"Oi – so this is where you should be instead of working? Dammit, Morinaga – I'll kill you for making me come to a gay bar looking for your ass!"
"Senpai! I can't believe you came looking for me? Were you worried? Sit down and have a drink with us!", Morinaga enthused, the color high in his cheeks from alcohol.
"Like hell I was worried about you – I came for the toxicology reports!", Souichi glared back at his tipsy kouhai and his narrow-eyed friend, developing an instant dislike for the saccharine sweet laugh Hiroto uttered at his reasoning.
"That's what I'm trying to say, Sempai – come try this new drink. I was telling Hiroto all about the plant and its effects and he thinks it would make a great specialty cocktail. Come try the base before we add the extract – it's really good!" Morinaga enthused, eyes crinkled in merriment, patting the barstool next to him in a friendly – too friendly – way.
"Angel-kun, so this is your fabled Sempai. Nice and lean, with that gorgeous hair! I think I see why you persist.", Hiroto purred, giving Souichi the quick-head-to-toe assessment.
"Fuck off, fag! Don't make me kill you.", Souichi growled low enough not to offend the entire bar while he grudgingly sat down next to his now-apologetic kouhai.
"Sempai – you know it's just teasing! Please don't threaten my friends. We all know you don't swing that way.", Morinaga scolded, patting Souichi quickly on the back and pushing a half-full glass in his direction.
"Sure we do.", Hiroto helpfully supplied, smiling with too many teeth. Deftly intercepting Morinaga as he attempted to pass Souichi his drink, the bartender dumped the old glass and quickly replaced it with a new one. It smelled like coffee... and Souichi was a sucker for coffee...
Morinaga watched as the love of his life first sniffed the cocktail then took a sip. Deciding the taste wasn't terrible, he took another. Then... after admitting that it was indeed quite drinkable...he took another...
Souichi could hear Morinaga discussing their current pharmacology project with his friend. Hiroto appeared politely interested and kept picking up the small pint bottle of golden liquid Morinaga had provided to get the drink going. The music in the bar began to get to him; the lights, soft as they were began to dance in time to the beat. It wasn't a loud bar, but somehow Souichi found himself wanting to get up and move... which confused him utterly, because the last thing Souichi Tatsumi had ever done or would ever do in his life was to dance at gay bar after one drink!
"So this plant you were experimenting with in your studies had supposed medicinal effects and Tetsuhiro Morinaga and Souma Hiroto were planning on using it as an ingredient in a cocktail? What were you two gentlemen making in that lab?", the prosecutor interrupted, seemingly to himself.
"Yes.", Souichi said, glad to be able to stop talking, afraid of where the question might lead him. He could feel every pair of the jury's eyes crawling across his face with interest and it was not a good feeling at all. Damn them for listening!
"Relevancy, Your Honor?", the defense pled.
"I will allow it. Is this plant Nymphea cerulea, Mr. Tatsumi?", the judge queried, looking hard at him over her glasses after consulting her depositions.
"Yes, ma'am. It has some very promising medicinal qualities. It was our senior project at the university.", Souichi answered as calmly as he was able, worried that he was going to have to discuss those medicinal and somewhat less respectable qualities in front of the entire court room... knowing he'd probably have to and actually doing it were two very different things!
"What exactly are those qualities, Mr. Tatsumi?", the prosecution cannily asked him – much to Souichi's discomfort.
"The flower is amazing, Hiroto-kun! It's a narcotic pain killer and an antispasmodic in one chemical compound. Side effects are mild and well-tolerated by animal testing. The narcotic half-life is so short the intoxication phase is less than an hour but the muscle relaxant effects last for a day or more – and get this, this is the best part!
"The active compounds work like a synergist with alcohol but in such a mild way that we have yet to find a near-lethal rat dose – the poor rats get too drunk to even want to ingest enough nuciferine to overdose. It's like another promethazine – and even if it's not picked up for that, it could be the next sildenafil, eh? Our careers are going to be made, right Sempai?" Morinaga effused to the politely uninterested Hiroto, who was washing glasses to have something to do with his hands.
