"i'm not drunk enough for this," she murmured, pouring another shot of fireball.

rising from the small, leather seat, she began her escapade onto the dance floor. the club was especially packed, filled to the brim with desperate women and even more desperate men. she inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, and exhaling with a smile. "ah, the smell of a bad childhood. i love it."

some of them she recognized as minor celebrities, but those were the people who weren't really doing much. despite the spot's well known "no press" rule, put in place when the celebs had started joining the population, you could never be too careful. lena, herself, already knew how much the media trashed her. she'd, more than once, sassed multiple reporters.

"what choices do you think got you here, an alcoholic partier?"

"i'm sorry, but your husband just asked to join me in my 'alcoholic partier' adventures. i must go, ta-ta!"

she downed the shot hastily, ready to pour another one before a hand on her shoulder disrupted her. "alena! hey!" ace shouted, despite the blond being mere inches from her. the music pulsed through her muscles, even managing to vibrate her skull. it was no wonder claire had to yell to be heard. the woman lowered the bottle and glass in her hands, quickly turning to set it on the table behind her. grimacing once she realized it was out in the open, she turned to face her best friend.

and her date.

alena couldn't help that her eyes lit up at the sight of the well known marvel actor. "aaron! it's so nice to meet you!" she exclaimed. her voice, normally small, managed to rise over the crowd. he was dressed in simple clothing, a sharp suit as black as a raven's feathers, and a stark white shirt underneath. his startlingly blue eyes were focused, sharp, but his face otherwise kind. hair gelled but not to the point of crispness, he looked amazing in the soft undertones of the light in the club.

"alena dumas! i've heard a lot about you. as a matter of fact, you're the reason i watched the philosopher's stone!" he responded loudly, a smile gracing his features as he extended a hand for her to shake. she didn't turn him down, taking it firmly within her own smaller one. "i'm glad to see someone that wasn't claire watched it," she responded. her voice didn't have to reach such a high level as the trio exited the dance floor, settling to approach the quieter areas of the club. it was beautiful, with simple aesthetic—black wood that accentuated the sharp white of the walls, as well as the beautifully combined patterns of the elegant marble seen in smaller, less noticed decorations.

they all settled, alena not taking even a moment to stop downing shots. her head swam, limbs numbed but still functional. she couldn't feel her nose, nor her lips, and made fun of herself by poking and prodding her bottom lip with forks and dulled knives. this activity had earned a surprisingly hilarious panoply of exasperated sighs from ace, and genuine laughter from aaron.

the staggeringly small amount of people left didn't very much surprise alena as much as make her feel at peace. as the moon rose and fell, people few and far began to disperse through the wide double doors. she couldn't blame them. normal people had lives to go home to, hell, maybe even a room mate. it wasn't like she didn't, but at this point, she had a reputation. can't disappoint, she liked to think, before taking another swig of peach flavored vodka.

stumbling over to the unpopulated seats, she kindly asked the bartender for 3 glasses. he chuckled, showing how he felt, but poured them nonetheless. had she ordered that before? she probably had. her brain struggled to grasp the basic concepts of her surroundings; quiet voices, the scraping of wood against the ground as people pushed out their stool to get up. she sighed, slipping the man a fifty dollar bill when he poured the drinks. bourbon. nice, she thought.

"keep the change," she murmured half heartedly. he nodded, slipping away to tend to the needs of the next lost soul sitting in a bar at twelve in the morning. looking at the glass forlornly, the only thing that stopped her from pushing the liquid down her throat was a slurred voice.

"you look like hell," a man observed, obviously intoxicated. she gave a breathy laugh, not turning her head. she had to admit, the voice sounded familiar, but alena was too drunk to act on it. nursing the smooth glass with two hands, not wanting to drop it, she listened as the dulled sound of a chair scraping against wood ensued. she didn't turn once the stranger sat next to her, bringing with him the familiar scent of vodka and some sort of cologne that she distantly recognized. maybe adrian had worn it.

"that bad?" she finally responded, letting her eyes wander over to the stranger.

he smiled at her reaction, which was her violently choking on her drink. she recovered quickly, not unused to having letting a liquid go down the wrong pipe. holding her throat as she momentarily struggled to breathe, the woman managed to recover quickly and simply stare in an aghast-wrought state of shock.

