Hung Over

"So then Bikky showed up, 'round about midnight, without even a bruise on him, looking happy as could be. He just walked back in and went straight towards bed, whistling the whole time. Turns out he'd just forgotten to call and tell Ryo that he was going out to a late movie with his friends after dinner with Carol-"

"It's a shame Brett couldn't make it, Mr. Breit. I'll see if I can get him to agree to come next time. He'd made plans for tonight already, his new girlfriend's-"

"And then what happened?"

"We went back home, separately, and went to bed. But the next day it was all over school how poor Sean had been caught out late at night making out with some stranger dressed in my coat. For some reason though everyone was convinced it was Danny wearing my coat rather than me myself."

Carol laughed.

"It wasn't my fault! I tried to call but HE picked up." Bikky attempted to kick Dee under the table.

"I can take messages you know, brat. You coulda told me."

"Hmph."

JJ sat sullenly in his chair playing with his, non-alcoholic, drink. All around him conversations flowed, between Danny and Josh and Dirk, Ryo, Dee, Bikky and Hilde, and, of course, Alex, Carol and Sean. Sean was blushing and correcting Alex a lot, since they'd gotten into stories about his past. Carol couldn't seem to hear enough, about Sean or Danny. Alex was her favorite new storyteller, knowing all sorts of slightly dirty stories they probably would prefer her didn't. The reminiscing certainly wasn't helping JJ's mood. All it did was serve to remind him of just how important Alex had been to Sean. Still was, maybe. Dammit, he liked Sean! He liked Sean a whole lot! Sean was sweet and nice and funny and pretty damn hot! It was those stormy gray eyes of his. JJ's never seen gray eyes that weren't boring before he'd met Sean. Then again there was a lot of things he figured out when he met Sean. He liked strawberries, English food tasted awful, he could cook, if he really tried.

He liked guys other then Dee-sempai.

Of course, he'd been interested in other guys. But nothing anywhere near what he felt for Dee-sempai. But Sean… he really liked Sean. He was happy spending time with him, talking to him, even shopping with him. JJ'd never cared for shopping with other people that much, Danny always took too long and went to too many stores, but with Sean it was OK. Sean was… he was… almost perfect. Too good to be true, JJ'd always figured. He'd been head over heels for Dee-sempai, that hadn't changed, but he'd just let what he felt for Sean pass because he knew that it couldn't be all he thought. It couldn't be that easy, falling in love. Just look at all the trouble he'd had with Dee-sempai. Plus he'd thought Sean was straight, he had been rather involved with Laura. So…he'd hidden whatever he'd felt for Sean somewhere deep in his heart and concentrated on his feelings for his Dee-sempai. Only that never got anywhere either. Dee loved Ryo, not JJ. He'd managed to hold out hope until only six months ago but… there was no denying it, Dee-sempai and Ryo-sempai were together and would probably always be, no matter how much Ryo whined about how pushy Dee-sempai was. Then, when he'd been left without anything, without Dee-sempai or even Danny Sean'd come. He helped him through all the guilt, all the hatred, all the hurt. And everything he'd felt for Sean came right out into the open and took him over as surely as his obsession with Dee-sempai had. It wasn't as sharp, as intense a feeling as what he'd had for Dee-sempai but it was all the more real for that. He'd loved Dee-sempai but with the fury of the obsessed, with an overwhelming single-mindedness. With Sean he could just relax and be himself, for the first time in too many years. But now he'd shown up. Alex. And he was threatening to take it away again, leaving JJ all alone again.

