A/N: Hello! This is a birthday/thank you fic for loving'it4321. I hope you like it! I tried to finish it quickly, so I hope it isn't too rushed.
ENJOY!
It had been ten years since Aliea Academy was defeated, seven years since everyone left Sun Garden and went their separate ways, seven years since he had last seen her. Sometimes he wondered what she was doing, and how much she changed. He wondered if she still remembered him and missed him.
It kind of bothered him that he didn't get to say 'goodbye' properly to her. On their last day at Sun Garden, everyone was crying, hugging, saying their farewells and promising to stay in touch. On the other hand, he and Gazel were arguing, as always. He regretted and felt bad for saying 'I'm glad I will never see your face again' instead of 'let's meet again', for saying 'I hate you' and not saying 'I will miss you'. They hadn't seen or talked to one another after that.
He met Heat and Nepper almost every weekend, and sometimes Rean too. He met the others at least two times a year when Hitomiko reunions at Sun Garden or some restaurant, but Gazel never came to any of those. Gran said she couldn't come because she was studying and had too much work to do, but Burn believed she just didn't want to see him. The others said they saw her and talked to her from time to time, so that only proved his hypothesis was correct… she was avoiding him. Though Gran told him she wasn't trying to avoid him and was just really busy, he couldn't believe him.
"Do you want me to give you her number so you can ask her yourself?"
"No," Burn rolled his eyes, annoyed by the other man's behavior for no certain reason.
They were sitting in a small café just two blocks away from where Burn worked. Gran said he needed to talk to him about something important and had to meet him as soon as possible, so he took a break from his job and came to meet him. Honestly, if he knew they were going to talk about Gazel again, he wouldn't had even thought of meeting him.
"Why not? I bet she would be really happy if you call her," Gran smiled and adjusted his glasses, "she misses you, you know."
He let out a dry laugh, shaking his head, "then she should have called me or came to those fucking reunions."
"Well, you shouldn't be the one talking. You didn't try to call her too, now have you? Besides, she came to one- no, two of the reunions, but you weren't there."
He frowned, a small blush crept its way onto his cheeks, "I was working."
"Then why can't you believe she is busy too?"
Burn was taken aback by his question, his mouth slightly open in surprise.
"Just call her already if it's bothering you."
"It's not bothering me!" He said quickly, "I just… I was wondering how she was doing, that's all."
"Jeez, Nagumo, I don't really understand what your problem with Suzuno is, but try to be honest with yourself."
"What the hell you talking about? I am honest with myself."
Gran looked him straight in the eye, "do you want to see Suzuno? Look into my eyes and tell me what you really want."
Burn looked up at him. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He tried to avoid Gran's eyes as he searched for words. "I don't... really need to see her. I-I mean, I don't mind seeing her, but I don't need to."
"Alright then." Gran stood up slowly, taking a piece of paper from his pocket. "This is Suzuno's number. Call her, okay?"
"I said I don't need it-"
"Good luck," he placed the small piece of paper on the table in front of him, "I'm going to the bathroom."
Burn sighed and took the paper, 'if I could call her, I would have done it long ago.' Another sigh escaped his lips as he took out his phone and dialed her number.
'Please don't pick up.' He bit his lower lip, not convinced that everything was going to work out. He was nervous and didn't know what he was going to say. They hadn't talked in years, and she probably didn't want to hear his voice. She hated him, and he didn't like her. They weren't even friend to begin with. True, they were really close and were always together, but that was only because they were... teammates, but that did not mean they were friends. 'Please don't pick up, please don't pick up, please don't pick up, please don't-'
She picked up. "Hello?"
"Shit!" He hung up.
He stared at his phone screen for a minute, eyes wide. Was that her voice? Did he really hear her voice? Did he really just hung up on her?! "Dammit!" He slammed his fist down on the table, ignoring everyone's stare. He took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly, trying to calm himself.
He looked at his phone again, gulped, and then shook his head and sighed. He couldn't call her again… not after what he just did. He didn't know why he called her in the first place when he didn't even know what to say. And if he did talk to her, she probably was going to hung up on him the second she heard his voice.
