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"How did you even manage to find alcohol in here?" You questioned curiously, an eyebrow raised as you watched Calvin pouring two glasses of scotch. "I didn't even know I had alcohol in here."
"If you ask Felix, I'm a bloodhound," Calvin joked with a chuckle, before putting a cap on the scotch and setting it on the counter. Grabbing both cups, he walked over to your couch, sitting down before motioning to the spot beside him. "You need to unwind a bit. Come drink with me."
Your heart thumped in your chest as y/e/c eyes shifted from Calvin to the scotch, to the spot beside him. Mouth dry, for a moment you had reflected on the slow climb of closeness you had going throughout the first three weeks of Calvin living with you. Stomach fluttering with butterflies, you tried to push it off as just another concern.
Maybe I do need to unwind, you thought to yourself as you took a breath through your nose.
Lips curled upwards the slightest bit, unsure whether or not you had forced them up, you moved to sit beside Calvin. You hadn't needed a single sip of alcohol to feel a little light headed, a little dizzied from your intruding thoughts. Reaching a hand out, you clasped the cup in your hand.
Placing the cup to your lips, you gently tipped it back, taking a small sip. "I suppose you're right," you spoke softly with a gentle chuckle.
"Hm, let's get your music going," he suggested, slipping his arm over your shoulder to grab your phone. Turning your music on, he began to scroll through your playlist, a raised brow and amused look against his features. "You have quite the strange variety. How do you even jump between this many genres?"
"I should have warned you," you replied before taking another sip of your drink. "I just kind of...throw anything I like on there."
"I can see that," he replied in an indistinguishable tone, before pressing play on one of your songs. He reached his arm back around you to place the phone back down. When he moved his hand back it had almost seemed like he eased himself the slightest bit closer. "Mmm, that's better." Lifting his cup to his lips, he shifted his gaze over to you for a moment before sipping his drink.
After the first cups of scotch were gone, he managed to convince you to go get the bottle of scotch to set up on the coffee table, before he poured two more generous cups. For the first cup, the two of you hadn't conversed much, but as the second cup was being sipped, you began talking more. From an outside perspective, the way you leaned and tilted your head the slightest bit as you were listening to his stories, it nearly seemed as if you were flirting with him.
He shared some relatively questionable stories, all varying in nature. His stories ranged between likely illegal things happening at the Wonder Warf, to odd situations and challenges that he's done with Felix in the past. With each story, you were more enthralled, no matter the slightly disturbing factors of some.
"I don't even know why I'm telling you all of this," he said after the third drink, laughing as he spoke it. "Just about all of it is highly illegal." He paused for a moment, his eye scanning you up and down. "You don't wear a wire, do you?"
"Please tell me you're joking or drunk," you replied with an eye roll, though you couldn't stop yourself from laughing. "I'd never wear a wire, nor would I tell anyone about anything."
"Are you sure?" He questioned, moving closer to you as he looked around your collarbone. "Prove it."
"How do I possibly prove any of those things?" You questioned, clearly a little tipsy yourself. You moved to grab his free hand, moving it over right above your breasts. As you gave him his hand back, you continued. "See, no wire, unless you'd rather I strip down."
"Hmmm," he hummed out as if he were contemplating the situation. In this moment, he had been hyper-aware of the way his heart fluttered in his chest, paired with how dry his mouth was. "As much as I'd like to get freaky with you, I don't want to mess up my hiding spot." He leaned forward, moving his hand to your cheek as he brushed his thumb against your cheek. "And I mean, I'm really attracted to you, Y/N."
You weren't sure if it was the alcohol that caused your cheeks to darken with such a deep tint of crimson, but you found yourself unable to formulate words. Slightly hazed y/e/c eyes gazed up at Calvin, a tightness in your chest. Finally, you forced your words tumbling out, saying, "I think sober me is in denial still, but I know I'm really into you, Calvin."
"Does you drinking make me look 30 years younger?" He questioned skeptically.
You quickly shook your head before taking a sip of your drink. After your sip, you set it on the coffee table, leaning in the slightest bit as you caught his gaze. "No, no," you began to reason. "You are incredibly handsome, witty, intelligent, and a long, embarrassing list forward. Sober me isn't going to admit it to you or me because I know if I take that step, I'm going to fall for you, Calvin."
"And this is a bad thing?" He questioned curiously as he eyed you suspiciously. "I mean, is it for the wealth? Rent exemption?"
"Kind of, no, and no," you replied quickly, your drunken state nearly mixing up the order. "Have you ever even seen a successful relationship? As for the other two, no, it's for everything I already said. You could be trying to move in with me full time and I'd still be into you."
"Well, I can't say I'm a strong believer, or a believer in relationships," he shrugged, "but you never know unless you try. You've basically lived a wife's life with me for three weeks already. That's longer than that one time I was actually married."
"And you've seen how much of a mess my life is, yet we're having this conversation," you spoke in realization. "Wow, I think this could actually work."
