wedding crasher
Hatsune Miku was young, broke, and starving. She and her best friend, Nakajima Gumi, were trying to decide whether or not they ought to spend money on food or if they should save the cash for something more appealing, when Gumi spotted a lifeline in the distance.
"Miku, look!" Gumi shook her shoulder and pointed aggressively at one of the large houses down the street. There seemed to be quite a crowd on the lawn, and as Miku squinted at the house, she realised what the occasion was – it was a wedding. She could see the bride in her long white dress with a man in a tux by her side, talking and greeting guests at the gate. There were lots of people pouring into the front yard, and her gaze landed on the giant buffet spread in front of the house.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Gumi whispered conspiratorially, nudging her side. Miku grinned, eyes lighting up in anticipation. It wouldn't be the first time she and Gumi crashed a stranger's wedding. They had done it maybe five or six times already in the past year, and they were always able to get away undetected. After all, giant weddings usually had so many guests, and people brought friends of friends and distant relatives along – no one was going to point out two girls and start questioning who they were, and how they were related to the bride and groom.
"Well, lucky thing that we decided to dress nicely for school today," Miku answered, patting down her white summer dress and adjusting the small, black leather messenger bag she carried over her shoulder. Gumi winked at her – she was wearing a crisp, pastel blue blouse tucked into a short white skirt, and she carried a brown satchel bag that was only a little bigger than her own. They definitely wouldn't stand out from the rest of the guests, and Miku felt fortunate that today, she decided to put in more effort into her appearance than she usually would. "Let's go!" she set off towards the house, Gumi following eagerly behind her. They were practically experts at gate-crashing by now.
When they got to the house with the wedding banquet, the two girls got in line behind an elderly couple who was discussing something that happened to one of their friends. Miku idly listened to their conversation while Gumi looked around the front yard, taking note of who was talking to whom, and to see if there was anyone they knew. Miku didn't spot anyone she recognised, but she could see plenty of servers handing out food and listening to people's requests. She spotted one of the servers, standing behind what seemed to be the ice cream bar. He was probably her age.
Miku was a second-year university student. Money was always tight – not so much because she was poor, but rather because of bad financial management. She always promised herself that she would stop spending so much each month, but by the middle of that month she would always find herself broke and surviving on cup noodles until the beginning of the next month, when her pocket money would come in again. This month was no different. Gumi was just like her, so both girls were trying to figure out ways to get food without actually spending money on it. Miku could always just buy something to eat and sacrifice going out with her friends, but that would be a desperate last resort.
However, this year Miku and Gumi had finally figured a way around their lack of income. It started when Gumi attended a distant relative's wedding, and no one apparently knew who she was or even noticed her that much. From there, she got the idea of sneaking into random strangers' wedding parties and eating the food, since most people evidently didn't pay too much attention to the other guests unless they actually recognised them. She dragged Miku along the first time she tried this, and Miku reluctantly agreed to the idea – much to her surprise, their plan succeeded and they had a pretty good meal. From then on, they started crashing all the wedding parties they saw in town.
By the time Miku and Gumi got to the gate, the bride and groom were gone, replaced by a bored-looking young boy and a slightly older teenage girl, who was chewing on some gum. The two kids gave her and Gumi a cursory glance, evidently decided that they looked fine and said nothing, so the two of them walked right in without any trouble. Miku just smiled whenever someone happened to look at her for a little too long, and soon enough they managed to reach the buffet table. The two girls then each grabbed a plate and grinned knowingly at each other before separating to get some food.
The variety of food they had was pretty good. There was a large spread, with all sorts of small cakes and delicious looking entrees. Miku could also see some Asian cuisine, with curry and fish and some kind of clear broth noodle. Miku wasn't fussy about the food as long as it tasted good, so she took a little bit of everything and went to join Gumi in a quieter area of the yard, hoping no one would pay them too much attention. "What did you take?" she asked, eyeing Gumi's relatively empty plate.
