Chapter 1: Chapter 1: We Meet Again
Summary:
how the fuck did i mix up the title and chapter im so sorry yall
Chapter Text
It was a bright and early morning, around 6 am. Mitsuba was in bed when his mother came into his room to wake him up, in which he prepared himself for school. It was his first day back since the accident and he was nervous, quite a lot more than he would be for a "back to school day" because he knew he would be new to the class, again, since he didn't expect anyone to remember him. He was so sure that everyone wouldn't even realize his absence. So he was a bit worried that he wouldn't be able to speak to anyone. He took a quick shower, then did his usual "face makeover", before taking a sip of coffee and putting on his freshly cleaned uniform. The uniform that he hasn't worn for some time. He even took the time for a spray of vanilla perfume on himself, which he rarely used. But he wanted everything to be perfect. Now that he smelled and looked good, he made his way to school.
It didn't take long for Sousuke to get to class, looking around before stepping in, hoping not to get anyone's attention. In the end, he did get people's attention, as they all stared at him and his plastered hand that he tried to hide as much as he could. He sat in his assigned seat and placed his camera on the side of his desk as he would usually do. He nervously looked out of the window beside him, trying to ignore the stares he was receiving. He couldn't wait for class to start.
As the boy sat in silence, it seemed that everyone had a friend except him. He slightly glanced over at a trio of loud boys sitting next to him, laughing and chatting to themselves. The boys, blonde, brunette, and dark-haired, seemed inseparable. Sousuke wished he had close friends like them, but on the other hand, preferred to be alone by himself. He made eye contact with the blonde boy but quickly looked away afterward, embarrassed. The blonde tilted his head as the bell rang, but shrugged it off as he sat in his seat.
The blonde was known as Kou Minamoto, the brother of the very popular Teru Minamoto, AKA the school's student council president. They had a reputation, and it was a strict one. Kou was friendly and easy to get along with, making friends along the way during his school years. Satou and Yokoo, his closest friends, were always around him. They were known as a close trio who had been together since their childhood.
However, something unexpected happened with Kou, which confused Satou and Yokoo. He started to trail off from his friend's conversation when he noticed the boy sitting in front of him. He blinked a few times, trying to remember if he met him before. That is until a hand appeared in front of his face.
He jumped, "Ah!! What the hell?!"
Satou raised an eyebrow, "Helloooo? Kou, are you okay?"
The blonde blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to come to his senses again before looking at them. "Oh, I'm fine!"
Not too long after the bell rang, "Alright, everyone to your seats." And that's just what everyone did as their teacher stood up and walked to the front of the class with a book. "Please open your books to page 104 and read the first paragraph. I'll be back in just a minute. Now Mitsuba-Kun, please come outside with me for a second."
Mitsuba did as they said and stepped out of class, followed by his teacher. It was obviously just to make sure Sousuke wasn't too far back because of how much he missed while he was gone. They nodded and smiled at him before peeking into the classroom, proceeding to call Kou out of class too, since he was just behind him. He blinked and got up, his friends watching him in confusion as he walked out of the room.
They sighed and the boys looked up at them, a little confused and intimidated. "Sorry for disturbing the class but I need to correct the last tests we did last week. Since your classmate is back now, would you mind showing him what we're doing? He missed the last chapter of the book and I really don't have the time to explain it to him, the test results are due this weekend, you see?"
Mitsuba looked down in embarrassment, feeling bad about Kou having to help him. But, he didn't say a single word while standing there. The teacher just explained what Kou needed to show Mitsuba while she graded their student's tests. "I'm willing to put you boys in the back of the class so you can talk, but not too loud, alright?"
Kou nodded in agreement before looking back at Mitsuba, who he could tell was nervous. He felt bad but decided to attempt to reassure the boy that he'd help him. He gently put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a goofy smile.
"Hey! It's okay, I'll do my best to help you!!"
Mitsuba flinched a bit at his touch, but only because he was surprised. He looked at Kou for a second, then simply nodded. The teachers dismissed them and they walked back in the class. They both sat at the back of the room in silence as the teacher asked them to. Mitsuba was still nervous, and he sat there in silence while sharing a desk with the other boy.
Kou felt the air getting thicker and thicker throughout their silence, but he tried to ignore it by grabbing his book. He flipped through the pages while glancing at Mitsuba, who he could tell was still tense. He let out a soft sigh,
"By the way, uh... I'm Kou Minamoto, as you already know, haha... It's been a while since you were last here, but... You're Mitsuba, right?"
Mitsuba looked back at him the second he spoke but averted his eyes away quickly after.
"Oh, uh, yeah. And, sorry about this... I would've done it myself but I didn't really have my books at home. I wish the teacher wouldn't make you waste your time on me..." he said, mumbling a little. Kou could hear the nervous tapping of the other's foot and noticed his twirling fingers.
However, the blonde tried to look at the other with a reassuring smile, "It's not a problem at all, really!!"
Then he glanced down at Mitsuba's plastered hand and rubbed the back of his neck.
"From what I can tell, you look like you were going through a lot anyway."
After saying that, he quickly tried to change the subject by sliding the book toward Mitsuba so he could see the page while slowly scooching closer to him. He pointed at the first page, but Mitsuba wasn't even paying attention and just scanned over the pages every time Kou turned one.
"Do I need to read the chapter? Are there like, questions that come with it?" he asked, squinting at the book.
Kou nodded and pointed to some words on the page. "The chapter starts here. But, honestly..." He leaned in slightly closer toward Mitsuba's ear and whispered, "I can just give you the answers to the questions. They aren't that complicated anyway."
Mitsuba stopped and thought about it for a second, "Yeah, I mean, you could but.. wouldn't that be cheating? Won't you get in trouble?"
Kou let out a soft chuckle and smirked. "Do you REALLY think our teacher cares? They didn't even bother to tell you about the chapter. They just put it on me to tell you."
"... true," he simply said, looking at him for the first time. "Then, sure, I guess it's fine..?"
Kou then grinned and took out a piece of paper, in which he started to scribble the answers to the questions. "Here, now hide this somewhere they won't find it." He slid the paper over to Mitsuba, glancing back at their teacher to make sure they didn't notice. "Now you won't have to stress as much about the work!"
"Right, thanks..." he said, grabbing the paper before looking over at him with a gentle smile.
'Why would he do this for me?' he thought, trying not to pay too much attention to it.
After a while of pretending to talk and mostly scribbling down answers for Mitsuba, the bell rang. It was time for everyone to go to lunch, and Kou's friends waved for him to come over right away. He got up from his chair and waved back, but stopped to look back down at Mitsuba, who still had that timid look on his face.
"Hey, uh... Mitsuba? Do you plan on going to lunch?"
"Well, yeah, obviously," he slowly sat up and looked at Kou like he was stupid. But, he decided to keep that to himself.
Mitsuba watched as the other boy started packing up his stuff and throwing his bag over his shoulder with that dumb smile still plastered on his face. "Do you have anyone to sit with?"
Sousuke knew what he was about to ask, and he would have been thrilled but, at the same time he was cautious. Kou was being too nice, who does that? He thought. So the best thing he thought of doing was to lie.
"Uh, yeah... I'm eating lunch outside with a friend today so uh, thank you for helping me... I have to go," he said as he quickly packed up and walked out of the room.
"Ah- Uh- Any time!" the blonde tried to spit out before he watched the pink boy quickly walk out. Kou's smile changed into a slight frown. "I wonder what his deal is..." he mumbled to himself as he walked over to his friends.
Kou shrugged his conflicted thoughts away and made his way to see his friends. He was a little disappointed when Mitsuba said he was going to see a friend, but what he wanted to know about the boy wasn't any of his business. When he finally got to his friends, who were sitting on some stairs, he plopped down next to them.
"Hey, Kou. How was your teaching session with that pink-haired guy?" Satou asked as he took a bite from his sandwich.
The blonde propped his chin on his hand and let out a sigh.
"It was fine. I'm kinda mad at myself for barely remembering him."
Satou just shrugged, his attention more focused on his lunch. "That's understandable, though. He was gone for a while, wasn't he?"
Kou pouted, "But, still. He was so quiet, and I'm hoping he didn't take offense to me not remembering much about him."
His friend shrugged again. Kou just rolled his eyes.
As for Mitsuba, after he left the classroom he quickly walked through the hallways. He didn't really have anyone to go to, he just wasn't able to fully trust him and his friends. Who knows what they were planning? Nobody is ever nice for free.
"Ughh.." he groaned before finally getting to the front gate. He was gonna take a few pictures before getting back to class since he didn't really take the time to bring lunch. Mitsuba wasn't having a bad time, or a good one either. He just took a few pictures and sat on a bench for most of the time. It was boring but what could he do? It was his consequence for not trusting people after all. He didn't think badly of Kou, but there was something off about him. Why was he so welcoming and nice? He has his own friends so why would he care about who he meets with? It was all so strange for him and he didn't understand, since he never received that kind of kindness before.
All Mitsuba could do was think about what happened, so much that time passed so quickly and the bell ended up ringing for everyone to go back to class. He blinked and got up right away, basically running so Kou didn't see him walking alone in the hallway.
Yokoo, Satou, and Kou started making their way back to class when the bell rang. Kou still had a slightly frustrated look on his face as he walked behind them.
Yokoo looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you care so much about remembering him, anyway?" he blurted out.
Kou looked down at the floor and huffed. "I dunno... I guess it's because he's so quiet and very to himself. And he was gone for a little over a month, how can you guys not be curious?!"
Mitsuba was already in class, of course, sitting at the back where Kou was also supposed to be sitting as everyone came in and sat in their assigned seats. When Kou finally made it to his seat, as the class went on, he glared at Mitsuba from where he sat. The entire time. He wanted to know why he was gone, and more about him in general. But that was weird to ask about. Not one time did Mitsuba try to even look at Kou. Even when he sat down next to him, he kept his eyes away, but he could feel Kou's glare burning through his back.
By the time the school day ended, Kou got zero answers to his questions but he didn't give up on asking Mitsuba some. He carefully watched as the boy packed up his bag before walking over to him.
"Hey, uh... Mitsuba... If you ever need help with the stuff you missed while you were gone, you can always ask me. Just wanted to let you know!"
That was stupid. What a stupid thing to say. He wanted to retract what he said but it was already out and was making the awkward tension between them bigger.
'The hell was that?' he thought as he squinted at him funny for a second, a lot of rude things went through his mind, but he kept it to himself. He instead said something more like this;
"Oh, uh yeah. Thanks?" he said, before walking away, not really looking for a deeper conversation.
Kou stood there, dumbfounded. He wanted to die. He just made things worse, and Mitsuba will probably never want to talk to him again.
'Dammit— I really screwed up. He probably thinks I'm a creep,' he thought.
He slapped himself on the forehead and watched the boy walk out the door. He clearly didn't want to talk to him. But that definitely didn't stop him from trying to talk to him tomorrow.
to be continued...
Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Questions
Chapter Text
School ended, and the two boys separated for the day, with Kou feeling bad of course. As for Mitsuba, he causally went to his lockers to change his shoes, and he then started to walk home. His mom wasn't going to be there anyway tonight because of work so he had the house for himself. Even if he didn't have anything to do, he was glad to be alone at home in peace. When it came to Kou, when he got home, he collapsed on his bed and had regrets for the rest of the night. Teru was concerned, and even Tiara was concerned too. Why the hell did he want to talk to this pink-haired kid anyway? I guess he just wanted to try and give him a warm welcome back but it ended up just punching him in the face.
He groaned and turned over to look at the ceiling. "God, kill me now please..."
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That night, Mitsuba didn’t think about anything, except Kou.
What was his deal anyway? Why was he like that? He’s so weird and nice at the same time... and all the time. He climbed into his bunk bed and collapsed onto it, feeling relieved yet so confused. Then, he groaned and covered his face in frustration.
"Ughhhhh..."
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The next morning, Kou made sure to arrive before Mitsuba and his friends so he could try to make an actual conversation with him. He was literally that desperate to know more about this guy. He sat there on top of his desk, clinging to his spirit staff for dear life, trying to figure out how to even START a conversation.
He closed his eyes, trying to think of what to say. 'What’s your deal anyway? No… That’s rude… What happened to your hand? Ah, too personal...'
He rubbed his temple in frustration, mumbling random shit to himself. As more kids walked in, they stared at him like he was crazy. Then, Mitsuba arrived not too long after the other kids. As he entered the class, a few students looked at him funny but he didn’t pay attention to it. He walked to his seat and sat down, without even trying to look at Kou. He felt awkward and also quite pissed because of the stares but he kept silent, like always.
Out of pure impulse, Kou leaned over Mitsuba’s shoulder and looked down at him with an awkward smile.
"H-Hey, Mitsuba!! How are you?" He stuttered, tightening his grip around his staff. He was definitely going to scare this kid off.
As expected, Sousuke flinched. Out of everything that could’ve happened, he never expected Kou to talk to him first, and even less ask him about himself. He looked at him in terror for a straight second, not knowing what to say. He looked him up and down, then looked back at his face.
"Uh.. I’m good, I guess?" He mumbled, not saying much more. He didn’t even respond to him asking how he was, he was that weirded out. But that wasn’t necessarily Kou’s fault, it was Sousuke who was too, let’s say, shy.
Kou got all giddy when Mitsuba looked back up at him for some reason, but he could tell he was uncomfortable. So, he backed away and decided to stand up next to him.
"That’s great!! I’m glad!" He bit his lip, thinking about what to say next. "By the way, I saw you have a camera there! That’s pretty cool!"
"Oh, uh yeah... It’s cool." He answered, averting his eyes. But.. he was less tense now for some reason. Maybe it was because nobody mentions his camera and it’s always played a big part in his life. He wanted to share his enjoyment of photography with friends, friends he doesn’t quite have.
Mitsuba cleared his throat and spoke again, "And uh, what’s that umbrella thing? I see you always bring it to class, even when it’s not raining..." He slightly pointed at his staff. He saw it a few times in class and he was always curious about what it was exactly.
"Ah!! This is my spirit staff!" Kou opened up the umbrella cover slightly to show Mitsuba the staff. He then closed it and smiled at him. He lowered his voice and looked around before leaning in slightly towards the boy excitedly. "I’m an exorcist!! I help my brother protect the school from evil apparitions. You probably know him, he’s the student council president!"
