Time Warp: Goodness Knows I Saw It Coming

[Joshua Bernstein]

New Year's Day 1997

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Josh had, of course, invited both Saul and Sean to his firm's New Year's party. He had always been somewhat reluctant for his boyfriend and his best friend to interact, but it was difficult to avoid this time -- Sean was in town for the holiday, and he couldn't exactly ditch Saul in favor of Sean no matter how anxious having the two of them in the same place made him.

He'd instead started his drinking before arriving at the party, feeling that some liquid courage was needed to get him through the night. It wouldn't be that bad. Saul knew enough of his coworkers, and several of them were effusive enough that he was sure that neither man would feel left out.

Jackson Church was already threatening to drag everyone into karaoke, and Blake was introducing his girlfriend around.

"Hello Blake, Sylvie. This is Saul. Has Sean arrived yet?"

The couple hadn't seen the telepath, and so Josh shrugged that off and turned to his date. "Are you hungry? I see snacks in the corner. Or I could get you something to drink."

Because of course more alcohol was exactly what they both needed.

[Saul Goldblatt]

Although they were in the same line of work and knew a lot of the same people, Saul couldn't help but be a little hopeful about the fact that Josh had wanted him there as his date. Sometimes he wondered if the relationship was going somewhere, but he attributed that to his own insecurities. After all, Josh was the first person that he'd really cared to get close to in that way, so it was natural to feel like that. Even more promising was that Josh wanted him to meet his best friend.

So he was in high enough spirits as he shook hands with and greeted those that came up to speak with Josh. He too had indulged in a few drinks before, an attempt to drown any persisting concerns. Apparently it had worked. He was all smiles even when Josh was asking about Sean.

He looked at Josh from the side when he asked him about snacks and drinks. Considering it, and knowing that it was probably the wrong choice, his mind kept going to the idea of drinks. It was a party, wasn't it? “Maybe a drink wouldn't hurt.”

He noticed that there were a lot of glasses throughout the room, so it wasn't as though people would think much of it.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Wine? Beer?"

Josh, of course, would go straight for the beer. He hoped that the party had Yuengling, but if not he wasn't too particular.

As they made their way to the bar the attorney looked about to see if his best friend had arrived yet, although he continued to greet those who came up to him. As they passed a knot of men and women one of the crowd popped out an arm to tug at his sleeve.

"Josh! You brought Saul with you, I see!" A jovial face smiled at him over a mug of beer.

"Of course." Josh inclined his head at his date. "Saul, d'you remember Jackson Church?"

Jackson was one of the partner's at the law firm Josh worked for, and as thoroughly extroverted as the blue-eyed man himself.

"I hope you brought your singing voices. We're going to play some karaoke later," Jackson whispered conspiratorially.

[Saul Goldblatt]

“Wine sounds good,” Saul said, though the main reason he said that was because he could drink it more slowly, and hopefully that would mean that he wouldn't get too wasted too fast. It was a party, but there had to be limits, right?

He followed him toward the bar, but when Josh stopped, he did too. He smiled politely. “Of course I remember. Good to see you, Jackson.” It was hard to forget people who were as outgoing as Josh and his friends. Sometimes Saul marveled at how they did it, but it certainly made it easier on him. There were times, though, when he wondered if his more quiet nature hindered things with Josh. There were people who were much more extroverted than Saul would be.

At the subject of karaoke, Saul couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't his area, but the alcohol seemed to be hitting him just right. “Sure, as long as you don't mind if I bust out the Madonna,” he teased as though it was a threat. Most people probably saw him as uptight. He was at risk at blowing that reputation out the window, but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"If you break out the Madonna you'll probably get a fair few people to join with you. I heard Judge Walsh saw Evita ten times." Josh noted with a grin.

This earned a nod of agreement from Jackson. "But who hasn't seen Evita ten times?" He asked in response, before launching into the opening refrains of one of the most famous of Evita numbers. "Don't cry for me, Argentina, the truth is I never left you...."

Josh tugged at Saul's arm with a laugh. "I haven't and I don't know the words, sorry to disappoint."