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strawwritesfic · 1 month

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Ryohei Sasagawa x Female!Reader: Cootie Catcher [Ch. 3]

Summary: You liked it better in the old days, when boys had cooties and didn’t talk to you.

Challenge: “What to do, oh, What to do?” by crimsonxtearx5 on Lunaescence Archives.

Ratings/Warnings/Tags: T (Friends to lovers; idiots to lovers; childhood friends; happily blended family; embarrassing parents; civilian!reader; bookworm!reader; opposites attract; Namimori Middle School; TYB!KHR Cast; no honorifics; boxing club; tutoring; Seven Minutes in Heaven; birthday party; mild language)

Relationships: Ryohei Sasagawa/Reader; Original Character/Original Character; Kyoko Sasagawa & Reader; Ryohei Sasgawa & Kyoko Sasgawa; Tsuna Sawada & Hayato Gokudera & Takeshi Yamamoto; Hibari Kyoya & Reader; Hibrari Kyoya & Ryohei Sasagawa; Kyoko Sasagawa/Tsuna Sawada/Haru Miura

Tag List: @imaginesfire

Master List

Chapter 3: Should Have Lost the Invitation

As you walked up the familiar path that led to the Sasagawa house, butterflies nipped your insides. They did not seem to care how many times you’d been to visit Ryohei over the course of your lifetime. Merely pressing the doorbell sent them into such a frenzy that you nearly turned around and sprinted away. You planted your feet in an effort to resist the temptation. Did you really want to ruin Ryohei’s birthday party over something like random nausea? Thankfully, you were able to fix a smile on your face before anyone came to let you inside.

“[Name]! You made it!” said the person that did, a younger girl with honey-colored hair, matching eyes, and a smile as bright as her older brother’s.

“Hi, Kyoko,” you said as she stepped aside to let you cross the threshold. “How are you?”

“I’m fantastic! And Big Brother will be so glad that you came.”

She waited until you had taken your shoes off, then gestured for you to follow her down the hallway. You did.

“Did he really think I’d miss his party?”

“He just said you’ve been extremely busy lately. Something about Hibari roping you into after-school tutoring? I think Tsuna said the same thing.”

“Well, yeah, but I wouldn’t prioritize Hibari over Ryohei.”

Kyoko peeked over her shoulder at you, then smiled at you in such a way that suggested she knew exactly what you were thinking about. You hoped she didn’t. “Big Brother knows that.”

The butterflies bit harder. In the hopes of hiding your reaction to this, you pulled the gift bag you’d brought along high enough to hide your burning cheeks behind the tissue paper. Thankfully, you were spared thinking of a natural segue to this statement by the sound of loud conversation coming from a nearby room. This startled you enough to get you to lower your shield. In previous years, Ryohei’s parties had included you, his sister, and his parents, but you heard a lot more voices than that in the roar.

“Big Brother! [Name] is here!” Kyoko called.

You caught only a quick glimpse of the Sasagawas’ living room and the many underclassmen inside it before your vision got blocked by a very large, very bright grin.

“[Name]! You made it!”

You would have recognized that delighted roar anywhere, but you were given no time to respond to it. Ryohei’s well-defined arms (what were you thinking?!) wrapped around you, squeezed, and lifted you into the air.

“Ry-Ryohei!” you stuttered.

Yes, stuttered. First the nerves, now this? Something had to be seriously wrong with you. Or maybe, you mused with your face smashed into your friend’s chest, something was wrong with him. Yes. That had to be it. All the weird things you’d been feeling lately were Ryohei’s fault. And continuing to let him hug you like this would only make things worse.

“Can you put me back on the ground, please?” you asked in a muffled voice.

“Oh!” You found yourself back on your own two feet in a flash. “Sorry.

“It’s fine. Happy birthday, Ryohei.”

Your second attempt to hide behind your slightly-crushed bag did not succeed as well as your first. Ryohei took it from you with a loud “Thanks,” then dropped it into a nearby pile of similarly-festive boxes and gift bags. Now you were even more exposed in front of a group of people you didn’t know—well, mostly.

“Hey, senpai! I didn’t know you and Ryohei were friends,” said the tallest of the bunch. Of course. Even your tutoring students had to see you in such an embarrassing embrace.

And it didn’t end there. Ryohei threw one arm around your shoulder, and used his other to give you a noogie. Since you couldn’t wiggle out of his grasp without looking even dumber than you already did, you had to grin and bear it as he said, “[Name] is my best friend to the extreme!”

“Hello, Yamamoto,” you said. “Did you finish your homework?”

“Sure thing! I’m doing much better now. I just have to remember to pay attention!”

“[Name]’s extremely good at classwork!” Ryohei put in.

“I can tell!”

“Sawada!” Ryohei barked at a second familiar boy. “This is [F Name] [L Name]!”

“I know.” Somehow, Sawada looked about as uncomfortable as you felt. “She tutors me, too.”

“And you’re doing your homework as well, Sawada?” you asked weakly.

The question only seemed to make the boy more miserable. “Reborn would literally kill me if I didn’t.”

Who? “Okay. Good.”

“Haru is here, too!” The dark-haired girl sitting next to Tsuna waved at you. At least you knew her from somewhere other than Hibari’s required tutoring sessions. But why had all of Kyoko’s friends turned up for Ryohei’s birthday party?

“So we all know each other!” Ryohei shouted.

“I’ve never been to after-school tutoring in my life,” snapped the last boy in the room, this one with long silver hair. This was true, but you thought you knew him by reputation.

Ryohei finally stopped clamping you to his side so that he could brush away the other boy’s concern. “Yeah, well, you heard her name.”

“And that’s supposed to count as an introduction?”

"If it matters that much to you, introduce yourself!”

“I never said it mattered to me.”

“Fine. [Name]. this idiot is Hayato Gokudera. You can just call him Octopus Head.”

“Hey!”

“Pleased to meet you, Gokudera," you said.

