Walking side by side, Usui and Mia wandered across the hallway, not sure where to go (or so Mia thought).
“These costumes really make me feel plain.” Mia said as she saw people with cosplays walking around.
“No you’re not.” he said with a bored tone.
“Gee thanks! But that compliment never really works.” she said honestly for the first time.
“What more do you want?”
“Something that actually works.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know Mr. I-am-the-hottest-guy-in-the-world-and-girls-fall-for-me-every -second. Why don’t you figure out something?”
“Number 1, that name is far too long to remember. Number 2, is that another challenge?” the blond asked as a smirk spread on his lips
“Depends how you take it really. For me, it’s just a mocking question.”
“Hhmm ...” Usui went silent for a moment, obviously thinking of how to make this sarcastic, way too smart, kuudere blush.
“I see you took it the way you like it.” she said and continued staring out the window of the hallway.
They both stayed in a comfortable silence and didn’t know where they were going until they bumped into the hugely decorated end of the hallway.
“WELCOME TO THE CUTE COUPLE COMPETITION ENTRY! DO JOIN!” a loud yell was heard, snapping the 2 out of their thoughts.
“Couple competition?” Mia asked with her left brow raised.
“We’ll join.” Usui said calmly.
“Say what?”
“OK! FIRST CHALLENGE! PLEASE FOLLOW US DOWN THE LOCATION!”
“Again, say what?” Before Mia got her answer, the 2 already got pushed somewhere else.
“WELCOME TO THE CUTE COUPLE NOODLE EATING COMPETITION!!!” said an equally loud voice to the one at the entrance.
“Why do you put cute in front of everything?” mumbled Mia.
“Because it describes us. Don’t you think so?” the blond whispered seductively in her ear, sending shiver down her spine.
“OK! CONTESTANTS, HOLD YOUR PARTNER’S HAND! GET SET! EAT!”
“Aren’t you gonna feed me, Mia Mouse?” Usui said cheekily as he held Mia’s hand tightly.
“If you haven’t notice, I’m not left-handed and you got my right.” she said sarcastically and pointed at her right hand, clutched in his iron grip.
“I guess I’ll feed you then.”
“Fine.” she signed and looked away “I’m bleeding so something hot and soupy should be good.”
“Well then, say ‘Ah’.” the blond raised the chopstick with noodles up to the brunette’s mouth, making her blush and turned away.
“‘Ah’ yourself!”
“But Mia, if you don’t eat, we’ll lose.” he said, smirking, know well of Mia and her high pride. Something inside the girl seems to snap and she started eating non-stop.
“Hey look! There’s a couple over there eating really fast.” said a passer by.
“But it’s the girl who’s eating? Weird!” said the friend.
And in the end they won, as expected of them.
“If they have enough money to rent all this tent and tables, maybe they should think of having a microwave too. Noodle’s a bit too cold.” Mia said, wiping her mouth.
“Does it help your flow?” Usui asked, caring for the girl.
“Well it solves the problem of me craving food that I don’t usually eat.” she joked and smiled brightly.
“WELL THEN, LET US GO TO THE NEXT VENUE FOR THE NEXT PART OF THE GAME.” one of the girls screamed in Mia’s ear.
“I swear, if they kept on doing that, one of them is bound to come home with a bruised lip.” Mia muttered under her breathe as she tried to massage her ear from the damage.
“Aw, Mia Mouse, they only mean good.” Usui joked teasingly.
“Doesn’t mean they have to yell into my ears.”
“I like it when you’re mad. You’re so cute!” the blond said, pinching the girl’s cheek in result of her slapping his hand away.
“I like it when you’re such a tease when I’m mad. You’re so dumb!” the brunette said half sarcastically.
“So Mia admitted I’m a tease? You admit that you’re attracted to me? How rare of you!” said Usui seductively as he tried to back Mia to a wall ... but failed.
“Please sense the sarcasm!” she pushed him away and followed the other couples to the next game.
~~~~Time skip~~~~
“AND NOW IS THE BALLOON FINDING COMPETITION! EACH COUPLE WILL HAVE TO FIND THE BALLOON WITH A HEART IN IT WITHOUT BREAKING EACH OTHERS’ HAND.”
