drinks all around

i. on the hunt (02/01/2015)

Bacchus Groh was a man who prided himself on many things, chief among which was his ability to sniff out the best parties and bars and club scenes with ease. It was a skill he'd first become aware of during his first year at university whilst pledging himself to Quattro Cerberus (a fraternity notorious for, among other things, its wild spirit and even wilder keggers) and in the years since then had been honed to such a degree that everyone now merely followed his lead when going out for a night on the town, simply because it was a common and well-known fact that Bacchus really was that good. He didn't know why this was, of course; in fact, if one were to ask Bacchus about his own opinion on the entire matter, he would reply that his apparent "skill" for finding such venues and events was based on little more than a sort of inkling he'd get at the back of his head after a few drinks, and as such wasn't really a proper skill or ability at all, but merely a hunch based on pure drunken luck. In any event, this uncanny ability of his had not only never failed Bacchus once in any way since his days in Quattro Cerberus, but had, in the years that had passed since he'd established himself as one of the foremost up-and-coming entrepreneurs in the business of alcohol commerce in Fiore, also proven itself to be something advantageous in either a social or corporate setting. Naturally, he was smart enough to avoid mixing business and pleasure, but it was still a common, albeit usually unspoken, rule amongst businessmen everywhere that engaging in a certain amount of frivolous revelry whilst conducting their respective transactions and deals was a perfectly normal and entirely acceptable thing.

It was for this very reason that Bacchus was so very keen on seeing the sort of nightlife and clientele a city had to offer whenever he found himself traveling for the sake of his business: he'd learned long ago that the formalities of the corporate world made up only a single aspect of any business, and that the activities and reactions of its customers were another thing entirely. Indulging in and experiencing as much of a city's business potential as possible was merely another tactic Bacchus used to help further his business exploits, although he wouldn't hesitate to admit that there was a certain amount of personal satisfaction to the whole thing as well.

Like now — for a man like Bacchus, whose livelihood centered on the purchasing and selling of large quantities of alcohol, the most popular bars and clubs a city had to offer were always a target on his outings, and Crocus, being the capitol, had some of the best the country had to offer, and as such also had some of the most interesting patrons Bacchus had ever had the pleasure of observing. With its state of the art sound system and impeccable furnishings and design, the Crocus branch of Fairy Tail's impressive line of nightclubs and bars across Fiore certainly warranted its title of being one of the "best" the city had to offer (it was actually one of the reasons Bacchus had chosen to spend his evening there, as a way of "staking out" the place before he met with its manager the following morning) while "interesting", at that moment, took the form of a dark-haired woman sitting comfortably at the bar, casually holding a large pitcher of beer in one hand and an equally large drink (which had the added benefit of being violently purple) in the other. She was exactly his type, too, with dark eyes that shone with mirth and a confident intelligence despite her obvious intoxication and the sort of figure magazines said one could get in "five easy steps!" (her attire left very little to the imagination), and any person who could hold their liquor this well was the sort of person Bacchus was very interested in getting to know.

She'd been there since before Bacchus himself had arrived, and from the way she interacted with such familiarity with the club's staff, he'd determined that she was most certainly a regular there. That's just as well, he thought to himself, his own glass in hand as he made his way to the bar for another refill. Something tells me she's a wild one.

Yet Bacchus said nothing when he took the empty stool beside the woman at the bar, instead focusing his attention on the young man taking his order behind the counter, and she, in turn, ignored him. Discretely, Bacchus watched her out of the corner of his eye as she tossed back the purple drink as if it were little more than water, to the cheers of the small crowd that had gathered around her, and it wasn't until she brought her pitcher of beer back to her lips that she finally noticed Bacchus watching her.

"Hey." She narrowed her eyes at him dangerously. "Anything I can help you with?"

With a grin, Bacchus quickly downed his own drink before gesturing quickly to the bartender. "You could tell me where you picked up those wild drinking skills for starters, doll," he replied as another rum and coke was set before him. "Or your name — I'm not picky."

Her eyes widened a bit in surprise, but she was smirking at him nonetheless, eyes shining with mirth, when she responded. "Cana," she said, offering him her free hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Not Picky."

"Bacchus." He took the proffered hand with a smirk of his own, and was pleasantly surprised by the the strength with which she — Cana — gripped his own. What a woman.

