radhaj | [Arashi] [Sakumiya] Her Silver Lining (Reply)

Rating: NC-17 for future chapters
Disclaimer: Those people are not mine. Damn.
Warnings: Transgender character. Sexy stuffs later on. Nothing super kinky this time. Maybe
Summary: The job might not be the most prestigious and by far not something she had envisioned herself doing to support herself at this point of her life. But perhaps this whole thing was exactly what she needed to finally feel confident in who she was.

Chapter 5

Perhaps that was strange, but Shouko felt as if the misunderstanding had actually brought the two of them closer together and made a big part of the nervousness that came from this being their first date disappear. Once they told each other their real feelings, they revealed just how much effort the two of them were putting into making this date work out, and that showed that both of them felt it was similarly important to them. Knowing that their commitment level was the same did wonders in making them feel more at ease.

Of course, a tiny sense of embarrassment lingered, since neither of them were actually the sort of people who would usually act so ridiculously, and made both of them feel a little awkward. After they had worked it out and since Shouko felt more clear-headed now that she wasn't on the verge of panic, she couldn't really comprehend how stupidly she had acted. Had she really believed she could have somehow realistically pretended to not be afraid of heights? And Ninomiya most likely felt the exact same way about his far-fetched excuse to leave the line for the roller-coaster.

But since both of them had done the same amount of stupid things, it was easier for them to collectively somehow push it out of their minds and just continue with their date. And the first stop after the misunderstanding, they both agreed, would be the bumper cars. Since they were standing right in front of them.

“And it's probably the most exciting attraction that both of us can actually go on here anyway,” Shouko giggled as she clung to his arm while they stood in a line mostly filled with little kids and their parents, “So it's the best replacement for the roller-coaster-start of the date that we can find.”

Ninomiya mock-glared at her.

“Don't correctly make us sound so pathetic,” he mumbled in a low voice, causing her to break out into mirthful laughter which she tried to stifle against his shoulder, a few of the parents in the queue glancing at them disapprovingly for causing such a commotion in this previously perfectly orderly line. Shouko had the grace to appear chastised. For a second. Before she started giggling again.

They had more fun with the bumper cars than Shouko thought she, as an adult, should be willing to admit. But that didn't stop them from going for round two and three as the wait for their turn here was nowhere near as long as for other, more popular attractions.

The mini zoo was their following choice and as Shouko fed baby goats from her hand with some palletted grain that her date bought her for two hundred yen a package, Ninomiya actually brought out his phone to take a few pictures while the cute animals crowded around her, bleating for more.

“What are you doing?” she inquired immediately after catching sight of the action, but was unable to leave the small circle of goats that now surrounded her to see for herself, instead carefully, little by little, trying to divide up what little fodder she had left between the animals that were all so good at begging for her attention.

“Getting a new pretty background picture for my phone,” was his casual answer which made her pout, but her protest was cut short as one of the little goats chose that moment to try and see if the other human had anything good to give for it too by nudging his hand, which, to his great distress, made him drop the phone onto the grassy ground.

“That was a sign that you shouldn't be taking photos of people without asking them for permission first, Nino-san,” she stated a few minutes later, when she was done feeding and hugging the cute goats and he was finished with his comical, panicked check if his top-of-the-line phone was unbroken after the unexpected test of gravity that it was involuntarily made to participate in. The conclusion of the venture was that it still worked (both the phone and one of the fundamental forces of nature) and that the picture of Shouko feeding goats made a really great phone wallpaper whether she liked it or not, as he proved by flashing her the newly redecorated screen of his phone.

“We should have gone to some stronger animals,” she grumbled with exaggerated annoyance. She perhaps would have been truly put out, if it weren't for the fact that the photo was undeniably cute and captured one of the brightest smiles that she had ever seen on her own face, “Maybe then they would have done some proper damage that would have actually made you regret doing this without my consent.”

They did visit a kangaroo pen next, which probably counted as going to stronger animals, but the only thing that suffered damage there was Ninomiya's pride as a tiny, young female kangaroo kept following him around despite him having nothing to feed her with. Shouko couldn't help but continuously coo over how cute both of them were from a distance where she was happily feeding some family members of the creature chasing Ninomiya around.

“I don't do cute,” he stated stubbornly, determinedly trying to straighten out his slightly ruffled clothing as they were walking out of the zoo area a little while later, “There was simply something weird with that kangaroo.”

“Or she simply had really good taste,” was Shouko's automatic answer and she blushed slightly once she realized what she said. Ninomiya also paused in his attempt to sort out his messed up hair and looked up to gaze at her with a raised eyebrow.

“That's true. She has it at least as good as yours,” he finally agreed pompously, his habit of acting really self-confident returning together with a smirk and a wink, “So... The haunted mansion is up next, isn't it?” he changed the subject, and she followed him, a little hesitantly.

“About that...” she mumbled, averting her eyes, “I am not too sure...”

“Mm?” the eyebrow went up again as Ninomiya seemed surprised, “You don't like those?”

