A/N Just a little two shot, maybe three shot, while I battle writer's block with my other stories. Modern time, very boring, non-magical AU about a love found during summer.
UQ SUMMER
By. Amnesty
It was the early evening at the annual Watermelon festival and everything was now in full swing and now packed full of people from across the surrounding countryside. It wasn't nearly as fancy as the festivals that you could find in Tokyo but they always did quite well for themselves and put on a pretty good show. Vender booths lined the walkway where merchants sold their wares and the sweet smell of carnival food wafted in the air. Toward the center of the festivities there were an array of money stealing games and rickety rides.
Those money stealing games and rickety rides were exactly what Touta Konoe and his buddies from school were currently heading towards. Though as he scratched his head and looked up and down the crowded walkways he realized his friends were now out of sight. He was just with them just a moment ago but when he trailed behind to check out a booth selling cheesy merchandise from England he was unintentionally left behind. They had to be around here somewhere Touta determined as he turned down a different aisle and began walking in the direction he believed lead toward the games. As he reached the end of the row he realized that he was marching in the exact opposite direction and found himself standing near one of the side entrances.
"Dang it," Touta sighed as he pulled out his phone.
He was trying to avoid using his phone as the battery was now almost dead. A problem he wouldn't have if he had listed to Eva and charged his phone before he left for the festival like she told him to. Should have. Could have. But didn't. Flipping open his phone he found the first name of his friends down in his chat window and began to type out his SOS.
Mid message he just happened to spare a glance toward the exit and the parents with smaller children leaving and the young adults and teens entering, probably to catch the firework show that would be happening right after sundown.
One person instantly grabbed his attention that kept him from sending his message. A girl who looked to be around his age, maybe a little younger since she was almost a head shorter, stood just outside the entrance next to the road. She looked quite distressed as she glanced far down the street before crossing her arms apprehensively. She was a lovely girl with pale skin and long black hair tied in a side ponytail that fell to her waist. Though Touta found it odd that she was wearing a professional looking black slacks and white shirt with a long black trench coat to conceal her body. It didn't look bad, but she defiantly stood out against the more casual atmosphere that a countryside festival had.
Touta decided that he needed to see if he could help her in some way so he closed his phone and approached the teenage girl. He would catch up with his friends in a bit.
"Hey," Touta said as he put on an easy carefree smile. The girl whipped her head around toward him in surprise, her long side pony tail arching around her as she did so. "Are you okay?"
The girl eyed him suspiciously with a tight frown before turning away and giving him the cold shoulder as she watched cars pass on the road. "I'm fine, thank you."
"Really," Touta asked as he stepped forward. "Cuz you don't look fine to me… Are you from one of the surrounding villages? I've never seen you around before."
The girl sighed and continued to look down the road. "No."
"Okay… So are you visiting some relatives here or something?"
"No."
Touta rested his chin on his fist as he silently analyzed her thinking she was being awfully tight lipped. Maybe she thought he was being a creep and was trying to hit on her. That made sense he supposed. Touta nodded to himself as he decided that he would attempt to make his pure intentions clear if she was indeed misinterpreting him.
"Listen, I'm not trying to hit on you or anything if that's what you think. You just look like you're in trouble and I honestly want to help you out. I mean… It's not like I don't think you're a super pretty girl or anything, because you are, but that has nothing to do with me wanting to help or anything!"
The girl finally turned back toward him and although she was blushing profusely she was also obviously fuming, but for the life of him Touta couldn't guess why.
"I am NOT a girl," she shouted loudly with her fists clenched.
Touta starred back in shock for a moment.
"What? Really?"
"Yes really," she shouted back.
"But… you're so pretty," he stated matter of fact.
"I. Am. Not. A. Girl," the apparently not girl shouted between very powerful punches to Touta's arm.
"Ouch! Okay, I get it. I'm sorry," Touta cried out as he was assaulted.
The stranger backed off and began to massage his temples in annoyance.
"Man, you pack a serious punch. I'm super impressed," Touta said as he rubbed his sore arm. "Now that we got that out of the way are you going to tell me what's wrong now?"
"You're annoyingly persistent. Do you realize that?"
Touta laughed and held out a hand. "Trust me, you are not the first one to tell me that. I'm Touta Konoe by the way."
