AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yay for another chapter! Again, I apologize for the wait!

Hopefully, the fluff within this chapter will make up for it! ;) If you didn't notice by now, I frequently switch between Ryou and Chigusa's perspective, in case if anyone gets confused along the way. I apologize if there is any typos as well. I am my own editor (and a very bad one, I may add). lol

Also, a huge shoutout to my reviewers and anyone who gives this any form of attention. You guys are so sweet and honestly make me want to write more. Thank you so much! 3

Chapter 5: Nuzzling in the Nest

"...Wow."

"Heh. Wow?"

"Y-Yeah...That was...wow."

Chigusa and Ryou were, once again, found sitting next to each other on the couch. This time, the two got done watching a certain anime that was previously mentioned. Ryou immediately started to ask her to change the channel, almost abandoning the dirty dishes and dropping the sponge in a panic. He quickly explained that the anime was graphic and messed up. Of course, she refused, insisting that she can handle the gory stuff.

Ryou was very persistent, but it was too late as the opening scene showed on the TV and Chigusa was already sucked in, giving him a reassuring wave from behind as her eyes focus on the main character.

Now, she looked like she was filled with regret. At least, that's what Ryou thought, judging by her reaction.

"Ya know, I warned you. It's intense. I mean, even I had trouble watching it."

She shook her head, breaking out of her shocked daze. "No! Um, I actually really enjoyed it! The plot, so far, is very compelling! I was blown away!" Her eyes were practically sparkling with interest, eager to watch more.

Ryou was dumbfounded. Since when did someone like Chigusa like an anime called Demon Slayer?

"U-uh, yeah. I agree." Damn. She just keeps on surprising me here. First, she likes METAL and knows the words to one of my favorite Metallica songs. Then, I find out she might be into the same types of anime as me?

"S-So, uh, what kind of anime do you normally watch? Any favorites?" His eyes then darted to something he couldn't look away from.

She quickly turned her attention to him, leaning back on the couch, her legs still crossed. The skirt hiked up a little, resting upon her knee, the top of her knee-high stockings poking through, showing a little bit of her pale skin. She didn't pay any attention to it the entire time she was sitting down, so it went unnoticed.

Well, until she saw Ryou's eyes staring directly at her knees.

As soon as he felt the silence grow, his focus snapped, immediately growing red with both embarrassment and something else he didn't quite want to explain.

Great. Now, I look like a pervert. Way to go, Ryou. Smooth move, Ryou chastised himself. I see her damn knee and my brain just turns off all of a sudden. Get a grip. He put a hand on his face, feeling the heat radiate off his cheeks as he hid from her.

Little did he know that she was red-faced as well. She had her hands over her mouth, She didn't know. She never had a boy pay any attention to her like that. All of these hugs, smiles, and kindness from Ryou was already overwhelming for her. She could practically hear her parents too, berating her for being "improper" and "unlady-like". The silence seemed to drag on, too, making her all the more flustered.

Feeling dejected, Chigusa went to quickly pull down her skirt, covering up her exposed knee.

He's probably disgusted...

She swallowed a sudden urge to cry, not wanting to cause any more problems.

Sensing her abrupt movement, Ryou hesitantly snuck a glance to his side, disappointed in seeing her eyes glazed over with unshed tears. He immediately went into thinking that she was uncomfortable with him, but logic overruled his brain when he thought about the car ride here and the fact that she let him kiss her wrist in his car. There was no way that she was uncomfortable, right?

I have to say something. Anything. Ryou gulped, his throat drier than a desert.

"Hey, uh, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable in any way. I really...don't have an excuse." He stopped himself from rambling on and lying to her. He could barely face her, his eyes focused on the TV, but not paying any attention to the show.

Her head was down as she fiddled with the end of her sleeves. She was shocked at his apology, since she believed it was her fault. Her frown turned upwards in a tired smile, her nerves drowned out by her constant flow of negative thoughts.

