Whatever it was, it completely shot whatever confidence Yuuri had built up in himself around Adrien. And it was a horrible feeling because he liked being with Adrien and his antics. And he couldn’t stop thinking about him either, even though he hadn’t been able to text him back.
Instead, he focused on his classes, and more importantly, his role as a negaverse officer. He’d gotten into more than one scuffle over the past week, his face not quite healed from the bruise of being hit. Ironically it hadn’t even been a senshi or knight, but a civilian. But that was beside the point. He still had cuts and scrapes and bandages over his arms and palms from falling, usually because he tripped over his stupidly long hair.
Now, because his roommate was a horrible person and basically kicked him out, Yuuri figured he would try to find a quiet cafe to hide until he could venture back to his room, where he’d been trying to stay as often as possible. Mostly to avoid people.
He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he reached down to pull it out, a text from Adrien, in all caps, about how he needed to talk to him. Yuuri felt his heart twist uncomfortably and slid his phone back into his pocket, pausing at the edge of a crosswalk to wait for the light to change.
Adrien had spent possibly every waking moment thinking about the kiss, trying in vain to relive it through his memories. When he was not thinking about the way that Yuuri’s lips had felt against his or the sweet, tender hesitant way in which he’d touched Adrien’s neck, he was trying to get ahold of Yuuri, both through calling and texting - to no avail. Either Yuuri hated him now for running away, or he was trying to avoid him, or maybe both.
Which meant that there was an awful lot of wallowing going on.
Staying inside of his apartment had proved to be fruitless, so Adrien had dragged himself out, if only just to get a breath of fresh air. He’d tried texting Yuuri - again - but there had been no response, and Adrien dejectedly put the phone back into his pocket as he meandered down the street, hands stuffed into the pocket of his peacoat, his head bowed.
Maybe he’d just...go eat food. That sounded like a plan.
He could drown his sorrows in chocolate and junk food.
He stopped at the crosswalk, his face unhappy, and waited for the light to change. Adrien stretched out a hand to press the button, glanced idly across the street -
-and saw Yuuri, standing there, directly across from him.
Adrien’s heart knocked twice against his chest and without hesitation, he waved his hand violently, ignoring the startled looks from the people beside him.
“YUURI! Hey, Yuuri”
It wasn’t that he liked being miserable. Things just happened. Like whatever he’d done to scare Adrien off. It would be easier not to get back in touch with him because that would be too painful. It was never meant to last, anyway. It was easier this way. It was horribly lonely this way. Just when Yuuri found someone who intrigued him to no end, he had to do something to ruin it.
Yuuri glanced across the street to check to see how much longer the other light had to change. About ten seconds. Nine. Eight.
And then he completely froze, hearing his name being called. His head snapped in the direction he was waiting to cross, eyes wide as his face flushed darkly at the sight of Adrien, perfectly dressed without a hair out of place as normal.
He couldn’t do this. He had ignored Adrien’s texts and calls for the last week. He panicked. He only had about five seconds to cross the road before the light changed. No, it wasn’t in the way he was headed, but that was completely out of the question.
Pulling his eyes away from Adrien, Yuuri turned to dash across the street, waving apologetically at the cars that had to wait for him because he didn’t quite make it across before the timer ran out, but at least he had the intersection still between himself and Adrien now.
Adrien could feel the pounding of his heart, his chest tighter than usual, and for a moment, he remembered the sheer elation of seeing Yuuri, the simple and sweet pleasure of getting to be in his company. A bright, eager smile was on his face, eyes dawning with a hopeful sort of surprise, because he hadn’t expected to see him here, of all places, and now he was here, and Yuuri was here, and -
-and he was running away.
Adrien’s mouth fell open. He stood frozen on the street corner, arm still raised, until someone jostled him to cross, looking irritable that he had paused. His entire heart seemed to sink, Adrien’s expression one of crestfallen sadness as he slowly lowered his hand, letting himself be shunted over to the side that Yuuri had just left.
Clearly Yuuri hated him now. Clearly he should just let it go, give up. After all, Yuuri had been avoiding his texts and calls for a week now. Adrien should just...walk away.
He didn’t. Instead, he simply stared -
-and then his eyes narrowed and he was darting over to the other side of the intersection, jamming the button in an effort to make the crossing sign go back up.
“Yuuri!” he shouted, Adrien hopping up and down on one foot. “Yuuri, I need to talk to you!”
He hated this; this feeling of inadequacy, of knowing that nothing good would ever last for him because that was just the way life worked. He hated that he missed Adrien, because even though he was unpredictable and tended to drag him around without asking him if he’d be okay with something, it was fun and exciting and it made him feel things he had never felt before. Things that he didn’t realize he was capable of feeling.
