I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas…!
-:-
Deidara ran around his apartment, making sure that everything was ready for Hinata's arrival. He made sure the kitchen was clean and organized, that the bathroom was clean and organized, that the living room/ bedroom was made and that there was a place to put her stuff, and that his bed was made.
…Wait.
There's only one bed. With room for two.
Deidara slapped a hand to his forehead. How could he be so stupid!? He didn't bother to prepare a spare bed for her, of all things! Stupid, stupid! Now that he looked around, everything was messy again. Oh, and she was going to be here in an hour!
Just then, Sasori walked in (Deidara forgot to lock the door) and looked around. "This place looks…" He paused. "Don't say it." Deidara growled, rubbing his face. "Well, on a lighter note, then… It looks better than before. If that counts for anything…" Deidara smiled a little at his friend, but inside he was burning up. Of course it doesn't count for anything! She doesn't know how much of a trash heap this apartment was before now! Hell, if it looks bad to her – and she comes from the fancy New York city – then everything I worked for just got shot in the face.
"Hey. Look. I'm sure she'll appreciate you at least giving her the bed. Where are you going to sleep?" Sasori said in an attempted comforting manner. Deidara inwardly groaned. "That's the major problem, man. I forgot to set up another bed for either her or myself." Sasori snorted. "Hah. Stupid."
Thanks, Sasori. Really.
-:-
Hinata yawned as she stepped off the plane, one of her bags in her hand. The other was in that cargo turner thing (She never knew what it was called), which was where she was heading right now.
Little did she know, there was a person secretly following her. He was wearing a long brown trench coat and a hat with sunglasses. Under the horrible disguise was her brother, Neji, who had already grabbed her bag from the loading dock and was planning to give it to her without being suspected.
…Which was a near impossible task, but he realized that too late.
"Excuse me, ma'am." Neji walked up beside Hinata, who looked at him curiously. He noticed her reaching into her bag, probably looking for that pepper spray their father packed for her. Good job, Hinata! You know what to do! Neji thought proudly. "I couldn't help but notice your bag in the loading dock and remembered seeing you on your way here. I took the liberty of retrieving your bag as well as my own." Hinata slowly nodded, noticing her bag on the floor next to him. "Th-Thank you…" Still keeping her hand in her bag, she reached for her luggage slowly.
Neji cleared his throat. "Well then, if you'll excuse me…" He nodded to her, then began to awkwardly walk away.
-:-
Deidara paced around the parking lot nervously, in front of his beat up car. He kept glancing at the entrance, even though he knew that it would be at least 20 minutes before she actually arrived. Maybe I should give her a call – just to figure out when she'll get here… But what if she's carrying a lot of stuff, and she drops everything while trying to answer the phone? He doesn't want that… But what if she's one of those women over there in the corner of the parking lot who look lost? That'd be horrible, because all of them looked well over the age of 40.
He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Hastily, he took it out and answered, hearing Hinata's voice through the speaker.
"Deidara, do you have blonde hair?"
Confused, he replied, "Um. Yeah, why?" He looked around, trying to find another girl with a cell phone out in the parking lot. His eyes fell upon a beautiful girl with long blue hair, but she couldn't possibly be looking for him. The weird and nerdy girls from his college wouldn't even look at him. Why would this gorgeous young thing be looking for him?
They made eye contact, and she smiled at him. Her lips were moving, and he heard Hinata's voice through his phone. This was getting weird. He heard her hang up, and the lady put her phone away.
Speechless, Deidara walked toward the woman. "Deidara!" The goddess knew his name. Should he be happy? Or scared shitless?
She hugged him, and slowly he hugged her back. "H-Hinata?" The girl – Hinata? – stepped back and smiled at him. "Uh-huh!"
Deidara smiled at her nervously. "You never told me how pretty you were!" That's right, Deidara. Turn on your charm… Wait. What charm?
-:-
Hinata blushed. "Thank you… Hehe…" She awkwardly looped her hair behind her ears and looked down at his chest. He was wearing a light green shirt under a purple sweater-jacket.
Deidara noticed her discomfort and immediately regretted his attempt at flirting (Maybe she was uncomfortable with the fact that his attempt was just sad?). "Um… Here, I'll take your bags and put them in the trunk, okay?" Hinata nodded and stepped aside, letting Deidara open the trunk of his car.
"So you weren't lying when you said it was a girl."
