Hi! Blake coming to deliver the next chapter! ;) Once again, I want to thank everyone for reading, following and favoriting this story. Also, thanks so, so, so, so MUCH for the reviews! They really motivate me to keep writing. :D
Ghost, hi! It´s great to hear from you again. I´m really glad you like the story, hahaha, and we´ll see their reactions soon enough… I think. Thank you so much for your words. I hope you´re not disappointed with what´ll come next. o
Guest, LOL, fangirl all you want, it makes me happy to know you do it. :D Thanks a lot for your review, and about the brothers… Hikaru is in this one, so I hope you like him, and about Tsubaki and Kaname… we´ll see what comes up. :3
So here it is, fluffy chapter ten. Hope you like all the sweet stuff!
Chapter 10: One Down, Eleven to Go
Louis stared at the drawing he held in his hands and didn't know what to make of it. He stared, he frowned, he rolled it over. He stared some more, then changed the paper´s position once again.
"Is this the head?" he murmured. He pointed to a roundish object on the paper.
Kazuhiko, who was looking over the redhead´s shoulder, frowned. "Looks like a curl in the hair to me," he said.
Louis tilted his head to the side. "Oh?"
"Yeah… oh, no, hold on. Now it kind of looks like a cloud… or is it a bush?"
He chuckled at the brunette´s confused tone and imaginative thinking. "I still think it´s the head, but we´ll wait for Ryoko-san to come and confirm." He lowered the drawing onto the couch he was sitting on. As soon as he did it, he felt arms wrap around his neck, felt a chin rest on top of his hair.
"She´s a terrible artist. No wonder she hated art class all through her school life. Now that I remember, she went pale when I told her I was getting a career in architecture," Kazuhiko mumbled, perfectly at ease with what he´d done and ignoring how the couch´s back dug into his middle as he hugged Louis. The latter let out another chuckle.
"What?"
"Are you really Japanese, Kazuhiko-san?"
"Of course! Or… Ryoko says our mother was half Nepali. Why?"
"Mmm, Japanese people are very reserved when it comes to showing affection, you know. I just wondered…" Louis let his voice trail off, but the meaning of the sentence got through.
"Ah." Kazuhiko gave an embarrassed laugh but didn't release him. "Sorry. Does it bother you?"
"I´m getting used to it." Not to cause confusion he added, "I like it, but are you always this…?"
"Cuddly?" Ryoko finished as she appeared in front of the two men. She wore an amused expression. "You bet he is, and it´s my fault, I´m afraid."
The brunette snorted. Louis blinked at her. "What do you mean?"
"I´m sure you know of the early stages of our relationship, the terrible scar and all."
Louis nodded.
"After our father died, something in me woke up… and I clung to Kaz as much as I could," she went on matter-of-factly. "He was the only thing I had left, and I spoiled him rotten until he got into high school."
"Not the 'toy buying' kind of spoiling," Kazuhiko said. "More the 'good morning, good afternoon and goodnight kiss' sort of spoiling. I think nee-san thought I was a teddy bear of some kind until I told her it was embarrassing."
"Which you did in high school."
"That's right. It didn't help much, though. She kept on being very affectionate with me."
"I stopped only when he moved out of our house and into his own apartment," Ryoko said. She looked sad. "I realized he was a big boy then and stopped treating him like a baby."
"For the most part," Kazuhiko added.
"For the most part," she agreed. "But the damage was done. I passed the cuddling disease on to him and…" she stopped talking then, her eyes wide.
Louis raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Ryoko-san?"
"Uh, no, nothing." She gave an angelic smile, hoping he´d let it go. She´d been about to say that the girlfriends Kazuhiko had had before had at first been surprised and comfortable about how unreserved he was about showing affection, but after a couple of weeks they fallen head over heels for him and his adorable nature. She wasn't bragging. The girls had told her themselves more than two times. Even though Louis was a boy, she was sure the same thing would happen… eventually.
Of course, she couldn't say any of that out loud. One must never talk about exes with the in-laws. It was a rule… somewhere.
"You were holding back, weren't you?" the redhead murmured.
Kazuhiko gave an almost imperceptible shrug. "We were friends before and you can´t touch a friend this freely. Now we´re more than that and like Ryoko told you, it´s a very bad habit of mine."
In romantic relationships touch was important, Louis knew, to Akiyama Kazuhiko it mattered even more. And was it a bad habit? He didn't think so.
