I'm having writer's block for my other fics! D:
Disclaimer: I don't own Free!.
Akihiko was on her third candy apple half an hour later.
She had texted Rin after he had walked away with Nitori, and, as she'd expected, he did not respond to her. Nagisa had messaged Lando while she was still trying to chose between a strawberry and an apple while Akihiko was buying his first apple, warning her that Rin was there, and that she should keep an eye out for him and make sure Akihiko stayed as far away from Rin as possible; Lando just played along, thinking it would be easier to just agree with him then explain how the Samezuka swimmer had showed up at their school, and that they'd already seen Rin.
"I thought we were going out to eat after this." remarked Suzeme as Akihiko purchased her third apple, Lando finally just settling on buying both.
"Oh," said Lando, "You think this is gonna fill me up?"
"I'm still up for going out." said Akihiko, glancing back at her friends; she did not think of walking with Rin, considering she was apparently supposed to be avoiding the boy.
"That's, like, your third apple." said Suzeme, laughing, and Akihiko shrugged, turning back to look ahead of her.
"We'll just have to stop by my house so I can get more money. And change."
Suzeme laughed, while Bunko shook her head, though was smiling.
By the time the five all climbed in Lando's Grandma's car, Lando had won Akihiko a stuffed shark, and Suzeme had accidentally won herself a goldfish. She played the game as a joke, though had ended up taking it seriously - now, she had the bag in her lap, looking down at the fish with puckered lips. She had already tried to pass it off to her friends, who all shoved it back, laughing at her attempts.
Akihiko threw the stuffed shark to the back of the van, hitting Bunko and Asuka.
"Hey!" said Lando, turning round in her seat to look at her friend, "I won you that!"
"And you did it to be a jerk." huffed Akihiko, sighing as Asuka pushed the shark into her lap, scooting it closer to her.
"I am not the jerk in this relationship." said Lando, smiling, and Suzeme interrupted.
"But, seriously," she said, glancing up from her goldfish, "What am I gonna do with this thing? I mean, it's not like I actually wanted it."
"Give it to Daichi." said Lando.
"Yeah," continued Akihiko, "It matches his hair color."
The girls laughed, even Akihiko - she had been especially quiet during the festival, mulling over something in her head, though she had brightened up when she met up with her team to say her goodbyes. She told her younger brother that she would be going out with her friends that night, and might stay the night, telling him to make sure the dogs were fed.
When Akihiko exited her house after letting Hime and Kairi back in, she had decided on keeping her hair up, not wanted to deal with tearing bobby pins from her hair just yet. She wore a dark blue Band tee-shirt, the year claiming 2012-2013, back decorated with names, each under their assigned instrument section, and jeans that hugged her legs, switching the black silk purse for her normal camouflaged satchel, wad of clothes tucked underneath her arm for a night at Lando's. She was shoving her wallet, decorated with Yoshi, into her bag and sliding out of the door with her moccasins on when her phone dinged from her pocket, a noise she barely heard in her ruckus of attempting to get organized.
Stepping down the stairs once her purse was zipped up, she unlocked her phone, shocked to see Daddy Shark had bothered to respond to her earlier message, one asking, 'You okay?'
'sorry for just now texting back. yeah, i'm fine.'
She pursed her lips, knowing he was definitely not sorry, and locked her phone with a sigh, opening the door to the van and sliding back in; blinking her eyes at the shark plush occupying her seat, she shoved it to the floor with a dissatisfied noise, climbing in.
Suzeme examined her friend from the seat beside her, picking up the shark, "Well, you look slightly more pissed than you did when you walked in there." she observed, and, unlike Asuka, she did not try to give the toy back.
Akihiko shrugged, "Rin texted back. Said he was fine." she said, gathering her purse in her lap, pulling her seatbelt on as Grandma pulled out from the driveway.
Lando looked back at them, twisting around in her seat, "And what did you say?" she inquired.
Akihiko shrugged once again at her, "I didn't text back."
"Give me your phone."
"... What?"
"Give me your phone!" repeated Lando, leaning over the cupholders to grab at Akihiko, ignoring Grandma's objections.
Akihiko slid down in her seat to avoid Lando, who's hand reached out to her, "No! Stop! You're just going to text him and be mean! It's fine, okay? He didn't yell at me or anything!"
"Don't care! He needs to realize that you're - no, not just you, because he's been mean to me, too! - that all of us are better than him, and that he can't talk to us like that, all snarky! Give me your phone!"
