When it came to Rin's birthday party, Yuzu was sure of three things. One, that there would be alcohol. Two, it would probably be cheap alcohol. And three, who would be on the guest list.

The party was to be held at Rin and Yugo's apartment off-campus, so that meant there was no limit on the number of people they could invite. However, Rin understood boundaries, so Yuzu put the number at fourteen attending.

Yuzu of course, was the first invited. Rin and Yugo mostly had their own friends that sometimes correlated, but Yuzu was one of the few they both enjoyed spending time with rather than tolerated for the sake of the other. So it was no surprise to Yuzu when both of them texted her seconds apart, inviting her to the same party. Yuzu agreed and asked if she could bring Yuya, which of course they agreed to.

Another one who they would both invite was their neighbour, Serena. She lived in the flat across the halfway and had been the first one to welcome the young couple to the building. She was also the one to help Yugo kick the cigarettes by agreeing to go cold turkey with him for a solid three months (Yuzu still found it a miracle it worked). So they would both invite her, and Serena would bring even cheaper, even nastier alcohol on the provision she could bring her two roommates: Sora and Yuri.

Yuzu had actually known Sora since they were both in high school. They'd met through Yuya when he and Sora scored the two lead male roles in a production of The Rope. Yuzu had assumed Sora to be a cute cuddly little teddy bear who would let her braid his hair and make pillow forts with her. This image was almost completely destroyed the first time they ever got drunk at a party, when a man had said something against Yuzu and 4'10" Sora had flipped the guy and broke his collarbone. For whatever reason Yuzu found she quite liked this side of Sora and, if anything, that night had only made them closer friends. In fact, it was Sora who told Yuzu about the flat across the hall from him that was being rented out again and suggested Rin and Yugo move in. Without a doubt he was Yuzu's closest friend besides Yuya and parties with him were the best kind.

Yuri was completely different species of fish entirely. Apparently he'd attended the same high school as Serena, but she couldn't remember him at all, which was alarming enough in itself considering they'd been born less than a month apart. They'd met a term into their second year through an online roommate website, as Yuri had fallen out with the people he'd been renting a house with and Serena had just kicked her latest roommate out. Yuzu didn't know the guy beyond seeing him going to the bathroom whilst she was hanging out with Sora and Serena at their apartment – Biology and Music didn't share any classes and whilst Yuzu didn't mind a good party, Yuri tended to sit out. But lately Serena had started dragging him to parties hosted by a few close friends, mainly because he was a brilliant designated driver but also because his lack of tolerance to alcohol made him hysterical to watch drunk. So Yuri was probably going to be there.

And since Yuya, Sora and Yuri were going to be there, so would Dennis. Dennis, like Sora and Yuya, was a member of the theatre group and possibly the most obnoxious person on campus. Yuzu didn't particularly dislike him, but she didn't particularly like him either. What made it worse was that the guy had given her no reason to feel uncomfortable around him, but there was just something so off about his whole persona, as if he was trying too hard to please her. To cement her worries, the guy was best friends with Yuri, which made no sense for her – someone like Yuri didn't hang around with Dennis because he was a Broadway-loving nice guy. But for some reason both Yuya and Sora liked the guy, so one of the two would probably get Rin and Yugo to invite him.

That boosted the list of people there up to eight, but there were still a few more people Yuzu knew to expect.

The first was Shingo Sawatari. He was another one of Yuya's friends that rubbed her the wrong way, but at least he had a reason for it. He pretty much defined the spoilt rich kid, even if he tended to blow a gasket when someone called him that. He had his own apartment off-campus, drove a nice car and never seemed to be short of money like everyone else was. Yuzu personally saw him as an arrogant brat, but both Yuya and Yugo liked him, maybe because he attended classes with them and they'd just grown used to him. But yeah, odds are he was probably going to be there.

Another was Yuto. On face value, Yuto was probably the type of boy her father would have an aneurism about her hanging around with. You tend to give off that aura when you walk around wearing a choker and a nose ring. But Yuzu knew him better than that. Yuto was the one who helped her with her homework, gave his critic on her music performances before she turned them in and insisted on walking her home at night so nothing bad happened to her. Not to mention, she knew that he shared Yuya's blood so clearly he had to be pure at heart.

Alright, maybe this was some time for backstory.

Yuto had been adopted at birth, and whilst he loved his adopted parents, not knowing who his biological parents were or why they gave him up had messed with his self-confidence. In an effort to help, his parents had suggested getting a hobby. Not wanting to force his parents to fork out lots of money for it, Yuto had decided the cheapest hobby he could develop was jogging. By coincidence, Yuya's therapist had detected he was going through a particularly bad patch and recommended he take up a sport. Yuya chose track. The pair had joined separate clubs, but those two clubs had met up for a competition about a month into the new season. It didn't take a genius looking at the two boys who had never met before to know that were related. Thankfully, before any wild theories could spring up, Yuya's mum had explained the situation – before meeting Yuya's father, Yoko had given Yuto up for adoption and that he was indeed Yuya's older half-brother. Both only children with no siblings, the pair were ecstatic and within two days Yuzu was being introduced to "my awesome half-brother, Yuzu can you believe this, this is amazing!" It was amazing, and Yuto had been a close friend of the pair ever since.

If Yuto was going, which he was probably was, Shun and Ruri Kurosaki were definitely going to be attending. Shun had already graduated but was now a post-graduate student studying ornithology. He'd actually met Yuto through his little sister, Ruri, who shared some classes with him. Yuzu knew her for the same reason – Ruri took Music like she did. Shun was a song writer, Ruri sang and, like Yuto, played the guitar. It was a match made in heaven and their band performed at local pubs and clubs. If nothing else, they would provide the soundtrack for the party.

