"Damnit. Damnit! Why is this happening to me? Its 10 p.m. and here i am running to Ringo's house with a ladder."

This was not one of Maguro's best nights. He didn't want any of this to happen. That text wasn't supposed to have been sent. Why did his phone have to fall in just the right position for his nose to hit the send button? What kind of luck is this?

Y'know? He could very well have stayed home. He could just let this play out. He could have been laying in bed right now staring at the ceiling all night wondering what was going on in Ringo's head because of this text… Yeah, no, this is totally worth running down the street in pajamas.

At last, Maguro arrived at Ringo's house. He set the ladder against the wall and leaned on the wall himself to catch his breath. He was slightly sticky with sweat from running, and again he questioned what the fresh hell he was doing.

"No no it'll be fine if I'm quick enough. Just go in, delete the text, put the phone back down exactly the way I found it and leave. Simple." Maguro thought. It wasn't the most reassuring thing ever, but it was enough to get him off the wall.

Maguro's stomach knotted as he lined the ladder up to Ringo's window, but sheer will allowed him to follow through. He already made it with the ladder. No use in stopping now. After taking a quick glance through the window at the empty room, he slid the window open and climbed inside. "Thank god she's still in the shower… Now, the phone"

The phone, thankfully, was left on the drawer next to the lamp. Unlike him, Ringo didn't take her phone in the bathroom. Picking it up, the thought crossed his mind again that maybe he should have just stayed home. It's kinda silly to break into your friend's home to delete a dumb text. Maybe even a bit overboard. But it was embarrassing enough. It has to be done.

With swift fingers, Maguro put in the password, opened the messaging app they were using, and deleted the message. The breath he didn't know he was holding was finally released. He did it. He successfully deleted that ridiculous message. But before he could put the phone back in place, the door swung open.

"What the heck? Maguro It's like ten at night why are you here?"

"Uh… H-Hi, Ringo! ⭐" he greeted his friend awkwardly with a toothy grin. It was impossible to see his eyes, which were darting around the room like crazy. A handy perk of having half his face obscured by hair.

"The question, Maguro," Ringo said, looking at him intently.

"I was leaving. Sooooooooo I'm gonna do that…" he answered, (which didn't answer the question at all) and begun side-stepping toward the window he came through.

Ringo knew something was up. It was way too obvious. She took a quick glance around her room for a few seconds before looking back at Maguro, raising an eyebrow and cocking her head knowingly before asking "What did you need my phone for?"

"Shit."

Maguro knew he was done for. There was nothing he could say or do that would get him out of the mess he created. Maybe he should've stayed home after all. Considering how much of a buffoon he's made of himself, maybe it would have been way less embarrassing if he'd left the situation alone. Of course, all he'd have to do if he had stayed home would be to just avoid Ringo for the rest of his life, fake his own death, and flee the country. Much easier and way less embarrassing than the situation he was forced to face now that he'd been caught in Ringo's room with her phone in the dead of night.

"Trust me, there's a really good explanation for all this… ⭐" He started sheepishly with a grin that faded within seconds.

"Okay, I'm all ears," Ringo said. "What's your reason for breaking into my house this time?"

"Hey, don't make me sound like some kind of criminal!"

"Just answer the question."

"Okay, Okay…" Maguro took a deep breath. "I sent you a text right as you left but i never meant to send it in the first place. It's dumb, okay? My phone fell on my face and-"

He was cut off by Ringo, who had burst into a laughing fit.

"Are you serious right now?" Ringo managed to squeeze in between giggles. "You send me dumb stuff all the time, there's no way this could have been any worse. You're a mess."

Maguro shoved his hands under his bangs, further covering his eyes as well as what little there was left to see of his face. His cheeks were burning, he felt like the room temperature had risen. He felt… Sweaty? Though that just might be because he ran like 4 blocks. Regardless, he wanted to disappear.

"This wasn't like any of the other texts I've sent, Ringo, that's why I came here in the first place!" he protested from underneath his hands.

"You're right, it wasn't."

"So i had to come and delete it before you saw it beca- wait what?"

"Yeah, I saw the text right before I left my room,"

Maguro wanted to die. This entire time she had already read the message. This was all for nothing. Not only was Mission Impossible™ fruitless, but now he had to face Ringo immediately regarding said message. Great going, Maguro. Absolutely incredible. He groaned.

"What's the matter, it's not like you accidentally sent me-"

He groaned again, cutting Ringo off.

"Calm down. It's fine. You're fine. Quit being a baby." Ringo teased.

