Tangerine ~ Bullet Train

30 - "I want to."

Tangerine couldn't remember a moment in which he was as nervous as he was now, in a longing way that was. With every step he got closer to the house Yuina currently resided in, his nerves shot straight up. He tried to steady his breathing, but he wasn't capable of doing so. He was just looking forward to seeing Yuina again so much, yet he couldn't entirely get rid of the fright he felt. This date meant so much to him, and he didn't want to blow it. Yet he couldn't help but be worried about him screwing things up with her. He wanted to show himself from his best side, although he didn't even fully knew that side himself. He trusted in Yuina's presence bringing out the best in him, which always seemed to be the case. So he took another deep breath before walking up to the front door, ringing the bell.

His heart skipped a beat when Yuina answered the door with a sweet smile on her face. She was nervous the whole day, but Tangerine couldn't even see it through his own nerves. 'Hi,' she said in the sweetest voice. He couldn't even function properly anymore, but he managed to blurt out a tense "Hi". He didn't know what was the appropriate way to greet her. He wanted to put his arms around her so badly, yet they hadn't seen each other in two and a half weeks. Yuina noticed he was being nervous about all this, and she found it adorable. 'May I hug you?' she asked, resulting in his cheeks flushing bright red. 'Gladly,' he replied, making them even more red. She smiled at him and laid her head on his chest whilst putting her arms around his waist.

Tangerine put down the gift he brought her, locked her in his arms and couldn't help but blurt out a longing, joyful sigh. It felt like he was missing something in the past few days. He had always known it was her, but he couldn't have even imagined how he would feel when he would hold her again. It felt like all his pain and sorrow suddenly became bearable. 'I missed you so much,' he couldn't help but tell her, holding er even more tightly. Although he still felt nervous he was able to breathe again now, holding her close to him.

Yuina felt his beating heart against her ear. It brought her back to when they were lying in bed together, him comforting her after she had a nightmare. She was doing really good lately, but she was doing even better with him near her. 'I missed you, too,' she confided him. He really didn't want to let her go again, but he wanted to look at her. She was wearing a comfortable, proper legging with a beautiful green blouse on it. Her face was free from worry, sparkling with joy by looking at him.

'I have something for you,' Tangerine said whilst picking up the gift. 'For your birthday.' Curiously Yuina took the big wrapping. It was kind of heavy. 'What did you...' she said, opening the thing. It was a box full of tools she needed to draw. 'You...' Her eyes started to tear up. 'Because, you know...' he mumbled, not wanting to speak of the bullet train again. 'Thank you so much!' She put down the box and wrapped her arms around him again, leaning back after to look at him joyfully.

This was what he had longed for since they met on the train; to be with each other in peace, without being in danger. Well, the last part could be not entirely true, Tangerine thought when he saw the connecting door to the hallway opening, presenting a little child.

'Yuina, is that your special friend?' her cousin asked whilst joining them. Aya and Saito knew she was having a date tonight, but they decided to tell Riku that she was going out with a special friend. 'Yes, it is,' she replied, bringing her hand to his head, giving him a gentle brush on it. She didn't know if Tangerine would be comfortable with meeting her cousin. She looked at him questioningly. 'Shall we go?' she asked.

'Wait,' Riku said, tilting his head upwards to be able to look at Tangerine. 'It's you,' he said kindly, which threw Tangerine off a little. He was sure he had never seen this child in his life, yet he seemed to know him, or at least of him. 'You're right, Yu,' Riku said to his niece, 'it is a pretty cool moustache.' Yuina couldn't help but start laughing, remembering their playful banter in which she chased him down with a marker, pretending to want to draw a moustache on his face. She was surprised her cousin remembered him from her drawing. 'Right?' she said.