Chapter 3
hai - yes
nandemonai - nothing
sumimasen - sorry
Omi woke up to the sunlight that crept in through the window and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Kaoru's face. He smiled and stroked a strand of salmon colored hair out of the peaceful looking face before placing a light kiss on the tip of Kaoru's nose. He sat up in bed and tried to get on his feet, but something was holding him back. Looking over his shoulder he saw Kaoru's hand entangled in his shirt and the emerald eyes looking up at him.
"I'm not asleep," his friend stated unnecessarily. "Can't we stay in bed for a little longer, there's no school today." Omi looked at his alarm clock. "You do realize that it's already past 9 o'clock? If you don't get up now, we will be forced to skip breakfast."
"I don't mind if I get you for breakfast instead," Kaoru said and tried to sneak a kiss from his friend.
"I'm not sure you really know what you're talking about," Omi said and ruffled Kaoru's hair with his hand.
"Stop that," Kaoru pouted. "I bet my hair already sticks out in all direction without you messing it up. And what did you mean with that comment? Do you think I don't know how to have sex with a boy?"
"No," Omi hurried to say. "It's just that you always try to avoid physical contact with other people. It took quite some time for you to get used to being touched by me."
"See, so it's different with you. I trust you, Omi. That's why I'm ok with it."
"All right, if you say so. But I'm actually hungry now. So if you don't get up, I'll go without you."
"Hai, Hai. I'm coming. But my uniform is still dirty and I haven't had time to iron the second one," Kaoru complained.
"I can do that after breakfast," Omi promised. "For now, you will have to wear the clothes from yesterday."
Omi had already dressed while they were talking and now took Kaoru's key from the table where he had placed it last evening. "I'll go and fetch them from your room."
"Thanks," Kaoru said, walking over to the bathroom to wash his face.
"I hope we don't run into Niwa again. I can't bare another comment about my careless outer appearance," Kaoru said as he put his hair up into a high ponytail.
The hairstyle really suited him, Omi thought. It emphasized his slender neck and the shorter strands of hair that had escaped from the elastic softened the severe look.
"There's no need to worry," he said. "We're really late for breakfast today."
The cafeteria was indeed quite empty already, but, to his annoyance, Kaoru spotted Niwa and Nakajima at one of the tables by the window. Seeing the expression on Kaoru's face Omi quickly chose a table next to the wall, as far away as possible from the student council. Kaoru's food portion was again much smaller than his own, but Omi chose not to comment this time.
They ate in companionable silence, but when he had just finished his meal, Omi spotted Niwa walking towards their table. He was about to warn Kaoru, but the King had already approached his friend from behind and tugged at the tied up hair.
"Nice hairstyle, Kaoru-chan," he said. "But I'm still missing your uniform. You seem to be developing quite a bad habit."
Kaoru turned around in annoyance, slamming his elbow into Niwa's stomach. "Don't touch me again," he hissed, as the King doubled over, but quickly recovered from the pain. Kaoru was just not strong enough to really hurt him.
"Uh, such a charming morning greeting," Niwa commented and took a seat at their table without bothering to ask. Ignoring Kaoru's icy look he turned towards Omi instead.
"It's good to see you up and about again, Shichijou. Hide even went to the infirmary last evening to ask about your condition." "Didn't you, Hide?" he added over his shoulder. By now Nakajima had walked over as well and stood behind Niwa's chair.
"Only because you told me to do it," he replied sourly, crossing his arms in a defensive gesture.
"But you didn't complain about it, either," Niwa teased. "Admit it, Hide, you're not as mean as you want everyone to believe."
Nakajima glared at Niwa, then turned on the spot and walked towards the door. Niwa just chuckled, making no move to get up and follow his friend.
"It's really nice of you to be worried about Omi," Kaoru said, forcing himself to be friendly. "But could you please leave us alone now?"
"In a moment," Niwa said, in his overly cheerful voice. "There is just one more thing we need to discuss." He pulled out a small package from his pocket and placed it next to Kaoru's plate.
Kaoru eyed it suspiciously. It was wrapped in light green paper and tied with a pink ribbon.
"What's that supposed to be, Niwa. It's still half a year until my birthday and even then I would not accept a present from you."
