~

"How does he know that I have night shifts?!
Umeda whispered furiously at you.

She was bending down as she held a waitress tray vertically, covering your and her faces as she frowned in frustration.

"I mean, I know Aoki knows I work here
but he doesn't know when I work!"
She added.

"I told him."
You gave a devilish smile while whispering back to your freaked out friend.

"_____. Once my shift is over,
I am going to kill you."
She murmured.

"Sure, I think I have some time in my schedule for that."
You muttered back while looking at your finger nails.
"My nails look sucky, y'think I should get a manicure?"

"I don't care about your nails! Help me with Aoki!"
She complained.

"No way, I'm here to watch!
Entertain your only audience Umeda."
You laughed.

Umeda glimpsed over to Aoki
who was waiting at his table all by himself.

She looked back at you.
"Okay listen! If you help me deal with Aoki, we can go get manicures together. Sound good?"

"Pedicures too?"

"Yeah yeah,
anything you want as long as you help me!"

"Sure!"
You lightened up.

"Okay, so what do I do?"

"My advice is to just go take his order
and ask him why he's here. That's all!"

"Seriously?! That blunt?"

"Yeah, get straight to the point so you won't bore him! And hurry before your break's over."

Umeda hurriedly checked her watch, in 28 seconds her break was going to be over and her crush was at a table, waiting for a waitress to take his order.

"Okay fine I will! But only if you
promise to make up with- with your boyfriend!"

"Oh...that's random. But sure I...I guess."
You mumbled unsurely.

"Good."
Umeda sighed.
"I'm killing two birds with one stone."

Umeda stood up straight,
straightened and dusted her uniform before she took a deep breath.

"I can't believe I'm doing this."
She muttered to herself.

"You can do it!"
You mouthed with two thumbs up.

Umeda smiled at you while nodding her head.

She then hesitantly walked over to Aoki's table.
You smiled, knowing fully well that Aoki was going to be Umeda's soon-to-be boyfriend.

He even asked you for advice; he's had a crush on her for weeks.

You smiled as the two chatted with flustered faces. After a minute or so, you saw a blushing Umeda with her legs shaking.

Aoki rushed over to hug her and your heart warmed at the adorable sight. You decided that you could leave the diner now since there was no possibility that either of the two could faint.

You finished your glass of water
and putted your coat on.

You then
walked towards the diner's door and pushed it open.

As you did, you noticed that there was
someone else on the other side.

And your eyes met his.

They widened as your hands
hovered below your mouth.

"Tenya."

"____."

You both froze, speechless;
not knowing what to do in the current situation.

"E-Excuse me, could I please enter?"
Tenya gently asked.

"O-oh! Yeah, uhh sorry."
You stammered as you stepped aside, mentally facepalming yourself.

Tenya walked in and you walked out.
You then stood outside the diner, beside the entrance.

'Shit shit shit shit shit shit.'
You thought to yourself.

'What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?! Is it okay to ask if he's free? Does he want to see me? Or is he still thinking? Does he need more time? Mayb—wait.

You know what.

Yolo, I'm just going to ask him!

Can't keep waiting forever, and someone's gotta make a move...right?'

You waited outside opposite the diner,
leaning against a tall tree.

'Tonight sure is chilly.'

You wore a blueish-grey turtleneck;
you had a pair of white, comfortable sweatpants; a coat on and a pair of grey sneakers.

Your hair was down and you had your makeup on again.

Why?

You still wanted to feel good about yourself as you were still moping around in a fret.

Mainly because you were still bummed
about your fight with Tenya.

After a few minutes, Tenya came out of the
diner to lock eyes with you once again.

You walked over to him.

"Tenya, uhh, do you have some spare time?"

"As of this moment?"
Tenya blinked.

"Yeah. Pretty much."
You shrugged, tucking your hands into your pockets.

"Well, I'm suppose to take this meal to my mother..."
Tenya responded while glancing at his food that's been wrapped and placed into a white plastic bag.
"But, I suppose I do have a few minutes to spare."

"Thanks, can we...do you mind if we sit down?"

"Not at all."

You and Tenya then found a nearby sitting area.

It had long, semi circular cement bench that surrounded a fountain. Vines and moss had covered the bottom of the cement bench; the water fountain had stopped working a few hours ago, so a few puddles remained in the fountain.

The ground was covered with overgrown grass, the cobblestone path had moss growing in between tiny, empty spaces.

