Sister Before Mister (MxM)

3.2 | Home at Last

-Darren-

“Ughhh, I need to see him again,” Darren sighed out weakly, with the right side of his face mashed into the kitchen island. He clumsily placed the rest of his body atop a stool with his arms hanging down. In summary, he looked deflated and wholly pathetic.

"Yikes, what happened to you? I saw you before I hopped into the shower and you were fine.” Giddeon walked across the living room dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a t-shirt. He was moving a towel through his hair, gently drying his short blonde locks.

“I guess it just hit me that there’s no chance with prince charming.”

“Who..? Oh, stop calling him that, ew. How did you even meet him last night? When I left with that guy, Greg, you were moping in the corner by yourself.”

“Things started turning around once I had a couple more drinks in me.”

“So, what happened exactly?” Gideon said, as he settled down on the other stool at the kitchen island.

Darren sat up from his defeated posture and filled him in on what had happened the night before.

__________

Darren wasn’t big into going out. Which means he was even less enthused when he was abandoned by his drinking buddy for the night, Giddeon. He parked himself into a far corner at the bar, nursing a whiskey ginger. Though that was what he always drank, don’t confuse his drink of choice to mean that he was a seasoned drinker. It made him seem like a more experienced drinker when, in actuality, it was just what his grandmother had always drank. It was the only drink name he could remember, so whenever a bartender asked him what he’d like to order. I’ll have a whiskey ginger on the rocks, was how he would respond.

The two friends had decided to go out and celebrate a promotion that Darren had gotten at work this week. He now had the prestigious title, and generous pay increase, of Lead Full-Stack Engineer II. He was more than happy for the higher pay and chance to move up the ranks, but his heart wasn’t really in it. He was great at his job and engineering came easily to him, but his heart truly lay with writing, poetry to be specific. Darren had never felt that he could make anything of himself pursuing it, so he stuck with software engineering. Thinking about his unfulfilled dreams brought up feelings of regret. He decided he would try to use the outfit Gideon had forced him to wear to meet someone to act as some sort of distraction.

He had spent extra time getting ready for that night’s outing with an outfit that Giddeon had picked out for him. Cleanly shaven, with his long black dreadlocks pushed to the right side of his face, his hair flowed over his shoulder. He was wearing a fitted black t-shirt, a size too small, to show off his fit form from Giddeon’s closet, paired with a dark pair of jeans with a few strategically placed rips and holes. It was chilly for a spring night and he layered with a green camo bomber jacket and his usual pair of brown combat boots.

Though he was never one for fashion or putting too much effort into his appearance, he could admit he looked good. He was a far cry from the gangly and awkward version of himself from his youth. Darren looked nothing like the boy that used to get beat up in high school hallways, but he still had a hard time embodying the confident man that he came across as now.

Looking around the bar from his vantage point in the corner, Darren saw groups of folks laughing and drinking together. They seemed to be in a completely different world from him. The familiar sensation of loneliness started to creep in. As the feeling was making its way through his body, and he felt more and more sorry for himself, Darren threw back the rest of his drink and had decided to head home. He got up from the barstool and grabbed his jacket from the hook underneath the bar. He squeezed his way through the crowds of people to get to the exit. He was too soft-spoken and shy to use his size to barrel through, which was probably why when he slipped his arm through his jacket sleeve, he knocked a drink out of a guy’s hands all over some girl next to him.

“Augh, come on Leonard!” Exclaimed the woman, shooting out of her chair at the table as ice chips and what Darren assumed to be alcohol dripped down from the lap of her dress. She was gorgeous, honestly, petite with golden-brown skin and big, curly hair the color of roasted chestnuts.

Raising two hands in the air to signal his innocence, the guy Darren ran into said, “It wasn’t me!”

Pointing an unsteady finger in Darren’s direction, “Rena, it was him!” he said.

His speech was heavily slurred and Darren was thinking it was a good thing he didn’t have a chance to down that drink.

“You mean this perv leering at me?” The woman that Darren now knew as Rena said.

Darren’s eyes went wide at the accusation, “Uh, you’re cute and all but, I don’t exactly play for your team. I’m really sorry for ruining your dress. Could I get you a drink and pay for your dry cleaning, maybe?”

Rena smiled devilishly and Darren was left trying to figure out what that smile meant.

“What a gentleman! Isn’t he Leo?”

Rena’s obviously intoxicated friend, Leo, regained focus on the conversation after zoning out, in his own world.

“Yes, a total gentleman,” he said as he inched closer to Darren.

“Leo, I’m going to head home to clean up. Why don’t you stay here and get to know—”

“Darren, my name is Darren,” he said sheepishly as Leo began getting more and more into his space.

“Yes. Darren,” Rena smiled up at Darren, then collected her purse and jacket before leaning in close to Leo, whispering something.

Obviously, Rena didn’t realize that she was in fact not whispering very well and Darren heard everything.

“Don’t mess this up! He seems like a decent person. And he’s hot!”

Leo's only response was rolling his eyes. “Okay, Miss matchmaker”

Darren shuffled his feet, feeling awkward having heard their private conversation.

“Okay! Later, bitch!” Rena yelled as she cleared a path towards the door. Even though she was at least a foot shorter than Darren, she was able to make it out of the bar more successfully than he had.

Darren felt a hand grab onto his right bicep and squeeze.

He looked down to see Leo’s hand wrapped around his arm with a big, bright smile. “Hiii. Why don’t we head to the bar so you can replace my drink?”

“Uh, sure,” Darren was taken aback at how pushy he was, but he had to admit, his smile filled him up with a strange warmth.

Leo pulled Darren along back towards the bar, with a surprising amount of strength for his size. He was about a head shorter than he was, with a chubby build. He filled out the jeans he was wearing very, very nicely if you asked him. Darren couldn't help but notice his plump, round ass as he was being pulled along. Before he could be caught checking Leo out, they reached the bar. Darren moved in front of Leo to get the bartender’s attention.

“Can I get a Whiskey Ginger and a…” Darren turned around to look at Leo for his drink order.

Peaking around Darren’s arm to speak directly to the bartender, Leo said, “Can I get a Dark and Stormy, hold the ginger beer. Thank you Stu!”

The bartender let out a tired sigh after seeing Leo and out of habit said, “That’ll be right up.”

Darren was left with a confused look on his face. “Isn’t that just a tall glass of rum?” The question tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop it.

“That’s quite the astute observation, my new friend,” Leo said in a smug tone.

There was a beat of silence before their drinks came. Leo reached over the bar with practiced precision to grab a black straw, placed it into his drink, and gulped down half of it in just a few seconds.

After his extended sip, he let out a contented sigh before asking, “So, Darren, tell me about yourself”