When he woke, Hal’s head was pounding and his mouth was dry as a desert. He hadn’t had a hangover like this since … he couldn’t even remember the last time he had a hangover like this. He took a deep breath and cracked an eye open. Light stabbed into his retinas and he closed them again. Well, maybe he could hold off on opening the eyes.
He had seen that he was in Kyle’s bed, which was good, and he was naked under the sheet, which was probably really good, except he couldn’t remember a damn thing since the party at the bar … which was bad.
He heard a faint moan beside him and he rolled towards it. Using his hand as a shield from the light, he opened his eyes again. Kyle was next to him on the bed. He looked as bad as Hal felt.
Kyle blinked painfully at Hal, then rolled over to bury his face in the pillow. “Just what did we do last night?” he muttered.
“No idea,” Hal sighed.
“Good, you’re awake.” Guy came into the room carrying two mugs of what smelled like coffee. Hal pushed himself to sit upright and took a mug. Then Guy went around to the other side of the bed. “Come on, partner! Get your ass out of bed!”
Kyle pulled the sheet over his head. “What are you doing here, Guy?” he growled.
“I have been given the job of making sure you are awake,” Guy said. He set the coffee on the table next to the bed and reached down to yank the sheet from Kyle’s head. “Because you have a meeting with Salaak in an hour.”
“Why do I have to see Salaak?” Kyle complained.
“It’s both of you that have to see Salaak,” Guy said, waving a finger at them. “Because of what you did last night.”
“What did we do?” Hal asked. He drank some of the coffee. It was really strong—a blend that Kilowog was fond of and had gotten Kyle hooked on. Good. He’d need the extra caffeine to wake him up and chase his headache away if they had to face Salaak this morning.
Guy crossed his arms. “Well, it all started with that bottle of booze Isamot brought to the party.”
Hal remembered that. A bottle of green liquid that looked like it had been dipped out of the reactor pool at a nuclear plant. Isamot had said it was prized among his people, so Hal and Kyle each had a glass to be polite. Or maybe it was two glasses…?
“After you two polished off the bottle of the lizard booze—Isamot’s a bit peeved about that, by the way—we discovered it had some interesting effects on humans. An aphrodisiac, for one.”
Hal coughed. “How do you know that?”
Guy snorted. “Kyle giving you a lap dance in the middle of the bar was the first clue. It also seems to remove inhibitions.”
“Oh, God…” Kyle covered his face with his hands.
Hal set his mug down and rubbed his hand through his hair. How could he not remember Kyle giving him a lap dance? “So Salaak’s pissed about that?”
Guy laughed. “Oh, no. Salaak doesn’t care much as long as the partying stays inside the bar.” He gave Hal a pointed look.
“We went outside?”
“Yeah,” Guy snorted. “You were pretty insistent on taking Kyle flying.”
Hal groaned and dropped his head into his hands. ‘Flying’ had become a euphemism between him and Kyle for sex—usually of the really hot variety. He shared a worried look with Kyle. “So … uh … we went flying?”
“Nope. Arisia and Soranik were able to get your rings away from you both before you did any drunken flying.” Guy dug in his pocket, then held out his hand—two rings rested on his palm. “Then you both took off from the bar.”
Kyle squinted up at Guy. “So Salaak found us somewhere …?”
“Screwing like rabbits,” Guy said. “And it wasn’t just anywhere. Try right on the steps of the Central Battery.” He smirked at them. “And it wasn’t Salaak who found you. It was the Guardians.”
“Oh, God!” Kyle pulled the sheet back over his head.
“And they called Salaak. And Salaak called me.” Guy wrinkled his nose. “And you both owe me big time for having to break you two up. That is not something I needed to see.”
“Sorry,” Hal said, intending to sound contrite, but it came out as a snort, followed by laughter. He wished he could remember their faces, because sometimes the Guardians really needed to be shook up.
Guy pointed towards the bathroom. “Okay, both of you need to be cleaned up and in uniform in an hour,” he scolded. He put the rings on the table next to Kyle’s mug. “I’ll be at the bar, trying to drown out the memories of last night. I expect you two to be there in forty-five minutes. Do not make me have to come break you up again!” He turned and stalked out of the bedroom.
The front door slammed and Hal started laughing again. Kyle pulled the sheet back down to look at him. “This really isn’t funny, Hal,” he said. “I’m an Honor Lantern. And the Guardians found me having drunken sex on the steps of the Central Battery! Shit, they found their Greatest Green Lantern fucking their Torchbearer on the steps … of …” Kyle stopped, mouth hanging open. He blinked a few times, then burst into laughter, too. “We’re never going to live this one down, are we?”
Hal grinned. “No, I don’t think we are.” He lay back next to Kyle and rolled over to kiss him. Screw the meeting. It’s not like either of them had ever been late to a meeting with Salaak before. “I wish I could remember that lap dance,” he murmured against Kyle’s mouth. He looked into Kyle’s eyes and grinned. “Care to refresh my memory?”