Chapter Text
Souta had no idea what to do about the concert tickets. Knowing what he now knew about Nao’s true feelings after their (almost disastrous, but ultimately wonderful) talk at Wonderworld - he may have agreed to wait for Nao, but that didn’t mean he wanted to sit around and let Arashi ask Nao on a Christmas date to the concert. But he had gifted them to her (to then gift to Nao) and it just didn't feel right trying to ask for her to return them. After a day of consideration, he asked for Keisuke’s advice:
“You kind of got yourself into this mess by giving them to her without knowing how Iseya actually felt. I think you're out of luck, and it's in her and Iseya’s hands now.”
So he was no help. After fighting with himself for another two days and still not making a decision on what to do, he decided to get another opinion, and asked Inoue her thoughts after school:
“Wow, Ueshima, that's really tough. On the one hand I see where you're coming from with not wanting to ask for a gift back. But if I were you there's no way I would let them go together. You worked so hard and you deserve to go to this concert with Iseya, so fight for it!”
Inoue’s enthusiasm was encouraging, and he resolved to get those tickets back somehow. It was already the end of the week at this point, though, so he decided to formulate a plan over the weekend and execute it on Monday. Before he even had the chance to make his plan, however, the result was apparently decided for him.
Nao was in the classroom after class that Friday, wrapping up his cleaning duties and preparing to head home. Souta had a shift at the cafe that afternoon, so he would be on his own for the bus ride and walk. He wasn't really looking forward to the trip and lonely evening; being alone with his own thoughts often led to him spiraling a bit about the situation with Souta.
After he had gotten home last Saturday from the amusement park, he’d had a small panic attack. He couldn’t believe that Souta had confessed, and he’d almost ruined everything with his reaction. Souta had looked so sad, and they had been so close to falling apart, which was just serving to prove the horrible voice in the back of his head that told him this would only lead to heartbreak right. He asked Souta to wait for him, but how long would he wait? Was he even worth waiting for?
Before these thoughts could take hold of him once more, he was startled by the sound of someone saying his name by the school gate. He looked up to see Arashi waving at him.
“Nao-kun, I was waiting for you!”
She smiled at him brightly, and he did his best to adopt a neutral expression that didn't reveal the anxiety that was swirling inside him.
“Want to go to a cafe with me? My friend told me about one that sounded super cute!”
“Oh, um, sure,” he replied without thinking.
As they began walking together, he remembered Souta's assumption that he and Arashi were practically dating. He winced internally at his own thoughtlessness, but it was too late now that he already agreed, and he didn't really want to be alone at the moment anyway. So off they went, Arashi chatting in his ear about a new album from a rock artist in the states that he hadn't gotten the chance to listen to yet. He did his best to listen and nod and respond appropriately, but his mind was still focused on the boy he liked. With his brain fully occupied with the conversation and thoughts of Souta, he didn't realize until they were standing in front of the entrance that the cafe Arashi brought them to was none other than Cafe Sugar Bunny.
He paused at the door, and Arashi turned to him with a questioning expression.
“Are you sure you want to go here? It looks really,” he faltered as he searched for the right word, “busy.”
He wasn't lying, there was a decent line at the counter and very few open tables. But he knew Souta was working right now, and being seen here with her just sounded like a recipe for disaster. Arashi didn't take the hint.
“Of course, isn't it just adorable!? I don't mind waiting a few minutes for a drink, and I'm sure we can find a table!”
Before he could respond, Arashi grabbed his arm and pulled him through the door and into the line of customers. The cashier at the front taking orders was a short girl with pink hair, and the person bringing food from the kitchen and picking up empty dishes was a taller boy with blond hair. So far, no sign of his auburn-haired whatever they were at this point. With any luck, Souta was handing out fliers in the bunny costume and would never see him and Arashi there. They reached the front in a few minutes, ordered their drinks, and sat down at a table in the corner near a window.
“So, Nao-kun, I actually wanted to ask you something,” Arashi said once they were settled.
