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The sky is bright and blue, there’s not a cloud in sight across the horizon. All in all, it really is a beautiful day.
Karube, however, is bored.
Hands shoved deep in the pockets of his jeans, his head is dropped back to stare skyward as he strolls along. With Niragi busy studying for a few big tests coming up, Karube finds himself with nothing to do for the day, lacking the resolve to study as intensely as his boyfriend is; but kicking stones down the pavement can only do so much for entertainment as he walks his bike alongside him.
With a sigh, he finds himself drudging down old familiar streets, trying to find something to do. Even a convenient store would be interesting. Speaking of, he could use a drink right about now. It’s a surprisingly warm day and he’s been walking for a while; he can feel sweat beading at the nape of his neck.
Leaving his bike by the front of the store and turning to step through the door, he barely has a chance to enjoy the cool of the air conditioner before almost running directly into someone.
“Oh shi- sorry, man,” he says, stumbling aside. He pauses when he glances up, greeted by a familiar face. “Arisu?”
Arisu’s face lights up in surprised recognition.
“Karube!” he replies with a smile, “It’s been a while.”
“Since middle school, yeah.”
“Right. I heard you got … uh …” Arisu trails off, a slightly awkward expression crossing his feature.
“Expelled?”
“I was gonna say ‘transferred’, it sounds less harsh.”
Karube barks a laugh, then the automatic door bumps his shoulders and he realises they’re still standing in the doorway, blocking the entrance. Arisu grabs his elbow to pull him into the convenience store and out of the way of the door. Karube leans up against a nearby table, flashing a smile.
“Hey, are you busy? Do you wanna hang out?”
They fall quickly back into familiarity. Arisu’s pretty much the same as Karube remembers; taller and older, but still kind of immature and moody. He complains that his dad’s still a douche and his brother is never on his side, that his dad keeps comparing them and praising his brother’s good grades while always putting him down.
The conversation leans too serious and Karube hauls Arisu onto the back of his bike and speeds around town until Arisu is laughing so hard that he begs Karube to slow down. Arisu’s hand is warm through Karube’s thin tee and gaudy over-shirt, gripping his shoulder as Karube slows to a stop.
Arisu laughs, breathless as he claps his hand a few times on Karube’s shoulder and clambers off the back of the bike. Karube clicks the brake down, propping it against the bridge railing as he steps off to lean next to Arisu.
“I guess I really dumped all my crap on you, huh?” Arisu says, his laughter settling. He knocks his elbow into Karube’s bicep. “What’s it been like at your new school?”
Now it’s Karube’s turn to talk. So he does. He recounts it all from the first day - well, almost all of it. The details of what happened to Niragi and what Niragi was to him - a boyfriend? They hadn’t really discussed it - he keeps close to his chest. He doesn’t really know what Arisu would think. He wasn’t an unkind person, Karube doesn’t think he’d be cruel, maybe more surprised than anything but still, his nerves get the better of him.
So he calls Niragi a ‘friend’.
Eventually, the sun gets close to fully setting in the horizon and the pair part after trading new phone numbers. Karube rides home with a smile on his face the whole way. He hadn’t realised that he’d missed hanging out with Arisu. It seemed stupid now, to have stayed away for so long just because they lived on the other sides of the city and didn’t go to the same school anymore.
He greets his parents, sits down for dinner, showers and then he’s flopping onto his bed. There’s only a brief moment of respite before his phone starts ringing, buzzing across his bedside table. He glances at his clock. Is it that time already?
“Finished studying already, Niragi?” He teases as he answers the call. He hears Niragi huff a quiet laugh.
“Just finished a practice test. I’ll probably have to do it again closer to the actual test.” Niragi sounds tired, his voice a little raspy from lack of use over the day. Karube doesn’t doubt Niragi spent all day hunched over at his desk and that this is probably his first break since the morning. There’s the sound of shuffling over the phone, a quiet exhale as he - Karube assumes - lies down. “You sound … chipper.”
“I ran into an old friend today. Arisu. I told you about him.”
There’s quiet on the other end of the phone.
“From middle school? The arcade?”
“Yeah, that’s him. We hung out today.”