Seeing Adrien there, knowing he was close enough to hear him, knowing that if he wanted, he could meet him halfway and he could talk to him again; it was incredibly painful for reasons that Yuuri did not understand.
He swallowed thickly against the building emotion, his hands already trembling with nervousness at the prospect of facing Adrien again, knowing very well that he could very well tell him off for not responding to his texts.
Yuuri chewed nervously on his lip as the light changed again, and he quickly crossed the street to reach the opposite corner Adrien was crossing to, managing once more to put a road in between them. This was immature and childish, Yuuri knew, but he also didn’t know how he was going to face Adrien again. Not when he could still remember how red Adrien’s face had been when he broke the kiss that he initiated, how he’d run away and left his own apartment in order to get away from Yuuri.
His heart twisted uncomfortably, a hand reaching up to clutch at the thick green sweater he wore, as if that would alleviate some of the ache.
The light changed again. Surprisingly, Adrien hadn’t given up on trying to reach him, even after how obvious it was that Yuuri was trying to put some distance between them. And no matter how much it hurt, Yuuri really did miss him, for whatever reason. Probably because Adrien was the first person he could remember actually making him feel like he was more than just another person on the street, like he was someone.
Straightening up a little, Yuuri pulled his hand away from his chest and turned to head back across the street in the direction he’d just come, finally meeting up with Adrien at the corner of the street and looking up at him, his expression hurt and confused and hopeful and stressed and countless other things that Yuuri didn’t understand. He reached out to grab hold of Adrien’s arm, and pulled him away from the corner of the street where they were in danger of being trampled, and pulling him down the street a ways before finally letting go.
Adrien made a squawk of wordless protest as Yuuri darted across yet another street, his expression now turning to one of mild outrage, jaw dropping. He snapped his mouth shut again, chest heaving, and jabbed at the button to cross, trying to get it to work faster, because the more you pressed it, the faster it came, right?
He wasn’t going to think about the fact that Yuuri was undoubtedly ignoring him and point blank running away from him. He wasn’t going to think about the concept of Yuuri probably hating him, because he’d run out, because he’d had everything all worked out inside of his head and that had all gone into the garbage the second he’d come across a quiet, dark haired boy standing in the rain.
He wasn’t going to think about any of that until he at least made Yuuri talk to him.
The light changed, and Adrien made to move forward, determined to actually get ahold of him, and had already started to cross the street when he saw Yuuri coming bak. The expression on his face hurt Adrien, somehow, eyes widening in surprise; he took two steps back to reach the sidewalk again, and then Yuuri was in front of him.
Yuuri was in front of him, and his hand was on Adrien’s arm, and he was dragging Adrien down the street, to a lesser crowded area, where they weren’t in danger of being run over.
He felt a little dizzy. And a little disappointed when Yuuri’s hand dropped away.
“Yuuri,’ said Adrien quickly, and this time it was him who reached out, taking ahold of Yuuri’s arm from behind just in case he decided to run away again. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you! Didn’t you get my messages?”
All sixteen billion of them?”
Yuuri made a small noise of protest when Adrien grabbed his arm, as if he really thought he was going to try and run after he’d obviously made the effort to walk back to where Adrien was, his face flushing darkly in both embarrassment and frustration because he shouldn’t be feeling this way around someone he just met because it was stupid and dangerous and he couldn’t help it.
Adrien was, well, Adrien. And he was confident and handsome and sometimes loud, okay all the time loud, but he was also charming and he made Yuuri feel things he didn’t want to feel because he shouldn’t get attached.
“Yes,” he admitted quietly, swallowing thickly and gently trying to pull his arm away from Adrien’s grasp, but not being very successful. Nor was he making much of an attempt. “I didn’t want to talk to you,” he also admitted, because facing Adrien was painful and embarrassing. His heart was already doing strange things and beating much too quickly.
“Whatever I did, I’m sorry,” he said, his voice strained as he looked up at Adrien, both fearful of what the other would say and hopeful that maybe… maybe he hadn’t messed up too much. “I…” he tried to explain himself, but the words got caught in his throat. He couldn’t figure out what to say or how to say all the things he wanted.
“I meant it, what I said,” he forced himself, barely above a whisper, possibly even drowned out by the noise of the city around them. “I want you to teach me. I…” he was floundering again, and he made another attempt to tug his arm away, perhaps to actually try and run. Maybe Adrien already knew him well enough to know he was quite capable of attempting to flee when things got difficult.
Adrien wasn’t paying attention to the grip he had on Yuuri’s arm; it was just a way of keeping him where he was, because he didn’t want him to run off again, because he would have been unbearably sad even if he was about to be unbearably sad because Yuuri decided he hated him.
