Judar sighed, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat. "Why are we walking? Can't we use a broom or something to get there?" The air around his head began to fog up from his breath as he spoke. Noticing this for the first time, he opened his mouth and breathed out some hot air, chuckling as it steamed up. Kenmei smiled up at him, finding it cute that he was so easily amused by the steam. "It's more fun to walk, don't you think?" She was walking beside him, hands also in her pockets, as she was feeling a bit timid about trying to hold his hand or anything.
With a shake of his head, Judar continued to blow more air to create the steam. "No, I like to fly. You know that." He looked down at her, feeling his face flush as he grew embarrassed, realizing she had been watching him make steam from his breath. "W-what?" Kenmei's smile only grew, pointing up at him. "You're entertained by the steam, it's cute!" Judar grabbed onto the hood of her coat and pulled it up over her head until it covered her eyes. "No I'm not! It's not cute." Kenmei giggled, grabbing onto his hand with both of hers, getting him to release his hold on the hood.
"Nothing to be embarrassed about! I like it, too." She opened her mouth and blew out some hot air, smile returning as she watched the steam. Judar grumbled, twisting his palm to face hers until he was able to lace their fingers, their arms retuning to hang between them. "It's embarrassing for you to watch me do it." Kenmei felt her face flush a bit, the heat in her cheeks more prominent against the chill of the breeze around them. She moved to walk a bit closer to him, unable to help her own embarrassment. Since it had only been a few days since the night of the dance, and she was still having some trouble adjusting.
Kenmei could tell that Judar was as well. Anything intimate or gentle was obviously awkward for him, and if it wasn't sexual, he didn't really know what to do. Though she wished he knew how to be more comfortable, she expected this, and knew it was something they were going to have to work though. This moment was one breakthrough, at least, as this was the first time he held her hand in public. Sure, they were around strangers, but she could tell that the thought of being judged for them being together made him nervous.
In truth, it made Kenmei nervous as well. It was actually quite common for Witch and Creature partners to become romantically involved, but in a school setting, it could easily spell disaster at a social level. Her fear was made worse by the fact that she had just recently broken up with Dyvar, and she knew that rumors would spread, as he was a popular person and friends with a lot of people in the school. If he talked bad, it would spread like wildfire, and she knew it would make things harder on Judar and herself. All Kenmei could do, now, was hope that didn't happen.
She was pulled from her thoughts as she was jolted to a stop, pulled backwards by Judar. "Hey Freckles, get out of your daydream and pay attention!" Kenmei gasped as the loud woooosh of a large group of people on brooms passed them by, a couple of them yelling incoherent insults towards her for almost walking out in front of them. Breathing heavily from shock as her heart raced, Kenmei placed her hand on her chest, looking up at Judar. "I-I'm sorry." Judar glowered down at her, his expression a mix of annoyance and worry. "What were you even thinking about?"
"U-uhm…" Kenmei stuttered, still trying to compose herself. "It was nothing. I was just… Daydreaming about us, I guess." Judar started down at her in confusion, starting to walk as the group of people around them did. "Us?" Kenmei followed, feeling her embarrassment grow at the way he was looking at her. "I-It's nothing weird or anything!" Judar snickered, nudging her in the arm with his elbow, still holding her hand. "Been dreaming about the other night, huh?" Kenmei shook her head and a sly smile crossed Judar's face at how red her cheeks became.
"No, no!" Kenmei protested, though kept her voice down, not wanting strangers to hear. "No, that's not what I was thinking about. I was thinking about… uhm… Things that make me nervous, I guess?" She decided to be honest with him, not wanting to hide anything. Judar nodded, reaching up to scratch his scalp under his beanie. "Things that make you nervous, huh? Like what?" Kenmei looked down at their hands, noticing his grip had become a bit tighter. "Well… Like this." She held their hands up a bit before letting them fall back down.
Judar raised an eyebrow at her. "Holding hands makes you nervous?" Kenmei shook her head. "No, no. But I can tell it makes you nervous." Judar huffed, looking away from her as he felt called out. "Hey, I'm not used to this relationship stuff in pubic like you are, Mei." Kenmei squeezed his hand gently. "I'm not saying it's bad. I'm just saying, that's what I was thinking about." Judar kept his gaze away from her, obviously bothered at her mentioning his insecurities. "It's only been a few days, I'll get used to it." Kenmei nudged him gently, smiling softly up at him as he looked down at her.
"I know you will. I have to get used to it, too." Kenmei placed her free hand on her chest, leaning on him as she pretended to be sappy. "You're just so adorable, I want to hug on you all the time." Judar scoffed, playfully pushing her off him, glad she lightened the mood. "Whatever, you're just a leech." With a pout, Kenmei leaned on him again, bringing her other hand around to grip onto his arm gently. "I am not a leech. You're the one that's been following me around this whole time."
"Uh, no." Judar brought his free hand around and put it over her mouth. "It's time to be quiet." Kenmei shook her head to rid her face of his hand, narrowing her eyes at him as she gripped onto his arm tighter. "You can't make me be quiet." A sly smirk crossed Judar's features as he looked down at her. "No? You don't think so?" Instantly becoming nervous at the look on his face, Kenmei looked away from him, hiding half of her face into his coat. "Never mind." Chuckling, Judar pulled his arm away from her and put it around her shoulders, pulling her body closer to his as they walked. "That's what I thought."
Kenmei felt her face flush from embarrassment, though she welcomed the warmth of his body, keeping herself close to him. His grip on her was strong and comforting, and Kenmei could feel as if she had always belonged with him like this. It was girlish and fairytale like thing for her to think, but she couldn't help herself. She knew he would laugh at her if she said this, so she decided to keep it to herself. The last thing she wanted to do was scare him off now, after everything was going so well.
