Chapter Text
Realistically, scoring a few kisses is nothing for Asaba Harumasa. He’s almost certain that a few well times winks and perhaps some sweet words here and there could send a good number of people to their knees. His trouble begins with the fact that the he needs to target specific people. People whom he’s already familiar with, people whom are familiar with him. With that in mind, he needs to take care in how he kisses them and the scenario in which he does so as to not spoil their future interactions.
To start, he’s not kissing Seth. Reason being: he does not want to. He’d actually rather die a slow painful death than ever willingly talk to a Lowell again.
Lighter is… debatable. Could Harumasa kiss him? Probably. Would he have to pay him? Probably. Would he get punched through a wall just for asking? Definitely.
That is to say, at the present moment, the candidate who would be most agreeable to kiss with the lowest possible risk factor would be—
“Wise!” Harumasa jumps on the silver haired man. The force of the hug sends him stubbing back, but still, he laughs gently and returns the embrace, “Hello, Harumasa.” He greets. He’s so warm.
Someone clears their throat from the other side of the room.
“Aww, I didn’t forget about you, Belle. Come here!” He hugs the pouting girl until her face melts into a smile.
Zone is functionally a student-led, student-run program, their lessons, equipment and know how had to be entirely in-house. This meant that the Audio Visual Club would be a cornerstone of the event, as they usually were for most events. Projectors, Cameras, Microphone and Speaker systems were all part of their domain and thus, considering the severity of their work, an executive member must be present to ensure the integrity of all their equipment.
“Usually, Yanagi would be the one doing all this but surprise~ You got me instead!” Harumasa presents himself with a flourish. They’ve got a lot of work to do, so he gets busy setting up his laptop and pulling up a spread sheet. Shockingly enough, the work doesn’t feel as exhausting as it usually would, “Why so quiet? Are you disappointed?”
“No, just surprised. The Harumasa I know would never be this excited for work.” Wise jokes moving in tandem to gather the necessary equipment.
“Hey now! I might slack off every now and then, but as a proper councillor, I care more about the student population than anyone else.” He teases, “Especially for my favorite pair of siblings.”
“Shouldn’t that be Yanagi and Soukaku?” Belle wonders aloud. Her visage is bright and amused, Harumasa laughs recalling the dumb argument they’d just had, “Nope, they’ve been demoted. Congrats on moving up the rankings you two. As a reward, I’ll get us snacks when we’re done. My treat.”
Harumasa takes wise for ice cream and tea milk.
No, their work wasn’t done yet, left in a neat little heap in the AV club room. Typically Harumasa didn’t like leaving something half done. Shoddily done, sure, but there was still a standard to be adhered to. Even more surprising was that it was the siblings who’d suggested the break.
“I must be a terrible influence on you two. Maybe I should stop coming by your club so often.” Harumasa bemoans, leaning heavily on Wise’s shoulder. The man was elbow deep into the convenience store freezer, digging out some obscure flavor Belle liked while his sister stayed behind to finish up a bit more.
“You give yourself too much credit.” Wise resurfaces with a pale pink tub labelled, ‘The Sweet Girl's Favorite Bouncy-Boo Extra Collagen Rich Caramel Flavored Marshmallow Lambkin Milk Genki Exclusive Ultra Edition’. “Me and Belle get up to plenty on our own.”
“Oh? Care to share?” The siblings? Getting up to mischief? This Harumasa had to see.
“Keep coming by to our club and maybe you’ll see for yourself.” Wise winks to his great amusement. Few saw this more playful side of Wise, especially since Belle’s exuberance often outshone his own. But it was always there, quiet and comforting and oh, so fun. Harumasa wants to see it more often. To see him more often.
“When you say it like, how could I ever refuse you?” He means every word.
Their little outing was hindered by the fact that neither of them had thought to get tea milk before their ice cream. In the ten long minutes it had taken for their orders, their ice creams had begun to melt and slosh about in their containers. Wise had tried to make Harumasa taste Belle’s… whatever it was she had gotten, making him gag just from the scent alone.
“Eugh! That’s way too sweet!”
“Okay, Mr ‘Black tea, no milk or sugar, but if you can, add bitter melon.’”
