Past

Teal shorts and a pink gaudy button-up shirt with pink-er flamingos on it composed the dinner outfit that Marcus wore while Justin wore the same thing as the same time he saw him and Rafael was in proper office casual.

A waitress came up to them and said, “Welcome to FOMO, do you guys need more time? Any drinks in the meantime??”

Rafael, who was to the right of Marcus, said in a perfectly neutral almost bored-like tone, “The one to my left will get the mushy pea puree, extra small spoon, and the one in front of me likely wants chicken nuggets and a Bash or any other form of lethal liquid dose of caffeine in a can.”

She looked at him for a half second and stifled a smirk.

“I’ll give you guys a second then?” she said rhetorically as she walked away and homed in another table in her section.

Rafael himself was dead set on looking through the menu and finding the best option as Justin scrolled through his phone. Marcus just made up his mind to get the burger special with the housemade pickles, garlic aioli, and pepper salsa since it also came with a side of fries, no need for more thought than that. So when the waitress came around again, with a concealed smile when not directly facing Rafael, they almost ordered. Rafael immediately asked what the soup specials were but Marcus said, “I’ll take the Vinny,” before she could say anything.

It was like that moment locked in the spell that Rafael had her under.

“Oh we do have a fish head soup today and-well I guess I’m not supposed to say this but I’ve had some of the xiaolongbao and it was one of the best things I’ve tasted. I could…get you a sample dumpling if you wanted?” she said with pursed lips.

“Why aren’t you supposed to tell us that,” Justin asked like a sleepy Cheshire cat.

She gathered up Marcus’s menu as a “umm” left her mouth, and she let out an “oh!” as she figured the quickest answer to keep her in Marcus’s good grace as well as solve this potential saboteur’s plot.

“Well, management doesn’t want us-” she looks at Rafael, “-lowly workers,” she said in an incredibly bad posh voice then swapped momentarily to a hush hush tone, “to tell the customers that we’ve eaten something so it doesn’t kill the magic. Never got why but that’s just the rule for some reason,”

“You should kick the shithalf-heartedly responded as he refocused on whatever was back as he fully refocused on his phone.

She looked a bit shocked at him saying that, to be fair Justin didn’t look the type of guy that would say something like that.

Rafael just said, “Ignore him, I’ll take fish head soup and the…xiaolongbao. Can it be a ‘table-size order’? Or two orders if one order feeds one person?”

He then looked at Justin, “Did you even look at the menu?”

“Nah but I’ve been here before, so I’ll just take the garlic soy maple glazed chicken and waffles . Extra sauce, pretty please,” he said with a sort of smug satisfaction.

“Alright, uh, any drinks?” she looked at Rafael again then panned to Marcus then finally settled on Justin.

“I’ll take the chocolate…luck milkshake, with the whipped cream,” said Rafael.

“Pineapple express for me,” said Marcus.

“Water from the tap’s fine,” said Justin.

She jotted down the orders on a notepad, sneaking looks at Rafael as she did so, and then swiftly ran to the kitchen. Rafael seemed more confused than anything once she left, his face contorted as if he was trying to figure out the sour taste in his mouth. Justin just looked at him with an immense cheeky smile on his face.

“She like likes you,” said Justin.

“Yeah but did she have to be that awkward about it? Like it’s not that I’m judging her for picking out the only gay guy sitting at this table to drool over but that she’s doing it at her work,” said Rafael with a touch of frost on top of his dry humor.

Marcus responded, “I thought it was kind of cute in a ‘watching someone trip over their feet way’ plus hey maybe she’s doing it as a tactic? Target one guy specifically and hope he appreciates it enough to tip better…actually that sounds pretty dumb”

Rafael paused for a moment and went “hmm” as if he was truly pondering the possibility.

“If she wanted a bigger tip then yeah she definitely picked the wrong guy,” said Justin as he scrolled his phone with it flat on the table as a finger shot up repeatedly over its screen.

“Well now that Justin’s made it sexual, should we finally discuss plans?” Rafael said with a tone of faux professionalism. He looked at Marcus.

Marcus stuttered as his brain went over a dozen topics then tried to filter them so the office guys behind them didn’t catch even more of what they were about. One guffawed at the gay comment before, and Marcus’s unconscious spotting of them spying on their conversation became conscious. It was beyond obvious that they were pretending to have a conversation, the audible typing and level of noise just meant they’d be waiting to comment on any comment he made. Play his hand wrong and then a bunch of socialite straight men would know…something he wanted no one to know.

Justin lifted his head and made a “hmm” noise as he panned his head to Marcus then Rafael.

He was essentially facing them, the guys behind Rafael and Marcus.

“I think I’ll have you face down, and you sunny side up. And if that’s not a tournament recognized position then just spin in a circle?” said Justin in a tone much more cutting than Rafael earlier. He then directly looked at one of the office guys, winking at the one caught in his gaze which caused a quick swivel from the office guy as another one of them tried awkwardly reviving their prior conversation.

