A/N: One of the longer chapters of this story. Ugh, I desperately want to reply to all of your lovely, beautiful reviews, but I'm just so swamped that I barely have time to update - and I really want to update for you guys. Sob. I'll reply, I SWEAR, as soon as I get the time!
Disclaimer: I do not own PoT.
Atobe Keigo has dated before.
He's dated girls like Shigohara Minako, dated perfect girls with slender, tall physiques with legs for days and sharp cheekbones and even sharper eyes. He's dated girls with sparkling wit and flawless makeup and perfect knowledge of society rules. He's dated them, taken them out on his arm to balls and galas and parties because he's an Atobe, and Atobe's are expected to maintain an image of exclusivity and unattainability – to a point.
He doesn't want to call them publicity stunts, but- his father would occasionally suggest a well-suited young lady, and Atobe would meet her, smile dazzlingly at her, and she'd be hanging off of his every word, next.
So he's dated girls – as in, taken girls out on dates, preferably in public where the rest of high society would know that Atobe Keigo was currently socializing with one of their own. But he'd never dated anyone, had never allowed himself to be labeled as something as trivializing as a boyfriend, had never cared for a girl to actually label.
He thought of such things as silly and all too much like the little tween dramas airing on television.
But then, Nanao- Nanao was exactly the kind of girl who wanted things labeled, wanted things defined, if only for the purpose of knowing where she stood. It was strange, because she was so often content in just being, but with things like this, she preferred to have a label, to know, exactly, what was happening. And had it been anyone else, Atobe would have rolled his eyes and told her to stop being a commoner.
But had it been anyone else, Atobe wouldn't have even given her the time of day, much less progress the relationship to the point where she found it fitting to start labeling things.
So when Nanao bites her lip and peers up at him with that aching sincerity, asks "So- are we- you know. Dating? Like- like boyfriend and stuff?" with a startling amount of hesitation in her voice, as if- as if she thinks Atobe is going to do anything but give in to her. And for a moment, he's struck by the hilarity of this situation, because when had he become so weak?
But he's always been like this, he supposes.
Invincible to the world, to the giants and goliaths and insurmountable to every foe – but then, he'd be helpless towards the people who didn't even want to defeat him. In the face of gods and titans Atobe Keigo was a figure to slay even deities, to stand tall and level kingdoms and raise empires in a single day; in the face of Yuushi and Ryou and Nanao – those who couldn't even scratch him if they tried, but those who would never try – he was left utterly crippled.
So he takes one glance at her eyes, shimmering with sincerity and hesitation and such a feeble hope that he can't help but to lean in, press his lips to her cheek, drag his mouth to her ear to whisper "Cease the babbling and be my girlfriend, already." In the back of his mind, he feels a little tug, because he'd never thought of himself to be the kind of boy to do something like being boyfriend-girlfriend, because that seems so juvenile.
But then, Nanao looks up at him with this brilliant, blinding smile, and it's the same smile that makes his heart skip a beat in a way he thought only happened in movies, the smile that makes him think 'so smiles as genuine as this exist.' He sees that goddamn smile, and the tug in his mind is replaced with an all-consuming shove in his chest, and all he can do is huff a laugh.
Their relationship is ridiculously perfect, sometimes.
She's quiet in light of his bigger-than-life persona, but she grounds him, reins him in in a way that even the tennis regulars can't, laughs in the face of his glory and pats his hair and pulls him back down with the rest of the mortals on the ground. He's aggressive where she's not, pulls her out of her world to waltz her around the chandelier lights because he thinks that she deserves the spotlight more than she asks for, sees the hidden gems of her personality that are so often too subdued to notice.
They bicker a lot, but it's all harmless, because she knows him far too well to really be hurt by his meaningless sniping, and he trusts her enough that she can get dangerously close to sensitive topics without setting things on fire. It's almost cute, the way they go back and forth, and Shishido and Gakuto have taken to making gagging motions whenever they start, because "it's the fucked up way they flirt," as Gakuto eloquently puts it.
