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“Aah, I’m so glad that boring test is finally over!”
“You said it, man.”
“It’s actually not over for you,” Tsubaki reminded. “You didn’t even take it yet. And you need to really study for the make-up this time—”
“Augh,” BlackStar groaned unnecessarily loudly, as he did everything else, “why do you have to keep reminding me of th—” The rest of the word was torn into a startled yell as he tripped over the threshold to Maka and Soul’s house and flipped until he slammed against a wall, shaking the picture on the wall above him.
Some of the others giggled as they carefully stepped through the door. Kid shook his head and muttered something about nearly ruining the straight picture frame.
“Hey,” Maka scolded. Had her hands not been full of bags, she would have smacked him with something. “Don’t go breaking anything.”
“It’s not my fault your stupid door-thing is too high,” BlackStar wined, righting himself but still remaining on the floor. He frowned and rubbed his head.
“It’s called a threshold, and you should know by now to step over it; you’ve been here like twenty times—”
“Guys, guys, come on,” Tsubaki said with a smile, “we came here to and celebrate. I’m sure you could have fun beating each other up later, but just relax for now, okay?”
Maka set the bags on the table and began removing the drinks and snacks. Tsubaki helped her, and Kid meticulously organized them. “Yeah, you’re right,” Maka said loudly over BlackStar’s declaration of “I don’t ever relax”
The food and drink were part of the mini-party to celebrate the end of the super exam. Kid thought it was slightly ridiculous, since neither he nor Soul had actually finished it, and BlackStar hadn’t taken it at all. If anything it should’ve been a celebration for Maka’s top placement. He wasn’t complaining about some time with his friends, though.
“Hey, thanks,” BlackStar said as he easily snatched one of the drinks from the middle of Kid’s perfect form. There hadn’t been enough room to fit two leftover cans, so he stuck them both in the middle a few inches away from each other. Of course, out of all the other drinks, one of the ones in the middle had to be taken out.
Well, it was annoying, but it could be remedied easily enough. He took the other can and began drinking.
“Someone’s thirsty,” Soul remarked.
Kid paused in his gulping and said breathlessly, “Only for symmetry.” Then he finished it, took a breath of air, and dropped it in the trash. There. It was perfect again.
“Speaking of, where did you say Patti and Liz were again?”
“Liz is ill and Patti stayed back to keep her company,” he said.
“Oh dear, I hope it’s nothing too serious,” Tsubaki murmured.
“It isn’t,” Kid assured her. Liz did more complaining than actually being sick; she claimed the cold was from studying too much, despite the fact that she had hardly done any studying anyway.
“Careful when you drink things all at once like that,” Maka warned Kid as they gathered around the table, “you could get a stomachache.”
Kid made a tch noise. They all sat down and began to talk, and to his surprise, Kid did feel some sort of pressure building in his stomach. He sipped some water in attempt to calm it, but the pressure traveled upward.
He opened his mouth to speak a few minutes after they sat down. To his great embarrassment, instead of intelligible words, a loud belch came out instead.
His eyes widened slightly in shock—he had never burped so loudly and openly before, especially not in the company of others—before he realized what he’d done. A bright blush covered his cheeks.
The girls burst out into laughter, while Soul commented “Nice one,” and BlackStar cheered enthusiastically.
“Excuse me,” Kid muttered quietly, practically hiding his face in his sleeve.
Soul and BlackStar went on teasing him for a while before Tsubaki changed the subject. They went on chatting, and for a while all Kid was aware of was BlackStar’s loud crunching and the others complaining about all he was eating (“If you’re going to eat half of everything at least pay for some of it!”) He talked mostly with Tsubaki, occasionally adding his own complaints about BlackStar’s behavior, which were of course ignored.
Nearly an hour later, in a somewhat quiet period where Maka was staring into space and BlackStar wasn’t shouting everything at the top of his lungs, Kid noticed a twinge in his bladder. He ignored it at first, but it proved to be more than a twinge. Five minutes later he felt uncomfortably full. He wondered how he hadn’t noticed how bad his need was until then. Well, there was an uninteresting lull in the air, so now was as good of a time as any to excuse himself.