The councillor scowls in faux annoyance. Ironically, despite extending their break time to get around on ice cream, they’d been slower in their stride, dragging out their walk along the sleepy streets. They were talked about anything and everything, exhausting the topics until they petered out into the nonsensical.
For Harumasa, who always had something smart on the edge of his tongue, the change of pace… was nice. Even when they lapsed into silence, it was never awkward. It was a natural conclusion, the space suffused with the warm feeling of the other’s company.
“So… what’s up with Soukaku and Yanagi?” Wise asked, “Did you guys fight again?”
Ah. That. “I don’t wanna get into it.” He sighs dramatically. It doesn’t have the effect he intends. Instead of a teasing smile he’s faced with a worried frown.
“Was it serious?” He asked.
“What? No, no, just some bet Yanagi challenged me to. It’s really nothing.” He waved off the concern. Great, just great. At the mere mention of the two the thoughts of the other day’s conversation came flooding back, now without any work to keep his hand busy it replays in his head on loop.
‘If you and Wise kissed you’d feel nothing?’
Yes, obviously so. They were friends, nothing more. A very dearly cherished friend but that was about it, but that was it. Not that he would be bad to kiss, he wasn’t saying anything like that. His lips looked a little pale but soft. He could kiss anyone he wanted really, and it would be a good kiss! He wasn’t saying that his lips would feel like nothing if anything, they looked soft enough…
Wait no that wasn’t right, he just meant he wouldn’t feel anything emotionally from kissing Wise. Not that Harumasa would kiss him. He didn’t want to kiss Wise, he could just appreciate a nice pair of lips and he could very well admit that to himself. In fact, wouldn’t it be more telling to be insecure about Wise having nice lips? It would, that was why Harumasa could confidently, easily say that—
“Harumasa?” Harumasa did not squeal as Wise called his name.
“…That doesn’t sound like nothing.” His partner said flatly, Harumasa cleared his throat, before he spoke. The air must have been really dry today. “You just… got really close all of a sudden. Scared me.”
Wise lifts a brow. They’d been walking side by side all afternoon. “Seriously?” He deadpans.
“Wise! Do you really think I’d lie to you, partner? I’m hurt…” He pivots quickly pulling the walls of his persona back up. Wise looks at him skeptically, the line of his mouth pulled taut. They were still glossy from the ice cream he’d just eaten.
“Harumasa, you can tell me anything you know?” He says, running a warm hand down his back. Harumasa blinks, really trying to look him in the eyes.
“Huh? Yeah. I know.” He responds unconvincingly, Wise isn’t convinced, but lets it drop.
The gears turn in his head. Should he just… go ahead and do it? He could definitely ask: Hey Wise? Can we kiss? I want to know if I’m gay for you. No, that wasn’t right, he definitely wasn’t gay, he had to prove it. How would he even phrase this? No matter how he looked at it, it was insensitive to kiss someone with the intent to disprove affection wouldn’t it?
“Harumasa? Thanks by the way.” Out of no where Wise speaks up. This time, Harumasa has the wits not to startle, “This Zone thing sound ambitious. You and the others must be working hard.”
“Ugh, the word work alone makes me tired. If you really want to thank someone, you should talk to Yanagi, she’s been arranging the Zone since forever. Ah, and Miyabi’s the one who pushed to get it reformatted.” He explains, grateful for a change in topic.
“I’m sure Harumasa’s down playing his own role again.”
“Not this time. I hadn’t even joined the council up until the year before the last. Really, Yanagi’s been doing most of the heavy lifting…”
“Sure, but Yanagi’s not the one who helped me out today.” In a blink, Wise is in his space again, smiling up at him in that ever so gentle way, “So, thank you, for all your hard work. For observing things at the ground level and bringing our needs to the rest of the council.”
Harumasa’s breath hitches. For the first time, it isn’t a bad feeling, “…I think Wise overestimates what I do.”
“Overestimate? What happened to being a one of a kind genius?” He smirks.
“You…!” The councillor grumbles, he can feel his cheeks going hot, it almost aches to try and talk, but he does anyway, “You’re seriously bad for my health! I should tell Belle you’re bullying me.”
