A/N: Anon requested KumiWaki + a stolen kiss, over on tumblr. Sorry it's so late, I lost a lot of my writing mojo and am fighting to gain it back, haha.

I also want to apologize that there's so much Sisco here…hopefully that's okay with you, anon! He kinda shoehorned himself in, uh,

Oops

Running away from problems never does anyone any good – Rantaro knows this.

It's everything he doesn't know surrounding the solution to this particular problem that keeps him moving regardless as he flees in the direction of BC Sol.

He forces his already tired legs to move faster, using energy he didn't know he had left. Must be the panic, he thinks, that spurns him on until sanctuary is in sight. He ploughs down the dirt path to BC Sol's headquarters as fast as his feet can carry him, still trying to push all thought from his head and still not succeeding. Clearly this problem doesn't want to be outrun.

As he shoves through the main entrance, he accepts that there's no amount of distance that can stop his mind from replaying a certain poor decision of his over and over and over.

The only thing for it at this point is to lock himself in his room and scream into a pillow until he tires out and falls asleep. More ignoring the problem should help for now, right? Valt won't be back, yet, and hopefully Kitt is otherwise occupied because the last thing Rantaro needs right now is someone trying to talk to –

He runs smack into something, then, forcing him to stop as he stumbles back a few steps. Fortunately, the something is a person, and they grab his shoulders so he doesn't topple over backwards.

"Watch where you're going, Kiyama," warns an all-too-familiar voice.

"Sisco!" Rantaro gasps, trying to catch his breath. Now that he's at a standstill, all that running is starting to catch up to him. But he can't rest here, with Sisco frowning at him and lingering in his path. "I was just – uh – could I –?"

There's a suspicious look on Sisco's face, and he lets go of Rantaro's shoulders. He's hardly taking up the entire hallway, but something about his posture implies that he won't let Rantaro pass without some kind of explanation. Cursing his luck, Rantaro decides to focus on getting his breath back for now.

"What's with you?" Sisco asks, sure enough, being way too nosy. "You look terrible," he adds, even though Rantaro definitely doesn't remember asking.

…He guesses he probably does look a little ragged, though, thanks to the prolonged frantic running and all – but that's beside the point right now. "I just got back," he says between puffs of air, breath almost caught but not quite, "need a nap."

Sisco leans against the wall in a deliberately casual gesture, blocking even more of Rantaro's path, if possible. He raises an eyebrow, arms crossed and looking thoroughly intrigued. "Weren't you with Wakiya?" he asks, pointedly.

Now there's a name that isn't really helping Rantaro's breathless condition right now. The sound of it makes his heart go weird and fluttery in his chest, and he hopes he's already so flushed from running that Sisco can't see the way he flares up red again. "Yeah," he breathes out, finally steadying his breath but unwilling to offer more.

"You're back early," Sisco says, and now he seems fully suspicious, "did something happen?"

Oh, something happened alright. Rantaro has made a terrible mistake. One that he isn't about to share with Sisco.

"No!"

It's too fast of an answer by far, and judging by Sisco's ever-dubious look, he's not buying it.

For a long moment they stand there, staring at each other with Rantaro's blatant lie hanging awkward in the air – and then Sisco grabs his forearm and drags him off down the hall.

"H-hey! Sisco!" Rantaro trips over his own feet, trying to match Sisco's pace while his legs still feel kinda like jelly. If he were operating at full capacity, Rantaro is sure that he would be able to dig his heels in and stop Sisco. As it is, though, he's worn out from his run and his emotions alike and therefore has no choice but to accept his fate.

Sisco, for his part, offers no explanation, and only continues to pull him along in silence until they reach the room he shares with Cooza. Here Rantaro is unceremoniously hauled inside, and Sisco shuts the door firmly behind them.

"Seriously, Sisco, what –"

"What happened?" Sisco interrupts Rantaro's crusade for answers with his own. He's leaning in and looking serious, with his furrowed brow and downturned mouth.

It takes Rantaro a full minute of staring in bewilderment before he realizes that the expression is something akin to worry. Sisco is concerned about him. He doesn't want to keep lying now, but he also really doesn't want to talk about what he just did. Out loud. With words. No thanks.

