I'm thinking this fic will be around 20 chapters, but who knows? Any time I plan to write something, the chapter count usually exceeds it in the end.

Crush

Chapter 6: Crash Landing

Domino City's subway station was usually busy 24/7; people usually depended on it as part of their commute to and from work. But it wasn't also just for that. People of all ages and backgrounds used the subway, and gathering from the large amounts of people, Teà was reminded that Domino City had an exponentially large population.

She always felt a bit overwhelmed whenever she took the subway, which wasn't often, but this time she was simply waiting for someone.

Maybe that was the reason why she felt jittery; the fact that she was going to spend the day with Yami was enough to put her nerves on high. After all, Teà spent quite a bit of time figuring out to wear. In the end, she decided that her favourite pair of high-waisted shorts and a matching light pink t-shirt was casual enough for a walk around the city. Top it off with sneakers and she was set. She would have gone with her tube top and pink shorts ensemble, but alas, laundry day was coming up soon.

She hoped that she looked more confident than she felt. Teà never suffered from anxiety or anything like that, but she figured that these nervous feelings were normal. It was normal that she only got a few hours of sleep the night before, even if it was the start of the weekend, right? It was normal that she had come to the subway station fifteen minutes before, just so she could get a grip on her feelings, right?

Why was it that Yami had to evoke these feelings from her? Well, she knew why, but it didn't stop her from asking herself this question.

Just relax; it's not like you guys are going on a date. She sighed deeply, before taking another look at the time on her phone. It was almost 11 AM, which meant that Yami should be here pretty soon.

"Teà?" Holy crap, she didn't think that she had been jump-scared this badly, as she heard Yami's voice call out to her. A part of her was embarrassed to the core, knowing that he must have seen her jump in fright. She never put it past her that Joey and Tristan would jump-scare her frequently, but she never anticipated that she would let her guard down to let anyone else do it.

She turned to face the direction of Yami's voice, and lo and behold, he was only a few feet away from her. Teà took a moment to study him (without her heart bursting into flames); she had to say that he was an icon, dressed in jeans and a simple muscle top, which showed off his bare arms… Nope, she needed to stop objectifying him.

Instead, Teà forced herself to look into his amethyst eyes, and gave him a small smile. "Hi, how's it going?"

Yami returned her smile, and it reached his eyes; he looked genuinely pleased to see her, if she had to guess. "I'm doing well. How are you?"

"I'm alright. Did you just get here?" Teà tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, not quite breaking eye contact with the guy in front of her.

"Yes. I apologize if I kept you waiting." What. A. Gentleman. If it was possible to be even more impressed with him…oh who was she kidding?

Swallowing her nerves, it didn't take long for Teà to respond. "It's okay. Let's get going," she said cheerfully, deciding it would be best to put her hands behind her back. It was a go-to stance for when she didn't know what to do with her hands.

"Excellent. I will let you lead the way." Teà turned her head quickly, just so he wouldn't be able to see the slight flush on her cheeks. She would have to work on that; she didn't want to be the blushing, bumbling idiot when she was around him.

Just as she was about to inwardly punish herself more for that, her peripheral vision showed her that he was by her side. Fantasies of holding his hand entered her brain, and it took a lot of her strength to push them to the back burner.

And just like that, they were off, trying to navigate their way to the Domino City Park through the crowd.

"I didn't know it was gonna be this crowded, so sorry about that," Teà announced, as she was trying to make past a few businessmen. "But it is the weekend." And people liked to go out on the weekends.

She could hear Yami chuckling right beside her, but it wasn't one of those 'haha, you're dumb' laughs. "It's alright."

Teà was about to respond to it, but she accidentally bumped into a guy on his bike, and it nearly caused her whiplash; heck, she almost stumbled to the ground, but she caught herself just in time. If she hadn't, she could have collapsed in a way that might have caused her to twist her ankle. Great start to a Saturday morning.

"Are you alright?" Yami inquired politely, and she could feel his gaze on her.

This time, she blushed in embarrassment. She could only hope that he wasn't going to be around simply to see her trip and fall all the time. "Yeah, I'm fine," Teà replied, but not without sighing in exasperation. "Some people these days. They don't wanna be considerate for other people."

Yami didn't say anything in response to that, which led Teà to quickly switch topics. "I swear it doesn't take this long to the park, I promise."

"I suppose this doesn't interfere with your commute?" Glad to know that Teà made him smile at her joke, despite the fact that it was a bad one.

"No. I rarely take the subway." They were almost past the stampede of people; at this speed, they would probably make it across the street in no time. "I don't think I'm that patient." Teà paused for a moment, before asking, "What about you? Do you take the subway to the museum?"

"No, I usually drive to work," Yami supplied, keeping stride with Teà as if it was no big deal.

"Yeah, that would save a lot of time," Teà replied, side-stepping aside more people.

It didn't take long for them to reach the Park, which only happened to be a few blocks away from the subway station. In those few minutes of silence, which she had to admit was a little bit awkward, Teà was left to ponder on what she could talk about with Yami.

Normally, she would have been spending time with her friends; the arcade was high on their list of activities to do when they felt like not playing video games within their own homes. Her friends were loud and could be obnoxious when they wanted to be, and it was hilariously entertaining to see either Joey or Tristan be salty whenever they lost.

But given that she was spending time with someone else today, someone who was likely to be introverted (well, if Yami wasn't introverted, he was more thoughtful in his mannerisms), Teà could appreciate the silence.

And now that there were infinitely less people walking around in the park, Teà felt like she was able to relax. With the way she acted around large crowds of people, one might think that she wasn't a city girl at all.

"Better?" Yami inquired, as if he noticed that all her tension had melted away.

