AN: puppies make everything better

Haruka-chan- he's getting there, I promise. he just needs some more time, and get himself together. like i know this is such a slow burn fanfiction, but with the pacing of romance in CT, you kind of have to make it slow burn to make it authentic and true to the canon. i mean its already an AU as it is, but hey, whatever works right. i mean with what happens with this chapter aya should have gotten at least a hint of what taro wants LOL

Sone- speaking of studies, i should be studying right now but instead ive been watching Dragon Ball Super and writing this. thanks still tho, i need it.

Chapter 26: Till I Tasted You

"I want a dog," Ayame said as she sat with her knees up on her couch, nursing a mug of hot chocolate in her hands.

Taro looked up from his phone and turned to her. "Okay," he said in confusion.

Then she turned to him, her eyes wide. "If I get one, will you take care of them with me?"

And push all of the responsibility to him. Fuck no.

"No," he answered flatly before turning back to his phone.

"Oh come on," she whined as she put the mug on the table and leaned into his arm, shaking him lightly. "Please? It's going to be so much fun. We get to take it to walks, and dressed it up cutely for Halloween, cuddle with it…"

"You have to feed them too," he argued, "not to mention bathroom problems."

"So?" she said.

"Aya, you're in school most of the time," he added, turning to him. "Not to mention, you're getting that internship soon. You don't have time to take care of a dog."

"That's why you take care of it when I'm gone!" she declared excitedly. "We could be its parents!"

Taro felt his heart skip a beat. The thought of fathering something (human or not) with her was a nice thought, but still.

"I have training," he said. "I'm not home all the time, and I'm not taking care of a dog for you."

"Why not?" she leaned away, crossing her arms in a pout. "Dogs are great."

"I'm sure they are," he said, "but we're busy people. You still have to train it not to make a mess of your home." Then his voice got a little softer. "Besides, you don't have much time left here in Paris. I doubt you want to bring a dog with you back home."

Ayame was silent for a few moment and Taro almost felt guilty for saying it, but soon she suddenly rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"That's why I'm getting it for the both of us," she said. "So that you don't forget me easily."

What? What was she talking about? He's not-

"I don't exactly make the biggest impressions on people, so I'm guessing that's probably the case for you too," she said offhandedly, scrolling through her phone. Taro couldn't understand why she's talking about this so easily, as if this always happened.

And she was wrong, no one has made a bigger impact in his life than her.

"And I'm sure you're sick and tired of me nagging you and interrupting your peaceful life," she continued. "Maybe having a dog will let you remember me," she laughed soundlessly, a smile on her face. "Just imagine the puppy barking at you, sort of like how i nag you. That would be a sight to -"

Before he could even think of what he was doing, he felt himself move and suddenly he was above her, pinning her against the couch as he felt his eyes narrow at her. She was looking at him with wide eyes, surprised by his actions but he found that he could careless because he was just so angry and pissed that he didn't noticed it, nor did he want to.

"Stop," he growled, making her flinch.A tiny shiver passed through her spine as his eyes pierced through her, making her catch her breath. "Just stop. Don't think about it, don't talk about it. You're not leaving yet, and that's that."

Taro leaned down towards her and Ayame thought he was going to kiss her, making her close her eyes shut tight. But instead she felt something warm on her forehead. She opened her eyes just to see his face close to her, his lips barely even an inch from hers. His forehead was on hers, his eyes closed, and suddenly she could very much feel her heartbeat thundering against her chest.

"I don't want to think about it," he sighed, his breath ghosting over her lips. Ayame felt her cheeks hit up, and she had the sudden urge to lean up and meet her lips to his, but she stopped and forced herself to listen to him. "It's," he licked his lips, his tongue almost grazing to hers. She squeaked in surprise, and her heart still kept drumming, pounding painfully against her ribs. "It's painful, thinking that you won't be there beside me anymore. So, please just don't say anything about it."

Ayame nodded stiffly, her chest still hurting and Taro sighed against and she didn't know whether his lips did graze hers or it was just her imagination, but the next thing she knew was that he was burying his face on her shoulder.

Ayame laid there under him frozen, unsure of what to do. Taro was just on top of her, unmoving. His arms settled to his sides as he only nuzzled into her shoulder even more. Her heart pounder in her chest in such a fast rhythm she didn't know how she was still alive.

