Summary: Kai has to drag Tala's drunken ass back to their hotel room after Tala goes on a pub crawl.
Pairings: Tala/Kai
Warnings: Yaoi, Angst, Oneshot.
Disclaimer: Don't own Beyblade or any of it's pretty, pretty characters. If I did, there would be a forth season (huffs)
… … … … …
Kai felt his eye twitch for the umpteenth time that night, and it was only around 10 o'clock!
He sighed and ran a ran through his dual colored hair, blatantly ignoring the wolf whistles and cat calls from nearby bar goers as he leaned slightly in his bar stool, showing a tender amount of skin of his thigh. It was an extremely warm night and he was wearing thigh high shorts with a loose long sleeve dark blue top.
He received more wolf whistles and cat calls as he crossed his legs.
He found it ironic, the phases 'wolf whistles' and 'cat calls'. Why? Well, Tala is considered a wolf and Ray is considered to be a cat. And both of which are the biggest perverts he has ever known.
Speaking of Tala, he was sitting at the other end of the bar, shamelessly flirting with the young barman. The guy looked about 20, 21, something like that.
Kai couldn't help but smirk, the barman was obviously not interested in Tala for he would only give a half smile to the flirtatious gestures and remarks from Tala. Besides, from his point-of-view, Kai could see that he was interested in the quiet teen that was standing shyly in the corner of the bar, looking a little lost and timid.
He suddenly looked frightened when a much older and larger drunken lout appeared, towering over him.
Kai felt his eyes narrowed and spared a quick glance to the young barman, smirking when he noticed that he looked murderous. He sighed and slipped out of his seat, walking over to the other side of the bar, where Tala was.
"I'll watch him," Kai said to the barman, not bothering to explain why.
And it wasn't necessary. The barman nodded and quickly stroll around from behind the bar to confront the drunken lout and the small timid teen.
"What did you do that for?" Tala asked, his words slurred.
"Tala, you're drunk," Kai said simply as he ordered a glass of water for him to drink from an older barman.
"I have brain cells I want to kill," Tala muttered and pushed the glass of water away while he reached for another beer with the other one.
Kai rolled his eyes again. This was the forth pub they had gone in tonight. The guys, meaning the Blitzkrieg boys, decided to have a night out. Kai thought it wouldn't do any harm, but that was before he knew that 'night out' means 'pub crawl'. He has absolutely no idea where Spencer, Bryan or Ian is. Ian shouldn't even be here, he's far too young. Hopefully, Spencer is keeping an eye on him, wherever he is.
And he doesn't even want to think about where Bryan is. He better not get arrested again.
Kai shook his head. Why on earth would anyone find joy out of getting smashed out of your mind and wake up with a huge hangover the following morning? Where's the logic in that? And what's the point of going out just to get drunk?
He shook his head again. He'll never understand, He doesn't drink, he doesn't even like the taste of any alcoholic beverages. Though, in the end, someone needs to stay sober.
"Come on Tala," Kai said and tugged on Tala's arm. "Lets go, you've had more than enough to drink tonight, I'm not going to spend all day tomorrow clearing up after four sick Russians."
"Leave me alone," Tala murmured and practically hugged his beer to his chest.
Kai frowned. "We're leaving Tala, don't make me drag you kicking and screaming out of here."
"Piss off, Kai," Tala replied. "You leave if you want, I'm staying."
"The hell you are, Tala," Kai practically growled as he ripped the glass of beer from his hand and placed it a good distance away. "If you have anymore to drink you'll get alcohol poisoning."
Tala rose shakily to his feet, towering over the shorter and younger teen, but the intimidation technique was foiled when he had to lean heavily against the bar. "The hell you care," he sneered. "Now give me back my God damn drink."
"I said no, Tala," Kai replied firmly. "We're going home, at this rate you'll be suffering from a hang-over for the next five days."
Tala moved away from the bar and promptly fell over.
"See," Kai said down at him. "You can't even stand up."
He bent over to help him up only to have his hands batted away. "Nah," Tala muttered incoherently and grasped onto the bar to pull himself up. "One more."
Kai rolled his eyes again and slung one of Tala's arms over his shoulders, his hand firmly in the middle of his chest to keep him straight. "We're going home, Tala."
Tala muttered an inaudible protest but fell heavily against Kai.
"Jeez," Kai muttered. "You're heavy."
