This is the sequel to A Birthday to Remember so if you haven't read that one, I suggest you do before reading this one. I had a lot of fun writing this piece and it turned out nice and fluffy, though a little OOC towards the end. Oh, and I lied. It's not a two-shot. It's a three-shot. I swear, sometimes I think I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached.
Merry Christmas and have a happy read! ~MWG96
December 24th had descended yet again, and the annual Grateful Party was well into its prime. The venue—the same upscale ballroom from last year—had been transformed into a partial recreation of New York's Central Park, including a small, frozen section of The Lake that was next to a small stall renting out ice skates. It was beautiful and picturesque to say the least. The LME president had out done himself once again.
Maria and Kyouko had been dumbfounded when they had arrived a few hours before the party to help with last minute preparations—Kyouko had been allowed to help only after promising that once the clock struck midnight, she was the guest of honor and was no longer part of the staff. Despite all her grumbling, the amber eyed woman was looking forward to her party, especially since she had something planned for this year: REVENGE. Her adoptive parents, and Lory wouldn't know what'd hit them.
The black haired woman glanced at the clock on the far east wall, and noted the time before scanning the crowd for her compatriots. Getting Moko-san and Yashiro to help had taken some convincing, but she and her partner had managed. Kyouko spotted the budding couple talking and laughing in between bites of food at a small picnic table near the west wall. She hadn't been kidding when she said a recreation of Central Park.
Maria tugged her Onee-sama's sleeve and once she had the older girl's attention, pointed to Kyouko's final and most valuable ally: Tsuruga Ren. For a year, the two had been crafting their revenge for last year's prank, and finally they'd finished their plan. At midnight, the first phase would begin and last year's pranksters would be thrown into a spiral of confusion and disbelief. Hopefully. Kyouko wasn't entirely convinced this was going to work.
Ren caught Maria as she leaped at him, and smiled at the little girl and her companion. "Good evening, Maria. Mogami-chan."
His heart gave a little stutter as the beautiful woman smiled back at him. "Good evening, Tsuruga-kun."
It had taken him over six months to convince Kyouko to leave off the san, but he had managed. He was still trying to get her to call him by his first name. No luck so far, but he'd persuade her eventually. It was all part of his thirty-step plan to make Kyouko fall in love with him. Unfortunately he was still on step five, and his projected completion time was a five year minimum. He was patient, but even Ren would admit that five years would test anyone's patience, especially with so many interesting events along the way—such as what happened last Christmas.
That was one of those bittersweet memories where you didn't regret anything except that it wasn't under better circumstances. Circumstances which did not include interference from a certain LME president and the actor's parents. Or Yashiro. Or pretty much anyone or anything that Ren believed would ruin the mood.
He still couldn't fathom why he'd actually proposed something so agonizing for his and Kyouko's revenge. At least they wouldn't seeing it coming; a small consolation in the grand scheme of things.
Maria quickly excused herself from the presence of the two actors under the pretense of seeking out her father who had promised to come this year. In actuality, the eleven year old was giving the couple a moment alone while she informed her grandfather that the two were oblivious as usual and had absolutely no idea what he was planning. She had been nice, though, by not telling him all about what Ren-sama and Onee-sama had planned for their revenge. She wanted to see the look on her grandfather's face when they executed their plot. The blonde wasn't sure if he'd cry with joy or just stare at them in utter disbelief. Probably the former, but this was the president of LME. Who, aside from maybe his deceased wife and Sebastian, knew what the eccentric Lory Takarada would do in such a situation?
Ren waited until Maria was out of sight before he turned to admire his kouhai. She'd dressed warmly underneath her navy blue coat in a long, white wool dress with thick black tights and ankle boots. For reasons beyond him, the President had decided to purposely make the ball the same temperature as the real Central Park on a December night. The actor wasn't surprised to see people huddling together or wearing gloves, coats and knitted hats. He was cold even with a wool coat on with gloves and a knitted cap.
"Are you ready for midnight, Mogami-chan?"
Kyouko looked at her sempai and nodded, blaming her face's redness on the cold air. It had absolutely nothing to do with the nervous anticipation she had felt ever since they'd decided on their method of revenge. A method supported very strongly by Yashiro for some strange reason, which he refused to divulge no matter how much the actress asked.
The woman shifted from one foot to another as the silence between her and her sempai stretched on. She rubbed her hands together and blew on the cold appendages to warm them. Ren noticed, removed his black gloves, and held them out to his kouhai, who stared at them.
"You're hands are cold, aren't they?" he prompted, pushing the pair of cotton gloves into her tiny hands. "Use these. They're probably too big, but they're better than nothing."
