I'M SO BUSY! I SHOULD BE DOING OTHER STUFF! Agh, I hate myself ;; I just write dumb harutakas instead of facing my responsibilities.
Also? This kind of is like, a continuation of my other story "Lovebirds." Because as I was writing I realized it was fitting.
KagePro belongs to Jin, and I suck.
It shouldn't be much of a surprise, actually. They have been alone for long enough, so once they found each other, of course they'd just cling, because they finally have someone and neither of them really knew about limits of what friends do and don't do. Who cares, anyway? She had stopped caring about people. She gets flustered, and it's insanely embarrassing, but it's still nice and she likes it, so why should it stop?
Their friendship is too intimate, that's why she shouldn't be surprised. But Takane can't help herself, and no one could blame her for it, not even Haruka, especially since he seemed to already regret it.
The sun is setting, and it's just the same walk home they have together everyday after school. Sometimes, they hold hands. Sometimes, they don't. And sometimes, they do, and then they just let go for no reason in particular, and neither mind. She isn't sure if they did this time, because they're now stopping in front of her house, for her to get home and for Haruka to walk to the train station that was a few more blocks away. Because yes, only to have a walk home with her, he takes longer instead of just going to the train station near the school.
Her name slips from his lips after he says "See you tomorrow," as he always does. But instead of offering her a small smile like he usually does before heading off, the words are still coming out of his mouth as he leans in and their lips were suddenly pressed together, even if it was the shortest second in existence.
She freezes, and Haruka immediately jerks back and covers his mouth with his slender fingers, making a little 'oh' noise as if he just made a mistake on a drawing and needs an eraser. But there isn't an eraser for these things, so Takane only blinks, looking at him as if waiting for an explanation. She's not yelling, because she doesn't feel angry, she doesn't feel upset at all. It's probably even more surprising for her that she's not actually really embarrassed, but she's sure that it'll kick in soon enough–
It did. It's here, and her face is now matching the sunset's colors. She's about to scream, maybe even smack him, those are the things she does out of embarrassment. Haruka, knowing her far too well, knew what was coming and is wise enough to run off first.
"See you tomorrow, Takane!" he repeats, sounding a little too casual, as if nothing has happened, but she also knows him far too well to pick up the nervousness of his voice. Then he leaves, before she could bring herself to say a word, and she's left watching him walk away.
She kicks her shoes off once she's inside, but she stops her daily habit of leaving a mess in the entryway after coming back because this was too much, and her head now hurts a little, and she'll definitely overthink nonstop until she sees him again. Which makes her stomach stir, because that's tomorrow.
At some point, her granny pops out of the living room and looks at her with a smile, letting out a giggle as she crosses her arms, "Well, well."
Normally? Normally, Takane'd have complained, she would have nagged at her own caretaker for butting in, and tell her for not the first time to stop waiting for her by the window only to see if she's ever bringing Haruka inside. That's what normally happens, but seeing this wasn't a normal walk home, neither a normal see you tomorrow, this isn't either a normal I'm home. That's why Takane heads up straight to her room, her blush not going away anytime soon.
Haruka doesn't say anything about it. He doesn't look like he's thinking about it, and he doesn't look flustered like yesterday either. So Takane thinks that perhaps, she should just forget about it. Maybe, it was an accident? Maybe Haruka just... want to lean down for some reason? Maybe the way she instinctively kissed back right away was just...? Who knows about that last one.
There's no point to freak out over something that has already happened and can't be erased, especially since it's definitely not happening again.
Despite having doubts whether it'd happen again or not, (un)fortunately, it doesn't.
For about a week or so.
The second time it happens it's just like the first one, it's most likely out of an impulse and they can't say anything afterwards. It makes a difference when Haruka, instead of walking away and laughing it off by the next day, looks down to the ground as the corners of his lips slowly make him smile.
