"Crossword" by thebirdgod

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or the characters contained within Beyblade. Also, most crossword questions came from the Courier Journal, a newspaper in Kentucky.

Note: Thanks for the reviews! I'm going to try and crank out another chapter or two before my midterms next week, so wish me luck! I made a spider chart of events just for you all so I can get this story back on track. This chapter was brought to you by a delicious bag of generic Doritos and Miyavi; thank them, because without their help I'd still be procrastinating.

Pairings: JohnnyxRobert, MiguelxKai, TalaxClaude, SpencerxBryan

"~….~" indicates Gaelic, because I can't keep telling you it's in Gaelic, it gets repetitive.

Chapter 5

1 Across

Johnny stood surveying the scene before him, wondering just how a simple barbeque had exploded into what he was looking out now. It started after everyone had started eating, sitting around the table on the patio, enjoying pleasant conversation with the occasional smug comment made by Bryan.

Looking back at it now, the Scot was positive that Ian was behind the whole mess; it originated from his side of the table, a simple piece of pasta from Oliver's amazing Pasta Salad had teleported mysteriously onto Bryan's face. In response, the silver eyed Russian hurled (not thrown, hurled) a loaded shish-kabob in the smaller's direction. Ian threw mashed potatoes and accidently hit Mathilda, who threw a roll, which hit Oliver. Well, Oliver threw green beans, Enrique threw a roasted bell pepper, Spencer tossed another roll, Miguel slung more potatoes, and Robert…Robert started throwing cookies.

A soft smile tugged at Johnny's features as he looked at his food smothered friend; there were specs of potato in his hair and a smear of barbeque sauce across his neck. His clothes were soaked after the Scot had started pouring sweet tea on everyone (Johnny sported a lemon slice in his own hair for that mishap). Somehow Robert had gotten Johnny and Aaron involved, followed by the relatively passive Claude. The entire outdoor entertaining area was effectively demolished, and Oliver's butler bustled around them trying to clean it up, telling them that he'd get it.

Oliver had disappeared inside, and after being missing for a few minutes, announced that everyone needed to come inside a change before they "started attracting the flies." Bare feet slid across the marble floor, and Johnny had to catch Robert before he took a nose dive towards the slick surface, the pair laughing the entire time as they wandered up towards their room. Their green haired friend had announced a "slumber party" in the living room, where they would watch movies, and most likely get conned into playing something ridiculous…like Truth or Dare.

Saw that coming didn't you?

"Okay Robbie," Oliver began, "truth or dare?"

The German sat comfortably on the stack of pillows covering the floor, relaxing next to his very shirtless friend, Johnny, who rested quietly next to him. Robert sighed, why the hell were they playing a game that involved an empty beer bottle anyway? Tilting his head slightly to the side, he observed his French friend. "~He's up to something.~" He whispered to Johnny in Gaelic.

"~I know,~" came the mumbled reply, the Scot burying his face into the pillow next to Robert's silk clad thigh (why did he wear silky pajamas anyway?) "~say truth.~"

"Truth."

"What is your favorite activity, and beyblading can't be your answer."

The German held his friend's gaze for a long moment. Oliver was well aware of what Robert's favorite pass time was, so why did he want it pointed out to everyone else. Definitely up to something. "Dance."

Bryan almost choked on his beer, arching an eyebrow in the direction of the German. "Dance?"

"Dance. Most specifically ballet, though on occasion I get a wild hair and favor belly dancing. Depends on my mood."

The group has a whole just stared at him, curiosity showing on their faces.

"Well I think we all know what we're going to ask Robert on our turn." Tala stated, blinking owlishly at the lithe man across from him.

"That's on your turn," Robert replied, before spinning the bottle, watching as it hesitantly landed on Ian. The annoyed from turned into a devilish smirk as he eyed his victim up slowly. "Ian," he said in a sing-song voice, "I believe this is the moment where you should atone for you misbehaviors…."

"Never." Ian replied, puffing out his chest.

"~Idiot. If he says dare, you should totally make him jump in the pool. It's gotta be gross by now…~" Johnny stated, a purple eye gazing up at Robert.

"~Naked. He's going in naked.~" The German replied, causing the redhead to snort in a vague attempt to cover up his laughter.

The group stared at the pair as they exchanged in Gaelic, feeling the onslaught of dread and misery that was swirling around Ian as he realized exactly how unfortunate he was. Bravely, he announced, "I'll do a dare."