Another person probably going to be invited was Noboru Gongenzaka, Yuya's childhood friend. He had a rather serious, old-fashioned view on the world that made him somewhat of a drag at parties, but Rin liked him so he was probably going to show up, which would make Yuya happy and Yuzu wouldn't be disappointed either.

The last person Yuzu knew for sure was coming was Reiji Akaba. Like Shun, he was post-graduate student, but studying business. He had a fair bit of pull with the staff who trusted him to monitor on-campus parties to make sure they didn't get too out of control. He was a requirement for any parties Yuzu and Yuya threw as they lived on-campus, because he tended to give them more leeway than if they had to invite a professor to supervise. Even though they now lived off-campus, Yugo and Rin still felt compelled to invite him.

That was fourteen people, so Yuzu expected to see twelve faces when she and Yuya arrived at Rin's doorstep that evening.

"Hey guys!" They both jumped, Yuya nearly dropping Rin's present when Serena emerged from her flat behind her, carrying two large bottles of disgusting fruity alcohol that Yuzu knew from experience left terrible hangovers. "You made it!"

"We live literally two blocks away" Yuya pointed out.

"And you're easily distracted" Serena pointed out. She pushed past them and opened the door as if she lived there. "Riiiiiin! I found some strangers loitering on your doorstep!"

Stepping into the apartment, Yuzu expected blaring music, bottles overflowing with alcohol and people overflowing with even more of it. What she actually encountered was the most miserable birthday party she'd ever witnessed since her Great-Aunt Ellen's eightieth.

The only one who seemed to be enjoying herself was Ruri, who was lording over four other people in a game of Monopoly on the floor, declaring herself Supreme Ruler of the Orange and Purple Tiles. Yuto appeared to have amassed a great number of hotels on the two blue properties, but was nearly bankrupt because no one ever landed on the blue properties. Sora was in jail and had been for the past two rounds. Shingo had landed on Free Parking and had assumed that meant he got all of the tax money in the middle, but Yuri – the banker – disagreed and said the tile had no effect so an argument had broken out. A few feet away, Shun appeared to be sulking on the sofa, staring down at the game occasionally before flicking his gaze back to his laptop, probably working on more song lyrics. On the end of the sofa was Reiji, sipping a cup of water and looking excruciatingly bored. Yugo had been cheering on the game of Monopoly, declaring it too complicated for him, but the argument meant he now felt uncomfortable cheering. Rin was watching them all, looking somewhat distressed.

Yuzu had been to funerals that felt more invigorating.

"Hey Rin!" Yuya greeted her with a grin handing over the present from the both of them "Happy Birthday! Here's your present!"

Rin looked relieved at the intrusion. "Yuya! Yuzu! Thank you so much!"

She headed off to the next room, probably to lock the present away so no drunks tried to open it before she did.

Not that that was very likely.

"Where's Gongenzaka?" Yuya asked.

"We invited him" Yugo explained "But he said he wasn't feeling too good, would give Rin her present in the morning."

Or maybe he just knew the party was going to be this bad and decided not to come.

"Rin, your party sucks" Shun informed the birthday girl when she returned, voicing the thoughts of everyone.

Rin didn't even comment, just bowed her head seemingly in shame.

Yugo immediately leapt to his girlfriend's defence. "Hey guys, come on! You know we can't play loud music or our building manager will call the police!"

"And I brought the booze!" Serena declared cheerfully.

"No one wants your fruity crap, Serena" Sora told her.

"Oh, hey Serena!" Shingo's face lit up "What's the rule for Free Parking?"

He was clearly looking for trouble because this only incited another argument with that drug Sora and Yuto into it as well.

"Why Monopoly?" Yuya asked.

"It's the only game we have" Rin explained "Ruri's winning. Shun already rage-quit when he was a couple of hundred away from bankruptcy."

Just as Yuzu was beginning to think she had made a horrible mistake, Yugo leant over to whisper to her. "Don't worry, I sent Dennis out for real drinks."

Yuzu wasn't even certain real drinks were going to fix this party.

It was Reiji who finally spoke up, commenting: "I may have to leave soon. I have a paper due on Monday."

That seemed to make Rin snap. Gritted her teeth, she turned to Serena, who was pouring the fruity alcohol into plastic cups.

"Serena?" she asked "What's the fastest way to get as many people drunk as possible?"

"Besides a game of beer pong?" Serena asked, knowing full well Yugo and Rin's apartment was nowhere near big enough for a real game of beer pong. "Never Have I Ever seems to do the trick."

Course set and locked, Rin made a demand of Yugo. "Yugo, get the whiskey."

Yugo's jaw dropped. "Your father's whiskey? The one that you won't even let me look at never mind touch?"

"It's my 21st birthday, Yugo, I will not be upstaged by an uptight building manager" Rin informed him "Everyone will be enjoying themselves by the end of this night, music or otherwise."

Before Yugo could make a move to get the whisky, Yuzu and Yuya both jumped when Dennis and several shopping bags full of beer materialised behind them.

"Wow, what happened here?" Dennis asked, looking at the full-blown war over Free Parking on the floor.

Shun sat up. "Is that the beer?"

"Yup" Dennis declared, holding one the shopping bags up.

Shun stood up, putting his laptop aside. "I don't care what I've said about you before, I like you a lot now."

"Beer will do" Rin announced "Serena, pour this into the cups instead. We're playing Never Have I Ever."