“This should be easy since I was good at find other people’s missing stuffs. But the hard part is, I have to trail you behind.” the brunette glared at the blond who has been holding her hand in iron grip.
“Well Mia, rules are rules and we can’t break it. Let’s go!”
“Says the one who skip school almost everyday.” she mumbled and followed him reluctantly.
“That was when I haven’t met you, Mia Mouse. Now, I want to go to school to see you everyday.” he said and gave a sparkling smile that blind everyone within the radius of 5m.
“Yeah sure! Now let’s get down to business!”
“What kind of business?” he smirked.
“Oh sweet Mother of God! Stop distracting me! I want to win! That’s my nature.”
“Found it!” Usui said calmly and stuffed a balloon in Mia’s face.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“CONGRATULATIONS! YOU TWO WON THIS ROUND! PLEASE COME BACK TO THE ENTRY 2 HOURS LATER FOR THE RESULT!”
“Gotta say. I’m kinda relieved it’s over.” Mia said.
“We have 2 hours. What do you wanna do?”
“Hmm ... I wanna go to the park!” she replied excitedly.
“Strange, I was kinda expecting an ‘I don’t know, anywhere, you decide.’ response.”
“Why would I say that when I know exactly where I want to go?”
“That makes you different.” he muttered under his breathe so quietly she couldn’t hear.
~~~~Time skip~~~~
“This is so fun!!!” screamed an overly-excited Mia as she kicked off the pile of leaves “I’m sorry to whoever just raked that pile up but I just can’t help myself!”
Then she ran around, burying herself in the leaves (literally), grab on some branches and fell into another pile of golden (or auburn) delight. The whole time, Usui just stood back and enjoy the beautiful view in front of him (and by view, I meant Mia).
“I love Autumn!” the brunette gasp in delight as she poke her head out of the blanket of leaves “What are you doing?” then her expression changed to confusion as she sees the boy in front of her holding up a camera.
“Taking pictures of you.” he replied casually (far too casually).
“Okay ... Why though?”
“So I can show my children how their mother looked on our first date.” that one sentence pushed Mia’s temper off the edge and she flushed in embarrassment as she chased him through the park.
“Alright, alright, I won’t bring it to school.” the blond yelled in defense as the girl was closing the distance between them.
“I don’t trust you.” said Mia as she grab the boy’s collar.
“Well that’s really your choice.” Usui said calmly and the brunette glared at him for a few seconds before letting go of his shirt.
“You’re lucky I pity your pea brain.” the boy opened his mouth to say something but was quickly cut off “And that’s the end of it!” taking a deep breathe and closing her eyes to calm herself, Mia spin around then opened her eyes again to be greeted with falling leaves, lots of falling leaves.
“Isn’t it just beautiful?” the brunette asked dreamily as she reached out to catch the falling wonders. She then pranced around like a pixie, catching a few leaves here or there, hiding behind a few trees and poked her face out like telling Usui to join her.
2 hours went by quicker than both expected ...
~~~~Time skip~~~~
Walking through the hall, chatting, they almost forgot what they were there for until Mia noticed the crowd surrounding a wall.
“Normally I’d see that in a pop concert, not a school hallway.” Mia said, laughing lightly.
“You wanna see?”
“Hell yeah I do. Even when you forced me into this, when I do something, I’d like to know the result.” the girl said and made her way into the tight crowd “Excuse me, I’d like to see it.” she said to one of the girls who’s blocking the result board.
“LOOK, IT’S THE WINNER!” one shouted.
“What?” asked Mia, confused.
“AND THERE’S THE GUY!” before Mia can register what happened, she was lifted up in the air along with Usui and taken into a room full of costumes.
~~~~Tiny little time skip~~~~
“Oh you look beautiful!” one of the girls cooed as she stared at Mia in her costume.
“I beg your pardon!” she said, slightly shaking, obviously not enjoying the Juliet costume that was put on her.
“Isn’t she the most beautiful?”
