HELLU! LONG TIME NO SEE! THIS CHAPPY'S JUST A TAD LONGER THAN THE REST BUT IT MIGHT BE UNSATISFYING... OWO... COZ I'M TRYING TO WRITE THIS IN THE NEXT HALF HOUR... DON'T ASK WHY, I'LL EXPLAIN AT THE END OF THIS CHAPPY... I ALSO DECIDED TO TRY AND NAME MY CHAPTERS FROM NOW ON... GEWD LUCK TO ME 4 THAT... OWO... THANKS!... ENJOY!...
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"So… you didn't spike that drink?"
"Shaddap…"
"What? I'm just-"
DING DONG!
Toushiro ran to the door and opened it to find a man with pizza boxes stacked in his arm. He had brown hair which came down to his chin that was in a fish plait.
"Uh, dude… you pizza… ummmaa… 24 dollars…"
"Yea, just wait… Oi, Hinamori! I need 24 dollars!"
"Yea! Just wait!" Momo ran to the door where Hitsugaya and the pizza delivery man stood, counting notes and coins. "Ummmaa… let's see… this should be 24 dollars!"
The girl handed the money to the delivery man but couldn't pull her hand away. She looked up to realise that the doofus was refusing to let go. She tried pulling her hand away once again but failed.
"Wanna go somewhere?"
"Excuse me?"
"Maybe dinner?"
"I don't even know you!"
"But me know you!"
"Huh?"
"You're the chick that-"
"Let. Her. Go. Now." Hitsugaya interrupted the argument between his housemate and delivery boy and quickly pulled Hinamori's hand out of the jerk's before snatching their pizza away too.
"It's not like she's taken, dude… or do you just like her and-"
SLAM…
"Dick…"
The group sat on the couches in the living room watching Hot Fuzz for the next hour eating pizzas. The only sounds that could be heard were the laughing and commenting at the TV, munching and of course, the TV. Momo tried to shift her position on the armchair she was sharing with Toushiro without dropping her pizza or annoying the white-haired boy.
Why was she sharing an armchair with her housemate? The answer was simple. Space. Since Ukitake's household was only a small one with three people, there were only two armchairs and a couch that could only fit three people. Hinamori and Hitsugaya were the two with the smallest body sizes so they both sat on the same chair while Rangiku was on her own on the other one while Hisagi, Ikkaku, Renji and Ichigo squished together on the couch.
"I'm home!" The party turned around to see Jyushiro walking through the front door, bags of groceries in his hands. "Eh? Is this really a birthday party? It's so quiet! I told you that you should've gone to the cinemas or the park!"
"Ukitake… I'm not eight anymore."
"But you don't have to be eight to enjoy simple things like that!" The white-haired man chimed, spinning the grocery bags around while he was at it. "Oh yea, I had something for your birthday!"
Momo's Uncle then handed the boy a box wrapped with red paper. An envelope also fell to the floor with, "Addressed to Mr Hitsugaya Toushiro" printed in large, blue letters on it. Hitsugaya bent over and picked it up and his eyes widened. Looking at the boy's reaction to the envelope, Jyushiro immediately snatched the object away.
"Ukitake, why did you snatch that away when it's addressed to me?"
"U-uh, they got the wrong person! Or…" Jyushiro was stuttering… well, not really… his face held the image of a person trying to make up an excuse. "It's just nothing. It doesn't matter."
"It does matter! It's from the asylum!"
"What makes you think that? The asylum wouldn't have any business with you."
"Well, according to last night, MY TWIN BROTHER'S FUCKING STAYING THERE!"
"Watch your language young man!"
Everyone was staring at the two housemates now. Due to his normally soft and generous nature, Ukitake never really raised his voice so it was quite a shock to everyone in the room. Even Momo'd never seen her uncle raise his voice and yell at a teenager in such a manner before. The brunette's mouth was currently hanging slightly open, her eyes widened and blinking.
