[the spirit of christmas past] -- {{♥}}

[rin takahashi]

 

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tags: max would kill me for this tag (sinclair) | words: 370 | notes: ... three years earlier...

Down from the black sky, the snow danced. Each pretty flake performed its own series of pirouettes, clashed and crashed with all the others. It seemed that there were simply too many for a space so small, too many for any one to stand out. Meanwhile, the thin smoke rising off Rin's cigarette twisted on its way up, and he watched the weather's display, maybe trying to find meaning, to read the sky or some bullshit. He didn't know.

He only knew that a few minutes ago his tongue had been playing tricks on something else, and now he had a whole pack of sticks waiting in his pocket. Tit for tat and all that. Sort of petty, but given the ache in his side--the pain of a wound that healed at a snail's crawl--he'd needed to take a drag pretty desperately.

No matter how bad his desperation looked. 

It was a business expense. Worrying and fidgeting like a crack addict wasn't attractive, and as he was, Rin couldn't afford to repel potential clients. 

He looked a street child, stuck wearing a thin black jacket and a ratty pair of jeans, neither of which did much to keep out winter's bite or to scream sexual availability. But Rin was pretty sure the money--the money that would pay for a cushioned life--would come eventually, and when it did there would be no middle man to stick his disgusting fingers in it. 

He just had to be patient and learn how to find clientele beyond the squalor of downtown Hokkaido. Like how the classy whores did, with their sparkly diamonds and beautiful smiles. 

He could be like that, too.

And so, on the night of giving and good will, he'd parked himself in front of a handsome brick building where respectable human beings frequented. He stood searching for the stars with a cigarette hanging from his lips and his young body laid out against the red wall like any good piece of bait. 

The line was cast, and while most snuggled soundly in bed with sugar plums dancing above their heads, he had that bitter snow twirling above his. It was a night known to draw out the lonely, and like some ethereal spirit of the season, Rin was waiting for them.

[/style][STYLE=background-color: 2f2f2f; width: 430px; color: 2f2f2f;] .  [/style][STYLE=font-family: arial; font-size: 9px;]Made by MINNIE of BTN.[/style]

[Maximillian Crawford]

Of course Christmas was the time of the year where it just had to snow and if it didn’t then it just wouldn’t really be Christmas would it? It was the time for charity as well as a time for showing your loved ones that you cared for them and wanted to spend your time with them. In the name of the good Christmas spirit you would forgive and love one another while spending an extra amount of money on making up for all the ill deeds you had done during the year by donating money to charity – despite the fact that the rest of the year you had not given it any thoughts at all but left the poor and ill fortunate to rot in their holes. Yes, a year worth of turning the blind eye to the matter could be made up for during Christmas. Wasn’t that just lovely?

Maximillian truly had no love for Christmas whatsoever. To him it was just another one of the annual events where he had to spend his time with his parents as well as his wife, pretending that he was enjoying himself and sincerely loved their company by presenting them expensive gifts bought by his hard earned money. If it wasn’t because his mother would throw a hysteric fit, Maximillian would simply have preferred to go and spend the Christmas Eve together with his brother at the psychiatric hospital. At least he would have been able to enjoy his company, yet facing his mother’s wrath was worse than listening to her rant about charity and love all the evening. He had simply chosen the lesser of two evils.

As one might have expected, Maximillian was in a foul mood at the moment but it was not just because of the future family get together. He was simply sexually frustrated. For four years now he had been able to experience the lovely sight of young teenage boys going about in their school uniforms all innocently and ready to be eaten by his eyes. The threat of losing his job along with this lovely sight was the only thing that had kept him from laying his hands on any of the students so far, but lately he had started to find it more and more difficult not to. So far he had managed by finding companions elsewhere on bars yet he had always found them lacking in one way or the other. They could not quell his thirst.