"I doubt cuddling someone you like is a bad habit," he said. "Kind of strange for a Japanese maybe, but not bad."
The brunette went still, then gave a deep laugh.
"You´re too accepting of me," he half-complained, and he released the redhead.
"If he weren't, he couldn't put up with the nutcase you are," Ryoko spoke again. She winked at Louis, who only shook his head and stood up.
"Since Kazuhiko-san has changed back into his usual clothing and Ryoko-san isn't dragging him to the dressing rooms anymore, I assume his suit for the graduation has been chosen," he said, and looked around the clothing store he´d been in for the past three hours of so.
Ryoko grinned. Kazuhiko rolled his eyes.
"It´s chosen," the brunette confirmed in a sullen tone. "But I don't like the big deal we´re making out of this. Graduation is a week away."
"Kaz, you´re graduating from college. We have to make it a big deal," Ryoko said.
"Not as big as what you´re planning. The suit and the dinner after…"
"You should just enjoy yourself this time," Louis put in with a gentle smile. "Remember you only graduate college once, Kazuhiko-san."
The brunette opened his mouth to complain, took a look at the smile he was being offered… and sighed. The sigh said he´d given up.
"Fine, Louis-san, only if you promise you´ll be with me through the whole torture my dear nee-san has planned."
"It´s not going to be bad."
Kazuhiko raised an eyebrow.
Louis´s smile widened. "All right, if that's what you want." He picked up the drawing and shook it a couple of times. "Now, Ryoko-san, can you tell me why you gave me this drawing and what does it mean?"
"The drawing?" She blinked, then beamed. "Oh. It´s the style I want you to do on my hair on graduation day."
Mauve eyes flicked to the mess on the paper. "Okay. What´s this round object? Is it the head?"
"No. It´s an ear. I wanted to give you all the details."
The men exchanged glances. The redhead gave a very small smile.
"Nee-san, you should have printed the style," Kazuhiko said.
"Huh? Why?"
Another glance exchange.
"Let us say this is abstract art," Louis mumbled, and both men laughed when Ryoko´s expression only turned confused.
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"Can you see him?"
"No. Not yet. Are you sure he´s around here?"
"I´m pretty sure. The ceremony ended twenty minutes ago. He should be coming out anytime now."
"I´ll keep looking." Louis patted Ryoko´s hand where it rested on his forearm before he raised his eyes back to the amphitheater where Kazuhiko´s graduation ceremony had taken place. It had been a posh ceremony, even for Louis´s exotic tastes. A rich people´s ceremony in fact, but he shouldn't be surprised. After knowing about the Akiyamas´ real estate company…
"There he is!"
Louis looked where Ryoko was pointing. Indeed, he saw Kazuhiko´s light brown hair and caramel eyes very close to them already.
"Come on, Louis-san." Without releasing his arm –where she´d been clinging the whole time, from the moment the ceremony began to the very end– she pulled him towards her brother, who spotted them as soon as they took a step.
"There you are!" the brunette cried, a smile plastered on his face. He looked flawless in the black suit Ryoko had made him buy, and the tie matched his eyes almost to perfection.
"Kaz!" Ryoko released Louis for the first time that afternoon to throw herself to her brother, who looked surprised at first, then laughed and returned the hug.
Kazuhiko waited for his sister to speak, waited for her to utter 'congratulations' or some proud scold about anything… but Ryoko stayed mute. She stayed silent as she squeezed him with all her strength.
"Um, nee-san?" the youngster murmured, and pulled away to see Ryoko´s face drenched in tears. Her makeup had run.
"Since when do you cry in silence?" he uttered, truly astounded. Her sister was not a silent person.
She gave a watery smile as more tears flowed. "Don't be so rude. Kaz, I… I…" she sniffled, rubbed at her face and shook her head. "Give me a moment. I need to clean myself up." In a very un-Ryoko manner, she walked away from Kazuhiko in the bathrooms´ direction.
Kazuhiko raised an eyebrow, then turned and found Louis waiting patiently in front of him. His eyes brightened.
"Louis-san," he said. His smile returned.
"Kazuhiko-san," the redhead replied, and took a step forward to congratulate his boyfriend, but Kazuhiko was faster, and Louis found himself, once again, wrapped up in a pair of long and warm arms.
