Two Beers Later... (Kieron)

[Deleted]

This was...an attempt, to put it simply. After his and Lany's little 'encounter' last fall, Zach may have been more than a little paranoid when it came to going out, even if just for a simple drink. He'd remained firmly attached to the side of his boyfriend, Malachai, whenever they went out, and only dared to venture out alone during the daylight hours. Though even then, Zach was being overly cautious, not that anybody noticed. At least, he didn't think anybody noticed, save for Kai.

How long had it been since he'd simply gone out for drinks with someone that wasn't Kai? Too long, if he had to ask himself that. And while Zachary wasn't completely okay yet, he would be in about one and a half more beers. He needed this night out, with someone other than Kai. Someone other than Caelum. Someone other than anyone else in his life that just being around caused unnecessary drama.

Kieron and Zach weren't close, but they weren't strangers either. Casual friends, one might say. The kind that hung out when they happened to see each other at the bar at the same time. That wasn't what happened this time, though. Zach extended a hand via some social media and Kieron responded, and they agreed to meet up for a relaxing night of drinks coupled with mediocre karaoke skills. At least, Zach would always claim his music skills were less than average, though accounts from many of his friends have told him otherwise. Considering there were two potential professional musicians among his siblings, he supposed it wasn't surprising that he wasn't god-awful, but he would never consider himself exceptional.

Especially not when he had two or more beers in him. At that level, he couldn't guarantee that anything he did or said would be profound. But at least it washed away the nerves that kept him from trying in the first place.

Zach returned to the table where his drinking partner sat, setting Kieron's glass down first in front of him, then taking the seat across from the bat-winged meta. "This round's on me," he said, smirking up softly at his companion. "You can get the next one." Zach put the IPA to his lips and sipped in a healthy mouthful of that bitter liquid.

[Kieron Sharpe]

Kieron didn’t often go out in the evenings. Well, not without Maebelle anyway. He did enjoy the atmosphere of a bar and he liked a drink almost as much as the next Irishman, but he had never been the sort to drink alone and he didn’t have a particularly large group of friends that he could call on for casual nights out. He wasn’t complaining, of course. It wasn’t like he was short of things to occupy his time; in fact, some nights he relished a little boredom.

The invite out from Zach had certainly been unexpected but Kieron had only been too delighted to accept despite the fact karaoke had never been his strongest skill. He knew he had a pretty decent voice when he applied it properly but he didn’t have the passion for singing to practice enough to actually become ‘good’ at it, and it certainly didn’t help that he only tended to sing in public after he’d had a few drinks. Kieron had never been a sensible drunk, he had a scar on his head to prove that, and while intoxicated his singing tended to veer from decent to ridiculous. Still, he supposed the fact he was a happy drunk and not a fighty one was a good thing.

It had been quite a while since Kieron had been to the Churchkey, but he was glad it had been chosen as the setting for this little meet-up. If only because it didn’t have a hundred different strobe lights and disco balls and all manner of other lighting that made just still and relaxing a living hell for him. As it was, he was content with his usual shades nudged up his nose as Zach returned from the bar. “Sounds like a plan. Cheers.” The bottle was slick with condensation, and Kieron smiled as he took a long refreshing swig.

Getting comfortable in his seat, Kieron glanced around. There were a few people milling around but the bar was in no way packed, which was good. It meant he would care less if he made an absolute tit of himself singing later on. “How’ve you been? Still going well with Malachai?”

[Deleted]

Zach had every intention of drinking more than just the two beers it would take to give him the confidence to go up and make an utter fool of himself in front of a bar full of strangers. At least Kai wasn’t here to heckle him…that always seemed to make him even more uncomfortable, despite it’s intent on being encouragement. That man did not know what real encouragement was, it seemed.

And while Zach was indeed an introvert, and would never be the party-man charismatic bar-hopper that Kai was, Zach did enjoy going out. Alone. Without people who would cling to him like a static-y pair of (designer) underwear straight out of the dryer. Why was Zach with Kai again? Oh, right. Because he loved the jerk. “I guess,” he said with a cold smile, probably thinking about the latest stunt his boyfriend had tried to pull off in some desperate effort to ‘protect’ the writer. It’d been eight months already….Zach was a big boy now, he was over it….maybe. He hoped.

