"You know I can't get drunk, right?" Steve says, peering at the bottom of his fifth glass of beer.
"Mmhmm," Phil hums, still sipping his.
"But you can, right?" Steve queries, looking up.
"Mmhmm," Phil hums again.
Steve eyes him critically. The agent's cheeks are a healthy pink color and his posture is less rigid than it had been previously. The conversation flows a bit smoother than usual, perhaps because neither of them are on duty at the moment, but…
"You're not drunk now, are you?" he asks.
And Phil laughs. A short, quick bark of a laugh that causes Steve's stomach to flutter pleasantly and his cheeks to turn pink to match.
"No, no, I'm not even close," Phil says. "I'm buzzed, but it'll take a lot more than this to get me drunk. I've been building up a tolerance to alcohol and certain sedatives over the course of the past twenty years or so."
"Building up a tolerance?" Steve prods, sipping the foam off the top of his sixth.
"I had a bad experience with someone slipping something into my drink on an information gathering mission as a Junior Agent," Phil explains. "I was young and I'd had a few by that point… we'll just say I was very glad for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s policy for assigning no less than two agents to a mission."
Steve's not sure what to say. The information has been presented him in a casual, offhanded manner, but he can't shake the feeling that he's treading toward dark water with this subject. And yet his curiosity pushes him forward.
"Were you alright?" he asks.
Phil turns to look at him, his eyebrows raised. A look of understanding appears on his face and he waves a dismissive hand.
"Oh. Yes, I was fine," he answers. "My pride was the only thing that took a beating."
"Well, you were only a Junior Agent, you said," Steve reminds him, nudging the agent's knee with his own. "So you've been building up a tolerance for things since then?"
Phil nods. He smiles and, of all things, winks at Steve. "Not as fun as it sounds. Believe me."
Steve grins at the wink, feeling a chuckle work its way up from his chest and out his lips. "Well, if it means that I can have a few drinks with you and still have you lucid enough for conversation, then I'll drink to that."
With the small smile he gets in response as their glasses clink together, Steve is certain that asking the other man out for a drink is one of the best ideas he's had in months. And if their knees are still touching as they pay the tab, well, that's just a bonus.