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North stirred his drink lazily in one hand, listening to the ice rattle against the glass. His eyes wandered to one of the many screens mounted from the ceiling throughout the bar lounge. Still football - and not even the tolerable European kind. He had nothing against the NFL, but his Slavic blood had predisposed him to an avid appreciation for good old-fashioned rugby. If he was going to watch grown men tackle each other over a ball, he would rather see them going about it viciously, without all the padding and babying of the players. It was appalling, he thought, as he watched a player being escorted from the field by the team medics for a pulled hamstring. He played in a rugby club himself, and he had personally played out an entire game with a split lip and a broken nose.
Fingering the slightly crooked appendage, North grimaced into his drink again. He wouldn’t even be here watching this poor excuse for a sport if it weren’t for his sister. It was seven o’clock on a Friday evening. He could have been at home, cooking up some shrimp scampi with plans to sit down after a quiet dinner and finish his book. No one could call him a loner - or, as his sister so crudely put it ‘a fucking recluse who doesn’t know how to get out and let shit happen every once in a god damn while’. He did get out, go to parties, hit the gym, go see movies. Albeit he hadn’t done any of those things with a date recently, but he wasn’t a recluse. He did, however, have a little ritual where he liked to end the week with a quiet evening to himself before he made plans for the weekend.
Instead he was sitting in an ever-growing crowded restaurant with a table set for three. Why? Because he was a good brother. Because when South had said that she wanted to do something after her hellish week at work, North couldn’t refuse. Because she really wanted him to meet this ‘friend’ she had.
He knew going in that this would be a set up. South would come with her ‘friend’. She would introduce the two guys, get the ball rolling with her unique brand of bluntness and harsh humor. Then she would beg off: ‘I forgot I had some work to finish up’ (though that would be an unlikely excuse since the moment the weekend hit, South was off like a shot and didn’t think about work until Monday morning). Instead it would probably be something along the lines of ‘Hey, I’m gonna go hang with Caro and Connie while you stay here and chat’. Or she would cut through the bullshit as per her usual style and go straight for ‘You two should get together, and if you fuck, use protection.’
North growled in a way that had some of the nearer patrons eyeing the massively built blonde warily, before he downed his drink in one swallow. He ordered another, swearing he wouldn’t have more than these two, and waited for the evening to be over with.
…
York sauntered into the crowded sports bar. He nodded his head at a couple of acquaintances before making his way up to the counter. He leaned one hip against the edge and waited to get the bartender’s attention. He rolled his shoulders lightly beneath his black leather jacket in order to scratch at a vague itch. Once the guy behind the counter came over, York turned his one good eye to the man and ordered a beer - “bottled’s fine, man” - then paid for his drink. With it in hand, he took lazy sips while he scanned the room.
He knew people were staring. He also knew it had as much to do with his damn good looks as it did with the massive scar running along the right side of his face, leaving that eye a whitened out mass of scar tissue. It had happened so long ago that it didn’t even bother him when people stared, so he didn’t mind that. He especially didn’t mind that people were staring at him in his dark denim jeans, tan brown Henley, and leather jacket. He always dressed to impress and knew he had achieved his mark when he spotted at least seven different ladies - and three dudes - checking him out.
A devilish smirk tilted his lips and brought a vivid shine to his one steel grey eye. He oh-so-casually lifted the hand not holding his beer and ran his fingers through his brown hair. Deciding he’d given his audience enough of a free show, he turned his attention to the crowd and started looking for the bright red hair of the woman who had invited him out tonight.
Carolina had said she knew a guy that York would go for - one that would probably go for a guy like him, even if he was ‘a manwhore’. Always up for a party, York had agreed. He really wasn’t interested in the potential date, not now anyway. But he had wanted to get out of the house for tonight. He could use the distraction.
York was finding himself in a situation he had never been in before. He had met a guy he was really into at a party Carolina had thrown a couple months ago. He was the brother of some friend of Caro’s. North was hot, built, super intelligent - but not in a geeky or superior way that could be off-putting - and was a genuinely nice guy. York had put the moves on, a little heavy he could admit now, but North hadn’t seemed that interested. That was cool. It happened. What didn’t happen was that York would fixate on someone who had rebuffed his advances. At least, not since he and Caro had gotten together in college.
But fixated he was. York found himself talking to North - actually talking - throughout the party. Instead of prowling around as he normally did, York seemed to be returning again and again to listen to the man talk. They had kind of hit it off, in a friends way. After that, York had looked for North at every one of Caro’s get togethers. He had eventually gotten North’s number and they had begun to hang out together, grab a beer, whatever. Now, he was super into the guy, but he had the feeling that North thought of him as just some playboy. He didn’t know how to go about convincing the guy that he wanted to try the whole ‘real relationship’ thing.
Speak of the devil, York thought. His eye zeroed in on a set of broad shoulders and short dirty blonde hair sitting alone at a table across the room. Since those icelandic blue eyes were glaring into a snifter of amber looking liquid, he couldn’t catch the man’s attention. That just meant he had an excuse to go over and talk to the guy. He tried not to be too eager as he made his way across the room, reasoning with himself that Carolina wouldn’t be too mad at him for ditching her, since she had come here to set him up anyways - even if his current target was not the guy she had intentioned him to be with tonight.