“I do but... I get startled so easily,” she admitted shyly, “It's embarrassing.”

“Well, being startled is the whole point of haunted houses,” he pointed out, smiling at her encouragingly and offering his hand again which she took blushingly, letting him lead them in the right direction, “There would be no fun in going otherwise. And if it gets too scary for you, you'll at least always have your tastefully chosen date to protect you.”

She chuckled a little and rolled her eyes.

“And I suppose you don't get scared at all?”

“Never,” he swore with a serious expression on his face that only made her doubt him more. But apparently he told the truth, because when they actually entered the attraction, he didn't even flinch once although she kept on getting startled and clutched at his elbow so strongly it was probably even painful for him at that point. Not to mention all those times she ended up hiding her face against his neck when she got jump-scared.

“Well this is one way to make sure our relationship progresses,” he made fun of her at one point as he petted her hair while she pressed her face against his neck again after yet another “monster” growled at her from around the corner unexpectedly, “We're definitely at the point where touching is no issue already.”

She huffed indignantly and lifted her head again to glare at him.

“This was your goal the entire time, wasn't it?” she accused, not so seriously, because his words were truthful to a point. Although they had started to hold hands pretty much since the beginning of the date, she wouldn't have ever started clinging to him so closely on her own accord so quickly. But in the scary setting, she had simply done it out of instinct at first, and, after a few times, it stopped feeling weird altogether. Which was why she didn't even feel the need to back away suddenly now that he had pointed it out, “To have me all over you suddenly? How sneaky of you, Ninomiya-san,” she spoke a little teasingly as they walked further down the dark corridor.

“As much as I'd like to take credit for planning this out with the intention of making you relax more around me, unfortunately I didn't actually think this far,” he denied with just the same amount of good humor, “But I w-”

She didn't get to hear what he was about to say till the end, however, as something rather unexpected happened. It was a small compilation of coincidental factors that made it possible for it to happen: both of them being distracted by their own conversation, the fact that it was Ninomiya talking during that particular moment and even the fact that he was walking on the right side and too busy looking at her face, with his body slightly turned towards her even as they walked. But all of that meant that when a pair of people dressed as Frankenstein-esque monsters jumped out of their hiding place on the right side of the corridor, screaming straight into his ear, for once it was Ninomiya who got truly frightened. And whereas she only started a little this time, he actually let out an involuntary high-pitched yell before jumping towards her and ending up being pressed against her in an instinct to hide.

Pressed against her with his face just slightly above her chest area, to be exact.

It didn't really matter during the small moment of commotion, before the “monsters” ran away and disappeared again into the dark as if they had never even been there. But once they were gone and the two of them suddenly realized what sort of position they were in, they both just froze for a while, not quite knowing what to do. A violently dark blush soon rose to her face, making her ears burn, and she couldn't even move to gently push him away from herself and break the rather compromising, intimate position they were stuck in.

After a few seconds, he finally did it himself however, the expression on his face somewhere between genuinely mortified and ridiculously amused. The silence stretched for a while longer as she just didn't know what to say and he seemed to be thinking, but then at some point his expression turned smug and his eyes twinkled with something that immediately made her wary of what was going to come out of his mouth.

“See, this is what I meant,” he smirked, “It would have been so much better had you been wearing high heels.”

At first she didn't understand. Then the fact that his face would have landed right on top of her breasts had she been a little bit “taller” came to her and her eyes widened, her blush somehow deepening even further as she couldn't believe he would actually say that. For half a second she struggled with the need to just slap him, but then she realized he was still grinning up at her mischievously and then he had the gall to wink at her and somehow that made all the (even originally not very real) anger turn into fond exasperation. And she sighed.

“You're insufferable sometimes, Sir,” she muttered, using the honorific he so much didn't want her using (at least during their date) on purpose. He faked a horrified reaction at hearing that before just brushing the whole incident away.

“Come on, I think we're almost done with this place, Shouko-chan,” he spoke as he softly took her hand and intertwined their fingers anew, prompting them to start moving again, “I'm going to treat you for some food now, it's about lunch time already anyway,” he offered casually and she suddenly felt uncomfortable.

“You don't have to, I mean... I eat a lot,” she revealed, a little embarrassed, and he took a second to look back at her and give her figure a critical look-over.

“I'm sure,” he commented sarcastically, obviously not convinced considering how slender her body was, “But I still think I'll somehow manage to pay for it,” he added for good measure and she decided not to waste time arguing. He'd realize she wasn't joking when he saw her eat. Or even just saw her ordering for that matter. That did turn out to be enough to leave him gaping at her a few minutes later when they were sitting at a table with a waiter walking away after getting their order.

