Alec decided that despite his love of going out, perhaps it was better to stay inside and spend some time with his best friend. Dorian, well he was a constant in Alec's constantly spiraling life. He was his Auror partner, and had many similarities in his lifestyle.

He wondered if the bastard even remembered he invited him there. Usually he'd say he'd arrive but then text him telling him that he was bedding some blonde, apparently he had a thing for blondes.

Picking up a glass, he filled it with brandy and sipped it calmly not really expecting much.

Dorian had been surprised at the invite. Usually they'd pick a club and enjoy, but he shrugged inwardly. Apparently Alec needed some down time. And if Dorian was honest, he needed some too. Leaving his tie at home, though still in a suit, he stepped into his fireplace and said his destination.

Stepping out at Alec's flat, he couldn't help but coughing. He wasn't a huge fan of this form of travel, but he didn't want to deal with hiding an apparation, and this way Alec could at least hear him coming. He brushed some soot off his coat, making a mental note to get it cleaned.

Seeing Alec over by his liquor table, he smirked at him and helped himself to a decanter that he kept here just for himself. "Enjoying the day off, I see?" It was a rare thing, them having the day off, but such was the life.

Turning to face his best friend he let out a lazy smirk and made a motion asking silently if he wanted a drink. Either way, he poured another cup of Dorian's favorite alcoholic drink and sat on his posh leather couch, sliding Dorian's drink towards him.

"No blond bint hanging off of your arm I see?" he replied smirking. "Struck out, or did you actually want to keep your sheets clean this night?" he joked.

Such was their conversations. But he wanted to see how Dorian would think about a certain situation he'd gotten in. As much as he hated to admit it, Dorian usually was giving him advice over petty things such as changing his mind when he wanted to go for something stupid, but this time, perhaps he needed a serious conversation. Ugh how disgusting.

Dorian took a sip of his scotch, delighting in the burn down his throat. Alec wasn't wrong, per se. He have an impulse to keep his sheets clean for a night. Though he didn't really want to go into the why.

"Yeah, well, they were fresh out of blondes tonight." Blondes were safe. They were usually only out for one thing, which worked perfectly fine for Dorian.

Dorian set down his glass and shrugged off his coat. Sighing tiredly, trying not to pull attention to his mood, he looked over at Alec. "And what's your excuse? Not that I don't want to hang with you, mate, but it's not your usual thing."

Alec chuckled at Dorian's lack of denial. He knew him better than the both of them wanted to admit. Still, leaning back he looked down at his glass as he wondered how exactly he was going to answer that. He was going to get judged and that would be a bit annoying, but not to mention that he cared about what Dorian would think. He hated to admit it, but he wanted to know what Dorian thought.

"My excuse? So I suppose saying getting fresh out of brunettes too eh?" he said smirking. "Well...it's this woman."

It wasn't so much the words that Alec said, as much as the tone with which he said those words, that had Dorian raising his eyebrow. Sure, it was strange for Alec to talk about one singluar girl, unless it was in reference to a particularly interesting conquest. But he seemed rather...hesitant. Which wasn't how he usually was about women.

Rolling up his sleeves to get more comfortable, he turned to face Alec. They were partners, after all, and Alec was the closest thing he had to a brother. "Alright, mate, Spill."

Some of the other Auror's thought they were weird, but Dorian didn't give a damn. They'd been friends since before he could remember, and he was here to listen.

Alec wrinkled his nose and sighed taking a long sip of his brandy. Fuck he hated feelings, sentiment and attachment. Dorian was one of the few people that knew about his conquests, his failures and his complaints.

"Remember my sister Tess?" he asked.

Taking a deep breath he began to explain how troublesome this could possibly be.

"I don't know if you remember that she was always following or being followed by a curly haired brunette? Her name's Victoria. I met her at a club, you know how I feel about brunettes, so she caught my interests at first, for a simply shag, thank you ma'm kind of situation. Well that backfired, now I'm thinking of doing the whole..." he took a deep breath. "commitment"

Dorian nodded at Alec's mention of Tess. He'd run into her on and off through thier childhood, though never really took much notice of her while they were in school. A few years ago, though, he'd decided to have a bit of fun at Alec's expence. While attending a party at Black Manor, he'd spent a good portion of the night charming Tess up. Though, from her recipricating banter, she'd understood it was mere fun.

Deciding not to bring that up just now, Dorian leaned over to have another drink. He'd just taken a sip when Alec said the word 'commitment'. He thanked Merlin that he was used to surprises, or his scotch would have ended up all over the pair of them. "What!?" he said, a little loudly.

Slowly setting down his drink, he sat up, attentive. "What the hell brought this on?"

Alec sighed; he would have found Dorian's reaction as funny, had he not been dreading that tone so badly. He hated commitment his girlfriends weren't really girlfriends more like shagging partners who knew what they were jumping into. Victoria as different, she was quick witted and bright and beautiful.

"I know" he said sighing. "Never thought that'd happen, but I swear she got her claws in me. She's good"

He poured himself another glass and took a long sip wondering how the hell this exactly did happen. He was just looking for a shag and then it was more.

