Disclaimer: I do not own The Quintessential Quintuplets, they are owned by Negi Haruba, please support the official manga and the anime

Chapter 3: Waiting For the Plane

Itsuki was the first to make it through the security checkpoint followed by Nino, who went on ahead since she only had a shoulder bag with her at the moment. Miku and Yotsuba lagged behind a little, engrossed in their conversation, which left Ichika and Fuutarou as the next ones in line respectively.

The man in charge of checking the tickets and the passports immediately recognized Ichika even before she gave him her papers, however he waited to confirm her identity. Once he had them, he couldn't help but speak up.

"Well lucky me this morning, I'm a big fan of yours Ichika Nakano, it's a pleasure to meet you," the man said politely as he handed the papers back to the actress. While most men in his demographic, being of early to mid 30s, were fans of Ichika simply because she was beautiful, this man really admired her acting skills. He became a big fan after watching her first critically acclaimed performance, a movie where she played an older sister who was forced to become her younger brother's guardian after their parents went missing. With all that being said though, he did also have to admit she was really cute.

"Thank you sir, always happy to meet a fan. Just going on a little family trip," returned Ichika with a smile she had learned to give thousands of times ever since she became well-known.

"I thought the two women ahead of you looked familiar, they must be your sisters," continued the man before he focused his gaze towards Fuutarou, who was standing behind her getting his papers ready. "I assume this is your boyfriend then, yes?"

Fuutarou's eyes started to bulge out of his skull as he immediately gave Ichika a look that basically meant "don't you dare."

"Oh Fuutarou-kun? Nah he's just my manager," Ichika answered the man. While not the exact answer Fuutarou was looking for her to give, he'd take it. Sensing he now had a false sense of security, Ichika continued.

"He's just super protective and wanted to make sure no one bothered me on this family trip." She then leaned in but kept her volume the same so Fuutarou could still hear. "Honestly I find his overprotectiveness kind of charming and I wouldn't really mind making him my boyfriend, but he has such a strong sense of duty he won't let himself be true about his feelings. Oh well, maybe someday he'll come around."

She then looked over her shoulder in time to see her brother-in-law nearly pop a blood vessel at the blindside attack. She gave a small teasing grin towards him and moved forward. Fuutarou could only stare at the ground as he went up to the man, knowing what awaited him if he looked up was the envious glare of a man who couldn't fathom how this "manager" could be so dense. As Fuutarou finished up and continued through the checkpoint, he felt a tap on his shoulder and a cupped whisper in his ear.

"That's payback for this morning," said Ichika with a devilish grin before walking ahead to join up with Itsuki and Nino. While Fuutarou had to admit to himself that Ichika was indeed still the "Teasemaster", he couldn't help but feel like there was a kernel of truth regarding her feelings buried in that lie.

As Miku and Yotsuba finished going through security, the six went towards their terminal and found a place to sit down. As soon as they were situated, Itsuki left to repay her favor to Ichika.

The sisters started talking about what they wanted to do while in Hawaii, which reminded Fuutarou about his itinerary he had planned for himself and his wife. Unwilling to let all that work go to waste, he decided he would spend his time adjusting the schedule as much as possible to include the other quintuplets, which required him to simultaneously eavesdrop on their conversation while reworking the schedule.

"I'm so excited to hit the beaches!" exclaimed Nino, "Unless like it rains, I plan on going every day, even if just to sunbathe for a couple hours."

"Yeah, the opposite for me," said Miku, "I'm sure I'll spend some time at the beach but I plan on staying in the shade or in air-conditioning as much as possible."

"Oh come on Miku, you gotta make the most of the opportunity," replied Yotsuba. "I'm sure we'll find some outdoor activities that won't have the sun beating down on us too badly."

"Don't worry Miku, I'll let you borrow my big straw sun hat," added Ichika as she quickly pulled it out of her suitcase briefly to show her. It was the same one she wore the day she flew in for the Uesugi wedding.

"Thanks girls," smiled Miku, "though I still don't see myself spending too much time at the beach."

"And what's wrong with the beach?" Nino asked Miku.

"I'm not the biggest fan of sand or saltwater, I personally prefer pools."