“As I said, I can really just pay for myself,” she mumbled once more, blushing, feeling uncomfortable at his reaction. She had always known that she ate a lot for... well, honestly, she ate a lot for a person of any gender. So it was probably quite shocking, considering she really didn't look like she ate that much. But she couldn't help it, even if it did mean spending more of her already very limited money on food than she would have liked, “I mean, just because you're taking me on a date doesn't mean-”

“No!” he interrupted her suddenly, and she jumped a little in her seat, surprised, making him reach out for her hand over the table and gently squeeze it in apology, “I'm sorry, I just didn't expect it, that's all,” he laughed slightly awkwardly, “But it doesn't even really matter, I'd really like to treat you, if you'd allow me to?” he asked very nicely and she obviously had to nod then, “Good. And this makes us an even better fit, you know. I don't like eating much myself, I always end up with the waiters glaring at me for ordering so little whenever I go to restaurants. But you even it out. So we should really make a habit out of going together from now on,” he concluded, very seriously, and that finally made her giggle and relax again. He was a ridiculously smooth talker sometimes.

When the food arrived, she did feel a little embarrassed again when her big portions arrived in comparison to Ninomiya's single plate of spaghetti. But as always, he read the atmosphere quickly and made sure to talk to her casually, about video games and the most popular television shows and movies and any number of other topics that she quickly lost track of, which made her less hyper-aware of the situation and thus she just started to eat.

However, someone who regularly eats more than their friends usually quickly learns that if you want to not get left behind or make your dinner partners wait, you have to eat much faster than others usually do. And when you rush, you are bound to get clumsier and messier. Only Shouko usually thought that she had had enough practice in the art of eating quickly while still looking elegant enough and not getting white sauce all over one's blouse to actually manage it quite well. But small accidents still sometimes happened, and...

“Ah, you have...” Ninomiya started suddenly, looking somewhere at the lower part of Shouko's face and gesturing awkwardly, “It's a little bit of...” he continued, still gesturing while she unsuccessful tried to read where he was pointing at exactly with a paper napkin already half-listed to her face, “Ah, I'll just...”

And suddenly he was leaning in close, so close, to slide his own finger quickly over a spot right above the left corner of her lips to wipe off whatever it was that she had managed to dirty herself with, and, without much thinking, he then stuck that finger into his own mouth to lick it off. He was still leaning in, however, so for a few moments they just stared at each other, comically: him with a finger between his lips and her with a slight, rosy blush coloring her cheeks.

“So uhm... it's gone then?” Shouko breathed out a squeakily embarrassed question, trying to somehow break them out of the uncomfortable situation but her date seemed quite content just staying so close to her and staring for a while longer.

“Almost,” he finally answered a couple of seconds later, “There's just...”

He was leaning in even closer then, making her hold her breath for a second as she couldn't understand what he was doing. But then he was right there, his lips pressing against the very same spot that his finger had touched just a little while ago, as if to clean up whatever remnants of the food that were still there. A tiny flicker of tongue to lick the skin clean before it disappeared again and his lips slid a little to the side until they covered hers, causing her eyes to widen for a mere millisecond before they fluttered closed.

The kiss was in no way spectacular. It was not passionate, or deep or even romantic. It was a simple press of slightly chapped lips against soft ones. There was little to no movement aside from that, just a short time spent in that same position... but it almost made her heart jump out of her chest. Because despite it being nothing that special, it still felt so nice. To her, it felt perfect to just feel him so close and willingly doing it because he wanted to. Because he wanted exactly this.

The moment when they separated and she opened her eyes again to see him smiling so softly at her, her breath hitched again and she looked down at her lap. She was someone who blushed easily for many reasons – from embarrassment, or anger, or frustration... But she had never blushed out of sheer happiness before.

“That... was your first kiss, wasn't it?” he asked speculatively, seeing her reaction, and she only lowered her head further.

“Maybe,” she avoided answering clearly although it was quite obvious by now. She had kissed people before, of course she had, but it was never... Shouko pouted, even though the smile on her face refused to disappear, “Don't... don't ruin it by teasing me about it n-”

“No,” he cute her off, putting a hand on her bare knee under the table and squeezing it, which prompted her to look up and see him smiling at her very cutely and brightly, “It just really makes me happy.”

By the time they got back to and finished eating, unfortunately, their time was up. She knew she had to hurry already if she didn't want to be late and thus they left the park as soon as Ninomiya paid for the food. The man was of course laughing a little at the fact that she was so worried about being late when she worked, in essence, for him. But she took it seriously. It would already be really weird to go back to cleaning and tidying up his rooms after spending the entire morning as his date. She didn't want the lines getting blurred further.

“But was it worth it then? Spending the morning with me, although it might make you so uncomfortable?” he asked as he was driving them back to his family manor, trying to sound casual but there was also some genuine insecurity in his voice that she could sense.

“It was worth every single bit,” she reassured him timidly, but meaning every word.

“So if I were to invite you out again?...”

“I would possibly agree,” she answered, fighting off yet another blush.

“And if I were to ask you to wear high-heels next time so that if I get startled aga-”

Her employer or not, he got a slap on his thigh for that.

Notes: Thanks to everyone who has been reading and being so supportive so far, and an extra thank you to