Momo❤︎Tomo [COMPLETED]

❤︎Chapter 24: First Bento, More To Come

Momo's POV

"What's that, Momoka? It's so cute!"

I snap out of my trance and hide the bento I'd stayed up late last night to make in my arms. My body begins to heat up from embarrassment, prickling uncontrollably with sweat. As I hide my reddening face in the bento, my older brother and sister crowd around me to strain their necks and see.

I get a whiff of their overwhelming perfume and cologne and feel sick to my stomach. My grip tightens even more on the bento as I try to cover the top.

"Get away! You're both going to spoil the food with all of those fragrances on you!" I whine in a pathetic voice. The situation was so embarrassing.

Tomomi and I had been dating for an incredibly sweet month now. It felt like every single day we learned something new about each other that made us fall even deeper in love with the other person. School kept us busy, so we had only gone on two other date since our first. Our third was a lot like the first date, only we watched a movie and ate lunch at a cafe. You could learn a lot about someone by how they watch different movies. I learned that Tomomi wasn't ashamed to laugh the loudest in the theatre at something he found funny.  It was actually really cute.

What wasn't cute? This stupid bento that turned out like crap even though I spent so much time on it! I nearly burnt the rice, which I formed into pathetic looking and lumpy rice balls. Not to mention the little octopi didn't look completely cooked all of the way...the vegetables still looked undercooked, too...the list could go on.

Last night I had been proud of the way the bento looked, but now that I had actually gotten rest I could see how ridiculous it REALLY looked.

I'm such a failure...how can I give this to Tomomi!

"Oh...no guy wants a meal from a girl who can't cook..."

"Hey! What is it? It looks disgusting." I can hear Usagi next to my ear, trying to hold back a snicker through her words.

"Does not! It's kind of...hehe...cute! And I'll take back that compliment if you don't let me try it!" Akio was the only person in the world who could ever think something so hideous was actually adorable. I whine and set the bento down on the table, grains of rice flying.

"I can't give this to him...."

"So it is a boy! Tomomi, right?"

"No! I refuse to believe that my baby sister is —"

"Well, too bad, Aki! I have a boyfriend! And he might just break up with me after taking a bite of this deadly meal!"

"If he dies, just tell everyone he ate gas station food and hide the evidence. That way, you can keep yourself out of jail, and maintain your womanly pride." Usagi places her hands on her hips and laughs triumphantly as if she had solved every last one of my problems with her eye rolling advice.

I could barely look to her for guidance. Her advice never worked for me, and I doubt it would now.

"Thanks but...I doubt that would work. Besides, I don't think I could live in a world without my sweet Tomomi..." I sigh dramatically and turn back to look at the food through blurry tears. How disappointing. I wanted to surprise him and this was the result.

I feel a familiar heavy hand on my shoulder as my brother makes a tsk sound.

"Maybe you should just...hand it to him and run."

❤︎

"W...Wait! I changed my mind! Don't open it!"

"Too late! It took you long enough to hand it over! I'm starving, Momoka!"

"Tomomi, no! Someone kill me!" I turned away from my handsome boyfriend and covered my eyes. That morning before school started, I told Tomomi I'd made him a bento and he got so excited to see it. Come lunch time, however, it was so hard to hand over that I kind of ended up shoving it at him!

By the time he grabbed it I started getting embarrassed all over again, but...Tomomi clearly wouldn't let me off so easily.

Shuck...

The sound of the Tupperware container opening seemed to echo through the schoolyard. I whimper as I wait through the deafening silence for his reaction.

"Awww, Momoka..."

What I expect is the loud laughter I heard during the comedy movie in the theatre. I expected side splitting laughter. But what I heard was a very audible shakiness in his voice followed by a sniffle. When I whirl around, Tomomi's eyes are sparkling behind his glasses and his cheeks are turning red. He's holding the bento like it's a precious newborn baby.

What?!

"Momoka...it's so cute...the bento you made me.." there's a red around his eyes as the tears start to spill over on his cheeks.

"Tomomi...you..." I'm so taken aback by this reaction — the last I'd ever expect, that I can barely find words. Tomomi steps forward to wrap an arm around my shoulder and hug me tightly into him.

"Cmon...it's hideous..." I smile tenderly, my heart warming in my chest. Tomomi shakes his head next to mine.

"No...it's adorable and I'm so happy to eat it."

When we pulled away from each other, I glanced away shyly.

"Then..I'll work hard. There's more to come and I want to get better for you."

"No need! Just keep making cute things like this and I'll be happy!"

I sit and watch Tomomi scarf down the food I made him. He tells me that everything was cooked just right and the bento was delicious. I couldn't tell how many compliments were lies to make me feel better, but I did know his tears earlier were real and that made me feel on top of the world.