"Coming up!" Phelan said.
Llewellyn shrugged and took the glass he was being handed, downing the real thing.
"Oh, oh!" Ejay said. "Now we're talking."
"'s not fair!" Gilded yelled from where he was draped against the nearest bench. "'ve had much more than him!"
"But you're using magic," Tiernan said. "So it doesn't count."
"'s a matter of principle!" Gilded said. "Where are my darts?"
Penguin chirped and levitated them to him helpfully.
"Thaank you," Gilded said drunkenly. He squinted. "Where's the dartboard?"
Jihoon lost it again.
Gilded's darts went in a winding motion through the air before hitting bullseye again.
"Aaayyy!" he cheered.
Everyone snorted or snickered. Yuè Zhōu whooped in support.
Llewellyn lined up his next throw. His hand was steady, but he was swaying a bit. Still. Bullseye again.
"Still cheating!" Gilded said.
"Nope," Llewellyn said.
Though, from what I could feel through the bond… he was probably cheating.
But how?
Maybe being good at everything already counted as cheating.
Gilded threw again. The dart bounced off the ceiling, ricocheted over three pillars, then hit the board dead center.
Penguin chirped excitedly.
"And you say I'm the one cheating?" Llewellyn said.
"You are!" Gilded said.
"At one point, your darts started singing!"
"Pfttt," Gilded said. "Trifles."
I took another sip of my Destabilized Whiskey.
Llewellyn threw another dart. It hit dead center, splitting one of Gilded's in half.
…Damn. Even with the whole room spinning he could do that?
No wait. The room probably wasn't spinning.
Fuck, I was drunk.
Gilded blinked at Llewellyn's result, then started protesting again.
"How are you sober?" I asked Roan, flopping down onto the seat next to him. "You've had like… three?" I thought it was three. How did he drink three? Was he an alien?
"What about you?" Roan grinned. "If this is your first time drinking Destabilized Whiskey, you're doing amazing."
"The room spins," I said sagely.
Roan patted my shoulder.
Next to me, Jihoon was half-lying on the table, looking at the game with a dopey grin.
"I'M OUT," Gilded announced dramatically.
"You sure?" Llewellyn asked, smug, hand still mid-air for the next throw. He was definitely swaying now, but apart from that, he looked composed.
And… very good looking.
Obviously.
"Yep," Gilded said. "Llewellyn wins. Or I win. Someone wins. I'm going to sit down now."
He wandered back to the bench and collapsed onto it, one arm draped dramatically over his face.
"Is he alright?" someone asked.
"'m fine," Gilded called from the bench. "Everything's just… very spinny."
"Ryo!" Shea called. "You're up next!"
"Me what?"
How did they expect me to get up?!
"You have to defend your terrible score!"
"I'm not playing again!"
"Come on!"
Gilded was right, the room was very spinny.
I managed to grab the darts and walk to the line.
"Who am I playing?" I asked, looking around.
Actually, I didn't really care.
I threw.
The dart flew straight past the board and embedded itself in the wooden beam behind it.
"Brilliant," Shea said happily.
"I'm not throwing another!" I said. "I might kill someone!"
Yuè Zhōu was still on the floor, snickering.
I found a bench against a wall and sat down, letting the wall support me.
Penguin waddled over and climbed onto my lap, chirping, levitating Lumos over too.
Damn, was I that drunk or was he getting good? He'd only learned this today.
They both crowded around me.
"You doing alright?" I asked, petting them.
Penguin chirped happily, and climbed up into my arms for a snuggle.
Ah, he was the best. I let him, petting Lumos with my other hand too.
Everything felt very warm.
Meanwhile, the rest had started playing again. Yuè Zhōu, Phelan, Roan and Tiernan had gone back to the board for some bet they had going, while Ejay and Jihoon were trying to balance things on their head after each sip of Destabilized Whiskey—and failing badly.
Lumos had fallen asleep so I asked Penguin to move him gently to another bench.
He chirped and agreed.
He'd really gotten good. Lumos didn't even wake up.
The room was still spinning. At least the wall was holding me up.
A few moments later, Penguin jumped off my arms and went to join the darts game himself, floating them through the air until they hit the board.
