Title: Afraid To Be Expecting
Author: shimasama
Pairing: Akane Narita and Subaru Yagi
Fandom: Hot Gimmick
Theme: #22 – cradle
Disclaimer: I do not own Hot Gimmick. It belongs to Viz and Miki Aihara
Author's Note: Takes place during the first volume of the manga series. (If you don't understand that, read the first volume again.)
Akane looked uncomfortable as her friends passed the store of baby supplies. They looked at all the little clothes and cradles and strollers in the window, even at the babies held by their mothers in the store itself. Her friends cooed and got excited when the small children reacted with smiles. Akane tried to smile weakly, and resisted the urge to put her hand on her stomach.
When she got out of school that afternoon she knew she could not go home yet. She was not ready. Dejectedly she sat on a bench a block down from the apartment complex so as not to cause a scene. Imagine, a Narita girl looking uncomfortable right in front of the complex by herself. The whispers that could have ensued would have been too much.
Moments later Subaru Yagi came bounding past, his backpack hanging over his shoulder and a few textbooks in his arms. Had he not tripped over his untied shoelaces he may have never seen Akane. But trip he did, and a few of the books in his hands fell to the ground. The pitiful sight struck a chord with Akane, and she felt her eyes narrow of their own accord.
"Geez, Yagi-kun, what's the rush?"
He looked blearily up at her, his books only slightly back in his grasp. The look in Subaru's eyes startled her and by pure instinct her hand flickered over her stomach, like the ghost of a kiss after lovers have parted. She hoped he had not seen the motion, but she glared at him anyway as if to say "don't you dare mention it." Subaru let out a small sigh, gathered his things and continued his rush down the street without a word.
Courage finally gathered, Akane went to find her sister. She needed a favor.