European Appreciation Club

Who: Dean and Joshua
Where: Joshua's apartment
When: Evening/night

Sophie dropped Dean off outside the apartment block, telling him that she'd be back to pick him up later and reminding him firmly that he had school tomorrow. He'd kind of, sort of ommitted to mention the 'alcohol' part of the evening, and they'd not asked too many questions, since it was Joshua and they knew him. Oz had given him a rather odd look when he'd said he wanted to go over, but hadn't said anything and Sophie had been fine about dropping him off.

Dean had to admit that this felt a little weird, but that would be the way with anybody he didn't know very well - and that classified as 'almost everyone in town', so, he'd take the weird. He shrugged a little and headed inside, walking around until he found the right door and knocked, waiting for an answer.

Joshua wondered in the back of his mind if this was weird. Having the guy over who he sometimes felt had stolen his girlfriend, even unintentionally and not all the way. But there was something they had in common at least: her. And Dean wasn't a bad guy. Really, if there was anything that Joshua hadn't liked him for in the past, it was for being such a good guy. Friend to Lu, whatever. In any case, he'd extended the offer and all that shit was over and settled and too late. Might as well make a friend of the guy if it was possible. Wasn't like he had many. Not to mention Dean had been having a shit time, it sounded like.

He was waiting for the knock, so it didn't take him long to get to the door and pull it open. He let Dean in with a faint smile. "Your cousin was good with this?" he asked as he shut the door again.

Dean quirked the smallest amount of a smile - little more than an upturning of the corners of his mouth, though for Dean, who so very rarely smiled, that was as good as a wide grin. "Apart from being shocked that I was gonna do more than sit in my room and be antisocial? Really, don't think she could get me out the door fast enough," Dean told him with a edge of wry humour in his tone as he stepped over the threshold.

Joshua chuckled. "Yeah, I think Sean was surprised too. But happy for it. Or at least doesn't mind, he went out and stocked the fridge earlier," he said, leading the way to the kitchen. Not like it was hard to find. He pulled it open and pointed out Dean's options. "Y'got Killians Red, Guinness, or ... some American dark brand. And that's about the best one can do here." He gave Dean a wry smile and an eyeroll.

"Gimme anything but the Guiness - had a pint in this Irish pub back in Manchster and damn, but I didn't feel well for the rest of the week. Course, that could have had more to do with the tequila shots in the pub down from there, but still - if I could lose the memory of it coming back up again, I'd be a happy happy man," Dean admitted, pulling a face. Not one of his finest moments, he had to admit - and probably one which he shouldn't have just admitted to joshua, but, well... Too late now, right? "So, whichever - I'm easy."

He pulled a bottle of the Killians out and handed it off to Dean, before snagging a Guinness for himself. They weren't full pints, sadly, because Americans were bastards and they couldn't go out to an actual bar, but one dealt with what one had. He grinned a bit at the story and chuckled, twisting the cap off. "Tequila's murder in a bottle, I hear you," he said, taking a swallow before making his way toward the living room. Sean was nowhere to be seen, having taken up residence in his room for this social event. Joshua thought he was just glad that they weren't going anywhere.

Dean rolled his eyes slightly as he followed him through. "Once was enough - still don't really remember getting home that night. Though I do remember the 3am lecture I got from mum after she found me deciding that the living room floor was a good place to sleep..." He'd been grounded for a month after that little outing, and she'd only let him go out into town with his mates again the night before he'd left to come here, something which he'd put down to a guilt complex for sending him away.

"Better than the bathroom, been there once or twice," he said lightly as he flopped comfortably on the couch, leaving room if Dean wanted it. The furniture wasn't the best, but it was cozy. He knew, he'd spent an insane amount of time depressed-sleeping on that couch. Joshua tilted the bottle up again and wondered vaguely if Lullaby knew Dean was here. Or what they were doing. "'Course, I usually got moved by angelic forces, so ..." He shrugged. "Oh, and if you're ditching school, Sean said you're fine to stay here tonight. If you wanna avoid the 3am lecture." He grinned a bit.

Dean sat down on the other end of the couch, turning toward Joshua a bit and making himself comfortable - he tended to slouch, but always made sure that he was slouching in a way that he could see the face of the person he was talking to. He took a pull on the beer and considered this. "Nah - Sophie's dead set on picking me up later. I think she'd pitch a fit if I said I was staying here. I'll just have to... act sober or something. Or live the lecture - anyway, I figure that even if Sophie's kinda down on me, Oz'll probably decide that I needed to let off steam or something. I can swing it, I think. But thanks," he added. As for the school thing - he hadn't decided about that yet. He'd have to see how he felt.

Joshua nodded amiably. It was cool if he had a ride. With how things had been going, if he hadn't, he would've been more insistent on it. Because walking home drunk in the middle of the night in Marquette was a big no-go. And they lived kinda out there, so ... yeah. But he had a ride, so all was well. He settled back and pulled off of the bottle again, wondering where the conversation could go from there. He wasn't sure if Dean was doing this to get a break from shit, or if he wanted to talk, or what. So Lu told me she moved, may or may not have been a good idea to lead off with, so he didn't. Everybody come through the bullshit okay? didn't even really work. Hell. So ... story. "I remember one time," he started, grinning slightly at the memory that just came up. "I was out with my mates, and there was this house they were in the middle of building across town, but it wasn't done or locked, so we decided it'd be a good spot to sit and drink, y'know? Only it was cold, so we thought, okay, small fire in a paint bucket or somethin'. It was a good idea for a couple hours, until we were all wasted, yeah? At which point, your's truly kicked it over by accident, and the wood under us started to catch. We tried puttin' it out before the damage got too bad, but one of the neighbors saw the light and smoke and called the police. So I ended up havin' to pay for about a four foot hole in the floor, and got 'escorted' home. Ma, Da, and three angels was out waitin' for me on the front porch." He chuckled and took another swallow. Yeah, that had been some shouting.

Dean chuckled at the story, then his expression turned a little more curious. He paused a moment before he asked his question, listening, wondering where Sean was. He could hear the sounds of a TV nearby somewhere, but that could have been a neighbour for all he knew. "What's it like?" he asked, honestly curious. "The whole 'guardian angel' thing. I mean - I saw and everything, but... And there were three of them?" he asked.

He answered the easier part of it first. "There's actually four of 'em, all told. Annora, Calix, September -- who was here with me before Sean -- and then Sean. Most of 'em watch the whole family, in bits. I'm kinda the only one with one just strictly for me, 'cause I ... y'know, moved halfway around the world." He chuckled a little himself and took another drink. "It's ... I dunno, it kinda swings between really annoying and kinda comforting? All of 'em are different, but with Sean, it's like having a really overprotective big brother, I guess. Fucking frustrating sometimes, but good at others. Like with the shadows? He kicked their asses. I woulda died without him, probably. Or at least landed in the ICU." He shrugged a shoulder; that was just a fact.