"I'm taking my time," her best friend answered, poking her fork into some cream pudding. "Starting off with dessert," she stuck the forkful of pudding into her mouth. "Anyway, is it just me or has that guy been staring at us a lot?" she asked, nodding her head in the direction of the ice cream bar. Miku glanced in the direction Gumi indicated, narrowing her eyes against the glare of the afternoon sun.
It was the server Miku had noticed earlier, standing outside the gate. He was probably another university student just like them – he was vaguely familiar, as though she had seen him before somewhere. Maybe she had seen him on campus before or something. He was wearing the typical black and white uniform of a banquet server, and as she watched he smiled at one of the guests and scooped out some ice cream for her, passing the bowl back with a laugh and a quick wink.
In fact, he was getting quite a bit of attention. Miku frowned – she swore she had seen him around before somewhere, but she just couldn't remember where exactly it was. The last person waiting in line for ice cream finally left the stand, and he looked up, meeting her gaze. He blinked at her, gave her a friendly grin then looked back down at his ice cream, likely trying to decide if it was time to refill one of the flavours or something. Miku made a face, and turned back to talk to her friend.
"He seems awfully friendly," she commented, digging into her soup noodles. Gumi, who at this point had her mouth stuffed full of pudding, just shrugged and swallowed, wiping her mouth with a paper napkin. Miku looked at him again, unable to help herself – this time he didn't notice her staring, which was probably a good thing. He was pretty cute, with his golden hair and bright blue eyes. His hair was tied up into a neat ponytail, his fringe slicked back from his face, and the uniform he wore made him look super polished. She wondered if he had a girlfriend. It wouldn't be surprising if he did…
"Why don't you just go and get some ice cream? You've been eyeing him for like, the past five minutes," Gumi rolled her eyes and giggled, nudging her shoulder. "Besides, he's pretty cute," she echoed what Miku had been thinking, and Miku shot her friend a look, still slurping up her noodles.
"But…isn't it kind of weird to like, just hit on one of the servers at a party?" she protested, her gaze drifting back to him again. The cute server was looking around, maybe bored, though she couldn't see that from his expression. She decided that he was definitely taller than her, which was a bonus. But even if she went to talk to him she wouldn't know what to say. Miku didn't have a lot of experience with talking to boys. Like sure, she definitely had male friends and she did get guys asking her out occasionally, but Gumi was way more experienced with relationships. Gumi was daring and outgoing, and guys just seemed to be attracted to that kind of confidence. Miku wasn't exactly shy, but she wasn't as bold as her best friend, so she often paled in comparison.
"Never try, never know!" Gumi chirped, licking the pudding off her fork. "Just go, you're almost done with your food anyway, and there's no queue for ice cream right now. Don't wait until there's a long line before you go!" her best friend exclaimed, shoving her hard now. Miku almost fell over, but she caught herself in time, shooting Gumi a cross look before she got up from her seat and hesitantly approached the ice cream stand, Gumi quietly cheering her on. The server still wasn't looking at her.
She reached the ice cream stand and coughed. The server blinked and turned around to stare at her, his full lips parting slightly in surprise. "Uh, hi," she managed, her mind suddenly going blank. She couldn't even remember which flavour of ice cream she normally asked for. Was it chocolate? Chocolate chip? Vanilla?
"Hi!" he grinned, probably recognising her as that teal haired girl who kept giving him weird looks. "Would you like some double chocolate chip again, Miss?" he continued, grabbing a bowl and reaching down towards the ice cream tubs. Miku automatically nodded before she caught herself, frowning – how did he know what kind of ice cream she normally ate? Why did he sound like he had actually served her before? The boy held out the bowl while she was still thinking, and she unconsciously reached out for it, desperately trying to remember where she had seen him before.
"You know, this town isn't that big, and there aren't a lot of wedding caterers here," he continued conversationally, blue eyes twinkling. "Plus your teal hair is really distinctive, you don't see many people in town with this hair colour," he added, raising an eyebrow. And suddenly, Miku figured it out.
