A/N: Um, hey, y'all. Long time no see *hides in shame* I'm sorry for taking so long to update! A lot has happened recently, and life has been getting in the way of my writing. I'm really really sorry, and I'd like to be able to promise faster updates in the future, but I'm not sure if I can. But just know that I'm not giving up on this story.
Disclaimer: No Ouran for me *weeps*
Strawberry Kisses
Kaoru tapped his pencil impatiently as he checked the clock for what must have been the hundredth time that day. There was still an hour before class ended and he and his brother went to meet everyone in the music room in preparation of their amazing field trip. The thought of being the first person to ride all of the roller coasters was amazing, and he had been thinking about it all day. He looked to his left at Hikaru, who was at least as excited he was, and then at Haruhi on his left, who looked as if she couldn't care less about getting to test all the rides, which Kaoru thought was strange. It's not as if this was a regular occurrence in the commoner world, was it? It didn't seem to occur to him that she simply had no interest in amusement parks.
After a long hour of doodling in the margins of his papers, talking to his brother, receiving dirty looks from the teacher for talking to his brother and pleading to the clock to make time go faster, the bell finally rang and Kaoru shot out of his chair and ran for the music room, followed closely by Hikaru. They wanted to get there as quickly as possible so that they would be able to ride absolutely everything in the entire park.
As usual, Kyouya and Tamaki were already in the room when the twins arrived. Tamaki was pretty much bouncing off the walls, and Kyouya was standing in the corner with his little black notebook, no doubt working out some financial details for the Host Club. When Tamaki saw Hikaru and Kaoru enter the room, he bounded over to them and asked;
"Are you ready for this? I've been waiting all day!"
"Yeah!" the twins shouted in unison. The three proceeded to run around the club room, despite Kyouya warning them to "not break anything or face the consequences".
A minute later they were joined by Mori, who carried Hunny on his shoulders. The smaller boy jumped down, ran over to Kaoru and gave him a huge hug. The redhead blushed slightly, but bent over and returned the gesture. Hikaru couldn't help but chuckle seeing the two of them together, but the others thought nothing of it, chalking it up to Hunny's childish nature.
The only person missing was Haruhi, who didn't appear until nearly half an hour later, muttering some excuse about being in the library again. At this point, everyone else had already changed into their regular clothes and were waiting impatiently for her to show up. The twins pounced on her and shoved her into the back room where she could get ready. When she emerged, the entire club ran- or in Haruhi's case, was dragged- out the door and everyone piled into their respective limousine (Tamaki insisted that Haruhi should come with him), and they were off toward the amusement park.
In the Hitachiin car, the brothers discussed which rides they would go on first, making sure that they would get to every roller coaster in the park at least once. After a while, Kaoru noticed that the conversation had become a little one-sided, with Hikaru replying with only nods and the occasional "yeah". Kaoru wondered what could possibly be bothering his brother, when he realized that he had never asked him how things had gone with Haruhi. Mentally kicking himself for not remembering sooner, he asked the older redhead, "So, about yesterday. When you asked Haruhi out, what did she..."
"She rejected me," Hikaru cut in, sounding bitter.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Kaoru replied. He wasn't quite sure how to comfort his brother, because neither of them had been turned down before. In fact, looking back on their middle school years, it had always been the other way around. For lack of anything better to do, he scooted a little closer and wrapped an arm around Hikaru's shoulder. The older boy sighed and rested his head on the other's shoulder.
"Yeah, I am too,"
"But are you really going to give up just like that?" Hikaru lifted his head and tilted it a little to the side, seeming confused.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you are Hikaru Hitachiin! Are you going to let one little rejection stop you from getting what you want?"
"You're right, I can't let this get to me. But how do I make Haruhi go out with me?"
"Just keep at it. Talk to her like a real person and not just a commoner, and find out what kind of things she likes. She'll have to say yes eventually, right?".
"Right! Thanks, Kaoru, what would I do without you?" Hikaru wrapped his younger twin in a hug, and Kaoru was glad his brother wasn't able to see him blushing.
"Explode and die?" he suggested helpfully.
"Definitely," Hikaru replied with a smile and a small laugh.
Kaoru wasn't exactly sure why he was helping Hikaru. Haruhi had turned him down, which meant that Kaoru would have his brother essentially to himself. Isn't that what he wanted? Yes, but he also knew that Hikaru wouldn't be happy with that, and his brother's happiness was the most important thing to him, even more important than his own. But maybe things would be better this way. Maybe if Hikaru was taken, Kaoru wouldn't feel so drawn to him, maybe he'd even be able to get over his brother. Of course, there was always the chance that nothing would change, but it was worth a shot.
