Y/N wasn't really sure whether she was underdressed or not for this. She didn't even know where they were going for dinner, but she had just decided to wear the fanciest thing she had, which was a knee-length black dress. It wasn't very fancy, it was simple, but at least it looked like she had put some effort into her appearance. Apparently, it was very noticeable in general.
Her brother had noticed and commented on it, which drew her mum's attention and she had been interrogating Y/N for ages, before she let her go. Y/N was pretty sure that she didn't really believe her either way, but she was lucky that she really, really had to get going or she'd be late.
Maybe it wasn't the dress that gave her away, because it really wasn't anything special and she owned a good few dresses that she'd wear in summer. It was probably the fact that she had actually taken care of her hair and done something with it. She had put it up into a loose bun and decided to hide the few bangs that were always sticking out and annoying her under a bandana.
The bandana was really something she wasn't sure about. She didn't really know whether it was fancy enough or not, but then again she didn't just want her hair all over the place. Plus, it gave the entire outfit some colour. By the time she was done getting ready for this dinner date, she realized how much hard work it was to date an actual rich person and how many nerves this would cost her.
The next problem she was facing were shoes, because... well, because all she had was a pair of flats (that was already really worn out), a pair of high heels for special occasions (and definitely not for walking to where they were supposed to meet), a pair of runners and a pair of combat boots.
Y/N decided on the combat boots in the end, because they actually seemed to be in a better state than the flats and she actually needed to be able to walk a good bit, so the high heels were out pretty much immediately (and Y/N absolutely hadn't tried them on and wondered whether she maybe might be able to actually walk in them). The combat boots gave the whole outfit a very grungy look and they really didn't suit the rest of it too well, but it was better than the runners.
And then the next thing giving her away had to be the makeup. Y/N never really wore any. Sometimes she put on lipstick or eyeliner if she felt like it. But today she felt like wearing both and some other really subtle stuff on top of that. She didn't even know why she put in that much effort, after all Shouta had seen her sweaty and in her work clothes all the time before.
But something about him saying they'd go to a nice place made her want to look her absolute best and even though she thought she was still being pretty subtle, it apparently wasn't enough to fool her family. But at least she finally got out and was currently waiting at the street corner they had agreed to meet at. And she couldn't see Shouta anywhere. If they were planning to walk to the restaurant then he'd really have to hurry... unless it was one of the ones around here.
But Y/N pushed that thought aside. Those restaurants were proper fancy restaurants and Shouta had said they'd go somewhere fancy but lowkey. That wouldn't be one of these places, right? Right? It only now dawned on Y/N that Shouta's idea of fancy was probably very different from hers.
And Y/N was really starting to panic the more she thought about it. Because if she was honest with herself... she had no idea how to behave in one of those super fancy places. Didn't they have all kinds of weird cutlery and stuff? Y/N had never bothered with any of that, because she never thought she'd need it. Sure, she knew her stuff about culture and science and literature and all that stuff rich people liked to talk about, simply because she was interested in those things (and because if it ever came down to it, she wanted to be able to show these bastards).
But this was a completely different level and it was really starting to freak Y/N out. She didn't even know where to start doing her research so quickly. Maybe she could just watch the people around them and copy them in order to avoid a complete faux pas... God, this was so bad.
"Hey, I almost didn't recognize you." she heard a voice behind her. Y/N turned around quickly and saw Shouta standing behind her, a dress shirt and nice pants and looking... damn, he was looking really good.
"Oh, hey... that bad?" Y/N asked, laughing nervously. Shouta quickly shook his head and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
"No, no, no! Not at all. You look beautiful." he replied. Y/N chuckled nervously, blushing a little.
"You're bullshitting."
"I'm not. You're always beautiful, but you're especially beautiful today." he said to her and Y/N just shook her head. When was the last time someone had called her beautiful? Oh right. Never.
