Chapter 10: Dammit

By the time Hikaru had turned around, the dark figure had already hidden themselves quite well and the young man was none the wiser as he bustled about grabbing blankets, a pair of Beats headphones to block out the noise, and his iPod. He hadn't even realized that the door was open until somebody walked down the hall, took pity on him, and knocked on the door to alert him to its open state. Nodding his thanks, Hikaru took one bound and had reached the door in time to close it far too enthusiastically resulting in the loud slamming noise that drowned out the thunder enough so that Haruhi could shakily shove the headphones over her ears and blast whatever music Hikaru had been playing last. As the familiar cords of a Taylor Swift song blasted into her ear drums, Haruhi's tears disappeared as she began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" He asked with a slight tremor of fear in his voice as he wondered if the thunder had really driven her to insanity this time. She couldn't stop long enough to tell him that it was his music choice so her fiancé crossed over to her side in three long strides before crawling up behind her on the bed and wrapping his arms around her stomach from behind. Hikaru could feel her shaking with mirth and he began to pray that this laughter was natural and normal, Tono was one crazy person too many already so Hikaru didn't want another.

Showing him the iPod, she continued to chuckle as Hikaru released one arm in order to face palm himself. "Ageha borrowed my iPod last and just got herself a new high school boyfriend; of course she'd choose Taylor Swift."

Haruhi finally managed to slow her giggles long enough to point out the obvious, "You still had her on there to begin with though." The irony of the situation was that Haruhi couldn't even hear him through her headphones; she only understood what he was saying because she was extremely proficient at reading lips.

He started to stammer but ended up waving a white flag of surrender metaphorically as he fired back the worst comeback ever, "Shut up!" It was like seeing the middle school version of Hikaru that she had never met, the sort of awkward kid with zits with a crooked toothed pre-braces grin and chubbier cheeks. This guy never had to deal with that though; he could pay enough money to make all that disappear if he wanted it to. Her family was not so lucky; she had gone through her awkward phase during elementary school and had been all knobby knees and elbows with an asymmetric grin.

A boom of thunder shook her from her meandering thoughts and Haruhi whimpered as she spun around and hid her face in Hikaru's shoulder. "Make it stop." She begged as he held her as close as he could and ignored the nagging whining voice in the back of his head that berated him about how much time it would take to get mascara out of his suit. Old Hikaru would have shoved her away, pulled off the suit, and then held her close but this Hikaru only thought of her and didn't act on such impulses and whims if he could help it.

"I would if I could." He heard himself whisper; all the while knowing that she couldn't possibly hear him, "I would do anything to keep you safe. I promise." The seconds turned to minutes as the thunder rolled away and the storm dissipated off into the distance, but Haruhi couldn't hear it take its leave of absence and Hikaru forgot to tell her. Because of this, the pair remained in each other's arms during those wee hours of the morning. The figure tried hard to hide their gag but the coughing that ensued from this effort was what pulled the two apart. Hikaru's eyes rolled over the figure as the tawny gold eyes scanned the room, the coughing fit had sounded too close for his liking.

Narrowing his eyes and scrunching his eyebrows, Hikaru almost stood up but was prevented from doing so by Haruhi's light hand on his arm. "It was probably someone in the next room over." The young woman observed, as she pulled off the headphones and looked up at him with mascara trailing down her cheeks, her eyes red and puffy, and the tip of her nose was still red as a cherry from her runny nose. Even with that, Hikaru was infatuated with her, love did that to you. It was loving a person regardless of their appearance, because love was loving the interior not the exterior. And her interior was one of the most, if not the most, beautiful thing(s) he'd ever known.

Not that her exterior wasn't gorgeous, especially in that dress, but Hikaru tried his best to steer clear of such wandering tangents when she was in such pain. Forcing himself to ignore the nagging doubt that now permeated his thoughts as his brain refused to accept Haruhi's analysis of the noise; Hikaru instead turned to her and put on his business smile. "You're probably right." He allotted, "Since you're always right."

"Damn right I am." Haruhi fired back with a hardened look as she swiped a fisted hand under her eyes in an attempt to wipe away any remnants of tears and mascara; instead she merely smudged the black make-up deeper into her cheeks.

Chuckling with a knowing glint in his eyes, Hikaru tried desperately to bury his mischievous side as it was best not to piss off one's fiancé the night they agreed to marry you. "Clearly. On another note, since the storm is gone, do you want to enjoy a bit of champagne?"

Raising an eyebrow at him, Haruhi peered around him at the rather small bag that Hikaru had brought with him. "You put a bottle of bubbly in there?"

"No it's in the bag beside it," Hikaru fired back, feeling immensely proud of his planning skills until he glanced over at his stuff and realized that there was no bag. "Dammit!" Haruhi giggled as the young man leapt up and began tearing apart his stuff as he searched for the missing bag with the celebration bubbly. "Dammit!" He cursed again after he had pulled everything out of his bag and was now sitting in the wreckage of the contents of his formerly organized suitcase. "Guess I will go downstairs and buy a bottle then, a couple can't get engaged and not drink to it."

She looked over at him with a slight smile before she stood up and offered him a hand, "While you do that I suppose I can clean up." As she leaned back and put all her weight in her heels, Hikaru leaned forward and stood up with Haruhi's help. Grabbing a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt, and her hairbrush, Haruhi turned around with a slight smile as Hikaru shrugged off his jacket. "Did you remember your toothbrush?"

Hikaru turned to look at his fiancé with a look of surprise before turning to look at his belongings spaced out in a circle on the floor, "Dammit!"

Not a cliffhanger, and I promise to update sooner. Hope you like it, sorry it was quick and please read and review!