Awkwardly, Ayame wrapped her arms around him, hugging him uncertainly. When her hands started rubbing soothing circles down his back, she felt him take a breath and snuggled closer to her. She didn't really pay attention to it since Taro had been doing it for quite some time now. She didn't know when it began exactly, but he's been becoming a little affectionate to her. Not that she was complaining…

She released a sigh and looked up towards the ceiling, her hands on his back, getting tired from rubbing circles on him. She didn't know what's gotten in him that made him so touchy with her. One moment they were talking about puppies, and next thing she knew, he was pinning her with his body on her couch and snuggling her like a baby. Like, she liked it when he gets like this, but come on, he was heavy and-

Wait a second- h-hold up- was he-was he kissing her neck?

OMG he is!

Ayame froze for the once more as she started to notice and feel his lips grazing her neck. She didn't know if he was doing it on purpose, or he didn't know he was doing it. She just knew that her heart was beating too fast for comfort and her face was too warm, oh god, how in the world have she not passed out yet? This was too much, too much for her poor romantic heart.

Holy sh-

She stiffened once more as he felt his lips on her skin, this time a subtle pressure with it as she finally realized that he was definitely kissing her, and sucking on spot that she was apparently sensitive to. Her mouth opened in surprise, as if trying to produce a sound that could describe what she felt at that very moment. But for some reason, her voice got stuck in her throat as her body began to feel warm and gah, stop it Taro, unless you want to fin-

Before she could even make a move, she suddenly felt his weight disappear

"Just tell me when you're getting the dog," he told her quietly, standing by the couch stiffly without even looking at him. "I'll go with you."

And just like that, he was gone from her sight as she heard the door close a few moments after.

Ayame released a breath she didn't even know she was holding. She put a hand on her chest, feeling her heart beat fast under her ribs.

My god, what the fuck did just happen?

When he looked back at it, he knew that he should have been regretting on what he did two days ago, but the more he tried to feel that way, the more he didn't care at all. Yes, that was basically one of the most intimate thing you could do with someone, and maybe he shouldn't have done that considering they weren't even together, but what if he've been wanting to do it? At least it was just him sucking on her neck and not something worse. God only knew what so badly wanted to ravish her there.

He already decided that he wasn't going to hide anymore, and that's why he wasn't going to hold himself back anymore from showing her how he wanted her.

It was strange… He remembered that he wasn't as bold when he was courting Azumi. Maybe it's because she was the one doing the perusing, and the only time he actually did show he was interested in her was when he was the one who asked her out first. Sure at that point, he already did like her from her constant presence in his life, but looking back at it now, it took him a long time before he could even ask her out.

Falling in love with Azumi was slow and gradual, like a flower slowly blossoming into something beautiful, but truly like a flower, it withered before it could even last, at least not as long as he wanted it.

He leaned against the center's fence, his gaze on her softening as he watched her be surrounded by the energetic puppies that she had to pick from. He felt his lips curve into a small smile, her laugh making him feel all warm inside.

It was different, falling in love with Ayame. It was slow, mostly because he refused to realize what he truly felt, but when he finally accepted it, he fell in love with her all at once. He knew that he was probably already starting to develop feelings for, he just didn't want to see it, but when he did, he felt that everything was suddenly in place, that his life finally made sense.

He watched as she picked up one of the tiny pups scattered around her. She brought it up to her face, and the puppy immediately started licking her face to her delight.

And he was sure that he wasn't going to let her go.

The puppy stopped its licking and she took this time to turn to him, a bright smile on her face as she cradled the pup in her arms while standing up. Taro returned her smile and pushed against the fence to walk towards her.

"Did you finally pick which one you wanted?" he asked once he reached her, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Yup!" she answered enthusiastically, showing him the puppy in her arms whose tail started wagging as it saw him. "I knew he was going to be the one when I picked him up."

Taro chuckled and offered the puppy his hand, who sniffed it before finally licking it. "Cute," he said. He watched the puppy lick him one more time before turning back to Ayame. The began to lick her once more, making her laugh once more. He smiled, loving the way she was so happy. He continued to keep his gaze on her, but soon he found his eyes roaming all over her, noticing the male keeper starting to talk (flirt actually, but he didn't realize it because he was too busy checking her out) to her until he noticed a subtle red mark on her neck.

Was that- it was, right? Wow, it's been two days and it still hadn't faded? Did she even attempt to hide it? But then again since she didn't put that much effort in her makeup today since it was a Saturday, and Saturdays were usually her lazy days. He was surprised that she even decided to make the appointment with the adoption center today. Usually, she chooses to stay at home…

"... maybe you'd like to talk more about it over some coffee?" Taro's ears picked up from the guy. He reluctantly turned away from the mark he left on her to look at him, a little miffed that this idiot had the gall to make a move on her when he was around. Didn't he see the large mark he left- wait, was that the reason why she wore that shirt? The neckline was high enough that it could cover it she didn't bother to use a concealer (don't ask how he knows what that is)?