Mitsuba never expected an answer like that. It was probably the stupidest thing he ever heard in his life. An exorcist? How pathetic, he thought. But he tried not to put too much judgment in his tone as he spoke.
"Uh.. exorcist..? Wow, you must really like anime..." he remarked, making a weird face at him being looking away.
Kou puffed up his cheeks out of frustration and glared at Mitsuba. "Wha- No!! I’m being serious! I see ghosts! They’re all around the school, don’t you hear the rumors that go around about them?!"
His classmates started to look at him weirdly as he raised his voice. It didn’t bother him at all though, because he was too focused on the boy in front of him.
Mitsuba started to feel the many eyes looking at them and it made him super uncomfortable, so he spoke; "Hey, would you shut it…?! People are staring..."
He quickly lowered his voice and a small tint of pink appeared on his face of embarrassment. "…Sorry. But I promise you I’m not lying…!"
"Sure... whatever, weirdo..." he simply said as he looked away from him again.
Kou huffed. He definitely wasn’t getting through to this guy. He even called him a weirdo. But, he refused to give up, so he kept his intense look directly toward Mitsuba.
"Do you want to hang out with me during lunch?" He blurted out. Now he was just standing there like an idiot.
He looked at him for a good minute, not saying anything. He knew he couldn’t find an excuse this time but he knew it would be awkward, so he let out a long sigh,
"Fine, sure..."
Kou’s frown quickly turned into a bright smile as soon as the other boy replied. He wanted to give himself a pat on the back for finally getting through to this guy.
"Ah- G-Great!! We can walk out together!" He turned around and sat back down in his seat, whispering an excited little ‘yes!’ to himself.
He didn’t really know what to think about this, plus, for some reason, he felt bad saying no. He was actually quite curious about what this weird guy wanted with him anyway, so he decided to give it a go.
"Whatever..." he simply mumbled, refusing to look at Kou.
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Before the bell rang for lunch, Kou told Yokoo and Satou that he was spending lunch with Mitsuba. They thought he was insane because he just met the guy, but let him go anyway. As the bell rang, he stood next to Mitsuba with a stupid grin on his face.
"Ready to go?"
"I guess..." he mumbled unenthusiastically, leaving his camera and all his other stuff on his desk. He stood up and waited for Kou to guide him wherever he wanted to go.
Before Kou went anywhere, he looked down at Mitsuba’s camera and then back at him. He then scratched the back of his neck nervously. He turned his head to look away from the other boy.
"Actually… I wanted to see what kind of stuff you take pictures of. But… you don’t have to bring the camera if you don’t want to."
Mitsuba looked at him for a moment then back down at his camera. He felt kinda flustered that someone was asking him about his passion, so he didn’t have a moment to hesitate and grabbed the camera.
"Sure, I’ll show you if you want!"
That was the first time that Kou could see sparks in Sousuke’s eyes. He didn’t respond with his usual monotone voice, instead, he sounded genuinely happy. The blonde smiled when he saw how excited Mitsuba looked. He thought it was cute seeing him so happy about his passion. And honestly, he wished he smiled more often.
Kou quickly slumped his bag over his shoulder and grabbed his staff. "Okay!! You lead the way!"
The pink-haired boy nodded before leading the way to the garden outside. As soon as they got there, he opened his camera and started taking a few pictures as soon as he saw things that he found worthy of taking a picture. Kou watched him carefully, getting kind of bored after a while but didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to seem rude. It was nice seeing how engaged and careful Mitsuba was when taking pictures. It was like his personality completely changed.
"Hey, Mitsuba? You take a lot of pictures of animals and plants and stuff. How come you don’t take pictures of people?" He asked, crouching down next to him while he was taking a picture of a plant.
"Well, I do take pictures of my mom at times. She ain’t that much of a model... but, I just find it a waste to take pictures of people..." he answered, finishing up his pictures and standing up.
"Ah, I see… Well, that’s still cool. Some of the stuff is pretty."
Kou played with one of the flowers, still watching Mitsuba out of the corner of his eye. He then looked up and gasped excitedly, turning his head toward him.
"Oh, you should take a picture of me!! I’m a good model!"
He looked him up and down for a moment, then shook his head in disagreement.
"No offense, but I don’t like modeling people... especially lame-ass safety earring boys like you," he replied, looking back at his camera.
"Ah- what did you just call me?!"
The blonde frowned slightly and stood up, scratching his head.
"Whatever... I guess we should head back anyway. The bell is gonna ring soon."
"Guess so," he simply said, standing up as well.
Kou was a little disappointed when he heard Mitsuba’s voice go monotone again. As they made it back to class, and when Mitsuba sat down, Kou stood next to him.
"Um… Mitsuba?" He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt while looking down at the floor. "This was nice. I hope we can do this again, sometime. Maybe… If you want, you can join me and my friends one day. They wouldn’t mind."
Sousuke didn’t expect him to ask him that, and to be honest he didn’t know what to think about it. He still wasn't too sure what to think about Kou, because his demeanor was too nice for him to handle. All he could do at that moment was lie, hoping the other boy would leave him alone.
"Uh... well, I’m going to be busy..."
Kou had an obviously disappointed look on his face. A very guilt-tripping one, too. He wasn’t even sure why he wanted to spend time with this pink-haired guy. He always seemed alone, separated from everyone, so he felt bad.
"Even during lunch…?"
"Yeah, well, all the time..." he said, at the same time trying to seem like a busy guy. He was obviously playing hard to get but it really wasn't doing it on purpose. He’d love to be around him and his friends, and he’d love to have friends, but he had the feeling that reality would hit him in the face at some point and he didn’t want that to happen. It seemed that his suspicions took over more than his actual liking for people.
Kou sighed and sat back in his seat. Propping his chin on his hand, he stared at Mitsuba’s back. How was he so busy if he was able to spend time with him during lunch? How come he never talked about that ‘friend’ he went to lunch with? His mind wandered on and on, but he knew that he should keep his questions to himself.
"Right… Okay. I won’t bother you about it, then. Sorry," he frowned a bit and closed his eyes.
It took Mitsuba a moment to realize how rude it was of him to say that. He sighed and looked away, feeling super bad because Kou wasn’t a bad guy, but at the same time, he didn’t trust him or his friends that much. Anything could happen, and it scared him. He knew he’d have to find a way to keep himself occupied because if Kou saw him being alone during the times he said he’d be busy, it would be really difficult to explain himself.
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When school ended, Kou still had that same disappointed look on his face as he watched Mitsuba leave the classroom. That’s when his friends walked over to him and Satou tapped his shoulder.*
Satou looked over at Kou, "What’s your deal, Kou? Did he give you the cold shoulder?"
The blonde just shrugged in response and looked down at the floor.
He got so excited when I asked him to bring his camera, but… other than that, he really hasn’t opened up at all. He just seems so… isolated.
He felt Yokoo pat his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.
"Cheer up, man! You have us!" Yokoo smiled wide at his friend, who chuckled a little.
As for Mitsuba, he had already left the classroom and he was getting out of school, walking home, like usual. Still feeling really bad about earlier, but wanted to get out of there as soon as possible so he didn't have to face Kou or his friends.
"Was it really worth it...? He was nice to me all day and I just turned him down again..." he mumbled to himself, looking at the ground.
Both of them were thinking about each other the whole night. While they cooked, while they did homework, and even when they went to bed. While it was easy for Mitsuba to fall asleep, Kou didn’t sleep much, instead, he kept thinking of how to get Mitsuba’s attention. He was so conflicted about it, thinking he would see him as a weirdo or be annoyed with him. All he could do for the rest of the night was stare at his ceiling and let his thoughts wander in his head.
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Both Kou and Mitsuba wanted to get to school before each other. It didn't work out though, as they arrived at school at the exact same time. Kou almost ran into the other boy because he was in a rush, but managed to stop himself right before. He looked down at him with an awkward smile, making sure to block a part of the doorway so Mitsuba couldn’t quite get past him. He was determined to get something out of this guy.
"O-Oh! Morning, Mitsuba! How are you?"
"U-Uh.. good..?" he replied, obviously trying to get past the door, but this stupid blonde being in the way made it hard for him... He just kept his eyes down, not wanting to look at him.
When Kou finally decided to move, the school was basically empty. He took his chance to ask him more questions as they walked, basically just trying to convince him to hang out.
"Are you…" He bit his lip, trying not to be too awkward. "Are you sure you’re busy today? I uh… You’re still welcome to hang out with me and my friends during lunch today…"
Mitsuba bit his lip nervously, still trying to keep his gaze turned away. Now he definitely wasn't getting out of this one. He still didn't understand why this guy wanted to talk to him so badly in the first place. Obviously, he didn't have any more excuses left, so it took him a second to answer.
"Uh..." he sighed. "No, I'm not busy..."
Kou grinned excitedly, hoping he’d say yes. Maybe being with his friends could help Mitsuba build up some confidence!
"So, you wanna come to lunch with us? You can show Satou and Yokoo your pictures, I told them how much you like taking photos!!"
It all seemed way too good to be true. He still didn’t quite understand why he cared that much anyway. I mean, even telling his friends about him? Now that's weird.
"Well, I don’t know..? I think I have a meeting at the photography club today and yeah…" That was a lie, of course, he didn’t really. He just didn’t have the confidence to say no.
Kou gulped nervously but tried to convince Mitsuba to the best of his ability. He knew he wasn’t actually gonna show up. Which made him upset, but he tried not to show it.
"You don’t know? Well, when you do… You can tell us or just meet us on the set of stairs outside!"
"I'll... I'll see," the pink-haired boy said before slightly pushing him to be able to get in class. He sat down in his seat like usual and prepared his stuff for class, pretending that nothing happened.
"Weirdo..." he mumbled to himself.
Kou watched him walk away with a frown, sighing and just deciding to just leave it be. Boy was this guy stubborn. He just gave up for now and sat in his seat. What’s odd is that he knew he met Mitsuba before when they were younger, but he didn’t want to make him uncomfortable in case it didn’t actually happen and he was imagining things. It was extra awkward that they had to sit next to each other in the back. Mitsuba didn’t want to be next to him because he felt bad about always being so stubborn, but at the same time, he didn’t know why he was like this. He just wanted people to leave him alone.
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During lunchtime, instead of going with his friends like usual, Kou made the careful decision to follow Mitsuba without him noticing. All he wanted to know was if he was actually “busy”, so he slowly moved behind him, hiding as much as he could. Mitsuba didn’t actually have anything planned to nobody's surprise, instead, he just sat by a bench and waited while watching the sky and his surroundings. It was peaceful, yet boring. He regretted a bit not going with Kou, but he didn’t try to change it. It was useless anyway, they probably wouldn't want him there anyway.
The blonde watched him from a faraway bush angrily. Not a single person was around.
'So he’s not busy!! What a cheeky bastard…' he thought, slowly crawling out of the bush. He tried not to make himself obvious and pretended that he just walked out of the school.
Sousuke didn’t realize that Kou had been there, and he didn’t see him get out of the bush either, he was still looking around, minding his own business. Kou started to walk toward him like he hadn’t seen him already.
"Mitsuba? I thought you said you had a photography club??" he asked as he walked up to him. He was so proud of himself at that moment. This was the perfect move to make right now.
Mitsuba flinched a bit. "Oh! Uh.. yeah, I don’t, it was canceled.. so.. I didn’t find you in the school so I came back here?" He lied. It would’ve made sense if Kou didn’t watch him for the last few minutes, but he didn’t know that. He assumed the blonde would just leave him behind for his friends anyway.
Kou just stood there and tapped his chin with a smirk. He let out a soft chuckle, "What a shame. You could have looked for Satou and Yokoo, but that’s okay. You found me now!!"
"Great... I'm so glad..." Mitsuba grumbled, looking down in disappointment.
"Welp, since you're not busy..." Kou gently grabbed Mitsuba’s hand and pulled him up with a smile. "I’ll properly introduce you to Satou and Yokoo!!"
The face Mitsuba made was pure confusion, with a mix of discomfort and frustration. "Yeahhhh.. awesome…"
Kou ended up basically dragging him to see his friends and finally let go of his hand when they walked up to them. Kou excitedly stood behind Mitsuba and put his arms out like he was presenting a prize to his friends. As for Mitsuba, he seemed confused and it was obvious that he felt out of place. Why was he there, with KOU'S friends? He didn’t understand why Kou always insisted on him eating with them, it pissed him off because he was so sure he only wanted to mess with him.
"Guys!! This is Mitsuba!" the blonde excitedly said. Yokoo and Satou looked at each other and then back at Mitsuba.
"Nice to meet you!" Yokoo happily said with a smile. Satou did the same and waved.
Mitsuba just stood there for a second awkwardly. "Hi..."
"By the way, you said you were gonna show us some of your pictures?" Satou said, tilting his head slightly.
Kou sat down next to his friends, looking at Mitsuba as he patted the spot next to him.
"They really wanted to see them."
"Mine? My pictures...?" the pink-haired boy blinked in disbelief before sitting down.
Yokoo stuck his thumb up. "Yeah, come on! Show us!"
Mitsuba's eyes finally brightened again as he picked up his camera, and turned it on. He gave Satou and Yokoo it and pointed at one of the buttons.
"This is how you scroll through them..."
As his friends scrolled through the photos, Kou tapped Mitsuba's shoulder.
"Hey, Mitsuba?"
Sousuke's face had more of a pleasant and calm expression when he turned to him.
"What's up?"
Kou loved seeing Mitsuba’s face. It was different, once again, instead of the blank one he usually put on. His smile was still present on his face, but he didn’t look Mitsuba in the eyes like normal.
"I was thinking about this for a while… I think we’ve met before. Y’know, when we were younger? I’m just curious to know if you remember."
"Well, we’ve been in the same class, if that’s what you’re wondering" He answered, quite sure of himself. "Why?"
Kou propped his chin on the palm of his hand and huffed. He closed his eyes, really thinking about what to say or explain himself.
"I dunno, I just… I remember you went out of your way to make friends with me and I didn’t even remember you as time went on… so when you came back, I guess I just. Wanted to make up for it," he said, glancing toward Mitsuba. "People keep staring at you, too… and I felt bad."
