his world had always been small, the insular upbringing in their village had left hiiro ignorant to the outside and its enormity. The words ingrained in him were never kind and even now he’s learning of his own ignorance through word of mouth but now, it feels like growth rather than chains tethering him to an inescapable fate.
As he steps out of the dorm, stretching out the lingering stiffness of a restless night’s sleep; he notices how warm the sun is, how green the trees encompassing their dorm are as they grow verdant with spring’s approach. It was going to be a nice day for going out, he thought, and how meticulously the two of them had planned their date. It had been through text, hiiro with the blanket drawn over his head to dim the screen’s light, a time at which the two of them definitely should have been asleep. It would seem neither of them knew the places all too well, thus the excitement of adventure stirred a little within him.
It had been upon aria’s recommendation that he mentioned a certain idol cafe, apparently it was rather popular with the online crowd he was a part of, hiiro was still getting used to that - those who were online seemed to know about alot of stuff ! he would have explored it a bit more on his own had he not gotten completely lost on the home page ( after aria showed him how to make an account that is. )
He ran his fingers through his hair, did he look alright ? it wasn’t really something he had bothered thinking about before becoming an idol and being reprimanded many times about how imperative it was to keep up an image even if they were at the bottom of the barrel as far as idols went ! still, it was his day off, was he worried what kohaku would think about how he dressed? He’s thinking about it too much ! and laughs it off a little with a shake of his head.
Quickly, that hand moves to wave in greeting, kohaku was already waiting where they said they would meet, hopefully he wasn’t late - he didn’t think he was. “ it’s already so warm ,” he comments, taking a moment to glance at the notepad before reaching into his own pocket and retrieving what looks to be a pamphlet of some sort “ aria recommended me a few places we could eat at , i didn’t know what to choose , they all look good.” inside was a series of rather impressive looking photographs taken by an online blogger and compiled by the ever diligent member of his team ( atleast when it came to idol related things. )
hiiro looks so cute, but he would never say that out loud. he can definitely feel the heat on his cheek flare up and, how bad does he want to rub both his hands against them just to make sure it disappears!?
why did no one teach him on situations like these? it’s already hard for him to blend in anyway, due to his upbringing. but he’s not going to run away— only cowards do that, and kohaku oukawa is anything but a coward! so he has to go through it and make the best of it.
so all he does is nod at hiiro’s suggestion. he knows his fair share of food spots as well, so he’d recommend any as well to make things better, he believes. kohaku does that a lot when he’s got nothing to do ( he doesn’t go to school after all, and he’s been home schooled his entire life, so that adds up as well ).
does he... want to hold hands with hiiro? would it look weird? would people stare at them? he doesn’t know, though he wouldn’t care about the latter. let them stare, it’s none of their business. but is hiiro going to be comfortable with it? kohaku can’t just... grab hiiro’s hand, that’s impolite, so all he does is... stretch out his hand, and the flush that disappeared from his cheek a moment ago, has resurfaced.
“shall we go?”, he asks, “we could look which places don’t have many people, if that makes ya more comfortable.”