"Please don't apologize, Ryou-san. I-It's my fault for choosing this outfit and not thinking clearly..." Ryou then went silent, making her nerves flow right back to her. She made a move to get up, and hastily said, "M-Maybe I should go change...I'll pick something more approp-"

Ryou grabbed her arm and firmly held it down to the couch, preventing her from doing so and interrupting her in the process. Her eyes widened, not in fear, but in shock at his soft expression, despite his semi-rough hold on her forearm.

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Chigusa. This is now your home as well. I don't want you thinking that you are in your parent's house anymore. It's my fault for looking." Chigusa blushed heavily, her heart pounding at his words. Before she could respond, Ryou went to rest his hand on her wrist, no longer holding her down.

"Sorry if I scared you at all. You good?" He gave her a slight smile, smirking at her red face. I cannot handle her face right now. Damn, she is cute when she blushes...

She could hear her heart going a mile a minute, it's rhythmic beat thundered in her ears. His face was a bit close as he leaned into her, his thumb gently rubbing her wrist.

"Um, y-yes?" She croaked out, her voice cracking as she struggled to think of anything else to say. "I...uh...Do you still want me to change?" She shyly asked, avoiding his eyes.

Ryou blinked dumbly at her, his smirk dropping into a blank expression. A blush now rapidly spread onto his cheeks. Holy crap, that is seriously cute. He then remembered that she asked him a question, lost in his thoughts. C'mon, Ryou, time to man up. Do it.

He made a move to lean closer, his hand moving from her wrist to her shoulder, pulling her to him. "No."

She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling in awe as the TV reflected in them, the screen playing the opening theme of a different anime, the upbeat song echoing in the apartment. Her lungs couldn't seem to get enough air as her breath quickened at his close proximity, their noses almost touching.

As soon as she felt the urge to pass out, Ryou suddenly stopped and put his hand on her flaming cheek. "Stay."

Before she could do or say anything, Ryou closed the gap, softly brushing his lips against hers.

The world stopped for Chigusa. Her shyness slowly melting away as she went to kiss him back, her hands nervously resting on his chest, fingers clutching his shirt in desperation. She felt like she was falling, yearning to cling onto something to keep her grounded as her mind went blank.

Satisfied at her response, Ryou deepened the kiss, his lips now moving against hers. He was more than thrilled when she met his passion by moving her own lips with him. Making a bold move, he went to wrap his arm around her upper back, wanting to get closer to her and not wanting to scare her off at the same time. She let out a tiny whimper, her hands moving to the back of his neck in a haste.

There was no clumsiness between the two, despite being each other's first kiss. Teeth weren't being smashed together, both in-sync as they expertly drank each other in.

A minute almost passed when Ryou decided to finally break their contact, lightly pulling away to come up for some air. His eyes were half-open as he gazed at the girl in front of him, his thoughts muddled by the kiss.

She looked at him with almost the same expression, a heavy red flush adorned her cheeks as she felt the heat spread to her entire body. She had half a mind to pull her hands away from his neck, but quickly decided to rest them on his chest again since he was still holding her, his hands now lazily resting on the small of her back. She was panting a bit heavily, making Ryou look concerned.

Not moving an inch, Ryou hesistantly asked, "That wasn't too much, was it?" I mean, he did decide to kiss her after getting caught in the act of staring at her wardrobe malfunction, which he just now remembered.

Her lips turned up into a smile, a shy one no less, but her eyes definitely matched it. She stared at his chest, too embarassed to make eye contact at the moment. "N-No! It was fine. Um, I really liked it, Ryou-san."

Ryou chuckled, making Chigusa look up at him in sheer embarassment. "I-Is something wrong?"

Ryou gently squeezed her waist, a cocky smirk on his face. "How many times do I have to ask you to call me 'Ryou'?"

Her face was aflame as she stuttered out something that resembled "I'm sorry" and "I don't know". Taking advantage of another opportunity, Ryou quickly went in for another kiss, silencing her rambling and making her unleash a high-pitched squeal through her now occupied mouth. It wasn't as intense as their last kiss, but it made Chigusa melt all over again.