She stretched her arms out in front of her on the table and leaned forward with her head tilted to one side. It would have looked sweet and a little bit coy, if Nao had actually been looking. His eyes were trained on the doors though, just waiting to see Souta walk through one of them and notice him there. He nodded and answered her absentmindedly, telling her to continue.
“I was wondering, do you have any plans for Christmas Eve?”
Nao turned his focus to her then. Christmas was typically a day for romantic plans. Could she be…? Was Souta right, that Arashi actually wanted to date him? Had he really been that blind to her intentions?
“Um, no, not yet, but-” he hesitated, and Arashi quickly filled the pause, clearly only hearing the ‘no’ and not his trepidation.
“Great, because I actually have tickets to the XX concert that evening and I was hoping we could go together!” she finished excitedly, and Nao’s stomach dropped.
Going to that concert would be a dream come true. They had never played in Japan before, and likely never would again. But he couldn’t… there was no way he could go to this concert, with Arashi, on Christmas, on what was clearly a date to her and would never be that way for him. He couldn’t do that to her, and he definitely couldn’t do that to Souta. Honestly, he was hoping to spend that day with Souta, even if that wasn’t a real date either. His discomfort must have shown on his face, because Arashi’s smile fell.
“Do you not want to see them? I thought you really liked this band; we were just listening to them a few weeks ago,” she said with much less steam than before; she sounded confused and dejected and it just made Nao feel even worse knowing he was going to hurt her now too.
“I do like them, and I would love to see them, but I just,” he paused to take a breath and collect his thoughts, but winced at the sad eyes she was giving him. He had to push forward, though - no more misunderstandings.
“I can’t,” he took another deep inhale as he prepared himself to reject her, as nicely as he could this time, unlike with Inoue at the soccer game.
“I can’t go on a date with you, Arashi. It wouldn’t be fair to you, since I only like you as a friend, and it wouldn’t be fair to…” Souta , he trailed off without finishing that thought.
“The person you actually like,” Arashi concluded for him.
Though clearly sad, she also seemed surprisingly at peace. Nao’s eyes widened slightly at her so easily finishing his sentence, and he found himself nodding once without realizing.
“I’m really sorry, Arashi. I’m sure the tickets were really expensive, so you should go with one of your friends from the music club instead and still have fun.”
“It’s alright,” she replied, and the sadness already appeared to be fading from her voice.
“I noticed you were often thinking of something or someone else when we hung out, but I just thought,” she paused briefly, and looked lost in her own head for a moment.
She seemed to steal herself then, and continued, “Well, it doesn’t matter what I thought. I understand, and I would love to stay friends with you, if you would still have me?”
Nao sighed in relief, that went about as well as he could have ever hoped.
“Thank you. I hope we can stay friends too. It’s been really nice to have someone to talk to about music, and other things, outside of…” Souta, and the soccer team, who only tolerate me because of him.
He trailed off again. He just wanted to have a friend of his own to lean on without there being romantic implications. Was that too much to ask for?
Arashi sat up straight in her chair and smiled brightly again. She reached her hand out for him to shake.
“Friends, then, with no hard feelings?”
Nao chuckled, then, and shook her hand.
“Friends.”
“Actually, about those tickets…”
Souta entered the staff room through the back door of the cafe and began removing the bunny suit. He’d had a large stack of fliers to hand out, but managed to get through them in record time due to a large tour bus stopping at the station close by. It hadn’t even been half an hour, so he wasn’t even sweating. He changed quickly into his more typical uniform and entered the kitchen to start helping with orders.
“Ueshima, you’re already back? Can you bring these drinks to table eleven for me?” Sato called from the front as he walked in with a huge stack of dishes.
“Sure thing,” he called back, and grabbed the drink tray on his way through the door.
He hurried to the table in the corner by the window and began setting down the mugs. As he approached he heard something about tickets, but just started into his normal spiel.
“So sorry for the wait, we’re quite busy tonight. I have a strawberry matcha latte and an oolong t- Nao? Arashi-san?”
