Work Text:
It wasn’t so bad, in the grand scheme of things, to have to loop back and stop the volcano once more time, this go-around ensuring that his school friends wouldn’t saunter up the hill with his useless body-double Toritsuka. He knew what he needed to do this time and he had the added assurance that he could actually pull it off.
It was still exhausting, he still collapsed on the ground near the last eruption point. Aiura still ran to him in her tan peacoat with tears in her eyes, asking his permission to kiss him.
But this time was different, because instead of telling her “Absolutely not,” he just shrugged. He knew his friends wouldn’t walk up and see them this time and he was curious, after all. And he could just do a quick little loop back to right before she asked and tell her no again, so there was really no reason not to let her do it.
“You’re just going to shrug?” she asked, clasping his shoulders in her manicured fingers, shaking from nerves.
“Good grief. If you really want to--”
Her lips were on his before he could even finish his thought, then they travelled to his cheeks and his forehead and his nose and before he could even gather enough energy to pull away, she had peppered his whole face in kisses. He could feel her tears falling from her cheeks and onto his the whole time. It was an oddly wet first kiss.
When she pulled away from his face, she had a massive smile tugging on the edges of her lips, showing her sharp white teeth and crinkling her tear filled eyes. “I love you, Kusuo!” she said before pulling him in for a familiar hug, just like the one she had given him in the other timeline where he stopped the volcano.
Saiki sat shocked for a moment. It really wasn’t that romantic or passionate of a kiss and things ended up the same way they had before. It was not at all like he was expecting. Her kisses were filled with relief and joy and love, of course, but the love of a friend. He realized that her intention in kissing him wasn’t to create a romantic scene, it was to show him how glad she was that he was safe after all of that. Reading her mind, he understood that she hadn’t wanted anything else from the moment, that for her it was just an expression of friendship and affection. She knew his permission didn’t mean that he suddenly wanted to date and get married or anything dramatic like that.
A small grin displayed itself on his lips, even as her neon yellow hair tickled his cheek. He wrapped an arm around her, just for a moment telling her the same thing: I’m glad you’re safe. I’m glad we’re friends.
Aiura released him from the hug after that and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go get some coffee jelly, huh?” she offered.
Saiki nodded. They deserved it. And it turned out he wouldn’t have to rewind and undo this moment; this timeline seemed pretty decent after all.