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I pressed the buttons in quick succession, hoping to get a high score with my move set, and frowned when Kenma beat me to it. We were playing a competitive fighting game, both trying to outdo the other to see who could get the highest score faster. The problem was that we were pretty equal in ability, even if our chosen fighters had differing skill sets.
I shifted a bit, trying to dispel the tingly feeling in my legs from sitting on the floor for so long, and snuck a glance at Kenma, trying to be discreet. I’d been sneaking glances at him since I had gotten to his house. He’d texted this morning asking if I wanted to hang out with him, Kuroo, and Kuroo’s girlfriend. I agreed, but so far, I was the only one who had shown up and that was around an hour ago.
My gaze drifted over his profile. I was actually happy that it was just the two of us hanging out and playing games. We had been dancing around our feelings for each other for a while now. Not really flirting, because I had no clue how to flirt, but the occasional lingering glances or the random text out of the blue just to ask how the other was doing or to simply hang out. It definitely all seemed to add up to the fact that we had feelings for each other. At least, it made sense to me.
The only problem was that I really had no confirmation aside from my own drawn conclusions. I thought about simply confronting Kenma but I wanted more evidence before I risked making a fool of myself in front of him.
I mean, I did have a lot of evidence already, if I was being honest with myself. I was the only girl that he even gave a modicum of attention to aside from Kuroo’s girlfriend, but I don’t think she counted in that regard. Not in the idea of him liking her romantically. He would seek me out during school, just to sit beside me and talk about everything and nothing. It always made my chest warm with affection whenever I would see him looking for me and his face seemed to light up when he finally spotted me.
I snuck another glance over at him, he was intently focused on the game. His brows dipped in concentration, never even looking away from the screen.
I averted my eyes quickly back to the tv. I enjoyed watching him, but I didn’t want to get caught ogling him too much.
I tried to focus back on the game but my thoughts kept drifting back to my crush. This would be the perfect opportunity to tell him how I felt.
“You’re staring again.”
Kenma’s voice snapped me out of my thinking, causing me to flush with embarrassment. I had inadvertently let my eyes wander back to him, my thoughts making my eyes seek him out.
“Oh, uh, sorry,” I mumbled. I tried to focus back on the game, desperately hoping to stop my blush from climbing higher.
“Don’t be,” he replied as he pressed a couple of buttons and I watched as his character made a high-scoring combo move against mine that sent his score skyrocketing.
My shock was momentarily forgotten as I clicked my tongue in frustration, my competitiveness sneaking out. I focused back on the game, trying to corner Kenma and unleash my own combo move against him to at least bring my score back to being equal to his.
I heard him chuckle quietly beside me but I didn’t want to risk my score by looking at him.
“What?” I asked, the annoyance in falling behind leaking out.
“Not going to ask what I meant?” I could hear the amusement in his voice.
I swallowed hard. I really wanted to follow up on that comment, but I also didn’t want to lose. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to distract me so he could win or if he meant something else by that.
I snuck a peek at him out of the corner of my eye only to see that he was also watching me. I felt my eyes widen as another blush rose unbidden onto my cheeks. I refocused back on the television.
“How about we make a bet?”
“Wh-what?” I squeaked, Kenma’s calmly delivered request had rattled me. I cleared my throat and tried again, “What kind of bet?” My heart was pounding double time in my chest. It was everything I could do to keep my attention on the game.
“If I win, you confess and if you win, I confess,” his voice didn’t waver once.
I whipped my head towards him, the game now completely forgotten.
“What?!” My voice had risen several octaves.
I watched as Kenma calmly paused the game and turned his head to face me.
“I said, if I win, you confess to me and if you win, I will confess to you.”
I just blinked at him, a myriad of emotions flying through me. I tried to wrap my mind around what he was telling me but my poor brain simply didn’t want to process it.
Finally, I got my voice working again and I asked, “Confess- confess what?”
He tilted his head to the side, contemplating me, “Our feelings for each other.”
I felt the blush sweep up from my neck all the way to the tips of my ears. I didn’t know what to say. It felt like all rational thought had left me, that time itself had stopped in this one moment.
I gulped in a much-needed breath and looked away from Kenma’s gaze, down at my hands gripping the controller like my life depended on it. I wasn’t really sure what was more shocking, his calm delivery of confessing or the way that he had confessed, or even the fact that he realized that I had feelings for him.
I knew that he was incredibly smart, I’d watched his genius on the volleyball court as he lured his opponents to a false sense of security before setting up an unbelievable play. I hadn’t exactly hidden my feelings for him either so I really shouldn’t be all that surprised that he was aware of what I felt.
I turned and faced him again. He was still watching me, patiently waiting for me to answer.
“Kenma-,” I stopped, a sudden realization washing over me. “Kenma, isn’t this you confessing to me anyway?”
He blinked slowly at me, the thought taking root in his mind and I watched as a blush started across his face until it disappeared under his blonde hair. He looked down and swallowed nervously before saying, “Oh…huh. I guess it is.”
I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing, “Was umm, was this your master plan today?”
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
I cleared my throat, a sudden thought occurring to me, “Are Kuroo and his girlfriend coming today, or was that just to get me to come over?”
He shook his head, “No, they are coming over just…well, just not for a couple of more hours.”
I turned to face him fully, putting the controller down, “You had this whole thing planned out, didn’t you?”
I watched as he gave me a small smile and nodded shyly. I felt my heart melt into a puddle at how sweet he looked.
He turned towards me, “I guess I just didn’t think the whole thing through, you know, about how me asking to bet was actually me confessing to you anyway.”
“Why not? You always plan things out,” I was genuinely curious, it was unlike him to not plan everything out.
He shook his head, “You make me nervous.”
I felt my mouth drop open in shock, “I make you nervous?”
I watched as his smile turned into a smirk, “I just said that.”
“No- I mean, yes you did, but-” I closed my mouth and took a breath trying to gather my runaway thoughts.
“You never answered back, by the way,” Kenma’s soft voice scattered my thoughts again.
“Huh?”
“Obviously, me asking to make a bet with you was me confessing to liking you but you never umm…” he paused and stared at me meaningfully.
It took a moment for what he was asking for to penetrate my confusion, “Oh!” I blushed hard again and looked away. “Well, I uh- I mean, isn’t it obvious to you? I, umm, I like you too,” my voice trailed off and I was certain that the blush I was sporting was going to be permanently stained on my cheeks.
It wasn’t until I felt Kenma touch my hands that I snapped my gaze back to his face, which was when I realized that he had scooted closer at some point, our knees resting against each other. I looked down at my hands that I was clasping together in a white knuckle grip and saw that Kenma had gently covered them with his own.
I felt my mouth go dry. I slowly looked up from under my lashes at him. He was staring at our hands and I felt as his thumbs started softly stroking my skin. He finally looked up at me and I saw his throat move as he swallowed. My breath hitched as the ideas of what he was thinking started to swirl in my head, until he slowly tugged my hands apart and brought them up to his lips before pressing a soft kiss to the backs of my fingers, his eyes never leaving mine.
“How about we change that bet?” I felt his lips brush against my fingers, his breath warm on my skin as he talked.
“Uh, oh, umm to what?” I struggled to force my voice to work.
“The first to win gets to kiss the other.”
When my answering blush made his whole face light up, his smile pure delight, I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that he had actually planned this whole thing out, from start to finish and I had fallen for it, just like he knew I would.