Chapter Text
Fiona pulled the drink from her lips and chuckled, “That’ll teach them to try and steal from me!”
The rest of the table burst into laughter filling the Purple Skag, the local bar of Hollow Point, with their cheery noise.Sasha rolled her eyes after hearing that story for the zillionth time, but she smiled because her sister always told it so well.
The laughter was cut short as Vaughn knocked over his drink, “Oh crap!” he exclaimed.Yvette grabbed her drink before the blue liquid reached it. Rhys stood up to avoid the rush of alcohol and ice that cascaded over the table and onto his chair. As he did this he knocked over Sasha’s glass and even more liquid spilled onto the table.
“Had enough to drink much?” Fiona said through a smile, what a mess they had made.
“I’ll go to the bar to get towels.” said Vaughn as he slipped past Rhys toward to bar.
“And I will go to the bar to get another round, because you ladies need to get on my level!” The Atlas executive spun his heels and made after Vaughn.
“What a couple of whackados” giggled Sasha.
“You don’t even know, they were so clumsy up on Helios together. Vaughn regularly walked into things.” Yvette sighed remembering life back on the station, “It’s a bit more dangerous to be clumsy down here.” she brought the rescued drink to her lips and finished it off.
“No use crying over spilled booze” Fiona smirked, “Besides, those two may be clumsy, but half the Pandorans on this rock are idiots and they manage to stay alive.”She looked over to the boys then back to Sasha “So what’s going on with you two?”
“Oh what, him?” Sasha looked over to Rhys, she sighed “I’m not sure. He seemed interested while we were dealing with that Traveler Vault. But now he practically lives at the Atlas facility and I’m still here in Hollow Point. I can’t tell where we stand.”
“Maybe he’s freaked out because you’re a zombie!” joked Yvette she set down the empty glass and started waving her arms in the air.
“She’s not a zombie” Fiona protested though she didn’t know how else to explain what Felix’s watch had done to Sasha.
“I might be a zombie…” Sasha muttered “I don’t exactly know if I died or not.”
“Okay all of that aside.” Fiona tried to change the topic, “The gang has been back together for a while now. It’s been fun, he seems cool, you seem cool-“
Fiona was interrupted by Vaughn dropping a single bar towel onto the table, “Crap, we’re gonna need more than one.” he said spinning around and heading back to the bar. Sasha stared at the towel slowly soaking up some of the mess.
“What about the owner of this place?” Yvette asked gesturing around the room “August was it? Have you seen much of him?”
“Yeah, he’s reached out to me a handful of times. But I dunno… Can we stop talking about my love life?” Sasha signed and looked over to Rhys who was still in line at the bar. “Is there anyone even bartending tonight? I haven’t seen someone behind the counter the whole time we’ve been here.”
Fiona chuckled at her sister’s embarrassment, “Sasha it’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it. There’s no need to get angry.”
Sasha turned her gaze to Fiona a devilish glint in her eye “What about you Fi?”
Fiona perked up, she suddenly understood how her sister felt when the love life topic came her way. “Uhhhh- I haven’t- Um I don’t-“
“What about Athena? Are you still barking up that tree?” Sasha grinned. She knew her sister, was in fact, still barking up that tree.
Fiona felt the blood rush to her cheeks and an embarrassed smile spread across her lips like it did anytime someone mentioned the former vault hunter. Athena was the gladiator assassin that had been training Fiona to become a vault hunter instead of a theif.
Sasha continued “Even though she has that girlfriend Jamie-“
“Janey” Fiona corrected.
“Oh yes, her girlfriend Janey-”
Before anything else could be said Vaughn arrived with more towels and dropped them onto the table “Here we go! Everyone grab one and help me clean this up.” They each took a towel and mopped up the spill, soon enough the table was clean, well clean enough. Vaughn grabbed the wet mess of towels and headed back to the bar.
"What about you Yvette?” Fiona asked once Vaughn had left.
“Oh what?” Yvette said in a spacey voice, she clearly wasn’t paying much attention. She may have had a couple too many drinks as is.
“Oh no you don’t, you can’t change the subject now!” protested Sasha “Let’s get back to Athena and her girlfriend Janey.”
“Can you stop saying it like that.” Fiona scowled at her sister.
“Saying what?” Sasha teased “GIRLFRIEND?”
