S.O.B. (Mordred)

[Aiden Mumble]

Aiden scoffed at his text and shoved the phone back in her black sports bra. On her lower half she had on gray sports leggings with zero pockets, so her phone really had nowhere else to be. Her hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail. She'd been practicing her dancing as quietly as possible, hoping Mordred wouldn't catch on. If people didn't know she could dance, she figured they'd never try and come see her perform. She could barely rehearse in a group, let alone perform in front of people. It wasn't a great situation for a dance major, but oh well. Aiden had found ways to cope, one of which she was planning on indulging in as soon as she got down stairs. She'd better hurry too before Mordred didn't leave any for her.

With her phone secured, Aiden opened her bedroom door and closed it behind her. She hadn't done much decorating yet, but she'd at least taken all of her clothes out of her suitcase and piled them beside it. Whatever, she'd get to it eventually. She had more importantly things to do right now. She headed down the stairs and into the living room.

Aiden didn't know exactly what was going on, but she'd have to be deaf to not hear his argument the other night. Now Aiden wasn't usually one to pry, but she had several reasons for saying something. First of all, she was insanely curious. They were arguing like they knew each other a lot more than they would if they were just in some one night stand situation. Perhaps Mordred had a special lady? It seemed unlikely, which made her all the more intrigued. Secondly he was going to drink all her booze if she didn't stop this. She assumed he'd been up all last night drinking too. Aiden wasn't going to judge, but also she wanted to make sure he wasn't going to hurt himself or something. Perhaps they weren't close enough yet for something like this, but for all Aiden knew, he might not have someone else to turn to.

She saw him on the couch with her rum.

"You're lucky that's the cheap shit" She said, crossing into the kitchen. She emerged with a couple of glasses. They were nothing fancy, but Aiden wasn't particularly ready to be swapping spit with Mordred in any sort of way. She chose her seat to be the coffee table, careful to give him some space, and set the glasses beside her. She pushed them toward him.

"Barkeep?" she said, hoping he was planning on sharing. She didn't ask him about anything. They could talk and drink or just drink and Aiden would figure she'd at least put in an effort to help.

[Mordred Le Fey]

Mordred had barely slept for the last two days, and he was looking rough. He had attempted to keep up appearances - he'd showered and dressed, which he saw as a win, but the black circles under his bloodshot eyes were a bad look, as was his ruffed and unkempt hair. He didn't know if Aiden had noticed, but he'd slept on the sofa for the last two nights, still not quite able to sleep in the bed she'd slept in. When he went into his room he couldn't even bring himself to look at the bed, still unmade.

He'd get there. She was just another girl, he'd had so many before he lost count, why would this be any different? A couple of days respite, that's all he needed then he'd bounce back to his normal self. He needed to leave the house soon anyway, he was short on pick-me-ups.

But for now, drink would do. He'd drunk most of his own stuff, and he'd found Aiden's stash the other night, so he'd started working his way through that. He'd replace it at some point. Whatever. He was currently sat on the sofa, surrounded by a cloud of vape smoke, drinking rum from the bottle.

He didn't look up as Aiden appeared, and sat on the table. "You're telling me it's cheap," he muttered as he reached over and filled the two glasses she'd placed in front of, putting the bottle down and swapping it immediately for a glass.

He drank in silence for a few minutes, before finally looking up at Aiden.

"So, you heard my little soap opera the other night then?"

[Aiden Mumble]

Aiden didn't speak at first. Sure she was curious, but not curious enough to try and force something. Not to mention, Aiden wasn't much of a talker til you got her going. She was glad to see him fill her glass. A small gesture that made her feel welcome to stay. She had sort of invited herself, after all. Also, it was her liquor so she would have been pissed if he didn't offer her any.

Aiden didn't like emotions. If it hadn't already been abundantly clear, she wasn't big on talking about them. Who the hell wanted to hear about her problems anyway? Still, she knew good and well this wasn't true for everyone. Her parents always talked everything out eventfully. They were sharers, but she'd grown up to be far more the opposite of her parents than a mirror image. Sometimes for the better. Other times...

