[Content Warning: abuse]

What did he do wrong? Elijah had a lot on his plate now. He had Sunday dinner coming up but felt confident that Alice was no longer his concern as he trusted in Noah. He now felt guilty after coming home late the night before because he had gone to confessional and had a weird experience with Father Richards. 

Then he came home. And no one was there. 

He knew it was too good to be true to thing the man he'd just met would be there, but it had been nice. What now had him wandering the street to clear his head, was that he wasn't at his own place either. He had checked to see if he wanted dinner. It was fine if the man had turned him down, he certainly deserved his space and Elijah worried he'd been too clingy. But he wasn't home, and that really limited the options in the constable's mind. 

He was pathetically naive to think otherwise. Clearly the fact he wanted to go slow meant it was his own fault. So he had gone home and gone to bed, but then left early. He didn't want to come home, so he let Diane out to find her own food. The last place Elijah wanted to go to was the area where he'd met Anthony or go to the pub for a drink. He wanted to wallow in his misery that felt well deserved for falling into something like an idiot. He didn't even check to see where he was. He simply stuffed his hands into his pockets and leaned against a wall hanging his head.  There was a desire to call off going to the Wards' tomorrow but he couldn't do that. It would be nice to see Rose again since she was so busy. 

"Ugh, I'm just a miserable, pathetic mess. "He covered his face and simply leaned against the wall and hang his head. Perhaps he would go home and just sleep in bed and forget the world. He sniffed and went to a different bar to get a drink. His inner mind was coming up with an idea. It was stupid but it might help him feel better.

Now that his whole 'get drunk and forget about everything' thing was done and over with and he found himself miserable in a foreign inn with a horrible hangover, Anthony was quite possibly feeling shittier than he had before he had done this. After some crying and coming to the conclusion that life is hell and maybe ever even laying his eyes on alcohol was a mistake, he left the inn, heading back....home. Whether that was actually to his own home or Elijah's, he had yet to determine, but he knew he was going back somewhere.

Because Anthony is a moron, though, and he figured that the cure to a horrible hangover is more alcohol, he found himself eventually not at home but in another bar, as he is not very smart. It seemed that this would work out just fine for him, though, as when he entered the bar and took a moment to figure out the crowd in it and all, he saw a man he was sure to recognize—that is, of course, Elijah Crane. Never before has he been such a welcome sight. He looked miserable as well, and Anthony was a bit skeptical of approaching him at first, but all his self preservation and impulse control was gone by now and he approached his boyfriend Elijah.

"Hey there, sir, what's new with you?" he greeted with as cocky a smile as he could manage. They both seemed absolutely miserable, so Anthony figured that he should lighten up a bit—no matter how difficult that was for him, really.

He had finished a glass already, his head hanging low as he felt like crying again but didn't want to do it in public. Hearing an all too familiar voice, he jumped a little and turned. He immediately looked forward again and rubbed his face to make sure no tears had fallen that he didn't notice.

His fingertips quietly tapped the mostly empty glass and he stared at the counter top. He wanted to ask questions while not seem too clingy or bossy. He also realized that he wouldn't completely trust any answer unless the guy admitted to some wrong doing. Elijah stared hard at his fingers around the glass and took a slow breath.

"Just.. having.. a .. drink. You?" It was best to be quiet, for the moment. Maybe he'd admit it, but Elijah was sure he wasn't ready for it.

Anthony looked at Elijah, very concerned but trying to not let it show too much. Have to be careful in public places, and all that. Absolute bullshit. Fuck that. However, as much as he was mad about that, right now was not the time nor place for being angry—right now, he should be kind, if anything. 

"Was walking home and decided to get a drink instead," he explained with a brief shrug, trying to seem more casual and apathetic than he really was. "and that worked out rather well for me. I assume so, at least." Truth be told, he didn't actually know if Elijah minded him being here or not, so he decided to be careful. He didn't want to seem...clingy or something by being here but he also felt that leaving when Elijah just seems so miserable is...cruel, almost? Curse his empathy and love for Elijah.

