Re:life with Karmic Gacha (Modern Family)

[Edward POV] 

I knocked on the door of the Dunphy house, and a moment later, Haley opened it, a mischievous smile on her face. "Hey, you're finally here." I steadied myself with my right hand on my back, returning her smile.

"Sorry, I got held up by some work," I replied, glancing at her. She wore an oversized, semi-transparent white tee that draped casually over her shoulder, revealing her left shoulder and the dark tank top underneath, which read 'Hungry.' 

It was clear it was her work outfit, complete with a headband and a smudge of dirt on her nose, which confused me since we had some plans to go outside. 

"Here. Happy Birthday!" I extended my hand to give her a bouquet of flowers. Haley's eyes widened slightly, and she swooned at the gesture.

"Oh, thank you! You shouldn't have! Come on in." She took the flowers from my hand, inhaling their fragrance as she grabbed my hand and pulled me inside, closing the door behind her.

As I stepped in, I teased, "So, we're not going out?"

Haley smiled bitterly, but before she could reply, Claire walked toward the front door. "Edward! I'm so sorry, dear! We lost track of time cleaning out the basement. If only the clocks in our house showed the correct time."

That was definitely a dig at Haley's antics with the clock last night. Grabbing my arm, Haley complained, "She's forcing me to clean up the place after we get back from the restaurant. I'm… exhausted." She slouched her body a little, pulling her chin up and sighed helplessly. 

Claire interjected, "Oh honey, since you're so tired, you two should just hang out here." She whispered while scratching her nose and glancing away, "...where there's supervision."

Phil then sauntered over. "E-Money! You're here! Thank you so much for getting us into that restaurant!" He wiped his dirty hands on a towel and tossed it over his shoulder. "What do you kids have planned for tonight?" he asked casually, completely out of sync with Claire.

"What? Phil—I told you—" Claire tried to remind him, but I jumped in. "I was thinking of taking her to an arcade, or maybe IKEA since she's going to move out of her room."

Claire's expression shifted as she processed what to address first—Phil or me. After a moment of confusion, she settled on me. "Honey, IKEA is in Burbank. It's 15 miles away, and it closes at 10."

I understood her concerns and replied, "I figured, which is why I called ahead. They said they can keep it open until 11, but I'll need to take some pictures."

Phil chuckled a bit at my joke, but Claire said in an endearing tone, "Ed, sweetie, you just got home from work. Haley saved you some chocolate cake from her party, so why don't you stay here, hang out on the couch, watch some TV with her instead—and—and brainstorm ideas for the room?"

I turned to Haley and said, "You're the birthday girl. You decide."

Haley thought for a moment and suddenly held her back as she said, "I think I'm too tired to go out anymore."

"Yeah, early onset arthritis at 16. You had a good run," I teased. 

Haley glared at me for a bit before she turned to her parents, "We didn't need to clear out the basement today! The contractors are coming tomorrow!"

"Then the room will be ready for them to work in!" Claire shot back.

"It'll be dirty anyway, so why did we even need to clean it?!" Haley argued.

I had to agree with Haley on that point. "Yeah, Claire, why did you clean it?" I asked, slowly turning to her. Phil seemed to share my sentiment, adding, "Yeah, why do we need to clean it?"

Claire looked stunned by the sudden questioning. She stammered, "Becau—Because! It'll be embarrassing when other people see how dirty it is! They'll think I can't take care of the house! That I'm a lousy housewife!"

Phil immediately tried to reassure her. "Honey, no one will actually think that. You're doing the same thing when we had that housecleaner–" He stopped as Claire glared at him.

Haley chimed in, "Yeah, Mom. No one will actually think that…" Then she added, in a low voice, "Unless they're crazies too."

I retorted, trying to make fun of her, "What do the contractors care about? They just want to get paid. This is just… you…" I trailed off as Claire shot me a glare. 

I could see the vein throbbing in her forehead and her eyes twitching, indicating she was holding back her anger. 

As I abruptly stopped mid-sentence, she smiled—a bone-chilling, fake smile—and gave an ultimatum: "You can stay here, eat cake, and discuss, or you can go home and get some rest. What do you choose?"

"I'll choose the cake," I replied instantaneously.

"Y-Y-Yeah, we can eat cake," Haley echoed, nodding vigorously. 

Phil nodded profusely and added, "I'll watch them, so you can go upstairs and clean up."

"Hmm…" Claire walked past us and stepped on the stairs. We didn't continue talking till we were sure that she was gone. 

"Crazies." Haley muttered underneath her breath again.

…

I sat at the kitchen table, the cake placed enticingly in front of me. It was a three-layer chocolate cake topped with fresh strawberries and sprinkled with chocolate shavings. We sat at the kitchen island in front of the fridge as I ate. 

