"Mace, can you taste?" Connor asked after slamming back a fourth cup of eggnog, swallowing thickly around the heavy liquid as it drug down his throat like some kinda kinky octopus monster in a bad hentai. A vague sensation of warmth sunk into his chest and flowed out into his veins until it flushed through his blood and tingled in the very tips of his fingers, spreading ever on until it seemed to breath its heated caress into his mind itself and smother his thoughts in a loving embrace.
"I cannot necessarily taste as such, not in the way humans can." The android answered after a moment of consideration, LED cycling a slow yellow as he seemed to ponder the question. "My oral analysis equipment can, however, gather data on any substance it comes in contact with and the information can be processed in a way that might resemble the experience you refer to." Mace continued evenly, his voice keying down to something droning and monotone like he was reading the words straight out of a Bear Bot Maintenance Manual.
And, yeah, Connor didn't get a word of that.
"Can you taste this, Robocop?" The human drawled in a low whisper, reaching forward and twisting his long fingers into the soft fabric of his partner's sweater, burying slender digits in the dark folds and pulling the android forward by the collar. He slammed his mouth into Mace's sloppily, lips pressing over the machine's and tongue slipping between his teeth before the robot had even so much as parted his own lips.
Eventually his companion caught up with the program though and let his mouth fall open against Connor's, bringing a big hand up to press warmly against the human's cheek where the rough pad of his thumb ran along the arch of the detective's cheekbone in a soothing stroke that only encouraged the younger man to press harder. Tongue between the droid's teeth, lithe body pressing in close to his companion's to feel hard, synthetic muscle under his hands as he brought them up to run his fingers over the android's chest, Connor wanted everything Mace would give him.
However, Mace pulled back far sooner than Connor would have liked, the android's LED cycling a quick, flashing yellow and his eyes wide with something that almost resembled worry. "Detective, I feel the need to warn you-" The mechanical man tried to begin but he made it no farther when he was rudely cut off by the arrival of an unexpected and franky unwanted third party.
"Connor!" Alec Stone's rough voice abruptly cut in and the man broke free of the small crowd to walk toward them, his gait oddly uneven and his body stumbling to the side before he finally came to stand before the pair. "Connor!" He reiterated as if he'd forgotten he'd already said it, clapping a heavy hand down on the detective's shoulder and leaning in so the strands of his slicked back hair that had broken free of the excessive hair gel pressing them to his scalp fell into his face.
"Alec." Connor replied for lack of anything better to say, staring blankly at the man who currently leaned in far closer that the detective would like him too. Ever.
"Connor, do you remember that Christmas?" Alec all but slurred, his words jamming together into one long breath before he fell into a fit of snorting laughter, apparently listening to some great joke only he could hear.
"I don't even remember how you started this conversation." Connor admitted after a thoughtful moment, squinting at the man and trying to recall him walking up. Maybe Alec had been here all along? He had no clue.
"Yess, you do!" Alec insisted in an exasperated huff, rolling his dark eyes annoyedly towards the ceiling. "The one in the bar!" The man elaborated, entirely unhelpfully. Connor remembered a lot of Christmas' in bars with Alec - and Jerome too. Back before Captain Thorn started playing favorites and their tight little trio dissolved into muted amiability and spitting antagonism respectively, that was, of course.
He didn't like being drunk. The feeling of not having control, of being vulnerable to those around him, made his skin crawl to even think about. But his friends had always looked forward to the tradition and he trusted Alec and Jerome to make sure nothing happened to him so he'd gone along with it. The late hours in dingy bars, laughing about something he couldn't remember, were, admittedly, one of the better holiday memories he had when he thought about it.
Alec huffed exasperatedly at Connor's lack of understanding and grabbed the boy by the sleeve, hauling him along before the detective could so much as protest. The fibrous threads of Connor's festive sweater groaned forebodingly under Alec's hold but the officer only drug his ex-friend a little ways before releasing him once more in favor of gripping the edge of a desk, stout fingers curling over the empty surface and pressing down hard as he began to drag his body up after them.
Oh, that Christmas.
Alec drew up a knee onto the desk and pushed up with the butts of his hands until he stood his full height atop the empty surface, wavering on the spot. His slicked back hair fell into his dark eyes as he turned back to cast his waiting gaze upon the detective still standing just beside the desk, sloppy grin splattering across his face and scrunching his scarred nose.
Oh, what the hell? Connor vaguely thought with a shrug and slammed his hands down on the desk after his coworker, palms pressing into the cool table top and fingers curling under his own hands as he braced his weight against his arms. The detective leaned forward, face pressing against the desk to let the cold rush reach its chilly fingers over his cheek as he scrambled his long gazelle legs up after himself and tried to find room to pull himself up without putting his face straight into Alec's shoes, which currently took up 90% of his vision.
Thick fingers twisting in the back of his sweater hauled him up roughly and he struggled to find bearing, his feet refusing to stay under himself and his knees trying to buckle uncooperatively under his weight. However, he got himself standing somehow or other; and nearly the moment he had, the first, long chords of the familiar melody met his ear. A quick glance at Jerome revealed he was in charge of the music. Jerome, who Connor was one hundred per-fucking-cent certain still had a video of the last time they'd done this no matter how much he and Alec had pleaded with him to delete it the next morning.
"I don't want a lot for Chirstmaaasss!" Connor drew out slow, voice warbelling horrendously over the first line as Mariah Carey's familiar tones hit the first note. "There is just one thing I need!" He scratched sloppily but hey, at least it sounded a bit better than Alec's scratch record voice at his side, sounding like someone had stuffed a poor cat in a blender and turned the bitch on mince.
