David & Kurt: Bavarian Beer | Monday & Tuesday (backdated)

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As per their agreement during Genosha, David and Kurt abscond to Bavaria where they take advantage of Stefan's hospitality and crash the Gypsy camp with what seems like a crate of beer.



Kurt was sitting at the foot of his caravan steps, bottle of beer in hand, and grinned over at North. "~See, my friend, I promised you authenticity.~"

Raising his own beer in a salute, David drank deeply from the bottle, savouring the taste. “~Aye. I am not in the least bit disappointed.~”

In fact, he felt better than he had in weeks. Getting away from all the rampant emotions and problems plaguing the people around him had gone a long way in raising his spirits. Perhaps while he was in Germany – illegally, at that – he would have the time to examine his own emotions and problems. But for now, he was content just to spend time with the furred mutant, cold Bavarian beers in their hands, just as they had agreed to in Genosha.

"~And my brother's camp will be open to us as long as we choose to stay~", he added, taking a long swallow from his bottle in turn. "~Or even you without me, if I ask him, should you need a longer time away where you can be unnoticed by anyone~".

“~You are too kind,~” David said, studying the bottle with interest and a small smile. “~Already you have helped me cross off an item on my bucket list.~”

"~Oh?~" He raised his eyebrows at the other man with curiosity. "~And what item would that be?~"

“~Bavarian beer,~” the man cocked the bottle at Kurt. “~In Bavaria with good company. Made all the more better by our current surroundings.~”

That got a grin and a salute with the bottle. "~I have always loved the Bavarian countryside. And for my part, I can hardly fault the company either. Or, of course, the beer.~"

“~I will confess also to being glad about getting away for a while,~” David admitted, leaning against the upper step and casting his gaze across the camp. “~Granted, I may have to go get some work done while I’m here, but being away from everyone else is almost a relief.~”

That got another nod. "~I understand your networks are in quite the chaos after everyone's... time away. Hopefully straightening them out will be relatively easy, when you make your presence felt.~"

David snorted, and drank another mouthful of the long-desired beer. Their jobs were seldom easy, and the spy hardly expected things to be difficult. “~Either way, what needs to get done will get done. I wouldn’t worry about it,~” he said. “~What about yourself? How long can I keep you before life’s demands require your presence?~” They had not, after all, discussed it in much detail before absconding.

Kurt shrugged casually. "~The demands of my day job, not until the new school year begins. However, as that is three months away, I doubt we will be staying quite that long - and besides, there is no telling when the demands of the other job may present themselves.~"

“~And what of things aside from work?~”

He shot the other man a sidelong glance and a crooked grin at that. "~Given I do not have a great deal outside of the mansion, which is all related to work, I am guessing at what you mean. Jubilee and I are going along very well, thank you, but I am sure her work is also keeping her busy and possibly intercontinental at the moment.~"

"~Actually, I don't know what else you do aside from work,~" David quirked a brow at his companion with some bemusement. "~Of course, as much as it does not concern me, I'm glad to hear that all is well. As long as you're not walking into things half-blind.~"

"~I do not make a habit of that~", Kurt assured him. "~And... no, I suppose you would not. To make things clearer, this is the first real time off I have taken since... perhaps Christmas, and that was only brief.~"

The spy drained his bottle with a wry smile. “~This is my first real time off.~” Unless one counted 11 years spent as a corporate drone with no conscious thought or will as a break from work. Even now, despite anything he might have told his colleagues, he knew he would have to go re-establish his networks at the very least. He was, however, determined to enjoy his time with Kurt, at least. “~Time off is a real luxury, my friend.~”

"~That it is.~" He nodded decisively, reaching into the ice box next to him and holding up another bottle with an inquiring look. "~And to answer your original question, perhaps three or four days? A week at most.~"

***


With the men well on their way to being drunk, tongues are loosened and personal issues are discussed.



Three or four days was a long time to spend drunk, but no one would say that Kurt and David did not try their best to accomplish it. The two German men were sprawled somewhat haphazardly in their shared caravan, a neat line of beer bottles lining the side of their bunks, all of them empty.

David took a long swig from the half-filled bottle in his hand and scratched the stubble of hair growing on his recently shaved head, idly watching Kurt’s tail as the furry blue man talked.

"~...and as for my brother and Wanda~", he continued, having entered the 'expansive drunk' phase some time ago, "~it would appear there were, after all, things he did not tell me about in our late teens and early twenties.~"

“~Would that be incestuous?~”

Kurt snorted, amused. "~Very distant cousins at the closest, I assure you. We all have ancestors in common, but... not really incestuous, no.~"

“~Well, then,~” David chuckled. “~As long as your young mind wasn’t traumatised. It would have been interesting, though.~” Enough that he would have dropped in on Amanda with a devious smirk and a suggestive arch to his brow. Maybe. “~Just like that one time my little brother declared his undying love for our maternal aunt. Although I suspect he was merely infatuated with her well-endowed chest.~” He never did let the tyke live it down.

Kurt cocked a curious eyebrow at him at that, as well as clearly amused. "~You have a little brother? And how old was he at the time?~"

The other man frowned, as though surprised that he had mentioned his brother, bottle pausing briefly at his lips before he drained it. It did not occur to him then that he was inebriated and uncharacteristically-loose tongued.

