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Mitsuba had to admit, the festival was fun. At first he was a little weirded out that Kou's first idea when Mitsuba said he had no reason to live on was a festival. It seemed childish, like a reason you'd give a young child to make it through a long school week.
But it was really fun, better than the aquarium even. Well, that wasn't a very hard date to beat, considering he fell apart and then Kou tried to force feed him an organ. But the stuff before that was fun, so the festival being more fun than that is a compliment. That was another thing, Kou kept calling this and the aquarium a date. Mitsuba hated how giddy that made him.
Music started and Mitsuba was snapped out of his thoughts. The music was soft and romantic and the crowd moved towards the center of the festival. People started pairing up, slow dancing together. It was strangely romantic for a school festival.
Hanako bowed and extended his hand to Yashiro, then stumbled a little. Yashiro laughed but still took his hand. Mitsuba smiled at them. He was certain no one would dance with him, but he was content watching everyone else dance. The scene was cute and Mitsuba was used to watching from afar.
But when Mitsuba turned around there stood Kou, extending his hand, his face slightly flushed. “Care to uh- dance? With me?”
Mitsuba looked confused. “Why are you asking me?”
“Cause you're my date, duh. Don't be an idiot.”
“Well if you insult me I'm not gonna dance with you.” Mitsuba crossed his arms. “And that would be just awful for you wouldn't it? Kou Minamoto, the great powerful exorcist who no one even wants to dance with.”
Kou rolled his eyes, “why did I even want to dance with you?”
“But you're still holding your hand out.”
Mitsuba smirked and Kou looked away, face red. “Do you- do you want to dance or not?”
Before Mitsuba could stop himself he smiled. He knew he was just an acquaintance and if he was lucky, a friend, too Kou, but he still made Mitsuba feel like he was everything. It was annoying and stupid, but he was glad someone at least acted like they cared about him.
He took Kou's hand and quickly the two found out they had no idea what they were doing. It took them a lot of arguing and annoyance to figure out where to put their hands, but once they figured it out it was… nice.
Mitsuba had his hands on Kou's shoulder, Kou had a hand on Mitsuba's waist and a hand on his shoulder. They rested their heads on each other's shoulders. They weren't actually sure if that's how they were supposed to be dancing, but it worked. It felt too romantic, Mitsuba was fighting demons reminding himself that Kou was just being friendly.
“No one else can see me, everyone must think you've gone insane,” Mitsuba snickered.
“I don't care!” Kou said firmly, a smile on his face. “I want to dance with you!”
“Minamoto-kun…” he thought about saying something nice back. “You simp.”
That was not something nice back. Kou pinched him.
Mitsuba continued to look around, people watching. His eyes fell on Hanako and Yashiro, who just broke apart, presumably taking a break.
“Hey Minamoto-kunnn~”
“...What?”
“Looks like Daikon-senpai and crazy knife took a break, why don't you ask your senpai for a dance~?” Mitsuba teased, giggling to himself.
If Mitsuba could see Kou's face he would've seen pure confusion. “No, why would I do that? You're my date, I'm not ditching you.”
Mitsuba rolled his eyes “Oh come on, I know you just went with me because you couldn't go with the daikon, and you needed to come up with some reason for me to stay real quick. It's okay, you spent most of the day with me. And you should at least try to get a dance. I don't mind! Don't be a pussy, man up and ask Daikon-senpai for a dance!”
Kou pulled his head away from Mitsuba's shoulder. “Who says I asked you because I couldn't go with Senpai? I could've gone with her and Hanako, but I wanted to go with you!”
Mitsuba’s head shot off Kou's shoulder. “What…? But, why? I thought you liked Daikon-senpai?”
Kou cleared his throat, red as his (lame) earring. “Y-yeah but… I thought we kinda had a thing going on. I- I like you best.”
Mitsuba opened his mouth a few times, looking for something to say. He couldn't come up with anything and ended up with his mouth hung slightly open. Because what!? He could barely comprehend Kou viewing him as a friend, Kou liking him back hadn't even crossed his mind. Let alone more than Yashiro, how does Kou like him more than Yashiro!?