The long haired boy sighed and accepted his hand shake. "Kuroumaru Tokisaka."
"Well Kuroumaru, it's nice to meet you. Did you come here for the festival?"
"No, I had some business nearby and my escort and I stopped across the street to fill up on gas before heading back to Tokyo. I stepped out for just a second because I wanted to get a better look at what all the people were about and," Kuroumaru trailed off and frowned deeply as he glanced up the road that lead out of town. "Well," he said looking back towards Touta. "The person I was traveling with… accidently… left me behind."
"Eh, you got left? Well that stinks. I'm sure they'll realize it soon enough and head back. How long have you been waiting?"
Kuroumaru paused as he glanced down. "Three hours…"
"Eh," Touta shouted in surprise. "Three hours? They must practically be to Tokyo by now. How has he not realized you're not with him?"
"I typically keep pretty quiet. We can go the whole trip without saying a word to each other."
"Seriously? That's a little weird… Have you tried calling him?"
Kuroumaru shook his head. "I don't have a phone."
"You can use mine then," Touta said as he offered over his phone. "It's almost dead though so you'll have to be quick."
Kuroumaru took the phone with a quick thanks and slid it open before quickly dialing a number. He turned and took a couple of steps away as he pressed the phone to his ear and waited of the other line to pick up.
"Ah, Big Brother," Kuroumaru said. "I know, I'm sorry for interrupting you but I have a big problem… Well that is the problem. I'm not with him right now." There was a long pause where Kuroumaru's elder brother was speaking. Touta couldn't make out what was being said but it was visibly making Kuroumaru upset. "I'm sorry! It's my fault. I got out of the car without telling him and before I knew it he was driving down the road. I've been waiting but he hasn't returned yet… No, I'm not with the police. Someone lent me a phone. Yes… Yes, I'll stay put."
Kuroumaru deeply sighed as he shakily handed the phone back over to Touta. Touta deeply frowned, he didn't know the other half of the conversation but Kuroumaru was looking terrified. He must have a very scary older brother.
"Thank you for letting me use your phone. My brother is contacting my escort and he should be coming back to pick me up in the next few hours."
"That's good," Touta responded as he watched Kuroumaru turn back to the road and stare off into the distance. "What are you doing?"
Kuroumaru turned to him and raised a delicate eyebrow. "I'm waiting for my ride," he stated obviously.
"Geez, you're just going to stand here for three hours?"
"What else am I supposed to do?"
Touta rolled his eyes. "Well, I dunno, it's not like there's a festival going on behind us or anything."
"Uhh… I'm not too sure."
"I know it's not that fancy but it's a pretty big deal in these parts. There's a bunch of games somewhere in there and there's a stand that sells chocolate covered watermelon that's super good. If we have to wait three hours we might as well have fun while doing it."
Kuroumaru blushed a bit and turned away in embarrassment. "You would wait with me?"
"Of course, but preferable over there having fun," Touta said as he pointed to the festival over his shoulder with a wide smile. "We're friends now so I'm not about to ditch ya out here."
Kuroumaru smiled and took a few steps towards Touta. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to go in for just a little bit."
"That's the spirit," Touta shouted as he patted his new friend on the shoulder before grabbing his wrist and taking off onto the festival grounds. "Follow me. There are a lot of fun games I've been wanting to play since I got here."
"O-okay."
"Last year I spent forty bucks and all I was able to win was a stupid blow up hammer that popped before I even got it home. Yeah, I plan on doing way better this time. "
"If you say so," Kuroumaru laughed as he was drug along.
"I think the games are this way."
"You think? You mean you don't know?"
"Not really," Touta shouted back as he rounded a corner. "I just know it's in the opposite direction from where we just were."
"I'm not feeling all that secure about your directional skills…"
It took a few turn arounds and backtracking but the flashing lights and loud bells and whistles announced that they had finally arrived.
"Ha-ha! Found it."
"I feel that there was possibly more straight forward route than what we just took," Kuroumaru teased.
"Yeah probably, but it was pretty fun running around for a bit," Touta admitted as he excitedly glanced around at all the games. "Hey let's do the bottles first."
They both walked up to the stall where down a few rows were milk bottles stacked on top of each other.
