Just A Little Bit Shy

...and Karaoke - 6 (Part 2)

Haru's heart wouldn't stop pounding in his ears. It was deafening. His hands were sweaty and he could feel his stomach tying into all sorts of knots. He was under the awning of a convenience store, a few blocks away from the karaoke restaurant. This was the location he had directed Y/n to meet him at. Call him selfish; call him manipulative, Haru did not care. He wanted a few moments with Y/n all to himself. But now, he wondered if that was the smartest move to make, considering how determined his heart seemed to beat right out of his chest.

He fumbled a little, snatching his phone out of his pocket and checking the time again. It was nearing seven o'clock, and night was just beginning to set in. The lights from the store at his back were blindingly white, leeching out onto the sidewalk and the road. Haru watched a few people exit, conversing with each other, and holding a plastic bag bulging with snacks and tiny confections. His eyes caught sight of the small ice cream pop, whose condensation was leaking against the bag's surface. Haru could... his eyes went back to his phone, nibbling on his bottom lip. He opened his messages and began rereading his conversation with Y/n. He couldn't help it; it made him smile every time.

Even though the conversation was so short, he couldn't help scrolling through it repeatedly. Haru did so, with a tiny smile on his lips, until he heard one passerby's footsteps come to an abrupt halt — right beside him. Haru glanced up to see Y/n stopped a few feet away, the boy's (e/c) eyes on the convenience store behind him. All Haru could do was stare. Y/n was standing there, in casual pants and a cotton t-shirt. The moment seemed so much more intimate out of a school setting, and out of their uniforms. The bleaching light from the store highlighted the bridge of Y/n's nose, the shine in his (h/c) hair, and saturated his eyes as Y/n finally turned his gaze on Haru.

Y/n in casual clothes. Y/n meeting him for a not-date karaoke night. Haru's heart pounded harder. Finally, finally. For an embarrassing moment, he was too choked up to speak.

Y/n's shoulders hunched up, "Um, this is..." his eyes kept darting from Haru to the store.

"I know," Haru took a step towards the other boy, finding his voice but it was rough; hoarse. "This isn't the karaoke restaurant, but I wanted —" you all to myself for a few precious moments, "— to walk with you there, at least some of the way. It's only a few blocks away from here." Haru hoped his smile was charming and he wasn't coming off as intrusive or heaven forbid, creepy. "Is that okay with you?"

Y/n blinked at him, hands shoved in his pockets, and nodded shyly.

More than Haru's heart throbbed at that image — this is a recipe for disaster, he frantically thought as he turned away from Y/n.

"Um, can I get you something from — here?" Haru tried not to think about the ice cream pops he had seen in the other customer's bag; tried not to imagine Y/n's lips wrapped around that; or his tongue giving it a shy tentative lick — the air felt punched out of Haru's lungs. I have to stop, he thought desperately. Or else it's going to be impossible to walk.

Y/n seemed oblivious to Haru's indecent thoughts, entirely blind to the flush creeping up his neck. The (h/c) boy merely rocked forward on his feet, glancing at the store with a furrow appearing between his brows.

"What," Y/n's voice was very quiet, "do you want to give me?"

Haru prayed for sanity as he took a steadying breath: in and out. He smiled warmly at the other boy who had creeped up slowly to stand at his shoulder. "Anything you'd like, Y/n."

"I don't know," Y/n said in that same quiet, shy tone, his eyes averted.

Haru quickly aborted on the desire to take the other boy's hand, even though his fingers itched with the desire to intertwine them with Y/n's, to lead the boy right to him; closer to him, at least. "Why don't you come in with me then? Just for a second."