A/N: TRIGGER WARNING: drinking alcohol, bar, getting drunk
So...I love bar fics lol, and I figured the jealousy prompt would be a good time to finally write one since bars are often full of douchebags.
**A lil background: the legal drinking age in Japan is 20, and a person's 20th birthday is a really big deal. They actually have a special word for being 20 years old. They say はたち (hatachi), instead of saying it how you would normally say an age: 二十歳 (nijuu sai). I also read that many Japanese prefectures send citizens gift baskets for their 20th birthdays, which is just fantastic to me lol.
He isn't sure how it came to this.
When Tohru had told him a few weeks ago that she wanted to drink for her birthday since she's finally going to be of-age, Kyo had suggested getting something at the store and then hanging out at home. He's not really one for alcohol, so he'd be able to keep an eye on her, that way. She'd agreed happily, but then a few days later, Kyo got a phone call from a screaming Arisa saying that she and Saki demanded to see Tohru for such a special birthday.
So now they're in Tokyo, waiting in line to get into some club that Arisa found online. The party is made up of Kyo, Tohru, Arisa, Saki, Rin, and Kagura and some ditzy friend she's dragging along ("Isn't she cute?!" Kagura had asked him, and Kyo wasn't really sure if she was trying to piss him off or had just taken to gossiping with him like he's a girl, but he didn't like it either way).
Rin and Kyo have volunteered to stay sober and keep an eye on everyone else. Kyo's honestly a little surprised Rin's even here, but he supposes he shouldn't be, since it's Tohru that they're celebrating. She's standing quietly, a couple steps back from the rest of the group, spinning her ID between thumb and forefinger impatiently.
As for the other girls...well, they're not even inside yet and they're already making a racket. Arisa and Kagura are half-yelling at each other about something Kyo can't really figure out, but if it's an argument, his money is on Kagura since Uotani would never hit her in public. Kagura's friend is holding a clump of Saki's hair in her hand, gushing about how pretty it is (also at a high volume, since she needs to be heard over Kagura and Arisa). Tohru sidles up next to Kyo.
"I'm sorry," she says softly, pinching the edge of his sleeve.
"Huh? For what?"
"I don't know how it turned into...this." She gestures vaguely at the group in front of them. "I really would have been happy just staying home with you."
"Yeah, well…" He takes the hand that's clinging to his shirt and holds it against his chest. "Look how many people love you. And now you've gotten to come on a trip to see them all for your 20th, and that's great. I get to keep you all to myself all the time, so I just want you to have a good time with them tonight."
She smiles, and he notices her eyes glisten a bit. "Don't cry," he says quickly, drawing her in closer. He kisses her forehead. "Uotani and Hanajima will kill me if they see I made you cry."
Tohru giggles. "Okay."
They make it through the line surprisingly quickly for a Friday night, and soon they're all lined up at the bar, where Kagura shouts out that it's Tohru's 20th birthday. Tohru is immediately bombarded with cheers, an impromptu—and very off-key—performance of the birthday song, and offers for free shots. Kyo hadn't thought that Tohru seems like the type to do shots, but she handles them all like a champ, one right after the other with just a sip of Sprite in between each as a chaser. He raises an eyebrow and smirks to himself as he watches her. She's always full of surprises.
The rest of the girls order their drinks and everyone heads off to the dance floor, an empty-handed Rin getting reluctantly dragged along by Tohru. Not sure what to do with himself, Kyo just sits on an empty stool and leans forward against the bar. A bartender jumps to attention.
"What can I get you?"
"Oh, uh…" Kyo pauses, not really sure what to say. "Do you have, like...Coke or something?"
"Yes, sir. What would you like mixed in it?"
Kyo just shakes his head.
The bartender seems a little bit confused by that, but fills a cup and sets it in front of Kyo nonetheless.
"Thanks. Oh, and, uh. Anything those girls here with the birthday party order, just put it on my tab." The bartender nods before rushing off to another customer.
Kyo sips at his soda, which he's happy is dark enough to make it look like something alcoholic could theoretically be mixed in so he doesn't feel like a complete weirdo, and scans the dancefloor for the girls every once in a while. He loses the group eventually, but knowing Rin's with them makes him feel secure enough to let down his guard a little.
"Kyo-kun!"
He turns toward the sound and is greeted by a smiling, clearly very drunk Tohru.
"Hey, you."
She grabs his free hand and brings it up to her lips, leaving a sloppy kiss on his knuckles. He chuckles at her. "Are you having fun?" he asks.
"Oh, yes! It's been lots of fun so far. Are you okay, though?"
It figures that even a shitfaced Tohru would come over here just to check on him.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"I'm sorry we haven't spent much time together," she says, smile turning to a deep frown so quickly that it almost doesn't seem like it should be physically possible.
