It Started With A Kiss ~HarukaXReader

It started with a kiss. A simple mouth to mouth contact that somehow sent his entire world of water and freestyle upside down. It was quick and sudden and chaste but breathtaking and exhilarating and haunting as the thought and memory followed him wherever he went and everything seemed to remind him of it. It was in his dreams and sometimes he found himself randomly touching his mouth where it had been touched and smiling to himself.

This had all started with a kiss, a simple kiss, and Haruka Nanase didn’t know what to do.

****

What had begun the whole ordeal that had sent Haruka’s world into an uproar was Miho-sensei’s idea to do a reading of Shakespeare’s As You Like It much to the majority of the class’ disgust. Up until now, Miho’s class had been a blow off since she didn’t even want to teach anyways, and the kids were extremely put off by having to actually put forth an effort to learn the parts they were assigned.

Due to some bias and author’s choice Miho had cast Haruka as Orlando and one of the swim club’s friends, _______ _______, as Rosalind. It would have been fine, and honestly up until that point Haruka had felt almost indifferent to the girl’s occasional presence at swim practice, however, they had soon come upon the part at the beginning of the play when Rosalind gave Orlando the chain as they fell in love and well, Miho-sensei had wanted to do a little more than that –since she was trying to make the play more modern.

As they approached the scene, Miho had called _______ aside and whispered something to her that no one was able to hear, but had caused the girl to blush slightly. It had been waved off and Haruka didn’t really care. It wasn’t his business what the sensei said.

That was a miscalculation though because it really was his business.

Because it directly impacted him.

_______ approached Haruka, her necklace hanging in her hand with the pendant swinging. If he had been paying attention, he might have noticed the flush on her cheeks and the enlarged pupils but Haruka didn’t which was a grievous mistake.

“Gentleman,” here she came up to him and placed a hand on his cheek as she placed the necklace into his outstretched palm. He took it from her and looked into her (e/c) eyes, waiting for her to say her next lines. Alas, she did no such thing. With a small smile, _______ slid her hand from his cheek to his green tie and pulled his face down to hers, pressing their lips together in a sweet kiss, a kiss that has been haunting him for weeks.

In all honesty, Haruka doesn’t even remember everything that happened after that. His first kiss being taken away so suddenly by such soft, sweet, lovely lips had him shaking and confused and turned on because God it had felt good.

But it’s safe to say that he’d spent a lot of time in the water recently, trying to make heads and tails of the running through the laser-maze in his mind. Water always cleared his head, but for some reason, he kept reaching the wrong answer. The wrong answer because it was preposterous.

You like her.

That’s what the water told him and that’s the only conclusion he could reach.

He liked you and boy did that just make things difficult.

You’re his first. The first person he’s ever had a crush on and it scared him. What was he going to do? How does he act around you? Does he try and talk to you more? But what if he says something wrong? What if he annoys you? And –

The thought that just crossed his mind made the boy’s blue eyes snap open.

“What if she doesn’t like me back?” he whispered out loud, terrified of the thought that just crossed his mind. Well, he wouldn’t have to worry about it. He’d just keep skipping school like he’s been doing with only Makoto to keep him company. He’d been skipping for about a week now and he was perfectly fine with it. He looked at the clock.

Actually, school should be letting out soon enough. That meant Makoto would be coming over to check on him and make him burnt mackerel.

He could soak for a bit longer.

Haruka closed his eyes and rested.

A knock on his bathroom door woke him up. Haruka sat up, confused since Makoto didn’t usually wait for him.

“H-Hello…?” came a sweet voice from the other side of the door. Haruka’s heart stopped. It was her. His late grandmother had always told him that if love came a-knocking, you don’t open the door. So he didn’t. He just sat there silently, at a loss for what to do as the feeling of _______’s lips came back to him. He lifted up a wrinkled hand to cover the blush spreading across the bottom half of his face.

“Haruka-san?” _______ asked from outside. “Are you alright? Makoto-kun said that you would be in here…”

Haruka didn’t respond. She had asked Makoto about him?

WHAT WAS HE SUPPOSED TO THINK?