That caught the attention of everyone in the room, intrigued over the possibility of a more fun party game than Monopoly. The only one who seemed to have an issues with playing was Reiji, but he was quickly placated by promising to start with less dirty questions, so soon the Monopoly board had been put away and everyone was sat in a circle on the floor with their cups of slightly more expensive beer.

"Ok, so, ten sips and you're out?" Rin suggested and nobody complained.

"It's Rin's birthday, so she should go first" Yugo pointed out.

No one objected, so Rin took her time to think of something to say. "Never have I ever thrown up in a car."

It was a decent question to start with, and Shun, Yuya and Shingo drank to that.

"Does a dune buggie count?" Yuzu asked, remembering her disastrous twelfth birthday party.

"Absolutely" Sora cut in, so Yuzu took a sip of the refreshingly nice beer after suffering through the memories of Serena's fruity alcohol all evening.

Yugo was next, since Serena, who was on Rin's other side, had no filter. "Never have I ever been to Canada."

Reiji drank to that.

"You've been to Bali but not Canada?" Yuri questioned, looking at Dennis curiously.

Dennis shrugged. "Girls are hotter in Bali."

Reiji was next, but he still didn't look too happy to be playing still. "Never have I ever…dressed up as a clown."

"Oh ha ha, very funny" Yuya groaned, but taking a sip. He was the only one to do so.

"Can we do the good questions now?" Serena asked, looking a bit bored.

"Just give everyone a minute to have a few drinks" Rin told her, causing Serena to pout.

"Never have I ever had an evil ex" Dennis announced.

Yugo and Ruri drank.

"Really?" Rin asked her boyfriend "You never told me."

"Just this girl I dated back in high school" Yugo told her "She was so certain I dumped her for someone else that she tried to cut the telephone wires to my house so I couldn't call them anymore."

"Whoa" Yuya commented, eyes wide.

"Tried?" Yuri pointed out "Did she not succeed?"

"Oh she succeeded alright" Yugo went on "That is, in cutting the telephone wires to the building next door. Which was a post office."

"Ouch" Serena winced "I guess she didn't get off lightly then."

Yugo raised an eyebrow in the classic 'what do you think?' pose.

"Et tu, Ruri?" Dennis asked "You have an evil ex?"

Ruri rolled her eyes. "Dennis, you were my evil ex."

Dennis seemed to think over this for a big before nodding thoughtfully.

The only thing that stopped Shun crossing the room and decking Dennis was the fact it was now Yuri's turn, and he didn't hold back. "Never have I ever had a threesome."

Everyone chuckled and grinned at the first dirty question of the night. Sora started chugging away – this was of no surprise to Yuzu, who assumed Sora had done everything. Dennis unsurprisingly drank and so did Serena, as well as Yugo and Rin. Yuzu had to wonder what poor chum they'd pulled into that one.

Yuto was next and he had to think for a while, probably reluctant to stoop to another dirty question. "Never have I ever almost killed someone."

"Oh come on, you said that just for me!" Yugo complained, downing another large sip with a bitter look on his face.

What Yuto was referring to was the incident that allowed he and Yugo to meet, though maybe not under the best of circumstances. Yuto was home for the holidays and had brought Yuya over his adopted parents' house to have a Boxing Day meal and planned to drop him off late that evening. Yuto at the time was driving his adopted dad's electric van which was of course silent. Silent enough for Yugo not to hear it coming when he pulled out of a junction at exactly the wrong time and hit the driver's side of the vehicle. Paramedics agreed the only reason Yuto wasn't killed by the impact was because of the van's unusually high seats which meant his body was spared the full impact force; had he been driving a car rather than a van it could've been an entirely different story. Yuzu wasn't entirely sure how they became friends by the end of their hospital stay – maybe they hashed it out within the first few hours and realised neither had been on a mission to kill the other – but for whatever reason they'd remained friends to this day. That didn't mean Yuto wasn't willing to milk his 'near death sentence' for all it was worth.

Surprising enough Yuri drank up as well, followed by Sora.

"Whoa, guys" Serena commented, eyebrows raised "What did I miss?"

"I may have pushed my little sister down the stairs when I was a kid" Sora supplied.

Yuri didn't feel like elaborating.

Ruri was next. "Never have I ever had a sexual fantasy about Masumi Kotsu."

Yuto looked outraged. "I told you that in confidence!"

"I never said I'd be discrete" Ruri pointed out.

Yuya laughed and drank up. So did Reiji, Sora, Dennis, Serena, Shingo and Yugo as well as the fuming Yuto.

"Hang on a minute" Yuzu frowned "All of you?"

"Oh please, anyone who goes for girls has had a sexual fantasy about Masumi Kotsu at least once" Yuya laughed.

"I'm pretty sure God sent her down to reassure me of my sexuality" Serena nodded "She's pretty much the gay initiation for girls."

"Wonderful" Yuzu rolled her eyes "Shun, you're next."

Shun thought for a while before announcing: "Never have I ever slept with a girl."

A lot of people groaned at the expected question and complained that Shun had no imagination.

"Are you trying to get me out?!" Yugo complained, taking a very angry sip.

He appearing to be trying to get everyone out. Serena, Sora, Dennis, Yuri, Yuya, Yuto and Reiji all sipped as well as Yugo. Yuzu was struggling to keep track of who was on what point.

"Uh, Sawatari?" Yuya spoke up "I think you forgot you to drink."

Everyone's eyes were suddenly on Shingo, who turned very red. "Eh…"

"What, did you forget or something?" Yugo asked.

Shingo just ducked his head even more, now whimpering slightly.

