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Yuu tapped his fingers on his desk, chewing his lip and frowning at the wall in front of him. Why was he having such an issue! He could kill vampires no problem, punch Kimizuki no problem, but now...now he was having an issue that he really couldn’t deal with. Feelings...for a certain annoying purple haired girl.
“Yuu I swear to God, if you keep tapping I’m gonna cut your fingers off!” Kimizuki growled, throwing a piece of balled up paper at him.
“Now now Kimizuki, Yuu-chan is in love.” Mika grinned, also throwing some paper at Yuu from Yoichi’s lap.
“I’ve never seen him look so soft, apart from when he found you, Mika-san!” Yoichi sighed, from where he was petting Mika’s hair.
“You’re all horrible! Hate you all!” Yuu grabbed the paper and threw it back at the three of them.
They burst out laughing, loud enough to attract the attention of the girls who had been walking down the hall to find them for dinner. Two heads poked through the door, frowning in confusion as an all out paper war had broken out. It was Yuu versus Kimizuki and Mika, while Yoichi hid behind the blonde Vampire giggling until his face was going red.
“Is...everything alright?” Shinoa asked, her eyebrows raising.
“SHINOA!” Yuu gasped, slipping from where he was kneeling on his chair and hitting the ground with a thud.
“Idiot.” Mitsuba sighed, while Shinoa giggled at him. “Narumi says dinner is ready. Mika, are you coming?”
“Yeah, I’ll come and sit with you.” He smiled, making to stand up until Yoichi grabbed his arm.
“Have you had anything at all today?” He asked, oddly coloured eyes glaring at the Vampire.
“I um…” He blushed, looking away.
“We’ll tell him you’ll be down in a few minutes.” Shinoa winked at the two of them, quickly grabbing Yuu and Kimizuki.
“Hey! What was that about?!” Kimizuki yanked his hand away once the door closed.
“Oh come on, why do you think we scrapped the rota of who Mika feeds on?” Yuu jabbed the pink haired boy in the ribs.
“What do you-” He paused as it sunk in. “Ooh...oh they’re…Oh ok.” He blushed, and Yuu could tell he was calling himself an idiot.
Narumi was just setting down plates of food when they came in, and smiled softly at them. It was at his insistence that they eat together in an evening, I think more to just check that they were all still alive. The past 5 months hadn’t been easy, just seeing them all was a relief.
“Where are Yoichi and Mika?” He asked, sitting down.
“Oh you know. Doing their thing.” Shinoa giggled, sliding into the seat next to Yuu.
Before Narumi could comment, Yoichi appeared, pulling a blushing flustered Mika after him. Yoichi seemed totally unphased by people watching them, while Mika seemed to implode from the inside out, and Yuu found it incredibly amusing to see his best friend in the same position he was in.
As they ate, Mika nudged Yuu under the table with his foot, and once Mika had his attention he ever so slightly nodded in Shinoa’s direction; raising his eyebrows. Yuu only rolled his eyes in response, but he couldn’t but blush; thinking of a way he could actually get his words out to the purple haired girl next to him. He didn’t want to do anything elaborate, she’d probably think he was pranking her if he did. The best thing would be to just pull her aside and...get it out.
“God Yuu, think any harder and your brain will shut down.” Shinoa smirked, despite her eyes genuinely making sure he was ok.
“Oh shut it you…” He sighed, poking her in the side.
Once dinner was over, Shinoa and Mitsuba took the dishes away since it was their turn to do them, and while Yoichi and Kimizuki went out to do a bit of sparring practice, the smaller boy asking Mika to come and join them in a bit, Mika pulled Yuu down the corridor; away from the kitchen.
“Don’t you dare say anything.” Yuu glared at his best friend.
“You should tell her. We’ve spoken to Mitsuba, it wouldn’t be as much of a disaster as you’re imagining.” Mika sighed, as calm as ever.
“How would I even word it? She’s always joked about me liking her but…”
“You know that if someone jokes about something enough, it soon stops being a joke.”
“I thought that was about lying."
“Same thing really. Just talk, communicate. How do you think I worked out my arrangement with Yoichi?”
“Your...man just say you’re together, it’s cute.”
“Eeeeeh?” Mika smiled venomously, ducking his friend’s head and messing up his hair. “What was that Yuu-chaaaaan~?”
“Alright alright I’m sorry!” He wiggled away from Mika. “Fine, I’ll talk to her. When she’s finished doing the dishes.”
That seemed to satisfy the Vampire, and he strolled off towards the front door to watch the other two spar. Oh man what was he getting himself into? He did like Shinoa a whole lot more than he preferred to let on to her...he just hoped the others weren’t imagining the idea that she may feel the same.