"At least… I got to hear her voice," he muttered, standing up as a sad smile appeared upon his face. If he was honest with himself, he missed her. He really did. He wondered if he would ever see her again. He needed to; he couldn't function well without her around anymore. But they probably were not going to meet again since he was too chicken to call her. Really, he didn't know what he was hoping for… it wasn't like she was going to appear in front of him out of the blue-
"Nagumo?"
Burn blinked upon hearing a familiar voice call out his name. In fact, he was sure he heard that voice a minute ago. He turned to his right where the voice came from. There stood a woman around his age with white hair that barely reached her shoulders. Her teal-colored eyes were wide and her cheeks were rosy pink. His breath faltered as he looked her up and down, his gaze roaming her body. "Ga…Gazel?" His heart began beating rapidly, and he started to panic. Suddenly, he jumped back, a blush staining his face. "Gazel!"
The young woman looked somewhat hurt by his sudden action. She narrowed her eyes at him, "it's Suzuno."
He had a strong desire to jump on her, hug her, kiss her, and never let go. But even after all those years, he would not show how much he missed her. He didn't want her to see that weak side of him.
He smirked awkwardly and tried to act as normal as possible. "Fancy meeting you here, G- Suzuno." He forced a laugh, "it's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"Yeah," she whispered, "it has."
They stood there for a minute, staring at each other. There was a very awkward silence that made both of them feel uncomfortable. To fill the silence, he invited her to sit at the table with him. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gran waving to him and giving him a thumps up before leaving the café.
"Bastard!" he thought.
"Haruya," Gazel started, looking serious.
His heart skipped a beat. Did she just call him by his first name?
She opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't seem confident enough to say what she actually wanted to say. "Are you the idiot who just called me?"
"No," he answered quickly, shaking his head.
She raised an eyebrow, "really? I'm pretty sure it was your number."
"You know my number?"
"Yeah, Hiroto gave it to me a few days ago."
"A few days ago?" He asked, feeling anger rising inside him, "then you should have called! If you really cared, you would have called instead of avoiding me all those years! I see you are as emotionless as you were back then, Gazel!"
"What the hell are you saying?" She shot him a glare, "then why didn't you call me! You have me number too, don't you?!"
"I did-"
"You hung up on me! Don't you dare yell at me for not calling! You aren't any better! D-Do you have any idea how happy I was when you called! I thought I would be able to see you again!" She waited expectantly for his answer, fully aware that at this point, people were staring at them, and they probably were going to get kicked out of the café.
"T-then you should have called back!"
"I couldn't! I didn't know if you just called and then hung up to insult me or not, jerk!"
"I was nervous, okay?! I wanted to talk to you! Listen, I just... Ugh, f-forget it! It seems we will never get along, anyway! I don't know why I'm even arguing with you!" He stood up, barely looking her in the face. "I have to get back to work."
"Wha- Y-you're running away?!" She stood up quickly and grabbed him by the arm. "We just met, and you are already leaving?" She found herself blushing at her own words, "w-whatever. Just… leave. You didn't even look happy when you saw me."
"I am happy."
"Liar! I don't believe you!"
"What do you want me to do, then?! Lick your foot?!"
She looked at him with disgust, "if that proves you are happy, then yes."
"You are disgusting!"
"See? You are trying to run away again." She smirked, "looks like I won."
"That's not true! I-I can prove it." Burn took a few steps towards her, grabbing her face in between his hands and kissing her, hard. His heartbeats were strong, hot, and fast. Too fast. His hands were shaking slightly and his face burning. He loved the feeling of his lips on hers- he just couldn't get enough of it.
When he pulled away, Gazel was stunned and unable to respond. Her eyes were wide and her face red.
"See? I am happy," he said with a nervous smile. "And… I kinda missed you... Even those arguments we always have, I missed them."
"You… didn't just kiss me to win this argument, right?" She finally asked after a long pause, burying her face in his chest. "And did you have to do it in front of everyone, you idiot tulip?"
He laughed and wrapped his arms around her, "as much as I hate it, I missed that nickname too, princess"
"I guess I missed it as well." Gazel smiled and took a few steps back, "I will see you when you are done with work."
"Yeah, of course, sure. Would you like to go out for dinner tonight?"
"Maybe. If it's a date."
He smirked, stroking her cheek. "It's a date."
A/N: This took me longer than expected. Sorry, it's a week late, but I hope you liked it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!