A/N: In case someone reads this… somewhen in the future, consider it set in early February of 2003. Yeah, it does matter. … Kind of.
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"Idiot."
"C'mon, Ren! Me an' Chocolove spent hours making this card! Don't be rude about it!" Horohoro whined, staring at Ren with a plaintive expression.
Ren sighed, and shook his head. "How hard is it to remember my birthday, anyway? It's on the first of the year. That's a memorable date, right?"
"Well, uh… so what if the card's a bit late? It's the thought that counts, right?" asked Horohoro, sounding completely and totally serious. He paused for a moment, face scrunching up as he concentrated on something. What was he supposed to remember? Oh yeah! "…Ah! We're holding a party for you! Since, y'know, you're sixteen now and all…"
"Seventeen."
"Huh?" Horohoro frowned, and stared blankly for a moment. "Oh. Uh, right. You were born in … uh, nineteen… eighty-six? So you're sixteen!"
"… no. I already had my birthday. I'm seventeen now. It's simple math, idiot."
"Oh. Uh, there's something else I'm supposed to tell you…" Horohoro frowned again. He wasn't always the smartest of shamans, but at least he was a nice guy, right? It's personality and morals that count, not intelligence—or at least, that's what he likes to tell himself. "…oh yeah! It's a surprise party! I'm not supposed to tell you about it!"
Horohoro was feeling pretty proud of himself for remembering that, until he realized that yes, he had just told Ren about something that was supposed to be a surprise. "Uhm, just forget I said that, okay?"
"Idiot." Really, what more needed to be said?
"Hey, I might be stupid, but at least I don't insult people for no reason!" Naturally, Horohoro didn't take kindly to insults. He was too cool to be insulted like that! So what if he wasn't the smartest shaman ever? Just because he wasn't smart didn't mean he was stupid—oh, wait… Well then. Still, he didn't deserve being called an idiot! Well, okay maybe he did, but still, it wasn't encouraging to have your idol insult you like that, and—
"Why are you still here, anyway?" Whoah, Ren looked pretty pissed. Scary. So what if Ren was working on something? Horohoro had stuff to tell him, you know! It was a job! He'd messed it up a bit, but that didn't matter. He was just doing what Yoh and Chocolove had told him to do. Then again, he realized, Ren was probably pretty annoyed by the interruption. Ren generally wasn't all that patient, and Horohoro wasn't being all that fast, so yeah, maybe that was it. Still. That shouldn't matter!
"Go away." Ren was looking a bit more annoyed now. "I'm sewing." Oh yeah! Horohoro had been mocking him about that earlier!
This most definitely needed further investigation. "Sewing a pretty dress for yourself, eh, Ren-ren?" Well, investigation and teasing, but who wants to get technical about it?
"No."
"What'cha sewing then, Ren-ren?"
"Don't call me that." Ren's eye was twitching a little bit. That, Horohoro decided, was probably not a good sign. Really, he should probably leave Ren alone for now. He couldn't just quite yet, though.
"Uhm, Yoh told me to ask you something!" Horohoro stated it simply because he could. He wasn't entirely sure what it was that he was supposed to ask Ren, but he knew it was something. Maybe he could just make something up. That would work, right? Ren would never know. Yoh might get annoyed, though, although that was unlikely because of how laid back he was. Jeez, what was he supposed to ask Ren? You don't ask Ren questions. It's weird! Oh, wait, wait. He'd wanted to ask Ren something for a long time. It wasn't really a question, per se, but…
"You wanna go to dinner tonight, Ren-ren?"
"…what?" That tic in Ren's eye was kind of funny. Ren was fairly amusing overall at the moment, actually. He was sitting on the floor, glaring at Horohoro with one eye twitching slightly. Still wearing his pajamas, and with a needle in hand, his overall image was an odd mix of 'terrifying' and 'cute.'
"You, me, and a restaurant." Horohoro nodded. "Dinner. You know? Dinner? When you eat food, generally after five o'clock?"
"I know what dinner is, you moron."
"Then why'd you ask?" You don't ask 'what' when you're not asking what something is! That's not how it works. Horohoro isn't stupid, but he isn't a genius, and sometimes he takes questions a bit too literally. You can never really be sure what a person's asking, so using the most literal interpretation of a question's a good idea! You're more likely to tell them what they want to know, if you answer their question as directly as possible, right? It's a great idea!
Except when, well, it's not.
This time around, it probably wasn't the greatest of ideas. "I know what dinner is, you moron." Definitely not a good idea. "Why?"
"'Coz people generally eat in the evening?" The smart-alecky reply probably wasn't a wonderful idea, either. This conversation really wasn't going so well for Horohoro, was it? In case you haven't figured it out, the answer to that is NO.
What Horohoro had just said wasn't worth an actual insult, or any kind of intelligent reply at all, really. Instead, Ren replied with, "Why are you asking me to dinner?" How he managed to speak in italics, the world may never know. There you have it, though.
"Because I feel like it?" That wasn't it, actually. Yoh had suggested the idea. Sure, Yoh had been snickering a bit when he suggested it, but it was still a good idea, right? It's good to do stuff for people on their birthdays! …even if it's a month after their birthday!
"Idiot." Ren really wasn't too happy today, was he?
Horohoro wasn't too tactful today, either. "So," he said, "You wanna go to dinner, or what?"
There was a pause.
"If it will make you shut up and leave me alone for now, yes."
-+owari!+-
A/N: End chapter three. Can YOU guess where this is heading? … Nope, I don't have any clue either! :D