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Whilst at his desk in his room and the school notes in front of him, in disarray just like his thoughts. Jirou continued to tap the mechanical pencil on the desk rhythmically. It was actually something that Akari had bought him not too long ago, to help him “prepare for his exams whilst keeping a little piece to remember her by”.
Which to him was absurd, why would he need a little piece to remember her? She was right there in the room next to him wasn’t she?
Jirou leaned back in his desk chair and peered over at the half closed door. He could see the TV on in the background playing what looked like some game shows. Normally Akari would be sat there perched on the couch, knees hugging closely to her chest. Sometimes she would be nursing a cup of warm milk, other times she’d be painting her nails and glance occasionally at the TV. She referred to it as the beauty of multi-tasking.
Jirou couldn’t actually make out Akari on the couch though.
Where could she possibly be? Jirou got up out of his chair and padded out into their joint lounge room. On the table, in Akari’s notorious mug adorned with a pink ‘A’, was some milk. Jirou touched it with his hand and it was quite cool. Jirou grabbed the remote and turned off the TV.
‘She must’ve forgotten it’. Jirou picked up Akari’s mug and took it over to the sink. He turned on the little aroma therapy candle that they had placed there and noticed the little marks of tinted lip gloss left on the mug. He brought it up to his nose and could smell the faintest hint of strawberry.
‘Would this change the flavour of the milk?’ He wondered. Jirou raised his free hand and ran his finger along the edge of the mug and then ran that same finger along his lips. His lips immediately felt softer and he could taste the faintest hint of strawberry. He carefully lined the mug up with where he remember the lip gloss to be and brought it up to his lips and took a tiniest sip of the cooled milk.
“Oh, finally you’re free from the captivity of your bedroom” Akari beamed as she came in from the balcony outside. “And what exactly do you think you’re doing?”
Jirou spurted the little milk he had in his mouth into the sink and could feel his face slowly getting hotter. He could only imagine how red his face would be. With his back still turned Jirou tried to play it cool.
“Uhhhh.” Great Jirou, very smooth and nonchalant as always. “I was just trying to do some washing up, make it up to you cause you always do the cooking”
Akari had wandered over into the kitchen and placed her hands onto Jirou’s waist, encircling him in a very gentle hug. She nestled her forehead into his back and from what is sounded like to Jirou took a deep breath in.
‘Did she just smell me? There’s no way. I’m probably imagini-‘ Jirou’s thoughts were broken when Akari let out a small sigh.
“Thank you Jirou.”
“What were you doing outside anyway?” Jirou had grabbed a small towel and began to wipe the droplets from his startled spurt off the counter top and the walls.
“Oh I was just staring at the stars. It’s such a nice night out.” Akari had let her arms drop now and had begun to lean into his left side, watching as he wiped the walls. She looked down at her mug in the sink.
“Did you want some as well” Akari asked, peering up at him. “Hold on? Why do your lips look so glossy all of a sudden”
Jirou could feel once again his face heat up at the words. He knew he was caught. Why did Akari have to be so perceptive about these things? There’s no way she would have already pieced it together.
Akari once again placed her hands on Jirou’s hips and tried turning him to face her. Thankfully Jirou was a fair bit taller than her and he could try and keep his face turned slightly upwards to avoid her gaze. But Akari wasn’t having that. She grabbed his chin in between her fingers and angled his head down. Jirou’s eyes darting anywhere but Akari’s.
“Stop being weird” Akari whined. “Jirou come on -“
“I- I-“ He stuttered.
‘Come on brain think of something half plausible I don’t want her to think I’m some kind of creep’ he urged himself.
“If you don’t tell me soon I’m gonna think you were locked in your room practicing kissing in the mirror or something” she said with her eyes slowly growing into a scowl.
“NOOO. I was not doing that.” ‘Oh god she does think I’m some kind of creep’.
“Then tell me. What exactly are you doing?” Akari had finally let go of his chin and he could stand up straight, maybe even compose his thoughts enough to think of a rational lie.
“I uhh. I was just about to brush my teeth and I was umm preparing my lips for the toothpaste? Yeah to get them wet so the minty-ness wouldn’t sting” Jirou smiled sheepishly, raising a hand to the back of his head and placing the other one on his hip.
Akari still didn’t really seem convinced, her eyebrows continued to stay in a furrow and her pout only grew stronger. Jirou noticed that even her lips had a soft glow to them. Surely his wouldn’t look the same?
