title: rule number one (ao3)
pairing: togame jo/sakura haruka
summary:
There's a rule Sakura must follow now that he has a boyfriend. At least, that's what Suo and Nirei told him.
(Fluff without plot...)
“So, Sakura-kun, how is it?”
Right as the clock struck 12 and the lunch time bell rang, Suo was already seated in front of Sakura’s table, sitting primly as he dropped such an ambiguous question.
“How’s what?” Sakura was slightly taken aback. Was there any issue he should be aware of?
“Dating Shishitoren’s second-in-command?”
Sakura’s skin bristled like a cornered cat. “W-why do you care?! Mind your own business!”
Matters of Sakura’s newly established relationship with Shishitoren’s Togame Jo was not some sort of top secret. The matter of fact was that even if they tried to keep it on the downlow, Tomiyama’s penchant for chatter and Umemiya’s desire to get updated in each of his juniors’ lives would ensure the secret’s early death. As it was, Sakura and Togame never expended effort to keep it a secret.
But Sakura hoped that his relationship with Togame being public didn’t mean being put on the hotseat by no more than his friends.
“Well, it’s just that, since you’ve never really known Bofurin before, there are certain…rules you may not be aware of.”
At this point, Nirei who was just a table away, already sensed another load of nonsense coming from Suo’s mouth. But before he could put a stop to it himself, Suo threw him a knowing glance and a smile, as if to say, Nire-kun, trust me with this one, okay?
Now curiouser, Nirei sat next to Suo and decided to hear more.
“Like what?” Sakura, for his part, was suddenly concerned.
Sure, his friends accept him for who he is. But he had no intention of endangering his place at Bofurin even just by slighting the smallest rule.
With a serious and cold demeanor, Suo declared, “Though Bofurin members are allowed to date, until you’ve graduated, you are not allowed to kiss.”
“K-k-kiss?!”
The rule seemed reasonable. Sakura wouldn’t be surprised if it was Umemiya who laid it down so that these group of delinquents have one less distraction to stray them from the studying. But…this was Suo speaking. How many bullshits have come from Suo’s mouth that he had almost believed?
“Nirei…is that real?”
“Yes, Sakura-san,” Nirei nodded almost immediately with a grave expression. “I would have told you earlier, but I didn’t think you would need it. But now that you and Togame-san are developing quickly…”
That settles it then, Sakura thought, the rule was real.
“Whatever. I-I wasn’t even thinking ‘bout that.”
“Oh? That’s good to hear, Sakura-kun. I’m sure you won’t have a hard time following that rule.”
Now Sakura did not live under a rock. He knew what a kiss was and what it meant. It wasn’t at the top of his mind, though. Not until those fools he has for friends planted the idea in his mind. Suddenly, he would find his gaze sliding down Togame’s face as they’re talking, noting the faint cracks on the plump coral skin and the way Togame’s tongue would lick them wet every now and then –
“What’s the problem, Sakura?”
“H-huh?”
Sakura’s eyes darted up in panic, the tips of his ear burning from the earlier thoughts he had been harboring about Togame’s lips.
“You seemed distracted. Is everything okay back at Furin?”
“Yeah, yeah, nothing’s wrong.”
Recently, when there were no patrols or if they finished up early, Sakura visited Ori and spent some time with Togame, just hanging out on the rooftop. From time to time, they’d go out for dinner, but there’s only so much eating out a high school student could do on a meager allowance.
Nevertheless, the tranquil moments on the Ori rooftop learning to play shogi while talking about how their respective days went were more than enough for Sakura.
As it stands, Togame quickly developed a sense of Sakura’s moods and thoughts.
“What’s bothering you then?”
“I’m not…I’m not allowed to k-kiss…”
Togame craned his neck, feeling all sorts confused about this sudden information.
“Not allowed?”
“Suo told me it’s a rule in Bofurin…no kissing until graduation.”
“Suo…Is that the eyepatch kid?”
“Yeah. I mean, he says a lot of bullshit, but Nirei also confirmed it so…it’s probably true.”
One particular thing about this conversation struck Togame as odd.
“And you’re thinking about this because…?”
Deepening another shade of red, Sakura quietly answered, “I…I just…I suddenly thought I wanted to…Gah!”
Sakura suddenly curled into himself to hide his face, unable to finish his sentence. The back of his neck was blushing red, too, however, and Togame found the sight to be beyond adorable…not to mention the fact that Sakura just admitted to thinking about wanting to kiss. If he was any other man, Togame wouldn’t let this chance pass. But he wasn’t like any other man, is he?
“Did…they tell you what type of kisses are not allowed?”
Sakura shook his head, face still buried between his arms.
The “no kissing rule” has got to be the most obvious lie Togame has heard recently. But Sakura really looked earnest about following it. Togame knew that Sakura’s friends were very protective of him, so he did understand why they might have fed Sakura such a lie.
