<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: you have any good jokes
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: why do we tell actors to break a leg
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: lol why
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: because every play has a cast
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: :D
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: oh my god
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: you laughed tho
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: i did. fuck
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: what up man, how you living
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: im trying to nap off some pain. got clipped by a car on a crosswalk. bad times
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: oh shit you serious
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: im fine no worries. just bored
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: you need anything? groceries? tequila?
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: how thoughtful. hmm..
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: .. are you serious about tequila?
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: man i don't joke about tequila
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: so yep
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: lol
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: actually your joke is plenty enough for me for now. feel myself nodding off from the psychic damage you just caused. ttyl
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: lol yw. take care
Some time later…
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: ok that nap couldve been better. are you still available for alcohol?
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: hm
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: idk i'm p busy now
<TXT> From Javi to Darwin: lol yeah sure where you at
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: funny guy
<TXT> From Darwin to Javi: my place. (directions)
Darwin guides Javi via text up to his apartment, a tiny studio-style situation in Hyde Park. He answers the door with a subdued, hopeful smile, hair a little tussled, but most notably-- there's large splotches of dried blood up and down his overcoat and slacks. He sets his teeth against his lip, lingering in the doorway. "Javi," he greets, tilting slightly in search of tequila.
Javi seems to have an easy enough time finding it -- and he also doesn't take that long, which might be nice when you're waiting to get some free liquor. Maybe he lives somewhere nearby.
He's looking around the hall when the door opens, but his attention returns as he hears the sound of the knob turning. He's already lifting a hand to wiggle the bottle that's in it a little bit (not top shelf, but not the worst), but when he actually //sees// the other man he stills, and his eyes widen. "Holy shit," he remarks. "You weren't kidding, huh."
"Oh." Darwin winces and /slowly/ peels his coat away. His undershirt hasn't fared much better. "I'm sorry," he says, genuine. "I just kinda' crashed and forgot. Come in!" He steps back towards the small bar dividing the kitchen from the rest of the apartment, tossing his coat aside. "What do I owe you? We can split it."
After that brief moment of surprise, Javi doesn't seem to //mind//, except insofar as he does look a little concerned. "You forgot you were bleeding?" he replies, and now he's eyeing the other man more skeptically, but he lets out a little snort as he steps into the apartment. "It's all good," he adds with a shrug. "I'm not the one who's bleeding, right?" A smile flashes across his face before he adds, as an afterthought, "Maybe you should get, like...checked out." And possibly not be drinking alcohol, which he's definitely thinking now as he glances down to the bottle in his hand. However. "Nah, don't worry about it. Had it sitting around anyway and I just didn't want to be that guy who drank a whole bottle of tequila at home by himself."
For a moment, Darwin watches Javi's concern with a strange, wide-eyed anxiety, up until that shrug. His shoulders slump slightly, and he turns to pull some glasses out of the cabinets. "Oh, I got checked out. I'm okay. It wasn't so bad, just... uh, hit-and-run so I have no one to sue," he says with a small, weary laugh. "You're refreshingly generous for someone I'm not too familiar with yet."
"Okay, good." And that seems to be enough for Javi, at least in that he won't be withholding the tequila due to a potential concussion. The matter settled, he starts to look around the apartment more thoroughly, in a manner that speaks both to innate curiosity, and also a propensity to want to locate all potential means of escape. "Well, to be honest I went to pretty much all your shows last year so I prolly owe you something," he continues with a wider grin, his eyes catching on some particular feature or other of the apartment before they move on. "So someone seriously just hit you and bounced? That's fucked up, man. Sorry."
Darwin's place is /mostly/ tidy, and there's /slightly/ too many pieces of furniture. Two end tables where there doesn't need to be, two dressers, three different lamps clustered on a table. The sofa wears a faint coat of shed fur, though there's no sign of a dog. The fold-out work desk near the window is littered with packed of paper, draped over a laptop. A few of the working lamps cast a cozy, warm light over everything, where the kitchen is starkly contrasted by the pale white lamp over the stove. "You-- you /really/ went to the shows," Darwin says, grinning. "You're not just saying that." He pushes a glass of tequila across the counter. "What made you go the EMT route?"