“Why not?” Adrien asked, visibly wilting, shoulders slumping. “I mean - is this because - “
His stomach was doing flipflops. Adrien tried to make himself calm down, but that wasn’t working too well, because Yuuri was blushing again, and all Adrien could do was stare at him with wide eyes that had the faintest shade of blue dusted across his eyelids, and an expression that clearly indicated he was trying to figure out what on earth he was supposed to do.
Except Yuuri was - apologizing - and -
“Wait, wait, wait,” said Adrien, half dragging Yuuri back to him without that much effort, even if Yuuri was both trying to not look at him and trying to get away.
“You think I - because you did something wrong?”
The tone of voice was utterly, completely bemused, as if Adrien couldn’t possibly understand this simple concept.
He tried not to flinch when Adrien dragged him back to him, not because he was hurting him or anything like that, but because he didn’t think he could handle another rejection like before. It was very clear that he’d done something wrong, otherwise why would Adrien have run off like he did?
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” he muttered dizzily, making a feeble attempt to once again try to pull his arm free. The way Adrien responded, the way he questioned him, it made it seem as though… as though maybe it had nothing to do with Yuuri. That maybe there was something else to it that he just didn’t understand because even though he liked to think he understood people (mostly), he had no idea what to do when it came to stuff like this.
And the worst part was that he’d missed him. He’d missed talking to him, or rather letting Adrien talk, because he didn’t think he could get tired of his voice, or the way he looked at him. And Yuuri knew he couldn’t forget the way he felt to be so close to him, to dance with him, to feel his lips on his neck and on his mouth and.
Yuuri’s stomach was doing horrible, fluttery things, because he knew that this was going to be dangerous. He was already too fascinated by Adrien and wanted to know more about him. If he didn’t break whatever was left of their friendship now, he didn’t know if he could handle it later.
He swallowed thickly, turning to look up at Adrien with a nervously determined gaze. And before he could stop himself, he stepped closer, pushing himself up onto his tiptoes as he took hold of the collar of Adrien’s jacket to pull him down a little more, and kissed him.
It was quick and chaste and inexperienced and in public in the middle of a busy city street, what the hell was he thinking?? But he had to. Because if Adrien left now, it would make things easier and he wouldn’t have to worry about any of this ever again. He just hoped his face wouldn’t melt off in the process of waiting for Adrien’s response to probably the most awkward peck of a kiss ever but damn it he tried.
Yuuri still wasn’t looking at him, though the fact that he hadn’t run off was a bonus, Adrien supposed. He was feeling antsy, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, hoping beyond hope that maybe Yuuri didn’t hate him, especially since Adrien was relatively certain that he’d be crushed if Yuuri told him to go away. He’d missed Yuuri, missed his shy, rare smiles that were just barely there, missed his awkward, fumbling conversation, missed his gentle voice, his questioning eyes. Yuuri was good and Adrien didn’t want him to hate him.
Adrien opened his mouth as Yuuri turned, his expression one of plaintive sadness.
“I - “ he started to say, but nothing else came out because -
-because Yuuri had kissed him.
It was a kiss, he knew it was a kiss. It didn’t matter that it had been quick. It didn’t matter that it had been chaste, barely a brush of their lips together. It didn’t matter that Yuuri’s face looked as though he might start letting off steam at any second right now.
It was a kiss. Yuuri had kissed him.
Adrien stared at him, eyes wide, mouth slightly ajar. His mind was slowly processing this, slowly turning the cogs, slowly putting all of the pieces together.
“You.” Adrien swallowed hard, and a smile was dawning irrepressibly across his face, bright and incredulous.
“You kissed me!”
He thought he might cry; his heart was racing and he felt dizzy and embarrassed and pleased with himself, but mostly embarrassed because now Adrien was staring at him with those bright blue eyes of his, looking at him like he was actually there, that he existed and was real and worth something, even if it wasn’t much.
Yuuri very much liked Adrien’s smile, but he also didn’t know if he could handle that look he was giving him right then. Because it meant so much to him that he didn’t know how to even start explaining himself.
His lips pursed together in a frown as he looked up at Adrien a moment longer, and then lowered his head down so he didn’t have to face him any longer. But instead of pulling away to run like he would have wanted to just a little while ago, that bright smile kept him there, and Yuuri leaned forward once more to drop his forehead against Adrien’s shoulder. Probably a little more forcefully than necessary, but he thought he really might cry if he was smiled at like that for much longer.
“You kissed me,” he muttered, his hands by his side even as he kept his face buried against Adrien’s coat collar. “You left me.” And he didn’t know what he’d done, because he thought things had been going just great and then Adrien left and it broke his heart.
