Life had a way of changing. A year earlier, Nate would be spending his nights in the highest-class bars drinking expensive scotch and charming heiresses and businesswomen. Two weeks earlier, he would be enjoying a glass of wine on the couch with Quin.

But life had a way of changing, and Nate was staring into the amber depths of his beer in a dive of a bar, wondering how everything could go so wrong.

It had been almost two weeks, and there was no word from Quin. There was no evidence that Nate even had a girlfriend anymore. The school year was over, so Nate only had individual art lessons, and he was even taking a leave from those, letting the school know he would be requiring a week of personal leave.

Nate wanted to spend his time relegated to the apartment (almost all the time,) the park (for Parker's walks,) and the bar (for reckless self-medication.) He had no use for other people; they would simply get in the way of his aimless, purposeless drifting.

With a tab set up and soaking up his payment for the night, Nate muttered to the passing bartender, "Nother Sam Adams, sug."

Life had a way of changing. A year earlier, Gawain would be out in a bar drinking with whoever was around and legal (or not legal but did not care). But when you become a team leader of the X-men, being a good role model kind of becomes a thing, and drinking out in public while being only 19 years old is not considered desirable.

Still, every once in a while, Mirror found him/herself wandering to bars s/he knew would not ask for an ID, and sitting around quietly, away from the school and the X-team and the responsibilities.
Why?
Because that is the best way of meeting interesting people and hearing important news.

But tonight, it was something else that Gawain found when he walked up to the bar: the Mansion's resident art teacher, deep into his cups.
Surprise, surprise.

"Hey" he smiled, taking the empty stool next to him "How's it going? Nate, right?"

Somewhere in Nate's cloudy haze, he heard a vaguely familiar voice greeting him. His head only turned slightly enough to see Gawain sitting down next to him. He was a boy Nate noticed around the Mansion occasionally; not a student, but most likely a resident. He was dating some girl who came and went, and Nate was pretty sure they were both under twenty-one.

Nate managed a grin and spoke in a low voice before returning to his beer. "Yeah. Gawain, right?" There was a long sip to empty out his glass before the nice lady bartender brought him a replacement.

"Ain't you kinda young to be hanging here?" Regardless, Nate kept his voice low enough not to draw any unnecessary attention to the boy. It would have been hypocritical for a patch'd rogue like Nate to play the role of morality police, nor did he have the desire or motivation to do so. If Gawain was in the mood for a drink in the dim lights of the bar, more power to him. "Be glad I ain't a better teacher."

>> "Yeah. Gawain, right? Ain't you kinda young to be hanging here?... Be glad I ain't a better teacher."

Gawain arched an amused eyebrow at the drink that Nate just ordered, and asked the lady for a beer. She smiled back at him and did not ask for an ID. Point proven.

"Well, ya ain't teaching me" he observed with a chuckle "I have not been taking many classes since I'm on the team. Sadly."

Mr. Teacher looked pretty out of it too, drinking away like that. Gawain tried to recall when was the last time he had seen the guy in the Mansion.

"So, what's up? I mean I'd probably be here every night if I had to teach those brats, but still..."

The boy ordered his own beer, and the bartender lived up to the high standard Nate held her to by accepting the order without asking for any ID. God bless America.

>> "Well, ya ain't teaching me. I have not been taking many classes since I'm on the team. Sadly."

Nate ran through his memory of any specific "teams" at the Mansion. He remembered a handful, including something about frisbee or maybe paintball, but if Gawain was talking about a time commitment, it was probably more likely he was a member of the Mansion's secret squad. "Ah, an X, are ya?"

He took another sip of his beer. His knowledge of the X-Men was limited, even though he fought with one or two of them on Thanksgiving. Still, even if his girlfriend (or whatever she was) hated them, Nate had no qualms with the team of mutant heroes. "Well, I'm sure art lessons won't help you much in the field anyway."