Serena jumped up jovially. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew he was gay! No straight man puts that much work into his hair!"

"I'M NOT!" Shingo yelled back "I just…haven't done that yet!"

A silence fell over the room as Shingo curled up like he wished the earth would open up beneath him and swallow him (or just dump him in the apartment below).

"What?" Yuri's deadpan statement was what they were all thinking.

Shingo took a deep breath before saying through clenched teeth "I haven't slept with anyone before."

The room went silent again, only to be disrupted by Sora bursting into tears of laughter. Serena stifled a laugh and Dennis and Yuri smirked amusedly, realising that was the greatest piece of blackmail on Shingo Sawatari that they would ever get.

"Seriously?" Yuya frowned, confused.

"What about that girl you were seeing last month?" Yugo asked, torn between laughter and confusion.

"Nothing happened" Shingo confirmed "I'm just…not good with dealing with that."

"You chickened out" Dennis summarised, which just set Serena and Sora off even more.

"Guys, enough" Yuzu tried to get them to stop "If Sawatari doesn't want to, it's perfectly normal."

"Yuzu, do you know any normal 20-year-old virgins?" Serena pointed out, still stifling laughs.

"Halfway to forty!" Sora wailed with laughter.

"Yes, Sawatari" Yuzu told them, smacking Sora on the shoulder with her hand "Now leave him alone. It's his decision."

Shun coughed awkwardly. "I'm sorry, Sawatari. I didn't expect it to be such a personal question. I just assumed all of you had at some point."

Shingo still said nothing, just whimpered and groaned in his little curled up ball, Yuya rubbing soothing circles on his back.

"Hey Sawatari, it's your turn" he pointed out.

After Sora had calmed down a bit and Shingo had found his backbone, the statement was made. "Never have I ever wet myself riding a rollercoaster."

Sora whined, suddenly being cut off from sweet inebriation.

Serena on the other hand exploded. "WHAT THE HELL! HOW DO YOU EVEN-"

"You're a very chatty drunk" Sawatari stated with a fair bit more malice that was perhaps necessary "You like talking about your traumatic childhood memories."

Serena was the only one to drink to that, glaring at Shingo all the while.

"Hey Yuya, make it a question for the girls" Sora insisted "I think Rin's drank once and it's her birthday."

Yuya agreed and stated: "Never have I ever dyed my hair."

Ruri, who'd had a blonde stage, and Rin, who'd coasted around with red hair during one particular phase, both conceded. Shingo also drank as well as Shun and Yuto. Yuzu drank herself, remembering with a bit of distaste dip-dying her hair blue.

Yuzu found she was next and pondered it for a while. She didn't fancy saying something dirty – not after what happened to poor Shingo. Instead she could only think of one thing, and it wasn't even all that good. "Never have I ever been on a boat."

Reiji, Ruri and Shun all drank.

"Queen Mary" Reiji informed then.

"Dad used to have one" Ruri added.

Sora was next and Yuzu braced herself for the worst, because he knew all of her most intimate secrets. "Never have I ever taken it up the ass."

'Oh thank god' Yuzu heaved a sigh of relief. She'd forgotten that though Sora could be cruel, he could never pass down the chance to mess with Shun.

With a roll of his eyes, Shun drank. So did Serena, Rin, Dennis, Ruri and – interestingly enough – Yuto.

Shun was a little more preoccupied with his sister though. "Wait, WHAT?! When?!"

"Worst mistake ever" Ruri conceded "Had to sit on a bag of frozen peas all day."

"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

"My go!" Serena declared "Never have I ever smashed someone's glasses!"

Sora roared with laughter and drank, Yuri and Reiji following soon after.

Yugo sighed disappointedly before sipping. "It was nice while it lasted."

"And we've come full circle" Rin realised "Um…never have I ever…swallowed a penny."

"You too?" Yugo groaned, downing his sixth sip "I'm past halfway."

Yuzu flushed with embarrassment and downed one as well. She didn't remember it, but her dad claimed it had happened.

Yuya was the last to drink. Yuzu remembered that – he'd been trying a magic trick where he put a coin on his tongue had nearly choked on it.

Yugo seemed somewhat relieved that, since he was making the statement, he wouldn't have to drink this round. "Never have I ever torn a page out of a book."

"It was an accident!" Yuzu found herself blurting out. At least she wasn't alone though – Reiji, Shingo and Yuri drank too.

Reiji appeared remarkably calm for someone who'd had six sips by this point – Yuri had only had four and he was looking tipsy. Maybe he just had a high tolerance. "Never have I ever rode a motorbike."

Immediately half the circle drank. Yuzu was with them – she'd rode on the back of Rin's a bunch of times and Rin had even tried to teach her once but she'd never really made any progress.

"How come I've only had four?" Sora pouted. His legs couldn't reach the pedals on a motorbike.

"Here's one for you, Sora" Yuri offered, swaying in his seat a bit "Never have I ever swung from the trapeze in the theatre."

"Hey, it's my turn!" Dennis protested, but none the less taking a sip at the same time as Sora, Ruri and Yuya. "Never have I ever woke the roommates during sex."

"That's a lie!" Sora protested.

Dennis just smirked at him. "Sora, you were already awake at the time, we didn't wake you up."

Sora scrunched his face up with frustration. "There's no way you've never woken anyone up."

"No one's come forward to admit it" Dennis pointed out.

Finally seeing he couldn't argue anymore, Sora drank. Other drinkers were Shun, Yuto (Yuzu was starting to see a pattern here), Serena, Rin and Yugo.