Instantly her face flamed. While she and Gumi had always managed to blend in with the guests without being caught, their town only had one wedding caterer and that meant…all the weddings she and Gumi crashed were managed by the same company. Meaning that the servers were probably the same for all these events. Meaning this guy must have seen the two of them at other wedding lunches before!
"Uh…I have no idea what you're talking about," she spluttered, holding on tightly to her ice cream and edging away cautiously. The server's smile turned into an outright smirk, a very smug 'I know your secrets now' kind of smirk, and he winked at her while she stood there, struggling to come up with a reply. She could always just turn around and leave, but then that felt like admitting to her guilt. Not that she could refute anything he was implying, anyway. He knew she wasn't invited.
"Sure, sure," he tutted and shook his head, blue eyes still twinkling. "I don't know what you think I'm talking about either, if that makes you feel any better. Your ice cream is going to melt if you don't eat it soon, and there are people waiting for their turn," he added, his gaze darting behind her. Miku glanced back and saw a short line of children, clearly waiting for her to get out of the way, and she hurriedly stood aside, watching the kids run towards the ice cream stand with hunger on their faces.
The server gave her a friendly wave before he started scooping out ice cream for the kids. Feeling extremely embarrassed, Miku practically ran away from the ice cream stand, grateful to at least have her ice cream with her. She was going to have to warn Gumi about the servers recognising them.
"Hey, ice cream girl!" Miku blinked and looked up from her book as someone set their bag down next to her. She was at the cafeteria, looking through her assigned readings for her next class, and she was happily munching on an apple while she read. She had gotten her pocket money so now she was feeling pretty rich. Hopefully she wouldn't spend all the money within two weeks again…
She recognised the boy standing in front of her and immediately, her face flamed. It was the cute ice cream server from the wedding lunch last week. His blue eyes, the colour of the summer sky outside, were bright and cheery as ever. "Uh…hello," she managed to say, her brain shutting down at the sight of him. The boy smiled at her, sitting on the chair beside her and watching her. She fidgeted.
"Did you crash anymore weddings after last week?" he asked, humour in his voice. She shook her head mutely and his smile widened. "Aw, what a pity. I was hoping to see you again. There are lots of weddings around town right now, you know," he continued conversationally while she sat there, mute. "I think everyone's getting married now because it's summer and the weather is so good. I'm working for another wedding lunch this coming Wednesday. Maybe you could drop by that one as well," he laughed, and Miku had no idea if he was being serious or if he was just kidding around with her.
"What makes you think I wasn't invited to that wedding?" she defended herself, putting her apple down. The boy raised an eyebrow and gave her a droll look, and she instantly retreated, knowing that she had no way to back up what she just said. "We're hungry, we're only poor students," she switched tracks instead, playing up the pitiful starving student act. The boy just rolled his eyes.
"Aren't we all?" he asked good-naturedly. "Besides, I couldn't care less. I'm only a server paid to give out food at the wedding. Who comes to take food from me is hardly important. I noticed you and your friend crashing lots of weddings, you know, and after some time it becomes really obvious that you're not on the guest list," he shook his head. "But honestly, if I was given the opportunity I'd probably do the exact same thing," he added, a wicked smile on his lips. "My name's Kagamine Len, and I'm a third-year here. I figured you'd be a university student too. What's your name?" he asked.
Miku felt her face warm. He was really gorgeous, and he was older than her, and he was interested in her enough to actually remember her face and ask her for her name. These all seemed like pretty good signs. "Hatsune Miku," she squeaked, hating the way her voice went higher when she spoke to him. "I'm a second-year here, Business Studies. What about you?" she turned her head away, trying to focus on her textbook instead of on him. But she saw him gazing into the distance with a contemplative look on his face, and found herself wondering what on earth he was thinking about.
