𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕠 || 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕐𝕠𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕚𝕞𝕖 (minato) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-09-18 15:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, mike lane, minato namikaze |
Who: Minato Namikaze and Mike Lane
What: Hanging out
When: Late August
Where: Heading to a club
Rating/Warnings: Low/Light language, and talking about drinking.
Status: Complete
The studio his friend was opening was coming along nicely. Minato was, admittedly, excited about the prospect of having a steady job. Not that his other gigs didn't pay well, they did, but he was tired of all the travel if he was being completely honest. Mostly Minato was just ready for a change in his life.
This, he thought, would be just the change that he needed.
It would be another week or so before the studio opened, that was his friend's projection at least, and even though he knew that he'd actually have more time at home he wanted to spend some quality time with his friends. He'd hit up Mike to see if he wanted to hang for a bit, and that evening he headed over to his friend's house.
He didn't know what they were going to get into that night, but he was fine with anything. He gave a knock on Mike's door, and then waited on his friend to answer.
~*~
Mike opened the door with his customary grin in place, "Hey, man. Come in! I'm grabbing a go-bag. We're going to hit a beat-club off Huntington Beach. They've got a killer DJ. I love their floor, too. It's made for gliding."
Dancing was something Mike did for stress relief as much as exercise. He could have possibly had a career in it if he'd fought harder, worked at it more, tried to get proper training instead of learning all his moves on the streets or in clubs. It hadn't been in the cards for him to go into something which was purely artistic or expressionistic in nature. Being a craftsman was as close as Mike Lane was ever going to get to working in the arts.
He knew who he was and where he stood in the world and Mike was perfectly fine with himself.
"How's things going for you? You found a way to get up to no good yet?"
Minato wasn't the kind to get into things which were seriously bad business, but he was hardly straight-laced. The guy had his own definitions for things which was why he and Mike got along as well as they did. They weren't old enough to spend their nights hanging around watching ball games, eating Cheetos; they weren't the kind of guys who needed to get laid every night with a new piece of ass either. It was nice to just go out to have a chance to go out, have fun, unwind, then go back home.
~*~
"Oh nice." Minato replied with a small nod, "That sounds good to me though man. Been awhile since I've went dancing for fun." At least, it'd felt like it'd been ages when in all reality it probably hadn't been as long as it felt. Either way, Minato was definitely looking forward to a night out with a friend, just dancing, a little drinking and unwinding from the week.
Removing his snapback, Minato ran his fingers through his hair, stopping to scratch over a spot before putting it back on with a laugh. "Oh I'm always up to no good." That wasn't entirely the truth, Minato had settled into quite a boring life as of late, although the dreams were enough to keep him on his toes. His relationships, well, they were what they were and he couldn't complain really when it all boiled down to it.
"Things are going well though. A friend of mine from New York has moved to the area, and is opening a studio. I'm going to work for her as an instructor." That meant less time moving around, and what parent wouldn't want their children taught by two people from Juilliard? "I've hired a PI to look for a kid that I may or may not have, and the dreams well, they're the dreams. I did, however, meet Sam's friend and roommate, Hannah." They'd even gone out on a date, even if it had just been to the beach behind Minato's house.
~*~
Minato and Mike were old-school hypesters which meant they were from a bygone era predating today's Gen Z. They were the Millenials. It'd been them who had introduced the world to rap and hip-hop and the true meaning of being a street kid. Their world was one which still existed as the basic foundation upon which the iGeneration was living; they weren't yet obsolete even if the Gen Z kids wished they would fade out of their way.
Kids though?
Kids were heavy.
"You've got a kid? Seriously? How'd you find out about that? I mean, I believe it's possible. It just seems---crazy."
Mike led the way out to his truck since he figured he'd be driving. His truck had his company logo emblazoned on both front doors while the King Cab's second set of doors remained blank, shiny black as pristine as the day Mike had bought it. He took good care of his things, especially his truck since it was necessary to his business for hauling pieces and towing the trailers he had to rent for the occasions he had a custom job which was too big to fit in the truck's bed.
"I understand if that's a little heavy for the night. God knows we both need to unwind. If you'd rather tell me about how things went with Hannah? That's pretty much a given as a conversation option."
~*~
Laughing, Minato waved a free hand. "Don't worry. It's not all that bad." He spoke after he'd gotten into the truck and fastened his seatbelt. "I learned about him from my dreams. In them I'm younger, married, and we had a child. As of right now I don't know if he exists here, or not, that's why I hired the PI to find out." Killian had been a nice fellow to him, had helped him out and for that he was grateful. "So we'll see if I have a kid or not here, or well a teen. He's nearly an adult." Minato wasn't ashamed that he had been sexually active when he was really young, he'd loved Kushina, and what they'd done had been consensual.
Minato relaxed back in the truck seat, a light smile on his face. "Things with Hannah went well." Minato replied with a small nod, "She came over, we hung out on the beach, talked and then I cooked for us." It had been a nice evening in, and Minato had enjoyed himself and her company.
"We've got another date coming up too. I'm going to teach her some dance steps." He was excited about this, and it clearly showed on his face. "So we'll see what happens. It's fun, she's nice, and very pretty so we'll see." He wasn't making any concrete plans right now, but he had enjoyed her company.
Stretching his arms over his head, he glanced over at Mike. "How are things going with Sam?"
