OH MY GOSH IT'S BEEN A MONTH SINCE THE LAST UPDATE WOW I'M SORRY! Here's the next chapter and it's actually pretty long so I hope that makes up for the fact that I've been gone for a month.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter! :)
I don't own Ouran.
The cafeteria was loud and busy, filled with students chattering away to their friends about life and school. Then there was Ayame. She had decided to not eat lunch at music room 3 that day. She wasn't sure why, but she kind of just wanted to be alone. She was standing quietly in line, looking through the options for lunch, and listening to music when she saw a flash of blue, black, and purple.
She looked over and groaned. It was Kyo. Of course of it was, she could never lose him.
"What do you want?" Ayame asked as she picked up her tray that was now filled with food. She paid and walked to a table quickly in hopes that he wouldn't be able to catch up and that she'd lose him before he could answer. She kind of already knew what he wanted. Either a tutoring session during lunch, or for her to spend time with him doing some pointless activity such having a burrito eating contest. She found a table that was hidden enough for her little plan to work but not too close to actual people.
It didn't work, of course. As soon as Ayame sat down, Kyo plopped down next to her and set his school notebook down on the table. So he wanted tutoring then.
"I was wondering if you were busy on Thursday. Dad wants to see you."
"Um… I'm not sure." Ayame said and bit into her apple. "I'll have to, uh, ask my mom."
"Okay, but Dad really wants you to have dinner at our house, so please try to be there."
Ayame nodded and continued eating. "What does he need?"
"I dunno, I think I heard him saying something about vacation in America."
"He wants to take me on vacation in America?" Ayame was surprised. Her dad had the opportunity to take her on vacation before but never did. So why did he suddenly decided to? Was it because of her sudden acceptance of Kyo and somewhat of Mizuki?
Kyo nodded. "Oh, another thing?"
"You want me to help you." Ayame nodded towards the notebook.
"Yes please…" Kyo replied. His sister rolled her eyes but scooted over anyway to help.
"Alright, what's wrong?"
Kyo opened his notebook and Ayame started to explain. But before she even got so much as a sentence out, her table was suddenly occupied by all the hosts. She blinked at Tamaki, "What."
"Sempai, we're going to be throwing a party for the girls after school today. We know it's short notice but our original DJ cancelled on us a few minutes ago." Hikaru said.
"And we need someone to take over. Do you think you could?" Kaoru finished.
"Me?"
They all nodded. Ayame looked at everyone, then took a second to think. "How much are you paying?"
"How much do you require?" Kyouya asked. Ayame smirked and took the black notebook from Kyouya's hands and scribbled down an amount. It wasn't too much, but it was enough that she would be able to buy a bunch of CDs and movies if she wanted to. Actually, it wasn't that much at all.
Kyouya looked at the price and nodded. "Of course, we will pay you immediately after the party has ended."
"Thank you." Ayame nodded. Kyo sighed and shut his notebook, lunch was going to end soon. He didn't have time for tutoring anymore so he'd just have to guess and hope on his test later that day. He got up, patted Ayame's head and left to go to his classroom.
"So what kind of music are you hoping for?" Ayame asked, picking at her pasta. She had a bunch of mixes already since making mixes has become a hobby of hers recently. She had some rock, punk rock, pop punk, dance, electronic, swing, name it. She was open to many different genres and loved making mixes because she could listen to her favorite songs without having to go looking for them on her iPod.
"Something fun." Hikaru said, "Something you can dance to?"
"And some slow songs for dancing with us." Kaoru added.
"Okay… So… Pop songs? And some ballads or something?" Ayame tried.
"That'd be good." The twins answered with a nod and thumbs up.
"Maybe you could get Kyo to perform a song or two." Ayame suggested as she looked through her iPod playlists. It was a good idea. The girls loved Kyo and would be delighted to hear him play live.
"That's a good idea! Hey-" Tamaki stopped when he realized Kyo wasn't at the table anymore. "Where'd he go?"
