recolle | [OPEN] they say it's your birthday

Entry tags:

persona 4: souji seta

[OPEN] they say it's your birthday

WHO: Keigo Higashino and ALL Y'ALL.
WHERE: Different spots around the city. Mostly bars and the area around them. Also the university campus at some point, maybe.
WHEN: April 1st, evening time?
WHAT: today is Keigo's birthday, so this is a birthday catch-all!! But he's a little depressed. Not because he's getting older, but because he's homesick. Oh, and he's been having weird dreams lately... like really weird. What better way to assuage those feelings than to get drunk?
WARNINGS: drinking??? cussing??? being a sadsack??? that's about it, really.

PROMPT 1

The first of April had always been an exciting time for Keigo; he was still at that age where a birthday was important, where it was something that needed to be celebrated! Parties and games and excitement! Wreaking havoc in the city! Getting up to no good!

But now that he was in America, now that he had significantly less friends to hang out with, Keigo started to get hit with homesickness. Really bad homesickness. It was pretty much the running theme of the day. He woke up sad, shuffled through the day sad, and when it started to get dark outside, the realization hit him like a freight train. He basically wasted his entire birthday moping around!

In an effort to remedy that, Keigo had forced himself up and out of the dorms. Dressed in some nice clothes, he was out into the night, determined to force himself to have a good birthday. What ended up happening was Keigo getting into a bar and ordering himself whiskey. And another. And another... Sitting alone, listening to people who were having a great Saturday night... it didn't fill him with any form of excitement or happiness. It just reminded him of what he didn't have there. Renji was busy and Yosuke was too young to hang out in a bar with him. Somehow he had jumped from youthful adolescence to lonely old man in a day's time.

He was just fine keeping to himself, wallowing in his miseries like any old man would, when someone jostled him before sitting down in the stool nearby. Keigo, already half in the bag and depressed to boot, scowled their way, eyes narrowed sharply. His voice was a sharp bark, strong enough to resist being drowned out over the bustling of the bar, at any rate.

"Oi! Watch it! You could have dumped this shit all over me!" Truly spoken like an old man.

PROMPT 2

Whatever happened in the bar didn't really matter, since it led to the same road: Keigo shuffling out of it once it got late enough to do so. Well, that, and he'd had far too many drinks. He was... trashed, to be frank. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten so drunk and to make matters entirely worse, he was alone. He had enough natural poise and balance to avoid swaying to and fro like an uprooted beanstalk, but that didn't mean that he wasn't visibly compromised. His face was flushed red, his eyes were glassy, and he just looked ... distant.

But what of it? Certainly he couldn't keep the charade up for long. Sooner or later, he would trip or bump into someone and fall on his ass or something. For the moment, he stopped his wanderings to press his palm against the brick siding of some building he didn't recognize. Everything was spinning around. He shut his eyes and sucked in a shaky breath. He overdid it, big time. He needed to get back to the dorms and go to bed. Lifting his head up, he watched as people passed him by, not really paying attention to him and his momentary pitstop. Honestly, Keigo was thankful for that. He didn't need a crowd spectating, taking bets on whether or not he'd pass out or vomit, or both.

Just like he was determined to go out and have a good time on his birthday, he was also determined to get back home in one piece. Mostly. Taking another deep breath, Keigo steeled himself, straightening his posture as best he could. All he had to do was ask someone for directions. At the first person he managed to catch eye contact with, Keigo waved his hand, furthering an attempt to hold their attention.

"E-excuse me! Could you, um..." Boy, it was hard to focus. His accent combined with the way his words slurred probably didn't help, either. Clearing his throat, he continued, "Could... you... t-tell me which way to the campus from here?"

