Chapter Text
Chapter 1 - See (No) More
Nowadays, Dark always tried to mind his own business.
It was hard in a world where so many things were blasted in your face through the Internet twenty-four seven. When he was younger, and in high school, even college, he liked a little bit of drama, nosing his way into other people's business on occasion. However, as he got older, he seemed to care about that less and less, but maybe it was due to the fact that he felt stationary, stagnant, and unmoved, whereas everyone else around him seemed to be moving on. Dark, in actuality, was stuck.
He thought often about how he abhorred high school, hated his teachers and assignments, but then missed the adventure, the drinking with his buddies, and the drama that they created and surrounded themselves with back then. Now, he had no one.
Maybe it was his fault. Maybe because he didn't message them, call them, or text them, that he was left all on his own to flounder. He even began to unfollow his best friends from high school and college on all his social media platforms so he didn't have to watch them grow and change, adapt and have their successes, fancy jobs, the newest cars, and even children and wives to call their own.
Maybe if Dark wasn't so scared to come out, then maybe he'd be more successful with meeting others and having a partner by now, but he never had before. All his friends used to think he was straight, a bad boy player that fucked all the girls at their high school, and as they got older, all the girls at the bars and clubs they traversed, too. The more he thought about his escapades as he aged, the way he treated people in the past, the more miserable he got.
Every time he spent the evening with a woman over a man, the only way he knew how to get hard was to think about how he'd prefer fucking a man over a woman more than anything. Then, after college was over, and he didn't see all these people he used to, just going to and from his job day after day, he grew sentimental. He no longer wanted to fuck men, but he wanted to be with a man. Just one man. In an official relationship, someone he could turn to, that could check in with him, that he could take care of, and then they would take care of him in return.
But he never said the word aloud, to himself or another soul, that he was gay. He knew about it in his mind. He knew what his preferences were and what he wanted, but he never faced the truth in any physical sense.
So he turned inward and shut down, hiding away from everyone, and even himself.
He got in the habit of getting home from work, and then after exercising and showering, going down the rabbit hole of doomscrolling for hours on end, watching videos about anything and everything, but mostly about the horrors going on in the world, even his own country, or city, which never seemed to bring his spirits up. But at least with seeing the horrible state of everything else around him, it didn't mean he was experiencing the worst of the worst.
He had a solid job. An apartment to call his own. He had a car and a bar he frequented most weekends. He didn't have any family or friends that he checked in with regularly, but at least the bartender recognized him, Dark stopping by almost every Friday and Saturday, for the last several years now.
Dark was going to break his routine for once night now, because after he returned home from work on this fateful Friday night, he was so exhausted after showering, he almost passed out sitting up on the foot of his bed. He tipped back with his phone in his hand and opened Facebook, about to go on his evening doomscroll routine, finger hovering above the Reels at the top of the page, but the first article that popped up on his timeline and the person that posted it, well, the information shocked Dark to his core.
It was Link, Link Avalon, a boy (a man now, as was he) that he went to elementary and high school with. They often had a bit of a rivalry with one another, in every sense of the word, in every club they joined, in every school activity they attended, and with even the people they hung out with. They were the same in a way, but two opposite ends of a connected spectrum. Dark hadn't seen Link in years. Dark also usually didn't pay his posts any mind, but the article he shared read: Pregnant woman dies in fatal car accident on Hyrule highway.
He squinted at the post in disbelief, wondering why Link would share that article in particular, as hundreds of people died in freak accidents around the world daily, but the start of the comment above the article, one that Link himself wrote, caught Dark's attention entirely:
It is with a heavy heart that I share… more
Dark had to tap the 'more' to see more, but he really wished he hadn't. The comment read:
It is with a heavy heart that I share with everyone that we've lost a magnificent person and the love of my life, Zelda, along with our baby, due to the careless actions of another individual last night. I didn't think I'd ever have to share with you a loss so great in this lifetime, but here I am, because of the callousness of other people and even news outlets that can't wait long enough to allow loved ones of a lost individual the time to grieve and share the information on their own terms.
