Shota has managed to fall asleep on the couch, with his head on my lap. He either sleeps all the time, or not at all. I brush my hands through his hair. It's all tangled up. I grab a hairbrush from the table next to the couch and start brushing it. I'm careful to not wake him up, I know it hurts him to brush his hair. I've tried telling him that maybe if it hurts to brush it, he should cut it, but he refuses. Well, I like long hair too, but at least I brush it. He mumbles something in his sleep and rolls over to his side. I just keep brushing his hair.
"Shota."
He opens his eyes and looks up at me.
"Hm? Why'd you wake me up...?"
"It's dinner. My mom made soba."
He smiles a bit and sits back up. He brushed a hand through his hair.
"Did you brush my hair?"
I nod and smile at him. He doesn't smile often. I like it when he does.
"Thank you, 'Zashi."
He takes my hand and lightly kisses my forehead. My face gets hot and I blush. We stand up and go to the kitchen.
Shota was supposed to go home after dinner, but he called his parents and said he'll be staying at my place for the night. I'm happy to see him happy and comfortable with me. It's a big improvement from when we were 15, when he was just this boy who hated everyone and everything, who only came to learn, not to make friends, who never smiles. From that to having a boyfriend. No one could have thought that.
We're sitting in my bedroom and use my computer. We're playing some weird videogames. The goal is to shoot bananas at the bad guys.
"Do you think I should change my hero costume to just a big banana?"
Shota laughs and turns to me.
"So we can match, you mean? Your banana to my yellow sleeping bag?"
I nod and laugh.
"Power couple."
