Disclaimer: Not mine

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Before, Akira had been bemused. Now he was just annoyed.

It wasn't that Kenta was (once again) ogling a girl. It wasn't even that he'd chased her halfway across town so he could keep ogling her and Akira had wound up spending the rest of the morning (the morning they were supposed to be training) trying to keep up with him.

It was that she was right there, sitting a bench with nothing but a book for company, and he wasn't doing a damned. thing. about it.

Akira rolled his eyes as he approached his teammate. As usual, Kenta was going to need his help… "Hey." Akira nudged him to make sure he got his attention. "Just ask her on a date already."

Kenta spun around, eyes wide. "Are you sure that's such a good--"

"Anything's better than just gawking at her all day, right?" This time Akira gave him a full-fledged shove in the girl's direction. "You'll be fine."

Kenta nodded slowly. "You're right." Akira felt relief go through him as Kenta straightened his spine and approached the girl. Sure, it was fun to watch normally pulled together Kenta act like a love struck kid whenever he saw a pretty face, but at this point he was ready for something else to happen. He watched on as Kenta sat down next to her, talking animatedly as the girl smiled and nodded--

And then she slapped him and stormed off.

Akira wasn't sure how long he just stood there, every bit as shocked as Kenta. Then, finally, he gathered enough of his senses to take a seat next to his friend. "… What did you say to her?"

"All I did was ask her if she wanted to go some place alone with me. Next thing I know…" Kenta cradled the side of his face she had slapped.

"You actually said that?!" Akira fought the urge to smack him and instead settled for slapping his own forehead. "You don't tell girls that. They'll think you have only one thing on your mind."

Kenta blinked at him. "What would that be?"

Okay, he knew that growing up in the mountains had left Kenta more than a little on the naive side, but come on. "… Don't worry about it." Akira patted him on the shoulder. "Let's just get home and put some ice on it before it swells. Otherwise Haruka and Momoko will want to know what happened-- and they'll never stop teasing you once they do know."

"Okay." Kenta stood up, and managed a smile. "You know, sometimes I wish I could ask you on a date. It'd be easier-- and a lot less painful." He turned to leave. "Well, come on. We better get going."

"Um, I'll catch up with you." Kenta shrugged, but didn't ask any questions as he went on his way.

Akira had known that he felt something for Kenta… that was a little more than just simple friendship for awhile. He had also known that it wasn't going to go any further than that. And he had been okay with that. But now, after what Kenta had said…

He frowned to himself as he headed home. He had gone from bemused to annoyed to… something else in one morning. That had to be a new record for mood swings.