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"Just a beer? Got it." Remus shouted over the loud indie music, letting the patron scan their card as he poured a basic beer. The person was obviously on a bar crawl as they were surrounded by friends screaming ad laughing the place down. They were probably all first years by the way they were acting. It was a Wednesday evening so relatively busy as all the sports clubs had finished their matches and societies were in full swing. The volleyball team were trying to twerk, the theatre society were rehearsing their lines for the latest performance between slurred breaths and the LGBTQ+ society were hogging a booth and avoiding everyone apart from their trusted friends. In first year Remus was a mix of all those people but now he actually had to earn money for his education - and the best place to earn was the local university bar.
The music was booming and even Remus was dancing behind the bar and enjoying the night. Everyone seemed happy and his pay seemed to be good this shift so he could relax and just enjoy the atmosphere he worked in. He couldn't drink on the job unfortunately but in the months he worked he realised he didn't need to. Everything was just so much more fun when you could appreciate every aspect of it.
"Hey, may I have an apple and pears cider?" A quiet voice dragged Remus out of his reminiscing, a voice only just heard above the music. In front of Remus was a man dressed in all black with side swept chocolate brown hair, his eyes covered with black glasses. It was safe to say Remus' gay mind believed this man to be very cute. The barman nodded and started making the drink, saying the price. The new man brought the exact amount of cash required and sat on a nearby barstool without another word.
Remus couldn't take his eyes off the man though. Maybe because he hadn't seemed to have brought anyone with him, his eyes were taped on his fingers as his nails tapped on the wood. After a few minutes he placed his glasses off to hold them and rub his eyes with his pointer finger and thumb. The man's eyes were red and bloodshot, which would either be due to drug use or crying. And he didn't seem high.
"Bad day?" Remus mumbled, leaning in front of the upset man as he passed him his drink. He just drank and looked down with a small mumble. "You can vent to me about it, I'm paid to listen."
The man seemed to contemplate talking but that hesitation only lasted a second. He placed his glasses on and fixed them before taking a sip again. "Meh - just third year blues. My dissertation's due in May so I'm panicking a little."
"Well that's months away! I see people in here the night before it's due drinking their worries away, so I honestly wouldn't fret." With a smirk from the bartender the mysterious man smiled too, swirling his drink around the container with a cheek on his fist. He seemed content now but Remus didn't want to leave him just yet, he could easily make drinks while chatting at this point. "What's your diss about?"
"Different types of intelligence. It's a little passion of mine." He softly laughed when he thought about his project - Remus wished he had that passion about his undergrad. "I guess I'm more worried about what comes after the degree, you get me?"
Remus nodded and sorted out another patron's drink before turning back to the person he was talking to. "I get it. But apart from the global climate crisis and the whole pandemic thing the future seems pretty bright."
"Can't the future just wait?"
The man took a sip of his cider and spun it again. He looked forlorn again, and Remus understood that feeling. He knew what it was like to be lost in time without a clear path especially after years upon years of being dragged through the education system. He also encountered a lot of people complaining about the continuation of time in his work but he never quite got the opportunity to talk to someone about it.
"I mean, 'fashionably late' doesn't apply to deadlines and I'm losing so much control this semester." To stop himself from crying the man chuckled, wiping his eyes under his glasses again. "Look at me - at a bar alone the day before my exam harassing the bartender with my issues." Remus raised an eyebrow and left his drink making for a little bit to listen to this new person since he might be catching on that a lot of people needed drinks made tonight. "Time is just flying away..."
Remus tried pulling the strictest face he could, leaning so far forward that he loomed over the drinking student. "I'll stop you there. You're not harassing me, as I said before I'm paid to help people out but I'd happily do so for free." The man mumbled a refutal but eventually nodded and clasped his hands around his glass. "And about the time thing... I don't think time flies. I'd rather describe it as an ocean."
The man tilted his head with a small, confused smirk. "Really? How so?"
Remus had never got this far in comforting someone from an existential crisis but he could do this. But this person seemed invested in the story he had to tell - and Remus really was creative when it came to unusual similes.
"Well, time rises and falls and you only really pay attention to it when it raises its head like you only pay attention to the patterns of the tide when you see the white reach the beach." The man nodded along, clearly enjoying the story Remus was saying as he seemed quite invested, so the barman continued his story.
"And the ocean never stops moving of course even in the ocean at the horizon which looks stationary." Inside is head Remus was visualising a beach with a beautiful pink and orange sunset and he was hoping he was also conjuring that image in the man's head even though the pair were in a crowded university bar.
Now came the difficult part, comparing such a beautiful thing like a wide ocean to the mental crisis that many university students worked through every single day. "If anyone goes too deep into future thinking, whether positive or negative, it consumes you. Like a deep ocean." The man's smile faltered a little but he continued to listen. "I understand that drowning feeling, but if you just take a step back and watch the smaller waves of time it becomes a little easier to handle."
When Remus smiled softly, and the other man smiled in return, he had reassured himself that he did the right thing. The man's eyes first looked black in the darkness of the bar and under the black glasses but now Remus could see they were actually a bright and hopeful blue magnified by the disco style lighting. He loved seeing hope in other people's eyes.
"You're creative." The man laughed, taking another sip of his drink that was quickly emptying as the two were chatting. "Do you have a degree in existential crisis metaphors?"
"Close, creative writing." Remus smirked, collecting the empty glass in front of his new friend and beginning to clean it. He liked this, he felt like he was hanging out with a friend even though he'd only known this student for an evening. He couldn't let this night go. "I get off in about half an hour if you want to stick around and continue chatting?"
The man smirked but shook his head, collecting the bag he left beside his barstool and ruffling his hair as he looked around. "I'm afraid I can't. I should head to my bed to make sure I have adequate sleep before my exam." Even though Remus would have loved to spend the night with the new man he nodded and went back into his normal bartender role.
"Good luck for then, you're not driving back though are you?" The man shook his head and explained he could walk back to his house from campus, but Remus wanted to be safe and wrote down his number on a napkin. "Be safe and call me if you get into trouble."
The man smiled softly and took the napkin, taking a second to type the new phone number into his phone. When he had done that he put his phone back into his pocket and he was about to turn around before he spoke. "Thank you."
But as soon as the man left Remus swore to himself and sighed - he wished he got his new friend's name.