( Mickey slides in, giving him a polite amount of space he hopes to lessen as the night continues. )
Me? No. We couldn't really afford it. My brother took me one night to White Oak Music Hall. We didn't have tickets, he just parked us outside. You could hear everything from the parking lot. I fully believed the people tailgating had a better time than the people with actual tickets.
You are not wrong. I have tailgated many an Eagles game in my time, and it was always way more fun in the parking lot than it was in the stadium. And you saved so much money.
I didn't. Did I? Do I need to call Klaus and beg him to compel the guy I'm on a date with? Not sure how that will go.
( Shit, did he fuck himself? )
I'll just say me, too, and then we can get back to you liking what I say. Or, how I look, or whatever you liked about me before I mentioned the C word.
Well. Most of them are dead, so that helps. And my human parents were done with me around the time when I came out.
[They never managed to officially mend that bridge before they died, and he's uncertain if he's okay with that or not.]
I still talk to my sister. She's ... in her late sixties? I don't go see her in person, but we talk on the phone, and I send her money if she needs it. She doesn't know I'm a vampire.
( Not seeing them in person. It hits that eventually his family will all be dead and he'll still be here, all because he joined up with Monroe's ranks. )
It was hard when I was younger. When I was still trying to process why I wasn't wanted and what was wrong with me when there was nothing wrong with me, all that. But by the time I got turned, I wasn't seeing them much already, and this was pre-FaceTime and whatever else. You get used to it.
Sometimes. Usually as you get more comfortable with the person you're dating. Or if you're dating someone where you don't really care what they think of you.
[If you're not invested and don't want the relationship to work.]
It was easy in high school. You hang out, you sleep with her. It was hers in high school. And, overseas there wasn't anything. ( Well. ) There was, I was just... focused. I - so, I deployed a few years back and then instead of re-upping, someone - she - this organization found me. It was where I was before I got taken and turned. And then sent back 'undercover,' ( he says, his fingers making quotation marks. ) Klaus. And Damon. ( A beat as he realizes. ) And Stefan. It was a group effort murder party.
( The band comes on and the show starts. Mickey likes being in such close proximity. He feels like himself. He even feels new and improved for the first time. Not defective and not compelled. Just Mickey, from Texas, who was recently turned but there is more to him than just that.
He claps between songs, leans in when he has commentary and sings pretty good under his breath to songs he knows.
He buys the next round.
During the final song, he finds himself looking more at Wes than at the band. He tries... (6) not to be too obvious. )
[Yeah, but Wes has been a vampire a while, and he's been in the dating pool even longer. He notices (20). Totally not because he might be looking himself. But he meant what he said about taking things slow, and when the band takes their last encore, he glances over with a smile.]
So, I got your greatest hits tonight. ( He finishes his beer, stretching his legs out under the table. ) You know, for the first time in a long time I feel like myself again. Like I wasn't just someone else's soldier.
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everyonelives2023-01-03 09:05 pm
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Me? No. We couldn't really afford it. My brother took me one night to White Oak Music Hall. We didn't have tickets, he just parked us outside. You could hear everything from the parking lot. I fully believed the people tailgating had a better time than the people with actual tickets.
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[Football tickets are expensive.]
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( He nods, peeling at his beer label. He brings a hand up, defeated already. )
Cowboys.
( It has been years since being a Cowboys fan has paid off. He was not alive... But, he loves what he loves! )
We like classic rock and football? Are we sure we're gay?
( Maybe Wes can tell, but Mickey is new to all of this having discovered it under Monroe's tutelage. )
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I'm going to pretend you didn't say that.
[Because why the Cowboys. Apparently this is going to be their enemies to lovers story.]
About the Cowboys, I mean. As for whether or not I'm sure, I've done enough exploring to confirm it.
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( Shit, did he fuck himself? )
I'll just say me, too, and then we can get back to you liking what I say. Or, how I look, or whatever you liked about me before I mentioned the C word.
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Nothing that extreme. Just a reflex that's hard to break.
[When you're raised by die-hard Eagles fans, you don't tolerate the Cowboys. That's just how it is. They just won't talk about football, it's fine.]
When I was growing up, we took football very seriously.
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( He grew up on it. )
Can I ask, after everything, what do you do with your family? You don't age. Is that it?
( As far as his family is concerned, he's deployed. )
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[They never managed to officially mend that bridge before they died, and he's uncertain if he's okay with that or not.]
I still talk to my sister. She's ... in her late sixties? I don't go see her in person, but we talk on the phone, and I send her money if she needs it. She doesn't know I'm a vampire.
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( Not seeing them in person. It hits that eventually his family will all be dead and he'll still be here, all because he joined up with Monroe's ranks. )
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It was hard when I was younger. When I was still trying to process why I wasn't wanted and what was wrong with me when there was nothing wrong with me, all that. But by the time I got turned, I wasn't seeing them much already, and this was pre-FaceTime and whatever else. You get used to it.
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( He brings the beer to his lips, stopping himself from talking more than he usually does. )
You've done this before. Gone on dates. Dude dates. The nervousness subsides, right?
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Sometimes. Usually as you get more comfortable with the person you're dating. Or if you're dating someone where you don't really care what they think of you.
[If you're not invested and don't want the relationship to work.]
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[With men or women, it sounds like.]
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( Outside of his ops, Mickey could never be accused of overthinking. )
I'm a fan, though. Dating. If this is a good indication.
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[Wes shifts to face him more, resting his beer on a table.]
Just wanting to know where on the field we're starting.
[Because yes, let's keep the football metaphor going.]
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( He's not going anywhere despite starting from the beginning. )
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We've still got a full game to play. There's no need to rush.
[Wes prefers not to rush anyway. He's old fashioned that way.]
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( Is he taking it too far? Is taking it too far cute? If not, he'll pull back! )
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We do have a season. So let's see how game one goes, and we'll figure out the rest from there.
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He claps between songs, leans in when he has commentary and sings pretty good under his breath to songs he knows.
He buys the next round.
During the final song, he finds himself looking more at Wes than at the band. He tries... (6) not to be too obvious. )
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That was a good night for them.
[A beat.]
I may have see them perform a lot.
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( He likes it all. He feels reawakened. )
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[He knows it won't be an easy road - mindsets like those are hard to break, especially when other people have been compelling them onto you.]
I'm glad to hear it.
[He doesn't want a soldier, he wants a partner, though that's a future conversation.]
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