Waking up with a pounding headache and eyes that felt like sandpaper usually meant that the night before had been something to remember. Too bad Rei didn't. All he could think of was what he'd do for a bottle of Advil and a dropper of Visine and he'd be willing to do a lot for them at the moment. Tossing the blanket from his head, his sensitive nose was assaulted by a clash of smells that made his stomach flip. Sweat, sex, alcohol and….snow?
"Snow? We're in New York and it's the middle of July…" the nekojin thought to himself as his eyes went wide. Next to him was a body, the head buried beneath a pillow. Studying the pale skin and muscled body, Rei decided that it must be Kai and really? He wouldn't be very surprised. That had happened before more than once but there was still something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Since when did Kai have a nipple ring and why didn't his ass hurt? The room stunk of sex and the dual haired blader would never have let him be on top, no matter how drunk he was. Still pondering, the Chinese blader felt movement to his right. Turning his head to see what it was, Rei gulped. No doubting who that bright red head of hair belonged to and the head resting on the shoulder of the sleeping Russian's shoulder was equally undoubtable with messy grey bangs sticking out in every direction. Now Rei was confused. If he was in bed with Tala, Kai and one other, then how could he have not been bottom to someone? Forget the Advil and Visine; the nekojin wanted a video of last night! At least it explained the snow smell. He could always smell the frozen water on Kai no matter where in the world they were and had noticed it on the Blitzkrieg Boys as well. Deciding he didn't want to know who the fourth bed mate was, Rei shuffled down the bed and slipped off the foot. His disappearance was noticed in the bed, groans of waking with pounding heads coming in stereo. Rei quickly grabbed his boxers that had been flung off at some point in the night and jumped into them, making a clumsy dash out the door.
He recognized it out here. It was the suite that the BEGA team was staying in, now covered in beer cans, pizza boxes and slowly waking beybladers. Picking his way along, Rei stepped over Max who was asleep in the middle of the hallway, Tyson's baseball cap on his head and Kenny's tie around his neck. The ever pleasant sound of someone heaving came from the bathroom so the raven haired teen decided to head to the kitchenette instead, needing a cup of coffee and predicting most everyone else would as well. He wasn't the only one awake and looking for coffee either. Both Hilary and Mariah were nursing glasses of water while staring at an ancient looking coffee pot in anticipation.
"Morning girls." Rei croaked, startling himself at the condition of his normally sexy voice. Turning like twin hung over zombies, both girls smirked tiredly as Mariah reached for another coffee mug.
"Feeling last night's effects?" the pink haired girl asked her fellow nekojin.
"Ya, you were getting one heck of a Russian experience the last I saw you." Hilary cracked, her tired eyes gaining a sparkle of amusement. Groaning, Rei dropped down onto an empty keg and rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands.
"I can't remember a second of last night. All I know is that I woke up with three other people in bed with me and my ass doesn't hurt." He replied, eagerly taking the cup offered to him, sipping at the scalding liquid.
"I'm surprised your neck doesn't. Looks like someone tried to strangle you." Another sleepy voice joined the conversation, all heads turning to spot Garland who was pulling his long blue hair back into its usual ponytail.
"It does?" Rei blinked and reached into the purse by his feet, not knowing who it belonged to and not caring, just wanting a mirror. When he found one, he examined his neck with it. The BEGA captain was right; there were enough bruises around his throat and collarbone to look like he'd been beaten. Perhaps he had been assaulted but the kind of attack that caused these kinds of marks was usually passionate and he didn't think he'd ever protest them. While he gawked at himself, the toilet flushed and the bathroom door flung open.
"I hate my brother so much…" Tyson groaned, leaning against the doorway and clutching his stomach.
"You loved him and his ID last night." Hilary chided, pouring coffee for the two new come boys. "Here, drink this." She held out a mug to the World Champion while Rei passed the other mug down to Garland. Tyson downed the drink in a single go before dropping to his knees and crawling to the bedrooms.
"Any beds free?" he called over his shoulder while Rei blushed like wildfire over what he'd left in his bed.
"Brooklyn is still in mine but he probably won't notice if you join him." Garland called back which earned squeaks of delight from the two girls. Both boys rolled their eyes and finished their coffee.
"I'm going to go find the rest of my clothes." Rei sighed, standing up on shaky legs.
"Your shirt is in the TV area." Mariah informed him and he went on his way, stepping over a tie, glasses and computer-less Kenny on the way.
Once in the TV area, the scene before him made his amber eyes go wide. The TV was blaring a canny sounding videogame theme and before it was a tangle of people, cords and game controllers while the couch behind them was covered in blankets and feminine looking articles of clothing. Rei hoped to the gods that those were Hilary and Mariah's and that Mystel and Brooklyn hadn't gotten into Ming-Ming's stage clothes like at the last party. Speaking of Mystel, he was among the tangle of zonked out beybladers on the floor, laying in an oddly comfortable looking knot made up of himself, Lee, Spencer and Gary with an empty spot that looked like it would have slept Tyson comfortably. Turning down the television, Rei decided that must have been where the brunette had come from before being sick and set about looking for his shirt. He found it easy enough, draped over the standing lamp, and pulled it on, relieved to be covered. He suddenly recalled how it had gotten there. He'd been dancing up on the desk to Ashlee Simpson of all things and had flung it at….someone but had missed. His pants had gone in the same direction and hit their target but everything got fuzzy again after that, including the face of the person he was striping for.