Adrien’s cheeks were flushed as well, though he wasn’t nearly as scarlet as Yuuri was. He could see the frown on Yuuri’s face instead, the look of confusion or maybe it was concern or maybe it was suspicion, or maybe it was something else, he wasn’t entirely sure what. Whatever it was, Adrien couldn’t stop smiling, a smile that only grew bigger with surprised delight as Yuuri shuffled forward, his forehead coming to rest on Adrien’s shoulder.
You kissed me.
And you left me.
Adrien let out a long, long sigh. Then he reached down, clamped his hands on either side of Yuuri’s head, and tilted his face up so that he could look him in the eyes.
“I did kiss you,” he said happily, and there was no hiding the pure silly joy that was in his voice, or on his face. “And I did leave you ,sort of, but I had a reason for that, except it’s kind of a stupid reason, I know, but before I actually tell you the reason, I’m going to kiss you again.”
Which he did, without hesitating, Adrien ducking his head and pressing a sound, firm kiss to Yuuri’s lips; not the brief, light, chaste kiss that Yuuri had given him, but also not the desperate, heated, deep kisses they’d shared in his apartment. He pulled back after a minute, Adrien’s thumbs smoothing over Yuuri’s warm cheeks.
He was still smiling. He couldn’t help it.
“I got scared,” Adrien admitted. “Uh. I mean, of you. Sort of. I mean, of - “ He waved a hand between them. ”This. So I ran away. But.”
Adrien slid his hands from Yuuri’s face, over his shoulders and then twined his arms around Yuuri’s waist, tugging him forward so that they were barely an inch apart, his face nearly split apart by his smile.
“I really like kissing you,” Adrien said happily.
This was stupid. Yuuri was stupid. Adrien was stupid. His adorable smile was stupid. This was all stupid and a horrible idea and Yuuri nearly sputtered in surprise as hands took hold of his face and tilted it upwards. He stared with wide eyes as Adrien smiled down at him, and then kissed him again which was fine, it was absolutely fine. And stupid. Because now Yuuri was feeling dizzy and out of sorts and wanting more but that was also a stupid, horrible idea.
And he liked it. Being kissed by Adrien was warm and sweet and tasted like coffee and his hands were soft and gentle on his face and Adrien’s cheeks were red as well, but he looked so damn handsome that it didn’t matter.
There was a little hiccup-like sob that escaped as Adrien pulled back, Yuuri opening his eyes to stare incredulously up at him, like he wasn’t real because he’d completely expected him to turn around and run off, but he was kissing him instead.
Not only that, but Adrien was admitting to being scared of him, which was almost impossible to believe because why would Adrien be scared of this? Whatever this was. Yuuri wasn’t sure, and he was afraid to ask.
“We’re in public,” Yuuri hissed embarrassedly, trying not to look at anyone passing by, not wanting to see their judging faces or looks of disgust. Once more, he didn’t know what to do with his hands. He wanted to put them somewhere but he didn’t know what was appropriate. Adrien’s hands had slid down over his shoulders and then arms around his waist, pulling him close. Close enough that it felt comfortable and safe and -
Yuuri frowned once more up at Adrien and his stupidly beautiful smile, before dropping his head back down onto his shoulder, his own hands lifting to tentatively place around Adrien’s waist, fingers digging lightly into the thick fabric of the coat.
“What is this?” he mumbled, keeping his head down so that Adrien wouldn’t be tempted to kiss him again, even though he liked how his lips tingled and he felt warm all over and he wanted more, but he also was realistic enough to not get his hopes up.
“What am I to you, Adrien?” he forced himself to ask before he could change his mind.
His tone didn’t indicate that he was expecting anything earth shattering; it was just a simple question. If he was just someone Adrien liked to kiss in his free time, that was okay. If he was just someone to go dancing with, that was okay, too. Maybe Adrien was just lonely and wanted someone’s company. Or maybe Adrien was just trying to pass the time until he moved on with his life. Any of that could be okay. And maybe he was asking too soon, maybe Adrien didn’t even know. And that was okay, too. He just wanted to know.
Adrien could have cared less whether they were in public or not, but Yuuri did, so Adrien relented - sort of - even though all he kind of wanted to do was kiss Yuuri again and maybe another time after that. He didn’t pull away, however, even as Yuuri squirmed, clearly confused, until finally - and to Adrien’s pure and utter delight - his hands settled on Adrien’s waist, a little electric shock shivering up and down Adrien’s spine.
He couldn’t stop looking stupidly pleased at this - even more so when Yuuri’s head ducked down back onto his shoulder again. At least Yuuri had stopped trying to run away - and even more so, he was letting Adrien continue holding him, which frankly felt like monumental success, in all honesty.
The question, however, took him a little aback.