It's a balance of give and take that Atobe hasn't quite ever had before, and he likes it, the way he can count on her to give as good as she gets, to try to give while trying to take as little as possible. It's different from the other girls he's dated, different from the girls who had only taken, taken, taken-
He's never had such a private relationship before.
Perhaps it's because it's the only real one he's ever had, because with Nanao, he doesn't have the purpose of showing others. He's with Nanao because she's Nanao, not because it'll elevate the Atobe name or help leverage a business deal; he's with her solely for the sake of her company, and this time around, they don't have to make such a show of holding hands or hugging in front of the other students.
There's a lot less public opera appearances and museum showings, and a lot more of movie nights in his room, dressed in pajamas and spilling popcorn all over his pristine floor. Atobe enjoys the finer things in life, thinks them as casual everyday occurrences, things like dinners at swanky upscale restaurants and private yacht rides, but he'd never known that things like this – things like eating pizza from a box on the floor of Nanao's room – could be this fun.
Nanao peers up at him from a slice of pizza, all innocent mischief and silly laughter, swipes a line of grease across his cheek and Atobe thinks that this is better than the ritzy dates he used to go on with fancy girls in fancy limousines.
His reflexes are fast and he bites Nanao's finger, a brow quirked and a mischief of his own shimmering in cobalt blue eyes. Nanao laughs harder, until he, too, is laughing.
It's two weeks into their relationship when he starts to talk to her.
They've always talked, about this and that and everything in between. She's always been the only one he trusted to keep his secrets, the only one he's trusted with startlingly common things that nobody else has known about him. Of things like how he brings his mother lilies every Sunday because they're her favorite, of how he'd tried making a sandwich when he was younger, once – just once, because his father sneered at it and called it plebeian. Of things like how he'd been so envious of his butler's son when they were younger, because the son would roll around in the fields all day when even Atobe hadn't been allowed to do so.
But these things are different.
These are-
"My mother is happy, because she doesn't care. Once she starts caring, she'll be very unhappy – isn't that strange?"
Or "Yuushi's the first friend I've ever had- the first real friend, at least."
And then- "My great aunt's name is Kaede." Atobe Kaede is Keigo's father's widowed aunt, who despite her old age, is sharp and brilliant and manages foreign affairs for the Atobe empire in England. He grew up with her when he was a child, before he moved to Japan, and he loves her like one might love a darling mother and he adores her and cherishes her. He craves his approval but he doesn't need to, not really, because unlike his father, she showers his love on him without limitations.
She comes to visit Japan once a month for a week, stays in a villa in the countryside and Keigo visits her with a bouquet of irises whenever she arrives.
He's only revealing trivial things, everyday things to Nanao, but for some reason he feels laid bare; because she actually cares about these things, and despite them being so commonplace, nobody else has ever heard these words before. Because Keigo's never dated a girl who was interested in much else besides his own accolades, besides how much money he has in his vault and how handsome he is.
He's never told anyone any of these things, because nobody had asked.
But Nanao looks up at him with genuine curiosity in her eyes and asks him what his great aunt is like, and he feels another piece of him falling.
A week later, there's another one of Hyotei's wildly infamous parties on a Saturday night. Nanao and Keigo had both received invitations; Yuushi's already planning on escorting Shigohara Minako to the party, if for no other reason than to see her in a revealing dress. Nanao's as indifferent as usual and Keigo is uninterested, but Yuushi leans in to make a point- "You haven't been to a party in months; your subjects are going to forget you exist."
Which is a ridiculous notion, but the point still stands – Keigo really ought to attend at least one party a month, if only to grace the masses with his presence.
So the two attend, and once again, Nanao is wearing a dress of Keigo's choosing. It's not that he particularly likes dressing her up, but his fashion sense is miles ahead of Nanao's, and if it were up to her, she'd have worn a woefully plain thing that would have made Keigo cry. Instead, she's wearing a form-fitting dress with the bodice made entirely of tastefully dark jewels, and a pair of heels that makes her almost as tall as the unearthly Shigohara.
