Chapter 9: The Dark Night (Part 2)

With the flashlight, Chou Usagi and Fumihito Inugami managed to navigate the rabbit’s apartment with much more precision. Having secured scented candles from Hisui’s bedroom, the pair sat at the now-candlelit kitchen table. A dinner that surely would have radiated romance, if not for the fact that Chou was aro and that both the bunny rabbit and the dog were leaning over the table to toast marshmallows over the candles in order to make s’mores. One could hardly blame them for their bizarre choice considering Chou didn’t have any meals lying around that she could prepare without the aid of electricity.

“Y’know,” Fumihito said between bites, “we used to have these all the time back when I was in the scouts.”

“Oh, you were in the Unisex Scouts too?”

“Too? I didn’t take you for the outdoors-type, Chou.”

“Pfft, nah, my parents made Hisui and I go,” Chou explained. “I still have the uniform, actually…” Chou took a bite from her s’more. “It’d probably still fit, since I haven’t grown much!” she joked.

Fumihito and Chou looked at each other for a brief moment before bursting into laughter. “I think I gave mine to my cousin,” the spaniel said, making another marshmallow sandwich and devouring it in a single bite. “So… did you like being a scout? Maybe we could go camping sometime?”

“Oh, gods, no!” Chou exclaimed. “You never realize how much poison ivy there is in the woods until you fall into every patch imaginable!”

“I see.”

The two continued with their candlelit dinner, Fumihito trying between bites of s’more to find a common interest that he and Chou shared. Every time he thought he had a breakthrough, the rabbit would brush it off, divulging some sort of traumatic or humiliating backstory about the subject in-question. In truth, it wasn’t surprising. Fumihito has spent most of his youth outdoors camping, playing sports, socializing… Chou meanwhile had always been something of an introvert. Aside from the occasional walk in the public park, she spent most of her time writing, playing video-games or watching movies and TV.

 

“Looks like we’re out of marshmallows,” Chou said, changing the subject.

“Hey, Chou? I-If you don’t feel we’re compatible, you don’t have to date me, just because I confessed.” Fumihito gulped. It was clear that he didn’t want to break-up with Chou, but he couldn’t keep dating her if it wasn’t making her happy.

“It’s not you, it’s me,” she replied nonchalantly, clearly not thinking of Fumihito’s last statement as big of a deal as he did. “You’re my friend, it doesn’t matter if we don’t have the same interests.”

“Chou, I don’t want to keep asking you out on dates you have no interest in going out for.”

“It’s fine, I agreed to date you, didn’t I? Besides, it’s like I told you, I need some real-life field experience to write my romance story, remember?”

“There are plenty of fish in the sea.”

“I’m not into fish guys; I prefer other mammals.”

“Well, if you’re not happy dating me, why not base your novel on one of your past mammal boyfriends?” Fumihito asked.

“Oh, well, I can respond to both of those statements at once,” Chou said. “You’re my first boyfriend; all the awkwardness is my fault.”

“I-I’m your first?” The King Charles could hardly believe it. He couldn’t fathom how someone as sexy and fun to be around as Chou couldn’t have had a partner before! “So, you’ve only dated other women before, then?”

Chou hopped back in surprise, knocking over the chair she was sat on. “Uh, no???” she said, not expecting Fumihito to interpret her not having had a boyfriend before as a sign that she’d dated girls.

Chou wasn’t sexually attracted to women, and she certainly wasn’t romantically attracted to them either. Had Fumihito forgotten that she was aromantic?! …Well, no, actually. What had really happened was that telling Fumihito that she was aro had completely slipped her mind.

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“You’re the first person I’ve dated, period.”

“I see…” In Fumihito’s mind, things suddenly made sense! THAT was why the bunny girl acted so unromantic! “Well, next time we go out – hopefully to somewhere with electricity – I’ll be sure to show you the ropes!”

To the spaniel, it seemed there was still hope that Chou’s fake relationship with him could blossom into something more real! If he took her somewhere that would suit her hobbies, he figured he could win her over with his charm! And he knew just how to start…

“Hey, Chou, can you come over here a sec?” he asked.

“Uh, sure,” the lagomorph said, grabbing the flashlight and walking to the other end of her table. “What’s up?”

Fumihito grabbed the battery-powered torch from Chou’s paw, turning it on and pointing it towards the corner of the room. “Put your back against the wall there,” he instructed as Chou shot him a confused glance. “You want an authentic date experience?”

Chou nodded.

“Just, uh,” Fumihito stammered as he placed the flashlight on the table, angling it so that it still pointed towards the corner, “tell me if I’m going too fast or making you uncomfortable, ok?” Fumihito slammed his front legs against the wall, pinning the rabbit to the corner with an earnest, loving smile. “I’m going to kiss you, ok?” he asked, leaning his face in close to Chou’s.

Chou felt her cheeks turning red. If they kissed, would their friendship ever be the same again? Surely, this moment would haunt both of them for the rest of their lives, far beyond the point where Chou had finished her novel and stopped dating Fumihito! On the other hand, although the thought hadn’t crossed Chou’s mind before, she did reckon the cavalier King Charles spaniel was quite attractive. Being single all her life, Chou had never kissed a boy before. She supposed it couldn’t hurt, although it did seem a bit too romantic to her. But didn’t some people kiss on a first date? Some even had sex! Maybe it wasn’t romantic at-all? Could Fumihito’s proposal be more… sexual?

“Uh… is this a romantic kiss, or a sexual kiss?” she asked.

Fumihito’s fur coat was dyed totally scarlet. “Uh…” He didn’t know what to respond. If Chou really had no romantic feelings for him, then he guessed it would be more sexual for her. But he didn’t know if Chou even viewed him that way or not. “W-Which would you prefer, Chou?” the dog asked.

Without thinking, the words left Chou’s mouth. As they did, she covered her mouth with her front paws as her fur and hair stood on-end. She felt the romance author’s right hand landing on her left hip, his thumb slightly beneath the waistband of her leather hot-pants. She never realized how large Fumihito’s paws were before. For Fumihito, meanwhile, this seemed like his chance to show Chou his true feelings. To show how passionately he felt about his coworker. Maybe, even if their romantic relationship never came to be, they could still be friends-with-benefits, at-least?

“Welp, this is it,” Chou thought, “the point of no return. At-least I’ll be able to put a kiss in my novel.”

Every cloud had a silver lining, after-all. And that couldn’t be any more obvious than when the stormclouds gave way to a sudden ray of light, the sunbeam that put an end to Chou Usagi and Fumihito Inugami’s eternal darkness. With the hum of a microwave and the sound of movie trailers from the TV, the two of them knew that the power had been restored to the apartment.

“Oh, look, the electricity’s back,” Chou blurted out, pushing Fumihito off of her and hopping to the table to blow-out the candles and turn off the flashlight.

“Yeah, I guess so…” Fumihito sheepishly sighed. What his colleague said next confirmed that he had just lost his opportunity to make-out with her.

“I guess we can watch Greet the Parents now!”

“Oh, uh, sure.”

 

And, so, Chou and Fumihito spent the rest of their date watching a romantic-comedy, before Fumihito headed home, still convinced that his pretend relationship with Chou could eventually become genuine. If there was any lesson he should have taken away from that night’s viewing, it was that miscommunication is the fuel of all rom-com relationships.

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