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When you first saw the strange looking man on the bridge standing in some sort of dramatic pose on the side, you weren’t sure what to think. He seemed to be around your age, maybe a little older, and he was wearing a leather jacket, which didn’t seem so strange; also blue pants. Sparkling. Bedazzled. Pants. Definitely strange, you thought only toddlers wore those kinds of pants.
Being the anxious person you are, you were a little nervous about continuing since he seemed to strike a new pose and attempted to start a conversation whenever someone walked by him (only to cut himself off when they ignored him and left). But there was really no other way of getting home quickly without going on that bridge, so you decided to deal with it anyway.
As you came nearer, he set his sights on you (maybe, it was hard to tell since he was wearing sunglasses) and you could see him fix his hair quickly before striking a new pose. Oh god no, please don’t talk to me!
He opened his mouth and just as he started spewing some nonsense a bicycle sped past inches from your person. You yelped and tripped over yourself trying to get away from the scary vehicle, only to collide with the sparkling blue man.
He let out a shrill cry as you land on him, you didn’t have much time to think about it though since you were trying to not die. The force of your fall caused him to tip over the railing but not before he grabbed onto you in a fleeting effort to avoid death himself, only to drag you with him.
You both fell into the river below.
The water was only a few feet deep but luckily the fall wasn’t that big, that and something soft broke your fall.
Oh, the soft thing was the painful man, whoops.
After almost drowning him the both of you make it back to dry land. You were worried about an awkward encounter but this was far worse than anything you imagined. There was silence as the man stood facing away from you. You were also still, not knowing whether you should say something or leave. All of a sudden he turned around to face you with eyes closed and a smirk on his face, he began to speak in a deep voice.
“ Heh , the goddess of love has blessed me on this beautiful day! For who else would of given me such a wonderful opportunity hmmm? To have the chance to be the knight in shining armor I am and come to the rescue of a maiden in distress! ” He opened his eyes. “I am graced to be the one wh-”, the man choked on his words as his eyes bulged out of his head.
You’re kind of relieved he stopped talking because you had no idea what he was going on about, but now you’re wondering why he’s making weird wheezing noises. Why’s his face red? What is he gawking at?
Oh.
Oh.
You’re wearing a white T-shirt.
Fuck.
You cannot believe this is happening to you.
All the stress from the day finally comes to its peak and you can feel your eyes watering. You quickly cover yourself as you yell at him not to look. He starts to blabber again only this time it sounded frantic and apologetic. You’re soaking wet and embarrassed and feel like an idiot; he keeps stammering as you finally burst into tears.
You’re not looking as the man across from you stops talking immediately, the only sound is of the river gently flowing and your ugly sobbing. After a few moments you hear some shuffling before you feel something heavy being draped across your shoulders.
You look up and the man is glancing off to the side, tight lipped and still a little red in the face. He gave you his wet leather jacket to help cover up your bust. You’re not exactly sure why, but you feel kind of warm all of a sudden.
Eventually he looks back at you and opens his mouth to speak, “Unfortunately that’s not the first time I’ve fallen off of something…” He scratches his cheek, seeming a little unsure of himself, “I’m sorry for dragging you down with me and getting you into this mess… please forgive me.” The young man bows deeply when he’s done apologizing.
Forgive him? It was technically your fault!
He defiantly seems sincere though, maybe this guy isn’t as bad as you thought. Now you felt kind of guilty not only for falling on him but also for judging him, you sigh and mentally berate yourself.
“N-no, it’s ok, I’m sorry for running into you!” You clutch the edges of the jacket to pull it closer to yourself out of nervousness, “If I was paying attention I would have noticed the bicycle, it was a little silly of me to get so startled...” You trailed off waiting to see his reaction. You looked at him but it was hard for you to make eye contact.
The man had perked up a bit when you began to speak, seeming a bit surprised. He was staring at you again, although this time at your face.
Suddenly he stands up straight and puts a hand on his hip as the other places a pair of sunglasses (how did he not lose those to the river?) on his face. From what you could see not covered by his hand, he seemed to be smirking.
“ Heh, have no fear my flower for you have not troubled me whatsoever! ” You highly doubted that. “I am delighted that you chose me to catch you from a deadly fall,” Oh god he’s posing again. “To have saved you from drowning in that fierce river- ” The water is literally four feet deep, “-was the least I can do for a lovely angel such as yourself !” Now he’s propped up on one knee holding his hand out to you. You’re tears have defiantly stopped falling by now, maybe it was from the shock of his quickly gained confidence.
You also just realized the tank top he’s wearing has a picture of his face on it. Interesting… Well the way he talks and his fashion sense may be strange but you still think that maybe he’s not a bad guy.
