Sidus likes coffee.

Thus the reason he is at a coffee shop. He’d woken up at a respectably early eleven ‘o’ clock in the afternoon, just in time to share lunch with his brother, a bowl of soggy cereal, last nights left over pizza, a piece of soft, fluffy white bread with butter, and a cup of cold American coffee that he’d touched only once in which was the time he discovered both that it was cold and that it was American before pushing it to the side and watching Two Stars gulp it down, a slight sneer on his face. Then he’d gotten dressed in a timely manner, taking only two hours to shower, dress, and sit on the sofa and stare at a blank television screen before pulling a yellow pages phone book close and attempting to find a place that would serve proper coffee.

Now here he stood, in a line that was impossibly long, with a long board leaned against his chest at an angle from the floor, his hands shoved in his pockets. There should not be such a long line at this hour, this hour being two in the afternoon, he thought while impatiently. There was one older man in the corner with a wordcross from the newspaper and a cup of something that wasn’t steaming and so was in Sidus’ opinion not a very good option to order at a coffee shop and one person in line in front of him and he just wished the damned fool would hurry up with his order! Not to mention the worker behind the counter wasn’t moving fast enough for his taste.

Sidus was dressed in black, black and well...that’s all his closet consisted of really. Black and shades of it. His pants were just a little bit big and hung low on his hips, black, second hand dress slacks from the Salvation Army held up by a two-row pyramid belt. His shirt was a long sleeved hoodie shirt, not a sweater, of a light gray color, the hood and sleeves showing from beneath a snuggly fit black shirt. He’d spray painted ‘Fuck The Mainstream’ on the back of the tee-shirt. The shirt just brushed the top of his pants and so when he moved, it flashed skin, a tattoo identical to the words on his shirt on his lower back, a star below his belly button. His hair was pulled away from his narrow face and he’d applied a heavy amount of black eyeliner to make those blueish-violet eyes stand out from his face. The lip ring was a silver loop and the black goatee was rubber-banded mid-way down by a black piece of rubber.

He sighed and shifted his weight to the opposite foot impatiently.

Nienna didn't like long lines anymore than Sidus did, but for an entirely different reason. Because long lines consisted of lots of people. And lots of people were bad. Though, admittedly, she hated waiting just as much as any other person in the world. In America, where she'd lived most of her life, people were always "go, go, go", and rushing things to go faster. There were turbo modes on every appliance these days. She hated waiting. She was directly behind Sidus, shifting her weight from one hip to another.

Of course, she was in her general outfit. Dark blue sweatshirt that was far too big for her and dark blue jeans. They were, quite surprisingly, new.

"Hurry up already, would you..." she murmured petulantly, shoving her hands in her jean pockets. She looked in front of her at the backside of Sidus, then looked down at the floor.

Gods.

Why must guys like this look so yummy?

She shifted her weight to her other hip and sighed.

She pushed a lock of pale-blond hair out of her face, blue-green eyes fixated on the floor. The line wasn't moving.

Sigh.

Why? Because they're exactly the kind of guys your mommy would faint over if you brought home, the kind daddy reserves a bullet for in the shot gun. They're off limits and so much more appealing beacause of that.

That's not why Sidus looks like this, but it is a perk.

He was just about to open his mouth and comment to no one in particular, though the comment may or may not be directed at someone specific in this shop who might just be holding up the short but in Sidus' mind very long and annoying line, that the day wasn't getting any shorter and some people had things to do. Even though he wasn't one of those people. But he was stopped by a much higher pitch of a voice then his own.

My thoughts exactly, he'd thought before taking a breath and opening his mouth.

"Hm. It's like my thoughts are being projected into someone elses lips," he commented without turning around even to glance at the, probably, girl behind him. He rocked forward on his toes, leaning forward just a little to look over the man in front of him's shoulder.

"I think it's what everyone's thinking," she murmured without thinking, then shut her mouth. Why must she make a fool out of herself everywhere she went?

She bit down on her lip a little, and then looked around. But she was still standing there.

How fucking hard is it to serve one person a damned coffee? For Christ's sake...

Her gaze flicked back up to the line in front of her and she nearly grumbled. No progression.

But wait. No. The man who'd been taking forever had been served. She saw it move up further in front just a little.

"Jesus Christ... 's a miracle. The line moved."

