Fuutarou 1

"Okay, our cab should be here in ten minutes or so." Yotsuba points her phone screen toward Fuutarou as she says this, but his eyes are so adjusted to the darkness here that he can't read the screen.

"I don't mind waiting. I'm just glad to be able to get any kind of ride at this hour."

Fuutarou steps up behind Yotsuba, who is still seated on her favorite swing, and he reaches over her head to loop her green ribbon around her head.

I thought I had lost her, and all I had left was her ribbon. Things are a mess, but I'm so glad I found her. I'm so glad she stopped running. I'm so glad I can put this back on her head.

Fuutarou gently pulls the ends of the ribbon around to her forehead, and begins to try to tie it. He tries to picture in his head the way she normally has it tied, but exhaustion distracts him, as well as the distraction of her soft orange hair brushing against his hands.

I have ruffled her hair a hundred times. I have messed with her ribbon a hundred times. So why am I suddenly so conscious of how her hair feels?

"I'm sorry, Yotsuba, you look like a derpy bunny. I can't quite get it right."

"I am a derpy bunny, so it's perfect. Thank you for returning it to me."

She is trying to get out some of her normal humor, and I'm glad. But she still sounds like the life has been drained out of her.

She pulls the ribbon down and shakes out her hair over it.

Why am I mesmerized by her hair? Maybe because my nerves are shot?

Fuutarou stands up on the other swing. "We have time. Let's do it."

Yotsuba sniffles and gives a weary smile. "Yes!"

She stands up on her swing too, and the pair begin swinging back and forth.

Come on legs. I know you're tired, but it's not the time to give out on me yet!

It emerges from the treetops. The view that Fuutarou wanted to see. The view of the city that Yotsuba showed him last year.

"Hya!" Yotsuba vaults from her swing, soaring through the air with her arms out to her sides and her legs bent below her. She is smiling.

There it is. What I really wanted to see.

Fuutarou tries to do the same, using the strength left in his legs to catapult himself forward.

CRACK!

The chain breaks. Time seems to move in slow motion.

Confusion.

Vertigo.

Falling.

Yotsuba gasps.

The ground is rushing up.

Gritty dirt.

Tickling grass.

Pain.

"Fuutarou!" He can feel hands on his shoulder and back. "Are you okay?"

His back aches as he lifts his head.

Dirt? Grass? Twigs? Pebbles? Whatever it is, something is definitely stuck to the side of his face.

Something erupts from the deepest recesses of his body. It overpowers the exhaustion and the guilt and the worry.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Fuutarou collapses in laughter.

Yotsuba giggles. Her giggles turn into a full belly laugh like his. She lifts him by the shoulders into a seated position and brushes the side of his face, laughing while she does it.

Their belly laughs both die down, probably because of exhaustion. But Fuutarou can still feel his face stretched into a goofy smile. And more importantly, he sees her smile. The smile that thawed his heart.

That was fun. But damn my knees hurt.

Just then, moments after unexpectedly flying through the air, something else shocking happens to him. It again feels like time has slowed down.

A hand on the back of his head. Warmth. Warm breath. Blue eyes.

It feels like everything is spinning.

Softness. Goosebumps. Stomach tingling.

This feels familiar.

Soft and warm.

Lips.

The ground greets his back.

Pain. But he barely notices.

Pressure on his chest. And warmth. Fingers in his hair.

Blue eyes. Lips.

Oh. This is a kiss. I feel like I'm going to faint.

Lips pull back. Smiling face. Her face.

It's too much. It has been too long. Feelings that have been waiting too long are done waiting.

A bell comes to mind. And stairs outside the school. But this time is different. Two rivers, dammed for six years, have been set loose and are now colliding. It feels like everything has led to this moment. This kiss.

When Fuutarou's head stops spinning and his brain sputters to life, he doesn't know how long he has been kissing Yotsuba. His hands are on her back pulling her onto his chest, but he doesn't feel the slightest bit of resistance from her. It feels like part of his brain didn't really understand what was happening until this moment, and is now in shock. She initiated, and his body seemed to respond with out him even realizing.

He releases his hands from her back and she raises her head slowly.

"You're such a klutz," she says, smiling.

Yotsuba hops to her feet and extends a hand to pull Fuutarou up. She starts brushing grass and dirt from him.

"Anything broken?"

"I'm great," he says.

I really am.

Yotsuba gestures to a bench at the edge of the park. "We should sit and rest before the cab gets here."

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.