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It wasn’t supposed to go like this… or at least, Josumi assumed it wasn’t. She had made peace with the fact that she was into girls a long time ago. Unlike most of her peers, she’d never felt attracted to any boys her age and her interest in male celebrities was often misguided or exaggerated an attempt to fit in with the rest of the girls.
Even though she knew she was attracted to girls, she never thought she’d find herself enamoured by Rohan, of all people. Rohan was a physically attractive woman, but her personality was nothing pleasant. She was arrogant and self absorbed as well as way too stubborn for her own good, but…
“You’re late, Higashikata,” Rohan said, not bothering to look up from her sketchpad as she slid her pen over the page.
The coffee shop where they’d agreed to meet up was fairly empty, with only a few other patrons in adjacent tables. From the looks of it, Rohan had been waiting on her for a while, but she hadn’t seemed to order anything just yet. Was she waiting for Josumi?
She felt her cheeks heat up at the comment, placing her school bag on one of the chairs before taking a seat in front of Rohan. “No, I came here straight from school. You were just too early.”
“I’m a responsible woman with many things to do. I got here on time, and you did not.”
“I had to make a small stop after getting outta class, but you definitely got here before our agreed time, so. That’s on you, honestly,” Josumi said, crossing her arms over her chest with a small pout.
Every single time they got together, they ended up arguing about the pettiest things. Josumi couldn’t understand how she was so attracted to Rohan when they never seemed to agree on anything. She didn’t know why Rohan agreed on meeting up with her as often as she did either.
Rohan huffed, finally looking up at Josumi. Whatever she had been about to say seemed to die on her tongue and she simply rolled her eyes. “In any case, we should order. Will you have the same as usual? Hot cocoa and a cheesecake?”
The fact that Rohan had memorized her usual order despite this only being the third time they came here made something inside of Josumi feel warm. She nodded, a smile spreading on her face at the mention of sweets. “Yes! Though I was thinking of maybe… sharing some cookies?”
“Sure.” Rohan nodded, putting her sketchbook aside and calling over the waiter to order for the both of them. She ordered a black coffee and a muffin for herself, as well as the hot chocolate, cheesecake and cookies for Josumi.
After a few moments of silence, Rohan spoke again. “Your makeup looks nice today.”
Josumi looked up at her, feeling her heartbeat speed up at the unexpected compliment. She bashfully scratched the back of her neck, trying her hardest to appear unphased by the comment. She couldn’t allow herself to turn into a blushing mess just because her crush gave her a compliment. “T-thank you. You too, I mean. You always look amazing in general. So it’s… Um. Thanks.”
Fortunately for Josumi, the waiter got back with their order right then, providing the perfect distraction from her embarrassing response. They thanked him before taking a sip of their respective drinks.
She looked up at Rohan, noticing the slight blush on her cheeks that hadn’t been there before. Josumi chose not to comment on it, as she was sure her face was much redder than the mangaka’s.
They spent the next hour chatting about how their days had been, their plans for the rest of the week, as well as the next chapters in Rohan’s manga. Josumi didn’t read it, nor did she care for it too much, but it was always fascinating watching the way that Rohan’s face lit up with excitement whenever she spoke about Pink Dark Boy.
Seeing as Keiko had been distracted with her boyfriend lately, Josumi assumed Rohan had been feeling more lonely than usual. Perhaps that was why they spent so much time with each other now, and why Rohan was so receptive to Josumi’s attempts at getting closer. Rohan was being friendly to her, and here Josumi was dreaming about being much more than that.
“So I’ll see you again on Saturday?” Rohan said, carefully placing her sketchbook inside her handbag before slinging it over her shoulder. “I’ll make lunch for us and then we can go to the old pier to take reference pictures.”
Josumi nodded, getting up from her chair with the small bag of leftover cookies that Rohan had insisted she take home in her hands. “Y-Yeah! That sounds good!”
Rohan smiled at her - actually smiled- and Josumi felt her heart skip a beat. “Thank you, Josumi.”
Hearing Rohan say her first name in such a sweet tone made Josumi’s brain short circuit. So much, in fact, that she hadn’t noticed the older woman had pressed their lips together into a short, sweet kiss until Rohan pulled away.
“What? Wait,” Josumi said, wrapping her arm around Rohan in order to stop her from pulling away completely “Wh-why… did you…?”
Rohan rolled her eyes, but she didn’t pull away from Josumi’s embrace. Her cheeks were flushed red and she was actively avoiding Josuke’s gaze. “Well, it’s about time we kissed, don’t you think? We’ve been dating for a while now. If I kept waiting for you-.”
“We’re dating?” Josumi interrupted, absolutely dumbfounded.
Rohan’s eyes widened and she stared straight at Josumi. “We’re not?”
Josumi loosened her grip on Rohan, trying to properly process all of the information that she’d just gotten. Rohan not only felt the same way about her, but she had assumed they were already dating? “I really like you, Rohan.”
Rohan seemed to relax at that.
Instead of answering, Rohan just pressed their lips together in another kiss.