Paying for the drinks on the way out, Kai managed to drag Tala outside and onto the street, but not before throwing a glance over his shoulder to see the barman that Tala was hitting on earlier sitting smugly in one of the chairs, the timid teen glued to his side.
The streets outside were surprisingly empty, the air thankfully cooler than the searing heat that was during the day. Fortunately, the place that the Blitzkrieg are calling home at the moment is close, about a 15 minute walk away. Hopefully the cool night air will sober Tala a little.
"Urg," Tala muttered. "I'm going to be sick."
He pushed away from Kai and stumbled over to some garbage cans. A moment later, Kai heard a sicken heave and the sounds of someone being sick.
He shook his head. "Tala, just how much did you drink tonight?"
Tala said something but the words were lost when he threw up again. Kai walked over to stand behind him, slowly rubbing circles on his back, whispering soothing words. Using an old napkin that Kai picked up from the various bars, Tala wiped his mouth as he slumped against a light pole and held his head in his hands.
"Feel any better?" Kai asked as he knelt down next to him.
"A little," Tala replied and let his head fall back to rest against the light pole behind him.
"Tala," Kai started. "This may not be the best time, but I want to know something."
"Hmm?"
"Why do you go out just to get drunk? What's the purposes of these pub crawls, they're hardly good for your health."
"You wouldn't understand," Tala replied as he started to climb back to his feet, but was stopped when Kai tugged on his arm.
"Try me," Kai said. "Just because I don't drink, doesn't mean I won't understand. You said that you had brain cells you want to kill."
Tala remained silent for a moment, his eyes looking anywhere instead of Kai. Kai tired in vain to get Tala to look directly at him, but he would always tilt his head away or simply close his eyes.
"Why are you hiding from me, Tala?"
"Memories," Tala said finally.
"Huh?"
"I want to forget," Tala whispered. "I don't want to remember anymore."
"Tala…" Kai whispered softly, knowing all too well what Tala was meaning. "Tala you can't keep doing this, alcohol isn't going to take the memories away."
"There's no harm in bloody trying, is there!" Tala suddenly exploded, pushing Kai away from him as he rose to his feet. "You! You make it sound so bloody simple!"
"I know it's not!" Kai yelled, as he also climbed to his feet, disregarding the grazes he received from the none too gentle shove. "But the way you're going about is ludicrous and completely harmful, not only to yourself, but to those around you! Do you think I enjoy watching you sit there and drink yourself into oblivion!"
"The hell you care!" Tala retorted, he grabbed Kai by the shoulder to jerk him towards him, getting into his face. "You left us! You left us alone in that God forsaken Abbey! You have no idea what it was like living in constant fear of Boris or anyone else for that matter!"
"Do you think I had a choice!" Kai cried and pushed himself away from Tala, tears of anger and frustration in his eyes. "Did you think I would leave you all there alone if I had a choice! And don't you dare say I don't understand what it's like. I do understand! Do you think it was easy living with Voltaire all by myself! You had the other Blitzkrieg boys to talk to or just to be with, but who did I have? No one! Just because I wasn't in the abbey as long as you were, doesn't mean my life was any easier!"
Tears now flowing freely, Kai turned his back to Tala. "I didn't… I didn't want to leave you behind, but, but I, I didn't have a choice…"
Tala stood still, watching in silent shock. Kai's little outburst was one of the most effective sobering techniques he has ever encountered.
"I know, I know you think I'm just saying this, but you have no idea what it's like not knowing if you, or any of the others, were alive or dead." Kai said, continuing, his voice slowly becoming quieter. "And when I was finally able to return to Russia and to the abbey, you acted like you hated me. I couldn't understand why, so in turn it was all I could to do was to hate you back. It hurt, it really did."
All Tala could do was blink, looking dumbfounded. A feeling of guilt and pity soon made it's presence known in his chest. It was foolish of him to think that Kai had it even a little bit easier than he or any of the others. He had always assumed it to be the case since Kai never spoke about his past or did foolish things to make the memories disappear.
But he now knows that just because he can't see the wounds of the past, does not mean that the scars are not there.
Kai shook his head, painfully rubbing at his eyes to rid himself of the tears. "If you want to drink yourself into oblivion, be my guest, you obviously don't care about me, or anyone else for that matter."
