Five Ways to Make Her Blush

It wasn't long ago that she'd started keeping track of how many times he made her blush a day. And, no, it wasn't because she was truly interested in how many times he managed to embarrass her daily. It had come to be a sort of game that she played with herself. If she managed to stop herself from turning the colour of a tomato in such a way that the number of times she did blush stayed in the single digits, she'd give herself some sort of reward. If she failed, she'd force herself to tell him something about herself, as embarrassing as it was to get closer to him in such a way.

"Iroha, wanna play a game?"

Yuuma entered her room without her permission, so she jumped instantly to her feet, her face flushing bright red as she realized the incriminating nature of her reaction. She hadn't been doing anything strange, after all, so she had no reason to jump up. She'd been merely looking through emails on her phone. He was gazing at her quizzically now, though, and she felt herself flush deeper as she wondered if he thought she'd been doing something questionable on her phone. So, quickly, she thrust the phone in his face, open to an email from Len.

"Len won't stop spamming me with these images of rotten bananas!" she exclaimed, so humiliated by the ridiculousness of what she was saying that she couldn't even meet Yuuma's gaze. Her eyes fell instead to his bare feet, and her mind wanted to ask him who'd painted his toenails pink, but she forced herself to continue shouting whatever nonsense it was she was thinking at him. "He says that his brethren are dying and I need to save them with him! But I'm a grown up, y'know, so I don't wanna play stupid games!"

She froze then, blanching as she saw Yuuma's legs tense in a flinch. She looked up at him to see that his face had fallen, and her mind rushed to figure out what she'd said. It was then that she recalled why he'd entered her room. "Iroha, wanna play a game?" "I don't wanna play stupid games!"

"W-wait, Yuuma, I meant—" she stammered quickly, rushing to make up for her mistake, but it was too late. Yuuma was giving her a pained smile, and he drew back like a wounded puppy. Her heart sank further and further, intense guilt stabbing her gut as he cut her off.

"Never mind, it wasn't important. I'll go see if Miki wants to do something."

Iroha couldn't help reaching for him one last time as he turned his back on her and quickly rushed out of the room. Everyone knew Yuuma was a huge crybaby. There was no doubt in Iroha's mind that he was crying right now. As the door closed behind him, she let her arm fall and hung her head, feeling utterly defeated. This wasn't a great start to her day.

One.

. . .

Iroha finally managed to make her way out of her room two hours later, once her humiliation had finally faded away. She was absolutely mortified by her unwitting rejection of Yuuma earlier, and she was absolutely dreading seeing him. Still, she wanted to see him. She'd missed out on her chance to be alone with him, but at least she could see him in a group, right? And hopefully then things wouldn't be so awkward between them, as she assumed they now were.

"Iroha, come here, quick!"

Iroha perked up at the sound of Yuuma calling her name. She couldn't resist a smile and hurriedly combed her fingers through her hair before rushing toward the boy's voice. How he knew she'd exited her room, she wasn't quite sure. He'd boasted previously about how he could hear everything that happened in the Vocaloid house, but she'd never believed that to be true. If it was, then she definitely had to start wearing headphones when she was watching television. She wasn't sure what he'd think about her taste in soap operas.

Iroha paused at the kitchen door, where she assumed Yuuma's voice was coming from, and rushed to comb through her hair once more. She pushed her way inside after her crude effort, pausing in order to gaze curiously at the scene before her. Miki, Yuuma, and Kaito were sitting at the kitchen table, Miki and Yuuma each holding a popsicle in their hands and hovering it near Kaito's face as he spat a popsicle stick onto the growing pile on the table. Iroha raised a brow at the three as Kaito bit into the popsicle Miki waggled in front of his face.

"So, um, what are you guys doing?" she wondered, unsure whether or not she was interested in an answer.

"Kaito wants to gain a few pounds," Miki responded with a grin. "We're helping him out."

Iroha blinked at her friend. "Alright then. What did you need me for?"

"He's devouring these things. We need more hands," Yuuma interrupted. Iroha had to force herself not to look at him, because she was almost blushing merely at the sound of his voice.

Iroha sighed and stuck her tongue out at the two, joining them as she informed them, "You guys are really weird, y'know? What if I wanted a popsicle later?"

Yuuma cocked his head to the side, his eyes so innocent that Iroha almost blushed again. But, no, it was what he said next that embarrassed her enough to get her there. "Aren't you on a diet or something, Iroha? You were complaining about how much weight you'd gained lately just the other day."

Two.

. . .

