At the BUSstop. . .

by;;brilliantliex3

o k i h a m i r ::: r i m a h i k o

Heyyyyyyy guys!
Thanks for taking a look at this!
Here's some info before you start reading:

This is my first attempt at an AU Rimahiko, so let me know how I do, please!
It's a story of Rima and Nagi meeting each other for the first time! Exciting, right? :D
They are both in college, no specific year. You can pick what age you want them to be.
There's some minor swearing.
The entire story is in Rima's point of view.
And I think they may be a bit OOC, but you can tell me what you think about that.

Thanks so much for reading!

ONWARD! ^_^

- - - - - - - - - - -
monday.
- - - - - - - - - - -

So, it was a reasonably nice day. The birds were chirping, the sun was high in the sky, and it was the first day of spring break. What could've possibly been wrong?

I'll tell you what was wrong. I didn't have a car. Mostly because my hyperactive, constantly high on sugar college friend, Yaya, asked to use my car, since hers was out of gas.

How she managed to completely run out of gas still blew my mind. She and I both commuted to college every day for the whole year, so how the hell did refilling her tank before she went home slip her mind? I mean, really? Who does that? Only an idiot would do that!

Of course, I was also the idiot that let her borrow my car in the first place. On the weekend before spring break. What the hell was I thinking?

Obviously nothing, that's what. Not only did she wreck the thing, now I had no transportation around the city until my car got fixed.

Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, except I hadn't seen my best friend, Amu, in months. I really, really wanted to see her. She lived about a half an hour away with her boyfriend, Ikuto. So if I wanted to see her, I had to take the bus.

Yeah.

The friggin' bus.

I absolutely could not stand public transportation. They all smelled weird and there's always someone looking at you funny.

But… there was nothing I could do about it until my car got fixed, which probably wouldn't happen until spring break ended. At least Yaya offered to pay for the repair cost. It definitely took a load off my mind...

Walking to the bus stop, I had on my light blue sundress, a pink headband, and my orange tote bag hung off my shoulder. Finally reaching my destination, I picked a spot to stand on the sidewalk. Of course, there wasn't a bench. That would be too convenient, wouldn't it?

I looked at my cell phone to check the time. According to the bus schedule I was forced to pick up and look at (ugh), I was six minutes early. I sighed, shifting my weight to the other leg.

Near me, a boy around my age was walking to the bus stop as well. He had long, straight, indigo hair that reached his waist, and I saw that he was a bit more than a head taller than me. As he took a spot near me, I noticed that he looked slightly irritated. He had this look to him. It was like a 'I'm in a bad mood, don't mess with me today' sort of look. But, I didn't care.

In fact, I didn't care about anything besides getting on the bus and getting off at Amu's.

The bus pulled up to the curb and was opening the doors to let us on. I took a step forward and decided to get on the bus before the purple-haired boy.

I absentmindedly began walking up the bus stairs and then suddenly, I tripped over one of the steps. The boy behind me quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me upright before I could even think about my face bashing into the floor.

"Uh… th-thanks," I told him, blushing slightly. Nice, Rima. Very smooth. I couldn't believe I just tripped in front of all those people. But really, I swore that the step I tripped over was placed higher than the others…

Ugh, whatever.

"No problem," the boy replied, the corners of his mouth upturned slightly. But he had no real emotion in his voice. I sighed and took careful steps down the aisle before sitting in the first available seat, the fourth one on the left.

The boy traveled all the way to the back.

- - - - - - - - - - -
tuesday.
- - - - - - - - - - -

I wished today was like yesterday. Today it was pouring. It was horrible, to say the least; looking out the window, I could barely see three feet in front of me. I was freezing and I hadn't even stepped outside yet.

"Yaya, can you give me a ride?" I pleaded over the phone, hoping she would forget the silent treatment I had given her last weekend. Besides, she owed me.

"I can't, sorry."

"But you WRECKED my CAR!" I practically detonated. "I think you at least owe me a ride."

"But I'm busy, Rima-tan! I'll do it later." And with that, she hung up before I could say anything else.

I groaned and pulled a jacket on, tucking in my long hair, which would no doubt expand and poof up from the damn humidity. Looking out the window, I groaned again, before quickly walking outside and down the sidewalk.