Jirou continued to glance at Akari, she was wearing her new pyjamas, it was a matching set, with baby blue bottoms and a singlet style top, the usual fit she would wear around the house at this time. She was also wearing a white crocheted cardigan that hung off one of her shoulders. Her hair was in a pony tail that was long enough to have fallen over her exposed shoulder. Her skin looked so soft in the small light emitted by the candle.
Jirou was pulled out of his thoughts as Akari yanked on the front of his shirt pulling his face down to hers.
“A- Akari? What are you doing?”
She brought his mouth just shy of hers and took two small inhales.
“I knew it!” She erupted, releasing the grip she had had on his shirt. “Strawberry? Did you put my lipgloss on? How did you even get it? It’s here in my pocket” Akari slipped her hand into the right pocket of her cardigan and pulled out a small tube that was adorned in strawberries.
Her eyes slowly widened as she realised how his luscious looking lips came to be. A smirk tickled at her face as she soon clutched at her stomach and burst out in laughter.
“Jirou. AHA did you drink from my mug not realising it had my gloss on there” she continued to chuckle. “That’s another indirect kiss you know”
Jirou could feel himself once again start to morph into a tomato. As Akari realised that her laughter was embarrassing him her smile started to fade.
“Akari I’m sor-“
“Go sit down. I’ll make you a fresh one” Akari gently pushed him into the direction of the lounge. With nothing to hold his pride Jirou obeyed.
‘Gosh what an idiot. I thought she must’ve already gone to bed. How could I have been silly enough to get caught and why are my lips so soft even after the slightest amount of gloss. Maybe that’s why Akari’s lips always look so - kissable? No Jirou stop being creepy’
Subconsciously Jirou had raised his fingers so his lips, they did indeed feel soft and plump. ‘Is this what her lips would feel like if I were to kiss her now?’ Jirou could feel his stomach start to knot and twist. Was he really that bad for allowing himself to think these things?
Akari was in the kitchen and he could hear the small sounds of the pot burning on the stove and Akari assembling the mugs. She picked them up and brought them over to the futon, placing them gently on the table. The little wafts of steam slowly escaping the mugs.
She sat down next to Jirou, placing her knees on the futon, sat in a sort of straddle on the couch. Her cardigan hung low off of both shoulders this time. Jirou slowly examined her face; her expression had changed entirely, her mouth no longer curved into a smile and her eyes weren’t bright and beaming. There was no crinkle at the corner of her eyes. Her shoulders were slumped, her hands playing awkwardly with themselves whilst resting on her thighs.
“What’s wrong?” Jirou was met with silence. Akari didn’t even turn to look at him. How could she be this bummed out so quickly? He must have done something… again.
“A-Akari?” Jirou raised his left hand to brush over her right shoulder, her skin was cool to the touch, still tickled by the chill of the night air. She moved beside him, keeping her head low but turning it slightly toward him, her eyes avoiding his this time.
He traced his hand from her shoulder up her neck and along her jaw line letting his index finger rest lightly on her chin. He pushed up gently so he could finally meet her eyes.
There were small tears painting the corner of her light blue eyes. Her mouth was parted and he could feel her jaw clench. Her gaze was fixed on his.
“Akari” Jirou stated whilst shuffling his body around to angle towards her. He placed his other hand on her left shoulder and tried to swivel her body to face him. “Akari, tell me what’s bothering you so I can fix it.” He could hear the desperation in his own voice with how quickly the worlds all fell together.
She raised her hands and balled them into fists to rest on his chest.
“I thought I told you to stop worrying about stuff like that.” She uttered with her voice low. Her eyes still locked with his. Jirou felt overwhelmed with guilt. Could he really let her worry about all this when he could see that it brought her pain.
“You know it bothers me when you get all in your head about it.” She finally averted her gaze from him, once again dropping her head down. Her hands unravelled themselves from their balls and began fisting at his shirt.
“Akari I-“ What was he even doing? He couldn’t let her mope about. He had to think of something to put her at ease that didn’t make him seem like some sort of creep. Would she accept the truth? I mean it wasn’t that weird was it? He just wanted to see if her lipgloss changed the flavour of the milk? That wasn’t that far fetched.
He leant over to where their mugs were and picked his up, he brought the warmed milk to his lips and took a generous sip. He carefully licked his lips afterwards ensuring to get whatever lip gloss stain was on there to see if it really did have an impact.
“I don’t think I have enough on” he said. Careful to keep his eyes in her direction.
She once again looked up at him and turned her head slightly, clearly confused.
“Give me your lip gloss Akari.” He held out his palm and she let her hands fall from his shirt, she placed her hand back into her cardigan pocket and pulled out the small tube again. She gently placed it into his hand.