Once Javi is satisfied that he's discovered all the places someone could potentially be planning an ambush -- or whatever he's doing, it's not that weird to look around, surely -- he picks a place on the couch to sit, starting to unscrew the top of the bottle. "Course I went," he confirms. "To be honest when I was in high school and I had to read some of 'em I didn't like it that much? Kinda hard to get through. I read slow. But it's real fun when you see it." He settles back on the couch, crossing one ankle over the other knee and reaching up to rub a hand over his forehead. "I dunno," he continues after a moment. "Guess it just seemed like I'd like it." His eyes shift a little more purposefully, focusing on some spot in the middle of the room, but maybe he was just considering the answer. "You always want to be a teacher?"
"God. I remember that crap. Performing a play in class by just... reading the lines," Darwin grumbles, then takes a quick drink, perching on the stool beside the bar a short distance away. "No, not really. I mean it wasn't a life-long aspiration. I wanted to get out of debt, mostly," he snorts. His gaze tracks from Javi's to that empty spot in the room. He sniffs. Then sniffs again. "...Something on my wall?"
"Yeah," Javi agrees, "it sucked. Wouldn't've even gone to that first one except someone made me but after that I was hooked." He takes the glass and takes a sip from it, too, before he snorts. Luckily he doesn't choke on it. "You prolly picked the wrong job for that, man," he quips -- so funny! -- but before he can laugh at //this// hilarious joke, Darwin calls out his slightly weird staring with slightly weird sniffing.
"Uh." Silence. "No. It's fine." He does not have any sort of poker face. At all. It's very clear he feels he's been caught doing something. It's just the //what// that isn't apparent. And then, in a complete non-sequitur: "You like doing park stuff, right?" What? "I mean you had that petition and everything." Yes, apparently he's just going to ignore that whole thing that just happened. But at least he does seem to have a point, even if he hasn't gotten to it yet and it has nothing to do with anything that's just been said.
Darwin studies Javi carefully. Just him. Just for a moment. "Uh, oh, yeah. Well. I mean I basically just try to fend developers off on paper. These little slices of earth out here are pretty important. Say, Javi, this is gonna' sound weird but have strange things been happening around you lately?"
"Right, yeah." Oh, still ignoring it? Yep. "So, like, there's this one that's-..." But even Javi in his Ignoring Mode isn't going to just completely talk over Darwin when the other man doesn't actually allow him to do that and instead asks //questions// about it. Like a jerk. just kidding, he's great.
"Uh..." And in perhaps the world's worst attempt to pretend that nothing has happened, his eyes flick //back// to that empty spot in the air. Really, Javi? REALLY? "Not really." Lord. "I mean, not more than usual." He laughs, a little nervously. It is just so bad, friends. Really, really bad.
Darwin stares at that empty spot with a muted kind of anger. Ghosts? In his territory!? "Nothing... weird? Nothing trying to force you to do things or scaring you?" These are weird questions, but Darwin seems hellbent on showing poor judgment today. Then he catches Javi's glance. "You see it!" Surely!
Well, apparently Javi is not going to be allowed to ignore it. He finally leaves off that whole pretending thing -- that he was really doing great at, it's very shocking that he didn't want to be on stage, isn't it -- and shakes his head quickly. "Nah, man, it ain't like that," he starts to say a little bit quickly as his eyes widen. He sits forward, looking left and right, before he stands up.
"You know what man you can just like have that," he says as he gestures toward the bottle. "You know, go for it. Hope you feel better." Oh, that careful study of all those methods of egress is coming in handy now, because he's turning away and heading for the door.
"Wait! Wait, sorry-- wait," Darwin says, sliding off the stool to follow. "I... w-we don't have to-- Whatever situation you have here, if it works for you, it's fine." His stammering trails off into a tone of resignation, and he looks absolutely hangdog as he stands in the entrance hall. "Thank you. For the... drink, Javi," he says, quieter.
Javi doesn't look behind him. Maybe he doesn't trust his face right now, having lived with it for twenty some-odd years and knowing it pretty well. He just lifts a hand up in acknowledgement that he's heard. "Sure thing! No problem! I'll see you, okay?" Well, he's out the door now, so he has to raise his voice to be heard, right? But he doesn't sound //angry//. Definitely embarrassed, a little freaked out -- and maybe a tiny thread of sadness running underneath it all, though maybe not. He's already halfway down the outer hall, so it might be hard to tell. Soon enough, there's the sound of a heavier door opening and closing, and then he isn't there at all.
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