The twins spoke in unison, “Bullshit.”
I blinked.
Then, Aki spoke, "She gave them to you, but you ate them."
"With great enjoyment." Yuki shook his head.
Aki scowled. “Very disrespectful.”
Kaoru gestured wildly. "Of course we ate them! They were delicious! What were we supposed to do, refuse food?"
“Yes!” Toma bobbed his head. "Refuse it—”
“This is bullshit.” Kaoru hit the table. “Now I’m getting pissed off.”
“Good. Now you know how we feel.” Toma touched his chest. “But, I like the idea of the cocktail party. I think this is fair. You all got bento boxes, so we get cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Fair trade."
"That's not equivalent at all!" Yoichi protested and that wolf charm swung against his chest.
Kaede adjusted his leather gloves. "It's perfectly equivalent in the hierarchy of gestures."
Rin blinked. "The hierarchy of gestures?! What the hell does that even mean?"
Daisuke smirked. "It means that hierarchy matters."
The Fangs turned on him.
"Hierarchy?!" Kaoru's handsome face flushed. "We're FANGS! We're in the Dragon's MOUTH! Of course we got food from her first."
"The mouth attacks first!" Yoichi added.
"Fangs come before Claws in the anatomy!" Rin was actually standing now in a deadly stance, and I was now hoping he would go back to being pompous and bored.
Satoshi nodded firmly. "This is organizational discrimination based on arbitrary food distribution! I will not allow this to go on."
Kenji looked at me. "See what Hiro and you started?"
"I was just trying to fix the bento box situation."
Satoshi wagged his finger. “This shows just how spoiled the Claws are! I was pissed that I didn’t get banana bread today, but did I go bitching to Nyomi? No. I sucked it up and asked the chef to make me a sandwich.”
“Your feelings are not my concern.” Hiro crossed his arms over his chest. “My focus is on the Claws and they felt slighted.”
The twins interrupted.
Yuki touched his chest. "That’s why we get drinks."
Aki winked. "And hors d’oeuvres."
Rin turned to me. "Can't we all just get cocktails too? I think that’s fair."
“Okay so. . .” I attempted to mediate. "You're all coming to dinner and that part could have signature drinks too. Everyone gets the full meal, multiple courses, dessert, everything—"
"We want the cocktail hour too!" Kaoru cut in.
"With the special drinks!" Yoichi added.
"And the fancy appetizers!" Rin wasn't letting this go.
