A/N: Hello, you cute little beans. I hope today finds you in high spirits and with the best of intentions. Kind of like these two crazy kids I know and love dearly. Well, why don't you get in touch with them and I'm going to be…I don't know. Over here.
I didn't realize it at the time, but I think I might have gone back to sleep. The last time I remember looking at a clock, it was around six. Now, here I am, waking up at nine…When I looked around the room, I was the only one here. That's weird. Last time I checked, I had a pain in the ass roommate. Luka was nowhere to be found. I mean…Not that I'm complaining. I'd rather be in a room by myself if I couldn't have a room with Ritsu.
Knock, knock.
There's what I'm looking for. Speak of the devil. I rolled out of bed and gladly bounced to the front door, "Hey, ba…You're not Ritsu."
"Good morning, Rei!" Tamaki chimed on the other side. Son of a bitch. Yeah. You're definitely not Ritsu, "Were you going to call me baby?"
"No," I grumbled, "The fuck did you want, Tamaki?"
"Nothing," he backed off, "Just thought I'd check in."
He wanted something. I could smell it, "I'm sure. How I'm doing depends on what words come out of your mouth. So, what do you want, Tamaki?"
"I thought I'd deliver some news personally," Tamaki was one of those people that no one wants to deal with right away in the morning. Especially when he's probably been up for the last two hours. I can't deal with him when I don't have caffeine in my system.
"Did you get Haruhi pregnant?" I figured.
"No," he shook his head, "I just thought I'd tell you the host club is doing another pop-up café!"
"Again?" I groaned. I should've known this was coming, "Alright. Give me twenty minutes to pull myself together. I'll be down in a minute."
"See," Tamaki stopped me, "That's where the news comes in. You can sit this one out."
"Seriously?" I perked up. Yet, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, "Hold on. What's the catch?"
"No catch," he assured me, "I talked to Luka this morning…Are you doing ok, Rei?"
"I'm fine," I lied through my teeth, "Why?"
"When I was talking to Luka this morning," Tamaki went on, "She said you were crying in your sleep last night. Are you sure you're doing ok?"
Dammit, Luka. Of all people for you to bare my soul to, Tamaki Suoh is not the one that needs to hear about any of my personal problems. And that includes when I get weepy when I'm sleeping. Besides, it's not like I can tell him that I'm being overworked and overappreciated. That would lead to him asking way too many questions. Tamaki wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut about me working at the Viper Pit and my ass would end up out of the country. I'm not dealing with that. That's putting me too far away from the things that matter on this end of the world. There's no fucking way I'm letting that happen. She and I will have words later.
"I'm fine, Tamaki," I swore, "Really."
"She's fine, Suoh," a rumbly voice made Tamaki's blood go cold. However, it's the strangest thing. That same voice had the exact opposite effect on me, "Leave her alone."
"She's even more fine now," I melted inside, nudging the stone statue that used to be Tamaki out of the way, getting a little closer to my man, "Morning, baby."
"Good morning," Ritsu didn't show his softness to many and certainly not in mixed company (and by mixed company, any member of the host club that bordered on psychotic was on that list), but this morning told a different tale. Not that I'm complaining, "Go get ready, ok? We got plans today. And nowhere in those plans…"
"Ritsu," I settled him before he could get all worked up, "It's cool. Tamaki came by to tell me I don't have to work the pop-up. We're clear for the day."
"Oh," he let it go, putting a hand to Tamaki's shoulder. I think he might have made him worse, but oh, well, "Thanks, Suoh. Now, get the fuck out of here before I throw you to Rei."
"Yes, sir!" And just like that, Tamaki took off like a bat out of hell. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my boyfriend? Because fuck, I love him.
"Call your mom," I pulled him into my new room, "See if you can stay over tonight."
"I have no doubt Mom would be ok with me staying over," Ritsu held me tight, "I missed you last night, Reila…"
"I missed you more," I admitted, "Apparently, I got teary eyed in my sleep last night and it freaked out my roommate."
"It sucks you still have to bunk with Luka," he pouted, "But imagine what it's going to be like Sunday night."
"All bets are off, sweetheart," I promised, "What are you thinking? Hakone? Karuizawa?"
"I'm thinking Karuizawa," Ritsu decided, "Quiet, secluded, far enough away from the family bullshit."
"You do know," I reminded him, "I have to be back in town by seven, right?"