Maguro didn't respond this time. He didn't even move. He hoped he'd become invisible if he stood still enough, but that never happened. He stood there, silent and inert, but still fully visible.

He didn't see Ringo approach him, and he was caught off guard when she grabbed his arms and pulled him to sit with her on the bed. He didn't look her in the eye, he was still burning up, and now his palms were sweaty. Disgusting.

"Look at me," Ringo beckoned.

No response.

Ringo leaned forward enough to end up in his line of sight. "Please?"

Maguro swallowed hard and turned toward Ringo. He still wasn't looking her in the eye, but she didn't have to know that.

"Are you looking? Like really looking?"

"Damnit."

Ringo took Maguro's face in one hand and brushed his bangs away with the other so that she could see that they were actually making eye contact. Maguro bit his lip.

"The message was really sweet, alright?"

Maguro felt like he could explode right there. His face was so hot he thought it would melt. And he felt so gross and sweaty. Maybe now it's more so the nerves than the fact that he exerted so much energy a few minutes ago. But the way Ringo was smiling at him made him unbelievably tense… In a good way?

"I know you're not the type of person to pour your heart out," she continued. "But… It was nice, even if it was accidental."

Ringo slowly released her grip, and Maguro wasted no time fixing his hair. Ringo was still smiling at him when he was done. It wasn't nearly as nerve-wracking as the semi-intimate moment they were sharing less than a minute ago, but an awkward "What?" spilled from him anyway, desperate to break the silence.

Ringo's eyes squinted ever so slightly as her smile lifted into a sly grin. "I see you took my advice though."

Maguro's eyebrows furrowed under his hair. "What do you mean by that? ⭐"

"I mean you used a ladder to get up here rather than scaling the wall on your own hands and feet. Nice going!"

"Wh- come on that was three weeks ago!"

"It's still relevant though!"

"Come on it's not relevant…! ⭐"

"Alright, sure," Ringo chuckled.

Maguro stood up and stretched. He felt relieved enough now that he was certain he hadn't made a total fool of himself.

"You're gonna leave now?" Ringo asked, looking a little disappointed. Admittedly, Maguro didn't want to leave either.

So he decided not to.

"Actually, I was just gonna go close the window," he says matter-of-factly, doing exactly that.

"You're spending the night?" Ringo asked, this time mildly baffled at this idea. Though it wasn't necessarily out of the ordinary, it was rather impromptu.

"Did you not want me to?"

"No it's fine. Oh, and go ahead and close the door since you're already up."

Ringo situated herself under the covers and Maguro did as he was told. Before long, the two of them were in bed, ready for a good night's rest.

"Goodnight, Maguro," Ringo breathed, comfortably engulfed in blanket.

"Good night, Ringo…" Maguro trailed off.

But Maguro didn't sleep.

Usually if he was tired, he'd be gone within three minutes of laying down. Fifteen minutes went by. He was restless. Even when he shut his eyes, sleep just wouldn't come.

Turning on his side to face Ringo, he whispered "Are you awake?" He was kind of hoping she wasn't, but he was tired of being alone with his thoughts.

Ringo sighed before answering "Unfortunately."

"Oh."

"How can I with you tossing and turning every two seconds?"

"Heh, sorry...⭐"

Maguro sat up on the bed and leaned against the baseboard. Ringo turned toward him.

"I'm assuming you wanted to talk?"

"I guess? I can't sleep, so I might as well…"

Ringo sat up as well. She wasn't gonna be sleeping anytime soon either.

Maguro opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out. He couldn't gather the words, which frustrated him. Sentences were never this hard to string together. Words were never so difficult to find. And the worst part was that he knew exactly why.

"...Uh?"

"Gimme a minute…"

Maguro wracked his brain for something to start the sentence off. Anything.

"I just-"

Not that. But it'd have to do. Ringo was waiting on him to say something. This was gonna be part of that something.

"You really don't have any issues with the message?"

"Did you want me to?"

"No…"

"There's really nothing to be embarrassed about… I'm just glad to know that our friendship means that much to you."

"Yeah…" Maguro chewed his lip, face starting to burn up again. Thankfully it was dark, so he was the only one aware of how flushed his face was. He knew she meant more to him than that. He knew he wanted more than just her friendship, but the risk of spoiling what he already had was way too high.

"So thanks for that."

After sitting in silence for a few seconds, Ringo started shifting to lay back down. Maguro, semi-satisfied with the exchange, followed suit. He didn't want to end the conversation there, but his mind wasn't racing anymore, so it would have to do for the night.

"Goodnight, Maguro," Ringo mumbled for the second and final time that night, before drifting into slumber.

"Yeah, goodnight."