Chapter Text
Yuno grumbled under her breath. It's been about an hour since Mahiru called her in a panic saying that Haruka wasn't able to dress himself appropriately for prom and that he looks like a cartoon character, and they've still only gotten done with his outfit. She still had to do his makeup (she insisted) and his hair (also something he wasn't getting away without). Luckily, they had enough time until seven, but she wanted to be done already and see him in full glam! He doesn't get dressed like this every day and she wanted to grab the oppurtunity to style him herself if Mahiru had asked so nicely and if he can't do that himself. So far, he was wearing black pants, a white shirt with an unnecessary amount of frills (even Yuno can see that) and his usual necklace. She also begged him to let Mahiru paint his nails, which he reluctantly agreed to as long as it's not, you know, hot pink or something. They settled for sparkly black. He seemed to like it a lot (even more the smell of the acetone Yuno used to clean up her mistakes, which was weird as hell but what isn't weird that has Haruka involved?) and didn't complain about it feeling weird on his fingers or something, and she was really glad about that since it suited him. She dabbed the brush into the foundation she put on her hand and lightly applied some on his face. "Does this feel okay?" He tilted his head to the side. "You put something on?" Yuno sighed. It wasn't bothering him, so that's a good thing, but how did he not notice a literal makeup brush? That is just how he is, she said to herself. If he was being too much trouble, anyone could just.. count to ten and get back to him, but he was a good kid, so she wasn't complaining about his inattentiveness.
She liked him, too, he was amusing in his own way and good company. He wasn't bothersome after all, he just had his own quirks like seemingly losing all his senses for a minute when nobody reminds him he's alive or something. Oh well. She rummaged through her makeup bag, pulling out some powder blush. She felt like liquid would feel weird on his skin since she herself didn't like it, and she really didn't mind this sort of thing — that indicated he would probably despise it. She took out another brush, a bit different-looking, and covered it with the powder. "It's blush," she muttered, "it makes you look like you're freezing, kind of. Or you're blushing. It's cute." She tried not to put too much on him, since it would make him look a bit weird due to his skin still being a little pale from that one incident back a few years ago. Mahiru had told her about it recently, and she hasn't exactly chewed it up yet. She herself had a stage in her life where she was incredibly depressed from an unwanted pregnancy. That was before she met Mahiru. Mahiru and her had sort of 'saved' eachother. Maybe that's how Haruka and Muu felt too.
She reached for the eyeshadow. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to do liner, but she could decide that later on while she does everything else. He'd just lick lipstick off, so that's out, and he probably wouldn't like highlighter for being too noticable. She slowly drew lines under his tearbags, emphasizing the shadow, just like she always did for herself. She decided to do his eyeliner anyway, and he didn't even tear up — that made her a little jealous, she always had some tears when she went this close to her waterline. She dusted some powder onto his face and snapped the container shut. "All done! Mappi can do your hair now!"
Mahiru wasn't exactly an expert in the field. Sure she did her own hair and braided Yuno's from time to time, but she had to bite her tounge and tense her muscles in order not to accidentally burn Haruka with the straightener or something. They were straightening only a few hairs so that Yuno could do two braids and connect them in the back, and Mahiru wanted to do her part of the job perfectly. She slowly took the last section between the clasps of iron and pulled back on it slowly, then again, and for a third, final time. She admired her work. His hair had two straight sections, looking as if he had grown antlers of some sort, except very flat and hair-like antlers. "Yuno-chan! Haruka's hair is all done!" Yuno ran over from the kitchen, where she had been doing her own makeup and drinking Mahiru's yogurt. She quickly glanced at her girlfriend's handiwork before ushering her away to sit down behind Haruka again.
The braiding was surprisingly easy, like the rest of the day. Mahiru kept panicking about how he might hate someone touching his hair and that she has to be super careful not to pull, but he really didn't mind. He was playing some rythm game on his phone and cheerily told the two girls every time he got an admirable combo. All this with his hands shaking from excitement.. Yuno wished she was so good at such games in a calm state, let alone when she would be trembling with anticipation for her first dance, ever.
