The X-Project

BACKDATED: Warren and Piotr belatedly go out for a drink to commemorate their almost shared birthdays, and start building a bridge towards a reformed friendship.

When your ex's birthday was the day after yours, it made it hard to forget. Which meant when Warren had seen Piotr at an X-Men training session not long after their birthdays, he'd invited the Russian out for drinks. They were now sitting in an out of the way booth at Harry's, Warren having drunk his first glass of scotch suspiciously quickly, and was onto his second already.

"How's that art program going?" He asked after an awkward pause, remembering it had been something Piotr had been working on.

Piotr hadn't expected the invitation for birthday drinks. He had Warren hadn't lost contact completely but they were no where near as close as they had been before they had been going out. Piotr missed the blond man sometimes but these birthday drinks were slightly awkward.

"It's going well, the kids are doing great," he said nursing his beer. "Did I hear you had set up a law firm in the city?" he added taking a swing from the bottle in his hand.

Warren nodded, taking a large sip from his drink before he responded. "We're set up in District X - did you ever meet Jen Walters? We went through law school in California together. She moved out here after she graduated to work in the DA's office. Until I convinced her she'd rather work with me."

"Why am I not surprised, you were always quite persuasive," Piotr said chuckling. He had always found the other man charming and people had always been drawn to the winged man. "So any good cases?"

"It's a curse, I know," Warren replied with a mock sigh. "I've got one that might be interesting, I'm not sure. A guy claiming his boss fired him for refusing to use his powers to spy on their competition. I've got a meeting with him tomorrow to start going over his case with him."

"Wow businessmen are so much more creative then I thought," said Piotr finishing off his beer. "So apart from setting that up how have you been?"

Warren took that moment to drain the rest of his glass, and ended up regretting it. "Mostly just... doing that." In the absence of healthy coping methods that didn't involve drinking, Warren had somewhat fallen back into his usual workaholic habits since the break up with Vanessa. "You know me, I always work too hard." He attempted a smile, but it was more than a little half-hearted. "There's a community group in District X I've been doing some work with, they want to set up a centre but don't have the funds for it. I've been helping them with finding the funding for it."

"I've been having the same issue with an art space for the youth, It was one of the reasons I came back to New York," he added. "But I haven't found anywhere for it yet. Do you want another drink?" he asked gesturing to the other man's finished glass.

"Sure. Just a beer this time." Warren wasn't particularly thinking too hard about his next drink - at Piotr's mention of looking for art space, his (admittedly now a little fuzzy brain) immediately flicked into project mode.

Piotr left Warren thinking as he went to the bar in to get another couple of beers. After a few moments away Piotr returned to the table sliding one of the beers across the table."Where were we?" asked the Russian having almost forgotten where they were in the conversation.

"You were talking about not having art space," Warren replied, coming out of his thoughts. "There's plenty of empty space in District X - the community is looking at buying a building for it's center, part of that space could be used as a gallery, if you were interested. Or other space could be found." He smiled a little sheepishly. "I've been talking to Charles about arranging some funding from the Xavier Institute for the center, we could talk to him about some art space as well, either connected to the center or something seperate." It hadn't really occured to Warren that he'd said 'we' as if he and Piotr hadn't been all but estranged since their break-up, falling back into old habits without a thought.

"That would be awesome," Piotr said smiling as a broad grin spread across his face. "That would be great. It would also make a place like that more self supportive without having to charge people," he added thinking about the "We would need to talk to your Community group as well."

"Well, it's not my group," Warren said with a grin. "They just tolerate mine and Jean-Paul's presence. Or interference. But you should come to the next meeting so you can meet everyone and talk to them about it."

"I'm sure they more then tolerate you," Piotr said smirking. "But I can definitely come down and talk to the people who run it." Piotr took a sip from his beer realising one of the niggles in the back of head would be over. "Thanks Warren."

"It's cool," Warren replied with a shrug and a drink from his beer. "Anything I can do to help." He flashed a smirk at Piotr. "Even if you won't let me play the modest and self-deprecating card."

Piotr couldn't help but smile at the comment. "Only cause you don't need to play that card with me. I've seen how good you are," he looked up at Warren then back down at his beer.

"Well." Warren shrugged, a half smile on his face, drinking the rest of his beer. "You did know me better than most." Did? Do? Warren wasn't sure. And his head was starting to feel a little fuzzy.

Piotr swigged his beer. "I miss this sort of thing," he added feeling free and open. "I miss you too Warren."

"I miss you too sometimes," Warren replied. "Another drink?" He stood up fairly quickly. He wasn't sure if he wanted to have this conversation. Or if he did, he wanted it to be with a drink in hand.

Piotr was shocked with what Warren was saying. He didn't realise Warren even thought about him anymore. With Warren's playboy ways Piotr had assumed that he had become just another ex that Warren had to deal with occasionally. He didn't show it but he was glad that it wasn't the case.

"Yeah, just the same again," he said finishing his own beer thankful for the distraction from the conversation if only for a moment. He tried to remember how many of these he had drunk so far. He had drunk one or two before he came down that night in order to calm his nerves. The more he tried to remember the fuzzier it became.

Warren took his time getting them new drinks - if only because he wanted the time to clear his head. It was entirely possible that drinking more wasn't going to help with that at all, but being drunk right now was a far better idea than being sober.

"And here we are," he announced when he returned with the beers, placing the glasses on the table as he took a seat. "Remind me again why we're here and not somewhere with better beer?"

"Because it's close," Piotr replied smiling as the other man returned picking up the glass that was obviously meant for him and sipping it. "Why you got somewhere better in mind?"

"Somewhere with better beer," Warren said promptly. "Or better scotch. I'm not fussy." He smirked, perfectly aware that he was being completely fussy. "Also I think my shoes cost too much for me to be in here."

"Your shoes???" Pitor asked flabbergasted. "You want to get out of here?"

"I'm kidding," Warren said with a laugh. "It's fine." There was a pause. "It would take far too long to get into the city. And I can't remember what I have in my suite." He paused again, longer this time. "And we have new drinks."

Piotr smiled at the other man. "New drinks can always be fixed but I'm in the same boat as far as my suite goes, I think I finished off my drinks... well to calm my nerves this afternoon to be honest," he said smiling coyly at the other man.

Warren raised an eyebrow at that. "You were nervous? Why?"

"It hasn't been just the two of us since we left the west coast... I didn't know what it was going to be like," he said drinking beer as an attempt to hide from what ever Warren was thinking of him.

"True," Warren conceded, inclining his head. "But we were always friends before we were anything else," he continued, even though he wasn't entirely sure where he was going with this train of thought. "Doesn't mean we can't be again."

"I agree," Piotr smiled before raising his glass in a sign for a toast. "To old times, may they come again."

A side of Warren's lips turned up in a half smile as he lifted his glass to meet Piotr's. "To old times."