What began in the dark

Lucian had always been a creature of the night. So it came as no surprise that he found himself completely at home in the darkness, casually lounged against the brick wall of his local bar. The flickering of a distant street lamp was so dim that the embers of Lucian’s cigarette cast a red glow over his pale skin with each drag. 

On the other side of the wall, the bar was humming. The music cranked so loud the walls pulsed with the base of the current song. It wasn’t a song Lucian would have chosen, he much preferred 80s rock to the strange electric sound that passed for music these days. But it wasn’t the DJ that had caught Lucian’s interest, had kept him coming back night after night. The reason he could regularly be found smoking right by the staff entrance… No, that alone was the fault of a particular dark haired bartender.

With a familiar creak the door beside him was pushed open. But the man who emerged, though also sporting dark hair, was not the one Lucian sought. 

“Shit,” the man exclaimed when he realised he wasn’t alone, “I didn’t see you there.”

Lucian shrugged, took another long drag of his cigarette before offering the box to his new acquaintance. 

“Thanks,” the guy said politely as he accepted, placing the dart between his plump lips.

“Wanna light?” Lucian asked in a husky drawl.

The man nodded as Lucian held up a flame. He held it between them, sheltering it from the night’s wind. The man had to lean in close enough for Lucian to see the faded bruise circling his eye.

“What’s your name?” Lucian asked as the guy stepped back, cigarette lit.

“What’s yours?”

“Lucian,” he replied, running his free hand through his bleached blonde hair, “or just Luci.”

“I’m Kai.”

“What happened to your face?” Lucian asked boldly.

“Jesus,” Kai snorted, pausing to inhale, “you sure don’t care about asking the big questions do you?”

“Well, I’m not here to fuck spiders,” Lucian replied, pleased to be given the opportunity to use the phrase. It was one he’d learnt from an Australian friend and ever since had enjoyed saying, just to see the expressions on the faces of those who had never come across it before.

Kai’s expression had been just as priceless, his shaved brows were furrowed and his lips had parted in the shape of a surprised ‘o’. 

Lucian felt his lips curling upward into a smile, revealing his small teeth, “you gonna answer me or what?”

Kai seemed to consider this momentarily, taking in the appearance of this blonde haired, tattooed stranger, “my ex,” was his reply.

Lucian exhaled empathetically, “fuck.”

Kai nodded, “fuck.”

“You leave him or did he leave you?”

Kai turned his head to look directly at Lucian, “again with the personal questions!”

Lucian shrugged unapologetically.

“And why would you just assume I’m gay?”

Lucian now turned to face Kai, their eyes locking in the darkness.

“You’re kidding me right?” Lucian asked, as he gestured at Kai’s eyebrowless forehead and moved his hand down past his see-through mesh singlet, past his practically sprayed on black jeans to his heel covered feet.

Kai smiled, “I’m kidding with you.”

Lucian snorted his amusement.

“I broke up with him,” Kai answered, his voice lowering with the intimacy of his words, “but he broke me first.”

“You ok now?” Lucian persisted, of all the questions he’d posed, he found this to be the most personal.

Kai considered his response, smoke exhaled slowly from between his lips, “time will tell,” he replied.

Kai’s expression turned suddenly inward, he shivered as though the temperature had just dropped ten degrees. He looked longingly towards the door that would lead back to his friends. Lucian watched as he dropped his half-finished cigarette and crushed it beneath the toe of his high heel.

“I’m going back inside,” he stated, reaching for the doorhandle, as he turned it he looked over his shoulder at Lucian, “are you coming?”

Lucian raised his eyes slowly, questioningly.

“It’s nearly time for close. A few of us stay back after we’ve kicked out all the patrons to play a round of pool,” Kai explained, “you’re welcome to join us.”

Lucian paused, thinking the offer through, then stubbed his own cigarette against the bricks, “it’s not like I have anything better to do,” he admitted before following Kai inside.

Just an hour later Lucian found himself seated on a bar stool, drink in hand, wondering what sort of messed up closing ritual he’d stumbled into. The bar had been cleared, leaving the few souls who constituted this motley chosen family to begin their early, very early, morning routine.

The now vacated bar stools had been dragged to form a semi-circle around the pool table. Where four, very serious looking competitors were preparing for what seemed like the game of their lives.

“Why so serious?” Lucian whispered to the girl seated beside him, the only girl in the room and ironically her name was Beau.

“It doesn’t start out this way,” Beau admitted, “you’ve just come in at the end of the season. You see, whatever team wins tonight is going to get into the grand final against Alessandro and Jem.”

The girl pointed to the other side of the circle where the bar’s fair skinned DJ sat beside a well-muscled gym rat.

