Miko wasn't quite sure why she had decided to sit there afterschool. Maybe it was just a force of habit, or maybe it was because she was secretly hoping he'd come meet her. Maybe it was simply because she wrote best in this spot, under the shade of the large tree, the sun warming her back. Whatever the case, she was there, and for the first time all day, she felt calm.
As Tooru came up on the big hill, he saw her. She looked so perfect, sitting there. No one was around, since school had been over for a few hours now. But she was sitting on that bench, writing like it was the most natural thing in the world. Her hair hung loosely over her scarf as her skilled wrists scrawled across the page. He walked over to her, clearing his throat.
"May I sit here?"
She looked up, and in her eyes he knew she hadn't expected to run into him. "Um," she looked down, continuing to write in her notebook, "If you want."
He dropped his gym bag, sitting down next to her. You could see down the hill from here, and with the sun setting behind them, it gave everything an orange sort of glow. She didn't say anything, the only sounds coming from her pen hitting the paper.
"That one day, when I looked into your notebook…I did read one part. You wanted to know why I like you."
She lifted her head, her eyes curious, but she managed to maintain a fierce look.
"I like how your eyes light up when you're talking about writing."
Her expression softened at his comment.
He clenched his hands. "And I like how you'd blush after I kissed you. I like that you can laugh at anything and that you always have a smile on your face. I like your hair up or down, and I love the fact that you can't make chocolates to save your life. I like that you hate onions with a passion and I like how your voice gets really high when you're nervous or embarrassed. And actually, none of that's true, because I don't like those things. I love those things." He lifted his head, his expression hard and pleading, "M-Miko I love y-"
She threw her arms around him, trembling. "You idiot."
He held her as though she might disappear. "Miko-"
"Please stop. If you keep saying my name like that I'll start crying."
He could only hold her tighter in response, burying his face in her hair.
"I love you." He whispered softly, but she had heard it, and she squeezed him tighter in her small arms, repeating his words back to him.
"I-I have something for you," he said, pulling away momentarily to dig through his bag, "It was better wrapped before but…I guess it got tossed around a bit…"
Miko stared at the crinkled present he had placed on her lap; then, quickly looking up at him, "F-For me?"
He nodded.
She undid it carefully, pulling at the tape, and letting the wrapping unfold on her lap. Staring back at her was a leather-bound notebook. It held a multitude of pages, she noticed, without being obtrusively heavy, and she could hold it easily in her hands. "T-Tooru-"
"Do you like it?"
"It's beautiful."
"I thought you might need it…considering your old one…you know…"
She leaned in next to him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "It's perfect. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
They sat in silence for a bit, before Miko decided to speak up again.
"Don't," she hesitated, "Don't pull anything like that ever again."
He chuckled nervously, "I won't. Promise. I'm sorry it all turned out so-"
"I know." She smiled, and snuggled up closer to him.
"So," he exhaled, "Y-You're still mine, right Shorty?"
She looked up at him, crinkling her nose, and giggled a bit, "I am," she said, "Even if you do call me that."
Tooru felt his heartbeat quicken, just then, the generally steady ba-dumps becoming fast and irregular. With his arms still around her he kissed her lips, not ever wanting to let go.
…
"Well I'm glad that's over." Annie said, leaning her head back against the wall.
Iwa leaned back to join her, the two sitting side by side.
"Cheers to us," Annie held up her juice box, and Iwa hit it with his own, congratulating themselves.
"Hey, Iwa," Annie said suddenly.
He glanced at her, sipping his juice, "Yeah?"
"How about you never do something stupid like this ever again?"
He chuckled at that, "Deal."
She sighed, somewhat relieved, and feeling sort of bubbly. "Well now what are we supposed to do?"
Iwa thought a bit, glancing up with a blank expression. He looked over at Annie, who was staring off just as blankly, and for whatever reason, he thought she looked really beautiful like that.
"Actually, one thing hasn't been addressed yet." He said.
She turned to face him, "What's that?"
He leaned in close, his expression perfectly serious, "I love you, Annie."
Her face went completely red, and before she could give him an answer, he placed a sweet and tender kiss on her lips, lingering there for a moment before deciding to pull back.
Completely embarrassed, she could only mumble in response.
"Hm? I didn't catch that."
"I love you too." She whispered softly, dropping her gaze from his.
Placing his hand over hers, he leaned in again, kissing her once more.
A few weeks later…
"Come on, Shorty, you can do it."
She made a face, "I don't know…"
"Come on, just one bite!" Annie encouraged.
"You can always spit it out." Iwa reminded her.
Closing her eyes, Miko bit into the onion ring she had drenched in special sauce.
Her three friends stared at her anxiously, waiting for the verdict. She opened her eyes in surprise as she continued to chew. "That's actually," she bit into it again, "Pretty good!"
Tooru pumped his fist, "Yes! I will make you love onions!"
"Ok, hold on. I had one onion ring. Slow down please."
He grinned wildly at her. "I'll put em in your burgers and your ramen and anything else you can think of."
She cringed, "Tooru…"
Annie laughed, "You guys are such nerds."
Tooru stuck his tongue out at her, "You're the one all curled up next to Iwa-chan."
Annie blushed, "W-What's wrong with it?"
"Seriously. Stop with that name."
Miko giggled. Glancing around, she couldn't help but feel perfectly happy. She had eaten onions, which is something she'd never thought she'd do, but she was happy just the same. Reaching up a bit, she kissed Tooru's cheek.
"Hm?" he glanced down at her curiously.
She smiled, shaking her head, "Can't a girl kiss her boyfriend?"
He quickly kissed her cheek in return, lowering his lips to her ear so that only she would hear, "As much as you want."
A/N: *Curls up and bawls* omg I hate ending stories it always makes me so sad D: But I'm also so happy :'D Hot damn. I seriously did not think anyone would care about this story so when I read all of your comments and see that you favorite/follow it fills me with the warm fuzzies :3 so thank you for the warm fuzzies! Part of me wants to do more with these pairings just because I've grown so attached to them, but I'm not sure Xp In any case, now that the story is all done, I'd love to know what my non-regular reviewers thought!
SoulXHunter: Omg yassss Tamaki! Haha love that guy XD
tallandhandsome: Haha I'm just glad Tooru was smart enough to put two and two together XD
Mello: Hehe sorry. Glad you caught up. Annie is a queen :D I love her and Iwa.
For those of you who were interested in Kei/Kuroo/Nishinoya trying to find their loves, the first chapter of that story is up under "Just Call it a Love Story" so please check it out!
Not sure if anyone cares, but I thought it'd be fun to share some ideas as to how this story almost went:
1. Annie was never supposed to be paired with Iwa (this happened courtesy of Snow Women)
2. Because of this, Annie was only supposed to show up in 2 chapters.
3. Asahi was Miko's confused 'middle school moment'
4. Miko almost walked in on Tooru and Iwa discussing the bet.
5. If #3 happened, they would have been separated a more significant amount of time.
I just think it's fun to see how many directions a story can go. Like I said, not sure if anyone cares lol. But again, a big THANK YOU to all you guys! I had so much fun writing this, and it's so great to see that so many of you enjoyed reading it! *hugs from me* Don't forget to check out the new story! Until we meet again^_^
-Author-chan~