"..." spoken aloud

'...' thoughts

Italics - Saiki speaking through telepathy

—

Kusuo Saiki was perfectly comfortable lounging around alone today in his living room and occasionally sipping on his iced coffee. It was going to be a perfect no nonsense day until the doorbell rang.

Ping-pong

The melodic voice that came through the intercom sent a chill through his spine. "Hello, Saiki-kun, are you there?" The earth-bound angel Teruhashi stood in front of the Saiki household, clutching her bag strap tightly in nervousness.

'Crap...maybe I can pretend that I'm not here,' thought Saiki as he ducked behind the couch, wary of the full view the window gave of the living room.

"Your mother said you'd be home today," Teruhashi said. Realizing the implication of that succinct statement, she quickly added, "she said that I could stop by early and prepare for our cooking lesson." The bluenette waved her hands in embarrassment even though no one could see her. Well, people without clairvoyance couldn't see her. Unfortunately for her, Saiki was not one of those people.

'I wouldn't want him to think that I'm here just for him.'

'I already think that,' answered Saiki in this one way conversation. Thankfully, Teruhashi hadn't heard that or else she would have run right on home.

'Mother, why?' lamented the pink-haired psychic in tired grievance. Why were the gods never on his side and always on Teruhashi's? With one last long sigh to prepare himself, he turned the doorknob to his front door with grudging unwillingness. At the sight of Saiki, Teruhashi's aura increased two-fold like a lightbulb after a surge of electricity. If Saiki hadn't worn his glasses, he was sure the intensity of his classmate's aura would have blinded him.

Wordlessly, he went to open the gate to allow Teruhashi in. 'What is this? If I had gone in another boy's home, I would have gotten an 'ouph!' per heartbeat! I should have gotten 30 'ouphs' by now with the way his heart rate should have increased! How is it that I still haven't gotten one from Saiki-kun?'

Her aura flickered for a moment in disappointment before coming back full force. 'Ah! I know! It's because he's so shocked by my presence in his home that he's speechless. I bet his heart has stopped in shock! There's no blood going to his brain to push the 'Ouph!' out of his throat.' Teruhashi's confidence-fueled logic spiraled out of control.

'Good grief,' Saiki thought, 'never underestimate her boundless confidence.' It must have been Teruhashi's imagination but she could have sworn that the corner of Saiki's lips ticked a bit, hinting at a smile.

Saiki's eager classmate shuffled quietly passed him as he closed the door. Daintily, she took of her shoes at the entrance while trying to calm her rapid beating heart. 'Ahhh! My heart beat's so loud! I wonder if Saiki could hear it,' nervously pondered Teruhashi.

'I can,' Saiki thought, 'but I think I could hear it without my psychic powers.' Geez, it was like her heart was having a solo drum performance in the middle of his hallway.

Both the teens made their way toward Saiki's quiet living room and took their seats at opposite ends of the couch. Teruhashi took in a small intake of breath before pushing out the small talk questions that she had practiced in front of her mirror before coming here.

"So, Saiki-kun, what have you been up to this weekend?"

"Nothing much."

"A-ah, I see. Is there anything interesting you're working on these days?"

"No, not really."

'Geez! What is with these straightforward answers?! It's like he doesn't want to talk to me,' mulled the increasingly annoyed Teruhashi.

'I don't,' mentally replied Saiki, but he kept this to himself. Saiki was many things, but viciously rude was not one of them. He'd rather Teruhashi fall out of interest on her own to prevent the chance of her coming back to bother him. He also knew that if he made her cry, her followers would hunt him down to the ends of the earth.

A light bulb lit up in her head. 'Ah! I know. He's playing hard to get! Well, two can play at that game!" The stubborn mule inside Teruhashi took the front seat as she harrumphed before entering a bout of silence.

'Good grief. When will she give up? At least I can return to this book.' But Saiki was naive to think that the silence would last.

The angelic bluenette sighed, breaking the terse silence. If anybody other Saiki were here to witness it, they'd fall to their knees, likening her sigh it to be god's breath. 'Well, I guess I could go over the recipe that his mother and I will make today.'

Teruhashi pulled out a thick book entitled 279 Dessert Recipes to Melt Someone's Heart.

'What kind of book title is that?' pondered the befuddled psychic. Dammit, now his interest was piqued. He had assumed that she was planning to learn how to make curry or some other typical meal. What was this girl up to? He noticed a little rectangular sticky note with a cutely designed dog pattern sticking out midway through the pages.

Teruhashi's fingers slid down the edge of the pages and split the book to reveal the hidden recipe.

"Kawaii Coffee Jelly!" the title read in bold, pink letters. Saiki didn't need his psychic powers to see the over the top, cutesy picture of coffee jelly topped with a cloud of whipped cream. He didn't understand why but the pink-haired teen would have given anything to digest the surge of butterflies bursting from within his stomach right now.

"Ouph…"

Teruhashi whipped her head toward Saiki so fast, he was surprised she hadn't gotten whiplash. Hastily, he placed his fist in front of his mouth and let out a series of staccato coughs to cover his slip.

