Chapter Text
Saiki never thought there’d come a day when he hated Valentine’s more than he already did.
But, oh, how the gods of their world loved to play with him.
The morning of the horrific day started terribly enough — his parents could not get off each other for a fucking second! Talking in those stupid baby voices as they called each other every cheesy, frankly disturbing name in the book. All while ignoring Saiki as he sat at the end of the table, stabbing at his dish like he wanted to lobotomize it.
To his surprise, his mom had gained consciousness for a few seconds, asking why he looked so murderous on such a ‘wonderful day’.
Wonderful, my ass. He stabbed into the already dissected chicken once more. Maybe I should just get rid of the stupid holiday; it’ll be less trouble for everyone that way.
But he couldn’t, not like the thought of it didn’t cross his mind every few seconds — his parents were a firm reminder as to why the holiday should be abolished — but… it would be unfair to Satou, who had probably spent the past few days working up the courage to confess to his crush.
Nana, he spat the name out with a venom he didn’t even know he possessed.
Why, why couldn’t Satou have fallen in love with a horrible person?! Maybe then, Saiki would feel less bad about facing them with an animosity that would send an army shivering in their boots.
Pretty pink hair, bright golden eyes, smooth tan skin and an amazing personality to top it all with! Head of the school’s baking club as well as cheerleading captain, yet somehow managing to be in the top 10 of their entire grade.
She was everything every guy would ever want, probably only coming second to Teruhashi or even Rifuta.
“Kusuo,” his mother called out, voice as sweet as caramel as she held his father’s hands while heading towards the front door, “Your father and I won’t be returning this evening, so don’t you worry about us!”
I wasn’t going to, but okay, he rolled his eyes at the giddy look on his father’s face.
“And, if you want, you can invite that nice guy Satou to hang out with you while we’re gone!”
His stabbings came to a stop as he took in his mother’s words — obviously said with no malice underneath them, but that bitter feeling the one he had tried so hard not to allow bear fruit rushed back to the surface with the force of a tidal wave.
In his sulking, he could barely hear the See you tomorrow, Kusuo, his mother yelled as the front door slammed shut. He could not register anything in that moment, not the food before him and certainly not the way his fingers tightened around the edge of the wooden table, nearly snapping it apart.
In truth, at the very moment, the only thing he hated more than that stupid holiday was himself.
Why can’t I just be happy for him? He repeated the question from the previous night, one that hadn’t left the corners of his mind since that faithful Wednesday night.
Why was he so scared of the prospect of Satou being in a relationship with somebody?
What was wrong with him?
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“Look at you, Saiki, that isn’t the expression of someone ready to celebrate this amazing holiday, now, is it?” Teruhashi chirped brightly, smiling so wide her eyes were shut closed. For the first time, Saiki genuinely didn’t have the mental fortitude to deal with her, not when he was wallowing in a bitter feeling since early that morning.
It was already 9 AM by now. Teruhashi had probably gotten gifts already — maybe even before she reached the school grounds.
Noticing his deadpan expression, she let out a light giggle before drawing him close by his arm and directing them towards their first class of the day. Saiki ignored the jealous glares pointed at him as they walked down the hall — her fan club now knew better than to harass him nowadays — and quickly they reached their class, settling down right before the teacher came in.
To his own disgust, Saiki was glad that his first class didn’t have Satou in it. He didn’t think it would go over well if he were smothered by the boy’s blinding presence while actively trying to deal with the storm of emotions clouding his heart.
He’s probably with Nana right now. The ache returned, this time more painful than ever. He’ll probably confess to her after school today, if he hasn’t confessed already.
Saiki barely noticed when the bell rang, signalling their switch over to the next class. The others soon gathered around him — Teruhashi, Nendo, Kaido and Aren — talking about what they planned on doing that day. Teruhashi planned on going out with Aiura, Rifuta, Yumehara and Mera on a ‘Gals’ Date’, Nendo was taking his mom out with the money he’d gotten from his part-time job, and the couple were going out on a date near the beach.
