We Don't Talk Anymore (Starring: Malus, Skyler, Drifter, Withdrawl, and Humanity)

Pat rolled his eyes, rubbing his arm and letting a soft hiss through his lips. That hurt like hell. Odd that he could withstand a good bit of pain but a punch in the shoulder could just sting. It appeared a little playfulness was unwelcome, but then again he should have expected it by now. Maybe there wouldn’t be a bruise, he could never tell what did and did not bruise. ”Well Luke, if you wanted a bit of sexual tension all you had to do was ask.” Pat noted with a roll of his eyes, and a slight wink followed giving Luke a pat on the bum emphasized with a good squeeze before just following along behind Malus.

He settled himself beside Malus, just mixing him some kind of drink and sipping it. ”Thanks for the flowers though, they’re nice.” He said letting the whole petty act slip if only for a second,  pecking Malus on the cheek. If it was going to be awkward, he might as well be drunk while it was.

All of this shit was gong on with or without his consent. There was no need to bring everyone else down, was there? Matthew couldn't help but discretly steal a few glances at Skylar, observing how she reacted to certain events. For example the way Pat decided to act on impulse and grope Luke's ass. That would be a very interesting thing to watch her respond to. It was believable why he'd be looking at her too, because who wouldn't want to see a self-proclaimed badass react to someone encroaching on her territory. Jokingly or not.

This encounter was truly a game of first impressions. This set the tone right here and right now. Of course the tone that Matthew set was the quiet, lone and shy drinker. A role he was perfectly fine with filling before he watched Pat live up to his playful and petty self. Luke, on the other hand, seemed to take what Pat did rather well...perhaps it was due to lingering guilt. Perhaps this woman was actually changing him for the bette.r The prospect sort of made him want to chuckle.

"Well it's good to find someone that Luke can finally open up to. Give him some stability." Of course he didn't even know that half of what he just said was absolutely, downright, irrefutably wrong in every way. Well as he would have seen it. Well he would have seen it but he was busy not watching them make out on dead people and lizard blood. In fact he WOULD thank God for the fact he didn't know it but he didn't know what he was not suffering from to thank him.

"So what's uhm...what's witht he whole get together again?" He asked before looking to Skylar with an almost apologetic look on his face. "Oh uh...not that I'm not glad to meet you I just uh...bringing people here and everything." He asked, hoping it added some clarity to the situation.

Normally, Drifter would have socked Pat right in the maw, no doubt about it. However, considering the fact he nearly killed the guy while under the control of some Warden of Insanity, AND recently poisoned him 'for his own good', he let it slide. He still shot him a look that said 'don't fucking touch me' though.

"Pat, i know how much you like my forehead, but it isn't happening." Lukas said, taking a heavy gulp from his glass as the others conversed. Inevitably the question of why they were here came up. That was a particularly awkward moment Lukas had expected, but hoped wouldn't happen in favor of everyone just not caring why they were there. But this was Matt. He couldn't have a good time to have a good time, he needed a reason .

"I didn't know i needed a reason to invite my friends over for a nice night out....... But if you really want one, it's because i think we're falling apart......" Drifter said, setting his drink down on a nightstand. He rubbed his temples a bit, then cleared his throat. It seemed he was preparing to say something that was difficult to put into words.

"Matt, ever since the hospital I've felt like a shit friend to you. You've always been there when i needed help, when i needed to talk. I've been so wrapped up in my own mind that i forgot how much you and Pat mean to me. You're my family." Drifter said, feeling a slight buzz from the alcohol, which made him open up a bit more.

"And Pat, i did some fucked up things to you. I mocked you, i belittled you, i hurt you..... I'm sorry. I just....... I can't get ahold of myself. It feels like I'm on the verge of death, or maybe worse, every second of the day. I'm afriad, guys. I don't want to lose you. I, i don't want to lose myself." Drifter said, his eyes slightly watery as he turned to hide it. He picked up his drink with a shakey hand, and he dropped it.

