Untitled

[crowism-blog1]

trickcard‌:

– You watch as he takes the candy from you, setting it off to the side. Your chest is tight, because as much as you believe he’s not really upset with you he also isn’t saying anything. Then, he takes the stuffed bear and does the same, only this time he’s moving further away. It’s enough to have you swallowing with nerves, to keep you on your toes. You’d expect a wisecrack from him, but the silence? That isn’t usual. 

Then he’s caging your head in his hands, and it’s everything you can do not to release the breath you were holding in all at once. You struggle to figure out where your hands should go, and eventually you give in and cling onto his sides. By the end you’re just hugging onto him. 

You blink your eyes open, slowly exhaling. He finally throws that barb in, and of course it’s a damn good one. Of course he’s smiling like that. You actually flush. What an asshole. 

“You don’t know that,” you say. 

“I’ve been through a lot in the last twenty minutes.”

You flop your head in his shoulder, careful not to headbutt him with your stupid plastic horns. You’ve done enough damage already. 

He blushes and it’s satisfying, even as you recover from the cotton clouding your thoughts. Then he flops his head against you. Mutters something about how he’s been through a lot in the past twenty minutes. You laugh.

“Haha, of course, of course. Your life must be so difficult.” You’re teasing, of course, and you wrap your arms around him in turn, closing your eyes and resting your head against his.

It’s nice like this. Warm. You can acutely feel the thudding in your chest, but you go out of your way to make your breathing sound even. You try very consciously not to squeeze him harder than is appropriate.

He came back to see you.

He wanted to.

He wanted to a lot.

You don’t want to let go. You know you can’t stand here forever. You don’t want to seem desperate for contact, but...

It’d be a blatant lie if you tried to claim that that stupid Valentine’s “party” wasn’t painful. You’re grateful for the chance to be alone with him, to be able to be close without causing strife. Theoretically, you can relax now. Theoretically, the two of you can do whatever you want without worry.

Theoretically.

In actuality, there’s still a part of you that’s nervous. There’s still a part that’s hesitant. You don’t want to scare him away. You don’t want to be too much too quickly.

You don’t release him, but you hold him loosely so he can pull away whenever he wants.

“Well... Since it appears we both have the day free. What should we do?”

[crowism-blog1]

zipperdaddy‌:

@crowism

While still new to this place, Bruno has already taken to a schedule, waking up early to find breakfast, usually at the little bakery where Kiki works. Their pastries are divine, and the ambiance reminds him of some of his favorite cafe’s back home. 

He usually (in the past handful of days) arrives early enough that no one is there, the shop having just opened, but today there’s a customer chatting at the counter with Kiki. It seems like they’re talking about some new seasonal baked goods. 

Kiki looks up at the ring of the bell above the door and smiles wide as Bruno enters. 

“I was hoping you’d be in sometime soon,” she grins, “ I was just telling Akechi about our maple nut coffee cake! It’s a new recipe I’m trying out, and I think you’ll both just love it!” 

Bruno smiles, “That sounds lovely, Kiki,” he turns towards Akechi. It was strange to see someone so young out and about so early, and while the situation was a bit awkward and unprecedented, he offers him a nod. 

Kiki has skipped into the back room to prepare proper slices for both of them. 

“It seems a little unfair,” he starts, “that I know your name when you weren’t given mine. It’s Bruno Bucciarati,” he smiles, “if you’re a regular here we might be running into each other quite a bit.” 

You had to get up earlier than usual today, which is fine, but exhausting, so you wanted to stop into Kiki’s bakery before heading into the station. Today’s a free break room coffee kind of day, which is highly unfortunate, so you at least wanted something to look forward to.

As you’re talking to her about her new coffee cake, though, another customer enters. His outfit is extremely weird, but you just smile warmly in greeting as Kiki addresses him. He seems to be another regular.

“Aha, I’m surprisingly used to people knowing my name but not knowing theirs.” You start, “Though, I admit it’s not usually because of situations like this. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Bucciarati-san.” You return his smile. “That does seem likely. It’s always nice to meet others who appreciate Kiki’s baking.”

[crowism-blog1]

axeandfloof‌:

trickcard‌:

twistingchains‌:

“Ahhh, I see.”  You begin to lift the black haired one up, in order to properly demonstrate you know how to yeet. Also, you want to throw him at all given times so this seems like an opportunity. He isn’t very heavy at all.  “Must we also shout the phrase in exclamation?” 

