Chapter Text
“What’s that?” A finger pointing at the Jersey Devil on the page in the magazine pulled him back to reality. The familiar voice is like a morning birdsong in his ears. He jerked his head to find Momo’s familiar smile eager to meet his gaze. That's when he became entirely aware of the warm hand on his shoulder. If anyone were to hear the beat of his heart, they’d send him to the ER without hesitation.
“O-oh, Miss Ayase!” He stuttered, chuckling a bit to ease himself. The grip on his magazine tightened to send the nervous energy away from his brain.
“Don’t act so surprised, ya dork.” Momo lightly teased. “I’ve been right next to you the whole time.”
“I know!” He looked back to the magazine to glance at the jersey devil once more. “You know I get lost in the alien world all the time.” Momo leaned closer to take a look at the contents of the page. Her breath tickled his neck. His skinned burned. He was used to this burning sensation. He just wasn’t quite ready to admit what it actually is.
“You never answered my question.” Rather than sit in the feeling, he used his usual way of avoiding problems to brush it aside.
“That’s the Jersey Devil.” He started, almost robotically. “Said to appear in New Jersey and the states that surround it. Usually appears in forests at night. If you asked me, it’s probably the chupacabra migrating north. The dates of the sightings for both align with that theory, at least.”
“What would you do if you encountered either of them?”
“Probably run.”
“You wouldn’t sock it in the face?” He jerked his head again to face her again. This time because he couldn’t quite believe how stupid that question was.
“No! What’s wrong with you?”
“It doesn’t look that big!” Momo argued. “I could punt that little sucker easily.”
“It has wings and a kangaroo body!”
“What? A girl can’t handle that, Okarun?”
“I’m not saying that at all!” Okarun adjusted his glasses, both a nervous tick and a showing of how seriously he was taking this. “No one knows what it does, so it’s not safe to encounter it alone.” Momo paused for a moment. It was then that Okarun realized just how close they were to each other. Any slight bump in the tracks below could send them flying into each other’s faces instantly. Right. They’re on a train. He had almost forgotten why they were sitting so close to each other. His skin burned once again.
He hadn’t forgotten the time they did sort-of kiss not too long ago. Although, it did feel like ages ago. It lingered on the back of his mind, creeping up on him when staring at the ceiling attempting to get some sleep. The idea that it could happen again-right then and there-had his mind spinning in ways that would make a ballerina jealous. His mind could never catch up to his body, it seemed. His eyes instinctually flicking down to look at Momo’s soft lips. They shined with a slight bit of lip gloss. His mind catching up, knowing better than to linger there, instantly brought him back to reality. His eyes met hers again.
Except, not really. Her gaze had moved to the seat behind them. The slight blush on her cheeks became increasingly more noticeable. She was even fidgeting with her bangs the way she usually does when nervous. It was almost unfair that she was as cute as she was. She was just too sweet not to indulge. His stomach ached like he had just eaten too much candy.
God, what was he thinking! He needed to look away before his body acted against his better judgment again!
He backed up and whipped his head to look back down at the magazine. This was going to be an extremely long train ride.
Miss Seiko was to blame for putting him in this situation. She claimed that it was an errand only Momo and Okarun could do. It’s not that he couldn’t handle being alone with Momo. If anything, he preferred being alone with her. She was just so easy to talk to. The problem was that it was usually on the walk home from school or somewhere else in the presence of friends or family. Always interrupted at the worst time with more supernatural nonsense than the brain could feasibly handle. It was unfair. Most days, all he wanted to do was just sit around and talk to her uninterrupted. It was like the universe was telling him that he was undeserving of her attention.
“Hey.” Momo’s voice pulled him away from the trenches of his thoughts once again. He looked at her again. Her gaze was softer and abundantly comforting. “Do you think if we teamed up we could beat the chupacabra and Jersey Devil without breaking a sweat?”
Okarun smiled, “Without a doubt.”
Miss Seiko was an extremely generous woman but it had its limits. She booked them a cheap hotel room for the weekend. They were grateful for it without a doubt. A new problem had arisen. The room was fairly small. A studio unit at best. No couch. Just a bed, a kitchenette, a bathroom, and a dresser with an old TV on it. Luckily, it was a queen size bed. But it was only a single bed. That they had to share. Now, it’s not like he didn’t know. It just didn’t feel real until right then.
Okarun wanted nothing more than to disappear into another dimension. He could barely sit with Momo on a train. Even less a goddam bed!
“I’ll sleep on the floor.” He said without a second thought.
“What?” Momo furrowed her brows. “Are you a masochist?”
“No.” Maybe a little bit. Anything for her to be honest.
