purpleandgray | Open RP post

"I will try a single sip before tacos but I need some food in me before I really start drinking. Otherwise, I will end up passed out on your floor."

He took the bottle back while Merlin looked for glasses and twisted the top off. It smelled like rum but there was something salty about it, a hint of the ocean and endless water. It wasn't bad.

"Uh, depends on the crowd we get in," he said, thinking about the question. "We have a cocktail called Witch Breath which can temporarily give a little boost in magical power because of the herb mixture in the gin that's part of it. But the really interesting ones are pretty expensive. We've got one with ground dragon's teeth in it and that's not cheap to get."

This bottle wasn't cheap either which made it a tricky decision on whether or not he should carry it. That was always the problem with the magical alcohols they were expensive and carrying them didn't do much good if nothing ever sold.

"And that doesn't even cover the cocktails we tailor to certain magical beings. We've got a plasma based one that our vampire crowd loves."

"At least try to aim for the sofa," Merlin said with an easy grin as he came back with two glasses, putting them on the table in front of Dean. Taking a seat, he poured them both a small taste of the rum. Merlin sniffed the glass too, sloshing the alcohol around the edges.

"Really? Dragon teeth are expensive?" He could go into that business if programming didn't work, it seemed. "That sounds fascinating." He admitted. "I'd like to taste them one day."

But then he brought up the glass and grinned. "So, what shall we drink to? Dragons? Krakens? Tacos? Not passing out on Merlin's floor? My sad, sad neighbors?"

The scent of the ocean was stronger with it in the glass but it wasn't unpleasant. Dean thought it might be off putting since rum didn't usually smell like that. He was still willing to try the dark amber liquid.

"Dragons' teeth that are humanely gathered and not ripped from the jaws of dead ones are," he explained. "I'm sort of against killing them. I don't know about your world but they're getting harder and hard to find in mine. Only a few places really have them here."

A lot of the big magical creatures were vanishing. They didn't have the space they needed and a lot of people hunted them for their parts and strong magical properties.

Dean picked up his glass and looked at the rum for a moment, considering it. "Let's drink to drinking. I apologize now for getting completely wasted on you."

He tapped his glass gently against Merlin's and then drank the rum like a shot. It didn't burn like alcohol typically did. Instead, it carried the chill of the dark, deep ocean and felt cool going down instead. Dean's head swam with a strange sensation like he was buffeted by waves before it faded away and he was left with the usual head rush of alcohol.

"Fuck. Wow."

"It happens," Merlin said thoughtfully. "Some shadows have more in the way of magical creatures, others less. It really depends on what course the realm is taking. There are ways to change that, though." He abandoned the topic after that little gem of conversational treasure. No shadow-dweller ever wanted to hear about global guidance. Merlin didn't really like affecting probabilities like that. He didn't like to raise himself above the limits of just an ordinary person even if he held in his pocket the powers of altering reality. He liked to experience it, not rule over it.

"And very well, to drinking, and to having no worry because I'm not opposed to taking care of your wasted self." He lifted his glass and drank.

Kraken blood, was the shit. Merlin inhaled quietly, enjoying the chill of the ocean rushing over him, the undulating pressure that he felt to the tips of his fingers before shaking himself like a dog. "Aah, there's a kick. Fantastic. You'll have to give me some kind of contact information to the person cooking up this stuff."

Still shaking himself, he stood up and returned to the cutting board, moving the thin slices of tomato into a bowl beside it. "Do you like more or less garlic?"

"The real kick is whether people at Oddfellows will drink it," he said, spinning the glass on the table while he thought about that. "I'll have to let my bartender try it and see if she can come up with some cocktails."

He poured Merlin another glass and a little bit more for himself. The alcohol already made him feel a little dizzy because it was very strong. The guy wasn't kidding about the kick it could provide. Intense was a good word for it. If his bartender thought it would have appeal and they could whip up some cocktails he would carry it for a little run.

Right, the food. Dean kept playing with his glass as he watched Merlin cooking. "Well, too much garlic and suddenly you've got Italian tacos instead of Mexican so balance it? I mean garlic's great but you know, too much and it's horrible."

Yeah, he was edging into tipsy already with that sort of talking. Dean knew his limits really well and this stuff just kicked his ass.