"Business, huh?" he mused. "I must say that I'm not surprised, given what you and your friend are doing to get free food. You're going to go far in this field," he smiled crookedly. "Me, I'm in graphic design. Probably going to get myself into advertising or something," he scratched his head, and Miku stared in fascination as the sunlight shining through the windows hit his head at just the right angle, giving his flaxen hair a beautiful glow. "But why are you crashing weddings? Why not just work and get more money?" he reasoned, tilting his head. "I hope I'm not bothering you or anything, by the way," he added, glancing at her textbook. Miku abruptly shut the book and pushed it away.
"No, you're not," she answered firmly, and saw his lips twitch as he tried to hold back his laughter. "I do have a job, but it's not really enough to support my spending habits," she explained, feeling a little embarrassed about her own financial situation. She really ought to be better at managing her money, given that both her parents were accountants… "Gumi – that's my friend, by the way – and I, we decided to gate-crash weddings after realising how easy it is to blend in with all the guests."
"Guess you didn't take into account the fact that the servers are usually all the same at these kinds of events," Len commented, the smirk on his face reminiscent of the smirk he gave her that fateful afternoon. She didn't respond to that, instead focusing hard on her half-eaten apple and trying to ignore the teasing look in his eyes. He was way too attractive for her to handle, and she wondered why he was talking to her. Was he just picking on her since he had noticed her at work?
"Could you stop bringing that up?" she muttered, her cheeks red. He laughed but complied to her request, changing the subject and asking her questions about her major, what she wanted to do in the future, what her past schools were like and other questions about herself. They chatted for quite a while, and before Miku knew it her break was up and it was time for her to go to class. She began to panic, shoving everything into her backpack and silently cursing the fact that she failed to get any of her readings done, and Len made way for her as she zipped up her bag and prepared to leave.
"Oh, but before you go, can I have your number?" he called out just as she took a step away from her table. She glanced back and unthinkingly rattled off her number while Len took it down on his phone, and he gave her a thumbs-up before she looked around and went on her way. It was only when she was rushing across campus that she realised exactly what she had done, and she groaned to herself, wondering why she had given her contact details out so readily. Well, at least Len was nice.
Len glanced at his girlfriend, who was digging into her tub of ice cream as she stared, transfixed by the horror movie playing on his screen. He was suddenly reminded of how they first met, and with a small smile he leant over and grabbed the tub of ice cream out of her hand. Miku hit his shoulder.
"Give…that…back!" she demanded, practically climbing over him in an attempt to get her ice cream back. Len laughed as he held it just out of reach, effortlessly evading her attempts to snatch the tub. Miku growled and, horror movie momentarily forgotten, she leapt onto his lap, scrabbling for the ice cream tub. Len fell back against the couch, trying to hold it as far away from himself as possible.
"Would you like some double chocolate chip ice cream again?" he choked out, trying not to laugh. Miku stiffened at those words, then abruptly she fell back against him, causing him to gasp as she knocked the breath out of his lungs. "Hey, you're getting heavy," he commented, setting the ice cream tub down on the table and wrapping his arms around her, nuzzling into her hair. Miku just sighed but said nothing in response, curling her toes and lying on him. He inhaled her scent.
"Stop bringing that up," Miku finally groaned, turning her head towards the screen and wincing as some crazy axeman tried to hack through a door. "Or I'm going to stop coming over to your house," she continued, reaching out to the table to grab her tub of ice cream. Len just grinned and ruffled her hair, and she complained while batting his hand away, opening the tub with her other hand.
He vividly remembered how they got together. Basically, he just asked her out on a date a few days after getting her number and, to his surprise, she agreed. They got along well – he brought her to an ice cream parlour on their first date, much to her chagrin – and Len thought that this relationship might actually lead somewhere. After a few more outings, Miku asked him whether he was currently seeing anyone else, and he told her no, that him seeing her was pretty much an exclusive thing.