"Hey there young man," the person manning the booth said as they approached. "356¥ equals a chance to knock down the pins and win your pretty girlfriend there a prize."
"What? I'm not his-"
"Yeah okay," Touta said as he pulled his wallet from his back pocket, ignoring the shocked expression that passed over his new friend's face and slapped down the appropriate amount of money on the booth. Kuroumaru glared in Touta's direction. He was pretty sure he wasn't even listening fully to what that man just insinuated.
"Good luck buddy," wished the guy as he took the money and slid it into his apron.
"Watch this Kuroumaru," Touta said as he wound up his pitch at tossed it at the stacked bottles.
The ball hit the bottles with a strong force that sent most of them flying off the table. One of the two remaining bottles began to spin on its base before settling upward. Touta let out a frustrated sigh and banged his head on the booth.
"That was very good Touta," Kuroumaru said sympathetically. "You almost got all of them."
"Wanna try again? Try aiming a bit lower this time," the guy suggested as one of his helpers reset the bottles.
Without verbally responding Touta pulled out another 356¥, handed it over and picked up another ball. He threw the ball again a bit lower this time and struck the bottles. This time all but one fell. After a growl of frustration he pulled out more bills and passed it to the man.
"Maybe I'm throwing it too hard. It could be more of a technique thing than brute strength," Touta said as he prepared to throw.
"Touta, we might as well just buy a stuffed animal at this point. This is starting to feel like some kind of money scam."
"No, it's fine. I have it this time I swear," he said as he tossed the ball again. Once again all but one bottle fell leaving Touta disappointed.
"Come on," Kuroumaru said tugging at his arm. "Let's go try something else."
"Yeah… okay."
"Better luck next time," the guy said as he waved over a father and daughter who were going to try their luck next.
Touta sulked as he walked away while Kuroumaru patted his back awkwardly in an attempt to cheer him up. Glancing up Touta caught sight of the Jacob's ladder game and his face immediately lit up.
"Let's do that one next," Touta said with excitement as he pointed over. "That's where I won my prize last year!"
Kuroumaru nodded in agreement as he followed his trail over to the booth. This one had a good number of observers as they watched people try to fumble their way across a slightly inclined robe ladder in attempt to ring the bell at the end. So far it looked like everyone was falling about midway.
"How much to play," Touta asked as approached.
"950¥," a young woman said who worked there.
"Sure," Touta said as he passed over some money. "Are you ready to be amazed buddy?"
"Ready," Kuroumaru said with a huge smile and a thumbs up.
Touta walked to the start of the ladder and eyed the game as he mentally went over his winning strategy. He then grabbed the rungs and began to quickly cross the ladder which was swaying immensely with every step.
"My goodness," the woman who took the money said. "What terrible technique that kid has. Most would have fallen by now with the way he's fumbling across."
"But it looks like he's going to make it," Kuroumaru exclaimed as he clasped his hands together. "You can do it Touta," he cheered.
About that time the rope ladder spun and flipped Touta upside down. He was now visible struggling as he tried to make the last few rungs. Soon gravity won over and Touta dropped to the safety mattress below.
"Aww, you were so close," Kuroumaru said.
"That was just a warm up," Touta said as he fished out more money. "One more try. I can do it this time."
"It's your money," the woman said as she accepted the payment as Touta reset himself at the beginning.
Touta began his ascent again swaying very much the same way as his initial try. He was about midway through before the ladder flipped over again leaving him struggling upside down.
"No way am I embarrassing myself in front of Kuroumaru again," Touta thought as he struggled to make the next move. "I am not falling this time."
Using all the strength he had he held onto the rungs and wrapped his legs around the ladder and he slowly and very awkwardly made his way up the ladder. He was now near the top but the bell he had to ring was inconveniently blocked be the ladder between. He tightened one of his hand around the rung and swung himself to the side while reaching for the bell with his other hand. He was worried that he wasn't going to make but internally sighed in relief as he felt the brass touch his hand and heard the bell ring before he fell to the mattress.
"He did it," Kuroumaru shouted with a thrust of his fist in the air.
"That kid has a lot of determination. I'll give him that. Alright, for winning you get to pick any prize from the wall," she said as Touta jogged over.
"Actually you pick one Kuroumaru."
"Me," Kuroumaru questioned with wide eyes. "Don't you want to pick out your own prize?"
