Kuroko didn't quite recall how he'd ended up in a hotel. By the looks of it, what little he could see beyond the sun shield that was his own arm, it was a fairly nice hotel. He remembered somewhere in the back of his mind Akashi insisting they call it a night because someone had done something stupid and one of Aomine's friends was about three seconds away from being arrested, and he remembered falling over and someone picking him up bridal style...he must have passed out or fallen asleep after that, though he wasn't sure if, in the end, the others had listened to an ever so slightly drunk Akashi's suggestion. Evidently, he at least had managed to make it somewhere with a bed.
Slowly, Kuroko managed to move his arm away from his eyes and get his other arm underneath him, trying to use it to lever himself up into a seated position. There wasn't anyone else in the room, which really was a nice room. He was alone, as far as he could see, and surprisingly hungover for someone who went into a celebration or a night out or whatever you might call it with the decision to not get blind drunk and fall over on level ground and have to be carried back to a hotel by his boyfriend.
He managed not to groan as he attempted to swing his legs off the bed, got them caught up in the duvet and spent the next minute and a half with his eyes squeezed shut trying to kick his legs free before he could finally put his feet, still clad in muddy shoes for some reason or another, on the floor, only to find he wasn't alone in the room, someone was sleeping next to the bed, and trying to step on them sent him sprawling forward onto the carpet. He decided to lay there for a good few minutes, face down on the floor. It wasn't like anyone would care. He didn't even get up when he heard a shriek from down the hall. He heard footsteps outside the door, supposedly someone rushing off to the rescue, and felt something move against his own feet. Kagami groaned as he woke up and rolled onto his side, curling into a ball.
"What happened last night?" He moaned. "Why does my tongue taste of cardboard and dirt?"
"Aomine-kun's stag night." Came a mumbled response, spoken into the tickly carpet.
"Kuroko?"
"Yes?"
From down the hall, they both heard a shout of 'Oh God, what the hell is that doing in here?' and both looked to the door. Slowly, far slower than Kuroko had been before, Kagami got to his feet, question or request completely forgotten. He was barefoot, inching towards the door like a zombie. It was almost funny. After a moment, Kuroko decided to join him, both arriving at the door just in time to see a sheep rush past down the hall, being chased by three of Aomine's friends. Wakamatsu, Sakurai and one of Aomine's university friends, or maybe work friends (Kuroko couldn't remember his name, but he remembered he smelled funny, and he could still smell him now over the stench of sheep) appeared to be trying to corral the poor creature towards the lifts and stairwells, each displaying various degrees of panic upon their faces.
Kagami stared at the scene for about a minute before running a hand over his face with a groan. "I'm going back to bed." He announced before turning back and slamming the door, leaving Kuroko locked outside his hotel room.
"Ah, Kagami-kun..." He turned and tried to open the door, but gave up quickly. There was no response to him knocking, either. As if the big idiot had already fallen asleep.
He honestly wasn't quite sure how long he stood there, zoned out and wishing he could function or that he had water before the door opposite opened and someone called out to him. A man with a camera around his neck and an excited smile on his face. Clearly not hungover. In fact, every word he said was so loud Kuroko thought his head might split in two.
"Hey!" He called. "Oh my god, hey, come here, come here! You gotta see this! The really really big guy and the naggy redhead are in bed together!"
With that, he disappeared into the room he'd just opened, and Kuroko stared after him for a moment. The big guy and the nagging redhead? Murasakibara and Akashi maybe? After all, that fit the biggest guy and the only redhead Kuroko hadn't already seen. Well...that was interesting, certainly, but what really enticed him into that room was that, through the open door, he could see a table with bottled water on it, which he went straight to before anything else.
Okay, so it turned out Murasakibara and Akashi really were in bed together. Fully clothed, fast asleep, clearly with nothing going on, but at some point in the night the former had evidently decided he needed a collection of teddy bears. That collection was mostly formed of hotel pillows, a table lamp, and Akashi's sleeping form. Additionally, there was a third man in the bed between the two, but between their legs and completely hidden by the covers, a fourth man could be heard vomiting in the en suite bathroom, and Imayoshi was asleep in an armchair, though his glasses appeared to have slipped off his face and onto his shoe at some point during the night. The man that had called Kuroko in, another one he didn't quite remember the name of but who was definitely the guy who almost got arrested, was taking photos of the carnage. Kuroko briefly wondered if he'd photographed the sheep fiasco at all. It certainly seemed like something worth making a memory of.
