NXYZ Community Christmas Fic Exchange

Title: My first blind date

Written for: Channel-N

Special Message: Hi, Channel! I want you to know that I haven't been writing for a long time before this fic exchange event. So, I (and my beta) really made a great effort, trying to make this fic satisfactory. You gave me a prompt with a genre of Romance and Humor, and I'm not really sure if I followed it. ^^" It's kind of long, so I hope you don't mind. In a way, I found it hard to imagine Atobe's reaction whenever something not normal happens. I think I made Atobe a bit OOC, if not entirely. :'( Well, I hope you will like it. Advance Merry Christmas! :)

Pairing/Genres/Rating: AtobeOC, Humor/Romance, Rated T

Beta: RaiToNight29

A/N: Hello, everyone! I shall now warn you. I have not been writing fics for quite some time. This fic is long. Expect nothing from this fic and just go with the flow. You'll appreciate it more that way. There is a reason why Humor is the first genre and not Romance. There is also another sub genre which you will see as you continue reading. I'm not even sure if I chose the proper genre. ^^" Well, have fun reading!

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not going!" Rin Ishikawa locked herself in her walk-in closet, changing from her Rikkai uniform to her casual clothes. "I don't have time for that stuff. Find someone else. There must be someone out there who desperately wants to go."

"But, Rin, you won't lose anything." Ayano Suzuki said, trying to persuade her friend as she turned around and leaned her back against the closet door. She sighed. "It won't hurt if you just try."

The closet door opened with no warning, making Ayano fall back with a strangled "whoa!" as she lost her balance and almost toppled over backwards.

"No." Rin said as she walked out of her closet.

Ayano regained her balance immediately, "Come on," she said and followed Rin roaming around Rin's room. "It's just a date."

Rin turned around and faced Ayano.

"A blind date." She specified unenthusiastically

"It's not like you're gonna be dating a blind man, or you're gonna be blindfolded."

"That's totally the point."

"What point?" Ayano blinked quizzically, totally not getting the point she wanted to make.

"I don't wanna meet some freak, or a good-looking guy who is actually a rapist." She reasoned out.

"Huh?" the other lass let out before she knew it. "You're thinking too much." Ayano couldn't believe how stubborn this girl could be. Ayano thought as her mind kicked into gear. She had to convince her somehow… AHA!"An idea popped in her mind. "I bet you won't do it because you're just scared you might falter or embarrass yourself around the guy you'll meet."

Rin snickered. She actually thinks that'll happen? "Of course not."

"Then just go! I assure you, I won't set you up with some criminal or pervert." Ayano winked, and made Rin wince in disgust as an aftermath.

Rin grunted as she messed up her jet-black hair with her right hand in frustration. She dropped her hand and sighed in surrender. "Fine." If she wouldn't agree now, she was pretty sure Ayano wouldn't stop bugging her until she would.

Ayano let out a goofy grin, which made her rethink the decision she just made.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Rin yelled in frustration, as she ran at her fastest speed possible. She was already running late when she had taken a cab. Yet, thanks to the traffic due to a car accident, she had to get out of the cab and run towards the venue. "Shit. I hate this." She was running to an event which she didn't even want to go to. Would this effort be even worth it?

About ten minutes later, Rin arrived at the venue and saw Ayano at the gate, texting. She was still panting as she slowly walked towards the brownish-haired girl. Damn Ayano, damn taxi cab, damn traffic, damn car accident, damn date. DAMN. EVERYTHING.She started glaring at everything with two legs.

Having the feeling that someone's walking towards her, Ayano slowly looked up from her phone. "Rin!" Ayano called out, relief evident on her face."Thank goodness you made it! That guy never comes late! It's a good thing the time I told you is fifteen minutes earlier than the actual meeting time. Man, I'm a genius."

"What?" Rin uttered in disbelief, while Ayano continued praising herself. So, I'm not late? She sighed in relief. However, somehow she felt upset. Maybe it's just the exhaustion she felt after running all the way to the venue. MUST.KEEP.CALM.

Ayano's self-praising session was interrupted when her phone rang. "Oh." She fished her phone out of her right coat pocket. "Hello?" She answered. As she listened she looked around, "I don't really see you. Oh, wait. There you are. Over here!" She waved her hand, trying to let the person she was talking on the phone see her. She put down her phone after she made sure that the person saw her.