– You dangle off the ground. Are they actually going to throw you??? Is anyone going to stop them?

“UM! I THINK USING AN OBJECT WOULD GET THE POINT ACROSS JUST AS WELL!” 

She gently tries to urge Valdimar’s arms down. She shoots a pleading look to Akechi to fix this. 

When Valdemar picks Akira up and Akira reacts like a cat who was just lifted by the scruff of his neck, you briefly consider just letting it happen. It would be quite hilarious, and you kind of want to “yeet” him yourself after his version of the definition.

Haru seems to not dig the idea, though.

“Haha, please don’t yeet the cat, Valdemar.”

[crowism-blog1]

axeandfloof‌:

twistingchains‌:

“I have a question.” 

“What is ‘yeet’?” – They have been trying to do social media. 

“I think it’s a meme? I don’t know the original context, however.”

“I believe it is related to a fast moving--or being thrown--motion. A use for it could be ‘I’m going to yeet that football’ or ‘I had to yeet to the store.’ Sometimes people seem to use it as an exclamation of excitement, too.”

[crowism-blog1]

trickcard‌:

– You note the delay in his breathing as you pull away, and if you weren’t all smug grins before, you sure are now. The fact you can kiss the annoyance off of him is just absolutely priceless to you. He doesn’t stay twitterpainted for long however, and immediately goes into lightly barbing you for your choice in chocolates. You blink. And then you realize exactly what it is you’re giving him. Store bought chocolates. From the dollar store.  You should… maybe make a case for yourself.

> Only the best for you. > The ones I made were worse.

> “I really wanted to kiss you again,” you admit, deciding that honesty is probably the way to go here. Even if barbing him back might be fun, you also don’t want him to think the first romantic gift you’re giving him was insincere. You grabbed them because you know he likes sweets. The fuzzy red teddy bear was partially a joke, but you also thought it was cute, and it just… suits him.

“I’ll bring something better, next time.” 

While he didn’t seem genuinely upset, you don’t want this to leave an aftertaste of thinking you don’t appreciate him. Being in a hurry to get back to him is what caused this, after all. 

Your eyes widen at his honesty and once more an inhale gets caught in your throat. It causes you to pause, to skip a beat. After a moment, you pull away, quietly, your expression hard to read.

You take the candy from him and set it on the counter. Then you take the teddy bear from him and set it on the couch.

Finally, without so much as uttering a word, you close the distance between you, pushing yourself against him and bringing your hands to his head. You press your lips against his once more and, for a little while, give in to the fog that clouds your mind.

Eventually, you pull away to catch your breathe. It takes a moment before you’re able to smirk tauntingly.

“Well, at least you weren’t hit by a shopping cart this time.” you tease between inhales.

[crowism-blog1]

trickcard‌:

– You’re surprised that the singular bang on the door didn’t alert him to the fact it was just you stopping by. You watch his expression freeze, and then he burns you and starts closing you out. It’s actually kind of funny, but there is a small part of you that wonders if maybe you should have given him space. But the door starts opening again, so you figure he’s just playing with you. 

“Nyaa. He is. How did you know?” – you ask, in response to the question about the bear. You press the fuzzy muzzle to Akechi’s cheek, like it’s giving him a kiss. Then you kiss his lips once yourself. You linger just a little longer than you intended, the giant dumbass heart full of discounted chocolates making it hard to hold him however.

You rest your forehead on his instead. 

“Is it okay I’m here?”

He nyas and once again you nearly have to restrain yourself from shoving him right back out of your apartment. The bear’s nose being pressed against your cheek causes you to tilt your head away in true tsundere fashion, but the real kiss comes out of nowhere and causes your face to flush immediately. 

You gave him permission to do it whenever he wanted and you’re finally alone now, but you guess you didn’t consider that he’d go through with it so readily. Not that you mind, though, evidenced by your eyes slipping closed as you kiss him back.

He pulls away and you finally remember to breathe, your eyes still not opening as you feel his forehead against yours.

You lightly laugh at the question.

“Ahaha, I’m glad you came back... With extra cheap chocolate as a real bonus.” You tease, opening your eyes enough to smirk at him.

[crowism-blog1]

trickcard‌:

2/15 [ LATE MORNING ] @crowism

– After the burger sleepover disperses, you decide to be subtle about remaining at Akechi’s a little while longer. You say you’re going to run some errands, which isn’t a lie. You go to the dollar store a few blocks down, and grab a few essentials to take home. But browsing around a bit, you notice some plastic devil horns, as well as cat ears. 

