fourstrings | When the world is too dark

When the world is too dark

[ The Evergreen has a strong no-assholes policy. This is undermined somewhat by the fact that Nick basically runs it now, but it means he can use himself as a gauge. If anyone’s a bigger asshole than he is, they get kicked out.

Steve is the kind of asshole who should have been kicked out way earlier. That’s on Nick. He was over-cautious, cut the guy too much of a break, because running this bar is the only thing that has him making enough cash to keep up with his responsibilities. He’d worried that word would get around that The Evergreen wasn’t a friendly place anymore, and he’d ruin the reputation Al had carefully built up for it over the years, drive customers away. And it’s not just because Al’s basically promised him the place and it’s his future he’s gambling on, but respect for Al. He built Nick sure as he built up this bar, and the very least Nick can do in return is not tank it. And in fairness, Steve had started slow: the kind of coarse jokes that are mean instead of funny, taking sly digs at people. Way too much flirting with women beyond the point it became clear that they didn’t want to be flirted with, at least not by Steve. Nick finally found his balls the night he’d rounded the corner to check there was enough paper in the johns and seen Steve caging a girl in against the wall, face leaning in even though hers was twisted adamantly away. He’d grabbed the man by collar and belt with no regard for the fact that Steve had a good three inches and 20 pounds on him, marched him out the door, and told him not to come back, ever.

Which means that Steve is now going on the Wall of Shame, and he’d been such a dick about it Nick wants to make it a special occasion. There’s a little florist across the street that’s probably gonna close down any day now, judging by the amount of foot traffic they get, so before opening the next day Nick heads over to give them a little last bit of support. There’s a little bell that rings cutely as he pushes the door open, a blast of welcome cool, fragrant air, and… the most beautiful man he’s ever laid eyes on behind the counter. Blond hair in one of those trendy cuts that look goofy on most people that aren’t pop stars but somehow suits him just right, big eyes shaded with long lashes, a sweet little beauty mark.

Nick stops dead just inside the door, confident that if he takes one more step without preparation he’s gonna trip over his own feet. ]

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[ waving back! vash isn't sure what wolfwood is paying her, but he almost definitely needs to up it. pretty sure this burger is proof of the existence of the divine.

and listen, he's only one and a half drinks down, but he also has the alcohol tolerance of a feather. which is the only excuse for what comes out of his mouth. ] S'cute! The way you talk about them. You're cute. I --

[ cut off, abruptly, when someone crowds into the stool next to him, attention promptly jerked away. especially because the guy is putting an arm on the bar and leaning into his space. ]

'Sup, Wolfwood? [ not even looking at him. ] Why don't you make this cutie a refill? Anything he wants, on me.

[ ... which turns out to be an absolutely crash-and-burn attempt, because vash just turns right back to wolfwood, lit up and sparkling all over again. ] Your name is Wolfwood? Your real name? That's so cool! That's like the coolest name I've ever heard!

[ The dark look Nick gives this guy for interrupting Vash calling him cute only gets darker when it becomes apparent that he's taking a crack at Vash. Which... bounces right off, apparently, and Nick shakes his head in mock-sympathy. ]

Sorry, Romeo. Blondie's already drinking for free.

[ Which is as much attention as he gets before Nick turns back to Vash and hikes a thumb at the little chalkboard sign behind him, which says Duty Manager: Father Nicholas D. Wolfwood in the assistant manager's very pretty and somehow sarcastic handwriting. ]

That's me. Blessed with a cool name and a sunny disposition.

[ there is a moment where it's obvious the guy is trying to rally, eyeing up wolfwood before turning back to vash. but before he can even try his next line, vash cuts him off. ]

That's badass. It makes you sound like an outlaw!

[ the would-be paramour is just slinking away, tail between his legs.

vash doesn't even notice, hastening to add: ] But the good kind, obviously! You've got nice eyes, no one would ever really believe you're a bad guy.

[ Oh, that's... actually making Nick feel a little bad for the guy. He quickly pours a double of his favourite bourbon and slides it down to him with a whistle to get his attention before he turns back to Vash. ]

My eyes just seem nice right now because they're looking at you.

[ Wait, this is the perfect opportunity to lay the groundwork for bringing Vash to the orphanage! ]

But if it helps my image, I put in some hours at St Michael's when I have the time.

[ vash's eyes go wide, heat blooming up into his cheeks as wolfwood hits him with that. was that... flirting? that was flirting, right? did that count as flirting?! do bartenders go around saying stuff like that to all their customers???

it's actually lucky that wolfwood changes the subject before vash gets the chance to ask. ]

Is that a church?