Nate assumed the conversation might have been done, and tried returning to his lonely silence, but it seemed Gawain was more curious than that.

>> "So, what's up? I mean I'd probably be here every night if I had to teach those brats, but still..."

The thought did cross his mind to dismiss Gawain, but that was not in his nature. Gawain was trying to be a genuinely good guy. "Nah, school's basically done now." There was some apprehension, but he continued. "It's just... well, you know, life stuff." There; a vague offering that Gawain had every right to leave there.

>>"Ah, an X, are ya? Well, I'm sure art lessons won't help you much in the field anyway."

Gawain nodded in acknowledgement that he was indeed an X; and smirked at the rest.

"You never know what's gonna help you in the field. It's a weird place."

Especially for mutants, it was. Clay monsters, walking trees, thinking houses. There had to be a story in there.

>>"Nah, school's basically done now. It's just... well, you know, life stuff."

Gawain sipped his beer, leaning against the bar and glancing at Nate. Life indeed.

"So, dies life happen to be a she?"

Guy talk. He had a good portion of an hour left to indulge in that.

>> "You never know what's gonna help you in the field. It's a weird place."

In the world of mutants, Gawain had a point. Mutations could do weird things, and maybe even knowledge of color and sculpture could have their uses.

Then again, there were plenty of other talents Nate had that would be more useful in the field as a whole. "Well, maybe one day I'll let you in on a useful trick or two." The line between criminal talents and heroic talents was a thin one after all.

>> "So, dies life happen to be a she?"

Nate chuckled; the boy was sharp. "In the history of man, every nine times out of ten, a man's reason for drinking is a she."

He lifted his glass for another drink, finding it empty. It was apparent he was drinking at a quicker pace than he thought. The bartender must have noticed, because she before he could ask, she had another glass waiting for him. He accepted gladly, and she replied with a smile before tending to other customers. She was cute, but she was a redhead, and the mental trauma there was far too fresh.

"It's just... frustrating when you don't know where things stand, you know?" The boy's relationship seemed to be stable, so Nate was not exactly sure how well Gawain could relate.

>> "In the history of man, every nine times out of ten, a man's reason for drinking is a she."

The man was already through the drink and getting a refill.
Damn right it was a she.
Gawain smirked, sipped his drink, and setteled at a slow pace of drinking. It was pretty obvious who was taking the teacher home in the end.

>>"It's just... frustrating when you don't know where things stand, you know?"

"Tell me about it" he nodded. For a gender shifter, that was a constant state, even in a steady relationship. Especially in one. "Did ya ask?"

>> "Tell me about it. Did ya ask?"

Something about the question was funny enough to make him laugh. "Not exactly an asking situation."

He had to consider slowing his drinking down, if for nothing else than avoiding a transformation into the brooding alcoholic artist stereotype. Regardless, he took another deep swig of his lager. "We were dating pretty seriously actually. We had a falling out, and now I don't know if we're even still... well, something anymore."

He took a deep breath, feeling the disappointment of his situation sinking in again. "All I can do is give her time."

>>"Not exactly an asking situation. We were dating pretty seriously actually. We had a falling out, and now I don't know if we're even still... well, something anymore. All I can do is give her time."

In the end, all stories were the same. Funny, because every single person they happened to thought they were unique and no one else cound understand them; but really, truly, from a few weeks' distance, they were all the same.

Gawain sipped his beer and nodded.

"Believe me, if it was over, ya'd know it. The usually make that very very clear. Worst case scenario, she is still thinking 'bout it."

Wisdom from a 19-year-old gender bender. The best kind.

"What did ya fight about?"

>> "Believe me, if it was over, ya'd know it. The usually make that very very clear. Worst case scenario, she is still thinking 'bout it."

The boy was smart for his age, and at least somewhat versed in the ways of the world, but he had no idea what kind of situation Nate found himself in. That was saying nothing against his credit; things never happened by the book in the man's life.

