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News on the street was that the bash of the year was going down at Kerry Eurodyne’s villa, and everybody who was anybody- the movers and the shakers, today’s stars and yesterday’s wash-ups…they were all there - or waiting outside the gate in hopes of getting in.
The funny thing, Kerry thought to himself as he lounged on one of his many sofas, glass of tequila in hand, was that he hadn’t actually invited a single one of these people into his home. Baffling as it was, the rockerboy had long since become accustomed to the phenomenon, so it didn’t so much phase the man as irk him. Once upon a time he’d even been grateful for the diversion; the noise, the drinking, the drugs… they’d made for a fantastic distraction from his own spiraling thoughts.
For a while, anyways.
The thing about parties, though, was that they always ended eventually. Hours, days- it didn’t matter. The quiet and the solitude always returned, and then it was just Kerry Eurodyne alone with himself again; the very worst sort of company, if he did say so himself. He’d tried lots of things to distract himself and his demons over the years, but at the end of it all it’d taken the musician getting right with himself and coming to terms with his past to finally find peace.
Not that there was a lot of that to be had with all these fuckin’ people in his goddamn house.
Christ, he really was getting old, wasn’t he? There was some hot young thing posed on the couch beside him and Kerry didn’t even remember her sitting down. He cast the young woman a glance over the rim of his glass as he took a sip of tequila and she perked up immediately when she realized she finally had his attention.
“You know, I’d heard legends of your absolutely nova parties, Mr. Eurodyne,” the woman said with a flirtatious smile as she leaned toward him a little, voice raised so he could hear her over the music pounding through the sound system. “I didn’t think they could possibly live up to the hype, but I’m not too proud to say I was wrong!”
Kerry grunted acknowledgment and let his gaze stray over the surging crowd around them as he wondered what it would take to get everyone to leave. Maybe if he pulled that new pistol V had gotten him and put a few holes in the ceiling they’d all clear out… Kerry grimaced internally and shelved the idea with a sigh. He’d tried that before, couple years back, and all it’d done was throw the crowd into an outright frenzy.
A better idea occurred to him then, and Kerry’s mood immediately lightened. “Sorry, doll,” he told the young woman beside him, interrupting her attempt to engage him over her modeling career. “Something I gotta take care of. You enjoy yourself,” he said and patted her arm before shoving himself up off the sofa and plunging into the crowd, tequila still in hand.
The musician managed to find a small spot of semi-quiet by the second-floor window that overlooked his pool. He leaned against the glass and pulled out his pack of cigarettes as he made a call, lighting one up and ignoring the couple necking nearby as he did.
If he couldn’t make everyone leave his house, maybe he could at least invite the one person he did want to see to the party.
‘Hey, Ker,’ V said a few rings later when he, for once in his life, actually picked up the goddamn phone.
“V,” Kerry replied, unable to keep the smile from his face. Just the sound of his input’s voice was enough to send a tide of warmth that the tequila couldn’t hope to match racing through him from head to toe. “Party at my place tonight, apparently,” the rockerboy said, taking a pull of his cigarette as he watched a man with a unicycle instead of legs set himself on fire then ramp off the diving board into his pool. “You coming or what?”
‘What, right now?’ V asked and Kerry could perfectly envision the very particular way his input had of raising his eyebrow when he used that tone of voice. ‘Don’t remember you sayin’ anything about a party the other day.’
Kerry grunted noncommittally. “You know how this shit goes. Just kinda-” he waved his cigarette vaguely. “-happens. So, you coming?” he asked hopefully, kicking himself a little for sounding so fucking desperate; but then, he kind of was.
Voice dropping a little, V broke his heart gentle as he could. ‘Sorry, babe; I just wrapped on a gig, I’m covered in blood, and honestly I’m desperate for a little quiet after the night I had.’
“You alright?” Kerry asked, immediately worried as he straightened from where he’d been leaning against the glass. “You need-”
‘I’m fine,’ V reassured him immediately, and when the musician hummed doubtfully, chuckled and insisted, ‘Promise.’
Kerry hesitated a moment, wanting to press the matter, but a sudden burst of loud chatter from an approaching group of party-goers interrupted and he sighed. “Alright,” he relented. “You call me if you need anything,” Kerry pressed and he could hear the smile in V’s voice when his input responded, ‘You know I will.’
The musician only made a skeptical noise in the back of his throat and V laughed. ‘Have fun with your party. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
“Holdin’ you to that,” Kerry informed him, finally managing a smile of his own when his input chuckled again and they said their final goodbyes before he hung up.
