2300 hours, The Closet.


Virgil lit another cigarette and unbuttoned his cardigan, as it was starting to get a little too warm in the club. He had his back to the bar and was leaning against the counter with all the energy of a sedated cat. People were dancing. It was a Friday night and something with a tasteless amount of synth was booming in the air. What was he doing here?

Running into Sasha and Nick last month[1] had been bad enough. He couldn't spot either of those wizards tonight, however, nor anyone else he knew well enough to accost. Just the odd familiar face from quiz night or school.

Ah. Virgil glanced along the bar, at the pairs and trios lining it. He recognised the Auror sitting alone at the end: not by name but from seeing him in the Ministry lifts every now and again. Tall, dark and handsome. Nothing at all like Cepheus, at least on the surface. Perfect. Virgil flicked a bit of ash and pushed off the counter, approaching the other wizard.

"Hey," he slid next to him with a simple nod. "Bad day on level two, or is this just another Friday?" Virgil nodded at the man's drink, red mouth easing into a precocious smile.

1.	Fancy Meeting You Here  - 1st August

It had been a long week. Getting back into working after almost six months away had taken more time than Omari had thought it would. He was super happy to be back, it wasn’t that, but he had gotten so accustomed to not having to get up in the morning to get to work. He hadn’t had a time like that since Lucas passed away, and devoting the time to catching up with paperwork didn’t help.

The week had seemed to move at a glacial pace and, even though him being an Auror meant he rarely worked Monday to Friday, he had been longing for the weekend since Tuesday. If someone had asked him why he wouldn’t have been able to answer - he had nothing planned. Just to get out of the office and throw back a few strong ones.

With the bland and boring work that the week had consisted of, his mind had started to wander and had decided to focus on Lucas. It rarely bode well, and for the life of him he could never understand why he always focused on the night of his murder or his funeral, and not on all the happy times they’ve had together. It always went down the dark path and made him angry and upset to the point where drinking was the only way to soothe his dangerous thoughts. And it had now been over six years and he still couldn’t get over it.

This was the reason he was currently sat at the bar at the Closet, lightly gripping his fifth tankard of beer in his hand. He came here from time to time when he wanted to make his thoughts go away, and maybe find someone to take his mind off of his dead ex. It usually ended badly, him disapparating from whomever’s house he ended up in as soon as he finished what he had come for. And ever morning after he always blamed it on him being too drunk to realise what he was doing. And every morning after he fell for his own lies.

“Hey.”

A voice made him look up from his drink. A young wizard was standing next to him, cigarette in hand and with a precocious smile on his face. In his drunken haze Omari could swear he had seen the boy before, but couldn’t quite place him. With half closed eyes he eyed the wizard up and down.

“Bad day on level two, or is this just another Friday?”

“Bad week, more like it,” Omari grunted, taking a sip of his beer. “Are ye not a wee bit too young to be in here?”

Stood this close next to the Auror, he realised with a tinge of apprehension that the man had at least a good seven inches on him in addition to being a lot more fit. Virgil was slender in comparison, a frame honed to be dressed for willowy roles on the stage. Far from frail but not exactly substantial. He didn't let this dissuade him.

            “Bad week, more like it,” the other wizard replied, not very encouraging.

Virgil took a long drag from his cigarette and cast his mind out to see if he could catch a few thoughts. If someone wanted to be left alone, he'd leave them alone. What confronted him was less straightforward - loss, frustration, a destructive routine aimed at trying to forget.

Forget, forget what? A name rose from his subconscious. Lucas...his dead ex. Oh.

            “Are ye not a wee bit too young to be in here?”
"I'm old enough," came the knee-jerk reply, smoke escaping with his words.

Alright, perhaps he could work with this. They were both here to distract themselves and to forget someone. They had similar aims. Virgil turned slightly, cocking his hip to the side as he spoke. "You can end your week on a good note," he arched a blonde eyebrow. "I'm told I leave a good aftertaste. Virgil Carstairs, by the way."

          “I’m old enough.”

Omari eyed the youngster up and down, and by his estimation the boy must’ve just graduated from Hogwarts that summer. It made him quite surprised, how bold and forward this young wizard was, coming up to someone like Omari. He knew how he looked - with his broad shoulders and booming voice - but generally he compensated with a big warm smile and welcoming words. Not today though. When he was in this state he almost became the opposite of what he usually was, with his brows set low over his dark eyes.

          “You can end your week on a good note. I’m told I have a good aftertaste. Virgil Carstairs, by the way.”

Omari scoffed a little at the statement. He sure was bold, this Virgil. In a sober state he would probably have thought the wizard full of himself, but right now he was kind of into it. He gave Virgil a nod, and an almost unnoticeable smile.

“Omari,” he replied, turning slightly on his chair and raising his glass towards Virgil. “What brings a wee lad like yerself to the Closet then?”

He didn't want to give his full name, not here. In fact, he had never gave his full name when he met strangers in bars - you never knew who was listening.

By the way the other man was appraising him, Virgil supposed that his age was being pegged just right. It didn't matter. He was old enough and he wasn't like Schlawkward, ever the blushing virgin. His experiences weren't wide but they were at least substantial enough for him to know what he was doing. As far as he could tell.