"Come on, Kaoru," Niwa said exasperated. "Stop being to grumpy and just open it already."
Kaoru looked at Omi for advice, but his friend was displaying his usual indifferent smile. Sighing, he returned his attention to the item in front of him and carefully tugged at the ribbon. The paper unfolded onto the table, revealing a shining jewelry inside.
"What the hell, Niwa," Kaoru exclaimed. "That's a crown, for god's sake."
Niwa inclined his head. "A crown for our beloved Queen," he confirmed with a wide grin. "Would you like to try it on?"
"Certainly not," Kaoru snapped, his eyes narrowing in disgust. Omi's expression had changed from neutral to slightly amused, but he did not say anything.
"I just thought you might like to try it out before this evening," Niwa said.
Kaoru frowned. "I'm afraid I can't follow…"
"Well," Niwa continued, leaning back in the chair with a satisfied smile. "As you both know all the different clubs are contributing to our school festival. And the chairman has asked me to come up with something of combined effort between the student council and the treasury."
Kaoru sighed, already fearing for the worst. "And what exactly did you come up with," he demanded.
"I thought we could do a bit of dancing. Sort of like an opening ceremony. You and me, the royal couple of the academy…"
"Couple," Kaoru interrupted. "In your dreams, Niwa. And what about Omi and Hide? Are they not required to contribute something as well?" he asked sarcastically.
"I somehow can't picture those two dancing together," Niwa laughed. He quickly got up from his chair before Kaoru could protest any further. "I'll see you at the gym after lunch for practice," he added and hurried away. "Oh, and I almost forgot to mention," he called over his shoulder. "The drama club has agreed to lend us some costumes."
"What a jerk," Kaoru huffed angrily, then rounded on his friend. "Why didn't you say something, Omi? And don't you dare start laughing," he added upon seeing his friends face.
Omi quickly schooled his features into a more neutral expression and carefully said. "Maybe you shouldn't take this so seriously, Kaoru. It might be funny."
"Funny," Kaoru repeated disbelievingly. "What's gotten into you, Omi." And with that he jumped up from the table and stormed out of the cafeteria.
Omi sighed, picked up the forgotten crown from the table and followed his friend.
"Do you think Kazuki really agreed to this?" Kaoru asked, looking up at Omi uncertainly.
They were currently in Omi's dorm room. Kaoru had finally calmed down again and was brushing out his hair while Omi ironed his uniform, as promised.
"I can't help but think that this is only a very elaborate joke," Kaoru continued.
"Niwa certainly seems to enjoy riling you up," Omi commented. Maybe he would stop doing it if you don't rise to the bait so easily. It's no fun teasing someone who just ignores you."
"So… you think it's my fault then," Kaoru said thoughtfully. "That I would be able to change his behavior."
"It would be in my best interest as well if he stopped flirting with you all the time," Omi said. He had finished with the uniform and sat down on the bed next to Kaoru. "Now that we are…" he paused, reaching for Kaoru's hair and starting to twirl a silky strand around his finger, "…lovers."
Kaoru blushed. "Surely you're not jealous of Niwa," he asked with mock seriousness.
"Of course not." Omi smiled. "He doesn't have the slightest chance against me. And anyway, we both know that he's more interested in Keita."
Kaoru's arms wrapped around Omi's neck, pulling him closer. "Let's not talk about Niwa anymore," he said and angled his face up to kiss Omi.
Their ragged breathing filled the room as the kiss grew more intense, then Omi let out a soft grunt when Kaoru pushed him down onto the mattress.
Placing himself on top of his friend's body he started kissing down Omi's neck to his collarbone. He was just reaching out to open the first button on Omi's shirt when his friend gently pushed him away.
Kaoru shot him a hurt look and moved to the other side of the bed.
"I think we should save that for later," Omi explained, reaching out a hand towards Kaoru. "You wouldn't want to be late for practice."
"I thought we agreed that it was just a joke," Kaoru pouted, but allowed Omi to pull him into a brief hug.
"I wouldn't take any chances."
"All right, I'm going," Kaoru sighed while getting up from the bed.
"But I won't wear a dress for practice," he stated before closing the door behind him.
