wanted a woman. never bargained for you
Author: Nathalia
Rating: PG-13
Challenge: Creamsicle #17 - acceptance
Extras / Toppings: peaches (Tonight’s connections are relatively superficial, so keep it casual), pineapple (Led Zeppelin - Dazed and Confused: Been dazed and confused for so long, it’s not true / wanted a woman, never bargained for you / lotsa people talking, few of them know)
Word Count: 1,069
Story: Misfits
Summary: Wes tries to break things off with Hobbie. It’s not the first or last time.
Notes: a rather grim, straight-forward Wes story. Where did my lighthearted cowboy go? Hobbie, you ruined him! This is about four months after they first slept with each other and Wes has his qualms about it.
Honestly, this felt awkward to me somehow. I don’t know why. Hobbie seems so detached.
The Archer was busy and Wes looked around as soon as they entered, hoping to spot someone to talk to. In the past, well, up until a few weeks ago, he had come here in the evenings with the expectation to pick someone up for the night. He was successful enough for the regular patrons to know him and respect that he was a ladies’ man like no other.
Today, he walked past the greeting waitress, Sarah, a tall, rail-thin blonde, and straight to Hobbie who was sitting in the back of the bar by himself with an Indian Pale Ale on the table in front of him.
Hobbie wasn’t necessarily who Wes had been looking for but at the same time, who but Hobbie could he talk with about this … thing? There were already enough rumors about it as it was and Wes knew that there was no need to add fuel to the fire.
He slipped into the seat next to Hobbie who didn’t even nod in acknowledgement and Barb, one of the waitresses, was right behind him.
“Hey,” she smiled broadly at him. She was a curvy dark haired woman who had no qualms about showing off her body and felt comfortably in it even though some might have said that she could lose a few pounds. Wes liked her, had slept with her a few times. She was fun and knew that it was a casual arrangement. “We got a small shipment of your favorite Spotted Cow. Want one?”
Wes returned the smile and nodded. He was such a frequent guest at the Archer that they made an effort to have one of his new favorite beers available whenever possible. Tom, a Wisconsinite, had first introduced Wes to his home state’s beer and the Archer had initially started to get it for Tom since it wasn’t really sold outside Wisconsin.
“Barb wouldn’t mind going home with you tonight,” Hobbie manifested himself. “She’s asked me if you were coming tonight twice already and she ran off while taking an order to follow you and offer you that Spotted Cow.”
Wes felt a little bit of satisfaction rise up within him. He liked knowing that women wanted him and Barb was a great girl. He might take her up on the offer later but now, it was time to talk to Hobbie about serious business.
“This … us … whatever it is, has to stop.” He forced the words out, uncomfortable to even talk about it. It had been happening recently, for the past four months or so, but he had decided that he needed to put a stop to it now. He was a normal man; he liked women and they liked him. Whatever had been going on between him and Hobbie made no sense at all and it was just wrong.
Hobbie shrugged. “The way I remember it, you usually come to my room in the middle of the night, so I can’t really do anything about it. If you want to sleep with me, I won’t protest; I quite enjoy it, so if you want to stop this, it’s entirely up to you.”
Wes hated that Hobbie had no difficulty at all talking about it. He wanted to grab the other man by the shoulders and shake some sense into him. Men were not supposed to sleep with other men. It was unnatural. He had learned so all his life and even if Hobbie didn’t think there was anything wrong with it, that wasn’t true for Wes.
Barb came back with Wes’ Spotted Cow and they exchanged a few words, mostly flirting. He was playing easy to get tonight and if Barb was making it easy on him, it was even better. He didn’t want to be alone tonight because there was a danger to be by himself. That usually caused him to end up at Hobbie’s and that was something he was working on avoiding all together.
“So, you’re okay with it?” Wes asked after taking a gulp of his beer.
Hobbie rolled his eyes. “Listen, Wes, I know there isn’t too much emotion attached to this for either of us and you’re the biggest man whore I’ve ever met, so do whatever you want to. I’m not the one coming after you and you know that.”
That was the only good thing about it. There were no emotions attached to it. They were partners and friends and those little escapades didn’t damage their friendship or make Hobbie think that Wes wanted more which would of course be outrageous anyway. He was a hot-blooded, straight male!
Shortly after the sex, Barb had already fallen asleep, her deep breathing the only noise in the dark.
Wes was lying in bed next to her, thinking. The sex had been good but nothing special, and he hadn’t been able to shake the thought of Hobbie throughout most of it which was disturbing. He should not be thinking about a man while he was having sex. What was up with him and what was Hobbie doing to him that he couldn’t focus on the present during sex?
There were humorous rumors going around the ICU that Wes had a tiny crush on Hobbie because they had gotten so close since they had come back from Antarctica but after Wes had exploded and yelled at everybody about it, they had assured him that it was a joke, that they all knew he loved women and that that would never change. They still teased him with it sometimes but he pretended not to hear it. It only made things worse.
With a sigh, he got out of bed. There was no point to denying it. Not really. He found his pants in the dark and got them on before leaving the room. It was late already and so he didn’t have to worry about meeting anyone in the hallway.
When he entered the other room, it was already dark and he thought he could hear Hobbie’s soft snoring. In a swift move, he got undressed and climbed into bed in front of Hobbie, not waking him up, just closing his eyes and letting sleep overcome him. For some reason, it felt so much better to fall asleep here with Hobbie and that was okay. They were friends and it was okay for Wes to enjoy Hobbie’s presence.