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March 26th 202x was the date to get captured in Kazuha’s notebook with dark blue ink. He smiled to himself. Hu Tao just announced a new play. He had a good feeling about it, for some reason. The teen always liked this. He enjoyed going on stage, playing a character and everything going just right with the script. Because some things may go not as planned in real life, they always will in the plays. It may sound boring, but for Kazuha this type of casualty was one of his favorite things.
He stared at the red cover of the book as he closed it shut. The student rep was currently helping out Kokomi with working out how to schedule her chores. ‘’You could just let go off the swimming club, yea? Kokomi, you swim like a damn fish already!’’ Hu Tao tried to convince her, to which the smaller figure shook her head.
Kazuha could swear this girl was in every single club in this school. To make it even more surprising, she kept up extremely good grades. He wished he could do that.
Abruptly stopping his thought train, he heard the door creak slightly, maybe even a bit shyly. This was very much a contrast to the person who stood in the door-frame.
‘’Mr. Barbatos told me this is the meeting place. Is this the theatre club?’’ he looked tired. And his voice also, sounded tired. The boy wore a burgundy sweater, dark blue trousers and black shoes that looked like they’ve seen a lot. The purple hair was making him look like a fresh, fruity little plum. Kazuha tried not to giggle at the thought.
‘’Yes. Yes it is, please take a free sit.’’ Hu Tao fixed her hair, returning to her desk; she left Kokomi visibly struggling to scratch out one of her school activities from the pocket notebook. Kaedehara felt kinda bad for her, did she even have time for anything else than studying? Well, it was certainly not a moment to worry about that now.
The boy sat down in a desk at his left, which usually Albedo used to take but got sick. He didn’t feel like arguing over who sits where whatsoever. Kazuha looked around the room. It was your usual, bland classroom. He was quite certain first graders had geography in here, which would make sense considering the map hanging behind them on the wall.
Overall, the walls were melancholic beige. There stood some shelves, a big globus on one of them and some random school suplies, probably long forgotten by the students. Speaking of which, the teen would never dare to think he’d see such people in the same place, at the same time. But that’s the magic theatre could do, he figured. Kazuha only wished his friend Beidou would be here. Obviously, Gorou was truly great company but sometimes it felt.. odd hanging out with a furry. Still, good enough! Through the windows, rays of sunshine lit up the area, biting Kaedehara in the eyes. Blinking repeatedly, he quickly turned his head around back to where Hu Tao stood.
‘’Okay, everyone!’’ The leader clapped her hands, gathering everyone’s attention. She had to like that; having so many people listen to her. ‘’We’ve got a new friend with us. Please, introduce yourself.’’
The guy shrugged ‘’You can call me Scara.’’ he shifted in the wooden chair uncomfortably. Seeing Hu Tao awaiting for more, he sighed. ‘’I’m here because mr. Barbatos told me to sign up. He said I have a thing with literature or something, and it shouldn’t go to waste.’’
‘’Wonderful.’’ her smile grew even bigger, if it was humanly possible ‘’Well, well. Now we have the perfect number of people for the activity I wanted to try out for so long.’’ The girl walked up to the chalk board, writing a big ‘Romeo and Juliet’ across it. Kazuha tried not to choke on his breath. Were they really about to perform a tragic romance play? He wasn’t into that kind of thing at all. Indeed Kaedehara loved tragic stories—just not certainly the romantic ones. But hey, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe he’d get a side role and won’t be bothered all that much.
‘’You’re probably wondering ‘oh what might’ve Hu Tao thought of this time?’ let me put your minds at ease, guys. So, you’re gonna be working in pairs!’’ She exclaimed enthusiastically. The class did not share her feelings, leaving her with awkward silence. ‘’Oh come on you guys, give me a little energy..’’
Picking up what seemed like a bunch of documents written in comic sans, she began to walk around the class, handing everyone a page. Kazuha took his, glaring at the names.
Kazuha Kaedehara and Scara Mouche Shogun met his gaze, making him open his eyes wide in surprise.
Scara was the first one to ask, ‘’What is this supposed to mean? I just got here and you’ve already managed to make me partners for some stupid English literature junk play.’’ He wasn’t upset, at least it didn’t seem like he was, but something in his voice made Kazuha flinch.
The student rep blinked at him. ‘’Oh I knew you’d be there sooner or later. I asked Venti myself to get you in here.’’ and like that, with a playful giggle she returned to her place next to the board.
Fischl put her hand up in the air, not waiting for Hu Tao to give her the rights to speak, whatsoever. ‘’Excuse me, but why will we be making a play out of so called ‘english literature junk play’ exactly?’’
‘’Because it’ll be fun, Fischl. Ever heard of that?’’ Fischl opened her mouth, ready to defend herself. The leader was not waiting for an answer though. ‘’I’m just kidding. The story is nice. And there’s a lot of um.. nature descriptions.’’ That was a lie. There was a little to none. ‘’Sucrose’s gonna finally have a good role, as a tree!’’ The girl jumped in her sit when she heard her name. Kazuha wasn’t really sure how did she even get into the club.
