An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Relationships: Kinomiya Takao | Tyson Granger/Tachibana Hiromi | Hilary Tachibana
Characters: Kinomiya Takao | Tyson Granger, Tachibana Hiromi | Hilary Tachibana, Hiwatari Kai, Mizuhara Max | Max Tate, Kon Rei | Ray Kon, Saien "Kyouju" Manabu | Kenny "Chief" Saien, Sumeragi Daichi
Series: Part 2 of Seasonal Sweets
While nodding along to what Rei was saying, Hilary scooped up some gelato from her cup, and Tyson wanted to scoff at the sight of the once-chilled dessert now a creamy mess because of the speed at which Hilary ate. She didn't seem to care, of course, it's how she usually preferred to eat her ice cream, so when she brought the spoon closer to her lips, Tyson realised that she was unaware of the loose strands of her hair hovering over her lips and how they would get in the way.
So naturally, he did what he thought anyone would do in this situation.
Getting up from his spot, he leaned across the table and reached out a hand to brush away the lock of hair by tucking it neatly behind her ear.
It wasn’t until Tyson sat back down and let his hand fall to his side that he realised just what he’d done.
How quickly silence settled over their table was a little scary, but not as much as having all his friends stare at him with wide, questioning eyes. Well, everyone except Daichi, who was blissfully unaware and slurping on his chocolate milkshake, and Hilary, who was staring into her lap with a face now almost as pink as the ice cream in her hand.
For today's TyHil post, I don't have anything new (Pokemon Go Wild Area kept me hella busy) but I will post an excrept from Hime Sama Gokko which hasn't been posted on Tumblr before. I think that TyHil's little conversation in this is the right amount of frustrating yet cute and deserves at least one read.
The full fic can be read on AO3 and FFN, this part is from Chapter 2.
Unfortunately for her, Tyson easily caught on to the fact that Hilary was annoyed by the Hime poster in his room, and despite of not really understanding the reason behind it, he made it his life's goal to bring up his favourite girl in the world around her whenever he could.
It was infuriating on many accounts for Hilary to watch her nincompoop of a neighbour gush about her without even realising that he was talking about Hilary, but mostly it was infuriating because up until Hime had appeared, Tyson had never expressed any interest in her and that brought upon a mixture of feelings that Hilary just didn't want to deal with yet.
It was intriguing however, that ever since her off-hand comment about her preferred type being Rei, Tyson would somehow always be around whenever she would be interacting with the exchange student. Most of the time it was in the library, as Rei would often help her with her Chinese lessons, a place that Tyson never frequented and a subject that he clearly hated, was now something he was suddenly very interested in. He would tag along with Hilary saying he needed help with his kanjis too and then sit next to her and nap the entire time. She couldn't even greet Rei in the hallway without feeling Tyson's eyes grilling into her from wherever he was.
It was when they were heading back from school one day, that she decided to poke him about his behaviour recently.
“You know, Tyson,” she said, pausing to see if she had his attention. As expected he was eyeing their usual ice-cream parlour’s specials menu, but he tossed her a glance when she said his name. “I don’t need you to stand guard every time I’m around Rei.”
He took a step back from the parlour’s entrance and turned to face her directly, she noticed the flash of annoyance in his dark eyes, but his face was blank when he responded, “I’m only doing you a favour, Hils.” It was a habit of his, to use the nickname her parents gave her mockingly, as if he was addressing a toddler.
“How so?”
She folded her arms across her chest in a defensive stance as he moved closer towards her. To be honest, Hilary kind of wanted to get an ice-cream too, but Tyson sticking to her like a leech at school was a problem she wanted to solve on priority. When he pushed his hands in his pockets and walked past her, she gave a disappointed look towards the parlour and then quickly turned to follow him.
“Well, if you were to talk to him alone, you’d embarrass yourself with your nerdy ranting.” Tyson continued to look ahead, which was rare since he usually liked to get all up in her face when they were arguing.
“I don’t think you, of all people, have any right to criticize my flirting skills.” Hilary retorted, his insult hadn’t bothered at her, but rather confirmed something that had been nagging at her for a few days now.
“Hey, I’m great at flirting-”
“Sure, Tyson.” Hilary interrupted him hastily, rolling her eyes she added, “Remind me again, how many girls have you managed to get dates with?”
“I didn’t know you were keeping track of the times I ask other girls out.”
“It’s not hard to do when the number is a staggering 0.”
Hilary scoffed, her voice sounded confident but her cheeks felt unnecessarily warm. She was not interested in Tyson, and she did not want him to get the wrong idea about it in any way. Fidgeting with her bangs for a minutes, she calmed her nerves in an attempt to not get caught up in his flow again. Clasping her hands behind her back, she added an extra skip in her step as she addressed him again, a little more brightly than either expected her to be.
“But thanks for letting me know, that you’re doing me a favour by following me and Rei around,” Hilary said, looking at him from the corner of her eye, she happily skipped further ahead of him without looking back, “I was almost starting to think you were doing it because you were jealous.”
“Jealous? Why would I be jealous?” Tyson shouted, within seconds he appeared next to her, nostrils flaring in anger over her accusation but the red tint on his tanned cheeks was hard to miss.
“I don’t know, perhaps because I actually enjoy his company, since I’m not forced to tolerate him due to convenient proximity.”
“Yeah, I’d love to hear his take on having to spend time with you,” Tyson snorted. Instead of adjusting his pace to hers, he took long strides to get ahead of her again, turning his head to look over his shoulder dismissively at her, “Trust me, Hilary, none of us are doing it because we want to. And I have nothing to be jealous about, because I have eyes only for Hime.”
Hilary stopped in her tracks, his words hitting harder than she should have allowed them to. Maybe if Tyson hadn’t brought up Hime, she wouldn't have been bothered with his jab about people not wanting to be around her. It hadn’t occurred to her until that moment, it wasn’t just about Tyson not being able to recognise her as Hime, but rather about how he simply wouldn’t want to even if he could.
Hime was perfect in Tyson’s eyes for the exact reasons that Hilary was not, and that thought made her insides churn in a way she didn’t think was possible.
As she watched him walking ahead, not even bothering to check if she was behind him, Hilary thought about opening her mouth and letting out the loudest scream she could to tell him, that she was Hime.
