The Magic of Hearts [ONGOING]

A Night at the Bar - Part One

Spoiler Alert(s): N/A
Content Warning(s): Drinking, Mentions of Homophobia, Slightly Cracky
Story Length: 1200 words

Danny sighed and leaned back against his chair, eyeing the glass he'd been nursing the whole time he had been at the bar. Dylan, his boyfriend, had randomly suggested a night at the bar, and Danny had had barely enough time to say, "Uh, okay...?" before he was dragged away from the Horsemen's apartment. Now... Dylan was nowhere to be seen.

Danny trusted his strong and brave boyfriend to be able to handle himself, so he wasn't concerned about that, but what was Danny doing here if not keeping company?

Danny sighed again and rubbed his thumb over the side of the glass. His hands twitched for a deck of cards with which to play and to shuffle, but he'd made a promise to himself to leave those behind on dates with Dylan. He was regretting classifying this as a "date", however, seeing as he was now without cards and without significant other.

Someone sat down in the seat beside Danny. He jerked up at the new presence. The wooden table he had taken had been empty, aside from him, since Dylan had gotten up with the words "Be right back" and left. Danny had lost track of how long ago that was exactly, but he reckoned it had been long enough that everyone around him thought he was spending the night alone.

     "Sorry," said Danny, giving the stranger a once-over. "That seat is taken."

     The stranger, a brunette with green eyes in her 20s or 30s, smiled easily. "By who?" she chuckled. "Your woes and personal issues?"

     Danny raised his eyebrows. That...was unexpected. "No, by my b—" He stopped himself and glanced around. People were dancing together, drinking their hearts out. If he was attacked out of homophobia, would anyone step in? Danny cleared his throat and forced a smile. "My friend. My friend was sitting there. He just went to the bathroom."

     "You sure about that?" questioned Green Eyes. "I've been watching you for maybe twenty minutes. You didn't have anyone around when I started looking, and you didn't have anyone till I came around. That's quite the bathroom trip."

     "Well, then, he went to get drinks," shot back Danny, pulling his glass closer to him. "And, wait, you were watching me? For twenty minutes?"

     Green Eyes leaned back in her seat. "Oh, come on," she laughed. "If you don't want people to stare, don't stand out. Do you see anyone else sulking at a table? You haven't even touched your drink!"

     Danny sighed yet again. He went to scrub his face with one hand, leaving the other to cover his glass. Green Eyes did not seem like the trustworthiest person he'd ever encountered.

     "And that!" exclaimed Green Eyes. "There you go again! You keep sighing, too. What are you? Fifty?"

     Danny scowled. "Haha, very funny, but n—"

     "Maybe you're just too old for me," mused Green Eyes.

     "Hey! I am not too old for you!" said Danny. The heat of embarrassment rose upon the heels of realisation. "I mean—"

     Green Eyes was grinning again. She leaned forward, clasping her hands on the table and putting her weight on her forearms. "I'm glad to hear that," she said. "I'm Rachel Beaufort. You?"

     Danny stared at Green Eyes, unsure how to react. "I don't know what you're getting at," he said slowly, "but I'm not, uh, interested. I'm not single."

     Rachel arched an eyebrow. "Maybe you weren't," she said, "but nothing about the scene before me paints a picture of 'taken man'."

     Realising what Rachel meant, Danny shook his head frantically. "This isn't some sort of post-split pity party," he argued. "I'm hanging out with a friend. My partner wouldn't be very happy to find out some girl is trying to flirt with me. He— She! She might not be here, right now, but I'm still dating her. I mean, I'm still in a relationship. I mean, we... We're..."

     Danny frowned. What were he and Dylan? They'd never really talked about what point in their relationship they were at. All Danny knew was they went on dates, but they'd been doing that for a while now. Were they officially in a relationship yet? Could Danny even call Dylan his partner?

     Rachel seemed to pick up on Danny's inner turmoil, as she laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, okay, bud," she said. "Real convincing. Out with it: are you single, or...?"

     No, Danny thought to himself. But what if he was? Where had Dylan gone off? What if Dylan had run into someone like Rachel and was currently saying Yes?

     A commotion behind Rachel yanked Danny out of his monologue. He almost gasped at the sight of Dylan shoving people out of the way. The ex-FBI agent drunkly stumbled to the table and slammed his hands down between Danny and Rachel. He didn't even spare a glance at Danny before saying, "Or!"

     Rachel furrowed her brow. "Who the heck are you?" she demanded.

"My friend!" exclaimed Danny, shooting up and grabbing Dylan's elbow. "And we..." Danny surveyed the area to map out the best route through the crowd of people. "We are going to be taking our leave now. Thank you, very much, Rachel Beaufort, for your company. Good luck with your stalking and attempts at subduing."

Rachel opened her mouth to retort, but Danny was not in the mood for verbal warfare. He tugged Dylan forward and started pulling him towards the door. A quick glance over his shoulder told him Rachel was now dejectedly speaking to another girl of about the same age.

Shouldering open the bar's front door gifted Danny with a blessed breath of fresh air. He took a second to just stand, breathe, and relax. "What a night," he muttered.

"I'm your friend, Danny?" asked Dylan, drawing Danny's attention to him.

Dylan's hair was a little dishevelled and his clothes a lot crumpled. Danny would never get used to seeing his usually prim and proper boss like this—dressed in simple blue jeans and a simple grey shirt. Hadn't he come with a sweater too? remembered Danny. Ah, whatever. We'll buy another one.

Danny smiled fondly as he reached up to brush some of Dylan's hair from his eyes. "Yeah, Dylan," he said. "You're the closest friend I've ever had."

"Don't we kiss and stuff?" asked Dylan, frowning in confusion.

"Yeah," chuckled Danny, blushing only slightly. He'd probably never get used to that fact either. Or Dylan's adorableness when he furrowed his brow like that.

"Wouldn't that make us, like, boyfriends?" inquired Dylan, looking Danny up and down.

Danny grinned as he stepped closer to Dylan, dropping his grip from Dylan's elbow to his hand. "It can, if you want it to," he said. "But we can talk about this when you're sobered up. I don't think you know what you're talking about right now. How much did you drink, anyway?"

Dylan shook his head. "Not too much," he said. "I feel super relaxed. But that's...about it. I think. How about you? No drinking and driving!"

"Didn't touch a drop," reassured Danny. "But c'mon, we better get back home. I've had enough excitement for one day."

Danny frowned. Talking to a lady who thought he was single was too much excitement now? "Oh, shoot," he said. "I am fifty."

Author's Note: First publishing of 2019! Sorry y'all had to wait so long for me to kick Writer's Block's arse. And sorry if this wasn't worth the wait LOL. I started this several months back, so time had washed away my original plan and ~spirit~. So this might have fallen a little flat. I hope you guys still enjoyed it! Part 2 should be out eventually. Just start bothering me a lot if I don't update as soon as you want. At least Part 1 doesn't end on too much of a cliffhanger!
Thanks again for reading. Requests and constructive criticism are always welcome! Love ya. See ya. Peace.
[Completed Apr. 2, 2019]