Unconventional (Sean)

[Joshua Bernstein]

Valentine's Day weekend was always busy. There was the dance at Hammel, and most of the restaurants and bars were packed. That included the gay bar in Burlington, but packed leant itself well to tonight's activity.

Josh had insisted that they go separately, to help with immersion. Since only Sean drove that meant Josh had to call a taxi but that was fine; going home together was part of the plan.

He didn't know what Sean had planned. Sean probably had some idea of his, but that was part of loving a telepath. Surprises were so difficult.

He'd worn a cowboy hat, boots and jeans. Maybe not typical for a valentines date, but tonight he wasn't Joshua Bernstein, attorney at law. Tonight he was part of the Vermont rancher scene, and in need of a beer. He squeezed into the bar, flagging down the bartender for a whiskey. If that was too stereotypical, well, he wasn't the best actor.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Every year around Valentine’s Day, magazines and various websites published articles intended to help people rekindle their romantic lives, telling them to “spice it up” lest they fall into routine.

That had never been a problem for Sean and Josh. As young men, during their first relationship, they had been unable to keep their hands off each other (much to the detriment of their ability to cope with adulthood). Together, after three and a half years into their reconciliation, they still never lacked desire and motivation, even if they sometimes lacked time due to their busy lives. In truth, the telepath did not think that there existed anything that could make him stop finding Josh attractive.

Still, though hoops proved unnecessary for their relationship or their intimacy, it did not mean that they never found pleasure or excitement in games. They both liked games, independently and particularly together.

Tonight they had to play roles and pick each other up.

It proved a fun challenge.

Sean had spent a few days considering who he would adopt as his alter ego. That he and Josh had left the house separately had allowed him to go all out with the project, and so he had dressed himself in black from head to toe: polished black shoes, black slacks, a black shirt, and his black leather jacket. He topped it off with a pair of prop glasses, and a touch-up on his hair, to mask the grey he had slowly developed in places. He never dyed his hair in life, but this was guaranteed to wash out, and, besides, this was a special date.

After parking in the lot, he stepped inside the club and immediately went to the bar, having picked up on Josh’s presence. He settled onto one of the stools, only a few away from his partner, and pretended not to be interested.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh settled his back to the bar, nursing his drink while keeping a surreptitious eye out for Sean. He tried to avoid smiling too much at anyone else; there was only one person he was interested in picking up tonight.

When Sean strutted in Josh noticed, but he tried not to look to obvious about it. Instead he adjusted his oversized belt buckle and glanced toward the dance floor.

"Lotta folks out tonight. Dunno how anyone can move in that crowd let alone dance."

He ostensibly directed this at the man next to him, but he raised his voice loud enough he hoped Sean could hear.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean smiled to himself upon seeing Josh’s outfit, albeit only from the back and a very brief glance from the side. His partner tried so hard, and, truly, the telepath appreciated it. Even though Josh was the least likely candidate for being a farm-hand or a cowboy, whatever the younger man was going for, the purpose of this exercise was to have fun and to pretend to be something they weren’t.

Besides, Josh looked good in the cowboy hat.

The accent left something to be desired, given how strong Josh’s natural New York accent was, and the damage from the decades of smoking to his voice. Still, he tried, and Sean loved him for it.

More than that, Josh had given him his cue, and so he turned to look at the younger man, seeking eye contact before moving one stool over to get a bit closer.

Carefully, very carefully, he tried for a Mid-Atlantic accent when posing his question. “Are you much of a dancer?”

He left out the young man from his question, as there was no need to throw unnecessary fake age differences into their characters. Josh looked a decade younger than he was, but that didn’t mean that their characters had to be so situated.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh was unable to keep the approval off his expression as he turned to face his partner.

"I do a little two stepping here and there," he said, trying to sound casual. "Yourself?"

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Therein lay the challenge of playing this game. Sean had to walk a thin line between playing a character and not making boasts that he could not indulge should their scenario develop in that direction. He could dance; he knew how to dance, and he was neither so old nor so infirm as to be unable to pull it off, albeit with older moves instead of what passed as club dancing these days. (Not that it mattered, since this club catered more to their age group.) At the same time, he so disliked dancing, and he didn’t want to get dragged into it tonight.

Not even for Josh. Not while sober.

He split the difference and shrugged a single time. “I can, but I haven’t had cause to in so long.”

That was true enough while also helping to flesh out the character, at least in his mind. Now his character had a mysterious secret, a hint at something that had happened in the past, or else plain loneliness that could serve was a motivation for why he would try to pick up a cowboy/farm-hand, or at least why he would be receptive to such advances.

This was, perhaps, an illustration of why the telepath neither engaged in creative writing nor acted in community theater.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"No cause?" Josh gasped, then waved his whiskey in Sean's direction. "I would say we could find a cause but..." He shrugged in the direction of the dance floor. "There's more space at this here bar."

Only just.

"You don't dance. Do you drink or you just here for the company?"

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“True,” Sean conceded with a slow nod. Both for the purposes of their game, and in objective reality, the dance floor was crowded, which one could expect in light of Valentine’s Day. People liked to drink. People liked to dance. People liked to do both at the same time, or use the former to fuel the latter, or at least bin a place where both were possible, even if they only partook in one or the other.