"I don’t need your pity, I’m fine," he said, with a more firm tone, and his face looking a bit more serious as well.
Kou looked at him, slightly surprised by his tone. He stuttered, "W-Wait! I didn’t mean for it to seem that way, I just-"
Satou passed Mitsuba’s camera to Kou. He nodded and handed it to Mitsuba with a small smile.
"I want to be friends…"
"With who..? Me?" Mitsuba asked, genuinely confused about why we wanted to be friends. It’s not that he didn’t want to, he just didn’t understand why.
"Yes, you!! You’re the only person in front of me. Of course, I want to be friends with you!" Kou hoped he wouldn’t scare Mitsuba off by saying that. He genuinely just wanted to be friends with Mitsuba.
"Okayy.. fineee..." Sousuke made sure to sound like Kou was forcing him and he absolutely had to be friends with him, even if that’s not the case. He then looked at him with a tender smile. Inside, he was hoping it would work.
Kou just laughed and smiled back at him. That answer was enough for him.
"I’ll take what I can get!!"
Mitsuba nodded and he looked back at his camera, a tender smile on his face that wasn’t about to leave any time soon. The bell rang and the boys went back to class, Mitsuba still sitting beside Kou with that smile still on his face.
to be continued...
Chapter 3: Chapter 3 - Trust
Chapter Text
At the end of class, Kou tapped Mitsuba's shoulder to get his attention.
"Hey, Mitsuba, wanna walk home together?"
The pink-haired boy turned to look at him. "Uh... home? Well, which way do you go when you go home? Because we might go in a completely different direction..." he asked, hoping this might work out. For once, he was okay with it.
"Oh, I take a right when I go home!" Kou excitedly replied.
"Oh! So we are going in the same direction. Sure, then, we can walk home together after all," he said, surprisingly happy.
Mitsuba put his things in his bag before looking up at the blonde again.
"How far is your house anyway?" He asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Oh! It's only about ten minutes away," he replied, smiling at him. "How long away is your place?"
"About fifteen? Not that long either..." He said, waving goodbye at Satou and Yokoo before they left class. "Why aren't you walking home with your friends anyway?"
Kou shoved his hands into his pockets and looked up at the ceiling as he walked.
"They're staying after school to work on stuff today. I usually walk home with them, but as of late, they've been staying after. So I've been walking home by myself for a few days now."
"Walking alone ain't that big of deal. I mean, I've been doing it since elementary, and I had no issues," Mitsuba said in a completely normal tone as he walked to the entrance, where he changed his shoes.
Kou did the same and looked over at him. "Well, I dunno. It's not like I can't protect myself, but... I'm always worried about strangers or getting myself hurt. Y'know?"
The other boy shrugged. "Yeah, I know, it makes sense, who wouldn't be afraid..."
Kou opened the door for Mitsuba before they both walked out together. The sun was starting to set, and the sky turned a bright pink and orange as they made their way down the street.
"Hey, Mitsuba? I have another question."
The other boy looked at him and tilted his head. "Hmm?"
"What happened to your hand?" He bluntly said, pointing down at Mitsuba's plastered hand. He hoped it wasn't too personal of a question.
Even if it was obvious, Mitsuba lifted his hand. "This one?"
Kou nodded. "Yeah. What happened to it?"
"Well, you know how I wasn't here since last December?" he replied, with the blonde nodding again in response.
"Well, I happened to have gotten hit by a car, or a truck, it's all blurry so sorry so I don't remember the details..." he said, not looking traumatized or anything the sort, he said it as if it was something as simple as falling in stairs or something. "So you see, I had to stay at the hospital for a little while. And it ain't my only scar."
Kou looked down at the road and scratched the back of his neck. "Oh... Wow. I'm sorry that happened. That must have been scary, and I'm sorry if that was a little too personal. I'm just glad you're okay."
"Yeah, well, you don't have to pity me. I hit my head and forgot most of it, so it's fine. By the moment I woke up, nothing hurt anymore, so it was a pretty much scarier situation for my mom, to be honest. I'm all good," Mitsuba replied, turning his face to look at him with a tender smile.
Kou tried to work up a smile for Mitsuba as he looked back at him. "Oh, right... Well, I don't mean to pity you. I really am glad you're okay!"
"Thanks..." The pink-haired boy said, keeping his smile as they continued walking.
Kou turned his head away again. "Mhm... You're welcome."
He sighed and noticed the street he goes down to get to his house, but didn't bother to turn towards it. He was sort of worried about Mitsuba walking home alone after hearing about what had happened to him. Even if he was only five minutes away.
"Mitsuba... because you're only five minutes away from me, I'll walk to your place then just head back. If it's okay with you."
Mitsuba raised an eyebrow. "Uh? But... oh? Well, okay then?"
He pretty much understood that the context of the conversation they just had would make him do that. Although that wasn't his point at all, he still agreed because he didn't want to make him worried. They continued walking, and soon enough, they arrived at the apartment building.
"Well, I guess that's that? Thank you for walking me home."
"No problem!" Kou scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Maybe we can do it more often if you want."
Mitsuba really didn't want to waste Kou's time because he probably had other things to do. Besides, it's not like he cared anyway.
"Well, are you alwayyyss gonna waste your time to bring me to my porch, or is it just because I told you what happened to my hand?"
"What— no!! That’s not it at all!" The blonde angrily said. He shoved his hands into his pockets before letting out a loud huff. "I just like talking to you, okay? Sheesh…"
"Okay then, I’m fine with us walking together from now on," he said, letting out a small laugh at his gesture. "And I like talking to you as well... surprisingly."
This got Kou so excited. I mean, he finally got through to this guy! It seemed like he earned some of his trust now. He looked back at Mitsuba and smiled widely.
"Really?!"
"Yeah, but that’s only if you don’t try to kidnap me or something," he teased before getting out his keys and opening his door.
Kou’s face quickly turned into a shocked expression, and he went into defense mode. Though, he did like seeing this different version of Mitsuba. "What?! I’d never do that!"
"Sureeee, so you’re telling me that you walked me home just for me to get home safe? Because I doubt that you only wanted to see my house to make it easier the day you’ll kidnap me," he chuckled and smirked.
He backed away slightly and shook his hands in denial. "Nuh uh!! I’m not gonna do that! I already told you why I walked you home!"
He did let out a few laughs, though. He kinda got the hint that Mitsuba was joking.
Wait, was he?
"Alright, alright, I’m just kidding. Good night!" Mitsuba said before closing the door without letting him respond, but before Kou had time to leave, Mitsuba opened the door again.
"...Or am I?" he simply said, as a joke of course. He then closed the door, not letting him respond again.
"…Goodnight?" Kou just chuckled and made his way down the stairs of the apartment building. "Tch… That slimy bastard," he mumbled while walking down the street. He was proud of himself for getting Mitsuba to finally open up a little more. He hoped the same thing would happen tomorrow.
---------
The next morning, both of them wanted to get to school early.
As for Mitsuba, he smelled like vanilla because of the perfume he had used before getting to school. For some reason, he felt like he needed to look good and smell good, too. He wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. It was the first time that he didn’t bring his camera to school because he knew he had someone to sit with at lunch, and he didn’t think he’d have time to use it anyway. He made his way to school, and by surprise, he bumped his head on Kou’s chest while walking into class. He wasn’t looking, and he didn’t realize Kou was arriving at the same time. Luckily, before he fell back, he grabbed him.
"Woah there, Mitsuba! I know it’s early in the morning, but you’ve gotta watch where you’re going!" he chuckled.
"Ugh... right, sorry..." The other boy let out an embarrassed yet soft laugh. "What are you doing here so early anyway?"
Kou couldn’t think of an actual excuse for him being there at that time, so he made one up on the spot.
"I, uh… Woke up too early and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I figured I’d come to school because I had nothing else to do."
At that moment, he wanted to slap himself in the face.
"Wow, that’s the worst excuse I’ve ever heard, but sure...?" Mitsuba had a goofy smile on his face. We could say that being friends with him helped him to be confident in himself.
Haha… Whoops. My bad!" Kou smiled back at him while blushing just a little, just out of embarrassment. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was there early so he could see Mitsuba.
The pink-haired boy smirked at the other and put his hands on his hips. He could already see through Kou.
"What? You came early because you missed me that bad? Damn okay," he said, jokingly of course.
Tensing up and covering his now red face with his arm, Kou was already making it obvious at this point. Mitsuba was right.
"Wh- I- Not true!!"
This was all a big joke for him, and teasing Kou was quite fun. He liked it, so he kept going. "Uh huh, okay then. Your body language is giving it away, but you know, you do you. I ain’t no one to judge. After all, I’m flustered that you missed me that bad~"
Kou could feel the inside of his lip start to bleed, thanks to him biting it so much. He liked the teasing because it showed Mitsuba’s personality more, but he had no idea it came with a cost.
"Are you serious?!"
Mitsuba gave him one of his cute yet evil smiles. It proved that he knew what he was doing and he wouldn’t stop unless he was being forced to, which he wasn’t counting on.
"Pretty much?"
That smile made Kou want to explode. He tried to avert his eyes but kept looking back anyway. Something about Mitsuba made him feel weird, but he wasn’t what it was. The shift in his personality was unexpected, but he didn’t hate it.
"Look, I just wanted to see you. Kay? And why do you even get here so early in the morning anyway?"
That caught Sousuke off guard because the reason he was so early was also to see Kou, but he couldn’t admit that after just making fun of him for the same reasons. So his smirk dropped, and he just looked at him with a face that was hard to explain.
"What, did you also come here to see me?" The blonde laughed a little in a joking manner. There’s no way Mitsuba would ever do that. But he was. Obviously.
"Not a chance," Mitsuba sighed in disbelief, hoping he’d take it, then walked into the class. He didn’t want to be seen as someone who doesn’t win an argument.
"Wh- where are you going?! This isn’t over!"
Kou whipped himself around and tried to catch up to Mitsuba, only for him to trip over the leg of a desk. He ended up falling flat on his face.
The other boy looked down at him for a second before bursting out laughing, he couldn’t stop. He almost fell to the ground laughing too hard.
"Omg, I can’t breathe..."
After a good few minutes, he held out his hand to Kou, who was still on the floor.
"You good??"
Kou legitimately just laid there groaning the entire time Mitsuba was laughing at him. He did eventually take his hand and stood up, not even realizing that his nose was bleeding.
"M’fine…"
Catching his breath and looking at him, Mitsuba took a few seconds to realize that his nose was bleeding. His face went from a simple laugher to a mix of worry and laughter.
"Ooooh.. I think we should head to the bathroom to clean that nose of yours."
"Wait, what?" Kou touched the blood dripping from his nose before looking down at his now bloody fingers. "Oh… Yeah. We should go."
"Alright, come on, you idiot..."
Mitsuba gently grabbed his wrist and guided him to the bathroom. Even though he knew Kou could go himself without any help, he just felt like it, and there was nothing or no one to stop him. They walked through the hallways to the bathroom.
Kou didn’t expect Mitsuba to grab his wrist, due to him being too focused on not getting any blood on his clothes. He tried to keep up with him to the best of his ability, becoming a little woozy thanks to the blood loss. He stumbled a bit as the other boy opened one of the bathroom stalls.
"Sit," Mitsuba said, pointing at the toilet.
The blonde nodded and sat on the lid of the toilet, looking up at the other. He slowly blinked a few times as his vision started to blur.
"Hmm… So much for that smooth morning I hoped for…"
"Well next time look at where you’re going, dumbass! you could’ve cracked a tooth or something..." He huffed as he took a handkerchief out of his pocket and bent down a little in front of him to be able to get the blood off his face. He then slowly pinched his nose and tilted it back to stop the blood, all of that being extra gentle so as not to hurt him.
Kou’s blush reappeared during the entire duration that Mitsuba was close to his face. Even if he couldn’t see what was happening, the fact that they were in a bathroom stall together and that Mitsuba was HELPING him made him want to freak out.
"You’re acting like such a mom right now…" He chuckled, blinking slowly a few times before focusing back on him.
"Living with nothing my but a woman is what it does. Deal with it," he replied, with no deep meaning, just the truth. He kept pinching his nose, as gently as possible, making sure that the bleeding stopped. "Does it hurt? Your nose?"
The blonde shook his head. "Nah... at this point, I'm pretty numb."
"Are you feeling dizzy? You lost a bit of blood back there," he asked as he stopped pinching for a second to see if it was still bleeding, and it was, so he just pinched it again, slowly and gently. "And don’t move your head; the blood won’t stop if you keep shaking it around."
"Yeah, I’m still pretty dizzy. I’ll try not to move my head." He let out a soft laugh. "Y’know, you’re pretty good at this, considering how much of a photography geek you are."
"What does photography have to do with this?" He chuckled a bit, leaning his other hand on top of his forehead to see if he was hot. "Are you feeling good? Your head is burning up a little, you might have gotten a slight headache from hitting your face on the ground like that."
"Haha… yeah. My head is pounding right now. I hit the floor pretty hard." He winced and tried to put his hand on his head, only for Mitsuba to slap it away. "Hey, what was that for?"
"Relax and let me take care of it," the pink-haired boy said firmly.
Mitsuba isn’t the violent type, but he can’t help it when someone disrupts him while he’s doing something he’s so sure of. What has to be done needs to be done perfectly, so by him. That’s what he thinks and will always think. He lifted his hand back down and slightly grabbed Kou’s and put his hand on his nose for him to pinch it himself so he could get something.
"There, pinch it, but not too hard, and keep your head tilted back. I’ll go to the nurse's office to get a few things, She won’t be there anyway at this time."
"Right… Okay."
Kou wanted to nod but knew Mitsuba would get pissed at him for it so he just did what he was told. He sat there in the stall, listening to Mitsuba’s footsteps as he left the bathroom and sighed.
"This is the worst…" he mumbled.
...Is it really, though? He probably wouldn’t have known what to do without Mitsuba. And he had no idea it was this bad. He'd probably shove some tissues up his nose and call it a day if he had to do this himself.