"Fuck! Jesus Christ! I.... i just wanted to have fun, ok? I didn't want to go through this. I just want things to be fucking normal...." Drifter said, yelling out of frustration with himself more then anything. He had put this together to try to feel good again, but now that everyone was here, and he said those things, he felt a bit worse.

Drawing up jealousy wasn’t something he fully intended to do, but then again, he wasn’t exactly in the mental position to care about doing so. ”Mhm.” Pat ended up saying, not giving any other response about the forehead comment save for a rather unnerving grin. People talked but he found himself barely listening, drinking something slowly, pacing himself to save the others from dealing with a drunk. Honestly he had few reasons to be here, or maybe Pat was just being extremely sore about something. With the soreness came anger, and continuing to drink, as he downed the burning liquid.

Perhaps it was true, maybe he couldn’t love, not truly. Was that why he was doing this in the first place? Some ill-conceived attempt to prove Luke wrong now, or maybe he didn’t even know why he was doing anything anymore. Emotional rambling came about, something that he could have ignored but something told him that would have made things go terrible. Still, he wasn’t sure what to actually say once everything had been aired out, looking to Malus and then Matt with a confused expression. Not confused as in he didn’t understand but rather he was unsure what to say next.

”Don’t….worry yourself about it. I mock, belittle and whatnot myself on a daily bases.” he shrugged, downing his drink and fighting back the urge to spit it up. He was definitely going to need more of this.

"Pat, we all know you got a thing for brothers but maybe you could tone it down for your boyfriend?" He said with a chuckle when he noted the interaction with the groping and the innuendos and all the other jazz playing in the background. But then it was Luke's turn to speak.
 
   Words had been spoken, and Luke started with his same old "Brush it under the rug" routine. It started with the whole "Why am I doing this? Oh no reason at all..do I need a reason?", which of course was followed up by Luke's decision to register to vote under the "Self-Pity Party". Then was where he proceeded to confess his sins like a little boy at confession, the painful memories of THAT analogy weren't something to escape Matthew's mind either. But then we had the last step to the scripted travesty, where Luke decided to put on his very best puppy dog eyes and whimper and whine that he was truly sorry and that he just wanted everything to be normal again. This was something that Luke had gone through a lot, to the degree now that Matthew was so familiar with the process that he was even muttering certain words Luke was going to use as Luke was ranting. Of course he was carefully not to be very loud about it.  There was only one word that came to mind...

 Really!?

    No matter how pissed he was a Luke he wasn't going to just upright abandon him. Luke was right, they were family. But Matthew wasn't going to give into Luke just like that. He loved Luke like a brother, and knowing your family is important. Luke, for example, is a very skilled manipulator. Even when the little shit wasn't trying he seemed to subconsciously pick and formulate just the right words for every event. Trying to appeal to the sense of brotherhood and family. Pat had no one that Matthew knew of. No one that he wanted to really bond with that was, and Luke knew that good old St.Patrick was bound to up and forgive him after having a moment to cool off...simply because Pat had no one.

....the new boy-toy withstanding.

    Luke also got to drive home the soft and sensitive side to his new little pet cougar, the one that he no doubt picked up on some vigilante run. Doctor Karma and that little face that he'd never forget. The fact that SHE of all people would pounce back up from his past with lipstick and lingerie right from under his BROTHER'S bed-sheets was more than enough to make him regret his decision.

 

Spoiler:

    By the time his memory faded the room had been in silence for a but a moment or two, Matthew staring down into his glass as he stood up from the little stool-chair thing. He hadn't been paying too much attention to what he was doing anymore. With the way today was going he was pretty sure it was a good "auto-pilot" day to just let shit happen and barely react. He took the glass in his hand and spun it, releasing it for a moment before moving his hand beneath it to catch it from the bottom.