Toushiro's fists tightened, the skin covering his knuckles turning white as they threatened to give out and rip open any second. He bit his lip for a second before releasing a long breath.
"Yea, whatever… sorry Ukitake…" The boy apologised before looking back at the present in his hands. "What is it?"
"Your present. Open it…"
Hitsugaya's slender, yet strong fingers slowly opened the present in his hands, pulling the red wrapping paper away. They stopped when they reached a box which felt like it was made of cardboard. The birthday boy hesitated before opening the cube.
"Ukitake… this is…"
"Just open it."
Toushiro lifted the lid of the box and smirked. The older white-haired man sang, "You LOVED candy when you were little!"
"I loved candy eight years ago."
"But-"
"Thanks…"
Hitsugaya got a lolly and popped it in his mouth, rolling it around his mouth. He handed the box to Hinamori, who also took a lolly and popped it in her mouth.
"This stuff is pretty good…"
"This stuff is REALLY sweet!" Rangiku piped, also helping herself to a sweet. The big-busted teen jumped off her couch and took a box out of her handbag, which was lying in the corner. "Which reminds me, I got you a present as well!"
Matsumoto eagerly handed the boy her present and eagerly waited for him to open it. The white-haired teen raised an eyebrow. He lightly shook the box next to his ear before looking back at the strawberry blonde-haired friend.
"Matsumoto, I'm still underaged."
"Eh? How did you guess?"
"You got me alcohol last year as well."
"And Toushiro or anybody else won't even PUT their lips to that until he graduates into uni!" Jyushiro chirped, gently pulling the present out of Hitsugaya's hands. He pulled the bottle out of the box and examined it. "Hmm! Don Perigon! (AN: I'D BE RICH IF I OWNED THAT…) Not bad… How did they let you buy this?"
"Hey! The birthday boy was meant to open it! And be careful with that! I had to give up on four t-shirts I wanted to buy to be able to get my hands on that!" Rangiku snapped.
"It's called the charms of a woman!"
"More like flirting..." Hitsugaya grumbled.
"Hey! I heard that! That was harsh! As a punishment, we will play the penalty game!"
As soon as the last two words, "penalty game" escaped Matsumoto's lips, everyone in the room- besides Momo and Ukitake, who clearly had no idea of what was happening- groaned like soccer players being told to run laps around the field.
"Penalty game?... Is this a bad thing?" Hinamori asked, eyebrow creased.
"Matsumoto's been playing that game since..." Renji started.
"Grade six..." Hisagi finished for the red head. Ichigo's eyes withdrew from their scowl and he rolled over and sighed as if the world was going to end in the next hour.
"Can somebody please explain what it is?" The brunette asked, clearly getting annoyed at how the group was acting.
"Every player receives an ice-cream stick with numbers written on them and pick one out without knowing what number they'll get. The sticks are labelled from one to how many players there are and the person that gets 1 can order any number to do anything but they have to be careful because they don't know who's got which number." Toushiro said and breathed in rather deeply at the end of the explanation as he had said that in one breath.
"I once played that game at a birthday party..."
"Well that's great because you know what to do then!" The big-busted teen interrupted the petite girl, forcing people in the room, besides Jyushiro, to pick a paddle pop stick from a bunch which she took out of the pocket of her jeans.
Momo squinted to read the small numeral marked on the bottom of her stick.
'Seven...'
At the same time, Hitsugaya also read his number.
'Number four...'
"Okay! Who's got one!" Rangiku chimed, responded by Hisagi raising his arm with an I'm-so-over-this-thing expression on his face. He had no idea what to do. He was number one. So what? He didn't even know who had which number! The black-haired teen sighed, scratching his head.
"Ok... Uh... number four... has to... tell the group... what they're... scared of the most."
"What the hell? What kind of commandment is that?" Ichigo commented, one of his eyebrows raised.
"So you're number four?"
"No."
"Well, I couldn't think of anything else so just shut up and listen... Strawberry head..."
