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Ranmaru groaned, sagging into the couch and gulping down water. His body ached and protested his every move; his workout had been more intense than usual. However, how could it not be when he was fueled by such fire?
He smirked, relieving the past several hours. Ranmaru had been in a bind. Inspiration had been hard to come by. No matter the punches he threw or the cords he strummed, nothing came to him. Then, stupid Reiji ushered him and the others out of their joint apartment and showcased his new bumper sticker. He’d thought it was another annoying ploy by the brunette to try another useless tactic to bring them all together. But he’d been struck by the bumper sticker’s words: I will be your knight in the night. While Reiji had started going on and on about how he thought this applied great to Quartet Night, Ranmaru had gotten lost in his own thoughts. And then, it hit him. The perfect inspiration.
He had wasted no time. He rushed upstairs and began striking chord after chord on his bass. When he got stuck on the melody, he’d frantically scribble down lyrics on sheet music paper. At some point, one of the others had ghosted in to invite him out to dinner with them. Ranmaru couldn’t even remember who it had been, but he remembered snarling at them and demanding they leave. Which they must have because when he finally finished the song, none of them were in sight.
Feeling as if he was riding on a high, he’d scarfed down food before deciding that 1:30 am was the perfect time to work out. After all, it would be pointless to sleep when he was possessed by such energy. He had to do something or he’d explode.
And so, here he was, sweating like a dog in the middle of the night. He glanced over at the clock. 3 am. He frowned. Weird, the others were usually back long before now. Especially stupid Camus, the prick demanded that he needed his beauty sleep. It was definitely odd that they weren’t back yet.
He rolled his eyes. Tch. He didn’t care. They could do whatever the hell they wanted for all he cared. This just gave him the chance to relish the peace and quiet.
That, of course, jinxed it. As if on cue, his phone rang. Groaning, he fished his device out of his back pocket and glanced at the screen. Reiji’s annoying face smiled back at him as he flashed a peace sign at him.
“Stupid Reiji,” he grumbled. Groaning, he waited until the last possible second before answering the call.
“Why the hell are you calling? Do you realize what time it—”
“HE’S DEAD!”
Ranmaru flinched at the scream before paling as he comprehended the words.
“What?!”
“HE’S DEAD!” Reiji wailed into the phone. “I KILLED HIM, IT’S ALL MY FAULT!!!”
“Who’s dead?!” Ranmaru demanded, panic welling up in his stomach. “What the hell happened, what the hell did you do?!”
“AI!!!! I GAVE HIM MY DRINK AND HE DIED ON THE TABLE, I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS POISONED!!!!”
Ranmaru was about to yell back but stopped, a sudden realization hitting him. He closed his eyes, his hand tightening around the phone.
“Reiji,” he growled, pinching the bridge of his nose, “please don’t tell me you guys are out drinking right now.”
A dramatic gasp sounded on the other end. “HOW DID YOU KNOW??? ARE YOU A MIND READER?”
“Are you freaking kidding me??” Ranmaru roared into the phone. “You call me at 3 am in the morning just to tell me that Ai had too much to drink and passed out??”
“NO NO, I TOLD YOU HE’S DEAD, HE’S VERY DE— OH MY GOSH HE’S ALIVE HE LIVES!!! IT’S A MIRACLE!!!”
“It’s a miracle!” Ranmaru heard a muffled, sleepy Ai through the phone speaker.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!”
“I can’t believe it!”
“YOU’RE IMMORTAL!!!”
“I’m immortal!”
“OH MY GOSH, RAN-RAN, AI’S REINCARNATED AS A PARROT, HE REPEATS EVERYTHING I SAY!!!!”
“Shut up!!” Ranmaru yelled. “My gosh, you’re really pushing it, do you know that? I swear, I’m not going to put up with this nonsense anymore. Where’s freaking Count Heart of Ice??? Put him on the freaking line!”
“How DARE you disrespect me with that title and with that tone of voice, peasant! The queen of the Permafrost will hear of this insubordination.”
“Oh please,” Ranmaru groaned, slumping further into the couch. “Not you too...”
“The queen will discipline you severely!” Camus announced, and Ranmaru could just imagine him brandishing his scepter at him. “She will have your head removed from your body! And then she shall reattach it, for she is all-powerful, and remove it once more! And you shall continue to relieve that pain for all eternity!”
“For all eternity...” Ai’s voice sleepily repeated before Ranmaru heard a soft snore on the other end of the line.
“Get out of here Camus!” Ranmaru spat. “Reiji! Get back on the freaking phone!”
“Huh?” The brunette blurted out.
“Freaking send me your location, idiot. I’m coming to pick up you idiots right now.”
“Ah nah, it’s fine, I’ve got my car—”
“REIJI SEND YOUR LOCATION RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR I’LL LEAVE QUARTET NIGHT HERE AND NOW.”
“WAHHH!” Reiji wailed. “RAN-RAN’S BEING MEAN! A BIG MEANIE JERK BUTT!”
Even so, a ‘ping’ alerted the heterochromatic man that his unit member had done as he had said.
“Stay there.” He ordered, grabbing his jacket. “Freaking move and I will freaking kill you myself once I’ve found you.”
The rest of the night proceeded to be just as hectic as the call. Upon arriving at the bar that the three had wound up at, Reiji proceeded to present him with a very colorfully decorated bottle of spirits, which Ranmaru immediately discovered was a bottle of used-to-be spirits. Reiji blurted out it was beautiful. Ranmaru yelled “it’s useless!” and he smashed it on the ground to the brunette’s dismay. After a lot of yelling and screaming, he finally got them in the car and into the apartment. He then proceeded to lose his mind as he babysat them for the remainder of the night.