A/N: So I went ahead and read the rest of Maid-Sama! in two days. Luckily, the first chapter doesn't contradict much. I will be making my own assumptions for this fic, mainly based on the Walkers.
What the last few chapters also did was make me like Igarashi. I kinda liked him already, but these chapters really made me like him more.
(okay so I just like Misaki taming him WHAT WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT)
Of course, I am all for Usui/Misaki, but I want Igarashi to be happy as well... so I gave him a little of what he wanted, but I don't think he'll pose any serious threat in this story. Go read Seduction by Starjean if you want to know why.
Don't worry, the Superhuman Tag Team got some too. ;)
Italics are flashbacks.
I do not own Maid-Sama!
Usui spend the first two days or so dragging Misaki around England's capital city. The weather luckily obliges him, and it rains only occasionally.
They chase ravens at the Tower of London, they dash across roads with crowds of commuters, they pretend to be celebrities at Leicester Square (well, at least Usui does), they raid Covent Garden (Misaki takes advantage of Usui's looks to bamboozle several young female shopkeepers into selling them things for peanuts), they get delayed for what seems an age by the grand sight of the Tower Bridge opening, they march past Buckingham Palace several times as Usui brags about actually having been in the beautiful building's inner sanctum, they pose beside Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, they get thoroughly lost in Harrods and just in general act like tourists from hell.
Many people take notice of the exotic girl and the handsome blond boy dancing around her, and Usui notices each and every look. He quite likes seeing the assumptions in their eyes, and as such makes every effort to touch Misaki, to yank her back from roads, to spin her around and show her yet another grand building, to drag her into jewellery store and bedeck her with expensive chains. Misaki had not rebuffed any of his advances, mainly because she was completely distracted by something else. It was enjoyable, though, to show her around and watch her marvel at things now mundane to him.
On the third night of her stay, Misaki is wrecked, and completely resists Usui's attempts to drag her out.
"No," she says resolutely. "I am way too tired to do anything except lie here."
Usui pouts. "Is my couch that comfortable?"
"You'd know better, you're the one that's been sleeping on it!" Misaki shakes her head. On the second night, Misaki had insisted on sleeping on the couch. Usui had taken matters into his own hands by sneaking into the sitting room while she slept, picking her up and dumping her into his bed; surprisingly, she hadn't waken once during the entire ordeal.
The night before, Usui had dozed off with his head in her lap and Misaki hadn't had the heart to move him. They had woken up fully clothed, Usui's glasses slightly bent and Misaki's back aching. It had been somewhat embarrassing, but both had composed themselves with remarkably more speed than they would have previously.
"Besides, we haven't really had the chance to talk...not even in the restaurants." Misaki rolls her eyes. "You attract rich people like some weird magnet."
He frowns at her. "Charisma, honey." Almost as an afterthought, he adds, "Money,too. But why we would we waste time talking when the food is that nice?"
Misaki sniffs. "True." She slumps back a little. "That roast duck..." She lets out a happy noise. "Thinking about it makes me hungry!"
"You just ate."
She shoots him a glare. Usui decides to make a tactical retreat to the kitchen. As he enters, the kettle shrills at him. It is a decidedly British habit, having the kettle on constantly, but the one thing he disliked about Japan was tea. Sure, he'd drink the stuff, but it couldn't compare to milk tea.
As he performs the familiar process of making two mugs of tea, Usui admits to himself that they do need to talk. Certain things needed to be clarified, and boundaries needed to be redrawn. Even if they both wished for the relationship they had had previously, it would take time.
Usui is determined, though, to re-establish it, come hell or high water.
Misaki squirms into the couch, highly aware of Usui's smell emanating from the leather, and groans. She really doesn't want to get up. The whole tourist thing was enjoyable, but exhausting too, and jetlag on top of that just exacerbated the matter.
While she's contemplating not moving from the couch for the remainder of her free week, Usui coughs at her.
