(A/N: Trigger Warning: cases of anxiety, anxiety attacks, and mention of depression.)
The bar was active as any other bar would be on a Friday night. Schrader and Davis absolutely loved to do strange date ideas they found on the internet. This week happened to be 'go to a bar and try to pick each other up using cheesy pick up lines'. Davis had always been a bit hesitant about this one, not sure how he would react to a situation that may have other people coming up to him. Too much interaction isn't always a good thing for him. Either way, he would be going home with Schrader but that didn't mean that others wouldn't try.
Davis arrived at the bar first, according to plan. 15 minutes later Schrader would arrive, wait a little while before the date commenced. Sitting alone at the bar, Davis ordered a beer for starters. He thanked the bartender and took a sip of it. He cringed a little bit at the taste. He was never a big fan of light beers, didn't agree with him. Shrugging it off, he took another long swig and set it down for a bit.
He was pleased with the bar choice his boyfriend had picked out. Something for both of them, an underlying 80's theme for Davis and a rocker vibe for Schrader. All and all, it was a local bar with alcohol and that's all that either of them cared about.
About ten minutes had past since Davis sat down and ordered his first beer. He was now on his second beer and much more pleased with the darker colour of it. It went down easier than the first one he unhappily chugged.
It was getting close to when Schravis was supposed to arrive and butterflies eagerly flapped around Davis's tummy. He prayed that he would make it long enough to actually accomplish this date idea. He had taken his medication that morning and hopefully lasted long enough to get him through the date.
Just before the 15 minute mark, a muscular man sat at the bar next to Davis. He ordered a beer and waited, sneaking a glance over at Davis every couple of seconds. Once the man had his beer, took a sip, and set it back down; he looked over at Davis and smiled a bit.
"Hi," he greeted, "I'm Todd. What's your name?"
"Uh, Michael," he lied. He always used one of his middle names instead of his first name, especially to other men who weren't his love.
"Ya here alone, Mike?" Todd pried.
"Michael, please. And yes, I'm actually-"
"Michael, eh? Don't do nicknames then?"
He shook his head no.
"Such a shame. I love nicknames. It'd be nice if I could shorten my name. Todd, ugh. It needs something. It sounds so bland."
"Listen," Davis finally spoke up, he managed to smile a little to the man, "I'm hoping to meet a guy here tonight-"
"Say no more, the answer is right here," the other man gestured to himself, "How about you meet me in the bathroom in five minutes."
Todd stood with his beer and gave a wink to Davis as he walked away. Davis took a few deep breaths before turning back around and pulling his phone from his pocket. He quickly sent a text to Schrader.
Eric, I don't wanna do this anymore
As soon as he sent send, he looked up and saw his boyfriend walk in the door. He sent pleading eyes to his boyfriend who he hoped saw him. Of course he didn't.
Schrader sat down at the other end of the bar and ordered himself a rum and coke. The bartender sat his drink down and he got the text on his phone. He read it over twice before responding back.
I just got here, Oliver. We're doing this.
Oliver sipped his drink and waited and hoped that Eric got his message. Thankfully he knew when his phone vibrated. Four times he read the text. The butterflies in his tummy began to move through his whole body. He took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down as best he could. This wasn't going to end well.
A little over five minutes had past. The couple, both sitting at opposite ends of the bar, were on their next round of drinks. Oliver had calmed down as best he could, sending the butterflies to only his stomach. He was doing good and waiting for Eric's cue. That was until he felt a tap on his shoulder.
He spun around and hoped to see his boyfriend, but saw Todd had returned instead. He was a bit irritable from being stood up, arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at Oliver with a scowl.
"I said five minutes, right?"
"Listen, you seem like a nice guy-" he never got to finish a sentence around this guy.
"You're damn right I am!" Todd exclaimed, "You came here to meet a guy tonight and here I am. What's wrong? Am I not your type?"
"Listen, could you please take a step back and kindly not yell-"
"Take a step back? Are you fucking kidding me right now?"
Oliver's heart rate began to execrate quickly as he felt his hands to shake a bit. He needed to get out of there or away from this creep.
"Please, if you don't mind," Oliver stood from the barstool and tried to scoot passed the other man.
"I do mind actually," Todd blocked his way to get out, "What the fuck is your problem?"
"Right now, y-" he tried to squeeze passed him and
Todd grabbed his arm to keep him from getting away, "You're trying to get away from me?" he exclaimed.
