I don't own Kamen rider or characters. This fic ended up in a totally different direction than I originally planned but sometimes that's a good thing. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!
"What's it like to be drunk?" Parrad was sitting next to Emu on their couch.
"Everything gets kind of fuzzy and you start laughing at everything. Why?"
"While you were at work I saw a movie about someone who got drunk. It seems bugsters can't get drunk."
"You tried?" Emu raised an eyebrow.
Parrad nodded, "I wonder if I was in your body if I could get drunk."
Emu rolled his eyes, "Getting drunk isn't that exciting. Especially if you have no one to hang out with."
"Maybe Poppy can go too."
"I guess just once you can try it. I'm free tonight, just don't drink too much because I do work in the morning and I need to be functioning."
"Thanks Emu," Parrad smiled.
Three hours later Emu and Parrad arrived outside of a bar close to the hospital.
"Remember, don't drink too much. Generally, two or three drinks is enough," Emu reminded.
"Don't worry Emu, you are safe with me," Parrad smiled. He entered Emu's body then entered the bar. He found Poppy and surprisingly Hiiro.
"I'm excited to see how this works!" Poppy greeted.
"Why are you here, Hiiro?"
"Poppy said I needed to relax so she dragged me here. I'm leaving after I'm done with my drink," he raised a glass filled with a light blue drink.
"What are you getting to drink?" Poppy wondered.
"I hadn't thought too much about it. One game I played mentioned margaritas so I might try one of those."
The waiter brought him a margarita and was surprised at how good it tasted. He drank it quickly but still didn't feel anything. Three margaritas later, Hiiro was still sipping on the same drink and Parrad felt nothing.
"Maybe you just can't feel alcohol?" Poppy suggested.
"I guess. I was really hoping," Parrad looked around and then left Emu's body.
Emu swayed on the barstool and tried to focus his eyes. "Wow."
"I didn't feel anything."
"How much did you drink?" Emu muttered blinking.
"I might have had four margaritas."
"I said two or three!" Emu giggled.
"You said generally, so I thought maybe one more would do it."
"Hey Poppy!" Emu smiled, he then noticed Hiiro, "Hiiiiiii."
"You're drunk," Hiiro responded.
"Hehe, yeah," Emu nodded, "You aren't though! You need another drink. Hey waiter!"
"I need to work in the morning," Hiiro scolded.
"Yeah me too! BUT you have to try this drink," Emu paused, "It tastes like a cake. And you lovvee cake!"
Hiiro rolled his eyes but accepted the drink.
"You are right, Emu, it is fun to watch a drunk person," Parrad assessed.
"Heyy, oh! There's a dance game here. We have to play it!" Emu tried to stand up. He stumbled a little bit but walked toward the machine.
Poppy and Parrad followed.
"Parrad and I will go first, then winner goes against Poppy!" Emu struggled putting quarters into the slots.
"This doesn't seem like it will end well," Poppy responded.
Emu focused hard and only stumbled a few times. He lost by a mere 5 points.
"I'm feeling pretty good! I'm gunna get another drink," Emu stumble walked back toward the bar.
Hiiro was about halfway through the cake flavored drink when Emu started his fifth drink. This time he got something green, it was something mixed with apple vodka but it really just tasted like straight vodka.
Emu started rambling about a video game to Hiiro who just rolled his eyes. Eventually Hiiro decided to leave, "I'll see you in the morning, if you don't end up calling off."
"Awwww you should stay longer!"
"I need to get some sleep. So do you."
"You're cute when you're being serious," Emu giggled.
"I'm always serious and you've had too much to drink."
"So you are always cute!" Emu giggled some more before scrunching his eyes and looking confused, "Oops. I wasn't supposed to tell Hiiro that."
Hiiro actually chuckled, "I'm telling them to take you home. Goodnight Emu."
Emu tried to get up from the stool to follow him to Parrad but he quickly fell over. Hiiro looked back and helped Emu up. He then kept an arm around Emu to get him over to the two bugsters. "He needs to go home now. Make him drink a lot of water. He'll probably have a headache in the morning so make sure he eats and takes something before coming to work."
Emu was staring up at Hiiro's face as he was talking.
"Come on Emu," Parrad reached out to take Emu who was almost completely leaning on Hiiro.
"You're a good doctor," Emu smiled then reached up and kissed Hiiro's cheek. Hiiro's eyes got wide and he started to blush. Once Emu was supported by Parrad, Hiiro practically raced out of the bar.
"I told him he was cute," Emu admitted.
"Tomorrow will be awkward at work to say the least," Poppy led them out.
"Oh we need a rematch sometime when I've not been drinking," Emu suggested to Parrad, "I need to prove I'm still king of games."
"I'm going to take over now," Parrad informed figuring Emu would get home safer that way, "Goodnight Poppy."
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Emu groaned when he heard his alarm go off. He promptly hit snooze.
"Emu," Parrad whispered through the doorway, "I made you breakfast. I don't know if you remember but you had a shower last night so you are almost ready for work."
"I don't remember a lot from last night," Emu mumbled into his pillow, "I feel like I did something stupid though."
Parrad chuckled, "I can tell you over breakfast if you want or you can pretend it didn't happen."
"So I did do something stupid," Emu finally rolled over, "It's really bright in here."
"I was researching hangovers and found that to be a common symptom. I have medicine for you at the table."
Emu dragged himself to the table and listened to Parrad fill him in on the things he didn't remember. Emu sighed and leaned back in his chair, "This is going to be a long day…"
"You better get going or you'll be late. I'll be by to bring you lunch later but here is some coffee for right now."
"You sound like a housewife," Emu smirked as he sipped the coffee.
"I feel bad about last night so I wanted to help a bit more than usual," Parrad admitted, "Though I am a little glad I can't get drunk because who knows what I'd end up doing."
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"I'm surprised you're a bit early," Poppy greeted.
"Parrad helped me get ready. What are we working on today?" Emu looked through the files and separated up the work. He headed off with his pile and left the other on the table for when Hiiro showed up.
Emu avoided the CR all morning and met Parrad outside around lunch time.
"I brought you a new game to try and more coffee," Parrad said, "I'm going to go talk to Poppy."
"Thanks, and I am feeling a lot better," Emu sat at a picnic table and unpacked his lunch. He pulled out the game system from his pocket and inserted the new game.
A few minutes later and he was totally engrossed in the game, his lunch and surroundings forgotten. Finally, his alarm went off to start packing up his lunch.
"You might want to learn to eat while you are on your lunch break."
Emu jumped and dropped his game when he noticed Hiiro was sitting across from him cutting into a snack cake.
"Yeah," Emu mumbled as he picked up his game. Once he saved it, his game was placed back in his pocket. Emu stood and started walking toward the building, cramming in his sandwich before he clocked back in. He went to CR and greeted Poppy and Parrad.
"Where have you been all day?" Poppy wondered.
"Doing my job."
"You normally stop by a few times to check in."
"I think he was avoiding Hiiro," Parrad assessed.
"Well I didn't do a good job of it during lunch."
"Was it awkward?" Poppy wondered.
"He seemed normal but I rushed out of there quickly."
"He probably figures you just said those things because you were drunk."
"I need to get back to work," Emu cut the conversation off as he glanced at the clock.
Four hours later, Emu arrived back at CR to finish up his paperwork. Parrad had gone home and Poppy was hanging out in her game. Emu was surprised at how quiet it was. He leaned back in his chair and finally thought further into the night before. He was really embarrassed that he kissed Hiiro, even if it was just on the cheek. He also really wished he hadn't told Hiiro that he was cute. Not that Emu thought otherwise, he just wasn't ready for Hiiro to find out he liked him. 'Maybe I just came off as friendly and not flirty…?' Emu thought, 'As long as Hiiro pretends it never happened, nothing will become weird. The last thing I want is to make CR an awkward place for him to work. There have been less game disease patients lately though, so we don't really work together that often anymore.' Emu put his head down on the table.
"Still feeling the hangover?" Hiiro walked up the stairs.
Emu jumped at the sudden noise, "Just a bit of a headache still. I'm about to head home to sleep it off."
"Good idea," Hiiro filed his work as Emu packed up his bag. "Thanks for the drink recommendation last night."
Emu scrunched his eyebrows before he realized, "Oh that cake one. Yeah, I thought you'd like it. I tried it a few weeks ago."
"I'm thinking about going back tomorrow to get another one, if you want to go too," Hiiro offered.
Emu's could feel his heartbeat pounding, was Hiiro asking him out? After Hiiro raised an eyebrow at the lack of response, Emu nodded, "Yeah sure."
"See you then," Hiiro walked down the stairs leaving Emu shocked and confused.
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"I don't know if it's a date or if it's just guy friends hanging out in a bar!" Emu panicked.
"Maybe you can tell based on what he is wearing?" Parrad suggested.
"He's always in a suit. Or a nice shirt and tie. I don't think I could tell when he dresses nice all the time."
"You could just ask him?"
"And screw things up further if he just wants to hang out as a friend? Which is also odd because we never hang out outside of work…"
"He probably likes you then and is asking you out based on last night."
