Chapter 6: Human garbage
Izaya couldn't quite tear his eyes from the sight presenting itself in front of him.
It wasn't like he had never seen anyone receive what they deserved in a similar fashion of violence. But the exerted actions clashed with the conversations he had held with the bartender so far and that caused a really fascinating friction.
He had thought the blond to be overly calm, collected, smart and fond of peace.
None of that seemed to fit the bill as those deep eyes filled with danger approached the bar.
The beats traversing the lounge had dimmed down somewhat, whether it was a coincidence or someone had actually watched this situation unfold was something Izaya wouldn't be able to tell.
All he knew was that it was suddenly impressively quiet as the bartender approached their guest in need.
She was shell shocked.
Izaya could tell by the way she hadn't even tried to pull her arm from his grasp.
Not many people had noticed the commotion. Most had let themselves be fooled by Izaya's earlier assumption of excessive drinking behavior and paid the issue no mind. Their interaction had barely taken up five minutes at most, but to the woman they probably felt like they filled the entirety of the evening.
And then the bartender spoke, fitting the music in a way Izaya couldn't quite comprehend.
"Are you alone?"
His voice was soft. Raspy and raw. Lowered like this it served a kind of pleasant gentleness that a bee would feel upon returning to its hive after a long winter day.
The lounge was suddenly gone and the woman's ice clutching her mind thawed as she met the bartender face on.
Her voice remained lost, but her motions came back to life as she nodded slowly. Appreciation and gratitude mixed with the obvious feeling of relief in her eyes and Shizuo turned towards the counter. "Could you join her on her way out?"
Evelyn had returned to her position behind the bar. Serving the drinks other guests desired she had had her hands full, but her attention was on Shizuo's situation.
He noticed her eyes resting upon his back and he was glad she was quick on the uptake, because after a second of confusion she seemed to understand.
A quick smile spread across her lips and her curls bounced as she quickly made her way past the counter and towards their guest.
"If you would follow me," she whispered quietly and brushed the girl's shoulder.
It was as if some kind of spell had become undone as the woman finally unfroze from her petrified state. A turn quick enough to send her gorgeous hair flying was executed on the spot as she faced the bartender that had stood up for her.
"Thank you!"
Feeling his own lips form a light smile Shizuo nodded towards the woman- and so they left and the peace they had retained earlier returned to the bar.
Having been polishing one of the glasses left at the counter Shizuo now found himself looking at the dry piece of fabric that had now sunken into the sink.
Of course.
He had tossed it away in the spur of the moment, he hadn't paid much thought to the action and so he removed the piece with a slight snort. It was when his virgin wave returned to his seat that Shizuo's attention was brought back to the conversation held earlier. Expectant eyes sparkled in the dimly lit lounge and curiosity sat at the tip of the virgin wave's nose.
"What was that?"
Izaya's interest had peaked. Even more than before, there was no denying that fact and neither was he interested in hiding this newly felt emotion.
Izaya was always in for a thrill. Especially if it displayed itself unannounced in front of him like this.
The bartender's demeanor had shown heaps of control and an awfully gentle act. The way he touched the glasses, moved the liquids serving cocktails and responded to Izaya's taunts spoke of a good character and kindness.
Completely unlike before.
This man had seemed ready to degut the bastard on the spot without even a hint of hesitation. It was this explosive mixture of opposing traits that hooked Izaya worse than any drug ever might.
"It's a codeword for needing help," the bartender shrugged, completely missing the nature of Izaya's question. "You are frequenting bars more often than me. You should have heard of it."
The bartender had failed to grasp Izaya's meaning. That was the most logical option, and yet somehow Izaya found himself thinking that this guy knew exactly what he was doing.
"I'm not talking about the angel shot." Eyes met. Beats accelerated. And for just a moment Izaya felt like he could see beyond that endless pool of black as all chatter around them seemed to fade away. "He was twice your size yet you dragged him out like a wet dog," Izaya hummed, "The way you moved, you are used to fighting aren't you?"