As one of the people who had drunken least, Yuto was still pretty much sober. Which was why Yuzu was so surprised to hear him say: "Never have I ever watched porn."

"What student doesn't watch porn?" Serena questioned before drinking.

Yuzu was quite surprised to see most of the circle batter down the hatches. Even… "You too Yuya?"

"What student doesn't watch porn?" he repeated Serena's line, making Yuzu scoff. She hadn't.

She shared a sympathetic look with Rin. They were the only ones who hadn't drunk.

Ruri put some thought into hers before declaring. "Never have I ever been strip searched."

Shun laughed, clearly knowing the story behind that one.

"I swear you have something against me" Yuto mumbled before taking a drink.

"What, really?" Yuya almost yelped "You never said."

"Because it was a mortifying experience" Yuto grumbled.

"Well now we have to hear it" Serena insisted.

Yuto groaned but relented. "We were on holiday in South America. We were in the airport on the way back and my wallet got mixed in with somebody else's briefcase in the boxes on the scanner conveyor belt. Said briefcase contained nearly a kilo of cocaine."

"Wow!" Sora remarked, but nobody else said anything, staring wide-eyed at Yuto, silently demanding an end to the story.

"So they stripped me down and were about to arrest me and cart me off to jail when my mother intervened" Yuto went on, turning increasing red as the story went on. "Thankfully 'Mr Roger' was caught on camera with the briefcase and they let me go."

"Are you telling me you were nearly locked up in a South American prison for drug smuggling before you were even legal?" Shingo asked, seemingly unable to believe it.

"They didn't even apologise, just told me never to come back" Yuto finished with.

Some members of the circle started laughing. Even Yuri, which came to show how much he'd had to drink. Yugo couldn't even sit up anymore, mostly leaning on Rin.

Shun was next, and he had a good one. "Never have I ever cried at the ending of The Iron Giant."

"YOU MONSTER!" Yuri yelled in a way that would suggest he'd had five pints of beer and not five sips of what appeared to be the most alcoholic beer Dennis could find.

Ruri elbowed her brother harshly before taking a sip. "Shut up, Shun!"

All of the circle, including Yuzu drank. Reiji and Shingo even drank.

Yugo took another sip of his, barely catching the liquid in his mouth. "That's ten, I'm done."

"Then go lie down on the sofa" Rin told him, gently pushing his head away.

Yugo didn't even manage to sit up, let alone stand up. He just kinda toppled over the opposite way, nearly hitting Reiji.

Yuzu raised an eyebrow. 'How large were those sips he had? Gulps?'

"Oh my god, Yugo!" Rin complained in exasperation as he helped him up and all but carried him over to the sofa "I told you not to drink so much in one go! I said a sip!"

"You never let me drink though!" Yugo whined as he was unceremoniously dumped on the sofa.

"Because when you do you turn into this!" Rin protested, lifting his legs up onto the armrest and putting a blanket over the top of him that she'd obviously had ready. "Now you are going to rest here until you sober up a bit. You can't participate in party games when you can't even sit up straight."

Yugo stared up at her in wonder and for half a second, Yuzu thought he was going to say something profound.

"Rin?" he asked.

"Yes, Yugo?"

"Did I ever tell you that you have very nice breasts?"

Rin, who ordinarily would've slapped him for making such a comment in front of a crowd, just sighed exasperatedly with a touch of fondness. "Many times, love. Now please take a short nap – I don't want you to miss out on too much."

As Rin returned to the circle, Yuzu looked back at the rest of the group to see what they were doing. Dennis kept poking Yuri's shoulder because whenever he did, Yuri would sway from side to side a bit and giggle. Clearly Yugo hadn't been the only one overdoing it with the sips.

"My turn! Never had I ever skydived!"

The entire skydiving club, including Yuzu, drank. This was going to be interesting.

Yuzu survived two more rounds before falling prey to Rin's "Never have I ever been to a strip club" which wiped her and Yuya out. Rin was struck out with Yuri at Yuto's "Never have I ever knocked someone unconscious whilst playing a sport". This left only Yuto and Shingo, which Yuzu had guessed was going to happen a while back. Shingo was pretty much unaffected by all the dirty questions, and Yuto was pretty much affected by only the dirty questions once Ruri took her last sip at the jaws of Shingo's "Never have I ever thrown up all over a date".

Now the entire group was gathered around the two of them in the centre of the circle, shouting out demands to try and get them to take their tenth sip each. Demands ranged from "Never have I ever eaten an eel" to "Never have I ever ran over someone". Serena supplied "Never have I ever been to an anime convention" and Sora "Never have I ever worn handcuffs".

Yuzu, who was starting to really feel the buzz of the beer, even tried to help with "Never have I ever been pooped on by a bird."

Yugo kept trying to join in yelling "NETHEREVER!" at random slurred intervals.

It was only when Rin supplied "Never have I ever cheated on a test" that Shingo drank and Yuto won. Ruri all but screamed as she clambered across people's legs to reach the winner and hug him.

"I think I might need some water" Yuya commented.

"Over-drank?" Yuzu asked.

"I think so" he nodded "I can't feel my legs."

Apparently he'd been kneeling for so long his lower legs had gone numb.

"I'll get you some" Yuzu offered, standing up and head to the apartment's small kitchen.

"Rin?"

The sound of Yugo's voice startled her into turning around. Yugo was half sitting up, eyes -half-lidded, staring at Yuzu as if he was in a dream.

"Are you talking to me?" she had to verify.

"Rin, are we married?" he asked, drunk, but otherwise completely serious.

"No" was all Yuzu could think to say. She honestly didn't know what else she could say.