"I don't think I've ever seen you here before, Bacchus," Cana said as she released his hand and brought her pitcher to her lips in, draining what little was left in it effortlessly. "You're not from around here, are you?"

With a shake of his head, Bacchus took another generous sip of his own drink. "I'm in town on business," he said carefully. "Got tired of staying cooped up in my hotel room, so I figured I'd see what else Crocus had to offer."

"Like what you see?" Cana asked coyly. She batted her eyelashes at him, the crowd around them forgotten; Bacchus felt something hot coil low in his body at the sight of it.

Deciding to play along with whatever game Cana was playing at, Bacchus suppressed a smirk, shrugging his shoulders in a noncommittal way instead. "Well, today's my first time coming to Fairy Tail," he told her, no longer making any sort of effort to hide the flirtatious edge to his voice. "But I definitely like it — definitely going to make sure I come here again."

Cana nodded knowingly; around them, the crowd began to disperse as it became obvious that her drinking, for now, was coming to a stop. "First time, huh? Makes sense. I mean, if I'd seen you before, I know I'd remember that fantastic ass of yours." She smiled at him, and with that Bacchus knew that all their cards were now on the table. Of course, it was difficult to not fist pump victoriously because of it, and so he opted instead to order a beer of his own and finish his rum and coke while waiting for it.

"I'm guessing you're a regular here?" No sooner did Bacchus finish his drink than the beer was set before him; he made a mental note to tip the bartender generously when he got his tab at the end of the night.

Cana shrugged. "You could say that." She gestured to her exposed stomach, and Bacchus noticed the club's distinctive emblem tattooed in black ink near her left hipbone. Then he noticed the change in her expression, how her expression became almost predatory as she leaned closer to him, and the lovely view of her cleavage that she now provided him. "At any rate, I'm here enough to know that DJ Ecor will be up soon, and that when he starts playing, I'm going to be much more interested in continuing this conversation on the dance floor."

Bacchus inhaled sharply in exaggerated shock. "I knew it — you just want a better look at my ass, don't you?" He smiled at her nonetheless.

"What can I say? You seem like a man who knows how to move, and I'm a woman who wants to see that ass in motion."

If it weren't for the wink she gave him at the very end, or the way she bit her lower lip when she finished speaking, Bacchus would have believed the otherwise innocent expression on Cana's face. He took another large sip of his beer and leaned forward until his lips were a hairsbreadth away from her ear. "Tell you what, doll — let's make a bet." He grinned. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

She shivered, her delight obvious. "Don't you dare think I'm this easy," she told him. She downed the remainder of her own drinks, and Bacchus promptly followed suit. "Usually it takes at least one drinking contest with someone for me to even think about agreeing to go that far with them." Their glasses slammed down on the bar counter simultaneously; the bartender gave them both a pointed look of disapproval, which Cana in turn decidedly ignored. She really must come here often, Bacchus decided. "You're lucky."

"Not lucky, doll." Bacchus corrected her. He stood, and when she followed suit, took her hand and lead her to the dance floor. "I'm wild."

Cana laughed. "What a gentleman." She took the lead when they reached the floor, pulling him deep into the mass of bodies before taking his hand and setting it on her waist as she pressed her back to his chest, hips pressed against his and moving to the pounding beat.

"Hardly." Bacchus was content to follow her body's movements with his own — her sense of rhythm was impeccable.

"Oh?" Cana turned herself so that she now faced him, his hands still resting easily on her waist while she settled her own on his chest, fingers tracing the collar of his shirt idly. "I beg to differ — you seem more like a gentleman wild, to me."

He mimicked the gesture and began to rub slow, gentle circles on her hips. "And what does that mean?" he asked. "We only just met. You barely know me."

She shrugged and grinned up at him, a wicked gleam in her eyes. "Woman's intuition," she replied matter-of-factly. "Thought it was obvious."

"Really?" Bacchus frowned, though his eyes spoke otherwise. "Maybe I'm not as observant as I thought."

Cana grinned. "Or maybe you're just drunk," she said, abruptly turning herself around once more before pressing herself back against his hips.

The sensation left him feeling heady, and Bacchus leaned forward in a shameless attempt to increase it. "Then what about you, doll?" He couldn't help but grin when he felt her press back with just as much urgency, and in that moment Bacchus knew that whatever happened that night would be wild.

