𝐒𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭 ❄️

16: Under the Stars

Yuki and I ran into Tohru almost as soon as we entered the house.

"Oh, Natsu!" Tohru exclaimed. "And Yuki. I was just about to start on dinner," she informed us.

"Oh. Do you need help?" I asked.

"Yeah! That would be great," she said.

"I can help too," Yuki added. It was common knowledge in this house that Yuki was bad at cooking, but he could at least help gather the ingredients we needed, so all of us headed to the kitchen.

It didn't take Tohru long to notice my bracelet. As I handed her a bowl to start mixing ingredients, she gasped. "Oh! That's a pretty bracelet! Yuki gave it to you, right?" She looked at me, eagerly awaiting my response.

I was shocked by her enthusiasm. Her eyes were sparkling like she was the one who'd received the bracelet from Yuki. Wait, was it that obvious who had given me the bracelet? I guess it was, since Kyo wouldn't have done something like this.

"Uh, yeah," I answered, feeling a little awkward.

"That's wonderful," Tohru smiled gently.

Some part of me was relieved to notice she didn't seem jealous that Yuki's gift for me was so much more intricate than her own. Then again, Tohru was usually too thankful for what she had to be jealous of what others had.

"You two made up as well, right?" Tohru asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, we talked a little at the grocery store," I said. "And now that I think about it, that was really crafty of you Tohru. Leaving Yuki and I alone in the store together."

Tohru grinned sheepishly. "Well it worked, didn't it? Oh! Do you think it would work with Kyo and Yuki?"

"No way!" Yuki and I rejected the idea in unison.

Tohru shrugged it off easily. "Well, I'm just hoping you two can get along one day. You have more in common than you think."

"I don't know, I kind of like Kyo's yelling," I admitted. "It livens up the house. It's better than Shigure's dad jokes."

"Huh? I think they're funny," Tohru frowned a little.

"Well, that's because you're you," I chuckled. "Yuki, what do you think?" I turned to Yuki and found the grey haired boy was already looking at me with a vague expression.

"Huh?" He blinked in surprise. "Sorry, I wasn't listening," he admitted with a shy smile.

Tohru chimed in. "We were just talking about Shigure's jokes. Did you get distracted by something?" She asked, her voice sounding a little teasing.

"Ah, maybe . . . Let's just start on dinner," Yuki said, and looked away in . . . embarrassment? Tohru giggled at his reaction and agreed, turning back to the recipe. Huh. I felt a little like the third wheel all of a sudden. It was like those two had some sort of inside information that I wasn't aware of.

Tohru just giggled in response. "Okay!" She agreed. "Tonight, we're making Natsu's favorite. First, we need the flour . . ."

As the cooking process ended, Yuki left the kitchen to call the other boys for dinner. I took the chance to turn to Tohru and asked a question that had been bothering me for a while.

"Tohru, is there a reason why Yuki still calls you by your last name?" We'd all been living together for months, so we certainly knew each other well enough to drop the honorifics and start calling each other by our first names.

Tohru blinked in surprise, as if this was the first time she'd put any thought into the matter. "Yeah, he does. I guess it's more comfortable for him."

Well, I supposed that made sense. After all, Yuki still called me by my full name with honorifics and everything. But was it because he wasn't comfortable with me? I frowned.