Sighing, the calculus teacher continued on his way down the street. His long dark trench coat was getting covered in snowflakes and almost looked like tiny stars on the night sky, while it kept him warm and comfortable. His breath formed white clouds of damp as it left his mouth, giving proof of the cold winter air surrounding him. As he walked he gave small greeting nods to the people who passed him by, the tall British gentleman towering above the Japanese and quite easy to spot at a long distance. He was on his way home after going out to visit Lucius and had decided to make a detour downtown in order to have a look at the shop windows there. Like always his wife, Sakura, was expecting a little something special for Christmas and would not be satisfied unless he did.

Spotting the jewelry store nearby, he was about to start approaching it when he noticed a lone figure standing at the brick wall almost right beside him. Glancing down at the younger male Maximillian wondering why he had not noticed him before. Considering the people passing them by the young man was clearly out of place with what Maximillian at least considered to be cheap clothes. For some reason he found it difficult to define the age of the male, thinking that he might actually be able to pass as an older more mature school boy. School boy? Suddenly the teacher found his interest sparked, looking at the man with newfound interest. It was obvious that he was not from Chishiki Academy as there was no way that the parents of the boys there would ever allow their children to walk around in clothes like that. But that could prove to be just perfect. After all he saw little reason why the two of them would ever meet again after this, so if the plan that was starting to unfold itself in his mind went wrong then no harm would actually be done.

Taking a chance he grabbed the man by his jaw and brought him to look him in the eyes, staring at him for a moment before asking “How much?” He was perfectly aware that he might offend the younger but frankly he didn’t care. He was getting desperate and this young man might be the solutionhe had been waiting for.

OoC: lol no Max isn't happy about that at all ;3 and ehh it's a bit long^^;; ramble ramble ramble
Word Count:812

[rin takahashi]

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tags: max (sinclair) | words: 415 | notes: lol max! way to make rin's job easy. and don't worry at all about length; i saw no rambling. 8)

It was a miracle. There was just no other way to describe how fast "lonely" all but punched him in the gut. 

Mere moments before, Rin had exhaled a smoky plume, scanned the snow-piled street to note the few wandering night owls. He'd acknowledged, if only fleetingly, the towering foreigner before looking elsewhere, and as the man near passed him by, Rin had written him off.

Interested parties had a habit of circling around a few times like a vulture, weighing their situation, fighting their moral battle, before approaching nice and shy, as though intending to ask for directions. This one, dressed like a dandy, had been gliding right along with a stony face, preoccupied as it were--last minute shopping?--and yet something, some inexplicably alien force must have possessed his mind at the last second.

Rin was prepared to admit that the street was emptying out--this short wave of people had ended unsuccessfully, maybe he should relocate--when the hand seized his jaw. 

The power behind the grab was crushing, enough to force eye contact with someone over a head taller, and while Rin was stunned silent, his neck sure cried. Truth be told, the young man half-expected to be shaken down and robbed, but his would-be assailant's query involved prices.

As if the universe had decided to cut him a break! Have a gentleman, it chortled, a handsome money machine.

With teeth, Rin clenched onto his cigarette, holding it erect. If it weren't for the grip on his face, it'd have been perfect. So, as miraculous as this encounter was, it was tempting to blow smoke in the man's face, maybe remind him that pissy customers tended to get their eggs spit on, but then, that wasn't very "business friendly."

Unfortunately. 

Instead, eyeing the foreigner as if he may be lost, Rin jerked his jaw out of his grasp. He sucked in another warm drag, his icy eyelashes fluttering. Christ, he seemed to say, before he took the cig between two white fingers and crossed his arms. 

"How much for what, exactly?" Like a dragon, the smoke coiled out from between his lips. It'd been a stupid question. Nobody experienced in the business believed there was a flat rate; it was all about what and where. However, Rin's dissatisfied air had given way to a fond smile, as if to apologize and make clear his harmlessness while he quipped, "My jacket? My hair?"

He tilted his head, conspicuous as he ate the other's looming figure with his eyes. "A trip to the moon?"

