Crossover // Apeiron Academy: Part V // echo
Fandoms: Bleach, Ouran HSHC
Focus: Orihime/Host Club
Prompt: peanut butter and leeks
Genres: Introspection, friendship
Rating: K
Wordcount: 500
Summary: Dinner as an act of love.
Notes: Part five of Apeiron Academy. No bad love in this one. ^___^
V: echo
The apartment is empty without them.
In the years after her brother, she's learned self-sufficiency, but she's never learned not to feel lonely. It has always seemed an impossible goal for her, like being famous or becoming a millionaire or starring in a reality TV show.
Orihime has survived, but she has not lived.
They come only on a whim, she knows, but that doesn't matter to her. What matters is only that they come, and for a while chase the echoing ache of loneliness out of her apartment. When they're there, she can remember how to smile.
It makes her laugh that they are always astonished when she has dinner ready for them when they arrive. Of course, they don't know that there is a traitor in the their ranks-- Kyouya always calls to warn her beforehand, being rather more sensible than most of the rest of them.
Sometimes as she does her homework, she catches herself reading the same passages over and over again as she listens for the phone to ring.
Today is not a day like that, because Kyouya has already called her.
She stands in front of the stove, frilly pink apron in full bloom around her torso, hair tied back and out of the way so that the oil won't get into it. Today's dishes are leek soup with water chestnuts and thin noodles with white wine, watercress and strawberry salad, halibut with maple syrup sauce, and peanut butter and jelly cake for dessert. Often she is teased for her penchant to pair odd things together, but the Host Club's tastes are very refined and they still come back week after week to partake of her unusual cuisine, so she knows she must be doing something right.
As the soup simmers and the fish bakes, she lays out the table. Herself at the head, closest to the kitchen. Tamaki at her right, Kyouya to her left. The twins next to Tamaki, Mori and Honey next to Kyouya, and at the far end, Haruhi. They arranged themselves like this automatically the very first time, and it requires almost no thought for Orihime to tailor the table to them accordingly. An extra pair of napkins of Honey, the messiest eater. Fork and knife switched for Kyouya, who has taught himself to be right-handed due to the world being essentially built around those who are, but is secretly more comfortable eating with his left. Wine bottle near Mori, as it's somehow always his duty to pour for everyone. The twins' placements slightly closer to each other than the others, as they don't seem entirely at ease unless their shoulders are touching.
Glancing up at the clock, she smiles to realize that cooking has passed almost an hour already. They will be here in hardly any time at all. Humming to herself, she puts Yiruma on the speakers, takes off her apron, and lets down her hair.
They haven't even arrived yet, and already the echo is fading.
XxxxxxX
A/N: She has yet to meet her current friends in this universe, in case you were wondering where Tatsuki and Chizuru and the others are.
Focus: Orihime/Host Club
Prompt: peanut butter and leeks
Genres: Introspection, friendship
Rating: K
Wordcount: 500
Summary: Dinner as an act of love.
Notes: Part five of Apeiron Academy. No bad love in this one. ^___^
V: echo
The apartment is empty without them.
In the years after her brother, she's learned self-sufficiency, but she's never learned not to feel lonely. It has always seemed an impossible goal for her, like being famous or becoming a millionaire or starring in a reality TV show.
Orihime has survived, but she has not lived.
They come only on a whim, she knows, but that doesn't matter to her. What matters is only that they come, and for a while chase the echoing ache of loneliness out of her apartment. When they're there, she can remember how to smile.
It makes her laugh that they are always astonished when she has dinner ready for them when they arrive. Of course, they don't know that there is a traitor in the their ranks-- Kyouya always calls to warn her beforehand, being rather more sensible than most of the rest of them.
Sometimes as she does her homework, she catches herself reading the same passages over and over again as she listens for the phone to ring.
Today is not a day like that, because Kyouya has already called her.
She stands in front of the stove, frilly pink apron in full bloom around her torso, hair tied back and out of the way so that the oil won't get into it. Today's dishes are leek soup with water chestnuts and thin noodles with white wine, watercress and strawberry salad, halibut with maple syrup sauce, and peanut butter and jelly cake for dessert. Often she is teased for her penchant to pair odd things together, but the Host Club's tastes are very refined and they still come back week after week to partake of her unusual cuisine, so she knows she must be doing something right.
As the soup simmers and the fish bakes, she lays out the table. Herself at the head, closest to the kitchen. Tamaki at her right, Kyouya to her left. The twins next to Tamaki, Mori and Honey next to Kyouya, and at the far end, Haruhi. They arranged themselves like this automatically the very first time, and it requires almost no thought for Orihime to tailor the table to them accordingly. An extra pair of napkins of Honey, the messiest eater. Fork and knife switched for Kyouya, who has taught himself to be right-handed due to the world being essentially built around those who are, but is secretly more comfortable eating with his left. Wine bottle near Mori, as it's somehow always his duty to pour for everyone. The twins' placements slightly closer to each other than the others, as they don't seem entirely at ease unless their shoulders are touching.
Glancing up at the clock, she smiles to realize that cooking has passed almost an hour already. They will be here in hardly any time at all. Humming to herself, she puts Yiruma on the speakers, takes off her apron, and lets down her hair.
They haven't even arrived yet, and already the echo is fading.
XxxxxxX
A/N: She has yet to meet her current friends in this universe, in case you were wondering where Tatsuki and Chizuru and the others are.