of fear and interest. As one of the few females in the SOLDIER program, she saw it a lot in the incoming troops, as well as some of her fellow SOLDIERs. And Reno. Probably because she was attractive, yet able to break a lot of them with one hand.

She shifted to relax a bit more against Kunsel's side, still sipping at her drink. This was good stuff. "Besides, that is why you have minions, so they can talk to slum lords for you. You just organize everything and make all the gil."

"If he ever works up the nerve, I want popcorn." Because watching that would be hilarious. Better even than watching the new recruits meet Zax, and recruit day was always fun. So much so that Kunsel had made a point of hanging in the background near Zax during orientation to see the new recruits' reaction to her.

"But slum lords tend to have inflated opinions of their importance. Sooner or later, one would insist on seeing me in person. I like the idea of minions, though." He lifted his head from his drink long enough to see his slightly goofy grin. "Would you be my minion, Zax?"

...yeah, alcohol was definitely kicking in.

"Sure, as long as you buy me all the awesome things." She waggled her brows at Kunsel, grinning back at him. "I admit, I'm not sure how cheap I'd be. But I'd totally give you a discount for my awesome services."

She was feeling pretty relaxed and happy. This was good, it was better to see her friend grinning and relaxed than upset. Much better.

"Is that my cue to offer my services in exchange?" He winked at her exaggeratedly, with all the seriousness the idea even deserved. "Rumor has it I'm a really good lay."

His rumor, of course, that she might have helped spread, but details. He just wanted to make her laugh.

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