Love is Blind: a Jouno and Tetchou story

Finale and fireworks

"What the heck happened to you two?" Teruko asked incredulously. Jouno remembered he was wearing a dino-hoodie, he and Tetchou had dealt with a fire, been shot at, almost blown up, and Tetchou had been blasted in the back by Tachihara's teammate. Jouno was sure they made quite the sight.

"Wasn't most of this your doing?" Jouno asked. "I set a tree on fire, not you!" Teruko exclaimed. "God, I can't believe this. I get you're both occasionally useless in a battle when one of you is in trouble and the other goes after, but I thought I could trust you to go on a date." She sighed theatrically. "Apparently not."

"So, what's the surprise?" Tetchou asked, sounding like he was about to walk towards his own execution. "If I tell you, it's not a surprise." Teruko said. "Follow me into the backyard." The base backed into a forest, which Jouno never ventured into because it wasn't mapped out. It was most definitely not a backyard.

Jouno and Tetchou followed Teruko through the base. "I was hoping the commander would be home for this, but he's still busy taking care of something." She said, sounding sort of disappointed. Teruko didn't make friends very easily, but she got along with their boss better than most people.

"I also couldn't get Tachihara to come home, because he's still undercover." Tachihara was Teruko's free piggy back ride. Of course she'd be sad he was absent. She seemed to cheer up again. "I'm sure it'll be fun with just the three of us though."

Teruko began dragging something. Tetchou discreetly reached out and touched Jouno's hand. Jouno would need all the strength he had to get through this. Teruko handed Jouno a small stick. "One for you!" She said. "And one for you!" She said, presumably after she gave one to Tetchou.

"What is this?" Tetchou asked. Teruko sighed. "Fine. It's sparklers." Jouno raised an eyebrow. "It's what?" He asked. "Sparklers. Basically, small fireworks on a stick. You can write your name in the sky, and make all sorts of patterns. They're also loud, so you can hear them."

Jouno had no idea what sparklers were, but breathed a deep sigh of relief. Compared to what he'd been expecting from Teruko, this was relatively normal. Tetchou laughed as his went off, and Jouno poked him. "Hey!" Tetchou exclaimed. "That's on fire."

Jouno grinned. "Oh, no." Tetchou said, as Jouno started to chase him around the small clearing. "Teruko, what have you done?" Jouno caught up to Tetchou. "Can I have yours for a moment?" Tetchou asked. Jouno handed it over. He could hear Tetchou making some kind of shape in the air with it.

"What are you doing?" Jouno asked. "I'm making a heart." Tetchou said. Jouno sighed. "Did you have to do that in front of Teruko? Really?" At the same time, Jouno could hear Teruko jumping up and down and screaming "success!"

Tetchou laughed, and took Jouno's hands. "I don't care who's watching." He said. "I really like you, Jouno." Jouno smiled, and was sure he was blushing. "I have more sparklers!" Teruko yelled. "And also fireworks!" Jouno leaned his head against Tetchou's shoulder. "You know, this wasn't that bad a date." He said. Tetchou grinned. "We should do this again some time." While Teruko started gleefully setting off fireworks, Jouno got up on his tiptoes to give Tetchou a kiss on the cheek. "Let's not get too carried away."