milk pudding « kozume kenma

chapter twenty one || lemon soda

chapter twenty one: LEMON SODA

• • •

"Her name was Nanami Anzu and she was my first love,"

Kenma turned around abruptly and moved to face her teary brown eyes, their noses just centimetres apart. She let her vision fall to her lap, her hand clasped around his tightly, as if she was in pain.

"And she was the reason why everything fell apart."

• • •

Miruka blushed and looked away, hesitantly making eye contact with the boy in front of her. He didn't move, nor did he say anything, and she was just so confused. Peach strands covered her face, hiding in pure fear.

Why wasn't he disgusted?

Why wasn't he running away already?

He should have done that by now.

The girl exhaled shakily. "You know you can leave me — "

"I don't mind,"

She sucked in a breath and looked up. His eyes, so molten and amber and warm, never wavered. He was a resolute being, yet he was so soft and delicate that he was afraid of breaking the quivering girl in front of him. Kenma inched closer, holding one another so tightly it was as if they could meld into each other.

Their shoulders touched, and it made them feel like they were here, existing. Neither of them showed it, but they felt it with every inch of their mind and heart. Things like that didn't need words; silence was more than enough.

"I'm asexual," Kenma breathed, the small confession making her smile and him shake slightly. "And um, demi-panromantic. You know when — "

"I know. No need to explain," she shot back, pushing against him with her shoulder playfully. "I'm bisexual, but you probably figured that out. Keep that to yourself, would you mind? I don't want to, you know, do that yet,"

He nodded. He knew what she meant. "Could you do the same?"

She nodded. She knew exactly what he meant. "Of course,"

Sitting quietly, their fingers looped and fumbled, awkward and fitting all at once. It was odd, how they worked. Nothing needed to be said, still they never faltered.

"Have you told anyone else?" Miruka questioned, settling her head on his shoulder. An orange glow dusted their skin, yellow rusting their noses and lips flushed pink. The golden hour was upon them. "You're my eighth, actually,"

Kenma stopped for a moment. "I — I've been meaning to tell Kuroo," he said calmly. The heat wasn't overpowering him and the winds were kind to his cheeks. "He's gay, actually. I trust him and I know he'll be okay. I just don't know what will happen to us,"

"Take your time," she replied after a thought, twisting a blade of grass in her nails. "The relationship you guys have is very strong. I know it's hard having to explain. I've been through it too, though I feel that bedhead and you have something more than I did,"

They let her words sink in, along with the slow sun. Kenma looked at her, a girl filled with so much brightness she must have swallowed a thousand shooting stars, and realised that she was so much like space.

Filled with bursts of light and life, then ultimately unknown and pitch black as you fell deeper.

She was the cosmos, the planets, the whole universe inside the body of a teenage girl who just wanted to explore the world she lived in.