The Morning After
This is the wip sequel to Two drunk men, a tree and a cat. It has been previously posted here in bits as I was using it to write for fifteen minutes each day at lunch. I stopped at some point because to be honest, fifteen minutes is okay to start and continue a fic, but concentration is needed to finish a fic and tie up all loose ends. So it has been sitting on my iPad neglected for a few months.
I don’t have time this morning to proof it, so it is as it was when I rush wrote it and it is still not finished, but @melmac78 was looking for a laugh and honestly, I’m thin on the ground for them, so here be another offering for what it is. It will finish it at some point, polish and archive, but for now it is still rough.
Anyways, I hope it is vaguely enjoyable ::hugs::
-o-o-o-
He was comfy.
That was the only word for it.
Unfortunately, comfort was apparently inversely proportional to consciousness, because as he slowly woke, the degree of pain in his head increased.
Ergh.
Ow.
He didn’t even have to open his eyes to know the world was spinning around him. Around and around and around and, oh god.
His arms were wrapped around something...someone...warm and for a moment, focussing on that warmth kept the ugh at bay.
Hmm, Kay?
But then he got a whiff of something rank and his stomach rolled again.
The pillow was soft.
In bed. He was in bed.
His brain was not working properly.
Concussion? He’d had a few of those in his career and this felt ever so familiar.
A frown.
No.
Not concussion.
Late night. Party. Getting married. Despite himself, he smiled and snuggled into Kay’s warmth.
Huh?
That smell again. Urgh.
“K..ergh.”
“Vir...gl?”
Huh?
No, waking up was bad. Not want to wake up. He snuggled again, rubbing his cheek up against her hair.
“Virgil, whatcha doin’?” A brother. There was a brother in the room.
“Ergmmm...go ‘way.” He held her tighter. A vague thought, and he kissed her, hoping kissy-kissy would scare whichever brother it was away and let them sleep.
“Can’t.”
“Go ‘way! ‘Sleep.”
“You’re hugging my feet.”
It took a moment for the dots to connect, for the realisation that ‘Kay’ was much thinner than usual, that her hair smelt like old socks.
Connecting now...
Virgil’s eyes flew open and came face to face with Scott’s long hairy legs, wrapped in his own bare arms.
Virgil had day old socks shoved up against his nose.
“Sh-“
Scrambling backwards sent the world spinning, the bed missing and the floor hard.
“Oh god.”
Scott’s laugh was coarse and ended in a groan.
Served him right.
Virgil rolled over on the carpet and despite himself, echoed his brother’s groan. “What the hell happened?”
“Party, dude.”
Gordon.
What the hell was Gordon doing in his room?
“What...doing?”
“You’re definitely up there on the intellectual scale this morning, Virg.”
“Shut up.”
Opening his eyes produced a ceiling and two light fixtures...no one...uh, two...oh, god, urgh.
“Lookin’ a little green there, bro.”
“G-t lost.”
“No, no, I can’t. Thunderbird Five has assigned me ‘make sure they don’t die’ duty.”
“Where is John?”
“Getting breakfast.”
Ergh, food. “Why?” Room service. There was room service.
“Apparently, the ultimate bagel shop is just around the corner. You’re not allowed to die while he’s gone.”
Virgil finally worked out how to turn his head and came face to face with a pair of feet. Sandals. And sand? “You have sand.”
“Huh? Oh, forgot to rinse them last time. A little exfoliation won’t hurt.”
A blink and Virgil just groaned at him.
“So you staying down there all day? I hear Scott wants you to kiss his feet again.”
“Shut up.”
“Didn’t work the first time, not workin’ the second.” A pause. There were legs attached to those sandalled feet weren’t there? “C’mon, Virg, you need a hand up?”
“How’re you so...chirpy?”
He could feel the answering grin without seeing it. “Because I am Gordo the Magnificent, ruler of all things alcoholic.”
“Stick it.”
“Such insolence from the audience. Perhaps, I won’t help you up.”
“Fine. I’m great where I am.”
There was silence for a moment and Virgil used it to close his eyes again. Ah, blessed darkness.
A sigh. “Nah, c’mon, Virg, we gotta get you onto the bed.”
“Don’t wanna move.”
“Yeah, that’s what you said last time and that’s how you ended up kissing Scott’s feet.”
“Huh?”
“And there’s the intellectual brother I know.”
“Go ‘way.”
“Nope.” And there were hands on his shoulders and they were pulling him up and the world was tipping and oh my god, the spinning...ergh.
