Wow, I'm proud of myself for updating this fic as quickly as I am. It usually takes me forever to stop procrastinating. I guess that means I'm having a lot of fun with this one, I hope you guys are too.

"Hello I'm Akoya, Ibushi's girlfriend. It's nice to meet you." Akoya bowed and put on his best smile for Arima's parents, his character immediately taking over.

When he stood back upright, he got his first real look at them (stupid pretty things and distracting him). Akoya could tell immediately that Ibushi inherited most of his physical traits from his father. The man was only a few centimeters taller than his son, broad-shouldered, and he had eyes that were all too familiar to Akoya. Mr. Arima's hair was a warm brown color with just touches of gray here and there. He smiled at Akoya through his mustache and said in a welcoming tone "It's nice to meet you too, Akoya. I've wanted to see you since we were informed Ibushi had started dating."

Mrs. Arima cleared her throat and put down the menu that was hiding half of her face. And the look she gave Akoya was… a bit unsettling. Her face was bonier than her husband's, which made her neutral expression somehow look more sinister than it actually was. It looked kind of like Akoya had insulted her and was trying to stay as dignified as possible. Regardless, a small smile carved itself into her stone expression "Hello, dear. Why don't you and Ibushi have a seat?"

Oh, right, seats, those existed. Akoya's arm reached out to grab the back of the chair closest to him, but found it colliding with something else. He looked over his shoulder and noticed Arima was behind him, both his hands already on it "Allow me." He assured before pulling the chair out and gesturing towards the seat.

Akoya blushed and brushed the skirt of his dress as he sat down "Thank you, Ibu-chan."

"You're welcome." Ibushi pushed in the chair for him before taking the last seat at the table.

Mrs. Arima cracked her first genuine smile of the night at her son "Ibu-chan? I didn't know you two were already so close."

Ibushi's cheeks colored slightly "I-It's just what she calls me." He stammered "And I don't mind so…"

"You don't have to explain a pet name to us, son." Mr. Arima reassured "Every relationship had it's little… things."

Okay, this was getting really awkward really fast. Akoya moved his arm up to touch his hair again, but flipped open the menu in front of him instead. Yes, this was much better. At least he looked busy now instead of just uncomfortable. Ugh, he had only been with Ibushi's parents for five minutes and he wanted to leave. Or, well, his dad seemed nice enough but… his mom was kind of intimidating.

"So, Akoya," Mr. Arima piped up, gaining Akoya's attention "Would you mind telling us a bit about yourself? Ibushi's barely told us a thing about you."

"Yes, I'd love to know more about the girl dating my son." Mrs. Arima added.

Akoya stiffened in his chair. Test time. He thought as he instinctively reached for a part of his hair "Well, what would you like to know?"

"Why not start from the beginning?" Mrs. Arima proposed "How did you meet Ibushi in the first place? It couldn't be through school, so where?"

"Of course, um…" Akoya's eyes flicked to Ibushi "but I don't tell the story as well as you do, Ibu-chan." Which was true, since he had a bigger role in it than his date.

It seemed Ibushi got the hint and spoke up "Alright then. You know that little shopping center by my school?" His father nodded with a hum "Well, I was there with Kusatsu, the president of the Student Council, since we finished our club activities for the day. We were just wandering and then…" He looked at Akoya with a smile "I saw her, just staring at this dress in a store window." Akoya felt himself smiling as he listed to their little fable "Kustatsu caught me looking at her and he… pushed me to talk to her."

"He's a fine boy, that Kusatsu." His mother added "A perfect heir from my understanding."

"Oh, he is." Ibushi agreed, almost autonomously "But, I just… walked up to her and complimented the dress she was looking at and-"

"The rest is history?" His father wondered.

"Yes." He affirmed.

Akoya giggled a little "You startled me though." Ibushi immediately looked his way "I was in my little world and then suddenly this stranger was next to me."

Ibushi put his hand over Akoya's "You know I didn't mean to scare you."

"I do, just…" Akoya beamed "it's funny because I'm kind of glad you scared me."