After mumbling a few angry things under my breath, I crossed my arms and sighed bitterly. My bangs were getting plastered to my forehead as I walked, since the hood didn't cover all of my hair. My headband was already soaked. My clothes were going to be drenched and I would have to sit and be damp for a half an hour until I got to Amu's.

Wow, this sucked.

I stood at the bus stop alone, having to now wait ten minutes before the bus would come. In all that frustration, I had run out of the house much earlier than I should have. And without an umbrella, too. How unbelievably smart of me.

As I was brooding, the rain suddenly stopped hitting me and I had no idea why. It didn't make sense; I could plainly see that the rain was still going, it was just not pouring on me.

"It's definitely weird for rain to stop pouring around a certain spot," I mumbled to myself.

"Not if you have an umbrella," a boy's voice said behind me. I jumped and turned around before meeting the friendly amber eyes of the purple-haired guy from yesterday.

"Holy shit, man. Don't do that!" I yelled at him.

He raised an eyebrow, looking amused. "What? Stop you from catching hypothermia?"

I rolled my eyes. "No. Scare me, obviously."

He chuckled at me, and I glared in response. I didn't like it when people laughed at me for no reason. I didn't even do anything remotely funny.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he said. He didn't sound emotionless like he did yesterday; he actually sounded apologetic, to my surprise.

"Okay. I don't care," I said.

And truthfully, I didn't care. I made sure to use a clipped tone so maybe he'd get the hint and shut it. I was not in the mood, and already, this guy – this purple head – was getting on my nerves.

"Really, I'm sorry!" Geez, he was persistent. "I just saw you standing here, soaked to the bone, and you looked mad about something. I figured the rain wouldn't help, so I came to cover you," he said. Then he made a funny face – almost like a cringe. "That sounded a bit weirder than I wanted it to," he mumbled, his gaze trailing away from mine.

A tiny laugh escaped my lips, much to my surprise… and displeasure. I grimaced upon realizing that I had just laughed at something the annoying pest had said. Unbelievable…

Mystery purple head made another funny face, but this time he was blushing, too. "I know, I'm talking too much. You must be getting pretty annoyed with me." He chuckled nervously.

I smirked. Well, he got that right, I'd give him that.

Before I could tell him so, however, he shoved his umbrella into my hands and ran to the bus, which I didn't even realize had shown up. "Keep it! I'll see you later!" The bus doors shut behind him and then it drove off.

I stood there for a moment, absolutely stunned for reasons I didn't fully understand, before realizing that that was my bus as well.

Damn it!

- - - - - - - - - - -
wednesday.
- - - - - - - - - - -

"Hello! I see you're nice and dry today."

I glanced up from the gag manga I was reading to see none other than the boy who gave me his umbrella. I had put it in my orange bag for today, to return to him.

I was surprised at how familiar his melodic voice was to me already. His voice was lighthearted, friendly, and just deep enough for my liking. It was actually nice to listen to; his voice had a kind of effortless sincerity to it, something very hard to come by nowadays.

"Yup. It's all sunny out," I commented. I had my hair pulled up into a high ponytail and was wearing a jean skirt with black stockings and a bright magenta tank top. It was a good day so far. Squinting against the sun, I actually smiled a bit at him, which immediately shocked me the second I did it.

I sighed heavily. It had to be the weather's fault… it put me in such a good mood.

He returned my smile and stood next to me as we waited for the bus.

I went back to reading my gag manga. I was reading for a few minutes before the silence started to get to me. It was just too quiet.

Peeking up a bit, I noticed for the first time just how pretty his face was – almost like a girl's. Not in a creepy way, but in an… elegant way. It kind of suited him with his long hair and his big, expressive eyes. Even so, in his own way, he was actually kind of… handsome. He was wearing dark jeans and a simple cobalt blue collared shirt. The shirt was untucked with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing a toned and muscular forearm.

Then it suddenly dawned on me that I was literally staring at him, which was just not cool. Inwardly smacking myself, I returned to my reading. But it wasn't long before the silence was broken.

"So, I'm assuming you have work or something?" he asked me.

"Why's that?" I asked absentmindedly, still trying to read (and ignore him).

"You always go on the bus at this time."