"Well, uh, see, um," he starts, eloquently. "…That's not really any of your business?" he settles on. It feels rude once he has it out, but words aren't working well enough yet for him to take it back.

Sisco's frown deepens, sneaking dangerously close to pout territory. "Hmph," he grunts, "something happened."

"Yeah," Rantaro admits, because something sure did happen. He almost asks Sisco if he can leave now that they've confirmed that much, but at least here he has the privacy he wanted, albeit with Sisco's prying.

…Not to mention, he'd feel a little bad running away now, when faced with Sisco's rare show of openness. It's touching; maybe even comforting.

…There's also the fact that Rantaro's not as good at hiding his feelings as he wants to be.

(Spilling to Sisco would be preferable to spilling to Valt, though, and he's too mortified to discuss it with Hoji, and he can't exactly remember what time zone Daina is in these days given his flustered state – or Shu, for that matter – and Ranjiro has always been an automatic 'no' when it comes to discussing his personal issues so that really just leaves –)

"You, um. You seem like there's something bothering you…" Sisco is saying. His pose is confident and collected as ever, but his eyes are looking somewhere over Rantaro's shoulder. "So I thought…you'd maybe wanna talk about it." The last part is pushed out all on one breath, and Sisco clears his throat immediately afterwards.

Rantaro blinks at him. His thoughts start to calm, and he can feel a smile tugging at his face for the first time since before his earlier Wakiya-related incident. Like this, he finds it all too easy to fall back into teasing territory. "That's sweet of you, Sisco."

"Sh-shut up!" Sisco's cheeks go pink, his hands balling into fists as all pretense of acting cool flies right out the window. "We're friends right? Isn't this what friends do?!"

It'd probably offend Sisco if Rantaro laughed right now, but that's his initial reaction and he doesn't quite manage to stop it before a few chuckles spill out. The smile won't leave his face, thriving in the warm atmosphere. "Yes, Sisco," he says, "that's what friends do."

"Exactly," Sisco confirms with a nod, his hands easing open. "So you can talk to me. If you want."

He's got his arms crossed again, and on anyone else the posture would look closed off. But Rantaro knows Sisco well enough by now to see that all he's doing is feigning a relaxed aura. Putting the ball in Rantaro's court is thoughtful of him.

Sisco is trying, and it really is sweet. It makes Rantaro consider that getting his…mistake out in the open might not be so bad. Just having Sisco's concern directed at him has relaxed him this much already, after all.

With a groan, Rantaro flops down onto Sisco's bed. Staring up at Cooza's hammock, he idly kicks a foot and tries to decide where to start, now that he's finally made his mind up to share. "It's embarrassing," he warns, more for his own benefit.

"Oh?" Sisco, if anything, sounds intrigued. "I won't tell anyone."

"Yeah," Rantaro says, "but I still have to tell you."

"Well, you don't have to –"

"I want to, I just…." Rantaro wrinkles his nose, scowling a little. "It's embarrassing," he repeats, because it is, why did he do that, and why does he think it's a good idea to talk it over at all, he should just go with his initial plan of screaming –

"Did he say something to you?" Sisco prompts.

That catches Rantaro off-guard, and his renewed pondering over the pros and cons of sharing evaporates. "What?"

"He's a brat sometimes, right? Did he hurt your feelings?"

Rantaro almost laughs again, but this time he manages to catch himself. "Wakiya's never hurt my feelings, even when we weren't friends." (Not entirely true, maybe, but Sisco doesn't have to know that.)

There's the sound of shuffling feet and Sisco clearing his throat again. Embarrassed, maybe? "So what happened?"

At this rate, it'll be better to just spit it out, Rantaro thinks. He's glad his position enables him to talk without being forced to actually look at Sisco – this is gonna be hard enough to admit as it is.

"I kissed Wakiya."

There's a long beat of silence, during which Rantaro makes the executive decision to hide his face behind his hands. That absolutely is not how he meant to say that, but it's too late to take it back or rephrase it now.