"Well I plan on giving it to you anyways so you might as well pick out something you like."
"Oh no," Kuroumaru quickly responded before starting to mumble with a deep blush. "You won it you so should keep your prize and not waste it on someone like me."
"Don't be ridiculous and just pick something out already," Touta ordered with a smile.
Kuroumaru looked a bit unsure for a second before turning to the prize wall. He placed a finger to his chin as he glanced between the prizes that ranged from nerf guns to plush stuffed animals. Touta decidedly, and a bit confusingly, admitted that he thought his new friend looked very cute as he tried to mull over his decision.
"I'll take that," Kuroumaru said as he pointed to a stuffed animal of a white ermine.
"A stuffed animal, really?"
Kuroumaru blushed as the attendant retrieved the prize. "Did I make a bad decision? I knew I would mess it up."
"Not at all. It's pretty cute so it suites you."
"Wha-… Um… r-really," Kuroumaru stuttered as he turned away to hid his red face.
"Here you go sweetheart," the attendant said as she began to pass over the plush animal.
"Wait a sec," Touta said as he intercepted the doll and took it. Kuroumaru looked at him with a confused gaze. "It's just… I wanted to be the one who gave it to you," he clarified as he handed over the cute ermine doll.
Kuroumaru smiled as he took the offered present and held it in his arms. "Thank you Touta," he said quietly. "I love it."
Touta smiled triumphantly before he glanced behind Kuroumaru and spotted the group of school friends off in the distance playing some games. He was about to yell out to them before catching himself. Normally he would jump at the chance to show off new friends he made and would love hanging out in a large group but for some reason he felt that introducing Kuroumaru would somehow be the wrong move. Perhaps he was being selfish but he was having a lot of fun with just Kuroumaru and wasn't quite ready for it to end yet.
"Is something wrong Touta," Kuroumaru questioned as he turned to glance behind him.
"It's… nothing," Touta said. "Hey, let's see what they have going on this way," Touta said as he led Kuroumaru in the direction opposite of his friends.
"Are you wanting to play any of these games," Touta asked as they walked along.
"I don't have any money on me," Kuroumaru admitted.
"That's okay. I have tons of birthday money left over so I don't mind spotting you if you see something."
"Really? Thanks. When was your birthday?"
"Last week. We had it at this small arcade downtown. It's probably nothing near what they have in the city but we still had a lot of fun. I really wish we knew each other then. I would have loved for you to have been there. Are you sixteen too?"
Kuroumaru shook his head. "Not yet, but I will be in three months. H-happy late birthday."
"Heh, thanks. Hey, maybe I can talk Eva into taking me to your birthday party. I mean… If you want me too."
Kuroumaru smiled. "That would be nice… but my family isn't really the birthday party type."
"Man, seriously? That sucks. What do you guys do then?"
"Nothing really. I sometimes get a present… sometimes I don't. It just depends."
"Well I'll definitely be giving you a present. Oh! Even if you don't have a birthday party me and Eva can still go over and take you out or something. Have our own little birthday party."
Kuroumaru sadly smiled and looked down. "Maybe… Uh, who's this Eva person you keep talking about anyway," Kuroumaru asked, changing the topic.
"Eva? Well… It's a little complicated but she takes care of me. She was good friends with my parents and when they died in a car accident four years ago she took me in. I've been a pain in her side ever since."
Kuroumaru looked bothered as she frantically began to respond. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't know you lost your parents…"
"I know, it's okay. It sucks though. I hit my head pretty hard in the accident so my memories of them aren't what they should be…"
"… I lost my parents when I was young too," Kuroumaru shared. "I don't really remember then all that well either. What memories I do have are fuzzy almost like it was a dream… Um, my elder brother took over the primary responsibility of raising me after that."
"I guess we're kinda the same then, aren't we?"
"Yeah… I guess we are," Kuroumaru said with a sad smile.
"And wow, this conversation got depressing real fast. We need another fun game to play right now and you're going to play it with me this time. Oh look! A shooting game. Let's play the shooting game," Touta said in a hurry and jogged over to a booth with little moving duck targets.
Touta handed over a wad of money to the booth attendant who seemed to have cared less as she swiped at her phone. He picked up the pellet rifle while Kuroumaru stood solemnly to the side.
