Chapter Text
After a day of classes, Harua was back in his room, scrolling something while Yuma was also scrolling something.
"Yo, Harua! I think you have a secret admirer" Yuma sat up.
"What?" Harua said in confusion.
Yuma smirked and slid the phone towards him. "Look at this!"
Harua saw the comment flash in his face.
"I wish the person came with the skirt"
🐶
"Do you think he'll notice?" Taki asked as he shook his leg.
Maki placed a hand over his knee. "I don't think he's personally monitoring the website"
"But what if there aren't many customers? What if he can tell by my username?"
"What's… What's your username?" Maki asked with concern.
No way did Taki use his government name. He was praying to the Gods, hoping that he didn't use his birth name. Forget privacy, Maki didn't want Harua thinking he was hitting on him. That was far from what he was. It would be very weird to hit on your ex's best friend, even if the break-up was on good terms. If Maki and Harua were friends and organically caught feelings, that's still okay. Maki did not want to be seen as the type to comment in reviews because he couldn't get their social media handle.
"It's.. this" Taki turned the phone in the opposite direction.
Relief flooded Maki. He chose to use 'takkiibaby'. That wasn't a bad username. It was still very recognisable though. Maybe the double 'k' would throw them out of thinking it was Taki.
"Takkibaby, isn't bad. There is a chance Harua can tell it's you, though—"
"Ughh, I should've asked you before I created the account. Now look at what I've got myself into. SHould I run away?" Taki's voice cracked at the end. "If I disappear don't come for—"
"Hey, hey, hey— calm down. Harua doesn't know you know. He's most likely going to think you're into wearing skirts. He probably thinks you're straight because he's assuming that people don't know he's not a woman"
"What?"
"What I mean to say is, Harua probably thinks you're into girls because most people outside of our uni don't know that the background of the video looks like the boys dorm"
"But I am in our uni. So he probably thinks I'm into guys!"
Taki looked straight into Maki's face and Maki had the urge to respond with a stupid grin, but he chose to not do it. He held Taki's hands in his. "That's true right? Maybe you have a chance with Harua!"
"What if Harua's not into guys?"
Maki smirked. He'd never miss the chance to tease Taki.
"Oh, so the little boy here is worried about his crush's sexuality?" Maki said with a raised eyebrow.
"No! How many times have I told you— I do not have a crush on Harua!"
"Then why are you trying to drop hints?"
Maki could see the screws in Taki's face. Taki formed an idea in his head and immediately shook it away.
"I don't know. Just answer my questions—"
"I'm not your chat assistant. I'm also your friend"
"Ughh" Taki tugged his hair. "Say, I'm not asexual. Suppose I have a crush on Haura—"
"Suppose hmm, I could do that"
"You— okay, suppose I have a crush on Harua, how do I know he's into me?"
"Do you want to know if he's into you or into guys in general? Cause that's two very different scenarios"
"Guys in general"
Maki's face transformed into one with confusion. "We're talking about the same Harua right?"
"You literally met him yesterday. You're already sure he's gay?"
Maki cleared his throat. He knew he shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but Harua had no cover. He was a book whose hardcover was separated and put together only when first presenting it to someone. He was always without the cover in other cases.
"We literally stalked him on Instagram yesterday. His close friends reels, which you are a part of somehow despite not having too many mutual friends by the way, says a completely different story from the rest of the posts"
"So you're sure he's gay?"
"Yes"
"I don't believe you"
Maki physically curled to a ball as his hands semi itched his hair. He took a deep breath before sitting straight and explained his perspective to Taki.
"Rei would not have a straight best friend"
"Oh. Makes sense. So, what's after this? Assume I do have a crush on Harua. How do I approach him?"
"So, first things first, do you want to be friends with him first and test the waters or do you want to directly walk into a date?"
"I'm obviously going to be friends with him"
"You're trying to be friends with him while you're already in his close friends list?" Maki placed his arms on his hips.
"Yea, what about it?"
🐰
"Do you have an idea of who it is?" Yuma asked him.
"I think I do," Harua answered.
Hwang Intak. That had to be his answer. His name was literally 'takkibaby' on Instagram. As far as Harua remembered, Intak was Shota's crush who rejected Shota. That was a year ago though. Harua felt weird. A heat rose to his head. He did not want to confront Intak about it. It would be weird rejecting someone without the person knowing who he was asking out. Also, Taki still very much possessed a part of Harua's heart.
