Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice.
Claimer: This fan fiction is mine.

This is a holiday treat to everyone who reads The Game of Let's Pretend. Many thanks for your patience and encouragement!

A Boyfriend Girlfriend Thing

"I don't know a lot of things about Natsume," Mikan said, a wicked smile on her lips, "but I know something no one else does."

"That," Hotaru said, her eyebrows twitching dangerously, "is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"Come on, Hotaru, please…?" Mikan pleaded, clasping her hands together earnestly.

Hotaru was unyielding. "No."

"But Hotaru…"

It was a beautiful Friday morning of December, exactly one week before Christmas. The Academy's holiday break had officially begun, giving its students the time to prepare for the celebration they would hold before the year ended.

Bursting with excitement for the holidays, the seventeen-year old Mikan hardly had enough sleep the other night. She found herself half-an-hour early for the class meeting, something they had agreed on so that they could finish the decorations and sort out the final touches to their Kris Kringle. She was more than delighted to find Hotaru in the room, turning up even earlier to finish her latest masterpiece.

"I don't know understand why you even bother," Hotaru said. "It's not as if it will do you any good."

Mikan plopped down on the desk opposite her friend's, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well…"

She had been telling Hotaru about the interview that the Official Natsume Fan Club had requested for her to attend. Like its name implied, the fan club was the very group of female students who adored her month-long boyfriend Natsume Hyuuga.

"Their vice-president told me that they want me to answer questions for that Are You Natsume Hyuuga's Type? quiz that they want to publish," she explained. "I think it's pretty harmless, Hotaru."

"There's nothing harmless about fan girls," Hotaru disagreed, giving her a disapproving look.

She pouted, thinking of the young woman who had approached her for the interview. "Their vice-president was pretty nice to me."

Hotaru didn't look convinced. "Then why are you asking me to tag along?"

Mikan perked up, sensing that her best friend was not far off from giving into her request. "She said I could take a friend with me, if I wanted to. I immediately thought of you."

"I don't remember being friends with you."

"Hotaru," she warned.

"Will you gain anything out of this?" Hotaru asked, unaffected.

Mikan nodded. "She promised they won't bother me and Natsume for the whole holiday." Biting her lip excitedly, she added, "That means I'll have him all to myself!"

"You're beginning to sound like them," Hotaru pointed out, looking mildly disgusted.

The smile on Mikan's lips faltered, and when she spoke her eyebrows were drawn down in displeasure. "Do you have any idea how many dates they've ruined for me?"

"Tell me."

"All of them," Mikan groaned, shuddering at the mere thought of it. "So it will really pay off if I go to the interview." She heaved a sigh. "Hotaru, please…?"

Hotaru smirked. "I still think it's stupid."

"But you will come with me?" she said, a grin starting to spread across her face.

The expression on the inventor's face barely concealed her displeasure. "What's Hyuuga's favorite color?" she asked instead.

Mikan blinked. It took a few seconds before she could snap out of her astonishment. "Huh?"

Hotaru didn't look surprised. "Didn't you say they're interviewing you for a quiz? They will ask you questions like that to get correct answers. The quiz they create will be based on what you tell them."

"What?" she asked, wide-eyed and very much clueless. "I didn't know that!"

"Didn't the vice-president explain it to you?"

"I guess I didn't understand what she meant," Mikan admitted sheepishly.

Hotaru arched an eyebrow. "So do you know it?"

"Know what?"

Hotaru huffed, sounding frustrated. "Hyuuga's favorite color. I'm sure they'll ask you that."

"Oh." She frowned. "I don't. He doesn't seem to have one."

"That won't work. You'll have to give them answers."

"B-But having the same favorite color as Natsume doesn't mean he'll like you!" Mikan exclaimed, starting to get her friend's drift.

"What about his favorite food?"

"He eats everything," she said, her frown deepening. "Will they really ask me that?" It all seemed pointless to her.

"They will," Hotaru assured.

"But Natsume doesn't like a lot of things!"

Hotaru cracked a smirk, unconvinced. "Here's the deal: If in the next two minutes you can tell me one thing that only you know about Hyuuga, I'll let you go to that interview and even come with you to it."

"W-What - ?" Mikan furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait, how will you know that no one else knows what I tell you?"

"I've got more dirt on Hyuuga than either of you can imagine," Hotaru said casually, pulling out a stopwatch from a random pocket in her skirt.

"Are you stalking Natsume?" Mikan gasped.

"Not exactly. But I always have my camera with me, and he always does the stupidest things when he's around you," Hotaru said, and pressed a button on her stopwatch. "Two minutes starts now."

Mikan was still sputtering, unable to gather her thoughts. Two minutes? What can I come up with in two minutes? "H-Hotaru…!" she said, getting to her feet in apprehension. "This is so unfair! I haven't even agreed to this yet! You - !"

"Don't waste your time, Mikan," Hotaru said, her eyes not leaving the stopwatch. "Fifteen seconds in."

