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"You don't party much, do you?" Doc asked Grian, not expecting much of a response. Grian had an arm slung over Doc's shoulders, keeping him upright as they walked through the quiet streets of Hermitville. Grian had insisted flying was faster, but Doc refused to let Grian fly in this state. "Never been this drunk before?"
"Yeah," Grian mumbled, head bobbing heavily as if he had forgotten how to nod. "More of a wine guy too."
Doc giggled. He expected no less of Grian. "Of course you are."
The 'wine guy' must have taken offence to the statement, as he shoved Doc away. "What's that mean?"
Doc just laughed and made a move to wrap his arm around Grian again, but the latter shook his head.
"I can walk on my own now.”
Though he nodded, Doc still cautiously hovered over him just in case. Conversation between them faded for a minute or so until Grian stumbled over a rock and Doc reached out to steady him, putting a hand on his chest.
"Geez. Look where you're going. You're drunk, not blind."
He was met with hazy, dark eyes looking curiously up at him. "You are really intimidating," Grian blurted out.
Doc froze momentarily, confused and a bit surprised.
"Also, how are we not like, the same level of stupid right now... I swear you drank more than me..."
"Oh." Doc continued to walk and Grian followed. "I wasn’t drinking. Just had soda and stuff. I usually drink on my own anyway.”
Damn, that sounded pathetic. He was going to act like Grian hadn’t just looked at him like he was the most pitiful thing on the planet, and quickly added, “Plus, it's fun to watch your friends get drunk and do dumb things."
"You mean me."
Doc smiled. "Yeah." He heard a gasp and had to reach over to save Grian from eating dirt again. “Until I have to supervise you as if you were a toddler.”
“Hey! M’not a toddler. Not my fault these roads are cobblestone…” Grian’s eyes were watching the ground ahead of him a lot more closely now. "Also, you should save drinking for friends, man. No fun being the only sober guy at a party."
"I get to be designated 'walk-drunk-Grian-home' though, don't I?"
"What an honour it must be."
Doc hummed in agreement. "Yeah, it is. We're almost there."
"What?"
"Your house?"
"Oh. Yeah. It's the tall wooden one that has a dragon living on top."
"I know," Doc laughed. "Everyone knows."
"Right. Of course,” was Grian’s mumbled response.
The two looked up at the towering building; the work of someone who must be completely mad. Doc did not want to be anywhere near that thing in a windstorm. Hell, not even in general with the way it gently gyred in the sky. They came to the door of the house. Doc opened it cautiously, as if any disturbance may cause the whole place to collapse, and led the two of them inside. "Need help going to bed or can you manage?" He said it as a joke, but would also definitely help Grian if he said so.
"I'm not going to bed."
"Yes you are. What else are you gonna do?”
All he heard in response was a dismissive mumble.
“I’m going to get you a glass of water, and then you’re going to bed,” Doc stated, leaving no room for Grian to argue.
Grian shook his head. "Come to bed with me."
Immediately misunderstanding the request, Doc asked just to be sure, "What?"
"If you want. I mean you should. I mean, I want you to, but, you don't have to," Grian stuttered, still mumbling.
Doc’s eyes blanked out on the floor. He hoped that didn’t mean Grian would try anything tonight. "Go to bed and I'll come in a minute."
"Okay." Grian walked miserably—which made Doc almost laugh—to his bedroom, pressing his hand against the wall to hold himself up.
Doc sighed and made his way to the kitchen. He searched the cabinets around for a glass and when he found one he filled it with tap water. "Good enough," he whispered to himself, then made his way to Grian's room and closed the door behind him.
Grian was sitting at the end of the bed, staring oddly at his hands, flexing his fingers one by one. Doc sat beside him and handed him the glass of water.
"Thanks," Grian muttered and took a sip. "Like. For more than just the water. Walking me home 'n' stuff."
"It's no problem," Doc said. "Uh, anytime."
Grian then downed the glass of water in one go.
"Woah. Jesus, take it easy there. It’s not a shot.”
"It was good water."
"It was tap water."
