31_days | (2nd feb, 2016) (hyouka) unassuming

Title: Unassuming.
Prompt: More riddles than raindrops outside.
Based on: Hyouka.
no warnings, about 200 words.

Chitanda looks at Oreki; eighteen years old, broader shoulders, the same faint squint in his eye- like there's sunlight in it, even now, when the trees and the streets are getting drenched outside. Oreki might be blind to himself- intentionally, Chitanda's always thought- but no one else is. He's growing up handsome, a hint of kinder tough to see, and all kinds of clever and- and Chitanda wonders, wonders why she hadn't realised this. Why she is now.

The four of them, they're having jasmine tea at her house. Things don't change, sometimes, even if you worry they will.

But right now it's just her and Oreki sitting, facing each other. She can see Satoshi and Ibara's figures just past the door; they're sitting on the porch and talking quietly. Chitanda thinks they might be holding hands.

"Why do you think people hold hands, Oreki-san?"

I'm curious, they both say at the same time, him gently mimicking her.

Chitanda thinks about how so many other boys at this age, this time - the scattered ones who've confessed to her come to mind- would grin, take it as an opportunity to say do you want to try it out, or something?

But he- Oreki- has the grace to take it seriously. He doesn't even sigh- he's long past that, knowing there's no escaping thinking for an answer. He fiddles with his bangs as he muses.

"Probably warmth. Both literal and figurative, like.. a feeling."

It makes sense. She hears herself make an agreement sound, smile breaking, and thinks he's probably right, as usual.