Perfect. You whimsically slip them on, buying a box of discounted chocolates that is almost the size of your torso. You also get a ridiculous looking stuffed bear that is the size of a small toddler. 

You look ridiculous walking back to Akechi’s apartment. But you slam the door with your foot to ask him to open it. You can’t actually do it yourself. Your arms are full. You greet Akechi, decked out in your new headbands.

“Did someone order a Lovely Demon Lord?”

No one can make fun of you if you’re in on the joke.

When the burger party dissipates, you flop down onto your couch with a sigh. You appreciate that they came to check up on you--you really did need it--but, even still, it was hard to remain upbeat. It was hard to feel like you belonged, like you weren’t just intruding. Even though all the three of you did was basically immediately crawl to bed.

The party drained you physically and emotionally. There was so much that happened, so much to think about. Your still-healing injury hurts. You have so many things to do.

Yet, by the time you hear the knock at your door, all you’ve successfully managed is reading a chunk of the messages your fans sent you. They range from the normal Valentine’s fare, to anger and jealousy about your disappearance. You hope they leave Ann alone.

You sigh softly as you get up to answer the door, expecting it to be the mailman delivering whatever you couldn’t receive due to your absence. You put your practiced friendly smile in place as you pull the handle.

Your expression freezes.

You almost immediately close the door again.

“Haha, I ordered no such thing. I think you got the wrong apartment.”

You make like you’re going to close the door in his face--he deserves it for being such an embarrassment--but instead you open it further to let him in.

“I didn’t realize the Lovely Demon Lord was a cat demon. Is the bear your sidekick?”

[crowism-blog1]

trickcard‌:

– He seems very confused by your statement, and his assumption is just… funny. Yes, you absolutely pictured your first kiss happening after having your ass kicked. It’s just such a bad guess that you have to chuckle a tiny bit, but you shake your head no. 

“That’s not it,” you say. But you also don’t know how to explain it in a way that doesn’t sound cheesy. You’ve also cried in front of him once, and teared up a second time. Are you really in a place to feel shame anymore? Hm.

You notice he’s actually pretty flushed. What did you do to make that happen? Before you can figure it out, he’s protesting your jab. It’s pretty cute how offended he is, and when he spells out how it happened it… really did need to happen that way. You needed to be focused. 

“True,” you say, conceding. You pause, not sure what else to say. So. You don’t. 

You take his face in your hand, and kiss him again. Just once. Just one last time, before you go back to avoiding this situation. 

You smile a bit. 

“It was perfect. So. I’ll cherish it.” 

You’ll give him an out, in case he wants to move on from this. 

“… So. Featherman?”

He concedes, agreeing that the chess was required to execute the kiss correctly, and you nod in affirmation. But before you can rub in your correctness, though, or even follow-up on what you did that made the kiss so special, his hand is guiding your face and his lips are against yours again.

You can only imagine how red your face is getting, even as time once again feels like it’s freezing. You simultaneously hate and crave the fuzzyness that fills you.

He tells you it was perfect, that he’ll cherish it. You laugh, lightly. “I’m glad to hear that. I do still want to know what made it so special though...”

“Then we can watch Featherman.”

[crowism-blog1]

trickcard‌:

– You really wanted to like Bourbon, a mature tasting liquor that would be befitting a mature young man. You’d overheard Sojiro talk about it with a patron at Leblanc once, assessing the different textures of the drink. Of course, trying liquor in Japan was difficult considering the drinking age. You’d snuck a beer from the fridge at home once, but one was all you really were confident in sneaking before your mother would notice. 

You thought having liquor would be more successful than beer for getting drunk. But… you have mixed feelings about the Bourbon. The fireball Akechi brings you is better, so you decide to stick with that. 

He suggests a drinking game. You don’t actually know any, but you can google one. 

“Sounds good.” – You say, and you open up your phone, scrolling through for a moment. Hm. 

“What about this one?” 

You hold up your phone. It’s a chess board, except all of the chess pieces are drinks. You can tell how this goes without even reading rules. A chess piece is eliminated, and you drink it. 

You’ve also wanted a rematch for a while, though doing well in the beginning will be imperative. 

You both look at your phones when he agrees that a drinking game would be fun, but he finds something first. He shows you the screen and your face lights up.

