Lights Out. Makoto X Reader

              Summer was almost over, the days were getting shorter and nights longer. All of the summer parties were dying out and everyone who was still in school, was begrudgingly preparing to go back. And though you weren't necessarily happy for Summer to be drawing to a close, there was one good thing about the weather cooling down. The sales. Everything from flip-flops, to hats were on sale, and you were ready to take advantage of that fact. The moment you walked into the store, the bathing suits caught your eye. You probably wouldn't need a new swimsuit for a while, but when they were this inexpensive you couldn't help but to buy one, or five. “These are so cute. I wonder if they'd be any less expensive if I waited another week to buy them. Hmm, but if I wait, the cute ones might be gone.” As you contemplated which suits to buy the lights above you started to flicker. “That's weird, it's not even raining.” Quickly shrugging it off as if nothing had ever happened, you returned to shopping.

For the next hour or so, you continued to look through the store, scoping out the best deals. The lights continued to flicker during this hour, about once every five minutes or so, but you thought little of it. That is, until the lights shut off altogether. Surprised by the sudden darkness, you blinked several times, just to make sure your eyes weren't playing tricks on you. “Wow, it's dark. I must have been browsing longer than I thought.” Mumbling quietly to yourself, you stepped away from a large rack of sunglasses and tried to make your way to the front of the store.

After taking only three or four steps, someone walked straight into you, knocking you to the ground and landing directly on top of you. The person was immediately apologetic, but you were too dazed to realize what had just happened. “I'm so sorry, I didn't see you.” Lifting himself off of you, so that you were no longer squished beneath his weight, he hovered over you with a worried expression. “Are you alright? I didn't hurt you, did I?”

“Makoto?” Ignoring his question, you reached up and brushed his messy hair out of his face to get a better view. Though it was dark, you could see well enough to make out his familiar features. “I thought your voice sounded familiar.” You smiled, blushing, but not at all upset by the little accident. “I'm okay. You just surprised me running into me like that. Are you okay?”

“I'm fine.” He nodded, obviously embarrassed but relieved that neither of you had been hurt. “Sorry about that, again.”

Blushing at the fact that he was still basically on top of you, and very, very close, you cleared your throat and spoke in a slightly awkward tone. “S-so, since we're both okay, I think it would be alright if I sat up now.”

“Oh, right. I totally forgot.” Scrambling off of you so quickly that he stumbled over your leg in the process, Makoto moved away from you, but decided to stay seated on the ground for the time being. “I made you drop your things too.” Shaking his head as if scolding himself, he began picking up the items that had spilled from your basket and sighed. “Sorry.”

“That's the fourth time you've said that, I think.” Finally sitting back up, you crawled onto your knees and began to assist him with the small task of refilling your basket. “It's really fine, so you can stop apologizing now.”

“Right, I'll do that then.” After a firm nod, Makoto looked around for anything else that might have fallen from your basket when it hit the ground. “Did we get everything?”

“I'm not sure.” Glancing around the floor, you searched for anything that the two of you might have missed. Unable to see more than a foot or so away, you decided to wait to continue the search until the lights were back on. “I think we did, but it's kind of hard to see right now.”

“Yeah, I know that.” Cheeks growing red once more, he stood to his feet and offered you his hand. “Obviously.”

Gladly accepting his outstretched hand, you rose from your seated position and stood back up. “You know, you were moving pretty fast when you ran into me. You're not afraid of the dark or something like that, are you?”

“No, I'm not afraid of it, but I don't really like it all that much either.” Makoto shrugged, as if he was trying to avoid dwelling on the subject. “The lights have been flickering on and off since I got here, so I thought they might eventually go out. I was ready for the dark, but I guess my eyes weren't.”

Sensing that there was more to his explanation than he was telling you, you pushed him for more information. “Then why were you in such a hurry?”

Looking away from you, Makoto awkwardly lifted his hand and ruffled the back of his hair. His cheeks were such a bright pink, you doubted any amount of darkness could have hidden them from your view. Still a bit reluctant to tell you the real reason, he started off his sentence slowly, then sped through it when he neared the end.  “Well, Nagisa might have been telling ghost stories, and I might have over-reacted when everything went dark.”

“Ghost stories?” You echoed. “Well now, that explains everything then.” Taking a step towards him, you gave his shoulder a gentle, reassuring pat and offered a warm smile. “I would have run too. But I probably would have screamed while doing so. Not only that, but I more than likely would have knocked over way more people, and a few displays as well.” Removing your hand from his shoulder, you used it to cover your mouth as you giggled.

Though Makoto wasn't sure if you were being honest, or just trying to make him feel better, he joined you in laughter. “I guess I'm not the only one with an overactive imagination.” Lowering his head to his chest, he mumbled under his breath. “That's good to know.”

“Are you really that embarrassed about this?” Used to being the one that was awkward and flustered, you really weren't sure what to do to make him feel better. Acting before you thought things through, you placed your basket on the ground and wrapped your arms around him. You had hoped to calm him down by doing this, but all you managed to do was make his blush spread. Now, not only were his cheeks red, but yours were as well. Stiff as it was, he knew what you were trying to do and returned your hug. “Don't worry about it. I'm not going to tell anyone about this.” Stepping back from the hug, you looked up at him and grinned. “We've already got one secret between us, so what's another one?”

“We do?” For a second, Makoto looked confused. The moment he remembered what secret you were talking about he pulled his eyes away from yours. “O-oh, that, right.” Smiling from the memory, but not wanting to make the current situation anymore uncomfortable, he forced himself to move on. “Anyway, if you'd keep this between us, I'd really appreciate that. I'm sure Nagisa is already going to pick on me for running off like I did.”

“You got it Makoto. My lips are sealed tight. I won't say so much as a little peep about this.” Grinning from ear to ear, you lifted your hand to the corner of your lips and made a motion as if zipping closed an imaginary zipper.

Much more relaxed now that he knew he wouldn't be getting teased from any outside sources, Makoto nodded. “Good. Then I have nothing to worry about.” As he spoke, the overhead lights started to flicker and buzz. A few seconds later, they went steady. It was only now that you realized just how flushed Makoto's cheeks were. “Oh look, the lights are finally back on.”

“So they are. Hopefully they stay on this time. I wouldn't want one of us to run into anyone else.” With nothing else to talk about, things between the two of you became instantly quiet. Neither of you wanted to be the first one to say goodbye and risk sounding rude, but simply walking away wasn't an option either. This meant that the two of you were stuck, silently staring at each other.

Luckily, before things could get too unbearably uncomfortable, Nagisa appeared. “Hey, there you are. I was looking for you. Sorry I scared you with my scary sto-.” Stopping his sentence before it was complete, he changed the subject. “What's going on over here?” While waiting for a response, Nagisa glanced at you, then at Makoto. He repeated this process several times before finally realizing that he wasn't going to get an answer. “You know, every time you two get together, both of your faces end up all red.” He squinted. “Something's going on here, and I'm going to find out what.” “You can only keep a secret for so long.”