ii. Alcohol makes the heart grow...honest-er

"It's no use keeping it from me, Swaine! I have eyes and ears everywhere!" Rashaad laughed and drank the rest of his glass in one gulp, "You're dating around, aren't you?"

It was more of a statement than a question, really.

Swaine's eyebrows knitted together and sighed, "So that has reached as far as Al Mamoon, huh."

Following his usual weekly schedule, Swaine was staying at Al Mamoon again. Specifically, at the house of one of the great sages. He found it funny how his life was surrounded by the great sages. One is his best friend, one is his brother, and one is the father of the woman who he…he considers important.

"What's this? You're not even going to try to deny it?"

Swaine shrugs and poured himself another drink, "It's useless. Denying it won't make it go away anyway."

"Well, that's true but I don't think that it's all bad," Rashaad gave another hearty laugh, "You're of marriageable age anyway…"

Alcohol has a way of making people act differently than how they usually behave. Being able to handle his alcohol well, Swaine was an exception to the rule. Rashaad, however, was not. Judging from the redness spreading throughout his face and his generally unfocused eyes, he could tell that Rashaad has drunk his share of alcohol for the night. Also, Rashaad goes on and on when he's drunk. But Swaine doesn't hate it.

Rashaad, whether he's drunk or sober, reminds him of his late father. The two of them have been long friends back when his father was still alive. He tells Swaine stories about his father, sometimes, their training under the guidance of Solomon, the battles they fought, the places they went to. It was the side of his father that Swaine never knew.

"Esther, too. Lately, young men has been coming up to my stall and asking for her hand. They're all stupid," Rashaad mumbled as he crosses his arms on the table and laid his head, "Everything is up to Esther's decision. It's no use asking me. Whoever Esther chooses, I would accept. You should start thinking about your future too, my friend."

The future, huh. After running away from the Porcine Palace, Swaine has always lived in the 'here and now'. What am I going to go today? Where would I get today's meal? Where am I going to stay for tonight?

Leaving home with basically nothing but the clothes on his back, he had done bad things to survive. He stole, he cheated, he conned. He dealt with the very lowest of the lows. Only thoughts of 'survival' and 'the welfare of my brother' filled his mind.

He was never ashamed of his past. After all, it was his past that made him into the man that he is now. And the man that he is now is not a man who concerns himself with abstract concepts such as the 'future'. Nor does he deserve to.

His train of thought was distracted by the loud snoring beside him. He smiled and tipped his glass slightly towards Rashaad before finishing it in one go.

He stood up and went over to the side where Rashaad was sleeping deeply. He took one of his arms, flung it around his shoulders, and lifted him up from his seat. It was a pretty arduous task, considering that Rashaad was bigger man than him, but he got used to it after doing it for so long.

Half-carrying and half-dragging the sleeping drunk, he made it to the living room where he somehow managed to settle Rashaad down on the sofa.

"Got himself fully drunk again, huh?"

From behind him, Esther appeared holding a glass of water in one hand and a blanket on another. She has a small smile on her face as she approached him.

"I guess the babana stall will be opening later than usual tomorrow."

She set the glass of water on the table beside the sofa and covered her father with the blanket. As she went about the task at hand, Swaine turned around and returned to the terrace to finish the bottle.

He sat down at his usual seat and examined the bottle. It was already more than half-drained, he and Rashaad was drinking for quite a while after all. He heard footsteps coming towards him.

"Not going to sleep yet?" he asked without turning his head.

She settled herself on the empty seat beside him, looking towards the seemingly endless sand dunes, "I'm not sleepy anymore so I thought that I'd keep you company instead."

Swaine looked at her and found himself smiling slightly. Her golden hair that she usually keeps up in a ponytail was loose around her pale face. The golden strands seemed to shine as it catches the pale moonlight.

She was hugging her knees towards herself. The desert city of Al Mamoon can get notoriously hot during daytime but at night, the temperature does a complete 180 and it can get very cold. He took off his coat and handed it to her.

Surprised, she smiled gratefully and draped it around her shoulders. It was still warm from his body heat, "So I heard you're seeing...someone..."

He sighed and drank directly from the bottle, "You too, huh? Rashaad was just grilling me about it a while ago."

"I was just of wondering if the rumours were true. Better hear it straight from you than anyone else, right?"

He wasn't bothered about all the rumours spreading around. That's just the way people were built, gossiping is a form of entertainment for them. Given a month or two, the entire buzz around him would eventually fizzle out and everyone would talk about somebody else. It's not like he has much of a reputation to think about anyway.

She takes her eyes off the horizon, "Well?"

"It's true…probably…"

Her eyebrows knitted together at his half-assed answer. She looked at him quizzically, "Probably? What do you mean by 'probably'?"

"Well, I am not looking for anyone special but everyone else seem to want me to date," Swaine clicked his tongue in annoyance, "They just keep on throwing girls at me."