"Okay, and so what?" Nino retorted with an incredulous look on her face. "Who in their right mind goes to Hawaii and then spends more time at a pool than at the beach?"

"You'd be surprised," Ichika chuckled nervously while scratching the back of her head as she recalled herself spending more time at the pool than the beach during her one previous trip to Hawaii for a commerical filming. Though to be fair, the pool was easier to access than the beach from their shooting location.

"I'm sure the hotel we are staying at has a big wonderful pool, so we can visit both," Yotsuba reassured the third sister.

"By the way Yotsuba, where exactly are we staying?" asked Nino.

"I don't quite remember the name but I know it wasn't a hotel chain, it was something local. Hey Honey, what's the name of the hotel?"

"Paradise Vista," replied Fuutarou without looking up from what he was doing. That is, until something clicked in his head.

"Wait a minute, why does no one here know the hotel we're staying at?" he asked as he finally raised his head to look at the sisters.

There was a long silence that basically confirmed what the young man had feared.

"You guys really are still a bunch of idiots," Fuutarou started complaining as he went to get out his phone. "Did you expect I'd pay for all of your rooms as well? I had to save up a lot just to afford our own room."

"I'm sorry, I meant to ask you for the hotel name yesterday, but I forgot," apologized Yotsuba as she put her hands together and bowed from her seat towards her husband.

"It's fine, we'll figure something out," reassured Fuutarou as he placed his free hand on her head to pat it while his other hand started dialing the hotel. "You guys will just get whatever is available that I can afford, even if it's at a different hotel, and also you'll need to compensate me later for the rooms."

After he said that, both Miku and Nino started to blush, with Miku staring at the ground as if she was studying it while Nino started leaning towards the man with a giddy smile on her face.

"A-and h-how would you like us to compensate you Fuu-kun?"

"With money," deadpanned Fuutarou as he gave Nino an unamused look before whipping his head around back to his phone when he heard the receptionist on the line.

"Yes hello, I wanted to check to see what are the cheapest available rooms yo-…" Fuutarou started to ask the woman on the phone before said phone was swiftly taken from his hand by Ichika. She walked away with it and proceeded to use her connections to get them two additional rooms on the same floor as the Uesugis at the Paradise Vista.

As she finished up, she handed the phone back to Fuutarou, who was still frozen in place from the moment she took away his phone.

"There we go, everything's settled!" Ichika cheerfully declared.

"Oh wow, thank you so much Ichika, but you didn't need to get rooms that expensive, it will be a while before we can repay you," Miku graciously thanked her older sister. Ichika then waved her off with a smile still plastered on her face.

"Don't worry, unlike Mr. Grumpy here, you don't need to pay me back," Ichika responded while giving Fuutarou a teasing glance. "I got a pretty substantial performance bonus for my last role, so I'm more than capable of affording it, plus I was able to get a small discount by mentioning the name of my last director. He annually vacations in Hawaii so I gave it a shot and it turns out this place is one he frequents."

After the other sisters gave their thanks, Yotsuba elbowed her husband to indicate he should thank Ichika too. Though he felt like he had no reason to thank her, he did anyway.

"Thank you Ichika...for being the only other responsible adult here."

Ichika gave an amused smile while Miku and Nino, having seen what Yotsuba did, looked at each other before both proceeded to mimic a whip snapping motion with their hands, paired with sound effects, towards their brother-in-law, who did his best to ignore them as he went back to his schedule planning.

A few minutes later, Itsuki finally returned, and with her a six drink cup holder of frappuccinos. Fuutarou immediately noticed this upon her arrival.

"Ladies, I think it's about time we finally had an intervention for Itsuki," declared the man as he stood up and motioned towards the youngest sister.

"For your information jerkface, I decided to buy one for everyone here, including you," Itsuki spat back at Fuutarou with an annoyed glare. "However, now I don't think you deserve to have one anymore."

Having too much fun with the situation, he dramatically grabbed his chest and fell right back into his seat as mustered up the most sarcastic tone he could deliver.

"Oh no, whatever ever shall I do?! If only it was possible for me to go over to that coffee shop and buy my own!"

