Hello! :) So this here is a little random one-shot that I did about Angel having a sleepover with the Samezuka swim team. It's absolutely pointless, just an excuse to write some Sousuke/Angel fluff and thus it has no place in my main Free! story.
So I hope you enjoy this; please leave a review! :3
They should be here at any moment …
I was going to be home alone for one night – my mother had gone back to our hometown to take care of a relative who was in hospital while my dad was working the night shift at the hospital – and so they had suggested that I invited my friends over, since they were worried of leaving me alone even for a single night, apparently. They had already met everyone on my swim team and were sure that with Makoto and Rei around, nothing bad would happen to me.
However, due to some (fortunate?) circumstances, I had bumped into Rin before talking to my friends and after hearing that I'd be alone for the night, he kind of invited himself, Sousuke and Nitori over. I didn't mind, actually – I was sure that I'd have a lot of fun with them – but I wisely decided not to invite Makoto and the others as well. Sousuke and Haru were still on pretty bad terms and I didn't know what would happen if they were forced to be in the same place for a whole night.
I hadn't had a sleepover in a while, so I was kind of excited about it. I had bought some snacks and had stocked up on some classic horror movies. I had the feeling that Nitori wouldn't be very happy about that though – he seemed to be scared rather easily.
When the doorbell rang, I went to open the door.
"Hi, guys." I smiled at Rin, Nitori and Sousuke. "Come on i-…"
"Angel-chaaaan!" Something red-haired and loud jumped up from the side and hugged me tightly. Rin growled in annoyance and grabbed it by the collar, pulling it away from me. "G-gah … c-can't … breathe …"
"I told you that you can come if you behaved!" Rin said sternly, glaring at the first-year student.
"Ah … hello, Momotarou-kun …" I muttered, not very enthusiastically. I liked Momotarou and considered him a friend, but there was no denying that his behavior could be quite tiring at times. "I didn't know you were coming too."
"But I couldn't miss the chance of seeing you again, Angel-chan!" He took my hands and gave me a sparkling smile.
"He heard us talking about coming to your place and tagged along." Sousuke explained, casting a long and stern look at Momotarou. For some reason he looked very unhappy that the redheaded boy was here.
"Oh … Well, the more the merrier." I smiled softly, shaking Momotarou's hands off. "Come on in. You can change in my room – it's up the stairs, third door on the right."
"Right … Let's go." Rin nodded and headed to my room, followed by the others.
I was already in my pajamas – a pair of checkered black and white pants and a loose white T-shirt. I usually slept only in a pair of boxers, but I figured that I should wear some pants while there were people in my home. It would be indecent to walk around in my underwear in front of guests – not to mention that it would be utterly humiliating as well. Though I didn't think that Momotarou would have minded …
"Don't touch that, you idiot!"
Hm? What the …
Worried, I rushed into my room and saw that Rin, Sousuke and Nitori had already changed. Momotarou, on the other hand, seemed to have been too busy going through my belongings to put his pajamas on. Sousuke was simply seething with anger: his hands were balled into fists and he was glaring at Momotarou in such a way that if looks could kill, the red-haired boy would already be a charred spot on my wall. Rin seemed pissed off too, though not as much as Sousuke, and Nitori was just standing behind him, looking quite flustered and unaware of how to handle the situation.
"Um … Momotarou-kun? Could you please … just stop snooping around?" I asked, blushing lightly. I had a few things that I didn't really want him to find. They were … embarrassing.
"Whoa, who's that?"
Aaaand that was one of those things! Momotarou was holding a framed photograph of me and my best friend, Oliver, which was taken during the short time when we were dating. In the picture, I was smiling at the camera while Oliver was kissing me on the cheek. I blushed.
"Ah … that's me and my best friend. We used to date a while ago …" I explained awkwardly.
Sousuke quickly reached out, taking the photo from Momotarou's hands and examining it in silence. I bit my lower lip when I saw that his eyes darkened ever so slightly. Rin obviously noticed that too, because he stepped closer to his friend, looking at him cautiously.
"He seems like a nice person." Sousuke finally spoke, not removing his eyes from the photo. "Did you guys break up because you had to move here?"
"Oh, no, we broke up way before that." I replied quickly. "We just weren't working out as a couple. It happens."
He looked relieved at my answer and put the photo down on my desk. I smiled lightly at him – I didn't expect that hearing about Oliver would upset him so much. Suddenly Momotarou put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer.
"So you're single now, is that right, Angel-chan?" He asked cheerfully.
"A-ah … yeah, I guess …" I replied slowly and tried to move away from him. "Um … So I was thinking of ordering pizza!" I said quickly, trying to hide my embarrassment. "What do you guys think?"