Back in the kitchen, Shinoa could tell Mitsuba had something to say to her, but for some reason this was one of the few times the blonde girl was struggling for words. Part of her wanted to flick soap suds at the girl in an attempt to get her to speak, but judging by the intense looks she was giving the one plate she was holding, it must be important.
“Alright Mi-chan. Are you gonna tell me what’s wrong? Or are you gonna stand and stare at the plate for another 5 minutes.” She looked at the blonde.
“Oh it’s...um...have you considered talking to Yuu yet?”
“Ok...that came out of nowhere? Wanna elaborate?” Purple eyebrows disappeared into her fringe.
“I just...you two have been giving each other the eyes for weeks!”
“Ok...So what? I really just wish you would get to the point.”
“Talk to him. I think it’d do you both good to talk about your feelings.”
Mitsuba walked off after finishing the last plate, leaving Shinoa to think about what she’d said. Talk to Yuu...about their feelings...ok then. That wasn’t exactly what the two of them did normally so...how the hell was she meant to get him to sit down and talk!?
“Ok Shinoa. You can take out vampires and monsters no problem. Talking to a boy shouldn’t be one either!” She sighed, patting out her skirt, and going to find Yuu.
As soon as she rounded the corner, she was so deep in thought that she didn’t notice Yuu coming towards her, until she had her face in his chest. Shinoa yelped and jumped back, shocked that she’d been thinking of Yuu only to have him appear right in front of her!
“Shino-”
“Jeez Yuu. Watch where you’re going~!” She immediately defaulted to teasing him, even though her heart was screaming at her to backtrack.
“Hey, you walked into me!”
“A gentleman should always watch where he’s going!” No, no stop it Shinoa!
“Can you just...ugh...Can I have a word with you?” He sighed.
“Ooooh a word~? What word would that be? I’m sure you know a lot of words Yuu~!”
“You know what?! Fuck this, why do I even bother…”
Yuu inwardly cursed himself for even listening to his idiot friends that talking to Shinoa would work, she never took anything seriously in her entire life so what had made him think she would this time. He rolled his eyes at her and turned on his heel to head back to his room, when he was stopped by a soft hand on his wrist.
“Yuu…” Shinoa whispered, keeping her head down.
“Yeah…?”
“I’m sorry...I didn’t mean...I just struggle connecting my thoughts to my mouth...you know?”
“I know…” Yuu sighed, knowing exactly how she felt. “Shinoa I...I need you take me seriously...for just 5 minutes ok?”
“Yeah ok.” Her breath hitched, somehow she knew what he was about to say.
Clearing his throat, Yuu made up his mind and turned to her, looking deep into those brown eyes.
“Shinoa I...I know I can come of as abrasive and annoying but...I lost a lot when I was a child...and I built up walls to protect myself from that loss. You know all that. But those walls also made it hard to talk about certain feelings. Even Mika took years to break through them. I...like you a whole lot more than I let on. And that’s not a joke.”
She stared at him for a minute, carefully planning her reply. Shinoa didn’t want to mess it up when she was so close to getting what she wanted. All she could feel was a tightness in her chest...until Yuu flipped their hands around so he could gently squeeze her wrist. Then all tension left her...and she knew just what to say.
“Yuu...I like you a lot too. I know I tease you, I know I can be kinda mean but...it’s just cause I don’t know handle these feelings...You’re the only person I felt this way about.” She whispered, looking at where he held her wrist.
“We’ve...been so stupid haven’t we…” Yuu chuckled, grinning at Shinoa brightly.
“Yeah...I suppose we have.”
They stared at each other, before slowly getting closer to each other until their faces were almost uncomfortably close. Almost, because from here Shinoa could easily follow the natural progression of things and press their lips together...she could do that, but doubt started to creep in again. Luckily, Yuu was more than ready to take the lead, closing the gap and kissing her gently, almost nervously. Sighing in relief, the purple haired girl’s fingers tangled themselves into thick black hair.
“I...I think I love you.” She whispered, after pulling back for air.
“I think I love you too.” Yuu whispered back, pressing their foreheads together.
“Finally~!” A voice called from the door, Mika and the other two had seen the whole thing.
“Aaaw, look at them~!” Yoichi sighed, resting his head on Mika’s shoulder.
“Finally got their asses in gear.” Kimizuki smirked.
Yuu couldn’t help but flip the pink haired boy off, keeping one arm wrapped snugly around Shinoa’s waist as she giggled at them. As much as the boys liked to play fight and annoy each other, they really were a family, coming close and closer together.