"Oh" Yugo seemed surprised "That's a shame."

Before Yugo could say anything else weird, Yuzu stepped out of his line of sight into the kitchen. Running two glasses under the tap to clean them before filling them, she heaved a sigh and squinted through the haze of alcohol.

"You look pensive" Rin commented, and Yuzu jumped because she didn't even realise Rin was in the kitchen, when did she get here?

"Nothing, just Yugo's disappointed we're not married" Yuzu informed her.

Rin frowned. "You and Yugo?"

"Rin and Yugo" Yuzu clarified "He thought I was you. He's not getting sober – I think he's getting worse."

"He's still getting alcohol somehow" Rin explained with an exasperated sigh "My money's on Dennis."

"RIIIIIN!" Yugo's voice whined from the main room.

"I swear, I've seen him drunk before and he's never been this bad" Yuzu commented.

"Because it's not just beer" Rin told her "There's vodka in it."

Yuzu dropped the plastic cups she was holding, splashing water off over Rin's kitchen floor. "What?!"

"You didn't notice when Dennis brought the cans, they'd all been opened already?" Rin pointed out, taking a small towel and using it to mop up the water on the floor. No need to have a trip hazard in an apartment full of drunks.

"I saw a few opened, yeah, but I assumed he'd just been drinking them on the way back from the store" Yuzu told her.

"You're not the only one" Rin sighed "I didn't realise until I drank it for the first time. He headed home first and laced them all with vodka, probably so he could watch us all fall about and laugh at us."

"That little-" Yuzu stopped before she swore when Rin shot her a disappointed look. "No wonder Yuya can't stand up. I just thought it was just really strong beer."

There was a crash from the living room and everyone there broke out in cheers.

"Well, I suppose I wished this upon myself" Rin commented, looking somewhat wistful "I wanted everyone to get drunk. Didn't think it would happen so quickly."

"Hey, come on, don't get down on yourself" Yuzu knew from experience that Rin was a weepy drunk, and she wasn't about to deal with tears on the girl's birthday. "Everyone's having fun and it's all harmless. In the morning everyone will wake up completely hung over but they'll be grinning through it."

"Except Sawatari" Rin pointed out "I think he's scarred for life."

"Well, I won't fault you for that one – the blame's entirely on Shun" Yuzu told her with a grin "Besides, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. He needed to be taken down a few pegs."

Rin giggled and Yuzu felt a lot better. No dealing with weepy drunks.

It was at that moment a chant began calling from the living room which appeared to be entirely composed of "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

"That doesn't sound good" Rin commented.

Forgetting all about the water, Yuzu headed back to the crowd of mostly drunk people to see what was going on. The lot of them appeared to have assembled in yet another, slightly different circle. That was, expect for Yugo (sitting on the sofa staring at his wiggling fingers), Yuri (unconscious on the floor cuddling a bottle of Serena's fruity alcohol) and Reiji and Shingo, who appeared to be lip-locked in the middle of the circle of cheering drunks.

Ok.

Sitting down beside Yuya, who was still stuck in the same kneeling position she'd left him in, she asked "Yuya, what's going on?"

"WHAT?!" Yuya yelled back, making Yuzu wince.

"What's going on?" she asked in a slightly louder tone.

"SPIN THE BOTTLE!" Yuya yelled, which was a good thing as it allowed she to hear him over the sound of Shingo and Reiji separating and the bottle of awful alcohol being spun for Shingo amide vocal drum rolling.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because it's fun!" Yuya informed her, eyes flickering back and forth between her and where Ruri and Shingo were going to meet in the middle. "You spin the bottle, you kiss someone! Everyone else drinks!"

To cement the routine, he took a bit more than a sip of his beverage. Well that explained how he'd become so drunk so quickly in the time she'd been gone. Or maybe the vodka had just kicked in.

"I'm pretty sure that's not how Spin The Bottle works" Yuzu informed him, taking the drink from his hands "Besides, I think you've had enough."

"NOOOO!" Yuya whined, trying to snatch it back, but not very successfully as it appeared he had managed to paralyse everything from below his waist. "MINE!"

"Yuya, there's more vodka in there than I care to think about" Yuzu informed him, moving the drink over to the coffee table where Yuya couldn't reach it "And I am not dragging you home because you can't walk."

Yuya wasn't whining intelligently any more. His complaints had dwindled into a series of very strange noises that may or may not answer the question as to what noise a tomato makes because they were pretty inhuman.

The bottle by this point had been handed over to Ruri. She got Serena, something that got the rest of them very excited for some hot lesbian action, or something like that.

Speaking of yuri, she decided to check on the boy with same name, because as much as she didn't know him, she'd feel guilty in the morning if he choked to death on his own vomit. Rolling him over on his side, she pulled the two litre bottle away from him and laid his discarded jacket over the top of him. Deducing he was too far away from the circle to be in any danger of being stepped or fallen on, she left Yuri where he was.

Serena was now spinning and pretty much all of the boys were on the edge of their metaphorical seats. Serena was an undeniably beautiful woman with spunk and drive. She also happened to be exclusively into women, so this may be the only chance any of the boys had to kiss her.

A round of groans and complaints went up when the bottle landed on Shun. Whilst most of the group had dabbled in or outright embraced bisexuality in the past, just as Serena was the only girl in the group exclusively into girls, Shun was the only male of the group exclusively into guys, and therefore the only guy present who wasn't likely to fully enjoy what was about to take place.

Yuzu turned away and decided to go back to the kitchen to see how Rin was. She'd never liked Spin The Bottle – she'd always ended up with the creepiest guy of the bunch.

