A New Outlook

[Jory Addison]

"Okay," Jory said. "Then what did you do?" Maybe Markise just dated a lot or something before he had gotten together with Ariel. He remembered something about meeting guys in London, so maybe that was what Markise was talking about. He still very much wanted to meet someone, but he figured he shouldn't mention it too much.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise glanced aside at Jory, thinking of the likelihood that Jory would get raped in a back room if he spent five minutes in one of those places, then decided he didn't have anything better to tell him. "Gay clubs," he said. "Clubs where you can meet people and dance and get hit on, and if you're not careful as hell you'll end up a bloody mess in some back alley." They were so much more than that, but if he got started on the sense of complete freedom, it would be impossible to list off all the reasons why Jory shouldn't go. I'd be jealous just wouldn't cut it as a reason.

[Jory Addison]

Jory heard the part about ending up a bloody mess in an alley, but he focused on the thoughts of meeting people. "They can't be that bad," he said, though it could have just been wishful thinking on his part. Without experiencing he couldn't know. "Especially if you get to dance and meet guys." As a matter of fact, it sounded better than school already. At school, there was the chance of getting beat up with no possibility of meeting someone.

[Markise Sterling]

"That zapping spell won't do you any good in a Muggle club. There are guys who'll act sweet, act like you're the hottest thing ever, then they'll take you off somewhere and it won't matter if you want it or not. They'll slip something in your drink if you let it out of your sight. Hell, they'll get you drunk if that's what it takes." If he just focused on the bad long enough, even he wouldn't want to go, right? "There's a hell of a lot more chance you'll get hurt there than at Hogwarts."

[Jory Addison]

Jory's eyes dropped. It couldn't be that bad, could it? Markise was okay, so it would be okay to go at least once. "You made it through," he said. "Wouldn't it be okay to go once or twice?" Maybe it wasn't really as bad as Markise was claiming it was. He could hope, and maybe he could go anyway, even if it was just to prove it was as bad as Markise said.

[Markise Sterling]

"Not if you think I'm kidding," Markise said. That was twice now that Jory had said it wasn't that bad. "I'm not making sh~ up." He turned to look at Jory. "I almost got raped by strangers and at least one friend, apparently," he said, rolling his eyes a bit, but saying it because Ariel had insisted it was true. "They'd eat you alive. It's dangerous. You want an adrenaline rush, go sing show tunes in the dungeons." He physically grabbed another stack of clothes and turned into the store, intent on putting them up without magic. He needed something to do, and though he knew Jory might just follow after him, at least he was moving. "I grew up on the street, I know how to take care of myself and it's still dangerous." And God, he missed the feeling of having cheated death.

[Jory Addison]

"Okay, it's bad, but if I don't, like, try to do something with any of them..." Jory knew he would be okay if he tried to stay where people could see. He would be okay, especially if he was with Markise. But things had happened, or almost happened, to Markise. Another sigh escaped his lips. He didn't want an adrenaline rush, he wanted to be around other guys.

[Markise Sterling]

"Ha," Markise said, no humor in the word. "You don't need to try. You're young and cute, and you look like you've never been touched, whatever the hell happened with that Lyric guy." It was half the reason he annoyed Markise so badly. "If a guy Ariel's size pulled you off the dance floor, you really think you could get loose? Add four inches and a hundred pounds of muscle and try again." Give him a friend and it's even harder. He'd avoided guys like that, but they tried all the same, and he could just imagine Jory standing there whimpering and wide-eyed, or however Ariel had found him the other day.

[Jory Addison]

"Fine," Jory breathed leaning back against the counter. If, if something like that happened he knew he would be just as afraid as he had been with the twins. "You can't blame me for wanting to try, can you?" He wanted to find someone to be with, at least for a little while. Markise had already found someone, maybe he didn't remember what it was like?

[Markise Sterling]

Markise's lips pressed tightly together. He wished he hadn't heard Jory's question, and he wasn't about to answer it. "There are better things to do in London," he said firmly, though he couldn't think of a single one. His chest ached with the memory of a hard beat so loud it took control, of the hot press of bodies on the dance floor and the thrill of slipping out of someone's grasp just in time. The feel of losing himself completely and being someone else for the night, someone everyone wanted and no one could have. "Find something to do during the day," he added, and called the subject finished.

[Jory Addison]

"But I can't dance with guys during the day," Jory pointed out, somewhat unwilling to let it go already. Even if part of him screamed to just listen to Markise and let it go, he didn't want to believe that it was true. He wanted to believe that Markise was exaggerating and that he would be just fine going out and dancing for just a little while.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise wanted to scream! He wasn't a matchmaker, and it wasn't his responsibility to see that the outcoming gays, their exes, and their exes' new flings behaved themselves. "Then go," he said, more sharply than he realized. "Go and get gang-raped and have a hell of a time." He stuffed the jeans onto their shelf. "I've got to run upstairs and grab something, go ahead and look around. He turned and headed up the steps at a clip. He wouldn't take Jory clubbing, and there were a thousand reasons why. A thousand reasons, and one that actually mattered. "Ariel!" he called.

[Ariel Logan Callahan]

Ariel hadn't expected Markise to come up so soon, and so when he heard his name called he stopped what he was doing and headed toward the door. "Yeah?" he asked as he opened the door to see Markise practically at the top already. "What's up?" He wasn't quite sure why Markise was coming up, though there was a feeling like something was going on.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise glanced back over his shoulder to be sure Jory hadn't followed him, then swept around Ariel, pushing the door shut behind himself. "It's break time," he said, and pressed against Ariel, drawing both arms around the back of his neck. He needed a break, and the taste of Ariel's lips, the excitement of doing this with the shop left wide open, was enough to distract him. Ariel was always ready, always had what he needed when it came to this.

[Ariel Logan Callahan]

Ariel wasn't normally one to argue, but as he slid his arms around Markise his eyebrows came together. "Everything okay down there?" he asked. It was an odd time for a break, so though his hands slid lightly against Markise's lower back he didn't take a kiss just yet. Besides, it would be a lie to say that there hadn't been a few bad eggs come through the shop since they came out.