  "Okay... I'm going to make this... real simple. There is no going back to normal. What part of that don't you understand? I'm not talking about this newly blossoming romance either. You know what I'm talking about. There will never BE normal, ever again. But that doesn't mean it's going to break us. I would just suggest we ease our way into this so we can all adapt from now on...and not jump head first into the proverbial shit-storm. Excuse the language." Matthew said as he held up a hand to Skylar, almost as if he completely forgot that there was a lady present. He then set the glass down and looked about the room, a heavy sigh as he smiled. "I'm happy....for both of you...really. Make no mistake though. I fully intend to hound on this for as long as I live." He said as he looked between Drifter and Karma, a genuine smile on his face as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. He turned around and looked to Malus and Pat before clearing his throat a little.

  He wanted to say something very badly, to Malus especially. Then again telling your brother's boyfriend that you're his new daddy doesn't work out well....especially when he seems to be twice your age and capable of throwing you through a wall. "Happy for you guys too. I will also be hounding... just in a different way." He said before looking towards the door. If he could somehow get out of this little outing he'd be super thankful. He didn't much feel like playing the fifth wheel on a double date.

  "Luke is right. A night out. I say go for it. A double date. That's something new to try, right?" He asked, trying to gently shift the attention from a group outing to his idea of the double date, which knowing Luke....

 he'd point it out...

Manipulator maybe, but Drifter had been genuine. He was doing this to get some support, God knows his real family never gave him that. Yeah, he was going through some self pity, but he didn't give a single fuck how apparent that was. Life sucked sometimes, and had some deep seeded pain beyond what was on the surface. Luke was just expressing that the only way he knew how.

Pat wouldn't forgive him. Even if he thought he did, the grudge would resurface when Pat was upset. This was the problem with forgiveness, it's only possible in the best of times.

As for Matt, Luke could see that what he said had irritated his friend. It was notoriously difficult to read their resident Eldritch, but judging by the rather pointless objection of things being normal again, followed by the mellowing out to 'I'm happy for you, go on a double date', Mathew wanted absolutely nothing to do with this shit storm. Yes, Luke could understand that hearing somebody's problems when you have some of your own could make you angry, but that didn't mean you had to slink away back to Intorvert World when your friends needed you.

"You're right. Thing's won't ever go back to normal. I'll never get to be the happy kid again without a bottle of booze in my hand, and I'll never get to go back to the time where i actually felt like myself........ But fuck my problems, right? We're gonna go have a good old adult time." Luke said, walking off to the hotel bathroom, leaving a nervous and slightly angry air behind him. He washed his face, looked at himself in the mirror for awhile as he listened. God it was hard to keep eye contact with yourself.

After hearing Matt try to cop out, Drifter came back into the main area of the room. He had a slightly artificial, but bright, smile on his face.

"You aren't going anywhere you anti social fuck. Come on, when was the last time you actually enjoyed yourself?" Drifter said, eyes unyieldingly locked on Matthew. Luke wasn't taking no for an answer.

Skyler might have made note that Luke was sidestepping her, not getting particularly close. The reason wouldn't be apparant, but those perceptive enough to realize Luke wasn't in his most um, calm state of mind, would know exactly why.

Pat felt the presence of a hand against his, hazel eyes flickering down at it but not really trying to wrench his hand from it. Matt was talking now, so he let what attention he could spare soak up the words his friend spoke as he continued to drink regardless. Normality was not something they could ever hope to claim, that was what Pat could internally agree on but he did not like it anyway. Eventually the speech would continue but he did note that Matt was leaving, furrowing his brows in a somewhat questioning expression. It didn’t take a perceptive person to see that Matt didn’t want to be here, and in a sense, he didn’t either. He felt anxious, everything about this just made him uncomfortable.

So he unfurled his fingers from Malus’ hand, and stood up to stretch a few of his joints. ”Think I need some air. This whole thing was a big mistake anyway.” Pat said, running his fingers through his hair and then burying his hands into his pockets. Luke had moved to stop Matthew from leaving, but he intended to sidestep the two and leave himself.