"To his classroom, I think?" Ayame shrugged, "I can go talk to him on my way to class if you want."
"Great! We're gonna go set up for later. Bye Ayame!" Tamaki said. Before he rushed off, he hugged Ayame and shook her side to side and cooing about how 'Daddy loves her'. Ayame pushed Tamaki off hard and got up to leave. She was going to go talk to Kyo now. She put her headphones on and ran through the halls to find Kyo's classroom.
She opened the door to his classroom and waved awkwardly when a bunch of people looked her way.
"Kyo?" She called, hoping to get his attention. It worked and Kyo jumped out of his chair and was on his way over to his sister.
"Hey sis." Kyo grinned, "Here to invite me to the party?"
"I don't need to invite you, you'd show up anyway. Even if we told you not to go, you'd still go." Ayame rolled her eyes.
"True." Kyo laughed.
"Actually, I'm here to ask you to play at the party. Just a song or two." Ayame said, "Can you?"
"Sure." Kyo nodded and smiled brightly. "Look at you, coming to me."
"Only because Tamaki wants you to play at the party. Don't get used to me seeking you out."
"Whatever." Kyo laughed and hugged Ayame.
"Why is everyone hugging me?" Ayame whined and slipped out of Kyo's grasp.
"Because you're cute."
"I am not cute. I am pure evil, do not touch me, fear me." Ayame glared at her brother. She was half joking of course. Half. Because she truly could be pure evil if need be.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Get to class."
"Fine." Ayame turned to leave, "Bye."
"Bye."
Ayame closed the door and walked to her own classroom before the bell rang.
After classes ended, Ayame was dragged to music room 3 by Tamaki with Kyouya following behind. Tamaki was going on and on about how he knew Ayame's music would make the party more fun than it would've been without her and how she should make sure to save a dance for him claiming that it was proper for a daughter to dance with their father.
"I thought that was for weddings and such though…"
They were approaching the music room. They still had an hour until the party would start so Ayame had time to make some mixes for the party and to set up. When they entered, they were greeted by a cake covered Honey face, two twins trying to figure out where to put the turntables, a busy looking Haruhi, and a silent as usual Mori. Mori stopped putting up the banners and streamers as soon as they entered though, and waved at Ayame slightly. She smiled and waved back before going a different part of the room to look through boxes of music to use at the party.
She found some really nice bands and singers to play rather quickly. She borrowed Kyouya's laptop to log into a site where she kept a lot of playlists and mash-ups she made. Making mash-ups and remixes was another hobby of hers. She'd been doing it since she stopped playing the guitar. Her love for music may have died down a bit in that time (or so she thought), but she could never really leave it. So she took to making remixes instead. She downloaded the best ones and went to the twins to help fix up where she'd be working.
"Okay, I'm downloading some songs and stuff for the party, is this almost done?"
The twins nodded and stepped out of the way for Ayame to do some testing and sound checks. She slipped on some headphones and plugged in a microphone. She never thought she'd be doing something like this. She always thought that after her dad left, she'd never be doing anything music related in front of people. She luckily still remembered how to set up properly from watching the staff set up her father's concerts.
"Kyouya, get me the laptop." Ayame said, while messing around with some of the wires because the twins plugged some in the wrong holes. Kyouya didn't, of course, he was too busy calculating costs and other business-related stuff to get up and carry his black laptop across the room for her. It was Mori who brought it over since he was done hanging things up that no one else was tall enough to do without a ladder.
"Thanks." Ayame said and looked up, "Can you placed it there?" She pointed to where she needed it and stood up from where she was currently kneeling. Mori nodded and did as he was asked. He smiled as he watched Ayame work on getting it all set. She looked so serious but also looked like she was having fun. It was a nice mix and Mori loved the look in Ayame's eyes.
"Hey," Ayame looked at Mori, a huge smile on her face, "Wanna hear one of the songs I'll be playing? I made the remix myself."
