Next Saturday, Megumi found herself ringing the Ootoris' doorbell at 8:30 in the morning. During their conversation over lunch last week, Laney had revealed that she was an avid hiker, and she'd managed to convince Megumi to accompany her on a short hike. When she'd told Kaoru about her plans over the phone last night, he'd laughed at her.
"You're going over to that house before 11 am? Hope you're ready for the Demon Lord," he'd said. "Kyoya is the polar opposite of a morning person."
"Well, I'm not going there to see Ootori, am I?" Megumi had replied somewhat testily. "He'll probably still be asleep, if that's the case."
"Um. Yeah. Probably," Kaoru had said, his voice sounding slightly strained. He hurriedly changed the subject.
Now Megumi stood on the doorstep, waiting for what seemed to be an interminable amount of time for someone to answer to the door. Finally, it swung open, revealing Ootori. Megumi stared, a little surprised. He wearing jeans and a faded blue t-shirt that said "HOYAS," and he had a large mug of coffee in his hand and a murderous expression on his face. He didn't even look like he'd combed his hair. "You might as well come on in," he said, sounding profoundly disinterested. "Laney's still in the shower. She was … unavoidably detained earlier." He turned and walked back into the house, clearly expecting her to follow him.
Well, that's a bit rude, Megumi thought. She trailed after him into the kitchen. He got down another large mug and handed it to her.
"Coffee's fresh. There are some rolls on the counter if you're hungry." He sat down at the large wooden table and closed his eyes, both hands wrapped tightly around his coffee.
"Um. Thanks?" Megumi looked at the oversized American mug. "Do you have a smaller cup?"
Ootori sighed. "Just don't fill it all the way up. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out."
Megumi wasn't often intimidated, but then again, she rarely spent time with people who were so clearly disinterested in anything resembling polite conversation. She tried again. "I couldn't help but notice your shirt. What does it mean?"
"Hoya?" He opened his eyes and glanced down at his shirt. "What."
"I'm sorry?" Megumi was thoroughly confused.
"It's Greek. It means what."
"Oh," Megumi said faintly. Okay. I get what Kaoru meant.
Ootori took pity on her. "It's the team nickname for Georgetown University, in D.C. Just why that is the team nickname when the mascot is a bulldog was never fully explained to my satisfaction."
"You went to college there?"
"Graduate school. I got my doctorate in applied economics there, and Laney got both her M.D. and her Ph.D. there. To be honest, I still consider Harvard to be my alma mater, but to keep the peace, I'm willing to wear a Hoya shirt every once a while."
"You both have Ph.D.s?" Megumi asked, impressed.
"Piled Higher and Deeper," Laney said cheerfully, coming into the kitchen. Ootori winced at her bright tone, but she ignored him and poured herself a cup of coffee.
"Baby," he yawned, "what's the deal with hoya again?"
"Hoya saxa! What rocks! It refers to the abnormally large testicles that all male Georgetown students are known to possess." Upon noticing her husband's baleful stare, she relented. "Back in the day, the teams used to be the Stonewalls, and some smartass decided to mix Greek and Latin to make up the cheer Hoya saxa. It caught on." She shrugged. "They didn't have YouTube, so I guess they had to make their own entertainment. Honestly, Kyoya, I'm pretty shocked you couldn't remember that."
"I don't bother committing such useless trivia to memory," Ootori said a bit coldly.
"Megumi, you'll have to excuse Kyoya's rudeness. He's not exactly what you'd call a morning person," Laney explained, draping herself over her husband's shoulders and kissing him fondly on the cheek.
"It's 8:30 am, I'm awake and dressed. Those were the terms of the agreement. If you want me to be sociable, you are going to have to sweeten the pot. Considerably."
Laney grinned over at Megumi. "We're fixing Kyoya's sleep hygiene."
"We are not doing anything, Laney. I am acquiescing to your entirely needless and, quite frankly, barbaric insistence that I attempt to better synchronize my weekday and weekend sleep cycles, but only—only, mind you—because the thought of your incessant nagging is even more horrific than waking up at 8 am. Which is saying something." Ootori's voice was acidic.
"You are being more than adequately compensated," Laney said, kissing his cheek again. She started to straighten up, but Ootori twisted around in his chair, pulling her smoothly back down and into a more lingering kiss.
"Somewhat adequately compensated," he remarked in a slightly more pleasant tone, allowing his wife to stand upright again.
"Don't be rude."
"He was very polite. He offered me coffee," Megumi said. Ootori and Laney both looked at her. "Well, he gave me a mug." she amended. Laney chuckled.
"Smooth," Ootori commented, but he shot Megumi a smile with something approaching genuine warmth.
Laney pulled two water bottles from the fridge, slinging them into a small backpack that had been next to the table. "Do you need any water, Megumi?"
"No, I packed some. But thanks."
"Okay, then I'm ready to head out."
Ootori accompanied them to the door. "Try not to fall down. It would be a shame if you got a concussion before finishing this project of yours," he told his wife.
"I'll do my best," Laney smiled up at him. "Do not go back to sleep."
"I'll do my best," he mimicked, giving her a quick kiss.
"Love you."
"Love you, too. Have fun, ladies," Ootori said before he closed the door.
"He's … he's not like that all the time, is he?" Megumi asked nervously as they got into her car. She liked Laney an awful lot, but wasn't sure she was up to dealing with her husband if that's what Ootori's true colors looked like.
