Heating & Cooling Pub, also known as the HVAC Club, is right up near Wrigley Field, selling apps, craft beers, and especially pizza. It's amazing food - and every Thursday there's a concert on the downstairs stage with mostly rock/alternative music, and nearly always a local band. It can be seen from either the second floor balcony areas or standing room downstairs, where the bar wraps along one side of the space. Tonight, while there's plenty of room to navigate through the crowd, there IS a crowd enjoying a local favorite, Kings for a Weekend, doing mashup covers of popular songs with their own music sprinkled throughout. The vibe is chill, the music is blaring classics, and people downstairs chat with beers in hand or bop along to the beat with beers in hand, either or. Maya is waiting just inside the door, leaning against one of the tables shoved to the side on Thursdays to make for more concert space, dressed in baggy black pants that tuck into her boots, a black bralette and a dark blue sheer top over the whole number, her hair in a messy updo. She's even got one dangling koi earring and painted blue nails to complete the look! Will Javi even RECOGNIZE a quasi-dressed up Maya?
Yes, yes he will, Maya is definitely still herself, slouches and all, just with a few more shiny bits. She checks her phone once in a while, glancing towards the door and resisting the urge to text Javi and see if he's close.
Luckily, she won't have to wait //too// long -- unless she was there significantly before the time they'd arranged to be there -- because Javi is not late! And he's also looking a little more dressed up than usual, very 'going out to a club' sharp if also still in the vein of his style, which seems to generally be the sort of careless that can only be at least somewhat purposeful. He comes in pretty much on the heels of a couple of taller guys, so she may not see him right away, but surely she will eventually. And yes, he does recognize her.
"Hey!" He apparently has to take a second to take her in, though, and his eyebrows raise as his grin pulls wide, the sort that threatens to split his face (though luckily it hasn't yet). "Damn, okay," he says. "You look good, girl."
Maya grins, straightening when Javi arrives and tucking away her phone. There's a smirk at the compliment, and she opens her arms to give a slow spin on one heel, ending with both hands tucked in her pockets - the picture of laid back confidence. "Right? You look decent yourself. But check out the chain cuffs, I got them for like three bucks." Maya says, laughing and walking closer, tilting her head to better show off the ear without the long dangling koi. There's an upper ear loose cuff, complete with a tiny charm of a crescent moon, and one of the chain loops connects to the star earring stud. But once that's done she has no problem trying to throw an arm around Javi's shoulders, to try and lead him to the bar, "Now let's get you some beer, man. We gotta celebrate!"
Javi is quite a good audience member-slash-hype man, because he gives Maya a round of actual applause for the turn that strikes the perfect balance of playing along and absolutely genuine, and he also leans in to look more closely at the jewelry. "Oh wow," he says, "very nice. Looking all mystical and shit."
He's easy to be lead, and looping an arm loosely around her waist in return as they head to the bar, his grin getting, if possible, even wider. Apparently it is; just now it's not contained merely on his face, but like his whole body is smiling somehow. "Right? This is like, a fucking miracle. Don't even care if I fail the rest of 'em now, I'll always have this one."
"Man, shut up. You're going to ace the next one. You already know all the skull bones and shit." Maya retorts, making the way to a corner of the bar that's a little less crowded - possibly a little longer to get someone's attention, but also more space and a little easier to talk. The band starts up a playful cover of The Black Crowes' Too Hard To Handle, playing up pauses to hype the audience along. "Two drinks, on me. One to celebrate, one because I'm investing in your medical skills." The smirk returns! "So second one's gonna mean you do your best to pass that next exam, man. Or I get to dump you in the lake again."
"You know that wasn't even on the test? Fucking waste of brain space." Javi shakes his head, sucking his tongue against his teeth, but it doesn't manage to shake that smile. He leans against the bar, turning to look over his shoulder at the band briefly, but even when he looks back he's still swaying a little bit to the rhythm. His gaze shifts to Maya again, and he can't help but laugh even as he eyes her for the last comment. "Still can't believe you did it to //me//," he says, as though he's highly offended -- of course, it doesn't land that way, given his mood. "I'm not the one who //cheated//." However: "But okay. That's pretty good incentive."
