Falling Away With You (Diana; M)

[Adrian Connery]

Well of all the things Diana could have come out with; perfect, amazing, fantastic and wonderful hadn't even registered on the list of possibilities. Adrian had been stealing himself for her to tell him it had been stupid, a drunken mistake or way out of line. Her suggestions of what the kiss could be described as caught the drunken man off guard but they made him smile an odd lopsided smile that hadn't been seen on his face since his school days. "It was pretty good," he shrugged with a cheeky gleam in his bright, blue eyes.

"Sure, help yourself. I think I've had enough anyway." Adrian gestured to himself vaguely and knew he should probably sober himself up but a part of him didn't want to be sober. He hadn't been drunk in years, hell Adrian was pretty sure he'd never been drunk ever and, apart from the haze, a slight slur and a dizzy feeling, he was enjoying himself. "I'm sorry Diana," the Irishman blurted out looking alarmed before changing his mind. "Actually, I'm not sorry. I've wanted to do that since I worked with you." He nodded his head matter-of-factly and went to drain what firewhiskey was left out of his glass, which wasn't much.

With even more alcohol in his system Adrian again found courage with the woman that he'd struggled to talk to for months. "If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to kiss you again if you don't mind."

[Diana Addair]

  “Thanks,” Diana muttered automatically, reaching for his glass of whiskey and taking a bigger mouthful than was strictly necessary. Something she immediately came to regret when the strong, burning liquor decided to assault her tongue.

  Adrian was trying to apologise, and Diana pulled her muggy head back on the conversation. Before she knew it he was taking his sorry and his whisky back while he was at it. Diana blinked confusedly, too busy trying to come to terms with what he was saying to protest over the pinched liquor.

  The whole evening really had followed an unexpected pattern, with Adrian at the centre of it all. She just didn’t know what to expect next. He wasn’t the usual quiet, reserved man she was accustomed too. Alcohol did wonders. Still, his confidence was infectious (or the firewhiskey was having its toll on both of them) and she offered him a smile.

  “Why didn’t you tell me before?” she asked, looking up into his serious blue eyes. She’d always guessed he used to have a crush, but it was a pity it had taken him half a bar to get the confidence to act on it.

  Logic dictated that she shouldn’t rush into this, but her ethanol-clogged senses were not their usual selves and she found herself leaning closer. Screw it, logic could go to Hell. “No, I don’t mind,” she whispered, gaze flicking to the rest of his face. She should mind, but... she didn’t.

[Adrian Connery]

A heavy haze had settled itself over his brain and had made all logical thought and action a chore. Adrian's present situation however didn't warrant logical thought and there was no point starting to act logical now after so much of the opposite. He smiled and watched her drain the dregs of his glass, thoroughly enjoying the way her skin glowed amber from the reflections off the liquid. His drunken eyes followed the line of her cheek, down her neck and settled somewhere in the vicinity of her chest.

Thankfully Diana asked him why on earth he hadn't told her he fancied her before that night, putting an end to his Abraham Grey-like behaviour. "Well for one, I hadn't had enough of these," Adrian answered holding up his empty glass and pointing to it. "Secondly, I thought you fancied Grey so i stayed away, though what you saw in him God knows. Barmy git," he continued with a slur. He shrugged and gave her a wry smile before leaning closer again and kissing Diana again with her permission.

The kiss was more urgent and sloppy through the influence of alcohol but he enjoyed it all the same. "I should really drink some coffee or something. Should we go back to your place? Mine's a bit out the way for you," Adrian proposed innocently. He really did think he needed some coffee to sober up but if there was anything else involved that would be a bonus. Together they left the pub and Adrian's mind went as blank as a Hufflepuff in Artithmancy.

---

"Oh God, my head," Adrian groaned. His entire body ached but nothing more so than his head, it felt as though it were about to explode. Reluctantly he opened his eyes at the chime of a clock near by. Through bleary blue eyes he saw it was six in the morning and he was on a very strange couch. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on ones view, he still had all his clothes on except for his trenchcoat, that lay neatly over Diana's couch and his shoes on the floor.

Doing his best to ignore the urge to throw up the entire contents of his stomach, Adrian rolled clumsily off the couch. Water, his dry mouth screamed for water and so Adrian tiptoed to the kitchen in search of it. Silently he rifled through Diana's cupboards until he found a glass and gulped down some water gratefully from her tap. Again the clock in the living room chimed and, despite the epic hangover, Adrian had papers to mark and kids to tutor. He had to go but he felt guilty for leaving the woman who had kindly given her couch to him for the night.

Finding a piece of parchment, a quill and some ink, Adrian hastily scrawled a note of thanks and apologies for whatever he did or said under the influence of far too much of Ogden's finest. He groaned at the thought of what he had potentially done and said last night. Never, ever, ever, ever again would he drink. Quietly Adrian gathered up his coat and shoes before leaving on his journey of shame back to Hogwarts.

Fin.