Chapter Text
It was a Monday night, quiet, slow, nothing unexpected. Karkat was working the bar by himself, which was pretty usual for a Monday. The September trees waved ever so slightly in the wind outside, all of the copper and brown colors in the leaves reflecting off of the giant ceiling to floor windows at the front of the bar due to the street lamp that sat right there in the parking lot just outside the entrance door.
"Heyyy, little guy, another rum and coke please," one of the guys at the end of the bar called while swirling the ice in his empty cup. These guys showed up often, and they were some of Karkat's least favorite regulars. Since the town was a mid sized town, not too far away from a big city but far enough to still feel very local, this bar had quite the interesting clientele. The owner of the bar mostly catered to the alternative community, and would sometimes have drag shows on certain nights, and other nights live music. Most of the crowd was goth, punk, or something of the sort, which also naturally meant a lot of them were some sort of queer as well. However, the amount of TVs at the bar and the fact that the town itself was pretty mild towards gay people in general, plus the music scene spending time here, a pretty good amount of straight men would visit the bar frequently. Karkat felt like some of these men weren't as straight as they said they were though.
"Uh-huh, got it," Karkat replied, trying to use his customer service voice the best he could. His annoyance DID leak through a bit. Whatever. He couldn't be perfect, that wouldn't be fair to everyone else. Karkat made the drink, breezing through it and sliding it across the bar to the man.
"Thanks, twinkle toes," the man gruffed.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME? WHO IN THE SHIT SLINGING FUCK DO YOU THINK YOURE TALK--" Karkat started to raise his voice, startling the man and his buddy, when the front door of the bar jingled open. Karkat immediately whipped his head towards the door, putting on a smile for the new patron. "Oh! Welcome in~" He mused, clicking back into customer service mode. The men at the bar were hardly surprised, as this wasn't out of the ordinary for Karkat's behavior and a lot of the customers (especially the straight guys) got a kick out of ticking Karkat off since it was pretty easy to achieve.
The new customer that had walked in was tall, slender, and his small oval glasses reflected the glow of the bar TV's. Piercings lined up and down both ears, accompanied by a set of snake bites on his lower lip. His hair was an interesting cut, two longer pieces right in front of his ears and short choppy bangs. The rest of his hair was short, spikey, and layered, with one piece of blonde right in the front of a sea of pitch black hair. The skinniest jeans Karkat had maybe ever seen, dressed with a checkered studded belt and a tight graphic tee. He walked in quietly, just nodding in response to the bartender's greeting.
The bar stool squeaked across the floor as he pulled it, leaving the other patrons and Karkat watching in silence.
"Umm..." Karkat inched closer to the new customer, trying not to make it too obvious that he was checking him out. "Uh, welcome in, my name is Karkat. I'm the bartender tonight. Could I get you something to drink...?" A smile, a small tilt of his head, his fluffy dark brown bangs bouncing ever so slightly with the movement. The customer only nodded, not wanting to open his mouth. His cool demeanor shifted into one of awkwardness and his expression went from neutral to a little nervous. In his defense, he didn't want the cute bartender to hear his stupid ass lisp that he hated. Karkat couldn't help but become intrigued, and god was this guy hot. Hotter than the other guys that Karkat had been entertaining lately. No offense to them, of course. “Okay, fucking shy guy, what do you want to drink then?” Karkat laughed. “It’s not like I can read your damn mind,”
“...An old fasthioned,” He mumbled, almost too softly. Karkat wasn’t phased by the lisp in the bar guest’s voice, in fact, he thought it was pretty cute actually.
“Ah, okay. You seem like a fuckin’ whiskey drinker. You got a preference? Buffalo Trace, Woodford…?”
“Um, Macellan 12?” He asked, thinking he saw it up on the top shelf but feeling too awkward to adjust his little oval glasses and look closer. Karkat looked up at the bottle on the shelf, and whipped his head back around.
“Okay, top shelf, I see you. God, that’s a smooth old fashioned though. Well, it will be, when I make it of course.” He said, grabbing the bottle down and starting to construct the cocktail. “What’s your name, by the way?” Karkat said, using the shaker to shake the ingredients with the ice before capping the strainer on top of the shaker.