As Akihiko continued attempting to move around Lando's outstretching hand, Suzeme spoke up, "Well, we are better than him." she said.
An issue with their group, and one of the many reasons their names were all so well known, was that all members were very egotistical.
"Plus," began Suzeme, "he treats you like shit."
Akihiko hesitated at that, and Lando grabbed her hand, though her phone wasn't in her hand. "He doesn't treat me like shit." defended Akihiko, glancing over at Suzeme.
"He's just... stressed out over regionals. I know how that feels." continued Akihiko, and Lando hesitated, though did not speak up.
Bunko nodded from the back, "I remember last year, when you snapped at the whole trumpet section a week before regionals."
"Because they don't know how to be quiet - whatever. He's just stressed, and you've only heard me complaining about him. I don't really talk about him enough for you guys to say he's not nice. Sometimes he's not, yeah, but we're not nice most of the time, so it works out."
All of the girls shared a glance, before turning back to Akihiko, and Asuka was the first one to speak up.
"I heard about how he showed up at the end of your third hour." she said, "So, I mean, he obviously cares about you a little bit."
"Yeah," said Suzeme, "He wouldn't of left Samezuka to head to Iwatobi if he didn't think about you."
Akihiko hesitated, though slowly nodded her head, glancing out the window - she did not notice Lando suddenly remembering the homework they had, and her wild questioning if anybody had done it; which, they hadn't.
Lando's house being the headquarters to emergency sleepovers and gossiping, Suzeme, Asuka, and Bunko all had clothes there to wear, and therefore her house was the last stop they'd had to make before they headed out to eat. Grandma had dropped them off, claiming to want to stop by the store for something, though the girls knew in reality she didn't want to be seen out in public with them.
And so all five girls squeezed into a round booth, seated Bunko, Asuka, Suzeme, Akihiko, and Lando, almost dangling off the side of the leather seating. They had all ordered at least eleven plates between the four of them, just naming off appetizers, and Lando and Akihiko both had already cleared off two of their three plates not fifteen minutes after, when a certain beat began playing from the speakers above.
"Kiss me hard before you go, Summertime sadness.
I just wanted you to know, that, baby, you're the best."
Akihiko's phone, seated beside her third plate, went off, and, though she was not able to hear it over the song, it lit up, illuminating in the dim lighting of the restaurant.
"I got my red dress on tonight, dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight."
Suzeme began screeching from beside Akihiko, who was too busy unlocking her phone to join in. "Got my hair up real big beauty queen style, high heels off, I'm feeling alive!"
All the girls excluding Akihiko laughed at the eyes that went to their booth - and that was exactly why Grandma 'went to the store'.
"Oh, my god, I feel it in the air,
telephone wires above are sizzling like a snare.
Honey, I'm on fire, I feel it everywhere.
Nothing scares me anymore."
Akihiko leaned into Lando, who was still chuckling at the stares, turning her phone towards her friend so she could see the text message.
'so are we walking tonight?'
Lando glanced up to Akihiko's eyes, hesitating.
"What are you going to say?" she asked under her breath, and Akihiko shrugged, a look in her eyes as if waiting for Lando's approval.
By then, all the other girls' eyes had turned to the two, though Akihiko appeared not to have an idea of their looks.
Glancing over Akihiko's shoulder, Lando looked at each of them in turn; Asuka had a motherly look to her, one that clearly said, 'Let the poor girl have this, she hasn't had a boyfriend in, like, four years.' Bunko had a similar look, though it had a certain begging sheen, that muttered, 'Ask him if he has any friends for me, okay?' Suzeme on the other hand just smiled at Lando, and mouthed, 'I just really wanna see if his teeth actually look like shark's.'
Lando sighed, glancing back to Akihiko; those were three votes to her one, and who was she to keep Akihiko, even if she had no warm feelings towards Rin?
And so she smiled at the girl with the shark bow still in her hair.
"Go ahead and walk with him, we'll keep the door unlocked for you."
At that, Akihiko hesitated, though could not help the smile that came to her face, nodding her head and beginning to type on her phone.
'Yeah, we are. Meet me at Lando's in an hour.'
He had been waiting in Lando's driveway for an hour and a half, and was just about to leave when Grandma's lights reflected off the windows, pulling up into the driveway beside Rin. Five girls piled out, all chattering and giggling still, and the short one, standing just barely at five foot, was the first to notice Rin.