People didn't call her beautiful. They called her strong and confident and stubborn and fierce and maybe passionate and smart. Maybe even cute. But no one had ever said that she was beautiful. That word simply wasn't in Y/N's vocabulary, but it felt good to be called that. It felt really good.
"Uhm... I... Uh... T-Thanks. I guess. Sorry, I... I'm not used to this." Y/N finally managed to reply. Shouta snickered.
"What happened to you being all sassy and confident, huh?" he wanted to know. Y/N shot him a glare.
"Oh, shut up, none of that has anything to do with being called pretty and shit. I'm not used to it, okay?" she answered.
"Then we better get you used to it pretty soon, huh?"
"Fuck off, what's with you being so smooth all of a sudden? Does the fancy shirt make you confident or whatever?" Y/N asked. This was the most confusing thing ever. Usually Shouta was a little less confident than her, so how was he suddenly so smooth and flirty and... how did he manage to make her so flustered? Y/N wasn't even sure if she liked it or not, because on the one hand she much preferred not being a stuttering mess, but on the other hand... feeling pretty was kinda fun.
"Ah, there's the confident Y/N again. So, are you ready to get going?" he wanted to know. Y/N nodded.
"Is it far?" she asked him, hoping he'd say yes, so she wouldn't have to worry about making an idiot of herself.
"No, it's around this area." Shouta answered with a wide smile. Y/N gulped and nodded, forcing a smile on her face. This wasn't good. This was bad. She'd mess this up really badly. She couldn't do this, she couldn't do this, she couldn't do this. Fuck, how was she supposed to survive?
"O-okay. Good. I-I thought you said it wouldn't be too fancy...?" she replied, a little curious what 'too fancy' meant to Shouta. Because the area they were in right now... that was already fancy as hell. Y/N wouldn't even dare to step inside one of these restaurants on her own and the prospect of going into one with Shouta was already making her feel all kinds of things - but only one or two of them were good. She wasn't supposed to be here. This wasn't what she was used to.
"Yeah, it's not too fancy and expensive, but I did promise to take you to a really nice place, didn't I?"
"You did indeed, and I mean... well, just... to me the takeout is already a nice place. This is... I'm going to embarrass you, Shou. I don't even have proper shoes to wear..." Y/N muttered.
"Don't worry. You're not going to embarrass me. People there are way too stuck up anyway, so don't even worry about anything. And you look fine. Honestly, no one's going to say anything. They're all too fake friendly to make any comments to your face. We'll be fine, I promise." he answered. Y/N took a deep breath and nodded. Okay, maybe this would work. She had Shouta there after all, right? Shouta would help her out with anything she needed help with.
"And... here we are." he suddenly announced. They were standing in front of a beautiful European style building, decorated with marble and all kinds of beautiful things. Y/N couldn't even name half the things that this place had. There was a voice that was constantly screaming in her head, but she decided to ignore it. It was too late to get out of this anyway. And Shouta was here with her. It would all be good. It had to be good. She'd be fine with Shouta.
"Shou, this is... I don't even know what to say. I... How do I even act in there? I don't know anything about places like this..." Y/N whispered, as they walked inside. She had taken his hand, holding onto it as if it was an anchor to reality. This whole place just seemed really overwhelming.
"Don't worry, I'm right here. We'll get through this. Just follow my lead, okay? There really isn't much that can go wrong." he answered and squeezed her hand, before walking up to one of the waiters.
"Good evening, Sir, I booked a table for two? The name is Aizawa." he said in a matter-of-fact voice. The waiter smiled politely and checked something before nodding at them.
"Of course, Sir. Please follow me." he told them and walked ahead of them. Y/N glanced at Shouta and just followed him and the waiter, looking around the restaurant. This place was way too fancy. Way too expensive. There was no way Y/N would ever be able to afford to eat at a place like this.
Plus, she felt extremely underdressed. Everyone around them was in formal to semi-formal clothes and what she was wearing was business casual at best. But this was the fanciest thing she had at home. She really felt a little out of place, but apart from the odd look here and there from some other guests everyone stayed very professional and didn't say anything.