She plugged the laptop into a device which plugged into another one which plugged into the speakers. She played a remix of Blow and Disturbia. She grinned, her eyes sparkling with excitement as she waited for Mori's reaction. Mori's head bobbed to the beat and he seemed to enjoy it which made Ayame smile even more.
"Wow, with music like that playing, this party will be a real blast." Haruhi said as she approached Ayame and Mori, her hands filled with equipment that Ayame could use. Ayame thanked her for the equipment and took them from her then got to responding to the compliment.
"I hope so." Ayame nodded, "About the party being a blast. Why are you throwing one anyway?"
"I'm not sure. But I think it was to celebrate something."
"Oh, that's nice…" Ayame said with a slight nod. It was a nice thing. But Ayame wondered if this little club of theirs had enough to support multiple parties within a two month time. The last party had only been about two months ago, maybe three, Ayame wasn't sure. Also, winter was coming soon and she was pretty sure they liked to throw seasonal dances, right? She shrugged it off though. What they did with their money was their problem.
The door opened and Kyo walked in and called out, "Hey sis!"
Ayame looked over and nodded to let it be known that she knew he was there. Her brother walked over and looked at everything, making sure everything was put together and set properly. And unlike usual, Ayame let him. She knew he had more experience than she did and she did most of the sound set up herself. It would be smarter to let him make sure it's right instead of protesting and something going wrong halfway through the party. That'd be embarrassing.
"Looks good, sis." Kyo said finally, "Have you done this before?"
Ayame shook her head and started to put some disks on the table to test it out. She was actual a somewhat newbie at this and wanted to get a feel of everything before anything started.
"You'll do fine. Good luck." Kyo smiled. He grabbed a guitar from next to the piano where it was waiting for him. He tuned it and practiced a bit before setting it back and pestering the hosts about various things.
Before they knew it, it was time for the party to start. Ayame took a deep breath and started to play a song for the guests to walk in to. It was Classic by MKTO. Some of the girls were surprised to see that a party was being held, some were dancing the moment they entered, and some were admiring the whole thing.
They waited about ten minutes to let the girls enter before they truly started the party. They played a few light songs while they waited. Ayame watched everyone and a few girls waved at her. She nodded back and pretended to be busy so she wouldn't have to talk to them or acknowledge them any more than a nod. It'd be easy for all of them.
Once the ten minutes ended, the ends of Ayame's lips lifted a bit and she lifted the microphone up to her mouth.
"Alright! Let's get this party started!" She said energetically then cranked up the sound and played a fast, fun, dance song. The girls cheered and started to dance. The hosts made their ways around the room, dancing or chatting with the girls to make sure they had fun. Some girls made their way over to where Ayame was having fun playing with the music in various ways.
"Hi."
Ayame noticed their presence and smiled slightly, "Hi."
"Can we watch you?"
Ayame was puzzled, what? Why would they do that?
"Why? You have the boys to dance with." Ayame said awkwardly, hoping they'd go away.
"We're curious. We're interested in this sort of thing and were hoping to learn a bit."
Ayame was surprised at that response. She thought all the girls that went to this club were airheaded rich girls who didn't care about much. She had no idea some were capable of being curious and wanting to learn. And she had no idea there were girls that had a common interest with her. Ayame didn't know how to reject them, so she just nodded. She continued working and let the girls watch her. If one of them asked a question, she'd try to answer as best as she could. She didn't know much about herself so it was actually a bit challenging. She liked it a bit actually.
She laughed as one of the girls cracked a joke and that caught the attention of some. Everyone thought Ayame wasn't silly. Everyone thought Ayame didn't know how to laugh. Because she rarely did other than her sarcastic laugh. But this was pure joy that came from her music and the girls that she was talking to. She was talking to people. That was another big surprise. Miss anti-social was being somewhat social.
Her brother suddenly hopped up and whispered something in Ayame's ear. She nodded and grabbed the microphone. She told the girls she was chatting with that Kyo was going to perform soon and that she had to help Kyo set up. They nodded and left the siblings to get ready.
"Friends of yours?" Kyo asked as he plugged the amplifier into the wall.
