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It had taken Misaki forever to close down shop; Satsuki was away attending who knows what kind of business meeting and the rest of the employees had seemed so stressed about having to stay late Misaki let them go on without her. She didn’t mind being left to close up, though. The peace and quiet of the café gave her ample time to simply think, which was a luxury she hardly ever got nowadays with such a busy schedule.
Misaki sat at one of the empty upstairs tables with a sigh of relief, the dark room calming her and letting her relax into the cushion. There was entirely too much on her plate, what with working and student council president duties, not to mention the relentless Ayuzawa School or whatever they called themselves trying to stalk her to work despite her previous reprimands, and then there was the ever annoying presence of Usui.
Now that she thought about it, there had been tension building between her and Usui all week. Ever since he kissed her. Why on earth had he kissed her on the roof?! He even confessed to her that…no, he was just playing around with her emotions like usual. Right?
Misaki groaned and thunked her head down on the table. This was so not her forte. Why couldn’t she be more like Sakura? Sure she was a bit ditzy and not the brightest when it came to school work, but she sure knew how to act around boys, which was sadly the one area in which Misaki had to admit defeat. Trying to solve the problem with her fists didn’t even work! That pervert Usui was just too relentless and unfazed by every denial Misaki gave him. It wasn’t fair!
With a sigh, Misaki raised her face from the table to look out the windows, and nearly jumped out of her skin when none other than Usui himself was standing across the table from her.
Misaki leapt out of her seat, accidentally knocking it backwards onto the floor with a crash.
“Eeeh! Usui don’t do that! I thought you were those creepy perverts again from last time I closed!”
Usui remained characteristically silent. His face was indistinguishable in the darkness since he was facing away from the street lights streaming through the windows, but Misaki could almost feel his smirk.
After several seconds of silence, Misaki shook her head in exasperation and moved to pick up the chair.
“I don’t understand why you keep coming here after my shifts. I’ve already proven I can take care of myself just fine, and I don’t need your help wi--Usui w-what are you doing?”
Usui had walked around the table to stand directly in front of Misaki, disregarding her personal space per usual. Miskai felt a blush climb her cheeks to the tips of her ears and found herself glad the darkness hid her face as well.
“Why did you already take off your maid uniform? I wasn’t able to come to the café today, and I missed seeing you look all cute for me.”
“Idiot, I don’t dress like that for you. And why would I keep it on if we’re clearly closed! How did you even get in here? Isn’t that illegal or something?!” Misaki was really blushing now, and Usui didn’t make it any better when he placed his hand on her head in his usual gesture of perverted stalkerly affection He chuckled after a few tense seconds.
“I can feel how warm your face is from here, Prez. Could it be you have a fever again? Don’t worry, if you swoon I’ll catch you like I always do,” Misaki felt rather than saw his wink.
“Stop it, you creep!” Misaki turned her head away and went to push Usui, but miscalculated in the dark just how far away the recently uprighted chair was and ended up tripping over it instead. She felt Usui’s arm wrap around her waist and thought the capillaries in her face would burst with the force of her blush.
“Careful there, Prez, we wouldn’t want you hurting yourself now. Just think of how quickly the world would end if you were to be out of school with a broken leg.”
Misaki pushed herself away successfully this time and turned to face the wall.
“I’m tired of this, Usui,” she mumbled, crossing her arms. And truly, she was tired. Tired of not knowing and not being able to figure it out on her own. There was literally nobody to help her understand Usui’s feelings, and for that matter, her own emotions when it came to the admittedly attractive male. Before, it was easy to play off his advances and perverted comments as him toying with her. But after…what he said on the roof, she couldn’t extend him the benefit of the doubt. This was exactly why she hated dealing with men; you could never understand their motives!
“Tired of what Misaki?...Misaki?” It wasn’t until Usui tapped her shoulder that Misaki realized he was talking, and after a second, she spun on him so quickly he took a step back in alarm.
“Tired of what? Tired of what?! Tired of you! You and your manipulations and stupid, stupid mind games! It’s bad enough I have to deal with everything else and work this humiliating job, but you just have to degrade me further, don’t you? You just have to follow me around like a damn stalker and when I think I finally have you figured out, you just have to go and kiss me and tell me you love me?! I mean, who even does that?! Why can’t you just stay away from me and make fun of me and hate me like all the other boys? Why don’t you just leave me alone like my shitty father, huh? Stop treating me like I’m some kind of worthless toy you want to play with until I break!”
Miskai didn’t realize she was crying until the tears clouded her vision of Usui’s silhouette, and she shut her eyes against the angry tears for a beat before snapping them open and letting her fist fly.
Usui dodged it easily, and Miskai faced him, fists raised, prepared to defend her ego against this scum of the earth with sheer force if necessary.