It was at times like these that Deidara suspected Sasori of being weirder than he was. Sasori, as we speak, was hiding in the trunk of his car the entire time before he left. What. The. Fuck.
Deidara quickly closed the trunk, deciding to just put Hinata's things in the back seat. "Is there a problem? Did I bring too much stuff?" Hinata asked, worried. "Oh, no. I forgot I had some junk in the trunk and had no room for your bags. It's alright – I'll just put them here." Deidara ran around his car to open the passenger door for her, like a gentleman. She smiled shyly at him as he closed the door and went around to the driver's seat. He began to drive, intentionally jerking or speeding over bumps just for his guest in the trunk. He could hear Sasori cursing him out from the back and hoped Hinata couldn't hear.
"Are you hungry?" Deidara asked, suddenly remembering how to be a good host. "Oh. Yes, actually…" Hinata looked down at her stomach and felt it grumble. "Do you want to just go grab some McDonald's or something?" You know, because that's all he could afford right now.
He parked his car in the parking lot at the mall (which was the only parking place for the McDonald's), and escorted Hinata to the almost-fancy restaurant. It smelled like the fries, all salty and greasy (in the good way) and the workers looked overworked and underpaid. He walked up to the counter with Hinata, ordered their food, then sat down to eat.
"So… How was Christmas, Deidara?" Hinata asked, smiling comfortably at him. "Oh, not too exciting. Gave a gift, got a gift." Deidara shrugged. "Aw… That sounds a bit… boring." Hinata tilted her head to the side. "I loved the gifts you got me. I can't help but think that they were a bit expensive, though." Deidara shook his head, standing up as he heard their order at the counter. "Nonsense. It wasn't a big deal." He came back with their food, and they ate in silence.
Afterwards, they walked around in the mall. He never knew that Hinata was such a bookworm – she spent a good two hours reading and buying books she liked. He wasn't even aware that she brought so much money.
"Oh! Deidara, did you want me to get you something?" Hinata offered as they walked by the manga section. On impulse – since his first instinct was to take offers – he grabbed a book off the shelf to his left. "Um. This. Please." Hinata looked at him, and then the book. She let a smile spread on her face at his choice. "Sure thing, Deidara." He only smiled at her.
They walked around a little more for about an hour, then decided to head back to the car and go home. Deidara had the faint feeling that he was forgetting something.
When they entered his neighborhood, Deidara saw all the shady people stalking the streets. He was surprised at how many people were out, despite the weather. He should really lock his door more often – especially now, with a new person visiting for a couple weeks. Nervously, he glanced at Hinata, who was idly staring out the window, seeming to be staring up to the sky rather than the town below. She noticed him staring through the window and smiled a little.
"What are you looking at?" Deidara inquired, glancing up at the sky. Dark gray clouds, the yellowish hue from the lights below. Same as last night. Hinata turned to look at him. "It's snowing." He nodded. "I know. It's probably cold in my apartment…" I should bring out the extra blankets… He remembered something else about his apartment. …Agh, there's only one bed. I wonder what she'll say.
As Deidara parked his car, he went around to the back to get Hinata's bags. He heard a banging noise coming from the trunk, and suddenly he remembered that Sasori stowed away in his car. Panicked, Deidara ran to open the trunk, where Sasori lay, wrapped in the blanket that was left in there a while ago. Sasori only shot him a glare before crawling out.
"Uh… H-Hinata, I'd like you to meet someone." Deidara called. Hinata dragged her bags to where they stood and smiled at Sasori, who would have done the same if it weren't for the fact that he was frozen into a ghastly frown. "My, don't you look just awful. Are you not feeling well?" Sasori could only manage a shake of the head. Hinata gave him a concerned look. "Well it's awfully kind of you to come greet us, even in your condition. It's nice to meet you… Uh…"
"Sasori. His name's Sasori." Deidara introduced. Sasori nodded to her, and she nodded back. "Sasori. It's great to meet you. I'm Hinata Hyuga, Deidara's friend from New York." She picked up her bags and followed as Deidara walked Sasori to the elevators. He remembered to be polite, so he went back and took both of Hinata's bags.
Deidara was suddenly overwhelmed with nervousness. What if she's grossed out by my apartment? By my room? By my neighbors!? Oh, I should have prepared more. Did I fix the beds? Do the laundry? Gah, stupid. You do the laundry in the Laundromat downstairs. Reluctantly, Deidara opened the door to his apartment.