Why did she have to make this so difficult?

Ayame, who seemed to have realized that the guy was in fact asking her out, froze and could only stutter as she tried to coherent answer for him. Damn it, why didn't she realize that this guy was flirting with her? How the hell was she going to get away from this mess?

He was good looking, she had to admit. He was nice enough for her taste, and his smile was pretty. If she wasn't so into Taro, maybe she would have accepted the invitation. But unfortunately, the guy she was in love with was just beside them.

God damn it Aya, stop thinking about that stupid hickey. This is what you get for thinking of him.

And there was that too! What the hell was that? And did he really have to make it last this long? It's been two days and it's still there! It's still as red as the first day he did it. She had to put so much concealer on it on Friday so that none of her classmates asked her about it. Her concealer's almost gone. She ought to have him take her makeup shopping just for that. It's a good thing her shirt had a high enough neckline to hide it that she didn't have to use her whole concealer.

At least, she hoped.

"...so what do you think? You up for that coffee?"

She blinked out of the thoughts to look at the guy once more. Shit, gotta think of something quick…

"O-oh," she stuttered, clutching the puppy closer to her (she forgot she had him to be honest). "U-um…" Come on brain, why did you choose of all times to stop functioning. "I-um-I-"

"Come on, Aya," Taro's voice cut through them and all of a sudden she felt an arm wrap around her waist, turning her around. She could feel Taro's breath brushing her ear and she felt shivers pass through her spine.

Damn it, he's doing it again.

"Let's go back home," he continued, pushing her lightly to go towards the compound. "I still have training remember. Couch Roux would hate it if I'm late."

Ayame could only nodded stiffly, her cheeks flushing as she felt his hand tighten its grip on her waist. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought he was acting like an overprotective boyfriend. Not that she didn't like it or anything…

Funny enough, if only she turned to look at Taro, she would have seen the glare he was giving the guy over her shoulder.

"So what did you name this little guy again?" Taro asked as he played with the white puppy on the floor of her living room, scratching and petting the little thing.

"MJ," she answered simply as she took a seat beside him, grabbing the pup from him to set him on her lap. MJ only barked and wagged his tail before jumping all around her.

"MJ?" Taro turned to her with one eyebrow raised, leaning back with his arm supporting him.

"For Marc Jacobs," she answered simply as she brought the pup to her face, nuzzling MJ before he started licking her face.

Taro could barely remember that the name was the name of a famous fashion designer, and for some reason, he wasn't even surprised that she would pick a name related to fashion.

"Oh!" she exclaimed as she put MJ back on her lap, grabbing her phone. "You need to be on Instagram, you little cotton ball. I can't wait for everyone to see you."

She began to take selfies with the pup, who as expected wouldn't listen to her instructions of looking at her phone. Taro couldn't help the chuckle from escaping him as she watched him take pictures with her- their- new dog.

Discreetly, he took his own phone and directed his camera to her, and as she had her arm out to take a picture of herself with MJ, he took one of her.

taromisaki1123 adventure is out there 🐶🎈❤

End Chapter

AN: lol, i had huge troubles thinking of names for that dog okay, like i didn't want to use common names like spike or buster or whatever basic name there is. at first i was thinking of naming it something related to food, but i couldn't think of one. but then an idea came to me. since aya's a fashion geek, why dont i name it based on someone related to fashion, thus MJ the white Bichon Frise is born, named after american designer Marc Jacobs. see, wasn't that smart ei ei ei?

but anyway, taro already making the moves when they aren't even official yet. leaving a hickey (or love bit whatever you wanna call it), of all things. and man can you say territorial much LOL. stop being jealous you nerd, aya loves you, as long as she starts to admit it anyway. lets not forget the instagram picture. personally i see it as something like aya taking a selfie with MJ sitting on her lap, finally looking at her phone. the sun was shining down on them making it such a sight to see, so taro decided to take a picture of them from the side. when he posted it on instagram, it was in black and white and gosh i wish i could draw it so bad :(((. but anyway, you can imagine what the picture is. its up to you.

thats it for now, and i really should get back to studying.

thanks for reading and pls review! (i'll try to update all the other stories after finals, i hope)

see ya