Author's Note: The sugar daddy fic I didn't know I needed to write. Don't worry about my other fics.

What we should really be worried about is the military coup in Myanmar.

"Fuck! Hyuuga, not again." A collective groan rose among the boys of class 3A, who had been watching Eijiro Wakamura challenge Natsume Hyuuga in a game of poker. "Don't you already have enough money?"

Natsume, heir to his family's formidable fortune, glared at the losing boy as he raked in the chips he had just won - fair and square. He and his family most definitely had enough money, but he couldn't resist showing off his intelligence and skills through his side hustles, which mainly revolved around gambling.

"He's probably going to grow up and be one of those pervy old men who have tons of young sugar babies," muttered an unknown classmate. A ripple of agreement ran through the crowd, turning away in seething disgust.

Just as Natsume ignored the envy and the disdain of his peers, he ignored the hate thrown his way. He didn't need any of them. He didn't need anybody.

"Stop flaunting your wealth, Natsume. It's getting obnoxious," said his best friend, Ruka Nogi, bluntly. Natsume would say he kept a tight circle of friends, but really, Ruka was his one and only friend. He supposed some of Ruka's friends could be considered his "friends."

He preferred to label them as friendly acquaintances, though.

Natsume stared deadpan at his friend as he unconsciously organized his chips. "What else am I supposed to do with all my money?"

"Donate it? Buy things? Be a sugar daddy? I'm sure you can figure something out."

Now that Ruka had repeated the idea, Natsume was struck by inspiration. Everyone expected only older creepy men who had hoarded their money to be sugar daddies. It was a power move, the ultimate exhibition of indulgence, to take care of someone else completely just because they could.

It was decided, then; Natsume Hyuuga would be the youngest sugar daddy they'd ever seen.

"Now, Natsume, is this really necessary? You know I was just kidding."

"I have enough money. I don't see why not." Natsume kept his eyes on the crowd of students moving around in the quad: laughing, chatting, making good memories.

The only thing Natsume liked about the school was….

Scratch that, he didn't like anything about the school. Ruka was really his only reason for attending.

Everyone wanted money. Over the years, Natsume had to do his fair share of fending off grubby gold-diggers in the form of fake friends and greedy "girlfriends."

In such a prestigious academy where wealth determined hierarchy, Natsume was at the top. Or at least, near the top, since his vulgar displays were making him quickly lose favor in the eyes of his classmates.

Natsume bristled at the direction of his thoughts and mentally blocked himself from going further. He didn't care, he reminded himself, not because nobody cared about him, but because he had never cared. He didn't care first.

It was his decision not to care, just like it was his decision to show everyone else up and pick a sugar baby. Natsume knew a lot of girls who'd be willing to fill that position, but they would most likely spend it frivolously, just like they did with their own money, on latest trends and fleeting pleasures.

He really wanted to use his money. He wanted to pick someone up from the dirt and shove their transformation into his classmates' faces.

He wanted…

"Sakura."

At the school gates, the brunette girl turned around. Mikan Sakura had arrived at the academy only a few months ago when the school year started and had promptly found herself bullied for her lack of connections, her lack of family, and her lack of status.

She eyed Natsume warily as he approached her casually. He had taken part of that bullying as well. Just a little.

"Let's grab something to eat," he said, crowding her with his body.

Unconsciously, she took a step back. "Right now?"

"Yeah. My treat."

Unaware of his intentions, but guided by her empty stomach, she allowed him to lead her to a nearby cafe, where she ordered a healthy salad, a chocolate milkshake, and a slice of fruit tart for dessert. She had quite an appetite.

Natsume ordered a light and fluffy crepe drizzled with berries. Contrary to Mikan's expectations based on previous interactions with him, Natsume offered her a taste.

A neat square of crepe topped with a strawberry slice balanced on the fork as he dangled it in front of her face. Still wary, she leaned forward and ate the little piece off his fork, her tongue sliding along the tines and swiping Natsume's fork clean.

He resumed eating with the very same fork.

Taking a sip of her milkshake, Mikan gathered her courage. "So why did you take me here?"

He ignored her. "So you're an orphan?"

Mikan spluttered, raising a napkin to her mouth to avoid upchucking her milkshake everywhere.

"Uh, yes, Natsume. That is true. A very personal question to ask, but I suppose it is common knowledge." Stuffing a forkful of lettuce into her mouth, she mumbled, "But I guess you don't know a thing about boundaries."

Neatly slicing his crepe, he continued, "You're still living at St. Kazumi's Orphanage, even though you're 18. You've been bouncing around schools in the district until our school offered you a full scholarship because of the connection between our high school principal and the orphanage's director. Your uniform isn't tailored for you. Your hair hasn't been washed in a couple of days. You never cover up your pimples. You have no friends at the school because of who you are and how messy you look."

