That Neon Glow
"Not like you to want to go out."
Donnie grunted, shoulders rounded, out of his comfort zone with his face feeling a little stiffer than he was used to. Maybe that was how women felt wearing make-up but he thought too that surely the UV paint (not quite in the colours that Xander had promised him at that time) was heavier and thicker again still, like a second coat and layer of skin that would have to be peeled back at the end of the night. His brown hair had been tied back to keep it away from the paint while it dried but it didn't seem right to have it hanging around his face while he had the paint on, seemingly for show and fun.
He wasn't sure what the fun in it was, the shapes and lines coming together in a mask across half his face that could have been beautiful, if only it wasn't on him and, well, if he wasn't out in public. It was late and the darkness should have been soothing, the light residual effect of twilight still casting a blue hue above the streetlights of the city, downtown clad in neon and flashing lights that demanding attention wherever he turned.
Whether it was his scene was by the by for it most certainly wasn't a place that Xander would have wanted to hang out either, surely, his friend a little tight-lipped even if there was, admittedly, a smile on them too. Like Donnie, he was most comfortable indoors and behind a computer screen, wearing a neckerchief with neon slashes on it as if it had been ripped apart with a jagged blade, spilling the guts of the fabric. His vest top was new, however, showing off the lines of paint trailing down his arms, although they would need to be under UV-lighting to really see the effect of them. Donnie had marks from the paint on his arms too, even a handprint that John had, jokingly, placed there, throwing off a snide remark about leaving his mark on Donnie before Xander's frown had sent him off rolling his eyes, bored of the interaction anyway. If raving was not their scene, it was even less John's unless he was drugged up out of his mind - so much so, of course, that he wouldn't even remember the event afterwards.
Someone pushed by and Donnie flinched, a scowl on his lips.
"Look, this isn't my thing, you know this."
Quiet. Quiet was what he liked. And just what was he doing going out where the pulsing music of the club that had to be their destination already pounded against his eardrums, hoping against hope that it would not be any further away than what it already was. It was not as if he was nervous or anything about being out or anything at all of that nature - he simply didn't want to be there. And that was okay too, or so he had thought.
Ah, but that tricky thing of wanting to please people around him really did trip him up at times and Xander trying so hard to get him out and about, out of his comfort zone... It did the trick, he had to admit, although he would have much rather have explored a little more of their changing, exciting - admittedly strange - relationship behind closed doors. Never had he been one for public exhibition, regardless of what he had been forced into (quite happily) with his brother from time to time.
"Look, just an hour, you'll get your blood pumping, get you moving," Xander said, although it sounded partly as if he was trying to convince himself too. "You can't sit coding all day and that shit, there's only so much we can do. And do you really want to have to try to go see a doctor for back pain from being hunched over for so long? You can get money for that with your gadgets and whatnot but do you really want to spend it on that?"
Donnie shuddered, though not because of the spending. The mere thought of hospitals and stuffy doctor's practices full of sick, coughing people really did turn his stomach into knots, serpents twisting and writhing, snapping and sinking fangs into soft tissue, soft tissue that he needed to stay healthy, as if they sought to tear his guts from his body. With his aversion to medical practices, however, it was a wonder that he drank and smoked and did so many other illegal substances, although it must have been that at some point the nuances of them all had become separated in his brain.
"Fine, just fine," he muttered, sullen and sulky. "Can it be that bad?"
Xander grinned, his paint not yet set off by the pink of his hair.
"Of course. But that's where the experience comes in! Don't hole yourself up, Donnie."
Yet he was himself for a reason and Donnie could not see any rhyme or reason to being anyone other than himself when it came to something like the club, sinking into the underground, seedy hole and letting the music pulse and throb through him. If he didn't think, it may not have been too bad, but he was not one for continued movement, wanting to be calm, static, quiet, stationary... Hands and bodies swept around him and the UV-paint on his body flared up on his face and arms in lines of green and pink, showing off his skin in such a way that he turned heads wherever he moved, hunching away from the spotlight.
But Xander wasn't going to let him give up so easily - he'd only asked for a little time, after all, and it was what would come later that would be the true fun of it all, the reason he'd gotten Donnie all painted up in the first place. It would be a relief from the stress and pushing one's limits came with an exhilarating thrill that sent him dancing, or as much in the way of dancing as Xander himself felt capable of doing. No one in the club was thinking of that, however, watching him for his dancing prowess (or distinct lack of), lights flashing, music blaring, the beat driving underfoot with a deep, throbbing pulse.
The music was too loud to pick out the words, deafening and screeching, the DJ clearly on fire, if that was the right phrasing to use. Neither of them knew, although Xander was older than Donnie and perhaps had more experience in less seedy parts of the world. Alcohol flowed and Donnie groaned, the sound of it swept away by the music, as it slipped down his throat, not even caring what he was thinking. Top shelf vodka? Well, he'd slip John the bill later, fucker deserved it really, he'd growl but pay the tab to clear it all from their records. That was the good thing about John, looking after him, keeping him safe...
There was too much noise to think and Xander dragged him to dance, although it was more a sort of swaying as the beat simmered down, glow-sticks seemingly produced from nowhere (just where had the others in the club been keeping those things?) loops and rings adding to the neon glow of their skin. Head thrown back, even Donnie laughed breathlessly, lighter than ever as the liquor soothed away any underlying worries that may have been present, softening the edges into a fuzzy, glowing blur. Not even the 'threat' of so many sweaty bodies crowding in on him from all sides could throw him off his came as Xander pressed up behind him, wickedly grinding and testing the limits of their relationship, how far they could push things.