Rafael seemed nonplussed at this, and then clarified what he said earlier, “I mean like things like where we’re going to meet up and if we’re staying the whole evening. Maybe even if we’ll stay the night?”

“Stay the night?”

“Yeah it usually becomes a situation of going to someone’s apartment to drink and chill but there’s a friendly bar around the event’s area that’ll be going late, drinks’ll probably be overpriced though if that matters to you?”

“The fucker goes once and becomes an expert. Sigh, nobody wants a real professional’s opinion,” responded Justin.

“What’s your take…oh wise one?” replied Rafael.

“Same thing you said but with better vibes,” said Justin with the brightest fake smile he could plaster on his face.

“Marcus, how have you not tried to strangle this guy? Because in about ten minutes I’m going to pick him up like a barbell and break him in half,” he said with his usual stone faced look.

Justin theatrically gasped and covered his mouth.

Marcus laughed and said, “I know he sucks but well that has to be the only good trait of his. I guess he’s just kind of a dickhead instead of a full dickhead?”

One of the office guys chuckled and tried pretending it was a cough.

Rafael smiled, his bushy mustache looking like a caterpillar on someone who looked strangely goofy for what his typical energy is, and then just bursted out laughing.

#

They had all gone home with full stomachs and leftovers, whatever sway that their waitress, Teshauna, had she abused to get them free refills of fries and for Rafael that included blatantly bringing him another plate of dumplings or an extra fish head for a pet. She got to follow the reluctantly made socials of a man who has spent the minimum amount of time tending and pruning his digital garden; he preferred “word of mouth” even if he was in his early twenties like the other two. Marcus found that interesting to say the least, a for-pay dom without a website seemed feasible but he thought it was a privacy thing.

When they reached Justin’s home which seemed like the most depressing mash up of a bachelor’s pad and chic movie director’s oversized storage closet where he stores his assortment of props from things he’s worked on. Storage bins littered the living room, an old sofa had a coffeetable in front of it that made it seem like this was a living room currently being used as extra storage but the posters plastered the bins disproved that. The kitchen was a semi-open one where there was a severe lack of use noticeable, no things on the counter and not a single speck of dirtiness that wasn’t dust.

“Justin, can you help me fix my form?” asked Rafael as he settled on the couch. Marcus copied him, it was a tight fit but neither really felt uncomfortable about it.

“Yeah yeah, more importantly: we're drinking?” said Justin.

Marcus craned his head as he looked over at Justin opening his fridge, pristinely empty aside from a case of beers plus other bottles. Justin placed their leftovers in the fridge.

“Nah,” answered Rafael.

Marcus had thought about and he never was a heavy drinker or even much of a good social one, college was just sipping on insanely sugary mixed drinks in a solo cup as Gregory covered the drunk part for both of them

“No but maybe tomorrow?” answered Marcus after some deliberation.

Justin sighed but reentered the living room with a smile, and asked “Do one of you want the middle seat or can I take it?”

Marcus and Rafael moved to give him the seat.

Justin grabbed Rafael’s phone and quickly tapped his way through the process of getting to the form then fixing the error. There were a good twenty names, mostly usernames, in the list and quickly re-sorted them as well as changed the filter so it lists them by chronological order. He grimaced as he changed the parameters for a question that asked “What do you think consent is?” to be so that there could be a written response for it. He did the same thing for other questions of similar sort that were now for some reason multiple-choice with blank bubbles as their options.

“Fixed but you should message each new person and tell them that the form was fucked for a bit, and maybe look for a new form site? I get you like this one but it’s kind of dogshit,” said Justin as he rested his head on Marcus’s shoulder.

“I’ll try,” Rafael said with a tone that meant “No but thank you” to Justin’s mild amusement.

Marcus asked the two, “Should we talk about plans for tomorrow?”

Justin responded, “I guess but it’s just going to be all of us meeting together-with Rafael and Iris coming a bit later-then getting all dolled up.”

“Could I at least get a headcount whose coming,” asked Marcus as Justin nuzzled into him.

“All three of us of course, Merlin, Iris who you don’t know yet but probably will love, the couple who I personally would suggest not gettting stuck in their orbit, and I’ll be bringing a sub who paid for my services. He’ll be gagged the whole time, no worries about getting to know him,” said Rafael again with that strangely silly energy.

“Anything else I should know right now?” asked Marcus.

“Not really aside from right now I’m going to suggest we watch a movie then head out for the night?” said Justin to the response of Marcus raising his eyebrow and Rafael going “umm” as the room remained silent.

Justin got his head off Marcus’s shoulder, and said “He think we’re all going to fuck, nah dude I’m tired as hell. We had to rework a scene for way too long, and tomorrow’s going to drain everything out of me,”

So they put on a movie and watched for the rest of the time as Justin bounced from leaning on Marcus’s shoulder to going on Rafael’s.

Tomorrow will be the big day.

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