because ours are the moments i play in the dark

AU in which Amane convinces Yashiro to cut class and go stargazing with him… in the daytime.

unedited.

Yashiro Nene is a simple girl. She may be a bit of a hopeless romantic. She may have a tendency to get lost in her daydreams. Sometimes she's a little careless when it comes to matters of love-namely when it comes to bishounen type guys who make her heart go '!'.

But Nene is by all means a good girl. She obeys orders from teachers, looks both ways before she crosses the roads, and never skips cleaning duty when she's assigned.

Which is why no one expects her to be best friends with Yugi Amane.

Yugi Amane is trouble. Well, maybe that's a bit harsh. He's not a troublemaker-per say, he's good at sports, got a healthy passion for astronomy of all things, and is cute albeit in a feral kind of way.

And though he doesn't usually go out of his way to make trouble, trouble does often seem to find him. An incident at his old school between him and his brother had caused him to be transferred to Kamome elevator school in the middle of fifth grade. And ever since he arrived Amane resonated a kind of apathy that made him seem detached from his fellow peers. He just didn't seem to care about social convention or the rules in place.

Moreover following his transfer, gossip soon spread about his turbulent home life, rumors of a violent temperament, and the estrangement of his younger brother piled up. And even if Amane wasn't outright hostile, he always had a certain glint in his eyes that seemed to spell out trouble, and has a smile with just enough of an edge that people knew to keep their distance.

Nene sat in front of Amane for months, but it wasn't until the class field trip to the mountains that she came to call Amane her friend. Nene had someone gotten separated from the rest of the class and had fallen into a ditch, scraping her arm badly in the process.

She'd been crying alone in the darkness before Amane had found her and slid down the ditch to keep her company. Young Nene had helplessly clung to him, having been desperate for companionship in her time of need.

Getting over his surprise at being glomped by a crying girl, Amane had morbidly offered to break his own arm to make her feel better. When Nene (rationally) refused this offer, he then tried to lick her wound in an attempt to disinfect it. Out of sheer incredulousness and acting on reflex Nene had leapt back in disgust.

But then seeing his confused, borderline crestfallen expression at her potential rejection, Nene had in that moment understood Amane was just clueless, but well-intentioned. And in the heat of the moment, she grasped Amane's hand and proclaimed it was fine. She didn't find it gross because he was her friend. She still remembers the way his eyes widened that night. How he'd held on to her hand so tightly she wasn't sure if he was holding or hanging onto her at that moment.

He's never left her alone since.

And so began their strange friendship spanning all the way from that moment to now that they are first year high school students.

Nene doesn't care what the other people say, because Amane is her best friend. He'd sit by obediently when she forced him to read shoujo mangas with her, he had punched a classmate for calling her a radish (although he himself does it at least twice a day), he'd wait hours for her to finish gardening club so she wouldn't have to walk home alone.

Amane isn't dangerous the way people think he is.

In fact he's actually surprisingly affectionate, often wrapping himself around her, whispering sweet nothings into her ear. The only thing dangerous about him is his contagious stupidity at times and his penchant for bad ideas.

And because he is her best friend, she is always unwittingly thrown into his harebrained schemes, which brings us to today. Amane had been trying to get Nene's attention for the better part of the last ten minutes.

"Hey Yashiro, Yashiro, over here. I've got such a good idea, hey are you listening? Yashiro." Deciding to ignore the ramblings of a madman in the seat behind her, Nene stuck a posh nose in the air and held her ground. "I say, Yashiro!"

When she doesn't respond, Amane slumps down dramatically in the seat behind her. She thinks he's finally given up, and is just about to go back to taking notes on the lecture, when his hand shoots straight up into the air, "Sensei, Yashiro isn't feeling well so I'm taking her to the nurse's office."

Wha-? The sneaky bastard. She should've known Amane was not one to easily give up. Nene quickly suppressed her shocked reaction and schools it into a trained look of discomfort. She sees Amane smirk out of the corner of his eye, as if satisfied by her loyalty to him.

Tsuchigomori turns from the blackboard to stare disbelievingly at Amane, who at this point is sporting a winning smile, the very picture of innocence.

Nene ups the ante by clutching her stomach, at this point desperate to end this stare off between Amane and Tsuchigomori.

"Sensei, please...my stomach is…"

Tsuchigomori turns to survey Nene, then finally sighs in defeat. "I'll leave you to it then, Yugi-kun."