"…You what?" Sisco says, after officially being quiet for altogether too long.

Oh, no – Rantaro isn't saying it again. It was bad enough the first time! He thought he'd feel better having it out in the open, but it only amplifies his mortification.

The bed dips a little next to him as Sisco presumably sits down, and a finger pokes at his shoulder.

"Kiyama – did you really?"

In the comforting dark provided by his hands, Rantaro finds it difficult to decipher Sisco's tone. Amused, maybe? Shocked? Surprised? "Yes," he mumbles into his palms.

"Why?"

Well, that sure is the question, isn't it? Rantaro pushes his hands further up his face, freeing his mouth. "I don't know," he offers meekly when in fact he knows exactly why, and that's the entire root of the problem here.

There's a sigh from Sisco, as if he can tell that Rantaro is withholding something. "What happened?" he asks again.

Rantaro takes a deep breath. This he can do. It's just…sharing more facts. If he thinks of it like that, maybe the embarrassment will lessen. "We were watching Valt's title battle, right? And, y'know he had a tough time but he won in the end, and all the excitement got to me, and Wakiya was right there s-so I just, uh, hugged him, and then…."

That's it, that's all the farther he can go, on account of the fact that he's more of a blushing mess now than he was while fleeing the scene.

Sisco makes a snorting sound, and then breaks down into outright laughter.

Hands finally leaving his face, Rantaro sits bolt upright. Glaring is hard when he feels so flustered, but he tries it anyway. "It's not funny! I panicked and ran all the way back here! What if he thinks I'm weird?!"

Shaking his head, Sisco's laughter dies down pretty quick. "Oh, he definitely does," he says, like that's supposed to be reassuring somehow.

"Sisco!"

"What'd he do?" Sisco asks, a serious glint in his eyes alongside the amusement.

Rantaro is already at his maximum blushing limit, his head feels fit to burst from all of today's events – but this could be going a lot worse, all things considered. "I…don't know," he admits, "I got outta there pretty fast."

"Do you like him?" Sisco cuts right to the chase, apparently all-in for this conversation.

Fighting the urge to duck his head and drop eye contact is difficult, but Rantaro is proud of himself for managing. "…Yeah, I guess so."

"You 'guess so'?"

"I definitely do, okay!" Good thing Rantaro has maxed out on blushing. His face probably matches his shirt by now. "Stop making me say it…."

Sisco smirks at that, folding his arms with a casualness that isn't forced this time. "Then there's no problem, right? Just talk to him about it."

…Easy for him to say. He's not the one who has to go and do it.

"You make it sound so simple!" Rantaro says, burrowing his hands into his hair and not caring that he's messing it up. If it were actually that simple, he wouldn't have run all the way back here to wallow. "What if he doesn't like me back? He's probably mad. He'll yell at me for sure – how am I supposed to talk if he yells?"

"Well, you won't know unless you talk to him." Sisco, darn him, makes a sensible point.

Rantaro falls back to lie down on the bed again. He isn't sure if telling Sisco has helped or not.

Unfortunately – as Sisco said – the only way to find out is to try his advice. It's what Rantaro's known (and feared) he'd have to do all along, although it would be nice if he didn't have to face that reality so soon. As much as he likes Wakiya, he's been content to keep that to himself so far, for various reasons.

Now, though…he's messed up and thrown his feelings out into the open with no real explanation.

"I'll talk to him later."

Sisco raises an eyebrow down at him, almost like he doesn't believe Rantaro is being sincere here.

"I will!" Rantaro insists. "I just need processing time!"

"If you say so, Kiyama."

x

Wakiya is already here and Rantaro is not ready.

It's only the next day, for crying out loud!

The morning's barely started when Rantaro opens his curtains, looks out his window, and there he is. Wakiya strolls in through the front gate like he owns the place, wandering around the BC Sol complex, clearly on a mission (because he's walking in that determined way he does, Rantaro can tell even from up here), and Rantaro –

Rantaro turns away from the window, pressing himself to the wall next to it before Wakiya can look up and somehow spot him.

