Starting a Habit {Tag: Zach}

[Antosha Vikenti]

Perhaps Antosha might be spending just a bit, a very small bit, too much time in the bars. This was a conclusion the tall panther came to as he stared at the door to Churchkey for the second time this week. Which might not sound so bad if it weren't for the fact it was only Tuesday. So it would probably be better to specify that instead of he'd been to the bar twice, he'd stayed home only once. A sigh rushed out of the Russian's mouth, his head shaking slightly almost passively before he brought a cigarette to his lips and lit it with a deep breath and a flick of his lighter. As he leaned against the wall outside of Churchkey he tried to remember why exactly he was here.

His amber eyes shut slowly as he scoured his brain for the elusive answer. Was he just trying to hide from the hectic life of school and.. Well, school. Antosha frowned to himself, shaking his head once more as he decided that couldn't be the answer. Taking a drag of his cigarette he was suddenly all too aware of an almost suffocating silence surrounding him. In the far distance he heard the sounds of traffic, and behind him heard the clink of glasses, but there wasn't a solitary voice he could distinguish. Antosha's frown increased as he cocked his head to the side.

Yes, that must be it. The silence. The suffocating silence that always seemed to cover him like a cloud whenever he was home. Antosha sighed softly, opening his eyes slowly. When exactly was the last time he'd had silence like that at home? Maybe... Once in his freshman year of college? Then he came up here and it seemed like the silence was all around. Taking another drag of the dying cigarette he rested his head against the wall to look up at the sky.

Maybe he should find a roommate.

But first things first- to drown the silence in a mixture of good alcohol and loud company. Antosha flicked the last of the cigarette before stomping it out with a noncommittal grunt, turning his heel to grind the dead cigarette as he headed inside. He shoved open the door to be assaulted by the boisterous voices, which even if only from a few patrons, filled the cozy bar with their banter. His lips pulled into an easy smile as he headed to the bar, nodding once to the bartender so the man would bring him his usual glass of vodka. As he waited, amber eyes scanned the slightly small crowd of people gathered in Churchkey. All usual patrons, as far as Antosha was able to tell. Though there was always a possibility he was wrong since he didn't actually serve the drinks, he only helped diminish Cecil's supply of alcohol.

[Deleted]

Zach was getting better. He was moving on…or so he thought. He thought that staying the last few week of school back at his parents house would help Zach get over his…breakup? Could it really be called a breakup if they were never officially together? Sigh….either way, the hope was that Zach could get some closure and comfort from being around family, even if he didn’t really confide in them much about the situation. And besides that….all it did was help push Kai from his mind, to distract him from the hurt. He was no closer to moving on than he was when he first told Kai “We’re ending this.”

Though he supposed the only good thing that came from this was that Zach figured out his sexuality for the most part. It sure explained some things. That and Zach realized that he was exactly the person he thought he was when this all started. And that’s exactly what made it hard to be with Kai. Zach just….was not a casual person.

Damn, he needed a drink. He needed a lot of drinks. What better way was there to mend a broken heart?

Zach headed to his regular bar, the Churchkey, though his regularness had obviously thinned out since he’d moved closer to the university in Burlington. He still showed up every so often, but it was usually several weeks in between visits. The last time Zach had been here, he was fussing over Kai too…and before that, on a “date” with the man in question.

He opened the doors and stepped inside, washed over with the familiar smells of alcohol and sounds of merry patrons. Zach wasn’t looking to share his company with anyone, but sometimes that’s what ended up happening when one sat alone, somebody invited you in for a conversation or a quick go at the karaoke machine. If nothing else, there was always bartender therapy. Seems that guy was always listening to someone gripe about their day. Zach leaned against the bar and ordered his standard IPA. A few of those would be enough to give him the buzz he was looking for, but still leave him able to drive by the end of the night. He wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon.

[Antosha Vikenti]

Antosha leaned against the bar rather casually as he mulled over his most recent spur of the moment decision. It was something the Russian could definitely look into doing, though he had no idea who could possibly want to board with the almost seven foot male who had, in his mind, no possible redeeming qualities. Not actually the case, but he'd like to throw a rather large pity party while he was in the mind to. At least he'd throw this metaphorical party before drowning himself in the liquid courage in the bar.