“What about you, Saiki?” Nendo exclaimed, turning to his proclaimed ‘best bud’. The pink-haired teen’s eyes narrowed, cheek against his palm as he responded, “Nothing much, my parents are out, so I’ll just go home after school.”
“Are you sure?” Aren said with a slight tease to his tone, “Do you really want to spend your Valentine’s cooped up at home all by yourself?”
Of course not, but the only person he wanted around him was probably too busy with their crush to even notice him.
“Yeah!” Kaido jumped in suddenly, hands fumbling with each other in a way Saiki knew that he was desperately trying (and failing) to hide a secret, “Wh— what if somebody confesses to you, huh? Are you just going to leave them in the dust and not hang out with them?!”
“Now, now, Kaido,” Teruhashi interrupted, tone clipped, and eyes narrowed with a subdued fury, “We wouldn’t want to start making assumptions for our Saiki, now, would we?”
It didn’t take more than a brain cell to figure out that they were hiding something from him. Even Nendo knew about it — judging from the way his eyes couldn’t meet Saiki’s, and how he whistled in an oddly suspicious way — and the fact that he hadn’t blurted out what it was already made it apparent that it was a tight-lipped secret.
Just as Saiki was about to ask, the next teacher walked in, announcing a surprise quiz that caused everybody — except for Teruhashi, because she was too perfect to do so — to groan.
It wasn’t until they all settled back in their seats that Saiki realised that he had used his telepathy to speak instead of his mouth — a habit he was trying hard to get rid of.
What was wrong with him? All because Satou was falling in love and leaving him behind, now he was regressing to his old ways?
He was reaching a level of pathetic that he never thought he could rise to.
But that was what happened when left with a bruised and broken heart.
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Here she was — the bane of Saiki’s entire existence.
Nana Ashido.
Saiki couldn’t help the glare he sent her way, her curly pink hair bouncing in the wind as she chatted giddily with their classmates, as she handed out styled boxes of cookies to everyone.
“I had a lot of fun over the weekend while baking these!” She gushed wistfully, making sure that everybody got a piece, “I hope you all enjoy them!”
Of course, she’s handing out cookies during lunch, as if she couldn’t get any more perfect.
“I love your baking so much, Nana-chan!” Aiura squealed as said girl skipped over to their table, hands filled with pink and white stained boxes with ridiculous notes stuck onto them. The pink-haired girl’s smile widened with Aiura’s words, twirling around like she was in a Disney film as she handed all of them a box of goodies.
All of them except Saiki.
“Huh?” Nana gasped, staring at her pink-haired counterpart with eyes that didn’t show even the least bit of sympathy. “I must have miscalculated and left one out! I apologise deeply, Saiki-san!”
Miscalculated his ass. Nana never did anything half-assed — it was either all or nothing. And there was absolutely no way she had forgotten the count of all the students in their grade when he knew she had it posted on her wall in her kitchen (a fact he had learned from stalking watching the girl over the past few days.)
“Wait, what?” Toritsuka raised a brow in question, green-faced yet looking as confused as Saiki felt, “But you never forget every—”
“Oh no!” Aiura wailed suddenly, slapping the purple-haired boy’s back hard and leaving him to crumple onto the floor like a thin paper sheet. “It must be an honest mistake! Saiki, don’t take it to heart.”
Now he was sure that they were all planning something behind his back and, somehow, Nana, of all people, was in on it too.
“What on earth are you gu—” He paused for a second before repeating, “What the hell are you guys doing?”
“What do you mean, Saiki-san?” Nana giggled breezily, as if everything that was happening was just a subplot in the fairytale that was her life. Saiki resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her, instead meeting golden eyes head-on as he spoke, “There is something you all are hiding from me,” he twisted the grey ring around his finger, “and it won’t take me much to find out what it is.”
