[FIN] Stress Relief

[Akira Midoriyama]

His brows furrowed. "What are you -" He paused, thinking about the ways she could go with her answer - metaphorically and literally. "- No, nevermind, I don't want to know."

"O-of course I do!" Akira cried, sounding frustrated. "I'm not like - like Nate or someone who doesn't mean what they say! I pride myself on being grounded. Down-to-earth." Whatever that funny fuzzy feeling was going on at the back of his mind sure wasn't making him feel that way at the moment, though. It bubbled up inside him, making him feel like he wanted to float away on clouds of fancy. "So...so you really should stop. And I mean this instant. You don't want to take this farther than it has to go, believe you me." He held up a finger in warning.

"Alcohol?!" He stood, drawing himself up. "Just how many drinks have you illegally managed to acquire, young lady?! I have half a mind to march you right home to your parents this instant and let them know just what you've been up to!" He hiccuped, cleared his throat, and beat his chest once with a fist.

"Ahem. Excuse me. As I was saying..." Brown eyes drifted to the glass he himself had asked for. His jaw dropped and his eyes bulged when he realized that upon asking for the same drink she had gotten, his drink, too, was key to potential underage drinking. Making a dash for it, he tried not to think about what it'd be like to down another so soon. He hadn't had this much alcohol since...well, since right before his wedding.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She giggled again, grinning at him deviously. "Well, really, I could stop - but I don't feel like it." And so she wouldn't.

"Oh, more than I could ever hope to count," she said airily as she leaned back a bit, and a sly grin formed on her face at his hiccup. "More than you've had, I'm sure. s**t, you sound like such a little lightweight right now, you know that?" Did alcohol affect him that quickly? Really? Well s**t, this would be fun.

"Ah ah ah," she chided lightly as he reached for the glass, but she reached too, grabbing it at the same time - but she aimed for the rim, and covered it with her palm, so even if he grabbed it, he wouldn't be able to drink it. Holding it like that, she quickly moved her other hand to his nearest shoulder, then slid it across his shoulder blades to the other side, effectively wrapping the arm around him as she leaned her head dangerously close to his - trying to block the drink from his vision. If he was distracted by something else, he might not notice the drink anymore. She stuck her tongue out at him briefly before she smiled and murmured, "I don't think you want to do that, really."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

His face flushed a deeper shade of fushia. "Why, you willful young woman! I swear, if you were one of my sisters..." His tone trailed off into incoherent grumbling until she told him he sounded like a lightweight. "And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" What did a lightweight even sound like? "I'm being serious, here! The least you could do is give me some respect as your elder! You already seem to lack any shame in attempting to deceive me with these drinks!"

As he lay stretched across the seat and counter, hand around the glass but unable to take it, the bridge of his nose and his cheeks grew faintly more ruddy. When she moved her hand to and then across his shoulder, he craned his neck around mistrustfully to keep an eye on it. It was a minute before he remembered the drink he was supposed to keep away from Sera and he blinked rapidly upon coming face to face with that sly grin of hers. Suddenly his shirt felt much too hot for him and he had to air out his collar a little with his free hand.

He drew back shyly at her teasing tongue, gave her a half-lidded, incredulous stare, and released the drink. "You're right, actually. I don't think I want that." He reached to grab the hand over his shoulders and rose, headed for the exit of the club with, he seemed to expect, Sera in tow. "I'd much prefer this."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

If she was one of his sister, she wouldn't even dream of doing this - but she wasn't, so. She giggled at his reactions, all of them, and as he rose and lead her away, he had released the glass. Mission accomplished, the brunette downed it easily as she allowed him to lead her, then deposited the empty glass on the edge of the counter as they passed. "Where are we going, hmm?" She asked once they were outside, quickening her strides a bit to come up beside him instead of following behind him, letting him keep hold of her hand if he wanted. She didn't mind in the least.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Stop laughing at meeee," he groaned, though it turned into more of a whine toward the end, like the complaint of a child. "Are you ever going to take me seriously?" He didn't look back even once and thus did not notice when Sera downed the remaining drink. He seemed far too intent on getting to where he intended to go - wherever that was. "You know everything, don't you, Little Miss All-Grown-Up? Shouldn't you know?" he asked mockingly, sounding irked.

A few minutes later and a little bit of a walk down the street, Akira pulled Sera into a place with a sign that read, 'Lime Light Lounge' in large letters and 'Karaoke Bar' underneath those in smaller ones. He barely stopped to read the letters before barreling in through the front door, his grip on Sera not loosening.

He didn't pause to speak to the people at the front desk before picking a room and pulling the brunette into it with him and closing the door behind her. Finally, he turned to face her, and, with a vacant [removed](as if he wouldn't have been able to muster up the courage otherwise), said, "We're going to sing."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

His groan was more amusing than anything, but with his continually irritated tones and none of them even a little positive, it was starting to make her wonder if he was actually legitimately upset - and that was no fun at all.