"Yeah, someone like that'd be good to have around," Dean agreed, his voice falling quiet for a moment as he looked down at his beer, picking at the edge of the label. His eyes ticked back up again though as he started speaking once more, his voice more normal, making up for the momentary lapse. Joshua wasn't the only one who could have landed in the hospital, but he didn't really want to bring that up. "So - guess they were just always around then? When you were growing up? So - you're like, used to all this? The weird shit?"

Joshua decided to ignore the brief lull. "Yeah, they were always just around. Thought they were more cousins and aunts 'til I was about ten. Then I got told the truth." Because he'd kind of almost died -- which was more or less a regular occurance for him. He shrugged that shoulder again. "Not really used to it. Not this kinda shit. I'm used to thinking that there's all kinds of stuff out there, but I was protected from it, I guess. Nothin' this bad used to happen back home. You? I mean, your cousin's married to a werewolf."

"Not married," Dean corrected, though he knew where the confusion came from. "It's... complicated. But yeah, Oz is a werewolf - and that whole thing's a touchy subject back home. Like a 'I didn't know about it until the day before I came out here' touchy subject. In fact, my aunt - Sophie's mum - still doesn't know. Or about me. That whole 'weird' thing's still kinda hush hush. Like - I knew about some shit. My gran knew about things, but she didn't really tell me much. Just enough to let me know I wasn't crazy or anything, but she died when I was thirteen and I don't know anyone else from back home that's even, like, into magic or anything, let alone angels and demons and psychics and shit," he admitted.

He listened and nodded. He knew that most people were like that, really. None of his boys back home had known anything, just that he had a big family and he was a clutz. He'd been more open about everything with people here than he ever had been at home, because it seemed weirdly concentrated here. "So what exactly do you do, anyway?" he asked, raising a curious eyebrow. He didn't think he'd ever been directly told. He knew Dean was some kind of psychic, and he'd blown out the lights in the basement, but that was about it.

Dean took another swallow of his beer. "Nothing useful," he said, with a trace of bitterness, before he caught himself and tried again - with another swallow of beer, getting used to the taste again. "I'm - I'm a 'disruptor'. I - god, you know it's really weird talking about myself like... Anyway. I can channel negative energy and basically break things, switch them off, make them stop working, blow them up - that kind of thing?" Dean told him, hurrying through the explanation to get past the weird thing of talking about himself like he was someone else.

"... and you think that's not useful?" Joshua asked, trying not to sound as incredulous as he felt. Because damn, he could think of tons of situations where that would be an awesome skill to have. "I mean, I know it put you down that one time, but ... man, you're like a weapon. I mean, the best I can do is pick up a heavy book and not break my own nose with it." He took another long swallow.

Dean winced, not looking happy at that. "Yeah..." he said, looking uncomfortable as he tipped his head back a little and took a few big swallows from the now rapidly disappearing beer.

He noted the expression and thought he'd probably stepped on something there. But they were both headed toward empty, so he got up to go get them two fresh bottles. He for one, wished that what he'd been born with could be so useful. Coming back, he handed Dean another bottle and sat down again.

Dean finished off his beer as Joshua went, and accepted the new one on his return. "Sorry," he apologised, realising that he'd just been a shitty guest there. "I just - it's like, you're telekenetic, right?" Thia had told him that much, anyway. "Which is cool, really cool - I'd love to be able to do that. There's so much potential there. Me? I can - I don't like the only thing I can do to be to destroy shit, y'know? Like, that's all there is? And the backlash is a bitch anyhow - I spend most of my life sick, or laid out. Try not to use it, except things around me break without me trying. Especially if I get upset. I go through electrical shit like nobody's business. So, yeah, no - I don't really think that much of it." And he'd read where it was headed, and that was something that made him really fucking uncomfortable.

Joshua waved off the apology, but listened to the rest. He nodded a bit, able to see where Dean was coming from when it was put that way. He considered, quiet for a moment as he finished his first beer and cracked the second one open. What was up with everybody being all impressed with his TK lately? "Yeah I can see that," he said finally, sipping. "I mean, I can see how it could be used really well, in a practical kind of way, but as an everyday thing ... that's gotta blow. And the telekinetic thing ... yeah, it'd probably be really cool on somebody else. But when it's tempered with a curse ... you end up with a lot of bruises and broken shit. It gets a little out of hand when I'm upset too, so. ... I mean, that's nothing next to getting sick and laid up, but yeah. I'm not good at it, and I dunno if that potential is gonna get better or just make me more dangerous."

"Nothing comes without a downside," Dean agreed, wryly as he took another sip. "But yeah, the sickness is really shitty. It's - I was reading that book? The one on psychics? And it was saying that I get sick because I attract negative energy - that's how I do things. I channel it and direct it out again. But that all, and being surrounded by it all the fucking time? The human body doesn't like it. So, like, I can use it to break other things, but at the same time it's like, breaking me? Something like that. Haven't been using my abilities much lately though, and I've been feeling a lot better. So maybe I just.. won't, y'know? Not on purpose, anyway."

He pulled a face. Yeah, that sounded decidedly shitty. He couldn't imagine his own abilities like ... slowly hurting him. Sure, there was the curse, but as far as he knew, that wasn't ever going to get any worse. "Probably a good idea," he said with a nod. "Like a last-ditch effort kind of thing, when you can help it?" He took a couple of swallows from his bottle, looking vaguely thoughtful. He briefly tried to imagine himself with that kind of power, and decided immediately that he would kill someone on accident.

"Yeah, I guess, though... round here? Not exactly useful," Dean shrugged. "The mine? Nope, couldn't use it. Vampires? Even if I was good enough to affect actually body systems, vampires aren't alive, so no there either. And the shadows?" He laughed a little. "Riiiiight, still don't know what the fuck that was all about, but I doubt I'd've been much use there either. So currently my 'abilities' have been fuck all use. So far in my life all I've really used them for it to be a pain in someone's arse," he admitted. "So, what about you? What's... the curse thing? How bad - what is it?" he asked.

Joshua was definitely with him in the 'totally useless' camp; his telekinesis had yet to be of any practical value in a time of crisis. But that was mostly because he wasn't very good at it yet. At least Dean could shoot. He sucked down a bit more beer. "It's really old, been on my whole family for a long time. It's just ... bad luck, any way you can slice it. Wrong place, wrong time, business failure, or just untied shoelaces to trip over, it just kinda sneaks in wherever it can. Like I put in all my papers at the uni just recently, right? I called again, and they're lost. I even made copies, and now I can't find those. Shit like that. Most of my uncles are missin' fingers. And I still kinda think -- ... " he cut himself off and paused briefly. "I worry that it ... gets on people. If that makes sense." That he'd been the reason the bullet caught her and not someone else. No matter how many people told him otherwise, part of him would always think that.