It all kind of comes out as a ramble as Karube tells Niragi about his day. Niragi doesn’t say much, just hums out quiet short replies. Karube assumes he’s just tired after a long day of studying.
“I’m going to go to bed,” Niragi cuts in. Karube pauses, broken off in the middle of a sentence.
“Oh. Okay. Right, sorry, you must be tired,” he replies, then gnaws at his bottom lip. “Are you busy tomorrow? Arisu and I made plans, you should come.”
Niragi’s quiet again.
“Yeah. Okay.”
Karube grins.
“Great! I’ll swing by around 10!”
Niragi hangs up. A frown tugs on his lips. He drops the phone on his bedside table, rolling away to face the wall opposite it. Yanking the covers up, he tucks his chin to his chest. His jaw’s clenched almost painfully tight. Karube had spent the whole conversation talking about what a great time he’d had with this ‘Arisu’ guy.
He’s pouting. It’s stupid and he knows it’s stupid. Karube can have friends, he doesn’t have to be waiting around on Niragi all the time. Hell, Niragi knew that people liked Karube, plenty of students at their school were friendly towards him. Had he really expected Karube to just do nothing while he was busy studying?
And now he’d agreed to go spend his free day with this random guy!
He’d planned on asking Karube to hang out, just the two of them, like usual; instead he’d be stuck sharing Karube with Arisu.
He curls up tighter in his covers, scowl deepening. Karube had sounded so … happy. All the while talking about some other guy he’d spent the day with. It made Niragi’s chest hurt.
Niragi doesn’t like Arisu.
He knows it immediately. Maybe it could be argued that he isn’t even giving Arisu a chance, but he doesn’t really care.
Karube comes to get him a little after 10. Niragi almost doesn’t want to go. He’d slept awfully, unable to get comfortable for the whole night and his mind racing with thoughts. Karube, on the other hand, is chipper, excited even - he looks so happy that Niragi can’t find it in himself to make any excuse to decline.
It’s only when they’re halfway to where they’re supposed to meet Arisu that Karube confesses he hadn’t told Arisu they were dating. He rubbed a hand up the back of his neck, through his buzzed blonde hair, an apologetic expression on his face.
Niragi bristles, but brushed it off with a ‘whatever, it’s fine’.
It’s not fine. He’s a little annoyed. Some part of him knows it’s better that way, that it’s difficult to tell people about. He hasn’t told anyone after all. They’ve both kept it private, so why would Karube tell Arisu?
Still, it kind of hurts.
They get closer to the meeting spot and Karube suddenly perks up at the sight of a guy.
“Arisu!” He calls, mouth splitting into a wide grin. His pace picks up as he jogs over. The guy - Arisu - perks up too, grinning and waving as he spots Karube.
Niragi bites back a frown, not hurrying any faster, arguably even dragging his feet. He wishes it was just him and Karube hanging out. Karube and Arisu are already laughing about something as Niragi finally reaches them.
“Arisu, this is Niragi,” Karube says, clapping a hand on Niragi’s shoulder, pulling him in to join their little group.
Niragi forces a polite nod. Arisu is equally polite, then goes immediately back to talking to Karube. Niragi falls into silence and neither seem to notice. Karube hauls him along, walking between both him and Arisu, but still, he’s starting to feel like a third wheel.
Falling to the wayside, Niragi steps back and observes.
Karube and Arisu are shoulder-to-shoulder practically the entire time. They’re laughing and smiling at each other, and there’s a prickling underneath Niragi’s skin as he watches. Karube had called them ‘friends’, but was that really all it was between them? Niragi didn’t presume to think he was the first guy Karube had ever liked, but they’d never actually talked about it. Arisu is someone from his past, could it be that he was someone Karube had had a crush on?
The two are hunched over some arcade game that Karube is losing at and Arisu is teasing him about, and Niragi just sighs quietly. He could speak up and say he was walking away, but it didn’t seem like there was a point, they probably wouldn’t notice if he was there or not. He can’t stand to keep watching them.