“What do you mean, ‘what’s this?’ “ Adrien asked in surprise, brows raising. “Uh. You mean the kissing? I hope you didn’t mean the kissing. Or maybe, like, do you not know about kissing? Because it’s super fun and I really like to do it, and I really like doing it - that - kissing - with you, and I kind of want to kiss you again, but you said we’re on the street, so I’ll try not to.”
It took him a moment, as it always did, for his head to process the rest of what Yuuri had said.
”What am I to you?
It was a harder question, maybe, in Yuuri’s head, but not to Adrien. The answer came just as readily as the first one had.
“You’re Yuuuuri,” said Adrien, sounding a mixture of happiness and also patient slowness, as though Yuuri needed a bit of help understanding this simple concept. “You’re that cute boy I met at the bus stop the other day. You’re my friend, and you’re really funny, and you’re really cute, and I like talking to you, and now I really, really want to kiss you, but also, will you go out with me?”
This last part was said all in a rush of breath, Adrien beaming down at Yuuri as bright as he always did, but this time with just a hint of uncertainty to it, as though he wasn’t quite aware that what he’d said meant something important until after it had left his mouth.
“I meant the this you ran away from,” Yuuri grumbled quietly to himself, his voice muffled already as he kept his face hidden, his fingers flexing somewhat nervously around the fabric of Adrien’s coat. “Unless the kissing scared you, then I guess that’s probably a bad thing, not that I know anything about it,” he continued to mutter, and then pulled himself back just enough to he could tilt his head up to look at Adrien’s stupidly cute face and his bright smile and those blue eyes that made Yuuri just want to stare because the color reminded him of a bright, sunny day.
His brows furrowed together in disbelief when Adrien explained to him exactly what he was. Funny was not something he would have pegged himself for, nor did he think he was all that cute, but he supposed he thought of Adrien as his friend, even if he was certain Adrien would get bored of him relatively quickly.
But then Adrien had to say something completely unexpected, and Yuuri stared up at him with wide eyes, his face almost impossibly red. He misheard him, right? Adrien said completely off the wall things as it was, so of course his rambling would have him saying something like that.
“That’s not funny,” Yuuri frowned, hating that his voice sounded breathless and hopeful and probably also terrified. “You can’t… you can’t joke about things like that,” he gently scolded, his hands gripping tightly to Adrien’s waist, before trying to push at him, but with hardly any strength, wiggling to try and twist away, his heart pounding.
Adrien didn’t mean it like that. Why him? Surely there were enough people in Adrien’s life who weren’t miserable and afraid of crowds and knew how to dance and knew how to kiss and people didn’t just ask someone like Yuuri to go out with them. Especially not someone like Adrien, who was charming and handsome and funny and… - It wasn’t fair.
“You can’t, Adrien. Because I’d - I’d really - really like to. And that’s not fair to me or to you or to anyone so,” he practically sobbed, giving up on trying to pull away and just hid his face in his hands, which he then pressed into the collar of Adrien’s coat, because it was easier to hide than to face Adrien for something he would definitely want to recant.
“Why would you say that?” he half groaned, half let out a sob, his voice muffled again and he shook his head. He felt as though his whole body was trembling with despair, because it was so unfair that Adrien would tease him like that. Things like that just didn’t happen to Yuuri, so he knew it was just a joke, just something misspoken. Adrien couldn’t have possibly meant what he asked.
Yuuri had pulled back to look at him, his cheeks still flushed, his expression one of anxious, frustrated confusion mixed with - something - and Adrien felt as though his heart had skipped two beats. It was such an unbelievably endearing look that he wanted to preserve it in his memories for as long as he could, especially since Yuuri was still holding onto him.
“I didn’t run away because of the kissing,” said Adrien quickly. “I mean, I did.I mean, not really. The kissing was really, really nice. Like really nice, and I totally want to do it again soon. But it wasn’t because you were bad or anything.”
The blush had deepened. Adrien was still trying to work things out inside of his head, because he felt overwhelmed by all of the things he wanted to say and couldn’t, or the things he had said that probably sounded stupid, or by the things that he thought he might want to say. Yuuri was blushing, and he was adorable, and his lips were just a little reddened and so very, very kissable, except that he was trying to tug himself away from Adrien now, and Adrien felt like his heart was going to stop beating if he did.
He tugged on Yuuri, only to find that Yuuri had stopped trying to resist and had buried his face in the collar of Adrien’s coat, his entire body shaking. Adrien stared down at him, his heart beating very, very fast, his chest feeling tight, and maybe he shouldn’t have said something like that, maybe -
Oh.
Oh.
Adrien’s arms came around Yuuri, and he buried his face in Yuuri’s hair, his embrace tight, and unyielding, refusing to let go.
“I want to go out with you,” he said, and his own voice came out muffled, Adrien hugging Yuuri so tightly that he was probably having issues breathing. “You are hopelessly endearing and unbelievably cute. I want you to go out with me, and I want to kiss you, and I want to hug you, and I just - please? Please go out with me.”