Teà stretched her arms, causing her shirt to ride up a little bit, revealing a part of her flat stomach, but she never would have guessed that Yami looked away at the same time. "Yeah, you could say that. I don't do terribly with large crowds, but I'm gonna have to suck it up when I get to New York someday."

"Are you afraid of large crowds?"

"No, not really. I just find it easy to get lost in them. When I was little, my mom and I went to get ice cream, and I bolted off on her. I couldn't find her for over an hour, but by the time I did, we went straight home. No ice cream for overly enthusiastic sugar addicts." Needless to say it was a lesson that she learned the hard way in her childhood.

Yami chuckled. "Sounds to me like you were quite the handful."

Teà made it a point to also snort in amusement. "That's what I'm told. I'm reckless."

"I have no doubts. From what you've told me, you're also ambitious." Teà blushed slightly, and she just had to scratch the back of her head. "Training to go to New York is no easy feat."

"No, it takes a lot of resilience," Teà supplied. "I'm pretty lucky in that regard." But earlier this week she had been filled with doubt and anxiety. "I know I told you this before, but dancing is the love of my life, and if I can't be ambitious or resilient, I don't know what I would do, honestly." Just thinking about her future was enough to summon that same anxiety again. But this time, she was trying desperately to ignore it.

She could feel Yami's gaze on her, as she continued to look forward. "But, hey, I know what I'm signing up for. There's a chance – pretty big one actually – that I could just crash and burn. And that… that would be it." When she was by herself, she was afraid of being judged for these thoughts, but when she was around Yami in person, it was as if there was nothing that could stop her from being open. Why did she think she was a bother to him when she texted him this week?

"Not everyone knows what they want to achieve in life." Yami paused, as if he was taking a few minutes to think about what he could say. "And not everyone thinks realistically." Which meant that he believed Teà did; and to her, that seemed like a compliment.

"What about you? What's your life story, you know, other than working in archeology?"

"I'm afraid I don't have much of a story. I lived with my father in Egypt for most of my life, just until he passed away a few years ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Teà said softly, with genuine empathy soaked into her voice. She managed to make eye contact with Yami this time. "You don't... you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to."

"It's alright, Teà. It's a part of my life that is in the past." Yami shrugged nonchalantly. "After his death, I made my way here, focusing on work at the museum, but I've been told several times by my family that I worked too much."

"Family is pretty important," Teà cleared her throat several times. "I mean, I grew up a single child, and I don't have many cousins around my own age."

"Surely there are benefits to that," Yami replied, almost as if he didn't want her to feel bad about her own situation.

"There are, but it would be nice to have a sibling, you know? Well, I guess I should consider my friends my brothers. We're all pretty close."

"Are they the same friends you talked before?"

The fact that they were having a deep, meaningful conversation without Teà bursting into flames was enough for her to mentally pat herself on the back. But the fact that he was interested in learning more about her was enough for her to mentally burst into flames. So there was that.

"Yeah. Yugi, Tristan, and Joey." Teà let out a small laugh, shaking her head as she thought about them. "They've been around for so long, that I don't know if I can be on my own without them." Right, like that didn't sound co-dependent.

"Tell me more about them."

"Yugi? He's been my best friend since we were kids. He was always shy, and he didn't grow into his skin until recently. He told me that someone had helped him a lot with it, but I don't remember who it was." Teà paused, as if she could take a few moments to see if she could remember. Yami was polite enough not to push her or prod her to continue. "Joey and Tristan came into our group a few years ago. They were the kind of guys to push people around, but they changed for the better. You can count on them to be there for you when you need it," Teà smiled, as she looked into Yami's eyes. When she met his eyes, she couldn't tell what he was thinking. It was a look that would take her breath away if she let it.

But she could say that he was thinking about something, which drew her curiosity. "I don't know what else to say," she laughed sheepishly. "It's kind of hard to sum them up." She also noticed that this was the most she had ever said to him. She knew that she was occasionally a chatterbox and it would be hard to get her to shut up.

"I can tell they are important to you," Yami said, after a few moments of silence.

"I just want to spend as much time with them as possible. School is ending for us, and we're all gonna go our separate ways." She could have sworn that she saw Yami tense, but maybe that was her imagination.

"I would see no reason for you to go your separate ways; since you are close with them, it would make sense to keep in touch."

"Yeah, that's true. Anyways…" Teà trailed off, deciding it would be best to look away. It wasn't that Yami was making her feel uncomfortable, but she knew that she would only keep ogling him. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

It certainly was; although it was sunny, the humidity was practically non-existent and there was a cool breeze that would occasionally make itself known. Couple that with the cherry blossom trees lined up on the stone path before them, and the hilly areas in the park within eyesight, it was a beautiful sight. It was a shame that Teà herself never came here as much as she used to.

"Yes, it is."

"I'm.. I'm really glad that this is happening. I mean, I hope you didn't have any plans today," Teà stuttered, and she was beginning to feel sweat form in her hands – which she had no idea were clenched until now.

"I've set time today to spend with you, Teà," Yami replied smoothly. "I must admit that I haven't felt this much at ease in a long time. I'm grateful."

"Seriously? When was the last time you were relaxed?" It didn't surprise her that he seemed to be the workaholic type.

"I'm not sure. I haven't… I haven't spent much time to focus on myself, to be honest."

Well, he did mention that he worked a lot, and hadn't talked with his family for a while. It was clear though that he was trying to work on that. But maybe that explained a lot.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing you're here now. Nothing like a little nature to make you feel better," Teà stated. "And… thanks for suggesting this, by the way. I haven't been here in a long time."

"You're welcome."

And with that, the two had fallen into another silence, but it was less awkward than it had been before.

And for Teà, it was enough.