Her hair is ironed pin straight, eyes dark with a hazy allure of shimmering makeup, and when she's properly dolled up, she looks just at home beside the dazzling figure that Keigo cuts. It's to the point where their classmates are, once again, surprised at Nanao's appearance and where Yuushi leans in to murmur a teasing but sincere "You clean up nice."
She does, she really does, and it's just that most of their peers are normally this dolled up, that Nanao's always been considered average in a world of above average. But she's pretty, with a natural charm of wide eyes and soft features, and when she's made up and well dressed, she can easily give the Hyotei girls a run for their money.
And above all, she has this sense of sheer vivacity that makes her alluring above the rest, when she's with Keigo and he makes her laugh and causes her eyes to light up from within.
Keigo only rolls his eyes, drapes his arm around her shoulder to bring her in to whisper: "You always look like this – some are just too daft to see it." And Nanao lights up with a smile brighter than any he's ever seen, brighter than when Yuushi complimented her back when she was still infatuated with him.
"You always look nice, too," she responds, and the two laugh at the ridiculousness of the statement – reassuring Atobe Keigo, the titled emperor of Hyotei and voted the youngest eligible bachelor by the society pages, that he was attractive.
From the outside, it's Atobe Keigo and Suzuki Nanao, blithely ignoring the pulsing beats and raving party around them, having more fun with their inside joke than any of the intoxicated teenagers in the mansion.
Today, Nanao isn't pining hopelessly after Yuushi, isn't spending her night retching in the bathroom with red rimmed eyes and a miserable expression. Atobe isn't spending his time effectively and purposefully associating and socializing with certain members of their society, isn't watching the proceedings with a well-hidden, bored expression. Tonight, the two end up spending the entire five hours huddled by the bar, quiet murmurings and private conversation flowing endlessly from their lips.
They're joined occasionally by Yuushi and Minako and the other regulars at some point in the night, but for the most part, it's them, close but not touching, somehow exuding an aura more intimate than other couples who are physically intertwined. It's to the point where most not in their innermost circle don't dare to approach them, and for the night, it's just the two of them, laughing and whispering conspiratorially in each other's ears.
In fact, their relationship goes so well that Keigo invites Nanao out to meet his aunt.
He hadn't planned on it, though. He hadn't thought about it, hadn't wondered if perhaps she'd like to meet his aunt, hadn't even thought to mention that he'd be taking the weekend to go visit his dear great aunt. But he'd had plans with Nanao the weekend his great aunt arrives, had plans to go attend a Sunday brunch with her; members of the upper echelon often hosted these things, so that those with money could gather with others with money and gossip and purview society.
So he ends up telling her because he has to cancel their plans for him to escort him to the brunch, and he can't help but remember the last time he'd cancelled such a plan, the girl had been awfully upset. Because what good is dating Atobe Keigo if she can't show him off to the rest of the world? He feels apologetic, because he's a gentleman and he doesn't like cancelling plans for whatever the reason; but his great aunt is a beloved, treasured woman, and he wouldn't miss meeting her for the world on her sparse visits to Japan.
Nanao simply looks at him with mild puzzlement, before: "Oh! Of course- don't be silly, Keigo, of course you have to visit Kaede-san; you said you hadn't seen her in months," and she even remembered his aunt's name- "I hope she's doing well – tell me lots about it when you get back, okay?"
And she's serious, he can see the way her eyes aren't wavering with disinterest, and when he realizes that she's actually interested in his aunt, in how she's doing, even after it means that he won't be able to escort her to the society brunch, he can't help the next words that slip from his lips: "Or you can come along."
Before he even has a chance to be surprised at himself when the words register, her eyes are lit up and she's murmuring an excited "Can I really?"
How could there ever have been a chance that Nanao wouldn't capture Keigo's interest?
"Do you think she'll like me?"
There's a nervousness to her voice.