"Not really." Ayame replied and unpacked a microphone stand. "What are you going to play?"
"Three songs, one of them, you'll be singing with me." Kyo grinned happily, "Blue, Always, and Midnight. You'll be singing Always with me."
Ayame was about to protest but the song ended. There was nothing else queued to play so it was followed by a short silence before Kyo said, "Hey! This party is awesome right?"
Some girls cheered and squealed. "I'll be playing a few songs for you girls now."
Ayame did one last check to make sure everything was fine and that Kyo's performance would go smoothly. When she was sure, she decided that this would be a good time to take a break. She had about five minutes before she would be dragged up to the stage and forced to sing a duet with her brother. She placed her headphones down and made her way to the snack table. She was hungry since she hadn't actually eaten that much of her lunch due to the fact that both her brother and the hosts decided to bother her.
The food on the table looked really nice. There were various types of cakes, cookies, and other baked goods. There were also sandwiches for the girls who wanted to eat something other than junk food. Ayame took a plate and quickly grabbed a sandwich and a slice of cake. She had to eat quick. Once she was done performing with Kyo, she'd have to go back to her music. She shoved half the sandwich in her mouth. It was delicious and it was so good it sent a shiver down her spine.
"Hi Aya-chan!" Honey greeted as he took a seat next to Ayame. He had about five plates of cake. Ayame nodded at him as her mouth was full and it would be rude of her to speak. "You sure are hungry, huh?"
Ayame nodded again. Her cheeks were like a squirrel's and it was actually starting to hurt. She chewed and swallowed before speaking. "Yeah, I didn't get to eat any snacks so far since I've been playing the music."
She shoved the remaining half in her mouth. Mori, as usual, had followed Honey over to the table Ayame was currently sat at. He had a sandwich on a plate and sat across from Ayame. Ayame smiled at him before starting on the cake. She looked up at Kyo to check how long she had until she had to sing. He was just starting the second song so she had about three minutes. She quickly ate and excused herself so she could drink some water to rinse the cake down. She did have to sing soon after all.
She did a quick warm up that ended right as Kyo sang the last word.
"Okay! This is the last song I'll be playing, and it's special!" Kyo grinned, "This one I'll be singing with my sister, Ayame!"
Everyone turned to Ayame and she, although she expected it, blushed. She made her way up to the front where Kyo was seated. There was a chair next to him for her.
Ayame looked around the room, all eyes were on them. She suddenly felt nervous. She was about to sing in front of a bunch of people she barely knew. Singing in front of the hosts and Kyo only was fine. And playing the music for everyone was just fine too since it was other people they were listening to. But now they were all going to be hearing her. She could mess up and everyone would laugh her. She waited a couple seconds before Kyo started strumming his guitar.
"This is Always." Kyo announced. Ayame took a shaky breath and waited for the right time to start singing. She looked at Mori. Maybe if she could focus on someone she knew, someone who could calm her down, she'd do okay. Mori smiled at her and nodded encouragingly. She looked at Kyo for a quick second before looking back at Mori. It was time for her to sing now.
She was right when she thought that looking at Mori would help. By the time she and Kyo were singing the chorus together, her fears had disappeared a little and she was comfortable. She smiled a bit as she sang the lyrics that told a sweet love story about always loving someone.
It was Kyo's turn to sing his solo and Ayame realized how weird it was that she looking at Mori the whole time she'd been singing. It was like she was singing the song to him. That's weird since she doesn't like him like that.
She decided that she was calm enough to sing it without looking at him, so she let herself look around at the smiling faces watching them. Their smiles brought a small smile to her own face and she knew she was happy up here. The fear was replaced with pleasure. She liked singing. She liked making others happy with her voice and talent.
The song ended after another two minutes and Ayame hopped off the chair and bounced over to the turn tables again to begin playing music. As she was trying to pick a song to play, a few girls approached her.
"Ayame!"
Ayame jumped in surprise and looked up. She nodded at them before going back to the laptop.
