A/N: It seems people really liked the last chapter. ^^;;

And now Part 9 is here to slap you in the face. Ahh, I hope it's okay?

Enjoy.


How does a crush begin?

Not a big crush, not the kind that both Nitori and Momo knew very well, what with their obsessions with the Matsuokas. No, not those. Big crushes were easy to figure out, the kind to sigh over as you marvel at someone's talent or someone's beauty, the kind that kinda-sorta-maybe take over your life, the kind that make you think about the one or soul mates or the word forever—until they end. These boys knew about those. Big crushes were the kind you see, that everyone could see, that started off with the moment you laid eyes on them. And while they felt big, no one ever took them seriously. If you fall in love using your eyes, you'll fall right out of it when you blink.

No, not those. Subtle crushes, small crushes, the kind you don't realize you have until you both touch, the kind you feel. Even with your eyes closed.

How do those begin?

"Are you cold?" Momotarou asked, his eyes looking past Nitori and at the wall.

"No."

They had been hugging in bed for about ten minutes, gradually settling into each other. Nitori had managed to tuck his head in between Momo's and the pillow, where he could puff each exhaled breath onto Momo's left ear and watch it twitch. He was the furthest thing from cold, with his arms sandwiched between their chests as Momo held him close, and with Momo's chin nestled into the crook of his neck and shoulder. All the heat pulsated around them as they hugged, and it kind of made Nitori sleepy.

Momo couldn't fall asleep even if he tried. His heart pounded, his mind raced, his lips curved up into a smile as he held his senpai tight to his chest—here was Momotarou Mikoshiba experiencing every romantic cliché for the first time, and it was exciting. The eruption of his embarrassment for his failed attempt at kissing had fizzled out into this soft, lingering contentment, and yet everything felt so new. There was Nitori beginning to fall asleep, tucking his legs between Momo's, and there was the laptop still at their feet playing Wavetech episodes. He thought maybe he should turn it off along with the lights, but he didn't want to move. Not yet, not while he felt what it was like to hold someone who held him back.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Mnn," Nitori stirred, mumbling, "Who is it?"

"Dunno," Momo murmured.

Another knock at the door.

"Maybe," Nitori nuzzled himself into the pillow as he spoke, "you should an…swer it."

Seriously, it had to be now? Momo thought, annoyed as he slipped himself away from Nitori and stumbled out of bed to drag his feet to the door. Just when things got comfortable, just when he began to enjoy himself.

He opened the door and drawled out, "What."

To his surprise, it was Sousuke Yamazaki, who didn't greet him, just stepped inside, shut the door behind them, and looked down at the paper cranes scattered all over the floor. His lips pursed as he observed the size of the pile, which spanned the length of the bunk bed with a semicircle of free area where Momo sat. It was too much of an impressive amount, which made Sousuke announce, "We have a problem."

"Hmm?" Nitori propped himself up on one elbow, giving a slight yawn as he woke himself up again. "What do you mean?"

Sweeping some cranes off to the side with his foot, Sousuke cleared the area at the foot of the bed and sat down, with his elbows resting on his knees. When he entered the room, he figured the amount of cranes Momo made wouldn't be so bad—honestly, how many could the kid make in a few hours after school?—but now as he sat there, staring down at the hundreds of paper birds piled up to the edge of the bed, he thought, well shit. And so he sighed, realizing Plan B did actually need to happen if this stupid surprise party was going to be a success, and said, "I can't pick up the cranes tomorrow morning," He frowned, continuing, "which wouldn't be a problem, but Rin thinks you guys are taking things fast."

Momo and Nitori looked at each other, their cheeks flushing, because a little over ten minutes ago, that statement was all too real about things going fast. And still, they hadn't even touched first base yet—for all intents and purposes, these kids finally got a slap on the ass to step up to the plate. The metaphorical game had not even started.

"So don't pick them up tomorrow morning," Momo said, trying to direct his thoughts back to the conversation. "No big."

