I put my earbuds back in and blast out the memories of what just happened. I head back towards my home but walk right past the building. Not long after, I get a text from Rise. “Just caught you walking by. You looked sick. What’re you up to?”

I sigh and type a tired response. “Just saw Luke… It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later. For now, I have to get smashed.” I slide my phone back into my pocket and ignore it for the rest of my walk to my usual bar. I get something hard but fruity to let it slide down easier.

I like this bar. It’s inconspicuous enough to never be packed but never too empty to feel lonely. The bar top is a stereotypical wooden affair with padded black stools. There’s TV’s showing sports and some network channels, a pool table, and a few tables and hightops around. I’ve been here enough for the bartenders to know me but I try not to make it enough of a habit that we know each other's names.

When I’m halfway through the first drink, a dark shadow appears next to me. “Mind if I sit here?” I look up at the smiling face of a rather handsome man. His hair is medium length and a beautiful dark orange. The soft green of his eyes reminds me of a dollar bill. The ginger stubble on his face tries its best to hide the freckles while also conveying that he hadn’t had much time to himself the past few days. He has a suit and tie on that make him look far more official than his smile would leave you to believe.

My eyes scan the bar for a second. There’s quite a few people around but certainly not enough that he couldn’t get a seat to himself. I return his grin and offer the seat beside me. “Not at all!” He gives me an affirming nod and slides onto the stool. “Tyler.” I hold my hand out to him.

He returns the favor with a firm grip. “Ken. Nice to meet you.” He waves over the bartender. “Maker’s on the rocks.”

I let out a friendly scoff and nod my head. “Classy.” He laughs at me and thanks the bartender for the drink. “I’ve never seen you in here before so I’m guessing you’re not a regular.” I take a shot in the dark to try and keep the conversation rolling.

“Correct. Actually, I just got to the city a few hours ago.” He bobs his head to the side matter-of-factly.

I gesture to his attire and raise an eyebrow. “Business trip, I take it?”

“Something like that.” He sips his whiskey with a slight grin.

“How long you gonna be in town?” I try my best to make me biting my lip in anticipation as subtle as possible.

“Depends on how long the business takes. Any reason you’re asking?” He turns his body towards me and leans against the bartop.

I can feel my face heating up in response to his question. “You seem like fun and I think I could use a drinking partner. My only good friend… Isn’t big on the nightlife scene.” I pry my eyes away trying to figure out my own lie.

He laughs and scrunches his face. “Suddenly bars are nightlife?” I can only really shrug in response. “Well I’d be happy to spend a bit more time with you.” His smile fades to barely a smirk and his eyes somehow get even softer as he puts his face in his hand. My heart skips a beat at his words.

“So…” I clear my throat, “What kind of work do you do?” I take a long sip of my drink to force him to talk and drown out my nervousness.

“I suppose you could say I’m in consultation.” He moves his head back forth as he says this. “I’m brought in to assess problems and find solutions.”

“A little like a detective.” I gesture my glass towards him before taking another drink.

“Exactly.” He nods.

“Well, what are you detecting about me then?” I put on my most innocent and suggestive smile.

He opens his mouth and takes a thoughtful breath. “Based on your clothes, you either were or are a student at NYU.” Easy. It’s on my hoodie. “Your tired eyes, casual clothes, shaking hands, and slightly labored breathing all mean you were probably exercising recently and came here from the gym.” I raise an eyebrow at his accuracy. Not exact but there’s no way he’d guess I was being a superhero. “And that expression means you’re rather impressed by my guesses.” I can’t help but smile at him. “Finally, that smile is very cute.”

My stomach does a backflip at the last part. “Well then, I’d say that was pretty good…”

He slides a bit closer to me. “Only pretty good?”

I laugh softly. “Clearly your ego doesn’t need that much more boosting.” He laughs again and leans back away from me.

He turns his gaze back up to the TV’s where the news is replaying my exploits from earlier today. “Crazy shit, huh? What do you think about this ‘Burst’ thing?” He gives me the most neutral look I’ve ever seen. Way to give me a lot to work with…

“Well…” I can’t get too obvious right away. “I can’t lie. I love superheroes so I think it’s really cool that there is a real one. I also understand, though, that the dangers of having a vigilante around is that he could inspire more people without those abilities to risk themselves trying to mimic him and - worst case scenario - cause people to become villains to fight against him too. Plus, he could put people in danger himself.” I think I did a good job at playing devil’s advocate against… myself.

“Hmm, interesting.” He returns his eyes back up to the screen, seemingly ignoring my comments.

“What do you think?” I try and pull a little bit more out of him.

He takes a sip without breaking eye contact with the newscaster. “Too early to say. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens over time.” His seriousness is almost worrying. He shakes his head and snaps out of whatever trance he was in before looking back at me with the same warm smile he’d introduced himself with. “Sorry about that. Just wanted an outside perspective on it. How about I get you another drink?”

My jaw tightens in anticipation at what I’m preparing myself to say. “I live pretty close by actually… How about we have a drink there instead?”

His face radiates confidence and excitement. “I think that sounds like a rather fun idea.”