The wannabe photographer moved off towards the bathroom, calling for Aomine as he went. Honestly, with the amount he'd been drinking the night before, Kuroko wasn't surprised that Aomine was vomiting. He was pretty sure the poor idiot had been vomiting at the club as well. A movement caught the shadow's eye and he found himself looking back to the bed as the man asleep by the miracles' legs began to wake, moving up until his head was resting on part of Murasakibara's pillow collection, just under the lamp.
Midorima. Fully clothed, by the looks of things, just like the other two, glasses and all. For all of two seconds, he lay there, reluctant to open his eyes, as though he knew the world beyond his eyelids would not be kind to him, but when Murasakibara heaved a great sigh into his face, still mid-dream himself, Midorima found himself needing to open his eyes to see who was that close to his face.
It might have been the snap realisation of who he was sharing a bed with, or it might have just been that their faces were almost touching and that in itself was a shock, but the moment those green eyes opened, their owner bellowed out an almighty shriek and pulled back, colliding with the blissfully asleep Akashi and bringing them both off the bed, along with the duvet that had been covering the three former miracles. A scream in his face was enough to wake Murasakibara up, and he shot upright with a yelp, clutching his precious lamp to his chest as he watched the scene with wide eyes before making a vague, noncommittal sound and flopping back down into his pillow hoard. At the same time, the two men in the bathroom came running into the main bedroom, clearly alerted by the scream and apparently not vomiting. Kise and the photographer.
"What's going on?" Photographer yelled. "We heard screaming, and not good screaming!"
There was no answer for a moment, just a lot of cursing as Midorima and Akashi tried to get themselves untangled from each other and the bedclothes, and Kise leaned over to whisper in Kuroko's ear.
"What are Midorimacchi and Akashicchi doing?"
"Bonding." Kuroko replied with a slight shrug.
"Oh." Kise's breath reeked of vomit.
It was Akashi who managed to disentangle himself first, crawling away from the duvet and the other man, eyes screwed shut in what may have been pain. He crawled headfirst into the wicker chair Imayoshi slept in and groaned, collapsing sideways to the floor and laying there stock still. Imayoshi jerked awake with an unattractive snort and peered blearily around the room.
"Where am I? Oh god, my head..." His eyes shut again and he clumsily massaged his temples.
"My hotel room." Akashi responded irritably, eyes snapping open again. "Why are you all in my room?"
"Look, man, I don't even know who you are. I just know my head hurts..."
"Atsushi, get out of my bed."
"But I'm so comfy..."
Midorima managed to get free from the duvet he'd managed to wrap around himself like a cocoon and limped to the bathroom, almost tripping over Akashi as he went. Akashi, in turn, sat up and drew his legs to his chest to prevent anyone else tripping over him. Wakamatsu peeked into the room through the door Kuroko had left wide open.
"Uh...is everything okay in here?" Silence and staring. "Is Aomine in here?" More silence, but this time Kise shook his head.
"He isn't in the bathroom?" Kuroko asked.
"No." Photographer answered. "It was only blondie here in there."
"Kise."
"Gesundheit."
Sakurai and Aomine's other university friend were behind Wakamatsu, seemingly trying to look into the room over the blond's shoulders. "Imayoshi-san looks like he's going to throw up." The former muttered, mostly to himself. "Throw up or die."
Looking back to the man in question, Kuroko had to agree he did look rather ill. His face was an impressive shade of grey, and rather sweaty, and he'd been gradually leaning over to one side since he'd last spoken, like his spine had simply given up on keeping him upright. Perhaps it was still drunk.
"Yeah, Imayoshi, we don't need to call an ambulance for you or something, do we?" Wakamatsu asked with obvious concern that may have bordered on full on fear for the other man's life. Imayoshi took about five minutes to realise he was being addressed, by which point Midorima had emerged from the bathroom, having attempted to comb his hair and wash his face at the least, and the others had decided it might be worthwhile calling an ambulance after all because the grey-faced idiot just wasn't responding, and then
"Oh, I'm Imayoshi...am I Imayoshi?" He ran a hand up his face and through his hair as he spoke.
"Uh...yeah?"
"Oh...I don't need an ambulance...I'm good...I could do with throwing up though..." He then scowled. "Imayoshi? Really?"
Akashi decided that was as good a time as any to try and get to his feet, handing the confused Imayoshi his glasses back in the process. Imayoshi seemed to have no idea what he was supposed to do with them. "So is Aomine not in his room?"
"He's...not anywhere..." Replied an equally stunned and confused Wakamatsu. "Nowhere we've looked, anyway..."
The redhead thought for a moment, trying to cast his mind back. "Did...did he even make it to the hotel with us?"
Kise shook his head again. "Didn't...did he even leave the club with us?"
