Proper restroom etiquette

[patrick_koster]

He doesn't look up when the door opens and the drawled, "hey," startles him a little. He looks up - absently thinking that it's not proper restroom etiquette to greet people - when he sees a slightly familiar face.

Comments

[patrick_koster]

After leaving the restroom, Patrick tries to act normal, tries to control his breathing and focus on getting his arse out of there before he snaps again. Doesn't make it out without one of the waitresses stopping him for a chat, and he sees the look on her face when he all but ignores her. Once outside he takes a deep breath and then it hits him, realizes what happened, what he did. And wonders: what will Brendan think?

[stormybrendan]

"What's up with Patrick?" young Lucy says, her tray of glasses clinking noisily as she pushes it onto the bar. "Anyone'd think I'd told him he had the plague the way he just brushed me off!" Brendan looked up and frowned. Lucy could be a bit trying with her constant chatter, but Patrick didn't usually let that bother him. He shook his head, looking around for the man.

"He's hightailed it out the kitchen," she said pointedly, jerking her head toward the still slightly swinging door. As he's looking toward the doors indicated one's pushed open a little and Sam's head appears. The look on the man's face was enough to draw Brendan's attention and he puts the bottle he has in his hand back up on the shelf and makes his way toward the kitchen. Sam's holding the door for him, and without a word jerks his head toward the door out into the lane. Brendan opens it and steps outside, looking from one side to the other before he sees Patrick.

"You OK?"

[patrick_koster]

Expecting Brendan to probably come and find him, isn't the same as hearing the man's voice and Patrick almost cringes when he does. "No," he breathes without looking at Brendan: if even a small part of how he's feeling is reflected on his face he'd really rather Brendan didn't see it.

[stormybrendan]

Brendan let the door close behind him as he stepped out into the dark lane.

"What's up?"

[patrick_koster]

He doesn't look at Brendan, doesn't register that his hands are still curled into fists, his jaw clenched tight in anger. Shaking his head, he tries not to give into the rage that's running through his veins, making the simple act of speaking seem almost impossible.

[stormybrendan]

The frown on Brendan's face deepened when he saw the stiffness in Patrick's body. He reached a hand out, putting it on the man's shoulder.

"Patrick? What happened?"

[patrick_koster]

Patrick flinched noticeably and could just stop himself from stepping away from Brendan's touch. "I could've killed him," he finally said in a low, distant voice. And he would have if he hadn't gotten out of there when he did and probably would if Roy were to show his face again.

[stormybrendan]

It was almost like a punch in the gut when Patrick flinched, but Brendan didn't take his hand away.

"Who?" He moved his hand up Patrick's shoulder till it was resting at the junction of neck and shoulder where he gripped it. "Who, Patrick?"

[patrick_koster]

"That fucking cunt - Roy." Just saying the man's name out loud was enough to make his stomach turn.

[stormybrendan]

Brendan's look of surprise was quickly squashed. The man had seemed harmless enough. True, he hadn't really said hello to him this night, seeing he was deep in conversation with a friend at the bar.

"What the hell happened?"

[patrick_koster]

If he'd been thinking rationally he'd know that the brunt of his anger wasn't directed at Roy but at himself, yet right now that wasn't registering: right now he wanted to kill Roy and was beginning to regret he hadn't already. "Nothing happened. Well, other than me punching his lights out, that's all, really" Patrick said very calmly.

[stormybrendan]

"Oh, right then. Well, that's a relief." He still didn't take his hand off Patrick's shoulder.

"What'd he do?" he asked quietly.

[patrick_koster]

"Try to force himself on me - " The words came out sounding an awful lot like a question instead of stating a face like he'd intended to. Or hadn't he?

[stormybrendan]

Brendan's body stiffened at Patrick's words. His hand tightened on his shoulder for a split second before he managed to ease it.

"Right," he answered simply. His lips narrowed as he bit back a muttered curse. His hand made it round to Patrick's neck finally and with great restraint he managed to relax his muscles enough to massage, not grip it.

[patrick_koster]

"I shouldn't have hit him though," Patrick said quietly, almost as if he was talking to himself. "Should've fucking killed him instead."

He closed his eyes and shook his head, ignoring the nausea that had him feeling like he was about to throw up any second now and reminding himself that Roy had been the one at fault and he himself had done, well, the right thing, really.

"I said no - " And there it was again, his voice sounding as if he were asking Brendan a question. He'd said no hadn't he?

[stormybrendan]

Brendan listened, his fingers stilling on Patrick's neck as the man spoke.

"Course you did," he told him with conviction. "Stupid bastard said he had trouble keepin' it in his pants when he was pissed." He grimaced as he also remembered Roy's reactions to seeing Brendan. "And seems the guy was havin' it off with Jason," he added, a touch of wry bitterness in his voice. The man had been scarce since Patrick's beating, and both Brendan and Patrick had questioned the value of Jason's 'mates' to him.

"So the poor bastard's got a pretty poor track record," he added, as if trying to make excuses. He wanted to hug Patrick, but wasn't sure it was what Patrick wanted right now, someone touching him like that. Instead he gave his lover a reassuring squeeze as his fingers resumed their gentle kneading of muscles, taut with tension.