Red, Yellow & Blue

12. Pain In The Ass

A/N- to all you dirty minded folks. The title is misleading. Don't get your hopes up. Still no smut lmao.

"Mom kicked me out! She's so unfair. I didn't even do anything!" Shinchan was complaining. He was so loud, Kazama had to hold the phone away from his ear.

"Didn't do anything?" he heard Himawari scoff in the background. "He has been so hyper all morning; Mom was afraid he was going to break stuff if he stayed inside any longer."

Kazama felt himself grin, "That excited for our date?"

"Of course. I can't wait to see Action Kamen."

"Oh."

The line crackled as Shinchan let out a breathy laugh, "Just kidding. I can't wait to see you, doofus. You can stop frowning now."

Kazama hadn't realised he was frowning but stopped anyway, "Me too. But the movie doesn't start before five. What are you going to do till then?"

"I don't know. Probably annoy Mom until she lets me in."

"How about you come to my place? We can get ready together." Kazama had never been on a date before and he didn't know the first thing about how to dress or where to meet up. He would feel a thousand times better if Shinchan was there to help him before he died of nerves.

"I'm pretty sure that's not how dates are supposed to go," Himawari piped in again with a snort.

"How would you know? Wait. I don't want to know. Stop eavesdropping and go play with your own friends," Shinchan cut in, probably shooing her away judging by her groan of protest.

"Sure. See you soon, Kazama!"

***

After half an hour of lazing around at Kazama's house, flipping through channels on the TV, going through his wardrobe and making a general mess of his room, they still hadn't accomplished anything. They could neither decide on a channel nor on the clothes.

His mother was right after all. Shinchan was too hyper to stay in and they had decided to go to the mall to pass the time before their date.

Kazama held on to their cart which was already filled with chocobis and chips as
Shinchan expertly navigated through a huge pile of sweaters strewn across the counter selling cheap clothes on sale.

Kazama must have been staring because Shinchan, without looking up from the task, said, "I've been trained by the best."

At the mention of Shinchan's mother, Kazama thought of his own, who was still unaware of her son's date. If she found out he was dating Shinchan, would she freak out? He shivered at the thought and decided not to think about it at the moment.

"Hey, look at this sweater!" Shinchan yelled suddenly, drawing his attention and a lot of other customers' as well.

He was holding out a soft beige coloured sweater with bold horizontal rainbow stripes running across the middle and the arms. "If sweaters were queer, this one would be a gay icon," Shinchan grinned, and shoved it at Kazama, "you're wearing this!"

Kazama's eyes widened and he looked around at the other customers but they had already gone back to what they were doing.

"Come on! It would look amazing on you. You don't have to buy it but just try it once, please?"

He bit his lip anxiously but took the sweater in his hands. It was incredibly soft to the touch and he had to admit that it was pretty cute too. He shrugged it on on top of the plain blue tee he was wearing. It was as warm and comfortable as it had looked but it was too big on him. The sleeves completely hid his hands and the hem bunched around his hips.

He looked up too see Shinchan beaming at him. He glanced at the young man at the store who was also nodding at him in approval. But his opinion couldn't be trusted. He just wanted them to buy something. "Shinchan, I don't think-"

"That someone should be allowed to look this cute? I agree," Shinchan interrupted with a wide grin. Kazama looked absolutely stunning and it was taking all of his willpower to keep his hands to himself.

Kazama blushed and worried his lower lip with his teeth, "Really?"

Shinchan's willpower wasn't that great after all. It slipped the moment Kazama did that damnable little thing with his lips. He drew him close by his long sleeves and kept his voice low as he asked, "Absolutely. Are you worried someone will see your rainbow?"

Kazama's brows furrowed a little, the way it did sometimes when he was deep in thought. Then he shook his head, slowly at first then more decidedly, "No. I like it. I just thought it was a little big on me."

Shinchan's smile widened, "It is but it only makes you look cuter. So are you going to buy it?"

Kazama smiled and stood on his tip toes to press his soft lips against his. "Okay." Shinchan missed their warmth almost as soon as he withdrew. He was going to complain and demand a longer kiss when he heard the store man clear his throat. "So are you buying this one?"

Both of them turned scarlet, suddenly remembering where they were. But Shinchan recovered faster and he nodded. Kazama had ducked his head in embarrassment and was busying himself with checking the price tag at the back of his neck. After paying the man, he turned to him, "Get one for yourself, too. We can twin."

Shinchan wrinkled his nose at the clothes, "Mom didn't give me any money when she kicked me out, unfortunately."

"This is a date. I'll pay for you. I've saved more money than I know what to do with and I'm glad I am finally getting to spend some of it."

"Technically, our date doesn't start till five," Shinchan reminded him.

"Details," Kazama flicked his hand dismissively in the air and asked the man, who was watching them with an amused smile playing on his moustache covered lips, "Do you have another just like this?"

"No. Sorry, that was a single piece."

They must have looked really crestfallen because the man hastily added, "But I've some other lovey dovey clothes at the back. Valentine's Day leftovers, you know." He peered through some boxes beneath the counter and came back with a fresh pile of clothes.

After a while of searching, Kazama found a light pastel-red coloured long sleeve t-shirt that had significant other written across it with an arrow pointing to the left above the text. There were other shirts like these but most had terms meant to refer to girlfriends, which obviously wouldn't have worked for them.

"Yes, this one's good," Shinchan snatched it from his hands and studied it. His lips pursed in thought, "Wait a minute." And he vanished somewhere in the crowd. Kazama shrugged helplessly at the surprised man.

He emerged later with a thick sharpie in his hand and a wicked gleam in his eyes.
When he uncapped it, Kazama stopped him with a hand on his arm. He was familiar with that look on Shinchan's face. It hardly ended well. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Just personalizing things," he winked and set to work on the tee. The man stared at Kazama over Shinchan's bent head and he obediently took out his wallet to pay for it.

After Shinchan was done, he leaned back to examine his work. He had scratched the word other and replaced it with pain in his ass. Kazama face-palmed. He should have known this was about to happen after what he said last time. But he still didn't know why Shinchan insisted on this particular phrase. When he asked him, the boy only snickered. The tips of ears reddened a bit which only confused Kazama more. "What?"

"Nothing. You'd know soon enough," he gave a sly grin as he picked up the t-shirt, "I hope." He dashed for the trial room to wear his new apparently personalised t-shirt before Kazama could say anything else.

He found the store man laughing at him as if he'd understood what Shinchan had meant. "What is it?" he asked in frustration.

He just shook his head, his eyes shining with mirth, "It's literally what it says, kid. A pain in the ass." He winked and left to help other customers.

Kazama still didn't understand.