This earned a fit of laughter from the other sisters, with Ichika even giving some mock applause for his over-acting. Itsuki, while embarrassed by the situation, had to admit it was pretty funny so she handed the frappuccino to the man with a pout before handing the rest to her sisters. When she finished, she sat down in the open seat across from Fuutarou, who had gone back to planning. It was barely audible, but Itsuki heard the man mutter a "thank you" just as she took her seat, causing the youngest quintuplet's expression to turn into a small smile.

The sisters continued talking about their plans as the minutes ticked down to their boarding. While revisiting the beach vs pool debate, Itsuki realized something about her luggage.

"Oh shoot, I was in such a hurry this morning I forgot to pack those swimsuits I had just bought for the trip," she said after opening her suitcase and rummaging through it like a dog digging a hole in their yard. Yotsuba immediately showed concern, but Nino just sat there with a smug look on her face, waiting for Itsuki to finish her digging before giving her some reassuring news.

"It's okay Itsuki, I'm sure there will be plenty of places to buy swimsuits when we get there. In fact, I only brought two with me since I felt like most of mine didn't really fit with the tropical theme. So we can go shopping together."

Itsuki was still a little perturbed that she had wasted quite a bit of money and would have to spend even more due to her carelessness, but felt comfort in knowing she wouldn't be the only one shopping for swimwear when they arrived at their destination. Meanwhile, Fuutarou could only think back to the two suitcases Nino had brought and wondered how it was possible she needed both if she only had a few swimsuits, but he didn't feel the need to confront her on the issue.

"Now that I remember, I think I only brought one beach towel. Hey Nino, you have some extra ones since you plan on spending a lot of time there right?" asked Ichika as she started checking her suitcase in response to Itsuki looking through her own.

"Miku has a couple but I didn't bother, we'll buy some when we get there," Nino nonchalantly replied. "Didn't want to ruin or lose any of the ones I had."

Now Fuutarou couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Then why in the hell did you need to bring two suitcases?" His voice came out much louder than he expected causing a small scene around them. Nino was turning red from embarrassment but that feeling turned to anger as soon as the on-lookers started returning to their own business.

"Listen here genius, I actually did that as a favor for everyone here," Nino returned with a hushed yell. "I figured that since this was going to be a memorable trip, that everyone would want to buy some souvenirs. However, people usually don't allow themselves to buy as many as they actually want because they don't have enough room. Therefore I brought a second suitcase so no one would have to worry about that."

Fuutarou just sat there in silence for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what he was just told. He admitted he felt like a jackass in the moment, but he wasn't willing to take the full loss just yet.

"So you brought and checked in an empty suitcase? You know you could have just bought another suitcase in Hawaii."

While Nino admittedly didn't think of that possibility, it still didn't change the fact that she felt Fuutarou was completely dismissing her good deed.

"Okay first of all, no I didn't bring an empty suitcase, I split my belongings half and half between the two. Second, yes I could have bought a suitcase in Hawaii but I didn't want to spend the extra money when I had a spare lying around. I would have thought you of all people would appreciate that fact."

Before Fuutarou had a chance to respond, Yotsuba stood up and intervened as she went to hug her sister.

"Thank you so much Nino, that was a super generous idea you had. We'll make sure to make the most of it, right Honey?" she said that last part as she turned her head back towards her husband with narrowed eyes and a pout in one cheek.

"Yeah...thank you Nino, I do appreciate the consideration. Sorry I-I responded that way," he stuttered as he scratched the back of his head. He then heard three whip-snapping sounds, but he didn't bother looking in the direction they came from as it didn't take a genius to know it came from his other three sisters-in-law.

"This plane can't get here fast enough," he thought to himself as he decided to keep his mouth shut until they got ready to board.

AN: Sorry if it seems things are progressing really slowly, my intention is to show the amount of stress that is being placed on Fuutarou and why he acts the way he does in the Canon Omake. Plus I'm just having too much fun with the back-and-forths. So be patient, we'll get to the actual Honeymoon in a few chapters. Until then, I hope I'm still entertaining everyone.

Please let me know your thoughts, all feedback is welcome, and I'll see you in the next chapter!