Sousuke shook his head. "No, you don't understand. Rin's going to check up on you guys tomorrow morning and I can't pick up the cranes, and there's this giant pile right here on the floor."

"Oh."

"Damn." He sighed. "You guys are going to have to take the cranes yourself."

As Sousuke dug into his pants pockets to pull out a pair of keys, he started to think that maybe this was a terrible idea, particularly when he noticed Momo's eager face at the thought of being put on a mission. But what could they do? Technically speaking he could have taken the cranes over there right then, but it seemed to be a bit more suspicious to be sneaking out this late at night.

"Take them where?" Nitori asked, sitting up completely.

But there was Nitori, who was much more responsible, so maybe if he did it, it wouldn't be so bad. At the very least, Sousuke could come up with a good excuse if this kid got in trouble.

"The cafeteria freezer," Sousuke answered, handing the keys over to Nitori, "where we stored the bread, right behind them."

"Ehhh?!"

Nitori's fingers trembled as he held the cafeteria freezer's keys in his hands. How the hell did Sousuke even obtain these? How were the cranes going unnoticed by the cafeteria staff? How were the freaking keys going unnoticed by the cafeteria staff? He stared down at them at his hands realizing that holy crap, there were his fingerprints touching all over them, there was the evidence, there it was.

"What do you mean the cafeteria keys?" Nitori exclaimed, trying to stifle his voice. "How did—Oh my god, Yamazaki-senpai, this is just a surprise party!" He gasped. "Are we going to get expelled for this?"

"Don't worry about the keys," Sousuke grunted. "It's fine."

"Holy shit," Momo uttered, nearing the bunk bed. "I'm in. How do we bust in?"

"Oh god, no." Nitori dropped the keys on the mattress. "No, we can't do this. We'll get in so much trouble."

"It's fine," Sousuke said. "Listen, there are three keys. One for the cafeteria doors, one for the kitchen doors, and one for the freezer. You're going to wake up really early tomorrow and be at the kitchen at exactly 5:30am, no later. You have fifteen minutes to put the cranes in the freezer with the rest, which are all the way in the back behind the meat boxes. And then you lock up and get out."

This was not fine, Nitori thought, this was legitimately a crime. They could get caught and suspended or expelled or arrested, and how was Sousuke doing all of this? What was this guy even capable of, that he so freely considered breaking and entering? Nitori had never done anything in his life this risky. He didn't even tempt fate by drinking mystery flavored ramune, for crying out loud. He kept good luck charms and practiced superstitious rituals because he didn't like to fuck with that shit, okay? One time Nitori accidentally walked out of a grocery store with a magazine he was reading that he didn't pay for, and when he realized it, he got so panicked he just threw it at the motion-detector doors and ran.

So, this was not fine.

"It's simple," said Sousuke, who noticed how increasingly paranoid Nitori seemed to become as he stared heavily down at the keys. "You can handle it."

"Got it," Momo said, not even hesitating, not even affected by the concept of sin. "You think I can take some food? You think anyone would notice?"

"Don't steal food."

"Like a box of ice cream—not even anything popular, like maybe lime—"

"Don't steal food."

"Grape? I'll take one grape popsicle—"

"This is already a bad idea," Nitori muttered. "Oh god, we're gonna get in so much trouble. I haven't even graduated yet—"

Sousuke groaned. Good grief, this was not a complicated task. It was no different than if he were to ask them to put something in his locker. But if Nitori needed reassurance, then so be it, so he said, "You'll be fine if you do as I say. And if you get in trouble, just text me."

And what vaguely resembled that of a yakuza boss to his henchmen, he said, "I'll handle it."


Tuesday, 5:27AM.

Oh sweet Neptune, what were they doing.

Momotarou Mikoshiba and Aiichirou Nitori were breaking into the cafeteria, that's what they were doing.

