Welcome to Gaia! ::

Finnegan knew that it would be a stupid idea to head to the 2-10 after school. For one thing, he was still in his uniform a long shirt white shirt with the bottom of the sleeve smeared with charcoal and lead with a blue vest that has paint splatters and tearing pocket. He was getting stared at and the crowd moved around him like he was an American tourists.

He sometimes got the urge to tell them that he could understand the whispers and taunts that were thrown at him for his messy blond hair and disgruntled appearance. Being a student was hard, especially in a country where you couldn’t speak the language, Finn could understand it quite well but saying it was a totally different situation. Chinese and Vietnamese were much easier for him.

Looking around again he tried to see if his roommate was working in the food court or not. The Burger Bar was never the same without the stupid Englishman to fool around with the costumers. Finn rolled his eyes when he noticed a burger being thrown in a deadly arc over the counter into a person’s bag.

Ashton was going to get fired one of these days.

Sighing to himself Finnegan got his bearings and tried to find the nice little art store that always gave him a discount when he asked for items in French. Thinking about getting a new sketch book Finn wasn’t looking where he was going and clipped a kid in the shoulder when he turned suddenly.

“Sorry!” Finnegan said in a startled English.

Gripping his messenger bag Finn winced when the book (dictionary upon a quick glance) hit the floor. Dropping things in the mall was dangerous, not only because there is a chance that the item will get stolen but also because people can trip over you. Finn has many instances of the second one and only one horrible instance with the first.

Finnegan grinned and let his accent slip as bit as he responded, it was a while since he talked with anyone else besides his roommate, he missed talking in English. “I’m Irish actually.” Fiddling with his bag and pushing away the thought that he should go buy his s**t and leave before Ashton spots him Finn turned his head a bit and looked down at Dante (finally someone was smaller then he was) and asked, “You don’t speak Japanese well then?”

It was none of Finnegan’s business, but anything to keep the conversation going. Plus the smile he had hopefully didn’t insult the kid too much.

Finn tried to keep himself from laughing at the kid’s nervousness. He truly didn’t know how to speak the language when he was wondering alone. “My brother used to take me to Tokyo a lot when he traveled here, so I got to learn some of the language.” He shrugged a bit and explained. “I can understand what people say, but I have a lot of trouble responding back in Japanese, though I would like to believe that I am getting better.”

Wondering why he was standing in the middle of the hall talking to a kid that had to be at least a year or two younger then his nineteen didn’t stop him from keeping the conversation going. The poor thing looked like he hasn’t had a decent conversation in a while, at least one where the other speaker wasn’t aggravated in some way.

Glancing down at his own clothing and then to the kid in front of him he wasn’t surprised that he asked if it was a new fashion. The kid looked like he walked right out of one displays in one of the stores. Finnegan clicked his tongue, a habit he was trying to break when he was entertained by something.

“I go to the Arts University in Ueno Park and thought it would be a great idea to pick up some supplies while I waited for my roommate to get done with his shift at the food court.” Finn laughed as he pulled on his charcoal stained sleeve. “I wish it was a fashion statement though, then I could get paid to get messy while working on a project.”

“I hope you don’t wander too far away from her then, it is very easy to get lost.” Finn glanced around to see if he could see anyone franticly looking for someone, he still hasn’t decided whether or not he would help the kid hide or not, but he would definitely not let him wander into anyone strange. “And even though Tokyo is a pretty safe city some strange things have been happening lately, and you wouldn’t want to get kidnapped by any school girls or anything like that.” Finn smirked a bit.

“Yeah, it’s fun.” Finn grinned and patted his bag feeling the three notebooks and sketch books nestled inside. “I am taking a bunch of art classes and a few music ones. I can also play the flute and am trying to learn the piano at the moment. It’s a lot harder then it looks.” He winked a bit at the kid and ignored the voice in the back of his head that told him that flirting with younger man was bad (the voice sounded a lot like his roommate so it would be best to disregard it).

Finn glanced over when he noticed the kid looking in his dictionary. “What are you looking for?”

“If I didn’t answer my phone the first time my family would keep calling until I picked up. They are the only ones that know my number and they pick up whenever I call so I usually try to do the same.” Fin laughed a bit and resisted the urge to mess up his hair. He didn’t even know the kids name yet, and the poor thing still looked nervous. Touching usually won’t help with that feeling, but then again, answering the kidnapping question most likely wouldn’t help either. “They would most likely dress you up and make you repeat phrases over and over again until they run out of oxygen from squealing so much.” Wincing Finn shifted from foot to foot. “I get asked all the time to say things in Japanese because if my Irish accent. It was cute the first few times, but now it is only a little annoying.”