Ibushi smiled back at him and replied "Me too." Akoya could have sworn he felt his stomach flutter just a little bit.

The next forty five minutes consisted of more awkward conversation with the Arimas, mostly revolving around Akoya. Geez, Ibushi wasn't kidding when he said they needed to prepare for literally every possible question. They started out easy enough, with his mother complimenting his dress and asking where it was bought ("On a trip to Paris," completely true) and other ice-breakers. "What social class are you? (Upper-middle) What does your father do? (He… works in finance) What are your plans for the future? (She wants to be a model)"

Akoya knew what the Arimas were trying to do: figure out if this "girl" was worthy of being associated with their son. It was interesting how he noticed that each of Ibushi's parents seemed to have their own concerns, based off of the questions they asked him. His father was more focused on background and what kind of education Akoya had had, which were both understandable. Come on, who in this social standing would want some gold-digging peasant into their lives? Mrs. Arima had very different things on her mind. Namely, how well-bred Akoya was of all things. Seriously, your kid's been dating someone for a month and you're trying to figure out if they'd make acceptable babies or not?

Finally the waiter had taken their orders for the main course and, having picked enough at his salad, Akoya excused himself to the bathroom. He really needed a few minutes to breathe. He brought his clutch purse with him; maybe playing around on his phone would help.

He swung the corner and made his way down a hallway that led to the kitchen on one side and the restrooms on the other. He heard some people down the way of the kitchen calling out orders or trying to figure out who took the thing they were using. Akoya examined the walls as he went on his way, appreciating the lovely golden striped wallpaper and the framed art hanging over it. Seriously, how had he never been here before? It was so classy in here!

Unfortunately, his focus on the decorating left his body going on auto-pilot, right until his hand was pressed against the heavy wooden door leading into the men's room. That's when he went back to focusing on what he was doing.

Idiot, you can't go in there like this! He scolded himself. God, you should know this by now! Either Akoya had to better remember what he wearing or more places seriously had to consider the option of gender neutral bathrooms.

He sighed as he backed up a few steps and peeked inside the women's room. Empty, perfect. Akoya went inside and stopped in front of the sinks, staring at his reflection in the big mirror above them. At least the stress wasn't showing strongly on his face like he thought it would be by now. Everything was still in good shape; no hairs terribly out of place, no smudges in his makeup, and he'd yet to screw up once that night. If only any of those facts helped his nerves.

He knew doing this for Ibushi was going to be more than just meeting up with him sometimes and texting him more often. He knew that this would be involved and even dangerous if they were found out before the inevitable "breakup" that would be coming in a few more months. They couldn't be discovered in their sham, especially where Akoya's gender was concerned. That would just make things even harder to explain than they already were. Akoya took a deep breath. He prepared himself for this, Ibushi prepared him for this. But it was still scary to not have full control over the situation like they did on their little "dates."

The second year leaned against the countertop and fished his phone out of his clutch. Maybe Kinshiro updated his Snap Chat; that was always amusing in one way or another. He unlocked the device and, sure enough, that exact thing had an update. Akoya smiled at his friend's latest picture of Lord Zundar doing something to add to the collection that was forming in his Snap Chat story. This one was just a picture of Kinshiro's school uniform with the hedgehog poking out of the breast pocket. On it was a caption that said "He's back from the pocket dimension."

Akoya giggled at the pun before moving on to something else to occupy him for a few more minutes… which turned into looking at pictures of kittens and pretty dresses on Google. A good ten minutes went by in that manner before Akoya decided to slip his phone back in his clutch and get back to the dinner. He took a breath again before making his way back to the table.

When he stepped out of the restroom, Akoya locked eyes with someone familiar. "Huh? Gero?"

Shit. Shitshitshitshit! Akoya cursed. What was Kinugawa doing here?! Ugh, why couldn't he even have ten minutes without stress tonight?

"O-oh, Kinugawa." He nearly choked, great just great "What are you doing here?"

"I'm having dinner with my family." Atsushi claimed. That's right; the Kinugawas actually have money! "Why are you here…?"