But all she did was stand there and watch him leave, as the sun set against his retreating silhouette.
She had many moments in the weeks that followed where she almost broke her silence and shouted at Tyson about how blind could he possibly be to not have noticed that she was Hime.
But every time she came close to doing it, fear would hold her back.
It was a new sort of fear for her too, the fear of not knowing what would happen, the fear of losing control.
But still she could not stop thinking about how Tyson would react if he found out.
Would he be embarrassed for not noticing the similarities or would he be enraged that she had kept this a secret from him for so long?
Plus One: Optional [Mayblade 2024 entry for Affection and Unpopular Character]
Summary: Hilary worries about how the Beyblading world sees her, but Tyson is there to remind her about what matters most.
Characters: Hilary, Tyson (Established TyHil)
Word Count: 2652
Note: I could not let Mayblade go by without posting a TyHil fic, this is tradition!!! I started working on the idea when I was frustrated that Hilary's anime only origins keep her from getting new merch unlike other BBA team members so that is what the theme is reflective of. The editing is slightly rushed, especially for the second half so please let that pass! Hope you enjoy reading this!
[post divider by @/cafekitsune]
Hilary let go of the breath she was holding in with a loud gasp, the jar in her hands slipped through her sweaty fingers, miraculously landing upright on the table without any harm. She wiped her hands against her skirt, raising them to frown at the redness from the pressure she’d exerted before as it slowly faded. She decided to turn her gaze towards the jar instead, glaring at it fiercely with the hope of melting its lid with her laser-like focus, but to no avail, the jar remained tight and unopened.
“Are you sure you don’t need help with that?” Tyson called out to her from across the table, for the third time in the past fifteen minutes or so.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Hilary said through gritted teeth. Her frustration with the jar and her inability to complete a simple task had reached its brim, and unfortunately, Tyson’s questions poked at her in a way that made letting her emotions spill out endlessly much easier. Without a second thought, she added harshly, “I don’t need you.”
Her statement was met with silence and Hilary immediately regretted letting her anger get the best of her, biting her lip as she braced herself for an argument, she looked up at Tyson. To her surprise, her words didn’t seem to have upset him, he was watching her with wary eyes and when they met hers, he just shook his head coolly, turning his attention back to the magazine he was flipping through.
“I feel like this isn’t really about the jar,” he said, calmly turning a page. “When you do need me, I’ll be right here.”
Hilary let her head drop to the table, burying it under her folded arms. She knew that by now, she should be used to how well Tyson knew her but he still managed to throw her off guard when he showed her just how much he’d grown since they first met. Back when they were kids, a claim like this from Hilary would have him balling up his fists and shouting back how he didn’t need her too, before storming out of the room. Now, he just sat there patiently waiting for her to tell him the truth, which if she chose not to do immediately wouldn’t even bother him. He would be ready to listen to her problems, whenever she chose to come forward with them.
She sighed, there was no point in trying to run from the truth. The fact that she’d been keeping her feelings buried for a week now felt silly considering how one simple slip had Tyson figuring out she was hiding something without any effort. Lifting her face from the table, she straightened up in her seat. Tucking her hair that had come loose from her bun behind her ears, she tapped her cheeks lightly, hoping to motivate herself and build up the courage to discuss the problem that was bothering her. Tyson had fixed his eyes on her when she raised her head, so she met his curious gaze with a determined one.
“The invitation for the X Tower inauguration event,” Hilary started, fidgeting with her fingers under the table as the nervousness over how Tyson would react settled in her gut, “it doesn’t address me. They only sent one for you, with the option to bring a plus one.”
“Maybe they’ll send one for you separately-”
“They won’t.” Hilary interrupted Tyson, now casting her eyes downwards, “I called to check, and they’re not planning to send one out for me.”
“Why not?” Tyson looked confused, which was reassuring because so far she’d thought she was blowing up the issue more than it was needed in her head.
“I don’t know, they tried to avoid answering my questions,” Hilary responded, “But I suppose it’s because I’m not a Beyblader like everyone else.”
“But you’re still a part of our team.”
Now he was angry, leaning forward in his chair with his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to make sense of what she was saying, since to him it seemed like a foreign concept that anyone would consider excluding her just because she wasn’t an active player of the sport like everyone else. His reaction soothed her, she’d spent the whole week trying not to think too hard about this, wondering if anyone would even understand why this made her so mad. And there was Tyson, looking much more enraged on her behalf than she ever could, validating every thought she’d tried to push away in an attempt to make herself feel better.
“Indeed, but I don’t think that makes much of a difference to other people,” she said softly, always having made her peace with the fact internally it felt odd to speak it out loud, especially to Tyson.
“Well, I’m not going then,” Tyson stated flatly, folding his arms in a defensive stance as his nostrils flared and jaw went taught.
“No, you don’t have to do that!”
She rushed to react, leaning forward in her seat so she could reach her hands across the table, opening her palms wide with the hope that Tyson would calm down and slip his hands in hers for comfort. But he seemed determined to remain furious, his eyes weren’t looking at her but were fixed at a spot in the distance. She could almost see the thoughts popping up in his mind one after the other, eyes darkening as his anger climbed to new heights. Hilary had hoped to catch his attention somehow but since he remained deep in thought and her arms started to ache, she pulled herself back, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt as Tyson’s silent anger made her anxious.
Although she would be lying if she said that his strong reaction was not something that relieved her, she still hadn’t imagined that he would be upset enough to skip the event entirely. Beyblade was no longer a huge part of their lives as it used to be when they were younger, so whenever these little opportunities popped up for them to connect with that world, Tyson was always the first one to get excited and geared up for it. To think that he would so easily give all that up for her sake was an overwhelming thought.
Of course, the call with the B4 associates had put her in a mood sour enough to want to skip the event herself, but she would never ask that of Tyson. Both of them may have grown up to be very different adults now, but that would not have been possible without Beyblading. The Tyson that sat in front of her now was a result of everything the sport had taught him, the people he met through it and the battles he won and lost, she wanted him to have a chance, no matter how fleeting, to be a part of it all once again. And as far as her relevance was concerned, Tyson had already proven how much he cared for her, his anger made her realise that she didn’t quite need anything more than that.