After she finished up with everything and the clock inevitably struck six forty-five, Yuno said her brief goodbyes to Haruka and Mahiru, and closed the door behind her. "She'll be staying here while you're away! We're going to have dinner together," Mahiru said happily as she slammed the car door shut and strapped herself into the driver's seat. "She's probably going to have all of my yogurt, but it's okay, i'll run into the store on the way back." The engine revved to life, and Haruka tried his best to perform a breathing excersise. He could feel his whole body shaking. The paper of the boquet rustled on his lap. Mahiru seemed to notice his distress. "It's going to go well, don't worry! You remember how happy you were after she said yes to you? That's how this will be, just trust me. I'm well versed in love." she sighed dreamily, staring at the road ahead as she made a turn. "You know, I've been through a lot of break-ups. First with a boyfriend of mine, then Kotoko-chan, and now i'm dating Yuno-chan. And it was terrible, yes, but.." she made another turn, and slowly stepped on the brakes to stop near the edge of the road where it met the sidewalk. "Even if those breakups are inevitable and will happen eventually, you just have to be happy about the love until it lasts! Don't bury a relationship while it's still breathing!" she lightly shoved her elbow into his side before gesturing for him to leave the car. "Thank you for bringing me, Mahiru-san." he closed the car door and waved to Mahiru. He then stood at the sidewalk, flowers in hand, humming to himself. Muu should be here soon, right?
Muu rolled onto her back and slammed her hands onto her face. It was already six and she wasn't ready yet. Es was going to do her hair in the car and she already did her makeup, but she still needed something to wear and she just didn't know what. She'd already asked her parents, but they just gave the unreliable "he'll like anything" speech and ultimately didn't help her at all. She stared at the ceiling, her mind devoid of solutions to her dilemma, until suddenly, a bright idea flashed into her head. The last time she needed his help as badly as today was years ago, but he probably didn't let his skills dull over time. She typed in the phone number and waited. As usual, he answers on the second ring. At this point she's convinced he waits it out.
"Hello, it's Shidou. Muu? Is there anything you need my help with?"
As usual. The same greeting.
"Hi! Yes, it is Muu. As you know, she's going to prom in an hour but she doesn't know what to wear! Can you help her?"
She heard him sigh on the line and she giggled. Shidou had a famously .. interesting sense of fashion and getting married to Kazui didn't exactly help with it either. His only hope was his cousin, Mahiru, but even then, they rarely talked about fashion, so he was probably doomed for eternity.
"Muu promises you don't have to know how to dress well! She just needs someone to tell her what to wear! I can't decide!"
He scoffed.
"Muu, I do know how to dress well, i'm just.. not a fashion expert. That is all. You may video call me."
She ran into the closet and put on her first dress. It was pink with a black plaid pattern. She had three in total but it was so hard to decide between them and even so narrowing it down to three was also really, really bad.
"Muu is done. This is the first one."
He nodded thoughtfully before waving his hand to signal for the next one.
This one was white with pink lace sewed onto the hem and the sleeves. It was a bit uncomfortable, but she thought she could handle it.
He looked a bit uneasy with this one. She changed into the last one, a pale yellow dress which was a bit longer than the others. The only issue? It had short sleeves. She was still a little scared of that. Her new friends are very understanding and Haruka is even more, but she's still unsure of herself and if she can just show her arms like that at this point. She doesn't want to have garbage dumped over her head again. But then again, Haruka will be there. He'd always protect her, and she knows it. She walks out of the closet, and Shidou snaps his fingers. He immediately covers his face with his hands.
"Apologies, force of habit. Nevertheless," he smiles, "I think that this is the one."
She giggled again. His polite demeanor was so funny sometimes. People would wonder why he's always the go-to person she'd ask for help, with everything. Especially during Haruka's incident. The immediate answer would have been Mahiru; She's motherly, kind, and she has experience with that sort of thing, but the thing is, so does Shidou. Muu remembers it very clearly, the first time he left only a note on the fridge with a brief apology and when her parents sat her down at around 13 and explained to her that Shidou may come over less these days because he has these moments where all he wants is to be erased off of the face of Earth. And Muu just nodded dumbly because someone she'd viewed as a huge authority figure and someone who would never crumble was just proven to be somewhat the opposite. And she'd come to feel that one day too, and then she'd feel so bad for Shidou and she'd cry to him about her bullies for hours and he'd nod along too with the same vacant expression she nodded along with. And then he met Kazui again, and she met Haruka. And it sort of stopped. But she never forgot the note, the talk and everything else. So she trusts him a lot with this.
