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Tachimukai had practically bitten through the sleeve of his hoodie by the time he had made his way up the stairs to Tsunami’s door. He had only taken it from between his teeth to knock, but he forced himself to keep his hands in his pockets while he waited for Tsunami to answer. It was a bad habit, he reminded himself. Just like his bad habit of not saying what he means; which was the thing that had gotten him stuck up in this mess.
The relaxed smile that Tsunami gave him when he opened the door reminded himself that he was nervous for nothing. After all, his attempt to initiate the first date had failed. In his fear of rejection, he had simply asked Tsunami to go with him, and skipped anything about feelings that were more complicated than friendship. And so he was on edge for nothing more than a friendly invitation, and there was no way to explain the redness on his face or his hands fidgeting in his pockets. Luckily enough, Tsunami didn't seem to notice. But the sound of his own slightly chattering teeth echoed in his ears almost too loud for him to hear the boy’s greeting.
"Hey, ‘Mukai, are we going?" He didn't really trust himself with a verbal response, so he nodded with a tight-lipped smile, attempting to match Tsunami’s much more genuine grin. Which, speaking of which, turned down once he saw Tachimukai’s response. "Is something wrong? If you’re sick or something we could go another day." He started to shake his head, before realizing that he was probably looking for a verbal response. "Oh, nah.. No, it’s okay. If you’re ready, we can go now!" His voice was shaking just enough to show a lack of confidence in his words. Tsunami gave him a long look and he shrunk a bit under his gaze, but he shrugged in response. "I’m ready when you are." And with another moment of quiet, they were off.
It was pretty nice that it was easy to walk where they were going. Cars were much more quiet, and the last thing Tachimukai needed right now was a lack of noise or motion. Walking was much better, he could almost forget about everything on his mind when he was so concentrated on the walk. The two talked a bit more comfortably as they walked, until Tachimukai became more self-conscious of how they were practically walking shoulder to shoulder and how their hands just barely grazed because neither of them were being very careful. Almost begrudgingly he shoved his hands back into his pockets, because the last thing he needed was any accidental hinting. He had spent so much energy keeping quiet about this impromptu date, the last thing he needed was for Tsunami to figure it out without him being able to say so on his own.
He hadn’t skated since he was really young, and that never really hit him until he was sitting on the bench struggling to fit into a pair of roller skates that were probably too tight. As he glanced at Tsunami next to him who was doing the same, he started to wonder if this was a good idea after all. He had decided on a skating rink when one of his teammates had mentioned going, and it seemed like a great idea at the time, he had heard that it was a good place for dates and even just hangouts. He had taken it for granted that all he had heard was probably from people who had a bit more practice than him.
It took a lot to not use his free hand to hide his face when Tsunami had to help him over to the rink. He had taken his sense of balance for granted, and had soon found that walking on his skates wasn't’ anywhere near as easy as Tsunami made it look. He felt bad for how hard he must have been gripping the other boy’s arm as they both slowly made their way out to the rink. It was a bit hard to hear over the music, but they sat back down on a bench near the ring to talk for a bit before they started.
"Have you never skated before?" He looked close to laughing. Tachimukai, however, did not. "Well, I did when I was little… I guess I remembered it being a lot easier." Well, why did you offer for us to go? That’s what he expected the answer to be, but when Tsunami spoke again he shook off the thought. "If it’s the balance, I could help." It was a nice offer, but he couldn't imagine hanging onto him the way he had been when they were coming in that entire time. He hoped the color in his cheeks didn't show as well in this lighting, and shook his head. "I can learn." Was the best response he could manage, and he forced a reassuring smile to accompany it. "If you say so." Tsunami said with a wide smile that he struggled to figure out if it was genuine, or if he was still trying not to laugh.
After Tsunami had to help him back onto the ring, he decided he was going to try to learn this balance this on his own. Thankfully, there weren't many people there, so it wasn’t hard to keep out of the other couples’ way. Soon enough, he fell into a rhythm. Not a helpful one that made it easier or anything like that, but a very particular one. Start to balance for a few seconds, have one leg slip, grab fistful’s of Tsunami’s shirt in an attempt to catch himself, hit knee on floor trying to get back up, have to get helped up fully by Tsunami, rinse and repeat. Even with his attempts to not have to rely on the other boy to try to learn, he still ended up having to get his help anyways. But it was better than having to link arms with him to keep himself up, or something equally embarrassing.
Well, that didn’t last long. After about 20 minutes of trying to convince himself that his failures were better than the embarrassment of hanging off his arm, he still found himself folding. “Would you mind?” He mumbled, peeking up at Tsunami as the boy grabbed his arm and helped him up after his probably-a-millionth fall. Tsunami shook his head, pulling him up and keeping his arm there rather than pulling it away like usual.