"These guns never fire straight so this should be interesting," Touta said as he aimed at the ducks.
Without taking her eyes off her phone the attendant pressed a button that activated to moving duck targets and started a fifteen second countdown. Touta began firing and missed the first two shots as he got a feel for the uncalibrated rifle. Once he got the hang of it he began to steadily hit the targets. He would try to hit the bonus fast moving target that won the big prize but he would settle for just getting the rest and winning something to take home for Eva.
He internally cheered as he hit the last normal target with a couple seconds to spare and turned his focus to the bonus duck. Firing ferociously at the bonus target Touta had no luck as he was always just hitting just behind it. The buzzer sounded signifying that he was out of time.
"Good job Touta," Kuroumaru said. "What are you going to get?"
"I'll take that fluffy bunny thing," Touta said as he pointed to an overly cutesy stuffed animal. The attendant handed it over. "Perfect. I think this is something Eva would like. She likes stuffed animals too. Well, you're turn Kuroumaru."
"Oh, um…" Kuroumaru passed his prize animal to Touta to pick up the gun and raised it toward the targets.
"It fires off just a bit to the left," Touta informed right before the countdown was activated, starting Kuroumaru's round.
Touta was both surprised and impressed as Kuroumaru was effectively and smoothly hitting each target with quick ease. Looking at Kuroumaru's face it seemed like each shot was as easy as breathing.
"Wow," Touta exclaimed as Kuroumaru finished of his session with hitting the bonus target, not having wasted a single shot in the process.
Kuroumaru lowered his gun and waited as the last seconds on the clock counted down. He strangely didn't seem to be overly excited that he just demolished this game. Touta would just be excited for him.
"That was totally awesome," Touta yelled out as he gave Kuroumaru a side hug. "You totally kicked my butt. You're a real crack shot."
"Thanks," Kuroumaru said as he laid the gun on the table.
"Where did you learn to shoot like that?"
Kuroumaru glanced at the ground with a tight frown. "My brother taught me," he said in a small voice.
"T-that's neat," Touta said uneasily. He was a bit confused about what was going on because Kuroumaru now looked like to be on the brink of tears.
"I don't want to do this anymore," Kuroumaru whispered to himself.
"Yeah… okay," Touta quickly said as he wrapped a friendly arm around Kuroumaru and led him away from the tables, not caring about the prize that was one.
"Geez that last distraction failed miserably and seemed to make you even sadder so," Touta said as he looked around. "Hey, do you like roller coasters?"
"I've never been on one before," Kuroumaru admitted with a shrug.
Touta laughed. "I'm somehow not surprised. Let's go on the roller coaster and after that it should be almost sundown and they'll start the firework show."
"Okay."
The specified roller coaster was a fair good size considering that it was made to be able to be slapped together and torn apart quickly to be moved from event to event. It only had four carts for people to sit in so the line was moving a rather slowly.
"Is that safe," Kuroumaru asked as they got in line.
"Sure it is," Touta responded. "They wouldn't let people ride it if it wasn't."
"If you say so…"
Touta laughed as he looked over his friend who had become a bit withdrawn. He had his arms crossed tightly and seemed smaller than earlier when they were having fun before the target shooting incident. He wanted to use this time get to know Kuroumaru more and wanted to take this moment to ask a thousand things about him. But he would have to keep the conversation on light happy things. Right as Touta opened his mouth to say something Kuroumaru flicked his big brown eyes towards him and his mouth suddenly went dry.
"Ahh," Touta sputtered as he trailed off and turned away, mentally slapping himself. He really hope he couldn't see how red his face was right now.
"Are you alright Touta?"
"I'm fine," he quickly said, avoiding visual contact.
The next ten minutes was spent in an awkward silence. At least for Touta in was awkward. Whenever he nervously took a chance to glance in Kuroumaru's direction he seemed to be content to just silently wait. Eventually they made it to the front of the line and they were able to score the first cart.
The two teenagers took a seat on the small coaster and strapped themselves in. Kuroumaru looked over to Touta with a smile as he grabbed onto the railing. Touta returned his smile and hoped that this would be something that he would enjoy. After the safety checks were made to make sure everyone was secured the roller coaster began to slowly roll forward and began to make the steady incline before the first big drop.