Matthew's eyes locked right in with Drifter's. If this had been a cheezy anime then there certainly would have been fire in their eyes, and the lightning between them would have been more than enough to power the room around them. It was like looking at a sheep as it looked into the eyes of a wolf honestly. Matthew's posture was much more calm and almost shy in comparison to the overbearing glare that was Skyler's boyfriend. If anything were to happen Matthew was far from capable of handling it. what was he going to do, use his sarcasm to defend himself?

  Pat finally decided to chime in, calling the meeting a mistake and then began to begin walking off, seeming to step around the blockade. As Pat began to pass, Matthew's hand shot out, arm fully extended as he placed the hand on Pat's chest, a small smile on his face as he cleared his throat.
 
"Family meeting..." He said, his head turned to Skyler and then to Malus with a small smile, that seemed sympathetic if not apologetic. "I'm sorry, could you just excuse us for a minute. It'll be over soon. We just...gotta get this out of our system. Good as new in a minute." He seemed to try and frantically brush this incident under the rug. With a few moments they had excused themselves. Once they were alone he gave Pat's chest a little tap, trying to get him to step back a bit.

  "Not that I don't love patting your Pat-nips but couldja back up?" He asked before he stepped back and pointed to a space of equal distance for Luke to stand, this way they could form a perfect talking triangle. "Oookay. So. Let's clear the air." He said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and sighed, rolling his neck a bit before looking at Luke and then Pat. Actually he wasn't even sure why Pat wanted to leave... this was ridiculous. They needed to do this, and he was dead set on making things right and resolving this.

   "Luke, look man. Stop calling me a fuck. I'm anti-social yeah, we get it. But if you honestly want to start with things being at least relatively normal again you can start by using our names and display some emotion other than "Pissed off" or "Guilty Tear".  I know that it might seem like we're walking out on you, but we're not. You need to get that into your skull. I know that you've got problems bro. I can remember staying up at night when I didn't even know you face to face just to make sure you'd feel a little better before bed. I actually prayed for you, fifth name I rattled off, every night. I'm happy for you. I want you to be happy. But you're not the only one whose going through stuff." He looked to Pat and sighed as he looked him up and down. He wanted to say so many things but he needed to give everyone their chance to say shit. So he needed to keep this rather concise.

   "Pat. I love you man. I know that everything we've been through has been rough. I know that the cards are rarely ever in your favor. But you're a good person. I genuinely believe that. But you NEED to forgive him. As in let it lay dead...forever. You two dumbasses went after Kahn and shit went down. THEN, we ended up in a haunted asylum and THAT happened. Can you really not see the common denominator here?" He asked, being genuine, though he also looked to Luke to making sure that he was aware that he spoke to everyone. They needed to be aware of the common theme here. The common cause of all their problems. Though he was hoping that no one else brought up the fact that he was miraculously unaffected by the asylum. "All of this shit happens is because of what you do. This vigilante thing is fucking with you. Both of you. Luke, you need to accept that no matter the danger there's the risk that Pat or I will die. Pat chose to be a vigilante, he was doing it the same time as you... he knows what he signed on for. DON'T do stupid shit. Use your damn head. You're a smart guy, probably even smarter than me. Pat, you need to just...stop being so fucking petty. I'm not perfect either...I know that.." He said with a sigh. Suddenly his phone was vibrating in his pocket and he scoffed before reaching down and pulling it out. The number was not listed and he couldn't help but wonder who it was. Using the few second he had he apologized and checked his texts after swiping the red button to the left.

   The text messages were jarring, but no matter what he couldn't let it show...


  What...the actual... You're drinking a ton, aren't you? What did you do, stop by the bar and pick off some of the old and creepy ones!? He quickly typed in before stopping for a moment. That's when it finally hit him that there was the opportunity of a lifetime right in front of his very face. No, not having sex with a vampire angel demon that also managed to somehow become The Devil.... That opportunity didn't present itself often. He hoped it didn't. He was going to ne pissed if he found out that this was a common thing.... All of that aside he let the auto-delete and the erasure transcription software remove all trace of their existence.

