Ten pulled his arms tighter around himself and shivered. Fool that he was, he had left his coat inside when he had left the party so abruptly. He had just finally reached the point where he couldn't stand his 'friends' anymore, and he had left before he'd made the mistake of telling them all to go to hell.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to ignore the sound of laughter and conversation that still came from inside. They knew he'd left, and they didn't care. Of course, that was typical. As long as no one actually drew them away from their beer and the gossip, they didn't care what anyone did. Unless, of course, that person was a part of the gossip.

Another shiver wracked his body, and he turned around, ready to go back inside. He could grab his coat and leave the tiny apartment that was packed full of people.

To his surprise, the door that led from the balcony to the inside of the apartment was locked. He looked at in shock, and then pounded on the frame. At that moment, the music blared out, threatening to burst his eardrums even from outside of the apartment. No one noticed him standing there, beating on the door to get in.

Several minutes passed, and still no one seemed to notice him locked outside. He was trembling from rage instead of the cold, and his emotions were demanding to be vented in the form of tears.

The apartment was on the fourteenth floor, and the balcony was one of many on the south side of the building. If it hadn't been the middle of March and still cold, there might have been someone else on one of the other balconies.

"Damn it!" He yelled, not caring if someone heard. At least if one of the neighbors heard him and came to investigate and found him standing on the balcony, they could get help. It was a better alternative than freezing. "You're mother was a crackwhore!" he yelled angrily at the people standing ignorantly in the apartment. He was close to tears.

"Now, really, I don't know how you'd know that, but that's just unkind," a voice calmly informed him. Ten turned sharply, his eyes widening to see a man standing on the balcony to his left. Dark eyes, shadowed by the lack of light over the man's balcony, glittered in amusement.

"I d-didn't m-mean-" he broke off, stuttering and shivering too much to form a coherent sentence.

"Yes, well. If you promise to keep the family secrets exactly that, I may consider allowing you to cross over to this balcony. The scenery doesn't change much, but at least you can get inside from here."

Ten walked to the side closest to the man and gazed down pointedly at the distance between the balconies, and the drop that it revealed. "I don't think that's safe," Ten muttered.

"On the contrary, I balcony-hop quite frequently, and I have yet to lose my footing. It's a wonderful occupation, and quite good for exercise, if one does it regularly." The man tilted his head and smiled innocently, and Ten stared at him for a moment before shaking his head and laughing.

"I-It's better than w-waiting," he managed to get out, his voice still betraying him. He lifted his leg and straddled the railing, and then turned carefully, lifting the other leg and turning about completely, legs dangling over the balcony.

"Ah, good," the man cooed softly, his voice lowering, becoming more reassuring. "Now stretch your leg and place one foot between two bars. When it's settled, lean forward, keeping your hands tight on the rail, and extending your free foot."

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter