I should be updating. I should not be starting something new. I know, and I'm sorry! But I needed something to distract myself from this horrid old essay I had to write, and this kind of materialized. There's a million things I don't like about it, but hopefully you can get a moment of amusement out of it. Cheers! -SHQ
The bell rings, and the halls are flooded by wave after wave of young bodies eager to leave, jeans and sneakers and body odor and perfume hemorraging out of every exit. Eventually the flood dissapates, and the dredges assemble.
They trickle into the theatre room one by one, gathering on and around the painted black stage. Miss Director, whose name Kai once knew (But what would be the point in asking again this late in the game?) saunters in, her round face adamantly cheerful. She blows a bright orange whistle: her way of saying, Allright, everybody, let's get to it!
Personally, Kai thinks that there's got to be a better way to get things started, and Tala remarks as much out loud. Exceptionally loud.
But start it does, and rehersal is the usual drama.
For roughly two hours, the dozen or so students engage themselves in a haphazard exchanging of random scenes, presumably from the same play. Cues are forgotten, lines are stuttered, bellowed, and misread. A Midsummer Night's Dream was never quite so chaotic, in Kai's opinion, but it beats Chess Club.
He spends most of this time completing his homework in an attempt to ignore Tala, who in turn recites his lines to Kai, almost as if he believes the other boy is actually listening.
Practice ends, and they take the back exit out.
Tala is-
"Kai, I'm twenty minutes away from dying of starvation."
-as usual, ravenous.
Kai raises a brow, as is customary, and Tala, as is customary, ignores it.
The two of them walk along the grimy brick wall of the building, their shadows dark against the rough surface. Kai focuses his eyes on his own shadow. In the vague field of his peripheral vision, he can see the dark blue denim of his jeans move in contrast to his friend's pristine white pants, and he can see the thick white material of the redhead's shirt flash against the black expanse of his jacket.
An obsidian strand of hair falls distractingly over his eyelid, causing him to blink.
He exhales, and lets his eyes drift up with the luminescent puff of mist that escapes from his mouth. Ahead of them lies the cracked grey snake of the sidewalk, running brokenly along Leighton Street. There aren't many cars out, which is nice. Kai likes to avoid breathing in car exhaust whenever possible.
They reach the sidewalk. Kai starts to turn right, toward the stretch of road where most of the small restaurants are crammed. Tala grabs the strap of his bookbag and tugs him the other way. At the half questioning, half 'You made physical contact with me- why?' look on Kai's face, Tala merely shrugs.
"Let's go to that new Chinese place," he says.
Kai is silent, frowning thoughtfully.
"It's not new," he says finally. "It's just been open a few weeks, yes, but they haven't even renovated the place yet."
Tala waves the words off and falls into a recitation of his lines again.
They walk past long stretches of littered road, hands jammed in their pockets to hide their hands from the cold. A dirty yellow cab zooms by, and Kai watches as cold rays of winter sun flash off the glass. Beside him, the redhead passionately converses with the air in front of him, brumal blue eyes ablaze with faux outrage.
"Content with Hermia!?" he booms, "No! I do repent the tedious minutes with her I spent! Not Hermia, but Helen do I love: Who will not change a blackbird for a dove? The will-"
"Raven," Kai interrupts.
"-of... Wait, what?"
"You said blackbird, and you were supposed to say raven."
"... I liked it better when you weren't listening."
They've reached 'the new Chinese place,' and the scent of the cooking food is warm and spicy, hanging thick in the chill air. Tala sniffs hungrily at the scent, at the same time his stomach emitting a loud, beastly growl that startles away two small birds that were roosting sleepily on top of a nearby streetlight.
As they approach the building, Kai wonders at the similarity between Tala and the average timber wolf.
The building is nondescript at best. The walls are plain, worn cement; the roof tiles, which may once have been red, but are now a sickly pink, are crumbling noticeably. A wooden sign in the ground, leaning drunkenly low to the ground, proudly proclaims the Grand Opening of Tiger Hills Cooking.
This Kai finds this rather depressing, but there is an inviting glow of soft light behind the windows, and the two of them are drawn towards the entrance as if an invisible (and considerably muscled) arm was dragging them in by their necks.
Tala rushes through the door first, and Kai follows.
Stepping in from the cold, Kai is stricken by the sensation that he's just slid into a warm bath. He pulls his hands from his pockets and flexes them, working the chill out, and looks around.
It's a world away from the eatery's dilapidated exterior. The main room is spacious, but infinitely comfortable. The walls are painted a rich, deep red, and polished wooden floors shine gently under glowing cream colored paper lamps that hang like strange fruit from the inky black ceiling.
Elegant scrolls of calligraphy hang beside the small wooden lined along the walls, and small stone tiger carvings brood lazily on the tops of the other tables.
