I realize this fic breaks my streak as a video game writer, hah. But anyway, I'm relatively new to the Eyeshield 21 fandom, and while HiruMamo has currently nabbed the title of my favorite ship, I think SenaSuzu has the potential to be quite cute. Based off of the school festival episode, since you can't have a teenage boy and a teenage girl trapped in a confined space without there being some kind of romantic tension. Enjoy!
Numbers
Suzuna's heavy sigh echoed throughout the space under the stage. She and Sena had long since given up on trying to plow through the trap door, the entrance back to humanity, and were currently sitting side-by-side in a rather stuffy silence against the wall. The majority of the space was dark, since it was used mostly for storage, not housing human beings, and the uncomfortable eeriness was beginning to get to the young girl.
But when her eyes flicked to the rather calm looking boy next to her, she supposed it could be worse. She supposed the should appreciate that she at least had some form of company. Had she been alone, it certainly would have been much more of a drag, and Sena was far better company than some of the other members of the football team, especially the ones that didn't fall under the human category or her knucklehead brother.
Still, with just the two of them, the boy didn't leave much room for conversation, choosing instead to quietly muse about whatever the heck was going on in his head. Suzuna certainly couldn't hate him for that, however, seeing as he seemed rather content, which was a good sign. He had openly confessed to her that this was the first school festival in which he had actually enjoyed himself, anyway, and that was a big step for the usual worrywart.
But even so, a teenage girl could only take so much silence in one sitting.
"Hey, Sena," she began in an awkward attempt to start conversation. The wheels of her rollerblades sliding over the cold, hard ground as he turned to look at her.
"Hm?" he responded, doe eyes shining in the dim room, the epitome of innocence as he gave her his full attention. Her eyes widened in a bit of surprise as he looked at her expectantly. Hm indeed. The blue-haired girl hadn't exactly planned that far ahead, still lacking a solid subject to form words off of.
Suzuna leaned her head back, staring at the wooden panels that made up the stage overhead as she contemplated what to say next. There was always the option of football, she supposed. He was certainly interested in that, as was she. But something inside her was tugging at her chest, telling her to make it a bit more personal than that. They were friends, that was a given, but Suzuna couldn't help but feel that there was so much more she wanted to know about Deimon's ace runningback.
"Have you…" the girl began, pausing as her logic up and left her before she even thought about the consequences of what she said next. "Have you ever been kissed?"
"Eh?!" Was Sena's immediate response, calm exterior shattering in an instant. Suzuna watched in shock as the male floundered with his arms and a burning hue crept onto his cheeks visible even in the dark. Her jaw dropped in realization, the increase of awkward tension hitting her like a speeding bullet.
"Oh no!" She yelped, joining in with the arm waving and not exactly sure how to reverse the chaos she had undoubtedly caused. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I was just curious and-"
And what? She didn't know. Now it was Suzuna's turn to be tinged pink, gaze leaving his as the heavy silence once again descended upon them, only now dripping with an immense amount of awkward.
'Smooth, that was so smooth,' the self-proclaimed cheerleader mentally scolded herself as she observed Sena's body language out of the corner of her eye. The boy had shifted to face slightly away from her now, twiddling his thumbs in aftershock with cheeks still stained. But like she had done any different. Like Sena, she had shifted away from him a bit, rotating her position so that her line of vision was mostly focused on the bland grey wall.
It was then that Suzuna realized that all the little sounds, the things that would usually be filtered out by her ears, were growing increasingly loud. The sound of her blades scraping against the floor, the sound of Sena's nervous breathing, the sound of footsteps coming from above all became ear-shattering. Or maybe she was just going crazy. Yes, perhaps that was it. She was crazy. Crazy for spurting out that crazy question in the first place, crazy for having the feminine instinct to pry…
"Ah, well…" the sound of a boyish voice suddenly interjected, silencing any other forms of noise in the area. She whipped around suddenly, the whites of her eyes meeting his sheepish ones once again. He drew his knees to his chest, resting his chin on one of his knees.
"…No, I haven't," he admitted with a shy sense of purity that amazed her. His face continued to burn in humility, his gaze leaving hers as he spoke again. "Girls don't go for the class gopher, and I was always too scared to confess when I liked someone" he laughed nervously in spite of himself, scratching the back of his nape.
She eyed him curiously. She felt a twinge of something in her stomach, feeling suddenly quite special knowing that Sena was actually telling her this, that he trusted her.