"You have to work Monday night?"
"Unfortunately." I say unfortunate. I actually like my job. I like what I do. I don't like the reasons why I have to do it, but the general work of it? I'm down for it.
"Well," Ritsu nudged me along, "Go on. Go get ready. We're not totally on a time crunch, but we do have a little bit of a time crunch."
"Ok," I got up from Ritsu's lap and out of nowhere, a horrible, evil, wonderful idea popped into my head, "Hey, Ritsu…?"
"Yes, Reila?"
"You know what sounds like fun?" I smirked, "Because she's not here to tell us no and she's not here to stop us?"
"We're not having sex on Luka's bed," Ritsu shot me down, "Again, loose time crunch."
"You're no fun," I scrunched my face up at him, "But you're cute, so I'll let it slide."
"Love you, too, Rei."
I dug around in my bag and grabbed something cute. Damn, Ritsu. You really did come through for me on this. Everything could go with each other. He didn't grab one single outfit. And he gave me options! Goddamn, I might marry this boy one day. Shower. I definitely needed a shower. After last night, I still could use the shower. It wasn't the naughtiness that went down in Ritsu's room last night that had me all dirty. It was the thought of having Luka in the bed next to me that made me feel icky. But I digress.
A shower and a short skirt later, I threw my boots on and did a quick spin for Ritsu, "Well? This is the part where you tell me I'm cute, Ritsu."
"You are cute," I missed the good old days when Ritsu couldn't look at me without his nose bursting like a volcano, "I don't ever have to doubt that."
"Aww…" I gushed, "Ritsu, you think I'm cute."
"You think I'm with you for your mind?" he pulled me into his lap, "Of course not. It's that cute little face and that thick, Spanish ass of yours."
"That's so weird," I kissed his cheek, completely knowing better, "I'm with you for the same reason. Right down to that thick Spanish ass."
"I don't have a…" Ritsu let me have that one, "Are you ready yet?"
"Yeah," I looked myself over one last time, "I should be good. Yeah? You think?"
"I think so," Ritsu got me off his lap, "Let's get going, yeah?"
"Ok." In my own, special way, I looked damn good. And to tie everything together, I stole Ritsu's hoody. It's too warm and too cozy and I freeze easily. One stiff breeze this morning and I'd be fucked. And not last night's kind of fucked either. Regardless, I had no idea what Ritsu had planned for us today, but I trusted him. When we got downstairs, Ritsu and I started walking through the lobby. Only to find the long ass line that stretched down the hall.
"What the fuck…?" he wondered, just as confused as I was. But still, I had a gut feeling I knew exactly what this was for. As we got closer and closer to the front of the line, we found the beginning of it. I didn't think the host club pop-up was going to get this much traffic. Holy shit, Kyoya. You are a one man advertising powerhouse and I hope you're proud of yourself. Ritsu rolled his eyes, "Should've known."
"I'm so glad Tamaki let me out of this one," I let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"Dare we?" Ritsu suggested.
"Hard pass," I shot him down, "Fuck that."
"Are you sure?" he jabbed, "Who knows? Maybe it could be a weird catharsis for you."
"Fuck. That." Why the hell would I want to deal with the host club on my one day off? I got better shit to do. I don't know what that is quite yet, but it sure as hell beats doing this.
"Think about it, Rei," Ritsu only made it worse, "If you were to get a seat at the host club's pop-up, imagine in the kind of verbal abuse they'd be forced to take for the sake of keeping one of their beloved princesses happy."
"I do like inflicting verbal abuse on the host club," I admitted, "But I'm going to have to pass. This long ass line isn't worth it."
"Alright," he threw an arm around my shoulders, keeping me safe from the pains in my ass that would likely give me some sort of puppy eyes to come work the pop-up. Nope. Fuck that, "I understand. You're finally getting a day off from the host club. And on the overnight trip. You deserve it."
"Thanks, baby," I laid my head in his shoulder, "So…? What's my surprise?"
"You'll see," Ritsu promised, "A little patience, Reila. That's all I ask. That's the thing about your surprise. You have no idea how under the radar this had to be in order for it to go off without a hitch."
"Really?" I wondered, "What? Did you have to kill a man in order for it to work?"
"Not quite kill a man," he thought it over, "But…Well, you'll see. The first part…The first part is…Let's just say it's within the family's network."