A pillow hit his face and he sunk into it. He screwed his eyes shut in an attempt to keep his stomach where is was supposed to be.
“So, today is the after party.”
Oh, so Gordon was still going. “G’way.”
“Uh-uh. That’s not going to work either. You told me you wanted to visit the Gallery, so we’re visiting the Gallery.”
The Gallery.
Virgil had a rule. If he visited a city on vacation, he made a point to stop at the art gallery. His list of visited sites was now longer than his arm. He’d become quite a connoisseur of all things artistic and if he was so inclined, he had the cash to invest.
Not that he ever did. Honestly, it was more about inspiration and admiration. He did have two or three favourites stashed back on the Island, but mostly he just gazed at them.
But today...gazing hurt.
“Rainch’k.” The pillow was so soft. He let himself drift.
“You’ll regret it.” It was sung. Gordon couldn’t sing. Ugh.
“Leave me along, Gordon, please.”
“No, you made me promise.”
Augh. “‘M on vacation.”
“Scott!”
On the other side of the room, his eldest brother yelped and shot out of bed and landed on the floor. A second of silence.
“Gordon! What the hell?!”
“Time to get up!”
“Gordon, leave him alone!” Some how Virgil found himself upright on the edge of the bed. It took a moment for his head to catch up and when it did, it slammed into him. Why did he do this? This was why he didn’t do this, because this happened. Oh, his head just, oh. He shoved the palms of his hands into his eye sockets attempting to push the pain out his ears.
TBC
“Upsy daisy, up and at ‘em. The early bird gets the worm.”
“The annoying brother gets hit.”
“Now, now, Scott, that is not how a responsible eldest brother behaves.”
“Gordon, if you don’t leave the room, I’m going to responsible your head into the nearest toilet bowl and flush it until your degree in marine biology slides out your ears.”
The picture that evoked in Virgil’s head was quite detailed. “Can I help?” He didn’t bother to pull the hands from his eyes. Who needed eyes to see with anyway?
“Well, that’s gratitude for you. Here I am, preventing your deaths from accidentally inhaling a regurgitated last night’s meal-“
“I’m preventing your death by counting to ten and I’m about to run out of numbers.” Scott was actually growling.
“Okay, okay, let your deaths be on you.” The sound of sandalled steps in the direction of the door and a loud thud.
Thud?
“Gordon?” Scott called his brother’s name just as Virgil dropped his hands from his face. The room was blurry for a moment and he only caught Scott staggering across the room after he had already started moving. There was a sense of urgency all of a sudden and it pushed a groggy Virgil to his feet. Two steps and he stubbed his big toe on the leg of the bed.
“Shit. Goddamnit.”
“Language.” But it was distracted. “Gordon?”
There was no answer and as Virgil peered around his eldest brother, alarm bells started ringing in his head.
Gordon was flat on his back, out cold on the floor.
What the hell?
-o-o-o-
TBC
Virgil stumbled over to his brother as fast as he could limping. Scott was already assessing Gordon for injury.
An egg shaped lump was forming in the middle of the aquanaut’s forehead.
As Virgil’s knees hit the floor, Gordon’s eyelids fluttered. “Wha-?”
“Gordon? You with me?” Scott’s voice was remarkably cool considering the situation.
Their little brother closed his eyes again and just groaned, rolling himself into a ball.
“Hey, hey, keep still.”
“G’way.”
“Gordon-“
“I’m fine. Juss hit m’head.”
“How?” It was out of Virgil’s mouth before he could filter it.
Scott eyed him and for a moment Virgil saw double. Shit, He was never drinking that much again.
“St’pid door.”
A blink and Virgil looked up at the closed door to their room. The dots danced in his head before slamming home. “You walked into the door?!” Ow, too loud. He shaved a hand onto his forehead and tried to keep his brain inside his skull.
“Stupid door.” Gordon rolled over and sat up.
“You’re drunk.” It was a sign of how hungover his eldest brother was in how he said that statement with so much awe.
“N’t drunk. Hit m’head.”
“Because you’re drunk.” The whole concept of happy chirpy go lucky Gordon who had been torturing them both since the moment consciousness had returned appeared to revitalise his eldest brother. A huge grin spread across his face and he even let out a laugh.
Seeing that Gordon was still in mostly one piece and functioning at least at a basic capacity, Virgil wobbled to his feet and made a beeline back to his bed, only tripping over his own feet once. His pillow was so soft, so warm, augh....he let his eyes drift shut.