Mitsuba went to the nurse’s office where, as he expected, she was absent. He knew he wasn’t allowed to because he wasn’t the nurse or in the company of the nurse, but he grabbed some acetaminophen anyway (Tylenol or whatever he found). He walked through the hallway, stopping by a machine to buy a water bottle, and then walked back to the bathroom stall. He went in front of Kou and put his hand back on his nose, indicating to Kou to let go.
Slowly taking his hand off his nose and blinking a few times, Kou still couldn’t see shit. But he knew to leave Mitsuba to whatever he planned on doing. He even tried to talk, but when he opened his mouth, he winced at the feeling of his head pounding. Mitsuba didn’t pinch his nose directly, instead, he waited to see if it was still bleeding, and to his surprise, it had stopped. He grabbed the handkerchief and cleaned off the excess blood off his face.
"Hey, so I went through the nurse's stuff and found some acetaminophen that might help with your head. I also bought a water bottle from one of the machines downstairs," he remarked, letting him tilt his head back into place before giving him the water bottle in one hand and the acetaminophen in the other.
Kou inhaled sharply when he tilted his head back into place. He stared at the water bottle and pills in his hands before looking up at Mitsuba.
"Thank you, Mitsuba… Honestly, if you left me alone, I’d just shove tissues up my nose. Then you’d probably see me collapse on the floor in the middle of class," he chuckled, still wincing at the slight pain from his head.
"That is why I did all of this. I think that’s just what friends do, no?" he asked genuinely, waiting for a response because it’s the kind of thing he doesn’t know since Kou’s his actual first friend, and he's never done that before
Kou quickly popped the pills into his mouth and drank some water before looking back up at Mitsuba.
"O-Oh, yeah!! Friends do things for friends all the time! It’s just.. You really went all out for me. You’re more of a BEST friend than a friend," he laughed softly and smiled at the boy in front of him.
to be continued...
Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Too Close
Chapter Text
Kou laughed softly and smiled at Mitsuba, who shrugged.
"Okay, now... do you wanna head back to class, or does your head still hurt? I don’t mind skipping a class and waiting till you're better, you know? It’s not like the teacher really cares anyway," he genuinely asked. He actually didn't mind taking care of Kou. For some reason, it made him happy to be the one helping him. He was proud of himself!
The blonde shook his head. "There’s no way in hell I’m going back to class… My head is still pounding, I probably wouldn’t be able to focus anyway…"
Kou rubbed his hand against his head. He thought it was really nice of Mitsuba to stay behind and wait for him to feel better. And… he was taking time out of his day to… take care of him.
"Do you want me to walk you back home? I don’t mind; your house isn’t that far, and I didn’t really get to see it..." Mitsuba would’ve wanted to go to class, but knowing that Kou wouldn’t be there, he no longer wanted to go.
The other boy nodded and looked up at him with a smile. "Yeah, I’d like that… Thank you, Mitsuba…"
Kou still felt really weak. He had nothing to prop his head on except his shoulder, which didn’t help much. Without realizing it, his upper body leaned forward, and his head landed on Mitsuba’s stomach. Mitsuba didn’t really react, he knew he just felt dizzy, which was normal because of the blood and everything. He tried pulling on him to get him up but was too hard since his whole body was leaning towards the ground and he wasn’t that muscular.
"Minamoto-kun, can you stand up?"
"Ah, sorry… I’ll try." Kou leaned back and held onto the walls of the stall to help lift himself. His legs were wobbly, and by the time he stood up, he was still holding onto the walls for dear life.
"Damn, this feels unreal, I’ve never seen this kind of thing happen in real life, I thought it only happened in movies," he joked a bit, while staying serious at the same time.
Kou chuckled awkwardly. "Haha, same… I mean, my nose has bled before but—"
Suddenly, Kou felt his legs turn to jelly, and he fell forward, catching himself on the stall door behind Mitsuba. He was pinning him there, not on purpose, of course, and their faces were only inches apart. His face turned a bright red, but he couldn’t let go of the door, or he’d legit collapse onto the floor. He quickly panicked and tried to move.
"O-Oh my god— I’m so sorry—"
Mitsuba didn’t move or speak at that moment. He just looked at Kou with a face that he couldn’t describe. His face was bright red, his pupils were as big as they could be, and he kept looking at the proximity of their faces. As for Kou, all he could do was stand there, not even being able to look away either.
"M-Mitsuba— I-I can’t move-"
The blonde had dropped his water bottle, and it started leaking onto the bathroom floor below them. This made their situation even worse. The floor got slippery, and Kou couldn’t even keep himself up. When he tried to move, he fell right on top of Mitsuba as the stall door flew open.
Mitsuba's face couldn’t get any redder. He knew nobody would come in since the bell rang, and nobody was allowed in the halls during class, so it was just the two of them, and one of them was unable to move correctly. He wasn’t embarrassed at this point, he was mortified. What could he even do in this situation? His friend, who’s now right on top of him, and he didn’t have the control over this situation, so everything was so wrong. He needed to be back in control. He wanted to help his friend, but now both of them were just looking at each other with tomato-like faces.
"AHHH!! I’M SORRY, I’M SO SO SORRY!!" The blonde panicked.
Kou bit his bottom lip even harder and did his best to try and get off of his friend. He wanted to die so badly. Why would the world go against him like this?! After a few attempts at trying to move, he eventually flopped onto the wet floor next to Mitsuba and covered his face with both of his hands. He kept repeating ‘sorry’ under his breath.
Mitsuba took a few breaths, his face still red and hard to read. He seemed confused and embarrassed at the same time. "It's okay, just... gravity."
"Gravity, yes… and GRAVITY IS THE WORST THING TO EVER EXIST!" Kou yelled out of frustration, making his headache catch up with him again. He put his hands on his forehead, wishing the pain would just magically go away.
"Quit yelling, you’ll make it worse..." He said with a sigh.
Kou just lay there, hating himself for everything. He didn’t care about his messed up clothes or the wet floor. All he did was groan, sob, and hold onto his head like a child.
"Hey hey, don’t cry..?" Mitsuba frowned. He didn’t know how to make someone feel better, especially in this kind of situation, so he just kneeled his way to Kou and hugged him without any hesitation. "Please don’t cry over this..."
Kou’s eyes went wide at the sudden touch, and he glanced down at Mitsuba. His face turned a bright red once again, but he tried to hide it by looking away.
"I’m sorry, I just… I feel bad that you had to deal with this shit… You probably would have been better off going back to class…" He mumbled, hesitant at first, before wrapping one of his arms around Mitsuba while the other stayed on his forehead.
"I’m not going there if you’re not there with me. class isn’t fun at all if you’re not there..."He admitted. He let out the truth with no hesitation because why not at this point?
Kou shut his mouth slowly and stared at him in disbelief. He wanted to be in class with him…?
"...Really?"
Mitsuba sighed and looked away, knowing he would lose all his credibility by saying this.
"Yeah, really... I don’t have anyone but you."
Kou looked at him in disbelief. "No way… so all that stuff you said wasn’t true? I-I mean, it's not like it’s a bad thing… I’m not mad or anything. I understand…"
Kou scratched the back of his neck before wrapping his other arm around him, embracing him in a hug.
"If I’m the only person you have, then… I promise to stay by your side, Mitsuba!"
As Mitsuba heard him say that, his eyes couldn’t help but sprinkle, literally. He felt so warm inside he could die. He was never told anything like that, and it really flustered him.
"F-Fine... then that means you’re stuck with me!" He huffed, pushing him away. Then, He got up and offered Kou his hand. "We should probably get to your house before someone finds us skipping class in the bathroom..."
He grabbed Mitsuba’s hand and pulled himself up. He did wobble a bit, but eventually, he balanced himself. "True. Who knows when someone will walk in and see us."
"Since class isn’t finished yet, what do you think we should do about our stuff that we left in the classroom?" He asked, getting a few paper towels to clean the water on the floor with.
"Hmm… Good question. We can sneak in after class!! Wait, no…" Kou scratched his chin and put a hand on his hip. He smirked when he got an idea. "Ah, I know!! I’ll text Satou and Yokoo and ask them to bring our stuff in here so nobody else sees us!!"
"Aren’t they gonna get busted by using their phones?" he asked, not wanting to get the other two in trouble. "Plus.. I don’t want to seem like a bad influence on you, I’m sure you’re not the “skipping class” type of guy, are you? Like a goodie two shoes..?"
"They pull their phones out in class all the time, just like everyone else. Half of the time, the teacher doesn’t even notice." Kou pulled out his phone and started to type in a sentence before glancing back at Mitsuba. He looked at him with a little glare. "By the way, I am NOT a goodie two shoes."
"I mean, I’m pretty sure you are..? You give me that impression, you knowwww~" The pink-haired boy teased.
Kou pouted and huffed. "I’ll have you know I skipped class ONE time before this happened!! So that definitely proves I’m not a goodie two shoes!"
"One time? Damn what a bad boy," Mitsuba snickered. He loved to tease him.
"Oh yeah, I’m such a bad boy. Nobody’s badder than me!" Kou stood there proudly, not even realizing that Mitsuba was joking. That’s when Yokoo and Satou walked into the bathroom with Kou and Mitsuba’s bags in their hands.
Satou handed their bags to them. "Hey, guys. Here are your bags. What in the world have you been doing all morning?"
"Oh, that’s a good question," Mitsuba said, looking over at Kou for him to answer.
Kou scratched the back of his neck and bit his lip nervously.
"…I tripped and fell on my face. And my nose started to bleed really badly. So Mitsuba helped me."
Yokoo and Satou looked at each other before bursting out laughing.
"Haha!! Are you kidding?! Kou, you have to start watching where you’re going! You ran into a wall last week!" Yokoo cackled.
The blonde blushed out of pure embarrassment and looked down at the floor. It seemed like luck was never on his side because he always hurt himself somehow by being so clumsy.
"Okay, okay, go back to class before the teacher gets suspicious. We’re heading home anyway," Mitsuba stated, trying to make it quick. He didn’t like the fact that the other two made fun of him; it was his job, but he didn’t say anything because he knew that they were his friends and that they’d been there before him.
"Fine, fine, we’ll see you guys later!" Yokoo snickered before he walked out of the bathroom with Satou while Kou waved at them.*
"Thanks for getting our bags, guys!" His friends were already out of the bathroom before they could hear him, and he sighed. "Sorry about that, Mitsuba… I promise they’re nice, and you know that, it’s just… I am pretty clumsy."
"I am in no place to say anything. Let’s just get going," he said, gently grabbing his wrist and pulling him as he walked to the hall.
Kou followed behind him, looking around nervously. He hoped that no one would notice or see them. And what’s worse is that if his brother saw him, he’d be pissed.
As they finally arrived at the entrance, he continued pulling him without saying anything, which made it pretty obvious that he was either overthinking or just fed up. They left the school building and started walking home.
Kou bit his lip. The silence between them was killing him, so he tried to make some conversation. "H- Hey, uh, Mitsuba?"
"What?" The pink-haired boy replied firmly, continuing to walk without even taking the time to look at him while still pulling his arm.
"I-I know I already said this, but… Thanks again for helping me." Kou gulped nervously. He could tell Mitsuba was somewhat annoyed with him, which he felt guilty about. Everything would have gone smoothly if he hadn’t fallen, but of course, he did, anyway.
Mitsuba was confused and pissed at himself for what had happened in the bathroom. There was something he didn’t quite understand, though. He liked the proximity they had, but for some reason, it was troubling him, and he couldn’t keep it out of his mind. And why did it make him feel so warm inside? It was all too confusing for him, he had never felt anything like this. His face kept a reddish tint. As they arrived close to the Minamoto residence, Mitsuba no longer knew where to go or to stop; he didn’t know where Kou lived exactly. He looked around in an attempt to go the right way.
Kou pulled Mitsuba to a stop and pointed down one of the streets. "My house is that way."
Mitsuba looked at him for a second, then looked at the street.
"Oh, right," he said before pulling him to the street he pointed at.
"It’s okay, you’ve never been to my house before so…" Kou shrugged. When they made it to his house, he dug through his pockets to find his keys and stuck them in the door. Kou looked back at Mitsuba as he opened the door.
"Hey, uh… Would you possibly want to stay for a while, Mitsuba?"
Mitsuba looked at him for a few seconds, his face slightly turning red, and thought for a moment.
"Is this you trying to kidnap me?"
Kou whipped his head around to glare at him. He knew Mitsuba was gonna say something like that. "What?! No!! I’m just offering! Do you even have anywhere to go besides your place?"
"No..?" Sousuke replied, knowing Kou would react this way, which made him snicker a bit. "What, would you miss me that bad if I had somewhere else to go? I mean, who would take care of goody two-shoes if I wasn’t there, huh?" he teased.
Kou pouted and turned his head back around to hide the blush on his face. "Well, I’d be a bad friend if I didn’t do something for you after you took care of my bloody nose. You even skipped class to help me!"
"Oh honey, skipping class is nothing, but you did make us fall into a puddle of water in the bathroom, water that I BOUGHT. But it’s fine, anytime," Mitsuba teased. He knew the “honey” was too much, but he liked making fun of him and it was his way to hide the fact that he was actually very embarrassed at that moment.
Kou just chuckled and took a step into his house, looking back at Mitsuba with a smile. "Haha, yeah… I’m still sorry about that. I can make it up to you, though! Wanna stay for dinner?" He stood proudly in the doorway like an idiot and looked down at his friend with a smirk. "Not to praise myself or anything, but I am a pretty good cook."
"Hmm, is that so? Hey, say, do you know how to make flan?" His eyes were already showing that he’d definitely be interested, but if he said yes, he’d walk into that house with no hesitation. So, he waited for an answer.
"Oh, yeah!! I know how to make flan!" Kou hung his keys up on the wall and hoped this would convince Mitsuba to come in.
Mitsuba didn’t do anything, he just walked in with a big goofy smile on his face. He took his shoes off right after coming in, looking around.
"Okay, I think you can kidnap me then." The fact that he’d coto in a stranger's house just for flan, but instead it’s his friend's house.
Kou just shook his head and chuckled, closing the door behind him. He slipped off his shoes, putting them next to Mitsuba’s. "Once again, I’m not kidnapping you. You can make yourself at home!"
"Oh, I sure will. Are you gonna make me flan? Because if you do, I can guarantee that you have a new roommate," he asked with a smirk. The fact that he was half-joking was a bit terrifying. What he would do for flan..
