Of course, being the (very willing) house host for the day Alexei was in the kitchen, doing things one-handed as best as he could manage.

What, it sucked not having a fully-healed right hand yet! Stupid therapy taking forever. Ugh.

He was in the middle of getting something for the bluenette from the fridge when he heard Mattie’s voice—

And then promptly swore in the back of his head at the sight that greeted him.

“You—how could you—” he stammered as he closed the fridge with his shoulder as he brought a carton of juice to the kitchen counter.

“How could you forget your clothes from the dryer?!” he exclaimed a few moments later, still staring at the—view.

It was a sight to behold.

Shit, had it really been that long since they last saw each other?!

Here was Mattie, looking rather ripped and not giving a single shit in the world about the state of his clotheslessness, while on the other corner we have Alexei, limp noodle extraordinaire.

He then felt his ears burning up with blush, before he quickly ducked to grab some glasses from the nearby cabinet.

Thankfully, while Mattie was busy retrieving his clothes from the dryer (and spared Alexei further anguish) and getting dressed, the blonde had gotten busy pouring a glass of juice into one of the two glasses he’d pulled out.

And then of course he was in the middle of drinking a glass when the bluenette re-emerged from the guest room, (mercifully and thankfully) clothed this time.

“Look, originally I wanted to challenge you to something—but the doctors said I’m ‘not allowed alcohol’,” he began, snorting and rolling his eyes while doing the ‘air quotes’ gesture.

“But screw them. I’m dying for a drink. What’d you want?” he gestured to the mini-bar he’d assembled close to the kitchen.

While not as fully-furnished as the bar he’d worked in last, it was serviceable enough.

“You, outdrink me? As if!” he chuckled as he hobbled over to the mini-bar and began shuffling around for what he was going to assemble.

And there, Mattie made his first mistake.

If making the bluenette ‘guess’ was the first mistake he did earlier, this was the first big mistake he did by saying the words ‘Surprise me’, because whenever Alexei was dared to surprise someone with a drink of his own mixing—

Things got rowdy.

He wondered how this was going to affect Mattie, considering it was just the two of them around the—uh oh.

“I forgot to warn you about something,” he continued as he assembled the ingredients for the cocktail he was going to make.

…right then and there a little jingling noise would ring throughout the space, before the fluffiest of sheep would come prancing out from around a corner, rolling straight towards where Alexei was now mashing several pieces of fruit in the bottom of a glass.

“…I have an overly-affectionate Wooloo. William! Behave yourself,” he said as the white sheep Pokémon who had the tiniest little crown for an accessory waddled over and began sniffing at Mattie’s clothes.

While Alexei was busy throwing together the cocktail by way of pouring some vodka into the first glass and then straining it into one of the old-fashioned glasses he’d been given by the bar he worked at as a parting present, the Wooloo began to bleat.

“I think he likes you,” he said, concentrating as he did everything one-handed as best as possible. Even if he wanted to be fancy and whip out the shakers, he knew tossing (and inevitably catching) them with his questionable dexterity at the moment was going to be a disaster, so he’d have to make this another way instead.

Once he was done piling in the ice, he then skewed a blackberry, a blueberry and a raspberry before sticking it onto one side and hobbling over to where the other awaited.

“Heh, here. Figured you’d like something fruity,” he chuckled as he offered the glass.

“Since I’m a limping wet noodle, going out is not in the cards tonight… however… you—” he trailed off, feeling that blushing pressure again!

“…you wanna stay in instead and just… you know… catch up some more? And—and shit?”

All this, while William the Wooloo wanted more pats and wanted to be carried. Really, William?

Really?!

---

the bramble smash cocktail for your reference

Mattie had committed another mistake—picking up the wily little Wooloo and giving in to what William wanted.

“Uh oh,” was all Alexei could muster the moment William found himself ‘on higher ground’, so to speak.

Right then and there the little sheep then gave his owner the biggest shit-eating smirk a Wooloo could ever manage, before settling down and enjoying the new ‘position of power’.

“Mattie… I think you fell for Will’s trap hook, line, and fucking sinker,” he said as he hobbled back to the mini-bar and grabbed a bucket of ice, a shot glass—and then he just had to go for the classier vodka he kept hidden away for ‘special occasions’.

This definitely qualified as a ‘special occasion’, right?

“I can make us something to eat later. I have just—the perfect idea,” he cackled as he beat the bluenette to the couch and reaching for the remote where he’d last left it and turned the television on for some ‘subtle background noise’.

“Okay,” he went on as he poured himself a shot of vodka and downing it in one go (because for some reason he needed the ‘liquid courage’) he then turned his attention to the other.

“What the hell have you been doing all these years? It’s been—a while!”

“That’s exactly what he wants you to think!” he continued, pouring himself another shot and downing it in one. “Will’s such a scheming little shithead. See? He’s laughing at me right now!”

As if to emphasize what was happening, the Wooloo then stuck his tongue out at him before burrowing even deeper into the bluenette’s hold. So warm and squishy! Another human to pester cuddle.

Another jingling noise made Alexei look sideways before he burst out into a fit of laughter.

“Oh no,” he went on, as this time a black-wooled Wooloo made its appearance, nipping at William’s foot as it was the closest they could reach!

“Yeah, see—I don’t have only one. I have two. This one’s more… uhh… snarkier than Will is.”

Reaching down with his left hand, he tried to shoo the black-wooled Wooloo away from the bluenette to no avail—for all of five seconds before the second Wooloo literally planted its ass on the floor and rolled into Alexei’s left leg.

“Hey. Watch my other foot,” he warned the black Wooloo before reaching out to grab the foot rest and propping his injured right leg on top of it to relieve the pressure.

“So you basically lived off-grid all this time? Where—sorry if this is like, hella personal, but where the hell do you sleep?!” he exclaimed a few moments later as he poured himself yet another shot.

“Don’t tell me you tripped over a Geodude again…”

“You—you—”

That was all he could stammer out as the black-wooled Wooloo stayed near Alexei’s foot, being a dumb little shit before curling up and acting like a foot warmer.

“You literally slept in the—Mattie, how did you even—” he continued to stammer, pouring him enough vodka before refilling his own shot glass again and knocking the drink back in one.

“Don’t tell me you took baths in the ocean?!” he went on, aghast.

At the mention of him sleeping in a cave, he balked.

“You idiot, why didn’t you tell me you didn’t have a roof over your head?!” he continued after mindlessly switching the channel with his other hand, looking for some better ‘background noise’.

“We could’a split rent or something!”