A vague register of a scuffle on the floor. A click of the latch and a creak of the door opening.
Scott gasped. “John?”
What now? Groaning Virgil rolled over and found his next youngest brother standing in the doorway staring down at Gordon on the floor. Scott shot to his feet.
John’s hair was all askew and his arms bore several bleeding scratches. One hand held a bag of bagels, the other a makeshift bandage around it. His shirt was torn and there was a twig sticking out of his pocket.
Virgil didn’t have the energy to ask. Scott did anyway.
“What the hell happened to you?”
-o-o-o-
TBC
John was hungry.
Sitting on his bed with only his tablet for company might have been a preferred existence at any other time, but today it wasn’t enough. Perhaps it was because technically he wasn’t alone with said tablet. Technically, he had two brothers in the room with him, but neither were particularly good company.
Amusing perhaps as Virgil was currently snuggled up to Scott’s feet, hugging them like his life depended on it. He wondered if Kayo had to wrestle the unconscious bear at night, but then realised that was information he didn’t really need.
The other factor affecting his state of aloneness was the noise.
Both Scott and Virgil were snoring like passing freight trains. Virgil was slightly worse than his eldest brother, but honestly, John would probably need some audio measuring equipment to truly tell the difference.
But all this was currently beside the point. The point now was that he was hungry. It was breakfast time and ever since Virgil had announced that this would be where they were staying for the bachelor event, John had jumped at the opportunity to breakfast at Billy’s Bagels, just around the corner from the hotel.
The online recommendation for bagel lovers had this establishment at the top of the list. This was the place, the epitome of bagel baking and he had been wanting to sample their menu for quite some time.
This was the perfect opportunity.
Except he had to keep an eye on his drunk brothers.
He had to make sure they weren’t ill in their sleep. Make sure they were safe. Because both of those factors had been removed from their own capabilities at about drink number four last night.
John had one or two drinks, but John felt he needed to be the responsible one and he was. It wasn’t often such a tactic was needed, but today it was.
But he was hungry.
Maybe Gordon could help him out.
The two youngest brothers were stashed next door. Alan was as sozzled as his eldest brothers, but Gordon seemed to be able to handle his drink so Gordon had been assigned Alan and John had tackled Scott and Virgil.
Maybe he could dash out to the store and come back.
Quietly slipping out of the room, he tapped softly on the next door. “Gordon?”
The door was shoved open so abruptly, John nearly fell through it.
“Hey, John.”
The sound of a computer shooting game screamed into the hallway. “What are you doing?”
“Killing zombies. Wanna join?” Gordon was staring up at him, a grin on his face, his hair sticking up at all angles. His face was flushed and his eyes bright.
“No. Could you keep an eye on Scott and Virgil for a few minutes, I’d like to go grab some breakfast.”
Gordon blinked. “Why not call room service? They make great pancakes.” To emphasise his point, he reached around the door and grabbed a syrup soaked piece of such a pancake and shoved it in his mouth.
John refused to react, much less comment. “I want to visit the bagel store around the corner. Could you keep an eye on the guys?”
“Sure! Alan, you’re on your own.”
The comment from beyond the door was not repeatable.
John frowned. “Is Alan okay?”
“Heh, he’s fine. I just left him at the boss battle fighting for his life.” There was a loud crash and a spray of profanity from the flickering darkness. “Well, he was, perhaps not now.”
“Gordon, you suck!”
His brother grinned and slipped out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.
John was frowning, but doing his best to ignore it all. “They’re both asleep. Try not to wake them up.”
“FAB.” Gordon grinned at him again and wandered back towards the other room and slipped in quietly.
Hmm.
But Billy’s Bagels! Confirming his phone was in his pocket, John made a beeline for the elevator.
-o-o-o-
TBC
The bagel shop was a bagel lover’s dream. They had cream cheese, they had blueberry, they had one concoction that included smoked salmon, capers and blue veined cheese that sat atop a savoury milkshake.
They had hot cinnamon, sugar encrusted, chop chip, caramel glazed burritos.
It was heaven.
John grabbed a takeout breakfast, a dozen still-warm, multi-flavoured varieties and one of those savoury milkshakes.
It was too outlandish to ignore.
So half an hour longer than he had expected to be, found John Tracy tramping back to the hotel room totally satisfied with his purchases. He had even made a bulk order for Tracy Island to be delivered in the coming weeks.
The milkshake was interesting. he found himself completely fascinated by the fact that it had tiny pieces of salmon floating in it, yet it was still quite tasty. Being of the enquiring type, he eventually pulled off the cup lid and poked at the concoction inside.