Unable to move much, the redhead let himself be hugged. "My most honest congratulations and best wishes. I hope you´re proud of yourself, because Ryoko-san is… and I am, though I have no right to be," he said.
Kazuhiko hummed.. "Don't say that. I appreciate your saying it very, very much. Thank you, Louis-san. Thank you for coming today and for keeping Ryoko in line all through the ceremony. I saw her clinging to your arm the whole time."
"I was afraid if she didn't have anything to hold on to she was going to jump up and down screaming," Louis admitted.
"I wouldn't put it past her." Kazuhiko pulled back, took Louis´s chin between his fingers and pecked his lips. There were so many people milling around no one noticed. It wouldn't have mattered if they had, though, at least to the brunette.
Louis blinked, then turned his head to try to hide the pink tint on his cheeks. He failed.
The brunette´s expression turned smug. "A problem?" he whispered huskily.
"N… N… No."
"Good." And Louis received another kiss, this one deeper, sweeter.
His insides turned mushy. He felt his blush intensify and called himself an idiot. His relationship with Kazuhiko was still brand new. He shouldn't get so affected by a kiss, especially because he knew so much cuddling wouldn't last long. It was the 'shiny new toy' mood they were both in.
So…
With a hand pressed against the suit jacket, Louis gave a gentle push to break the kiss. The brunette understood right away. They stared at each other from inches away.
"Louis-san…" Kazuhiko began, but was cut off by the redhead giving him a short hug.
"I say again, congratulations, Kazuhiko-san."
"… Thank you. Um, is everything all right?"
"Of course. Everything is just fine." But for how long, Louis wouldn't dare say.
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"This is a… what did you call it? Dog sack?"
"Doggy bag."
"Huh. Interesting name. So you´re supposed to give it to your dog?"
"If you have one, I guess you could give it to them, but it´s more a saying."
Louis nodded and stared at the aluminum foil he held in his hands. It wasn't a bag. It was a swan-like jumble of foil which held inside the leftovers of Kazuhiko´s graduation dinner. "Are doggy bags always so artful?" he asked as he and the brunette walked along the path next to the lake where, long ago, his brothers had taken Chi-chan flower-spotting.
"No. It just happens that the restaurant Ryoko reserved turned out to be so very fancy they couldn't bear to give simple plastic bags." Kazuhiko frowned at the path ahead of them. "Haven´t you ever seen one before?"
"Of course I have, but I´ve always seen paper sacks, and I´ve never bothered to ask what they´re called Besides—" Louis shook the silvery swan. "—these are rather special doggy bags."
"Snobby, I´d say. Ryoko overdid herself this time, don't you think?"
The redhead shrugged. "I had a nice evening, even with my insisting I was your friend and you insisting I was much more than that."
Kazuhiko gave a devilish smile. "I wouldn't want to think you´re embarrassed we´re dating."
"I´m not," Louis replied with absolute honesty, and ducked his head. "But going around announcing to all the people around us… it´s a bit intimidating."
"Not an exhibitionist, huh?"
Louis didn't get the joking tone and shook his head as he held the swan under one arm. "Uh-uh."
Kazuhiko snorted, then and without further word grabbed Louis´s free hand and held it in his own. The redhead hesitated a step, then the two of them kept on walking.
"This isn't exhibitionism, by the way," Kazuhiko said.
Louis gave a small laugh. "I…"
"Louie-chan!"
The latter froze at the sound of his pet name. He turned… and found himself almost face to face with Hikaru.
"Hikaru-nii-san," he gasped.
Hikaru, dressed in jeans and a shirt today, grinned. "Hello, Louie-chan!"
"W… what are you…?"
"Doing here? Stupid Ukyo sent me on a stupid errand." Hikaru rolled his eyes and shook the shopping bag he was carrying. "He needs someone to put him in his place one of these days… and anyway…" emerald eyes slid to the brunette, and the wicked smile widened. "Kazuo! Hello!"
Kazuo?
"Er…" Kazuhiko glanced at Louis out of the corner of his eye, When he noticed the redhead didn't know what to say he took a deep breath, smiled and released his partner´s hand to hold it out to the other redhead. "Good evening. I´m Akiyama Kazuhiko. You´re Asahina Hikaru, right? Louis-san´s fourth eldest brother. It´s a pleasure to meet you."
"Ah, Kazuo! We can finally introduce ourselves!" Hikaru shook the offered hand. "Nice to meet you too. Louie-chan´s told me a lot about you."
