A/n: Well, here we have the annual update of this story. It was supposed to go out in April, but I was a little busy back then.

A little recap, in chapter 14 Yamato's mother mentions to him about her fight with Takeru, so this chapter picks up with him trying to get through to Takeru, and then we have some cute little Mimato banter towards the end.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter, it is always such a treat to read these!

Happy reading!

- x -

Yamato shifted his feet uncomfortably, being at Takeru and his mother's house was never a pleasant experience for him. He usually liked to finish his task and dash out at the speed of light but the reason he had come over today wouldn't allow him to do so. Ideally, he would have invited his little brother over for a meal and talked with him then, but recently Takeru had been ignoring his calls way more than often and he just hadn't been able to get a hold of his brother since yesterday, and thus had no choice but to drag himself here. His eyes wandered around the living room, which always felt a splash more colourful to him than the one he was used to, decked with photos and fresh flowers. Neither him or his father were the type to care for either so their house was definitely duller in comparison, but Yamato never paid any heed to it till he stopped by his mother's house and was reminded of the difference.

He turned his glance towards Takeru, who had just set two cups of tea on the table, something that Yamato always took care of whenever they were at his house, and it automatically bought a small smile to his face. Although the smile didn't last long, as Takeru then went on to sit on a chair far away from the couch Yamato was seated on, with a sullen expression on his face. Yamato checked himself and somehow managed to bury the eye-roll that was itching to happen, as he realised that today was one of those rare occasions where him and his brother might end up having an argument.

But still, he had come over here with a clear objective, so he took a sip of the tea, swallowing the dread of the conversation that awaited him with it and faced Takeru with a determined eye, "So, I have something I need to talk to you about."

Takeru let out an annoyed groan, a reaction Yamato wasn't expecting, as it wasn't often that he came to his little brother with news to share and was hoping to at least get a somewhat surprised response from him.

"Did Mom ask you to do this?" Takeru had folded his arms across his chest and was looking at his brother with a suspicious eye.

This naturally made Yamato's temper flare, but he suppressed the emotion from showing on his face with a simple eyebrow twitch, in a calm voice he replied, "Of course not. I'm here because I need to tell you something."

"Yeah, right."

The sarcasm dripping from his brother's tone was enough to break Yamato's control over his anger and he muttered in a low, warning tone, "Takeru."

Thankfully this had the effect Yamato had wanted it to, his brother sat up a little straight and the grumpy expression on his face softened a bit out of fear, that allowed Yamato to relax his own posture and let go of the breath that he wasn't aware he had been holding in. He realised then, that there was no point in trying to talk to his brother about anything else before he solved the elephant in the room. While he did believe that his news, if that was the right word for it, took precedence over Takeru's tantrum, he wanted Takeru to be in a good mood when he conveyed it and looking at the pouty expression on his brother's face, Yamato had no choice but to sigh and put his own needs aside.

"I'll have you know that I did come here to talk to you about my life," Yamato began, hoping that Takeru would catch onto his own selfishness through his tone, "but seeing as you have suddenly decided to act like a brat, let's get through with your thing first okay?"

"I'm not acting like a brat," Takeru shot back instantly, eyebrows knitted in frustration.

"Oh yes sorry, my bad. You are a brat."

He watched with narrowed eyes as for a moment, Takeru opened his mouth to retort but noticing the frustration seething out from around Yamato, eventually decided against it, turning away instead so he could avoid being glared at so furiously. Satisfied with the decision Takeru had made to not argue with him, Yamato relaxed his face slightly, knowing that this was just the beginning and he needed to stand his ground until the very end.

"While I don't agree with how persistent Mom is being with you," Yamato raised a warning hand to stop before Takeru could jump up with the excitement of having his brother take his side and continued in a flat tone, "I think you're acting extremely ungrateful about her help."

"But I never asked her to help me with this," Takeru responded immediately, not allowing Yamato to add anything else before he got a word in, "I still have a whole year before I need to worry about this stuff."