Distracted, he did not see the cat.
His foot came down on something soft and not made of pavement. There was a godawful screech and that something sunk its claws into his leg.
Ever graceful in non-gravity influenced situations, John was anything but in this situation.
A yelp, a stagger, an overbalancing squawk and John Tracy hit the pavement in a heap.
The claws in his leg immediately became claws in his arm, his chest, a swipe across his face and caught in his hair, a cat screamed in his ear.
Desperate to protect his face, his arms came up and what little was left of his milkshake ended up on said face.
The resultant expletives were appropriately exotic.
Something was licking his ear.
He sat up and the cat climbed into his lap.
What the-?
“What do you think you are doing?”
The cat ignored him at first. Much more interested in licking salmon off his kneecap, but when John reached for the cat to move it, a pair of startling blue eyes peered up and deployed their entire arsenal of cuteness upon him.
Now, John knew he came across a little cold sometimes, a little on the harder side of the emotional equation, but if he was honest with himself, much of it was a facade.
Particularly where it came to cats.
But then again, considering that this was likely the cat that had tangled with his brothers last night...yes, there was that same tree, not two metres away...he should be suspect.
But, yes, this cat was cute.
TBC
Cute indeed.
Until a pigeon landed nearby.
The cat went from cute furball to feral killer in a split second. Silent and deadly it leapt at the bird.
And missed.
The pigeon being of metropolitan origin, took it in its stride, landing once again nearby. Apparently there was something equally attractive to birds as to cats in that milkshake splattered all over the sidewalk.
Or it may have been the bagel that had fallen out of the bag.
One of his precious, precious bagels.
“Scat!”
The cat jumped.
The pigeon didn’t. It eyed him.
John had never had a staring contest with a pigeon before.
Apparently, neither had the cat. It pounced yet again.
The pigeon politely flapped out of its way.
The bagel was still on the ground. Part of John wanted to give it to the pigeon, but he knew bread wasn’t great for birds and that was a hell of a lot of bagel for one pigeon.
The cat pounced again.
This time the pigeon flapped into the tree and stared down at them haughtily.
John sighed and reached over to pick up the bagel.
He’d never been swooped by a pigeon before either.
Also, the laws of gravity should have denied said pigeon the ability to snatch the bagel from his fingers.
But then gravity had always been his enemy.
Ultimately, the bagel went flying, the the cat leapt again and John ended up back on his butt on the pavement.
Ow.
This was ridiculous.
The cat obviously agreed and let it all out with a mad scrabbling of claws on bark, leapt into the tree and chased the pigeon along a branch.
The pigeon, of course, simply lifted off, hovered just long enough above John to deposit guano on his shirt, before calmly flying off.
Well, at least it didn’t get the bagel.
The cat meowed down at him several metres up.
Hadn’t this situation happened before?
TBC?
“What the hell happened to you?”
John stared at his brother and sighed. “There was a cat stuck in a tree.”
Scott blinked slowly, obviously still feeling the night before. He opened his mouth and then shut it again before holding up a hand. “You know what, I don’t want to hear it.” He eyed his brother. “Unless you are bleeding to death and haven’t told me.” Those eyes roamed up and down John’s height.
“No, I’m not bleeding to death.” Another sigh and he took the few more steps needed to get into the room and shut the door behind him.
Virgil registered only one thing. “Wh-t is that smell?!” Ugh, it wasn’t ding his stomach any favours at all.
John wandered into the kitchenette and dumped his bagels. Virgil eyed him as he walked past. “You smell like fish!” Oh, shit. His stomach rolled over. Not gonna, oh god, not gonna. He held his breath until the urge waned. “Keep away from me.”
Scott dragged Gordon off the floor and threw him at the couch. “Sit down and let us know if you have a concussion.”
Gordon groaned, but he did what his brother told him, rolling onto the couch with a grunt and closing his eyes.
The eldest brother eyed him again and Virgil groaned, forcing himself to sit up. “You take John, I’ll take Gordon. Try not to puke.” Staggering to his feet, Virgil wobbled his way over to his fish brother and planted himself beside him. “Gordon, you’re an idiot.”
A groan. “And you’re related, sucked in.”
He had to snort at that. A smile even curved his lips as his hand landed on his brother’s arm. “So proud, bro.”
“Shut up, Virgil.”
“You fell out of a tree?!” It was loud. It came from the kitchenette, and Virgil was glad he chose Gordon this time.