WAS SHE INTERESTED?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

He shifted in the water, making a sloshing noise.

“A-Are you decent?” _______ called out, before turning the door knob. Haruka wished that he locked the door; he never did because it was typically only Makoto that would pop in to get him or check on him. But now, here he was in the bathtub with his bathing suit on –and why would he wear this you’d think he was a freak what was he thinking –and you were coming in and going to see him in the bathtub with his bathing suit on and he was blushing and thinking of kissing you and you kissing him and oh man, those thoughts of possibly taking a bath with you were just too much and wondering if your lips could make him feel like this with a simple kiss, what would they be able to do to him when they touched other places…?

And there you stood in the doorway, not looking at him and flushing slightly pink, and being so adorable that Haruka just wanted to wrap you in his arms and never let go and what was he thinking because this is so weird and –

“I was worried about you, Haruka-san,” you said. “That’s why I came to check up on you. You haven’t been coming to class. Or swim practice. So, um, yeah.”

You were worried about him?

Worried?

About him?

You?

What?

“Why did you kiss me?” the question was out before he could stop it and he was left floundering like a fish out of water because why did he ask that.

Your face reddened. “Um, well, Miho-sensei told me to make the scene more romantic since she thought that the simple giving of a necklace wasn’t enough for a romance to develop and it was the first thing that I thought of.”

There was a pause.

You had thought about kissing him?

How many times?

Did you still want to?

“Um,” you continued. “I’m really sorry, Haruka-san. It probably shocked you, or something.”

“Or something,” he repeated, staring at you.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, um, are you feeling okay?” You looked over at him and set your school bag down in the corner. You sat down beside the tub.

You were so close, you still weren’t looking at him, out of modesty  and the fact that he still hadn’t told you if he was decent.

“No, I’m sick.”

Your beautiful eyes darted over to his face, which he was still partially covering.

“Do you have a fever? You’re really red.”
His face turned a shade darker. YOU COULD SEE THE REDNESS?

“Um… Yes.”

“Hey, I’ll take your temperature. Where’s the thermometer? Soaking in the bath should have helped your fever.”

“I-It’s in the cupboard under the sink,” Haruka told her, cursing himself for stuttering. You must think he’s so weird.

“Alrighty!” you smiled, closing your eyes as you turned your face in his general direction. You turned around and crawled over to the cabinet. You started to rifle through the contents before pulling out an old mercury thermometer. You frowned a bit.

“Haruka-san, this is so old.”

“I don’t get sick often.”

You giggled a little bit, shooting him a glance that made him blush and avert his eyes.

“That’s not what Makoto-kun said.”

“Makoto-kun?” Shit. Now he sounded like a jealous idiot and fuck were the two of you even friends?

“Yeah, Makoto-kun,” you shrugged. “He’s my friend. Actually, he’s kind of a friend to everybody. Everyone likes Makoto-kun. He’s sweet.”

“Do you like Makoto?” Haruka asked, hoping and praying to whoever would listen that he only sounded like a curious friend of the green-eyed boy.

You laughed sweetly, a strange look in your eyes as you shook you head. “Oh no, I don’t like Makoto-kun. He’s just a friend.”

Haruka didn’t respond.

“Um, Haruka-san, can you please lean over here so I can put this in your mouth?” He opened one of his eyes and saw you cutely sitting in front of the bathtub, obviously over your previous shyness and worry about seeing him naked.

He put his head over the side the tub and you stuck the tool into his mouth.

“You’re going to have to hold that in there for a while so it can get a good reading. Mercury thermometers are less accurate than the digital ones.”

Your face was so close to his, he realized, and he kind of really wanted that thermometer to not be there so he could kiss you or you kiss him. But he didn’t act on it, because that would be weird.

“Haruka,” you giggled. “You’re still so red. Are you blushing?”

His face got darker and you laughed out loud. Haruka was washed with a wave of humiliation. “Haruka-san, you’re so cute.”

CUTE?

WHAT DID THAT MEAN?

FUCK.

WHAT DID ANY OF THIS MEAN?

THE WORRY.

THE KISS.

THE MAKOTO.

THE KISS.