"Geez, Suzuki, you really suck at looking for a venue." A brunet with a bandage on his left eyebrow said as he casually sauntered to the brunette.

"Shut up, Shishido. Like you could think of a better place." Ayano said, not looking at the guy who just arrived.

Shishido could only roll his eyes. "Who in their right minds would set up a blind date in an amusement park anyway?"

She titled her head and stared at him incredulously. "I told you to shut up, didn't I?" Shishido rolled his eyes again indifferently. "Where are the rest anyway?" Ayano asked the lad, leading to the main topic.

"Right. About that." He scratched his right cheek with his right index finger, and continued. "It turns out the stupid king isn't the only one having a date tonight." The lad informed.

Surprise was written all over Ayano's face. It took a few moments before the idea could sink in her system. "Riiiight. I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Her response made Shishido nod in agreement.

"So where's Atobe?" Ayano, again, sidetracked. Just the thought of the others having dates was just beyond her.

"He went inside already. He's waiting at the café near the merry-go-round."

"What?" She looked at her watched for the time. "Rin!" She pulled the other lass who, right on time, just finished calming herself down. "You're late! Go to the café near the merry-go-round! Your date's waiting there!" The brunette told the black-haired girl in panic. "Oh man! Shishido, why didn't you say so earlier?"

Shishido couldn't say anything. My bad.

"Uh… But I don't know what he looks like." Rin, finally, spoke.

Ayano face palmed. Of course! "Shishido! Ask Atobe what his table number is!" She ordered hysterically before muttering an, "Oh screw it." She let it all out with that one phrase. "Rin, we'll take you to him." Ayano decided. It would be too much trouble to ask Atobe, and to let Rin look for him.

"'We'?" Shishido repeated. Just in case he might have heard Ayano wrong.

"Yes, you're coming, mister." She said as she took his arm and Rin's.

"O-oi!" He tried to protest but was immediately dragged off.

"You're late." Atobe said as soon as Shishido and the two unfamiliar girls arrived at the table he was occupying. Of course, still sitting the way a true king would sit.

Ayano rolled her eyes. Geez, now that I meet him in the flesh, my impression of him still doesn't change. I don't like him. She then directed her attention back at the black-haired girl, who was standing right beside her, with a worried look.

As Rin felt someone staring at her, she turned and faced Ayano. What's that expression supposed to mean? Now THAT made her nervous. Her feeling became worse when she was able to read Ayano's lips.

"Good luck."

"Well, whatever. Here's your date, Atobe." Shishido said as he reached out for Rin's back, placed his hand on the small of her back and gave her a little push forward.

Rin just followed Shishido's lead, and took a step forward. She bowed in greeting.

"We'll be on our way then." Shishido then took Ayano's arm and dragged her out of the café, leaving Rin with Atobe.

Rin and Atobe followed their gaze on the other pair as they went on their way until they were out of sight. Atobe then turned to the black-haired girl and gestured for her to take a seat. Rin casually bowed and did what she was told to.

"Good evening, miss. My name is Keigo Atobe. A pleasure to meet you." Atobe, with his most charming smile, spoke first as he reached out his hand for a hand shake just as what gentlemen always do in greeting. As far as what he saw in the girl in front of him, there was nothing special.

For some reason, all of Rin's nervousness disappeared when the guy in front of her started talking. She smiled in relief, and took the hand that was reached out to her. "Rin Ishikawa. It's nice to meet you, Keigo Atobe-san."

Atobe nodded. "So, tell me about yourself, Ishikawa-san." He moved forward and leaned his elbows on the table with his fingers intertwined.

"Well, I'm a third year middle school student. I attend Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku." Rin started.

"Rikkaidai, eh?" Atobe interrupted.

"Yes." She simply answered, not giving a thought of why he was, in a way, interested about the school she was attending. "What about you, Atobe-san?"

"Ore-sama is a third year middle school student as well. However, Ore-sama attends Hyoutei Gakuen." He followed with a hair flip.

She raised a brow in confusion. Was the hair flip even necessary? And what's with the 'ore-sama'? She shook it off by pretending to clear her throat. "Hyoutei sounds familiar. What part of Kanagawa is it located?"