Karaoke bar was even less fun.

The small room she didn't mind in the least - in fact, it reminded her of long past games of truth-or-dare - and she placed one hand on her hip and the other on her head as she leaned an elbow against the wall, draping herself against it. "Nope," she replied almost immediately with a single shake of her head, "not happening. I don't sing, ever. Never. Not for anybody or for anything, no matter how drunk I am," she added. Whatever he was trying to push her into was not happening.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

A wicked grin came across the young man's face, transforming it into a countenance of malicious amusement. "What? But I thought you said you could hold your alcohol. And better than someone two years your senior. What better way to test that theory than with a drunk singing contest? You should be able to beat me, shouldn't you?" He spoke like half his wits were already gone. "I'm drunk and you're not. Easy."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Nope, nope, not a chance," she said with a shake of her head, turning it to the side and raising her nose a bit, then aimed her face at him once more with a tilt of her head. "Singing and being able to hold your alcohol are completely different, boy, don't even act like drunken singing will be any indication of anything. Case in point - you and me had the exact same drink. You are drunk - somehow - and I'm not even close. That makes you a lightweight," she pointed out, leaning an arm on him while her other hand stayed on her hip. Another smirk crossed her face. "You can totally go out there and sing, though. You should pick a game where the odds are more equal regardless of how drunk one of us is - assuming we have the same level of talent with singing isn't fair to begin with."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

His smile dropped and he sounded mildly disappointed. "Oh well, it was worth a try. I don't know the difference between how I sound singing drunk and singing sober, anyway. Guess now's a good a time as any to find out."

He stared at her a minute while she explained that they had the same drink, getting out the microphone and pulling out a folded paper from his back pocket. "You can't prove I'm drunk," he insisted, skimming over the writing on the paper. "Also, this is a karaoke room. It's just for the two of us, so there's no need for me to 'go out' anywhere. I'm singing right here. Feel free to leave at any time."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She shifted her position to lean an arm on his shoulder, reaching her opposite hand up to tap him lightly on the cheek with one finger before lowering the hand back down to her hip again. "Nice try," she replied coyly, eying the microphone and the paper as they were pulled out. To be perfectly honest (with herself), she'd never been in a karaoke bar before, and had no idea how they worked or anything, so she was actually quite intrigued.

"I don't have to prove it, you already told me you're drunk," she pointed out, her pale gaze glancing over the paper before she looked up at his face from the corner of her eye, "and who said anything about leaving? I'm perfectly fine right here."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Turning his head to look from his paper to the arm draped on his shoulder, Akira's cheeks grew even warmer at the girl's touch, and though the corner of his mouth twitched, he kept it neutral. Of course, the increasingly deepening color of his complexion was less voluntary, though it was difficult to say by now if it was the alcohol or another influence that made it so.

Satisfied with whatever was on the paper, he selected a song from the list and punched it into the numbers on the microphone. Ignoring the words on the screen, though, he held the paper in his hand and looked back at Seraphine's pale green eyes and sighed.

"I didn't really come here for a contest," he confessed. "I just wanted to sing you this song I'd been working on translating while you were away.I didn't write the music or the original lyrics, of course, but...well, I thought you'd like it." He looked at her vulnerably. "Did you want to hear it, or should we leave? It...might not sound as good if I'm not sober, but on the other hand..." He smiled a little guiltily and ran a hand through his dark hair. "...We're already here and I'm not sure I'd have the guts...or balls to do this another time."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Since he didn't remove or otherwise dismiss her proximity, she remained leaning on him for the time being. He was, after all, a lot more comfortable than the wall, and a hell of a lot more fun. She watched with interest as he selected the song with ease, as if he'd been here before or at the very least, had been to places like this before, but his pause and sigh drew her attention.

If he had been fully prepared with lyrics from his pocket, it was a little obvious that he had an ulterior motive for coming here rather than a simple contest with whatever song. His words were what surprised her, though, and for a moment she was rather speechless, eyebrows raised and her coy demeanor missing. He'd been translating a song while she was away... Presumably, specifically for her, if how vulnerable he appeared was any indication. Well s**t. He didn't.. actually... Nah, that couldn't be it. Nope.

Her stunned reverie lasted a scant few seconds before she grinned up at him coquettishly. "Well you literally dragged me all the way here, so you'd better sing it, drunkenness or lack of balls be damned. Or else," she threatened playfully.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

The boy seemed somewhat apprehensive at Seraphine's out-of-character reaction. He wasn't sure what exactly he'd said that earned her reaction and he wasn't sure what to make of it. However, she quickly seemed to recover, so he took that as a good sign and dismissed his other doubts for the time being.

