Step City

The sun was slowly going down and evening had come upon the UG HQ. Lolo had made their way down to the UG Club at this point as it was a Friday, and they only worked doing UG Resource Management (aka Accounting) stuff from Monday through Friday, so it was their night off now and they were ready to vibe. Of course, they weren’t going to be dancing, just doing their favorite past-time of watching steppers dance the night away with a couple drinks at the bar. Lolo was a big fan of the dancers in their club and always enjoyed watching them even if they couldn’t join them.

Tonight seemed to be going off to a rowdy start and the DJ was playing some amazing tunes as steppers danced energetically on the dance floor. Lolo felt energized along with them and couldn’t help tapping their feet along to the beat. The energy in the room was palpable. They made quick work of their first drink and ordered another, enjoying their usual favorite get-fucked-up-fast drink, a long island iced tea. Before, when they had been more insecure about their tastes and how they appeared to others they would never order this, but once they came to the conclusion that they didn’t care what others thought about them they’d finally given into their love of fruity drinks. Of course a long island iced tea wasn’t particularly fruity, but its strength lied in other places. Lolo was quickly getting buzzed and enjoying the ambience.

Every week had felt long to the UG boss since he came back.

Going from 1 horrible ghostman as company to suddenly a whole island of people had really done a number on his nerves. He had to be hyper-aware of everyone: where they were, who they were, did they want to fight him? Was he being too nice? Too rude?? Not to accidentally use his vibe when he danced…He just had to think about surviving and his own changes for the past 9 years, but adding a whole faction, a whole island that had moved on and stood still was a little too much at times.

However, numbers for Steven were constant. Sure, numbers could change but he didn’t have to impress them, care about how he looked to them, and acted around them. You added them, multiplied, diversified, subtracted and divided them and the answer was going to be either the right one or wrong. You could tell them to fuck off and it was fine.

There were no messy tears or chatting back.

No nonsense.

It’s why he always liked going over the budgets in his club. Everyone could be drinking and dancing around him, but when he was going over the clubs numbers from the safety of his personal booth, he could be a part of the crowd whilst being apart from them. It was the best of both worlds. Safe, structured order and unpredictable chaos. It was… nice.

Well, it was nice when he was younger. When he was awkward and lonely and short and needed something as a barrier between those who were interested in him. But as Steven sat at his usual booth in UGHQ, a few feet from everyone, the numbers just weren’t clicking.

Maybe he was having an off day? He’d had to talk to quite a few people today… maybe he was burning out?

No.

He had to get over this. He was UG’s Boss again. He had to be normal. Act like he always has been. Like he used to be.

So he sat there, staring a hole into his tablet, trying to make sense of the spreadsheet as his surroundings started to fade into the background.

Lolo had finished off their 1st drink and quickly ordered a 2nd one, but this time took their time with it. There appeared to be dancing coming from the other side of the club so they decided to take a walk with their drink to get a better vantage point. There where a group of people forming a circle over there and Lolo was sure dancing was at the center of it and they wanted to observe. As they made their way over, they walked by the personal booths and looked them over as they passed, surprised to see Steven at one of them. It looked like the bossman was trying to get some work done, albeit it didn’t look like anything was actually getting done. Steven just looked like he was staring into space…

Lolo looked over to the dance circle forming and decided they’d like to catch up with the boss instead. They made their way over to the personal booth and tried to get Steven’s attention without surprising him.

“Hey hefe! How are you doing?” Lolo asked loudly, trying to be heard over the sound of the music and steppers. It didn’t seem like Steven heard them, so they walked up to the table and tried to make their presence more known. “Hefe? How you doin’?”

There were moments like this, where Steven would just feel … less than he should? In his younger years, he was used to burying his feelings, not making a fuss. Sure, he got ‘angry’, was ‘snarky’, but being emotionally distant was his go to when he felt a lot of stress. His frien- His ex friend, Sweet said it was stifling to be around him at times with how much he repressed. The little creep's emotional vibe gave them an edge on that, allowing them to try and peel back the walls Steven had built over the years. But they weren’t friends anymore and now …

“Huh?” It took Lolo a few times to snap Steven out of it, but at least this time Lolo didn’t have to startle him by touching him. Sounds and visuals came flooding back in so quickly that Steven couldn’t school his features quick enough that he winced, vibe flaring at the sudden onslaught of lights and sounds he had forgotten were there.

“What-? Hey Lolo.” A bubble of orange smoke poured between his lips as he spoke, his vibe finally settling down to its usual hum. His eyes finally settled on his accountant sitting near him in his booth… He hadn't even heard them approach...

“What’s up?”