Smoking Love (Mikoto Suoh x Reader)

Chapter Seven: Date

    "Y/N, if you don't ask him out soon, I'll go up and ask him for you."

    "Maiko!" you complained, cheeks redder than ripe cherries.

    She shot you an incredulous look, setting her herbal tea down on the table in front of you, "Don't you give me that, missy. You cannot deny how attracted you are to the man now or what chemistry you have between the two of you, especially considering you slept with him."

    "Don't say it out loud like that!" you whispered shouted through gritted teeth, trying to ignore some of the stares pointed in your direction.

    "Sorry, sorry. Yet you did sleep on him, in his bed, so if you wanna get technical..." A mischievous smile stretched at your friend's lips when she saw you huff in annoyance.

    "Whatever, Maiko. You must see something I'm missing because as far as I know, there is NOTHING going on between us. He probably did it because I'm his Clansman and he's a decent human being in general."

    Maiko raised an eyebrow at you, knowing how self-depreciating or pessimistic you could get whenever a conversation included a guy you liked. You never thought you were deserving of them or that they would ever like you back. And every time it happened, she'd try to prove you wrong.

    "No, I don't think that's it."

    You gave her an "are you kidding me" expression, yet she kept going, determined to get through to you somehow.

    Her hands started making a flurry of gestures to emphasize her point, "The man, who you say is lazy as all hell, went out of his way to help you through a panic attack, let you sleep in his arms afterwards, then make you a nice breakfast the next day before walking you home. Did you forget he's saved your life twice as well?"

    She pointed her fork at the stunned you, then shoved a bite of apple pie into her mouth, "You don't do shose kindsh of zhings unlesh you really care about a person, the kind of care that leadsh to love."

    You mulled over your friend's words, cheeks still looking like ripe cherries, as she continued enjoying her slice of pie in silence, hoping she'd finally made you see sense.

    Maiko had a pretty solid argument, you had to admit. He stepped out of his comfort zone, risked his reputation of tough guy, overcame his incredible laziness all for you. Yet, as usual, the little naysaying voice in the back of your mind kept berating you, trying to get you to dismiss the signs as nothing more than normal interactions between a King and his female subject, no attraction whatsoever on the male's side.

    Your best friend took your silence as a good thing, grinning in triumph at the victory. If you hadn't denied her words by now, you were at the very least considering believing her spiel. She would have liked to relish it a bit more, but a reminder on her phone halted that.

    "Oh shit," Maiko exclaimed much louder than intended, the café's attention on you two again, "I forgot I had a dentist appointment at 2:00 today! Maybe if I speed, I'll get there fifteen minutes late instead of thirty. By the way, this conversation - not over."

    You laughed a little under your breath at her mad scramble to leave, stuffing the last, big bite of pie into her mouth before giving you a muffled, crumb-filled goodbye. You were surprised she made it out the door without dropping something or running into someone.

    She was a handful at times, but you loved the messy, loud girl and wouldn't trade her for the world.

    You gathered up your things, too, although much more composedly than Maiko. You still needed to pay your daily visit to HOMRA after all. Just thinking of it put a smile on your lips, adopting a happy demeanor all along the way to your sanctuary.