First "Date" (Ravyn)

[Takchawee Ominotago]

Tak's eyes trailed to his hands as he continued to unbutton his shirt, and she bit her lip as a wave of unexpected lust ran over her. She tore her gaze away, hoping he hadn't seen her totally checking out the skin that was peering out from the opening in his shirt.

"Mm," she replied distractedly, her mind no longer on Cameron. "Oh, yeah. It was fine." Her entire mind was on Kouji now, the way he had looked as he smiled at Ravyn, as he leaned in to kiss her fiercely.... Why was this such a big deal? She just couldn't stand it.

She wasn't irritated at him, although it would be easy for him to take it that way. She was irritated at herself for being upset by the fact that seeing him with another girl made her jealous. Because she was. She was jealous. Was she really just that possessive of him? Or was there something deeper there? His question shocked her out of her thoughts. "Well, um. Yeah." No reason to lie at least, right? "I mean... You know, kissing is nice..." she muttered. She smirked lightly, looking up at him. "You have my permission any time, you know." Well, kissing between friends wasn't weird, right? Friends. Because that's what they were.

She sat up, sighing heavily. "Okay, I'm just going to be completely honest here," she told him, looking down at the bed, so she didn't catch his grin at first. "I'm.... I feel really jealous of that bi- of Ravyn right now, and I don't know why." At least she had always been good at speaking her mind with him. "I'm jealous and I want you to kiss me. And right now it's sort of driving me crazy." She looked up then, seeing his grin, and felt confusion and a little anger well up in her chest. "Is... Is that funny?" she asked, taking it totally the wrong way.

[Kouji Yajima]

Kouji wasn’t sure if Tak wanted him to kiss her just for the sake of being intimate (after all, it was Tak we are talking about) or if she actually wanted him to kiss him because it was him and not someone else. Sometimes it was hard to tell, but she was being very honest about everything, which certainly made things a lot easier.

And now the kissing offer was on the table, and he wanted to take it. Sure, they were close, but they hadn’t kissed like Kouji had kissed Ravyn just a few minutes ago. And he really wanted to. He wanted to be close to Tak like nobody else was, and be able to hold her and hug her and be with her for the rest of his life.

…Okay, now he was getting ahead of himself. He continued to watch Tak, trying to keep his expression neutral, but his grin couldn’t help but to come through as Tak explained further. He almost laughed as Tak stopped herself from calling Ravyn a bitch, because it was funny how it was that same “bitch” that was going through the effort to try and help Kouji. By the time Tak finished her explanation, his grin was as wide as ever.

She did seem to be taking his amusement the wrong way though, and in response, he leaned forward, putting a hand gently on Tak’s cheek. “It is,” he replied softly, “because I love you.” Before Tak had a chance to reply, he closed the small gap between them by pressing his lips against hers.

[Takchawee Ominotago]

Tak wasn't used to these feelings. At all. She had sort of felt love for the first guy she had been in a relationship with, but after that ended on a very sour note, she had turned into a sort of... Well, everyone knew. She lost her belief that she could really feel love for another person. But then Kouji had come into her life. Kouji, with all his sweetness and kind words and lack of interest in just taking advantage of her loose behavior. She hadn't known how to react, and so had kept him as her closest friend, unwilling to let him go.

Was that love? She couldn't deny she was also attracted to him - but, she was attracted to a lot of people. But with him, it was not just physical, but emotional. He was a beautiful person, inside and out, and.... And she never wanted him to ever leave her.

Oh, God. She loved him. But.... How did she react to this? What was she supposed to do?

She didn't realize how tight her grip was on his comforter until she looked down again. She couldn't meet his eyes anymore once she realized this fact. She suddenly felt extremely raw and exposed, even if she hadn't said anything yet. Just the realization alone made her want to run away, to hide and try to tear these emotions out of herself. Because he couldn't love her. She was... Tak. The girl that everyone slept with, the one that had no respect for her body and just messed around with guys without commitment. Who could love that?

But then he leaned forward and laid his hands on her cheeks, and she looked up to see him still smiling. Was he going to laugh at her? Tell her she was being ridiculous? But, no, that wasn't what he was doing. Her eyes widened, and she could only stare at him.

He loved her.

But how?

Even if he hadn't leaned in and kissed her, she wouldn't have spoken. She was absolutely speechless. She stayed stiff for a moment, before melting into the soft gesture, returning it with surprising gentleness. Her hands hovered for a moment before going to rest on the back of his neck, but she kept the kiss light, unwilling to end it. Eventually, though, it had to, and she pulled away to catch her breath, amazed how something so innocent could make her feel so much.

"I... I love you too," she breathed finally. Saying it aloud made her entire body shiver, and she pulled herself close to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and closing her eyes as she pressed her face to his shirt. "B-but..." she continued, her voice catching in her throat. "What about Ravyn?"