Zelda was someone unlike anyone I'd ever met before, so charismatic, selfless, and wise, wise beyond her years, and she has been taken from us too soon. I will miss everything about her, her personhood and her contributions to our society, as well as the ways she made me better, as I'm sure you will too.
I want to thank the hospital staff and doctors who tried to save Zelda's life, along with our baby's. I want to thank my family and friends who have reached out and supported me, along with Zelda's family, during this immense loss. I want to thank the funeral home in advance, for all the care you will provide Zelda and our child at this time.
Zelda, I miss you already. I miss our baby without even having met them. The world will mourn you for years to come. I will mourn for you forever. Your loving and dedicated husband, widow, and partner, Link.
Dark couldn't even tap the article itself. His mouth only fell open as he read over the devastating last few lines again and again. Link not only lost his wife, but his baby, his unborn child, in one foul swoop.
Dark swallowed and flipped his phone over, pressing the screen down onto the bed. He raised his watery gaze to the ceiling so the tears wouldn't fall.
He supposed after everything, he would be going out for a drink tonight.
• • •
Dark sat in his regular spot along the front of the bar counter, but instead of ordering his one pint to start, he ordered two.
One for him, one for Zelda.
He left Zelda's pint off to the right side while he took the first drink of his beer.
"Someone finally joining you tonight?" the bartender teased readily, flamboyant and all up in Dark's business like usual.
The pretty pale man curled a dainty hand under his chin and tilted his head, batting his eyes at Dark. He always flirted with him, and he was honestly Dark's type, but Dark wouldn't let him have the satisfaction of knowing that.
He liked smaller men, with light skin and light hair and light eyes, like this bartender was. It was the bartender that had known Dark for quite some time now. They were around the same age, maybe this man a little bit younger, but Dark had now hit thirty, and was starting to feel time catch up to him. Perhaps he should indulge this man a little more than he ever had before.
"No," Dark eventually answered, short, not indulging him like he wished he could and just curling his dark hand around the pint tighter.
He wouldn't bring his eyes up to the young man's glistening red eyes either. His own red eyes only found the bubbles rising their way to the top of his drink, and he listened to the carbonation, the fizzle, hearing it over the music and the tutting of the young man before anything else.
"Ordering your next one in advance? You have a rough day at work? Not making enough sales?"
Dark had told him once that he worked in sales, car sales. Dark never had a rough day at work. It was easy and he was convincing and knew a lot about cars, Dark usually being one of the best salesmen at their place of work for at least the last five years. He wondered why he went to college for Business anyway since he didn't own his own. Probably because he didn't have the balls to pull it off. Maybe one day he would.
"No, and no again," Dark answered pointedly, flicking his eyes up, brow furrowed and eyes guarded, telling the man to back off.
But the bartender just giggled and flushed upon seeing Dark's hard eyes, then sharing in a banter, "You know, the longer you press your eyebrows together like that, you're going to get a permanent line between your eyes there, handsome."
Dark even pressed his lips now and scoffed, turning his head off to the side and bringing the beer back up to his lips, taking a few gulps for good measure.
The line was there, but faint, already permanent between his brows anyway. Everything pissed him off, and disturbed or confused him as of recent, so it would only grow deeper as time went on.
"Is it for me then?" the man tittered off, pretending to reach across the counter, about to wrap his fingers around the glass.
"Buzz off, Vaati," Dark warned, clear enough, but it just amused the bartender even more, the young man named Vaati sliding his hands back to his mouth to let off a sweet giggle.
Dark stole a glance at him right then, taking in his flushed cheeks and the mischievous glint to his eyes while his beautiful hands covered his mouth. He had porcelain skin, milky white and pretty, with silky lavender hair to boot, his side bang often falling in front of his one eye, making him even cuter overall.
"You know, I would if you'd stop showing up, but you always come crawling back here."
"It's because this is my old stomping grounds. This bar existed, I used to come partying here, before you were even hired here," Dark lobbied right back.
