"I said what?" His voice had pitched several octaves higher, courtesy of the embarrassment that also flushed his cheeks.
"That Aelita was pretty, probably about ten times. You told me I was pretty too." Yumi could barely hold back a smile; it was only the knowledge that Jeremy was mortified enough without her amusement making him shrivel inside further that stopped her from grinning.
"Wonderful," he said, burying his face in his hands. "Anything else?"
"Oh yes." Yumi ticked off fingers. "You asked Aelita whether her cotton-candy hair was yummy, touched my stomach and said that you could 'see my tummy, and it feels nice', and almost kissed Odd."
He nearly fell out off the bed at the last one. "Oh, god, you're kidding," he moaned. While Jeremy knew that Yumi was restraining laughter out of respect for him, he also knew that Odd would do no such thing. Just great. There were years worth of blackmail, which Odd had collected in about two seconds.
He remembered earlier. Jeremy had woken up to a dazed Aelita sitting by his bedside, who had acted rather strangely when he sat up and asked what had happened yesterday. She stammered something unintelligible and turned red, then hurried out of the room before he had a chance to question her about it.
He listened to the hushed tones that sounded just outside of his bedroom door. They went on for several minutes, and he just sat there, trying to gather his thoughts and wondering why there was such an ache spreading throughout his body. The whispers had stopped when he was on the verge of getting up to go check on them.
Yumi slipped into his room with an unusual expression on her face. It was hesitant and delicate, making Jeremy's stomach turn—that was a sort of "bad news" face. She somehow managed to avoid answering his following questions about Aelita, and instead branched off vaguely about how sometimes people said things that they didn't mean, and that was okay sometimes. He was confused at first but quickly became irritated, as it was clear she was skirting some sort of issue she didn't want to bring up. He opened his mouth to tell her to brush aside whatever she was doing and get to the point. Coincidentally, right before he spoke, that was exactly what she did.
And then he suddenly understood why it was Yumi that was in here, why she had been gently easing him onto the subject. She was the only one with the tact to explain his behavior to him in the least painful way and not tease him about it. He was grateful for her casual tones and averting gazes—she was obviously trying to preserve a scrap of his dignity for him. Though it wasn't working very well, because nothing could stop Jeremy from blushing and hiding his face when he discovered how he had acted.
At first he avoided her eyes with embarrassment that quickly turned to mortification, then squirmed uncomfortably and mumbled responses. Now that he had heard the things he'd said, however, Jeremy could contain himself no longer.
"No," she answered apologetically, and from the way she turned her head, Jeremy knew she was hiding a smile. He didn't hold it against her, knowing very well that he would find it hilarious if their places were swapped, but they weren't. Her attempt to keep him from feeling self-conscious and embarrassed was in vain, though he appreciated her effort.
"I'll never live it down," he muttered, words muffled. "Never. Oh, god."
Yumi had managed to compose her expression and scooted his rolling chair over to the bed. She let herself think about how Jeremy must have been feeling, what it would be like if she'd done similar things around Ulrich, and it was harder to smile then.
"Don't worry about it," she said easily, dropping an arm across his shoulder. She might not have let it go easily, she admitted to herself, if she had done it. But it still would have been easier for her than for Jeremy. She knew that, despite their forged social bond and his comfortableness associated with them, he was still extremely self-conscious when it came to himself. She tried to use a comfortable tone that would ease the sting of embarrassment she knew he must have been feeling.
"I made a complete fool of himself," he muttered, and Yumi had to resist a sigh. There were two Jeremys that could come out when he was embarrassed: the snappish one, and then the pitying, shy one. It was obvious that he was falling into a more extreme mode of the latter.
"But you didn't. You weren't in your right mind."
"It doesn't matter, Yumi. I was acting stupid, and I said a lot of stupid things too." He tried to shy away from her arm, but she held him tight, almost wanting to force her comfort on him. She knew that wouldn't work but still felt he needed that arm. He had his knees pulled to his chest and face hidden in them now, with his bare toes curling on the bed.
"I don't even want to think about what I might have said to Aelita when I was with her."
And he hit the chord. Yumi cringed, very slightly, but he felt it and looked up. She hurried to reassure him while inwardly cursing her hesitation. She hesitated half a second before putting up a mask of reassurance, and she knew he noticed.
"What did I say?" he demanded, completely ignoring her fake comforts.
She started to shake her head but stopped, and paused for several seconds. "Don't worry about it."
Aelita had confided to her, of course, at the end of yesterday. As Yumi left, the pinkette had jogged up and frantically caught her on the edge of campus. Things spilled out of her mouth too fast. She'd caught the words "Jeremy" and "crush" before she had to forcefully stop the avalanche of words, a little more sharply than she'd intended. And after Yumi had heard her embarrassed confession and panicked plea for advice, she had mused to herself, before advising Aelita to keep it to herself unless Jeremy brought it up or unless she felt she needed to bring it up.
Aelita responded frustratingly that she had been rather unhelpful. Looking back, Yumi partially agreed and wished the uncertain girl hadn't confided in her in the first place.
She grimaced at Jeremy's expectant face. This was one of the scenarios she had been afraid to become trapped in. She wanted to help the shy almost couple along, but at the same time, she knew that they had to go along without too much of her meddling. Bringing up Jeremy's accidental admittance of his feelings was almost a sure bet on too much prodding.
Besides, Yumi wanted to give Aelita the opportunity to keep it a secret or bring it up with him. Whichever happened, she felt that it was between them, and she didn't want to interfere.
"Don't worry about it," she repeated, a little more forcefully this time. This was the part she didn't like, where she'd have to deny Jeremy this information, just on the account that it wasn't her business to do otherwise.
They stared at each other for several moments. Yumi's gaze was firm but not unkind. Jeremy's matched her stubbornness and contained a hint of defensiveness. In the end he recognized her line of thinking and resigned himself to a grudging nod, frowning down at his knees. He knew she wouldn't tell him out of respect for both of them and couldn't dispute that.
Jeremy let out an irritated huff of breath. Why did she have to be so reasonable, helpful, and annoying at the same time?
Yumi noticed it and felt some amusement. She chose her next words carefully however, knowing his need for something to break the tension, yet not tear down even more of his dignity.
"Aelita might tell you," she said gently, slowly. "I don't think she minded you like that. Jer, trust me," she said earnestly as he looked back up at her, "in a while you'll be just as amused as Odd is with this."
He wasn't so sure, but he accepted the attempt to cheer him up with the tiniest of smiles.
"Really, don't worry about it." She allowed herself to smile widely, hugging him with her arm. "I'll talk to Aelita if you'd like me to."
As much as the idea of her easing some of the awkwardness between them sounded pleasant to Jeremy, he knew that she had already done plenty enough for them, and shook his head. "But thanks."
She nodded; it was her turn to feel grateful. She would have gone through this awkward talk a second time with Aelita if he'd asked, though that didn't mean she wanted to. Sensing that the mood had lightened, she let a trickle of meaningfulness drop into her tone as she said, "Aelita won't like you any less for it."
He blushed but smiled up at her. "Thanks, Yumi."
Yumi recognized the thanks. It held more than just thanks for what she'd just said, or even this situation that she had helped him through, if she weren't analyzing this too much. She heard the appreciation ingrained deeply in his tone and knew he was truly thanking her.
She winked at him. "Anytime."