It’s just quite unfortunate for his part, because now that Sakura brought it up, Togame couldn’t deny that he would want to do the same thing.
“Don’t sweat it. Let’s play it safe for now if you’re not sure.” Togame smiled as he gently pulled Sakura’s arm and took his hand, weaving their fingers together. “I’m still allowed to do this, yeah?”
After a brief pause, Sakura looked up and turned to him, his cheeks still flushed and his lips in a slight pout…Togame knew all too well what that look meant.
Still, he was taken by surprise when suddenly, Sakura moved towards him until their faces were mere inches apart, their warm breaths tickling the edges of each other’s lips. Togame froze in place, fearing that if he so much exhaled more than he should, their lips would bump into a kiss, and he would make Sakura break this silly Bofurin rule.
Then, slowly, Sakura pushed forward…
Until their foreheads were touching, the tips of their noses bumping into each other.
“W-what are you doing, Sakura…”
“Until I’m allowed to…” Sakura’s voice was low, almost a whisper. But underneath was a certain determination: he would never break any rule, but he would make things happen the way he wanted them to. “This can be our…kiss.”
“Whoa? What are they doing?”
From the Ori grounds, Choji was jumping up and down to catch a glimpse of what Togame and Sakura were doing on the rooftop. It’s the least he could do, after all, the new couple had claimed the spot for their own every afternoon.
“Choji, don’t spy on them like that.” Wanijima tugged on Tomiyama’s shirt, stopping him from making yet another jump. “Jo’s a responsible guy. We can trust him.”
“I think they just booped their noses, Wani-chan.”
“…Maybe we can talk to him once Sakura goes home.”
My grandfather used to grow watermelons, among other things, and he told me about most of this, especially the orange spot. Those are the absolute best!
so funny to me when white american christians are like “ooh i incorporate my religious trauma into my art and thats why i draw these stained glass gothic church gold multi eyed reneissance sculpture angels agnus dei” like i know your protestant southern california ass didnt have any of that. go make some art about this
“The medieval warrior, realizing the consequences of his impulsive act, immediately approached the owner of the drone and offered to pay for the damage.
The owner of the drone was so impressed by the brilliant attack that he suggested organizing a competition for bringing down “dragons” with short spears next year.
Drone owners have another year to develop a unique “dragon-like” design for their flying machines.” (x)
I am 100% cooler with this knowing that the spear-thrower realized “oops maybe I shouldn’t have done that” and tried to make it right, and that the guy who the drone belonged to was cool with it
one of the hardest things to learn as a depressed former Gifted Kid™ is that half-assed is better than nothing. take the 50%, 40%, even 20% job. scrubbing your face is better than not taking a shower at all. picking up your clothes is better than never cleaning. nibbling on some bread is better than starving.
DO THINGS HALFWAY. NOW YOU’RE 100% BETTER OFF THAN YOU WERE BEFORE.
One of my college professors used to say “anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.” I didn’t understand that for years because I didn’t do anything poorly, I couldn’t do anything poorly, I had to Do Everything Perfectly.
But brushing your teeth for 30 seconds is better than not brushing them at all when that 2 minutes seems exhausting. Doing ten minutes of yoga is better than 10 minutes of sitting when 30 minutes of cardio sounds impossible. Changing my clothes is good when a whole shower is impossible. Standing on the porch for a few minutes is worth it after being in the house for three straight days because I don’t have the energy to go anywhere.
Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly… because doing it poorly is better than not doing it.
if you're in the US or Canada and interested in learning a language using a free app please get a library card and download MANGO. it's very good and extremely free with a library card (there are many public libraries and universities using the service, so make an account and use the search feature here to find out if there's one near you).
mango currently has 72 available languages and dialects (that's right! different courses for french or canadian french! spanish or latam spanish!). it's set up basically like an audiobook with text. the idea is that the narrator explains the words while you read, and you repeat after them or say the translation out loud when prompted. there's a daily review where you go through flashcards. you can also use the flashcards at your leisure and create your own. at the end of each chapter there's a listening comprehension quiz and a reading comprehension quiz. i cannot emphasize how effective this all is. and it's free with a card.
if you're not in the US or Canada and/or looking for something more like duolingo (don't use duolingo btw tldr they fired translators and replaced them with "ai"), then try BUSUU! it only has 14 languages atm but the lessons are really descriptive and effective. it also has a feature where you can correct other people's open-ended speaking/typing exercises. you set your fluent languages, and exercises by people learning those languages will appear in your feed for you to correct. you can even add others as friends! and, much like duolingo, it has a streak and leaderboard system for you to strive for, minus the guilt-tripping owl.
busuu is free (you watch ads to unlock lessons and they're all skippable after like five seconds), although it also has paid premium/plus versions (i don't use the paid version—the language courses are available for free, and the ad system is Really unobtrusive).
so that's my wisdom for the day. mango and busuu. please check them out :)
vaporwave
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
pixelskylines
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
blakekathryn
gamechangershow
ellievsbear