“Thollux,” His eyes rolled a little, feeling embarrassed. He hated his name, every time he had to say it. Especially to a new person. The amount of times someone had asked him if his name was ‘Thollux’ or ‘Sollux’ was too many for comfort. He braced himself for another reminder of how humiliating it was to have such a heavy lisp.
“Wow, Sollux? That’s a really fucking cool name, you sound like some sort of fucking computer hacker ass cool-guy or something.” Karkat laughed, pouring the drink into the short rocks glass and dressing it with the orange twist and the dark wine colored fancy cherry. Karkat slid it across the bar top towards Sollux, when the weird straight guy at the other end of the bar whistled at Karkat.
“Aye, bar guy, is the kitchen still open? I want a side of fries,” He grumbled, obviously drunk from the amount of beers he’d been downing. Karkat’s lip quivered a little, and he couldn't help but smack his hand down on the bar top.
“COULD I GET A FUCKING PLEASE AROUND HERE OR WHAT?!” The two men at the end of the bar and Sollux all fell silent, nothing but the bar radio blaring.
“....Please,” The guy said finally after a few moments of silence. Karkat rolled his eyes, and turned towards Sollux.
“One sec, I gotta get this asshole some fries,” Karkat said. Hours passed, the other patrons left, a few random people came and went, but Karkat went back to chat with Sollux in between every single one. Sollux was on old fashioned number three; at this point, Karkat had noticed how quickly Sollux would eat the fancy dark red cherry in the drink and started adding more to the skewer each time. “So, you were saying you liked the song that was just playing? I’ll have you know, I’m the one that controls the playlist when I’m here,” Karkat mused happily, proud of himself for the control over the bar’s vibes.
“Yeah, I mean it’th one of my favorite Deftoneth sthongs,” Sollux said, lifting one of his shoulders lazily in a small shrug.
“Oh, so you’re not one of those people who exclusively listens to video game soundtracks or something?” Karkat said, a grin plastered across his face.
Sollux gives Karkat a look. “I have tasthte, thank you. I like sthuff that’th kind of… heavy. Sthlow. Dramatic, you know?” Sollux cocked an eyebrow over his little oval glasses, the eyebrow piercing glistening in the bar lighting.
Karkat leaned over the counter slightly, giving his best sultry face, half lidded eyes, a light blush covering his cheeks. “Oh? Define dramatic,”
“Like…. Sthory driven. Really sthad, but in a way that’th altho beautiful. Like, doomed love, thouthern gothic vibeth, really a plethora of music but that’th thome of my favorite kind of sthuff,”
“Ohh, okay,” Karkat started, “So like… the good kind of depressing. Like, Ethel Cain?” Karkat asked. He’d been listening to a lot of her music lately, though Karkat listened to a lot of stuff, he really enjoyed having a large rolodex of romantic music to listen to. Sexy, sad, angry, happy, in fact his interest in rom-com movies had only extended to books and other sub-genres in romance as he’s gotten older. Even though lately things had been difficult in the romance department for him, it seemed the hopeless romantic that lived inside him only grew with every year. His longing for connection and love was even stronger than his desire to be a leader; especially since getting the spot as the bar’s manager.
“Yeth, exactly like that,” Sollux replied, taking a large swig of his drink. He was loose now, having a much easier time talking. He silently thanked the whiskey for the contribution.
“I listen to her too,” Karkat admitted.
Sollux perked up a little. “Really?”
“Yeah, it’s a recent development in my tastes, but I’ve been really enjoying her. There’s something about it. It’s like…romantic, but in a way where everything is clearly going to go horribly wrong and you just have to sit there and let it happen.” Karkat said. “Unfortunately became relevant to my life as an adult,”
“Right, I agree. Like watching a car crash but in slow motion. But altho, like, a sthunsthet behind it.” Sollux said.
“Right, right,” Karkat gestured with a bar rag, continuing. “Like, not just a break up song, but like religious guilt, bad decisions, danger, yearning,” Karkat sighed.
“Yeah,” Sollux says, softer now. “Like the kind of love where it’th not really thupposed to work. But maybe it doeth, maybe not.”
There’s a pause. Both of them clam up a little, having their own personal feelings swirl in the background of the topic at hand.