'Sorry, allergies.'

'That's odd… I could have sworn I heard Saiki-kun say 'ouph'. No way. I guess I imagine it so much that I must be hearing things.' And with that, she went back to perusing the coffee jelly recipe.

"Want to turn your soulmate's knees into jelly? Well look no further! You'll have your desired melting into a puddle with this out of this world coffee jelly recipe!"

'Even the instructions are obnoxious,' thought Saiki as he unwillingly listened to his classmate's thoughts.

Teruhashi went through the list of the ingredients and counted each one with her fingers.

'Ah, I bet he'll give me an 'ouph!' per bite after he tastes this coffee jelly. I'm the perfect girl, so of course I'm going to make the perfect dessert!' Teruhashi was becoming more determined by the second.

For Saiki, it was getting harder by the second to not teleport to the other end of the earth. What was this feeling in his stomach? It was like he wanted to...he wanted to… he didn't know what he wanted to do. All he knew was that he was becoming more confused by the second and he needed somewhere to calm down. If anyone else were there to comment on the hint of scarlet on his face, he would promptly teleport them to the nearest eye doctor.

He couldn't leave the house with her still in it. His mother would end him if she found that he left his classmate alone in the house. A psychic son she could love with her whole heart, but not one without manners.

Teruhashi tilted her head upwards in a daze. 'I wonder… if his lips would taste as sweet as the coffee jelly afterwards…' The volcanic eruption that Saiki needed to prepare for compared nothing to the eruption that occurred inside Teruhashi.

'No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! How could I, the perfect embodiment of an angel descended onto earth, want to kiss Saiki-kun?!' A hurricane of emotions tore through Teruhashi, leaving the mental state of the poor girl in chaos.

'That's right! I don't want to kiss Saiki-kun!' Teruhashi mentally stated to halt the tumult inside her head.

'I want him to kiss me.' Suddenly there was silence. True silence. Even Saiki didn't know what to think of that confession. But this was only the silence before the storm. The cataclysmic internal eruption fried all of Teruhashi's brain circuits and now the girl was even more visibly distress than before. That wasn't the conclusion she wanted to end up at! How was she was suppose to look at Saiki in the face, much less stand in his near vicinity?!

Teruhashi was internally screaming at herself, trying to throw any and all thoughts about her momentous realization of her newfound desire. But the more she tried to put the thought out of her head, the more the word 'kiss' came back at full force. Images of their lips connecting popped up no matter how many times she squashed them down. Her face was the color of a freshly picked tomato now and she was dangerously close to fainting due to the blood rush.

With only Teruhashi being right next to him, he was subject to the full brunt of her thoughts. With how loud she had been inwardly berating herself, it was practically like screaming into a megaphone "I want to kiss Saiki-kun! Nooo! I want Saiki-kun to kiss me! Nooo! Please, stop this!" A headache started to encroach onto the psychic, which wasn't helping the odd churning sensation in his stomach.

'Good grief,' he telepathically said to Teruhashi.

"Wha-" But Saiki stole the question right out of her lips.

Before she could process it, Saiki closed the distance between them and swiftly pulled her in for a kiss. Typical first kisses involved the awkward bumping of noses, but the expert psychic predicted this and tilted his head perfectly to align with hers. Their mouths slotted together smoothly and Saiki caught a hint of the peach gloss to give her lips an alluring shine.

Teruhashi was even softer than imagined in all the school boys' fantasies he had been forced to see with his telepathy. He relished in the way her silky hair slid between his fingers as he carded his hand through her hair. He hadn't even realized that his hand was there. Not much got pass the psychic's notice but he was finding that he could focus on nothing else but the angel in his grasp. Teruhashi on her part was uncharacteristically silent. The sensation of Saiki's lips on hers blew all of her thoughts out of the water and it didn't look like her mind was going to make any more soon.

The churning inside Saiki's stomach now gave way to a heat that pushed through his veins. Every nerve in his body became hyper aware of every millimeter of contact that he had with Teruhashi. From his palm on her waist to their knees pressed together, he could feel the heat emanating from Teruhashi even through her layer of clothes. And he wanted more.

He tilted his head the opposite way and the girl in his arms followed without pause. The wet friction caused by their lips sliding across each other gave Saiki more satisfaction than anything he could have accomplished with his powers. His lips parted to allow his tongue to run a wet line along her bottom lip. Though he was still lost in the sensation of Teruhashi's softness and warmth, part of him was still surprised to find her lips shyly parting in acquiescence of Saiki's silent request. His tongue easily slipped into her mouth and-

"Ku-chan! We're home! Has Teruhashi-chan stopped by yet for our cooking lesson?" His mother and father bounded happily through the door, blissfully unaware as always.

'Shit!' In the blink of an eye, Saiki teleported himself and Teruhashi to his bedroom. With his sense finally returning to him, he realized his grievous mistake.

"Teruhashi, I can explain-" But he didn't need to. Because poor Teruhashi had already fainted from shock and/or embarrassment the moment she felt Saiki's tongue sliding against hers.

'Good grief. What do I do now?'