"Do you want me to block the person?" Yuma asked.
"No, I think it's fine. He probably doesn't know it's me. It's probably a result of a random night of scrolling through things to jerk off to"
"Do you feel uncomfortable?"
Harua thought about it. Technically, it wasn't exactly from a horny point of view. It was something Harua would've done, but not everyone was like Harua.
"No, I don't really feel uncomfortable about it. Maybe I'm just overthinking. Maybe it's just some random person. Don't take it too seriously" Harua answered Yuma's question.
"Alright then. I'm gonna crash"
"You have a lot of free time for someone in their 6th semester"
"I'm telling you— the hard part is the second year. It gets wayyy better after that"
Harua sighed and closed his phone. He totally forgot he had an assignment to submit. He opened his laptop to a micro controller assignment. He had to write some assembly language code. Harua banged his head on the table. The pain hit him the way his head hit the table and he started aggressively rubbing his forehead.
"That sounded painful… you okay?" Yuma peeked out of his blanket.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a very natural reaction to a course I picked for a degree I wanted to complete"
"Ah, it is assembly?"
"How did you know—"
"They make everyone do assembly. Most people in my class hated it, but I think it's pretty fun"
Harua scoffed. "It's probably fun for you since you're doing assembly from a computer science point of view and from an electrical engineer's point of view"
"See, I'm gonna tell you what I told my classmates. The syntax is actually pretty simple. Don't look at it as things to by heart. Think of the codes as writing an algorithm into a syntax"
"I fear that is the literal definition of a code"
Yuma sighed. "Let me try explaining. What's the language you're most comfortable with?"
"I guess C"
"So when you read the question mentally, have the program ready in C, then convert it to assembly"
"How do I convert it to assembly? There's no pointers in here"
Harua guessed that Yuma got tired of him. He pushed off his blanket and dragged his chair to Harua's table.
"I'm going to make sure you're fluent in assembly by the time you wake up tomorrow"
Harua gulped. This was going to be a long night.
Harua walked into the classroom with two hours of sleep and the power of a morning coffee. To make his day worse, one of his homophobic classmates with his sidekicks walked towards the table Rei and Harua were sitting on.
Rei eyed the boys from head to toe before deciding that her omurice was more interesting.
"Had a hard night?"
"Not in a mood for it, just leave"
"Aww, did someone thrust too hard into you? Your butt— OUCH WHO THE HELL"
Harua didn't fully understand what was going on. He had handed in his assignment in the morning, attended two classes and was finally here for breakfast when someone decided that he looked too tired to be enjoying his brunch. This someone started saying weird stuff to which a bright haired man punched the someone.
"You better piss off with your friends and better make sure you're never in a three meter radius around them because if you are, then I'm personally going to—"
"We're sorry! We'll leave" the trio left.
"Oh… Maki?" Harua called his name.
"You dyed your hair!" Rei exclaimed.
"Yeah, it's DIY. I got a little help from Taki but it's mostly me. How does it look?"
"Are you hitting on me?"
Maki turned his head. "What—"
"What?" Rei looked at Harua like he'd stolen her pizza slice.
Harua blinked his eyes in confusion. Did he say that out loud? He didn't mean to. Maybe this was a bad idea.
"No… I don't think of you like that. Sorry" Maki said as he ruffled the back of his own hair.
"YES!" Rei jumped. "Tell Yuma he owes me 150 yen"
"Y'all BET ON THIS? Without asking me?" Harua gasped.
"Sorry about that" Rei apologized. She then turned to Maki, "I hope you didn't take it the wrong way and thanks for today. Though we'd have been fine without it. Not saying you shouldn't have done it, but I do appreciate it"
"You don't have to be so diplomatic. We gotta be self-sufficient. I'm queer too so I know that it's not cool to tell you that you take it up in the ass" He panicked and looked at Harua then his eyes went back to Rei. "I mean if you like it in the ass, there's no shame. Preferences are meant to be respected. If you like switching around also, no issues—"
"Maki, it's okay. You don't have to. We understand"
Haura noticed that despite what Rei mentioned, Maki felt more awkward than Rei. Maki was soft. He was starting to understand why Yuma called him the ideal man. He'd be such a gentle top. Was that what Harua wanted? He didn't know.