Dean winced for him. "Yeah, that's - so, it's like someone somewhere out there really doesn't like you?" he asked, taking another mouthful of beer. He could feel it starting to go to his head - one of the downsides of not really beng able to eat very much was that when Dean drank, he drank on an empty stomach. He tended to get drunk quickly and badly and almost every time, sooner or later his stomach would rebel, the way it rebelled against near enough everything else he put into it. Didn't stop the teen though - he'd yet to learn his lesson there. "But I guess there's nothing you can do except work with it, right?" he offered, more positively.

"Yeah pretty much," Joshua agreed to both points, sucking down a couple more swallows of his own. He'd eaten, but it was a while ago, so he was starting to feel the effects of it himself. The tingle in his jaw and the slightly heady feeling. It didn't help -- or did help, depending on from which direction you looked at it -- that Guinness was strong stuff. "Nothin' to be done but try and live with it, and rely on Sean to keep me from killin' myself on accident," he said with a faint grin. "But it's pretty much decided that I can't drive for quite a while, and usin' a gun ever is out of the question."

"Sounds like that's for the best," Dean agreed. "Though, y'know - I'm still waiting for that day when I pull the trigger and find that my abilities have decided to fuck the mechanism up." Which would probably be the day he died. "...And again the world is fucking warped. When we both just... God, things have been fucked up lately," Dean swore, definitely feeling the effects of the alcohol kicking in.

He arched an eyebrow at the other guy, but could definitely feel where he was coming from. "Things have been really fucked up lately," he agreed, tipping the bottle up again for a long pull from it. He sucked a stray drop off of his bottom lip. "When we both could be fucked just by living?" he suggested to the cut-off sentence.

"That and we're sitting here talking about the viability of firearms. Warped, weird, crazy on some many bloody levels," Dean agreed. And sometimes he just hit that 'stop the world, I wanna get off' stage. He just couldn't admit that openly to another guy, especially one who he didn't know all that well. It was fine with Thia, it was different with her, but you didn't share that kind of thing with another guy. The was one of those unwritten rules.

If he had said it first, Joshua would've agreed wholeheartedly, but that same rule kept him from expression anything similar. "Life sure has kinda ... changed a lot," he said, trying to sound as neutral as he could about it. He knew that not only had life changed, he had changed. Which was kind of strange to think. And it wasn't just that '18 and coming into himself' kind of change. But it was deal, die, or run, and the second two didn't sound all that great. Though he was still waiting for the day that Sean pulled him out of bed to pack his shit up and get on a plane.

"Yeah, it really, really has," Dean agreed, thinking there wasn't much of a better way of putting it. It wasn't that simple, of course, but - everything had changed. Everything had changed so much that some days he woke up and he felt like a different person even. "Can I ask you a question," Dean asked, after a moment's silence. "If you could - if you were given the choice - would you go back? Home, I mean?"

He didn't point out that he did have a choice. He knew for sure that his family would be thrilled to hell about the idea, and Sean probably would too. Joshua drank a little more before he answered. "I've thought about it. Right after ... she died, I really did. And I'm sure I could still, if I wanted to, but ... I dunno, it feels like running to me, doesn't sit right. I came out here on my own, and yeah, it's turned into some horrific shit, but I don't wanna run home with my tail between my legs, y'know?" That, and he didn't want to leave her. But he didn't add that in out loud.

Dean nodded, drinking some more. "Yeah - that's kinda how I feel. It's like, I know that all I'd have to do to get out of here would be to pick the phone up to mum and tell her, like, a fraction of what's been going on here." Or, say, that he regularly carried a gun. "She'd have me on the next plane home, I'm guessing. But, it's like you said - that'd feel like running. And I couldn't leave people," he tacked on to that in such a continuation of tone that made it clear that he'd assumed that all went along with it, for both of them.

Joshua was nodding, agreeing with everything he said. If any of them across the ocean knew exactly what was happening ... he wasn't sure that he'd have a choice in going home. Which was probably why Sean hadn't told them. That was his theory, anyhow. He looked a little glassy-eyed for a moment before blinking it off and finishing off the beer in his hand. He pointed the neck of it at Dean's bottle and raised a questioning eyebrow. Time for round three.

Dean's eyes flickered between Joshua's face, his finger and the bottle and he chuckled a little. "Yeah, go on," he said, agreeably, tipping the bottle back and finishing it off. "Thanks," he added.

He got up and got them another couple of beers, then returned and re-settled. That was the thing: you knew you'd had enough when you couldn't stand up to get more. "Not going anywhere until I absolutely have to," he said, picking it back up once he was comfortable again. Which was getting easier, the more he drank. His cuts hurt a lot less. I miss her. Does she talk about me ever? Do you think I could fix it? "Which might be, y'know ... suicidally stupid, but hey," he added with a wry little smile.

Dean twisted the cap off his beer and threw it gently onto the coffee table before taking a sip. "I would've thought for a guy with a curse, sitting still in one place would be like the best thing to do - at least, that'd be my excuse," he joked, chuckling a little, his head beginning to feel warm and fuzzy. The beer was starting to taste better as well.

Joshua grinned a bit. "Maybe anywhere but here. I just ... don't think I could go back anymore. Nothin'd be the same." Because he wasn't. But at the moment, he wasn't sure if it really bothered him. Which was kind of a relief, because it often did. He shifted into a better slouch and nursed of of the bottle. "So why're you here, anyway? Get in trouble back home or somethin'?"

"Something like that," Dean admitted. "My parents decided that I should be somewhere where there'd be people who'd 'understand' me, or something. And, like you said, my cousin's bloke's a werewolf. So, I got shipped off here in the hope that it'd sort me out - or something. I dunno, maybe it worked. I mean, when I'm not fighting for my life, that is. I kinda - I kinda like it here, weirdly. Screwed as that probably is." That was what he was starting to realise. He was learning things about himself, picking things out that before had just been lost in the crowd, or hidden under a sea of migraines and irritations.

He couldn't help but think that Lullaby was probably a big reason why Dean liked it there. She had definitely been a big reason why he had. But at least he didn't say it out loud, swallowing off the bottle again. "Definitely don't think there's anywhere else like it," he said with a faint smile. He kind of hoped not, at least. Despite how stubbornly he was clinging to the place.

"How 'bout you?" Dean asked him in return, shifting slightly and pushing a pillow into the small of his back. "What brought you over here? I mean - I've got relatives here and everything, but if I was just shoving a pin in a map, Marquette seems kinda random. I know when I first got here I was all, 'this place is the middle of fucking nowhere' about it all."

Joshua laughed a little, because that was almost exactly what he'd done. "I wanted to get away, first. Go out and ... I dunno, do all that finding myself bollocks that you hear about. Eighteen, legally free, you know? Whole new country to explore. We stayed in Chicago for a few months, but it felt kinda too big, weird as that sounds. So I actually closed my eyes and pointed at a map, and ... here we are," he said, making a vague gesture around at the apartment. "Not exciting, but I didn't expect to stay here very long."

"So - it was kinda random then?" Dean asked with a laugh. "Good as anything else." And then he met Thia and then he stayed, Dean reminded himself. "Nice here though," he added, aloud, some of the laughter gone from his tone, sounding a little awkward.

