Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

(Piano starts) We see different shots of different characters getting ready:

• The opening shot shows Okarun in his room, as if the camera was looking down at him from a corner. He is half dressed: a half buttoned, white dress shirt, pale blue boxers and his black socks. He is hunching his back a little while grabbing his glasses, as if he was looking for something he misplaced. When the piano keys sound in sec 11, his glasses glow with a reflection.

(Verse 1)

• The next scene shows Momo getting ready in her room. She is grabbing one of her fancy earrings and putting it on, the shot widens to show Momo's focused face, her make-up is discreet, but elegant. Then, we see her struggling to get the zipper up from her red dress, when Vamola, in her pastel blue dress, comes up to her and helps her. Once she is done, Vamola hugs Momo from behind and they start giggling in excitement.
• Third shot: We go back to Okarun's room, he is wearing a red tux and fumbling nervously with his bow-tie, he stares at the mirror as if gathering courage with a mild blush in his face, we can see there is a small bouquet of flowers on his nightstand (corner of the shot and slightly out of focus).
• The next scene focuses on Jiji. He is in his room, already dressed in a dark blue suit with a colorful tie. He's standing in front of a mirror and pointing his fingers like guns at his reflection, gives himself a confident nod.
• Lastly we see Aira. Her room is big and well lit. She is dressed and ready to go, but spends a few more minutes staring at her reflection before her large, fancy mirror. She is half turning, inspecting the back of her dress until we hear a doorbell ringing.

(Chorus)

Back at the Ayases' house. Seiko opens the door and we see Okarun in his red tux, holding his glasses with his right hand and a bouquet of flowers with his left. Kinta and Jiji are standing behind him. Kinta with his usual Master pose and Jiji doing a funny face.

Once inside the house, all the girls are gathered there, except for Aira. We see Rin, Kouiki, and Vamola already chatting downstairs, all looking elegant in their pretty cocktail dresses. Seiko and Turbo Granny are talking and making a racket with the rest of the kids, but Momo still hasn't come down.

"Momo, hurry your ass or you're all going to be late!" Seiko shouts from the bottom of the stairs.

"I AM COMING!"

The sound of hurried steps coming down the stairs is heard. Momo finally comes down and goes to the rest of the girls, all of them making girly noises of excitement. Okarun blushes when he looks at her.

Momo walks up to him and once they are facing each other, Okarun hands her the bouquet and starts saying "You look...", but stops nervously as if he was trying to find the perfect adjective to describe her beauty. Momo smiles back at him, and places a flower on Okarun's handkerchief pocket, trying to distract herself from her own nervousness. Okarun grabs his glasses nervously, the redness in his cheeks becoming more and more prominent, but she gently takes his hand and says "You look handsome too". And with that, she gives him a kiss on the cheek and Okarun smiles back at her.

The gang starts walking merrily away from the house. We see them leaving the frame, wrapped in giggles and the excitement of youth, with Kinta saying the occasional stupid robot comments, and Jiji being Jiji.

(Verse 2: One smile, one kiss…)

Transition to the school dance.

Aira is sitting with her legs crossed with a hand over her chin. She is wearing a halter dress of a pink ivory color, with a black lace tied with a ribbon around her waist. The piano keys of the song match the movement of a pale blue light that quickly illuminates Aira’s face. 

The camera closes up to her expression: it is pensive, almost bored, as if she was immune to the air full of excitement and nervousness so characteristic of high school dances. Chit chat is heard all over the place. There are soft pink and blue light colors illuminating the area. Music is playing in the background.

The shot widens as the song advances: A group of people is standing right next to her (right side of the frame). Aira looks awfully contrasting compared to this group, as if she was undecided whether she wanted to join them or not. Eventually, she starts walking away from them, without drawing much attention to herself. Her eyes looking at the floor in a trance… (Good vibrations getting loud) until she hears them coming, her real friends. “Hey, Aira!” Momo's voice calling her from afar. She can’t help but raise her eyes to find them among the crowd and quickly goes up to meet them with a smile. 

(2nd chorus)

The group of friends is standing together very close to the dance floor.  The girls are giving each other compliments on their dresses, when a male voice is heard over the speakers inviting everyone to dance: "Okay, everyone grab your dance partner!"

People start joining the dance floor little by little. Vamola quickly pulls Kinta to the dance floor with excitement. Zuma, who was also invited to the dance, asks Kouki in a half bored fashion "hey, wanna dance?"