It's not that Rantaro doesn't want to get this resolved. And it's also not like he's scared of Wakiya, of all people. He's just…not ready. Being prepared is important, right? So it's not his fault if he needs more time. He's going to be confessing, after all, which is something he hasn't been considering up until he forced himself into this situation – and he owes Wakiya so much more than an unexplained fleeting kiss, he knows. He wants to get it right.

And what if Wakiya doesn't accept his feelings? What if he doesn't like Rantaro back, and they end up on worse terms than when they first met? He has to emotionally prepare himself for that possibility, too.

He's gotta hide. Being somewhere else seems like a great idea for buying some much-needed time. There's one place in particular that's more secure than most, and Rantaro pushes himself off from the wall, leaving his room.

Dodging teammates in the hall is (thankfully) easy with everyone focused on breakfast, and Rantaro is standing in front of Chris's office in no time. He slips inside to find it (thankfully) empty, locking the door behind himself for extra peace of mind. He then takes up residence under the antique desk in front of the windows.

He'll be safe here. Wakiya won't find him, so he'll give up and go home, and Rantaro will have another day to consider various apologies and confessions and he'll come up with some excuse for being missing today while he's at it so –

"No, I'm afraid I haven't seen him yet today," Chris's voice drifts in, followed by the click of the doorknob turning, and Rantaro is immediately tense. "He's probably eating breakfast right now."

Two sets of footsteps enter the room and steadily approach, as Rantaro tries in vain to merge with the wood of the desk. Surely his plan won't be foiled this easily…the only thing worse than hiding like a coward would be Wakiya catching him hiding like a coward.

Maybe Chris is talking about someone else? Maybe she's talking to someone else? It's probably nothing. It's hopefully nothing.

"Can ya tell me where the dinin' hall is?"

That's unmistakably Wakiya's voice.

So much for someone else.

Chris is about to answer, but she stands frozen instead – probably at the sight of Ranatro squished under her desk, if he had to guess. He doesn't even have time to give her a sheepish grin, let alone signal for silence.

"Rantaro?" She says, understandably confused and baffled. "What are you –?"

"Sorry-Chris-gotta-go!" Rantaro says, his haste merging it all into one word as he wiggles out of his hiding place. He'll owe her an explanation later, but he's got other things to worry about as he makes a bolt for the door.

"Kiyama!" Wakiya yells, and is, of course, hot on his heels immediately. "I gotta talk to ya! Get back here!"

x

The next morning, Rantaro looks out towards the gate first thing to find the coast clear. There's no sign of Wakiya, no matter how much time he spends scrutinizing the grounds.

Hopefully Wakiya is still too tired from yesterday to come back just yet – he had spent the entire day giving chase, after all. (Rantaro had finally lost him in the woods, deciding that he would have to use the home turf advantage when his longer legs proved useless against Wakiya's years of running experience.)

The whole thing is ridiculous of him, Rantaro knows. He really does want to talk to Wakiya, but something about the very uncharted territory of telling Wakiya he likes him to his face activates Rantaro's flight response.

Still, he can't keep letting said flight response win out. It's got two strikes against him already, so Rantaro promises himself that he will stand his ground the next chance he gets. Just come right out and say it. Explain everything to Wakiya, apologize…get it all off his chest and not worry so much about doing it right. Nothing will get accomplished if he doesn't at least try!

…Still, he thinks he'll wait until Wakiya comes around again. No harm in being absolutely sure Wakiya still wants to see him after yesterday's fiasco.

Thanks to all the time he spent staring out the window this morning, he's one of the last to arrive to breakfast.

"Hey, Kumicho!" Valt spots him at once, standing up from his seat and enthusiastically waving at him. "Over here!" he calls, seated at their usual table with the usual group.

Rantaro waves back to acknowledge he's seen them before picking up his food at the buffet. There's an unoccupied seat across from Sisco and next to Valt, so Rantaro takes that one, pretending to be enthralled with his breakfast while Sisco's knowing gaze threatens to burn a hole in his head.

"Where were you yesterday?" Valt asks between mouthfuls. "I wanted to practice with you, but couldn't find you anywhere!"