At the far end of the room is a long counter.
A large register sits on one end, and a mop of vibrant pink rests on the other. Kai and Tala remain standing in front of the door, staring at the pink matter, bewildered.
"You see what I'm seeing?" Tala mutters, taking a tentative step forward.
The pink mass shifts slightly, and Tala quickly takes a step back.
"Absolutely not," Kai answers.
Suddenly, a door behind the counter bursts open. A small Chinese boy with dark green hair strides out, violet eyes bright and oddly catlike in the dim light- he sees the two of them, pauses, and turns to address the pink mass on the counter. His eyes turn frighteningly sharp. He leans toward the pink, slowly and noiselessly, so as not to disturb it.
He raises one hand high, high into the air. Pure silence seems to flow from his palm, muting all sound except for the sound of Kai's heart beating in his ears.
Abruptly, he slams his hand down into the counter, creating a deafening SMACK.
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!!"
A high pitched, bloodcurdling shriek rips through the previously calm atmosphere as the pink fluff snaps painfully upwards, revealing a very feminine, very sleep swollen, and considerably spittle-streaked face. Pink Haired Girl savagely wipes at her cheeks and growls at Green Haired Boy, who is now sporting a mild version of the kind of smirk Tala is (in)famous for.
"K-Kev- Kevin!" she chokes out, yanking a rope of damp pink hair from the corner of her mouth, "I'm gonna murder-"
"What's going on?" demands a rough voice.
Another boy sharing the same slightly feline features of the Green Haired Boy (aka Kevin) has come running out from the door behind the register. His broad shoulders are heaving slightly as he pants, causing strings of his black, shoulder length mane to slip from the white length of cloth confining it.
"Well?" he asks.
"Mariah wasn't giving our customers enough attention, Lee," replies Kevin.
Mariah and Lee immediately turn around to see Kai and Tala, noticing them for the first time. The four of them exchange stares- Tala's and Kai's are carefully blanked, Mariah's is confused, and Lee's is a mixture of both, with just a dash of frustration somewhere in the mix, for flavour. Kevin snickers.
"You can go back now if you want, Lee," he says, his words light with amusement. "I'll get Rei."
With that, he disappears through the door. Lee stares at them for a second more, briefly grinds his teeth, and follows him.
Mariah is left alone with two cold stares the colors of ice and flame. Kai is of the opinion that she might really feels like screaming now.
"U-uh... We're having a special on sesame chicken," she offers weakly. "Are you ordering to go?"
Kai stares at the girl until he can see beads of perspiration shine faintly on her skin. Then, he walks over to the nearest table and pulls out a chair, a white figure moving through his peripheral vision alerting him that Tala was following suit.
"We'll wait for the menus."
She nods, and the door behind the register opens again.
Another boy emerges from the doorway, a cloud of noodle scented steam billowing faintly behind him. He lifts a single tanned hand in greeting to the sweat dampened Mariah and jumps easily over the counter. It must be Rei. Kai watches him approach.
He moves almost lazily- there's a fluidity and ease in his gait that makes it hard for Kai to look away. So he doesn't. He lets his eyes drag over the silky red pants, the white shirt, the clinging red sash, the swathes of raven hair framing two sensual amber eyes, hanging down in a bound long tail in the back to bump slightly against his the backs of his thighs...
"I've got Bryan," he hears Tala mutter, "I've got a boyfriend, I've got a boyfriend..."
Rei arrives at the table smiling, the expression warm and natural.
A single white canine peeks past his lip, and Kai feels a strange and sudden hunger bite at him.
"Good afternoon," he says, and his voice is simultaneously gravelly and smooth and addictive (and Kai wonders if this is how ravens sing, and if it is, then who would change a raven for a dove?). "My name is Rei. I've got your menus right here- is there anything else I can get you?"
Your last name, Kai thinks.
Your phone number. Your favorite color. Your smile, just for me. A touch or two, or three, of four thousand. And most importantly, something to make this hunger go away.
Tala grins flirtatiously at Rei, glances at the menu, and opens his mouth-
"No, we're fine," Kai interrupts.
He pauses a moment, gaze resting thoughtfully on two xanthic eyes, seeing the claret shade of his own reflected faintly.
"Thank you very much, Rei," he says finally.
Rei is silent, the friendly smile phasing into something inscrutable.
"What's your name?" he asks.
"Kai."
"You're very welcome, Kai," he replies, and the words are unmistakanly sultry. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."
A coy smile shifts his lips, causing that pearly fang to slip out again, and he turns to leave. Before he does, though, Kai glimpses a hunger in Rei's eyes that perfectly reflects his own.
He smirks.
"That's just not fair," Tala grumbles, burying his nose petulantly into his menu. "It was my idea to come here in the first place."
Review and I might just explode, very violently, into smiles.
owari