Amber eyes flicked up with interest as the door opened and the Russian watched as a rather slight, or at least to him, male picked his way through the crowd. A sense déjà vu ran through his head the longer he watched. Though it wasn't actually centered around the situation but more around the male himself. Perhaps Antosha had seen him before? Or... no... A frown danced across his face as he tried scouring his memories for a name or anything to go with the face he was seeing. When nothing immediately presented itself, Antosha merely shrugged it off as the male having 'one of those faces'.

Once that was discovered, Antosha returned to watching the male. He wasn't "staring", he wasn't that sort of guy. No, no. He was just watching intensely, from a distance, without making himself known. Anyway, during his examination of the male Antosha couldn't really help noticing something seemed off. The air around the male seemed to be heavy with sometime akin to sadness. Antosha was no stranger to coming to a bar to try and pick yourself up, especially since that was his reason for coming here tonight. The only real question, to him anyway, was whether or not the male would prefer solitary drinking or would like company.

That being said (or rather thought) the Russian pushed off the bar to walk over to where the man was standing, stopping once to pick up his own glass of clear alcohol. He carefully pulled his face into an apologetic smile, just in case the nameless familiar face noticed his watching, before raising his glass as a way of explanation. "You would like company?" he asked carefully, head cocked to the side in his usual quizzical gesture. "Perhaps... You can share how it is I know you as well?" this was added on just a few breaths after, said with an almost sheepish tone to his voice that didn't fit the predatory panther.

[Deleted]

Zach just wanted a drink and some time alone to think. Or at least to be away and do something different than just studying and dodging his siblings every day. That had been one of the…best…things about being with Kai. When he wasn’t lost in his work, he was spontaneous. Different. He forced Zach into doing things he never would have thought to do or had the guts to do were he not pushed. Zach wished he had the incentive to take that kind of initiative on his own.

Zach dove into his beer, taking a lasting, long drink of it until it had fallen to a little more than half. He released a refreshing gasp upon removing his lips from the rim of the glass. Once he set it down, he noticed a….very tall person starting to approach him.

Now Zach didn’t have a very good memory when it came to remembering people. Typically, there had to be something especially special about them, something to catch his eye or interest, for him to remember them. There were few people in the area who were as tall as this man was. It would, quite honestly, be amazing even for Zach to forget a person such as this. It was…also one of the prime identifiers for the man he wasn’t sure if he should call his ex…since they technically hadn’t been together…or had they? While he didn’t want to say one way or another, he wanted to say they were over even less.

Anyway…

It didn’t come right away, but Zach knew he knew this particular man. Maybe he looked a little different, older, but Zach definitely knew him. Zach didn’t look the same as he had in high school. Maybe he still stuck to the dark colors, like black and blue, but he stopped with the skinny jeans. His hair used to be dyed black and hung down to his shoulders. Some old high school friends had commented that his image now was very different from high school.

Zach furrowed his eyebrows as the man spoke, trying to place the enormous man’s name. He held up a hand, pointing vaguely at the giant. “…..you’re…..Ant…” Was that right? He cocked his head as the memory came back. “…you hit on me in high school.” And Zach didn’t appreciate it one bit. His features relaxed into something more friendly, with a soft smile even. “How’ve you been?”

[Antosha Vikenti]

His gate towards the male was slow, giving him time to swallow a large portion of his burning vice. Hoping that somehow while he took his time that a name would appear to explain how this man looked so familiar to the Russian. Amber eyes gazed down at the male and he let himself smile, anyone would look small when they were sitting beside a 6'10 shifter.

Antosha had also forsaken many of the things he once called essential to his high school wardrobe. Though he had kept his color scheme to the primarily blacks and greys (it suited his skin tone) he had done away with his multitude of skinny jeans. In some cases he even burned the poor defenseless things. He'd also gotten rid of his gaudier accessories, such as the collar he'd worn on a few occasions, as well as anything that had spikes on it. Now his only accessory was that of a dull steel ring around his left thumb and a thick rich leather bracelet around his right wrist. His ears were still heavy with metal studs but he'd lost the ones on his face as well as various other parts of his anatomy. The only thing Antosha had really added to his appearance was a rather impressive number of tattoos. The most visible of them would be the дикобраз across his knuckles.