"sebastian stan? the sebastian stan, who plays james buchanan barnes?"

he shrugged, the slim smile on the man's face giving away the answer. he wasn't extravagant–a red and black plaid shirt and dark tinted jeans, ebony locks loose. stray strands fell out of place, framing the sharp angles of his jawline and cheekbones. he was ailed by a troublesome look; thick eyebrows furrowed, the stress lines on his forehead more prominent than ever as his electric eyes darkened with an emotion nowhere near happiness.

"and you're alena dumas," he feigned a painfully poetic expression, "the eccentric childhood star turned alcoholic."

"i can't believe you remembered that entire headline," she responded wistfully. he sighed, taking a small sip from his glass of blue moon. "not much else to do when wallowing in self pity," he responded dejectedly. she laughed wryly, taking it upon herself to rest a thin hand on his shoulder. "oh, who hurt you, bucky?" she asked lowly, murmuring it into his ear as she had not the will to talk loudly. the club was quieter, the tones of indifference and simple wildness gone—replaced by the uncomfortable calm caused by the few remaining, the few who had not much of a home to go back to. they had not much to discuss, lest they open up about their more than likely depressing adolescence.

"ironically, a girl named after the drink i'm about to order," he replied, voice as low and piqued with curiosity as her own. the obvious "i have no fucks to give" air about him was a fake, from the cologne to the pop punkish leather jacket that hung from the back of his seat. glancing down with lidded eyes, she glimpsed the unmistakable top of a box of newports. damn. that must've hurt.

"you know, they say newports are-" she paused, poising herself for her best valley girl voice, "totally 2011." she laughed at herself, nose scrunching up in distaste at the haughtiness and attitude that had come from 2 words. sebastian laughed as well, deep voice uncannily calm as the bartender robotically poured both of them another glass of shots. watching the impressively figured man walk away, her eyes wandered from him to the celebrity she sat by.

"you ordered another drink?"

"you must be very, very drunk if you didn't notice when i called for him," he replied, nudging her with his elbow and sending a sly, teasing smile her way. she exhaled gently, shrugging. "i'd suppose so, sebastian." his expression finally faltered, seemingly amused by her use of his full name.

"please. just call me seb, or vanilla ice, as mackie likes to call me." he motioned with his hands extravagantly, a flurry of motion that gave more than enough information about the (probably hilarious) relationship between seb and "mackie"—whom she guessed to be anthony mackie, a man she had met once with a wonderful personality and a mischievous glint in his eye, one that she recognized in herself.

"okay, seb. what brings you to a semi-trashy bar at this late of an hour?"

he smiled wryly, sending her a mirthless look. "my girlfriend cheated on me."

"that would take a very..." she trailed off, absentmindedly gripping the man's muscular arms. "a very special kind of stupid."

the two were much, much more drunk, and much, much more "touchy feely." the celebrities had staggered over to a 180 degree booth table. alena, having not enough sobriety to care, rested her head on his (unusually firm) lap. she supposed the rumors concerning the "thighs of betrayal" had been accurate.

"what do you think you'd name your kid?" she asked wistfully. he inhaled another martini, before smacking his lips and sighing gently. "something... like... from a book," he answered slowly. "you could totally name your kid after me," she whispered, the shock in her tone somehow genuine. "hermione stan. that sounds like..." he inhaled deeply, exhaling through his nostrils. "spectacular."

in the mere hours they'd been speaking, they'd more or less poured their hearts out. sebastian stan now knew her deepest secrets, her darkest fears, and what toppings she liked on her pancakes. as far as she was concerned, the last was most definitely the more scandalous. sebastian, in turn, had shed light on just how many times he'd been fucked over. "i remember this one time, when i was in the 8th grade—this super pretty girl said she had a crush on me. now i'm, i was a fugly little munchkin, you feel? a-and i'm so ecstatic, telling all of my friends and this shit because, holy fuck, this hot ass girl says she likes me! anyways, we talk, you know, go on a couple of dates, and then comes the graduation dance. i got a fucking tux for this, lena. a tux. i walk into the gym, and there she is, sticking her tongue down tyler stewart's throat. it was all a joke, you know?"

he frowned comically, dragging in another gulp of whatever alcoholic beverage he had attained.