The minutes stretched out, But Aiden did nothing but swig her drink. She admitted it wasn't the best rum, but she wasn't made of money. Anyway it did the job in the long run. She imminently started breathing easier. Just the familiar burn of alcohol setting her mind at ease. She always forgot how good it felt to drink until she was drinking.

Aiden had been trying not to stare, taking in Mordred's appearance through the bottom of her glass each time she took a sip. This really wasn't good for sipping, but it was a good cover to address his state. He looked rough, and not in an on purpose "this is my style" kind of way.

Finally he spoke.

"Well" Aiden said, finishing her drink and reaching to pour another. "I have ears." She said, addressing just how loud the fight got. Their house wasn't that big.

[Mordred Le Fey]

Mordred laughed humourlessly at Aiden's response. Yeah, it hadn't exactly been quiet, and it wasn't like it was far from his room to Aiden's. He'd finally discovered a problem with having a housemate - apart from the damn tampons in the bathroom. He drained his glass and held it out for her to refill as she refilled her own.

"I'd apologise, but, hell, it was getting pretty quiet around here, so, you know, you're welcome." He held up his glass as if to toast.

He continued to drink in silence, wanting to talk, to tell Aiden what had happened, pour it all out. But he didn't know what to say, where to start. He screwed it all up, and that was all there was to it.

After a few more long moments of silence, he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I've fucked it all up." He muttered, leaning back on the sofa and resting his head on the back, looking up at the ceiling.

[Aiden Mumble]

Aiden hissed a chuckle when he pointed out the house had been quiet. The probably had something to do with her silent dance routines and, you know, just general antisocial tendencies. She had class too. Things to keep her busy and quiet. Plus they had had such a good first meeting, she wasn't keen to screw it up with some random fight or another. Aiden didn't much trust herself to have a conversation without it ending in a fight. Even now she was a little worried.

She graciously filled his glass too when he requested. It was no small thing for Aiden to be so cool with sharing her alcohol. Not that she had much of a choice. Forgiving, it was a fairly large bottle. If the night came to it, she did have a few better choices hidden in her room. She wasn't an idiot, after all. She took a large swig. She should have eaten something. Not to mention, she wasn't very large. If she wasn't careful, this could go to her head a lot faster than she would like.

Again, Aiden waited for him to proceed. Eventually, he did. Aiden eye'd him carefully, expressionless. She was calculating a response. She didn't want to push him, but he'd made a move toward talking about it. He looked miserable. Aiden empathized.

"yikes." she breathed, both at his plight and her attempt at helping. "That bad?" She took another drink.

[Mordred Le Fey]

"You tell me, you heard it." He muttered eyes on the ceiling. This wasn't like him, he didn't mope, he didn't let stuff affect him in this way. He hated the way he was feeling, the way he was behaving, but he just couldn't snap out of it.

Sitting up, he looked at Aiden. "You're a girl..." He started, taking a drink. "How long would it take you to talk to me again?"

He was pretty sure Meredith had meant it, that she hated him and would never speak to him again. She wasn't the kind of person to make a threat like that and then go back on her word. Plus, his cheek had stung for hours afterwards, that kind of slap wasn't forgotten quickly.

[Aiden Mumble]

Aiden tried to hide a small grimace, wondering if he really wanted her to answer his first question. She'd heard Some of it. She started listening once she was pretty sure it wasn't just some kinky adventure they were having. Despite the time, Aiden had been reading, so at least it didn't wake her up. She was a night owl, anyhow. She'd heard him basically accusing her of being easy. Which she very well could be, Aiden had no idea. She heard her tell him that she hated him, which wasn't something you normally said unless you know it would hurt. Indicating that this was something more than an isolated indecent. She'd heard the slap, them both pounding down the stairs, then a final curse at the Star Wars series. That was probably uncalled for. What had Star Wars ever really done to him? Then again, this was another part of the story that remained full of holes.