The Russian man smiled some more as he took a second drink of the fiery alcohol. It seemed he wasn't the only one who had trouble remembering names to faces. However, the still nameless male recovered faster than Antosha and pulled the right name out of his hat on the first try. The sentence that followed after made the Russian laugh, just once, though his smile turned apologetic. "Da, I am Ant. I apologize for hitting on you in high school. If it is any consolation I hit on everyone? Well, the males at least. Even teachers weren't safe from my advances." he shook his head some, embarrassed by his previous lack of shame.

His eyes scanned up and down the male once more as names from his past ran through his head like some sort of fast paced credits. Eventually the movie paused and rewarded Antosha with a mental picture. A still slight boy, wearing skinny jeans and hair down to his shoulders like he was some sort of girl. Ant smiled suddenly and tilted his head up, pressing his drink against the counter. Finally, he could have a name to go with the face that he might have said was attractive- if he were going to hit on the male of course. But the other didn't seem like he would want that sort of company. "Bi- Zach... Right? You hung around my sister sometimes?" He asked, wanting to clarify the situation. "Ah.. I've been good. Am working at Hammel while I finish up my teaching degree. The plan is to work there as an art teacher." Another smile lit up his lips before he continued. "How about you? You seem..." Lonely? Depressed? Lackluster? How many words were there to explain the vibe he was getting off the man? "Like you aren't here for the beautiful surrounding." He ended plainly, with just a hint of sarcasm.

[Deleted]

Zach shook his head, smiling at the memories he was now drawing up from the back of his mind. “Yes….you did.” Zach remembered that very well, now that he thought about it, that this person was a flirt to the core. And especially invasive. Perhaps it was all those things combined that made Anthosha so memorable. It wasn’t until the tall man brought up his sister that Zach remembered their relationship. “Right, I remember her, uhm…..” What was her name? Shit, Zach was actually friends with her, how could he forget? He continued to think, but was unable to pull it out form the air. “Wait…I know this….” It was right on the tip of his tongue.

“Oh? You’re working at Hammel? What do you do there?” Zach wondered if he worked with either Maebelle or Oliver, both being close friends of his, especially Oliver, whom was Zach’s best friend….though they hadn’t talked recently. Zach really had been caught up in himself, to have dropped contact for as long as he had. He felt like such a shitty friend for it.

Zach shrugged a shoulder at his question. “…taking a break.’ From life. “I’ve been…I’ve been studying a lot myself. I’m in graduate school now, it’s…it’s tough…” Which was as good an excuse as any. Truth was, Zach was mostly done with all of his end of the year projects, even with the disturbances at home. There wasn’t much left for him to do so this break was mostly just from….life.

[Antosha Vikenti]

Antosha would have loved to say he was no longer a flirt, but unfortunately that would be an obviously blatant lie. So instead he would justify his actions with 'it could be worse'. At least he'd changed his tactics. Instead of blunt force to pull people's pants off, Antosha was more inclined to try and seduce the men he wanted into his bed. A small smirk pulled at his lips as he took a small drink of the vodka, amber eyes gazing steadily at the man before him. There was no surprise in that fact that no one really remembered Mayu. In fact if he didn't know for certain she was a telepath then he would have pegged his slight sister for having the ability to be invisible instead. "Mayu, or May, Yoshiko." He supplied this helpfully, another small smirk playing on his face.

The smirk faded away rather fast at the next question and he filled the silence with another quick drink. The male wasn't overly keen of sharing what he did at Hammel, since it really couldn't be counted as a job. It barely counted as curriculum for college. "I just help Devon and a few students. Mostly it is shadowing until I graduate this semester. Then I will hopefully start in Fall as a full time actual teacher."

Amber eyes scanned over the male, listening intensely to the other's explanation. While it might have made a good response, Antosha couldn't help but feel he wasn't hearing what was actually going on. Still, he wasn't sure he wanted to pry too far into the male he hadn't talked to in years. "Ah. What degree are you going after then?" His lips twitched into a small smile as he set down his slowly emptying glass.

