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[ripetere]

[ Ten o'clock. Finally, his shift was over. He tossed his black staff shirt with SECURITY emblazoned in bold white letters across the back onto the table in the closet that passed for a break room, and dug his cigarettes out of a jacket pocket. Most nights he'd be working until the club closed, but he'd agreed to come in early today to do set up for an event. A guest DJ or some shit - he wasn't paid to care about those details, he was paid to lift heavy objects, break up bar fights, and turn away teenagers with fake IDs.

Normally he'd just head home for the night - the music wasn't to his taste, and he had woken up with a headache that hadn't ever quite subsided. But... Bruno was here. Had showed up with an entourage of beautiful women barely half an hour ago, even. Leone knew it was weird and creepy of him to stick around just to watch a stranger, but... a little while wouldn't hurt. Enough to have a cigarette or two. Then he'd leave.

He slipped out of the breakroom, and made his way through the wall of noise and people to reach the back patio doors. There was a decent view of most of the bar from back here, and while there were a few other people having a smoke it was still relatively quiet this time of night.]

Comments

[ripetere]

[ Leone could feel his face heating again, not helped in the slightest by the few sips he'd had of his drink on his way back outside. Usually he wasn't this transparent, but it seemed like Bruno could see right through him.] I- yeah.

[ His awkwardness wasn't the only reason - everything he touched fell apart, and Bruno didn't deserve that - but it was part of it. ]

[zippermom]

In that case, I'm sorry for making you wait. I'm not really used to this, myself.

[He didn't usually find himself in the position of making a first move. People came to him, and he let things go from there... Very rarely did he find himself truly wanting something enough to pursue it. But this... This he wanted. Even if it was just getting to know him a little better, and he wished he'd done something sooner.]

[ripetere]

[ Leone glanced up again, clearly confused, before Bruno's words fully penetrated the fog of his anxiety. ]

What? No - I mean, you don't have apologize. You're not the one being weird about this.

[zippermom]

[He takes a sip of his drink, and laughs quietly.]

I probably am. I know exactly where my lighter is, after all.

[It's at least a little silly that he needed the pretext, he figures.]

So we're both bad at this. It's okay.

[ripetere]

[ There was a moment of confusion before Leone grasped what Bruno meant, and then it was replaced by a small smile. He was pretty sure Bruno was, at the very least, a more socially acceptable sort of weird - bad pick-up lines were the stuff of mainstream fiction, after all - but he appreciated the attempt. ]

Let's try this again, then. [ He took a deep swallow of his drink, relishing the warm burn as it went down, and then offered Bruno his hand.] Leone Abbaccio.

[zippermom]

[That tiny smile was enough, he thought, to make all this awkwardness worth it. He returned it with one of his own as he shook Leone's hand.]

Bruno Buccellati. It's good to finally meet you, Leone.

[ripetere]

It's good to meet you, too. [ There was an awkward pause as Leone struggled to find a follow-up. He'd managed to steer the conversation away from his myriad flaws, but that didn't make small-talk easy. What the fuck did normal people talk about, anyway? ]

So - gonna guess being a model is probably less glamorous than it looks? [ Work was... probably a safe subject? ]

[zippermom]

[He took a healthy swallow of his drink as cover while he tried to think up a response more appropriate than slightly manic laughter. It wasn't Leone's fault, he had no way of knowing.]

I guess that depends on your expectations. Sometimes it can be, but I'm not really at that level.

[ripetere]

Mm. [ That was probably true of a lot of jobs - it certainly had been true of being a police officer. ]

You like it, though?

[zippermom]

[Well, that was a loaded question, one with answers he wasn't about to spill out to someone he'd just met. Or anyone, really, if he was honest. Instead, he focused on keeping a pleasantly neutral expression, to go with an equally neutral reply.]

I've been doing it for a long time now. And it has its perks.

[He definitely wouldn't have been able to afford half his wardrobe otherwise, for one.]