Well, he wouldn't get away with it. Whatever he was planning, coming up here and butting into their lives as if he belonged there, JJ'd teach him he his place. Sean wasn't with him anymore. They hadn't even gone on a date in years, Sean had moved and left Alex behind! They weren't together anymore and JJ wasn't about to let them start up again. Sean belonged with him! He liked him! They got along great. Whatever it was that had made those two break up obviously wasn't dealt with yet, from the way Sean was acting. Alex should learn when he was beat and go back home, back to his gang wars, drugs and death. JJ had spent too much energy pulling Danny and Sean away from that to let them get dragged back in by one asshole executioner. He clutched his glass. He'd do whatever he had too, but there was no way he'd let them bring Danny and Sean back. He didn't care what the Breit's thought, Sean and Danny belonged here now. He wouldn't let their lives be ruined.

Not again.

* * *

You'd think it'd take something significant to hush a table of 12 people, all happily chattering amongst each other, in just a moment. Well, it didn't. All Sean had to do was finish off his drink, push out his chair and stand up. He was wobbling slightly, so even the act of standing wasn't too dramatic, although the fact he could probably was. He hadn't exactly been drinking non-alcoholic drinks. You know what I mean…Anyway…

Sean stood up and the entire table fell silent. He pushed in his chair and smiled slightly. "Well, I better get home."

The table erupted into chaos.

Waiters and waitresses around the room nearly dropped their trays, The few customers who'd remained dropped their utensils as the noise level rose several decibels suddenly.

"What do you mean, going home?"

"You can't go home yet!"

"You're drunk, geleibt."

"Sean, there's no way you can get home by yourself."

"Dude, you're wasted."

"Dee!"

"He is!"

Giggle.

"Are you sure you'll be OK, Sean? You look pretty…wasted… to me."

Sean's smile broadened a bit. "I'll be fine. Really. Don't worry a bit about me, Mr. Breit." He let go of his chair, took one step and promptly fell over into Alex lap.

Alex, of course, started laughing. So did most of the others. Dirk shook his head, Hilde looked concerned and JJ cracked his glass slamming it into the table, rushing over to try and pull Sean away from Alex. Alex would have none of that, though, standing himself and helping Sean up. "I'll get him back home. If you'd be so kind as to give me directions, Danny?"

JJ glared at him. "I can take him home. I know how to get there."

Alex eyed him coolly for a minute. "I'm sure you do…"

"I know hot to get home!" Sean protested. "I'm not that drunk!"

"Of course you aren't." Alex's voice warmed just a little. "But you can't walk."

Sean looked annoyed. "Fine then." He grabbed Alex coat from the back of his chair. "If you insist on babying me I might as well get home and to bed ASAP."

Alex laughed. "Very well."

JJ looked about ready to blow up but Sean cut him off. "I'll see you 'n Danny for lu…" He paused, considering. "Dinner. Definitely not lunch."

JJ hesitated, then nodded, backing down. "Our place."

Sean nodded. "Sounds OK, I'll call before I come over." He waved to the others then hit Alex lightly on the arm. "Let's go."

"I'm not carrying you."

"You won't carry me, you won't let me walk, what'm I supposed to do?"

"Stumble, maybe." Alex started off, half-pulling, half-supporting Sean. "Well, later all."

"Byebye, Alex. Have fun and don't stay up too late. I'll call you tomorrow, Sean. Not too early though." Danny laughed as they disappeared. JJ sat back down, finishing his drink. Carol and Bikky yawned in unison. Ryo stood up and Dee sighed. "That's out cue to be leaving. Mother gets all worried when the kids are sleepy."

Ryo glared at him for a minute then went back to the kids, getting them ready to go. They said their goodbyes then went out the door, Bikky and Dee arguing before they'd gotten three tables away. Dirk smiled. "An interesting family."

Danny nodded. "They're fun."

Josh looked at his watch and shook his head. "I think I'll flee as well. Before Brett locks me out." He kissed Danny. "Keep your cellphone on, I may need a place to crash tonight."

"Brett locks you out?"

"Sometimes. Gets me home at a decent hour, he says." Josh shrugged. "Brett's weird like that." He turned to Dirk and Hilde. "I'll see you later then. Goodbye."

They nodded. "Goodbye."

