The One Next Door

Everything's Better With Alcohol

"So, you're okay then?" Sherlock asked.
"Why wouldn't I be, I've got a beautiful man on my arm, and a whole bunch of Christmas fun to look forward to." John insisted, taking Sherlock's hand with a warm smile. "Everything is perfect." He decided.                                                                                                                                                                                 

                 Well, it seemed to Sherlock that everything wasn't perfect. Even though John acted perfectly normal around them anymore, keeping up the smiling and jokes, something was bothering him, and if seemed to become fairly obvious when he thought that no one was watching. When Sherlock and Molly talked to each other, John would be found staring off into space with a look of poison on his face, or when Sherlock looked over to his booth at the shop, he would find it empty, with John standing outside in the snow talking on the phone. Sherlock was worried, obviously, about his boyfriend, but John didn't seem to want to talk about it. Whenever Sherlock would ask him if he was alright, or ask who was on the phone, John would just sigh and say it was family issues or something before disappearing behind his smile. Sometimes it seemed forced. Another odd(yet rather rewarding) factor of the whole thing, was that John seemed to be a lot more attached to Sherlock. He would kiss him out of the blue, he would hold his hand everywhere they went, and he'd even go to the counter just to remind Sherlock of how much he loved him. As much as he loved the sudden affection, it almost seemed as if John was reminding himself how much he loved Sherlock, not the other way around. The Christmas party seemed to be a weight hanging overall of their heads, getting heavier and heavier as the days went on. Molly had decorated her flat all for Christmas, with a Christmas tree, ornaments, and tinsel that Hell Spawn loved to scratch down off of the walls. When the party did come, however, the entire mood of the coffee shop seemed to have changed. The day of the party, everyone was singing Christmas carols and wearing ugly sweaters and seemed to be in the Christmas mood. Sherlock however, was miserable, and by the time they had to get ready for party, he didn't want to see another set of reindeer antlers of a Santa hat again. But he pulled on his best purple shirt and jacket, brushing off the lint and doing his hair as nice as he could. Even though he despised the idea of a company party, he didn't want the other workers to think he didn't care about personal hygiene. So he went over to John's flat, where he thought he heard Christmas music turned hastily off. The door opened, and John came out, wearing a pair of nice pants and a white button down shirt.
"You look snazzy." Sherlock decided.
"As do you." John agreed.
"You ready to go have some...fun?" Sherlock muttered reluctantly.
"Come on Sherlock, keep an open mind, it'll be fun." John insisted, ruffling Sherlock's hair as he walked out of the apartment.
"Hey, I worked like, ten minutes on my curls, and you just messed them up!" Sherlock whined, pausing at the nearest fire hydrant to try to fix his hair in the reflection of the glass.
"And you wonder why gay men get a stereotype?" John called back, walking down to Molly's while Sherlock fixed his fashion emergency. When Sherlock arrived, he found Molly in a horrible red Santa sweater and a black skirt, her hair up in pigtails with a Santa hat headband in her hair.
"You look festive." Sherlock decided.
"You don't, where's your holiday spirit?" Molly asked.
"I never had it; I think it's a birth defect or something." Sherlock shrugged.
"Well, good thing I got you both matching Santa hats!" she said excitedly, pulling two Santa hats with puff balls on the tops out of her purse.
"Oh, Molly, you shouldn't have!" John said, happily perching the hat on top of his head and checking his reflection in the mirror.
"Yes, you really shouldn't have." Sherlock agreed, but Molly pushed the hat over his head and he had no further say. They all trotted down to the coffee shop a little bit later, Santa hats on their heads and smiles on their faces (except for Sherlock, of course, who was determined to keep a scowl on the whole night). When they got to the shop, it was illuminated from the outside to the inside, lights glowing on the windows, Christmas lights decorating the interior as well.
"Oh no." Sherlock muttered as Molly pulled open the door. It all sounded pitiful, a mix between Christmas music and awkward small talk as the first couple of people started to show up. Jeanette had seemed to put up even more Christmas decorations, numerous trees, and a large red stage painted with candy canes with a hellish looking machine glowing pink and blue on top of it.Karaoke, the destroyed of every man's dignity since they were invented.
"There they are the three we've been waiting for!" Sarah said excitedly. She was wearing a full Santa dress, with puff balls and snow flakes and fur. It was hideous.
"Hi Sarah, you look very Christmassy." Molly decided, giving her a hug as if they hadn't seen each other just three hours ago.
"And you brought John and Scrooge." Sarah decided.
"He'll lighten up, the night's still young." Molly assured.
