The Space Between [RanTaku] [MuneTaku]

s e v e n t e e n

earlier...

Three. Three bottles left. Then he'd be completely out. Considering how quickly he got through a bottle he'd run out quite quickly. He needed more, he felt like his body physically couldn't cope without one. At this point, he wasn't even sure which day of the week it was. He couldn't bother the poor maid any further, he'd already had to practically beg her to tell everyone he wasn't home and if he asked her to get more alcohol, she'd call his parents in seconds and he'd get hell from the pair of them, and not just about the drinking. His parents holiday cabin was off limits to him after he threw a party there one summer yet here he was, hiding out in there despite his parents banning him. This was too much thinking, it was making his head hurt. He was set to get another drink when he heard the door to the cabin click open.

"Don't you knock?" He said icily, not looking at who was there, his constant drinking giving him a permanently bad temper.

"Thoughtful. Hello to you too." A sarcastic voice replied. Shindou recognised the voice and turned to see the navy haired striker stood by the door, his nose scrunched up from the strong smell of alcohol emanating from the room. He opened a window.

"It smells like something died in here." He said, "When you said you were sick, I never thought it'd be something like this. Alcohol, I'm disappointed."

"What do you want Tsurugi? And how'd you even get in here?" He focused his attention back to the unopened bottle on the table. Before he could pick it up, Tsurugi grabbed it and opened it.

"It's not hard to open a door when you've left it unlocked. Honestly, Shindou. People have been wondering where you'd disappeared off to. I wouldn't have dreamed of finding you here. Not a bad hiding spot at all."

"That's all well and good, now can you give that back?" 

"Relax, I'm joining you. Now move over." Shindou watched silently as Tsurugi plopped onto the nearest couch and poured some of the bottle into an empty glass and downed it in seconds. He grimaced, wiping his mouth a little. "Damn that's strong."

"You get used to it." Shindou said tonelessly, refilling his and Tsurugi's glass. "Are you sure Tenma's okay with you being here?"

Tsurugi didn't reply, instead he finished a second glass. Shindou decided not to question him any further, it wasn't really his business anyway and at this point, he couldn't care less about anyone's problems.

"Actually, Matsukaze doesn't know I'm here. We haven't been speaking." Tsurugi said quietly.

This came as a surprise to Shindou. Tsurugi and Tenma had always looked like the perfect couple. He'd always been envious of how easy things were for them.

"Wow. What happened?" He asked, unable to hide the curiosity riddled in his voice.

"He wants, well, wanted me to meet his parents." Tsurugi said, his orange eyes fixed on the empty glass in front of him.

"What's wrong with that?"

"I-i don't know. Refill." Tsurugi held his glass in front of Shindou, who still had the bottle in his hand. Shindou poured him another. "I told him I would, he made me swear that I would. But on the day, I got scared and flaked out. He hasn't spoken to me since." He sighed as he finished his sentence and Shindou could sense regret in his voice.

"Bad move there. I'm no love expert, but it seemed like it was really important to him." Shindou shrugged, "I think that if you really love him or whatever, you should talk to him instead of trying to drown your problems with alcohol."

"You mean what you're doing right now?"

"Exactly. Don't do what I'm doing."

"Ever heard the saying 'practice what you preach'"

"Don't change the subject." The brunette let his hair shadow his eyes. 

"What even happened?"

"We broke up, well, he dumped me."

"Shit."

"And I said something awful to Kirino in the moment and now I don't think he ever wants to speak to me again. And here I am, shamelessly drinking like an idiot."

Tsurugi sighed, his friend was an almost hopeless case, "You need to take your own advice. Whatever happened doesn't mean you have to sit in your room all day slowly killing yourself with alcohol. How many of those have you had?"

When Shindou stopped to think about an answer, Tsurugi frowned.

"Well considering you had some, about three and a half."

"You should be passed out drunk right now."

"You'd be surprised how many I can take before I get drunk. I'm barely tipsy." Shindou shrugged, a hint of a smile on his face, bringing the glass to his lips unfazed by Tsurugi's incredulous look.

"I think that's enough for today." Tsurugi snatched the glass from him and drank it. "Get up! You're a mess."

"Do I have to?"

"How old are you? Seventeen or seven? Act your age, get up and go and take a shower!"

"Fine, fine! You're such a mom."

"Shut up and take a shower!"

"Hey, can I use your phone? I don't know where mine is."

Tsurugi sighed and handed him his phone. Shindou scrolled around for a bit before dialling a number. The phone clicked on the other side and Shindou realised this was the first time he'd heard Kirino's voice in nine weeks.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Kirino." He said, his voice sounding unrecognisable, even to him.

The silence that followed was almost embarrassing. Nobody spoke for what seemed like ages. Shindou even thought he'd hung up the line. He was about to apologise before he heard Kirino speak.

"Where are you?"