It’s different with Arisu somehow. Niragi doesn’t care as much when it’s the girls at school hanging all over Karube. He doesn’t necessarily like it, but Karube comes home with him, kisses him - even if just in private, away from wandering eyes. At school, Karube is just polite to the girls, he’s cool and confident like some character out of some girly teen drama - it’s nothing like this close friendliness that he has with Arisu. It makes Niragi’s gut twist in knots, he almost feels sick. Shoulder-to-shoulder with Arisu, it’s covert and almost intimate, like when Karube and Niragi would hang out.
He tries to shake it off, taking a deep breath and trying to clear his mind. Walking quietly down the lines of arcade games, Niragi glances around. The place is loud and bright and almost overwhelming. Any other day it might have even been fun, but right now it’s just irritating and noisy and making his head hurt. He scrubs a hand over his face, bumping his glasses, still tired from his day of studying yesterday and his bad night’s sleep. His eyes drag over the games. There’s a handful he could play solo to pass the time. He’s still deciding when he feels a chill in his veins at a familiar group before him.
Arata and his cronies, hunkered over some game, more focused now than Niragi had ever seen them in school.
It’s like deja vu, like remembering why he stayed holed up inside on his weekends back before Karube started inviting him out. He can feel a panicked tremor in his hands, the feeling shakily dragging from his fingertips and up his arms. His hands clench into fists to try and stop the shaking. He wants to run but his feet feel like they’re cemented to the ground. Turning quickly, he hopes they haven’t spotted him and forces his feet to move.
He only gets a few steps before he feels a hand grab his shoulder. Jerking away, he yanks out of the grip, his heart pounding. He settles a bit when he realises it’s Karube, though his breathing is still a little shaky.
“Hey, you wondered off! What were you doing?” Karube asks, casual and cheery. Arisu stands behind him, glancing at Niragi.
“I -” It tumbles pathetically out of Niragi’s mouth. His throat feels tight, cutting his voice off.
Karube seems to recognise the panic in Niragi’s eyes and turns to follow his gaze, quickly noticing Arata as the group of bullies cheer and holler over his apparent win. Niragi watches how Karube’s jaw tightens, his mouth drawing into a thin line. There’s a flicker of something on his eyes.
Turning back, Karube reaches out to turn Niragi away from the group. His hand is warm in the middle of Niragi’s back. He shifts to hook an arm around Arisu’s neck, hauling him in as well and walking the two of them out of the arcade.
“Come on, let’s go get something to eat. I’m starving!” Karube says, flashing a grin, but Niragi notices how it doesn’t quite meet his eyes.
Niragi’s not hungry. He sits quietly at a table in the convenience store, sipping from a bottle of water. Arisu has excused himself to the bathroom, finally leaving Karube and Niragi to themselves. Karube shifts to watch until he’s out of sight, then shuffles his chair closer to Niragi. He nudges his foot against Niragi’s, leaning his arms on the table.
“Hey, are you okay?” He asks. Niragi nods curtly. Karube’s hand moves to brush his fingertips over Niragi’s knuckles, then takes his hand, his fingers sliding against Niragi’s palm. “They didn’t do anything, right? We don’t have to go back, we can go somewhere else.”
“I think I might just go home,” Niragi answers simply. Karube frowns slightly, so Niragi makes an excuse. “I’m tired.”
It’s a horrible lie, and Karube probably sees right through him but at this point he doesn’t care. Karube’s spent practically the entire time paying attention to Arisu and barely giving any to Niragi, and he can’t stand to keep watching it. He’d almost rather deal with Arata and his idiots. Almost.
“Do you want me to walk you home?”
Of course he does, but he can’t say that.
“No, I’ll be fine.” He tries not to grit his teeth. “You and Arisu can keep hanging out.”
Karube stares at him, he rubs his thumb softly over Niragi’s fingers.
“Okay. If you’re sure.”
When Arisu starts walking back over, Karube pulls his hand back. The warmth quickly fades from Niragi’s hand. His fingers flex. Karube perks up when Arisu sits down and the two start talking again. Niragi isn’t listening, it’s just noise in his ears as he stares at the lip of his water bottle. After a few minutes, he stands, excuses himself, and just leaves.
Arisu is, annoyingly, still polite. Even says it was nice to meet him.
