| [Apr. 8th, 2017|11:15 pm] |
“Crêpes, and then water and bed?” Ginta suggested. “I mean, everyone who’s tired should feel free to go ahead and turn in, of course, but you’ll come with me for a nightcap, right?” He grinned at Ryouma. “They’re big crêpes, I could use some help.”
Kakashi leaned around Ryouma, elbow on the table and heedless of the ring left by Ryouma’s water glass. “Crêpes are a terrible euphemism,” he informed Ginta, with all the gravitas of a man imparting ancient wisdom. “You could have at least gone for something the right shape.”
Ryouma stared hard at him for a moment, then a snigger tugged at the corner of his mouth. “If they’re rolled….”
Ginta giggled, alcohol-fueled effervescence tickling up the back of his throat. “They are creamy inside.”
Genma, who’d obediently started sipping his water after Raidou took the extra step to put it in his hands, snorted into it and nearly dropped his glass.
Raidou gave Kurenai a speaking look, you see?, and she returned it with raised eyebrows that suggested she didn’t see the problem at all. Team Six, or at least most of Team Six, was laughing and happy, and whether anyone was getting laid tonight or no-one at all, that had been the real goal, after all.
Of course he was still holding out hope for the getting laid part of the plan, too.
Ryouma turned to Kakashi to ask, “What d’you wanna do?”
Kakashi leaned against Ryouma’s shoulder, head tipped back in a boneless way that only someone drunk could find comfortable, and smiled up at the taller man. “This is good.”
Ryouma gazed down at Kakashi for a long moment, probably processing a fleet of conflicting emotions, then turned to meet Ginta’s eyes. “Maybe another time?”
Well, that wasn’t the same as never. Ginta nodded. “Another time, definitely.” Unless Ryouma fell so hard for Kakashi before the next opportunity that he’d taken himself off the market altogether. But from everything Ginta’d heard about Ryouma, that was unlikely.
They finished Kurenai’s shouchuu, and between them devoured two bowls of pickles and the last of a plate of fried oysters that no one could remember ordering. In the end it was Genma who broke the spell. All those drinks finally made it through his kidneys, and he rocked to his feet. “I’ll be back,” he said. He kept his feet, edging past the farmer-patrons to sway towards the toilets on the other side of the bar.
Kakashi listed heavily against Ryouma, with his eyes half closed. Kurenai reapplied a coat of ‘Death to Cheaters’ or whatever shade of red lipstick she’d chosen for the evening. Raidou emptied his glass of water, refilled it, and emptied that one, too.
When Genma came back, he dropped a hand on Raidou’s shoulder, but didn’t sit down. “What time are we meeting tomorrow? 0500?” he asked through a yawn.
Ryouma looked faintly green at the concept, with an anticipatory hangover.
Raidou studied his inebriated rookies floating on their ocean of alcohol, then turned his face up at his well-oiled lieutenant. “Just this once, we’ll do 0700.”
Genma smiled hazily down at him. “That’s why you’re the best captain.”
“You’re still going to be hating it at 0700,” Ginta observed.
“We are.” Genma patted Raidou’s shoulders with both hands. “But not as much as we’d hate 0500.” He stretched his arms over his head, overbalanced himself, caught Raidou’s shoulder again to steady himself, and laughed. “I’ll drink some water when I get home. You should, too.”
“I’ll do that,” Raidou promised. Wry amusement colored his voice. He got to his feet with a steadier lurch, and cupped a hand under Genma’s elbow in case Genma decided to wobble again. Either Raidou’d drunk less before they got to the izakaya, or his greater body mass just gave him an edge in metabolizing it, but he didn’t seem nearly as tipsy as Genma. He offered Kurenai a hand up. “Staying here, or turning in?”
If Kurenai played her cards just right, and waited for the rookies to head out…
She took Raidou’s hand and let herself be helped up, but let go and stepped away as soon as she was on her feet. “Still up for crêpes, Ginta?”
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