Title: The Truth
Summary: It's funny how one, drunken slip-up can cause so much questions.
Rating: T
Pairing: Enrique/Oliver. Mentions possible Johnny/someone (to be developed in the future), as well as Robert/unknown lady.
Warning: Boy x boy, as usual for me.
Disclaimer: Beyblade and it's characters do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them to amuse myself and the others. Does that make me uncouth?Beta: Nancy. worships
A/N: I'm still continuing with different pairings I love. Enrique/Oliver is one of them. And aren't they just cute together?
I was inspired by the Valentine's Day, as you might notice if you read the story. It just took a while for me to write this. ... I'm slow, alright!
I worship any reviews and constructive criticism.
Sadly, it's a generally known fact that while drunk, people can say a lot of things. Things, which are considered stupid, which they don't really mean, and which they regret saying in the morning after. Oliver, after spending many years with people who considered getting drunk as a sports game, knew all of this very well. He only wished his heart would have known, too.
It had all happened a couple of weeks ago. Oliver had been peacefully minding his own business when Enrique suddenly called. Apparently, due to the break-up of Enrique and girl number 74 (Enrique called her Felisa, but soon after Enrique's break-up with Rosetta and Bianca, Oliver had given up on trying to remember the names and focused on remembering the number. It seemed to keep things strangely in perspective.), Enrique was feeling depressed and said that he was in need of a friend. Oliver, being the understanding and loyal person as he was, invited Enrique over. After few minutes, the doorbell had rang and Enrique appeared inside, holding his cellphone, looking a bit baffled. Before Oliver had had the time to say or ask anything, both of his parents had fleeted to greet the blond-haired boy with open arms.
"Enrique, my dear boy, it's always such a delight to see you! How do they say in Italian, 'ciao' was it?"
"Works fine", Enrique said, waved his hand to Oliver and grinned.
"It's wonderful to see you again, dear. How are your parents? And how's the weather in Italy? I've heard that there had been these terrible rains and..."
It was a mystery to Oliver why his parents, as well as all his friends, relatives and generally everyone he knew, liked Enrique so much. And even though he was, of course, very fond of his blonde friend too, it sometimes seriously puzzled him that absolutely everyone seemed to fall in love with him immediately. Maybe the magic of blue eyes and goofy smile was universal and worked on everybody?
When the night had fallen, the boys had shut themselves in Oliver's room. It was usual for them to share a bedroom; they had known each other for many years, after all, and considered themselves the best of friends. Before the strike of 2 AM, both of them had been pretty wasted. Alcohol had been involved, more specifically a bottle of brandy and another one of Campari. And because Enrique, as much as the blonde boy hated to admit it when others teased him about it, had always had low tolerance in alcohol, he had ended up getting even more drunk than his friend. The green-haired boy found himself laughing at the other boy, who was looking like a mess and laying on the floor.
The events which occurred next were rather hazy in Oliver's memory, but he could still recall most of it.
"Do you need a hand?" he had asked and kneeled down next to Enrique, who was arduously trying to get up on his feet. Oliver had offered his hand and Enrique had took it. And then pulled Oliver a lot more closer.
Oliver had been startled, but recovered fast and laughed:
"No more drinks for you, Enri."
There had been no answer, and Enrique hadn't let him go.
"Enri? Is everything okay?" Oliver had inquired, feeling a bit worried and also rather awkward about the continuous closeness. Then, after a little moment of silence, Enrique had said something to him and right after that closed his eyes, rested his head on Oliver's shoulder and soon fell asleep. Oliver had just been still for a while and then carried the other boy to the guest bed.
The next morning, while holding his head and looking painful because of the nasty hangover, Enrique had asked Oliver whether he had said or done anything interesting in the evening before. Oliver had lied and said "no".
Later that day, Enrique had informed that he needed to leave immediately. His father had called and demanded the boy to return to Italy at once and apologize to his poor tutor, who had waited for more than three hours to get to teach some geology.
"So I guess I must go. Wouldn't want to keep Mrs. Strausenhoff waiting", Enrique muttered and rolled his eyes. "Ci vediamo, Ollie."
"Speak properly, you know I don't speak Italian any more than you do French. See you, Enri", Oliver answered smiling and hugged his friend for goodbyes. Enrique had smiled back, thanked for the company and left as quickly as he had appeared. They hadn't seen or even talked since that. Until now, that was.
