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Akihiko scurried through the dark street, trying his hardest to keep his eyes open in all directions. Not only to search for the very thing most streets wouldn’t have in this era, but also to look out for the creep who had been following him for several blocks now. Seriously, what age is this? Was he too much of a twink that it warranted a creep following him around? Or did he look like a woman that the person thought he’d be an easy target?
Well, he was an easy target. Also, women nowadays would carry knives, pepper sprays, and whatnot precisely because of creeps like that. Not that Akihiko wanted this creep to follow a woman instead of him, he wasn’t that much of an asshole, even though he was a man. But seriously, why him? A woman would have a better fighting chance than the skinny old him! No, why follow people in the first place? Seriously, why? That was the real issue here. Why act like a creep?
Akihiko wanted to curse the Japanese habit of never keeping a shop open past 11 p.m. in the countryside. Certainly, there were places that were still open at this hour, but they were either in the red light district, which was a whole town over, or a convenience store who-knows-how-many-blocks-over. People in this town were very health-savvy kind of people, which Akihiko loved, truly. They were friendly, often holding a lot of neighbourhood events, loved hiking, or just lounging around quietly, keeping a healthy habit of resting at healthy hours, among others. He really loved the atmosphere of this town, which was why he chose this place to live in the first place.
But that decision had come to bite him, and from the look of it, right in the ass. Akihiko knew his ass was plump, but he didn’t want his decision to bite him in the ass. If his decision was to bite him in the ass, it’d better be a man taller than him, with a more solid build, a bit of a mysterious aura, soft-spoken with an equally soft voice. A decision he made after a few peaceful yet fun dates. But not this. Why this?!
The day had started very well. Akihiko’s plants were thriving, he found some extra cash in his trousers’ pocket, and he didn’t trip over himself walking out of the house. The sun was shining nicely instead of scorchingly, he got an extra bottle of Pocari at the store, and his favourite gummy was in stock. See? It was a very good start to the day, and the rest of the day.
Akihiko greeted the townsfolk when he was walking in the park, and while he was reading, a very cute Samoyed greeted him with a pounce. It wasn’t every day a cute Samoyed would pounce on you, much less be very reluctant to part ways with you. And then, a very lady-like Calico cat sat beside him. That Calico was a very arrogant cat, which is understandable, if he were a cat, Akihiko would also be arrogant and aloof. But that wasn’t the point! The point was, Miss Nadeshiko the cat never let anyone near her except for her owner. And now she was lounging! Lounging! Right beside Akihiko!
The day started off great, too great.
Akihiko should’ve known by then. He should’ve known that his name would be on the front page of the newspaper as the unfortunate victim of a famous serial killer by the name of Disco Strangler, who strangled their victims with a yo-yo or something. And his mothers would be reading the news, mourning the death of their only sunshine son. His mug would be plastered all over the news, people he didn’t even know would be interviewed and comment something like “He was a good person,” and his posts on social medias would be analyzed to all hell.
Mother, Mommy, I’m sorrrryyyyyy…
It was also a special day, so the fact that this thing was happening was just a big middle finger to Akihiko, if he were to be honest. A couple he had known since his high school years were celebrating their engagement. They were the ones who inspired Akihiko to move to this town, from how often they describe their life here. Akihiko, who had to listen to them gushing over how lovely this town was ever since they moved here during every outing they had and almost every day in their group chat, had no choice but to be influenced.
It was a nice dinner, at a nice restaurant, followed by a nice cafe, which was owned by an acquaintance of theirs, before ending their night at a bar, whose owner was also an acquaintance. Yes, they had so many acquaintances, courtesy of the friendly couple. And when they knew someone, they’d try their best to get Akihiko to also know the person. They were lovely and accommodating like that.
The bad luck started to appear at the bar, their last destination. First, Akihiko’s order was mixed up. He ordered an oolong highball, with so little shochu that you couldn’t even call it a highball. But what came was a plain old draft beer. He had to wait another 10 minutes for a replacement because the bar was weirdly packed. And then, his otsumami also had to wait for 15 minutes because of the frying and all. He ordered karaage and tempura, so that was understandable. But the thing was, they arrived 15 minutes after his replacement drink arrived. Akihiko never liked drinking without anything to munch on.
