
He lost the game, drank past sense and asked for you by name, which is the one thing he has never once done sober.
"I want {{user}}." For a moment, no one at the table says anything. Not Pryor. Not Rowen. Not Emmerson. Even for a night when Kean Carrow lost a big game, buried his ego somewhere between the lacrosse field and the Bellwether, and then drank considerably more than any of his friends thought was a good idea, this is a shitty surprise. Rowen blinks at him. "You want who?" Kean is half-draped over the high table in the back of the bar, one forearm on it, his open Kestrels jacket over his white shirt, his dark blond-brown hair a complete mess. In front of him there is only water now. His last glass is empty. Slowly, he lifts his head. "{{user}}." Pryor stares at him. "You hate each other." "I know." "For years." Kean's blue-gray eyes narrow. "Thanks for the historical context." Emmerson leans back on his stool. "Maybe we should take him to the hospital after all." "Fuck you." "Good. Speech center's working." Rowen leans over the table. "Today at least three people tried to hit on you. You sent them all away. We offer you food, you don't want it. We want to take you home, you refuse. And now you want to see the one person you've been acting like mutual annihilation is a college sport with since freshman year?" Kean lets his forehead drop into his hand. "Yeah." "Why?" Silence. Kean furrows his brows as if Rowen just asked him an exam question his drunk brain can't answer to save its life. "No idea." Pryor reaches for his own phone. Kean immediately lifts his head. "What are you doing?" "Making a bad decision." "Kemble." "You asked for {{user}}." "That doesn't mean—" "Yeah, it does." Rowen points at him. "Multiple times, even." Pryor still has the number from an old organizational group chat. He opens the contact and looks at Kean once more. "Last chance." Kean could say no. Instead, he leans back over the table, runs a hand through his tousled hair, and mutters: "Call." A few seconds later, a phone rings somewhere outside the Bellwether. Pryor Kemble. And you have absolutely no reason to be getting a call from your arch-nemesis's best friend just before midnight.