A/n:So this is Part 2 of the College AU from Tale 7! There's a bit of time-skip, and it's set 6 months after the last one ended, so Tyson and Hilary are already steadily dating.
The theme of this shot was supposed to be 'their relationship through the eyes of others' but I'm not sure if I did a good job at capturing it. I'd done something similar for some of my other ships and wanted to try it for TyHil, so this setting popped up and then I just rolled with it lol.
The first half is narrated by my OC (she showed up in the previous one too), and Hilary's best friend and the second half is from Kai's perspective. I wanted to include a part with Max as well, but it just wasn't working out so I'll save that for later. I still need to write something from Hilary's pov for this AU too, so there will definitely be a Part 3 later.
Fair warning that there's not much direct TyHil interaction in this one, just a sneak peak into their relationship from an outsider's pov, so if you wanna skip this one, you totally can!
Tale 13
- x -
Even with the volume raised to the maximum, she could still hear a faint voice trying to call out her name from across the room, but the loud music gave her the chance to pretend like the voice hadn't reached her yet. The pretence however, didn't last long as within minutes there was a sharp tug and the music was cut off as her earphones were forced out of her ears and fell straight into her lap, usually, she would have opened her eyes and strangled the culprit, but since the only other person in the room apart from her was the one she had been trying to drown out with the help of the music, Charlie managed to keep her eyes tightly shut, not giving her roommate the satisfaction of catching her attention.
"Very mature, Charlie. Exactly the kind of person I want to live with."
Hilary's sarcastic tone reached her ears, and with a defeated sigh, Charlie opened her eyes and finally faced her angry roommate, "And you, who has been ranting for the past hour, are also exactly the kind of person I want to live with." The brunette scowled at her response, plopping down on the bed next to her, making Charlie let out a tired groan, "Do we have to discuss this now?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, we do." Hilary replied sternly, folding her arms across her chest she continued in the same tone, "So as I have been saying for the past hour, we've made a grave miscalculation in our moving expenses and I don't think we can pay for a professional packing and moving service."
"And as I have been trying to convey to you through my actions, I do not care." Charlie emphasized the last sentence, shooting an annoyed look at the brunette she continued, "I know your anal brain will figure something out by the time we actually have to move, which is for your information, towards the end of next month. So why, oh why do we have to discuss this right now?"
"Because I like to be prepared! One would think you'd be used to that by now."
"I'm never getting used to that." Charlie picked up her earphones, and plugged them in again, she looked pointedly at Hilary, who shaking her head exasperatedly got up and moved back to her own bed across the room, shooting disapproving looks in Charlie's direction as she did so.
She had been expecting this sooner or later, from the minute they had first stepped foot in to the dorm together, that Hilary would only be able to enjoy communal living for so long. Finally after two years of somehow surviving through what could only be described as the brunette's germaphobic nightmare, they were leaving their hostel room behind for a cozy and yet considerably cheap apartment that Hilary had managed to find through some miracle. Charlie's first instinct had told her that someone must've definitely died in that place, or something equally sinister must have happened for it to be available at such a comfortable rate, but Hilary, as always, refused to indulge her theories.
Their friendship had always been based more on compulsion than choice. Being the only two people with a non Japanese first name in a school full of Japanese girls, who else could the two have to fall back on except each other? They didn't really have much in common, except that they were both stubbornly set in their ways, yet they had somehow managed to stick together through middle school and high school, and were still comfortable enough with each other's presence to rent a living space together. Although Charlie wasn't as bothered by the hygiene standards of their dorm as much as Hilary and wouldn't have minded living out the rest of her educational years in this tiny room either, but having to adjust to sharing a room with someone who was not a well-intentioned, bossy brunette scared her enough to agree to splurge on an apartment.
"What about that boyfriend of yours?" Charlie asked, taking out the earbud from her left ear and turning on her side to face her roommate across the room. Since Hilary had already instilled the subject in her head, she thought it would be better to get done with this conversation here and now, and save her future self some trouble.
"Wh-what about him?" Hilary stuttered in reply, siting up straight, a pink tinge appearing on her cheeks and Charlie couldn't help but roll her eyes at the reaction. She'd been going out with this guy for over 6 months and Hilary still stuttered and blushed like a little school girl whenever the conversation turned to him.
"Can't he help us? This is basically what boyfriends are for anyway, free manual labour."
"I didn't think of that…" A thoughtful looked appeared on her best friend's face and Charlie felt slightly relieved, the thought of not having lengthy discussions about their moving plans, which had already been mapped out and colour coded in a binder, for even just a week was starting to seem like an achievable goal.
"Just ask him to bring a friend or two and we'll be covered." Charlie replied, hoping that the burden of tolerating Hilary's plans and the multiple amendments to them that occurred daily would now be shifted on to her unsuspecting boyfriend.
Charlie hadn't been formally introduced to him yet, she wasn't sure if it was normal however, for girls to date someone for 6 months and not introduce them to their best friend. At first she had assumed Hilary wasn't serious about the relationship, but her actions proved otherwise very quickly, so the only other conclusion she had reached was that the brunette didn't consider her to be her best friend and for her own well-being, Charlie had buried this thought as quickly as it had appeared in her head.