“~Too young.~” David leaned down and carefully laid it down on his end of the line next to its other empty brethren, miming for Kurt to toss him another. What little sobriety he had left reminded him that it might be time for another bathroom break soon. “~13, maybe. I didn’t see much of him once I entered the Academy.~” Christophe had always complained about how Andreas was constantly underfoot and a complete pain in the behind. David shook his head. “~He was always too young.~”

Kurt obligingly tossed another bottle over, confident that the other man would catch it at this short distance, even drunk. "~Younger siblings often are. I do recall complaining bitterly at being left out of family meetings to watch over first Amanda and then Jimaine, and I am sure it sometimes grated on Stefan to have me always tagging along.~"

David popped the bottle open with his teeth, spitting the cap out to the side of the bunk.

“~True enough,~” he acknowledged. “~I don’t know if Andre is dead or alive, though. Probably dead.~”

"~Oh.~" The smile disappeared at that. "~I am sorry to hear that. Those were difficult times.~"

The apology was waved off with a beer bottle. He had had it comparatively easy in those ‘difficult times’ if he was being honest about it. “~It is one of those things in life that we live to regret.~” One of the few he could not deny himself, in fact. “~I’m sure you have those too, no?~”

"~Many~", Kurt told him. ~"Starting aged twelve when we lost Amanda and going up to... very recently.~"

David did not say anything, but nodded, an encouragement for Kurt to keep talking.

"~We have one job that matters most, at the school~" he said abruptly. "~One. To protect the children in our care. The rest, teaching them, all the missions, those are important, but to keep them safe and well... and we failed. I failed.~"

David hummed, a sound that was neither agreement or disagreement. After a moment, the spy shrugged. “~What would you have done differently then, if you had the opportunity to turn back time?~”

"~Knowing what I know now, prevented any of them from going to that rally. And paid much more attention to Philip and Jenny.~"

“~Ah, the power of hindsight,~” was the slightly slurred reply as David traced the mouth of his bottle with a finger. “~It’s not something you could have done differently, my friend. I meant things you could have done differently in Genosha. Did you abandon them willingly at any one point in time? Do something stupid that could have endangered their safety?~”

"~No"~, Kurt admitted. ~"Unless one counts leading my team straight into an ambush, but I suppose... that is not something I could easily have done differently either.~"

David nodded and lifted the beer to his lips. “~Then I don’t think you failed them, Kurt.~” Never let it be said that he was one to mince his words. “~Misplaced guilt often leads to Acts of Stupidity.~”

"~When I was young~", Kurt said slowly, broken by a drink from his own bottle, "my father died, and for many years after, I cut into my own skin to atone for sins that in some cases I cannot even identify. My sister healed me when I was blinded in a training accident, and took the scars at the same time, and after that I stopped. But for the last few weeks, I have been tempted again to... acts of stupidity.~"

His companion frowned, gaze slipping automatically to furred wrists in spite of Kurt’s words. “~Cast out that foolish temptation. It accomplishes nothing,~” David said, ever-practical and blunt despite the heavy irony. “~Not even atonement for sins that do not exist anywhere but in your head.~”

"~And would hurt people beyond just myself~", he agreed quietly. "~As it hurt my brother to see when he caught me at eighteen, I know, and so I have not done it. But thoughts are not so easily wholly dismissed.~"

“~Trust me,~” David snorted. “~I know. Even if it has been a long while since I worried about hurting people other than myself.~”

"~Adrienne, for one, cares for you very much~", was the mild response. "~She was the one who raised the alarm when you did not answer the door. And she had brought you coffee and doughnuts.~"

It was still a foreign concept, having people care for him in a personal capacity, and David found himself taking a long pull of beer before he could reply. “~We barely know each other,~” he finally settled on saying. “~She found out about my drug use on our way home and somehow felt responsible.~”

Kurt shook his head at that. "~If that was all it was, my friend, all she had to do was say something to one of your colleagues and neighbours, not arrive at your door with baked goods. Perhaps you do not know each other well, but I think she would like to be your friend.~"

There was sigh followed by the rustling of clothes as David shifted in his bunk so that he was on his back. He may have come to Germany to sort out his thoughts away from the rampant emotions of others, but it did not mean that he necessarily wanted to confront his thoughts on the subject. “~Did you know I killed my best friend?~” He asked rhetorically. “~I told myself: No more friends. Not after that.~”

"~That is a very lonely life~", Kurt said gently. "~And difficult to maintain, I think, if you are going to be around people at all.~"

“~If it makes you feel better, I think I’ve failed spectacularly in that, actually.~” Because aside from Adrienne, there was, at the very least, a number of his colleagues, Vanessa and… Wade. Somehow loneliness was a lot less daunting than the prospect of acknowledging personal attachments that had blindsided him. “~After all, you are here with me now, are you not?~”

Kurt chuckled. "~To return the favour, if it makes you feel better, I can pretend to be only an acquaintance in a similar line of work. But yes, I am here willingly.~"

“~Excellent. I don’t think I can defend myself against a criminal charge of kidnap.~”