Kazuo again? But he´d just announced his real n… oh, never mind. "Same here. It appears you´re his favorite brother." The brunette smiled.
"Of course. And guess which otouto do I favor the most?" The elder rolled his eyes at Louis. "Louie-chan, speak, will you?"
"Hikaru-nii-san…"
"Don't sound so appalled. Come on, I knew about caramel boy right here, you just hadn't told me you´d officially become a couple."
"Well, I…"
"Not that it matters anyway since I now know." Hikaru gave Kazuhiko a wicked wink. "Took long enough to put a complete face to your name. You should have forced Louie-chan to take you to the Sunrise Residence before."
Kazuhiko looked amused. "Should I have?"
"Yeah. I wanted to meet up close the person who managed to make him blush." Hikaru looked at the brunette up and down. "You´re taller than I remember… and younger. How old are you?"
"Twenty-two."
"Oh. Got a job?"
"Part time in a car shop."
"Student?"
Louis managed to find his voice. "Hikaru-nii-san, you shouldn't be so…"
"Ironically enough, I graduated today," Kazuhiko interrupted with a humble smile.
Hikaru´s eyes widened. He ignored Louis. "What career?"
"Architecture. I´m taking two months off before going to work at…"
"Kazuhiko-san!" Louis cried, and stepped between his boyfriend and his brother. "You don't need to submit yourself to Hikaru-nii-san´s cross examination."
"Louie-chan, I´m just weighing hiM," Hikaru said. "You know, seeing if he´s worth your time or…"
"If he weren't I wouldn't be here, " the youngster said without thinking. As soon as he said it, he felt his lips curve in a small smile.
Hikaru gave him a thumbs up. "Now that's the attitude."
"It is indeed," the brunette´s voice came, half-amused, half-joyed.
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With the day pretty much over, Louis decided he´d catch a ride with Hikaru and go home. Kazuhiko wasn't too thrilled, but he´d spent a marvelous graduation day thanks to certain redhead and couldn't ask for more, so while Hikaru caught his cue and left to find the car, Louis stayed to say goodbye.
"So that was Asahina Hikaru," Kazuhiko said as he watched the elder walk away.
"Not the calmest brother, and not my first choice for you to meet," Louis mumbled with a shrug. "But I must admit I´m surprised."
"Why?"
"You didn't bore Hikaru-nii-san, and he didn't annoy you at all. In fact, he treated you much like he does me."
"Like family?" the brunette teased.
The redhead nodded. "Now we´ve only got to introduce you to eleven more brothers."
"After meeting one of the brothers you've described as most judgmental, I think I´ll be fine." Kazuhiko winked, grabbed Louis´s cheeks between his palms and gave him a series of light kisses. "Thanks for a wonderful day, Louis-san."
"Thank you for allowing me to come with you, and again, congratulations." Louis hesitated, then gave the brunette one last peck. "See you soon."
"See you."
Ten minutes later, Louis was behind the wheel of Masaomi´s car while Hikaru gaped at him.
"I know you got your driving license when you were eighteen," the elder said, "but you haven't driven since then. How come you can do it so well now?"
Louis smiled and kept his eyes on the road. "I got a refreshing course."
"… Kazuo?"
"Mm-hmm. He gave me refreshing lessons a couple months ago in his car. I don't really like to do it, but seeing how you were complaining you didn't want to drive back home through the night traffic, I thought I´d see if I still could."
"He´s very attentive, isn't he?"
Louis nodded.
"And he´s a funny person, not to mention he kept up with me without a problem. Hmm. You may not date, Louie-chan, but when you do, it´s for a reason." Hikaru frowned. "When are you going to introduce him to the family?"
"Do you think they´ll take it in stride?"
"Why not? You´re our brother and you love Kazuo. End of the story."
"I don't love him," the youngster said.
"Don't you?"
"No."
Hikaru rolled his eyes and stared out the window. "It´s only a matter of time, you´ll see, before you utter those words."
"You think?"
"I don't think, Louie-chan." Hikaru gave a smug grunt. "After watching you guys today, I know. But really, take him. You´ll see he´ll be accepted from the very start."
Louis pursed his lips. "I´ll think about it," he whispered.
Hikaru had met his boyfriend and there seemed to be no problem. It was a good start.
Nevertheless… it was one down and eleven to go.
To be continued…