Hollow Point

Daelen bit his pinky nail a little anxiously as the two stepped into a hair salon. He glanced back out the window for a moment, overwhelmed. How did someone get around somewhere like this? It was too big.

Noire beamed as she strolled up to the front desk. "Asa. My fiance here needs to get a haircut badly. Think you could fix him up?"

Asa squealed and stood up, hugging her friend tightly. "What are you doing back home? I thought you had moved to Lithuania?"

Noire moved from her and hugged Daelen's arm quickly. "I met Daelen at a restaurant and we hit it off very quickly. We're going to move back home with my parents."

Daelen smiled uneasily in response, not understanding a word that was being said. He looked at the hairdresser, who was looking very excited all of a sudden.

She stood on her tip-toes, whispering in his ear. "We've been best friends for a really long time. Say 'Konnichiwa, Asa.'"

He looked back at Asa, who was staring at them expectantly. "Errr...Konnichiwa, Asa," he stumbled over the word, trying to copy Noire's accent.

Asa giggled, turning to Noire. "He's a cute one. Good choice. Now, time to fix up his hair. What kind of style did you have in mind?" She took Daelen's hand, leading him to a chair in front of a sink.

"I want him to have a very jagged, but clean look. Give him some bangs, eye length or so." Noire said, sitting herself down across from Daelen.

He sat down gingerly, trying to avoid his own gaze in the mirror. Instead, he chose to look at Noire, and how completely...at home she looked.

"Tilt your head back into the sink." Asa said in a very thick Japanese accent. "I am sorry. My English is very bad." She ran the water over her hands before soaking Daelen's hair.

Noire smiled at Daelen. She couldn't believe they were home. She hoped her parents would approve of her and Daelen. They had to, didn't they?

Daelen felt extremely uncomfortable as he laid his head down into the sink and felt Asa's hands run through his hair, washing it before his haircut. He vaguely noticed Noire smiling at him. At least she was comfortable, but for him...well, that would take awhile.

When Asa finished, she sat Daelen back up, wrapping his hair up in a towel. "Follow me please." she said quietly. She sat him in a new chair, taking out a comb and scissors.

"Is there any way you could hurry up, Asa? I don't mean to rush you, but I'm really excited for him to meet my parents." Noire said, blushing. "You know how they are with being on time."

Daelen eyed Asa's scissors with distrust as Noire jabbered on in Japanese. She looked a little worried, if he was being honest with himself, and that was not something he liked to see. Especially when the hairdresser was holding a potentially lethal weapon in her hand.

"Hey, Daelen?" she said quietly. "After this I want to go get you some nice pants and a tie. For my parents, you know?"

Asa snipped away at Daelen's hair, humming to herself quietly. "Totemo daijina. Kimi no omoi wa. Muda ni naranai. Sekai wa mawaru. Honno sukoshi no boku. No kimochi mo meguri meguru yo." She looked over at Noire and smiled, before continuing to sing their favorite song.

Daelen nodded absently, wondering what he was getting for a haircut. Not that he cared too much, as long as he looked presentable for Noire's parents. He couldn't help but feel that the first impression would determine how much her parents liked him. He'd try to get her to teach him some basic Japanese language to impress them by. If he was going to stay in their home, he thought as he watched pieces of his hair float down onto the floor, he might as well try to get them to like him.

Noire smiled at him, watching as Asa put the finishing touches on his hair.

"All done." she said. "Just have to blow dry it and then you can head on home." She smiled at her friend. "I'll take care of the payment, Noire."

"Thank you." Noire said happily.

When Daelen was finally let of of the spinning chair, he looked at Asa and smiling uncertainly, he said, "Thank you." He turned to look at himself in the mirror finally, curiosity getting the best of him. His eyes widened as a stranger looked back at him.

Noire's mouth dropped open. "Wow, Daelen. You look great. A true Japanese man." She smiled and hugged Asa. "Thank you again. Call me sometime, okay?" She smiled at her, before tugging on Daelen's arm and leading him out of the salon.

He touched his hair self consciously, feeling how soft it was. His cheeks were still red from Noire's obviously genuine compliment. He didn't even pay attention to all the huge buildings surrounding them for once.

She led the way down the crowded streets until they came to a very popular store. Noire turned into it and began scoping out something nice for Daelen to wear. "What colors do you like?"

He shrugged in response. "I used to wear a lot of grey, black, and blue. Sometimes green. I never really cared what I wore, though," he replied.

Noire continued to look around the store. "Oh my goodness." she said, spotting chocolate brown shirts. "Oh, Daelen. They have these in my size, too. That would be so adorable." She smiled widely and picked up a shirt she assumed was his size. "Go try this on."

"Uh...Where?" He looked confused as he searched around the store.

She pointed over to their left before heading there herself. "Come show me what it looks like when you're done." Hoping her smile would ease him, she flashed one and went into her own room.