"RIIIIINNN!"

Yuzu made the mistake of passing too close to Yugo's sofa; something she wasn't aware of until she felt a hand grab her lower leg.

"Yugo no!" she yelped as she was knocked off balance. Due to fact she too had consumed the beer-vodka concoction, she wasn't unable to regain said balance.

The last thing she remembered was staring down at the edge of Rin's wooden coffee table.

Yuzu awoke to the sound of sizzling bacon and the feel of piercing heat on her face. For a moment, she assumed the bacon was being sizzled on her face, but she quickly learnt otherwise when she made the mistake of opening her eyes and something chucked a kaleidoscope at her.

"Ow" she moaned as she blinked a few times and her vision settled into something vaguely resembling Rin and Yugo's apartment "What?"

"I know" an equally bleary voice responded "I don't know."

Yuzu theorised she was on the mouldier of the two sofas that occupied Rin's living room, as she could glance across the room straight at the one where Yugo had been placed the night before. He was still there, though lying on his front and drooling into an awful smelling bucket on the floor. He was awake but possibly could be mistaken for a zombie.

"What time it is?" she asked, because she saw there was sunlight streaming through the window and onto her face.

"N…Now" was Yugo's response.

Yuzu was suddenly reminded as why she didn't like to hang around a drunk Yugo for too long. Because she couldn't stand a hungover Yugo. He seemed turn into a boneless mess incapable of stringing a sentence together.

(Well, except for that one conversation that had gone something along the lines of:

"Yugo, you've got your shoes on the wrong feet."

"But I don't have any other feet."

"…Fair enough.")

"Hello, Yuzu, are you awake?" Rin now emerged from the kitchen, wearing short-shorts and flowery tank top. Her hair was a little ruffled, but didn't appear to be in anywhere near as bad a condition as Yugo and Yuzu were.

"What happened?" Yuzu asked "I swear I didn't drink that much."

"It's Yugo's fault" Rin sighed, shooting a brief glare at Yugo who was too busy throwing up into the bucket to notice "He knocked you into the coffee table."

Yuzu was immediately alarmed. "Oh my god, Rin, I'm so sorry! Was it damaged?"

Rin laughed. "Only you would worry about the coffee table and not yourself. No, I think it hit you harder than you hit it. You weren't bleeding though, so I thought I should let you sleep it off."

"What time is it?" Yuzu asked, trying to sit up but deciding that was a terrible idea and leaning back against pillow again.

Rin leant inside the kitchen to read the clock. "About nine thirty?"

Yuzu winced. "I slept for nearly eleven hours?"

"Well, no you woke up a few times" Rin explained.

"I did?" Yuzu frowned "I don't remember that."

"That's probably a good thing" Rin commented "You know where the bathroom is, right?"

"Through your bedroom?" Yuzu questioned, just to be on the safe side.

"Right, but knock before you go there" Rin told her "Kurosaki stayed the night."

"He did? Why?" If anyone was staying the night, Yuzu had assumed it would be the immobile Yuya. Where was he anyway?

"Well, when I kicked everyone out, Yuto had already taken Ruri home and nobody else could remember where he lived" Rin explained.

"You kicked everyone out?" Yuzu's eyes widened as she searched the room for a reason "What the hell did they…oh."

Lying at the base of the door to Rin and Yugo's bedroom was a legion of cutlery. A fork was still embedded in the wood.

"Actually, that was just Sawatari teaching everyone how to play darts, it was mostly harmless" Rin obviously followed her line of thought. "Then they decided darts were lame and started watching Adult Swim comedies on the TV, which I didn't mind. Until someone turned on NCIS and they started Gibbs-slapping each other. It was about two in the morning so I sent them all home."

"What about Yuya?" Yuzu asked "Last I saw of him he couldn't even walk."

"Oh, he still couldn't – he remained in that spot all night until Reiji carried him to his car" Rin told her "He said he was going to take him and Sawatari home." She added on one last thing. "Do you like waffles? I'm cooking some bacon but Yugo likes waffles for breakfast, so I was going to cook some up for him too."

"Yeah, sure, that sounds great" Yuzu nodded, already subtly ignoring Rin in favour of locating her phone. She eventually found it under the pillow she was lying against.

19 messages. All from Yuya.

Well, there went her phone bill.

The first four were all along the lines of "Wake up Yuzu!". Apparently Yuya had got it into his head that yelling at her vocally wouldn't wake her up, but yelling telephonically might.

The next was: "I goin home cos u dont like me anymor!"

It appeared Yuya's grammar skills greatly declined when he went within a half inch of alcohol.

The following text wasn't much better: "Yz, tel Swgatrai to stay in th car!"

Well, Rin had said Reiji was taking Yuya and Sawatari home. Maybe Sawatari didn't want to go home.

The following two were nonsense – just a few letters strung together. The only intelligible one was: "He toofbrush-thief Yz, I srry!"

Sawatari had stolen her toothbrush? Or Yuya's toothbrush? The emergency wasn't entirely clear.

The last ten were clearly from when Yuya had either lain on his phone or his fingers had slipped. One involved the word "tomato" and another amalgamation of letters that probably meant "Sawatari", but the rest were just gibberish.

Either way, Yuzu was reassured Yuya had gotten home alright. He was probably still asleep, so she didn't want to call him and give him an early start to the hangover. Besides, Sawatari was apparently there as well, so they could guide themselves through their hangovers together.

It was at this point Shun stepped out of Rin and Yugo's bedroom. He wasn't wearing a shirt (not that Yuzu was complaining because though she loved Yuya she could still admire) and surveyed the room as if it were upside down and he wasn't entirely sure as to why.