“Sorry, sorry. But you keep looking at me like that.” Wise apologises, “At the rate you’re going you’ll be giving me heart pains.”
It really was hopeless. Wise was too vibrant, too radiant. Harumasa liked their banter too much. There was no way he could ask Wise for a kiss outright, what if he assumed the wrong thing? Just as his own closest friends did? What would he do if he built a wall between them?
Maybe… he could lower the stakes?
The kiss didn’t have to be a big deal. No, it wasn’t supposed to be a big deal in the first place, that was the whole point. Right, he was supposed to kiss his friend, casually, in a completely platonic friendship way, that was the challenge. He shouldn’t be making a fuss about it. He’s kissed his friends before, on the hair, the cheeks. In the end, kisses were a form of affection.
And Wise had more than earned his affections.
“It’s just- you have cream on your face.” Harumasa says aloud. ‘Casual, play it casual.’ His brain says on repeat.
Wise looks at him dumbfounded. One second passes, then another, and his face lights back up,
“That was it?” He breathes a sigh of relief. Internally, Harumasa matches him. The atmosphere is light warm, just a pair of friends joking around, one making a stupid face as he tries to lick away the imaginary residue on his cheeks.
He could do this. Playfully, casually, he strides up to his friend. “It’s over here, let me help you.” He says, a precursor to his actions, so that nothing is too sudden. Then he leans in.
“Har— mm?” Wise eats neatly, even as he walks and talks. He didn’t spill a drop, yet Harumasa can still taste the caramel on him. right there, at the edge of his mouth, right where it met his soft cheek. He was sweet.
All of a sudden, his eyes felt incredibly stiff. He couldn’t open them, when had they been shut? In the darkness, the taste of caramel was particularly loud, he could feel Wise’s breath right next to his ear, and was that Wise’s pulse jackrabbiting through his arm or his own?
He had to pull back. He had to. Too long and it wouldn’t be a casual kiss anymore. He felt a little shaken, needing to push himself off of Wise’s body. Managing to peel one eye open after the next, he told himself to face Wise.
Brush it off, play it cool. The correct words to say are: “There! all-uh all clean.” It was little crooked, and his voice was way too high, but at least he’d managed to say the words.
“Wise?” He called. The other man hadn’t reacted yet, frozen in place, face blank. Shit, did he do something wrong? He needs to explain himself. Now.
How should he start? He’s good at placating people, he just needs to choose the right words to diffuse the other person’s perspective, but what was Wise seeing right now. Was he looking at Harumasa in anger? Disgust? It was hard to gauge for a reaction when there was none.
“Wise… should I… not have done that?” He asks tentatively, peeking through his lashes.
“What? I mean, no!” Wise comes to his senses. Except those senses were shoved back into him, sending him stumbling and neurotic, “No, as in! No, you’re fine.” He grits out the words, a clear emphasis between them like he’s not yet in full control of himself yet. “You’re fine. Thank you.”
“… Thank you?” Harumasa clarified, he wasn’t sure what to make of that, and apparently, neither did Wise.
“Yeah, I’m… in a really thankful mood today.” He explains.
“Sorry, I think Belle is calling me,” he says backing up, he pulls out his phone. Dark and silent, “It’s on vibrate, I need to take this. We’ve been gone for a while.” He rambles quickly walking backwards and almost tripping on the gaps on the pavement. He was leaving, practically running away from his so called partner in his haste to get away.
“I… we can walk and talk!” Harumasa tried to call out to him, his head was buzzing with all sorts of terrible thoughts. Thank you? What did he mean ‘Thank you’? Should he say thank you back?
“No! No, just stay there, I just need to take a call. Give me 5 minutes. Just 5. Stay there. Please.”
Harumasa was left alone on the sidewalk one arm stretched out, reaching towards someone who was no longer there.
What was wrong with him? He recalled the times he kissed his friends. When Soukaku had scored her first A on maths, he’d mussed up her hair and kissed her on the side of her forehead. His heart had been beating fast then too, giddy and full he’d declared that the lot of them would eat a buffet of all her favorite foods.