~*~
"We're officially a thing."
Mike waggled his brows as he pulled out of his parking area to move onto the freeway down to the boardwalk where the OC had the best dance locations. He hadn't been the kind of guy to get serious with any one woman until Brooke, but Mike wanted the exclusivity card now. All he could think about was how it wouldn't hurt him at all to be able to get a girl who was interested in being with him and only him.
Stability had perks he wanted at this stage in his life.
"I'm calling my state of affairs with Sam: winning at life. It's the American Dream, man."
He didn't know too many details regarding Minato's earliest affairs. Mike had talked with him about being exclusive with someone in the past. They weren't really bad guys. They'd had wild pasts which wasn't the same thing as being bad pasts. Neither of them had acted shady with women; that was something Mike knew he and Minato agreed was not on when it came to playing the scene.
People should be on the same page or not in the same story. The End.
"Do you really think your old flame could've had your baby without telling you? That seems---shady."
Mike hated using the word to describe the situation given he'd just been thinking how they both despised shady behavior, but it fit the best under the circumstances. Hiding a child from his father? That was shady. No doubt about it.
~*~
With a bright smile, Minato gave a nod. "That's great. I'm glad that you two are official now."
He'd seen Mike with Sam, and he'd seen how happy his friend was when he was with her. That in Minato's book was a win. With a laugh, Minato gave a small nod again. "Good, that's good." Minato settled back into his seat, and looked out the window, watching the scenery pass as he mulled over Mike's question.
Had he thought that it would be a thing? No, he hadn't thought that to be quite honest. "I didn't think it was possible, but I suppose we'll see what happens." At this point he still had no idea if he had a son or not. "I think she had her reasons if that was the case, but I do wish that she would've told me if it's true."
Minato believed that he could forgive Kushina for something like that, but it would be hard. Still, he thought that it was possible, but only time would tell if he was that forgiving or not.
Turning his head to look back over at Mike, Minato sighed. "I'm not going to think on it too much otherwise I'll drive myself insane with trying to figure out the whys and whatnot." He waved a hand dismissively. It was too hard for him to think too closely on, and right now all he was thinking on was going out, dancing and having some fun tonight.
"Instead we're going to focus on better things because otherwise I'll just belly up to the bar and we both know that won't end well for me. "
~*~
Heavy situations weighed a person down enough to make them too far gone to enjoy anything at all. Mike had been devastated by Brooke leaving. He'd not gone out and done anything too stupid. Her reasons for leaving had been her own the same as he imagined that woman's had to have been if she did, in fact, hide Minato's child from him. Mike regretted a lot of the years he'd spent doing nothing other than work.
He'd lost time trying to establish a business.
Mike loved his art. His work meant something to him. The passion he had for it was real, but, lately, as he'd started to interact more with people on Valarnet, as he'd started to make time for a social life again which was more than dancing for three hours on a Friday night with anyone interested before going home alone---Mike had started to wish he'd been young when he'd been young. He joked about the age difference with Samantha, but it sometimes bothered him. Sam was mature. Too mature in some ways. Mike only wished he could have found her when he was younger and they would have been wholly on the same page.
No one could turn back time. That was a fact. They could make the most of the time they had.
Grinning, Mike agreed, "Let's go dance, man. We'll hit a floor like we own it. I'll tell people you're celebrating your 21st. You can pass for it unlike me."
It'd be fun. They could lose themselves in the music, in the clubs, in the crowds, if only for a little while.
~*~
Laughing Minato cast a look over in Mike's direction, "It's been a long time since I've been 21." Minato could pass for it, easily enough, but he was content with his life the way that it was now. Much like Mike he'd spent his years trying to build a career, and focusing only on that instead of other things.
Sure there had been parties, hookups with random people, but had any of it mattered? No, in the end it hadn't, and Minato sometimes felt as if he too had missed out on life.
"Personally I think you just want to get me drunk and laid. Which probably wouldn't be a bad thing." He chuckled softly, "Though it all sounds like a fun time." It'd been awhile since Minato had pretended to be someone else out on the dancefloor. In clubs that wasn't an uncommon theme, people went there to forget, to hookup, to have fun and Minato felt that he really needed to let go of a lot of the shit that had been weighing him down.
It was only a temporary solution. The morning would come with regrets, either in the form of a hangover or some pretty young thing walking out of his house giggling. The things that had been weighing him down would press tighter against his shoulders once he was alone again with his thoughts.
For now though he'd take what he could get, and enjoy his time with Mike.
~*~
"Atta boy!" Mike clapped Minato on the back, "You know what I like so let's do this!"
He wasn't even willing to pretend Minato was wrong. There was a time and place for everything. The Bible even had some kind of passage on it which Mike only remembered because it'd been in Footloose and he'd gone through a phase where he'd wanted to grow up to be Kevin Bacon. He couldn't solve the world's problems or even Minato's problems, but he could find a way for his friend to have fun for a night. They could use the time they had exactly as it was meant to be used: as a present.
They wouldn't cure cancer or make a difference in some grand scheme of things, but, the way Mike saw it, they could at least cheer each other up. Life was meant to be lived. There were too many sorrows and not enough smiles. With all the craziness which went on in the OC, Mike figured he should get everyone he knew to check-out of their reality at least one night a week in order to just live.
Or just dance.
It was the same thing in his mind.