Chapter Text
Ayumi, being herself, signed up as a stage manager for Kisiragi’s upcoming musical. She of course had more than enough credits to graduate with flying colors but she still felt she should participate in school events like this. It also helped her class representative status and she got to interact with younger students that either worked or participated in the play.
As for her current affixation however, he needed all of the credits he could get at this point. Not thinking anything of it, Ayumi decided to ask the blonde to help out with the heavy lifting for the musical- which she actually did need to find people for. At first Yoshiki looked surprised and then stumped as if choosing between two things but ultimately agreed. She prayed it would break the ice between them ever since that quick kiss they had. After about two days, Ayumi saw him enter the auditorium and talk to a teacher before joining other guys with lifting some stage equipment.
‘He’s not wearing uniform..!’ Although she had just come to the realization, it still had a great impact on her.
Yoshiki had come wearing a white beater and jeans.
You:
Come wearing clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty!
Kishinuma ( ˘̀︹˘́ ):
ok.
She had told him not to wear uniform but..
“Ahem.” Ayumi fans away the heat rising on her face and gets back to painting on the cardboard beneath her.
After about 20 minutes of helping with set design, Ayumi decides to check on everyone else and monitor progress. Luckily they hadn’t been too far behind but now with the extra hands for carrying the heavy stuff they had been catching up with missing material.
Listening to the actors vocalize has caught her attention, but not more than Yoshiki walking past with a box at a nearby window. Ayumi takes a couple of cautious glances around to make sure no one needed her or was searching for her and watches him get closer to the entrance through the window.
A female teacher standing nearby seemed genuinely pleased with him, giving him a few pats on the back and then shuffling his hair and making it messy. Yoshiki looks against it but makes no moves to back away. Ayumi feels pride swelling up in her chest and a crooked smile growing on her face. She seals it away quickly, slapping a hand over her mouth and then turning away from the window.
‘I raised that kid..!’ Ayumi internally celebrates while making her way outside but not before pausing at the door and straightening out her jumper and collecting her emotions.
Almost immediately after she opens the door, Yoshiki spots her looking around busily and walks over to her with a box in his arms.
“Oh, you made it today.” She says while tapping her pen on her clipboard. She knows he’ll only be able to show occasionally because of his jobs but she’s glad that he took the offer despite that.
Yoshiki nods, “Yeah, I’ll come tomorrow too. I won’t be busy.” He adds which brings Ayumi a little happiness but she conceals her smile. “But the sun is burning me alive.” He groans.
“Yeah, maybe I should have mentioned that.” Ayumi watches a drop of sweat trickle down his forearm slowly and she resists the urge to feel up on the muscle. Her drifting eyes must have caught his attention since she hears a restrained chuckle come from him.
“What?” She asks daringly and the former delinquent turns his head and mutters a small “nothing” as he adjusts his hands to hold the box easier.
“Well, I don’t wanna hold you up so take these inside to the auditorium.” Ayumi swiftly changes the subject while adding another box to carry. “These are clothes for the dancers.”
Yoshiki stumbles a little, his biceps flinching at the extra weight before flexing back in place, causing a little surprised sound to escape Ayumi’s throat in a hum. Before Yoshiki can ask what it was, she speaks, “Also, I’ll be out here tomorrow monitoring you guys’ progress so-!”
She pats on his back more roughly than the teacher from earlier to which he groans in exhaustion. “Keep up the work!”
Yoshiki looks at Ayumi with a small smile. Ayumi’s brows knit together in confusion.
“You’re doing a good job too, Shinozaki.” He says softly. Almost to the point where Ayumi couldn’t hear it.
Ayumi blushes lightly from the praise before placing the clipboard on the boxes he held and pinching his cheeks between her index fingers and thumbs. “Of course I am! It’s me afterall, stupid.”
“I get it, I get it!” He grunts. He tries pulling his face away and after a few seconds of giggling, Ayumi retreats, grabbing the clipboard and watching him walk into the building.
Luckily none of the tension like before rose and Ayumi thanked her stars that he didn’t bring up their kiss. Although their interaction just now has been like usual, it had a hint of flirting. Unlike what she thought initially, their relationship didn’t change despite that. Maybe they could have something more.
Rehearsal ended after an hour longer of working with the dancers costumes, making sure the wouldn’t rip or tear and deciding if they were too tight or not and Ayumi searched around for Yoshiki and found him at the entrance, unsurprisingly to her, smoking. She knows it’s a tough habit to quit and has been seeing him do it less lately. What she didn’t expect was the bike next to him. More specifically, a dirt bike.