"I'm just glad you're having a good time."
"Mm…"
"Now go dance more," he adds, pushing her shoulder lightly.
She turns toward the dance floor, then pauses and looks at him over her shoulder. "When we get home tonight, I'll make sure you have a good time, too," she calls, tone mischievous. It attracts the attention of the guy next to Kyo at the bar, and Kyo blushes and shakes his head as Tohru scurries off.
"You get to go home with that tonight?" the guy asks.
Kyo doesn't at all care for the guy's choice of wording (that?), but he hums in the affirmative anyway.
The guy lets out a low whistle. "Damn. You're a lucky guy."
Considering the environment they're in, he assumes that's a reaction to Tohru's remark from a minute ago and not necessarily to her personality. It annoys him. Kyo grits his teeth. "Thanks. I am."
"Well when you say it, it just makes you sound whipped."
Kyo rolls his eyes, downs the rest of his drink, and moves farther down the bar. From this new spot, he can see the dance floor better, and his height allows him to scan the crowd for Tohru again. He spots her towards the center, hanging off of Uotani with one arm and clutching some fruity-looking drink in her other hand. She laughs, cheeks pinkening and eyes closing with the force of it, and she looks so happy that any irritation Kyo feels from his interaction with that random guy disappears entirely. He feels a hand on his shoulder and jumps.
Next to him, Rin rolls her eyes and pulls her hand back. "Someone's paranoid. Have you been drinking?"
Kyo shakes his head. "You know I haven't been."
"Why don't you go hang out with Tohru?" she asks, changing the subject.
"I'm here to chaperone, remember?" he asks dryly. Rin swirls her glass around, the liquid in it sloshing up the sides. "Wait, are you drinking?!"
She sticks the glass under his nose. He inhales. "Lemonade," she says, connecting the dots for him.
Kyo sighs in relief and leans his back against the bar, eyes returning to the dance floor. He's lost the group of girls now, and that makes him antsy.
"Besides," Kyo adds, "She's so...popular here. I don't wanna intrude on that."
"Of course she's popular here. She's hot and it's her birthday. People at clubs eat that up."
Not comforting.
"Jealous?"
Kyo snaps his eyes back over to Rin. The girl seems unfazed, just chewing on the end of her straw as she scans the dance floor.
"No," he insists.
"You know she's fucking crazy about you, dude. But if it bugs you, go dance with her. No guy with more than one brain cell will look at her then."
Kyo straightens up and is about to take Rin's advice when a group of people behind them starts cheering. They both turn around. Kagura is up on one of the tables, dancing with the friend she'd brought (Kyo doesn't remember her name and frankly doesn't care). And they're both…
"God damn it."
Normally, Kyo's instinctual reaction would be to close his eyes, but secondhand embarrassment wins out in this case—all he can think about is getting them down because they're making fools of themselves dancing on a table with nothing but their bras on their top halves.
"I've got them," Rin says, already on her way to the two girls. "Just go."
Kyo and Rin have never been particularly close. There have been times when he was certain she hates him. Nonetheless, he's going to have to thank her for being such a good sport tomorrow.
He pushes his way onto the dance floor, slipping past drunk girls dancing together and the drunk guys trying to pick them up. After a minute, he finds Hanajima and Uotani. Hanajima seems completely unaffected by the alcohol, standing still with a martini glass in her hand while Uotani drunkenly sways to the music next to her. Kyo slides in between them.
"Where's Tohru?" he asks.
"She went that way," Hanajima says, pointing toward the bar. "She said she wanted another drink...I believe."
Okay, so she's at least a little drunk. But that's not Kyo's main focus right now.
"And you guys didn't go with her?!" he scolds.
"She said to wait here so we wouldn't get lost."
"If you'd gone with her, you wouldn't have gotten lost," he points out. Hanajima stares at him blankly, clearly pondering that. He rolls his eyes and shakes his head, going back the way he came, muttering to himself as he goes. Kyo knows that girls need to stick together in places like this—most of the male population sucks, and there's no telling what they'd do to a young, pretty girl who's by herself. In fact, everyone knows that, except her intoxicated friends, apparently.
After a minute, he sees Tohru on the outskirts of the dance floor. She has a new drink in her hand, so she must be on the way back, but…
Kyo feels a wave of jealousy swell up from his stomach, through his chest, and into his throat. He clenches his fists in an attempt to quell it.
Tohru's standing with the guy that Kyo had talked to at the bar just a few minutes ago. His arm is thrown lazily around her waist, and he's leaning close to her, jabbering on about something. And if that were all, Kyo might have just turned around and left. His anxiety has always told him that Tohru will leave him someday—that she'll find someone smarter or richer or better looking or whatever, and just take off. And if she wants to, that's her right, no matter how much it would hurt him. And no matter how often she assures him that will never happen.