Yes, in case you're wondering, she's moody today and hates waiting.

She waited for Sidus to move further up.

Sidus heaved a healthy huff when the man in front of him finally moved out of the way. Such an impatient boy, considering there’d only been one person in front of him in line, one behind him, and silly old man doing a word cross and drinking a cold beverage that just didn’t belong in a coffee shop, in Sidus’ opinion. Shaking his head, Sidus stepped forward, lifting the end of the longboard off the ground to carry it with him to the counter, planted both of his hands on the counter top, spreading his finger.

His tone was short and implied that he was not at all happy when he ordered an Italian Coffee black. You know it’s good coffee when you can drink it black. While waiting for the order to be mixed up, rather then so kindly standing right in front of the cash register and blocking everyone else from placing their order, Sidus stepped to the side and turned, leaning back on the counter and once again leaning the long board against his chest.

His blue eyes found the person that had voiced his thoughts. No smile but the eyes didn’t glare like his face gave the impression of doing. “Some people, eh?”

He turned around after he'd moved up and ordered. Nienna didn't expect that. Nice-looking boy, but her mum would kill her if she'd even thought about bringing him home. Her mother made a point to point out every "Goth" guy to her and say something like, "he looks like your type", because she knew those kind of men were. She was oddly attracted to skinny, anorexic-looking druggies with lots of tattoos and piercings. But, you know, they were generally creepy. And she really, really adored Kaylee already. But she could at least look at Sidus. He was yummy.

She moved to the counter and waited for someone to come back with Sidus' coffee so she could order her own.

"Yeah," she repeated with a small smirk, "some people."

(Bah, rambly post. Sorry.)

((Not rambly. Good.))

His friendlier then they may seem eyes looked her over one good time before turning again, taking the board with him and leaning it against the counter top, tucking his hands back into the pockets of the slacks and leaning his hip bones against the counter. Leaning forward like that actually made his back straighten, which was rare, since he's perfected the art of slouching. He and his brother both.

It wasn't a suprise that someone else was as impatiant as he was, or that someone else in the world vocalized their impatiance, but it was amusing that two of them ended up in the same nearly empty coffee shop at the same time. Considering it was not a typical coffee-time being neither night time nor morning.

The kid behind the counter returned with a short, very fat, glass mug of an ugly pastel pink color full of a dark brown liquid that steamed like a freight train. He prefered to drink his coffee at the shop thank you. Especially since he didn't have to work and class wasn't until later.

He produced the money, gave his fellow short-tempered human another once over, winked that pretty blue and heavily lined eye at her, then slunked off to a round table beside the window with his coffee and his board.

If nienna were a male, perhaps she would not be wondering what that wink meant, and why he was winking at her. She was just a silly little girl who'd voiced an opinion they both shared. So she raised a slender eyebrow and then sort of smiled as she looked up at the man at the counter. She ordered a coffee with so much cream and sugar it was no longer coffee anymore, and watched Sidus slink off to his table.

She paid for her coffee and took it with a nod and a thanks. She decided to go see what Sidus was winking about and walked over to his table, her sneakers squeaking on the floor as she did so.

"Hey."

You could never tell she was antisocial.

If Nienna were a male she wouldn't wonder what that wink meant because she'd know. She would probably also know if she weren't so antisocial in the first place. Or at least be able to guess properly.

Sidus watched out the window, people going about their every day mediocer lives as if everything was exciting and new. He had leaned his long board up against the window seal behind him and set his coffee down without sweetening it to let it cool.

He turned his head, ponytail running across the back of his neck, and watched her walk towards him, managed a half-assed 'see look I"m smiling' smile. See, he's not as bad as he pretends he is. He lifted a foot, planted it on the seat of the chair across from him, and straightened his leg, causeing the chair to slid out.

Sit. If you want.

"Hey." Lame conversation starter. He touched his coffee mug, ignored it because it was still too hot. "You know it's good coffee when you don't have to sweeten it." He scrutinized her mug but again, his eyes are just a little friendlier then his face and they sparkle at being able to pick on her about the coffee. "Sidus." Would she know that was a name? Did she speak latin and guess he was trying to start a conversation in latin. He's had that problem before. What a headache.

She set her coffee down on the table. He pushed out a chair for her. How... sweet? But with Sidus' appearance it was hard to use that word 'sweet'. Charming, perhaps, fit a little better.

