Whenever Kinshiro glanced toward Atsushi, he tried to gaze into his gorgeous eyes or look at his beautiful smile, but he was always distracted by that one unruly cowlick that bobbed up and down each time Atsushi took a step. Atsushi had had it since they were children, but never before had it been that big of an issue.

Perhaps it was because they had never spent so much time in such close proximity before? Kinshiro’s heart quickened at the thought, suddenly very conscious of Atsushi’s fingers wrapped around his own.

“Kin-chan, are you okay?” Atsushi asked, pausing on the sidewalk for a moment.

After a quick peek at the cowlick that was somehow still moving even when they weren’t (curse that darn breeze), Kinshiro nodded. “Yes, I am.”

“Okay,” Atsushi said. He still had the hint of a frown on his face, but he didn’t press the issue further—which Kinshiro was grateful for. How was he supposed to explain the problem?  ‘Oh, sorry At-chan, I want to enjoy our date but I’m too busy trying to resist poking your hair properly into place for once?’ No, keeping quiet was by far the better option.

They continued on their way to the ice cream shop down the street, and Kinshiro did his best to stay engaged in the conversation. He was semi-successful, and since he was in a good mood he decided to consider that a victory.

A few minutes later, they reached the ice cream shop and went inside to place their orders. The cashier told them the price, and Atsushi pulled out his wallet.

“At-chan, I can pay,” Kinshiro said, lightly touching Atsushi’s arm.

“Are you sure?” Atsushi asked, blushing as he ran his hand through his hair, and—

Boing. Just as quickly as Atsushi had pushed it down, the cowlick sprung back up once his hand had been removed.

Forcing his eyes back down to meet Atsushi’s, Kinshiro nodded and handed his card to the cashier. He hoped his cheeks weren’t as red as Atsushi’s were.

After grabbing their bowls of ice cream, they found a small table outside the shop and took a seat. They each took their first bite and sighed in satisfaction.

“This is delicious. Thank you for choosing this place, At-chan.”

Atsushi smiled again. “No, thank you for paying.”

As they continued eating and talking, Kinshiro gradually managed to stop focusing so much on the cowlick—especially during those brief moments when their hands met across the table, or when someone’s shoe just so happened to accidentally bump against the other’s. It was perfect.

—Until the wind started to pick up, rushing through their hair and their jackets. Atsushi was, of course, upwind of Kinshiro and had to bear the brunt of it, and by the time the wind had settled down the rest of his hair was just as out-of-place as that one uncooperative curl. Kinshiro couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, but he attempted to stifle it behind his hand nonetheless.

When he noticed Kinshiro’s line of sight, Atsushi let out a small giggle himself as he got to work patting his hair back into place. “Is that better?” he asked after a moment, lowering his hands so Kinshiro could see.

Well, he had successfully returned his hair to the state it had been in before, but Kinshiro couldn’t stop staring at…it. If only he could just…

Without thinking, Kinshiro leaned out of his chair and across the table, using his index finger to push the cowlick down. Perfect.

“K-Kin-chan?”

Kinshiro gasped, not expecting Atsushi’s voice to be so close to his ears. That was when he looked down: Atsushi was staring up at him, mouth agape and eyes wide—and only a few centimeters away.

Backing away, Kinshiro rushed to sit down and cover his face with his hands. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“What were you—why—what—” Atsushi kept sputtering incoherent half-sentences while he reached up to the top of his head where Kinshiro’s finger had just been.

“You…you missed…” Kinshiro tried to explain, pointing in the direction of the cowlick.

Eyes widening in comprehension, Atsushi’s fingers pinched the cowlick. “You mean this? But it’s always been like that.”

“I know,” Kinshiro said as he tried to figure out a way to explain his actions. Unfortunately, he drew a blank and said, embarrassingly, “It’s distracting.”

“…Oh,” Atsushi said, clutching his now-melting bowl of ice cream in his hands and staring at it intently. “It really looks that bad?”

“No!” Kinshiro said. “It—it just—it moves.”

“Moves?”

“When you walk, when the wind blows…all the time.”

“I see,” Atsushi said quietly, bringing his hand to his hair again. “And you don’t like it?”

Kinshiro didn’t know how to answer that. To say that he hated it wouldn’t be the truth, but he didn’t particularly love it. Either way, he needed to answer soon because Atsushi was looking more and more uncomfortable by the second, and he kept nervously pushing the cowlick down, letting it bounce back up, pushing it down again—

“Oh,” Atsushi said, shaking Kinshiro from his thoughts. Kinshiro met Atsushi’s gaze and…was surprised to find him smiling. “You do like it,” Atsushi said.

“I do?”

“That’s why you were smiling just now, wasn’t it?” Atsushi asked.

Smiling? Kinshiro wasn’t aware of when he had supposedly smiled during that exchange, but he certainly was aware of the way Atsushi continued to play with the curl of hair on his head—wrapping it around his finger, sliding it back and forth, pushing it down—

Huh. Kinshirowas smiling. “I—I guess I do like it,” he muttered, averting his eyes.

He heard Atsushi laughing from the other side of the table. “I didn’t expect you to like cowlicks so much, Kin-chan.”

“Not all of them, just yours,” Kinshiro said as he felt his face heat up, and Atsushi’s face soon looked just as warm. After all that blushing, it was a good thing they had their ice cream to cool themselves down.

Their ice cream was soon finished, but they continued to talk, their hands clasped together across the table. With newfound confidence, Kinshiro found himself occasionally reaching over to thread his fingers through Atsushi’s hair. If the feeling of the soft strands against his skin didn’t already make the action worth it, the smile it brought to Atsushi’s face certainly did.