"I bet it's gonna be on some quiz or the final or something. Brain and head stuff has to be. You know how many head injuries people get? Soooo many." Maya says, with absolute conviction and earnestness. Nevermind maybe that's just the sort of people /Maya/ hangs out with, probably. So many head injuries. But there's a snicker at his faux offense. "What? I couldn't let the winning guy feel like we were bullying him or something." Maya says, one hand over her heart, entirely unconvincing as she's STILL smirking. "You were just already there. And I couldn't dunk...Fi? Fi. She's smoke me. Or steam, whatever." Maya slides onto one of the barstools, pointer fingers lightly tapping along with the drumming beat as she looks over the options for beer, before raising a hand. One of those bartenders sees her, but also is mid-mixing, and Maya just makes the 'OK' hand sign. "Done. It'll be fun for me, too. You decided on your drink yet?"
"Better be." But Javi must know the same kind of people, because he doesn't argue with what she says, just nods. "Right?" He turns to scan the bar again, though absently, mostly due to his apparent inability to ever be completely still. "Then he shouldn't've //cheated//," he retorts, but fondly -- he's obviously not mad about it. "But okay, that's fair. Fi mighta laughed if you did but yeah, I get you."
He may not have realized exactly what's happened right now -- but at least he's not planning on //trying// not to pass. "Let me get a beer," he says after a moment's thought. "Might as well go classic today. Pacifico's good."
And despite their friendship - or maybe because of it - or her shitty lying skills, Maya also just doesn't elaborate or bring anything up about his Javi's teensy little bargain. Instead, she chuckles, "Fi seems nice. But I got the vibe she might laugh off being dunked but would still be a little pissed about it, so." Maya shrugs, and glances over at the options, finally deciding on some fruity craft beer - just in time for the bartender to finally make it to them so she can flash a brilliant grin in his direction, friendly as always, and make their requests. In short order, two beers are produced for each of them, and Maya accepts hers before spinning to face the crowd in her stool, one hooked into the rung, while she leans back onto the bar. "But yeah the winner guy TOTALLY cheated. He seemed cool, though. Is he one of your friends from the EMT class thing?" She wonders, looking at Javi curiously.
It's the //good// kind of bargain, surely! So that means it's fine, right? Yes. "Yeah, she's fucking amazing," he agrees, about Fiametta. "Like...big tía energy. She prolly wouldn't be mad. You guys should hang out more."
And with that suggestion made, he lets Maya order for him, murmuring his thanks when his beer comes and reaching for it to take a long pull. "Oh, nah," he says, "but yeah, he's real cool. Actually kinda met him randomly? He was getting signatures for some petition for a park thing. To be honest I kinda thought it was weird at the time." This admission is a //little// guilty, but also pretty fond. "Then we kinda just started hanging out. He teaches high school drama. Does like a ton with 'em, actually been to a buncha performances he did, like in the park and shit. They're really good."
"I don't really know much about her." Maya admits, reaching to scratch behind one ear, "I've been pretty busy with classes and tutoring. Might have to give up busking for something more steady, so I can focus on make-up work." A wry smile, before she sips at her beer, glances at the label, and has a second sip. Her eyes widen a bit as Javi goes on, "Wait, no shit? Wow. I wonder what kind of performances. It might be interesting to offer a hand- some of my best memories were with drama club. It was toxic as hell, but it was fun."
Huh? (Type “help” for help.)
"She works at that club, you know? Satin and Savagery?" Javi gestures toward her with his beer for emphasis, as if that's going to help clarify what he means. Of course, if the actual name didn't, it's unlikely waving a bottle around would do any better, so hopefully the first thing was enough. "Not usually like my thing but it's really nice. You could probably get like, bartending or something there, maybe?" He shrugs, before he offers, "Lemme know if you want help studying or anything, too. I mean," he clarifies, "I'm not like, //that// helpful. But I can hold the fuck out of some flashcards."
He grins, taking another sip from his beer before he nods. "Yeah, no shit. He did some like, Shakespeare in the park shit the summer before last, I went to a ton of 'em 'cause my brother likes that stuff." And apparently he takes around his ghost brother to local theater performances, because that's not weird at all. "He was looking for extras actually, so he'd probably be into you asking, at least."
"The new place that opened up?" Maya says, her brain reaching and reaching back, but before she can settle on why the name sounds familiar, she grins at Javi, "Oh, yeah. Bartending's kind of what I was thinking. I'm really bad at customer service stuff, usually, but bartending's just about listening and throwing together ingredients. Plus if you look good and can show you know a couple of the basics, it's not that hard to cover a few shifts randomly." Thoughtfully swirling her beer, she looks out towards the audience, feet still tapping the rhythm along with the music, "You mind giving Fi my number, or asking her if it's cool if you give it to me? I'll ask if they need anybody to help cover once in a while."
