Prompt Round One

1: Taro
2: Sadaharu
3: Zetsubou
4: Mori
5: Yuni
6: Kietsu
7: Tosh
8: Richard
9: Anei
10: Satori

1. Characters 1 and 2 literally walk into each other on a fairly spare street. What happens next?
2. Characters 3 and 4 are a blind date put together by a friend of character 4 who is known to be a jokester, but can be serious at times. What happens?
3. Characters 5 and 6 are on a lifeboat (you pick the reason). It's going to be at least a couple of hours before anyone gets to them. How do they pass the time?
4. Characters 7 and 8 are given the task to throw a Christmas party. Can they throw a successful party?
5. Characters 9 and 10 are forced to work together to save 9's mother/close relative
6. 4 invites 3 and 8 to dinner at their house. What happens?
7. 9 tries to get 5 to go to a strip club. How?
8. 4 needs to stay at a friend's house for the night. Who do they choose, 1 or 6?
9. 3 falls in love with 6, 8 is jealous. What happens?
10. 4 jumps 8 in a dark alleyway. Who comes to their rescue, 10, 2 or 7?
11. 1 decides to start a cooking show. Fifteen minutes later, what is happening?
12. 3 has to marry either 8,4 or 9. Who do they choose?
13. 7 kidnaps 2 and demands something from 5 for 2's release. What is it?
14. Everyone gangs up on 3, does 3 have a chance in hell?
15. Everyone is invited to 2 and 10's wedding, except for Eight. How do they react?
16. Why is 6 afraid of 7?
17. 1 arrives late for 2 and 10's wedding. What happens and why were they late?
18. 5 and 9 get roaring drunk and end up in 1's house. What happens?
19. 9 murders 2's best friend, 5. What does 2 do to get back at them?
20. 6 and 1 are in mortal danger, only one of them can survive. Does 6 save themselves or 1?

All considered, Taro was extremely distracted that morning. So distracted, in fact, that he very nearly bowled someone over as he rushed down the street, his coffee spilling from the styrofoam cup in a wide arc and somehow missing him as his papers went simply everywhere, manilla folder open on the floor. He launched himself at the piece of paper that was insistently trying to make its way down 3rd street and snatched it up - apologising as he went, trying and really failing to gather up all the papers as the breeze flicked them up again, resulting in him dropping the cup yet again.

Sadaharu watched in shocked dismay at the whirlwind of paper and babbling blonde, and finally grabbed a few pieces of paper, passing them over when the blonde finally straightened up. "Sorry?" He tried, passing them over and glancing down at the paper for a split second, which was just long enough for him to catch the word 'demonic', and for Taro to panic and all but snatch the paper back, looking up with a quirked smile. "Writing a paper on mythology."He said disarmingly, stacking them together and shoving them back into the manilla folder.
"Really? looked more like a, uh, you know, location thing, on active-"
"It's for a paper."
"Aha."

They both stared warily at each other for a few moments, and then Sadaharu shrugged, tugging a necklace out of the top of his shirt. Taro glanced at the pendant, narrowed his eyes at the boy and then smiled again, extending a hand and tucking the file under his other arm. "I'm Taro."
"Sadaharu. You're not going to report me for the coffee thing are you?"
"Yes. Yes I am." Taro said with a widening grin.

Zetsubou didn't even know why he'd agreed to Taro's stupid idea. The restaurant was one of those upscale modern turn of the century joints, somewhere Zetsubou would never have visited on his own volition.

He didn't even want a relationship. He had enough on his plate with his studies and dealing those stupid reps from the organisation not to mention all the shit that he's dealing with at home. But here he was sitting at a table toying with the bread they'd left him and staring at the fibre-optic light piece the restaurant was using instead of candles to create that romantic atmosphere.

Taro could be a very convincing negotiator though, so here Zetsubou was. At a fancy as restaurant. In a fancy suit. On a blind date.

What even was his life.

