Fashion Misfits

Ch.1 "Lace & Leather"

Chord knew he'd finally be living his dreams. Dressing celebrities, making suggestions for some of the latest fashion trends and what not. But sadly those were truly just dreams, cause ever since he got the job his co-workers treated him like their personnel lackey. Even though he didn't have a degree in fashion and design, he figured he was qualified to do a lot more than running fucking errands like for instance-picking up dry cleaning (Personal dry cleaning ), fetching coffee, breakfast, taking out the trash-and those were only a few of the errands he had to run. It's irritating to do such trivial jobs. Especially when none of those jobs had to do with fashion... Sometimes he wondered why he even worked there and why they gave him the job if this is what they were going to have him do.

Oh, wait, he knew why... Because no other idiot would take the job. Sounded like a good enough reason to him.

"Conrad!! Conrad!!" A skinny girl yelled running up to Chord who had just got back from picking up breakfast and dry cleaning. He had the dry cleaning swung over his back as he carried the handle between his clenched teeth, a drink holder with coffee, and a bag of English muffins tucked under his right arm and a bag of pastries tucked under the other.

"My name is, Chord..." He said, through his clenched teeth struggling to hold everything. "Did you need something else?"

"Yeah, right whatever... Did you get the dry cleaning?"

"Yes, got it."- (What he really wanted to say was, "do you see it?", but he guessed he wanted to keep his job...)

The girl took the dry cleaning from behind him not wanting to hold the hangers. "Good, did you get the food?"

He let out an annoyed sigh as he wonder if this girl was possibly blind, cause only someone who couldn't see the oversized coffees and the bags of baked goods tucked under each of his arms, would continue to ask such blatantly ignorant questions.

"Obvio- I mean yes. Was there anything else?"

"No, that's it for now... " The girl said taking the cup of coffee with the vanilla creamer from him. "Oh, Mr. Reid wants to see you."

"Okay." He said, wondering what Mr. Reid wanted now? It was probably time to take his rats he called dogs out for their five hundredth walk of the day. He considered quitting, but he guessed it was a good thing he was getting paid. But he wasn't sure that he was being payed enough to do the unfit task he was being given.

He walked to the elevator and headed up to the 20th floor.

He walked into his office to the sound of him on the phone gossiping about the latest designs he'd be doing. Chord wished he could talk about the latest designs, but the only thing he knew the latest about was the flavor of pastries and bagels, if anyone was interested in knowing about that, -(which he doubted anyone was) he'd be happy to tell them.

Mr. Reid was a very attractive older fair skinned man. He had dark brown hair with nicely kept side burns, a light amount of facial hair that was also nicely kept. He dressed in a tailored gray suit with a very eccentric tie, gold shoes and round gold glasses that covered his sky blue eyes. He pointed for Chord to take a seat in a blue high back chair that sat in front of his desk. He sat the other three coffees and the bag of baked goods on the desk and took a seat as he waited for Mr. Reid to finish his phone call. As he waited one of Mr. Reid's rat looking dogs came up to him. It wagged it's scrawny tail excitedly as it barked and yipped at him. Chord disliked animals, especially ugly ones. He swore that Mr. Reid had found his dogs on the side of the road half dead and brought them back to life. If they had flies flying around them he'd be even more convinced that his assumption was correct. He thought rolling his eyes as the dog decided to jump on his lap.

"Shoo!! Go away... Go away..." Chord growled through his teeth, as the dog started to chew at one of the leather belts he had on.

"Okay Kiss, kiss..." Mr. Reid said hanging up the phone. "Aww Look at my little Donna... It's so good you get along with my little Donnatella!! Aww...."

"Uh-haha." Chord laughed, trying to hide his annoyance. "Yeah that's really greeeaaattt... Not to be rude Mr. Reid, but what did you need?"

"Huh? Oh, I'd like to ask you to do a very important favor. I believe you're the only one who is qualified to do it." He said taking a seat in his swinging ball chair.

"I see... What's the favor, sir? Do you need me to walk the dogs? Or take your car to the car wash?" he asked with an annoyed sigh, resting his head on his hand. He couldn't imagine what ignorant task Mr. Reid wanted him to do now.

"No, nothing like that. You see, my son is coming into town for a couple of months."

"Oh, how nice... What exactly does that have to do with me?"