"Almost bullseye!" Roan yelled. "Do it again!"
Penguin chirped, concentrating harder.
"Come on, little Penguin!" called Jihoon.
Llewellyn came to straddle the bench I was sitting on, leaned in, and kissed me.
…Huh.
"How much Destabilized Whiskey did Phelan give you?" he asked.
Mmh? What? Destabilized What? Who was Phelan?
Anyway, why was he talking when we could just make out?
I pulled him closer.
Llewellyn's mouth opened under mine and… uh. Yeah, this was amazing.
I leaned forward to follow the kiss when he tried to inch back, and Llewellyn's hand slid into my hair, fingers threading through it, before pressing me back against the wall.
Damn.
I gripped the front of his shirt to keep him there.
The kiss was slow. Llewellyn's tongue moved against mine and I felt the heat of it all the way down my spine.
Someone laughed somewhere behind us.
Llewellyn shifted closer, and I made a sound I probably shouldn't have made in public.
He pulled back just enough to breathe and I kissed him again.
"You're very drunk," Llewellyn said.
"So?"
"I'm trying to figure out if this is a good idea."
"We're just kissing," I said. "Kissing is always a good idea."
The corners of Llewellyn's lips ticked up.
He tasted amazing.
Why did Destabilized Whiskey taste so good? I generally didn't care for the taste of alcohol at all, but this was something else.
I wanted more of it myself, but… maybe not this time. Perhaps in Llewellyn's Core Partition next time? If he didn't have any Destabilized Whiskey there, maybe we could bring some.
Llewellyn's mouth moved to my jaw, my throat. I tilted my head back against the wall to give him more room.
"We're in public," I managed, carding a hand through his hair.
"We're just kissing," Llewellyn said, throwing my line back at me. "Besides, they're all too drunk or distracted to pay us any mind."
That was probably true, but—
His teeth scraped over my pulse point.
Damn. We were getting into dangerous territory.
I tugged his head up again and pulled him into another slow kiss.
The Destabilized Whiskey made everything hazy, warm, and euphoric. I really might have gotten too carried away if it wasn't for Gilded passed out drunk right there in my line of sight.
I started snickering.
Llewellyn followed my gaze then immediately shut me up with another kiss.
The room was still spinning, but… kissing like this felt incredible.
"Oi, you too!" Phelan called. "Up for a round of beer pong?"
Beer pong? Now?!
I mean, I was in the mood for something else entirely, but— Well, there was only so much we could do here.
"Coming!" I called, kissing Llewellyn again.
***
When we left the pub, we were so drunk Llewellyn teleported Lumos to his Core Partition because he was worried about accidentally losing him.
"You hold on real tight," I told Penguin, swaying a bit. "Don't want you to fall out."
Penguin chirped, his tiny flippers holding onto the hem of my pocket.
We'd also tried a pub quiz after beer pong, but with Tiernan passed out, nobody knew if our answers were correct or not.
"Let's just teleport back," I told Llewellyn. Though, unfortunately I looked up again just then and… there was a lamppost, and… Llewellyn was right there.
…I wanted to kiss him again.
However, before I could pull him all the way close, or crowd him there or something…
[System Notification: Attribute Intuitive Drift has activated!]
Wha—? I let out a groan.
"What?" Llewellyn said.
"Intuitive Drift," I managed against his lips. "Has just activated."
Llewellyn blinked. "Your Legendary-level Attribute that pulls you into massive, life-altering situations?"
When he put it like that…
"Yeah," I kissed him. I mean, he was right there. "Should probably follow it."
"We're very drunk."
"Am aware."
Llewellyn swayed forward a bit and kissed me back, and… we were making out again.
When he finally stepped back, mostly because Penguin chirped, Llewellyn looked very dishevelled.
And… very kissable.
No, focus.
"Fine," Llewellyn said, though his hand was still under my shirt. "Lead the way."
Right. Lead where?
I closed my eyes, trying to focus.
[System Notification: Relocation in 3… 2… 1…]
What? Wait… Relocation where?!
I grabbed Llewellyn's arm at the last second and—
A moment later, the street around us was gone and we were standing in a… forest somewhere, by the look of it.
Huh?!!
And… Where was this weird light coming from?!!