Of all of the ways Hisana envisaged the date ending, this was decidedly not it. It undoubtedly wasn't the one she wanted, at any rate.
Instead of Byakuya, the one that she was becoming intimately acquainted with just so happened to be Byakuya's toilet. If she was in anything close to a fit state of mind, she would have been dazzled by just how big and shiny the bathroom was. Alas, the only thing she could think of was why is it always carrots?
Hisana wasn't especially familiar with the sensation of hangovers. In fact, this was only the second one she'd ever had.
Her first had been exactly one week ago.
She wasn't a fan.
She feebly reached up to pull the flush and fell back to support her weight against the radiator, knees held to her chest. She peered dolefully up at a stoic Byakuya who hovered hesitantly in the doorway, holding two glasses of water. He was valiantly fighting his own nausea by staring at a very specific spot on the wall.
"Can we- Can we both agree that the whisky was a bad idea?" she whispered hoarsely.
Byakuya furrowed his brow as he swallowed cautiously, carefully weighing his words. "No. No, the whisky was an excellent idea. The burgers, however…"
Hisana gave a wretched groan, "Ohhh, don't remind me."
Byakuya laughed despite himself, and Hisana smiled weakly in return.
He handed her one of the glasses before joining her on the floor, back to the radiator.
"How's your arm?"
He grimaced and lifted it. There were some minor scratches above the elbow that weren't anything to write home about, but he could do without the deep gash running down to his left wrist.
"What were you thinking?" Hisana softly chided as she inspected the shoddily-applied bandage. He must have done himself; she certainly couldn't remember doing so (although, admittedly, her memories of the latter part of the night were ever so slightly fuzzy).
Byakuya cleared his throat, "Ahh, well, yes. About that… My arm slipped."
Hisana spluttered, nearly spitting her mouthful of water everywhere. Some of it went up the back of her nose, adding to the already uncomfortable burn that came with being sick.
"Don't choke," Byakuya said, rubbing her back and pulling her hair away from her face.
When the shaking of her shoulders failed to subside, Byakuya realised that she was softly sobbing.
"I'm sorry," she sniffed, "If I hadn't- If I hadn't gotten drunk, this… this wouldn't have happened… You... you wouldn't be hurt…"
Byakuya froze, perplexed. "But… you didn't do anything?"
She was positively bawling by now, "But- but I should have stopped you! And now you're never going to want to… I'm so- sor- I'm sorry!"
Byakuya didn't know what to do. Not only was Hisana hungover and crying, but she was also using the sleeve of his dressing gown to wipe her nose. Anyone else would have immediately been turfed out and condemned to never set foot on Kuchiki property ever again. Instead, he settled for trying his best to ignore unseemly bodily fluids and patting her awkwardly on the head.
Was she always this emotional? It was going to cost him a lot of orchids if she was.
Maybe he should try something a little less extravagant.
"Would you like a toothbrush?"
Perhaps that wasn't quite what he was going for, but it seemed to do the trick.
She was still snivelling when she finally faced him. Yesterday's make up was streaming down her cheeks, her eyes were red and puffy, her hair was stuck to her face with sweat, and she was disgustingly snotty.
He didn't think he'd ever wanted anyone more.
Not that that stopped him from needing to bit his tongue and cover his mouth with his free hand.
She looked utterly pathetic.
Her tiny, pitiful nod just about tipped him over the edge.
It started off small, just a breakthrough chuckle, but it quickly descended into a full-blown belly laughter which was doing nothing to help his hangover.
Soon, she had joined him; two morons, wallowing in their self-inflicted predicament, that were very much in this together.
Things could be much, much worse, Byakuya thought to himself.
Like his Grandfather finding out about the car.
Suddenly, his nausea came back with all the impact of a blunt-force trauma.
"Fuck."
It didn't take long for Hisana to find Byakuya after she'd showered and freshened up. It wasn't difficult: Byakuya was being read the riot act in the kitchen, and rather than just sucking it up, he was arguing back.
She braced herself, inhaling deeply, before inching the door open and quietly slipping in.
"Good morning, my dear. How are- Good grief, what are you wearing? It's hideous!"
Ginrei was referring to the khaki brown ribbed knit jumper Hisana had sequestered from the back of Byakuya's wardrobe. It was horrendously shapeless, with a band of large, mustard yellow diamonds across the chest. She'd just about managed to make a pair of Byakuya's trousers stay put by shoving the excess of material into the waistband and securing them with a belt.
"You bought that for my birthday last year," Byakuya stated bluntly, his accusation evident.
"Oh, I see!" Ginrei countered, "Blaming other people for your terrible fashion sense! Why couldn't you find something decent for the poor girl to wear?"
Hisana hunched into the neckline and mumbled, "It's not that bad. It's very cosy." And it was. Even if it was ugly, it was still made of the softest mohair, and she felt like she'd wrapped herself in a warm, fluffy cloud.
Ginrei puffed-up, as he stood and began ushering Hisana to a seat at the table. "I'm so glad that you think so, my dear. You know, that ungrateful brat hasn't even tried it on! Still, I think we can find you one in a much nicer colour-."
Hisana began waving her hands frantically, "Oh, no, that won't be necessary. I'm just borro-."
"Nonsense! A lady like you deserves only the best!" He patted her tenderly on the hand. "Tea or coffee?"
Hisana was slightly bewildered. Wasn't he supposed to be chewing her out? She certainly deserved it. "Tea would be nice, thank you."
Ginrei leapt to his feet.
"I'll have coffee, while you're up," Byakuya piped up from the far end of the table.
Ginrei glanced over there, before promptly ignoring him and focusing entirely on serving Hisana.
Byakuya slumped back in his chair, sulking.
Hisana took this as her opportunity. "Kuchiki-sama, I would like to apologise profusely for my behaviour last night. It wa-."
Ginrei exploded, "What's this now, Boy? You're blaming the poor girl for your criminal behaviour? What kind of-"
Byakuya slammed his palms onto the table, "I did nothing of the sort!
"-delinquent have I raised?"
Byakuya got to his feet, "If you've raised a delinquent, it's because you're a-"
"I cannot believe what a cheapskate you are. Going to McDonald's, of all places!" Ginrei leaned over his grandson. "No Kuchiki should ever be seen in such hovel! And you were seen! By a Shiba of all people!"
Byakuya tried to interject, "Only because he was already in there!"
"Well, that should tell you all you need to know about kind of establishment it is!"
Ginrei was going rather red in the face, and Hisana feared that the oak table would develop a dent where he was jabbing his finger down to emphasise his point. She was also baffled by the fact that this was the issue Kuchiki-senior was taking umbrage with, rather than the missing Ferrari or the property damage. Must be nice being rich, she thought to herself.
Exasperated, Byakuya threw up his hands and huffed. "I'm not even the one who wanted to go in there," he grumbled, glaring at his grandfather.
"At least Saito-san didn't lose the Ferrari!"
"I didn't lose it," Byakuya growled, "It was stolen!"
Ginrei stared at him. "Yes, about that…" He sat down, turning the chair so that he was directly facing Byakuya. "I'm very glad it was stolen, because if I found out that you had abandoned it like that, I would disinherit you this very second."
Hisana perked up, "Wait. Have you found it?"
Both men mirrored the other with a curt nod.
Hisana looked between the two, hoping for further explanation.
Neither were forthcoming.
"Umm… Where was it?"
Ginrei answered gruffly, "It was in the Ginza 4 Chome car park. Weirdly, no signs of a break-in, despite very clearly having been stolen and abandoned."
Hisana bit her tongue as she blinked pointedly at Byakuya.
He refused to look at her.