"Syed!" Christian plaintively called from the bottom of the stairs. He belatedly realised Syed might be asleep, but he had to talk to him.
"Syed!" He said again, as he fumbled with his keys, dropped them, and finally got the door open, making a lot of noise in the process. He did try to keep his voice down but in his alcoholic fog he knew he was most likely a lot louder than he meant to be. And the noise in the Vic earlier had given him a slight ringing in his ears, too.
"Syed!" He fell over once inside the door and crawled further into the room on his hands and knees. "I need you!"
Managing to pull himself up, he ripped his jacket off, letting it fall to the floor, and then kicked off his shoes. One went flying and he wasn't sure where, the other whacked against the leg of a chair and he drew a finger to his lips as he tried to shush it from making any more noise.
He dragged his feet as he approached the bed. "Really, Syed, it's important..." He crawled on top of the covers and lay down beside Syed. Lying on his stomach with his cheek pressed to the pillow, he stared at Syed's face, which was facing his in a mirror image.
"Sy..." He shoved into Syed and watched as his body wobbled.
His eyes didn't open. "Just go to sleep, Christian..." he mumbled.
"I mean it Sy, something happened, I need to talk to you."
"Can't it wait until morning?"
"I'll just worry all night. And it wasn't my fault; you've got to believe me," Christian moaned as he reached out and took hold of Syed's elbow.
After letting out a deep breath, Syed opened his eyes and looked at Christian, clearly still thinking this was a drunken ramble and nothing to be concerned about.
"What happened?" Syed hadn't even moved, he was still lying on his side facing Christian, but now he crossed his arms.
"I was angry, from earlier, so they bought me loads of drink, I didn't even realise for ages how drunk I was... and then I went to go to the bathroom and tried to, you know, feel better and then when I came out I was just leaning against the doorframe when midnight struck."
"I thought you said something happened? Something bad?"
"It did, I'm getting there... so it was midnight and people kiss loads of people at midnight but I didn't get the chance because Roxy wasn't there and then after I did kiss one person, I got annoyed and I couldn't stay there, I had to come home... but I thought I should try and sober up first so I've been sitting on the swings for the past half an hour or something..."
"Wait, back this up, you kissed someone?"
"I didn't mean to, I really didn't... he hugged me and then his face was just there, and I didn't even realise..."
Syed sat up more, leaning heavily on one arm. "Who was it?"
"Alec." Christian grimaced and bit his lip. "I swear, it just came out of the blue, I didn't expect it."
He was scared, he really didn't know what Syed would think or say or do... and he was still drunk, even though he had tried to sober up a bit, so his brain still wasn't really functioning. And he could come up with a million excuses but his lips had touched another man's and that was wrong regardless. The worst excuse in the world would always be 'but he kissed me'... but had he given out some sort of vibe that meant he wanted it? Even if he hadn't realised? Or even meant to give out such a vibe?
"You didn't expect to kiss him?" Syed asked incredulously.
"I didn't expect him to kiss me." Christian pulled himself up and rested his back against the headboard.
"He kissed you."
Christian turned to Syed, reaching his hand out again to touch him and felt like he was pleading with the man, "I pulled back straight away, I swear, and I told him no..."
"I'm going to kill him." Syed shook his head, his voice low and raspy.
"No, Sy, it was nothing. The two of us were drunk and it was midnight at New Years... I just wanted to be honest with you, you know? I knew you wouldn't want to hear about it but we're a couple and I want to be able to tell you everything about what I'm doing when you aren't there."
"Don't make excuses for him, Christian. The man knows we're engaged, he's spent more than enough time with you to know that you're off limits, and then he kisses you? I'm going to kill him."
Syed shoved the covers back and deliberately walked away and into the kitchen for a glass of water while Christian stayed on the bed, not sure he could walk the straight line over to the fridge.
"Sy, please. I just want to forget it. Just want to talk about it and get past it and move on in the morning. It's a new year."
Syed gulped down the water then walked slowly back over, but remained a few paces away while he looked at Christian. "I'll bet he was waiting for this too. I mean, kissing you at midnight is a perfect cover. 'Don't worry, it's just a New Year's kiss'... yeah, right. That man has probably had his eye on you a while."