"Hey," she said, though none of the girls paid her any attention, laughing at Lando who had tripped on her way out of the car.
"HEY!" she repeated, and this time they heard her, looking down at her, though they were attempting to stifle their laughter.
"Isn't that...?"
She trailed off, and they hesitated, looking off in the way Asuka motioned. At that, Suzeme gasped in a way that made everyone think she had harmed herself, walking over to him.
"Hey - you're Rin? Smile!" she ordered, laughing, and the swimmer hesitated.
Akihiko blinked, stepping towards them, "Suzeme - leave him alone!"
Bunko followed after them, "No - I want to see his teeth, too!" she objected, and Lando laughed.
"They're just like a shark's, I swear!" she said, gathering around Rin as well, pulling Asuka along with her. "Come on, dick!" said Lando, reaching forward and pulling at his cheeks, "Smile!"
Not prepared to be harassed by five teenaged girl, Rin hesitated before pushing away Lando's hands, "Don't touch me, why do you smell like that?" he said, and Lando gave a baffled huff.
"Excuse me?" she snapped, "That is Paris Amour, dick!"
"Well it stinks." replied Rin, shoving away her hands once more when she attempted to grab his cheeks again.
The other girls laughed, and Lando gave him an open-mouthed look.
"You know what, dick? You just lost the privilege to be on my lawn! Get off!" she ordered, pushing him by his shoulder.
"No!" objected Suzeme, "We haven't seen his teeth yet!"
"You have your fish to take care of!" replied Lando, turning towards her friend.
"What?!" said Suzeme, and it was her turn to be open-mouthed, "I thought you said you'd take care of it!"
"I lied!" Lando said, pointing and laughing at Suzeme's shocked face, and Rin made the mistake of smirking.
Suzeme's eyes caught him before he was able to wipe it away, and she jumped towards him, "Woah, your teeth actually look just like a shark's! How are they like that?!"
She was the one to pull on his cheeks this time, and Rin pulled away from her.
Akihiko came to his rescue, taking hold of his arm, "Come on, Rin, let's walk. I have to go to school tomorrow, still." she said, and Rin nodded, beginning to pull her along, Lando objecting behind them.
"She's my friend! She likes me more! Akihiko, Akihiko, come back!"
"Ah - leave the door unlocked, Lando!"
"Don't tell me what to do!"
The walk had proved not to be very interesting - aside from Rin commenting on how he liked her bow, which she had forgotten to take out, and that resulted in her sputtering and blushing for a good five minutes.
Neither said anything of his strange behavior at the festival - Akihiko continued to assume it was regionals approaching that made him so quiet, though she had no confirmation of this, though she insisted to herself she didn't need any.
When Akihiko and Rin walked back up Lando's drive, the girls were all staring out the window at her, Suzeme moving the shark plush in a swimming motion while Lando puckered her lips at it. Akihiko did her best to look away, as if she didn't see their faces pressed against the glass, and hoped Rin did not see them.
"We gonna walk tomorrow?" asked Rin, tugging on her hand to bring her back to him when she attempted to walk up the stairs of Lando's porch.
"What? Yeah, if you want." said Akihiko, glancing up at him; she could almost hear her friends' teasing.
"Yeah, I want too." replied Rin, and he leaned down, pressing his lips to hers for only a brief second, not even giving her enough time to respond.
He had broken off at the sound of the whooping and screeching inside the house.
Akihiko flushed, lowering her head, "I - ah, um. I have to go! I'll see you tomorrow, Rin! Text me!" she barely managed to squeak this out, letting go of his hand and hurrying up the steps, stumbling over to the door; Rin hesitated, before chuckling and nodding, waving at her back. He turned and opened the gate, beginning to walk down the driveway, while Akihiko tried in vain to work the door open.
"Dammit, Lando! Unlock the door!"
"Don't tell me what to do!"
So yeah I'm going to attempt to act like I'm not ashamed of this chapter. Ready?
NO SHAME.
Remember when this was supposed to be OC X Various? Yeah lol me neither.
Isabel: UWAH, THANK YOU, I LOVE YOU TOO 3
Wonderwoman123: Yeah, kind of, haha! Here's the update! :D
So, everybody, I'm having some writer's block lately; I'll try to have a chapter a week, okay? Sorry if that doesn't happen! I promise I won't give up on this or any of my other fics, okay?! Love you all! :D