He ended it almost as quick as it happened, the smirk remaining on his face as he pulled away. He brought one of his hands up to softly stroke her cheek and gave her a full, dreamy smile. Ryou was in heaven right now and there was no use in getting him back down to earth. He really was itching to make a move on her ever since their first meeting. It only ended up being a fairly quick hangout, thanks to her strict parents, but he really found himself attracted to her. She wasn't the perfect picture of beauty, but she was definitely cute and not like any other girls he has seen. Plus, they got to know each other fairly well beforehand. Ryou really didn't want her to feel like he was moving too fast, so he decided on doing the safest action that his horomonal teenaged mind could conjure up: kissing.

By the looks of it, she enjoyed it too. In fact, after he pulled away the second time, she cuddled against his chest, her body scooting closer to him on the couch, making Ryou's eyes widen with excitement, his dreamy smile still remaining. If anyone saw him right now, they would probably label him a pervert or something, but he didn't care. At least, not right now.

He hugged her close, wrapping one arm around her shoulders and bringing his other to softly hold her hand that was on his chest. She let him take it and gave it a gentle squeeze, smiling warmly as she nuzzled into his shirt, her head resting just below his neck.

Chigusa was drifting into a fog of pure bliss, enjoying the afterglow of their, not one, but two kisses. She did not imagine she would be here, cuddling next to Ryou, especially on the first night of her moving in. She honestly didn't even think he would like her, even though he hasn't given off that vibe during their first few adventures online. If you ask her, she was rather horrible at reading into situations and people in general, due to not having any friends in school, but she was trying as best as she could. That's why she was so happy when Ryou initiated contact, making the very first move within their...relationship?

Chigusa let herself silently worry a bit, glad that her face was hidden from his eyes. He was now watching the TV with a goofy smile, blissfully unaware of her inner turmoil.

She doesn't even know what to call them...

Would he object to her asking him to be her...boyfriend? I mean, they did kiss and all. It was safe to assume that he would want to be with her. She was bad at reading people, but Ryou was making it downright obvious. It couldn't hurt to ask...

...right?

Chigusa gulped, her throat dry all of a sudden.

"H-Hey, Ryou...?"

He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, sensing the anxiety in her tone, his smile dropping a little bit. "Yeah? What's up?"

Kami, this is too hard! Oh for the love of...Just do it, Chigusa!

"Would you, um, consider us as...you know...together?" Her heart was practically pounding. She was afraid that it would escape from her ribcage at any moment, hoping that he didn't notice.

He raised one eyebrow, caught off-guard by her sudden question and slightly confused by it, his brain still mushed up. "Together? Uh, yeah. I mean, we are together right now. Unless you mean we-Ooooooh."

Holy crap, he felt like the biggest idiot ever. Here, she was asking about the status of their relationship, and he just nonchalantly thought she meant "together" literally.

He held her tightly, now aware of what she was saying and now painfully aware of the feeling of her thumping, fast heartrate.

"Y-Yeah...I'd say we are 'together'. Is that ok with you? This isn't too fast, is it?" He knew it wasn't, but he felt the need to make sure.

The smile that now was upon her face widened."No. Not at all. This is absolutely perfect. I couldn't be any happier, Ryou."

With that, Ryou drew in for another kiss, Chigusa happily kissing him back.

After they both broke apart, Ryou jokingly said, "So...you never told me what kind of anime you like."

Chigusa lightly pushed him away, letting out a high-pitched giggle. "Is that why you kissed me? To get an answer?" She decided to play along, crossing her arms and giving him the fakest pout she could muster.

"Heh. Maybe. Guess you'll never know" He smirked and playfully tapped her nose with his index finger. "However, if we are going to be 'together', I need to know whether or not that you have bad tastes in anime."

She deadpanned for a minute and then let out another laugh. "Well, my tastes are very broad, to be honest. I don't know where to start. I could go from a shoujo slice-of-life to something similar to a Junji Ito manga. Not that I have read a lot of Junji Ito or anything...I guess you can say that I like nearly everything. What do you like, Ryou?"