“Hey, dude.” He started casually once he got to be standing in front of the guy.
He got his first glance at those piercing eyes as they shot up in surprise at the sound of a familiar voice. Those huge shoulders tensed under the light blue button down, before relaxing back onto the chair behind them. The eyes cleared and lightened as crinkles of smile lines moved to frame them. “Hey, York.”
“What happened to the sanctity of your Friday night ritual?” The brunette teased. He had learned quickly that North never wanted to do anything on the last evening of the work week. He would always ask to get together during the weekend, or would suggest plans that were quieter and more low-key than the ones York would put forth.
“My sister happened.” North growled. And York felt a pleasant shiver as the deep sound travelled enticingly up his spine and then back all the way down to his groin. “What about you? What are your plans tonight?”
“Oh, you know. Just hanging out. I was here to meet Caro, but she hasn’t arrived yet, so…”
The blonde head bobbed in understanding. “Well, South isn’t here, either. Do you wanna pull up a chair until one of them deems to show?”
It was faintly embarrassing how quickly York laid claim to one of the chairs. He was not going to pass up this opportunity. He was more than a little stoked that North had been the one to ask. As a rule, it was usually York who proposed plans to get together. So the fact that North had volunteered to share his time for a little bit felt like a huge deal. It could have been that North was just being polite and friendly - and York would totally have settled for that. But he couldn’t help but think he saw a faint trace of excitement in North’s eyes. And that was definitely a small blush of pleasure blooming along the fair man’s skin.
North hid his expression quickly when York sat down. He was pleased that the brunette had found him. He wasn’t looking forward to being set up by his sister. And it wasn’t just because it was a blind date. North had been interested in York for quite a while. Initially, he hadn’t been too impressed with the laidback attitude and meaningless flirtations for casual hook-ups that the other guy had first proposed. But after spending nearly the entire time at the party talking with York and getting to know him a little better, he couldn’t help but be drawn to that vibrant personality. True, the guy was way too much of a player, but North found he could eventually see passed that, and he found it easier and easier to laugh off the sometimes outrageous but good-natured sexual teasing. And after spending the last couple months hanging out more with the guy, North was kind of wishing he hadn’t rebuffed York so quickly in the first place. Perhaps now he had a chance to fix that and show the other guy just how interested he was in getting together with the attractive brunette.
“So, what’s the deal? How did your sister manage to con you out of your habitual Friday night?” York commented teasingly. He didn’t exactly want to be talking about North’s sister - she was kind of a bitch - but he had to start the conversation somewhere.
North rolled his eyes, smirked a little, like he knew where York’s inner thoughts had gone. “Apparently she thinks I’m a recluse who doesn’t date. She begged, cajoled, cussed until I agreed to come here and meet her ‘friend.’”
York nodded. He didn’t know North was actively looking for a relationship. And why the hell he couldn’t see the potential one sitting right in front of him was beyond understanding. Instead of saying anything about that, York kept an easy smile on his lips as he sipped his beer. “She normally do that for ya? Set you up, I mean.”
“No.” And this time the answer was perplexed, which brought hope to the dark haired man. It meant that North hadn’t asked, wasn’t looking elsewhere. “She’s never tried to set me up before. It was really odd. I didn’t want to come tonight because I doubt she would even have a clue what my type is …” The voice trailed off, blue eyes sliding meaningfully towards a silver one at the words ‘my type’.
“Maybe I can take a crack at it?” York’s voice went instantly smooth as silk at the suggestion. “I think I have an idea of what you might like.”
For once, North didn’t rebuff the advance. He didn’t ignore the flirtation, or shake off the obviously intimate proposition. Instead, his voice went deep, and dark pleasure dripped from his every word. “Oh, I think you know exactly what I like. But if not, I would be delighted to show you.”
York had never heard that quality of voice in anyone before. It was a sound that shot straight into his blood with hot licks. He was so heated, he had to take a swallow of beer just to moisten his suddenly dry throat. He gulped the liquid down at once, tipping the bottle all the way back, before he could even speak. “You thinking of something in the immediate future?”
North just calmly finished his drink, knowingly running the tip of his tongue along the seam of his lips. He stood up with an easy grace that belied his tall, muscular frame. Holding out a hand to York, he let his blue eyes light over the man’s sleekly toned body. “Want to get out of here? I’ve always prefered to spend Friday nights at home.”
…
From a couple of stools in the corner of the bar, two women sat sipping beers. One had bright red hair pulled back in a ponytail. The other had dirty blonde hair cut in a short crop close to her head. As they watched, the built blonde god and the languidly athletic brunette walked out of the bar hand-in-hand.
“Looks like those two are off to have a bit of fun.” The redhead gave a self-satisfied smirk.
“Just as long as they don’t fuck it up, what with all the work we put into them.” And though the words were harsh and the tone was gruff, there was a little seed of pleasure at watching the two men finally leave together.