He felt pathetic. Helpless. And the more he thought about it, the more he knew how much he really, really wanted Adrien to have really meant it when he asked him out. Because people didn’t just ask him things like that, because he was, well, he was Yuuri. And he tended to run away before he had the chance to get close to anyone because it would result in his heart being broken. He knew he was weak, that he was fragile and tended to freak out easily, but he also desperately wanted all the normal things that normal people might want. Even if he wasn’t normal.
His head felt like it was spinning with all the stupid thoughts, and he kept his face hidden against Adrien’s collar because he had no idea what else to do.
And then Adrien was wrapping his arms around him, and his face was pressed into his hair, and he was holding him so tight that Yuuri could barely breathe. He pulled his head back a bit so he wouldn’t have to worry about suffocating with how tightly Adrien was holding onto him, his heart pounding and his eyes wide as Adrien repeated himself.
He was really asking him out. Begging almost. Why? What about him had drawn someone like Adrien Davids to want to ask him out? Yes, Adrien said that he was endearing and cute and other really nice, wonderful things, but he couldn’t possibly be the only person Adrien thought was cute. This was Adrien.
Yuuri drew in a shuddering breath, trying desperately to keep his emotions at bay because this seemed too surreal. But he also wanted it to be real. His arms were trapped between them, so he did his best to grab onto the lapels of Adrien’s coat, keeping him from pulling away too quickly, and tilted his head so he could press his face against the side of Adrien’s neck and jaw.
“Please,” Yuuri choked out, followed by something of a hiccuping sob. He had no idea what this would mean since he had no experience with this, but he wanted whatever excuse he had to be around Adrien longer. “Please give me that chance. I want to go out with you,” he conceded, wishing that they were not in the middle of the sidewalk in the middle of the city where there were too many people around, because the felt the uncontrollable urge to kiss this man.
He shifted his head just slightly again, his movements unsure, but he pressed the smallest of kisses against Adrien’s neck, shivering from the feel of heat and his heartbeat under his lips.
He was too cute.
Ridiculously, outrageously, unbelievably cute, so much so that Adrien wasn’t even sure how to handle it. It should be impossible for someone to be this cute, and yet Yuuri was breaking all of the rules that Adrien was used to. He was sweet and shy and impossibly endearing; he had already managed to make Adrien feel as though everything was shifting in a direction that was making his heart flutter madly against his chest. It didn’t matter that it had only been a few days, a few weeks; Adrien had always been the sort to to be interested in people from the get go, and he was interested in a way that he had not been in…
Actually, he couldn’t remember. Ever? Even with Obsidian, it wasn’t like this. Obsidian was his general, his mentor, the man he looked up to. Yuuri was…
Special. There was no other word for it. He didn’t care that it might have been cliche, or overused, or anything of the sort. All Adrien cared about now was the possibility of Yuuri saying yes to going out, because frankly, he wasn’t entirely sure that he would actually be able to handle it if the answer was going to be no.
Yuuri was shifting; Adrien loosened his arms just enough to let him move a smidge, even though it made the anxiety skyrocket, because what if Yuuri was trying to get away? What if Adrien had finally pushed too far? What if Yuuri was just going to slap him, or reject him, or tell him no, or maybe even say that he hated him for running away, and maybe he was a bad kisser or something, that was still a possibility -
Yuuri’s cheek was pressed against his jaw, his neck, and Adrien felt as though his legs were going to collapse out from beneath him.
I want to go out with you.
Elation - pure, glowing, vibrant brilliant elation swept through Adrien immediately, bursting through his veins so that everything felt as though it was liquid sunshine. He would have let out a whoop, and almost did - except that he felt a tender, soft press of lips against his throat, just above where his pulse was going rabbit fast.
He felt electric, alive. Adrien’s head jerked up.
“Yes,” he said, scarcely believing his own words. ”Yes. Uh. One sec.”
They were getting weird looks from the people around them. Adrien didn’t care, and never had, but Yuuri had already expressed discomfort for being in public once. He dropped his arms from around Yuuri, but reached down and seized his hand, towing him down the sidewalk. A left turn, past the cafe, then a quick right, and they were in a small alcove was part of a small garden meant for touring. It was surrounded on all sides by towering hedgerows that went above Adrien’s head - and at the moment, it was entirely devoid of people, the garden unpopulated due to the chilly weather and weekday.
“Oh, good,” said Adrien happily. “This is much better, because now I can do this.”
He slid his arms under Yuuri’s, back around his waist, hauled him up, and kissed him without hesitation.