"What is it?" It's a good thing I grew up the way I did or Ritsu speaking in code would be like him speaking in tongues. So, it's got Kasanoda syndicate ties. Neat.
"You'll see," Ritsu flagged down a car for us and the two of us took off somewhere a little off the main strip of Osaka. We pulled up to this dark oak building that looked weirdly like a log cabin. I kind of like it. Ritsu got out and offered me his hand, "Come on."
"Ritsu," I asked him, "Where the hell are we?"
"When the girls get their time off at the club," he explained, "This is where we send them for some R&R. From what I understand, you've been working your ass off lately, so…I thought this might be a good idea. This is somewhere you don't have to worry about covering your tattoos in order to get in. And you were complaining when we were in New York how you don't have a place for you to get a good massage in Japan, so…"
"Ritsu…" I knew exactly what this was now. And my heart turned into a puddle, "This is so sweet…Thank you."
"You're welcome," Ritsu kissed the top of my head, "And if anyone asks, I'm your security for the weekend. If my dad asks come Monday, I recommended this place to you."
"Ok," I knew better than to rat Ritsu out to Ryoichi. Daddy didn't raise a snitch. When the two of us walked in together, the lady behind the counter immediately straightened up. It's weird. Shiro did the same thing when Ryoichi came back to the club the night I met him.
"Mr. Kasanoda…" she gasped, shooting occasional glances at me, "Hello, sir."
"Hello," Ritsu was cordial, but she knew he wasn't there to make friends, "We're not early, are we?"
"No, sir," she checked her computer, "I have you down for a couples session this morning."
"Wait, wait, wait," he stopped her, "A what?"
"You did say a couples session, sir," she turned her screen around, showing Ritsu his receipt.
"Shit…" Ritsu grumbled to himself, "That's fine. I guess. Are we going to be separated? I'm supposed to be her security while she's here."
"I'm sorry, sir," she winced, "It's policy."
"That's fine, too," he dropped it, shooting a concerned look to me, "Right?"
"Yeah," I let it go, "That's fine."
"Ok," Ritsu pulled me a little closer, whispering in my ear, "If anything goes sideways, I promise I won't be far. And remember…"
"Security," I nodded, "I'll be fine, Ritsu. Don't worry about me."
"It's not you I'm worried about," he shot a look up at the man taking me away from him. Honestly, he's…kind of cute. Don't get me wrong. I'd never dream of cheating on Ritsu, but this guy could give him a run for his money. He'd have to be better than Ritsu was last night and something tells me last night was the peak.
"If something goes sideways," I swore, "Her Majesty will gladly come out and take care of things."
"Ok." And just like that, Ritsu and I were separated. Wow. For this being booked as a couples thing, I'm surprised we're not at least in the same room. We'll chalk that up to things Rei's American brain will never understand.
For now, I had something wonderful waiting for me. A good looking man brought me somewhere to change and then, to a room that reminded me a lot of where I go when I'm back home. I missed Rosco. It wasn't the same without him. Few people knew how my body worked like Rosco did. Hopefully, whoever I'll have here is a quick learner. I've had little aches and pains all over the place for the last week from work and they're absolute hell.
"Excuse me," a soft-spoken woman came into the room, "Are you Reina?"
"What…?" I looked at her strange. Shit…How quickly I forget who runs this place. Smart thinking, Ritsu. Very smart thinking. I quickly snapped back into my head, "Yeah. That's me."
"If you could drop the top of your robe please," she requested. Once I laid down on the table and my face was in the cradle, I shut my eyes. And holy fuck. I love Rosco dearly. Really, I do. But holy love of Christ, this woman may be a tad better than him.
"Oh my god," I swooned, "A little lower please."
"Of course," she moved lower, right about to the middle of my back. Oh, this was nice. This was very nice, "Your tattoos are very pretty."
"Thank you," I smiled a bit.
"You know," she traced her fingers over them, "I think Young Master Ritsu's tattoo isn't much different. Except the colors."
"Great minds, I guess," I brushed her off. She was no Rosco and I fucking loathed small talk. Although, I'll gladly take the compliment.
"NO!"
Oh, shit…Not again. Come on, Ritsu. You couldn't last a little longer? You couldn't have pretended to enjoy yourself or put yourself in a happy place for my sake? I sat up on the table and pulled my robe back on, "I'm sorry. We're going to have to cut this short."
