Of Candy Kisses
The atmosphere in the room was so tense, one could cut it with a knife. All three occupants were concentrating hard on the task at hand. The petite brunette glanced up at the two boys she was currently seated across from, trying her best to read their expressions. Her chocolate brown eyes met the blonde's cerulean ones and he offered her a grin. But it was a mysterious kind of grin; she couldn't tell whether or not he had the advantage as of right now. She looked over at the other boy, the brunet. He was biting his lower lip in concentration—a rare sight—and his amber eyes were fixated at his hands. She narrowed her eyes slightly, looking back down at her side of the table.
Alright, now or never, she thought to herself then looked up again. "Do you have a king?" The blonde's grin widened and she felt her stomach drop before he even said the answer.
"Go fish!" he said cheerily, which caused her to groan in response. "And don't forget the penalty ante," he added with a wink. She pouted as she added a small bag of M&Ms to the slowly-growing pile of candy in the center of the table then grabbed a card from the deck.
"You do realize how lame this is, right? We're almost sixteen and we're playing go fish…" Hikari sighed, leaning on her hand.
"Nah uh!" Daisuke, the brunet, protested. "It's a classic!"
"You're way too passionate about this."
Takeru laughed. "The only reason you don't like it is because you're losing," he stated with a smirk he inherited from his brother. Hikari frowned. She wasn't surprised that Daisuke protested against her comment, but Takeru too? He was supposed to be the mature one and back her up on this. Of course there was the undeniable fact that he, too, was a boy like his goggle-headed counterpart and well, boys will be boys.
"I'm calling a time-out," Daisuke declared when he realized that the bag of chips the three were sharing was empty. "You guys want anything?" The other two shook their heads in response and watched him make a mad dash towards the kitchen.
"That was mean," Hikari said as she put her cards facedown on the table. Takeru mimicked the motion with his own cards.
"You know it's true," he countered. He leaned back in his chair and stretched out, one of his long legs brushing against hers in the process. A small smirk formed on her lips as she put her feet up on his shins. A look of surprise formed in his eyes, lasting a mere second before he offered her a grin. "Your feet are cold," he stated matter-of-factly.
"My feet are always cold."
"True. Want me to warm them up?"
"How are you going to do that?"
"Like this." He lifted her feet so that they rested on his lap and started to rub one of them.
"Mm… that feels good…" He laughed softly as he started to massage the other foot. "You know, if Daisuke saw this, he'd kill us."
"No, he'd kill me," he corrected, with a wink. "Luckily for us, or me rather, that he's too busy hunting down food in the kitchen." As though to confirm that fact, there came a series of loud thuds from the kitchen caused by the falling of pots and pans. The two shared a laugh before falling into a comfortable silence. "Did you finish the homework for biology?" he asked after a while.
"Yep, and neither of you are copying it."
"That's okay, I've already started it… Though really, neurons are just so boring."
She shrugged. "Maybe, but atleast it's easy to understand… There's an external stimulation, a neuron pumps out positively charged sodium ions, an electrical current passes…"
A mischievous smirk formed on his lips as she spoke. "External stimulation, huh? Something like this?" He held one of her foot and ran a finger down the sole.
"Takeru!" she giggled, wiggling her foot around. "Stop that."
"Why?" He repeated the action and she started to burst out in a fit of giggles as she tried to per her feet out of his grasp. The giggles turned into laughter.
"Takaishi!" She tried to look serious or mad, atleast, but the effect was ruined by her giggles.
"Yes Yagami?" he asked in the most innocent voice he could muster. It was then that Daisuke reentered the room, a confused look settling on his face. Takeru was holding her feet carefully under the table, hidden out of view by the tablecloth, a wide grin on his face while Hikari was laughing harder than ever, the reason unclear.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
"I don't know, Hikari's what's so funny?" Takeru asked, grinning in triumph as he put her on the spot. Hikari shot him a glare before turning to Daisuke, the sweet smile plastered on her face.
"Oh nothing, I just remembered how Takeru messed up that shot at basketball practice yesterday." This time Takeru was the one to glare.
"Let's just finish this game," Takeru said, picking up his cards. "Hikari and I need to go home, after all." Hikari quickly pulled her feet to her side before Takeru came up with anything else.
"You can always sleep over here!" Daisuke chimed in quickly.
"I don't think so," she replied as she grabbed her cards again. "Taichi would kill me if he found out that I spent the night at a boy's house." Daisuke pouted, but dropped the subject for he knew all too well how protective Taichi was of his sister. He put the newly found food on the table and sat down, the three of them resuming their game.
Much to Daisuke's disappointment, Takeru turned out to be the winner. Hikari glanced at her watch. "Do you think they forgot about us?" she asked the blonde, who was putting the stash of candy in a bag. She didn't even have to clarify who 'they' were, Takeru already knew she was talking about their brothers, who had promised to pick them up.
"Absolutely," he replied. "Yamato is probably being chased all over town by his fangirls and Taichi's probably too engrossed in the soccer game to notice the time." Hikari sighed, Takeru was probably right. "Don't worry, I can walk you home."
"No, I'll do it!" Daisuke declared.
"That doesn't make any sense, I'm leaving too," the blonde stated.
"Yeah, but—"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine with Takeru!" Hikari chimed in, making her way to the door.
"There's all kinds of people out there," Daisuke tried again, but he knew he wasn't going to win this argument.
"I'm sure I can handle it," Takeru sighed as the two of them put on their shoes. They said their goodbyes and walked out of the apartment. As soon as the door closed, Hikari hit the blonde's arm playfully, crossing her arms over her chest. "Ow!" He exclaimed dramatically. "What was that for?"
"You know exactly what that's for."
He grinned, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Oh come on, you know you enjoyed it."
"Nope," she protested, turning her face away from his for she knew that if she looked at him, she'd instantly start smiling. His smiles were always contagious.
"You liar," he laughed. "How about this? I'll share my spoils with you." He waved the bag of candy in front of her face.
She paused for a moment and sighed in defeat. His grin widened. "Oh fine," she stated, breaking out in a smile as well.
"I knew you would," he admitted and handed her another bag of candy. "See? I even prepared a bag of your own." She shook her head smiling. The two walked, giggling along the way and before long, found themselves in front of Hikari's apartment building. Takeru looked down at the brunette. "You have some chocolate on your lips."
"What? Why didn't you mention it earlier?"
"I didn't notice until now." He pulled out a napkin from his pocket and offered it to her. She looked at the small cloth for a moment.
"You know, there's a better thing I can use," she stated.
"What's that?" Instead of answering however, she brought her lips up to his cheek, leaving a small chocolate imprint of her lips on it. With a small giggle, she ran inside the apartment building.
A/N: Don't you hate it a story starts describing such a tense moment but in reality it turns out to be something pointless? Lol. I know I'm supposed to be working on Elevator Rides With The Devil (and I am!) but I was upstate for some time without a computer (oh the horrors!) and I wrote under the extreme conditions of boredom (which is why it's pointless). Hehe!
On a different note, I have gotten a sudden inspiration to write, except for one small problem: I don't have ideas XD. SO! I want to know if anyone here is willing to give me some (or maybe co-write a story with me). If you do, send me a private message or an email (address can be found on my profile). ^-^ Oh, and it doesn't have to be a Takari either (granted, there are some couples I won't write… but hey, I'm pretty open to ideas).
Ciao!