She cut in, "Are you trying to bully me again?"

"No, no, I'm here to make an arrangement." He finished the last of his meal and dabbed at his mouth with the napkin.

"An arrangement?"

"Yes, have you ever heard of a 'sugar daddy' before?" Mikan tilted her head in curiosity. "You haven't? Well, it's usually when a rich guy, such as myself, helps take care of a poor girl, such as yourself."

Her eyebrows scrunched together. "Like a foster care kind of thing?"

"Not quite. Think of it more like I will pay to take care of you and whatever you might need in exchange for you keeping me company."

"Like a prostitute." Mikan stood up, ready to leave such ridiculous talk behind. She had tolerated the slandering and name-calling, but there was a line she drew.

Natsume caught her elbow and stopped her. "I'm not asking for sex." Still seeing the disbelief on her face, he added, "Really."

The sincerity in his eyes convinced her, but… "But why do you want to be a sugar daddy?" She sat back down.

Natsume shrugged. "Because I can. Because I have the money. Because usually it's rich old guys with nothing to do with their money throwing it away, and I want to prove I can do that, too, even though I'm young."

"You're really egotistical, you know that?" she said jokingly.

"I have a superiority complex. I know."

"Oh, well, I'm glad you know. I hope you work on that." The waiter brought over her tart, which she promptly dug into. "So what exactly do you have in mind?"

"The basics first. When was the last time you went to the doctor? The dentist? Or had a real good bath?" He pulled her hand towards him, examining her nails. In comparison, his own were neatly trimmed and polished. "Had a manicure? Had a haircut?"

Heat prickling her cheeks out of embarrassment and shame, she started to pull away, but his grip was firm. "I - I can't afford all that. Even with the national health system. But I especially can't pay to go to a salon."

"Which is where I come in. I pay for everything, including a new wardrobe."

Mikan sat back, alarmed, head whirling to calculate everything. "That's a lot of money, Natsume. You can't just throw it away."

His expression grew serious as he lowered his voice. "Do you think so lowly of yourself that you see me spending money on you as the same as throwing it away? Don't you think you deserve to have your needs met?"

"And your needs?" Mikan asked, undeterred by his sudden intensity. "What do you expect in return?"

A smirk bloomed on his lips, knowing he had gotten past the first hurdle of reluctance. "Since we're starting with the basics, I just want you to go around looking nice, flaunt all the things I give you, maybe hang on my arm a bit. A kiss every once in a while would be nice."

"I haven't kissed anyone before," she muttered, scraping the last piece of crust off her plate.

A pang of dark possessiveness struck Natsume, a flash of heat inside his body. "Good."

"Good?" She looked at him incredulously. "I don't know if you want someone as inexperienced as me trying to kiss you."

"I'll be the judge of that," he said simply, sitting back and taking a sip of his sparkling water.

Mikan ruminated on his offer, rolling the idea around in her mind to see how it stuck. As a ward of the state, she couldn't afford a lot of luxuries, and well, it sounded pretty nice to be finally taken care of. She often had to fight for her turn in the bathroom, and as one of the oldest kids in the orphanage, she spent most of her time taking care of the younger ones.

It was just the idea of Natsume's excessive wealth and spending so much so nonchalantly that turned her off. Maybe she could convince him not to go all out; maybe he could exercise a little bit of restraint.

And well, pretending to be Natsume's friend and hanging around him didn't sound so bad. At her previous schools, when she did have friends, she had enjoyed going out with them, visiting cafes and just talking, like the two of them were at the moment. Natsume's friend, Ruka, was known to be kind.

"Ruka's your best friend, right?" she asked suddenly.

"Yeah." Suddenly, walls rebuilt themselves inside Natsume. "Why are you asking? I'm going to be your sugar daddy. He has nothing to do with this."

"Relax, I was just asking because I figure if such a nice guy like Ruka is your best friend, you must have some redeeming quality."

"I'm a nice guy, too."

"Really?" Mikan raised her eyebrows in skepticism. "Because I distinctly remember you pulling my pigtails and saying rude things to me at the beginning of the year. Something about me being childish and stupid."

"No high school girl should still be wearing pigtails unless you're trying to attract pedophiles. I was just trying to protect you."

And now he was just trying to care for her.

Mikan folded her hands on the table. "Okay, so let's say I let you take me to the doctor, the dentist, and the salon. You pay for my check-ups and whatever beauty treatments I need for my skin, hair, nails, whatever. Then at school, I talk to you and be your arm candy. Is that correct?"

