Thursday, October 13, 2005

~Chapter Three~ “Reasons Why Not to Drink Alcohol”
“Ne, Muraki, what’s this?” Tsuzuki asked, holding up a tattered pink rabbit plushie. Muraki winced.

“Some guy at school has one just like it,” he explained, “it’s called Kumagoro or something weird like that. The guy’s name is Ryuichi, I think. Anyway, he proclaimed very loudly that I looked lonely and needed company, so he’d get a copy of his Kumagoro and give it to me. He did, and that’s the result. It freaks hell out of me,” he admitted.

“I can see why,” Tsuzuki replied, sweatdropping at the stuffed rabbit. It was something akin to the devil, or maybe just evil incarnate.

“I prefer dolls anyway,” Muraki confessed. The other boys sweatdropped.

“So…um….” Watari looked around trying to change the subject. “If we can’t play games, what can we do?”

“Ooh! I know! I know!” Tsuzuki bounced around, “I made sure to bring something in case things got boring! Let met get it!”

He scrabbled around in his bag for a while. Tatsumi had a flash of déjà vu and shot an evil look at Watari, who hid behind Hisoka. After all, it wasn’t his fault that Tatsumi had embarrassed himself – it was Tatsumi’s own choice to take the potion. Well, mostly.

“Whee!” Tsuzuki squealed as he surfaced, holding a bottle of sake in his hand. Everyone else stared, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

“Tsuzuki-kun! Where did you get that?” Tatsumi asked, snatching it off the other boy.

“It’s kind of hard to explain,” Tsuzuki whimpered, “I have my sources, can we just leave it at that? Can I have it back now?”

“No! What in blazes possessed you to bring alcohol into my house!?”

“Relax, Tatsumi-kun,” Muraki said, “this might not be as bad as you think.”

“Did I say you could open your mouth?” Tatsumi snarled in response. Muraki grimaced – obviously Watari’s potion was still having some effect. But he refused to let a few harsh words beat him down.

“I was thinking that the sake could come in handy,” he continued, “we could settle our differences with it.” This seemed to interest Tatsumi a little bit.

“What do you mean?” Tatsumi asked suspiciously.

“I mean a drinking competition. Unless, of course, you’re not up for that sort of thing…being the good little student and all.” Muraki didn’t even try to hide his sneer, but it looked very comical when accompanied by his broken nose. Tatsumi thought about this for a few minutes.

“All right, I accept,” he said, then put the bottle down and went to find some glasses. Tsuzuki, Watari and Hisoka all looked at each other with worried expressions. None of them had ever seen either Tatsumi or Muraki drunk before, and they were a tad worried about what might happen. Especially with Tatsumi still under Watari’s potion’s influence.

“You know, I think it would be in our best interests to leave the room,” Watari said, backing up against the wall. Tsuzuki and Hisoka followed, and all three of them were edging towards the kitchen when Tatsumi returned, and nearly trampled them.

“Where do you suppose you three are off to?” He asked, tapping his foot.

“We thought we’d hide in the kitchen until you and Muraki-kun had both passed out,” Hisoka said bluntly. Tatsumi raised an eyebrow.

“You expect me to trust Tsuzuki-kun in my kitchen, with my food, without my supervision?” Tatsumi deadpanned. Hisoka thought that was a very good point, but didn’t say that out loud.

“But we’ll be there to watch him,” Watari said, trying to slip past the bigger boy. Tatsumi wasn’t convinced, and nudged Watari back into the living room with his foot, something of the way a person would move a small dog out of their way.

“You can amuse yourselves in here, thank you very much,” Tatsumi growled, “I can keep myself and Muraki-kun out of trouble in a corner somewhere and still keep an eye on you three. Watch a video or something,” he added as he herded the boys back into the center of the room.

“Well, I did bring a video you could borrow if you like,” Muraki smirked. Then he threw a video case at Tsuzuki, who caught it and looked at the title. He turned white.

“’Deep Throat’!?” Tsuzuki screamed, dropping the video as if it had been set on fire. Watari and Hisoka’s eyes widened and they stared the case on the floor.

“Just what kind sick hobbies do you have, Muraki-kun?” Hisoka choked.

“I take offence,” Muraki sniffed, “you’re probably just jealous that I can get my hands on videos like that and you can’t.”

“All right, all right, settle down,” Tatsumi said, sitting himself on the side of a small coffee table, “Muraki-kun, are we going to do this or what?” Muraki grinned and sat on the other side. Tatsumi poured the sake.

“You know, I think watching this could be more interesting than a video anyway,” Watari said, plopping himself near the coffee table turned battlefield. Tsuzuki agreed and sat next to him.

“You’re all idiots,” Hisoka mumbled. He felt left out. He wasn’t interested in Tatsumi and Muraki slagging off at each other, and since Tsuzuki and Watari were going to watch them that left nothing for him to do. So he wandered over to his sleeping bag, crawled in with a book (one that had not yet been thrown at Muraki) and sulked.

Meanwhile, Tatsumi and Muraki had begun their drinking competition. Neither of them was very well acquainted with alcohol, so Tsuzuki figured it wouldn’t take long before they were slurring and passing out.

It started out easy enough. Shot for shot, Tatsumi and Muraki matched each other. No one was counting how many shots there were. Tsuzuki and Watari were just waiting for the first signs of intoxication, which soon appeared.

