353. Chapter 353

He’s never been drunk before.

He’s never been drunk before, but god, is he drunk now.

He’s drunk and he thinks he might be seeing double, but he can’t be sure because he can’t exactly count.

He thinks he might need to throw up, but he can’t be sure because – no. No, definitely sure.

He needs to throw up.

He makes it to the bathroom and he texts Maggie from his knees.

It’s incoherent because looking at the screen makes him throw up more.

He nearly drops his phone in the toilet when it starts to vibrate.

Maggie’s picture shows up on his caller ID, and he grins faintly and mutters her name mildly and spits into the toilet.

“Detective Sawyerrrr,” he slurs once he figures out how to put his finger on the green button thing.

“Where are you?” she asks, and he thinks he might throw up again, because she definitely knows.

“Maggie, don be mad! Don be maaad, Maggie, is Latinx night and I didn’t mean to have this muchhh – I don’t even think I had that much, just – did you know you’re not supposed to drink super fast? Or mix drinks? I think you’re not supposta do those things.”

“I was gonna teach you to drink, Rodriguez, you couldn’t tell me you wanted to before this?”

“Well you coulda told me you were gonna teach me!”

“Adrian.” He can’t tell if she’s frustrated or smiling or worried or all of the above, but he definitely here’s Alex in the background.

“Hi Alex,” he calls, trying to wave before he remembers they can’t see him.

And suddenly the phone is out of his hands, and he looks up, and a friend he met through the queer center, Mateo, is crouching over him, running a damp paper towel over his lips with one hand, holding his phone with the other.

“Maggie?” he asks, and Adrian tries to grab the phone back, but Mateo shrugs him off easily.

“Mateo? Is he okay? Where are you guys?”

“Maggie, I’m so sorry, I lost track of him for just a few minutes, I thought only one beer couldn’t hurt him, but you know how cute he is, some people must have bought him drinks – “

“Mateo, you have a boyyyyfriend, don’t let Jordan hear you call me cuteee.”

“It’s okay, Mateo, it happens. Just tell me where you are and we’ll come get him. And get him some water, okay?”

Jordan greets them both outside the club when they roll up in Maggie’s car – which she bought exactly for situations like this – and she flashes her badge when someone says they can’t double park, and she flashes her badge when the bouncer asks for ID, and when he balks, she says something to him in rapidfire Portuguese, and Alex can translate enough to know that it’s something about letting underage kids in, letting underage kids drink, and don’t think she won’t be checking back in if they don’t take this warning very, very seriously.

Jordan and Alex exchange raised eyebrows before Jordan leads them to the men’s room.

“Lady, you can’t – “

Maggie doesn’t even bother, on the warpath, just flashing her badge again, but she’s kneeling on the ground next to Adrian and Mateo in an instant, and her eyes are suddenly so, so, so soft, and Alex is so, so, so wildly in love with her.

“Hey, bud,” she greets softly, her hands running over his hair, his collared shirt, after squeezing Mateo’s arm in greeting, in gratitude.

“Maggie,” Adrian slurs, barely awake, and Maggie nods and grins.

“He throw up more since I called?” she asks Mateo, and he shakes his head as he shifts to let Maggie take over holding Adrian somewhat upright.

“Alright Ade, I know this is gonna be awful, but you’ve gotta throw up a little more now.”

“I don’t wanna – “

“I know, Ade, I know, but you gotta.”

“Are you mad at – “

But he doesn’t get the words out, because he’s suddenly rigid and retching violently into the toilet, and Maggie just holds his hand, rubs his back, nods softly, sympathetically.

“It hurts,” he whispers hoarsely, and Alex kneels behind Maggie.

“I know it does, Ade, but I promise it won’t hurt forever. Trust me, I know. When I was your age, damn, I got much worse than you are right now. I know how you feel, and you know what? I promise, it’ll feel better.”

“Alex! You came too. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I messed up your night, I messed – “

He vomits again, and Maggie kisses the back of his neck when he spits.

Alex takes the small bottle of mouthwash she’d grabbed from the apartment out of her back pocket.

“Here, Ade, swig this around your mouth. Don’t swallow it, okay?”

Adrian nods faintly as Maggie smiles at her girlfriend, opening the little bottle for him and guiding it to his lips.

He swishes and he spits and he leans his forehead on Maggie’s shoulder.

“Mateo, could you please – “ Maggie starts to ask, but he and Jordan have already come back with new glasses of water.

“Thank you,” she says, pleased with their thoughtfulness, with the concern and regret in their eyes.

“How you feel, Ade?” Jordan asks, and Adrian gives a mock grin and a weak thumbs up.

“You think you have more in you, buddy?” Maggie asks, and he shakes his head as she offers a straw to his lips.

“I know the idea of water hurts, but just a few sips. Just a few sips, okay?” Alex coaches, and she praises him when he forces some down, his face a tight grimace.

He whispers something that sounds a lot like thank you, and he remembers nothing else.

He wakes up in Maggie’s bed, jeans unbuttoned, top buttons of his shirt undone, shoes off. He wakes up with water, a banana, aspirin, coffee all next to his bed. With the curtains all drawn so the light doesn’t hurt his eyes, and with Alex and Maggie tiptoeing around in the kitchen, being as quiet as they can.

“Ey,” he tries, and even though it’s a whisper, they both spring to attention, spring to either side of the bed.

“How you feel, soldier?” Alex asks with a grin, and Adrian groans.

“I passed out?”

Maggie nods. “We only just got home a couple hours ago.”

Adrian’s brow furrows as he accepts the water Alex is giving him, accepts the help Maggie’s giving him with sitting up slow, slow, slow. “But it wasn’t that late when I called.”

“I figured you wouldn’t want us to carry you to the car, so we let you sleep it off in the stall until you could kind of walk. It’s okay if you don’t remember. Nothing bad happened. And Mateo and Jordan send their love, and their said they’re sorry they didn’t watch you closer. I’m pretty sure they blew up your phone with texts.”

Adrian blinks.

“So… so I get into a club illegally, and I drink illegally, and you just… let me sleep on you on a gross bathroom floor for hours and then take me home and take care of me?”

“What else should we have done, Ade?” Maggie asks with narrow eyes and a tilted head.

“I don’t know… yell at me? Arrest me?”

“Well, arresting you wasn’t gonna happen. That’s not what the law… But I did made it very clear to the club that if I ever catch them serving underage kids again… And yell at you? Why would I yell at you?”

“I was stupid.”

Maggie smiles, and she kisses his forehead, and she nods.

“Yep. But Adrian, you called me. Or, well, you texted me. You reached out when you were in a bit of trouble, and that’s all I can ask. I can’t ask you to never make mistakes. I can only ask you to make sure you call me – or Alex, or your parents, or all of us – when you’re in trouble so we can help you.”

“So… you’re not mad?”

Alex snorts. “Oh, she’s hopping mad. But we figure we’ll let you come down from the hangover before you get lectured, Sawyer Style.”

“Not helping, Danvers.”

Alex just winks at him, and Adrian lets out a groggy giggle, and Maggie can’t help but melt.

Because he’s home, and he’s safe, and he’s growing up, but god, he’s still their kid, and he always will be.

And she can’t ask for anything more.