[/style][STYLE=background-color: 2f2f2f; width: 430px; color: 2f2f2f;] .  [/style][STYLE=font-family: arial; font-size: 9px;]Made by MINNIE of BTN.[/style]

[Maximillian Crawford]

A smirk crept across his lips. Was that defiance he spotted in his eyes? Maximillian knew defiance when he saw it, after all working with teenage boys all day long he was bound to see it at some point and frankly he disliked it whenever it happened. Not because it made him feel insecure or anything like that, hell there was no way that mere teenage boys would ever be able to get the better of him like that. Rather it was because it showed a lack of respect for him and his presence which was something that he had never been able to tolerate and he didn’t think that he had to either. Yet the man in front of him didn’t reject him and though he had disliked the initial look in his eyes, it was replaced with something more pleasant.

From the way the blond had spoken Maximillian didn’t think that he had been rejected, but he didn’t think that he had managed to actually buy him yet either. It was too soon for that. Maximillian had never actually bought a prostitute before, knowing that he could easily get company elsewhere yet with the amount of secrecy he needed this might be for the better. Realising that he might have been too vague in his request (though he hadn’t thought that he would actually have to spell it out to the man, having more expectations to the other’s intellect than that but no matter) Maximillian prepared to clarify himself, his eyebrow arching at the man’s words yet his determination far from faltering in the matter.

He let go of the younger man’s chin, having no particular interest in continuing to hold onto it. What mattered was that he had caught the other’s attention as well as that he had had a proper look at his face, now having verified that his features were pleasing to the eye. He had no intention of just letting him pull him around by the nose, however. If he was not to his liking he could simply go look for someone else and if he didn’t like his attitude either then ditching him wouldn’t be all that hard either.

”A trip to the moon? Is that what youngsters call it these days? I have no interest in drugs whatsoever if that is what you are referring to. What I want is to buy your rear, take you to a love hotel and have sex with you. If you are to my liking I might consider making a returning business out of it. Now name your price unless you wish to offer yourself up for free? If you want more details we will discuss it at the hotel.”

Having already gone as far as to asking the man to prostitute himself, Maximillain saw no use in even trying to keep up the attitude of a refined gentleman and so had no intention of doing so either. He would let him experience his true nature right from the start and just see where it would lead him in the end.



OoC: Maybe easy but well Max just knows what he wants^^;; His way of thinking can be provocating, though o.o;;
Word Count: 515

[rin takahashi]

 

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tags: max (sinclair) | words: 520 | notes: no shame in that! rin likes not having to beg. also, i love how they both think the other asks stupid questions. X3

Drugs? Rin's eyes snapped up from the man's legs, searching his features for any indication that he was joking. The expression, however, was just as unflinching as Rin remembered.

"You think I could deal drugs?" He was incredulous; he'd been referring to great sex. 

In a smooth display, Rin uncrossed his arms and pushed his skinny hips forward. He looked over his front, snow-speckled jacket and all, and tried to see just what about him gave the wrong impression. His face had always looked young for his age, never mind after he'd bumped it up to get his hands on liquor, and he'd been told he looked nice, maybe even innocent, at least until he opened his mouth.

It had to be his tattered attire, and it was worth wondering why the man had approached him at all if he thought him the dealing sort. Weren't those men dangerous to touch? Armed to the teeth and as grizzled as any war veteran? Probably looking two days from the grave if out on a night like this.

Rin huffed a laugh, a puff of frozen air escaping. Despite the blow to his ego, he persisted to smile most friendly. "How flattering."

His rebuttal was all in good humor. He couldn't have expected anything different. And more importantly, he couldn't deny that the foreigner had built himself a strong case in under a minute, a case that cut crap and showed not even an inch of shame. That seemed to be this guy's style, and it was all but impossible to be sour when the deal sounded so sweet. Evidently, peppering in the important points, like hotel, rear, and returning counted for a lot.

Compared to a quick blow in the alley, it sounded downright dreamy, and Rin took a moment to steal another drag--another lung-warming suck. A hotel meant a chance to get out of the frigid temperatures, and buying his perky little ass meant a steeper bill. But oh, the chance to garner a regular was most alluring. It was about as close as the business came to a consistent paycheck, and a guarantee that he could pay his bills was a relief, particularly when he was still so new to the concept of actually paying rent.

