Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
˚➶
"OKAY, here we are."
shinichiro opened the door to his house, letting you walk inside. it was neat and cute and cosy-looking, pictures of family and friends placed on nearly every surface.
humming, shinichiro closed the door behind you, offering to take your jacket, but you refused to take it off. not thinking anything of it, he nodded and walked into his kitchen.
"i don't think anyone's home today - my dad's at work and my mum took emma and mikey out with mikey's friend, which is better, i guess, so we can focus on helping you pass your biology test," shinichiro rambled.
"thanks again," you nodded. shinichiro smiled and shook a hand at you, "don't mention it, i'm happy to help you. you want something to eat? or a drink?" he asked as he poured himself a glass of water. you shook your head.
you waited for him to finish his water and then the two of you went upstairs into his room. you didn't quite know what you were expecting, but it was a typical japanese bedroom. bed on the floor on top of a tatami mat, small lanterns placed around, a small table nearby.
there was also a vanilla candle lit that made the place smell nice and comfortable. "don't look so shocked," shinichiro snickered as he got another pillow for you. the table was too small for the two of you, so shinichiro improvised and used the floor. "okay, where's the sheet?" shinichiro asked as he took his bag and got out his pencil case and pad.
you handed it over to him, and after studying it for a second, he nodded his head. he took a highlighter and handed it to you, along with the sheet. "highlight the parts you really find difficult," he ordered.
you nodded, taking the lid off and proceeding to highlight the whole sheet. "woah, why are you highlighting everything?" shinichiro asked, taking the highlighter from you. you looked up at shinichiro with knowing eyes and he sighed, chuckling slightly.
"okay, then, we'll start here then," he said, and you watched as he started making a special revision guide for you. he began making a "key words" box and he started mind-mapping important content, and then began writing bullet points about what you need to know.
as he was doing all of this stuff, you suddenly felt more motivated than ever: you had to pass this test. here shinichiro is, doing all of this work whilst you just sit here and watch and you couldn't help but imagine the face of disappointment that would infest his face if you were to fail.
plus, it would make shinichiro really happy if you passed.
you found yourself subconsciously smiling, only a little bit though as you watched shinichiro scribble down biology notes. "why're you so quiet today, [name]?" shinichiro asked, unnecessarily using your name. "i'm usually quiet," you responded with a slight frown.
"uh-huh, more than usual today. you should talk more then, i like hearing your voice," shinichiro said, and it sounded so comforting coming from him. maybe you should talk more.
"i don't know what to talk about," you shrugged. "anything, y'know. anything's okay," shinichiro pondered with a nod. you nodded, but you realised there was really nothing interesting about you.
you envied shinichiro's ability to talk about anything, whether it was motorcycles, dicks and balls, biology, his family, he would always have you actively listening, well, most of the time, at least.
"i'm not very interesting," you murmured. "sure you are, even if you weren't, i wouldn't care. just say anything, like, what did you do when you went home yesterday?" shinichiro asked.
"i did some shopping for myself, and i found a kitten outside my house when i came back, so i gave it some leftovers. it refused to move, so i just stayed outside for a while until its owner walked past. it was a small boy who told me his name was 'kazu'. his eyes were coloured weirdly but he was a good kid. he told me that the kitten's name was "tora", which is ironic," you rambled on.
"and he spoke to me about how much he loved the kitten and that he would rather die than lose tora. he was cute. i don't think i did much of the speaking, but he stuck around because he thought i was pretty. he gave me half a cookie because i looked after tora."
shinichiro smiled, nodded his head. "that sounds fun. i'm pretty sure the boy you're talking about it friend's with mikey and his other friend. do you like pets?" shinichiro asked.
you shook your head, "not really. just cats. they're low maintenance."
"that's true, but dogs are better," shinichiro challenged. "definitely not," you opposed. shinichiro giggled at how stern you were. "so you can talk," shinichiro noted, still focused on completing the revision booklet. that's because you were comfortable around shinichiro, and it seemed that shinichiro was the only person who made you feel like this.
time passed and passed, soon it was 10pm. shinichiro had begun printing out exam questions for you to try after letting you thoroughly read through the revision guide. with the help of the revision guide beside you, you had got 37/50, which was the best you had ever done on any biology test ever.
shinichiro helped you highlight your mistakes and he corrected them for you, explaining where you went wrong and helping you understand what you had to know. "ah, i see.. thanks, shin," you nodded, going back to the revision guide.
finally you had used shinichiro's nickname, and though you didn't even realise, shinichiro found it hard to contain his giddiness, so he silently watched you focus on your work.
as he patiently admired you, laid on his stomach, he picked up on your little habits and imperfections: the way you would tuck loose strands of your short hair behind your ear; the way you would occasionally bite your lip innocently whenever you struggled at something; the way you scrunched your nose every now and then, and the small mole beside your lips seemed to catch shinichiro's attention.
or maybe it was your lips.
no, it was definitely your lips. the mole was nothing but an accessory, still cute to him, though.
so when you turned your head to look at shinichiro, his pulse went through the roof as you made eye contact. you blinked, only now realising how close you were after switching to lying down on your fronts.
what's going on? a second ago, you were focused on getting your biology work done, but now you couldn't seem to take your eyes off shinichiro, no matter how hard you tried. you never gave him enough credit for his face - he was undeniably attractive. his hair seemed slightly more messy today, you realised.
you barely had time to study shinichiro's face before he had leant in swiftly, placing his lips against your own spontaneously. you could feel a butterfly apocalypse begin in your stomach as you actually realised what was going on - shinichiro was kissing you.
his hand was planted on your face, his palm softly cupping your cheek in an attempt to hold you closer. you kissed back for the small remainder of the kiss, having the latest reaction time ever, mostly due to shock. the kiss felt good. you know, that short, soft kiss that made your stomach do backflips....
so why, you asked yourself, did you feel like running away forever?