"Well, if you didn't like me, you'd probably find another place to traverse. I think you sort of like the attention I give you."
Dark finished his beer and swung the glass down hard on the countertop. "Shut up and get me another beer."
"Huh, so you're really not drinking that one, are you?" Vaati mused, swiped the glass away, and twirled from the counter to collect another glass. Dark watched his hair flip as he made his way a little further down the counter length, gathering another glass for Dark to drink from. When he came back and filled the new glass at the draft tap, he slid it across the way to Dark, murmuring, "You didn't say you don't like the attention I provide you."
"Whatever," Dark only muttered and took another large swig of his second drink, looking off above Vaati's head to the TV monitor, which was playing some sport he didn't even care about.
Vaati spoke to him again, but he pretended to ignore him this time, blinking at the TV blindly. Seeing without seeing. Vaati eventually took the hint, fluttering his throat in frustration and flouncing off, finding another person to tend to.
Dark continued to drink and Vaati kept getting him another and another while the other pint sat nearby untouched. He was becoming a little more malleable, pliable, his eyes trailing away from the TV and watching Vaati whenever he could, stealing a glance here and there, picking up on the way his hair flowed and the manner in which he flashed his eyes at the customers for tips (mostly men) and how he'd lean in and angle his shoulder or tip his body when he spoke with someone. He wished he could see more of him, but Vaati was short, the counter was tall, and it created a barrier between them.
He didn't swipe his hand away angrily like he normally did when Vaati touched him this time. After his fourth drink and midway through his fifth, Dark's one hand on his drink, the other flat to the counter top, Vaati leaned forward and slid his fingers up Dark's hand, trailing along his fingers, his knuckles, the back of his flexing hand, and then his wrist, curling his pale hand around Dark's ebony wrist in a caring manner, not flirtatious, nor advantageous like he normally was.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Vaati asked Dark, his voice lilting in the saddest way, and Dark blinked, suddenly feeling the wetness flashing down his cheeks.
He was crying in the middle of the bar.
He let Vaati touch him still, but he shook his head and denied it, sniffling a little, "Yeah, 'm fine."
"Usually you're good after three or four. And-and you're—"
"Don't say it," Dark argued softly, and retracted his right hand from his beer, to brush the back of his fist against his cheeks, chasing the tears off. He didn't pull the hand away Vaati probably assumed he was going to pull away. He left Vaati's fingers wrapped around his wrist and he slid them back down a little, curling his fingers under Dark's palm, almost holding his hand now. He chugged the remainder of the fifth and ordered his next. "I'll take another."
Vaati shook his head sadly, slid his fingers back down Dark's hand and to the glass instead, taking it in his palm and whisking it away.
Dark didn't often feel for people, especially those that he almost once considered to be an adversary, but he was really feeling for Link right now. Sure, he felt sorry for Zelda, since she lost her life and all. But she was dead and she wouldn't feel the loss because she couldn't feel anything anymore. Link would be feeling everything. The loss of Zelda and their baby.
Link probably felt like he had his whole life planned out, that he knew what to expect and how things were going to go next. He probably never suspected that his whole life would be flipped upside down, and that he'd not only lose his partner, but his baby as well.
Every second that Link was awake, he probably was in so much pain, it was unbearable. Dark couldn't even imagine it. When he did, which he was right now, it was just making him cry in the middle of a random bar.
He felt he didn't have any right to feel this pain, knowing in his life, he really didn't have much of anything to lose. That he hadn't experienced any significant loss. He supposed it would be nice to have parents that cared about him more, but even then, being without them was better than what things used to be like when he lived with them.
So he choked back on the tears that he felt he didn't have a right to cry and sucked back on his sixth pint of the night. He was pretty drunk, the room beginning to waver, and his tongue thick with need. The need to feel something other than this pain he didn't want to be feeling on some random guy's behalf that he barely knew from high school. He looked upon Vaati tending to another customer and knew exactly what he wanted.
He finally wanted to feel good.
