Chapter Text
It should be illegal to be awake this early on a weekend, Nene groaned. Her phone's persistently loud ringtone blared throughout the room, echoing around the apartment and probably waking neighbors two floors below her. It grew more irritating by the second, until she half fell, half sleepwalked out of bed to grab it off her bedside table. Yugi Amane, read the caller ID, followed by accept and decline.
Nene hit the green button, and sunk back into her pillows.
"Are you awake?" asked his grainy voice the second the call connected. She rolled her eyes and muttered, "No."
"Then wake up faster. I've got an idea," he said, excitement coating his tone.
"It's too early for ideas," she complained into the phone. "What is it this time?"
He said he'd be waiting outside in twenty minutes, leaving her no chance to protest.
~~~
It had all started like this: first-year Yashiro Nene was panicking, and her test hadn't even started. She was bent over her desk, desperately clutching a study guide and struggling to fit as much science into her brain as possible. Semester-end exams were a stressful time for the whole school, and as someone who wasn't the best at paying attention during class, whatever score she got could make or break her grades.
Then there was Amane, occupying the seat behind her and staring out the window like he didn't have a care in the world.
A light jab to the back jolted Nene out of her mind, she turned to meet his face. A slightly bemused look played upon his lips at her obvious panic, and he handed her a pencil that she hadn't noticed roll off her desk.
"You'll do fine, don't worry," he reassured her.
Amane Yugi- she didn't know much about him, only that he had the top scores in science and a twin brother in class 1-B. Although she'd been sitting in front of him for nearly a year, they hadn't talked much and so she'd never had the chance to learn more.
Surprised, Nene was about to open her mouth to respond when the momentary distraction was punctuated with their teacher arriving. He flashed her a smile before she turned away, and that small moment would change the rest of their high school years forever.
One test led to talking after school, which led to a friendship that neither of them had really anticipated. Nene discovered he loved astronomy, had a major sweet tooth, and for the most part shared her average grades. He was there for Nene when she lamented about her failures to gain the student president's affection. And she was there for him whenever he needed excuse to escape his brother, or just someone to talk to about anything.
They met Minamoto Kou on one of the times she insisted on "just walking by" the student council room after school. Nene was adamant that she had no ulterior motive, even though she knew Amane could see right through her. While she lingered outside the door, a boy emerged from the hall to ask if they needed help from his brother. The first thing she noticed was that he looked strikingly similar to the president, but off in little ways- for one, he couldn't have been older than a middle school student.
Nene rattled off some semblance of an excuse, and said goodbye as quickly as possible, leaving a very confused Kou in the hallway and Amane to run after her. As it happened, however, fate had other ideas and the three parted ways only run into each other time and time again. At some point Kou stopped being a stranger, so Nene and Amane just accepted that he was going to be sticking around.
The group was practically inseparable, especially once he joined the high school department. And a year after that, Amane passed his driver's test on the first try, and Nene on her third.
The allure of going anywhere, anytime had caught on, and she often found herself receiving spur-of-the-moment phone calls from him. Kou and Nene usually just shrugged and went along with whatever Amane had planned next; from last-minute study sessions to baking cookies at 3 in the morning. Sometimes Kou would bring along his friend Mitsuba, and sometimes it was Nene and Amane by themselves. (She tried not to read too much into those instances)
So it wasn't really a surprise when she mustered up to resolve to get out of bed and twenty minutes left her apartment building to see Amane waiting in the parking lot. She noted with a small hint of pride that he was wearing the NASA hoodie she'd bought for his last birthday, along with jeans and a pair of worn-in high tops.
Waving hello, his face lit up when he saw her coming.
"So? What do you have planned for this time?" she asked. A glint sparkled in his eyes.
"What if I told you..." He paused for dramatic effect, "I could take you to the best donut shop in the country, but it's a two hour drive?"
"I should have guessed it'd be something like that."
"C'mon, are you in? I'll even buy coffee on the way."
"If you put it like that, how am I supposed to say no?" she giggled. "Though, it's technically bribery."
She hesitated for a moment, glancing around him to notice the car was empty. Which meant...
“It's just us?" she asked, prompting him to smirk and lean in closer to her.
"Ehhh, Yashiro, is that a problem?"
She swatted him away and climbed in the passenger side door, avoiding eye contact.
"I was just wondering," she stated indignantly. He turned his key, and the engine roared to life.
"Alright, if you say so."
~~~
After stopping at a coffee shop drive-through for breakfast, the ride passed with arguments over music choice, complaining over school and Nene needling Amane for more details about their destination. When both her phone battery and playlists were exhausted, they turned to other forms of entertainment. Namely, car games.
"Okay, my turn. I spy something...white," he said with a glint in his eye. Nene's head swiveled around, searching in confusion.