As I grabbed my fork, I sat there motionlessly. Haley's excited gaze slowly turned to confusion. "Why? What's wrong?" she asked, frowning slightly. "Don't you like chocolate?"

"I kind of feel like this is a scheme of yours," I said accusatively, slowly cutting off a small piece of the cake. 

"What scheme?" she furrowed her brows, tilting her head cutely as she tried to read my expression.

I chuckled, leaning back as I continued to tease her as I took a bite of the cake. "This chocolate cake gesture! You know I like Ursula better than that b– Mary Jane, so you decided to give me a chocolate cake just like she did. Now I can't help it."

Haley scoffed, her smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "You know when you talk about Spider-Man, you sound like a giant nerd!"

I pointed my fork at her playfully. "What's wrong with being a nerd? "

"It'll make you unpopular! And your entire career needs you to be famous," she teased.

"Then how about you? You got the reference in a split second, so that means you're kinda a nerd too."

Haley widened her eyes slightly in disbelief and scoffed as she looked away from me. "I— I'm not a nerd! I just happened to watch that movie before."

"Don't worry, a beautiful nerd can still be famous," I said, trying to coax her into admitting it, which only made her more frustrated.

"Sorry to not meet your expectations! I'm sure you'd prefer to be with a girl who's another huge nerd!"

Confused by her sudden outburst, I gave her a blank look and asked, "Where did that come from?"

"Ugh. Do you want some milk with that?!" she groaned, angrily offering.

"Yes, please," I replied casually.

The kitchen became awkward for a minute as she prepared the drink. When she came back, she tried to move on from the awkwardness with another topic, "I heard you recorded a song today."

"Don't try to play off what just happened." I called her out teasingly, "What's with that sudden outburst?"

"I'm just tired, that's all." She dodged the question. "Also, stop referencing Spiderman so much!" she scolded. "You really seem like a geek!"

[Haley's commentary]

"I kinda got mad because… I feel like… he and I don't have anything in common. Um, it's just slipped out. Wait, maybe I have mom's traits? Will I be another crazy old lady as I get older?" Her eyes widened as her face was filled with shock from realization.

[Commentary ends]

"Alright, so you hate geeks and nerds alike." I continued teasing her, "That's like hating your dad and your sister."

"Well just take a look at him." Haley pointed to her dad who was keeping his eyes open with toothpicks as he stared at us from afar. As we looked at him, he said, "Just pretend I'm not here."

I sighed and said, "Phil. Relax. You trust me, don't you?"

Surprisingly, he said easily, "I trust you." He emphasizes on the 'you' part, and Haley caught it. Stunned, she stammered, "S-So It's ME you don't trust!"

"Honey, I also trust you!" Phil quickly tried to defuse the situation. "It's your mother who doesn't trust you." He added.

"AH!" Haley gasped, offended. 

Phil continued with his remarks, "Also honey, Ed said you're like Ursula, and he likes Ursula better than Mary Jane, the main heroine. And you just gloss him off by calling him a nerd."

"You're a nerd too!" She scolded her dad.

"NO! Honey! Listen closely!" Phil said sternly, "He said he LIKES you!!!"

Haley finally realized it and her face went blank. "Oh."

"I got it from here Mr. Ditkovich." I told Phil. "You should go get cleaned up. We're in the kitchen. Nothing's going to happen."

"Do I have your word Ed?" He asked me seriously. I nodded at him. Phil finally felt relieved and then said, "Alright, I'm going to take a shower. You kids be nice!"

Haley grinned as she watched her father leave. Excited, she grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the couch. I grabbed my plate with me as I flopped on the couch. 

Haley leaned forward, closing her face with mine. As she batted her eyes at me, she said, "So, what do you want to do?"

I ignored her hints and asked, changing the subject, "Have you thought about what your room is going to look like?" 

Haley grabbed my arm and said, "We can think about this tomorrow."

"I can't do it tomorrow. I'm thinking of creating a couple lyric videos, or some simple music video for my songs to be released in Japan." I said with a sad look. 

"You don't want to? Um, you know?" She slowly backed down and asked. I smiled wryly and said, "I gave your dad my word."

Haley was silent for a while before she giggled, "OH! So you do want to do it, but cannot, right?"

"Let's go with that." I replied. Haley laughed and said, "I'll go grab a paper."

I finished the cake while she was gone, and when she came back, we started to discuss her basement plan. With my architectural skill from Ted Mosby, I managed to draw the complete plan of the basement within 2 minutes, without even using any rulers, which impressed Haley greatly.

"Is there anything you cannot do?" She asked, amazed.

"Make out apparently." I joked slightly, which made Haley giggle. As we continued discussing about her room, she asked, "Should I get a Murphy bed instead of a normal one?"