"Yeah, kinda random," he agreed, still smiling. It was on it's way to fading, though. He wasn't sure if 'nice' was really the word for it. It had been, at first. It had been really nice. Idyllic nice. But now it was something completely different. His head swam a little as he shifted position again. Yeah, definitely on his way to drunk. "It's good when it's quiet," he said softly.

"S'what I meant," Dean amended. "I mean, obviously when there's vampires and fucking shadow things that keep changing the rules on you and stupid dreams and shit - not nice. But s'pretty and quiet - love the quiet - and just... Nice. Y'know - if it wasn't for all the bullshit bollocks, I'd probably think it was boring as hell. That's warped, that's fucking warped - cos it's not like I want the crap or anything. In fact-" He looked up to the ceiling. "-You can stop it any time you like now," he said, to whoever might be listening. And then frowned and looked at Joshua. "So - if there's angels, does that mean there's definitely a God?" he asked him, as though Joshua may have all the answers there. He was definitely drunk now, he decided, knowing he was starting to effortlessly ramble from one subject to another.

Joshua thought that that was probably the most he'd ever heard Dean talk at one time, and it made him grin. Boy was drunk. Good times. "No, there's not a God. Or if there is, Sean doesn't know him. Or her. Or it, yeah? They're just ... species, like ... dogs. Only not, more like vampires or ... or something else. Just a type of thing to be, y'know? They don't flutter up to Heaven to hang out with the Big Man or any shit like that. He don't know if there's a God anymore'n you do. But whatever's doin' this ... yeah, stop," he said, tossing his own glance up at the ceiling. Not like it would do any good. He took another few swallows that he hardly tasted.

"Eh, figured - I mean, if you knew, if you really knew-knew you could make a fortune as one of those blokes on the telly? All hitting people on the head and curing them and shit. You Sean had his, her, whatever's ear or summat." Dean frowned, wondering if that made any sense. Possibly, possibly not. He tossed the wondering aside in favour of more beer. "Odd miracle'd be nice though," he added with a slight sigh. He could think of a good few times when a miracle would have really come in handy lately.

It might've made more sense of Joshua wasn't a couple sheets to the wind already, but as it stood, it just sounded funny to him. The first part, at least. So there was some snickering as he downed a bit more. "Yeah, could've used a pocketful of 'em already," he agreed. Which led his soaked brain to think about when. Which brought back up all kinds of little snippets of Lulu dying, of course. Not good drinking-thoughts, but there they were anyway. Goddamn, he didn't need to be moody right now. He sat up straighter, wishing in an odd way that he smoked. He could go for a cigarette. He only ever kind of wanted one when he was wasted.

"Yeah, you and me both," Dean agreed, his mind also wandering to Lullay's death, except his was going to her most recent one, and the 'miracle' that he was sat here, drunk and scarless - that didn't seem fair, somehow. It might have been her choice, but it wasn't fair on her. He shook himself, slightly - he refused to go all sullen-drunk on the guy.

He wouldn't have been alone, if he had. Those creeping dark edges to his thoughts were harder to fend back when he was drinking. Joshua stared a hole in the coffe table for a moment, beer rolling rhythmically between his hands, before he blinked rapidly and looked over at Dean again. "But not like we can change shit, right?" he said, a bit subdued. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. They were really too young for this much regret. "Just always ... forward motion. Yeah."

Forward motion was good for Dean - it was the way he lived, his coping mechanism. Just... Keep going, fill your day with things, always have something else to get done, the next plan, the next idea - anything that stopped him having to stop. He didn't do so well with stopping and he felt dangerously close to that at the moment. "I'm sorry," he said, after a pause, looking over at Joshua. "About - the other night. I..." He didn't know whether he'd done the right thing, telling Joshua. He knew he would have wanted to know, but Thia had him second-guessing that now. Maybe he should have just left it, spared the guy the pain.

Joshua looked questioning, not sure what part of the other night he was really referring to. It felt weird to be apologized to -- again -- by someone he probably owed a few of those. "For what?" he asked, not catching on to Dean's meaning.

Dean had kind of been hoping that Joshua would have just got what he meant from that like some kind of quasi-psychic thing. They were both psychic, right? Why couldn't telepathy come as part of the default package? "The other night, when - when I called you and... Was that? I mean? Would you have... Doesn't matter," he said, not knowing how to put 'should I have told you that your ex-girlfriend had died again' into words that didn't sound horrible in his head, so giving up on the effort.

He thought he might be following now. "Did I want to know?" he asked, and then went on to answer it in case it was that. Since Dean seemed incapable of actually asking the full question. "Yeah. Of course I do, I mean ... yes." He took another quick swallow, and made at least a half-assed attempt not to expound on that, but it came out anyway. "I want to know everythin' about her, what she's doin' all the time, what she's thinkin' about, going through, what she's wearing, how she is, if she really misses me or if she's just tryin' to make me feel better, yeah? Think about her all the fuckin' time, man, so if she dies again ... yeah, I want to know. So y'know ... don't be. Sorry. Call me." He licked his lips and drank down the rest of the bottle at once, giving a little wince as he swallowed. Then got up a little unsteadily for another. Stupid mouth.

"She misses you," Dean told him without hesitation. "She misses you and everyone and her whole life that she doesn't have any more. I - what she has now? It's - She feels trapped, like she's, I dunno, but I don't know what to do about it. And she moved out and she's... Alone and bored and trapped and just... I don't even know. And she's sad a lot of the time and wears far too many pyjamas, but she needs winter clothes cos right now she's stealing my jumpers to keep warm, 'cept she's bloody miles away now and... Yeah, I'll call you," he said, cutting himself off, aware he wasn't really making a whole host of sense.

If he wasn't, Joshua didn't seem to notice. The floodgates had opened, it seemed, with both of them. "I know she misses her life and that's -- ... that's understandable, and it's okay and I tried to tell her I understood that and I didn't expect her to be better, y'know?" he was saying from the fridge. He came back with two more beers without even seeing if Dean was done with his, he just kind of put it on the couch next to the other guy before flopping again. He winced a little at the pain in his leg as he pulled it wrong, but it was muted. "But it's like ... it's like I was still in it, I knew, yeah? But she kicked me out of it, so I don't even know what's goin' on with her anymore. She doesn't talk to me. Like you had to tell me she died, and it just feels so shitty, I can't even -- ... " He shook his head and shut his mouth with a fresh swallow, missing how his logic wasn't the best in there. "I wanna be there, but I dunno what the lines are and if she wants me to or not."