‘’But maybe let me explain what you’re about to be doing for the next half a year, hm?’’ clapping her hands twice this time, ‘’Everyone! We’ll be performing a musical.’’
A musical. At first Kazuha thought he heard it wrong, but when he saw the rest of the class as confused as him, he grew confident that his hearing was keeping up just fine. He liked musicals, but being in one himself, that was something a lot different. Plus, it was a romance centric one. Hell on earth. The only chance he had at these was in 2nd grade, a musical about spring in which he played a rock. Needless to say he didn’t have any lines. Or choreography to learn.
‘’Okay I see you guys, I see that it isn’t exactly what everyone wanted, but! We need something new. Now, maybe about the work in pairs.’’ she drew two stick men, they looked rather sad, Kazuha decided.
‘’Ah, yes. So, since this is, as I said, new, you can practice together after classes in those pairings. On those documents,’’ she gestured to a piece of paper she had on her desk, ‘’there’s written down which characters you’ll play, too. The script I’m gonna give to you on our next meeting. You better take a solid look at it, ‘cause your throats are gonna be having a date with lots of sore throat pills when we’re done with the play.’’ she finished with a small smirk.
Everyone began to chat about their roles, the teen noticed his was nothing else than the title character--Romeo. Kaedehara had skills in acting and he was aware of it. However, skills and being comfortable with the played role were two different things. He knew playing Romeo would be a challenge. And he needed more time to think about it than one school period.
Kazuha looked at the time, just as Hu Tao gasped ‘’I didn’t realize the 4th period is almost over already.. Well, you can go back to your classes now.’’ she sat down next to the school computer, beginning to search for something, clacking on the keyboard rapidly.
Kaedehara packed his notebook, staring over at his partner in suffering. He was certain he had spanish class with him. Kazuha hummed to himself, swinging the backpack over his arm, and heading to the exit. He wasn’t much of a social person. He’d rather describe himself as a samurai, wandering through the world all alone. This could help him to break some walls, nonetheless.
He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Fuck, somehow he needed to get that guy’s number.
Only then he realized, if he was the one playing Romeo, it could only mean Scara was his Juliet. Hu Tao was well known for assigning roles.. not the traditional way, but he’d never expect something like this. No, honestly, what was it supposed to be? Romeo and Julius brotherly love shit show?
So there he was, standing before his friends. It was the lunch break period, Kazuha decided that’d be the perfect time to explain to Beidou what happened and to complain with Gorou about the play being a lovey dovey musical. They were at one of the school’s corridors, where less people walked, next to the biology classroom. To the side, there were rows of ruby red lockers, which looked nice next to the soft green walls. The floor, was to Kazuha’s personal opinion absolutely awful. He wanted nothing more than to never have to walk on it again, obviously, but it wasn’t about that. It’s color was an ugly shade of brown, quiet literally it looked like someone decided to shit on here. He wouldn’t be surprised if someone did.
He shifted his weight from one leg to another ‘’Right, so it wouldn’t have even been that bad if not the fact that,’’ he showed them the paper ‘’I don’t even know the guy I’ll have to practice with.’’
Gorou’s eyes widened ‘’Shogun’s kid? Oh dear Archons, Kazuha..’’
‘’What? I know he’s pretty popular or whatever, but he can’t be that much of an asshole.’’
‘’His mom, she’s..’’ the teen fidgeted with his shirt’s sleeve ‘’let me just say, scary.’’ Oh, Kaedehara knew he had to get the full story out of him later.
‘’Okay. Then we’ll go to my house? Besides, it can’t be so bad. Right, Beidou?’’ He looked over at the girl.
She bit her cheek ‘’Have you even got his number?’’ Beidou snickered seeing the troubled look on her friend’s face ‘’Then go for it. Like, right now. He’s standing beside the lockers.’’
Kazuha looked over, seeing him next to the cool kids. The cool kids, he thought, he had to do a damn rehearsal with one of the cool kids. This suddenly seemed like much more of a challenge than he originally believed it would be. He sighed, giving one last glance to his emotional support before walking over.
He wasn’t scared. He’d never be. Just a little bit anxious, that’s all. Kaedehara cleared his throat, making the group look at him. It felt as if a bunch of magpies flew from where their nests were, rushing over to the one shiny thing; a tinsel, they all suddenly saw laying on the ground, stabbing their bikes into it. Stabbing until there’s nothing left but dust. Kazuha was the frail tinsel.
Alright, maybe he was scared just a little bit. ‘’Hi. I’m supposed to be your partner for the club activity, Scara, and I wanted to ask if—‘’
‘’Wait, who are you?’’ A ginger male cut him off, looking down at him with that annoying confidence in his violet eyes. Kazuha felt the need to kill at that very moment. But he didn’t. For legal reasons, he decided against it.
‘’Kazuha Kaedehara. I’m here to ask Scara about—‘’
‘’Hey, it’s Kunikuzushi for you.’’ He could swear, if he got cut off one more time he’d take out that damn knife.