I understood her concerns, "Yeah, there really isn't enough space for a bedroom and a studio. But…" I drew the simple floor plan of the opposite basement room and said, "If we knock down the wall here, you can connect the two rooms together, so you can have both."

Haley rolled her eyes and said, "Mom will never let me do that. There won't be any place to hold our stuff." 

After spending an afternoon moving the things from her future room to the other basement room, Haley knew how stuffed the other room was. "If only dad sells the old station wagon, then there'll be more space in the garage."

"Hmm, also, here is the piping of your house. So, let's say you knock down the wall, then, here, you can build a bathroom. A simple one." I pointed to her spot using the pen.

Haley sighed and said, "I told you… There's no space."

"We'll talk about that later. You have no deciding power at all, so I'm going to save the explanation for your parents." I said with a teasing grin. "And talk to them about getting rid of the clutter."

Haley rolled her eyes again and became irritated, "Those clutters are my childhood memories!"

"Eh, memories are…you know, memories. The only purpose the basement stuff serves is to walk you down memory lane when you're feeling nostalgic about it, which, a simple photo would've the same effect."

"Spoken by the man with an iron heart." Haley said disdainfully. "Did you even get rid of your childhood stuff?"

I shrugged and said, "Mine don't clutter." 

Haley shot me a dirty look. I chuckled and said, "Don't mind what I say too much. I'm basically 'rootless'. So I guess I don't understand much about your desire to keep all of that."

Confused, Haley said, "Rootless?" She shook her head as she didn't want to continue the conversation and said, "Ah, you're making me really annoyed."

"Then, I fulfilled my purpose. You kinda look cuter when you're mad." I flirted. Her animosity melted quickly, and her lips curled upwards even though she tried to act mad.

"Hmm.. I see." She muttered curtly. "Can I hear the song now, or should I listen to it when it comes out?" She asked snidely.

"Maybe, do you have any earphones?" I asked.

She smiled and ran lightly to go get them. I connected it to my phone and gave the earbuds to her, however, she placed one of them into my right ear. 

"Hmm?" I looked at her, slightly confused. "I'm going to need a translation." She said teasingly. 

"I'm not going to translate it for you." I said mischievously. "Wait for the translation to come out later."

"AH!" Haley gasped before she said, "Alright. I get it. Just play the song!" 

[Night Dancer - Imase]

We sat side by side, facing forward as we heard the song together. 

["♫♪ Dou demo ii you na yoru dakedo, Doyomeki kirameki to kimi mo♫♪" {It's an unexceptional, ordinary night, The noise, the sparkle, and you}♫♪"]

Haley swayed her body slightly as she enjoyed the intro melody. She turned towards me with a surprised expression, "It really is Japanese."

"I told you it is. Don't you believe me?"

"Not 100%." She said teasingly while sticking her tongue out. "What's this song about, she asked?"

I paused for a bit and said vaguely, "Dancing."

[ " ♫♪ Mada tomatta kizamu hari mo. Iribitatta chirakaru heya mo. Kawaranai ne omoidashite wa. Futari toshi wo kasaneteta. ♫♪ {The clock hands are frozen again. The frequented, cluttered room. Nothing changed, but as I look back. We both had gotten older} ]

I wrote the song a week ago when I was preparing for the world tour.  With a singing voice that included both falsetto and chest singing, Haley immediately became immersed in the song. 

She gazed at me slightly, and caught that I was staring at her. Her cheek blushed as she looked forward again. I smirked as I too enjoyed the song.

[  " ♫♪ Mata tomatta otosu hari wo. Yoku nagashita kiki akiru hodo. Kawaranai ne…kawaranaide…Irareta no wa kimi dake ka ♫♪ " {The music stops again, you drop the needle. We've replayed it so much, we nearly grow bored of it. Nothing changed, please don't change. You're the only one who's stayed.} ]

Both of us swayed our bodies, dancing slightly to the tune. "It's very catchy although I don't understand any of it." Haley said. 

[ " ♫♪ Mudabanashi de hagurakashite. Fureta saki wo tamerau you ni. Ashibumi shite zureta hari wo yoso ni. Soroi hajimeteta iki ga ♫♪" { We avoid the topic with small talk. We hesitate to touch the subject. We stop to push the hands forward. Our breaths start to sync.} ]

It was as if the verse was narrating what we were doing. Both Haley and I gazed into each other's eyes. Her hand slowly moved towards mine, and mine too inched towards hers. 

[ " ♫♪ Dou demo ii you na yoru dakedo. Doyomeki kirameki to kimi mo (odorou). Dou demo ii you na yoru dakedo. Futari kizamou.♫♪" { It's an unexceptional, ordinary night, Dance with the noise, the sparkle, and you. (Let's dance) It's an average, boring night. But let's move forward together} ]

Haley broke eye contact and breathed heavily. "Hmm, I really want to know the meaning of it."

