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"So, am I officially your boyfriend now?" Nanami asks the moment you both have stepped past the café doors.
"Yes."
There is no hesitation in the answer.
You are the most certain you've ever been, dragging Nanami away from the establishment with a pace such that even he has trouble keeping up.
Perhaps this newfound energy is an unleashing of your pent-up frustration, an exhilaration that erupts through all your five senses. The image is still seared into your mind—the one where Gojo's realized he had lost to you, the usual boastful gleam in his eyes replaced with outrage and disbelief.
"Sorry about that," you then say.
Immediately, his right brow quirks upward. "For what?"
"That...you know." The words are lodged in your throat because, for some reason, you always feel there is a lot to apologize to him for.
"That I just declared you as my boyfriend in front of a whole crowd without even asking if that was alright." While one hand remains laced tightly around Nanami, your other free hand tugs at the edge of your shirt. "I know I said what I did but if you don't feel comfortable with that, we could just forget—"
"No," he interjects. "Me? I would never want to give up the best title in the world."
When you glance back at him, the soft smile on Nanami's face is evident. How that possibly makes him more gorgeous than he already is a mystery, but your heart pounds hard from within your ribcage.
"You still like me?" The insecurity is bubbling in your voice now. "Even after watching me scream and punch Satoru like that?"
The debacle at the café was perhaps too audacious of you, something that you assumed Nanami would disapprove of.
But instead, he says, "That was hot, what you did back there."
At first, you blink twice in the same second, not expecting him to be so direct. But soon, the surprised pout at your lips turns into a grin, and you're smiling like a lovestruck high schooler at the compliment.
"Well, he deserved it." You're surprised by how calm you sounded especially since the neural activity in your brain was anything but calm. "If he didn't look so pitiful already, I would have swung at him a few more times, too."
To demonstrate, you throw several punches in the air.
"Should have," he chuckles from beside you, his laughter a string of low hums. "I'm glad that you put him in his place, though. That's my girl."
His girl.
You don't know why, but that makes you want to melt into the void from glee. Biting into your bottom lip, you call upon every ounce of willpower just to not crumble to your knees on the sidewalk.
"Want to talk about how you ended up meeting Satoru, to begin with?" Nanami asks from seemingly nowhere, and that stirs you loose from your cloud-nine thoughts.
Fumes begin to steam from your ears again. "Please. That sore loser doesn't even deserve to be mentioned by name."
You also give Nanami a rundown—how Gojo has texted you, how he is returning to Tokyo, and how he tries to invite you to his empty bed. Just summarizing the conversation creates the urge to gag.
"But I could've handled everything myself, Kento," you defend, referring to how Nanami had placed himself between you and Gojo. "He's still your senior at work. What if you're placed on a mission with him and—"
"You and Haru matter more to me than my entire career." He interrupts you again because he couldn't stand to see you place yourself below other matters. "When I didn't see you home, do you know how worried I was? You're lucky your phone shares your location with me."
He cares about you deeply, and the realization makes you want to sink into his arms again.
"Also, grabbing groceries?" he starts once more, this time referring to the text message you sent him before leaving the house. "That was such an obvious lie. Since when did you like shopping for dinner? Why didn't you just tell me that you were seeing him?"
At the realization of your wrongs, guilt racks in your chest.
"I didn't want to alarm."
"But I have an obligation to protect you. Especially since you're my girlfriend, right?"
You suck in a breath. "Right," you reply although your voice is nothing more than a whisper.
Nanami might not know it, but he certainly had a way with his words when he wanted to.
Upon the street corner, you both stop to wait for the pedestrian light only for Nanami to turn to you.
"Well, since we have some free time before Haru finishes school," there's a slight pink tinge at his cheeks, "...want to go on a date?"
That question shouldn't make you as flustered as you became, your thoughts filled with giddiness at the suggestion (although you're trying really, really hard to not come off as too excited at the idea).
Sure, over the past five years, Nanami had gone on various outings with only you: movie nights, ice skating, arcade trips, and shopping sprees.
Hell, he's even visited you backstage right before you performed at the strip club, seeing you in all sorts of scantily clad outfits.
He might have squeezed your hand during scary scenes at the theater or pitied on you in air hockey competitions, but those weren't dates...right?
So, when Nanami asked you out on your first date, naturally your first response is, "So where are we going?"
There's a sly tilt in his smile, and you would hate to admit how excited that makes you.
Especially when he lowers his hazel eyes to your level and asks:
"Want to dance for me again?"
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Late update because I'm traveling throughout Europe!
