Pickles ||Inumaki x Reader||

Five || Potato

-Art by riyalise on Twitter-

"Hey Maki, watch how many tater tots I can fit in my mouth!" I grinned as I stuffed my cheeks with another deep fried potato.

The girl with the dark green hair only rolled her eyes as she continued chopping vegetables with incredible speed. Panda, who was also trying to swallow many potatoes at once, gave me the joyful reaction Maki seemed to lack. "You're such a (your star sign), (Y/N)!" He murmured with a full mouth.

We both kept goofing off until we had pushed Maki over the edge at one point when we laughed out loud, spitting food everywhere. "Would you two get serious!?" She growled through gritted teeth, making us straighten our backs instantly at her terrifying aura. "The stew is almost done cooking, one of you pass the lemon juice."

As Panda wiped up the mess we made, I took the small green bottle of lemon juice to Maki's outstretched hand. My eyes suddenly caught a pair of whimsical violet ones that stood in the doorway of the kitchen, causing me to halt in my tracks immediately. Maki noticed I still hadn't handed her the bottle so she turned to me, only to end up following my gaze to the two boys who strutted in. "You're back just in time." She grinned at Toge and Yuta, both of which who looked exhausted.

Yuta tugged down his blue scarf and let out a long sigh of relief. His cheeks and the tip of his nose blushed a light pink from the cold November weather. "It smells nice, did you guys cook together?"

The girl only scoffed and said, "As if! I did most of the cooking part while these two kept being total lunatics," Grumpily, she turned her attention back to the pot on the stove and stirred it vigorously.

Yuta laughed lightly before setting down his katana and taking off his coat to make his way over to her. "Let me help you then." He said sweetly, taking the wooden spoon from her grasp.

While they conversed, Toge came over to Panda and I. "Kelp." He scratched his spiky hair as he pulled off his winter jacket while Panda asked him how is mission went and what grade the curse was. But he never got his answer because rather than focus on the animal, Toge was staring at me, who hadn't said a word since he arrived.

In fact, the two of us hadn't spoken to each other since what happened the previous night. The memory of being closer than ever to him with his collar pulled all the way down as he held my hands flashed through my mind that instance and I had to avert my gaze. "I'll go set the table." I mumbled shyly before skipping out of the kitchen.

Getting embarrassed around anyone, let alone Toge, wasn't common for me. But I couldn't help it; it was something about the way he let me look at his face so easily, almost as if he wanted to, yesterday when we were alone in a room full of our sleeping friends. I was grateful that we didn't speak about it when we pulled away after the lights were turned on, nor even in the morning before he left for his mission and I went to drop Megumi home. But the worst part was that I couldn't stop myself from replaying the moment over and over in my head; there were times where I'd be faced with a strong desire to be closer to him but never actually acted on it. He was my best friend, after all, and I'd hate nothing more than to make him uncomfortable.

It wasn't long until the cooking was done and we all sat down to eat. The meal was nice, not necessarily because of the food but rather the fact we were all able to enjoy it together. Panda kept teasing Maki, who eventually lost her patience and began launching cutlery at him as he took shelter behind Toge who continued eating calmly. Yuta and I only laughed at their antics as we sat on the other end of the table together.

With the three distracted, the boy with the dark eye bags turned to me. "Say, is everything alright between you two?" He asked curiously before gulping down his glass of water.