Katou (katoustheshit) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-03-25 19:37:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, wendy darling, yue katou |
Who: Katou and Wendy
What: Katou comes home drunk
When: St. Paddy’s Day
Where: Wendy’s house
Rating: Low
Status: Complete Upon Posting
Katou had had pretty fantastic day. He had cut class (which really wasn’t that surprising. When he had first moved in with Wendy he had gone to school for three whole days in a row, before he realized that it was stupid. He still left the house during school hours though, just to keep up appearances) and had decided to get drunk with some of his friends.
It wasn’t the first time he had gotten drunk and come home since crashing on her couch, but it was the first time when there was still daylight out and a good chance of Wendy and Jack being up. As much as he told himself that he didn’t care, he hoped Wendy wouldn’t be too disappointed in him.
So, with most of a bottle of whiskey and a case of beer in his system, a busted lip and what was shaping up to look like a mean black eye, and one of those green plastic St. Patrick’s Day hats on his head, he stumbled into the house, obviously in a fairly good mood. He’d probably be whistling if his lip wasn’t swollen.
Wendy was quite the doer, the mover and the shaker, which meant that after she’d insisted that Katou stay with her and Jack, she decided on setting up an alcove for him that was sort of nestled in a bookshelf, with cushions and pillows and something that resembled a bed and was probably a little more comfortable than the sofa. It was a small version of a room, sort of, the best she could do - her house was a two-bedroom, two bathroom, so he had to share Jack’s bathroom but hopefully neither minded and would keep it decently clean. But as for the nook, it turned out nicely. Her cottage-style house already contained secret little nooks and crannies, cabinets in certain places; may as well work with the design.
She hadn’t gone out for St. Patrick’s Day, but instead worked like usual and then came home to avoid the crowds and drunk people liquored up on green beer. Her British heritage meant she didn’t need an excuse to get drunk anyway, but it just wasn’t her thing - which was why she was completely sober when Kat came stumbling back into the house, looking like he’d been punched in the face (he probably had!) and smelling like the inside of a bottle of something strong.
Mothering Wendy was waiting for him.
“Oh! Katou, goodness.” She was there, concerned, both about him and his potential for throwing up right now. “What on earth happened?!” Hands on her hips, The Look formed on her face and being pinned under the weight of The Look was probably not a pleasant thing. Jack had been following him around, as promised, but of course she didn’t tell Katou that. It was just a way to make sure he didn’t do anything too self-destructive, but Jack couldn’t watch him all the time.
"Wendy!" Katou exclaimed cheerfully, though he withered a little under The Look. He hadn't had anyone really act like an adult who cared in... Well, actually ever, but mostly not for the last four years, and he was still adjusting. A lot of the time he thought it was stupid, but he continued to stick around for some reason he wasn't entirely sure about.
The alcove had been a shock when he had seen it. He was still surprised Wendy hadn't booted him out, so seeing the alcove had stirred something in him. He hadn't thanked Wendy for it, because he didn't thank anyone, but it made him want to be extra nice to her and Jack. "I uh... Brough' you a hat," he said, offering her the one that was on his head.
She clucked her tongue, a tsk, in that sort of disapproving way - because he was just so young, Wendy hated seeing him take a downward spiral, but Kat had quite the chip on his shoulder and probably with good reason; all of the truthiness stuff revealed that his life up to this point hadn’t exactly been easy. Still, she knew he was a good person and Jack thought so too - which was why they both believed in him enough to know he just needed some positive encouragement and support.
A lot of positive encouragement and support.
“Thank you,” she spoke, prim and proper, taking the hat from him. “Go on then, I’ll bring something for your face which looks awful. And some peppermint tea.” It would help with any nausea, at least, and he needed something that wasn’t alcohol.
“Is the tea going to be Irish?” Katou asked, and laughed at his own not-very-funny joke. He went to stumble over to the couch, and only managed to run into one piece of furniture on his way. “Have you had a good St. Paddy’s Day?” he called to her once he had himself situated. “You don’ look drunk. Drunk you is some’ing I’d like to see.” It was sinking in that she said his face looked awful, so he brought a hand up to his lip. “You don’ think i’ makes me look rugged and dangerous?” he asked. He hadn’t actually looked in the mirror since he had cleaned the blood off his face, but he thought he had looked pretty badass.