"Yes sir~!"

"What was that?" Nene asks, sulking slightly at having to lie to an authority figure.

Amane, who had laced their hands together when he was escorting her out of the classroom begins to swing their hands together in jovial nonchalance, completely unbothered by their act of disobedience.

"Nothing much~" he says in a singsong voice.

"Even though I feel perfectly fine," she pouts. He turns to smile at her.

"Yashiro cheer up, we're not really going to the nurse's office."

"I figured that much but where are we going instead?"

His grin turns mischievous. "You really wanna know?"

She blinks. It always surprised her how fast Amane could go from childish and carefree to devilish and mysterious the next second. Hand still in his, she lets him lead her all the way to the end of the corridor where he pulls her to a set of ascending stairs.

"The roof?"

He nods excitedly, quite like the way a puppy might when asked if they would like a treat. "To look at stars."

"Stars you say, but...it's day time."

"Doesn't mean they're not there, it's just a little harder to see." He gives her another look before pushing open the door to the roof.

Nene takes in the clear blue skies on this particularly warm spring day as her eyes adjust to the brightness. "It's gonna be impossible to see…"

But Amane is already lying down, hands behind his head, unbothered by the blindingly clear skies. Nene sighs and goes to lie down beside him. She really didn't get him sometimes. They're lying next to each other in complete silence for a few minutes before Nene speaks.

"So, no visible stars, huh?" She can actually hear him smile.

"The sun is a star too you know." Nene stays silent so he continues on. "It looks so close and because we always feel it, it seems within reach, but the sun is about forty-nine point six million kilometers from earth." He turns on his side so he's facing Nene, giving her a sad smile. "Compared to that the moon seems close, doesn't it?"

Nene's eyes widen as Amane props himself upright again to survey the sky. Her heart is thumping in her chest. Maybe it's because there's this tender longing look in his eyes as he stares at the sky that she's never quite seen before, or maybe it's because it's suddenly dawned on her that one day when high school is over they'll most likely have to go their separate ways, but she's suddenly consumed by a fear that one day he'll be leaving forever, somewhere she can't reach.

Swallowing the lump in her throat she reaches over to grip his hand in hers. She can feel his startled intake of breath as she does so.

"Hey Amane-kun, we're gonna be friends forever, right?" Silence.

Tears prick at her eyes. "Amane-Ku-" then from the corner of her eye, she sees it. A star flying past the horizon. Fast and purposeful as it glows even with the sun shining brightly. She sits up instantly, inadvertently partially pulling up Amane too, through their linked hands.

"A shooting star! I don't believe it, even though it's daytime." She turns to look at her friend excitedly, "Amane-kun! A shooting sta-"

Before she can register what's happening, Amane has grabbed her and is kissing her. And all she can think to do is kiss him back. The whole time an alarm is blaring in her head, screaming 'this is wrong! This is wrong! He's your best friend!" But his lips are soft and his hold on her shoulders is so gentle and reassuring she can't bring it in herself to care.

After only a few seconds, his grip on her loosens. Nene breathes in sharply. There's a beat of silence. The briefest of pauses. Then when Amane pulls back, he's laughing. In fact, he's not just laughing he's in hysterics.

"Yashiro," he finally manages in between bouts of laughter, "that wasn't a shooting star, that was an airplane." More laughter, then he smiles. "You're so hopeless. Seriously, what am I gonna do with you?" The fondness in his voice makes her want to break down into tears, but instead she starts laughing too.

Then she's laughing harder than she ever has, and maybe also crying a little bit too, but he's still laughing so who cares, and it's wonderful and devastating all at the same time.

She looks up through blearly eyes at this boy she's known for so long, at this boy who somehow convinced her to cut class to go stargazing with him in the daytime. This boy who drives her crazy half the time and up a wall the other half. This beautiful boy.

She's not sure if she loves him, love him or if she ever will, but she is certain that she loves him. That may not make the slightest bit of sense, but it makes sense to her heart.

And maybe that's enough for the time being.

A/N: I haven't written fanfiction in 5ever but I've fallen so in love with this manga and this ship that I had to make a brand new account and type this out. Sorry for any grammatical errors, this is not edited.

Let me know if there's interest in a sequel, 'cause I kind of want to write one where they're aged up a little more. If anyone wants to chat about the manga feel free to PM me as well!

~sincerelyand