Souta paused and stared at them for a moment, mug in hand, before the heat of the tea snapped him out of it and he put it down on the table. He may not have been sweating in the suit earlier, but he sure was starting to sweat now. What were they doing here? Were they on a date? But he and Nao just… Before he could embarrass himself, he decided to leave - it was none of his business anyway. He started to bow.
“Please enjoy your drinks, and-”
“Ueshima-kun, wait, perfect timing! I didn’t know you worked here, this place is so cute!” Arashi cut him off before he could finish and walk away.
He was stuck now. He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand not holding the drink tray. He took a peek at Nao, who looked startled and slightly pink.
“Uh, yeah, I started a few months ago. Anyway-” she interrupted him again; apparently she really has a bad habit of doing that.
“I was just about to tell Nao-kun that since I can’t go to the concert on Christmas Eve anymore, he should go with you instead!”
Arashi winked, and Souta couldn’t tell if it was directed toward him or toward Nao. His eyebrows shot to the sky, and he saw his look of surprise mirrored in Nao’s face. At the exact same time, they both exclaimed a little too loudly for the small cafe they were in, causing some heads to turn their way.
“What!?”
“Since Ueshima-kun gave me these tickets in the first place, it’s only natural that you two should go together!”
Nao’s head snapped up to Souta. If his eyebrows could go any higher they’d fly off his face. Souta’s cheeks flushed in response, and he quickly looked away.
“Um, thank you, Arashi. I really should get back to work now, I’ll talk to you later, Nao, bye!”
Without another look at Nao or Arashi, he ran off back to the staff area before either of them could respond. Once out of sight of the customers, he crouched to the ground, hid his face in the serving tray, and tried not to scream.
“Everything alright down there?” Sato asked as he came through the door
“Never better,” he squeaked out from behind the tray.
After his breathing was under control and the heat on his face had dissipated, he returned to work. He asked Sato if he could stay on dishwashing duty for the remainder of his shift, who readily agreed.
Nao continued to gawk at Souta as he walked back to the kitchen. Did he hear that right? Souta gave Arashi those tickets? He didn’t deny it, but why would he do that? As if reading Nao’s thoughts, Arashi spoke up from the other side of the table and pulled him out of his dazed state.
“He said he won them in a raffle when he gave them to me a few weeks ago,” she explained - Nao still couldn’t form any words, so she went on without waiting for a response.
“I did some digging, though, and I don’t think there were any raffles giving away tickets. When I realized that he must have bought them, and how expensive they must have been, I almost gave them back. But,” she paused and glanced away, a slight blush taking over her cheeks. “I really like you, you know, so I thought maybe we were meant to go together.”
Everything was starting to make a lot more sense now. The reason Souta had picked up this job at the cafe and was working so many shifts here. And the awkwardness Souta had displayed whenever Arashi was around, even before the amusement park. Clearly this had been weighing on Souta’s mind for a long time. Why was he still working here then? Souta’s dedication to helping people at the culture festival stood out to him - even at great cost to himself, Souta would never back down from something he agreed to, so he must be continuing to work for some reason like that.
“I’m realizing, now, how little I’ve been paying attention though.”
That finally brought his mind fully back to the conversation happening in front of him.
“What do you mean?” he asked her, and finally took a sip of his tea.
Luckily, it was still hot, and it helped to ground himself in the moment.
“You and Ueshima-kun,” she stated matter-of-factly, and Nao choked on his drink.
“Clearly, there’s something going on between you two, and I can’t believe I didn’t see it before!” she exclaimed, and she smiled mischievously.
“Your reaction just now confirmed it!”
Until a week ago, Nao hadn’t planned to tell anyone about his feelings for his best friend. And then he pushed Souta into confessing, so he confessed as well. Getting it off his chest had felt both freeing and terrifying. But now that he’d talked about it once, it didn’t seem quite so scary to talk about it again. Although he had only rejected her about five minutes ago, Arashi looked at him with renewed excitement at her revelation. It would be helpful to have someone to talk to about this, and they had just agreed to be friends. Nao sighed and buried his face in his hands.
