the same black line that was drawn on you was drawn on me

[Dakota Choi]

It wasn't like he was even hanging out at some popping club or some shit. Actually, he was hanging out in the Night Owl, which was a little quieter than Kota's sensibilities. It had good food--he had some appetizer platter and a plain beer in front of him while he waited impatiently for his best friend to show up.

Dakota hated being alone. There used to be a time where it was all he wanted. He'd been one of those emotionally fucked guys who didn't want people getting too fucking close. Emotionally. Sometimes physically, too. Okay, a lot with the physical thing but he'd been learning a lot about himself these days. Not because he'd been seeing a therapist or some dumb shit like that. He didn't believe in that--what was talking to some stranger going to do to fix his problems?

But he thought things might have been growing better between himself and his little brother, all the way up until things just... stopped. Dakota was tired of being the one in the family people worried about and didn't trust. At the same time, he couldn't fight the person he was. He was reckless. He liked to get into a fight sometimes. He liked the rush of gambling away his money. He loved laughing in the moonlight while he zoomed down the streets on his moped as fast as he could from irate loan sharks.

One day, it would all catch up with him. He was pretty sure it wasn't now, though. Not in this little quiet tavern with the quiet bartender and the moody music. Kinda made Dakota itch all the more, to be honest.

He told himself that tonight was the night, the night when he'd stop pussyfooting around and say something. To Axel. To... his best friend, that might not take it so good but might just laugh it off. Hard to say, really. He couldn't puss out though. That was the thing. Dakota had, like, one of those life epiphanies last night and it meant crashing through walls to make sure the people involved knew too.

Or person. 'Cause in this case, it was a person.

Down the hatch with the beer--Dakota wrinkled his nose. Not bad beer, by half, but beer was not what he wanted. Dragging his phone out of his pocket, he checked the time. Come on, come on, Ax. He had to be outta there by NOW for sure.

ArceusA

[Axel Vasilyev]

"You guys really didn't need me, anyway," he said, meandering in the door. Unfortunately, someone had noticed he'd slipped the meeting, but hey, technically, he was the boss and could do whatever it was he wanted, anyway. Not that he often flexed this ability; he usually tried to keep himself to the same standards he kept his employees to. Seemed pretty hypocritical of him not to. Apparently, he had a weird way of doing things, considering he was fairly sure every other fair-sized-business owner generally didn't. "And besides, it's late, I'm tired, you guys weren't getting anywhere, and it seriously took you ten minutes to figure out I was gone, obviously my presence was not that important." Obviously. At least his hands were free; Bluetooth headsets were the most amazing things ever invented. Okay, besides vodka. "Well, sometimes, ya gotta do stuff you don't like, okay, and I just found my friend so if you'll excuse me I'm going to do something besides mediate department fights, see you tomorrow, bye," as he came up beside Dakota. He reached up and smacked his headset off (a Motorola), and settled down.

"Sorry it took so long. Bad news, they noticed, but it took them ten minutes!" Axel said. "Kind of a feat though, how do you miss the bright neon pink person moving?" That was a question for the ages, a question he did not have the answer for, and even if he did, he supposed it didn't terribly matter. "And the head of finance finally got annoyed and started throwing insults back at the head of IT and I'm pretty sure I missed an actual brawl. Hmm. You look all serious and jittery, I hear chicks dig that these days. Or is it supposed to be serious and broody?" It wasn't like he'd know. He hadn't had a girlfriend in... innn... uh. Well, probably since it first became socially-acceptable for him to date girls. Hmm, his last girlfriend was a nice girl from Finland. Psycho, though, but in the good way. If that made sense.

She'd died. Like humans do eventually. It wasn't as if Axel was going to ask them to become vampires just to stay with him. That was unbearably rude. And no, he'd never asked a boyfriend to, either. Not that he'd actually gotten one of those in an age, either. Between looking out for his besties, and running several businesses, he hardly had time for dating, anyway. "What's up Buttercup?" Obviously something was on Dakota's mind. Sometimes he shared, sometimes he didn't. It was worth asking. This was Dakota, anyway. Axel was pretty much guaranteed to ask when it came to him.