“John is so in the shit.”
“No more than you.”
“Heh, I’m used to it.”
Again the smile crept up on him. Was fondness a symptom of alcohol poisoning? He let his head drop against the back of the couch.
“You okay, Virg?”
“Been better.”
“Happy bachelor’s party, bro.”
“Thanks for coming.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Gordon’s hand landed on his. Okay, now they were getting soppy.
Fortunately, John chose that moment to wobble back into the room. He dumped himself on the edge of Virgil’s bed.
“You okay?” The man had hastily applied bandaids all over him.
“Been better.”
A blink. “Scott recovered yet?”
“No, he was still reciting Dad’s fourth amendment when I left.”
Great, that meant there would likely be more as soon as the eldest finished up in the kitchenette.
“Who won?”
John blinked. “Ah, the pigeon?”
“There was a pigeon?”
“Uh, huh.” John frowned. “Uh, where’s Alan?”
TBC?
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2, 4 and 14~ (I'm really interested in 2, lol. That gotta be a lot)
thank you haku, my beloved, for the questions! ♥️♥️
2 - how many wips in your doc list
you’re right. there’s so much in there. I haven’t transferred everything over as well, but have been organising fics and transferring the stuff I have in tumblr onto my drive. so counting them won’t be monstrous task, lol.
59 — ao no exorcist
16 — crossovers
13 — fma, khr
3 — boku no hero academia
15 — shingeki no kyojin
4 — the old guard
94 — the originals
65 — omniscient reader
2 — Given, ml, shades of magic
6 — golden time, naruto
8 — vampire knight
1 — the great gabsty, hannibal, mk, romance is a bonus book, saiki k, villain initialisation, good omens, sense8, star wars
27 — who made me a princess
18 — Harry Potter
37 — jjk
38 — Tokyo ghoul
20 — merlin, mp100
I tried to make this as accurate as possible but I have… a lot of uncounted wips buried in my tumblr drafts/other places and my whole spn folder is confusing as fuck. but over-all what i counted is around 571 and that is a lot. but I swear it really doesn’t feel like that much, sometimes.
4 - Tell me about your favorite will-never-finish-it fic? Why won’t it be finished?
oh mannnn
this is a difficult question to answer.
I have… a lot of these will-I-ever-finish wip. and I can’t choose which is my “favourite” so gonna go for a random one.
my aoex wip, misunderstandings. for one: I have no clue on where it will just be izushie or (pre)rinzumoshie. I keep changing my mind.z and another reasons: im having difficulty in general writing this urgh
the pacing feels sorta off, and there is the thing with the plot? beyond “izumi misunderstanding shiemi’s feelings” I got a confusing conflicting mess on where to go there and am super indecisive about them.
and also there’s the whole, urgh, I don’t know how to continue it. like logically I know where to naturally go. but it’s not working.
14 - Share a few sentences of what you’re currently working on?
I would love to show you some part of the new wip I started. a companion, sort-of sequel for to you, who left but focused on gojo and gojohime.
yeah, I read your comment and it inspired me a hella lot. but sadly, I’m still going over it in my head and don’t have anything show-able currently.
but I do have this that has gojo&utahime. it’s for the jjk week, day three: beach day! I am having so, so much fun with this one
“How about we play something we actually know,” Iori suggests.
“You just want to play baseball,” Satoru accuses. “We’re on the beach! It’s tradition that we play some beach volleyball. How hard could the rules be? It’s just tossing some ball over the net, and not letting it touch the ground.”
An immediate scowl etches on Iori’s face. “Shut up,” She hisses. “I wasn’t talking to you, or suggesting baseball. How the hell would be play that here? And the play isn’t that easy, you idiot!”
“Don’t you mean it’s not easy for you?” Satoru edges her, a maniac grin takening on his face. “The rest of us is not as weak as you.”
& also this moment between Geto & Gojo that shows how much bastard Gojo towards Utahime. <3 I hate him (affectionate)
“You really like to rile her up, don’t you?” Geto comments.
Satoru grins. “It’s in my blood, what can I do? It hurts my poor soul letting the weak be ignorant and not know exactly how weak they are.”
Geto laughs. Yeah, right.
Satoru’s dialogue is still under revision, there’s just something about that rubs me off wrong. but I haven’t figured what it is but seriously. why is he ike that. why do I love him so much.
also this might be one of my ambition fics yet because I am tackling a whole lot of characters at once — like ten — when I can barely do three, lol. but it’s going so well so far im very pleased.
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