In response she settled her hands on his own, moving one so it now rested flat against her bare stomach and the other settling on the waistband of her already dangerously low-cut pants. "I think you already figured it out, sir."

Bacchus let out a soft laugh at that, and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. "After you," he murmured in her ear.

Despite the deafening music pounding through the club, Cana must have heard him, if the way she shivered against him was any indication, and she pulled away from his embrace before looking at him over her shoulder. "Come on," she replied as she took his hand once more. "Let's get out of here. Follow me."

They traveled through the dancing bodies crowding the dance floor until Cana brought them back to what Bacchus recognized as the club's main bar. He opened his mouth to ask where they were going, but was quickly silenced when Cana passed it completely, stopping instead at a door marked STAFF ONLY in large red letters. Before it stood a tall man with the most interesting facial tattoos Bacchus had ever seen (he would know, he had rather distinctive tattoos of his own) his tongue hanging out of his mouth in a way Bacchus found simultaneously goodnatured and slightly unnerving.

He didn't catch the exchange between Cana and the man guarding the door, but it was obvious that the two knew each other, and after the tall man threw back his head and cackled loudly in obvious amusement he let the pair through.

"That was Bickslow," Cana said after catching Bacchus's questioning look when the door had closed after them. "He's one of the bouncers. I've known him for years."

Bacchus shrugged and followed Cana up a short flight of stairs and down the hall. "Seems like a pretty interesting guy."

Cana laughed. "That's one way of putting it," she said. She stopped at another door, placing one hand on the knob as she looked at him. "Come on, in here."

The door led to a small, well-furnished room. A long, oval-shaped table made of dark wood stood in the center of the room, surrounded by office chairs placed around it at equal intervals, and from the ceiling hung a projector that pointed directly to a screen on the far wall of the room. Evidently, this was a meeting or board room of some sort, and Bacchus turned to Cana with a grin as she shut the door and locked it behind them.

"Didn't think you were this kinky, doll. An board room in a bar?"

She smiled up at him cheekily. "Relax, you horn dog," came her reply. "I live too far away from here for us to go to my place, and I make it a point not to go to hotels at night, especially with men I've just met." Cana made a face. "I hate doing the walk of shame." Then she shrugged. "And Fairy Tail's a huge chain — we've got a reputation to maintain, you know."

Bacchus nodded, then pointed to the office chair closest to him. "May I?" he asked, and sat in it when Cana gave him a nod of approval before continuing. "But you're here with me," he pointed out. "I'm honored."

"You should be." Cana sat in his lap, running her fingers slowly through his dark hair, and Bacchus was suddenly grateful that he opted to tie his hair back in a low ponytail at the base of his neck for the evening as opposed to the tighter knot he usually preferred. "I have a… a thing tomorrow morning that I can't afford to miss, so spending the night with someone is out of the question, but given everything else, I'm willing to make a compromise."

"'Everything'?" Bacchus responded. He forced his arms to remain still on the armrests, content to let Cana take the lead, and curious to see where she might go with it. "Like what?"

Cana tucked a piece of her dark hair behind her ear and leaned forward."You can drink, for one," she told him. "I can always appreciate a man who can hold his liquor."

"And I thought you were flirting with me because you thought I had a nice butt, not because I can drink." He pouted, albeit halfheartedly, though the action had the added benefit of causing his lip to brush against hers. His skin tingled pleasantly at the contact. "I'm hurt."

Her eyes narrowed. "It's an added bonus," she whispered. And then she kissed him.

Needless to say, he kissed her back. And then some.

I have an idea for a potential second half to this that I may or may not write at a later time, but for now I'm going to attempt to do my best to rectify the extreme dearth of Baccana fanfiction — and AU fics, at that — on the internet, hence this collection. Wish me luck (and ideas too, if you have them).

At first, I'd planned this to be a stand-alone one shot, but I think I will ultimately end up making this a compendium/compilation of sorts of Baccana one shots, including those of a more mature nature. That being said, the rating for this collection will likely remain T, and any entries with more mature content will be appropriately labeled. (Or something. I'll have to still figure it out.)

One other thing, before I forget: I'd originally planned for each chapter to be named after a type of shot or alcoholic drink (as clichéd as it may be) but I think I'm just going to go with the flow and name them based on their content instead.

Critique and feedback is always welcome. Thanks for reading!