“That looks perfect.” you beam. You don’t need to look at the rules, either, and instead--since you don’t have a full chess set worth of alcohol glasses--decide to make your own.

“Here’s how we can play: if a pawn gets eliminated from either side, that person has to take a sip of their drink. If a bigger piece gets eliminated, that person has to take a shot of the Bourbon.” A good way to get rid of this bourbon you both hate, you think. “Hm... What should the loser have to do, though...?”

[nomoruleskidd-blog]

Just a couple o’ bros, being bros

[crowism-blog1]

nomoruleskidd‌:

“No reason,” he grins, “just…thanks, ya know?”

There’s a vague sort of hand gesture before he tucks them back into his jacket pockets, gaze falling on the street in front of them. 

The grin goes soft at the edges, and he elbows Akechi lightly in the arm as they walk.  “it ain’t exactly hard to find. Though I don’t see any reason you gotta be embarrassed about it, it’s cool as hell. And you’ve got good taste too! It was fun readin’ not to mention it made me super hungry.” He laughs. 

“Careful there man,” he turns to face Akechi again, skipping ahead and walking backwards to do so, “I might start hittin’ you up every day! There’s way too many good lookin’ places to eat on your list, we’re gonna need all your free time to try ‘em!” He chuckles. 

“Ahaha, I see... You’re welcome, then.” You smile. You’re still not sure what he’s thanking you for, but you guess you’ll just roll with it.

“Haha, I’m glad you think so. My fans seem to really like it, so I try to update it regularly.”

You laugh when he scurries in front of you and turns to face you while he walks backwards. He says you’d need all your free time to eat everywhere he thought looked good.

“If we break it up into chunks, I’m sure we could cover good ground. You should make a list of which you’d like to go to first.”

[nyannyangaogao-blog]

February 16th

[crowism-blog1]

nyannyangaogao‌:

To: Goro

From: Ann

💗 : You know what, I really should? It’s supposed to actually be a really great workout? But it’s also meant for meditating I guess? 💗 : I must be doing something wrong, because every time I jog, all I can think about is how my lungs are about to pop. vv;;;;

💗 : But really, I guess going around Mementos helps? Sometimes you gotta bend in weird positions to hide behind certain objects. Especially if you’re trying to cram like, 3 other people into a tiny corner. 

💗 : Pshh, you can drop the whole innocent act, I know you know what I’m getting at. :O 

To: Ann From: Goro

Ⓐ: It does sound like a nice workout. Haha, if you would ever like to try it out with someone, I would be happy to accompany you. ^^ Ⓐ: You jog with Yuri, correct? He can be rather brutal...

Ⓐ: Ahaha, it is pretty hard fitting everyone when hiding... Apparently very good for learning interesting stretches, though.

Ⓐ: Hahaha...... Ⓐ: Akira came back again yesterday during the day, but after the party we all just fell asleep, so it’s not an innocent act...!

[nyannyangaogao-blog]

February 16th

[crowism-blog1]

nyannyangaogao‌:

To: Goro

From: Ann

💗 : pfff, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? But too bad for you, I’m just that good at contorting into weird positions. 💗 : Like… A horror movie monster or something. 

💗 : Except I bet they don’t get muscle cramps. Seriously, I have this knot in my shoulder that just won’t go away. >:

💗 : Also, woow, lucky! Sounds like a pretty good way to top THAT kind of a night off. And they say romance is dead. :p

💗 : Were the burgers in the shape of a heaaaaaaart? lol

To: Ann From: Goro

Ⓐ: Ahaha, the creative ways you managed to bend were pretty impressive. As was how long you were able to keep that up. Ⓐ: Do you do yoga? 

Ⓐ: Haha, I relate to that, though. I’m pretty sore myself. It feels like my side is screaming.

Ⓐ: Ah, wait... Romance?? Ⓐ: Why would the burgers be heart shaped???? Ⓐ: I think they were just worried about me...

[crowism-blog1]

@trickcard

“Aha...” He really did it. He showed up at your apartment on a Friday night with a bottle of shitty bourbon, some coconut rum, and a bag of those little taste tester bottles. He had texted you asking if he could try to get drunk at your apartment, because he was curious what it was like, and you agreed and considered joining him, but it’s still strange. It feels like such a normal teenager thing to do.

The coconut rum he got for you is good, but drinking it by itself is terrible. The bourbon seems to have a worse affect on Akira (you can tell just by his tiny cringe after the first sip, he keeps drinking seemingly to save face).