It did have a kick. Merlin grew up in the Courts of Chaos, though. His shapeshifting ability would automatically kick in to change his physiology to counter any strange substances in his system. It was a pain in the as when you wanted to get drunk. They served Ambrosia in Amber and that stuff would throw him on a loop so fast that nothing he ever tasted had a chance of getting even close. Of course he had sat down with a few uncles and aunts at a time or a few and made a fool of himself by being the dancing monkey after only an hour or so. Little Merlin. Haha. Real funny.

He should bring Dean a bottle sometime. He could use it for drinks. Only a drop or so. He might like it. He seemed interested in drinks and the likes, which was understandable considering his business.

"Moderate garlic." Merlin nodded as he threw ingredients together, spices into a blender and started to carve some avocados for the guacamole. "I like to taste the cilantro, too." He laughed and cut a generous tuft of the herb into the blender lastly before mixing it all together.

"I'd pay for this," he said as he took a sip from his glass before spooning the guacamole into a serving bowl. "But I'm not exactly your usual clientele. Unless you open your doors to the crowd from other universes, which can be a tricky business."

Dean's second sip of alcohol was much smaller. It still had the same eerie sensation of ocean depths and deep water chill but the kick of alcohol wasn't quite as strong. Maybe if they only offered it in shots people would really liked it. He wasn't sure how to market it just yet.

"Some people that come are probably from other realms and just passing through." Like Merlin. "But if that's the case they never mention it. I mean, it's not hard to get in. You've just got to be magical or supernatural. People who can travel between beings are totally supernatural or magical so why not come on in?"

Dean took a deep breath to stop himself. When he was drunk he got incredibly wordy and incredibly affectionate. He probably shouldn't get too wasted around Merlin. Things would be weird then, even though he really liked the idea of cuddling up with him on the couch like they used to.

Booze was so bad for him right now.

"It's really the cost that's going to make it sink or swim." He paused a moment. "Ha! A pun. I'm hilarious."

The next on the list was Pico de Gallo but it was a lot easier to throw together. He had been chopping everything together for a while. So Merlin merely poured the rest of the tomatoes on the cutting board and let the knife sing for a few minutes. It was done. Onions, more cilantro. There.

"Yeah, some people most likely do. There are some clubs out there that have permanent doorways. They're pretty damn popular among the crowd that don't have a way to move around as easily as my family and I." He wasn't suggesting of having one in Oddfellows. Even if it would probably easily double the clientele. It was dangerous. But it also made a point of having a place that was ready for that sort of attention.

He popped the taco shells into the oven and lined up everything else on the table before taking a seat next to Dean again. The pun made him bark out a laughter and a glance at the younger mage from the corner of his eye. Hilarious, sure, but much more adorable.

"I suppose it depends on how much you can ask for a drink before it becomes virtually impossible to sell." He spun the run around in his glass before tipping it back and downing it in one go.

"Ugh, maintaining a permanent doorway." Dean put his head down on the island as he thought about the sort of sustained magical power something like that would take. And where would he put it? The club was a good place. He didn't want to make any major changes unless he had to.

He turned his head when Merlin sat down next to him, smiling softly. God, this was nice. Dean remembered every single reason why he dated him in the first place and why he missed him so damn much when he vanished.

"It's always about what people are willing to pay," he said with a sigh as he closed his eyes. "No one else in New York carries this rum, I think. If Oddfellows is the first to carry it and it becomes popular people will come just to drink it. Clubs afterwards, if they pick it up, will look like they're copying. It'd be good business if its popular."

That was the gamble though. There was no telling if people would like the strange experiences the rum brought when it was drunk.

"Gotta let the staff try it and see what they think. We'll make the decision together as a club."

"Please don't," Merlin hurried to put in with a sheepish little smile. "I wouldn't recommend. At least without some severe security upgrades." God, just the idea of a couple of hundred demons roaming the street of New York. (There probably was those every now and then but... Merlin didn't want to see Dean mixed in that business.)

Because, well, because oh, he was so fucked. That smile made him reply with one of his own, just as soft and fond. Stop being cute, okay.

"The effect is neat and unique enough that I'd wager that most people would be curious about it at least for a while."

He reached out to smooth his hand down along Dean's back, aiming for something comforting. He looked a little stressed with his head on the table like that. "Seems like you don't have to decide tonight."

