Author's note: I gotta thank Catherine's soundtrack song "Also Sprach Brooks" for this fic. I loved it when I heard it. Bars all over ought to play it as background music. You should try playing it for atmosphere while reading. Fun stuff.

Spoilers for the Katherine True Ending.

Guys and Girl

It was another night at the Stray Sheep and the men were assembled at the usual table. Jonny sat at his respective spot, sliding into the booth to the far side nearest the bar counter. He found a cigarette in his shirt pocket and lit it before the others had even settled in properly. Jonny took a harder than normal drag and exhaled roughly. He was in a funk. A perfect-girl-searching funk.

To which Orlando prodded him first. "Hey, Jonny, what's eating you?"

Vincent grinned. "Let me guess, sake's too boring for you tonight and you wanna drink something else."

Jonny shook his head. No way was he giving up his alcoholic ritual of sake this evening.

Orlando ventured a guess himself. "Not enough kink with your girlfriend lately? I got a couple of suggestions if you want 'em."

Shooting the tall man a scathing look, Jonny pointedly blew a waft of smoke in his face. Orlando coughed. Fun romping facts about Jonny's relationship with his girl was strictly personal. "Stuff it."

"You're not sick, are ya?" Vincent asked. "You should take the night off if you feel like crap."

"Nope. Just sick of meeting endless amounts of the wrong people," Jonny grumbled.

Toby's annoyingly chirpy pep infused the otherwise mundane guessing game. "It's about your search for true, true, love, isn't it, Chief?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." But he did. And he knew he would eventually with these guys.

Nobody said anything for a while. The guys sat there, listening to the sounds of chatter and clinking drinks, sort of staring at one another. Jonny was really wishing for a swig of drink when Erica sauntered up to the table to take their order.

"How are you guys doing?" she directed to the group after everyone echoed their favored drinks. With the exception of Toby, Vincent was the most smiliest of the bunch. A goofy grin was plastered on his face ever since he sat. Erica returned his gaiety with a smirk of her own. "Vin here is obviously doing horrific."

"We're married." Vincent murmured dreamily. He propped his chin on the tabletop and stared off into space. Non-$50,000 space.

Jonny rolled his eyes. He wasn't in the mood for Vincent's lovey-dovey mood. Still, seeing Vincent at the table was nice. That guy probably wasn't going out for tons of drinks for too much longer.

"Katherine." Orlando summed up their friend's topic of thought.

Toby nodded. "It was great they came to an understanding after all that cheating business. It got so messy."

Hot girl Catherine this, and amazing Katherine that. Jonny remembered Vincent smashing his head more than once on this table in frustration.

Vincent lolled in his seat. "My god, I will never forget the horror. Fucking scared for my life days in and out? But there were some sweet times, like this once where Cather- ah, I'm not going there."

"Do tell us details." Orlando raised a brow at Vincent. "The raunchier, the better."

"Nuh-uh! Besides, I'm over Catherine. I've got my lovely long-haired sweetie Katherine." And Vincent was off in dream land again.

Jonny leaned back in his seat. Jonny knew Vincent had the right to float away to his happy land after that nightmare hell, but they were in a bar and coming here meant getting wickedly drunk and forgetting problems.

Of course, what awfulness was there to forget when everyone but him was hooked up? Orlando had reconciled with his ex-wife, Vincent wasn't doing badly with Katherine, and Toby and Erica were... well, Jonny wasn't exactly sure if they were a couple yet. Toby was still uneasy after finding out Erica's cosmetic truth.

Erica left to fetch their beverages. As soon as she did, Toby clapped his hands together. "Awright, everybody. We'll cheer up the Chief with our soulmate anecdotes."

Jonny covered his face. "Please, no."

"Oh, for Chrissakes." Orlando adjusted the brim of his bright red plaid hat.

Toby went on, ignoring them. "Now, the game is to say one thing that describes the perfect soulmate." He narrowed his blue eyes at Vincent and Orlando, studying them. He pointed at Vincent. "Go!"

"Me?" Vincent's gray eyes widened. "W-well, a perfect mate you, uh..." He paused, suddenly blushing. "Erm, you'll feel a warm glow inside whenever you're around them."

"Not heartburn," Jonny muttered acidly.

