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It was just before noon on a lovely spring day and Lila and Rusty were getting the tavern ready to open. There were many steps involved in this process, from filling up kegs to prepping ingredients to putting out fresh flowers into the vases on the many tables. The two of them moved in a familiar rhythm, following the same patterns they always did while chatting about the latest gossip.
“I can’t believe he’s already standing outside the tavern.” Rusty grumbles from under the bar
“Who?” Lila pauses her sweeping
She hears several bottle clink and a few more grumbles from Rusty "He's at the window"
Lila turns around and sees the familiar mouse staring at her through the window, his face and fingers pressing against the glass. She doesn't even know why she asked, who else would it be? He ducks away when their eyes meet. Frustrated, she returns to sweeping. Why must he consistently smudge the glass?
Lila remembers the first time he came to the bar. It was a week after he officially recovered from his experience in the pirate ship and moved into Adeline’s manor. He showed up, got drunk, then picked a fight with Rufus. When she pulled him away from the wolf, he hit her harder than she had expected from such a shrimpy rodent. He then managed to wriggle his way out of her grasp, and ran over to fight Rufus again. She had to pin him down for a whole minute until he stopped fighting her, and then she threw him out of the tavern. The next day he showed up, got drunk again and cried to himself until he passed out. She tossed him upstairs in one of the spare rooms. Pretty much all his daily visits to the tavern were similar to this. Furniture, glasses and plates, people's sanity, he seemed determined to destroy whatever he could.
People of course had tried various things to get him to stop drinking, but he was rarely cooperative. By now pretty much everyone had given up on him. Adeline paid for his tab and any damages he made, but that was about it.
“I miss when it was just a few hours in the evening.” Lila sighs
“I miss when he actually worked for his coin instead of taking advantage of Adeline's good will.” Rusty shakes his head and stands up “It's shameful, that’s what I’ll tell you.”
She nods “Absolutely. Are you done?”
“I just need to get the cooking fire started, but you can open up.”
Momentarily she debates if she should make an excuse to not open up right now, but figures that there is no point in stalling the inevitable. She flips the sign to open and stands by. Gustavo enters a few seconds later.
His fur has grown a bit too long and at several points is starting to curl, and it’s matted in several places, clearly not having been brushed in a long time. His posture is hunched, a bruise isalong his eye from last night, and there's a cut in his right ear. The clothes he has on are baggy and worn, a simple red tunic and loose light grey pants kept only in place by a faded leather belt.
“Welcome to Rusty's.” She says with a fake smile
His tired eyes meet hers, lingering for a moment. He mumbles “Get me the usual.” Then he goes to one of the end tables, immediately he collapses into his seat
She calls Rusty to get him some roasted vegetables and grabs a bottle of his favorite wine, a bold and punchy red called "The Valkyrie" from underneath the counter. She grabs a freshly polished glass and walks towards his seat. His eyes looks up at her with a sadness that might've affected her if he hadn't worn her sympathy out a long time ago. Before she pours him a glass, he speaks
“Has- anyone ever told you that you're- really pretty?” He stutters through his words
She has to take a second to process what he just said. He's hit on her a few times, but this is the first time he's said something like this sober.
Unsure how to respond she smiles “Yes?”
“Well you’re really pretty.” He sighs, having already given up
Okay that was weird. Rusty seems to not have noticed those comments. Figuring it was best to just continue on like nothing had happened, she pours a glass of wine for him. His eyes watch the liquid slowly rise to the halfway mark, the bags on his eyes looking even deeper with the angle that the sun shines on him. She leaves the bottle with him, knowing he'll keep calling her back to refill it if she doesn't.
He already has started drinking by the time she brings his food out. She sighs and shakes her head. What a pathetic excuse of a mouse. He stays up late drinking, passes out, wakes up midday and immediately goes back to the tavern and starts drinking before even eating a thing. That was his routine nowadays. What a miserable existence.
The rest of the day was relatively quiet. Some people came in and out, had a drink or two or a meal. Gustavo hanging out in the tavern was a normal sight, so he was barely acknowledged. Wallace came by and threw some darts at a wall while talking about the kids. Prudence and Guff chatted with Lila about their upcoming wedding. While Prudence was talking about the flower arrangements she was preparing, Lila glanced over in Gustavo's direction and saw his head on the table, eyes on them as his shaking hand reached out towards them, fingers twitching as if he was trying to grasp them. She watched him for a moment, thinking he was trying to call her over, then his arm collapses and he stares off into the distance. She watches him for a few moments longer, then moves back to the conversation when it's clear he wasn't asking for anything.
