[center][h3][color=black][u]Niles[/u][/color][/h3]

If ever there was proof that time marched on whether one wanted it to or not, Niles had to look no further than his once-friend Zac and his present antics. Niles hadn't known Zac to be so, well, brazen, but then, Niles' memory of Zac was still back when their biggest concern was who was 'it' in a game of tag. That was a lifetime ago. Niles wouldn't exactly call this new behavior 'assertive' but for the perennial teary eyed boy, as Niles assumed Zac would always be, it was probably as close to assertive as Zac was likely to get. 

It came off to the taller man much like a child putting on his father's clothes and acting grown up. Two drinks, a casually dropped compliment to a third party, that seemed like a case of liquid courage. Whatever it was, Niles was not having much of it at all, sighing at the ostentatious display. If this was Zac's idea of coming off as a mature adult, an act to replace the image of childhood forever burned to the brain, then it was falling on unimpressed eyes. 

Niles crossed his arms across his chest, narrowing his eyes to meet the old acquaintance's gaze, Niles came off as someone fed up with childish antics...or at least someone whose patience was as thin as straws in cocktail drinks. [color=black]"You don't belong here,"[/color] Niles said, and the 'here' came with intentionally vague connotations - though Niles was speaking in the broad sense of the night club - [color=black]"You stick out and not in a good way. You're going to be eaten alive."[/color] Niles cautioned, still sounding overly annoyed as he spoke over the music. 

The point of this sudden blast from the past was a talk. Niles suspected the talk wouldn't be so simple a matter as saying 'hey', which is the only sort of conversation he had wanted with those he knew as a silly little kid. But like with a band-aid the right thing to do was to simply take it off fast and deal with the momentary sting. [color=black] "VIP Lounge, upstairs,"[/color] Niles growled out, [color=black]"Five minutes. Say you're with me, the bouncer'll let you through."[/color] Niles said nothing else, turning to head for the roped off area in the back of the floor. 

Like a band-aid. That's all this was. A band-aid.[/center]