"sucked ass."

alena giggled, not caring to hide the light snort as she rested a hand on sebastian's abdomen. he laughed as well, voice low but happy. it eventually faded into a comfortable silence as alena gingerly closed her eyes. she trusted him, right now, at least, while she was entirely shit-faced and so was he. focusing on his steady breathing instead of the head-splitting migraine that was beginning to germinate, she felt a lot calmer than she had in months. hell, maybe even years. she opened her eyes again—tilting her head to gaze up at seb.

his eyes were closed, his mouth partially open as he sat peacefully.

"you're pretty," she murmured, lightly tracing the outline of his collarbone. he smiled weakly, resting a rough but careful hand in her hair. he gently ran his fingers through it, to which she let her eyes flutter closed. very few thoughts managed to float through the drunken blob of flesh that was her brain, some more considerably random than others. only one managed to stick with her, so daring and downright dirty that her shaded eyes flew open. sebastian looked down at her in concern, dark eyebrows raised in a form of surprise. "is everything okay?" he inquired, smoothing down her hair as she rose up from her gorgeous human pillow. "everything is more than fine, darling. it's marvelous."

she grabbed a hold of his hand, dragging him with her to the bar where the rather attractive bartender was still pouring drinks for the unfortunate souls who could stomach even a liter more alcohol. she was one of those souls, but no, she had no intention of getting another five shots of whiskey. glancing back to flash a reassuring smile at sebastian, to which he smiled back, alena hopped up in one of the chairs with a changed facial expression. her eyes were flat, yet alit with the promise of excitement and adventure. a smirk tugged at the ends of her lips, which seemed to entice the man to approach her and her famous counterpart. the man was a bit taller than both her and sebastian, ebony locks tussled and amiss. not a dull feature to be in sight, his deep brown eyes surveyed her with a piqued curiosity.

"you. me. him," she motioned to sebastian, who gave a little wave in response. "i can book a romance suite faster than you can pour a glass of tequila," she murmured, leaning closer. he chuckled, leaning in to meet her. "and what makes you think i want to?"

it was her turn to chuckle. "well darling. 9/10 times, a man doesn't get aroused around a female for nothing."

he smirked, peeking a subtle glance at his lower half before looking back at her, and sebastian. "very well. i get off of work in about 5 minutes. i hope you two'll be willing to wait for me." and with that, the bartender strode off to assist another customer, who was peering at the two celebrities with a more than incredulous expression. neither one of them were sober enough to care. alena and sebastian returned to their former places, only sebastian breaking the silence as he loudly slurped in a gulp of alcohol. she didn't know what type, but didn't bother to ask for her eyes were steadily trained on the man she'd basically set up a threesome with. a nametag appeared, briefly.

"michael. that's a nice name," she pondered. sebastian nodded in response, cloudy eyes dulled as he stared at nothing expressionlessly. the two held a constant silence, simply waiting as their promised 3rd musketeer served drinks until the fateful end of his shift. which, thank god, finally came.

the woman, the two men, and their egos all tagged along on a more than heated walk. at the quietest, most thoughtful hours of the day, only the few who needed drugs to clear their minds wandered. none of them were sober enough to pay the trio any mind; leading to a less than appropriate scene. alena took her time, appreciating the questionably fruity taste of sebastian, and the tequila tinted, mint enhanced scent of michael's breath.

the clerk behind the desk hurried in getting her the keys, as she handed over 3 hundreds for an eighty dollar room. it was even on the first floor, and alena didn't think she'd ever seen two men walk so fast in her life. with a raised eyebrow, suggesting much more than innocence, she practically kicked the door open and shrugged her jacket off to the floor. the black fabric seemed to melt away from her body as she carefully pushed the straps off of her shoulders. sooner than later, the magnitude of the sexual tension increasing all the while, she stood in a lace bra and underwear.

"well, boys? are you ready?"

author's note:
after 500 years.
many apologies for the wait but i do have school now and stuff so
this is also excessively long and i think that might make up for it???
I was going to go into more detail but I wanted to get this finished.
anyways, if you guys could leave some feedback and your opinions on the characters, that'd be swell