Zach sighed and chugged more of his beer. “We’re going on vacation, I guess. Once finals are over.” It was mostly Zach’s schedule that kept them from leaving earlier. He couldn’t leave until the newspaper office was closed for the summer. Kai’s job didn’t really depend on the school being active or not, so he just put in for vacation whenever was convenient.

Zach wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about Kai, though. He could trash talk that idiot all day. So instead, he turned the same question around on Kieron. “How’s Mae? I haven’t talked to her lately.” Lately being an understatement. He rarely talked to most of his friends these days. Hence why he was out tonight. Zach hated being a recluse.

[Kieron Sharpe]

Ever since the incident with the bridge Kieron had become a little more sensible with his alcohol intake, but he still slipped sometimes and had one or two more than he perhaps should have. Thankfully there had been no repeat incidents and he had no plan on tarnishing that run tonight, but perhaps he would let his guard down a little more than usual. He wasn't entirely certain he could rely on Zach to keep an eye out on him if things went south, but at least he wasn't completely alone.

When Kieron asked about Malachai he couldn't help but notice Zach's less than enthusiastic response. While couples did go through rough patches sometimes many people seemed to want to keep it quiet from others, but Zach's rather blasé explanation about them maybe going on vacation together seemed a little off to him. He knew it wasn't really his place to probe, but he couldn't help having a little concerned curiosity. “Oh, that'll be cool. You planning on going anywhere nice? It should be good, getting to spend more time together like that.”

The mention of Maebelle's name was like lighting a switch in Kieron, and he couldn't help but smile to himself. It wasn't his fault, just the mere mention of her name was enough to lift his spirits and ignite happiness in him. “She's doing really well, thanks. I'll make sure to let her know you asked about her.”

[Deleted]

Perhaps Zach should take a lesson from Kieron’s example? It’d do him well to not turn to alcohol as much as he had been lately. Why not though? It relaxed him and made him easier to talk to. Kai’s influence probably hadn’t been helping with that much either. The both of them were terrible. If he ended up with too much tonight, though, Zach would just suck it up and ask Kai to come pick him up. And then he’d end up staying the night at that guy’s house. And then Zach would wake up late into the morning, irritated that Kai had to come ‘rescue’ him again. And then he’d end up shuffling around that guy’s new home(a house Kai bought just off the lake and not-so-subtly only a block or two away from the Bishop home) until Kai returned in the late afternoon so Zach could yell at him properly. There’d be words. Then grumps. Then sex. Then Zach would remember he had an assignment or work-related thing he’d forgotten about, and would run off home to go do it before the next day. It wasn’t a healthy cycle, no. Was Zach happy with it…?

Zach would never admit it. He was very happy with this game of Tom and Jerry that he seemed to share day-to-day with Malachai. It was completely dysfunctional, but….yeah. Zach was happy. Probably.

“Um….to hell….” Again, Zach held a very blank expression for a few moments before shaking his head and twitching a small smile out before elaborating. “I mean…Kai’s idea of ‘getting away’ is going on a cruise with a thousand other people that…that floats along the latitudes between ‘hot’ and ‘hotter’.” He sighed. “And…that’s fine, it gets me away from home, at least….I’m just…I guess…still dealing with…..” With what? How should he put this? Zach hesitated for a moment, thinking it over as he sipped more of his drink, not wanting to say this in a vastly misunderstood way. He took a breath. “He paid for the whole thing. And no doubt he’s gonna pay for everything on the trip. And yes, I appreciate it, and I want to go and spend time with him, but I feel like I should be able to pay my own way, and I can’t because let’s face it, I make minimum wage at a college newspaper, so I don’t have much a choice other than to suck it up and let him treat me, because I do want to go, but I feel like I’m taking advantage too much if I let myself feel okay with it….does that make sense?” he asked, looking up at Kieron after his rambling rant.

He had to smile when Kieron lit up at the sound of Maebelle’s name. Zach chuckled. “That’s good. Thanks. I’m glad she’s doing….well.” Zach was going to say ‘better’, but held back on that. When Mae had returned to Pilot Ridge, she didn’t seem to be in a very good place. He wished he reached out to her more back then, because Zach had been worried, but…well, it was okay. “You two don’t….do you have anything special planned? For the summer, I mean?”