Red Strings ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Forty-Third String

A/N: Thank you @betuliiik for the cinema suggestion! Also, if there's something you'd like to see Kurenai and Chishiya do, don't be shy and drop me a comment.

Also, also, I chose Your Name (if you haven't seen it, please do. Amazing movie) for a very specific reason. It involves a meteorite and memory loss. Sounds familiar?

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"Hey, Chishiya."

As his colleague walked by in the locker room, he gave Chishiya who was standing in front of his locker a pat on the shoulder. Surprisingly, this particular colleague was one that Chishiya could tolerate and actually had several pleasant conversations with. According to Kurenai, he could be considered a friend.

"I'm heading to the bar, want to come along? It's not everyday we get to go home just before happy hour."

"No thanks, I've got a date with Kurenai."

"Dude, you never hang out with us," his colleague said, coming over and putting an arm around Chishiya's shoulders. "You're whipped. We all think so."

"And? What's so bad about being whipped?"

Chishiya never quite understood the term 'whipped'. Aoi had to explain it to him once, and he still did not fully understand why it was such an insult. Apparently, to be whipped meant that he listened to everything Kurenai would say, and he did everything she would tell him to do. He put her before anything and everything, anyone and everyone.

But if you loved someone, should it not be that way anyway?

What was so wrong with wanting to be with the person he loved?

Kurenai never ordered him to go on dates with her, nor did she ever tell him that he could never hang out with friends (not that he had many). Though, if she said she wanted to watch a movie with him, why would he ever say no to her?

"Not going to lie, I never saw you as the whipped, loyal boyfriend. With your looks, you could be a player. A very successful one."

"There's only one person for me, and that's Kurenai," Chishiya said, giving his colleague a pat on the back as he slammed his locker shut.

-

[My Queen]: Meet me at the cinema.

-

When Kurenai said she wanted to watch a movie with him, Chishiya thought she meant at home. She had a state-of-the-art home theatre sound system installed after all. Then again, he should have known that all Kurenai ever wanted was to experience what normal people would.

How she would search 'romantic dates in Tokyo'. How she would prefer to stand outside of a restaurant in the cold. How she bugged her one and only friend Kuina about dates that she had been on to get some inspiration. She did all that just so she could have a 'normal' relationship with Chishiya.

But things were never 'normal' with Kurenai.

"Shuntarou!"

As soon as she saw him coming from around the corner, Kurenai ran up to Chishiya and threw her arms around his neck. Chishiya could not help but smile, holding her by the waist. If there was a definition of pure happiness, it would be whenever Kurenai saw him; her entire face would light up.

Why would he give up on seeing pure happiness on her face for a night out with someone else who would not feel the same to see him?

"I missed you."

"We saw each other last night."

"That's almost twenty-four hours of not seeing each other," she said, pinching his cheeks. "Are you not happy to see me?"