When Karube and Arisu eventually to call it a day, there’s still a few hours of daylight left so Karube decides to go see Niragi. He’d left so quickly Karube could barely focus on what he and Arisu had been doing for the rest of the day. Maybe Arata had left him shaken, but Niragi had been acting off all day - ever since last night actually, and Karube wasn’t sure why.
Strolling up the path to Niragi’s house, he knocks on the door, leaning his weight from foot to foot. The door opens and he’s greeted by Niragi’s mom. Karube flashes a smile, saying hello as he’s ushered inside.
Niragi’s mother looks a lot like him. She’s got a kind of bird-fragile frame that’s on the taller side, and dark intense eyes that Niragi had clearly inherited from her. She pats a delicate hand on Karube’s shoulder as she confirms for him that Niragi has been holed up in his room ever since coming home.
Karube ducks in a polite short bow before he heads down the familiar hall to Niragi’s room. He raps his knuckles quickly on his door before entering, closing the door behind him. Niragi is lying on his side on his bed, facing the wall and reading a book. Karube hucks a packet of biscuits at him that hits him in the shoulder, and then flops onto the bed beside him. Niragi shuffles slightly to give him more room and shifts the biscuits aside so they don’t get crushed, but he still hasn’t said anything.
Karube frowns slightly, shifting onto one elbow and prodding at Niragi’s side with his other hand. Niragi tucks more in on himself, keeping his gaze on his book. Karube leans in, kissing the back of his neck, nuzzling his nose into the dark hair at his nape that he’d been slowly growing out - much to Karube’s delight.
“Niragi,” Karube complains, drawing his name out when he doesn’t get the reaction he wanted. He grabs at Niragi’s waist, shaking him lightly, trying to get his attention.
With a rough sigh, Niragi closes his book then shifts to sit up. Karube follows suit, sitting up further down the bed and crossing his legs. He stares expectantly at Niragi, setting his forearms on his legs, leaning towards him. Glancing at him then looking away, Niragi worries his teeth over his bottom lip.
He’s been thinking about what he wanted to say to Karube ever since he got home, but now that he was here, suddenly it all seemed wrong and he didn’t know where to start.
Niragi takes a breath, then focuses his gaze on Karube.
“Do you like Arisu?”
Karube quirks a brow at him, confused.
“He’s my friend.”
“That’s not what I meant - and that’s not what it looked like. You two were practically all over each other all day.” There’s a bitter kind of tone in Niragi’s voice, jaw tight as he pouts, his gaze shifting to not meet Karube’s eyes.
For a moment, Karube just stares at him, his eyes searching over Niragi’s serious, pinched expression. Niragi shifts, his hands fiddling nervously in his lap. It’s suddenly very obvious what Niragi’s problem all day had been. A smile slowly twists onto Karube’s mouth.
“You’re jealous.”
There’s a kind of awe about it in Karube’s voice.
Niragi frowns, annoyed, and he huffs.
“Whatever. I’m tired. You can leave.”
He moves to turn away, kicking a foot into Karube’s thigh. Karube just laughs, darting forward to wrap his arms around him, tucking his face against Niragi’s collar. He pushes him back down onto the bed, effortlessly pinning Niragi under his body. Niragi grumbles, shoving limply at him to try and get him off. Karube lets him nudge him back slightly until they’re looking face-to-face.
Niragi’s still frowning and Karube huffs an amused quiet sigh out his nose, shaking his head slightly. He presses a short kiss to the corner of Niragi’s mouth. Niragi looks away at the blankness of the wall beside his bed.
“Arisu’s just a friend, Niragi. That’s all.”
Niragi’s mouth twists slightly, seemingly not fully convinced. His eyes flicker back over to look at Karube.
“Really?”
Karube chuckles, nodding.
“Yes. Just a friend.” He prods a finger against Niragi’s soft cheek. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”
Niragi huffs, rolling his eyes, mollified: “Shut up.”
Karube grins, ducking in to kiss over his face until Niragi laughs and tries to push him away, squirming under the affectionate assault. Finally relenting, Karube props himself on his elbows, still lying mostly on top of Niragi. They’re both breathing a little rougher, and Niragi is cutely pink all the way to his ears.