So the yellow dress it was.
"Okay! Muu sees what you mean, I really like the dress too! Thank you, Shidou!"
"Have a good evening, Muu."
She twirled around in her dress happily. There was only half an hour left, so she'd grab a few candies for her date and go wait for Kotoko and Es.
The air outside the house was already rapidly cooling down. Muu shivered a little as she put a candy in her mouth. When was Kotoko coming already? It was dark out here and her parents were inside so she couldn't ask for a jacket from them either. It wouldn't be a problem at the dance since it's inside, but still. Here, it was cold and she hated it. Why was Kotoko so slow?! Just as she was getting really frustrated, a black car pulled into their driveway. Speak of the devil, she thought. She ran over to the back door, eager to get away from the cold air.
When she opened it, she was immediately met with a really warm interior for the car, which she wasn't going to complain about, other from the fact that Kotoko and Es were wearing jackets. She mentally noted down a weird cold tolerance even worse than hers, apparently, before saying a quiet greeting and buckling herself in. She struggled a little turn her upper body towards her left side, and Es reached over from their seat to start with her hair. She attempted friendly conversation. "Are you two seeing anyone at the dance?" Es' hands stilled, and they stifled a laugh. "I'm not, i'm just coming along because Kotoko didn't want to leave me at home or whatever. But she's—" "Don't you dare bring him up, Es. I'm not going to go with him." Muu was utterly confused. Did she say the wrong thing? Did Es say the wrong thing? "Muu doesn't know— Hold on, I'll explain it to her." Kotoko cursed them out loudly, which just made them laugh even more. They eventually calmed down, cleared their throat and started with the explanation. "So, you know Kayano-kun from school? He teaches Haruka's SPED classes, i think. He has a crush on Kotoko and she—" "Es, i'm going to hit you." They were finishing up on Muu's hair, but putting the clip in was undeniably hard with Kotoko's cursing and Es' laughing. Muu was laughing too, now. Mikoto, with Kotoko? Hard to imagine.
Es leaned back in their seat after they finished Muu's hair, and muttered an apology to Kotoko all of them knew was insincere. They were usually a pretty no-nonsense person, justifying their role as a hall monitor — more like the hall monitor, since nobody really did their job other than Es — but sometimes, making Kotoko crash out was more enticing than staying cool and level-headed as usual. Muu and Es met because of their hall monitor job in the first place. Well, because Muu thought they were a kid who got lost from the nearby junior high, and Es turned bright red like a stop sign explaining that they're already 14 and that they're most definitely not lost from there. That was a year ago, but people still mistake them for someone younger and it was one of the things that made them tick really bad. Muu found it amusing, Kotoko found it downright hilarious.
They were getting close to school ground. Muu was shifting in her seat, nervous. Es put their hand on her shoulder. "You'll be fine, Yon-kun. I'm sure of it." Muu smiled softly at the old nickname. It was much more usual for Es to call her 'Muu' these days, but sometimes, they still used that one. 'Yon' for four. She didn't understand. But they gave number-related nicknames to everybody — Haruka was Ichi-kun, Yuno was Ni-kun, and so on. Didn't make any sense to her, but maybe Es just liked to number people. They did have a few memory issues, so maybe that was easier to remember?
Kotoko stopped the car. "Okay, we're here. I'm sure the blue guy is going to give Muu something so I won't lock the doors. Es, don't do anything stupid with Kayano or you're walking on the way back." Es just shook their head and motioned for Muu to step out first. "Go, find Haruka. Kotoko and I will wait here for like, ten minutes. Don't get lost if possible. And don't forget to come back, it's not exactly warm." Muu giggled and walked off. Their attitude and blunt personality were returning again. She waved to them and Kotoko (who presumably didn't even see it, she looked like she was on a phone call) and ran off towards the parking lot. (Kotoko just parks anywhere.)