Dean wasn't done with his - but that was something that was easily remedied as he downed it and reached for the next. "Mate, but - like she was dead when I told you she'd died. She - if I hadn't, she would have said." Probably - maybe she wouldn't, he thought to himself. "I - I will always tell you. And - if... Will you tell me?" he asked. "Because, I would always want to know. Don't care that it fucking hurts like hell. I wanna know." He took a swig of his beer and swallowed before continuing. "As for lines-" he laughed a little. "You know she says she doesn't have any. Which is a lie, by the way, cos - there's always lines. Cos, if not... No, there are lines. She just means that she thinks she doesn't have any that are closer than where she thinks your lines are, without knowing where your lines are, then you're left guessing where lines are without knowing where lines are and you can't talk about where the lines are cos then she might realise that maybe your lines aren't where they're supposed to be and then you're fucked because that was the thing you were trying not to bring up in the first place and then everyone's confused and the lines are blurred and then the shit hits the fan and bam - big mess. I say - just be her friend, and if you don't get told to fuck off, you're doing something right. S'worked okay for me so far. Mostly."

He had completely lost Joshua in there, with all the lines and not lines, so his brain backtracked to the first part of what he said first. "I will always tell you, mate," he said seriously, giving Dean a drunk-earnest look and even pointing at him a bit with his bottle. "If I know and you don't? You're the next to know. If you tell me, I'll tell you." He tipped the bottle up, sucking down quite a bit at once. It got easier, the longer you went. Unlike some other things. Like being dumped. "I'm tryin', but ... There's even ... there's even another girl, I even saw her today. Claire. She's cute, and she all ... likes hangin' out with me, I guess, but ..." He shook his head and rubbed at one eye with the heel of his hand. "At least you get time with her, y'bastard," he said, looking over and picking up another random thought. "Big messy lines or not, y'know? ... how do you know how many pajamas she wears?"

"Cos half the time she doesn't wear anything else," Dean told him, then wondered if that sounded wrong. "Not, like, she doesn't wear anything else-else, cos - wouldn't know but, I mean, that is - she wears them round the house in a 'lack of normal clothes' kinda way. Just, pyjamas seem to feature big in her day-to-day clothes thing. Thing. Thing... Anyway, yeah and - I know, I get time with her. Or did. Probably less now. It's weird - kind of - I got used to having her there, y'know? I mean, like sometimes? Not so great and... But... Yeah and - Claire, huh?" he asked, changing tack. Does Thia know? he thought. Dean still had that half a thought constantly in the back of his mind that maybe she and Joshua would get back together one day.

Oh, so it didn't involve like ... sleeping while wearing pajamas. At least not that he was admitting to. Claire. He shrugged and looked vaguely miserable. "Sure she's not interested. And I was ... I was thinkin' about it earlier? And it's like ... am I not looking and telling myself that I'm looking to try and make myself actually look? Or like, be over it faster? Or am I really not looking because I'm really not and every fucking time I see her, I end up wishing she was Lullaby? Or am I just pathetic and hopeless with both of them because Lu dumped me 'cause I suck and she doesn't need me 'cause she's got you, and Claire would prob'ly find that out pretty fast and do the same thing. Or just not in the first place. I mean, I want her back really bad, but that seems kinda impossible, and I'm just waitin' for you two to get together anyway. Which, y'know ... I woulda prob'ly tried to fight you for like a couple weeks ago, but everything's all fucked up now and you're not a shitty lad." Joshua realized he was rambling and he'd even sort of lost himself, and shut up. "S'broke, mate. Just fuckin' broke. But if friends is all I get, I love her, yeah? Friends is all I get. You know."

"I know," Dean agreed, because he did know - he'd been dealing with 'friends is all I get' since the get go. Sometimes he was jealous of Joshua for the time he'd had. Screw that, he was jealous of Joshua most of the time, for what he'd had. "Friends is all I get too - Thia and I... She's never, she just doesn't see me that way. Like, at all. It's like I'm not even a guy or something. At least where she's concerned. But... Yeah, so, I mean... If you're waiting for that... Gonna be a long wait, mate," Dean told him with a shrug, drinking some more of his beer. "And anyway - she didn't dump you cos you suck or anything. She dumped... You guys broke up cos she couldn't handle a relationship thing then, now - thing. And you're not pathetic and hopeless - that's bollocks. You don't suck. But... Don't go looking for a replacement, cos - recipe for bloody disaster, mate. Seriously. I thought that was a good plan and ended up with the witch from hell. And now, apparently, I'm gay - bad news. Bad bad news."

"She told me she couldn't handle trying to take care of me, man," Joshua said with feeling, looking over. Yeah, that still fucking stung. But he waved it off, literally. That had been what she said, she couldn't handle a relationship, and arguing about his own interpretation of that wasn't going to do any good, really. How else was he supposed to take it? It was still confusing. And she said she wanted to be friends, but he could count on one hand the times he'd seen her since then. And did she talk to him any more deeply without the 'pressure' of being with him? No. But fuck it. "Sounds like there's a story there," he said, trying to push the subject on to something else. Or at least not his side of it.

Dean shrugged. "Yeah, kinda, I guess. I mean, I can't spend my whole life just... I mean, you know. It's not exactly a secret that I like her and everything, but, like I said - never gonna happen. So, I figured, time to move on, right? I mean, I'd always been kinda like, 'never gonna happen, so if someone else comes along, great' about the whole thing. But, kinda-" He looked vaguely uncomfortable as he carried on. "-I mean, with her always being there and everything... It - anyway, I decided that I was going to move on, find someone else, whatever it took. So I asked out this girl at school. Cute, blonde, bit younger than me." He took another sip of his beer. "Big mistake - huge, ginormous mistake. First date, ten minutes in and she's all 'oh, Dean, we have a connection, we were meant to be together," he mimicked in a high falsetto. "Then... Yeah, kinda went downhill from there."

Joshua could see that he was uncomfortable, but the whole situation and the falsetto kind of got him chuckling a bit. "Sorry, but ... wow," he said, whistling low and shaking his head with amused sympathy. "S'rough, man, f'sure." And he really did feel for him. He wasn't sure that all of his hanging out with Claire was an attempt to distract himself, but he couldn't deny that some of it was. He slouched more and sipped on his beer. He was slowing down a bit, propping a foot up on the coffee table, most definitely trashed now. Dean needed the same two blonde, big-tittied, easy girls that he did. "Forcin' it ... never gonna work. S'gotta just ... happen, y'know? Just happen. S'just gonna suck 'til it does."

"Yup," Dean agreed wholeheartedly. "Learnt my lesson, not trying that one again." He didn't mention that she'd tried to screw him as well - admitting that to another guy, that he'd turned the girl down... Yeah, not going there. Even with the 'Thia was right there in the closet' excuse. Which made him wonder if he'd've done it if they'd been alone. Maybe if he'd had this much to drink. "So, you tell Thia 'bout Claire?" he asked, still wondering on that.

"Nothin' to tell yet," he said, shrugging a shoulder lazily. "Just a girl I hung out with a few times. Talkin'. ... think I should?" he asked, looking over again with a sudden concerned expression. What if he did and it like ... made her jealous or something? Would that mean she still wanted to be with him? Or would again, eventually? But what if he didn't, and then they got back together later, and he had to explain the presence of this female friend and she was pissed? Or what if he did and she just didn't care at all, was even happy for him or some shit? That would be worse. So much worse.