“W-what…” was all that ended up escaping his mouth.
Kou laughed, “you look like a dead fish.”
The normal teasing made Mitsuba regain some of his composure. “Am I a pretty fish?”
“The prettiest fish.”
Anddd Mitsuba was gone again. He turned away, unable to bear looking at the object of his delma. He was hyper aware of Kou's hands that were still on his arm and shoulder, and the feeling of Kou's shoulders on his hands.
Kou was warm. It wasn't just a human thing, it was a Kou thing. He's had physical contact with Yashiro before and she wasn't nearly as warm. Mitsuba always liked how warm Kou was, it felt nice in contrast to his always cold body. He doesn't like to think about why his body is always cold, he prefers to pretend he just runs cold rather than think about the actual reason.
A voice cut through his thoughts. “I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable! I really thought we had something going on I'm sorry if I thought wrong I-”
“I like you too idiot!” Mitsuba yelled. “I just- I never thought- it never even crossed my mind you might feel even close to the same way.”
Kou looked almost sad, and Mitsuba thought back to his mortified expression at the aquarium when he had said something about Kou feeling the way he does for Mitsuba for anyone.
“Why are you so convinced I don't care about you?” Kou asked, trying to meet Mitsuba's eyes. “You mean so much to me.”
Mitsuba wasn't sure how to respond to that. He was glad, he really was. He was happy. He wanted so badly to be important to Kou. But…
“Why!? You have so many better people around you! Diakon-senpai is cute, nice, and human! Your friends are all human! And fuck crazy knife isn't great but at least he's not a cannibal! Why do you settle for me!?”
“I'm not settling! I like you, genuinely, a lot! I might- no I love you! You're cute, pretty, funny. You've never looked down on me like so many people do. You've always been there for me emotionally, I can actually open up to you, I can't do that with a lot of people.” Kou stopped, looking at Mitsuba softly. “Why… Why is this so shocking to you?”
Mitsuba put his head back on Kou's shoulder, hiding his face. There was a growing wetness on Kou's shirt, Mitsuba hoped Kou didn't notice though logically he knew there was no way he wouldn't. “I guess I hate myself so much I can't comprehend someone genuinely liking me…”
“Mitsuba…”
Kou hugged him tight, ignoring his protests. It took Mitsuba a minute but he eventually settled in, hugging Kou back.
“I love you so much,” Kou whispered in his ear. “Remember that cause I'm not good at saying it.”
It finally hit Mitsuba how good this is. Kou loves him. Kou Minamoto loves Mitsuba. Not Yashiro, not a human friend of his. This amazing, clumsy, kind, bright as the sun boy likes Mitsuba best. He giggled happily, putting aside his pride for a moment and smiling.
“I love you too!”
Kou smiled back and they began dancing again. It was clumsy, badly coordinated, and an insult to Mitsuba's ego. But they were having fun, a lot of fun.
When the song ended Kou put his hand on Mitsuba's cheek, cupping it.
“Can I kiss you?” He asked, and Mitsuba's brain went numb. He nodded, completely red.
“I'm gonna need you to say it.”
“Yes! Just do it already!” Mitsuba whined. Kou laughed, connecting their lips.
Mitsuba had (embarrassingly) imagined kissing Kou a few times, he couldn't have imagined it would be as good as this. Kou's lips were rough and felt so interesting against his soft ones, and his hand on his cheek felt so comforting. He could feel Kou's fangs on his lips, it made the whole kiss so uniquely Kou. Mitsuba found himself tangling his hands in Kou's hair, he liked that too, his hair was soft.
After what felt like hours they pulled apart, breathless.
“Minamoto-kun…” Mitsuba said with practical stars in his eyes.
“Cat got your tongue?” Kou teased.
“Shut up! The kiss sucked! You're a bad kisser Minamoto-kun!”
“Fuck you mean I'm a bad kisser, you looked overjoyed!”
“Less about the kiss and more about who it's from, the kiss itself was disgusting.”
“Awww that's so sweet!”
“How is that sweet!?”