Welcome to ze forty-first chapter!
I despise summer with a heated passion, but I'll still be hard at work writing regardless!
Honestly, I wish this story was real, just so it could be winter again...
Anyway, have fun reading!
(Please notify me of any grammar/spelling mistakes, so I can correct them ASAP)
———
Dan's POV
"Where do you want to go first?"
"Anywhere, to be honest," Natsuki chuckled. "I want to forget about this brutal cold."
"You should've brought a warm hat, dumbass," I told her, gently ruffling her hair.
"Hey! You'll mess it up, bigger dumbass!" she pushed my hand away, only for her to hold onto it tightly afterwards.
I squeezed her hand gently, grinning at her. "Sorry, I'll try to hold myself back."
"You better!" she warned, whilst wearing a bright smile herself.
"That said, I really like how you've done your hair!" I motioned towards her short twin tails, this time not actually touching her. "I guess it was a worthy sacrifice not bringing a hat!"
Her face beamed with excitement. "Really?!"
"Yeah! I mean it," I laughed, gripping onto her hand just a bit tighter out of reassurance. I wanted to tell her more to make sure she believed it, out of habit, but I quickly remembered that we were in public.
Natsuki giggled. "That makes me happy, this was pretty easy to do as well!"
"That's good."
"Oh, Dan!" she suddenly began pulling me along with her through the busy, people-filled street. "I know what we should do!" her face turned away from me.
"What's that?"
"Let's try on some clothes together!"
"Eh?"
"Come oooon, hurry up!"
———
I feel out of place.
All Natsuki told me was to stay here, seated by the fitting rooms. However, she disappeared into the store on her own, and now I'm left alone.
Why does it have to be so busy today...
Well, I knew why, because it was quite literally winter break with the holidays coming up; of course most stores would be busier. But looking around me, I was the only guy there!
This is embarrassing.
I could not help but keep my eyes downwards and hope that no one would ask about my presence.
"I'm back!" Natsuki chimed, her hands stacked with clothes.
"Ah, I'm glad!" I told her, after I finally dared to look up again.
"Glad?" she eyed me suspiciously. "Why do you look so tense?"
I quickly eyed around us, checking if no one could hear me. I covered my mouth slightly, just to make sure. "It's scary here!"
"Scary?" she whispered back.
"Yes! There are only girls in this store! What if they judge me for being here?!"
Natsuki's solidary whispering immediately turned into snickering after she heard my reasoning. "You dummy..."
I gave her no response.
"You shouldn't care. Those people probably don't care either, and I just want to hear your opinion on these clothes," she told me truthfully.
"R-right, I guess so..."
"But if it's really bothering you, I guess you could always join me in the fitting room?"
"Hah?!"
I figured she was joking, but not an inch of her face gave away that she was. It was the last thing I expected her to say, not to mention with a straight face.
"No?"
"I uhh..."
Natsuki let out an airy chuckle. "Alright, alright. Tell me if you change your mind," this time, it did sound like she was messing with me. "I'll go get started."
Nodding to her, I said, "Sure, I'll be waiting patiently!"
———
"Dan!" I looked back up again, after which I could see my girlfriend's head pop out from behind the curtains. "C'mere!"
And so I did, though I bet I looked a bit awkward as I huddled over to her. "What's up?"
Natsuki pulled me into the dressing room with her. "What do you think?" she motioned to the sweater she was wearing. "I really like how it feels. It's like, slightly oversized, which makes it feel very comfortable, and it makes me much less self aware at the same time," her voice rambled softly.
"Oh, wow, that looks really good. Those colours definitely match your features," I stated. "Hm, you don't often wear oversized clothing, right?"
"Nope, but it's been on my mind quite a lot recently. Especially after you told me that I should wear things that I consider to be comfy," she twirled slowly, as I looked at her entirety in the mirror.
Just her wearing this and hearing how she took those words to heart made me chuckle. "Yeah, it definitely suits you. It being oversized looks super cute too. Very huggable."
"I thought so too!" she smiled. "Oh! I have this one in another colour, let me show you..."
"Alright, I'll- Woah!" before I could even try to excuse myself, Natsuki was already in the midst of changing tops.
She realized it as well, but only after she had already taken off the sweater. "Ah, sorry!" she looked a little flustered after she turned around to apologize. "But it's okay!" I felt her hands pry my own away from my face, as I attempted to keep my gaze obscured. When I looked again, I could see Natsuki smile mischievously, though she also seemed ever so slightly ashamed. "Look, I'm still wearing a shirt underneath."
I sighed. "Well, knowing that now isn't really enough to take away the cardiac arrest I just experienced."
"Right, sorry..."
"It's alright, though, dummy. I just thought I was accidentally intruding on your privacy."