"No!" Vincent's retort was emphatic. "I mean it. There's this heat that comes when you're with them. They understand you and you totally understand them. Sometimes they know exactly what you're thinking which can be freaky but is wild, too."

Jonny expected Orlando to snort and reply something derisive, but saw him stroke his blond goatee in contemplation. "Orlando?"

"Huh? Oh, that was a good answer." Orlando's chin bobbed at Vincent. "I'm with him."

Toby sighed. "No, no, you've got to come up with something unique."

The drinks came, giving Orlando a moment to drum up a soulmate tip of his own. Once he imbibed some of his beer bottle, he cleared his throat. "Yeah, I got one. You never feel lost when you're with them. Your problems seem to shrink when you talk with them, no matter how big they are."

Jonny saw Orlando tightly wrapping his mouth around his bottle's rim in an attempt to hide a cheeky smile.

Man, soulmate life was good. But still... Jonny looked around at them. "Don't you get those things without soulmates?"

Toby grinned widely, baring all teeth. "Sure, but with a soulmate it's amped, like, a thousand times! It feels like nothing you've felt before!" Toby exclaimed all this as though he had the experience despite being the youngest out of everyone.

Maybe it was because of the little doofus or perhaps a combination of him and everyone else's personal experiences, but Jonny's friends were smiling at him in encouragement.

"Don't run yourself into the ground trying so hard." The ice in Vincent's glass of rum and cola clinked as his hand moved to sip. "Enjoy the journey. It's exciting."

"Yeah, man. Then when you find the right woman it's a whole other type of excitement. Ooh." Orlando shivered dramatically as he mentally relived an enticing memory.

Jonny leisurely tipped sake into his mouth and savored the taste. He supposed Vincent was right. Discovering a true soulmate was a lifelong marathon. He couldn't burn out so early at the start. He found his lips curving up.

"It's like these fries," Toby added, gesturing to the plate of gravy-smothered snack he got with his mug of beer. "Eat them way too fast and they stick inside you before they reach your stomach. Choke city? No way."

"Heh, you guys are too much." Jonny wouldn't have it any other way.

"Do I detect a less grumpy Jonny?" Vincent teased. He held up his drink. "Let's toast to Jonny's search for the Perfect One."

"Hear, hear." Orlando raised his bottle, and Toby followed suit with his mug.

Jonny lifted his cup and looked around at them. They rocked. "Thanks."

They happily drank. Toby pumped his fist in the air. "Yes! Mission complete. Jonny is no longer grouchy at the table. Here, you deserve a decoration." Toby promptly nabbed Orlando's brimmed hat off his head and plopped it on top of Jonny's dark mane.

"The hell?" Orlando and Jonny fumed together.

"Be a sport! No, no, no, Jonny, keep it on!" Toby insisted when Jonny frowned and moved his hand to the vibrant hat.

Vincent snickered. "You look cool."

Jonny huffed. "Dumbass."

"Seriously. Red's good on you, man." Vincent looked genuinely truthful.

"He's right, you know," an unfamiliar voice came from the side. The guys turned their heads to see a sweet honey pass the table, who stared right at Jonny. "It's very striking."

The men wordlessly watched the woman stroll to the counter where she pulled up a lone stool and began a chat with Boss. The old guy started making a drink for her.

When Jonny silently resumed his drinking and Toby's mouth finally shut from awe, Toby nudged him with an almost-too-forceful elbow to his side. "Hey, she's alone. Go talk to her!"

"Do it. Do it," came the low chant from the whole group, causing Jonny to shyly scratch his head.

"You're a bunch of dolts, you know that?" Jonny half-heartedly insulted them. He was partly curious to talk to the lady.

Toby slid off his spot to let Jonny out. "We are, aren't we?"

"Go get her, J-man." Orlando chuckled.

Jonny looked at them once more before slipping off the padded seat. "I don't appear ridiculous, do I?"

"Only the capital 'S' in sexy." Vincent tried to keep a straight face.

"Very reassuring." Jonny took a deep breath and tossed Orlando's hat back to him. "See you guys. Maybe I'll be right back."

Jonny smoothed his hands over his jacket and shirt and took a slow breath. Then he made his way to the bar.

- THE END -

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