Omari turned his attention more fully to their conversation, so Virgil slipped on to the bar stool next to him, smug at the interest his bluster had drawn. And it earned him a name!

            "What brings a wee lad like yerself to the Closet then?"

He only barely stopped himself from bluntly saying sex. That was too upfront and he was a little afraid that Omari might take him at face value right away. Instead, he toasted the beer with his cigarette.

"I was bored." Virgil shrugged, crossing his legs and leaning sideways against the bar counter like a languid cat. "There's nothing worse than being bored is there? You don't look boring," he held Omari's gaze as if that were a great compliment. "What brings tall, dark and handsome to a place like this?"

A glance at the glass tankard, even though he already knew the answer. "Is it just the drink or...?"

Tall, dark and handsome. He had been called that before, many times, and usually it always made him feel slightly uncomfortable. He never saw himself as someone who people found handsome, and always brushed it off slightly embarrassed. But in this situation, intoxicated and with a clearly interested young and beautiful wizard in front of him, Omari took it in a completely different way, and an almost predatorial smile crept across his lips.

          ”Is it just the drink or…?”

“Aye,” Omari replied, taking another mouthful of the beer. “Just for the drink.”

It was a lie, but Omari was sure Virgil would never be able to tell.

As the two were now sitting next to each other, and with Virgil’s ever growing instance in the Scottish wizard, Omari rearranged his position a little, making sure his leg brushed against the other wizard’s. He was going to go subtle at first, as he wasn’t entirely sure how Virgil would take the advance.

“So, Virgil,” Omari said, looking into the youngster’s eyes. “Do ye get bored often?”

He felt a vague flutter of nervousness in the pit of his stomach when Omari smiled at him like that.

Virgil told himself that this was why he had come here, this was exactly what he wanted and he needed to grow the hell up by seeing it through. Taking in another swallow of smoke, his breath stuttered slightly when their legs brushed. And then he very deliberately shifted his knee towards the older wizard so that they properly touched.

"Oh, yes. Very often." Virgil pushed out his lower lip into something like a pout, "I'm clever. Clever people are always bored when there's nothing to occupy them."

His prattling was delivered without much thought, used as he was to talking shit with Slytherins. A little ego could be attractive. It made people want to shut you up in pleasurable ways. He eyed Omari carefully in the meantime - lying about brooding, that meant he was interested in something more tonight.

"May I? I like to try new things," he reached for Omari's beer but the other wizard pulled it back, causing Virgil to look up in slight surprise. "Please?" Their fingers grazed as the tankard was relinquished[1]. Virgil sipped and immediately pulled a face, eyes squeezing shut. "I don't think I'm a beer person."

His gaze turned itself back to the matter at hand, speculative. He pressed his knee into Omari's thigh and leaned in conspiratorially.  "Perhaps you can find something else to occupy me with?"

1.	With Niklas' permission!

Virgil seemed to be a bit full of himself, the way he spoke. Omari arched an eyebrow as the younger wizard spoke, trying to peg him down. He wasn’t sure about which house he had been in, but it wasn’t Hufflepuff. No Hufflepuff thar Omari knew would have spoken like that. Normally it would have put Omari off, but in this instance it was almost a bit attractive.

As Virgil reached for his beer Omari instinctively pulled his tankard back. That was one thing about him - he liked his drink a little too much, and wouldn’t let anyone just have it. The younger wizard’s ‘please’ made him finally release it. They were playing a game of cat and mouse at this point, and Omari knew that he had to let Virgil have some of his beer if he wanted to play along.
The face Virgil pulled made Omari chuckle.

“Have ye never had beer before, lad?” he asked, amused. “Yer probably never tried proper Scottish ale then?”

He took his tankard back and took a swig as Virgil pressed his knee into Omari’s thigh and asked the risque question. It almost made Omari choke on his drink. Yes, he had understood that this lad was very forward and had come for one thing, but he hadn’t expected that he’d do it with such force. Putting the tankard down, Omari smiled at the young man and leaned in so that his mouth was inches from from Virgil’s ear.

“I could show ye things ye’d never even dreamt about,” he breathed in his deepest, most seductive tone.

            "Have ye never had beer before, lad? Yer probably never tried proper Scottish ale then?"

"Only in cooking," he shrugged and glanced at the tankard with a thoughtful scowl. It might taste better in a pot of lamb stew. "I drink wine." And whisky, and shots. Virgil couldn't even picture himself going down to the pub for a beer of all things.

He wasn't as widely lived as he liked to pretend. The pretending helped other people take him seriously - he was an actor, wasn't he? Sometimes you just needed to act confident so that you could feel confident enough to get away with almost anything. Which was why he stopped himself from flinching when Omari leaned in much closer than expected. His breath as he spoke was warm, tempting.

Oh. Virgil leaned back, crossing his legs as something like excitement dropped just a smidge lower than the pit of his stomach. He blushed and looked Omari straight in the eye.

"I think you're severely underestimating the breadth of my dreams." Virgil took a final drag of his cigarette, burning it out completely. "There's only one way to find out for certain though, isn't there?" he put out the bud in an ashtray on the counter.

He knew right then that he had found what he came fishing for in The Closet. And how lucky, for it to take the form and fervour of a wizard  like Omari.