Casual Observer

[Hayden]

Hayden laughed as he set the glass on the bar and lifted himself to sit atop it. "Don't forget bartender." He lifted the drink to his lips and sipped again before shrugging. "Not so much something he's done, but something he might do or might not do." Killing Nox for being a god was not his game, but he wouldn't shriek the task if they asked. Well he might, but that was neither here nor there. But he expected that if Nox failed to kill the warlord at the end of the line, it would be Hayden's job to clean it up. But then again these were gods he was after so whatever, his job was to control Nox.

"At this particular point I'd rather it be you. Least there is no order for me to stay away from you." He winked at Gideon. "I do miss the added warmth in my bed at night, but the bosses say, " Hayden dropped into a deeper voice with fake sarcastic authority, "'Do not engage.'" Hayden rolled his eyes. "Kid wouldn't give a flying fuck if I was following him or not, I'm pretty sure he's eyed me a couple of times already. Fucking too good at his job."

[Gideon]

“Hmm. Not sure on the bartender bit, actually. Rum and coke is rather pedestrian, after all. I believe I require better proof. What do you reckon my drink is? Saelia too, of course.” He grinned, all in good jest, and fully expected for Hayden to get his ass off the bar and fix those drinks. Though he'd only laugh if the man shrugged it off. The idea of following someone who might or might not do something – and the something unsaid, too – did little to spark interest. Hayden seemed more intent on flirting than spilling juicer secrets – like who these bosses were, or what the job even was. It was probably something yawnworthy anyway, which was why he did not bother to press for more detail. Instead Gideon honed in – of course – on the single succulent tidbit he did drop. He leaned closer, still grinning that devil’s grin.

“So you fucked your mark, huh? And he’s a kid. Seems that runs in the family.”

[Hayden]

Hayden laughed. He'd just gotten comfortable and now he was hopping off the bar to make more drinks. The duo had a few at Harbour House, and Hayden did like to remember drinks. But he didn't really care to impress him with his memory. He grinned at Saelia. "Our lovely Saelia is a Marveet -- Russian born of money. She drinks Vodka straight just like her daddy. But I think A Dirty Martini might be a bit more to the atmosphere right now."

Hayden took the moment to grab the bottle of high shelf Vodka and flipped it end over end, not spilling a drop from the spout. The bartender who stood by watching their little game nearly shit his pants as the $1000 bottle flipped and Hayden caught it effortlessly with a wink to the bartender. It wasn't his first time -- wouldn't be the last. One of Hayden's favorite things to do was show off.

He could make a Dirty Martini in his sleep and he pretended to yawn even as he flipped the dry vermouth. A little brine stirred and strained into an iced glass and dropped two olives into the glass before pushing the mixed drink on a napkin to the lovely lady with a bright smile.

He grinned at Gideon and put on the same show. "You I'm gonna make a Dark'n'Smokey." Dark run, ginger beer, all poured with the same flourish and panache as before maybe a little more flirting with it, but not with Gideon. He winked at Saelia to spread the love around.

Gideon leaned forward still sporting a grin that was surely up to no good inquiring about the only thing Hayden would talk about. Hayden was speaking before the words sunk in. "Fucked him several times, and when I say kid, I mean 22. Just a kid with all the grownups." It wasn't until he was spouting out Nox's age that the words hit him.

How the fuck did he know his past? Rather his father's past. The dirty secret they'd kept from him till he was ten fucking years old. He'd never told a soul. His parents paid good money to keep his birth a fucking secret. It registered for a minute moment before Hayden was smiling. "Runs in my family? You know something I don't?"

Hayden took the drink closer to Gideon and pressed the cold glass to the man's chest with a bright smile. "Seriously, what do you know?"

[Gideon]

Hayden was a show-off, and Gideon approved. He grinned at Saelia and let the man have the stage. Of course it hadn’t actually been proof he’d wanted so much as someone to fix him a proper drink, but Gideon was always up for being entertained, and the look the real barman shot them as Hayden started flinging bottles around was hilarious. Maybe a barman brother wasn’t so bad. And Hayden clearly had stories. Whether they were true or not was irrelevant, so long as they were fun.

