It wasn't a sunny day. It was, in fact, pouring rain, in the middle of a top-class thunderstorm. He really should have been afraid of getting struck by lightning, but he wasn't because he was too busy enjoying himself. Mai collapsed in the mud beside him, laughing.
"B… Bou-san," she managed between giggles, "we should go inside. We'll-" Thunder crashed and drowned her out for a moment. "- chill, and I don't think Naru would be too happy if I missed work."
"Naru's got Lin," he pointed out. "C'mon, let's do it again!" He got to his feet and shook off. He knew he would be drenched again in three seconds flat, but he splattered mud on Mai and that was reason enough.
"Why you- look at what you did! This is a new shirt, too!"
"I'll clean it for you," he offered, and extended his hands. "C'mon!"
"You'd better."
She had barely finished the words when he grabbed her hands and started spinning. She followed his lead and slowly leaned back. The world around them, so grey and dreary standing still, swirled into a spiral of his golden hair and her blue coat. Faster and faster, and she was starting to feel a little light-headed but he wasn't slowing down and she found that she didn't care. Then thunder clapped again. He let out a yelp and missed a step, and they both landed back in the mud. He just sat there, laughing, and she thought he must be having his second childhood.
"Really, Bou-san, it's dangerous." One of them has to be sensible. Not that he was listening. "We could hurt ourselves. Or get struck by lightning. Not to mention I have a paper to write-"
"And I have a gig in an hour," he said. "Hey, I'm still kind of dizzy, but do you think we could make mud angels?"
"Like snow angels? Probably," she said thoughtfully, and glanced over. "You first."
He grinned.
"For someone so determined to be responsible, you're easily distracted."
Then he flopped backwards, doubtlessly ruining the jacket. He moved his arms and legs in slow sweeping motions, but it didn't form a mud angel. Rather, the mud squelched up around his limbs. He wrinkled his nose and stuck out his tongue.
"I think it's trying to eat me," he said. "Help?"
Mai heaved a melodramatic sigh and tugged on his wrists until he was sitting, mud and rain dripping off his back and arms, which he held out stiff in front of him.
"Honestly," she said "How old are you now?"
"308," he deadpanned. "I'm a zombie, see."
"That would explain the smell," she quipped.
"Actually, I think Lin's the zombie." He scratched his chin, frowning. "It would certainly explain a lot. Like why he doesn't talk. And why he hates fun."
"Maybe I should ask him tomorrow."
"Don't. He'll put a creepy zombie curse on you and you'll die in seven days. Or something like that." He stood up again, brushing as much mud off his pants as he could. "One last time?"
"One last time," Mai agreed. "But then we should really go."
"Yeah, yeah," he droned, helping her up. They joined hands again and took a few steps, circling each other, starting to gather speed-
"A-hem. Takigawa Hoshou."
"Ah?" he asked, letting go of Mai's hands. "Ah!" he revised, diving to catch her before she hit the ground.
"Thanks," she muttered, regaining her footing and peering over his shoulder to see who the newcomer was.
"You," said Matsuzaki Ayako, "are in trouble." Which may have been more ominous had she not been holding a pink umbrella with cat ears.
"Why?" he asked, turning to face her and tilting his head to one side. Ayako just held up a cell phone that was probably not hers because it was an obnoxious neon green. His face lit up. "Hey, I've been looking for that! Where was it?"
"In the backseat of my car," she said. He reached for it and she yanked it out of his grasp. "And it's been ringing off the hook, which I should not have to deal with. Your singer wants you to know that you're late, Naru wants to know if you know where Mai is, your guitarist wants to know why you're late, your mother wants to know if you did your laundry, and your singer wants me to deliver his message with a swift kick to the head if you don't 'get your ass down there and help them set up', I quote."
He made another grab at it and she slapped his hand away.
"Also, you're going to catch your death of cold or lightning, which would be fine if Mai wasn't here dying with you. I'm not going to explain that to Naru."
"Told you," Mai whispered. Takigawa made a sound between a whimper and a whine and finally snatched his phone back from Ayako.
"You know you just ruined my day, right?"
"My pleasure," Ayako said with a mocking smile. "Now go home and dry off. Both of you," she said, turning on Mai. "Do you have an umbrella? No? Well then you'd better stick close to me, and for God's sake, bring one with you next time…"
He watched them go, Ayako dragging Mai by the arm and chattering all the way. As he headed to his car, he probably should've been thinking about how much trouble he was in, or how badly his jacket was going to stain. Should've. But he wasn't, because it had totally been worth it.
And that's it. No point to it at all, but I was in a good mood so I wrote Bou-san and Mai being immature. But look out for a real serious chaptered fic coming soon!
...Also, my rat just stole my cracker right out of my hands. Little bitch. DX