Work Text:
They were just talking again! She had the chance to talk to him again! They were theoretically supposed to be running an errand for their respective classes and retrieving some boxes from this room, but Ichigo and Aoyama were both distracted, getting to have some space and time to themselves.
So, they talked. About the COD values Aoyama had measured in the river, and the rescues he was had treated in the local shelter, the Red Data animals Aoyama had been reading about, fun facts, the local flora and fauna that they could identity together on a walk after school today, the AQI value of air pollution after that strange debacle earlier…
Ichigo coughed nervously, feeling guilty for not being able to tell Aoyama about the aliens’ ties to that one. There were a lot of these that were tied to Chimera Anima, actually. Not all of them, there were a lot of self-inflicted and self-perpetuating issues that the city already struggled with, but still… the aliens certainly hadn’t been helping matters.
Whenever the topics edged too close to Mew Mew business, Ichigo always had trouble figuring out how to add to the conversation. So, she was quiet for the most part while Aoyama rambled on today. But she listened intently, enraptured by his enthusiasm.
At times like this, it would probably be better to talk over text. It’d give her some space to actually think about what to say without cycling through obvious, crazy faces and giving away the fact that she was keeping secrets from him. But then again, whenever the two of them were texting, it just made Ichigo want to be together with him in person, so this was the better way to do it. Maybe. Ichigo sighed internally.
First loves were so confusing. Magical girl stuff didn’t make it any easier. Especially when the crush in question was a nice, normal boy living a nice, normal life, with no weird magical nonhuman bioweapon stuff to worry about! She made do and seemed to keep the cat girl thing under the radar well enough, but still!
Ichigo had never cared much about romance, or dating, or crushes, before this year. Most of what she knew about it was from books and the snippets she’d overheard from Miwa and Moe, who insisted Ichigo was just a late bloomer. She had no experience here.
But she knew for sure that she liked him. She knew she wanted to know more about him.
Besides, it didn’t seem like Aoyama was any more experienced with it than Ichigo was, despite his popularity. That was why Ichigo could afford to not-so-secretly pine for him in plain sight like this.
At the moment, Ichigo was simply staring at Aoyama, admiring the way his eyes shone and the adorable dimples in his smile that would appear and disappear with the way his mouth moved. He was standing by the window, and the sunlight added this beautiful glow to his tan skin.
Whenever he paused occasionally, inevitably wanting to hear Ichigo’s opinion or just stop himself because he felt like he was talking too much, Aoyama would turn to Ichigo with those big brown eyes of his, and she’d practically forget how to talk. But she really was interested in the topics, so she could usually offer something. A proper question to learn more, if nothing else.
She would flush red and stutter out a jumble of sounds before her brain caught up with her mouth. For the most part, her responses would turn out semi-intelligible enough apparently, because Aoyama would just chuckle and continue the conversation. They easily fell into the comfortable flow of that back and forth.
This time, when Aoyama turned to her, eyes wide with expectation, Ichigo realized he had asked her a question, and that this time, she’d been too lost in her own thoughts to even be paying attention to what she was saying.
Ichigo could only spout what came to his mind first, for better or for worse: “Sorry, what was that? I got distracted just looking at you, hearing your talk about this stuff is so interesting. I really love learning about this stuff!”
Aoyama just blinked at her, and she could swear his cheeks became slightly pink. “Oh. Um. Thank you.”
Then, flowers just popped up. They curled in from the windows, a whole bouquet of them. Bushels of flowers that were pinks or blues or violets, with layers of flowing petals opening around him and curling onto him, draped so elegantly that it made him look like royalty.
Ichigo blinked, puzzled by the sudden presence of these flowers. “How did that happen?”
Aoyama blinked again, seemingly snapping him out of some sort of trance. His brow wrinkled. “What?”
“Uhm—” Ichigo gestured behind him, eyes glued to the flowers. Aoyama looked around and noticed the flora that seemed to have taken a life of its own, sprawling so vibrantly that they were beginning to take over the classroom around him.
Aoyama gasped and hurriedly gathered up the supplies he had come for, covering his mouth. If he wasn’t so mystified with the presence of these roses and carnations, he might have noticed how utterly enchanted Ichigo was with the falling bright petals and sway of his dark hair and the slight parting of his lips, and oh no, she could feel her tail growing, and she stretched her arms over her head, because she could feel her ears growing out too—
“I—I’m really sorry, Momomiya, I have to—go,” Aoyama said hurriedly. His face was still flushed pink, and he couldn’t look Ichigo in the eyes. The reaching vines and leaves still grew so quickly that it almost seemed like they were writhing, and all in his direction.
Aoyama looked like a god almost, and it was a bit surprising how embarrassed he seemed of something. It was sort of cute, too, though.
“O—okay, we’ll talk again later! I really can’t wait to hit up another exhibit with you! Or do another cleanup! Anytime, anywhere! I’ll be happy to tag along as long as I’m with you!”
His face tinted from pink to red, accompanied by a whole new cluster of flowers erupting all around him, bigger this time. Ichigo was left even more confused as Aoyama frantically called out a goodbye and raced out of the classroom. Her cat ears drooped in open confusion.