The young Shogun gave the Piece-Of-Overly-High-Ego a glance, signaling that it was enough. Kazuha thanked him with a nod. ‘’The literature club, right? Sure, give me your phone.’’ after his hand hung in the air for a second longer than he wanted it to, he growled ‘’For me to give you my number.’’
He immediately felt his face heat up out of embarrassment. Kazuha handed over the device, for it to be given back shortly with a new number in his contacts. ‘’Cool. Yeah, cool. I’ll text you my address later.’’
After that encounter, Kaedehara went on with his classes as usual. He nailed his art class, but he wasn’t a show off about it. Basically everyone knew he was skilled; classmates called him the ‘art kid’, teachers made a use of his skills for various school events. Kazuha picked up both the pen and the brush when he was on an adventure called ‘’discovering oneself’’ with his old friend, Tomo. He was the inspiration for the boy, his muse and his motivation. Kaedehara continued to study art because he knew that’d be what his friend wanted—but he didn’t like to talk about it. He was good with being just the ‘art kid’.
The classes finished and everyone felt the relief of it. Kazuha made his way through the streets, as the sun set. He went back home late since the start of the school year, and still wasn’t used to it. Kaedehara stepped on the concrete, watching the shadow before him reflect his moves. Taking out his phone, he opened the messages to DM Scara his address. He was sort of afraid to do it. Not like the guy would proceed to kidnap him or anything. Simple safety reasons. Kazuha didn’t like his friends; especially the ginger one, considering he almost flooded the city once. Long story short, they had a lot of work with the sewer system later. After a moment of his thumb hanging over the send button, he finally pressed it, then hiding his phone back into the pants pocket.
He opened the door to the house. The teen stepped in, meeting with cold air and emptiness. His parents were still at work. He disliked being alone in the house, it felt so big and he felt so small. The boy went over to the kitchen, grabbed himself nutella from the bottom of the fridge, where he had hid it beforehand. Satisfied with the treasure he got the hold of, Kazuha headed upstairs.
Entering the room, he tossed the backpack over by the side of his bed. He glanced over the area, his gaze fixating on the huge, fair wooden wardrobe. There hung a bunch of pictures of him and his friends. Most of them were taken by Gorou, as he loved being the photographer friend for some reason. Leaf patterns decorated the walls, up from the ceiling to his bed. Kaedehara sat behind his desk, opening the laptop with no specific thought to it. It was pretty much a routine, getting something unhealthy to eat and browsing through the internet until he remembered about homework due tomorrow.
Hours passed and it got dark outside pretty quickly. Autumn didn’t do it any justice, Kazuha was worried in winter it would be pitch black as he went back home. He had a staring competition with the empty jar of nutella, as he wondered where did it all go wrong. Just when he was about to pick it up and maybe finally greet his parents while putting it into trash, he heard a bang at his window.
‘’What was that?’’ Kazuha asked, for the most part himself, maybe in hopes that the person behind the mysterious bang would also hear it. He walked over to the window and revealed the curtain. A black BMW. A damn black BMW stood in front of his house, with Scara outside of it, with another rock in his hand, ready to throw.
Kazuha searched his pockets furiously, looking for his phone. Taking it out, his gaze met with four missed calls. Oh, he was absolutely fucked, wasn’t he? So with the speed of light, he put a jacket on, closed his laptop and sprinted downstairs as fast as his legs let him.
He shouted something along the lines of ‘Mom, I’m going out!’, seeing a shadow of a mom looking figure in the kitchen. The teen got his shoes on; one of them still untied and sprinted out of the house.
Scara looked bored, but happy to finally see Kazuha. The other panted, quickly explaining himself ‘’I’m so sorry Kunikuzushi, I didn’t check my phone and I’d never think you’d want to come over today.’’
‘’Call me Scara. And don’t listen to Ajax. He just likes to intimidate others.’’ He was probably talking about the ginger, Kazuha figured. ‘’Alright. Kaedehara, get in.’’
He did exactly as the boy said, trying to ignore the confusion growing in his mind. He got into the front seat of the car, closing the doors afterwards. The sits were comfortable; the dark leather sank softly under Kazuha’s weight. Scara, following the others’ steps, also entered the car.
‘’You can call me Kazuha.’’ Kaedehara gave him a light smile.
The boy grimaced ‘’No, I won’t.’’
‘’Oh.’’ Kazuha turned around to face the road ahead of them ‘’Okay.’’
‘’We’re going to see a musical called ‘Phantom of the opera’,’’ Scara started the engine ‘’I’ve never seen one, so I thought it would be a good idea. And we should actually do something for the,’’ he checked if no cars were driving on the road ‘’club activity, or whatever.’’
Kunikuzushi drove them through the city, the lanterns welcomingly lit up the way for them. The sidewalk shined with warm orange, it must’ve previously rained. Kaedehara wondered how did he manage to not hear it against his windows. A good thing one rock was enough to get his attention. Kazuha turned on the radio. Some hype music played, making Scara look over for a second in what Kazuha thought was disgust, but his gaze fell back on the street quickly.