It's the early evening and the bar has a few patrons, but it's still pretty quiet. Gustavo calls her over and asks for another drink. He's sitting up, rocking side to side while staring at the table. He probably could handle another drink or two before he started causing trouble, but tonight Lila has had enough. She's sick of this stupid cycle that just leaves everyone miserable.
"You've had more than enough to drink tonight. I'm cutting you off." She says firmly
"W-what? I bare-barely had anything to drink to-nigh-t." He stammers
She shakes her head "You've had plenty."
"Rustyyyyy!" Gustavo yells like a kid asking for their parent
"If my daughter says you've had enough, you've had enough." Rusty shoots him a side eye as he pours a glass of mead for another patron.
Gustavo's eyes go wide, searching around the room, his hands shaking "b-b-b-"
"If you want some food or one of our non alcoholic drinks I would be more than happy to get that for you." She says politely, knowing he won't ask for either
"B-b-but you can't do this to me! This, this is all I have." Tears start to appear in the corners of his eyes and his voice wobbles
She crosses her arms, her expression as serious and unyielding as stone "Are you going to be difficult about this? Do I have to throw you out?"
"I-" Then he bursts into tears as he slowly slumps onto the table "I just-just wanna forget it all- I used to- be some-body I-"
His voice trails off into silence, his breaths becoming more rapid. The other patrons laugh and talk over him. Rusty doesn't even look his way.
"I used to have servants that cut my fur and a-a tailor to make my clothes and an-an armed guard that followed me every-where I went. I-I-I had so much money, I had power…" His voice trails off, the tears pouring down his cheeks "Now I have nothing...except you. You-when you let me lean on you when I go back to Adeline's or when you carry me up the stairs- it's the one time that I get to feel a kind touch. I don't even-mind if you throw me around sometimes. You-re always there for-me and that's-that's." He starts blushing and a hint of a smile flirts across his face
She of course knew that he had a crush on her, but this, this was on another level. She feels a flush of embarrassment, then a larger wave of secondhand embarrassment on his behalf. He seemed desperate for any sort of romantic interaction. There almost was some pity for him in her heart now.
Rusty's head slowly turns towards Gustavo, his eyes alight with fury. He immediately puts down what he was holding and storms over to Gustavo, grabbing him by the collar "Are you flirting with my daughter again?!"
"Dad I can handle this-" Her words are ignored
Gustavo appears to have already accepted his fate, his eyes on Lila as he speaks"-you free tomorrow? We could go for a… walk in the mountains, hold hands…"
Rusty yanks Gustavo off the chair and starts dragging him out of the tavern. Gustavo yelps and kicks his legs and flails his arms futility. A storm had started in the past hour, and when Rusty tosses him out he lands in a large pile of mud flat on his back.
"I told you to stay away from my daughter! If you so dare as to wink at her, then you will live to regret it!"
Rusty slams the door shut, and walks back to the bar seething. "I'm going to talk to Theo again. I know the last time we banned him from the tavern things didn't go well, but if I have to see his face again I'm going to kill that rat."
Lila stands there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Rusty brushes off his hands and returns to the bar, cleaning glasses as aggressively as if Gustavo's face was on it.. The patrons have gone silent. Worried about Gustavo's wellbeing, she wanders over to the windows and just watches him for a minute or two. Gustavo just lays there, staring up into the sky as the rain bathes his body.
She starts making long strides towards the door and yells to her dad "I'm going to drag him to Adeline's, he's not moving."
"Fine." He says through clenched teeth, not looking up
The door closes behind her with a loud thud. Her hooves sink into the mud uncomfortably as she walks next to him. Examining him, he doesn't appear to be seriously hurt and she feels a sense of relief. Relief? Why should she care? Mud is seeping into his too long fur and for a moment Lila imagines how annoying it will be for him to clean out later. It takes Gustavo several seconds to react to her presence, but when he does look at her he grins.