He was having heart palpitations this time too, so… that was normal. It had to be. Maybe he just wasn’t familiar enough with Wise yet, maybe that was it. Yeah. Right…
Five minutes, there was two joint roads where Wise had disappeared too. The buildings were low, equipped with fire exits on the back. Five minutes, it would be easy to search for him after the fact. He breathed a stable breath.
I kissed Wise
Chief
How efficient.
As expected of Harumasa.
Soukaku <3333
Woah!!!!!!
Tsukishiro
I don’t believe you
Tf you mean??
Why can’t you be happy for me?
Go ask Wise if can’t take my wordier it
Anyway, like I said, I’m p sure I’m not gay. I kissed him and felt the full weight of our pure and platonic friendship. <3
Tsukishiro
So you felt things.
Yeah? Ofc I did?
Tsukishiro
That’s not feeling ‘nothing’, Asaba. Your words not mine.
??? You know thats not what I meant?
Do you think I was empty inside when I blew you a kiss during your award ceremony?
I was proud of u.
Happy for u.
And this is how u treat me.
Tsukishiro
Blowing your sister a kiss is different from kissing a man, Asaba.
Sorry, deputy chief, was this ur kiss or mine?
You could never understand kissing the homies.
I love Wise but not like that, ya know?
Tsukishiro
Asaba this proves nothing. We weren’t there to verify your apparent ‘heterosexuality’ at play.
Chief
A statement is just that until it is given weight.
Soukaku <3333
Proof or it didn’t happen
Now hold on
I cant just kiss him in front of you guys
Chief
An admittance of defeat
No
Kissing the homies is special, I can’t exploit him like that
Tsukishiro
Special? Would you go so far as to say its intimate?
Not in the way ur thinking, but yah, I cant just kiss him
There’s a build up to it and uh
I think I fumbled the build up today
Wise is a little freaked out
I think
Chief
As expected of Harumasa
??
Tsukishiro
Harumasa…
Soukaku <3333
Maybe we should stop?
Idk I don’t wanna make ppl uncomfy
Tsukishiro
No. Giving up is unacceptable for us. Victory above all else.
In such a case, we regroup and restrategize
Damn, Nagi is it rlly that serious?
Chief
Yanagi is right.
Training without guidance will only lead to injury
I will add this to our Zone Programme
NO
CHIEF NO
Tsukishiro
No, that’s a great idea
U want Soukaku to go through a training course about kissing men?
Tsukishiro
Soukaku, chief and I will be guiding you on kissing men.
You are the only deciding variable here.
Have any of u even kissed a man before???
Chief
This will be a learning experience for us all
Tsukishiro
Hence, the training programme.
Unbelievable
Tsukishiro
What’s unbelievable is that you thought going around kissing men all over the place would make you less gay.
On your own volition.
Soukaku <3333
:0
Chief
Yanagi come back to the council room. I’m writing the programme outline now.
Wise returned just as Harumasa was typing out another heated response. He looked much more collected now, that was good.
“Hello, Wise. What did Belle say?” He smiled as best he he could. Easy now, let’s not scare him twice.
“Belle?” Wise cleared his throat, “Right, Belle. Um, Belle said that we should hurry back. We still have things to do.”
Oh, Harumasa thinks dejectedly, so he isn’t as composed as he thought. Has he failed his objective? Act in a manner so as to not affect the future of their relationship. He needs to see what went wrong. Needs to think and carefully analyze without his feelings messing with his brain.
“Haru?” He looks up, Wise was waiting for him, “We should hurry.”
“Right.” The councillor agrees, his feet are just as sluggish. He needs to think.
A hand grabs his, tugging him gently forward. “It’s okay. We can go slow. I mean, we should hurry back, but, um, everything else can be slow… I think I might prefer slow.”
“Huh?” Harumasa tilts his head, he’s still not quite processing things right, but his body moves readily forward. He trusts Wise to lead him, he hope Wise knows that
“Let me… sorry, I don’t have the right words at the moment. But they’ll come, I think, so just let me go slowly, okay?” Wise asks, their not looking at each other, but this might be something at they need. The air buzzes between them, even a small spark could throw it out of balance, so Harumasa nods, it feels like the right thing to do.
He takes the offered hand, lets himself be led.