“Then you’re sleeping in the bed too. It’s no biggie.”
“But-“
“Okarun, it’s fine.” She flashed a reassuring smile. “I’d rather not be in the middle of battle and have your hip break like an old man.”
“How sincere.” Okarun rolled his eyes as he walked past her to put his bag down by the dresser. It felt like his heart almost seized. This was going to be a long weekend.
He could hear her humming in the shower from where he sat on the bed. Again, in hopes that the magazine would distract him, he had started flipping through the pages hoping that something would catch his eye. Nothing really could when the water to the shower turned on. The door was pretty cheap and thin so you could hear almost everything that was happening in the bathroom. This very fact had his mind flying faster than any jet could.
The fact of the matter was that she was literally naked in the next room. Whether he liked it or not, the awkward hormonal teenage boy in him had him in a chokehold. It’s not like his mind hadn’t wandered before. They had seen each other pretty much in the nude before. Although, it was insanely embarrassing to be bare ass naked in front of the whole school. He wanted nothing more than to erase that memory from his psyche. It was the circumstances at play at the time. Nothing he could really do about it.
The intrusive thoughts could be strong at times, though. Okarun didn’t really think about Momo in any perverted way. It was more so that he just wanted to know everything about her. How soft her skin was and what it felt like to stroke his fingers through her hair. The curve of her shoulders to the dip of her hips. He was just a curious guy, if anything. One that wanted to know everything about his favorite things.
He let out an exasperated sigh and shut the magazine. It was useless to even attempt a distraction anymore. He set it down on the small bedside table next to him. He slid off his glasses and cupped his face into his hands. He was such a loser in times like this. Any normal person wouldn’t have an issue with telling her how amazingly beautiful and intoxicating she was. The words always caught in his throat like a big pill he couldn’t swallow.
His skin burned. He was used to the burning sensation. Turbo Granny’s powers felt like they were burning under his skin at times. It was more akin to small electric shocks that burned a little, though. This burning feeling right now was entirely different. It lingered. Every little touch, look, and even laugh added new fire to the flames. He had to be honest with himself. He really did yearn for her in every sense of the word.
With a long deep breath, and a few seconds of letting it out, he uncurled himself from his position on the bed and stood up to find more comfortable clothes to change into once it was his turn to shower. They had gotten here fairly late because of the train delays due to maintenance. It was then he realized just how hot it was in the room. And he had been wearing a hoodie the entire time. Maybe he was a masochist. Quickly, he slid it off, the hoodie taking his shirt with it. Not really a problem, anything to make life easier right now. He knelt down to ruffle through his bag to find the sweats and t-shirt he brought to sleep in.
“Alright! I feel so much better!” Momo’s declaration made Okarun jump. “Oh, sorry if I scared you.” She chuckled. “I didn’t mean to.” He stood up with his clothes in hand and turned around. Momo had a shirt so big it looked like a dress on her and shorts on. She rubbed a towel on her head to dry her hair off.
“It’s okay.” He chuckled too, nervously scratching the back of his head like he normally did when caught off guard. “I guess I wasn’t as awake as I thought I was.” God, he was such a loser.
“Where did all those muscles come from?” Momo asked. Her cheek indented slightly as if biting it.
Okarun shrugged, “I’m not really sure to be honest with you.”
“There is no way you woke up like that randomly one day?” Momo slid the towel from her head.
“Obviously not.” Okarun went to adjust his glasses before realizing that he left them on the side table. He was such an idiot! “It’s not like I’ve really had time to sit around and do nothing all day, you know. I guess it’s just a perk of being cursed.” I want you to think I’m cool, you know . His chest ached remembering the day he told her that. It was still embarrassing. He could never say it out loud again though.
Except, he very much did without realizing.
“You’re something else, Okarun.” Momo smiled in a way that made him weak. He wanted right then to just fall to his knees and pray to her like a god.
“Sorry, I’m just an awkward guy.” He chuckled nervously again. A dry towel smacked him in the face right then.
“I told you not to say that!”
“I’m sorry!”
“Go shower!”
“Right, sorry!” He apologized once more as he ran to the bathroom. The door shut with a click. That burn under his skin was as hot as magma under the Earth’s surface. It was fun to mess with her. He knew full well by now that the infamous line that was forbidden was a Ken Takakura quote. It was Momo’s favorite and it was cute how embarrassed she got when hearing it from him. Okarun was fine being selfish in a few ways and this was definitely one of them.
If there was one thing he loved the most about Momo, it was the fact that she wore her heart on her sleeve. He really needed to stop kidding himself. That burning under his skin, that was love and he knew it. He was utterly and completely in love with her and he knew it.