He tried to hide his shock at the fact that she even knew who Junji Ito was, but failed when she tried to cover up the fact that might've read a few of his manga books. There was no way Chigusa read that kind of stuff. "Heh. Wow. Junji Ito, huh? Well, I don't watch my fair share of creepy and disturbing animes, but I recently got into Shingeki no Kyoujin. It's not that bloody, but it does have it's moments, I guess. Did you watch it at all?"

She excitedly nodded her head up and down, her eyes practically dancing with interest. She never had a chance to nerd out with anyone before about anime. The closest she ever got to that was silently listening in on one of her classmate's conversations. They were quite loud, so she unfortunately had to block them out, in order to stop hearing about any spoilers. After all, they only discussed new episodes and Chigusa didn't really have the luxury of watching them. She had her computer and all, but not a TV, so she missed out on the latest anime very often. The site she watched her shows on updated very slowly and was always a few episodes behind. She grew tired of waiting for one particular anime and decided to read the still-ongoing manga instead.

"Yeah! I actually really like that one! Have you read any of the manga?"

"Oh crap. Of course, there's a manga. No, I haven't. Damn, you're out-nerding me here." He laughed lightly.

"Aw. Okay then. Well, what's your favorite character, so far?"

He gave her a side smile and chuckled. "Easy. Jean Kirstein."

Chigusa's eyes popped out of her skull. "WHAAAAAA?!" Then, she started to laugh, covering her mouth to muffle her loud giggles.

Ryou raised an eyebrow at her and crossed his arms, scowling at her with a underlying smirk on his face. He thought she looked so adorable, hiding her laughter through her hands. "And what in the hell is so funny about that?"

She raised her arm, shaking her hand back and forth to him. "N-Nothing! Honest! It's...just...Jean?" She felt another giggle fly up her throat and put her hand back up.

"Well, tell me who you like, then. We'll see who's laughing now..."

After she calmed herself down, she looked at him with the blankest expression she could muster and said, "Ymir."

He nearly fell off the couch.

Who in the hell is this person?! Ryou's eyes were dizzy with shock, his brain overloaded with everything he know knew about her. A tiny, miniscule part of him wondered if this was even the same person he met in The World. Ymir was such a minor character to him and he thought she'd pick Historia or maybe even Mikasa. Ymir was also crude, tomboy-ish, and nothing close to what Chigusa acted like.

"Yeah. Okay. Well, on that note, I think it's time for me to head to bed." He got up from the couch, mussing her hair up with his hand before padding into the hallway. He called back to her, "Feel free to stay out here, too. Make yourself at home. Just try to keep it down a little cause I got work in the morning, ok?"

Chigusa blushed, stuttering back to him, "Y-Yes! Um, thank you so much, Ryou!" She ran her fingers through her messed up hair, a fond smile growing wide upon her face as he walked away.

Luckily she couldn't see his face for he was blushing too. "S-Sure! No problem! Night."

"Goodnight!"

After she heard his door shut, Chigusa immediately plopped herself down on the couch, falling on her side. Tears of happiness fell down her cheeks, soaking the cushion beneath her. She smiled, wiping at them before reaching for the remote, turning down the volume a little and switching to another anime channel.

Ryou is my boyfriend... She spent the next hour staring at the TV in a dream-like state. The ending song then played, the fast metal tempo snapping her out of her daze. She was smiling all the way to her bedroom, up until she shut her eyes and settled down into her new bed, the soft pillow and sheets drifting her off to sleep in minutes.

AN: ME AGAIN.

So...I guess this chapter wasn't too eventful? I am not sure where I am going with this fic or if it will have any sort of plot whatsoever at this point. I want to add plot, but these characters are too freakin cute and the need for fluff consumes me. I also love adding pop culture and anime references. I hope people aren't too put-off by it.

So...yeah. I kinda just wrote these two gabbing about anime and eating face, so I promise the next one will a liiiitle more entertaining.

Feel free to comment any constructive criticism as well!

Until next time, kiddos!