Her attention was pulled from him by a fragrant scent hitting her nose, bringing her eyes up from the sidewalk. "Oh, here it is!" She pointed up at a sign that hung from rusty metal that protruded from the wood walls of an old, disheveled looking building. Judar glowered at the rickety building, a look of disgust on his face. "Oh no, I'm going to get some sort of disease from being in there." With a roll of her eyes, Kenmei pulled herself from his grip and grabbed onto his hand, nearly having to pull him inside. "It's not gross!"
"I don't even like tea that much!" Judar hissed through clinched teeth, feeling his skin crawl as he entered the building with her. Though, true to her word, the inside was not at all as disgusting as the outside. Though it was still an older, vintage feel to the large room, it was well kept with couches, tables and chairs all around for customers to lounge in. In fact, it was bustling with activity. This, along with the fragrant smell of whatever tea was in the air made Judar feel a bit more at ease. "Huh. It's actually not nasty."
With a roll of her eyes, Kenmei started to pull him over towards the counter. "Stop saying things like that, it's so rude." Judar followed her without resistance, glancing over the large menu they had on the wall behind the counter.
"Hey, first impressions are a big deal, you know."
…
Soon enough, the couple had their respective teas and were sitting across from each other a small round table. The chairs and table were taller than normal, and Kenmei kicked her legs a bit as they dangled about a foot off the ground. Kenmei smiled at Judar as she watched him drink his chilled peach tea, feeling a bit smug about the fact that he was enjoying it.
"See, I told you that you'd like it." She nudged his leg with her foot gently, smile growing as he glanced up at her, face pink. Judar narrowed his eyes at her as he finished his current sip, placing the tea back down on the table. "Shut up, stop being so cocky." Kenmei sighed, rolling her eyes a bit at his attitude. "Can't you just admit that I was right?" Grumbling as he stared down at his tea, Kenmei watched his face flush darker. He had always had a trouble admitting when he was wrong, even for something as simple as this.
"Fine, fine." He waved his had dismissively at her after a moment of contemplating. "You were right. This little shit hole has some good tea." He reached across the small table and ruffled her hair. "Now stop pestering me about it!" Kenmei gave a small yelp in protest at him disturbing her hair, smacking his hand away gently before attempting to fix the damage. "Hey, don't do that!" Judar only snickered, going back to gulp from his drink. After fixing her hair, Kenmei turned an annoyed glare to him, though it faded quickly as she saw how much he was enjoying himself.
After a quick sip from her own cup, she spoke softly. "You know, this is like our first date." Judar stopped mid gulp to look at her over his cup, taking a quick second to swallow before he wiped his mouth clean. "Uh, yeah, it technically is, I guess." Timidly, Kenmei reached her hand across and placed it on his, relieved when he turned his hand a bit to be able to hold hers back. "You, uhm… You're happy, right?" Her question was quiet, almost inaudible to him, even as he sat so close to her.
A small frown crossed his features, his grip tightening on her hand a bit. "Hey, why do you keep worrying about that? I already told you I'd say something if there was a problem, didn't I?" Kenmei nodded, sinking down into her seat a bit. "I'm sorry, I just want to make sure… I really want this to work out, for as long as possible…" Feeling her face flush from admitting this, she kept her gaze away from him, watching the steam rise from the hot liquid in her cup. Her stomach clinched as she heard him sigh, too nervous to look up at him.
"Yeah, me too, Mei. But if you're a worry wort all the time like this, it isn't going to be any fun. So chill out, yeah?" Judar spoke quietly, wiggling her arm a bit to get her to look up at him. Doing her best to control her nerves, she looked up at him, a bit surprised at the softness of his expression. Feeling the heat grow in her cheeks, she nodded, rubbing his hand with her thumb gently. "Okay… I'll try not to be."
"Good!" Judar proclaimed, chugging the rest of his drink before he stood. "I need another one. You want to share a cheesecake or something?" As he looked down at her with such a curious and excited expression, Kenmei could feel her heart flutter, unable to suppress her adoration. She smiled, releasing his hand. "I'd like that." Judar grinned, though Kenmei could see a hint of mischief behind it. "Good, they have a peach one over there and I need it." As he scurried off towards the counter, Kenmei looked back down into her cup. She watched her reflection in liquid, able to see how dark red her face was.
She still could not believe that he put her heart into such a flutter. Every time she looked at him and caught his gaze, she felt as if she were going to melt into a puddle. She didn't know why her feelings were so strong for him, but she couldn't help but to love him.
Wait- love him?
She immediately felt her face grow hotter than ever, bringing her hands up to hide her face. There was no way that she just admitted that to herself, she couldn't actually love him already. Could she? No, no, it's not possible. Or, maybe it was. She had adored him or so long, she must have not noticed that her feelings had really grown to that point. But, she knew that she had to keep this to herself. Saying anything like that so soon would surly scare him off, so she had to keep it quiet.
Suddenly, there was loud clanking on the table in front of her, causing he to jump and pull her hands away from her face. Placed in front of her was a full peach cheesecake, though her eyes quickly moved up to Judar as he sat back down. His expression was beyond gleeful, his excitement almost radiating from him. "This is so fucking sweet." Kenmei blinked a few times and she looked back down at the dessert in front of her, feeling her fluttering heart instantly giving way to annoyance.
"Judar, that's a whole cheesecake! I thought you were going to get one peace!"
Laughing, Judar pulled a piece out and placed it on a different empty dish in front of him, sly grin on his face.
"Fuck that, we're eating this whole thing!"
"N-no, that's too much!"