Taking a deep breath, she stopped her fidgeting fingers, bringing them up to tuck her hair behind her ear again. Forming her thoughts into coherent sentences in her head she spoke up gently, “I know how important this is for you-”
“Nothing is more important to me than you!”
Tyson cut her off loudly, looking more furious now as he fixed her with an intense stare, challenging her to suggest otherwise. When she didn’t, he looked pleased with himself as he relaxed his tensed frame, letting the worst of his anger fade under the calming silence that settled between them. He did continue to watch her carefully, however, perhaps expecting her to launch into an explanation any time. It was only when he confirmed that Hilary would not argue back against his statement, did he break the silence by leaning forward in his chair and fixing her with a warm yet blinding smile, “And I know I don’t have to skip it, but I don’t want to be a part of anything that makes you unhappy. I love you, Hilary.”
She stared back at him with wide eyes and pursed lips. Tyson was never one to shy away from letting her know how he felt, but he still managed to surprise her with the depth in his words, the raw emotion in his voice, and the overflowing affection in his eyes. In moments like these, Hilary was always left speechless to the point where she questioned whether it was possible to fall in love with the same person over and over again because that was the only way to describe the uncontrollable fluttering in her stomach that almost made her forget how to breathe.
She could feel the tears in her eyes, threatening to fall any second, the lump forming in her throat, almost too hard to swallow. Raising her hands to her face she dabbed at her eyes, trying to clear her mind so that when she spoke next, all of her feelings wouldn’t come rushing out at once. But before she could do that, her stomach decided to announce to the room that she really ought to pay attention to it.
“Do you want me to open the jar now?”
She heard Tyson’s laugh echo through the room as she slapped her hands onto her face, covering it completely to hide her flushed cheeks, she whispered in a squeaky tone “Yes, please.”
It didn’t take him too long to reach for the jar, within a few seconds she heard a popping sound, the stubborn lid could not put up a better fight against Tyson, though she wanted to believe that she had some part in loosening it up for him. When she heard him slide the jar across the table, she finally removed her hands from her face, catching it before it slid right off the table. Hilary wanted to turn and shoot a glare at Tyson, but she was still embarrassed by how she had managed to ruin one of the most perfect moments they’d shared in a while by uncharacteristically, acting like Tyson.
Setting the jar in front of her carefully away from the edge, she picked up the knife and slice of bread that had been lying in wait for some time now. Scooping up a large chunk of the peach marmalade on the knife, she spread it across the bread evenly, realising now just how hungry she felt as her hands picked up pace on their own. From the corner of her eye, Hilary noticed that Tyson had scrunched up his nose in disgust as the smell of peaches filled the room, muttering under his breath how he thought it was the worst flavour of jam ever made. But Hilary decided to let his attitude slip and happily bit into the simple sandwich she had prepared for herself.
She knew that in the coming days, she would end up letting Tyson get away with a lot of things, until the effect of his words wore off, and even then, her toughness wouldn’t last for long since he was bound to make her swoon one way or another. It all felt so irrelevant now, the anger that had taken over when she saw her name replaced with ‘plus one optional’ on the invitation. Did it really matter, she thought, what everyone else thought of her when Tyson loved her and cared about her enough to make up for the rest of the world?
Popping the last bite of the sandwich into her mouth, she dusted the crumbs off her hand above the empty plate. She pushed her chair back and stood up, making Tyson look up from his magazine once again. As she walked towards him, his eyes followed her attentively, he quickly adjusted his own chair without Hilary having to say anything. When she reached him, she smiled before comfortably settling herself on his lap, looping her arms around his neck as he rested one hand on the small of her back and put the other around her waist.
“Your understanding, your support,” Hilary said, pausing to put her forehead against his, “It matters much more to me than my name on an invitation ever could. I love you too, Tyson.”
She could feel his whole body buzzing with fuzzy warmth and excitement, but she didn’t let him steal a kiss just yet. Moving her head back for just a moment, she leaned in and touched her cheek to his, whispering in his ear coyly, “I want you to attend the event and if you’d let me, I would be more than happy to be your plus one.”
She’d hoped to tease him a little more but Tyson was nothing if not impatient. He let go of her waist and grabbed her chin tightly with his fingers, effortlessly pulling her lips closer to his and crashing them together without a pause. All the words that had been left unsaid were now being uttered silently through every caress of their lips, every stroke of their tongues, every gasping breath and every satisfied moan. Time could not imprison them in its flow, but was rather made to bend to their rules, slowing down the world around them so they could fall deeper into the kiss and taste a part of each other that they hadn’t yet discovered.
The air in their lungs, however, wasn’t so kind and eventually the two broke apart, panting and dazed, still refusing to look anywhere else except each other’s eyes. It was only when Tyson muttered something about peach not being a bad flavour after all, did the spell break and Hilary was able to throw her head back to laugh to her heart’s content.
“Are you sure,” Tyson spoke up after some time, lifting a hand to push back the hair that had fallen across her face, continuing in a careful voice as his eyes searched hers for the truth, “about going to the event?”
“Yes.” Hilary nodded confidently, grabbing onto his hand before it fell to her side.
The uncertainty of how the night might go with some people treating her like she meant nothing had all but disappeared from her mind. If Tyson had reacted that badly to her name missing from the invitation, she could only imagine what he would do if someone did end up snubbing her in his presence. That thought was comforting, it gave her enough courage to don her most polite smile and tail him around through the night, maybe even make sure that he doesn’t make a fool of himself or worse, challenge every person in sight to a beybattle.
Tightening her grip around his hand, she smiled at him, letting her gaze drop to his lips for a brief moment before she met his eyes and said, “Besides, it doesn’t seem fair for me to keep the most handsome World Champion of the sport all to myself, wouldn’t you agree?”
Tyson didn’t waste a second in securing his arms around her frame tightly before he stood up and lifted her along with him. Getting ready to directly sprint towards their bedroom, he leaned down to rub his nose against hers and with a mischievous smirk said, “I agree. It’s always good to remind others who the real winner in all of this is.”
Hilary knew that once their bodies hit the bed, the rules of the game would be set by Tyson and she wouldn’t exactly put up a strong defence. So just before she let herself be swept away by his love once again, she decided to rile him up for good by getting the last word in.
“If the World Champion thinks that I won him over, does that make me the new-”
Set right after G-rev, unedited, written quite a few months ago (July or August I think?) and tw for Tatsuya Granger/Kinomiya appearance lol.