[Dakota Choi]

"What's it called? That thing where people see something so much they don't notice it when it's gone?"

It sounded like a line from some sappy heartbreak song, like not knowing what one had until it was gone. That sort of deal. In this case, though, Dakota just couldn't snap the right word into place. Shit, he'd only had one beer, right? He wasn't that drunk yet. But oh god, some part of him really wanted to be. Suddenly, beer just didn't seem like nearly enough. Shit. Did he look that goddamn obvious?

"I don't think anybody finds jittery and serious attractive," he said as he drank the rest of his beer and slapped a hand onto the counter. "Anyway, figured I'd get things started here but..."

He fought the urge to burp, turning his head slightly away.

"I'm really craving your drinks, so you wanna head to your place? Or you think this guy'll let you mix drinks here? Discount? Hm?"

[Axel Vasilyev]

Uhuh.

Well, you know, maybe Axel did (or maybe it was just because it was Dakota, probably, made sense), but like hell was he saying that. Instead, he just made that eyebrow-arch-lopsided-smirk expression he was known for, and let that one alone. It was kind of stupid, anyway. Actually, most of the time, Axel wondered how the hell he could even call himself Dakota's best friend in the first place, given Dakota barely knew him. Unintended side-effect, really; good idea, pretty terrible outcome, well now he'd done it. Couldn't get himself out of this one unless he fessed up and admitted he'd basically lied by omission the entire time they knew each other, and hey, guess what, his name's not even Axel.

... legally, it was now. Had been for a long time, so maybe he was just finding any excuse he could think of to be mad at himself. Or something. He was pretty good at self-deprecation. Not that he even remembered what his name was when he was born. Something with a D...

Really didn't matter.

"Ah, no," Axel answered, standing back up. "Health codes, and I am not licensed to serve alcohol, which could get both me and them in some pretty hot water, and I do that enough normally already. So, you're not driving, gotcha, come along, Oshakota, to the Pinkmobile." No, his car wasn't actually pink (though, yes, he did seriously consider it, but enough staring from Mishka and he made it a nice desaturated gold). The interior, though, might have pink steering wheel and seat covers. Maybe. (Axel did what he wanted.)

"Anything in particular you want?" Certain mixer might've sounded good, who knew. Axel could make most of them.

[Dakota Choi]

Damn that smirk and that eyebrow. Dakota play-scowled in return but really, his traitorous little black heart beat a little faster. Every time he saw that look, it was followed by some kind of trouble. Also came along with thoughts and images that made him glad that Axel wasn't apparently a mind reader. And if he was, he was awfully polite not to say anything. Oh, fuck. If he could read minds. Fuck.

Nah, he thought Axel would have said something by now. Slipped up. Teased him. Definitely no way he'd let Dakota hold onto those kind of things without reacting somehow.

But who knew? Axel often surprised Dakota. Just when he thought he knew him, there was some new layer peeled back that had him reeling with questions. He remembered first learning he was some rich mogul type, or in the family of one. It was so hard to imagine a guy with hair like that and a smile like sin, working some rich guy job. Dakota had always seen him more like himself--a rebel, an aimless type swimming with his head barely above water.

He slid out of his seat. Not drunk enough to tilt, he noted proudly. He grinned as he took Axel's arm, though. Didn't hurt to play a little drunker than he really was.

"Why do you insist on calling it that? I'm calling your house the Barbie Dream House. Your obsession with pink, man." Mostly he was talking to cover up for the fact that he didn't have any drink in mind for Axel to make. He just wanted Axel to show up. The drinks were just a cover.

"Let's just say something hard. I got some memories to wipe."

