I quite like this story. :) It's my second Kutau! I wish I could write more of these two, because they are like my favorite pairing ever (well, maybe SatoKasu). But I have a hard time writing about them for some reason. D: It's so sad.

Oh well. On to the one-shot! Enjoy!
-RD :)

It Is What It Is

.x.x.x.

As Utau sat at the table, three words ran through her mind:

This. Is. Awkward.

Ikuto slightly sipped his drink every now and then with an emotionless expression on his face and Kukai was digging into his food, trying to be unaffected by the atmosphere.

Man, this was weird.

When Utau had invited Kukai to dinner, she hadn't expected it to be like this. And when she found out her parents weren't going to be present due to some impromptu date, it certainly wasn't the end of the world. Her parents were a bit… odd. And though Kukai's family wasn't normal by any standard other than their own, she didn't want to weird him out on his first time coming to her house.

Too late.

Apparently, whatever plans Ikuto had made before were "canceled." In other words, he wasn't going to leave Utau at home with a boy. Not like he was going to tell her that.

So there they were. Utau had made a pasta dish. When you grow up in a mostly nonexistent family, you have to learn how to do things like cook. Plus, Utau loved to eat. Cooking was a must.

When she looked at Ikuto, she got this odd feeling of disapproval. Like he didn't trust Kukai. She sighed.

And then, when Utau looked at Kukai, who had his mouth full of food, his eyes seemed to say "your brother really doesn't like me" or something of the sort.

Kukai wasn't slow. He could tell a lot of things about people by simply looking at them. And by looking at Ikuto, he knew that he wasn't trusted. You'd think the guy would be happy that his sister was finally interested in someone else. He guessed not.

Utau knew that even though it was early into the dinner, her plan was failing. Miserably.

The blonde, after finding out that Ikuto was in fact going to be home that night, had been a bit excited. She figured that she could finally prove herself, and came up with a plan to do so.

Prove what, you ask? Well, to her brother, Utau wished to prove that she had grown up a bit: that she had moved on, that she could cook decent food, and that she now had an amazing boyfriend.

To Kukai, she wished to proved that any and all of the moderately creepy feelings she had once had for Ikuto were beyond gone, that she could sit through a dinner with the two important boys, oh, erm, men, as they liked to be called, in her life and stay composed.

On the Kukai side, the plan seemed to be going fine. He saw how Utau treated her brother, and it actually seemed like she was treating him, well, like a brother. He was proud of her for being so mature about the situation.

On the Ikuto side, things were still very vague. He had never been one to show emotion easily. So one could never really tell what he was thinking. Even Amu had a hard time reading him. The only thing that both Utau and Kukai could tell was this: for some unknown reason, Ikuto did not approve of his little sister's boyfriend.

And, well, Utau didn't like it when her plan wasn't going her way.

"Ikuto," she said coolly. He turned his attention to her with a bored stare. "What do you think of Kukai?" Kukai was so shocked he almost gagged on his food. What was Utau thinking?

"Hmm, he's alright." That was just like Ikuto. You could never tell.

"So then you approve of our relationship?" The idol's boyfriend gave her an extremely surprised look that said "Why are you digging my grave?" She simply dismissed the look and faced her brother again.

"Why do you want my consent?"

"Because you're my brother. I'm supposed to at least ask."

"Whatever." Utau rolled her eyes and went back to her food.

"Dude," Kukai said after a moment, speaking up for the first time that night. "If you don't like me, you can just say so. "

Ikuto turned to face him, a more serious expression on his face. "Do you love my sister?"

"I do," Kukai said with no qualms at all. "I love her very much."

The violet-haired teenager paused for a minute, appearing to be looking over the younger boy. "You'll do." Kukai beamed in response and Utau cheered quietly.

Mission accomplished.