I had writer's block so it took me a while to get this chapter. Enjoy.
The next morning, the house buzzed with its usual chaotic energy—minus Rei, who had his blanket pulled low over his face. His father had come to wake him up in the middle of the night,
"Ugh," he groaned, shuffling underneath his blanket. Then his phone started buzzing maniacally Rei's stomach dropped.
No. No, no, no. What now?
The noise was even hurting his head. He ignored the phone until Adrian's custom notification buzzed on his phone.
BRO, you're trending again. You've hit peak fame. 🤣🔥💀
Rei's hands trembled as he tapped the link Adrian sent to him. Rei had already endured a week of teasing and shame for his clothes, his underwear and his police stunt. He didn't think he could endure more. The page loaded.
"Wait, What? Dad?!" The door opened.
"What is it?" Kenji was standing in the doorway. He was holding a plate and wearing an apron. Rei almost spasmogyrated — n-no yeeted off the bed.
"It was nothing!" Rei quickly hid the phone under his blanket. Kenji jut stared at the blanket where he hid the phone and then to Rei. He decided it wasn't worth the work and shrugged.
"Remember to thank Arato for carrying you here. And come down for some tea to help that headache of yours." Rei nodded vigorously, enabling Kenji to close the door and leave.
Rei whipped out his phone again. #RippedDadAndPartyPrincess was the top trending hashtag on his school's social. And his father's well defined pecs were the highlight of the show and he looked ridiculous standing next to him.
Rei rubbed his eyes. He remembers going to Adrian's party only for Adrian to give him a glass and tell him it was juice. Everyone was holding one and the deal was to drink it in one go.
Yeah, Rei foolishly drank it and realized two seconds after that it was alcohol. Adrian was teasing him for being a coward so he partook in the challenge once more. He didn't remember anything after that.
When did he get home and who took this photo of his dad? If his dad saw it, he would be furious. He was already in trouble for the arrest, he sure didn't want another thing to be hated by his parents for.
He resigned to look at the photos again. The post was a side-by-side photo: on the left was his father, his dark blue coat hanging off his shoulders, chest and abs fully exposed, looking exasperated while holding a totally drunk rei.
It was then Rei noticed a secondary picture beside them. Rei's own face, complete with thick pink cat whiskers, an uneven curly mustache, giant eyebrows, hearts on his cheeks, and the words #1 Party Princess scrawled across his forehead.
And the worst part? Someone had combined the two images into a meme with the Caption: "Proof that today's men lack testosterone.
As if that wasn't enough. His notifications were still exploding—likes, retweets, comments pouring in. New captions and hashtags were appearing, like: #We have to talk about Rei's dad and #What's happening to Rei Kurozawa?
All of them were about how stupid Rei looked next to his father or how hated Rei was anyways. Some were particularly mean. Rei's heart pounded as he scrolled through the chaos. Rei's eyes saw red. Adrian. He was the one who caused this, didn't he?
That bastard. That rat. That absolute menace to society.
He was the one who got him drunk!
He was the one who set him up!
He was the one laughing at him right now, probably sending more people the meme!
Rei shoved the blanket off and grabbed his phone again.
If Adrian thought he was gonna get away with this, he had another thing coming.
Rei's hands flew across him and Adrian;s chat screen
"YOU DID THIS, YOU SON OF A—"
He stopped mid-text. His head hung down. He couldn't send anything. What if he posted their chats?