“Maybe this wasn’t so smart,” Tatsumi mumbled, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. He was starting to feel sleepy.

“Coward,” Muraki slurred in reply.

“I read you can even die if you drink too much alcohol,” Watari chirped from the sidelines, “it’s called alcohol poisoning!”

“Oh, well, that’s a cheery thought,” Tatsumi growled.

“Ehh? You don’t think they’ll get that, do you Watari?” Tsuzuki’s puppy ears popped out again, “I don’t want Tatsumi to die!”

“What about me?” Muraki pouted, “don’t you care about what happens to me, Asato-kun?” Tsuzuki thought about this for a moment. He didn’t want to hurt Muraki’s feelings, but…

“Well, Muraki is so strong, I don’t think he’d die that easily,” he settled for instead. This made Tatsumi’s head snap up.

“So you don’t think I’m very strong, Tsuzuki-kun?” He asked, feeling a little hurt. Tsuzuki let out a little meep sound. He was going to stick his foot in his mouth any second at the rate this was going.

“Er…of course I do, Tatsumi,” Tsuzuki said carefully, “but since you and I have known each other longer, I just thought you already knew that.”

“What, so he’s a better friend than me because you’ve known him longer?” Muraki demanded, slamming his glass on the coffee table after his shot. Tsuzuki sweatdropped.

“No! It’s not that! It’s just that I see Tatsumi more often and you always try and…touch me…when you’re around, and it kind of freaks me out a little…”

“That’s right!” Tatsumi slurred, also slamming his glass on the coffee table, “you’re always touching him and being weird! You shouldn’t do that so much! A person is liable to break your nose!”

“You already did that!” Muraki snarled, his voice raising in both volume and pitch.

“So I did!” Tatsumi expressed with mock surprise, “and what an improvement on your face it is, too!”

By this time, Tsuzuki and Watari were taking turns hiding behind each other. Muraki and Tatsumi were getting louder and more animated, and the two younger boys both feared things would soon come to blows. When they did, neither of them wanted to be in the line of fire.

“Ne, Watari,” Tsuzuki whispered, “I don’t think that potion you gave Tatsumi was such a good idea.”

“Me either,” Watari conceded, “I really wasn’t expecting him to be so…passionate deep down inside. I mean, he’s really scary!”

“Not to mention the alcohol,” Tsuzuki added, watching Tatsumi and Muraki yell at each other, the sake on the table seemingly forgotten.

“And what’s more…” Tatsumi seemed to be about to drop a bombshell, some vital piece of proof that Muraki was the scum of the earth.

“You know, you’re really quite cute when you’re angry,” Muraki said softly.

Tatsumi stopped mid sentence, posing dramatically. A single sweatdrop worked its way down the back of his head. Tsuzuki and Watari also froze.

“…what did you just say?” Tatsumi asked quietly.

“I said, you’re cute when you’re angry,” Muraki repeated, then poured himself another dose of sake. “Not as cute as Asato-kun, of course, but still cute.”

There was a long moment of silence. Then, Tatsumi’s foot somehow reached over the coffee table to imbed itself in Muraki’s face.

“Are you hitting on me!?” Tatsumi screamed, veins popping out of his head everywhere, “PERVERT!”

“My nose!” Muraki’s muffled voice whimpered. Offhand, he wondered how many times he’d have to set the damn thing before the night was over. Tsuzuki and Watari clung to each other in fear. Uninhibited, drunk Tatsumi was something to both respect, fear, and hide from.

“It was a compliment, damn you!” Muraki growled, trying to pry Tatsumi’s foot off his face. Tatsumi thought about this for a moment, then fell back into a sitting position.

“So it was,” he said thoughtfully. Muraki sweatdropped while Tsuzuki and Watari facefaulted.

“Idiot! You don’t even know a compliment when you receive one! Is that because no one ever compliments you?” Muraki snapped, one hand still gingerly protecting his nose. Tatsumi blushed and a vein popped out of his forehead.

“For your information, that’s right! No one ever does compliment me, even when I’m the one that bails people out of trouble,” he pouted. Tsuzuki figured now was a good opening to lighten the mood a little.

“Sorry Tatsumiiii~!” He squealed as he glomped the older boy, “I love you! Really I do! I’d compliment you more often but sometimes I forget, you know how forgetful I am! You’re really wonderful, though, but you probably shouldn’t need me to tell you that!”

“Tsuzuki-kun!” Tatsumi’s face currently resembled a tomato. “Get…get off me! What are you doing!?”

“More importantly,” Muraki yelled, “why don’t you ever do that to me!?”

Watari had slipped out a small disposable camera and was too busy snapping photos to add to the conversation. Imagine the fuss these would cause at school! In the back of his mind, he began trying out headlines for the school paper…School nerd molested by popular boy. Outcast is jealous! Or maybe, Love Triangle – Between Three Boys? The possibilities went on and on…

“Tsuzuki-kun! Get your hand off my groin!”

“Tatsumiiii~! It’s not on your groin! It’s on your leg!”

“That is not my leg!”

“Well it would be if you didn’t wriggle so much!”

“Asato-kun! Stop that! If you need to grope someone, at least come over here and do it to someone who’ll let you!”

“I am not groping anyone!”

Over in the corner of the living room, Hisoka had already fallen asleep.

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