"Ha ha," John says sourly, though in fact he's not really that irritated, at least not at Eddie. He's about to take a drink when the fact he stationed himself on Eddie's right comes back to haunt him. That drunk guy elbows him now instead.

"The fuck, asshole," he snaps, which fails to clear any significant amount of space, due to the aforementioned carding. "Jesus, is it douchebag hour?" That's directed at Eddie, because that is basically how guys bond, mutual griping. And a lot of small guys have attitude to make up for it, but John seems particularly unworried about his physical well-being — weirdly at ease rather than obviously itching to prove something.