We were supposed to be at Rocky's by 7:00. I walked back to my bedroom and over to my wardrobe. I pulled on the wooden handles to open the doors. I picked through various articles of clothing until I found a plain, all black hoodie with front pockets for my hands. I unbuttoned my cloak and it softly fell to the floor. A brief cold air swept around my half-naked body. I threw the black hoodie over my head and put my arms through the sleeves. I started to pick through the bottom of my wardrobe, looking for a casual pair of pants to wear. I found an all black pair of sweatpants, and gray underwear. I reached down and took my jeans and underwear off. Once again a cold air swept over my body. I quickly put on the other clothes. I stepped to the side and looked at myself in the mirror. All of my clothes were black. "Fuckin' hell..." I muttered to myself. "I look like the fuckin' Unabomber..."

Cayde's POV

I was sitting at the table thinking while sipping on a fine bourbon. "Why is Warden so... cold?" I thought to myself. "I don't think I've ever met someone so uninterested and not friendly. I thought for sure he would've declined the invite to go out to dinner. I wonder what made him branch out?"

Just then, a figure walked in through the doorway. Everything he wore was black. He had black pants, black boots, and he wore a black hoodie with its hood up. He said to the receptionist, "Is there a Cayde here already?" "Yes sir." the woman replied. "Over there." She pointed right at me. He walked over and sat down in the fancy leather booth. I was met with the familiar angry, almost sad face with bright red eyes. Even with his angry face, he still looked... very handsome.

"Well you look depressing." I stated bluntly. He let out the smallest of chuckles. He reached to the sides of his head and pulled his hood down. The color of the metal that made up his face was a very dark grey, almost black. Personally, I think it's the perfect color to match his mean personality, or to mention that way it goes perfectly with his eyes. He looks very intimidating, and I like that.

I had a couple conversation starters in mind, mostly about him and I, past experiences and such. A waiter walked by and Warden ordered a whisky, as expected. Once she walked away, I said, "So how are you doing tonight so far?". "Not too bad. You?" I was taken aback. The fact that he cared enough to ask how I was doing was surprising, knowing how anti-social he is. "I'm great, thanks for asking." "So what are we planning on doing here tonight? I'm not very hungry." He said. "Me neither." I responded. "I kinda realized that when I was waiting on you. So I'm thinking just talk. Get to know each other a little bit?" He scoffed. "What could you possibly want to know about an anti-social, non-friendly asshole such as myself?" "I dunno... job? Friends? Pets? All the basic shit?" I inquired. "Alright, fine. As you may have been able to tell in the bar, I was a military man. It looks like you were too." "Oh come on, you don't get that kind of fight training just from being a guardian. Hell, you didn't see, but I took a couple of hits, you didn't. Where did you get your combat expertise other than being a guardian?" I asked him.

Suddenly, his facial expression changed violently. It went from normal to cold, angry, maybe even murderous. It felt like the temperature in the restaurant dropped like 50 degrees. I instantly realized that was definitely the wrong question to ask. "No Cayde, just the military". "Jeez, umm, ok..." I responded quietly. His facial expression went back to normal. He was obviously lying, but I for sure didn't want to push the envelope any further. I feel like I just got lucky with my life in that moment! He looked like he was about to murder me! God damn!

He started to continue talking as if nothing had happened. I decided it was best for me to act that way too. "Umm, this will probably sound kind of sad,  but I don't have any friends... heh heh..." He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. He was trying to play it off as funny with his laughter. I thought for a moment. That was pretty sad. I wouldn't be able to do it!  No one to talk to, hang out with, even cry to. Then I realized I was doing an amazing thing for him right now. I was being his friend... I raised my glass of bourbon up and off of the table, held it toward him and said, "Well cheers to tonight then!" He laughed a little and picked up his glass and clinked it against mine. "Cheers to tonight!" He said. We both then took a big sip of our drinks. I took a moment to enjoy the vanilla and smokey flavor as I swallowed. We both put our glasses back down on the table with a thud.

"As for pets," he started, "yea, I got one. I got a pet snake. Name's Buddy. He's a species called a Boomslang. He about average length, green, and super venomous. But he can't bite me because... well..." He gestured to the steel covering his arm. And the rest of his body, for that matter. "He is fiercely loyal to me, we have a pretty good thing going. He's the cutest fucker you could probably ever look at, with his small, beady, cute eyes. But if you fuck with him, he'll fuck you up good. He doesn't trust anyone but me. I kinda just let him free roam around my house. He shows up pretty often, usually to visit me, and usually he slither up to my shoulders to sit with me while I watch TV or eat meals. When he's not with me, he's under beds, couches, dressers, pretty much any place he can get under. I think he prefers to catch his food, so I'll just let loose a mouse or a lizard every 1 to two weeks. I never ever see the damn thing again."

Listening to him rant on and on about his snake made me even more curious. I loved animals. I was genuinely interested and wanted to know more. I interrupted him with a stifled laugh. "What? What's so funny?" Warden asked confusedly. "Are you sure you don't have any friends?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow. He chuckled a little. "Heh... wow... I guess I've never really thought about it that way. You know, me and Buddy. I guess I do have a friend." "Tell me more about Buddy. Like what does his venom do exactly to a human body?" "Well," Warden started as he was rubbing his hands together. "You'll die if you're bitten. The venom is extremely toxic. The type of venom is hemotoxic, which is just a fancy word that means you'll bleed. Actually, scratch that. You'll bleed a shit ton. You'll bleed a metric fuck ton. Inside and out. Eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and everywhere on the inside too. But what will kill you most of all is the respiratory failure and the cerebral, AKA brain hemorrhaging. I specifically picked Buddy's species because his venom is... quite the deterrent. From home invaders and shit." I responded with the first thing that came to my mind. "Wow. You are such a nerd." We both laughed. "I'm very sorry, Cayde. I just totally nerded out on you. I... I just really like my fuckin' snake." "No, it's totally fine man. It's nice hearing you talk about something that brings you happiness. I wish I could meet this snake!" "The why don't we?" "What do you mean?" "I mean why don't you come over to my place and hang? And meet Buddy? I'm sure he'll grow onto you fast! And besides, I could get you much better drinks than these sorry sacks of shits." "Sure, why not?"

Author's Note
Oh my god this chapter was huge. This took like two hours to write. It's the biggest chapter I've written yet. I hope this story gets traction soon because I'm putting so much time and energy into this. I did a little research in the snake just so I could be as accurate as possible. What do you guys think of the story so far? Good, bad, absolute ass, the best thing you've ever read? I want to know! Leave a comment containing your feedback!
-TehFriendlyXeno ✌️