Let's Cause a Little Trouble

[Benedict Sterling]

@'Baxter Keene' @'Ari Fisk' @'Garrett Wallingford'
@'Elsie Beauregard' @'Elias Grimstone' @'Imogen MacFusty'

Normally Ben would be the first to gather the group together and have a pint or two together to catch up, and he'd be happy to do it. His friendship with Bax, Garrett and Ari had been one of the most important things in his life. Now, the prospect of calling a catch up meeting for all four of them saw him drown himself in liquor before he could bring himself to send out the letters. Then, one night he had a moment of clarity - just a moment - and the rational side of him thought to send out letters to all the lads; yes, all.

So here he was at the Three Broomsticks, waiting - wanting to get this whole thing over with. In an attempt to hide the fact that he was about to go through emotional torture (no, he did not want to think about how much Ari would be hurting during this whole ordeal), he tossed back a few pints before the others arrived. Shoulders hunched, head down, beard a little more scruffy than usual, Ben found he was incredibly wrong about how he would be feeling after a drink or two. It just made his headache more prominent, and he was sure his eyes had a hint of a bloodshot look to them. Scooting his chair back sharply, he went to the wash room, aguamenti'd some water into a clean basin, and - after making sure it was ice cold - plunged his head into the water.

It occurred to Ben that he could just stay there for a while, just thinking - it was rather peaceful with his head under the water, actually. The sound from the bar was muffled, and he was surprised to fine the clarity he'd been needing. Emerging from the water basin, Ben ran a hand through his wet curls and did his best to dry them out before heading back into the pub. You can do this, just...act normal. He told himself. But then again, he wasn't sure what his normal self was. Sitting himself down, he ordered a fresh pint of firewhiskey, knee bouncing up and down on the bottom rung of his stool as he waited for his friends. All of them.

  

[Ari Fisk]

The impossibility of broaching the subject again had swept a curtain of finality over the whole affair, and Ari, unable to imagine a way of combating it, had since accepted what he'd done. Never had he expected the letter that arrived: a casual invitation, as if nothing had transpired.

Surely it was too good to be true. A mistake, perhaps, merely an error of habit? Nothing had followed to rescind the invitation, though, so Ari had begun to wonder whether Ben had forgotten. (Forgotten seemed almost more likely than forgiven: the former was a development one could ascribe to drunkenness or trauma, the latter inconceivable in what pity would have had to be invoked.) Ari almost didn't dare go.

But after the initial breakdown - and the developments of the few days succeeding it - Ari had spent the next few weeks toiling hard to feign normality; though he might make excuses to avoid an evening at the Broomsticks, it would not serve him anything towards patching up his life and pretending it was all fine. After all, Bax was coming from the hospital too: not coming along at the end of the day would just raise questions. And, much as he knew how senseless it was, he was yearning to see Ben again, to better learn the consequences of his actions.

A twinge of hope had been climbing up inside, wresting itself away from the knot of unease in his gut, but all that hope quickly dissipated as they entered the pub and Ben came into view at last. Even from the back of him, Ari was hit by the instinct to turn on his heel and not put either of them through this - but no, perhaps it was safer here and now, with Garrett and Bax present to unknowingly smooth the jagged tear. A wave of nausea hit him as he plucked up the courage to glance at Ben. He looked rough, much how Ari felt; Ari's greeting faded to nothing before he'd even opened his mouth.

Instead, he just twisted out a smile. "First round's on me," he said hastily, stepping up to the bar, hoping that having the simple task to focus on would leave Ben to be distracted by the others, and thence give Ari a valuable moment to compose himself.

  

[Baxter Keene]

Baxter was not one to get out of the house very often, as Perry liked to point out, but he rarely turned down an invitation to grab a quick pint with Ben, Ari and Garrett. It should count for being social, even if he worked with Ari and saw the guy on an almost-daily basis.

Plus this was a nice distraction from some of his own issues. Not that he wanted to go into any detail on that. As of right now, he wasn't even sure what his problem was. Bax wasn't even sure if he had a problem or if he was just overthinking things as per usual.

Determined not to think about that, Bax strode into the Broomsticks to meet his friends. They weren't hard to find and he made his way to the bar just as Ari announced he would buy the first round. "Kind of you, how did you get here so fast?" They left the same place, Bax assumed around the same time, but damn if he didn't always get detained in some way before actually leaving.

  

[Garrett Wallingford]

As much as he loved his sister and utterly adored his bride-to-be -- it was thrilling to know that he could finally refer to her as such! -- Garrett was rather relieved for the chance to be away from all the wedding talk. Oh sure, he was interested in it -- it was his wedding too, after all -- and often gave his own two cents when prompted for an opinion, but it’s only been four days since Garrett had proposed, and it seemed that the planning of the wedding was all Katherine and Aurelia could talk about. Hence his relief to be away from it all for a bit, and he figured that Ben’s invitation to have drinks at The Three Broomsticks with him, Ari, and Bax was the perfect escape. Plus, it would also give him the opportunity to announce to them his good news, and he rather thought that he’d like to have them serve as groomsmen at the wedding. It seemed only right that his four best friends of almost twenty-some years should play a bigger role in his wedding than just being mere guests.

So it was to the Three Broomsticks he went, having dropped by the house first to dispose of the additional paperwork that he had yet to finish and change into a more casual set of clothes. He figured that he would get more done if he didn’t have to worry about changing upon returning home; Katherine could survive one evening without him, he was sure.

