Summary: After Ikuto finds his father and returns home, he dumps his long distance girlfriend Lulu. Saaya, who has a crush on him, reads a crazy dating article in one of her magazines- "in order for him to be ready to date you, he must date someone else as a rebound first." She then tries to set Amu and Ikuto up.
AN: the story is written after the anime, Ikuto returns from finding his father.
Utau was at the dinner table, eating her dinner and listening to him tell stories about his time traveling around the world, in search of his father. A wide smile was on Utau's face, excited to be sitting opposite her brother for what felt like the first time in forever. He had just returned from his quest of finding his father- Aruto. Who had taken on a false name and was living a normal life in New York. Unfortunately, their father did not return home with them- due to the fact that he was raising another child. "So what else did he say?"
Ikuto reached into his pocket and took out two plane tickets to New York. "He also bought us these, hoping we'd both return and visit him and hopefully stay with him for the summer."
"I-I don't know, I'd really want to go over and spend some time with him, but me and Kukai have only just started dating, for me to go off to another country this early in the relationship.." Utau unlocked her phone and stared at her wallpaper- a picture of them on their 4 months, him kissing her cheek as they sat in their special spot in the park. "maybe I could ask Kukai to come with me..I really want to see our father again, but I just don't want to risk losing him. Especially since there are a few other girls who have crushes on him.."
Interrupting the awkward moment Saaya butted in, trying to make small talk, "So how's that girlfriend of yours?" Saaya had been staying at the house while Ikuto was in New York, since Utau was lonely and also needed help around the house- so she had employed Saaya as the maid, and somehow the two girls had become really close friends.
"We broke up," Ikuto looked up from his food bitterly, "I ended things with Lulu."
Even though it was obvious he didn't want to talk about it, Saaya pushed for details, "How come? You were there for me when Tadase broke up with me, so I would like to be there for you through this." She bit her lip, trying to hide the smile that was creeping onto her face. She had been employed a few times before Ikuto had left and she had gotten quite fond of him. Especially after she got dumped and was crying, Ikuto had given her the day off work and took her out for icecream, even though they were having guests over and the place was really messy.
Sighing Ikuto gave in, "Well, she lives in New York and my life is here. Neither of us are willing to move, so it wouldn't work out in the long run. Plus we had only been together for a month or so. We broke up ages ago anyway, I'm fine."
"Now I'm upset! My brother breaks up with his girlfriend months ago and I only find out now! That's probably why at the singing meet up Lulu ignored me! Next time don't hide things from.." Utau started, but was interrupted by her phone ringing. "ugh, it's Kukai. I'll be back later."
"Well then," Ikuto stood up and put his plate in the dishwasher, "I have to go do a few things now, I'll see you later when I get home."
A bit upset and wondering what was so important that Ikuto had to leave her alone, Saaya went upstairs and interrupted Utau's phone call with Kukai. "Dude, now that he's single I think that I'm gonna ask him out. I've really liked him for quite a while now and I think he feels the same."
Utau's eyes widened in shock and she instantly hung up the phone, "OMG you like my brother?"
Saaya blushed slightly, "Yeah, I'm gonna ask him to go out with me this weekend, do you reckon he'll say yes? I wouldn't wanna make things awkward for me to work here, but I really think he's the one.."
Utau was in shock at the thought that Saaya actually thought she had a chance with him. It was obviously that the bluenette was desperately in love with Amu, but she didn't want to hurt her friend. "Are you sure about asking him out, you wouldn't want to be a rebound. I've read about it in a lot of magazines. He still needs time to heal from his breakup, he won't be ready to date someone else for a while."
"Hm. I'll search it up," Saaya opened up her phone and read out an article about asking a guy out, when she came across a section called, 'don't be a rebound.'
"When a guy recently breaks up with another girl he may still have conflicting feelings, if you ask him out then it will be like poison to your new love. Don't be a rebound. Find him someone to date first, so that way they will be a rebound and then after they break up he will be ready to date you. Don't worry about the relationship actually lasting, rebound relationships hardly ever do. You are right Utau. We need to find Ikuto a girlfriend."
