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“Another please”
The Smurf behind the bar silently slid another small glass across the counter.
Brainy stared at his reflection in the surface of the brown liquid. It rippled at his breath, distorting the visage of his features. He swirled a finger around the outside of the glass as he allowed some of his muddled thoughts to catch up with him. No, he wasn’t … drunk. Brainy Smurf would never be caught in that state, certainly not in the rowdy way certain Smurfs like Blacksmith and Miner and even his own husband had been known to do. Tipsy, perhaps. And why shouldn’t he, it had been a long day after all, sometimes a bubble bath just wouldn’t cut it for stress.
He downed the shot in one, grimacing as he felt the burn hit his throat. He couldn’t see what the others saw in this stuff. Heck he didn’t know why he was even here. To distract himself, perhaps. Strangely enough a bubble bath didn’t sound like such a bad idea after all now, and he figured he should quit whilst he was ahead.
“Give me… a water, please” He called out, licking his lips nervously as though he feared teasing from his peers, but the rest of the Smurfs in the tavern that night were too engrossed in idle gossip and card games to notice.
The water was cool and comforting in contrast to the whiskey he’d just sipped and Brainy felt a wave of sobriety wash over him at the familiar taste. He felt a tall presence approach as he did so, but chose to ignore it, assuming it was probably Painter or someone of the like coming to retrieve an order for his table.
“I’m not sure I’d have believed it if I wasn’t seeing it, Brainy Smurf at the tavern tonight?”
The spectacled Smurf almost choked on his drink. He sat his half-finished glass down on the counter top as he tried to ease his coughing. A strong hand slapped him on the back to help and he sputtered something that was half way between a thank you and a curse word as the regained his breath.
Handy Smurf slid into the seat next to him, grinning. Ah great. The very Smurf Brainy had been trying to avoid all day. Perhaps he was going to need another whiskey after all.
“The usual, Handy?” The barkeep asked, but the mechanic shook his head.
“Nah something special, I’m celebrating tonight”
“I’ll bet you are” Brainy mumbled into his glass, trying not to let his eyes prick at the pain that was still lingering on his back and down his throat.
Handy looked at him, bemused, as he placed his order.
“Is that just a water? You know you should try the house special, it might lighten you up – hey barkeep! A house special for my friend here”
“Don’t – don’t do that” Brainy grimaced, his hand tightening on his glass. He didn’t think he needed any more alcohol tonight.
“Can’t have party poopers in the tavern tonight, I’m in too good a mood, even if it’s you, Brainy”
“Charming”
The inventor shook his head, and thanked the bartender as he passed a couple of drinks over. Brainy had always been a bit of a stick in the mud but that’s just who he was. The village loved him regardless, he was their Brainy Smurf after all, giant pain in the tail or not.
“So what’s the occasion?” A Smurf a couple seats over asked.
“Ah” Handy mimed being shot through the heart with an invisible arrow “I’m in love”
Brainy’s knuckles turned white around the glass he was holding.
“Oh? That mermaid of yours come swimming back, ey?”
The mechanic looked hurt for a split second but it quickly cooled off. He shook his head, not even wanting to go there.
“No uh, actually” he smiled, raising his glass to his lips and taking a deep sip “It’s Clumsy”
There was a brief silence at the counter before the Smurfs on either side began to congratulate him. Brainy did not, and instead reached for his house special, deciding he needed the drink after all if he was going to get through this night.
“Ah Handy you sly dog, we all saw it coming”
“When did ya make it official?”
“Just today, we’ve still got some stuff to learn, I gotta find out his favourite flowers”
It just didn’t make sense to him. He, Brainy Smurf, who had been Clumsy’s friend since the days of Smurflinghood. He, who had seen Clumsy’s first rock collection, who had played the parts of trees together in their first play, who had been to the depths of the darkness cavern and back, who had been the first non-parent to hold Clumsy’s twins, who had been Clumsy’s best friend for well over two centuries now – the Smurf who knew Clumsy almost as well as himself, didn’t understand how Clumsy could do this to him.
Handy was an intelligent, strong, handsome, mechanically minded Smurf, a stark contrast to the cute, klutzy fireman that Clumsy was. An even starker contrast to Brainy himself, and he despised him for it. Brainy wouldn’t say he was … jealous, per say. But there was something deep rooted within him that made him prickle at close proximity to the engineer, and made him chug down his special with renewed fervour. He hated how much sense it made for Clumsy to choose him. His eyesight may have been bad but Brainy wasn’t blind to it. Whatever issues Brainy himself had with Handy, they weren’t transferrable to Clumsy. Handy had always been more gentle, more useful, and genuinely kinder to Brainy’s best friend. Especially recently, when he’d taken up an agreement to watch Clumsy’s two sons. Brainy had seen it all unfold from afar, a knot in his stomach whenever he saw the four of them out together. Truly, he’d known, it had only been a matter of time. And Handy was, admittedly, doing a great job at looking after Clumsy’s boys. Moreso than Brainy himself could have done, since the twins seemed to run away from him at any opportunity.