A for Affectionate
Oddly, Tyson learned the meaning of this word before he even knew he was falling in love.
And if that wasn’t strange enough, he picked it up from his father.
It was one of those rare days in a year when Tatsuya was home for his annual holidays, which happened to coincide with Tyson’s summer vacations. Maybe when he was younger, he would’ve been happier to spend this time with his father, but now at age 13, standing at the cusp of his rebellious teenager phase, he was perpetually annoyed to see his father around the house at any given time.
His father didn’t seem to mind it however, he even found it hilarious, laughing out loud if he made eye contact with Tyson and he sent a glare in his direction. He knew that there were many reasons apart from his father’s general laidback behaviour that made him angry, but the one that seemed to concern him the most was how it was impossible for him and his friends to run amok in the Dojo without feeling the weight of Tatsuya’s prying eyes on their shoulders.
And when dinner time rolled around, his dad questioned him with a renewed curiosity about all of his friends, always commenting about how much things had changed here since he was last home, and that only made Tyson grit his teeth further. Hiro was surprisingly understanding and would step in to answer these questions, knowing everyone from his circle very well himself.
But the one obstacle that sort of always stunted the conversation was Hilary.
Apparently it was difficult for his father to make peace with the fact that Tyson had willingly befriended a girl. When he stated this out loud one night, Tyson promptly reminded him that it wasn’t his fault if Tatsuya’s memory of who Tyson was stopped at age 4.
Things were awkward around the house for a few days afterwards, and they took a wild turn when one day he came across Hilary chatting with his dad near the entrance.
He’d come out of his room because it was almost noon and Hilary hadn’t shown up to wake him up and drag him out of bed. He noticed that Max and Daichi were already lounging about in the inner courtyard despite the heat, he greeted them with a wave of his hand before making his way towards the kitchen for some late breakfast, or early lunch depending on what he’d find. As he passed through the hallway that led to the entrance on one side and kitchen on another, he noticed the tall shadow of his father standing in the doorway, to which he didn’t bother to pay any attention.
Then, he heard Hilary’s voice, which made him stop dead in his tracks.
“So you should try to keep that in mind as well.”
Was she speaking to his father? Her tone felt too stern, like she was lecturing him for hitting Daichi too hard.
“Understood. If there’s anything else, I’m all ears.”
What was happening, Tyson felt his fists curl at his sides automatically as he took a few cautious steps back to get closer to the entrance, why was Hilary talking to his father?
“I see…”
He heard her respond in a thoughtful tone, and he could almost picture her face beyond the walls that separated them, brows furrowed deeply, a lone finger tapping her chin as her garnet eyes stared skywards. The long pause made him hopeful that she was just thinking about avoiding the question altogether, but of course, this was Hilary, her goal in life since they’d met was to make things difficult for him.
“Well, you don’t need to worry about his eating habits, in fact, food is the only thing you won’t ever need to worry about when it comes to Tyson.”
His father laughed heartily at her words and Tyson felt his cheeks grow warm, his fists tightened further and it was a miracle he managed to stay still and not burst onto the scene screaming for both of them to shut up.
“He’s not that diligent with school work, but I keep a strict check over him for that.” He heard it in her voice, the proud swell of her chest complimenting the triumphant gleam in her eyes, “It’s not that he’s not smart, but he’s a little lazy when it comes to studying. When I push him hard enough, he always scores decently in tests.”
“Oh, that’s a relief,” Tatsuya sighed, and the reaction seemed genuine to Tyson. The two rarely talked about school and normal things when they got a chance, so he had no idea that his father actually cared about that stuff.
“I think if once in a while, you called and asked him about his performance at school it may give him some motivation to work harder.” Hilary stated, her voice softer than before which for a strange reason made a lump form in Tyson’s throat.
“Okay, I’ll try and do that as much as I can.”
“In general too, you know-” she started again with enthusiasm only to pause, leaving Tyson and his father hanging onto her every word as she probably considered her choice of words for the next few minutes, “If you can just stay in touch with him more often, I think Tyson would really like that.”
“Yes, I am going to try harder.”
Again, the sincerity in his father’s voice was hard to digest, and Tyson wondered if this will just be another one of Tatsuya’s promises that would fade away without fruition. He’d trained himself well to get used to such empty words, but he couldn’t imagine how Hilary would feel if his father disappointed her.
The urge to burst onto the scene rose up again but somehow he managed to stay glued to his spot.
“But I can count on you to look after him too, right?”
Tatsuya broke the silence with his jovial voice, and Tyson found himself going red once again. Why did his father need to ask Hilary that? He didn’t need looking after, as he’d managed just fine without it until now, and he definitely didn’t need it from Hilary. He half expected her to reject the request outright, which would serve his father right for even asking something outrageous like this, but to his surprise, Hilary’s squeaky, stuttering voice filled the hallway.
“Y-yes, of course,” she said, and then gasped before adding speaking quickly, her words falling over one another to prove her innocence, “I-I m-mean I look after a-allof-fthem as their manager. Tyson is just a handful in comparison.”
“Thank you, Hilary.”
For the rest of the day, Tyson found it difficult to look at Hilary without the conversation he’d overheard playing in his head. She, however, assumed that he was throwing a tantrum, which naturally led to a loud argument with Hilary leaving the Dojo in a huff and Tyson muttering under his breath that this was all his father’s fault.
With Hiro and his Grandfather having different plans, when Tyson ended up sitting down for dinner with just Tatsuya, his frustration from the day took form in angry glares and clicking of tongues to which his father just responded with chuckles.
“You’re very lucky, you know that Tyson?”
He wasn’t going to entertain Tatsuya’s crazy questions today, is what Tyson had decided earlier in the day but when his father fixed him with a soft smile, it was hard to resist a response, “Lucky how?”
“It’s rare to find someone as affectionate as Hilary.”
“Wait - what does affectionate mean?”
“When a person cares deeply about someone, they show that feeling through their actions.”
Tyson snorted, unable to stop himself, “And you think Hilary feels that way about me? I’m sorry but have you met her?”
“I have. I had a nice chat with her today actually-” Tatsuya paused, making sure that his eyes were locked with Tyson before he smirked proudly, “Which I know you were listening on with all your might.”