“I’m bored,” BlackStar said suddenly. “Let’s do something.”
“Like what?” Tsubaki asked.
“I dunno, let’s play a game or something!” He furrowed his brow in what appeared to be an attempt to look thoughtful, putting a finger to his lips. Then his expression brightened. “I know,” he declared, “let’s play truth or dare!”
Echoes of “Sure, why not” and “Sounds like fun!” were heard around the table.
“Let’s move to the sitting room,” Maka suggested.
BlackStar grabbed a handful of chips and shoved them into his mouth before leaving the table. As everyone moved, Kid began to look around. Curiously, even though he had been over at Maka and Soul’s apartment several times, he’d never actually used the bathroom there. Was it connected to one of the rooms, or…?
“Come on, Kid,” Tsubaki said, smiling from him from the other room. There was an empty space next to her.
He’d find the bathroom after the game. Nodding, he took his place by Tsubaki, shifting for a moment to ease the fullness of his bladder. He hoped this wouldn’t take too long.
“Alright, I’ll go first! Soul,” he said, obviously trying to hold back laughter, “truth or dare?”
“Truth,” Soul answered immediately.
BlackStar’s expression drooped. “Aw, what a wimp,” he muttered before raising his voice to its normal volume again. “Okay, truth it is! Is it true that you—uh—”
He paused for several seconds before a grin spread over his face. “Is it true that you’ve seen Maka’s panties?”
Tsubaki covered her mouth while Maka let out an indignant noise, color flooding her cheeks. Kid simply rolled his eyes. Leave it to that moron to ask something like that. BlackStar screamed as Maka took the nearest book (there were always several books lying around their apartment) and sent him flying with it.
“Idiot,” she snapped.
“He didn’t answer the question,” BlackStar muttered from his upside-down position against the wall.
“And he won’t if he knows what’s good for him!”
All heads turned to Soul. “Of course I’ve seen them,” he said with a completely straight face, “We live together, and we have to do laundry.”
“That’s not what I meant,” BlackStar groaned as he crawled back to his spot. “Cheater.”
“I didn’t cheat, I answered your question.”
“Liar,” Maka accused, “I do the laundry, not you.”
“Not last time I checked.”
“Well, check again!”
They went on for a while before the game resumed. It soon went full circle without him even having a turn, coming back to BlackStar after a weak dare (Tsubaki was shivering next to him with ice down her top) and another truth (Maka had a birthmark right above her butt that vaguely resembled a heart; BlackStar said it was because she loved booty. He went flying again and so did Soul. Kid almost made the mistake of laughing.)
It came back to BlackStar again, who had to stand on his head for the next four turns. “Okay, so—”
“Um,” Tsubaki interrupted, “Kid didn’t have a turn yet.”
He was opening his mouth to say that was perfectly fine, they could skip his turn and maybe he could find the toilet.
“Oh, Soul’s mistake!” BlackStar said cheerily, “Truth or dare, Kid?”
He tried to look around without seeming too suspicious. “Um,” he shifted distractedly, “Truth.”
“Isn’t it true that I’m the greatest ever?”
“No,” Kid said flatly, “Tsubaki, truth or dare?” he went on, ignoring BlackStar’s protesting whine. The quicker they got this over with, the quicker he could casually ask where the toilet was and slip off. He didn’t really have a problem with people knowing that he needed to pee, but they were all in the middle of something and BlackStar would probably complain and make a big deal out of it. And yeah, well, maybe it was more practical to interrupt the game and relieve himself now, but it wasn’t like everyone needed to know.
So he kept quiet about his need, shifting every so often. How long had they been playing? Fifteen minutes at least. How long could a small group of people play truth or dare? It kept going on, and he kept choosing truth, steadily becoming more and more distracted.
“You okay?” Tsubaki said, startling him out of his thoughts.
“Huh? Of course, I’m fine,” he responded and forced himself to remain still. It was an immense challenge.