"Sounds nice!" Nitori exclaimed, sighing in relief.
"Yeah, you two go and order that." Rin nodded and glared at Momotarou. I noticed that he was gripping the back of Sousuke's T-shirt – perhaps he feared that Sousuke would do something to Momotarou? It seemed plausible, considering the expression on his face at the moment.
I nodded, dashing out of the room. Nitori followed me – he still had a worried expression on his face.
"I think Momo-kun likes you." He whispered to me, acting as if he was revealing some huge secret.
"I'm not sure … I think he just flirts with me for the fun of it." I shrugged. "Anyway, he's not the one I'm interested in."
"Eh? So there is someone you like?" He asked, looking at me with curiosity.
"…" I blushed. Crap … I should really watch my words more carefully. "Y-yeah … I guess there is …" I replied, my thoughts going directly to Sousuke.
Nitori widened his eyes slightly, but thankfully he didn't ask any further questions. I didn't feel comfortable discussing my feelings with anyone right now.
I took the phone and ordered enough pizzas for everyone. I was still on that muscle-building diet, but I figured that a few slices of pizza wouldn't be that bad. Besides, I wasn't planning on telling Gou about it anyway.
After ordering the pizzas, we went back to my room. I saw that Momotarou and Sousuke were standing as far away from each other as possible, with Rin in between them as some sort of a barrier. I gulped. The air in the room … it felt as if something terrible had just happened.
I hope that they didn't fight. They are a team after all …. and this was supposed to be a fun gathering …
"Um … What should we do now?" I asked, trying to break the heavy silence.
"Ohhh, I know!" Momotarou exclaimed. "We should play truth or dare!"
"Eh … Aren't we a bit too old to be playing these kinds of games?" I asked, blushing lightly.
"No! C'mooon, it's gonna be fun!"
I sighed and looked at the others. Sousuke had his usual poker face on, Nitori looked at Rin as if he wanted to see his reaction first and Rin just shrugged.
"Alright, then … Let's go to the living room, though, there's more space there."
"Alright, Angel-kun, truth or dare?" Nitori asked me.
"Um … I'm gonna go with dare this time." I replied and almost immediately regretted it, seeing as Rin suddenly smirked slyly.
"Then for your dare … I dare you to kiss the person you like the most here."
I blinked and blushed brightly while Momotarou tried to move closer to me, obviously expecting to be the recipient of that kiss.
"Ah … can I change back to truth?" I asked helplessly.
"No. You know the rules!" Nitori giggled.
I sighed. Yeah, the rules … Why did I even agree to play this game?
Guess it can't be helped …
I shyly reached out and took Sousuke' hand. I kissed his knuckles gently and then quickly looked away, blushing brightly. I could hear Rin and Nitori mumbling disappointed.
"Not fair …. That wasn't really a kiss."
"Hey, it still counts and you never specified what kind of kiss it would be." I pointed out.
I glanced at Sousuke and blushed even more when he gave me a light smile. He looked quite happy, though I wasn't sure if it was because of the kiss or because I had chosen him over Momotarou (who looked really heartbroken about it, by the way).
We continued playing the game for a while, but eventually we got bored – and ran out of amusing asks and dares – so we stopped. I yawned quietly and curled up, bringing my knees to my chest and resting my chin on them.
"What should we do now?" I asked.
"Um … How about we watch a horror movie?" Rin suggested. Nitori immediately flinched and he patted the smaller boy on the head soothingly.
"Oh, good idea." I smiled. "I've got all the classics – vampires, werewolves, zombies …"
"Sounds great then!" Rin smiled widely.
We went through all the DVDs and finally agreed on a movie – Nitori's idea to just skip watching a horror flick was completely rejected, so finally he reluctantly agreed to watch the movie that we had picked. In the meantime the pizzas had arrived, so after putting the DVD in the player, we settled on the floor in front of the TV, each one of us holding a slice in our hands. I somehow ended up sitting between Momotarou and Sousuke.
"If you get scared during the movie, Angel-chan, don't be shy! You can always cuddle me to feel safe!" Momotarou grinned at me.
"Ah … I don't think that this will be necessary …" I muttered, moving slightly away from him. "I don't scare so easily, you know."
Sousuke chuckled. He tugged my T-shirt lightly, pulling me slightly closer to himself.
"Don't worry." He whispered in my ear. The sensation of his hot breath on my skin sent shivers up and down my spine. "I'll punch him if he tries to make a move on you."
"Thanks." I whispered back, smiling softly.