"Here it comes," Touta said as the coaster began to go over the arch.
"Is it supposed to be shaking this much," Kuroumaru said with an uneasy vibrato.
"Sure is!"
Kuroumaru made a very girly squeak as the coaster quickly began its descent before taking a sharp turn at the bottom. Touta glanced toward Kuroumaru who was gritting his teeth and grabbing onto the rail for dear life.
"Hey," Touta shouted getting his attention. "Lift up your arms," he finished as threw up his arms and let out a loud holler.
Kuroumaru pulled his hands of the railing for a split second before grabbing back on and shaking his head quickly. That was something that apparently wasn't going to happen. He looked like he was anticipating being thrown out of his seat at a second's notice. The ride slowed for a bit as it began another ascent for the last dip.
"This is horrible," Kuroumaru shouted. "How is this a thing?"
"Are you kidding? This is great! We're about to go down again."
"Oh great," he said before squeezing his eyes shut.
As they both reached the top of the mound the coaster inched to a stop. Touta frowned in confusion as he glanced around. They should have gone down by now… He looked over to the operator's station and saw that he was shouting into his walkie talkie.
"Uh-oh," Touta said as he turned to Kuroumaru who was still holding his eyes shut in anticipation. "Uh… Kuroumaru?"
"What?"
"I think we're stuck."
"What," Kuroumaru shouted as his eyes popped open. "What do you mean we're stuck?"
"As in we're not moving stuck.
"B-but I thought you said this was safe?"
"We're not in any danger, I think. I'm sure the engineer will get us moving again in no time."
"But what if they don't? What if were stuck up here for hours? And what if my escort shows up and I'm not there waiting for him? I'm going to be in so much trouble…"
"You'll be fine," Touta reassured. "Look at it this way. The sun just went down right?"
Kuroumaru looked at him questioningly and nodded.
"Well, the way I see it is that we managed to grab the best seats in the festival," he finished as he turned to the sky expectantly.
Kuroumaru tilted his head to the side as he looked at Touta quizzically. He opened his mouth to protest until a loud boom stole his attention. The firework show had begun and an onslaught of bright explosions filled the sky.
"Wow," Kuroumaru hummed in amazement as he started up into the multicolored sky with a graceful smile.
Touta watched the sky for a little bit but felt his gaze being pulled to his side to where the long haired boy sat in awe beside him. As he felt his heart begin to beat faster he admitted internally that Kuroumaru looked absolutely beautiful. A thought that was causing him to feel very conflicted and confused. He was definitely attracted to him. Which was a scary thought. Was he gay? He never had any attraction for another male up until tonight. Bi maybe?
Okay, he liked Kuroumaru. But what was he going to do about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was just going to push those feeling deep down and never ever mention them to anyone. Ever… But he couldn't help but wonder how Kuroumaru felt. Would he be disgusted at the thought of having a guy having a crush on him?
He glanced down at Kuroumaru's hand that was resting between them. Maybe he would just test the waters a bit and see what happed. If he reacts badly to his plan he could easily play it off as a simple accident.
Touta looked up at the sky as the firework show continued and slowly put his hand next to Kuroumaru's with his far two fingers resting over his. Touta instantly noted that Kuroumaru's hand felt incredibly soft and warm. And… Kuroumaru hadn't pulled away yet so that was maybe a good sign… Touta took a shaky breath as he mustered the courage to slyly glance over. Kuroumaru didn't really seem to be watching the fireworks anymore and was just kind of staring off in front of him with wide eyes and a beet red face.
Taking it another step further Touta moved his hand slowly over until it rested fully over Kuroumaru's hand. In turn Kuroumaru bit his bottom lip and moved his other hand to his chest to begin to fiddle with his jacket's collar. Okay, he wasn't going to take another step. It would be hard enough to explain this if Kuroumaru decidedly confronted him on it. So he would just awkwardly sit here with his hand over his…
Touta's heart nearly jumped out of his chest as he felt Kuroumaru's hand shift. He supposed this was the end of it but was happily surprised when all Kuroumaru did was turn his hand over to where their palms were touching each other. Touta pressed his fingers between Kuroumaru's until they were now laced together. A wide smile spread across Touta's face as he slightly squeezed the hand in his.