Yeah, he might have been feeling kinda like a brat about it, but sue him. It was like eating without anything to watch, okay? The couple wasn’t helping, either. They teased him about how pouty his lips were and how they could hang an oil barrel on them. Then, they proceeded to be lovey-dovey right in front of his barely-oolong-highball while he was snackless. Wasn’t that just cruel? And when he voiced it out, they teased him again, saying how cute he was being and how they couldn’t believe he was still single until now.
Well, excuse me, it’s not my fault that men are men. Even though he was a man himself, Akihiko couldn’t understand why people made such a big deal about men. Yes, he was gay, but seriously, men? With the exception of very few, men were just decorative objects to him. They were nice to look at, sure, some of them. But to have one in your life constantly? Euww, no. Just, no. Men were burdens, brats who didn’t know how to take care of themselves, or so his mothers told him. Sure, Akihiko was a bit of a brat himself. But his brattiness was more of a ‘bratty bottom’ type than a ‘I’m a brat who can’t do shit if Mama doesn’t take care and clean up after me’ type. Plus, Akihiko was also kinda cute. Yes, of course, it wasn’t all men; just men who have this weird self-confidence about themselves. But that still meant most men; again, according to his mothers.
Then what about him, you asked? Well, Akihiko’s mothers knew he was gay even before he came out of the womb. So, they have plenty of time to teach Akihiko about the downside of men, and how Akihiko shouldn’t be a typical man. It was a good thing his mothers have good gay-dar. Wait, was it good? Was teaching your gay son that most men were trash good? Now Akihiko had to ponder that one.
But, he’d digress.
Wait, he already did, didn’t he?
Anyway, he had a pleasant time at the bar. If not for that encounter at the privy and the following stare from the guy he bumped into throughout the rest of his time at the bar, that was.
Akihiko was getting out of the toilet when, as per usual, he tripped over the threshold. It was typical of him, really, and he was used to this, nearing 30 years now. Suddenly, a hand reached out and saved his face from making acquaintance with the floor. Akihiko knew the staff cleaned it meticulously, but it was still the floor, yanno? The soles of people’s shoes stepped on it, covered with who-knows-what every single day. He didn’t want to risk it, even though his face greeted the floor outside of his house almost daily. At least the front of his house was his.
The hand that saved him belonged to a guy, or Akihiko assumed it was a guy, as he was quite tall, and in a windbreaker with its hoodie fully up. He didn’t see the guy’s face, which put an extra fear factor into his current situation, but at that time, he just thought the guy was nice. Some people would just leave him to his fate, after all, yet this guy stepped in and saved him. Akihiko thanked him and went on his way. That should be the end of that interaction. However…
“I… Um, do you…”
The guy started to mumble something, and being indebted, Akihiko stayed to hear what he had to say.
“Ha-Have we met before?” asked the guy.
Now look, Akihiko might be plain-looking, but even he had a fair share of experience in being hit on. And of all sentences as the opener, “Have we met before?” was at the top of the list. Following that was, “You look familiar.” Yes, those two were practically the same thing, but they were the things some people do be saying all the time. The worst part was, he couldn’t even see the guy’s face, so he didn’t know how to respond! He didn’t know whether the guy was genuinely asking that, or if he was trying the lame-ass pick-up line, assuming Akihiko would be susceptible, gullible-looking as he was.
As with anything, Akihiko went with the worst-case scenario. The guy was trying to hit on him, and he might be a creep; hoodie and all.
“No, I don’t think so.”
With that, Akihiko quickly left.
And that was when the stare started. Akihiko knew it was that guy, and he should’ve told the couple, but he felt it was too much and not good to sour such a beautiful outing. So he kept silent.
Which was a big fucking mistake!
And now here he was, alone in the dark street, at fucking midnight, with his phone out of battery, and no phone booth in sight! Mother would chew him out when she found out he had gone out without properly checking his phone’s battery or bringing his power bank with him. Was it his fault, though? That thing was always in his bag, and he almost never used it, having always charged his phone before going out. This time, he just took the power bank out to check if the battery was still full, and he forgot it at the table, right beside his bag, when he went out.
So it was totally not his fault! No, Akihiko was a good boy who was fully prepared. Always! Except for this time. Just this one time! And it was on the night when he would potentially meet his demise, of all time!
He turned back to check if the creep was still following him, after all this distance and time. Aaaaannndd, yup! He was still there, right behind a car, acting like it was enough to conceal his figure. Seriously, what the fuck? Why did he get stuck with a psycho while everyone else got a normal guy who fawned upon them? He wanted a normal encounter, a normal exchange of contact info, a normal asking out scene, a normal few dates, a normal everything!
