Mix 8: Meet me on the drumline

"Sally, please don't tug so hard!"

"Oh shush and man up. It'll only hurt until it's in."

"Aah, you'll make it erupt faster than it's supposed to!"

"Shush I have experience, see? My hand is grasping it slowly."

"Sally…please...Wait…"

Sally pulled the top off the third bottle of Pepsi as she and Tamaki had decided to order room service and brought their weight in junk foods. The chocolate fondue volcano had erupted twice but was starting to become unknown if it would erupt with the lack of its chocolate covering. The previous moment of awkwardness passed as Sally was dressed rather than prancing around in her underwear.

"Dude, you take the biscotti and dip it in the chocolate," Sally demonstrated and held the pastry close to Tamaki's mouth. "Go ahead and take a big bite."

"Sally I don't know…it is yours."

"Go ahead,"

Tamaki bit into biscotti and playfully tried to nip at Sally's fingertips but greeted by a flick to his nose like a puppy that had misbehaved. "What was that for?"

"You've been a bad boy Suou," Sally cooed and took the other biscotti as she swirled it around the chocolate on the large plate. Her eyes focused and she ran it through the shredded walnuts. "You tried to bite the hand that was feeding you."

"Oh well maybe your fingers coated with chocolate just made me go insane," Tamaki laughed softly as he picked up a brownie, took a small bite and grabbed the can of whipped cream as he sprayed a small swirly amount on top. He then grabbed a handful of sprinkles and evenly distributed it to the treat.

Sally looked at him a moment and began to laugh. "Dude you're going to go into a sugar coma from all that."

"Then it'll be worth it." Tamaki shoved the brownie into his mouth.

"That's it dude, no more sweets for you." Sally began taking the rest of the sweets from Tamaki. "These are not meant for a Suou."

"Hey give them back." Tamaki laughed and reached over to take the sweets back from Sally. He was surprised when she was shoveling it in her mouth. "Sally you're going to die!"

"This is the only way to keep you from eating all of it." Sally said in between bites and made sure that Tamaki could stay away. She would be fine as she ate her weight in junk food once before and was still hungry afterwards.

"Ugh my stomach…"

Sally curled up against the bed while her arms wrapped around her stomach. She had eaten mostly everything that had been dropped off and to add to it she ate a whole pack of the chocolate mints that Tamaki kept in his bag. She let out a silent curse as a belch escaped her and her stomach protested.

"Sally I told you to stop," Tamaki sat on the bed next to her and pulled her close to him. He looked down at her while whispering soothing words to quell the stomachache she had. He only hoped that Sally would be all right by tomorrow for the competition.

"I'm fine; I just need to…oh god I am going to throw up!" Sally got up and ran to the bathroom, she did not bother closing the door as she lost her sweet induced meal. She hung her head over the toilet once more as she tried to get herself together. "Ugh…I never want to see another piece of chocolate for as long as I live."

Tamaki carefully walked in and held Sally's hair back. He began to stroke her hair gently. "I'm sorry we shouldn't have been so overzealous. It should be in this positon not you."

Sally looked up at Tamaki a moment, her moment of nausea passing. "Dude, you wouldn't want to be in this position." She whispered. "It sucks and it feels like someone is stabbing you in the stomach…this is a lesson that I need to learn."

"Sally…" Tamaki thought for a moment. "Stay here and I'll go get you some antacids all right? It'll make your stomach feel better."

"Whatever I'll be here," Sally gasped and began praying to porcelain god once again.

Tamaki rushed down the hallway and towards the lobby, he needed to find a place where he could get some antacids for Sally's stomachache. He felt guilty that he caused it by gorging on junk food but even more so, that Sally had chosen to prevent him from eating anymore by eating everything left.

"Suou, what are you doing down here?" asked Akira narrowing his eyes watching as Tamaki was headed towards the hotel's gift shop. He was still a little surly from his encounter with Sally earlier that evening. "Thought you and your little bodyguard would be up there laughing about how you shooed me away."

"I don't have time to talk," Tamaki pushed past Akira and walked towards the shelves that had rows upon rows of medicines. He began reading each bottle trying to find the one that would help with Sally's condition. "Where is it?"

"You're looking for what exactly?" asked Akira, he started following Tamaki so to find out what he was planning to purchase. Maybe just maybe he could use it to blackmail him.

"It's none of your business," Tamaki snapped as he picked up the correct bottle of medicine and then went over to buy a bottle of water. He slowly felt Akira's presence behind him and he resisted his urge to turn around and tell the senior off.

"So you have a stomachache Suou?" asked Akira curiously. "Ha! The great Tamaki Suou succumbs to sickness the night before the big competition! Image what I could print in the newspaper!"