JJ sighed. "I'll leave too. I have work tomorrow."

"Good ting you didn't drink anything then." Danny chided him, standing as well. "You're awful when you're hung over."

"Shut up."

Danny laughed, tugging JJ out the door with one hand and waving to her parents with the other. "Byebye, Daddy. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I suppose." He replied calmly. He gestured to the waitress for the bill. Hilde shook her head. "So that's why they left. To leave us with the bill."

"I always pay." He replied calmly.

"Not always."

"With Danny." His answer was final and made it clear that dinner with his daughter was a different matter entirely. And that Hilde should know it.

Hilde frowned for an instant then shrugged, rummaging in her purse for something. "It'll be a wonder if Daniela can even make it out of her apartment tomorrow. She drank enough."

"We all did." He handed their poor waitress a credit card and an extremely large tip. She smiled slightly, too tired and worn to show more appreciation then that and disappeared to take care of paying. Dirk turned back to Hilde. "Do you have anything planned tomorrow?"

"No, why?"

"Mm. Just wondering… Franz is supposed to call tomorrow, so be sure to pass along any messages quickly."

"Of course."

He nodded and they sat in silence for a minute until the waitress returned with his card. Then they stood and calmly headed out the door, leaving the cluttered table for the busboys. "I'm not sure how long we'll be here but it will be awhile. I may need you to go back to LA to watch over things for me. Franz can handle Miami but I'm not sure how Reiner will do."

"Yes dear."

"I'm going to keep Alex here though. He'll be upset if I make him leave and He's good enough to be some help watching over Daniela."

"… I'm not sure Sean will like that."

"Sean will have to live with it. He won't mind though. He likes Alex."

"JJ-"

"The Adams boy will just have to survive."

"…" There was another minute of silence as they walked the streets back to their hotel.

"Another thing, I may end up bringing Danny back to Miami with me, if this gets too out of hand. I have no power up here and I need her safe. So don't get too comfortable."

"I won't."

"All right then."

They walked through the nighttime streets of New York, unbothered by the petty criminals and violence around them, talking occasionally. Dirk's mood was enigmatic, as normal, but inside Hilde seethed quietly with a subtle rage.

* * *

"All right, geliebt, how do we get back to your place?"

"Umm…" Sean peered around. "I think it's that way…"

"You think?"

"I'm not really that familiar with this part of town." Sean admitted. "But if we can find somewhere I am I'm sure we'll be able to get back."

"Great." Alex complained. "I'm out here and half-drunk and you're wasted and I don't know where you live and you're lost and I have to get you back home."

"Not a very good situation."

"You're telling me?"
"Maybe…"

"What?"

"Maybe I could just get a room at the hotel."

Alex sighed. "If we're going back there you might as well just crash on the couch in my room. I'll get room service to bring up some pillows and a blanket."

Sean considered.

"I'll see if we can find a cab. You aren't up to walking all that way, I don't think. I'm not up to carrying you, that's for sure."

"I'm not that heavy." Sean replied petulantly.

"You? Heavy? You'll wear plaid and polka dots before you'd let yourself get fat. I'm just not used to carrying people around town like this. Emergency situations only, you know."

"I s'pose…"

"C'mon, let's get back. If I don't get you to sleep soon Danny'll cut me up and serve me for dinner. Your morning will be bad enough already."

Sean shuddered slightly.

"You know how bad your hangovers get. Why'd you drink so much?"

"... He kept glaring at me…" Sean murmured.

"What?"

"I was expecting a fight. Danny and Hilde always fight."

"Yeah…they did OK tonight though."

"If you consider ignoring each other OK."

"For them it's damn good."

"Ngh…" Sean replied noncommittally. "Let's get this cab then. I'm sleepy."

"I'll wake you up." Alex threatened. "I'm definitely not carrying you into the hotel and all the way up. You have to get yourself to bed."

Sean made an annoyed noise. "But I'm sleepy!" He whined.

