What is the proper social protocol for starting up platonic acquaintanceships with people you meet on a night out? Somehow I often end up exchanging numbers with temporary drinking buddies when I go out drinking alone but it has never lead anywhere. Is it even supposed to lead somewhere or is it just a thing drunks do and forget about in the cold light of day?
Am I supposed to invite these people somewhere or is that a bit gay? If some one-night drinking buddy invited me to go somewhere I would immediately assume that they had intentions of the shirt lifting kind, but I have self-diagnosed myself with both autism and sex appeal so I have no idea how a regular person would process this sort of stuff.
Most straightforward protocol I can think of is sending a text like, "hey mate it's x from y, will you be at y again on Friday? I'll be there with z give me a message if you want to join".
Don't worry about coming across as a shirt-lifter, you can always clarify later. The less date-like you can make it the better.
Ideally during one of your pissups you strike on a mutual hobby and can meet in a different context, with a similarly casual invitation.