"It doesn't hurt to be well prepared Takeru, and Mom is only worried about your fut-"

"Okay, you don't get to say that," His brother scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief he added, "You're not allowed to tell me to be well prepared, when you never went to a cram school or did any of this yourself."

Yamato considered his response for a while, as Takeru sat looking smug and triumphant as if he had won the argument.

Lately, Yamato had stopped sugarcoating their family's situation and Takeru had been more open about accepting the whole truth rather than only the bits and pieces that suited his perceptions. And yet, every time he wanted to bring something like this up in a conversation, Yamato always felt his throat close up, swallowing the harsh words out of consideration for his brother. So he took a deep breath and allowed his body to relax, today was not one of those days where he was supposed to spoil Takeru senseless, he reminded himself sternly, and took a step forward to put his brother in his place.

"Of course I wasn't well prepared, because Dad just doesn't care about this stuff," Yamato met his brother's eyes and allowed his words to seep in, Takeru could only hold his gaze for so long before he looked away sadly. Yamato took a minute to search for the right words to make sure his brother didn't end up misinterpreting the situation, "Which isn't to say that he doesn't care about me, or you for that matter. It just means that he expects me to take care of these things by myself and I do most of the time."

"But to be honest with you Takeru, if Jou hadn't been there to remind me that there is a registration deadline for getting into high school…" He trailed off, knowing that his brother was smart enough to understand what he was trying to imply.

Finally he saw comprehension on his brother's face, mixed in with traces of guilt. Yamato held back a sigh, he had always known that Takeru would eventually listen to reason, but it was still relieving to reach the conclusion to this conflict so quickly. He sat back and took a few sips of the tea, waiting patiently for Takeru to end the argument by either apologising or promising to work things out with their Mom. Yamato wasn't the type to put importance on apologies, to him it mattered more whether Takeru had understood where he had gone wrong so he wouldn't make the same mistake again. His brother knew that too, which is why it was taking him so long to find the right words, had it been anyone else sitting across from him, Takeru would've just said sorry and the conversation would have moved on. But with Yamato, he knew that he needed to say the right words, or else they would be back at square one.

"I will apologise to Mom," Takeru began, fidgeting with his hands in his lap as he still found it difficult to meet his brother's eye, "and I will try my best to explain how I feel to her, instead of just shutting myself out."

"That would be nice."

Yamato nodded in encouragement and smiled when he saw Takeru relax his posture from the defensive stance his brother had taken the minute he had entered the house. They sat in silence for a while after that, just sipping on their tea slowly as they both contemplated over all that had happened. Yamato wondered whether his Mom would attempt to do something nice for him for getting through to Takeru. He always found it awkward to receive gifts and favours from her, since most of the time she couldn't get his preferences right and faking a reaction didn't always come easily to him, and he could only hope that she would do it over text or call.

"What did you want to talk about?" Takeru had finished his tea and was eyeing his brother with a newfound curiosity.

"Well-"

Yamato began to speak confidently but the minute the sentence he had practiced beforehand appeared in his mind, his throat closed up and he almost choked out an incoherent syllable as his ears turned a hot red almost as if steam would come out of them any minute. Of course, none of this went unnoticed by Takeru, who didn't waste time in taking the upper hand in the conversation, with a smirk and raised eyebrows, his brother didn't need to say anything to make him even more uncomfortable.

Yamato couldn't believe that the coordination between his brain and his mouth was failing so miserably at this moment, especially since he had wrote down how he was going to share his news with Takeru yesterday and practiced it in front of the mirror several times, after which he had had the confidence to make the trip to his brother's house today. He had already prepared himself for all the relentless teasing, and had thought of every possible rebuttal he would need, and yet when he sat in front of Takeru now, the sheer embarrassment of saying the words he had practiced out loud consumed him faster than he could have ever imagined.

"Go on, nii-san, I'm waiting," his brother announced in a sing-song voice. Takeru enjoying the scene only added fuel to the fire, making it impossible for Yamato to meet his eye, just like his brother had a while ago.

