The Caged Bird Must Sing

Chapter 1

"The past has been there all along, reminding us: This time-maybe, hopefully, against all odds, we will get it right." -Unknown

...

"Another round! Come on, just one more!" The man said, slamming his shot glass onto the hardwood counter. He swayed unsteadily in his seat, eyes unfocused and a deep set frown marking his face. The bartender barely glanced at him before putting down the empty glass he was cleaning with a rag, a sigh escaping his lips.

"That's your sixth shot already, Paul. Perhaps you should head home." The young man said, causing the drunk to scowl. His shaky hand tried smoothing out his hair, but it took a few tries to get his coordination right.

"Just to run into my wife fucking another man again? I don't think so!" His slurred voice continued to rise, causing a few of the other patrons to direct their attention over to the counter. Their beady eyes watched as the drunk banged his glass on the counter a few more times, as if the repetitive motion would convince him otherwise. He almost tipped over in the stool, but his arms wheeled forwards to grab onto the edge of the counter. The bartender placed his hands on his side, leaning towards the man with an intense look.

"Go home. Or I'll have you removed." He threatened. Figuring that it would be worse to be physically thrown out by the security guard watching from the corner, he let out a string of curses under his breath, throwing down a few bills for the last shot, and sauntered out the door as gracefully as a spited drunk man could. His departure caused the other customers to pick up their quiet conversations once more, and the bar settled into it's usual comfortable atmosphere with the sounds of 'Rocketman' playing overhead.

A low chuckle caused the young man to glance to his left. The owner, a tall and lean man in his late 30's, walked over with a cigarette in his amused grin.

"Law, are you antagonizing customers again?" The young man sighed, grabbing the rag he'd been using to clean with and the abandoned shot from the counter.

"That's the third night in a row Paul's been here. Each time he drinks more and more. It wouldn't be good for our reputation if we allowed our customers to get alcohol poisoning, Cora-san." He grumbled, turning on the small sink behind the counter and rinsing out the remnants of Paul's drink. The bar owner chuckled again, snuffing out his used-up cigarette in a nearby ashtray. Technically, you weren't allowed to smoke in the building, but since Corazon was the owner, no one was gonna tell him otherwise.

"You've been reading those medical books again, haven't you? You're sounding more and more like a doctor every day." He teased, ruffling the man's hair affectionately. He walked over towards the other side of the bar, grabbing the small broom they kept to clean. Law cocked an eyebrow.

"Broke another glass?" He joked, grinning at the man's sheepish look.

"Ah, well you see..." He rubbed the back of his head, messing up his short blonde hair. Though, it was messy to begin with.

"At this rate, we'll run out of glasses to serve drinks." Law shook his head, drying off the now clean shot glass in his hands with a clean rag and replacing it with the other clean ones under the counter.

"I'm getting a new shipment of glasses next week. We'll be fine." He laughed, walking back into the kitchen to speak with the cook. Law was left alone behind the bar. He spotted rings of alcohol on the counter and grabbed another rag to clean it with.

A body approached the counter, and Law glanced up. The bodyguard, looking decidedly bored, sat at one of the stools. The green-haired man stifled a yawn with his hand, knocking on the wood of the counter.