Hearing footsteps down the hall, both move quickly to detangle from each other and sit up, pretending to be casual as Niragi’s mother pokes her head into the room to tell them to come eat. Karube flashes a polite smile while Niragi glances aside, running a hand through his hair to neaten it as he tries to settle the flush on his face.
It should be fine when they go back to school. Arisu doesn’t go to their school, so Niragi should have nothing to worry about - but that’s not the case. That same jealous twang comes back, and quickly. He and Karube are walking down the hall in the morning when he gets budged out of the way, stumbling as one of two girls takes his place beside Karube, the other sidles up way too close on Karube’s other side.
Niragi huffs, shaking his head. One of the girls starts talking to Karube, and Niragi grits his teeth and just keeps walking. A hand grabs his elbow before he can get too far ahead and Karube drags him back to walk beside him; his fingers brush against Niragi’s palm as he slides his grip away. The girl who had knocked him out of the way huffs and steps around to stand at her friend’s side, pouting over being displaced.
“- you should come hang out with us after school, Karube. We never get to see you.”
The girl is hanging off Karube’s arm, clinging to him. Niragi looks away, his mouth twisting. He wants to grab Karube’s hand and drag him away. He wants to kiss him right here in front of these girls so they’ll finally realise they have no chance with him. He does neither.
Karube, casually, just hums, head tilting as he thinks.
“Sorry, I’ve already got plans,” Karube finally answers. The two girls groan in reply.
“Come on, Karube! Just blow ‘em off and come hang out with us.”
The girl pulls on Karube’s arm. He just laughs lightly.
“Sorry, sorry, another time maybe?” He says, detangling himself from her grip as they get closer to their classroom. The girls pout and Karube smiles and waves as they walk off. Niragi frowns slightly as he watches, then picks up his pace to go and slump into his seat, leaving Karube at the classroom door.
His gaze turns sideways to look out the window. It’s a dreary day, the horizon is deep grey with heavy rain clouds. It seems fitting, considering how Niragi is feeling.
Despite the fact that he hangs around with Karube, nobody talks Niragi as much as they do him. It’s like he’s invisible to them. Karube tries to include him where he can, but it doesn’t matter, Niragi’s not the one the people want, not to hang out with or ‘help study’ or whatever other drivel they ask of Karube as an excuse to talk to him or just be near him.
It’s all day that people approach Karube and Niragi tries to ignore it but he can’t. It’s infuriating and Niragi can barely stand it. By the time school ends for the day, Niragi is tense with annoyance.
For the last three days, he’s barely managed to get Karube alone at all, first Arisu and now his school peers.
Grabbing his bag in the afternoon, he adjusts his glasses and skulks out of the front doors. There’s a chill in the wind and the sky is still dark, the air is heavy with the threat of rainfall.
Noticing his quick escaping pace, Karube says goodbye to the group he’d been talking to and rushes after Niragi, falling into step beside him.
“Hey, slow down,” Karube complains, grabbing at the handhold of Niragi’s backpack to unrush his pace. “Why didn’t you wait for me?”
Niragi doesn’t meet his gaze, just keeps walking, his jaw tight.
“You looked busy, and I didn’t want to get caught in the rain,” he replies curtly, curling his hands into his bag straps, hiking it higher on his back. Karube frowns, his brows furrowing.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He knows it’s petty, what he’s going to say, but it tumbles spitefully out of his mouth before he can stop it. “I can get home by myself, you can go hang out with those girls if you want.”
“What?”
The wind starts to pick up, Niragi can feel the cold spits of rain starting to fall and spatter against his skin.
“Or those guys or that other group or Arisu -”
“Are you still upset about Arisu? I thought we talked that out already. Niragi, he’s just a friend!”
“You’re the only one I have!”
Karube jerks back, surprised. Niragi’s face is flustered red, his hands are trembling. His dark eyes keep flitting away, wet with unshed embarrassed tears. A shaky breath is sucked in as Niragi sniffles. He shoves a hand against his face, shifting his glasses up as he roughs his palm against his eyes to clear the tears away.
The rain is falling heavier now and Karube grabs Niragi’s arm to usher him back under some cover. Niragi quickly pulls out of Karube grip, taking a step away to put some distance between them. With a deep breath, Niragi’s voice comes out a bit steadier, but still cracks a little as he continues.