"The clouds? Car in front of us?"
"Guess again," he urged, a lilt in his tone.
"I don't know, tell me," she gave in.
"You can't figure it out? Aren't daikons white?"
Her mouth dropped open, face turning red, and she very quickly had to smother the urge to smack him.
"Amane-kun!"
"Sorry, sorry," he apologized, not looking remorseful in the least bit. "You make it too easy."
She crossed her arms and a small "hmph!" surfaced in her throat. "Stop calling me that."
His only response was to laugh as if discovering the joke for the first time, and repeat,
"...daikon."
After earning a well-deserved lecture by Nene, their conversation soon drifted away from certain radishes.
"Midterms are in two weeks, right?" Amane said, counting off the days mentally. "We should all get together to review."
"Right, Kou-kun and I are going to study at his house this weekend-"
"Oh sure, study ," he interrupted, voice dripping with sarcasm. "You just want to hang out there because his brother's home from university."
"T-This has nothing to do with Minamoto-senpai! I've told you a million times that I've moved on."
"I'll believe it when I see it," he grumbled. "Why don't you guys just come over to my place? I'll be much more interesting than that guy." Amane fixed her with a small pout, delighting in the flush that creeped up her cheeks when he said,
"C'mon, admit it."
"Keep your eyes on the road," she returned. He raised an eyebrow in response, but didn't push the subject.
He doesn't mean it, Nene reminded herself. She let her heart rate return to normal, and refocused on whatever he was chattering away about in the background.
"We're almost there," he was saying, not seeming to notice her distraction. "Shouldn't be too long now."
Soon enough they were driving off the highway and passing neighborhoods, residential streets, and shopping centers. Nene watched houses flash by her window, and noted with some curiosity that Amane seemed to know where they were headed without consulting a map. When he turned into a small strip mall parking lot, her confusion only grew.
"We have arrived!" he announced once they had parked, spreading his arms with great ceremony. He jumped out of the car and ran to open Nene's door for her. Taking her hand, he said,
"You'll love this."
At first glance, the shop was small, but had a certain charm. A pair of cafe tables sat situated on the patio, as well as flower boxes decorating the entrance. A neon "open" sign illuminated the window, and once Amane opened the door, a bell cheerily signaled their arrival.
Inside, the main highlight of the room was the glass cases, containing donuts in all varieties of glazed, sprinkled and frosted. There were even types Nene had never heard of before- strawberry cream, cinnamon, maple sugar. Even the air smelled sweet, wafting delicious scents from the kitchen in back.
"My old house isn't far from here," Amane explained as they examined the pastries. "Back in middle school, before we moved, I used to come here on weekends with my brother." He picked out a donut from the case, the same flavor he always chose, and brought it to the counter.
"Plain? That's so boring," Nene teased.
"You say boring, I say delicious," he retorted, poking her cheek. "What are you getting?"
"Hmm...I think lemon cream," she decided, sliding the glass aside and scrutinizing the selection. "Ah, and we should bring some for Kou and Mitsuba too."
They spent way too long picking a half-dozen for their friends, and while Amane wasn't looking Nene quickly paid the girl at the front counter.
"It's my treat," she insisted while he tried to argue.
"But-"
"You bought me coffee, anyway," she shrugged. That silenced him, and with hands full of sugar-laden sweets, the two headed outside to eat.
"Time to see if these really are the so called, 'best donuts in the country'," she said, mimicking his claim from earlier. They both took a bite at the same time. Quickly, she that Amane hadn't lied- the donut in her hands was the perfect amount of crispy and soft, still warm from being recently baked. The lemon frosting was sweet, but not by too much, and cream filling perfectly complemented the flavor. He watched her face light up, and laughed.
"Good?"
Mouth full, she could only nod enthusiastically.
~~~
"Okay, we're definitely coming here again," Nene insisted. She brushed the crumbs off her napkin, and stood up from the table to throw away her trash.
"So? Was it a good idea, or a good idea?" he bragged.
"I'm not answering that one."
They began to head back to the car, until he suddenly cut off her path just before she stepped off the sidewalk.
"Wait, hold still a minute."
He grabbed her shoulder to pull their bodies closer, and if that wasn't enough, his hand trailed up to her face. Eyes flitting back and forth, she looked anywhere, everywhere else than his lips. He couldn't be trying to...now? here? She could feel a blush threatening to overtake her face if she didn't get away, and soon. Nene squeaked in surprise as he brushed a thumb against her cheek and said-
"You have cream on your face."
"Wha- what-" she sputtered, watching him back away laughing and stick his finger in his mouth. Her body caught up with her brain in a stilted fashion, before she regained control of her flushed face and flicked his arm.
"You're the worst, Amane-kun!" Refusing to face him, she got into the car. "This is borderline harassment, you know!"