Aiden decided to wait a moment, to test and see if he was really done. Luckily, he was not. However, she wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Well spotted" she mumbled into her glass when he mentioned her gender. She lowered her drink for a moment, considering his words as it hovered just beyond her lips. Eek. Advice. She drained the rest of her glass. She thought hard, lowering her glass slowly. Aiden wasn't like most girls, she knew this. She hadn't heard the beginning of their conversation, what started it, and that could have been the most important part. Still, she could guess. If it had been Aiden that night instead of Mordred, she was probably telling her visitor to leave in the middle of the night to warrant such a reaction. Which she knew to be very impolite.

"I think..." Aiden began slowly, still looking at the empty glass beside her. She was starting to feel a lovely fog coming on. "I'm nothing like her." she said. She could have said her name, she'd heard him shout it, but she figured her name might cause him pain. She knew how powerful names could be. She glanced at him again. He was looking truly depressed. It looked familiar. People don't act like this when they have crushes on each other. People don't act like this when they're not in love.

"But... Aiden took a deep breath, reaching for the bottle again. "Given everything I've witness this far, I'd say there's no sense in giving up." Even as she finished saying it, she made a weird face. That was a weird thing for her to say. Advice she'd never follow herself. An odd sort of chuckle escaped her and she had to cover her mouth. "Sorry, sorry" she mumbled, trying to recover. Don't give up, what the fuck was she talking about? She'd never even given Hinrik a chance and she's telling this guy not to give up. She took another swig of rum, bitterness on her face.

"I'm not good at advice, Mordred." she said "But people don't act like this when they don't care about each other." She shrugged and fell silent once more.

[Mordred Le Fey]

Mordred was pretty grateful for the face that Aiden wasn’t much of a talker right now. He didn’t want real advice, he needed a little bit of empathy and a drinking buddy. He’d figure this out, and he’d get Meredith talking to him again - even if it was just to yell at him some more, or tell him how much she hated him, he felt like right now that would be enough, just to hear her voice.

This was the problem with falling for someone he’d known his whole life. She’d always been there, whether centre stage or in the baackground - she wasn’t a typical princess and didn’t act like other girls, she had that streak of rebellion and independence that he’d always been fond of - even before he’d realised what his actual feelings were, he’d admired her. She stood out from the crowd, she’d always been fun to be around - even as kids she’d been able to give as good as she got, and she was one of the few who could hold her own against Mordred’s teasing. Winding Meredith up took thought and deliberation, it had always been more fun than with the others.

It had taken a long time for him to admit to himself that his admiration of her, and enjoyment of her company was more than just fondness for his best friend’s little sister. And even when he’d admitted it, he shoved the thoughts deep down. But then she’d turned up outside his class, looking incredible, and making it clear she thought of him as more than just her brothers douchebag friend.

So he’d screwed it up, because that was the obvious path in this journey.

Idiot.

Mordred laughed at Aiden’s declaration that she was nothing like Meredith. He held up his glass for her to tap hers against. “And for that I thank the Gods every day, my friend.”

He raised an eyebrow at her next words of advice. He stayed quiet for a minute, trying to process them. He’d probably had too much rum, his brain was foggy and her words were taking a long time to travel from his ears to his brain.

“Whatever.” He muttered. “I don’t care.” He couldn’t have been less convincing if he tried.

His eyes roved the room slightly, and fell on the object by the front door. “She left her bag here,” he commented, more to himself than to Aiden. “I should text her about it. She’ll need it for school.”

And it would be a perfect excuse to see her again,

[Aiden Mumble]

Aiden smiled while drinking when he moodily claimed he didn't care. That was her catch phrase. She was very familiar with the different ways you could say it and what it really meant. This time she didn't have to put forth much of an effort to translate. He clearly didn't mean it. She was also glad for the half baked compliment he'd given her before. Although she knew he cared about Meredith so agree that she was nothing like her might actually be bad news, he'd called her 'friend.' Ugh, Aiden, keep it together. Don't make it weird.