"At the club..she was plastered. And she mentioned while being plastered that she lived with her best friend. Turns out it was the squirt, and once she found out who I was well we were both a bit sick. But mate, I tried to be a good man and take her home and just forget that ever happened. Apparently she didn't think so as she snogged me in front of the flat. She was a hell of a kisser and probably a good shag. Well..I took her on a date recently..."

It sounded ridiculous even to his ears and sighed.

Dorian knew he probably looked dumbfounded. Alec was always the more...promiscuous of the two of them. Well, that wasn't really true. They both had terrible, if not impressive, reputations. But lately, Dorian was getting a bit tired of the whole rutine. But such was life. He figured life could always be worse.

"I've got to meet this woman, if she's got your knickers in a twist." The corner of his mouth turned up. He knew Alec was serious, but couldn't pass up an opportunity to take a dig at him.

He couldn't help laughing out loud at Alec's last comment. He knew what he was getting into when he invited Dorian here. Would he be there for his mate? Of course. Would he do so without make him squirm with embarrassment? Most definitely not! "Date. And how did this...date...go?"

Alec glared at his friend and let out a smirk knowing that he couldn't help but tease him because that's what they always did. They could talk seriously, but it was usually filled with jokes and teasing.

"Shut yer gob" he said chuckling. "She doesn't have my knickers in a twist, but I swear she's caught my attention. Perhaps I should introduce you bastard to her."

At the mention of date Alec grumbled before answering his question.

"It was interesting. We started arguing, I was mad at her actually, she caused a scene at my coffee spot. I haven't gone there since. Anyways, I took her to dinner and she started arguing at me because of my dislike of sentiment and the stupidity of them all. And then she brought up my sister, like that wasn't terrible enough."

Dorian knew the issues he had with his sister, so there was no need to summarize on that.

"But then she asked me to talk about myself, told her random crap that's not too personal and she told me why she came back from Wales, apparently a bastard had ripped her heart out and what not, even turned to joined a raid against the people that trusted him. Not even a cold hearted bastard like me could not feel something."

Dorian rolled his eyes at Alec's denial. Sure. This woman had his knickers in a twist, or at least Dorian figured she would at some point.

He picked up his glass and continued drinking while Alec filled him in on the date. It was nothing like he'd ever heard from the renouned bachelor. Alec was a one night kind of guy, and so was Dorian. It was safer that way, in his opinion. Not attachments, no commitments, no downfalls.

"Yeah. You're a bastard, but that would just be cold." There were things even they wouldn't do. While Dorian never went to far with a woman, in the emotion aspect anyways, he never wanted to purposely hurt them.

Taking another drink, he smirked at Alec. "So, what do you plan on doing now?"

Alec groaned at the question and ran his fingers through his hair. He didn't know what to do, he could just forget about it and leave her alone. Or...or he could have done what he had promised.

"I'm telling Tess" he said after a while.

Finishing his second glass he gained some liquid courage and nodded to himself.

"Yeah! I'll tell her and then I'll try it out. I want you to meet her though mate and tell me what you think. You might not have the best judgement when it comes to women, but I'm no better that's for sure" he said smirking. "There's no promises of forever, but it's entertaining to try it out. You've have more girlfriend's than I've had, what do you think?"

Dorian followed Alec's example, and filled his glass again. Nights like this were always better when they were both two sheets to the wind. At Alec's determination to tell his baby sister, Dorian laughed and raised his glass in a toast. "Good luck with that, mate. You're gonna need it."

Dorian grimaced at the idea of being Alec's back up conscious in this decision. Normally he was consulted on women for one night stands, or for arm candy to social events. But never girlfriends. Yes, he'd had a few along the way, but he didn't like to remember them. Deep down, he'd always wanted to be a one woman kind of man, but he had learned early on that he wasn't destined for that kind of life.

He sighed. "Yeah, I'll meet her. And I'd say...if she even has you thinking of something like this, don't mess it up." Feeling his past creeping up on him, he took another long drink.

Alec scowled at Dorian's brightly joyous comment. That bastard would find it amusing that he had to deal with his sister and her wrath. Either way he knew he was doing the right thing and a part of him was bothered at how good he had to be.

"i suppose so. You're right mate, but it seems out of character. It feels weird to want to do the right thing. And I'm not doing it for a shag, Merlin knows how much easier that would be. Let's just get plastered I don't want to talk about this anymore. Anything new with you?"

Dorian's smile faded. The alcohol was taking it's toll now, making his head swim. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know, man, I know. But what's life without a little risk."

He didn't really want to open up tonight. Not with how new Alec was to the idea of a relationship. There were certain things an already nervous man did not want to hear at a time like this.

Raising his glass to toast again, he said, "Here here!" Downing it in one go, he hissed at the sting of it. "Nothing much to tell." He didn't want to talk about the things plagueing him right now. It was Alec's night of revelation, not his. He didn't need to hear how tired Dorian was of it all.

Alec nodded, if nothing too deep was spoken that was fine for him as well. It wasn't that they were shallow, but the prospect of accepting a deeper emotion for the pair was foreign and it signaled vulnerability to the opposite sex. To him Dorian had the life; he shagged girls who accepted the lack of commitment, he didn't have uncomfortable situations like he had, nor did he have any siblings nor any strains in the family.

"Fine then, let's get sloshed" he said and filled his glass before drinking it and sighing.