"I'm not going to. I mean, I'm always after ways to make the club better but that's not going to be one of them." He finally sat up again and took a drink. This time it was more pleasant to feel the cool waters sensation when the alcohol was making him warm all over. Or it was Merlin. One of the two was safer to believe.

"Yeah, it'd be a problem when the novelty wore off." Dean propped his chin in his hand. "Sorry to talk business. Tell me what you're up to. How's the job? How's normal life? Share!"

Because he would keep talking, venting about the business he loved that was sometimes really, really stressful. The more he drank the more rant-y he would get. If Merlin kept talking, though, he wouldn't be able to say anything and that would keep him quiet. It was the perfect plan, clearly.

"I don't mind," Merlin said easily. But before he could start talking about anything else, the timer top of the stove rang and he slipped off his seat and went to fish out the taco shells from the oven.

"The job is pretty good. I can work from home. I'm coding them a new, less clunky interface for their base program. Blah blah, Earth hardware has reached a point where you can do more with it and I'm introducing some new ideas, basically. More towards automation, everything is about automation these days."

He lined the taco shells on a plate, which he then popped onto the table and fished some plates for both of them along with napkins before he took a seat again.

"Little else is going on right now. Despil, my brother, the second in line for the throne, took off somewhere. Still waiting to hear back on some intel. Luke pops by every now and then. I'll have to bring him to Godfellows one day."

"Oddfellows."

Since they were both a little drunk he didn't take offense to that. Things things happened when alcohol was involved. Dean grabbed a taco shell the second they were on the table and started making one for himself. He needed food to absorb all the alcohol before he started drinking more rum. They hadn't even touched the vodka.

"Yeah, bring them both in. You guys can hang out in the VIP section and party."

As soon as he had a taco made Dean shoved it into his mouth with very little thought of manners. Before he made a total ass out of himself he wanted to sober up a little. He could use magic but that was cheating a little bit. He could get a little drunk without having a problem but if he got really drunk he would definitely do something stupid.

Merlin snorted out a laughter. That was an odd mistake. "I knew that," he said a bit sheepishly and rubbed his chin. Dean had said the name of the bar several times even during this conversation. But the mishap was funny enough to make him chuckle for a moment while grabbing a taco shell for himself and starting to stuff it with fillings.

"Despil would turn your bar into a Despil show." Merlin grinned while licking the tomato juice off his fingers. "He does that. He loves to entertain. Last week I went out with him for a night and we ended up in a karaoke bar, singing something horrible from the golden 80's while ladies threw their underwear at him."

He shook his head and took a bite of the taco, then quickly reached for those napkins because there just isn't a neat way to eat tacos.

Dean was either really hungry or really liked tacos. Merlin figured that it was a win-win in any case.

"Sounds like he needs to be a stripper," Dean said with a hand over his mouth so that he wouldn't be like disgusting and gross. He had manners, sort of. Alcohol made them a little crappier than usual.

Sitting around talking, drinking, and sharing a meal was a great reminder of how friendly they were. Dean relaxed, like stopped caring about all the weirdness of being around an ex-boyfriend. It always went away eventually because he really just couldn't hold a grudge against people without good reason.

This would be a good evening, whatever happened.

Laughing with mouth full of food, not really caring if it was messy or not, Merlin shook his head while trying to chew and swallow at the same time.

"No, look," he started after finally getting his mouth empty. "You'd have an orgy at your hands. I don't know what it is about him that turns people into mush. But he has it, whatever it is."

So, he might not want to introduce Dean to him in any case. JUST KIDDING.

Except not. No, really.

Merlin drew the bottle of Jack he had almost finished earlier to himself and uncorked it, pouring them both a shot in fresh glasses. "You probably want something else to drink too. What do you want? Soda? Beer? Water?" He stood up and aimed for the cupboards.

Dean was fantastic company. Merlin missed touching him freely and without any awkwardness but he had missed more just not spending time with him.

"Oh God, that would be so disastrous," Dean groaned and dropped his head to the table. "The health department would totally take away my alcohol license."

He turned his head and looked over at Merlin, his gaze still a little glassy eyed from alcohol but he could easily focus on him without trouble. He was tipsy, but not totally drunk.

"A little soda would be good," he said with a sigh. "At the very least I can mix everything together. Make a cocktail."

The whole point of another drink would be to help sober him up but he was staying for awhile. He could drink a little bit more before he needed to get sober. That could come later.

