At the Bar (Scotland x Reader)

(Scotland x Reader)

You arrived at your place of employment with a slight grimace. The bar was already stocked with men and women of varying appearances, but they all shared one similarity.

They were all drunk.

With a slight huff, you began wiping down the bar and cleaning up the enormous amount of extraneous empty glasses. The strong bitter stench of alcohol was almost intolerable as a few customers passed by you. It wasn't long before you had to refuse to serve a couple of them.

Another bar tender arrived with an apologetic smile before she dove right into cleaning and serving. The crowd began to grow loud and a bit rambunctious. They were singing a few drinking songs off key and not quite in sync. The bar tender and you giggled as some men tried to dance with each other resulting in them falling over and laughing themselves.

Everyone was enjoying themselves until a glass shattered against the hard, dark stained wooden floor and a man fell after it. The noise was unhindered until the burly man on the ground growled and shot back up immediately grabbing another man by the collar.

"Oi! Who do ye think ye are?" He angrily spat into another large man's face.

"Who 'er ye talking ta?!" The man hissed back with a bright red face. Before you or the other worker could react, the front door slammed open with a deafening sound. The poor wooden excuse for a door looked slightly unhinged by the sudden impact. In the doorway stood a tall, slender boy with claret red hair and emerald green eyes which glittered with a hint of amusement.

His attire consisted of black slacks and a button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The commonly messy hair was shielded by a worn leather derby. The finishing touch had been the cigarette loosely hanging from his sneered lips.

"Are ye all done actin' like the bastards ye are?" He had a sharp scowl directed towards the arguing pair.

"Allister!" You panicked knowing he would only make things worse. He shot you a surprised look at your sudden outburst, but it quickly evolved into a smirk. Allister returned his attention to the glowering men and stepped forward placing a hand on the back of either one glancing between the perplexed couple.

" 'ow about a nice glass of yer hometown whiskey? On me," Allister grinned when he received a grin back from the two burly men. He then stood onto one of the small tables after snatching a glass of unknown alcohol from an unsuspecting woman and swiftly downing it. "A round of drinks fer all ye jackasses!"

The cheers could probably be heard a mile away. Your partner and you breathed a sigh of relief and expertly served out the numerous amounts of drinks. Allister sat himself at the bar trying to hide a mischievous expression.

" 'ow are ye, lass?"

"Better now. Thank you," You smiled handing the Scotsman a drink and pulling him closer by one of his suspenders until he was seated in front of you. The elastic painfully struck him as he winced. "Arthur make you dress up again?"

"Aye. He wouldn't shut his trap till I agreed. Apparently me style ain't 'gentleman like'." He casually nodded while rubbing the sore skin. It was almost amazing at how quickly his drink had diminished. The drinks kept coming until it was obvious he was almost too drunk to stay awake.

"Maybe you should slow down." You mused handing him a glass of water.

"Are ye doubtin' me ability ta drink, lassie?" His eyes glazed over and he began tipping backwards off the barstool until you seized both of his suspender straps and pulled him forward again. His face made contact with the smooth wood of the bar with an unpleasant "Smack!". A loud groan emerged from the hunched over drunk, but he began laughing after so long.

"Ye're one of a kind an' that's why I love ye." Your face flushed as red as his hair. He lit another cigarette and blew the smoke into your perplexed and red face. You coughed and fanned the smoke before grabbing the cancer stick from the unsuspecting Scotsman and putting it out.

"No smoking." You grinned pushing a bit of hair behind an ear. Allister smiled sloppily back while removing something from his pocket. Your eyes widened when they caught sight of the car keys in his palm.

"You're not driving are you?" Your voice raised several octaves causing his eyebrows to raise in question.

"It's 'ow I got 'ere. Got ta get meself home somehow," He breathed a dry laugh. "Besides ye stopped servin' me and I ain't allowed ta smoke."

Before Allister could stand, you jerked him back by his wrist. The scene was awkward in a sense as you were practically lying across the bar top just to keep hold of the thin wrist of the red headed man. He snapped his head towards his capture with high eyebrows of inquisition, but quickly covered his expression with a smug smirk.

"Ye can't stand the thought of me bein' away can ye," He laughed loudly pulling you over the bar and holding you bridal style and nuzzling into the crook of your neck gingerly breathing in the familiar scent. "I'll stay with ye but-"

"N-no more al-alcohol." Your voice failed you from the current embarrassment surrounding you. Allister was always affectionate around you after a few drinks despite the two of you never being 'together'.

"Aw, but lass! Just one more and I'll be set. Honest." He pulled from your neck and rubbed your nose with his own. All the blood in your body was now resting just below your inflamed cheeks making them hot to the touch.

"Okay!" You squeaked wanting him to stop all of his meaningless teasing. The only noise filling your ears was the pounding of the overreacting heart thumping painfully against your chest cavity. That feeling you had for him always swelled more and more every time he was in such proximity. Could it be love?

"That's me gal!" He placed you back onto your feet and kissed your nose before taking his seat again.