"Why wouldn't he?"
"I don't know, but...I think we left him behind..."
"Just call him." Midorima told them. "He probably hasn't gone far anyway." He limped past the wicker chair to pick up the tangled mess of bedclothes and pillows, as he was the one that had knocked them all to the floor, and dumped them on the bed. Imayoshi caught sight of his reflection in the window.
"Oh god!" He exclaimed. "Who's that ugly motherfucker?"
"You." Akashi told him.
"No, the one with the glasses. The ugly one with the weird eyes."
"You." He repeated.
"Oh god."
"Shintaro."
"What?" He asked, barely offering the redhead a glance.
"...Have you done something to your leg?"
He glanced down to the offending limb. "I guess so." He shifted his lower leg experimentally. "It aches..."
"Roll your pant leg up."
He did so, rolling it up to his knee and craning his head back to try and see.
On his lower leg, a large, white, square bandage had been stuck to his skin. Akashi knelt down to take a look at Midorima's calf, gripping the edge of the bandage and tearing it off.
"What is that?" The green-haired man asked, looking at the strange mark revealed. He'd been expecting a stitched injury, perhaps. Something that signified he'd fallen and hurt himself while intoxicated. Instead, he could see something green and sore-looking as he tried to twist his leg to see better.
"It's a tattoo." Akashi answered.
"What?!"
"A tattoo." He repeated as Kuroko came to crouch beside him and get a better look.
"A tattoo of what? What is it?"
"A caterpillar."
"A cutesy caterpillar." Kuroko added.
"Wearing a little pink bow." Akashi confirmed.
"Have you got any others?"
"No!" Midorima yelped before patting himself down experimentally. "At least...I hope not." Surely he would know if he had any other tattoos, right? The one on his leg hurt, after all. And he didn't remember getting any other tattoos. Then again, he didn't remember getting the caterpillar either. "I need a mirror."
At that moment, Kagami came bursting through the door. "I heard screaming!"
"That was ages ago, Kagami-kun. You've missed all the fun."
"Is...is everyone else in here?" He asked, looking around curiously, and then "Is that a tattoo?"
Midorima dropped his trouser leg and rubbed a hand over his face. "I can never wear shorts again..."
"Aomine's missing." Kuroko corrected his light. "Have you seen him?"
"No. Have you tried calling him?"
"No, but we were going to."
Akashi dipped into his pockets before frowning. "My phone isn't there..." He muttered, checking another pocket before looking at the bed. "Did it fall out?"
"I don't have mine either!" Photographer yelped, looking mortified.
"I'm sorry, but mine's gone too!" Sakurai cried next as most of the others began to search their pockets for their phones. Midorima, Kuroko, Kagami and Aomine's other university friend still had theirs, and Imayoshi managed to find his in his back pocket.
"I have a phone." He slurred. "I've got a text." He took a few minutes to read the text, frowned, read it again and then gasped. "Guys, I have a sister."
Completely ignoring him, Kuroko found Aomine in his contacts (it wasn't a long search) and called him.
A cheerful tune filled the room, prompting everyone to turn to the source, which was one of the pockets of Murasakibara's trousers. After a moment, the purple-haired giant dug the ringing phone out of his pocket, stared at it as he considered whether or not to answer it, and then said "This isn't my phone."
"It's Aomine's." Kuroko agreed as the phone rang out.
"Why do I have phones?" He asked, reaching into each of his pockets and pulling out more and more devices, laying each one on the bed beside him. Kise's, Akashi's, Sakurai's, Wakamatsu's, the photographer's, his own, of course, and an additional and expensive looking phone that nobody claimed as their own. Akashi's phone was decorated with an unpleasant looking crack across both the screen and the back. Murasakibara insisted he had no idea how it happened.
"We'll have to go looking for him." Kuroko mused.
There was a general murmur of agreement. After all, this was a strange, unfamiliar place. They couldn't just leave the poor idiot to fend for himself. He'd probably end up being eaten by badgers the next town over. If he didn't just wander around in circles until he dropped.
As everyone else began to get up and set out, Imayoshi lurched forward in his seat and began to vomit profusely over the carpet.
((So I actually wrote this a long time ago and posted it only to my tumblr because technically this was an unfinished version. I was also going to write flashbacks to the night itself and them actually looking for Aomine, but I never went back to finish it, and I wanted to share these parts when I finished them. Also introducing Yuri (the smelly guy) and Mitsuki (the photography student), who are not mentioned by name, but exist because I'm pretty sure Aomine would have friends he made between leaving school and getting married.))
No comments:
Post a Comment