"Woah, I know I said that I will, be patient!" Kou threw his bag on the floor and walked into the kitchen, looking at Mitsuba from afar. "I have siblings who need to eat, too!"
"And are they here right now?" Mitsuba asked, obvious of the answer, he just wanted him to know that he was his priority right now, his ONLY priority
Kou huffed and turned back around. "Fine, fine. I’ll make the sassy princess some flan." Then he mumbled to himself, quiet enough for Mitsuba not to hear. Or he assumed. "I don’t think I’d ever want to have a roommate like you…"
"Oh rudeee..." The pink boy whined, sitting down on a chair. "I’m sure you’d be delighted to have a roommate like me! Who knows what type of mess you’ll get yourself into? Who’s gonna put a band-aid on your head the next time you fall, huh??"
Kou stopped what he was doing and shot a glare at Mitsuba. "Y’know, maybe I shouldn’t make flan for you…"
"UH, hey, I want flan! You owe me a dollar from that water bottleeee!" Mitsuba whined, laying his head on the table. "You didn’t even drink half of itttt..."
"I owe you nothing, but I guess I’ll pay you back with flan," Kou huffed, going back to making Mitsuba’s precious flan. "Also, it’s not my fault! I dropped it because I was trying to keep myself up! You know that damn well!"
"Still, I paid for it!" Mitsuba continued whining. "Who knows what else I could’ve had bought with that dollar!"
Kou tried to ignore his whining. "You’re acting like a child, Mitsuba. It was a dollar. You can’t even get much with a dollar," he smirked to himself. "Also, it shows how much you like me, considering you spent money on a water bottle."
"I do not! You were sick; I pitied you..." he grumbled. Of course it was all a lie but he didn’t say that. He kept whining and acting like a child just to piss him off more. "My dollarrrrr..."
Kou let out a frustrated huff and walked over to Mitsuba with a plate of flan. He looked down at him with an intense glare.
"Here you go, ya big baby. Now zip it and stop whining."
Mitsuba smiled at the flan and looked at him with a “I’m innocent” face just to piss him off, he then proceeded to eat it like it was the last meal he’d ever have. Kou just blushed a little and looked away from him. He thought Mitsuba looked like a puppy. It was cute. But he didn’t want to admit it and just sat next to him on the couch.
"Happy now, ya spoiled brat?"
"I’m no such thing, I asked you nicely ~" Sousuke teased as he finished his flan, giving him the plate. "Thank you, lame traffic safety earring boy!"
Kou squinted at him. "What did you just call me? Lame traffic safety earring boy?"
"Yes, that’s what I said," the other boy teased, getting on his knees on the couch so he can kneel to him and poke him, just to piss him off even more.
"Why you little…" Kou had a disgusted and angry expression on his face. Mostly angry. Out of pure impulse, he pushed Mitsuba down onto the couch. "Don’t make me kick your sorry ass out of my house."
He meant what he said as a joke because he genuinely wanted him to stay. He towered over him, trying to look intimidating to get him to stop teasing. He didn’t even realize he was pinning him against the couch, he was honestly just trying to get Mitsuba to shut up.
Mitsuba's eyes were wide open and his mouth as well. He didn’t really know how to react. But he figured that’s what friends do, right? Mess around? He didn’t wipe that smile off his face, but inside, he was boiling up. His face turning red was a good sign, and all he could do was to keep his cool and try to convince him with his facial expression that being pinned down didn’t affect him at all. He wanted to tease him even more, but he didn’t know what to say, so he just looked at him with his overconfident expression and his red face.
"Haha!! What? You don’t have any more remarks to make?"
Kou was just doing this to mess with Mitsuba, he even had a smirk on his face now that he got him to shut up. However, he noticed how red his face was and realized what he was doing. His face immediately turned the same color, and he released his grip on Mitsuba’s wrist, which caused him to get off-balance. He flopped on the floor and didn’t even move. He sat there in silence and embarrassment.
Sousuke took a big breath, he was on another level of embarrassment. He didn’t know what to do or how to react. He looked at him with big unintentional pleading eyes.
Kou’s eye twitched, and he looked back up at Mitsuba. He had never felt himself heat up so fast before. What the hell was wrong with him?
"...What?"
"What was that...?" The pink boy whined; he couldn’t keep up the act anymore, and his embarrassment took him over too fast.
Kou rubbed his still red face and sighed. How embarrassing.
"I don’t knowwww… I was trying to get you to stop messing with me…"
By pinning me down on a couch? V-Very questionable... And p-pervy too, pervert!!" Mitsuba whined again. He couldn’t help but stutter a few times, something he only does when he’s nervous and embarrassed, and he pretty much was.
"Look, I’m sorry!! I didn’t mean it in the way!" Kou completely covered his face and groaned. There was that feeling again. He wanted to die.
The other boy pulled his legs close to him, into a ball position. He didn’t say anything, he wasn’t able to say anything. His eyes are trying to look at something that isn’t Kou, but that is impossible.
Kou lifted himself and uncovered his face, refusing to look back at Mitsuba.
"I’m… Gonna start on dinner. Yell if you need me."
Kou really hoped what had just now wouldn’t scare Mitsuba away. He genuinely didn’t want him to leave and didn’t mean to sound like he was mad. He was just embarrassed. He’ll get over it.
As he left the living room for the kitchen, Mitsuba's heart shrank; he didn’t understand what was going on. Why was his heart beating so fast? He couldn’t be falling in love with that guy, no way. He could feel his heart pounding fast. He knew he probably had fucked up everything. But at this point, he didn’t care anymore. If he had fallen for him, he had to keep it discrete, he didn’t want Kou to know that he would ever like him. Why was this happening to him?
Kou’s heart was beating a mile a minute. He felt warm. He just made friends with this kid and he was already feeling weird around him. Did he like him? There’s no way… Maybe he did? Kou slammed his fist on the counter and put his face in his hands as he thought to himself...
'At this point, he’s never gonna want to hang out with me again…'
Mitsuba wasn’t able to stay still on the couch, so he decided to go to the kitchen to join Kou. He walked there, then stopped right behind him and stayed there; he just wanted to be in his company.
"Are you okay Minamoto Kun...?"
Kou jumped and looked at Mitsuba with an awkward smile. "Yeah, sorry… My headache is still bothering me, that’s all…"
Mitsuba approached him, but as he did, Kou stepped back so his back ended up onto the counter, so he was very close. All of that for him to touch his forehead with the back of his hand. He didn’t really mind because he didn’t realize how close they were and the position they were in.
Kou grabbed the edge of the counter, and he could feel all the blood rush to his face. He was completely red, and his heart was beating so ungodly fast.
"W-What? What’s wrong, Mitsuba?"
The pink-haired boy looked glued to him because of how close he was; both of their stomachs were touching, but he wasn’t doing it on purpose, he just wanted to get his temperature.
"Do you feel okay Minamoto-Kun? Your head is burning up..."
Kou squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt not to look at Mitsuba’s face. He looked so cute, especially when he was worried about him. The fact that he was so close to him and their stomachs were touching made him feel like he was gonna have a heart attack.
"I-I’m… F-Fine…" he stuttered.
Mitsuba, being as clueless as ever, didn’t stop; there was something wrong, and he couldn’t get his finger on it. Little did he know that he was the one causing it.
"…Hmm, are you sure?"
The blonde nodded quickly. "Y-Yes…"
His grip on the edge of the counter tightened, and he bit his lip so hard to the point where it started bleeding.
"Hmm... okay..." Mitsuba replied, clearly suspicious, putting his hand off of his forehead but keeping the same position. His hands were basically on the same counter that Kou was leaning on, except that Kou couldn’t move since Mitsuba was pinning him onto the counter. Looking right through his eyes, trying to find what could be wrong. Their faces weren’t in a socially acceptable distance at that moment.
Kou tried to look at anything else but Mitsuba’s face. He literally couldn’t move. He was being pinned to the counter, and from what he could tell, Mitsuba didn’t even realize what he was doing. He tried to shift his body a little bit but his leg ended up slipping in between his friend’s. This was so embarrassing.
It took a moment for Mitsuba to realize what Kou had just done. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if he wasn’t that close, but right now, let’s say they were close as hell. He looked down at the leg, then at Kou. His face expressed a very obvious expression of confusion. All he wanted was to help, but he didn’t realize that he could’ve done it another way. And still now, he was as clueless as ever.
"O-Oh my god… I-I’m sorry…" Kou wanted to cover his mouth, but Mitsuba’s hands were on top of his. He felt like he was gonna pass out. He gave up on trying to move.
At some point, Mitsuba started to understand his body language. He didn’t realize that he was uncomfortable at first; he thought he was just sick, but then he understood. For some reason, something was making him incapable of moving, not physically, but mentally. He didn’t know what exactly. But all he could do was look at him with an unclear expression. If having heart-shaped pupils was a thing, he’d have them. But the thing is, he didn’t move forward or backwards either; he just looked at him without moving at all.
Kou’s eye twitched again as he watched Mitsuba just standing, staring blankly at him. "M-Mitsuba— I-I have to-"
As much as Kou didn’t want to move, he had to get back to cooking. Where the hell were his siblings? Why was this even happening? And why did he kind of like it?
As soon as the blonde spoke, Mitsuba stepped back. He had no idea of what had just happened, how could that have happened... He was confused. But when he saw Kou’s face, which showed a good sign of embarrassment and discomfort. His face turned pale. The hit was all because of him, and now he was aware of it. Kou would never talk with him again.. That’s what he thought at that moment. He was starting to get worried, and all his overthinking took over his mind. He looked down at the floor and silently walked back to the living room.
Kou could see how upset he was when he backed away and felt bad. Kou really hoped that it wouldn’t damage their relationship. As soon as he stood up to go back to cooking, his phone buzzed.
"Ah, looks like Teru-Nii and Tiara are coming home late tonight…" He made sure to speak out loud after reading the text message so Mitsuba could hear.
As Mitsuba sat on the couch, he heard Kou saying the message out loud. And for some reason, it relieved him. He let out a sigh of relief and made himself comfortable on the couch.
"Well, that’s a relief… Now I won’t have to listen to my brother scold me for not being in class…" He laughed to himself, wiping some sweat off his forehead. He was honestly worried about his siblings walking in on him pinning down Mitsuba or Mitsuba pinning him to the counter. He glanced over at his “friend” from the kitchen.
"Mitsuba, if you want, you can use the TV. Dinner will be ready soon, I promise!"
"Mkay!" The pink-haired boy replied, grabbing the remote and putting on some random TV show and watching it in the meantime.
Kou sighed and went back to cooking, eventually finishing and bringing a plate of food over to Mitsuba.
"Here ya go, flan boy."
"Don’t call me that... unless you are to make me some more later...?" Mitsuba jokingly said, just trying to attempt having some more free flan later. He sat correctly and looked at the food, it looked delicious. When he took a bite, his eyes lit up right away.
"Wow, so you really can cook..."
Kou stood there proudly before sitting down next to Mitsuba. "Hell yeah, I can cook! You couldn’t tell from the flan I made you earlier?"
"Yeah, it wasn’t THAT bad..." The other boy teased him because he loved it.
Kou knew Mitsuba was joking, but he gasped like he was offended.
"Are you kidding? I’m pretty sure what you meant to say was it was just THAT good!"
"Uh-huh, don’t flatter yourself," Mitsuba teased again, taking a bite and immediately pulling one of the best facial expressions he ever could. You could tell that he loved it.
"Okay, my god... how are you so good at cooking?" he was at a loss for words, literally.
"I taught myself how to cook at a young age… And I had help from my mom," Kou sighed and slouched against the couch lazily. He looked over at Mitsuba with a smirk.*
"I’m just a master at my craft."
Mitsuba devoured his food. Proof of how good it was. "God, that was good. Really, I don’t know how you could have such talent for cooking.. I mean. Wait, no, I see it. I was right, you’re a goody two shoes after all!"
Kou shot a glare at him. He gave Mitsuba a gentle bonk on his head. "I told you, I’m not!! I just like to cook!"
"Oww!" It didn’t really hurt, but whining at him was Mitsuba's specialty. He set the plate on the table in front of the couch and kneeled to him.
"Why are you so rude, Minamoto-Kunnn...?" He pouted, with pleading eyes.
Kou just pouted and crossed his arms, looking away from Mitsuba. "Don’t give me those puppy eyes!! You’re the one always teasing me!"
"Because that’s my only personality trait; you can’t change it!" The pink boy continued with his pleading eyes, making sure to piss him off even more.
Kou put his hand in front of Mitsuba’s face in an attempt to cover it. "Okay, well, I bet that’s not completely true!"
"Mina-pfff..." Mitsuba was interrupted by Kou’s hand, he attempted to put it away from his face while whining, like always
Kou chuckled to himself and kept his hand in front of his face. "All you do is whine! Even though I made you flan and dinner! Sheesh…"
"Hmphh- I do not!" Mitsuba said, pushing his hand away. "You goody two shoes lame ass earring boy should try and find some other way to call me, or else!"
Kou growled and glared at Mitsuba again. "If you don’t stop making fun of me, I won’t make you more flan!"
"Nuh-uh, you won’t!" Mitsuba became defensive, like always.
"My house, my rules!" The blonde pushed Mitsuba, so he fell back against the couch. He wasn’t pinning him there, he just pushed him for shits and giggles.*
"Better say you’re sorry, or you’re not getting that precious flan of yours."
"But I’m not sorry!" The pink boy whined. Getting himself back in place. "You should be sorry!"
Kou leaned in close to Mitsuba’s face and glared at him intensely. "And what should I be sorry about, exactly?"
Kou’s face was so serious, and for some reason, it made Mitsuba really embarrassed. His face turned red and he kept looking at him with his big wide open eyes. Let’s say he was in love.
Kou excitedly put his fist in the air to cheer for himself and fell back against the couch, laughing. "Haha! You didn’t have a comeback; I won!"
"That’s totally cheating!" Mitsuba whined as he did what he never thought of doing; he pinned him down and looked at him deeply in the eyes.
The blonde stared back at him with wide eyes. His face quickly turned completely red.
"O-Okay!! Okay!! I take it back!"
"Do you really? Say it again," Mitsuba demanded, his face showing him that he wasn’t so serious. For him, it was all a big game that he wanted to win.