Nana’s grin did not waver. In truth, it only grew wider with his words, and Saiki was seriously holding himself back from wiping that smile off her face.
“If you’re so desperate to find out the truth, Saiki-san,” she gave another twirl before stepping away from their table, already moving to return to her own set of friends, “Then maybe you should ask Satou-kun about it.”
Saiki froze as if drenched in cold water, the blazing fury in his heart threatening to char everything in its path until all that was left was an unrecognisable pavement.
With a harsh scrape of wood against concrete, he stood up and walked off, tearing off his ring as he did so. Immediately, he was assaulted by the onslaught of thoughts — teachers, classmates, his friends, Nana — but all he was looking for was the voice of one person.
The one person he hadn’t seen since morning.
The one person who, for some reason, decided not to show up for lunch, even though Saiki had frequently berated him for skipping his afternoon meals.
The one person whose thoughts he could now hear, an undeniably nervousness circling their thoughts as they sat under a tree outside one of the school’s many hallways.
He missed the smiles spreading across the faces of his friends as he left the lunch hall — heart pounding louder than ever before.
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Found you.
“S— Saiki!” Satou’s eyes widened as he saw him, the box in his hands almost dropping onto the ground as the brunette fumbled to keep it in his arms. “Wh— what are you doing here?”
“Satou,” the teen inhaled sharply at Saiki’s angered tone, “What the hell is going on between you and Nana!?”
Satou blinked, confusion seeping into his features as his brows furrowed into each other, “Nana and me? Saiki, what are you talking about?”
He looks so angry. Was I the one who did this?
Satou’s thoughts nearly made him jump out of his own skin, the guilt and fear in them leaving Saiki all but stunned.
What was he talking about?
Why was he so angry suddenly? All because he couldn’t deal with the fact that Satou was falling in love with someone else.
Someone that wasn’t hi—
A light touch to his hands wrangled him off his train of thoughts, his eyes widening as he watched Satou interlace their fingers together — when had he moved closer? And why was Saiki feeling so hot all of a sudden? — and put their hands against his chest.
“Saiki,” the teen began, honey eyes softening as their breaths practically intermingled, “Did you… Did you think Nana and I were…”
Saiki couldn’t breathe.
Was he breathing?
It certainly didn’t feel like he was, but he must have been; how else would he get so lightheaded by the scent of Satou everywhere?
No words came out of his mouth. He all but willed himself not to, lest whatever would come out of him would ruin this perfect moment.
They have never been this close before.
Not when studying together, sitting side by side under dim fluorescent lights as they feasted on tasty desserts — Satou always giggling at his blatant obsession with coffee jelly.
Not when going out, whether it be at the beach or at the mall, surrounded by rowdy figures, while holding hands to not lose the other in the growing crowds.
Not even when they were alone together at either of their places, cuddled up, sure, but always feeling so far apart, even though they were skin to skin.
A beat was drumming in his ears, and it took a long while before Saiki realised that it was his own heartbeat.
“Why would I ever be with Nana?”
When I am obviously so in love with you.
…
“What?” Saiki spoke at last, his throat finally letting him take the lead as his eyes dilated. Satou stepped even closer and,
Wow, he smells so amazing. Like cinnamon and chocolate, and cookies.
Even when stumped with such a revelation, Saiki’s love for Satou wouldn’t allow him to forget how much of the teen he missed.
It had only been a weekend, and he was already finding himself melting at the mere aroma of the brunette.
“But I—… you—”
“These are for you.” Their hands were ripped apart — Saiki missed the warmth the moment it was gone — as Satou used both hands to push the styled box into Saiki’s. “I, uh, made them for you for Valentine’s.”
What if he doesn’t like them? They’re barely even perfect!
Saiki doubted that he would ever reject something that came from the very hands of Satou Hiroshi, but he digressed.