"U-uh, Arima-san treated me to dinner tonight…" At least he wasn't lying to someone else tonight.

Atsushi nodded and hummed. Akoya saw the other boy's eyes scanning over him, like he was trying to figure out what was going on with no other clues. He looked over Akoya at the door, then looked him over again before smiling and saying "I hope you're having a nice time tonight." He walked towards the door to the men's room "See you in school."

Akoya released a breath he didn't know he was holding in. Kinugawa didn't seem the type to gossip, but it was still unnerving to see someone he knew like this. Pretty boy contests were one thing but… what would people at school do to him if they found out he dressed like that on a weekly basis? Or that he went out in public dressed like this weekly? Ugh, if he thought the bullying was bad in elementary school…

Nothing you can do about it now, Akoya. He told himself as he resumed walking. Just get back to the matter at hand.

Amongst the other chatting and the noise coming from the kitchen, Akoya distantly heard Mr. Arima ask "You really haven't even kissed her yet?"

"No, I haven't." Ibushi replied. Akoya stayed behind the wall, deciding to listen in and see where this was going "I just… I don't want to move too fast on this."

"With how much that girl blushed, I was sure you two have done something by now." Mrs. Arima joked.

It took Ibushi a few seconds to respond to her "Yeah, she's… easily flustered. That's why I'm going slow; I don't want to scare her."

"The way she's been looking at you, Ibushi, I doubt you'll scare her with a little peck or two." His mother assured.

"I agree. Part of me even thinks she's waiting for you to kiss her." His father observed.

"I don't know about that…" Ibushi trailed off.

Akoya sighed. This would be really interesting if only he wasn't the object of the discussion. He had to give Ibushi credit though, his acting was pretty damn convincing all night (he could only pray the same went for himself).

Supposing that he'd better bring about a change of subject, Akoya re-entered the dining area and sat down. "Did you miss me?" He playfully asked Ibushi.

The taller boy smirked at him "Only a little."

Discussion resumed on other topics, again focusing mainly on Akoya until the main course arrived and the sounds of eating replaced those of speaking. And, wow, the food really was as good as the place looked! Maybe Akoya should make Ibushi bring him here again for a "date." Towards the end of the dinner, when his parents were talking with their waiter, Ibushi leaned over and whispered in Akoya's ear "They like you."

Akoya faced him and asked in an equally low voice "Both of them?" All Ibushi did was nod before he put distance between them again.

Things calmed down after that, thankfully. The things they talked about became a bit more casual and even Ibushi's mom gave off a less authoritative aura than earlier. Yes! This was really working!

Soon after, the four of them left Onsen and stood in front of the building while waiting for the concierge to bring the limo they'd arrived in from the parking lot. It was chilly standing out in the night and Akoya found himself rubbing his arms to find some extra warmth. The next thing he knew, he was enveloped in something warm, a jacket that was definitely too big for him.

Ibushi smiled down at him, now stripped of his blazer "That better?"

Akoya nodded "Thank you, Ibu-chan."

"Why don't you two take a look at the courtyard back there?" Mr. Arima suggested, tilting his head in the direction of a set of iron gates that were opened, leading to some kind of garden behind the restaurant. "We've been back there before lots of times." He continued "The pond back there is really quite a sight." Ibushi and Akoya looked at each other and then back at Mr. Arima. "It'll be another few minutes before they come with the car. Go check it out."

Ooohhh, Akoya saw where this was going… he thought. If the earlier conversation he'd heard was any indication, anyway. He beamed up at Ibushi "Can we, Ibu-chan? I'd love to see it!"

He seemed to be caught off-guard by that, but Ibushi still smiled and told him "If you want to, sure."

The two of them wandered towards the gate and heard Mrs. Arima call out "Five minutes."

Ibushi snaked an arm around Akoya's waist "Okay, Mom." They walked until they were out of sight and then Arima released Akoya. "Sorry, they're being… a little insistent."

Well, just because he knew what was going on didn't mean Ibushi knew he knew "What was that about?" Akoya questioned.

"… They want me to kiss you."