Author's Note: For CronaxMakaFTW :)
A Simple Drive-By
Kaito had never once seen the appeal in driving. Sitting inside the car was suffocating, the environmental impact was inexcusable, and it was ungodly to arrive from one place to the next at such unnatural speeds. Rather, Kaito preferred walking from place to place, and he preferred walking there in Luka's company.
The place Kaito would often walk, however, was Luka's work. She was a barista at a nearby coffee shop, a job which he didn't think suited her well, so he would commonly take the time out of his day to wander on over and order a coffee or something other, pausing to chat with her each time if the place was dead as dust, as it usually was. She'd barely give him a second glance, however, and treated him as any other usual customer. It shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did, but, seeing as they had attended the same middle school together, he'd prayed more than once for at least some attention. However, Luka wasn't one to offer him this, so he was forced to let go and admit that he was nothing but a bystander in her life.
More than once, he'd asked her on a date. These were always times a couple weeks or days after she'd broken up with her previous partner, but, somehow, Luka never stayed single long enough for him to be able to court her. It was rather upsetting, seeing as he did like her rather well. He currently had a girlfriend by the name of Miki, but it was entirely possible that he'd let his girl go if Luka were to become single again. Something about her captivated him, and Kaito wasn't one to stick around someone who didn't keep his interest.
There had only been one time before when he'd kept in his current relationship while Luka was single, the time after he'd been too late to catch Luka the third time around. He'd been dating a girl named Lily this time when Luka and her boyfriend were said to have been split up; he'd made the mistake the time before this of breaking up with his girlfriend to ask Luka out a week later, only to discover that she'd already begun dating someone else. He wasn't going to take the risk that was leaving Lily behind when he knew it would be too late by the time he requested a date of Luka. Luka stayed single for a month this time before finally accepting to date the next man who asked her out. It was the longest she'd ever been single, and Kaito cursed his luck for not having asked her out sooner. It was then that he left Lily behind, because she no longer held his interest.
As far as he could tell, Luka thought nothing of his constant visiting or his now five attempts of asking her out. She was probably a girl who was used to it; she was pretty enough, after all, and she never spent long single. To Kaito, however, each time he was rejected, though it stung, it meant something to him, because he was getting further and further from the woman he hoped to one day marry. Was it unreasonable to believe he might one day marry a girl he'd rarely exchanged more than passing words with? Of course, very much so. After all, it wasn't as though he was entirely in love with her; it wasn't as though he were absurdly obsessive and wished that she'd stay by his side only; it wasn't as though there were any evidence showing that this woman, whom he hadn't even fully recognized from middle school before casting a glance at his yearbook, and he himself would even get on well together. However, there was something. Something told him that there was something about her that would never let him go once he had it, and that was the something he'd always desired but never had before. So he wanted to draw her nearer, bring her close enough that he could finally read some sort of emotion in those ice blue eyes of hers.
It was this thought that caused Kaito to walk to that coffee shop each day, be it or not a day when Luka was working or a day when he's even get to be served by her. It was this thought that made him wait through and suffer through each time she'd date and break up, although he never found it to be much suffering since he'd never had that particular closeness with her, anyway. With this thought, Kaito held on close to the girl who wore his heart on her sleeve, though he didn't let go to the girl who held his hand in hers as he walked to this coffee shop. It was a sad thing, wasn't it, that his life revolved so fully around Luka, yet she barely mattered to him? He wasn't heartbroken when he saw her boyfriends visiting her; she gave him a smile and cheered him on when he told her of his girlfriends. Yes, it was sad, indeed, for Luka to simultaneously mean nothing and everything to him, especially when he thought of the tragic fate his Miki would meet upon realizing these feelings he had for this girl they walked to see daily.
And so, today, as each other day, Kaito awoke and headed to the coffee shop, today accompanied by Miki, and gave Luka a greeting while ordering some coffee or other, wondering when the time would come when she'd be single again and yet remaining rather disinterested in the thought, and he'd breathe a sigh as he acknowledged once more that he'd failed five times before and would probably continue onto the sixth and seventh, forever repeating this endless cycle when the two nearly strangers would meet, greet, be with other people, never be together, care too much and not care in the least.
For, you see, Kaito had never seen the appeal in driving.
. . .
There was a customer who came to Luka's work each day, whether she was there or not, and he was someone she'd known for the longest time.
He was a man by the name of Kaito, who had asked her out five times already. The first time, she'd rejected him on the pure basis that he didn't remember who she was, and it had stung. The second time, she had vowed to be loyal to her new boyfriend, who vowed never to cheat on her as the previous one had. The third, she'd seen another girl eyeing him, and that girl seemed much more interested than she herself, so she'd quickly found herself a boyfriend in order to have a reason to reject Kaito. The fourth time, he'd been dating someone else, so he hadn't asked her for the entire month she'd stayed single. As such, she refused him once he'd broken up with that girl and she had found someone else, because Luka was no one's second choice, and she'd been hurt that he hadn't asked her out sooner, as conceited as it was of her to believe that he would ask her once again. The fifth time, she'd been swept off her feet immediately after her breakup, so she'd agreed to a new relationship, forgetting that Kaito was likely still waiting for her. He had another girlfriend again, a cute girl with a fondness for cherry tarts, so she cheered him on, because why shouldn't she?
Luka wouldn't admit it, but she watched daily for Kaito, and she was disappointed on days when she didn't see him. She'd become accustomed to his presence, especially knowing that he fancied her so. She quite enjoyed knowing that she had an effect on the man, that he held feelings for her that surpassed the simple customer-barista relationship they currently had. Luka wondered if this was the sort of relationship they'd always have: strangers, but not quite so. After all, he'd always been an integral part of her life, even if he didn't remember her well. When they were children, they'd played at the same park, and they'd both ended up attending the same middle school. They'd both had dogs that they walked down the same streets up until the end of high school, when they'd both moved out but had constantly studied in the same library. Perhaps it was merely that Luka was observant; perhaps it was because she held such faith in the word 'fate'. She wasn't sure why exactly it was that any day she passed without seeing his face felt detached and useless.
It was only for the reason of his comforting presence that Luka considered him a viable candidate for dating; after all, she'd never otherwise date someone who seemed to hold sincere interest. Before, she'd only dated people who seemed as though they'd keep their distance or shortly do something to ruin the relationship. She'd told Kaito something similar, once, on a day when he'd asked her out. It was strange for her to be so sincere with someone, especially someone who was really of so little value to her. Still, she told him, and he'd responded with the strangest thing she'd ever heard, and she'd decided afterward that she'd wait until they were both next single and then allow him to ask her out once more, and she'd accept this time. After all, it intrigued her that this was his response, but they weren't so close as for her to be able to ask him what he'd meant by it. So, for that reason only, she'd put aside her thoughts on dating for once, because he was someone strange and unusual, someone who'd always been close but not close enough.
On that day, she'd decided to set him loose of his benign fascination with her by telling him her thoughts on dating and relationships. It was simple, really. Luka had never liked dating. Being in a relationship was absolutely suffocating, its effect on her life and her social scenery was excessive, in her opinion of the great amount of experience she had, and it was unnatural to move her hopes and trust from the deepest parts of her heart so fully into someone who wasn't her herself.
Kaito had simply looked at her with a smile and replied that he'd never much liked driving, either.