Title: New tricks
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: General
Length: 2000ish
Content notes: None
Author notes: Modern day/mundane AU - marriage of convenience. Umi/Clef, Hikaru/Emeraude. It's not the last day for posting!! (I may have worked out how many prompts I've not yet written for and might be posting something else tomorrow….)
Summary: Normally he would have met Umi's friends before marrying her, so he was certainly nervous about it. But he also deeply wanted to check out this woman that Emeraude had fallen for, make sure she checked out.


oOo

Two days after they signed the paperwork binding them into this strange marriage of convenience, Clef met Umi's two best friends for the first time. That this also meant he was meeting his best friend's girlfriend for the first time made it even stranger - surely normally he would have met Umi's friends before marrying her, so he was certainly nervous about it. But he also deeply wanted to check out this woman that Emeraude had fallen for, make sure she checked out.

Hikaru, it turned out, was a short and bubbly woman who made you feel welcome just by smiling at you, and - well, Clef was slightly frightened at the idea of her and Emeraude being in the same room, because between the two of them who else would have the chance to do anything but be swept along where they led?

At the same time... he wanted that sense of happiness for Emeraude, that being loved, so much.

"Hi!" she said, as she burst into the conservatory ahead of Umi and Fuu. "You must be Clef! I've heard so much about you - how are you finding it here? Is Umi treating you well?" Her English was a little less fluent than Umi's, but so far ahead of his ten words of Japanese that he flushed hard - though he'd known Hikaru had studied in the UK for a year. That was, when she'd met Emeraude.

He stood and bowed back to her, but Hikaru reached out and took his hands instead, smiling brilliantly. "It's great to meet you in person," she said, and he'd not even managed to reply to her first questions yet, but found himself smiling back helplessly.

"I'm glad to meet you too. I've heard of you from Emeraude, but not so much, she always scolds me for prying when I ask about you," he said, probably too honestly - and Hikaru just laughed, so obviously taking no offence that he couldn't even start being anxious that he'd stuck his foot in it somehow with that. It didn't exactly constitute outing their relationship, as Em had never actually said if they were public knowledge to Hikaru's friends.

"She's spoken of you a lot, but nothing that might be embarrasing," Hikaru promised him. "You and her brother and your friend Lantis were the three people she was most nervous about telling when we started dating, because I think she doesn't care much what anyone else thinks, but you three matter to her."

"And we all knew-" he bit his lip, but Hikaru was pulling him to sit on the sofa, nodding.

"Lantis's brother. Yes."

There was so much history in those few words. Hikaru knew - and that was a relief, because all these years since the accident, and it was still hard to talk about. But she held his hand for a moment, and then led the conversation on, and yes - he wanted this to work out for Emeraude.

"Lantis seems happy with his new husband," Hikaru added. "He's been posting a lot from their honeymoon, hasn't he."

Clef snorted. "Second honeymoon by now, they had to go to a two-week conference for Eagle's job in the middle there. And yes. He was doing a good job of making us all jealous with the beautiful beach and mountain photos, but-" he waved a hand at the windows. There wasn't much visible from this room, but the meaning was hopefully clear. "It's quite hard to make me jealous at the moment. I'm really enjoying my time here, and getting to know Umi."

He glanced at the door, expecting to see her, only it was empty - he was sure he'd glimpsed Umi's other friend as well, but the room was now empty of everyone but Hikaru and himself. Frowning at the door, he leaned back to see a little further.

"I'm glad you're getting on," Hikaru said, interrupting his confusion. "But there is one important thing that Umi forgot to check before we arrived today."

"Oh?"

"Yes." She looked very serious, and he steeled himself. "Do you like dogs?"

"...What?"

"Dogs - do you mind them? I brought Hikari with me - Umi and Fuu have taken him through to the garden. Momo tries to fight him if he stays inside, but there's an event at my family's house today, so I couldn't leave him."

Clef shook his head, and stood, smiling again. "I like dogs," he said. "And I would like to meet yours - though I have to admit, I probably prefer cats. Em loves dogs best, though."

"It's a good thing you're the one who Umi found, then," Hikaru said, and they walked together through the house, Clef at least certain how to get to the garden after a week living here. "She's always said she'd rather have cats than dogs. Though I think it's partially because she likes to argue with them - have you heard her having an arguement with the cats yet?"

"I couldn't understand it, but they were having a very long conversation yesterday evening," Clef agreed. He'd stood in the doorway for at least five minutes being amused as Umi said something to the cat staring up at her, and then waited for the cat to meow back, and took up her side of the discussion again. "I guess dogs would agree with her instead of arguing back?"

"That's what she says," Hikaru agreed, and he waved her through the door into the garden, where Umi was waiting with crossed arms and foot almost tapping, beside a woman holding the lead of a rather large, fairly fluffy dog whose tail started waving hard as soon as Hikaru was out of the door.

"I told you he wouldn't mind!" Umi called out, and both her friends looked amused.

"You should not guess about things like that," the other friend scolded slightly, coming over to hand the lead over to Hikaru, and bow to Clef. "Hello. I am Hououji Fuu, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Clef," he said, bowing back. "Ryuuzaki Clef, now, I guess." Saying that was strange, but he looked up in time to catch Umi flushing bright red, and that was plenty reason to keep doing it. Besides, it was perfectly true. He needed to go back to the embassy and get his passport updated too. "It's nice to meet you."

