artoflove | (no subject)

(no subject)

There is a certain trouble, now that Lito finds himself out in the world as he truly is. The trouble is that he has nothing to hide behind. While he does not feel ready to move on and find love, he is aching for physical touch since Will has vanished and he doesn't have to lie anymore. The problem is that he spent so long lying that he hadn't given himself any possibility of finding someone to help with this.

So he's gone back to the club and waits at the bar for someone who looks like they wouldn't mind going a few rounds with him. He's also trying to look for someone who doesn't look like they'd mind a kiss or a touch, maybe even pinning him down and holding him.

Lito sighs when his search doesn't seem to lead him to anything, but the night is young. "Another drink," he orders, bolstering his optimism. He will find someone. He will.

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Gannicus is only momentarily surprised by the hand sliding across his own. He lifts his gaze to Lito's face and his grin reappears, this time with more warmth behind it. "I may yet be convinced. I had no thought toward how to spend my night."

When their tequila arrives, he lifts his glass in a sort of toast before downing it. He makes a face, if only because he is still not used to the strong taste of straight liquor.

Lito watches him, amused, as he tips back the shot. His face doesn't change at all, but that is because he is so used to drinking tequila and it does nothing for him anymore. "You can also get it in a glass, with some ice. It's much easier to sip, for some people."

"I am not accustomed to straight liquor, but my education is progressing," he quips, a smile lighting his face. His wine arrives and he asks the bar tender for another tequila, this time on the rocks. "We'll try it that way... Hopefully mixing it with wine will not send me to floor."

"I think maybe it will give you a headache tomorrow," Lito warns, for he has had a lot of experience with alcohols mixed together that shouldn't be, which has inevitably lead to a lot of headaches. "Maybe we could figure out a way to work it off," he says, as innocently as a man like him can.

"I have woken with many headaches. One more will not kill me." Then Lito makes what sounds like an offer, and Gannicus cannot help but grin. "Are you making offer?" An eyebrow lifts and there is a gleam of amusement in his eyes, but also something like promise.

This is the moment that he could make a decision and walk away. This is when he could go back to the Lito who lies for a living, but he wants to be honest. "Yes," he says, lifting his chin up just that much more. "Yes, I am. If you'll have me."

Gannicus seems to take a moment to consider, but his decision takes far less time to weigh. He notices the lift to Lito's chin and he cannot help but grin. "Then I accept." He lifts his drink for another long sip from the glass. "Are you in great hurry or can we finish this round?"

"No, no, we can drink as much as we like," he promises, knowing that he will likely need the liquid courage, when it comes time for the act itself. He feels his heart racing, like he's on the edge of a panic attack, but they're veering towards something that always, always calms him down.

"Would you like me to buy you another?"

Gannicus chuckles and leans his weight more on the bar. "I would not turn down another round. And you look like you could use it." He nudges against Lito's side, noticing the lingering tension. "Difficult day?"

Or perhaps it has something to do with picking up a stranger in a bar, but he's not yet drunk enough to be that blunt.

"This is the first time I have ever done this," he explains. He is used to secrecy and cloak-and-dagger arrangements to get him to meet men. And then, after Hernando, he had done nothing but hide. He could not even imagine coming out to a place like this with him, which fills him with regret because he can only imagine how Hernando would soak up the attention in a place like this.

"Do not look at it as a monument to be scaled. It is but a stepping stone on chosen path." He's seen many people daunted by beginning something, himself included. He works on finishing the drink he had ordered upon arriving at the bar. "Less to trip over that way."

"Don't get me wrong, I've fucked a man plenty and been fucked," he swears. "I've never picked one up in a bar before," he clarifies, because Hernando had been the product of happenstance meetings and a little voice that had hoped so desperately. Lucky, then, that it had been right when it came to Hernando's interest.

Gannicus laughs. "That is what I was speaking of," he says, grinning. "I assumed nothing otherwise." He figures it's safer that way. But obviously Lito is not a pick up artist. Since he's started hanging out in bars, Gannicus has seen plenty of them.

He is relieved to hear it. For someone who's spent so long hiding himself, he is very defensive about being called out of practice and bad at something. "Do you have a place close to here? Or will we go back to mine?"

"Would you feel more comfortable in your own?" If this is Lito's first time picking up a stranger, Gannicus wonders which would make him feel better: to be somewhere unattached to him or to be somewhere that feels familiar and safe. "I am not far, across the park."

"No, let's go to yours," he says, thinking that he will want to go to another place that he doesn't recognize. He feels a thrill rush through him and he knows that this is exactly what he needs right now. "Will you take the lead?"

"Alright," he agrees easily. He works on finishing his drink. Gannicus isn't necessarily in a hurry, but he also doesn't see the need to delay too long. He has plenty of alcohol at home if they want to continue drinking.

"Take the lead?" he echoes, a bit uncertainly. He could guess what it meant, but the situation seems a bit too delicate for that.

"This is not your first time doing this, I think. Maybe you would be better to guide me on what I am supposed to do." How he should be. "Otherwise, I can just start taking all of my things off. I've never had any complaints about this."

Gannicus laughed then. "I do not think it takes much instruction," he said, lifting an eyebrow. "You've been with other men before, the only difference is the man, and the venue." He winked at Lito and gave him a light nudge as he eased back from the bar.

"Let's retire there. I have plenty to drink at less expense."

"I have not been with another man for almost five years," he warns, because he doesn't think a mental orgy with clustermates counts, really, when he'd still only been physically sleeping with Hernando. "But yes, I think your place, your place is a better idea."

Gannicus lifts his eyebrows. Five years? "Have you been with anyone?" Maybe that isn't his business, but he can't help but ask. He leaves money on the bar, to pay for at least his first drink since Lito insisted on the shot and the one that came after.

As he steps back, his hand drops to his pockets, checking each in turn for his keys, his phone. Good, he still has everything he arrived with.

"I'm ready when you are."

"Yes," he breathes out reverently as the memory of love and Hernando's skin beneath his comes back to him. He closes his eyes and thinks of the planes of his skin underneath his palms. He stands and pays for the drinks, breathing in as he knows he must now start to be honest.

"His name was Hernando. He is the love of my life. Was," he clarifies. "He dumped me."

It's more information than Gannicus expects to hear, but perhaps that's what he gets for asking the question in the first place. He guides Lito toward the door, waiting until they're out in the night air before answering.

"Then we will endeavor to make him fade from mind, if only tonight."

"Yes, please," Lito nearly begs, because he would do anything in order to spare those thoughts from his mind, and not have it be alcohol that does it -- he can't keep enduring the headaches the morning after. "You say whatever you like, whatever you want, and I will try and give it to you."

Gannicus lifts an eyebrow as he starts down the sidewalk, making sure Lito keeps pace. "I am one for mutual pleasure, and flexible in the finding of it. What do you like? Or what won't you do, if the list is shorter?"