By the looks of it, Sisco is about to interject with some kind of snide comment, so Rantaro forges ahead to cut him off.

"Oh, I was…around!"

Valt, understandably, only looks confused by that half-hearted explanation. Luckily, the doors bang open then, and Rantaro is saved from muddling through excuses–

–Unluckily, the person who made such a dramatic entrance just so happens to be the last person Rantaro wants to see right now.

Wakiya stands in the doorway as his gaze sweeps around the room, clearly looking for someone in particular.

Reflexes operating on automatic, Rantaro yelps as he slips out of his chair and onto the floor. Above him he hears Carl squawk in an odd mockery of the noise he'd made.

"Kumicho?" Valt is asking, peeking under the table, looking even more confused than before.

"Shh!" Rantaro hisses from his hiding place. "Tell him I'm not here!" He doesn't have time to explain right now, so hopefully Valt will just trust him and go with it.

"Wakiya," Sisco calls, very much not going with it (and he knows the whole story!), "over here!"

Rantaro wants to punch him in the shin, but Wakiya's footsteps are rapidly closing in and he's gotta get out of here before he's found. He scrambles out from beneath the table post haste, planning on making a break for it.

He crawls out face to face with Wakiya's boots, though, so there goes that plan. Rantaro lifts his head until he's peering up at Wakiya and trying not to seem guilty. 'Yes, Wakiya, I eat breakfast under the table now, this is a totally normal thing and I am not avoiding you so please let me by,' he tries to convey with his eyes.

"Kiyama," Wakiya says, sounding disappointed. He's got his hands on his hips and everything. "I need ta t –"

"Training!" Rantaro hops up from the floor, dusting his knees off. His nonverbal communication needs work, it would seem. "You came here to train, right? So you should probably battle Valt instead, he's the world champion and all, and I've got some, uh, stuff to do so you should go ahead and do that and I'll see you later –"

Rantaro flees at a dead run, ignoring everyone's stares as well as Wakiya's persistent calls after him as he goes.

x

A folded piece of paper waves in front of Rantaro's face, breaking him out of deep thought, and he nearly jumps out of his skin trying to get away from it.

Sisco snickers somewhere behind him, and Rantaro snatches the paper from his hand as he rounds on him.

"What are you doing here?" he grumbles. The solitude of Free's favorite training spot is lesser now that it's more well-known by the BC Sol kids, but Wakiya still doesn't know it even exists, which makes it an ideal hiding place. Naturally, Rantaro has been here since breakfast.

"Making a delivery," Sisco says with a shrug.

Without even unfolding the letter, Rantaro knows who it's from. It's ordinary white paper folded once in half, thicker than average and probably expensive, because Wakiya always pays for quality. Rantaro turns it over in his hands a couple times.

"Are you gonna read it or what?" Sisco asks, one hand on his hip as the other pushes up his glasses.

Rantaro spares a moment to frown at him before going back to scrutinizing the paper. Of course he's going to read it – it's just a matter of working up the courage to do so. It'll be easier than a face to face conversation, he reasons. No matter what it says, it's better to get it over with…

Unfolding the paper summons Sisco to wander around behind him just so he can peer over Rantaro's shoulder.

"Can you even read this?" Rantaro turns to Sisco as he asks (definitely not to delay actually reading the letter himself).

Sisco shrugs one shoulder. "Enough."

Rolling his eyes, Rantaro pushes down on the nerves rattling through him long enough to finally focus.

'Kiyama-

Please meet me out front at 23:00.

-Wakiya'

The presence of the 'please' is what sells it, and has guilt settling like a stone in Rantaro's stomach. His hands tighten on the paper, wrinkling it a little. It's his own fault for handling this all so poorly right from the start. He knows better than to run away like this, and yet….

"What's it say?" Sisco asks, bumping Rantaro's shoulder with his own.

"I thought you could read it?" Rantaro fires back, turning on his heel so he's facing Sisco.

Sisco scoffs at that, ignoring the dig. "Does it mean you're actually gonna talk to him?"

Staring down at the paper in his hands does nothing to change the message, no matter how many times Rantaro reads it over. He can't bring himself to answer that question, instead grinding his lollipop between his teeth. His answer is obvious.