In return, he leaned over and pressed a quick peck where the offending cream had been.
"Your reactions are the best, though," he finished.
~~~
Nene had been his first friend. If you didn't count his brother. But while half of the time Tsukasa was doing something crazy, or stupid, or downright dangerous, it was safe to assume she was, in fact, Amane's only friend.
He'd been generally well-liked in middle school, close enough to others to never feel left out but always kept at arm's reach. It was his quiet attitude, coupled with Tsukasa's reputation, that served him to get picked last when it came to most everything.
Until their parents decided to pack everything up and move three hours away. Which meant a new school, with new people, and a new girl sitting in front of him. She was sweet to everyone in class, and spent hours after school in the garden club. She wore a skull brooch on her uniform. And she had incredibly thick ankles. In short, he couldn't help but want to get to know more about her.
Amane spent half a year trying to talk to Nene.
She has plenty of other friends, he'd reason. She looks like she's busy, he'd convince herself. But once he actually started to grow closer to her, it felt like the easiest, most natural thing he'd ever done.
He couldn't actually tell when his feelings started to change into something new. It was more a collection of tiny moments, like the cute way her forehead wrinkled when she was confused, or her tendency to doodle all over her notebooks during class. Or, how she always had time to talk when he needed her, no matter how busy they were.
There was one day Amane could recall when they were sitting outside a convenience store after school, eating popsicles, and Nene was on the verge of tears.
It'd been a particularly hard day, one she'd been planning since middle school. It was her first time confessing to an upperclassman, who had promptly rejected her on the spot.
During class, he'd watched her wave everyone off when they asked if she was okay. But then he heard sniffling in the girls' bathroom after the final class of the day, and burst in without a second though to tell her that he was walking her home.
"How many proposals does Aoi get a day?" She'd sighed, waving her quickly-melting popsicle in the air. Cherry-flavored drops flew off and littered the concrete. "Ten? Twenty...? I bet Akane-kun keeps count."
It hurt Amane to see how she was trying to make the best of the situation, all while the pain in her voice was so clear. He wanted to reassure her, and kiss away the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. He wanted to say, "I'd pick you above everyone else, any day."
What came out of his mouth was, "We should start heading home."
He knew he wasn't her type, because her type was practically printed out and stapled to the back of his brain, complete with check boxes: Tall. Princely. Golden-blonde hair. Amane hardly fit the description. So he settled for any excuse to hold her hand, and the fact that they were best friends. He told himself no matter how much he teased her, they'd never be anything more.
~~~
The drive back was five times less exciting and ten times quieter. Amane seemed lost in thought throughout the first half hour, not even stopping to protest when Nene put on her favorite romance playlist.
She propped her feet up on the dashboard, poking his arm.
"What's wrong?" she prodded. "And don't say nothing, because usually I can barely get you to shut up, and now you won't say a word."
He picked an excuse at random. Because he was absolutely, completely, without a doubt not thinking about her.
(This was, of course, entirely false. Not that he'd ever admit it.)
"The weather," he responded, "I was wondering if it be good for astronomy observation."
"Oh, come on," Nene sighed, sinking deeper back into the seat. She gave him a look. "You think I'd believe that? It's been cloudy all week."
"You're relentless, aren't you, Yashiro."
"So? What're you thinking about?"
He paused, choosing careful words.
"...I was thinking, that maybe we could do this more often. You and me."
Not exactly the truth, but definitely not a lie either.
"You and me." Nene repeated under her breath.
Neither of them spoke until she decided to lighten the quickly plummeting mood. Taking the box from the backseat, she asked,
"Can I have another donut?"
"Hey, save some for the rest of us!" Amane demanded, his tone already brighter. "Mitsuba will come after you if he hears we ate them all."
"Amane-kunnn..." she tried, complaining.
"Yashirooo," he returned, causing the both of them to dissolve into laughter.
~~~
Nene didn't even realize she liked him until their third year.
It had happened when Amane had taken her to watch a movie. ('Not a date,' he'd been quick to say when he asked) They'd shared popcorn, and sat shoulder to shoulder holding each other's hand through all the scary parts. When they exited the theater, fingers still intertwined, that was when she knew she was in Very Big Trouble.
She'd had so many crushes in so many ways, but none of them had been people she'd been close to. None of them had been like Amane. It was almost easier to admire someone from a distance, that way she didn't have to worry about ruining their friendship, or being humiliated, or any of the other million things that surfaced when she drew her realization.
The first thing Nene decided was that she could never, ever tell him. She would ignore his teasing, because it was clear that anything between them was a joke. She'd tell anyone who asked about their relationship that they were only friends. And so she'd move on in time, find some other guy to steal her heart away like each instance before.