“I didn- I wasn’t-”
“I had a feeling earlier,” his father said, completely disregarding Tyson’s stuttering rebuttals to the eavesdropping accusation, “but after talking to her today I was surprised to see just how much she cares about you.”
“Yeah sure." Tyson cleared his throat to make sure his voice was stable as he responded, though he could not stop the redness in his cheeks from spreading, “If you consider nagging me about homework all day and night as caring.”
“You don’t?”
The two simple words hit him like a gust of wind and it was a miracle his feet managed to stay glued to the floor. Perhaps this was the first time Tyson actually considered the reason behind why Hilary continued to stick around even when nothing he did seemed to interest her.
“She works hard to make sure you eat right,” his father continued to talk, adding more fuel to the dilemma that had now settled in Tyson’s mind “that you don’t fall behind in school, that you make up with your friends after a fight…I can’t remember when my own father showered me with so much attention.”
Tatsuya let out a bittersweet laugh, realizing the double edged meaning of his own words, but when Tyson finally managed to meet his eye once again, he saw that his father was looking beyond him, his eyes slightly glazed as a pained smile graced his lips, “I know you’re at that age when it’s hard for you to notice these things as something positive, Tyson, but I do hope that one day you will.”
He didn’t need to think twice to figure out just what, or rather who was in his father’s mind in that moment, in fact Tyson preferred the silence that settled between them right after, it gave him the time to swallow the lump in his throat and rid his mind of all confusing thoughts to focus only on the food in front of him.
Affectionate.
He repeated the word in his mind a few times as he ate, making a little mental note to look up the meaning of it more concretely tomorrow, since he found it hard to take his father’s word for it out of habit.
He wasn’t even sure however, if they even had a dictionary in their house but of course, he could always just ask Hilary.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 7/7 [COMPLETED]
Relationships: Kinomiya Takao | Tyson Granger/Tachibana Hiromi | Hilary Tachibana
Summary: [ヒメ様ごっこ- pretending to be someone else (a princess) ]
Hilary's life is peaceful, she has loving parents, a warm home and a stable school life. There is a very annoying neighbour who takes up more space than allowed in her mind, but she does a good job of keeping him at an arm's length most of the time. She knows that she should not want for anything more, but she craves to feel the rush of being someone more than her usual self. So she takes a rebellious step, which unfolds a new chapter in her life but the pen glides across the page without her permission, making her lose control over everything. [AU]
Notes: This AU is one of my personal favourites, and when FFN decided to go wonky this week, I pulled up the courage to start reworking it for a standalone fic on AO3. On FFN this was posted as a singular long one-shot, but while editing I started to add a few scenes here and there, and rearranged the dialogues overall, so I decided to make it a multi-chap fic. This AU has TyHil as childhood neighbours and frenemies, but focuses more on Hilary's point of view and her relationship with her mother particularly. For anyone wanting to read a Hilary focused TyHil fic, this is it! I will be updating it within this week and the next, so there’s not a long wait associated with this one.
I wasn’t planning on posting this anywhere tbvh, but since I’m in London I thought, well this is a great way to end TyHil Month!
So this is the 2nd part of my PokeDigiBey TyHil focused Hogwarts AU. First part can be read on FFN as Chapter 28 of One Hundred Tales. This picks up exactly where that ends, so if you read that you would have no problem following the dynamics here.
I can’t be sure about the word count as I’m posting this from my phone, but this is unedited and sort of a dump of all my thoughts for this chapter so please excuse any bad writing.
TyHil Hogwarts AU Part 2 (Our Golden Days)
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As the greenery surrounding the castle began to change colour and the gentle October chill greeted the students every morning, the first visit to Hogsmeade rolled around in the blink of an eye.
While running around from class to class and being buried under a pile of homework every day since the term began, Tyson's open invitation still managed to dance around Hilary's mind every time she lay in bed and closed her eyes for the night. She tried not to think too badly of herself for not being able to give him an answer yet. Despite the sometimes doubtful look that would cross Sora's eyes if his name ever came up in the conversation between them, or the slightly curious arching of Charlie's eyebrows if it was Hilary who brought him up in the conversation. No, there was no reason for her to feel guilty over being fickle minded, since Tyson had made it clear that he would wait. And besides, even if Hilary was able to figure out a response, the two of them barely had the time to sit down and talk about their feelings anymore.
Having opted for the most amount of subjects in their year, if Hilary was not dashing from one end of the castle to the other to make it to her next class on time, she would be glued to a corner in the library, frantically scribbling on parchments trying to finish all her assignments on time.
Tyson was kept equally busy by Kai taking every opportunity to squeeze in a Quidditch practice after classes. Rumours about the likeness of the Gryffindor team practicing at odd hours to Ghosts roaming around the castle aimlessly cropping up did nothing to deter Kai's dedication. The only one who did manage to influence the Captain in some capacity was Mimi, when she threw a tantrum in the Common Room about how she was not able to spend time with her friends anymore and Kai, unable to stand tall against her crocodile tears and shrill voice, caved into allowing the team to rest for a whole weekend. Not that it made much of a difference in the end, since the entire team, including Kai, spent their free time snoring away in their beds which only made Mimi more upset.
The only time Hilary could see Tyson lately was in the Great Hall during meals or in the few classes they shared, neither of which made for spaces where she could bring up the topic of his Hogsmeade invitation privately. Though what she would've said if they got the chance to talk was an entirely different matter. On days when she felt like she was on top of her schoolwork and managing her prefect duties marvelously, there was a skip in her feet as she turned every corner expecting to see Tyson so she could tell him that maybe taking up his offer didn't sound so bad after all. But then she would get back her graded homework for one of the classes and the feedback wouldn't be what she wanted to see, making her want to stay buried in her corner of the library, knowing that Tyson would never be able to find her there.
It probably wasn't a good sign that when she came across a book in the restricted section that talked about potions used for stabilizing moods, Hilary's first thought was to try that out for herself in the hopes so she could either be giddy or grumpy all the time, rather than swinging back and forth between the two like an out of control pendulum.