She'd seen him of course, and heard a lot about him from Hilary, and she even knew basic details about him, like which year he was in or what course he was doing, but every time she accidentally ran into them hanging around the room, he was always in a rush to leave, with a quick nod and goodbye, he'd be out the door before she could even greet him. While she had given up on trying to understand Hilary's motives in keeping Charlie away from that part of her life, she hadn't given up on trying to collide with it. So even though the suggestion of asking her boyfriend to help had popped up in her head randomly, Charlie internally triumphed over how it would be impossible for Hilary to avoid introducing the two of them now.
As much as she had tried not to about the big move by consoling herself that the end of the next month was still far away, with frequent shopping trips for furniture and other utilities, and then dragging the said furniture to their apartment, and a schedule for packing up their room printed on an A3 sized paper and plastered at the back of the door, everyday life had been filled with unwanted reminders about the move for Charlie. When the day finally arrived, the thought of meeting Hilary's boyfriend hadn't even crossed her mind until she heard the soft knock on the door, and Hilary shouting for the person to enter.
"Wow, that is a lot of boxes for such a tiny room."
A grin was plastered across his face as he leaned against the doorframe and ran his eyes through the room that had been taken over by cardboard boxes of various sizes.
Now that she was finally able to get a good look at him, Charlie was a little taken aback by his appearance, it wasn't particularly odd but it wasn't particularly Hilary either. Her best friend had casually mentioned once that the only thing the two had in common was their involvement in the track and field club, and Charlie hadn't given it much thought at the time. However looking at him now, with his spiky midnight blue hair, which were covered with a red and blue baseball cap, that went down till slightly below his shoulders, heavily tanned skin that seemed to match his tall and toned built, Charlie could only conclude that whatever she had imagined Hilary's type would be, it had been very far from the perfect combination of jock and delinquent standing in front of her. She wanted to turn and shoot a surprised look in the brunette's direction, but her train of thought was interrupted.
"Oh hey, Charlie! I'm Tyson, nice to finally meet you." The navy haired boy grinned at her, putting his hand forward in her direction. While his voice and actions were completely devoid of any other meaning than the ones he was openly displaying, Charlie could tell that he had been just as curious to meet her.
Which of course made her want to once again look at Hilary and study her face for any hints that might help her in figuring out this riddle, but as she had to lean over a few boxes to be able to shake Tyson's hand, Charlie decided that right now she needed to prioritize the move, and once it was over Hilary would be available for interrogations at her beck and call.
"Nice to finally meet you too, Tyson." Charlie shook his hand lightly, returning his grin with one of her own, gesturing towards the boxes she added, "As far as the boxes are concerned, they're your girlfriend's fault, so I hope you're prepared to carry all of this out."
"Charlie! That is not true, these are not all mine," Hilary spoke indignantly from across the room.
"I don't really mind either way, Hils." Tyson laughed at Hilary's defensive expression, without wasting any time he scanned the room for the largest box, picking it up and then adjusting a smaller one on top of it in his arms he added before exiting, "The others are waiting in the car, by the way."
"Others?" Charlie asked, shooting a quizzical look at her roommate, she bent forward herself and picked up two small boxes that were closest to her and watched Hilary follow suit.
"Well, you're the one who suggested that I should ask him to bring some back-up," Hilary replied from behind her, as they left the room and made their way towards the lift.
Of course Charlie didn't remember what exactly she had told Hilary about a month ago, but she was grateful for not having to do any of the heavy lifting. While packing up their room the two girls had rediscovered Hilary's problem of hoarding books in every corner and most of the boxes currently occupying the floor of their room were just filled with those heavy, thickly bound volumes. She grinned in relief once they were inside the lift, not only was she going to be able to finally witness the girlfriend side of her best friend today, she'd even have people she could order around instead of having to do any of the real work. She wanted to congratulate her past self for being so reliable.
Tyson had parked the car right outside of their dorm's entrance, it came into view as soon as they exited the building. While Tyson was the only person in sight as he loaded the boxes from earlier into the trunk, a quick peek into the car's window was enough for Charlie to figure out there was someone sitting behind the steering wheel and another person was seated in the rear. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the car windows while handing over her own boxes to Tyson to put into the trunk, as the two figures inside the car did not make any effort to step out and greet either Hilary or her.
"That was heavier than I expected. Don't worry about the rest, I'll get it." With a cheerful grin and before Hilary could respond, Tyson reentered the dormitory without even a second glance in the brunette's direction. Charlie couldn't help but mirror the navy haired boy's grin as she sighed happily, leaning against the car's frame relaxedly while Hilary attempted to mask her own relief with a look of concern directed towards the spot where Tyson had stood just a minute ago. Before Charlie could tell her to not feel too guilty about it, the door from the passenger's side opened grabbing both of their attentions.
"Hey Hilary, I decided to help out too!" Standing in front of her was a blond, who from his built seemed like he was the same age as them but from his face could easily pass off as a high schooler. To match his cheery voice and bright smile, he had the gentlest blue eyes. Adorable, was the only word that popped up in Charlie's mind and she had a feeling that this wasn't the first time she was meeting him, but as was usually the case with faint memories, they slipped farther into the void the more she tried to place him.
"Thank you, Max." Hilary returned his smile with ease, gesturing towards Charlie she added, "Oh this is my roommate Charlie, Charlie this is Tyson's friend Max."
