My friends could go fuck themselves.

Oh, how I loathed them for what they had done!

And how I loved them for it.

After a while, as we were drinking our third drinks, they noticed I was looking over at someone.

"Holy shit", Esther, one of my genderfluid friends who was beautifully masculine today, said. "It's him!! Or, sorry, I shouldn't assume his pronouns."

"Everyone are not a complete gender-fuck as you", Marlene, a she/her, said playfully, to which Esther punched her on her arm.

"Just because you want to sleep with me!" Esther said.

Marlene sighed dreamily.

"Oh, I do..."

"He's looking over at us", our friend Steven said.

"He's looking at Izuna."

I blushed like a madman and looked down.

"No, he's not", I murmured.

"Have you met him?!"

"No."

"Oh, he has!!"

And it just happened to be so that all of them wanted to go to the bathroom simultaneously.

"You have to stay at our table, Izuna", Marlene said with a wink. "Make sure our purses don't get stolen. And don't hesitate to entertain yourself in whatever way you like. We will take a very long time in there."

And so they left me on my table, alone, completely at the claws of Tobirama Senju.

I fucking hate you guys...

I wanted nothing more than this.

It took him only five minutes to noticed I was alone and come over. I didn't know it was the alcohol or his true, non-distressed personality, but he seemed a completely different character now.

Or, not completely different. There was still a softness to his approach that I recognised from the meeting in the garden. I actually felt safer the closer he got, instead of more and more nervous.

"Hi", he said.

"Hi", I said back.

He looked at my glass.

"Espresso martini?" he asked.

"With Baileys", I added.

He just took the glass and took a sip, just like that. I noticed he turned the glass to drink from exactly the spot where I'd left a lip-gloss mark.

"Oh, wow", he said.

"Right?" I said. "So much sweeter with the Baileys."

"You've been a bartender?"

I looked down, thinking about the many years I'd been burned out.

"No..."

"Sorry", he said. "Didn't mean to pry."

He took another sip, completely unbothered by how loaded the situation was.

"I'm not offended", I told him. "Oh! Thank you for the iPad. You really didn't have to do that."

He smiled at me then. It wasn't his crooked TV smile, but a small and warm one.

"It's me who should say thanks", he said. "It was the least I could do. You really saved my sorry ass back then. Is it to your satisfaction? The iPad?"

"Oh, God, yes!" I burst out. "You want to see?"

"Absolutely", he said, and he sounded earnest.

I took it out of my bag, went to my program and showed him what I had been sketching on. He looked at me, seemingly impressed.

"You drew all of that since this afternoon?"

"It's just a sketch", I said and looked down, blushing at his compliment at my drawing of the Golden Gate at night. "I've painted from the moment I finished installing the program until I had to get ready to meet up my friends here."

"Hey", he said, and I suddenly felt his finger beneath my chin. He made me look up at him, and I couldn't help but stare. His face was rough, harsh, yet with a protectiveness about it. "Don't sell yourself short. Ever. Not in front of me. You're clearly very, very talented and hard-working."

He held my gaze. I suddenly became incredibly aware of the fact that I was wearing a dress. I never dressed femininely at university, not because I was ashamed but because I didn't want to waste any energy worrying what others thought. But during a night out, I could afford that. I hadn't known that I would stumble upon Tobirama Senju, however.

But he seemed completely unbothered about it. What if he even liked it?

I shook the thought away.

He released me then, and I reached for my drink. Tobirama called a waiter and ordered one for himself. Or so I thought; when it arrived, he took mine, and I got the full one. I thanked him.

"By the way", I said. "How did you find out who I was and where I live?"

"You forget I'm frightfully rich", he said. "You would be surprised at what you can achieve with money."

I heard he was joking, but I decided to keep playing on it.

"Actually, I'm not surprised at all", I said and took a few sips of my drink; my head was buzzing pleasantly, making me daring. "I know how the world works. You got one who works for you to do it, didn't you?"

He smiled again.

"Yes."

"Lazy fuck", I said.

"No", he said. "Not lazy. Just busy. Despite..." He raised his drink at me. "I didn't want to spare myself the pleasure of asking you about your name myself."

"How did you know we would meet?" I asked cheekily.

"I would make sure we did. You know... Money."

"So was this planned?"

Tobirama smiled.

"No. This was just luck. I didn't know I would be privileged enough to see you so soon again. So, can I tempt you to a night walk? So I can ask about your name?"

He looked at me, suddenly very, very earnest, as if he really wanted me to come with him on this walk. I looked back at him, lips slightly parted. I opened my mouth to speak, when...

"Izuna!" I looked up. It was my friends. Fuck them. "You okay?"

"Yes", I said with a smile, looking down.

"We thought about leaving to go clubbing", Marlene said. "You coming?

"Ehmm..." I looked at Tobirama Senju, who raised an eyebrow at me. "I think I'm going for a walk with Tobirama Senju."