“Whatever.” Gokudera didn’t spare you another glance. Glaring at Ryohei, he downed another mouthful of soda. “This is a pretty shitty party, Turf Top. What do you expect us to do? Talk to each other?”

“Haru and I made cake,” Kyoko offered.

This did not appear to impress Gokudera in the slightest. “Cake. Wow. Since there’s no sushi, I can only call this the second shittiest party I’ve been to.”

“Oh, Haru loved the party at Takesushi!” said Haru.

“No one asked you!”

As the two of them quarreled (which must have been a common occurrence, because no one else paid the argument much attention), you watched Ryohei. His expression grew darker and darker and darker—until he punched the air with a triumphant whoop.

“I’ve got it! We’ll play some extreme party games!” he said.

Gokudera and Haru fell silent. Neither they nor anyone else spoke until the first said impatiently:

“Games like what?”

That stopped Ryohei’s enthusiasm cold.

“Oh! Oh! Haru knows!” Once she had everyone’s attention, she blushed, looked down, and pressed her fingers into her pink cheeks, “We should all play Seven Minute in Heaven.”

Again, Gokudera broke the stunned silence: “That’s stupid!”

Haru slapped her hands onto her legs and glowered at him. “It is not!”

“And just who are we all supposed to get in a closet with? I’m sure as hell not getting in a closet with you!”

“Haru didn’t want to get in a closet with you anyway!”

“You only came up with this batshit idea because you want an excuse to kiss the Tenth!”

“Well, so do you!”

“Hold it!” Ryohei stepped between them before they could come to blows. He looked back and forth between them, then said: “What’s Seven Minutes in Heaven?”

“Tell me you’re not that stupid,” Gokudera said.

Stupidity had nothing to do with it, at least on Ryohei’s part. You, on the other hand, felt stupid standing there mutely. Surely you could do something to salvage this situation! But your voice had left you. Seven Minutes in Heaven wasn’t a game you played at the parties you went to, which were, obviously, the same parties Ryohei attended. The thought of being shoved in a closet with any of those present sent a cold sweat across your skin. The thought of being shoved in a closet with him made you feel even worse.

“Well, Big Brother,” Kyoko spoke up when no one else did, “each person pairs up with someone else, and then they get in a closet for seven minutes so they can—”

“It’s an adventure in a closet?” Ryohei asked.

“Sort of, but—”

“Let’s do it!”

“Are you kidding me?” said Gokudera.

“Sounds fun!” Yamamoto said.

“Let’s not! Let’s definitely not!” Sawada said.

But it was too late. When Ryohei’s eyes started flaming like that, you knew you couldn’t talk him out of whatever he’d got it in his head to do. He didn’t acknowledge Sawada or Gokudera’s protests. “Who goes first?”

“I think you should go first,” Yamamoto said. “It’s your party, after all.”

“Sounds fair!”

Ryohei threw himself in the direction of the nearby door. His bandaged fingers wrapped around the knob, but he didn’t get to open the closet before Gokudera said:

“Did you forget something, Turf Top? How about the person you’re taking with you on your ‘closet adventure’?” he added when Ryohei only stared at him blankly.

“Oh! Right! [Name], let’s go!”

“Wh-what? Me?”

“Yes, you!”

“But—what about—” Though you looked wildly around the room, you found no one else suitable for shoving into a closet with Ryohei in your place. Kyoko was related to him for goodness’ sake, and almost every other guest was male. That left Haru, who you could already see giving furtive glances in Sawada’s direction even as he eagerly eyed Kyoko. Defeated, you sighed. “Okay.”

He wrenched the door open to reveal the closet’s dark interior. “Come on! We’re wasting time!”

You kept your eyes on your feet as you hurried inside. Ryohei threw himself in after you. Just as he pulled the door shut you heard Gokudera’s mocking voice call out:

“Have fun!”

And then everything went black. On the bright side, this meant Ryohei wouldn’t be able to see your face, which was surely blazing by then. You blinked as you waited for your pupils to dilate. Only by grasping blindly in front of you did you find a space on the wall not taken up by dusty boxes and the Sasagawas’ winter coats.

“Isn’t this extremely fun?”

You jumped at feeling Ryohei’s whispered voice on the back of your neck.

“Sorry,” he said, and this time he sounded like he meant it.

“That’s—That’s all right. I just didn’t see you.”

“That’s the point, I think. We’re supposed to have extreme spelunking adventure!” He pushed past you to the very back of the closet. “I don’t know how we’re supposed to explore such an extremely small space for seven minutes, though.”

At least he wasn’t trying to kiss you. Nothing more embarrassing could have occurred. You pushed a few articles of clothing aside and joined him. In the very small amount of light creeping in from the crack beneath the door, you could see nothing but a white-painted wall.

“Maybe we’ll find a lamppost?” you suggested.

“What? Why would there be a lamppost in my closet?”

“Never mind.”

“Oh.” He dropped the sleeve of the coat he’d been holding and looked away from you. “Right.”

You frowned at this uncharacteristic behavior. “Ryohei? What’s the matter?”

For a moment, Ryohei didn’t speak. He rubbed the back of his head and purposely avoided your eyes. Then he said, “Name, do you think I’m stupid?”

“What?”

Of all the things you might have guessed would come out of his mouth, that question came entirely out of left field. You opened your own to assure him that you didn’t think anything of the kind—but at that very moment, the door opened. So startled were you that you leaped away from Ryohei before the light from the sitting room had the chance to reach your socks.

“Times up!” Yamamoto said as he peered inside. “Did you guys have fun?”

“Extremely!”

Ryohei strode confidently out of the confines of the closet. You, however, crept after him while trying to make yourself look as small as possible. Maybe no one would ask anything else if they forgot you were there. But you had no such luck.

“What did you get up to in there?” Gokudera asked sarcastically.

“We looked for lampposts! We didn’t find any, though.”

“Why would you be looking for lampposts?” Haru wanted to know. “That’s not how you play Seven Minutes in Heaven. You’re supposed to—”

“I have to go.”

