Summary: Done for 30kisses over on lj. A guy hopelessly infatuated and a girl hopelessly oblivious. Or, thirty ways the poor boy loses out on getting a kiss. Somewhat. Andou Tsubasa/Harada Misaki.
Theme #2 has a manga-only character. Theme #5 takes place after the infamous Christmas dance in chapters 48-50. Just so you know. No, this wasn't in the anime.
Key to Flying
Done for the 30
KISSES challenge
By DarkenedSakura
Themes #1-5 (and
I'll do anything you ever)
1. look over here
"Hey, Misaki!"
"What?" she asked, leaning against the bench railing in boredom.
"Look over here, will you?"
"Wh-at, Tsubasa?" she muttered, starting to turn around.
Instead of his usual cocky grin, he had a more unsure expression on his face as he fiddled with his hands. Quizzically, she leaned towards him. "Is something wrong?"
"Well…"
He moved closer to her.
She narrowed her eyes.
"Tsubasa-sempai! Misaki-sempai!"
"Ah, Mikan-chan!" Smiling, she got up from the bench, just missing her companion fall over right where she had been.
"Ack!"
"Tsubasa-sempai, what are you doing?" the little girl asked with a questioning look on her face, noticing his faceplant into the bench.
"…Nothing…" he sighed, his voice muffled.
2. news; letter
(Never interrupt two people known to be dangerous, reckless, or to have short tempers when they are bothered while dealing with…important business.)
"Hey, you guys!"
"What?"
"Come outside! Someone caught Andou and Harada making out under the tree!"
"What!"
(It is entirely within your best interests, whether they are related to matters of health, happiness, or the security of a clean state of mind, to do so.)
There was a veritable miniature stampede of female and male students storming outside who couldn't believe that Tsubasa or Misaki could have…and with each other? Definitely not.
The females were crying already.
At the base of the tree, the aforementioned two were trying to stand as far apart as possible while being close enough for conversational purposes. Tsubasa had a very distinct disposition of Not Pleased marring his features, while Misaki, though having her typical expression of anger for situations like this, had a barely visible dark blush staining her face.
Misaki was…blushing?
Oh, the girls were really crying now.
In addition to being very Not Happy, Tsubasa had Tono-sempai, who had a very well-aware sense of "Oh Shit, This Could Be Bad" written all over his face, cornered against the tree. "You…what did you tell everyone, eh?" Tsubasa demanded.
"Nothing at all, really…" Seeing the Shadow Alice user move to inscribe something within his shadow's domain and fearing the possibility of having to do Hindu squats for ten hours, he balked. "I mean, I just let slip to a few people about how you and Misaki were just…enjoying yourselves a bit over here – "
"To-no-kun…" Misaki growled dangerously, moving closer to him.
"Hey, hey, wait! It was just…wait you don't want to do that!"
(Then again, some people never learn.)
3. jolt!
A flash of red plaid turning the corner caught his eye. He ran towards it and threw an arm around the pink-haired girl wearing said red skirt.
"Tsubasa!" Misaki chided, albeit only playfully as she relaxed into his hold.
"What do you think about skipping class today, eh?"
"It's Jin-Jin-sensei's class…" she said, frowning.
"Exactly! So come on. We could be using the time much better."
"Oh, really? How?"
"Many ways," he grinned, moving in to give her a kiss.
Zap.
"Gah!" he shouted, sitting upright. He looked up to see…oh, crap…
Jinno-sensei stood there, sparks still flying from his rod. "Having a nice dream, Andou-san? Is my class that boring?"
"Hardly, sensei! I thought you knew me better than that!" he quipped.
"Regrettably, Andou, I know you too well." He adjusted his glasses, annoyed. "You'd better be wide awake next class, otherwise…" Another shock of electricity sparked from his rod.
"Right," he said with a slight smirk.
"And with that, we'll end class today," Jinno said, giving death glares to him as he walked past. Tsubasa thought even his frog was rattling threateningly as he left.
He sighed, resting his head on the table. A narrow escape today.
"Mou, Tsubasa…" Misaki muttered next to him. "Idiot, falling asleep in Jin-Jin's class. What were you dreaming about, anyway?"
His mouth quirked.
Her eyes narrowed. "You…"
Smack.
"Uwa!"
4. our distance and that person
There were things that could've been, and there were things that were.