Atobe's eyes grew wide open upon hearing her question. After recovering from shock, he chuckled. "Ore-sama believes it's not part of Kanagawa, Ishikawa-san. It's in Tokyo." He replied, a smirk on his face.

This time, it was Rin's eyes turn to open wide. "Tokyo?"

Atobe only nodded, his smirk was not leaving his face anytime soon.

Rin hit her forehead with her palm. Not only was she surprised that her date was actually from a far place such as Tokyo, but she was also embarrassed of the question she asked him. Maybe she should've just asked where the school was located, just in general at least. Damn her life. "I-I'm sorry about that. I didn't know. I mean, you're in Kanagawa, dating. And you're still in middle school. Is this place really a place for you to date?"

His first reaction was just a chuckle. He answered, "It's okay. Ore-sama's parents especially requested Ore-sama to date. They have no problem where, when and who I'm dating with. Well at least for now."

Her jaw dropped. So that was the reason why he was open with blind dating. What a reason. When she got back to reality, she shook her head and cleared her throat. "Sorry for my behavior. Now I kinda know the reason why you blind date."

"What about you, Ishikawa-san? What made you go for blind dates?" He asked. The only reason that would come up to his mind was that this girl in front of him was desperately looking for a boyfriend. He smirked. Girls.

"Well, I was forced by that brunette to at least go on this ONE date. She probably thinks that I'm so broken after being dumped by the guy I like." She comfortably confessed. "But I wasn't asking him out." She immediately defended. "I only told him that I like him. Period. It wasn't the romantic kind of like anyway." She said as she sat back.

Atobe looked at her, observing her. He was convinced that she was telling the truth. He closed his eyes, sighed, and sat back. "Should we go somewhere else?"

"Ah… So you're the captain of your tennis team. I'm sure you met our tennis team as well." Rin said before she took a bite of her cotton candy.

"Ahn…" He nodded.

They were sitting on a bench. They had already rode most of the rides and went in to most of the booths. It was really fun. They got to know more about each other while during the short time they had spent so far. Rin got to know about Atobe being rich bastard, and being a narcissist -which she didn't mind-, and other random stuff about him. He was interesting, in a way. She did not just say that. Anyway, as far as it went, the date wasn't bad at all, but it would have been more fun if at least one of them would take of their facades. Well, it was their first time meeting each other, but still, how could they let their partner show their sensitive side?

Rin took a glance at Atobe. This guy right here was seriously not normal. Who in the world would ride a roller coaster so calmly? I mean, his face did not change any expression much during the ride. When they got off of the ride, he just flipped his hair gracefully. Seriously, Rin got so really embarrassed by that. "So... where to next?"

"Hn..." He looked at her, and then looked around. Upon seeing an interesting place, he smirked. "What about that one?" He pointed at the booth that was located far behind Rin.

"Hm?" Rin turned around, trying to look where Atobe was pointing at. Her eyes widened.

"Come on, let's go." Atobe stood up, not waiting for his date's response, and started walking. This is gonna be interesting.

"Ah-" He didn't even let me respond. She glared at his back and then stood up. "Wait!" she yelled as she tried to catch up to him.

Rin was able to catch up to Atobe not long after, and matched his pace. As they arrived in front of the booth, Atobe immediately got in line while on the other hand Rin looked around. "Who in their right minds would have thought of having a haunted house during Christmas season?" She let out, forgetting the fact that staff members of the said booth was just around them.

Yes, it was a haunted house. Well it was probably a good idea, since they wanted to see their partners' sensitive side, or should they say 'weakness'.

Everyone around them (the customers, staff, and passerby's) stopped and stared at the black-haired teen. Atobe shook his head and sighed in disappointment. His date is an idiot. "You're such an embarrassment, peasant."

She turned around and glared at him. He did not just say that. She was supposed to argue back but she didn't want to make everyone think of her worse than what they already thought of her. "Shut up, Atobe-san."

For a short span of time being together, the two of them actually got comfortable with each other. They might or might not know but they already started name-calling and actually throwing insults at each other. It was mostly Atobe doing those though. Weird, yes.

Atobe looked away indifferently as he rolled eyes and waited in line. While waiting, Atobe noticed something. It seemed like most customers of the booth they're lining up are couples. He could only snicker, 'Pathetic' and just ignored what he had noticed.