"Shoulda thought of that before you drank half their liquor stock."

"You drank as much as I did."

"I have more tolerance."

"Mmf."

A cab finally stopped for them. They piled inside and spent the first couple minutes getting comfortable as Alex tried to tell the cabby, who of course spoke something other than English, where to go. Sean fell asleep before they cleared the block. Alex sighed and leaned back in the seat. "…I'll wake him up when we get there…"

* * *

Josh pushed open the door to his place and tossed his keys on the nearby table. "I'm baaaaack!"

"So I heard. Damn you're loud." Brett wandered in, wearing boxers, beer in hand.

"Isn't it a bit late for drinking?"
"A bit late, a bit early, it's drinking time somewhere." Brett replied easily.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothin'."

"You don't drink at this time of night over nothing."

"That brother of Danny's is gonna cause trouble."

"Why do you say that?"

"He likes Sean and Sean likes him but JJ ain't just gonna let that take its natural course, y'know."

"And Danny'll have to stick up for one or the other."

"Yeah…"

"She really likes JJ…"

"But family's family."

"Yeah…"

"How's her dad, by the way?"

"Nicer then I expected. Not really expressive, of course, but he's the kind of guy we'd work for. He'd treat us fair."

"Can't ask for much more than that."

"He adores Danny. I'm not too sure about him and Alex though."

"What about Hilde?"

"They're married. But he doesn't seem as interested in her as Danny, for some reason."

"Danny's cute."

"Yeah…"

"What's with you?"

"That feeling again."

"What feeling?"

"I just don't know if I fit in there…"

"She likes you, you like her what else is there to worry about?"

"I know, I know but… With everyone there tonight I just kind of felt out of place, like I wasn't supposed to be there."

"Where were you supposed to be?"
"I dunno. Not there though." He collapsed in an armchair, brooding.

"It's called the jitters, Josh. You're just nervous cause you had dinner with her family, who just happen to be extremely dangerous, although you didn't know that until today."

"Yeah…" Josh's tone said he didn't think that was what it was though.

"Don't worry. You'll get through it, it's just a stage. She likes you and that's what matters."

"Yeah." Josh pushed himself out of the chair. "I'm going to bed. We doing anything tomorrow?"

"I'll handle it. You ain't gonna be fit for much tomorrow, they way you look now."

"Gee, thanks. How considerate of you." Josh growled sarcastically. He walked into his bedroom and quietly shut his door. Brett set his beer down and leaned against the wall, thinking. "Something bad's gonna happen here." He shrugged, picking up his can and chucking it into the trash can behind him. "Just better stay away from us." He went into his own room.

* * *

Sean woke up with a raging headache and feeling absolutely awful. Luckily it was totally dark, the curtains drawn and all lights turned off, so he didn't have to deal with sight. Yet.

With a whimper he rolled over slightly, clinging to a pillow. He hurt… A lot. He hadn't felt this bad since…since… the last time he'd gotten totally wasted and hung over. Now he remembered why he didn't do that more often.

Well, there were only two cures for a hangover. Time and alcohol. And if you stuck to the alcohol eventually you got the D.T.s. So that left time…Although, right now alcohol was looking like a really, really good option. Anything was better than this…

He managed to roll out of bed and stagger towards a nearby door he hoped led to the bathroom. It didn't but he extricated himself from the clothes, with only a little trouble, and the next door was the correct one so he staggered inside and snatched a bottle of painkillers, handily set out in plain view on the sink next to a glass of water. The water was tepid but better then nothing. He gulped down four of the pills and sank to the tile, leaning against the tub, waiting for the pain to dim. Then he realized that that was stupid, the tile was too hard against his butt so he staggered back out to collapse on the bed. Time became a blur then but eventually the pain wore away, leaving only a faint pulse in his head. He made his way back to the bathroom again and made copious use of the mouthwash to rid himself of that foul taste. Only then did he begin to feel human again. Walking back into the room he blinked. This wasn't his room. This wasn't even his house.