“It was quite boring, actually, until now,” Wendy called back, about her St. Patrick’s Day, but she hadn’t expected it to be filled with corned beef and drunken revelry. No, it was business as usual for her and she was fine with that - besides, the episode with a dead Mr. Periwinkle and his, ah, questionable computer images meant that the entire firm was in a tizzy. Both to replace him and to deal with the fallout of one of their top attorneys being involved in keeping a crime ring afloat. It wasn’t just Periwinkle, Hook, Critton & Luttier, LLP it was That Dead Midget Porn Guy, Hook, Critton & Luttier, LLP and it was awkward.
She returned to the sofa where Katou was drunkenly sprawled, setting down the mug of tea and the rest of her things, dipping a cotton swab into warm salt water to dab on his lip. “Put this on your eye,” she instructed briskly, and gave him an ice pack. “And hold it there. Hold still. You don’t look badass, actually, you look like you had a rough night. Who on earth did you get into a fight with?”
Katou took the cotton swab like he had never seen one before, looked at Wendy's face, and then touched it to his face. It stung, and he winced a little. He had gotten into a lot of fights over the years, but he didn't often care for the various cuts bruises he got. The last time someone had even thought to care for them was his sister before he ran away. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it was nice having Wendy around.
"You can't properly celebrate good old St Pat without getting into at least one fight," he slurred. "It was my buddy Matt. He caught me and his girlfriend..." Katou trailed off, because as much as he didn't have a problem being vulgar most of the time, being vulgar in front of Wendy seemed wrong somehow. "Well, we was hanging out behind the bar." The fact that Katou had seen Matt first and then called out to him 'you're right, she does suck like a vacuum' had probably escalated things. He shrugged, and grinned at Wendy. "He'll get over it."
Carefully, in her expert maternal way, Wendy helped clean the busted lip as best she could in between making sure he kept the ice pack on his eye - it was shaping up to be quite the shiner, and she didn't want it to swell or get even worse than it was. "So all this over a girl?" she laughed softly, shaking her head. "And my St. Patrick's Day was well enough without the addition of a fight. It could have been worse though, so I'm glad it wasn't."
Katou could have broken something! Like his nose. Or his neck. Or smoked a bad batch of shrooms or something and goodness, she always worried about what he was up to. But he hadn't brought anything unsavoury into the house, at least - he seemed to sort of like it, and want to stay, even if he didn't come out and really say it. Which meant being mindful of the few rules she had.
"Here, keep nursing that eye and drink this." The steaming hot mug of tea was offered. "You need something besides...whatever alcohol you drank."
“Yep, just some girl. Told him he was overreacting,” Katou said, grinning. He hadn’t really thought about it in those terms before, but now it was extra funny.
He grudgingly took a sip of his tea. He didn't need it or nothing - just because he drank so much that the room was spinning didn't mean that he drank too much, but if Wendy was going to insist he supposed he didn't have much of a choice. “Thank you,” he said. It wasn’t something that he had said in the last few years, but he was pretty drunk and Wendy was being so nice to him.
She was somewhat surprised by the words, though certainly not in a bad way. "Quite welcome," Wendy responded with a small smile, assessing the busted lip a bit more and deciding that since it was cleaned now, all the excess blood and nastiness taken care of, it could heal. As long as Katou didn't get himself punched in the face again. "I just want you to be safe, because I worry. I know it's sort of odd for you but I do." Her slender hands twisted somewhat nervously in her lap; he was simply not used to having people fret over him, which could be difficult to actually become accustomed to, so she was trying a bit of patience on her end as well – and Wendy Darling was nothing if not patient.
"And you've been going to school, haven't you?" Uh oh. The mama lioness had potential to rear its head.
Katou gave her a strange look when she said she worried about him. He'd certainly never heard someone say that to him before, and he wasn't entirely sure how to respond. So, he shrugged and smiled and said "Eh, no point in worrying about me. Seems like a whole lotta extra stress you don't need."