[Deleted]

Zachary Bishop remembered those blunt force tactics of Antosha’s rather well, having been on the receiving end of them more than a few times. Back then, Zach found Ant loud, obnoxious, a complete bother. Zach preferred his seclusion much more back then than he did now and he was far more likely to bite back at those who threatened to disturb his personal bubble. In a way, he wasn’t all that different than the boy Kodi, albeit Zach never actually bit anyone, only figuratively.

Antosha had experienced these “bites” about as many times as Zach had experienced Ant’s “tactics”. Zach nodded with an awkward smile. “Right, Mayu.” It was embarrassing to have forgotten her name since she was technically the one he was friends with.

During the silence between the question and the answer, Zach followed Ant’s example and enjoyed a generous helping of his beer. “Oh, so kind of like student teaching?” That made sense. “Are you planning on teaching art?” Zach knew of Devon, the art teacher and club advisor. Savvy talked about him all the time.

Zach smiled, though it was still pretty weak. “Creative writing,” he replied. This was a topic he could get into. A lot better than the current happenings of his life.

[Antosha Vikenti]

Zach wouldn't have been surprised to know that he wasn't alone in his assessment of how Ant used to be. Loud, obnoxious, and a complete bother? There were many souls who would share the male's opinion. Unfortunately, the one being described as that... Well he couldn't really say the assessment was wrong. In fact he'd probably add 'punk', 'pervert', and 'an extreme tendency to sexual harass all those sporting wangs'. Though he wouldn't say wangs, he'd use proper terminology. But despite all that, Antosha couldn't say he was necessarily a bad kid. Just a bit misguided. Now he could flirt without feeling the need to make an ass out of himself by becoming overbearing at the word 'no'. Unless the persons life was in danger. But by then it wasn't actually flirting.

Antosha merely chuckled at the other's embarrassment at not remembering his sister's name. "You do not have to feel bad. Not many remember Mayu. I think she prefers it that way, though. Less attachments to the area." He offered this in a way to ease the awkward smile. "She is planning on traveling the world after she finishes at Stanford." Okay, so he was only a little proud of his sister. If given the chance he could probably talk for hours about her and her accomplishments.

"Da. Kind of like student teaching... But without so much teaching. Mostly I observe and step in whenever I can help a student." He explained, without a whole lot of enthusiasm in his voice. Embarrassment about your own position in life could do that do a person. "Ah yes. I'm planning on trying to work at Hammel as an art teacher if they'd hire me... Otherwise I may need a career change. No way I could work at normal high schools."

Antosha waited a few minutes after the man gave his major, expecting a lengthy explanation. Then he realized who exactly he was talking to. A small smile pulled at his lips as though he thought he might coax Zach's own to be brighter by having an example to go with. "Creative writing? What kind of things? Am ashamed to say I do not remember much of your writing from back in high school.."

[Deleted]

The descriptors that Antosha would have used, while accurate, were too obscene for the quiet book worm to immediately think of, especially to the Zach that was in high school. The Zach today, however, might be able to conjure up the words. Though it was still true that Zachary Bishop was essentially retarded when it came to love, dating and flirting. That was probably why he let things with Kai go so wayward until it all fell apart…right?

“Still,” he mumbled, not quite satisfied with Ant’s rationalization, “it’s embarrassing…and not fair to her.” Zach didn’t like being around people too much, but even he would be a little sad if it were so easy for others to forget him. “Oh, that’s exciting. Send her my congrats.” Zach smiled.

He wondered if Kai had already forgotten him?

Zach needed to stop thinking about that. He took another drink of is IPA. “Why not?” he asked. Was there something about the normal high school that Zach was unaware of?

If Zach hadn’t been so much in his own mind, despite having a few swallows of alcohol in his system, he might have been more generous in his reply. Maybe he just needed a few more drinks? This probably wasn’t healthy. “I never let you read any of my works in high school,” he reminded Ant. He paused and took a breath. It wasn’t anything special, actually. “Mostly fantasy. Some science fiction.” And some not-so-wholesome stuff he would never advertise outside of the anonymous wonders of the internet.

