Beating the Heat Toshiro X Reader

        You looked down at your empty grocery basket and winced. Once again you'd forgotten what you came to buy and no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't remember anything except the snack foods. “I knew I should have written myself a list. I can't remember half of the things I needed.” When you looked up from the depressingly sparse basket, you saw a familiar face. “Hey Toshiro, it's nice to see you again.”

Toshiro stared at you like he had no idea who you even were. “Again?”

“Well thanks for making me feel special, not.” With a feigned look of pain, you pressed your hand to your heart and furrowed your brows. “You seriously don't remember me, not even a little bit?”

He continued to stare at you until it suddenly hit him. His face flashed red as he quickly turned around and cleared his throat. “I remember you, unfortunately. You're that annoying girl from that childish party. Why on earth are you here?”

The title he'd given you made you laugh. He might not have remembered your name, but at least he did remember you. “That's not how I usually introduce myself, but yes. And I'm here for groceries, it is after all a grocery store.” You tilted your head slightly, confused but still grinning. “Do you come here for a different reason?”

“Yes actually, I do.” Still unwilling to look at you, Toshiro grabbed a random container of cereal from the shelf and began reading the back of the box. “I really can't stand the heat, and my air conditioning is broken. These stores however are kept rather cool, so by being here, I don't have to deal with the heat.”

Though you found his resoling to be a bit odd, you really weren't one to judge his hobbies. “So you hang out in random stores just to stay cool? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but whatever makes you happy.” You started to leave, but before you could, an idea hit you. “You know Toshiro, I do have air conditioning at my house, not to mention all sorts of frozen treats. You could come over to my place if you wanted. Between you and me, hanging out at a grocery store is a little bit creepy.”

“I guess I could come over, if you wanted me to that is.” He was trying hard to hide the fact that he really was glad you'd invited him. However, between the tone of his voice, and the slight sparkle in his eyes, this was a near impossible task.

“If I didn't want you to come over, I wouldn't have invited you.” Trying to make him a little more comfortable, you offered him a cheerful smile and locked your elbow with his. “We can walk there as soon as I pay for my stuff. And don't worry, it's not a long walk, so you won't have to suffer in the heat very long at all.” True to your word, it took the two of you less than ten minutes to get back to your house, which Toshiro was very happy about. “Welcome to my humble abode. Feel free to make yourself comfortable.”

“Thanks.” It was pretty obvious that he wasn't used to being in a girls house, but he did at least try to keep himself from being awkward.

“No problem at all, I'm glad for the company.” With your few items in place, you turned your attention fully on Toshiro. “So, you want some ice cream or something? I have snow-cones and iced tea too if you'd rather have that.”

“I don't need anything, thank you.” Toshiro was attempting to be kind to you, simply because you had allowed him in your home. He wasn't very good at it though. His simple sentence had come out sounding annoyed and upset rather than grateful. You knew however that he was usually a pretty serious guy, so his tone didn't bother you.

“You seriously don't want anything?” You stood in front of him with your hands on your hips and one eyebrow raised. “What would you do if I got you something anyway? Surely you wouldn't just let it all go to waste.”

Toshiro sighed. “No, but-.”

Before he could utter any excuses or reasons why you shouldn't get him anything, you cut him off and pulled out everything needed for a giant bowl of ice cream. “Good, then I'll get you something. Do you like chocolate, or vanilla? You know what, never mind, we'll eat both. Oh, and we need those little sugar sprinkles too. Those are good.” For some reason you found yourself getting more and more excited about this. “Why don't you pick out a movie for us? I have a bunch of old stuff in that box next to the TV.”

“Okay.” Your excited attitude was confusing Toshiro just as much as it was you. Still he did as you asked and picked a movie from the pile. He popped a VHS into the player just as you placed a large bowl of over topped ice cream on the table. “That's, a lot of ice cream.”

“I know, but I think we can eat it.” You handed him his spoon and clenched your fist by your face in a determined way. “If we believe in ourselves, we can eat this ice cream.” After flopping on the couch, you dug your spoon into the side of the towering pile of toppings. “Now, let's do this thing, before it all melts and turns into the worlds best smoothie.”

Toshiro sat beside you and stared down at your concoction. Though he definitely wasn't one to give up easily when challenged, but this seemed a little over the top. “Maybe you should invite a few more people over to help us.”

“What are you talking about? We don't need any help eating this. Now shush, the movies starting.” You snuggled a bit closer to him as you continued shoveling ice cream into your mouth. “You better have picked something good.” Toshiro had actually picked an old horror film, one you hadn't seen before. Really, you didn't even know you had this particular movie. By the time the movie ended, you were almost sitting in Toshiro's lap. Both of you were tightly clinging to each other, completely filled with fear, anxiety and curiosity. These emotions were so great that neither of you had even touched the ice cream in who knew how long. As everything came to a hideous end, your knuckles grew white from clutching Toshiro so hard. You couldn't even breathe until the credits started rolling.

Toshiro was still in a slight daze. He sat there just staring blankly at the TV in front of him. “What did we just watch?”

You fell away from him onto the couch and shut your eyes tightly. “I don't even know. Where did you find this? It's not mine, it's absolutely horrible.”

“I got it from your box, it is yours.” With the movie over, Toshiro realized just how close you were and how tightly you were holding him. A crooked smile spread across his face. “You weren't scared were you? It is only a movie after all.”

“Hey, no, don't even try that man. You were scared too, don't lie.” You really didn't know if he was scared or not, but you weren't about to let him tease you. “I saw your eyes, they were huge. Not to mention you'd flinch every time time something unexpected popped up on the screen.”

With a completely straight face, Toshiro shook his head and denied your claims. “I did not. You're saying that to make yourself feel better. Sad really.”

“Maybe, but we can't really be sure about that now can we?” You sat on your knees and began poking him in the centre of his forehead. “I suggest we watch another, even more scary horror movie and see what happens. I can guarantee you that you will flinch at least once. What do you say Toshiro, are you up for my little challenge?”

Toshiro smirked, nodded confidently. “I accept.”

You stopped poking him and crossed your arms over your chest smugly. “Good. Now I have just one more question for you before we begin. Do you want a smoothie?”