Slowly, he took the box in his hands and, after staring at it for a few seconds, opened it up. Inside were heart-shaped chocolate chip cookies laced with powdered sugar and Valentine’s-themed sprinkles. There were small, and around 14 in total, but Saiki could tell just by sight that they were meticulously worked on.
But by Satou? The same teen who somehow burned a pot while boiling water? The same teen who couldn’t tell the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit and almost burnt down a kitchen while making cupcakes?
If it weren’t for Satou’s own words, he didn’t think he would have guessed that he was the one who made them.
“I think it’s about time I be honest with you, Kusuo—”
Holy shit, he used my first name.
“—about… everything,” Satou smiled sheepishly, cheeks flushing red and bright, and Saiki really had to get a hold of himself before he began to squish them. Heaving out a deep sigh, the brunette continued, “A few weeks ago, after New Year's, I asked Nana-chan to teach me how to bake.”
“Why—”
“Please let me finish, Sai… Kusuo,” Saiki gave an absentminded nod, eliciting another small smile from the other teen. “It was actually after what happened with Kaido-san and Aren-san, when they got together on New Year’s—”
How happy they looked together. How jealous it made me feel.
“—that I realised that waiting was never going to do me any good, and…” his eyes shut for a split second, before meeting his own with a fierce determination Saiki doesn’t think he’d ever seen, “And I wouldn’t be worthy of being called your friend if I remained the coward that I was.”
“Sa—Satou, what is—”
“I’m in love with you, Saiki Kusuo.”
There they were, the words Saiki had been expecting, yet was still surprised at, even after hearing how Satou felt about him.
The drumming was getting louder.
The air around them was getting hotter.
“I— I’ve been in love with you for the past year. I can’t even remember when it happened, it just did, and I hate myself for never doing anything about it.” A light sniffle drew from Satou’s lips, and Saiki was horrified to see tears in the teen’s eyes. “I told myself that you wouldn’t be interested. That I was just a normal guy with an uninteresting life—”
Perfect, perfect, perfect, Saiki’s heart rang. Satou, you have been nothing less than perfect.
“—and that there were people like Teruhashi-san and Aiura-san in your life! Both of them liked you, even I knew that; I felt so hopeless, like I was chasing after something I knew I would never have.”
But you already have me. Why couldn’t he say these things out loud? So much of me that I’m afraid that if I give you any more, there’ll be nothing left.
“Then, after New Year's, Nana asked why I looked so down despite all the celebration. I, um, kinda spilt everything to her about my crush on you, and then she asked me if I wanted to learn how to bake.”
Saiki thought back to the New Year’s party they had had at a restaurant. Saiki had been so distracted by Aren and Kaido that he had barely noticed when Satou left. After that day, he had frequently picked up on the brunette’s less-than-jovial attitude, and even with the temptation of using his mind-reading to find out what was wrong, he had decided against it, wanting the teen to come to him with his troubles instead.
He also remembered the drastic change after the first week of the year had passed. Satou’s smile had returned, and Saiki was happy — less so when the brunette began to lessen their time together. He never asked why, but now he suspected that the boy wouldn’t have answered honestly either way.
“She said that, um,” the blush returned in tenfold, “I could bake something for you for Valentine’s Day. At first, I thought it was stupid — that you would probably just take it out of sympathy or something — and wanted to give up when Nana decided to tell Teruhashi-san about my… predicament.”
At this point, Saiki shouldn’t have been surprised. He definitely had noticed the slight change in Teruhashi’s behaviour since the beginning of the new year. She had begun to hound him less and frequently pushed him to spend time with Satou, even though he was still certain that she hadn’t stopped in her plans on making him go oh, wow.
Now that Saiki thought about it…
“And recently, Teruhashi-san told the others…” Satou said, voicing out Saiki’s own concluding thoughts, “…I guess you can figure out what all that led to.”
