A Bar on the Mainland | Sunday Evening

[pursuedthestars]

Sometimes, Jim went out to bars to forget. Sometimes, he went out to bars to escape. Sometimes, he just went to bars to have fun. Tonight was the latter. There was nothing wrong save for the fact that Jim hadn't gone out and had a little fun in awhile.

The bar was fairly nondescript. Not seedy but not posh. The bartender was female which meant it was pretty easy to flirt his way into not being carded when he started to order drinks. It was easy and it helped that she was pretty and funny. He wasn't going to go any further but flirting was allowed. That wasn't against any rules that he remembered.

So, he started drinking and he kept flirting. He was on his fourth (maybe fifth) drink and well into a story about just how agile some female aliens were (he figured the bartender was humoring him) when someone's massively meaty hand landed on his shoulder.

"Yer in my seat." When Jim turned around, he had to look up into the face of a man with a mustache that was damp with beer, a bulbous nose and ruddy skin. "Move."

"That's okay," Jim said, patting the man's hand comfortingly. "There's other seats for you to choose from, man. Take a pick. I'll buy you a drink."

The man with the hand didn't move. His grip tightened. "Move."

"Now, that's really not very nice," Jim said, shaking his head. "We should talk about this. Maybe ask the seat if it wants you to sit on it? I mean, you're a rather large man. I think you'd suffocate it."

The man's face screwed up into what Jim thought was anger and Jim knew what was coming next. They were not going to have a tea party. Jim decided to be proactive and swung a fist into the man's gut. The man stumbled but since he had a hold of Jim, Jim went stumbling with him.

That just made it oh so easy for the other guy to bash his other huge fist into Jim's face. Blood flowed from his nose and onto his lips. He spit it towards the other guy and brought a knee up to his groin. That, at least, meant Jim was free of the other guy's hand. And so he decided to tackle the other -- okay, that didn't work since the guy was large, Jim just bounced off of him and hit the floor hard.

Not five seconds later, he was hauled up and socked in the gut. Twice. He was going to puke, he was sure. All that wasted booze! Jim didn't even realize he was being dragged somewhere else because he was too busy trying to not throw up all over the place.

Jim was so sad he didn't even know this guy's name. Considering the absolute intimacy of this beating, he thought he should know. But then, Mr. Man was bringing a fist down on the back of his neck and knocking the wind completely out of him. He saw his blood on the floor. That wasn't good.

When Mr. Man, sent him crashing through the bar's front door and onto the street outside, Jim landed on his side and winced. He stayed there for a few minutes, people passing him by and then he rolled onto his back.

And started laughing. "Guy really likes his seat," he croaked before coughing painfully.

[NFB but open if someone happens to be at this random bar or wants to call him. I finally got around to doing this since I'd been saying it and saying it for so long. The icons needed to be used.]

Comments

[pursuedthestars]

"I don't need to convince you. I'm fine." He was insistent. And now he was going to start walking by putting one foot in front of the other. His ribs still ached and he felt like someone had dropped a brick on the back of his neck but he was walking.

[whenshewasnice]

"No, you're not under any obligation to convince me." Which wasn't what he'd meant, but it worked like that too. And hey, it was agreement. "And you haven't done it, either. But you're not even obligated to tell me what's going on."

Wouldn't stop her being curious. Not worried, as such, but only because she trusted him to be able to take care of himself.

[pursuedthestars]

"Just walking home," Jim told her, blinking sleepily and wondering about concussions and such. "That's all."

[whenshewasnice]

"Are you sure you can manage that okay?"

A beat went by as she realized how dumb a question that was.

"I don't know why I asked you something like that when I already know what you're going to say."

[pursuedthestars]

"I'm fine," he gritted out, squinting and trudging his way back towards the island. "I know the way home. It's cool."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie sighed, though she tried to do it quietly and away from the phone.

"Well, consider this my obligatory remark that if you happened to be anything less than fine, I'd come over to walk you home or something."

[pursuedthestars]

"You're a little far away for that, aren't you?" Jim questioned, stopping to catch his breath. He tried to hide any painful wheezing that might have happened.

[whenshewasnice]

"I also have excellent portal connections," she replied, shrugging to herself. "I'm pretty sure Peter's paying someone to make that happen, but he hasn't told me."

[pursuedthestars]

"Aren't you a little busy to come walk someone home this late? Tomorrow's the start of another fun filled work week for you," Jim pointed out.

[whenshewasnice]

"Look, if you don't want me to bother, just say that."

Instead of picking apart the reasons why she wouldn't do it. She didn't think she would've offered if she hadn't thought she could make it work.

[pursuedthestars]

"You wouldn't want to see me right now." Because he looked gross.

[whenshewasnice]

Lame, Jim.

"I think that's another thing I would decide for myself."

[pursuedthestars]

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

He hadn't had any time or any place to clean up so his face was still covered in dried blood and his clothes were stained with it. But that was his way of saying she could come find him, if she really wanted to deal with that.

[whenshewasnice]

It was in Natalie's nature to take care of the people she cared about. He needed to take advantage of that while it was still being offered.

"Mm. Just send me your coordinates."

[pursuedthestars]

Her funeral.

"All right," he said and said his goodbyes before he sent her where he was and how to get there. With that done, he found a convenient bench nearby and sat down on it. His eyes slipped closed and he tried to relax so some of the aching would go away.

[whenshewasnice]

Her choice.

She got some stuff together – yeah, including a first aid kit – and scheduled her portal. It wasn't the quickest trip, but it also didn't take too long for her to get to where he was. She was efficient like that.

And then she was on the right street, and only shuddered a little bit upon spotting him. Ugh, blood. "You really do look like crap," she informed him as she walked up to the bench.

[pursuedthestars]

"I look great," he said and didn't even open his eyes. He'd started getting a headache and he thought opening his eyes would make it worse. "Beautiful, in fact."

[whenshewasnice]

"In general, you are spectacularly beautiful." She leaned forward and down, trying to get a closer look at his face. No touching, though. "Right now, not so much."

[pursuedthestars]

His nose wasn't broken, at least, but there were bruises under his eyes as tended to happen when you got punched in the nose. Everything else looked intact though distorted by the smeared blood he'd tried to stave off with his shirt sleeves.

"So, no kiss hello, then?" he asked, smirking briefly.

[whenshewasnice]

"Maybe once you're a little more cleaned up," Natalie told him dryly. Because blood was gross. "Would you like a painkiller?"

She was just being polite by asking, because she was already going through her bag for a bottle of water and the painkillers.

[pursuedthestars]

"Not really but I suppose I should take one," he said, finally opening his eyes. "I'm getting a headache."

[whenshewasnice]

"Then you're taking one."

Bossy. She was holding one out for him, along with the bottle of water.

[pursuedthestars]

"Nag," Jim said lightly. He reached for the water and the painkiller and downed them all in one go. "Thank you."

[whenshewasnice]

"Yes, I'm a bitch for not wanting you to hurt," Natalie replied just as lightly. "I also brought first aid stuff because I'm terrible."

[pursuedthestars]

"But, I'm obviously fine," Jim pointed out, blinking at her and trying to focus. "Just a little blood and all."