The night had been planned to be centred around Nate, but here came Reno who tossed the balloons off the bed and leaped onto it, as if there wasn't a gift that he squashed with his body weight. That irked Dante, who resisted the urge to deck his brother in the face, and instead forced a gigantic smile while he menacingly hissed, "You threw yourself onto Nate's present, so please get off."
"I would, I definitely would," Reno burped when he stated that, closing his eyes and stretching out his arms. "But I'm drunk as fuck and I can't feel my limbs."
"We did drink a lot," Jules chimed in as he shoved himself between the seated Dante and Nate who both uncomfortably accepted his arms around their shoulders. All Nate could think about was how close he was to having kissed Dante, but that was going to have to be saved for a later date; maybe it was for the better. "We wanted to share the great news with all of you!"
"Do you all want to know how he asked?" Reno beamed, pushing himself onto his elbows for a moment. Before either of them could decline, Reno fell back onto the bed with glinting eyes. "This other dude came and asked if I was single, and I said yes and Jules said no. And so when the guy left," he exhaled a long breath, too ecstatic that he could practically feel every single pump of his heart, "Jules turned to me and said that he wanted to make it official."
"Actually, Jules got mad at you for saying you were single." A third voice intercepted, and they all glanced towards Lori who stumbled towards the bed. "And then you gave him the ultimatum of either leaving or being together, and then he asked." When Lori finally fell onto the bed beside Reno, his eyes were closed while he muffled, "It wasn't as lovey-dovey as he made it seem."
"I'm sorry, I would love to know when you all assumed I started caring about your love lives?" Dante snarled, shoving Jules' arm away before pushing himself to his feet.
Jules still had an arm around Nate, and he squeezed it even tighter with a humongous grin. "Ever since we started caring about yours." His eyes turned to Nate who was just as confused as the contortion on Dante's face expressed, until Jules wiggled his eyebrows and giggled, "You can be honest with us Nate, give us the juicy details."
"He's bottom, isn't he?" It was the first time throughout their interaction that Lori's eyes widened, fully immersed in the conversation and trying his hardest to be completely sound to hear every single detail that would be shared, if there was any. He didn't want to miss a single thing; he even sat upwards and explained, "We have a bet going. There's no way Lucius is top."
Reno spoke next, sharing his own hypothesis. "Do you see how cold and aggressive Lucy is all the time? He would never let anyone overtake him."
One thing that was definitely different between this entourage and the outside world, was that they felt unsettlingly comfortable sharing private sexual details, or asking other people. Nate was not used to this, and Lucius would definitely attempt to murder him if he told them. Nonetheless, he couldn't stop his cheeks from flaring red as his breath was stuck in his throat. "Especially you, half-brother." Jules grinned lengthened as he squeezed Nate. "So tell us, is he bottom or are you?"
"You're all idiots," Nate shrieked before shoving Jules arm away as well. He pushed himself to his feet as he yelped, "Lucius and I are not together."
"Hmm..." Reno shook his head, unable to believe that after what he had witnessed. "He looks at you how he used to look at Raphael."
Lori agreed as he added, "And he curses at anyone that crosses you."
"He literally beat up Dante for you," Jules recounted, noticing that both Dante and Nate were growing irritated. "You can tell us the truth, we won't say anything to Lucius."
"And just because you're not officially together," Lori intercepted again, wiggling his eyebrows, "doesn't mean you can't get filthy in bed."
Nate was starting to feel his blood rush through his vessels at an alarming rate. His nostrils flared and he glanced towards Dante who was visibly growing irritated, slamming his palm on his forehead and exhaling sharply through his nose. The silence that engulfed the room made him realize that they were all waiting for his response, and that was when Nate shouted, "I have never done anything with Lucius."
It was definitely not satisfying to all of them as they grumbled unhappily under their breaths, especially Lori who waved a dismissive hand as he closed his eyes again. However, this made their ears perks. "Didn't you two shower together?" Dante and Nate both turned to Jules who had a smirk across his lips, standing to his feet. "You got in the shower with him."