There's another grin when Javi offers to help, and Maya leans towards him to bump his shoulder with her own. Or at least whatever she can bump with her shoulder. "I might drag you for some study nights. We can pretend we're U of C students and steal some study rooms and you can remind me how cosines work." She.... jokes? It's probably a joke. Right? Right??? Oh look, Maya's shaking her head...with fond reminiscence. "Shakespeare variations can get wild and be pretty fun. If it's high school kids though, not really sure I'd have much in common with them anymore. I mostly remember them being horrifying."
"Uh huh," Javi confirms, "that one." He and Maya are currently standing at the bar in the crush of people who are here for a show that's currently going on. Because he's //celebrating//. Sure, maybe some people don't feel the need to celebrate midterms of a class they're taking in their mid-twenties, but he is not most people. And anyway, celebrating is fun! "Totally don't," he continues, "I'll let her know. At least she could maybe hook you up with somewhere else if they don't need someone but I feel like you're always gonna need someone to cover, right?"
He turns around so that he can lean back against the bar instead, surveying the crowd, then looking back to his companion and flashing a thumbs up with his empty hand. "Perfect. Always makes me feel fancy to hang out over there. Going to Sol's office and pretending I got office hours or whatever." He reaches up to tap a temple with one finger. "But yeah, I think he needs like...adults too, maybe. I dunno for sure, I can ask him. HE was tryna get me to be one but I'm pretty sure that'd be a fucking disaster."
Darwin is fresh off of /some/ kind of rush so he absolutely accepts the invitation. He is entirely suffused in the revelry for a period, and /eventually/ he makes it over to Javi and Maya, nursing a pleasant buzz. "Jaaavi," he chants. "A-plus-Javi!" Even if it wasn't technically an A+. DOESN'T MATTER. "Maya," he greets. "Your lake treasure's sitting on my coffee table. Really spruces the place up."
"Don't say that about yourself, man. Maya reaches to put a hand on Javi's shoulder, looking at him with an open, earnest gaze, "You'd at MINIMUM make a fire dirty peasant number three or a whispering courtier in the background. Or you can do stagehand stuff like I did, you know? There's always a place for anybody at the theater, unless you're like, super clumsy. That just gets dangerous, you know? But you're not a walking disaster, so it'd be fine." Pat pat. The horrible part is Maya is genuinely advising Javi, too. "But thanks. You think Sol's good at math? We could try stopping in during his office hours too, right?" She wonders. "Man, if I get the bartending gigs I'd at least get more morning hours to do stuff." And then there's a Darwin, and Maya grins, lifting her beer in toast to him. "Winner, hey! Right? The rocks are pretty awesome for decorating stuff."
Javi has to let out a snort at the idea of him as any of those things, but even if he's amused, he's definitely a little appreciative of the confidence in his abilities. Even if it's just that he's not a walking disaster. "Yeah, I'm not anymore," he agrees, eyebrows raising, but he sounds like he's joking -- mostly, anyway. Either way, he grins. "But yeah, he's definitely gonna be good at math," he continues, with all the confidence of someone who has no idea whether Solomon is good at math, but clearly thinks that he could do literally anything ever.
He starts to say something else, too, but Darwin's arrival has him beaming again. "Hey, man! What's up? Glad you made it." He reaches a hand out to do a half-handshake half-high-five, his cheeks a //little// darker even if he also shakes his head. "Not quite," he has to point out, "but it's good enough. Really sweating that one but I'm glad it's over." He takes a moment to look the man over with a little more scrutiny, but he doesn't ask -- yet, anyway.
In the /seconds/ that pass between greetings, Darwin gets lost in the music. He cannot dance, but that does not stop him from trying. "Math?" he asks, carefully balancing his drink. "I'm so bad at math," he laments. "Thankfully there's not a lot of math in acting." He finally stills long enough to look between the two of them. "...Don't call me winner," he laughs. "I cheated! Hey, you might be glad to know that Jessup raced me a few hours ago and whooped my ass. Fucker's fast."
It's fine. Maya's feet have been tapping out the songs this whole time! Who knows if she can dance or not. What IS known is she cannot math, and she gives Darwin a commiserating look, "Right? I need to get special tutoring for it. Luckily Mr. Academic here has promised to study with me." Maya's elbow nudge-nudges at Javi with a grin. For the record, Maya's idea of concert clothes is baggy black slacks tucked into boots, a black bralette beneath a sheer navy blue top, and one very dangly koi earring in one ear. And also blue painted nails, trimmed and neat. "Yeah, Sol's full of secret awesome. I heard he's pretty good at basketball too. I might start seeing if he needs a workout buddy so I can steal his secrets." A grin and more sips of beer, avoiding entirely having to refer to Darwin as anything, now that he's taken the only nickname that's stuck in her head off the table. Oops.
