AN:- Okay, so it's been absolutely ages since I've uploaded anything, I know. My bad. Anyhoo, I've been really busy with exams, and then I had a brainwave for an original fiction, so everything went on hold whilst I was writing that (and it still isn't finished). Anyway, I finally found some time to upload this story and another one I've written.

Thank you for people who review my few meagre ficlets.

Disclaimer:- N' est pas à moi.

Truth or Dare?

It was times like these that made Kai wish he had a camera.

Not that he would be much at photography right now.

The general atmosphere of the room was that far too much alcohol had been consumed. Empty bottles stood on the floor and the coffee table, inconspicuous in their lacking. Bottles that still had liquid in them were singled out and finished.

Kai counted two bottles of wine and a bottle of vodka.

Plus the two bottles of wine and champagne consumed with dinner.

Still, this was a celebration. It wasn't often that he and Regan got to see Rei and Mao since the two had got engaged and moved back to Beijing. And what with Regan always being busy and him working such long hours, they rarely got to see each other, never mind their friends.

Even so, it was nice of Kai's boss to give him a month's paid holiday. And so nice for Regan to block out a month in her diary with no work. And so nice to be here with their friends, in their lovely flat in Beijing.

Kai hiccupped. And so nice to be so drunk.

Kai came back in from the kitchen with a fresh bottle of wine, setting the bottle on the table and taking a handful of peanuts from the little red glass bowl. He sat back down in his place on the couch and pulled Regan's feet into his lap, running a finger over the tiny tattoo of a daisy on her ankle. Regan smiled.

"It's so nice just to be able to talk," Mao sighed from where she sat, curled up next to Rei on the couch opposite. "I mean, like, face to face."

"I know," Regan said, grimacing. "I've missed you both so much."

"It was nice to live in Tokyo for a while," Rei commented absently, gazing at a spot somewhere to Regan's left. "Living so close to all the gang. But after a while… we just needed to come home."

"Da," Regan agreed.

"So, are Yuuri and Boris still in Tokyo?" Mao asked.

"No, they're in Hiroshima at the moment, much to my mother's dismay." Regan pulled a face. "Honestly, she thinks it's radioactive."

"Well, it was-" Kai began.

"Exactly," Regan cut across him. "Was. I swear, twenty years of alcoholism is just not enough drama for my mother. She has to be a total hypochondriac and agoraphobic, too."

"She's just concerned," Kai said fairly.

"She's just paranoid," Regan retorted, trying to pull her feet out of Kai's lap. Kai grasped her ankles and a tussle commenced, ending with Regan sat giggling in Kai's lap as he dug his fingers into her ribs.

"Anyway," Regan said, having finally disentangled herself from Kai's grasp. "Have you heard from any of the rest of the gang?"

Mao put her head on one side.

"I talked to Rai last week," Rei chimed in. "He seemed pretty happy. Bachelorhood agrees with him."

"Yeah, that and the promise of casual sex on tap," Mao said archly. Regan giggled.

"And I got an e-mail from Maxie three weeks ago," Rei carried on, ignoring the interruption. "He sounded as if he was well. He's enjoying work."

"Oh! Speaking of Max," Regan said. "I was over in Boston in August-"

"What were you doing in Boston?" Mao interrupted.

"I was doing a meeting with some trans-atlantics. Very boring," she replied. "Anyway, I dropped in and stayed for a few days with Max and guess who I met?"

"No way!" Mao leaned forward in her seat, eyes wide as saucers. "The Girlfriend?"

Regan laughed.

"Yup," she said. "Her name's Magda and I swear she is the most heavenly creature I have ever seen. Absolutely tiny, jet black hair, grey eyes, olive skin. Totally gorgeous."

"Hold on," Rei frowned. "Last I heard, Max was dating Michael. What happened? I thought he was gay."

"He's bi," Kai said. "And so is this Magda. Lovely girl but totally outrageous. They both are."

"Our little Maxie?" Rei asked, surprised. The conversation turned to work, and Kai launched into a story about his latest project. The other three listened intently, questioning occasionally and laughing as he told them about his boss' latest escapades with the most recent reception beauty. Rei told them all about his catering company and how well it was doing, and Mao insisted on telling them about all the naughtiest children in her third grade class.

Eventually they lapsed into companionable silence, basking in the warmness of one and other's company. But, as it is with so much alcohol inside oneself, Mao began to fidget.

"All right, let's play a game!" She suggested, hiccupping.

"Scrabble?"

"Boring," Regan and Mao said in unison. Kai looked put out.

"Truth or Dare!" Mao shrieked excitedly.

"Oh, come on," Kai said. "That's so primary school."

"It's fun," Mao insisted, pouting. Regan seconded the motion, and so Rei and Kai- knowing full well that, despite there only being two girls they were totally outnumbered- gave in and agreed.

"All right, I'll go first," Mao announced, necking her wine and pouring herself another glass. "Rei, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

Mao blew out her cheeks and pressed a finger to her lips, thinking.

"Okay, how many people have you slept with?"

Rei blushed.

"Just Mao," he replied sheepishly. Mao and Regan made 'awww' sounds, jumped up and hugged him, showering him with kisses and 'you're so sweet's.

"Your turn," Mao informed him.

"Okay, Kai?"

"Dare."

"One pint of fish tank water. You have to drink it as fast as you can without stopping."

"Bring it on."

Kai poured himself two shots of vodka to numb his taste buds, then knocked back the pint glass of murky water handed to him by Rei. The girls shrieked in horror, hiding their faces behind cushions, as Rei crippled with laughter.