She sat on the chair he'd pushed out for her. Because it would be rude not to, or something.

"No matter how good the coffee is, it'll always taste bad black." She wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue just a little bit.

No, Nienna didn't know Latin. She didn't even have a clue that Sidus was a Latin name.

"Nienna," she offered in reply. Small smile.

Sidus isn't a latin name. It's a latin word. Which was why people who knew Latin always thought he was trying to make conversation in a weird way. Who starts a conversation by saying 'star' anways?

"Then you've never had Italian Coffee." He stopped scrutinizing her coffee and turned his blue eyes up to her face and watched her for a moment, almost scrutinizing her small smile before finally leaning forward, taking his toes off of the seat to give her more room on her chair to sit, and held out a hand. His right hand was blessidly tattoo-less. One of the few parts of him not tattooed or pierced. His other hand had the numbers 187 on the back of it. It's a lie.

"Nice to meet another as impaitent as I." After all, there had only been one person in line in front of him and they'd called it a long line.

"That's true. But I still don't think it'd taste good without sugar." She smirked slightly and then glanced up at him in a questioning way. Why was he... scrutinizing everything so intently? She held out her own hand and shook his. She had very small, pale, skeletal hands and fingers.

"Heh, yeah. Come from America, where everything is go, go, go all the time. Guess it rubbed off on me. Nice to meet you, too."

No, really. It was nice to meet him. He was hot, damn it. Yes, she had Kaylee and did feel a little bad about thinking he was indeed hot, but... hey. Eye candy= yay.

He doesn't mind being eye candy. Really. Most guys don't.

"I would say mine was from the same but I'd be lieing." He turned his eyes to her coffee, then his own, lifted it and took a long drink of the scalding liquid. He set it back down before speaking. "I moved here from a laid back place. Island boy. My promblem is just that people annoy me easily."

"I wouldn't call it a "problem", but I can see what you mean." She wrapped her hands around the coffee cup, staring into the brownish colored liquid.

People don't just annoy him...they push him over the edge and terribly near picking fights.

He watched her stare at her coffee, pushed his across the table towards her. "Try it." Italian coffee is a very rich, very strong, nearly sweet taste bordering on just being too bitter but just on this side of nice. "So you moved from America?"

She raised an eyebrow again, questioningly. "Iunno." Now she stared at the coffee he pushed towards her, took it, and sipped a little bit, blinking.

"It's.. um... hot. And kinda bitter." She pushed the coffee back to him. She wasn't kidding when she said she only liked coffee with sugar.

"Yep, I did. You said you were and island boy, right? Which island?"

She sipped at her own coffee to take the bitter taste of the last liquid out of her mouth.

He chuckled. "That's too bad." And he took his coffee back and took another long drink. "It's only good if it's hot." His brother would beg to differ, Two Stars liked coffee no matter what.

"I was born on Rag Island in the Bahamahs but we lived in the keys down there in florida for some time. Where in America?" He's just a wonderful conversationalist eh? Very basic.

"Mm. Not neccasarily. I like it more cold. Or warm. Just not hot." She shrugged.

"Mm, Bahamas and Florida. Sounds nice. I've always wanted to go to a warmer climate like that. I lived up in New England most of my life. Pretty cold up there."

"My brother would like you. He makes the coffee and lets it cool before he drinks it. It's disgusting." He took yet another drink, then lowered the mug. "The bahamas was wonderful, the Keys sucked. It's for retired people to buy up land and build winter houses. The only thing you can do there is drink and get drunk."

And do drugs but Sidus isn't the kind of person to go around telling people he does drugs. Fuck that, you could let slip to an off duty officer and your ass was busted. He kept that tid bit of information between himself, his brother, and his supplier.

She laughed because he said it was disgusting. "That's the way to do it, y'know. Or just put ice in it. Don't like risking having third degree burns on my tongue and mouth."

Then she made a sort of odd face. "Doesn't sound so bad. Minus all the old people buying land. Then that just leaves warm climate and drinks, right?"

She dared to take a sip of her coffee.

"Then again, that could get boring."

"Very hot, sticky weather, tourist ruining the quiet, the water is dirty, and it really does get boring." He grinned. "In the famous, or less then, words of Two Stars Roe 'I stumble from the church to the bar, and then from the bar to the church. And then from the church to the bar." He laughed. "There is nothing else to do there. Once you;ve drunk yourself into a stupor four times in one week it gets old."