"Well, he needs a playmate. So, I thought you'd be perfect. He's a model. He's been staying with his mother and now he's coming out to take some time off from his hectic life. I need you to watch him for me. Keep him company and do whatever he needs. You'll get a big reward out of this, I promise. Doesn't that sound fun?" Mr. Reid said swinging back and forth in his chair with a happy grin.

"Well... I honestly don't like-"

"I know you'll do a wonderful job. Okay, off you go... You need to head to my house downtown on the east. The one by the water, not the one that looks over the water, but the one that's at a slight angle. Oh here I'll just give you both keys, and addresses. I'm not sure which he'll choose. He's kind of picky. Have fun!! Ta-ta!!" Mr. Reid said handing Chord the keys.

Chord walked out of the office wishing Mr. Reid would've asked him to walk his bitchass dogs. Babysitting!! Was Mr. Reid fucking kidding?! It was bad enough he had him run errands, but why did he have to watch his little snot nose, spit dribbling kid?

I'm not a babysitter! This is by far the worst job ever. Why me? Chord asked himself as he headed downstairs to the parking garage. He could just scream. He didn't like animals, but he would've rather dealt with them than children. At least you can put an animal in a cage. Chord wondered if he could rent one of those big cages that they used to put animals in at the zoo back in the day, then he could put the kid in there. That'd be convenient, but he knew it was pretty unlikely. He just had to suck it up. How much trouble could a kid be? He'll just be a thorn in his side, but if it means he might be able to move up from servant status then he'd put up and shut up.

As he walked to his car his cell phone began to ring.

"Yellow..."

"Chord!! I need you to swing by my place after work and take me to this rally downtown." Chord's best friend Koi said. He had known Koi since he was fourteen. Koi's an odd little fella. Not to say that Chord was what one would consider "normal", but Koi was something else.

"Koi, I can't help you with your protest rally today. I've got to go watch the boss's kid..."

"Kid? Now he has you babysitting? Damn dude, thought he hired you for fashion, not to watch his kid? When will you be done watching his spawn?"

"Yeah, I know. I thought when I got this job that I'd be styling celebrities by now. Maybe starting my own clothing line, or something. But no, I've been a freaking errand boy for a year and a half now. And it seems like my job is only getting worse."

"You should come be a protester with me. You'd like it a lot more."

"Right, how much do you get paid again?" Chord asked facetiously.

"Paid?... I don't. It's free." Koi said not catching his sarcasm.

"My point exactly. Yeah, I'll pass on the whole protest activist thing. Not trying to go to jail for some of the stunts y'all pull and I'm not trying to be broke."

"You're only as broke as you think you are. Aren't we all broke without hope?"

"What the fuck?! Where'd you pull that from?" Chord asked as he pulled out of the parking garage in his old clunker of a car. He turned onto the busy traffic filled streets and headed toward the apartment suite downtown, that slightly overlooked the water. Whatever the hell that met.

"It came to me in a dream... If you ever get tired of being an errand boy you're more than welcomed to join my protest group. Guess I'll catch you later...I've got to get to my rally, there's this new company that's letting there chemicals run off into the ocean. It's causing the sea life to die and be extremely mutated which in turn ends up inside the bodies of innocent fish eaters causing all kinds of unexplained health conditions. It's totally uncool."

"You don't say? Well, good luck with your rally, hopefully I'll be able to catch up with you later. That is, if you're not in jail."

With that Chord hung up his phone and tossed into the passenger seat. He waited in the long line of traffic that seemed to be moving five inches every twenty minutes, not that he could say he minded. He wasn't the least bit anxious to start babysitting. He wondered what this kid was like. Mr. Reid didn't even give him a picture, or his name... He tried to imagine him in his mind, conjuring up the image of an 8 year old child model with dark brunette hair, blue eyes, small cherub face accentuated with gold round glasses in a tailored suit. Basically, a mini version of Mr. Reid. Chord chuckled at that image.

The traffic finally started to move after what felt like a millennium.

He made it to the first house that was a first class suite in the prestigious city of Hightower. He parallel parked and headed inside through the double doors. He walked up to the front desk and asked the front desk concierge if Mr. Reid's son had arrived yet.

"Hello sir, welcome to The Highmount estates. How may I help you today?" A red headed curvy woman asked in a very peppy tone.

"Hello, I'm looking for Mr. Theory Reid's son. He's supposed to be staying here. I've been tasked with the duty of watching him."

