Chapter 4: A Good Night Yet
"Renge!" They both exclaimed in fear as Hikaru jabbed out at the end call button at that same time as Haruhi causing them both to hit the wrong button which in Hikaru's case was the answer button and Haruhi's was the button that accelerated the volume to the max.
"Haruhi! Why'd you leave me all alone with bossy Kyoya?" Renge whined with her amplified voice causing both twenty-two year olds to wince. This must be what the birds of Hell sounded like, Hikaru thought to himself as he worried that his ear drums might have ruptured and swore to himself that he would never be in a small enclosed area with Renge in person.
"Remember it was because I had to pick up Hikaru, Renge. You love Kyoya enough to marry him so he can't be that bossy." Haruhi shook her head and knew what Hikaru was thinking, Renge was actually the bossy person in that relationship. "You already had most of the decorations up by the time I left, eh?"
"Well yeah, but-" The French girl argued before being interrupted by Haruhi as Hikaru searched desperately for a stray piece of paper to pull the old static trick.
"So I know that since your decorations already look gorgeous they're bound to look spectacular by the time everyone gets there." She must really want to get Renge off the phone, he realized as she never sucked up like this unless she wanted someone to go away and by away she always meant far, far, far away. Hikaru had to restrain himself from shouting with exuberance when he found an old grocery list in Murai's handwriting and written on the yellow legal paper that could only belong to Kaoru or Murai herself, either way it was paper and that was all his ear drums cared about.
Before Renge could reply and hurt his already bleeding ears, Hikaru leapt into the conversation while keeping one hand on the steering wheel and crumpling the paper with the other. "Oh no, Renge! I can't hear you over all this static, catch you when we get to your house!" Clicking off the phone call with a sigh of relief and a whispered amen from Hikaru, Haruhi leaned back and closed her eyes with her own identical sigh of relief.
"You're brilliant." Haruhi murmured to Hikaru earning a chuckle and a smirk from the young man beside her. With one hand on the wheel the red haired mathematician reached over and squeezed her knee lovingly.
"I know you're desperate when you get to be this nice." He pointed out still feeling proud that she had called him brilliant under any circumstances.
"Don't push it you idiot." She fired back as she leaned on his shoulder as he drove causing him to blush and feel like the little box weighing down his pocket along with the question that went along with it wouldn't receive an automatic negative response. In the comfortable silence, Haruhi felt herself beginning to sink into slumber as Hikaru drove quietly feeling beyond grateful for her presence not just then but in his life in general. "We're going back to the hotel first, eh?" She asked breaking the silence as she opened her heavy eyelids and forced herself to stay awake.
"Eh? Yes I know we both need to change and I figured it would be better to drop my stuff off before the party. Especially since heaven alone knows if Kaoru will get back around the same time we do." Haruhi sat up and gave him a pointed look that made him groan and pinch the bridge of his nose with the hand that wasn't on the steering wheel. "Don't make me talk about my feelings please Dr. Haruhi!"
"I'm no doctor Hika, I just know that you need to talk about how you feel about Kaoru and Sato-kun." Haruhi replied feeling confused, even after all these years she didn't understand the twins joking ways completely. "Can you please just talk to me?"
Hikaru made his infamous huffing noise yet again as he mentally faced an inner debate over whether to tell her or not. Eventually his inner battle won in Haruhi's favor and he began to voice his feelings about Kaoru, "It's just that he's letting in all these girls and, as I said earlier, he is ignoring the only person he should!"
"This is your jealousy coming out again isn't it?" She inquired and heard him grumble in annoyance that she could tell when he was jealous in seconds now. "Would talking to him make things better between you two?" He nodded and she smiled, "Then you must know what you have to do next time you see him."
"Fine, fine, fine." The elder twin replied waving it off even as it hit him, he had to use words to get his point across with his own brother; the person who had understood him through the movement of a hand or the upward flick of an eyebrow in the past and now needed to be talked to directly. Did this prove that growing up apart from Kaoru had been a bad idea after all? Glancing over at Haruhi, he knew that it hadn't been a bad decision because if they hadn't grown apart he wouldn't have allowed himself to fall for her nor let himself be happy with the girl of his dreams.
By the time he had finished considering this, they had arrived at the hotel and he found himself pulling into the only open parking space. "Why is it so busy?" Haruhi asked looking around at the other cars as she stepped out of the Lexus. Hikaru chuckled as he opened the back seat to grab his bag before striding around the car in order to stand beside her.
"That's because it's New Years Eve and there's supposed to be a party here for some business that has to do with producing martial arts equipment." He explained offering her his arm, which she surprisingly took, and the couple walked inside to Haruhi's, and now Hikaru's as well, room on the third floor. "Why are there no elevators here?" Hikaru asked knowing that Haruhi was going to call him out any moment now for being a rich snob and he was not left waiting long.
"I had forgotten how much of a rich snob you can still be at times." She observed earning a head hung in shame from the red haired boy scaling the spiral fancy stairs beside her. "Good thing I actually concur with you on this one, I would like an escalator too because who makes circular stairs and then doesn't label the floors?"