His legs were shaking as he gripped Tsunami’s arm with both hands, pushing aside the urge to hide his face in his shoulder. His balance seemed to improve a bit with something to hold onto, but why did it have to be him? If it were anyone else he was holding onto he’d be just fine, it wouldn't be as big of a deal as this was to him. But no; he was surrounded by other skating couples, with his arms wrapped around his crush’s arm, his face red and hands shaking. And it was still probably the closest he’d get to a date, even when he claimed that it was nothing like that. And he was scared, nervous didn't even begin to explain it.
When Tsunami asked him if he was doing okay, his response caught in his throat because he wasn't really sure. “I-I think I’m getting the hang of it…” Tachimukai spoke up after a moment, though he was guessing that he wasn't actually referring to his skating skills. Whether or not that was what Tsunami meant, he didn't ask past that. “You’re doing fine! Do you want to try it on your own, then?” No. Not really. But he nodded despite himself, begrudgingly letting go of Tsunami’s arm before he attempted to skate past him.
It was going pretty well for a moment, though Tachimukai still had to hold out his arms to steady himself he wasn't slipping just yet. He grinned despite his nervousness, carefully making his way. At least, he was. When Tsunami called out encouragement from behind him, it must have distracted him pretty badly, and he found one of his skates missing the ground. Before he could fall, however, he felt someone grab his arms from behind. Oh nonononono. “Are you okay?” Shit. He would've rather fallen back, but at least it was a little easier to get up. “Tsunami! Ah, I’m.. fine.” He stuttered. “Sorry, did I throw you off there?” He shook his head with a no, it’s fine, before looking away. He tried to ignore that Tsunami’s arms had lingered a bit longer than they should have after he caught him. And he tried to ignore his heart beating so hard.
Slowly but surely, he got the hang of it. Within an hour he could almost match pace with Tsunami, and they spent their time once again close to shoulder to shoulder, and Tachimukai found it hard again to keep himself from holding his hand. He kept his hands at his sides rather than his pockets now, though, keeping his balance even when he didn't really need to. Because this still wasn't the date he had wanted it to be, and it’d be out of line for him to hold his hand. It was pretty out of line for him to feel this way in the first place, he didn't want to ruin things further.
Neither of them wanted to leave, he realized as they changed back into their street shoes. It wasn’t all that awkward when they had to focus on the balance and everything else, but now that they were back to regular walking on the way home the silence was deafening, but his words were stuck in his throat. It took until they were at the sidewalk in front of Tsunami’s house before he spoke up.
"Hey, ‘Mukai… Thanks for the good time!" He said after a long time, and the hesitation in his voice for the first part didn’t match the more normal tone in the second. "It’s no problem, I had a lot of fun too!" Tachimukai said after a moment, trying not to make it obvious that he was a little worried about the hesitation he heard. He held back his apologies for now. Though it sounded like a goodbye, neither of them moved. "Uh…" It wasn’t really like Tsunami to have this much trouble talking, but Tachimukai tried not to urge him on too much.
"If you’d like to go again, maybe we could… C-conciser it a date?" Tsunami’s voice was practically cracking at this point, and Tachimukai struggled to respond. He meant to mention that this was practically one in the first place, and that he had kind of hoped it was to him too, but it came out more like "Sure! I mean.. If you wouldn’t mind." He noticed now that Tsunami hadn't been smiling at that point, but it was back when he heard Tachimukai’s response. "Of course!" That was definitely the end of it. But they stood there still.
Though his hands were shaking and he was definitely beyond scared at this point, he felt it was nessisary. To thank him, or to seal the deal on what would be their first (or second) date, maybe. He gripped the front of Tsunami’s shirt to give himself a little balance as he rose up on his toes to give Tsunami a soft peck on the lips. When he stepped back he grew worried again, because maybe that was a bit much or that Tsunami was joking or… His thoughts grew quiet when he saw Tsunami grin at him, and he looked a lot more flustered than Tachimukai had noticed before.
"So, uh.. It was- I mean, it’s a date?" He asked, just to break the silence. Tsunami responded with a soft peck on his lips and a nod, before he heard the door to his house open. They drew away from one another quickly, their eyes wide as they looked up at it. "Are you coming inside or what? It’s cold!" They breathed a collective sigh of relief as they realized that they probably hadn’t seen. Tsunami gave a quick wave goodbye, before jogging up the lawn to his door. "Yeah. See you then!"
The whole walk home he had a wide smile on his face, and he covered it with a sleeved hand. He didn’t want to disturb the ghost of the feeling of his lips on his, so he didn’t even think of chewing on his sleeve anymore. He wandered home in almost a daze, nervous and excited for what would soon be his second first date.