VIII (Aoi Kurashiki x Reader)

VI

He gulped, his adam's apple bobbing in sync. He tapped his fingers across his thigh. "No, not really." He turned to leave the room but paused, jerking back to face (Y/N). "Whatever happened earlier meant nothing, kay?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" (Y/N) prodded. "Wait-Wait!" She sprung towards the boy seizing his forearm. "Listen to me!" He shrugged his arm, trying to free it but (Y/N) stood her ground. "Don't tell me you can just pretend you didn't feel anything." Forcing his hand up from his side she pressed it against her chest.

The thud of her heartbeat reverberated off of Santa's palm sending a quiver through her ribcage. It was beating embarrassingly fast. She swallowed, looking up to meet his awestruck gaze. "I-um..." Never had (Y/N) seen someone so speechless. "What now?" He murmured feeling his heart stutter painfully at the thought of what would come next.

But before he had the chance to speak, "Sorry, to interrupt but can I borrow you two for a sec." Junpei looked extremely flustered to be intruding on the moment. "I tried to put the shower curtain on and-"

"Sure, dude." Santa cut him off extracting his hand from (Y/N). Taking a few steps out of the room he turned back realizing he was the only one following. "You coming?"

(Y/N) blinked, opening her mouth to say something, anything to rewind to the short-lived moment between them. Instead, she settled with a simple, "Yeah."

The shower curtain Junpei claimed he found in the dark bedroom fit perfectly in the bathroom if only he could reach. That was where Santa and Santa came in. Santa could wrap a hand around the curtain rod, so he was the only one out of the four who could attach it. "Gimme." Santa motioned to Junpei forcing him to hand over the light blue curtain.

As he unfurled it, Junpei and (Y/N) were the first to notice the giant tear on the left. Stepping back to examine his handy work Santa's smile turned into a frown. "Wow...that's a pretty obvious peephole. Someone's really dedicated."

Junpei hummed, glaring intently at the rip. "Well, with a hole this big, you gotta wonder if maybe they wanted to get caught."

"So, you're saying maybe the one getting spied on was into that shit?" Santa chuckled, wiggling a finger through the hole.

"Maybe they were into, like, those home invasion fantasies."

Santa furrowed his brows in thought. "Interesting...I see..."

The pairing was odd but the two strangers seemed to get along oddly well. Almost like brothers. "You two are real idiots, you know?"

Sharing a look of amusement both of them burst into laughter. "Come on, (Y/N). We're just pulling your leg." Delivering a light punch to the girl's shoulder Junpei pulled open the shower curtain. "Not to be pushy, but can you guys get out? I have an idea."

Not putting up much of a fight, (Y/N) and Santa complied, leaving Junpei alone in the bathroom. Subconsciously, Santa placed a palm against the dip in (Y/N)'s back, gently guiding her out the door. The words he needed to say buried themself deep in the pit of his stomach. Unless he was forced to, he wouldn't say it.

Just the occasional brush of his fingers sent a shiver down her spine and sent her heartbeat rampaging. Visibly tensing, the girl unwillingly brushed off Santa's hand as Junpei exited the bathroom. "I'll be right back. I gotta check on something in the other room." He pushed past the two, hurriedly closing the door behind him.

"What's he in such a hurry for?" (Y/N) grumbled, cocking her hip out to the side.

Santa let out a breathy laugh, one that made (Y/N) agonizingly aware of the flutter it sent through her stomach. "June..."