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When Kohana had gripped Toshi's hand in the cinema during a scary part of the film and not let go afterwards, his heart had been beating faster than it did during any fight, no matter against how many villains.
When he had saved her as All Might a couple days later and she had told him about her ex-girlfriend, his heart had almost stopped beating.
Now, one day later, laying on his bed, he didn't know what he should think. Had he misunderstood her invitation to the cinema? Had it not been an actual date after all, but just an outing between friends? Maybe she had just grown tired of their usual dinners and wanted to mix things up.... in a purely platonic way. But... the way she had been holding his hand during the film, the way she would sometimes blush, when he said something cheesy or maybe even vaguely flirty – not that he was ever actually flirty on purpose – or the way that she had started hugging him, close and always a little longer than probably necessary. Did he really misinterpret all these signs?
A phone call is here. A phone call is here. A phone- For a moment he thought about not answering, still wallowing in sadness and self-doubt. But he had to, it could be an emergency and he was still a hero, albeit one with a slightly cracked heart. Without glancing at the screen, he accepted the call and pressed the phone against his ear. “Yes, hello?”
“Ah, Toshi, so good to hear you!” Kohana's voice sounded energetic, but also a bit frustrated.
“Oh, Kohana, hi...” Toshi tried to sound enthusiastic to hear from her – which he technically was, her voice usually made his day – and shook off his state of self-pity. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes..., well, not quite. Yesterday, there was an attack in the lab.”
He almost just waited for her to continue, but then remembered that only All Might knew of this attack, not Toshinori. He cleared his throat and amped up the surprise in his voice. “Oh my god, are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I think. No injuries, just a little shook up.”
“That's good to hear. What happened?”
“Some guy wanted some info from one of the research labs, no big deal. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And then All Might came and... helped me out.”
Toshi gritted his teeth at how casually she talked about the attack. It had definitely been a big deal. She could have been seriously hurt if he hadn't turned up on time.
“By the way, I think All Might is homophobic.”
It took all of his might not to let out a loud frustrated groan as he smacked his hand against his face. Great, just great. So much for making a good impression on her as All Might. “Really? Why do you think that?”
“Well, you should have seen the look on his face when I mentioned my ex-” She suddenly stopped talking. After a couple moments of silence, he could hear her sigh. “You know what? Never mind, actually. Do you think we could meet this afternoon? At the beach?”
Toshi perked up at her suggestion. A nice trip to the beach? “Sure, that sounds great! Do you want to go for a swim or just a walk?”
“Just walking around would be great! I'd like some time to just... talk. That is, if you don't mind?
Oh, he didn't mind at all, on the contrary, he was pretty relieved. He had regretted even mentioning swimming the second he had said it, as he would probably feel extremely awkward to be around her in swimming trunks. Not to mention having to explain the gigantic scar that spanned almost half of his torso. “Fine by me. Text me the details and I'll be there!”
He could hear the smile in her voice. “Perfect, it's a date!”
After hanging up, he stared at his phone. She said it. She said the word. Date. Now he was even more confused than before. And why didn't she tell him about her ex-girlfriend too? Why did she stop herself? She had no problem mentioning it to All Might. What was going on?
It took Toshi a while before he actually made it out of bed. His thoughts had been going in circles, steadily switching from 'I'm actually going on a date with her' to 'no wait, she probably just wants to let me down gently, because she's into women' back to 'but then she wouldn't call it a date, right?' and so forth. Why did this have to be so complicated?
In the end, he decided to just wait it out and see where this afternoon would be leading. He got up, stood in front of his closet for way too long, considering that he only had like three outfits to choose from, got dressed and left the house. They would only be meeting in a couple of hours, so he had some time to kill.
He ended up having lunch in a nice cafe, running some errands and quickly helping out with a fire that had broken out in a five-storey building on his way to the beach. Fortunately, the fire department turned up, right after he had carried out the last person, so that he was able to run off soon after, change forms in a rather inconspicuous alleyway and head to the designated meeting point on time.
Kohana was already waiting for him and when she spotted him, she waved and shouted a greeting. “Hey, Toshi!”
He waved back and walked up to her, trying not to stare to much because of the beautiful breezy dress that was dancing around her legs. He suddenly was very aware of the fact that he was a) underdressed, as always and b) just been running around in a burning building full of smoke. He must smell awful.
“Kohana, hey. How are you?” She stepped closer to hug him, but he motioned her to stay at a distance. “Sorry, but I'm kinda sweaty, I had to run here and, uhm, I... I just passed some people barbecuing, so I'm a bit... a bit smelly, I guess.”
She just started chuckling. “Running late, hm? Nothing new there”, she teased him.
“Ha, ha, yeah, I guess so. I'm sorry”, he scratched his neck and could feel his cheeks warming up from the embarrassment.
