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[~~agdsafsd it was a terrible joke.~~

Nick doesn't relent, even with Kotetsu's slapping and ineffectual fumbling for his own wallet. Fortunately, his hand is still on the other cop's shoulder, and he tightens his grip a little to steady him.]

You can't even sit up without falling, man. I got this.

[He's already handing his own credit card over to the bartender, anyway.]

No.

[The bartender looks a bit conflicted for a moment, but swipes the credit card anyway, handing Nick a receipt and a pen to sign with. Which Kotetsu tries to swipe out of his hand, but you know, hand-eye coordination being completely fucked right now he sort of ends up grasping empty air and growls in frustration.]

.....Gimme th'receipt. M'payin'...y'back t'morrow...

[He doesn't even have enough inhibitions in him to not make a scene about this, oh god. Good thing he's not likely to remember it in the morning...]

Edited 2013-09-28 10:23 (UTC)

[Kotetsu's fumbling is getting completely ignored, as are his frustrated growls, as Nick signs for the tab, along with a pretty good tip. Hopefully that will make up for any scene causing.]

You can pay next time we get lunch or go out after work, all right?

[He shoots the bartender a slightly apologetic smile, and then grabs Kotetsu's hand, to try to pull him up from the stool.]

C'mon. Let's get you to a place with a bed.

Edited 2013-10-01 06:12 (UTC)

Not 'nough...s'my shitty decisions, I'm...m'gonna pay for 'em...receipt.

[...He may or may not have just tried to scratch Nick as his hand is grabbed, and in the name of karma he also might have just fallen out of his stool in the attempt. Good thing it wasn't too high.]

[Nick hisses when Kotetsu scratches him, and it distracts him enough that he doesn't quite catch Kotetsu in time.

All right, and maybe he moved a little bit more slowly than he could have. Getting scratched sucks, man.]

All right, find, you can have the receipt. Just stop injuring both of us, okay?

Hnn.

[Ugh, does he have to get up off the floor. The floor seems nice, he'd like to sleep there please.]

...Sorry.

[Did it just occur to him that he scratched Nick or is he apologizing for something else? ~THE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW~]

[Yes, he has to get up off the floor. It's a bar floor, man, it's covered with who the hell knows what. Nick isn't going to let him in his car if he sleeps down there.]

It's okay, Sarge. Just come with me, all right?

[Nick has no idea what he's apologizing for, either, but he's just going to tell him that it's okay and try to haul him to his feet, wrapping an arm around his waist so he can help him outside.]

[ghhhh fine fineeee. He lets Nick pull him up to his feet, going along with his friend's efforts to get him up and moving, though his feet do drag a little. Coordinated walking is not a thing that's going to happen right now.

Kotetsu's silent for awhile, following Nick outside and then he stops. Sighs, and stares at the ground.]

...Wha're we gonna do?

[That's fine; Nick's more than used to helping someone who has drunk-coordination get themselves out of the bar.

When Kotetsu stops, so does Nick, mostly because he doesn't really want to try to drag him, at the moment.]

We're going to get you home - if you can manage to give me directions, otherwise we're going to go back to my place - and I'm going to make sure you drink water, and get you somewhere you can sleep. Then I'm going to hang around to make sure you don't kill yourself when it comes time to pray to the porcelain gods.

[...he knows that likely isn't what Kotetsu meant. He's hoping his friend is too drunk to call him on it.]

[YOU ARE A GOOD FRIEND, NICK. Alas, Kotetsu's drunk!mind is sadly one-track, at the moment. He sort of slumps forward against Nick, as if his thoughts and fears were a great physical burden on him right now.]

Not...what I meant.

[...]

What'f they kill 'er, Nick. What'f they're just gonna make 'er disappear and it's never even gonna make the news. What if...

[His voice grows a little shaky, and he struggles to keep it from cracking because some part of his brain even now tells him he can't break down in front of Nick like this.]

What if...they get 'way with it 'cause th' only ones who'd think to question it's network people, an' then they can jus' pick us off too....

Edited 2013-10-13 18:59 (UTC)

I know.

[It's quiet, but if Kotetsu is going to go there, then Nick doesn't really have a choice.