"Well, you're friends, aren't you? Isn't that what friends do? I dunno - I think she'd want to know. I mean, this is Thia - she's interested. She's always interested. But, I mean... Gotta be weird, right?" Dean knew it'd been weird telling Thia about Janice, and that was nothing like this. "But - she'd want to know. I know she would. And - I mean - better she find out from you? Though, really, the only other person who'd tell her is me and..." he trailed off there.

"Well, I mean, yeah, I'm not gonna like ... keep her a secret or anythin', like a backup or some shit ..." he said in a musing tone. "I mean, I don't even know if I'm interested. But I am kinda ... curious. About what she'd say, if she'd care or like ... be happy. Was she happy for you? That you had a date or whatever?" He assumed that Dean had told her. It was kind of difficult to keep things from people you lived with when they were your best friend too.

"Yeah, yeah she was," Dean told the other guy. "Though, like - I know now she knew the girl from school and didn't like her, but she was still happy for me. Maybe questioning my taste in women, but, yeah. Happy for me, cos she - she thought that was what I wanted."

"Had to suck," Joshua muttered. Though like Dean said, he'd been operating under 'never going to happen' for a long time now. He himself was still stuck in 'please happen again' land. "I mean, good, 'cause ... she's like that, and she's a really good friend, but still. For you. I dunno, I don't want her to think I'm over her or anythin' like that, because I'm not. Really, really not. She's just ... unforgettable." But honesty was always the best policy, so maybe ... "I'll prolly tell her tomorrow, s'posed to see her."

"It wasn't bad - I mean, I wanted for that to be what I wanted, y'know? I mean, I'm not insanely masochistic or anything and actually like... Yeah, well - it'd be nice if... Some days I just wish that I didn't, y'know? Make things easier, simpler. I don't have your issue - I mean, you don't want her to think you're over her, I... Don't want her to know that I'm..." He gave up in that one, really slurring his words now, properly sloshed. "I dunno, but you're right - you don't get over people that quickly. Not when you're the one whose choice it wasn't. The other one. You don't get to see it coming." Not that he had first hand experience of that at all, but he could well imagine.

He nodded a bit, and was silent, nursing on what was left of his beer. No, he hadn't seen it coming. And it was still like a punch in the balls. But feeling sorry for himself hadn't gotten him anywhere at all for weeks now. He didn't want to be such a miserable bastard. And maybe if it had been a normal breakup, he wouldn't be, but ... but she'd died. In his arms. She'd died in his arms and then come back. It just made everything so much more complicated, and made him want to cling to her harder, and it made it that much more difficult to let it go. He just couldn't yet. In his drunken head, he envisioned himself going to see her the next day and begging to be taken back. Even though he knew he wouldn't. It wasn't fair to her. If it was ever going to happen, it had to be her decision, and he'd just have to ... wait and be her friend until then. Like Dean said. Who was also a poor bastard, having her right in front of him all the time, that person he wanted so bad but couldn't have. Eventually he chuckled a little. "... coupla sad fuckers, we are," he muttered, reaching over to clunk his bottle against Dean's.

Dean chuckled slightly, clunking the bottle back, then taking a mouthful, swallowing it down. His head swam and he blinked, then very definitely, if rather unsteadily, put the bottle down on the table. He'd definitely had just a liiiiittle too much. "Complete sad bastards," he agreed, firmly, if rather slurredly.

Joshua finished his before he let the bottle go. He'd meant to kind of set it on the floor upright -- as sitting all the way up now seemed too hard -- but it clunked and rolled instead. "Least she's worth it, though," he added, slurring himself pretty nicely. "This is good ... should do it s'more. 'Gain." He went to friendly-punch Dean's shoulder, but it turned into more of a pat. He looked at his hand like it had done something bizarre and without permission and took it back. "Need friends who're ... like ... not ... girls," he said with obvious concentration.

Punch, pat, Dean didn't seem to mind either way. "Had a friend - guy-friend. He left town yesterday. He buggered off, Thia moved out - eeeeeveryone left yesterday," Dean told him, shaking his head.

"Aw mate," Joshua said with genuine overblown drunk sympathy. "That sucks." No wonder he'd wanted to come hang out and get trashed. Just Lulu would've been enough, but another friend too? That was bad mojo.

"Yup. Really did. S'like, woah - where'd everybody go. Except, y'know, just like... Two people. I need to know more people. But - got a car out of it. Though, haven't actually seen it - but Caleb said that I could have his car and he left it with the keys at his house. And Thia's new ID's in it and stuff cos he got that as well," Dean explained.

"She got a new ID?" he asked, squinting one eye at him. What that actually meant wasn't exactly making connections in his head. What did she need an ID for? But the car was nice, it was cool for people to have cars. Sean had a car. Only Joshua couldn't drive it, because he'd probably run into things.

"Yeah. New ID, social security, driving license -stuff. Not sure exactly what's in there, actually. Haven't seen it yet. Just... Handed over the money and some details and some pictures and Caleb got his brother to take care of it," Dean said, wondering about suggesting they went over now. Though, he wasn't exactly sure his legs would carry him that far.

Joshua blinked. It was that easy? Just some money and some pictures? That was all spy-thriller movie stuff, to him. "Is she -- it still like ... her name?" he asked, sounding vaguely baffled. Then something else occurred to him and he sat up a touch in a very unsteady manner. "She's not leaving is she?"

"Name? Dunno, totally - She, like, picked some things out, but we dunno whether they're doable, or what," Dean told him with a shrug. Then blinked as Joshua sat up. "Leaving? No - No. Mate, seriously - if she was leaving, like properly-leaving? Trust me mate, I'd've said. Seriously," he pointed out. If she'd have been leaving, Dean wouldn't be here like this. Or if he was, he'd have been a lot more depressed about it.

"Oh," he said, because that made sense. Right, Dean would've told him. Because they were going to tell each other. They'd said so. Joshua flopped back again, relieved anyway. Lullaby wasn't going anywhere. Except down the street. And Dean and him were buddies now, at least in the drinking sense, and that was probably good. Sad bastard drinking buddies. "Man ... " he said expansively, rolling his head to look over at Dean again. "Mate, y'know ... I'm sorry. That I was a dick t'you, yeah? It's -- ... was stupid."

Dean waved it off. "Dun worry 'bout it - completely unnerstanable. She was you girlfriend, I was some bloke sniffing around, right? Was never surprised you didn't like me. I wouldn't've liked me. For what it's worth - I was sorry to see you guys break up. I - All I want is for her to be happy, y'know? S'all I've ever wanted," Dean admitted, hazily wondering if that admission made him sound like a complete sap - he was less worried about that now though than he had been earlier.

It was sappy, but Joshua was completely with him on that point. He nodded slowly. "S'all I want too. I mean ... yeah, I want her, I miss her, but if she's ... better off not? Then s'better, yeah? An' if ... an' if she comes 'round an' like ... realizes you got a dick an' all? S'okay. If you can make her happy, then s'okay," he said, waving a hand a little, even if he didn't know why. "She d'serves it. Happy."

