#bye..........

If Hinata tried to say they weren't positively delighted by Midori's reaction to their question, well, they'd be lying. A devious thrill raced through them, and although their expression was tame enough, there was a mischievous sparkle in their eye nonetheless.

After all, as far as they were concerned, the one and only reason to have such a skill in the first place was to dazzle onlookers... or rather, the stem itself was inconsequential. The skill-- the motions required to carry out such a task... well, all of that spoke for itself.

❝Is that really what you think, Midori-kun?❞ There was a teasing lilt to their voice as they snapped a stem off of a cherry, holding it up delicately between the thumb and forefinger of both hands to wiggle it in front of their face.

❝Let's see then~. I'm preeeeetty flexible, y'know? Well, it's not like you really need to be all that flexible to do something like this. Here I go!❞

Without any further introduction, Hinata popped the stem into their mouth, holding up their splayed hands with a wink, as if to indicate the lack of any additional stems.

(If they were going to cheat, they knew easier ways, anyhow.)

They hummed as they worked-- a Ryuseitai song, in fact, just because-- and reclaimed the stemless fruit they'd left aside. They raised the cherry just above eye level, as if to thoroughly examine it in the light, rolling it between their thumb and fingers slowly. It certainly was pretty by fruit standards; Hinata wasn't exactly picky, but still. Still. An aesthetically pleasing fruit was one of life's simplest pleasures.

Every few seconds, they spared Midori a glance out of the corner of their eye, until, satisfied, they simply opened their mouth to stick their tongue out in his direction, the tightly knotted stem on display. Admittedly, they'd been a little worried-- it could have broken, or been resistant to remaining bent.

Noenoe is weak to cute things. (AO3)

(Post Unloved)

 Ninosuke had sent him a ‘good morning’ text some days after they had kissed.