#date mako

This man seems to not realize you are flirting with him for months and it has become the biggest meme amongst his coworkers who, willingly or not, are in on the whole thing. After all, perception is in their job requirement. And surprisingly enough, Date is no different. What may come off as him being naive, is actually his fully conscious choice to ignore your slightly confusing behaviour. He just doesn’t think that kind of relationship possible and would rather think you are just being quirky this way, than consider it as you showing your romantic interest in him. Sometimes he even wonders if it’s some kind of a bet you are very adamant on winning, that’s how bad it is. He’s still got a lot to work through after the tough parting with his wife. 

At some point he finds being dismissive extremely tiring, especially if it actually gets through to him that you may be serious about the whole thing. So, to make it easier on himself, he starts to bite back. He tries to keep it mild, no commitment so far, just checking the waters a bit. Whatever he says sounds a bit rehearsed, definitely very stiff at first. Date is clearly not on top of his game, his lines rusty and borderlining dad jokes every now and then, but if nothing else the obvious effort he puts into entertaining you is very endearing. With time and practice, he slowly finds himself more comfortable in this flirty bickering that starts flowing seamlessly between the two of you, dad jokes are still a thing though.  It is almost as though neither you nor anyone surrounding you can’t remember these times, when the two of you weren’t joined at the hip. And honestly, others are enjoying this vibe. It’s good to see Date so animated again.

Past this point, there is nothing stopping the two of you from going on a proper date! If you give him enough space, he’ll take his time to figure out how to approach the relationship in the best way. He wants to make absolutely sure that he is not going to squander another shot at having something good with you. Date needs to feel like he knows how to treat you right before taking you out and his whole team, possibly Kiryu and Haruka too, will support his attempts to come up with a strong date plan. 

This man has got a whole schedule written down, carries it around on a piece of paper in his pocket for a whole week before it is finally time to ask you out and it goes surprisingly smoothly. He doesn’t stammer, mix up words or sentences and somehow manages to not make any silly jokes that would make his request come across as insincere. So far so good.

Date is dead set on going by the schedule to the point where he doesn’t even consider that you may have some other ideas of your own that you would like to contribute to the date plan! And it is visible, very very visible. He is as straight as a string from the moment you meet for the first part of the schedule, the funky vibe you keep between you suddenly gone. It feels so stuffy and unlike him, that you simply cannot help but bring it up. Honestly, he is so taken aback when you speak up that he forgets all about the plan in an instant. In that moment you just seem so marvelous that he doesn’t dare to interrupt you.