“Oh, Shinozaki,” Yoshiki quickly stomped out the cigarette and puffing his last smoke away from her direction.
“Just when I thought you were starting to look responsible..” She sighs while glancing at the bike.
Yoshiki quickly steps out of the way to give her a better view. “Hey! You didn’t even hear me out yet!”
“There’s no valid excuse for this that will sway me.” She says bluntly.
“Listen!” He huffs. “It’s way easier to get to work and back with this. Plus I don’t have the money to take care of a car right now.”
“Do you even have a license?” Ayumi eyes him lecturingly.
“Of course I do! How’d you think I got the damn thing?!”
“I thought you would say; I’ve got connections, so don’t worry about it. Or something like that.” She mimics his tone in a deep voice.
“What do you think I am?! A thug?!” He shouts defensively while waving his arms. Ayumi covers her mouth and laughs.
“Calm down, calm down. I’m joking.” She giggles. Yoshiki watches her for a couple of seconds before scratching the back of his neck.
“Well..I do have connections for other types of things.”
“So are you a thug or not?”
The dirt bike catches her gaze again. Black from top to bottom and propped up by the kickstand. The tires looked to be brand new and there was a mirror near the handles. Ayumi brushes past Yoshiki and seats herself on the bike, prompting Yoshiki to move to the handles and hold it in place. She swears sometimes he thinks of her as a delicate flower that could be blown apart by the wind.
“Geez..it’s all black. Why not get a custom design or something?” She pouts and let her fingers dance over the latter's knuckles.
“When you bring me custom design money, I’ll do just that.”
“Touché.” Ayumi shrugs.
They spend a few minutes talking in that position. Ayumi occasionally brushing her fingertips on top of Yoshiki’s hand and daringly tracing out his muscles in his forearm. Fortunately for her, he stays quiet about it with a few flinches here and there under her touch and sometimes even clamping his mouth shut. Ayumi wonders what she could have possibly done to have him so hooked. A part of her wanted to reciprocate at least a little but she didn’t want to lead the boy on. Though she did feel attraction towards Yoshiki, she still wasn’t sure if it was because of his confession and that it would be a spur of the moment kind of thing.
Admittedly, she was somewhat over Satoshi but she did enjoy spending time with him. Though, the same thing could be said for Yoshiki, so she was really stumped. The one difference however between Satoshi and Yoshiki was that around Satoshi, she felt she had to restrict her other emotions that seemed unappealing in order to not feel like a fool around him. With Yoshiki she didn’t feel like she was walking on glass or holding her breath.
‘Because he’s the fool.’ Ayumi thinks and pinches his hand.
“Ow?!”
“Oh shut up, that didn’t even hurt. What are you, twelve?” Ayumi teases.
“On a scale of one to ten, yes.” He says proudly and Ayumi stands with an eyeroll.
“So uh..” Yoshiki stands straighter and clears his throat. “You..want a ride home?”
“No way am I getting on that thing without a helmet!” Ayumi says with genuine confusion on why he’d ask.
“I have a helmet! You should be able to fit it!” He says, lifting the helmet from a handlebar.
“And what about you? What are you all of a sudden indestructible?” She asks with her hands on her hips.
“I’ll be fine.” He says and Ayumi rolls her eyes and starts to walk away. She hears Yoshiki stumble a little before the kickstand is lifted and he rushes over to her side.
“I’ll walk you home then.” He huffs.
Ayumi takes a few glances at him and holds out her hand. Yoshiki looks at her in confusion and she mumbles. “You’ve been carrying stuff for the past three hours right? Give me your bag.”
Yoshiki’s eyes light up and contemplate for a second before giving her his bag. “Thanks.” He smiles.
“Mhm.”
Rather than separating at their usual point, Yoshiki follows her home, saying that it’s darker than usual and he wanted to walk her all the way. Ayumi complies and they walk in a comfortable but heated silence. When they reach her house they stand there for a few seconds and Yoshiki is the first to speak.
“See ya tomorrow.” He says quietly.
“Hm.” Ayumi nods.
The former delinquent hops onto his bike and starts it, grabbing his helmet from the handle. Ayumi watches nervously debating what to do.
“Um-!” She grabs one of the handles and Yoshiki looks up at her.
Suddenly, she feels too close to him and the heat rises to her face. Her shoulders feel heavy and her heart rate jumps.