PROMPT 3

[ wild card option?! throw your own bar or downtown-related prompts at me. keep in mind that keigo will likely be drunk or at least tipsy in most situations, whoops. make up any sort of scenario you like! also, i will gladly match tag format! don't be afraid to send me some action tags! o/ ]

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"...That's a lamppost you're talking to," Ryoji says as gently as he can, closing the gap between them with a few strides and reaching over to place his hands on Keigo's arms to turn him just the slightest so that he's facing him. As soon as Keigo is properly reoriented, Ryoji takes a step back, because yeah, he's prepared to leap out of the way before his shoes get hurled all over. "You're not thinking of walking all the way back to campus, are you?" he asks. "To the dorms?"

Keigo blinked rather blearily at the voice that came from his left rather than directly in front of him. He could have sworn that he was in the right position, but his vision had become rather blurry, to be fair. Once he was properly turned about, he gave off a sheepish laugh. Damnit, this was embarrassing as hell...

"Um, well, yes..." he said slowly, carefully. He was hyper aware of his voice in that moment, and overthinking nearly every letter as he enunciated. Giving off another laugh, he pressed his hand against the lamppost for some semblance of support. If only his eyes could focus...

"It isn't far from here, is it? I'll be fine! I just need... directions."

And water, probably.

Whether or not the campus is very far, Ryoji wonders whether any of his instructions will be retained in an alcoholic stupor that he can pick up with every laugh that makes him more concerned and less sure. This guy looks like he can barely stand without leaning against the lamppost; Ryoji can't, with good conscious, point him towards the right place and then watch him as he stumbles into a bush or into traffic or anything of the sort.

Slowly, he reaches over and removes Keigo's hand from the lamppost and holds it firmly in his own. "I'm going to call you a cab. Is that alright?" he asks, even though he's going to do it regardless.

Keigo wasn't expecting any form of direct kindness from anyone, much less out on the streets near the bar strip. Ryoji already did more than enough by helping him face the right direction, but having his hand clasped in his, Keigo felt an unfamiliar twinge of ... something. Guilt, maybe?

Either way, he looked considerably more concerned by the prospect of being a burden than anything else. He shook his head, then instantly regret it, placing a palm to his forehead.

"N-no, that's not necessary! I don't n-need anything like that!"

Ryoji pouts a bit at the refusal, briefly, though it's not altogether unexpected. He's doing this out of kindness, but also because he doesn't want to be an indirect cause of injury or death, and tipsy people tend to underestimate their level of inebriety.

He doesn't let go of Keigo's hand. He's not going to let go until he can come to a compromise.

"Then I'll walk you to the campus. I'm going there myself, so it's no trouble," he adds, deciding just now that he's apparently heading to the university. And like that, he continues, before Keigo can get in any words of disagreement, "I could use the company, you know. You'd be helping me out."

He didn't really want to cause trouble, but it would seem that trouble, of a variety, had found him. Not that Ryoji himself was bothering him, but that Keigo didn't really want to concern anyone with his antics, especially not someone he didn't know. But, with his continued insistence at holding his hand, Keigo didn't have it in him to yank away. After all, he would have probably fallen on his ass if he had done so.

Rubbing at his face, he breathed out a deep sigh. Walking him to the campus, huh? That seemed like even more trouble than the cab, but... He was lonely, he had to admit. It was pretty selfish of him to go along with this, wasn't it? Keigo glanced Ryoji's way, looking as though he was pouting as well.

"That's... that's pretty troublesome, though, isn't it?"

"You're worth the trouble!"

You, the stranger on the street, whom he's known for less than five minutes and doesn't even have a name for. There's an inherent 'yes' in that response, but also, an 'I don't care, I do what I want' as Ryoji gives Keigo's hand a tug in the right direction to start walking. That 'I don't care, I do what I want' attitude is what gets him through life, having met all sorts of people who are exactly like Keigo, who could use help but don't want to be a burden.

"My name is Ryoji Mochizuki," he introduces himself, to get formalities out of the way, with little concern over whether his name will be remembered the day after, "and I will be your escort tonight."

What was this guy's deal? Keigo couldn't fathom putting that much importance onto any random on the street. Maybe that said something about him. He didn't really have the consciousness of mind at the moment to go into deep introspection on himself, so it would have to wait until he sobered up. Provided he remembered their conversation at all...