The words tumbled from your lips. They had to, or you would never have had the courage to say them. But you knew for a fact you didn’t have the courage to stay where you were while the rest of Ryohei’s friends explained the concept of Seven Minutes in Heaven to your him. You made a break for the hallway as soon as you'd said it, but not quickly enough to keep from seeing him look at you with obvious dismay.

“What? You’re leaving already?”

“We haven’t even had cake yet,” said Kyoko.

“I know. I’m sorry. I just—I promised my mom I wouldn’t stay too long,” you said. They knew you were lying. How could they not? It was the most obvious lie in the world. “I’m sorry,” you said again.

“[Name]? Are you okay?” Ryohei asked.

“Fine!” You answered shrilly. “But I really, really have to go. Happy birthday, Ryohei!”

You turned and ran from the room, shoved your shoes on your feet, and opened the front door. Just as you stepped outside, you heard one last exchange between Ryohei and Gokudera:

“She looked extremely upset!”

“Moron. You were supposed to kiss her.”

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strawwritesfic · 2 months

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Cootie Catcher Master List

Summary: You liked it better in the old days, when boys had cooties and didn't talk to you.

Challenge: “What to do, oh, What to do?” by crimsonxtearx5 on Lunaescence Archives.

Notes: Another old KHR fic that I'm going to post in lieu of putting other things off to write something new to indulge my current return to hyperfixation with this series.

This one isn't as old as But Uh-Oh the Summer Nights...mostly. Some of the chapters I wrote back in college, and then some of the later ones I put together several years later when I rediscovered this in my drafts. I'll still be doing a lot of heavy editing to post it. And by "heavy editing," I mean basically rewriting the entire thing line by line.

I know that TYB!Ryohei isn't exactly the bishie that people look for in this fandom. But honestly? I wish I'd written a ten-chapter story for all of these kids, because they are good boys, and I love them all equally.

(Earlier Today!Straw: I don't care much for Mukuro.)

Posting Status: In progress

Chapter 1: Should Have Had a Staycation

Chapter 2: Should Have Worn a Cuter Bra

Chapter 3: Should Have Lost the Invitation

Chapter 4: Should Have Made Up Sooner

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strawwritesfic · 2 months

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Ryohei Sasgawa x Female!Reader: Cootie Catcher [Ch. 1]

Summary: You liked it better in the old days, when boys had cooties and didn't talk to you.

Challenge: “What to do, oh, What to do?” by crimsonxtearx5 on Lunaescence Archives.

Relationships: Ryohei Sasagawa/Reader; Original Character/Original Character; Kyoko Sasagawa & Reader; Ryohei Sasgawa & Kyoko Sasgawa; Tsuna Sawada & Hayato Gokudera & Takeshi Yamamoto)

Tag List: @imaginesfire

Master List

Note: Book quotes taken from The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine, one of my all-time favorite books.

Chapter 1: Should Have Had a Staycation

“My tattered skirts caught fire, and I screamed. Vollys spat and put out the blaze. ‘Ah, you have a voice.’

I bit back another scream. Half my skirts were cinders, through which I saw bright-red skin. My left thigh roared with pain.

‘Now speak.’”

“[Name]?”

“‘When will you kill me?’”

“[Name].”

“‘Vollys wagged her head. ‘That is not a fit subject for conversation between us. It cannot—'”

“[Name]!”

“Huh?” Returning to the real world never failed to leave you disoriented. Only a few minutes before your mother shouted you name, you’d been lost in a world of princesses and child-eating dragons. Now you stood on the deck of a gently rocking cruise ship with an entirely different terror staring you down: Your mother’s glare. You remember all at once where you were—and that, unfortunately, this place had exactly zero dragons. “Did you say something, Mom?”

Your mother sighed and shook her head. “Young lady, need I remind you what you’re supposed to be doing?”

The honest answer was no, but you knew she wouldn’t want that answer. Your eyes drifted around the massive boat as you fought for time to let your brain catch up with you. Chlorinated water sloshed in the pool nearby. Tourists made their ways to seats while carrying trays piled with artery-clogging food. Sunlight beat down so hard from above that you had to squint to see even that much.

When your gaze found your mother again, her frown had grown larger.

“Relaxing?” you finally guessed.

“[Name].” Your mother dropped into the seat next to you. You could tell by the way she wrapped her arm around your shoulders that you were in for it. That the heat had turned her skin warm and sticky didn’t make you feel any better. Knowing that it would hurt her feelings if you scooted away from her, however, you remained motionless. “Yes, I want you to relax, but come on. You can read at home. Katsuro went to all the trouble to get you your own room so you could come along with us on this trip! Can’t you at least try to enjoy the cruise?”

And there it was: the “your new stepfather loves you” guilt-trip. Being used every hour or so only made this argument more ineffective as time went on.

“Enjoying things isn’t really my…thing, Mom.”

You ducked your head and fingered the page in your book. What other argument could you make? She didn’t want reminding that you hadn’t asked to come along on her and Katsuro’s honeymoon, or that you hadn’t wanted to come along on her and Katsuro’s honeymoon in the first place. Fortunately, this thought didn’t seem to occur to her.

“That’s not true,” she said. “I’ve seen you get excited with your friend…what’s his name…Ryoto?”

“Ryohei, Mom.”

You shifted back in your seat and lifted your book again. This was partially in the hopes that she would give up and go in search of another ice cream come, and partially to hide your rolling eyes. Trust your mother to constantly forget the name of the one best friend you’d had since the beginning of middle school.

“That’s the one! The Sasagawa boy. You always seem excited when he comes over after a soccer match.”

“Boxing, Mom.”

“Right, right. Oh, Katsuro!”

“Hey!” Katsuro himself plopped down on your other side, and his arm joined your mother’s around your shoulders.

You gave him a watery smile, or as much of one as you could muster. Didn’t they know they were slowly boiling you like a frog?

“How are my two favorite girls?” he asked.

“Great!” your mom chirped. God, she was so embarrassing. You’d have thought finally marrying the man of her dreams would make her act a little more her age, but so far you had had no such luck.

