Pirates! At the Opera. [Rina!]

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Sooo? How do I look?"

Leaning against the frame of Ben's door, arm resting against it, Ari motioned at himself with his free hand and grinned. He'd lost his usual attire and instead had on a nice black suit, complete with tie and jacket, and clean, polished shoes. It was a radical change from his usual messy and often shirtless look and, he'd admit, he felt a little stifled by it. It was probably just his imagination but he felt all hot and kept wanting to tug at his collar. Sure it wasn't the first time he'd done this and wouldn't be the last, but it also wasn't like he did it everyday.

He'd even tamed his shaggy white hair into some semblance of order, made some noticeable attempt at slicking it down with moderate success. The sleeves hid his tattoos and the facial piercings were the only thing that really wrecked the illusion.

"Pretty slick, huh? So, ya ready or ya still gotta primp and stuff?"

[Anonymous]

Ben glanced up from his mirror, combing his hair back. He was mostly ready, his jacket still hanging. A pure black suit, worth more than Ari's last haul, crisp white shirt, white cravat and equally expensive shoes. Unlike Ari, Ben wore the clothes easily, and he smiled when he saw the kid enter, "You look good in that."

Finishing in the mirror, he pulled on his watch and slid the jacket on, adjusting the fall of it, "I'm ready. Are you sure you are?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Good? I look fuckin' amazin'," Ari corrected, pushing himself upright and watching Ben finish up. His question, however, made him blink and look down at himself.

"Eh? Why? Don't I look ready?" Maybe he'd left something out...

[Anonymous]

Ben moved closer, reached down to Ari's crotch and pulled the kids fly up, "Oh, just a little something."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Oh." Ari flushed a little, coughed, and straightened out his jacket. "Right. Yeah. There's just so many fuckin' buttons I musta got distracted. Alright, alright, so can we go already?"

[Anonymous]

"Ah. Is that what it was?" Ben smiled and gestured to his door, "And here I thought you liked when I had my hands on your crotch."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Oh yeah, baby, I just love how ya fondle my zipper." Ari grinned and stuck out his tongue at Ben, then headed for the door. "Ya gotta go inside the pants, darlin'."

[Anonymous]

"Why? It isn't that impressive in there." Ben closed the door behind them, heading out of the ship and onto the dock, "Now, you remember the tickets?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

"That ain't whatcha said last night," Ari said with a wink and a cocky grin before he stepped out onto the dock, reaching up and tugging at his collar despite himself. He wasn't quite used to the feeling of something around his throat like that.

At Ben's question, he snorted and reached inside his jacket, pulling out two tickets. "Ya really think I'd forget?"

Sure, he was a lot of things, and sure, he hated playing dress up, but there was no way in hell he'd forget the tickets. He'd been talking about the opera (to Ben, at least) for the last month, practically counting down the days. It was one he'd really wanted to see live ever since he'd caught it on TV who knows how long ago.

[Anonymous]

"You did forget to zip your fly." Ben slapped Ari's hand lightly away, "Don't fidget. You ruin the look. Man, I haven't seen this opera in years. I hope they have a good Ariana. I always tear up a little during her solo. But those notes aren't easy to hit."

[Rhi-Rhi]

Ari made an annoyed sound and dropped his hand away, though the urge to fidget was still there at full force. Hell, he wanted to do it more now that he knew he couldn't.

"Yeah, that scene's just fuckin' haunting," he said, putting the tickets away in place of tugging at his clothes. "Gives me chills. How many times ya seen this one, anyway?"

[Anonymous]

"Seen, oh, maybe 4 times. I have the soundtrack memorized. It's a favorite. Though, some day, I want to take you to The Lost Moon. It's almost never done, few people have heard of it. But it's...it's beautiful. Just absolutely amazing."

Ben reached over and took Ari's hand in his own, lost in thought as he remembered his favorite opera.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Ari laughed. "Yeah, guess so, 'cause I ain't heard of it."

He blinked when Ben took his hand, but then just shrugged and went with it. He'd never really tried to define their relationship and didn't really care to. They weren't lovers though Ari loved him and spent many nights in his bed, they were friends but also far more than that, they were close but not dating and frankly he didn't want to, and Ben was probably the only person in his life that Ari actually felt totally comfortable and himself around. The guy new more about him than he knew about himself and it just was what it was and that was fine by him. He wasn't concerned with the labels.

"You'll have to find out where it's playin'. What's it about?"

The opera house wasn't really a part of Cancer; in this case, it was a traveling one that went from space station to space station, city to city, putting on different shows at different times of the year. It wasn't a long walk to where the ship was docked and there was a small line outside of people getting their tickets checked.

[Anonymous]

Ben never really considered what his relationship with Ari was. It didn't matter, all that mattered was he loved Ari and would do anything for him. And holding his hand meant he was less likely to mess with his clothes.

The boy had no idea how to look the part. Well, to be more exact, all he knew was how to look like a petty thug. And Ben had grander things in mind for Ari then some shit hole ship for a shit hole gang.

"It's...about a lot of things. Mostly loss and beauty and honor."

Ben didn't wait in line. He moved to the front and waited for Ari to get the tickets. Ben always got the good seats. And the good seats came with privileges.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"That ain't vague at all," Ari said with a teasing grin as he strode to the front of the line with Ben and pulled out the tickets to be scanned. "Sounds pretty, though. Ya got the soundtrack?"

Their tickets were scanned and Ari tugged Ben inside after him, excited and unable to really hide it despite his efforts to downplay it. "Damn, that was fast. How'd ya even get those, anyway?"

[Anonymous]

"Oh you know, favors." Ben shrugged, not wanting to go into details. Luckily for him, Ari wasn't very good at asking the right questions, "And yeah, I've got the soundtrack. You can borrow it if you want. I don't want to spoil the story for you."

Ben released Ari's hand, and moved to the bar, getting himself a glass of champagne, savoring the bubbly wine, "Drink?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Do I ever refuse booze?" Ari said, following after Ben to the bar and getting his own glass of champagne. He drained the glass and started for another before he noticed they served food, too.

"Hey! They got brownies! I'm gettin' one. Ya want somethin'?" he asked, setting the empty glass back down and taking a fresh one.

[Anonymous]

"Ari. This is not a bar and you aren't getting drunk." Ben shook his head. Sometimes there was no helping the boy, "We're in civilization now, act like it." It wasn't that Ben cared what anyone thought, he could care less. But Ben liked power and power was control.

"And try and not get chocolate on your suit this time."

[Rhi-Rhi]

Ari replied with a flippant wave of his hand as he headed to the food counter, downing the champagne as he went. "Right, right." Hey, the booze wouldn't be there if it wasn't meant to be drunk.

A couple minutes later, he returned to Ben with a fancy brownie in a plastic container. He cracked it open and broke off a piece for himself, then held it out for Ben. "Want some?" he asked around a mouthful of chocolate.

[Anonymous]

Ben just rolled his eyes, "No thank you. I'm saving room for dinner afterwards." He took another sip and scanned the crowd, studying the faces, "What will it take to convince you to behave when we come to these shows?"