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Sheriff mumbled something that Abolish could barely hear. Something about how he could help take his horse home if Abolish had too much alchohol in his system to do so. Abolish felt as if he could fall asleep right there, he couldn't actually do that— due to all the noise from the patrons— but it didn't get rid of his drowsiness.
"Yeah, that'sszz.. prolly a good idea.." Abolish muttered, his words slurring.
He could hear Graecie and the sheriff chuckling, though he didn't know over what. Was it him, or had someone made a joke that he was too sleepy to hear?
"Right then, you wanna head home now or later?" Sheriff asked.
Weird. Everything sounds like a big blur, too much noise yet oh so quiet at the same time. Everything but the red haired man sitting next to him.
"Mm.. Let'szz.. Can we go home now?" Abolish asked, his eyelids droopy. He couldn't remember what had lead them to this conversation, much less about what he said for the sheriff to offer to walk him and his horse home.
The sheriff nodded and got up from his seat, Abolish could hear Graecie mutter something, but he was unsure of what.
He attempted to get up on his own before everything spun around. Was everyone feeling this? Prolly not. He heard chuckling again, and saw the sheriff hold out his hand.
Abolish grabbed it and stood up, properly this time, though everything was still spinning.
"Right, I'm gonna walk him home and then call it a night. Rest well, Miss Graecie," he heard the sheriff say to the bartender, waving with a smile.
Sheriff led Abolish outside, untying the lead that was on his horse from the beam.
"You alright?" he asked, turning to Abolish.
Abolish had zoned out again, staring over towards Eloise's house. "Huh? Oh, uh," he mumbled, turning to Sheriff. "Yeah, I'm alright.. Just tired," he continued.
"Yeah, makes sense," Sheriff nodded. "Come on then, let's get you and your horse back home," he added before holding out his hand again.
Or well, thats what Abolish thought he was doing before he noticed the sheriff was making more of a "Come along" motion with his hand rather than offering it again.
Abolish blinked drowsily before walking forward towards the sheriff.
Sheriff turned and started walking ahead, turning into the alleyway between what used to be a law firm for Jackie P. and the apple garden Cherri and Apo owned. Abolish soon followed, picking up his pace to be next to Sheriff rather than behind him.
"Thank you for doing…this.. sheriff," Abolish said, swaying while walking. The warmth he occasionally got when his shoulder bumped the sheriff's shoulder was nice. Grounding.
His world was still spinny, and he yearned for the comfort of his bed, but for some reason he also didn't want this walk to end. He didn't want the sheriff to wave goodnight. He wanted his bed oh so badly, he wanted this night to be over so he could just deal with the hangover, and yet, despite that, he didn't want this simple favor to be done quickly.
"It's no problem, considering your house is just the old mayor's house," Sheriff responded calmly. "And besides, I'm more than happy to help someone get back home, especially someone like you, who I've known for a while now."
Abolish hummed, pretty much leaning onto the sheriff's shoulder now. Surprising to Abolish, Sheriff wrapped his arm around his shoulder.
"I thought you said you didn't like folk touching you?" Abolish asked, tilting his head upward to look at the sheriff.
"I don't," he answered, "most of the time, anyway. But I don't really mind when it's someone I'm fond of," he continued. He didnt even look back at Abolish when he said any of that. He just kept walking forward. He acted as if it was just something random, like how the weather was or something.
Abolish looked back down at the dirt in front of him. He could feel his face getting warm— which was… unusual for him, to say the least. He brushed it off as the alcohol in his system, which was reasonable, seeing how thats why they were walking together in the first place.
"Here we are," Sheriff muttered, taking his arm off of Abolish and tying his horse to the porch railing.
Abolish barely managed to catch himself on the railings while the sheriff did that, stunned at the sudden loss of warmth on his back. Oh, they had made it to his front porch. That's good, he supposes. Almost the end of the night, right?
"You alright?" Sheriff asked with a chuckle, turning to face him, "You look like you nearly landed on your face there, Abolish."
"Uhh, yeah, I'm fine," he responded, "just got dizzy again…"
A comfortable silence fell in the air after the sheriff hummed.
He heard the sheriff chuckle again and realized he hadnt made a move to step inside his own home at all.
Abolish let go of the porch railings and walked up to his door, setting his hand on the handle before turning around to glance at the sheriff again. The sheriff was watching him with a soft smile on his face. Abolish wasnt sure why, but he was.
"I'll see you around, Abolish." Sheriff nodded, tipping his hat and turning to walk away. He assumed Abolish didn't want him there anymore, which was reasonable.
"Uh.. Wait, Sheriff, one last thing," Abolish called out. What was he doing? He wanted to go lay down, not continue this conversation. Right? The sheriff stopped in his tracks, turning to Abolish. What was he doing?!
"What is it?" Sheriff asked, tilting his head.
Abolish swallowed his fear and stepped down from his porch, ignoring the dizziness mixed with drowsiness that his head was begging him to notice. WHAT. WAS. HE. DOING.
"You alright?" the sheriff asked again.
Abolish barely thought before he ran up and pulled the sheriff's jacket, pulling him closer to kiss him. WHAT.
Sheriff's eyes widened. What— just—What?
Abolish pulled away from the kiss, staring blankly at the sheriff. What did he just do?!?!
He let go of the sheriff's jacket, "Goodnight, Sheriff," he mumbled before turning and walking as fast as he could without tripping, wanting to go lay down. He didn't know what he just did nor how to handle it, but for now his plan was to just go lay down till he drifts off into sleep.
The sheriff stayed silent. I mean, what else could he do?
Abolish had closed the door by the time Sheriff gathered his thoughts together. He decided not to do anything for the time being as well, though his face would remain flushed for the rest of the night. He walked home in silence, a few quiet hums as he tried to process what Abolish did.
Surely it was the alcohol, right?
Surely!
…
Maybe it was the alcohol, causing Abolish to do something he might regret. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Or maybe it was Abolish wanting something more. Maybe it was Sheriff not pushing him off. For now though, Abolish would decide that it was a mistake and attempt to brush it off. Abolish would decide it was the alcohol messing with him one last time.