[Antosha Vikenti]

Proud of his sister or not, Antosha didn't understand her desire to be so easily forgotten. She always blended into the woodwork sure enough but he couldn't see the appeal of walking up to someone you knew and having them treat you as though you were a stranger. But it wasn't something that was ever likely to happen to the tall Russian. He was very memorable. "Well... You did remember her in the end so you don't have to feel bad." He pointed out, a sly smile lighting up his face. "I'll tell her you congratulated her on her engagement instead." He should probably stop talking about his sister now.

Now how to respond to the question without seeming like some sort of... -ist. Humanist? Species-ist? Whatever the word was. "Ah..." He hummed softly and took a drink of his vodka to kill time, swirling the glass gently before he motioned they should have more brought over. A vodka for him, and whatever Zach was drinking. "I just... Is not the place for me. Powers are better to be around."

Oh right. Antosha grinned sheepishly as the male reminded him he hadn't actually read the other's work. Well, at least it would explain why he didn't remember any of the stories. "If you were interested, I would enjoy to read them now?" The offer came with a slight nod as he leaned against the counter, head cocked towards Zach. The panther was resisting the urge to talk about the elephant in the room- Zach being upset. But he could tell eventually he'd be losing the battle. "Promise not to judge..."

[Deleted]

Already forgotten….no, that was ridiculous. Then again…it’d been days since Zach had seen Kai in the hospital room, and he still hadn’t called. Why would he, they weren’t together anymore.

Zach definitely needed to stop obsessing.

“Thanks,” he breathed with a small, flat smile. Zach needed to stop obsessing and start concentrating on what was in front of him. Like this reunion with a person he didn’t particularly like in high school, but who seemed much like a completely different person.

“You think?” Zach asked, truthfully wondering why Antosha didn’t like being around normal humans. Maybe he’d had a bad experience with meta-prejudice in the past? It was definitely possible. Zach didn’t care one way or the other about powers and non-powers, the only thing that really grated on him in the area of prejudice was when people used his family as a means to judge the Bishop. Zach was more than just his name, so were his siblings, and he disliked when people assumed otherwise.
“I guess it that’s what you’re comfortable with, then it’s what you should do. I know a lot of people from our class ended up working there too.” Like Maebelle and Oliver.

Antosha hadn’t read any of Zach’s work because Zach hadn’t let him. He hadn’t let a lot of people, actually, just those that he was particularly close to. And he was always too afraid of criticism back then to let more than those people read it. “Sure, actually, if you want,” he said, his face brightening a little. Zach always enjoyed talking about his stories. “It’s always nice to hear the opinions of different people, actually, so…feel free to judge all you like.” Zach was better at taking criticism these days, especially when he realized that some people like things and others didn’t.

Zach took another drink from his beer. He was starting to feel the buzz…and was overall just feeling more relaxed. Talking with an old friend(not that Ant had been a friend) seemed to help take the edge off, if only a little, of his worries.

[Antosha Vikenti]

Antosha, while he wasn't as skilled as some (like Stefan), prided himself on being able to pick up on subtle hints someone might be dropping. Maybe it was because he spent so much time flirting with others but he preferred thinking he knew what a person might be dropping because he was simply that nice of a person. It was in his nature to try and help those in trouble or those that were hurting, so it was natural that he'd picked up habits that allowed him to notice when someone was upset and just didn't wish to share it. Granted he didn't actually know if Zach was upset, or if the spider boy was trying to hide it, but he was pretty sure that something was wrong. Even if he wasn't the most interesting of people, he could usually draw more attention than breathy words, and eyes that kept gazing somewhere else.

"It is probably a stupid thing, not liking the people without powers. After all, how to tell meta from nonmeta right away? But... It is preferred to not deal with them.. They do not understand us, we do not understand them any longer." To him, this was the truth. It didn't come from any sort of bad experience meta-prejudice. He had always either ignored it, chalked it up to them being jealous, or just the occasional fight. No... His thoughts simply came from him having grown up hating those who were normal and as he got older he let go of his anger and now simply harbored distaste and the urge to keep normal people away.

