Sakura and Syaoran try to set Tomoyo and Eriol up on a blind date, but fail, spectacularly.
xxx
025. Flu
"Please Tomoyo! You have to go!" Sakura whined, tugging on Tomoyo's sleeve.
Tomoyo shrugged out of her best friend's grasp, "No Sakura, I'm not turning up for another one of your blind dates."
Sakura was a persistent girl though, "I promise you it'll be worth your time, he's Syaoran's best friend!"
Tomoyo sighed while chopping up vegetables for dinner, "And while I love Syaoran to death, all of his previous friends you have tried to set me up with are idiotic jocks who only know how to hit on me!" The last few words were accompanied by a few vicious chops of the kitchen knife.
Sakura shook her head, "Oh but this one is definitely different." She sits herself at the kitchen counter, "He reminds me a lot of you actually. Cultured and polite. Totally un-jockish."
Tomoyo watched as Sakura snuck a few carrots from the chopping board, "That's why you said about the last one and he spent the whole dinner trying to hold my hand and talk about basketball."
Sakura's lips quivered, a sure sign she was readying up her puppy dog expression. But Tomoyo put a stop on that with a few well placed chops of her kitchen knife. "No Sakura."
xxx
"Seriously dude, just go on the stupid date!"
Eriol chuckled through his bedroom door. He found it highly amusing that his best friend was trying to set him up on some blind date. "No, I'm not subjecting myself to some dinner with a stranger just so you can please your girlfriend. I am perfectly capable of finding my own dates Syaoran."
"I would normally not give a flying rat's ass who you're dating, but this girl is Sakura's best friend and totally amazing." Syaoran shouted through the door, "I'm doing you a solid here you ungrateful brat!"
Eriol scoffed, "Thanks, but no thanks."
"Listen up dude," Syaoran's voice started to take on an edge of panic, "Sakura is going to turn those huge puppy dog eyes on me if I don't manage to get you to agree to meet Tomoyo, so you better get out of your room right now and go sweep her off her feet with your English accent and wit! Or whatever else you use to charm girls, because it surely isn't with your agreeable and easygoing nature!"
"You really need to work on that temper of yours Syaoran." Eriol's voice sounded from behind his locked bedroom door, "And did you say Sakura's friend's name is Tomoyo?"
Syaoran rolled his eyes, "Yes! Were you even paying any attention to what I was saying at all?"
"Very little." Eriol admitted.
Syaoran cursed under his breath and kicked the closed bedroom door. The next time he saw Eriol, that jerk will pay!
xxx
"Say Sakura, what's the name of Syaoran's best friend again?" Tomoyo asked as they walked out of Starbucks.
"It's Eriol! Are you finally agreeing to that date? Please say you are!" Sakura said excitedly, waving her caramel macchiato around.
Tomoyo ducked as Sakura's straw flew out of her drink, "Woah, calm down. I was just asking. And no, I have sworn off all blind dates."
"But, but he's totally perfect for you!" Sakura wailed, attracting the attention of the passer-bys on the side walk.
Tomoyo raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow, "Sakura, need I remind you that just 10 minutes ago you thought that barista at Starbucks was 'perfect' for me because we had matching hair colours?"
"But Tomoyo, imagine the babies you would have together! Their hair would be totally perfect!"
Tomoyo rolled her eyes and proceeded down the side walk, ignoring Sakura's protests all the way.
xxx
"Look man, you know I don't beg." Syaoran started, regarding his best friend who was playing Call of Duty in the living room.
"Yet why do I have a strange feeling you're about to do it now?" came Eriol's smartass response.
"Shut up. I'm just saying that there's no harm in meeting Tomoyo!" Syaoran said, plopping down next to Eriol to take the other controller.
"Did Sakura turn her puppy dog eyes on you again?" Eriol asked wryly.
"Yes." Syaoran replied, sounding very dejected.
"You're so whipped my friend."
Syaoran rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored Eriol's comment. (Because he knew it was true.) "Come on Eriol, Tomoyo is awesome and you guys will have lots in common to talk about!"
"Really." Eriol was clearly paying more attention to the game than to what Syaoran had to say.
"Really!" Syaoran exclaimed, "She's a singer! Did you know? And plays the piano, just like you! I'm quite sure she volunteers at a music centre or something." He looks over at Eriol, who is still seemingly engrossed in the game, "Oh hey wait, didn't you volunteer to teach children music classes Eriol?"
Eriol winces as his character dies onscreen. "Yes."
"Look! Another thing you guys have in common." Syaoran said triumphantly.
Eriol blinked and looked over at his friend, "Huh. Fancy that."
"Yes exactly!" Syaoran cried, looking very pleased with himself.
xxx
"Tomoyo, I swear, Eriol is like your soul mate." Sakura declared as she walked into Tomoyo's apartment.
"Oh please Sakura." Tomoyo laughed, flipping through a magazine on her sofa.
"No really!" Sakura cried, sitting down next to her, "Did you know that day we were out, and he said that he loves the coffee at the Burrow? Which is like, your favourite-est place to have coffee, ever!"
"Oh," Tomoyo said looking up from her magazine, "Did he really say that?"
"Yes!" Sakura nodded excitedly, "Isn't that uncanny? I mean like, out of all the places in the city to have coffee, he suggests that we go have coffee there!"
Tomoyo resumes flipping through the magazine, "Yes, uncanny."
"And at first I thought that maybe you'll be there because you always go there to have coffee but you weren't." Sakura finished, pouting.
Tomoyo nodded, "Yea sorry, I was volunteering at the music centre that day." She said absent-mindedly.
"Oh okay." Sakura said as she watched Tomoyo continue to flip through the magazine casually, "Wait, how do you know what day I'm talking about? I didn't say when we were out."
Tomoyo stopped her mindless flipping of the magazine, "Of course you did Sakura. You said while you were out with Syaoran and Eriol on Saturday. And on Saturday, I was volunteering at the music centre."
"Oh, did I?" Sakura asked, cocking her head to the side, "Silly me, I've been really forgetful of late."
Tomoyo patted Sakura's hand, "That's alright."
xxx
"I can't make it today Sakura, I'm sorry, I still have the flu!" Tomoyo said into the phone as she blew her nose noisily.
"Oh that's okay," Sakura's voice said from the other end of the line, sounding sympathetic, "Eriol just told me he caught the flu too. So he wouldn't be able to make it today either. Isn't that such a coincidence?"
Tomoyo nodded although Sakura couldn't see her, "Oh yes, totally. But you know, the flu bug is going around."
"Alright then Tomoyo, rest well! I'm sure we can set up another meeting for you guys after you get better!" Sakura said chirpily, "Rest well! I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Alright Sakura, see you tomorrow!" Tomoyo smiled as she hung up.
"So when are we going to tell them that we've already met? And engaging in activities that resulted in your flu being passed to me?" Eriol asked lazily, his head on Tomoyo's lap.
"Well," Tomoyo said, a devious smile on her lips, "Sakura and Syaoran have always been rather slow on the uptake."
Eriol laughed, "Don't I know it. Whatever, the later they find out, the later we can put off those horrid double dates they always wanted to do."
Tomoyo grinned as she curled her fingers in her boyfriend's hair. She wondered when Sakura and Syaoran would catch on.
xxx
I wanted to write something which Sakura and Syaoran could feature in as well and I always adored how utterly clueless S+S were, so naturally this had to happen. If you squint you would be able to pick up some hints Sakura and Syaoran missed. I think I might write an accompaniment about Eriol and Tomoyo actually meeting for the first time, but that will have to wait until after I get some other ideas out of the way.