Unfortunately for her, nothing went according to plan.
~~~
They arrived at Nene's apartment complex in the mid-afternoon, and she was almost sad to see the building come into sight.
Once the car was parked and shut off, he climbed out to meet her.
"I'll walk you in?"
"No, that's...okay," she declined, too busy looking at her feet to notice the way his face fell. Instead, she grabbed both of his hands before they could exchange goodbyes.
"I had a lot of fun today," she told him, gravitating a bit closer and finally meeting his gaze. "Let's hang out again soon, okay?"
Amane faltered. Immediately any and all words he had vanished from his mind. It was like second nature to flirt with her and remain unaffected, but another thing entirely when she could make his heart stutter.
"Amane-kun? Are you there?" Nene asked.
"Sorry. I mean, of course. Soon. I had fun too, and you-" He caught himself, but not in time to stop the sentence from spilling out. "I really like being with you."
A soft smile bloomed on her face at the admittance. He's really not teasing me? she considered, examining his face. He locked eyes with her for a second, and then his glance skipped down to...her lips?
Nene's body was moving before her mind even made the decision, dropping his hands to clutch the fabric of his sweatshirt. She squeezed her eyes shut and felt him go still, which only heightened her instinct to back out. However, not giving herself the time to hesitate she threw all caution to the wind and pressed her mouth against his.
Amane was not prepared. He was not prepared in the slightest sense, in even the vaguest interpretation of the word. Reaching into his memory for every romance movie Nene had ever made him watch, he struggled to think. He knew his arms should go somewhere other than limp at his sides, but where? Settling on her shoulders, his hand was so light it was almost as if he didn't move at all.
Despite this, Nene relaxed into him, letting thoughts disappear from her mind. Until one snuck through- I'm kissing Amane. A small, absurd impossibility.
And then, oh my gosh, I'm kissing Amane.
Needing a moment to breathe, she pulled away, and both dropped their hands from each other. Nene was sure her face mirrored his exactly: so red she felt as though she could disappear into the sunset.
"Are you okay?" He was the first to break the silence, in a tone shier then she had ever heard before. "Is this okay?"
"It's fine," she was quick to interrupt. Better than fine, actually. "Just...I guess you're my first kiss."
With all the faked confidence he could manage, Amane slid one arm around her waist, and his other found its way to the back of her neck. He was going to do this, and do it right.
"Then is it alright to be your second, too?" he breathed. Leaning in, he paused for a minute, their noses almost touching.
Then this time it was Amane slotting their lips together, him kissing her so gently that it was obvious he was being careful, tentative. Treating Nene like she was made of glass, or as if she'd disappear if he touched her.
Well, she was having none of that. A small noise escaped his throat when she deepened this kiss, holding him closer to herself. Suddenly his legs felt very, very weak and his heart beat very, very fast. Amane gripped her waist tighter in response and threaded fingers through her hair- probably messing it up, but she couldn't have cared less.
"Okay," whispered Nene against him.
"Okay," he said back.
~~~
"I like you," he confessed once they broke apart. "Really, really."
"I know," she said, tracing a finger over his lips. "I think I figured that out for myself."
"At least pretend to act surprised." Amane rolled his eyes, flushing. An amused smirk formed on his face. "...but Yashiro, you won't say it too?"
"Oh my gosh, shut up ."
She clamped a hand over his mouth, effectively preventing any more words from coming out, and burrowed her head into her shoulder. That way, he couldn't see the shade of pink her cheeks were painted.
"Ilikeyoutoo," she muttered into his jacket.
"Hmm? Sorry, I didn't hear, can you repeat that?"
"I won't." She shook her head to further deny him the satisfaction.
He kissed both her temples in quick succession, settling their foreheads together.
"Then I'll just have to figure it out for myself."
~~~
Amane melted for the twentieth time that day as she leaned down to the car window to press one last peck to his cheek.
"Thanks for today. Seriously," she smiled. "And I'll call you later, okay?"
"Looking forward to it," he confirmed.
Waiting until she disappeared into the apartment's lobby, he drove himself home with a wide grin and soaring spirits. That just happened, that actually happened, he repeated to himself, in half disbelief at what had transpired. The day easily shaped up to have been the best thing to occur to him in months, maybe in years.
Once he got home, Amane threw his keys on the kitchen counter, and ran up the stairs to his bedroom before any of his family members could ask questions. Sinking into his pillows, he couldn't but replay the day over in his mind, again and again.
All the little parts, like watching Nene sing along to the pop songs on the radio, and her delight once she'd tasted the donuts at the shop. Then there was everything that had happened in the parking lot- he kept touching his lips, incredulous.
Amane smiled softly at the memory, heat climbing up his face. He realized then, that her kisses had tasted exactly like lemon cream.