"Nice to meet you, Max. Why do I have a feeling that we've met before?" Charlie raised an eyebrow at him amusingly as they shook hands.
"Most people do, I'm pretty much everywhere." He replied without missing a beat, grinning widely.
Next to her Hilary rolled her eyes at his response and turned her attention back towards the dormitory's entrance, expecting Tyson to come out any second.
For Charlie however, her curiosity towards Tyson grew tenfolds after this little interaction as at first look, the boy definitely did not seem like the person who would be friends with cheeky blonds. She couldn't stop a slight giggle from escaping her lips at the thought as she realised that that seemed to be another thing both Hilary and him had in common.
About a minute later, Tyson reappeared at the entrance trying to balance more boxes than he could carry in his arms and both Hilary and Max rushed forward to help him. Charlie contemplated whether she should too but by the time she could make up her mind, the other two had already taken the load off of Tyson and she decided that she was better off staying put and conserving her energy for all the work that awaited her after they reached their new apartment. She regretted this decision just a moment later when she heard the car door open and shut behind her, and when she turned to her side, the figure who had been sitting in the driver's seat was now standing next to her, his gaze fixed at the trio with their arms filled with boxes currently heading towards them, his furrowed expression indicating that he too was internally debating whether he should move forward to help them or not.
She was slightly taken aback by his appearance as he seemed to be the complete opposite of the blond she'd been introduced to earlier, and Charlie suddenly wanted to not only interrogate Hilary but Tyson too.
Standing next to this person, Charlie was begrudgingly made aware of her height or lack thereof. She wasn't usually conscious of her shortness as she was just slightly below the average height of a Japanese woman and that, she often consoled herself, didn't mean that she was short, just a teeny bit below the average. But seeing as how she had to crane her neck to get a look at his face, as her head stopped just below his shoulders, she was a bit intimidated and that was never a good sign because she was used to being the one who always did the intimidating.
"Don't bother." She piped up, thinking that taking the lead during conversations was a sure shot way of building up an intimidation tactic.
"I wasn't going to," He turned to look at her, shooting her a dark look and a furious scowl he added, "But shouldn't you? That's your shit."
Before Charlie's brain could even begin to process this stranger's audacity, Hilary called out to her and she was dragged into helping the other three fit all the luggage in the trunk of the car while he just simply went back and took his place at the driver's seat again.
Even after all of her and Hilary's belongings had somehow been jammed into the car's trunk and they were finally set to drive away to their new house, Charlie was still fuming over her interaction with their driver. Hilary was quick to pick up on her behaviour and just as they were getting into the car, she informed her in a quiet but deadly whisper that since he was the one driving them, she should be a little bit grateful and hold her tongue until they reached their destination.
The ride itself wasn't as terrible as Charlie had thought it could turn out to be, she sat in the back with Hilary and Max, while Tyson took the passenger's seat in the front. As soon as they were on their way, Hilary immediately, graciously thanked the sourpuss from earlier for his help and Charlie had to exert extreme amounts of self-control to stop her herself from rolling her eyes or glaring daggers in his direction. From the light conversation that followed, she was able to pick up that the driver was named Kai and was Tyson's roommate, which answered all her questions about how two people with such contrasting personalities could manage to become friends, definitely not willingly. And the only reason he was here was because he had lost excruciatingly against Tyson at some video game tournament at their dorm the previous night and this was the loser's punishment.
Although calling them friends seemed to be an overstatement as Tyson made it his mission to annoy the driver as much as he could through out the ride, from constantly changing the radio stations to blabbering non-stop, he stopped at nothing to distract his roommate, who in return showed tremendous amounts of patience and aloofness, possibly because he was already used to these antics. Hilary made several attempts to get Tyson to behave, but to the her friend's disappointment, none seemed to work.
Charlie however, felt a strong sense of familiarity and affection towards Tyson, even though she had officially known him for less than an hour, as he started to very loudly announce the contents of the glove compartment to the backside of the car, adding his own predictions about why the driver would chose to keep the items there. This finally seemed to strike a cord with Kai as he turned his gaze away from the road to send a threatening look in Tyson's direction, which is all the blue haired boy had been seeking apparently as he settled down comfortably in his seat after that and stopped his shenanigans.
With that the car was overtaken by an eerie silence, it's occupants weren't left with much choice except to wallow in their own thoughts as they passed through some extremely slow traffic. Charlie made a mental note to use the subway for her commute to college and she turned towards Hilary to take her opinion on this, but her friend was sporting a look that was Charlie was all too familiar with and it took her a lot of effort to not let out a loud groan.
To some extent, she had been expecting this to happen sooner or later, this is just who Hilary was as a person, last minute paranoia and panic over starting something new was habitual to her at this point, but only this time even Charlie felt that it was a little bit too late to have a freak out about moving into a new home considering how they had already paid the deposit for the apartment, furnished the place and surrendered their dorm room.
"What if there's something wrong with the house?"
Hilary muttered quietly to herself, but with the deafening silence enveloping the car, pretty much everyone heard her slightly ridiculous question. Max shot Charlie a confused look and she responded with an eye-roll hoping to convey that there was no need to take her best friend seriously.
"Like what?"
Tyson asked flatly, without turning around to face them and Charlie was a little taken aback by his straightforward tone, since it mirrored her own so much. It had taken her a few attempts to understand just how to speak to Hilary during one of her outbursts, and here he was managing to do the same after knowing her for just over a few months.
