loccent | malum au | i'll go fight if you're just as willing

He catches the reference (thanks very much, Kaya) and it makes him burst out laughing. Then again, along this particular strip of clubs in the heart of the city, he can see where she's coming from.

"Never read them, but one of the kids where I work talled about them a lot over the last couple of months so yes, I think I know what you mean."

He sights a booth freed up not too far from them and points it out. "Want to continue this conversation while sitting down?" He'll lead the way, easily picking up the water bottles by their necks so she doesn't have to worry about them.

Parting the crowd is easy when you're in a city that considers you taller than average. Mae fits in better, with her height, but that also means that the crush of bodies might pose a problem. He sticks close, shielding her as best as he can.

She only has a moment to think about where her coworkers are, but from what she sees of them on the dancefloor, they are not concerned over Mae having met someone. Wasn't it one of them who joked about finding some guys tonight?

She decides to go with it. You never know, it might be one of those life changing experiences. And also, her heels are starting to kill her, so she nods.

They manage to move through the people, and she takes a seat at the table, sighing with relief to be off her feet.

"Oh no, the jetlag might be finally kicking in..."

"Tired?" He says it with a look of concern that's offset with a smile. "You can chill a bit here, if your welcome committee are still out there."

He sets her water in front of her, and decides that sitting down means they can also order at least something to munch on while they drink and talk.

He nabs one of the small bar chow menus from a table over and slides it gently in front of Mae. "Pick something. My treat. I'll be ordering another beer anyway after this."

"I like them, don't get me wrong," she mutters, looking over the menu. "But it hasn't been ten hours since they picked me up from the airport, and it's bad enough to fly trans-continentally these days without the feeling of doom and fear if a Deep One will happen in the flight path of your plane, nevermind the jetlag..."

She picks a heaping plate with something that promises to be potatoes. What can go wrong there? Nothing, she needs carbs.

"They've shown me around like I'm a tourist here for the weekend and they have to smush all the landmarks into an hour. I think the alcohol was helping ignore how tired I am..." A little laugh. "Sorry, Josh."

"Hey," he peers at her, dipping his head just a bit so that he catches her eye. "Don't worry about it. Tired-induced crankiness is understandable from anyone. I haven't flown across the ocean in years, but I can definitely relate."

Taking a moment at that to call over one of the bouncers. It's clear that the people here are familiar with him, and that Josh knows the language well enough to converse in a mix of his native tongue and what can only be the local language.

"Food should be with us in a bit so you can kick back and relax for a bit." There's a brief glance at her shoes. "I mean, you've been standing in those all day, right?"

Edited 2020-10-15 07:41 (UTC)

"Only the past two hours, I'm not a monster," she jokes, wriggling her toes a little. "Or better said, they aren't. I was allowed to change and get all pretty for going out."

Which she is pretty confident she has maybe managed, to some degree? At least her grin and the way she flicks her hair says so.

He chuckles, reaching for his beer if only to attempt to hide how this entire exchange sends the faintest of thrills down his spine.

( She's got a really pretty smile - and her comebacks get him to laugh. It's been a while since he's felt this kind of chemistry. )

"I say you've accomplished what you set out to do."

The music changes to something upbeat and Josh can't help but wonder if she's the type to dance. Her friends do, after all.

"Thank you." She's definitely good at taking compliments, and the strobe lights disguise the blush that would otherwise betray how much the compliment pleases her.

The change in the music does affect her, though. She knows that they've sat down, and that he seems to have ordered food - which, he's already won a lot of gold stars in her book for that one - for the table. Her feet ache a bit, but then again she also wants to dance. It's a complicated situation, resolved by the obvious solution: dancing in her chair.

Apparently she does dance. And of course now he's hoping that the music keeps being good so that once her feet have rested a bit, he can take her out on the floor.

He says just as much: "Save a dance for me when your feet are feeling a little better?"

They can get some food in them, maybe finish off their drinks for the round and then, who knows?

"Sure thing." She means it, too. It's not some weird, fake response in the hopes that, by the time she's finished her fries she can ghost him. She's not blind, and he's a hundred percent exquisite eye candy. Of course she wants to dance with him.

It's funny, she muses while they spend some time with idle chatting until the food comes. It's funny, because back home she'd gotten herself wound up so tightly around pleasing her dad's expectations of her, and then when he failed both her and Jamie, she put all that focus into a rebellion against her mother. Josh is, at first glance, exactly the kind of guy that would have scandalised both of her parents to know she was with.

But dig a little deeper, talk to him a bit, let him share your fries, and it's slowly becoming clear that he defies those expectations. Call it the three gin and tonics and one glass of wine talking, but he strikes her as the kind of guy who will say 'please' before screwing your brains out.

Not that she's looking for a tryst already. With the booze and the jetlag, that's a bad idea. But she sure wouldn't mind that dance.

So when their empty plates are removed, she sees her shot.

"Let me get these to my new friends now," she says, pointing to the drinks she'd ordered for them. She can see them now across the dancefloor, laughing and having fun, and she can't say she's upset that they've forgotten about her. She's been well entertained.

"Meet me out there?"

"Go," he responds, the smile on his face and the nod he adds for emphasis hopefully making it clear that he'll be with her shortly.

As he watches her go, he's struggling to bite back the goofy grin that's tugging at his mouth; though the sudden descent of his friends helps that along.

He doesn't linger too much, eager to get out from under Angel's scrutiny and teasing even as Phil, Julian and Greg settle back to save the booth for later.

He wades into a spot close enough for Mae to reach, but far enough that he's giving her and her friends room. He's eager to catch her eye, and there'll be an offered hand to guide her safely through the press of bodies filling the dance floor.

He finds her on the dancefloor after all, and she greets him with a wide smile, a wave of simple pleasure coursing through her. If nothing else, she's made a friend. If something else, well... Mae's always loved to have a flirt.

She lets her body do the flirting this time, dancing her way closer to him in a subtle way (her chaperons, co-workers and potential future friends don't really know she's been flirting hardcore with a flyboy), until she's standing in front of him, the bass thrumming in her throat.

malum au | i'll go fight if you're just as willing

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PREMISE

hear me LMAO from across the ocean

an eternity and fixed wifi later!

hii welcome back ❤️❤️❤️

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