"Yes…"

"Is it because you go to work somewhere?"

I sighed. I could see that he wasn't going to stop pestering me no matter how much I tried to ignore him, so I put the gag manga into my bag and gave him my full attention.

"No, I just have places to be. People to see," I said vaguely.

"Hey, that rhymed!" he stated happily, chuckling brightly at me.

I raised an eyebrow. Who the heck found that amusing? "You're weird."

He wrinkled his nose. "Well, you're pretty." He grinned.

I gaped at him, not quite sure how to respond to that at first. I mean, it was a bit unexpected...

Scratch that. I didn't see that coming at all.

Crossing my arms, I settled with asking him directly, "Where did that come from? Are you trying to flirt with me?"

He looked up at the clear sky, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Not necessarily. Maybe I just felt like stating a fact. You never know…"

I scowled at him. What a smart-ass. "What is your problem?"

He shrugged, grinning wryly. "I don't know… which one? I've got a bunch of them."

"Yeah, I've noticed," I muttered under my breath, still loud enough for him to hear me. I hoped he did.

We were silent for a few moments, and I was considering going back to reading my manga and ignoring him again when the bus appeared around the corner.

As soon as the doors opened, I quickly walked onto the bus and to the seat I'd grown accustomed to sitting in without saying another word. I didn't even look at him.

Except when he murmured, "See you tomorrow," as he walked by my seat. That's when I snapped my head in his direction, only to see his retreating figure.

At first, I was a bit disappointed that he didn't look back at me. But then I was shocked because I really had no reason to be disappointed. And then I realized that my face felt like it was on fire, and I wasn't disappointed anymore – I was relieved.

Weird.

- - - - - - - - - - -
thursday.
- - - - - - - - - - -

"So, if you don't go to work, then I'm assuming you visit someone?"

Ugh. This again?

"Why would you assume that?" I grumbled, getting irritated from his presence already.

"You get off at the same apartment complex as I do. You just go into a different building."

My eyes widened. Woah. Now that was weird. Honestly, what were the odds?

I cleared my throat, clapping my hands together in mock excitement. "Congratulations! I officially declare you my personal stalker. Would you like a prize?" I added sarcastically, defiantly meeting his gaze.

"What sort of prize?" He smirked at me, looking a bit amused and eager.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. I could not believe this guy. "I'm thinking… a piece of gum?"

He chuckled, looking towards the ground. "Nah..." he replied, shyly stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I want to know your name."

Then he looked up and smiled at me in a way that was both captivating and bashful.

My smirk dropped right off my face, and for some reason, my heart started to pound a bit. For the first time in a long time, I felt uneasy – panicked, even. I was normally so calm; hardly anything surprised me enough to make me anxious. But this was… different.

I bit my lip, my heart still hammering away. "Well, that was straight-forward," I said quietly, almost to myself. It never really occurred to me that we didn't even know each other's names.

But still...

Hiding my nervousness, I managed a sarcastically sweet smile. "Unfortunately, I don't think I'll give it to you, considering I just found out you were stalking me about thirty seconds ago."

Yeah, that's right. I didn't forget about that. Stalker.

"I never said I was stalking you," he protested calmly, acting all innocent and crap. Puh-lease.

"You never denied it, either," I pointed out.

He rolled his eyes, looking amused. "Okay, but if I was truly stalking you, wouldn't I know your name by now?" He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows pointedly.

"You could just be a bad stalker." I shrugged.

"Whoops, you caught me in the act of bad stalking," he said sarcastically. "Now what are you gonna do?"

"You knew that I got off at the same stop as you. Explain that," I demanded, ignoring his question. It was a stupid question anyway.

He sighed patiently. "Well, you know that I sit in the very back of the bus, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah… I guess."

"Well, yesterday I happened to notice that you got off at the same place as me. I was just using my everyday skills of observation. Just like… right now, I happen to observe that you're still giving me that look, and I don't know what exactly that look means, I just know it's not a good one. So, I'll stop talking now." He nodded awkwardly, waiting for my verdict.

I was silent, literally speechless as I felt all traces of contempt leave my body. I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, and I kind of felt ashamed. I knew that what he said made sense, and I also knew that I felt really, really… guilty for jumping on him like that. He just seemed so down about the whole thing. And I felt horrible, being the one that caused it. Being accused of stalking someone isn't exactly a self-esteem booster, especially when you're innocent… which he seemed to be.