“Yes?” Yoshiki breathes out quietly. His eyes scanning her own.
Ayumi slowly raises her hands to the sides of his face. Her fingers are feathered by some of his hair and her hands are heated even more than before because of the heat emanating off of his face. Her heart skips again while she looks at the heated gaze from his eyes. The bright blue now blown into a slightly darker one.
“Thanks again for coming..and..walking me home..” She whispers, not trusting her natural voice. She cringed inwardly at how low she sounds but it seems to have the opposite effect on Yoshiki. His eyes widen and the redness on his cheeks spread down to his neck.
“Y-Yeah.” He ultimately replies after mouthing a stutter.
Ayumi strengthens her resolve with an internal nod and lowers her lips onto his quickly. She doesn’t dare to open her eyes at this moment and reels in the feeling of the kiss. The energy surging from her lips to her heart, making it pump even faster and quickening her breathing. She pulls away from her shortage of oxygen and covers her mouth as she heaves for air. Yoshiki on the other hand is silent. Like before.
She peels her eyes open to gauge his reaction and she gasps quietly. His eyes were an even deeper blue than before. Though his look didn’t feel the same. It didn’t look as heated, but more so hungry. Ayumi stumbles back a little at his gaze but not too far before Yoshiki can pull her back towards him by her hips. His grip is light but soon turns firm and he brings her close enough that her thighs are touching the bike. Ayumi shivers at the contact of the cool exterior compared to her body heat.
“Shinozaki..” Yoshiki uses his other hand to pull her hand away from her face.
Ayumi is able to catch the same look in his eyes and turns her head away, but unable to stop the sparks igniting wildly in her body. ‘Since when could he make such a dirty look?’ She purses her lips together.
“Look at me.” His voice is deep and breathy. Ayumi refuses but remains standing in place.
The wind blows her hair away from her neck and she suddenly feels more exposed. Her blush darkening and her breathing picking up again. “Kishinuma..” She whispers with an almost unnoticeable whine. Something she’s sure anyone else wouldn’t have picked up. Anyone else but Yoshiki, of course.
This elicits another reaction from him. His hand tightening around her wrist and he mumbles a swear. When Ayumi hesitantly turns back to look at him, he’s glancing around as if searching for someone. The street is clear around this time of night at her neighborhood but Ayumi can’t help but look around as well. Feeling as though she’s doing something criminal. Her head turns come to a halt when Yoshiki suddenly stands, towering over her and pressing her body into his.
“You started this.”
Ayumi gasps at a certain friction pressing against her hips but before she can process it, Yoshiki takes advantage of her surprise, her mouth left agape and he quickly connects their lips. Ayumi jumps at the new feeling of the blondes tongue intruding her mouth. He doesn’t give her any break to catch up as his tongue dances through the cave of her mouth and licks every inch he could. She feels her knees buckle and shoulders shake. This time the heat from her mouth travels into the pit of her stomach, pooling there like warm water slowly morphing into hot.
“Welcome ho- Oh!” Ayumi’s front door swings open and she quickly pushes Yoshiki away with enough force to send him toppling over.
“Hinoe-!” The class rep quickly rushes over to the doorway.
“Did I interrupt you tw~”
“Please stop talking!” Ayumi shouts and covers her face.
“Whatever you want little sis~!” Hinoe hugs her and places her chin on top of Ayumi’s head.
Ayumi peeks between her fingers and watches Yoshiki embarrassedly adjust his pants before slinging his leg over his dirt bike and starting it.
“Hope we meet again, secret boyfriend~!” Hinoe giggles while waving and Ayumi pushes her into the house.
“Awwww~ aren’t you at least gonna say goodbye?” She smiles.
‘She’s way too amused..’ Ayumi turns back around and looks at Yoshiki adjusting his helmet. Luckily for the both of them, it shielded his face and Ayumi raises a hand then waves. She refuses to audibly say goodbye with how embarrassed she already felt and she’s sure Yoshiki feels the same. Yoshiki returns the wave just as weekly before driving off a few feet wobbly and falling off.
Ayumi flinches while Hinoe laughs quietly to herself as Yoshiki raises back up and waves again then fully drives away out of sight.
“Ah~ young love.” Hinoe sighs and leans her head into her palm. Ayumi walks into the house but not before passing a glare over to her older sister and Hinoe follows suite.
“Aw c’mon! How was I supposed to know you two were kissing out there~?”
“Please shut your mouth before mom hears you!”