"Hey I'll close up," The other bar tender grinned. "Just take care of him." You thanked your friend and approached Allister who was trying to impress a few other people with an exaggerated story of that beloved sea creature of his, Nessie. No one else has seen her, but he insists she is real.

"We're closing, Allie~" You giggled removing his derby and ruffling his messy hair. He lazily fanned away your hand before pulling you onto his lap and holding your wrists.

"Don't call me that, lass." The crowd around the two of you dispersed as the other bar tender called out that they were closed. His face was dangerously close, but you didn't mind.

"Fine," you huffed squirming now growing uncomfortable under his unmoving gaze. "Can we go?"

You fought the Scottish drunk for his car keys before you could tear them from his stubborn body. He silently sat in the passenger seat of your own vehicle which was honestly in dire need of replacement.

The young adult sway lightly in the seat humming a common drinking song that was often heard throughout the country's taverns. Every so often he would pause and steal a few glances toward you with an indescribable look in his eyes. It wasn't until the pair reached his home did he finally speak coherent words.

"Do ye remember what I said earlier?" Allister's voice was softer than usual.

"About not calling you Allie?"

"No," he chuckled turning to face you and leaning forward. "About me saying ye're one of a kind and that I-I love ye." Your face flushed again. Was he about to tell you he didn't-wouldn't think of you that way?

"Oh, yeah-"

"I mean that. I love ye, lass." Allister leaned forward caressing your cheek. No matter how much you wanted to believe that was true, he was drunk and he was just not in the right state of mind. This wasn't true and you weren't going to subject yourself to believing it and hurting yourself later.

"Allister-" you mumbled pulling away. He didn't quite understand as he tried to pull you in for kiss, but you instinctively pulled away.

"Allister, stop," You exclaimed.  His face fell and hurt had contorted into his eyes. It looked as if he were about to start crying. "I'm sorry it's just-"

"No, I'm sorry. Ta think ye would like a stupid drunk like me. I-I'll go now." He left the car before you could respond, never glancing back. He would forget this in the morning, but it still hurt to see him like that. Especially now understanding that those feelings were affection for your friend.

~

You didn't work today, so you figured you'd bring Allister over to pick up his car from last night. You tried to call him, but he wouldn't pick up. Maybe he was out and already got his car. You decided to just go about your day until he called you back. He might still be trying to relieve himself of a hangover after all.

The day slowly ticked by with growing boredom. Usually the day was spent with the red haired lad, but he hadn't called back which began to worry you. It was eight at night! He never did this; not to you anyway.

After a quick drive by the bar, you noticed his car was still parked crooked in his usual space. How bizarre! You drove to his home and strode to the front door with concern beginning to flood you. Knocking on the door proved to be a bit harder than expected, but the grumbling within lifted a large portion of concern.

"What d'ye want-" he noticed who his guest was and lowered his voice to an almost inaudible level. "______?"

"You look awful..." A trembling hand found his ashen cheek and caressed the soft skin. Allister averted his gaze before smacking your hand away.

"D'ye come to hurt me some more? Or just laugh in me face?" His voice cracked slightly as he stepped forward and sat on his porch leaving you speechless. He held his pale face in the palm of his rough, overused hands where a soft sniffle was heard.

"Allister? Are-are you c-crying?" In such a short amount of time, this Scottish man had bewildered you more so than anything else in this entire world. On any normal day, Allister would never show any sort of vulnerability whether you were around or not.

"N-no! I-I-I would-would nev-" he couldn't stop himself as he broke down. He was turned away, but your heart shattered at the sight of your hunched over, trembling friend whom held your heart. You sat beside and held the red head feeling an emotion you couldn't quite place swell even larger than before.

"Why do ye do this," Allister spoke shakily pulling away and holding you at arm’s length. "I confess ta ye, ye reject me, but 'ere ye are tryin' ta comfort me making me only love ye more. It hurts ta know ye don't love me back-but-"

Your mind grew fuzzy at the sudden wave of confession pounding at the emotional wall built over years of rejection. The force of being pressed against something hard struck you as he breathed in your familiar scent. He meant it. Allister may have been drunk last night, but he was sober and pouring his heart out in front of the woman he loved. His eyes were red and a bit puffy, yet he never seemed sweeter than he was at that moment.

"I love you, too, Allister," You seized his body into another hug before speaking again. "You were drunk last night and I wanted to believe you, but I didn't want to be hurt."

Allister grew silent; he was never silent. Perhaps loud or irate, but silent? His eyes softened before he smashed his lips to yours holding the figure to his and pulling you onto his lap. He pulled away when a need for air surrounded the couple and nuzzled into the crook of your neck. He trailed soft kisses down the warm skin.

"Ye've made me so happy, lass." This caused you to giggle and pull away. He had the face of a lost puppy with his large sparkling eyes. You paused and turned towards him with a grin and outstretched hand.

"Let's go have some fun." You winked striding away while Allister hopped up and picked you bridal style back towards the house.

"I'll show you fun~"