The buzz of the alcohol made it delightfully easy to do that. Maybe he should try drinking more often...no! No. He didn't want to become a stupid old drunkard like his smelly roomate, Taiji. Still, he was starting to remember why they called alcohol 'liquid courage'.

With a laugh at the very Sera-like response, Akira pressed the play button as he beamed at her. It seemed apparent now that he'd practiced here many times during his time off when he'd been away. Otherwise he would have surely bumped into that coffee table behind him harder and more frequently than his drunk a** already had.

A more tell-tale detail was the fact that he didn't need to look at the foreign characters on the screen even when the lyrics began to start. Once in a while he would glance at his written ones, but it seemed he had memorized those well enough to recite them by heart. When one listened to a song enough times to translate it, matching rhyme, syllables, meaning, and accent marks, that was usually the general outcome, after all.

"Falling down to our desires, they lead us astray
Littering the ground with shirts throughout the night and day~
Once we start, we cannot stop, so tell me what you hide
Tell me why~ you're still hesitating way down deep inside

Distant gazing to your fantasy
Steals you from me and reality
Why do you wander lost in thoughts of someone to spark your drive?
Baby, I wanna be your lover
Baby I wanna be your savior
I wish you'd open up your heart and let me risk the dive~!

Agitation, Agitation,
I'll rouse you to ecstasy
Love is passion, love's sensation
Fathoms deeper than the sea
In this whole world, there's nobody by whose side I'd rather be
So stop hesitating and come to me~

Agitation, agitation
Want you searing like the sun
Getting hotter, getting hotter
'til you melt and come undone
Just give in to what you're feeling and you'll know that I'm the one
Embracing you with my emotion~"

He may not have been able to dance anywhere near Sera's skill level, but it seemed he'd gotten the jist of some kinds of movement from watching her. Since singing required a decent amount of breath, he couldn't afford to use much of it on action, but he swayed in time with it for fun and made dramatic gestures to go along with his lyrics. It was difficult to tell if he was being serious, making a fool of himself, or having fun with a mix of both.

Holding out a hand, he smiled, offering to twirl her if she cared to sway in time with him...maybe dance a little.

"Hold back nothing, be more honest with yourself and see
What you wanna do is simple, one answer's the key
You want to be loved and love back, baby don't be shy
Tell no lie~ Can't completely ever fool me, so don't try

Entrusting me with your body, you chose
Pained urges make me hug you so close
You're the sun scorching my heart dry, it makes me feel so alive
Baby, I wanna be your lover
Baby I wanna be your savior
While it's vague, I can see our future is a lively jive~!

Agitation, Agitation,
Want to paint you with my plea
Love is motion, love is tension
In this moment, you'll agree
You're my whole world; there's nobody more important, can't you see?
So just start believing and come to me~

Agitation, agitation
Burning 'til we burn apart
Getting hotter, getting hotter
We can't stop now, or restart
There's a puzzle piece I'm missing and I think I found the part
I know what I want now, it's your heart~"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She grinned right back at him, though didn't miss the chance to stick her tongue out at him before he started singing. For the time being, she listened to the lyrics, though it wasn't long before the energetic song to take its effect - it started with little movements here and there, moving up to a slight sway of her hips, and though she only noticed him really doing the same when he held his hand out to her, she grinned and took it to spin and dance a little. Or, at the very least, as much as was allowed in such a small room.

Despite the levity of the song and the fact she loved to dance, she couldn't ignore the red flags both his behavior and, more importantly, the song lyrics brought up. Some of the verses hit painfully close to home, and honestly made her more than a little uncomfortable. Quite a few conflicted thoughts emerged from such feelings, though for the time being she quelled them as best she could in favor of enjoying the song and simple dance.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Though rap was not his forte, Akira did the best he could to keep up with the recitations without laughing, enjoying himself enough watching Sera and trying to keep with her moves as well as his shortage of breath.

"Please don't turn and run away, dear
Oh, baby
Tell me how can I
or rather, how should I
love, make it

Charm me with perfect proportions
And let your long hair fly in the wind past me
in slow motion

And there's no
going back because there's no U-turn
This is new now,
so when will you learn?

As high as we rise we know that we'll be falling
Treat yourself with honesty
Come get it, shawty~"

Slipping back into the first verse from there, he repeated the lines as the music dictated, allowing himself more freedom to watch and even join Sera a little bit in her dancing - her forte - as the song neared its close.

"Even if I get hurt, I don't mind
My dangerous dream, are you alright?
I want to get a feel for you
Even down to your breathing
I will always be right by your side
Gazing at and wanting only your light
Throwing everything away 'cause I'm
soooo in loooove~"