Hey there! This is my first E21 fic! HiruMamo of course! My OTP of E21!
In this fic, the two are already dating. It's slightly AU, but true HiruMamo fans will just say "what the hell" and read!
Disclaimer: I don't own the song "There's a Fine, Fine Line". It's from Avenue Q, the musical.
"Happy birthday Mamori-neechan!"
It was Mamori Anezaki's seventeenth birthday, and the entire gang of the Deimon Devilbats had put in money to throw her a party at a popular Karaoke place. They now sat in the large room, stuffing cake and food into their mouths and egging one another on to sing something. "Thanks everyone," Mamori smiled. "This is so nice of you."
"No problem at all Mamori-san!" Monta exclaimed, standing up on his couch and pointing towards the sky, as he usually did. "I'm going to make sure that your birthday party will be fun to the max!"
"Why are we here again?" Kuroki asked his two fellow Hah brothers, Juumonji and Togano.
"I have no problem with free food," Juumonji shrugged as he took a slice of pizza. "And anyway, you know what Hiruma would do if we didn't come to his girlfriend's party…"
The three shot a scared look at the Quarterback of the Deimon Devilbats and boyfriend of the birthday girl. Ever since Mamori and Hiruma had started dating a few months ago, the three Hah brothers had made sure to stay on Mamori's good side as well as Hiruma's.
"I bought you these cream puffs, Mamori!" Kurita smiled, handing Mamori a box of cream puffs. Hiruma shot a smirk at his girlfriend as she took the pastries.
"I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't want her getting anymore pudgy then she already is!" he smirked and Mamori shot him a look.
"Enough!" Mamori frowned, and Hiruma shot her another smirk as he opened his laptop and began to type. "Can't you put that thing away for just a second?"
"I'm busy, fucking manager," he said curtly. "Just have fun and ignore me, all right?"
"See anything you want to sing Sena?" Monta asked, looking over Sena's shoulder as he flipped through the Karaoke songs.
"Hmm…not sure," Sena smiled. "I've never been too good at singing. But hey, they have a lot of western songs too!"
"Oh! Let's sing this one together!" Monta suggested, pointing to a song in the list. "The theme from my favorite show!"
"B-but I don't know that one!" Sena sputtered as Monta pulled him up to the microphones and selected the song. Monta, of course, broke into song too fast, extremely eager to get the song out, and Sena stumbled through to keep up.
There were lots of laughs as the group heard the duo singing horribly. Even Cerberus, the team's dog, stuck out his tongue and panted showing what could have been translated into some form of smile. The only who refused to laugh was Hiruma, who was still hard at work.
Mamori glanced over at Hiruma, then stood up and walked over to him, putting her arm around his shoulder and giving him a kiss on the cheek. He grimaced and looked at her. The song turned into a mumble, since Monta had just dropped his microphone in "maxi-shock". He still hadn't exactly gotten used to the fact that Mamori was dating Hiruma…
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Do you have to act all fucking mushy all the time?" he snapped, closing his laptop. "Drives me crazy."
Mamori frowned at her boyfriend and then shook her head. "Hiruma…I…"
"I told you I'm busy," he said, opening the laptop again and continuing to type. "Just go sing or whatever."
"Want to sing with me?"
"No. I don't want to fucking sing."
"Oh c'mon!" Mamori insisted. "No one will laugh at you if you do! Do it for me, okay?"
"I said no!" Hiruma growled. "Just shut the hell up, will you?" His last snap was colder then the others, and Mamori pulled back. Hiruma flinched slightly, but quickly returned to his screen, refusing to look at Mamori.
The others were busy singing, Daikichi doing a rather poor job of spitting out the lyrics. No one even saw the sad, anxious look on Mamori's face.
"Hiruma…?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you love me?"
"What?" The blonde haired quarterback stopped to look at his girlfriend as the two walked home from school. Mamori turned to him, her eyes narrowed slightly. "What the hell kind of question is that?"
"I told you that I love you," Mamori said. "And I do. I love you, Youichi Hiruma. D-do you feel the same way?"
"We're dating, aren't we? Isn't that enough?" Hiruma snapped, looking at the sidewalk. "What's with all these fucking love questions?"
"Do you?" Hiruma stopped in his tracks and turned to Mamori.
"That's a stupid question to ask," Hiruma snapped and then continued to walk.
"Can't you just give me a yes or no answer?" Mamori asked, jogging to catch up with his brisk strides. "I just want to know."
"Can we just drop the fucking thing?" he snapped, gritting his teeth and refusing to look at Mamori. "You're being stupid."
Mamori frowned, and then looked down at the ground, "Fine…we'll just 'drop it'."
"Good."
Mamori frowned at Hiruma and then swiftly turned around and grasped the book of songs out of Kurita's hands. "Oh! You want to sing something Mamori?" Kurita asked, smiling. Mamori nodded and then scanned the list.