[Axel Vasilyev]

Axel snorted. "It's a play on Batmobile, but it's not the Batmobile, so I had to come up with something," he answered. Being completely fair about it, it was probably more like, Axel was a nerd, and did have an obsession with pink. Honestly, if anyone asked him why pink, and a few had, over the years, he had no answer. Why pink. Because he liked pink. Hell if he knew why. Why the fuck was he Russian? God.

"Strawberry Long Island tea?" Axel asked. That was the strongest shit he knew how to make. Well, "Or are we talking a fuckin' dry martini? As someone that hates memories too, I'm applauding. As your friend, though, I do have to ask, you know that doesn't work, right? You just forget for a while, and then it comes back, and sometimes, it's more painful the second or fiftieth time around." No, he did not speak from experience. He spoke from a lot of experience.

Some things, you learned the first time. Other things, you were still trying to get away with by the fifteen thousandth time. Or maybe it was just that Axel had a lot of things he'd like to be able to deal with the lazy way. Certainly, that'd be a lot easier. But life wasn't meant to be easy, either.

He wouldn't say something stupid, like, if Dakota wanted to talk, he'd listen. While true, one, Dakota should know that already, and two, people didn't say sappy shit anymore. (Feelings apparently weren't very manly nowadays. Or whatever it was.) Besides, the last thing he needed to be doing is talking feelings around Dakota. Yeah, no, he was good, super good. And the car wasn't coming to them, okay; his free hand reached up, ruffled Dakota's hair, and with probably more patience than someone of his temperament should have, he headed out. Before he said something stupid, would be great.

"And at least my house isn't pink," he added, off-handed. Actually, it was mostly natural wood and granite. With a lot of Russian flags everywhere. (He had at least one of every kind of Russian flag there'd been since the Bolshevik Revolution, including the military ones, which was weird, but rich-ass collectors happened and nobody questioned it too hard.)

[Dakota Choi]

Ah yes, the Batmobile that wasn't the Batmobile. Dakota wanted to see Axel play the part of the Batman now. Funny, thinking of him as a hero. Not that hard to envision, though. Sure, he was something of a mouthy type but he had the physique and he could pull off those ridiculous skintight uniforms if he wanted to. ...not that Dakota was about to admit that. In fact, his response to that business was just an amused exhalation through the nose along with a smirk.

"First one," he said, because he wasn't about to go the dry martini route. He might have just speculated about rich superheroes but he wasn't one himself. He preferred the shit that tasted so good that it snuck up on him.

Rolling his head back, Dakota let out an exaggerated huff.

"Do I lecture you when you wanna get blackout drunk?"

Probably had. He was pretty sure he'd done it once or twice. Hey, he worried, too. Aw, did that mean Axel was worried? The fact of the matter, however? Axel was fucking right. Forgetting things wasn't going to solve anything. He closed his eyes briefly when Axel ruffled his hair, not unlike a smug cat whose owner deigned to offer it a speck of affection. Then he opened one eye and then the other and smirked before he ran a hand up over his own hair, as if to fix it back in place.

"There's a small chance," he said as he followed Axel, "that I won't have to erase my memory, so there's that."

[Axel Vasilyev]

"Honestly? Yeah," Axel answered, snorting in amusement as he got his car unlocked. "But I don't exactly make a habit of wanting to get blackout drunk." It'd take a lot of alcohol for him to get drunk. A lot. He had a pretty insane alcohol tolerance by now. Not exactly something he was proud of, anymore, but he'd had a lot of fun drinking cocky assholes under the table in high school.

Besides, even when he did decide to try getting blackout drunk, he didn't usually tell Dakota. Why? Axel had no filter when he was drunk. He told the whole truth, nothing but the truth, and so help him god, and being that honest around Dakota could really only end in tears. Probably his.

What? He was also very emotional when drunk.