"I see. And your name sir?"

"Chord Major."

"Okay, I see your name on the expected guest list. He's in room

#435. Do you have the key, or do you need me to give you one?"

"Oh, I have a key. Thanks" Chord said with a smile.

"Alright then. Let me give you this wine that he had specially ordered. He told me to hold it until room service, or one of the staff could bring it. But he's been running them ragged since he came, so it'd probably be best if you took it."

"Wait, what? Wine...?" Chord asked taking the bottle of red wine.

He knew his face had to be saying what the fuck?! But this chick surely wasn't getting it as she went on about the wine.

"Would you like some ice to put that in? He'd probably like that chilled. I can't remember if he wanted it chilled or room temperature. Oh well... I'm sure he'll let you know. Good luck. He's on the 12th floor." The woman said with a smile.

He walked into the elevator and hit the button for the 12th floor hoping it would take a while to get there, or better yet maybe the elevator would crash to the bottom and he'd miraculously live and then sue the building and own it. Then he could quit before he even started babysitting. He thought with a wicked smile, as the elevator made a rickety sounding noise and the lights began to flicker.

On second thought, he was just kidding about the whole elevator crashing. Making it to the 12th floor, the doors opened and Chord booked it out of there thinking he'd be taking the stairs from now on. He didn't want to tempt fate too much.

"M-M-Mr. Reid.... Please calm down. I'll take it back!! I'll take it back!!!" Chord heard a male voice yell. He looked straight ahead and saw a small man running out of a room with a food cart. Chord dashed out of the way to avoid being run over as the man about dove into the elevator.

"I asked for poached salmon, red caviar drizzled in rosemary red pepper balsamic olive oil, with a Greek salad, and al dente saffron linguine with a sautéed mushroom sauce and room temperature glacier water. NOT THIS!! I swear can none of you ingrates do anything right?!" A deep baritone voice yelled as plates of food went flying into the hallway...

"Mr. Reid please calm down... We're taking care of it. We will-"

"GET OUT!! ALL OF YOU!!... GET OUT!!!" The deep voice yelled.

Three people ran out of the room in opposite directions of each other as Chord approached the room slowly. What the hell was going on? Before he could even peek into the room, the door slammed shut.

It felt like the whole building shook. He looked at the plates of food on the floor, swallowing a gulp of courage before knocking on the door. He probably should've thought about it and maybe ran away,

it's not like he enjoyed his job that much. It definitely wasn't too late to turn back as he stood there waiting for the door to open.

He decided that today was the day he quit. Yup... He couldn't deal, wasn't even gonna try. With that, he turned around and began to walk away as the door opened.

"What?! Can I help you with something?" The deep voice asked.

Chord stopped in his tracks, too afraid to turn around as he answered the deep voice's question.

"N-No. I think I had the wrong room." He laughed nervously. "Sorry for interrupting you. I'll be going now." he said standing there frozen.

"Turn around when you speak to me. I don't like not seeing who I'm speaking with."

Who the hell did this guy think he was? Talking to him in that manner. Pssht... Chord thought to himself with a laugh.

"Turn around when you speak to me. Child Please!!!" he mumbled to himself mockingly, deciding to turn around to humor his curiosity.

Running with his imagination of this little mini Theory Reid that was trying to masquerade as an adult with a deep voice he turned around to face a man who towered over his small 5'7 frame. He had to be about 6'4". He was dressed in a dark blue zip up vest, a yellow plaid shirt, and red jeans. He a tanned complexion and pretty curly raven colored hair with nicely kept sideburns. His almond shaped hazel eyes were freaking breath taking. He had a chiesled face and a body that was just flawless. A perfect five o'clock shadow, pretty lush lips, perfect arched eyebrows, lashes that were so long and thick they seemed like they could create a wind storm if he blinked fast enough.

Could someone say tall, dark and gorgeous? Cause Chord surely could.

"That's better. Never seen you around before. Who are you?"

The gorgeous man asked looking Chord over. He took in all the many piercings and tattoos he had, finding his style interesting. Chord was dressed in gray denim ripped jeans, three belts were wrapped around his waist and one actually looped around his pants, a black shirt with a ribcage print on it that showed his midriff and chain hanging against his hip. As the gorgeous man's eyes made their way back up Chord's body he noticed the red bondage collar around his neck with a silver lock on it. It sent a naughty thought through his mind. He smiled a pleased smile as he continued scanning him. He observed his electric blue hair that was shaved down on one side and longer on the other.