People were starting to look now. Oliver felt his body begin to shake more as a headache slowly began to form. He knew damn well it wasn't from the alcohol either. One of Todd's friends had managed to pull him off of Oliver. Once contact was broken, Oliver headed straight for the door.
Eric didn't see anything that happened before he saw his boyfriend rush out the door. Within seconds he was out the door after him. Eric found Oliver sitting on the sidewalk outside the bar, resting his head on the outside of the establishment.
"What happened?" Eric knelt down near Oliver.
"Forceful guy… clingy… yelling… physical contact…" he managed to get out, "Can't handle…"
Eric frowned a little, "You ok?"
Oliver nodded a little bit. Before standing back up, Eric kissed his forehead. "I'll be right back, okay? Just keep breathing and I'll be back."
He nodded again and Eric went back into the bar. Scanning the place, he looked for a guy that was trying to make moves on his man. Instead, he went back to the bar itself to ask the bartender. The bartender was nice enough to point out the scum bag named Todd. Eric nodded his thanks and paid for both his drinks and Oliver's.
After he paid, he made his way over to Todd. He was sitting at the bar where he was and his friend sat where Oliver was.
"'Scuse me, were you just trying to hit on someone?" Eric asked, smiling.
"Damn right I was," he nodded, "Stay away from that asshole. Not worth it."
"Oh?" he wanted to hear him say more.
"Yeah, he was such an douche. He wanted to hook up with someone, I gave him the chance and he stood me up. Such a douche."
"Maybe he wasn't interested?"
"Who wouldn't be interested in this bod?" he gestured to his body.
Eric saw nothing special with it. Muscular biceps, but a beer gut starting. He shook his head.
"So, you're calling this guy an asshole because he wasn't interested in you? That's kinda douchey, don't ya think?"
"What'd you just call me?" he stood up and tried to size Eric up. It wasn't working.
"You heard me," he snapped back.
Todd drew his hand back to punch him, but Eric beat him to it and punched him straight in the nose.
"Don't ever come near my boyfriend again. Okay? Okay. Nice chatting with you." he smiled and walked out the door.
"You better run, punk!" Todd yelled, holding his bleeding nose.
Eric walked back outside and knelt in front of his boyfriend again. He frowned a bit.
"You feeling better, Ollie?" he asked.
"A bit," he answered.
"Come on, let's go home."
Eric stood back up and offered his hand to his boyfriend on the ground. Oliver opened his eyes and grabbed his hand to help him up. Once he was on his feet, Eric put his arm around his shoulders and held him closely to help him walk. The chilly night breeze felt good for Oliver's headache that began to dull away.
The two stopped at a crosswalk and Eric hit the walk button. Oliver noticed that his knuckles were red and cut up.
"What happened?" Oliver asked.
"Huh?" Eric looked at his knuckles for the first time after he punched the other man, "Oh that. I punched that guy that was coming onto you."
"Why? He didn't do anything to you."
"He did something to you though."
"I hate when you do this," Oliver rolled his eyes, "Standing up for me."
"You couldn't handle it," Eric responded, "So I did for you. A guy like that needed to be knocked down a few pegs anyway."
"Not the point, Eric," Oliver shook his head, "You don't always have to stand up for me. I can take care of myself."
"This time you couldn't. If you did, you wouldn't've ran out of the bar."
The walk sign came on and the two began their walk across the street. Eric's arm wasn't around Oliver anymore and the two were getting into an argument, again.
"Do you really think that I can control anxiety attacks? I told you from the get-go that I didn't think this was a good idea but you pried on that we did it!"
"Cause we never did this one before," Eric shot back.
"I even asked if we could leave but you said no cause you just got there!"
"Cause I did! The plan was fifteen minutes!"
"Exactly! A half hour span of time where anyone at a fuckin bar could come up to me and start hitting on me like that asshole did. I wasn't planning on doing anything, but he made me nervous and couldn't help it."
"Of course you couldn't. I even told you to take a fuckin pill before we left."
"Mixed with alcohol? You know damn well I can't do that! Did you want me to end up in the hospital again?"
"That was one time and you took the wrong pills at the wrong times then didn't wait long enough to drink."
"Even so, I can totally blame you for this whole night."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa? Me? How can you blame me for everything that happened? You couldn't stand up for yourself and tell another guy to fuck off?"
"Not when he wouldn't let me get a word in edge wise!"
The two's arguing lasted all the way till they got to their apartment complex. A few of their neighbors gave them strange looks as they argued in the lobby of the apartment complex. Oliver pushed the elevator door button and the two got in the elevator, argument getting more intense as they went up to the 5th floor.