Either way, drunk or not, Keigo still felt as if he was either in the hands of someone greatly naive and too kind for his own good... or a serial killer. Honestly, given his luck in most situations, he wouldn't have been shocked if it ended up being the latter.

But Ryoji didn't let him dwell on it for too long. The little tug to his hand caused Keigo to jerk a little bit, but thankfully he didn't trip over his own two feet in the process. He was a bit speechless, which would have been a shock to anyone who knew him, but lucky for Ryoji, he didn't. Keigo would have pitied him if he did, seeing him in a state like this.

At any rate, he started along with Ryoji, uncaring (for the moment) about his hand clasped around his own. Quite frankly, he was pretty stupefied. It was a miracle that he was able to utter his own name in response, "K-Keigo Higashino." His voice was wavering a little, but at the very least, he enunciated. "T-thank you. You sure about this?" Even now, as he tugged him along on the sidewalk, Keigo had doubts.

"Holy shit," Katsuki breathed when Keigo walked up to him. "You are drunk as fuck."

He was wondering where the campus was? College guy. Okay. He looked in the general direction of the University. It was a decent walk.

"Where the fuck did you come from?" Was this guy an idiot? Probably. He smelled like an idiot. Though that might just be the alcohol.

"I'm sure," Ryoji replies simply, readily, turning his attention away from Keigo and onto the streetlights as they walk. He doesn't pressure the other guy to make small talk, not wanting to hear anything Keigo might later regret saying, but also because he has to focus on where they're going. It's dark out, and Ryoji isn't the best with directions in the first place, especially having only moved here a couple of months ago and utilized the buses to get around instead of trying to navigate the streets back to campus.

He's pretty sure this is the right way, using the lights from the taller buildings to orient himself, but while he thinks he knows how to get to the university as the crow flies... it's either cutting through streets and alleyways, or taking the long way around following the major streets.

He's pretty sure.

It's okay.

So down the alleys they go, unlit in some places, thick with smoke in others.

[ Moving to the US had definitely been a big shift, but Yosuke had the better of four years under his belt to get used to it. That didn't mean he was any less excited when Keigo decided to come to Recolle for school, of course. As much as he felt he'd integrated and enjoyed himself at his new home, having his favorite cousin around was something he was very thankful for.

Which is why it was totally shitty that Yosuke was inexplicably stuck working pretty much most of the day.

April 1st was a Saturday. Americans didn't go to school on Saturdays and he had planned on showing up at Keigo's dorm to take him out during the day. But then he'd gotten called in on emergency early in the morning, was supposedly supposed to get off around 2PM, but ended up getting roped into a double shift with the promise of time and a half and a billion thank yous from his manager for dealing with the botched shipments and covering for the people who called out.

It was a long day.

But it wasn't his birthday.

It's pretty late by the time that Yosuke finally leaves the store. He's running low on energy but that's not much of an excuse, is it? As he rips off his apron he's already pushing the call button on Keigo's contact page. ]

C'mon, c'mon...

Maybe it was just because he was drunk, but the whole situation was rather flustering to Keigo. Being led along by someone else, essentially being made their burden, their project, was not something he envisioned happening to him... ever, really. He couldn't wrap his head around it, even after walking along with Ryoji for those long, mostly silent, moments.

But Keigo wasn't the type to be silent for long. As they wandered around the streets, seemingly aimless, Keigo just had to say something. It wasn't in his nature to go without conversation. But he was so drunk, he couldn't figure out anything of interest to talk about.

Naturally, this meant that he just sort of spat out the first thing that came to mind: "So, do you... do you always pick up guys off the street?"

Okay, that sounded terrible but it wasn't exactly... inaccurate, was it... as far as Keigo was concerned, anyway.

Keigo straightened his posture as best he could. Though he was generally uncaring of things like personal space when talking to people, he has enough presence of mind to realize that maybe, just maybe, some guy on the street didn't want him all up in his area when chatting while he was wasted.