Fortunately, since that spared him having to go out on the dance floor.

At Josh’s question, he replied, “A little from Column A and a little from Column B.” Which was to say that he had not yet had the opportunity for the bartender to serve him a drink, but that would come soon enough. “I like a stiff drink, and I like a stiff...”

He cut himself off before continuing the thought, and he smiled politely. “Where are my manners?” One shouldn’t make lewd jokes with strangers, after all, even if nearly everyone here had the same intention of going home with someone else, and everyone in this club was familiar with the workings of male anatomy. He had a persona to uphold, after all, which meant also walking the thin line between propriety and flirtatious.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh his a smile behind his glass of whiskey. "Don't we all," he murmured. "And I don't reckon there's a worst holiday to be alone on."

A sentiment he agreed with his persona on, although he was more reticent expressing that.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean nodded along with the other man’s word for a moment, while his partner finished his lament. Then, in response to that, he glanced at Josh’s hand, as though searching for jewelry that might befit someone in a heterosexual relationship (or in a gay relationship in Vermont as of several years ago). He did so with exaggerated motions, to make it quite clear what he was doing. Finding nothing, although neither himself nor his alter ego were surprised, he queried, “And you are alone?”

As though he required the confirmation.

Just then, the bartender finally noticed that he was without a drink and came over to take his order. “A martini,” he ordered, without adding the obvious James Bond reference. While gin was hardly his beverage of choice, it fit with the persona, and he could certainly stick with a martini for the night. Or as his opening gambit.

Not too much drinking, however, since he had to drive them home at the end of their game.

It took the bartender only a few minutes to prepare his drink, before sliding it across the bar. Sean paid the man and then gestured at his drink to get Josh’s attention, silently asking the other man if he wanted another beer, or something else to drink entirely. On him, of course.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Would I be here if I wasn't?"

Never mind that he was. His ranch hand persona would rather stay in if he were taken. Probably. Maybe he would prepare something special at home, with candles and bearskin rugs.

He followed the gesture towards his own drink. "Hmm I'm getting a bit empty, aren't I?" He laughed, placing the whiskey on the counter beside him. "Maybe I had better pace myself a lil better."

One of the men between them left, whether to the bathroo or the seductive glances of someone out in the room Josh couldn't say. At least it meant there was one fewer people he had to flirt over.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“You could be in an open relationship,” Sean pointed out. “Those seem to be growing in popularity recently.” Rather, in visibility, given the advent of the Internet and the recent curiosity from various magazines and news outlets. Despite being monogamous himself, the telepath was in a unique position to realize how many relationships involved some degree of openness or another.

Not his, however. He and Josh were happily monogamous.

“Order whatever you want,” he encouraged the younger man. If Josh wanted another drink, he would hardly stop him; his partner could drink more than him, since Josh did not have to get them home safely behind the wheel of a car.

Once their neighbor abandoned them, Sean slid over into the next seat, slowly making his way closer to Josh. They would see how long it took for them to sit beside each other, or if a table might open to which they could make their way, as the flirtation progressed.

Moving then from the topic of openness, and taking his cue that Josh’s cowboy/farm-hand persona was, in fact, completely single, Sean asked the next obvious question. “When was the last time you had any real companionship?” He would let the other man define that word for himself.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh laughed at the encouragement. "Whatever I want? Maybe I'll try one of them fancy martinis."

The bartender was, however, on the other end of the bar and looking hassled. Josh could wait.

At the question his mind immediately jumped to that morning. He looked away from Sean, face flushed at the memory as he answered "it's been...awhile. He moved to Denver."

He thought Denver had ranches. Maybe he should have said Albaquerque.

"What about you? Got someone pining for you to come back to him?"

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Without looking, Sean knew that the bartender had stepped off to the other side of the bar, and he also knew that it would be a long night. They could wait, as he certainly had no intention of cutting this game short. Not when they were just getting started.

Since his alter ego was not shy in the least, he slid his martini along the bar, across the person between them, so as to be somewhat in Josh’s vicinity. “Try mine. If you like it, we can get you one of your own.”

A smile touched his lips, as that made him think of their time together in college, before Josh had grown his gills. Once upon a time, the telepath had not allowed his partner to drink hard liquor at all.

How things changed as time marched on.

Josh’s thought popped into his mind, and Sean managed to school his expression. Yes, it had been about twelve hours since either of them had been with someone, which made the game all the more absurd in once sense. But they could pretend.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he murmured, which was true. His alter ego was sorry to hear that the man with whom he had struck up conversation had been alone for so long and under such circumstances, even if they had yet to properly introduce themselves.

At the question, he shook his head, before spreading his hands in front of him. “I travel far too much to settle down.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh accepted the martini with a grin. "Hey, thanks. That's mighty generous."

He took a cautious sip, eyeing the other man as he waited to hear his answer. Travel. That was definitely exotic enough for the delightful getup.

"Travel?" Josh widened his eyes in an attempt at looking impressed. "And here I was excited to go to New York for the summer."

Or Boston, if one wanted to leave the persona behind.

"Your job sends you off a lot or you just like to?"