‘’We’re going to the Celestia Theatre. Have you been there before?’’
Kazuha wasn’t expecting any conversation, ‘’Yeah,’’ he said in a hoarse voice. Wincing slightly, he cleared his throat ‘’with my parents, but i don’t remember much. I was a kid.’’ As an answer to that, Scara nodded.
The teens could only see what was in front of them and far, far away. The town at night looked beautiful, Kazuha figured, when he’s an adult he’d love to live in one of those skyscrapers. The high buildings looked like a bunch of stars from the distance, winking at them as they got closer. The road was rather empty, considering the hour and that it was a school night, only occasionally a car would go past them.
‘’We have to stop for a gas station.’’ The driver announced, as the little symbol of gasoline started to beep in bright blue. He stopped at the nearest one, whining when he noticed the gas prices.
‘’We can split the money.’’ Kazuha suggested, ‘’I mean, if you want to. I think i have some change.’’
‘’Sure.’’ The boy shrugged, taking out his own wallet. Kaedehara handed him over some cash, ‘’Oh that’d be too much actually.’’ He looked over at him ‘’Wait. Do you want ice cream?’’
‘’Ice cream?’’ He repeated, rather surprised. The teen obviously didn’t expect ice cream at 9pm in the middle of cold autumn. Nonetheless he couldn’t resist ‘’Okay. Let’s go then.’’ Kazuha grinned.
They exited the car and closed the door behind them. Scara filled up the gas container. The night air wasn’t freezing, but Kaedehara surely wished it’d be warmer. They walked over to the building; a big red sign with the firm logo couldn’t go unnoticed. Inside, the shelves well full, perhaps considering gas stations always sold food unreasonably expensive and inflation was going crazy. The lamps were dim, making it look like from some 90’s movie. Kazuha strolled around the alleys, Scara right behind him. There were chips, various sweets like gummy bears and candy bars, or even chocolate he considered pretty good. Can’t forget about the shelves filled with fanta, coca cola and other unhealthy beverages.
Kazuha was the first one to notice the fridge filled up with ice cream. He opened it with a confident move, taking out a vanilla big milk. He heard Scara chuckling, as he turned his head around the other was standing right behind him. And right behind him as in, the ice cream was the only thing keeping them apart. Or maybe he was imagining things. But holy shit; if so, he never wanted to stop daydreaming. Kaedehara felt his blood rush—there was no way he’d be catching feelings, right?
‘’Somehow I knew you’d be so basic,’’ the young Shogun reached over to take one for himself. Kazuha gulped, moving a bit to the right. ‘’I’ll get luquorice for myself. Might let you take a bite if you’d like.’’ Scara teased.
Ignoring the sexual tension of the situation, Kazuha forced out a few words ‘’Yeah, would be cool.’’ and he could swear, that for a second a smile ghosted through the teen’s lips.
Both of them headed over to the counter. Exhausted looking teenager, you could tell he wasn’t older than 16, glanced over at them. ‘’Good evening. Would you like a hot dog?’’ he gestured to the machine lazily.
‘’No, thank you.’’ Kazuha responded with a small smile, putting the ice cream on the table. Then he gave the boy money for their purchase and gas. That was when he felt Scara tap him on the shoulder. ‘’What’s wrong?’’
‘’Kaedehara. We need to run.’’
‘’What are you talking about?’’ He wasn’t met with an answer, as he was dragged over through the gas station. He only managed to grab his ice cream from the board and caught the blue-red lights flash outside.
That set off a spark of anxiety in him. For the love of Archons, was Scara a criminal? Was he going to kill him? Maybe the theatre was only a trap, maybe he’s truly getting kidnapped?
No. No, it was starting to get ridiculous.
Before he could register how, they were in the bathroom. Scara locked the door. ‘’Drop the ice cream, we need to get out.’’ The teen caught a glimpse of Kunikuzushi panic, though didn’t say anything about it, perhaps out of fear. ‘’This window. We’ll go out this way.’’ He saw the boy climb over one of the toilets, trying to open the square window. Just the perfect size for them to go through.
Now Kazuha was put before an extremely difficult choice. He stood over one of the spiral portals, called a toilet by mortals, and looked down at it with pain in his eyes. ‘’Kaedehara, didn’t you hear me? Drop the ice cream!’’
‘’But.. ice cream...’’ he grasped it tighter.
Scara unlocked the window successfully. Kazuha still did not move.
‘’Oh, fuck the ice cream, we’re going to die!’’
As painful as it was, he knew it was what he had to do. He took the packaging off gently. The teen let the precious creamy frozen food go, with a splash into the death machine. He could hear the screams of agony and cries for mercy. The boy closed his eyes shut, and flushed the toilet.
Scara sighed. ‘’Finally. Now come here,’’ He turned to face him fully. ‘’Do you want to go first?’’
‘’I don’t think so.’’ Kazuha responded honestly ‘’You do it.’’