Nitori held the bag of paper cranes in his arms as he kept look-out for anyone walking by while Momo pointed his flashlight at the lock and tried to work in the right key. He was, to put it simply, totally freaking out. It was dark, it was deathly silent, and it was the exact situation every horror story had warned Nitori about. As he stared down the alley they were in, praying no security guards walked by, he wondered where in his life did he go wrong, and the answer of course was: Momo.

Last night after Sousuke left, with the mastermind of the heist they were about the pull wishing them a casual good luck, Momo had sat down next to Nitori and tried to reassure him with a hug, because that was what they did now. Cuddle themselves asleep before waking up in the morning to commit crime. Like a g-rated version of Bonnie and Clyde. And yeah, it felt nice, but it begged the question of what was next? Making out, then robbing a candy store?

The lock clicked.

"We're in," Momo whispered, all too eager to utter every action movie slogan he had ever heard.

With cautious steps, they went inside the cafeteria, shutting the doors gently behind them as if they could detonate at any moment. Momo flashed the light ahead of them, remarking how eerie the cafeteria looked in the dark with empty tables and chairs scattered all over, and then pointed up ahead at the kitchen doors. Second target point. Nitori trembled as he held the paper cranes in his arms, never taking more than an inch of space between him and Momo as he shifted his head around, looking at Momo, looking at the kitchen door, looking at the cafeteria door, looking back at Momo. God, he was a wreck. This was madness. Every step they took echoed across the room loud as elephant stomps in his mind. At any moment, shit was about to hit the fan, he just knew it—what the hell were they thinking trying to do this? Couldn't they have just hid the paper cranes in an empty gym locker or something? Wasn't that saner?

He bumped into Momo once they reached the kitchen door, nearly ramming himself into the railway divider of the food-serving counter and the dining area, and made Momo drop the keys. The clash of the jingling pieces of metal echoing across the cafeteria like an atomic eruption, followed by Momo's casual, "Oops."

"Oh my god," Nitori squeaked. "Things are already going bad. We should just leave."

"Chill," Momo whispered, picking the keys up. He stuck one key in the kitchen door lock, which happened to be the right one, and opened the door. "Everything's fine, Nitori-senpai."

They stepped inside the kitchen, Momo's light guiding the way to the freezer. As they walked past pots and pans, stovetops and ovens, Momo marveled at how unbelievably exciting a kitchen could be when you were breaking into it. A grill is just a grill, until you slap some trespassing onto it, the fine scent of illegal activities. Alas, the freezer stood before them, hinges locked with a padlock hanging off the links. And as Momo inserted the final key into the padlock, the severity of the situation grew thicker in Nitori's mind.

"Oh, hurry," he whined. "I don't want to be here—oh my god," his voice grew quieter as his nerves sunk him down into a panic, "we're going to get caught, and then the principal is going to kick us off the swim team and we'll get expelled and—"

Momo held his nervous wreck of a senpai's shoulders and said, "Listen, we're not going to get expelled, okay?" He pointed at the bag of cranes. "Remember what we're doing this for. This is gonna be kawaii as fuck."

"Is it worth it?" Nitori hissed, watching Momo open the freezer door. "Really?"

But all Momo did was shrug as he took the bag of cranes off Nitori's hands and delved into the darkness inside the freezer. Nitori stood by the door, glancing back at the kitchen entrance, where the unknown loomed all around. The only faith he could hold onto was that Sousuke wouldn't really put them in a situation where they would get expelled, right?

This was so bad.

"You know," Momo called out, "there's actually not as much food in here as I thought there would be."

"Just stash the cranes and let's go!"

"I already did, I'm just looking arou—oh man, they have whole box of blueberry popsicles. I know Yamazaki-senpai said not to take some, but—"

"Momo," Nitori hissed, gripping onto the doorframe.

"—I'm taking some."

"We don't have much time!"

"You like the coconut ones, right? I'm grabbing one of those, too."