Orphanage. They don't call 'em that anymore, but that's what it is.

[ Maybe it's a little heavy for conversation on the literal day they met, but Nick already feels like he's known Vash for ages and he's not even drinking! There's something about him that makes holding anything back seem pointless. Like he's immune to oversharing. ]

's where I grew up. They were good to me, so I try to be good to them.

[ it might be heavy for most people. the standard response is probably to get a little antsy about the subject, or maybe attempt to summon up your soupiest i'm so sorry, but vash just says ohhh.

and then: ] Wait, so you get to volunteer to play around with kids on the weekend? That sounds awesome!

[ and now his brain is attempting to process it. wolfwood, with his outlaw demeanor and badass name, hanging out with kids? definitely getting right down on their level, subjecting himself to tea parties and getting dragged into games?

... something really LGBT is happening to vash right now. ]

[ He's officially fucked.

He meant it when he said they were good to him; he had a better upbringing than he would have had with people who were either so desperate or so uninterested that they gave their infant up. All his material needs were taken care of, and the emotional ones too; he had loved and trusted caregivers who showed him affection but weren't afraid to be stern when he needed a firm hand guiding him. The worst part of growing up in an orphanage is when people assume it was terrible; lonely and cold at best, abusive at worst. And then people think he's pretending it never happens anywhere when he says it didn't happen to him, and it's a fucking mess.

And Vash? Vash just glides right past all the potential darkness, and sees the light. And Nick's little crush turns into a chestburster from that old Alien movie, tearing its way out of him and showing all over his face. ]

It is. Sometimes I do a little cooking or cleaning if they're short, but most of it's just playing.

[ A beat. ]

I hope I'm not out of line, but... I noticed your hand. If you wanted to come by someday, there are kids there who'd get a lot out of meeting you. You wouldn't have to give 'em a sappy speech or anything. It'd just be good for them to be around someone who's happy and attractive and cool, and has a prosthetic. I think you'd like it, too. They're great kids.

[ man, vash didn't know you could volunteer to play. he'd had to grab community service hours for a civics thing in college, and it'd mostly involved picking up trash along the side of a highway until he was sunburned and halfway to heatstroke.

but. he has a split second to freeze when wolfwood starts that off, already tensing in anticipation of what's coming. plenty of people just end up getting nosy about it, and trying to dance around so what happened to your arm? is gonna put a damper on the night, and oh, it's no big deal! i was in a wreck when i was a kid that killed my foster mom, put me in the ICU for a few months, and traumatized my twin so badly he stopped speaking for a year. all good now, though! tends to be the kind of grenade you lob into the middle of a conversation if you want it to end.

and then wolfwood pivots somewhere vash wasn't expecting, and he melts like an idiot. ] Yeah, seriously? I'd love to! Kids are awesome!

When do you go? I'm usually tied up on Sundays, [ nai is religious about taking the day off so they can hang out, and he gets a Look if vash even hints about being busy. ] but Saturdays are free!

[ It's beautiful to watch. Probably just because he's fully smitten now, but he can see the same trepidation he'd gone through playing out on Vash's face; the flash of uh oh followed by relief. And then, even better: genuine enthusiasm. Nick's had more than one relationship crash and burn because someone who thought it was soooo sweet and attractive that he pitched in at the orphanage balked at the idea of hanging out with the kids themselves, or got pissy that he wouldn't cancel plans to go there in order to be with them. ]

Saturday's good. We can do it this week, if I'm not moving too fast.

[ It's... pretty fast. It's Thursday. Quick, to be planning on introducing Vash to the people who mean the most to him bar his little brother, but he's got a good feeling.

He never gets those. ]

Nah, I'm free! Pretty sure I was just gonna waste it hanging around in PJs and watching cartoons.

[ sacred saturday ritual that it is.

he's got the second drink polished off by now, and about half of the burger, and he's feeling niiiice. a little wobbly, maybe, but warm and fuzzy. ... or is that mostly because he's starting to think wolfwood might be into him? hard to tell. either way! ]

Your bar... [ Very Serious. ] ... is the best. I'm gonna leave you a crazy review on Yelp.