“Fine,” you answered. Honestly, though, all you wanted right now was for the two of them to go away so you could get back to your book.

“That’s wonderful!” Katsuro threw his arms up and, much to your relief, got up. “Because guess what?”

Your mom squirmed happily. “What?”

“I got us a trip inland for some zip lining!”

“Oh, my gosh!” Your mom practically squealed as she shook your shoulders. Your book fell off its perch on your lap and landed with a soggy thunk on the slat flooring. “That’s so exciting! Isn’t that exciting, [Name]?”

Both she and Katsuro grinned expectantly down at you. You forced yet another smile as you bent to retrieve your paperback before it got too wet. “The best.”

“That’s the spirit! Let’s go! We leave in ten minutes! Come on!”

“Yay!” A quick ruffle of your hair, and your mom took off after him.

You shook your head. You didn’t dislike Katsuro, but hanging out with her and him at the same time felt more like babysitting than family-bonding time. You could understand why they were head over heels for each other, but you’d rather they just let you stay in your room and read. Socializing wasn’t exactly your forte.

By the time you made it downstairs to the ship’s exit, a long line of day-trippers already stood waiting for permission to leave the boat. In the center of it all, of course, were your parents.

“[Name]!” They waved as soon as you appeared. You made a beeline for them despite the grumbling of those behind.

“Katsuro forgot his backpack,” your mom said upon your arrival. “Could you stand in line for two minutes while we run back to the room and get it?”

“Sure.”

“That’s my girl!” The two of them stepped out of line. Your mom flashed a smile at you before she disappeared, apparently having forgotten the most important bit, because she shouted over her shoulder, “And try to talk to some of the other kids, okay, honey? Don’t pick up your book again!”

After that stunningly kind reminder, she and Katsuro both vanished. You looked around the crowded area. No one looked to be about your age, and those that didn’t seem like someone that would want to talk to you. Only a few screaming toddlers toddled about, but other than that, you couldn’t see any children. Well, this was a honeymoon cruise, but far be it from your mother to listen to that line of reasoning when you were arguing for staying in Namimori on your own.

So far be it from you to listen to her line of reasoning about being social. A quick look at the glass elevators showed Katsuro and your mother already busy making out on the way up. There was no telling if they’d be back in time to leave. Your money was on probably not. Instead of skulking off somewhere to hide like you wanted to, you simply dug around in your backpack until your fingers found your damp book again. You’d hardly found your place again when an overly-chipper ship worker bounded up to the front of the group to perform some sort of cheerleading routine as she spoke.

“Alright, everybody! We’re going to be opening the door in ten minutes! But before we do, there are some rules we need to go through!”

You’d already stopped paying attention. Her words became nothing but a low buzz in your ears. You peeled the wet page away from where you’d left off, and began to read once more.

“[Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame]!”

Shrieking, you threw your book in the direction of the sudden noise. The source of that noise easily blocked your projectile. Your heart pounded inside your rib cage as you watched your poor, soggy projectile, slip out of sight. Only once it vanished from sight did you think to find out who it was that had screamed your name so hard your ears still hurt.

“Hey, [Name]!” said the boy.

You stared, then blinked, then blinked some more. Standing right in front of you was a muscular young man with short, silver hair and the widest grin you’d ever seen. But surely, surely it wasn’t who you thought it was. What were the odds of ending up on vacation with someone from school? Especially this particular someone?

“Ryohei?” you said.

He laughed and clapped your back. The force propelled you forward a few feet—not that he noticed. “I thought that was you, [Name]! When Kyoko saw someone with [color] hair and her nose buried in a book, I knew!”

“Yeah.” You took several wobbly steps back toward him. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re on an extreme family vacation!” he shouted. You didn’t even wince; two years with Ryohei had probably damaged your eardrums for good. “I was extremely surprised to see you! What are you doing here?”

“Oh, well, Mom and Katsuro just got married…” Now you winced. Ryohei already knew that. He’d been your guest to the wedding, even if the pair of you had spent more time eating than paying attention to the ceremony.

“And?”

“It’s their…honeymoon…”

“Oh! Right! How extremely awesome of them to bring you along!”

“Yeah,” you said, because there was no way that Ryohei of all people would understand how much you didn’t want to be there. Then something even worse occurred to you: “Wait. Ryohei, you’re not going–”

“Zip lining? Of course I am! It’s an extreme sport!”

You were pretty sure it wasn’t, but there was no need to burst his bubble.

“Why? Are you going zip lining?”

“Katsuro signed us up.”

“Where are your parents? I should give them an extreme congratulations for getting married!”

“I don’t know,” you answered weakly. The one time you’d like them there to save you from this mortification, they weren’t there. How very typical. “They went up the elevators and I don’t think they’re coming back.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“I saw them…” For some reason you could not bear the thought of telling Ryohei that you’d caught your mother and Katsuro with their tongues in each other’s mouths. Strange. Normally you would say it anyway and laugh off an explanation when your friend voiced his confusion. All you could do manage just then was shaking your head. “Just intuition, I guess.”

“That’s great! Kyoko always says that women have an extreme intuition! I’m glad to see that yours is developing!”

“Thanks?”

“You’re welcome!”

The two of you stared at each other in mutual silence. Ryohei’s expectant grin did not fade one bit. Meanwhile, you continued to shift awkwardly from foot to foot. Why was Ryohei being here making you so nervous? You didn’t know the answer, but it was clear to you that it was time to bail.

“Well, I guess I better go make sure they’re okay. Have fun zip lining!”

Without waiting for him to respond, you turned around and attempted to force your way through the now-moving crowd. Something large and warm wrapped around your wrist and pulled you backward before you could get very far. The force of the yank upset your balance, and you flailed desperately to avoid falling to the ground and getting trampled.

Instead of the floor, however, you hit Ryohei’s chest.

“Hey, I have an extreme plan!” he said.