A masked man. "Tsubasa. You had better do what we tell you to. You know what will happen if you don't, do you not?"
No answer.
"You know what will happen to the people you care for?"
Sullen defiance.
"You may not care about what happens to you, but what about someone else? Such as…that girl you've with all the time? Your partner?"
No answer, but a more dangerous silence.
"Pretty girl, isn't she? I can see why you're with her so much. Is she softening you, is that it?"
Clenched fists, clenched teeth.
"It would be such a shame if she didn't live long enough to get her first kiss, wouldn't you say? To graduate? To marry? Or perhaps…perhaps we could use her in our little program. A good Doppelganger Alice is hard to come by and is very useful, after all."
A catch, a hitch in his breath.
"We know you like to cause trouble, Tsubasa, but you really should think about your situation and the people around you a little more. Otherwise…"
Shaking, dread, fear, anger, rage. Because of his despair and helplessness. Because he could do nothing about it and the consequences could be terrifying.
There were things that could have been.
He looked at the girl sleeping peacefully next to him at his side.
And then there were things that were.
5. "ano sa…" ("hey, you know…")
"Ano…Misaki…" he mumbled as she continued to drag him along by the arm off of the dance floor and outside into the clear night air. "About what you said back there…"
"Yes?" she said somewhat warily. "What about it?"
"When they asked about us, why did you completely deny it?"
"Hmm?"
"That we're going out," he said, managing to look even more dejected than he already did.
"Well, I mean, it's true, isn't it? We're not exactly 'steady'…"
"And then you said I seduce females and that I'd be a no-good boyfriend."
"You do have your little groupies, don't you?"
"You didn't see me dancing with one of them tonight, did you?"
"…"
"Don't tell me…you're still jealous or something…" he murmured in disbelief.
"Jealous? I was never jealous!" she said fiercely.
"I did ask you to this dance, didn't I?"
"Yes, but – "
"And I've asked you to every dance and event for a while, too."
"That's completely different!"
"How?"
"Well, you're you and all, so I didn't think much of it…"
Mikan's words floated back to him. "You should try telling her how you really feel."
It's obviously not working, he shot back. Okay. This called for desperate measures. She'd probably kill him for this, but there was nothing else he could think of at the moment that would make what he thought very clear. She'd just call him a liar if he said anything, anyway.
He stepped as close to her as he possibly could, cupped her cheek with his hand, and swooped in with his lips against hers. He thought she made a sound of protest but quickly silenced her by deepening the kiss. And as hands slid to the backs of necks and hips, he was dimly aware of the fact that her resistance to him had completely stopped.
They broke apart, breathing heavily. Misaki slowly raised her eyes to meet his in wonder, and Tsubasa realized what he had just done.
Oh crap.
He was dead meat now.
"Well, uh, I need to…get back to the others, so…I'll catch you later!"
"Oi, wait!"
Despite her yelling, he thought he saw a glimmer of a smile on her face.
…He'd just leave the relationship conversation for tomorrow. If he was still alive by then.
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…And I can't write kiss scenes for beans. In other words, the poor boy's not going to get many in this fic, haha.
This fic is centered more on the mangaverse than animeverse. A good deal of the canon in this is either inferred, made up, or barely there, since we get so little about Tsubasa and especially Misaki, along with their relationship. (But it doesn't change the fact that their love is oh so canon. I swear, they act like an old married couple.)
I've never actually seen translations of Tono-sempai talking, so…here's to hoping he's somewhat in character. At least, I can't imagine him acting any other way. Theme 4 is my take on the fact that yes, Tsubasa had interactions with certain teachers in the Dangerous type/kiken nouryoku-kei class at the very least.
And for people who haven't read those manga chapters: basically, Hotaru asks the two if they're going out. Tsubasa starts to say "well, yes, you could say that we are…" but Misaki jumps in and goes "no, we're just comrades! Friends! Besides, he'd be a bad boyfriend and is a playboy anyway." Then, as Misaki drags him off, Tsubasa looks sad and Mikan tells him to tell her how he really feels, while Tono comments that everyone's a bit clumsy when it comes to love. Something to that effect.
Major Natsume-shaped cookies to Dex (Aliora), because without her, not only would I have not taken up this challenge, but quite a few of these themes would be incredibly messed up without her awesome beta reader abilities.