This is a request by FangClaw_Prime !!! Thank you so much my fwen for this wonderful adorable request that I'm going to have SO MUCH FREAKING FUN WITH- 

Here it is: 

This is before Abby and Kai are dating. They both silently agree just to stay friends, but after a while, they start to realize they can't live with just being friends. After a while, both Kai and Abby decide to confess their feelings for each other. Of course, they try to hide this from Shintaro and Falte, at least for a little bit. However, Kai ends up kissing Abby on the cheek, and both Shintaro and Falte see. Of course, they're fine with them being together, they just wanted to give their kids a hard time about it. 

HERE WE GOOOOOO- *Peter Pan voice*

~

Kai sat leaning against the boys' room wall, considering banging his head against it several times. He had recently been thinking of Abby. 

Not anything specific about her. 

Just...

Her. 

Not only how pretty she'd become in the three and a half years he'd known her, but how her personality had grown too. She had always been a selfless girl, from what Kai gathered, but her selflessness had grown as well. She was always thinking of others, putting them before herself, even when she wasn't feeling great (like the time she'd been sick and let everyone else sit on the couch to watch TV). She was always so positive and encouraging, keeping a happy smile on her face that brightened Kai's day even when he wasn't even upset. When she was in a good mood, she tended to do things that made even Shintaro laugh, which was a rare moment. 

He didn't want to be just friends anymore. 

But he didn't know how either of their father's would think of that. 

So he was sitting in his room, considering banging his head against the wall so he could fix the conflict that was going on inside his head. He was also wishing with all his might that Linda wasn't listening to him right now. 

Abby was an amazing friend because she was always there for everyone, always smiling and encouraging them. But Kai wanted her to be more than a friend. He couldn't live with just being "Abby's friend". He didn't want to spend the majority of his life living with her and just being her friend. 

He wanted to be more than that. He was very sure that he loved her now, through three and a half years of sorting out his feelings. He was very sure that he wanted Abby to be his girlfriend, but he wasn't sure Abby wanted him to be her boyfriend. 

Besides, what would happen if something went wrong between them? What if they were together for a time and then had to break up? How could Kai live with her after that? Knowing that they had once been together, but it hadn't worked, and they were forced to be friends again?

Kai slammed his head against the wall, making Chase, who had been sitting on the top bunk with a book, jump with a shocked grunt. He looked away from the book and blinked in confusion down at Kai, who barely saw him because he hit his head against the wall behind him again. 

"What the heck are you doing?" Chase asked his friend with dumbfounded curiosity. 

"Hitting my head against the wall," Kai replied blatantly, closing his eyes and hitting his head again. He rested his forearms on his propped up knees, clasping his hands in front of him and banging the back of his head once more.

"Yeah, but why?" Chase said, and Kai opened his eyes to see his friend shaking his head with a small, confused smile. 

"Because I can," Kai replied, closing his eyes again and gritting his teeth. He wanted to hold Abby in his arms, hugging her tightly.

But no, that would be so awkward. 

And what would Falte think?

What about Shintaro? 

Kai didn't want to see Shintaro in protective-dad-mode.

Though, why would he? Both Shintaro and Falte knew each of them, so why would they get protective? Linda had even said that they would be perfect for each other. 

Kai agreed with her immediately. Not just because he loved Abby, but because she'd helped him many times after he'd woken up from nightmares in the middle of the night and went to get water. She was a difficult person to wake up, but she always seemed to sense that he was troubled. She would instruct him to sit next to her, and she would simply talk to him until he cheered up.

Sometimes that meant talking about his dreams, to get the weight off his chest, and normally he didn't like doing that; but Abby made it seem easier, and he realized that it did help a lot. 

He was definitely in love with her. 

"And now you're a tomato," Chase's voice said from above him, but Kai chose to ignore him. 

Until he realized that Abby was Chase's sister, and Chase would have to approve too. Chase was Kai's friend, and if Kai was going to be with his sister, Chase would have to know and approve. Kai wanted to make sure it was okay with Chase first before he consulted their parents. 

"Wait, I'm a tomato?" Kai asked, realizing what that meant and opening his eyes. 

"Yeah," Chase laughed as he hopped down from the ladder. "You're blushing like mad. What's going on inside your head?" He walked over to Kai and squatted in front him, meeting his eyes. 

Kai dreaded what his friend was going to say next, but it turned out he had no reason to. 

"If you're thinking about my sister and how much you are seriously in love with her," Chase said softly, "don't worry about keeping it from me. One: I figured out that you liked her before we even moved here. Two: I don't mind if you two get together. I think it would be good for both of you, and you two are amazing for each other." He smiled genuinely at Kai, touching his friend's shoulder gently. 

A long silence stretched on between them.

Then Chase reached up and slapped Kai's cheek playfully. "Get up and go talk to her, you dolt!" 

Flustered, Kai rose to his feet and started toward the door; but apparently too slowly for Chase. Kai felt his friend's hands slam into his back, shoving him forward out of the doorway. Kai hurried forward, feeling Chase's hands leave his back, and heard Chase call "She's in the kitchen, making dinner." 

Kai, forcing the heat away from his face, took the doorway to the kitchen that was closest to the hallway, the one that he didn't have to go through the living room to find. He didn't want anyone else to notice him going to find Abby, especially their fathers.

As Kai walked into the kitchen, he forced a deep breath into his lungs and let it out slowly through his nose. She was wearing a blue T-Shirt and black jeans, and her thick blonde hair was up in a messy bun. He paused behind her, clenching his hands at his sides and feeling heat rush into his face again. Silently he stood until he felt his cheeks return to their normal temperature. 