Yuuri wasn’t sure what he should have expected when Adrien’s head suddenly jerked up and then let him go only to grab hold of his hand. He sputtered in disbelief as he stumbled after Adrien as he was pulled down the sidewalk and behind a cafe and -
Oh. It was definitely not as crowded here. In fact, they were the only two around.
He stared up at Adrien with wide eyes, marveling at how thrilled he looked, at how happy he seemed. All because Yuuri had agreed to go out with him? Was that possibly the reason for such a bright smile?
There wasn’t much time for him to think about it, because suddenly Adrien was sliding his arms under his once more. An almost strangled sounding, and embarrassing, squeak of surprise escaped as he was hauled up and kissed and -
Yuuri did the only thing he could think of at that moment, and hesitantly reached up to slide his arms over Adrien’s shoulders, his hands sliding over the back of his neck, fingers cautiously sliding into his hair because he still wasn’t sure how Adrien would react to his perfectly styled hair being messed up, and Yuuri definitely didn’t want to upset him in any way if he could help it.
He melted into the kiss, even as his body still trembled with uncertainty, a small, pleased sigh escaping through his nose as he did his best to kiss Adrien back. He didn’t know what he did, but he was so incredibly glad that Adrien had followed him onto the bus that evening not too long ago.
Adrien relished the single look of startled, breathless wonder on Yuuri’s face before he kissed him, letting it burn into his mind; a beautiful, bright, shining moment that felt unbelievably precious.
Really, he probably should have asked first - but Adrien felt Yuuri sliding tentative arms up over his shoulders, then fingers shifting along the back of his neck, delving into his hair. This, combined with the way that Yuuri was sinking into him, and the long sigh of pleasure, made Adrien’s heart practically beat right out of his chest, his pulse skyrocketing, sheer joy ebbing through him.
In another moment of hindsight, Adrien knew the kissing was technically supposed to happen after the first date. Probably. Wasn’t that how it always went in the movies?
But, well. Yuuri’s lips were warm and soft against his own, entirely yielding to Adrien’s insistence. It was hard to try and justify waiting until after their first date to kiss again. Besides, Adrien thought, the mini golf thing most definitely counted as a date, even if neither of them had known it at the time, which meant that technically, this was after their first date, so it was entirely reasonable to kiss now.
Adrien took a single step forward, just a shuffle, really, and pressed Yuuri up against the nearest hedgerow, arms secure around his waist. He may have gotten a little overly enthusiastic in the kisses, Adrien’s lips parting eagerly, deepening them until he was breathless and flushed, until he had to pull away in order to get air into his lungs.
“Well,” he said, a little hoarsely, his eyes shining with pleasure as he beamed down at Yuuri. “That was nice.”
He lifted a hand, palm against Yuuri’s reddened cheek, and used his thumb to wipe a little wetness off of Yuuri’s lower lip; almost an idle gesture.
“I really like kissing you. I’m sorry I ran away from you. Forgive me?”
The look Adrien was wearing was a hopeful, abashed one, Adrien shuffling his feet guiltily.
Yuuri’s mind felt hazy, dizzy, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. It was such a high that he never expected to feel. He liked this, even though it made him completely breathless and left him weak and trembling. But Adrien was so warm and his lips were soft and he was… very enthusiastic about this whole kissing thing. Yuuri couldn’t help the small gasps every time Adrien kissed him deeper, and pressed him against the hedgerow, but he also felt perfectly content because Adrien had yet to let him go.
This was much, much better than his dreams. He still had no idea what to do, or if he was any good at this, or if he should try to be more encouraging about continuing this, but it made him feel so light and good.
He could barely breathe by the time Adrien pulled back to catch his own breath, Yuuri’s face red and overheated and he let his arms slide back down from around Adrien’s neck to rest on his shoulders, his fingers kneading almost nervously. Yuuri felt himself nodding slowly, breathlessly in agreement as he gazed up in wonder at Adrien’s own flushed face, one of Yuuri’s hands lifting to touch his cheek, feeling the heat under his fingertips, and then he slid them down to his jaw, and then his neck, as if just wanting to explore this new, wonderful thing he discovered.
“I’m sorry I scared you enough that you ran away from me,” he said softly, more coy than teasing, but Yuuri thought it was pretty clear that he was content at the moment. “I - like kissing you, too. And yes,” he said, pushing himself up so that he could press another quick kiss to Adrien’s mouth. “I forgive you.”
It was admittedly a little - a lot - distracting - to hear those startled little gasps that Yuuri kept making.Adrien wanted to figure out how else he could get Yuuri to make that sound again, his gaze flickering over Yuuri’s wide, stunned eyes, his flushed cheeks, the slightly reddened lips that Adrien had just been kissing - and had been kissing him back.