"You should never say that until you know how I am in bed," he teased, wrapping an arm around your shoulder as he pulled you close to him. "But, as much as I want to, I'm not sleeping with you while you're drunk."
"I didn't think I'd ever hear that from you, honestly," you replied with a chuckle, curling into his side comfortably. "But thank you."
"My hide and seek record has been 15 years strong, Y/N," he replied in a serious tone. "I'm not messing it up, or messing up a chance with such a radiant woman over a drunk fling."
"Fuck, please let me remember this conversation in the morning," you replied with a chuckle. "I want to ravage you."
"I'm going to stop you there, and offer we both sleep," he spoke, kissing the top of your head as he moved to get up. "You're riling me up way too casually, and way too much. I'm going to go jerk my wonderdog on your bed. Goodnight, Y/N."
You watched as he faded away, off to your bedroom as you moved to lie the rest of the way on the couch. A mix of heated and exhausted, you curled up on the couch with your blanket. Closing your y/e/c eyes, you quickly drifted to sleep.
You woke far more sluggish than you expected, your head pounding like drums in your ears. Hands reaching quickly to your head, you flipped onto your stomach as you closed your eyes tighter, hands gripping at your pounding head. An unintentional groan slipped past your lips as even your thoughts were far too loud to distinguish in your waking moments.
Ten minutes passed as you simply lied upon the couch, both awake and aching. The slightest hint of light caused you to groan louder, earth shattering pain pulsing through your head. If you were to distinguish your pain, you would describe it as someone taking a thousand jackhammers to your head.
"This is why I don't normally drink," you muttered to yourself aloud as you attempted to sluggishly sit upwards, hoping to ease the pain in your head. Your normal desperate desire for caffeine in the morning had been quelled by the severe pain of your hangover. Each time you attempted to think of what a hangover cure would be, another wave of pain shot through your head.
Y/e/c eyes squinted as you attempted to see if the two glasses had still been present upon the table beside you, and to your shock, they had been placed away along with the scotch. Through your pain, it had taken an extra minute of grabbing your pounding head to realize there had been pills paired with a small glass of water at the edge of the coffee table. Despite your pain, a soft half smile slipped across your face.
Reaching for the pills, you quickly swallowed them, realizing only afterwards that you hadn't even used the water. Carefully sipping the water, you scrunch your y/e/c eyes closed before opening them once more. Across from you, you noticed, sat an ever so amused Calvin.
Knock, knock, knock.
Before you had the chance to say anything to Calvin, even short of a thank you for the medication, you heard a rapping against your door. You groaned out of aggravation, rather loudly, as you shooed Calvin quietly to his hiding spot. Your heart pounded as fast as your aching head in this moment, a hint of terror inside of you as you struggled to your feet. Each step felt like you were stepping deeper into hell, your y/e/c eyes squinted, closing with each painful pound.
Knock, knock, knock.
"For fuck's sake, stop knocking," you groaned out. "I'm coming."
You leaned against the frame of the door, cracking the door the slightest bit as you practically hissed at the light that invaded your vision. For a moment, you had not even noticed who stood in front of you as you had yourself wedged in the doorway, pain coursing through your head. Blinking hard, you furrowed your brows as you narrowed your eyes to see who was standing there.
"Wow, you look like trash," Bob commented in a deep tone, standing outside of your door. "Maybe I should come back later."
"Aww, sweetie, are you okay?" Linda asked in an overly chipper voice beside him, causing your whole body to cringe.
"Oh, fuck it," you groaned out as you opened the door up, ushering the couple inside to your couch. "Now is fine. Come on in. Quickly. The light is suffocating."
As the couple came in, you remembered to lock the door behind the two as you struggled to the chair Calvin normally sat in, trying to focus upon your two guests. After another pain cringe, you finally shifted your gaze sluggishly between the two. "What's up?" You asked finally. "You guys never just stop over."
"Why are you like, uh, that?" Bob questioned.
You pursed your lips, before reaching out to grab the water glass that had been sitting on the other side of the coffee table. Met halfway by Linda, you graciously took the glass, taking another sip. Setting it back down where you could properly reach it, you sighed.
"Liquor," you spoke, receiving two acknowledging exclamations from the two.
"But why…" Linda tried to understand as she was one of the people who knew you hadn't been much of a drinker.
"My sister stopped out this weekend," you explained. "Spent a day doing double orders, and a night unwinding." Your speech had been weak, grabbing your head more than once through your sentences.
"That bad, huh?" Linda said with a chuckle, before frowning.
You chuckled softly, before cringing once more. "It was nice seeing her," you admitted. "But, I don't know. I got her off my back, though."
"Good for you," Linda replied happily. "You deserve to live your life the way you want to."
"But, uh, back to why we're here," Bob spoke cautiously, trying to backtrack his wife. "Felix seems really worried about Mr. Fischoeder."
"He's not worried," you replied with an eye roll, before cringing again. "They're playing a hide and seek thing, and I'm sure Felix is starting to get desperate. He's been here twice already."
"Well, have you seen him?" Linda added in.