"Your future husband..." Chord said, unconsciously. As he realized what he had said Mr. Gorgeous was busy bursting out into laughter. He couldn't believe he had actually said that... He wished someone would just kill him... Although that wouldn't be necessary since his embarrassment was killer enough.

"Okay future husband, do you have a name?" Mr. Gorgeous asked flashing a perfect white smile, trying stop himself from laughing more than he was.

"Name? Oh, umm... my name is Chord Major. I was sent here by Mr. Theory Reid to watch his son. He wouldn't happen to be here would he?" Chord asked trying not to say anything else stupid.

"Chord, eh? That's a cool name. Yeah I guess you could say his son's here."

"Thank you. Oh, That's great may I come inside?"

"Sure..." he said letting Chord inside.

"By the way do you have a name?" Chord asked as Mr. Gorgeous closed the door. He looked around at the huge penthouse suite, that was decked out with lots of beautiful retro furniture. He took a seat on a red couch with a nervous sigh.

"Soooo.... Where's the kid at? I'm sure he probably wants to go to the park or something. I'm not sure what kids like. I really don't think children like me. They're always pulling on my clothes and piercings. There was this one time, I babysat for my friend's sister's cousin's nephew, and the little demon pulled on my nose ring and earrings.

It wasn't a good experience. I guess you could say the dislike is mutual. But please don't tell Mr. Reid I said that. I'll do my best.

I just hope his son doesn't pull on any of my piercings or throw up on me... I so shouldn't be telling you this. I don't even know you and here I am blabbering on. I tend to do that when I'm nervous."

He knew he was making a complete idiot of himself and in front of this hot guy no less.

"Don't worry, I wont tell my dad that you don't like kids. That is, as long as you take me to the park and let me play with your hair." Gorgeous said with a laugh, revealing he was Mr. Reid's son.

Chord sat breathless, he couldn't believe it. Mr. Reid said a kid, not a freaking man that could be classified as god among men!!

"Earth to blue haired one... Hello?" Gorgeous said with a laugh as he waved his arms in the air trying to snap him back to reality.

"Huh... You're... Mr. Reid's son? When he said to watch his kid..

I thought he met, well, an actual kid. Not you. Unless you're one of those kids that looks older than they are?"

"Guessing you were expecting a young kid? Sorry to disappoint you?"

"No... I'm not disappointed. Believe me. I mean... Oh shit!! I mean-- Sooo... Name, do you have one?"

"Novel Reid. I'm 21 years old. I love the outdoors, the colors blue and green, going for long runs, working out and I like puppies, kittens, all animals. And let's see I love to eat. Especially when my food is prepared right." he said rolling his eyes. "What about you?"

"Wowza, you like a lot. Umm, I'm 25 years old, I like to draw, design fashion, I enjoy doing Pilates-"

"Pilates? You must be super flexible?" Novel asked raising his eyebrows with curiosity.

"I guess you could say that." Chord said blushing a bright pink.

"Ummm... I don't like animals, or kids and I enjoy reading manga and watching anime."

"Manga and anime, huh? What genres you into?"

"Fantasy, yaoi, Bara, yuri, romance, mecha, horror, historical... guess you could say that I like everything. I'm not picky. You watch anime?"

"Nah, could never get into it? But that's cool. What kind of person doesn't like animals or children?"

"That sucks. And I guess, my kind of person. They both irk me to no end. All kids do is drool, pee, shit, and spit at inappropriate times. And animals are just filthy little vermin. Sorry, just not a fan." Chord said shrugging his shoulder as he crossed his left leg over his right.

"You've had really bad experiences with kids, huh? Jeez."

"Yup... Anyway your dad says I have to do whatever you want. So what do you want to do?"

"I'm waiting for room service to bring my food back with what I actually ordered. But maybe after, we can go run a couple of errands."

"Oh yeah, I saw and heard that little incident. The waiter dude and the other three people you kicked out were booking it out of here like a stampede of cattle. What was all that about? I mean it couldn't just be about food?"

"Eh, you saw that? I'm pretty embarrassed about that. I had kind of a rough day. That's no excuse for my behavior, but I had a bad photo shoot and a bad runway the night before I flew down here."