Not trusting herself around the book, she decided that it was time to head back to the Common Room and continue her studies cozied up against the fireplace with the soothing sound of her friends chatting in the background. As the portrait door swung open to allow her entry, Hilary was surprised to find that the room was emptier than usual considering how it was a Friday night. One quick sweep told her that the Quidditch team was missing, possibly still out practicing, she concluded with a sigh. She spotted Mimi with some third years and made her way towards the group. Settling her study material on a desk close to Mimi, she greeted the group of girls with a smile before picking up a book from her pile, An Advanced Outlook into Arithmancy, a bit ahead of where they were in the course right now but it wouldn't hurt to go through it once.
She almost put a tear in the page of the book on account of clutching onto it so hard when May got up to excuse herself, announcing that she wanted a good night's sleep before her first ever Hogsemeade visit.
The first Hogsmeade weekend was tomorrow.
And she still hadn't spoken to Tyson.
Hilary sunk into the chair, holding the book high in front of her face so Mimi or anyone else wouldn't be able to see the pained expression on her face. Regardless of her feelings, she didn't want Tyson to keep waiting for her to show up tomorrow. Technically, as Sora would say, she had already stood him up once this year and it just won't be right for her to do it again.
She hoped that her guess about the Quidditch players still out practicing was true because she knew that heading up to the Boys dormitory to ask Tyson to step out for a few minutes would embarrass her into oblivion.
Forcing her eyes to concentrate on the book in her hand, Hilary made up her mind to wait out here for Tyson to show up.
What she would say to him when he did, was something she'd decide after looking at his face, which itself made it seem like she was fighting a losing battle. Though, as her fellow housemates began to trickle back up to their rooms slowly, there still was no sign of any of the players returning.
Mimi stayed to talk about some trouble she had been facing with her Muggle Studies classes lately, but it wasn't long before her eyes began to droop and Hilary suggested that they pick up the topic later over the weekend. Nodding agreeably Mimi rested her head against Hilary's knees, sleepy eyes staring at the entrance of the common room in wait of possibly Misty or Sora.
The candles lighting up the room had long since dimmed, making Hilary wonder just how long Kai was planning to have their friends slave it out tonight. It was only when the clock kept ticking and she felt Mimi's soft rhythmic breathing against her leg as she dozed off, did her wonder turn into worry. She had kept her book away a while ago but her hands were itching to do something as she waited, so she began to stroke Mimi's hair, the softness of which instilled some calm into her now tensed body.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the portrait door swung open to let Ash and Misty in, the pair of them looking extremely frustrated yet relieved at the same time, if that were even possible. Mimi woke up at the sound of their arrival, rushing to Misty's side so she could share all the things that had been planned for their Hogsmeade visit tomorrow in her friend's absence. The two walked up the staircase with looped arms, Misty looking livelier by the minute as Mimi kept on talking about Hogsmeade. Ash watched them leave with a pout on his face, when neither of the girls bothered to turn around, he glanced at Hilary and mumbled a good night before dashing up the stairs of the Boy's dormitory.
Hilary wanted to call out to him, ask him if everything was okay with the team but he was out of her sight before she could form the question in her mind. It didn't take long however, for another handful of members to show up. Her face almost perked up at the sight of Sora stepping through the portrait, but when the door closed behind Charlie and Tai, it was hard for Hilary to fight off the disappointment and worry in her voice. All three of them wore similar expressions as Ash and Misty, with the only difference being Charlie looking extremely furious as she stomped off towards their room without bothering to meet Hilary's eyes. Sora was kind enough to indulge her though, even before she asked.
"Were you waiting up for us? Sorry for the delay." Sora smiled tiredly.
"That's okay, I had company." Hilary nodded towards the pile of books and parchment still scattered on the table. She then glanced expectantly towards the door, hoping to see Kai and Tyson walk through it any minute. But after a long pause where neither Sora nor Tai offered any further comment, she frowned at the two of them and folded her arms across her chest, "Why aren't Kai and Tyson back yet?"
Sora's eyes met Tai's without missing a beat and a silent understanding passed between them, one that Hilary knew meant that she would not be finding out anything from either of them tonight, which made her throw up her hands in frustration.
"I'm sorry Hils, but they'll be back soon and I will explain everything tomorrow. We're really tired and we just want to crash," Sora said, her voice on the verge of cracking as she fixed Hilary with a pleading look that may have put a puppy to shame.
"Fine, go on then."
Hilary shook her head exasperatedly, gesturing towards the staircases. Tai and Sora seemed unsure whether she would change her mind so they leapt at the chance to escape, not even bothering to respond to her good night wishes.
She ought to feel upset about being left alone in the Common Room once again, Hilary thought, but since her anxiety over what had happened with the Quidditch team tonight had almost taken the form of a boggart ready to torment her by showing the worst possible outcomes, she found it hard to assume the room was empty.
Kai staggered in almost half an hour later, and by then Hilary had almost befriended her imaginary, anxiety bridled boggart. She had sunk quite low in her chair so when he entered the common room, Kai didn't notice her. Hilary herself had fixed her attention on the door, wondering if Tyson was going to step through it next. When that didn't happen, she turned her attention towards Kai, who’d already covered the distance of the room to reach the stairs that led to the boys dormitory. He had his back to her and she was surprised to see that his Quidditch robes were covered in mud, as if he'd spent the evening rolling around in it.
"Kai, is Tyson okay? Why isn't he back yet?" She called out, and Kai almost jumped in his spot as he turned around to face her, covering his face with an arm which only made her more anxious.
"He'll be back later. We will talk tomorrow, Hilary. Good night."
The lighting in the room was too dim for her to figure out exactly what it was Kai wanted to hide from her, but his usual stern voice felt strained, like speaking itself was painful for him. She didn't want to push him if he was hurt, but his response was too vague to calm her nerves. It didn’t help that only after another 30 minutes, which felt like 30 hours, did Tyson finally appeared through the portrait door.
"Tyson are you okay?" Hilary sprung to her with a renewed energy, her shrill voice making Tyson jumped as he noticed her in the dark and empty common room.
"Why are you still up?" He was headed straight towards the dormitory stairs but halted midway to frown at her.
"I-" She started to speak but when her mind registered the meaning of the words on the tip of tongue, Hilary cleared her throat and tucked a few strands behind her hair to hide her embarrassment as she muttered quietly, "I was worried about you."
"You were worried about me?"