"That," Kai gasped, slamming the empty glass on the table to rapturous applause. "-was disgusting."

"Your turn," Mao told him.

"All right, Regan. Truth or Dare?" Kai asked.

"After seeing that, Truth," she replied, grinning.

Kai, frowned and chewed his thumb, trying to think up a good question, but the alcohol had fried all his brain cells, and besides, he was feeling more than a little bit sick from all that fish water.

"Ooh! I've got one!" Mao cried.

"I've got nothing," Kai admitted. "Fire away."

Mao grinned and tucked her legs beneath her, flicking her fringe out of her face.

"Who was your first boyfriend?"

Regan frowned.

"What kind of a boyfriend are we talking here? Date-for-three-months-then-it's-over boyfriend or head-over-heels-in-love-can't-live-without-him boyfriend?"

"The latter," Mao said.

"Kai."

Mao looked thoroughly disappointed.

"The former then," Rei said.

"What! No, that's against the rules!"

"New rule," Rei told her wickedly. "If the asker considers the answer given by the askee to be unsatisfactory or uninteresting, they can re-ask a question until they get a satisfactory one."

"But that was satisfactory," Regan protested.

"But it was boring," Mao told her. "First boyfriend, type one, if you please, Regan."

Regan opened her mouth then shut it again. A flush crept up her cheeks and she looked down at her hands. Mao gasped and clapped her hands.

"This looks promising, is it someone we know?"

"I can't tell you."

"Oh my God! It was a girl!" Mao giggled. Regan's blush grew even brighter, but she shook her head.

"I can't tell you," she repeated.

"Why not?" Rei asked, drinking another shot of vodka.

"Because we both agreed we'd never tell anybody."

"Regan, it's not like we're going to tell anyone else," Mao said. "Honest. Now, spill."

There was a pause. Kai poured himself and Regan some more wine. Regan grabbed her glass and downed it all. Kai raised and eyebrow, then took a swig of his wine.

"It was Boris."

The wine seemed to stop suddenly in Kai's throat, unable to go down, and he choked, swallowing hard, the wine hurting his windpipe as it squeezed down, making his eyes water. Mao's eyes were out on stalks, her mouth open slightly. Rei had gone completely white.

"Explain," Mao- the first to recover- demanded. Regan sighed and glanced guiltily at the coughing Kai, then began her story.

"I was fifteen and it was the BeyBlade World Championships. I studied really hard, took my final exams two months early, then bought tickets to follow you around the Championships from beginning to end.

"The idea was that I was going to seduce Kai one evening and then that would be it and we'd be a couple, but every time I went down to the hotel room you were in, the only one there was Hiromi. I had some nice chats with her, though. Sweet girl. I spun her a yarn about being president of a fan club so she didn't call security.

"Anyhow, I had absolutely no success, so the night before the semi finals in Tokyo, I went to see my brother. But, once again, he wasn't there, so by now I was pretty pissed off. Boris was the only one in, so he invited me out for dinner, and we ended up making out on a park bench for half an hour."

Regan paused and took a sip of wine. Kai was sitting gazing at her, unmoving, his face unreadable. Mao looked like the cat who'd eaten the family budgie. Rei's face was twisted into a look of horrified amusement.

"Anyway, we dated for three months, then we eventually decided that we were going to…" Regan stopped and blushed, glancing again at Kai. "Well, you get it. So, imagine how pissed off I am when Boris can't get it up. I was seriously angry, but Boris just seemed a bit maudlin, and I felt pretty sorry for him, because he clearly had some kind of an issue.

"So I asked him, and he told me that he thought he was gay. And I told him that was ridiculous. And then I got to thinking about it, and it didn't seem quite so ridiculous. And so I apologized, and we had a big 'feelings' talk, during which I cried and he looked as if he wanted to cry but didn't.

"And then we decided that it just wasn't going to work and agreed to give it up, because we really just felt more like friends. But we made a vow that we would never tell anyone- and I mean anyone- about us. And six months later, guess what? Yuuri and Boris started going out, so it was all kosher.

"Nobody knows… well, apart from you three now. We never told our parents, or our friends. Yuuri has no idea that I road tested his boyfriend for him."

There was silence. Mao was staring in amazement at Regan, her face completely blank, eyes almost bulging out of her head. Rei looked slightly nervously from Regan to Kai, and back again, fiddling with the stem of his glass.

Without warning, Kai burst out laughing. Regan jumped in surprise and looked at him, incredulous. Mao, seemingly brought out of her trance, looked at Kai as if he was an alien.

"I don't believe it!" He laughed, his face splitting into an enormous grin, before he creased up again. "You? You're the girl Boris- I don't fucking believe it!" And he was off again, doubled over laughing.

"What? You knew?" Regan shrieked, pummelling him with a cushion.

"I knew he'd nearly screwed a girl then told her he was gay instead, but I didn't know it was you," Kai chuckled, grabbing her and planting kisses on her cheeks, pulling her into his lap, still laughing.

"That bastard!" Regan fumed. "That complete bastard! When I see him I'm going to castrate him!"

Mao giggled helplessly, and Rei pursed his lips, trying- and failing- to contain his mirth.

"Regan, you basket case," Kai said affectionately. "You really are unbelievable."

"Boris," Mao said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Honestly, Regan. Are you that awful that you turned Boris? Who else did you try to sleep with? Olivier? Ooh! Wait no. Tyson!"

Regan raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"Well, Mao," she said archly. "If we're going to go down that road, why don't you tell everybody about that time in the sauna with Rai?"

Fin

Totally random but I'm trying to develop their pasts a bit more. R&R, por favor!