Closed We Could Be Reckless

[Kauri Morales-Tipene]

Kauri loved weddings. Just the thought of them could make him tear up, the perfect expression of love and togetherness. So he had said yes to going to Flavio's brother's wedding without a second thought, even though he didn't know the couple at all. It had only been when he arrived at the wedding that he had realised just how terrible an idea that had been. The wedding itself had been wonderful, but the presence of not one but two people he shared frankly terrible histories with had very quickly turned the event from a pleasant excursion to a drunken mission to avoid horrible conversations. And it would be hard to place too much emphasis on drunken. Kauri had never been a big drinker at the best of times, and he was fairly sure he had had more wine tonight than he had for the entire rest of his life, put together.

Kauri could feel himself stumbling as he opened the door to the flat, thankful that November was looking after Miro tonight. He was finding more and more that he loved living with a kid and getting to spend time with Flavio's son, but right now a toddler would absolutely be too much responsibility for either of them. He wasn't entirely sure what had made Flavio so nervous he had matched Kauri drink for drink, but between the two of them, the situation was definitely not anything that could be described as sober. "Aaaaaah! I'm glad that'ssss OVER!" Kauri exclaimed, pulling off his suit jacket and tossing it over the back of the chair. "I mean, the wedding was beautiful, it was beautiful, I'm so happy for your brother!" He added quickly, wandering towards the kitchen in the hopes of getting them both some water. "I just mean, I mean, like... argh! You know! With... Rose, and Vivian... That was SO AWKWARD!" Kauri laughed, clumsily pulling glasses from the cupboard. "Do you want some water? I'm getting us water, 'cause we're drunk." He added, explaining firmly as he began pouring two glasses of water and only spilling a little bit.

 

[Flavio Morales-Tipene]

Humming a song to himself, Flavio stumbled in the house behind Kauri, and moved to lean against a wall and loosen his tie, chuckling as he listened to Kauri ramble and exclaim how awkward the day, and evening had been. Taking off his tie and dropping it, Flavio headed to the kitchen island and sat at one of the bar stools, his wine hazed mind and loss of motor skills making the mission of sitting down difficult, but not impossible. Flavio leant forward, resting more of his weight on the counter than he meant to as he watched Kauri pull glasses from the cupboard and poured them water. He chuckled again as Kauri spilled some of the water in the process. “Careful, I do want to drink water in the glass and not from the floor.” He joked, finding the entire ordeal of arriving home plastered absolutely hilarious. Flavio couldn’t remember the last time he drank so much wine, but he was enjoying every moment of it now that he and Kauri were away from the wedding and back home where Flavio felt no hesitation to share his secrets.​

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“Seeing Vivian was so awkward, did you see when I walked down the isle with him??” Flavio exclaimed, gesturing animatedly as he spoke, more so than usual. “Did you know…” Flavio began, letting his sentence draw out, and squinting at himself in embarrassment before he continued. “That Vivian was my first kiss? Gosh. When Ignacio introduced Ruby and Vivian to the family, I almost died.” Flavio explained, not having a filter to his words or considering whether he would regret sharing his history with Vivian, so far November was the only person that knew and Flavio had been content to keep it that way. “Now I am his uncle, KAURI!” Flavio screamed at himself, leaning forward and resting his head on the counter, wanting to hide at how embarrassing it all was.​

 

[Kauri Morales-Tipene]

Kauri didn't think he had ever been drunk enough to feel like this before. It seemed like everything was happening faster than he could actually process it, and as a result his hands felt like big useless lumps. He giggled at Flavio's comment about his pouring skills, shushing the other man loudly. "SSSSSHHH!!!!" Kauri said quickly, handing Flavio a mostly-full glass of water before turning to the task of pouring his own. "'sfine!"

He listened to Flavio's comments about Vivian as he poured the water, unable to help the frown that curled his brow. The wedding had brought up a lot of memories he had done his best to leave in the past, and actually being faced with Vivian for the first time in years had reminded Kauri all over again just how much Tristan's betrayal had hurt. He didn't know much about his flatmate's past with the other man though, choking in surprise when Flavio revealed Vivian had been his first kiss. "WHAT?!" Kauri exclaimed, staring at Flavio in shock. That shock dissolved into giggles as Flavio went on though, and the awkwardness of their situation truly sank in. "Oh my god, that's awful!" Kauri laughed, water sloshing from his glass onto the bench unnoticed. "What are you going to do?!"

