Kauru Hitachiin's Love Story || an OHSHC fanfiction

Seven || Sun, Sea, Scared & Scarred

Not long after the pool day, the Host Club went to the beach, just as they had done the year before, but Matthew tagged along so that Maverick didn't have to worry and there would be no reason for him to go home early.

Haruhi was sitting on a towel under an umbrella, just as she had done the year before, but this year she had some company; Matthew was sitting next to her, reading silently as the hosts did their jobs, entertaining the ladies that had come with them. Tamaki was on the same rock he had been on last year with Kyoya mediating and keeping time so that no girl had more or less time with the Host Club's Prince, the twins were playing beach volleyball, and Maverick was swimming.
Everyone was having a good time; it was a good day. For lunch, all of the ladies went to the nearby town, and the hosts (plus Matthew) hung around the beach.
"I hope we don't have a repeat of last year." Haruhi said, looking up at the sky.
"What happened last year?" Matthew asked, looking up from his book. Maverick and Kyoya were back up at the beach house, getting the Hosts' lunches.
"A thunderstorm broke out." Haruhi replied, recalling the events.
"Why would that be bad?" Matthew asked; he knew that it would be a bad thing if there was a thunderstorm, but the hosts had no way of knowing about that, nor did they know his brother before the beginning of this school year, so how could they possibly know about his fear of thunder? They didn't.
"Haruhi's terrified of thunder. Luckily for her, last year, I was there to comfort her." Tamaki replied, plopping down on the sand next to the younger Englishman. The twins soon joined the others, and Matthew looked up at the sky, hoping, for Maverick's sake, that there wasn't going to be a thunderstorm within the next 24 hours.

After lunch, the ladies slowly started to come back. Maverick joined the twins for beach volleyball and had convinced Matthew to play too, promising he wouldn't get too competitive. Haruhi continued to sit under her umbrella, chatting with whomever stopped to chat with her. Tamaki went back to his rock, and Kyoya went through the list of ladies and timed their encounter with Tamaki.

As the sun started to set, some of the ladies went back to the hotel, Matthew had gone up to the Ootori's beach house to take a nap a few hours ago, Maverick sat on a towel on the sand, watching the sky as it changed colours. The twins had stopped playing volleyball a while ago, and Tamaki's rock had been abandoned shortly there after. As the stars stared to peak through, Kyoya encouraged everyone to go get some dinner. So the ladies who remained on the beach went back to their hotel and the hosts went up to the beach house for dinner.
Surprising no one, dinner consisted of a lot of sea food. Haruhi was sure not to eat too much this time, and there was pleasant conversation around the table. Matthew was mostly silent; these weren't his friends after all, and he was really only there to make Maverick feel better. He would have rather been in the comfort of his own home, but a beach weekend wasn't the worst thing ever to be doing — getting away from Martin for two days was really nice. Matthew snapped out of his thoughts when Maverick said his name, though after a few seconds he realized that Maverick was just telling a story, and he had happened to be there when that memorable moment occurred.

After dinner, everyone was shown to their rooms. Maverick hadn't noticed that it had started to rain during dinner until he was all alone in his room, and the rain pouring against his window was the only thing he could hear; pounding in his head. He shook his head a little and started to get ready for bed, doing everything he could to forget how hard the rain was hitting against the large window. He plugged his headphones into his phone, put in the earbuds and played music, hoping that it would calm him down, and it worked for a while, until he saw the lightning. He paused his music and counted. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, the thunder crashed, causing Maverick to shudder. Nine seconds, nine wasn't so hard a number to remember. Another flicker of lightning and Maverick counted again. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, was as far as he got before another boom of thunder. The storm was approaching, slowly.
Maverick started to shake, his body expecting something his mind knew couldn't happen, not anymore, but he was afraid nonetheless. Maverick heard loud, quick footsteps outside his door, far too quick to be what his body still half expected. The person who's footsteps had spooked him ran past his door. Another flash. One, two, three, four, five, six, crash. Maverick whispered softly; had there been someone in his room, they wouldn't have heard it. He curled up under his covers, shaking, his headphones on, but they couldn't drown out his thoughts. He saw the flash of another lighting strike through his blankets and his closed, teary eyes; when did he start crying?
Maverick didn't hear his door open, he didn't hear someone walk in, he didn't hear someone call his name, but he did feel it when the bed dipped a little to his right when someone sat down. Maverick froze and slowly took the sheet off of his head, his head slowly turning to the right. He was relieved when he saw that it was his brother. He sniffled and leaned against his brother, closing his eyes again. Matthew silently wiped away Maverick's tears. Matthew grabbed Maverick's phone and changed the playlist, and turned up the volume a couple notches before he gently guided Maverick into a laying position, laying next to him.

In the morning, the hosts all woke up at different times, slowly migrating to the living room of the beach house. Haruhi was the first one up, and was found by all of the other hosts reading, curled up in the corner of the couch. Tamaki was next to arrive, he sat next to Haruhi and turned on the tv. Next were the twins, who watched the cartoons that Tamaki had turned on. Kyoya was the last to arrive of their own accord, he came in holding his laptop, which he opened shortly after he sat down. Some of the Ootori staff called the hosts to breakfast, Kaoru noticed the McMasters' absence and offered to go get them. Matthew's room was closer to the living room, so he went there first and was surprised to see that it was empty. He then went to Maverick's room and found both brothers asleep. Kaoru felt bad that the had to wake them. He gently shook Matthew's shoulder. Matthew stirred and slowly opened his eyes.
"Time for breakfast." Kaoru said softly.
Matthew groaned. "It feels like I just fell asleep." He whined, but sat up nonetheless.
Kaoru then made his way to Maverick's side of the bed and shook him gently. Maverick jolted awake before he too groaned, not wanting to wake up.
"Time for breakfast." Kaoru repeated.
"We'll be out soon." Maverick said and rubbed his face before stretching. Kaoru left the room, a small smile on his face.

The rest of the club waited for the McMasters brothers before they started breakfast.
After breakfast, they all piled into one limo and went back home. Matthew fell asleep on Maverick's shoulder, and Maverick fell asleep on Kaoru's.