“You look like a deer in the headlights,” you commented, referring to his wide and scared blue eyes. A sly smile came onto your face. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve got a crush on little old me.”

His mouth twitched.

Your jaw dropped as realization dawned in your eyes.

“Holy shit. You do don’t you!”

“N-No…!”

“Gou told me that you were gay for Rin. Shit. Haruka-san, I had no idea! When I asked her about how weird you were acting, she just told me it was probably because a girl kissed you. Damn. If I had known. Shit. I’m so sorry,” a blush erupted on your face as well. You had always found him attractive –like really attractive –but you decided that it would be weird and awkward if you said anything, so you’d only gone to the swim practices to gawk at him. Actually, the reason why you got to know Makoto in the first place was because you would occasionally grill him on information about Haruka.

“I’m not gay.”

“Obviously,” you stuck out your tongue.

“I’m sorry. You must not want to talk to me now that you know. You can leave if you want.”

“Um, excuse me, sir,” you began, your face turning from its normal polite expression to one as fierce as an eagle, “you don’t get to do that until you’ve heard what I have to say about your crush on me.”

“What do you have to say?” there was hope in Haruka’s eyes, but also a bit of trepidation as he worried. Were you going to say you liked him back? Were you going to reject him? The questions swirled in his head until his mind completely blanked. You were silent for a few seconds collecting your thoughts.

“Well, I guess I can start by saying that I’ve always found you extremely attractive,” you began. “I mean, God, you’re beautiful. Your eyes are so blue, like the water you adore, and it totally goes with your dark hair, and do I even need to start on your body? You’re like a Greek god. You’re like freaking Poseidon. You’re just, perfect. I mean, the only reason why I started coming to swim practice to begin with was to watch you –I’m not a creeper, I swear!” you cut yourself off, waving your hands as you tried to relieve him about something that he hadn’t even thought of yet.

“But anyway,” you continued, “I’ve always found you attractive. I mean, the reason why I started talking to Makoto-kun was because I was curious about you. I wanted to know more, and Makoto and I bonded over that. I just didn’t, you know, have the courage to talk to you. You’re so obsessed with the water that I felt like an intruder and a home-wrecker anytime that I tried to talk to you at practice. Also, Nagisa-kun kept getting in my way. But that’s beside the point,” you sighed.

“What I’m trying to say, is that I’ve liked you for a long time, so I reciprocate your feelings, but I don’t want to start a relationship yet. I’ve done a lot of fantasizing and stuff, and it’s given me time to come to terms with a few things. One, we barely know each other, so starting a serious relationship now is a nono, and two, I don’t want to distract you from your passion but I don’t want your passion to distract you from me.”

“What do you want to do then?” Haruka asked.

“I want to get to know you, Haruka-san. I want to hang out with you, go on a few dates, before we start anything serious, you know, before we become an item. That way, it will allow both of us to decide on whether or not we want to continue whatever these feelings are.”

“Well, we can start by you only calling me Haru,” Haruka said. “And I’ll call you _______, no honorific.”

You blushed. Losing an honorific? That was personal, but it made you happy. “Alright, Haru. Now,” you took the thermometer from his mouth and deposited it in the trash can. You stood up, looking down at him, and sighing in relief when you realized that he was, indeed, wearing swim trunks. “Here,” you held out a hand, which he took. You helped him stand up and get out, your eyes trailing down his torso. Fuck, he was hot. Haruka smiled a bit, as he noticed your eyes.

“Do you like it?”

“Huh?”

He gestured to his torso. You nodded.

“Duh, that’s what I opened my rant with.”

“Sorry, I was still shocked that you liked me back.”

Your lips quivered, trying to hold your imminent outburst in. “You’re such a cutie!” You screeched, throwing your arms around him, the force of which almost knocking him over, but he held you fast, wrapping his own around you. The water soaked through your uniform, but you didn’t care. You were hugging Haruka fucking Nanase. And it was great. Your bodies fit together so perfectly –like you were meant to be together. You stood up on your tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. You let go, though your hands were still resting on his shoulders and his around your waist.

“Now,” you said, “let’s go get you a new thermometer.”