Feeling.

The Chain

Bright arrives at Win's at 8:30, and when he walks in, a look of shock crosses Win's face. He's the one that answers the door when Tine knocks. Apparently, he didn't think they were going to show.

"Hey!" Win says when he regains composure. He moves aside, allowing them to enter. "Tine, it's great seeing you again. Everyone is right in there," he points to the open doorway, where laughter and chatter can be heard. Tine smiles politely and Bright leads him to the living room. He spares a look at Win, and his heart plummets. Win's standing against him now closed front door, eyes closed, breathing slowly.

Bright keeps walking.

When he sees Rachel, he grins, pushing past friends to give her a hug. She smiles back at him kindly.

"How are you? Where's Nanon?"

"He's at home with the kids. I needed a break," she says on a laugh. She looks at Tine. "Hi, how are you?"

Only kindness in her words.

"Good, thank you," Tine says. Bright can feel when Win re-enters the room, but when Bright braves a look his way, Win's already in the corner with a beer in hand as he laughs along with something New is saying.

Deep breath.

"I'm going to grab us some drinks. Pups, you need anything?"

She shakes her head and continues chatting with Tine politely while Bright walks through the crowd. He stops when he reaches Tay. "Where is the beer?"

Tay laughs, "Oh, hello, Bright. Nice to see you," he barks sarcastically.

Bright rolls his eyes. "Hello, Tay."

"The beer is in the grey cooler by the fridge," he says, pointing over to the kitchen. Bright nods, and when he reaches the cooler, he's stopped by the sound of his name.

"How's it going with you and Bright?" he hears Gun ask. His head shoots up to see Gun and Win in the dining room, picking at the plate of cookies and brownies. The apartment itself is very open, so every room leads into the next with a large archway.

"It's going great," Win says easily.

"You call him dating a hot man, great?" Gun shoots back.

Win scoffs. "I call it great that he's here at all, and that's that."

Before he can hear anymore, Bright quickly grabs his beers and practically sprints back to his sister and his boyfriend.

Bright doesn't see much of Win throughout the night. He's busy mingling with everyone, and Bright's busy trying to make sure Tine is having a good time. He says he is, of course, but he seems awkward. Understandably.

Tine raises his hand to Bright's face when he asks how's he doing for the eighth time within the hour. "Bright. I'm not a porcelain doll. I'm okay. I'm going to the bathroom. Please… relax."

Bright nods, laughing. "I'm sorry. I know."

Tine pats his shoulder, handing him his beer as he heads toward the bathroom in the hallway. There's a line of two or three people waiting outside the door, so he leans against the wall and distracts himself with his phone. And now that Bright's alone, he's annoyed that the first thing he does is look for Win. But he's no longer mingling. Wins missing in action. The guests are beginning to filter out. Rachel even left about twenty minutes ago. Everyone that's left is either in the dining room or the living room. Bright sighs and heads toward the kitchen to see Win leaning down to grab a beer from the cooler. Win looks up when he hears his shoes against the tile of his kitchen floor.

"Hey," Win says. "Need a new beer?" he asks, but then looks at the two full beers in his hands and laughs. "Nevermind."

Win opens his own beer and takes a long sip. "You having fun?"

He nods. "Your home looks great. You've put a lot of work into it since I last saw it," he says, looking around at the clean decor.

Win raises an eyebrow, and Bright realizes the words he just spoke. The last and only time he was Win's was the night they slept together. He clears his throat, a nervous laugh bubbling up inside his chest.

"This doesn't have to be weird," Win says, shrugging as he takes another sip of his beer.

"Yeah… I know, it's not," he says, but he hears the way his voice goes up an octave.

Win nods, pointing to the family room. "We should get back. I'm the host. It's rude for me to hide."

"Were you hiding?" Bright asks when he tries to walk past him into the living room. Win stops and turns around. A weird expression crosses his face, and it's gone before Bright can identify what it means.

"A little. I'm just… overwhelmed. But okay," Win says slowly. He means this. Bright can see that.

"Parties like this can get overwhelming. I don't know how Rachel always does it."

Win laughs. "Yeah… kind of convinced your sister isn't even human. She might actually be Wonder Woman."

"I'd agree with that."

"Yeah.." he trails off. "You look happy, Bright. That's really… that's really great. It's all I want for you, you know?" he seems like he's unsure of saying this.

"It's all I want for you, Win. Are you?"

He doesn't know why he asks. It can't lead to anything good. They know better than to get this deep. Especially when he's quite a few beers deep.

"I'm… almost there. I'm like… ninety-nine percent there."

"I can tell. Your happiness…. Win, you glow."

Bright sounds breathless when he speaks, and he hates how it sounds to his own ears. Win blushes, looking down at the floor. "We should get back."

Before Bright can stop him again, he leads the way back into the living room. Win immerses hself into conversation with New and Saint, and he looks up to see Tine waiting for him.

"Hey, how was your bathroom break?" Bright asks and he reaches for his beer.

Tine just nods. And then he looks over at Win. "He didn't… want what you wanted, yeah?" he asks. Bright wonders if Tine could have possibly just listened to that conversation, but there was no way. Tine was way out of earshot.

"Yeah, no, he didn't. Why?"

Tine ignores his response. "Are you… still in love with him?"

He shakes his head.

"Then say it."

"Listen, Tine, I'm not. Okay, I'm not. He's just, he's always going to be important. Where is this coming from?"

Tine shrugs. "I just, I thought your natural demeanor was… this," he motions to Bright's body. "It wasn't until I saw you and him leave a room together that I saw something in you."

"Saw what?" Bright asks, although he feels like he shouldn't prolong this conversation.

"I just saw… you. And I don't know that guy. I know this Bright. The one that's making me his consolation prize."

He shakes his head vehemently, but he knows he's fighting a losing battle. "Tine, no… no, no, no."

Tine nods. "Can we just… can we go? Can we talk?"

Bright doesn't say goodbye to anyone, he just rushes him out the door. Because Bright can't lose this, too. He doesn't know why, but he can't take another failure.

To be continued.