𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓! (𝐌.𝐀𝐓𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐔 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑)

𝐨𝐧𝐞

miya atsumu was the worst guy ever.

despite having known him since you were (give or take a few months) a fetus, he never failed to make you utterly disappointed. it was increasingly obvious with the years how in love he was with you, not to mention how forward he was about these gestures. 

sure, your mom thought it was cute when he presented you with flowers on valentines day and left you gifts in your locker. she and his mom always talked about your eventual marriages to each other anyway. 

so, tonight, you and the miya twins were walking home from school the normal way - atsumu trying a little too hard to fire the cupid's arrow straight into your bleeding, beautiful heart... and osamu just kinda trailing behind, stuffing his face with onigiri. 

"you sure you wanna pass up on the free tickets? i swear i'll make it the best time ever," atsumu winked, nudging your shoulder. you rolled your eyes. 

"try harder. i'd rather go with sunarin than you," you retorted. 

atsumu pouted, threatening crocodile tears to fall from his eyes. "aw, you're mean as hell, y/nnie. what if sunarin came with?"

"i didn't say i want to go with sunarin! i said i'd rather go with him than with you, dumbass!" you yelled, hitting atsumu upside the head. you heard osamu's soft giggle at that, and you smirked. 

"ughh, fine. hey, 'samu, wanna-"

"i don't want to go to the amusement park with you, 'tsumu."

"dang."

and so the walk was eventful as always. with nonstop bickering and sharing of snacks, you and the twins parted at the fork in the road to your respective houses. sighing quickly, you picked up the pace and gave a one-handed acknowledgement to the miyas' goodbyes. 

"oh, hey ichigo," you muttered, squatting down to be face-to-face with the stray white cat you always fed. ichigo mewled drowsily, pawing at your bag. 

"okay, okay, wait." you dug around in your schoolbag for any cat-safe treats. you always carried one or two from the petstore in there. 

"aha, here you go, ichigo. eat up!" you said, opening up the packet of tuna for the cat. ichigo happily scarfed down the meal and meowed happily. smiling, you scratched her behind her ears and smoothed down ruffled up fur. 

"y/n?" a familiar voiced called out. it was the convenience store owner, hiro, who basically housed ichigo until you came home from school. 

"oh, hey hiro. don't mind me, just checking up on my girl," you grinned, standing up and brushing your uniform off of any cat hairs. hiro nodded. 

a young man, maybe in his mid-twenties, hiro was practically your only other outside of school acquaintance other than your parents. he let you help yourself to gummies and candies and instant ramen packs in the back and rant about annoying people in your grade (which included atsumu). hiro kept asking you why in the world you weren't just giving the poor guy a chance, and your response always was, "well, i just want romance to be something... new. exciting! if it was my childhood friend, that's not super... anything."

"how was your day? you want some snacks for the road?" he asked, digging around in his pockets to see if he had anything. you awaited eagerly. hiro was always generous with packets of potato chips. 

"it was fine. hung out with some friends. walked back home with the miyas. atsumu was trying to get me to go to the amusement park with him, the one that's in tokyo. he got two tickets and apparently they were insanely expensive."

"so? you're gonna go?"

"i said no, but i think it'll sleep on it. not like i'd go with anyone else anytime soon. plus, he saved up a bunch, and i don't want it to go to waste. and i get to go to tokyo, maybe spend the morning at shibuya."

"that sounds fun! is it a date?" hiro asked teasingly as he opened up a coke can and handed you a packet of potato fry chips.  you stuck your tongue out in anger before digging in like ichigo with her tuna stick, taking a seat on the cobblestone wall that lined the store. 

"i don't even know if i'm going yet. plus, you know my deal with tsumie--"

"i just want romance to be something new and exciting." hiro and you chorused at the same time. 

"hey," you said, disappointedly. 

"sorry. you got it stuck in my head." hiro shrugged. 

"whatever. ichigo, you're on my side, right?" you asked, and the white cat purred in agreement, nuzzling her nose in the crook of your arm. "at least i have you in this cruel, unforgiving world full of tsumie lovers!"

hiro guffawed, taking a seat next to you and lighting up a cigarette. he scratched behind ichigo's ears and took a slow puff. 

"you don't have to be scared of love, y/n," hiro said. "just let it happen."