Dean snorted a chuckle and shook his head. "You say that now, mate..." he said, amused. "Nah, she's gonna... find someone else entirely and there'll just be me and you and beers - lots and lots of beers." He looked over and hooked his beer back off the table, nearly knocking it off in the process, but managing to make the safe, before bringing it to his lips. "Beer's good," he added, before taking a drink.

Beer! Where was his beer? Joshua half looked around for it. "Yeah," he said. Maybe that was best, if she found somebody else entirely. "You an' me an' beers ... an' maybe some hot blondes with big tits." Though he didn't sound like his heart was quite in that particular assertion. Where the hell had his beer gone? "Y'want another?" he asked, starting to push himself up off the couch, though not very effectively.

Dean laughed at that. "Nah mate, I'm good for now," he decided, looking at his beer and seeing he had half a bottle or so left. Absently he knew it was probably half a bottle he shouldn't drink, but he was really past caring. "And big tittied blonde'd probably look straight past us anyway. Though, hey - apparently we have accents going for us," he pointed out, remembering that. He'd never really thought much of his voice, but apparently over here it classed as 'cute'.

Joshua made it to his feet with some effort and wobbled, then headed back toward the kitchen in a weaving line. "Yeah, tha's ... s'a bonus here," he agreed. Though he also agreed that they probably wouldn't get noticed by good looking girls. Even though Lulu was good looking. And Claire was pretty cute. He straightened up from his bend in the fridge, cracking his head against the freezer door and hardly noticing. "I'm goin' t'uni soon, mate. Y'should come with me sometime. Gotta be some cute girls there. Sorororities an' shite." He got a beer for himself, though didn't realize until he got back to the couch that it was the shitty American kind. Not that he cared much. He took a swallow. "We could ... start a European Appreciation club or somethin'. Female members only," he said, and grinned.

Dean gestured with his beer. "Yeah, see - you cun do tha'. Me? I'm like sixteen - they'd probably look at me and be all 'kid' about it - depressing as fucking hell. Hones'ly. Y'r all eighteen and Thia'll be eigh'een and ther's me all... Meh, sucks - and I don' even say 'sucks'! Fucking picking up American words and ev'r'ythin," Dean said, frowning at himself.

"S'wha happens when y'hang out with Americans," he pointed out sagely, gesturing back at Dean with his bottle. "Nah, think y'could pass fer older, m'self. Jus' don' shave fer a day 'r two." He took another drink and wondered fuzzily if he'd known that. That Dean was only sixteen. He couldn't remember. But it probably didn't really matter anyway.

Dean rubbed at his cheeks with a hand. "No' like we have any mirrors at home anyway - jus' lots and lots o' broken glass," he agreed. "Y'really think I could look older? Heh - maybe. Always managed to get served back home, but eh, Manchester - no' so big on ID, y'know? An' I had big mates."

Joshua chuckled into his beer. "Yeah, think y'could. Maybe not get into pubs, fuckers got it twenty-one an' up here, but ... eighteen, a'least," he said, looking at Dean assessingly. "An' if anybody questions ya, tell 'em th' UK jus' grows 'em cuter'n younger-lookin'n their sorry Yank asses." He grinned crookedly, aware that that line probably wouldn't work for him. But it made sense in his head.

Dean laughed. "Nah, mate - you... I could never fucking pull that off. Seriously. You ever want a laugh? You wanna see me try and chat a girl up. Though maybe less funny and more just painful. I - Nah, I just - I'm a wreck, seriously," he admitted, still gesturing with his beer, the movements getting wilder and more extravagant.

He laughed with him. "Nah, s'easy!" he exclaimed, even though he was certifiably terrible at it too. But the beer had overtaken his brain, so everything was easy. "Y'jus' ... do it!" He tipped the bottle back again, leaning back bonelessly against the couch. "They're jus' ... y'know ... girls," he said, though the word carried weight like he'd just realized what it really meant. "Well 'kay, maybe -- y'know ... not easy, but ... y'got tha' one lass all over ya, yeah? Can't be too hard t'do again, right?" Even though they'd decided that was a bad idea.

"Yeah, but I didn't do anything there," Dean told him. "Thia said it was like, like, like -a status thing. Cos I'm a... older and stuff and the accent and the brooding thing - which, seriously, I don't really brood, I just - I dunno anyone, yeah? But still, with the thing and the thing and, but she just - and like, but - if I like like someone, like I care what they think and shit and I just... Nah, I get all tongue-tied and like - I can't finish sentences and it's... Fucking scary mate, really fucking scary."

Joshua wasn't sure he followed all of that, but it struck him as funny anyway. "Yeah? D'you sound like tha' when you're tryin'? 'Cause I gotta agree, s'fuckin' scary," he said, laughing. "Y'jus' gotta ... not care s'much, I guess. Hell, fuck, I dunno, not like I can do it either, an' I'm pretty well fulla shit right now." Not that he sounded terribly put out by that, just grinning his fool head off and nursing the beer he probably shouldn't have been drinking.

Dean gave him a bit of a look, but then laughed, finding it unaccountably funny as well in his drunken state. "Nah, see - tha's the problem. Wi' girls? Much worse. Much, much worse. I just..." He laughed and took a swig of his beer. "Am never gonna get laid," he declared, blatantly ignoring the fact he could have and turned it down.

The Irishman nearly choked on his mouthful, finding that completely hilarious for whatever reason. Once he'd swallowed and cough-laughed a couple of times, he shook his head. "You an' me both, brother," he said, clinking their bottles together again. After missing once. "You an' me both." And while that would depress him all to hell ordinarily, well ... he was smashed.

Dean joined in the laughter, resting his head back on the arm of the couch, cradling the remains of his beer against his chest. He lifted his head after a moment and looked across. "Maybe something'll come of Claire," he suggested. Even drunk he wasn't quite able to vocalise his thought that maybe he and Thia'd get back together some day. He knew that was just all him - she'd never said anything to him either way, so he wouldn't voice it. Would be a shitty thing to do to the guy, pointless really. His opinion didn't really have an effect on shit anyhow.

Joshua shrugged, still looking amused. "Maybe," he said, because anything was possible, really. He didn't say the thought that drifted through his mind, which was that he still really wanted Lullaby to be his first. Because that possibility had more or less fallen off of the map, and it would be a shitty thing to say to a guy who really felt for her too. Dean probably had a better chance than he did, at the moment. Which caused an internal twitch, but it was muted. "Maybe she's got a sister?" he suggested after a beat, looking over again. "Or a cute best friend? I could feel 'round for ya."

"So you can see first hand how bad I am with girls?" Dean joked, laughing. But he shrugged. "Sure - what harm can it do? Just - no cheerleaders. Or stalkers. Or... I dunno. Brains would be good," he admitted.

