Misha should leave after dropping Jeongguk off at the Black Rabbit, but he doesn't. Tigris said to call if he needed to be picked up, or he could see if Namjoon is around, or he could take the bus... But he does neither of those things. The fact that Zodiac is here claws at him. Playing with Jimin, no doubt, but there's always a chance that they could run into each other. Maybe it's the lingering pack bond, urging him to find his alpha in the midst of his stress. Misha always thought that Jeongguk would've functioned as his pack alpha, but there must be some kind of automatic transference of hierarchy because Zodiac is Jeongguk's alpha.
Drugs were never his thing, although he did occasionally smoke weed, but he's spent more than one night in the Black Rabbit's bar, drinking himself under the table. Those were the times when he and Kasey swapped roles—Kasey was the one holding Misha's hair back while he hung over the toilet. It didn't happen often, because Misha forced himself to just handle their lifestyle, but every once in a while, things got to him. The particularly grisly things.
Tonight, though.
Tonight it isn't the people he's been told to put a bullet into when they aren't worth Zodiac's time to kill. It isn't the friends or family he hasn't seen in over two years. It isn't his budding feelings for Namjoon or his dying ones for Kasey. Tonight, he feels lovesick without ever having been in love. Hatesick? Is that a thing?
"What can I get for you?" the bartender asks, wiping his hands on a cloth as Misha takes a seat at the end of the bar. An older beta man who's worked there for a while. Haneul hired in a lot of new staff when he bought the casino, but it's possible this man worked here prior to the ownership change. Misha doesn't know why it matters, or why he's thinking about this. He could become a bartender, he supposes. If Novikov acquires the Black Rabbit, he could work as a bartender. It would save him having to explain his identity and the fact that he's been missing for the past two years.
"Something strong," Misha says. "Not like... fuck me up strong, but I just need to stop thinking so hard for a while."
It must be a popular request—it's a fucking bar— because the man just nods sagely and steps away to mix him something. The amber liquid he returns with glints at him threateningly and burns a little bit going down. Beside him, an alpha is trying to chat up an omega. He isn't particularly attractive, so it might be a lost cause. The omega seems pretty unimpressed. A little more makeup and he might be passable, but Misha would have to be really, really drunk.
Maybe that's what he'll do later, he thinks. He'll see if he can reel in an alpha to play with for the night. Flirting with strangers isn't exactly his forte; he and Jeongguk usually worked as a pair, because most alphas weren't the most receptive to another alpha coming onto them. Misha was enough to get their target's attention, while Jeongguk moved in for the kill.
Not... literally. But.
More time must pass than he thinks, because the same people aren't beside him when he clocks back into his surroundings. The bar is emptier, the alpha and the omega are gone. Absently, he hopes they went separately. Unless the alpha ended up having a real winner of a personality and wasn't just some sleazebag hitting on omegas in the bar, trying to get laid because he lost all his money in the casino and still wants to make the night count.
He should call Tigris and go. Namjoon shouldn't have to see him like this, drunk and pathetic. Sad about things he shouldn't be sad about. He can't help it.
"Hey."
Ah...
...the Devil has found him.
"Can I buy you a drink?"
Misha knocks back the rest of what's in his glass, slamming it down on the counter a little harder than he needs to. "'m drunk enough, if you're here," he says. The words tumble clumsy on his tongue, uncoordinated and heavy.
