So we beat on, boats against the current...

It was pretty amazing what the group could accomplish in a half hour, eating-wise. All of them had completed their meals (even Alfred) and were lounging in their chairs, letting the food settle.

"I read somewhere...that eating food too fast can actually make you gain weight...something about the digestive-do-hickey," Francis murmured, patting his stomach.

"It takes 2-4 hours for food to fully digest in the stomach. Eating food too fast, results in-"

Iggy slammed his face on the table. "Give it a rest, Yao." Yao blushed, shrugging.

Alfred laughed slightly, running a hand through his hair. Everyone in the room seemed pretty content and happy after a good meal-as most teenage boys usually were.

However, the air still seemed a little cold still from the earlier conversation that had taken place in the hallway. Francis had a little crease in between his eyebrows every time he looked at Ivan, and Iggy seemed more irritable than he had been previous to the incident. Ivan seemed relatively fine, as he just sat in his chair with a smile on his face, but he seemed to be ignoring the fact that Francis and Iggy were in the room.

After a few minutes of silence, Francis couldn't take it any more.

"Ivan...I'm really sorry about what I said, and I...I didn't really mean anything by it, I mean-" he stuttered out.

Ivan stood up, causing everyone in the room to tense. Francis fell silent, his eyes going wide. However, Ivan just walked over to him, clapping a hand on his shoulder, laughing slightly.

"Is all good. I'm all good," he smiled down at Francis.

Francis shifted, looking unsure. "Are you sure? You seemed kinda worked up-aahhh..." Iggy raised an eyebrow, smirking at how Ivan's fingers dug into Francis's shoulder when he said that.

"Well!" Ivan said clapping his hands. "It's time for Russian water, da?" He smiled slightly, as he walked to the reading lounge section of the library.

Iggy glanced around at everyone, before he stood up. "Yeah...I think I'm going to join in on that." Alfred nodded, and they both started to follow him.

"Wait..." Yao murmered, his eyebrows furrowed. "Russian water...isn't that-?"

"Vodka? Yes, yes it is," Iggy said, before they continued walking.

"What?! You can't drink alcohol, you're not of legal age!" Yao exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock.

Francis sighed, pinching his nose. "Oh, Yao..."

Yao pressed his lips together, shifting from foot to foot. When a laugh echoed from the other end of the library, he bit his lip. "Do you...think we should join them?"

Francis looked unsure. "I know it's not legal, but...I mean, it's just like we're going to be just sitting around...and it's only one bottle! How drunk could be really get?" He smiled, rubbing the back of his neck.

Yao shrugged. "Not very, if at all."

Francis snorted. "Buzzed, maybe. If that."

Yao nodded. "Yeah, just buzzed! And it's our last day, so don't we deserve this?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah, let's do it!" Francis smiled, and they walked over to the circle of lounge chairs and couches in the back corner of the library.

Ivan was sitting on one of the couches by himself, and Alfred was sprawled out on another one. Yao and Francis both took chairs. Francis raised an eyebrow at Iggy, who was sitting upside down on the chair across from them.

"I think he has a very low-tolerence for alcohol..." Ivan said, as he took a swig before passing the bottle to Francis.

Iggy said something which sounded like a few curse words, and a few words that sounded more like spells from the Harry Potter books than actual English.

Alfred laughed obnoxiously. "You can say that again! I've slowly built myself up, so it's like...no alcohol really effects...hey, the ceiling in here, is like really weird, you ever notice that?"

Yao laughed, right before he took the bottle from Francis. "And you were saying, Alfred?"

Francis hiccuped. "'s not his fault. This stuff is stro-ong."

Iggy snorted. "Says the wanker whose never had a drop of alcohol in his life." Francis stuck out his tongue at him.

"But seriously dudes!" Alfred exclaimed. "What is WITH the ceiling?! So colorful..."

Everyone looked up, studying the ceiling. Iggy laughed, before slurring out, "I think e's drunk." He then clasped his hands over his stomach, laughing like crazy.

Francis started laughing then, followed by Yao and Ivan and then Alfred.