Mutual understanding mixed with a kind of agreement that only parties of complete silence could exchange was conveyed by nothing but eyes.
Izaya knew he was right. And he knew the bartender was aware of that.
He was hoping for answers, for a story worth listening to- but his craving flame was only fed further as the bartender shrugged.
"Are bartenders not allowed to fight?"
Izaya had never really understood people who screamed during a ride on a rollercoaster. The feeling of that wagon when it raced down an endless height only to dip into a curve and reach for the sky again served a sensation most pleasant and exhilarating. There was nothing to fear, only the exciting presence of thrill as it sat on one's shoulder and laughed the entirety of the ride.
The bartender was trying to avoid a topic of highest quality, but instead of feeling bummed to not receive the answers Izaya sought, he found himself thrilled with the option to uncover the mystery by himself.
Grasping the straw of his drink he emptied the cosmopolitan and carefully slid the empty vessel over.
"Where did you learn to move like that?" It was just one of many questions that laid at the tip of Izaya's tongue, but the one most inconspicuous to his current prey.
And Shizuo noticed.
Receiving the glass he merely shrugged, but didn't fail to meet his guest's eyes as he showed his most innocent smile.
"Who knows?" It was fun.
His virgin wave was obviously used to get what he wanted, when he wanted it. Denying him the usual obedience was awfully satisfying despite knowing that Shizuo was playing with fire.
A hint of amusement drew across the virgin wave's lips as he crossed his arms on top of the counter.
"You prefer me jumping to my own conclusions? Must be quite the story then," he tried, obviously insinuating that he could spread his own type of rumors if he so pleased.
But Shizuo couldn't care less about the stories being told about himself and so he leant across the counter. Slowly, composed and awfully mischievous.
"Curiosity killed the cat, ever heard that phrase?"
Izaya blinked at that. The response was unexpected, rivaling his own words in a way he couldn't really disarm and so he snorted, before narrowing his eyes to a playful glare.
"Bring it on, Schrödinger."
The bartender had seen a lot coming, but probably not a philosophical response, and even less did Izaya expect him to get it- and yet the bartender snorted immediately upon his words and returned Izaya gaze with nothing else but the burning madness of a challenge that had been accepted.
No more word was spoken as the bartender moved away from the counter and towards the fridge.
There was nothing to be said, nothing to be done to continue this fight for dominance and so Shizuo reached for one of the freshly chilled glasses.
The cosmopolitan he had served his virgin wave earlier found itself revived in a different nature as Shizuo repeated his earlier mixture with just slight adjustments.
He could feel the virgin wave's gaze at his back, and couldn't help but feel a smile sneak to his expression.
His favorite stranger protected that girl. On instinct too.
Shizuo wasn't stupid enough to unsee that he was shady as hell, but at the end of the day he had stepped in without a second thought.
He pulled her behind his back.
Protecting.
If that didn't make a decent guy then Shizuo didn't know who would.
Adding a dash of green to a cocktail that was usually made to represent the setting sun, Shizuo turned to serve his newest creation.
"Thanks for stepping in."
A conic glass, featuring most of the same ingredients as Izaya's cosmopolitan earlier, was slid across the counter. Colors of red, and green refused to mix as they layered upon each other in a beautiful fashion and a leaf of mint settled on top of the circular ring of glass.
Short confusion displayed on Izaya's face but he recognized a commandment of peace when he saw one, and so he smiled.
"For the girl?" A small sip was taken off the freshy served beverage and he noted dully that this bartender was probably going to surprise him more often than not when it came to his drinks.
"You could have ignored her as much as every other guest in here," the bartender shrugged and nodded towards the vast amount of human flesh stacked upon each other. Izaya found himself understanding those words better than the bartender was aware.
Everyone inside this lounge was basically scum. The visitors, the drug dealers, even the high and mighty lords and ladies backed by money or connections of sorts were nothing but human garbage at the end of the day. "You chose not to," the bartender continued and met Izaya's gaze, "I will remember that."