Okarun and Momo are standing by nervously, and Momo starts playing with her hair. They briefly exchange a shy look and finally, Okarun reaches a hand to Momo, asking her to dance with him. She accepts his invitation and gives her a flirty smile, her earrings glowing as they make their way to the dance floor.

Aira and Rin are the only ones of the group left, when Rin's attention gets caught by a pale gentleman coming towards her. Aira just shrugs her shoulders indifferently and starts walking towards the hallway. Meanwhile, Jiji is fighting off a group of girls who want to dance with him, when he catches a glimpse of Aira's pink hair walking out of the scene.

Aira is by herself on the terrace, fingers fidgeting with her golden bracelet, the faint thump of dance music drifting from the gym below. "Should she leave or stay? Maybe she should pretend she's having fun..." she thinks, her lips tightining.

(Bridge)

“Here you are!”, Jiji says with a tone of surprise, “shouldn’t you be downstairs dancing your bones off?” He starts moonwalking with a silly face, but it has no effect on his audience.

“I am not in the mood, Enjoji”, She doesn’t turn to face him. She needs to protect her image and be strong. This too shall pass, it’s just a childish dance.

Jiji starts walking towards Aira until he is standing right next to her. She is leaning gracefully against the cold iron railing, her eyes lost on the street beneath them. He looks closer at her, her nose is slightly red, her hair immaculate as always, and her make-up is exquisite, highlighting her natural beauty. Her arms are slightly crossed, as if she was trying her hardest to ignore the chill of the night. 

Man… she really looks lovely, he thinks.

They stay in silence for a second until he asks the question that has been gnawing at him since this whole dance-thing started.

“So where’s your date?” he asks casually. "I know you were really looking forward to…”

“He was a jerk.” She says abruptly. Aira feels Jiji’s body radiating heat next to her. 

“Oh… I see. I’m sorry” he adds. She doesn’t want to talk about it. Got it. He starts diverting his gaze from her when he notices the skin of her arms. Wait… Are those… goosebumps?

He moves almost instinctively and when he realizes what he is doing it was too late. He had already taken his blazer off and put it on her shoulders.

“You look cold. Here, have my jacket.”

Her eyes widened the moment she felt the warm fabric on her shoulders. She feels her face starting to heat up. 

“Jiji, you don’t have to…” she stopped herself abruptly at the realization. I never call him Jiji…

“No, please, I insist. Besides… I am not that cold, anyway”, he responded with a shy smile.

Aira grabbed the jacket  to adjust it better, holding it tightly for a second. It’s still warm and it smells like him. They stood together in silence again, but this time the tension had disappeared. The music from the party, faintly heard at the distance.

(Last chorus)

A Disco Ball spinning around with the beat of the music is reflecting the lights off the dance floor. The teenagers dancing underneath it.

We can see quick glimpses of the Dandagang: Kinta is dancing with Vamola, with a silly, puppy-like expression, almost placing his head beneath her chin. Vamola’s expression is sweet as always, you can tell she’s just happy to be there. Zuma danced awkwardly with Kouki. Rin is dancing with a dark-haired, vampire looking guy. Until finally, we see them: Momo and Okarun.

They are slow dancing. Their movements are a little awkward, but well coordinated and both of their faces are slightly blushing. 

“You never told me you could dance, Okarun”, Momo teases him, making him blush even harder.

"I... I ... wanted to impress you ", he stutters and starts diverting his eyes, when Momo stops him by gently pulling his chin up with her hand. Ken looks at her, and her eyes seem to glow in sync with her earrings. She smiles at him and Okarun recovers his confidence, giving her a little spin.

"Did you ever imagine we would be together like this?" Momo asks in a soft voice, her earrings glowing as she tilts her head in a teasing manner. 

Ken softens his gaze and gently squishes her hands, pressing his forehead against hers and says "Yes, many times". And they continue dancing, both of them lost on each other.

(Oh I think… They call)

Second-to-last shot:

Jiji suddenly turns to Aira, with a relaxed, confident smile on his face, “I know you said you are not in the mood, but…“, he extends his hand out to her in a very prince charming fashion. “Do you want to get out of here?”

(Yes, I think they call … )

She turns to face him, mildly shocked at his invitation. His eyes are soft, but there is something inviting about them. What can I lose? She takes his hand and Aira and Jiji leave the dance. He takes her hand as they run down the street with youthful carelessness, while she holds onto his jacket with her free hand. 

(Outro: This love)

The song is wrapping up and we end the scene with Momo and Okarun. Her head lies gently on his chest and he leans his head on top of hers as they continue to slow dance. The camera moves up to show the glowing dance ball above them and the song ends.

