Sad Birthday to Me. (Josh)

"Game, set, match! I win."

Joshua grinned triumphantly at his sweating friend, though he didn't bother calling out their respective scores during the tennis match. Not only did he have no desire to rub it in but he wasn't going to stand around and try and recall the individual matches and how they'd ended up. He could remember who had won and lost each set, but as for the point margins, he was only vaguely aware. His friend grumbled something as he wiped the sweat from his brow and tossed the racket onto the tennis bag. "It's too dark, I couldn't see the ball," he protested. Gray eyes glimmered as Josh replied, "Bullshit, we've got the same vision. You wear glasses, man—if anything you've got the edge on me." Though his tone sounded hard-edged and offended, the two friends were both grinning a little in the mutual understanding that they were joking around. "Fair and square," his buddy concluded, giving up the fight. "Ah well, at least I won the last one." Josh nodded. He liked playing tennis with Bobby because he was a decent guy and an even better player, giving him a challenge without being too competitive. Joshua hated playing against people that took a game too seriously as it made wins much less enjoyable if someone was stomping around and bitching about their loss. "I'm done for the day, anyway. I'm going to go grab something to eat. You staying out?" Josh nodded, in no mood for the food at the mess hall right now. He wasn't hungry. "See ya."

Picking up his friend's discarded racket, he unzipped the tennis bag and put them back inside. They hadn't used the net because it was still stored in his room back at the mansion, whereas he'd put the rest of the equipment at Nell's and had brought it to school this morning when his friend had proposed a game. He was not the type to turn down a chance to hang out with someone when he got along well with them. His circle of friends was, if slowly, expanding as the months passed. He'd once been unable to dream of having a wider group of people that could tolerate him but he found himself experimenting in conversations nowadays. He still had very few people he truly trusted, but at very least there were more folk he could count on for a game of tennis or a night at the bar. Speaking of bars, the last few shots of whiskey in its small bottle were also nestled at the bottom of the bag. He'd forgotten about the alcohol until he now glimpsed it nestled underneath a fresh towel, which he'd pulled out in order to wipe his face down of sweat. Huh. I guess I could finish it off. There wasn't much left—not enough to get him drunk, given his nature tolerance to the stuff. Still, it would be nice to feel the heat searing down his throat. Hauling the tennis bag over his shoulder, Josh dropped it off in his car before heading toward the cliffs. They were a good place to drink once the sun had gone down because the Academy staff didn't like to risk frequent trips up there in the dark. Too many loose stones and narrow trails, too many opportunities for an accident. He was careful as he picked his way up, not wanting to slip on a dislodged stone and break his neck.

Not having expected company, the Fire graduate stiffened at the sound of a voice, going even more tense when he registered that it was a familiar one. Ace, he thought, and his jaw clenched to match the rigidity of his muscles. He recalled with clarity their last meeting and how it had ended with the Water elemental leaving Josh in a foul mood. He debated on whether or not he would say anything to him, then drifted closer to at least catch the words he was uttering. Curiosity killed the cat. He could not see his friend but when he was near enough to understand the conversation, he frowned. Was Ace talking on the phone? It certainly sounded like it. He followed the sound, listening to it getting louder as he inevitably neared the place where he sat. He found him in time to watch Ace pour the cheap wine down the cliffs and speak a final sort of toast. There was only one problem—Joshua couldn't see a phone in sight. "Who are you talking to?" From where he stood behind the Water elemental, Josh abandoned caution. His tone was not exactly the friendliest in the world but it also lacked the chilling hostility that had possessed it in their last meeting. He was more uncomfortable than upset at this point. If Ace didn't bring up the argument, neither would he. That was how he dealt with things. He wouldn't apologise—didn't feel like he had to. He was not sorry. The scars were a sensitive subject. "I don't see anyone around." A date fluttered briefly through his mind like an airborne leaf in the fall. "It's your birthday, isn't it?" He hadn't gotten him anything. Huh. That was rare for Josh. In his upset, he must have forgotten it. "I'd wish you a good one but, well, it doesn't seem like it's going that great." Blinking at the wine, he asked bluntly, "Are you drunk?"

Joshua hesitated as he took note of how close Ace was to the cliff face, seeming to almost lean over it, like he was going to take the plunge over the side. Though he had never really made a point to find this out about any of his friends, he didn't think that he knew anyone particularly suicidal. Leonard had been a bit depressing when it came to the bullying and he'd certainly moped about it but in the end it had been a form of manslaughter, not suicide, that claimed his life. He was not sure of whether he should shout to get Ace's attention or whether that would be too dangerous. In the end, he settled on asking his question to snap his friend out of it. Was he planning anything? Joshua wondered to himself. Gray eyes remained wary as they swept themselves over the figure of his friend, unsure of whether he was still upset about their last encounter or whether he just wanted to forget it entirely. "The moon?" he said, not comprehending, sounding confused. He knew that intoxication caused people to babble on about things that didn't make much sense to the sober population but it was still bothering him that he could not make sense of what Ace was talking about. Josh liked to be certain about things, he liked to have answer. The unknown was something that he feared. How would you know which weapon to use against an invisible force? Not that he'd ever admit this unease to anyone else. No, his pride was far too much for that. "You're not making much sense," he said bluntly. What did he mean, he wished that he saw someone? He's not on drugs, too, is he?

Like most of the Water student's friends, Joshua had never really known Ace to be particularly depressing. He was selfless to the point of idiocy sometimes, in Josh's opinion, but he didn't whine about it. He'd never felt burdened by Ace and he could respect that, even if he was the type of person that would listen to his friends if they needed that shoulder to cry on. "I'd expect you would know," he said. "It's your birthday. Your head. How do you feel?" He thought he might already know the answer to that. People didn't usually drink cheap wine on the cliffs for no reason. Nor did they talk to themselves, a fact that had been disturbing Joshua since he'd realised there was no one else here. Crazy was also something he'd never pegged Ace to be. Insanity frightened him—he remembered how his heart had fluttered in panic when Nell had suggested she might turn out as psychotic as her mother had been. The idea of someone turning on him without warning, someone he loved, it wasn't one he liked to entertain. So he did his best to think of it as a misunderstanding rather than a lapse in sanity, though Ace's proximity to the cliff was not reassuring. "Hell, I care. You should care." He didn't like it when his friends were upset, especially the ones to which these moods did not come often. Like Nell, like Devin, like the man sitting in front of him.

"Who is Ray?" As ever, his analytical mind wanted to rocket off into a spiel about the colour of the moon and the patterns of the sun but he knew that Ace had not meant it as literally as that. Besides, he did not recognise the name and at present, along with the comment about dying, it was much more pressing than whether or not the moon was white. He sat down beside his friend and offered the bottle of whiskey. "Cheap wine isn't the best for the job. I don't really need this anyway." He hadn't come up here because he was unhappy but Ace certainly seemed to be in a bit of a low mood. Alcohol was just a band-aid solution. Josh had come to understand that after the long nights of getting drunk and sleeping with strangers had worn out their welcome. He was happy, now, and wouldn't need to drown his sorrows in the near future. If he started to feel the pull of sadness, he'd focus on work, or Nell, or something else that wouldn't slowly send him to his death. He took notice of the burn on his friend's arm, gestured to it. "Looks painful. Want help with it?" He wondered what happened but didn't want to bother Ace with too many questions. There was still an unspoken discomfort, at least in his mind, because of what had transpired the last time they'd spoke.