“I don’t have any other friends, but people like you so much and everyone wants to be your friend - nobody wants to be mine. They all just see me as Arata’s punching bag and they don’t want to be around me in case they end up getting targeted too.”
“Niragi …”
“It’s true! And I can’t blame them, and of course they’d all want to be around you but …” he trails off, sighing quietly, “I just wanted to keep you to myself.”
“Niragi -”
“I don’t have anyone else but you.” Niragi’s hand tense at his sides. He blinks back tears. “If you hang out with them, you’ll see … you’ll realise …”
He sniffles quietly, his bottom lip wobbles. Karube’s gaze softens. He steps forward to reach out for Niragi, his hand curls gently around his wrist. Softly - hopefully comfortingly - he rubs his thumb over the fragile bony point.
“Realise what?”
“That they’re easier to be around.” Niragi’s voice is small, it’s thready and barely audible. “Not as much trouble as I am.”
“Do you really think I’d just … what? Abandon you? For any of them?”
Niragi doesn’t answer, just inhales shakily, not looking at him. Karube reaches out to grab him by his shoulders, squeezing gently. His gaze flickers over Niragi’s face; his hair’s wet from the rain, there’s droplets on his glasses. Sighing quietly, he plucks Niragi’s glasses off his face, cleaning them on a dry part of his shirt. Niragi wipes his face again, a flustered pink sheen still colouring his cheeks. Karube carefully sets his glasses back on.
“Niragi, I care about you, and I’m not going anywhere. Just because I hang out with other people doesn’t mean I’m going to stop liking you.” He runs a hand over his buzzed head. “You could always come with me.”
“So they can ignore me like they do at school?”
“Well, fuck them then! If they don’t want to hang out with you, I don’t want to hang around them -” his head tilts slightly in consideration, “- but you should really try to give them a chance, some of them are nicer than you think.”
Niragi frowns slightly, brow quirking in disbelief. Karube lifts a hand to his cheek, leaning in to kiss him softly. His mouth tastes like rain. Niragi’s hands move to grip tightly to the front of his school jacket. Thunder rumbles lowly in the distance, the rain is still pattering.
When they part, Karube frowns at the rainfall.
“Doesn’t look like it’ll stop anytime soon,” he says, then reaches to grab Niragi’s hand, “My place is closer, come on.”
Turning, he squeezes Niragi’s hand, then quickly rushes out into the rain, dragging Niragi along with him. Niragi huffs a short laugh - “wait, hold on!” - and yanks his glasses off his face as they run, shoving them into his pocket to shield them from the rain. They splash through puddles, scampering through the wetness until they’re racing up towards Karube’s house and barreling through the front door into the quiet, empty home.
Niragi is puffing for breath and laughing, hunched over with his hands on his knees. Karube grins at him, shucking his now-soaked bag off onto the ground and kicking his shoes off. He pulls on the strap of Niragi’s bag, helping him pull it off and putting it on the ground behind his own.
Tugging on Niragi’s arm, he pulls him to the bathroom, both moving quick to try and not drip too much water through the house. It’s chilly and they’re both soaked through. Niragi’s dark hair is flattened to his skull, dripping water into his eyes and down the slope of his nose. He’s shivering slightly.
They strip down their boxers, gathering their uniforms into a damp pile on the tiles. Looping one towel around his shoulders, Karube drops the other towel over Niragi’s head, starting to dry his hair for him. After a few minutes, he nudges the towel back to hang around Niragi’s neck, smiling softly at him. Niragi runs a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face as he puts his glasses back on.
“Your hair’s getting long,” Karube says, tugging on a loose strand. “It looks good.”
Niragi rolls his eyes, huffing a quiet laugh. Seeing Karube opening his mouth to speak again, he reaches out to grab the towel around his neck and pull him in for a kiss. Karube’s hands run up into his hair, threading the soft strands between his fingers. He smiles against Niragi’s lips.