"Neru, give me my clothes back!" Iroha shouted down the hallway as she returned to her room later that day after a bath, only to realize that her usual outfit had been interchanged with Neru's. It wasn't that she minded Neru's outfit; it fit her quite nicely, actually. It was a matter of principle. She hated when the other Vocaloids went on these prank obsessions, and she was determined to put an end to it before it went too far.

At that moment, of course, Yuuma was in the process of heading into his room, so he gazed at her. She noticed him a moment later and quickly covered as much bare skin as she could. She wasn't used to having this much skin showing. But, no, she wouldn't blush. Not because of some stupid prank.

But, of course, Yuuma just had to tell her, "You look cute in that outfit."

Three.

. . .

It was Iroha's turn to make supper, alongside Miki, so she'd headed back to the kitchen a little while before the sun was meant to set. She wasn't the best cook, though she was good enough at it, nor was she one of those infuriatingly clumsy girls. However, today just happened to be one of those days when Yuuma decided to hang out with the girls as they were cooking, and she found herself folding under the pressure and making every single mistake imaginable.

When she forgot about a pot that was boiling potatoes and it began bubbling over the rim, she managed to stop herself from blushing as he watched from the kitchen table. When she tripped over nothing in particular, only to be caught by Miki, she grabbed on tight to her friend and hid her face in the girl's chest for a moment to conceal her embarrassment and get herself together. When Miki informed her that she was mixing the wrong ingredients together, she avoided Yuuma's continuous stare and dumped the ruined concoction into the compost before beginning once more. When she forgot about the onions she was frying on another element and nearly ended up burning them, as should would have if Miki hadn't brought her attention to it, she might have blushed if she wasn't so annoyed at her own idiocy.

No, it was one simple mistake that resulted in the fourth blush of the day, and it wasn't even the mistake itself that caused her to blush. In fact, it wasn't even her mistake.

Miki flinched and sucked in a sharp breath. Iroha and Yuuma both looked instantly to her, and she merely smiled with a wince and lifted her finger for them to view. "I guess I was dicing too finely," she laughed lightly as she eyed the small cut disappointedly.

Iroha looked then to Yuuma as she heard him push his chair back. She gazed at him as he entered the kitchen, widening her eyes in shock as he took Miki's hand in his own and lightly kissed the cut. He looked at her with those innocent doe eyes Iroha loved so much and wondered, "Is it okay now?"

Miki giggled, failing to notice how envious Iroha was, and nodded. Yuuma seemed to notice, though, as he tilted her head at the heated stare Iroha was giving Miki's finger, and then he proffered his hand to her and wondered, "Does yours hurt, too?"

Roses exploded in Iroha's cheeks, and her traitor friend broke down laughing as Iroha steamed in embarrassment with Yuuma standing there all the while in his painful obliviousness.

Four.

. . .

Iroha went to bed early, but she didn't stay in bed long. She was woken by a dream where she was chased by zombies and monsters, and, though she knew they didn't exist in real life, it was still hard to get over. So she crawled out of bed, wrapping her blanket around her, and headed out to the living area to see if anyone was awake.

Lily, Kaito, Yuuma, and Piko were all sitting around doing their own things. Iroha looked longingly to Yuuma. She knew that he could comfort her right now, but she had no idea how to ask him for that. It was too embarrassing, of course, and she knew she'd inevitably blush. Still, in her weakened state, she padded across the carpet toward where he sat on the couch, playing on his DS. She stood there for a moment, unsure what to say, until he realized she was there and looked up.

"I thought you went to sleep," he stated, looking at her curiously, and she was still frightened, so the comfort that came from that gaze made her grow teary and blush a little at that tearfulness.

Five.

"I had a bad dream," she murmured, looking down at her feet for a moment. Then, because she was blushing already, she gathered the courage to ask of him, "Will you hold me for a little?"

"Sure," came his response after a moment, and, avoiding his gaze, she settled in. She sat next to him and wrapped her blanket around them both, pressing against him as his muscles tensed over and over as he pressed buttons on the DS. After a little while of sleeplessness, she decided to look up at him for a moment, because she knew seeing his peaceful face would help her sleep. When she did, though, she found herself a little startled. Then, she smiled tenderly and closed her eyes. She knew she'd have to problems falling asleep now. She was too happy for any nightmares, because, for the first time, she'd been the one to end up making him blush.

One.

Author's Note: Welcome to the world of Drabble Wars, where Mipiko and I give each other prompts and write for an hour! She gave me the prompt "Five times he makes her blush, and one time she makes him", and here's what I made.