>> "No sh*t, bad…Two bullets in the back and I was out. From what I hear, I can count myself lucky."

Akshay winced. He could guess what it was like to dream something like that. To hear those to gunshots go off, then, a split second later, to feel the rounds pierce your skin. It must have been horrible to dream something like that. Then again, being stabbed in the gut really wasn’t all that wonderful a feeling either! At least, that is what he guessed happened. He remembered the fighting, then he remembered someone getting past him, followed by a piercing pain in his side.

Damn, even just thinking about it hurt. And that was only a dream! Then again, he had a some recent incidents with blades and knives lately.

…

…He shuddered at the thought.

His attention turning back to Gawain, instead of on the pain radiated throughout his sore body, he watched the young man continue.

>> "Broke up with my girlfriend after the wakeup call…I guess that's just goin' around these days isn't it."

Akshay hung his head sadly. He knew that eventually the conversation would return to what started this whole thing off. Forget name calling and costume mocking, there was something real and substantial about this encounter that Akshay had been hoping to avoid. Heh, fat chance. Gawain was still her brother after all. Of course he would want answers.

Akshay sighed.

“Listen, Gawain,” he said as he pushed himself up so he wasn’t slouching so much. “It…it didn’t happen like that. Okay? We just…we weren’t right for each other,” he muttered. “We drifted apart. She deserves someone who can stand by her, no matter what. Even when she is out, trying to save people’s lives and not freaking out at home that she may never come back.” He knocked his head back against the rack with a groan. “I loved your sister, Gawain. But…I wasn’t in[/b] love with her. She deserves someone who can give her that. And that’s obviously not me.”[/color]

>>“Listen, Gawain, It…it didn’t happen like that. Okay? We just…we weren’t right for each other, We drifted apart. She deserves someone who can stand by her, no matter what. Even when she is out, trying to save people’s lives and not freaking out at home that she may never come back. I loved your sister, Gawain. But…I wasn’t in love with her. She deserves someone who can give her that. And that’s obviously not me.”

Well, crap. The guy did not even have the decency to be a jerk who deserved to be beaten up. In all fairness, Mirror did not know much about the details of the breakup; he just knew Emmy was single and grumpy, and that was enough to set him off.
Okay, so maybe it was not all about Emmy. But still.

"Preachin' to the choir" he muttered, looking at Akshay. Love had been a complicated issue lately. He did love Ami, otherwise he would not have dated her for more than a year... but turns out that there were other kinds of connections that interfered with emotions like that.

"Ya're a good guy Akshay" he muttered, wincing at the pangs of pain from all over his body "I think we need drinks."

>> "Preachin' to the choir"

Akshay smirked. But only slightly. Hearing about heartache was never a fun thing to do, but it certainly seemed as if Gawain had his own, fair share of it. The X-man had said he had just broken up with his own girl after the wake up from the dream. Akshay guessed that he was not too far along behind him. It was just unfortunate that those events could have had any repercussions on what happened in their waking lives.

And definitely not fair.

For a moment the two of them just remained there. Two broken hearted guys, trying to make sense in a crazy world filled with dames, comics, and pain. Maybe they really were not all that bad a people after all. Hell, maybe even the two of them could be friends.

>> "Ya're a good guy Akshay…I think we need drinks."

Akshay smirked. Drinks most definitely sounded good right now. With how sore his jaw was, he definitely was going to need some kind of liquor or he wasn’t going to be able to sleep at all that night. But, glancing at Gawain, he had to wonder if he was even old enough o drink? Bah, not like he was going to tell anymore.

“So long as they’re on you, Suckerpunch,” He smirked. That was a nice nickname for the kid. “But first,” he groaned and forced himself to stand up. With a wince he staggered over to his counter, reached behind and pulled out the first aid kit. After fishing around inside the metal canister, he finally found what he was looking for. He held up the bottle of asprin and smirked at Gawain. “Can I buy you a double?”

>>“So long as they’re on you, Suckerpunch. But first...”

"Suckerp..." Gawain blinked, which hurt, but at this point pretty much everything hurt, even breathing. If they were throwing out nicknames, it could always have been worse, considering it came from a guy in a comic book costume. "... nevermind."

>>“Can I buy you a double?”

The sight of the aspirin bottle brought back the light into Gawain's eyes. It had "wasted" spelled over it in big capital letters, but as someone who had just broke knuckles on the name of God, Gawain could not care less.

"Hit me" he said, holding out a hand "Then let's go find a place that has decent booze."

>> "Hit me…Then let's go find a place that has decent booze."

Akshay smirked as he twisted open the container (painfully so) and shook the few pills inside. He usually kept these for promotional days because they were always good to have around when dealing with customers. They were loud, obnoxious, and tended to smell really bad. So bad, in fact, that they could easily give a person a migraine. But right now Akshay thanked his lucky stars for them because, if not, he wouldn’t have asprine readily available.

Tilting the bottle, he dropped a couple into Mirror’s hand, and grabbed a couple of his own. He popped them into his mouth and didn’t even bother to attempt to swallow them whole. Chewing them would help the medicine to hit his bloodstream faster.