   He might not be able to deal with the Queen of Thrones today, but he did have something far better in the back of his mind.  Well...better than a booty call.

Luke didn't say anything as Matt talked, taking in the information as best he could  being as jacked as he was. He didn't want an argument, and in all honesty he didn't want this to be anything but a nice time with his family. Unfortunately, like any family, there were issues.

Use your head. That comment struck a cord with Drifter. He realized now that he wasn't being the best version of himself. There was a time when he took pride in who he was, in his own intelligence. But lately, that confidence had faded in favor of a veil of guilt and emotion. There were some things he couldn't control, yes, but how he reacted to those things was up to him.

Like always, Matt managed to hit every point. The teary guilt and anger, the fact he wasn't thinking, the need for forgiveness. It was all laid out now, and in truth Luke knew everything that Matt was saying was correct, he was just too clouded to see it before he heard it for himself.

"Yeah, i know........ Look, i agree with you. I'm sorry. I can get carried away with the snide remarks and the hostile additude, it's something i have to work on. But tonight, all i wanted to do was hang out with my brothers, just like old times. Let's just forget about the rest of the world tonight, forget about our problems, and enjoy our lives. Please, stay, both of you." Lukas said, breaking off from the circle mid-sentence to sit on the bed. His eyes darted to Matt, then back to Pat.

"You know the difference between friends and family? Family forgives, and keeps on going no matter what. I love you both, and humbly request you come get plastered with me tonight." Luke said, a smile on his face. Not the snide or sarcastic or cocky type either, a true one.

And that's when he noticed the blue light in the corner. You could see moment to moment as the understanding flowed through him. His brows furrowed, and he turned to Aiva.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! Skyler! Get the fuck in here!" Drifter yelled. He wasn't sure how Matt or Pat felt about their conversation getting spied on, but Luke was pretty angry about it. It wasn't even that anything important was said, it was the idea. How disrespectful to listen in on a conversation which included two people you didn't even know. Drifter put his head in his hands, rubbing his temples. By the time Skyler decided to come in, he would be slightly calmed down again.

"You know what, no, there i go again........ Just, fine, it's ok...... Just don't be mad if i bug your phone, or your house, or anything else of yours." Luke said, back turned to Skyler as he searched for his jacket. Once he found it, he slipped it on, and took a swig from the nearest bottle of booze.

"The offer still stands guys. You wanna come?" Drifter said, standing there, all dressed to go out on the town, waiting for an answer from the people he had brought his girlfriend to LA for.

Pat paused as the hand rested itself on his chest, his eyes looking down to the limb restricting him. ”Was hoping if I let you touch them enough we might get somewhere fun.” He said with a smirk and a wink, then giving mock disappointment when Matt took a few steps back. He was in an odd mood, exaggerated by a good bit of alcohol. Then came something about clearing the air, Matt first explaining something to Luke and then turning things upon him. ”Forgive me if I’m so petty that I’m a little mad about someone I call a friend stabbed and poisoned me rather than just trusting that I could help him.” He snapped, unable to keep his anger under control. The precision glare turned to Luke, boring into him like a drill. ”That Luke went off half cocked to go after Khan, and had so little faith in me that he poisoned me for my own good. Friends don’t fucking do that!”

”If you want forgiveness, spare me the crying and just stop fucking me over whenever you feel a little narcy.” He removed the glare from Luke. ”The moment you stab your friend, in the front or back you make it tough to go back.” He said with a shrug, and a sigh. ”but that’s unimportant. You said something about drinking, right?” He massaged the bridge of his nose, hearing something about Skyler and spying on them, though that was just unimportant for the moment.

