Dream 02 → Together Umbrella

[irregular]

Warnings: Ridiculous, only vaguely IC romantic fluff. Oh, and Ken in a girls' school uniform. Zettai ryouiki, anyone?
Dream Effects: Nervousness and expectant hope, then unthinking happiness.
Notes: Calls heavily on this trope (Warning: TV Tropes link). Payment for White Day auction, backdated to mid-week. Youji looks like he did when Ken first met him, namely like this, so may not be recognizable.

The rain comes on suddenly.

There's rain veiling the empty streets, almost completely hiding the school he is waiting near; there's rain beating a tattoo on the pavement; there's water and street grime bespeckling his shoes and socks, his legs, almost bare, are lashed by the droplets and it doesn't discourage him, he's not even thinking about giving up and going home. He's holding an umbrella - large and red and glossy with water and holding it seems the most natural thing in the world, natural as waiting, though

(he can't even remember the last time he owned one, except he'd have been a child--)

even to Ken's own mind it doesn't seem like the kind of thing he should ever have been carrying with him. It's funny how bright it looks even from underneath it, a single spot of color on the drab and rain-washed canvas that is the empty street.

He's been waiting long enough for his shoes to be soaked through, for the rain to have darkened the exposed side of his sport bag to a glossy black. But, for all that the wait has been a long one - what was he doing before this? He can't even say - he's not bored. He's nervous, expectant - hopeful. He's got an umbrella and all the time he needs, and he can wait. He can wait forever if he has to...

The thought has Ken coloring, glancing about himself to check that nobody he knows can see him.

He's been watching so intently that when the change comes, he almost misses it. There's nothing and then there's a figure, a young man emerging from the veils of rain and crossing the empty, rain-washed road, walking slow in spite of the weather. It has him start. he knows long before he sees the figure's face that this is who he has been waiting for: he can't help but feeling

(which is nice but he can see youji any time, he doesn't have to wait in the rain like a lovestruck schoolgirl)

a surge of sudden, desperate anticipation and he's already smiling like an idiot. The umbrella tips upward slightly as he straightens. He's blushing, he knows it; his smile is far too broad. Not that it matters that he can't keep his cool

- What are you doing here? I told you we'd be running over, you didn't have to wait.

because Youji's got enough of that for the two of them.

- Wanted to surprise you.

Ken tells him that and it seems like a good enough explanation even though Youji laughs at him and raises his eyes heavenward and that doesn't matter, either. Ken grins up at him and steps forward, holding the umbrella up and out so that it covers the both of them and Youji takes it from him, propping it against one broad shoulder and Ken presses close to him: close, but not touching. He stands just close enough that the fabric of their sleeves is brushing together, and it's all he can do not to blush the harder at the realization and he knows he's being ridiculous but he can't find it in him to care

- Nice try, Kenken. If you weren't such an idiot half the time maybe I wouldn't have seen this coming...

- Well maybe I wouldn't have had to if you didn't think you were too cool for a coat!

because it's Youji. Because he's smiling even as he snipes at him, because some things are worth making an idiot of yourself for, worth standing in the rain and freezing your ass off waiting for, though school

(school?)

has been out for hours and there are a million and one things that he could have done with his time instead, somehow he doesn't regret a minute of the wait. None of them could ever have been more important than this.

He raises his head to find Youji offering him an apple. Red and glossy with water, it seems the most natural thing in the world for Youji to have in his hand, and that Youji should be holding it out to him feels only natural, too. Ken's almost sure there's nowhere he could have pulled it from, except perhaps from the sleeve of his jacket, but he doesn't question it. He simply reaches out, wondering

- What's this for?

and takes it, turning it over in his hands then looking up at Youji from behind a fall of damp hair.

- It's called an apple, Kenken. You eat it.

It's not what he meant and Youji knows it, but it's as good an explanation as he's likely to get. Ken hits him in the arm for being a cryptic ass and bites into it anyway, the flesh cool and crisp beneath his lips and teeth, the juice running down his chin, then holds it out to Youji, in a wordless invitation--


[-- which is about when she wakes up. The Dreamberry is glowing pink, but Ken doesn't really take much notice of that. She's aware it was recording, though, and that's quite enough for her to be getting on with. Who cares what 'Dream Converted' means when she's quite occupied enough burying her head under the pillow and wondering if she should kill herself before Youji can inevitably find out about this? It would at least save her the trouble of dying of embarrassment.

[As if the dream wasn't bad enough, she did the whole thing dressed as a schoolgirl. And she wasn't even actually a girl in the dream. Oh, God.]