“I don’t see it, seriously, I want my clothes back.” but her words fell in deaf ears as the girls pushed her toward the door.
“Your Romeo is waiting outside. Go on!”
“The He-” but she was pushed out the door.
“Wow!” said an oh-so-familiar voice. Without looking up, Mia can already feel the smirk that spread on his lips.
“Shut up!” she said, glaring up.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking. It’s annoying!” she said but blush a bit when she saw his costume.
“Juliet, dear Juliet!” Usui whispered as he took her hand and kissed it “Thou art more fair than tonight’s star. More fair than the moon, by far. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon.”
“Romeo ...” Mia replied with an overly sweet smile “Thou speak too much. Cease thy words or wise, thy friends shall find thee a grave man.” she finished and after 2 seconds, both laughed at their own childishness. They just stared at each other for a while until the blond decided to break the silence.
“Shall we go to where the fireworks are at its brightest, Juliet?” he smiled sweetly and offered his arm to her. She took it with a smile that graced on her lips.
“I don’t see why not. After all, we won’t see anything in this corridor.”
“Let us go then!” the blond joked, making the girl laugh.
“I haven’t spoken this fancy ever since I was in ‘Romeo and Juliet’.” but that sentence that was meant to be happy sent a flash of horror (and jealousy) on the boy’s face.
“You weren’t Juliet, were you?”
“What if I was?”
“Then you’d be touching, kissing, fooling around with whoever the jerk that played Romeo ...” sensing the dark aura around her date, Mia quickly cut him off before the situation can get any worse.
“Relax, Usui! I wasn’t Juliet, I was Benvolio.” though the dark aura disappeared, he stared down at her with the look of ‘What?’ “In that version, Benvolio is a girl ... Who has a huge crush on Romeo.” hearing that, Usui’s eyes shot open and Mia had to calm him down again.
~~~~Another tiny time skip~~~~
“Oh perfect! This has a huge window! Good choice, Usui!” Mia gasped as she entered the classroom that has the most perfect view of the sky.
“The roof should already be occurred. But here, there’s only us.” Usui said seductively as he closed the door.
“Things are going according to your plan isn’t it?” the girl joked and leaned on the windowsill, staring out into the sky.
“Going soft today, Mia?”
“Too tired from throwing punchline. One can only take so much teasing.” she said softly, half-blaming him while still staring out the window, avoiding the boy’s gaze.
Moonlight shone through the glass and bathe the girl in pure, angelic light; her eyes seemed far off, as if she’s distant somewhere else. Thinking it’s finally the right time, Usui spoke up.
“Mia, do you know why?” he whispered as the girl turned her focus away from the window.
“Huh? Why what?”
“Do you know why I like to tease you so much?”
“Because it’s you nature ...?” she answered jokingly but the boy cut her off.
“Because I love your reactions. Sometimes, you’d chase me. Other times, you’d throw sarcastic comments and expression. If I was lucky, you’d even blush then turned away immediately ... But whatever your reaction is, after all that, you’d smile. Your smile is something new. It’s interesting but dangerous enough to make my heart race.” he said softly, looking down making his hair cover his eyes; his face, for the first time ever, flushed deep red.
“Oh Usui ...” Mia, face now blushing equally red, reached up and tried to touch his cheek but was held back by the boy’s hand.
“Loving you ... I have also coped lots. Some nights, I’d come home and thought of the times you pushed me away. Sometimes, I have moments of doubt ... But in the morning, I saw your smile again and everything was worth it ... I love you, Mia!”
That moment, it seems like time has stopped. Usui let go of Mia’s hand to cup her cheek, pulling her face closer and closer ... and closer until their lips touched. Colorful fireworks went off outside the window or was it the fireworks in their hearts? Mia reached her hand up to his hand that was cupping her cheek while Usui’s free hand intertwined with hers. The kiss was something you can describe as caramel candy. It’s soft and sweet but captivating and addictive. It felt like everything was trapped in that tiny time frame ... It felt right.
“I love you, Mia!” he repeated as they both pulled away from the kiss.
“I know, Usui. I know.” she whispered back, gazing into his marble green orbs.