...

She laughed gently, shaking her head. "Put that way, it does sound like it actually sucks."

She shrugged a little. "And who, exactly, is Two Stars?"

She tilted her head to the side a little, curiously.

(Sorry it's short and it took so long!)

"Two Stars is my brother," he didn't say it bitterly like most siblings. In fact, there was quite a bit of adortion and possessiveness in his eyes, though he tried and suceeded in makeing his tone sound less then happy. A bitter, rather morbidly gothic man who loves his little brother.

Sweet.

"Siblings?" Do you have any.

(Gah! Whoops! I had no idea you replied to this before, Em! I'm so sorry! x_x)

"The brother who drinks disgusting coffee?" She smirked, possibly on accident.

"Lots," she answered in reply.

"Yes, the one who drinks disgusting coffee and periodically wakes up on the strange side of the bed." True, Two Stars was very strange.

"Lots? Lots as in four or lots as in eight?"

Or more? Busy parents.

"Ha. There's brothers for ya." she shrugged and laughed softly. She was idly tracing a circle on the tabletop with her fingertip.

"Four. It's lots to some people, I s'ppose, but I know people who have like, thirteen brothers and sisters."

"Busy parents," he said it outloud this time. Mostly for her benifit and amusment. He slouched down further into the seat, picking up his mug and cradling it in his hands, holding it close to his face. He looked.....well, if someone can say that someone that looked like him was cozy that would be the correct word.

"So your the...." he searched her face, "second born?" It's a shot in the dark. Sidus likes the dark

"Heh. Stupid parents, too." A smirk slid onto her face, twisting her lips upward. She was studying him. He just looked so darn... relaxed or whatever. She was still uptight.

"Um, nnnope. Actually fourth born."

Sip. Which consisted of merely tipping the cup just a little until the brim hit his lip and the coffee sloshed into his mouth.

Easy.

"Heh. Mine too. Aren't they all, it's in the job description or something." Smile. "So your the baby. That would be Two Star's place." He was the oldest by only so many minutes.

"Well, not exactly the baby. My sister 's younger by a year and a half."

She was still letting her coffee cool.

"How old is he, anywhoo?"

"Oh I see." Another sip. He would restate at this point that coffee is better really hot, but he's sure she knows already after the first time.

"Young enough not to be dead," he replied in a tone that hinted he might just be imitating his brother. "He's twenty five."

She knew. But she would still say it tasted bad hot. And it burned her tongue and the roof of her mouth.

"Twenty-five. Wow." She whistled lowly. "So that makes youuu..." her tone implied there should've been a question mark at the end of that sentence.

He likes to burn his tongue and the roof of his mouth. Well, not so much likes the burning itself as he likes the numbing sensation the body pitches up after the pain.

“Twenty-five,” he replied again. Had she been a man or a more annoying woman he would have had spat out some ridiculously old and entirely impossible number like, one hundred and eighty three years and seventeen days, respectably. But she didn’t annoy him in the least.

She took a delicate sip from her coffee.

"Twenty-five? So that makes you like, twins, right?"

Still lounging.

"If two boys were born nine months apart, one on January 1st and the other on October 1st, that leaves nearly three months in which they can be the same age."

Pleasant sigh. Another one of those tip-the-cup sips of still scolding coffee. Smile. "Yes, my baby brother is my twin."

"Ha. Unlikely, but possible." Small smile.

"So, he is your twin. For a minute there I was starting to feel dumb."

Shrug.

"Is having a twin as great as people say it is?"

He thought about that for a moment. You would be suprised how few people actually ask that. Believe me.

"Yeah, that is," sip, "until you turn twelve and decide your tired of playing the switching game and develop lives of your own. We are identical but you would never guess that by looking at him."

Blondie and Dark hair. Hippe and Goth. Polar opposit anyone?

"Aah, coolness." Shrug. Again. "I always thought people who claimed to have strong bonds like super-glu were kind of silly."

"Is it like that with you and... um, Two Stars?"

He smiled faintly before pushing the smile down to his gloomy state again. "Yes, we are very close. I left so he follwed. He started college so," shrug. "I did too. We are very close." They were the sort of pair of twins that could swear they knew what the other one was feeling, but no, they were not empathic.