"About that...,” Kyle starts as he begins to recount the events leading up to losing his phone and being stuck outside of the club. Nori listens intently as she tries to finger comb all of the tangles out of her quickly drying hair. She was pretty sure it was frizzy beyond belief at this point. “...I'd have to be some kind of stupid or some kind of cruel to do that, especially after what you told me earlier,” the American reassures, stepping into her personal space and carefully taking her hands in his. Nori licked her lips anxiously, suddenly unsure of where this conversation is going. 

 "I feel like you've been honest with me so far and I hope you feel the same about me in that regard, but if I wasn't interested in you I'd tell you from the start and if it hasn't become apparently obvious yet, I'm pretty interested in you. I know I can be a bit of a block head, but if you're willing to put up with my stupidity and my absence tonight, I'd like to make up for it. I still owe you a something-anything after all."

“Oh,” she murmured, a smile spreading across her face as she looked up at Kyle’s beet red face. His confession gave her that same jittery feeling she had gotten earlier in the arcade when she wanted to throw him against anything horizontal, so she bit the inside of her cheek to tame her wayward thoughts. “I like you too,” The blonde finally admitted, untangling their hands and standing on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck to give him a hug. 

Nori only lingered for a moment before pulling away, laying a quick peck on Kyle’s cheek as she went. “Right,” she huffed, clearing her throat and stepping back a little. “So, did you want to introduce me to your new friends? We could grab a drink if you wanted,” Nori suggested, grabbing her stuff from the table and walking towards the door that lead back to the club, waiting for Kyle to go ahead of her. Following close behind him, she continued, “They make really good whiskey sours here, if you like that sort of thing. Jennifer is the best bartender by far…what’s going on in here?”

In one of the private rooms on the way back to the dancefloor there were three men laid out on the ground in various states of disarray. “David,” Nori called back to the bouncer who was guarding the door they had just left out of, halting and wringing her hands apprehensively. Violence and gore didn’t bother her much in video games or movies, but seeing it in person always made her feel sick. One of the guys had a huge knot swelling up on his forehead, like someone had smacked the shit out of him with a baseball bat. 

“What’s going on Nor--Aw shit man, I don’t get paid enough for this,” David, the big hulking bouncer sighed, like this was just another Saturday night, which it probably was with a job like this. “Boss, I got some assholes that done got the ever lovin’ bejesus beat out of them bleeding all over one of the red rooms,” David radioed in over the walkie talkie, rolling his eyes at the semi-conscious men. “Want I should shut her down?” 

“No, you f*Stactic*king dumbass, Saturday’s our biggest day, we can’t afford to close down! What the f*cackle*oddamn hell is wrong with you!? Just call the ambulance and have them pull around back,” came Mr. Bickford’s voice over the walkie talkie.

“Rodger,” David said with a wince, before glancing back at Nori and Kyle. “We got this one handled Nori, you two go have some fun,” the hulk of a man told them with a wink. The DJ gave a watery smile and nodded, trying not to think of how the person who did this might still be somewhere in the club.

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[@BeastofDestiny]