There was no way around it, Yamato knew that better than anyone, it was him who had wanted to tell Takeru the news first, and in person too, because he knew how happy his brother would be to hear it and he just wanted to share in on that happiness. He hadn't thought it would be so difficult however, to look his brother in the eye and tell him with a straight face that he had a girlfriend now. Still he took a deep breath and set the cup of tea back down on the coffee table in front of him. He rested his curled fists on his knees and stared at the ceiling, looking at Takeru would have messed with his flow and he just didn't want to spend another minute feeling embarrassed or beating around the bush, it was time to put the words out in the world.

"I wanted to let you know that," Yamato began in a somewhat stable voice, although watching Takeru's diabolical grin get wider served as a hit to to his confidence and the next part came out as a messed up mumble, "thatmiminirdatingnow."

When Yamato finally decided to look at his brother, Takeru put a hand behind one ear and leaned in towards him, faking a confused expression with too much of a dramatic flair he asked, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Could you say that again nii-san, a bit louder this time?"

Oh how Yamato wanted to get up and wrap his arm around Takeru's neck and shout in his ear that he knew that the little shit had heard everything just perfectly, moreover his brother had probably predicted what he was going to say from the moment he started fumbling and yet had decided to put up this farce for the sake of it. However it was funny how his frustration over his brother's antics seemed to calm his nerves and let go of the embarrassment that had taken over him. The choice available to him was simple, he could sit here and watch Takeru wiggle his eyebrows suggestively or feign innocence while snickering like the devil, or he could just throw the sentence out of his mouth and be done with it once and for all.

"I said-" Yamato's loud voice almost made Takeru jump and look at his brother with eyes wide in surprise. Grateful to have his brother's full attention, Yamato tapped into the remaining confidence inside him and looked Takeru directly in the eye, with a voice firm with determination, although not as loud as earlier, he announced "I said, Mimi and I are dating now."

Just for a second, there was complete silence in the living room as Takeru tried to digest the fact that his brother had actually said the words out loud without hesitation and Yamato could finally let go of the breath he had been holding in for a while now as he slumped down in his seat with relief. But then Takeru jumped up from where he was seated, shouting and laughing in one swift movement hr tackled Yamato into a hug, knocking the breath out of him yet again.

"I'm so happy, I'm so happy for you!" He giggled right into Yamato's ear.

Yamato struggled to get his brother off of him for a few minutes, and through it all Takeru kept hitting him with a million questions that made his head spin.

"Wait did you ask her out or did she ask you out?"

"Did you already have your first date, if not I know exactly where you can take her!"

"Do I have to call her onee-san now, actually, can I please call her onee-san now?"

"Takeru, shut up!"

Yamato had to raise his voice much higher than usual to get Takeru's attention so he could peel himself away from the bear hug. It took a few minutes for his brother to calm down enough to listen to his responses to the questions, and even then Yamato could feel him vibrating with excitement next to him, hanging onto his every word like a puppy. The version of events he narrated to Takeru were slightly abridged of course, just recalling Mimi feeding him ice cream with that smile on her face was enough to send Yamato's heartbeat in a frenzy. Their talk or rather Takeru's investigation continued all the way through dinner, which Yamato cooked, setting aside a portion for their mother since she rarely had a chance to taste his cooking.

Which is why by the time he reached home and flopped down on his bed, the blond felt completely drained. There was still one person he needed to tell, and he groaned out loud thinking about having to deal with another bout of excitement and teasing. He thought it over carefully, technically Taichi had assumed that him and Mimi had already been dating what with their recent chance encounters, so he didn't need to break the news officially to his best friend. After sending a simple text to Taichi, Yamato put his phone on silent and closed his eyes so he could take some well deserved rest, he was sure that Taichi would throw a tantrum about this later but he decided that he would deal with it as and when it happened, for now it was time to try and make sense of all the things that had happened in the past few days as he attempted to drift off to sleep.

x

Yamato's eyes followed the coffee as it dropped down from the vending machine, he praised himself for picking the hot one as he wrapped his fingers around the can and the warmth spread through his palms. He opened the can and took a sip of the hot black coffee, relishing it's deep taste and the boost of energy it gave him, today was going to be a long day and he definitely needed this kick to start it. He leaned sideways against the vending machine, checking his wristwatch to see how much time he had before he needed to be making his way out of the station and towards his school, since he wanted to, at the very least, enjoy this coffee in peace.