Although a little late in arriving, it seemed that Garrett hadn’t missed much. Feeling rather cheerful, he spotted the three of them -- as usual -- by the bar, and made his way over, hearing just in time Bax's inquiry of how Ari had gotten there so fast. "Fast walker, maybe?," Garrett jokingly suggested as he claimed a seat beside Ben, noting out of the corner of his eye that his friend seemed a little more withdrawn than usual. Which wouldn't have been too much cause for alarm had not Garrett always known Ben to be the loudest of the group, and he gently elbowed the other man in the arm to get his attention. 

"You alright, mate?," he asked, his voice tinged with a hint of concern as he looked Ben over, a small smile on his face.

Words: 386 | Tag: GABB

  

[Benedict Sterling]

Hearing Ari's voice was a punch to the gut - even moreso than he had anticipated, and so it was a relief when the others showed up soon after. He reminded himself to assume his role of the loudest in the group, but Ari's presence in the room was more paralyzing than he thought. His thoughts froze and he had no idea what to say. All words escaped him, and he took another swig from his drink to compensate for his silence.

Curse Garrett's perceptiveness. Luckily he was still in mid swallow so he could compose himself as much as he could. "Oh, yeah!" he said, rubbing his neck. "Had a bit of a rough day at work. I almost got bitten on the job again, this time by a human. Luckily I was with Herondale whose reflexes are close to unparalleled." He chuckled, inwardly thanking his ability to think on his feet. "And then I got knocked into a rather large mud puddle, which explains my lack of cleanliness right now." Yes, just keep them from guessing the real reason...

He looked back at Garrett, observing his friend. "And what about you, you look like you just won the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Draw." Though Garrett was normally calm and quieter – at least quieter than Ben – there was something different about him that made Ben want to smile.

  

[Ari Fisk]

"Must be," Ari put in, with an amused smile at Bax and Garrett. He'd clocked off close to on time, more like it; no doubt Bax had had an extra thing or two to wrap up, which accounted for his brief delay. "Busy day?" He asked Bax, as though that wasn't a given at the hospital. Ari probably could have waited an extra minute to walk over... but if he'd gone any slower, he didn't know that he would have worked up the nerve to come at all. And if the others hadn't arrived so soon - already there by the time their drinks had been poured - he might have thought of something to say to Ben. (But he hadn't, and he couldn't, the opportunity was gone.)

Instead, he felt a little lost. It took considerable effort not to allow his smile to melt away. Occupying himself by sliding Garrett and Bax's drinks towards them, Ari then started on his own: better not to look at Ben, better not to pay too much attention to whatever story he was telling. Was any of that rough day really what had taken its toll on Ben, or was it still all the result of that stupid mistake?

He looked curiously over at Garrett at Ben's last comment, grateful for the change of focus. Not that he wasn't usually cheerful - perhaps it was merely exaggerated by Ari's own internal melancholy - but Garrett did seem breezier than usual. He wondered if there was a particular reason. "How much did you win?" He tacked on with a laugh.

  

[Baxter Keene]

Bax accepted his drink gratefully, a wry smile tugging at his lips. Of course it had been a long day, what day wasn't long at the hospital, but it hadn't been particularly grueling either, he supposed. Even Ben's day seemed worse than his own- at least in physically; getting bitten and pushed into a mud puddle were not exactly bright spots in a dim day. In the end though, he just nodded, finding that whatever it was going on with Garrett or Ben to be far more interesting than anything he could contribute to the conversation- as was his usual mode of operation.

Truthfully he was so out of the loop on anything that didn't revolve around the hospital, he had to wonder just what his friends had been up to since they'd last come out for a drink. He was terrible at keeping up, though thankfully with this group they rarely held it against one another. They were all busy men with active professional lives (and some with personal ones), it was easy to let things get lost in the shuffle.

"Somebody has to have something more interesting going on that anything I could come up with." He added, looking around at his friends before raising his pint in cheers.

if this is going to die on my turn by any chance please skip me!

  

[Garrett Wallingford]

Garrett’s brows rose perceptibly at Ben’s story as he gratefully accepted his drink, throwing Ari a brief nod of thanks before turning back to his friend with an amused smile. “Rarely a dull workday with you, huh?,” he questioned teasingly before taking a sip of his drink. He honestly wasn’t sure if he believed Ben’s tale or not. Sure, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary -- Ben often found himself in some scruple or other (many that came with his job). But considering that even on a bad day, he rarely looked this disheveled, Garrett somewhat doubted that most of it was true, though he wasn’t about to query further if Ben was not willing to talk. Perhaps on another day when it was just the two of them.

He chuckled good-humouredly at Ben’s statement, knowing just how very right he was (for, in Garrett’s opinion, Aurelia accepting his hand was like winning the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Draw -- albeit without the large sum of money). Looks like he wasn’t the only one being perceptive tonight! “I do have some good news to share tonight, actually,” Garrett announced to the group, looking around at all of them, a broad smile threatening to break out across his lips. “I proposed to Miss Herondale about two days ago, and she made me the happiest of men by saying yes.” This time the smile really did break out on his face. It was the first time he had actually said it out loud -- and to his best mates, no less! -- and Garrett couldn’t deny that he was very happy about it. Aurelia was, undoubtedly, the love of his life, and he was going to marry her -- and it thrilled him.

Words: 286 | Tag: GABB