"But I guess that's different now, right?" Suzuna said airily. "People know you're Eyeshield 21 now. You must have plenty of fans now, and I bet a lot of them are girls.."
…And yet, why did that thought bother her?
"I guess," the runningback replied. "But it's not like I know them, you know? And they don't know me either, so I don't think that's going to change things any time soon," he finished lightheartedly, another timid smile gracing his features. His words felt like a security blanket, and the blue-haired girl suddenly felt rather satisfied, scooting back to her original position adjacent to him.
What she didn't expect, however, was for him to add a "What about you, Suzuna?"
And just like that, her composure broke again, mimicking Sena's earlier actions as she let out a surprised "Ehh?!" as the hue on her face intensified. Sena also did quite a good job reflecting her earlier reaction, once again flailing his arms in a lame attempt to settle her down.
"I'm sorry!" The brunette yelped, eyes wide like he'd been caught committing a crime. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I was just curious and-"
Though he fumbled for words, Suzuna realized that he was on the exact same track she had been on, and she giggled. The pleasant sound chimed through the cold, and also proved useful in ceasing Sena's exasperated mutterings.
"No, no! It's okay!" she said, waving her hands in front of her face and shaking her head for further emphasis. "I was just surprised you would ask, that's all," she explained, roles reversed as she was once again the one calming the football player down.
"O-oh," he let out, still looking a bit guilty. Suzuna tried to counterract this by extending her legs from their folded position, trying to appear more comfortable and unfazed.
"But if you really want to know," she said, voice not the least bit hesitant as she stretched out her arms. "I haven't."
"Really?" Sena asked, looking a bit surprised. She looked at him, intrigued by his response.
"Really," she repeated. And though Sena didn't press her verbally for further justification, she could tell wanted her to elaborate. "I guess I've always been too busy for boys," she shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, there have been a few that I was interested in, and a few who were interested in me, but I always had things that were more important to me that came first, so I never pursued them."
Sena absorbed her words like a sponge, listening patiently as she continued. "Take finding my brother for example, that took a whole lot of time," he concurred, recalling their first encounter. She had only become interested in this Eyeshield 21 character because of the possibility that he might have been her sibling. But even though she hadn't known his true identity back then, she had left kind of an imprint when her clarification that he was in fact not her brother was that he had been to scrawny to play the part.
He then frowned slightly at his spaghetti noodle arms, but she didn't notice.
"And when I did find him, he brought me to you," the blue-haired girl chimed, giving him a brilliant smile. "And being involved with the Devil Bats is keeping me busy too."
That was true also. Though Suzuna wasn't a student at Deimon, it seemed as if every second of her spare time was devoted to helping their football team. No one seemed to mind, either. The student body (especially Togano) was quite pleased that they now had a cheer squad, Mamori-nee now had a new girlfriend to gossip with, and even Hiruma had a soft spot for her to some extent, seeing as he'd let her call him 'You-nii' without threatening her with his collection of various fireaems.
"I guess I just need someone who can keep up with me," she proclaimed. "If I can find someone like that, I'll let him have my first kiss." The brunette nodded with a silent understanding. If there was one thing he knew about Suzuna, it was that she was a firecracker. She always seemed to be going at a fast pace, not slowing down for a second. When she finished one task, she would immediately zoom to the next without slowing down or taking a breather. She was quick, loud, explosive, and made a scene. She was what he wasn't.
And that was exactly what he liked so much about her.
Sena took in her carefree figure with a newfound sense of awe. She was reclining next to him, hands behind her head as she leant back on the concrete wall in her magician's assistant outfit with the red ribbon around her neck, her lips curling into a satisfied grin. The runningback felt something begin to hammer in the cavity of his chest as he observed her. And then he realized that Suzuna was really cute when she looked happy like that and it felt like a bomb had just been dropped straight onto his cranium.
But for some reason, he felt as if aesthetics weren't the only cause of his current mental deterioration. And so began the mental battle as Sena tried to sort out whatever was making his pulse race like it was and why the once cold room siddenly felt ten degrees hotter.
'What is this feeling?'
On her end, Suzuna was not entirely oblivious to Sena's sudden state of instability, but she couldn't put her finger on why he had suddenly begin to fidget nervously once again. She observed his actions, quirking a brow as he changed from various sitting positions in short intervals while glancing in her direction every now and then. Of course, he would break eye contact as soon as their eyes met and presumably absorb himself with staring at something like a crack on the wall or the floor that was highly interesting.