“Here take this.” Jirou handed her his mug and he unscrewed the lid of the lip gloss off. He squeezed the bottle and a small amount pooled onto the angled tip. He used his free index finger to wipe the contents and brought it to his lips, wiping both the top and bottom. He screwed the cap back on and dropped the lip gloss into his lap, landing in the small gap between his legs.
He took the mug off Akari and brought it to his lips once more, he blew slightly at the steam and took another generous sip. After swallowing Jirou smacked his lips together a couple times, trying to see if he could taste the small waft of strawberries. It wasn’t very strong by any means but he could taste the slightest hint of strawberries. It didn’t make the milk taste like strawberry milk, but the aftertaste was sweeter, almost creamier. Jirou let himself smirk, maybe he was in fact onto something.
Jirou watched as Akari’s stare softened her head turning back to sit normally.
“I want to try.” She said going to grasp the mug that was in Jirou’s hand. She rotated the cup so her mouth could line up to where Jirou had placed his and took a small sip. She mimicked him and after swallowing began smacking her lips together.
Unlike him Akari didn’t start smirking, once again she furrowed her brows. She raised her finger to Jirou’s face and ran her finger along his lips, swiping in one swift motion. She brought that same finger back to her lips and wiped the gloss from Jirou’s lips onto her own. Once again she took a sip of the warmed milk.
Again Akari started smacking her lips together. Jirou watched as Akari ran her tongue from one side of her top lip to the other. A small grin began forming on her face.
“Mmmmm. I can almost taste the strawberries” Jirou’s gaze was fixed on Akari’s lips, they looked even softer than before, somehow even more plump than before as well. There was a slight glisten from the ambient light from the candle in the kitchen that shone off Akari’s lips. ‘She actually looked really pretty in this light’ he thought. Almost everything about her was subdued but the light radiated off her skin.
Jirou was broken from his trance when Akari brushed her hand past Jirou’s leg. Instinctively Jirou went to grab her wrist. He felt his breath hitch and his eyes grow wide with panic. What was she reaching for?
Akari pulled out the strawberry lip gloss tube from between his legs. Akari looked up once again at Jirou whose face was starting to blush.
Jirou noticed that Akari’s face was too a new shade of pink. It was hard to tell in the light but Jirou was confident that her cheeks were a darker pink than normal.
“Strawberries huh?” Jirou said, maybe in an attempt to calm himself and bring himself back down to earth. A million thoughts had spun through his head in that microsecond that Akari had her hand resting on his thigh.
“You know Jirou.” Akari started. “There might be other things that taste like strawberries with the lip gloss on” Akari still had her gaze fixed on Jirou’s. His hand still encircling her wrist that held the lipgloss tube. Her other hand still held the mug. His other hand free. She was still sat before him, almost straddling the futon. Jirou grabbed the mug with his free hand out of hers and placed it on the table beside them.
Akari grabbed Jirou’s chin with her hand bringing him back to lock eyes with hers. She brushed her thumb over his lips and slowly started to lean forward. Her eyes still glued onto Jirou’s.
Jirou took a sharp inhale. Did what he think was about to happen going to happen? Was Akari going to kiss him? Him of all people? Jirou let his eyes flutter closed.
They were millimetres apart at this stage, her lips just shy of his and Akari paused. Jirou could feel the small exhales from her nose tickle his face.
“Is this OK?” Akari almost whispered.
Jirou without thinking leant forward closing the gap between them. His lips just barely grazing hers. They were soft. So soft. Perfectly smooth on his. His nose twitched slightly at the smell of strawberries. He tried deepening the kiss angling his head just slightly so he could be closer to her. Although his movements were clumsy it seemed to be effective, he could feel the fullness of her lips. He placed his hands on her hips whilst her hand still hovered at his chin, the other hand still gripping the lipgloss was pushed gently into his chest.
He pulled away slowly, releasing the breath he didn’t even know he was holding and opened his eyes to meet hers. Akari was beautiful, her eyes were slightly squinted her cheeks were painted with the slightest of pinks, her lips even softer looking than before.
“So” Jirou started. “Did it taste like strawberries?”
“I think I’ll have to try it again” she uttered leaning forward and capturing his lips with her own. It was with a lot more pressure than what Jirou had mustered yet she still felt so light on his lips. Her grip on his chin had hardened as well, almost as if she was holding him in place until she was done experimenting on his lips.
Again in a brief moment she pulled away. She licked her lips once more.