Chapter Text

Momo and Okarun were standing outside the entrance of the school, holding hands while waiting for the rest of their friends to come out. The temperature had really dropped since they first arrived at the dance, so Momo was now wearing Okarun’s red tuxedo jacket. 

They were having one of their usual lighthearted conversations when suddenly, Momo catched a glimpse of a familiar silhouette several metres in front of them. Jiji was always easy to spot: he usually was the tallest guy in the room and his hair always stood out in a crowd. Although it was hard to see his characteristic red hair at this hour of the night, she knew it was him. He seemed to be leaving a restaurant that was a couple blocks away from the school. There was someone walking next to him too: a girl, much shorter than him and seemed to be wearing a blazer that was too large for her. They were not holding hands, but the distance between them was minimal.

"Hey, check this out," Momo whispered softly to Okarun as she tugged gently at his arm to catch his attention.

"Wait. Is that... Aira?", he said, his eyes widening with surprise. He adjusted his glasses, as if he was wearing a pair of binoculars that would allow him to see the scene better.

"Took them long enough" - Momo told Okarun in a playful tone that is so common among those who have been waiting for their friends to finally get together. They shared a complicit smile with each other and saw how Jiji and Aira disappeared together in the distance.

-----------

Jiji walked Aira home. After they left the school dance, Aira made a comment about how all that drama had ruined her appetite. So in his usual carefree and gentle manner, he decided to take her to a nice, little restaurant that was just a couple of blocks away. There they ate, laughed, and talked until the owner kicked them out because “minors aren’t allowed after 10:30”, which only made the couple burst into laughter after they left. 

The cozy atmosphere of the restaurant was contrasting with the chill of the night, but Jiji's training had really paid off: He managed to keep warm by controlling the rhythm of his breathing, keeping the Evil Eye at bay. Meanwhile, Aira had been wearing his blazer jacket all this time.

They had been chatting for a while until they finally reached Aira’s place. A fancy, black gate gave way to the entrance of her home and everything about it screamed “Old Money-Rich girl”. However, the actual house was hard to see in the dark. 

As soon as they reached the gate, a shy silence filled the air, the kind of silence that sneaks up on you when you realize you have reached your destination but don’t want to say goodbye yet.

“Well, this is me...”, Aira said looking at the gate, trying to hide her hesitation to part ways. She looked especially tiny in this scene: wearing an oversized blazer while standing next to her tall companion, the large, elegant black gate in front of them and the looming mansion in the background.

She started taking the jacket off, when Jiji interrupted her “No, you can keep it. You’ll get cold.”

She gave him a smirk and looked at him with witty eyes, “I’m sure I won’t die of hypothermia from here to the door, Enjoji.” She responded sarcastically.

He smiled back at her and responded jokingly “but what if you do?! I could never forgive myself for letting a beautiful lady die due to this ruthless weather!”, he finished with a dramatic pose, a hand on his chest. Aira rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help giggling and pushed him slightly on the shoulder.

“Besides you can give me my jacket some other day or I can come over and get it…” he stopped himself, his cheeks starting to blush. Why did I say that? It’s rude to invite yourself to someone else’s home like that… plus she might not even want me to come back here again…

Aira was also mildly startled with his response, but she hid it a little better, a faint red color rising to her face. Jiji coming over to her house…?  Her heart skipped a beat. 

She folded the jacket and handed it gracefully to him. “Take it. I promise you I’ll survive.” She added, gracefully changing the subject. Her eyes were smiling too, hiding a flirtatious note behind her look that only experienced lovebirds could read. 

“Fine… But only because you promise”, he said, smiling softly at her. Their hands almost touched as she handed the blazer back to its owner. 

A light turned on at a distance, the entrance of her house becoming slightly illuminated. They exchanged one last look, but no more words came out of their mouths. But somehow, that was enough for now.

“Goodnight, Enjoji.”

“Goodnight, Aira.” 

She began walking towards the gate, someone had already opened it for her. He started turning his body when he felt it: a shy, soft kiss on his cheek. By the time he realized what was happening, she was halfway through the garden, vanishing behind the entry door.

He could feel the heat rising on his face and thought how its redness would stand as bright as a neon sign in the middle of the night. He touched his cheek with his fingers. His skin tingled where her lips had touched his skin. As he started walking back home he could feel how the chilly wind tried in vain to put out the fire in his face.

He finally reached his house. His parents were waiting for him in the living room. 

“How did it go, son? Did you have fun?” His dad asked with genuine curiosity and affection.