Haruka was still just standing about in the lot where Mahiru left him when he heard the clicking of heels. He'd heard many heels today — in fact, he'd gotten pretty tired of the sound — but he already knew that this wasn't just any girl this time. He turned, his eyes darting around in the lot before landing on a relatively short girl running towards him. He held his flowers in one hand and spread his arms wide, bracing himself to catch Muu if she decides to jump on him, but instead of a hug or even just a high-five, he was met with something utterly unexpected and, well, shocking to him. Muu slowed down to a walking speed, held his face between her hands, and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.
He felt like his heart stopped. She .. hasn't done that before, ever.
Her hands were cold on his warm cheeks and she was smiling in such an innocent way that he could have sworn she could convince anyone to do anything for her, especially him, and whatever else she meant her smile to do for her was working because his knees were going weak the same way they did when she said yes to him.
She had asked if it was okay to kiss him someday and he said it was. But he expected that to be something like a wedding day. Or after the wedding. Not in a school parking lot in the dark while he could barely keep himself upright from what could possibly be going on his mind at the moment. He just stared at her dumbly, even after she took her hands off from his face to his shoulders, and he lifted the flowers from his side to give them to her. She looked at him, then the flowers, and then wrapped her arms around him for a quick hug. "I'm glad you came." What does that mean? "I.. I invited you, Muu-san, of course I came." She laughed quietly and took the flowers from his hands, pulling him by his wrist towards the darkness. "Muu will put your flowers into Kotoko's car, and then we can go inside the building!"
The building wasn't all that crammed. It wasn't like there weren't a lot of people, it's just that the room was really big, and the music was nice and pretty too. He didn't mind it. He even liked it — It reminded him of band practice with Muu and Es where he'd play the piano, Es would play the clarinet and Muu would play the flute. They still wanted to have a violinist in the future, but they were content with their arrangement for now. The music made him happy too. And Muu holding his hand and a cup full of juice, dragging him around like this was the most exciting moment of her entire life.
He had previously been worried about how it would go with her dress. She's been bullied really badly a few years ago, and she ended up doing some even worse things to herself, so her arms had significant scarring on them. He wasn't thinking about people harrassing her about it since she's built up a good reputation and was treated like an equal, but about her own self-consciousness and shyness. He was afraid that she wouldn't even come, but her previous gratitude towards him showing up had proven him totally wrong there. He was glad.
Haruka felt a light tug on his sleeve. He looked towards Muu, who was staring back at him expectantly. The cup has left her hands by now, and she was smiling, again, with that adorable, innocent expression she always had when she was genuinely happy. "Is there something, Muu-san?" He tried to seem sure of himself, and cool, and collected, but his sweaty hands and concerned expression were probably giving him away. "Muu wants to dance, Haruka-kun! That's why people come here in the first place." She looked so seriously excited about it and he really didn't want to tell anything to her, but he instinctively dug his fingers into his palms. It's obvious anyway. "Muu-san.. I can't dance. At all. I'm horrible, really, you could dance with Es-kun or—" She shook her head and signaled for him to be quiet. "Muu is going to dance with you only. You don't have to be good, and you can do a slow waltz, so we're doing that! Please?.." That smile again. He was sure she was doing it on purpose this time. He took a deep breath and nodded.
As soon as she found a song she thought was suitable for what she wanted to do, she began dragging him away from the tables and into the open. "Okay, so you step forward with your right foot, side with your left and then close your legs with your right. Then basically that in reverse! Left foot back, right sideways next to it with a bit of space and then close!" That… wasn't so hard to understand. "Oh, you put one of your hands on my waist and the other in the air to hold mine. That's how the position is, if it's okay! Muu likes it because she gets to hold hands with you!" His face was burning by the time they got into position. He wasn't really used to holding hands with people for this long and Muu's words definitely didn't make it any better. And the kiss.. He should forget about that altogether if he wants to make it through.
The dance itself was shockingly easy. He just had to count 1, 2, 3, to himself and then do the correct steps, and as long as he remembered where to put his feet, which was also pretty light work since Muu was also there and she served as a sort of guideline, he could get by just fine with that. His sweaty hands were bothering him, but Muu didn't seem to notice or just didn't care at all because she didn't point it out or let go of him. He wasn't concerned about the dance at all anymore. He felt like he was going insane. He didn't hear the music, he could only focus on Muu at this point. She was smiling and staring back at him and she looked so genuinely happy he felt his legs become wobbly again and thank god the music was going to end soon, wasn't it?