Tyson’s jaw dropped down as he stared at her, deciding that he could sacrifice rest a little further, he turned away from the stairs and walked up to her. Hilary instinctively took a few steps back, making sure that there was an appropriate amount of distance between them, yet it wasn’t of much use because she could already feel the warm, inviting magnetic pull that Tyson always carried around him, tugging at her to come closer.
"Are you okay? You look-" Hilary managed to face him with a little difficulty, controlling her expressions by talking.
"You should see the other guy."
Tyson grinned at her, while his robes were not as badly drenched with mud as Kai’s, it was still not a pretty sight. She already dreaded the worst as she let out a sigh and asked the big question.
"What happened?"
"Kai and I got into a fight,” Tyson said in a very matter of fact voice, like this was just another normal school night activity for them.
"What?"
"Which isn't new.” He shrugged at the look of shock on Hilary’s face, continuing with his carefree explanation while scratching the back of his head, “But uh, things escalated this time. Unfortunately, Madam Skyla happened to be passing by the pitch and saw us fighting so…"
"So?"
"So I got detention."
"Kai too?"
"Nah, he probably only had to write a letter of apology. He is the Captain and well…" Tyson stopped to roll his eyes as he explained, though when Hilary expected him to pass out a smug smile, he instead let his shoulders droop and let out a defeated sigh, "I threw the first punch."
If she’d been her younger self, she would’ve taken this moment to berate Tyson for lacking patience or relying on violence for solutions. But now that she knew him better, and because she could see the guilt that darkened his humorous face, Hilary decided to gently ask him more about the problem instead.
"Why did you two fight?"
"He's acting like if we don't spend every minute we're alive and breathing on the pitch, we'll end up losing everything!” Tyson immediately responded, his voice more animated yet laced with a lot of frustration.
"He was going to make Ash and Misty ditch their first Hogsmeade visit to come to practice tomorrow." He added, scrunching up his nose in a look of utter annoyance, "I get that he wants to win since this is his last year, but I could not let him take that away from those two." Just for a moment, at the thought of Ash and Misty perhaps, his face changed to its usual softness and Hilary felt the corner of her mouth tug itself towards a smile as she watched him.
"Obviously the pipsqueaks were too afraid to say anything, so I brought it up…” Tyson paused to avert his gaze, his cheeks turning pink as he added, “Not so nicely and that kind of turned into a full fledged fight. Then Skyla came along, broke it up, gave me detention for the weekend and cancelled all the reservations Kai had made for the pitch until Thursday."
"That's a relief." Hilary couldn’t help but feel relaxed over the conclusion, though when she met Tyson’s questioning stare, she shook her head and quickly explained, "I mean, not the detention part obviously, but with the pitch unavailable now all of you will get a chance to rest. Even Kai."
"Yeah, we desperately need that."
"Skyla didn't deduct any points, did she?" Once again, her anxiety jumped the gun and she found herself blurting out this question knowing full well that Tyson’s reaction to this would not be helpful.
"Nothing you can't make up easily in class on Monday." He snickered at her, as expected. He peered over her shoulder, taking one step closer towards her to get a good look, “Let's see- is this the Arithmancy assignment, due after Christmas holidays?"
"I wanted a head start.” She mumbled, feeling the colour rise in her cheeks.
"Two months seem about right then," he said, his snickering now turning into a full fledged laugh.
She was glad to see him return to his usual mood, making fun of her study habits had that effect on him the fastest perhaps. A moment of silence passed between, and Hilary, assuming that this would be the end of their conversation, began to wrap up her study material. She'd half expected Tyson to head back up to the dormitory, but it seemed that she wasn't the only one who had been mulling relentlessly over his invitation this past few weeks.
"So about tomorrow…" Tyson cleared his throat, waiting for her to meet his eye before he continued, "I'm gonna have to take a rain check on-" he paused, and Hilary swore that she could feel the passing of every second in her veins as he searched for the right word to use. "Our- uh my plan." Bringing up a finger to scratch the tip of his nose, Tyson turned his gaze towards the floor.
It was rare to see him look embarrassed, and Hilary would've enjoyed the sight had she herself was not feeling the weight of the tension buzzing between them pulling her down towards the ground, her knees wobbling in an effort to make sure she didn't fall down.
"I doubt I'll get out of mowing the entire pitch, cleaning the goal posts and then help Brock in feeding the magical creatures before night time."
"That's okay!" Hilary quickly spoke up, trying her best to smile at him through her burning cheeks, "You did the right thing, standing up for Ash and Misty like that."
Tyson shrugged off her praise, though he could not hide the smug smile taking over his lips.
"I still remember our first visit."
"I'm sure you and I have very different recollections of that day considering you switched my chocolate frogs splurge with very real and very slimy frogs."
"That was the first time I actually saw you cry." "I'm sorry by the way, for that prank. It seemed like a very funny idea in my head at that time."
"Water under the bridge." "It's getting late, you should get a good rest considering the day you're gonna have tomorrow."
"Yeah, I can't believe I was the one who asked you and now I'm the one who can't make it."
"Don't worry too much about that, we'll just go next weekend. After you guys win the first match, of course. And besides, Matt will need my help keeping an eye on the Third Years-"
"What did you just say?"
"Matt will need my help-"
"Before that."
"W-we'll go next weekend."
"Just the two of us?"
"Yes."
"So it'll be a date? You will consider it a date?"
This is from my Rich Girl x Poor Boy AU about which I have posted things here and there. To understand the background, it's important to read the first part on FFN, and then the first half of this particular scene here.
If after this scene, you feel like diving more into this AU then you can read another snippet here.
xxx
“I am so glad that I finally get to introduce my boyfriend in person to all of you.”
The crowd was so silent that Tyson thought they’d be able to hear his heart thumping against his chest, that they’d hear the sound of blood rushing to his ears as he slowly realised what was happening. He felt the girl’s nails dig into his skin, and it was as if the stinging sensation was all the push that his brain needed to function, he quickly gauged the situation. It wouldn't bode well for this girl if her so called boyfriend looked as shocked to hear the news as her friends and family, so after saying a silent prayer in his head for the lie he was about to become an accomplice to, Tyson put on his best fake smile and faced the audience in front of him.
“Sorry for being late, and thank you for the invitation-” darting his eyes quickly around the hall, Tyson found the banner he remembered seeing before, clearing his throat for effect, he faced the birthday girl with a real smile that he didn’t know he still had the energy to muster, “Aiko. Happy birthday to you! Glad I was able to catch some of your performance.”