"Why do you even care? She's my great aunt," there's a teasing lilt in his words.
"Because- she's important to you, you said."
He doesn't really have a response to that, other than to thread his fingers with hers and pull her in to place a kiss on her lips.
They arrive Saturday morning at 11:15. The countryside manor is nestled in a vast grass field, with a gravel driveway a mile long behind iron wrought gates. It's majestic and grand and sparkling white under the morning sun, and when Nanao exits the car, a chauffeur comes to whisk Keigo's sports car away into a large garage to the side.
It's all very Atobe-esque.
Keigo only pulls her along in a picture of casual calm, doesn't even bat an eye at the heavy double doors or the near-blinding chandelier in the foyer. Nanao is brimming with nervousness, practically bouncing on her feet, but all Keigo does is eye her from the side and twitch his lips in an attempt not to laugh outright.
In a minute, there are light, delicate footsteps sounding down the marble staircase. Nanao turns, and she can't help but to stare at the figure descending – it's a woman looking an elegant sixty, white hair coiffed with pearl pins and despite the age in her features, her wrinkles appear warm and inviting as they crease when she smiles at the sight of Keigo. Her eyes are blue, darker than Keigo's and her lips are a pale pink, curved into the beginnings of a laugh; she's thin and draped in a lovely cream satin dress, a picture of sophistication.
Nanao thinks she looks vaguely familiar, as though she's graced the pages of the ever-popular society pages or a magazine; she probably has. Hadn't Keigo said something along the lines of her managing some foreign affairs for the Atobe corporation?
Keigo momentarily leaves Nanao's side to stride forward and envelop the thin woman in an all-consuming, careful hug that she's never seen him give anyone. The woman, for all of the severity and untouchable regality in her features, shifts into an expression of soft warmth when she gazes at the boy in front of her. The two murmur something in- English, Nanao recognizes – then soft laughter, teasing jilts and smooth Japanese too low for her to hear.
And when Keigo steps back, the woman's eyes drift to Nanao's figure and she hurries to do a little curtsey, a rushed "Atobe-san-" from her lips.
The woman tilts her head to the side coolly, all traces of previous warmth gone from her features; now, she looks just like every other untouchable Atobe she's met. "Tanemura-san. Atobe is my maiden name."
Nanao flushes red.
To be clear, Nanao is a blueblood through and through. Her parents hadn't established a corporate empire like the Atobe's had (and how many have, really?), but they're descended from generations of money, dating back to the feudal era of Japan. They prospered with an international chain of hotels, but despite the fact that the company had room for growth and potential – so much potential, Atobe's father often mused – they chose not to expand beyond their thirty two branches, because they preferred to keep things moderate and manageable.
They didn't match some of their peers with their dominating monopolies on huge realms like oil and shipping, but they didn't desire to, and their name came with a magnitude of prestige that only generations of wealth could entitle them to.
They weren't the loudest voice in the room, but they didn't need to be – because in this society, people listened to bluebloods like them even if they only whispered.
So Nanao had been put through a high class upbringing (just not as much as Keigo had), had learned which forks to use at the dinner table and had learned proper tea etiquette. Still, she found herself remarkably uncomfortable that afternoon, for it was clear that Keigo's great aunt couldn't hold less interest in her if humanly possible.
Nanao didn't mind much, and she was content if Keigo was so happy to meet his great aunt, but as they conversed deeply over tea while Nanao sat silently on the side, she couldn't help but to wonder if perhaps it would have been better for her to stay at home. She sipped her tea quietly and let her eyes wander carefully around the drawing room, trailing from painting to floral arrangement.
"You're the Suzuki's youngest daughter?"
Nanao's eyes dart to Tanemura-san, then, a moment of silence before she realizes the question she's been asked. "Oh- yes."
Tanemura-san's eyes narrow ever so slightly. "I've met your parents, on several occasion – and your elder brother. He's quite intelligent," she murmurs, and it's meant to be a compliment, but Nanao isn't a naïve stranger to this world of theirs and she hears the unsaid "So different from you, Nanao" in her words.