Honestly, he didn't set out looking for a girlfriend or anything when he first spoke to her. He just remembered her as that girl who was constantly swiping free food from wedding lunches as an uninvited guest, and that just amused him so much that he thought it would be fun to mess around with her. He thought she might be a student from his school since she looked like she was around his age, and clearly luck was on his side since he managed to find her on campus within a week. Len hardly spent any time on campus, which made his sudden encounter with her even more surprising.
Miku was the kind of girl who was ridiculously easy to tease. It made her extremely cute, and the best thing was that she didn't even seem to notice how adorable she was. She did have a rather overprotective best friend he had to deal with, but once Gumi was certain that Len was a decent person she stepped back and stopped breathing over their shoulders all the time. Len's favourite thing to do was to bring up the time he served her ice cream, that sunny afternoon on a giant front yard. Now that was something he'd never forget. Their relationship by itself may not be extremely unique or spectacular, but he was certain that the way they first met was pretty special.
"Are you even watching the show?" Miku, who was shovelling ice cream into her mouth by this point, looked up at him while he gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling. "I know you don't like horror movies but you're the one who suggested watching this…" she continued, averting her gaze and staring at the screen again. Len made a face but didn't say a word, instead choosing to just hold her in his arms and idly watch the action onscreen. He found horror movies a bit dumb really, but Miku was a total horror junkie so he watched them with her, amusing himself by noticing all the loopholes and logic flaws that made horror movies so unrealistic. Miku said that she just liked the adrenaline rush of watching horror, which he understood – he'd just prefer to get an adrenaline kick from something else. Like maybe extreme sports or something. But Miku would never willingly participate in any kind of physical activity.
"I was just thinking that you're really cute, and I think I'm lucky to have you," he answered honestly. Miku clammed up, and he saw the pink tint that spread across her face as she registered what he said. He smiled, glad that even after one year together he could still make her blush so easily. He was in his final year now, and academically they were one year apart, but in every other aspect they were the same – Miku was actually his age, and was only one year below him in university because she hadn't managed to clear enough courses during her first year, so she was unable to move up.
She was so straightforward and honest, and she had no qualms about doing slightly questionable things to get what she wanted, like the sneaking into wedding parties thing – in other words, she was very…real, which was a nice change from his exes. He only had two ex-girlfriends, and one of them had been a cheater while the other was a backstabbing liar who disappeared the moment he stopped forking out money to fund her expensive lifestyle. Sometimes, Len questioned his own life decisions. But Miku wasn't like them. She was decent and truthful, and he enjoyed that.
"It's not like you to suddenly get all mushy," she narrowed her eyes and squinted suspiciously at him. "Did you do something wrong, Len?" she continued, poking his ribs mercilessly. Len yelped and tried to squirm way, but she was sitting firmly on his chest and he couldn't move unless he tossed her off the sofa – something which he wouldn't do no matter how much tickle torture she put him through. So he just tried to push her hands away and avoid her until he was laughing uncontrollably, tears stinging his eyes. "Tell me what you did!" she threatened sweetly, still poking his sides.
Len successfully seized her hands and held them tightly together, preventing her from tickling him anymore. "Nothing," he gasped out, hot tears running down his face. "Is it against the law for me to show appreciation for my girlfriend, hmm? I mean, you're so resourceful – I know we're never going to starve since we can always just crash someone's wedding, right?" his lips curled up teasingly.
Miku gaped at him for a moment, then yanked her hands away from his grip and attacked him with renewed vigour. Len succumbed after a while, and the two of them just lay on the couch together, laughing breathlessly, the ice cream and the bad horror movie forgotten. Len would quite like to marry the girl staring down at him with those sparkling green eyes – he just hoped that no one would gate-crash their wedding lunch. Then again, it might lead to someone finding new love, the way he and Miku did. That would be a nice happily-ever-after.
A/N: Quick one-shot because nowadays I'm not really in the mood to write and maybe this will get me back on track. Kind of didn't know where I was going with this, it was the front part I was most interested in and the rest was written really hastily. Hopefully y'all will like it even though it's not super fleshed-out!