Mondo Oowada stood awkwardly out in front of the school, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He was waiting for his date for the afternoon – date, he still couldn't really believe he hadn't scared her off – and after a bit of deliberation and Leon swearing that she wouldn't like it, had decided to go sans motorcycle for the evening. Instead they'd walk. To… well, after a bit of investigation into his wallet, to somewhere cheap.
Mikan Tsumiki hurried out of the school and went sprawling.
Mondo cursed under his breath and hurried over to help her up. He wasn't fast enough, however, because before he was within two feet of her she was up, blushing and apologizing and smoothing down her skirt. She was still dressed in her school uniform, and once she looked at Mondo in his street clothes, she blushed.
"Oh, I forgot to change – I'm sorry, I'll look so out of place-"
"It's fine!" Mondo said, feeling as if the temperature had risen at least ten degrees. He hunched his shoulders a bit, trying to hide his blushing face in the collar of his jacket. "I, uh, I have a place picked out and all, so."
"Are we taking your motorcycle?" Tsumiki asked, then when she saw it wasn't around, clapped her hands to her mouth and spoke through them. "Oh, no, I'm sorry! I should have seen that it wasn't here, I'm too forward-"
"I'll go get it!" Mondo said, hurrying away as fast as he could. He was absolutely sure that she could see him blushing. He was also absolutely sure that he had already fucked this up. He'd thought that a girl wouldn't want to ride his bike, he should have asked her or asked Chihiro to ask her or something like that. He'd had Chihiro ask her out for him, he should have told the kid to ask about preferences, too.
He was an idiot.
He realized that he was even more of an idiot when he pulled up in front of the school and she was standing there, shivering. She was cold. And the ride would only make her colder.
Wait. Wait, he'd give her his jacket. He pulled his jacket off and tossed it at her. She fumbled with it, but she managed to catch it, her mouth parted slightly in an 'o' of confusion. "You look cold," Mondo said, averting his gaze back to the road.
"But you'll freeze!"
"I'll be fine."
"No, no, I can't-"
"I'll be fine!"
"I'm sorry!"
"Fuck- I- just put on the coat and get on," Mondo said, staring straight again, blush rising in his cheeks. He sneaked a look at her after she'd put on his jacket and nearly died then and there. It was far too big for her, of course – he was over half a foot taller than her. It was so goddam adorable.
She managed to get onto the motorcycle without too much trouble – she did fall a few times, but overall, it wasn't too bad – and then she asked another question that made him curse himself. "Is this safe?" she giggled a little at her own question. "I mean, I can always patch us up if we get hurt, but I- oh, just think of having to bandage up a wound from an incident! We'd have to go to the infirmary and everything!"
Mondo swallowed. "It's fine," he managed to choke out, because she was very close and he was very glad that he'd given her his coat, because it was like the temperature had risen another ten degrees. "Hold on."
"Are you sure – oh!"
As soon as he took off, she wrapped her arms around his waist and he had to concentrate very hard not to crash then and there. He sped through intersections, took corners probably more sharply than he should have – but, hell, he was distracted, he had a cute girl with her arms wrapped around his waist wearing his jacket going on a date with him.
They eventually stopped outside a shitty little coffee shop. Mondo kicked down the kickstand and got off. Tsumiki tried to hop off with the same lack of effort as Mondo and ended up going sprawling again.
This time, his jacket covered what probably would have been a disastrous, revealing episode that would have sent her into fits of apologies and him to more blushing and things like that.
They headed into the coffee shop, Mondo glancing over at her every so often and darkening a little more at the look of her in his jacket each time. She was so goddam adorable. She was looking around and digging through her pocket for something.
"Uh, what do you want?" Mondo asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I can order."
She tried to hand him a handful of money and he shook his head almost too vigorously.
"No! I mean, I'll pay!" Mondo barked.
"I… just get me whatever… oh, I don't know, I've never been here before, I'm sorry for taking so long to order!" she said. She was turning pinkish.
"It's fine!"
By now people were starting to look at them – a girl in an oversized jacket advertising the Crazy Diamonds and a sweating, blushing guy who obviously owned the jacket in question.
"You can just get me whatever won't take too long," she said. "Should I… should I go find a seat?"
"Yeah. Uh. I'll order," Mondo said. She nodded at him and they stood there in awkward purgatory until she hurried away. He ordered black coffee for himself – manly coffee for a manly man, right? – and some sugary sweet thing for Tsumiki. She was a girl, after all, didn't all girls like the sugary coffee? With lots of cream and sugar and that shit?
He nearly tripped over some douchebag's foot on his way back and nearly dropped the coffees and hit him then and there, but then he caught Tsumiki out of the corner of his eye. There were a few girls with her. He wondered who they were.
Instead of hitting the douche who had nearly tripped him, he just bared his teeth at him and continued.
"What the hell's going on?" he muttered, setting the coffees down on the table with maybe a little more force than was necessary, his coffee slopping over and burning his hand. One of the girls giggled nervously and took her hand off of Tsumiki's shoulder.
"It's okay, Oowada-san," Tsumiki said, looking up through her bangs. Mondo had the idea that something was wrong.
"No, what the hell's going on?" Mondo repeated his question, voice raising. "Get the fuck out of here!"
One of the girls backed off, but the other tossed her hair and muttered something about wondering why anyone would spend time with her, and Mondo scowled.
"Scram!" he snapped, and the two of them split. Mondo pushed the coffee over to Tsumiki and slumped down in his chair, scowl still on his face and feet on a second chair. He was acutely aware of Tsumiki watching him, hands curled around the cup, the sleeves of his coat rolled up enough so that she could use her hands.
He met her eyes and was met with such adoration he had to look away, face turning a dark red. "Didn't know what to get you," he muttered, glancing around. "Do you like it?"
She took a sip and the anticipation was just too much.
"Do you like it?" he asked, voice raising a little.
"I-it's great, really!" she said, and they were plunged into silence. "T-thank you again, Oowada-san. I don't really know why you're being so nice to me, but even if it is-"
"Because you're really cute!" Mondo blurted out, slamming his hands on the table. She turned bright red, matching him. He swallowed and watched his coffee slosh around in his cup, a few drops spilling over. Fuck, he wasn't going to have any left by the time this date was over. "I mean. Uh."
The rest of the date was spent in awkward silence, apart from the occasional awkward bit of conversation, and when Mondo walked her back to her door and she gave back his jacket smelling like her, he thought that maybe he could stand to go out with her again, if she would.
When in doubt, coffee date.
Anyway, this was requested by an anon on Tumblr! This is becoming like the Ishifuka craze, I can tell.