After what seemed like an hour, but was probably no more than thirty minutes, the host club arrived at their destination. They all stared in awe at the sight of all the huge rides, with the exception of Mori and Kyouya of course. Even Haruhi seemed just a little bit excited. She hadn't been to an amusement park since she was little, and at that time she had been to small to go on any rides, so this was a whole new experience to her. Even better was the fact that the park was mostly empty, with only a few other groups that had been invited to test the rides, which meant no waiting on line.
Hikaru jumped out of the car and began to drag his brother in the direction of the first roller coaster that caught his eye, a huge mass of blue and black tracks full of twists and corkscrews, appropriately named "The Twister". Kaoru hesitated a moment when he saw Hunny walking with Mori in the opposite direction toward the Carousel. Hikaru glanced from his brother to their blonde senior and said "You can go, it's fine."
"Are you sure?" Kaoru asked, sounding worried. "I'll stay with you if that's what you want." Hikaru shook his head.
"You obviously want to go with him, and I know you would do the same thing for me, right?"
"Thanks, Hikaru!" Kaoru beamed and hugged his brother. "We'll go on the roller coasters together later, I promise," and with one more quick smile, Kaoru ran off in the direction of his recently acquired boyfriend. Hikaru watched as Kaoru went up to the small blonde boy and hugged him from behind. Hunny shifted in his grasp so that they were facing each other, then tugged on Kaoru's shirt and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. Kaoru blushed so red that Hikaru could see it from where he stood, but then smiled down at the other boy. Hikaru sighed and walked off in search of someone that he could force to ride the roller coasters with him.
Kaoru and Hunny continued on their way to the Carousel. At some point, Mori slipped of to let the two be alone, but neither boy seemed to notice. The ride was brightly painted and had every kind of animal imaginable, from ostriches to unicorns. Hunny jumped onto a tiger, and Kaoru took his place next to him on a purple seahorse. To be honest, Kaoru felt a bit childish on the ride, but he saw how excited Hunny was, and it didn't really matter. Besides, more times than not, being childish was fun! The operator waited as a few kids got on a goat, a dragon and a rooster, and then started the ride. Hunny laughed as his tiger went around and around, and Kaoru couldn't help but smile too. When it ended, Hunny hopped off and pulled Kaoru off in the direction of the teacups ride. Together, they made their way around the park, hitting most of the rides along the way, with the exception of the larger ones where Hunny didn't meet the height restrictions.
Eventually they stopped at a small ice-cream parlor. Hunny got two scoops of strawberry with rainbow sprinkles, and Kaoru bought chocolate chip cookie dough. Wanting to be a gentleman, Kaoru insisted on paying, which earned him a quick peck on the cheek from the blonde senior. The two wandered through the park hand in hand, licking their ice-cream cones. Suddenly, Tamaki caught sight of the pair and ran up, asking "Where have you guys been all day?".
"We've been around," Kaoru answered vaguely.
"Have you seen Hikaru? I figured he would be with you, but I guess not...".
"Really? He must be around here somewhere,". Then Kaoru remembered that he had promised to spend time with his brother later. Had Hikaru been wandering around this whole time waiting for him to show up? Or had he left without anyone noticing? Mentally kicking himself, the younger redhead ran towards the parking lot, only to find the Hitachiin limo gone. He was angry for a moment that his brother had left him here, but realized that it was probably his fault. Kaoru checked his phone to find that Hikaru had texted him three times wondering where he was and what time they should meet to go on the roller coasters.
Hunny came up behind him and asked, "What's wrong, Kao-chan?".
"It's nothing, Hunny-senpai. Hikaru left because I broke a promise to him."
"Is he gonna be mad at you?"
"I don't doubt it..."
"Do you want me to bring you home, Kao-chan?". Kaoru nodded uncertainly, not looking forward to dealing with an angry Hikaru. Tamaki came up to them at that point, seeming to appear from nowhere as he sometimes did.
"I'll go round up all the others. I think we were about to leave anyway,". With a nod of acknowledgment at Tamaki's statement, Kaoru and Hunny made their way to the blonde's limo.
Once in the car, Hunny asked, "What was it that you promised Hika-chan?"
"It wasn't anything important really. I told him we would meet up to go on all the roller coasters together but I never showed."
"So it's my fault, isn't it?". The blonde seemed worried.
"No, not at all! I'm the one who forgot, it's my fault." But Hunny didn't seem totally convinced.
"I'm sorry, Kao-chan. I don't want you and Hika-chan to get into a fight..."
"It's fine, really," the redhead said, wrapping an arm around the smaller boy. "Hikaru will be a little annoyed, but that's all." He stifled any further protests from the blonde with a kiss.
A/N: So what'd you think? Press that yummy little review button and give me your feedback. Tell me what I'm doing well, what you think I should change, all kinds of reviews are welcome. Unless you want to tell me to die or something equally unpleasant. Please keep those to yourself.