After about five minutes of them laughing non-stop (cepting for when they would take swigs of the bottle) Alfred stated, "I don't know why we're laughin'," which caused even more peals of maniac laughter to come from the group. Iggy slid off his chair to the floor, rolling around like a crazy person.

"Ow, my belly!" he exclaimed, as he continued to laugh for no reason.

Francis got up (stumbling slightly) as he tried to help Iggy up. "You're craaaazy, Arthur."

Iggy pushed his hair back from his face, giving Francis a half-smile. "It's been a while since somebody said my actual name in a drunken slur...it sound bloody freaking sexy."

Francis blushed, settling both of them down into chairs once again.

Eventually, everybody's laughs tapered off, leaving them in a silence that wasn't really all that uncomfortable-actually it was a nice silence, where everyone sat around enjoying the high they had gotten off the alcohol with smiles on their flushed faces.

Yao-surprisingly-was the one to break the silence. "I know you all may be like..."What?!" at this, but...today's been like the best day of my life. Honestly!"

Francis nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean. Like...I don't know why, but it's been...fun, or something. Realer, I think. If, you know, "realer" is actually a word."

"I think it's "more real"," Yao corrected.

Francis waved his hand. "Oui, oui. Point is, is that I've actually enjoyed today."

Alfred rolled on his side, for the first time taking his eyes off the "weird ceiling". "I thought I would hate today, dudes, but...random dance parties, gettin' cokes, gettin' drunk, talkin' 'bout sex...been a great day, dudes."

Iggy stretched. "Yep. And since Francis was here, I was able to do an accurate picture of him being decapitated, instead of just going from my memory of him." Francis gave him a glare, which he returned with a large smile.

Yao gave a soft smile which encompassed the whole group. "I hope this doesn't sound weird, or too soft, or anything...but...I kinda am considering you guys as...like, I dunno, my friends. Or something. Like in my head, I am."

Ivan kicked a foot up on the couch, giving Yao a lazy smile. "Why?"

Yao shrugged, blushing. "I mean...I don't really have that many friends. Well...I don't have any friends, actually." When he said that, his smile slowly faded away. For the first time that day, Yao looked sincerely and utterly sad. He pulled his legs up on the chair with him resting his head on his knees. "Even my siblings act like they don't really like me anymore..."

Francis gave him a sympathetic look. "Yao, I'm sure that's not true. There are lot's of people that like you-"

Yao rolled his eyes. "I dunno what world you're living on. Nobody here likes me. They think I'm too show-offy when it comes to school, and that I'm annoying, cause I got accepted to Yale." The sadness seemed to melt away from his eyes, leaving cold fury in it's place. "So no, I don't have any friends, because everyone is too jealous of me and the "perfect life" I am going to lead to actually look at the real me. They don't understand how stressful it is to be a big brother to so many siblings-I have to look after them all the time! Or how freaking in-debt my family is, and how many jobs I've had to work. And then my parents! They just keep pushing me to join more clubs, and do more stuff, and get better grades! They don't FUCKING realize how stressed out it makes me!"

Yao grabbed a hold of his long hair tugging slightly. Everyone was staring at him in shock, as Alfred held up his hands, murmuring, "Whoa dude, calm down-"

"I will not calm down! I'm so stressed out all the time over everything, and I have no friends to help me out or to rant to, or to take off any of the pressure! I am just so stressed, and it always feels like the world is just going to collapse down on me!" He yanked on his hair suddenly, squeezing his eyes shut. Nobody moved to help him, because they weren't sure what could help him. After a few seconds though, his breathing evened out, and he seemed far-calmer. Slowly opening and eyes and lowering his hands, Yao moved his legs to sit Indian style.

"You know...it's kind of funny," he said quietly, smiling. "The people you think that have it all together...they're just the ones that are the better actors. I mean, I bet you guys didn't know that I tried to kill myself Junior year."

Everyone shifted awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

Yao winced slightly, turning away. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean to make things awkward..."

Francis spoke up immediately. "No, no, it...it's fine. We all have our things, you know?" He gave Iggy, Alfred, and Ivan imploring looks, and they nodded in agreement to his statement.

