Smiling out loud - Chapter 17
Chapter title: At long last
Summary: A glimpse into how a high school AU with Cocorico as the main couple might end~
Characters: Endô, Tanaka
Word count: 376
Disclaimer: I’m only doing this for fun!
(Crossposted on AO3)
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She finds him standing at his usual spot; outside their classroom, waiting for her with his eyes downcast, the setting sun creating a shadow long enough to reach her where she had stopped to catch her breath.
He must have heard her since he turns his head up to meet her gaze. “En-chan, good evening.”
Shoko clenches her hands in worry, and she only clenches them harder as she approaches her childhood friend.
Did he always look this thin and worn out? When did he stop smiling with his eyes..?
She quickens her pace, reaches out to grab hold of Naoki’s cheeks and forces him to look straight at her.
“Nao-chan!” She shouts, winces, starts again. “Nao-chan…”
A sudden flutter of nervousness appears as Naoki stiffens - still, it’s not enough to stop her from asking her question.
“Do you love me?”
The lanky boy is full-on blushing now, a stuttered string of incoherent words falling out of his mouth - that is until Shoko moves a hand to rest on his arm, allowing a final sigh formed as a “yes” to slip past his quivering lips.
That’s when she knows; knows with certainty that these feelings aren’t unrequited, and she walks into his arms to utter her own confession into his chest.
“Me too.”
The rumble of his voice and the wetness on her neck has her smiling and rubbing her face against his shirt, dampening it with tears of her own.
“I’m the one who should be apologising, Nao-chan. I hate myself for being the cause of your pain…” She loosens her grip and rubs at her eyes before looking up. “But I’m yours now. I was an idiot for not realising it sooner, but my heart has always been yours.”
This has Naoki’s legs giving out and they slide down onto the floor, Shoko landing to sit between Naoki's knees. For a moment they simply sit there, lost in the moment and in each other’s eyes, but it doesn’t take long before they lean close and meet in a short, sweet kiss, and when Naoki draws back and tries to say more Shoko silences him with another kiss, the redness on her face spreading to him and putting the fading sunlight to shame.
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(...want to see some fanart?)