The boy nodded. Putting his head through; then the chest helping him up with legs. It looked kinda funny, but considering that they were most likely running away from the police, Kazuha kept the jokes for himself.
Speaking of the devil, that was just as they heard knocking. ‘’Oh, Archons. Kaedehara, quick.’’ he heard Scara shout from the outside. He sprinted over to the fleeing place, not exactly sure what to do.
‘’I know you’re in here, Kunikuzushi! Come out, you have to go back home.’’ a woman’s muffled voice could be heard through the door.
Now he really needed to get out. Kazuha wasn’t really sure how he did it, he purely knew he did. The adrenaline took over him. It hasn’t done that for long, and Kaedehara wouldn’t admit it if you asked him, but it was addicting. Through all the routines and planning and schedules he genuinely forgot how good it was to let go sometimes and do something spontaneously. All he remembered from that was the pain in his muscles after the fresh wind hit his face. Then they were running to the car. Then they were on the road again.
Kazuha felt numb, as much as he felt shocked. ‘’Scara, what the hell was that?’’
‘’I guess I should explain.’’ he admitted ‘’I could’ve told you sooner.’’ The boy looked over at Kaedehara, ‘’My mom’s a police officer. I often leave the house without her permission.’’
‘’So she sent the cops after you?’’ The teen wanted to make sure he understood it right.
Scara giggled, which wasn’t very fitting for this situation. ‘’Pretty much.’’ he agreed ‘’She’s probably all pissed. And this is her car, by the way.’’
Kazuha glared ‘’And you don’t feel bad about any of this?’’
‘’Not at all, darling.’’
Kaedehara froze. He kept it cool, or at least tried to. ‘’You make a great son, I see?’’
‘’Exactly.’’ a shit eating grin present on Scara’s face.
The boys rode further into the city. Now the lights were all around them. There were a ton of posters and advertisements on the buildings, making it look like someone didn’t install add block and decided to live with it. Kazuha kind of liked it, though. This felt like some rich American type of movie town, when in reality it was solely his Teyvat.
‘’What hour is it, Kaedehara?’’
Kazuha turned his gaze from the window, taking out his phone as the brightness flashed on his face. He squinted his eyes. ‘’It’s half past nine.’’
‘’Good. I need to find a parking spot and we’ll be just on time.’’ easier said than done. Parking lot gods had already filled all the spots near the theatre. Even if the hour was unholy, rich white people apparently didn’t have any problems with that. They pulled up into one of the more distant rows; Kazuha watched with full attention every muscle in Scara’s face move. But he didn’t do it in a creepy way. He was just, swooning. Just looking at the way the cold light finds it’s way on the young Shogun’s features. Respectfully, of course.
Finally, the car stopped and Kunikuzushi sighed, throwing his head back onto the dark leather headrest. He turned to eye Kazuha, for the other quickly looked away, face flushed. Kaedehara only hoped it would be hardly seen in the dim lighting.
Then he heard a soft clicking sound of the seat belt, ‘’Let’s go, we don’t want to be late now, do we?’’
So the both of them went out of the car once again. This time heading to the giant, old fashioned building. It clearly wasn’t as random as the gas station. The walls were made out of gray bricks; the balconies were only slightly paler, in triangle patterns for the balustrades. It didn’t look passionless however, you could clearly tell the atmosphere itself had a soul of it’s own. Kazuha thought to himself, it had to take so much time to build such masterpiece. The sky was pen ink blue, antique looking lamps shot through the darkness of it like pieces of clean paper.
They stepped inside on the coffee shade carpet. It felt a lot warmer; they surely invested into the heating. Scara took off his burgundy scarf. The boy walked up to the cashier, Kazuha following behind him. He looked around the place; there were a lot of posters informing the cutomers about new plays. The ‘Phantom of the opera’ one was really nice, it caught his eye immediately. Kaedehara was really content he got to watch it. But now mainly he was interested in meeting Kunikuzushi better.
Further into the area they went up a bunch of stairs. And now, behind shiny wooden doors, there a stage presented itself. The teens made their way through the seat rows, eventually finding theirs and settling themselves down. Around them, there weren’t as much people as originally expected. Only some other group of teenagers, adults who came here for their alone time and a middle aged couple. They took off their jackets and relaxed in the seats, ready for the show to begin.
It wasn’t like they had much time to enjoy themselves, though. Through the emergency exit, a police woman swung the door open.
Kazuha’s eyes widened, ‘’Scara, look.’’ he whispered and pointed towards the direction of the mysterious woman.
‘’Of course it’s Signora.’’ the teen muttered under his breath, ‘’Quick, get down.’’ now they were kneeling under the theatre armchairs. Kazuha grabbed his clothing, just like the other boy, when the lights turned off.
‘’Sorry about this.’’ Scara whispered.
The other boy was clearly confused. ‘’About what?’’
