Warm Hands [Hiroomi x Akihito fanfic]

Chapter seven: Troubles and Ice Cream

Hiroomi Nase

     I couldn't tell how Akihito felt about my affection toward him. He seemed depressed afterwards. When he said nothing was wrong, I didn't believe him. I finished dressing and walked back over to him. He was holding onto his elbow with one hand and his face was staring at the wall. He isn't okay.

I grabbed his free hand and waited for his eyes to make contact with mine. He peeked over at me. I could see it now. His cheeks were red and his eyes were watering. He's about to cry? But why? I watched him with a sad expression. Akihito finally turned to face me. He sucked in a breath of air and held it. Don't cry. I wanted to say it but I couldn't get myself to tell him. Please don't cry.

     I've seen many sides of Akihito, but a crying one is one I have yet to witness. And I didn't want to. I quickly wrapped him into another embrace and my eyes started to water a little as well.

    "You're not okay, Akihito. You're so transparent." I felt his head give into my grasp and fall into my shoulder. I could feel his tears soak my shirt.

    "What's wrong?" I whispered. He started to hiccup from his sobbing. He really is crying. I shushed him and rubbed his wild blonde hair. It's almost like he's never cried before and now he was letting it all out. It was depressing.

    He finally calmed down and faced me while sniffling. I sat down on my bed and patted the spot next to me. He sat down. I tapped his knee.

    "You can tell Hiroomi your troubles." I said playfully, trying to cheer him up. Akihito took a deep breath and played with his fingers.

    "What do I look like to you?" I thought the answer was simple; I see you as a child, is what I wanted to say. But I knew what he meant. I smiled at him and flipped my hair.

    "Well you look like a lot of things." I decided to say. He looked up at me with those wide, innocent eyes. I cupped his face with my hand.

    "Just now you looked like a child. But I'll always view you as my little, cute Akkey." My goal was to make him happy again. I succeeded. He laughed weakly and put his hand over mine. Such warmth. I hummed.

    "Also as my heater." I exclaimed. Akihito sighed at me.

  "You're such a pervert." He growled. I laughed and titled my head.

   "I love you, Akkey." The words surprised not only him, but me as well. We gave each other straight faces and red cheeks. Why did I say that? I covered my mouth and looked away.

   "Uh–c-coming Mitsuki!" I ran out of my room, pretending my little sister needed my assistance. So embarrassing.

   "H-hey! Wait!" Akihito stammered and tripped over his bag, trying to stop me. I heard him growl and come after me. Heh.

   My house was a maze to outsiders. I trotted toward the kitchen. I slid onto one of the bar stools and rested my head in my hand. I'd like to see him find me. Before I could chuckle in success, I heard Akihito's footsteps come closer. Huh? He swung into the kitchen using the archway. His face was now happy and filled with excitement. He showed me a cocky smile and pointed at me.

    "Found you!" He said. I'll admit, I was impressed, but confused. How did he...?

   "How did you find me?" I said, changing my idea of his sense of direction being weak. He smirked.

   "Well, I didn't want to lose something that's very important to me." He looked shy yet determined. I liked it. It made me get butterflies in my stomach.

•  •  •

     The next few days ended up being the best days of my life. The day after our "sleepover," we ended up going to the park together and chatted on the swings. An ice cream truck conveniently showed up nearby and I ended up buying us both ice creams. I bought a chocolate one and Akihito, being the innocent one he is, bought a strawberry blast. Watching him slowly consume the ice cream was one of the highlights of my day. He reminded me of a puppy, too scared to eat something whole at once. His little tongue was shy to come out of his mouth. I smiled.

Akihito's next taste was a messy one. His lips were covered in strawberry blast. He was about to wipe it off with his sleeve, but I stopped him.

    "Lemme try some!" I said and kissed his upper lip. The strawberry blast transferred onto my lips. I licked it up. It was good. But not as good Akihito's lips. I grinned, he tried to hide himself being flustered. He knew that was what I wanted from him. He then quickly wiped away the leftovers on his lips and stared down at his cone, with a complex expression.  

   "If you like me that much, just say so." He mocked. I was taken aback. The old Akihito, who was always sassy to me, was back. I started to laugh. He chuckled and tasted some more of his ice cream. I did so as well, out of my own cone. I started to enjoy how he was showing me all his sides now. His happy side, his childish side, his sad side, and his cheeky side. All of them I loved dearly, except maybe for the sad side. I never wanted to see that side again.

   I adjusted my scarf and leaned back against the bench. It was nice outside today. The sky was clear of clouds and the there was a nice, cool wind to balance out the sun's heat. I never liked the wind.

I could see Akihito was done with his ice cream and was working on the cone. I, however, was taking my time. Although, my ice cream began to melt over the cone. I sighed. I never finish my ice cream in time. It was too cold for my liking. Akihito watched me attempt to taste the liquid. I gave up and went to throw it away. Akihito chuckled at me.

   "Can't even finish your own ice cream." He spat playfully. I turned around to face him and stuck my tongue out. You little shit. I tossed the cone away and trotted back over to him, who was completely done with his cone. He had some ice cream on his cheek. Another opportunity!

   I didn't stop trotting until I clashed my lips onto his cheek. Although when I opened my eyes, my lips weren't on his cheek, they were on his lips. He had turned his head at the last moment. He leaned into my lips and forced it a little. When I let go, I realized that was our first direct kiss. Akihito smirked at me.

    "You always have such bad aim."

Next Update:  September 27th