Shyness and Admiration [Invite-Only]

Hideki's arms crossed in front of him and carried the folder tightly to his chest. The paper bending just a bit as he kept his head down and his eyes on his feet, watching the small steps that led to nowhere and the tips of his shoe as the appeared and disappeared from his narrowed vision. Though he was absent and moving along, his nerves showing, he was quick footed and cutting around the group of people that waited at the crosswalk as he arrived in coincidental time for the man on the sign to light up green and mark their chance to walk across. His head stayed tucked down and his pace let him overtake and surpass the group in front of him.

Two more blocks ahead and then a right turn for one more block. He was calculating the distance in his head and imaging, rather, figuring out what he would say to the Eternal Flame! A local hero who was moving up in the world and had established his own hero agency within the city. He spewed fire outwards and images that carried his splendor as he created a wall of fire to stop a gang of criminals from escaping out of a bank with their earnings. Splendorous and maybe a bit reckless as a hero made no difference to most people as he cut time out to sign autographs and meet with citizens and children for an hour today. It was sunny out with a few clouds and felt relatively cool, cool enough for Hideki to feel the need to wear a jacket himself.

His own mind stopped wandering as he rounded the corner and found the large sign that marked the cafe/bookstore he was supposed to be at. His vision betrayed him as the next thing he knew he crashed into the back of a larger man, his head burying and his momentum stopping quickly before falling down to his butt and shaking his head. The large figure in front of him turned with an angry voice, a rodent-like head but with less sharp features spoke out at him,

"Watch where you're going, kid!"

He turned quickly back around and seemed to shuffle himself in line again, a young child ahead of him that his hands rested on the shoulder of. It didn't indicate to Hideki where he was as all he could think while standing up was, Molerat Man. But upon standing and getting a good look at the line that had grown in front of him with a mass of people up front and thinning out to a normal line where Hideki arrived. His eyes began marking over each of the people in front of him as he tallied out maybe 50 or so people waiting as well. Some adults accompanying kids bringing down that total but still he found himself trapped in the anxiety of possibly not getting his chance to say anything!

Not only that, but what would he say? He stayed in line, still gripping the folder in front of him and standing on the tips of his toes while he bounced around and tried to increase his height to see ahead. His nerves were obvious and the look on his face carried some worry, his mind had become too fixated on getting to the front of the line and was completely absent on what he would say or what he would even ask.

50 feet. The approximate distance he'd have to wait before he'd be at the front of the line.


[474 words]

Ayase had spent a ridiculous amount of time getting ready that morning. Trying on one outfit and then staring at herself in the mirror for upwards of fifteen minutes, twisting and turning in every conceivable way until she finally decided she hated that one and tried on another. It was during this time that she discovered she owned (after doing the math to account for all possible combinations of individual articles of clothing) forty two outfits. It was a larger number than she was expecting, and as she tore off the forty second outfit she growled while flinging her shirt angrily across her small room. She had succeeded in destroying any semblance of order that had existed in her living space and was still not dressed. She swallowed the lump of anxiety and frustration that had formed in her throat closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down again. “This will be fine, of all the things that Eternal Flame will notice, my clothing isn’t going to be one of them.” She spoke softly to herself as she blindly picked up an article of clothing. She knew that if she didn’t pick impulsively she wouldn’t go at all to see the hero who had graciously offered to meet with his local fans. The fabric she now held had a pleasing texture, so she decided no matter what it was she would wear it.

It was with much dismay that she realized as she opened her eyes that she held a pajama shirt. Well, not technically a pajama shirt - it was a shirt she had dedicated to sleeping in because she hadn’t found it suitable for wearing out in public. But she had already made a deal with herself, and she didn’t think it would be a good idea to start breaking her word to herself just yet so she reluctantly pulled the soft pink t-shirt over her head and then smoothed the imaginary wrinkles out of the sparkling unicorn decal on the front of it. She pulled on a black zip up sweater over top of the mildly embarrassing shirt and a pair of pale grey slacks. It was not impressive, it wasn’t even unassuming - but it was clothing and it brought her one step closer to meeting her idol. Adjusting the clips in her soft pink hair she did one final check of her belongings before stepping out the door. And it was a good thing that she did, as she nearly forgot to pick up the one thing it was imperative that she remember. Her scrapbook.

It was a hardcover book that she had lovingly crafted into the thing of mysterious beauty she now held. Shimmering pink leather held the pages safe in their embrace, while bits of lace and rhinestones graced the edges of the cover making it seem more akin to a piece of art than anything a person might use. But the edges of the paper inside the book showed the slight yellowing and curling usually only observed on well loved (or ill loved depending on your perspective) tomes. Taking one final peek before stepping outside she ran her hands gently over the glued newspaper cuttings, flyers and photographs inside. Each bit of memorabilia had something to do with Eternal Flame, his first big villain takedown, the first ‘official’ costume sighting and so on. Beside each entry were her own thoughts carefully laid out in a calligraphic hand and silver ink. Hugging her treasure to her chest she rushed out the door, forgetting all her troubles with her clothing and now just excited to meet her hero.