"I hope so, come on Sherlock, it'll be fun!" Sarah insisted, pushing Sherlock lightly on the shoulder as if to wake him up.
"Our versions of fun seem to be quite different." Sherlock decided, his eyes scanning the people mingling around.
"We've got candy cane booze, the most fun you can have during the Christmas season." Sarah insisted, pulling Molly over to the drinks table and leaving Sherlock and John alone.
"I assume you don't want to mingle?" John decided.
"God no." Sherlock agreed. So they walked over to a rather secluded bench in the back, away from the useless chatter of all the people.
"Molly seems to be having fun." John decided. Sherlock looked over to where Molly was, already downing her first shot of peppermint alcohol.
"You will not like Molly when she's drunk." Sherlock pointed out.
"I think it'll be funny to see how you are." John guessed.
"No, I refuse." Sherlock insisted.
"I think after a half hour of meeting new people, you're going to need a drink." John decided, and Sherlock just laughed.
"I'll refrain. Besides, I don't need to meet other people, I've got you." Sherlock insisted. But ten minutes later, after meeting Mike from the third shift, and Jane from the second shift, and their girlfriends and boyfriends and even some of their children, Sherlock was leading John anxiously over to the drinks table, not even able to take it anymore.
"No more people, this is torture." Sherlock decided, picking up a shot of peppermint vodka and downing it in one sip.
"There we go, now things are getting interesting." John laughed, picking up his own shot and drinking it as well. Molly had wandered off with Tom and Sarah, playing some sort of demonic pin the hat on Santa game. It was funny to see Sarah try to spin around blindfolded, when the poor girl probably couldn't walk in a straight line to start with.
"I didn't know company parties involved so much alcohol." Sherlock decided as he took another shot, finally feeling his vision become a little bit blurry.
"Usually they don't, but this place was already pretty laid back to begin with." John shrugged.
"Well then, let's go back over to the table before I suddenly get the urge to sing the first song of the night." Sherlock decided, taking John's hand and leading him over to the booth. They sat across from each other, holding hands over the table, the drinks helping them not care about the other people's passing glances, some lingering with a disgusted look on their faces, others looking away quickly with small smiles.
"So, Tom and Molly seem to be a good match." John decided as Molly fell into him, laughing, with the blindfold on her eyes and plastic Santa hat in her hands.
"He seems like a good guy." Sherlock agreed.
"You don't approve, do you?" John asked.
"I do, I do. If he dares break her heart though, ooh, he's got another thing coming." Sherlock decided.
"What are you going to do?" John asked with a little snort.
"I'll punch him, push him over the stairs." Sherlock decided, punching the table to demonstrate.
"How very manly of you Sherlock, I'm sure you'd be really good at that." John decided.
"I'll kill him, I swear." Sherlock insisted with a little smile.
"I believe you, definitely. If you could rip a napkin in half I'd be more worried about his safety though." John shrugged.
"I can rip a napkin in half; a toddler could do something so...simple." Sherlock decided with a small little hiccup.
"You really can't hold your alcohol, can you?" John asked with a laugh.
"I'm not used to getting drunk, I can't afford drinks myself." Sherlock admitted.
"Well, that's good for everyone I suppose." John decided.
"Everyone except me." Sherlock agreed.
"Sherlock, John, come on over and play pin the Santa hat on the...big fat guy." Molly decided, swaying a little bit.
"Molly, it's only been an hour and a half!" John insisted.
"I helped her along." Sarah assured, looking very experienced in the field of drinking, because her speech was only a little bit slurred.
"It doesn't take long for a girl who drinks tea all her life." Molly agreed. Tom was the only one who seemed to have some sense in him, maybe a drink or two, but he was smiling normally and holding Molly's arm.
"Alright then, we're coming." Sherlock agreed, getting up wobbly and lumbering over with them.
"Here we go, Sherlock's up!" Sarah called. "I hope you got a few drinks in him?" she muttered to John.
"Oh don't worry, he hates mingling, there's nothing else to do." John assured, and Sarah just laughed.
"That's my boy." She decided, patting John on the back.
"Hey, hands off my John." Sherlock snapped, pushing Sarah's arm away and trapping John in a one armed hug, to show territory.
"Better not mess with drunk Sherlock, he'll punch you and push you down the stairs." John insisted, leaning into Sherlock's coat and smiling crookedly.
"Oh, so you two are like, a thing?" Tom asked, looking too confused to be drunk.
"Where have you been?" Sarah laughed.
"No, I thought so, I just, that's good." Tom decided.