"I know, what a horrible mess." Merlin barked out a warm laughter as he fished out a few cokes for them from the fridge and returned to his taco. They were set now. He wouldn't have to dash around. He just needed to actually be able to sit on his butt and eat.

"What kind of cocktail would Jack, your squid liquor and coke make?" he asked before biting into another taco, his gaze twinkling with amusement over the taco shell.

They'll both be wasted before they're done here. What a shame.

"You don't usually mix whiskey and rum. I think." Dean wasn't officially a bartender. He could do a few things but he wasn't an expert in cocktails and mixed drinks. "I mean like, we could call it something stupid like The Briney Deep."

He sat up again so he could eat a little bit more and drink easier. He did mix his Jack into his Coke but luckily that made it mostly Coke. He would still get one hell of a buzz but nothing quite like the kraken liquor.

"This is why I hire people to do this stuff for me. I don't know what I'm doing but I can run a business." He pounded his fist on the island top to make his point.

"Be an entrepreneur," Merlin whispered, quite loudly so, while leaning a bit towards Dean. "New experiences."

And because he never was afraid to make a bit of a fool of himself, he did exactly that, sloshing at least half a mug of the coke into his jack, then a splash of the rum and swirled it around with his finger. A finger that he popped into his mouth with a wink and then sipped his mix.

"It's not... " he coughed. "Absolutely horrible at least."

He would drink it of course. Vile as it was. And he still liked the breeze of the sea as an after effect. But yes, Merlin wouldn't be much of a bartender either.

Dean dissolved into laughter at the look on Merlin's face after he took a drink. It looked like he had tasted something incredibly bad. Like brussel sprouts boiled in piss or something. It was hilarious to tipsy Dean. Hell, it probably would've been hilarious to sober Dean.

"I'm calling bullshit on that," he said between giggles. "You know it's terrible, just admit it."

He bumped his shoulder against Merlin's, grinning wildly at him. Come on, no shame in admitting something was bad.

"No!" Merlin gave a false look of dismay and crowed while picking up his glass again: "It's delicious, look..."

And the next sip would come with a look of intense pleasure, eyes closed and smacking lips. Ugh, it was worse than he had remembered but still! Moaning a little because that would just drive the point home, wouldn't it? "Mnn, so good."

He glanced at Dean from the corner of his eye. "I bet you'd like a taste."

"Keep your devil water away from me." Dean covered Merlin's face with his hand and pushed him away. "I have tasty, tasty alcohol and don't want you ruining it."

He curled around his jack and coke like a dragon protecting his hoard. No matter how pretty and pleasurable Merlin's expression was there was no way that mixture of crazy kraken rum and jack tasted good. Maybe if it was just coke and rum it'd be fine but he was skeptical of the whole crazy mixture.

"Stop being so cute about it too. You won't fool me with your adorableness."

"Mhy god, dnond e ho--" Merlin exclaimed against Dean's hand, crowfeet appearing around his laughing eyes. "Skittish!" And just because, he reached over as if to ruin Dean's drinks too, because it was exactly what had happened to his. (It was ruined. He couldn't, with a straight face, claim otherwise.)

"So you're weak against cute?" Batting his lashes and adopting that duck-face that you so often see plastered across the internet nowadays, he pushed his face all in Dean's business, distracting him until he could wiggle his fingers against Dean's side. Sorry, mate, he knows about your ticklish problem and is shameless enough to use this information.

"Have a little taste, babe."

If Dean was weak against anything it was moments like these where he was laughing and happy and slightly drunk. It's just everything he loved about being with a person, everything he felt for Merlin that hadn't really gone anywhere no matter what he said about being over it. Well, no, he was over it but because around Merlin again just brought it all back.

He grabbed Merlin's face in his hands, pulled him in and kissed him. It was sloppy and awkward and just not Dean's usual skill and style but he couldn't help himself. He couldn't think of any other response.

Alcohol was a bitch on his system. He was already an affectionate guy and when drunk that side of his personality was only amplified. There was no turning it down. His impulsiveness also went off the charts so what was a bad idea to sober Dean was a great idea to drunk Dean.

"Oh, god, that's awful. How did you not throw up?"

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LMAO typos also sorry for the delay!

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this is making me so hungry

time for tacos!

I wish!

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