Hi guys. Got inspired and felt the need to write this at 3 am last night, going to hopefully do an alphabet collection of one shots for Alec and Max.
For all of those waiting for Chapter 5 of my story Coffee, thankyou so so so so much for your patience and your support. I got stuck for a while but it's not far away now.
!EDIT: I kept feeling like a mother who had given birth to a premature child every time I thought about this story so I went back and made some very minor revisions to sentences I didn't feel flowed quite right. Still trying to be a better writer. Oh and I forgot to mention this is set some time after Hello Goodbye. Any thoughts are vastly appreciated!
Love you all. As always D.A. is not mine.
A is for Alcohol
Tap tap tap tap thump.
What the? There was someone at the door. At 3 o'clock in the morning. And their knocking sounded like some sort of deranged rabbit humping a tree. Alec pulled on some pants, put his 'I'm not happy' face on and yanked open the door.
Somebody- the deranged rabbit knocker- fell through the doorway, a small dark blur, careened into Alec and proceeded to fall onto their arse with a thwump. A sound, not unlike a squirrel chirrup which Alec interpreted as an inebriated giggle, erupted from the slumped form and then the figure lifted their face and slurred out "Hiya pretty boy."
It was Max, her blood alcohol probably high enough to cause liver failure in ordinary people. Somebody had been hitting the 99% hard seeing that it was pretty much the only thing that could cause drunkenness in a transgenic.
"Jesus Christ Max, Are you all right?" She nodded, her head bobbing as she slowly slurred out
"I felt fuzzy so I leant my head against your door, but then you opened it." She glared at it disapprovingly. "All of those super reflexes and I'm defeated by a piece of wood."
Alec frowned and pulled her to her feet taking in her sorry state; her eyes where unfocused and heavy lidded and her head sort of floated and bobbed on her neck like she couldn't quite hold it up on her own. The smell of something akin to paint stripper rolled off her in waves. Max's mouth twitched up at the corner in a small smile and she hiccuped.
"My head feels fuzzy again." She announced and slumped forwarded onto his chest. "Much better." She murmured.
Alec sighed and wrapped his arms around Max to steady her, so much for sleep tonight. Her cheek was very warm pressed to the skin of his bare torso and her hair was tousled so it flowed in slightly messy waves, it tickled his chest which wasn't technically unpleasant. She was actually kind of cute drunk.
It was probably because she wasn't physically or verbally assaulting him.
"Do I dare ask what heralded this great misadventure into the land of the fermented grain?" He asked smiling ruefully.
She shook her head. "Not Yet. I brought commiserations," She said pulling away a little and waving a half filled bottle of something rank and overpowering at him. "First we drink to our health and then I tell you the bad news." Alec rolled his eyes at the irony of toasting health with something that was probably as poisonous as ratsak and took the proffered flask.
It was almost certainly, definitely rubbing alcohol by the smell, with a hint of turpentine and possibly gasoline mixed in to add to the fruity bouquet.
He eyed it warily, pondering the sageness of drinking such a thing.
One hit probably wouldn't kill him and god knew he would definitely need the fortification to get through Max's little drunken midnight visit. He raised the flask up in a mock parody of a salute.
"To your Health Max, may you not puke on me tonight." Then he took a quick hit. And grimaced, and gasped, and shuddered.
"Good isn't it?" Max said taking it from him and downing a swig of her own. "Kind of tastes like aniseed."
"I wouldn't know, I think I just burned half my taste buds away." He coughed, resisting the urge to scrape at his tongue with his hand.
"Here take another sip, It's not as bad the second time." Using this principle Alec foolishly took a bigger mouthful to wash the taste of the first one away. Needless to say it didn't work. It wasn't as bad, but not by much.
"I need a chaser, and possibly a new tongue." Alec panted his eyes still watering.
Max flopped into his threadbare couch as Alec scrambled away to unearth a bottle of scotch from his stash and two glasses. As an afterthought he threw on a t-shirt too before sliding into the seat next to her and pouring them both a shot of amber liquid. Giving more alcohol to someone so obviously wasted probably wasn't the brightest thing in the world but scotch was kind of like medicine Alec reasoned; the good alcohol would hopefully dilute the bad.
"So, you gonna tell me what's so horrible that you're reduced to drinking that metho and waking me up in the middle of the night?" Max knocked her scotch back in one then said in one breath
"Your ex 'almost' and my ex 'almost' are seeing each other and when I say seeing I mean knowing as in the biblical sense because I walked in on it."
It took Alec a second to work out what she was going on about and then it clicked.
"Ouch. That must have been ugly." He picked up his scotch and took a sip. "So Asha and Loganberry are doing the naked horizontal cha cha, can't say I'm that surprised." He paused. "You okay?"
"Let's just say I wish I had your equanimity about it, or the stomach to put homicidal rage to use." Max said, poured her self another scotch and swung her legs into his lap. "I thought you would be more upset about it, you did almost have a thing with her."
Alec just shrugged. It seemed like a bad idea to point out that Asha and his almost hooking up was a direct result of liking other people who didn't feel the same way... So he just said "We where never like that." Her eyes sharpened at his indirect jibe to her own failed relationship and Alec immediately wished he could take it back. She is only a cute drunk because she's not assaulting me he reminded himself. Barring the invention of a time machine changing the subject seemed like a good idea but for the life of him he couldn't think of anything less painful to talk about. So he went ahead and did the only thing he could do; dived head first into the bramble patch.