Kou nodded and squeezed his eyes shut. Mitsuba was literally testing his sanity right now. He couldn’t even hide his face right now. "Yes! I take it back!"
"One last time???"The boy on top of him demanded, again, at this point he was really trying to piss him off.
Kou eventually just opened his eyes and glared at him. "Why the hell do you want me to say it so bad anyway?"
"Say it!" Mitsuba demanded AGAIN, with a half-satisfied look on his face
"Nope," Kou smirked up at him, obviously playing hard to get.
"Uh, yes you will.. Say it!" Sousuke's smile dropped; he miserably failed, but he still tried. After all, he was the one on top of him at the moment.
Kou proceeded to push Mitsuba off of him with his foot, making his friend fall back against the couch as he laughed. "Yeah, not happening."
"Hey! Don’t use your foot on me!" The other boy crossed his arms in disappointment. "You’re no fun..." He said, as his face changed into a very obvious sulking expression.
Smirking again, Kou looked down at him. "Well, you should have thought about trapping my legs before pinning me down."
"Whatever..." Mitsuba sulked. He couldn’t accept the fact that he didn’t win this time, so the best thing he thought of doing was to look away and sulk. "You suck anyway..."
Kou huffed and shook his head.
"You’re so sensitive…"
After a good amount of bickering back and forth, Kou finally took a glance at his phone to see the time. It read 6:25 pm.
"Hm... It’s 6:25. Do you wanna go back home?" The blonde looked at the other and tilted his head slightly.
"I dunno, my mom ain’t gonna be home till tomorrow morning. Can I stay a little longer...?" he replied, not wanting to invade his space at all. He just wanted to be around someone.
Kou looked at Mitsuba with a smile. "Wanna sleep over?"
"S-sleepover? Like, me sleeping here??.." Mitsuba asked.
Kou nodded excitedly. "Yeah!! It would suck if you got home to nobody. So, if you want, you can sleep over tonight!"
"What, you have a spare room?" The pink boy raised an eyebrow, not remembering seeing a spare in the house.
"Uhm… no. But…" The blonde scratched the back of his neck nervously. "You can sleep in my room if you want."
That hit Mitsuba straight in the heart, but not in a bad way. He turned red at the idea of them sharing the same room, but he still had to be sure of one thing.
"Oh, well, you must have a spare futon, right..? In your room."
Kou had to think for a second before answering, trying to remember if he had one. "Oh, yeah! I do, don’t worry!"
"Ah, great..." Mitsuba mumbled.
It was all great, but there was one thing troubling him. He saw the weather on the news as he got prepared for school in the morning, and it was announcing a storm in the night. One fact about him is that he’s scared of thunderstorms; he could cry about it, literally.
Kou got up from the couch when he heard the door open. Teru and Tiara were finally home, and he introduced Mitsuba to them. Tiara seemed to really like Mitsuba, but Teru was a little suspicious. He let it slide, though, and was okay with him sleeping over. Kou cheered excitedly and hugged Mitsuba without hesitation.
"Hooray! Thanks, Teru-Nii!!"
"Of course," Teru replied.
Mitsuba was acting polite compared to a few minutes ago when they weren’t there. He was happy to meet Tiara, but Teru was a bit scary. Well, that’s what he thought.
Tiara really liked Mitsuba and constantly clung to him, showing off all her different toys and drawings to him. Kou thought this was so sweet and watched as they interacted with each other. At one point, she asked Kou if Mitsuba was his boyfriend. He froze, and his face turned red.
"H-He’s not my boyfriend, Tiara!!" Kou huffed.
Mitsuba’s face turned red, too, but he was better at hiding it. "Oh no, we are classmates and friends, but that’s it." He responded to the young one with a shy and quiet voice
"Y-Yeah, we’re friends! That’s all!"
Kou was awful at defending himself and hiding his embarrassment. Tiara just giggled and focused her attention back on Mitsuba, making him sigh in relief.
Mitsuba was showing real interest in what Tiara was showing him. After all, he never had the chance to have any siblings, so he liked her. After a few minutes of her showing him her things, he looked at Kou. He didn’t want to disappoint her, but he wanted to go into Kou’s room and get changed as well.
As Mitsuba stopped focusing on Tiara, she fell asleep in his lap after a few minutes. Kou was just sitting there, tiredly staring at the TV, not noticing Mitsuba.
‘Oi, Minamoto..’ he whispered, desperately trying to get his attention back on him.
"Ohhhh… Don’t worry, I’ll get her." Kou leaned over and gently scooped up his sister from Mitsuba’s lap. He smiled and whispered,
"She seems to really like you, Mitsuba."
"You think so.?" he replied as his expression changed from questioning to relief. He was glad to make a good impression with his family.
Kou nodded and slowly stood up. "You couldn’t tell? I’ve never seen her so happy about talking to someone before. Other than me and my brother, of course." he pushed some hair out of her face before looking down at Mitsuba.
"I’m gonna put her to bed. I’ll show you where my room is so you can get changed or whatever. Follow me!"
"Uh, the thing is, I didn’t bring any clothes...?" Mitsuba murmured, obviously because he wasn’t expecting to come here in the first place.
Kou squinted and then realized what he had just said. He felt stupid. "Oh, yeah… Well, you can borrow some PJs from me if you want."
"Oh, right. you sure you’re okay with that?" The pink boy asked, considering he had never experienced something like that. He never had tothehance to borrow friends' clothes or anything of the sort.
Kou nodded and started to walk down the hall, with Mitsuba following behind him. "Sure, just know they might be a little big."
Kou pointed at a closed door. "That’s my room! The PJs should be in the very top drawer of my dresser. I’ll be back soon."
"Oh? Okay, thanks."
'Might be a little taller uh..? I’m not that shorter than you.. you just have more... muscles than me.'
He thought, keeping it to himself as he went into the room. He went through Kou’s clothes just to find an oversized shirt and a pair of shorts. He put the clothes on to,en realize how big it actually was, probably because it was already oversized for Kou, so imagine for him.
Kou walked into the room with a loud yawn and chuckled when he saw the other boy.
"That’s uh… Big on you. Wow."
"Bet it’s oversized for you as well?" Mitsuba huffed, yawning in return
"Yeahhhh, it is. But it looks bigger on you… Ugh, I’m taking these damn school clothes off…" Kou grumbled as he ripped off his tie and started to take his shirt off, not even realizing Mitsuba was in his room until he looked over at him.
"Oh.. Uh… Shit. I kinda forgot that you were there."
Mitsuba looked away as soon as he did so; his face was red, but he didn’t look once.
"It’s fine."
"Just… don’t look, okay?"
The blonde quickly changed into his PJs, which consisted of another oversized shirt and some pajama pants.*
"Alright, you can look now!"
Mitsuba turned his head and looked him up and down. "Oh, wow, didn’t expect you to actually wear oversized stuff."
"It’s more comfortable than wearing regular pajamas, in my opinion."
Kou peeked out of his window before walking to his closet to look for his extra futon. "Looks like it’s raining pretty hard outside. It’s a good thing we got back before then!"
"Uh-huh..." Mitsuba murmured, a bit nervous about that, considering his dislike for storms. "I’m getting a bit tired..."
Kou set up the futon next to his own and smiled up at Mitsuba. "Better make yourself comfortable, then."
"Yeah, I will, thanks by the way..." The pink boy said before quickly getting comfortable, hoping that there wouldn’t be any thunder tonight.
"Anytime, Mitsuba," Kou sighed, crawling into his futon and shuffling around to get comfortable.
As the time passed and both of them started to fall asleep, a loud noise could be heard from outside, a familiar sound that always made Sousuke uneasy. It made him jump in surprise, and it didn’t take long for him to start panicking. He couldn’t help but tear up, but he didn’t want to wake Kou up. He tried staying silent, but he ended up sobbing when a very loud thunderbolt hit. He sat down and sobbed, the most silently possible, although it was impossible for Kou not to hear considering oow close their futon were. His eyes were shut, and he couldn’t stop crying.
Kou groaned softly when hearing the sobs and blinked a few times, trying to get the sleep out of his eyes. He rubbed them and looked up at Mitsuba with wide eyes.
"Mitsuba…?"
The other boy turned the other way and tried not to make a sound. He couldn’t help it, but it scared him so bad. And there goes another one, which made him jump again. He buried his face in his hands and brought his legs closer as he sobbed.
Kou sat up and reached for Mitsuba, putting his hand on his shoulder.
"H-Hey… It’s okay, Mitsuba! I’m here!! The thunder isn’t gonna hurt you…"
Mitsuba didn’t listen; what was troubling him was the sound, and there was nothing to do about it. He continued sobbing silently, hugging himself tightly.
Kou was genuinely concerned about him. He had no idea what to say to get him to calm down, so he did the only thing that he could think of that might comfort him. He scooted over to his friend and wrapped his arms around him.
"It’s okay, Mitsuba…" he whispered.
At the moment, Sousuke didn’t mind it. He wrapped his arm around him as well, sobbing at the sound of thunder outside, burying his face into Kou's chest.
Kou sighed and rubbed his back, whispering a bunch of ‘it’s okay’s’ under the breath. He kinda liked sitting like this… Mitsuba was.. Warm. He didn’t blush out of embarrassment for once and just sat there, wanting to actually help him.
At this point, Mitsuba's hands were gripping tightly on the back of the blonde's shirt. He wasn’t planning on letting go any time soon, and he continued sobbing in silence. Then there was another one that made him jump onto Kou, literally.
Kou fell back onto his futon and groaned, but he still kept his arms around Mitsuba. He had no idea he was so scared of storms, but that didn’t matter right now because he was there to help him. Kou continued to rub his back slowly.
Sousuke kept sniffing and sobbing but eventually stopped. Exhaustion took the best of him, and he finally fell asleep. He didn’t care that he was on Kou right now; he was calm and asleep. Tears kept coming, but he wasn’t awake anymore.
Kou sighed and pulled Mitsuba close to him. He tried to wipe away the tears going down his cheeks but eventually just stopped. His heart started beating fast, seeing how adorable Mitsuba looked while asleep. He was so in love at this point, he couldn’t hide it. He wanted to kiss Mitsuba’s head but instead decided to run his fingers through his hair. He eventually fell asleep after a bit with a smile on his face.
Mitsuba snuggled into him and snored slightly, he was comfortable and peaceful, something very unusual for him. He didn’t let go of his grip.
Those two definitely didn’t let go of each other for the rest of the night.
To be continued...
Chapter 5: Chapter 5 - Sleepover
Chapter Text
The following day, the boys were still curled up together without a care in the world. Kou was the first to wake up, blinking a few times before realizing that Mitsuba was still clinging to him.
"Ah..." He looked down at the other in surprise.
Mitsuba didn't care, mostly because he wasn't aware of how close the two were. He was comfortable, and that's all that matters to him. He slightly snored, not letting go of that grip at all. Kou sighed and smiled, genuinely not wanting to move either. He lovingly ran his fingers through Mitsuba's hair, hoping he wouldn't wake up.
The pink boy woke up at some point, letting go of the grip. As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw Kou. He got closer and looked over him with his eyes half open. Their faces were close. Mitsuba wanted to be sure he was honest, it all seemed like a dream for him, so he gently put his hand on his cheek.
"Hmm..." He yawned slightly. It was clear that he was half asleep.
Kou’s eyes went wide and he tried not to move. He quickly pulled his hands away from Mitsuba.
His mind wandered a bit, 'His hand is so soft… and warm…'
He was so tempted to put his hand on top of Mitsuba’s, but he tried not to. "Good morning, Mitsuba…"
When he realized he was.. real, he just rolled off him. His face was red, but still in a calm expression.
"Morning..."
Kou just chuckled and sat up, smirking down at him. "You slept like a baby last night, Mitsuba."
"Shut up..." The other mumbled, sitting up as well. "Sorry, by the way."
The blonde stretched and looked at him with a confused expression.
"What are you sorry about?"
"Yesterday..?" Mitsuba looked at him with a sorry expression
Kou just smiled and shrugged. "It’s fine, don’t worry about it. It’s in the past. If anything, it just made the day more fun."
"Me crying..?" Mitsuba looked at him with a “really?” kind of expression.
Kou shot him a glare. "No, not you crying! Everything else!"
"Oh, right..." The pink boy stretched and yawned. "I wouldn’t mind sleeping a few more hours..."
Kou stood up and yawned also.
"Well, imagine if you were still asleep now. I wouldn’t be able to move because you’d still be on top of me."
"Well I did get off, so- you can move now," Mitsuba said, smiling innocently at him.
"Well, obviously, and if you don’t get up you’re gonna miss out on breakfast," the blonde smirked.
Mitsuba looked over at him, a bit excited. "What is it gonna be??"
Kou looked back down at him.
"It’s a secret."
"Oh come onnn..." the other whined.
"Whatttt? I thought that would make it more exciting!" Kou sighed and dug through his dresser, pulling some clothes and throwing them at Mitsuba. "Here, I know you don’t have any other clothes, so take these for now. I’m gonna start on breakfast." He casually walked out of the room before he could even say anything
"Ah, right... Thanks," Mitsuba said, getting up to change.
When Mitsuba came out of the room, Tiara immediately ran down the hallway from the kitchen and hugged Mitsuba’s leg. Kou laughed.
"Tiara, leave him be! He just woke up!" The blonde protested.
Tiara just ignored her brother and jumped up and down excitedly. "Mitsuba-kunnnn!!" She squeaked, looking up at him with a smile.
It surprised Mitsuba, but he didn’t mind whatsoever. He gave her a big smile and bent down a bit so she could hug him properly.
"Morning Tiara-chann~," he said in a bubbly tone.
She happily laughed and hugged him. "Mitsuba-kun, Nii-chan said he likes you!!"
Kou whipped his head around to look at them and immediately got defensive. "T-Tiara!! I like him as a friend; don’t give him the wrong idea!"
"Yeah I know, who wouldn’t," Mitsuba teased as he turned to Kou. He then turned back to his sister to whisper in her ear;
‘I like your brother too, even if he’s weird.’
She giggled and whispered back to him;
'He is!! He always gets all funny when he talks about you, Mitsuba-kun!!'