As for now, though, they needed alcohol.

Akshay smirked as he offered his uninjured hand to Gawain to help him up.

“Come on, You lead the way,” Akshay said as he waited for Gawain to take his hand so he could help him up. Only after Gawain was standing did he continue. “I have a feeling you’re someone that knows where to get the good stuff.”

Gawain chewed and swallowed, and he was painfully aware that alcohol was needed, and soon. He saw Akshay do the same, and that made him smirk. Quite the picture the two of them were.

>>“Come on, You lead the way. I have a feeling you’re someone that knows where to get the good stuff.”

Putting an effort into getting on his feet Gawain thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah, I do" he admitted finally "An' trust me ya're better off not knowing. Just stay here I'll be right back."

He walked to the window he had come through and caught a glimpse of his own face.

"They'd not let us in anywhere like this anyway..."

About ten minutes later Gawain was back, with a generous size bottle filled with whiskey. Akshay was really better off not knowing. So was Sam.

"Got glasses or are we goin' full out hobo?"

This was just the beginning of the night's festivities.

>> "Yeah, I do…An' trust me ya're better off not knowing. Just stay here I'll be right back…They'd not let us in anywhere like this anyway..."

Akshay cocked an eyebrow as he watched Gawain disappear. At first he didn’t think that they looked that bad. But when Mirror disappeared, Akshay turned and looked at himself in the display glass. Wow…his lip looked twice it’s normal size, the side of his face was black and blue, and he was sure those dots of red all over his shirt were not there before. Damn, they really had put each other through the wringer, hadn’t they?

Akshay spent the next 10 minutes mulling about, trying to clean up the mess that both he and Gawain had caused in his shop. While it seemed like JUST maybe Gawain should be helping out, Akshay figured it was the best way to keep things off his mind. Before he knew it, he had most of the store cleaned up, comics were back in place, and he was nearly done sweeping up bits of plastic and glass.

Sigh. The traumas that come with being a store owner.

>> "Got glasses or are we goin' full out hobo?"

He blinked and turned back around. Gawain had returned…this time carrying a damn nice bottle of whiskey! Whoever this kid knew, however he got the bottle, Akshay just didn’t care right now. He just needed a good drink and that whiskey looked like ambrosia!

“Ugh, yeah, I got something,” he said after a moment. Walking down his shelves, Akshay reached upward and plucked down a box that was high up. It was small, probably no bigger than half a bread loaf. Setting the box down on his counter, he showed that it was a gift set of superhero-themed shot glasses. He beamed at Gawain. “The Golden Age heroes too!”

He smirked as he passed half of them out of Gawain and kept the other half himself. These would very much come in handy.

>>“Ugh,yeah, I got something... The Golden Age heroes too!”

"Awesome." Gawain already had the bottle open and ready for shots. He watched Akshay unpack the glasses.

"Ya imagine they ever got dumped and beat the crap outta each other?" he mused, watching the liquid fill the empty space behind the heroes' faces. They looked perfect, and larger than life. Gawain, on the other hand, was on a real life superhero team, and was currently doing shots with a guy dressed as a comic book character, over their mutual bad luck with women.
Life.

"To... um." he raised a shot glass "... aw, screw it."

The first shot went down, burning a fiery path all the way. Gawain coughed and his eyes watered up.

"Whooooah dammit." he rasped "Good stuff."

Well, that, and the half a dozen bleeding wounds in his face that just had been cauterized.

>> "Awesome…Ya imagine they ever got dumped and beat the crap outta each other?"

Akshay smirked as he unpacked the glasses and waited for Gawain to finish pouring the drinks for the both of them.

“Actually…! Um…” he sighed and just buried the nerd in him as quickly as possible. He shook his head and just smirked as the alcohol was done being poured. “Forget it. Another time.”

He laughed, winced at the very motion of laughing, and just picked up the shotglass of whiskey that was offered to him. He would have downed it right then and there but Gawain saw fit to offer a salute. What else could be do but comply? A smile on his face, he raised his glass with Gawain’s.

>> "To... um... aw, screw it."

“Best toast I’ve heard so far!” he grinned as he knocked his head back and downed the drink.

God. It. Burned!

Akshay winced as he felt the fire pour down his gullet and course into his stomach. It really was like drinking lava. But, at the same time, he just didn’t care. Feeling that liquid slosh into his empty stomach, probably burning away the lining and setting him up for ulcers in his old age, he couldn’t find the will to be concerned about it; mainly because it didn’t take long for it to start numbing the pain that was all over his body. God did he hurt.

>> "Whooooah dammit. Good stuff."

A groan fell from his lip as he leaned against the counter, staring at the empty glass he held between his fingers. He nodded with a smirk.

“I concur. You definitely know your stuff, kid,” Akshay smiled. He sighed though, looking over the store and thinking that less than 20 minutes ago they were trying to kill each other. A glance back to Gawain and he sighed. “Um, again, I’m sorry. You know, about Emerald,” he said as sincerely as possible. Because, in all honesty, he meant it. He was sorry.