The point was, he'd probably end up saying something he'd sorely regret later. So, when he did get drunk, he generally did it alone. Or at Kassander's place, because Kassander was pretty good at making sure he didn't brain himself while drunk off his ass. That used to be Mikhail's place, but Mikhail was avoiding him now. Sort of. "Still doesn't work that way, but I'll hope you don't, I guess," Axel decided. Probably a safer bet. At least, though, it was him Dakota decided to come to for all of that. Made him feel a bit better about it, wasn't like his friends were getting drunk without him, and then getting into all kinds of trouble, because look, there was a lot of trouble to be had around here. It made him feel better when Dakota decided to get drunk around him, because at least he could punt it if trouble came around.

"But you know, for the record, I'm always up for punching people, if I need to punch somebody," he mentioned, popping his driver side door open and leaning against the car roof. "I may even have ways to not get in trouble for it!" Maybe.

[Dakota Choi]

"When?" Dakota retorted, fully aware that there had probably been a time or two when he played the lecturer. Not often, though. If he had, Axel was pretty damn special because Dakota was more the type to egg his friends into getting into trouble with him, rather than talking them out of it. Sometimes, he wondered how the two of them survived as friends but in all honesty, he would have named Axel his best friend. No hesitation. In a heartbeat. Didn't matter what else was said or even if Axel agreed.

Well, maybe it mattered--a little. Things were already tough enough when he laid awake at night, tormenting himself with stupid thoughts and questions and the famous what-ifs that never took place.

"You think?" Dakota thought those were foreboding words, considering what was on his own mind. Not that Axel could read his mind and rebuff him that easily. But if it went badly, uhhhh. Memory wipe would be nice. Also, he didn't think he'd be able to face Axel again afterward so he'd just pretend Axel never existed, too. (This was a lie--there was no way he could cast off his best friend like that. But it certainly took some level of dare devilry to get to this point.)

Dakota peeked over the car roof and smiled at Axel.

"Good to know." He turned his gaze upward as if in thought, then slid his hand down to the car door handle. "Just don't swing in my direction, no matter what fool thing I say tonight, 'kay?"

[Axel Vasilyev]

Axel didn't verbally respond to that, just yet, quirking an eyebrow up, instead. He actually had records. He'd have to check his phone later, because he could show Dakota the receipts. All in all, though, this entire conversation was making Axel nervous, and frankly, he had little idea why. Unless he was picking that up from Dakota, but that didn't make sense, either; Axel was only 118, not even a particularly old starchild, it had to be pretty strong for him to catch it ambiently. Then again, Dakota had just been holding his arm.

This, this right here, this was why Axel tried not to touch people very long. It was too late, now, apparently, and he'd just have to deal with it. At least he hadn't accidentally absorbed it all, and then absorbed whatever else was in there. It wasn't harmful, just left one needing to sleep for a while, but you know, it was really more of the principle of the thing.

"I don't have any interest in breaking your jaw, Oshakota," Axel said, ducking into the car, and then taking his phone out, scrolling through a few things. "Um, looks like last August on the sixth, and then three years ago on July fifteenth. That's when." There, receipts. "Did you get a girlfriend or something? You're still being really weird." At this point, Axel was shooting in the dark. Dakota would tell him whenever Dakota decided to tell him, but in the interim, he was going to hover a bit, because one or the other of them was nervous, and Axel didn't do nervous very well. Not many things made him nervous, thank god for that.

Anyway, letting Dakota get the door closed, and his seatbelt on because that was a rule in his car (Axel would be fine, probably, but his friends were squishy mortals). Kassander used to tell stories of some immortal guy that had a car engine drop into his lap, that had been running when it landed there, and that guy was fine, so you know, Axel figured he'd be fine too, if he ever got into an accident. Right, doing that driving thing. After a few seconds of appreciating how smooth the engine was. It was obligatory.

