word count: ~1.3k. tags: corny ichihime fluff, highschoolers
the bustle of the train and passengers overflows her eardrums as her eyes stick to her pumps like glue.
ichigo sits beside her with a kind of nonchalance that makes orihime feel almost pathetic. he's not reacting? the date went well by all means, they flowed together as naturally as ocean tides. it's just-- the moment there isn't custard taiyaki or exciting rides to distract her from the reality of what this really is...she chokes up.
what does that even mean? what really is "this"? they went on a date, but he didn't explicitly ask, "will you be my girlfriend?". does that mean they aren't dating? it's not right to assume, right? but then what did this date even mean? where does he want "this" to go, really?
whatever. she shouldn't ruin her night focusing on the details right now. ichigo's the straightforward type anyway. when he's ready to discuss the next steps, he will. in any case, the date went well. it was good. they had fun. at least, she had fun. did he look like he was enjoying himself? well he's the one who suggest the idea of a carnival, so he must've. what about now? they're not exchanging any words at the moment...is he still enjoying himself?
she tilts her head to take a quick peek at him and analyze his demeanor before her body freezes and her eyes widen.
both gazes falter, but his quickly returns to focus on her.
"here. i was too embarrassed to give you this instead of the teddy bear, but i thought you'd like it."
she looks to his palm and her eyes glimmer, hastily receiving his gift. it was a tiny little leek charm that sparkled in her hand. the swell of her heart was indescribable. she couldn't tell you what bear he was even referring to, but she knew that this leek topped it by a mile.
"thank you," she squeaks out. "i love it"
he coughs up a quiet "no problem" before they both return back to the real world. the one where they're two teenagers on the train about to miss their stop back home.
the walk to orihime's is silent but comfortable. their shoulders brush against each other repeatedly and orihime's stuffing her nose into her scarf like a husky sniffing in the snow. ichigo gifted her that charm but...what can she do for him? what can she do to show she likes him? she glances up at his face then opts for a glance at his hand instead. she reaches her pinky in hopes of grasping onto his. before she can even initiate contact, ichigo's holding onto her hand and stuffing it into his jersey's pocket. she sucks in a small breath before giving the concrete ground a view of her dopey grin.
as their steps slow down towards her front door, she turns around to give ichigo a nervous smile.
"thank you--for today. i really enjoyed spending time with you outside of class and all. it was nice."
he coughs again. "uh yeah, of course. i had a great time with you."
they exchange nods before he's no longer met with her auburn gaze, but the front door instead and the click of its doorknob.
"holy shit holy shit holy shit."
ichigo's sprinting back to his house in hopes of tiring his heart out so much so that it stops its rapid beating for her.
he makes it home and quickly places his shoes by the door. before he can even think to run up to his room, he's halted by the piercing voice of his father.
"there's my boy! how was the night out with orihime? you use protection?"
a wince. "gross. what kind of father ask that to his son first thing after his arrival?" he takes a few more steps upstairs fully intending on ignoring his father from then on.
"i'm just asking!" he chuckes. "i was a teen once too, don't forget. i know what puppy love feels like, ichigo."
his ascension to his room stops once more. something in him irks, and he gives his father a harsh glare from over his shoulder.
"yeah, well whatever sorry-ass relationship you had back in the day doesn't compare to mine. it's not some kind of 'puppy love.'"
he ignores the chuckle from downstairs and quickly shuts his bedroom door. he plops onto his bed and hastily opens up orihime's contact.
he feels like his expression throughout tonight was a bit inadequate, especially on the train ride back home. he probably looked so lame. the blood in his arteries was rushing like never before and he honestly felt like a total mess. his knee couldn't stop jumping while he replayed every interaction of the day. did he make her day enjoyable? does his presence even make a difference? would she have felt different had she went out with say, uryu, instead of him? definitely. he's as interesting as a pebble. nothing to worry about there. but still. he couldn't even win her any big prizes like they do in those corny romcoms his sister watches.
he should for sure message her. not that the date went bad, because it didn't. right? she said she enjoyed herself, but she is the type of girl that's willing to spare your feelings even if it means denying her truth. anyway, if the date didn't go exactly as planned, he should at least do something to salvage it now before orihime sleeps into the next day.
okay...so what should he say?
what the actual fuck? he's either too tired to be trying this out right now or he needs to lay off the romance dramas for sure. it's likely both. "miss you"? off rip? he can't message her that as if they're already dating. he'll just sound ingenuine and unoriginal. he should probably ask her out before he goes prancing into her messages like a sleazy dog. why did he even type that out? can't he just say hey first?
he aggressively pushes the delete button before typing in a more decent greeting.
good. he sent it before he can even do enough overthinking and talk himself out of a simple hello. he looks to his clock and immediately realizes his mistake.
there's no way he spent all that time thinking over a message, right? it was just 9. he concludes that he won't be getting a response any time soon and settles on just setting his phone down and plugging it in to his charger. before he can slam his face into his pillow himself, he gains a bit of assistance instead.
"ichigo! i heard you had a hot date tonight, huh? was it orihime? i bet it was, wasn't it? fill me in! did you kiss her? more?" a yell comes from behind his head.
"ugh! get off of me kon! what is it with you all asking me these odd questions?! we just went out to try a few carnival rides, nothing even happened," ichigo grumbles.
"awh, don't worry ichigo! better luck next time!" kon peeks over ichigo's head to take a look at his unlocked phone. "that's her you're messaging?"
"none of your business, just leave"
kon gives a deep frown and audible 'hmph' before hopping off of ichigo's dome. ichigo lays his head down on his pillow and sighs before falling into a deep rest.
i'll clear things up tomorrow. i have to.
"what?!" tatsuki yells. "he asked you to be his girlfriend over text? you can't accept that orihime! who does he think he is?! at such a late hour too? he's more of a dog than i thought."
"well...it's more like he asked if he could be my boyfriend. it's really not all that bad, i swear! he took me on a nice date and all...and i think it's sort of cute..?" she warily lets out, anticipating tatsuki's response.
"let me read the message myself. i doubt it could've been any worse than you already made it sound."
can i be your boyfriend ori-chan? pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease
writing this was fun lmao. it's so corny, but i find it cute. they remind me of old couples that are still so obsessed with each other after years upon years.
i'm not sure if tumblr likes ship writings?? every fic i see on here is an x reader; is that just me????
anywayzzz, i hope you liked this!! i think it's much better than my convenience store piece lololol. it's also loosely based off of this dream i had abt the guy im interested in...is that an aura loss or gain? lmk...