It looked fairly decent – better than what he thought it would have been. He glanced at Hinata, who was oblivious to how gross the entire place was. Or, she was just very polite and a good actor. "Oh my, It's really cold in here." Sasori, who was behind them, chided, "Y-Y-Yes. Qu-Quite Chilly." He glared at Deidara, who thought quickly and said, "Well, I'm afraid I don't have a heater. But I do have hot chocolate to warm us up. How does that sound?" He walked into the kitchen and grabbed three mugs from the cupboard. "That sounds great!" Hinata smiled, leaving her bags by the door and joining Deidara in the kitchen.
The three sat together in silence, sipping their freshly made hot chocolate.
-:-
Hinata, after warming up with Deidara's hot chocolate, went to her bags and started to settle herself. She opened her bag and took out what needed to be taken out – toothbrush, towels, and tonight's pajamas. Deidara was currently at the door, letting Sasori out. They were having some sort of argument about how stupid one of them was. Deidara turned red and slammed the door in his face. He sighed and turned around, rubbing the place in between his eyes. He quickly looked back up at her and smiled.
"Is something wrong?" Hinata inquired, folding her clothes on top of the bed. She briefly wondered where Deidara was planning to sleep, since she only saw one bed.
"Nah… It's alright. Are you tired? The bathroom's over there if you want to freshen up for bed…" Deidara casually pointed to the door on the left, next to the side table by the bed. Hinata smiled. "Sure. I think I'll take a shower before I go to bed for the night…" Hinata gathered up her things and went into the bathroom – which she realized had no lock. It made her a bit uneasy, but she was sure that Deidara wouldn't do anything bad.
-:-
The second the bathroom door closed, Deidara scrambled to make sure the bed preparations were in order. Four pillows on the bed, two separate blankets under one comforter, more blankets in the corner, and a glass of water on the side table. He quickly changed into his pajamas and heard Hinata step out of the shower. He took a quick look around to see that everything was in order, then relaxed. Not knowing what to do with himself after that, he stood still with his arms behind his back.
Hinata stepped out of the bathroom, already in her pajamas. She smiled a little at him, then began walking toward the bed. "Um… Hinata, there's something I have to tell you." Deidara said. She looked at him, urging him to go on. "Well, I don't really have another bed in my apartment, so either we share this bed or I'll go sleep on the floor." He braced himself to be called a pervert or some other name, but her voice didn't sound the least bit angry when she spoke. "Oh. That's okay… We can share."
He saw the blush on her face. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking when I was making the bed – I should have asked around for a spare bed or mattress or something. I – " He was cut off by her when she said, "Deidara! It's alright! Really. It'll be warmer that way anyway." She was such an optimist. He smiled sheepishly. "O-Okay. If you say so…" He told her that there were extra blankets in the corner, and that she could wake him up any time if she was uncomfortable.
He let her lay down first, then laid down next to her, trying to be as far away as possible. He turned out the light, and the only sound left was the light rustling of the sheets. Deidara tried to relax, forcing his eyes closed and getting into the most comfortable position possible.
Argh. This is impossible.
-:-
Okay. So far, so good. I haven't done anything to make him think I was strange, right? No… In fact, he's acting a bit strange himself. Oh, I hope I'm not making him nervous… Hinata furrowed her brow in thought. I forgot to do something…
"Deidara… Good night…" She whispered timidly.
-:-
Deidara stopped his moving when he heard Hinata mutter something behind him. "Deidara… Good night…" He couldn't help his smile as he said, "Good night, Hinata."
-:-
Neji got into a taxi. "Follow that car." He said. Neji watched closely at the two in the car, especially the Deidara kid.
He followed them to Deidara's apartment building, which was across the street from a low-grade hotel. He saw that Deidara lived on the 3rd floor, so Neji requested a room on the 3rd floor as well. He set up the telescope he brought with him (which even he had to admit was creepy) and aimed it to the window of Deidara's apartment window.
It overlooked his sleeping quarters – a nice little bed just big enough for two. Neji cringed at the thought of his little sister sleeping in the same bed as another man. Another light turned on in the apartment, revealing Hinata and Deidara setting the bed up for sleeping. Neji kept watching them, all the way to when they fell asleep.
I'll follow them tomorrow, for sure!
-:-
HAPPY 2010! What's your New Year's Resolution?