"You have to talk to him," Sisco says, breaking the silence and making Rantaro feel even guiltier.

"I know," Rantaro grounds out.

Apparently unconvinced (probably due to the fact that Rantaro continues to go to extremes just to put off a conversation), Sisco takes a half step closer. "You aren't even answering his texts, Kiyama," he says.

"I know." Rantaro wants to argue that this accusation isn't fair, considering he mostly leaves his phone in his room – but it's not like he hasn't seen the notifications lighting up his screen every night. It's not like he hasn't blatantly ignored them out of fear for what they might say.

"He'll get the wrong idea if you keep this up," Sisco warns.

"I know, okay?!" Rantaro snaps, going back to crumpling the paper between his hands. Because he does know – the knowing isn't the issue here. The issue is that, well. "I'm just…scared."

Sisco sighs at that, and mutters something that Rantaro doesn't quite catch, but sounds an awful lot like "Haven't you seen the way he looks at you?"

"What was that?" Rantaro asks, because that can't be it. Wakiya looks at him a certain way? What does that mean?

That question, however, gets an actual eye roll out of Sisco. "You don't have anything to worry about, trust me." And then he's walking away, being his least helpful yet.

"Hey, Sisco!" Rantaro calls after him, still clutching the note and feeling himself blush. "What do you mean?!"

The only answer he gets is silence.

x

So. Tonight.

Everything will be resolved, one way or another, tonight. Rantaro is actually glad that Wakiya chose a time and place, because now the conversation won't catch him off guard. He only has the rest of tonight to worry about it, and then he'll just...confess his crush. And apologize for kissing someone. And apologize for avoiding them afterwards.

Easy, right?

…That's not helping calm his nerves any, so he squeezes his eyes closed and rolls over. He's doing a bad job of pretending to be asleep, but he didn't want to make Valt and Kitt suspicious by not going to bed. So now he's doomed to lay here and while away a couple hours as he waits for the assigned time.

He won't run this time. Rantaro tells himself that over and over. Avoiding Wakiya is only going to cause more problems, and Sisco says he doesn't have anything to worry about, and he misses Wakiya's company, and –

Something taps against the window to their room, and Rantaro's eyes blink open. It's probably nothing, he thinks…until it happens again, and then the sound persists at regular intervals. Someone out there is obviously trying to get their attention, though Rantaro has no idea who or why.

…Then his eyes catch the digital alarm clock, which reads 23:05, and oh it turns out he knows exactly who and exactly why.

Rantaro is out of bed and over to the window in a flash. When did it get so late, anyway?!

He peeks outside, and there's more than enough light for him to make out Wakiya standing there, hand poised for another throw. The pebble taps against the window right in front of Rantaro's face, and he flinches back minutely.

Before Wakiya can find another rock to throw – he's currently busy searching the ground – Rantaro opens the window and sticks his head out. He means to call down, but when he opens his mouth, nothing comes out.

Wakiya stands up, then, pebble in hand, and he clenches his fist around it the second he sees Rantaro. From this distance and in the dark it's kinda hard to tell, but Rantaro thinks he's frowning.

"Kiyama," Wakiya calls up, making no attempt to be quiet, "get down here!"

"Sorry," Rantaro whisper-shouts. "I didn't mean to be late, but –"

"Just c'mere!"

Rantaro bites his lip. For a moment the instinct to run revs back up, fueled by his nerves, and he almost considers retreating to bed. He nods his acquiescence, though, courage winning out and aided by the fact that he knows he won't be able to sleep if he avoids this again. He plods downstairs and outside, steeling himself as he goes.

Face to face with a disgruntled Wakiya, Rantaro has no idea what to say. "I'm sorry," he blurts out eventually, figuring that's probably the best place to start.

"Why'd ya kiss me?" Wakiya demands, hands on his hips.

Immediately, Rantaro feels himself blush. He wonders how Wakiya can just say that so easily. "Um – you see – I –"

"And why've ya been avoidin' me ever since?" Wakiya asks, not giving Rantaro a chance to form his stuttering phrases into a coherent sentence.