"Correct. And we also start getting you better clothes, maybe some jewelry." For the first time, the idea of becoming a sugar daddy spurred a different feeling inside Natsume as he envisioned Mikan twirling around in clothes he bought her, wearing expensive things he gave her. "Handbags for outings, and shoes, all kinds of shoes - "

"Whoa, whoa, calm down there." Mikan had seen the frenzy growing in his eyes, but it didn't scare her. He just seemed very excited to be giving things to her; maybe being a sugar daddy was a hobby Natsume was meant to have. "Let's just start at the clothes and go from there. Is there a formal contract you want me to sign?"

Natsume almost smiled, the earlier eagerness still coursing through him. "No, a verbal agreement works. If you're really worried about being taken advantage of or about the whole tax filing part, I can give you straight cash right here, right now. You can just take it, free of anything."

God, he wished she would just take it.

Mikan shook her head, almost embarrassed by how shameless he was. "No. Stop, I don't want that."

"I just want to make sure you're taken care of. I swear."

Almost rehearsed, as though they were acting in a movie, the waiter came by at that very moment and brought the bill. Natsume smoothly took out a few bills, more than enough from what Mikan saw, before handing it back.

"Keep the change as a tip." Judging by the prices on the menu and the thick bundle of cash, Natsume had more than paid double the amount of the meal.

"Thank you, sir." The waiter bowed, and Natsume inclined his head to accept the gratitude.

In her head, Mikan remembered a piece of dating advice an older girl had given her at the orphanage, back when she was only twelve years old.

"You can really tell if he's a nice guy by how he treats those he thinks are lesser than him. If you're on a date and he says all these nice things about how beautiful you are, but treats the waiter like trash, dump him."

Maybe he was a little misguided, but Natsume was a generous guy.

"Okay."

Natsume offered to call his driver, but Mikan insisted on walking. Obviously, he escorted her, arm slung around her shoulders.

At first, Mikan was hesitant, but after a few blocks, she had grown used to it.

Mikan had always considered Natsume a reserved and closed-off guy, but she guessed their new agreement had already fostered some kind of intimacy between them because on the walk home, Natsume spilled literally everything about his life.

"That's my favorite arcade. I would hang with Ruka there in elementary school because I didn't like how empty my house was. Still is."

"So for the longest time, I thought I was attracted to boys, but then I realized the reason I was staring at their bodies so much was because I was internally comparing my own. But now my self-confidence is much better after I started working out."

"I suppose my brash attitude does stem from my childhood trauma and fear of my uncle."

She soaked in all the information she was learning about him, rebuilding the image she had of Natsume in her head. They hadn't interacted much the last few months, but she had heard the nasty gossip, and his reputation certainly preceded his big, fat ego.

They arrived at the doors of the orphanage, located in the outskirts of the city, next to a decent-sized park. The children would most likely be cleaning up for dinner soon, and Mikan hoped nobody happened to be peeking out the windows.

"Well, thanks for walking me home," she said quickly, shrugging his arm off. "Bye!"

Natsume caught her hand. "No kiss goodbye?"

"Uh, my lips are dry, and my breath probably stinks. Bye!"

"Wait, let me see."

His thumb brushed over her bottom lip. While her lips weren't chapped, she definitely needed to stay more hydrated. He made a mental note to buy her a water bottle and to start sending her reminders.

"Hn," was all the warning he gave before he swooped low and slanted his lips over hers.

She remembered to close her eyes and stayed still for him. For the first kiss, he didn't move, but for the second one, there was a soft wet sound as he puckered and parted his lips against her. The third, fourth, fifth, and many others were laid on her in rapid succession, each one excruciatingly gentle.

So unlike the Natsume she had known before.

"Stay still," he whispered before trailing kisses all over her face, across her nose, down her cheek, underneath her jaw. His hands reached up to nestle in her hair, holding her in place.

Nudging aside her hair with his nose, he nibbled at her ear lobe, his hot breath sending a delicious shiver down her back.

She giggled.

"You like that?"

"It tickles," she admitted, but a particular suckle of his mouth on her neck made her arch a bit more, her laugh turning into more of a soft sigh.

Her hands reached up to fist his shirt as she clung onto him. His mouth opened wider, and she felt the sharp nip of his teeth, followed by the warm, wet massage of his tongue.

Unexpectedly, he leaned down to her collarbone and licked one long hot stripe up her entire neck, causing her breath to hitch.

Then Mikan felt a tingle somewhere she had never felt before, somewhere she knew was inappropriate to be tingling for a platonic classmate.

Pushing him away, she stammered a quick, "See you tomorrow," before escaping through the front doors.