After a while and a few left and right turns, Akihiko finally saw the oasis he’d been searching for the past what, 20 - 30 minutes? 2 - 3 hours? 2 - 3 days? It certainly felt that long to him. Anyway, he found a public phone booth! He was saved! Maybe… How long would it take for Haruka to arrive here from his place, anyway? Wait, where did he live again?
Aaah, it doesn’t matter! Haruka loves me, so he will come and fetch me if I ask him! Like that one time in Kamakura, or that time in Aomori, or that one particular incident in Hyōgo, or… And that’s how Akihiko convinced himself, with only a few changes in his pocket, having also forgotten his coin pouch at home. With a woosh, he immediately stepped into the booth and put all the coins he had with him, all 85 yen of them. He then dialled Haruka’s number, praying that he’d still be up at this hour. Which, now that he thought about it, was a rare occurrence.
Haruka, Akihiko’s best friend for almost 10 years, always slept early, like an elderly man. The man would eat almost anything, as long as it tasted good, but he kept a very rigid sleeping schedule. Akihiko once asked him about that, and Haruka just said it was very good for the brain, and he really needed the brain. Akihiko didn’t know what he was talking about, but knew that it must be somewhat of a sore spot for Haruka, so he didn’t probe further. Haruka was smart, just not the book-smart type, and Akihiko didn’t know why he insisted that he needed the brain. But from then on, he always helped Haruka with whatever he was struggling with, whether academically or socially, because Haruka could be too blunt at times. Well, not at times, but more like all the time?
Anyway, Akihiko persisted with that endeavour, even when Haruka no longer had that kind of misunderstanding about himself. And Haruka also kept his habit of sleeping early, even when he now knew that he didn’t need the brain that much; he was already smart. And now he was rambling. He already did that for the past who-knows-how-many-minutes, but who was counting? Not him, certainly!
“Please pick it up! Please pick up! Please! Please! Please! Pick up!” prayed Akihiko fervently.
Click!
“This better be good…” A clear voice rang out.
“Haruka, please pick me up! There’s a creep following me from the bar- Wait, you’re not Haruka…” Akihiko’s would-be rant was cut short when he realised that the voice answering the phone call wasn’t Haruka’s usual gruff yet soft voice, but a very clear and crisp voice, quite melodic, even.
“Very well spotted. And you’re calling from a…” There was some rustling sound before the voice resumed, “A public phone. Okay, how about you calm down first? I can hear you hyperventilating from here. Hang up and call your boyfriend, okay? You should save your coins, I know people don’t usually carry around small change nowadays.”
“Wha- Haaahhh…” Akihiko let out a huge breath, trying to calm himself. Yeah, not working. “H-Haruka isn’t my boyfriend, he’s my friend! The bestest friend in the world, the bestest friend one could ever ask for! How dare you besmirch our very sacred friendship by calling him my boyfriend! Haruka is the name of the most angelic man among the long list of names on birth certificates that the municipal government of Tokyo had issued, the greatest man who had bestowed the most empty Donki branch with his presence and immediately made it a popular spot, the amazing man who still praised my first attempt at Mont Blanc even though it tasted more like watered down nut water instead of chestnuts! The only person who didn’t laugh when I dyed my hair blond, even saying that it suits me! He said I look like an angel! (Actually, Haruka said he looked positively Cherubic, but that was neither here nor there.) Calling him my boyfriend is an absolute insult to him! He-”
The stranger on the other side of the call cut Akihiko’s rant short by saying, “Yes, yes, yes, I’m sorry for even thinking that Haruka is your boyfriend, Mr. Stranger. Now, how about we end this call and you call your greatest, bestest friend, hmm?”
“But I can’t!” Akihiko wailed. “I only got 85 yen, and I already put them all in when calling you. And how the hell did that happen, anyway? I’m pretty sure I called Haruka! I’ve memorised his phone number and I couldn’t possibly get it wrong! I don’t even memorise my phone number, and now you’re telling me I memorised Haruka’s number wrong?! Then how did I manage to call him before? I can’t possibly be calling a stranger who also goes by the name of Haruka all those times I’ve been stranded, can I? I-”
Before Akihiko could spiral even further in his horrifying thoughts of doppelgangers and whatnot, the man on the phone once again cut him off, saying, “All right, calm down. Breathe in, hold it… And breathe out. Breathe in… Hold… Breathe out.” Once he was sure Akihiko had halted his spiraling, which Akihiko wondered how he could even possibly know, the man asked, “Okay, so, you’re saying someone’s following you, right?”