When their turn came, the staff gave a few pre-cautions and guidelines. "Stay close to each other and don't separate. Here's the map of the house, some clues, aaand... your emergency kits. Have fun!" the staff said as he escorted the pair at the front door.

Atobe opened the door and went in casually. Rin followed. Atobe reached out for the door again to close it, but it slammed right behind him. The pair immediately turned their attention to the door. That was a shocker. The two of them thought.

"Well, let's get going. They only have machines here for ghosts and whatever. Ore-sama thinks that this wouldn't be any scary." Atobe said, being the first one to recover from the little shock that slam gave them.

"Seriously, I don't understand you why you talk that way. Anyway, we have to look at the map first." The black-haired teen suggested, not wanting them to be lost. But it was too dark. "Hey, Atobe-san. Do you have a flashlight? It's too dark."

"There is no reason for Ore-sama to bring a flashlight on a date." Atobe answered inconsiderately.

"Man, I hate you." She uttered. Then she remembered, "The kits!" She searched inside the bag. "Nope. No flashlight here." She closed the kit. "Maybe it's in yours, Atobe-san."

Atobe looked through his bag and pulled out something. He looked for a switch and switched it on. "Got it." He shifted the light around them. It looked like a mansion but a smaller version.

"I commend this booth, they place looks pretty well done. Such a dirty and disorganized hall, indeed."

"That's what a haunted house should look like." She shook her head. "So which way should we go." She said, giving Atobe the map. The objective of the haunted house was that one has to find the exit. Obstacles were, of course, ahead of them.

"Let's use the long path. Things like this usually have the short way as the hard one. So, let's go through here." Atobe directed as he went through the map.

Rin just nodded. "Lead the way, Atobe-san."

Atobe looked at her, took her arm and walked, with her by his side. "The staff said to stay close. It's better this way."

The action confused Rin, 'You could have just said so.' Yet she still shrugged it off and walked beside him.

As they walked, silence enveloped them.

"Ishikawa-san," Atobe spoke, not removing his eyes off the path their taking.

"Hm?" She, also, didn't take her look away from where they were walking.

"Aren't you scared?" He asked. Ever since they came in this house, he never saw her look scared at all. She should at least be a bit scared, right?

"Me? Kind of. Not really of ghosts. Watching the dark hallway makes me think that I'm walking aimlessly at a place that I might not get back outside." She calmly said. What she said was true. It was scary if you were walking towards something unknown.

"What about you, Atobe-san?" She asked back, and took a glance of him.

Atobe stopped his tracks and Rin did the same. Rin looked ahead and found a door. Once again, Atobe reached out for the doorknob but the door suddenly opened on its own. A strong wind welcomed them. The both of them slowly went in the room. Atobe shifted the light around, while Rin felt like she stepped on something.

"Ne, Atobe-san, can you shift the light near my feet?" She requested and Atobe just did what she asked.

It was a man lying on his stomach covered with blood.

"Must be a prop." Atobe said calmly. For a minute there he was worried what could have his date stepped into.

Rin bent down and took a look at the said 'prop'. "Wow... it looks so real. This booth's quality is awesome." Still in awe, Rin said.

While she still continued observing, the 'man' suddenly moved and grabbed her ankle. "AH!" She yelped in fright.

Even Atobe was surprised with that, he bent down and tried to loosen the artificial man's grasp. But it didn't even loosen a bit.

"You have to solve the mystery." An old creaking voice was heard. "You must find the answer, for a riddle shall be given."

"What?" He looked around the dark and found no one, not even a shadow of someone. That really sounded creepy, without a doubt.

"Sit in front of the desk with a mirror. There, the riddle shall be given." Again, the voice spoke. Then a candle on top of the desk with a mirror lit.

Atobe followed the instructions. He sat in front of old desk with a mirror. A few seconds later, blood flowed on the mirror, forming letters into words.

'This crime attempted... shame on thee! This crime committed... thou wilt go free!'

Atobe read the riddle. He smirked. He chuckled and then laughed arrogantly. "This is not even a challenge." He looked at the riddle again with a haughty smirk. He then noticed a number below. A number "5" turned into a "4". His eyes widened.

It was a countdown.