"What? What did you just-"
"I'm agateophobic." Everyone in the room- besides Ukitake, who'd gotten tired and walked into the kitchen for some coffee- turned around and stared at the apparently-agateophobic owner of the voice. The white-haired teen's eyebrow twitched under everyone's eyes fixed on him so sternly with expressions on their faces reading, "What's that?"
"So you're number 4?" Hinamori finally mustered up the courage to break the silence.
"Ah."
"What's aga-whatever-phobia?" Ikkaku interrupted.
"It's a fear of gay people! Get it? A-GAY-teo-phobia! HARHARHAR!" Renji chortled but nobody laughed at his corny joke. As usual.
"Actually, that's homophobia." Rangiku corrected the crimson-haired boy.
"Why would people be scared of gays anyway?"
"I personally don't mind gays, leses and bi's…" Hisagi joined in on the conversation.
"Okay, what is agateophobia anyway?" Momo quickly changed the topic. Talking about these... sexual (?) things were never really... in her hall of talents... or rather... interests.
"Last time I read about it, it was… Hey, Toushi, why the hell would you be scared of insanity?" Kurosaki questioned, his eyebrows furrowed into their normal scowl again.
"Huh?" Everyone burst out at the same time.
"Agateophobia, the fear of insanity or going insane." Ichigo stated once again so that nobody would be confused. "What the hell, Toushi?"
"That's none of your business, you-"
"You kids better go home quick! It's already eleven pm! Your parents will be worried!" Jyushiro popped his head into the room and reminded everyone of the time before heading out again.
"Oi, Toushi... can we... like... talk? For a minute? Outside?" Kurosaki asked, grabbing his friend's wrist and dragging him out of the house before letting him answer him.
The white-haired boy followed his Orange-haired friend outside, not saying a word but having an idea in mind of what he might ask him or talk to him about. The two stood under a large fig tree, hands in their pockets to keep them warm from the gusting wind. They were both thankful for the street lights or it would've been impossible to even be able to see in the dark.
Ichigo nervously cleared his throat, hoping that he wouldn't say the wrong words. He knew Toushiro was one of his best friends. He knew his taste in music, clothing and food. And he knew Hitsugaya wouldn't slap him across the face like a few girls did over the past few years. Slaps from Matsumoto especially hurt... BAD...
"Oi... you wanted a word with me?" Toushiro grumbled, slightly annoyed that his buddy was drifting away from the situation. Kurosaki immediately pulled back into reality and took in a deep breath.
"The other day... your twin... don't think that's something we'll just... over look."
"Yea, so what?"
"Hey! We didn't even know that you had a brother! We don't know anything about you!"
"Yes you do."
"Then what about your parents? Where are-"
"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"
"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU NEVER TELL US ANYTHING! WHAT ARE WE TO YOU? WHAT-"
"MY DAD'S DEAD AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE THAT BITCH OF MY MUM IS! HAPPY? NOW YOU KNOW WHERE MY PARENTS ARE!" Ichigo was taken aback by Hitsugaya's sudden... outburst. His fists were clenched until his knuckles were white. His head hanging low so that his face wouldn't be read. Why was he acting like this? So weak because of the past? He was meant to be ready for this. He knew that the past would catch up with him one day... so why was he acting like this?... So vulnerable...
Kurosaki'd only seen the teen like this... nearly... never...
"Look, just drop it... forget it... we can just-"
The sound of the front door slamming shut cut the brown-eyed male short before he could finish his sentence.
OKAY, I KNOW! LAME ARGUMENT! WHATEVER! I'M WRITING THIS IN TWENTY MINUTES COZ MY INTERNET ACCESS HAS BEEN RESTRICTED AND AS EXPECTED, IT SUCKS! I FEEL LIKE I'M UNDER HOUSE ARREST... SIGHS...
I SPECIALLY THANK REVIEWERS OF THIS STORY! THANK YOU!
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