"Oh my god." Nitori wanted to scream. "Just stop, please, just come out and let's go."

With about seven popsicles in his hands and a blueberry one in his mouth, Momo finally stepped out of the freezer, as if they were merely taking a snack break. Still, the deed had been done and Nitori was more than eager to lock up the freezer behind them, then the kitchen door, then the cafeteria doors, and then go back to their dorm, safe and sound in their beds.

And everything would have been fine until the lights turned on.

There they were, mid-way to the cafeteria doors with Momo carrying stolen popsicles and Nitori just short of pissing himself, when the cafeteria manager flicked the light switch on and asked, "Who the hell are you?"

The jig was up. This was it. This was the end.

But Momo was not swayed. In his mind, there was still a chance. He looked at where they were standing, just a few feet from the cafeteria doors to the right of the cafeteria manager, and he looked out of shape enough for them to make a break for it if they tried. So, with the life-or-death situation presented in front of him, Momo took the popsicles in his hands and plunged them straight at the cafeteria manager's face.

"What the hel—!"

"RUN," Momo screamed, gripping onto Nitori's wrist, before dashing towards the doors. His shoulder slammed into the door as his hip pressed against the bar to push it open and clumsily, he plowed through the exit with Nitori firmly in his grasp.

Not one to think things through, Momo did not consider what he should do once out in the alleyway again, especially when faced with a pair of confused cafeteria staff heading his way. He froze, thinking, oh no, what now, but Nitori had tugged Momo's hand the other direction of the alley down where the wire fence stood by the dumpster. If they hopped the fence, they could escape around the corner of the classroom buildings and get away scot-free. Do or die.

"Are you—Hey!" shouted one cafeteria staff member. "Wait!"

Momo cupped his hands to help lift Nitori up the fence by the foot, looking up to make sure he reached the top. And just then, Momo relished at how determined his timid partner-in-crime looked as he gripped the wired squares and vaulted his body over, the grace of his legs shooting over the fence like a javelin—until he landed. Nitori's feet stumbled forward and tripped him onto his hands and knees, which scraped against the asphalt, but still panicked, he turned his head around and yelled, "Hurry, Momo-kun!"

What a sight.

"What are you kids—" The cafeteria manager started running down the alley towards them. "Stop! You're gonna hurt yourselves!"

Cue Momo's leap to the top of the fence, swinging his legs over. He hit the ground with his hand outstretched to grab Nitori's and yanked him back up to dart around the corner. His heart thumped against his chest as he ran, his throat rasped against the cool morning air as he panted, and his cheeks hurt from the sheer elation he felt as they escaped. Momo didn't really have any particular direction of where he was going, just as long as it was away from the cafeteria and so, they kept running, sprinting past the gym pool, past the dorms, past the school buildings, until they reached the other side of campus just before the park.

Once they stopped in front of the park entrance, Nitori gasped for air and bent forward to inhale as much of it as he could into his lungs. This worried Momo because he thought maybe they had run too far for too long, but then suddenly, just as shocking as the night before, Nitori started… giggling, his voice hiccupping with each high pitch giggle blurting out of his mouth. He held his stomach as he threw himself into a fit and just laughed.

"Yeah." And this kind of made Momo laugh as well. "That wasn't so bad, right?"

"Are you kidding?" Nitori couldn't stop himself, apparently a nervous laugher when he didn't know what else to do. "We're dead!"

The sun was half-risen and where they stood faced east, with golden rays highlighting Nitori's cheeks as he laughed. It took Momo off guard for a moment, having been unused to seeing Nitori's skin get honey-glazed by sunrise. He didn't know what to say, just watched Nitori bring his hands up and rub his thumbs against his scraped palms. His giggles softened, and he showed Momo his hands as he said, "I hurt myself."

"Yeah?"

He chuckled, "Yeah."

