Title: He Hadn't Meant It

Author: shimasama

Pairing: Akane Narita and Subaru Yagi

Fandom: Hot Gimmick

Theme: #6 – the space between dream and reality

Disclaimer: I do not own Hot Gimmick. It belongs to Viz and Miki Aihara.

Akane stared into the mirror, eyes narrowed, looking at the lip gloss she had just applied. It didn't seem right to her, and she could not figure out why. She continued to stare for a few moments, before the idea hit her. She took her pinky finger and wiped a little bit of the smeared pink gloss from just below her lower lip. She smiled at her reflection, adjusted her miniskirt, and called out to her sister that she was about to leave.

"When are you going to be back?" Hatsumi asked from the kitchen, holding onto their little brother's hand, who was whispering his favorite flavor of ice cream over and over again as if trying to make it appear by magic.

Akane shrugged an shoulder—bare because she was wearing a sleeveless top. "I don't know. Whenever. Don't stress, I'll be back before the 'rents."

Hatsumi pursed her lips at her sister, looking the barely-dressed girl up and down. Then she picked up her little brother in her arms and brushed away her sister's momentary existence. "So, Hikaru? Chocolate ice cream?" Hikaru cheered raucously and seemed to forget his other sister's presence. Hatsumi spun on her heel, nearly losing grip on her brother, before disappearing into the kitchen. Akane rolled her eyes and grabbed her jacket and her purse before slipping out of the apartment.

She chose to don the stairs for once, mostly to watch how skirt moved with her legs, making sure it complimented her body in every way possible. She was so distracted by her own form that she didn't notice the oldest Yagi sibling coming up the stairs in front of her until she crashed into him.

"Ah! Sorry!" Subaru Yagi cried, his arms out so that his hands braced her shoulders, keeping them both from falling down. Akane ran a hand through her tousled hair, pulling away from his grip. "A-Akane! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to, I mean--"

"Whatever, Yagi-kun." Akane cut him off, pulling up her top where it had dipped a little to reveal her strapless bra. She saw the older boy blush a bright red and grinned. Obviously, her outfit was perfect. "Could you move?"

Subaru's eyes widened as he realized he was in her way. "O-oh! Right. Here." He sidestepped and she brushed past him. He could smell her perfume and whatever fruity shampoo she used before she was gone, a blur of color and beauty down the stairs.

That wasn't what he'd wanted to happen, he thought later with a groan in his bedroom. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, the youngest Narita daughter was a very, very pretty girl. And when she went out dressed like that, as she seemed to often, he always wondered what it would be like if he could distract her from her date, and maybe hang out with her. Perhaps get a better whiff of her hair, her perfume. See what it was like to be the guy who had the famed Akane Narita as a date for the night.

Shaking his head, Subaru donned his large, noise-canceling headphones, ready for another night of World of Warcraft. He knew, without even thinking about it, that Akane's image of the evening would be persistent even as he tried to drown her out with the voices of his online competitors.

Subaru hadn't meant to be in the stairwell a few nights later, when Akane was coming home with some guy who lived only temporarily in their apartment complex. He hadn't meant to happen upon them swallowing each other's mouths, his hand sneaking up her shirt as hers dug into his finally combed hair. He hadn't meant to stare as she let him suck on the base of her neck, or listen to her moan as the guy started rubbing her lower back. He hadn't meant any of it, and yet it all happened.

And that night, he hadn't meant to dream of what it would be like to be that guy, pressed up against the wall as Akane Narita battled tongues with him, letting him kiss her neck and reach a hand up her shirt. He hadn't meant to imagine her coming to his doorway in mussed clothing, asking if she could stay the night only to pull him into a hungry kiss.

He hadn't meant any of the images to come, but come they did, and the next time he saw Akane in the stairwell he could only blush, say a brief hello, and then pass her up the stairs.