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Neon climbs onto Keiwa’s lap and pulls him deep into a kiss. Keiwa freezes in surprise, but hastily moves to kiss her back, his arms awkward around her waist.
It should be known that obviously he’s dated before, and it should also be known that this has never ended well. The former partners usually use and dump him, and he can’t deny it’s part of why he was hesitant when Neon more or less declared it, before the end. Curled up in his lap on the chairs of the lounge, kissing him gently. He feels like he’s forgotten pieces, but he knows it happened.
She keeps doing it, too. Like an affectionate cat, there is no removing her without her pouting, so it’s better to go along. She does stop if he asks, but…
Her fingers stroke his neck, and he melts into the couch. She pulls back enough to speak.
“I am so glad I have you here,” she says. “I’m so glad I have you .”
“Of course,” Keiwa says. His arms don’t feel as awkward all of a sudden. “So am I.”
“Hello,” Neon says. “Welcome to NeonTV. Today, my friend Keiwa will be teaching me how to cook.”
This is a terrible idea. Keiwa knows this is a terrible idea because Neon is genuinely so clueless that she burnt water the other day. Of course, by the end of that day she could make hot chocolate and he’d gotten her a kettle, but still.
“Yes,” Keiwa says, and he waves. He’s gotten used to cameras, and he sees her chat explode.
Neon is friends with a Kamen Rider?
Isn’t he the one that fought a chameleon yakuza?
It was a frog!
She’s known him for months, remember the Oronomin C add?
Oh yeah. Him, Neon, aaaaaand…
Someone. Right? He swears…
There had to be someone.
Right?
…Keiwa shrugs off the odd confusion.
“Wish me luck,” he says, and he knows his smile is awkward, Neon is the one who is picture perfect by nature, but there are a bunch of green hearts and Tanuki there?
…okay. Live reactions are something to get used to.
“I’ll probably need it,” Neon says, still grinning. Her energy is infectious. “Today we’re making ng beef udon!”
She winks at the screen, and Keiwa quickly covers his mouth so Michinaga doesn’t kill him later for laughing. Finding out he used to watch her streams is still amusing to him, and knowing his coworkers are fans makes it funnier… To Neon as well, clearly. This was all her idea.
“Y-yes,” he says. “Yes we are!”
Neon actually does get the hang of things fairly quickly, but she still messes up. Keiwa chalks it up to experience, Sara choked down plenty of failures when he was still learning.
(Even if it was to help her , they were just two kids. They could only do so much.)
It’s cute, actually. The way Neon gets through it. Keiwa supposed that’s the point. Neon is an excellent actress. None of it feels fake but he knows her, knows she is putting on a show.
“Aaand done!”
dun… dun…
Well it certainly doesn’t look impressive. Neon pouts.
“Oh no,” she says. “But I tried so hard!”
Those are cute fake tears in her eyes. He knows how desperation looks, too.
He puts a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s okay,” he says. “What matters is the taste.”
Neon sniffles.
“I guess so,” she says, and then she grins. “Time to try it!”
Credit where credit is due, it does actually taste good.
This isn’t their happy ending. Those are separate things - his job offers and his applications, her parents coming for dinner one night a week and Sara coming for an average of three a week, the day they go with Michinaga to the temple of a fox god that feels so familiar.
But it helps. It helps to have her in his life. It helps to feel…
He loves her.