"My math skills are literally just, like...doing a budget," Javi admits with a laugh. "And that's basically only 'cause it really sucks choosing between rent and eating." He finishes off the beer in his hand in one long pull, setting the bottle down firmly on the counter behind him. Triumphantly, even. "'Bout to be done with that, though. Having a real job." Not that EMTs make a ton of money, but it probably all depends on what you're comparing it to. And he does not seem surprised when Darwin says that Solomon beat him in a race -- but see above re: doing literally anything ever. "Everyone should be hanging out with him," he agrees with a nod after Maya's thought. "This guy didn't believe me but now they're racing each other I guess." Is the look he turns on Darwin now a little pointed? Well, yes.
Darwin is now commiserating with both Maya and Javi, this time over budgeting for rent. Fucking rent. "/Basketball/?" he rolls his eyes. "I'll believe it when I see it." He doesn't yet realize he has removed Maya's only identifier for himself, dooming himself to be nameless. He barks a laugh at Javi's pointed look. "No. No! Stop that. He's a solid acquaintance when he's not being a jackass. I will /give you/ that he can be kind of funny sometimes." He sips at his beer, absently swaying to the music, his thoughtful gaze drifting towards the bar. "He invited me to jog with him," he adds, quieter, then aggressively shakes his head. "Why are we talking about Doctor Goosebumps!"
"Because he's kind of lowkey goals?" Maya muses. "He's smart, he's got a good job, he's got respect for what he does, he's good at sports, he knows good music, I bet he even knows how to cook. If he was just like, a /little/ dumber and a lot less terrifying, I'd totally try to be besties with him." There is clear, thoughtful sincerity in Maya's words, just genuinely answering Darwin's question. "But honestly, the BIGGER question is why Javi doesn't have more celebratory beer in hand. Another of the same or you want something new, man?" Maya says, standing up /on the rungs/ of her stool, to try and flag down the bartender again. "HOw long's your program, anyway? Like when can we expect you to start waving around the cash to treat us all to a round?" She teases, reaching to try and mess up Javi's hair.
If Darwin was trying to soften Javi's pointed look at him, he did not do a very good job of it. Sorry, Darwin. Javi's grinning again now, though, and he lets the man off the hook -- sort of, anyway. At least, he doesn't //say// anything else about it. Though like many of his expressions, he might as well have.
Instead, he tilts his head to Maya when she replies, pointing at her for emphasis. "You should try anyway," he suggests, "except you're gonna have to fight me for it and you definitely won't win 'cause you're not gonna be able to make yourself mess up this face." He turns his very best sympathetically adorable look at Maya, and to be fair to him, it is really quite sympathetically adorable. It's only a little ruined when he laughs at the end in time with the gesture from her -- which has him ducking away, but not actually enough to make her miss -- and the question. "Halfway done," he says, "so like two more months. Shoulda done this forever ago. But I guess I just, you know. Wasn't in that place." He gets a //little// more serious at that admission, though not more sober. "Then I just gotta get hired somewhere."
Darwin empties his can entirely as Maya mentions goals and lists all the great things about Solomon. His cheeks burn. They burn even more when Javi poses and looks adorable because let's be real, Javi is cute. As Maya signals the bartender, Darwin slides in after her to order another drink for himself. "Two more months, not too bad. You'll get hired, they won't be able to resist you. Is it gonna' be the kind that rides around in ambulances? Or does that depend? I know nothing." When he finally notices Maya's koi earring, he openly marvels at it. "Nice fish!"
Maya pauses to admire that sympathetic and adorable face. Annd then he's laughing and trying to duck away, and Maya allows him to duck slightly away-- enough to order another beer-- and then almost immediately when he mentions getting hired, she stands on her stool's rungs to try and ruffle that hair with BOTH hands! A SURPRISE ATTACK. And she's repressing laughter while she does it - even if she doesn't actually mess up his hair, she keeps trying, if only to mess with Javi. But once the beer is ordered (and she nearly stumbles to the ground and only just catches herself on the edge of the bar, still laughing), she leans against the bar and reaches for the glass of water she ordered, downing half of it in one go, clearly in a good mood. It turns into a full grin when Darwin notices her earring, and she turns that ear towards him, flicking the fish so it shines in the light, "Cute as fuck, right? I love this one. And I got this for like three dollars." She brags, showing off her other ear - this earring a few thin chains connecting an upper ear cuff with a charm of a crescent moon to a small star stud in her earlobe.