"You don't say? What happened?"

"What didn't happen?! I fell off the stage during the runway show, which was being televised and broke two photographers cameras.

I don't even want think about how much those are going to cost to replace. I've been a freaking laughing stock all over the interwebs. The photo shoot went bad cause a couple of hours before, I ate some bad sea food and was throwing up like crazy."

"Damn dude... Did you throw up all over the set or the photographer?" Chord asked with a laugh, not thinking anything like that actually happened.

"Yeah..." he said in a low voice. "Sadly, on the set and the wardrobe. I've never been so angry at myself. Then after all that, I had to catch a plane here and I'm like all I wanted was a certain meal cooked a certain way. I receive it and it's wrong. True, I kind of overreacted-"

"Kind of overreacted?" Chord scoffed, "That's not even the word. You sounded like the incredible hulk getting ready to burst through the wall, or something. I was thinking of turning around and leaving when I heard that. It sounded pretty terrifying. And trust me, it takes a lot for me to get scared off."

"Sorry, I'm not usually some kind of spoiled acting brat. Seriously." Novel said with an apologetic smile.

"Uh-huh... Sure. Well hopefully they get your order right. I'm kind of thirsty, do you have any water?" Chord asked fanning himself.

His body feeling very warm and hot from staring at Novel. He just couldn't keep his mind from thinking of all the dirty things they could do together. That is if he wasn't his boss's son.

"Yeah in the fridge. Want me to get you some?"

"Would you, please?" Chord said with a nervous smile.

"Sure."

Chord was supposed to watch this guy? How the hell was he supposed to keep from jumping him? He hadn't felt so hot and bothered since his last boyfriend. He wasn't the best guy-in fact he was pretty bad- but Chord loved him a lot. But that's a whole different story. He just had to get through this and maybe he'd actually get to do real work after this.

"Here you go... Is bottled water okay?" Novel asked returning from the kitchen.

"Oh, I can't... my best friend would kill me if he knew I drank bottled water. He says it's expensive, wasteful and contrary to popular belief - not any healthier for you than tap water. All the adds and the labels use these sales tactics like pictures of mountains and fresh springs like it's really coming from there. Totally subliminal messaging.

I mean they're really trying to make you believe it's healthy and good for you. Did you know that the bottled water companies don't even have to test their water? They could be getting this stuff from a freaking sewer...! Or just some random puddle on the side of the highway. Its scary! And the water bottle(s) take 500 or more years to breakdown, if ever, which is leaving a lot of waste in the environment. So thanks to the slow decay rate, the vast majority of all plastics ever produced still exist somewhere. Water has become a commodity. But it's a basic human right to be able to access safe and affordable water. It's just wrong." Chord said remembering a speech Koi had given him about bottled water.

Novel stood blinking at him, "You could've just said no. But I appreciate the lecture..." he laughed, taking a sip from the water bottle.

"I'm sorry. Blame my friend, he's kind of an anarchy, tree hugging, Gothic, emo-hippy. He's always practicing his speeches on me. I'm like his project. I don't drink bottled water, eat processed food, or meat and if I do it's only fish. Which we argue is still meat, but I don't know. I only eat organically grown foods and I'm not supposed to have sugar or salt, but-"

"So basically you just drink pure water that rains down from the heavens and you eat air, 'cause that sounds like that's about all you can eat?"

"Hardy har har... You're hilarious. We'll see who's laughing when I'm still looking like a hot 20 something and you look like something that got drug out of 300 B.C. All the processed, chemically grown and unnatural junk you're putting in your body is aging you and making you unhealthy."

"Alright, Alright... Calm down. I'm just messing with ya." Novel said with a laugh fanning his hand in a calm down motion as a knock came from the door. "Who is it?!"

"Room service!" A high pitched male voice said.

"Come in!!" Novel said rolling his eyes.

The man who had almost ran Chord over with the food cart came inside, he walked over cautiously, his arms shaking nervously as he sat the food tray on the table.

"W-W-Would you like anything else Mr. Reid?"

"There's nothing else I need. But thank you. I apologize for my behavior earlier. Thank you for the meal." Novel said pulling a tip from his wallet.

"You're welcome Mr. Reid. I hope I didn't trouble you too much? If you need anything else please call." The man said with a small smile.

