“Alright! That should be the last of ‘em!” You wiped sweat from your brow after placing down the last of your boxes. “I think we deserve a break, can I get you something to drink? Water? Tea? I bought some Caplico yesterday at the dollar store.”
“Tea sounds great, thanks y/n,” Ichiro grinned from the couch, pushing some of his bangs up out of his face. You told yourself not to stare from over the counter.
After pouring two cups of cold tea, you walked back to the living room and handed Ichiro a glass before sitting on the opposite side of the sofa. The two of you sat in an awkward silence as you sipped your drinks, avoiding each other's eyes.
“So uh,” Ichiro cleared his throat, “Do you want to start unpacking some of your boxes? Or would you want to go out and grab some lunch and walk around for a bit?”
You choked a bit on your drink, swallowing hard before placing the cup in your lap. “Sorry,” you chuckled embarrassedly, “But yea, I’m starving! I don’t know much around here though… I guess that’s why I have an expert here with me, huh?” You gave Ichiro a smile.
“That is what I’m here for I guess,” he laughed along with you, a hint of pink clouding at the top of his ears, Ichiro prayed that you didn’t notice. You did.
“Alrighty then! I just need to go grab a sweatshirt out of one of my boxes of clothes…. I’ll be right back! Don’t go anywhere!” You decided to shove the image of Ichiro’s blushing ears out of your mind. It was probably only because the two of you had been sweating by moving boxes around all day… yeah.
You close the door to your bedroom and pressed your back against it, smacking your blushing cheeks with your palms. Pull it together! God, what was this? A shoujo manga? No, this was real life, not some Otome game… Ugh, curse Ramuda for setting this all up! You sighed and walked over to one of the boxes on the bed and fished out a random sweatshirt from the bottom. Without looking, you pulled it on over your head and hurried out of the bedroom.
“Ok! Ready to go!” You chirped enthusiastically, grabbing your bag from behind the couch, freezing when you looked over and saw Ichiro grinning. “U-Uh… is there something on my face?”
“No, no, I was just admiring your Godzilla sweatshirt. You didn’t strike me as a fan, that’s all.”
“What? I work in video games, you didn’t expect me to be into giant fighting monsters? Gimme a break!” You teased, hoping that your confident attitude would hide your blushing face.
“Well, I guess that’s true,” Ichiro pondered, “Are you a serious fan or just here for the aesthetic?”
“Bold of you to assume I would be simply swayed by pure aesthetics. I may work in design but I happen to be full of surprises. One of those happens to be my love for giant sea-lizards….” Might as well shoot out an embarrassing fact since you already exposed yourself with your clothing choice. “I have every movie on DVD, limited editions too…”
“I see you’re a woman of culture as well,” He chuckled, “You’ll have to show me your archives sometime, I’m impressed!”
You had to concentrate hard not to blush. “Sure! Not today though, I gotta make sure you wanna come back and see me.”
“Hmm, I’m surprised you thought that would be an issue. I wasn’t planning on helping you move in and then leave you in the dust, no need to worry. We could have a marathon sometime!” Ichiro paused, “Ah, maybe that was a little forward… I’m just excited to have someone besides my brothers that’s interested in the same things.”
“No you’re fine! That sounds like a great plan! Uhm, but for now I’m hungry. I think I could eat an entire barbeque!”
“Well, lucky for you I know a great spot for that!” He shot up from the couch, “It’s not that far from here, actually. I think it’s a five minute walk?” Ichiro pulled out his phone to check.
You peeked around his shoulder as he showed his phone to you, “Damn, not bad at all!”
——
The conversation between you and Ichiro didn’t lag as the two of you had lunch together. From the walk to the restaurant and throughout your meal, there wasn’t a dull moment. You and Ichiro seemed to have a lot in common. While he was a bit timid to admit it at first, he never really was a super social person. He used to be involved in some pretty bad stuff as a kid, so he never really had a normal, friend-filled childhood. The only two people he had as a constant were his two younger brothers and his teammates, Jiro and Saburo. Ichiro didn’t elaborate on it much, but he briefly mentioned his start in rapping and his road to where he was now. In turn, you shared your story. It was nowhere near as impressive or elaborate as the other’s, but you shared nonetheless. The two of you discussed favorite niches, anime, and games to which you shared similar tastes. You asked about his music and he asked about your designs. It was nice to just… talk to someone about what you liked and have them be interested. Ichiro also talked a lot about his brothers, proudly showing you photos of them and laughing while sharing stories. You didn’t have any siblings of your own, so it was nice to see what that life was like. By the time lunch was finished, the two of you had stayed in the restaurant till their four-o-clock closing time. Neither of you realised. You were too busy laughing to tears and enjoying yourself. You couldn’t remember the last time you felt so… happy to talk to someone. Sure you always had Ramuda to lean on and chill with, his teammates too, but there was some sort of barrier there between them. With Ichiro… that barrier didn’t seem to exist. You pondered on that realisation as the two of you walked back to your apartment. Maybe it was the similar interests? The closeness in age? No, it couldn’t be the age, Ramuda and his posse weren’t too much older. Whatever it was, the two of you just… clicked.
The two of you continued talking as you entered the elevator up to your third story apartment. You so badly wanted to reach over and push all the buttons so you could spend more time talking with him. It was getting to be well into the evening and you knew he had a family to get back to. You stopped in front of your apartment door and turned to him.
“Thanks for all your help today, Ichiro-sa– Ichiro. I really appreciate it,” You said with a smile and a slight bow. “I would invite you in for dinner but…. I haven’t gotten any actual groceries and your brothers are probably waiting at home for you. Some other time maybe?”
“That would be awesome! Maybe we could uh watch some of your Godzilla collection too?” He smiled bashfully.
You nodded enthusiastically. “That sounds like a perfect plan!” Your heart was pounding in your chest.
Ichiro’s phone rang and he sighed, “That’s my queue to get home,” he sent the call to voicemail and returned it to his pocket. “It was great getting to know you today, text me and we can plan something soon,” He waved with a grin as he turned on his heel and walked down the hall.
After he was out of sight, you let yourself into the apartment and slid down against the door. You placed your head in your hands and screamed softly. This was bad, you couldn’t be falling for someone so easily.
Ramuda totally knew that this would happen. That bastard. He was setting you up! He always liked to try playing Cupid with you. Ohhh you were going to kill that little pink man.