Wasn't it..?
Muu opened her mouth to say something and before he could ask if there's anything she needs or if she wants to stop dancing, she already said what the wanted to.
"Haruka-kun, can Muu kiss you?"
His breath caught in his throat. He wasn't expected to be kissed again today. He wasn't expecting anything like this, at all. He had a million questions going off in his mind in split seconds as Muu waited for an answer to her own. He was willing to let them stay unanswered this time. He took a deep breath.
"I'd.. I'd love that, Muu-san."
So she kissed him. It was not much more than a brush of lips, maybe a little since the didn't pull away immediately, but he still got dizzy from it. His head was spinning. Mahiru told him about this, that he'd probably feel a little lightheaded from a kiss if he's not ready for it, but he didn't think it would be this bad. He didn't think he'd completely forget to keep dancing. He didn't think that he'd feel as if he had to throw up. He didn't think that his hand would slip out of Muu's and that he'd start backing away, stammering, trying to say something but as soon as he felt the tears in his eyes he just started running away, choking on his own sobs because someone had finally tried to love him and he loved her too but something was so fundamentally wrong with him that he couldn't even accept that. No matter how badly he wanted it.
He ran down the hallway, towards the bathroom, and he slammed the door closed behind himself before collapsing into a stall. He didn't even bother with the door anymore, he knew nobody would come in anyway, and all he wanted to do was sit and cry. That's all he could do. His hands were shaking and he didn't even notice that he started scratching at his nailbeds until he felt the warm blood trickle down his fingers. He tasted sour in his throat and before he knew it he was throwing up into the toilet bowl. He didn't hear the door open, he didn't hear those familiar heels, but he did feel it when a smaller body wrapped arms around his waist. He was gasping.
"Haruka-kun, why did you run off?"
It was Muu. Of course it was her. He had just left her alone there and she came after him. He felt sick. He could have done anything else, told her before he left, or just not leave at all but he did whatever he did and he wanted to disappear right there and then. He ruined it, he ruined everything, it was going so well but he—
"Muu is really worried, you know… Haruka-kun, please don't push me away. You can't just run off and expect Muu not to follow."
His sniffles were getting slower. He could feel her hands around his stomach and her face on his back. She had probably just sat down behind him for the lack of a better solution. He tried to take a deep breath, but he was still gasping for air and he just couldn't calm down. "Muu-san, I- Muu-san, I'm sorry, I didn't- I, I really didn't mean— I didn't mean to run off like that, no— I'm so—" He choked on his words. He couldn't even apologize properly. "Haruka-kun, turn around." He scrambled to twist his upper body towards her, trying not to get sick again, and she pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. "Muu was very scared when you started to look pale. Is she bad at kissing?" He buried his face into her shoulder. "That's.. That's not it, Muu-san, I just— I don't know what happened, but I started to feel super sick, and then my body was moving on its own." She put her hand in his hair. "That's fine. We can always go back later when you are not sick." He squeezed his eyes shut so he wouldn't cry anymore. She was too kind to him. She was way too kind.
But he couldn't help himself. He clung to her, keeping his face on her shoulder, letting her stroke his hair idly. Was she upset? Will she leave him after this? He needed to make sure. "Muu-san, are you ma—" "Of course not!" She lifted his face so he was looking into her eyes. "You got scared and you ran away and Muu came after you! I've never been mad at you for that." Her lips were in a slight pout and her hands were on his cheeks. Her hands are so small… He'd never thought about it, but she was really adorable with how short she was compared to him. He shook the thought away. Not now, Haruka. "Thank you for not letting me run off, Muu-san." He tried to smile, but he was sure that whatever he had on his face was some variant of a contorted grin. She smiled too, soft and genuine, before removing one of her hands to place it on his. "Haruka-kun, is it okay for Muu to kiss you? If it makes you feel sick, I won't, but—"
He really didn't know what he was doing.
He just lifted his hand from where it was under Muu's, then his other hand from the ground, grabbed her shoulders and pulled her in for a quick kiss.