The sudden lurch of the cart sliding forward and dropping sharply caused Kuroumaru to cry out in shock and fling into Touta's arms. The coaster quickly circled around the last bend and slowed to a stop. All those who were stuck on the coaster quickly unbuckled their belts and piled out, thankful for their unplanned situation was over. Kuroumaru finally released his long breath and pushed away and covered his face in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry!"
Touta laughed and gently pulled Kuroumaru's hands down and ran his thumbs over Kuroumaru's knuckles. "For what?"
Kuroumaru lowered his gaze down to their clasped hands and smiled shyly.
"Um… Touta?"
"Yeah?"
"I think they're wanting us to get out of the cart now…"
"Huh," Touta said as he snapped back into reality and now noticed the engineers giving the two teenagers annoyed looks. He quickly but reluctantly released Kuroumaru's hands and began to fumble to release his seatbelt. "Right, sorry guys."
They quickly exited the ride platform and began to make their way back to the exit where Kuroumaru's escort would be soon to take him home. Touta casually rested his hand on the back of his head as he watched Kuroumaru who had retrieved his stuffed animal from his jacket pocket and was holding it tightly in both arms. He wanted to be holding hands again but wasn't sure how to go about it smoothly.
"So, uh, Kuroumaru," Touta began. Kuroumaru's face lit up and he could tell that he was still embarrassed from what happened on the roller coaster.
"Y-yes," Kuroumaru quietly said.
"About… What happened earlier? Um… I wasn't making you uncomfortable, was I?"
Kuroumaru was silent for a moment as he processed Touta's question and how to respond.
"I… suppose in a way it did but," Kuroumaru paused again mid-sentence and smiled at the memory. "It was a nice uncomfortable though."
"That makes me happy to hear. So… Do you want to hold hands some more?"
Somehow Kuroumaru's face managed to turn a deeper shade of red as he slowly lowered the arm that was closest towards Touta.
"Y-yeah."
Touta knew that he was blushing profusely as well when he took Kuroumaru's hand in his once again. They probably looked like smiling red faced idiots as they walked down the festival's walkways together but he didn't care. Before reaching the exit Touta bought them both the iconic chocolate covered watermelons that were a staple food item every year. As they neared the gate Touta caught sight of a photo booth.
"We have to take our picture," Touta exclaimed as he motioned toward the photo booth.
Kuroumaru turned to where he motioned while biting off a piece of watermelon.
"I would love to have a picture of you," Kuroumaru said with a smile.
"Same here," Touta said as together they walked over. "We'll have to take two sets. One for me and one for you."
They piled into an open booth and took a series of three pictures for each person. Most were goofy poses but each had one photo where they were just relaxed. Touta smiled at the printed pictures that he claimed before folding it up and putting it in his pocket. Grabbing Kuroumaru's hand again, this time with much more familiarity, they both left the festival grounds and found a bench to sit on while the waited.
"How's the watermelon," Touta questioned as he tossed his rind into an overflowing trashcan a bit away.
"It's delicious," Kuroumaru said with a sad frown.
"What's wrong? I thought we were having a good time."
"I was! I mean I am! It's just… Tonight's been perfect. You've… been perfect."
Touta gave her a heartfelt smile. "If tonight's been so perfect why do you look so sad?"
"It's just that," Kuroumaru began as tears started puckering from his eyes. He was even a beautiful crier, Touta noted. "It's been so perfect that I'm afraid that it's all just been a dream and that when I have to leave I'll wake up and find that none of this every really happened…"
After a quick stilling breath Touta suddenly leaned in and gave Kuroumaru a short chaste kiss, noting the taste of chocolate and watermelon still on his lips. His new favorite flavor. When he pulled away Kuroumaru was looking at him in pure shock. Touta was almost afraid he had went too far and broke him.
"Will you be my boyfriend," Touta asked quickly, raising his voice in his nervousness.
"You're boyfriend," Kuroumaru squeaked as he pressed his fingers against his freshly kissed lips, reeling that that had been his first.
"I promise this isn't a dream. And if you let me I want to keep seeing you."
"I-I… I just don't know if," Kuroumaru stuttered as he seemed to have a frantic internal debate.
"Do you even want to be my boyfriend," Touta asked a little worried.