“Misa--”
Misaki didn’t give him a chance to finish, her fist sailing towards Usui’s face. He caught it this time, and easily used her momentum against her to pull her against his chest.
Misaki struggled to regain balance and get away, but Usui’s arms wound snugly around her, holding her to him with no chance of escape. Misaki snarled, her arms trapped and useless against Usui’s chest. That didn’t stop her from struggling with all her might though, Usui grunting with the effort of holding her.
“Misaki! Please hold still for just one moment!” Misaki froze at Usui’s rough tone and her head thunked against his chest in defeat.
“What do you want from me?” she whispered, her angry tears morphing into ones of genuine hurt. Why were men like this? Why did he keep doing this to her and then treating her like nothing but a slightly fascinating object afterwards? A sob broke free and she tried to choke it back, but it was too late. All the frustration and stress and anger was finally getting the best of her, and Usui was about to have to witness a full meltdown. She was so pathetic; how could someone so many looked up to end up like this?
Once the waterworks started, they just couldn’t stop, and Misaki clutched at Usui’s shirt, not caring if she ruined it, even as he loosened his hold on her and gently picked her up and sat down on the floor against the wall with her in his lap, softly running his fingers through her hair.
It took a good five minutes for the sobbing to decline into hiccup-riddled sniffles, and by that point, Misaki was thoroughly humiliated. It was a few minutes more before Usui broke the silence.
“I meant it, you know. On the roof. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea; I meant every word. You’re just too stubborn and malicious for your own good and it clouds your rationale. But I guess that’s what I love most about you. You put up with so much shit from everybody, especially me, but you always remain tall and stable, not caring about what other people think or say. I’m sorry for being so…would you agree that obnoxious is the correct term?”
Misaki gave a watery smile against Usui’s damp shoulder and nodded with a pathetic sounding sniff.
“Am I forgiven? Or do you really want me to leave you alone?” Usui rubbed a gentle circle on Misaki’s back and rested his cheek against her head, determined to remember this moment if the answer turned out to not be in his favor.
Misaki shook her head, her fingers tightening on the front of his shirt. Feelings were terrible, awful, no good, very bad things, and while she didn’t want to deal with them, she couldn’t ignore the pang in her chest at the thought of Usui leaving her alone forever. The mere prospect of being left by someone important again had tears building up once more, but before they could overflow, Usui had softly taken her chin in his hands and was lifting her face away from his chest.
Misaki refused to look at his face, staring determinedly out of the corner of her eyes at the bottom of a nearby tablecloth. It wasn’t until one of his hands moved to run the pads of his fingers along her cheek did her willpower finally give out for good and her eyes snapped to his. She could hardly see the small smile on his face she knew was there, but wasn’t given much time to stare as his face was slowly moving towards hers, giving her plenty of time to escape if she wanted.
However, it was Misaki who finally closed the distance between their lips, which met softly at first, but once Usui realized she wasn’t about to punch him or run screaming, he quickly moved to deepen the kiss.
They kissed with bruising force, completely dissimilar to the short kiss on the roof a few days ago. Misaki’s arms wound around Usui’s neck without her permission, and one hand grasped at the bottom of his hairline as he drug his fingers across her cheeks and through her hair, holding her head as his tongue slid against her lips. It was a request, not a demand, but Misaki opened her mouth nonetheless, their tongues meeting and teeth clashing in the most passion driven kiss either had experienced.
It was only when Miskai realized she couldn’t breathe did they break apart, resting their foreheads together as their panting breaths mingled in the small space between them. Usui wiped his thumbs across her cheeks, gathering the remaining tears before he leaned in and kissed her gently once more.
“I love you, Misaki. And even though I act like a complete moron most of the time, I can only hope you will one day return my feelings.”
Misaki seemed to return to herself and shook her head aganst Usui’s. “You really are an idiot,” she laughed in relief more than anything, Usui joining in after a second.
When Satsuki finally barged through the door, already starting to spew apologies and balancing several boxes of cakes, she was hushed immediately by Usui, who was holding a sleeping Misaki cradled against his chest, wrapped in his jacket. Satsuki caught the twinkle in Usui’s eyes and grinned enormously at the two before placing the cakes in a bag for the man and silently waving them off into the night.
Misaki remained asleep for the entire walk home, completely emotionally and physically drained. Had she been awake, she would have berated Usui for knowing where she lived, but as it were, he strode right into the creaky old house like he owned the place and wandered for a few minutes until he found her room. He tucked her into bed with her still wearing his jacket--just in case she would awaken and believe it all to be a dream--and with a slight smile on his face when she didn’t even stir, kissed her forehead and whispered his love into her ear before silently leaving the house.
Tomorrow morning would certainly be interesting.