Chapter Text
The teacher placed the chalk down. “Alright, you’re all dismissed.”
Nearly all the students rose from their seats simultaneously, turning to their classmates as they began to exit the room.
Toritsuka watched the group as they exited, heart racing.
This is a bad idea, this is a TERRIBLE idea, yet he couldn’t help but feel like it’d work.
The bouncing of his leg was readily apparent to all but him. His thoughts repeatedly returned to the pink haired boy who sat just a classroom away. He was still packing away some papers, if the ghosts were right.
Toritsuka, as quietly as he could, rose from his own desk. He watched as the last remaining students skipped out of his classroom to rush to Saiki’s class. Once inside, he quickly approached Saiki’s desk.
“Hey Saiki!” Toritsuka grabbed a nearby chair, pulling it to where he was nearly in front of Saiki’s own desk. He straddled a chair, crossed arms resting on top of the backrest. Saiki looked up from his papers.
What do you want?
“I had a lot of fun hangin’ out with you this weekend! We should, I dunno, hang out again!..” Toritsuka attempted to not seem nervous, but his smile clearly showed it.
Saiki’s resting frown tightened at the corners. Toritsuka’s expression faltered, his eyes on the tile floor. He could have sworn the room wasn’t this hot before.
“Likeeeee, I don’t know, we could grab some food, drinks- Oh, you know, we could go to this cafe downtown! It has-“
I don’t want to ‘hang out’ with you, Toritsuka.
Saiki’s expression hadn’t changed much from before. Toritsuka’s had, though.
His eyes were wide and his strained smile sat glued to his face for a few seconds. He swallowed dryly, a hesitant laugh escaping his chest.
“That’s… Okay. That’s fine.” Toritsuka scratched at the skin of his forearm with a nail. “…We could do totally do something more fun! We could go to a museum or that one Karaoke place, or-“
“Karaoke??”
Both Saiki’s and Toritsuka’s heads snapped towards the classroom’s doorway. The medium forgot about them, and now he was gonna deal with the consequences.
Shit.
Kaidou had semi entered the classroom at that point, a hand of his grasping the doorframe. “Oh, are you guys planning on going to that one karaoke place later?” Kaidou seemed a little too excited about the idea.
No.
Saiki answered before Toritsuka could think of a reply.
A rather unwanted voice chimed in from behind Kaidou, as Nendo appeared within the doorway. “What’s going on in here?”
“They’re going to the karaoke place later.” Kaidou turned to Nendo, who clearly got excited over the idea of joining.
“Uhhh- Nothing’s been decided yet!-“ Toritsuka attempted to correct Kaidou, much to no avail. Kaidou and Nendo had now walked over to where Saiki and Toritsuka sat. Both boys offered the other a distasteful look.
Of course this would happen to Toritsuka the one time he would try to do something like this.
Kaidou looked at Toritsuka, confused. “I don’t see the problem? There’s only one karaoke place in town.” Kaidou cocked his head to the side. “If you’re going to do karaoke, where else would you even go?”
“Plus they have ramen! They have ramen, right?” Nendo chimed in.
“Yeah, we can eat and sing! It’ll be fun!” Kaidou looked to Saiki, whose head tilted downward.
‘We’?
Toritsuka sat up straighter than before. “I think it’s a great idea! Don’t you agree, Saiki?” He looked at Saiki, his nervousness still prevalent. The psychic sat still, feeling while it wasn’t what he wanted he knew Saiki was clearly not wanting to go, as he remembered the menu there.
Toritsuka cleared his throat, leaning in towards his silent friend.
“…If I remember right, they have coffee jellies.”
Saiki looked up from his desk, sparing a brief glance to each of the boys hovering around him. His eyes quickly fell back onto Toritsuka. He sighed.
I guess there’s worse things to do.
Toritsuka’s heart nearly died right then. He had gotten the ‘main guy’ there, though there were two other guys to worry about.
“It’ll be- Wait, wait-“ Kaidou suddenly turned towards the doorway. “Hey! Hey, Aren!!” Toritsuka sighed internally as yet another figure entered the room.
Three guys to worry about.
…
The other three were up on the stage, some song from a couple years back guiding the boys through the lyrics. Nobody seemed to be paying much attention to as they weren’t anything special, though they were also far from being the worst.
Toritsuka picked at the table with a fingernail, head down with his eyes focused on no specific thing. He’d look to Saiki, who sat across from him in the booth, before quickly retreating back to what he was doing before.