• • •
Face first, Dark awoke the next morning lying sprawled out in his bed upon the covers with a pounding headache. He groaned and rolled over, smacking his tongue around in his dry mouth, hating how he was feeling right now.
The last thing he remembered was looking at Vaati and remembering he wanted to feel good.
Shit, did he—?
He sat up, a wave of nausea rolling over him, and he grasped the back of his head to fight the slamming about in his brain. He glanced around his room and didn't spot another soul. Vaati wasn't here. Thank the Goddesses.
If Vaati wasn't here, then how did he get home? He didn't remember driving home from the bar, like he usually did, a little buzzed. This time, he must have been wasted, considering he didn't remember leaving the bar period.
He lugged himself up from his bed and sauntered over to his window, the curtains drawn shut, and he swung them open, gazing upon the parking lot below. He squinted and grunted at all the light flooding in, and through his dark lashes, he spotted his car parked in his usual spot down below.
What the hell? There's no way he could have driven himself back in the state he was in last night.
Grumbling, he went over to his side table to collect his phone, which was plugged in, fully charged, although he didn't remember plugging that in either.
He finally found the answer he was looking for, a new message from a new number and contact upon his screen, a text message from… Vaati. He unlocked his phone and opened his messages, reading the text with a new feeling splashing through his chest, one of utter dismay. It said:
I can't take advantage of a drunk man in the way you wanted me to, but it was nice seeing your place and finally knowing how much you wanted me last night. 💕 I'd like to take you up on that offer if you're not so drunk, but just as willing Saturday night. If you're still up for it, stop by tomorrow as I'd love to see you again. This time, when my shift is over and instead of me driving you, how about you drive me home to my place? We'll spend the night? Only if you're a little more sober though 😉
Dark was dying on the inside. What the fuck did he say, or do, or ask of Vaati last night while he was clearly drunk out of his mind? Even worse, blackout drunk! He really didn't remember a single thing after that sixth drink.
Damn it. He hadn't gotten that drunk since his first year of college.
He was so entirely and utterly embarrassed that Dark didn't want to reply to the text message, let alone appear at the bar again on his usual Saturday night bender.
He had never come out to anyone before. But he sure as hell and obviously did to Vaati last night. Maybe he should go just to explain that he was too drunk to be rational any longer, and that he wasn't interested in Vaati, that the alcohol was doing the talking more than anything else.
Thankfully, it seemed that Vaati didn't take advantage of Dark in a vulnerable position, as he was still in his clothes from yesterday, and eventually, when he moved about his apartment, that nothing appeared stolen or damaged.
Perhaps it was for the best that he asked Vaati of all people to come back to his place over anyone else.
He supposed instead of returning to the bar to share his apologies about whatever he said last night, he needed to go to thank him instead.
• • •
Dark reappeared back at the bar the following night, but with his head down and his tail between his legs. He knew Vaati would be there and he knew he'd be ready to engage with Dark in a way he never had before, but Dark would have to draw the line, almost immediately, to not give Vaati any leeway.
"Well, hello there, handsome man! Fancy seeing you here," Vaati chided, sliding down the bar, and then asked, "Returning to take me up on my offer from last night? I thought you would have texted me, but when you didn't, I thought you were just ghosting me."
"I would have liked to, but I'm a man of integrity. Or I try to be, anyway," Dark answered begrudgingly, pulling up a seat. "Actually I've come for a drink and I've come to apologize."
"Have you now? Whatever for?"
"Hey, uh, could we actually speak somewhere else? Somewhere private? I just want to clarify something."
Vaati lit up and nodded, waving Dark down along the bar counter, heading toward the open doorway on the right, to the washrooms. Dark lugged himself from his chair and followed, joining Vaati not only down the hallway, but into their employee lounge, across the way from the washroom doors.
"So, you've come to tell me how you really feel?" Vaati teased and crossed his arms over, crooking his head.
So endearing.
Dark kissed his teeth though and shook his head, crossing his arms as well. "Look, you've got the wrong idea."
"Nooo, I certainly do not. You know only the truth pours out of men that drunk."
