Heartbeat - Kiyoshi Teppei x Reader

It wasn’t as if you didn’t love Kiyoshi Teppei.

He was a dork and always seemed to have his mind elsewhere, but he was strong and kind and willing to do anything for the ones he cares for, which is an awfully big number of people. Not that you minded. All of that only added to his charm. If anything, you loved him. You loved him a lot, you were sure of that.

But he did have this bad habit that you noticed in the first few weeks you’d started dating.

He liked physical contact.

A lot.

In fact, every time you were in his sight, he made it an official rule that he had to be touching you somewhere before you started walking together or even if it was just to say hi. In this case, it was a bit more normal if you two were walking side-by-side, because then you would just hold hands and carry on.

But honestly, did he have to hold your hand tightly and squish right up to your shoulder like a proud father every time you happened to walk somewhere together in the school hallway?

And if you did so much as wave, he’d rush over to hug you and wouldn’t let go until you starting hitting him on the back.

He spun you around once and only let you down when you accidentally kicked a bystander’s book pile to the floor.

At this point, you were sure everybody knew you were dating from the extremely public affection he’d been giving you. Holding hands with him was strange in a sense; your hands looked so small and delicate compared to his broad ones, mildly worn from years of practice. Every time someone new was caught giggling or staring at you, you could barely even stand the urge to throw yourself out the window. Kiyoshi just smiled every time like nothing new was happening.

But still…

It was incredibly embarrassing.

Xxxxx

“Die.” You muttered between the popsicle stick in your lips. You’d finished it quite a while ago, but left it so it would give you some sort of relief to chew on. Your fingers mashed harder on the controller, and the little Mario sprite fired a rapid burst of fireballs out of his palms. “Die, die, die.” Tiny brown mushrooms flipped upside down, leaving a few coins in their wake. Just a bit longer and you would reach the flag…!

“That’s mean.” Your brown-haired boyfriend mused with a smile from where he lay next to you on your bed. He was going to be spending the night, but all you’d done was change into a sleepshirt and shorts and turn on your old Nintendo 64 with a single lamp on in the room. “You could’ve just jumped over him.”

“No, you have to kill them.” You told him matter-of-fact as the sprite kicked an oncoming turtle shell away. “Then you can get coins and points.”

“Do you?” He blinked before rolling over and nudging your crossed leg with his head. “But they’re kinda cute.”

“Teppei, they’re pixels on a screen, nothing about them is too endear- aggghhhhhhh!” A shriek escaped you when you jumped too early and poor Mario fell down a ditch. Angrily you shifted around, smacking the controller into the bed. “Dammit! Where do the stupid pits even end? Why can’t I double-jump in this game? Ugh!”

A large hand came down onto your head and ruffled your hair affectionately. “Aw, come on, it’s not that bad. You hit the checkpoint earlier, right? You can start from there.”

You sighed and shot him a look, brushing his hand off. “Anyways, why don’t you play too?” You pushed the extra controller over to him with a foot. “Then if I die again, you can still make it. But I’ll still get to be Mario.”

Kiyoshi just smiled and shook his head. “Nah, I’m good. I like watching you play more.”

You blinked and quirked an eyebrow. “What’s that mean?”

“Nothing, nothing.” He laughed lightly before nudging your arm again. “Just go back to the level. Let’s have fun!”

You turned back to the screen and tossed the popsicle stick into the trash can. “Okay, but on one condition.”

“Hm?” He rested his chin on your shoulder.

You immediately scooted away without facing him. “Until I lose another life, don’t touch me.” There was a pause before you rambled on, knowing that sounded a lot haughtier than you meant it to be. “I-I mean, don’t put your head on my lap or poke my shoulders or hold my hand or anything. Alright?”

Another pause passed before he smiled and nodded. “Alright, got it.”

You turned to him in surprise. “You’re okay with that?”

Kiyoshi nodded again. “Yeah, I don’t mind, since you asked.” Now his eyes upturned with his smile. “It won’t be long before you fall down another hole again, either, so it’s fine.”

A vein pulsed in your forehead as you shot him a deathly glare. “Maybe you’ve got your Vice Claw and all, but I’ve got opposable thumbs. Don’t get cocky.”

“I’m not, trust me.” He laughed heartily before settling back into the sheets. “Okay, go ahead.” The tall brunette gave you a wry smile when he saw your suspicious glare. “Relax, I promise I won’t tickle you and make you die on purpose. Just turn around!”

“Fine, then.” You grumbled and did as he said, spinning back around to face the screen in an attempt to focus. The 8-bit beeps and chirps began to sound irritating now, but you still hit the button to resume the level you’d last died at.

For the first few minutes, everything went smoothly. You quickly obtained a fire flower, which made it much easier to get the enemies and blocks out of the way. Your jumps were timed perfectly and you picked up whatever power-ups you could. You were a little past halfway before a voice startled you and almost made you drop the controller and fall off the bed.

“You’re being cautious.” Kiyoshi noted, nearly making you jump out of your skin.

“Shut it, Teppei! I almost died again!” Luckily you’d managed to jump to the safety of a row of bricks before a turtle shell knocked you unconscious.

“You didn’t say I couldn’t talk.” He pointed out.