Chord couldn't help but stare at Novel. He wished he could've stopped watching him, but there was something about him -besides the fact that he was beautiful- that he liked about him. Novel clearly knew he was watching him, as he glanced up at him with a flirtatious smile that made his heart skip a beat, or maybe possibly stop beating altogether.

"Guessing your food came out right this time?" Chord asked jokingly, as he watched his foot tapping happily.

"You bet. This is delicious. Do you want something? I'm not sure if they serve grass, but I'm sure they can pull some up for you."

"Omg grass?! I wonder what kind of grass..." Chord said sarcastically. "Asshole! I eat normal food it's just organic. Hand me one of those menus, maybe there's a salad in there I'll like."

"Salad. Grass. Same thing." Novel said handing him the menu as he continued to scarf down his food.

"Thanks... And they're totally different. But I'm sure a carnivore such as yourself wouldn't know that." Chord said teasingly as he got up to use the room service phone. There were way too many fancy salads that Chord didn't recognize on this menu. He just wanted a simple spinach cob salad. Why must everything be so complicated?

"What's wrong little blue jay? Having a hard time deciding between wild grass or lawn cut?" Novel asked taking a seat on a bar stool on the other side of the counter.

"Yes, it's really hard to decide which one..." Chord said not really paying attention that Novel was teasing him again.

"It can't be that hard to choose. You want me to help you?"

Novel asked snatching the menu from him. Chord would've snatched it back if he could've, but Novel had already glided back to the couch with it. Chord rolled his eyes as he walked over to the couch.

"No, I wasn't reading that. I was just holding it so you could take it from me." Chord said as Novel popped off the couch and walked back into the kitchen. He grabbed the cordless phone and hit the speed dial button, he qucikly ordered his salad and headed back to the couch. Chord usually didn't like people ordering for him, but the way Novel did it was kind of sexy. Novel sat clicked a button on a remote that made a TV lower down from the ceiling. He flipped the TV on and channel flipped for awhile.

"Nothing catching your attention?" Chord asked taking a seat next to him. Novel smiled at him turning his attention back to the TV. Chord couldn't help taking in his enticing cinnamon scent. It was bad enough he had to be drop dead gorgeous, but why did he have to smell good, too?! As they sat on the couch flipping channels a knock came from the door. Novel sat the control on Chord's as he went to answer the door. The room service man came in and sat the order on the table along with a ornate water pitcher that had lime and lemon slices floating around, along with a couple of sprigs of mint at the bottom. Chord poured himself a glass of water and took two large gulps. The taste of the lime and lemon had a nice citrus taste which was complimented nicely by the mint.

"Thirsty much?" Novel asked with a laugh as Chord poured a second glass. He gurgled it down with an embarrassed laugh.

"Just a bit. I didn't realize how thirsty I was when you offered me that contaminated bottled water."

Novel rolled his eyes as he took the top off the food,

"Okay, say Ahhh..." he said taking a big forkful of food from the plate. He held it in front of Chord's mouth like a parent trying to feed their child. Is he for real? This is so embarrassing. Chord thought to himself as he leaned forward taking the forkful of food in his mouth.

"You like?" Novel asked with a smile.

"Yes it's really good. You don't have to feed me, you know? But that's really nice of you." Chord said as Novel fed him another forkful. Novel was clearly enjoying feeding him, and it wasn't everyday someone wanted to feed him.

"Didn't you say you had to do whatever I wanted?" Novel asked with a smile.

"Mmm... I assume." Chord said covering his mouth as he chewed.

"Okay then... Well this is part of what I want to do. So, do you have a girlfriend/Boyfriend? You live around here? How long have you been working for my father?" Novel asked bombarding him with an array of questions.

"I'm single. I live halfway across town on the west side near 44th & Sterling in Westfield. I've been working for your father for a year and a half now."

"Single, huh? That seems pretty unbelievable... "

"Really? Why do you say that?" Chord asked curiously.

"No reason, I was just wondering how someone as nice looking as you could be single?" Novel said resting his arm behind Chord on the back of the couch. He sat the plate of food back down on the table asking a few more questions.

"Well, I've got a lot of baggage that some people can't deal with."

"Doubtful. What's your life story? I mean, do you have any siblings? Do your folks live around here? Or did you run away to start a life in the fashion world and your mother doesn't understand your choice to be a model. And does she tell you that you can be a business man instead and blah, blah, blah." Novel said mixing in a bit of his own frustrations.