Oliver signed and turned around in his bed, which wasn't even his own. Leave it to Robert to come up with an idea like "Let's all meet in Valentine's Day and spend the time together by discussing civilized about the unimportance of such days". Oliver had agreed to come because, deep down, he had missed Robert's serious face and repeating stories. For reasons unknown, he had really missed the time when all four of them were together. He had actually missed even Johnny, even if his personality wasn't exactly the most joyful of them all. It was a surprise to Oliver and possibly to Johnny himself too that he had decided also join them for the few days. Johnny claimed it was only because he wanted finally to beat Robert in chess, but, as the violet-haired blader had said to Oliver smiling mysteriously, the real reason was more likely that Johnny no more than anyone else wanted to spend such days alone.
Lastly, when all others had agreed, Robert had called Enrique and asked whether he was seeing someone special on the day of love. Enrique, for the first time in two years as Oliver recalled, had said that he wasn't seeing anyone at the moment, and that he would love to join. That led all four of them to Robert's castle for two days and nights. In other words, few days of Robert and Johnny challenging each other in each and every possible genre, beginning from tennis and ending in chess, and few days of trying to avoid Enrique without him realizing it. And that they had called 'relaxing and fun'.
There was a knock on his door. Oliver had a suspect who it might be and he pretended to be asleep.
"Ollie?" came a quiet whisper from the door.
If I just stay like this, he will go away, I don't have to be or talk with him...
"Ollie?" a whisper came again, this time from much closer range. Oliver still kept his eyes closed. He could feel the intruder kneeling next to his bed.
"Ollie? Are you sleeping?" someone whispered right into his ear. The hot breath made it impossible for Oliver to keep pretending, he seriously doubted that he could have handled another whisper. He quickly made small sleepy voices and moved a bit.
"Enri? That you? What is it now?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and yawning theatrically. Blue eyes came full of joy and smile settled itself on Enrique's lips.
"I can't sleep. I'm bored. I think we should play Truth or Dare."
Oliver eyes flew wide open.
"Huh?"
"We've never played it together. Let's play, Ollie."
Those words were said so intensely, so seductively, that Oliver was afraid that he would blush more radiantly than ever before, even though nothing dirty or extremely suggestive hadn't really been said. Enrique laughed quietly to some inner joke of his.
"I'll go get the bottle. To set the right mood, you know", he said grinning, stood up and starting walking towards the door.
"Are you going to ask Robert and Johnny to join us?" Oliver asked, feeling more than a bit reluctant to be alone with Enrique.
"Robert hates that sort of games where you make an ass of yourself, and Johnny never tells any of his secrets to anyone. Take a guess", Enrique answered laughing and soon disappeared down the stairs. Oliver was left alone and fearing what would happen next.
After few minutes Enrique came back with a plastic bottle.
"I ran into Johnny and Robert downstairs. Apparently they had just had another chess-match. Robert won."
"For the 53rd time in a row", Oliver noted and came sat next to Enrique on the floor. Enrique nodded and span the bottle. It ended up pointing at completely different direction than were Oliver was, but nevertheless Enrique asked:
"Truth or dare?"
Oliver pondered for a moment.
"Truth."
"Okay then", Enrique said and grinned. The he leaned closer to Oliver. "Of all the bladers we know, how many do you think or know to prefer guys over girls?"
Listing all the names took some time, and at the end of the list, Enrique was laughing uncontrollably. Oliver was laughing too, though his reasons were different to Enrique's. He was laughing mostly because Enrique was.
During the next half an hour or so, they asked many questions concerning other people and sometime themselves, and quickly forgot the bottle. Enrique laughed a lot, and Oliver forgot how he didn't want to be alone with the blond-haired boy.
"Maybe I should pick a dare for a change", Enrique said and looked expectant. Oliver smiled peacefully.
"Go to the stairs and shout that you love Johnny."
Enrique merely winked, stood up and walked to the stairs. He took a deep breath.
"I love you Johnny!" he shouted as loud as he could. The whole castle seemed to echo and make the sound stronger. Soon a loving answer, apparently coming from Johnny's bedroom, reached their ears.
"Fuck! You! Too!"
"Fuck, you two?" Enrique snickered and flashed a charming smile to Oliver, who, for a second, felt a bit jittery about the sentence but soon forgot it.
"Stop acting like immature kids and get a room", Robert's deadly serious yell came from the lounge. Enrique smiled evilly and returned to sit next to his friend.
"I'm not as brave as you are. I take the truth", Oliver said grinning.