"Is that so?" he said out loud, to piss off Kou as he got back up.
Kou just huffed and went back to cooking, trying to ignore Mitsuba’s remarks. Tiara took Sousuke’s hand and dragged him into the kitchen excitedly, in which he happily followed her.
"What are we eating Minamoto-kunnn?"
"He’s making pancakes!!!" Tiara happily said.
The blonde pouted and rolled his eyes, but smiled softly right after. "It was supposed to be a surprise, Tiara!"
Mitsuba just giggled and patted her head. "Ah, that’s more like it! Your brother refused to tell me, thank you Tiara-Chann~"
She giggled. Kou eventually brought plates over to them and crouched down in front of Tiara.
"Is Teru-Nii up yet, Tiara?"
His little sister nodded. "He’s sleeping! He looked really tired."
Kou nodded and stood back up, putting some pancakes to the side for him. He walked over to Mitsuba and looked him up and down while scratching his chin. "Looks like my clothes are still a little big on you. Ha! Short!"
(Kou is an inch taller than him...)
Sousuke looked at him with an expression that said “Really?” before looking him up and down.
"It’s not the size that matters," he huffed, trying to seem sassy, but at the same time, innocent.
Kou stuck his tongue out at him. "It does! And now I can get away with calling you short!" He pretended to laugh evilly. He then ruffled Mitsuba’s hair playfully and ran away.
"You-" he sighed as he saw Tiara, so he restrained himself from cursing him out. "Hmph..."
Tiara started giggling when Kou ran away. He walked back over with a goofy smile and looked straight at Mitsuba. "What? Too scared to chase me?"
Mitsuba just squinted at him. "No, I’m just not going to make a fool out of myself."
Kou pouted and crossed his arms. "You’re no fun."
"Look who’s talking, " he said, looking at him up and down.
"Loser."
Kou growled and glared at him. "I ain't a loser!! Look who's talking!"
"You are though, isn’t that right Tiara-Chann?~" Mitsuba snickered, in an attempt to put his sister against him with an evil smile.
Tiara giggled and grabbed Mitsuba’s hand, pointing at her brother. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Yeah!! You’re a loser, Nii-chan!!"
Kou gasped and put on an offended face. "Tiara? You’re going against me too?! How could you?!"
"I’m just better, that’s why," the other boy teased, sticking his tongue out.
Kou huffed and put his hands on his hips. "Mitsuba, I’m about to throw you out of this house."
After he said that, Tiara ran over to Kou and grabbed his shirt, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "Nooo, don’t throw him out, Nii-Chan!! Please!!"
"Hmm, well?" Mitsuba smirked, looking at Kou with a look of satisfaction. He knew he couldn't say no to his little sister.
Kou bit his lip and sighed. "Alright… fine. I GUESS he can stay." Tiara cheered excitedly and hugged his leg as soon as he said that.
"Ahh- so easy to make you change your mind it’s amazing~" Mitsuba teased as he made his way to the table.
Kou blushed and looked away. "Shut up…"
"Hm, I think not," the pink boy teased. "I’d rather talk, you see?"
The blonde sat next to him and huffed. "Yeah I know, and you talk wayyyyy too much."
"Oh, you shut up now!" Mitsuba attempted to jump off his chair and curse him off, but as soon as he got up, and saw Tiara staring at them. He just looked at her, then glared at him with an evil face before sitting back down.
Tiara just sat there and stared at both of them with a smile. She thought their fighting was entertaining.
"You guys are funny!!!" She giggled. Kou shot a glare back at Mitsuba.
"This isn’t over…" Kou grumbled.
"Actually, it will be soon. I should probably go back home today anyway. I’m not sure your brother is looking for a new roommate. And I don’t want to be in you guys space too long," he said, looking at Kou with an honest expression.
He scratched the back of his neck and nodded. "True… I mean, I wouldn’t mind you being in the space longer, but Teru would definitely have a problem with it eventually."
"Yeah, I figured. One night was enough, I’m sure you guys want some privacy as well." Mitsuba remarked, taking a bite out of his food. "I wouldn’t be able to be in the same house as you for that long anyway! There’s no way I could be your roommate," he joked.
Kou just rolled his eyes and leaned back against his chair. "Oh really? Says the guy that slept on top of me last night."
Sousuke blushed intensely at that comment. His eyes became wide open and he looked at him, then at his sister, then back at him with a mortified look.
Tiara’s eyes lit up and she smiled wide. "So Kou is your boyfriend, Mitsuba-kun?"
The blonde blushed and covered his face. "I didn’t- we’re not-"
Mitsuba looked at him with a look of distress, his red face, his pupils being big as hell and his face being hard to read.
"Don’t worry, Kou, I won’t tell Big Brother!!" Tiara smiled innocently at her brother.
He eventually just slammed his head against the table. He wished he hadn’t said anything.
"Uhhh.. I think it’s time for me to head out now..?" Mitsuba shrugged. He was embarrassed, but seeing Kou embarrassed made him feel bad. As if it was his responsibility to make him feel better (by leaving) well, at least that’s what he thought. He wanted to stay, really, but putting Kou in an uncomfortable position made him feel upset with himself.
Kou inhaled deeply before standing up and pulling on Mitsuba’s shirt.
"Come with me for a second."
Mitsuba froze in place for a second but just decided to nod, still unsure. "Uh.. okay..?"
"We’ll be right back, Tiara!!" The blonde smiled innocently at her before grabbing Mitsuba’s wrist and dragging him to his room. He closed the door behind him and sighed. "Sorry about her… but, never mind that look, I want you to stay, but I know you have to leave at some point. Don’t feel like you have to, I was just being stupid…" He said sorry like a million times while looking down at the floor.
Mitsuba didn’t listen to most of what he said, he just looked at him as his pupils dilated. If you could read his face it would literally say “love” or something like that. He was in love, but how could he express it? He couldn’t help but look at him so tenderly. It felt like a dream. Being dragged by him into his room wasn’t the only thing he liked about this. He liked the fact that Kou wanted him to stay. That’s all he heard; “I want you to stay”. It echoed in his mind. His face was red, but it wasn’t out of embarrassment, he really just felt weird around him, he felt special. He never felt something this strong.
"Uh, Mitsuba? Are you okay?" Kou asked, finally noticing him after his millions of sorries.
Mitsuba didn’t keep his eyes off his, he simply nodded. He didn’t seem all there, because he wasn’t, he was in another world literally. His face said it all.
"Um, right… did you hear what I said?" Mitsuba’s intense stare started to make the blonde nervous. He started to think he did something wrong again.
The other blinked a few times before snapping back to reality. "Ah, sorry," he said as he looked around.
"I-It’s okay…!" Kou was still kinda in panic mode and kept running his fingers through his hair while breathing heavily. He was failing miserably at hiding it.
"What did you say again..?" Mitsuba asked, since he had zoned off for the whole speech that Kou had offered him, he felt bad about not answering him.
Kou rubbed his temple and sighed. "Ughhh… I want you to STAY, Mitsuba. But I know you have to go home, so I’m not forcing you to. Don’t feel the need to go home just because I’m embarrassed."
"I don’t 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 to leave..? I just, I don’t want to make a fool out of you in front of your family..." the pink boy sincerely replied.
"You won’t, I promise… Teru is always suspicious of everyone, but you don’t have to worry about him because he’s always busy…" Kou averted his gaze to the floor and started fidgeting with his fingers. "Tiara… she’s a kid. She doesn’t care. And my dad… is never home anyways."
"Hmm... right. Then, what do I do?" Sousuke asked.
Kou shrugged, "Um… Well… We don’t HAVE to stay in the house. We can go do something if you want." He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just... if we do, we'll have to take Tiara with us."
"Mhm, and uh.. can I tell you something?" Mitsuba asked, making it sound like he was going to tell him something important.
Kou tilted his head in confusion. "Sure?"
He looked at him and continued;
"I’d really like to take a nap."
Kou sighed loudly in response. He grabbed his pillow and threw it at Mitsuba’s face before walking out of the room.
"Y’know what, go ahead. I might take one too, but I have to check on Tiara first."
Mitsuba whined but was glad he would be able to get some more sleep since he felt like he didn’t get enough thanks to the storm. He didn’t even wait for Kou before switching back into the pajamas from earlier and getting comfortable in one of the futons, he fell asleep in a minute, literally.
Kou walked back into the room after a few minutes." Mitsuba, Teru-Nii took Tiara out so we’re-" he blinked and looked down at the sleeping Mitsuba in surprise. "Oh… well, that was fast."
Kou sighed and sat down on the futon next to the snoring Mitsuba. He couldn't help but look down at him with a smile. How cute he looked while he was asleep. He looked so peaceful and not sassy for once. He was moving and shifting under the covers, dreaming of who knows what.
The blonde was about to get comfortable in his futon, but realized he had a bed and decided to sleep on that instead. It's not like Mitsuba would notice anyway, he was already passed out.
It felt like hours went by, Kou still being wide awake even though he literally had a panic attack earlier and was exhausted. All he could do was lay there and stare at the ceiling while listening to his friend's quiet snores. He was pretty much having a mental breakdown and identity crisis at that moment. It got to the point when after another hour, he sighed and rolled off his bed, deciding to lay next to Mitsuba instead. Maybe it would help him sleep?
Out of pure impulse, he snuggled up against the pink boy. I mean, he did that last night and felt fine in the morning, maybe it could work again?
He groaned, starting to feel uncomfortable on the floor. He sat up and stared down at Mitsuba. He got an idea and picked him up, gently putting him on his bed. He then curled up next to him, having regrets, but really didn’t care at this point. Being on his bed with the other boy beside him did help him fall asleep!
--------------------
After god knows how long, Kou was still fast asleep and had his face nuzzled into Mitsuba’s hair, his legs around him, and his arms around him.
Mitsuba woke up first because of the weight that was around him. He couldn’t move because Kou basically holding onto him. At first, it didn’t bother him, but at some point, it was getting too hot for him and the fact that he couldn’t move at all made him a bit uncomfortable too. He looked over at Kou for a moment, he looked so peaceful when he was asleep, it was so pleasant to see. Gently pushed him away so he could have some space while looking over at him and tenderly stroked his hair.
Kou enjoyed the feeling, but the pink boy was still figuring out if he liked doing this. At the usual, he wouldn’t be the kind of person who liked physical touch. But he didn’t hate it. After all, Kou was cute enough and he liked him, so why not? It's not like he'd notice.
Kou yawned and slowly opened his eyes after a few more minutes. He stretched and rubbed his eyes.
"Mitsuba…?"
Mitsuba, who did fully assume what he was doing, quickly pulled his hand back to himself and pretended as if nothing ever happened. "Oh, uh.. hi."
The blonde reached over to him and patted his shoulder, making sure he was real because he was still half asleep. "Hmm… how long was I out for…?"
"No idea? I just woke up," the pink boy yawned and stretched.
"Ah, yeah… well, whatever." Kou casually flopped on top of Mitsuba to look at his alarm clock. "Hm… It’s past 1 pm… We must’ve been out for a while."
"Yeah, no kidding. I’ve done worse though-" Mitsuba blurted out, knowing he slept throughout a whole night then a whole DAY a few times. As if it was normal.
"I’m sure you have. I wouldn’t doubt that for a second," the blonde replied, just staying there on top of Mitsuba. His body was legit spread across his waist and his head was hanging off the bed. "You’re a nice pillow, Mitsuba. I think I’m gonna fall back asleep," he chuckled, obviously joking.
"Nooo, you’re heavyyy!" Mitsuba whined. "Get offfff..."
"Nahhhh I’m pretty comfortable. I’ll be staying right here," Kou smirked.
Mitsuba attempted to push him away, but his body weight and his muscles weren’t really working together. So he kept falling miserably. "Ughh get off you pervvvv!" he whined again.
"What?! I am not a perv! But fineeee," the other boy complained, slowly sitting up. Then, he dropped a pillow on Mitsuba’s face. "Oops~"
"Hmm!" The pink boy whined again for the THIRD time. "You ass!"
Kou just laughed and pointed his finger at him.
This chapter is too long, so I'll continue in the next one. It gets more interesting!
Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Sleepover part 2
Summary:
AHHH FINALLY I FINISHED THIS!! sorry everyone i was hoping to get this out earlier but life hit me hard like a rock so I haven't been able to write or draw much. Thanks for your patience!!
Chapter Text
(warning: shit load of dialogue)
Kou laughed and hopped off the bed. "Oh man, I'm never sleeping on that futon again. My bed is so much more comfortable."
I was comfortable, but your bed is indeed better..." the pink boy mumbled, although he didn't mind the futon.
"Oh yeah, definitely. That futon broke my back." Kou kicked it and stretched, looking back at Mitsuba. "Don't you think your mom is questioning where you are?"
"She's barely home on the weekends, and when she is, she sleeps. But she often gets extra hours so I don't think she had time to notice. She would've called me," he replied, shrugging it off casually.
"Ah, I see. Well, just let me know when you want to go back. Maybe I can introduce myself." Kou remarked, turning around and searching through his dresser for actual clothes. "But, I wouldn't mind having you as a roommate to be honest, haha."
"I do," the other said bluntly.
The blonde pouted a bit. "What?! I'd be a great roommate!"
"No you wouldn't," Mitsuba bluntly said again.
Kou huffed and took off his shirt then threw it at Mitsuba. "Shut your girly face up!"
"AH- hey! Don't throw your stinky shirt at me!" Mitsuba whined, throwing the shirt back.
Kou started laughing, then walked back over to Mitsuba. He gently grabbed Mitsuba's chin and pulled his face closer to his, looking at him with an intimidating expression. "You're not allowed to act like that in this household!!" He said in a deep voice, not on purpose, but he was being stupid right now. He was just messing with Mitsuba.
"U-uh..??" Mitsuba's face turned red as he did so. He then slapped the other's hands away and stepped back. "Let go of me you perv!"
Kou blinked and pouted a bit. "W-What?! I'm not a perv!! I was just messing around!"
Mitsuba looked at him up and down. "Says the one throwing his shirts at me. What, you wanted to be shirtless in front of me that bad?"
Kou blushed and quickly slipped a new shirt on. "No!! You just needed to be... disciplined! That was the only way I could get you to stop teasing me!"