He keeps his arm around Kotetsu's waist, wrapping his other one around his friend's shoulders, both to hold him up, and to keep him close. If they're going to do this, Nick wants to be able to talk as quietly as possible.

And maybe that shake in his voice is worrying him a little.]

They won't get away with it. She's not unconnected, Sarge, she has friends. Family. A girlfriend, who will probably rest at nothing to make sure she's found. She'll go to the media, she'll make sure that the story doesn't disappear.

[And he believes that, for the most part. He knows how the conviction of loved ones can make sure that a story doesn't die, that a case doesn't go cold.]

And just because we have to be more careful doesn't mean we're going to stop looking into this.

[He shivers a little in Nick's arms, as if he's cold.]

They got 'way with Paul. An' framin' Jack. Haven' heard from 'im in 'while, Jack. Sears, I mean. Maybe he's a'ready dead. Or worse. God, they 'ere already watchin' 'is fam'ly, what'f he forgot this shit'n went back to them'n they 'ere all taken?!

[OOPS a little loud there...hopefully any passerby just dismiss it as the ramblings of some drunk old man. He's quiet a few moments, curling into Nick a little more, burying his face in his sleeve.]

...M'scared, Nick. We're not...we're not...th'good guys 'nymore. We're not, an' that's--[his voice hitches there for a moment]--tha's fuckin' scary. I dunno wha't'do...

Edited 2013-10-15 08:43 (UTC)

[Nick has no idea what to say to the first bit. He didn't know about the network when whatever happened with Paul happened, he's never met Jack Sears, and the only thing he knows about it is what other people have told him.

But he can hold Kotetsu closer, curling one hand around the back of his friend's neck in an attempt to be at least physically comforting. And then Kotetsu says that, and, well, that he can reply to.]

Hey. [He slides his hand around, making an attempt to tilt Kotetsu's head up so he can meet his eyes.] We're still the good guys, Kotetsu, you're still the good guy. Our jobs, the stuff we do day-to-day, that still matters. You think all the good you do, all the people you help, that's just going to stop because a couple of people at the station are involved in something we didn't expect? No matter how bad that something may be, that doesn't change the good that you still do.

You going to tell all the people you've helped by putting bad guys away that they don't matter anymore, because there's bigger things at stake? Look, the world may need saving on a bigger level than any of us thought, but that doesn't mean it doesn't need saving on a smaller level, too. It doesn't mean you can't be a cop, a good cop, at the same time as you use what you know now to fight against the - the weirder shit.

[...and he'd rambled on a lot more than he'd meant to, but - it's been something he'd been worried about, too, and he hadn't really known what he was going to say before he said it. Except that he believes it, one hundred percent, that Kotetsu could never be the bad guy.]

And you're not alone anymore, man. You don't have to do it alone.

[Which is strange for Nick to even say, much less feel, but since getting a couple of pulses, since Monroe... he's starting to learn what it's like not to be alone.]

[Nick pulls him closer, attempts to comfort him, and he tries to listen through most of it. It might even have calmed him down, if he were either a little more sober or a little less upset.

Instead, at some point around the end of that speech, something just gives inside and he wrenches away from his friend, though his balance being shot to hell means he falls on his ass nearly immediately. And then punches the sidewalk--once, twice. It's rather a miracle he manages not to break his wrist, honestly.]

...It changes everything, Nick. Everything!!

[He hugs his knees to his chest a moment, and when he looks up, his face is wet.]

Back'n April...when that guy...when Jack...when we 'ere lookin' for 'im...I thought. I wondered...wha' kinda monster'd just--just kill a whole fam'ly with kids. I, I thought...tha' kinda guy oughta, oughta get locked up'n never see th'lighta day again....

But it wasn'....he didn' do anything. They did it, an' they framed 'im 'cause he got in their way. How many....how many'a the guys we put away....didn' do 'nything? He--he's the chief'f police. They coulda made all sortsa fake ev'dence for people they wan'ed t'get rid'f. Coulda bribed witnesses, n'everything.

[He falls silent, then, staring at the dirt and grime of the pavement as if it held all the answers to the universe.]

...What'f s'all been a lie?

[A deep, shuddering breath.]

What, what if e-everything we've ever stood for's...only, ever, been a lie?

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