"Well –"

This time, Wakiya holds up a hand, signaling Rantaro to stop talking because he's apparently not done yet. Rantaro doesn't blame him.

"I've been tryin' ta talk to ya but yer actin' like…." Wakiya drops his hands by his sides, and his cheeks go a little pink, blushing after all. He gives an irritated sigh, and diverts his gaze for a moment. "Like me," he says at last. "Runnin' away from me every time I try ta talk! Ya won't even answer texts!"

There's a pause, and Rantaro thinks this might be his chance, so he tries again. "Wakiya –"

"I had ta get Sisco ta pass ya that note," nope, still not done apparently, "and ya didn't show up! Yer supposed t'be the nice one! I had ta – ta…."

Wakiya trails off at last, pressing his lips together, probably trying to hide the way they've started trembling. His face is thoroughly flushed, but he's valiantly maintaining eye contact, even though his are a little watery.

The ball of emotions that's been sitting tight in Rantaro's stomach for the past few days is whirling up a storm, making his shoulders sag. He feels guilty and small out here on the lawn in his socks and pajamas, with a fully dressed, upset Wakiya in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Wakiya."

Wakiya sniffs indignantly, but it sounds like more of a sniffle. "Ya better be."

This is no good. If Wakiya cries, Rantaro will probably end up crying, too. He's gotta do something. "I kissed you because I like you," he says, almost too concerned with fixing this to be nervous, "and – and I ran away because I was worried you wouldn't feel the same way!"

Now that he's put it out in words, Rantaro's heart is pounding just as hard as when he'd planted that impulsive kiss. (Only this time, he refuses to run away.)

"Yer so stupid," Wakiya grumbles (which Rantaro feels is deserved for once) and takes a step closer. "Y'wouldn't even stand still long enough fer me ta give ya this."

And then Wakiya steps the rest of the way into Rantaro's personal space and drops a kiss onto his cheek. When he pulls back, he's blushing profusely, but his eyes are finally dry.

Rantaro forgets how to form words and can only stare.

"S-see, I like ya, too," Wakiya stammers. "So…so there's no need ta keep runnin'."

Rantaro's still in a bit of shock, reaching one hand up to touch his cheek where Wakiya's lips were a moment ago. He swears he can still feel their faint pressure. "Oh," is all he can say. There's a hand fumbling near his free one, and Wakiya grabs on tight.

"Don't run, Kiyama."

"I won't!" Rantaro promises, squeezing Wakiya's hand to reassure him.

"Ya were bein' ridiculous," Wakiya says, because apparently he still has it in him to complain, even now.

There's a whole bunch of fireworks going off in Rantaro's chest at the moment, though, and he can't bring himself to mind. "I know!" he admits on a laugh. When Wakiya raises an eyebrow at his cheerful tone, all Rantaro does is pull him close into a tight, one-armed hug.

Wakiya seems surprised at first, but relaxes quickly. He drops Rantaro's hand in favor of clinging to the back of his shirt as he hugs back, allowing Rantaro to properly wrap him in his arms.

"We're boyfriends now," Wakiya decides after a moment, mumbling into Rantaro's shoulder.

It's so typically Wakiya, that Rantaro really can't help but let out another laugh. "Oh?"

"What," Wakiya turns his head so his cheek is resting on Rantaro's shoulder, leaving his mouth clear, "ya don't wanna date me?"

That sends another spark of joy through Rantaro, as if he isn't ecstatic enough already. "That's not what I said!"

"So?"

"So…we're boyfriends now."

"See, it's jus' like I told ya."

A/N: Not pictured: Sisco sitting at his window, watching this all unfold while eating churros and patting himself on the back for the part he played here.

I realize I write Wakiya freaking out more often, and that's bc I don't see Rantaro as the type to fret over his feelings too much, or for too long. He's the type to think it through and accept it once he decides how to deal.

…Still, I wanted to try putting him in the "run from problems" shoes for once, so here we are, I guess. Hope the characterization was still okay. (I'm afraid it came out too cracky.)

Thanks for reading!