the ground could open, he could still say please

[slavophile]

Comments

[pumping]

Funny.

( Not that Wes knows why it's funny. )

Guess I don't know what I'm coming back around to. I didn't leave behind much. I'm from Texas.

[mojitos]

Texas isn't bad.

[A beat.]

Well, some parts of Texas aren't bad. But I can't really talk. I'm from New Jersey.

[pumping]

Never been, what's it like.

( He's been sipping at his beer here and there, but sticking around for the conversation. Mia's somewhere with her friend and Cooper's with William. He can be with Wes. Better than being with his own thoughts. )

[mojitos]

The part where I grew up? Not much going on. There will be pockets of civilization and then nothing but trees and sand for miles. You could escape to Philly or Atlantic City on the weekends, but not much.

[He shrugs.]

There's a reason why when I got kicked out I ran to the city, first Philly, then New York.

[pumping]

( Mickey's gaydar comes to a tepid (2), as he just feels for the other man, but can't see why anyone would kick Wes out of bed for eating crackers. )

Who would kick you out?

[mojitos]

[He laughs.]

My very religious parents who didn't like the idea of their son-in-law being married to their son rather than their daughter.

[It was a different time then. Sure it still happens, but much less than it used to, and that is a comfort in itself.]

[pumping]

Yeah, that would do it.

( Well hey. )

I didn't come out to mine. Just... enlisted.

[mojitos]

I didn't technically either. I got caught.

[His old man did not enjoy that scene, not one bit. Honestly, he's surprised he made it out of town alive, if he's honest.]

But it was for the best. That family wasn't the right one for me, though I still talk to my sister sometimes.

[pumping]

I have two sisters and a brother. I send birthday cards.

( To his brother's nieces, too. )

[mojitos]

It's good to keep in touch.

[His sister in her late seventies at this point, with grandkids and even a few great ones. He probably won't see her again until her funeral, but sometimes he gets a Christmas card.]

But it gets harder the older you get.

[pumping]

Yeah, I don't think that counts as keeping in touch.

( But he tries. He was a big coward, but he didn't want to put his life on his family. His siblings call. He tries. It's hard. His parents don't reach out. He thinks they know. )

And that's what I'm going to do. Get older and older.

[mojitos]

It's a lot at first. But you get used to it after a while.

[Is that tipping his hand? Maybe. But he's never really been good at dancing around the idea in the first place.]

[pumping]

( Mickey thinks he's not far off as he drums his lapis bound finger (11) but he's not confident enough to ask anything further. )

So what happened after you ran away?

[mojitos]

Went to New York. I was couch floating for a while, working odd jobs trying to keep myself afloat. Had to drop out of school so no diploma, but fortunately they weren't as big on that in those days.

Got this one gig for these old school rich folks. It was one of those too good to be true things. You just had to show up at this apartment and you'd walk away with enough money to make rent for a month in one night. Seemed too good to be true, but sometimes you get desperate.

[He leans forward, rolling up one sleeve so that Mickey can see the scar of a bite mark in his forearm.]

Turns out, they had a very specific ask for their hired hands.

[pumping]

( He expects it to be about sex, maybe something darker, but leaning forward he sees a clear indentation. His eyes trail upward. )

They were vampires?

[mojitos]

[He nods.]

Very old, very fancy ones. They liked to serve dressed up street kids at their fancy vampire gatherings and paid them quite handsomely for it.

[He shrugs.]

They were nice enough, in a way that some farmers treat their cows well before they slaughter them.

[pumping]

That's disturbing.

( He can picture it, street kids begging for scraps in oversize clothes being -- served to the guests. )

You survived.

[mojitos]

Survival is ... relative.

[Because technically he did survive them, but he is also still dead.]

Technically they aren't the ones who killed me, but they're the reason I'm not still dead.

[Time to call it what it is.]

[pumping]

( (13) As thick-headed as he's been, missing the signs, he doesn't miss it this time. )

What, did they pay you in their blood? Donate yours and we'll make sure if anything happens, you'll be able to do it again?

( Yeah, he hates them. )

So you're -

( They're alone at the bar, most people concerned with dancing or sitting a few seats away. The music pumps through the speakers as he still speaks with his eyes.

He looks down at his own hand, flexing, his lapis lazuli a glint in the green laser show around them. )

What are the chances?

[mojitos]

Smaller than you think.

[Because it's true, there are a lot more vampires out there than most people realize. A lot of them are just way better at flying under the radar than vampires like the Salvatores and the Mikaelsons.]

And no, they paid us in cash. But they didn't want bodies tracked back to them, so sometimes they would give us some blood to make sure we didn't die. I just happened to leave one night and run into people who weren't as considerate.

[pumping]

I think we can go farther than 'considerate'.

( It's a nice way of saying they didn't murder him in cold blood. )

It wasn't my choice either. This. But, what's the saying? Life comes at you fast? Actually, I think that's a slogan.

[mojitos]

[He laughs.]

Doesn't make it any less true. Life comes at you fast, and it doesn't always make sense. But there are pockets of joy that make it worthwhile, I think.

[At least he tries to look on the bright side. He's seen what happens to vampires if they start drowning in despair.]

[pumping]

Joy pockets. Were you always this wise or is this a part of every vampire's journey.

( Can he look forward to doling out his own sage advice? )

[mojitos]

Oh, no. I've had a few decades to slide into my hippie phase. Though I'm sure my parents wish I would outgrow it already, but they're very ... Southern. I clash with the aesthetic.

[He says it very fondly, almost as though he maybe does this on purpose.]

[pumping]

You like that you clash. You live for the clash.

( There's something about Wes, something that's almost magnetic and Mickey actually likes him. He likes this conversation, likes hearing about these Southern parents. )