Johnny laughed out loud and outrageously, tears coming to his eyes as he slowly pulled out his camera phone. "~Lay it on the poor lad. I'm so getting photos of this.~"

"~Mm, I do oh so love blackmail.~" Robert produced an almost sickeningly sweet smile, and stated, "I hereby dare you to strip all the way down and jump into the pool, requirements of this dare are that you must in fact remain in the pool for 5 minutes, swimming laps."

Ian gagged. The pool was full of barbeque chicken and pork, mashed potatoes, and all other forms of food from dinner that had by now become soggy, floating bits of disgusting. Who knew the German had such a torturous, plotting mean streak?

All Johnny could think of was how lucky Ian was still full of youthful pride and lacking any shame what so ever. Idly the Scot wondered what it was that made the kid so damn crafty, and clearly determined to hook up every single beyblader he came across. Twisted little shit.

Ian went outside and stripped, which Johnny snapped a shot of (an excellent ass shot perfect for harassment), and then jumped into the pool.

"Oh my god! What is wrong with you Robert? EWWWWW!" Ian whined from his spot towards the edge of the pool.

The group had all taken seats on the now clean pool chairs, and enjoyed the suffering of their friend. His fault for being a mischievous imp, in the personal opinion of Ian's fellow bladers, but they hadn't told him that yet.

"Swim or I throw I'll throw in something disgusting." Robert stated, looking to Oliver he asked, "Got any cottage cheese? That'll get him moving."

"PLEASE NO!"

"Then move it Ariel."

All the while, Johnny enjoyed the video feature on his phone, trying to keep his chuckling to a minimum as to not disturb the lovely sound of his friend threatening the Russian. He couldn't get over how brilliant their combined plan was, or the fact that the normally peace loving German had hauled out and had the kid swimming in the most disgusting, bacteria infected pool water ever to grace the planet. The Scot would never have gotten in it.

All too soon the five minutes were up, and Ian made a mad dash to the welcoming arms of a steamy shower and clean clothes, refusing to participate any longer. Breathing a sigh of relief, the group continued their game inside the confines of the mansion, piled on top of pillows and blankets.

Tala volunteered to spin and start the round anew, his bottle landing on the fiery haired Scot, much to Johnny's displeasure. "Go ahead and dare me, I don't think we can get worse than Ian's punishment."

"Oh, we can," Bryan stated, before receiving a smack from Kai, "but we're not going to because I don't find abuse attractive. Ow, Kai stop." You'd think he'd figure out that being a smartass equaled pain via Kai's backhand.

"I dare you to kiss Robert right here in front of everyone, and not some stupid little peck on the lips either." Tala giggled madly before forcing Kai to give up his camera phone, mumbling about getting a picture, as it was going to be priceless.

Johnny didn't actually find this much of dare, and the immediate blush that had taken to his friend's cheeks made it appear that he wasn't considering this much of a dare either. The Scot pushed himself up onto his elbows, before straightening his arm out; it was kind of ridiculous how much larger he was than the German, as on his hands and knees he appeared taller than his sitting friend. Steadying himself on one arm, he used his free hand to catch the angular chin belonging to Robert, bringing the surprised man's lips to his own. Johnny's hand held the German in place, tongue slipping out tease lips open.

Robert couldn't believe his luck; all this dreaming and hoping and wishing and the lips of his crush were on his in a matter of seconds, begging for entrance. The German allowed an arm to steady himself, before tentatively reaching up with the other to entangle his hand in red locks. He allowed Jonathan's tongue into his mouth, feeling the appendage glide against his soothingly; something cold and metallic rubbed his tongue before continuing its dance inside his mouth. Robert allowed himself to get caught up in the kiss, and almost pouted when they parted; the applause didn't help any.

"Jesus guys," Tala began, looking at the phone now full of pictures of hot, steamy European make out sessions, "that was hot."

"Thanks," Johnny replied, spinning the bottle watching deviously as it lands on Miguel, "truth or dare, bitch."

Miguel laughed, and agreed to dare. He paused a moment as he watched Robert (now recovered) turn suspicious eyes back towards Johnny; the Spaniard worried for the Scot's safety.

"So when did you get a bolt through your tongue?" Robert asked, eyebrow arched.

Johnny made a motion for Robert to wait, which oddly didn't faze the German in the slightest, and he sat there in relative silence as Johnny announced the blonde's punishment. "Miguel you are to take Kai into the wonderful and not so spacious hall closet, where you will remain for 10 minutes. Use the time wisely."