She held them back out to their owner. "But won't your hands get cold? It's fine. I can just stick my hands in my pockets." She demonstrated and turned triumphantly back to her sempai. "See?"
"Yes, but so can I and since my hands are plenty warm, my pockets will keep them that way. Your hands on the other hand are no doubt freezing cold."
Kyouko planted her hands on her hips and Ren crossed his arms, neither about to budge even as a cold wind stirred in the room. After a while, Kanae and Yashiro migrated over to where their mutual friends stood in a staring match. The manager grinned while the actress just rolled her eyes at their idiocy. The couple stood in front of the silent duo, huddled together for warmth as they waited for the actors to notice they had company. Fifteen minutes later, Kanae was pissed that her friend couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge that the silver eyed actress was standing right next to her and decided that the other two actors had been staring at each other long enough.
Her eye caught on the far too large pair of gloves her best friend—a term she used grudgingly—and grabbed one, shoving it into Tsuruga's crossed arms.
The two turned to look at Kanae in what was best described as shock and surprise. "That's what you two were arguing about, right? It's just a stupid pair of gloves. You can each use one and when Tsuruga leaves, he can have the other back. Problem solved."
Yashiro grinned, admiring his girlfriend as he made a mental note for Ren to accidentally leave his glove with Kyouko-chan. It would give his poor friend an excuse to see her and the bespectacled man had a feeling the actress wouldn't mind one bit if her sempai did drop in to collect his glove and ended up staying a little longer; maybe for tea and conversation, maybe for something a little more satisfying for the both of them. The brown haired man could only speculate, though, since those two clammed up and gave only perfunctory answers when asked about their feelings towards each other. Which made their "revenge" for last year's forced kiss even more exciting to Yashiro. He couldn't wait, and had prepared a camera for the occasion.
He fingered the slim device in his coat pocket and his grinned widened. He'd see if he couldn't negotiate a raise with the President after he'd snapped the photo. The eccentric man would no doubt want it and Yashiro knew for a fact that there were no surveillance cameras inside the ball room. For the first time in history, someone would have leverage over Takarada Lory.
Kanae glanced at her boyfriend as he giggled to himself happily and wondered, not for the first time, how she'd come to like this odd man. She blamed it on her even odder best friend. Their oddity had grown on her, and she suspected mind control was involved, but had decided to live with it. It was a pain to fight something every step of the way when you knew it was evitable. Which was another reason why the raven haired actress was annoyed with her friend and her sempai. They were going to end up together eventually, but the two just kept dragging their feet because of some preconceived notion or another.
Personally, Kanae thought their entire plan was a waste of time since it wouldn't really be a revenge unless you counted getting the Hizuri's and the President's hopes up and then crushing them entirely at the actors revealed that they were not actually in a relationship. A total waste of time, but she wasn't about to ruin their fun. Well, not much. Kanae would admit to telling Hizuri Julie to make sure she had a camera this year. She liked the older woman despite herself. The ex-model had taken Kyouko and her friend under her wing almost immediately after having met them.
Kyouko looked at her sempai, who in turn looked at her, and gave him a weary smile. "I guess arguing over a pair of gloves is kind of silly."
Tsuruga-kun nodded his agreement, sticking his hands back in his pockets. "Would've been much simpler to have just taken the pair."
Kanae resisted the urge to throw her arms up in defeat. Those two just couldn't seem to do something nice for each other without getting into a pointless yet heated argument. Why one of them couldn't be selfish enough to just accept the other's gift or kindness without protest was beyond her. She knew very well that where Kyouko was concerned, Tsuruga was as selfish as one could get. The actress was lucky to eat lunch with her best friend once a month, but Kyouko cooked for the actor at least once a week, if not more frequently. Kanae had tried to convince her boyfriend to let Kyouko have some free time away from Tsuruga, but Yashiro wouldn't budge until those two were a couple. Which was rather irritating since it was taking them so long to actually become a couple even though their feelings were obvious. The silver eyed actress was only surprised that the media had yet to pick up on the vibes between those two.
Ren checked his watch and barely restrained himself from rubbing his hands together in devilish glee. His parents and Lory were going to get the shock of their lives in fifteen short minutes. The tall man glanced over his shoulder to make sure the key element of their plot was in place, and sure enough, it was, hung on the lowest branches of the evergreen trees to his right. A young couple was currently making good use of the mistletoe under one of the trees, and a dark emotion settled in Ren's gut as he looked away. He refused to acknowledge the feeling as jealousy or envy; or as half-fearful anticipation.