“It’s just, you’re hardly ever so restless, and you look sort of distracted,” she lowered her voice as Soul and Maka bickered about something. “Is there anything bothering you?”
He glanced briefly at the floor before looking back to her. “I just, ah… need to use the bathroom is all,” he admitted.
“Oh!” she smiled. “I was worried there for a minute.”
Kid gave a distracted mhmm and fidgeted a little. He flushed when Tsubaki giggled at him, and he self-consciously stilled his movements.
“Sorry, you just look so concentrated,” she said. “Why wait?”
“Kid, truth or dare? And can you pick dare please,” BlackStar asked suddenly, drawing the last syllable into a whine, “because everybody is being a wimp.”
Kid looked at Tsubaki, who gave a low Oh of understanding. That was enough, though; he felt too uncomfortable to continue any longer.
“Yeah, sure, dare,” Kid said, rising from his position on the floor. He paused for a moment at the shift in gravity, realizing it was worse than he thought. He squeezed his legs together and hoped the movement wasn’t painfully obvious. “In a minute. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“Seeing as how you forced me to drink that can earlier by taking the other one, I’m going to the bathroom,” he said, inwardly wincing when he remembered he’d followed up by drinking almost an entire water bottle. And that had been over an hour ago.
“Second door on the left,” Soul said helpfully.
“Hang on,” BlackStar interrupted, jumping up and locking Kid’s path to the hallway. Kid frowned. “You said dare, right?”
Oh. He felt his stomach sink. He had never regretted something so quickly.
“I dare you to wait until the game is over to go,” BlackStar said with a wicked grin, planting his fists on his hips.
No way. “Don’t be ridiculous—” Kid began.
BlackStar blocked Kid’s attempts to move around him. “Come on, it’s such an easy dare! We’re only going to play like ten minutes more, fifteen minutes tops.”
Ten minutes sounded like an eternity. He was anxious enough here, squirming as inconspicuously as possible as he struggled not to cross one leg over another. He was sorely tempted to just push past the shorter male, but everyone was looking expectantly at him. What was he going to say? That he couldn’t wait ten more minutes? He was a reaper; he couldn’t let something as basic as bladder needs control him. What if he ever had to go this badly in a fight? This could be good preparation.
“Sure,” he said finally, hoping it sounded casual. He carefully sank back to the floor, ignoring Tsubaki’s concerned glances, and sneakily undid the button on his shorts when no one was looking. Loosening the waistband provided minimal relief, but only for a few moments.
It eventually came to his turn again. He knew it had only been a minute or two despite the fact that it felt like forever. It was Soul this time, but he didn’t want to risk any dares, especially one that would make him move too much.
“Kid, truth or—”
“Truth,” he said too quickly. He had begun to seriously doubt his ability to last more than five more minutes and suspected he’d end up making a dash for the bathroom. His bladder throbbed and begged for release. He squirmed around constantly now, too afraid to remain still.
“Hm,” Soul said, “Is it true that you have boxers with heart print?”
Patti. He knew letting her do the laundry once was a bad idea. Studiously ignoring the Maka’s smothered chuckles, he replied in a hurry, “Yes, I do in fact, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. After all the heart is a wonderfully symmetrical shape so I don’t see why it’s such a big deal to have boxers with hearts on them. What?” he said to BlackStar more snappishly than he’d meant to.
“You haven’t stopped moving for, like, the past five minutes.”
“I wonder why,” Kid said, trying to mask his embarrassment with sarcasm.
“Well, just don’t think about water or anything, ‘cause that sure would make it worse.” BlackStar was wearing that same wicked grin again. “Especially huge water falls with tons of water or even tiny streams that drip and trickle over the rocks—”
“Stop,” Kid groaned.
“—I’ve seen a really nice little stream before; it was small and slow but you could hear the slow drip—”
He felt warmth leak out into his underwear. “No, seriously, stop,” he said, the last word nearly a squeak. He abandoned the casual way everyone else was sitting and snapped his legs together, squirming frantically.