Truly, Saiki had been stupid to think that there wasn’t a reason as to why Nendo, of all people, had stopped asking to go out for ramen after school — at least Kaidou and Aren had the excuse of doing couple things in the meantime. It also explained why Hairo had stopped forcing him into his energetic antics and why the girls always seemed too busy to disturb him.
He felt like a fool for noticing earlier…
…but you couldn’t exactly blame him when what he got in exchange were long days spent alone with Satou.
“I’m sorry if it seems a bit manipulative, or anything, but believe me when I say that Nana and I have nothing going on between us, I swear! E—even this past weekend, we just—”
Satou’s words trailed off as he was embraced in Saiki’s arms. An action that surprised them both.
“S—Sai— I mean, Kusuo?!” Saiki didn’t need to look at his face to know that the boy was burning red, his thoughts hurling into Saiki’s mind as he fell into their hug.
Ohmygodhe’sactuallyhuggingme!!!
I’ve been dreaming about this for months!! I can’t believe it’s actually happening.
But what if he’s misunderstanding my confession? What if he thinks that—
Saiki pulled away abruptly, eyes burning with a stern fury as he spoke, “I love you too, Hiroshi.”
Satou gaped, his jaw practically sweeping against the floor.
One second. Two—
If Saiki had thought that Satou’s face couldn’t get any redder, he was pleased to find out that he was sorely mistaken. The brunette easily resembled a ripe tomato, face flushing so red that it was bordering on concerning.
“I also cannot remember when it happened,” he resumed, hoping that the tone his words carried was sincere enough, “And I’m sorry that it took me so long to realise my own feelings—”
“Wait! Don’t apologise when we were going through the same thing! It also took me a while to come to terms with my own feelings! I just didn't know how to express them."
"But I should have—"
To his surprise, Hiroshi brought a finger to his lips, effectively silencing him. "Just," the brunette huffed, sinking into the comfort of Saikk's arms as their eyes met, "Please don't blame yourself for that. It'd make me feel worse for not acting on my own feelings even though I was well aware of them."
"That isn't the same," Saiki insisted, hands trailing down Hiroshi's arms.
The brown-haired teen raised a brow, "I didn't take you to be much of a hypocrite, Sai— I mean, Kusuo."
...fair enough.
They soon fell into a comfortable silence, eyes never leaving the other as the space between them dwindled to almost nothing.
"Would you mind coming over to my place after school?" Saiki asked, "My parents will be out for the entire evening." He almost laughed at the awkward expression the brunette gave him, a simple grin forming on his face as he nodded in agreement.
Were they dating now?
They had to be dating, right?
Maybe they would start dating if Saiki gave him a small kis—
"Hey! What are you kids doing over there? Didn't you guys hear the bell?!" The coach's voice was indisputable, causing Hiroshi to break apart from him with the speed of a lightning bolt.
"W— We're so sorry, sir!" The other teen grabbed Saiki's hand and dragged him in the opposite direction. "We'll be leaving now."
They wisped through the near-empty walls — it had probably been a while since the bell rang — but their pace slowed the closer they got to their class. The slight tension from earlier was still present, but this one, unlike the one from the previous week, was much more comfortable and inviting. Like the calm after a particularly tempestuous storm.
"We'll talk more after school," Saiki reassured, squeezing Hiroshi's hand as he moved to walk closer together. Honey brown eyes met indigo purple and, for a moment, the air between them felt so sweet. Or was it Hiroshi's breath against his?
"Ku—Kusuo... can we—"
"What did I just say about the bell?! Head to class, you two!!"
Okay, maybe Saiki did understand why some people disliked their coach.
But even the annoyance in his chest couldn't stay lodged in his chest with all the flurry of butterflies dancing around it.
Or was it his stomach?
Well, wherever they were, they were only for Hiroshi.
His Hiroshi.
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"By the way, did Toritsuka help in what you guys were doing?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"No reason."
Let's see how he enjoys waking up in the middle of the Caribbean — Saiki had been eager to test how strong his powers had gotten.