He’s still talking, so when he pauses to breathe in between sentences you quickly introduce yourself in the hopes of changing the subject.
“ Oh my , what a beautiful name, it’s so exotic!” He clenched his fist, “ Oh yes , a name chosen by Venus herself!”
You’re name isn’t exotic, and what does Venus have to do with anything? You start to understand that he has a bit of a Casanova feel about him.
Oddly enough, you’re kind of interested in knowing more about this dramatic person.
“What’s your name?” This time you cut him off, you didn’t want to be impolite but he was rambling.
“Heh, how rude of me, my name is Karamatsu Matsuno, the second eldest son of the Matsuno family!” He got a little closer, “I am a leader in modern fashion, a bleeding musician, and a slave to love!”
You weren’t sure what to comment on first so you just stuck with a nice to meet you. He says some more flowery words and that’s when you realize you’re still soaking wet. You speak up.
“Hey Karamastu, it’s nice talking to you and all, but I would like to change into some dry clothes,” You wonder for a second if it’s really a good idea to say you’re about to say. “Why don’t you come over to my house and I can give you back your jacket then? I-if that’s ok I mean…” Your voice died out in the end, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious.
Karamatsu’s face seemed to morph into shock again before quickly recovering. He was equally as wet (maybe you should offer to dry his clothes) but it didn’t seem to bother him as he replied with a new smirk on his face.
“I apologize, I should have noticed your discomfort. Yes I shall accompany you to your h-home!” Ah, he stuttered a bit at the end. He cleared his throat before continuing, “Please lead the way!”
It was a relaxing walk with some chit chat between the two of you. Karamatsu told you a bit more about himself and in return, you told him some things about yourself. You learned he lives in this area and has his whole life, while you only moved into town a few months ago. The man mentioned his intense love for life and his brothers; he had five apparently, five! You told him how you were currently working a job in retail to help pay for your apartment, but how you didn’t want to do it forever.
Karamatsu even managed to make you laugh, the dramatic way he acted was funny to you at times and it was hard not to. He didn’t always seem to understand why you were laughing but he would smile and chuckle along regardless.
Even with his strange ways, you couldn’t help but like this guy the more you talked to him. You had a fleeting thought that there might be something beneath the surface. So yeah he was kind of charming and had a bit of a cute face and god are you really thinking this right now?
The both of you finally arrive at your apartment, there’s a pause before you face him. You think now would be a good time to ask him.
“Hey would you like me to maybe dry your clothes? There’s a laundromat not even a block away from here, you could borrow something to wear if you like?” You felt like it was the least you could do for his kindness.
You noticed that whenever you were nice to him he seemed to be a little shocked at first, but he was always quick to pull himself back together. He politely raised his hand and shook his head.
“No need my little butterfly, my own humble abode is not far from here,” he put a hand on his hip and stroked his chin with the other, “I will simply head home from here.”
You were a little disappointed but accepted his decision, you asked him to wait outside while you go in to change before you give him his jacket back.
As you’re inside your room taking off your wet clothes for cleaner ones, you think back on all that’s happened since seeing Karamatsu on the bridge. You briefly analyzed his behavior in your head and wonder if maybe he was flirting with you ever since you both apologized. He used endearments on you, something you would usually be bothered by if someone you didn’t know well did it. Yet he didn’t sound sleazy when he said them, he sounded kind of sweet. But maybe that’s just how he talks with everyone?
Damnit you’re not usually the kind of person to develop crushes on someone in one day, it made you feel kind of dumb.
You thought a little more about it and said ‘fuck it’ . You headed out of your bedroom with the leather jacket in hand and grabbed a piece of paper and pen from the kitchen to write on.
When you opened the door Karamatsu was still standing there, it looked like he was daydreaming before you arrived.
“Here’s your jacket,” you handed it to him, “Thanks again for letting me borrow it, you didn’t have to.”
He smiled warmly, “It’s no problem at all, it’s my sworn duty as a gentleman of course.” He said goodbye and started to turn away.
“Wait!” you grabbed his shoulder and he startled, looking back at you. You handed him a piece of folded up paper, “Here’s my number, if you maybe wanna hang out sometime…” you were a little worried of being rejected.
He totally looked stumped for a second, like he didn’t understand what you said. Not long after his eyes widened and he made a weird high pitched noise.
“W-w-what? R-really?” when he realized you were serious he cleared his throat loudly and straightened his face. “ Heh , of course.” Actually he still seemed a little unsure.
The frazzled man finally took the piece of paper from you and said his farewells. You waved and asked him to call soon. You watched him until he walked around the corner and right as you were about to close your door you heard a loud, excited shout. You couldn’t help but smile.
You hope to see that strange man again.