Unbeknownst to them, the lights flickered a few times and the elevator stopped. That's when they finally stopped arguing.
"The fuck was that?" Eric asked.
"Never seen an elevator get stuck?"
"You gotta be fucking…" he trailed off as he pushed the 5th floor button. It wasn't making the elevator budge.
Oliver on the other hand pulled out his phone and called the building manager. Oliver told him what was going on and asked what to do. The manager told them to hang tight as he got someone over to unstick the elevator. He added that he wasn't sure how long it would take. Oliver thanked him and put his phone away.
"We're stuck here for a while."
"That's fuckin magical…" Eric shook his head, "Fuckin magical…"
Oliver sat on the floor and hugged his knees to his chest. His headache was starting to return slowly. Eric's strain of swear words were starting to get nerve wracking. After a minute or so, Oliver finally pipped up.
"Eric, calm down."
"Me? Calm down? I'm fucking calm, I don't know about you. This is exactly how I wanted to spend my night. Not even start the date we were supposed to do, punch a guy in the nose, then this. Wow, this is all just fucking magical," Eric's words drenched with sarcasm.
"Do you think this is how I wanted to spend my night? Have a random guy hit on me, then get mad cause I didn't want to bang him in the bathroom, then followed by an anxiety attack?"
"Your anxiety attacks happen more than this does."
"That was a low blow," Oliver stood back up and got in his boyfriend's face. "You're always really good at bringing my mental illnesses into things. Anxiety attacks? Depression? You always manage to say something that's a low blow and I'm fucking tired of it. They're nothing to joke about."
"You're the one who get's all sensitive over them and gets pissy with me cause I always stand up for you when you can't, then come back at me that you could handle it when you clearly couldn't!"
"I don't need you to fight all my battles for me!" Oliver felt his hands start shaking again as his headache return quicker than he would've liked.
"Well I wouldn't have to if you would actually fight some of those battles!"
"You don't think I do that every fucking day? I fight more battles than you even know! You don't realize how many I fight."
"Is that a lame way of saying you fight your mental illnesses everyday?"
"Damn right it is, cause it's true."
"I didn't mean those fights, I meant real fights with you standing up for yourself and not getting an anxiety attack from it. Would that be so hard?"
"Maybe, cause it's not like those illnesses are going to go away anytime soon. Medication does a lot but not make them magically disappear."
Eric shook his head and turned away from him.
Oliver's skull was pounding at this point. His whole body shook and he was getting dizzy very quickly. Taking a step back, he found the wall without the hand rail and slid down to the floor. This time he wouldn't get up. He was done arguing in the fear of having a worse attack or passing out. Neither of which he wanted to do or could control. Oliver shut his eyes and rested his head against the wall, doing his best to calm down.
When Eric spun back around, he didn't face his boyfriend. He looked down and saw him in the same position like outside the bar. Sitting on the floor, eyes closed, heavy breathing, head against the wall, and shaking. All the anger he had washed out of his body and he knelt down on the floor, concerned for his wellbeing.
"Ollie, hon? You ok?" he asked.
Oliver didn't say anything, but shake his head no. Eric frowned and put his hand on Oliver's shoulder.
"Hon, I'm so sorry. I really am."
Oliver moved enough to wrap his arms around Eric's neck and hug onto him tightly. In no time, Eric returned the hug. A few seconds passed before Oliver started crying. Comfortingly, Eric started rubbing his back gently.
"I didn't mean anything I said. You were right, I shouldn't have brought your anxiety and depression into it. It was a low blow and I didn't mean it, honestly. I love you, so much. It's this stupid stuck elevator that got me all angry at nothing and I'm so sorry."
He cradled his boyfriend's neck as he cried silently into his neck. Every so often Eric would shush him or say that he was terribly sorry. A few minutes had passed before Oliver managed to push himself off of Eric.
"Hon?" Eric asked as soon as Oliver pushed himself off of him.
He whipped his face dry and nodded. "I'm ok…"
"I'm so sorry for everything," he concluded.
Oliver cracked a smile behind his tear stained face, "I know you are."
"Forgive?" he asked, offering a small smile.
"Forgive," Oliver nodded.
Eric smiled and leaned into Oliver and kissed him. Oliver smiled into the kiss and wrapped his arms back around his neck. Like magic, the elevator began to move again. The two pulled away and smiled to each other.
"Fuckin magical," Oliver smiled.