He stood there confused, trying to figure out where he was. Not Danny's… Josh's? No, they'd be making noise, or have some pictures out or something. Brett probably would've come in to 'helpfully' wake him up. But there was nothing. True, it was a tasteful nothing, but it was still bland and impersonal. Like…

Like a hotel.

Oh crap.

He fell back onto the bed, holding his head. That headache was returning…He was in Alex's hotel room. On the bed, no less. Without a shirt. His cellphone was in view on the nightstand, in case he needed to call for help though. But...where was Alex?

He dimly remembered being woken up to crawl out of the taxi and up to the hotel room, a pause as Alex talked to the person behind the desk, something about blankets and a pillow. He couldn't remember precisely what was said though. Then they'd gone upstairs and…he didn't remember anything but sleep after that, until he woke up again. So…where'd Alex gone?

There was still one set of doors he hadn't tried so he made his way carefully over there, trying not to jar his head or body too much. Opening it he blinked.

Alex lay sprawled on the couch, blanket only half-covering him, one arm slung over the back of the couch the other curving up to rest under the pillows at his head. He'd ended up asleep on the couch… Sean slowly sweatdropped. He must've passed out on the bed and Alex was too drunk to move him. He'd apologize when he woke up. Only he found himself drifting over to the couch, sitting down beside Alex. Alex immediately shifted, curling up around him, his arm going from the back of the couch to his waist. Sean smiled despite himself.

"…Tylenol…" Alex whimpered.

Sean sighed. Alex… "If you'll let me go I'll go get some for you." He kept his voice low, barely enough for Alex to hear him. Alex nodded slightly then whimpered. Sean stood and went back to the bathroom, refilled the glass and bringing the painkillers with him. He gave Alex a few and made him drink then rolled him over onto his stomach and massaged his back. Alex made a few contented noises then fell asleep again. Or seemed to, he sure woke up again fast when Sean tried to leave.

"Where you goin'?"

"Breakfast?" It was a lame excuse and he knew it.

Alex made a face. "I don't even want to think of breakfast right now."

Sean laughed. "That's a first. Give yourself a couple hours and you'll be starved."

"Doubt it…"

"You will. I know you."

"Mmm…" Alex drifted off towards sleep again, the fingers of one hand holding onto a belt loop on Sean's pants. Sean sighed and settled down beside him again, trying to get comfortable. No reason he shouldn't get some sleep too.

A couple minutes later his phone began to ring, in the other room. But they were both asleep and didn't notice.

* * *

"No way Sean'll pick it up. You saw how drunk he was."

JJ didn't respond, holding the phone and looking worried. Danny yawned, stretching. "Dunno why I'm up either."

"Work?"

"Oh yeah… probably look like shit though. Won't have Sean there to work his magic on me either. This is gonna be a long day."

"You didn't have to drink yesterday."

"Don't remind me. But why should it be just me and you not drinking? Alcohol is fun."

JJ grunted.

"Don't be cranky. He's fine. Probably trying to get back to sleep and all upset cause that damn phone woke him up. Maybe he took it off ringer too. He'll be awake later and call us, I bet. He'll be here for dinner."

JJ hung up the phone and stared at it.

"Calling again won't do any good. Probably make him more mad. It's no fun to be woken up by a loud noise, 'specially when hung over. Especially with the kind of noise a phone makes."

JJ backed away, reassured. "What're we having for dinner?" His voice was quiet, almost childishly pleading for reassurance.

"I'm not sure yet. I'll think of something while I'm working. If not we'll order in. Shouldn't you be getting to work?"

JJ looked at the clock like he'd just become aware it existed. "Oh! Right!" He ran about grabbing his things. "See you later, Danny!"

"Yeah, later." Danny faced her bowl of cereal with utter distaste. "This's gonna be one loooong day."

End