"Answer it already!" Rin shouted at him.

Upon coming into his senses again, Atobe cleared his throat and answered. "Suicide."

The countdown stopped at number "2".

They both held their breaths, expecting something to happen next. Haunting whispers surfaced sending chills on their spines. The grasp slowly loosened and pulled away from Rin. They sighed in relief.

"Thanks." Rin said while she was still on the floor rubbing her ankle. She stood up and dusted off some dirt on her clothes. "But seriously, next time, don't act all cocky. It'll do us no good if we failed because of your arrogance. We don't know what may be our consequence should we failed an obstacle."

Atobe flipped his hair. "Is that a way for you to talk to your savior?"

"I'm just saying that we should be careful. So you should tone your arrogance down a bit, is that alright with you, Atobe-san?"

He only smirked and simply said, "We'll see."

Rin sighed, this guy's ego was just beyond her. "Okay then. Let's get out of here." She said as she walked into a different door where they came in. Atobe followed.

They encountered three more obstacles. Challenges got harder than the other. The last challenge they encountered was that they had to make a baby sleep and when they finish they had to get out of the room without waking the baby up by making noises. That one was really hard because as they started, the baby had the creepiest smile they had ever seen, and it just smiled at them like that until it got sleepy and went to sleep. Rin confessed that she might not be able to sleep that night. In Atobe's mind, he certainly agreed.

Fortunately, there was only one more obstacle to clear. They finally reached at the door of their last challenge.

"Finally, that last one." Rin said and sighed. She still hadn't recovered from the previous mystery. Her heart was still pumping hard. Now she wondered what would greet them next.

"Let's go." Atobe opened the door. They got in and found sofas, a small table, an old piano and others. It seemed to be an entertainment room, exclusively for the family.

"What are we gonna do this time?" Rin said as she sat down on the couch that was against the wall.

Atobe felt like taking a rest too, but he scanned the room first.

While Atobe was doing what he was doing, Rin sat back. A black hole suddenly emerged behind Rin. An old woman whose long hair covered her face appeared from the hole. The ghost slowly opened her arms. Atobe turned around and found the woman behind the lass.

"Ishika-"Atobe started but the woman then grabbed Rin by the shoulders.

Rin got startled and looked at the arms around her. Trembling, she turned her head and could only see the woman's hair. She wanted to scream but she couldn't find her voice. At the back of her mind she knew that it was all fake, but what she was seeing was too real for her to think that it wasn't.

The woman dragged Rin into the hole which disappeared right after Rin was sucked in. Atobe wasn't able to get her on time. He just froze there and didn't know what to do. Whispers came again and took Atobe's attention.

"Look for your partner, the place she is now is where you will find the light."

Atobe looked around for some clues, to at least give him an idea where Rin could be. He searched through the couches, table, windows, everywhere. Then he heard whispers again. This time they were all wrecked.

"Look-look-lo-place-play-place-light..."

Whatever the whispers were saying were so disorganized. Then the hole appeared and the old woman popped right out of it, wrapped her arms around the air and went in the hole again. It went out again, went in, and this cycle continued. The machines went crazy.

"What on earth is happening?" Atobe said. He thought that the machine might have gone crazy. In this dark place, he wouldn't know what would happen next. Then he remembered Rin. He sighed. What a troublesome lady. He then noticed the old piano. He hadn't checked it yet. So he walked towards it and searched for something useful. Nothing. He looked at the front of the piano again and found a music sheet. His eyes showed recognition and smirked. He then casually went out to the room and looked for the damsel in distress.

While Atobe was casually looking for Rin, Rin on the other hand fell in another dark room. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness in no time. She saw a pile of something. She moved closer and touched a part of it. She felt hands and heads. She really had enough of this dead people touching and grabbing her, like seroiusly. She then looked for a way to get out of the place. A strong thud sound came. Whispers followed. But somehow they weren't the same as the whispers she heard before. It was whispering choppy sentences.

"Again with this." Rin said, deciding to just ignore the sounds and look for an exit.

Growls.

She stopped. Groans started to get louder behind her. She hesitantly turned around. "AAAAAHHH!" She screamed, seeing those dead although fake bodies crawl towards her.

