❛ i can make that jump. ❜
❛ you cannot make that jump. ❜
❛ i can make that jump. ❜
❛ dude, i’m telling you right now, you got fuckin’ rocks in your head if you think you can make that jump. ❜
but she’s already poised for the kill, squatted like a cat on that unimpressively low --- but still kinda impressive, you know, for a couple of city schmucks --- branch. and he’s stuck below her, hands in pockets, feet planted comfortably on the ground like god fucking intended. ❛ i’m not catchin’ you. you know that, right? you gonna be a bonehead, you gonna learn the hard way. ❜
❛ --- oh! kind of like how you did in remedial, right? ‘cuz you’re dumb and stuff. the joke is that you’re dumb. wouldn’t want you to miss it, on account of you being really dumb. ❜ jirou’s quip gets a physical rise out of him, being just able to catch his jaw dropping in affront out of her peripherals. can’t indulge too heavily, though, not past that triumphant little smirk. gotta focus. eyes on the prize.
and before denki can retort, much less reassure her that he is NOT dumb, and that she is, in fact, WAY DUMBER, and that this whole thing is EXTREMELY FUCKING DUMB, and also, again, he’s NOT DUMB --- she’s already making the bread - winning leap for a branch on the complete opposite side of the tree, arms out, eyes intense, ready to reign in the riches of an entire 500 yen.
to his immediate surprise, she actually lands it, clutching onto the branch for dear life with short legs scrambling for something to rest upon. boy oh boy, does she got him now ; brows raised, lips pursed in a manner of yeah, alright, sure, okay, i’ll take it. and denki’s a whole half - second away from voicing exactly that before he’s cut off by the heartstopping CRACKLE of splintering wood mixed with the most god damn amazing deer - in - the - headlights impression he’s ever seen in another person in those few moments before disaster.
and, well --- 500 yen calls him a dirty liar, cuz he’s already barreling with arms outstretched to sweep up her tumbling body before cold hard impact. the branch doesn’t even fall all the way ; just breaks to dangle loosely from the tree, gravity doing the rest to slide her all the way down hard scaly bark ‘til there's nothing left to hold on to. his feet were already moving lightyears before he could process what was happening.
and the catch isn’t graceful at all, knocking that loud OOF out of him despite how light she was in weight. he loses his footing over one of the exposed roots unearthing itself from the dirt, tripping and rolling with jirou clasped close in his arms to avoid further damage to her --- it’s an unmeasurable disaster that’d land you betting these kids had never stepped foot outside of their houses their entire lives.
ah. the ground feels cold under a fresh tear in his pants. he’s got his face mashed into the crook of her neck, slowly lifting it with a sort of mutual breathlessness that neither of them should relay back to their classmates when they explain exactly how they got these awesome war scars from a brutal gang fight in the alley.
❛ i told you. ❜ that shock - blond head sways as it comes up for air, blinking rapidly before his eyes loll onto the equally battered vision of her beneath him. ❛ i fuckin’ told you. ❜
and the way she smiles right back up at him, you know, it hits hard. both in his chest and in his gut, a sharp PANG of something he can’t quite name --- but the notion to move is all - encompassing, drawing him like a magnetic force to close his mouth right over the grin that damns him in that moment.
it’s weird and it’s not. comfy and not. her lips are soft, if not a little cold in the night air --- and the movement is just right, practiced and careful in a kiss that encapsulates and locks both of their smiles in place. the incidental placement of her head in the crook of his arm is all too convenient, too, hooking it around her slight frame further to close what little space remained between them.
... gonna be a little harder to explain exactly why that alley gang also scattered light lovemarks across either of their necks.