"Good…they have it…" she nodded and stepped forward to the microphone. She took it in her hands and then selected the song from the computer screen. The music started; it was a song on the slower beat, and Mamori took a deep breath before beginning.
There's a fine, fine line between a lover and a friend;
There's a fine, fine line between reality and pretend;
And you never know 'til you reach the top if it was worth the uphill climb.
Hiruma suddenly looked up as he heard his girlfriend singing the song. And when he looked at her, he was surprised to see that she was looking straight back at him, an extremely serious expression on her face. It was as if her eyes were drilling into him, cornering him for everything he had done.
There's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of time.
There's a fine, fine line between a fairy tale and a lie;
And there's a fine, fine line between "You're wonderful" and "Goodbye."
I guess if someone doesn't love you back it isn't such a crime,
But there's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of your time.
Mamori sang louder and louder, her eyes growing hot with the threat of tears pouring out of them. Hiruma's eyes were also growing louder. His laptop lay forgotten on his legs, and his fingers rested lazily on the keyboard. He winced as she sang each word, and a small frown began to grow on his face as he looked at Mamori.
And I don't have the time to waste on you anymore.
I don't think that you even know what you're looking for.
For my own sanity, I've got to close the door
And walk away...
Oh...
Hiruma's eyes widened as Mamori sang the passionate verse that seemed to be thrust straight at him. He looked at her and stood up suddenly, his laptop falling. Monta gasped and rushed forward, catching the laptop before it hit the ground. By now, the entire group's eyes were no longer on Mamori, but Hiruma. For once, he looked guilty, and surprised.
Mamori, however, was looking as though she had just cleared a plateau. She was singing at the top of her lungs, and her words rung out through the room.
There's a fine, fine line between together and not
And there's a fine, fine line between what you wanted and what you got.
You gotta go after the things you want while you're still in your prime...
Mamori paused before the final words of her song to look at Hiruma with a cold dark stare. She shook her head at him and closed her eyes as tears fell down her cheeks. She sighed, trying to calm her voice, and looked up.
There's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of time.
There was a small pause as the song ended. Soon, Daikichi began to clumsily applaud, as did the rest of the group, excluding Hiruma. Mamori put down the microphone and rushed out the room, tears now flowing freely from her eyes. The group stood up, anxious. "Mamori-neechan?" Sena asked, stepping forward to go after her, only to have a long arm stop him.
Hiruma looked down at him and shook his head. "Let me handle this, fucking shrimp," he said. "After all…I caused it."
The group looked at one another in confusion as Hiruma walked out of the room after Mamori, leaving the others alone in the room and completely in the dark.
"Don't cry…"
Mamori looked up. She had been huddled outside the building, her knees tucked in to her body, hiding her crying, but not the shaking that was going through her entire body. Her eyes met Hiruma's and she looked away. "Don't…cry," he repeated. "Do anything but cry, damn it!"
"I meant it," she said sharply as Hiruma sat down. "Just what I said. I meant every word."
"I know."
There was a pause. Mamori didn't know what else to say, but the words seemed to explode from her mouth without thinking. "I think we should break--"
Mamori's words were stopped by Hiruma's lips capturing hers in a swift motion. Mamori frowned and pushed him away, her face red. "You think anything can be made all right just by you kissing me?" she asked, tears falling from her face. "Don't you get it, Hiruma! Don't you get that I can't exist like this?"
"I didn't kiss you so that you'd forgive me," Hiruma said sharply. "I did that so you would stop talking, damn it! I've got something to say!"
Mamori stopped as Hiruma slowly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to whisper. "I'm sorry!" he spit out the apology like acid. "I'm fucking sorry!" His apology was sincere, loud, and organic. Mamori was shocked that not a single sarcastic or nasty word came out from his mouth as he poured his guts out to Mamori. "You want to know the truth!" he screamed. "You drive me crazy! I can't stand it when I'm not around you!"
"Hiruma…"
"Sometimes…" Hiruma murmured quickly, as if admitting shame. "Sometimes I would schedule weekend practice just because I couldn't stand not seeing you anymore!" He grimaced at his weakness. "And whenever you walk, or whenever you talk, or whenever you breathe, I want to watch everything! It makes me feel so good to watch you!"
"Hiruma, you don't have--"
"Mamori, I—" he stopped, gritting his teeth. "I'm not the kind of fucking idiot who can just say whatever the hell's on his mind when it comes to crap like this. I get scared…scared that it might not be the right thing," he explained. "And I get flustered…I get so fucking flustered with who I am!"
Mamori looked at Hiruma as he pulled back and looked into her eyes. "M-Mamori…I l-lo…I lo-love…"
Mamori put her finger on Hiruma's lips and shushed him. She hook her head, crying once more. "You don't have to say anything. Just don't say anything that might change you!" Mamori screamed, throwing herself forward. "I-I know…I know how you feel…"
Hiruma hugged her back, shaking his head. "Thank you…"
And there's a fine, fine line…
Between love…