Atobe heard this, and wondered if he should hurry and find her. The machines (ghosts and other props) were already making uneasy noises. He sighed. Then he flipped his hair with his most charming smile and said, "Rin Ishikawa, have no fear, the king is coming." So Atobe decided to save the lass, thinking that if they wasted more time, the machines would go more crazy and hay-wire.

Rin had nowhere to run. The place was completely closed and the bodies were reaching out to her. As one body got a hold of her, she held her breath. One after another, the bodies touched her, holding almost every part of her body. Before she knew it, her hands and legs were held tightly. The bodies dragged her down on the floor and pulled her arms and legs to different directions. She yelled in pain.

Moments later, the door slammed open. It was Atobe, but it seemed like one of the machines followed him so he had to get rid of it first before helping the other teen. After getting rid of the annoying fiend, Atobe looked inside the room and found Rin having her arms and legs in the process of being pulled off her body. He put down the flashlight, stormed in the crowd of machines and pulled them away (not as gracefully as he imagined it to be), turning them off.

Rin fell down as the machines let go of her and pulled away.

"Ishikawa!" Atobe called her name, bringing her back to her senses. "Turn them off. There's a switch behind them." He ordered, as he continue turning the rest off.

Rin rubbed her sore joints a few moments before she turned the remaining props off.

A minute later, they finished stopping the crazy machines. Rin leaned against the wall and slid down on the floor. She rubbed her sore joints again. "Thanks, Atobe."

Atobe smirked. "That was no sweat for Ore-sama." He said proudly.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Jerk. She was too tired to even argue with him. She had enough of today's experience and she knew something bad will happen. And it did. At that moment, she just wanted to go home. "Let's get out of here." She started walking. Wait a second. How DO we get out of this place? She turned to her companion, "How do we get out of here anyway?"

"Hm?" Atobe glanced at her and simply smirked.

"FREEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" Rin cheered, ignoring all the people around her. Finally, she was out of that hellish place. After she and Atobe got out of the house, the booth was experiencing control malfunction that someone else was taking control of the machines. Whoever did that, she would seek him to the ends of the world and give him a piece of her mind. That last obstacle was NOT pleasant at all; in fact, she was so happy to get out of there she could cry.

"Seems like you're okay."Atobe said, handling her a can of juice. She must have been dehydrated from all the sweating and the screaming.

The lass stared at the drink, and shifted her gaze to Atobe. She took the juice and said, "Thanks." She opened the can and drank its contents.

They walked a bit and found an empty bench and sat on it.

"So how are you?" Atobe asked, just for the sake of asking.

"Not okay. I would have died in there." She started her rant about the pain and misery she felt after losing hope of getting out of the house alive and lots random stuff she had to nag about. She sighed. "I'm done." She leaned back against the bench and calmed herself.

They kept silent at that. They were too tired to even talk to each other now. They were drained.

A minute later, Ayano found the pair and ran to them. "Hey, guys. How was the date?" She asked, excited.

Rin just stayed quiet, looking tired already.

"We had a good time. Of course, Ishikawa-san is with Ore-sama. The time was well-spent." He flipped his hair again which made Rin twitch and wondered where he got all the energy to even do that.

"Uh... huh..." Ayano could only say. "So, are you guys gonna call it a night?"

Atobe and Rin looked at each other. "Yeah." The both answered in unison. The both stood up and faced each other.

"Today was definitely memorable. It was nice meeting you, Atobe-san." Rin said as she reached out her hand for a hand shake.

"Pleasure's all mine, Ishikawa-san." He took her hand and shook it.

EPILOGUE

"Niou, what trouble did you drag Akaya to this time?" Yagyuu asked his tennis partner after the platinum-blonded teen came back with the seaweed-haired junior.

"Nothing. I just let him play." Niou answered innocently with his cheeky smile. "Right, Akaya?"

The junior nodded happily. "Yeah! Yagyuu-senpai, you should have been there! There was this huge computer with a lot of monitors. I was so excited that I suddenly press all of the buttons at the same."

"You sneaked in a control room, didn't you?"

"Puri."

A/N: Okay, I'm sorry about the horror thing and the lack of romance. I really got caught up on how to make the haunted house scary. I ended up putting romance at the side. So I'm sorry, if it's not as good as you guys expected. D: I hope you like it though. ^^"