Laney laughed. "No, that was particularly bad. He's still adjusting to the idea that he shouldn't sleep in on the weekends." She shot Megumi a swift glance. "You can thank Kaoru for that."
"I'm pretty sure Kaoru doesn't bear any responsibility for Ootori-san's sleeping habits, despite his misguided attempt at relationship counseling."
"Mmm. Maybe you're right." Laney waited until they'd got on the road before continuing, "So what's going on with you two?"
"Nothing!" Megumi blushed.
"Really?"
"Really. Nothing." She couldn't quite keep the disappointment out of her voice.
"Okay, spill it," Laney said, turning the music down.
Megumi hesitated. Laney was Kaoru's friend, the wife of his best friend. She wasn't entirely sure she was the right person to confide in.
Laney picked up on her conflict. "Megumi, whatever you tell me stays in this car. You don't have to worry that I'm going to tell Kaoru, or even Kyoya."
"He came over for dinner the other night, and we talked for a bit. I thought … oh, I don't know what I thought. But talking is literally all we did." She sighed. "He told me about what it was like when girls used to confess to him and his brother back in middle school. I never really realized how difficult certain parts of his life must have been."
"Kyoya's told me a bit about how they grew up, and I agree with you on that one. And I think Kaoru's going through some kind of quarter-life crisis right now."
"He told me he's thinking about teaching. I encouraged him to look into adjunct positions."
"That's great!" Laney beamed.
"It is," Megumi agreed. "He was really opening up, but it didn't go anywhere, you know? We've been talking on the phone every night since, but it's mostly just surface level." She hesitated again. "How well do you know him? I mean, he … he's had a girlfriend before, right?"
Laney sobered. "He's capable of a functional relationship, if that's what you're asking. Certainly more so than his brother. If you want more details, you need to talk to him. Sorry, Megumi, but I need to respect his privacy."
"Of course. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."
Laney studied her for a moment. "He likes you, you know."
"As a friend, sure."
"Has he been flirting with you?"
"Not really."
Laney smiled. "There you go. Kaoru is an absolutely relentless flirt. If he's treating you differently …"
"What, is he in fourth grade? You're saying the reason he's been acting almost totally platonic toward me is because his intentions are the opposite?" Megumi huffed.
"I think he's trying to lay down a foundation of friendship, first," Laney responded seriously. "As best I can tell, Kaoru's very cautious, despite the happy-go-lucky demeanor. He's very wary of letting other people in."
"Friendship first. Huh." Megumi thought about that. "Was that how it was for you and Ootori?"
Laney threw back her head, laughing. "Lord have mercy, no. No, friendship definitely came later. But I don't think Kyoya and I are quite typical. Look at Haruhi and Tamaki, or Huni and Reiko. They were all friends for at least a year before getting into a romantic relationship. Hell, my best friend, Jen, and-" she stopped short.
"And Hikaru?" Megumi guessed.
"No. Definitely not Hikaru." Laney shook her head, sighing. "No, Jen was engaged, but her fiancé died. He had a relatively minor shoulder surgery, but threw a clot. It was … a shock."
"I'm so sorry," Megumi said. Laney just nodded, looking out the window. "You said you and Ootori weren't friends at first?" she said, trying to change the subject.
Laney gave her a small smile. "We got engaged about two and half months after we first met. Friendship wasn't really a huge part of the equation."
"It's nice when an arranged marriage works out like that. It did for my sister as well."
"Oh, it wasn't an arranged marriage. I mean, our fathers did introduce us, but … well, let's just say that they did not factor into the mix at all after about a month." She sighed, clearly in satisfaction. "I didn't mean to give the impression that we didn't like each other. But we kind of skipped over the friendship part and went straight to mutual fascination." Laney smiled, more broadly this time. "It didn't seem like it at the time, but looking back on it, we fell for each other so fast and so hard it would make your head spin."
"Really?" Megumi was a little doubtful. From what she knew of Ootori, both back at Ouran and through the high society gossip network, he did not seem at all the type to lose his head like what Laney was describing.
Laney seemed to guess what she was thinking. "Don't let him fool you. Kyoya's got layers."
"I'm sure he does," Megumi responded automatically. Suddenly, Kaoru didn't look like that hard of a nut to crack after all. Which reminded her—"Kaoru said he wanted to take us out to lunch after we finish our hike."
"Of course he does," Laney said, with the merest trace of irritation.
"Are you still upset with him over his actions last week?"
"Not really, I guess. I know he had good intentions. But he could definitely benefit from a more profound understanding of what is and isn't his business."
"He has a big heart," Megumi defended.
Again, Laney gave her a sharp glance. Suddenly, her phone buzzed, and she checked her incoming text. "Kyoya," she chuckled.
"Everything all right?"
"Drop it, Miss Woodhouse," she read aloud.
"What does that mean?"
"It means my boy is as perceptive at 8:30 am as he is at 8:30 pm," she sighed heavily. "Guess Tamaki won that bet." She grinned conspiratorially at Megumi. "Kyoya is going to kill me when he finds out we're hosting a wagashi tasting."
Author's Note: Huge thanks to mutemuia and No-Time Lord for the reviews, and AkizukiYueChan and TheMaximumExperience for the favorites. Your constant support is more encouraging than you know! I PROMISE, the next few chapters are going to see a lot more of Kaoru and Megumi together.