Brothers are such dicks - Marina, Percy, Giles

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

Marina didn't dress up to meet Percy at their usual haunt, always feeling like dolling up for a bar meant you were on the pull. Pulling was the last thing Marina was interested in, as usual. So in her white top and dark green trousers, she was one of the less revealing women as she entered the bar, stopping Percy quickly and lifting her hand in greeting as she wandered over.

"Hello, Rudolph," she said, slipping up onto the barstool next to him. "What are you drinking?"

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[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

When Marina approached him, Percy grinned at his friend. "Hello! I just went with Jack and Coke. Felt like that kind of day. How are you?"

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

"Just happy to no longer be dealing with customers," Marina said with a tight-lipped smile. "Cafes would be so much nicer without them. But now I'm free." A more genuine smile then and she leaned over the bar a little to order herself a lagar.

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

"You might get a little bored without them though," Percy mused. "Being paid for sitting around would be nice though. I'd like that. I'd also like it if we got fewer hecklers on a Saturday night, while I'm naming things."

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

"Sitting?" Marina asked with a laugh, nudging him beside her playfully. "Obviously you've never waitressed! Hecklers though? Come on, Perce, you know how to deal with them!"

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

"Well I'd imagine you could sit if you didn't have customers! I suppose I do know how to deal with hecklers, but they are frightfully dull."

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

"Frightfully," Marina agreed with a sip of her lagar.

An hour later they'd moved to a corner booth and were a couple more drinks into the night, easy conversation flowing and jokes behind shared. This was the exact time that Marina raised her eyes and saw the entry of Giles across the bar. "Oh fucking..." She sank down into her seat.

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

Percy was momentarily confused until he looked in the direction Marina had, and noticed his brother. Of course Giles wasn't alone either. Percy grumbled and ducked his head. "You need to get out of here?"

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

"No," Marina said, still sitting low and hoping he wouldn't notice her. "It's just... haven't really seen him since I broke his wrist at his wedding reception." Marina suggested. Worse than that though, when Marina saw him smile at a woman at the bar, there was a part of her inside that felt an ache of familiarity and loss. Jesus, this was going to be awful.

She tore her eyes away and looked back at Percy, forcing a smile. "Maybe he won't see us," she suggested.

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

Percy snorted quietly at the mental image of Marina breaking Giles' wrist. "That's pretty awesome," he informed her before glancing back at his brother. "Augh, maybe we should just go?"

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

"Yeah," Marina said, looking at the gorgeous blonde Giles appeared to be attached to. It never used to bother her the way women fell all over him, but now it really did. "Let's get out of here before he spots us." She grabbed her bag from beside her and slid carefully out of the booth.

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

"We can get a drink somewhere else." He slid out of the booth as well, trying to put himself between Giles and Marina, just in case. They were almost out the door before Giles turned and noticed them both.

"Perce? Marina?!"

Giles' tone sounded slightly accusatory and Percy kind of wanted to punch him in the face, or break his wrist too.

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

And suddenly things were a whole lot more awkward. Could she pretend she hadn't heard him speak? Could she pretend she wasn't even here?

No, she didn't want to look at Giles, didn't want to see him seeing her. So instead of even turning to Giles, Marina reached the short distance to Percy, wrapped her fingers in the front of his shirt and dragged him against her. And then she kissed him, mustering as much visible passion as she could. She wanted it to look natural, as though it had nothing to do with Giles, but how could it possibly even look that way? Damn Giles!

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

Percy was so shocked that he froze for a moment. He felt Marina against him, her lips on his, and he couldn't stay still for long.

He understood this was about Giles, and so he wrapped his arms around Marina and slid his fingers into her hair, deepening the kiss.

Giles' jaw dropped open and he wrestled with demanding to know what was happening, and slinking away to pretend he had never seen it. He sort of inched closer to them awkwardly. "W-what are you doing?!"

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

Marina broke the kiss, but she broke it slowly, lingering against Percy's lips for extra show. Then she turned her gaze to Giles, still with one of his brother's arms around her waist. "Giles," she said, running a tongue across the taste on her lip. "How are you?"

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

Percy looked to his brother too, looking slightly shocked though it was all a show. "Didn't see you there, Giles, sorry."

"Oh for f-" Giles glared at both of them. "Of course. Of course you would do this."

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

Marina looked questioning. "Do what?" And then, slightly annoyed as she drew away from Percy and put a hand on her hip "And which one of us is that actually directed at?"

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

"Both of you!" Giles said, accusingly. "How could you do this to me?"

At that, Percy had had enough. Deep down, he loved his brother, but he had never really liked him. Giles managed to be surrounded by women, and he treated them like shit. Instead of offering his brother a response, he simply stepped forward and hit Giles right in the face.

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

It was unexpected simply for the fact that violence was not something Marina had ever expected from Percy. She looked at him - surprise without any trace of alarm - and asked, unconcerned, "you don't think that was a little extreme?" She looked at Giles and made a small wince. His poor pretty face.

(No, not his pretty face!)

Marina had been so ready to snap something at Giles about how he'd gone off and married someone while they were dating, but Percy's response was probably better.

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

"Ow," Percy said, shaking his now very sore hand. "Yeah, probably a bit extreme."

"You arse!" Giles hissed, his hands over his nose. "Are you two seriously dating?!"

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

"Yes!" Marina told Giles angrily, not even considering the option of saying otherwise. She hoped Percy wouldn't disagree in front of him. "Not that that is any of your business at all. We're not a thing, Giles, in case you've forgotten?"

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

Percy glanced at Marina, slightly shocked she had answered in the affirmative. Still, he wasn't going to disagree with Giles there. "And now that you're here, the bar's a little crowded. Want to go back to mine, Marina?"

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

"Yes," Marina said firmly, pressing herself to Percy's side so he could wrap an arm around her. "Let's. I've got no interest in lingering around here. We'll see you around, Ivan."

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

Percy smirked and pulled her close to him as Giles glared at both of them. "You're arseholes," he shot at them as Percy turned towards the door.

"Takes one to know one," Percy said as they left, then he turned to Marina and said, "wow, that was a lame come back..."

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

"God, he's so..." Then she made a sound of frustration and pointed towards the bar they'd just left, just in case Percy had somehow missed who she was talking about.

"Hey," she said, poking him gently in the arm. "Thanks for going with that in there. It was the first thing I thought of."

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

Percy chuckled as they walked and he bumped her a little with his hip. "'sokay, I'm just glad I didn't ruin it. Sorry I hit him in the face. He just...infuriates me."

[frozenocean.insanejournal.com]

"I worry about the plastic surgery holding up," Marina joked, "but he's got the sort of face that asks to be punched by anyone not infatuated with him." Marina was mostly over any and all Giles infatuation.

"You're a pretty good kisser," Marina grinned at him as they walked.

[yourdisillusion.insanejournal.com]

Percy snorted as she mentioned Giles' face. "His face is just inherently punchabale." She complimented his kissing and he laughed even harder. "Even my shocked, I'm frozen and I don't know what's happening kissing? Good to know! Anyway, even though I was joking when I invited you back to mine, we could still go there and have another few beers if you want."