A/N: Hey, so it's been a grip since this was updated( I seem to be saying that a lot lately), but here is chapter two!
Shout-out to the awesome reviewers, 5-Star (Thank you :)) Lunaz (I have to admit, I have a fascination for getting characters drunk, lol) Leandra Falconwing(I figure the alcohol wasn't helping his table manners, lol, but in my experience only children are less careful with that. It's not called that, but there are at least a couple of seasons of a show like that, my brother used to watch it, and it was awful. I meant to put in an authors note about absinthe and legality and forgot, but yep, while I figure the kind Ezra has is the 'real' stuff and still banned that and battlebots, and the playstation two the boys playsets this 'verse officially in about 2001
"I wanted to be the rogue robot," JD said almost sadly as Ezra moved his joystick to the desired character, and after reading the instructions hit the A button to select it. Only registering his young companion's complaint then, Josiah could see Ezra hesitate from his spot on the ottoman he'd dragged across the den's carpet to in front of the TV, unwilling to lounge on the floor like JD was, his finger hovering over the button while the screen asked him to confirm his choice, likely torn between teasing JD that he'd beaten him to it and letting him have the character.
"JD, how often does Ezra get to play video games compared to you?" He asked, eyebrow raised. JD shrugged and then nodded, telling Ezra he'd be something called a pirate assassin instead, it wasn't a big deal. Josiah wasn't sure if there was actually a story to this or if it was just a racing game, but if there was it must be very interesting.
"Next turn I get the robot, though, okay?" Hiding a snort, Josiah turned a page in his psychology book. It seemed like it was a bigger deal than JD wanted to admit, at least to the boy.
"Of course, that is only fair."
"Hey," said Vin sitting up from where he'd been laying on his back on the couch blowing random notes on his harmonica-Josiah had learned to tune him out for the most part, though he was considering getting him some lessons for his birthday, because if they were going to have to listen to him anyway... "I called playin' winner."
JD turned to him, undeterred and said, very seriously, "Next turn I get to be the robot, okay?" If Josiah didn't know that the bottle was still tucked up next to the speaker in the living room, he would have thought JD was even drunker than he had been.
"Sure kid, that's fine. I want to play that troll wizard guy, anyway." Vin flopped back down on his back, a slightly indulgent smile on his face.
"You are both assuming Ah am going to lose, and Ah am insulted," said Ezra, overly dramatic and with a hint of humor, "and you good sahs will be proven wrong in that presumption shortly."
Vin and JD, who had both grown up consuming video games as eagerly as they did food, shared a look that said, loud and clear, 'yeah right', Ezra huffing slightly in response, though Josiah could see the smile tugging at his lips. The undercover agent had somehow missed the rite of passage that was arcade games and Mario; a mixture of his mother's disapproval and constantly being shipped from place to place had insured that Ezra had experienced very little of youth culture in general growing up. It hadn't taken Josiah long to figure out that the disdain he'd displayed for such things when he first joined the team had been Ezra covering up the fact that he simply had no idea what to do with a Nintendo or PlayStation controller, and didn't want any of them to know. That, and the young man was very used to winning the games he did play, and the risk of losing at something that he considered a children's game had likely been too much for his ego, at least when he'd still been so unsure of his place. Time and JD's persistence had worn him down, the reflexes and hand-eye coordination necessary to be a card player of his skill ensuring Ezra didn't lose every time despite his lack of experience, whatever Vin and JD said.
"Sorry Ezra, but I'm gonna kick your butt." JD said grinning.
"Not this time, Mr. Dunne, mah character will acquire the jewels long before yours even reaches the castle." Ezra said straightening slightly, chin raising.
"In your dreams." JD snorted.
"Ya'll die in the swamp," Vin said without even lifting his head, "ya always die in the swamp."
Ezra glared over his shoulder at him, "At least Ah don't run into walls repeatedly. If the characters didn't start each game at full health yours would suffah permanent brain damage." Vin pushed himself up just enough to grin at him, unperturbed.
"Don't seem t' stop me from winnin', now does it?"
"Refresh mah memory, JD, what game was it where Mistah Tannah ran his character directly into a volcano, not once, not twice, but three times in a row?"
"You mean the one he declared evil and won't play anymore?"