‘’Shh,’’ he hushed ‘’sorry that we’re running away constantly.’’ Kazuha opened his mouth to respond when he felt warmth on his palm. ‘’I hope this is okay.’’ it was definitely more of a statement than a question. Kaedehara didn’t have anything against holding hands nonetheless. ‘’Let’s get out the way she walked in.’’
They opened the exit with a creek. Kazuha closed it behind them. The boys were now looking down at a large amount of floors of metal stairs. Without useless overthinking, they started going down until it felt like hours. The teen tried not to laugh hysterically, all he signed up for was to watch a play, and that was certainly not it.
Outside, Scara didn’t let go off his frowning expression. Kaedehara looked over at him, a sense of pity in his voice ‘’Hey, it’s fine. We can just do something else, right? The night’s still young.’’, that got him a nod, which was enough to cause a smile. Kazuha felt like this guy had a lot to offer. And Kazuha definitely felt eager to discover every detail.
‘’I forgot my scarf.’’ They were back in the car, Scara touching his neck, where his scarf was supposed to be, only to meet with air.
‘’We’re not going back for it,’’ Kazuha snapped back. ‘’I swear to the Archons.’’
It made Kunikuzushi laugh a little bit, when he saw the serious look on Kazuha’s face. ‘’Yeah, definitely. If it’d be such a pain in the ass for you to go through, I mean.’’ They were riding somewhere the teen didn’t know, but Scara looked rather confident about it.
‘’Indeed, pure suffering.’’ The boy sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes. ‘’I’m such a damsel in distress, aren’t I? ‘’
‘’Sure, little poet boy.’’ Poet boy. That was new. ‘’And I’m the prince, in a black BMW rescuing you from spending the night alone.’’ Kazuha giggled.
‘’Where are we going, anyway?’’
He looked over at Kaedehara ‘’You remember the ginger from earlier today?’’
‘’I do. And what about him?’’ The boy raised an eyebrow.
‘’Well, he’s hosting a party.’’
Party. Kazuha, as you might’ve already figured wasn’t the type of person to attend to parties. His bed, books, his laptop, tea - repeat. Yes, he was indeed a fun type of guy. This time it wasn’t even about the people—the number of people or how there’d be a bunch of drunk and high teenagers. See, Kaedehara wasn’t a fan of making a big aquarium out of the city. And the host, Kazuha knew well, was capable of doing that. I suppose it’s a good thing our boy was a good swimmer. But he was an alcohol virgin, and that was a bigger issue at hand.
The car pulled up next to a big, white house, parking somewhere where Kazuha wasn’t sure it was legal. Little did he know, nothing about what he was about to witness was legal. There were more cars parked down the street, down to the local grocery store. The boys made their way to the door, on their way here especially apparent were empty cans and beer bottles. As well as puke on the lawn and bushes. Littering the front steps of the house, there’s been some trash already. Kaedehara thought to himself that he would either remember this night for the rest of his life or remember nothing from it at all.
Loud music, bright lights and more loud music were the greeting that certainly wasn’t the kindest but received. There were chips and popcorn on the floor, some of them grounding into the grey carpet. Or at least, it seemed like it was grey. Kazuha couldn’t tell, the led lights made it hard to recognize colors. If he wasn’t hallucinating already. Packed hallways and rooms full of people chattering loudly made his head hurt. A lot.
He looked over at Scara. ‘’What’s the point?’’
‘’What?’’
‘’I said, why did you bring me here?!’’ Kazuha said, or more like shouted through the blasting music.
Kunikuzushi got closer to him, ‘’Have you never been to a party before? Kaedehara, people have fun outside of school!’’
The teen shook his head in disbelief. They stepped further into the bash, went upstairs while hitting squeezed people there on accident and small ‘sorry’s from Kazuha. That’s where the real fun started. In an instant, the haze from cigarettes and pot got into Kazuha’s nostrils, making him cough. That earned him a funny look from Scara which he didn’t appreciate in the slightest. On the tables, there was quiet a mess—don’t even start me on the condition of the bar.
Xiangling and Diluc took control of the kitchen, fresh drinks and food stood before the teenagers, if you could call junk fresh, and more was getting prepared. The hearing here was even harder, the blasting stereo played some awful hyper pop music.
‘’Let’s find Ajax.’’ Kunikuzushi said to Kazuha, as they passed a summoning ritual. Mona and Albedo, who was long wasted, tried to summon ghosts. They sat with some other losers in a circle made out of what Kaedehara wanted to believe was sugar, while chanting something unaudible. Whilst two blue boys, one with a.. questionable haircut (is this how the queers style their hair now?), and an emo girl Kazuha thought he saw in the theater club the other day were drinking monster energy drinks in the corner.
They approached the ginger, who was seemingly having a great time with Kaeya sucking hickeys on his neck. While Tartaglia himself was chatting with the guests and sipping on whiskey.
Scara stopped his amazing conversation about the systemic oppression of women, however. ‘’Ajax.’’ The teen turned to him, and the expression he wore looked like he was about to puke. It was either because he saw Kunikuzushi or the whiskey got to him. Maybe both. ‘’Why didn’t you invite me this time, weren’t we on good terms?’’
