Close to You || Chifuyu Matsuno

Chapter 29

As Chifuyu followed you into your apartment, he immediately noticed the change in it. He wouldn't exactly say it was well organized when he first saw it, there were a few books laying here and there, some of your clothes hung on the back of the chairs, pillows and blankets laid on the couch, and there wasn't an empty spot on your coffee table because of the magazines, pencils, tea-mugs and the TV and PS4 controllers...

It didn't bother him, neither Amaya, because it looked homey and warm, and he felt good hanging out in there while you were working on his tattoo.

But now it was a mess.

There were used tissues, crumpled paper balls, empty soda cans across the floor, on the table, on the couch, and because of the half-empty take out food boxes, there was a weird smell in your home.

Chifuyu's eyebrows furrowed in worry as he looked around, and saw as upon entering you immediately started picking up the trash.

"S-sorry for the mess, I just... It just..." you tried to come up with an excuse why your apartment looked like this, but you couldn't come up with a convincing lie, so you just hurried to the kitchen with some of the boxes and cans and threw it in the trashcan.

When you turned around to continue tidying up, you were faced with a wide chest, and big hands tilted your face up to look Chifuyu in the eye.

Chifuyu didn't ask anything, just looked at you like he always did when you were alone, in that unique way, like you were the only thing that mattered in that moment.

It made your lower lip tremble and your eyes to tear up, and with a quiet sob, you wrapped your arms around his waist and buried your face strongly in his chest.

Chifuyu closed his eyes and held you tight, gently rocking you side to side as he kissed your hair.

"I'm sorry, baby." he whispered and rested his chin on the top of your head. "I'm sorry I left without saying a word."

You pulled away, shaking your head, looking at the wet spot on his chest your tears caused, and smoothed your palms along it, like the gesture could make it disappear.

"It's okay..."

Chifuyu's hands slipped from your shoulders to your arms and he squeezed it to make you look up at him, before you could come up with some weak lie.

"You're not okay." he whispered as he looked deep in your eyes.

Well, you were not. For years. But that was your problem not his.

You wiped your tears as you shook your head slowly.

"It's not your duty to fix me."

"Maybe it's not, but you have to get used to the idea, cause I'm not going anywhere." Chifuyu said gently as he rubbed your arms, and looked at you with a small smile.

His words caused a warm feeling to spread across your body, but you looked up at him questioningly.

"Why do you care so much?" you asked the question which swam around in your head for days now.

Chifuyu studied your face, trying to come up with a reason. But the only answer he could think of is because... he just did care about you.

"I just do." he shrugged, gently caressing your arms. "You're the kindest and sweetest person I've met, and you don't deserve what you've been through. You deserve to feel safe and be happy. And... uh..." Chifuyu stopped for a minute, trying to chose his words carefully.

You were a victim of a possessive boyfriend once and he didn't want to scare you with what he wanted to say, but on the other hand he could see that you needed him. Which made him feel good. And worthy for once in his life.

"I think I can give you that. Safety for sure, happiness... I hope so." Chifuyu trailed off with a hopeful smile, and looked down when he felt his cheeks getting warm, no doubt, blush covering them.

You looked up at him in shock. Of course you've noticed how he cared for you, how he always wanted to make sure you were alright, but never knew why. First you thought that he was just being nice and helpful, but you never in your wildest dreams would have thought that he liked you.

If that was what he was trying to hint at. At least, you hoped so. He was so sweet to you ever since you met him and he saved you numerous times before, and unlike Noa, he never showed any disgust at your illness, only tried to help to get you through your panic attack.

Maybe he gets it. Maybe he understands that sometimes you wished to be held, and sometimes you wished to be alone, not wanting to talk about what's going on in your head.

You put one of your hands on the side of his face gently, and for the first time since you met, you were the one making him to look you in the eyes.

You gave him a warm smile, appreciation and gratefulness shining in your teary eyes and Chifuyu's breath caught in his throught as he noticed you were slowly leaning closer to him. He didn't dare to move, afraid of scaring you, so he just watched mesmerized as you got on your tiptoes to reach him, and placed a sweet kiss on the corner of his mouth.

Chifuyu couldn't really say he ever experienced the feeling of 'melting at someone's touch', but he was sure that the expression was pretty accurate now.

You pulled away, watching as a smile grew on his lips and he took in a rather shaky breath as he looked down at you.

Suddenly he bent down and literally swept you off your feet when he picked you up in his arms bridal style, making you let out a surprised yelp.

"So here's my plan, and just so you know, you can't say no to it." he said as he started walking to the front door, and his grin widened when he saw that you were looking at him with a smile and big wide eyes. "We go to my place, get ourselves comfortable on the couch, watch any movie you want, and order some food. Sounds good?" he asked as he turned his head to you.

You laid your head on his shoulder and caressed the side of his face, while you admired his features from that angle.

"Sounds perfect."