Kauru Hitachiin's Love Story || an OHSHC fanfiction

Nine || Karuizawa Continues

As the summer approached, Haruhi made sure that she didn't have a repeat of her scare from last year, she made sure to get her job approved by the school; she was going back to Karuizawa. She disclosed this information to Maverick, thinking that he might want to get away for at least part of the summer, and he said he would think about it.
Think about it he did, and ultimately came to the decision that Karuizawa wasn't too far away from his brothers that if there was a problem that arose, he could get back in a timely enough manor that everything would be okay. He called ahead, and reserved a room at Misuzu's pension, and accompanied Haruhi on her way there.

Sadly for Haruhi some of last year's events reoccurred; the Host Club members (excluding Haruhi and Maverick) competed for the extra room, again. And just like the year before, the twins won the room, though faster this time. Although the contest was over, the hosts continued to help out a little around the pension. Tamaki and Maverick took turns playing the piano, the twins helped guests to their rooms, and Haruhi did her job, cooking a little, cleaning, doing laundry, et cetera.
Maverick and Tamaki played very different pieces when they were each playing on the piano. Tamaki played classical, intricate pieces where as Maverick played songs from musicals, cartoons, anime, and the like. One song in particular made one of the people staying at the pension want to get a closer look at the pianist. The patron recognized Maverick instantly and when Tamaki took over playing again, the 5'5" brunet got Maverick's full, undecided attention by saying four words in English.
"Apocalypse of the Damned."
"Level nine." Maverick replied, a smile making its way onto his face as he recognized his cousin.
"The cafetorium." They said in unison before they hugged. The rest of the nearby hosts looked at the two of them in confusion, partly because they didn't know who Maverick was talking to, but partly because they were speaking so fast in their native tongue that the Japanese and French had a hard time keeping up with them.
"How have you been?" Maverick asked, smiling, his hands on his cousin's shoulders. "How are your brothers? How's it going with that Runcorn guy?" Maverick's excitement was evident, and only matched by the teen boy he was talking to.
"I'm good, James and Will moved out and as far as I can tell they're good, Finny's taking a fifth year, Oliver and I are going strong, I'm actually here with his family." The brunet replied, smiling widely, his hands on Maverick's elbows.
Kaoru wasn't sure what it was about this encounter that made him feel almost angry with the boy Maverick was talking to so enthusiastically.
"What about you, Mav, what are you doing in Japan? Ever since your dad went to jail, you and Matt fell off the face of the earth. We got a letter from the US government saying that you were safe but there was no way to contact you?"
"Matt, Martin, that's Katherine's kid, moved here for a fresh start." Maverick explained. "You can't tell your family where we are."
"So you live here in Karuizawa?"
"No, but close enough." Maverick said and a wide smile spread across his face again. "Wanna meet my friends?"
"My Japanese is so broken."
"I can translate."
"Then okay." At his cousin's reply, Maverick pulled the smaller boy over to the table that the hosts were all currently sitting at, all wondering who Maverick was talking to.
"Hosts, this is my cousin, Ryan." Maverick introduced in Japanese before switching back to English for his cousin. "Ryan, these are my friends, Tamaki, Kyoya, Haruhi, Hikaru, and Kaoru."

The group sat and chatted for a while, Maverick playing translator. One by one, the hosts started to leave; Haruhi was first, as she had to get back to work, next was Tamaki, he went back to the piano, Kyoya was next, wanting a quiet place to do some calculations.
Hikaru wanted to leave, growing bored of the conversation, but he didn't want to leave Kaoru who seemed a little to interested in Maverick's family stories. Eventually, Hikaru did leave, making a bit more of a spectacle of it than it really was. Kaoru promised that he would be upstairs soon.
"Why do you even care so much, Kaoru? What are you, gay or something?" Ryan looked to Maverick to translate, but instead Maverick stood up and stared daggers at Hikaru.
"So what if he is?" Maverick prodded. "Don't you think that your whole 'brotherly-love' act is kinda gay? It's the twenty-first century, Hikaru, Kaoru may not be straight, news flash, I'm not, and neither is Ryan, that doesn't change anything except for your perception." Hikaru stormed off and Maverick sat back down. Ryan looked at him, obviously expecting a translation but Maverick shook his head. "It's better if you don't know."

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It had been a few hours since Hikaru's outburst. Maverick, Ryan, and Oliver, Ryan's boyfriend, had just gotten back to the pension. Kaoru was waiting for Maverick near the door.
"I'm sorry about Hikaru." Kaoru said, looking at Maverick. "He and I had a really long talk, but he's too much of a dummy to apologize himself. What do you say I take you around town tomorrow to make up for it?"
"I would love to go out with you tomorrow, but not as an apology." Maverick replied with a soft smile.
Kaoru looked confused. "What do you mean."
"What do you think I mean?" Maverick replied with a chuckle.
"Like... a date?"
"Yeah, like a date."
"I would like that." Kaoru agreed with a smile.
"You know where my room is?" Maverick asked and Kaoru nodded. "Good, I'll meet you there after breakfast." Kaoru nodded more enthusiastically and Maverick walked away with Ryan and Oliver. Maverick told them what just happened in English, though he left out the apology part and just told them that Kaoru finally asked him out.

Tomorrow was going to be really interesting.

Maverick made his way up to his room to pick out an outfit to wear on his date. He had been waiting for Kaoru to ask him out for a long time. He wanted to, but he didn't want to get rejected, especially if Kaoru was straight.
Before moving to Japan, Maverick wasn't sure if he would want to start dating again, one of the main reasons he moved there being the death of his last boyfriend. It was so fresh in his mind as Maverick unpacked, but he soon realized that once he got into the swing of things at a new school, a new house, in a new country, on a new continent, speaking a different language that he could move on, and that it had been almost a year at this point that it was okay to start dating again. Six months had gone by before his crush on Kaoru started to develop, and if he was ready for a crush, then maybe, just maybe, he was almost ready for a new relationship.