"Good job up there." One of them said after a small silence. Ayame looked back up and smiled a thank you.
"You're really talented. Do you think you'll be a singer like your dad and Kyo?"
"Not sure. Probably not." Ayame laughed slightly, finally choosing a song and letting it play. She stepped out from behind her turn tables and leaned against a wall.
"You should, you'd be really good."
"Maybe."
She told them to go try the cake and went back to work at the music.
After the party, Ayame helped clean up. There was a lot of leftover food and she packed it up for Haruhi to take home.
"Thanks Sempai."
Ayame nodded. She liked Haruhi, she was the calmest host other than Mori and it was nice to be around her. She wasn't crazy and she was kind enough and she didn't annoy Ayame. So Ayame liked her.
Mori and Ayame waited for Kyo to leave before leaving themselves since Ayame didn't want Kyo to know she was staying with Mori. Because then her dad would find out and then it'd just be a mess and Ayame knew that.
Ayame sat in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn in her lap. She had gotten bored and found a shelf of DVDs. It was filled with Kung-fu and Karate movies and some superhero movies. She had chosen a superhero movie. Iron Man actually. She absolutely loved Iron Man. It was one of her favorite movies.
The world around her was darkening as the sun went down but she didn't notice. Her focus was completely on the TV and her movie. She was so focused that she didn't notice Mori come in. He was quiet like usual and the only thing that it obvious he was there was the creak of the couch and the shift as he sat down. Ayame took a quick look at him before going back to her movie.
"Hey." She greeted quietly, shoveling some popcorn in her mouth then offering Mori the bowl. He took some and smiled at her.
"Gonna watch with me?"
Mori nodded. Ayame grinned then scooted closer to Mori so they could share the popcorn easier. Their shoulders were touching but neither moved away. The movie was at the part where Tony Stark had landed after being found and was being greeted Pepper Potts.
"They're in love." Ayame said matter-of-factly. Mori nodded in agreement. They both reached for some popcorn and their hands touched. They paused. They looked at their hands then at each other. If it were a movie, they would've gotten awkward and flushed and realized they liked each other. But instead, they just resumed grabbing at the popcorn. Ayame playfully knocked the popcorn out of Mori's hand and stole it for herself. She gave a cheesy grin before stuffing her mouth with it. Mori retaliated by stealing Ayame's next handful of popcorn. Ayame pouted and reached in the bowl to throw a piece at Mori's head. Mori mirrored her action and threw a handful at her. Popcorn stuck in her hair and she smirked before reaching in and fighting back.
Then a popcorn fight broke out. The movie had been forgotten in favor of their popcorn battle. The snack was flying, ending up on the floor, on the couch, in their hair, everywhere but where it belongs. Everywhere but in their mouths.
They quickly ran out of ammo and the fight had come to end. It was a draw and the two opponents were left laughing and picking popcorn off of themselves. Ayame took a piece that got caught in the crease of Mori's shirt and popped it in her mouth.
"It's a tie." She announced. Mori agreed.
They turned their focus back on the TV. They sat in comfortable silence and watched as Iron Man did Iron Man things like saving people and Tony doing Tony things like being a genius playboy billionaire philanthropist.
Ayame yawned and let her head rest on Mori's shoulder. It was just friendly, nothing more. Mori let her and glanced at her every so often. Near the end, Ayame's head had fallen from his shoulder to his lap. She had fallen asleep. Mori let the movie finish as he stroked Ayame's hair gently. He carefully removed Ayame's head from his lap and turned off the TV. He'd come down later to clean up or let his maids do it. He picked Ayame up as gently as he could and carried her up to her room. She snuggled in closer to Mori's chest and her eyes opened a bit.
"Huh?" She sleepily looked up at Mori and around to realize that she was being carried to her room. She let herself be carried and placed into her bed.
"Thanks, sempai…" She said quietly. Mori smiled warmly and nodded. "Goodnight…"
"…Goodnight…" Mori said before leaving the room to go clean up the TV room.
ta-da! How was it? :)
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