It isn't the first time that she's been found incredibly uninteresting in the light of her brilliant siblings. Nanao's hands tighten faintly around her teacup and she resolutely avoids Keigo's pinning gaze; she instead quirks her lips into a small smile and nods. "My brother has always been rather brilliant."
"And your sister too, I've heard." "Both elder siblings so brilliant, it's a pity the youngest is so plain."
Nanao tries to push her smile a bit wider. "Ah- yes."
"So what do you do, Suzuki-san?"
Nanao pauses. "I- I'm the vice-president on the student council at Hyotei."
"Hm." Tanemura-san has already lost interest, sipping her tea and lulling Keigo back into a conversation instead.
Nanao's gaze flutters to her hands, held loosely in her lap.
"She's remarkably unremarkable."
Nanao's gone to answer a phone call from her father outside, and Keigo has been left to be alone with his aunt. She watches him sharply over her cup of tea and he's draped casually along the couch, eyes cool as he regards her. Deep down, he wants her to like Nanao, wants her to approve of the first girl he's dated, but his guise is a picture of perfect ease.
"She's really not," he murmurs smoothly in return.
His aunt's brow quirks. "I thought your father was planning an arranged marriage for you at the beginning of the year."
"It got delayed."
"Because of your sudden relationship with one of the Suzuki's – and it's well known how the head of the family dotes on his children so. Couldn't risk upsetting the Suzuki's; how convenient the timing was for you, darling."
Keigo blinks lazily, returns her gaze levelly. "Wasn't it?"
His aunt's eyes turn stern. "You come up with the most ridiculous ideas I've ever heard of, Keigo. I thought you hated dating for economical purposes."
Keigo realizes at the moment that his aunt has figured him out in an instant. Has figured out he'd dated Nanao to push off the so-despised arranged marriage, has figured out why Nanao was chosen as the girl to date. She doesn't realize that it's real now, that it's not just a ruse, that he's chosen Nanao-
"She's really remarkable, once you know her."
It's a casual, off-hand statement, but Tanemura Kaede's eyes widen with a mixture of muted bewilderment and realization and disbelief. "It's real, then?"
Keigo's lips curve into a smile. "Would I have brought her here otherwise?"
A pause. "But that girl is…"
"She's good. She's- Yuushi likes her too, oba-san."
Kaede's brow quirks in disbelief. That girl – a wreck of nerves and boring resume and stiflingly average – has gained the Oshitari boy's favor, as well?
"I like her."
Well then. "When she comes back, leave us. I'd like to speak to her alone."
Keigo's gaze turns apprehensive. "Oba-san-"
"That's not a request, Keigo."
Nanao feels the weight of Tanemura-san's stare on her as though one of the marble columns in the manor had fallen down on her back. No, wait. It was worse. Much worse.
Keigo had left shortly after she'd returned, saying that he'd forgotten to submit some reports to his father. Nanao had tried to go with him, but Tanemura-san had pinned her with a smile and asked her to "Sit, let's chat, my dear."
So here she was, fingers wrestling with one another as she stared down at her tea.
They chat for a while about mundane things – the weather, her plans for the future, her parents' business and the state of the economy. They talk about the drive here and her father's latest addition to his art collection, and things that are painfully polite.
And then: "Keigo's quite a catch, isn't he?"
Nanao's lips quirk into a smile almost unconsciously at the mention of his name. Kaede's eyes narrow; the girl's infatuated, for the love of god. "He- he's an amazing person," Nanao murmurs, shrugs helplessly.
"Oh, don't be so modest. He's good looking – even if I do say so myself – and disgustingly charming when he wants to be. He's got the whole school under his thumb, doesn't he? And he's so glamorous because that boy has such a penchant for lavish things and drama sometimes." Kaede laughs and Nanao can't help but to join in a little, because Atobe Keigo is synonymous with drama queen.