She deserves nothing but the best. Who is he to stop her if she decides she wants to go find that?
But then he remembers that this particular guy is a sleeze. And Tohru clearly looks distressed. She's got her free hand on his chest, but it looks like she's trying to push him away instead of initiate anything. The guy is paying no attention. And that makes Kyo mad as hell.
He's over there in three steps. He puts a hand on top of Tohru's head as he comes up behind her, to let her know he's there. She turns to him with wide eyes, then puts on a huge, glowing smile to match.
He smiles back a little, then turns to the guy, trying to keep his voice calm. "Hey, man. Remember me?"
"Mmm…" the guy says, then takes a gulp of his drink. "No."
"Really? The lucky guy? Whipped?"
The guy just shakes his head and shrugs. "Anyway, it's rude to interrupt conversations. She and I were getting along pretty well here."
That causes the tide of jealousy to roll back in. Maybe Kyo had misread things? Maybe Tohru's hand on this guy was a sign of them getting along well? But the way she'd looked at Kyo when he came over here...she looked so thrilled to see him. If she were trying to ditch him to get with this other guy, she wouldn't have made that expression. And this guy is such a fucking sleeze.
He has never wanted to punch anyone so badly before. He takes a step closer. Kyo has a good few inches on him, and is definitely more toned in body type. He could take him, he knows. Just punch his lights out and leave him here on the floor. It's tempting until he feels Tohru's arms wrap around his middle from behind, and then her face pressing between his shoulder blades. At her touch, he feels his whole body relax and the green monster fade, though he's still seeing red.
"Stay away from my girlfriend," he growls. "And every other girl here. No one wants to fuck you, asshole."
Before the guy can respond, Kyo takes Tohru's hand in his and pulls her over to the other side of the room. They stand in the little alcove near the bathrooms, and Kyo looks her over. He lifts her arms, examining them for any signs of hurt, because if that guy left a single bruise on her, he swears to God he'll go fucking kill him. Tohru grabs his hand and looks up at him.
"I'm okay, Kyo-kun."
"Yeah?"
She nods in confirmation, and he sighs.
"You gotta stick with a group at places like this," he reminds her. "What would I do if something happened to you?"
She smiles softly and tilts her chin up. He meets her halfway and captures her lips with his own. "Nothing's going to happen to me," she assures him when they break apart. Kyo doesn't argue because he knows it won't do any good right now. He just nods in response.
"Do you, uh. Wanna dance?" he asks, voice a little sheepish. "I was trying to find you to ask that, in the first place."
"Dance?" she asks, in a tone that almost suggests she's never heard the word, which is fair, really—she's never heard it in relation to Kyo before.
"Yeah. I know how to dance."
She giggles. "Of course you do. Just...I think I'm too drunk to."
He laughs and shakes his head fondly. "Wanna just get out of here?"
Tohru nods eagerly and looks around her, searching for a place to ditch her still-full drink.
"Finish that, if you want to," Kyo tells her. "I'll wait."
She downs it at an impressive speed before holding out the glass to Kyo. He takes it in one hand, grabs hers with the other, and leads her off through the crowd. He sets the glass on the bar next to Rin, who looks like she's seriously considering ordering an actual alcoholic drink as Kagura whines about something next to her. Kyo taps her shoulder. "I'm taking Tohru back to Master's. Can you handle the other two? They're still dancing."
Rin nods and grabs Kagura's sleeve. "We're going to the dance floor," she says. Kagura tilts her head in drunken confusion, and Rin sighs dramatically before repeating "DANCE FLOOR" as loudly as humanly possible for a girl of her slight size. Kyo feels bad for a second, but Rin just shakes her head at him. "It's fine. I'll get them all outside and then call Haru to come help."
Kyo nods and mouths a "thank you." He pays the tab, holding onto Tohru's hand very tightly to make sure she doesn't go anywhere, before pulling her outside.
They only get about half a block before Kyo realizes that this isn't going to work. The other girls had forced Tohru into some heels when they'd been dressing her up like a doll earlier, and that combined with the fact that she's now completely wasted is making for a very slow walk back to Master's.
"Tohru," he insists as he pulls her back into a standing position for the third time. "Let me carry you."
"Kyo-kun, I can walk."
"I know you can, but it's gonna take us 8 years to get home if you do." Before she can protest again, he bends and scoops her up into a bridal carry, one arm under her back and the other under her knees. She's red in the face, but he's not sure if that's from embarrassment at the situation, or just from consuming her body weight in alcohol a bit ago. She gives in and slings her arms around his neck, nuzzling her nose against his collarbone as he starts walking. He laughs softly.
