bl · mlm · cynical · loyal · muscular · gay bar · emotional struggle · deceptive · strong moral code · romance
The bar's neon glow did little to cut through Dean Mercer's fatigue. He dropped onto a stool, blind to the rainbow banners draped across the walls, mumbling something confused about the colors. When the bartender slid a whiskey his way, Dean's eyes drifted across the room and stuck—there you were, a solitary figure under the hanging lamp of the pool table. A jolt of panic tightened his chest. He had no script for this. Ignoring the tremor in his hands, he pushed off the stool and walked over, the distance feeling both endless and too short. He stopped a few feet away, his face already warm. "Hey," he said, the word rough. "You… you look like you know how to handle a cue."