But there's a little tugging in the back of her mind, because truth be told, Nanao doesn't agree with the things his aunt is saying; but she holds her tongue, sits quietly while she goes on.
"He's got the looks and the wealth and the whole king thing going on – who wouldn't want him? Heir to the kingdom; you bagged yourself a good one, haven't you-"
"I haven't." Nanao blurts it out abruptly, and almost immediately after, her eyes widen in the realization that she's just cut Tanemura-san off. Kaede looks surprised herself, a slight rise to her brows. Nanao figures that she's already made a mess of things, she might as well go with the rest of it- "I haven't- I haven't bagged myself Keigo. He's not- he's not a prize."
"Well- he is, anyone would be unbelievably lucky to have him, but he's not something to be won. He's just- more than that." She can't explain it because Nanao's never been the most eloquent with her words the way Keigo has, but the way that people say she bagged him, the way that they make it seem as though he's something to be won and captured and be proud of to have because of the wrong reasons, it irks her.
She is proud to be his girlfriend, but not because he's Atobe Keigo, not for the reasons that people would think, but-
"He's- He's attractive and glamorous but he's…those aren't his good qualities. Those aren't the things that make him amazing, those are just the things that glitter first. He's…He's honest and he's loyal to the point where it probably hurts him and he cares much more than he'd ever let people know and he's a deeply profound person despite the way he walks around in his silly silk shirts-"
Nanao's lucky to have him, because he's such a phenomenal character that she'd take him and all of his arrogance and dramatics if it means that she could have his genuine heart, too. She'd take his narcissism and theatrics and carelessness with money and his unconscious condescension, if it meant that she could have the boy who confessed to her that he liked pillow forts in the safety of her room. And Nanao, she doesn't have the eloquence to put this in words, but she says- "He's silly and he has a lot of antics but they're terribly endearing – more than they should be – and it's really nothing compared to the way that he looks after the people he cares about, even after all of his supposed narcissism."
It's now that she realizes that she's babbling, that she's just vomited all these words to a highly amused Tanemura-san. And wouldn't she know all these things anyway, because for the love of god, she's his great aunt and he loves her and oh, Keigo's going to be so upset with her once Tanemura-san tells him what a mess Nanao has made of this.
Tanemura-san only takes a quiet sip of her tea, before: "You should go find Keigo – I think he's done with his report."
Before they leave, Keigo is held behind by Kaede while Nanao goes out to the car.
"She'll be eaten alive in our society."
Keigo purses his lips. "I know. It's a miracle she's survived this long."
"The exact opposite of the kind of girl an Atobe heir should be dating."
And Keigo loves his aunt, loves her dearly, but he can't help this disappointment because he'd been so sure she'd see what he saw in Nanao, that she'd understand. He'd been looking forward to this, to his aunt taking one look at Nanao and realizing why Keigo finds her so special and agreeing with him and telling him to-
"So you hold on to her tight, darling."
Keigo's eyes widen.
Kaede's lips curve into a devilishly amused smirk. "And bring her with you next month when I visit again."
Keigo breaks out into a smile of his own. "So you approve?"
Kaede bursts out with a short laugh, caresses Keigo's face with a gentle hand. "Darling, that's the kind of girl who doesn't need approval – she won't get it from a family like ours, but she's the girl who you should hold onto, anyway."
"But she-"
"Keigo." Kaede's eyes are sparkling with an intensity he hadn't seen in years, as she holds onto his hands and peers into his own cobalt blue. "Atsushi and I had a wonderful marriage for forty two years, despite your ideas of what an arranged marriage is going to be like. He was a good man, and one who provided for me and loved me, and I loved him."
"But I haven't gone a day without thinking that if I could do it all over again, I'd trade it all for the boy my brother disapproved of."
She brings her hand up to pat his cheek once, twice. "Perhaps I've just gone soft in my old age – or perhaps I'm glorifying my old memories. But darling, let this old woman give you a piece of advice: that girl is everything your parents wouldn't want for you, but at some point in life, the things that are good for you, and the things that make you happy, start to become different paths."