Once she was within two blocks of the she was horrified to see how many people there were waiting in line. She knew that Eternal Flame was popular and well liked, but she simply hadn’t considered how many of those were actual people and not just faceless names on the internet. She contemplated turning around, being content with the book she held, but then a stubbornness welled up inside her. It didn’t rear its head often, but when it did it was impossible to quiet it. “No. I am going to see Eternal Flame today. I’ve waited. . . just about forever, and today I get to meet him. I just have to get past all these people.” One thing she knew she had on her side was her stature. She was quite small, so slipping through the crowd was almost sure to work, at least for a little while. Once she was closer to the cafe though, it would be more tricky, since people that close were likely to be paying closer attention to their spot in line. She wasn’t too worried about that though, she had a while before it became a problem. Taking a deep breath Ayase began to weave herself in and out of the crowd, being as careful as she could to not actually touch anyone. As she was moving she heard a man yell out "Watch where you're going, kid!" She nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice, as it held a fair amount of anger in it, and as she looked around for the source of the commotion, she saw a young man picking himself up off the ground. One thing she could not abide was a bully, but she was more concerned for the young man, who not only may have hurt himself, was also being completely ignored by everyone around him. It made her angry, that so many parents could have watched that, and instead of helping or admonishing the yelling man, instead chose to turn a blind eye to the altercation. She decided that if no one else would help him out, then she would. That is what heroes were supposed to do after all.

Moving once more through the crowd she would place herself into the small pocket of space that the boy occupied, hoping not to startle him and would speak softly and kindly. “Hello. I couldn’t help but notice that that man. . .” she would pause and point in the direction of the man who yelled before adjusting her hold on her scrapbook and continuing “. . . was causing you some trouble. Did you need help?”

1057 words

Hideki's brow would probably be sweating if he hadn't dedicated so much of his body's other resources to figuring out what he was gonna say or do to continue on. The folder gripped neatly to his person more than he'd want, bending it slightly as he would press it further towards him and his fingers leaving imprints of their position with his arms crossed. He'd taken so much care up to this point that his small fiasco had taken his mind completely off preserving the intactness of his belongings and yet, he couldn't be bothered enough to even pay attention to it. His eyes wandered around towards the front of the line, his frame shifting slightly trying to see if it was moving at all but not noticing the new occupant that had arrived near him. His concentration would be broken as his lean would flow back to a normal stance and his eyes would flicker downwards near towards his feet for an instant.

“Hello. I couldn’t help but notice that that man. . .” Hideki's own eyes would flicker immediately towards her with his attention following afterwards. His body would move back slightly and his shoulders square towards her in an instant as he held the folder in crossed arms in front of himself still, almost using it as a barrier between himself and herself. “. . . was causing you some trouble. Did you need help?” Her words struck him for a second in confusion, his eyebrows might even crinkle a bit with a look of confusion on his face.

He'd have to gather himself, he was just fine standing there now, did he look off or something? He would swallow the invisible lump within his throat as quickly as he could before speaking up,

"N-no..." he would come off a bit timidly at first before snapping himself together and continuing on, his eyes more focused on her, "I'm just fine, thanks." he would leave rather pointed before really taking a look at her. She looked rather... homely for their situation but was dressed similarly to himself as well. He was only in blue jeans as well with simple black and white tennis shoes and a white shirt on underneath a thin black hoodie that he consistently wore. The image underneath on his shirt was the logo of that hero movie that had come out years and years ago but was almost completely covered by the manilla folder that he kept towards himself.

His eyes would trace quickly over as he would try to read into her stature and see if she would react or respond directly to his own embarrassment about the situtation. His face growing a bit more flush in color as he would hold his stature rather stifly and wait to see how she would respond to his dissolution of her offer to help him with... something?


[488 words, 962 words total]

As soon as Ayase asked if the boy needed help she realized her mistake. Assuming he did actually need help, and he hadn’t asked for it, there was probably a reason for his silence. And as she observed his face begin to grow flush, she felt bad that she had likely embarrassed him. That had not at all been her intention, she had just seen a problem and felt like she could do something to fix it. Now she saw though that sometimes fixing the direct cause of the issue was not the best course of action. She looked over the boy, trying to soften the look on her face to a friendly smile. He was a rather ordinary looking person, jeans and a hoodie, somewhat like what she was wearing, and no school insignia or the like to be found. She could just as well leave him alone and it likely would never affect her again, but there was something she still wanted; a way to the front of the line. And while she didn’t think that she would be overly successful sneaking her way up there on her own, she thought that maybe this boy could offer some insight that would help.

