Ohmigawd!! UPDATE! Ya'know, ya'll were gonna have to wait 'til this weekend, but luckily enough, I had a headache bad enough to make me hurl once, so mah mumsie made me stay home, even if I felt fine~ ^^ Thus, you get this wonderful little chapter...-cue dramatic music- I now present you!!!!
Chapter Five:
I Do, (Only Because I Gotta)
He wore black, and he wore white. 'I do's were exchanged, applause smatter and glasses were raised. Beautiful women in magenta with distended abdomens were on the left, behind Kaoru. Hansom men in a color that bordered between black and dark blue with solemn faces stood to the right, behind Kyouya. And when the rings were asked for, Fuyumi's first child - little Soshi - toddled up with a diamond ring and silver band. The rings were exchanged, and the two were pronounced 'man and wife'.
And now the attending party had moved into the ballroom, and person after person approached the newly weds to offer their congratulations or words of marital advice that promptly fell upon deaf ears. The stringed quartet played simple chamber music while others mingled and toyed with their finger foods or champagne. Kyouya and Kaoru stood side by side, smiling in their brightly contrasting gown and suit. However, behind their pseudo-smiles, the groom had a killer headache and the bride's feet were beginning to lose all feeling in her stiletto heels.
Then, at long last, the guests cleared a small spot on the dance floor as the musicians reorganized their music stands, and Kyouya stepped away from Kaoru a fraction of a bit and bowed deeply, proffering a hand. "Our...wedding dance?"
Eyes flew toward them, smiling at the cute nature of the gesture. Gulping back the lump in his throat and forcing down the unholy blush that was rising in his cheeks, Kaoru nodded and hesitantly lay his neatly manicured hand on Kyouya's. A slow waltz was started up as the couple moved onto the dance floor; he wrapping his arm around "her" waist and "her" hand lightly resting on his shoulder. They stepped in time with the music - bodies stiff and dutifully not touching anything more than they had to - and true to his word, Kaoru did not step on Kyouya's toes.
"Was dancing part of your school curriculum?" the brunette asked quietly as they turned, leaning closer to speak in the other's ear.
"Only for a semester, and we mostly just studied ballet. You?"
"I was taught as a child. It was part of what is expected of my familial breeding."
"'Familiar breeding'?" Kaoru echoed, a sneer only evident in his tone. "It sounds like you're a pet, or something."
"Oh? And how's that?"
"It just sounds more...anal retentive than if you'd said 'raised' or 'taught'. Is your entire family so uptight and proper?"
"I don't think I like the general picture of my family that you're painting, but my family is descended from a fine line of dukes. My brothers and I are the product of excellent breeding, whether that sounds animalistic or not and we were raised with etiquette and tutors and very few frivolous extras." There was an implied 'unlike you' at the end of his sentence.
Kaoru made a sour face and looked as if he was about to make a snappish come-back when the tinkling sounds of metal hitting champagne glasses echoed throughout the dance hall. The stringed instruments quieted, pitsicato-plucking their violins and cellos softly as the two dancers pulled to a stop. The red head pulled back from the brunette, looking around with wide, amber eyes. "What are they doing?"
Kyouya sighed. "Traditionally, the tapping of glass indicates that the bride and groom must kiss." And he made to lean dutifully forward, only to witness Kaoru jump backward a fraction. A slender, dark eyebrow rose. "Is this a problem?"
The Hitachiin (turned Ootori as soon as the paperwork was finished processing) nodded vigorously, gaze darting past the giggling faces to the only figure in the room not tapping his glass: Hikaru. The glare that his older brother was favoring them with was making Kaoru uneasy and even more unwilling to follow through with what tradition dictated. "I, uh - cold sore. Right here -" He tapped his mouth "-pretty contagious. Mhm..."
"Really?" That eyebrow lowered, and Kyouya leaned forward, intense grey eyes staring at the point the other hand indicated. "I don't see anything..."
"Right he -" Instantly Kaoru was cut off by a pair of soft, warm lips over his, and before he could wildly swing at his new husband, the touch was gone; a disgustingly chaste smack following it. A smattering of applause broke out, the band started up again and the red head blushed. "...H-here...?" he finished, frozen and voice an octave higher.
"Don't look so dumbstruck, Hitachiin," Kyouya cooly brushed off. "Ah, Kaoru, I mean...It makes you look stupid."
"Stupid?! Why, you -" A hand slipped around Kaoru's waist, pulling him in closer as a camera shutter clicked. The photographers had converged upon the newlywed couple, taking picture after picture as other couples began to trickle out onto the dance floor, including but not limited to: Yoshio and Yuzuha, Yuki and (who Kaoru assumed was) Rei, Matsuki and Akito, Fuyumi and Shinichi, Renge and Morinozuka Takashi, Reiko and Haninozuka Mitsukuni, and - strangely enough and probably in lieu of her proper husband and his proper date - Haruhi and Hikaru.