"See you tomorrow," this time, it doesn't sound nervous. That doesn't mean it sounds as it does everyday, it's just fond. Takane kind of feels the urge to smile back, but that wasn't a good match with her cheeks burning red and quick heartbeat. The urge of yelling what the hell do you think you're doing was much stronger, and again, before she could voice it, Haruka's walking away.
It just keeps happening. Not as often as they hug, not as eventual as they hold hands. His lips touch her at least once each day, not necessarily when saying goodbye, although it's not usual for the kisses to be on the lips, rarely. Yeah, it makes her anxious to think that was rare.
Because they're just friends. Really. She doesn't care what people at school think they are, she doesn't care if Ayano insists they're a perfect pair, she doesn't care if Shintaro teases them about being just like two main characters from some shoujo anime. She doesn't care if it isn't common for friends to kiss or hug, or if friends don't speak to each other the way they do, or if friends aren't as intimate. Takane only cares about what Haruka might think, and if he keeps doing all those things with her, then it must be because of a reason.
So they won't stop, it doesn't matter if there's people that mistake them.
She knows that when they kiss, Haruka doesn't mean it to be like that. And yeah, probably it indeed is true that this is going too far and they were taking their this is a platonic relationship to some point in which it's kind of ridiculous to be still saying that, and for it to be actually accurate somehow.
There's a line, one Takane's thought they must have crossed a long time ago, maybe a few months back when she had asked him to hold hands. She was wrong, she realizes. The limit's still there though, and this was surely it.
Haruka kisses her forehead, and she doesn't mind. He's sweet and that's kind of his way of thanking her for giving him of her lunch just like she does everyday, but Takane now minds. Because he did it right there, in front of Shintaro and Ayano, and they're looking at them as if some kind of extraordinary thing had happened.
At the very least, it wasn't on the lips–
"Oh my god! That was so cute!" Ayano's face lights up even more, her usual happy face is now overwhelmed with euphoria, and she quickly starts clapping. "The cutest! I wish I had a picture–"
"What was that about though?" Shintaro asks, monotone as ever, but still with a hint of curiosity as he raises and eyebrow. "Are you finally going out?"
Takane kind of wants to spit into his lunch for some reason (maybe because he said 'finally') and then, she looks at Haruka. No, she actually shots him a deadly glare, and only that could bring him to step back from his carefree reaction.
So Haruka only shifts his gaze from Takane to his other friends, showing more of a shy smile rather than a nervous one (which sickened Takane, by the way) and the boy only shrugs. That's it. That's his explanation. He shrugs, and then, he goes; "Oops."
She's sure that her blush had spreaded to her ears already, and there was no way to escape from it. It felt like it was burning her skin and it was actually driving her a little dizzy, but she wasn't sure if that was because of the embarrassment or because she was upset to the point her illness could kick in.
"Okay," Shintaro also shrugs, and resumes eating, not impressed. Ayano, on the other hand, only sticks the straw of her juice box between her lips and shots Takane a look, one that was clearly asking her if it was an actual oops. So Takane, mentally apologizing to the living angel Tateyama, just looks away.
Then, Takane decides it's enough and that she'll definitely have to tell Haruka that. It can't go on like this, it's like, having a boyfriend that's not actually a boyfriend, or having dates that aren't dates, and for a person who overthinks the way Takane does, this is like a genuine nightmare.
Or maybe she could simply confess. But no, that wasn't an option. Not because she's afraid that Haruka actually doesn't like her back and he's just clingy because she's his first friend ever, not at all. It's not like she considers confessing only because she doesn't want him to stop kissing her and hugging her– of course she wants it to stop. Maybe, probably.
Oddly, Takane's lost track of for how much time this has been going on, perhaps a month or so. It's always just a peck, and Haruka's quick to pull away. But now, when he takes a little longer, she reacts and does what seems to be the most logical thing at the moment, kissing him back.
