p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanI scooted closer to him, so our noses were touching and returned the happy smile, "I may be Kozume, but you're emclueless./em I'll date you only if you promise this what you want, that it's not for my sake."/span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanHinata blushed faintly, "It's what I want! Jeesh Kozume! I am not that dumb. I am doing this… cause… well.. You're fun to be around, and I like trying to make you smile, and holding your hand earlier was fun! Isn't that what a relationship is?" He seemed so sure about his feelings, but not so sure about his words./span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanMy gaze softened while looking at him. emShoyo you're going to kill me./em I'm going to have a heart attack right now. "That's not all it is. Being there for your partner when they are sad, learning and growing with them, doing dumb romantic things with them. It's a lot more than you may realize. I haven't dated anyone either but…" I had a good idea from the romance portions of my video games, "Are you sure you want that kind of stuff? emWith me?"/em/span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanHe hesitated. I don't blame him, but I can't say it didn't strike fear into me. The good thing about Shoyo was that he truly was loyal, and when something was set in his brain, he didn't change his mind so easily. "I'm sure!" He said quickly after./span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanWas this heaven? No. It wasn't. This was real life, things could go wrong, he could change his mind, but for right now, Shoyo was my boyfriend. I had spent so much time trying not to be in love, and trying to hide my feelings, that I didn't… know… what to do next. Like people kiss and stuff but isn't it extremely early for that? In video games you romance someone by buying them a gift normally, but Hinata already liked me so that was out the window./span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanWhat do we do? We could stay underneath this pillow all day? That's weird though. Do we just act normally? What makes a couple a couple? We don't go to the same school so we can't each lunch together, or hold hands in the halls. I guess maybe we should go on dates? Not today though, it was too emotionally exhausting and I would rather die than face a crowd. I sat up and lifted the pillow, looking at Hinata who stared innocently up at me, "So… Do you want to play a game?"/span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"span"YEAH!" his expression changed in the blink of an eye. How did he have all this energy all the time? I would tell him to give me some, but I don't really want it. He got up and started hopping around the room, "WHAT ARE WE GONNA PLAY?!"/span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanI smiled a bit and got up too, crouching in front of my tv stand and looking through the games. Mario Kart was easy enough. I picked the case from my selection and held it up so Hinata could see. He nodded furiously with approval and then sat down against my bed. Once I was done setting up my console, I sat next to him. Actually, more against him than next to him./span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanShoyo leaned against me as we went through the characters. He had the hardest time choosing a character. He ended up choosing Mario because, "He's the hero right?" I chose Peach. I wanted to be his princess, but show him I could kick his ass. That's how things work right? This is how you assert your dominance in relationship. You kick your boyfriends ass in Mario Kart./span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanBy the end of the game, I lost count of how many times Hinata fell off the tracks. Rainbow road alone had to be a world record of times fallen. It was so funny that I drove off once from laughing so hard. Hinata was a big ball of pout at the end but I couldn't stop smiling. Maybe I was too harsh./span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanI leaned all my weight against him, "You couldn't possibly be upset because you lost at a game, could you?"/span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanHe looked up at me with a twisted face, "It was just so funny, emwasn't it?"/em/span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanI laughed again, "It was. I don't think I have laughed so hard in my life. You deserve a trophy. What can I do to repay you for your hard work?"/span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanThat made him perk up, I knew it would. He was definitely thinking hard about this though, I was starting to get emmore/em than a little worried. Was he going to ask for like, 3 bags of meat buns? I could afford it but not all the time. I might have to start letting him win a bit. "Can we cuddle..?" He mumbled out the question./span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanI was surprised that he didn't think that we were cuddling now, and that he really thought he had to ask. This would be comfier on the bed. I stood up and grabbed his hand, pulling him along with me. It was a bit of a clumsy movement, causing Shoyo to faceplant into my chest. I would be okay if he just stayed like that. I even bribed him a bit by playing with his hair. "That's really a hefty price, but I guess I can make an exception for my boyfriend…." I said softly to him./span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanI figured he would at least try to move to get more comfortable, but no, he just laid there like that. I can't remember how long we were like that either. I remember the feeling of his breathing being really calming, and I remember him wrapping his arms around my stomach to hold me tighter. I can't explain how great the feeling was./span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanShoyo liked me, enough to try dating me. It was a relief, to have your feelings returned. It was a relief, to have someone squeeze you closer, not because you want them to, but because they wanted to all on their own. It was a relief to hear someone ask for your attention because they selfishly wanted it. This was the start of the happiest year of my life I think. Maybe there would be more happy years with Hinata with me./span/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"spanIt's easy, isn't it? Being in love, idolizing your crush, finding no fault. It's hard, isn't it? Unrequited love, keeping your secrets, hating yourself. Isn't it worth it though? Once you find someone who makes your heart skip beats, who makes you feel safe and wanted, who returns all your feelings, all the pain of past heartbreaks seem like a distant memory and you can finally look towards the future. The future of me and Shoyo./span/p