Search: A Coalesce Short

The Cage

Atlanta, GA

United States of America

February 2017

Mack blinked. Aether had nudged his side. 

“Are you okay? You’ve been out of it since the car.” Mack gave a short nod and drank from the beer bottle, saying nothing more. Aether opened her mouth to ask again, but Peters caught her eye from across the table and shook his head. The dark-haired lady promptly closed her mouth, but still kept an eye on the hazel-eyed male next to her. 

“Mack needs a drink because of what he saw today,” Peters said calmly. Mack looked startled for a moment but then nodded in agreement. Aether still looked dubious but chose to accept it, sighing quietly and taking a sip from her glass. “I think we all do. You know, crisp flesh doesn’t do good for someone’s system—”

“Duly noted,” Aether groaned. “I don’t need to remember what he saw.” Tadashi gave a wry smile; he and Mack listened to the two other members bicker. From the corner of his eye, however, he made sure to watch Mack. Aether’s comment made a feeling of concern rise up in him. 

He noticed that the curly-haired male’s eyes tended to swivel over to the bar, where a brunette lady was serving up drinks and occasionally chatting with customers. Instead of a look on interest, though, he noticed something that seemed like disappointment in Mack’s hazel eyes. 

“Huh,” he murmured. None of the three noticed. Peters and Aether were still talking about the sights they had seen that week (nothing too pretty), the topic eventually branching out to the rest of them. Tadashi asked that they talk about lighter things, and Aether agreed quite quickly. Mack gave her a calming pat on the shoulder and she shot him a grateful smile. 

While Aether had started to talk about her weekend plans (which consisted of just staying at home to sleep), Tadashi noticed Mack glance at his phone many times before shortly looking up to give his input. Peters had snickered at one of Aether’s plans when Mack excused himself mumbled something about needing another beer before leaving their small booth. Once he wasn’t within earshot, the topic of weekend plans shifted immediately to what was wrong with their scientist. 

“He’s been out of it since we were in the car,” Aether said immediately. Two pairs of eyes looked at her, “I noticed. He kept staring out the car window, trying to look for someone. He wouldn’t look away until we got to the parking area.” 

“It’s Mack’s business,” Peters argued. “We shouldn’t.”

“We should,” Aether argued back, just as fiercely before Tadashi could even talk. Peters looked surprised, “Mack rarely opens up. You never know if he needs it or not. He might be acting okay right, but…” she didn’t finish her statement, looking stony. “You know what I mean.”

“I do.” Tadashi spoke up carefully. He cleared his throat, “I also see Peters’ point in this.” the younger members of Squad A gave each other looks, and Tadashi chose to continue before an argument could break out. “But. We should try asking what’s wrong. Just in case.”

It was silence from that point on until Mack returned to the table. While not as versed in human psychology as the rest of them, even he could tell that something was slightly off. He quirked a brow as he sat back down, passing the different-colored bottles in his arms around. “Something wrong?”

Aether shook her head as she used the supplied bottle opener to open the one containing red drink, “Nothing, nothing. We were just waiting for you to come back.” Mack glanced at the two men for confirmation, and they too nodded, Tadashi taking the one with yellow drink and leaving the one with blue to Peters. “Were you looking for someone back there?”

“Hm?”

“You spent an awful lot of time at the counter.” Mack blinked and then gave a small shrug. The rest of them waited.

“…yeah.” he eventually answered after taking a sip from the purple drink. “I actually was looking for someone.” they waited yet again and Mack took it as a signal to continue talking. Something in him told him to shut up about it, but eventually the words were coming out. “You guys remember the one bartender, right? The tall guy with black hair?”

“Chinese?” Tadashi asked. 

“Taiwanese, actually. He usually shifts in around evening to night on Fridays, so it’s weird that he hasn’t been appearing much.” 

“He’s your…?” Mack pointedly glanced away and attempted at his usual, apathetic shrug. But even the rest of them could see that something was bothering him. “…Mack?” 

“I don’t know what I am to him.” when the rest exchanged looks, the male exhaled and took a large drink. “Okay. Okay. I’ll explain.” 

And so he did. 

Mack explained to the rest of them what exactly was bothering him. By the end of it, there were different expressions on their faces. Peters was frowning, but knowing him, he was most likely used to it. Tadashi’s concerned look was still there. Aether’s expression had darkened. 

To cut it short, Mack had ended up bringing Jian back to his apartment. The next morning, Jian was no longer there. There was no note or anything — the other man had disappeared into thin air as if nothing had happened the previous night.

He didn’t want to admit it, but it stung. 

Aether was the first to speak up. “Did he mention any commitment issues?”

“Nada.”

Tadashi spoke up next. “Were you both drunk?”

“Tipsy. I was borderline tipsy but I could remember the color of his tie and the brand of cigarettes he offered me.” he paused, “And the color of his boxers.”

“The fact that you remember that he was wearing boxers astounds me,” Peters sighed. Mack merely shrugged and drank from his beer, “No issues, no fears, no state of being drunk as fuck. That’s a little weird.”

Aether watched him. “Did he lead?” Mack nodded. “So he was into it.”

“Definitely.”

The Korean leaned back and exhaled, “Can’t think of a reason why he’d suddenly leave without notice, Mack. It’s either he had to bolt because he remembered something, or he bolted because he felt an emotional disturbance.”

“Fuck, am I that bad in bed—”

“We don’t want to know,” Peters muttered. 

“Not in that way.” Tadashi facepalmed, “I don’t know…some others might have weird emotional responses to that kind of situation. Peters?”

“Some girls act awkwardly in the morning if it’s their first time to have a one night stand,” Peters clarified. “Until I tell them not to panic and make them breakfast, then go on our separate ways. I’ve had a few leave before I woke up but left notes and numbers. Nothing really like them vanishing into thin air.”

Aether. “…I don’t want to mess you up more,” she started quietly, holding the wine glass in her hand, “But maybe he’s not single and that’s why he bolted.” 

The look in Mack’s eyes was indescribable. Peters gave Aether a look and the female was about to say something, but Mack barked out a laugh. 

“Great,” he managed. “Just my fucking luck.”