 

[Flavio Morales-Tipene]

Flavio clumsily accepted the glass of water from Kauri and took a big gulp of it. He had not realized how thirsty he was until he had some water, and almost drank the entire glass at once. Though he stopped himself when Kauri reacted in shock to his admission. He slammed his glass on the counter, spilling more water. “I KNOW!” He exclaimed, sitting up and raising his eyebrows and nodding his head, not restraining as he expressed the awkwardness he had felt at the wedding but had been unable to show, and the awkwardness he felt generally as he, Vivian, and November were the only ones that knew, assuming Vivian had not told anyone. “I DON’T KNOW?!” He then responded to Kauri’s question of what he should dowith an animated shrug.​

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Flavio sighed, leaning forward on the counter again and propping his head up on his hand. “November knows and Vivian knows, but no one else does, I don’t think so. It is so embarrassing, how do you talk about kissing a boy once that you didn't even like, and then years later your brother starts dating the boy’s mother?” Flavio cringed inwardly. “’s weird.” He added. “What do you think I should do, Kauri?” Flavio then asked genuinely. “I jus’ want to pretend like nothing is happening and Vivian seems to want to do that too, its not like the kiss mattered and like, no one needs to know.” Flavio shrugged again, although less dramatically. He then sat up again and shook his head. “Don’t tell anyone Kauri, secretive secret.” Flavio then added, realizing now that Kauri knew he would need to also keep the secret.​

 

[Kauri Morales-Tipene]

As bad as he felt for Flavio, Kauri couldn't quite stop giggling as he listened to the other man's predicament, clumsily setting his glass down to get a cloth and wipe down the bench. "That suuuuuuuucks!" Kauri exclaimed, taking the moment to collect his thoughts. It was much harder to give a real answer than it would have been if he was sober, but Kauri did his best, touching Flavio's arm gently as he spoke. "Look, you said it though! If you wanna pretend it didn't happen, and Vivian wants to pretend it didn't happen, whassproblem?!" Kauri slurred, standing up straight to give an exaggerated shrug before going back to mopping the now dry countertop. "You don't hafta talk 'bout it, he obviously doesn't wanna too, so jus don't talk 'bout it!" Kauri shrugged, finishing off the last of his water and setting the glass in the sink. It had taken him a while to really process, but the thought of Flavio and Vivian kissing was a very strange thought, probably all tied up in his own complicated feelings about Vivian. It was all far too much for the amount of alcohol in Kauri's system right now, one way or another. "C'mon, bed time." He added firmly, giving Flavio a slightly less-than-gentle nudge. "'stoo late to worry 'bout it."

 

[Flavio Morales-Tipene]

Flavio propped his head up with his hand as he listened to Kauri, the stress and tiredness of the day beginning to dawn on him, and fully wear him out. It was as if while he was at the wedding he was running on adrenaline, and now that he was home and comfortable, he could barely keep his eyes open. Flavio understood Kauri’s logic on one hand, but also thought that not talking about the awkwardness with Vivian would make it more awkward than if they did talk about it, although his mind couldn’t really process much else, couldn't process if it was the smarter decision to talk about it or a decision he actually wanted to make. He picked up his glass and drank what was left of the water in it, placing it back on the ccounter and sitting up slightly. He then nodded to Kauri’s suggestion it was time for them to both go to sleep. He nudged Kauri back, putting more of his weight into the motion than he thought and stumbling slightly as he stood up. “Woah, I am okay.” Flavio said with a chuckle as he caught his balance. “We should sleep, yes.” He added in agreement, rubbing one of his eyes with his hand. He was sure he would be out like a light as soon as his head hit his pillow.​

 

[Kauri Morales-Tipene]

As he spoke, it was becoming clearer and clearer to Kauri that he was losing Flavio. He snorted slightly with laughter watching his flatmate stumble and shook his head. "Oh my god, c'mere." Kauri laughed, pulling Flavio closer and helping keep him upright. "You're trolleyed, let's get you to bed." He said firmly and started helping Flavio away from the kitchen, only letting go when they reached the former Ravenclaw's door. "Righ', sleep well!" Kauri grinned, reaching up to ruffle Flavio's hair affectionately before wobbling off to his own room, quietly thinking that being drunk wasn't all as bad as he had expected it would be. And it had been nice to chat with Flavio about things, even if the conversation had been a bit intense. He didn't bother getting changed into pyjamas, simply flopping into his own bed and drifting off almost immediately.