She kissed him on the cheek gently and floated back into the house, leaving Keigo by the entrance and Nanao peering at him through the car window, a questioning look on her gaze.
He only slid into the driver's seat and rapped his knuckles against her forehead, much to a chagrined Nanao.
When they return to school the next Monday, it's as though something had shattered.
Things had been incredibly, wonderfully good, and then- they began to go horribly, awfully awry.
Perhaps they'd been naïve, to think that the so-called honeymoon phase of their relationship would be an accurate marker for the rest of it. Perhaps they'd simply been too foolish to realize that sometimes, opposites did attract, but they couldn't stay together for long.
Because at the root of it all, Atobe Keigo and Suzuki Nanao seemed to be polar opposite people.
Their squabbling began to start getting- real. They weren't just friendly jibes and harmless teasing anymore; they were little muttered complaints under their breaths, eye rolls and sighs that were far too quiet and noticeable to be humorous.
They happened when Nanao cracked when she couldn't walk into her classroom because there was a boy in front of her, babbling about how great her boyfriend was, asking if she could maybe put in a good word for him? When she wanted to get a drink from the vending machine, and a passing student asked wasn't she getting one for Atobe, too? When she exited his limousine in the morning and was almost shoved to the ground in the fray as fangirls milled around the car, when she found her face splashed in a large color print photo on the society pages for having stumbled over her dress at a gala opening.
"Atobe Keigo's lady of the evening, Suzuki Nanao, is as clumsy as ever," the caption reads.
She grew up in high society, but the media and paparazzi seemed to be drawn to the Atobes in a way she'd never experienced or known. She didn't like it, she didn't bask in the limelight the way Keigo did, she didn't like people suddenly knowing intimate details of her life simply because she was dating an Atobe.
And when she was upset, he simply didn't understand, because things like this were just so effortlessly natural – it wasn't for lack of trying, but he just- he just didn't get it and Nanao was left feeling like a whiney child.
Squabbles happened when Keigo left Nanao in the middle of a high-end restaurant one night because his father called, asking for revised fiscal reports – now. He'd paid the tab and called her another town car, had kissed her cheek and apologized, but this was the third time she'd been left alone, holding nothing but the tab Keigo had just paid for before rushing out. And didn't he realize that she didn't come to these restaurants for the food, but for Keigo, so how could she have anything left to do there once he left?
He thought she'd understand, because she knew, knew the kind of relationship he and his father had, knew the kind of upbringing he had. And she did, she knew and she hated it but she was also a girl who's boyfriend had left her in the middle of a theme park when his father had asked for something so carelessly as at the drop of a hat.
They fought when Nanao was tightly strung and tense when she failed to make the top ten rankings once, and Keigo had made a teasing jibe of how she couldn't match his prowess. And she'd snapped, because it was true, because she stayed up all night and he hardly glanced at his notes for review, and his scores still beat hers out of the park.
And it wasn't his fault and he always joked about his 'prowess,' and she was just being childish but she couldn't help this overwhelming surge of disappointment because she was always average and he was not and he seemed to be everything she wanted to be, sometimes.
They got into an argument when Keigo came over on a Sunday evening and said "Get dressed, we're going out," and Nanao was five-feet deep in studying for exams. She said she couldn't and he tried to insist and she burst out because he couldn't just do this, sweep in and expect her to drop everything at a hat for him just because he was some brilliant genius who didn't have to study the way she did.
He'd only wanted to take her for lunch because he felt bad for leaving her in the middle of dinner a few nights ago.
It was the way Nanao began to hate getting into his limo in the mornings because she didn't like the feeling of claustrophobia when she exited it to a sea of screaming fans, all yelling her boyfriend's name. It was the way he didn't understand her discomfort and the way he doesn't realize that her inability to achieve the perfect scores he does without studying is something that upsets her. It's the way he cares for her but he can't, not enough to keep his father waiting for a few hours while he finishes their date and takes her home, so instead he leaves her with a cab on the way and hopes it's alright.