If one could call it "chatting," really.

Keigo inhaled through his nose and jabbed a finger back over his shoulder. "Back that way. One of those bars," he muttered, reaching up with his free hand to rub at his eyes. "But, um. If you could just... tell me which way the campus was..." he trailed off. Who knew how successful he'd be with this guy, but it was worth a shot.

[ keigo couldn't exactly fault yosuke for working on his birthday. after all, his cousin had all that time to make himself established in the city, so to speak, and it would be difficult for him to just drop any prior obligations for his foreigner cousin, he assumed. still, it ... kinda sucked.

he was lonely, terribly lonely, and with renji not being available, that left keigo to his own devices. and those devices happened to be alcoholic in nature. in all honesty, it wasn't a fun birthday. he didn't exactly make any friends while at the bar, due to many different factors, not to mention keigo's own naivete in general. old enough to drink didn't mean he was old enough to understand everything. right on that precipice of being an adult and leaving childhood, still. it sucked.

when his phone rang, he almost didn't answer it. what would be the point? but then the ringtone clicked in his head... it was yosuke!

pulling his phone out, keigo answered the phone with a cheeriness that was half faked, half genuine. on one hand, he didn't want yosuke to think he was having a shitty birthday. on the other, he couldn't exactly contain his excitement that prospect of hearing his voice. ]

Aa~ah, Yosuke!! Hi!! What's up!!

[ the bar was a little on the loud side, but keigo's talents of being exponentially louder were put to good use. sorry about your ear, yosuke. ]

It's pretty terrible! But the implications only makes Ryoji laugh in surprise, seeing how it must look to outside observers, leading somebody down the streets by the hand like this. It's a harmless subject to talk about, nothing Ryoji minds sharing nor anything Keigo will regret saying in a drunken stupor if they keep the conversation on Ryoji, so he rolls with it.

"The street's a pretty good place to meet people. Despite being a large city, there's always people out walking, and conversations are easy to strike up when walking the same direction." It's something about the culture, he thinks. Some places, people just mind their own business, phones pressed against their ears or ears plugged up with music even though neither are playing, just so they can bar interaction. Recollé has been surprisingly open and friendly, and Ryoji just adds to that.

"Oh, but most people don't go drinking by themselves, so I don't often help people home. If they're alone, I think it's the barkeep that usually calls for a cab, and puts it on the bill before sending them home."

Not... exactly the response he was expecting, but it would do. This guy seemed overly friendly, maybe? Or it could be an elaborate act... naturally, that was just Keigo's paranoid nature at work; he only just met the guy, after all. Luckily, being a drunk ass meant that he had a plethora of things to distract him from stupid lines of thought.

He had a point, though, all things considered. It was pretty telling for Keigo to be out and about on his own, without even a friend to help take him back home. It stung a bit, having it laid out so plainly, and he wondered if people had been thinking that of him while he was in the bar. Keigo inhaled sharply and breathed out a bitter laugh.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's pretty weird, for someone my age..." Wasn't that the kind of thing that old men did? Sitting on a bar stool, drinking their worries away... Keigo was barely out of the teenage years and he was already the spitting image of despair. "I'm a loser, though, so I didn't really think too deeply on it while I was in there."

[ If circumstances were a little different, the thought of going around bar hopping or something on one's birthday sounds like it would be the best idea to Yosuke. Though that might be in large part because he just isn't old enough yet and what alcohol he has had has been at the kindness of others. He wants to be cool. He could've been cool!

But this isn't about him. And he doesn't need much experience with getting trashed to be able to tell that Keigo isn't quite right on the other line. Something in his voice, you know. Or maybe it's the noise in the background.

First things first. ]

Happy birthday!

[ Because that's the important part. ]

Hey, sorry man. I ended up working a lot later than I expected, so I hope I'm not the very last person to say it, haha.