“Nn- f-fffuck you” Brainy didn’t remember saying the words, but it had clearly sounded like his voice, albeit slightly distorted.
“W-what?” Handy chuckled awkwardly, one eyebrow raised in confusion.
“Y-you jjust think you can, youu jussst have to have it all, don’t youu, right?”
“Uh I think special might have been a bit too strong in the percentage for you, Brainy, what’s the matter with you?”
“Me?” Brainy snorted, downing the very last of his drink. The two whiskey’s from earlier had come back to haunt him on top of this, and he certainly wasn’t used to the effects.
“You gotta,,, you just wanna uhh, take it allll, huh? You gotta *hic* take the p-praise aand the uh, g-glory from Papa but that wasn’t enough for you, huh? E-Everything I’ve doness been in your shadow an now you gotta take m-more, *hic* N-now ish my best friend”
Brainy was almost sobbing at this point, hot tears running from underneath his steamed up glasses. He didn’t know what had come over him. It was as though three centuries of pent up resentment had boiled over at once. Handy was unnervingly silent, and for a moment Brainy thought he might be about to start a brawl. Instead, the mechanic grabbed him gently but firmly by the shoulder, and dragged him out the front of the tavern without another word.
The cold night air was sobering, and Brainy couldn’t help but let out a short gasp as the breeze hit him. Handy allowed the other Smurf to steady himself on his elbow best he could, as Brainy was currently finding it a little hard to stand on his own.
“W-what now? A-are you gonna throw me out the village?”
“No, I’m just stopping you making a damn fool of yourself in there” the inventor said, almost matter of factly. “Geez Brainy I knew you were a light weight but that was something else”
Brainy stared at his own feet. Strange, he didn’t remember having four of them.
“Look, uh” Handy rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncharacteristically sheepish “I’m … I’m sorry. I didn’t – we should have told you earlier but to be honest it … it was kind of a surprise to us too, hehe… but … do you really hate me that much?”
The other sighed. He wasn’t in the right headspace to sort out his emotions, and even if he had been he wouldn’t have wanted to do it in that moment.
“N-no… that was mostly the house special talking … Look I’m sorry too I just… ah forget it”
“No, what is it?”
“Ugh do we have to do this now?”
“Drunk Brainy might be more cooperative than sober one” Handy chuckled, no longer sounding as offended as he had earlier.
“Hm.” Brainy leant against the outside of the tavern and sighed. “I-I just don’t want Clumsy to get hurt … look he’s already been through a lot and I’m just looking out for him”
“What, you think I don’t know that?”
“It’s not that … look, Handy. I know we’ve had our differences and I’m not sure we’ll ever truly be on the same page but … well I can see you care about him – all of them, actually. And … well I know him, Handy. I’ve seen the way he looks at you – he-he loves you, Handy ... and to be honest I’m not sure how that makes me feel right now.”
“O-oh gee uh” Handy gulped, feeling his cheeks flush a little “W-wow uh, well I mean it’s early I suppose but-“
“Hm, you know how Clumsy is” Brainy smiled a little, closing his eyes “He falls into everything fast – literally, in some cases”
“Ah true, that’s how he is – say, wanna head back inside? It’s kind of cold out. Just- just get water”
Brainy nodded, and the two Smurfs made their way back to the opposite end of the bar, grateful for the warmth of the building.
It was strange. They’d truly seemed to have gone from almost enemies to … well perhaps not friends. Brainy wasn’t sure they could have patched things up that quickly but there was a mutual understanding there at least. An unspoken acknowledgement they’d met somewhere half way, and the rest was up to time to smooth over.
His water finished, Brainy decided he ought to head home for the night. Gutsy would no doubt find his state bemusing, but that was another situation entirely.
“Say, Handy? Can you promise me one thing at least, I mean about … you and Clumsy?”
“Yes?”
“Will you … I mean … just look after him, alright?”
“Of course”
“Very well” Brainy sighed, pushing back from his bar seat with a loud creak against the floorboards. His head was still spinning but he’d deal with that in the morning. He turned to go, but not before placing a hand on Handy’s shoulder.
“By the way, his favourite flowers are daisies – white ones with pink tips, to be exact."