So invested in his one-man show, it took Hayden a moment to catch up. Kid amongst all the grown-ups still sounded questionable, or maybe a little patronising, but Gideon wasn’t one to judge taste. Well, he was, but only because judging was fun. In this case the point was the bait and not where Hayden preferred to shove his dick, though.

The glass hit him square in the chest. Hayden was all friendly smiles still, but Gideon did consider the joke about being an assassin as he took the drink. The grin he gave was the one which most often got him into trouble; all gleaming white teeth and mischievous devil’s glint to the eye. Remarkably similar to the grin that most often got him laid actually. He let the question stretch. Feigning innocence might be fun for a moment, but at this point the game was getting boring. “I said THE family, not your family.” He laughed. And just because it seemed Hayden might be a little slow, added, “brother.”

[Hayden]

Brother? Hayden blinked. He'd never looked up his mother. His parents were his grandparents, and that was good enough for him. Ethan was hardly father material, even now at 40. Still a loser who gets a girl pregnant. But what did that say about his biological mother sleeping with a fucking thirteen-year-old anyway?

Hayden signed, and took a step back. "You are telling me, my biological mother had another kid and you know all about her sordid past?" The whole I slept with Ethan was supposed to be kept a secret, if his mother ever found out this woman was likely to see the other side of a huge lawsuit. Amelia Sebastian was not one to take threats to her family lightly. That was if she found out. Hayden had no intention of telling her.

"I am nothing like either of my biological parents." Hayden stepped back and started making another drink. He needed to do something other than stew over the fact that this man he'd been flirting with was his brother. And he knew about his past. "Is that why you came to my bar? To sus out your older brother." Shit! He had a brother. "And all of this? Why the ruse?

Hayden wondered why he was going with this. Maybe it was a dream to have family? He had a family, and sisters, but he hadn't had a brother since he was 8. Ethan had ceased being his brother the moment he found out he was his son. Mia and Ivy were technically his aunts, but it didn't really matter either way they were all older than he was -- he was just the baby after all. But there was no reason for Gideon to lie.

[Gideon]

The reaction was priceless. Actual surprise. Gideon’s smirk fell into casual laughter as Hayden paused to process the revelation, and he used the time to sip from the exquisitely made drink. “I’ve a nose for scandal. Dearest maman has no idea I know.” He shrugged, mischievous. The Zalya empire would likely have quite the disgrace on their hands if it all came to light, but he did not seem worried by it. “I’m an only child. Saelia made siblings seem like such fun.” He shot her a smirk over the rim of his glass as he added: “Petite coquine. She’s such a bad influence on me.”

Maybe the jury was still out on siblings and fun, though. Hayden didn’t seem quite so dazzlingly euphoric as he ought to be if the abrasive I’m nothing like my biological parents was anything to go by. It was a footnote for Gideon – in fact he’d found it a rather boring secret after all that digging, though he was not about to tell Hayden that. He didn't seem like the punch first ask questions later type, but Gideon liked his face. It was the money-maker after all.

“Are you annoyed because of all the flirting? Because no one blames you. Hell, I’d flirt with me.”

[Hayden]

An only child... Thats not true for either of them. Hayden shook his head and drank the last of his rum and coke.

A random person came to the bar and ordered a drink. The bartender looked at Hayden with a smirk and left the car all together. Seemed he didn't like being showed up and just left. He hoped he didn't get fired for leaving his post. But what could you do when two rich guys steal your bar right from under you? Not much if you wanted a big tip. Though Hayden wasn't here as a Sebastian, though he could easily slip into that role. The role his father wanted and not the fucking bartender who got into trouble. Though it was usually Hayden getting people out of trouble. Nox didn't seem to need a minder. He wasn't sure exactly why he was here after all.

