needle & thread
1: hazel eyes
Romantic notions still suit them, carefully entwined with capes and dragons, paupers and princesses. They can talk for hours about clichés and the costumes of television shows and animes, and spend an eternity in silence simply staring at each other, content.
Then there are moments where she feels upset, sorrow written clearly on her face. Her heart is a looking glass, and Uryuu sees it clearly reflected in her eyes, wishing that he could be her knight, her prince from the fairytales, to rescue her from her tower and dragon that he has yet to slay.
Instead, he mumbles a 'here', and wraps his arms around her, not relinquishing his hold until he knows she's okay.
2: rainbows and butterflies
Maybe it happens like this: he falls into a hug with her every single day.
Winter has stirred from its slumber, laying its sheets of white floss across the pavement, waiting for footprints to be made. Mittens and scarves and warm woollen hats protect them, save their breath that materializes into clouds before their eyes.
It's become a habit, meeting each other and talking on the way to the sewing shop, greeting each other with a hug.
She smiles, irises full of light, and something happens in her stomach when he returns the gesture: a light flutter that has synchronized with the erratic beat of her heart, and she wonders what that might be.
Yuzu sees him, and thinks that if he doesn't hold her hand, she'll get so light-headed that she'll float away into the sky, imaginary wings lifting her up high. Ecstatic to walk by his side, she cannot let go of her smile. Had she tried to glimpse at him secretly, she would have discovered that neither would he, though he hid his with faintly flushed cheeks (blamed on the cold), and a scowl that convinces no one.
For him, her smile is a blessing.
Drawn to it, he can honestly say that it doesn't feel like winter around her, bitter breezes turned into gentle zephyrs, and even the sun smiles not through a watercolour world, but an ink-stained resplendence; prisms of light colouring the seven spectrums into symbols of pure happiness.
Falling into a hug, he wears her knitted scarf with pride, as she wears his stylish clothes with jubilance, spinning in circles until he catches her, fingers entwining, inevitable laughter soon following cheeky smiles.
Noses bump, the Eskimo way, and sooner or later, she wonders if they'll fall in love.
3: photograph
Karin knows.
Karin also knows that Yuzu doesn't know she knows.
Of course, she could tell her sister, but that would take away some of the fun in the teasing in which Yuzu would redden, cheeks darkening as she shakes her head and denies it.
Yuzu has a crush.
One that gives Karin great amusement, while Ichi-nii is wholly oblivious to the pseudo-flirting that is happening as they have dinner, fingers accidentally meeting as they pass the salad bowl, subtle motions that no one else cares to see.
It's not her fault that she asks them to sit closer together, settling on the sofa—it's for the purpose of the picture—and her younger sister's hands have somehow slipped around his waist, and his arm has comfortably nestled around her shoulders before she even hints at intimacy.
There's a sort of shine that blinds her, born from their matching smiles, and Karin only quirks a smirk on her face, casting a sly eye in Ichigo's direction, taking the photo while she has the chance.
And they may protest otherwise—but Karin knows the truth.
She swears she's never seen a more obvious couple obliviously fighting a case of mutual attraction.
Until, that is, she points out the mistletoe above them.
Disclaimer: not mine.