Who: Katou and Vincent What: Random encounter When: Recently! Where: Random bar Rating/Warnings: Low Status: Complete!
Vincent was fairly new to Orange County. Only having been in the area for a number of weeks. It turned out that he did have a few friends in the area, but he still didn’t know all that many people. Most of Vincent’s time was spent either moving into his new apartment, or on the UCI campus getting his office and courses ready for the new semester. He had just spent the day at the office outlining lecture topics for his introduction to philosophy course. There was so much to cover, he had trouble narrowing it down. Before he knew it, it was almost 8 pm. Probably time to call it a night.
Vincent needed to unwind before heading to his half unpacked apartment. He stopped at a bar on his way home ordering himself a glass of merlot. Yeah, this was the perfect way to end the day.
Katou was bored, and there wasn’t much Katou liked less than being bored. He’d practiced his guitar, gone for a run, and had even caught a matinee movie, but none of that seemed to help. What he needed was a drink.
For lack of anything better to do, he went to the bar, and sat and people watched. He wouldn’t find some poor sucker to harass and maybe get a free drink or two out of, and his search came to an end when he spotted a man walking in all by his lonesome. People generally didn’t like to drink alone, unless they were looking to drown something in all those bottles, but this guy didn’t seem like he was too depressed.
Katou eyed him for a while, and almost decided for sure to approach him when the man ordered wine. People who ordered wine in bars were almost always stuck up, and were by far the most fun people to harass.
He slid into the seat next to the man. “Hey,” Katou said, grinning. “How’s it going?”
Vincent was fine with drinking alone, and no he was not depressed. He just wanted to unwind before heading back to his apartment that still needed unpacking. He was enjoying his drink when what appeared to be a child took the seat next to him. Okay, not a child exactly but Vincent was quite sure this man was not old enough to drink. He spent enough time around children and teenagers to be able to spot someone underage.
“Hello,” Vincent gave a small nod. “No complaints here. And yourself?” because he had manners and was doing his best not to judge the age of the man beside him.
“Oh, you know. Could complain, but what would that accomplish,” he grinned. Though, actually, there wasn’t much he could complain about. He’d managed to get a raise just by asking for his old job back, and it was nice to be back with Kanan. Things had seemed to be going completely wrong before he took off for London, but as of yet not one of his friends had been struck blind or thrown in prison, and he hadn’t caught sight of the man who he thought might be his biological father. “So, what brings you here, all on your lonesome?”
He liked the way the guy thought. There was no sense in complaining about things that could not be changed. It was just a waste of breath. “Not much,” Vincent agreed taking a sip of his drink. “I decided to have a drink and unwind after work.” Because it was the honest truth. “And yourself?”
“Was bored, so I decided to come to the bar and see who I could bother,” Katou said cheerily. “Congratulations on winning, by the way. I’m Katou, by the way. You come here often?”
That didn’t sound much like winning to him. However, he would put up with the younger man for now. “Vincent,” he replied introducing himself. “First time. New to the area. And you?”
“Me? I stop in every now and then.” Not that Katou had a go to bar - he tended to go pretty much wherever whenever he wanted. “Though I’m from the neighbourhood. So, where’d you come from if you ain’t from here, Vinny?”
“It’s Vincent.” He had never once been called Vinny in his life. Vince was even a stretch. Only Eva had ever called him that. “Originally New Orleans.” That was where he was born and raised after all. “But I just moved from France.” Paris to be exact but he doubted this guy cared. “Have you ever been out of the country?”
“That’s what I said.” Vinny, Vincent. Same name. “France huh? I always heard that place was full of French people,” he said, mock distastefully. He took a swig from his drink. “How long was you there for? I guess you probably speak French or whatever, right?”
Of course he spoke French. But he also wasn't some pretentious prick that would respond in French. Unless of course the other person also spoke French, but he had a feeling this guy didn't. “Yeah,” he just confirmed with a small nod of his head. “It would have been quite difficult if I didn't,” he added lightly with a small laugh. “About 10 years. Ever been?” Since Katou had yet to answer his question about leaving the country.
“France? Naw.” Katou shrugged. “I just got back from a few months in England, but didn't bother getting off the island. Besides, going to a country where I can't understand much. England was bad enough. Did you know if you order a bangers and mash there you'll get sausages and potatoes and not some hottie looking to bang?
“Yes,” Vincent did in fact know that. Not that he ever tried to order a ‘hottie to bang’. But he did know the terms for food there. “I went to university there.” Oxford to be exact, but Vincent wasn’t the type to brag. “What were you doing in England?”
“Really?” Katou asked, raising an eyebrow. “Where haven’t you lived. I got a couple friends who moved out there a couple years ago, and was thinking of making the move myself.” He shrugged, palms up to the ceiling. “Turns out I just couldn’t stay away from this place. Hard to tell if it’s the sunshine or the demons.”
“Everywhere else,” Vincent grinned. It was odd that they had discussed all three places that Vincent had lived. Made him sound more worldly than he actually was. “London is great, isn’t it?” a pause. “Demons?” What the hell was this guy talking about?
“It was pretty good. Lots of kick ass music.” Katou finished off the rest of his drink, and then gave a wave to the bartender for a refill. “Oh, since we’re so close to LA, sometimes we get their weird ass movie promotions,” Katou said without batting an eye. Frankly, he didn’t care one way or another about keeping the OC’s weirdness a secret from non-dreamers, but he did work for the Agency and ‘cover-up’ was kind of the nature of their whole organization. If the guy was a dreamer, he probably would have known about all that stuff beforehand. “So every once in a while we’ll get these realistic looking monsters or armies or whatever roaming the street. It can get a little wild sometimes, so generally people want to stick indoors for it.”
Well, that made some sense. For a second Vincent was worried Katou was going to go off on dreams, and ‘incidents’ like Marguerite had. “Movie makeup has gotten that advanced?” Vincent wouldn’t know. He didn’t spend much time watching movies.
“Oh yeah. Lots of realistic effects too,” Katou said. “Like laser guns that actually, you know, work. And pyrotechnic shit.” Sometimes he had no idea how people could buy the Agency’s explanations - they all seemed so flimsy to him - but he guessed it came with people not wanting to see what was actually happening.
“Something to look forward to I suppose,” Vincent mused. Although he wasn’t sure he would believe a prop laser gun was the real thing. But he wasn’t one to argue about something he had yet to experience. “Thanks for the heads up,” he added even though he wasn’t entirely sure the guy was being genuine. He very well could be trying to pull one over on Vincent.
“Oh yeah, it’s a real show,” Katou said cheerily. When shit like that was happening was when Katou really felt alive. Like he was making a mark, so that people might remember him someday. He stopped himself suddenly, and then glanced at Vincent. “But one you’re probably gonna want to watch from the window. Like I said, it gets a little wild.” The last thing he needed was this guy getting hurt and then blaming Katou for talking it up.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Vincent replied only half meaning it. He didn’t believe much of what Katou was saying. With that said he took his last sip of wine. “Well, I should probably get going.” He left some money on the bar, more than was needed for his tip. It was meant for Katou, even though he wasn’t all that certain the guy was of age. “Perhaps I’ll see you around.”
Katou grinned and finished his drink. Score one for him. He grinned cheerily and waved. “Probably not, but it’s been fun.”