"Like, you know, they tell us we can't live there anymore." Hilary replied indignantly, looking offended that her boyfriend had dared to question her back.
This time, Tyson did turn around in his seat as best he could with the seat belt on, to face Hilary with the most deadpan expression on his face as he questioned her again, "You're telling me that in the 14 hours that have passed since we carried a coffee table up to the place yesterday, you'll suddenly not be allowed to live there anymore?"
Charlie couldn't help but snort in agreement with Tyson, he made a good point and he made it well, but this earned her a stern 'you should be on my side' look from Hilary, as the brunette continued to share her nonsensical train of thought with everyone, "What if we reach there and all our furniture is gone?"
"Then we call the police, obviously." Tyson shot back, shaking his head at Hilary as if she was a child who'd just asked the teacher a question that was completely different from the topic that was being covered in class. And this time Charlie didn't even bother to hide her laugh when Hilary turned red with embarrassment as she realised that Tyson definitely had an upper hand in this conversation, and that he was enjoying it thoroughly too.
"What if there was a pipe leak or something and the whole place is flooded?"
But if there was one thing Hilary was consistently good at, it was being stubborn and now that Tyson had openly challenged her train of thought, there was no stopping her from throwing all the silly scenarios her brain had cooked up at him.
"I'm pretty sure that if there was a pipe leak, it wouldn't just affect your apartment but the whole building, and the caretaker would've given you a call by now."
Tyson rolled his eyes as Hilary glowered at his quick response, he even smirked at her, which only made her face redder, but Charlie was a little bit impressed by how well he managed to push Hilary's buttons while handling her crazy line of thought at the same time.
"Well, what if we reach there and they tell us that there was some mix-up and the apartment actually belongs to someone else?"
This was a stretch even by Hilary's standards and the silence that followed her statement made Charlie believe that everyone else was thinking the same thing, Hilary however, looked quiet pleased with herself over finally getting everyone to see the point through her panicky lenses.
She sneaked a glance at Max, and noticed that he was looking at the brunette with an amused yet surprised expression on his face, a common reaction in Charlie's books, initial meetings and conversations with Hilary would lead anyone to believe that she's always the smartest person in the room but spending more time with her would eventually reveal her more illogical side. Kai seemed to be concentrating on the task of driving, from what she could make out from her position in the back seat, he was pretty much tuned out from the conversation happening around him. For a split second Charlie hoped to achieve the same level of disconnect from her surroundings some day, but then quickly decided against it, not wanting to share a common trait with the sullen boy. Deciding that there was no point in letting Hilary's overthinking get any worse, Charlie started to form a careful reply but Tyson beat her to it.
"Wow, for someone who always loudly proclaims to hate cliched tropes, you sure are thinking along the lines of one," Tyson's smirk widened and Hilary flushed at his statement, the ridiculousness of her words finally catching up with the logical side of her brain, "And besides," he added relaxedly, as he turned to face the front again as if knowing that his next words would be putting an end to this discussion, "Charlie's not in law school for nothing, in the off chance that your crazy theory does come true, you two can just get together and sue them."
Charlie's jaw almost dropped at how smoothly Tyson had managed to shut Hilary down, the only times she ever saw her best friend at such a loss for words was when she made it happen, and she had secretly taken pride in being the only individual who was capable of this.
She realised then, that she was no longer the only person who truly understood Hilary as had been the case for most of their lives, that now Charlie wouldn't always be the first person her friend would call in an emergency or look to for support. She realised then, that Hilary had managed to find her match in this blue haired, somehow adorably annoying yet truly handsome boy, and no matter how much they tried to keep their relationships separate from their friendships, something which looked a lot like love would be difficult to remove from the equation, even for an over-achiever like Hilary.
That's also when it clicked, the real reason why Hilary had been trying so hard to keep her and Tyson from meeting, because Hilary herself had probably not understood the depth of her feelings towards him and was still stuck over evaluating whether she should let Tyson fully into her life or not. She had probably spent a lot of time overthinking about whether Charlie would be able to get along with her boyfriend or not, and in case they didn't get along, she had probably already planned how her break-up with either Tyson or her, would play out. The thought of Hilary rehearsing the perfect lines needed to execute a break-up in her head almost made Charlie laugh out loud.
It would sound crazy to anyone else, but these weird habits were what she loved about Hilary the most. Everything she did came from a place of love and affection, even if it did take an aggressive form at times, Hilary only wanted to make sure that everyone around her felt loved and cared for. She would never want to put her best friend or even her boyfriend in a position where either of them would have to spend time with a person they didn't like, which is why Tyson had always been rushed out of the room whenever Charlie had returned unannounced, because Hilary was still considering whether Charlie would be able to see Tyson in the same light as she did.
But when she looked at her best friend now, red faced and pouting because she couldn't get the last word in the argument, and yet her wine coloured eyes would wander longingly towards Tyson every few minutes, her face briefly displaying that she wouldn't mind starting another argument just so he would turn around and look at her, Charlie could only smile to herself.