“Come on,” Soul said, elbowing BlackStar, “if you keep doing that, he won’t last.” They both chuckled.
Kid was too busy concentrating to be embarrassed. He really felt like he was on the verge, and he needed to get to the bathroom. At this point, he wasn’t even sure he could stand up without completely wetting himself, but he couldn’t just sit here and flood his friends’ floor.
He slowly staggered upright and crossed one leg over the other, using every ounce of willpower to keep everything back without grabbing himself. His hands tightened into fists, nails digging into his palms. The unbearable urge kept him rooted to the spot for several seconds.
“Hey, game’s not over yet,” BlackStar chirped, grabbing Kid’s arm from his position on the floor. “Tsubaki and Soul still have to take their turns.”
He was going to lose it. Any minute now he would wet himself. He could not wet himself because of a dumb game. “Let go,” Kid said shakily, trying to tug his arm lose. In retaliation, BlackStar tugged on him back, jolting his bladder. It was enough to release a short spurt that darkened the front of his shorts.
Everybody stared at him as an entirely too noticeable dribble ran down the inside of his leg and dripped onto the floor.
Anxiety turned to full-blown panic. “Let go,” he cried, yanking his arm back and rushing toward the hall.
Everyone turned their attention to BlackStar. Tsubaki was frowning and Maka crossed her arms.
“What? It’s not like I pinned him down or anything,” he said, shrugging and making a so what gesture with his hands. “If he had to pee that badly he could’ve just said so.”
In the bathroom, Kid was fumbling with his shorts. His button had already been undone, but his hands were shaking, and the zipper might’ve been jammed. Horror washed over him as he was sure, for one moment, that he would wet himself right in front of the toilet. Then the zipper came down. Unfortunately, his pelvic muscles relaxed entirely too much, and another gush soaked the front of his shorts before he could get them down in time. After grabbing at himself to stop the short flow, he tugged his shorts and boxers down enough and was finally going freely.
An embarrassing sigh was released from his throat. For the first several seconds, he breathed heavily as he went, filled with the blissful sensation of allowing himself to relax.
Reality kicked in some time later. He had been that close to wetting himself in the middle of his friends’ sitting room. And it barely mattered now, he thought bitterly as he felt the damp fabric against his legs. He’d had enough leakage that it looked like he did wet himself.
He went for well over a minute, gradually becoming more aware of how cold and wet his shorts were. The relief was amazing, but it was tainted by the fact that he had practically wet himself getting to the bathroom. He finished with another sigh, this time of disappointment, and zipped up.
A fiery wave of mortification rushed through his body when he saw himself in the mirror. His shorts were dark so the spot where he had leaked wasn’t terribly obvious, thankfully, but anyone that looked at him for more than two seconds would be able to tell it was there. His face was ridiculously flushed and sweaty. He was a mess.
He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut as if it would make everything better, but the embarrassment only felt more profound. What was he going to do? He didn’t want to walk back to his friends like this, especially after his terrible exit. However, it wasn’t like he could hide in the bathroom until his clothes dried—which would probably take a good twenty minutes or more.
Maybe he could just ditch everyone and head back home. No. He couldn’t walk through the streets like this either. That would be even worse.
So Kid slowly scrubbed his hands as he tried to collect himself, resigned to going back. He put his hands in his pockets in an attempt to look more nonchalant at the whole situation, but once he stepped back into the room and everyone’s eyes snapped to him, the tingle of mortification was back.
“I thought you went to the bathroom?” BlackStar asked.
“I did.”
“Then why are your shorts all wet?”
Kid’s face felt like fire. He had never been so humiliated. “By the time I got there, they were already..." he trailed off, the scalding embarrassment making him snappish. "W-Well, it was your stupid dare!”
He shifted and glared at the floor, blinking rapidly to keep the tears out of his eyes. “It’s not my fault—” And there was a pang of anger at himself at the choked way is voice came out, “—it’s not…”
Tsubaki began lecturing BlackStar about something; Kid wasn’t really listening. Maka was averting her eyes from him, having never seen Kid in such a state, and Soul was giving him a look of sympathy. The scythe was guiltily remembering how he’d laughed over BlackStar’s teasing just a few minutes earlier.