But he made the random drink while he looked at his brother from the corner of his eye. "Not annoyed. Disappointed maybe. All that and now it's kinda creepy to think about what ran through my head. My plans for the night are shot." He smirked. Though he had really no intentions of sleeping with the model.

When the random slipped away with his drink Hayden moved back to take in both Gideon and his friend. "So now that rabbit is out of the bag, has the fun stopped? Your nose for scandal might like a stab at my latest quarry." He was family after all. Maybe not the right side of the family but family -- right?

[Gideon]

Hayden took a moment to mull it over. Gideon supposed he could give him that to catch up, so long as he didn’t take too long about it. He leaned back against the bar, sipped his drink, and glanced over at Saelia with a devilishly raised brow. After a moment he shifted to whisper in her ear, arm slipped briefly about her waist. Whatever he said made them both laugh. He gave zero acknowledgement to the legitimate customer at the bar, and once they had gone spoke to Hayden as though there hadn’t been the brief interlude.

“I presume you mean disappointed to miss out.” He indicated down himself with a flourish, ice clinking in his glass. As for the imaginings Hayden might have to scrub from his head. Well that was a him problem, and not something Gideon dwelt on.

Afterwards he wagged a stern finger. “Let’s not go down that other path.” He was grinning when he said it, but there was a flash in it which suggested Gideon might actually be truly offended if what Hayden had meant was that he was disappointed to discover he had a brother.

For the rest, he just laughed. “Of course the fun doesn’t stop. For me at least. I don’t do boring.” He swirled his drink, and practically purred; “Tell me more.”

[Hayden]

Hayden chuckled. There might almost be hurt in his brother's voice. "Of course, of missing out. A brother who isn't my father -- that's pretty golden, don't you think?" Hayden rolled his eyes. He'd known since he was eight, but that didn't make it any easier to deal with. Ethan was never his father -- never would be, no matter how many times he tried to be. It just wasn't going to happen.

But he smiled brighter and pushed the childhood drama and trauma aside and started a simple tale. "So this guy, he's extra-ordinary, and I don't mean extraordinary in bed or anything -- he is that, but not what I'm talking about. Extra ordinary. He seems normal, but he's not. My employers don't trust him, yet he does what he's supposed to do, and he's good at the job. But they have me watching him in case he screws up. Far as I can tell, there is nothing wrong with him. Except that he's different -- The Ascendancy kinda different." Hayden laughed. "Not exactly sure what I can do against a man like that, but it is what it is." Hayden was also good at his job, he knew that, but if it came down to a fight -- there was no way Hayden was winning. Thankfully Hayden didn't play by the same rules as others. "Suppose I'll just have to figure out his weakness -- other than cute guys."

[Gideon]

Gideon just laughed and waved away all the family drama. It’s not like he knew Hayden’s life inside out; after London he hadn’t delved deeper into the lives of the Sebastians, his sparkly new half-bother included. There had been no point bursting the bubble of the scandal back then, he’d just been sating his own insatiable curiosity, and once he’d done that he moved on to his next interest-of-the-moment. Apparently Hayden had some hang-ups about the lies that surrounded his upbringing, which Gideon figured he was well entitled to have. But unless he was planning on some sort of interesting payback (in which case, all ears), Gideon was happy for him to move the conversation on.

“You sound half in love.” He grinned, teasing, though he also watched for any indication it might be true. If this really was some kind of clandestine assignment, Hayden was doing a shit job of keeping quiet about it – including the revelation that this guy was ascendant. Or whatever the fuck the media were calling it these days. “And you can’t be very worried he’ll shirk his job if you’re here - sounds like an easy deal, else your mark already played you. Maybe it’s you your employers don’t trust. Or they just wanted you out the way for a while.” He twiddled his finger, indicating the very long train ride they were both stuck on.

“Everyone has weaknesses. Saelia’s here is daydrinking.” He half grinned at her, and offered a wink. Then he made a shooing motion at Hayden. “So let’s go see him then, this extraordinary human being who’s got you smiling like that.”