"Check, brains, no cheeleaders, no stalkers," he said with a grin. "An' one who'll have patience wi' yer stutterin' an' fumblin' aroun'." He took another swallow of the beer, then made a face and leaned forward to put it on the coffee table. His stomach had churned a bit unpleasantly.

Dean dragged the cushion out from behind his back and half threw it at Joshua, though it missed and went sailing over the back of the couch. "Yeah, right - you cun really sell me up. Cun see it now - so, I know this guy, he's a real fuckin' idiot, gi'him a shot?" he mimicked, doing a passable impression of Joshua's accent, obviously amused.

Joshua flailed an arm out at the projectile, even though it wasn't anywhere near him, and just cracked the hell up at Dean's mockery. He clumsily pulled one of his own pillow out to fling it back. "Yer good at tha'," he said, laughing still. "Keep it up, y'might have better luck if y'pass as Irish."

Dean ducked out the way of the pillow and half fell off the couch, catching himself with a hand on the floor and unsteadily pushing himself back up again. "Yeah - if you're around. S'easy when you're right there, just mimick, y'know? Bu - couldn't carry it off like all the time or anything." He was just good at picking up inflection in this kind of an environment.

"Shit, y'start out wi' one accent, shift into 'nother? How they gonna know? Betcha girl'd never even notice." Which probably wasn't quite true, but with as well as American actors tended to do with the subtleties of their accents, he wasn't so sure. Joshua settled into a more reclined position on his end of the couch, propping his head up.

"Yup - she'd be too busy staring, trying to figure out wha' the 'ell I was babbling on about, y'know?" Dean agreed. "'s like - sometimes I'm okay. 's like wi' Thia. 'm fine there and ev'r'thin'. Long ss, like, she dun get all over snuggly, or she dun.. Like yesserday. She was goin' an' tellin' 'er I'd miss 'er - idiot came in then. 's like there's me an' then there's this fuckin' idiot roun' the corner, just waitin', y'know? 's like - I'm not even hittin' on 'er or anythin'. 's Stupid. I'm stupid. An' she just looks at me, like all confused and shit, or like hurt and... Then 's all lines again," Dean declared, rambling himself off the subject.

He listened, and thought that it made sense to him. Though he could also be drunk enough that anything was going to make sense to him. "Nah, not stupid. Y'jus' ... like 'er. But 'ey, buck up. Sh' likes you too," he slurred, and was struck momentarily by how horribly depressing that was. His eyes glazed for a second before they refocused and he crossed his arms comfortably over his chest. "Be a'ight." Even though it hadn't been on his end. But that was beside the point.

Dean eyed Joshua blurrily, then just laughed. Somehow being told that by the ex-boyfriend of the girl you liked just struck him as being hilariously funny right now. Yeah, he was totally pissed, no two ways about it.

Joshua wasn't sure what was so hysterical, really, but after a minute of Dean laughing, he started in on it too. It didn't really matter what they were laughing about, just that it was happening. It at least dissipated that brief crappy feeling. "Yer drunk as fuck," he informed Dean between laughs, and just cracked up more.

"Yup, I am," Dean said, cheerfully, the laughter lifting his mood. "An' 'm gonna be in trouble - plus! I have to take my driving test tomorrow. God, that's gonna blow, cos I'm gonna have the hangover from hell" he added, figuring that the odds weren't good of him passing now.

"Hoshit," Joshua said, laughing even more. "This ... was not a good plan, mate." But that didn't make it any less hysterical. Once it had died down into weak-sounding little chuckles and gasps, he shook his head and muttered a 'goddamn', just for good measure. "G'luck, though, yeah? T'fuck time izzit, 'nyway?"

"What now? Or the tes'?" Dean asked, finishing off his beer. "Test's atttttt three? Summat like that anyhow. Now? Dunno - late? I don't do time. It messes up round me - oh, shit, yeah. Sorry," he apologised, randomly and without explanation.

"Now. Late," Joshua echoed, settling back into the couch again and grinning stupidly. "Hmm? 'Cha sorry for?" he asked, though he halfway forgot that he had a second later as his eyelids drooped dangerously. God, that couch was so fucking comfortable. He didn't remember it being so comfortable.

"Fuckin' up your clocks," Dean explained as he dragged his phone out of his pocket. "But yeah, late - I should call Sophie, ge' her to come and pick me up."

He wasn't aware that their clocks had been fucked up, and Joshua couldn't much bring himself to care. "S'okay," he said anyway. He felt himself start to drift just a bit, and tried to open his eyes up better. "Well be careful goin' home, mate," he mumbled, as though Dean was leaving right that second.

Sophie picked up just as Joshua spoke and Dean managed to get out that he needed her to come and pick him up. Not that Sophie bought for a minute that Dean was anything but three sheets to the wind. He didn't really care right now though - he was too far gone for that. And beginning to feel more than a little ill. He hung up and started to stagger to his feet. "Er - Sophie's coming to get me, but - I need to go use your bathroom, okay mate?" Dean told the other guy, fairly sure that he was going to throw up in a few.

"S'coo," Joshua muttered, not minding at all. Dean could've said he was about to go puke in Joshua's bed, or hump their dog -- even though they didn't have one -- or something, and it would've been cool with Joshua. He was just all nice drifty-warm and sleepy and felt too heavy to move for anything. It didn't even cross his mind yet that Dean might be entering Sickland.

A sensible person - or possibly just a sober person - would have asked at this point where said bathroom was, but Dean didn't bother, instead staggering off and just getting lucky in finding the bathroom. He managed to shut the door behind him before falling to his knees and making really good friends with the toilet bowl. Not nice, not nice at all.

The apartment was small, and that particular noise traveled fairly well, and was familiar enough to rouse Joshua a bit. Not quite sure what he was intent on doing once he got there, he rolled off the couch with a thud, and with the gracious help of the furniture, pulled himself up and in the direction of the hallway. His beer-soaked brain was just intent on the fact that Dean was losing every lunch he ever had, and might need help. With something. Somehow. It was just taking a while to get there.

Dean reached the bottom of his stomach and collapsed for a moment against the bath, an arm still resting on the toilet bowl, not feeling at all better. But it was hardly the first time he'd ever thrown up - he was unfortunately rather familiar with the sensation, so after a moment, he pulled himself to his feet and stuck his head under the tap, wetting his hair and washing the sweat off his brow before washing out his mouth, spitting the water down the plug hole. he pushed his soaked hair back out of his eyes and staggered to the door, opening it and getting back out. "'m okay," he told Joshua as he found the other guy. "Just... I'm okay," he repeated. "I'm gonna... go wait for Sophie outside. Get some air. I'll be okay," he added.

"Oh ... 'kay," Joshua said. Because suddenly outside sounded like a really good idea to him too. "I'll go wi' you. Make sure ... 'a stuff." Right. Because that made perfect sense. Maybe he could keep Dean from cracking his head open on the pavement or something. Or wait, that was him that usually did that ... In any case, he was heading for the door to open it and wait with the guy. Good hospitality and all for a night that had actually been fairly awesome.