Karkat exhales. “God, it’s so messed up.”
“Yeah.” Sollux sighs back.
“…I love it.” Karkat smiles.
Sollux huffs another quiet laugh, taking another sip. “Sthame.”
“You strike me as the type who listens to that stuff alone, in the dark, at like three in the morning, contemplating every life choice you’ve ever made.”
Sollux raises an eyebrow. “You’ve been in my houthe?”
“I could be.” Karkat said, inserting some more light flirting in there. He couldn’t help it.
“Hmm, I don’t know about that one,” Sollux shakes his head, but a smile still sits on his lips.
“Anyway,” Karkat says, more casually, “D’you got any recommendations? If I’m gonna emotionally devastate myself, I might as well diversify.”
Sollux tilts his head, considering. “I gueth I can write thome down for you, but only if you promithe not to judge me.”
Karkat scoffs immediately. “Oh, I’m absolutely going to judge you. That’s half the experience.”
Sollux snorts. “Pfft. Fair enough. But when you give me a sthong listht, I’ll do the sthame,”
Karkat leans back against the shelves, watching him a little more closely now. However, not in a sharp way anymore. Something softer.
“How long have you worked here for?” Sollux asked, swirling the almost empty rocks glass in his hand. His face felt flushed, and his heart was pounding. The social interaction, the way he could feel the romantic tension between himself and the bartender building with every passing moment. The four months he had just spent rotting in his apartment and getting everything delivered to his door specifically so he didn't have to leave, had not prepared him to be flirted with at this random dive bar. Karkat looked so cute as he touched his finger to his chin, contemplating Sollux’s question.
“Uhmmm…. I think it's been like four years now,” Karkat shrugged. “Started off just bartending but now I'm the bar manager. What do you do?” Karkat asked, putting both of his elbows on the bar top and linking all of his own fingers together so he could rest his chin on them and bat his lashes at Sollux. He DID have to stand on his tippy toes to achieve this, however.
“Oh, I do like, computer programming. It'th a remote thing or whatever,” Sollux responded, a shrug of his shoulder accompanying his words. “I think being a bartender is way cuter though,” Sollux added, instantly regretting it but the whiskey had taken a hold of his heart and started controlling it for him. ‘Fuck, you idiot, that wasn't even as smooth as you normally are.’ Sollux thought to himself. Not that he was in any position to date anyone right now, but he couldn't resist flirting with Karkat. It had been awhile since he'd really had a real conversation with another person face to face, let alone felt this attracted to someone.
“Oh really?” Karkat asks, amused as he was finishing cleaning up the bar. He printed Sollux’s tab and slid it in front of him. “No rush or anything,” Karkat folded his hands together on top of the bar and grinned. “But we are closed now, so I can't serve you anymore drinks anyways.” Sollux gave a small, quiet, breathy laugh in response and after looking up into Karkat's big brown eyes, the whiskey had started getting its own ideas again. He hadn't felt another persons touch in so long. Sollux slowly lifted his hand, palm facing Karkat, and held it there. Karkat looked at it for a moment, and if it were like a movie, he pressed his own palm right against Sollux’s. As they lingered there, both of their fingers slowly started to intertwine. Karkat was surprised, and taken aback by the intimacy of the touch. It felt pure, like Sollux needed the connection of skin. The truth is, Sollux had truly been touch starved. Partially his own doing, holing himself up in his apartment, but also because about five or six months ago, he had suffered maybe the worst heartbreak of his life. Maybe even the worst heartbreak in all of Florida. So he packed his things, moved to Portland Oregon, and took his remote job with him. When he got here, he thought maybe he would never speak to another human face to face again. But his online friends encouraged him to at least go to a bar and order a drink instead of door dashing his liquor. After they sat there squeezing each others hand for what felt like a lifetime, Sollux finally loosened his grip and Karkat pulled his hand away. He blushed, embarrassed and drunk, trying not to let it show but it must have been obvious. Sollux quickly scrawled a 100% tip on the receipt and slid it back across the bar.
“Um, I guess I’ll see you next time.” Sollux said.
“I hope I do. It's more fun here on a busy night anyways.” Karkat responded. Sollux gave a little wave with two fingers and headed out the bar, leaving Karkat to finish his closing duties.