“Huh? Ah, y-yes!”
“Okay, where are you now? Judging from the area code of the public phone, you seem to be in my city.”
“I’m in Makochi, at the shopping district near the lake… Hang on, why do you ask?” Akihiko was puzzled. Why on Earth does this guy want to know where I am? It can’t be…
“Why? So I can go fetch you, of course,” came the laid-back answer from the stranger. The stranger Akihiko had dialled by mistake because he was stupid enough not to memorise Haruka’s number correctly.
“N-No, you don’t have to! Can you just call Haruka for me, instead? I’ll give you his number.” Akihiko started rattling off Haruka’s number to the guy. While he felt bad because he was essentially telling a stranger his best friend’s phone number without permission, Haruka would surely forgive him, considering that this was an emergency.
“I can see how you dialled up my number instead. Your friend’s number is identical to mine, just switch up the last two numbers. Anyway, is your friend living close by?”
“He’s currently living in Tokyo, actually. But it’s fine. He had to fetch me in Gifu that one time, and-”
“So it’ll take him about 2 hours to get to you. Is the person following you still there?” cut off the stranger again. Seriously, someone needed to teach him some manners. It was very rude to cut people off mid-sentence.
Never mind, he’s being kind enough to keep talking to me, someone whom he doesn’t even know. A bit of rudeness shall be tolerated. And yeah, that creep…
Akihiko squinted his eyes to better see his surroundings. And sure enough, he could still see the creep’s shadow not far away from him.
“Oh, god, oh, god, oh, god! He’s still here! Aaaaaa! I’m finished! My moms will find out how stupid I am in tomorrow’s newspaper, Hajime-san and Tsubaki-san will be shocked by my stupid demise, and Haruka… Oh, Haruka, you poor angel. You’ll find out from a stranger that I stupidly misdialled your number and-”
“Hey, hey, hey… None of that now. Come on, take a deep breath. Now let it out. Feeling better now?”
Instead of answering, Akihiko just nodded. There was some rustling sound again, and Akihiko was pretty sure it was the sound of someone putting their clothes on. He didn’t know how the stranger knew he was better now, but the man on the phone continued, “Okay, good. Now, if you’re at the shopping district by the lake that I know, then I’m living very close by.” Akihiko could now hear the sounds of keys jingling and shoes being put on. “It’ll take me around 5 minutes to reach you, since there are almost no cars on the road at this time. Wait for me, okay? Can you-”
The call ended. The coins Akihiko had poured in have run out. Figures. Just his luck.
If anyone asked him before this, Akihiko would say 5 minutes were very short. You couldn’t do shit in 5 minutes, not even peeing. But now… Now, Akihiko would say 5 minutes were hella long! You could accomplish so many things in 5 minutes. For example, stuff like murder! Or killing! Or deleting someone from existence! Why must 5 minutes have 300 seconds? Couldn’t it be just like 60 seconds instead? Actually, why did time even exist? Do humans need time? Why must our existence be confined by time?
Akihiko heard footsteps; someone was approaching, no need to ask who. It was obvious. He racked his brain, trying to think of anything that could be used as a weapon. Keys! My keys!
“Uh… Um… Can I…”
While Akihiko was rummaging through his bag for his keys, the creep started stuttering something. Look, if he weren’t such a creep, Akihiko would’ve been patient enough to listen to what he had to say. Akihiko had patience, like, a lot of them. Being an introvert among the extroverts that were his family and friends was enough to hone one’s patience.
When it was clear that the creep wasn’t going to leave, even when Akihiko ignored him, Akihiko lost all propriety. He’d never been rude to anyone, even when they were rude to him, except for the people who were rude to his family and friends. But he had also never been stared at for hours at a bar and then followed in the middle of fucking night before. So, Akihiko thought his losing it was completely fucking justified.
“What? What do you want?! I have a boyfriend!”
