Maybe This Isn't So Bad

Chance Encounter

"Alright, dude! Clubbing. Tonight. You don't have any more driveways to mow, or goldfish funerals to attend, so there's no backing out of this one."

"Gadg, it'll be fun! The guys we wanna see are flaming hot."

In the background, Corvin denied his inclusion in wanting to see them. Gadget was not convinced by Fuchsia's reasoning.

"That's weird to go to a club for though.. can't we just get takeout like usual?"

"Hey, the club itself is awesome, you can't brush it off when you've never even been there before! We're not even expecting to talk to them, there'll be too many people after their tails anyway."

Gadget shook his head in annoyance.

"Fine. As long as you're alright with me hiding whenever I want... and leaving when I've had enough."

A pair of hands, one turquoise and the other pink, slapped together in success.

_______

After having to wait for both of his friends to get ready, the trio made it to the club just after 11 p.m. Corvin and Fuchsia darted for the bar, leaving Gadget behind. He slumped into the first free corner he could find and ogled everyone, from the bartops to the dance floor. He felt like a potato in a fruit salad bowl. This was not his thing at all, and he silently wished his friends wouldn't want to stay too long. He didn't want to dance with strangers, and he was never one to appreciate music so loud that you had to scream into someone's ear just so they could hear you.

_______

Zero parted from his group of friends, and made his way towards the closed-off upstairs part of the club. Midway, he caught a splotch of red in a corner out of his peripherals. He glanced in its general direction, and then did a double-take. It was a wolf with large-framed glasses, squished in the corner like a lost puppy. He snorted at the image, before realizing that his feet had rerouted towards the weird mobian.

"You don't look like the type that frequents clubs."

The red wolf flinched like someone had thrown water on him, before looking up and blowing air through his nose.

"Yeah... I can't imagine what gave that away. I just came here so that my friends would quit bugging me. They've wanted to come forever for some guys that live in this place or something? I don't know- I want to go home, but we just got here."

Without thinking about his words for once, Zero was ready to offer the wolf respite in his hideaway.

"If the crowd is too much for you, you are welcome to join me in the lounge upstairs - I was just headed there now."

Absorbing some of the unique features of the jackal who had approached him, he took the chance and stood up to follow. Gadget figured there'd be mobians there, just at a much more tolerable volume; he didn't expect it to be completely empty. There was even a bouncer by the entrance. He gaped, and the dark jackal caught his expression.

"They don't usually open this part of the club unless someone rents it for a venue, but they let me hang around here. I'm not really one for this environment either."

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed. Why are you so special to get this part to yourself?"

"..."

Zero decided not to inform him of his group's infamous reputation, the very one this wolf's friends had been alluding to. He felt a tinge of relief knowing that the other canine wouldn't have any predisposed judgement towards his character this way. He guided the other over to his favourite sofa.