You tell him you’ll be back, and leave to get mixers with the power of google on your side. When you return, you also have fireball. 

Tl;dr, Akira likes the fireball much better. You take turns bartendering.

“Haha, should we play a drinking game or something...? Ah... Is that how this usually works?”

[crowism-blog1]

trickcard‌:

– You don’t open your eyes until he starts talking again, but you felt the tense through his hand. That split second where he started to pull away but thought better off it, keeping your head in his hand. You realize that he’s trying to save face as you look up at him, eyes stinging and throat tight. But that haughty facade of his melts away, and you can tell what lies in its wake are his true feelings. He’s worried about you, worried he hurt you. It’s telling. 

You smile at him, and it’s warm and full despite the ache under your ribs. 

“I’m okay,” you reply, rubbing at your eyes a bit. “Sorry, it’s just…”

“I’d given up on the idea of being kissed like that. So. I’m happy.” 

You exhale, and it lets some of that ache in your chest go. You hug him softly, resting your head on his shoulder. You’ll stop, soon. “I’m happy it was with you.” 

You let the hug last for a few heartbeats, then pull back. You let yourself have one last gesture, and tuck a piece of hair behind his ear. You try to give him a smug grin, but it’s softer than what you would usually give.

“Good thing you beat me at chess. It was very required.”

You poke fun at his logic a tiny bit. Making jokes means you’re okay, and you are. You promise. 

He stares at you for a moment, tears still in his eyes, but then a smile spreads across his face. It looks warm. It looks happy. He tells you he’s okay.

He says he essentially dreamed of being kissed like that, but he’d given up on it. Your eyes widen again.

“Kissed like... what? Did I do something special, or did you always dream of getting your ass kicked leading to a kiss?”

Before you get an answer, he pulls you down to him into a hug, resting his head against your shoulder again. You hesitate for a moment before returning the embrace. You feel heat rise in your cheeks when he says he’s happy it was with you. Then he’s pulling away. It feels too soon. You want to linger and the effort it takes to let go when he does means the sensation of fingers brushing against the side of your face takes you by surprise. It causes the heat to intensify.

You think he’s trying to be smug now. He teases you about the chess.

“It was required!” You insist. “It built up the tension and made it more surprising! Without it, it wouldn’t have been the same.” You chose the scenario very intentionally. You pout a bit.

[nyannyangaogao-blog]

February 16th

[crowism-blog1]

nyannyangaogao‌:

Ann started messaging Goro

💗 : Heyyyy~

💗 : Hope you got to cool off yesterday. That sure was a night.

💗 : It was pretty fun towards the end tho.

💗 : Maybe we could have a twister rematch sometime. Not that it’ll do you any good. :3c

@crowism​

To: Ann From: Akechi

Ⓐ: Haha, hello!  Ⓐ: It was certainly... a lot. Ⓐ: I am still trying to process it all. Ⓐ: But it was fun towards the end, and afterwards Akira and Ryuji showed up at my apartment unannounced with hamburgers.

They’re such a silly duo. 

Ⓐ: Ahaha, of course I would be up for a twister rematch. That is, if you aren’t afraid your victory wasn’t just a fluke. ('ᴗ ~)

[nomoruleskidd-blog]

Just a couple o’ bros, being bros

[crowism-blog1]

nomoruleskidd‌:

“Research? You gonna write an essay or somethin’“ He grins back, teasingly. 

“Sounds good!” He replies, jumping to his feet and stretching before tucking his hands in his pocket and following after Akechi. 

They exit the theater, the sun dipping in the sky. There’s a bit of chill in the air, and Ryuji pulls his jacket closed. 

“Hey, Goro?” he starts, stepping to walk beside him, “just, uh, thanks…” he trails off, looking a bit embarrassed. 

“Oh! Hey, I found your blog online, and we really gotta hang out more dude, you seem to find the best places to eat! Though I guess we’re doin’ that right now, huh?” He laughs, “It’s fun though, tryin’ new stuff with friends! I always go to the same places so, I dunno, it’s cool to branch out, you know?” 

He feels a bit silly, blabbering on like this, but he’s honestly just really excited. 

“Haha, I could, if you wanted me to.” You wink. “But I am interested in trying a new dessert place, so I’ll have to look for one. I usually don’t get to try new places with other people, so this will be fun. Haha, maybe you can even make a cameo on my blog.” 

