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It's the eleventh of November when Haruki drops on the sofa beside Isuke, brandishing a box of pocky (as usual) and her trademark dumbass smile that Isuke had learned to somewhat tolerate during the time they spent together. In the next seventeen seconds, Haruki somehow manages to explain the significance of that particular date and the rules of the corresponding tradition to Isuke who immediately rejects any notion of playing along. A stupid holiday for a stupid snack, and a stupid girl wants to celebrate it. That's just stupid.
Haruki wiggles the pocky stick that's held firmly in her grin with her tongue, and scoots closer to Isuke with a boldness that practically dares Isuke to shove her away. She's nearly squirming with excitement and places a hand on Isuke's arm in encouragement— and Isuke makes a face at that offered pocky with clearly no intention to participate in the game whatsoever. Certainly rude, but nothing that puts off Haruki's enthusiasm.
"Scared, Isuke-sama?" Her grin becomes more sharp and teasing. Haruki clearly doesn't fear for her life even when Isuke shoots her most murderous glare and slaps that hand on her arm away.
"I wouldn't be caught dead eating that crap you call food, much less taking it from the mouth of an idiot like yourself."
The sting of her words is all but lost on the aforementioned idiot and Isuke knows it, to her frustration. Haruki just doesn't seem to care how much verbal abuse Isuke flings her way… or she's smart enough to realize they don't actually carry any lethal venom. A cat with plenty of hiss but no scratch. And Haruki knows- or at least, likes to think she knows- how to make Isuke purr.
She leans forward, still grinning and holding the pocky between her teeth, and pulls Isuke's legs over her lap. Isuke makes a low growling sound in the back of her throat and turns her head the other way.
"Come on, it's fun! Trust me on this one."
"I don't think so."
But the rejection does nothing to Haruki and she plucks the stick of pocky from her mouth and pushes it at Isuke instead. She almost flinches but, much to Haruki's surprise, Isuke hesitantly allows the pocky entrance and slowly nibbles at it. Haruki laughs breathlessly and pushes the pocky in a bit more, captivated by the way how Isuke's lips slowly move around it, the tip of her tongue flashing behind teeth to taste the chocolate and—
"Oh, indirect kiss!"
Those two latter words break the spell and Isuke jerks away, the pocky snapping in half. Undeterred, Haruki takes a new stick from the box and pops it in her own mouth. "Tell you what, I'll leave you alone for the rest of the day if you play it with me just once. Promise, really!"
"I swear I'm going to throw away the rest of your pocky after this."
"Yeah yeah, we'll see about that." She winks. Isuke's scowl intensifies but she grabs the sides of Haruki's face with both hands and takes the opposite end of the pocky in her own mouth with less hesitation than she did when Haruki fed her the other one. Their faces suddenly seem way too close and Isuke nearly considers breaking it off right there, but the glint in the other girl's eyes stop her just short. What the hell is she doing? It's disgraceful to be playing the game with this dirty uncouth mutt, yet it'd be disgraceful to cut it short so soon too. Forfeiting. Like she'd ever give Haruki the satisfaction of seeing her back down from something so ridiculous.
Then again, Haruki already got the satisfaction of managing to rope her into this situation in the first place.
They both begin to slowly move forward nearly at the same time, the distance gradually closing with each tiny nibble. Haruki never takes her eyes off Isuke's and Isuke doesn't let go of Haruki's face, steadily holding the gaze with her own irritated look and trying her best to ignore the fact that she could smell Haruki's scent and feel her breath on her face.
Their noses are nearly touching. Isuke stops nibbling and Haruki does the same, and Isuke suddenly realizes that the hand that wasn't holding the box of pocky is now resting on the small of her back. And wait, since when was she sitting on Haruki's lap? Goddamn—
"Everything alright there, Isuke-sama?"
It's…
So unbelievably stupid.
The last inch vanishes as Isuke crashes her lips against Haruki's, nails digging into her scalp and bits of pocky moving between mouths. It's definitely as sloppy as Isuke had expected, yet she doesn't pull away until she's suddenly aware of the hand on her back sliding lower and lower.
She swallows, ignoring the flush on her face, and slaps Haruki.
And Haruki, being the forgiving idiot she always is, just laughs and pulls Isuke in a bit closer.
"See? I told you it'd be fun. Though I guess now I've got to keep my end of the promise, huh?"
She sighs dramatically and is about to reach for another pocky from her box when Isuke grabs her wrist, stopping her short. Truth be told, she can't say she didn't see that one coming.
"Not yet. We still have the rest of the box to finish, don't we?" Isuke delicately pulls a pocky from the box and places it in her mouth, corners of her lips barely curving up in a reluctant smirk.
It only takes a split second for Haruki to change her mind about letting her know that such a rule doesn't exist in the pocky game.