-----------

A couple hours had passed since Jin Enjoji went up to his room. At first he tried to go to sleep, but after tossing and turning without success, he gave up. Now he was just lying on his bed, looking at the ceiling, replaying in his head what had happened that night: the girl, the jacket, the shy and unexpected kiss... When a sudden chime and vibration coming from his night stand startled him, interrupting his trance. He grabbed the phone and smiled. It was a text from Aira.

(The perspective changes with each text)

“R u home yet?” 

Jiji reads and starts responding.

“Yup! Safe and sound!” Jiji texted back.

Aira was also lying on her bed with her phone between her hands. She couldn’t fall asleep without knowing he was home safe, that would’ve been rude. Not to mention, she needed time for her heart to come back to normal . She put her phone on her chest for a moment. Thinking that’d be it for the night when her phone vibrated again.

DING

“I’m glad you didn’t die of hypothermia” Aira smiled stupidly as she read Enjoji’s text. 

Aira then remembered what happened after they said goodnight. How she ran as fast as she could towards the door, chasing her own heart after it decided to jump out of her rib cage the moment she gave him that kiss, her face redder than the sun. Of course, Jiji didn’t see any of this. Thank goodness. When she closed the door behind her, all she could do was collapse in an attempt to catch her breath and calm the thoughts that flooded her mind. Why did I do that? Why did I kiss him? It was a little peck on the cheek, but still. I didn’t think it through, I just did it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Her heart started racing again. 

Jiji was staring at his screen. It had been just a few seconds since her last text, but it felt like an eternity for him. Maybe she fell asleep…? Or maybe she isn't in the mood for my stupid jokes at this hour… A text bubble appeared on his screen. She is writing!!!!

“I promised, didn’t I?”  Aira answered. Jiji smiled. He could hear in his head the exact tone she would use to say this if this was an in-person conversation.

“That you did 😂” Enjoji texted back. Now, it was Aira who smiled. There was a small pause. Both of them were waiting anxiously, wondering what they should text next.

“Thank you” Aira wrote, breaking the “silence”. Jiji’s heart skipped a beat. There was another bubble forming.

“For everything”

“I had a great time.”

Aira stopped texting. No one could see her right now, but she could feel her face getting redder and redder. There, she said it. If he didn't respond, it didn’t matter because she got the words out of her chest and… 

DING

“I had a great time too” Jiji’s heart was about to explode. Should I say more? Is it too cut and dry?

Another pause. Both of them were staring at the ceiling, trying to make sense of the storm of emotions that was hitting them. They were carefully dancing around each other’s responses, trying not to seem too desperate, but both of them were eager to keep the conversation going.

DING

“You looked really cute in that dress” TOO FORWARD, DIVERT,  DIVERT

“Especially with that looong jacket” 

“SUUUPER CLASSY 👌🏼”

He sent one text after the other, trying to ease the tension with his characteristic humor. Aira couldn’t help but laugh. She must have looked ridiculous with that oversized blazer. Then she remembered how soft and warm it was, the smell of Jiji”s lotion on the fabric. Fresh, sporty, masculine… she could feel her cheeks heating up again with that thought.

She responded with angry and laughing emojis first, trying to keep things as casual as possible.

“IT’S GOING TO BE THE NEW FASHION, YOU IDIOT!!!”

He laughed with her response. Soooo Aira . He responded with some laughing emojis. A few seconds passed and then…

DING

“You looked really nice too…” Aira responded, her fingers mildly shaking, as if those five words had drained all the courage from her.

“Thank you. I know 😎”

“Ugh… you’re insufferable 😑”

“MY SHOW IZ A KYOOTIE 😝”

“ 🙄🙄🙄 ”

Typical Enjoji response. She rolled over her side, still holding on to her phone with one hand, while hugging a pillow with the other. She closed her eyes for a second when…

DING

“Seriously though…”

“you looked beautiful”

There is another pause. They were both grateful for technology at this time, otherwise they would not have been able to hide their tomato red faces from each other. Jiji’s heart was beating so hard that he thought it would wake up the whole neighborhood. Will she respond? That was probably too much, but I had to tell her. She really did look beautiful in that dress. ”

DING

“Thank you”

"… " (Aira is typing)

“And thank you… for the jacket”

He smiled.

"…" (Jiji is typing)

“Anytime”

“Goodnight, Jiji.”

“Goodnight, Aira.”

Jiji placed his phone back on his night and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, a huge smile appeared on his face. He put his hands behind his head and the image of Aira, with her immaculate pink hair and witty smile, popped up in his mind. He finally closed his eyes, knowing that before too long, he would see her again.