Did he see your obvious blush as you pushed off of him? You busied yourself pulling at the clingy tank top and shorts you wore over your swimsuit so that he wouldn’t get a chance to notice your face. “Plan? What plan? We don’t need a plan!” And your voice didn’t need to go so high either!

“Sure we do! You wanted to go zip lining, right?”

“Not re—”

“So you should come with me!”

“What?” No! No! Really, I should go find my parents and—”

“Call them!”

“Eh?”

“Call them!” He shoved his cell phone at you until you lifted your hands to take it from him. “Just ask if you can come! Your mom is extremely cool! I’m sure she’ll let you come on this extreme trip!”

“But…” You trailed away, then heaved a sigh and dialed your mother’s number. With Ryohei looking down at you like that, so excited, you just couldn’t tell him no. His grin widened as you lifted the phone to your ear. It rang six times, but just as it was about to go to voicemail, someone answered.

“Hello?”

“Mom? Are you okay?” The dreamy quality of the female voice was throwing you off.

“O-Oh! [Name]!” Something that sounded an awful lot like bedsheets rustled in the background. “What’s the matter?”

“We’re starting to set out. Where are you?”

“Oh! The trip! I’m sorry, honey, we won’t be able to make it!”

“Why?”

“Katsuro is…sick!”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” you said in a tone of forced patience. “Is there anything I can bring up to you guys?”

“No! You just go find something to do and have fun. I’ll come find you later, okay?”

“Okay.” Ryohei flashed you two thumbs up. No way were you getting out of this. “Hey, Mom, is it okay if I go zip lining anyway? You know, without you and Katsuro?”

“Well…I don’t know how I feel about you going that far by yourself. You don’t have a cell phone. What if something happens?”

And she thought you were calling her how? “I ran into Ryohei. He says I could come with him.”

“That’s different.” Oh no. She sounded thrilled. “Have fun, honey!”

Before the word “bye” even formed on your lips, you heard the telltale beep of your own mother hanging up on you. You hit the end button yourself and, defeated, look up at Ryohei.

“So?” he asked, hands clenched up by his chest.

It pained you to admit it a little, but “I can go.”

“Extreme! And it’s our turn to leave! Come on!”

The last you saw of your book was it being trodden to a pulp as Ryohei tugged you down the rampart.

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strawwritesfic · 2 months

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Ryohei Sasagawa x Female!Reader: Cootie Catcher [Ch. 2]

Summary: You liked it better in the old days, when boys had cooties and didn’t talk to you.

Challenge: “What to do, oh, What to do?” by crimsonxtearx5 on Lunaescence Archives.

Tag List: @imaginesfire

Master List

Chapter 2: Should Have Worn a Cuter Bra

Today had not been a good day. It wasn't even a mediocre day. No, this was full-on [Name] and the Horrible, No Good, Very bad Day territory. With such an auspicious start as waking to the sudden realization that your mother hadn't made it to her doctor's appointment time should have clued you in. You'd spent twenty minutes convincing her to get out of bed, followed by fifteen minutes prying her out of your stepfather's arms. That left you with exactly five minutes to make sure she'd actually left the house and get to school. Shortly after arriving at Namimori Middle School entirely out of breath, your teacher asked for a history paper still sitting on your desk at home. And on top of all of that, tutorials that afternoon turned out to be a special kind of torture. The underclassman you'd been assigned to help in math didn't really seem to need much help once you'd actually sat down—and yet you still had to sit there and watch him go through his worksheet until he finished up.

"Thanks, Senpai! See you tomorrow!” Takeshi Yamamoto waved before he sprinted for the stairs.

“Do your homework!” you shouted after him.

He had his back to you, but he waved again to show he had heard. With a shake of your head, you gathered up the leftover pencils, crammed them into your schoolbag, and stood up. Why, exactly, had he bothered to show up to this tutorial session? Yamamoto's head was so filled with baseball and some mafia game that he'd hardly been able to sit still during your review of logarithms.

Maybe why you'd agreed to spend your afternoons helping struggling second-years was a better question. You pondered it as you made your way down the hall. A perfect grade point average meant you were good at school, sure, but hardly fit to teach your fellow students. But the reason behind your walking out of the school building two hours after classes had finished was an obvious one: Kyoya Hibari. Just the suggestion of you tutoring coming out of his mouth had had you failing to comply, lest you find yourself on the wrong end of his tonfa. Then again, just why he cared where two specific second-years flunked out, you had no idea.

Such thoughts carried you to the school gate. Your mental complaints so preoccupied you that you didn't think much about the fluffy, gray sky hovering overhead. You just wanted to go home, change into something more comfortable than your uniform, and study in peace for the rest of the evening.

And then you realized the rhythmic popping noise on the pavement was not, in fact, coming for your shoes. Raindrops the size of bullets were falling to the ground at breakneck speed. Had you checked the weather before racing to school that morning? Bothered to grab an umbrella just in case? Done the very simple task of grabbing one of your school-issued navy sweaters as you exited the house?

After pressing your lips together as hard as you could for several seconds, you finally lifted your head to the sky and shouted, "Oh, come on!"

“Come on what?”

“Ah!” You turned around to see Ryohei, as usual, standing right behind you. “Ryohei! Don’t do that!”

“Sorry!”

He grinned at you, clearly not sorry, and you felt your heart flip over. You scowled. No. You were supposed to be annoyed at him, not happy to see him. Thankfully, Ryohei seemed pretty intent on making sure you were annoyed, too, if his next statement was anything to go by:

“You’re cute when you’re startled.”

That slapped the frown right off your face. Forget being annoyed. Now you were just horrified. “Wh-What?”

He waved your stammered question away. “Never mind. You extremely missed practice today!”

“Ryohei, I told you I can’t come to boxing club anymore. Hibari has me tutoring.”

He nodded slowly. For one wild moment, you thought perhaps he actually understood. Maybe he could get frustrated and flippant with the school prefect, but not all of you were so fortunate. Some of you actually had to ask how high when Hibari said "jump."

“Do you want to be a teacher, [Name]?”

