on the fourth of july, dick always has a party at the coffee shop for the employees and regulars who have nowhere else to go for the holiday or just don't want to spend it somewhere else. there's a big crowd there and the person in charge of drinks (prob bill) is making things that are delicious and alcoholic but you don't realize how much until you've already had several of them. dick, drunker than he's ever been, is heading towards the door at the same time as nix, and nix says "going my way?"
Dick didn’t drink. Not now, not ever.
Okay, maybe he drank a bit now, but what was he supposed to do, when Bill spent so much time mixing those cocktails, making a few blends especially for him, he said, because you couldn’t really taste the alcohol in them. (Bill called those dicktails and after a few, Dick began to find it funny too)
And it’s not like drinks really affected him, or maybe these just weren’t too strong, so Dick spent most of the night with a glass in hand – with Bill always near to give him new flavours to try – leaning against the counter, looking at his boys. (And girl. He didn’t even see Renée come in, when did that happen?) He noticed Webster trying to take a framed photo of the crew off the wall, unsuccessfully, endangering himself, the ones close to him, and the wall, so Dick set his glass down and took a step towards them, then two to the side, one back and gained his balance again by slapping his hand on Bill and Joe’s table.
“You okay there, boss?” Bill asked, grabbing his arm as if he was worried Dick might fall over, but his grin suggested he wouldn’t mind that too much either. Dick frowned at him.
“I’m just... I just need some air now.” He said, leaving the ‘and deal with you later’ part unsaid. He hoped he looked fittingly intimidating, but he was pretty sure his eyes were a bit unfocused, and he might’ve had a dumb little smile on his face. Bill tried to school his features, but only managed to turn his grin into a cheeky smile. “Sure, boss, you do that.”
Dick nodded but as he got past the table, he was grinning too. If he was honest with himself, Bill did say the drinks were alcoholic, only that they didn’t taste like that. And after the initial shock, Dick started to like the tingling feeling and light-headedness that came with drinking. He was also certain he could navigate just fine between tables and people. That being thought, he walked into Nix and bounced off him like a rubber ball, and would’ve ended up in Speirs’ lap if Nix didn’t catch his arm. He giggled and slapped a hand on his mouth immediately. God, that felt strange.
Nix looked at him with that loving, amused expression Dick recognized as his own, and he wondered briefly if that meant that now he looked like Nix does when he’s drunk. He decided quickly that it doesn’t really matter and that Nix looks good anyhow. That smile, though, he wanted to see that smile more often, he would make a total idiot of himself for that smile. Nix didn’t let go of his hand and Dick only noticed then that he wasn’t standing straight, and was wobbling slightly from side to side. Well, this was just embarrassing. He felt like a kite on a windy day, grounded by Nix. Where the hell did these thoughts come from anyway?!
“Going my way?” Nix smirked, nodding at the door, and tugged his arm just a bit, not enough to set him off balance, but Dick let himself be pulled and threw and arm over Nix’s shoulder, putting his weight on him with a sigh. He’ll be damned if he giggled again, but he couldn’t stop himself from snickering in a highly immature way.
“Is there any other way to go, Daddy-o?”
That most definitely wasn’t what he meant to say.