Golden champagne fountains trickled streams of bubbly alcohol, silver platters carried through the crowds of people were mounted with piles of native and exotic delicacies (Strawberry pocky, Kaoru was thrilled to discover, as well as all manner of spicy finger foods). Old women, older men, middle-aged people and those who were even younger divided into groups to giggle and chatter in the comforting buzz of drunken-ness, speaking (too loudly to be a whisper) about how long the new couple would last. This did not exclude Kaoru's own mother and brother, Kyouya's extended family and even the bobbing-bellied pregnant women, enjoying the allowed lapse of responsibility. In fact, the only two who did not have an ounce of alcohol in their bloodstream were the bride and groom, who had been sidetracked every time they attempted to get to the fountain by tipsy guests in formal gowns who were attempting to form coherent congratulations.
Music tinkled through the crowd, sweet and relaxing and yet - as the brunette groom and red headed bride finally made their way to their designated seats and cold dinner - neither could be more irate. Who knew weddings were taxing? Why on earth would women be willing to go through this three, sometimes even four times in their life time?!
"If this marriage was just supposed to be a formality, why couldn't it be small?" Kaoru demanded, feeling his feet finally lose feeling after almost two and a half hours strapped in mini-heeled shoes. "Or no wedding at all? Just those signed papers and we could go on our way?"
"Formality, still; and and all remotely successful paper would have a field day cooking up non-sequential scandals about an arranged marriage that did not put both parties on display, and that would effect both our family companies. Imagine all the lies their could spread, and then this would all be for nothing," Kyouya replied, pulling off his glasses to wipe with a soft cloth. It was barely noticeable, but he had broken a light sweat across his forehead after all that time under blazing hot display-like lights. "And plus, I thought you would be one for memories and everything - to show your children and extended family."
"What children?" Kaoru asked before he caught himself, quickly correcting, "Oh...well...you're wrong. I'm not one for scrap-booking."
"And yet you're a romantic?"
Amber eyes narrowed. "Only compared to you, I suppose."
"Well," Kyouya responded curtly, still slightly unsure of what to make of his new bride but willing to play to the other's personality for the time being. He raised a glass of rather flat champagne (it had been sitting there as long as their cold pasta had been) and allowed it to lightly 'clink' the lipstick-stained rim of Kaoru's already empty glass in a pseudo-toast. "To marriage."
Kaoru faltered for a second, but then looked directly into the eyes or his husband, past glasses lenses into cool, calculating eyes for the first time since they had met. "Y...yeah...To marriage, I guess..."
They had to share a room. A room. And a bed. A bed!!!
Kaoru was in shock, standing stock still in the doorway, eyes wide open as he attempted to take in every aspect of his new bedroom, which seemed more like a whole apartment than a single room of relaxation. His original thought of the Ootori estate had been that it looked a lot like a fitness center or a high tech doctor's lab: large windows, paneled floors and ceilings, dark corridors that were daunting and (lead to who knew where!) shadowed if the overwhelming hall lights were not turned on. And now, looking at the clean, organized and modern aspect to it, the whole household made the incognito boy shiver and feel as if he were under a microscope; a lab rat in a maze. It would be amazing if he didn't get lost the first several times he tried to navigate the Ootori mansion.
Kyouya stood at the base of a staircase that lead to a loft-like second floor that over-looked the open living-room area over a low, glass-paneled railing. He could see the outline of what appeared to be the dreaded bed and, resignedly but determinedly, the younger of the two hefted the overnight pack that Hikaru had shoved into his arms before they had all departed a little higher over his shoulder and quickly trotted over to the brunette, who turned and lead the way up the stairs.
It was indeed a bed - a large bed, with no headboard, and with two matching bedside tables on either side. A white sheet, exposed by a folded back dark blue duvet and matching pillows. It looked to be a hard-topped mattress, and would probably cause a few cricks in Kaoru's neck by morning. He groaned quietly.
"Well...sit down," Kyouya invited, motioning toward the bed while he moved to disrobe in by the built-in wall wardrobe, pulling off his cloths without any consideration of the uncomfortable atmosphere he may be setting for his new bride.
"I...um..." Kaoru flushed a bit, averting his eyes and moving toward the bed. "Okay." The smooth white fabric of the wedding dress shifted, riding up and wrinkling a bit as Kaoru kicked off his shoes and scooted back toward the pillows. He took a steady breath, attempting to calm his jittery nerves. "O-okay."
The room was painfully bland, and hard to concentrate on anything other than the rustle of stripping that was coming from Kyouya's corner, but Kaoru diligently kept his gaze elsewhere. His bag, dragged up alongside him, easily attracted his attention, and he pulled it onto his lap, unzipping it to riffle through the contents that Hikaru must have packed this morning without him knowing: GameBoy, studies (i.e. fashion magazines) a change of cloths that were androgynous enough to make him feel comfortable in his own skin, hairbrush, toothbrush, sketchbook and...WHAT!?!?!?