She looks at him blearily, and tiredly accepts the cup offered to her. She rights herself into sitting position as Usui makes himself comfortable beside her.
She looks at him as he lowers his mug onto to coffee table. "Usui..."
"Yeah?" He gazes at her curiously, and Misaki steels her nerves. If he so decides, he could stall all day and never get to the topic.
"How are the Walkers now? Especially with me?"
Usui's gaze drops. His face remains a perfect mask, but it takes him a while to get the words out. When he she can hear the hidden tension behind the lilting tones of his voice.
"Grandfather's influence has...decreased, so for now, I am accepted." She knows that the old man isn't well, having had a stroke shortly after the events of her impromptu visit to England, and is now living in a hospital.
"Gerard is improving. The doctors drugged him up with something, and he's changed. Physically, his body is now okay, but mentally, he isn't in a good place. However, he can manage the business, so my services are not required for now." Usui's voice is unfeeling and his green eyes are hard. Misaki knows that there is no love lost between the brothers, but from the sounds of things, their relationship has only worsened with time. She can't imagine having such a bad relationship with Suzuna, but...
In Usui's case, it is different. In Usui's case, almost everything is. Gerard is as friendly and unlikeable as Suzuna is apathetic and lovable.
"My step-father is taking care of things, but..." Usui rests his face on his knees. "I think he's trying to accept me. He's the one giving me work, training me. He can be strangely competent when he wants." His voice has softened considerably, and Misaki smiles. She remembers the man, absentmindedly tearing the petals off of a flower as his father's voice rumbled across the estate. "I appreciate the effort, even if he is only doing it for her." The softness has vanished.
"And you?" she says softly.
Usui's eyes focus on a point behind her. "I want to work with my family," he states, "if only for the sake of my mother. I will protect our business in the event of Gerard being unable to do so, but I hope that will not occur in the near future. As for you..."
Misaki's chest tightens to the point of pain.
"I have convinced my family that they are not to be concerned with you. To them, you are secondary." His eyes are strange, dark and bright simultaneously. "Our relationship no longer interests them."
The tightness in her chest abates, and she lets out a relieved sigh. "Good... I was worried that we'd be stalked by that old ninja man again!" One obstacle has been removed, at least.
Usui just smiles inscrutably.
They spend the next five minutes sipping their tea in peace. Misaki hates to admit it, but she can see why Usui loves the stuff so much. In Britain with its cold climate and rain, hot drinks are lifesavers, especially when paired with chocolate digestives.
Usui shatters the silence. "How's Igarashi?"
Misaki stiffens. Usui utters Igarashi's name with feral disdain.
"I don't know, not anymore. I didhear that he broke off that engagement of his recently."
Usui's face is a mask, but his clenched fist betrays him. Misaki can't bring herself to tell him the truth.
It's dark, and Misaki is very drunk. The nightclub pulses with music and the DJ hollers happily at the swaying crowd.
"Come on," Igarashi mutters into her ear. "I know you're lonely... He's in England, and this time you're not going to chase him."
Misaki hiccups. "You're...takin' advantage of me..."
"Yes, I am." She stares up at him and considers her options.
She doesn't want to piss him off. In a weird way, Igarashi is her friend, and it's true; she is lonely.
He'd said she didn't need to be faithful. Hell, they weren't even dating anymore! Friends, that's all they were, even though he said they'd always be more. She still wanted to be more
Fuck it. She's drunk, she's lonely, and she doesn't want to disappoint Igarashi.
She reaches up and grasps the back of his neck, yanks his down to her height and crashes her lips onto his. He lets out a muffled sound of surprise but quickly reciprocates.
Misaki pulls away from him and looks at him again. She isn't sure, but she thinks she sees a faint blush on his face, golden eyes shadowed with something that looks like hunger.
"Go ahead, then," she says. "Take advantage of me."
When he kisses her again she pulls his fingers through his bleached blond hair and pretends it's someone else's.
