X-Kid (Sequel to "Little Boy Named Train")

He's My Man-Crush

A/n: SO HOLY FUCK!!! I got major motivation to write this since I got out the last chapter. Hopefully, the updates'll move faster, since we're getting closer to the concert day.

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Train gave his application to Emily the next day who said she would hand it to her boss and put in a good word for him. She enjoyed his company and he enjoyed hers. Even though they had only known each other for two days, they were good friends. Once Train got back from "The Facility", he was greeted by Ace, who was counting on his fingers. "Hey buddy!" Ace turned back to his hands after the salutation.

"Ace?" Train asked, watching as he tapped his fingers and muttered numbers to himself.

"Oh, yea?" He looked up towards Train. Train pointed to his hands.

"What are you doing?" he asked, gesturing to Ace's hands. Ace looked down at his hands and then back up to Train.

"Oh! I was just totalling everything together, seeing if we'll be fine or not."

"Oh really?" Train cocked his head in curiosity. "How're we looking?"

"Well, you had made $70 when I came here. Then, I added my $20, so that's $90. After I worked here, you got $12 for working 2 hours at the train station...so I'm guessing you get paid $6 an hour there. I made $10 this morning. So we're at $112. The concert's not until June 9th and it's April 10th. We're sitting on the edge, I think, since tickets can go fast. How much are concert tickets?"

"Um...about $80 each. And I was thinking about getting backstage passes...those add $40 per person to the ticket cost."

"And it's just you and me, so our goal is..." He started counting on his fingers again. "$240. So we need $128 more then we'll have enough to buy the tickets and passes--that's it."

"We can worry about gas money and other things later."

"But we need to get over the goal anyway, right? I can bring in $10 every day. Until you get a job at 'The Facility', you'll be bringing $12 every day. By that we'll reach the goal in...6 days. That is, if you don't manage to be cut short even morehours or lose your job completely."

"Ace, he saw me with the application for 'The Facility'." Ace's eyes widened.

"You're fucking kidding, right?" Train shook his head. Ace ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "Well, shit. He's probably gonna get you fired from the train station." Train gulped.

"How much will you make at 'The Facility'?"

"Minimum wage."

"And that's what?"

"$5.12 per hour."

"You'll work 6 hours. That's $30.72 a day....Oh my god, Train. If you get fired, we'll reach our goal faster! 4 days!"

Train's eyes grew wide. "Are you serious?!?"

Ace nodded. "Dead fucking serious!! The doctor's accidentally HELPING us!!"

"Oh my god, that's great." Train chuckled a bit, when he heard someone calling for him downstairs. He left the room and ran downstairs to the lobby and to the front desk where a woman sat at the desk with a phone in her hand. She handed it to Train.

"It's for you." He took the phone from her hand.

"Thank you." He put the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hello, Train?" a deep voice he did not recognize said on the other end of the phone.

"Yes sir."

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure I had the right guy. So, I got your application today from Emily."

Oh this must be the owner of "The Facility".

"Okay."

"And she even said some nice things about you. I want to see you tomorrow afternoon, can you do that?" Train grinned. This was a good sign.

"Yes, of course, sir."

The deep voice laughed. "Well, good. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes sir. Bye."

"Bye."

Train handed the phone back to the woman. "Thank you very much." With that he ran back upstairs.

"What the hell was that all about?" Ace asked as he entered the room.

"I just got asked to go and see the owner of 'The Facility' tomorrow afternoon."

"What? Are you serious? That means an interview! You better clean up nice, cause you ain't so pretty now!" Ace jumped around Train, panicking about how he's gonna look for the interview. Train laughed and scowled.

"Hey, now, I'm not that bad looking, am I?"

"Nah, I'm kidding with you." Ace looked him from head to toe. "Actually, you're fucking HOT!" Train giggled.

"Ace, what the fuck." He was struggling to talk through his laughter.

"Yea like...Billie Joe Armstrong hot." Train kept laughing. "WHAT?!? He's my man-crush."

Train had finally calmed down. "Okay....okay...I just thought that was funny."

"So...do you have a man-crush?" Ace leaned in closer and looked deep into Train's eyes. "Well?"

"I'm not sure what a man-crush is..." he said with a chuckle.

"WHAT?!?! A man-crush is someone you can't deny is FUCKING HOT even though you're straight as a stripper pole." (a/n: "straight as a stripper pole" is one of my original phrases.)

"Okay, okay..." Train paused for a moment in thought. He felt a ping in his gut that told him that all the members of Green Day had some kind of deep connection to him that he couldn't say it was any of them without him feeling awkward. He thought and thought until...

"Johnny Depp." Ace cocked his head to the side.

"Really?" Train nodded. "Ugh. Train, you're just like a girl." Ace climbed onto the top bunk and flopped down onto the bed. He let out a yawn and turned to face the wall, cocooning himself in his blankets. "You're too normal. It's late. Good night, Billie Joe-level hot, Johnny Depp lover Train." Train giggled, slipped into his pajamas, and turned off the light.

"Good night, Hello Kitty-level cute, Billie Joe lover Ace." Ace grunted to show his dissatisfaction with the "Hello Kitty-level cute" part.

"I ain't cute," he muttered.

"Whatever. Night."

"Night."

Train drifted into a deep sleep, his dreams seeming closer to him than ever.