You little bitch. Was all that came to mind at that direct moment. In his mind he quickly began playing blackjack, a farce or façade to ward off any telepathic intruders that would try to bury in there to hear his thoughts. He didn't want to find out too late that this "spying eye" was more than she appeared. Though if that were the case he'd be happy to offer up Pat's mind as tribute for the rewiring process. Matthew was having a hard time right now. Who would have ever thought that the vigilante known as "Humanity" would be able to take the likes of Elena Vexus, dine with world diplomats and the Queen of Thrones, all while hunting down corruption and managing a day job could ever be defeated by basic management skills of ones friends.

"Yeah well If I remember correctly we were under the influence of that asylum thing. The ghost or whatever it was. So Luke only has ONE mistake under his belt that was brought on by poor coping skills manifesting a brotherly protection in the form of an unhealthy low-lethal dosage that you SHOULD have been able to reach a hospital from..." He said to Pat, glaring at him for a moment with a disappointed look on his face. Matt was a forgiving person. If he was stressed out he had no problems being a total dick, or spacing himself from it. But in the end there was no argument, no level of stupidity or any level of arrogance that could make someone unforgivable. The truth was he genuinely believed in the inherent good of all people. But that belief, that little innocent light inside him was fading. All that remained now was the lingering little light, dimmed. Faded. Just enough to let him fake, to pretend, to act as if he were his former self. How broken was he? That these thoughts had plagued his mind so often?

"Look...guys. Best of intentions. Hell and pathways. Sound familiar to anyone?" He sighed, but that was only when Pat stated that things were apparently unimportant. Matthew looked at the door and stared at it as he began to feel his heart race for a moment. His mind felt terrible. His brain itself felt like it was splitting. He had been getting Suicide headaches for years, it was one of the reasons he had such a high pain tolerance, but this was a whole different level. He couldn't stop his eyes from watering as he brought up his sleeve to wipe his eye a bit. "I'm sorry. This is my fault. Let's just go drown our sorrows. No excuses. For any of us. No dead girlfriends, no fears, no-no fifth wheels and no complaints. It's the least we can do." He said with a bit of a break in his voice as he walked forward, swallowing and pushing the door open with a sigh and a straight face with a soft smile as he looked to his "families" significant others.

"We're good." he said trying to be as convincing as he could be. He quickly took out his phone while letting the others have access back to the hotel room. Seeing to reply he had concluded that the little devil on the other end of the phone had dozed off in a blood-drunk daze.

Now to wait for the party...

Don't say it Lukas. Don't say anything. Shut up shut up shut up shut it! Lukas thought as he listened to what Pat was saying. He was wrestling with the overwhelming urge to get snarkie. Several long, drawn out rebuttals entered his mind. He could dissect everything Pat said, and refute most of it, but what good would it do? He had said he was sorry, tried everything to make it up to Pat, and still, he felt himself being baited. The vain on the side of his head throbbed, and he looked like he might just blow up again, but he just smiled.

Matt had decided to step in, being as reasonable as he could be in such a volatile situation. What he said would probably do no good, but at least everyone had decided to push this stuff under the rug and just go out already.

Skyler had made her way inside. Lukas could have been mad about her trying to listen in on his private conversations, he could have been mad at a lot of things really, but he held it in. For the sake of the relationships in this group, he had to.

When Aiva called him Daddy, and then Matt and Pat uncles, Drifter's eye twitched. He still had the smile on his face, but inside, he was on fire. Everything inside him was screaming to reject any form of makeshift family that could come out of this. For quite awhile the only people he thought of as his family were Matt and Pat, so adding more was just bringing back bad memories.

The prospect of a family was a pretty negative thing to Drifter at this point, even if deep down it's what he knew he needed. But even still, he couldn't shake the idea that family meant fragmentation, not unity.

This was a time where the levity of the situation seemed to separate him from the world, a disconnect. He wasn't here, this didn't have to happen, he could step away......

But this was reality, and this was happening. Gritting through his churning insides, he grabbed his wallet off the desk, took a swig of vodka from the bottle, and then spoke.

"Who's car are we taking?"



(Time skip time, i think. Feel free to just react to this post and wait for me to get them in the club on my next, or set the scene yourself. Doesn't matter who does it.)