"H*ll yes it is." Sherlock agreed, pressing a kiss on top of John's Santa hat and walking over to the game. He recognized Mike's girlfriend, something with an S, maybe, wandering around with the blindfold on, walking the opposite way of the wall and stumbling into chairs with the Santa hat outstretched.
"Lorie, the Santa's the other way!" Sarah called, and Lorie did a complete 360, smacking a wandering Carl in the face with her arm.
"Hey Carl!" Sherlock said excitedly.
"Hello...everyone." Carl decided, not seeming to want to name everyone.
"Want to play pin the hat on Santa with us?" Sarah offered.
"I'm fine; I'm only stopping in to be polite." Carl shrugged.
"Is the cash register his plus one?" Sherlock 'whispered' to John at normal voice level. But of course, everyone around him erupted in laughter, and Carl was too far away and Jingle Bells was playing too loud for him to hear. Maybe that was a good thing.
"Lorie, you're going to walk into the table!" Molly insisted, running over to where the girl was stumbling around and leading her over to Santa. She ended up pressing the hat to the window, but took off the blindfold with a large expectant smile on her face, as if she thought she had done very well.
"Sherlock, I think you should do the honors." Molly decided, handing Sherlock the blindfold.
"And don't forget this." Sarah insisted, handing him another shot as John tied the blindfold around his eyes.
"What is it?" Sherlock asked.
"Bottoms up." Sarah sang, forcing the peppermint something or other down his throat, burning his mouth but leaving him with a little bit more confidence as he clutched a little plastic Santa hat with tape in his hand.
"Don't throw up." John recommended as they started to spin him around. It was a very odd experience, he knew he was moving fast, but it seemed to be in slow motion, the music slowed and the world crawling behind the blindfold, bright multicolored lights being the only thing that he could really see. When he stopped spinning, Sherlock took one step and fell flat on his face, falling down onto his face right into a chair.
"God Sherlock, you're a wreck!" John laughed, pulling him to his feet. Sherlock just leaned on him, wrapping his arms sloth like around John's neck and not putting any weight onto his own feet.
"John?" he muttered.
"Yes Sherlock?" John laughed.
"I think I might be drunk." He decided.
"Yes Sherlock." John agreed, pushing Sherlock to his feet and letting him wander around the room.
"Where's BLOODY SANTA?" Sherlock yelled, wobbling around on his feet, suddenly his own legs seemed very unable to hold him up, and eventually he ran right into the wall, his hand sticking the tape to the first thing that felt vaguely like a plastic Santa cut out. Someone rushed over and took off his blindfold, and Sherlock saw that he was standing very close to a poster advertising cup sizes, the Santa on the other wall completely, and a Santa hat stuck to the large coffee.
"Did I win?" Sherlock muttered.
"Course you did, idiot." John agreed, pressing a kiss to Sherlock's cheek before dragging him back to their friends mingling near the counter. "Alright Sarah, your turn." Sherlock decided, throwing the black blindfold at her and watching it flutter to the ground. 

"I'll show you and your large coffee up." Sarah insisted, tying the blindfold around her eyes and spinning around three times. She barely even stumbled as she walked over to the wall, walking to the wall and pinning the hat on right over Santa's rosy red nose.
"There, losers!" she exclaimed proudly, throwing the blindfold at John for the next victim. Sherlock helped him tie it around his eyes and put the Santa hat in his hand, Sarah dumping another shot down his throat before spinning him around three times. This time John wandered a little bit, obviously more than disorientated, but he wandered over to the wall and stuck the hat on the edge of the poster, not a terrible try to be honest.
"Why is he so good at everything?" Sherlock whined. "John, why are you so good at everything?"
"Because I practice drunken pin the tail on the donkey at home." John explained.
"You're such a loser." Sherlock decided, wrapping his arms around John's neck and kissing him right on the lips.
"Wow, I really hope that's Sherlock." John decided.
"Come on you two, break it up!" Molly yelled, prying the two apart and pulling the blindfold off of John's eyes. Tom looked relatively uncomfortable, but what did Sherlock care? Sarah just looked like she had just witnessed two stars colliding, with the biggest smile on her face and her cell phone set to camera in case it happened again.
"Molly, your turn." John insisted, handing it to Molly, who held up her hands defensively.
"Nope, I already did it." Molly decided, stepping back.
"So did I." Tom agreed. John frowned slightly, looking around to the clientele wandering around the shop.
"Carl, come here!" John called to where Carl was just grabbing his coat. He aggressively shook his head, waving goodbye and disappearing outside. But obviously Carl wasn't needed, obviously pin the tail on the donkey had run its course as well, because there was a horrible screeching noise as the music turned off, and two very drunken people lumbered up to the red stage. Karaoke had begun.