Doing her best not to draw attention to the embarrassment she had caused him, she hugged her album closer to her chest with her right arm and held out her left hand as she introduced herself. “I’m Ayase by the way. I’m trying to get to see Eternal Flame, but the line is causing me a bit of trouble. You wouldn’t have any idea on how we could get closer before he leaves for the day? I really don’t want to miss my chance to meet him!” She would give him a moment to introduce himself and shake her hand if he wanted to, if he didn’t she would just pull her hand back and clutch at her album again. “This is my album of everything I’ve collected about Eternal Flame, the one thing that’s missing is his signature - that would make this the most exciting collection ever! I’m assuming you’re here to see him, did you want to see my album?” Her eyes sparkled as she spoke about her idol. She hoped that she wasn’t too excited and coming off as a complete nerd, but this was one of the few things she got extremely passionate about.  

416/1473 words total

Ayase had softened her features in an attempt to disarm the situation from Hideki's immediately off-putting stance. Though, despite how hard he was trying to push against it, he couldn't help but releasing some of the tension of his person as she began to go on, dragging his mind back into the internal anxiety within his own mind instead of focused externally as it had been. As she remarked about how to get closer, Hideki's eyes would wander away from the girl to venture and map out how far they were from the front of the line and feeling the pang in his mind as he slowly returned back to the conversation wondering if the line would change at all if ever.

The unconscious wavering caused him to miss her initial gesture, quickly catching himself with wide eyes as he sprang a hand from the folder clutched at his own chest as well to take her hand and return the greeting.

"Oh, I'm Hideki..." he would sputter out almost nervously as he was catching himself up in the situation. His own hand would return to the folder but not to keep it to his chest but to instead fold it in a single hand and tuck it under his arm and give himself a more masculine stance compared to his former.

If Ayase would continue on to divulge towards her collection, Hideki would take note of it cleanly, marking the similarity to his own and how much more extreme it was. The idea of this hero being this girls idol struck him oddly for a moment as he thought about how much smaller he was in the grand scheme of things or perhaps it was due to his growing fame? Wondering briefly if The Eternal Flame had finally hit that high level status to earn his place and have people who would devote themselves in any way to him so easily. Hideki quickly pushed the thought from his head as soon as it began to creep into his mind as he began to catch himself again.

He would return a hesitant chuckle as he waved away at the notion of looking through Ayase's collection of things and tried not to be mean or disrespectful to the girls' pure excitement of the situation.

"It's alright, I wouldn't want to mess anything up or risk us falling further behind in the line..." he would iterate as his face would turn to a normal yet hinting curious glance as a thought struck into his mind. Whether or not that would be able to help them move up in the line. His eyes would lock more seriously onto Ayase's, whether they were still sparkling or not in an attempt to subtly change the tone of their conversation. Hideki would lean in towards her briefly and place a hand beside his mouth to cover it from nearby ears while whispering towards her,

"Though, I might have an idea to help us move to the front of the line..." he would shift in place a bit as the gears in his mind, waiting to try to gauge her interest by appearance before moving on. "Though, I've got to know you're reallllyyyy interested in moving up?" he would leave off a bit inquisitively while waiting for a response from Ayase.


[564 words, 1526 words total]

Ayase was more than proud of her scrapbook. She had spent the last several years putting it together, carefully collecting newspaper clippings, printing photos; she had even invested serious time into the art of calligraphy in order to make it look just the way she wanted. As she was showing it off, she started to feel a bit out of place and awkward, until she had shown it to someone else she hadn’t seen just how it might seem obsessive. A tiny voice in the back of her head began to chide her for her forwardness He’s just going to think that you’re a weirdo stalker if you keep on like this you know. It was almost a bit of a relief when Hideki turned down her offer to let him look through the album himself. She would hug the book closer to her chest and nod in acknowledgement of his response, though a very slight blush formed on her cheeks. She still didn’t have very much experience with meeting new people, and she wasn’t sure it was going so well.

She stared at her shoes briefly, checking for dirt or scuffs and was a little surprised when Hideki leaned in and whispered to her. "Though, I might have an idea to help us move to the front of the line..." Her shyness momentarily pushed aside at the prospect of some hijinks she smiled and nodded emphatically for him to continue. "Though, I've got to know you're reallllyyyy interested in moving up?" Her smile would broaden at his question. She was not going to miss an opportunity to meet The Eternal Flame, not for anything. And she really would do anything to see him. Taking one hand from her beloved scrapbook she mirrored his covert gesture, placing her cupped hand close to her mouth as she whispered back. “I’ll do anything, really. If you have a plan, I’m all for it. What do we have to do?” This was it, finally she had a chance to be part of the world of heroes. Even if it was just to meet one. But it was a start and she couldn’t be happier.

373/1846 words total