Tamaki ignored him and bought the medicine and water as he walked out of the shop and headed towards the elevator to get back to his room. He hoped Sally had not gotten sicker while he was gone. Maybe he should order chicken soup as well.

"Hey Suou, you do know that if you chicken out there is no shame in that," Akira laughed cruelly. "Faking illness is something that only cowards do. Oh, I'm sorry does that hit home for you. Since your mother was a coward and abandoned you."

Tamaki whirled around and his fist smashed into Akira's face. He dropped the bag onto the floor and tackled Akira to the floor all the while yelling in French at him.

"Boss! Get off him!"

"Tamaki-sama stop!"

Hikaru pulled Tamaki off Akira. "Boss calm down, it's not worth it; go back to your room."

"He said something about my mother!" Tamaki said in fury. "My mother isn't a coward!"

"Boss calm down," Hikaru said. "Go back to your room, you proved that you don't take crap from anyone but beating the hell out of Akira will not solve anything. You'd be kicked out the band if you would've continued."

Tamaki's blood was boiling with each second he saw Akira. His whole body shaking with anger but he picked up the bag and went to the elevator. He did not bother looking back nor did he see Hikaru and Momoka take Akira towards another elevator. He did however hear Hikaru yelling at Akira.

'My mother was not a coward…she did this to help me get along with grandmother.' He thought to himself. 'My mom will see me again after I prove that I am worthy of the Suou name to be the heir. They'll see…"

The elevator's bell sounded as it had stopped on the floor that Tamaki's room was on. He stepped out of it and began heading back to the room. He slowly felt calmer with each step so to not be angry or show any signs of anger once he opened the door. He could not let Sally see him this way. He did not want her to think any less of him. He dug in his pocket and pulled out his key and was about to unlock the door when it was opened by Sally.

"Tamaki…" Sally whined as she fell into his arms.

"Sally, what are you doing out of bed?" Tamaki balanced the bag and lifted the girl into his arms. He sat her down on the bed and surveyed her condition. "You're not feeling good, please stay in bed. I don't want you to get worse."

"I'm fine…I just need something to settle my stomach," Sally took note of the bag. "Did you buy something for yourself?"

"No, this is for you." Tamaki pulled the medicine out of the bag and sat it down on the nightstand. "This is medicine to help your stomach and I have some water for you too. Please don't fret; I'll take care of you."

Sally nodded but curled up more on the bed. She was not too embarrassed at Tamaki taking care of her but moreover she did not want him to see her with a stomachache. It would be bad if he stayed up all night watching over her. "You need sleep."

"I'll sleep once you do," Tamaki opened the bottle of medicine and measured it with the cup that came with it. He held it out to Sally. "Here drink all of this." He ordered. "And then drink some water."

Sally nodded and did as she was told. She frowned at the taste of the bland medicine but she would live. She looked up and took note of Tamaki's posture. She could tell from the way he was partially slumped and his eyes reflecting a fire of anger that something might've made him angry. She blinked when she saw him holding the bottle of water to her mouth. She didn't say anything but take a sip of the water.

"Sally, do you need extra pillows?" Tamaki asked about to get up to get them from his bed. "I don't need mine so you can have them."

"Tamaki…"

"Yes?"

"Why do you look pissed off?" Sally asked timidly. "You seem like something angered you…was it because of me being sick?"

"No, I just…" Tamaki sighed and forced a smile on his face. "I am just angry that you got sick because of how bratty I was being over those snacks."

"You're a bad liar," Sally noted. "Your eye does a twitchy thing when you try to lie. So tell me why are you so pissed?"

"I ran into Akira downstairs."

"Oh really, he tried to step to you?" Sally asked frowning. "What did he say? I'll go kick his ass for upsetting you. Better yet how about we work his ass off tomorrow after we win?"

"Sally, you don't understand, I almost got into a fight with him…well I did punch him." Tamaki whispered.

"You seriously did?" Sally crawled towards him and put her arms around his shoulders. "What for? What did he say?"

"He…he said some things about my mother." Tamaki whispered. "He called her a coward."

"Why the hell would he call your moms a coward?!" Sally demanded. "I'll make sure he stays behind and polish every single instrument in the band room for that! He knows that is wrong."

"Sally please don't make it worse," Tamaki shifted. "I let my temper get the best of me and had Hikaru and Momoka not stopped me…"

"Shh, let's not think of what could've happened." Sally hugged him. "Instead let's focus on the good. Tomorrow we are going to kick ass on that field tomorrow. No one will beat Ouran Academy."

"Sally…"

"Think of the positive," Sally smiled softly at him; her eyes alight with reassurance mixed with a calm aura. "We have to win tomorrow and then when we do we can prove we're the most bad ass band in the country."