Kaoru was walking through the corridors towards the courtyard when he heard a voice behind him calling out his name. He stopped and turned around, seeing Kazuki coming towards him.
"Chairman," Kaoru greeted with a slight bow. When there was no one else around he could use Kazuki's actual title, and it would have been disrespectful not to do so.
"Saionji-kun," Kazuki replied. "Shichijou brought me the reports yesterday. You've done a good job, as always."
"Thank you. Are you looking forward to the festival?" Kaoru inquired.
"Yes, I'm hoping to get to spend some time with Keita. We haven't seen much of each other in the last week. He seems to be quite taken with the student council president." The sad note in Kazuki's voice was unmistakable. Kaoru felt a bit sorry for him, but Keita was old enough to make his own decisions.
"Yes, I've noticed that as well, but I'm sure he will still want you as his friend," he said - probably not the best thing he could have come up with, but he had never been good at cheering other people up. "Speaking of Niwa though," he added. "Did you ask him to prepare an opening ceremony for the festival together with the treasury?"
"Not that I remember," Kazuki replied, a little bemused. "But it sounds like a nice idea."
"Oh, no. Just forget that I ever asked, please," Kaoru hurried to say. "See you this evening," he added and quickly hurried away, leaving Kazuki in the corridor with a puzzled expression.
"You're late, Kaoru," Niwa proclaimed when he entered the gym, completely ignoring the thunderous expression on Kaoru's face. He had not expected the Queen to look forward to this meeting. To be quite honest, he had not been entirely sure Kaoru would turn up at all. Surely Omi had something to do with that.
"The costume's are in the box over there. Should we try them on immediately or would you rather…" He stopped abruptly when Kaoru came to a halt in front of him. The slapping sound resonated loudly in the empty gym as Kaoru's palm connected with the King's cheek.
"You're insufferable, Niwa," the Queen announced before turning on the spot and storming out the way he had come, his hair bouncing angrily with every step.
Nakajima leaned back in his chair with a satisfied smile when Niwa entered the student council room. "I told you this would happen," he smirked after taking a look at Niwa's red cheek. "Did you get to the dancing at least, or had he found out already?"
"Just shut up, Hide," Niwa grumbled as he sat down at his desk.
Kaoru moved closer to Omi, leaning his head against his friend's shoulder. The evening entertainment - minus the royal dancing, of course - was over already and the students were sitting beneath the lampion hung trees, talking, eating and just enjoying themselves.
Kaoru slipped his hand into Omi's, entangling their fingers, and closed his eyes contently.
"Are you cold?" Omi asked when he felt the chilled fingers touching his own.
"Just a little," Kaoru murmured sleepily.
Omi pulled off his school blazer and placed it around his friend's shoulders.
Kaoru's eyes opened again and he smiled up at him. "Thanks, Omi. But you will be cold now."
"I'm fine," Omi insisted, and it wasn't even a lie. Still wearing his shirt and vest he felt warm enough even in the cool evening air.
"But we can warm each other," he suggested, not entirely without ulterior motives, and pulled Kaoru closer until he was half seated on his lap. Kaoru gave a small sigh as Omi's arms wrapped around him and closed his eyes again.
A few minutes later Kaoru had fallen asleep, his head tilting sideways off of Omi's shoulder. It didn't look too comfortable so Omi gently laid him down on the bench with his head resting in his lap. Kaoru murmured something in his sleep and drew his legs up closer to his body. Absentmindedly, Omi started to run a hand through the silky hair, then took a sip from the glass in front of him. He wondered briefly if he should wake Kaoru and get him to bed, but decided against it. It wasn't that cold yet and - at least for the moment - Kaoru looked comfortable. A small smile stole onto Omi's lips as he studied the peaceful face of his friend.
"Isn't it boring to sit here alone?" Omi looked up, a little startled. Satoshi had approached the table, Tono-sama in his arms. The cat mewed and shortly flicked out his tongue towards him. Even though Omi knew it was a habit he couldn't help but think the cat was making fun of him every time he did it.
"I'm not alone actually," he said, gesturing down at the sleeping Kaoru, whom Satoshi had not noticed from across the table. "But I won't object if you would like to keep us company.