“You taste stronger than the milk” Akari stated rather matter of factly. Akari began pushing on Jirou’s chest to get him to lay down along the futon. Jirou with his hands still on Akari’s hips loosened his grip and obeyed her gentle command. Akari nestled into the crook of his neck pinning his arm down allowing him to rest it on her waist.
“So that’s 2 direct kisses and 2 indirect kisses for the day huh.” Akari popped, her other hand now fisting the neckline of Jirou’s T-shirt. She had raised her right leg to rest over his letting it fall in between the gap of his own.
“3 direct kisses in total I suppose” Jirou stated. He raised his free hand to settle underneath his head. He gazed up at the ceiling, almost in disbelief that all of that had actually happened.
His eyes gazed over at the point tracker on the wall. It had gone up ‘3’ since they started talking. They were now sitting on a healthy ‘42’. Jirou felt like he hadn’t done that for the point system - He knew he hadn’t let it happen for the point system.
Shiori had told him how she felt and it left him feeling empty inside, like deep down if he’d chosen to go down that path he’d be making the wrong decision. There was some part of him that let off alarm bells in his head when she said that she’ll be waiting for his answer, for when he was ready to swap partners. But why would he swap partners and give up on… nights like these.
The air felt almost electric in their little apartment charged by his nervousness? Excitement? Either way he felt that there was something pulling him closer and closer to Akari. A part of him not wanting to give this up. They had 4 months left of the practical. 4 months. In 4 months he’d be having to give up this little life he’d built with Akari. Their personalised mugs, the shopping trips for the essentials, the surprise closet reveals and fashion shows. Jirou didn’t even think he was ready to let it go in 4 months, let alone sooner to switch partners for Shiori.
“Hey Akari.” Jirou tried sitting up, Akari still nestled in the crook of his neck. She let out a small yawn and stretch.
“Yes Jirou?” Akari’s voice still light as if she’d just emerged from a slumber. There was no way she would have fallen asleep that quickly.
“I think it’s time we go to bed.” Jirou remembered that he’d left the light on in his room, and he was in the middle of studying.
“Jirou.” Akari pinched his shirt and looked up at him, blocking her mouth with her sleeve as if she almost didn’t want to be heard. “Can we sleep here tonight? I don’t want to lose you to studying all over again..” her voice trailing off as she took a small glance into his room.
For what felt like the twentieth time that night, his cheeks grew red and his breath got caught in his throat. For once he could finally separate what emotion he was feeling. He wasn’t embarrassed because it was him she was asking. He was nervous because he actually wanted it too.
“Let me pack up my room” Jirou shuffled out from under Akari, it wasn’t hard cause she’d had most of her weight on the futon, but watching her untangle her legs from his left Jirou with a tight feeling in his stomach.
Akari got up as well and went back to her room. Her phone was left on her desk and it was illuminated from a message on TALK from Sachi.
-/-/-
‘So did it work???’
‘Did the lipgloss drive him insane??’
‘I can imagine you putting it on so slow in front of him’
‘Can’t wait to hear all about it! AHHHHH Akari!!’
-/-/-
Akari wrote back the single word ‘yes’ and raised her hands to her face brushing over her lips with her two fingers. Two more kisses from Jirou. She smiled softly at the thought. They had melted into each other so perfectly, his hand placement on her hips and on her waist the gentle rise and fall of his chest during their second kiss. Akari felt light headed just thinking about it.
She had promised herself that when they got to 10 direct kisses in total that she would tell him how she feels and tell him that she didn’t want to change partners anymore not now, and not really ever. If they could get to 10 direct kisses, surely that would mean something for him too. Enough to realise that maybe she’s someone he could take a chance on.
Akari opened up one of her eyeshadow pallets and traced her finger on the lightest shade she had. On her mirror she drew three straight lines, they were faint and hard to see unless the light glistened off them on a certain angle. It would continue to be her little secret.
After washing her hands and brushing her teeth in the bathroom, she returned to the lounge to find Jirou already lying down on the futon that had been spread into the “flat bed” position. He had brought out his pillow and doona blanket from his own room for them to lay under.
She crawled in from the side and lay half beside half on top of him, her arm once again finding the edge of his T-shirt and her head landing once again on his shoulder. His hand once again had snaked down to settle on her waist, holding her close. She could feel herself slowly drifting off to sleep in the warmth of his embrace.
Jirou stayed looking at the ceiling, stealing little glances as Akari lay asleep next to him.
“You’re perfect. Akari.” He whispered into the empty room. “I think I’ve finally made up my mind”
Jirou turned slightly and placed the lightest of kisses on Akari’s forehead.
“Maybe one day… I’ll be brave enough to tell you”