The first time that Hilary had met Tyson in that club meeting, she'd come back to the room, frustrated and angry, but there had been that same flicker in her eyes, like she hadn't had enough of him yet. When Hilary had told her that he seemed to visit the coffee shop she worked at quite often, Charlie had been the one to jokingly suggest to her to keep spelling his name incorrectly to mess with him, the Hilary she had grown up with would never make mistakes like this, especially at her place of work, so Charlie had been completely taken aback to hear that the brunette had actually taken up her suggestion, and that eventually that was lead the two to be on talking terms with each other.
And this is why Charlie knew that she wouldn't ever be able to see Tyson in the sense Hilary expected from her, to her he would always be the person who came along and took Hilary completely by surprise and changed her, for better or for worse was something that was still under consideration.
The only thing left to think about now was, whether Tyson understood that he was still under probation, that completely winning over Hilary wasn't easy, even if she had been the one to take the first step, and if Charlie trusted him enough to lend a helping hand.
x
Kai checked the label on the wine bottle in his hand, to ensure once again that the price wasn't visible after he had meticulously blacked it out with a marker. He knew his host wasn't the kind who would judge just how expensive the bottle in his hand was, but somewhere he just felt these were just some basic etiquettes of life. He had paused his climb of course, in order to inspect the bottle, and he heard a disgruntled groan behind him as he did so. Turning, he faced Tala with a glare , he wanted to remark that patience is a virtue but this sermon had been lost on the redhead ever since they were kids so it definitely wouldn't change anything right now. Shaking his head exasperatedly, Kai continued his climb, stopping only when he reached the floor to the apartment he had unwillingly helped set up just last week.
He grimaced as the apartment number came into view, and had half a mind to turn around and head back to his room, but right behind him was Tala, looking at him with his blue eyes shining brightly with excitement, so he relented and knocked at the door instead. He could hear muffled sounds of music and loud laughter, and immediately groaned at the thought of being thrusted into a room full of loud and tipsy strangers. This was definitely not how Kai would ideally spend his Friday night, no he could be in his room, enjoying Tyson's absence and reading a book or sketching, just an all around peaceful start to the coming weekend. But he had been stupid enough to mention the housewarming party to Tala over breakfast, and thus, here they were standing outside of Hilary's apartment, waiting for her to open the door for about five minutes now.
"I thought she was the punctual type, you know?" Tala raised and eyebrow at him, as he folded his arms in anticipation.
Kai shrugged in response, maybe he had knocked too lightly and the sound had been drowned out by the noise inside. Hilary was a nice girl, that much Kai had been able to conclude through their limited interactions over the past few months, a bit eccentric at times, though anyone would need this quality to tolerate Tyson over long periods of time, Max being the prime example. But she was sincere and kind, and definitely not the kind of person who would keep their guests waiting in the hallway for too long.
So Kai lifted his hand once again and was just about to knock on the door again, when it opened, and at first he saw no one standing the behind it. Tala however, chose that moment to squeeze himself into view by standing next to Kai within the doorframe, and it was during this struggle that Kai's gaze fell downwards and he realised that the one who had answered the door was not Hilary, but the other occupant of this apartment who he had had the displeasure of meeting last week.
Charlie, was her name, if he remembered it correctly. An odd name for a girl to have, he'd thought, and he was sure that there was some reason or story behind it, but he wasn't the type to enquire into such things, that was usually Max's forte. Still he did find it intriguing, so he decided that he would ask Max about it at a later date so as to not seem suspicious or interested in her.
The blonde stood a little too close for Kai's comfort, with her arms folded and a blank look on her face as she studied the two boys, behind her he could see that the apartment's living room and the connected balcony had already reached full capacity. A reassuring thought for Kai, as the later one arrives the sooner one can leave was usually his motto for parties in general. He quickly turned his attention back to the girl currently blocking their entry to into the apartment with her tiny and not quite formidable figure.
He had hoped that Hilary would be the one to answer and greet them, knowing that she'd understand exactly why Tala had tagged along and take him away to introduce him to her friends and guide Kai to a much calmer spot in the house. This was what he particularly liked about the brunette, she was observant and quick to draw conclusions about other people's needs and wants. The same couldn't be said about her friend however, as even after Kai gave her a pointed look and raised the wine bottle to indicate that they were following standard procedure, the blank expression on her face remain unchanged, making him feel a bit uneasy about the whole situation. He wasn't the only one who felt it, Tala nudged him lightly and passed him a confused look, but Kai didn't have a response for him.
"Do I know you?"
"Uh…"
Kai blinked in confusion at her words, she had to be kidding, he thought to himself. He was the one who drove her and all her luggage here last week, even carried some of it up the stairs afterwards, and here she was standing and asking him if she knew him. Once the confusion passed, he curled up his fists and a scowl settled on his face, as he understood that she really was messing with them, but he wasn't sure about how he should word his accusation, this was her house and her party after all, it would be disrespectful for him to get into an argument with her.
"Wow, men these days, they hear about two girls living together and they think they can just insert themselves in betw-"
"Charlie! Stop messing with them!"
The wave of relief that washed over him was as massive as the wave of Kanagawa when Hilary chose that moment to appear behind Charlie and pull her back, so both Kai and Tala could finally enter the apartment and shut the door behind them. But even then he couldn't stop his ears from turning a light shade of pink from embarrassment, because even if it had just been for a brief second, Charlie had managed to ignite a moment of self-doubt in him where he was about to question himself over whether he had really arrived at the wrong house. When he faced her again, he saw that she had the most diabolical smirk plastered across her face and a look that said 'I got you good', and the thought of losing a non-existent match against her was enough to make him want to turn on his heels and never come back here again.