Whatever he'd have said next was cut off by the very insistent dog who was somehow shuffling closer and closer while still obediently sat, tail flapping back and forth across the ground as he snuck closer to Clef, apparently determined to be introduced to this new person too.

"Sorry!" Hikaru said, and then said something to the dog of which Clef only caught the name - Hikari, which was confusingly close to Hikaru's own name. Hikari whined sadly, but went back to sit by Hikaru's leg, still staring up at Clef with huge dark eyes.

Fuu smiled and waved a hand. "You had best be introduced. It would only be polite," she said, stepping back and out of the way.

Clef dropped to his knees and held out a hand to Hikari, who glanced up at his owner before shuffling forward to sniff at him, and then shove his head under Clef's hand in the most blatant demand for head skritches Clef had seen since Momo woke him up by headbutting him. "Hi," he said, with a laugh, and obliged. "You're lovely, aren't you." Hikari was obviously not a young dog, his fur was speckled white about his muzzle in a way that looked like age. But he was still enthusiastic as a puppy at making a new friend, and Clef's hands were both thoroughly licked before he stood again and excused himself, laughing, to wash them.

When he came back to the garden, he paused a moment to watch Umi sat on a blanket on the grass between her friends, the dog happily laying beside Hikaru, and the three women chatting happily. Umi was saying something, her hands waving through the air as she made a point, and something that Fuu said had her flushing and laughing at the same time.

She looked up a moment later, and waved him over enthusiastically. "Come defend me!" she called out, switching easily into English for his sake. "That's your job now, isn't it?"

"Defend you from what?" Clef asked, walking across. Fuu looked up, and smiled, and moved over as he came across the grass, leaving a space beside Umi - he would have protested but she moved so swiftly he didn't realise her intention until she'd done it, and he could hardly ask her to move back. So he dropped into the space beside Umi murmuring his thanks, and found himself being handed a cup of tea and a plate with biscuits on.

"They keep telling me we need to have a wedding," Umi said, pulling a face at her friends. "I don't like big parties!"

"But think of how nice it would be to invite those you work with." Fuu smiled sweetly as she said it, and it took a moment for Clef to realise she was suggesting they have a wedding to invite the board of Umi's company - the ones she was marrying him in order to thwart and piss off in equal measure. He half choked on a laugh, and Hikaru grinned at him across the blanket.

"But Papa and Mama will spend the whole time crying and saying ridiculous romantic things and telling embarrassing stories about me and I'll have hives," Umi declared, shivering and rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

"Hives?" Fuu asked, and Umi translated swiftly, getting a laugh.
"It's not like you couldn't have the wedding later, if you decided you want to," was Hikaru's suggestion, and Clef tried not to read into that - or into the way he felt when Umi patted his knee, her hand warm through his trousers.

"See? Defend me!" Umi demanded.

Clef took a drink from his tea before responding. "If we have a wedding without giving enough notice for my friends to arrange to get here, I don't think they'll ever forgive me," he hedged. "I'm afraid we would need to give them a year's notice to have the time to come all the way here. And to work out the most embarrassing speeches they could make at the reception."

"See? No wedding!" Umi told Fuu, sounding triumphant. "Just being married. Much less embarrassment."

"Maybe later, then," Fuu demurred, and exchanged a look with Hikaru that was amused enough Clef felt his cheeks heating.

Fortunately the conversation turned away from weddings and into more usual get-to-know-you, how-are-you-liking-Japan-so-far, and that kind of small talk for the hour until Hikaru and Fuu had to leave, and he thought it had gone well enough to send Emeraude a message of 'I like your girlfriend, she's really nice'.

'Of course she is!' came back almost instantly, and he grinned at his phone.

'So is her dog,' he sent, with a picture of Hikari lounging on the lawn, and counted the seconds before his phone started ringing - he picked up laughing as Emeraude half shouted "You met Hikari?" at him.

"You know, if you came to stay a while, you could meet her dog too. And her family," he said, heading back to help Umi pick up the tea things from the garden. "You could stay with us, maybe, if you come in a couple of months?"

"...You think I should come meet her family? You really liked her then?"

"I think she's a lovely person. And if you're serious, I think you should go ahead and be serious. You can work out the distance somehow. I've got faith in you, if you put your mind to it."

"Clef..."

"I also think you probably want to hang up before your phone bill goes through the roof. Unless you've got unlimited international calls? I guess you might, if you're talking to Hikaru a lot-"

"We do internet calls mostly. But - Clef, you're staying then? If you want me to come out in a couple of months..."
He hadn't actually told anyone back home that they'd done and filed the paperwork. After all, it was what he was here for - it shouldn't be that much of a shock, but now he found himself clearing his throat. "Well, I did get married a couple of days ago, so I'm not planning to run away too soon," he admitted.

There was a pause, and then Emeraude half yelled his name down the phone, and he laughed.

"Think of your phonebill! I'll talk to you soon," he said, and promptly hung up on her.
Umi stood a few feet away in the door to the garden, dirty plates in her hands. "Is everything alright?" she asked, slowly, and Clef smiled at her.

"Everything's absolutely fine."