Silence | Book 1

1-6: Wait

"Is this better?" Tristan asked, once he'd guided a very wobbly Hibiki outside into the rather cold and damp October night. Although still a little pale, Hibiki nodded.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise you'd had so much?" His apology was immediately waved away. Before Hibiki could respond any further, two large, Japanese men came running out of the pub. Tristan looked on a little surprised as they jogged straight towards them.
「Is everything alright, Yukimura-sama?」Hideki asked, while Kazuya stared Tristan down. Hibiki just blew a raspberry and shooed them both away like they were stray cats begging for treats. Kazuya seemed opposed to it, but Hideki just tapped him on the shoulder and took him with a few yards away to the other side of the entrance. Once there, Kazuya lit up a smoke, sharing a few inaudible words with Hideki who shrugged.
As he looked at the two men, Tristan heard familiar giggling beside him, and felt a light thud against his shoulder.
"You really had too much didn't you?" He asked, a bit concerned, perhaps feeling guilty as well, since he'd been in part responsible. Hibiki just nodded and very carefully and deliberately typed a response through his dizziness.

'Parents will be mad.'
"I'm sorry, will you be fine though?"
Hibiki let out a soft groan and made another spinning gesture with his hand. Tristan could feel his weight shift, whenever he tried to stand up without much success.

'Can I tell a sevret?'
Hibiki looked up at him with a drunken, mischievous grin, as every drop of alcohol had set in with its full weight. Cautiously curious, Tristan nodded, and Hibiki set to a frustrated and dazed bout of typing.

'I'm not allowed to drink. Only 17.'
"What?" Tristan said, feeling rather irresponsible that he hadn't caught on, even if he knew it wasn't his fault, and it wasn't a huge law to break. Hibiki just devolved into giggles and nodded at his surprised response.
"When are you going to be eighteen?" Tristan asked, hoping the answer would be a few days so he could feel a bit better about it.

'11-6'
"Next year?!" He had to do his best not to say it so loud everyone could hear, but Hibiki looked up at him confused and shook his head, holding up his phone again as if that would make it any clearer. Tristan frowned slightly.
"November... sixth? So next month?" He asked, and he felt a little relieved when Hibiki nodded against his arm. "You're really young." Immediately he was answered with a loud huff, and a middle finger. Somewhat taken aback, he mumbled a quiet 'sorry' back. Only for Hibiki to nod and type rather frustrated.

'Too young for fun. No booze, no driving, no porn. Only studying.'
"What's wrong with that? I don't do any of that..." Tristan said back, and Hibiki immediately looked up surprised.
"I don't drink, and I don't have a driver's license yet." He was careful to avoid that one other topic mentioned, since he felt that out on the street with a drunk teenager leaning against him wasn't the best place for that discussion. Hibiki thought otherwise.

'No porn?'
Tristan tried not to blush, but to no avail.
"I'd rather not talk about that here." He ignored Hibiki looking up at him with a wide, impish grin.

'I bet your into something dirty.'
Before Tristan could respond, Hibiki got another giggling fit, clearly finding the whole thing hilarious. Resigning to his fate, Tristan took the moment to check the time. Seeing it was still thirty minutes before Hibiki's alleged ride would show up, he looked around for a place that wasn't standing out on the busy pavement.
"There's a small park past that alley, if you'd like to wait somewhere quieter?" Although he figured that with how drunk Hibiki was, quiet would be nice for him too. He personally wanted an excuse to get away from the crowd, since he'd spent the past three hours surrounded by noise. Hibiki nodded, and he helped him walk in a straight line toward that park.

On more than one occasion Tristan had to catch Hibiki, as he veered off a bit too heavily. It was always followed by heavy giggles, and a few times Hibiki leant against him for support perhaps a bit too close for comfort. Finally Tristan managed to drop Hibiki down onto a green park bench under the pale white light of a park lantern. The air here was even cooler than it had been outside the pub, and a soft white mist started to obscured the vision from about thirty yards onwards. Certainly it was more quiet and private – if it weren't for two distinct, large figures that had followed and now hung around an old stone wall that marked the entrance to the park. One was smoking a cigarette.
Tristan leant in towards Hibiki, and held up a hand to whisper at him without being seen.
"Those aren't your cousins, are they?"
He saw Hibiki blink a little surprised, looking at him a bit puzzled before nodding slightly.
"They don't look anything like you, and you're wearing a Cartier watch." He pointed out the expensive, brand new watch.
Hibiki immediately looked at the watch around his wrist and sighed, fumbling with it a little before taking it off and putting it in his pocket.
"I didn't mean anything with that, sorry..." Tristan said quickly as he saw Hibiki put the watch away a bit agitated, afraid he'd offended him in some way. Instead Hibiki just shook his head and leant against the wooden back of the bench, staring up into the misty nothingness as he tried to clear his head with the cool air.
"It's nothing, there are plenty of rich people here." Tristan said, aware that he couldn't even place himself as anything other than solid middle class. Silence fell for a little while as Hibiki typed.