"Yes," Kuroumaru shouted with certainty but then instantly felt embarrassed with the outburst. "I mean… yes. I do want and will be your boyfriend."
Touta laughed and enveloped Kuroumaru in a tight embrace. "Now I feel like I'm the one who's dreaming," he joked. "We need to exchange numbers. I can't believe I almost forgot. Ugh, I hate that my phone's dead. I need a pen!"
"Here, I have one," Kuroumaru said as he pulled the item from his pocket.
"Perfect. What's your home number and I'll call you tomorrow-"
"No," Kuroumaru shouted. "I mean. No, you won't be able to reach me on my home number. Here, write your number on the back of our picture," Kuroumaru said as he handed Touta the picture they took earlier. "Are you okay with me calling you early in the early morning?"
"How early in the morning," Touta questioned as he wrote his number down.
"I should be able to use the phone and not be caught around 3:00 am… Most everyone should be asleep by then and the line should be clear"
"Three… in the morning," Touta repeated. What was with the weird time? But if that was the only time he could talk he would take it. "3:00 am it is. I'll be by my phone waiting."
Kuroumaru smiled as he took back his picture with Touta's number on the back and put it back in his pocket.
"My ride should be here any moment. I'll get in trouble if I'm seen talking with you so we should probably say our goodbyes now."
Touta groaned in annoyance as he reached over and wrapped his arms around Kuroumaru again and happily felt Kuroumaru's arms wrap around him in turn.
"I'm going to miss you," Touta said. "But I will talk to you tomorrow morning at 3:00 am."
Kuroumaru nodded in the crook of Touta's neck. "I'll talk to you tomorrow," he confirmed.
Kuroumaru sighed and pulled away before standing up. He seemed to have timed it perfectly because soon a very non descriptive black vehicle pulled up and a large, scary looking guy in a suit got out of the driver's seat. He looked very displeased as he circled the car and roughly opening the door for Kuroumaru who silently entered. The door was slammed shut behind him and the man got back into the driver's seat and drove away.
While sipping on her glass of scotch on the rocks Eva casually sat on her couch and watched the evening news. The news station was currently going crazy over a senseless murder of a rich family that had recently moved into the country from the city. Due to her previous line of work she knew that there was a deeper cause but nothing she concerned herself with now.
"I'm home," Touta said as he walked through the door.
"Welcome home," Eva said before taking another sip of her drink.
"Here," Touta said as he tossed her the small stuffed bunny.
Eva looked at it and smiled. "Thanks kid. Is this all you were able to get this year though? And you were talking so big before you left."
"Well… I did win something else but I sorta," Touta trailed off while a blush rose to his face.
Eva arched her fine eyebrow as she eyed him suspiciously. "You what?"
"I kind of gave it to my new… boyfriend."
Eva known she must have misunderstood him. "You mean your new girlfriend," she asked to clarify.
"No… My boyfriend."
Eva looked at him quizzically. "But you're not gay."
"That's what I thought too but apparently I'm into very very… very very very pretty boys."
"Uh… huh," Eva was very confused. If Touta was gay she would be fine with that but she was certain that she would have noticed some signs before tonight.
"Here," Touta said as he fished something from his back pocket. "We took some pictures. This is what he looks like. His name's Kuroumaru Tokisaka."
He handed her the photo booth pictures he had taken earlier. Eva took the picture strip and looked over it. They both seemed pretty happy as they posed for the camera but something seemed very off…
"Touta," Eva sighed as she placed a hand on her hip. "This is a girl."
"That's what I thought at first too but he very adamantly said he was a boy. I'm pretty sure I have the bruises to show it too."
"Well," Eva said as she gave the photos back to Touta. "He's very attractive none the less. Where does he live?"
Touta sighed. "Tokyo."
"Ouch."
"I know but I've already planned it out in my head. I plan on getting my license soon and instead of blowing all my money on the arcade I can use it to borrow the car from the most amazing wonder person in the world so I can visit him with my allowance money."
Eva let out a laugh that nearly resembled a witch's cackle. "Touta there is no way in hell I'm going to let you drive to Tokyo by yourself just so you can visit your 'boy'friend."
"Seriously!? Eva come on please."
"No~o."
"Please please please please-"
"Dear god," Eva said as she massaged her temple while Touta continued his persistent buzzing. "I'm going to need more booze for this."