Dejected, Kerry wandered aimlessly through the midst of the laser show that had taken over his living room, feeling curiously out of place in his own home. Eventually he wound up in one corner of the first floor balcony with a mostly full bottle of whiskey and a solid buzz, sighing wistfully up into the night sky and trying to pick out the stars through the veil of Night City’s heavy light pollution. Finding his glass empty when he went to take another sip, Kerry squinted with intense focus and poured himself another finger then sighed again as its pleasant heat rolled over his tongue and down his throat.
V loved whiskey, and this bottle was a particularly fine one, the musician had to admit. What he wouldn’t give to be curled up on the couch sharing it with his input right now… but no, he had to have a party .
Stupid party, wasn’t even his in the first place, people had just started showing up! Probably they wouldn’t even notice if he left right now, Kerry thought with an indignant snort as he drained his cup. Before he could pour himself another, however, a brilliant idea sparked in his inebriated brain, making him freeze mid-gesture.
He didn’t have to stay for the party. There were so many people here that everyone would probably just assume he was in some other part of the house at any given time; there was literally nothing stopping him from walking out the door to go where he actually wanted to be. Excitement rippling through him at the revelation, Kerry immediately put the cap back on the bottle of whiskey and called himself a ride. He wasn’t full on drunk, but he wasn’t stupid enough to try driving this buzzed either; besides, taking his own car would probably attract too much attention.
As it turned out, however, just trying to leave his own house attracted too much attention. No less than ten different people tried to grab him on his way from the back deck to the front door, forcing the musician to waste precious moments extricating himself. The helplessness of the situation made itself particularly clear when he pushed open the front door and found a veritable circus on his lawn, around his pool, and even along the full length of his driveway. Some fuckin’ genius had started an entire second party out there with its own dj, drinks, and food.
Realizing there was no way he could make it out the front gate without people following him (all the way to V’s place, knowing his fucking luck), Kerry retreated back to the rear deck to regroup. His ride had just pulled up, and after a minute’s desperate pondering what V would do in this situation, the musician realized he already knew. The first time the merc had ever shown up at his place, he’d jumped the side wall and deactivated his security droids before heading inside. Kerry wouldn’t have to worry about the latter, so all he had to manage was the former and he was fuckin’ golden.
Grinning, the musician sent his hired ride instructions to meet him a little ways up the road next to the tunnel, then set off along the back deck of his villa as quickly, but sneakily, as he could manage.
Turned out he was not, in fact, particularly sneaky, but the people he passed were either too blitzed or too preoccupied with their partner to notice one buzzed and slightly obvious musician creeping away from his own party. Even the couple whose laps he tumbled right into when he slipped on a puddle of what he hoped was someone’s spilled drink didn’t do much more than cry out before he scrambled free and called a, “Shit, sorry!” as he hurried on his way.
Kerry managed to make it to the wall surrounding his property without any further mishap, bottle of whiskey tucked firmly under one arm as he peered over some bushes towards the mob on his front lawn. When he was certain everyone was occupied with the foam party overtaking his pool and the adjacent bar, the musician edged towards the wall and paused at its base with some trepidation.
He’d forgotten just how tall it was, and as Kerry stood there scratching absently at his beard while he considered the imposing edifice, he found himself more impressed by his input than ever. V had made it sound like it was no big deal getting up and over the thing, but the wall was a good eight feet high and Kerry was beginning to consider that he might have to double back and find himself something to stand on just to reach the top-
The thought made the musician’s pride prickle unexpectedly. He’d climbed plenty of walls in his heyday; hadn’t been all that long since the last time he’d had to outrun the pigs…
Resolved, Kerry took the bottle of whiskey, and after a couple of practice swings, carefully lobbed it up and over the wall, relieved when all he heard on landing was a dull thump rather than a crash. That done, the musician rubbed his hands together and eyed the wall as he hyped himself up. “Alright, old man, let’s fuckin’ go! You got this-” then took a breath, ran at the wall, successfully got one foot up it to push off, and promptly failed to follow up with the second.
“Shit!” Kerry swore loudly as he crashed chest-first into the barrier and slid down it to land flat on his ass.
A little dazed from impact, the rockerboy sat there for a moment and glared up at the distant top of the wall before forcing himself back to his feet with a groan as a few new aches and pains made themselves known. Rather than be deterred, the musician scowled and backed up even further to give himself more of a running start, determined to get over the wall under his own power come hell or high water. The man was under no illusion that he could keep up with his input when it came to this kind of sneaky ninja shit, but he might as well go find a shovel and dig himself a grave next to Johnny’s if he couldn’t manage this much.
The musician gave himself a shake, bouncing from one foot to the other and wishing he was a little less inebriated, then sprinted at the wall again.