The gentle, exploratory touch of Yuuri’s fingertips against his cheek had Adrien’s heart knocking twice against his ribs. It traveled down his jaw, his neck, and then stopped, and Adrien was suddenly breathless with all that he could feel, all that he was thinking, all that he wanted to say and didn’t know how to say, all that he wanted Yuuri to say or do or be, and was this how it was supposed to feel when you started going out with someone?
Adrien had no idea how any of this worked.
Yuuri’s gentle forgiveness made a wide, bright smile break out across Adrien’s face, immediately erasing the shame and uncertainty that had been there a second before. The little, sweet kiss that followed was a pure delight, and Adrien wrapped his arms around Yuuri’s waist again,
”Good,” he said, and he was kissing Yuuri again, because he couldn’t help himself; brief kisses with flashes of heat, with small tastes of Yuuri’s mouth, repeated over and over again until finally Adrien drew back, breathless and flushed and absurdly happy.
“Can I walk you home?” he asked, and held out his hand expectantly.
As wonderful as all of this was, Yuuri couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to make everything fall apart. He’d only just agreed to go out with Adrien, and he was already thinking about how many ways it might come to an abrupt, horrible end.
He hated that feeling, knowing that there would always be something. Something that would decide that neither of them deserved to be happy. Or maybe something would happen and Adrien would find someone else who made him happy, and Yuuri would be left with the broken heart.
No, he shouldn’t be thinking that way. This was new and good and he just needed to hold onto it as long as he could. And Adrien was kissing him again, and it was warm and wonderful and everything would be okay. At least he hoped.
The makings of a small, not really there smile was tugging at Yuuri’s lips, his face flushed, as Adrien pulled back and smiled that bright, beautiful smile at him, and Yuuri immediately reached out to take hold of Adrien’s hand, even though he wondered if he should be more cautious about being so public with their intimacy.
Not that holding Adrien’s hand was all that intimate, but still. People talked and were horrible.
The twitch of his lips quickly faded though, and Yuuri stared at Adrien with growing uncertainty when he asked if he could walk him home.
“Actually,” he started gently, not really knowing how else to say it, so he drew in a deep breath and spit it out, “Would it be okay if I stay with you tonight?” He paused for a moment after he said it, his face deepening in color as he realized Adrien might not understand what he meant or his intentions or whatever.
“Um, I mean, I stay at the dorms. My roommate isn’t… he’s kind of horrible… But if you’d rather me not, or if you have plans or - that’s fine,” he quickly tried to explain, his hand gripping a little tighter to Adrien’s in his nervousness.
He wasn’t thinking about everything bad that could happen. Or rather, he was, but he’d pushed it to the back of his head, because he could only take so much of thinking right now, and if he thought too many things at once, he’d be overwhelmed, and he really, really needed to not be overwhelmed, not when Yuuri was looking at him like he’d hung the moon, and Adrien wanted to -
He wanted a lot of things. He tried to reign in all of his wandering ideas and stuffed them to a different part of his brain to look at later.
Yuuri was almost smiling. Adrien never wanted that almost smile to leave. He took Yuuri’s hand and didn’t just hold it, but slid his fingers in between Yuuri’s, interlacing them until they were tangled together, palm to palm, Adrien giving Yuuri’s hand a little squeeze as he started to turn to walk.
And then stopped, whipping back at around at the question with wide, startled eyes, because, oh, well, if Yuuri wanted to do more -
Oh. Never mind. Adrien swallowed back the immediate and instinctive reply he’d been about to give, especially since Yuuri was talking about his roommate being horrible, and the idea of Yuuri being near anyone horrible, let alone having to live with them, was making Adrien’s heart hurt. He could feel the tremors in the fingers that held his, the subtle tightening of Yuuri’s grasp, the uncertainty in his voice, anxiety thick.
Adrien stepped forward and kissed Yuuri on the forehead.
“If your roommate sucks, you can totally stay with me,” he said brightly. “Come on, cutie, let’s go home, then.”
He was so stupid. He really needed to think before he actually spoke because obviously things could have different meanings, and he knew that and yet he still said something to make Adrien stare at him like he did.
Yuuri glanced awkwardly away when Adrien looked at him with wide eyes, still holding onto his hand with their fingers laced so comfortably together. But then Adrien stepped forward to kiss his forehead, and Yuuri looked shyly up at him, feeling uncertain and nervous, as though he should be doing something that he wasn’t, or maybe he wasn’t doing enough.
Adrien didn’t seem to mind though, and he was still holding onto his hand, and he was still looking at him as though Yuuri was someone special or important or - he wasn’t entirely sure, but it was a nice, warm feeling. And he liked it very much.
“Thank you,” he said quietly, his hand still tight in Adrien’s as he took a step forward to walk beside him on their way back to Adrien’s apartment.
kuropeco
Fin!
