Public Affections
For the night, Kai was going out for drinks and dinner with Tala and Bryan. So as not to be the third wheel, Max, who was not doing anything, was invited to come along. The blonde was rather intimidated; what with being surrounded by the three coldest Russian bladers there were. Despite this, he wasn't all that bothered as the night went on. Kai treated him as he normally would and he engaged in some conversation with Tala and Bryan when they permit it.
Upon arriving at the pub they ordered a snack-dinner straight away so as to get the evening going. As the night got going though Tala took in one too many drinks, seemingly frustrating Bryan and making Kai laugh. "I'm still hungry," Max announced quietly as he stood, "I'm going to go order more fries. Anyone want anything else?"
"Another drink please!" Tala exclaimed gleefully, practically jumping over Bryan.
"No," Bryan told Max hurriedly, putting his hands on either side of Tala and setting him back down in the seat beside him. "No more drinks. Come to think of it, just get him some fries too; he needs something to soak up all that alcohol." He handed Max the money and then turned back to glaring at the redhead.
"You want a hand with all that, Max?" Kai offered, ready to stand.
"No, it's fine." Max laughed.
Turning back to the other two once Max left, Kai saw Tala draped across Bryan's body again, giggling and talking excessively to nobody in particular. "I'm so drunk," he announced in Bryan's ear. Bryan said nothing, trying to ignore his drunken lover. Tala sat up and licked a light trail up his neck before kissing behind his ear.
"Stop that!" Bryan snapped, hitting Tala and pushing him off him.
Tala got back up off the sofa they were all sitting on in the cubicle, leaning closer to Bryan again, "Are we having sex again tonight? I…I'm not going to remember anything." His hand began to find it's way down to the zip of Bryan's pants, just as Tala was about to go down Bryan grabbed him and pulled him away while Kai was trying his hardest not to laugh at the two.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! No more to drink, alright? Go…Go wash your hands or something." He fixed his clothes, got up and pushed the boy in the direction of the bathroom, turning back to the cubicle and plopping back down in his seat with a huff and picturing Kai's lungs about to explode from holding his laughter back.
"Don't you dare say a word!" he warned him, glaring furiously.
"I think that's adorable." Kai finally laughed.
"What is?"
"The fact that you're so strong in denying the two of you are a couple when it's so damn obvious you care about him dearly." His statement made Bryan grunt and glare at his empty plate. "I saw the two of you in the car," he stated, "Hell, even Max saw you two in the car. Why don't you give him any attention in public?"
"Because we're not a straight couple. Hell, we're not even really a couple at all. He understands that, why can't you?" he explained, sounding like he was getting more irritated.
"Are you sure that's what he really wants though? It really does hurt him that you ignore him in front of people. He's feeling neglected, and he's felt that enough in his life, you need to understand that."
"I don't need you to tell me what and what not to do in my private life." Bryan was just mostly mad that someone else had noticed something that he hadn't; and about the one person he thought he knew the most.
"What's going on here?" Max asked, putting his food down in his place and Tala's in his before settling down.
"Nothing!" Bryan grumbled.
"Bryan just refuses to believe that Tala is head over heels in love with him and that Tala's upset that Bryan won't give him any attention or affection in public." Kai answered him, smirking further once the other Russian looked like he wanted to toss Kai into Lake Baikal.
"He really is in love with you though, Bryan." Max backed up, nodding as he snaked on his fries.
"Oh, he probably knows that now, Max. He's just trying to decide whether or not he should do something about it."
"Can you stop talking about this like I'm not sitting right here?!" Bryan asked angrily.
Max turned to Bryan, smiling, "Well Bryan, you show him no affection at all, not even affection between friends."
Kai nodded, picking up on what Max was saying, "It wouldn't kill you to show him even that much."
Tala was taking a long time in the bathroom though, and they were right that he was even slightly concerned about him and just didn't show it. Finally, he stumbled back weakly towards the table, looking sickly-pale.
"Everything okay?" Bryan asked, just allowing some concern through. Why the hell not? Max and Kai had already figured him out.
"I was sick." He admitted softly, sitting back down.
"That's no surprise." Bryan murmured, letting the boy lie down and use his thighs as a pillow.
"You really shouldn't drink so much, Tala." Max laughed gently.
"I know…" Tala groaned with discomfort, turning onto his side.
"And yet he insists on drinking this much." Bryan tugged at the boy's arms carefully, "Get up, you need to eat something." And so that's what he did, Tala sat up and rested his head in his hand on the table as he ate the fries he'd kindly been brought. Bite by bite, little by little he was beginning to feel worse and there was no feeling that the alcohol was going to wear off. He fell back a little against the seat; and, surprising him most of all, but also Kai and Max, Bryan wrapped an arm around his shoulders protectively. "We should go."
Max nodded, wincing a bit at the sight of Tala about to fall asleep against Bryan's tough-muscled shoulder, "Yeah, he really needs to sleep that off."