‘’Because,’’ he hiccupped, ‘’you suck.’’
‘’He’s so drunk.’’ The boy stated in disgust. ‘’Kaedehara, let’s check out what the others are doing maybe.’’
There wasn’t anything he wanted more than to get away from drunk Tartaglia at the moment. ‘’Sure.’’
The young Shogun got himself a beer. Back at the ritual, they made their way into the circle. Mona was talking in latin which she assumedly got from one of her astrology books. Everybody waited impatiently for something to happen, when the girl finally closed her eyes and put her hands up in a stop motion. Then, Albedo fell on the floor. Some younger teenage girls yelled in fear.
‘’Stop, stop! He’s just under the influence!’’
‘’..The ritual went to waste now.’’ The astrology girl sighed and took a sip of beer.
‘’Yo,’’ Beidou stood on the main table, ‘’It’s time for drinking games, everyone! Get in here, we have vodka!’’ So leaving wasted Albedo behind, they all sat themselves in front of the alcohol.
Tartaglia was long passed out after his journey with whiskey, taking half the couch for himself. Most of the people Kaedehara recognized from his school, some even from the club. It didn’t make him feel any more comfortable, though. He subconsciously got closer to Scara.
‘’Ay, Kazuha,’’ Kaeya seemed slightly more sober than his boyfriend, ‘’I bet you don’t have the balls to take a shot.’’ Yeah. Knowing the people definitely didn’t make him any more comfortable. Now, most of the room’s eyes were directed at him. Including Kunikuzushi’s worried ones.
He cleared his throat. ‘’What is it?’’
‘’Good old clear vodka.’’ He gestured with the glass enthusiastically.
Kazuha hesitated. He had never drunk a lot—or at all, before. The most he’d ever try was some beer when he went out with Gorou that one time. They threw it into the trash, anyway.
Kaeya was getting impatient, ‘’What? You scared?’’ he snickered, ‘’Take a shot.’’
‘’Take a shot! Take a shot!’’ the people cheered on. Kaedehara felt like the ghost they were supposed to summon just a second ago. ‘’Take a shot!’’
He took the glass. It felt icy against his lips and the next second the liquor was going down his throat, burning it. If Kazuha had to describe the taste of it, it would be a watered down polish nail remover. It certainly didn’t make him put the party shoes on, whatsoever. And even if it did, he’d vomit right on them. He felt someone’s palm on his arm as he put the glass away. The world was turning for a little bit when he looked over at Scara.
Kaedehara felt himself get up, as he assumed with the help of the boy. ‘’I need a cigarette. Go outside with me.’’
They got through the crowd with a bit of pushing, someone even dared to ‘boo’ at how Kazuha took only one shot of vodka, to which they received an annoyed glance from Kunikuzushi. The fresh air hit them in the face as Scara opened the balcony’s door with a swift motion. They stood next to the balustrade. The boy exhaled, putting his hand in hands with elbows helping themselves up on the pipe. He looked up at the night sky, then at the young Shogun to see him breath out circles of smoke.
‘’Thanks,’’ Kazuha managed to mumble out.
Kunikuzushi stared back at him. ‘’Ah, forget it. I couldn’t bare to see you get wasted in there.’’ He inhaled in the nicotine, ‘’Your pretty little head isn’t made for that kind of thing.’’
‘’That’s,’’ Kaedehara took a moment to collect his thoughts, ‘’oddly nice of you.’’
‘’Yeah, don’t get used to it.’’ It made the other teen chuckle. ‘’What’s so funny?’’
‘’You’re trying real hard to seem numb emotionally, Scara. It’s not working.’’
‘’Yes it is.’’
‘’It’s not.’’
‘’Prove it, asshole.’’
‘’If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t take me outside.’’ Kazuha nodded to himself, ‘’If you didn’t care, you would run off from Signora yourself, leaving me behind. If you didn’t care, you’d give me a ride back home instead of bringing me here.’’ He insisted. ‘’So, in my humble opinion you do care, more than you’d like to admit.’’
Scara snickered, ‘’Yeah, right.’’ Kaedehara grimaced. ‘’You mad?’’
‘’No I,’’ he got a gagging reflex, ‘’I think I’m gonna throw up.’’
‘’Oh.’’
The teenagers went back inside, their destination point being the bathroom. Scara got them through pretty much with force, considering how long the line was. He locked them inside. Kazuha immediately went over to the toilet and he felt sick and pained and winded all at the same time. He dreadfully gagged, the vodka leaving his body as well as his dinner. Salvia dripped from his mouth, which he successfully got rid of using toilet paper.
‘’Sorry for that.’’ Kazuha looked a bit pale, but better than previously.
Scara sighed. ‘’It’s fine.’’
Kaedehara giggled. ‘’See, I told you. You care.’’
But he didn’t get a response. Instead, the young Shogun was staring at him. With something in his eyes Kazuha wasn’t sure how to describe.