He probably took my silence as a bad sign, because he sighed again, this time more dejectedly. "Look, I was just curious, okay? I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. You don't have to tell me your name."

I crossed my arms again, looking away from him. "…No, it's okay. Sorry for accusing you of stalking me."

I looked up at him. He smiled. "You're forgiven."

We both stayed quiet for a while. As I waited for the bus, a thought popped into my head.

Grinning wickedly, I elbowed his arm. "Hey, purple head. Why don't you tell me your name?"

He gave me a stunned look. "What? After all that, now you—"

"Yeah, I get it. Spare me the lecture, please," I interrupted and gave him a pointed look, urging him to answer me.

He sighed, smiling faintly. "It's Fujisaki Nagihiko."

I nodded, before gazing at the building across the street.

Nagihiko, Nagihiko, Nagihiko…

A thrill went through my body as his name repeated like a mantra inside my head. I decided that I liked it. For an irritating purple head, he had a nice name.

Nagihiko moved in front of me, leaning down so that we were at eye-level. "You know, it's common courtesy to tell me your name, too. Especially since I'm the one that asked you in the first place. And since you gave me so much grief about asking you before. What do you say?"

Observing his face (How could I not? It was so close to mine. Too close, in my opinion.), I noticed that even though he sounded all nice and hopeful, he was still looking pretty frustrated. Probably because I was being difficult with him. Hehehe...

I tapped my finger on my chin, pretending to think about telling him my name. Note: Pretending.

"Nah. I'll leave that for you to figure out." I smirked evilly at his expression, watching it change from intense shock to weary agitation. Little did he know, this was what I was planning all along.

Directing my gaze around him, I noticed that the bus had pulled up. I looked back at his face and said, "Hey, look at it this way: now you won't have to answer to purple head anymore."

And with that, I quickly walked around him and hopped on, settling into my usual seat. I watched and waited as he walked past the seats before mine, the traces of annoyance hilariously obvious on his normally carefree face.

As he stormed by my seat, I said sweetly, "See you tomorrow, Na-gi-hi-ko."

- - - - - - - - - - -
friday.
- - - - - - - - - - -

Worst. Day. Ever.

It was unusually hot and humid today. My clothes were sticking to my body, I was sweating more than I'd like to think about, my hair was poofy and messy, and I was really, really thirsty.

And since I decided to not bring my gag manga today, I was bored as hell.

And to make matters worse, the bus was running late.

Oh! And on top of that, Nagihiko and I were standing next to each other for ten full minutes, and we hadn't spoken yet. My guess was he was in a bad mood from yesterday.

I inwardly scoffed. He needed to get over himself. So what if I tricked him into telling me his name? He was dumb enough to fall for it.

I sighed, peeking over at Nagihiko. He was keeping his eyes straight ahead in stony silence, his arms crossed. He was sweating too, but he somehow managed to make it look sophisticated and model-esque, instead of gross. I also noticed, with contempt, that since his hair was all straight and crap, it wasn't frizzy at all!

I snapped my gaze back to the buildings ahead of me, fuming slightly. I guess I was gonna have to be the better person and break the tension.

"I'm bored," I told him, nearly yawning in the process.

There was a pause before I heard him sigh quietly and say, "…So?"

"So… entertain me," I mumbled. I looked over, sending him a tiresome look.

He turned to me, too, an equally bored expression on his face. "I don't think so."

I flinched slightly at the sting in his tone. Since when did he become so irritable? Maybe I went too far yesterday.

. . .

Nah.

"Dance, monkey, dance," I commanded in a bored tone.

He sighed again, this time slower. "No."

"Why not?" I pouted.

"As much as I like dancing, it's too hot out."

"…Oh." Point made. "Okay."

Then we settled into another awkward silence, in which I just became more bored. I snuck another curious glance over at Nagihiko. Did he really like dancing? Maybe that was where his elegant mannerisms came from. He always did kind of walk like he was floating… or something.

Ugh. But me thinking about Nagihiko like that was weirding me out, and it definitely wasn't curing my boredom. Time for drastic measures.

