Akira was extremely drunk off the atmosphere. Yu could see the gleam in his eyes that made him remember the first time they were in Escapade, and he had gotten drunk enough to almost completely strip. Akira was bordering on that, suggestively tugging on the collar of his slim tee shirt as he gazed at Ryuji.
Yu himself was able to resist the tempting lull of the dull lights and weirdly dense atmosphere, as was the rest of his team. Dealing with it once before helped, and S.E.E.S. seemed to be fine as well. It was the Thieves he was most worried about.
And apparently with good reason too. Yusuke was face down on one of the couches, one hand limp on the floor and the other wound tight on a glass. He seemed to be laughing, keeping up a constant giggle. It was so much unlike him to be so loose, laughing at the slightest things. He's just like Yukiko.
Makoto suddenly crashed into his side, surprising Yu and throwing him off balance. She struggled back to her feet with some help from Haru, who apologized for the lack of composure in the gray girl. "We know the drinks aren't spiked, so we're sorry about this." Yu chuckled and helped Makoto over to take a seat.
"It's ok. We were reluctant to come back here after the first time." He glanced at Yukiko and Rise, who despite having red faces, seemed to be holding onto sobriety. "Those two got drunk off the atmosphere and ended up forcing us to play-"
A handful of chopsticks were thrust into his face. At the other end was a brightly flushed and glazed eyed Akira, a dark smile on his face. "The King's Game. I found these in your bag, Yu." Despite his obvious stupor, Akira's words were razor sharp. "Let's play."
Yu barely remembered that night. After Akira somehow managed to convince him and everyone else to play, it was all a blur. He avoided stripping, which he thanked whatever gods for, but Akira wasn't so lucky. Ryuji was the king at one point, and had the worst luck in picking Akira's number. The thief threw his shirt off so fast Yu was certain he had just phased through it. The ball of fabric was hurled at Ryuji's head, knocking the blond from his seat before he was straddled by Akira and kissed. A second later, the leader was left in the floor, smoking a little from the sharp Zio that a panicking Ryuji delivered. Getting the three drunks back to the hotel was even worse, even with Haru being able to hold Makoto over her shoulder with ease. Akira kept running off, and it would take both Yu and Yosuke to pull him back with the rest of the group. Ryuji was dragging Yusuke, the artist beside himself with giggles.
The next morning Akira slept in, as did everyone else. Yu woke up first, throwing open the curtains to the room despite four very irritable hisses from the beds behind him. He basked in the sunlight for a moment, before turning back to Yosuke and dragging the frog from under the mound of blankets he'd hidden himself under. He let the boy remain slumped over in front of the window before turning his attention to the coffee maker.
Akira was already blindly brewing, his glasses askew off his nose. His hair somehow seemed messier than ever, and a little frayed from his shocking experience last night. Yu walked over, the smell of the coffee already making his head feel lighter, and it had the same effect on everyone else too. Yosuke managed to get himself standing, still leaning on the window, and Minato had poked his head out from the cocoon of fabric that he apparently always slept with.
"So are we just not going to talk about last night?"
"Shut the hell up Kurusu, I don't want to hear it when we had to go chase you down." Minato pulled himself up into a sitting position, stretching as the scarf fell from his shoulders. "You'd better be making that coffee strong."
Yosuke walked over to Yu and wrapped his arms around the taller boy. "The way Akira reacted was worse than you. And to think Ryuji would actually shock him…" He laughed sleepily and yawned. Morning breath.
"Hey! You would too in that situation!" Ryuji shot up from the covers, pointing an accusatory finger at Yosuke. "I panicked!"
"Nah, he didn't." Yu dislodged himself from Yosuke to invade the bathroom for a moment. His mouth tasted awful, and it was probably from those bar drinks they had last night. "I mean I didn't tackle him but he still didn't throw me into a wall." He brushed his teeth before coming back out, taking the mug that Akira placed in his hands. Yosuke was blushing furiously.
"That was entirely your fault. I had no say in any of that." Yosuke wrapped his hands around his own mug, taking a long drink before continuing to talk. "At least we didn't have Kuma with us this time. Kanji got away unharmed."
Minato had snatched his coffee and run back to the couch, clearly just wanting to stay in the warm pile of blankets he had snatched. "Next time you want to go to a damn nightclub, leave me out of it. Just be sure to record Akira for me."
"Asshole."
Minato shot tired finger guns at Akira. "You know it."