Oh, darn it. Mikan was really panicking now. Something only I know about Natsume, she thought, pulling on her pigtails as she sought answers. Ugh! What do I know that only I know about him? "H-Hotaru can't you make that two minutes at least five?" she offered. What am I supposed to say about Natsume?

"No."

"It's almost Christmas, you know!"

"I don't see your point," Hotaru said, taking on a look of calculated innocence.

"Hotaru, this is – !"

"Thirty seconds in. You're running out of time."

Damn! If this kept up, then she wouldn't be able to go to the interview and her holiday would be completely ruined!

"He reads a lot!"

"Everyone sees that."

"He hates Mr. Narumi!"

Hotaru frowned. "Obviously."

"He used to be jealous of Tsubasa!"

"You never noticed?"

"Uhm… no." Mikan paused. "Wait, you did?"

"Everyone did."

"You make me sound like an idiot!"

"Which you are," Hotaru said, without batting an eyelash. "Almost one minute in."

"Hotaru, just come with me to the interview! I can just… I can just lie about Natsume's favorite everything!"

"You can't lie to save your life, Mikan," Hotaru said, like it was the most certain thing in the world.

"Try me!" she challenged, clenching a fist in determination. Hah! Lying? That's so easy!

"Go ahead."

"Natsume talks in his sleep!"

"No he doesn't."

Mikan flinched back, losing her bravado. "No he doesn't," she agreed glumly.

"Less than a minute left, Mikan."

The nullification girl groaned. "I swear, I hate you, Natsume…" she mumbled, only to freeze when she suddenly remembered something. "Oh wait! Natsume sings in the shower!"

Hotaru didn't look impressed. "He does, doesn't he?"

"Yes he does – " Mikan stopped. "You know about it, too?"

"I blackmailed him for it," Hotaru said matter-of-factly. "'Got a thousand rabbits for that bit. It was good."

"Don't tell me you put cameras in his shower, too!"

"Forty-five seconds left."

"What?"

Hotaru looked smug. "Just give me something only his girlfriend knows."

Shoot. She bit her lip, starting to feel very desperate. Should she just turn down the interview? Absolutely not; her holidays was at stake! Should I just take someone else with me? But everyone's busy with other things, and I only want to take Hotaru with me…

Ugh.

I should say something that only Nastume's girlfriend knows… something only I should know…

And then it hit her.

"That's it!"

۞۞۞

Hotaru glanced up from her stopwatch, a bored look on her face. "What?"

Mikan crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know a lot of things about Natsume," she started, a touch of smugness in her voice and stance, "but I know something no one else does."

Hotaru elevated an eyebrow. "What is it?"

A wicked grin formed Mikan's lips. "Natsume likes strawberry prints!"

۞۞۞

For a long moment there was only silence, until at last an incredulous frown graced Hotaru's features.

"…strawberry prints…?"

"Yes!" Mikan smiled, very pleased with herself. "See? Even you don't know about it!"

"Why should he like strawberry prints?" Hotaru deadpanned. What kind of devil would prompt Hyuuga to even look at strawberry prints?

"Oh, but Hotaru," Mikan said, laughing cheerfully, "it's a boyfriend girlfriend thing."

۞۞۞

Outside the classroom, unseen by the two girls, Ruka and Natsume exchanged glances. The two of them arrived just in time to hear Mikan's last bit about the Black Cat.

"I didn't know you liked strawberry prints," Ruka whispered, throwing Natsume a puzzled glance. And he was supposed to be the best friend. Yeah, right.

A perverse smirk was playing on Natsume's lips when he answered. "Only if she's wearing them."

Ruka did a double take, looking more confused than before. "What?"

Natsume put his hands in his pockets, a faint gleam of amusement in his eyes. "Like she said, Ruka," he told his friend.

"It's a boyfriend girlfriend thing."

۞۞۞

"Are you sure you're not lying to me?" Hotaru said, her tone suggesting that she refused to admit defeat. "I can't imagine Hyuuga liking strawberry prints."

Mikan snickered. "Oh, but he does! He told me the other night, while we were in the shower!" she exclaimed breathlessly. It was far too late when she realized what she had just blurted out. Uh-oh.

"You shower together?" Hotaru almost snapped, and pulled Mikan down so that their eyes met. "Has Hyuuga been poisoning your mind again?"

"D-Don't say that, Hotaru," Mikan said, grinning innocently as she waved her hand in good-natured protest. "I-I was just… helping Natsume wash his – "

"His what?" Hotaru asked, her gaze seemingly turning sharper by the second.

She swallowed. "W-wounds…?" she said. "H-He got wounded in his mission…"

Doubt was written all over Hotaru's face. "Just make sure it's his wounds you're washing, Mikan."

She blinked at the words, suddenly at a complete loss. "Should I be washing anything else?"

Hotaru smirked. "Figure it out, Mikan. It's a boyfriend girlfriend thing."

…a boyfriend girlfriend thing…

Have a blissful, happy New Year, everyone! ;)

Hilaire
12.31.09