And there was a perfect view of Dagobah Municipal Beach Park as well. The moon shone brightly that night, it reflected perfectly on the ocean.

You and Tenya sat down opposite of each other.

"So, what is it that you wanted to discuss about?"
Tenya asked, sitting as proper as ever.

"Okay, uhh, I want to discuss about our fight."
You slowly mumbled.
"If that's...okay with you..?"

Tenya took a deep breath.
"It is."

"Okay...I-I'm sorry that you had to see me, kiss someone else. But Tenya, I think you should know that Maedai, the guy I kissed, is actually aromantic."

"He's aromantic?"
Tenya tilted his head.

"Yeah, y'know, aromantic. Not having any romantic feelings for anyone. So there's no possibility that Maedai would or could have feelings for me."
You shrugged.

"____, it's not Maedai's feeling I'm worried about..."
Tenya sighed.
"...It's...it's yours."

"It's mine?"
You raised a brow.

"Yes! It's your feelings that
I constantly find myself worrying about!"

"Why? What makes you think that? You think that I, that I'd fall for Maedai? Slowly overtime because of rehearsing and the kiss?"

"Yes!"

You paused.

Your cheeks turned pink, your legs trembled and your eyes slowly teared up. You hid your face in your hands and turned sideways to avoid direct contact.

You wanted to go over and hug Tenya so badly.

"____, what's wrong...?"
Tenya asked, puzzled with the reaction.

He'd expect another argument to brew;
not a meltdown.

"Tenya, I would never fall for Maedai! There's no way I'd fall for a guy like him. Plus, he's more like a younger brother to me."
You said, still burying your face in your hands.

"He is?"

A sparkle of hope shimmered in Tenya's eyes.

"Of course! The only
man I want to passionately kiss for real...is you."

The soothing feeling of reassurance washed over Tenya.

A moment of silence filled the air between you two.

"It's always been you."
You muttered, still covering your face.

A few seconds later, you heard footsteps walked over to you; a pair of warm, calloused hands gently grab your wrists. As they pulled your hands away from your face, you see Tenya's face inches away from yours.

Tenya looked you in the eyes and saw nothing but genuine sincerity and honesty in them.

The moonlight shone on both of you.

You tried covering your face with your hands but Tenya held your wrists firmly yet delicately.

"No Tenya, let me cover my face. You can't see me cry."
You said softly.

"Why not? I've seen you cry before."
Tenya raised a brow.

"I'm not wearing waterproof mascara."

"Waterproof mascara...? There's mascara that's waterproof?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's new."
Tenya muttered to himself.
"Wait mascara? You're wearing makeup?"

"Yeah."
You nodded.

"No wonder, I thought you looked more beautif—
I mean, I-I mean!"
Tenya panicked before clearing his throat.

"You look greater than usual..."
A smile had un-subconsciously appeared on Tenya's face.

"Thanks, it's the power of makeup."
You chuckled.

"Why are you wearing makeup?"
Tenya chuckled calmly.

"It's something I do when I'm down in the dumps."
You shrugged.
"And if I cry, I'll look like a sea witch."

"Impossible!"
Tenya slowly reached for you palms, intertwined your fingers together with his and kissed the back fo your hands.
"You're as beautiful as the broad of day!"

He stood up and hesitantly pulled you into a hug.

As you both hugged,
you rested yourself under Tenya's chin.

Oh, how you've missed the coziness of being in his arms! The warmth he had to offer, the feeling of being with him again.

"I'm sorry for everything you had to see that day."
You said quietly.
"But you need to know, that I love you. And I promise you that anything I do on stage isn't for real. I'll never actually love another man while we're dating. And once the final exams are over I'll make up for everything."

"You don't have to."
Tenya muttered back.
"If anything, I should be apologising. I'm the one who was overreacting and was entirely stubborn. I'm at fault here."

"Let's just say we're both at fault here."

You backed away a bit and looked at Tenya.

"So, are we good now?"
You asked while pushing your glasses back up.

Tenya titled his head and took a good look at you.
He kept on staring into your eyes, and there were no flashbacks of the kissing.

It was gone.

He smiled at you.
God, how he missed holding you like this.

"Yes, we definitely are."

A/N: thanks so much for reading, sorry if the chapter was shorter than expected. The full one was more than 3000 words (way past my limit) so I had to cut it.
Thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed, and stay healthy & hydrated! <3