Iggy leaned forward slightly. "If you don't mind me asking...what stopped you?"

Yao blushed. "I couldn't figure how to put the bullets in."

Slowly, the laughter that had previously held the group in it's grasp overtook them again, leaving them gasping for air in between long fits of giggles.

"I-I know we shouldn't be laughing," Alfred snorted, "but it just seems super funny right now!"

Ivan smiled. "Russian water makes everything better, da?"

"Da!" they all exclaimed.

Alfred sat up on his elbows slightly, yawning. "But I know whatcha mean, Yao. My parents and brother put a lot of stress on me too..."

Ivan tilted his head at him expectantly. Alfred shrugged. "It's like I'm being pulled in all directions. Like my dad wants me to be good in sports, and my "mom" wants me to be good in school, and Matty wants me to be a good person. And...I may not seem like it, but I do care about their opinions, you know?"

Francis nodded. "Everyone expects us to be perfect. Boy, do I know how that feels."

Alfred snorted. "Yeah. But at least your parents care about you. My dad...I think he just cares about how successful I'll be."

Yao looked at Alfred shocked. "I'm sure that's not true!"

"It is! I know this may sound stupid, or overemotional, or whatever...but...you know, he's never even told me that he loved me..." Alfred frowned, his eyes glazing over, before his normal uncaring and lazy smile came back. "It's stupid to notice something like that, I know-"

"Is not stupid."

Everyone looked at Ivan, who was sitting up, ramrod straight with his eyes looking directly at Alfred. "Is not stupid," he repeated. He didn't elaborate further, instead just continuing to stare at Alfred intensely.

Iggy looked between Francis, Yao, and Alfred, frowning. "Well, you know what I do to get rid of all the "pressures of being perfect"? I lower every one else's expectations." They gave him identical unimpressed looks. "Well, it works."

When no one said anything further, Iggy stood, and staggered towards the door. "I'm going to the restroom. Don't pause this lovely conversation on my account."

As soon as he was out the door, Francis sighed, standing up. "I suppose I should go after him," he said standing up and heading for the door, leaving the other three behind.

Alfred stood up from his couch, going over to sit by Ivan. Ivan seemed shocked by the gesture, and shifted over to give Alfred more space.

"What did you mean? By what you said earlier?" Alfred asked.

Ivan sighed. "Fredka, I said a lot of things earlier. You have to be more specific."

Alfred shifted, looking uncomfortable. The high from the vodka was wearing off, and he was feeling less bold, and less open to his emotions. He sighed, muttering lowly, "You said, "not stupid" or something like that..."

Ivan looked confused, before realization dawned on his face. "Oh. I meant exactly what I said. You thinking how you thought...it is not stupid."

Alfred looked at Ivan, who was looking at him in return. Alfred wanted to turn away in embarrassment, but he couldn't manage to take his eyes away from Ivan's deep violet eyes. Almost like gravity was pulling him towards the other boy, Alfred slowly leaned forward-

Yao cleared his throat. "I, um...I'm going to, uh...read a book, I guess..." he murmured, quickly standing up and making his way from the lounge area.

Alfred quickly pulled back, blushing as he turned away from Ivan. The larger boy was also looking a bit pink, as his eyes darted to the ceiling.

"Why did you say the ceiling was weird?" Ivan asked, raising an eyebrow.

Alfred blushed. "You're "Russian water" was acting like a freaking hallucinogen!"

A/N This chapter was getting too long, so I decided to split it into two. We get to hear Francis, Iggy, and Ivan's stories next chapter! I hope you enjoyed this chapter; I replaced the weed from the movie with Vodka, if you couldn't tell. Ah, good times, good times. And all the ships~ SO BEAUTIFUL!

Anyway, by my planning, looks like there's going to be 15 chapters in this; we're 2/3 of the way through! The support on this fic is amazing, and I thank everyone who has followed/favorited/and especially reviewed this fic! Last chapter got 13 reviews! The highest amount for any chapter, I believe! Keep it up for daily updates! Don't forget about the prize for the 100th reviewer! 'Cause Pozagee loves you all!

Please review!