"Oh geez." Utau grumbled, realising that her idea to make Saaya drop the thought of dating him, had backfired. Backfired horribly.
Ikuto sneaked onto the balcony of his favourite girl. Watching her with curiosity as she banged her head against her book, frustrating about not being able to understand something. Ikuto slowly opened the door and went inside the pinkette's room.
Sitting down on her bed, he pulled her into a hug, "What's wrong, Amu?"
Pouting Amu explained, "I have a maths test tomorrow and I don't understand anything and Saaya stole my calculator and I just…"
The blue haired boy pulled her into his lap and kissed her forehead, "Don't worry, I've done that maths before and I'll try to explain it to you as best as I can. As for the calculator, I'm sure that someone will be able to lend it to you tomorrow. So stop stressing!"
Calming down, Amu took a huge breath of relief, "What would I do without you?" wrapping her arms around him, she kissed his cheek, "you're the best boyfriend ever."
Smirking Ikuto agreed, "I know I am." He then pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed her a text he had received earlier today from Kukai.
Kukai: Yo bro! Me and Utau are going out, you should invite Amu! *wink wink, nudge nudge*
"I think they're trying to set us up, little do they know we've been dating," Ikuto sighed, "maybe we should tell them..earlier today I told Saaya about me and Lulu breaking up, now would be the perfect time to tell them about us."
"Buttt, I told you, that time I went to London to visit you, Lulu was threatening me and accusing me of wanting you. She said that she'd ruin my father's company..and if that happens we'll have to go to another country."
Frowning Ikuto got up, "Why are you so worried? They are our friends, they wouldn't tell Lulu anything!"
"What if they think you cheated?" Amu stared off into space remembering when she went over to London and visited Ikuto.
FLASHBACK:
Amu excitedly ran into the arms of the man she had missed very much, he picked her up in a tight hug and spun her around, "I've missed you so much," he pressed his lips against her forehead, taking in her sweet fragrance, "I don't know how I've managed to be away from you for so long, I have something to tell you though.."
"What is it Ikuto? Is something wrong?" Amu's eyes widened as a million bad thoughts and 'what-if' scenarios ran through her head.
Ikuto took in a deep breath and started, "Amu…I like you, I've always liked you and I never stopped. I didn't know how long I would be away from you and I wanted you to be happy with Tadase as he is your own age. But we kept talking and our feelings got stronger and stronger each day. Hell! I don't even like you anymore, I love you..I tried dating Lulu so that you would hate me, but everyday when I was with her I would imagine you and I'm tired of living a lie. I want us to be together.. I told Lulu I can't do it anymore."
Tears ran down Amu's cheek and she looked away angrily, "You have no idea how many nights I cried over you.."
"I love you Amu, please be mine. It's the 26th of June- the same date we met 3 years ago." he pulled the girl in for a hug, making her his girlfriend.
END OF FLASHBACK
Ikuto ruffled her hair, "You're too paranoid, babe. Our friends will understand and they won't tell Lulu anything."
Rolling her eyes Amu explained, "Lulu and Saaya are best friends though, it's bound to slip up. Plus, Utau always has singing events with her too."
"True…but Saaya and Lulu stopped talking,"
"Hm? How come?" Amu raised her eyebrow.
Ikuto nervously looked away, "Uhhh, reasons.."
Pulling him closer to her Amu demanded, "Tell meee!"
Ikuto sighed and pulled out his phone, letting Amu read some texts between him and Saaya.
Saaya: I'm so miserable…Tadase dumped me
Ikuto: Ahaha, it's a blessing in disguise! You dodged a bullet! :P Tadase hardly showers, never brushes his teeth and he's bald (his infamous golden locks are a wig)
Saaya: Awwwee 3 Iku, you're so sweet, I'm glad you were here for me.