“Hey, no worries, you're here and you've made it on time, so no harm done.” She pointed in one direction and looked at him. “Should we walk in this direction? I know a spot with a beautiful view not too far from here.”
Toshi just nodded and they started walking. So far, so normal. On their way to this spot of hers, they started talking about some random things, as they always did. Kohana talked a lot, Toshi mostly listened, and it just felt wonderful. He almost forgot, how nervous he had been about today, about what she might talk to him about. Almost.
Every time her smile faded a bit, his heart skipped a beat, because he was so sure, that she would start some more serious topic.
“Toshi?”
Maybe about, how he was such a good friend to her, but really only a friend, because she had actually met this girl a couple days ago–
“Toshi?”
–and she was so great and they were a perfect match and–
“Toshi!”
“Uh, what? What?” He looked around and saw that Kohana had stopped some steps back at a wooden bench.
“I said, this is the spot”, she said, a smirk on her lips. “How long ago have you stopped listening?”
“Oh no, no. It wasn't like that! Well, mostly not! I listened to almost everything, I swear!”
She sat down, nodding and chuckling. “Yes, I'm sure. Come over here, enjoy the view.”
He did as she said, while scolding himself in his head. He should just enjoy the moment, instead of losing himself in his thoughts. Toshi sat down next to Kohana, trying to create a bit of space between them, which was almost impossible, because the bench was so short. She didn't seem to mind, though, so he tried to just relax.
“I love this place. Not a lot of people walk all the way over here, so it's peaceful. Perfect to enjoy the sounds of the ocean and the view.”
“I must be the luckiest guy ever, given how often you share your favourite secret spots with me.”
“Looks like it,” she said, a wistful expression on her face as she observed some seagulls gliding over the water. “Hey, Toshi. I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”
Oh no, there it was. He swallowed hard. “Really? Is everything okay?”
“Yes, yes, it's nothing bad. Well, not as far as I'm concerned.”
“Oh?” was all he could muster as an answer.
Kohana turned to look at him.
“Look, I'm not really good with these sort of things, so I'll just come out with it and say it.” She took one deep breath. “I... I really like you. But before I want to hear what you might be feeling for me, I have to tell you something and I'm a bit nervous about it. No, scratch that, I'm very nervous.”
Toshi's heart was pounding so loudly in his ears, that he could hardly make out Kohana's words. She really liked him. She liked him? Liked him as a person, a friend, or... more? It was really hard to focus on answering her, but he wanted to reassure her, that it would all be alright, no matter what. “I'm sure there is no need for you to be nervous.”
“Well, that's what everybody always says, but... I've had bad experiences before.” She looked away, her gaze wandering over the horizon.
For a moment he considered taking her hands in his, but he didn't want to push his luck or make her uncomfortable. “Hey, I promise you, no matter what you tell me, I will never let you down. And you know, you can count on my promises.”
She looked at him again, a small smile on her lips. “Yes, that's true. Thank you.” She took another deep breath and clasped her hands together. “Toshi, I'm bisexual. I'm telling you this, because I don't want to keep any part of me a secret. Also one of the most important relationships in my life was the one I had with my ex-girlfriend, Claire, so I want to be able to talk about her freely.”
For a second, Toshi just stared at her. Bisexual? Wait, bisexual as in... she didn't just like women? “Bisexual?” was the only thing his brain was able to produce at this point.
“Well, yeah, I'm attracted to more than one gender.”
“Oh okay, yeah, so I remembered that correctly. Well, I mean, that's great! I mean, not that anything else would not have been great, obviously, but just that, you know, this way everything works out, because, you know, you said you liked me and I... I... I really like you too, sooo...” He just let out a frustrated groan and gestured wildly. “Please, please, tell me, you got what I wanted to say.”
Kohana had stared at him with wide eyes, but now she began laughing loudly. “Yes, yes, I got it. And thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being even more flustered than I was.” She took one of his hands, just like she had done only a couple of days ago on their first date – even though, he still wasn't quite sure about whether it had actually been one. “Coming out can be hard, but you just made it that much more bearable.”
“I told you, I would never let you down,” Toshi said, after regaining his composure. He felt like a complete idiot. Being nervous all day, when her part of actually telling him had arguably been much harder than his of just listening and... being there no matter what.
“Yes, you did. Thank you, Toshi. Thank you, for keeping your promise.” She squeezed his hand and smiled at him with wet eyes, which just made them shine brighter in the sunlight.
He squeezed her hand back. “Thank you for trusting me.”
She nodded and for a while they just sat there, silently looking at each other and then out at the waves of the ocean. At some point, a small grin appeared on her lips. “Sooo, you like me back, hm?”
Oh damn, he had burst out with it just like that, hadn't he? Well, no more secrets between them.
Okay... almost no secrets. But let's keep it to one big revelation a day, shall we?