It was nearly 1.30am and Dave was pretty drunk. Not so drunk as he wasn't aware of what was going on around him, but the kind of drunk where inhibitions were lowered and a happy glow surrounded him.
He was on his works Christmas party. Well, that wasn't strictly true. It wasn't his team he was with, it was a team he'd spent a lot of time sitting with in his local office, as his role was a fairly solitary one and so it was nice to be adopted by a team.
After the pandemic, it was nice to get out and see people again, but as he'd not been into the office for nearly 2 years, there were new member of the team he'd not met. Dan was one example of these. Earlier in the evening he'd been chatting to Dan, who'd seemed a very pleasant guy, in his early twenties. Dave didn't want to stereotype, but he got the feeling that Dan was gay, his mannerisms just seemed to lean that way.
The night had been fun, after the comedy gig, they'd booked into some of the group left to go home, but a small group remained, and they went first to a couple of bars, before heading to a club. The club hadn't been packed, people still reluctant to go out, but had enough of a vibe to be enjoyable. They'd danced as a group, Dave idly noticing that Dan always seemed to be by his side, and generally had fun.
Hours later, the group had clearly had enough, the night was winding down, and in ones and twos they left the bar and stepped out onto the street outside.
"How are you getting back?" Dan asked Dave as two of the girls climbed into a taxi.
"Taxi," Dave replied.
"That's going to be pricey, it's about 30 mins drive, isn't it?"
"Yeh, but I'm definitely not walking" Dave laughed.
"Mind if I jump in with you, my place is only 20 mins walk away, but it's on route for the cab."
"Sure, no worries." Dave said.
They found a cab, and after agreeing an eye watering amount to take Dave to the next town along, they climbed in. Dan gave directions to his place and the car pulled away.
They were silent for a moment or two, lost in each other's thoughts, before Dan spoken up.
"I've realised where I know you from."
"Oh yeh?" Dave asked, turning to the other man.
"Yeh, I didn't want to say anything in front of the others, they clearly don't know given how they were going on about setting you up with a girl, but you're on grindr aren't you?"
"Guilty," Dave accepted after a pause, "but I've never met up with anyone on there." He added.
"No judgement," Dan smiled, "obviously I'm on there too, and to be honest, your profile seems a lot better than some of the idiots on there, and you're definitely nicer than the odd guy I've met with on there."
"Thanks," Dave said, unsure where to go with the conversation, and they lapsed into silence again.
The taxi pulled up outside Dan's house. He didn't immediately get out, instead turning to Dave:
"You know, a taxi in the morning is a lot cheaper than right now. Why not come in for a drink and stay over?" The way he said it, coupled with the look in his eye made it clear that more than just a drink was on offer.
Whether it was the drink, or the fact that he hadn't any action in years, made Dave consider the offer. With a mental shrug, he thought to himself, if you ever want to try it out, now would be the time.