Kaoru's mind reeled too violently for him to process the fact that he was no longer alone on the bed until the other man was directly next to him. A hand moved across his waist, barely brushing the red head's hip before proceeding to rest on the cool cover of the mattress - this made looming over the Hitachiin an easy task. Kaoru tensed, jolting backward to avoid skin-to-skin contact. His face was pale and blank, drained of all color; eyes wide, mouth slightly open. He had no idea how to deal with this situation and every protest his mind formulated seemed to die on the way out of his throat.
A mouth was next to his ear, whispering. "Relax, Kaoru..."
"A-another of your formalities?" Kaoru stuttered in turn, stiffening and blushing darkly.
"If you wish to think of it that way..." Kyouya offered, and somehow, his indifference to the whole situation stung, even as his mouth moved away from the ear and he looked down at the form beneath him with an x-raying vision. "Is there anything I should...know before we do this?" he asked, tone implying an unspoken question of fidelity.
Like I'm a boy?
"N-n..." It didn't seem to matter what his response was. Soft, warm hands touched him. Running sensually up his side in a way that would be considered foreplay in any less terrifying a situation. Deft fingers skimmed over his cheek, brushed veins and bones protruding from his neck, traced the line of his exposed collar bone, strummed over the shivering flesh of his arm arm and seemingly stroking his stomach before drifting down...down...down...
Red lights! Bells! Ringing alarms and - most surprising and scary of all warning signs - the faintest twinge of excitement. "N-n-no!! Stoppit! Don't!"
He thrashed a bit, one hand flying up to knock Kyouya's arm away from him before hitting him directly in the center of the chest; the other arm flailed out to the side, managing to catch on one of the backpack's straps. Zipper undone, the contents were spewed across the bed.
Slightly miffed, Kyouya immediately sat up and moved off the red head, his own hand massaging the place where - he knew - there would be some sort of blossoming red imprint on his skin. The magazines that had been so compactly placed in the bag crackled, shifted and shuffled under his weight, but the brunette paid the items no head, instead pushing up his glasses on the bridge of his nose and giving the red head a hard, calculating look. "Is something wrong?" he asked in a surprisingly calm voice given the speed of that mini-ordeal (only a professional that had spent years under his skin would be able to pick out the worry at his bride's behavior, and even then, not even Fuyumi, Tamaki or even Haruhi always read him correctly).
"I..." Kaoru sat up on his elbows, breathing hard and flustered more than should be humanly possible. "I...I...What are you staring at?"
For, indeed, despite the unnatural and tense state of the moment, Ootori Kyouya was no longer looking at his wife, instead gazing at an object between his pajama-clad knees with wide, slightly amused grey eyes. Although almost invisible, especially in the shadowed light of his bedroom, a small tweak of the lips was present on his face. "I get it now..."
"Huh? Get what?"
"I'm not your type," Kyouya drawled, picking up the magazine and waving it in Kaoru's face. The bottom dropped out of Kaoru's stomach. The PORNO!!!! "Are you a lesbian, Kaoru-chan?"
"I - WHAT!?!?! No! No, no! My idiot brother must have - have...ACCIDENTALLY packed that in there! It's his, I swear!! I - I..."
"I have nothing against it," Kyouya glossed over easily, flicking through the pages of the lesbian love-rag as unaffectedly as if it were a biology textbook. "Your preferences are of no concern to me, just keep them otherwise to yourself."
Kaoru's face felt hot and his hands itched to strangle something (Hikaru) at the sheer unfairness of this situation. "No, you don't understand! I don't like girls! Seriously, I don't!"
"Whatever you say. Goodnight, then." He was so...so casual!
Rather put off as Kyouya gently pushed the remaining miscellaneous items that covered the bed onto the floor and slipped under the covers, Kaoru got the inclination that the conversation was over, and had no other choice but to stare at the dark figure for a second longer before stuttering: "G....good n-night...then..." And following his example.
-coughcough- For those who didn't catch it...Kyou-cutie was wearing pj pants...-just saying- XDD Anyway...Everyone think's Kaoru's a lesbian - haha!! But, hey, at least we get him saying 'I don't like girls' X3 That's the equivalent to saying 'I like men' in my speak, so I just HAD to throw it in in that last bit. Speaking of throwing stuff in, I just wanna marvel at how, when I have this all neatly pre-written in a sweet little school-worthy notebook that has power-of-aoi enough to rival the Host Club's profit book, that all these chapters come out intensely more detailed than they were meant to be. I mean, that little faux-foreplay there was all on-demand written!! But...ah well, I'm not complaining...
So...preview? Kaoru's in for a rude awakening, only to go exploring and get scolded like a small child...Meanwhile, Kyouya must endure a chat with his best friend...Who is distressed that he was never told about this "wedding' X3 Stay tuned! And review!!! -throws hearts and cookies at-