Kai's face was scarlet, but he allowed himself to be led away, the reassuring voice of the Spaniard echoing through the halls as the pair disappeared from view.

"Aren't you going to follow them?" Aaron asked.

"Nah, hoping Miguel will take the initiative here." Johnny replied as he rolled over onto his back, resting on his elbows. Turning his attention to the bemused German, he offered a dazzling smile, eyeing the slightly swollen lips, and wondering if he could get one more kiss out of the deal. "I got the bolt a couple of months ago, it's no surprise you didn't notice, we don't get to play tonsil hockey very often." He offered a seductive smirk.

Robert leaned over, his lips close to a pierced ear, "~I'm afraid we haven't had the pleasure.~" He whispered in Gaelic, letting his breath graze the shell of the ear, before he sat back up and turned his attention to the other guests. "Ten minutes to kill, hm?"

"Well, I'm going to go to bed, a girl has to get her rest," Mathilda stated, "good night everyone, don't get into too much trouble there Robert."

"I'll do my best. Goodnight."

"I think I'll turn in too, god knows what a room full of gay guys will do," Aaron said jokingly, "keep it down, got it?"

"We'll try, but not going to make any promises," Tala stated, grinning wolfishly from his spot on the floor where he was wrapped around Claude, "right baby?" Claude's blush was crimson, his hand coming to cover his embarrassed face.

"Should probably be more worried about Bryan and Spenc over there. Psycho's gonna go cannibal on you Spencer."

The blond gave them a bemused smirk, his armed draped over Bryan's shoulders, "It's usually the other way around, but I'll leave you to your fantasies." Somehow the silver eyed Russian managed to spit out more of his beer. Clearly not his day. And how come no one else was drinking beer?

"And with that, I'm gone." Aaron sprinted up the stairs, briefly catching the breathy moan that sounded suspiciously like Miguel's name. Good call on Johnny's part for the closet plan.

"Well, I think the game is over, my love," Enrique said to his lover.

"We should go ahead and put a movie in," Oliver pointed out, "Kai and Miguel will come out eventually."

"Yeah, if Kai's moaning is anything to go by it won't be too much longer," Bryan pointed out, placing his beer on the coffee table. There was no real point in trying anymore, someone was bound to say something inappropriate.

Robert covered his eyes and shook his head, a laugh bubbling from his lips. "All the information I didn't want to know about my fellow bladers has clearly been laid at my feet." Still amused, the German wiggled down under a comforter his friend had been laying on; he drug a few pillows over and rested them against the base of the couch.

"Scoot over," Johnny stated as he too slid under the blanket.

"I guess telling you to get your own pillows would be pointless, huh?"

"Yes, yes it would."

With a sigh Robert moved to the side, not that he was really going to complain about sharing pillows and a blanket with his crush. Of course, Johnny takes up a lot of space. The Scot took up so much space in fact, he had to wiggle under Robert, somehow adjusting the German to lay halfway on him, the red head wrapping an arm around his friend's lithe form.

Slightly embarrassed, the amethyst haired man blushed, but relaxed into the muscled arms and allowed himself to enjoy the rare opportunity.

"So what're we watching?"

"Madagascar."

"…We're watching a kid flick huh?" Bryan said, looking to his lover for confirmation.

"Yes," Spencer replied, "it has deranged penguins."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?"

"~Are you comfortable?~" Johnny whispered as Oliver turned off all the lights, throwing them into sudden darkness.

"~Yes, why?~" Robert asked, searching through the blackness to gaze into violet eyes.

"~Well, I really wanted to do this,~" Johnny leaned down and caught his friend's lips for what he assumed would be the last time. He tilted his head to the side, deepening the kiss, almost moaning when Robert opened his mouth to allow a pierced tongue in. The Scot took his time, drawing out slight whimpers that were thankfully drowned by the roar of surround sound.

They pulled apart when breathing seemed too necessary to put off any longer. Suddenly feeling foolish over the possibility of ruining his friendship, Johnny began to apologize.

He was cut off by swollen lips pressing against his gently. "Shut up," Robert stated, snuggling back down against the bare chest, throwing a leg over the Scot's thighs, "watch the movie so we can go upstairs."

If it hadn't have been so dark, Robert would have been able to see the most heart-warming smile radiate from his soon to be boyfriend.