Grian hummed and got up to place the glass on his night stand. "Good tap water." He sat down at the head of the bed instead and leaned back against the headboard. "C'mere." He gestured for Doc to come sit by him, patting the empty space he had left for the other
Doc obliged and made his way up the bed. Grian leaned on him, then slung an arm lazily across his torso.
"Um," Doc stuttered.
Grian cuddled closer in response, prompting Doc to wrap an arm around his shoulders.
"You're too nice to me, Doc."
Doc grinned and leaned his head onto Grian's. "What can I say? You're easy to be nice to."
There was an odd quiet for a moment, which put Doc off.
Then Grian blurted out, "Is it because we had sex once?"
Doc flinched and sucked in a breath. "No."
"C'mooon. Just say it is. If you wanna do it again, I'd be down." Grian's hand fell to one of Doc's thighs.
"Not—while you're drunk." Doc pulled Grian's arm back up to resting on his stomach. He fiddled with one of the broken buttons of his coat, unsure what else to do with his free hand. The other twitched awkwardly on Grian’s shoulder, wanting to run through his hair instead. "That's not why I'm nice to you."
"Then why?"
Doc's brows furrowed. "Why?"
"I mean, we're always on opposite teams. We're always fighting. The war, Area 77, er... the stock exchange robbery, the... hippies..."
"That’s just the war and Area 77."
Grian shrugged. "Still my point." He began to run his fingers along the hem of Doc’s coat. “We don’t get along.”
"Well, there was the Jangler, right? Where me, you, and Ren hunted down Scar?"
"Whatever," Grian said. "That wasn't really that big of a deal anyways."
"I had fun," Doc mumbled.
"... I did too." Grian sighed and looked up at Doc.
“Just because we happen to be enemies doesn’t mean we don’t get along.” He met Grian’s eyes steadily.
"Well, you know, since we had sex during the war”—Doc flinched again at his direct language—”I kind of just assumed you started going easy on me because of that."
"I've always gone easy on you. What, did you think I hated you or something until I... had you in bed?"
Grian paused to think. "Well, no." His eyes fell to watch as he dragged a finger up Doc's bare chest. "Not hate... but... something like it."
"Well, I don’t hate you."
Grian groaned and grabbed the edge of Doc's coat again. "I wish it didn't always end up like that. You know, I really like you. So when we're always on opposite teams, how am I supposed to talk to you and get to know you and fall in love with you and stuff? Instead we had some one night stand during a war..."
"I–"
"... Don't get me wrong," Grian continued. "It was hot. 'Cause we were supposed to hate each other and be enemies and stuff..."
"Grian–"
"... And no one knew their team leaders were having it out. That was an incredible thought. Also sorry for not saying it sooner but you're really good-looking too so that contributed."
Doc waited a few moments to be sure Grian was done talking, then cleared his throat. "You… Did you mean all that? Like… the falling in love stuff."
Grian's cheeks burned red, his hand gripping tightly into the fabric of Doc’s jacket, and the sight made Doc blush as well. "Um. Yeah,” Grian mumbled.
Doc hesitated. "Aren't you still drunk?" Surely Grian was just rambling about nothing. He hoped so. Or maybe he didn’t. He wasn’t sure.
Grian gave Doc a glare, and Doc looked back with a hint of surprise at the expression. "Just because I am a little bit intoxicated doesn't mean that that's false."
Doc spoke slowly, as clear as possible. "So why don't you?"
"What?"
Was this really happening? "Why don’t you… talk to me, and get to know me, and fall in love with me."
Grian sat up a little. "Were you listening? I said we're always caught up in being on the opposite sides of a war."
Doc nodded, mumbled that he understood, "But right now we're not."
Grian opened his mouth about to argue, but must have realized Doc was right, as he shut it and relaxed again. The shade of his cheeks returned to a soft pink.
"Right?" Doc said.
"I guess not," Grian mumbled.
"So..." Doc grabbed Grian's hand. "Wanna try it? When you're not 'intoxicated'?"
Grian squeezed Doc's hand. "... I do..." He buried his face into Doc's neck, letting the other feel the embarrassed warmth that was spread throughout his face.
Doc smiled, turned his head and pressed a kiss into Grian’s hair. "Because honestly... I wouldn't mind getting to know you and falling in love either."