"I told Felix if he came here, I'd tie him up for him and call him," you replied with a shrug. "I mean, Bob, you know him. He could be just about anywhere. I keep my doors and windows always locked, though."
"He is pretty slick when he wants to be," Bob agreed. "Did Felix say how long he's been hiding?"
"Oh god, I can barely even think for myself, Bob," you replied as you grabbed your head once more. "Um. Somewhere over three weeks by now."
"Wow, three weeks," Linda complimented, placing a hand over her mouth. "I don't know how someone would do that without help."
"He has properties all around town," you replied with a shrug. "Honestly, if I were to guess, my first guess would have been hiding with you guys. If he's moving around a ton, maybe the Warf."
"Why would we be your first choice?" Bob questioned skeptically.
"Because, you know," you spoke, before grabbing your head again. "You guys are, uh…" You grabbed your head again, cringing, before you continued. "Friends, I guess?"
"Honestly, we thought maybe here, because I thought you had a crush on him," Linda commented. "Those stray glances, we thought you were checking him out."
You chuckled, shaking your head, before grabbing your head again in pain. "Shit, sudden movements are bad," you groaned out. "Uh, no. I'm flattered, I think, but no. I pay him rent once a month, normally by check. The only time I've only really seen him is your restaurant, or those rare times that I go out."
"Our mistake," Bob dismissed quickly, using his hands for emphasis. "Or more like, Linda's mistake. I never, uh, thought that."
"If that's it, um, can I shoo you guys out politely?" You replied with a half smile, showing clear pain upon your face. "I'd like to lay in my bathtub without water for a while."
"Of course, sweetie," Linda replied quickly, practically pulling Bob to his feet. "Call us if you need anything. Or if you just want to chat. Or you could stop into the restaurant."
"I'll be out more, ugh, once I have everything caught up with the business," you replied as you followed the two to the door, unlocking it long enough to usher them out. Grabbing your head one last time, you forced a smile against your face. "Say hi to the kids for me."
With that, you managed to get them out the door completely, closing and locking it behind them. By about the last five minutes, your pain quelled to a gentle roar, having to act through the rest of the pained cringes. As soon as you locked the door behind them, you slipped yourself to your ass, leaned against the door for a second, letting go of a breath you had been holding.
Getting back up to your feet, you quickly made your way to Calvin's hiding space, giving him a grin. "I feel like I should thank you for the hangover," you spoke with a chuckle, cringing the slightest bit. "I don't think I would have been able to pull that one off."
"Was anything true in that entire conversation?" He replied with a wry smile, an eyebrow raised in question.
"That I've checked you out before, probably at Bob's?" You replied with a half smile and a shrug. "Well, yeah. You're far more attractive than anyone around here. I kind of felt bad denying that one, but I'd cop to it once Felix is no longer looking for you."
"You naughty, naughty girl," he cooed, his wry smile never leaving his face. "Do you remember anything from last night?"
"My brain is still too painful for thoughts," you admitted sheepishly. "Wait, I remember something about you jerking off on my bed last night."
"Ah, yes," Calvin spoke with a chuckle as he followed you out to the kitchen. "I did that."
"Sexy," you spoke with a smirk, before cringing from the dull ache in your head once more. "Alright, so I'm going to offer to make you breakfast, but I'm not consuming anything until my head stops splitting."
"I'm shocked, really," he replied, eyeing you as he watched you cringe again from the dull ache. "Didn't expect you to have such a hangover over a little scotch."
"I rarely drink," you replied with a shrug. "My tolerance isn't that of a lightweight, but my head doesn't appreciate the morning after." Realizing that Calvin was clearly fine in comparison to you, you had only made enough for one breakfast this morning, a simple, yet effective breakfast. The entire time you had been cooking, you attempted not to breathe, though you did have the added pain of your music playing.
"I'm curious, why put the music on while you're in pain?" He questioned with a quirked brow.
"In case we get any more visitors," you replied with a slight cringe. "The music makes it impossible to hear you walking off to your hiding spot. I'll gladly take a little pain over our cover being blown."
"Oooo, you don't want me leaving your shabby apartment," he concluded with a wry smile, graciously accepting breakfast before watching you lean against the counter.
"You're breaking your record," you replied absently as you rubbed your aching temples. "No matter how many amends I have to make afterwards."
"And it has nothing to do with your fondness towards me," he teased, clearly in a sarcastic tone.
"That...we can talk about after my hangover passes," you replied, the dull ache winning over your mind once more. "I'm sure I'll remember more of what happened once the pain fades away."
"You're going to work through it, aren't you?" He replied in a deadpanned tone as he eyed you suspiciously. If he had learned anything from your life, he knew you were one of the most hardworking individuals he had ever met. No matter how many decisions you decided not to address while your mind was at odds, it was clear that you would not lethargically just let the pain pass.
You nodded, before cringing once more. "I've made my products so many times by this point that I'm sure I could do it with my eyes closed," you replied casually, though there had been a clear pain to your tone. "There's no way I want to do another double day, so skipping and waiting for the pain to just pass isn't an option."