So really, the young man's short pause for speculation--to nod his head as he supposedly weighed the pros and cons, to consider his price and run fingertips over the smooth edge of his jaw--it was all for show.

"Eight thousand yen." The answer was abrupt, no less curt than this man had been, and Rin gently tapped at his cigarette's built-up ash. It plummeted to the sidewalk below. "That's for the night. Normally I'd double it, but I like you." The oldest trick in the salesmen's book. 

He took a quick breath. "The finer details shouldn't be necessary--unless you're looking for more than a straight--" fuck, he wanted to say before he took another look at that expensive coat and thought twice. "--than straight sex, of course. Your preferences are important, you know." He lowered his chin, and his little smile mirrored his murmur, so well-meaning and demure, "I'd hate to disappoint you." 


[/style][STYLE=background-color: 2f2f2f; width: 430px; color: 2f2f2f;] .  [/style][STYLE=font-family: arial; font-size: 9px;]Made by MINNIE of BTN.[/style]

[Maximillian Crawford]

How the younger male in front of him clearly wasn’t aware of how his choice of clothes appeared to others was only proven by his following silly question. Had his pupils been big as well then Maximillian would definitely have been right in his accusation, though the fact that he wasn’t was far better. ”If you had a look at yourself in a mirror you wouldn’t be so surprised.” Actually, Maximillian had no interest in drug addicts. Desperate people like that were not worth spending his precious time on. A hooker was something different, though. A least a hooker with the kind of appearance like the guy in front of him had. Yes, the fact that the young man’s features were pleasing to the eye was another reason why he had approached him if not only for his young looking body. Whether or not, however, that he would be able to live up to his expectations was something that he would have to find out later on. That meant later tonight. Again this was going to be a test and if he did well, Maximillian would be bringing a school uniform for him to wear on their next encounter.

”You’re quite welcome. Your answer?” His first sentence oozed of fake politeness and Maximillian didn’t even care to try to hide it. All he cared for was getting an answer and his patience was wearing thin. Watching the man take a moment to think, Maximillian kept staring at him as if trying to pressure him for an answer though it didn’t seem to help. When he finally answered the teacher rolled his eyes. ”I’m sure you do.” His wife told better lies than that, but that being said the offer did come off as somewhat cheap. Honestly, he had expected that the blond would ask him to pay more for his services but the fact that he didn’t was in the end to his advantage.

”As I said we will discuss the details at the hotel. Don’t be afraid to increase the price if you think I’m asking for more than I’m paying for. I would hate for you to feel cheated,” he said sarcastically, then for the first time since they had met returned the man’s smile with a smirk. With one hand he reached out and curled his fingers up in the other’s hair. ”Oh I would hate that too. I’m having high expectations for you.” Having now sealed the deal, Maximillian’s attitude lost some of its hostility. This man would be his for the night and there was no reason to rush the deal. No, he would take his time to savour him and hopefully end up more satisfied than his previous companions had been able to make him.

As if wanting to make sure that his prey wouldn’t just run away from him as soon as he turned his back to him, Maximillian slid an arm around his waist and kept him close by his side. ”I know a love hotel nearby. You just have to follow me.” Having finished his sentence he started walking down the street just like he had a few moments before, but this time he was no more alone. This time he had an attractive young male by his side, and though he might not look the part of high class goods his skills would be what had to make up for it. Glancing down at his companion for the night, Maximillain reached out with his free hand to run his thumb over half of the man’s lips, stopping as his thumb reached the cigarette and in the process feeling the softness underneath his touch. ”How much would it be for a cigarette?”

OoC: Max is a bastard -.- anyway! I initially intended to skip this all the way to the love hotel though I wasn't sure wether or not Rin would continue to allow him to hold him close like that so yeah^^;; Anyway if you want to, you can skip that far ahead with Max paying and all I don't mind! I know I probably didn't give you much to work with anyway^^;;
Word Count: 621

[rin takahashi]

 

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tags: max (sinclair) | words: 796 | notes: there's a bit of power play to the end. if it's not okay, just let me know. n.n and now, rin does psychology... /passes out

Rin took the reiteration to mean that there would, in fact, be finer details waiting just behind hotel doors. And maybe that explained why this man was such a domineering sour puss. After all, nobody bubbled excitement when showing someone else the dirtiest recesses of their mind; nobody liked to be judged, or laughed at. Especially if the one laughing might be a street whore. 