And of course, he deserved someone so much better than Tak. "You can do better than me," she told him painfully.

[Kouji Yajima]

For the first moment, Kouji was absolutely terrified. He thought he had made the biggest mistake of his life and it would cost him his friendship with Tak. He felt so vulnerable and even pathetic. Why would she possibly love him back? She was so wonderful, and clearly could choose from anyone other than him. Oh God, he fucked it up, but before the panic had a chance to set in, she had started to kiss him back.

He enjoyed the light innocence of it. He had imagined kissing Tak over and over again, yet this was far more perfect than anything he had ever thought of. He placed his other hand on Tak’s side. He never wanted this moment to stop, but unfortunately it had to and as Tak pulled away, that feeling of dread started to run through Kouji as he looked at Tak.

The few seconds of silence were painful, Kouji was once again sure that she was going to tell him that he was being silly, but as she replied, it was Kouji’s turn to widen his eyes.

She loved him.

Every bit of panic and fear that Kouji had felt suddenly lifted off of him and he almost didn’t believe his ears. Immediately, he pulled her into a firm hug, grinning into her hair.

B-but…

Oh God there was the ‘but’ there always was something. As Tak brought up Ravyn, Kouji let out a sigh of relief. He had almost completely forgotten about that. Obviously that would bug Tak even after he confessed his love for her. “No, I can’t. You’re the whole world and more to me.” He pulled back, giving a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head. “That…uh…was staged.” He murmured, “Ravyn was helping me… she said if I got you jealous it would be a sign that you liked me. You can even ask her!” He laughed a bit, “And I guess it worked. I hope you're not mad..."

[Takchawee Ominotago]

Tak's mind was racing with a million thoughts. Now that she knew, how could she have ignored it? The jealousy he had always seemed to have when she talked about other guys, how protective of her he was, how he was willing to go out of his way to do anything for her. She had always taken their friendship for granted. He was just a constant presence by her side, helping her get through her rough days and listening to her when she had to get something off of her chest.

She was so fucking dumb.

But, once more, doubt crossed her mind. He was all of those things, and she was just the school slut. It was a reputation she didn't really care about, but she didn't want people to think down on him if... If something started between the two of them. No matter what he said, she still thought he deserved better. It didn't keep her from continuing to bury her face in his chest, though.

"But why?" she whispered. "I'm... I'm so selfish, Kouji. I've never been as wonderful to you as you are to me." She looked up at him with wide eyes, her heart pounding rapidly. She wasn't good at this love thing. "You mean everything to me too," she breathed, tilting her head forward so her forehead rested against his chest. She could feel the beat of his heart there, and she raised a hand to hold against it, letting her fingers trace gently over the exposed skin there. "Oh God, Kouji, I've never felt like this before." It scared her, but also brought her overwhelming joy.

His admittance that the entire thing was staged took a moment to click with her. Once it did, though, her worried frown turned to a faint smile, to a bigger smile, until she was laughing. Her entire body shook with mirth, and she lifted her arms up to wrap around his shoulders lovingly. "I guess she's not a bitch after all," she giggled, having no reason not to trust him. He had never lied to her before. "Of course I'm not mad, Kouji. That's.... That's flattering." The fact that they had both gone out of their way just to get a reaction from her was amazing to Tak. "I'll... I'll have to thank her," she added. "Although, I bet she enjoyed it," she told him, pulling her head back again. She studied his face for a moment, before leaning in and pressing her lips to his again. Now that she knew, she never wanted to stop.

[Kouji Yajima]

Kouji was in a state of pure happiness. Nothing could go wrong at this moment. He’d have to thank Ravyn, too. It was her idea, after all. He couldn’t get that big, goofy grin off his face. She actually liked him, and even said that she loved him! He couldn’t ask for anything more in the world.

He raised his eyebrows in confusion as Tak asked why. Why not? In his eyes, Tak was the best person in the world. If anything, he should be asking her why. He could have anyone she wanted, so why him? “You don’t know how wonderful you are to me.” He said, taking her hand and intertwining his fingers with hers. “You’re the most wonderful, inspiring, amazing person I know.” Yes, Tak had her faults, but everyone did, and he loved her faults just as much as the rest of her.

“Me either,” Kouji laughed. It really was scary, but he could only imagine how scary it would be for Tak. When Kouji first admitted it to himself, he was terrified, so he imagined Tak must be feeling the same way. He gave her hand a light squeeze, “But… it’ll be okay, I promise.”

He was very glad to hear that Tak wasn’t angry that he went along with this big scheme to try and understand her feelings. Hell, she even said it was flattering! Good points for Kouji! He wasn’t quite sure if Ravyn enjoyed it or not, most of what had happened seemed like a blur at the moment.

As Tak’s lips pressed once more against his own, he pulled Tak closer, up, and onto his lap, snaking a hand around her back. If their kiss never ended, it would still be too soon.