"Hey, Nagi…" I said sweetly, a small, innocent smile on my face.

He made a choking noise. "N-Nagi?" he exclaimed, snapping his head in my direction.

I almost burst out laughing. His look of surprise and astonishment was the funniest thing I'd seen in a while. I smirked as I noticed his cheeks gradually turning the color of strawberries. I never expected that little nickname to be so effective with him.

"Can you please dance for me?" I asked him nicely, my sickeningly sweet smile growing wider. I honestly did want to see him dance, though. The idea sort of piqued my interest.

Then he scoffed a bit, shaking his head in disbelief. Probably because of how fake I sounded. But after a moment, a smile made its way onto his face, which brought along a strange warmth into my heart.

"I suppose..."

"Really?" I smiled sincerely.

"Of course..." And then I noticed the mischievous smirk on his face.

Uh-oh. He was thinking evil things in that purple head of his.

"If you tell me your name, that is."

Damn. I clenched my teeth. "I thought we went over this. It's something you have to figure out for yourself."

He just shrugged, "Have it your way," and faintly hummed a tune to himself. How obnoxious.

I narrowed my eyes. "I really don't like you. Have I mentioned that yet?"

He looked up at the sky, pretending to think about it for a moment. "Nope, I don't believe so."

"Well, now you know."

"Thank you for informing me. I'll make note of it," he said casually, nodding at me.

ERGH. What was up with this guy?

"I wish your face would melt off," I said, glaring at him.

He just chuckled in response.

And then I felt like my blood was boiling. I couldn't believe he just laughed at that! His sense of humor was so screwed up.

"I don't see what's so funny about my disdain for you," I muttered.

"Well, I do," he said simply, smirking.

I huffed angrily in response, violently kicking a rock across the street. What. The. Hell.

He turned to me, a faintly smug smile on his face. "You seem frustrated. You wouldn't be in this position if you would just give me your name, you know."

I gave him a withering look. "I would never willingly give you something that was not a fatal virus."

"How exciting," he said sarcastically. "You really don't like me, do you?" he asked, still facing me. The weird thing was, he sounded amused. Not upset or anything. He didn't even look remotely upset.

...Not that he should've, or anything.

"You got that right," I shot back.

And then the bus showed up. But in the second before it did, I could've sworn I saw his stoic expression collapse, and he looked… sad.

But before I could tell for sure, Nagihiko quickly rushed onto the bus before me, leaving our conversation hanging in the air. As he walked towards his usual spot in the back, he left me feeling angry, confused, and disappointed, all at once.

Ugh… what was going on?

- - - - - - - - - - -
saturday.
- - - - - - - - - - -

"I forgot. You still have my umbrella."

I looked up in surprise. There was Nagihiko, smiling that winsome smile of his like nothing happened yesterday.

Well… maybe it wasn't that big of a deal. Just us not getting along, like usual. Maybe I just imagined him looking sad.

"Oh, yeah. I was gonna give it back to you on Wednesday, but I forgot." I pulled his purple umbrella out of my bag and handed it to him.

I smirked. He would have a purple umbrella.

He hummed cheerfully and flipped it in his hands a few times before meeting eyes with me. Something inside my chest fluttered when I looked into his eyes.

"Thanks, Rima."

"No proble…" Wait. I narrowed my eyes. "How the hell do you know my name?"

"Oh, Rima… I have my sources," he said, those normally kind eyes smug with satisfaction.

Okay. He was freaking me out, just a tiny bit. How did he know my name? I never told him any of that.

"I thought you weren't stalking me," I said accusingly, crossing my arms.

"And Rima, I thought we agreed," he flipped the umbrella again, "…that I am not stalking you. Remember?"

"Stop saying my name!" I practically shrieked, resisting the urge to stuff that purple hair of his down his throat.

He shook his head, his friendly smile contradicting his sharp eyes. "I don't think so, Rima."

I growled. "Fine! If you're gonna say my name all the time, at least add an honorific. We're not even remotely close."

"Why? You don't add an honorific with my name, Ri-ma-chan."

I cringed. Somehow, the honorific made it more annoying. Scowling, I shot back, "Yeah! Because you piss me off."