"Boys...", Josiah intoned softly, not wanting any wrestling matches breaking out indoors. Since the argument had only been in jest they settled down without any protest, JD squawking when Ezra pretended to hit the start button before he was ready. He watched them for a moment, amused at the way JD jumped a little in his seat every time he made his character on screen jump, leaning forward when it was running, and from side to side when it was dodging, a sharp contrast to Ezra who was like a statue except for his fingers, which moved over the controller fluidly. Then with a little sigh, Josiah turned back to his book, determined to finish this chapter. No matter how interesting or useful the subject matter, he was beginning to think going back to get his Masters, when he had a full-time job where he was always on call, along with volunteer obligations and family duties, had perhaps not been the smartest idea he'd ever had. Ten more pages and he'd be caught up, and was thinking he might join Nathan, Chris and Buck in the game of darts they were playing in the garage. Licking his finger as he got to the bottom of the last paragraph, he used it to turn the page. Only nine, now.
Six pages later, a sound that could only be called a crow of delight had Josiah setting the book down in his lap, not even trying to hide his smile as Ezra celebrated his victory, JD pretending to pout as Vin unceremoniously plucked the controller out of his hands and told him to, "Budge."
"You've got a lot better, Ezra." JD said as he shuffled over, reaching behind him to snag a pillow off the couch, depositing it in front of him and shifting around so he could flop forward onto it.
Ezra, looking more than a little smug, announced, "Yes, Ah imagine Ah have," as he once again claimed the robot character, Vin choosing his troll wizard, which for some reason had a shock of bright green and orange hair, that reminded Josiah rather strongly of those troll dolls that had been everywhere a few years back.
Halfway through the level, which seemed to start as a race and then turned into some sort of scavenger hunt, where they had to run through a castle grabbing items before the other did, fighting monsters in some rooms, and each other in others, Vin announced, like it wasn't even a question, "Ya bought yer own system."
Ezra nodded slightly, eyes never leaving the screen, "You are correct, Vin. Ah haven't had much time to use it yet, but Ah did indeed, a few weeks before the commencement of this last case. For once when recuperating from the stresses of a case Ah believe JD and Ah chose the same form of recreation." Josiah chuckled slightly, wondering if that had explained why when he'd stopped by to check on him a few days ago he'd had a longer than usual wait before Ezra answered the door, the sounds of gunshots from what Josiah had assumed was a James Bond or other secret agent movie being replaced by a generic laugh track, as he waited.
"You've been playing video games all week?" JD said, grinning in delight, "I knew I'd convert you. You are now officially a gamer, I'll have you playing WOW in two months."
"Ah think Ah may have to decline that particular title, as Ah did find it wasn't nearly as amusing to play by oneself as with othahs." Ezra admitted, "A machine may not make mistakes as easily as othah playahs, but it cannot provide the same kind of challenges eithah."
"That's kind of the point of WOW, and MMORPG's in general, even if you don't have other people to play with you still do, thousands of them." JD had tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to get everyone on the team to play WOW at one point or another, including Josiah who still thought first of pong or Atari when it came to video games. Buck had given in briefly, but after one of his dates had laughed when he told her he played WOW he'd sworn it off. Apparently Ezra having bought himself a PlayStation 2 meant that JD thought it was time to try again.
"Ain't ya always bitchin' 'cause yer guild or whatever gets mad an' complains when ya can't play 'cause of work?" Vin asked. "Didn't one of them tell ya ya should play in the surveillance van?" Josiah's eyebrows rose at that. Obviously JD wouldn't be that stupid, but what in the world was wrong with the people in this guild of his?
"Yeah, but that was just one guy who said the surveillance thing, and he's really stupid. He's been playing for forever and he still doesn't know how to tank or dps. Bitching about work is really just the same group of jerks who do it to everybody, they bitch about people having to go to work, parents not being able to do runs or legendaries at certain times, 'cause they have to make dinner or put their kid to bed, basically anybody not acting like WOW is more important than real life. It wouldn't be that big a deal except a couple of them are mods. Every time I sign on I've got some kind of rude PM talking about my commitment to a game. Some of us are talking about starting our own guild for people who just want to play to, you know, have fun." JD drew in a breath, apparently planning to keep going, eyes glued on the screen as Ezra and Vin's characters raced down a long corridor, trying to reach a princess in a barred cell, and perhaps it was a little mean, but Josiah tuned him out. having heard one of these rambles more than once. It had already started to sound a little like a foreign language, anyway. He watched the screen until they got to the end, apparently tying, as each had to fight a large dragon like creature, and ducked his head down, determined to finish the last two pages and be done for the weekend. He tossed the book down beside him, both satisfied and relieved that he was done, in time to hear, "and no old people, just us."
Not sure if he should be offended or amused, but leaning towards amused, Josiah asked, "Excuse me?" Three heads swiveled over shoulders to look at him like they'd not only forgotten he was there, but forgotten he had ears with which to hear them.
