Mononoke Casino

4

Of course, when tomorrow came, all of them decided to ignore their problems for another day.

By the time 10pm had rolled around, Lucas had dropped Kanna off with his jacket and a kiss, Blaine had accidentally broken a plant pot, Karma had woken up, and Fox had cleaned his whole apartment out of excitement. With no money left to gamble with, Fox was just sat in the kitchen, chatting to another of the waitresses who was showing him where everything was. Kanna burst in, giggling, some random guy on her arm, and she looked surprised to see Fox sat there. The waitress started panicking and shooed them away, following them to make sure Kanna wasn't going to take any more customers into the staff-only areas. Jumping down from the counter and noticing the time, Fox ran to the cupboard, shutting himself inside and feeling the wall for some kind of light switch. This whole 'initiation' seemed a bit childish. It didn't feel professional at all, but maybe this was the world of the rich, where there were no personal boundaries to push. Where you could get away with whatever you wanted. Still feeling the wall for a light switch, he didn't expect his fingers to run over another hand. A second hand was immediately slapped over his mouth, stopping him from screaming, and the one on the wall slid around his waist. "You won't find a light in here," the person said, and after a moment Fox realised who it was. "Karma? What are yo-" he was cut short by Karma's mouth pressed onto his, and Fox instantly forgot what he was saying. He turned around and put his hands on Karma's shoulders as Karma pulled him in closer, pressing them against each other. Fox closed his eyes and lost himself in the kiss as Karma became more aggressive, sliding his tongue into Fox's mouth and slowly running his hands up his back. 

Outside, Blaine was talking to Kate. "Meet me in the kitchen in five, alright?" he said, turning towards the door and trying to hide the excitement in his walk. Truth be told, he was looking forward to it. He wasn't entirely sure why he made them keep up this stupid ritual, but it was funny sometimes. And it had given Kanna her on-off friendship deal with Lucas, whom he probably would've fired by now if it wasn't for her. Blaine was looking forward to kissing Fox again and he didn't know why. It was just because he hadn't kissed anyone in a while, he told himself, opening the door and walking over to the cupboard. He straightened out his shirt and started to open the door, when Kate opened the kitchen door behind him, sceptical of waiting a whole five minutes to go in. 

"What the fuck!?" Blaine shouted, locking eyes with Karma, who broke away from Fox's mouth and grinned. "You were supposed to be in there with me." Blaine shouted, pointing at Fox theatrically, and Kate, witnessing it all, literally fainted in the open doorway, falling forwards as it swung shut behind her. Karma licked his lips and kissed Fox gently, before squeezing between Blaine and stepping over Kate, escaping into the hustle and bustle of the casino. Fox couldn't say anything. He should feel guilty, of course, but... the kiss was so damn good. "You're just like everyone else," Blaine said to himself, softly, and Fox didn't quite hear it- but Blaine had already turned away, stepping over Kate who had just begun to come around, disappearing through the door and leaving Fox by himself. Kate sat up awkwardly and blinked at Fox, who smiled a little and brushed down his clothes. "Guess you caught me," he said, winking, and walked out of the door as well. Still on a high from the kiss, he scanned the room, half hoping to see Karma. Blaine wasn't there either, so he walked to the side and leant against the wall to collect his thoughts. Coming back down to earth a little, he realised he should probably apologise. It wasn't HIS fault that Karma had cornered him in there, anyway. He looked around for Blaine again, weaving in and out of the people, but he was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Karma, he thought to himself, a little disappointed. Fox rubbed his forehead, a little confused now. He didn't have feelings for Karma. Really, he found him a little scary. Walking towards the exit, he didn't expect to find both of them stood outside. They were shouting at each other, and from the distance Fox couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could see them perfectly. He saw Blaine lift up his arm and slap Karma across the face with a sickening crack, and he ran over, surprising them both with his appearance. The large, red handprint mark had already shown up on Karma's weirdly pale skin, and Blaine stared at Fox with an unreadable expression. "I'm sorry. It wasn't your fault." He said, averting his eyes and rubbing the back of his neck. He sighed and turned to face Fox properly, extending a hand. Fox mentally made a note of this- he seemed to use hand gestures a lot. "Can I take you out to dinner to make it up to you?" He smiled, but Karma elbowed him and also extended a hand. "Or will you let me take you to McDonald's, so we can finish what we started?" 

Fox looked between them both, stunned, and completely unable to choose. Blaine closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, letting his arm drop back down to his side. "If you have to hesitate, I can tell that you'd rather be with him." He turned and walked away, shoving his hands into his pockets. It would've been perfect if it had started to rain and if Fox had run after him, but neither happened and he got into Karma's car instead, trying not to think about it too much. They started driving and Karma stuck his phone into the dock, opening some sketchy looking music app and hitting shuffle, 'The Bidding' by Tally Hall starting to play. He sang along to the verses, and his voice was decent, but not amazing. Fox watched his lips move, and Karma winked at him as he sang the words 'maybe you should blow a couple bucks on me'. To Fox, this suddenly didn't feel right, and he wished that he'd picked Blaine immediately, or run after him, or just gone home. He stayed silent and turned to the window instead, but Karma didn't notice, he just kept singing. The arrived at McDonald's and Karma parked his car wonkily, unbuckling his seatbelt but choosing to turn towards Fox instead of get out. He gently took Fox's hand and pressed it against the slap mark on his cheek, leaning forwards, expecting a kiss. The mark was too much for Fox and he pulled away, withdrawing his hand and getting out of the car. Instead of going inside, he started to walk to the road, and left Karma sat there alone. 

Fantastic. Now he'd upset both of them. 

Kanna was completely oblivious to all of this happening. The old man from yesterday was back, and wouldn't stop harassing her, but she didn't really mind. She was running low on money anyway, and she was used to sleeping around with weirdos. They always overpaid her anyway. Lucas wasn't there to save her from trouble tonight. She walked with him to his car, forgetting that she should tell Lucas she wouldn't need picking up anymore. They drove quietly to his house, a relatively large building with lots of windows and a large iron gate. Kanna knew she'd hate every second, but it was all worth it in the end. It always was. She could always find someone her age to take care of her afterwards. She started to pull off her clothes, but he stopped her, and this should've raised some red flags but Kanna was too relieved to notice. "I just want to do a little gamble with you," he said, smiling weirdly with crooked teeth. "If you win, I can pay you whatever you want, and if you lose... you can stay here as my mistress.". Horrified, Kanna tried to leave, but the door was locked. "Come on," said the old man, "it's just a little card game." 

Forced to play, Kanna watched with baited breath as he laid out a bunch of playing cards on the floor. "First to find a pair of matching colour and number wins. Ok?" He smiled again, and Kanna tried to picture herself being forced to live here with him. "You go first." he smiled, and she slowly turned over two cards. No pair. This was a fair game, right? It had to be, it was an equal chance either of them could win. 50/50. Just like flipping a coin. They kept turning over cards, waiting until someone found a pair. It was the man's turn. He slowly and deliberately turned over the card roughly in the centre of the floor. The queen of clubs. Kanna's eyes widened as she remembered turning over the queen of spades herself earlier. Locking eyes with her, he grabbed that card and turned it over excruciatingly slowly, revealing the pair. 

"I win." He said, grinning.