"Idiots that's who." Hikaru fired back with a grin that reached from ear to ear and earned a smile from Haruhi. Interlocking her fingers with his, Haruhi pulled him off the staircase on what she had learned was the third floor through trial and error. "This is our floor?" She nodded as she pointed out the number three written on a sheet of legal paper and taped there by a careless hand as it was crooked at best. Leading him to room number 5, Haruhi produced the bronze key that Hikaru could already tell she found to be excessive at the very least and overtly unnecessary at the most.
"Welcome to home sweet home for tonight and tomorrow!" Haruhi began sarcastically and was surprised when Hikaru grinned at her and gave her hand a squeeze.
"You're home enough for me." He whispered lovingly and Haruhi gave him a peck on the cheek before letting him all the way into the apartment as they both blushed slightly. "You usually don't accept my romantic gestures, is something different about today?" His question was expected, she realized as she was bring more romantic than normal.
"That's because I did miss you." She explained and found herself feeling confused because she really didn't understand why, it just felt natural. "Plus you are in a way my home now, I don't exactly have any other family."
Haruhi's logic made Hikaru feel awful, he really was the closest thing she had to a family now and that was a fact that saddened him. "You are the best family a guy could ever want and you are always going to be home enough for me, always." She smiled at him as he leaned forward and planted a light kiss on her lips.
"Thanks." The law student replied giving him a quick hug before letting him all the way into their room so he could put his bag down and she could get ready as well. Murai had already done her make-up and since she didn't let anyone touch her hair, all she had to do was put on the dress Kaoru had given her for Christmas and made her hide from Hikaru until tonight's party. But Hikaru didn't know that yet, he was just excited to be shrugging off his winter coat, after transferring the all-important velvet box to his suit pocket. Despite being tempted to wear the tan suit, bright blue vest, and black button down he was currently sporting, Hikaru changed into his navy suit pants, taking the time to transfer the velvet box, before poking his head into the bathroom where Haruhi had just pulled off her winter jacket and was in the process of undoing her boots.
"What color are you wearing tonight?" He inquired causing the girl to look up and blush a little at seeing him without a shirt on. Pausing to think about it, she was really tempted to reply that it was a surprise but instead replied with the actual answering mostly because she knew they really didn't have time for guessing games.
"Navy and silver, were you trying to match?" Her response becoming a question did not surprise him, she could be rather inquisitive at times.
"I am the CFO of the biggest fashion cooperation in Japan, it was be irresponsible if I was not matching my absolutely gorgeous girlfriend." Hikaru fired back earning an eye roll from Haruhi as he exited the bathroom and heard her close the door in order to change out of her winter casual wear and into the gown she was wearing for tonight. For the life of him he could not figure out which one it was, she only had so many dresses she would wear perhaps this was a new one? Dismissing the thought, Hikaru buttoned up his silver button down and tucked it into his pants. Just as Haruhi exited the bathroom and turned around with her hair pulled up in one hand and the other holding her dress together.
"Zip me up please?" She asked as she Hikaru walked over to her speechless, it was a beautiful dress to begin with but the fact of the matter was that it made Haruhi look absolutely gorgeous, it must have been made for her. The navy gown was accented with a silver sash around her waist and silver beads that adorned the fabric that clung tightly to her slender torso and begun with a halter top and moved loosely around her lower body. "Kaoru did a great job didn't he?" Her voice broke through his observation of the dress that accented his girlfriend's already beautiful form and forced him into motion allowing him to return to his task of zipping up her dress as she turned around and smiled at him awaiting his response.
"He just became one of my favorite people because, just by the way, you look absolutely stunning." Hikaru replied pulling her into a quick kiss before he let her go in order to grab his New Years tie which just happened to be navy as well and adorned with silver fireworks. Come to think of it, it was a Christmas gift from Kaoru this year; damn his brother was good.
"Here let me help you with that." Haruhi offered with a smile as she stepped forward and did his tie for him which made him smile lovingly.
"Thanks Haruhi." He replied as he grabbed his navy blazer with one hand, car keys and wallet with the other, while kicking on his shoes. "Are you completely ready?" Haruhi nodded as he pulled on his jacket in order to stuff his wallet in there. Hopping around on one foot then the other, Hikaru managed to get his shoes on before rushing into the bathroom to grab her coat which he offered to her with a smile. "For the beautiful lady."
Giggling, Haruhi shrugged the coat on as Hikaru reached for the door and she gave him a funny look. "I'm forgetting something, aren't I?" He asked earning another giggle as Haruhi grabbed the extra winter coat he had tossed in his overnight bag. "Eh? You're right, what would I ever do without you Haruhi?"
"Freeze to death?" She proposed and he chuckled as he followed her out the door, pausing only to pocket the waiting hotel key on the dresser by the door. Tonight was going to be a good night, he could just feel it. "Hikaru, did you grab the belated Christmas gifts?" Glancing down at his hands which were empty of everything but Kaoru's car keys, Hikaru cursed to himself as he walked back into the hotel room.
"Dammit!" Maybe if he could just remember to bring everything, it might still be a great night yet.
Thanks for reading thus far, I'm sorry for the late update. I will try to be better about updating in a more timely manner. Please leave a review!