Nitori's lips tugged themselves into a carefree smirk, as if to say, oh well, which made his cheeks round out his face into a sweetheart shape. Every time Momo looked at him, he seemed to notice more things. Though his senpai was on the verge of breaking down just minutes before, even the shy duckling could experience an adrenaline rush. And a sense of relief glowed from those pretty eyes of his, a flicker of wonder and awe at what they had just done.

As Nitori kept giggling to himself, he kept looking out to the sunrise, but then he noticed Momo was staring. His smile didn't fade and he didn't grow confused, just cocked his head to the side a little and chirped, "Momo-kun?"

And Nitori looked, well, cute.

So Momo kissed him.

He didn't think about it this time, just kind of did it. And this was crazy, because by the time Momo realized what he had done, adrenaline had already tricked him into taking their first kiss right there in front of the park entrance at sunrise. It was so fast; he didn't even realize he was already pulling away, his lips ghosting over Nitori's. They kind of tingled, and they twitched up into a smile.

"You stopped," Nitori murmured.

When they both registered what was said, they took a step back, flustered, blushing. They couldn't look each other in the eyes, just down at their toes. Iwashimizu was right: neither of them had ever kissed before, and there they were, resisting the urge to feel their own lips, as if they had changed. And in a way, they sort of did, but the kiss was so quick, so spontaneous, that they had already forgotten what it was like.

They looked up at each other, wondering, was it good?

"Sorry," Momo said, a little embarrassed.

"It's okay."

It might have been, Momo figured, because if it wasn't, then Nitori wouldn't have wondered why he stopped, wouldn't have said it was okay, wouldn't have smiled. Maybe he liked it—kind of, who knows, Momo didn't want to assume—but he kind of hoped so because when Nitori took a step forward, so did he. And he cupped Nitori's face in his hands, which he didn't mean to, but this was okay, right? He wasn't the only one into this, right? At least, Momo liked it, so maybe…

What led Nitori to take a step forward? He didn't know, but when he did and felt Momo grip his face to make another move, he compared the morning sun to Momo's eyes, both determined to start something new. And that was okay, Nitori thought, even though he didn't really know what it meant, just tilted his head up and let Momo's lips press against his.

This time it felt real.

But to be honest, Momo didn't really know what to do and it was pretty obvious to Nitori as they kissed that Momo knew step one—press lips together—but not so much step two. It was kind of endearing to Nitori, which let him muster up the courage to part his lips and take a daring suckle. He might not have ever kissed anyone either, but Nitori had read enough… material to give him a good idea.

Still, it was a shy kiss. Gently, their lips left tiny, tender kisses on each other, like butterflies nipping against flower petals—quick, soft, and numerous. One kiss, two kiss, a lingered three kiss, and more, as they felt each other breathe against their cheeks and listened to the muted clicks of their tongues with caress. A flurry of heartbeats rushed through them, made their cheeks tingle, made them smile.

Nitori was first to break away, embarrassed for having gotten caught up in the moment.

"Huh?" Momo opened his eyes. "Did I do something wrong?"

"N—No," Nitori stuttered, looking away. "It felt nice."

It felt amazing, Momo thought. No one ever told him that kissing would make his heart beat behind his ears or how the soft, slow graze of Nitori's lips against his could shoot a sensation down to his groin; it was kind of sexy. His mind cleared and all he really thought when they kissed was how wonderful it felt, and maybe how nice it could be to hold him. As he looked at Nitori, who fumbled with his own thoughts, Momo realized the earnestness of his desire. Nitori-senpai was a game changer, a secret beauty right under his nose, a newfound crush.

"Hey, Nitori-senpai," Momo chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "I know I freaked out about it yesterday, but…"

He hesitated, watching Nitori's curious glance meet his eyes, and wondered if maybe this was too soon, maybe he was still shot with adrenaline in his veins and everything just seemed like a good idea, but he shook his head. This wasn't a figment of his imagination.

So he confessed, "I think I like you."

And when he waited for a response, all he got from Nitori was, "Oh."

Oh.