Daelen walked into the changing room, closing the door behind him and quickly replacing his shirt with the brown one. He tried not to notice how noticeable his ribs were as he pulled the shirt over his head. Shaking out his hair, which felt strangely light thanks to his new haircut, he stepped out of the dressing room to show Noire.

Noire stepped out at the same time Daelen did. "Wow. That looks really nice on you. If you paired that with a black tie and pants, my parents will love you." She tugged on her shirt. "Does this look okay to you?"

Daelen automatically blushed, as was second nature to him now. "Yeah..." he murmured, looking at the shirt for a little longer than necessary.

She noticed him staring, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "Well, then I guess we'll get these. We'll go pick out some black pants and a tie and be on our way, hmm?" Noire turned on her heel and went back into the dressing room.

He turned back as well, going back to the dressing room to change into his shirt. When he got back, they continued looking for clothes, except there was an odd silence this time.

Noire picked out a nice black tie and black pants for Daelen, picking out black pinstripe pants for herself. "Try using a credit card, Daelen. You can pay for the things with mine. The code is 26357." She tried to smile, but the awkwardness was still sitting between them.

"What?" he asked, confused, momentarily forgetting the tenseness of the situation.

"Oh. Um. Nevermind. I can do it." She retreated her hand that was holding the card and took the clothes from his arms, bringing them up to the register.

After they paid for them, they went outside and turned right. "Let's go to some fast food place to get changed, okay?"

Daelen nodded, feeling somewhat guilty for creating the sudden weirdness to their situation. "I, uh." He stopped, trying to think of something to say to distract her. "Noire. Can you teach me some Japanese? Just basic thing, to you know," he hesitated. "to impress your parents."

"Oh. Yeah, Daelen. We can do that after we get changed and into a taxi." She handed him the bag filled with his clothes, turning into a small fast food place. "Konnichiwa." she said, bowing with her hands together. The workers did the same. Noire nudged Daelen. "Bow to them, but don't bow too low."

Daelen nodded, bending into a 30 degree bow. He looked up, unsure, but no one seemed to find his bow out of the ordinary, so he just looked at Noire questioningly, wondering if he did it right.

She smiled, standing back up. They separated into their own bathrooms, getting changed quickly. Finishing before Daelen did, she decided to order a box of fortune cookies to share with her family.

Daelen stepped out of the bathroom to find Noire with a box of fortune cookies in her arms and an expectant smile on her face. "Um, is it okay?" he asked nervously, already beginning to dread this meeting with her parents.

Noire blushed. "You look..amazing." She hugged the box closer to her chest before realizing she was crushing them. "Oh. Are you ready to go?"

Daelen paled, but nodded. He felt like he was going to be sick, but he knew what needed to be done.

They went outside and waited for a taxi. Piling into one, Noire began to explain to Daelen important things to remember. "Be sure to always take your shoes off before entering anyone's house. When you talk to my parents, call them Tomi-san and Haruka-sama. It shows respect to them. Point with your palm up, not with a finger."

Daelen's nodding became quicker as he got more nervous, trying to memorize all of this and more. He knew how things went this first meeting would affect how her parents perceived him, and he wanted nothing more but to make a good first impression.

"Don't worry, Daelen. You're going to do fine. They're going to love you." She smiled up at him, asking the taxi driver how much it was going to be to get there.

Unfortunately for Daelen's nerves, being so worried only sped up time, and they arrived at Noire's house in almost no time. As they stepped out of the taxi, he stared up at her house, feeling like he was going to puke. What if he was kicked out of her house because he did something incredibly rude on accident?

Noire held Daelen's hand and laced her fingers through his, blushing. "You're going to be okay." she said to him quietly.

He looked over at her in response, blushing and tightening his hand around hers. They made it up the steps quietly, his heart racing all the way there.

She knocked on the door, slipping her shoes off quickly, watching Daelen do the same. She heard her parents' footsteps get closer to the door.

"Noire!" her mother exclaimed, pulling her into a tight hug. "We've missed you so much."

Her father grinned at Noire as well, taking her from her mother and giving her an affectionate squeeze. "Hello, honey."

Daelen stood there awkwardly, waiting for her parents to acknowledge him, not wanting to be rude.

Noire turned around, pointing to Daelen with her palm. "Mom, Dad, this is Daelen. He's my fiance."

Haruka bowed. "Hello, Daelen-kun. It's so nice to meet you."

Tomi bowed as well, murmuring, "Welcome, Daelen-kun."

Daelen nodded and bowed to each of them, calling them by their proper names.

Haruka tugged at Noire's shirt. "I see you two have bought matching shirts. They look very cute. You make a very cute couple." She looked up at Daelen and smiled. "Please, come sit down. We've prepared dinner for you."

Noire nodded, handing the box of fortune cookies to her father. "Here, Dad. I picked up fortune cookies for after."

Daelen sat down, feeling uncomfortable. Seeing a pair of sticks in front of him, he was instantly confused. Where were the forks?

She sat down beside him, picking up the chopsticks and showing Daelen how to hold them. "This way, dear." she said, smiling.