Now she was the one who sighed. "Obviously not, bigger dummy," she repeated my insult yet again. "If I really would've worried about something like changing in front of you, I definitely wouldn't have done exactly that on accident," Natsuki looked unimpressed with my analytical prowess. "Aside from it being kinda cramped, I honestly wasn't joking about you joining me in here," her face was just as serious as before.
"I... I see," I stuttered, taken aback.
"Well," she grinned, fully pulling me into the booth with her and throwing the sweater she just wore into my hands. "If you're staying, you might as well hold this for me!"
Just like she said, it was indeed a little cramped, but it was also a ton of fun. A surprising amount of fun. I never took too much pleasure from fitting clothes on my own, and even with other people, it normally still felt a bit like a hassle.
But this was fun. A lot of fun. Natsuki looked so joyful, and she looked so excited to be sharing this with me.
I was happy that she wanted to share this with me. I was happy that she felt comfortable enough with both me and herself to be able to share this with me.
"Hm, I'm not so sure about this colour," she deducted not too long after she had already put on the sweater. "I don't think it matches me that well."
I gave her a quick look in the mirror. "I agree. The colours of this one seem to clash a little more with your hair, I'd say."
"Yeah," she eyed herself some more. "But I do really like this sweater, I think I'll just go with the first one. The other colour, I mean."
"Mhm, sounds like a good idea," I absentmindedly felt the fabric of sweater she wore. "I'm a fan as well," I said, stepping behind her. "I especially like how fluffy it makes you look," emphasizing my opinion, I pressed against both her sides to look at the contrast, from which she made a soft, but noticeable sound.
Natsuki smiled, and blushed a little. "R-right."
"Wait, look!" I told her, before stretching the sides in and out again. "See the difference? It's pretty amazing!"
The glare she threw me was a little confusing. She looked a little annoyed, but it also seemed like she was holding back her smile. She did not speak a word, though.
"Well," I shook my head. "You've still got more clothes on the pile, right? Let's see 'em!"
"Ah, yeah!" as if she forgot about it herself, Natsuki impatiently pulled the sweater over her head again.
I could not help but flinch at the sheer vigour of her action. "Woah, easy! I know you said it was okay, but... if you undress any more aggressively you'll actually accidentally flash me at some point."
I heard her scoff at me. "Sounds like a 'you problem' to me."
"Actually, it's not really a 'problem' for me, so..." I mumbled as I stuck out my tongue at her through my reflection in the mirror.
"Th-that so?" Natsuki stuck out her tongue back at me, but looking at her face, it seemed that she still got embarrassed about it regardless. That was okay, though, because I was the same.
Luckily, it did not end in silence, for Natsuki was simply too excited about trying on more clothes. And so, she did. She tried on all the clothes that were still on the pile, and I gave my honest opinion about all of them.
"Yeah, this one is definitely not making the cut," we both burst out laughing, looking at the abomination which was the long puffer coat.
"I mean," I tried to speak after having stifled my laughter into a strained chuckle. "It was good to have tried it on, right?" before we both lost it again. It was a good thing it was so busy, or else we would have definitely been a nuisance.
Even Natsuki had a hard time keeping a straight face. "W-well, I simply wanted to know what dad's hype was all about, y'know?"
"Not that much, apparently," I stated bluntly. "It doesn't even look like comfy hugging material," embracing her from behind certainly confirmed my thoughts.
"And I can barely feel you holding me," Natsuki scoffed, before I let go of her. "This coat is just wack in all aspects!"
"Well, aside from being able to keep you warm, I bet."
"And let's not forget how it makes me a pure menace!" she said as the t-posed.
"You know what? I'll at least say that I respect your dad's fashion choices," I admitted sternly.
"For real, it's daring to say the least," Natsuki laughed with me. "But anyway, I should probably go pay for this," she concluded while she unzipped the coat.
"Oh, right. I forgot that was the last item."
"Hm?"
"No, no. Nothing."
"Wait, are you disappointed?" she immediately caught on to my tone. "Did you find it that much fun?"
"Ugh... Well, yeah," I muttered, not wanting to catch the attention of other people walking around in the store. "I must say that the idea of doing this, or stuff like this, sounds like a lot of fun..."
"That's so cute..."
"Hm..."
"And good to know!" she quickly patted me on my back, in a way to reassure me.
"I g-guess so!"
Natsuki chuckled softly. "It really is! I'll invite you every time, if you want. That's more fun for me as well, and it also means more dates!" the amount of joy that shone off her face was impressive.
Being a tad bit overwhelmed, I simply caved to the urge of patting her head instead of giving a verbal response; I was careful not to mess up her hair any more than the changing of clothes had already done to it.
She looked at me with a bright grin. "I'll go pay for this," as she motioned to the few items in her hand. "Could you maybe return these ones for me?"
"Yeah, of course."