"You're booked for the whole hour…" she checked her watch, "You've only been here twenty minutes."
"I know," I nodded, "But I have a feeling I have a mess to clean up."
I wouldn't say it was much of a mess, but it did have Ritsu backed up into a corner. My poor, spooked baby. And the poor girl that had to deal with this, "Mr. Kasanoda, please come down."
"No," Ritsu stayed put, "We're done here."
"What the hell happened here?" I wondered, still incredibly lost.
"The shit I do for you, Rei," Ritsu still wasn't moving, "I tried it. I really did. Still not a fan."
"Let me guess," I had seen something similar once before. We were in Spain and curled up in bed. And I made the mistake of being a little shit that morning, "Someone started getting uncomfortably close to his feet, didn't they?"
"That's what we're hired for," the woman pointed out, "That's typically how a pedicure works. Yes."
"Ok," I started to understand, "Here's the thing, honey. Ritsu's extremely ticklish and more than anywhere else on his body, his feet are the most sensitive. That's one of those things that'll piss him off to no end, so getting near them is a good way to get kicked in the jaw. Trust me. Unless you want to come out of this with a few missing teeth, it'd be better to leave them alone."
"No," Ritsu got down from the corner he had successfully wedged himself into (Honestly, I'm impressed. I didn't think he had that kind of dexterity in him.), "We're done here."
"Silver star, Ritsu," I took his hand, "Silver star."
Once we got redressed, Ritsu and I met back up outside. He still looked like the internal feelings of a cat coming out of the bathtub, but he'll be alright. Jesus Christ, it was like New York all over again. At least this time, he didn't leave collateral damage and I didn't have to threaten a bitch for having her hands on my man. If anything, someone else had their hands on me. And in all honesty, the twenty minutes of massage was nice. He tried, though. That's all I can ask.
"I don't see how you do it, Rei," Ritsu threw his arm around me, "I don't get it. I don't think I ever will. I still stand by what I said."
"I know," I laid my head in his shoulder, "I understand. I mean, that was what I did with Mama at least a couple times a month. And with Daddy for a while until he figured I could handle it on my own."
"Really?" he looked at me strange, "Your dad went through that shit, too?"
"Believe it or not," I nodded, "Apparently, he made the mistake of going with Mama once and got hooked on it for a while. I think the story goes that Mama was supposed to go with Veronica, but Veronica had to cancel and her appointment had already been paid for, so Daddy went with her instead."
"Your dad is an enigma," Ritsu sighed out, "Just when I think I kind of got him figured out…"
"Yeah," I giggled, "Daddy's good for shit like that. A trait he gladly passed down to his pain in the ass daughter."
"That's for damn sure," he pulled me closer, "Let's go get lunch, yeah?"
"Ok," I wasn't going to say no. I'm fucking starving. I haven't eaten today, "But promise me you won't freak like you did there."
"No," Ritsu shook his head, "Trust me. Lunch will be better. Lunch will be much better."
"I don't know," I smiled a bit, "That massage was pretty great, Ritsu. It'll be hard to top."
"Just…Trust me."
"Ok."
I trusted Ritsu with my life anyway. It's not like he'd ever do anything to put my life in danger. I do that myself. Dark humor aside, Ritsu and I took a cab to this really beautiful restaurant tucked away by the hot springs. Those are definitely getting hit up later. Ritsu may not be ok with what I do, but I know he's cool with a hot spring. It wouldn't be the first time we've done one of them together. But I didn't care about that right now. My tummy had a bad case of the rumblies and I needed to eat something before I end up throwing up.
"Hey, Rei," Ritsu sat me down across from him, "I hope it's ok with you, but we're supposed to be meeting someone here."
"We are?" I went into instant panic mode, "Who?"
"Do you trust me?" he held my hands.
"Of course," I assured him, "But I don't get it."
"What don't you get?"
"Who the hell would we be meeting?" I wondered. But then, I felt a strange lightness in my heart, "Are we meeting your mom? Because I'm kind of hoping we're meeting your mom. I haven't seen Kiyomi since Monday."
"Monday?" Ritsu thought for a moment or two, "You went to check on my mom while I was gone?"
"Yeah," I brushed him off, "But more importantly, are we meeting Kiyomi?"
"I can't say it's Mom," Ritsu glanced over my shoulder, a little smile gracing his face.
"REI-CHAN!"