"People are entitled to their independence. Sometimes I wish people were more comfortable with it." Ryoji doesn't connect drinking alone to being a loser, necessarily. Sometimes one just wants a properly mixed drink, and better a skilled bartender do it, than getting out the measuring cups at home trying to remember the correct ratio of vodka and lemonade.

"How old are you?" he asks, pushing all of that aside. Because if Keigo is going back to the dorms, it could be that he's a first year college student, Ryoji is hoping because that would make them near the same age and he'll have somebody he knows when he enrolls next year.

That was one way of looking at it. "Independence" had a better ring to it than "loser," at any rate. Keigo found himself smiling, if only slightly, at that revelation. Something to consider, next time he was out by himself, despite all desires for the opposite.

When asked so abruptly about his age, however, Keigo couldn't help but laugh. He gave Ryoji a crooked smile, tilting his head to one side. He probably looked goofy as hell, fixing his travel companion with a look like that while absolutely shitfaced, but it didn't seem like Keigo cared.

"Guess," he said, as if he had the key to some mysterious puzzle locked away in that brain of his.

[ keigo's overly joyous vocalization only grew more emphasized when yosuke actually said those words he'd been wanting to hear all night. he laughed into the receiver, the grin on his face easily conveyed through his words. ]

Aaah, thank you!!

[ but moving on... ]

Don't even worry about it! Y'know, you're like, the first person, I think?

[ if he was upset, it was probably hard to tell. ]

But it doesn't matter, 'cause you called me and that's more than anyone else did today! Hey, are you at home or what? You should come by here! We can go to my dorm or some shit, y'know?

[ what were plans... keigo didn't know or care, he was just starved for attention and interaction. ]

Keigo gets a surprised laugh from Ryoji before he answers, a little wave of his hand and a "I'm not a very good guesser!" as insurance in case he's completely off the mark. He asks because he tends not to guess correctly, and has met his fair share of mature-looking people upset at him for guessing a year above what they are, and the same amount with baby-faces upset for guessing ten years lower. Ryoji himself looks about the same as he has the past few years too, but he supposes that's a good place to start.

"Hmm~ You can tell me higher or lower until I guess the right answer." That way, he'll guess the right number eventually. "I'll start with... nineteen? Like me?"

[ Keigo does seem happy, so that's a good sign! Maybe Yosuke was getting antsy over nothing? Not like he hasn't had to work on his own birthday before. Maybe they can-- ]

Wait, what?

[ The first person? ]

Shit, dude--are you being for real?

[ More than anyone else did--what about his parents? ]

Uh--yeah! I just got off, so I'm still at the store...wait, where are you?

Keigo, being as drunk as he was, didn't really think much on if he'd end up being insulted or not by Ryoji's answers. Honestly, at that point in the night, there wasn't a lot that could have brought him down any lower than he already was, anyway. Still, it brought some amusement to him as Ryoji prefaced his guessing with that little disclaimer; he ended up laughing a little before nodding in understanding.

It ended up not being a real problem, anyway. Ryoji's first guess wasn't terrible, and quite close to hitting the mark. With that grin still in place, he shook his head, "Higher."

[ being drunk was a funny thing. certain things he liked to keep under wraps for the sake of his little cousin were at risk of being revealed, and yet he felt no real anxiety or guilt for it. probably wasn't a good idea to rattle it off over the phone, but-- ]

I'm at a bar downtown! But, yeah, it's fine!

[ not really. more like he sort of... expected it, anyway. ]

This is why you're my favorite. I can leave here and meet you somewhere, if you want!

[ wasn't like he was engaged in any riveting conversation with the bartender or anything. ]

The laugh is encouraging, and Ryoji returns it as he tries hard to study Keigo's face— to him, Keigo looks a lot younger when he's laughing, more so than the worry and concern he wore before.

Let's see... if not nineteen, then the next number Ryoji guesses is: "Twenty-nine!"

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[OPEN] they say it's your birthday

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sorry for slowness! p5 ate me alive OTL

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