"Commitment"
Chapter I
"Don't wear that kind of stuff."
His words brought her out of what she was doing.
Cosmetic samples littered her desk as she was about to apply eyelash glue to a pair of very flirty long fake eyelashes.
She turns to face him, almost curious and a little challenging as if to ask him how he dare question her daily routine.
Ever since she began her school year at Gekkoukan High she had been working very hard to improve herself, and looks were no exception.
He squirms under her gaze, even though he is clearly taller and needs to tilt his head to see her eye to eye. A very finely trimmed and brushed eyebrow curved, awaiting for an answer.
And just like that, Shinji sighs and his shoulders sag in defeat.
"I mean...you don't need that, other girls may believe they do but you.." He trails off, as if unable to continue. His cheeks were beginning to tint with a very uncharacteristic pink blush and he turns his head away from her to keep her from noticing her.
And notice she does, she knows how much it takes him to open up, but still feels the need to prod and make him go on.
"But I?"
There's a dangerous playful tone to her voice, he notes, as if she was waiting for the unavoidable answer to his end.
"Uh...well...you...you look...dammit, fine!" He snaps, not to her but, at himself. He hates when he stutters, and how much he hates when she's the only one able to make him falter like that.
He takes a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to say.
"You look much better without it!"
She blinks.
Shinji scowls.
And suddenly, he feels a pair of arms wrapping around his neck just as he was about to tug on his beanie and begin to unleash a lecture on her.
His cheeks color at the proximity between them. And he sees the fullfilment on her expression before she brings and end to the distance between their faces.
But just as he was going to protest (he really was, really) he catches something she says before closing their mouths with a kiss.
"Then, you should stop wearing that beanie."
Shinjirou never brought up the matter after that day.
