The doorbell rings. This is strange, because everyone who lives in the house should have a pair of keys, and Masaomi and Ukyo explained long ago to everyone the importance of not losing their keys by leaving the more forgetful brothers locked out of the house.
Power hungry assholes, Kaname thinks fondly. Now, as he considers whether or not to answer the doorbell, he thinks he would've done exactly the same thing.
This lesson was mostly impressed onto him every time Kaname returned from a late night high school party or a midnight romp, smelling of somebody else's perfume. Those occasions usually coincided with him discovering he'd left his keys god knows where.
Kaname looks around helplessly from his position lounging on the sofa with his homework. Nobody is rushing to the door.
Ring.
He groans.
"I've go it!" He shouts to the house at large.
Three voices chime in varying thanks and he rolls his eyes at his brothers. It's not like he can't hear the sounds of zombies dying and shooter games being played in the other room.
Kaname lazily walks over and opens the door to a little girl bundled up tightly in a purple coat. She has a grey squirrel on her shoulder.
She stares at him wide-eyed, as if in surprise, like she was expecting to see someone else.
He stares at her squirrel. It stares back.
Ok then, Kaname thinks.
In the face of the weird, Kaname decides to roll with it. He's grown up with thirteen brothers and an absent mother, aft all. He's got this. He thinks to the training he's been getting at his new part-time host club job and resorts persona.
"Good afternoon," Kaname smiles charmingly. The whites of his teeth sparkle. That new toothpaste his boss recommended him is clearly paying off. "Can I help you with something?"
The squirrel hisses and Kaname startles at the sound. It lunges at Kaname and he grapples with it's tiny body, trying to keep its clawing limbs and teeth away from his face.
"Juli! Juli, stop that!" The little girl jumps in to help. She starts jumping around him, trying to snatch the squirrel away but Kaname is so tall that she can barely manage to grasp at the squirrel's tail.
Louise rushes into the entrance-way upon hearing the sounds of the struggle, probably moving faster than he's ever moved before in his life.
"What's going..." He looks on, helpless and wide-eyed.
The squirrel is chittering away and Kaname doesn't know what the hell it wants from him anymore.
"Juli, no! Stop it, please!"
"Is that Ema-chan's voice?" Someone says from the other room, Kaname doesn't quite hear who's speaking because he's still struggling to remove the squirrel from his person.
His, face, specifically. The one he needs for his job. Kaname rather likes having a disposable income, thanks.
"Oh, it's alright. He's just a little overzealous. Do you have a pet carrier for him?" Kaname asks when he detaches the squirrel from his face, holding it by the scruff of its neck.
He rattles out the question a little unsteadily, giving the little girl his ingrained host smile. The squirrel, Juli, apparently, hisses at him.
He can see Yusuke giving it a distrustful evil eye from behind him.
Meanwhile, the little girl is distraught.
"I'm so so sorry about that! I don't know what came over him, he's usually so well-behaved." She's bowing, now and there's an embarrassed blush all over her face. Kaname feels a little bad for her because it sounds like she's a lot more distressed about this than he his.
Sure, he just had his feathers ruffled pretty well but she genuinely sounds near tears.
"Here, let me take him," Louis intervenes, taking hold of the still squirming squirrel.
He walks away, whispering to it comfortingly. Oddly enough, the squirrel seems a lot less tense. Kaname immediately resents him for it.
Then he look back at this poor little girl and considers his bedraggled appearance.
I'm probably not going to be calming anyone down with my hair in this state.
Luckily, Yusuke steps up to save the day.
"What are you doing here?"
The question makes her look up from the shameful staring contest she was having with the door-mat, but she still looks upset.
Good job Yusuke, caustic as usual. You really do have a way with women, Kaname thinks.
Kaname figures he should be the unhappy one in this situation, but he'll give the little girl half his age and half his height the benefit of the doubt.
"Oh, you know each other then? Why don't you invite your little friend inside? i'd hate to keep such a pretty girl out in the cold to freeze."
Yusuke turns red and Kaname smirks. Oh? Interesting... Then he kicks himself for spending too much time around Hikaru. His mental dialogue is starting to sound suspiciously like his brother's. That what he gets for helping him to research for his book-in-progress (considering how short it is, it's more of a novella).
Yusuke steels himself.
"Kaname, this is Ema. Ema, this is one of my other older brothers, Kaname."
Something clicks. The short hair, curling cutely around her chin. The unsure, coltish stance. The wide eyes.
"Oh, you're the infamous Ema!"
"Uhm, yes..? It's nice to meet you!" She bows once more.
They were right, she is adorable.
"No, no. It's my pleasure," And Kaname takes her hand and gives it a little kiss. Yusuke's face reddens in embarrassment again. Kaname should start counting how many times he can go red during this conversation.
"I'm sorry that I missed seeing you last weekend. I was out of town on a school trips. Your pancakes were phenomenal, I've never met such a goddess in the kitchen."
He almost snickers, thinking of Ukyo in his ugly, green apron. Goddess, indeed. God knows Miwa never cooked. She usually had a private chef cook for them or the family went out for meals for the short period of time she was home.
"Thank you so much, Kaname-san. I just wanted to show my appreciation for how much your family had done for me."
"Oh, Yusuke, she's too good for you. Look how humble she is."
Yusuke turns red again and Kaname counts this as the third time. Not bad. He mutters an excuse about something time-sensitive and drags Ema away. She gamely lets him.
Still snickering, Kaname watches him scurry.
"Feel free to come by whenever you want, Ema-chan!" He yells at the retreating couple. Ema turns to him with a happy smile, the kind where she's just glad to be included in this familial chaos. And Kaname has to admit, even with that hellish squirrel incident, he's a little smitten.
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lmao this turned out loooong. been planning for her to meet kaname for a while tho so enjoy !