And then, he didn't say anything. He just stared at me, his eyes boring into mine. I felt my cheeks get warmer as he stared at me. I couldn't help it... I felt like he was looking through me, into my heart and soul and all that crap. Talk about a weird feeling.

After a while, Nagihiko blinked once before saying, "You know, I like your name a lot. It's really beautiful and poetic."

I gave him a weird look. Okay, that was it. This guy was driving me insane. "Can you please tell me how you know my name?"

"Nope."

"You are so annoying."

"That's why women like me."

"Sure – whatever." I was pissed now. I didn't like how paranoid he was making me.

"Aww. Don't tell me you're mad at me, Rima-chan." He laughed, taking a step closer to me. An odd shiver went through my body when he said my name that time. And strangely enough, I found his pleasant chuckle highly attractive.

I bit my lip, closing my eyes. "You're annoying."

"I know; you've just told me so."

I sighed and started pacing on the corner of the sidewalk, looking anywhere but at his stupid, annoying, girly face. I decided to simply look the opposite way and keep him completely out of my line of sight until the bus arrived.

After a few moments of peaceful silence, I heard a strange, musical noise. When I turned around, I saw that Nagihiko was playing with a bunch of keys. Initially, I didn't think much of it. But as I looked closer, I noticed a car brand symbol on one of them.

"You have a car?" I asked, before I remembered I really didn't want to talk to him.

"Yes..." he said slowly, giving me a funny look. Probably because I seemed so marveled at the fact.

"Then why the hell do you take the bus?" Seriously! Standing at the bus stop was inconvenient and waiting for the bus completely sucked. Why would anyone willingly take the bus if they didn't have to?

He smiled mysteriously. "That's my secret."

I groaned, about to rip my hair out. He was full of secrets today, wasn't he?

"I liked you before," I blurted out, immediately kicking myself for it. Way to insult him, Rima! Ugh…

Smiling widely, Nagihiko leaned towards me, getting all up in my personal space. "Care to elaborate on that statement?"

I started to blush at his proximity. Before I could respond, the bus pulled up to the curb just in time, saving me from further exposure to him.

I ran onto the bus and sat down in my seat, pulling out my phone and pretending to text someone so I would have an excuse to not look at him.

Whether I liked it or not, his annoying personality was actually quite charming.

- - - - - - - - - - -
sunday.
- - - - - - - - - - -

I slowly made my way to the bus stop, holding my orange umbrella over my head. I was proud that I remembered to bring my own umbrella today, and I was also shocked to see that Nagihiko had arrived to the bus stop before me. His hood was over his head, concealing his long, purple hair. I really wanted to know why he was here if he had a car, but I wasn't gonna ask him again. No matter how much it bothered me.

Nagihiko turned to face me from his spot on the sidewalk and waved. I raised an eyebrow at his innocent behavior and walked up to him, lifting the umbrella enough so that it covered us both.

"Hello, Nagihiko," I said faintly.

"Hey, Rima-chan," he greeted me back. I was surprised to hear that he actually listened to me about the honorific thing, and stuck to it. I wasn't expecting that… especially not after yesterday.

I smiled a bit. It was nice to know that someone listened to me, even if it had to be him.

"So, where's your umbrella today?" I prompted.

He smiled slightly, looking a bit embarrassed. "I think I forgot it on the bus yesterday."

I snorted. "After all that trouble I went through to give it back to you," I joked. And then I blinked – this was new for me. I didn't usually act like this around him, but my mouth just kept moving for some weird reason.

He shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry..." he said absentmindedly.

I narrowed my eyes. "It's okay..." I told him, but what I really wanted to do was ask him what was up. I could tell there was something on his mind. But I was already talking to this guy more than I thought I should've been, so I kept my mouth shut.

After that, we were wrapped in a comfortable silence, just us standing under my umbrella. The downpour was just hard enough to need shelter of the umbrella, but the sound was still relaxing with no traces of thunder in the air. The air smelled wonderful and I couldn't remember the last time I had been this at peace.

It was only a matter of time before he spoke again:

"Hey, can we talk?"

I quirked an eyebrow. "We talk every day, Nagihiko."

"I-I know, but…" he paused, staring into my eyes for a moment before continuing. "This subject is kind of… serious."

