The next morning had been horrendous for Luke, to put it mildly: he puked twice before breakfast, which consisted of dry bread because he couldn't imagine eating anything else, and then he spent most of the day making his apartment as dark and quiet as possible in order to recoup.  But there was a light that made the drinking binge worth all its trouble: the bartender.<br/><br/>Luke didn't remember much, try as he did to pull any memories forward, but he did remember the man who'd served him his drinks.  Eddy.  A grizzled older man, with thick hands and a lopsided smile, and a voice that rumbled through your whole body.  Their conversation was muddled, just little snippets he could recall... something about tattoos, a sword?  They talked about art...<br/><br/>And Luke could remember Eddy standing with him at his apartment building, at the foot of the stairs, the two of them looking at each other in the rain.  Luke could sense there was something he'd said, something he'd offered-- he had a good idea what, which just proved his loneliness-- but there was no recollection of Eddy taking up his offer.  Nothing beyond Luke being alone in the night.<br/><br/>So Eddy hadn't come up... But would he have?  If Luke hadn't been so utterly sloppy-drunk...?  He didn't know, couldn't remember if the bartender had said anything in response to his inebriated proposal.  Maybe.... maybe, maybe, maybe.<br/><br/>Luke spent his time filling out applications and paperwork, for any job that he fit even half the requirements of; he'd gotten some positive feedback, even an interview, but so far he was still skating by on his last paycheck (someone must have felt bad, because there was an extra bonus attached for impromptu dismissal).  He'd need a job, any job, soon.<br/><br/>With those thoughts circling through his mind as he left a cheap, but filling little diner for a small meal, Luke found himself walking in a hazily familiar part of town, and stopped at an alleyway.  It looked different without the rain, less glittery and romantic, but he knew what was down there, and that was enough to make him walk.<br/><br/>He found the bar again, easy since it was the only business, and Luke peered inside with a tentative curiosity to see if, possibly, Eddy was there.  Would he remember him?  And if he did, would it just be as a drunken idiot who was stupidly ready to hit on a total stranger...?