"So whaddya think? It's a brilliant idea, huh?" Phillip turned his beaming smile up a notch, honing it in right on Kana.
"It's a terrible idea," Hiro answered before Kana could. "Risking one's health to such a degree, not to mention toying with the emotions of your friends? Phillip, it's not—stop smirking, Dirk! It's not amusing, either of you!"
The four of them were gathered in Dirk's home, relaxing after what had been another successful Angling Contest. Dirk and Phillip were seated beside each other on Dirk's bed, with Kana and Hiro on the floor facing them. Somehow, the topic of conversation had strayed to Kana's blatant interest in Georgia, and his friends all wondering if he had any plans to take it to the next level with her.
He didn't. There wasn't anything wrong with how things were, now, and Georgia was forward enough herself. Any day now, he expected her to make a move—of course, when it came to Georgia, "making a move" could also mean her decking him for "flapping his ugly gums" too much about how he was the more experienced rider.
"Aw, c'mon Hiro, it's not that bad. At least it's..." Kana paused, consulting his half-empty glass of sangria for a moment before answering. "It's exciting, compared to what you suggested."
"You mean, old-fashioned courtship?" Hiro countered. "What is wrong with simply asking her out, spending time with her and allowing the relationship to build itself naturally? Why would you want to work her into a tizzy, and have her think you're on the verge of death?"
"She won't be in a tizzy! She'll be too busy saving him, giving him mouth-to-mouth." Phillip grabbed Dirk, yanked him down so Dirk was laying across his lap. He pinched Dirk's nose tight, leaning in closer as if he were about to demonstrate. "And then..."
Dirk shot his tongue out, probing it around and making lewd noises. It accidentally swiped Phillip's lip, which prompted an "Aw, dude!" from the farmer as the both of them dissolved into snorts and giggles. Kana couldn't help but join in, though a much heartier chuckle.
"Kana, I implore you. There are simpler, far less dangerous ways to woo a woman. Listening to her, taking an honest interest in things that are important to her. The occasional gift, or dinner date. You seem to do that with her already, anyway."
"Booorrrr-rinnnnng," Dirk was mostly recovered from his giggle-fit, and sipped from his own glass of sangria. Well, non-alcoholic sangria, which essentially made it fruit punch.
Hiro shot him a glare that might have been effective if every other feature on Hiro wasn't so soft and boyish. "And, might I remind you that none of us here have much experience with the fairer sex, and therefore I can't see why you'd take their advice over mine, or even no advice at all."
"Man, you sound like such an old fogey, Hiro!" Phillip defended himself. "C'mon, 'courtship'? 'Woo'? Girls these days want a little bit of... of flare! A thrill! Especially a fiery thing like Georgia; you think she's gonna settle for some stodgey paint-by-numbers sort of romance? Whaddya think this is, some kinda hokey dime-store novel, with a southern belle and her he-man ranch hand sweeping her off her feet? Ugh, I can see it now..."
Phillip stood from the bed, moving to where Dirk's umbrella was propped at the baseboard. Picking it up, he opened it and started to twirl it primly as, in mincing steps, he completed a small arc back to Dirk.
"Oh, Kana, I do declare!" Phillip affected his best twangy accent in a much higher, more effeminate register. He melodramatically fluttered his eyelashes. "Why, you are such an upstanding gentleman, takin' lil' ol' me out to have the finest fried rice this side of Konohana! I ain't never met a man half as refined or even a speck as handsome as you. You make me feel funnier inside than a car full of clowns."
Phillip touched Dirk—the Kana fill-in—on the shoulder, coy smile to match such a demure gesture.
Dirk continued the charade, lowering his voice at an attempt to mimic Kana's. "Georgia, you make my heart gallop like a herd of Clydesdales... how could I have waited this long to ask you, do you care for me the way I do for you? I gotta know!" Dirk brought a hand to Phillip's cheek, caressed it. "So answer me: Yea... or neeeeeiiighhhh!"
A mouthful of sangria came back up through Kana's nose. It stung but not enough to keep him from laughing uproariously. Hiro heaved another sigh, while Phillip threw the umbrella aside, diving back onto the bed and grasping at Dirk's jacket.
"Oh, Kana, I love you!"
"I love you too, Georgia!"
"Take me!"
"You got it!"
