Summary: K is late for work and Hiro goes to find him.
G.G.G.
It was a good while before I felt composed enough to uncurl from my position on the toilet to brush my teeth and then make my way out of the bathroom again, kicking back some fallen shampoo bottles into the small space as I closed the door.
Pulling on my usual attire of jeans and a t-shirt, I put on some deodorant and was good to go. I felt a little disgusting from the night before so I didn't get clean clothes, and I accidentally got into the tattered old jeans I had managed to wiggle my way out of before I crashed into bed. Too tired to care I tugged down the large t-shirt over my posterior and went out into the sunshine and bird-twittering outside.
Walking slowly, trying to shield my eyes with my hands from the piercing sun while trying not to let the ache soaking through my head take hold again I went to the canteen tent where we met before practicing every morning. Sifting through a small set-up shrubbery (muttering grimly about the idiots who would set up a shrubbery in the middle of a congregation of trailers) I arrived at the tent with the long wooden tables and saw Shuichi and Suguru sitting at a table, the former munching happily on a bowl of cereal and smacking his lips.
"Hey guys. " I said weakly and was met with a cheery sound coming from Shuichi that I presumed meant 'Hi Hiro', and a glare from Suguru. I sat down next to the glaring boy and gave him a sympathetic smile. "Headache?" I asked.
"Tell me about it." He muttered, gaze losing it's sharpness to fall into a mellow tiredness.
"So, where are the others?" I looked over at Shuichi, and he managed to swallow this time before starting to chatter on, Suguru covering his ears and groaning softly into the table.
"Well, Yuki was here before, but he was just being a sourpuss and went back to bed without eating anything, and I keep telling him it's no wonder he's so grumpy in the mornings when he only drinks coffee, but then he always says he needs—"
"And K?" I cut his ramble off.
"Haven't seen him." He shrugged and returned to his cereal, looking at it pensively for a second before dumping some more sugar on it. No wonder he's hyperactive in the mornings.
"What happened after I left last night?" I asked, not because I had any real interest but because it might spread some light over the situation of the missing manager. I cast a glance at the watch on Suguru's arm, which read 11 am. I was two hours late, and there hadn't been anybody barging into my trailer waving firearms and threatening with immediate castration if failure to comply to orders ensued.
"I'm not on the clear with everything..." Shuichi said slowly, reaching for the sugar bowl once more. I placed my hand over the bowl, shaking my head at him, and he pouted at me before he continued. "He didn't have anything more to drink, but he was pretty far gone already I think, and some girls Sakano met put make-up on him when he passed out against the table... but he looked really happy though."
"Figures." I muttered and rose from the table. "I'm going to go check up on him, alright?" Shuichi nodded and shot a sneaky glance towards the now free for the taking bowl of sugar. "And no more sugar. You'll just get bumbly and giggly, and then you'll be really tired in the afternoon." I said sternly, and he nodded morosely as I stepped out of the tent and towards K's trailer. I heard the clink of the sugar spoon as I turned the corner.
G.G.G.
I knocked on K's door, but there was no answer. I felt the door handle, and the door opened with a sucking sound of the rubber bands rubbing together. Trying my luck I decided to peek inside.
"K?" I opened the door wider and stepped inside, looking at the empty bed and disheveled appearence of the place in general. Knowing K he hadn't made this mess all by himself. I guessed it was rather a combination of being thoroughly smashed and having inebriated friends bring you home and Shuichi being one of those inebriated friends. "K?"
There was a rumbling sound coming from the bathroom, and I went closer until I saw a sock-clad foot peeking out through the lavatory door. I crept up to it and slowly pushed the door open. K was sitting with his head bent over the toiletseat, looking decidedly worse for wear. His shirt was crumpled from sleep, unbuttoned and hanging limply from his shoulders, his hair was a mess, fastened in two tangled pigtails, he had blue shadows beneath his eyes and his lips wore a smeared red colour that I knew was the residue of lipstick.
"K?" I asked, stepping carefully over the limp limbs spread haphazardly over the floor, "K, come on, wake up."
He moaned and cracked an eye open, tilting his head over the toilet again as though he was going to retch, but nothing came up. "'Mwake," He mumbled, "Bloo hangvr."
I sighed. He was still pretty out of it. I studied his face a little more, noticing that his eyes had been coated with blue eye-shadow, but thankfully no mascara. I don't get how women stand the stuff. Either it runs all over your face non stop or it won't come off, period. I snatched a paper handkerchief from a box on the sink, wet it with water and bent down next to K.
"I'm going to clean your face up." I said in a low voice before starting to rub off the eyeshadow and lipstick. He still looked a bit pink around the lips afterward, but at least the worst was gone. I reached for his hairbrush and proceeded to un-knot the tangled pigtails, removing the ribbons and brushing what I could reach with his face turned away from me. "Can you turn over?" I asked, and it was with sluggish movements that he switched to lean against the wall by his side instead of the toilet seat. He looked at me blearily as I moved over and started to untangle the knots in this bangs, trying not to look at the bared expanse of smooth-skinned torso in front of me.
It made me feel strangely protective to see him like this, I wanted to take care of him—and let's face it, inebriated was probably the only state in which he would let anybody take care of him—and I soaked it up, reveling in the way his hair was smooth and sleek beneath my fingers, and how warm his presence was next to mine. I tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, and caught his gaze.
"Would you like some water?"
He nodded, and I turned to the sink again, filling his mug with water and bringing it to his hands.
"Mint-tasting toothbrush water. The one true hangover drink." I smirked and he smiled back, gulping down a few mouths of water before setting the cup down on the floor.
"I'm sorry you had to see me like this." His voice was raspy and worn, but at least he was coherent now.
"It doesn't matter." I muttered, but he clasped my hand, and it felt like my skin was burning where he touched it.
"It does matter. Hiro, thank you." He looked into my eyes as he said it, and a tingle ran through my stomach. A smidgeon of shame spread through me at the thought of how I had treated him just a couple of hours before, when he was drunk and unknowing of his actions. Suddenly the existence of that one quick sloppy kiss seemed much more pressing, and I felt my cheeks heat up a little. I smiled slightly.
"You're welcome." It was only a whisper, but he nodded and let go of my hand. Part of me ached at the loss of that little brief touch, but the rational part of me smiled and picked up the water cup again.
"Come on, I hear dehydration is devastating for gun control. And we simply can't have that. Shuichi's been glutting over the sugar bowl."
K smiled. "I'll be there in a minute." I nodded and left, slipping out of the trailer into the sunshine and chirping of birds.
G.G.G.