He immediately fell backwards and snapped his hands off like she had burned him.
She blinked twice before bursting into high-pitched giggles.
"Haruka-kun is so cute!" Despite her face being now a little red, she still seemed totally unaffected. "So you do like Muu!" She took a few long breaths and stood up carefully. She extended her arm towards him. "Come on. Muu still wants to finish her drink." He stared at her hand for a minute with the same slightly frazzled expression he had for the past minute or two, then allowed himself to take it and let her pull him up from the ground. Even though she wasn't very strong, he was pretty easy to lift because he was basically just skin and bones. At this point, it wasn't really going to change.
She led him down the same hall he ran through not-so-long ago by his hand, the same way she led him down the streets a few years ago towards Mahiru's house when he had to leave his. But this time, he wasn't keeping an iron-like grip on her hand. He was holding on, sure, but he wasn't terrified of her leaving him today. He still needed the assurance, but her holding his hand and leading him into the main area was already enough to fulfill that need of his.
After another hour or so of dancing, talking and a few minutes of Muu frantically calling Shidou because she saw Amane near the parking lot (then finding out Shidou was with Amane and literally seeing him pick up the phone while Muu scrambled to explain), they decided eight was late enough and that Muu should really get home. The reason for that being she could barely stand on her own two feet. She was stumbling into Haruka's side, trying her best to stay upright, but fatigue was obviously taking over her body. Haruka took out his phone from his jacket pocket, but Muu tapped his shoulder to get his attention. "Haruka-kun, Muu's really cold." She did look red in the face, and her dress had short sleeves and thin fabric — It wouldn't hurt if he took his jacket off anyway, so he did just that and draped it over her shoulders.
To his surprise, instead of just walking on normally, she began clinging to his arm. "Haruka-kun is warmer than the air out here.." He immediately felt his face grow hot. Play it cool — You've kissed her already… He lifted his phone up to his ear as he heard Mahiru's voice through the speaker.
"Hello, Mahiru-san."
"Haruka!! Hello! How did it go?"
"Prom went really well. Thank you for getting me ready and setting me up with Muu-san. I really appreciate it."
"Ahaha, aww, no problem, Haruka! You know I love love!"
"You're coming to get us now, right?"
"Sure am! I'll go to the car as soon as possible, really!"
"I hope you and Yuno-san had a fun date.."
"We sure did, yes.. She gave me such a cute little blouse as a gift, I'll show you when you're home! Is Muu-chan with you?"
"Yes, she's with me… I gave her the jacket because her dress is pretty thin in terms of fabric, and—"
"Oh dear, such a gentleman! Won't you get cold though?…"
"No, I'll be fine! I'm not that cold with her holding my arm anyway!"
"Oh, goodie.. Oh, I just remebered to ask, did you manage to kiss her?"
"Ah— Mahiru-san, you can't just say things like that.. Yes, we did k- ki—.."
"You two did kiss?!"
"..Yes.. Why is it so hard for me to say..?"
"Don't worry about it, dear. I'm just glad you two are finally offical!"
He heard her squeal in the background.
"Well, thank you for getting us. See you!"
"Bye-bye!"
He hung up the phone. It went out with a quiet beep. Muu was still holding onto his arm, seemingly dozing off. He didn't want to wake her up, but he also didn't want her to fall over, so he resorted to the next best thing. He slowly put his arm she was holding behind her back, and he lifted her nearest arm over his shoulders to hold her up. Her head, limp, fell into the crook of his neck, and he swore the Haruka of two weeks ago would have fainted right then and there, but his nerves were basically steel after the fact that they had kissed today. Multiple times. She made a point to do it as often as she could after she got the green light.
He saw the familiar red car pull into the parking lot, but Muu was basically a mannequin at this point, her whole body limp and her eyes closed. He gently put his arm under her knees and effortlessly lifted her up — The whole point of why he appreciates his somewhat invisible strenght. It wasn't impressive, but it was enough to carry her, so he wasn't going to complain.
Mahiru was very happy to see the arrangement they had arrived to her car in. A sleeping Muu in the arms of Haruka, a lovesick expression plastered onto his face.
She was just glad he finally got his own happy ending.