"Achoo!" Harua sneezed.
"You're probably on someone's mind" Maki teased Harua.
"You think I have a secret admirer?" Harua asked Maki. He had to talk to Intak, and maybe Shota first about this.
"I mean, it's possible. You're cute and I'm pretty sure I've seen a few men and women alike wait for you to walk out the classroom. Though I never saw you with Rei at that time"
"It might've been during foreign language. We picked different ones. That's probably why you've seen me before"
"Ahh I see. Ooh, time's ticking. I'll see you guys around then. Feel free to hang out with Taki as well"
"Oh… sure?" Rei answered as Maki left the scene.
That was weird. Why would Maki them to hang out more often with the dude that introduced him to them. What possibly could be the reason? He was already friends with Taki and he didn't know if Taki wanted to have something outside of a platonic relationship. Then the bulb switched on.
"You think Maki knows about my crush on Taki" Harua asked Rei.
"Maybe. I don't know anymore. Maybe he wasn't hitting on you, but getting you both together"
"Your ex is really nice, you know"
Rei raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's all you have to say? Are you just ignoring the fact that the Rikis are roommates?"
Oh. Harua did forget that. He was cooked. Maybe Taki knew about it and he was going to use Harua as a little experiment.
"You don't think they're teaming up to play me right? I don't want my feelings toyed with"
Rei folded her hands. "I know Maki isn't the type of guy to do that. Maybe it's all just a coincidence. How would he know?"
"Yea, how would he know…"
"Can I ask you something?"
"You already did"
"Ha-ru-a…"
"Okay! Go on"
"You have more than a crush on Taki right? You actually like him right?"
Harua felt conflicted. He didn't like him enough to cry about seeing him with someone else, but he would feel jealous if Taki was with someone else. Maybe he did like Taki more than what people with crushes did.
"I think I do"
"How much does this thinking entail"
"Why does it matter?"
"Because now we have Maki! And if you're sincere about it, I don't mind creating something out of nothing"
That did sound good on paper. Maki could be his wingman and set them up, but what use was that? Taki and Harua used to be in the same class and he couldn't make a move. How would bringing in Maki bring a change? He had to be the change he wanted to see.
"Thanks, but I think I can do it. I'm going to actually flirt with Taki. I want to try to actually flirt with Taki. I want to try on my own once more, but first, there's something I need to do."
🐣
Taki sat with his laptop open. Maki was in class so he had the entire room to himself. He googled the question that had been eating him from inside.
How to differentiate between a crush and wanting to be friends?
He ignored the AI overview and clicked the reddit question with a very similar phrasing. The post was from seven years ago, and Taki was glad someone asked the question before he did. He read through the comments to get a better understanding of what the masses meant by a crush versus wanting to be friends.
There was a beautiful long comment by a user called TheOwlMarble that explained his answer in a detailed manner. It clarified a lot of things for Taki. Firstly, Taki had to figure out if he wanted to be with Harua at all times— Taki's answer— No. Did he feel giddy talking to Harua? Taki nodded his head from side to side. He clearly hadn't had enough interactions post the discovery. One last question he asked himself, was he afraid of saying something 'wrong' to Harua? Taki gulped. He was, but he wasn't sure if it was because they weren't close or because he had a cough crush.
He closed the tab and shut the laptop. Taki took a few deep breaths. He wasn't sure if he had a crush on Harua or not, but he was sure that Harua was making him go insane because why was he staring at a skirt wondering if he should get it or not. He checked the price one more time— 3,500 yen. That was certainly not a small amount. If he, if Harua wore it, he probably had it. Taki searched the sites to find any other skirt or a piece of clothing in general that looked like he could get one for Harua, or maybe even himself.
He settled on a short wrap-around skirt for 2000 yen and checked his bank balance. Okay, 2000 yen wasn't bad. He opened Harua's Instagram page to check if Harua had anything similar to it. Nothing. With a smile he voluntarily reduced his bank balance. The good thing about a wrap-around skirt was that the waist length was adjustable, so anyone could wear it. It would take a week to arrive, but Taki didn't mind that. He could use that week to get close to Harua.
So, he got on LINE and texted Harua.
Wanna hang out?