"Be quiet you two!" Rin scolded us. Nitori was sitting really close to him, already clinging to him, even though nothing scary had even happened yet.
"Sorry." I apologized, chuckling softly, and turned my attention to the TV screen.
Momotarou dozed off about halfway through the movie. He was lying on the floor, drooling all over the carpet. I didn't really mind. I much preferred him this way - quiet and calm - to his usual loud and slightly annoying self.
"Waaah …" Nitori whined with his eyes closed, clinging to Rin. "This movie is so scary!"
"How can you say it's scary?" I asked, chuckling softly. "You have your eyes shut all the time."
"I can still hear all those scary sounds." He explained, shuddering slightly as a terrified scream came from the TV.
Rin chuckled and got up on his feet, scooping Nitori in his arms.
"It's fine. That movie isn't so interesting anyway." He turned to me. "You said we could sleep in the guest bedroom?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "It's across the hall from my room."
"Got it." He gave the blushing Nitori a soft smile and left the room.
I rubbed my eyes sleepily and then stretched, groaning as my bones cracked.
"I guess we should turn the movie off, hm? You don't seem to be paying much attention to it anyway, Sousuke-kun." I smiled lightly at Sousuke.
He smiled too and stood up, gathering some of the empty soda cans and snack packages and putting them in a plastic bag.
"I'm not really interested in the movie." He admitted.
"Then … why did you even agree to watch it?"
"You looked like you really wanted to watch it." He shrugged.
I smiled and shook my head. So typical of Sousuke ...
"Well, thanks." I said. "We should go to bed, I think. It's getting pretty late."
He nodded. I looked at Momotarou sleeping on the floor and sighed.
"Um … Can you help me move him to the sofa? It should be comfier than the floor." Sousuke frowned at my request and I sighed again. "Please … "
"Fine." He set the plastic bag down and picked Momotarou up, putting him rather unceremoniously down on the sofa. The redhead mumbled something in his sleep, but didn't wake up.
"Thanks." I smiled at Sousuke.
We went up to the second story and Sousuke went to open the door to the guest bedroom. He didn't enter however. Instead, he quickly shut the door again and turned around, looking a bit flustered.
"What's wrong?" I asked, frowning slightly.
"Er … I don't think I'll be able to sleep in that room. I think that Rin and Nitori are … together in there."
I blinked, confused for a second, and then blushed brightly. Oh. Well, it wasn't surprising … It was obvious that those two liked each other.
"W-well … you can sleep in my room." I offered.
"My sleeping bag is in there, though." He gestured to the closed door.
"Oh, right …" I bit my lower lip. "Well, I suppose we could share my bed …"
"You'd be fine with that?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"W-well …" I looked away, blushing lightly. "I think so. I mean, we'll just be sleeping in the same bed, right? Nothing more…"
"Right …"
We went in my bedroom. My bed was a single-sized bed and normally I had enough space in there to sleep comfortably, but now … with Sousuke's large frame, I was sure that it would be rather crowded. I blushed as I imagined the two of us cuddled under the covers.
We got in bed. I was lying on my side, with my back turned to Sousuke – I knew that he was really close to me and it would be too embarrassing to face him right now. I yawned quietly and wished him a good night. I slowly started to drift off and sighed contently, closing my eyes.
"You kissed me."
"Hm?" I opened my eyes slowly. I was feeling a bit woozy – it wouldn't be long before I fell asleep completely - and it took me a few seconds to understand what Sousuke was talking about. "Did you say something?"
"You kissed me." He repeated. "When we played that game."
I turned around and met Sousuke's teal eyes. I could still see them even in the darkness in my room. I blushed brightly. We were lying so close to each other that I could feel his hot breath on my face.
"Well … I was dared." I responded.
"So I'm the one you like the most?"
"Ah … yeah …" If I weren't so sleepy, I'd have probably felt really embarrassed about the whole situation, but right now I just wanted to sleep.
"Thanks."
I smiled lightly. What an odd thing - being grateful to someone for liking you … Then again, what else could you say?
"Angel …"
"Hm … yeah?" I yawned again.
I heard the rustling of fabric and then something warm was pressed against my cheek. It took me a few seconds to register that Sousuke had kissed me on the cheek. He wrapped arm around me and pulled me closer. I smiled as I felt the warmth radiating from his body surround me.
"I like you too."
I was dozing off again, so I wasn't sure if he had really whispered those words to me or if I had dreamt this. Either way, I smiled broadly and nuzzled in Sousuke's chest, taking in his scent. Dream or not, it felt nice to hear those words.
"G'night, Sousuke. " I mumbled.
"Good night, Angel."