Mori stepped into the restaurant and unconsciously smoothed his hands down his shirt - which Satori had demanded he let her iron before he left, because this is a date, an actual date, and you're not going like that, and he really hadn't wanted to piss her off, or deal with whatever the maniacal hint of laughter in her every expression was (a date was probably easier than that). He looked around and found the only possible table that could be his date, and he was a few minutes late (because of the tie).

He sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and started to walk over to the table. "Hey, so I'm-" He stopped completely dead in his track, face blank for a few seconds of horror and made half a gesture of confusion, and then shook his head, backing up and looking around a little. nobody else had one person to a table, and that meant that this was actually-

"I hate my life." Mori confessed as he all but threw himself down into the chair opposite the kid. "And... Not to jump to any conclusions or anything, but this isn't going to work."

When someone, late he added to himself, finally approached the table Zetsubou felt that faint moment of hope he'd have appropriately squash itself, roll itself in shit and take itself to the dumpster in the alley down the street.

"You know" Zetsubou mumbled, from where he'd dropped his head into his arms "I can't even find it in me to be surprised."

Lifting his head, he gave his... He gave Mori a dead stare.

"So I guess Taro's having a good laugh right now. Wine?"

"Lots, lots of wine. I'm going to have lots of wine. And more breadsticks!" Mori called over Zetsubou's shoulder to the waiter, who looked politely confused before rushing off for his additional call for the wine list, before they had even ordered anything. "I'm going to brain him." Mori muttered, grabbing at a menu and scowling at the Chorizo Linguine. "I have a sneaking suspicion that Satori was aware of this too." He added, casting a sour glance over the menu at the other. "She looked entirely too pleased."

The waiter came back and Mori ordered them a bottle each and the steak-a-la-whatever.

"She was probably in on the whole thing" Zetsubou scowled around a bread stick. Not even really bothering with manners now he'd found out his so called date was just Mori.

"She's just as bad as the rest of them, she's just a lot more obvious about it. Hello" The last of this was directed at the bottle of wine that had been placed in front of him.

"Come here beautiful"

"Definitely in on the whole thing." Mori said, pouring out his wine after a few seconds of considering just drinking out of the bottle - which stopped when the couple at the table next to them started to actually stare. okay, so it was a nice restaurant, maybe next time. You know, without company. Even if said company was Zetsubou. "Taro's still the mastermind. But we're going to stay here, and we're going to have a nice dinner." Mori said, irritated sarcasm and all. But he didn't look far too bothered, especially after a long swig of wine. "A date." He snorted, "I'm really going to-" Whatever Taro was going to suffer through was lost in another drink of wine, and it wasn't long - about half way through his steak - before the bottle was empty.

"You know what?" Zetsubou demanded, "We should have a great time. I mean a really fucking awesome time and enjoy eachothers company and enjoy this dinner and enjoy this fucking fantastic wine because fuck them. That's why."

Cutting into his steak, Zetsubou let out a nasty grin, and waved his steak at Mori. "Fuck them and their shit!"

"Awesome time it is then!" Mori said right on back, a little too loudly, as he leant forwards over the table, reaching for his second bottle of wine and pouring it out. "Because, you know what? This steak is good! And hey, the wine is good, and you know what?" He asked, pausing to chew a rather large mouthful of steak, "You're not too bad, you're alright. So screw them! Better than having to endure Satori's cooking."

Giving a rather dramatic shudder, Zetsubou nodded solemnly at Mori and raised his glass in a clumsy toast.

"Cheers to that." He deadpanned. Holding Mori's gaze for a long moment before both of them cracked up and Zetsubou ended up gasping for breath over what was left of his steak.

"We are amazing. We don't need... We don't need them anyways!" Zetsubou cried, sloshing his wine over Mori's plate by accident.

"Woops" He giggled.

Mori, chugging down another glass, didn't even seem to notice, but then broke up into hysterical giggles, the couple directly across from them cutting off their rather high-class conversation to glare at them both in clear disgust as Mori's wine slopped over the glass onto his plate, the steak now in a wine sauce. "You know what, we should do the drinking thing more often, just to spite them." He said with a slightly drunken grin. "And, you know, because I'm such a nice date, I'll even offer to pay for your food." He said in what was a confidory whisper before snorting with laughter.