That was it, wasn't it?

Jeez.

It was a shame that the whole bristling front was wasted on him. Sordid thoughts lost their punch after so long, and Rin doubted that anything said would surprise or even humor him. However, giving his price seemed to take off some of the man's edge. There was a smirk, and even a crooked lift of lips was better than a dead flatline. 

Or at least, Rin wanted it to be better. The guy was taking him for the night, and obviously he was so damn loaded, he dared to invite a price increase. Even in jest, such a thing was wholly obscene.

Maybe it was a hint to buy better clothes, preferably those free of that "Drug Dealer" label.

All right. Rin drew up his shoulders in a casual shrug. He could give his John that one.

"So..." he began with a note of feigned skepticism. "You not being disappointed, and me not feeling cheated." Rin's smile slipped a little wider and he quirked an eyebrow--thin and dark--as he playfully mirrored the sarcasm, "We're just a couple of revolutionaries, aren't we?" 

Because happy customers and paid hookers were so unheard of.

He let the other's fingers play through his hair in what he assumed to be a bit of quality control. Everything else aside, he did at least bathe regularly, and the white-blonde strands were both clean and clear of any telltale roots. A few of the piled snowflakes were pushed off from his head, and to the comment that high expectations were had of him, Rin couldn't resist the affirmation: "Rightfully so."

It'd come out bright and self-assured, only to be punctuated by a deep wince when the man's arm wrapped around his waist to pull him close. The long limb had bumped against that one sustained injury, and Rin wondered if the other could feel the little mound of padded bandaging through his jacket. He wondered how much it hurt his desirability, but shoved the thought away with a fresh smile. 

There was the promise of someplace close, that all he had to do was follow. Taking his red-tipped cigarette back into his mouth, Rin stated as a matter of fact, "You're the boss."

He had no issue walking as they were. Held against the taller man, Rin could feel himself stealing heat and liked to imagine that he was already beginning to thaw after his outside wait. Besides, compared to standing around by oneself, it was always infinitely better to indulge in a little close company, and bearing that philosophy, the sudden touch to his lips didn't elicit more than a curious upward glance.

The subsequent question spread his pleasant smile into a sly grin, and slipping his dwindling stick between his fingers once more, Rin cradled the invasive hand. "A cigarette? For you?" As if maybe he hadn't taken this one for the type.

He planted a chaste kiss against the heart of the much larger palm. "On the house. Because like I said, I like you." He let the hand slip from his grasp and winked as he took a deep drag for himself. "If you don't believe me, that's fine, but you'll have a lot more fun if you do." Speaking around his own cigarette, he stuck a hand into his pocket and pulled out that newly acquired carton--already a little crushed, but no worse for wear.

Flipping the top open with his thumb, he held it out, waiting for the selection to be made before shoving the thing back into his jeans. His hand re-emerged with a plastic lighter, and its translucent red body showed just how little fluid remained. 

"I mean--" He flicked, rapidly and futilely, until after a few frightful seconds, a small yellow flame burst to life. When offered, its light cast a warm, orange glow between them. "Well, it's kind of hard to enjoy yourself in bad company."

His wait was patient, and when all was said and done, the lighter joined the carton back inside his pocket. Rin leaned close, and flicking some more ash off his cigarette's tip, he slipped his arm around the man's back to lay hand on his hip.

For the same reason he'd refrained from puffing in the foreigner's face, Rin was gifting a smoke. In the end, the pack had been a business expense, and being nice was line one of this unspoken job description. 

Well. It was supposed to be, anyway.

[/style][STYLE=background-color: 2f2f2f; width: 430px; color: 2f2f2f;] .  [/style][STYLE=font-family: arial; font-size: 9px;]Made by MINNIE of BTN.[/style]