Phillip shoved Dirk down onto the bed. "I'm all yours. Saddle up, big boy!"
"Oh, dude! Yes!" Dirk played along, his leg kicking out as Phillip climbed astride him. He topped the whole production off by sounding out a very convincing whinny.
Thankfully, that was where their simulation ended—again, from a wild case of laughter. Phillip's was so intense that the upper half of his body toppled off the bed. His legs remained hooked upright, too tangled with Dirk's to follow the rest of him to the floor.
"I suppose common sense is not all that common these days." Hiro stood with a huff. "Kana, I wish you the best of luck in your pursuit of Georgia, but I can not condone this. As such, I won't be joining you all on Sunday." He threw a glance over at Phillip and Dirk, who were lost to the world. "Good night, and please, reconsider this folly."
Kana wiped at his sangria-stained nose, hurriedly standing and going after Hiro as he exited Dirk's home. "Bro, c'mon." But Hiro kept walking. Kana tried again. "Hiro!"
They were several feet from the shipping bin when Hiro stopped and turned to face his closest friend. "You won't change my mind about this."
"I know. And I won't try to, y'know, I know you'll always be in doctor mode. Worrying over me, over everyone. But you're blowing this way out of proportion. No one's going to get hurt in all this—I'm a strong swimmer. Not that Georgia knows that."
"I almost want to say that, if you do somehow get hurt, to not come crying to me." Hiro averted his gaze momentarily—his attempt to inject some light-heartedness into the conversation had failed, his worry too prevalent. "But I... I would... I suppose that's the crux of it, Kana. I don't even want to think of something so horrible happening to you, even if it is staged. I would imagine that Georgia might feel similarly."
"See, I'm thinkin' more that she'll appreciate the cajones I have to do something as bold as this. One-up her. She's different, Hiro. She's..." Kana paused, trying to put it in terms Hiro could understand. "It's like, I've never been anything but healthy, right, but being with her makes me feel even more... alive. Like she's some kind of cure for ails I didn't know I even had."
After a weighted pause, Hiro replied quietly, "...I'm not the one who needs to hear that, Kana. She is."
And suddenly, Kana felt every bit the dumb lug Georgia liked to accuse him of being. He didn't have much of an argument to that, but he still believed in the absolute insanity and bombast of Phillip's scheme. "Well. I'm usually not too hot with words, I'm more of an action kind of guy."
"But you don't have to be a reckless kind of guy."
This wasn't going to end. "Hiro, look, would it make you feel better if I came to see you, first thing after we head back from the mountain? Like, I'll even tell Georgia I can't walk her home, and no matter how beat I am, shit, I'll crawl to the clinic if I have to, to show you everything went a-ok. Yeah?"
"I... I would appreciate that, yes." Hiro's face, which had been all pinched in frustration and distress, eased up. A smile began to form. "But please, be careful. And stay hydrated. And be sure to wear sunscr—"
"I know, dude." Kana moved close enough to Hiro to sling an arm around him. "I got it, don't worry."
Hiro didn't say anything, just sighed, this time in a slightly amused resignation. He slipped out of Kana's arm, and bid his friend a silent goodnight with a little wave.
Kana gave one back, splitting off from Hiro as he reached his own home.
Hiro was Hiro, Kana thought as he got ready for bed. He would always fret about his friends, loved ones, even total strangers, because that's who he was. Always prepared, as a doctor should be, for the possibility of something going wrong.
But Sunday would be a shining example of why Hiro's continual worrying could, at times, be a waste. A hot summer day, food and drinks and friends in a shockingly refreshing waterfall. The girl that was stuck in his mind like a horseshoe nailed to a hoof, and the possibility of finally getting to kiss her looming.
It was the perfect recipe for everything to go right.
Well, this is my entry for The Village Square's Summer prompt. The guidelines were pretty lax, basically only needing it to be about summer in some way, so... here we go with my first ever ToTT fic! I've actually been replaying it recently to get in the mood for my favorite rival pair, the wonderful Kana/Georgia – but as the summary says, another pairing that I adore from this game will sneak in. The prompt is not due until the end of summer (that is, the first day of Autumn), and this should only be 4 chapters, alternating between Georgia and Kana, so I figured I could slap the first chapter (which I had a ton of fun writing) up now and get it off my mind before the busy week ahead of me. Hope you all enjoy!