Nodding, the teacher sat down on the bench and poured himself a glass of juice. "Thank you, Shichijou. I don't feel comfortable sitting with the other teachers, but we also don't want to go to bed this early, nee Tono-sama."
Omi smiled understandingly. He knew that the teacher wasn't getting along so well with his other colleges. They sometimes made fun of him because of his small built and his scatterbrain personality - and talking to his cat certainly didn't help to be taken serious.
They had become friends when Omi started to visit Satoshi in his lab whenever he had nothing to do in the treasury. He was honestly curious about the teacher's research and experiments and so they always had a topic to discuss. On the other hand, Satoshi was fascinated by Omi's computer skills and often asked him for help with his own PC. Omi really enjoyed that. There weren't many people at the academy who shared his interest in that topic and he definitely couldn't go and chitchat with Nakajima.
Time flew by as he talked with Satoshi and when he looked around the courtyard again he noticed that most of the students had already left for their dorm rooms. Shinomiya was walking between the tables, collecting the paper serviettes and some other light stuff that might be blown away with the wind. Takuto and Naruse helped him. The other things could be left outside until the morning when everyone would help with the cleaning up.
Niwa had not left yet either, Omi noted, when he saw him approaching their table. "Hey, Shichijou. Has Kaoru gone to bed already?" he asked in his usual loud voice. "Be quiet, Niwa. He's sleeping," Omi admonished, gesturing down to the figure beside him. "What do you want from him," he asked, a little irritated.
"Mmh… nothing in particular," Niwa admitted. "I just..."
"I would really appreciate it if you could just leave him alone," Omi interrupted. "I think he has expressed his feelings towards you quite unmistakably on more than one occasion. And besides of that, you aren't even interested in him anymore now that you have cute, little Keita to play with, right?"
"I don't know why this would concern you in anyway, he's not your property, you know, but…"
"Just for your information, Niwa," Omi snapped irritated. "We are officially dating since yesterday and…"
"Oh, I always thought you had been together since before you even came to this school," Satoshi interrupted, but Niwa was clearly surprised by Omi's proclamation.
"Really, you always seemed a bit… distanced, in my opinion," he mused. Never would have guessed that you could be more than friends."
"Well, you've never been good at recognizing such things, not only in this case," Omi murmured quietly.
"Sorry?" Niwa asked. "Nandemonai," Omi said quickly.
Niwa just shrugged. "Anyway, Hide told me something similar today. About leaving Kaoru alone, I mean. You two really are quite alike sometimes. But Hide is probably just concerned about his friend's wellbeing, too. Speaking of which, shouldn't you take Kaoru to bed if he is that tired."
"I was just about to do that," Omi snapped.
"Do you need help," Niwa offered with an impish smile.
"No, thanks," Omi said, glaring at Niwa. "I'm quite capable of carrying my boyfriend, if necessary. And I somehow don't think he would appreciate your help."
"I certainly wouldn't," Kaoru interrupted. "Why are you always talking so loud, Niwa," he complained as he struggled to get into an upright position.
"Sumimasen, Kaoru," Omi apologized, even though the comment hadn't been directed at him.
"I think I will go to bed, now," Satoshi said and stood up. "I'll see you on Monday in class," he added and walked away, Tono-sama, who had fallen asleep sometime before, in his arms.
"Come on, Niwa." Nakajima had appeared behind his friend and grabbed his arm to pull him away. "Didn't I tell you to leave Kaoru alone? That will be much better for your health, as well," he added with a smirk. "Oyasumi," he said to Kaoru while dragging the King with him towards the dormitory.
"All right, let's go inside as well," Omi said when Kaoru started to shiver. They walked towards the main building and Kaoru reached out to take Omi's arm, snuggling close to him.
"Thank you," he said.
"For what," Omi asked puzzled.
"For what you said to Niwa, and for calling me your boyfriend in public."
"I thought you were asleep," Omi said, mock offended.
Kaoru smiled. "I woke up when Niwa came to our table."
"I guess he really has an annoyingly loud voice," Omi stated.
"You know," Kaoru said, turning to look up at his friend. "Even on the off chance that I'm repeating myself, let us not talk about Niwa anymore." And with that he stood up on tiptoe to kiss his boyfriend.