[Dakota Choi]

No, no, nope. Not with the eyebrow quirking. Dakota lifted his head and crossed his arms as he regarded that Look on Axel's face. It was the look of a man who had receipts and Dakota didn't need to doubt that he had them. But nope, he refused to believe in them. Or to react to that damned eyebrow quirk. Dakota tried to do that countless times but it never looked as cool as it did when Axel did. Usually when Dakota "quirked a brow," it was more like a half furrow. More like lowering a brow to make it look as if the other were lifting.

It didn't look right. It didn't look cool in the least.

Well, pft, nobody had to tell Axel he looked cool doing it. Inflate his ego or... something. Aw shit. Dakota saw the phone coming out and his heart dropped.

"Oh, come on. You're not seriously--" But he was seriously. He had dates and everything. Dakota blew his cheeks out as if he were about to lose his temper and then let it out in a long sigh. The next part, he wasn't prepared for. Like. At all. Dakota blinked in surprise. Did he get a girlfriend? Why in the hell would Axel jump to that?

It was true that Dakota's love life was kind of... sparse. Actually, pathetic was a better word for it. He spent a lot of time on the road and when he wasn't on the road, here he was, hanging with Axel and his other friends. Girls never chose him. He'd never been slipped a number or whatever. Once, he got a flirty wink, though. It didn't make a relationship, though. Dakota was kind of lackluster on dates. In all honesty, he found them boring. And he got the feeling the women knew it and it translated into disinterest in them.

"Why would a girlfriend make things weird?" Dakota wanted to know as he buckled himself in before he was given another Look to put it on. "Besides, you'd be the first to know if I had one. Also, wouldn't I be drinking with her right now?"

...never mind the weird connotations that went with saying that. Uh...

[Axel Vasilyev]

Hmmm. Hmmmmm.

Axel could not argue with that. He couldn't find a compelling enough argument. Okay, he was right, why would he get weird after getting a girlfriend. The nerves usually came before. Oh! Actually, "You're right hey, come to think, I had that in the wrong order, didn't I?" He did. This ruminated in his head for a bit, as he worked on getting onto the road without killing either of them. That was usually good. If nothing else, explaining how he could walk away from a car accident that killed someone else might be difficult.

"So, here's my second guess, you ready? You got a thing for someone finally, about time man. And you're working up the courage to tell them. You've got that plastered all over your face. Also, you're nervous. I think." He thought. He was pretty sure. Still not sure if the nervous one was him or Dakota, but, Axel had no reason to be nervous, so the most logical conclusion was, it was Dakota, not him. That wasn't the point, of course.

Though, actually - well... see, the part that didn't make sense, was, he was nervous and stuff, and there was talk about memory erasure in case things went badly tonight, so he hadn't said anything yet, but he was going to. But why would he be saying a thing that makes him nervous... at Axel's place? Unless this was one of those heeey soooo I'm trans, things, or something. Not that Dakota knew Axel was transgender, so he supposed that might be a bit nerve wracking.

"... okay, actually, just, please tell me you don't have a thing for my brother, that'd be really we - I mean that's - good for you! But weird. Very... well then you'd be my brother. I'm okay with that, actually, okay, just you know don't tell me about it." Axel was very glad Dakota apparently sucked at dating, though, because he didn't have to hear about it. Not that he'd really mind, it was just - but trying to field that shit when it involved his brother would be - no, okay, no, just no, for the love of fuck, no. At least he wouldn't be getting that from Mikhail, but see, he didn't get much of anything from Mikhail anymore. No, he was not bitter, not in the least. "But for the record, I don't condone drunk-confessions, that doesn't tend to end well."