"Cozy?" he asks. She nods, not lifting her head from its spot on his chest.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes," she murmurs. "Kinda sleepy."
"We'll be in bed soon."
When they get to Master's, where they've been staying while in Tokyo, Kyo's relieved that his father is apparently already in bed—carrying a very drunk Tohru past him right now sounds like an exhausting experience. He takes her up the stairs and into the guest room they're occupying, carefully setting her down on the futon. He kneels down next to her and fumbles with her shoes, and she smiles at him. He smiles back.
"How are you still awake?" he asks. "You were half asleep the whole way here."
"Mm...because I've been thinking."
"Well don't hurt yourself doing that." He smirks as she reaches out and ruffles his hair affectionately.
"Rude," she tells him.
He motions for her to sit up, then unzips her dress when she does. "What've you been thinking about?"
"You."
"That explains nothing," he laughs. He undoes her bra and sets it on the dress he folded up, then plants a kiss on the back of her bare shoulder. He hears her breath hitch and it makes his heart flutter—he doesn't think he'll ever get used to having that kind of effect on her.
"Well, you and that asshole at the bar."
Kyo presses his face into the crook of her neck and chuckles. "Did you just swear?"
"Let me finish, or I'll lose my thought," she pouts.
"Okay, okay, sorry."
"You seemed really mad, even though he was being pretty gentle, all things considered. Why did you hate him so much? Did something happen before that?"
Kyo groans a bit and pulls away. She sees right through him. He kind of has to tell her now, doesn't he? He busies himself with unbuttoning his dress shirt as he starts to talk. "He basically said you're hot earlier, which you are, but…" He sighs.
"You think I'm hot?" Tohru giggles. He chuckles and shakes his head.
"Of course I do. But that's something only I can say. It's just...annoying if another guy points it out. Especially...well, especially someone like him."
"What do you mean, 'someone like him'?"
"He was pretty good looking. Seemed pretty normal. Sometimes I kinda worry about losing you to someone like that."
"Losing me?" she repeats slowly. He averts his eyes, feeling like he might melt under the intensity of her gaze. "Kyo-kun, were you...jealous?"
"I don't like that word," he complains, but it's really the only way to describe what he'd felt earlier. He was absolutely jealous, and knowing that terrifies him. He doesn't want to be that kind of guy.
"Come here, please." Kyo complies and scoots closer to her, and Tohru leans their foreheads together. "I love you, Kyo-kun. No one's going to take me away from you."
"I love you too," he whispers back, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her closer.
She continues, "You're much more attractive than that guy. And who needs normal? I'm not exactly normal, myself." They both laugh, Tohru locking their lips together as they do. They smile through their kiss, and when they pull back, Tohru puts a delicate finger to her chin and hums, obviously deep in thought.
"What is it?" he asks.
"How can I make it so that you don't get jealous?" she asks. "I want to help."
He smiles. "I don't think you can. That's just a me thing. And anyway, you're not supposed to be the one taking care of me tonight. You're drunk and it's your birthday—it's my turn."
He cradles the back of her head in his hand and leans her back against the mattress, then kisses her forehead. "You should get some sleep. You're probably gonna feel like shit in the morning."
She ignores him and blurts, "Oh, I know! Let's get married!"
His shoulders stiffen, but he somehow manages to get over the shock pretty quickly. He laughs. "Yeah? You're proposing to me right now?"
"Yes," she says very seriously, but it's hard to ignore the fact that her eyes are still glazed over, her words heavy and slightly slurred. He shakes his head.
"I love you. But when it's time to propose, I'm gonna be the one to do it."
She frowns. "It's the 21st century, Kyo-kun. Girls can propose, too."
Kyo smiles and lies down next to her, pressing his lips to her neck, leaving a trail of kisses up the side. She sighs in contentment. "I know," he tells her. "But, you're totally wasted right now. And besides...I want to be able to get you a ring, and get down on one knee, and all that. You deserve at least some normal stuff in this relationship."
She tilts her head and kisses the top of his. "Thank you."
"Of course."
"Don't keep me waiting," she adds, voice firm.
He snorts out a laugh. She's not going to remember any of this in the morning. "Yes, ma'am."
As much as he feels weak admitting it to himself, her "proposal" did make him feel a lot better. Even though she's drunk, there's no doubt in his mind that she meant it with 100% of her heart. This dorky, loving, honest, beautiful girl wants to marry him, even if she only voiced the sentiment just now because she wanted to put his jealousy at bay. The thought makes him a little giddy.
He pulls her closer as her breathing starts to even out. "Happy birthday," he whispers.
"Happy birthday, Kyo-kun," she mumbles back, already half-asleep.
He bites his tongue to hold back a laugh that would definitely wake her back up.
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