It was extremely irritating. It has come to the point where people shamelessly pester him even if he's in the middle of work. Palace Councillors come with their daughters in tow, introducing them and making a show on how incredibly talented and educated their daughters are. It was shallow and humiliating, for both the girl and for him. These people just want to move up in ranks, trying to curry favour with the royal family. No matter how different they may be, he is still the emperor's brother and that makes him the next in line should anything happen to Marcassin.

However, even Marcassin seemed to be joining in lately. Teaming up with Captain Kublai and Queen Khulan, he often drags Swaine to meet eligible girls from Perdida.

"Gascon, I think…I think that it would do you a world of good to have someone special in your life. You can't bury yourself with work forever."

And with that, he was forced to go on dates after dates with different girls. If he tries to run away, Kublai would call for one of his sky dragons to bring him back. He could not hate Marcassin for he knew that his little brother was only doing what he thinks was right for him. But that sky pirate's got to be enjoying his misery. Sometimes, he can see a dragon (poorly) hiding behind a tree even before his date starts.

"Well! I'm sorry that these people were just 'throwing' all these girls at you!" Esther spat as she stood up indignantly. She walked a few paces forward and kept her back turned towards him, "I'm sure you're just a 'victim' of fate! A helpless passer-by!"

Swaine recognized the tone in her voice. It was that tone that she has whenever she's incredibly mad and disappointed about something. The something was usually him.

Trying to assess how to handle the situation as coolly as possible, he took another gulp from the bottle, "I can see that you're really mad-"

"Mad?" She scoffed cutting his words short, "Why in the world would I be mad? You could go and date all the girls in the world for all I care! They'll dump you anyway, once they find about how rotten you really are. You good-for-nothing prince!"

So, she's really, really mad. For a reason that he still doesn't know. He took a deep breath and scratched the back of his hair. This is not good, he thought to himself, he's starting to getting really, really mad as well.

He finished the rest of the liquor in one drag and quietly stood up, "Maybe I should go…"

"Yeah, you should! That's what you're good at, running away!"

With that, he reached the end of his patience. He took some quick, angry steps to where Esther stood and snapped at her, "Look, I don't know why you're mad at me. But if there is anyone you should be mad at, it's them. They're the one forcing me to do all these crazy stuff!"

"Forcing you? No one's forcing you! No one can force you to do anything!"

He's quickly forgetting why they're even fighting. He was just so mad. All his stress at the Palace, all the frustrations he has over all the fake dates that he had to go through. Everything was piling up in his chest, he felt like he would explode if he doesn't let it all out.

"Do you really think I like it? Then maybe I'll just follow your 'advice'! Maybe I'll just date all the girls that I could lay my eyes on, since I like it so much!"

He spat his words with much mockery in his tone. He irritably jerked her shoulders and forced her to face him. Her face was twisted in a pained expression. Large drops of tears were pouring down her face.

"Maybe you should…! And, since it's apparently not anything important, maybe I'll just simply date around as well!"

Suddenly, the whole world, the very time itself, seemed to freeze. His anger completely disappeared as panic instantly its place. His worries about work, all the nuisances in his life…everything took a back seat.

He reached out his hands to touch her face, clumsily wiping away the tears that stained her cheeks. He pulled her close, shrinking the distance between their bodies. Slowly, he gently kissed her forehead then the bridge of her nose. Then finally, receiving no protests from her, he inched his lips closer to hers and kissed her full on the mouth.

Alcohol has a way of making people act differently than how they usually behave. Swaine used to think that he was an exception to that rule, but now he was not quite sure.

'I'm sorry. I'm sorry, please don't cry. You're the only person in the world that I don't want to see hurt.'

tbc/

Author's Notes:

(!) Standard Disclaimers apply. Yeah, like I said in the first chapter. You could read it again, if you like.

(2) 2nd Chapter! Woo-hoo! It was pretty quick, if I may say so myself. I was like 'typetypetypetypetype'. Anyway, I think this chapter was pretty good.

(#) Woah, I had to change the rating from 'K+' to 'T' because my friend said that alcohol intake and kissing is a "mature" concept. Hmm, I don't really agree but, just to be on the safe side, I changed it anyway.

(iv) I don't think that alcohol is bad. I like alcohol. What's bad is alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse is very, very bad. Everything, when abused, turns bad. So keep that in mind.

(5) About the chapter title, well, quite obviously it's the super cliche-d quote 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'. I know that 'honest-er' is not really a real word. I intentionally used it just because I liked it better that way. Sorry, grammar (and grammar nazis). Please don't curse me to the ends of the world :3

(5) So everything is finally in place! 'The End' would probably happen in the last chapter. But I'm not quite sure. I don't like to drag my stories on and on, like Rashaad when he's drunk (according to me, please don't take it as an official description on Rashaad). I don't think I can come up with the third as soon as I did the second one, though. So, in the mean time, please leave me some of your thoughts and stuff about the story. Any kind of input is appreciated :)