Ahh, broke in your mid-20s but still out for a good time.
"Yo, you know how fucking long it takes me to get it like this in the morning?!" Javi exclaims with Maya's //reckless endangerment// of his hair, but he's laughing, too -- something that gets even a little brighter when he catches a glimpse of Darwin's face now, after all that extolling of the excellent qualities of certain people who are not currently present. He does look a //little// guilty about that laugh, though, and he reaches out to knock the man gently on one shoulder with a fist as if in apology for the way his face is, and the fact it that it doesn't really do a great job hiding his feelings about things."Yeah," he says, "that's what I wanna do. Some kinda helped me out once so I wanna do that for people now."
It's pretty silly how predictably enamored Darwin is with that little tiny crescent moon. "Aww. That's great." He does not feel guilty at all about laughing when Maya launches her attack on Javi's hair. At the little apologetic fist against his shoulder, Darwin just extends an arm and ropes Javi into a quick little side hug, relenting after a few seconds. "I'd complain about the need for jobs and capitalism but... hey, Maya may get her boat eventually and we can all pile in and zoom out to a secret lake island or something. Goals."
Maya grins, pretty pleased herself with the cute bargain accessory. But this close, she can get a better look at Darwin, "Why's your face so red?" She wonders. "Hot or blushing?" But she's distracted by complaints from a certain ACADEMIC SUPERSTAR, and she turns, eyes widening with faux shock as she stares at Javi, "You mean that hair is /on purpose/?" She marvels, then just picks up her water to sip, failing to repress a grin. The glass gets lifted in a toast to Darwin, "Hell yeah. Javi helps people, I'll make bomb ass music, you'll teach kids the magic of theater, and when we're tired and want to strangle people we go out to secret lake and have some beers and barbeque." Ahh, such a glorious future. "I might even take up fishing."
Javi leans against Darwin briefly with the side-hug, his smile softening into something less amused, and more just //happy//. Well, he's pretty pleased with life right now, enough that even Maya's comment fails to phase him -- not that it necessarily would have anyway. "I'mma let that go 'cause I look fucking great today," he says loftily -- or maybe it would be so if he wasn't also trying not to laugh, and working about as well as one might expect from him. He reaches for his beer, though, and lifts it up to clink against Maya's glass. "Sounds like a plan," he agrees. "Like one of those if we're all still single when we're fifty things except on a boat. I'd watch that."
Darwin tucks his face against his sleeve when Maya CALLS ATTENTION TO IT. "Just buzzed!" he defends, even as Maya's attention drifts. He can't help but chuckle at the summary of his job. "Yeah, the magic." He's going to clink his glass (can) too here, damnit. "Mmm, barbeque." He eyes the bar. "No, Dar, no more wings this week," he orders himself. "Okay, someone come dance with me when you're done talking about the mercurial future," he says. "And prepare to be underwhelmed." He slips off into the crowd, presumably to find more space to actually move and not get smushed.
Maya takes another suspicious glance at Darwin's cheeks, and...looks to Javi for confirmation? But then her attention is drawn to the bar and all the apps they have-- and ah-ha! A name! "Darwin!" It's said with sudden realization. And then there's a momentary expression of panic while she reaches up to rub the back of her neck, "Uhh, you can't deny yourself wings, Darwin my man." She hastily (badly) tries to cover up that she only just remembered his name....and quickly tries to just smoothly talk over that. "C'mon Javi, we can probably both dance with Darwin. Or I'll just find somebody cute in the crowd." She totally knew Darwin's name THE WHOLE TIME. And drains her glass, standing up and squinting into the crowd where Darwin went.
He may not be able to control his face, but Javi can apparently make up for it by corroborating Darwin's answer for Maya with a little nod. Look, it's not a //lie//. The man is buzzed! Maybe. He looks kind of like he is, and that's probably enough. His smile pulls wider again when the name pops into her head, but he turns away to hide it -- anyway, he has to find their future partner, so it's not weird. "Oh, we're dancing with Darwin," he confirms as he pushes off the bar to follow. "But you should definitely find yourself someone here, too. We got all night." Or at least a few hours! "Hell, find yourself two. There's some cute people here."
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