Work Text:
“Okay, Takeba, you can do this.”
Yukari stared at herself in the mirror, hard. She had spent the last hour and a half getting ready for her day. A far cry from her usual twenty minute morning routine. Her outfit wasn’t any different from her usual winter Sunday outfit, really. Same pink sweater with the same white fluff adorning the neck and shoulder line, same pleated black skirt with the same thigh high socks and the same black boots. Same white heart choker, same pink nails. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Except that everything had to be perfect. There couldn’t be any wrinkles in her sweater, any little poof of fluff out of place. Her skirt had to be the exact right length, long enough to be modest but short enough to attract a certain person’s attention (wishful thinking, probably.) Her nail polish couldn’t be chipped whatsoever, she couldn’t have a hair out of place, and her strawberry lip gloss was applied perfectly even. Hopefully that would come in handy later.
“It’s not that hard. He hangs out with people all the time. People a lot weirder than you. Just ask him to go to Paulownia mall, and you can figure it out from there.” She told herself, in an attempt to steel her resolve.
It… sort of worked. Her pulse certainly wasn’t normal, but she felt a bit calmer than before. She could do this. Unlike last Sunday, where she had found herself in this exact same position but ultimately couldn’t bring herself to act, she stepped out of her room and headed down the dorm stairs. Each step served to calm her shot nerves more and more until she had convinced herself she could totally, definitely do this.
All of that flew right out the window the moment she caught a glimpse of his bright blue hair. She froze in place, her back foot still on the bottom stair. She vaguely recognized Junpei was sitting off to the side in the kitchen area of the dorm, but she couldn’t really care about that right now. The target of her affection was crouched down with his back turned to her, rubbing the belly of the dorm’s fluffy gray dog. Instantly as she laid eyes on him, she could feel her heart jump into her throat. Her stomach fell, her pulse quickened, she felt sweaty, her eyes darted around, she didn’t know what to do or say or think and everything seemed impossible and God was she sweating? If her hands were sweaty how was she suppos-
“Hey, Yuka-tan! What’re you all spaced out for?” Junpei’s voice crashed into Yukari like a truck, and completely halted her little panic attack.
Well, that was one way to be brought back to reality. Junpei may be an annoying, immature boy every now and then, but somehow he always seemed to be there when Yukari needed him the most. She’d owe him one for this, not that she’d ever tell him that.
“Good morning to you too, Junpei. Sorry, I just got a little lost in thought.” Yukari replied, and she hoped none of her previous meltdown showed itself. She thought she did a good job of hiding it, but for some reason Junpei’s face still seemed concerned.
“Riiiiiiight… well if you ever needa talk just let your good pal Junpei Iori know! Y’know I’m always here for ya, right Yuka-tan?” Junpei announced, a bit too enthusiastically.
Yukari just waved a hand in his direction, dismissing any notions of talking about her problems. Junpei was sweet, and certainly her best friend, but she wasn’t sure how much she could trust him with this specific issue. If Junpei found out about her massive crush on Makoto, she wasn’t sure she’d ever hear the end of it.
Seemingly oblivious to everything that just occurred, Makoto had stopped playing with Koromaru, walked over to the couch and plopped down in his usual spot, closed his eyes, and looked lost in his music, as always. Yukari took a deep breath, walked behind him, and tapped his shoulder. They had discussed this before, after everything that happened at Yakushima. If she ever needed him for any reason, or even just wanted to talk, she could always tap his shoulder and she’d have his full, undivided attention. That’s probably when she started to fall for him, honestly. He took one of his headphones off and looked at her with a raised eyebrow, wordlessly asking “What’s up?”
She had rehearsed this. She was going to do just fine.
“Mornin’, M-Makoto!” She still wasn’t used to saying his first name yet. “Wanna go to the mall today? I-If you aren’t busy…” She managed to get out. Silently, she cursed herself for stuttering.
“Sure.” His response came easily. But.. he wasn’t done talking yet. “Junpei, you gonna come too?”
Her heart dropped. Did he not want to be alone with her? He hangs out with all his other friends, even the girls, one on one all the time. What was so different about her? Was she not pretty enough? No, that couldn’t be it. Yukari had spent way too long getting ready this morning, and she was confident in her looks. Then why? Was she annoying? Did he not want to be seen alone with her? A million possibilities flashed through Yukari's mind. But maybe this wasn't actually her fault? Makoto always seemed a bit... oblivious. Maybe she wasn’t being clear enough? She was working to convince herself of that theory when she briefly registered Junpei’s “hmm?” and decided she needed to act right away, or she’d end up stuck with Junpei tagging along.
“Well.. um, I was actually hoping it’d just be us- I mean… well, haha…” she trailed off into a whisper. So much for acting right away.
Junpei shot Yukari a knowing look and said “Sorry, dudes! I, um, got plans and stuff… so y’all have fun without me!”
“Ok, see ya!” Came Makoto’s reply. Junpei quickly walked out the door of the dorm without even looking back.
“So, um, I’ll just run upstairs and grab my purse real quick and we can head out?” Yukari questioned, her voice full of hope.
“Yeah, sure. I’m ready whenever you are.” Makoto answered, his voice that same silky smooth it always was that made Yukari shudder if she thought about it too long.
“Okay, perfect! Be right back.”
As Yukari walked up the stairs, her phone buzzed. She glanced at it and saw a text from Junpei. It read “Good luck on the date :)” Well, shit. Guess she owed Junpei two now. Maybe she’d even let him know.