Round Robin P 1
(by mars)
It started harmlessly enough.
Stolichnya Shima and Sebastien Smirnoff were the culprits, of course.
Facing each other over cards one day, they were apparently paying
attention to everything but what they held in their hands. Petit,
precocious Shima's eyes were narrowed in concentration, but they were
studying the flat-screen TV set into the far wall; the usually loud
Sebastien watched him silently with a patient smile. He shuffled through
his cards with long, clever fingers. "They make you crazy like they
make me crazy, petit?"
On the television, Twisteaux Turbeaux and his four Culture Bats--the
new J-Rock sensation sweeping through Japan--smiled indulgently at
the audience and waved briefly before escaping off-camera towards
the concert hall. Shima scowled, his small, full mouth pinching even
smaller, and dragged his eyes off of the screen to look at Sebastien.
"They're such posers!" he spat.
"We could teach them a thing or two, no?" Sebastien's careful smile
turned lecherous. Shima's scowl melted in turn, the corners of his
mouth curling.
"What are you on about?" Grey Neville-Smyth asked as he strolled
into the common room, toweling off his freshly bleached masses of
hair. "Plotting against the rest of us again, are you two?"
"Always, Gurei-san." Shima smiled up at Grey almost innocently. Grey
wasn't fooled, giving them a wide berth as he crossed the room to
fetch the day's newspaper.
"On the telly again?" Grey dropped into a chair, throwing the towel
over the arm of another. "You'd think the media'd be bored of showing
their ugly mugs over and over. They've got a five second attention
span for everything else. Change the channel, would you?"
Sebastien reached for the remote, and then paused. "A moment-- we
were just discussing..." His smirk turned sly. "A bet, m'sieur. Would
you be interested in playing?"
Grey's expression was skeptical. "Let's hear it before I sign my
name in blood." He didn't miss the quick glances exchanged between
Shima and Sebastien, or the small almost-laugh that Shima smothered
as quickly as it surfaced. "Especially if it's involving *them*."
He tipped his head towards the screen, where Twisteaux was conducting
himself buffoonishly before an interviewer.
"Just a little bet. Each of us pays two thousand yen, and whomever
sleeps with one of those Bats first will take the entire pot."
Grey snorted, dismissive. "As if I'd want to dip into *that*." He
gestured at the bouncing image of the Culture Bat's keyboardist.
"That's too easy, Sebashi-kun," Shima said. "One is too easy. How
about... whoever sleeps with the most of them by the end of the week
wins, and everyone else pays up. Five thousand yen."
Grey was still not buying in. "Augustine'll win, you all know that."
"He is not here to take this bet," Sebastien insisted. "The three
of us, we'll stand an equal chance. Or do you think you are not so
talented as we?"
"Hardly, I'm just a realist. And you two will just team up on me,"
Grey muttered.
"If we team up, then we only get half scores."
"Gurei-san is just afraid. He's too old and soft to keep up with
us." Shima's tactic was hardly subtle, but Grey found himself leaping
to his feet all the same.
"Hang on there! I'm only a year older than him--" He pointed at Sebastien.
"I just happen to know sleeping with barely-legal boys doesn't keep
one young!"
"You just know they'd never give you a second look, old man." Sebastien
draped an arm over Shima as if to prove a point.
"That's not true-- I could have whoever I wanted--!"
"Not even that petit 'club bunny' Bat would sleep with you--"
"Oh *alright!*" Grey shouted, much louder than he intended, "I'll
take your bloody stupid bet." He reached into his wallet, pulled out
five thousand yen and slapped it on the table. Sebastien reached for
it, grinning, but Grey grabbed his wrist firmly. "Oh, no. Neither
of you are hanging on to my money. Where's Skye? At least he's fairly
honest."
"Eh," Sebastien wrinkled his nose. "Don't bring him into this, he'll
just sneer down at us and call us peasants. I'll just--" He reached
after the five thousand yen again.
"SKYE!"
Sebastien rolled his eyes and drew his hand back. "You know he will
just say he does not get involved in such things. We should make a
bet to see who sleeps with him first as well. Only, it would never
be won."
"Honestly, Sebastien, he's not as much of a prude as you seem to
think--"
"If I seem a prude in your eyes," came a soft, heavily-accented reply,
"it is only because you /krestyane/ are not worthy of knowing such
intimate details of my life."
"Well, there you are," Grey said cheerfully, ignoring the insult.
Sneering superiority seemed to be ingrained in the Isaac's most reclusive
member. "We're in need of someone to hold on to some money, and I
don't trust either of these two with it."
"What have I ever done!" Shima protested, but Grey held out his hand.
"I'll take five thousand yen from each of you; and if he's willing,
Mr. Shezar can hold on to it until the end of the week."
Shima dug in his pockets. "How about if someone wins Sebashi-kun's
extra challenge, we pay him an extra two?"
"I'm on," Sebastien said, handing Grey his money. Grey counted through
the notes, and handed them to Skye, who narrowed his eyes at the lot
of them.
"What are you betting?"
"Oh, just a little wager to see which of us will be most successful
getting a little bit of play from our favorite rivals, nothing big.
Whoever sleeps with the most members of the Bats wins," Grey said
breezily. He couldn't help eyeballing Skye's cascades of straight,
flaxen hair, and wonder if he could win the extra two thousand yen.
"Why don't you join us?" Sebastien's grin was positively wicked.
"Five thousand, and we'll trust you to hold it, since you can't do
the extra bet."
"Extra?" Skye asked, and everyone found something else to stare at.
"Ignore him," Grey said, waving one hand, "He's just baiting you.
Want in?"
Of course Skye was going to say no. They waited for him to tell them
that they were low, stupid, base foreign pigs and that Augustine would
surely win. Skye's mouth seemed to be getting tighter and tighter;
it was obviously going to be a big scolding that he'd lay on them.
"Yes. I think that it would be easy for me to win such a bet."
Sebastien snorted loudly. But Grey laughed out loud; somehow, he
wouldn't be surprised if Skye *did* win. Except for the extra bit,
of course. "Pay up then," Sebastien said, "Bet starts from this moment
on. And you have to be able to prove it -- bring ... a thing that
you could not get unless you slept with the person you claim to."
"Photographs?" Grey suggested, "Otherwise who knows who's dirty underwear
we're getting?"
"Photos, then. You have to have a picture, or better."
Shima stood, stretching languidly like a little cat. "Alright then.
Let's go down to the strip, Sebashi-kun?"
"Good thinking." Sebastien grabbed his jacket, and the two of them
strutted out of the room as if they'd already won.
"Where're you going to start?" Grey said to Skye, but the other man
only looked at him, and then turned, his pale straight hair a magnificent
banner behind him. Grey sighed, stood up, and stretched. This was
going to be a long week, but hopefully fun-- and of course he was
going to win. He rubbed his hands together, and got up to get his
coat.
.//back