"Hiiiiiiiiiiii." He giggles
"Are you alright?" She asks, concerned
He laugh "Yeah I'm just- lettin the rain fallllll." He looks up to the sky, stretches his arm as high as it will go, then lets it fall to his face. He turns to her and grins again. At least he seems like he's doing better mentally. She can't explain why, but she feels a softness in her heart for him for the first time in a while.
"I'm bringing you to Adeline's. You'll catch a cold if you stay out in the rain too long."
"Will I?" He says as if this is something to get excited about
"Yes you will. Now get up." She orders
He groans and attempts to stand up, but the mud holds him hostage. Reluctantly she grabs his arm and pulls him up and he stumbles into her arms, their faces getting close and the rosy blush on his cheeks growing. For a moment she examines the deep color of his eyes, the one thing about him that's remained unchanged ever since they first saw each other. Maybe she examines it for longer than a moment. Then she steps back (much to Gustavo's disappointment) and adjusts his arm so it's around hers. They start walking back to the manor together. Gustavo leans against her, but can still mostly walk on his own and only occasionally stumbles.
"You didn't answer my question…bout a date?"
She hesitates, trying to figure out how politely to turn him down "I don't date people who drink a lot." She says politely
Gustavo doesn't respond for several seconds "Then if… if I stop… stop drinking you'll go on a date with me?"
"You've quit drinking several times now, it doesn't stick." She reminds him
"If it sticks fooooooooor a week will you go on a date with me?"
She sighs "Sure. No drinking for a week and we can go for that walk in the mountains you wanted."
"And we can hold hands?" His voice picks up
"Sure, why not?" She says with a "might as well" tone
She can't really put a finger on why she agrees to it. Maybe she just wants him to shut up. Maybe she pities him a little more than she thinks. Maybe she realizes that after what happened with Rose, she needs to keep her options open if she ever wants to get married. Maybe she just wants him out the tavern. Whatever the reason they reach Adeline's manor and Lila knocks on the door several times. Adeline opens the door and cautiously takes Gustavo from her arms, trying and failing to keep the mud from getting all over her dress.
"Ade-line! She said-she said she'd go on a date with me if I stopped drinking for a weeeek!" He speaks way too fast and enthusiastically
"Sure, little mouse." She gives Lila an inquisitive look that instinctively makes her cross her arms
"What?" Lila responds defensively
"I'm… just a little surprised, that's all." Adeline says with a polite smile
"It doesn't matter, he won't be able to do it anyways." Lila defends, to which Adeline narrows her eyes
But to Lila's surprise he did. He was absent from the tavern for the whole week, much to Rusty's relief and confusion. Adeline met with her on the evening of his sixth night of sobriety to explain what happened. She had kept a close eye on him the entire week and could he drank nothing alcoholic the entire time. The first three days were rough for him, intense headaches, shaking, and rapid heartbeat. He was tempted constantly to just give in to his addiction, but in the he pulled through. He spent a lot of time reading in the library, and talking with Percy. He even went down to Theo's office and talked with him for the first time in quite a while.
At first she was convinced that this had to be some kind of joke. Why was he suddenly able to do it now of all times? Adeline noted that he seemed to be more motivated than he usually was. Lila realized that as frustrated and bitter as she felt towards him, a small part of her still wanted to see him get better (and it wasn't just because she wanted him out of her fur). She also felt… weirdly flattered by everything. She really meant that much to him?
The next day Gustavo shows up knocking at the tavern's front door. When she opens it she sees a well groomed Gustavo wearing a too big white tunic and grey pants that she suspects he borrowed from Logan. He holds a bundle of colorful flowers in his hands and has a friendly smile on his face. His posture is up straight, his dark circles are significantly lighter and it's like he's gained back a few years of his life. The transformation is so dramatic that it takes her a few seconds to realize it is him, even though Adeline had said he planned to show up at this time.
He fidgets nervously "Good morning, you look really nice today. Do you want to go now? I mean I can wait I just thought now wouldn't be a bad time..." His voice trails off and he looks around anxiously
Huh…he does look kind of cute actually. She considers the options in her mind, pausing to contemplate if she's actually going to do this. Then she turns around and reopens the door to the tavern just a crack so Rusty couldn't see who was outside.
"I'm going for a quick walk, be back soon!" She yells
Rusty yells back an affirmative, and she closes the door. She grabs his hand and says "Alright, let's go."
Gustavo has hope in his eyes for the first time in forever as the two of them walk up to the mountains.