He blushed at both his obvious ignorance and Noire's choice of endearment. He nodded briefly, trying out the chopsticks for himself and thankfully getting ahold of them fairly quickly.

Haruka and Tomi sat down across from them, slurping their noodles loudly. "So," Haruka piped up. "How long will it be after you two are married will I be getting grandchildren?"

Noire coughed loudly on her food. "Mom!" Her face twisted in annoyance and she looked over and Daelen, wincing.

He had turned bright red and had choked on his food as well. He turned to look at Noire in alarm, looking almost comically horrified.

"I..I guess I forgot to tell you. Us Japanese people date to marry, and marry to have children. Whoops." Her red face couldn't have possibly gotten any brighter.

Haruka laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry, Noire. I didn't mean to embarrass you and Daelen."

Daelen was at a serious loss for words, between the embarrassment and wondering how long they could keep this charade up until they actually had to get married.

"So," Tomi looked pointedly at Daelen, "Have you bought our daughter a ring yet?"

"Yes, it was my mother's in fact," Daelen said softly, gesturing at Noire.

Her mother reached for her hand, but Noire retreated. "It's not on my finger." She pulled the chain holding the necklace over her head, placing it carefully into her mother's hands. "I feel a lot safer with it around my neck. It's like Daelen's always there, protecting me and watching over me."

Daelen looked over at her and smiled in response, trying to ignore the ever present blush.
--
"Mom, where are the extra blankets?" Noire stomped her foot, becoming impatient that she once again had to rely on her parents to find things.

"Why on Earth do you need blankets?" Haruka said, walking into the room with her bathrobe on.

Daelen stood there beside her, eyeing the couch appreciatively. It looked very comfortable, actually.

"What is this about blankets?" Tomi walked in, stopping to stand slightly behind Noire's mother.

Noire huffed. "I need blankets for Daelen. I'm trying to set up the couch for him so he can be comfortable."

Tomi raised an eyebrow. "We figured you would be sharing a room...Is there a problem with that?"

Noire's eyes widened. "Oh..no problem at all, Daddy. We'll be off to my room now. Goodnight." She kissed her parents quickly on the cheek, before rushing off to her room, dragging Daelen along behind her.

Daelen blushed deeper than he could ever remember as Noire closed the door and they were in front of the bed, standing awkwardly side to side.

She looked at the ground. "I'm really sorry my parents are being so embarrassing. I can sleep on the floor if you don't want to be in the same..bed." She stumbled across the last few words, glowing red.

"No," he said quickly. "You can't sleep on the floor in your own house. If anyone's sleeping on the floor, it'll be me."

"No, Daelen. You've been sleeping on a cold, hard floor almost all of your life. I'm not letting you sleep on the floor." Noire could feel tears beginning to come up from behind her eyes.

"Which means, I'm accustomed to it," he argued. "And besides, I had a cot. It just wasn't in view from the window."

"Please..take my bed." she said, running her fingers through her hair. "I just can't let you sleep on the floor."

"And I can't let you sleep on the floor, either," Daelen replied. He grew impossibly redder as he realized what this would mean. They were both being stubborn. Either they would both sleep on the floor, which seemed ridiculous considering there was a bed, or they would both sleep in the bed...together. Daelen gulped self consciously, meeting Noire's gaze.

Noire blushed. "Well..um..we could sleep in the same bed.." she said timidly. "It is pretty big.."

He bit his lip in response and nodded quickly, his eyes on the floor. Not wanting to see her reaction, Daelen grabbed his pajamas and made his way to the bathroom to get ready for bed, dreading the moment he returned to the bedroom.

Noire rummaged through her suitcase, pulling out thick sweatpants and a tank top. "Oh gosh, this is so embarrassing.." she said to herself quietly. "Should I lay in bed now? Or would that look too sexual, like 'I'm ready for you now'?" She paced the room, covering her face with her hands.

Daelen emerged from the bathroom, stuffing his casual wear into his bag. He looked up to see Noire had stopped on the other side of the bed. He moved towards his side, standing there, and looking at the fluffy pillow. When a deep breath, he sat down and pulled the covers over him, trying to ignore how flustered he felt.

She watched him carefully, lifting the comforter up a bit. "Okay..I'm going to get in bed now." Carefully laying down, her leg accidentally brushed up against Daelen's leg. Noire jumped out of bed, panic written across her face. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Daelen. Are you embarrassed now? Should I just sleep on the floor?"

For some reason, instead of feeling more embarrassed, Daelen felt a little amused, mixed in with a little exasperation. "Noire," he said. "It's okay. Just lay down."

Noire nodded, climbing back into bed, resting her head on her pillow. "Are you sure you don't mind us being in the same bed together?" she said, turning so that she was facing him.

Daelen yawned, his blush creeping up his neck again. "No, it's okay. We might as well get used to it..." He hesitated, closing his eyes, "Fiance." Despite himself, Daelen let an uncharacteristic smirk slide onto his face. He felt he was too tired to make a big deal out of this now. Once he woke up in the morning, he would probably be embarrassed again.