I closed my eyes, shaking my head a bit. What could he want to talk about that was so serious?

"Um… okay." I opened my eyes again, and looked back up at his nervous expression. "Go ahead."

He sighed quickly. "I feel like I've been lying to you, Rima-chan."

Well, I definitely wasn't expecting that. "What do you... mean?"

"My annoying personality isn't why girls like me. Actually, some can't stand to talk to me because of it. I just tend to babble on and on and blurt out whatever comes to mind when I'm nervous, and I try to cover it up by acting calm about everything. So I come off as a bit obnoxious sometimes. It's like a bad habit."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why are you—?"

"And I swear I was not stalking you, no matter how much I made it seem like I was. I don't even know why I did that; I guess it was just fun to keep you guessing. But I don't have any special sources or anything. I just found out your name from my friend Ikuto, who's dating your friend Amu. Small world, isn't it?"

I shut my eyes tightly, just trying to process everything. "I don't..."

"And lastly, the reason I've been taking the bus instead of driving my car is because… I just wanted to talk to you."

I was taken aback. Blushing, I looked him straight in the eyes. "You wanted to talk to… me," I repeated. My voice sounded so far away.

And then he nodded. It was strange how that one, solitary motion of his head could completely blow my mind.

This was so weird. How long had I known this guy? A week?

He sighed. "I know we haven't known each other very long, but I really like you. Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Well, what I mean is… " He paused, shaking his head. Then he stepped closer to me and said, "I'm pretty sure I do. When I get up in the morning, about to drive to my friend's house, I think, No, I want to see Rima again. So I end up taking the bus, which is horribly inconvenient and takes much longer. But I don't really mind it, since I get to talk to you. And speaking of which, talking to you simply makes me happier than I can remember being in a while. I always get a bit down whenever the bus shows up because I know our conversation is done for the day."

I bit my lip, not knowing what to say. What could I say?

After a while, I decided to just come right out and say what sounded right. "You… make me feel the same way."

Nagihiko looked at me in surprise. "I do?" he asked quietly, looking confused. He seemed hesitant to believe it, like he was still expecting me to run away or something. I guess I probably would have if what I just told him wasn't true…

Which, shockingly enough, it was.

Giving him a small, confident smile, I reached up and pulled his hood down. I lowered my umbrella to my side as I studied his face. I noticed my actions caused him to blush lightly and I smirked in response.

"You're blushing," I pointed out bluntly, poking his cheek.

He smiled at me, bringing his hand up to meet mine. "So I am."

He leaned down, and then he lightly touched his lips to mine. A phenomenal sensation pulsed through my veins at that moment, making any nerves fade away. His free hand wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer as I lifted my arms around his neck. I felt like I was flying. His lips were soft to the touch, and every nanosecond seemed too unbelievably crazy to be true. From the sky, the lukewarm drops of liquid poured harder, drenching our already soaked bodies. But we didn't care.

Eventually, I pulled away, blushing like mad. He rested his forehead on mine, smiling warmly. "I like you, Rima-chan," he told me confidently as he pried the umbrella from my hand and held it above our heads. "Thanks for sharing your umbrella."

I smiled brightly, albeit rolling my eyes. "I suppose you can drop the honorific now. And thanks for lending me your umbrella, Nagihiko."

He smiled back and I swore his whole face lit up. "You're quite welcome, Rima," he said, lowering his face to kiss me again.

But then the bus beeped loudly, drawing us out of our moment with each other. We both blushed awkwardly before running onto the bus, hand in hand.

And then suddenly, the half an hour trip on the bus didn't seem so bad, since we were now passing the time sitting in the same seat. Together.

Sure, we only knew each other for a week, but it wasn't like we were in love or anything.

Nope. We were simply in like.

- - - - - - - - - - -
the end.
- - - - - - - - - - -

d'awwwwwwwwww. ^_^

Oh my gosh, this story was a ton of fun to write. I'm really, really happy with the result!

And on a side note, I just realized how much fun Nagihiko's name is to type with one hand! You should tryyyyyy it. :]

Okay, so... how did I do with OOC-ness and with it being in Rima's point of view? And how did I do with it being AU?

Tellllll meeeeeeeeeeee :D

(please?)

Thanks for reading!