Soul quickly rose to his feet and walked over to Kid, putting a hand on his shoulder. At this, Kid looked up, and Soul felt even guiltier when he saw his that his friend's eyes were glassy.
God, I can be a terrible friend sometimes.
“Hey, it's alright,” he said, “Don’t get so worked up about it.” He let his hand fall and motioned in the direction of the hallway. “Come with me, you can wear some of my stuff while I put your clothes in the wash.”
Looking noticeably relieved, Kid nodded, though he kept his head down as he followed Soul into his room. The color was too bright and had he looked around, he would’ve probably began organizing the posters that hung askew on the walls.
Soul rummaged in his drawers for a few moments before coming up with a tan pair of cargo shorts that matched the shirt Kid was wearing. “Here.”
“Thanks,” Kid said earnestly, turning them over in his hands admiringly. “They have the same exact types of pockets on both sides.”
“Yeah, well,” Soul said with a small smile, glad to see him cheering up a bit, “they’re kinda tight for me, so you can keep them if you want.”
Kid was barely taller that soul, but he was much skinnier. An actual smile brightened his face as he held them up for further examination. “Really?”
“Yup.”
“Thank you,” Kid said again. “I’ll go change, then—”
“Hold on,” Soul said. Kid stopped near the doorway, his brief curiosity overriding the uncomfortable sensation of wet fabric clinging to his thighs.
“I just wanted to say sorry for teasing you back there,” Soul said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.
Now eager to change into the symmetrical pants, Kid quickly nodded and assured him “It’s fine!” as he slipped out and headed to the bathroom. After peeling off his shorts and wiping his legs with some toilet paper, he paused to contemplate. Should he keep his underwear on? No. They were cold and uncomfortable and were starting to smell like pee. He peeled them off as well, pulled on the shorts, and gingerly held the soggy clothes in one hand.
After he went with Soul to drop them in the washer, he cleaned his hands again. He felt much better than he had before.
The others were waiting for him in the sitting room. Tsubaki had her arms folded and was standing next to BlackStar, who toed aimlessly at the ground. It was such an uncharacteristically mild gesture that Kid pulled up short.
“Go on,” Tsubaki said, addressing BlackStar with a firm tone.
BlackStar mumbled something incoherent.
“Louder.”
“M’sorry,” he said lowly, raising his gaze to meet Kid’s. “I guess seeing you with a wet spot on your pants was kind of funny—”
“Wrong,” Tsubaki admonished, tugging forcefully on BlackStar’s ear and ignoring his stream of ow ow oww, Tsubaki! “Try again.”
“I mean, I thought the dare would be funny, I didn’t know you would end up almost wetting yourself, erm—” he glanced nervously at Tsubaki’s threatening expression before looking back to Kid, “—I didn’t really mean to go this far so I’m sorry.”
Kid felt he should’ve been at least a little mad, but it was satisfying to watch BlackStar trip over his own words in a flustered attempt to apologize. “It’s fine,” he said, and meant it.
“See, he said it’s fine, you can stop now—ow, oww, that hurts you know—” BlackStar whined as Tsubaki tugged on his ear a final time. He jumped away when she let go, pouting and rubbing his ear.
“You really okay?” Tsubaki asked. She was smiling, but it looked a little concerned.
“Yes, these shorts are perfectly symmetrical,” Kid said, smiling down at what he was wearing. “It was embarrassing, but…”
“But I bet you feel a lot better now.”
“Immensely,” Kid admitted, spots of pink coloring his cheeks as he grinned sheepishly.
The rest of the evening was quiet—or as quiet as it could be with BlackStar around. Kid circulated his clothes to the dryer and pulled on his boxers, thanking Soul earnestly for the cargo shorts.
Now, he made it a point not to lie to his friends unless it was completely necessary, but he wasn’t about to tell Liz and Patti why he was wearing Soul’s shorts.