Satisfied with the time, he looked up at the platform and just as he did so a train arrived into the station. The doors opened with their usual hiss, and out came Mimi and Koushiro from the compartment that had stopped closest to him. Within seconds his eyes met Mimi's and he saw how her whole face lit up instantly, and although they were still a few paces apart and hadn't said a word to each other, Yamato knew exactly what had crossed through Mimi's mind as her eyes landed on him.

That he had been waiting for her on the platform.

He watched as she very aggressively shooed Koushiro away, forcing him to take the exit farthest from them, as she happily skipped towards him. With each step she took towards him, Yamato felt a clock tick in his ears, what was he supposed to do? Tell her the truth, that he had just stopped to get a coffee for himself before the long school day ahead of him? That the fact that he could be walking her to and fro from school hadn't even crossed his mind yet?

Too late, his brain told him as Mimi came to a stop in front of him.

"Good morning, Yamato-kun! I can't believe you waited for me!" She chirped up, eyes beaming brightly up at him. She had a pink muffler wrapped around her neck, and instead of the usual black hairband, her hair was tied up in a ponytail with a matching pink scrunchie.

A few phrases that he could use to lie through his teeth passed through Yamato's head, but when he looked at Mimi, and how adorable she looked as she smiled at him, the innocence with which her caramel eyes shone and the pure sincerity in her voice, he found it impossible to do anything but tell her the truth.

"Well, I uh…" He managed to stutter out, hoping that Mimi would see this as him being nervous around her, and not for what it actually was.

But of course, the brunette was way more observant than people gave her credit for, and it didn't take her even a minute to catch onto what he was implying. The effect of his mumbling was immediate too, her smile disappeared and her eyes turned dark, "I see, just a coincidence then."

Yamato internally cursed himself as he tried to gulp down the remaining coffee without burning his throat, since Mimi had decided to walk towards the exit without waiting to see if he was following her. As he tried to catch up with her, he realised that she had even lost the skip in her step, making him feel even more guilty about his inability to be coherent. He somehow managed to fall into pace next to her, but she didn't seem to care if he was next to her or not, and their walk towards the school continued in absolute silence.

Yamato couldn't believe that he had managed to mess up even before the day had started. He had been worried about today in a different sense, thinking about how he was supposed to behave while they were at school, whether Taichi and the others would give them trouble, would the two of them even get any time to themselves to talk more deeply about where they stood now, among other things in a long list of questions swirling in his mind. A list that did not include getting Mimi mad at him within seconds of seeing her.

The top of their school building came into view, once down this sloped road that they were walking on, they would reach the entrance in no time. A restlessness settled inside of Yamato as the school started to come closer into view, he didn't want to keep going through the charade of more misunderstandings, delaying the time Mimi and him could be spending to actually get to know each other better. This time however, he couldn't just wait for Mimi to take the first step, if he wanted them to move forward he was going to have to learn to take the lead too.

Getting Mimi's attention wasn't difficult, he put his hand softly on her shoulder and she stopped in her tracks, turning to look at him with a steely expression on her face with eyebrows raised slightly in surprise. It reminded him of the time they had had lunch together at the rooftop and she had gotten upset with him for doing nothing, which almost brought a smile to his face, now he was getting a hang of what Koushiro had meant by this being her habit, but he quickly replaced it with an apologetic expression since he couldn't afford make her even more angry right now.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay?" Yamato spoke as sincerely as he could, "I didn't think you'd want me to wait for you."

