Fuutarou 2
In the cab, Yotsuba pulls out her phone and it lights up the back seat. Fuutarou doesn't see any new messages on her screen. He hears her sigh. But then he feels her lean against his arm as she puts her phone back in her pocket.
I don't think anything I do can distract her for very long from worrying about her sisters. But I have to try.
Ichika's apartment is small, but that's something Fuutarou has been accustomed to his whole life. He goes straight for the couch and collapses. "She said we have to eat the ice cream in the freezer for her."
"Oooh…" Yotsuba darts for the refrigerator.
She places out two bowls of ice cream, each piled precariously high. It looks like she emptied the rest of the container.
"Ugh," Fuutarou grunts, as he forces his tired legs to pull him from the couch toward the table.
Fuutarou is hungry so he digs in, but Yotsuba is inhaling the ice cream even faster.
"Aren't we doing the trope where depressed people gorge on ice cream?" Fuutarou says.
"Heh heh." She swallows. Her expression droops a bit. "Um…I'm sorry I'm such a crybaby."
"Hey, don't worry about it. This is tough for everyone. When Ichika texted me earlier, she said 'Did you know your girlfriend had so much baggage?' And I said 'she can't have any more baggage than the rest of you idiots.'" He smiles.
But her reaction isn't what he expected. Her spoon pauses, and her face turns bright red.
"…..girlfriend?" He has never seen her react quite like this. Even when she accidentally stepped out of the shower naked in front of him on the Kyoto trip, she didn't get this flustered.
Girlfriend…. This whole situation is a mess. Should I ask her out? Did I already do that? I don't know. This ultimatum thing is a pain. These sisters are a pain in the ass.
Fuutarou takes a deep breath. "Yotsuba, do you want to be my girlfriend?"
"Okay!" She squeaks. "Yes!" Her gaze drops in embarrassment and she begins shoveling ice cream into her mouth at an even faster pace.
Well I'm glad that is cleared up at least.
About an hour passes before Ichika arrives. "The girls are all home safe," she says as she enters. "Are you two doing alright?" She eyes the empty ice cream container on the table.
Fuutarou looks at Yotsuba, then turns back to Ichika. "I guess we're okay, given the situation."
"Fuutarou-kun, I brought your gym clothes from school. Yotsuba, you can wear whatever you find in my room. You should shower first."
"Mmmkay, thanks," Yotsuba says. She enters Ichika's small bedroom and shuts the door. Ichika looks to Fuutarou, then follows Yotsuba and knocks gently. "I'm coming." She enters and shuts the door behind her, and the door locks.
Fuutarou lays back on the couch and stares at the ceiling.
What a day.
After Yotsuba and Fuutarou get a shower, Fuutarou is handed a spare blanket and is told to sleep on the couch. He tries his best to get comfortable on the small couch.
Ah shit. I forgot.
He grabs his phone off the coffee table next to him and types a message to Raiha.
Fuutarou: I'm sorry to message so late. I'm staying with the quints tonight. I should have said something sooner, but it's been a long day. I'll let you know in the morning when I'll be back home.
No return message comes.
I hope she didn't go to bed worried about me. I wonder if Itsuki is going to tell her about all this drama that happened today. She'll never let me hear the end of it.
Fuutarou hears the sisters talking softly for twenty minutes or so, then they go quiet. Another hour passes. Fuutarou still can't sleep. He is so tired, but his brain refuses to shut down.
Some time later, as he lays on his back on the couch, looking straight up, he sees a face poke up over the back of the couch.
Who is that? No ribbon. Hmm. That's Yotsuba's worried eyebrows, I think.
"Can't sleep?" he whispers.
"Nope."
He sits up on the couch and motions for her to sit. She sits much closer than he expected. His stomach flutters a little bit.
She is wearing a white tank top and short pink shorts. Her arms are slim, but he can see the toned lines of her biceps.
Yep definitely Yotsuba. I'm a little jealous that I'm not an athlete.
She seems to notice him looking and says "Ichika doesn't own any pajamas."
"I prefer your fuzzy bear pajamas with the ears on the hood."
"Heheh you remember those?"
"Yes they are cute. I want to get some like that for Raiha."
"Look, Ichika did my nails green." Yotsuba straightens her legs to show her toes.
"Very cute. Your favorite color right?"
She smiles wide at him. "You know my favorite color? I don't think I ever told you."
"Well it's pretty obvious."
She giggles softly. She hugs her knees and lays her head on Fuutarou's shoulder. His stomach flutters again.
"Is Ichika sleeping nude again?"
"Oh I'm used to it," she whispers.
"Wait…she really is?"
"Yeah she just does that. I have slept with her like that so many times that I don't even think about it. She claims my sleeping habits are worse."
"It's hard to imagine being worse than that."
There's a pause. Fuutarou musters courage, then slides his hand under hers and interlocks their fingers. She immediately squeezes back gently.
"Long day," she says softly. "I'm glad tomorrow is the weekend."
"Technically it's weekend now. It's after midnight now."
"Mhm."
—
Ow, my neck hurts.
Fuutarou's eyes open and the room is lit. It's morning. He is still sitting on the couch, and his neck is bent straight back over the back of the couch. He lifts his head and sees Yotsuba still sitting next to him, snuggled up to his arm. There's a trail of drool down his sleeve. There's an even larger spot of drool down the side of his shirt.
We should probably get up before Ichika sees this. There will be no end to the teasing.
Fuutarou looks at his phone and the time is already past noon. Sitting next to his phone is what looks like a packaged condom. There's a smiley face drawn on the front in sharpie.
Fuutarou facepalms with his free arm.
Too late.