Fiona winced at the word “Yes I get is Sash. Trust me, I get it, I know she’s in a relationship. It’s just a harmless crush anyway. I don’t want to come between her and-“
Before she could continue she was interrupted again by Vaughn. “Alright Mr. Bigshot Atlas has graciously gifted us more booze!” He set down five shot glasses full of clear liquid, Rhys appeared behind him with several highball glasses of mixed drinks. “Let’s get some!” he exclaimed, setting down and sliding each member of the table a glass. Vaughn distributed the shots.
Rhys and Vaughn held up their shot glasses in the center of the table, the others joined in. Looking a little faded Rhys started “It’s been a while since we’ve all been together like this, and I think you guys should know that I appreciate our friendship, let’s not keep out of touch anymore. It’s a rough planet full of rough people, but of those rough people you are the roughest-“
“And cheers!” Fiona interrupted Rhys’s drawl and clicked her glass against the others, everyone followed suit. She shot the liquid down the back of her throat and let out a sigh as her mouth tingled a bit.
“Bro, that was a beautiful speech” said Vaughn looking at Rhys
“Bro, you’re a beautiful speech” Rhys chuckled ruffling Vaughn’s hair.
Yvette set down her empty shot glass with a loud clink, surprisingly the glass didn’t break, she looked up at the others and mumbled “Okay you beautiful animals. I gotta go home.”
“But you didn’t even finish your other drink!” Rhys said pointing at the highball glass.
Yvette hiccuped and slid the glass back to Rhys “It’s all you buddy. I can’t have another drop.” She stood up and slid her chair in, “But I agree with you Rhys, let’s meet up again soon. Bye everyone!” She left the table as the group said their goodbyes.
Fiona watched her go, then looked back to her own glass. It was full of some sort of purple alcohol but it smelled peculiarly of rocket fuel. “Rhys what the hell did you order?” She chuckled taking a sip of the drink. It tasted like fire, but it wasn’t as bad as it smelled.
“I don’t even know!” Rhys laughed.
“It’s pretty good!” chimed in Vaughn.
“I’m gonna finish this drink and probably also head out.” Said Sasha
“Oh C’mon it’s not that late!” Rhys said as he looked at his watch “Oh crap it is late!”
“Time flies when you’re having fun” Chuckled Fiona, already halfway through her drink.
“Well, let me drive you home at least.” Said Rhys to Sasha
Fiona looked over to Sasha who looked back at her, Fiona winked with a knowing grin and shot her eyes over to Rhys. This could be a great chance for her sister to figure out what’s going on with this guy.
“Yeah, I could go for a ride home.” Said Sasha cooly.
“Do you need a ride too Fiona?” Asked Rhys.
“Oh! Uh-“ Fiona’s eyes darted back to Sasha to see what she wanted. Her kid sister made intense eye contact back at her, the kind that suggests she wanted to go alone with him. “Um, no. I think I’ll stay here a bit longer.”
“Okay then” Said Rhys setting his glass down. Vaughn started to push the empty glasses together. After a few minutes the only drink left was Yvette’s abandoned glass. Rhys stood up and started putting on his coat “Why don’t you finish off that bad boy?” he slid the drink to Fiona, she eyed the glass already feeling a little blurry behind her eyes.
“Yeah Fi, relax and enjoy. I’ll see you back at the house?” Sasha said as she headed towards Rhys’s side.
Fiona wondered if that meant she was trying to go home with Rhys or if she was trying to get him to come home with her, or did it just mean she would be home alone? Was Fiona overthinking this? Did she need another drink?
“I call shotgun!” exclaimed Vaughn.
“What?” Sasha blurted out startled by his outburst.
“Well I’m riding home with Rhys obviously.” Said Vaughn looking at Rhys he put his fist up.
“He sure is!” Rhys said looking back at Vaughn and bumped their fists together.
“Bros!” they said in unison.
Fiona burst out laughing, Sasha looked mortified.
“Oh, leave us alone, we’re just good bros!” Rhys whined.
“Okay bye!” Fiona contained herself, giggling a little as her sister obviously was not excited about Vaughn joining them. Fiona’s giggles settled down as she realized she was the last one there. ‘I guess that answers my question about who’s house she’ll be sleeping at.’ She reached over for the last drink. ‘Guess we’ll both be alone tonight.’ She picked up the glass, leaned back in her chair and took a heavy gulp.