Nate's eye widened, his tongue suddenly feeling stuck. It was true, they had gotten in the shower together. The embarrassment worsened as he saw a few wiggling eyebrows and knowing looks, which made his entire face start to burn. "I-I..." he exhaled a sigh to try and calm himself down, "I got in the shower with him to help him shower since he was depressed."
"I don't buy that," Jules mumbled, leaning into Nate who cursed at him. "Help him shower? He's a grown adult, he knows how to shower. But that's not the only thing," his eyebrows wiggled again as he added loudly, "didn't you two take a bath together?"
"Well, yeah but...!" This attention on Nate was making him want to crawl under a rock; it was all a misunderstanding. He wanted to explain how they were only strictly friends but their friendships had...a few benefits that others may not perceive S normal. It was partially because Lucius never had a friend and he didn't know what was alright and what was not. However, moments before the words left his tongue another much more pertinent question crossed his mind, which was what he decided to ask first. "How do you know about that?"
Jules seemed taken aback by that question; he hadn't expected that response. He rapidly glanced elsewhere and pursing his lips. "I-I..." he stammered, not having an answer prepared and his drunken mind wasn't of any help. "I have my sources."
Before Nate could persist, Dante caught his attention. "You bathed with Lucius?" However, before he could continue, he raised his hands in retreat. "You know what? I'm not even going to ask since you two have an odd friendship."
"Are you sure it's simply an odd friendship?" Lori asked suspiciously, lifting only his head from the bed. "Maybe their friendship includes Nate getting back shots every night."
"What motivated you to say that out loud?" Reno groaned, noticing that Dante's face looked as though he would combust into fire.
"I'm sorry, I need to sleep," Lori mumbled, shuffling in the bed to find a comfortable position.
"How about this..." The deepened roar from Dante straightened all their faces from their smirks, especially when Dante grabbed both Lori and Reno by their shirts and threw them off from the bed. They groaned and cursed when they slammed against the floor, and Dante patted his hands together as if he was wiping dust. "You all brainstorm outside of this room, that sounds good to you all?"
"You're such a party pooper," Reno grumbled, narrowing his eyes towards his older brother. With the aid of Jules, he eventually stood to his feet and all three of them began making their way to the door. Dante glanced at the bed where Reno had been, and he could barely restrain himself when he saw the present box crushed. "You never want to hangout with us."
All their eyes turned to Reno when they realized his voice had coiled, and Reno lowered his head, covering his eyes with his palm as he dramatically lifted his other one. Through now trembling lips, he whispered, "I'm sorry, I need a moment."
"You're so dramatic when you're drunk Reno," Jules giggled, hearing his sniffles which made Dante roll his eyes. "You always used to cry when you were drunk; I guess that never changed."
Reno sniffled, wiping his cheeks. "Dante's always mean to me..."
"No, I'm not." Dante threw his arms in the air, shaking his head and feeling the exasperation boiling through his body and able to explode any minute. He loved his brothers, but sometimes, especially Reno, they could be exceedingly irritating that it fumed his organs. "You're being so annoying, leave the damn room."
"Fine!" Reno stopped in his tracks and pointed a finger at Dante, sending him a glare although it appeared way too sad to be threatening towards Dante. "I'll leave!" he whimpered through sniffles. "I'll leave and you will never see me again!"
"We'll see you at training in a couple hours," Lori yawned, lethargically dragging his feet towards the door.
As Nate and Dante watched them reach the doorknob, Reno attempting to continue to wail at Dante and Jules grabbing him from around his waist and gently shoving him towards the door, Nate and Dante both furrowed their brows when they saw all three of them frozen when they opened the door. Their eyes had widened, and they seemed as if they had seen a ghost.
It all made sense in a couple seconds when Reno choked, "Tessa..."
"We don't have time!" She rushed inside, pushing through them. As predicted, she met the gaze of the only brother she knew could help, and the way her eyes had been boldly glossy and she was trembling, there was definitely an ordeal that had occurred. Although, it was also evident through the alarming amount of blood across her hooded cape that covered her entire body. She pulled down the hood, approaching Dante and grabbing both his palms. "Bronsted is dying—and-and...I don't know what to do!"