F̶o̶l̶l̶o̶w̶ Fuck the Rulebook - Kenma Kozume

C20 - Hold my hand

The pair arrived at the café ordering their drinks whole engaging in cutesy murmurings for hours, Yamaguchi reaching over the table to Akasuki, his hair falling into his eyes as his fingers approached her face,
“hang on, you have a little bit of,” his fingers loosely brushed over her top lip, as he pulled back with a smile, “coffee on your face.”
She chuckled,
“thanks,” she felt a small frown appear on her face, an unknown force throwing her into sadness.
“You feeling okay?” Yamaguchi whispered, Akasuki lifting her gaze to meet his with a weak nod, “you look pale,” he suddenly pulled his chair out, “if you feel sick, I can take you home, it’s,” he frowned slightly, “it’s okay if you can’t do this.”
No, he didn’t understand, it wasn't okay if she couldn’t this, everything was going well, what happened?
“I don’t know,” she whispered sighing reluctantly.
He reached over the table loosely wrapping his hands around hers placed around her coffee cup, a weak tingling bringing on goose bumps,
“you can speak to me Akasuki.”
Her eyes widened, did, did she just react to his touch? Holy shit, this, this is a massive break through! She glanced down to their hands, slowly bringing her fingers around his focusing on his smooth skin and slim fingers,
“do you like me, like, seriously like me?”
A gentle chuckle left his lips,
“is it dumb of me to say yes?”
She watched his fingers react to her touch, brushing along hers in a soothing manner,
“I think it’s dumb.”
“If it was dumb,” he started to whisper glancing around before focusing his gaze on Akasuki, “why can't we be dumb together?”
Be dumb together. What, does that mean? She glanced up at him, his eyes tender and caring,
“I don’t understand.”
He chuckled once more, a simple sad melody leaving his lips,
“it's okay, I'm used to being second best.”
As his words hit her ears, her heart broke, how could he say those words so easily? Hearing those come from his mouth made her question if he's always thought that, has no one ever told him he’s the best?
“Tadashi,” Akasuki breathed out, her hand moving without her permission up to his face, her fingers brushing against his cheek, “how are you second best when there isn’t a first?”
She had a weakness for wanting to make others happy. He weakly blinked at her, eyes resistant to her words as he nestled into her hand,
“I know you’re lying,” a tiny smile spreading upon his lips, she didn’t want to lie, “and that’s okay, I know you’re trying,” she really was trying.
“I,” she lowered her head shamefully, “I’m a pretty shitty person.”
“No,” Yamaguchi firmly asserted, removing his hands from hers to lift her chin forcing her eyes to stare into his lightened pupils, “you’re a great person, super funny, caring, pretty cute and intelligent,” she didn’t deserve these words from him, “you’re just going through some confusing thoughts and that’s okay,” it's not fair to him, “whatever you’re thinking about, I’ll be here,” he shouldn’t stay.
She closed her eyes trying to hold back her easily persuaded tears,
“can you take me home?”
Yamaguchi hummed lightly, she didn’t want to cry, she never does but she can’t control it, once it starts, it doesn’t stop. She opened her eyes to see Yamaguchi packing up their things, how can he be so sweet to her? He laughed himself up holding his hand out to Akasuki, he shouldn’t be sweet to her, he reached down to softly scoop her hand up with a reassuring smile, she didn’t deserve it.