Just loud enough for Arashi to hear over the sounds of the cafe, Nao whispered, “He’s the one that I actually…”
Arashi gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, barely concealing a squeal.
“Oh, Nao-kun, you definitely have to go to the concert with him on Christmas, then!”
She was practically bouncing up and down in her chair and started listing ideas for things to add to their “date” - she got over him fast, apparently, or was at least hiding any hurt feelings or jealousy really well behind her enthusiasm.
“Talking about this with me, doesn’t it bother you?” Nao interrupted her skeptically.
Arashi stopped listing her date ideas and appeared to think for a moment before responding.
“It’s obvious to me now that we were never going to happen, so there’s no point in dwelling on it.”
Her voice wavered a little, and a hint of the sadness from before flashed in her eyes before disappearing again.
“We’re friends, right? And friends help each other through things like this.”
“And Nao,” she reached out a hand to him and touched his arm gently from across the table.
He looked up at her again at the touch, so different from the way she often grabbed him before.
“You seem like you could really use the support.”
A few hours of dishwashing later and Souta was finally done with his shift. He changed back into his school uniform and coat, said goodbye to the owner, then stepped outside into the cold November air. He jumped when he noticed a dark figure leaning against the wall a few feet away before he realized the figure was Nao.
“Nao!? What are you still doing here? It’s freezing!” Souta shouted and rushed over to him.
“I wanted to talk to you,” Nao responded while they started walking toward the bus stop, as if that perfectly explained why he waited outside in the cold for what must have been at least an hour.
“You could have just called me later, or waited until our study session on Sunday,” Souta sighed, exasperated by the whole evening that apparently wasn’t over.
“I wanted to talk in person, and I didn’t want to wait,” Nao stated. “Besides, I was only outside for about 10 minutes since Arashi and I talked for a while after you left.”
Souta was glad it was winter, and the sun was fully set despite the fact that it was barely 7 pm. He’s sure the face he made at Nao mentioning Arashi again was probably not a pleasant one. Logically, he knows there is nothing going on between them, but Souta was guided by his heart, not his brain, and his heart hurt at the thought of them talking for hours together. Souta worked his face back into a smile and continued on.
“What did you and Arashi talk about?”
“You, mostly,” Nao said quietly, and Souta stopped in his tracks.
Nao halted his steps as well, and the two boys stared at each other wordlessly beneath the glow of a streetlight. Nao’s cheeks were red, from the cold or from emotion, who could say - Souta knew his cheeks matched, and he hadn’t been outside long enough for that to be the cause. Nao took a step closer, and Souta’s breath and heart rate quickened. Nao broke the silence.
“Souta, you bought those tickets, right?”
Souta just nodded, not trusting his voice as a lump formed in his throat at the memory of crying into Keisuke’s shoulder after giving them to Arashi.
“Why would you give them away?”
He pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes to stop any tears from escaping. He sniffled as he inhaled a few times before finally feeling ready to speak.
“I was really excited to give them to you for Christmas,” he paused to sniffle again, “but then I saw you and Arashi together and I guess I just-” his voice broke, and Nao took another step closer.
“I jumped to conclusions and decided you would have more fun with her than me. Both because she knows the music better than I do, and because she’s,” he huffed and shook his head at his own stupidity.
“Well - she’s a girl, and I’m a boy, and,” Nao took one of Souta’s hands, and Souta laughed sadly.
“It sounds so dumb now that we’ve talked, and I was trying to figure out a way to ask for them back, but I didn’t know how. I guess I don’t have to anymore.”
Souta chuckled again, and rubbed the back of his free arm over his eyes. Nao squeezed and released his hand, only to wrap his arms around Souta in a warm hug. He relaxed into the embrace and hugged him back tightly.
“I would love to go to the concert with you, Souta, if you still want to go,” Nao whispered, softly, hopefully, beside Souta.
Souta nodded, and in the back of his mind he found himself thinking before he could stop himself: it’s a date .