"Too bad, I would have made you sweet-talk to Robert to make him forgive us the absolutely uncouth disturbance of his peace. Tell me one of your secret vices."
"I like chocolate", Oliver suggested, smiling meekly.
"Oh, come on Ollie, everyone likes chocolate. Tell me something secret!"
"I sleep without any clothes on."
That seemed to cause some amount of brainwork within Enrique's head.
"Even when I'm around?" he finally asked, looking amused beyond limits. Oliver rolled his eyes.
"When I'm alone."
"Can I tell everyone?"
"Oh sure. In that case, though, I might have to tell your parents what you did with the girl numb – Eliza. You know, the dark, red hair, painted, black nails and really nice bosom, as you described her to me", Oliver said and smiled to Enrique's panicked look.
"Let's just leave it all between us", Enrique hurried to say. Oliver nodded and looked at Enrique demandingly.
"What? Oh, right. Truth this time."
"Tell me a food and a drink which you consider sexy."
"Weren't oysters and chocolate considered as aphrodisiacs? So that'll be those, then. And as for the drink, pretty much anything is sexy if your pour it over someone and lick it from their bare skin", Enrique said, eyes a bit glassy, as if thinking something interesting. Oliver tried not to think of anything interesting, failed and blushed a bit.
"It's your turn again", Enrique said, eyes and focus returning to normal. Oliver shrugged, as in to say "you already know what I'll choose". Enrique was silent for a while and then grinned with an extremely evil look.
"Tell me about your most memorable erotic moment."
Oliver nearly choked.
"But... but Enri! I'm gay, remember? I doubt that you really want to know about my erotic moments!" he cried out. Enrique looked unimpressed.
"I tell you about mine, and I doubt that they are that pleasant to hear for you either. I'm just curious, Ollie. You never tell me about your boyfriends or anything like that. I'm your friend. You can tell me about those things, I'm not going to go all hetero on you and start screaming 'eww!'", he claimed and gave Oliver an encouraging smile. Oliver sighed. He tried to come up with something which would satisfy Enrique's curiosity, but his thoughts decided to leave to a totally different direction.
It wasn't a secret that Oliver was gay. On the contrary, it had been rather general knowledge among public for about four years. His parents, to whom he had confided about it first, had, after the initial shock, been supportive and understanding. Encouraged by that, Oliver had told to his three best friends: Enrique, Robert and Johnny. Robert had just stared at him for a while and then shrugged. The knowledge didn't seem to have affected him in any way. Johnny had muttered something about unicorns and omelets and 'I should have known', but all and all, he didn't seem to be bothered. Enrique... well, Enrique had just slapped him on the back and told grinning that it wasn't his concern what Oliver liked to do in his bedroom and with whom. After that, Oliver hadn't bothered to keep his sexual orientation as a secret. He didn't exactly boast about it either, but he didn't see any point in pretending to be something that he wasn't.
"Ollie?"
Oliver blinked his eyes and decided to be honest.
"I can't tell you any erotic memories or moments, because I really haven't had any of those."
Enrique raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner.
"Not any?"
Oliver knew he was blushing now.
"No. And it's my turn to ask a question."
"Shoot away", the blond boy muttered, seemingly deep in thoughts. Oliver decided to ask something which would give him the edge if Enrique would ever have the idea to tell anyone about his inexperienceness.
"Tell me something about yourself that no other knows."
Enrique gave him an odd stare, as if wondering if Oliver really wanted to know. He stroked his hair and shook his head, eyes moving around a bit manically.
"I might regret this later, but never mind. I guess it's pretty much common knowledge that I like girls?" he asked, focusing his eyes on Oliver. The question caused the other boy to snicker.
"Common knowledge is an understatement, I think it's more like a unwritten rule."
"Then what would you say if I told you that I like guys too?" Enrique asked quietly, keeping his eyes on Oliver. The latter mentioned just stared.
"Huh?"
Enrique smiled, more seriously than ever during all the time they had spent as Robert's guests.
"Why haven't you told me?" Oliver forced himself to speak.
"You never asked."
"What, as in 'Hey Enri, do you happen to like boys too?'?"
"Why not", Enrique mused. Then he saw Oliver's look and sighed. "Now look... I prefer girls, yes, but there's really no reason why I couldn't be with a guy if that felt right. I've seen attractive men and, just like with women, though about dating, sex and all that. I just never had the courage to give it a go or even tell that to anyone. And could you please stop looking so freaked out, you are making me feel extremely stupid and, in addition to that, embarrassed. It's not like I acted out this way when you told me you liked guys."