Bryan picked Tala up, trying to wake him so that he could walk out, "We'll take a taxi. There's no way he can walk it home."
"Call me and let me know how he is." Kai ordered him, giving him a look that said 'you'd better do what I say'.
"Will do." Bryan mumbled, keeping his focus on Tala, "And thanks." He said, giving both Kai and Max a quick look. He left with his lover from then.
"He's so in love." Max laughed, freely now.
"He really, really is." Kai nodded, unable to hold back some laughter too. Who would've thought that little Bryan would end up being so in love with his best friend?
Bryan continued to hold onto Tala tightly in the elevator. Tala pulled Bryan's face closer to him, pushing himself up against Bryan's body to give him a kiss. Bryan pulled away once the elevator doors opened again, something he always did whenever they made out in there. He pulled the pouting boy out of the lift and down the hall to their apartment, and pushing him inside. "Go to the bathroom; you're starting to stink of cheap vodka and vomit."
He dropped his shoes and jacket at the door, following the boy into the bathroom. Tala was brushing his teeth once he got there, rinsing before tiredly just sitting on the counter. Bryan sighed, not that Tala had noticed; as always he was going to have to do all the work. He walked over to him and started tugging the clothes off him, opening the jacket and tugging at the trousers at the same time. "What are you doing?!" Tala asked hurriedly, tears welling up in his eyes.
Bryan stood there, a bit taken aback, "Helping you out of your clothes so you could have a bath. I do this every time you're drunk, why are you surprised now?"
Tala sat there; still bewildered by the explanation, having entirely forgotten about that. "Oh…" he whispered, "I can undress by myself though."
Bryan shrugged and exhaled, placing his fingers to the bridge of his nose as he was not in the mood for an argument, "Fine; just get undressed and get in the bath." He moved over to the bath and set the perfect water temperature before leaving the bathroom, letting Tala undress and get into the bath. He came back with a pile of clothes; Tala's and his own. He shut the curtain half way, just letting him see enough to make sure the boy never got under the hot water.
Things were like this every single time Tala got drunk like this; Bryan would miss out on a shower just so Tala could have one and get into bed. Whenever Bryan tried to take a shower after Tala did he'd find that Tala had gone around the whole apartment and made a mess of everything, and whenever he tried to have one before him he'd find him fast asleep on the bed, still stinking of alcohol. This was the best way things would work out; Tala'd soak in the hot bath while Bryan changed and brushed his teeth, then helping or keeping an eye on Tala while he put his clothes on before tucking him into bed; tucking being the key word as if he'd simply let him do it then he'd wake just move around in bed and stealing any sleeping space from Bryan.
When all was done, Bryan got into bed beside Tala, staring at the boy's back for a few minutes before giving up and closing his eyes. Tala's hand reached out from underneath the heavy covers, flicking on the light by the bed. He sat up slightly and opened the drawer of his nightstand, "Where's my book?" he asked his lover quietly.
"What?"
"My book…I want to read my book. Where's my book?" The repetition of the same word was something typically done by Tala when he was still drunk. The hot bath did a lot to him, great at detoxifying him but not all the way.
"I think you left it on the coffee table." Bryan mumbled tiredly; wiping his sleep-filled eyes because of the strong light, "Are you seriously going to read now?"
"I'm going to get my book." Tala said sadly, sitting up further to get out of bed.
"No," Bryan mumbled, holding him back down, "Let me get it for you. Just stay where you are." So out of bed he got, walking through the cold apartment, retrieving the book and going back to the thickly warm bedroom, "Here." He tossed the book onto Tala's lap and watched him smile happily, opening the book to continue reading.
Bryan got back into bed and Tala turned over onto his side, book kept open with the hand his torso was lying on. Over Tala's shoulder, despite his exhaustion, Bryan was able to read a lot of it clearly. "It's all about public affection." He thought aloud.
"They're happy…and they like it." Tala whispered back softly, still engrossed in the book, "I want to feel like that someday."
Bryan pulled the boy over onto his back with a heavy exhale, pressing his lips down against Tala's. "You will feel that sometime. I am sorry I haven't been treating you right but this is new and it's different. I am sorry, okay?"
Tala shrugged, closing his book, "It's okay."
"'It's okay' isn't even a good answer. That's something you say when you're still secretly mad at someone." Bryan said pleadingly, "I'm sorry, I wish I did things a bit differently."
"Stop worrying about it, Bryan." Tala beseeched in a whisper, "None of it matters…"
"It does matter. It matters to you so in turn matters to me." He leaned closer, kissing the boy's lips softly again then collapsing back against the pillows. Tala turned over and moved closer to him, smiling into his chest.
"Thanks."
A/N: I couldn't help it. I'm a real sucker for Shounan-ai and Yaoi and I couldn't help but write something else. This isn't as explicit as the other thing I wrote but it was definitely as sweet and as loving I think. I hope at least some people liked this and I could get some feedback on it. Thanks. Take care!