Fic: After Party

[csi_sanders1129]

Title: After Party
Chapters: 1/1
Author: csi_sanders1129
Genre: Romance.
Ratings: T
Word Count: 1,345
Pairings/Characters: Josh Miller/Cooper Frederickson
Synopsis: This is the craziest party Josh has been to in three and a half years at Daleman. An impressive claim, since Cooper seems to be determined to throw exponentially more ridiculous parties every chance he gets, for the smallest of reasons.
Comments: Haven't written anything for Dead Man on Campus in, like, years? Had this random idea and went with it. Ugh, established relationship, set in their senior year. Warning for canonical drug use, drinking, surprisingly no bad language in this. Characters are not mine, please enjoy! Comments are awesome.

This is the craziest party Josh has been to in three and a half years at Daleman. An impressive claim, since Cooper seems to be determined to throw exponentially more ridiculous parties every chance he gets, for the smallest of reasons. This is not a small reason, Josh will grant him - finals are over and soon enough everyone will be leaving for winter break and that is more than enough of an excuse for a truly spectacular blowout. And it's not like Josh is new at this - he's not that naive kid who got sucked into the gravitational pull of Cooper's influence anymore. He knows his limits - both academically and socially - and can usually survive the parties with little more than a mild hangover these days.

No, this party is huge. The entire dorm is packed with what seems like every other student on campus. There is alcohol everywhere, from red solo cups filled with cheap beer scattered on every available flat surface to a pyramid of jello shots on the table in the hallway. There are three games of beer pong going on, another three of quarters, two games of flip-cup, maybe one of kings or spoons or whatever downstairs, if Josh recalls correctly. He may not, as he has imbibed more than a few drinks himself.

Josh gets pulled into varying conversations as he moves through the crowds of people filling the upstairs hallway - questions about break, mostly, a few comparing grades, and a slew of 'awesome party, man's that he's gotten used to over the years. They may be Cooper's parties, but Josh has long since resigned himself to the shared credit. Slowly, he picks his way through to the room he shares with Cooper. There's a rather surprising amount of people gathered there, but once he spots Cooper - and Cooper's stash of primo weed, his favorite bong - the large group is easily explained.

"Josh!" Cooper calls out over the loud music playing, throwing an arm over Josh's shoulder once he finally picks his way across the room and to his best friend's side. "Awesome party, huh?"

"Yeah, one of your best," Josh agrees.

Conversation turns to next semester, what classes, what professors. Cooper happily declares that he's manages a schedule that does not involve being awake before noon at all, and somehow also avoids class on Fridays. Zeke complains, he's got five classes left to go and one of them was only offered at 8 in the morning on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hank has it worse, with a Monday morning capstone class, overseen by the most hated professor on campus. Jerry happily counters, he's only got two classes left to fulfill his requirements. He's filling the rest of his credits with bullshit classes. Josh has only got three left, but that's only because he spent his junior year in a state of perpetual anxiety with eighteen credit semesters in order to make up for those general classes he butchered in freshman year. He's even gotten his own capstone class out of the way as of yesterday, when he'd handed in the finished project.

Eventually, the bong makes its way around the group of people partaking and back into Cooper's hands. He takes a long hit and Josh makes a brazen move and leans down to steal a kiss.

Josh sucks the smoke out of Cooper's mouth and into his own, feels Cooper's lips curl up in a smile against his own when he realizes what he's doing. He holds for a second, as Cooper pulls back, before he exhales and lets it go.

"Nice," Cooper says, taking a hit for himself this time before he passes the thing on.

Josh almost never gets high anymore. After that first semester, after the drunken, drugged-out haze he'd fallen into, after the lengths they'd gone to in order to salvage their torpedoed grades, he'd been a little more cautious. But there are no more obligations this semester - no more classes or homework or tests to worry about. There's just six weeks of time off between semesters, six weeks spent split between Josh's family and Cooper's family before they come back for one last term. Then it's Graduation - which will be, Josh is already sure, cause for another fantastical party - and then it's onto the real world. He and Cooper are getting a place together, that much he knows, but where that will be and what they'll do still requires some figuring out.

"Feeling it?" Cooper asks.

And he is, can feel the content haze of intoxication beginning to fall over him. Worries over final grades and travel plans falling away and he leans into Cooper's side. It hit him fast, but that's probably to be expected since he hasn't been high in so long. "Yeah, you?"

"Might need another," Cooper comments, his tolerance considerably higher given that he's been some level of stoned nearly every day that Josh has known him. "Mind giving me a hand?"

Josh claims the bong this time, lights it up and inhales and Cooper pulls him down to press their lips together again. Cooper plays dirty though, sucks Josh's tongue into his mouth along with the smoke. Hands land on his hips, pulling him in closer, pressing their bodies together just long enough to clue Josh in that the party will be ending soon, at least in their room.

And they might have been unnoticed thus far, as other conversations started and ended, but not anymore. "Get a room, you two," Zeke teases, next in line for a hit.

"We've got one," Cooper reminds him, "You are in it."

"Would you prefer we not be?" Jerry inquires, well aware of how these parties usually play out in terms of the Josh-and-Cooper thing. "Because we can take this party elsewhere."

Some people are already taking the hint, the room slowly clearing, but those remaining take their leave when Cooper starts up the kissing again. "Take the party wherever you want," Cooper agrees, "so long as you lock the door on your way out."

"Sure thing," their friends laugh, shooing the last of the stragglers out the door and into the crowded hallway. Hank pulls it shut and the faint sound of the lock clicking into place tells the they're alone now.

The kiss drags on, gaining tongue and teeth as clothes are quickly shed. Hands move over familiar skin, lingering here and there until Cooper pushes Josh back onto their bed - they shoved the two singles together a long time ago - and from there things turn surprisingly slow, both of them mellowed by the drugs in their system, more than happy to draw things out for a little while, now that there aren't any classes to rush off to in the morning, no studying to get in the way.

They lay together in the aftermath, both in a comfortable haze. Music is still blaring beyond the door to their room and people are still milling about, but it sounds like the crowd is thinning out now that it's getting later. Cooper is, as usual, sprawled all over him, head buried against Josh's shoulder to block out the light they didn't bother to turn off. Josh pulls the blankets up around them both, takes off Cooper's glasses and sets them on the shelf behind the bed and settles in himself.

It really is late, nearly 3:30, and they've got a busy day ahead of them tomorrow, even if it doesn't involve schoolwork. They've got to help clean up the mess from the party - the worst part of these parties, for sure - and at some point they've got to finish packing, get on the road.

"Best party yet, huh?" Cooper mumbles, already half-asleep.

"Yeah," Josh agrees, though this is definitely the best part about Cooper's parties, this one included. "Night, Coop," he mumbles, one hand dragging lazily through the other man's hair.

Cooper mumbles something incoherently in response, but curls into Josh a little closer, "Mm, night."