Ikuto: Lol np
Saaya: I really mean it…it means so much to me, YOU mean so much to me, I love you
Ikuto: Saaya. I'm dating your 'best friend'
Saaya: Well- you're cute, you totally got me over Tadase, so now I like you. I'm way better than Lulu! Younger than her, meaning I'll live longer, get wrinkles later and be hotter for longer :3
Amu cracked up laughing, "Oh wow, Saaya likes you. That explains why she'd always ask me about you..maybe we can let them just set us up and then pretend we've been dating a shorter time?"
Ikuto got up, "So you're saying I should pretend that my 9 MONTH girlfriend is just a date?"
"Noooo," Amu kissed his cheek softly, "I just don't want anyone to find out how soon after Lulu we got together, they wouldn't understand and I don't wanna risk Lulu finding out and going crazy like she did when I visited.."
When Amu had gone over to visit she had gotten violent, yelling out threats and swearing to ruin Amu's life if she touched Ikuto.
"Heh. Let's not think about this stuff right now. Let's do other things," Ikuto smirked.
"Hmmm, like what?" Amu grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him closer to her.
Bending down, he kissed her square on the lips, "like this."
Back at Ikuto's house, Utau and Saaya were preparing their plan on getting Amu and Ikuto together. They decided that they should get Amu and Ikuto to go out with Rima and Nagi- who had somehow become a super lovey dovey couple.
"We gotta make sure that they date long enough so he gets over Lulu, but not too long that he starts developing genuine feelings for Amu. A way to ensure that it'll be a rebound relationship is to push them into doing and saying things that shouldn't be rushed," Saaya concluded from what she had researched off the internet.
Utau fake giggled, trying to be a supportive friend to Saaya, "We gotta make sure that they see a really romantic movie where there is a lot of romantic things said. Maybe we can even ask Rima and Nagi to be lovey dovey in front of them."
"But there first date needs to be really good, so that Ikuto becomes really happy and his heart gets some time to heal. After a few dates then we can ramp up the pressure." Saaya smirked, "but what if they don't even think of it as a date.."
Utau bit her lip, remembering that before Ikuto had left Amu and him had developed strong feelings for each other. When Ikuto started dating Lulu they had both confided in her about their feelings. "You know..maybe we shouldn't set them up," she realised how risky it could be, if they started dating for real her friend would be devastated.
"What? It's too late for that. Rima has already organised it." Saaya eyed her suspiciously, "you don't still have feelings for him, do you?"
"No no. Ofcourse not! I just think that since there is a lot of history between the two, things may not go exactly as planned. Perhaps you could try setting him up with someone else?"
A smile graced Saaya's face and she started laughing, "Thinking about history..it does have a habit of repeating itself, doesn't it? I have a better idea. Let's get Amu and Ikuto together, healing Iku's broken heart. But then slowly bring Tadase in and try and renew his feelings for Amu. I'm pretty sure that the reason Tadase dumped me was for her, he told me he kept on getting feelings for someone else, but nothing could happen since she didn't like him back, but he didn't want to be unfair to me."
"I guess that could work," Utau gave in, pretending to agree with her friend. Although, she knew deep down that the plan would probably not work, especially since Amu was never in love with Tadase, it was more of just a crush and infatuation. "I'll support you with whatever you need, just tell me what you want and I'll do the best that I can."
Saaya picked up the hairspray bottle and sprayed her hair, making sure that she had no fly away hairs, "In the meantime I'll be coming to your house a lot more, so that Ikuto gets used to being around me and becomes more comfortable. Then once Amu and Tadase go off together I can get him all to myself. Maybe I'll even text Tadase, asking him if he'd like to be involved."
Authors note:
Hey guys!
I hope you liked the story so far. Please tell me what you think of it! Wasn't sure if I should add smut to it or not. But I was thinking that I'll have this fanfiction rated "T" and have no smut on it. But I'll write "*lemon alert*" on chapters where smut should be and then create a separate story with the smut parts that I would've included in this fanfiction if it was rated "M" Tell me if you like this idea or not!