The question was such a startling change in subject that you actually laughed. “Definitely not.”

“Then come back to boxing club!”

He laughed as well, and threw his arm around your shoulders. Again, you felt like you were being hit by a large rock. Over the years, though, your knees must have gotten used to it, because they barely buckled under his weight at all. Ryohei tugged you toward the school gates before you registered he was speaking again:

“Hibari can get over it, right?”

“Easy for you to say,” you grumbled. “He can’t easily beat you up.”

“Hey! What do you mean ‘easily’?”

"Nothing!”

Oh, sure, that Ryohei understood. Time for a rapid change the subject. As you looked around, you noticed that Ryohei was not, as he normally did after boxing club, taking you to the baseball field to watch his group of second-year friends get up to...well, whatever they'd be getting up to that day. Instead, with his arm still firmly anchored around you, he appeared to be guiding you home.

“Where are we going?” you asked.

“You don’t recognize your own walk home?”

“No, I do. I just want to know why we’re taking it.”

“It’s raining to the extreme!”

“And?”

“I’m taking you home to make sure you don’t catch an extreme cold!”

“Oh, no!” You tore yourself out of his grasp, then took several steps away from him, just to be safe. “Oh no, no, no, no. You are not coming over.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Because!” You threw your hands in the air and then clamped them across your chest again, suddenly hyperaware of the lack of sweater over your thin, white uniform short. Could this day get any better?

It sure could, because apparently you also got to have a shouting match with your best friend in the middle of the street.

“That’s EXTREMELY not an answer!” Ryohei said.

“Yes, it is!”

"You're not making any sense!"

"I'd make perfect sense if you just thought about what I was saying from time to time!"

Because you couldn’t tell him that you didn’t want him around your mother. Ever since the cruise, when you and Ryohei had been nearly inseparable, she hadn’t shut up about how handsome he was. She wouldn't just say that for Katsuro’s benefit either. He was perfectly athletic in his own right. And so who could your mother be dropping all these hints for except for you? For the past few weeks, even just you being in her presence threw your mother into a fit of “girl talk” giggles. You paled at the very thought of what would happen if Ryohei happened to arrive in time for one of these episodes.

“No, it wouldn't.” He cocked his head to one side.

Your face heated up. Thank God Ryohei never noticed the opposite sex. You could probably relax your arms, but what if someone else walked past? Not that anyone would in this downpour.

Then Ryohei walked toward you, and pressed his hands into your shoulders with a concerned glint in his eye. Something else to worry about? Really? “[Name]," he said very seriously. "Is everything okay at home?”

You could not believe you were having this conversation. Stupid tutoring. Stupid Hibari. Stupid best friend. “Yes. Why?”

“Are you extremely sure?” The concerned look had not left his face. “Because you know…I was thinking…maybe Katsuro is a zombie.”

You deadpanned and peeled each of his hands off your shoulders in turn. “Zombies don’t exist, Ryohei.”

“Maybe you only think that because they’ve extremely turned you into one!”

“My mom and Katsuro are not zombies.”

“How do you know?”

“Because no one has eaten my brains yet.”

“That’s because they know I’ll punch them before they can!”

“Yeah. Sure. That’s it.” You turned away and rubbed your temples. A headache pressed tentatively above your left eye. “Look, thanks for the offer, but I’m already soaked. Kyoko is probably worried about you. Just go home yourself, okay?”

“No.”

“What?”

Ryohei crossed his arms over his chest as he lifted his head to stare down his nose at you. “No. Extremely.”

“Ryohei! I know the way home!”

“I’m not a member of the boxing club!”

“Yes, you are,” he said stubbornly. “I say you’re in it, so you’re in it.”

“That’s not how it wo–”

He lifted his voice to speak over you: “As a member of the boxing club, it is my duty as captain to make sure you get home safe before you catch a cold. It could extremely hamper with your practice.”

“I’m not coming back to boxing!” Even you could hear the whine in your voice now. “Hibari will kill me!”

"No, he won’t!”

“Ugh! Whatever!”

You whirled around and stomped up the street. In some remote corner of your mind, you realized how unreasonable you were being. Normally, you were the calm one, the one who made sure Ryohei didn’t get into fights. Perhaps you could chalk your attitude up to the rest of your bad day, but there was something else niggling at the back of your mind. Try as you might to ignore it, it continued to gnaw its way to the front.

“[Name]!”

“What?” you asked, quietly this time. Ryohei was walking right next to you again, and you didn’t bother trying to run off. He would just catch up with you again anyway.

“I’m sorry.”

“Eh?” You looked straight up into his face. “About what? You don’t have anything to apologize for! I’m sorry I got mad at you and–”

Ryohei shrugged. His concern had been replaced by a distinct aura of awkwardness. “I knew you were having an extremely bad day. I was just trying to make you laugh.”

“Well, thanks.” Without realizing it, you had started to walk along with him in the direction of your home. Maybe Ryohei was crazy and loud, but he was still the best friend you had in the world. “Sorry I got so mad.”

“We’re all entitled to a little extreme anger now and then!”

“Yeah. So…we’re cool?”

“We’re always EXTREMELY cool, [Name]!”

“We are, aren’t we?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come back to boxing practice? I can have an extreme talk with Hibari.”

“Yeah.” You could see the gate to your yard approaching. “Save yourself. Besides, I kind of like tutoring.”

“You do?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Good! Because I wasn’t going to let you do it if you extremely hated it.”

“It’s nice, you always looking out for me.”

“Of course!” Ryohei must have realized this was you'd come to your stop as well. He came to a halt and grinned at you again.

“Well…bye.”

“Hey! [Name]!”

Ryohei's voice stopped you just as your fingers touched the knob. You turned around. Already anticipating the soup your mother was sure to force down your throat when she caught you in this state, you were not expecting Ryohei’s next exclamation:

“If you can’t come to practice anymore, can I come to tutorials with you? Maybe I can teach your students something extreme!”

A chuckle escaped your lips. “You can only come if you need tutoring.”

