Alex began to fiddle with his collar, her fingertips brushing his neck, and he relaxed into her touch, closing his eyes for a moment. "Mmmm, prat," he agreed absently, smiling. The next bit took him by surprise, and it was a measure of how very drunk he was that he didn't immediately make a quip to break the tension. He couldn't think of anything. This fairly unusual occurance disturbed him, and he stared at Alex for a second, though it felt like an age. "Do I ...?" He tilted his head to one side. "Yeah, you know I do ..." Hugo paused, wondering if they were talking about the same thing, the same kind of 'love'. He quite felt his heart had stopped, and his intoxicated mind knew nothing other than that Alex was getting further away by the second and he should do somehthing to prevent that. So he leaned forward and grabbed her firmly around the middle, pulling her body up against his. He was aware that it was the first time in the history of their friendship that he had ever really taken advantage of being much stronger than her, but he didn't want to stop, and wasn't sure if he even could. "Alex," he murmured, a little pleadingly.