"No he hasn't, Sy... he's my boss. He pays me. That's all."
"Christian," Syed climbed onto the bed and took Christian's face in his hands, looking sternly into his eyes. "You are too trusting and, frankly, being rather oblivious. Loads of men want you, but I'm the one who got you."
Christian reached out and tried to mirror how Syed was holding him. "And you get jealous at the drop of a hat. Sometimes people look, but it doesn't mean they're desperate to get me into bed. People look at you too; I tend to think they've just got good taste."
His hand dropped as he tried to make Syed smile, but only partially seemed able to do that.
"I've told you what happened because I don't want any secrets between us. Even if it's not great, we need to be able to discuss things. We didn't do that earlier. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too." Syed's hands dipped to loosely hold Christian's neck and they looked at each other. Syed looked Christian over and gave him a worrying glance. "You're not going to throw up, are you? Because I'm not cleaning these covers again on my own."
He felt the kiss on his temple and he just groaned and put his forearm over his eyes, trying to block out the offending light as he moved to burrow back under the covers.
"Sy, I feel rotten."
"And whose fault is that?"
He could hear Syed rattling about the place and his poor head just wished he would be quieter. "Come back to bed and snuggle with me..."
"You just asked me ten minutes ago to get you some food, so which is it to be?"
Christian thought about it for a minute. "Food, I need grease."
"I'll be back shortly, okay?"
Christian grunted in response and the door shut as Syed left. After he was alone, Christian propped himself up more. He gave his head a minute to adjust to being upright, then pushed the covers back and got up long enough to head into the bathroom and clean himself up a bit.
He made his way back to the bed as he figured he'd prefer just to spend the entire day there, or until he felt properly like a human being again.
He grabbed his phone as he lay back, but there were no new calls or messages so he decided to put it on silent for a while. Syed returned shortly after with a brown paper bag in his hand.
"Fried egg bap with lashings of tomato sauce," he said, as he brandished it in front of him. Christian made a gesture for him to bring it over but Syed refused. "You are not eating this in bed, you'll get sauce everywhere. Come and eat it at the table like a civilised person."
After realising that Syed wasn't going to change his mind, and with a feeling that he planned to do anything Syed asked of him today, considering what he'd been up to the previous night, he threw the covers back, chucked on his dressing gown and padded over to the table.
After eating, he held his head in his hands and then reached for the glass of orange juice that Syed had moved across the table to be in front of him. "I'm never drinking again."
"Where have I heard that before?" Christian could feel Syed's hand rubbing his back lightly.
"I mean it this time." He looked up into Syed's eyes. "I don't want to do anything else stupid... and if I do, I want to do it sober. Blaming alcohol is never going to help anyone."
"I agree." Syed nodded. "It's a poor excuse."
Christian reached his hand out and laid it on top of Syed's. "I'm so sorry."
Syed took a deep breath, "I honestly didn't think this would happen to us, not after everything we went through to be together. And I know you want to take the blame for it but, coupled with the alcohol... he made a move on you, and you said no. As far as I'm concerned, it's not really your fault."
"Maybe I did something, or said something."
"Like what?"
"I dunno... I don't remember much..."
"If it wasn't for the fact that I believe in non-violence, I'd be round that man's flat right now and lamping him one."
Christian snorted as he held back a laugh. Syed jerked his head at the noise and looked at Christian's incredulous look. "You... I can see you now, going all Mitchell on him."
"Like you've ever punched someone?"
"Not the point," Christian dodged, since he and Syed were both very well aware that Christian hadn't. Not even when he'd been beaten up had he ever raised a fist to someone - he refused to drop to their level. "At least I have the muscle to pull it off."
"Oh so it's back to that is it? Brain versus brawn? I always win that argument."
"No you don't!" Christian smiled. "It normally ends with us being naked and the bed sheets soiled!"
"Exactly. I always win." Syed leaned across the table and kissed Christian's head before picking up the dishes and heading into the kitchen.