With that said, Kai had stormed past a shock and immobile Tala, who was too stunned to do anything, and headed towards their place of residence. Although he moved by quickly, Tala still managed to catch sight of a lone crystalline tear on his smooth, tender cheek.
He watched as Kai disappeared from sight and lean heavily against the light post behind him, slipping onto the cold hard cement. He pinched the bridge of his nose, the sensation of a headache forming. The headache was brought on my his own intense stupidity. Kai was only trying to help him and he pushed him away, violently, and then accused him for not caring. He might have had a little too much to drink, but even a deaf, blind fool could tell that Kai was only looking out for his wellbeing.
Like he has always done.
Resting his head in his hands, Tala began to mentally berate himself for being an incompetent loser who has royally screwed up big time.
The thought of going back to the pub to drink himself out of existence soon entered his mind, but he pushed it away. Drinking was the problem in the first place. Besides no amount of alcoholic beverages is going to erase that torn, vulnerable expression on Kai's face he had seen tonight.
It was then he realized that he had to give up drinking or loose one of closest and kindest friends he has. That is, if it's not already too late.
The numbing effects of the alcohol soon left him as he climbed to his feet and walked the same path Kai had stormed up earlier. A mere five minutes later he stepped under the front awing of his now current residence and quietly slipped the door open. He glanced around to see that there were no lights on and he wondered if Kai was even home.
As he slipped inside, he quietly entered the downstairs bathroom to freshen up in an attempt to sober himself even more. He slipped on a pair of clean clothes and splashed water on his face.
The stairs creaked under his feet as he made his way upstairs and headed to Kai's room. Under the door he could see a soft glow of light, meaning that Kai was in. Kai had always hated artificial light, preferring natural light or light from candles. He raise his hand and gave a single tap, mentally readying himself. He was about to do something he has never done before.
He was going to apologize.
He pushed the door open and peeked inside. There sitting on the edge of the bed was Kai, he back turned to him, gazing intently at the candle flame in front of him. Wordlessly, Tala walked over to Kai then stopped.
The light from the candle was having this enchanting effect on Kai's skin and hair. It gave him this hauntingly beautiful sight, the light amplifying the sadness etched on Kai's face and eyes.
Suddenly, shocking himself as well as Kai, Tala moved forward and pulled Kai into his chest, tightly embracing him, clinging to him desperately, fearing that if he was to let go Kai might disappear.
But he did not, Kai stayed in his arms too shocked to move, feeling an unfamiliar heat rise to his cheeks. "Tala?"
Tala tighten his hold around Kai, burying his nose into his hair, breathing in as tears slipped from his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."
"Tala?"
"You're right, drinking to forget is stupid." Tala whispered. "It made me forget all the good memories that I had. It made me forget about you, I didn't want to forget about you."
Kai sighed and sunk against him. "We can't forget, Tala. I know the memories hurt and they will for some time, but we have to understand that they are just that, memories. Those horrid times are now over, we can't let them control us anymore."
"I understand that now," Tala whispered. "I'm sorry."
"You're forgiven, as long as you don't drink to erase your problems anymore. That's what I'm here for."
Tala pulled back to get a proper look at Kai, but found himself gazing into his eyes in silent awe. His eyes were shimmering with an unknown emotion, his cheeks slightly flustered and his soft lips parted slightly.
Before either of them realize what they were doing, they both leaned forward and brought their lips together, softly at first but quickly deepen as they moved hungry against one another's. Tala slipped a hand into Kai's soft silken strands of his hair, pulling him deeper into the kiss as his tongue slipped past his lips, exploring his mouth. Kai opened up to him, running his own tongue over Tala's intruding one.
They stayed in this embrace, parting ever so just to bring much needed oxygen into their lungs before returning to their passionate kisses.
Tala had learnt a valuable lesson tonight, a lesson some people don't learn until it's too late or not at all. Drinking to leave ones troubles behind is not only impossible, but also very dangerous. It can ruins lives, destroy relationships and make you forget the important things and focus on those you wish to forget.
He realizes that the road to recovery will not be easy, but it's much easier than watching those he loves be hurt by his actions.
And knowing that someone cares was more than enough.
… … … … …
Took me forever to write this. I'm a non-drinker, so it was a little difficult going from Tala's point-of-view.
Tala: You made me a drunk!
I also made you a jerk, but hey, what are you going to do?
Read and review, please.