[ripetere]

There's always that. [ Leone could finally start to feel the buzz of the alcohol - he drank for a lot of reasons, but right now, it was to dampen the part of him that was painfully self-aware of every little awkward thing he did or said. As a result, he actually said what came to mind, rather than trying to find some generic pleasantry, even if it didn't necessarily show him in the best light. ]

Ana gives me free drinks sometimes 'cause I'm willing to taste-test whatever her newest invention is. [ Which was always a crapshoot in terms of drinkability, but free booze was free booze]

[zippermom]

[Well, that was... not entirely surprising, given what Leone had chosen to drink for the evening, and Bruno couldn't really even judge, since he very rarely paid for anything he drank between his friends and industry functions, but he wasn't sure exactly what to think of that admission.]

Ana... that's the bartender, I take it?

[He was learning all sorts of things about the club tonight, if nothing else.]

[ripetere]

Mm. Sometimes we hang out after closing up. [ Which was maybe a little sad, but he'd never had much of a social life, even before everything went to shit. ]

Guess that's another perk, at least to me - I prefer working nights.

[zippermom]

She seems nice.

[Not the he's had much in the way of real interaction outside the usual, but he'd never had an unpleasant experience, either.]

Not much of a morning person, I take it?

[ripetere]

[ Leone was buzzed enough that the half-smile he gave Bruno was entirely genuine.]

Mornings are things that happen to other people. Ideally, anyway.

[ Police training had been hell for that reason alone. These days, he was usually only awake before noon if he hadn't gone to sleep yet.]

[zippermom]

[[He couldn't help but laugh a little at the sentiment, he certainly understood it, even if he didn't share it.]

I kind of like them. Things are... quieter. It can be nice.

[Some of his fondness was definitely nostalgia, he realized, but feelings like that seemed worth holding on to.]

[ripetere]

[ Leone nodded, and swirled the remains of his grappa thoughtfully. ] Yeah, when you're awake and the rest of the world isn't, yet... 'course, that usually means I haven't gone to sleep yet, rather than the other way around.

[zippermom]

Hmm. I enjoy that, too, sometimes. Especially with the right company.

[It wasn't the same as waking early, didn't have the same associations, but it would be a lie to pretend he was always responsible. Far from it, really.]

[ripetere]

[ That caught Leone a little off-guard. Was Bruno flirting with him? He was always terrible at figuring these things out - but he was probably reading too much into it. After all, why would Bruno be flirting with him? ]

It's usually just me - but I can see how company would be nice.

[zippermom]

[Bruno smiled a little over the edge of his glass before he finished off his drink]

You should definitely try it some time.

[ripetere]

[...Maybe Bruno was flirting with him? The alcohol was starting to have an effect on him, and his mouth moved before the rest of his brain caught up.]

Was that an invitation?

[ A second later, he realized what he'd just said, and turned away, blushing.]

Oh God, pretend I didn't say that.

[zippermom]

[Bruno had no intention of following that request, instead he reached out and rested his hand lightly on Leone's forearm, hoping it wouldn't scare him off. He seemed a little bit... Flustered.]

It is, if you want it to be. ... I hope you do.

[ripetere]

[ Leone started, but didn't pull away from Bruno's touch. He stared at the other man in obvious surprise, cheeks still slightly flushed from embarrassment.]

What? I mean- yes, but... why?

[ People flirting with him wasn't a completely alien concept, but those people weren't Bruno. ]

[zippermom]

[Bruno's slightly inebriated brain cheerfully supplied a whole host of answers to that line of questioning, none of which were probably appropriate to say if he actually wanted Leone to keep associating with him. He settled for raising his eyebrows slightly and going with the simplest explanation, instead.]

Because I want to? There seems to be some mutual attraction here, it would be silly to ignore that.

[Besides, Leone was tall, and pretty in a goth sort of way, and Bruno really wanted to know him better.]

[ripetere]

[ Leone could feel a sinking dread in his stomach - something was going to go wrong. Something always went wrong, for him. ]

Anyone in this club would be happy to go home with you and... you'd pick me? [ The disbelief in his voice was tempered with something that might be awe ]