The creep tilted his head, like he was confused. The heck? Why did he get confused? This guy had the gall to be confused when he was creeping in the shadow, following someone after staring at that someone for the entire night? The audacity…
“Huh? N-no! I-I-” said the creep. Well, more like stuttered the creep. If Akihiko were in his right mind at the moment, he would’ve sympathized with the guy, really.
But as it stood, Akihiko wasn’t in his right mind. He didn’t even know what was left and right, nor right and wrong at the moment. Chanting every prayer in every language he knew (ha, he only knew Japanese) to every gods he was aware of, Akihiko frantically continued to rummage through his bag for anything that could help him. Keys, keys, my motherfucking keys…
“I-I just want to ask, did you go to Himawari Elementary?”
That put a halt to Akihiko’s panic-driven treasure hunt on his bag. It even stopped his frantic thoughts. Hiwawari Elementary?
“Huh?”
“Your name is Nirei, right? We…we used to play hero together at the park near the city hall…”
“Huh? You’re… Agato? Hidaka Agato?” asked Akihiko, who now could see a resemblance of this creep- No, this guy, with a childhood friend of his. The way they were both tall but kept hunching their backs, because he couldn’t fucking see this guy’s face, for example.
“Y-yeah! I-”
Before Agato could finish his words, a car stopped right beside them, complete with the sound of tires screeching. Oh, wow, that’s a very expensive car…
A man got out of the car and unceremoniously twisted Agato’s arm and pinned it to his back.
“Sorry, I’m late. Mr. Stranger, right? Mr. Stranger with Haruka as his greatest, bestest friend?” the man asked, still keeping Agato’s arm on his back.
“Y-yeah…”
Fuck, Akihiko didn’t take into account that the silky voice he heard from the phone earlier would be paired with one of the most handsome and beautiful man he had ever laid eyes on! The eyepatch was a bit weird on modern people, but it just added to this man’s charm, somehow.
“Hmm?” The man smiled, his expression turned somewhat amused. “Yeah, what, Mr. Stranger?”
“It means ‘Yeah, stop bothering me, creep!’” A familiar voice rang out from behind Akihiko.
Large and warm hands suddenly enveloped Akihiko, and another familiar voice asked him, “Are you okay, Aki-chan?”
“Huh? Tsubaki-san! No, I’m fine!”
While Akihiko was greeting Tsubaki, Hajime was having a stand-off with the man and Agato. It was a good thing that Agato seemed to retain his quiet personality all these years, because Akihiko was too distracted by that man’s face that he forgot all about Agato. Not a good way to treat your childhood friend, to be honest. His mothers would scold him for forgetting his manners if they found out. When they found out.
“Hello, Umemiya-san,” greeted the man.
“Eh?” Hajime suddenly gasped. “Suou?”
“Can you stop glaring at me now?” said the man, whose name was apparently Suou, with a polite smile on his face. It looked like he knew the couple. And he was still holding Agato’s arm against his back. Lovely.
“Um, S-Suou-san?” tried Akihiko.
“Yes?” The smile Suou turned on him was a touch softer than the one he had been giving Hajime.
By gods, can he get any more handsome and charming? He even makes me feel safe, and I never feel safe with strangers!
“Thank you for coming to get me even though you didn’t even know me. But you can let go now, he’s not a creep,” explained Akihiko.
For some reason, Suou started to look at Akihiko intently before nodding and letting go of Agato’s arm. Apologetically, he said to Agato, “I’m sorry, that must’ve hurt. You can get it checked, I’ll pay for it.”
Akihiko immediately fussed over Agato, checking if his arm was okay and whatnot. Apparently having enough of socializing for perhaps the whole year, Agato just exchanged contact information with Akihiko before leaving. Not that Akihiko blamed him. It wasn’t every day that you tried to reconnect with an old friend, only to have them misunderstood you for a creep, and then proceed to report you to a stranger who then mysteriously showed up and twisted your arm behind your back. Akihiko maintained inwardly that it wasn’t 100% his fault, though. Anyone would think that when a man stared at you for a whole night and then proceeded to follow you. He did apologize profusely to Agato, though. It was only proper.
“Aki, care to explain?” asked Hajime.
“Huh? You’re the one who should explain, Hajime-san, Tsubaki-san! What are you two doing here?”
As it turned out, both Hajime and Tsubaki have noticed that Akihiko had been acting weird since returning from the privy at the bar earlier. However, since Akihiko didn’t say anything, they trusted him to be able to take care of himself. Still, when they called him to make sure he was okay, they couldn’t reach him. This was when the couple decided to go back and look for him, just to be sure. If Akihiko was okay, then they would invite him to their house for a sleepover. If something had happened, going back would only help Akihiko.