"I'm not interested in pursuing anything further. Last night, I was wasted, and I didn't mean what I said. Whatever I said."
"No, no, no, you're not backtracking on this now. It's not like you asked me out on a date, you merely said you wanted to spend some quality time together."
"I'm not gay," Dark lied between his teeth.
Vaati burst out laughing, holding his stomach and spinning on the spot, cackling over his shoulder yet. He peeked at Dark by craning his neck back, a little mischievous and so alluring, it frustrated Dark to the core that he was even remotely amused and that he felt a twinge in his pants.
"Come now, Dark, it's a little too late for that."
Dark felt himself burning all about his body, ashamed. Good thing he was so black his skin wouldn't have shown his shame to anyone. But his body language did, holding onto his own arms and turning away entirely.
"What did I even say to you?" he muttered in defeat, shaking his head at the door before him.
"Just that you wanted me, that you never indulged yourself before. That you wanted someone, but more particular, a man to take care of you, just for the night. I'm still up for the offer if you'd have me."
Dark abruptly felt Vaati's caring hand slink up the back of his elbow, his forearm, a little bit. He gently turned, breaking out from Vaati's hold, his eyes burning and his throat clenching. He reached out for and held Vaati back, leaning in and down, but only pressing his lips to his forehead instead, and not his lips, like he really wanted to.
"I'm all right," Dark answered sorely. "I'm not here to pursue anything further, even if I did say that last night. I've come back to apologize. You brought me home, took care of me. You didn't even take advantage of me, and you could have, so I appreciate that. I let my drinking get out of control. It won't happen again. I'm sorry."
"Dark, if you're having a rough time—"
"It's not me that's having a rough time."
Vaati only stitched his brow and hummed in acknowledgement, but clearly not understanding, or even believing him, probably. Dark didn't care. He made his peace. Partly. He still had one more question.
"You won't tell anyone?" he asked, voice raw.
"That you want me, but only when you're drunk?" Vaati smarted, tilting his head yet again.
Dark almost choked on his spit, cleared his throat, and shook his head. "No, that I'm—"
He couldn't even say it. He never said it. Well, he did last night, but that didn't count, because he was blackout and didn't remember a thing.
"—that you're gay?" Vaati clarified.
Dark nodded rapidly, swallowing the pain.
Vaati nodded, too, but then shook his head sadly. "Dark, it's twenty twenty-six. Who cares what other people think? Your place of employment can't discriminate against you, and if you hide yourself in this way, what's—"
"Enough. The discussion's over," Dark argued softly, and turned away to the door, opening it yet again. "You probably have customers waiting."
"Yes, I'm sure I do," Vaati said in a lofty tone, nuance as pointed as a sharp knife.
It pierced Dark's heart just a little bit as he left the room, Vaati following quietly shortly afterward.
He made his way over to his usual spot, in the centre of the bar, askew from the draft pumps and he then asked for a couple pints again there afterward.
"Again?" Vaati asked with intrigue. "I had to dump the other out last night. You didn't drink it, nor would you let me or another customer have it."
"Yeah, again," was all Dark had for him, but then added with a quip, "I paid for it, didn't I?"
Vaati sighed dramatically and readied up two drinks for Dark anyway.
"Thanks," he muttered, sliding the one pint over to the side and the other up to his lips, taking a giant swig.
He'd need one after realizing he legitimately came out to a stranger, and one that he wanted to fuck last night, at that.
Once more, he paid Vaati no mind and watched over the sports channel in disinterest. Maybe he'd be less bored at the bar if he picked a sport to finally enjoy, or if he had someone, other than the bartender, to talk to.
Just as he had that thought, a sturdy voice struck up a conversation from behind him, on his right shoulder, musing in an oddly melancholic way,
"Hey, stranger. Long time, no see. How'd you know I was coming? You get that one for me?"
Gritting his teeth and clenching his own glass tighter, even with only a sip left, he turned on the spot and peered over his shoulder, witnessing the last person on earth he thought he'd ever see in a bar: it was Link.