>>“I concur. You definitely know your stuff, kid,”

"Not a kid" Gawain growled, pouring new shots. He was starting to get tired of that term. It especially stung like the whiskey after Maxine's rejection. He wondered if anyone had noticed that he was not sixteen anymore.
There was only one answer to that.
More drinks.

>>“Um, again, I’m sorry. You know, about Emerald,”

"Yeah, she'll survive" Gawain muttered. She always did. Plus if it was a mutual thing, he could not really blame one party without blaming the other.

"I mean, it sucks, but it's probably better off" he shrugged, downing the second drink "'sides who am I to talk...."

Akshay winced. Apparently Gawain didn’t like to be called a “kid”. In truth he was still a teenager but he could understand that he didn’t want to be referred to as a youngin anymore. Even if Akshay was a good 6 or 7 years his senior, it could be taken as an insult. Well, since they had just finished fighting, it was obvious he didn’t want to incur the ki—Gawain’s—wrath any further. So, as an apology, he poured him another shot of the whiskey.

“My apologies,” he simply said and dropped it.

Sighing, he craned his neck back to stretch the muscles a tiny bit. He was so going to be sore in the morning.

>> "Yeah, she'll survive…I mean, it sucks, but it's probably better off, 'sides who am I to talk...."

Akshay smirked. He had to admit that even though that started off extremely rocky, Gawain was really beginning to grow on him. Great, he gets along with the guy AFTER he breaks up with his sister. That is just peachy. But still, some friendship is better than none, right?

Pouring himself another shot, he raised the glass to Gawain.

“To…um…a couple of fools? Fools meaning us, obviously,” he beamed. Which…must have looked rather disgusting with the split lip and bruising jaw.

>>“To…um…a couple of fools? Fools meaning us, obviously,”

"Cheers." Gawain downed his drink. It burned like the previous one, but it felt good, and his body was already feeling the buzz. Fools indeed.

Drink followed drink; the two youg men were putting the golden age heroes to good use. It was amazing how fast a bottle of whiskey could get lighter with only two post-breakup mutant guys involved. Clearly it was mutation related.

"Sooo..." Gawain leaned against the counter, holding the empty shot glass between his fingers, wondering if they qualified as drunk yet. "Here is a suggestion:..." he blinked "... women."

>> “Cheers.”

Akshay smirked, clinked glasses, and downed his drink.

And then another. And another. And another. And…huh…how many was that now? Akshay was fairly certain that he lost count because his head was filled with a multitude of very deep and important thoughts that took precedence over everything else. Yeah, that was obviously the reason. Not the fact that he was three sheets to the wind and with sweat smelling of whiskey.

But hey! At least it was good whiskey.

Anyways, at some point the clock moved on and he refocused his attention onto Mirror who was now looking at him intently. He was about to mention that as flattered as he was, he was not about to betray Emerald like that (to which he then remembered that he wasn’t with her anymore and was about to throw caution to the wind!) but Gawain spoke first.

>> "Sooo...Here is a suggestion:...... women."

“Hey…maybe you got something there,” he grinned a little drunkenly. “Becoming women would make our lives easier! But, psh!” he waved his hand dismissingly to the X-Man. “I don’t have that power. Only you do. Silly.”

>>“Hey…maybe you got something there. Becoming women would make our lives easier! But, psh! I don’t have that power. Only you do. Silly.”

Gawain blinked and took a few moment sto process the information.

"Are you always that slow?" he mused, obviously slower himself than usual.

"It's not easier, believe me, I do it half the time. Pft. Being half girl still makes ya guilty for everything."

One of the big sucky Maya things in life.

"I was thinking... other women. Not us. Like..." he blinked at the bottle, then back at Akshay. Yup, definitely drunk enough for an excuse. "Ever been to a strip club?"

>> "Are you always that slow? It's not easier, believe me, I do it half the time. Pft. Being half girl still makes ya guilty for everything."

Akshay would have hit him for calling him slow. But considering the mess that they had caused while they were sober, there was no way he wanted to risk more property damage to his store. That was the thing that no one told you about superhero fights; someone had to pay for the collateral damage. And Akshay MOST definitely didn’t have the extra funds to take care of that.

So, he let it slide. This. One. Tim—HICK!

God. This was strong whiskey.

He sighed though, mulling over Gawain’s words. The kid probably had a point. It seemed that no matter what gender you were, there was always some kind of trial to have to go through. The human condition was made of suffering, wasn’t it? With only glimpses of happiness? He would have to drink to that.

>> "I was thinking... other women. Not us. Like...Ever been to a strip club?"

Akshay rolled his eyes.

“I am almost—“ he counted on his fingers and held up three of them, “Six years older than you! AND of legal drinking age. Of course I’ve been to a strip club,” he sighed as he thought back to some of his favorites. “Ever been to Museful Inspirations down on 66th? Definitely one of the best I know of.”