Work Text:
Ugh of all the things to happen today, it had to be raining. Rain was pouring down and Hajime was now getting drenched.
He usually carried a jacket with him for situations like this, but of course, this had to be the one time he forgot to bring it with him.
“Stupid alarm clock not going off at the right time,” he grumbled.
As he raced through the storm back to his apartment, he heard a voice calling for him.
“Hajime?”
Looking back, he saw that it belonged to Peko Pekoyama. Hajime had chatted with her quite a few times but he didn’t know her that well.
“O-oh hey Peko. How about this rain?”
“Yes, it’s coming down rather hard.”
“Yeah, and here I am caught in it,” he chuckled.
“Where are you headed?”
“I’m trying to make it back to my apartment, it’s near the Akihabara district.”
“That’s in the direction I’m heading. Would you like to share my umbrella on the way there?”
Hajime was taken slightly aback, ”O-oh, yeah that would be great, thanks!” He hadn’t expected that, but he did appreciate it.
As he got up next to Peko, she tilted the umbrella to his side. However, as the two continued, Hajime still felt himself getting pelted.
“Peko, do you think you’d be able to tilt it a bit more my way?”
“Well if I were to tilt it any further then I’d be the one getting drenched.”
“O-oh.”
“Maybe you should hold the umbrella then,” replied Peko as she passed it to Hajime.
“O-ok” replied Hajime as he grabbed hold of the umbrella.
However the problem still persisted.
“Hajime, do you think you could move the umbrella to my side?”
“This is the furthest I think I can go.”
“Oh.”
The two stopped their walk to figure out the situation.
“Yeah this umbrella is too small for the two of us,” observed Hajime.
”If only there was a way for us to both be under it at the same time,” replied Peko.
“Honestly you should just keep it, I’m the moron who forgot to bring anything in the rain.” As Hajime began to walk away, Peko stopped him.
“I would hate to see a friend you have to walk in this storm. Besides, your apartment is the first stop, correct? I can take the umbrella back when we arrive at your residence”
“What if I gave you a piggyback ride?”
Peko raised her eyebrow. Hajime had suggested it jokingly, but she seemed interested.
“How does someone give a “piggyback ride”?”
“Well…pretty much, you climb on my back, I put my arms around your legs and carry you.”
“Hmm…I suppose that could work. While you carry me, I carry the umbrella?”
“Yes, exactly,” smiled Hajime
As he kneeled, Peko climbed onto his back.
“Jeez, you’re heavy,” groaned Hajime as he lifted her onto his shoulders. “I-I mean, you’re too heavy for me to lift. Like, I-I need to start hitting the gym more often and start lifting, since I’m sure you’re a perfectly healthy and normal weight.”
“I understand what you mean,” replied Peko.
As Hajime began to walk, he quickly found himself tiring, he could not carry Peko at all.
“P-peko,” he panted. “I-I need to take a break.”
“If we continue at this rate, we’ll never make it to where we’re headed,” said Peko as she looked at Hajime catching his breath on the sidewalk
“Y-yeah, how about you just go on without me, I can just walk the rest myself.”
Peko thought for a moment. “What if I were to carry you?”
“Y-you carry me?” Hajime wasn’t sure what to say, on one hand it did solve the umbrella problem, on the other hand he felt like it would be incredibly embarrassing. But it was the best solution they had at the moment.
—--
Once Hajime was on her back, Peko lifted his legs and handed him the umbrella, then quickly took off.
“This seems to have fixed the problem.”
“Y-yeah,” replied Hajime, shocked.
It felt insanely awkward, but on the other hand, there was something about it that he liked very much. He almost felt like a king up here. At the same time he couldn’t help but be a bit shocked by how well Peko was holding up. She had been going for a few yards by this point and she did not seem to be showing any signs of stopping. Now he really felt like he had been holding her back when the two of them were sharing that umbrella.
“Jeez Peko, I wouldn’t have taken you for someone who’d be able to do all this.”
“I lift heavy objects fairly frequently in my line of work.” Peko paused. “Which is too say that I life objects that are heavier than you are, I’m sure you are a fairly average weight-”
“Yeah, yeah,” chuckled Hajime, “I know what you mean.”
As the two continued along, they would occasionally come along a passerby who found the sight rather humorous.
“At least no one should be at the apartment…” Groaned Hajime, but he was incorrect in that belief.
—--
As the two of them arrived, there was his roommate Kazuichi Soda working on some kind of invention. He nearly popped a vessel from laughing so hard when he saw Hajime on Peko’s shoulders. He still had enough composure to snap a picture or two though.
“Thanks for the *ahem* lift Peko.”
“No problem Hajime, thank you for carrying my umbrella.”
And then Peko took off. It was strange to Hajime, it looked like she was going just as fast as when he was on her back. But he didn’t have much time to think about that as he had other matters to attend to, that being his roommate.
“S-so Hajime, what was that,” asked Kazuichi, doing his best not to fall back into his laughing fit.
“She was just helping me out, Kaz. I forgot my jacket and she lent me her umbrella but it wasn’t big enough for the two of us.”
“Heh, sounds like something out of a cheesy romance novel.”
“Oh shut up,” grumbled Hajime
As the two entered their apartment, Kaz spoke up again.
“So, are you not worried about Fuyuhiko or anything?”
“What would I have to be worried about?”
“I mean, you were getting pretty close to his girl there.”
“It’s not like they’re dating or anything, they’re just good friends, that’s what Peko has told me.”
“So does that mean that you and Peko planning on going steady-”
“Kaz she was giving me a piggyback ride so we could share an umbrella, there wasn’t anything else to it.”
“Sure, sure,” replied Kazuichi unconvinced. “Look Hajime, I know a thing or two about romance.”
“How’s it going with Sonia then?”
“…point taken…”
As the two sat in silence, Hajime turned to his roommate.
“Hey Kaz,” said the brown haired boy sheepishly.
“Yeah Hajime?”
“…do you think you could send that picture to me?”
Hajime wasn’t certain, but he was pretty sure that he now had a crush.