The bright smile took Finn back a little bit and might have stroked his ego a little bit. Pushing his glasses up on his nose he smiled a bit. “I am not all that good on the piano, my roommate Ashton is a music major and can play any kind of instrument he can get his hands on, he is much better then I am at the moment. But he is teaching me, so he’s cool.” Finn flapped his hands and looked off in the direction where Ashton was working even if the food court was still a ways off.

Finnegan stopped for a second and looked at the kid. He needed to decide whether or not he wants to possibly scare the kid away or if he would want some help. Looking at the blush of shame and the way he was trying to set up a sentence to ask for some food.

“My roommate works at the McDonalds in the food court,” Finnegan paused to make sure that the kid was paying attention before he continued. “He is from London and would be more then willing to take the order in English. So you don’t have to worry about asking for something that you didn’t want.”

Staring at his smudged hand he kept talking, his mouth running without him. “I can walk you over if you want, so you don’t get lost again?” Ashton might make fun of him, but he would have the grace enough to wait until they got back to the apartment. Then there would be world war three.

Finn snorted. “I hope her wrath will be worth the missed calls.” Trying not to shudder when he remember all his brothers pay back to not wanted to hear about their girl troubles. A random thought went across Finnegan’s mind, one that sounded a lot like his roommate and said that he touched me first.

“Nah, it’s fine, it is just a lot different then back home. People usually tell me to shut up.” Grinning Finn chose not to ask about getting dressed up, the kid looked similar to some of the ads he saw while he was wondering around. He wouldn’t ask. “Not everyone can be the best at everything.” Shrugging he tried not to notice where the strap dug into his boney shoulder. “Ask them to say something in Vietnamese next time that happens and let them trip over themselves.”

Finn gave into the urge to mess up the kid’s hair as he blathered about music. “Don’t worry about it. You should see me in an art store. It is quite entertaining to watch I am told.” Blushing only minimally Finnegan smirked with teeth.

Laughing out loud and startling a few people walking by Finnegan grabbed the kids arm and started to pull him away from the wall where they were talking. “Dude, being able to bug my roommate at work would be worth lugging an extra person around. He owes me a milkshake anyways.” Smiling to make sure that he meant no insult Finn quickly weaved through the crowd making sure to keep a hold on his bag and the kids arm.

“Hey,” Finn didn’t pause in his walking but he did turn a bit. “Do you mind telling me your name? Calling you ‘kid’ kinda makes me sound a hell of a lot older then I feel at the moment.” Narrowly missing a girl talking on her cell phone Finnegan offered, “My name is Finnegan, Finn is fine though.”

Finn laughed at Dante and his lack of fear, or somewhat suicidal urges. He respected that.

“Maybe after we get some grub I can drag you to the new store that just opened?” The college student sighed dreamily. “They have been advertising about their selection of pastels and I was going to go check them out before I ran into you. Literally.” Trying not to laugh at his own joke he smiled at Dante as they rounded the corner of the mall where it branched out into the food court.

“Nice to meet you too, Dante.” The smile Finn gave him was more goofy then anything else, he was told that it made his lime green glasses lenses stand out more for some odd reason. “I just don’t like calling people ‘kid’ since it seemed to be my name back home. Being the youngest of five is tough on a guy.”

There were all sorts of places to eat, certainly something for every kind of tongue or craving. Finnegan didn’t slow down as he walked directly past the ice cream dealer who giggled at him; she likes to give him milkshakes if he doodles her pictures when he waits for Ashton to get off his shift. Finnegan likes his milkshakes.

As they neared the fast food corner Finn grinned straight out and let go of Dante’s arm, they were in sight of the golden M so hopefully he would be able to find the way. He had a flirting cashier to annoy.

“Ashton!” Finnegan yelled at the blond who was trying to stuff some extra ketchup packets into his pocket to bring back to the apartment. He had a whole collection of condiments taped to the far wall of his room.

“Finny!” Ashton actually swooned as Finnegan walked towards the bright red stand. “My love. My Juliet and-Hey” The blond behind the counter stopped his love struck slump and high pitched Japanese impersonation when it landed on Dante following a little bit behind. “Who is the jailbait?” The grin on Ashton’s face could only be described as predatory as he ignored the glare of his manager.

Finnegan rolled his eyes and cocked his hip. “No touching.” Was all Finn said, if Dante didn’t want to give his freak roommate his name he wouldn’t blame him.