A Bar On The Mainland | Saturday Evening

[nottrivial]

Alec had no idea that there was any kind of weirdness going on this weekend. He'd gone about his business like usual -- some training in the morning followed by some heavy hiding-in-his-room throughout the afternoon -- and then he'd set off on, well, it was kind of an adventure, actually.

Or if you asked Jace, it was a date. Which meant that if you asked Alec, it was a date, because he was pretty sure Jace knew about these things.

The fact that it was taking place at a gay bar might have been a clue that it wasn't quite that simple, but for all Alec knew, that was just how dates worked. Loud music, glitter, dancing... by the Angel, that was a lot of glitter. He was going to be picking it off his sweater for weeks.

Sigh.

Alec cleared his throat and turned to his companion. "So," he said, doing his best to be audible over the music, "is this the part where we get drinks?"

[[for one, up early for SP, and NFB for distance, yo!]]

Comments

[myownface]

"Velcro, right," Sparkle cackled, pleased that Alec had remembered his kitten's name. "Cats are pretty good company, you know. You should get one."

Because it was way better than a goat.

"And then your cat and mine can have like little kitten playdates or something. That's a thing cats do, right?"

No, Sparkle. Cats generally didn't.

[nottrivial]

"They... might just end up glaring at each other," Alec hedged. "Cats."

Yep. Cats.

[myownface]

"Well, either way," Sparkle replied, waving that off. "You aren't so comfortable around people, but maybe a pet would be good for you. You can babysit Velcro for me sometime, if you want."

And of course he'd want to!

[nottrivial]

Alec flushed a little, because there was some praise in there somewhere. "I can probably watch him sometimes, sure," he promised. "I don't think I'd do well with my own, just in case the island does something weird, but I'd be okay with watching yours sometime."

[myownface]

"Well, when isn't the island doing something weird? I mean, Velcro is the result of the island being weird, and he's okay."

Sparkle was almost positive by now that Velcro was a he. He still hadn't checked, because, okay, looking between your kitten's legs to see if you could find his nuts was weird.

"Are you just bent on being alone all the time, man?"

[nottrivial]

What? "No," Alec said, taking a careful sip of his drink to give himself time to think. "It's just not fair if the island does something to make me inaccessible for a weekend at some point and the cat winds up hungry or stuck outside or something. I know you didn't pick Velcro, I just... wouldn't deliberately go out and choose one, I guess."

He shrugged. "I miss my cat from home, though."

[myownface]

Sparkle considered that one for a minute, yes.

"Plenty of people have pets and they haven't starved to death or anything," he pointed out. "I mean, you're in a building with a bunch of other students. If you can't get to your pet, I bet someone can. Shit, I could."

Sparks was helpful!

"You have a cat back home? Why didn't you bring him with you?"

[nottrivial]

Alec shook his head. "I don't want to ask someone else to do that," he dismissed. "But yeah, his name's Church. He's mostly Hodge's -- our, uh, guardian, the one who mostly looks out for me and Jace and Isabelle when our parents aren't around -- so I didn't get to bring him. But it would've been nice."

[myownface]

"Yeah, I guess it would've." Sparkle gave that one some careful consideration, and then grinned. "I guess this means that Velcro and I are going to have to visit you more often. Until you're sick of us both."

Oh yes. Oh yes indeed.

[nottrivial]

Alec smiled at that. "Yeah, that's fair," he decided. "I'm okay with that. Velcro can, uh, be grateful that there's no goat to terrorize him."

Was that a joke? From Alec? Gasp.

[myownface]

It seemed distinctly joke-like, at least by Alec standards. Sparkle had himself a good chuckle at it, and then lifted his bottle and took another good swig of beer.

"We can all be thankful that there's no goat. Means the most stubborn company anyone has to keep is me."

[nottrivial]

"That's true," Alec decided, having loosened up enough from the small amount of beer that he didn't feel weird for babbling like this. "You're even more stubborn than my brother. It's a good thing, I mean. But he's, he's really stubborn, he talked me into not... getting nervous and cancelling this when he told me this was probably a date? So-- being more stubborn than him, that's... an accomplishment."

[myownface]

"Uh... go me!" Sparkle was a little thrown, here, but he was keeping up with the conversation kind of admirably. "He told you this was a date? Do I even know him?"

Because, wow, Sparkle hadn't been aware that this was a date. That would have been good to know!

[nottrivial]

Okay, now the embarrassment about babbling was starting to set in.

"I... what?" There was the coherent Alec everyone knew and kind of tolerated! "I don't know. His name's Jace? He goes to school with us. I mean, obviously. Is that... wrong?"

