"come gambling with me. after work. tonight." paulie grabs kaku's shoulder, causing kaku to turn his head to face paulie as he spoke.
"really? you wanna go after what happened last week? sure. you better not be loosing that much money this time though, i'm not lending you any." kaku smiles before continuing with his work, leaving a successful paulie walking away to continue with his, too.
"why is lucci here too? i didn't ask that bastard to come. go home."
they're outside the casino, at this point. paulie waiting for kaku to arrive, only for lucci to trail kaku, giving paulie the typical death glare as he stands there, not saying anything.
"now come on. if you get into trouble at least someone else can help us. besides, he doesn't really get out much. it's fine." kaku speaks up for lucci, as lucci merely keeps his death stare at paulie.
paulie doesn't really respond- rather lets out a rather large grunt before storming inside the building before lucci and kaku even get the chance to process his response. the two share a somewhat concerned look before trailing paulie inside.
lucci ends up going to a completely different side of the casino, leaving a slightly amused kaku following a frustrated paulie that stomps his way towards the roulette table and sits down, making a loud noise as he does so.
this earns a lot of disgusted looks from the other people playing. kaku merely perches behind him, smiling as the others play.
paulie ends up loosing every round. well, apart from one. he also ends up loosing all of his money, aswell.
"c'mon kaku... just 500 beri. you won't even realise it's gone. i think i'm gonna win this time." paulie looks up to kaku, holding his hand out expectedly.
"i already told you. no. c'mon. let's go home. we need to find lucci, too." kaku replies, deadpan. he takes paulie by the ear and drags him away, followed by the screaming protests from paulie as he does so.
they find lucci. well, they don't really. they find a crowd of people around lucci, who has apparently amassed an undefeated winning streak, and a lot of money to boot.
"that bastard! now he's hogging all the winnings!" paulie screams, pushing his way through the crowd leaving kaku staring in astonishment at how stupid the man really was.
"we're LEAVING! now! come on, take your stupid winnings and come with us!" paulie spits into lucci's ear. lucci, who doesn't even care to protest, pushes himself up and gathers the winnings before following paulie and kaku to the exit.
"woah, lucci. didn't know you could gamble so well." kaku laughs, looking over to lucci, who still has the same monotone look on his face as he walks forward.
"it just happened. don't expect me to come gambling again." lucci- or well, hattori, speaks in response to kaku who just laughs before looking foward to see paulie once again storm off, in the direction of blueno's bar.
they enter, taking the seats at the bar, and paulie immediately orders a drink that probably has too much alcohol for him to handle, with a price too high for him to afford, as well.
"do you even have enough for that, paulie?" kaku speaks up, looking at the man who once again only replies in a grunt before looking the other way.
"i'll pay. he's a sore loser. he'll just have to pay me back one day." hattori chimes in for lucci, as paulie doesn't even react at the statement, instead snatching the drink and chugging it intensely.
they sit there, in pretty much complete silence for about an hour. paulie orders a few more drinks, kaku ends up having a singular one, and lucci has about two. the difference being lucci's and kaku's do not nearly contain as much alcohol as paulie's.
paulie doesn't say a word to lucci or kaku the whole evening. surprisingly out of character for the man. kaku even thinks he's asleep at one point, only for the man to look up and around putting kaku's suspicions to rest.
"i'm leaving. goodnight. tell that idiot he needs to be up for 6:30 tomorrow. you too, kaku. i'm not going to be pleased if you're late. bye." hattori says for lucci, who walks out, rather abruptly, leaving kaku and paulie in the bar.
"let's go, too, paulie. it's late." kaku speaks, getting up and looking down at paulie, who doesn't seem to listen to his words.
kaku just pulls him up, and drags him outside.
"why the hell haven't you been talking tonight, paulie? it's not like you? are you that jealous of lucci's winnings?" kaku raises his voice slightly at a paulie that shudders at the question being asked.
paulie seems to sober up a bit as he pushes himself out of kaku's grip and stands tall, looking at him with what seems to be anger on his face.
"no! i'm just pissed because lucci was there AND stole the spotlight and the winnings from me! i wanted it to just be you and me tonight- not him as well! and see how it ended?" he admits, his tone showing his anger.
"what difference does it make if he's there? he's our coworker, he's a good guy even if you don't get along well. what's the problem bringing him along also? would it be the same if we brought someone like tilestone instead?" kaku questions, staring into paulie's eyes.
"no! it wouldn't make a difference! i wanted it to be just me and you. i wouldn't even want mr. iceburg there!" paulie screams, turning away from kaku.
"we're not on a date, paulie. or is that what you wanted? to go on a date?" he questions.
paulie's face heats up at the comment.
"so what if i wanted it to be a date? would you be mad?"
"no. why didn't you just say it was one? paulie, your invitation didn't give me much of an insight into you wanting it to be a date."
"whatever. it's done now. i'm sorry. i'm an idiot. i'm going home now. bye kaku." paulie's voice is awfully quiet as he starts to stumble away.
"no, paulie. wait." kaku chimes in, following behind paulie, and putting his arm around his waist, providing some type of support for the drunken man.
there's an awfully tense silence between them as they walk towards paulie's place in the dark.
when they reach his place, kaku escorts paulie inside, and turns to leave, before being pulled into a hug by paulie. a yelp escaping his lips.
"i'm sorry." is all paulie says before letting kaku go.
kaku doesn't say anything, but rather pulls paulie's face down to his, and connects their lips in a kiss.
paulie's face once again flushes red, but returns kaku's kiss.
"stay for the night. sleep in my bed. it's too late for you to go home alone- my apology for how much of an idiot i've been today." paulie murmurs.
kaku merely laughs, and lets out a simple "okay."
he speaks again, afterwards.
"also, next time, let's go on a date somewhere more romantic than a casino, i don't to watch you lose all your money next time."
paulie just murmurs something incorrigible before throwing himself on the sofa and closing his eyes.
kaku doesn't know why he had to fall for someone as blatantly jealous, idiotic and short tempered as paulie. but, he wouldn't change it for the world.