He frowned at that, and paused to wipe some sweat–or was it rain?–off his brow. Then he looked up at you with another of his trademark smiles. “Mr. Hatachin says my grades are extremely terrible! Will you help me?”

This time you laughed. You opened the door, and, just before you snapped it closed, you answered. “Of course. See you tomorrow!”

“Bye, [Name]! And thanks for all the help!”

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strawwritesfic · 24 days

Text

Ryohei Sasagawa x Female!Reader: Cootie Catcher [Ch. 4]

Summary: You liked it better in the old days, when boys had cooties and didn’t talk to you.

Challenge: “What to do, oh, What to do?” by crimsonxtearx5 on Lunaescence Archives.

Tag List: @imaginesfire

Master List

Chapter 4: Should Have Made Up Sooner

Getting ready to take your high school entrance exams was hard work. Even for someone as dedicated to school as you, the studying took up a lot of your time. Several months lay between you and those tests, but you wanted to go in completely prepared—which was why giving yourself a rare evening to read a book you actually wanted to read meant a lot to you. You could curl up in a chair in the corner of your room and forget about the stresses of reality for just a little while.

“Honey?”

You turned a page in your novel without giving any indication you heard your mother rapping on the outside of your bedroom door. She’d been coming upstairs with excuses to check on you for the last hour or so. Why did she need your attention this badly? Katsuro had given her a cell phone so that she could constantly text you; now she wouldn’t give you any alone time when you were home either.

“Honey?”

Whatever she needed you for, she wasn’t about to give up and go away this time.

“What, Mom?” you asked with your eyes still glued to your page.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?”

“Answer what?”

“Your phone.” She pointed at the device sitting at the little table next to you. “That’s the fifth time it’s gone off since you came home from school.”

“It’s not ringing right now.”

“But it was about ten seconds ago.”

Could she not tell you didn’t want to talk about it? Of course not. Even the person calling you incessantly couldn’t take the hint, so why should you expect your mother to? You did not attempt to continue the conversation. She didn’t get that either. When you remind tight-lipped, she crossed the room to kneel next to your chair.

“That nice Sasagawa boy has been leaving you messages, hasn’t he? Don’t you think the polite thing to do would be to call him back?”

“I’m not going to call him back,” you said flatly., and turned another page in your book as loudly as you could. “If he needs to talk to me that badly, he can talk to me at school.”

Or Ryohei could talk to you at school, if he could find you. He hadn’t managed to do so yet. Hibari had given you permission to skip tutoring for the week, which left you free to leave the school grounds as soon as class was over. Throw in eating lunch in a different place every day, and Ryohei shouldn’t ever have a chance to discuss the Seven Minutes in Heaven incident with you before you left Namimori Middle forever.

“When you have a crush on someone, you aren’t supposed to avoid them. Not all the time, anyway. And I really don’t think he’s the kind of boy that wants someone who plays hard to get,” your mom put in.

“Mom, I am not playing hard to get. Okay? And I don’t have a crush on Ryohei.”

“Didn’t you say you get butterflies in your stomach when you seem?”

“Well—”

“And that your face gets all hot when you say something dumb around him?”

“I mean—”

“And that you get annoyed when you see him spending time with his sister’s best friend?”

This was what you got for opening up to your mother. Ask her to take you to the doctor for all these crazy symptoms, and what did you get instead? Constantly heckling about the wonders of puberty. She’d even refused to let you stay home from school for those first few days after Ryohei’s party. Maybe if she had, you wouldn’t be forced into such drastic measures to keep Ryohei away from you!

“I’m just coming down with something,” you mumbled for what felt like the fiftieth time.

Your mother reached up to hover the back of her hand against your forehead. “You don’t feel warm to me.”

“Well, then I must be starting to get over it.”

“Then I think you’re healthy enough to call the boy. He’s your best friend, [Name].”

“I know.” You couldn’t help sounding so miserable. Did she think you enjoyed eating lunch all alone every day? “But I don’t know what to do.”

“It’s okay to have a crush on him, you know. It’s perfectly normal for girls your age. And mine! All those things you feel? I feel them when I look at Katsuro. And I’m normal, right?”

“Debatable.”

“Hey! He’s my best friend, just like the Sasagawa boy is yours.”

“Mom, you’re only making me feel worse. I don’t want to like Ryohei like that.”

“Why not?”

You chewed on your lower lip in lieu of answering.

“Before all this started, you two were inseparable,” she went on. “I hardly saw you around the house without him attached to your hip.”

“I don’t want that to change! I mean, he’s the only person at school that talks to me, other than Hibari.”

“And you’re repaying his kindness by refusing to talk to him?”

“I…” You swallowed roughly. For once, your mother was completely right—not just about how you felt about Ryohei, but how badly you were treating him. Your throat felt tight with tears as you said, “I just hoped it would go away.”

“Your crush?”

You took a deep breath, placed your book on the nearby table, and curled into yourself on your chair. “Yes.”

“It might, Sweetheart. But do you want him to have found another best friend in the meantime?”

“No,” you moaned.”

“Then I really think you should call him back, or at least pick up next time he calls you. I get the sense he really misses you, and for what? A silly game of Seven Minutes in Heaven?”

“You’re right. Thanks for the advice, Mom.”

“Anytime.” She stood to walk out of your room, but paused before she exited entirely. “I’m going to go make dinner. If you need anything else, you know where to find me. Don’t spend all day reading. Okay? At least try to talk to your friend.”

“I will. I promise.”

“Good.”

With one last meaningful glance at your cell phone, she left you alone. You looked at it yourself. A blinking light indicated you had another voicemail. No points for guessing who had left it. And while, yes, you’d just given your word that you’d quit ignoring him, you didn’t feel ready yet to discuss the Seven Minutes in Heavens debacle—especially not with Ryohei himself. What would you say? How could you convince him hurt feelings weren’t the cause of your sudden disappearance? Obviously, you couldn’t tell him the truth.