[myownface]

"Kinda," Sparkle replied, looking a little baffled, now. "You didn't tell him I was gay or anything, did you? I mean, I don't even know the guy."

And, okay, Sparks had a pretty flamboyant name, and he was a member of Pride and all, but it wasn't like he advertised the gay thing for all the school to know. So assuming that this was a date...

"Even if he does know I'm gay, why is he going and assuming that this is a date? Friends go to bars too, you know. Even queer ones."

[nottrivial]

"No, I wouldn't have -- I would never have told him that," Alec said hastily, not taking his eyes off of Sparkle but still managing to pick anxiously at the label of his beer bottle. "I never even told him about me, I don't really, uh, want to think about how he knew that--" because it was still unsettling, and actually the more he thought about it the more he kind of wanted to curl up into a ball-- "but he just... said it, and I figured he knew what he was talking about."

[myownface]

"Well," Sparkle said, his tone flat, "he's full of shit. He doesn't know me, wasn't there when we made our plans to go hang out, he's not exactly the authority on whether or not we're dating right now, Alec."

He set his beer down and rubbed at his forehead. He could feel a headache coming on.

"You wanna take anybody's word for it, why not ask me next time? I mean, last I checked, I was kind of the complete authority on whether or not I'm asking someone out on a date. Like, more than someone who knows, what, my name? Yeah, that'll tell a person loads."

[nottrivial]

Alec wasn't sure how to explain the fact that he'd been taking Jace's word as an authority on pretty much everything since they'd met, at least without embarrassing himself, so he left it alone.

"I figured it was just supposed to be obvious," he said, managing to keep his voice clear even though he wanted to mumble. "There are cues I miss sometimes, so I thought he had a better idea than I did. Sorry."

[myownface]

"He kinda sounds like a dick," Sparkle replied, not bothering to keep his opinion to himself, because... Sparkle. "He sabotage your friendships often? Shit, Alec. You came here thinking this was a date and here I've been flirting with the bartender."

Who had gorgeous eyes, by the way. And was far older than either of them.

[nottrivial]

Oh, Jace and Alec's friendship was fabulously unhealthy, it was true. And to be fair, Alec was equally weird about Jace and Natalie.

"He's my best friend," Alec said, just the slightest bit defensive, enough that it was barely perceptible. "I'm sure it was just an accident."

Now that he thought about it, Jace didn't really date all that much. Or ever, in recent memory.

"Sorry for... sorry."

[myownface]

"Let me guess," Sparkle sighed. "I get to look forward to being shaken down by him the same way your sister got to me sometime, too?"

He could hardly wait. If he didn't think it would end with him being brutally maimed, he'd probably try to punch the guy for this.

"Look, Alec, tonight wasn't supposed to be a date. If it's a date, I'll tell you. Hell, I might even take you someplace nicer than some glitter-infested gay hangout in Baltimore, if I can, like, afford it."

It could happen!

"Us both liking guys... hey, that's an okay start to the whole dating thing, but just because we're both queer, that doesn't automatically make us both compatible or anything. You see straight people dating one another just because they're straight, like, ever? 'Hey, we have compatible parts! Oh my God let's go steady!' If this Jace guy thinks it's that simple, then yeah, he's a bit of a dick."

[nottrivial]

Alec wasn't sure which part of that to address first, so he started with, "He won't if you don't want him to." Which, okay, wasn't necessarily true according to what Jace had announced before, but it was different now, and Alec could probably talk him out of it if he tried. Maybe.

"He might have just-- just figured that I liked you," he offered, and it felt weird saying something like that loudly enough to be heard over the music. "I mean, I do, I think. Like you."

[myownface]

That was not really what Sparkle had been expecting to hear. Granted, it was kind of neat to hear. He certainly hadn't heard something like that before.

Clearly, the thing to do here would be to down the rest of his drink, and lean in close and study Alec thoughtfully, and then lean back and look at him with some sort of great revelation in his expression.

"How drunk are you? I mean, like, you've had one beer. That's pretty lightweight. You know you kind of ramble and say crazy things when you've had a beer? I never would have guessed."

Sometimes, Sparkle's revelations were wholly and entirely unproductive. At least he wasn't pointing out a zit or something.

[nottrivial]

"I don't think I'm that drunk," said Alec, who it seemed was pretty much a total lightweight. "It's just a, a thing that I thought of. When we were shooting. Actually."

[myownface]

"Like before you even talked to your totally misinformed about how gay guys work buddy of yours, even?"

Sparkle just had to check to be sure, here.