Aiden followed his gaze to the door to find what he was talking about. She felt the strongest urge to go look inside it. Maybe it was the rum, maybe she was just awful, maybe it was a little of both. Then he said she'd need it for school and Aiden felt a little bummed. It probably just had books and things. Boring. Given the fact that Mordred hadn't touched it she assumed it didn't have anything worth smoking or drinking inside. Ah. That wasn't nice. Of course he wouldn't have gone through her stuff, he was heartbroken.

Aiden took another drink, a third glass down. She'd had gone too fast. She was no lightweight, but she really should have eaten something. Her eyes lazily drifted back to Mordred when he mentioned texting her. She figured she was supposed to say something like "no don't do it, you've been drinking!" but what did she care if he texted her? Her having left her bag here was a great excuse to get her to have to come back. Aiden wasn't looking forward to another screaming match, but it wasn't a bad plan in her book. Then again, Aiden was no love guru. She was, however, officially feeling comfortable enough to move a little closer. Aiden usually liked her space and respected other, but curiosity and rink made her abandon this venture.

"It's not a bad idea" Aiden reaffirmed, propping her head up against the back of the couch with one hand and hold her newly filled glass with the other. "But since you've drank nearly all my liquor, you have to tell me what she says." she ventured, peering coyly over her glass.

[Mordred Le Fey]

Draining his glass, Mordred put it down on the coffee table and refilled it, before pulling out his phone.

“Deal.” He agreed, quickly tapping out a message and hitting send. “This should go well.” He took another drink, before pulling out a small bag of what, to the untrained eye, looked like dried, green herbs and some cigarette papers and began to roll. “Up for it?” He asked Aiden as he completed the task, put it in his mouth and lit it, taking a long drawl before offering it to Aiden.

His phone buzzed on the table as he received a text, and he picked it up and read it quickly.

“She wants to send a friend to get it.” He muttered, irritated. “Well, f*ck that.” His phone clicked as he tapped out a response and hit send.

“She wants it she can come and get it herself.”

[Aiden Mumble]

Aiden was not expecting him to agree. Had she been sober she would have never let someone hear the texts someone sent to her. Especially not in a situation like this. So when he did, Aiden smiled. It wasn't one of those half-hearted smirks she usually did either. It was a full on, bright grin. Probably because of the drinks. She was a little too excited to hear the drama too. There was something truly amazing about hearing other people's problems instead of dwelling on your own.

Mordred pulled out a stash of something very familiar to Aiden. Hey, she needed to self medicate every now and again. She had a very stressful life. "Hell yeah." she said, reaching out for the roll and taking a hit. She was careful not to cough and seem like an idiot. She blew the smoke out slowly. Sure the after effects of the drug were very nice, but this was Aiden's favorite part. She liked to watch the smoke slowly billow and dissipate. She liked to feel the heat on her tongue. Everything about it made her relax, as if she wasn't already relaxed enough. She took another sip of rum to cool the itch it created in her throat then turned back to Mordred when he spoke. That's weird, she thought he was further away. Then Aiden realized she was leaning closer to try and catch a glimpse of his screen. She backed off before responding.

"Good call." She offered what was left of the roll back to him, nodding at his decisions. What was even the point of texting her in the first place if she didn't have to face him again. Besides, she was the one who had left it here. It was pretty rude not to come get it. At least, that's what's Aiden's brain was telling her at this very moment.

[Mordred Le Fey]

Aiden's apparent approval bolstered him as his phone buzzed again. A small part of his brain was telling him this was a bad idea - he was too intoxicated to be doing this and he was only going to make the situation worse, but that part of his brain was being more and more silenced with each mouthful of rum and drag on the joint. Reaching over and taking the roll from Aiden's hand, he took a long drag, putting his head back and blowing the smoke into the air above him.

He passed the joint back to Aiden and picked up his phone again. "F*ck sake..." He quickly fired off a couple of texts in quick succession, before passing his phone to Aiden with a drunken grin, gesturing she should read the texts.

"She's meeting me tomorrow."

