Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. All characters, terms, and affiliates of Hot Gimmick are not mine, but belong to their respective owner, Miki Aihara, and its licensor, VIZ.

Notes: It's RxH, but I need you to assume that it's been some time since Ryo and Hatsu have been together. Ryo's somewhat calmer, but his old, arrogant self is still around. He's just slightly more tactful with his actions. I emphasize the word, slightly.

Push and Pull

written by: theblackestfaery

Chapter Three: Liking You
Knee deep in a colourful sea of clothing, Hatsumi held up the last of her shirts against herself and realized she couldn't see her reflection in the mirror. It too was buried beneath a wall of clothing – jeans, to be exact.

It didn't matter, really. The shirt was too frilly and lacy to be worn around him. With a quick flick, it soon joined its comrades on the floor.

"What am I going to wear?" Frustrated and sweaty from her exertions, Hatsumi sank to what looked to be her chair dressed in a paisley print dress. She looked around, panic slowly creeping up her spine.

15 minutes was all he said he'd give her.

Which really meant she had 5 minutes. Well, that was wrong too, she realized. With all the rooting around for clothes, only 2 minutes remained.

She almost screamed. Frantically, she reached for the closest shirt—

And the doorbell rang.

And Hatsumi promptly gagged.

Her weak, "Just a minute!" was drowned by the sound of slippered feet shushing by her door. Hatsumi hoped it wasn't who she thought it was. Mrs. Narita had stepped out a half hour ago, so there was a chance it would be her...

The creaking of the door was heard and Akane's voice called out.

"Oh, Ryouki-kun! Good morning! Hatsumi's still in her room." Cringing at her sister's bubbly tone, Hatsumi crossed off escaping out the window. There was no time.

That, and the fact that she would've been decorating the cement several stories below.

Leave it to Tachibana-kun to appear at the worst possible time. She was still in her pajamas, her tiny frame shrouded from top to bottom in candy pink flannel.

Hatsumi supposed she couldn't wear them out.

Hearing two sets of feet making their way down the hall pushed her into one last flurry of movement. With a squeak, Hatsumi started grabbing. Akane's voice sing-songed her name, and she responded breathily as she grabbed at something denim from the corner of her eye. She put it on even as her eyes scanned for a top. Any top…

"Hatsumi?"

"Uh, gimme a sec!"

There!

Something white was pulled over her head. Next came socks more appropriate for Christmas, but Hatsumi didn't register the glaringly mismatched red and green knee highs. She haphazardly gathered her hair into a knot at the top of her head before running to her door, banging her head against it as her feet slipped.

For a moment, Hatsumi ignored the concerned voices on the other side and glared down at what wrapped itself about her ankle. What she saw made her eyes narrow.

Stupid… stupid… stupid gold lamé pants. She should've known buying them would give her bad karma.

Giving her reddening forehead one last rub, she cracked her door open enough to squeeze her body through. Her effort was wasted as she saw Ryouki's unimpressed face and realized belatedly that he was easily a head taller than her. No amount of squeezing herself could have prevented him from looking over her head.

A lame "hi," and "just cleaning up" was all she could manage for her sister and her stolid boyfriend. She forced a smile on her face and nearly lost it when her gaze turned towards her sister. Akane wore a strange look – a horribly fascinated one that Ryouki mirrored, if Hatsumi had taken the time to decipher it. Instead, Hatsumi gestured towards the apartment door. "Let's go, Ryouki. You said you had to get something?"

It was a moment before Ryouki replied, and even then, it seemed he had to pull himself away from a thought. "Mm…yeah. Let's get going." He turned on his heel and walked away, letting Hatsumi follow behind him.

Akane seemed to break herself from her stare when she heard the door open. "Ha-Hatsumi! Wait!"

The ride down was eerily silent, and Hatsumi couldn't help but fidget. If she'd been herself, she would've noticed that Ryouki had gone back to staring at her by means of her blurry reflection in the elevator door. The silence continued.

They were three floors away from their stop when Hatsumi finally burst. Her voice cracked in the silence. "Aren't you gonna say something?"

"Say what?" Ryouki still wouldn't look down at her.

"Like you don't know." Hatsumi tugged on his sleeve. "I know I look a little funny, but it's your fault, you know. You didn't give me enough time!"

She watched as his mouth worked silently, his left eye twitching as he alternately thought up and discarded a response. At length, he finally answered.

"Fine. Whatever fashion trend you're following now doesn't suit you." He glanced down at Hatsumi and restrained himself from wincing. The bead-dazzled polo with the pleaded denim skirt plus the Christmas, Santa socks was definitely not her thing. Not to mention her sandals.

Socks… with sandals… he looked back up and almost shuddered.

For some reason, though, he didn't have it in him to tell her to go back up and change.

"We were just going to get milk. You didn't have to… uh… get all dressed up."

He wasn't looking and Hatsumi was thankful. She was smiling. Tachibana-kun didn't care what she wore, she realized. He liked her just as herself, and the thought made her want to kiss him. Kiss him really long and—

"Which just goes to show you how low my standards have slipped." Ryouki had apparently gotten over his personality trip. Hatsumi promptly lost her smile. She felt a headache coming on.

"Don't try anything new, Narita. You don't have the body type for it. You don't have the hips and you definitely don't got big enough tits."

Forget the kiss. She was going to punch him. Punch him then kick him in the balls—

"Just wear your normal clothes. I like you in your normal clothes." The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Ryouki stepped out; a reddened cheek was turned her way.

Then she was going to kiss him, Hatsumi decided.

"Well? You just gonna stand in there all day?"

She followed when Ryouki looked back at her, a small smile on her face.

Yes. She was still going to punch him and kick him in the balls, but after that, she was going to kiss him.

"Yeah. I'm coming."

End

Notes: That... just had to be the STUPIDEST thing I have ever written. My only excuse is that I'm sick and positively drowning in Buckley's. Lucky for me, with this cold, I can barely taste a thing.

Aside from that, this will be the last chapter of PAP. I will eventually go back and edit/rewrite the chapters, but it's not going to happen in the near future. Hope ya'll enjoyed it, and thanks for the reviews, cause hey, one-liners take time too…