Tamaki nodded feeling at ease with Sally's words. He relaxed in her embrace and closed his eyes. All anger melted away in that one instance of affection. "Sally thank you."

"For what?"

"For being my friend."

"Oh err sure?"

The next morning was a whirlwind of preparations as the Ouran Academy band prepared for the competition. They had spent most of the time outside practicing and then had a breakfast in the hotel's lobby. However, Tamaki and Sally had stayed in their room together trying to mentally prepare.

"Yo Tamaki what do you think?" Sally spun around and showed Tamaki her hair. "I styled it differently than I normally would. It's a bit retro to match our piece but it still will look good."

Tamaki laughed. "How are you going to fit all of that into your hat?" he asked. "Though I must say you look good with an afro, very retro."

"Dude, you have no idea, the piece we arranged is going to beat the hell out of the other bands." Sally struck a pose and slipped on her uniform. She saw Tamaki hadn't put his cape on right. "Dude, let me help you."

Tamaki blinked. "What?" he asked.

"Here, your cape is on crooked." Sally pinned it to him carefully and straightened it. "There now you look bad ass."

"Sally, tonight we're going to have fun right?"

"Oh hell yeah," Sally struck a pose. "We're going to be so bad ass that they'll need to cool us off with a hose."

"Why would they spray water on us?"

"We'd be too hot to touch." Sally picked up her hat and put it on over her hair. She smirked. "And as you can see my hat fits over my hair."

Tamaki began laughing and picked up his own hat. "Come on we should go out there now, I'm sure everyone's waiting for us."

"Yeah, let's go win it."

"We have seen imitators, we have seen duplicators! Now it's time for the originators! Ladies and Gentleman, I'd like to introduce you to the Ouran Academy Marching band!" The Announcer called over the speakers as the Ouran Academy Marching band entered the stadium.

The first notes of the song began playing as Tamaki and Sally began walking out onto the field after the band. The two of them held their maces in their hands as they danced to the rhythm of the song playing,

The band started up playing the first chords of the song as Tamaki and Sally took their places on opposite ends of the line where the majorettes were. The band picked up the first part of the song, which had been a mix of Michael Jackson's Thriller and then moved onto Billie Jean as the drummers in the drumline began dancing to the rhythm when their solos came up.

The whole band began moonwalking as the song ended, the crowd in attendance began cheering loudly for the band that had been once known to choose songs that were classical in nature but had chosen a modernized approach.

"Bad ass," Sally said softly with a small smile as she glanced at Tamaki from the other side and winked at him.

"We actually won but that drum battle was rather uncalled for." Hikaru lifted his snare drum into the case and frowned. "I seriously didn't think that Lobelia would win but…I am glad they didn't try to pull what Higarashi High School had tried. It's an insult to play another person's drums." He finished putting away his drums and took note of Tamaki and Sally talking with one another. "Oi boss! Sally! Did you two not hear me?"

"Sorry Hikaru, we were just making plans for the next band performance we have to do." Tamaki called. "At least when Homecoming comes up."

"But I told him not to worry about that," Sally giggled. "We'll be doing that together and we're plotting to have fun for now."

"I see," Hikaru watched the two and took note of Akira polishing the brass instruments. "So you two punished Akira-senpai?"

"Sally actually did it," Tamaki looked over at Akira and sent a small glare back at the young man. "She said he needs to learn discipline, and that he'd have to polish the instruments for a week to avoid being kicked out the band."

"Anyway, I'm going to go grab a bite," Sally smiled. "I'll see you guys on the bus and also…Tamaki remember our talk."

"Sure,"

Once Sally was gone, Tamaki smiled softly and sighed dreamily. "I can't believe she's actually so nice to me."

"Well boss you might not see it but she has feelings for you too." Hikaru shrugged. "You're not as oblivious as you make yourself out to be. Think about it, you have yet to call yourself her father or try to get her to wear frilly clothes."

"I don't understand it," Tamaki whispered. "When I am with Sally, it feels as though I don't need to put on airs around her and…she sort of seems like she'd accept anything I'd tell her."

"Wait boss you're not going to do what I think you're going to…" Hikaru stared at him. "Whatever you are planning don't tell her anything that might ruin this."

"I want to tell Sally about my life." Tamaki fell silent. "If I do…she'll understand me more and I won't have to hide this from her any longer."

"Boss, what if she doesn't accept it?"

"Then I'll go through life with a broken heart.

Author Notes: There ya go! The first signs of our dear King figuring out that he is in love with Sally. Despite knowing her for a short time but will she accept his feelings? Will they lose their friendship or is this the start of a budding romance? We will have to see in the next chapter! Thank you so much for reading, please drop a review or two and as always, I will see you in the next chapter!