He’d like to tell himself it was the vodka. Or the pot, or how his head was buzzing from the loud music. Honestly, Kazuha couldn’t recognize if the beats he heard were from the outside music, or if his heart was beating 90 miles per hour.
He’d like to tell himself he didn’t want it all that much.
But he’d lie to himself if he was to do that.
Kunikuzushi made a step to where Kazuha stood, then another one, and as if his eyes couldn’t get any more piercing they were now glancing at Kazuha’s lips, up at his eyes and again at his lips. The boy’s ears turned red and his mouth slightly parted, inviting Scara in. His eyes fluttered closed. The young shogun grabbed him by the waist, deepening the kiss and pulling him in closer. Kazuha could swear he was under the influence, not from alcohol, but from how intoxicating Scara was. He kissed hungry and he kissed full of glee and in the ways Kaedehara wouldn’t dare to describe. He pushed Kazuha up on the washing machine, then unbuttoning his shirt, for his hands to wander from Kaedehara’s jaw to his stomach and back up.
‘’Kazuha,’’ Scara mumbled. He took the boy’s shirt off completely, it lying long forgotten on the ground. Kaedehara struggled to breathe. ‘’You taste like vomit.’’ Kazuha scoffed.
‘’Shut up.’’
This time Kazuha was the one to start the kiss, making it slow and sloppy while pulling on Scara’s hoodie strings. The boy growled into the other’s lips, as he felt Kaedehara wrap his legs around his waist, to keep balance. Kazuha smirked, visibly satisfied, just enough to push Scara to the edge. Suddenly, shivers went down his spine, making him feel as if his entire body was electrified under the young Shogun’s touch.
His lips slipped to Kaedehara’s neck, at first leaving wet kisses for them to rapidly change into sucking and leaving behind a trail of hickeys. Much to his delight. The sensation made him flinch at first, to then relax completely and let Kunikuzushi take over the control of the situation. The boy’s dark soft hair tickled his jaw, and he tangled his own fingers into it, pulling on them. Scara purred—yes, purred, and Kazuha felt so fond of him at the moment he couldn’t help but chuckle.
‘’Kazuha?’’
‘’You purred.’’ He noted, taking the time to stabilize his breathing now that he had the chance.
Scara’s face flushed red. ‘’Did I?’’
‘’Yeah. That was pretty cute.’’
Kunikuzushi made some distance between their bodies. His lips swollen; though he looked rather content. ‘’You look so pretty like this.’’
The boy looked at himself in the bathroom mirror and saw his figure covered in red purple-ish marks. He gulped. It felt a bit too good to see himself like this. ‘’All because of you.’’
‘’Mhm,’’ Scara gave him a short smooch once more. ‘’We should go.’’
‘’So I won’t be getting any more of affectionate Scara tonight?’’
He sighed, grabbing Kazuha’s shirt from the floor and handing it to him. ‘’We’ll see, pretty boy.’’
‘’Yeah, right.’’ Kaedehara put the piece of cloth on.
--
Back on the highway home, Kazuha fixated his sleepy eyes on the road ahead. He yawned. They were getting out of the residential neighborhood, heading to Kaedehara’s house. Scara was visibly exhausted as well; maybe a bit less than the other teen. He decided to stop the car, for them to get some fresh air and wake up a bit.
The sky shined with dark blue, becoming hazy green and orange at the horizon. Both of the boys leaned against the car hood. Kazuha was reflecting on everything that happened. If not the club, the both of them wouldn’t ever say a word to each other. Honestly, he never saw himself in such close relationship with someone. For a second Kaedehara’s mind crossed a thought that maybe they were soulmates, and this was always meant to be but—for the time being he preferred to put his poetic tendencies away. The boy only wanted to focus on what mattered now, what was in front of him and made him the happiest. Scara was smoking another cigarette, seemingly lost in his thoughts, the soft smoke clouds dissolving into the night sky.
Kazuha sighed. ‘’Mr. Barbatos really got us together, huh.’’ He smiled at the young Shogun with a slight tease. ‘’It’s all thanks to him. It’s almost as if we were in some funny piece of literature.’’
‘’Nah,’’ Scara shook his head, ‘’won’t be grateful to some lame teacher for this.’’
‘’And yet you were so ready to give me head on that washing machine.’’
The boy almost dropped his cigarette. ‘’It was because of the drugs, Kazuha.’’
‘’You didn’t take any, Scara.’’
He rolled his eyes, ‘’As a good son I suppose I should check my phone.’’ Scara took it out of his pocket and unlocked it, being immediately hit in the face with multiple missed calls and messages from his moms. ‘’Ah. I’m screwed.’’
‘’Oh? I thought you were the one to f—‘’
‘’Shut it. She’s calling again.’’ He groaned and picked up. ‘’Mom?’’
The expression on Scara’s face was enough for Kaedehara to understand he wasn’t joking when he said by his next living moments, he’ll be forever doomed. The boy frowned and hung up while his parent was still lecturing him.
Scara snorted, turning to eye Kazuha. ‘’She said I’m grounded.’’
“Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”