The Little Things
Because it's the little things that make one fall in love.
2. That Time when He Thanked Her
17 October 2014
RING!
It was lunch time at Odaiba Central High School. The loud noise pulled Yamato out of his math-induced stupor. He quietly yawned and stretched his neck before putting his books away.
"Hey, Yamato, wanna go to the cafeteria? Takeshi and I are going to get some bread," Taichi invited, approaching Yamato's desk, hands tucked in his pants' pockets.
"Ah... Sure, I could use a cold drink," Yamato replied whilst getting up from his seat at the back of the class. The three then proceeded to exit the classroom.
"Wait here!" Taichi pointed down solidly at floor. He and Yamato were standing at the doorway of the bustling cafeteria while Takeshi went to queue for the bread. The school's cafeteria was separated into two sections: on the right were the counters where breads and other meals are sold whereas the left wing was equipped with wooden tables for students to gather and eat their lunches. "Don't you dare wander off on your own—God knows how hard I searched for you the last time you did that," Taichi frowned and crossed his arms, remembering how he had to scour the whole school for Yamato only to find him sitting alone at the roof top, casually eating his sandwich.
"I won't," Yamato sighed. He did that once and now Taichi had him marked as a lost child for life.
"Good. You remember this order, young man! Don't you go around making Papa worry!" Taichi mocked with a grin as he jogged his way to Takeshi. Yamato rolled his eyes with annoyance while making his way to the vending machine filled with both cold and hot beverages. He shoved his right hand into his pants' pocket, grabbing some loose change before counting the exact amount he needed to buy the drink he craved.
One by one, Yamato inserted the coins into the slot, secretly enjoying the light sound of the rolling coins. He then pushed the button below a picture of bottle filled with dark brown, slightly transparent liquid. No more than three seconds later, a bottle identical with the picture hit the entry of the vending machine with a CLOP! Yamato bent down and took the bottle before drinking about half of its content.
'Black tea is best drunk straight,' he gave a small smile of satisfaction and walked back to the promised doorway.
"No way! You are so lying, Tachikawa!" A high-pitched laugh caught Yamato's attention. He turned at the source of the sound and saw Mimi, desperately trying to cover one of her friend's mouths—presumably the one who was guffawing to her heart's content. "Ssh! Everyone can hear you!" Mimi said, sounding mildly annoyed yet amused at the same time. She was sitting at the corner of one of the tables of the cafeteria, surrounded by her group of friends. Their idle chit-chat—gossip?—continued on with the same intensity, none of them paying heed to the amount of stares they were getting.
'That's right. I haven't thanked her.'
Yamato set down a small box of strawberry milk on the table occupied by Mimi and her friends. The group of girls stopped their conversation upon the interruption made by the blond. Noticing that the pink box was set next to her, Mimi traced her eyes from the arm that rested upon it to the pair of sky blue eyes staring back at her. She tilted her head slightly and gave him a questioning look.
"Thanks for two days ago. The tea—and, well, you—helped a lot."
"Oh, yeah, no problem," she flashed a sweet smile. He gave a small smile in return. The eyebrows of her friends slowly quirked up, all of them suspicious.
'Isn't he that handsome senior?' one of them thought, while looking at the girl in front of her. 'The one in that band right? What was it, The Teenage Wolves?' the other girl nodded. 'What business does he have with Mimi?' all of them thought in unison.
Unconscious of all the attention she was receiving, Mimi took note of what Yamato was wearing: a large dark grey sweater over the usual school uniform.
"Ah!" her amber eyes widened in realization. "I'm so sorry, Yamato, I completely forgot to wash your blazer," she slowly shrunk back in her seat, feeling guilty. Her eyes were downcast, her forefingers playing with each other nervously.
"Too busy reading those books, no doubt?" Yamato smirked, leaning closer. He meant it as an actual question, but it came out wrong—it sounded as if he were teasing her. The apologetic look in Mimi's face was quickly replaced with a slightly annoyed one, accompanied with a small pout of apprehension. "What's that supposed to mean?" she raised an eyebrow.
Yamato raised both hands to his chest, indicating surrender despite thinking he was of no fault. "Nothing. It's fine, Meems."
'Meems?' her peer thought while looking at each other.
"This sweater is pretty warm—it's still fall anyway. I'll probably need it when it starts snowing. So don't forget to give it to me by then, alright?" his handsome smirk etched deeper into his face. Again, he sounded as if he were teasing her. This time, however, he did it on purpose; he found her reactions to be entertaining and her pout to be, despite his conscience, kind of cute.
"I'm not that forgetful, you know," Mimi crossed her arms in mock annoyance. She turned her face the other way, breaking eye contact with him altogether. She felt unusually jittery at that moment. This was not the first time she had spoken with someone who looks, in her own words, "above average", nor was it the first time she had spoken to him. In fact, she talked to him just two days ago! Yet, something about his sly—and admittedly suave—expression stirred her insides, causing her to unconsciously bit her bottom lip, momentarily dropping her facade. Upon realization, she quickly hardened her facial expression to display feigned irritation.
"Let's see about that," he cocked an eyebrow in amusement.
"Yamato, let's go! We've got the bread," Takeshi called from the cafeteria's doorway. Taichi stood beside him, waving to Mimi who waved back.
Yamato turned around and started walking away, leaving the cold milk on Mimi's table. "Later."
"Wait, Yamato!" Mimi quickly stood up from her seat. "You forgot your milk!" she held the pink box up with her slender right hand.
He stopped and looked back. "I don't like to feel indebted. Hope it suits your taste, Prin—" Yamato bit his tongue and refrained from saying 'princess'; he was not quite sure what exactly their relationship was. Acquaintances? Would that warrant a cheeky tease? Or were they already friends? Despite bearing the crest of friendship, he was never too good at defining relationships—even his own.
"Meems," he finished. With another smirk and a slight wave he left the brunette who was not unable to say anything back.
'Was he about to call me Princess?' she thought, disbelief apparent in her face. People have called her princess thousands of times, but to think that he of all people would do it? 'Since when was he so, so... cheeky?' That thought kept her standing even after the three boys were long out of sight.
"So, Meems," her friends' brazen tones snapped her back to reality. "What was that about 'two days ago' and you borrowing his blazer?" their faces were similar to hound dogs hungry for food.
"N-nothing!" Mimi sat back down, growing wary of her cheeks getting warmer. Trying to dodge her friends' sharp questioning, she buried her head in her arms.
She always did have a slight preference to strawberry flavoured things.
A/N: And you´ve reached the end of Chapter 2 of The Little Things! I´ve decided on having a single storyline as I´m not too good at writing drabbles. However, the chapters will not form a linear chronology—there will be flashback chapters in the future—and they will only form snippets of Yamato and Mimi's interactions with each other. Currently, they are at that awkward point where they can't comfortably refer to each other as friends, but simultaneously, saying that they are mere acquaintances feels wrong.
Thank you for the alerts and favourites, and of course, the reviews! They make my day, really. :)
Starrymilk: Yes, they are definitely fun to write about! I think that they could have been very close (in the show) had they gotten over that awkward not-that-close-but-supposed-to-be-because-of-the-mutual-friends-but-are-closer-with-other-people stage. But honestly, I, for one, don't believe that Mimi (who has never shown interest in cooking even once) suddenly became a celebrity cook without anyone's involvement. I blame Yamato, really. (headcanon)
Guest & Kai: Thank you!
Digi Yo: Thank you! I will definitely continue this!