"Isn't Logeybear moving on a good thing? I mean for him being safe of course"
She nursed her glass seeming to sober as the conversation grew more miserable. "Yeah, I suppose... I want him to be happy, and Asha." She paused, her face pulling into a grimace. "Wish I didn't have to view it literally 'in the flesh' though." Yep, Alec privately agreed; Asha was alright but the image of Logan getting down to it was well... offputting. Max sighed and took a sip slowly swirling the scotch in her glass, her eyes far away. "I just can't help but think about all that time I wasted torturing myself with feelings for him."
Well, that was an understatement. Alec watched her curiously through the first floaty signs of tipsiness. She seemed remarkably lucid at that moment for someone who had been so drunk, his theory on scotch being medicinal must be correct. Her eyes darkened, turning melancholy and she looked into the brown liquid swirling in her glass.
"I've been alone all this time, waiting for some kind of miracle so he and I could be together and for nothing, I'm still alone." A fat tear formed in the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek. Without thinking Alec lent out and caught it with the tip of his thumb, wiping it away. She looked up at him, her brown eyes large and sorrowful.
Maybe it was the drink finally catching up with him or the lateness of the hour but it suddenly felt like the world slowed; he was hyperaware of the feeling of her warm calves against his thighs, the heat radiating off her body, the dryness of his mouth. The space between them when he had first sat down had seemed a friendly distance, now it felt intimately close; her body and her mouth just inches away.
He shifted, cleared his throat and finished his drink in one. Trying to regain his composure he carefully poured himself an equal measure of scotch and rocket fuel, took a sip, winced and added more scotch. Still the awkwardness hung in the air between them, a sensation completely unfamiliar to Alec and one he really, really didn't like. So he did what he always did; took refuge in familiar ground. He cocked his head and grinned at her mischievously.
"Sooo…Rebound shag?"
"Wow Alec," She said her tone turning instantly acerbic. "You'd let me be your pity fuck? I'm honoured." Alec snorted,
"How quickly she turns from wounded swan to spitting asp." He said with mock indignity.
Alec could definitely feel the alcohol now, warming him as it rolled around in his belly, seeming to coat his senses in a golden haze.
He reached down and pulled at the soft moleskin of Max's boots, unzipping them and letting them fall to the ground one after the other. Obviously she still had a bit of a buzz too, there was no way she would tolerate him touching her like this normally. He took one of her feet into his hands and began rubbing the ball of it with his thumbs. His movements where slow and languid and Max made a small groan of pleasure letting her head fall back against the armrest of the chair.
Sometimes kicking so much ass can make a girls feet sore.
"This doesn't mean yes you know." She said pointedly.
"I know." He smirked. "Can't blame a guy for trying though." He changed to the other foot. Abruptly his fingers touched some little sensitive spot and she let out a sharp gasp, definitely not in pain.
"I don't know if this is such a good idea." Max voice was low; almost a whisper and she looked at Alec to see his hazel eyes go dark, his face turn solemn.
"I know." He said softly. But he didn't stop. Instead his fingers moved upward, over her ankles and up her pant leg to her calf and began leisurely working at the muscles there.
All of his movements where slow and sensuous, their gazes fused together, unable to look away. Max bit her bottom lip and the movement drew Alec's attention down to her mouth. The world stilled again, he heard his heart beat a tattoo in time to the one he felt through her skin. It felt like an eon passed before he leant down.
Still he held back, his mouth hovering just millimeters away from kissing her, close enough to feel the barest brush of her lips with his. She made a small whimpering sound at the tiny touch and Alec lost it.
His mouth crashed into hers as her body arched up to meet his. Hands tangled into hair as their mouths searched each others...
Then abruptly he broke away.
Max's eyes fluttered open slowly, dazedly.
"Alec?" She asked her voice confused.
"Just getting my payment for being your personal masseur." He explained nonchalantly. "Want something to eat?" His voice was light, irreverent; the intimacy of the last few moments evaporated. She shook her head. He got up anyway moving through his cupboards pulling out ingredients and implements, avoiding her with busyness. Max sat, trying to fathom what had just happened and then gave up.
"I should go." She said quietly, not looking at him. His pan clattered as he dropped it, stopping dead.
"Don't." He said softly, his voice pained. She finally turned to look at him; he was staring at the bench top, his jaw working. "I'm sorry… for what I did. You've had too much to drink and you're emotional about Logan and I took advantage of that. I was being an arse." Max had fallen completely still as he spoke. He finally looked at her, his voice pleading. "I'm sorry, can we just forget about it and have some damn pancakes?"
Her throat felt tight, she swallowed. Alec waited in agony, he knew if she left now what he'd done would become solid, real; a constant strain on their friendship.
Finally Max nodded. He gave her a little relieved half smile, one side of his mouth quirking up wolfishly and all of his previous confidence returned.
"Good, because these pancakes are going to be A-mazing."
She couldn't help smiling back.
Is it just me or do pancakes and drinking just go together? For those of you who wanted a longer fic - all good things come to those who wait. Well, what do you think? Hit the review button! Tell me what you liked and what you hated Next chapter is B is for Blackmail.