“Thank goodness you’re safe, Aki-chan! I don’t know what to say to your mothers and Haruka-chan if something happened to you!” exclaimed Tsubaki, hugging Akihiko so tightly he could feel his ribs crack.
“Yeah, Aki. We were so worried when we couldn’t reach you earlier,” added Hajime. Then, he turned to Suou and said, “And how are you here? I didn’t know you knew Aki.” He then strangely took on a rather protective stance. Akihiko wondered what Hajime was protecting and against what. Suou-san?
Before Suou could answer, Akihiko cut in, “I thought Agato was a creep and called Haruka on public phone because my phone died and I didn’t bring my powerbank with me. I missdialed and called Suou-san instead. He’s kind enough to listen to me rambling and even coming here when he doesn't even know me!” Mentioning this, Akihiko smiled and his eyes brightened.
Both Hajime and Tsubaki’s eyes narrowed at that, however.
“Oh, did he now?” Tsubaki smiled, a look in his eyes that Akihiko found puzzling. Why were they both so on guard? “I know you’re kind and like being helpful, Suou-chan, but I didn’t know you’re this kind.” After a pause, Tsubaki shared a look with Hajime before saying, “I guess we found a new side of you, huh?”
Suou chuckled and glanced at Akihiko, saying, “We all have our curiosities, Tsubaki-san. I just happened to exercise that curiosity tonight.”
After explaining the whole situation to Tsubaki and Hajime, with them fussing over him all the while, the couple began to have some kind of a weird stand-off with Suou. After a bit of conversation, which actually sounded more like an interrogation and a few ribbing here and there, the couple left after Suou guaranteed that he would deliver Akihiko home safely.
While leaving, Hajime did mumble something like, “We shouldn’t have babbled so much about Sunshine. Now this shameless guy is…” The rest was inaudible to Akihiko as the mumbling was stopped by an elbow to Hajime’s ribs, courtesy of Tsubaki. Akihiko wondered what that was about.
And now…
Now, Akihiko was in a car. Alone. With Suou. Just the two of them.
When Tsubaki and Hajime asked him if he wanted to go home with them, Akihiko immediately wanted to jump into that suggestion. However, he remembered that Suou, the kind and lovely Suou Hayato, drove all the way from his house to rescue Akihiko, a stranger. And he didn’t even ask for compensation in any form, didn’t have that condescending look on his face for being what was, essentially, a knight in shining armour (a very expensive car, actually. No armour.), nor did he seem to be proud of himself for doing it, patting himself on the back for being such a ‘gentleman.’ Instead, Suou seemed to think that this was just a normal thing to do, going out of your way to rescue someone you didn’t even know.
After Suou started the engine, he held out his palm to Akihiko.
Puzzled, Akihiko tilted his head in askance. Granted, it was a nice hand. Wide, slender, long fingers that looked delicate but actually firm and strong. Akihiko wondered how warm Suou’s hands were. He also wondered if he ought to put his chin on Suou’s palm, like a cat or a dog would. His mothers, seniors, and sometimes even Haruka loved it when he did that. Akihiko doubted it, though. No one would be crazy enough to do that on the first meeting, much less Suou, who looked like he knew more than enough about the art of socializing.
“Your phone. The battery died, right? You can charge it here,” said Suou, while pointing at the wireless charger port.
Akihiko flushed bright red at that, mentally chiding himself for even entertaining the previous notion. He fished his phone from his bag, with no rummaging this time, and placed it on the charger port.
Suou then gave Akihiko his phone, which displayed the navigation app. He took the phone and entered his address before returning it to Suou.
The next few minutes were spent in silence.
Actually, almost the entire drive was spent in silence.
Akihiko couldn’t help but to steal a glance at Suou every so often. Really, he couldn’t be blamed for that. The man was the image you’d found in the dictionary under the description for ‘stupidly handsome.’ His features just sat nicely on his face, arranged to perfection. Hair silky smooth, and the eye-patch? It just added more charm to his looks. His voice, oh dear, his voice… To relieve his twitching, Akihiko kept rubbing his thighs, and when he felt he was overdoing it, he kept fiddling with his hair, and then his bag, and then the keychains on his bag. The silence wasn’t stifling, but Akihiko still felt awkward anyway, knowing that he was thinking all sorts of things about this handsome stranger next to him.