"Abby?" he said softly, reaching out and touching her shoulder gently. 

Her head perked up from her work, and she turned toward him with a smile. "Yeah?" She had a small knife in her hand, one that she had been using to cut carrots to put into the stew for dinner. She set it on the cutting board behind her and tipped her head up at Kai. "Need something?" 

"Yes, actually," Kai admitted, dropping his gaze to his feet. He took another long, deep breath and folded his arms nervously across his torso. The large sweater he was wearing bunched up at his wrists, hiding his palms. 

"Oh," Abby said, her smile fading a little from her face but remaining nonetheless. "Um. I actually have something to tell you too, but you can go first if you want." She waved her hand at him, a gesture of 'go on'. 

Kai bit the inside of his cheek, clenching his hands against his sides. "No, you can go first." While he was curious of what she had to say, he wanted to use this time to figure out how he would word his confession. 

Even though he was bad with words.

Abby cocked an eyebrow at him, her cheeks turning the slightest bit pink. "Are you sure? You can go first, if you want to. I mean, if you really want me to go first, I can, but I kind of want you to go first..." She trailed off into incoherent mumbling, dropping her eyes to the floor and hiding her face. 

Kai shuffled on his feet, forcing himself to breathe evenly. "Okay. I'll tell you what I want to say first, then." He took another, long deep breath and closed his eyes, letting the words spill out of him before he realized that he hadn't even thought about what he was going to say. "Abby, I don't know how else to tell you this, so I'm just going to tell you plain and simple: I-" He choked on the small word, but he wouldn't let himself hesitate now. "I love you. A lot. I have for a long time, but I just didn't really know how to cope with it, and I didn't realize I actually liked you half the time. Ever since I met you, you have been a wonderful friend, but I don't want you to be just a friend. I mean, being friends is nice, but I like you more than that, so I want to be more than just friends, if that's okay with you. Is that okay?" He opened his eyes, panic rushing through his chest. He hadn't prepared himself for if she said no. "Sorry, this is all really sudden. I'm just making sure that's it's okay. If it's not, that's fine too, I'll just-" 

Abby reached up abruptly and pressed her index finger onto his lips, forcing him to stop talking. Her hands soft, the touch soothing. Her blue eyes met his brown ones, and she looked at him for a long time in silence. Her cheeks were just as red as Kai's felt, but she look calmer than Kai was. 

"Kai," she finally said, "of course it's okay with me. I've been wanting to tell you the same thing for a long time, I just didn't know how. I guess I was also kind of just waiting for you to say something, because I was nervous you would say no." She paused, and smiling, took a deep breath through her nose. "Of course I want to be with you. I would love to be your girlfriend." 

Kai's heart felt like it was going to claw its way up his throat and jump out of his mouth. He forced himself to breathe in, out, in, out. A grateful and relieved smile spread across his mouth, and he reached up to take Abby's hands in his. "Great," was all he could muster. 

And then, without thinking, he leaned down and pecked her cheek. 

Without even asking. 

Without even thinking about what she would think or say. 

Almost immediately, he pulled back with an alarmed expression. Abby looked just as shocked as him, but the smile hadn't left her face. She met his eyes again and stared at him in wonder. 

"Sorry," he burst out. "I should have asked before I did that. I didn't think about how-"

"Don't apologize," Abby said softly, poking his chest with her finger. "I didn't mind that at all." 

Kai smiled again, still mildly flustered, and made the mistake of looking up.

Shintaro and Falte were standing in the other kitchen doorway, one looking shocked and confused, and the other looking shocked and confused and wary. 

Crap, Kai cursed in his head, tensing up sharply enough to make Abby's expression change to worry. 

"What?" she asked curiously, her voice etched with confused worry. "Are you okay? What happened? Did I step on your foot?" She looked down to check her feet, but Kai shook his head when she looked back up.

Finally she realized and pursed her lips. "Someone is in the doorway behind us, aren't they?" 

Kai nodded, unable to look away from his father, who was blinking at them without saying anything. 

Abby slowly turned out, saw her father, and flinched. She let go of Kai's hand with a nervous laugh, redness rushing back into her cheeks. "Um. Hi, Dad. Hi, Falte." She waved sheepishly at them with a small hand. 

"H-Hi," Falte replied, but Shintaro remained silent, frowning slightly at his daughter. 

"Um," Abby said again. "How much of that were you there to witness?" 

"The last bit," Falte answered, the shock slowly crawling off his face. He glanced up at Kai with those unreadable, creamy brown eyes. 

"Oh," Abby muttered, shrinking under her father's stare. 

Kai found himself frowning. "If you guys have a problem with us, say it now," he said a little harsher than he'd meant to. He was proud of himself for saying "us", and he was even more proud of himself for actually confessing to Abby. He wouldn't let their father's ruin the moment. 

He had to admit, he was wrong not to go to them first, but what was done was done. 

He couldn't take it back now. 

Falte slowly shook his head, a small, soft smile peeking at the corners of his mouth. "I'm not angry with either of you. You just chose to take your time, so I wasn't expecting to walk in on you two actually telling each other how you felt." 

Abby's voice was reluctant as she said: "... Dad...? What about you?" 

Kai expected Shintaro to frown harder and go into a dad lecture, but he simply sighed and crossed his arms. "I don't mind it. Just know that I'm going to be keeping an eye on you. Both of you," he added when Abby opened her mouth, probably to protest in Kai's defense. 

"Okay," Kai agreed before Abby could say anything else. 

If they were fine with it, he was fine with it. 

As long as he was with Abby. 

~