Saiki was happily enjoying one of the coffee jelly options the karaoke-restaurant place offered. He mostly fixated on the desert, though he’d look up every now and then. Not that Toritsuka was even fully aware, having averted his eyes when Saiki would do so thanks to his nerves.
The medium clenched a fist under the table as he forced himself to raise his head. Saiki paused, looking at Toritsuka as he did so.
“I- uhhhh, I’m,” The boy looked shyly to the side. “I’m happy you- That you, uhm... decided to come!”
Saiki blinked, resuming his chewing.
Sure.
Toritsuka felt his chest tense.
‘Sure’? Just ‘Sure’?? He must not like this. Well, of course he doesn’t like this- He’s Saiki! I just dragged him out here for nothing, didn’t I? I knew I should’ve just called this-
It’s hard to ‘like this’ when you're all worried.
Toritsuka frowned, eyes wide. He had a bad habit of forgetting Saiki’s mind reading abilities.
“Worried? I’m not worried! I have no need to worry, I’m hanging out with my friend and… others… But I like hanging out with them..”
Toritsuka swallowed some air.
“..and you.”
Saiki’s eyes narrowed.
Toritsuka felt his face start to burn. He bit at his lip, leaning back into the seat as he frantically searched for words. His hands clasped together, his fingers scratching at their palms.
“Uhh- beeecaaaause you’re such a good friend!” Toritsuka offered a strained smile. Saiki’s expression remained unchanged.
“And I would like to, y’know, hang out more? We can go out for drinks or food, we can go walk around town, we can chill at my- Uh, someone’s house… But I think it should be…”
His tone had increasingly grown hushed. He leaned forward slightly, shoulders rising.
“Just us?.. Since, well, I don’t think either of us really want to-“
Are you hitting on me?
Toritsuka sat silently. He didn’t have words to offer, not to that! They were in public, too, why did he get himself into these situations? What was he supposed to say? No? Yes?
“...I’m trying to… hang out. With you.”
Toritsuka was fighting everything in him not to lose his shit.
Saiki didn’t say anything. He didn’t do anything. He remained as he had before, eyes on Toritsuka and him solely. This didn’t change, even when the rest of their entourage approached their seats.
“Yooo Saiki! Toritsuka!” Nendou called out louder than needed, slamming his hands on the table. “Did you hear us?”
Toritsuka offered half a smile. I wish I hadn’t.
“Anyways, I’m starving!” Nendou forced his way into the seat next to Saiki, who shifted with no contest. Kaidou joined the side Toritsuka was on. Aren pulled a lone chair to sit at the table’s end. The three singers looked at the menu that hung a few strides away.
Their voices, discussing orders and favorite foods, faded.
Saiki and Toritsuka were looking at one another again, each of their faces as straight as they could muster. It was best if the others had no suspicions, no worries. There was no use in bringing them into it.
Saiki’s expression relaxed, just slightly.
‘Hang out’? Really?
Now he was talking to Toritsuka. Only Toritsuka. The medium grinded his teeth together.
Yeah. Just the two of us. Nothing crazy.
Saiki’s eyes averted. His gaze lingered in space for a moment, eventually resting back onto Toritsuka. Toritsuka felt as his heart rate quickened.
I’m giving you one chance, Toritsuka.
The others were lucky Toritsuka had self control in the moment.
His eyes were wide, his small smile stretching across his red face. Toritsuka's attention remained on Saiki’s face, simply taking in the fact that he- Reita Toritsuka- Was about to take the Kusuo Saiki on a date.
A hand waved in front of his face, a worried Kaidou on the other end. “Toritsuka? You alright?” Both Nendou and Kuboyasu looked at the medium curiously. Toritsuka was made readily aware of his expression just then.
He shook his head, pressing both of his hands into his cheeks. They burned at his palms.
“I’m good, I’m all good! Just euuuhh.. excited to hang out with you guys!.. and I’m definitely hungry. You were singing for soooo long.” Toritsuka sucked at making excuses, though none of the others seemed to take notice.
One did.
Saiki watched the group for a while, seeing them interact and joke. He didn’t like admitting that he was fond of them, but he simply couldn’t help it. His attention shifted to Toritsuka, who was trying his best to behave normally despite a certain conversation.
Saiki smiled softly to himself.
What did I get myself into?