[Aiden Mumble]

Aiden's face morphed into one of dramatic surprise when Mordred cursed at his phone and began texted again furiously. "What'd she say, what'd she say" she asked quickly, eagerly. She sat up and nearly spilled her drink. After giving it a concerned look she figure the only solution was to drain it again. She didn't even feel the burn this time. She felt like she could barely even taste it. This was a nice big red flag in her head. Yet, what does it really matter? She figured she wasn't planning on driving anywhere. This was fine. This was great. She'd never felt better. There was definitely no existential crisis lurking deep in her soul.

She accepted the return of the roll and and took another long drag. She felt weird, but like, a good weird. Right? She felt like she could nap for a month, but also she was having way too much fun to ever consider it. How long at they been sitting here? Why did it feel like this was all hitting her really fast, but they'd been here for hours?

Aiden set her glass down and accepted the phone with her free hand. She rudely pushed the joint back in Modred's direction, too excited by the prospect of reading what had happened. She found that she had to hold the phone at different distances from her face to focus on the words and even then it took a minute. She laughed a few times, at the mention that he had a friend and his quips at Meredith's expense. They probably would have seemed meaner if she wasn't feeling so chill at the moment.

"Dude, amazing job." Aiden said, lowering the phone. "Couldn't have done it better myself." What a smooth kinda guy. Mordred was pretty cool. Maybe the coolest person she knew. What a great friend to have. I have to be here when she shows up." You know, for back up.

[Mordred Le Fey]

The bottle was nearly empty - and this was a problem. All Mordred had left was some extraordinarily expensive scotch, which really ought to be saved for special occasions and elite drinking partners. Then again, he was definitely not ready to stop drinking, and Aiden was climbing the ladder of his scotch hierarchy higher and higher every minute.

And he had drunk all her rum.

The pot was finally starting to effect him, and he was feeling oddly lightheaded, and much calmer than he had for a couple of days. As Aiden drained her glass and put it down, he drained his own and grabbed the bottle, sharing the last few drops between the two glasses. He grabbed the joint as she shoved it towards him, finishing it off and stubbing it out in an ashtray next to him, resting on the arm of the sofa, waiting for her reaction to his conversation with Meredith.

He started giggling at her evaluation. Really, he knew he was making things worse, he was almost definitely going to pay for this, but right now, in this moment, the whole situation seemed absolutely hilarious.

"She'd probably hit you..." He said through his stoned giggles. "Like, she'd go all feral on you and..." He started laughing harder, "you'd hit her back and I'd have to pull you apart..."

Actually, that didn't sound like such a bad situation to find himself in.

[Aiden Mumble]

At first Aiden started giggling in response to him giggling, then it grew into full blown hardy laughter when he began discussing what might happen. A fight? With a chick she didn't even know? Aiden thought it sounded fantastic. You know that feeling you get, especially when your drunk? It's that feeling that you want to do something dangerous just for the thrill of it. Even knowing she could very well get pummeled in a fight, that very fact made it all the more exciting. Aiden suddenly felt like she understood why guys got themselves into so many bar fights. Either you won and you felt great, or you go punched out and felt that strange high that came with pain. Not to mention, it was a duller pain when you were drunk. Like all the rush without the consequences. At least, until you woke up the next morning. Aiden couldn't worry about that now.

"Don't act like you wouldn't love it." Aiden asserted through giggles, she felt dizzy, but better than she had in weeks. Aiden was still heavily in the mitts of laughter when she leaned over to fetch the remaining rum he'd been too gracious to share. However, her depth perception was entirely too impaired and she missed, lost her balance and slid off the couch. This only made her laugh harder.

"Wait, wait" she said, trying to calm down. She took several staggered breaths, but still couldn't contain herself completely. She didn't bother getting up from the floor, but, instead, stretched out into the splits habitually. "I have a challenge for you, Mordred" She said in an attempt to be grand sounding. She held her half spilled glass in his direction. She bobbled her head to the side to look at him, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to make out his face.

"Tell me a secret."