Left, right, left, right, push off the ground, first boot against the wall then the second, followed by a desperate reach, and-
“Hah!” Kerry crowed triumphantly as he managed to grab the top, though he didn’t linger on his minor victory as he focused on hauling himself up until he managed to get his upper half over the edge. This part, at least, he could manage fairly easily; these guns weren’t shooting blanks, baby!
Kerry swung one leg up and over the wall so he straddled it, then quickly followed with the other until he was perched on top, grinning like an idiot. He very nearly let out a whoop of victory, but remembered at the last moment that he was trying to sneak out of his party, so he instead turned his attention to the ground, eager to get to his ride. The musician’s first impulse was to push off the wall and jump down, but after observing the depth of the shadows below, he reconsidered and turned, then lowered himself down. Kerry dangled for a moment then dropped, boots hitting uneven ground that sent him tumbling backwards, ass over humbucker, until he lay sprawled on his back in the prickly, unmanicured grass outside his property.
“Fuck’s sake,” he groaned and forced himself upright, then looked around him for the bottle of whiskey that had preceded him. He spied it near at hand and grabbed it before he got to his feet and set off at a trot through the night towards the road. “Things I do for love,” Kerry grumbled to himself, but was unable to repress the smile that pulled at his lips as he realized he was finally (and literally) home free.
Finding his ride didn’t take long, and Kerry was humming cheerfully to himself by the time he tugged open the rear passenger door and closed it quickly behind him. When the musician glanced up at the driver, he found the man watching him, wide-eyed, but before he could open his mouth, Kerry held up a finger and said, “Choombatta, you get me where I’m going without asking any questions and I’ll pay you triple, got it?”
“I- er, sure. Alright,” the driver stammered and Kerry reached forward to clap him on the shoulder with a grin as fireworks erupted in a colorful panoply over his house.
“Good man. Just flicked you the address.”
True to his word, the driver kept his mouth shut, and after one brief detour to pick up some tacos from his input’s favorite stand, had them at V’s place in no time flat. One elevator ride and a security scan later, Kerry was through the door into the mercenary’s penthouse just in time to catch him fresh out of the shower, dressed in a comfortable looking t-shirt and sweats.
“Already washed all the blood off?” Kerry asked, feigning disappointment as V stared at him in surprise, then finally broke into a smile.
“Well if I’d known you were coming over, I might’ve waited,” he replied and met the musician halfway, giving Kerry a once over as he asked in a more serious tone, “What happened to you? Thought you were havin’ a party?”
The musician looked down at himself and noticed for the first time that he was covered in grass stains, then grimaced and shrugged as he thrust the bag of tacos at his input and said, “Well, see, it occurred to me that I didn’t have to sit around talkin’ to a bunch of people I don’t like when I could be here, talkin’ to someone I do.”
V laughed as he accepted the bag and looked inside. “So, what, snuck outta your own party?” the mercenary asked, clearly joking, then hummed appreciatively when he realized what his input had brought him.
“Yeah, actually. Went out the back and hopped the wall,” Kerry said, grinning when V jerked his gaze up, startled.
“You did not,” the mercenary objected, half-laughing.
Kerry scoffed and gave his input a shove in the direction of the sofa. “What, think I’m too decrepit to hop one measly wall? I’m not that old, kid,” the rockerboy complained, pointedly leaving out the number of attempts it had taken him.
“No,” V replied quickly as he fetched up against the back of the couch and leaned his weight against it, dropping the bag of tacos he’d been given onto the side table. His voice lowered and he looked up at Kerry from under his lashes as he reached out to gently take the older man by the hips and draw him into the gap between his thighs. “Just… seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through just to see me, is all.”
The look was enough to steal Kerry’s breath away, and in that moment the only response he could muster was to lean in and kiss the mercenary- the press of his lips against V’s firm, their movement slow but meticulous just to put a point to the matter. “Worth it,” the musician said with a slow, coy grin when they parted, pleased to find his input looking flushed and a little dazed. He leaned in again and pressed a second kiss to the corner of V’s mouth, then another to the curve of his jaw, and on down his neck. “ You’re worth it,” Kerry mumbled against the other man’s skin and felt the mercenary’s pulse jump against his lips.
“Ker’, c’mon,” V protested with a low, embarrassed groan that Kerry recognized as an invitation, not a refusal.
The musician smiled happily to himself as he dropped the bottle of whiskey onto the couch, then pressed V backwards until they tumbled onto the cushions after it. This was it, Kerry thought blissfully as his lips found V’s again and his input drew him in close...
This was where he belonged.