"Sounds like your mom's giving you a hard time? Doesn't like her baby boy strutting his stuff?" Chord asked with a small laugh as a naughty image went through his head.

"She's tripping! I don't know why she's so against me modeling. I'm good at it, I've made money, I enjoy it. I see no cons in this so far. Ugh!! Anyways what about you?"

"You really want to know about me, huh?" Chord asked twiddling his fingers nervously.

"Yup, I like to know a little about who's going to be watching me. Think of it as an interview."

"Interview, huh? Hmm... Well I don't have any siblings that I know of. I was adopted before I was even born. My biological mother couldn't handle having a kid, so some family who couldn't have their own baby came and payed her money to adopt me. The family that adopted me was alright. We don't talk much anymore, not that we really talked that much anyway. We disagreed about a lot of things, but mainly they couldn't deal with the fact that I was one gay, two wanted to work in fashion, and that I might've been a bit of a misfit back in the day. So I left home when I got emancipated at 16. I moved in with my then boyfriend who I had been dating for two years already. We lived together for three years before things got kind of bad. So from then on I've been staying with my friend Koi in his apartment. It's been pretty good, given he likes to invite his rally mates over to the house at god forsaken hours. But I can't complain too much. I mean I know how he is. He's been an activist since I've known him. We met when we were 14 and have been pretty inseparable ever since." Chord said with a laugh.

"Gosh, that must've been hard."

"Yeah it's been tough." Chord said with a shoulder shrug as his phone began to rang. "Excuse me a moment." He hopped off the couch and started pacing around the room.

"Yellow..."

"Yeah, um hi Chord, it's Koi. I know you're like suuuperrrrr busy with work and all, but I need a big favor..."

"Koi... What's up?" Chord asked.

"Remember how you joked about jail earlier? Funny story, seems as though people don't like to be sprayed with a massive jet powered water hose when they're coming to work. Even though they probably deserved it." Koi said with a laugh.

"Are you for real? Where're you now?"

"In the county jail..."

"Koi!... How much is your bail?"

"$400 dollars."

"Damn it dude!! I'll be there as soon as I can. Just hang on a little longer."

"I'll try. Please hurry. I feel like a caged animal." Koi said hanging up the phone.

"Ugh!! This idiot!!" Chord snapped in an annoyed voice.

"What's wrong?"

"My best friend is in jail. Seems as though him and his rally mates pulled another stupid stunt. I have to go bail him out.. He's not cut out for jail life. Not that this is his first time being arrested for something like this. I know I'm supposed to be 'watching' you, but I can't let my friend just sit in jail. So if you wouldn't mind I'm going to go and be back like lightning. I promise." Chord said heading for the front door. As he opened it Novel closed it back, pinning him up against the door. Chord's heart began thrashing around in his chest violently as he turned around to face him.

"Umm, sorta of blocking the door here... Something wrong?"

"Why don't you let me go with you? It'd be a lot more fun that way." Novel said staring into Chord's green doe eyes.

"I really don't think you should come with me to a jail, or my side of town for that matter."

"It really wasn't up for debate. I can't let something happen to my babysitter." Novel said with a cocky smile.

"Seriously, why can't you just stay home?" Chord asked.

"Because this sounds more exciting." He said smiling cockily.

As he tried to come up with a reasonable reason as to why he couldn't come, his mind just went blank... Novel was so close to him it was making it hard to even process a complete thought. He couldn't help but stare at him. Novel wasn't about to let him go off that easily.

And if asking him to take him with him didn't do the job, then a hot sultrily kiss would. Chord was finally trying to piece together an excuse, but before he knew it Novel's lips were against his, kissing him passionately. Novel had Chord's arms pinned above his head as his lips trailed down to his neck. He bit and kissed it slowly as their fingers interlocked together. Chord closed his eyes his breathing becoming shallow. Novel's breathing began to mimic his as he started to walk him backwards to a bedroom off the kitchen.

"Mmm, Novel... What are you doing?" Chord asked as Novel threw him onto the bed.

"Clearly I'm kissing you."

"Well I can see that. But now? Look, it's not that I don't want you to, but I really need to go save Koi from jail. Maybe we can finish this, or continue whatever this is later." Chord said as Novel kissed him again.

"Mmm... I guess. Let's go. I'll drive." Novel said, knowing this was far from over.

©Tom Katz