Work Text:
Glitch City, Valhalla
207X, December 27th
Mario was in the middle of having a small argument with Jill about being oblivious to great potential romantic partners, the example discussed was Gil after some small talk between the three about the two bartenders being an "item" or not.
"Eh... not interested."
Mario got more annoyed at Jill's answer. A no, even if it was just to push Gil into a closet and go from there? "You annoy me, bartender. You don't see what you have right in front of you. I'm out!"
He made his leave from the Valhalla bar at high speed, not talking to the vending machines as the main street became present, now walking in a direction.
In hindsight, there probably was an overreaction with how descriptive he was being about Gil specifically for one, but how could Jill be like that? She had even agreed that the male bartender was good looking and everything.
Jill must've in truth meant their reasons such as "his past is a fucking weight I don't wanna carry" and/or they were secretly going through a lot themselves to not care about relationships, who knows?
That stoic bartender act was convincing, to all intents and purposes. Or maybe they were solely interested in the same sex?
A part of him did want to apologise for lashing out in the bar, but now didn't seem like the right time and seemed too awkward. Apologises would be made when he next visited the bar. with optimism that the male bartender would be present.
And maybe he could bring up the Replibot worries he wished to voice earlier with no chance to. It was quite scary.
Further realization was made that some of the earlier anger was also due to his own struggles with sexuality. A full effort was always made in that bar to be given non "girly" drinks in an attempt to keep up an act, even if it was exhausting which caused him to slip up at times when requesting said drinks.
Jill must've caught on him accidentally asking for girly drinks first-hand, but silently thanked her for going with the flow. Maybe she could give advice for becoming more comfortable with asking for more suitable drinks eventually, provided he opened up more.
If only there wasn't so much anxiety and nervousness, a move would be made towards the male bartender. But if they really were distant and made sure to keep it that way for seemingly a good reason, what could realistically be done to make such a move?
If they were even single, at that.
Mario sighed however, shaking his head. There wasn't any point worrying about all of that now, especially when walking through a random street of the Neon District. If he didn't have his guard up, someone could try to mug him or worse.
There were more important tasks regardless now that today's last delivery had been accomplished via the package for Dana Zane.
Today had been quite exhausting mainly on the emotional side, thus Mario just wanted to buy something and go straight home in order to rest for tomorrow's delivery run.
To his luck, 3 businesses to the left of Valhalla's block set was a convenience store. One his was a regular at, actually due to it's good condition from being well maintained, plus the good looking male cashier that worked full time.
Entering the establishment, the closest sliding refrigerator door was opened and short thinking occurred. Would a can of Kiririn Light really be good? Putting up his tough guy act to help the biker occupation/hobby was an ever-present exhaustion which wore him down, especially when visiting extended family.
With a sigh, a sweet and girly type of canned drink was retrieved instead with the sliding door automatically closing, the drink being put onto the cashier's counter with no attempt to check it's price due to current distractions in thoughts.
He only hoped the drink wouldn't raise any questions from people, even if most Glitch City residents were too busy taking care of themselves to care about a stranger's sexuality.
What snapped him out of those thoughts nevertheless was the cashier requesting $200 for the drink, an expected price which Mario carefully used his card to pay for, no cash for evident reasons in a place like the Neon District.
"T-There, handsome."
To Mario's misfortune, the cashier raised an eyebrow at the unexpected remark, confused at such a statement. "I'm sorry?"
It only took until their reply for Mario to realize the massive fucking mistake made "(Oh god.)"
Mario was instantaneously filled with regret and embarrassment, feeling more stupid than anyone else in the whole world. The earlier strong drinks in Valhalla must've been the cause, sad to say. "N-No, nothing." To him, it just slipped out upon interacting with a good looking guy once again, a clear strain to control his feelings.
The cashier dismissed the earlier compliment. It didn't matter as the payment had now gone through. "That's everything, here's your drink."
Mario internally breathed a massive sigh of relief, thankful the guy wasn't mad and thus smiled once receiving the drink.
"See you soon."
With some haste after thanking the cashier, Mario had exited the store with the drink in one of his red biker jacket pockets for the road, for both convenience and safety. Holding something like that in this climate of December would freeze his hands for sure.
The only thing left to do now was head home. Good thing it wasn't too far from where he was.