“They knocked Noah and I out last Saturday,” Beau continued.

The blonde haired boy, Noah, settled on Beau’s other side leant forward to nod at Lucian, confirming his friend’s story.

“So tonight’s a big deal,” Noah summarised, “it’ll either be Kai and Rommy or Izzy and Stace.”

Lucian hummed his understanding before turning his attention back to the game. He knew who he’d be cheering for. With the attractive bartender and his friend from outside on the same team, the choice was obvious.

“Alright Iz,” Stacey encouraged, “let’s get this show on the road.”

Releasing a pent up breath Izzy cracked his neck, first to the left, then to the right, before he stepped into position. With one fluid motion Izzy released his hold on the cue, efficiently sending the cue ball into the coloured cluster.

Already Lucian could tell this was a past time regularly engaged in.

But on Izzy’s next shot, a lapse in concentration lead to an ill positioned strike. The cue ball rolled around the full table without hitting a single ball.

“How is that even possible?” Stacey laughed, unable to maintain the serious charade.

“Shut it Tracey,” Izzy replied in mock annoyance as he pulled his shirt over his head to reveal the malnourished chest of someone who consumed more cigarettes than solid food, “Jesus, I hate this game!”

“You’re the one who made up this rule!” Stacey exclaimed, pointing a finger accusingly at Izzy’s translucent torso.

“That wasn’t me mama,” Izzy defended himself quickly, “it was Jem, he’s the only one of us who’d want to show off like that. I can see his muscles from here!”

Across the room Jem was blushing, “Iz, it was definitely you.”

“You’re making this shit up!” Izzy accused them, pretending to attack Stacey with his discarded t-shirt. 

“Uh,” Lucian sounded, his eyes widening with momentary shock at the appearance of a half-naked man.

Across the room Alessandro had spotted his expression, “no one tell you this was strip pool?” the DJ asked, the carefree grin of an overly attractive millennial plastered across his pretty face.

“I guess it must have slipped their mind,” Lucian replied, eyes flicking over to Kai who shrugged non-apologetically.

“It’s pretty simple,” Beau hurried to fill Lucian in, “you foul, you lose an item of clothing.”

Lucian nodded approvingly, he suddenly found himself willing to support the opposing team.

By now Kai had already landed two successful shots before succumbing to a foul and wriggling his way out of his mesh singlet. His six pack was almost enough to detract from the fading bruises that mapped their way across his skin… Almost.

Stacey turned out to be a better shot that Lucian would have expected from his attire, he dressed like he’d fit in better on a southern ranch than at the local gay bar. A succession of four successful shots ended with Stacey removing his cap to reveal his bald head. He made sure to place the cap on Beau’s head with clear instructions, “don’t lose it.”

No matter how many times Stacey insisted he didn’t feel self-conscious about being bald at thirty, the amount of times he reached up to touch his head whenever his hat was removed told his friends otherwise.

Beside Lucian, whose attention was focused on Rommy as he stepped forward to take his first shot, Beau secured the cap on her smaller head by pulling her red ponytail through the back.

“Don’t laugh at me bitch!” Rommy scolded Kai, who was smiling on the other side of the table, “I haven’t even started.”

As soon as Rommy moved into position it became clear to Lucian, why his partner was unable to keep a straight face. Rommy’s gangly legs seemed unwilling to bend in the right places, forcing him to hunch over the table like a knock-kneed dinosaur with arms far too long for the rest of its body. Any previous ideas about the man’s grace became a confirmed delusion, which Lucian found all the more endearing.

“Fuck,” Rommy cursed. As soon as the cue hit the ball he knew he’d muffed his shot. 

The white ball rolled forward a painstaking thirty centimetres before grinding to a halt.

“Romeo!” Kai sighed affectionately.

“You homos are going down!” Izzy declared, turning to Stacey he leant forward, “a kiss between winners?”

“We haven’t won yet!” Stacey stated, rolling his eyes before obliging with his friend’s wishes, placing a gentle peck on Izzy’s puckered lips.

“You’re all a bunch of arseholes!” Rommy complained, he’d always been a sore loser, as he shrugged out of his shirt, “but I don’t need you, I’ve got a new friend now.”

He sauntered his way towards Lucian, practically flinging himself into the other man’s arms. Lucian caught him, but nearly at the expense of falling off the stool. Righting themselves Rommy remained inside the circle of Lucian’s arms, his hands pressed to the bare skin of his back.

“You’re not laughing at me, are you Luci?”

Lucian felt his breath catch in his throat as he stared into Rommy’s dark eyes. The moment of fun was replaced by something else as Rommy began to feel it too. A growing sense of attraction, the start of something special.

And with that, Romeo knew he’d found his next Juliet.