Safe and Sane

Even though it was a school night Andrew had headed out for the evening to unwind. He'd been grading papers for the end of the marking period all weekend and needed some kind of celebratory drink. Also, a change of scenery was overdue. He was at the counter putting a drink together when he noticed he was still smudged in blue and red ink. He lifted up his hand, studying the side of it.

"You think with enough scrubbing the ink would go away," he commented.

It'd been a long few weeks. This whole operation had eaten up almost all of his time and the only real time he'd had to himself was sleeping, and even that had been scarce. Though, when he did sleep, he thankfully didn't dream of the job (even if that was always at the back of his mind) but dreamed of a particular someone he'd been missing a hell of a lot.

But, finally, the bust happened and a few hundred reports later, he was finally able to get away from work. He walked into the club, hoping to see him, and he wasn't sorry because there he was. He smiled.

Cooper approached Haydn. "Hey," he said. He was tired, and one could hear it in his voice, but he also sounded happy.

It was a little cooler- highs in the low seventies, lows in the hight 40s- so the doors were closed this week and they were doing an assortment of teas. Despite it being newly September, not even Fall properly yet, there were pumpkins scattered throughout the cafe.

It was a Monday evening.

And there was cake. A lot of cake. Some pizzas. Some music playing in one of the lounges.

It was just a nice, quiet evening.

They were walking out of the concert -- they'd gone to the Colorado Music Festival for Beethoven's 2nd and 5th symphonies -- and Cooper had a bit of a bemused expression on his face.

"Okay, so. You know, I've never really been into classical music -- I'm more of a Ramones kind of guy -- but that wasn't bad. It was loud; I like that."

It was Friday evening; it was sort of a party. There was music in one room if people wanted to dance, food and drink in other rooms, the scening rooms had purposely been left unreservable that evening so the party-goers could claim them as the evening wore on. It was a warm night, but inside the temperature was nice. The garden doors were open, tiki torches lit.

Haydn made reservations at a steak house. It was Colorado; there were plenty of them. But this was a nice-ish place, nothing like a Sizzler. Hardwood floors, leaded water glasses. It was steak a step above average.

It didn't require a suit jacket, but Haydn wore one anyway. He also stood when the hostess led Cooper back to the table and said, "Here we go. Enjoy your meal, gentlemen."

Haydn smiled and offered his hand. A handshake would let him hone in on exactly where Cooper was. "You made it. Not too hard to find, I hope."

David climbed over the back of the couch and sat down next to Haydn, studying him openly. "Hi, you're pretty and I don't know you. Let's fix that."

He'd had one of those kind of days at work and was glad that he'd agreed to drinks with Haydn -- he needed some distraction and Haydn seemed like a cool guy.

Cooper spotted him and approached, and asked, "How do you say 'Today kicked my ass' in Latin?"

Cooper,

I hope you don't find this an invasion of your privacy. I enjoyed our conversation at the munch last week, so I looked for your email address on the off chance you might be interested in meeting again.

In other words, can I buy you a drink somewhere?

Yours,

Haydn Grey

Haydn had one leather cuff between his hands. He buckled it, unbuckled it and put it on the coffee table in front of the couch he'd claimed. He counted to three mentally, then reached for it again. He turned it deftly in his hands until he found the buckle, pulled the tongue free...

And sneezed. The cuff tumbled out of his hands and rolled to a stop by the chair to his right.

"Damn it."

It was hot today. The cafe had all the doors open, the air going, and the fans turning. The cafe was crowded with laughing people, Blueberry smoothies were the drink of the day, and they had ice pops in addition to their normal fair.

Two employees placed a bet on how long it would take for that to get lascivious.

Ben still had the knee-brace, and accompanying limp. He grabbed a bottle of water from behind the bar, opened it and then said, "Sex in the shower is so over-rated," to whoever it was that was there.

The Power Company always had their munches on Wednesdays.

The cafe always had their two for one expresso nights on the 14th.

Rarely did the twain meet.

But boy, when they did.

Haydn had made arrangements to copy checklists and put them in a legible--to him--format. He sat on the couch now with a stack of papers in his lap. There was a cup of coffee by his elbow. He didn't look up when someone wandered over, but his fingers did slow down. "There's plenty of room if you want to sit."

Haydn let the door to the club thump shut behind him, took a moment to get what bearings he could, then said goodbye to the friend who'd brought him. Another moment passed, then he headed for the couch, pausing at the arm nearest the door. He tilted his head a bit, asking the person already sitting, "Mind if I join you?"