“Ten more minutes,” you told yourself. You’d nearly finished chapter five anyway, and focus would come easier when you didn’t have outstanding words to read. One chapter was surely better than the entire book in terms of procrastination.

Picking your book back up, you settled back against the chair cushion just in time for your phone to start buzzing once more. The sudden flood of nerves felt like a punch to your stomach. No! You weren’t ready! But you had promised.

“Hello?” you said after accepting the call.

“[Name],” the voice on the other end roared. You winced as you wrenched the phone away from your ear. “Finally!”

“Hi, Ryohei. Listen, I—”

“Can you open the door? It’s sweltering out here!”

“Can I—where are you?” You twisted in your seat to push back the curtain hanging across your bedroom window.

“Outside your house, of course!” he said, just as you spotted a head covered in short, silver hair below.

“What? No!”

Despite your protests, you were already up and dashing for the front door. Ryohei, however, did not know this. He rambled on, “Well, you wouldn’t talk to me at school, and I can never find you after school, so I—”

You yanked the door open and interrupted him mid-sentence. The two of you stared at one another until you took your phone away from your face and ended the call.

“Hi,” you said awkwardly.

“Hey,” he said, just as awkwardly. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for ages.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that.”

You both stared again. Heat crept up the back of your neck. Your lips twitched. Those awful stomach butterflies returned with a vengeance. Could this really be as normal as a teenage crush? The mere sight of Ryohei hadn't ever made you feel like you wanted to run and hide under your bed before, and standing there at your doorstep, you would have traded just about anything to not feel that way again.

“Do you want to come in?” you asked at last.

“Only if you want me to.”

“Why wouldn’t I want you to come in?”

“Because I didn’t kiss you!”

Your mouth fell open. Sure, you’d heard Gokudera tell Ryohei the truth behind Seven Minutes in Heaven, listened to the voicemails begging you for a call back, and endured Kyoko’s suggestions you could just talk to her brother for a minute to straighten things out, but never in a million years had you considered that Ryohei actually believed you’d stopped talking to him because he hadn’t kissed you.

Ryohei must have taken your shock as space for further explanation, so hurried on, “Octopus Head told me everything about the game we played at my party after you felt. I’m extremely sorry that I didn’t kiss you, but I didn’t know that was the point!”

No matter how many times you opened and closed your mouth, no sound came out.

“[Name]? Are you extremely mad at me?”

“I—” Success! A single word! Now to string a few more onto it before Ryohei had any crazier ideas. “No! I’m not mad at you at all.”

“You’re not? Are you sure?”

“Positive!”

“Then why have you been avoiding me?” he demanded.

You took a deep breath and prepared yourself to lie your butt off. You hadn’t felt very well the last couple of weeks; please just go home; maybe you’d talk to him this weekend. But Ryohei looked so upset that your fibs died on your lips. How could even look him in the eye when you were going to treat him like that?

So you didn’t. You moved your eyes to your feet and told him the truth: “I was just embarrassed doing that in front of your friends. I’m really glad you didn’t kiss me.”

“You are?”

You nodded. “I’m just not used to playing games like that.”

“So you forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive.” Finally, you worked up the nerve to face him again. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a jerk.”

“It’s no problem! Kyoko says sometimes people can do weird stuff when they experience an extreme shift in their homelife.”

Well, Katsuro wasn’t what you’d call an extreme shift in your homelife. He’d been a fixture there for quite some time before he and your mother tied the knot. But you had no intention of weaseling out of the excuse Ryohei had offered you. You wanted your best friend back at school. At least he had other friends to spend time with when you were giving him the cold shoulder.

“Thanks, Ryohei.” You smiled. “And next time you have a party, maybe we can play something else?”

Ryohei did something strange when you said that: He frowned. Before you could ask him why, though, he hitched his usual grin back in place.

“If it makes [Name] extremely uncomfortable, we’ll never play Seven Minutes in Heaven again.”

“Good.”

Perhaps his disappointment had just been in your imagination. Why would Ryohei be disappointed about not getting shoved into a dark closet with you again? You doubted he had much actual interest in kissing. An underclassman had tried to him a lunch just a few months ago, and he’d only promised to remember to bring his own lunch from then on so no one felt obligated to sacrifice their own meal for him.

“You want to come inside?” you asked. “We have Yakult.”

“Yes, please!”

You stood aside to let him in. Ryohei stopped in the entryway to take off his shoes, and you marched into the kitchen, pulled out the Yakult and some coconut water, and got busy mixing the drinks.

“Two glasses?” Your mother asked as she wandered into the kitchen. You could tell by her smile that she already knew, but you answered anyway:

“Ryohei’s over.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! Did you two make up?”

“Sort of. We weren’t really fighting.”

“Oh, I get it.” She winked at you. “Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“What secret?” asked Ryohei. Of course. Now he showed up, just in time to overhear that.

“Hi, Ryohei,” your mother said.

“Hello, Mrs. [L Name]! How are you doing to the extreme?”

“I’m fine. Just lonely lately, what with [Name] off at school so often and Katsuro working long hours.”

You waggled a finger at her over your stirring. “Quit trying to make him feel bad. Grandma visits almost every day. And you know Ryohei isn’t the one keeping me at school so long. I already told you that’s Hibari.”

Your mom did not reply to this. For several blissful seconds, you thought she might wander off to go do her own thing. But you could not be so lucky. The next words out of her mouth were:

“So Ryohei, are you and [Name] dating yet?”

“Oh, my God!” you shouted before Ryohei had an opportunity to comprehend the question. Thankfully, your apparent distress got his attention at once.

“What happened? What's the matter?" he asked.

You grabbed his wrist. “I just remembered.”

“Remembered what?”

“I left my umbrella at school today. It might rain tomorrow. We need to go get it!”

“But your mother just—”

“Right now!”

Without waiting for her to say anything else to keep either of you there, you dragged Ryohei by his arm out of the kitchen and toward the front door. The Yakult would have to wait for a safer time. At least for now you had your best friend back…so long as your mother’s big mouth didn’t put an end to that once more.

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