[Dakota Choi]

Shit. Yeah, Axel had it in the wrong order and now he was getting mighty close to the truth. Inwardly, Dakota tensed, cringed, as he waited for the other shoe to drop. Axel was so going to realize what was going on and there was going to be a punch, despite how Axel didn't want to punch him and... and... and okay. Dakota let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

And then it hitched in his throat as Axel pretty much spot on said it. Dakota always thought he was pretty good at giving flat stares when he didn't want to give himself away. In this instance, however, he was pretty sure his mouth almost dropped open at the sheer accuracy of Axel's prediction. Luckily, it didn't actually plop open like some land-locked fish. Before he could start gathering his scattered wits, however, Axel continued. And Dakota immediately reacted by reaching out with both hands and grabbing onto Axel's arm as if he were about to shake him. (Only he didn't actually shake him, due to him driving and all.)

"For fuck's sake, yo, it's not your brother." He put his hands down and shifted almost sulkily in his seat, crossing one ankle up over the other knee and wrapping his arms in front of his chest. "But it's a person, if you must know. And why don't you condone drunk confessions?"

He had a feeling why--he just wanted to hear Axel say it, was all.

[Axel Vasilyev]

"I mean, I should hope it's a person, Kota," Axel answered, sounding bemused, tapping his thumb on the steering wheel for a second. "I'd be pretty concerned if it was like a cat, or something. For one thing, dude, no, for another, cats are entirely immune to your feelings, so I'm fairly sure getting this worked up over confessing to a cat would be pretty moot." That, of course, wasn't even getting into the rest of the reasons why confessing to a cat was not a thing Axel ever wanted to find one of his friends doing, but Axel was going to hope he didn't have to say any of that.

"And what's with that answer, anyway, my brother's a nice catch, or something. He is, however, very dense, and I'm pretty sure he's got anger issues. ... actually, never mind, don't fall for my brother, at least, not anytime soon." It was sad, too, wasn't it, how Mikhail tried so hard not to end up like their father, and yet, here they fucking were. He was practically the damned spitting image of him, at least in personality and demeanour, and Axel had never told Mishka, but sometimes, it scared him.

Axel went quiet, for a moment. He had a feeling he knew who this was about, but he was hoping to god he was wrong, and he was afraid to ask, being honest. Actually, teasing about it might be kind of amusing, but he wasn't sure if he was in the mood to. "You should know why I don't condone drunk confessions. If nothing else, they're easier on the other party when they can understand what you're saying, don't question if you meant it or were just drunk and thought it was a cute joke, and if they happen to reject you, you won't do anything utterly stupid, probably." Probably.

Was it this one or - no it was this one, taking this turn. "Hey, you tell whoever it is if they hurt you Imma rearrange their face, mm?" And if it was about him, he could literally rearrange his own face, wasn't that cool? ... did that count as cheating? He was going to hope it wasn't about him. Dakota deserved better than him.

[Dakota Choi]

Immediately, Dakota made a face. Yeah, okay, he might have worded things badly but come on! He just meant, you know, that the thing on his mind was a person. Not just that he liked a person. If he was capable of blushing like a fool, he might have. Instead, he made a sheepish exhalation of sound while scraping his fingers through his often unkempt dark hair. He sent Axel a Look that plainly said no duh, he's a person. Or she. Or it. Or them. Whatever. That part wasn't really important to Dakota, never had been.

"Yeah, but..." Dakota let himself trail off rather than continue down the road he'd been going down. Like, sure, Axel's brother was a catch. He was good-looking and he was cool in that unapproachable kinda way. But he also wasn't... well, Axel? They shared some traits, as brothers are wont to do. However, they weren't the same. Besides, it woulda been weird to be into Axel's brother if he was into Axel--that was the part he chewed on his tongue to silence himself about. Should he, though?

Say something.

Not that.

Dakota leaned forward, almost tempted to smack his head on the dashboard.

"Okay, okay. Good points, all." So his tiny point that he could pretend he didn't remember sort of got itself buried under all of Axel's damned logic. Made him want to kick him in the shin (teasingly, of course). Despite himself, Dakota let out a half suppressed laugh as he looked over his shoulder at Axel. Might as well test the waters with: "What, even if it's you?"