[" ♫♪ Sukitootta shiroi hada mo. Sono waratta mujaki na kao mo. Kawaranai ne kawaranaide . Irareru no wa ima dake ka. ♫♪" { Your translucent, white skin. Your carefree smile. Nothing changed, please don't change. But this is only just for now.} ]

"Your skin, your smile." I translated a bit. "And my desire for things to still be the same."

Haley widened her eyes slightly, "What? Is this song–" Her focus went back to the song as she heard familiar words.

[" ♫♪ Mitsumeru hodo ni. Afureru memorii. Uwatsuku kokoro ni koohii wo. Midareta heya ni kasureta merodii. Mazariatteyou mou ichido. ♫♪" {The more I stare. The more memories that overflow. A cup of coffee for a wavering heart. A disheveled room, a scratchy melody. Let's blend together, one more time} ]

"I heard memories, coffee, and melody. Wait, will you be called racist if you sing it like this?" She asked.

I was speechless for a second before I replied, "I…didn't think about that."

["♫♪ Dou demo ii you na yoru dakedo. Tokimeki iromеki to kimi mo "odorou". Dou demo ii you na yoru dakedo. Futari kizamou. ♫♪" {It's an unexceptional, ordinary night. Dance with my beating heart, my elation, and you. It's an average, boring night. But let's move forward together.} ]

Both of us burst into laughter as the song became background music. 

["♫♪ Yoru wa nagai obotsukanai. Ima ni mo tomarisou na myuujikku. Kimi to itai oboretеtai. Ashita ga konakutatte mou ii no.♫♪" {The night is long and uncertain.

The music could stop at any moment. I want to be with you, to drown with you. I don't care if tomorrow never comes.} ]

"Translate more." She asked. "Even just a little bit."]

[" ♫♪ Dou demo ii you na yoru dakedo. Doyomeki kirameki to kimi mo "odorou". Dou demo ii you na yoru da kedo. Aishite.♫♪" ]"

"It's an unexceptional, ordinary night. Dance with the noise, the sparkle of the lights, and you. It's an average, boring night. Love me." I translated the verse as I looked at her face.

Haley's eyes became dazed and she leaned forward for a kiss. I too leaned forward and kissed her on the lips.

["♫♪Dou demo ii kara boku dake wo. Furatsuki yoromeki nagara mo "odorou". Dou demo ii you na yoru dakedo. Futari kizamou ♫♪" {Who cares anymore, just look at me. Let's dance as we sway and stumble. It's an unexceptional, ordinary night. But let's move forward together}

We stopped kissing as the song ended. Haley smiled shyly and said, "Well, I finally got my birthday present."

…

[Flashback.]

The roar of the brand new chevrolet camaro 'Bumblebee' passed through the highway as I made my way to the Dunphy family's house. The car was a present from someone anonymous, but I knew who sent it. Casey and Sarah delivered it themselves to the company building after all.

I checked, and there were no bugs on the car. My phone rang as I stopped at a red light and I answered it using the bluetooth car system. 

"Ed, where are you?" my dad asked, his tone excited. 

"Huh? I just got back from work." I replied. "I'm going to pick up Haley now–"

"Good!" My dad suddenly shrieked. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. My dad continued, "Drive by the house when you come back."

I grimaced a bit, "And get mobbed–"

"I know I know. There's too many people there." My dad interjected, already knew what I was going to say. "But, listen. Right now, I'm in front of the house."

"So?" I was confused.

"Do you hear something?" He asked leadingly.

"No?" I replied with hesitation. 

"That's right. There's no other voices other than mine." He said excitedly.

"You mean? There's no one there?" I widened my eyes slightly. "That's impossible."

"Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say! There's no crowd here anymore! You can actually sleep here tonight." He declared. "I can even dance in the yard, and no one will bother me."

"We'll see. Try dancing." I replied coyly. He grimaced and said, "I'm not gonna."

"Coward. This could be a farce. They'll regather when I get there." I said skeptically.

"I don't think so. It feels different. It feels… calm. After your teacher comes by this afternoon with Phil, people have been leaving the place one by one."

"Teacher– You mean Sage? Sage was there?!" I asked with shock.

"Yeah." My dad replied. "Maybe your fans finally realized that they need to give you some space. Or the paparazzi— Even I don't believe what's going to come out of my mouth, so I guess, the paparazzis has something else to cover tonight."

My smile wouldn't disappear since I heard that Sage was there. "I owe her a credit card." I mumbled to myself. Since the search for the new house was taking a long time, Sage decided it was best for me to get a place where I can relax myself. 

Or maybe she was too lazy to go around looking for houses, who knows? Anyway, we weren't supposed to talk about it. 

[Flashback ends]