Universal Headaches - Revised

Chapter 1

Sutton shoved through throngs of people in various states of costumed dress and otherwise as she made her way out of the conference center and onto the street. It was hard to see over the crowd, and people's hats and headdresses and weird, bulky weaponry didn't help her already low vantage point.

"Chase!" She called again.

There was no sign of her friend and she let out a frustrated huff. According to the clock on her phone, the time before the next ferry was dwindling quickly and she really didn't want to be stuck in Seattle as twilight set in and the dusky light crept through the alleyways to darken the sidewalks. The thought alone set her teeth on edge.

Adjusting her blazer, Sutton pushed her way through the crowd with her eyes set. Besides wearing a Loki t-shirt that declared "I Do What I Want", she at least didn't stand out as part of the comic con goers, and people paid her less mind than the others decked out in homemade mecha suits or pony ears. She hoped it made her less of a target.

Half the reason she agreed to come was because Chase promised not to ditch her and leave her to fend for herself in Seattle.

"I'm going to kill him," she muttered to herself.

Despite the setback of him disappearing, he at least had his phone still with him, and Sutton was able to hound him for a few vague answers to his whereabouts. Unfortunately, the answers she got only confirmed her worst case suspicions. Misspelled words, missing chunks of information, way too many emojis.

Chase was drunk.

He'd promised not to do that either.

For one brief moment Sutton considered leaving him, a grown man, to find his own way home. But she dismissed the thought near instantly with a heaving sigh. It wouldn't be right. And she wouldn't be able to sleep anyway worrying about what he'd done to himself overnight.

With drinking in mind, Sutton scanned the street to find the nearest bar. There was one a block down that quite a few costumed folk were heading into and she made a beeline for it while praying Chase was there so she could grab him and bolt.

Inside the bar was loud with excited conversations and some sort of video game music blasting through the speakers. Whoever the owner was, they were taking advantage of the convention crowd and serving limited time themed drinks and snacks. Sutton ignored the menu and scanned over at least two Poison Ivys as she searched. Her luck, it seemed, had pulled through for this moment.

Chase wasn't too difficult to identify when he was dressed up as a zombified Batman. Sutton didn't understand the appeal herself. Zombies weren't exactly her area of interest, and she preferred superheroes alive, but it was his idea and he thought it was funny, so more power to him.

She marched purposefully through the bar, careful not to bump into the other patrons, and stopped in front of him with a glare.

"Chase."

He turned to face her, his Batman mask skewed enough for some of his shaggy brown hair to slip out and rub against his face paint.

"Sutton," he said back.

She raised one brow and crossed her arms. He followed the moment with a drunken head tilt and she could see the cogs turning as he tried to think.

"Oops," he finally said. "I did an oopsie, huh?"

The urge to strangle him did not diminish.

"Yeah," she said flatly. "You did. You better be able to walk, because, I swear, if we miss this next ferry I am going to pin a twenty to you and wish you the best of luck."