Pulling back, he ruffles his hands through Niragi’s hair, laughing at the way his face scrunches before he pushes Karube away. He sets his glasses on the bathroom counter and goes back to finish drying his hair. Quickly drying himself off, Karube tosses his towel aside, then leans down to grab the pile of wet clothes. There’s a quiet rumble of thunder from outside as he pads down the hallway, dumping the clothes into the washing machine.
Heading back to the bathroom, he finds Niragi neatly hanging the towels up. For a moment, he just pause to look at him. He’s lean and pretty, a thin frame with smooth skin; with Karube looking out for him, his bruises from the bullies have long since had time to heal fully, leaving nary a mark behind. There’s smatterings of small superficial scars here and there, though they’re barely noticeable unless someone could get as close to him as Karube could.
Niragi looks up and meets his gaze, a slight smile quirks on his lips. He strolls over to nudge Karube out of the doorway, letting him take the lead towards his room.
Niragi sits on the corner of Karube’s bed, watching him as he digs around in his closet. Karube tosses him a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt before finding a pair for himself. The shirt hangs a little bit big on Niragi, but Karube just grins at the sight of Niragi wearing his clothes, and bodies him back onto the bed to straddle over his hips.
Reaching up, Niragi curls a hand into the front of Karube’s shirt, pulling him in closer. His lips hover near Karube’s before he darts away, kissing the side of his throat, flicking his tongue over the smooth expanse of skin. Karube shivers at the feeling of the piercing against his neck; he slides his hand up Niragi’s chest to curl into the dark hair at his nape. Niragi’s free hand slips underneath Karube’s shirt, smoothing up his spine.
Karube suddenly feels the scrape of teeth against his throat and chokes out a noise. Niragi kisses over what has to be a mark.
“You really do just want to keep me for yourself, huh?” Karube murmurs, amused, massaging his fingertips against the back of Niragi’s head. Niragi noses under his jaw, humming contently.
Shifting, Karube ducks down to mouth over Niragi’s neck, soon pausing to leave his own mark. Niragi squirms against the feeling, his fingers gripping tight into Karube’s shirt, a quiet breathy moan escaping him. Pulling back, Karube looks at the red mark, just low enough that he could hide it under the collar of his uniform, but still obvious enough if someone looked close enough.
“Now we match,” Karube muses.
Moving, he slumps onto the free space of the bed. It’s not that big of a bed, it would’ve probably felt squishy to anyone who wasn’t them. Niragi takes his glasses off then rolls onto his side, and Karube reaches out a hand to brush his dark hair back from his face.
It’s peaceful. The silent house, and the stormy rainfall which has slowed to something more gentle, a soft comforting pattering against the roof and windows. Karube’s fingers traces lazy nonsense patterns over Niragi’s side. He shuffles in closer, throwing his arm over Niragi’s waist.
“I think you and Arisu would get along, if you want to give it another chance,” he says, his tone cautious as he tries not to push it on Niragi. A small frown pulls at Niragi’s lips as he considers it. As Karube continues, he picks his words carefully. “We could also tell him we’re dating. If you want.”
Niragi pauses, looking up to meet his gaze. His brows furrow slightly.
“We could tell everyone.”
“Aren’t you worried what people would think?” Niragi asks quietly. “I don’t want you to be bullied because of me; it’s already bad enough when people think you’re just friends with me.”
“I can deal with any bullies who try to give us trouble, just like I did Arata.”
Niragi’s tongue shifts behind his teeth, feeling the prod of the piercing. Arata will surely give them hell when he finds out. As for the rest of his classmates, he’s not sure.
“Maybe we start with just Arisu,” he compromises.
Karube nods: “Sure.”
They fall back into a comfortable silence. Karube is holding on to it for as long as he can, knowing that Niragi will eventually pull him up to do their homework, insisting even when Karube complains. For now though, he can just relax and let his mind wander. Niragi’s eyes flutter closed and he rolls over, so Karube tucks up against his back, nosing into his hair.
A thought pops into his head and he leans over Niragi, smiling and dropping his chin onto Niragi’s bicep.
“How about we see Arisu on Sunday? And on Saturday we can go the amusement park? Just you and me,” He offers. Niragi blinks an eye open to look up at him.
“You have to go on the swinging boat ride with me.”
Karube laughs. “It’s a date.”