Elijah simply nodded. He wondered if he meant Elijah's home, or his own, or wherever be had been the night before. It was madness, he kept trying to not over think. The most likely answers just hurt him more.

"Ah. I guess I'm the same tonight." He stared hard at what remained in the glass. He didn't like drinking and the responsible part of his brain scolded him for doing it in the first place. But he didn't feel like listening to that part. It didn't bring him any good in moments like this. 

He finished the last of the glass and ordered another. A worried part of him wondered if Anthony sat beside him for a free drink. He wanted to talk to him but couldn't publically. 

As the drink arrived he spoke softly. "Hey hy..hypoethical question. If there's a couple and one of them is slow in the relationship, do you think it's ok for the other to .. expand to other people if they are unhappy it's too slow for their taste?"

Anthony nodded as Elijah spoke. His need for a drink had mostly disappeared by now, and he was fairly content with just talking to Elijah in a completely sober state, no matter how tense the conversation actually was. Of course, it was his fault for basically disappearing for a couple of days, but even so, he missed Elijah, and catching up with him again was nice.

He was caught off-guard by the question, though. That was not a hypothetical question. But he wouldn't say anything about that—not yet, at least. "I think...no, it isn't really okay," he said after a moment of hesitation. "of course, with prior discussion about it and clear boundaries set then I guess there's a way that it could work, but...in a simple, average monogamous relationship then...that's a bit like cheating, isn't it?" 

Anthony couldn't help but feel that he was being accused of something—or that Elijah was confessing to something. Either way, they couldn't discuss it right here in the bar for everyone to hear. But it still ate away at him. Anthony ordered a drink.

Noah was still sore. His eye socket was healing, but the discoloration worse. He had slept poorly from the pain, and from the stress still in his body. And his mind had been on Alice all the time. It had been quite awful. So maybe a drink wasn't a good idea right now.

But he was a Longbottom.

Instead of spending the few pennies he had earned delivering a message today on food, he decided ale had all the nutrients he needed, and here he was, walking through the pub with his pint when he stopped and stared at two men he recognized. That was Anthony Rowe, wasn't it? What on earth was he doing talking to the constable as if they were chums.

He wilted at the response. It sounded like what he'd say, knowing what Elijah would want to hear. He sniffed and closed his eyes holding his face in one hand, not touching the drink. He leaned towards him slightly to speak low.

"If the other doesn't know and h-hadn't given their approval of it.. It definitely is cheating." He said, managing to keep his voice from cracking worse than it already had. He also managed to keep it really low. He leaned back away and put his free hand around the drink and slumped forward more. He wanted to disappear inside the glass.

Okay, Anthony was definitely being accused of something, right now. Though he couldn't possibly imagine why—hasn't he been faithful and loyal this entire time? Anthony avoided Elijah's gaze, looking around at everything but him, which certainly did nothing to make him seem less suspicious. He made brief eye contact with.....Noah, of all people. And looked away as fast as he looked at him. Not the right time nor the right place.

"Well, yeah," Anthomy agreed, taking a sip from his own drink. "but do you think that the hypothetical person in that hypothetical relationship did that?" His voice unintentionally took on also a somewhat accusing tone. Did Elijah not trust him? Was that it?

Elijah looked down and couldn't help himself. He felt weak and ugly all over again. Tears appeared at the corners of his eyes and he put a hand over his face to immediately hide them.

"I don't ..i don't know. In this.. scenario.. what the person should think.. when the other was not with them..or their own home. Where else would they be and why?" His voice cracked worse and he downed far too much drink at once to try to quench his dry throat and cover it up. The pain in his whispered voice clear  "Without.. explanation.. it means they were with someone.. the first person.. can only assume.. they needed to..b-be satisfied elsewhere..since the other could not.." He admitted sadly.