smash_logs | YOU DIDN'T THINK I FORGOT, DID YOU

Who: Everyone ever. It's mandatory or you're banned for two minutes.
What: Fireworks are a little late this year...
When: The night of July 14th
Where: Campus, generally. But you can see them out in the city.
Warnings: Colours and explosions and probably dumb kissy stuff somewhere in here.

It was usually the evening of the second of third; a tradition that began five years prior due to some silly boyish dare, that continued for the sake of sentimentality and tradition. Even if the culprit no longer attended Smash Academy, he made sure his legacy lived on each July.

This year it was a little late, because strange robots were patrolling the city and were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that didn't stop the mission from being fulfilled! Just... delayed. It was probably for the best, since loud noises and bright lights wouldn't have been well received by the more feral-minded creatures during the whole bake sale debacle. In a way it was a pretty convenient setback.

Anyway, when the night finally came for the tradition to continue, it started... with a bang. Duh.

There was no small smattering of tester rockets to ease into the display. Just a sudden burst of red and white in the sky, Smash Academy's emblem glowing brighter than the stars for a few seconds before petering out. After that it was just burst after burst of an assortment of colours and shapes, each its own unique size and brightness, the resounding explosions echoing throughout the campus like gunshots.

Good thing nobody at all would be trying to sleep, right?

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A firework broke over her words, so her mousy utterances were spoiled. If he had heard them, the red heat would spread like a disease, leaving no pale hue left in his face, and he'd fervently deny that he was any of those things. Even without those adjectives he was flustered enough as it was.

He didn't know what to say next, but seeing her balled up in a nightgown like that made him wonder if she'd like a bit more... coverage. Even though it was a summer night, she might be cold, too. Mondo slid his jacket off and draped it over her, the silky lining on the inside still warm from having just been worn.

"...?" Chiyo hadn't expected to be given a jacket to wear, much less the one Mondo was currently wearing, and lifted her head to steal a momentary glance at Mondo.

Why had he given her his coat? She stared at it... and eventually smiled. It was really warm and comfy, so she decided not to question him on it and to thank him graciously for his kindness.

"Thank you." She drew it closer to her, relishing in it warmth, before another curious thought hit her.

This was her first time wearing a man's jacket.

"It's so big," she said amused as she slipped her arms through the sleeves. She lifted them slightly and giggled softly at how the end of them dangled past her hands. Considering how loose the clothing were on her, she certainly felt like a small person. "Your arms are so long, Mondo."

Each thing she said and did in response to his deed played with his heartstrings, which were embarrassingly easy to strum into a melody that carried the same lyrics every time: Shit, it's too cute...!

"Is that... so..." was all he could find to say, averting his eyes- but not before watching her snuggle up in the confines of his coat and observe his huge sleeves on her slender arms. He felt like mushed up goo inside. Giving a cute girl his coat to wear was a thing he never knew he really wanted to do until now. And then, it dawned on him.

He... he totally liked her, didn't he?! Should he... ask her out? Okay, so she was part waterdog and that was a little weird but maybe he could overlook that because come on LOOK AT HER IN HIS COAT just LOOK AT HER she's SO CUTE and she's TOTALLY GIRLFRIEND MATERIAL!! He could feel a kneejerk confession starting to rise up but he

REALLY

didn't want to fuck it up. He knew himself! He'd just wind up screaming at her and putting her off and then being told no and he wasn't sure his heart could take the rejection right now...

And so, Mondo waged an inner battle with himself, which only served to reduce him to an even bigger bundle of nerves.

In the sense that an animal can pick up on the emotions of others, it was easy for Chiyo to pick up on Mondo's growing nervousness. It was so much that it was starting to make her nervous as well.

"Mondo? Are you okay?" she asked out of concern as she tried to look him in the eyes. "You're not getting cold are you? Would you like your jacket back?"

She knew that probably wasn't the reason, but she thought she'd ask anyway.

"Okay? I'm better than okay!" he barked in an unintentionally defensive way, cursing himself for being so crass when he wished he could mellow out and be gentle and know exactly how to talk to her like this. He leaned forward and tried flashing a toothy smile, but it had an awkward edge to it. "I never get cold!"

Not that she was turned off by the toothy smile or anything, but Mondo leaning forward without notice instinctively caused Chiyo to lean back. The proximity wasn't unwelcome, but it wasn't something she was quite used to, either.

"Really?" Sometimes Mondo's booming voice, which could rival the bangs of fireworks, rendered her speechless and stunned that it would take her a moment to recover before she could find words to speak again. However, she could still pick up on spoken words very well.

"Better than okay?" She gave him a small smile. "So you're feeling happy, then?" It was nice to think that her presence could possibly bring happiness to another. Or, you know, he could just like fireworks a lot. Maybe she'd ask if he liked those, too, if the chance arises.

Her leaning away made him retract again, silently ashamed of himself for not realizing he was only making her uncomfortable with his body language. He scratched the back of his head and watched another display go off with only a passive interest in it. "Yeah. I am happy!"

And he was. Sure, he was awkward as fuck right now and making a huge idiot of himself in front of her, but she was sitting next to him with his jacket draped over her, a pleasant source of company that made him feel lighthearted, and there were fireworks to watch and the sweet air of a summer night hanging around. Her question made him reflect. He kept smiling and acknowledged this deep within himself, how nice this moment was and that he would cherish it.

"Damn it," he added. "I'm probably making a huge mess of myself in front of you, so I hope you can forgive me. I'm not always good at talkin' to people. Especially cute girls..."

The additional comment on cuteness made Chiyo feel as if her own face was about to blossom into a firework, particularly a red one. She wanted to hide her face. It must've looked a ridiculous shade of scarlet right about now.

"You're not... making a m-mess of yourself," she said flustered, her voice wavering. In fact, she felt like she was the one making a mess of herself, not Mondo. With her hands, she took hold of the collar of his jacket and drew them over her face to hide herself. "Y-You're doing just fine. I'm not good at talking to people, either, so it's okay."

"Then I dunno if we make a good match or a match that's twice as bad," Mondo joked. "But I guess it ain't so bad when the both of us don't got it right. We understand each other's troubles!"

YOU DIDN'T THINK I FORGOT, DID YOU

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terrible me read "coverage" as "cleavage"

both words check out in this case...

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