Somehow those words caused Izaya to crack a laugh.
Usually those words were used in oppressive contracts or threats, they were a standard Izaya had heard more often than not in his life, but never with a connotation as positive as this. "What's that supposed to mean? Did I make it onto some kind of personal good kids list of yours?"
Shizuo had not really held any ulterior motive or meaning to his words, but now that his virgin wave laughed at his phrasing he found himself returning the action in the form of a snort.
"You could put it that way I guess."
"Bartender." Interrupted by another of the many customers inside this club Shizuo found himself addressed, as the only bartender currently present.
Evelyn was probably still upstairs, calling or waiting for a taxi that would bring that girl home, so right now he was the only one able to serve drinks and so he nodded towards his newest customer. A young guy, drowning in money up to his collar. His attire wrote entire tomes of brands and his style would have rather suited a child playing dress up in a closet.
"We would like a round of drinks for the table," he announced while pointing to the one table holding the most guests at the moment. There was no need for the guy to announce that he was going to pay for the entire order and so Shizuo rolled up his sleeves and moved over.
"Any specific wish?" A grin displayed on the rich guy's face and he shook his head.
"Just make it strong, please."
So on top of trying to show off his wealth by treating the entire table to free drinks, he also planned to do so in the most fashionable way possible.
A strong drink probably equaled being expensive in his mind and Shizuo couldn't help but shake his head softly.
Getting drunk quickly didn't exactly equal having spent a lot of money, but who was he to question his guest's wishes?
Mint springs, lime juice and grenadine were aligned at the counter in spades as he started to prepare the newest order.
Scurrying off to the right Izaya sipped away on his new drink as he watched the bartender go about his job.
He had planned to return to his own table, but this bartender got him a little more curious than the old farts discussing transactions and future investments.
Mixing his drink into an even color of pleasant beige he eyeballed the different kinds of rums the bartender pulled from the shelves.
Jamaican, Puerto Rican, 151-Demerara rum- it was when the bartender reached for a bottle of angostura bitters, falernum and pernod that he concluded what kind of drink this bartender was going to serve those thirteen people at the table.
"A zombie?"
The word was enough to tell Shizuo that his guest was trying to guess the cocktail he was making and a smile grazed his lips as he started blending the ingredients.
"He asked for something strong." Shizuo was aware that a zombie was a behemoth of a drink and not to be underestimated or consumed too quickly, but his guest had asked for something strong and this beverage served as the most logical conclusion in Shizuo's mind.
"I hope he can hold his liquor," Izaya snorted and continued watching the bartender as he pulled a dozen of cooled glasses from the fridge. The blender was of course not made to create such a vast amount of drinks and so Shizuo poured just a bit of the mix into all of the glasses before proceeding to create another stock.
Sipping on his own cocktail Izaya couldn't help but watch the bartender with intrigue.
Violence and danger had moved his body before and now after seeing his actions displayed Izaya found himself noticing a few things he hadn't earlier.
The way this bartender moved. Static. Tense, yet smooth. Every action he executed appeared awfully controlled.
"I'm not going to serve them more than two rounds of these," the bartender announced and Izaya nodded to himself. A good choice.
A zombie was supposed to bring one to paradise if you followed the inventor's words and Izaya doubted these people were aiming for an early death.
Finishing up the order the drinks were placed upon the largest tray the bartender found, but of course it still didn't fit the entirety of thirteen drinks and so he opted for half the order before moving away from the counter.
It was the bartender Izaya was watching as he turned in his seat, only upon meeting a smiling man's face did he realize his mistake and the current location he was residing in.
The whistle came as quick as the regret, causing Izaya's eyes to roll in annoyance as he was approached by an obviously interested, but hardly interesting individual.
to be continued~
xD Well, I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am xD As for their interactions, no worries, they will be talking more very soon hahaha