Ichirou-kun and I have always had our little secrets and jokes. Like stealing bits of matcha cake. And striking poses for the heck of it. And like hiding behind him when I'm nervous, or him standing in front of me when he's nervous (if that's nervousness… maybe concern?). Shindou always finds out in the end, it seems. He's really perceptive.
However, there is one secret we have kept that Shindou doesn't know… not yet. Maybe not ever. It's the biggest.
At times, when Shindou-san isn't around, occasionally, sleeping Ichirou isn't really sleeping. It catches me by surprise each time, because they are few and far between. (He really likes sleep.) But those rare times, like all others, I'll tiptoe up to him (though I'm not sure why, since I'm going to wake him up anyway…) and fish some Apollo strawberry chocolates out of my pocket. He must like those the best, I realized, because whenever I place them in his mouth, that sneaky little tongue of his darts out and licks my fingers! Weird, huh? I thought so, too.
But, you know… the weirdest part of it happened when he wasn't asleep. In fact, I'd just woken him up. I was a teensy bit hungry, since I'd spent my break cleaning up bits of broken glass from the floor (my clumsiness… Sorry, Shindou-san!), so I popped a few Apollo into my mouth as well. They were so yummy, I ate a few more, and then, before I remembered to stop, I'd eaten them all. After berating myself, I turned to him.
"H-hey… Ichirou-kun… I ate the last Appolos… so do you want me to steal some matcha cake for your snack?" I'd asked, trying not to look too guilty. He glanced down at me a few feet away, hands in the pockets of his apron. Luckily, Ichirou-kun was the agreeable sort.
"No. I want Apollo."
Or… not.
"Eh!?" I began to sweat. Shoot. "B-but… they're all gone!" I felt terrible, and the sweet strawberry-chocolate taste that lingered in my mouth only fed the fire of guilt in my gut.
"So improvise," he deadpanned. "I'm feeling sleepy."
I began to panic, searching my pockets for another pack, and when that was fruitless, began to hopelessly shake the box I'd eaten in case there were any invisible candies inside. "Improvise, improvise," I muttered, and glanced at Ichirou. Maybe those big apron pockets held more than just his hands…
Jumping over, I pulled them out and stuffed my own inside, rummaging around to find nothing but empty wrappers where hard candy had once resided. "Aww, man!" My head fell against his chest as I found myself without hope for survival. If I don't wake Ichirou-kun up when I'm supposed to, Shindou-san will kill me…
"Are you sure you can't live with matcha?" I whimpered, fearing for my life and his. He didn't seem scared at all, moving his fingers under my chin and lifting it upward.
"Yes. I want Apollo," he said, and, wouldn't you know it, to my surprise, the guy leans down and, whammo! pops me one right in the kisser. Literally. Though I barely noticed his lips pressing against mine. I was a bit too distracted by the lazy sweep of his tongue inside --inside!-- of my mouth. The motion was chaste, and he straightened after what was probably ten (long, agonizingly sweet) seconds.
"We improvised. Good for us," he said, mimicking the motions of setting off a noise maker at New Years. I was about to ask what the heck he was thinking when his mouth curved into a little grin that sent me reeling. "You won't have to worry about me for a while, Uru. I'm not sleepy anymore."
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I hope to high Heaven Shindou-san never, ever finds out what we do when I bring Apollo chocolates to Bonheur.