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“Later, Mista!” They were at least a few hundred feet apart, but that didn’t stop Narancia from one last cheerful yell and wave to his friend. Mista stopped to wave back, letting out a little sigh of satisfaction when he disappeared from sight. The mission had gone well, and Narancia had offered to be the one to report to Buccellati afterward, meaning Mista was gloriously free for the rest of the day. He had no idea what he was going to do with that time, but for him, that was never a problem. Fate usually found something for him.
It was provided much faster than usual, in the form of a person who was in the middle of crossing the road. Seeing them was enough for Mista’s calmness to fade, pushed aside by a complicated mix of feelings. He enjoyed spending time with them, or even just thinking about them when they weren’t around, and the faceless nobody who usually featured in his romantic fantasies was starting to look a lot more distinctive. They had even been to restaurants or other places a few times, alone, and it had always gone well. He could imagine himself enjoying their company for a very long time.
So why hadn’t he confessed his feelings? Well, he had, several times, but nothing ever seemed to come of it. They would smile, nod, and then just keep treating him like a friend and nothing else. If they truly weren’t interested, he was sure they would just tell him, so what was going on? Maybe they were afraid of love, or something like that. He had seen a few movies where that was the problem. That just meant he had to introduce the idea a little more slowly, make them comfortable with it. He could do that! Filled with optimism, he made his way over to greet them.
“Hey!” He let them notice him before saying anything else, heart skipping a beat when they smiled right at him. Could he just paste that image in front of his eyes and never see anything else, ever again? He wished, but that might make it too hard to walk around, or use his gun. At least he got to see it sometimes. “Busy day?”
“Not really.” There they were, suddenly right next to him, mere inches away from leaning on his shoulder. Was there a cool-sounding way to let them know that was totally a thing they could do, at any time? “You?”
Shit, he could already feel his tongue starting to tie itself up. He wasn’t too worried, it would probably go fine, but sometimes he just got a bit lost for words. “I was. Not anymore, though.” Okay, nice recovery, maybe he would even be able to form a compliment. The first thing that came to mind was their smile, but was that a little too personal? Maybe something more casual. “Nice shirt.” It was a nice shirt, though maybe it wouldn’t be as nice if it wasn’t on them.
“Oh, this?” They looked down, lightly tugging at the collar. “I just threw it on, it’s nothing special.”
“Huh.” He pretended to carefully consider the garment in question, then looked back up at them. “Maybe you’re the one that’s special.”
That was blatantly obvious, right? He was even blushing a little bit as he said it. Even if it could be misconstrued, they would ask what he meant, and then he would finally be able to-
“Thanks!” There they were, smiling again, probably driving him closer to a love-induced heart attack. Hey, if that happened, could they be his cute nurse or something? That was a thought. “You know, you’re so nice, whoever dates you is gonna be super lucky.”
Oh. He still felt like his heart was killing him, but in a much less exciting way. “You think so? I mean, about dating-“
“Are you having trouble?” Right away, there was a look of wide-eyed concern on their face. “That sucks… is there at least someone you like?”
This had to be some kind of cruel joke. Not from his friend, but from fate itself, dangling his happiness just out of reach where he could see it clearly. “Yeah. Yeah, there is.” It took everything he had to not sound bitter. “I keep trying to tell them, but they just don’t get it. Like, it totally goes over their head and they think I’m just being a good friend or whatever.” It did kind of feel good to be able to vent about it, at least.
“That sucks. Maybe you could…” Whatever they had been about to say was cut off by the loud trill of a phone. Right away, they were rummaging in their pocket, pulling out the source of the sound. “Ah, sorry, I have to take this.”
While they took the call, Mista took the opportunity to calm himself down. He had been getting a little frustrated, and he felt like it was understandable, but he couldn’t let himself get mad at them. Whatever their reason was for failing to pick up on his advances, it had to be something they could work through together. All he had to do was get through to them. He could do it.
He was just about finished with encouraging himself when they came back to him, phone put away. “Sorry! Thanks for waiting, now what was I gonna say…”
“If I like someone and they won’t get the hint, then I should…”
“Right! I guess if they really weren’t getting it, you’d just have to go ahead and kiss them. Kinda hard to mistake that for anything else.”
“Huh…” They had a point, but was it too bold? What if they actually had a good reason for not wanting to date him? It would be too easy to fall into that kind of thinking and never get anything done, but Mista wasn’t that kind of guy. He wouldn’t let himself be like that.
Screw it, screw thinking, he was just going to do it. Once he had a gentle hold on their wrists, nothing was stopping him from leaning in and softly pressing his lips to theirs, just for a short moment before drawing back a little and opening his eyes.
Their mouth still half-open, they just blinked, then stared up at him. He couldn’t have broken eye contact even if he wanted to. What next? Had he made a mistake?
He was just about to go for broke and kiss them again, when they flashed a quick thumbs-up at him. “Yeah, just like that! There’s no way they won’t figure it out!”
Maybe he would have to ask someone else for help.