“Damn. Probably should’ve.” You grumbled irritably before trying to return to the game.

After that, Kiyoshi finally fell quiet, letting you return to your haven of focus. Of course, it wasn’t that you hated your boyfriend’s physical contact, but it was more of an experiment. How long could he go without touching you at all? Because of that, you had to stay alive as long as possible.

The process went satisfyingly well, and you even passed the stupid level you’d been stuck on and moved onto the next one. Through it all the basketball player was surprisingly silent, but halfway through your second level, a muffled voice squeezed out from the blankets where he’d buried his face.

“(first).” He mumbled into the sheets, but you still heard him.

“Shush.” You dismissed him without missing a beat and jumped over another ditch. Surely you were almost at the finish flag now, right…?

After another two minutes, he rolled over on his back and stared at the ceiling.

“(first).”

“No.”

Another five mushrooms, another two minutes.

“(first).”

“Kiyoshi Teppei, I am going to kick you out of my house if you won’t let me finish this level.”

Another three minutes. Two turtles.

This time he was halfway through saying your name again before you broke in. “Hush!”

“But there’s a spider in your hair, shouldn’t I-”

An ear-piercing scream interrupted his sentence as you wildly flung the controller away and hurriedly ran your fingers through your hair. “Oh my god! W-Where, where?! Is it gone?!” You rolled over and reached to grab a slipper by the foot of the bed before you heard a loud snort, followed shortly after by Kiyoshi’s equally-loud laughter.

The ever-famous ‘Game Over’ music rang in your ears before you’d realized what had just happened.

You ears went red. All the blood rushed to your face in both anger and embarrassment.

“KIYOSHI TEPPEI, YOU LITTLE-”

You were cut off by a heavy pressure slamming itself into you, efficiently cutting off your breathing for a few seconds. When you blinked, Kiyoshi hadn’t even hesitated to tackle you into a crushing hug.

“Sorry, sorry!” He apologized through his laughs, though you knew he wasn’t the slightest bit sorry after seeing your reaction. “You’re just cute when you’re mad.”

“Get off, you rhino.” You tried hard to sound annoyed, but it came out as an embarrassed mumble. He’d got you. Now the deal was off. All in all, he couldn’t even go without physical contact for ten minutes. Still holding you tight with one arm, Kiyoshi used his opposite to reach for the remote and turn the TV off, leaving the room soundless for a few seconds.

“I still wanted to play, you know.” You murmured, though to you it’d already felt like it’d been a while since he’d last touched you.

“Too bad, then. We’re gonna go to sleep for tonight. It’s already late, too.”

You paused, feeling your cheeks flush. “I’m not sleepy.” You said like a small child.

“That so? Well, let’s go to bed, anyway. Just to let you know, I’m not planning on letting go while we’re sleeping.”

“I hate you.”

“You don’t mean that, dummy.” He laughed before wrapping both arms around you and falling to his side on the bed before pulling the covers up to your shoulders. But because you were so much shorter, the blanket only went up to his forearm when he stopped.

“Your shoulder’s gonna freeze.” You noticed how your voice had softened, but didn’t bother to harden it.

His face suddenly fell to a serious expression. “What do you mean, (name)? Shoulders don’t freeze that easily.”

“It’s a figure of speech, stupid.” You hated to admit it, but you were feeling pretty drowsy now. Here, basking in his warmth and the amber light cast over the room. You felt so safe.

“Then how about this?”

Before you could even question what he was doing, he’d burrowed under the blankets and popped up again, holding your middle with both arms and nestling his head just above your chest.

“T-Teppei?” You cursed the squeak that made its way into your questioning tone. “What’re you-”

“Now my shoulder won’t freeze.” He pressed his ear to your shirt before a light laugh left him. “It’s beating so fast, isn’t it? That’s cute.”

“What the heck are you doing? You’ll suffocate!” You snapped, though you were starting to get dizzy now.

“I don’t really know how to put it, but…” A strange sigh parted his lips- it was a rare sound from the usually-upbeat teen. “I guess people have been calling me the ‘Iron Heart’ for so long that I forgot what other hearts sound like.”

You were taken aback by his words, and blinked before raising your hands to gently hold his head. “What’s that supposed to mean? Couldn’t you just listen to your own, then?”

“Maybe.” He admitted before chuckling. “But it’s different because it’s you.”

“Seriously…” You huffed, though there was a strange fluttering in the pit of your stomach. “You really are shameless.”

“Hm? Am I?”

“Well, yeah.” You frowned lightly. “You go on saying the most embarrassing things at the weirdest times, and you seem to have no problem with squishing yourself up to me even when we’re at school. It’s embarrassing, you know.”

“I don’t care if other people see us. I’m your boyfriend, right?”

“…Yeah…” Another mumble left you.

“Then that’s good enough.” You knew he was grinning like an idiot right about now.

“Good night, (first).”

“Night.”

Just as you were about to close your eyes, Kiyoshi poked his head out of the blankets and pressed a soft kiss to your lips.

As all the blood began to flood into your cheeks and dye them a humiliating red once again, you felt a few fingers press against your heart before Kiyoshi laughed and showed you the happiest smile you’d ever seen.

“It sped up again.”