Hearing him enter the living room, Rin stepped into the kitchen doorway again. "Good morning Kurosaki! Can you just wait a moment; breakfast is on its way."

"Ruri?" Shun squinted, a little unsure of himself.

"No, Rin" Rin corrected him and Shun looked somewhat relieved. Maybe he couldn't envision Ruri in short-shorts and with short hair. Too much short; he probably wasn't used to dealing with the word short either.

Alright, maybe Yuzu was a little more hangover than she thought she was.

"I'm making bacon and waffles" Rin told him "Would you like some?"

Shun frowned, like 'bacon and waffles' was too foreign a concept for him to understand. If Yuzu had any idea of what the Kurosakis' lifestyle was like from Yuto, it was that they were probably more adjusted to leftover pizza for breakfast than bacon and waffles.

"Yeah" Shun commented, still bleary eyed as his eyes moved from Rin to Yuzu "What happened?"

"To me or you?" Yuzu asked "I hit my head on a coffee table."

"Oh, you're that one" Shun realised and Yuzu realised she'd just been mistaken for Ruri too. "You're dating the redhead right? Yuto's brother?"

"Yes, I'm Yuzu" Yuzu confirmed for him because clearly he was a bit confused.

"Right" Shun kept staring at her like he was trying to solve an incredibly hard mathematical equation "What happened to him?"

She couldn't tell if he meant Yuto or Yuya. "They both went home. Ruri too."

Shun didn't say anything, just looked down at Yugo, who had just commenced throwing up again. Wrinkling his nose, Shun sat down, legs crossed Buddha-style with his back against the coffee table and groaned, putting his head in his hands.

"How much do you remember?" Yuzu asked.

Shun paused for a while before saying. "First hour. Maybe."

"I think I made it to an hour and a half" Yuzu commented.

Shun looked up at her, eyes somewhat despairing. "I didn't do something stupid in front of Ruri and Yuto, did I?"

Shoving away the image of Serena with her tongue down Shun's throat, she said "Not that I remember. If you did, they were so drunk they probably won't either."

"Yeah" Shun retorted, Yuzu not entirely sure what that was supposed to mean. Maybe Shun didn't know what it was supposed to mean either. "That wasn't beer, was it?"

"Dennis laced it with vodka" she explained.

Shun muttered a muffled curse and then "Damn Dennis."

Yuzu heard the sound of something beeping in the kitchen and guessed that Rin had nearly finished breakfast. She shakily stood up, trying not to make any sudden movements so she'd excite her pounding head again, and sat down on the front next to Shun, facing the coffee table. Since Yugo wasn't in much of a condition to raise his head let alone move, she guessed that was where they'd be eating.

A minute later, Rin emerged from the kitchen with a plate of waffles and a plate of bacon, four smaller plates for them to eat off of tucked beneath them. She was using her little finger to carry some plastic forks and knives – probably because the metal ones had all been used as Shingo's "darts" during the night.

"Alright, breakfast!" she declared.

"Hurray" It was the least excited sounding noise Yuzu had ever heard Yugo make, but whether it was because the constant throwing up had wrecked his appetite or he simply couldn't sound enthused with a hangover she wasn't quite sure of.

With everything down on the table, Rin moved Yugo's leg to the side so she could sit on the sofa where he was sprawled. "Yugo, I'm going to sit you up, alright? If you need to throw up, just let me know."

Yugo made a vaguely despondent noise.

Rin gently rolled him onto his back. Thankfully, on the journey Yugo didn't spew up any more of Dennis' concoction.

"Um…is it alright?" Not really finishing the question, Shun turned to face the coffee table and gestured at the bacon.

"Of course, silly, I made it for you as well" Rin told him.

Perhaps not used to people making breakfast for him, Shun looked touched. His movements in taking and eating the bacon were slow and laboured, like he had to concentrate not to drop the plastic fork and ruin Rin's carpet. Yuzu found herself doing the same thing. Clearly she and Shun shared similar coping methods with hangovers.

After Rin had eaten a waffle and slice of bacon herself, she noticed Yugo hadn't even reached for his fork yet. "Yugo, you have to eat something, or you'll have nothing to throw up later."

Groaning, Yugo made some sort of pathetic grab for the fork, instead just knocking it to the floor.

Rin sighed and picked up the fork again, cutting off a piece of waffle and holding it up to his mouth. "Open wide."

"I'm not a baby" Yugo grumbled.

"Eat the waffle" Rin told him, and he did, but it looked like it was torturing him to eat his favourite food.

"You have to eat first, it's your birthday" Yugo told her, looking distraught as she prepared to cut off another piece of waffle and feed it to him. "I'm ruining your birthday."

"My birthday was yesterday, Yugo" Rin reminded him, force-feeding him again "That's why we had the party last night."

"But you're like a queen!" Yugo insisted "You're beautiful, like a queen, so you should have two birthdays!"

Rin blushed ever so slightly at the compliment before insisting to him: "Well, you can show that by eating these waffles for me, okay?"

Yugo mulled this over before agreeing. "Okay. Next waffle!"

It was perhaps the most bizarre way Yuzu could have envisioned spending her morning – eating bacon and waffles with one of her best friends, said friend's hungover boyfriend and a man who still didn't appear entirely sure if he was her brother or not. But Yuzu had to find, despite the blazing hangover, that she liked it.

Alright, maybe Rin's birthday party didn't end as disastrously as she thought it would.

"Hey, isn't it Serena's birthday in a few weeks?"