"I'm so glad you guys could make it!" Hilary chirped up, smiling brightly and managing to keep a strong grip on Charlie's shoulder to keep her from escaping at the same time, "And thank you for the wine, that's so sweet of you, Kai!" She added, taking the bottle out of his hands in an effortless gesture and finally giving Kai a reason to stop sending death glares in the dwarf's direction.
"We've set up a make-shift bar counter there," Hilary finally let go of her grip on the blonde to point towards the veranda, "and snacks are on that table over there. There's more stuff in the kitchen, if you don't find anything that suits your taste here." She continued explaining, giving them a quick rundown of the apartment's layout, Kai noticed from the corner of his eye that Charlie used this opportunity to slip back into the party, and he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Tala, come on I'll show you around, and Kai make yourself at home."
Hilary gestured for Tala to follow her and Kai watched from the corner of his eyes as the redhead trailed behind her like an excited puppy as she approached a group of girls standing near the make-shift bar counter. Once Tala blended in with the crowd, his wolfish laughter easily filling up the room, Kai felt more at ease about finding an escape zone for himself. Sometimes he did envy his friend's ability to easily mix in with other people and start conversations that gathered the attention of the whole room, but mostly Kai was content with having his own little corner at parties, where no one bothered him unless it was to refill the empty drink in his hand.
So he began his search for such a spot in the apartment, but most of the freely accessible places seemed to be occupied by strangers, or worse, by a drunk Max. He found it odd, that Tyson was nowhere to be seen in the living room or the balcony, despite of Hilary visibly waltzing around from one group of people to another. But this thought was pushed out of his head when he glanced at the massive bookshelf that took up space in one corner of the living room. He'd heard from Tyson a few days ago, that Hilary had ordered this shelf online and they'd had a tough time assembling it, but as Kai ran his eyes across it, he thought Tyson had done a pretty good job with it, not that his roommate would ever hear this praise in person. His eyes took in all the various titles arranged neatly and alphabetically, of course this was Hilary's shelf, hoping to find a good title to keep him company for the rest of the night. He settled for a non-fiction book that Hilary had recommended to him a month ago but he hadn't gotten around to reading yet.
With the book in his hands, Kai decided to try his luck with the kitchen, even if it was occupied, it would be considerably less noisier in comparison to the rest of the house, and he'd rather tolerate one or two people chatting near him than a whole house full. So he made his way towards it quickly, hoping to not fall under drunk Max's radar as he did so. Once he successfully entered the kitchen, he quietly shut the door behind him and was delighted to discover that it was completely empty-
His eyes landed on a slumped, blue haired figure on the counter top, and Kai cursed under his breath. Why was it that every time he displayed a slight concern for Tyson, he would end up doing something to ruin his mood the very next minute. It shouldn't have surprised him that this is where his roommate would be hiding, in the kitchen close to platters full of food and the refrigerator, and Kai blamed himself more for being naive enough to assume that Tyson would be anywhere else but here. What was more concerning was that his roommate was not in fact, stuffing his face full with food, but was sitting with his face buried under his arms that rested on the countertop. Kai wondered whether this situation was better than coming across strangers talking or worse as he took a seat as far as possible from Tyson and as close to the door, in case he needed to make a quick exit.
The movement must've caught Tyson's attention as he lifted his head from his arms and greeted Kai with a muted expression before burying his face out of sight once again. A look of defeat on Tyson's face was slightly alarming and a rare sight, but Kai decided that since there was no initiation of a conversation from the younger boy's end, there was no need for him to worry. He reassured himself, that instead he should consider this moment a miracle, that it is entirely possible to share moments of silence with someone like Tyson.
So he settled comfortably in his seat and opened the book he had picked to it's first page, already feeling better about the rest of his night, but he hadn't even gotten through the second page when he heard a loud sigh from Tyson's direction.
Kai's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but he chose to ignore that sound and continue with his reading, all he had to do was keep his eyes glued to the page and go over each and every word carefully and if he ignored the problem long enough, it would eventually go away.
But instead of going away, the problem repeated itself, this time more loudly and even more attention seekingly.
Kai considered the options available to him, he could continue reading and pretend like he just couldn't hear Tyson, but there was no guarantee if his roommate would stay quiet if he did so. However, if he were to help solve Tyson's problem, there was a high chance that Tyson would just leave him alone for the rest of the night, and he could have the whole kitchen to himself, with no more interferences, unlimited access to food and alcohol, and some peace of mind. Having reached a conclusion in his head Kai memorised the page number, before shutting his book and setting it down to turn his attention towards Tyson's moping figure.
"Is something wrong?" He asked, in his usual quiet tone.
"No." Came the quick, muffled reply.
The fact that Tyson didn't even bother to raise his head and face him gave him the urge to pick up the book he had let go of a few minutes ago and throw it at Tyson's head, thankfully it was the kind of urge that Kai could hold his own against.
"Are you sure?" He questioned Tyson again, after taking a deep breath. Kai emphasised the last word as strongly as he could, making it seem almost threateningly aggressive, and not at all like a friend checking up on another.