"What about Saki?"
"She's been gone a while now; he could finally be getting over her?"
"But we might be able to bring her back!"
"It's not promised, Emu. As much as I wish we could bring them all back, it's not a simple task. He's probably tired of waiting."
Emu shrugged before collapsing into the couch, "I was going to nap but now I'm not sure I can. Want to play something to get my mind off of Hiiro?"
Parrad smiled, "You know I'm always up for a game."
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Emu straightened up his shirt before entering the bar. He decided to just dress casual and see which way things go.
Hiiro was already at a booth sipping on a drink.
"Hey," Emu greeted as he slid in across from Hiiro. "How was work today?"
"Slow, performed a few surgeries. No new CR patients," Hiiro updated.
"We've had less of them lately. I guess that is a good thing though," Emu responded.
"Are you hungry?"
"Kind of," Emu honestly felt a little sick from being nervous. He took the menu from Hiiro and finally found something to order.
After the waiter left, Hiiro asked, "So what new games have you been playing?"
"I thought you didn't care about games?"
"The other night you were talking about one that sounded fun. I've noticed you get really animated when talking about them."
"Well, there's a new game that just came out…" Emu kept talking until the food showed up. He calmed down a lot after focusing on games.
"So what do you do when you aren't performing surgery or eating sweets?" Emu wondered.
"I watch a lot of medical shows," he shrugged, "I don't do a lot of interesting things I guess."
"You have to have something," Emu insisted, "Do you read or sing or make anything?"
"Reading medical journals," Hiiro thought further, "I do like camping."
"I can't imagine you as an outdoorsy type," Emu chuckled, "Where do you go?"
"There's a few parks around. When I was young dad thought it would a good bonding experience so we went every few weeks. I've not been camping in a long time though being so focused about work."
"Next time you have a few days off, you should go."
"Maybe," Hiiro nodded before taking another bite of his food.
Once their meals were done Hiiro finally brought up the topic they were both ignoring. "About the other night…"
"It's ok Hiiro, feel free to pretend like it didn't happen."
"Emu, do you really like me?"
Emu looked down and nervously played with his shirt sleeve. Knowing he had to say something he finally answered, "yes."
After a few moments of silence which made Emu nervous, Hiiro answered, "I'm not really good in relationships. I totally screwed things up when I was with Saki. I don't want to put you through that."
Emu finally looked up, "You are worried about me?"
"I don't want to hurt anyone else."
"Your problem with Saki was you were so focused on your studies that you didn't spend enough time focusing on her. I love how focused you get when it comes to work. I even liked you when I first joined CR, back when you hated me. I know how you act and I still like you. But you also know what you did wrong with Saki if you want to act differently."
"I never hated you," a worried look crossed his face, "I'll admit I didn't want you in CR at first and I had doubts about your skills as a doctor but I never hated you. But I've seen how you act with your patients and I think you are the best for CR. You've become a great doctor, Emu."
Emu had gone back to playing with his sleeve, "So…what now?"
Hiiro wasn't sure exactly what to say so he reached across the table and kissed Emu.
"Wow," Emu blinked in surprise.
"So, do you want to date me?" Hiiro finally put words together.
"Yes. Especially if it means we can do more of that," Emu referred to the kiss.
Hiiro smirked, "I'm sure we can arrange that."
"How much did you drink?" Emu laughed.
"Only the one cake drink. And a shot of vodka for courage," Hiiro admitted.
"Just wanted to make sure you weren't kissing me because you are drunk."
"It takes a lot more than one drink to get me drunk."
"Well you've seen me after 5 drinks, I think sometime I should see you wasted."
"If you insist, but not tonight. I'm not going into work with a hangover."
"Good idea, it's really hard to think when you're hungover and your patients talk too loud."
Hiiro chuckled, "I'm going to go pay."
"I can pay," Emu answered.
"I was the one who asked you out for a drink so it's on me," Hiiro insisted.
Emu finally agreed. They parted for the night with another small kiss.
The next day they both ate lunch in the CR. Director Kagami was in to talk to Poppy. He glanced over and noticed Hiiro offering a bite of his cake to Emu. Director Kagami's eyes widened and whispered to Poppy, "Hiiro must love Emu. He won't even share his cake with me."
Poppy stifled a giggle and whispered back, "They've liked each other for a long time, they just wouldn't admit it. That's why Parrad and I worked out a plan to try to get them together."
"I'm just glad to see Hiiro finally getting over Saki. Just working together Emu has impacted Hiiro for the better, I wonder how this will turn out."