Tyson felt the brunette almost deflate from relief next to him, her hold on his arm loosened and instead she pressed her shoulder against his, leaning onto him for support to stand because they both knew, that the worst was yet to come. The birthday girl, Aiko, did not seem fully convinced by Tyson’s words so she had shifted her attention to the girl instead, narrowing her already beady eyes, she responded in the same high pitched tone as before.
“Glad you could finally show your face to us. But let’s not forget, this is my party, we’ll focus on him some other time.”
She raised her eyes at the crowd around them in a questioning manner, everyone fell in line immediately, talking about her performance or the party, and just like that, in a matter of minutes, Tyson and his new girlfriend were invisible again.
Girlfriend.
Even the thought of that word sent a shiver down his spine and woke him up to the reality of the situation he was in. Now that every thought was registering in his mind in real time, anger bubbled up in his chest as he met the girl’s striking, garnet eyes. He couldn’t believe that she would drag a stranger into her weird lie just to save face in front of her judgemental friends. He could see the panic on her face when he glared at her, so being the gentleman that he was, Tyson slowly removed her hand from his arm and then grabbed it as inconspicuously as he could. Dragging her along with him through the party crowd and towards the exit of the hall. When she didn’t protest against the route that he was taking, his grasp on her hand strengthened as he tried to collect all the thoughts spinning inside his head. He kept his gaze ahead of him as they exited onto the lobby of the hotel, not even stopping to check if anyone from his mother’s team was loitering around for work. He kept walking in long yet careful strides until he exited the hotel, turning the first corner that came into his view on the street.
The alley he had barged into turned out to be a dead end, Tyson cursed under his breath and came to a halt. Spinning on his feet to face the brunette silently tagging along with him all the way here from the hotel, he fixed her with an intense glare, hoping to scare her off but the minute he let go of her hand, she put some respectable distance between them, folding her arms across her chest and stared back at him with a passive gaze of her own.
“I’m sorry, I really am, but you owe me!” Her voice was surprisingly sincere, but Tyson was in no mood to play along with her anymore.
“An apology for the kiss? Yes.” Tyson gritted his teeth as her words rang in his ears, pointing in the direction of the hotel they had just come from, he added in a bitter tone, “But whatever that was, hell no!”
“Please, you’ll only have to do it a few more times!” With just a hint of desperation in her voice, she stared at him with those big, mesmerising eyes of hers and he found it slightly hard to look away.
“Lady, do you even know my name?”
“T-Tyson?” She stuttered out a response, looking at him hopefully and Tyson’s mouth fell open. Realising that her guess had been right, a relived smile appeared on her face as she explained to him how she’d figured it out, “I heard it that night...at new year’s eve. Someone called you when we were talking.”
“Okay,” Tyson said, swallowing hard.
What he wanted to do then was end the conversation and walk away, nothing about it felt right to him in any way. He was starting to think if the lie that she’d made up back there was not so much a spur of the moment thing but something that had been going on for a while. He didn’t think that it was fair that not only did she already know his name, but was using it to claim a relationship with him when he had no clue about who she was.
“I don’t know your name.”
The thought was supposed to stay in his head but he blurted it out accidentally, and that made the girl’s face perk up immediately, as if he was coming close to going along with her plan.
“Hilary Tachibana.” She promptly introduced herself, putting a hand forward for him to shake but all Tyson could do was eye it with distrust.
“Tachibana...Tachibana…” He knew he was familiar with that last name and he racked his brain to figure out just where he’d heard it but eventually he drew a blank. She didn’t put any effort into jogging his memory along, but instead pulled her hand back to her side dejectedly with a pout as Tyson didn’t show any sign of initiating the handshake.
“Listen, princess, my plate is so full right now, I don’t have time for a fake relationship, I don’t even have time for a real one!”
This is a scene which was edited out from a oneshot posted here (I think 2 years back). I don't remember now why I took it out, since it actually feels like something that could lead to a very fluffy moment.
But my guess is that I probably ran out of ideas for a proper conversation so I just cut off the chance for either Tyson or Hilary to speak more in the final version posted originally.
This is short, but still I hope someone enjoys it.
When they finally reached her house, Tyson halted so suddenly that Hilary, who had her gaze fixed on her feet bumped into him and had to grab onto his jacked to maintain her balance.
“What’s wrong?” She asked quickly, hoping that whatever had caught Tyson’s eye would distract him from noticing her clumsy mistake.
“I was wondering…” He began to answer but trailed off making Hilary raise her head in curiosity. As she had been positioned behind him, she had to tilt her head sideways to see past him and figure out just what had confused Tyson to the point that he needed to stop and consider his next move. Unfortunately, Hilary could not make out the problem, she was aware that since they exited the station they had been going down the route that led to her house and as she scanned their surroundings for clue, she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary on the road around them.
“I thought that maybe…” He made another attempt but lost his momentum yet again.
Hilary turned her curious eyes to Tyson, and found him playing with his hat once again as his ears continued to be tinted with red. Immediately she felt her heart beat faster, she’d assumed that since they were making their way back home there wouldn’t be any more surprises but Tyson’s behaviour indicated otherwise. Once he realised that her eyes were on him he straightened up, letting his cap go he took a deep breath and turned to look at her. Despite the redness in his ears, his eyes were now oozing with determination that he usually displayed during matches, making Hilary’s flutter uncontrollably.
“I thought that since it’s almost time, we might as well watch the sunrise together too,” He spoke quickly this time, jumbling up words in the process but she still managed to hear every word clearly.
Hilary stood frozen, her mind a total mess. What she wanted to do was grab Tyson by the collar and demand him to stop being so unpredictable and just tell her whatever was going on in that big head of his because she could no longer figure it out herself. Instead, what she did was simply nod.
“Sure, I wouldn’t mind that.” She replied meekly.
And after showering her with an almost blindingly bright grin, Tyson started to lead the way again and she quietly followed, but now even looking at his back made the colour rise in her cheeks, so Hilary turned her gaze upwards. By the time they reached their usual hang out spot near the riverbank, the sky was already covered in pinkish hues and was a useful and pretty distraction from the emotional turmoil state her heart was in right now.
