Xaviers!

Eyes still red from crying alone in his room, Tosh slumped onto a barstool in the XUB. He hadn't understood the desire to drown one's sorrows in alcohol until now. Or that matters of the heart really could hurt so much.

"...beer..." he said numbly.

[open]

“We’ve got 8 on tap, do you have a preference, hun, or should I make it a surpri—Tosh?” asked a familiar voice behind the bar.

Steph stood behind the bar looking especially human today, a chilled glass in hand, wearing a pair of jeans leaving little to the imagination, and a button down black blouse with a name tag.

“Are you okay?”

Steph might just about have been the last person he wanted to see at the moment, but Tosh was too surprised by the coincidence to do anything but answer.

"No... Haley d... dumped me..." he said miserably.

“She WHAT?” Steph exclaimed, trying to sound more concerned than excited by this development and mostly succeeding.

"We had a fight the other day and her powers got out of control and now she's so afraid of hurting people that she just... got it in her head that she doesn't deserve me and... and nothing I could say could convince her otherwise."

“You want something stronger than beer?” she frowned leaning forward against the bar.

"Yes...?" he answered uncertainly.

“Whiskey? Vodka? Tequila?” she offered.

“Drinks are on your sparring partner tonight,” she added with a warm smile.

"What won't utterly destroy a casual beer drinker?"

“My grandparents came from Wisconsin, and their favorite thing in the world were Old Fashioneds.” she replied, starting to look around for the ingredients. “For sipping and talking with your sparring partner turned bartender, it should do nicely,” she smiled warmly.

If she had a tail right now it would probably be wagging nonstop, so she was thankful her furry other half was not out to play.

He sighed. "I wouldn't think you'd really want to listen to me pine over Haley, not... after what happened before Christmas."

Steph hesitated ever so slightly in her preparation of Tosh's drink, so much that it may not have even been noticeable. She didn't really want to hear that. She mostly wanted to jump for joy and give the adorable, brilliant man who made her smile and was a shifter like her that understood what it was like to have some sort of...beast inside you, a huge hug and kiss and tell him everything was going to be alright.

But she couldn't do that. Not right now. It would only backfire.

And now that he'd mentioned the incident she'd have to address it.

She put on a very convincing fake smile as she garnished his drink. "Let's let the past stay that way...though I'll say that she is crazy for dumping someone as amazing as you...but if you need to talk about how great she is, it's not going to stop me from being a friend."

"Thanks," he smiled awkwardly, "I... don't think I could bear losing a friend too right now."

"The thing is, I don't feel amazing. I feel like it's all my fault. That I should have known that past her bold, exciting exterior she was so... fragile inside."

Yeah this was going to be challenging. What did that little blonde bimbo have that she didn't?

Steph suppressed the thoughts from her more impulsive side and nodded thoughtfully, letting the boy talk out his feelings. "A lot of people are broken on the inside, no matter how tough they look outside."

"I just didn't... know her as well as I thought. Not if she gave up so easily."

He sounded sad and a little resentful.

I wouldn’t give up on you so easily...

Steph nodded. “How long had you guys been dating?”

"Almost four months," he said as if that was actually significantly long.

That’s it? Oh man. Maybe this WILL work!

She nodded sympathetically, putting her hand on top of his, “Well, maybe you just didn’t know her as well as you thought. It does take time to get to know people.”

"Then how can you say I'm amazing? You don't know if I'm broken inside too. With the way my mind works, I don't know that," he said, self-doubt in every word. He followed that up by drinking a not-insignificant amount of his beverage.

“Sure. You could be an ass,” she replied. “But I’m willing to take a bet that you aren’t.”

She took a sip of her water behind the bar, trying to choose her words carefully to not come on too strong.

"And for the record...I think that most of us here are broken inside. At least I know I am. So you're in good company, and I'm happy that I have you as a friend," she smiled warmly, putting her hand on top of his again.

He gave a warm smile, if tentative and still a little sad. "Me too."

It hurt him to admit it just then, but Haley wasn't wrong. There was an attraction there and it wasn't only physical. It was just... too soon.

Steph stepped out from behind the bar and wrapped Tosh in a warm, unfortunately platonic hug.

Mine.

She tightened the hug without noticing trying to ignore her more impulsive side who was growing impatient with this whole affair.

She let go and stepped back, leaving behind her hand that rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. "We'll make it through this," she reassured him with a warm smile and suddenly yellowed eyes.

His pondering over her use of the word "we" was cut short when he noticed her yellowing eyes.

"Your eyes are... uhh... wolfing out a bit there."

“I...uh....sorry,” she replied, stepping back behind the bar and trying to breathe slowly and calmly, and maybe stop this change from going any further.

“She must just....uh...think that we’re going to go fight things or something, sparring buddy,” Steph grinned nervously, her canines starting to lengthen ever so slightly.

It was a super awkward excuse but maybe Tosh was distracted enough by being distraught and Steph’s slowly tightening clothing that it would work.

"Not today inner wolf," he said apologetically, seeming to buy it. "Bruce is on the bench anyway. Doctor's orders."

Steph stepped back behind the bar and leaned both hands against the edge, squinted her eyes shut, and dropped her chin to her chest, shaking.

“Not....now...please...” she strained.

In a moment, she'd feel a hand on hers.

"It'll be okay. Just relax... and breathe. It should pass."

Stephanie growled in frustration, her fingers now claws digging into the rubbery spill tray on her side of the bar.

As he set her hand atop hers she looked up at him, her increasingly feral-looking face pained. "Fighting this...all the time...is so tiring."

"I might have actually said this before, but it doesn't have to be a war. I know our shifting doesn't work the same, but fighting with Bruce... well he wasn't even Bruce then... fighting with my other over my body just made things harder. He became tamer after I accepted him as part of me."

Not that different for Haley, I guess...

"Did you just...shift...whenever he wanted...at first?" she strained, her teeth basically an entire maw of fangs at the moment.

"A few times, though animal instinct wasn't my trigger. Not beyond fight or flight anyway."

"Okay...I think...this is happening... right now....anyway," she growled, hastily trying to unbutton her blouse and throw it off and struggling to pull down her jeans before she ruined yet another pair of pants. Bones started snapping midway through the stripping as fur spread across her skin, but she appeared to have managed to spare her clothes, and she'd at least apparently learned her lesson about learning to love the unstable molecule undergarments. With a final pained yelp that turned into a snarl her face contorted into a muzzle and she stood there panting before Tosh.

There's a joke here somewhere about a bartender with a long face.

"Sorry..." she sighed. "Getting easier to talk like this at least..."

"Hey now. You're supposed to be cheering me up, remember?" he joked, almost managing actual joviality.

“Should I get my top hat and do a dance?”

"Can I record it?" he asked with an actual smirk.

“If you promise to keep smiling like that for me, sure” she said, a bit of a smile crossing her muzzle.

The smiling smirk melted as if he felt guilty for not being as sad about the breakup.

"Was I really?"

“Smile went away. Deal is off.” she teased gently.

“It’s okay to be happy even when you’re kind of blue about something, Tosh. Breakups are never easy but things will get better. Stay focused on other things you enjoy.”

"I just... I've never been through this before and don't even know how I'm supposed to feel. What I do feel is sad, kind of empty, and maybe a little angry. And then I run into you and now I'm just... overwhelmed?"

“I make you feel overwhelmed?” she asked, bending over to pick up and fold her discarded clothes.