Souichi was watching his kouhai's long fingers as the man avidly discussed the damn plant. The way Morinaga would bring his hand to the back of his neck as he was gesturing with the other, unconsciously stroking the fine hairs there – Souichi found he could feel Morinaga's fingers at the back of his own neck, massaging the tingling nerves that seem to shoot straight to his twitching cock... as he continued to watch, Morinaga's tongue seemed to poke out between words, wetting his lips for the lauds he was spewing at that bartender friend of his... that tongue, Souichi could feel it running wetly up his hard shaft, tasting him, owning everything that it touched...
Somehow the modal jazz seemed to have a throbbing undercurrent that was making Souichi's heart pound. Morinaga leaned forward on his perch and absentmindedly scratched his side, flashing his smoldering room-mate a peek at the hard, muscled flesh of his stomach... Souichi remembered the way those muscle bunched when Morinaga thrust himself slowly in and out of his ass, explosions of sensation going off behind his eyes every time he was slowly pounded by something deep within...
"Fuck, I have to piss – is it safe to use the bathroom in this place or am I going to get molested by one of you sickos?", growled Souichi around the ice in his empty glass, trying like hell to get a break from the craziness in his head! That was some drink...!
"Straight to the back. You shouldn't have any problems getting there; it's the only straight thing in this bar.", Hiroto helpfully supplied, teasing the elder student who blushed and gritted his teeth but said nothing. The bartender watched carefully as Morinaga's object of desire wobbled the slightest bit as he managed to disengage himself from the barstool.
"I think I like your idea for a name, Angel-kun. Let's call it the Lotus Eater – or better yet, let's use your foreign label for it! The more exotic – the more money I can charge!", Hiroto suddenly enthused to Morinaga, who was finishing the last of his coffee-lotus flavored ice.
"What - Lotophagoi? Weird, Hiroto... but whatever you want it is fine. I better go check on Senpai. I don't want anyone to get accidentally murdered because they ask him the time.", Morinaga shrugged and then made his way to the back of the bar with his casual beatific smile.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, would we?", Hiroto murmured to himself without a smile.
Souichi was panting.
Sweating palms against the cool marble sink, he tried to get the thumping of his heart under control. What the hell was going on with his body? All he had to do was think of Morinaga's name and his mind would be assaulted by visions of that pervert doing all kinds of unspeakably... uncomfortably... hot, passionate things to him!
Normally alcohol didn't affect him like this, dammit! Suddenly, Souichi remembered Hiroto switching his taste-test with a new, fresh drink and the way he snuggled the bottle of lotus extract... it was the goddamn plant! His scientific sensibilities were peeved; human trials were nowhere near ready yet – there were too many unknowns for good, reliable data doing something like this – but, fuck!
That was some good shit, Souichi snarked to himself and reaching up to wipe sweaty hair out of his face, couldn't help licking one of his fingers in nebulous longing... thinking of something else tasty to put between his lips. He couldn't wait to tell Morinaga of these unforeseen aphrodisiac effects – he couldn't believe how turned on he was from one... small... drink...!
"Like fucking hell I would, too! That guy would get the wrong idea..", Souichi's echoed cursing booming like thunder in the empty bathroom.
"What guy would get the wrong idea, Sempai? You can't possibly be talking about me?", Morinaga suddenly poked his dark head through the door with an easy smile, shocking Souichi into another fit of profane exclamation.
"What do you want? Can't a guy get a little privacy – or did your perverted self come to peep? Get out all ready, you!" Souichi shooed his hands at Morinaga's reflection before him, cheeks on fire with surprise.
"Privacy – what a fantastic idea.", Morinaga smiled hotly and slipping quickly into the small room, flicked the lock home.