———
Natsuki's POV
I grabbed him by his hand again and pulled him along with me, back into the cold. I could not have been happier, having him around. It was such a simple concept; to go shopping with my boyfriend, in a place we were both already familiar with.
But as I spent more time with Dan, it quickly became blatantly clear how addicted I had gotten to spending any amount of time with him. Knowing that he and I shared that sentiment made me feel almost lightheaded at the time.
"Daaaaan!" I called out, as I wrapped my arm around his, using the murderous cold as a valid excuse to stay as close as possible. "What should we do next?" waving my other arm around in excitement, I tried my hardest not to hit anyone with my bags.
In response to my blunt clinginess, I could feel Dan's warm fingers intertwine with mine. "Hm, good question," we halted for a moment in a spot we were certain we would hinder no one. "It looks like most of the shops are already closing now, or soon anyway," he pointed out.
"Oh, you're right," I was so content with being around him that I did not even notice the time, nor how dark it had become outside. "I guess we did actually go to quite a lot of shops..."
Dan tightened his hand. "Mhm."
I wish we had more time...
"Well, there's always other days to go shopping, or window-shopping, I guess," he chuckled. "And there's also other things we can still do today! So, no worries."
Fluster overtook my face. "Did you read my mind?!"
"Huh?"
"You did, didn't you!"
His face slowly dressed itself up until it wore an amused grin. "Let's just say that you make it so easy to read your mind, that I don't even need to read your mind to read your mind."
An involuntary sigh escaped me. "Fair... But, what else have you got in mind?" seen as he already told me how easy it was to read me, I figured I would let out all my eagerness.
"We still have to eat, dumdum."
"Oh, right!"
"You really forgot?"
"I mean, I didn't even realise it was getting dark until a few minutes ago, so you shouldn't put it past me," I admitted, after which I could clearly hear him laughing at me. "Wait, what places are there even around to eat at here? I don't think I've ever went out to have dinner in this part of town."
"Mm," he thought aloud. "There really isn't much here, most of the decent restaurants are at the other side of the city."
"Really?" I was unable to hide my disappointment.
"I'm afraid I kinda overlooked this issue..."
"Hm..."
"We could still go, if you want," Dan spoke softly. "It's a bit far away, but-"
"I have a better idea!"
And an even more fun one.
His smile quickly returned. "Hit me."
"What if we just... go home?"
"Home?"
"Yeah, I mean, my house would be on the way regardless, so what if we just went home instead?" my excitement had fully made its return. "We can order food, spend time vibing and, and, and..."
His eyes already seemed to have caught on. "And?" but he asked anyway.
"And maybe you could..." I was a little afraid to ask, "S-stay the night?"
"Daring today, are we?" Dan teased.
"B-but! I have been sleeping better!"
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah!" I told him sternly. "Ever since the last time we hung out, I've been way more at ease, and now it's quite a bit better," at this point, I was basically pleading.
He was clearly considering it; I was able to tell from the way he pressed his lips together. "Does 'quite a bit better' mean that it's back to normal, or..."
The heat quickly rose to my ears as he subtly interrogated me. "W-well, uhm... It's like..."
"Like?"
"L-like... It's n-not like I can just g-get you out of my mind so easily..." stumbling that sentence worse than I already did would have been near impossible.
"Ah," his voice cracked. "I kinda forgot that I was technically the one responsible..."
"B-but! I promise that I've been sleeping better!" I decided to double down during his short moment of weakness and realization. "And, and... it's winter break! So, staying up late and sleeping in should not be a problem!"
"Mm..." his gaze looked a little absent.
"And this time around there's actually enough space in my room for you to sleep there," I may have gotten a little too excited.
"Woah!" Dan fully returned to the matter at hand. "I don't think a lack of space was the issue last time..."
"M-maybe."
"Ahh, I can't lie though."
"Huh?"
"I want to stay over. Like, really badly."
"You do?!"
"..."
I was unable to contain my giggling. "You're so funny."
Dan sighed; he knew exactly why I thought so.
But I wanted to rub it in anyway. "Imagine making such a serious promise about how we couldn't sleep over yet, but you're also the one who caves so quickly, and badly," I snickered at him.
"I know, I know..."
"Do you even understand how insanely cute you are?"
"..."
"You want to cuddle with me all night so badly, huh..."
"C-come on, Suki," he did not look at me, let alone just to show his face, nor did he address my comments. He simply pulled me along with him, still tightly wrapped around his arm. "Let's just go home."
———
That's too bad; this chapter has come to an end...
But fear not!
A new chapter will be uhh...
Yeah, you'll get a new chapter sometime in the future, no worries.
I hope you enjoyed reading this one!!
See y'all next time.
Please consider leaving a comment and a vote, all the feedback/support is highly appreciated!