"I don't care about the presents, underneath the Christmas tree!" Connor all but yowled, trying to make his voice dip low but only ending up lowering his actual body, bending slightly and nearly stumbling with the effort. A few people cheered, most laughed, Tina Chen snorted some crude from of encouragement the detective couldn't quite make out.
"I just want you for my own!" Alec scrapped harshly, voice raising to a heavy metal scream. "More than you could ever know!" The man cried noisily, raising an arm up high above his head and leaning heavily into Connor who nearly sent them both toppling as he sagged under Alec's weight.
"Make my wish come truuueee!" They both managed to harmonize in a vaguely similar key but then Connor's voice raised to a high pitched wail to match Mariah's that Alec could never dream to hit as the note dragged on.
"Baby, all I want for Christmas is youuuu!!" Connor cracked giddily, giving a tiny shimmy that was supposed to be the beginning of an alluring dance move as he found Mace's - horrified - eyes in the crowd and tried to draw his hand down from above him in a slow point. However, he must've been leaning with the motion far farther than he thought because his whole body started to tilt, the floor quickly becoming the ceiling as his balance faltered and his body took up a side job as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Mace seemed to realize this where he stood at the edge of the gathered crowd, blue eyes widening and face twisting into a concerned grimace as he tried to push forward through the people gathered there. However, Tina accidentally stumbled in front of the android with a tipsy sounding snort, effectively blocking his path - And that was the last thing Connor actually saw that wasn't the floor.
White tile flying up to greet him, the detective nose dived straight from his place high and mighty atop the desk face first into the ground below. His nose slammed into the hard floor underfoot unhindered, hands flailing to try and catch himself but ultimately failing in their task as his legs cartwheeled after the rest of him a moment later to leave him a heap on the floor. A low groan moaned from between his lips as he hit and with it brought a realization...
Someone had spiked the eggnog. He could smell it on his own damn breath.
Of course someone has spiked the eggnog, it was the stanion Christmas party! Probably Alec. Could've been Tina... Connor just hadn't been to one of these in so long the unofficial tradition had all but slipped his mind. He really should've realized this sooner. Probably when he'd noticed Mace was looking particularly good this evening; but he'd just blamed it on the Christmas lights shining in the android's eyes. He definitely should've realized it when he decided karaoke with Alec Stone was a good idea.
He hated being drunk. The feeling of not having control. Being vulnerable to the people around him-
Get ahold of it! Connor hissed at his reeling mind, determination furrowing his eyebrows and drawing his lower lip between his teeth as he tried to account for all his limbs and get control of the unruly things once more. He pulled his legs up under his body and found his arms once more, drawing them under his chest to press the butts of his palms into the tile and push himself up with them. His slender arms shook unsteadily under his weight as he drug his chest off the ground but he didn't stop to steady himself, already too close to a panic he didn't want to have to waste anymore time on the floor.
He wanted to cover every piece of skin he possibly could yet he was suffocating, smothered by thin air and gagging on nothing. Connor ignored the choking feeling, instead focusing on trying to get his legs under himself but they were anything but cooperative, refusing to do as he told them and noncompliant when he told himself to stand. He couldn't move. He couldn't move.
The detective silenced the thought before it could go on, pushing away the swelling feeling building just on the edge of his mind to focus on forcing his legs to do what he wanted. It worked, for the most part. With some struggle he got himself upright, but it seemed to be staying that way that was determined to be the problem, his lithe body swaying on a breeze that wasn't there and tilting precariously with every attempt to restraighten himself. Connor took a single, stumbling step forward and felt his body take the dive once more, groaning as he watched the floor rush up to greet him and prepared for impact. However, the hit never came.
But that didn't matter because someone's hand was wrapped around his arm.
Connor had never twisted so violently before in his life, ripping his arm free of the unwanted hold like he'd been burned by the touch. The action sent him stumbling but he couldn't think of that right now, the only thing he could think about was hands on him. Dragging him by the arm. Ripping at his clothes. Yanking at his hair.
"God, please, don't." Connor managed pathetically as fingertips reached for him again, drawing back as far as he could and hating how weak his own voice sounded in his ears. It wouldn't work, he knew it wouldn't. He wouldn't stop. No matter how much Connor begged or pleaded. He wouldn't stop-
"Detective, I understand you're perceiving me as a threat right now but-" Familiar, rumbling tones met the human's ears, weighing on his clouded mind like a fire blanket thrown over roaring flames. Connor's vision came back into focus, where there were white tiles and office chairs instead of neon lights, and fell on the android where he stood just inches from him, hands hovering in the air between them and face contorted into one of hurt.
"Mace." Connor managed and that was about all he managed, heart thundering in his chest as he let his body slump forward until it collided with the robot's chest, muffling some half formed apology into the thick wool of his companion's sweater that made no sense in terms of understandable speech but that he hoped his partner got nevertheless. "Mace." He tried again but still made it no farther, hoping against hope he didn't make this whole situation worse by hurling all over their new matching sweaters as his stomach made it very clear was a totally feasible option at this point, roiling nastily with alcohol, anxiety, and guilt alike.
"Let's get you home, detective." Mace soothed gently, hands hesitating just above the man before they finally settled, one pressed into his back to keep the human standing while the other brushed comfortingly over the back of his head, tangling through the sweat dampened hair there with long, slow strokes.
"Home." Connor agreed in a sigh, relaxing into the hands of the only person's touch he trusted.