This at least irked Tyson enough to pull his head up and greet Kai with an annoyed frown as he replied in a flat but somewhat accusing tone, "Yes. You wouldn't understand, anyway."
Tyson's expression made Kai believe that he wanted Kai out of this room just as much as vice versa, and this is what most people would call an impasse. But Kai saw it as more of an opportunity, now that he had made an effort to understand, extended the olive branch, he could leave Tyson to his moping and crying in good conscience, and continue reading his book. Tuning out the blue haired menace was something he was well trained in, so when he picked up his book from where he had left off again, he didn't notice the time pass or the occasional groans and sighs that filled the kitchen, until the door was opened and shut loudly with a bang, snapping him out of his concentration.
A blob of platinum blonde hair went past him, and Kai groaned internally.
Out of all the people that could've come in to disrupt his flow, it had to be her.
"This is where you've been hiding all night? What's wrong Tys?"
Kai pretended to continue reading and didn't look up to meet either the girl or Tyson's gaze, but he also couldn't help but smirk at her straightforward approach, since he had tried the same about half an hour ago and Tyson had shut him out completely. He did find it slightly annoying that Tyson had already become familiar enough with her for her to refer to him by one of his nick names. Kai had sincerely always felt that Tyson and Max needed to be more wary of people, and not befriend just anyone who spoke nicely to them. But still, no matter how familiar she was with him, Tyson wasn't just going to spill what was bothering him so easily, Kai had been his roommate for two years, if Tyson wasn't going to open up to him, he definitely would not open up to this blonde dwarf-
"I don't know how to explain it Charlie, I just feel so left out."
Do not throw the book at him, his conscience reminded him. Kai couldn't believe that Tyson would choose to talk about his problems to this strange girl rather than the person he shared living spaces with. Granted that Kai's approach to him had been laced with a selfish, ulterior motive that he did not hide very well, but still, he felt that he deserved a little bit more loyalty than this. However, he knew Tyson would be regretting this action in about a minute, because from what Kai had seen, this girl seemed to enjoy making other people's life worse so he was sure that she would not be taking Tyson's statement seriously, but would laugh at him or make a joke about it. Then the idiot would finally realise how he should've just been honest with Kai in the first place, at least Kai was capable of keeping quiet in situations where he had nothing helpful to say.
"Left out of what?" The soft tone and the concern laced in Charlie's voice surprised Kai enough to turn his attention away from the book and towards the scene in front of him.
She had reached into the refrigerator and pulled out two cans of beer, placing one in front of Tyson, she popped open the second one for herself and took a seat next to him, without bothering to even glance in Kai's direction. This is exactly why her tone from earlier had shocked had him, he expected that kind of sensitivity from Max or Hilary, or even Tala on some rare occasions, but definitely not her. What annoyed him even more was her lack of etiquette over not offering a drink to her guest. Even Kai, if he had been in her place, would've offered a beverage to his guest before taking one for himself. Luckily, Tyson caught on to Kai's annoyance over this, so he picked up the can that had been offered to him and brought it over to Kai instead.
Kai nodded curtly at Tyson, as he took the drink from his hand, two years of trying to rub some common sense into him were finally starting to pay off.
"You know, Hilary's childhood friend, the one with the glasses." Tyson stated dully, as he walked back to his original seat and slumped into it once again.
"Kenny?" Charlie asked unsurely, a confused look appeared on her face, as if she was making an attempt to recall just how many of Hilary's childhood friends wore glasses.
"Yeah, him." Tyson replied, some bitterness slipping into his voice, that seemed to surprise not only Kai but Charlie, too.
It was a rare sight to see Tyson get jealous, seeing him whine over not having the latest console or game or be annoyingly defensive after losing a bet or a match were more common occurrences in Kai's experience. Charlie, however, looked like she was contemplating what about Kenny was making Tyson feel this way, although Kai knew nothing about this childhood friend of Hilary's, but from the lost expression on the blonde's face he could tell that the friend wasn't exactly the type of person to entice jealousy in others.
They didn't have to wait too long for an explanation either, since Charlie's genuine interest in Tyson's problem was the trigger that unlocked the emotional waterfall he had been holding onto by himself till now.
"They've known each other for years, and they have so much in common!" Tyson began, a scowl settling on his face as he continued in the same annoyed, bitter tone from earlier, "They read all the same books, watch all the same movies, discuss international politics..." He paused, and Kai wasn't sure if he was dreaming but Tyson looked very close to tears, he gulped loudly before adding in a quieter and more hurt than bitter tone, "And I just don't know anything about anything."
This is where Kai felt that the two of them had always differed, Tyson always attempted to belong somewhere with someone, while Kai was dragged into these spaces unwillingly by the people around him.
From what Max had told him (uninvited and unasked), even throughout their time at school Tyson had always been shunned out of all his groups because it was difficult to catch up to him and his talent and once people realised that he would always remain at the top, they didn't want to be around him anymore. He'd been facing the same problems in the track club at college since he'd been made Captain, and Kai had seen first hand how his interest in participating in the sport he enjoyed so much had begun to fade because of how his teammates treated him. While Kai wasn't currently playing any sports or participating in any clubs, he knew himself well enough to know that he would never let other's opinions of him hinder his performance and development the way Tyson had. It was only after Tyson had started dating Hilary a few months back that his excitement towards the sport and the club had returned, and Kai was left confused, trying to understand why external support mattered so much to Tyson when he had so much talent and inherent potential.