It will be nice to experience a restaurant for the first time with someone else. Usually, when the rare occasion arises that you’re able to eat with someone, you take them to a place you’ve already been--one you know is good. You don’t want to disappoint anyone. You don’t think Ryuji will mind too much, though.

“Hm?” you respond automatically to your name, already doing some cursory review skimming on your phone. His thanking you startles you a bit, causing you to pause for half of a step.

“Ah...? Aha, what are you thanking me for? Did I do something without realizing it?” You think you must have, because you don’t think you’ve actually done anything.

“You’ve read my blog? Hahaha, that’s a little embarrassing.” At least he hasn’t teased you about your kaomoji usage. Looking at you Futaba and Akira. “But, of course. I would be happy to eat with you whenever you’d like, as long as I’m free. If there’s a place I wrote about that you’d be interested in going to, just let me know.”

[crowism-blog1]

trickcard‌:

– He makes a joke that staying alive is in his best interest, and you almost, almost cut through it. If it’s in his best interest, then he needs to stop feeling as if he has to do everything on his own. That he has to carry all of those expectations he’s been ensnared in, and get cut apart for them. But you don’t. You don’t smile at his joke, but you let him set the pace. You let the atmosphere lighten. Decide to fight him on it again later. 

He eases you back into your old haunts. Playing chess, discussing the finer points of morality. You pick up on that he’s playing devil’s advocate, which leads you to believe he just wants to hear what you have to say. Akechi cares about what you think. Your thoughts that have a higher word count. It feels good, and familiar. So you get a little cozy, tied up in your heartstrings just enough to be distracted. You see where you’ve left yourself open immediately after the move, and it’s low stakes, but your heart still jumps. 

He stands up, and you don’t understand it at first. Your breath catches at the contact, but you let him lead your chin up to look at him. At least, that’s what you think is happening, until his nose brushes yours. Time stops. You go boneless, let your eyes slip shut, and let your brain fog over. You breathe in through your nose, let the space between your ribs fill up with something that hurts.  You find his hand with your own, and blink slowly as he pulls back. He looks smug, and all you can do is look dazed. Then, it all comes rushing forward, and you don’t think you could lock up your emotions if you wanted to. Your expression breaks, you know it breaks. You can’t stop it. 

Akechi doesn’t know it, but he’s given you something special. Something you never thought you would, even in your wildest dreams, ever be able to have. In all of your years watching movies where people fall in love, seldom of them ever reflected you. But you tried to put yourself into them anyway. In the role of the leading lady, who’s head was tilted up so sweetly by the hero.

There was never a situation you could imagine where that would happen to you. It was a fantasy that, somehow you knew, accepted you would never have. It was a dream you gave up on.

You don’t understand why Akechi decided to kiss you. To get the better of you? Just because he wanted to? You don’t understand. But you’re happy. You’re so happy it hurts. You’re happy it was him. 

But you bury your face in his hand regardless, your expression scrunched.

“… Thank you,” you say. Your voice cracks. “Thank you, Akechi.” 

You tried not to have expectations on what his response might be, because you knew he’d come up with some way of shattering them. But even still... You expected some type of retort. A form of retaliation. Maybe something different.

This reaction wasn’t even on your radar.

He seemed to melt into the kiss and his hand finds yours. It sends a pang through your own chest, though you still don’t quite understand it. Then you pull away, and for a moment, his dazed expression is satisfying.

It feels like it shatters suddenly. His expression breaks in front of you and that wipes the grin right off of your own.

You did something wrong.

You feel a small wave of panic start to settle in your gut. You mean to fully pull away--to give him space--but he’s still holding on to your hand.

He buries his face in it.

You freeze, unsure of what to do. You ignore the heat rising to your face at his action.

And then he thanks you, his voice cracking in the process. He says it again and you wonder if he’s alright.

“Ahaha... I can’t say I expected that you wanted a kiss from me that badly...” You finally respond after another beat, trying to playfully tease him and keep your cool. Your false haughty smile dissipates after a moment, though.

“Are you alright...?” You ask with no surety, “I apologize if that was out of nowhere... At the Christmas party, you said you wanted to be kissed, and that you wouldn’t have minded if it were me... You almost did it there, didn’t you? I was curious, too, so I thought it would be alright, if I was able to beat you in chess.”

You’re saying words. You don’t know if they’re making things better or worse.

You don’t meet his gaze.