"Here is your table, Sir. If you'd like to sit down, I'll be right back with the menus." the waiter said. Shouta just nodded at him and pulled a chair out, gesturing for Y/N to sit down. Y/N felt like she was in a trance, as she slowly sat down in the chair and watched Shouta head over to the other side of the table.
She looked around the table and there were a bunch of glasses and a whole lot of cutlery around the place. Shit. What the fuck was she supposed to be doing with all that? She had no idea how to use any of this... there was a rule, right? What was the stupid rule again? She looked up at Shouta who was smiling at her calmingly. Oh God, had he noticed her staring at the cutlery?
"Relax. You start from the outside and work your way in. But don't worry too much, because... most people here don't have any idea either, they just pretend they know what's going on." he said quietly. Y/N raised her eyebrows. Somehow she wasn't sure if she could believe that.
If they were all only guessing themselves, then... why were they being so snobby about it? It made absolutely no sense to her. But she was pretty sure that that wasn't a proper topic for discussion right now. After all, the people in question were all around her. So what ahd Shouta said? Start from the outside...?
"I'm... I'm not quite sure, how..." Y/N started when she noticed the waiter out of the corner of her eyes.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but here are your menus." he said quietly and handed Y/N and Shouta a menu, pretty much almost bowing to them as he did that. Y/N was a little weirded out by this - after all this guy probably only made a little more money than her. So why was he acting like they were so much better?
"Thank you." Shouta replied and the waiter walked away. All Y/N managed was a little smile. This felt so surreal to her. She felt like she was being treated like royalty and while it did feel kind of cool, it also made her feel strangely uncomfortable, because... well, because she was used to acting like that waiter did and... the hypocrisy of it all was just way too obvious to her.
"Shouta, what the fuck are we doing here? This is so weird. This is so, so weird..." Y/N whispered over the table. Shouta just chuckled and shook his head, before reaching out to take her hand.
"It'll be fine. What do you want to eat? I think those guys know my parents, so we can probably get some wine with it, even though we're not legal just yet." Shouta said.. Y/N was a little lost on that. She wasn't sure if she ever had wine. She had sake and whiskey and beer, yes. But wine? Wine was a fancy people drink. She had nothing to do with that whatsoever.
"Uhm... let's see..." Y/N answered and looked down at the menu. There were a lot of foreign looking words on the menu and none of it made sense to her. Shit. What did any of this even mean?
"Shouta, what... what does this mean?" she asked. God, she had never felt this stupid in her entire life.
"Do you want steak or fish or the vegetarian option?" Shouta asked her. Ah, finally. Words she could understand.
"Uhm, steak sounds good." she answered. Shouta nodded and smiled at her, before closing the menu.
"I'll get the steak for both of us then and a red wine with it, alright. You don't need to worry about anything, just let me do the talking. Lean back and enjoy being treated like fucking royalty for once, alright?" he said to her. Y/N nodded slowly. She kind of had a bad conscience, being treated like this, but... well, she did deserve to lean back and enjoy things for once, right?
"O-Okay... Okay. Sorry, I'm being so difficult, it's just... this is all so weird and new and I have no idea what I'm doing here. Sorry, I... I'm just a little nervous." she replied and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. God, she was so hyper aware of people looking at her...
"You're not being difficult. It's all fine. I probably should have given you some time to prepare for this mentally, to be honest. I, uh... didn't really consider that we might think of something completely different when we talk about 'fancy'." he answered. Y/N chuckled and nodded gravely.
"We definitely don't have the same idea about that. But you know what? I'm glad I have you with me, because I'd be really lost otherwise." she said with a warm smile and squeezed his hand, as she saw the waiter coming back out of the corner of her eyes. Alright. She could do this. Somehow.
"Are you ready to order or would like some more time?" he asked, smiling at both of them. Y/N wondered if he somehow knew that she was probably way worse off in life than he was...