You stride into the barn, hands in the pockets of your absolutely plain gray pants. You push your hood back as you enter, the [Favourite Colour] jacket looking out of place in the wood interior of the barn. You twirl your [Hair Colour] hair around your shoulder nervously. What’s up with the anxiety? Your cheeks are warm, your arms are shaking, and your legs tremble softly. As your lungs fill with air slowly, you release some of the tension, although apprehension still circulates through your body like blood.
“[Your Name]?” someone says. You immediately jump, startled. Without turning around, you gain sudden calm.
“Hi, Kano.”
You turn to your left quickly and step down to the cow pens. You check the four pens, three of which normally occupy cows. In the fourth, you find a tall brown steed with three white spots on the sides of its face.
“Idiot.” You murmur to the horse. “I know that’s you.”
The horse is suddenly Kano. The blond boy gives a quick smirk and pushes his hood off.
“How’d you know?”
You sigh. “The markings on the side of the horse’s head were obviously your jacket markings, and besides...”
“Besides what?”
“This is kind of supposed to be cow pens...” you say, glancing up at a distinct sign labeling the four pens “cow pens”. You smirk to yourself and look back to Kano.
“Now that you aren’t pretending to be a horse, the four pens are as they should be... with four cows.” You can’t help but laugh at your own joke, even if it’s at Kano’s expense.
“Are you calling me a cow? Ludicrous.” He remarks, a smirk still glued to his face. You always thought that smirk looked scary. His eyelids were always lowered, his golden pupils piercing. The smirk was sharp and cunning and dripped with foreboding.
He looks up to the ceiling and sniffs a bit. “C’mon [Your Name], let’s get out of here. The place smells like horse dung.”
You roll your eyes. “Cow pens.”
He giggles. “Oh, yeah.”
The sky outside has brightened up. Clouds are brushed across the sky with paints of vapor, and the sun looks like it took a deep breath and flew to the top of the sky.
“Now that I’m out here, I really notice how much it stinks in there.” Kano remarks.
“You smell funny too, Shuuya.” you smirk.
Kano gives you the absolutely most evil smirk you’ve ever seen. Uh oh. Not good.
You frown and scowl.
“What’s so funny?”
Kano laughs. “Kukuku~ What a nice thing to say, [Your Name].”
“And you’re so pleasant, Kano.”
He laughs again and runs off somewhere. You watch as he leaves. A minute passes and you stare off into the horizon. The weather is nice.
“Hey [Your Nameeeee]~” Kano says. Before you can turn around, you’re soaking wet.
“Kano!”
He stands behind you with a hose. He’s also soaking.
“What are you thinking!?” you yell.
“It smelled bad in there; so we smelled bad too. I thought could I help you wash off.”
You ball your fist, furious. First, he sprayed you with a hose. Second, because you know you’re unable to hurt him.
He sticks his tongue out at you. You grit your teeth and clench your jaw.
“Shuuya!”
You take off running after him, and he runs away from you. You chase him all around the yard, both of you falling into the bright green grass several times. You run until you have no more breath. He’s taller then you and stronger than you, and he has longer legs. He still teases as you stop and pant.
“Kukuku~” he giggles. You stare up in absolute calm. Then, in a split second, you leap forward, smirking, and tackle him. He laughs as you tumble into the dirt and grass. He rolls around and around, but you hold his jacket sleeve with your left arm. He stops to rest for about five seconds, and you take advantage of it by wrapping your right arm around him. It curves around his neck, and you can feel his rapid breaths on your skin. Your hand ends up on his chest. He gets a little red from this, but you tell yourself it’s just because it is summer and you’re rough-housing.
“[Your Nameee]! Let me go~!” he pouts, giving you puppy eyes and an omega. You don’t give in and tumble across the yard with him again. You get tired, but hold on. Your breaths become sharp and ragged.
“Pleaseeeee? I’m tired~” Kano moans. You give up.
“Fine.”
Kano stops rolling. You let go, secretly regretting it. He grabs your wrist and clambers forward to the shade with you.
He tugs at your arm gently. You lose balance and fall down. Kano falls too, because he does it on purpose. He flips over and you land on his chest, and he makes no effort to move you to tell you to move. You look down to your shoes as your cheeks grow red, but it passes. You smile up at him. He stares into your [Eye Colour] eyes for a moment and then smiles back a real smile, not a smirk. A gentle smile, with squinted eyes and a softly curving smile. His cheeks are tinted pink.
A gust of wind blows past, which causes the bright green grass to dance in it. Everything is peaceful. Clouds blow past on summer’s final day. It was a good summer. You wonder when those same clouds will blow past. The thought makes you want to cry, for some reason.
Kano strokes your soft hair with his right hand comfortingly.
“Why are you crying?”
You cover your mouth and then feel your eyes. You didn't think you were actually crying. Sure enough, moisture drips down your cheeks. You gulp and choke in air. Kano looks down to you sympathetically.
“I don’t want summer to end yet.”
He pulls you close and stares into your eyes.
“Don’t worry—it won’t end yet. It won’t ever end.” he whispers. You stare up at him in disbelief.
“What?”
“Autumn, winter, and spring are still summer—just... colder or brighter or windier.”
You wipe your eyes and say nothing.
“And even if summer ends—I’ll still be here.”
You stare up at him in shock again. Tears drip down your face again. He only smiles and puts his arms around you. You hear his steady heartbeat and feel his chest rise up and down. His hand wipes your teary eyes.
“Kano...” you whisper.
He kisses your forehead gently and closes his eyes.
“I love you, [Your Name].”
Your heartbeat speeds up and your face grows red and hot. Kano giggles.
“Kukuku~ it turned out to be a nice summer, after all.”
You close your eyes too, and listen to his heartbeat. Yours steadily matches his and you fall asleep under the hazy, midday, light blue sky in the middle of a never-ending summer.