The taste of strawberries in the Christmas cake still lingered on his tongue, the fresh sweetness of the berries mixing together with the richness of the butter beer when they stepped out of the café. The sun had set a while ago, and the lights of Hogsmeade shone brighter in contrast with the deepening darkness.
The day had been terribly fun. Taiga had been absolutely thrilled when Jesse had revealed his plans for Taiga's birthday: a shinkansen ride to Osaka, where they would visit the Universal Studios theme park.
They had started the day with dinosaurs and continued with Super Mario and his friends, and the cherry on the top had been the Harry Potter theme park. They had sat on the rides and posed in front of various pieces of set and props. Jesse had even worn a black, red-brimmed robe for some photos, if only to see the delight that brightened Taiga’s eyes when he did so. They had eaten well and visited the shops too, and Jesse had bought a pair of green woolen gloves, giving them to Taiga as one more present.
All in all, Jesse considered their date a success.
If, of course, Taiga had known it was a date.
Jesse smiled wryly at himself as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his bomber jacket. When planning the trip he had imagined that a moment might occur between them sometime along the day. The moment wasn't very clear in his mind, though there had been vague images of hans brushing against hands, flirty smiles, longer-than-usual eye contacts, and...he glanced at Taiga, his gaze dropping to Taiga's lips. He shortly sucked his own lower lip into his mouth and looked away.
Nothing of the sort had happened, at least not in a way that might have lead into anything more. Taiga sometimes grabbed Jesse's wrist when he saw something interesting, and they had shared dozens of looks and giggles during the day, but none of it had felt charged in a way Jesse imagined it might have if something was going on between them.
Yet, Jesse wasn't entirely sure there wasn't anything between them, either.
He had eyes on his head, and he could tell Taiga's laughter was easy and free in his company. He often stepped so close to Jesse that their arms touched, and in the café Taiga had calmly rested his feet against Jesse's under the table the whole time. And it made Jesse wonder. Taiga didn’t avoid physical touch, but wasn't it usually someone else who initiated it? Especially Juri, whose cuddles Taiga always happily accepted. But Taiga did touch Jesse a lot. Not like he meant to flirt or hint something, he seemed to just naturally gravitate towards Jesse, like he found their closeness easy and comfortable.
And Taiga looked at Jesse a lot.
Today too Jesse had glanced at Taiga several times only to find Taiga already looking at him. And Taiga never looked away like he was flustered or embarrassed for having got caught. Rather, his mouth often drew into a slow, thoughtful smile whenever their eyes met. It made Jesse's heart pound and his skin tingle with yearning - yet he still didn't feel any sparks flying between them.
It confused the hell out of him.
"Look! Snow!" Taiga gasped, interrupting Jesse's train of thoughts.
They had been idly strolling around the alleys of the Hogsmeade set, enjoying the view for a moment more before they'd have to leave. There was fake snow on the roofs of the village, but this snow was real. The ground was too warm and the snowflakes instantly melted as they touched the asphalt, but while they fluttered in the air, they were beautiful to look at, making their surroundings that much more magical.
Jesse looked at Taiga, not even surprised when Taiga was already looking at him, smiling warmly. Snowflakes landed on his hair, lingering for a few seconds before melting into tiny drops of water.
“Taiga,” Jesse started, his throat suddenly feeling dry.
“Yes?” Taiga said quickly, his eyes intense and…hopeful? Jesse wanted nothing more than to kiss him. He wanted it so much, his chest felt tight with yearning.
“Uh. Nevermind,” Jesse said sheepishly, immediately scolding himself for being such a chicken.
“Oh.” Taiga turned away, his smile faltering though it was obvious he tried to hide it. Almost as if he was disappointed but didn’t want Jesse to know.
It was nearly an unbearable sight, but Jesse couldn’t do anything about it now, not here with hundreds of people around. They had been recognized a few times along the day, though people had mostly been nice enough to just smile and wave at them. But there would no doubt be photos in Twitter. There probably already were. And Jesse sure as hell didn’t need their almost-a-date to end with a scandal of any sort.
“Let’s go?” Jesse managed to say, and Taiga simply nodded.
Carrying the gift bags from the shops in their hands, they walked quietly towards the front gate of the park, dragging their feet like neither of them really wanted to leave.
“I still don’t know how you managed to arrange us a whole day off,” Taiga murmured wistfully as they walked below the gate and turned to the street that lead to their hotel. “But I had fun.”
“I was afraid you’d find it bothersome,” Jesse admitted, feeling strangely relieved even though Taiga having fun had been quite obvious the whole day. “You know, since you had to travel back and forth so many times this past months.”
Taiga nodded, acknowledging Jesse’s point. Then, he pushed his own hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking away as he said in a low voice: “It’s different today, when you’re here with me.”
The words were simple and absolutely not alluring at all, but they still made Jesse’s heart flutter wildly. He was glad he thought to book a hotel room for them, even if it meant that they would have to wake up at an inhumane hour on the morning in order to make it to Tokyo in time. On the other hand, he was almost terrified of having to share a room with Taiga. What if he was reading the situation all wrong and Taiga wasn’t feeling anything after all. Surely Jesse should take the lack of sparks as a sign.
They got to the hotel, fetched their bags from the luggage storage, and took the elevator up. Jesse placed the key card to the door handle, and they stepped into their room. The room was dark, except for the lights of the theme park that shone through the windows.
The door closed behind them, and they were left standing in the dark.
“Jesse,” Taiga whispered.
Taiga lifted a hand to brush against the back of Jesse’s palm with his fingertips, and the small gesture was enough. Jesse dropped his bag, took Taiga’s head between his hands, and leaned down to kiss him. Taiga gasped against his lips, but he pressed his body against Jesse’s at the same time, pinning Jesse against the door and answering to the kiss as eagerly and willingly as Jesse could ever have hoped. Jesse wrapped his arms around him, pulling him even closer.
When Taiga broke the kiss, he rested his head against Jesse’s cheek.
“I had fun today,” he said quietly. Then, with a soft laugh, he added, “Though I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I wanted to kiss you.”
“Me too. And me neither,” Jesse admitted. Opening his eyes, he found they had gotten used to the darkness and he could actually see Taiga’s face. Taiga smiled at him like had smiled the whole day. Like he almost always smiled at him.
“I… might like to do some other things, too,” Taiga said slowly, nodding at the two beds. “If you’re up to it?”
Jesse inhaled sharply, his stomach dropping with instant interest. He glanced at the beds, and suddenly it all made sense. Maybe they didn’t need any sparks between them. Maybe the mutual warmth and comfort that they already shared was much, much better.
“Yeah,” he said. “I want to.”
He looked back into Taiga’s eyes.
Taiga was already looking back.