Leaning back in his seat Zetsubou sent Mori an appraising grin.

"If you're going to be such a gen- gentrel... gentleman I insist on paying for the wine!" Zetsubou announced, only slurring slightly, before flagging down the waiter.

"House white!" He asked, smiling giddily at the boy.

"Make it two!" Mori called. By the time the meals were done and paid for (and the wine all gone), Mori was actually staggering a little on his feet, looking pleased with himself for the brilliant way they had dealt with the idiot's idea of a mocking date - really, getting plastered was a fix-all for him. "Let's go, make them sorry they missed out." He said with a flashed grin at the other.

"Yesh!" Zetsubou cried, stumbling out of his chair. "Best not-date ever" He grinned, swaying happily into Mori's side.

"If you pay for dinner. I'll pay fer... foreee the wine! And Ice-cream! I'll buy us ice-cream... WINEY ICECREAM!"

"Already paid." Mori said with an over-exaggerated wink, because what the hell, fake date. So what if the maitre d was giving him funny looks? He probably looked like one hell of a cradle snatcher right now, but he could roll with that. "Let's go by the wine store, get more wine, and then we'll go home and not share with them." Mori said with a gleeful grin.

"You sir" Zetsubou grinned, with careful pronunciation, offering his arm, "Are a gentleman amongst beasts!"

"To the wine!" He cheered, causing a good half the restaurant to turn and glare and a good few to shh them loudly.

Mori cracked a grin and sauntered out of the restaurant with Zetsubou, reclaiming his card from the irritated waiter as he passed by, ignoring the brandished receipt.

It was a full apartment by the time they got back, both holding a bottle of wine each. Meaning, mainly, that Taro, Satori and Sadaharu were all sitting sprawled around in the living room, matching smirks on their faces. "Get lucky?" Satoi asked, face a picture of innocence as she turned the page of what looked suspiciously like a hit request. "Taro here told me all about your hot date."

"Hotter than you'd get!" Zetsubou leered, leaning heavily into Mori's side. "Bitch."

"We had good steak and good wine and good company and more good wine and you. You did not."

"Oh my god." Anei said, standing in the doorway in shock for a full minute before bursting into laughter.

"Zets drunk, why is Zetsubou drunk. How is this not the best thing ever!"

"Damnright!" Zetsubou added in a slur.

"Kietsu! Kietsu come here!" Anei yelled, running out of the room

Satori grinned madly at the comeback, flipping the younger off with a casual flip of her hand, turning another page. "We'll leave that one out to the jury." She said, raising her eyebrows at the paper.
"Cheers." Mori said, ignoring her and chinking his wine bottle against Zetsubou's, kicking Sadaharu off the couch so he could drop down into it, watching the doorway with amusement as Anei rushed off to get Kietsu.

"And, guess who has a new drinking buddy?" He asked, kicking Satori's legs off the couch to make more room for himself. "Hint; not you."

"Best not-date drinking buddies ever!" Zetsubou cheered, turning to Taro he pointed drunkenly in his face, "And he's mine now, you're loss! Jerkhead!"

"Whoa, no, no, he's the guy with the- The government guy." Sadaharu said, scrambling up from the floor and waving his hands in a very obvious 'no' motion. "We don't call the government guy a jerkhead. No matter how drunk we are." He said slowly, as if talking to an angry child.

"Pshh I can call him a jerkhead if he is a jerkhead" Zetsubou stated sagely, arms crossed.

"Jerky jerk jerkhead!" He said, still seriously, but swaying slightly.

Taro just poked his tongue out at Zetsubou, Mori waving at the free spot on the couch. "Really, sit down before you fall down. You'll drop your wine and that's a waste of money." He said conversationally.
Satori snorted.

"Yessir!" Zetsubou saluted and proceeded to faceplant into the couch in a fit of giggles.