>> "What did ya fight about?"

Nate thought out a delicate way to summarize his story without admitting to unnecessary confessions. "She... found out something about my past I was not entirely honest with her about, and now... well, I have no guarantee I'll be hearing from her again."

He mused for another moment. "How many weeks of silence finally says 'you will never hear from me again,' because I'm working on two."

>>"She... found out something about my past I was not entirely honest with her about, and now... well, I have no guarantee I'll be hearing from her again."

Gawain nodded at that and did not comment on it. He had been in that kind of situation before; girls finding out about Maya was always the tricky part. Then again, being up front about things did not always work out either. Nothing works out all the time.

>>"How many weeks of silence finally says 'you will never hear from me again,' because I'm working on two."

"Ouch" Gawain wrinkled his nose "Honestly? I got no clue. It could be a 'you'll never hear from me again' silence, or it can be the 'call me already you idiot' silence too. But either way you deserve to know she's gotta accept that."

As if women were that easy. Even Maya was not that easy, and she was half guy.

>> "Ouch."

Yeah, that's more like it. Feel my pain! Having entered the bar at least two hours before Gawain's arrival, the effects of heavy continuous drinking were beginning to take their tole on Nate's mental state.

>> "Honestly? I got no clue. It could be a 'you'll never hear from me again' silence, or it can be the 'call me already you idiot' silence too. But either way you deserve to know she's gotta accept that."

One great thing about a Southern accent: it usually concealed slurring. More than anything, the drunker a Southerner gets, the more obvious his accent becomes. "Bah, I can tell ya it ain't the 'call me' silence. It's more like, 'if ya call me, I'll throw ya in cuffs' silence."

He was really between a rock and a hard place. "I swear, the only way she could be madder at me is if I joined your lil supperhero squad," he joked. He was mildly curious whether Quin would be more mad at him as a thief or a superhero vigilante.

With another beer gone, Nate waved to the bartender. "Can I git two shots of Jack please, darlin?" Thankfully, the young woman was not one of the typical New York sensitivity to names like "hun" and "sugar." Northerners were too uptight sometimes.

The two shots came to Nate and he slid one over to Gawain. "C'mon, if you're gonna go round like a full grown man, you're gonna drink like one."

>>"Bah, I can tell ya it ain't the 'call me' silence. It's more like, 'if ya call me, I'll throw ya in cuffs' silence. I swear, the only way she could be madder at me is if I joined your lil supperhero squad,"

"Oh man" Gawain shook his head with a sigh "She's a cop? Ya're screwed."

Dating a cop woman who apparently did not like mutant superheroes. For someone who taught most of them, Nate was really deep in it. Gawain wondered who she was. Maybe Jorge would know.

>> "Can I git two shots of Jack please, darlin?... C'mon, if you're gonna go round like a full grown man, you're gonna drink like one."

Southern charm. Gawain smirked, took the shot and downed it. It was good stuff. He was not planning on getting anywhere near as drunk as his teacher, but a shot had never hurt anyone...

"So, not a fan of superheroes, huh" he chuckled "Good think you ain't on the team. If ya think it'd work we can always have someone kidnap her and ya can be the knight in shining armor."

Because Sir Gawain knew a thing or two about knights.

>> "Oh man. She's a cop? Ya're screwed."

The boy had a knack for irony that left Nate laughing again. "Boy, you don't even know the half of it." His girlfriend's occupation was about a third of his problem, with the remaining two-thirds regarding his past occupation.

>> "So, not a fan of superheroes, huh. Good think you ain't on the team. If ya think it'd work we can always have someone kidnap her and ya can be the knight in shining armor."

Nate shook his head, knowing how terrible an idea a staged kidnap would be. "Naw, I don't see that working. 'Sides, she was pissy enough when I fought that Thanksgiving turkey thing alongside some Xes." It was hard to forget the memory of his first fight as a "superhero."