"What?" JD's wide-eyed, guileless look would have been more effective if Josiah hadn't seen it so many times before.
"What are you three planning that all of us 'old' people, above the lofty age of twenty-eight, are excluded from?" He asked dryly, wondering how Nathan, at barely 31, would feel to be lumped in with the older members of the team.
"Video game marathon. At Ezra's." Vin said with a slightly triumphant look on his face, which considering how rare it was for the undercover agent to invite them into his space, Josiah thought he'd more than earned.
Stretching as he pushed himself to his feet, wincing as his back popped, he told them, "Well, you don't have to worry about me trying to crash your party, but you might want to think about inviting Nathan." Seeing the combination of guilt, consideration, and reluctance looking back at him, Josiah shook his head, "I know for a fact he has both an Atari and a Nintendo." A light seemed to turn on in Ezra's eyes then, a mixture of mischief and delight that never boded well for anyone.
"Does he have Duck Hunt?" JD asked, "I love that game. Do you think he'd bring it?"
"You'll have to ask him yourself, I'm going to go play darts with the other 'old people'." Smirking, Josiah crossed the room to the door leading out to the garage, wrinkling his nose at the smell of Chris's cheroots as he stepped into the room and over to where the others were clustered around the dartboard. To his surprise, both Chris and Nathan were puffing away as Chris took aim, arm moving forwards and backwards, lining up his shot before he let it fly. He knew Nathan smoked the fancy imported kind you had to cut the end off of occasionally, (though he hadn't admitted to it until Josiah had seen it with his own eyes) but he hadn't expected to see that, and began to wonder if everyone but him and Vin had decided to get drunk tonight-until he saw the flask in Buck's hands and knew that they had. "Have enough to share, Brother Buck?"
"You know it." Buck half-thrust, half-tossed the flask at him and Josiah gave him a look for the whiskey that splashed over his hands.
"Very smooth."
"Always." Buck winked, and Nathan piped up, helpfully supplying,
"That was sarcasm Buck.", in tones that made him sound like a college professor.
"No, really?" Buck grinned as Nathan scowled half-heartedly at him. Josiah took a long pull off the flask, figuring he might as well try and catch up to everyone, before passing it back to Buck and heading over to open the garage door, the smoke making his eyes water, standing there a moment for the fresh air, before crossing back, grabbing a handful of loose darts out of a bin on the wall as he walked back.
"So, 'Siah, how long do you think it'll be before Ezra has his bottle back?" Josiah frowned at Buck, his eyes moving to Chris, collecting his darts from the board, "Yeah, Chris knows. I can't keep my mouth shut when I've been drinking, you know that."
Chris stepped back so Nathan could have his go, snagging the flask out of Buck's hands as he was tipping it forward to take a drink, the ladies man grumbling, but not trying to stop him. "Haven't decided whether I'm angry or not, yet. It was a hard case for both of them. Either way, it can wait until tomorrow." They stopped talking to watch as Nathan, who'd taken several steps back farther than where Chris had been standing for his turn, and with seemingly no effort sunk his first dart deep into the bulls-eye, threw his second and third darts, each landing neatly on either side of the first, Nathan turning around with a concerned and suspicious look on his face instead of going to retrieve them.
"What are you guys talking about? What's Ezra got that he shouldn't?" The medic had told Josiah in confidence that while JD had come back no worse for wear, Ezra had been down a couple pounds, and starting to show signs of exhaustion. As much as it would wind up driving the both of them crazy, and probably the rest of the team too, Ezra was going to have Nathan peaking over his shoulder, fussing and making sure he wasn't overdoing it until the medic felt it safe to declare that he had a clean bill of health.
"Absinthe." Buck said, "It tastes pretty good too, never would have thought that." Buck really couldn't keep his mouth shut tonight, Josiah thought with a snort, as Nathan's face creased, the concern staying but the suspicion being replaced by disapproval.
"That's illegal, isn't it? He shouldn't be buying that anywhere, if he got caught-"
"Maude sent it," Josiah said patiently, knowing it was better to head Nathan off before he got going, "I don't think he would seek it out on his own, but curiosity won out when it was already in his possession. I took it away anyway."
Nathan simmered down a little, nodding, "I still don't like it, but that's a lot better than what I was thinking."
"Heck, you old sawbones, no one expected you to be happy the boys were playing with hallucinogens." Buck said, laughing.
"Hallucinogens?" Groaning, and putting up a hand to stop Nathan from charging into the house, Josiah started talking,
"Now, it isn't what you're thinking"...