"This is ridiculous."
"No, this is called nightlife," Eve said, making a sweeping gesture towards the hip, expensive restaurant that the four of them were sitting in. "I'm sure you've come across it in your travels, Mister World-Class South African Snowboarder."
"I'm a very...solitary creature, believe it or not." Morgan wrinkled his nose at the glass in front of him. "What is this?" he asked, his top lip curling back in a snarl.
"It's a frozen margarita," Freya chimed in.
"It's...pink."
"It's strawbe—you know what?" A hand reached from across the table and started to slide the glass over. "You asked us to order you something frozen, and now you wanna complain about it—"
"Tane!" Freya laughed and passed the drink back to Morgan. "Calm down, you've only had two margaritas."
Tane shook his head. "Sorry, they make them strong here! Tequila makes me a bit snappy," he admitted with a shrug.
Morgan took a sip of the drink and visibly flinched, much to the rest of the group's amusement. They did make them strong here. If it weren't for the slight hint of what tasted suspiciously of grade school lunch fruit drink, the glass would have been full of straight tequila. This night was shit. But they seemed to have put all of this work into dressing up and dragging him out (literally)... "I could be back in my room with a bottle of whiskey and a book," he mumbled into the glass, just desperate to finish the mess and order something else at this point. Maybe a vodka tonic...it was nearly impossible to mess up a vodka tonic. The ingredients were in the name.
"Or you could be out with us!" Eve chirped, sipping at her own brightly-colored concoction. "You're enjoying yourself, admit it."
"I'm not."
Freya flagged down a waitress, grinning madly the whole time. "Get him another drink! But, ah, let's avoid the margaritas, yeah?"
Tane poked at an ice cube with his straw and raised an eyebrow at Morgan. "So how long has it been since you've dated a woman?" he asked.
"Wait, but...doesn't he hit on...he's been all over..." Freya shook her head and finished her drink. "Either I've been hanging out with you too long, or my gaydar's off."
"I've never seen a gay man drink whiskey, and all he's done since he's been here is feel up Sorian and hit on Psymon." Tane put one hand on his hip and pointed at Morgan with the other. "Which, by the way, is hilarious and totally encouraged as long as you don't try anything."
The alcohol was starting to get to Morgan, and all he wanted to do was...talk. About anything. In fact, this weird moment of silence between sentences was killing him, and he had no idea why, especially since he normally loved it when people shut up. "Oh, no," Morgan said, smiling at a waitress as she set another—tequila-free–drink in front of him. "I'm not in the business of wrecking relationships anymore."
"Wait, anymore?" Eve leaned forward. "Story time!"
"People used to pay me to do a lot of shady things. That's all there is to it."
"That's all there is to it, or that's all we're gonna hear...?"
Morgan sipped his drink and gave Eve a look. "Ugh. Fine," Eve said, throwing her hands up in surrender. "I swear, you and Vaal and this whole mystery thing..."
Freya gasped and practically shoved Tane out of his chair. "The theory!" she stage whispered.
"Oh yeah!" Tane righted himself and turned back to Morgan. "Okay...what do you think about Vaal?"
"He's pretty cool," Morgan said, slurring a bit. "Nice guy. Very chill."
Tane chuckled. "Would you sleep with him?" he asked. He shushed Eve and Freya as they giggled.
"Hmm." Morgan tilted his head and thought for a moment. "Well...I dunno. He's attractive, but he's not quite my type."
Eve smacked the top of the table and looked at Freya. "No way."
"What is your type?" Tane asked.
"Feisty," Morgan said with a grin. "Someone who isn't afraid to fight me. Someone who wants to challenge my authority. Oh, and not too skinny, it'll kill the mood if I'm worried about snapping him in half the whole time. And a nice voice would be a bonus; have you even heard someone with an ugly voice scream? It's not pleasant—" Morgan stopped and thunked his head against the table. "Alright, if he ever wanted to, I would have sex with him. Happy?"
"Very," Freya said, high-fiving Tane. "The theory still stands."
"Wait." Eve held up a hand, suddenly concerned. "...Who would bottom?"
Morgan looked up quickly. "I don't bottom," he said. "Ever."
"He doesn't strike me as one to bottom much either..."
"Then I guess we'd just be twiddling our thumbs for a while." Morgan shrugged.
"...Or beating the hell out of each other and stopping occasionally to fuck like rabbits," Tane muttered.
"I—oh my god—" Morgan looked away quickly as his face turned red. Sexual frustration sucked. "I can't drink with you all anymore. I desperately want this to happen at some point."
Freya giggled. "Can we watch?"
"Fuck...whatever." Morgan laughed and stood up. "I'm getting too drunk for this conversation, so I'm leaving."
"Aww, really?" Eve asked, her shoulders drooping slightly. She held her phone up. "I was gonna call Vaal and get his opinion on—"
"No. Nope. Definitely not sober enough for this." Morgan waved as he stumbled out of the restaurant. "Do me a favor and don't remind me about this tomorrow, alright?"
The remaining three looked at each other for a moment before Tane finally asked, "...You still calling?"
"Of course I'm still calling!" she laughed, tossing her phone onto the table and pressing the speakerphone button.