It was only when they were about to enter Akihiko’s community that Suou spoke.
“I’m gathering that you don’t do this often, then?”
Startled by the sudden question, Akihiko stammered, “W-what? Do what?” Okay, he might have been a tad nervous. Anyone who had seen this guy and been in close proximity to him would be, okay? Suou was handsome, soft-spoken, and possessed an incredibly sexy voice.
And Akihiko was ultimately, utterly and desperately gay.
“Being followed at night, panicking, dialing wrong numbers, ranting about your bestest friend, et cetera…”
“Of course, not!” denied Akihiko vehemently. He was a perfectly normal guy, who had never been followed or stalked by anyone! He was always with either his mothers or Haruka or some other friends, and seniors. For some reason, his closest and loved ones almost never let him go anywhere alone. It had been like this since he was a child, and just got even worse after he entered university. Besides, he wasn’t attractive enough to warrant unwanted attention.
Poor Haruka, though. Because of his looks, he’d either got weird looks, or disdainful ones, or both combined with an added lecherous gaze. Haruka could never be at peace before. And then Akihiko’s mothers taught him basic self-defense moves and sent him to a bunch of martial arts classes. The rest was history. Well, a history full of scraped knuckles, bruised limbs, and split lips. Because apparently no one cared enough about Haruka. It pissed Akihiko and his mothers to no end, but Haruka told him his life changed for the better after that.
Thinking of Haruka’s past pissed Akihiko off, so his mind wandered to another matter. Before he could, though, he heard Suou chuckled.
“Dear me, your mind do wanders, huh? Cute.”
And Akihiko was left flabbergasted by that comment. What could Suou possibly mean by that? What is cute? Me? No way.
When the car finally stopped in front of Akihiko’s house, Suou seemed to have thrown away everything he knew about the ‘art of socializing’ and straight-forwardly requested to Akihiko, “Please give me your number.”
Hand on the door handle, about to open it to get out, Akihiko immediately turned toward Suou, staring intently at him for a few moments. He was searching for a sign, any signs that indicated that Suou was joking and wasn’t actually interested in having his number.
He found none.
Taking a deep breath, Akihiko steeled himself and said, “No.”
Suou visibly wilted, his eyes dimmed.
“I can’t give you my phone number, so you just have to settle.” Then, Akihiko grabbed Suou’s phone that had served as a navigator through the journey home, and scanned his QR code on Line app.
“Settle for what?” This was the first time during their entire meeting that Akihiko saw Suou looking hesitant. It was a treat. Akihiko liked it.
“This.” And with that, Akihiko placed the phone in Suou’s hand and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you so much for the ride and for going all the way here for me!” He immediately got out of the car and scurried to the gate of his house, mentally applauding himself for being so bold for the first time ever, keys already in hand this time.
He spared one last look toward Suou before going in, and saw the man touching the cheek Akihiko had kissed with a dumbfounded look on his face and an even dumber smile.
Omake : It turned out Hajime and Tsubaki often talked about their adorable juniors all the time, particularly Haruka and Akihiko. The babble on Akihiko intensified after he moved to their town. And the victim- Ahem, the active listener of this babbling was Suou, who once saw Akihiko and fell in love at first sight. The couple still stood protectively in front of Akihiko whenever Suou was around, even after they’ve been dating for six months, citing they should guard Akihiko even more after their failure of too much babbling.
Akihiko’s second reunion with Agato went smoother this time around, even though both of them could still see Hajime, Tsubaki, and Suou, just a few tables over. Agato remarked that there would be a war over who was going to be Akihiko’s best man for his wedding. He also said it’d be better to communicate more on Line from then on, and only meet up occasionally. Like once or twice a year. Akihiko complied. Understandable, to be honest.
Suou met Akihiko’s mothers, who adored him even though their eyes glinted sharply. Haruka also met Suou. It didn’t go well.
Akihiko was never left alone by his loved ones because for some reason, people always wanted to hit on him. It started off quite well-intentioned, as Akihiko was underage at that time, and people who wanted to flirt with him were almost always creepy adults. But then, his loved ones grew a tad too overprotective. They’d block even some decent guys because apparently, they didn’t deserve Akihiko, or so Haruka insisted.
Akihiko knew none of these.