Duke bared his teeth in a fanged grin before tossing off the contents of his own mug and slamming it to the table again. "Like hell."

Geddoe nudged the half-full bottle towards Duke with the sole of his boot, obviously suggesting nothing, and it took him completely by surprise when Duke grabbed the bottle and refilled his mug, of course. "Brat."

"You know you love me." Duke dropped the bottle onto the table by Geddoe's elbow, and Geddoe claimed it without thinking. "Hell, you go to sleep every night and dream you could be half as good as I am."

"Like hell," Geddoe said, since it was his turn. "I've got boots older than you."

Duke snorted. "What's that got to do with anything? If you've got it, you've got it, no matter how old you are, and I've got it." The grin widened. "And you don't have it, but you want it."

Geddoe eyed Duke askance, then took a long pull at his mug instead of answering.

Duke preened, even if he was listing a little to port by this point. "Well, old man, I can't let you have it, but I could maybe arrange to let you borrow it, if you ask real nice."

"Yeah?" Geddoe refilled his own mug. The empty bottle thudded heavily to the floor and rolled under the table, out of sight. "Don't see how you're offering anything I need." Half-draining the mug again, he mused, "Had better than you, anyway."

Duke sat straight up and crashed his mug to the table. The wooden handle broke off in his hand, and he gaped at it for a moment before flinging it into the corner peevishly. "What do you know, anyway? You haven't even let me try!"

Geddoe rested his mug on his chest again. "You didn't ask."

This obvious display of logic took Duke aback, and he spluttered for a moment. "I'll show you! If you don't mind," he finished with a burst of sarcasm, then before he even got an answer he threw himself forward across the table and gave Geddoe a hard and sloppy kiss, his mouth reeking of liquor. "There!" he panted a moment later, pulling back. "How's that?"

Geddoe considered this for a long moment, running his tongue absently along his bruised upper lip. Finally, he said, "... yup."

"Yup what?" Duke's eyes narrowed, one more so than the other.

"Yup," Geddoe said again. "I've had better."

"Son of a bitch!" Duke screamed, throwing himself upright and kicking his own chair against the wall. "'Had better' my ass! You can play it cool all you want--" and now he was all icy-cold drunkenness, leveling one trembling finger at Geddoe "--but you're just trying to avoid admitting you liked it fine!"

"Nope." Geddoe leaned back and put his own mug on the sideboard, out of harm's way. "I told you the truth. I've had better."

"That so? Is that so?" Duke said, all a-tremble again. "Well, then, maybe you were just too drunk to notice. Lemme try again."

Geddoe shrugged. "All right."

Duke edged around the table to Geddoe's side, grabbed Geddoe's face in both hands, and repeated the kiss, more emphatically this time. "Well?"

"Worse than the last one," Geddoe told him.

"What? Let me try again!"

And now Geddoe was grinning, just the slightest bit, upper lip lifted just enough to show his teeth. "If you want."