"That's a different thing", Oliver said, avoiding looking into those blue eyes.
"How come?"
"Because..."
Because I'm gay and now you say that you like guys too and I happen to like you. And wow, they really didn't lie when they said that love makes poets of us all.
It was all Oliver's mother's fault, really. Oliver had never even thought about Enrique as any other than friend until one sunny day, about a year ago, while sitting on the garden drinking tea, just mother and her son, Oliver's mom has suddenly said:
"Delightful boy, your friend Enrique. Maybe you should start courting him."
Oliver had nearly spat his tea onto the ground.
"Mom! He's my friend!" he had cried, red as a beetroot. His mother had just took a sip from her tea and smacked her lips.
"I don't see a problem in that. Many respectable pairs have started out as friends."
"He is straight, mother. I'm sure you know the meaning of the word? Het-er-o-sex-u-al. Meaning he's not gay, queer, homo, does not like banging guys –"
"Oliver, my goodness, there's no need to get vulgar about it! I'm sure that if I would call his parents and have a few well-spoken words –"
At that point, Oliver had stood from the table and left. But he was never able to leave the picture of him and Enrique kissing and holding hands behind. He ended up having interesting dreams at nights, and he cursed his mother, who never stopped believing she knew exactly how his son's future would be like.
"You are going to meet Enrique?" his mother had inquired knowingly when Oliver had declared that he wasn't going to be around in Valentine's Day.
"The others too."
"But you are meeting Enrique?"
"If you are so obsessed with the guy, why don't you adopt him?"
"I'm sure his parents wouldn't approve. But I do know that they are very fond of you too, and most likely would only be happy if Enrique was to find such a charming and well-mannered partner as you are, my darling child."
Oliver has just sighed and left.
"Oliver?" Enrique's voice floated to his subconsciousness. The fact that Enrique had actually called him 'Oliver' was worrying.
"Enri, can I ask you another question?" Oliver asked, spinning the bottle carelessly to keep his mind occupied.
"You just did. Feel free to ask a third one too, if you'd like", Enrique said and stopped the bottle. Oliver lifted his gaze.
"Few weeks ago, while you were drunk, you said that I was prettier than any of your girlfriends and that you'd like to date me. Did you really mean it?"
Enrique was silent for a while.
"I think I did", he finally said and looked at Oliver abidingly. The green-haired boy smiled a bit.
"I hate it when my mom's right."
Enrique looked downright clueless. Oliver took his friend's hands into his own.
"So... I'll be the dating partner number 75, then?" he asked, smiling nervously. Enrique looked at their hands, smile brightening, and then brought his face a bit closer to Oliver's. When no one protested about that, he leaned even closer and murmured on Oliver's lips:
"I prefer 'boyfriend number one'."
The kiss lasted approximately 6 seconds, but it felt much longer. When they slowly leaned away from each other, Enrique kept staring at Oliver's face.
"I should have also told you that you have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen."
Oliver blushed, but his eyes shone and he grinned.
"Ah.. Grazie?"
Enrique smiled happily and leaned a bit closer again.
"Di niente, cara mia. And I will teach you Italian one day."
"Not before you speak French, mon chéri."
They smiled and shared another kiss.
xxxxxxxxxx
On the other side of the closed door, Robert was grinning to himself. He had came there by accident, he had planned to tell the younger boys to stop playing around, but their secrets had been fascinating enough for him to stay there and listen. But there was no reason to listen anymore. Robert stopped leaning against the wall and started walking towards his own bedroom.
Somehow, he had always known that this was going to happen. It had been only a matter of time to him. Oliver was never dating anyone, and Enrique's relationships with girls never lasted. Maybe they were destined to be together.
Be that as it may, Robert was still satisfied. Now, he had a few things less to worry about. Now, he only needed to get Johnny out of the closet and pair him up with someone, and his work among his friends would be done, and he might finally get some peace and a change to deliberate his own relationships with a certain lady.
Johnny was a challenge, but Robert knew a guy who might just be ready to accept it.
I just had to remind myself that I have studied Italian once (very little, but still studied!).
-sigh- And yes, Truth or Dare is a classic thing to write. Sorreeeh.
... I love Oliver's parents. I just do.
And Robert is just as sneaky as Oliver's mom, really.
And I do have an idea of who's going to try to win our little Johnny's heart, but I'm not going to tell it yet. You'll see...
Reviews, anyone?