She didn't let it go any further.
Usui's lips twist into a strange grimace. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be asking you stuff like this. We promised that we wouldn't be tied down. I confess, I took advantage of that rule."
Misaki's face hardens and she feels anger rising within her. "What did you do?"
"What any other drunk young man would do when a model lands in his lap." He meets her eyes, as if challenging her.
Misaki doesn't know whether to laugh or yell, so instead she moves towards him. "In your lap, huh?" she mutters, slowly advancing towards him.
Usui looks exactly like a deer caught in headlights as she settles herself comfortably between his legs. "What would any other man do...?" he says slowly.
Misaki grins, feeling her entire face heat up at the implications of what she is about to do. "Go ahead," she whispers. "You don't need any models... I won't let you need any."
Quickly, she presses his lips to his. She means it to be short and sweet, to last for a second, for her to dart back and smirk at him, except somehow she forgets her plan and everything else outside of Usui's hands digging into her waist and the other points where they touch. Unconsciously, she presses herself against him and is rewarded with a strangled noise as his grip around her waist tightens.
She breaks away from him when her lungs are about to burst. "Our tea will get cold," she says breathlessly.
Usui chuckles and hugs her harder, eliciting a gasp. "You're cold, Misa-chan..." He peeks at her with dark eyes. "Or rather, cold-hearted."
"Not yet," she manages to say, licking her swollen lips. "I didn't mean to..."
His fingers rub tentative tiny circles into her back. "You did what you said you'd do though... I won't require any models in the foreseeable future." His voice hardens. "You won't need him."
She presses her forehead to his. "He doesn't even compare."
When they've both regained their breath, Usui carefully pushes her off his lap and stands up. "I'll let you rest," he says, pushing his hair back from his face. "Do you mind if I use the bathroom first?" She nods numbly and he smiles crookedly before departing.
Misaki hauls herself up off the couch and without even being remotely aware of her surroundings manages to get to the bedroom and collapse into the bed, feeling the fragrant fabric curl around her frame. She presses her fingers to her lips and closes her eyes.
"Idiot Usui..." she mumbles.
In his dark living room, Usui tries without success to get to sleep.
They had been fine. She had accepted his explanation of his family without protest. He had imagined that she would press the matter of Gerard harder, but with time has come tact. He had understated his half-brother's condition;Gerard is worse than broken, flipping between manic and sullen like a broken see-saw.
But of course, he had to go ruin it by bringing up Igarashi fucking Tora.
"I met up with Ayuzawa recently, you know."
Usui can't help but look at the Machiavellian man, chin cradled in hand. His smirk grows wider as Usui regards him suspiciously.
"Of course, she's no longer a concern of yours, Walker... Long distance relationships too difficult?" Igarashi waves his glass vaguely.
"Ayuzawa will always be a concern of mine for as long as I live." Usui says quietly, keeping his voice even with no small effort.
"She seemed very lonely." Igarashi's unnaturally gold eyes are piercing. "I would take better care of her before someone else does."
"Did you come to England to negotiate business or did you come for the express purpose for getting your nose broken?" Usui says brusquely. He feels a sick sense of satisfaction as Igarashi's smirk slides off his face to be replaced by an ugly sneer.
"Be careful, Walker. I usually get what I want."
"Igarashi, I always get what I want."
Usui covers his eyes with his hand. It had gotten better, or even worse, depending on your viewpoint. He'd brought up the models out of pettishness (in all honesty, all they'd gotten was a kiss before he realised that they weren't Misaki), but her reaction...
In high school, if that had happened, he would have needed a long cold shower. As it is now, it was close. Too close.
Too soon.
He wants to get her to call him Takumi again first.
For now, he needs to sleep.
If you want to guess what song the title chapters come from, be my guest! You might get a mention...
Oh, and updates will hopefully be every weekend!
Reviews feed me. :3 ~Gryfo