To the school question, he laughed a little louder than he intended. "I go sometimes I guess. I dunno, I have no idea what the fuck they're talking about most of the time so it seems pretty pointless."
"Well, it'd be less stress if you didn't come home all busted up, right?" Wendy helpfully pointed out, though her tone wasn't very scolding - she'd gotten her point across, with laser-eyed looks and her concern about the direction of Katou's very young life. She didn't need to beat a dead horse.
Making certain that he was still nursing the tea (peppermint was healthy, many benefits!), she began to gather her things - and took the ice pack for the time being. Hopefully that eye wouldn't swell more. "And as for school, you could always bring home whatever you don't know what the fuck they're talking about - " It was always amusing when she dropped an f-bomb, like something sacred died somewhere. Sometimes English accents didn't caress certain words. "And I could help."
Katou wasn’t sure waht was funnier. The fact that was dropping hints that he shouldn’t get into fights, the idea that someone could actually help him with his homework, or the dropping of the f-bomb. Either way, he laughed. For a moment. Then, he put down the tea and vaulted off the couch, running to the bathroom to vomit noisily into the toilet. At least he was good at knowing when he was about to be sick.
Wendy sighed. The silver lining of Kat puking was that he didn’t throw up all over her furniture - he made it to the toilet in time, and for that she was grateful. In the doorway she stood, leaning against the frame while he was emptying the contents of his stomach - it probably needed to happen anyway. Then she was gone and back, with a glass of water for him to sip on so his mouth didn’t taste so disgusting.
“Now see, you’ve gone and thrown up a kidney or something,” she tsked, teasing somewhat, and set the water down on the counter near the sink. “Rehydrate yourself and then go to sleep. And think about what I said. Your schoolwork would make more sense if you actually spent time on it.” She wouldn’t take any guff from him about it either!
Katou eagerly took the glass of water, gargled once, and then drank the rest of it. “I dunno, I’d rather spend my time doing shit that’s actually fun.” Like playing the guitar, and doing lots of drugs. And getting hammered. Katou wasn’t entirely sure why he was even still in school. Sure, it was easier to conduct his particular form of business there, but a lot of the time he wondered why he bothered.
"Eventually you'll run out of fun shit to do because someone will expect you to do real life shit and then if you haven't got any smarts or an education, you'll just look like a dumb shit," so advised pristine Wendy Darling, who probably should stitch that on a needlepoint somewhere. She would if it got her points across. Would leave it on Katou's sleeping space.
The empty glass was taken from him, and she was pleased to see that he'd finished. An ocean of water was surely needed after that much alcohol consumption and throwing up. "Go on, then. Shoo. Off to bed with you."
Katou laughed. “Well, if I’m gonna be a dumb shit, I might as well look the part,” he said cheerfully. He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about going to bed. On one hand, he was very drunk, and seeing straight wasn’t going so well for him. On the other hand, getting told to do things was very unfamiliar. The idea of sleep ended up winning out though, so he unsteadily pulled himself to his feet, and headed toward the couch.
Well, if he wanted to sleep on the couch as opposed to the cosy nook, then by all means! Wendy sighed again, unfolding a blanket to drape over the prone form of the drunk teenager. "You're not a dumb shit, so you shouldn't aspire to become one and only that," she insisted and, my goodness, that was a lot of cursing from her. A bar of soap in her mouth was probably in her future, or should be.
She settled Katou with the blanket and then tucked her hair behind her ears, ducking to kiss his forehead goodnight. He was going to give her grey hair at an early age but she'd stick to her guns and help make a positive difference in his life. "I'll leave a bucket here in case you need to throw up again. Have sweet dreams."
He hadn’t even thought about the cozy nook. He did like it, but the idea that someone had made a space for him was still pretty foreign. The bucket was probably a good idea. Even if Katou managed to sleep through the whole night, there was a pretty good chance he’d be throwing up again in the mornings. “‘Night,” he muttered.
Closing his eyes kind of made it feel like the room was spinning, but within no time, he was out like a light.