She can't think much of it, automatically giving up the idea of breaking apart when she feels him snickering against her lips, as she just happens to like that. Maybe she has somehow showed it, because his arms tighten around her and pull her closer. So Takane only complies, letting him move her as much as he wanted to, way too focused on the movements of his mouth against hers to try not to act as vulnerable. At some point, her arms ended up around his neck and one of her hands had slid into his hair, playing with it the same way she's wanted to. It's soft, of course it is, everything about Haruka is soft. Like his voice when he says her name or like his hand when it holds onto hers as they walk home. Or his lips as well, it seems.
She's ended up sitting on his lap, and somehow knows that'd go wrong, but neither Haruka nor Takane herself stopped to think about it. Not that there was much to think, except that they aren't supposed to be kissing like that, but she really, really doesn't want to break apart.
And she does, anyway. She quickly brings a hand to her mouth, because it's wet and she just wipes it with her sleeve, keeping her wrist there so her blush could be hidden. She steals a glance at Haruka, and he's also watching her, his cheeks are as pink, but he only blinks at her, looking confused, if anything. He lets go of her once she squirms to get off him, although he's reluctant to do so.
Haruka opens his mouth to say something, but she's faster, and speaks up before he could voice any apologies.
"You shouldn't kiss me like that," she says helplessly, not really sure when was the last time she's ever said the word kiss out loud. His eyebrows draw upward in surprise, and he goes with his second attempt of apologizing, prevented by her voice when she continues. "Don't you know everyone's always watching us?"
"Who?" he looks around, as if she was being literal, but he stops when Takane shakes her head, twintails following her movements.
"People!" she simply answers, crossing her arms across her chest. She looks away because this is too much for her to bear with, he is too much, and she doesn't even know where to start.
"You mean our schoolmates?" Haruka asks, and Takane inanely remembers that this boy may not be always so oblivious. So why can't he stop being an idiot in moments like this? "I know they do. Why do you bring it up, though?"
"It's just– they..." she deflates, because she definitely can't bring herself to feel angry. There's just a funny feeling, and it doesn't let her express her own embarrassment with violence, which makes her have to face the situation in a different way of what she's used to. And it's terrible. "...They think we're in love."
"Aren't we?" and now he just looks horribly confused, and Takane flinches. "But you– well, ah."
"Haruka," she says his name in a breath, trying to calm herself down, because otherwise she'd probably collapse. "Have... have we been kissing non-platonically?"
He makes some kind of pout, and instead on confused, now he only looks like he's sad. Seeing him make that kind of face drives her into making a smilar expression herself, and Haruka just asks back, quietly. "Have we been kissing platonically? ...I didn't know that was a thing."
And now he's acting logical?
"It's not!" she's louder this time, and the boy jumps just a little. "I just thought this was like, holding hands or whatever!"
"So we've been also holding hands platonically? Ah, wow," Takane can't understand how he manages to snicker in a moment like this, so she glares. At that, Haruka clears his throat, pretty awkwardly by the way, and brings a hand to the back of his neck, nervously. "...I know we've never said anything about those things, but... I don't know, Takane. I thought that you just didn't want to talk about it."
"That's understandable. Because people usually don't make things clear before kissing," there's that word again. Ah, she'd hate it if it wasn't that she liked it so much. And Haruka only sighs, because he's never been fond of her sarcasm.
"Well, neither of us has ever been good with words, isn't it?" he gets up from his chair, too, and Takane has to look up at him again. She scoffs, way too stubborn to answer anything to him, and aware of it to the point it makes her blush even more. "But I like that everyone thinks we're in love, anyway."
She's not really angry, to be honest. Maybe a little annoyed, and exhausted. But she lets go a sigh; she's done being harsh, she just wants to get this over with. That's why her voice sounds so small and shy, and why she starts to feel as vulnerable as a few minutes ago, when their lips were still pressed together.
"...Are we?"
"I think we are."
"And what if we are?"
If that's the case, then they should just kiss again. So that's what they do.
I heard this one song the other day– It's called "you shouldn't kiss me like this" and it's honestly not of my musical taste, but the lyrics are really, really cute, and they're probably why I wrote this.
Also, I'd rate it with T because... u kno, makeouts, but I won't because come on, it's just kissing.