Even outside of the club, Hilary's presence did make Tyson more hyper and energetic than usual, which Kai wasn't fond of, but he also looked happier and content, and had gotten much better at taking care of himself. He didn't even have enough time to bother Kai anymore, which was always an added bonus. And when he smiled now, his eyes would shine almost blindingly, which was something Kai hadn't seen ever since Tyson had entered their room for the first time and introduced himself boisterously a little over two years ago.
So Kai could apprehend why Tyson would feel so threatened over something that may seem small to an outsider. Since being with Hilary came so naturally to him, Tyson obviously had never considered that she would have spaces or circles of her own, let alone ones where he couldn't fit in no matter how much he tried.
As much as Kai wanted to tell Tyson to suck it up and realise that this is how real life and people worked, he was more curious to see how Charlie would handle this outburst, since she was the one Tyson had picked to help him through this. He opened his own beer can as quietly as he could and took a small sip from it, watching the dwarf carefully from the corner of his eye. He couldn't read her face for a while and when she pushed her shiny, blonde hair behind her ears with an air of determination around her, Kai thought that she too was about to say the same thing that had crossed his mind, but instead she smiled at Tyson.
"Let's look at the facts," She started, grabbing Tyson's attention with her commanding voice, "Chief-I meant Kenny, and Hilary have lived next door to each other since they were five, so she's known him for about fifteen years?" She looked pointedly at Tyson, and waited for him to respond.
After a scowl and begrudging nod from Tyson, she continued, "On the other hand, Hils knew you for a much lesser amount of time, before she handed out her number and basically asked you out in front of half a library?"
Once again Charlie waited for Tyson to confirm this and Kai almost snickered out loud as Tyson's face turned bright red at the memory of that day and he gave a quick nod before gesturing for her to move on quickly.
Kai remembered that day quiet clearly too, Tala had told everyone at their dorm that he'd helped Tyson get a girlfriend afterwards, and the two had had a really long and annoying argument about the correct chronology of the events that had unfolded at the library all night in his room, when he had been trying to study for an important exam the next day.
"So what we know about Hilary from that example is that she's the type of girl who doesn't hesitate to get what she wants," Charlie said, and to Kai her tone felt like she was addressing a jury to prove Hilary's innocence and he found himself nodding along with her words, "Doesn't it make you wonder then, that if she really wanted to date someone like Kenny, she would've done something about it in the fifteen years she has known him?"
Kai hated to admit it, even to himself, but she'd managed to make a very good point that left both him and Tyson stunned. And deep down his conscience told him that she was doing a much better job than telling Tyson to suck it up, but he pushed the thought away immediately.
This time, Charlie didn't wait for a reply or acknowledgement from Tyson, instead she grinned happily at him and answered her own question promptly.
"But she didn't, because she doesn't want Kenny. She wants you."
And with that she chugged what was remaining of her beer, and pulled out one more can for herself from the fridge and sauntered out of the kitchen without waiting for Tyson to respond to anything she had said. When Kai turned his attention towards Tyson, he found his roommate sitting with his mouth wide open, staring straight ahead, looking like he was still in the middle of slowly processing what he had just been told, which felt much closer to the Tyson he knew, than the moping, defeated mess he had been when Kai had first arrived. The fact that the one to accomplish this change had been Charlie and not him did however, leave a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Argh! I'm such an idiot!" Tyson shouted suddenly, slapping his cheeks harshly to shake some sense into himself, making Kai jump in his seat from the sudden movement.
As much as he wanted to agree with that statement, Kai managed to stay quiet as he realised that this was it, this was the golden chance to finally get the peace and quiet he deserved after sitting through this discussion, and getting an unwanted glimpse into Tyson and Hilary's relationship.
He kept his face impassively blank on the outside as he began to count from ten to one in his head the moment Tyson left his seat, he could almost taste the comforting solitude.
Tyson too opened the fridge to pull out another can before he left, he placed it next to the one he had given to Kai earlier, "Enjoy your book, Kai. I'll come get you when Tala looks like he's about to pass out."
Kai murmured his appreciation quietly and Tyson responded with a wide, silly looking grin, the kind that was easily infectious and almost made Kai want to smile back at him too.
Almost.
- x -
A/n: Unfortunately, Tala and Max didn't get much of a spotlight in this one, and although Kenny didn't appear fully, he was kinda the star of the second half!
Perfecting Kai's pov took a lot of time, but I think now I can write a crackfic with him where he's literally just done with everything and everyone around him.
Oh and also, not sure how many would know this, but in a lot of East Asian cultures, Japan included, it's rude to start drinking before your senior does, you must always pour the older member's drink first before pouring one for your own, so that's lowkey the reason Tyson gives his beer to Kai. Idk but I always see Tyson as someone who would value tradition a lot, and abide by these invisible rules.
Glad I finally posted this, even if I'm very nervous about shoving a whole part about my OC in a TyHil fic hehe. At least this will give me some time to work on the other wips, there's the continuation of the Ghost AU, there's one about Tyson's first Kendo match, there's also one about a school play so yay, lots of stuff to look forward to!
Hope you enjoyed this and reviews are always appreciated, stay safe everyone!