But however oddly he was behaving, the cheerleader couldn't take her eyes off of him. She unconciously tilted her head in curiosity, supressing a smile as he began to fiddle with his bowtie that was as red as his current flush. And then it suddenly hit her that Sena was really cute when he was embarrassed like that and it felt like she'd been struck square in the head with a bolt of lightning.
'He fits the bill.'
Unlike Sena, however, Suzuna was perfectly aware of what the new sensation was and didn't have to take any time trying to analyze it. She couldn't afford to spend time analyzing it, as the boy's inward struggle was making the uncomfortable silence pervade the cramped space once more.
And so, being the obviously more daring of the two, she spoke first.
"Sena, will you be my first kiss?"
The brunette's second reaction was nothing like his first. Not even close. For one, there was no yelp of surprise, but rather a jolt of shock that made him feel like he had been dropped into a pool of freezing water, bringing him out of his mental conflicts and back to her, back to the girl who suddenly didn't look so calm anymore as she looked expectant. When her words finally sunk in, when he was sure he hadn't just heard things, Sena then swore he heard his brain break right in half. His eyes went wide and his mouth went dry and he suddenly found himself unable to speak and proceeded to gawk at her like some braindead moron.
Unfortunately, the lack of response wasn't exactly what she had been looking for.
"I'm sorry," she let out suddenly, realizing her mistake. She tried to shrug the idea off like it had never happened with a wave of her hand and a faux laugh to hide her features that threatened to drop. "It was stupid of me to ask. You probably don't-"
"No!" Sena interrupted her, eyes alight with a new sense of shaky determination. "I-"
But the right words evaded him once again, and he went from opening and closing his mouth while trying to comprehend what would be appropriate to say. Suzuna was more patient this time, eyeing him with an unfamiliar, unreadable expression now gracing her face. Sena continued shifting awkwardly before eventually folding his hands in his lap, looking down so his mad blush might be concealed before finally giving her an answer.
"Of course I want to," he said quietly, brow furrowing as the heat continued to flow to his face. "But would you really be okay with giving your first kiss to someone like me?"
His words cut through the previous tension like a knife. Suzuna only had to study him for a moment before realizing that it was a self-issue. He wasn't confident, he thought he didn't deserve her.
And it was her job to prove him wrong.
"Why wouldn't I be? I like you, silly."
Her voice was like the sound of bells, and at that point, he couldn't stop himself from looking at her. She smiled at him brightly, endearingly from her spot beside him, and the thumping in his chest was suddenly more frantic than it had ever been. And then he acted on impulse, turning to face her directly now, and realizing she had mimicked that action as well.
Sena swallowed hard, realizing just how close they had been sitting. They were now kneeling parallel from each other, less than a milimeter of space preventing them from bumping knees. His chocolate eyes locked onto her deep blue ones, and the runningback noticed then that she was just as nervous as he was. "I'm going to kiss you now, if that's okay."
Suzuna wanted to say something along the lines of 'I already said it was okay, stupid!' but found herself with no time to do so as Sena closed his eyes, leaning forward. And like a mirror, she did the same, lidding her own eyes and tilting her head just slightly to the right before feeling the soft press of his lips against her own. She felt his lips begin to move with experimantal shyness, and she tried returning the actions. It wasn't how she imagined her first kiss to be, but it wasn't unpleasant, and when the two finally broke apart, there was no denying the mutual uneven breathing and blush to match.
"And I like you too," Sena mumbled, realizing that he had left out that important key factor. And just like that, he was back to his nervous fidgeting against the wall and she laughed her melodic laugh before settling next to him again and leaning her head on his shoulder. She didn't expect the sudden warmth of his hand enveloping her own, however, but was pleased when he laced his fingers with hers and felt the brown locks on his head land on her crown.
And so they stayed like that for a good while, silence not unbearing, but comfortable, until Sena lifted his head up suddenly.
"Suzuna?"
"What is it, Sena?" She tilted her head up to imply that he had her full attention.
"Could I try again?" He asked, fiddling with his bowtie once more as he squirmed. She sat for a moment in deep contemplation before her lips curled into a grin harboring no ill intentions.
"You can try as many times as you'd like," she purred, watching in amusement as Sena proceeded to turn the exact same shade as a ripe tomato.
Whew, done all in one sitting. Yes, winter break is leaving me with too much free time on my hands, don't judge. I do, however, appreciate reviews and crit, so please leave me something. Thanks for reading!