"So where the hell are they?" he asked himself aloud, scratching at his messy dark hair. He didn't have much time to ponder it as there was a knock on the door and he was the closest to it. Heading towards it, he peered out the peek hole, praying it wasn't security come to defame some of the best bladers in the know world. His prayers were answered and he opened the door to a perky pop star with bright aqua hair.
"Good morning Rei! How was last night? I left once Kai started singing." Ming-Ming greeted the much taller blader with a smile and a box of donuts.
"So good I don't even remember. Where did you go?" Rei replied, eyeing the box in the petite girl's arms hungrily.
"Oh, I don't drink. It's bad for my voice. Kevin and I went back to the White Tigers' suite to watch movies." She replied, blushing a little and noticing the look and opening the box.
"Oooooh, movies with Kevin then hmm?" Rei teased as he bit into a sprinkled donut and something slumped against his back.
"Is that something besides stale pizza?" a groggy voice asked, reaching a pale arm passed it's prop to grasp at the donut box.
"It sure is Kai. And if you two let me in, I'll give you one." Ming-Ming replied with a smile and pulled the box closer to her chest. Kai grunted a response and picked Rei up by the waist, easily moving him out of the way so the aqua haired girl could get in. She handed the dual haired blader a chocolate donut and made her way into the kitchen, receiving cheers of thankfulness for something that hadn't been left out all night. Rei was about to follow after her but Kai wrapped an arm around the golden skinned waist and pulled him back while munching on his sugary donut.
"Why'd you leave?" he asked, nuzzling Rei's hair.
"I needed a coffee and to figure out where my pants went." The other replied sniffing the air as the faint smell of sex and snow came back to him.
"You smell like fucking." Kai announced completely off topic, lifting his hand from the Chinese's waist to stroke at the side of his throat. "Looks like we marked you up pretty good too."
"I'm not the only one. How's your ass?" Rei countered with a smirk, wondering if his former captain had gotten nailed.
"Sore. Tala isn't very fucking careful. I suppose you're nice and comfortable." Kai replied and pushed Rei away from him, moving away from the wall at the same time to rub at his tender backside.
"Ya….I don't remember a thing about it though." Rei smiled sheepishly and was about to get an explanation when uproarious laughter erupted from the kitchenette. Not wanting to miss out on whatever was so funny, the boys dashed in and found the reason, having to bite down on their lips to keep from joining the girls' gleeful giggles and Garland's thigh slapping laughter. Not at all impressed by being the reason for all this amusement, Tala and his crazily poofed hair ignored them all as he sipped at his new found cup of coffee.
"Oh gods! Your hair could rival Brooklyn's in the morning." Garland gasped through his laughter.
"His hair rivals everyone's, even if it's already been washed and styled." Ming-Ming giggled, thinking of her orange haired team-mate.
"None of you are funny." Tala responded coolly as Kai slipped behind him and buried his long fingers into the bright red mass, messing it up further with a snicker. Placing his cup on the nearest box of empty beer bottles, the thin Russian turned in Kai's arms to try and pin the better built blader's arms down against his sides. When this wasn't working, he scowled tiredly and made a noise that made everyone else's jaw drop. The big, bad Russian had whined.
"Kaiiii…..quit it! Stop it! Come on….Damnit STOP IT!" the last part came as a deep growl and aquamarine eyes flashed from exhausted to daggers, a look the group was much more used to. Kai didn't flinch; he only smirked and drew his fingers away.
"Good morning to you too." The crimson eyed teen greeted with a wink and turned away to get another donut and started singing much like he had been the night before. Both the nekojins covered their sensitive ears while Hilary gave a sigh of frustration.
"Come on Kai. We all heard you sing quite enough last night." She complained, pulling the donut box away from the dual haired boy, holding it hostage until the dual haired boy shut up.
"You should have heard the noise of him last…..excuse me." Cutting himself off and going paler than ever, Tala spun on his heel and dashed for the bathroom, shoving a newly awake Max out of the way and slamming the door shut behind him. The poor dazed American sat on the floor staring at the door he'd been about to go in while from behind it, more sounds of heaving came from the tiled room.
"Well there's two that can't hold their alcohol." Mariah laughed, pouring a glass of orange juice for the always hyper blonde as Rei went to help him up.
"Thanks Rei!" the tiny team-mate chirped but it wasn't him that Rei was looking at. It was the bare, pale skinned chest coming up behind Max, a single silver hoop hanging from a pale rose nipple, the owner of the built body walking as if quite sore. It was the chest that Rei had woken up to and it belonged to the blader that had once almost killed him.
"Looking for these?" Bryan asked, holding up a pair of black silk pants and Rei's face went the colour of Tala's hair while everyone else burst out laughing again.
"A night to remember, even if none of us do!" Hilary snorted, high fiving the girl she'd spent the night on the couch with which earned even more laughter as the lilac haired man grabbed Rei's arm and hauled him back to the room, murmuring something along the lines of "Payback."