[ Nick peers at Vash. The little flush in his cheeks that he'd assumed was makeup when he first saw him is apaprently natural, because that very same shade has grown and is now a rosy band across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. Which means Nick probably shouldn't go making any declarations of affection tonight, at least. If he'd known Vash was a lightweight, he'd have made the second drink a soda. ]

Mmhm. You're toasted. The review's gonna say "the bartender got me drunk, hit on me and conned me into doing charity work" and I'm gonna get shut down.

[ But he's smiling as he says it, at least. ]

[ waitasecond. vash reels a little. ]

You're hitting on me?

[ Oops. ]

I was hitting on you. Gonna save the rest for when you're sober enough to tell me to stick it up my ass with a clear head.

Wait, no! [ emphatic head-shaking. he almost takes himself right off the stool. ] You should definitely keep doing it.

[ firmly: ] I'm not drunk. I only had two!

's a bad look to get someone all liquored up for free and then make a pass at 'em. Even for someone with a cool outlaw name.

[ But he's grinning now, his own cheeks maybe getting a little pink, because Vash telling him to keep doing it definitely makes it seem like his interest is reciprocated. Which he was... already pretty confident about, but it's nice to have near-confirmation. ]

Here's my best offer: I can tell you I'm looking forward to spending more time with you when I'm not working and you're not at least tipsy on the cocktail I invented for you because I think you're hot and interesting.

[ if vash was sober, he'd totally agree with this logic. and even better, he'd be charmed, because it's sweet that this guy is into him and not letting that override the urge to try and take care of him.

unfortunately, he is not sober.

and wolfwood is calling him hot, saying he wants to spend more time with him, aaaand...

somewhere along the line, vash's eyes have just gotten kinda stuck on the other guy's mouth. it's a nice mouth. ]

Soooo... what are the rules if I wanna make a pass at you? [ leaning a little more of his weight onto the bar. ]

You can do it. I'll decline any... uh, intimate invitations 'cause I'm on the clock and trying to at least pretend to have a moral code, but I'll feel real warm thinking about them after I finish.

[ Even saying that is probably over the line if he's trying to be strictly non-creepy, but how can he help it? Vash isn't just hot and interesting, he's got the kind of puppy vibe that makes you wanna be real careful you don't accidentally kick them. ]

And I'll text you Friday night to see if you're still up for Saturday. I can promise to be real gracious about it if you suddenly remember you're having a PJs and cartoons emergency.

[ there's a whiiiine of protest. listen, vash isn't the type of guy to fool around on the first date -- there's a whole host of reasons he's usually not the type to fool around at all, but this guy makes him want to chuck all of that right out the window.

it's not fair. he's wanted to put his mouth on wolfwood's since about five minutes into meeting him, and now that he knows it might be welcome, he's supposed to sit nicely on his stool and behave? torture. cruelty!

but that makes a lightbulb go off. ]

You wanna just come over instead? [ which is blunt as hell, but something about this guy makes him a little unhinged. ] That way you can bail me out if any emergencies pop up.

I won't.

[ But he can give a little, at least, so he reaches out and puts his hand over one of Vash's. ]

But if it helps, you make me wish I was the kind of guy who would.

[ oh. ohhh.

okay, fuck it. he's gonna climb right over this bar and put his mouth on wolfwood's mouth. and if wolfwood bans him from the bar afterwards and commissions vash to design his own funeral wreath, he's gonna use red flowers, because those are his favorite!

fortunately (?), he's only managed to rock forward about an inch before the front door of the bar slams open hard enough to hit the wall. and listen, the streetlights outside are perfectly decent, so there's no logical explanation for the way this guy appears like a looming shadow, voice booming like god when he says VASH.

vash swivels towards the sound of his name, and just says oh, fuck in lieu of any reasonable explanation. not, for the record, like someone about to die, but very much like a kid who just realized mom is pulling into the driveway and they've forgotten to defrost the chicken.

the guy marches over, absolutely seething, and doesn't even do wolfwood the courtesy of eye contact when he slams a hundred dollar bill down on the counter and snarls something about his tab. and then he dips forward, plants a shoulder in vash's stomach, and proceeds to heft him up like vash weighs less than nothing. and vash is immediately squirming like an offended cat, protesting with a what, hey! put me down! that definitely sounds more affronted than afraid. but the guy pays about as much attention to this as he does to the fact that the entire bar has now gone dead silent, all eyes on him, swooping right back out the door.

(when vash bites him on the elbow, legato does consider throwing him in the trunk and driving him home that way. it's only the knowledge that knives would kill him, and not even in a sexy way, that has him dump vash in the backseat instead.) ]

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When the world is too dark

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