The fact Zach's face brightened at such a simple thing relieved Antosha's thoughts that something was wrong only slightly. But he was still sure that something was upsetting the smaller meta. "How about exchanging numbers? Can set up a date later for me to look over your work?... Maybe I can show you mine as well? Though, is mostly art not writing. Never was a written type." He smiled gently before fishing his phone out of his pocket in preparation for Zach.

As Zach took another drink, Ant couldn't avoid the curiosity about what was going on inside the spider's head. With a half smile he looked over at the male, tapping his phone to turn it on. "So... What is really bothering you?"

[Deleted]

Ant’s answer was strange. Maybe when Zach was younger, he might have agreed with Anthosha, that there was a lack of understanding between the two populations, but back then that was out of his own resentment for having manifested at all, and of all things, much later than many of his siblings. Having grown up a little bit, and probably from the inherent empathy necessary to become a writer - he had to be able to write from the perspectives of many people to write believable characters, to understand motivations, to understand how histories affected personalities and molded opinions - all of that irrational prejudice had essentially dissipated.

Antosha’s beliefs weren’t his own, but Zach could at least attempt to understand why he felt the way he did. “I guess so,” he said pensively, “Maybe…I guess I just don’t really understand.” His eyebrows creased forward and he tried to wrap his head around it. “I guess it’s like saying straight people make you uncomfortable, because you assume that being gay makes them uncomfortable. But…you don’t really know if that’s true unless you ask.” Or if you were an empath or telepath or something meta of that sort.

“Yeah, we can do that,” Zach agreed, pulling out his phone. He’d been putting a lot of new numbers in it recently. Zach told the other man his phone number then asked for Ant’s. Assuming he provided them, Zach would punch them into his phone and hit ‘save’. “What kind of art do you do, then?”

One didn’t have to be an expert in body language to tell that there was something up with Zach. If faced with himself, even he might be able to discern that there was possibly something wrong, but his own inability to read people would still be uncertain and might mistake it for something completely different. Therefore, along with being horrible at picking up on the emotional cues of others, he was also horrible at hiding himself, his emotions showing very plainly on his face and in his posture. Even when he tried to hide it, it was obvious that he was hiding. As such, Zach was a terrible liar, his word stumbling only making it worse.

Therefore, when Ant posed his question, Zach seemed to jerk up slightly as he was suddenly taken aback, not having realized that Ant had noticed his dejectedness. “Wha—what do you mean?” Zach would play dumb(badly) until his demeanor was called out. It didn’t take much pushing for Zach to cave.

[Antosha Vikenti]

Antosha didn't really want to explain his reasoning to Zach. He knew it would make no sense to dislike someone for the sole reason of what they were, and if he were to ever be honest with himself he would realize he was a bit of hypocrite. Disliking normal people was exactly like straights hating gay. It was how wars were started. But Antosha always pushed down his fears before they could rise to the surface. One day he would deal with it, but not today. Not tonight. He took a final drink from his vodka, setting the empty glass far away from him. Amber eyes stared at him levelly before he shrugged. "No discussing politics," there was a brief pause as he realized that might sound harsh, "Different opinions is fine but would hate to end with unpleasant conversations." There. That was better.

When Zach said the number exchange was fine, Antosha couldn't help but smile and pull out his older touchscreen. He recited his number to Zach before typing in the other male's into his phone, taking only a moment to add Zach's contact name as 'Spider'. It was always easier for him if everyone was under a nickname and not their real name. "I draw, sketch, paint. Give me something to use and will return you art." His voice was smug but he smiled at Zachary regardless. "I also take pictures. But that is for personal pleasure, not for actual... Working." Not to mention all the sketches he did for his personal pleasure as well. If someone were to find the sketchbook hidden under his bed, Ant was sure they would faint.

Expert in body language or not, Antosha still congratulated himself on picking up what Zachary was throwing down. He pushed aside his reservations about earlier topics and his smug feeling at getting to mention his art skills. Which undoubtedly was far from attractive, since Ant was far from humble unless he really, really liked the person he was showing. In any case he had to focus on the male trying to play dumb in front of him. "I mean you look like..." he paused, trying to think it over before speaking, "Like you would want to cry. Something is bothering you."