Play Pretend

Stephen settled himself in a dark corner of a pub in Newcastle, catching a late dinner. His act brought him to Newcastle for the day and he's spent all day going from one event to another performing magic. Not that he's complaining, the feeling of being on demand has filled him with hope that he still has a chance of becoming famous.

But along with success, comes disappointment. His sudden popularity has definitely put a strain on his personal relationships. His last relationship ended because of his constant traveling. Since then, he hasn't bothered going on dates. His busy schedule has him traveling up and down the country. Any semblance of a relationship is deemed to be doomed before it even started. So that's why Stephen is alone on a Saturday night eating dinner at a lonely corner of a pub.

He settled for eating his dinner in peace, quietly observing the other patrons of the pub.

On this particular night, Stephen directed his attention to two loud Geordies having a drink a few tables away. The taller of the two seem to have just told a joke because the shorter one threw his head back in laughter. Stephen can't help but be mesmerized by the stranger's laugh. An irrational pang of jealousy hit Stephen as the taller man said something that made the shorter one laugh hard again. Oh what I'd give to make that man laugh, Stephen thought.

The two Geordies merriment was interrupted by a phone call the taller one received. Once he hung up, he bid his goodbye to his friend and walked out. The shorter one was left to finish his drinks in solitary.

That was until a man approached him. He was tall, but not as tall as Stephen, and had a slender, fit frame. The man looked like he came out of a magazine with his short curly blonde hair, perfect smile and disarming blue eyes. And those blue eyes were trained on the short Geordie.

At first, the short man welcomed the newcomer's presence. They made small talk, mainly about their respective jobs. But as the conversation progressed, the Geordie became visibly uncomfortable with the flirtatious advances made by the tall stranger. He would try to hint at the stranger that he wasn't interested by moving away, but the stranger ignored it and moved even closer.

From his corner, Stephen watched this all play out and decided to end the smaller man's misery. Luckily for him, and for the Geordie, the stranger hadn't seen Stephen before at the pub, so his plan to save the Geordie will work.

Stephen approached the two, making it seem like he came from the entrance, and walked right up to the Geordie and sat down next to him. "Sorry, I'm late hon. The boss kept me late tonight," Stephen smiled and put an arm around the short man's shoulders and pulled him in to plant a peck on his lips. He then turned his attention to the tall stranger, "Hello, I'm Stephen, his boyfriend. And you are?"

The stranger's confident smile faltered as he watched the interaction between the two. "I'm Joe and...uh, I was just leaving. Uhm, nice meeting you, Dec," he said, as he retreated from the table. The two watched, amused, as the man bolted out of the pub in embarrassment. Once he was out of sight, Stephen, unwillingly, let go of Dec.

He looked sheepishly at Dec, "Sorry about invading your space, but that was the only way I could think of to make that guy get away from you...I'll just go now."

A hand grabbed at his bicep, pulling him back down on the seat. He can sense that Dec was staring at his face, but Stephen's eyes were focused on the hand still wrapped around his arm. Now it was Dec's turn to be embarrassed. He quickly let go of Stephen's arm and offered a small smile as an apology. "Thanks for helping me with that guy back there. We would have been stuck with 'im longer if youse hadn't come up to help us."

"That was nothing. I just thought you desperately needed the help, so...I helped," Stephen said with a shrug of the shoulders.

Dec flashed a huge smile at Stephen's nervous "explanation". "Well, to show how grateful we are for helping us out, I'm gonna buy youse a few drinks, eh."

To Stephen, it seemed weird that this stranger's smile can have such a warming effect on him. He tries to ignore the feeling and answers back, "We haven't even properly introduced ourselves to each other and you're already trying to get me drunk. Unbelievable!" Stephen said, making sure to shake his head comically at the end.

This overzealous action earned him a hearty laugh from Dec. As cliche as it was, Stephen's heart skipped a beat, taking pride on the fact he made this gorgeous man laugh. At this point, there was no point trying to ignore his attraction to Dec. And judging by how Dec is slowly scooting closer to Stephen, the attraction seems to be reciprocated.

Once he gained his composure, Dec stuck out his hand and said, "Hello, I'm Declan, but my mates call me, 'Dec'."

"Hi, Dec. I'm Stephen, no one calls me, 'Stevie', but if you play your cards right, I might let you." Stephen replied, adding a wink at the end.

"Well then, would youse fancy joining us for a few drinks?" Dec said with a cheeky grin.

Too nervous that his voice will fail him, Stephen can only nod in reply. I'm gonna have to come back to Newcastle more often, Stephen thought as they walked over to the bar to order their drinks.