"Well, of course I want you to wait for me!" Mimi replied, folding her arms across her chest with a huff and a pout. She attempted to glare at him from under her lashes for the next minute but failed miserably, clearly he was capable of having the same melting effect on her as she did on him, making Yamato internally triumph. She let out a defeated sigh and added, "I want that and many other things, but I suppose I need to speak up about them too. I can't just expect you to read my mind."

"No, although sometimes I wish I could," Yamato muttered under his breath, but Mimi heard him and let out a small laugh. The usual shine returning to her caramel eyes as she punched his arm playfully before linking her own with his and pulling them forward towards their school.

"For starters, I want you to walk me back and forth from school every single day," Mimi stated, in an almost business-like tone and the blond nodded at her words, "unless you have plans with Takeru chan, then you're excused."

"Roger that," Yamato said, and with an afterthought added, "What about plans with Taichi?"

Mimi stopped for a moment to look at him with the most deadpan expression he had ever seen her make, so he nodded with comprehension, "Got it. Plans with Taichi can go to hell."

"Exactly!" Mimi replied cheerfully, tapping her chin with a finger as she tried to recall the details of a grand plan she might've made in the past she continued, "Let's see, what else? I'd like us to eat lunch together everyday, but I don't want to leave Koushiro alone so often either…"

"Maybe we can do alternate days, let him know beforehand."

"Yes, that sounds better! See, you're already getting the hang of it," Mimi nudged his chest gently, the sly smile on her lips almost made the blond blush with joy, but he managed to keep a straight face somehow.

"Learning from the best."

Mimi didn't stop herself from giggling, she snuggled up closer to him and rested her head on his arm, chuckling lightly she said, "And, let's not forget the double date demand from Sora chan."

"Oh, anything but that!" Yamato groaned, making her shake with laughter.

"You're going to have to climb that mountain eventually."

"Not unless I dig a hole and hide in it forever."

"But if you do that, you'd miss out on all of this." Mimi unlinked their arms and skipped a step ahead of him, twirling around in a perfect circle before stopping with a grin on her face as she half bowed at him. It was impossible for Yamato to hold himself back at the sight, and he allowed himself to laugh freely.

Satisfied with his reaction, Mimi wasted no time in returning to his side so they could continue walking arm in arm. At the back of his mind he was apprehensive about arriving to school in such a fashion with Mimi, but somehow just the aura of comfort that seemed to surround him when she was snuggled up so close to him, made all the doubts and second thoughts from his mind disappear. He was aware that a few heads would turn at the sight of them, that muffled whispers might follow them through the hallways, that in the worst case scenario Mimi might even get cornered by his supposed fan club and yet he didn't feel daunted by any of it, he wasn't afraid of the uncertainty that awaited them.

And why should he be, a voice at the back of his head reminded him. Why should Yamato be bothered with what the rest of the school was going to think of them?

He had already crossed the finish line, leaving everyone else behind in dust, he had already cut through the ribbon and charged towards the trophy. This wasn't the beginning, no the race had already ended and he'd won fair and square.

Mimi was his girlfriend now, and that's all that mattered.

- x -

A/n: Imagine Koushiro unintentionally third-wheeling Taiora/Mimato at school, lol poor guy, maybe that's what the next chapter needs to be about. And also, imagine Taichi and Mimi fighting over the right to spend more time with Yama, definitely need to write a scene like this in hehe.

For those of you who want to read more domestic Mimato content, you can check out Truly, Madly, Deeply, which I'm writing for Mimato Year 2022, the plot twist is that it gets updated monthly (shocking right?). This fic can also be considered a far-off sequel to Koisuru, so if you want to see Mimato married with babies then this one is definitely for you!

I plan to start another Mimato long-fic in the next month, a murder mystery! And for Mimato Week this year I'll write a few interesting AUs (including a Bridgerton one, get excited) and even post a compilation of my oneshots set in the canon timeline, so lots of stuff to look forward to!

As always reviews will be appreciated, and I'd be grateful if you read my other projects too!