It's the way they come from such vastly different places and circumstances despite their mutual wealth that they can't understand each other, that they start to get into squabbles that erupt into arguments that explode into fights.
They had never been people to stay mad at each other for long, even when they were friends.
But these days, the silence and the tension seemed to stretch on for longer and longer periods, until they'd go for days without speaking.
It all comes to a head when Nanao caves first and comes to his house and his room, heart on her sleeve and hesitation and fragile hope in her heart. She's here to apologize for their latest row, because she'd been tired and sleep deprived and had been more sensitive than she should have been. She's here because he's done things wrong, too, but she'd rather apologize and hug him and fight all over again and make up than be perfectly content with anyone else.
When she enters, he's working at his desk, papers cluttered around his laptop.
"Keigo- can we talk?" she murmurs, and he doesn't even look up at her until he's finished the sentence he's typing, and it's only to give her a quick "I'm in the middle of something urgent."
She can't help but to think that everything is urgent, but her. She tries again, because she wants to fix this, because she wants to be able to text him again silly thoughts that pop into her head.
But Keigo's running on nearly forty eight hours of no sleep and caffeine and energy drinks, and his father's just finished reaming him out for slipping from first to second place in the school rankings. He has to finish compiling this report so that he can get started on looking over mergers, and then go in for a fitting so he can get his suit tailored for tomorrow night's gala-
"Keigo, this is urgent, too."
And before he even thinks about it, "The likelihood of it being more important than the report I'm writing right now is highly doubtful" slips from his lips, and there's a flash of unmistakable hurt in Nanao's eyes. She covers it before he finally looks up at her again.
Before they know it, they're in another argument, voices growing louder and more dismayed and agitated until they start crossing lines.
Because they know one another so well, they can hurt one another deep to the bone – they'd given each other this ammunition with the trust that the other would never use it, but they're running on raw emotions and agitation and anxiety and tiredness, and they start to hurl words that cut deeper than the last.
She makes a remark about his relationship with his father at last, and then it is Keigo who crosses the final line: "Maybe you're just not good enough for Ore-sama."
He expects her to come back at him with another insult, something else that can hurt him deeper than the knife she's already twisted deep into his gut. But his last words seem to have crumpled her resolve to fight, because suddenly, she seems drained and tired and weak.
He wants to reach out and pull her into a hug and say that no, he doesn't mean it, but he thinks of the way she called him a child, unable to get over the fact that his father had high expectations for him growing up, what of it? He stands his ground, and she stands hers, and suddenly-
"Yeah. Maybe I'm not," she whispers. She parts her lips as though she wants to say something else, but it seems that she has nothing left to say – or no energy to say it – because she only sighs softly.
"Maybe we should break up," he says, and it's only then that he realizes he means it, because this relationship is more draining than anything else, and he doesn't need this distraction in his life right now.
Nanao can't say she hadn't seen it coming, but once he says those words, she crumples completely, and she loses all semblance of a fight in her features.
"…Yeah. Okay."
And she's out the door.
Keigo breathes deeply, counts to twenty, then returns to his desk to finish the damned report.
It's strange, and it's not, at the same time. Suzuki Nanao is no longer present at tennis practice or matches or at their usual lunch table by the courts. The regulars know better than to ask, not when Keigo's expression is somber and grim, not when Gakuto caught sight of Nanao arriving to school with puffy eyes.
They determinedly avoid one another, and it's strange because-
They've lost more than their girlfriend and boyfriend, because they'd always been more than that. They'd always been confidantes and supporters and dear friends and it feels as though something is off. But each time one starts to cave, they start to remembering the hurtful, spiteful words the other had flung at them, and they start to harden again.
It's like this that they go back to being strangers.
A/N: NO THIS IS NOT THE END. Guys don't hate me okay. I'll update super fast so you won't be stuck with this for long, uhu sob. I love you guys.
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