"F-Fukawa-kun! I would like to request your company this Friday after school!"
Ishimaru sighed. What had he been thinking? They had been studying together more and more lately, with more hands brushing into each other and more awkward looks when they thought the other wasn't looking, so he'd thought that asking her out would be the right choice.
She'd said yes.
The problem wasn't her. The problem was the fact that Kiyotaka Ishimaru had no idea what to do on a date.
They met outside of the school after class. She had changed into a long dress. Light blue. Sleeveless, though she wore a white cover-up over it. Overall, she was dressed appropriately. Ishimaru had, lacking anything better to wear, changed from his Hope's Peak uniform to his white one.
It was silent for a few moments, and then Ishimaru spoke. "Are you ready?" he asked. She nodded. He took a deep breath. He still wasn't quite sure what kinds of things people did on dates, but he had created a plan. If they followed the plan, nothing could possibly go wrong.
"W-what are we doing?" she mumbled from behind her hands.
"You should speak up, Fukawa-kun," Ishimaru advised. "People like to hear what you're saying."
"No they don't," she said, voice still quiet and hard to understand. She hunched over further. How slouched she was made Ishimaru's own back hurt, so he put a hand on her lower back and another on her shoulders and adjusted her back for her. She went completely still, apart from the slight shaking.
He realized how close they were and backed up a few paces. "Just making sure your posture was correct, ha ha!" he said, forcing a laugh. She didn't say anything. "Perhaps we should forget that. Forget – Forget – Forget beam!"
He'd been trying to make her laugh. It didn't quite work.
She just sort of looked at him and hugged herself. However, when she spoke, her voice was a bit more understandable. "What are you doing?" she asked, repeating her question from earlier.
Ishimaru took a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. "I will purchase some light 'snack food' from a store from us, and then we will have a 'romantic' outing in the park. Perhaps we will see some interesting birds, or some of our fellow classmates. Then, we will come back here, and I will walk you to your room."
He looked at her, anxious. He didn't know what she thought about his plan. She wrote romance novels, so she had to know how dates worked.
She was chewing on her thumbnail. "Okay," she said, mumbling around her finger. Ishimaru extended his hand, and she looked at it doubtfully.
"Holding hands is what people on dates do, is it not?"
She took his hand, tentative. Her hand felt very cold and small in his large, bony one. "You're not going to make fun of me, right?" she asked, and Ishimaru noted that he was getting much better and understanding her.
"Of course not!" he said. "Although I would use more lotion if I were you. Your hand is quite dry."
She looked like she wanted to pull her hand out of his and go back inside at that, so he held onto it tighter.
"But that does not mean that I do not want to stay on this date!" he said hurriedly, and she looked relieved. "Now, shall we be off?"
She nodded, and the two of them headed to a small store that he knew of. He bought them cheap snacks – he didn't have that much money to spend on such frivolous things as dates, he needed to save it for books and kendo equipment.
She didn't say anything as they got their food, just chewed her thumbnail nervously as the cashier asked them if they dating and blushed when Ishimaru responded with an enthusiastic "Yes!"
Fukawa held tightly to his hand as they headed to the park. It was totally silent. Ishimaru wasn't good at small talk, and, apparently, Fukawa wasn't either. When they studied together, they had schoolwork to talk about. Now… they had nothing.
The nearest park was not crowded, which was good. Ishimaru pulled Fukawa down on a park bench next to him and gave her the bag. "Pick what you like," he said. She blushed and nodded, looking through the bag. She took just a tiny bit, and Ishimaru frowned.
"Y-you think I'm fat, don't you? That I'm being a pig?" she accused, and Ishimaru shook his head.
"No! No, of course not! I was thinking that you were not taking your share," he said. "You can have more than that. I picked things that could be divided evenly."
"Oh," she said. She was quiet, and didn't make a move for the bag. Ishimaru took it instead, handing her the rest of her share and taking the rest for himself. He would use this in place of the light snack he usually had after school.
She still wasn't speaking.
"So, Fukawa-kun, what do you like to do outside of school?" he asked. She looked at him, startled. "Surely you must have some interests?"
"I have to write," she said. "It's a very time-consuming job. Plotting, thinking up characters, not even to mention the actual drafting and revising. I don't have time for much else."
There was something about Fukawa while she was talking about her work that Ishimaru liked. She seemed more confident; or at least not insecure and mumbling when she talked about the mechanics of the hobby – career, it was Fukawa's career.
"I study," Ishimaru said, after a brief pause. "And I do enjoy a bit of kendo if I am feeling particularly stressed."
"Oh," Fukawa said. They sat in awkward silence for another ten minutes. Ishimaru glanced around. There was a small child running around with an armful of flowers. He wondered where the child's parents were. He should try and find them -
Oh, no, there was what had to be the babysitter. A girl, probably around their age, swooped in and picked up the child. The child giggled and kicked. The girl passed by them and paused.
She tossed a flower at Ishimaru. "Give to your girlfriend! She'll thank me," she said, winking. Ishimaru flushed a dark red. Fukawa was looking at him, a small smile on her face, also slightly pink.
"W-would you like this?" he asked, offering the flower. She nodded shyly, and he broke off most of the stem and delicately put it in one of her braids. Her blush darkened, and then she squeezed her eyes shut and kissed him.
He managed to not fall off of the park bench by gripping the top of it tightly with one hand. When she moved away and opened her eyes, Ishimaru was speechless.
"I- I- I-" she stuttered. She did some sort of version of his forget beam back at him. "F-forget-"
He caught her hands in his and, still blushing, told her earnestly, "I don't want to forget that, Fukawa-kun."
After a brief pause, he added.
"Although be sure not to do that in school, as it is not entirely appropriate."
Ishimaru and Fukawa being incredibly awkward dorks are my favorite.