Cloud was beginning to regret not staying home tonight.

When Zack rinsed out his bottle and set it on its side, somewhere vaguely in the middle of where everyone was sitting around, Cloud knew trouble was brewing. Cloud shot him a warning look, but that puppy-dog smile of Zack's told him that there was no stopping the madness to come. It was Zack's dorm, Zack's rules, after all. Cloud sucked in a breath, before exhaling in a long-suffering sigh. They could never have a normal get-together where Zack was involved.

This wasn't even the first stupid idea of the night. While they had waited for their grand catering meal to arrive, someone had suggested that they play Uno. That was the first bad idea of the night, and it nearly destroyed the friend group. There had been far too many instances where everyone had to vote on who they had heard shout "Uno" first, leading to a few very scandalized reactions and declarations of betrayal. Cloud wasn't even a part of it; he never got close to winning when everyone decided to pile on +2 cards and leave him picking up a new handful of cards.

He wasn't bitter about that, of course. He definitely did not sabotage someone's winnings by saying that he heard someone else say "Uno" first, or by changing the color of the stack to one he didn't have in his hand just because he knew the person after him also lacked it. He was not a petty person at all, and no one had proof of anything. And if they did, they were lying.

So, yeah. The food had been a welcome respite from the heated atmosphere. Drinks were sparse, but passed around nonetheless for anyone interested. As stomachs were filled and thirsts quenched, the environment turned from slightly tense to lazy and conspiratorial. Gossip of fall-apart relationships they weren't a part of and professor's random antics were passed around the cozy dorm room, laughter and drunken giggles filling the air. Cloud wasn't even tipsy, being someone who held his liquor well, but he could feel a certain warm and fuzzy feeling wash over him that he'd blame on the drinks.

But of course, that peace never lasts. Not if Zack has anything to say about it.

Zack twirled the bottle on the floor, letting it spin and slow to a stop as he explained what they were going to do. It wasn't a normal game of spin the bottle, no. Whoever the bottle landed on would not have to kiss anyone; instead, they would be asked truth or dare. Which seemed dumb to Cloud, but who was he to argue with it?

He couldn't exactly excuse himself from playing. Instead, he mentally prayed to the Pleiad's Seven that the bottle wouldn't land on him. And for a while, it seemed to work. But then he got comfortable; complacent, even. Maybe he laughed a little too hard at a particularly embarrassing truth someone had to share, because the bottle seemed to target him on its next spin. And the one behind the spin was none other than Jessie.

He would have chosen truth if the bottle had been spun by anyone else. But Jessie knew way too many things, knew exactly the right questions to have anyone floundering and wishing they had picked dare. So, thinking he had chosen the safer of the two options, he picked dare. That had been a mistake.

"Why do you even have that on you?" Cloud questioned, exasperated with his friend's strange behaviors. The box was unopened, procured from a bag she had brought with her. She told him that he should play the Pocky game with {{user}}, all with a straight face. He thought that was a terrible idea; not because he disliked his roommate, but because he would rather not play that game at all. But a dare was a dare, and he knew that Jessie had a million worse ideas planned if he refused.

For the umpteenth time tonight, he sighed like he was the most put-upon man in the world. He took the Pocky from Jessie, putting one end in his mouth—not without an indignant grunt—and approached his roommate from across the suddenly-too-small dorm. He leaned in just enough for them to take the other end, wanting to get this over with quickly.