"By taking your shirt off..? Damn," the pink boy teased, clearly enjoying the situation right now.
To shut him up, Kou shoved a pillow into his face.
"Stop throwing things in my faceee..." Mitsuba looked at him with pleading eyes. "You're so rude to me Minamoto-Kunnn..."
Kou just rolled his eyes and turned back around towards his dresser.
"Mitsuba, do ya think your mom is home?"
He looked up from his phone and blinked. "She probably is? Sleeping though. Why?" he asked, tilting his head.
"I wanna meet her!! I wanna make a good impression as your friend!!" Kou excitedly said, turning back around with a smile.
"I'd let you butttt... only when she can make a good impression on you too. She's just worked 16 hours last night, I don't think she would at the moment..." Mitsuba replied.
The blonde sat on the bed and looked at Mitsuba. "Oh. Well, will I meet her someday?"
"Yeah, I mean, I can invite you to sleepover at some point right?" the pink boy shrugged.
Kou threw his arms up in the air and grinned. "Hell yes!"
"Although, I'll need to find something for you to sleep on... I kinda have a bunk bed you see?" Mitsuba nervously laughed.
He excitedly stood up on his bed and gasped. "A bunk bed?!?!"
Mitsuba flinched a little and looked up at him. "Yeah...?"
Kou looked down at him with a goofy smile. "I love bunk beds!! If I do ever sleepover, can I be on top?!"
"Well... that's the thing. My bed is on top of my desk, I don't have a second bed..." he was away from him. "And uh, I don't have any futons either so, I'd let you sleep there but there would be a high chance that I'd have to sleep in the living room, on the sofa..."
"Oh. I see..." Kou scratched his chin and sat back down. "I don't want you to sleep on the couch though..."
"I mean, I don't think I'd mind for one night..?" Mitsuba shrugged.
"Couches are uncomfortable to sleep on. Your back starts to hurt after a while. I know." The blonde crossed his arms. "I can sleep on the couch."
"Nuh huh. Unacceptable," the pink boy refused, shaking his head.
"But it's rude to make you sleep on the couch in your own house!!" Kou protested.
"It's even more rude to make my GUEST on the couch. I'm fine sleeping there!" Mitsuba replied, really attempting to change his mind
"No!! I'll sleep on your desk or something while you sleep on your bed!"
These two literally would not stop fighting over who's sleeping on the bed and who's sleeping on the couch.
"No way!" Mitsuba whined.
Kou stuttered a little before saying,
"Then what, you wanna sleep together??"
"In my 39" x 75" bed? We're not sardines..." The other raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms.
The blonde glared at him. "Well, I refuse to let you sleep on the couch."
Sousuke huffed, "Then fine! We'll both sleep on my single sized bed then. If that's even physically possible..."
"I'll lay very close to the wall, I promise." Kou held his hand to his heart, making a genuine statement. Little does he know that won't be happening
"Uh?? Nuh-uh the wall is my side though!" Mitsuba whined, picky as usual.
Kou groaned and covered his face, "Fine!! Then I'll hang off the edge!!"
"Good," the other simply said.
Kou couldn't help but laugh at how stupid their banter was. He flopped back on his bed and looked up at Mitsuba with a smile.
"Glad we could finally settle this."
"Yeah, me too." Sousuke then sat on the bed. "So, am I staying tonight or am I leaving?"
The blonde shrugged. "I dunno. That's up to you. Personally, I don't care."
"No? It's up to you."
Mitsuba wasn't gonna let him win this one.
Kou covered his face in frustration. "I want you to stay. But you don't have to."
"What if I do?"
Kou glared at him. "I don't know, Mitsuba, you'll be stuck here with me for the rest of the day until you get sick of me."
"I'm already sick of you, but watch me," Mitsuba replied, smirking at him.
"Mhm. I'm not sure if I'm sick of you yet so I won't be kicking you out right now," the other smirked back.
"Ah, what a reliefff..." Mitsuba teased.
Kou pushed him playfully. "What, would you be upset if I didn't let you stay longer?"
The pink boy pushed him back. "Oh yes, veryyy," he teased again.
"Liar."
"Yes, I'm such a liar nowww," Sousuke continued, pushing him a bit.
Kou laughed and continued to lean on him. "We're so dumb."
"You mean, you're dumb?"
"Nah, I'm the smartest person ever. I'm cool too. I know how to cook and exorcise ghosts." The blonde smirked.
Mitsuba looked at him and squinted. He genuinely didn't believe in ghosts. "You're still on that exorcism thingy.. what's that all about anyway? Didn't you grow out of that?" he asked.
Kou then looked at Mitsuba in shock and frowned. "Wh- Grow out of it?! It's real!! I swear!! You can even ask my brother about it!! He's out alllllll the time looking for them to protect us. It's crazy."
Just the thought of his scary, mysterious brother was enough for Mitsuba. "Uhh.. no thanks, I'll pass. Your brother is a bit scary. No offense," he quietly said, not trying to be too rude.
"Well, he can definitely be intimidating. But he's sooooo cool. I wanna be a cool exorcist like him some day." Kou kept rambling on about his brother without even realizing it. He wasn't even paying attention to the fact that he was STILL leaning on Mitsuba.
"Uh-huh, so cool. May you get off now?" the pink boy whined a little.
The other boy looked up at him and pouted. "But I don't wanna!"
"You're crushing meeee," he dramatically fell onto the bed, which made Kou fall too. "Blehhh..."
"Am not!! I'm just more muscular than you."
"Says who! I bet you aren't even that muscular, you twink!" Mitsuba shouted in a sassy tone.
Kou immediately sat up and stared at him in disbelief. "Wh- I- TWINK?!?! I AM NOT A TWINK!!"
"Uh-huh, says who? The twink?" he teased.
Kou then growled and threw a pillow at Mitsuba's face. "If anything, you're the TWINK!!!"
Mitsuba hissed at that comment, "Nuh-uh!!"
"Yeah, you are!! " Kou moved to sit on top of Mitsuba and started angrily smacking him with a pillow he grabbed from the other side of the bed. Not enough to hurt, though.
"And what proves your point, huh?? Absolutely nothing!"
Kou just laughed menacingly, "I'm taller than you!! That's my defense!!"
...Little did he know, he was only about an inch taller than him.
"Being taller doesn't make me a twink! It just makes you a giraffe, that's for sure!" Sousuke whined as he desperately tried pushing him off.
The blonde gasped AGAIN and looked at him, clearly offended. "A giraffe?! Now I'm definitely not getting off of you!!"
The pillow fight went on for a good couple of minutes, until the pink-haired boy finally shouted something that broke off their battle.
"Arghhh-! Get off you queer!"
Kou completely stopped laughing, and his expression became very intimidating.
"Did you just say... queer?"
"Did it piss you off? If so, then yes!" Mitsuba spat words at him, making sure he'd get pissed at some point.
"Ughhhhh!!! Shut uppp!!!" Kou finally got off of him and flopped down on the bed. He covered his ears and faced the other way, thinking it would prevent him from hearing Mitsuba's nonsense.
"See, I don't even need to move; my words take me anywhere~" he teased, to piss him off a bit more.
Kou shot him a glare. "Your words are gonna take you out the door if you don't zip it."
"Is that soo? I'm sure your wonderful little sister would disagree with youu~" he continued his teasing, poking his finger on the other's chest.
"If you don't shut the hell up, I'm pushing you off the bed," the blonde stated in a serious tone.
Mitsuba just kicked his feet in the air without worry. "No, you won't, if you do, you'll damage my beautiful, delicate body..."
"Yeah, right." He flipped around, obviously intending to push Mitsuba off the bed. He had an evil smirk on his face.
"Hey... take that look off your face." The pink boy's tone quickly changed to a serious one.
Kou gave him a devious look before proceeding to push Mitsuba off the bed, with no hesitation whatsoever.
"H-Hey--!" he took a grip on the collar of Kou's shirt. If he were to fall, Kou would have to go down with him.
" Shit!—" The blonde yelped before they both fell on the floor below. Kou fell on his back while Mitsuba landed on top of him, groaning a bit as he fell on top of his torso.
Kou's mood completely shifted when Mitsuba fell, and he looked at him with a worried expression. He completely forgot about his friend's plastered hand. Even though his intention was to literally push him off.
"Mitsuba, are you okay?"
"Uh huh? You pretty much made yourself a pillow for me to fall on, so I'm fine. Are you?" He asked, actually worried he might have hurt himself because of him.
The blonde shrugged. "Yeah. My back hurts a bit now, but other than that, I'm fine."
"Wowww, you care so much about me that you wouldn't let me get hurt? How considerateeee~" Mitsuba teased for the millionth time. He was still on him, so he decided to poke his cheek with his finger.
Kou didn't say anything. He just blushed and turned his head away from Mitsuba, who was joking. He didn't understand why he was blushing, so he continued poking him. He had a little smirk of satisfaction on his face while doing so.
Kou groaned and covered his bright red face. He couldn't take it anymore. "Mitsuba, stop poking me!"
"No? You're miserable right now, that's something we don't see every day..." he continued.
"Look, I'm not—" The blonde sighed and took his hands off his face. He grabbed Mitsuba's hand and then pushed it against his cheek. His face was hot, and he didn't even feel like explaining it.
The pink boy blinked a few times. He didn't understand what was wrong with him. He did what he always does when he doesn't know what else to do. He gently made Kou let go of his hand to press the back of it to Kou's forehead to take his temperature. Kou genuinely liked the touch of Mitsuba's hand. It was crazy how easy it was for him to become worried. His head didn't hurt, but he liked Mitsuba's affection.
"No... Yes? Ugh, I don't know..." he sighed.
"Hmm... hard to tell if your head is heating up..." Mitsuba desperately wanted to help him, but he didn't know how to, so he just got off of him and sat beside him instead.
Kou then looked up at him, immediately feeling bad. "I'm sorry, Mitsuba... I honestly shouldn't have pushed you off."
"Well, it's fine. I mean, I'm fine? You're the one who hit his head on the floor like an idiot, soo-" You could tell Sousuke wasn't taking it seriously.
"Alright, you have a point," Kou said, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. "It kinda hurts. You're lucky you fell on top of me."
"I am now, aren't I? Thank you for that caring gesture, Minamoto-Kunnn~" It was all just teasing, of course, but the pink boy did appreciate it.
he blushed a little and looked down at the floor. "Yeah, yeah... It a good thing you didn't mess up your "beautiful body" or whatever."
Mhm, that's right!" He didn't really get the fact that it was sarcasm Kou was most likely going for
Kou couldn't help but chuckle and playfully push him. "You really like praising yourself, don't you?"
"That's like my whole persona- didn't you figure that one out already idiot?" he jokingly said, pushing him back.
Kou pouted. "Hey!! I'm not an idiot!! I totally knew that already!!"
"Rightttt," he looked at him with a serious face.
Kou was about to start another argument with Mitsuba, that is, until his brother opened the door.
"Hey, Kou, I'm ba-" Teru looked down at Mitsuba. "Ah. You're still here."
Kou whipped his head around to look up at his brother. "Oh, Teru-Nii!! Can Mitsuba stay longer??"
Mitsuba had a big, bright smile until Kou's crazy brother (that was what he called him in his mind) opened the door. His smile faded away as he felt a slight discomfort. He looked at him with pitiful eyes without even realizing it.
"I guess... But... He's not sleeping over. Got it?"
The younger sibling looked up at him with a slightly disappointed expression. "Why not...?"
Teru just looked at him with a serious face. "Because I need to talk to you. And I'm sure his mother is wondering where he is."
"B-But-"
"No, Kou," he sighed. "I'll give you a few more hours, but he's not sleeping over. That's final."
Sousuke looked over at Kou, then back at Teru, then back at Kou again. It was insane how the two of them looked alike. Well, that's what he thought. He looked at Kou with a surprisingly calm expression.
"Hey, we'll see each other at school on Monday anyway. This was fun, we can always do that again sometime, yeah?" The pink boy told him, really trying to avoid an argument between the two.
The blonde blinked and nodded quickly. "O-Oh, yeah!! Of course!!"
Teru simply nodded before closing the door behind him. Kou let out a sigh of relief and wiped his forehead, while Mitsuba sighed in relief as he left the room.
Kou frowned and hugged his legs up to his chest. "Ah... that sucks. I really hoped you wouldn't have to leave, Mitsuba. I don't really like it when my brother is so over-protective of me like that..."
The other boy shrugged and got up. "I can't blame him, though. I probably would've done the same if I had a brother or a sister.. You know?"
"Ah... True..." Kou stood up next to him and scratched the back of his neck.
Mitsuba looked around, and his face shifted to a bored one. "What now?"
"Hm... If you want, maybe we could walk around outside for a bit. We've been inside a little too long; you and I need some fresh air."
"Yeah, I do," Mitsuba sighed and looked away. "I feel like your brother doesn't like me one bit," he pouted a bit, but turned around so Kou wouldn't see
He walked over to Mitsuba and wrapped an arm around him with a smile. "Aw, Mitsuba... That's not true. He's just kinda scary, that's all. He's wayyyy too protective of me, and every time I make a new friend, he gets suspicious. Cheer up!"
"Yeah, yeah.. whatever you say," he responded. It was obvious that he did care, though.
Kou huffed and dropped his arm back down to his side. "You should probably get changed. You put my pjs back on as soon as I let you take a nap."
"It’s comfortable though."
Stubborn, as always.
"So you’re gonna walk with me, in public, in my oversized pajamas?" Kou crossed his arms, scanning Mitsuba up and down.
"I assume myself, thank you very much," he said. He didn’t care one bit about walking in this outfit. As long as he had something to keep for himself. Something that belongs to Kou, even better.
Kou sighed and grabbed Mitsuba’s wrist, dragging him out of the room. "Let’s just go…"
"Ah- wait, now..?" the other asked, following his steps.
"Yes, now."
He didn’t really ask any more questions; he put his shoes on. "Do I grab my stuff too orrr..?"
Kou opened the front door and looked back at him.
"Nah, we’re coming back, don’t worry."
to be continued...
Boomchacalaka on Chapter 5 Fri 01 Aug 2025 05:13AM UTC
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cheesydogg on Chapter 5 Fri 01 Aug 2025 07:44AM UTC
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