Chapter Text
Enta looked at himself at the mirror, buttoning the sleeve of his light yellow button-up shirt. His hair was pushed back today and the shiny new, elegant dark jeans he brought were probably the best-fitting piece of cloth he ever had. He thought about using lenses, but it felt weird when he tried them on, and he gave up. Regardless, his green eyes seemed very highlighted without the bangs around them, even under the glasses. The reflection smiled at him. He had to admit, he looked hot.
Now fully ready, he walked over his notebook, where a pic of his chosen outfit with the captions "how abt this? (ﾉ)ｪ(ヾ)" could be seen, posted in the 3rd page of a thread titled "What should I wear to a first date". He refreshed and smiled further when he saw there was already a fair amount of responses.
"Way to go! I'm sure he'll love it! Good date!"
"Those are perfect! I wish my dates cared that much about what they're wearing...."
"If your boyfriend ditch you, let me know and I'll go on his place instead!"
"You should send us a pic of the final product!"
Enta's eyes stopped at that last post. He had been fairly active in that forum for a while now, but he never posted a picture of himself. If he were to make a face reveal... well, now was the best time for that.
With newfound confidence, he picked up his phone and extended it in front of him, posed for his selfie, and-
The door opened with a very quick motion and a loud sliding sound. Otone's clearly annoyed yells followed.
"Enta! I TOLD you before to not pick my credit card without permission! That's stealing, did you kn-woah!!" He got startled, his phone fell from his hands.
"Otone! I told you to knock before-"
"Why are you looking so cute today???" She walked in, ignoring his words, with her hands at her cheeks. She made the sort of noise you'd do while looking at a newborn pup. "Enta, do you have a date? My little brother..!"
"S-stop!" He blushed deeply and walked away as she got closer, but didn't manage to escape in time to avoid being hugged. "Otoone, stop, you're wrinking my clothes! Don't hug me like that, I'm not a child anymore!"
"No, no, you're a little man now, aren't you?" She teased, with a weird he he he after her words. "Who's the lucky girl, huh?" She undid the hug and started fixing Enta's clothes and hair carefully.
"There's no girl." he corrected, grumpily. There's a boy, though. He wished he could say that aloud. "I'm just going out with Tooi, same as always."
"Just Tooi? Are you sure?~"
"Yeah, I'm sure!"
"Uhum~" she snickered, leaning against some furniture. "But.. Enta, you've been hanging with Tooi a lot," Her tone suddenly got serious, and his heart skipped a bit. What... Were them being too obvious? She waited until he was looking at her, which just accentuated the new atmosphere, and he opened his mouth, ready to explain himself, but she managed to speak first. "What about Kazuki?"
He relaxed.
"Ah..." it must have been obvious how relieved he felt, because she raised her eyebrows in apparent surprise. "Kazuki is fine..! But he's been busy. He might come again next week, I don't know."
"So you guys didn't have a fight?" He shook his head. "Are you sure? Even grandma was worried. Everything's alright with him?"
"Yeah! Actually, Haruka is almost walking agai-"
The bell rang, and Enta's phone buzzed. They both stared at each other for exactly one second before leaping for the corridor's door.
"No!"
She was faster. Otone closed the door full force, and Enta reopened with such speed it actually pulled it off trail. They sprinted all the way down the corridor. She skipped over a short table. He ran around it.
"It's not for you!"
She laughed.
"I know!"
The front door opened so quickly that Tooi heart accelerated a little as he backed off a few steps. Otone appeared at it, panting, which didn't make his less frightened. She breathed in deeply, than leaned outside and looked around as if expecting to find someone else.
"Good aftern--" She started, but was interrupted by a full-speed Enta crashing against her back. Wasn't she holding at the door frame, she would certainly land face-first on the floor.
"Tooi!" He called from behind his sister, kind of breathy. "Hi!"
"Uh... Hey...."
Otone held her brother back. She didn't find anyone else, so she turned her attention back at Tooi, with a big smile.
"Take good care of my brother today, okay?" Despite being confused by the resquest, he nodded. Enta was still trying to find a space between her and the frame to pass. When he failed, he tried just pulling her, but Otone was quite strong. She finally just stepped aside, and Enta collapsed. "Enjoy the date, boys." She crouched to pick Enta's shoes, putted them outside, waved, then disappeared behind a closed door.
"So you told her?"
Enta shook his head, starting to get back on his feet.
"She thinks we're going to meet some girls."
"Ah. You're ok?" Tooi finally turned his eyes from the door to his boyfriend, taking his hand out his pocket, because he meant to help him; but he stopped on his tracks, and stared. "...What are you wearing?"
That was not the reaction Enta wanted. Even his ear tips went red and hot, in a very uncomfortable way.
"What you mean!? Is..is it bad??? It-it's a date outfit...!" He now stopped to notice Tooi's clothes. He wore casual stuff. A white tshirt with a small logo over the left chest, black pants ripped at the knees and his usual boots. It was cute, but not different at all. Enta managed to blush even more. "What are YOU wearing?" Tooi shrugged.
"You know it's just a normal restaurant, right? It's not a fancy place."
"B-but- it's a date!"
"...Not a fancy date."
"Alright, I get it!" Enta had put so much effort on picking those though... How stupid! Ugh. He felt himself tearing up a little. "I'm gonna change!" He was happy to turn away from Tooi, because the last thing he wanted was to be seen getting emotional over something that ridiculous, but still moved as if his legs were being pushed by a invisible entity against his will, babbling under his breath. "My friends thought it looked nice... even Otone said it was cute..."
Tooi sighed.
"Enta-" Enta was already inside, taking off his shoes, but stopped to listen. "...I didn't say it's not cute."
"You're just saying that!"
"I'm not!" There was a short pause, and Tooi's voice sounded smaller now "You're looking good. Very good."
Tooi had his chin turned down, but his eye looking up, and his hands were back at his pockets. That words and reaction combo made Enta hot enough that the previous tears seemed to have immediately evaporated.
"You really think so?"
"Yeah. You're looking handsome, so let's just go, ok?"
Enta smirked and started getting closer.
"So I'm looking good?"
"I said that enough times already.."
He shook his head, then looked around, making sure no one was looking, then hugged Tooi by his neck.
"I'm looking cute?"
"..Yeah."
"I'm looking hot?"
"Ye- what!?"
Enta laughed. Such a embarassed face was making him... feel things. He almost gave up on the date and pulled his boyfriend back to his room, but bravely resisted and settled with just stealing a peck.
"You're looking hot too~"
Tooi was so red.
"Shut up."
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People in the restaurant really were dressed up a lot more relaxed then Enta. But after the torrent of compliments from early on, he didn't mind at all. He felt attractive. He watched Tooi read the menu from across the table with a affectionate smile upon his face.
"Tooi", he called, and the other's blue eyes focused on him. "Didn't we already make our order?"
"Y-yeah..." he nodded, and sheepishly put the menu away.
And they both looked at each other in silence for a couple minutes.
...Then Enta picked up the menu.
It was just so weird! They talked the whole way from Enta's place to up there, but after they put foot inside the restaurant and the date officially started,no more than half a dozen words were said.
The drinks came, the courtesy bread, an entrance - they commented on the taste or some decoration, and then the conversation just died there. Did they waste all their good subjects on the path? Was their date already fated to be a disaster? Would all of them be like that? It was his turn to try to spark a dialogue and -- gosh, he was starting to hyperventilate. What did they event talk about everyday? He closed his eyes and tried to think about the last thing they said before finding the restaurant.
"Yeah, now that you mention it.. I guess he don't have a dick."
"Maybe he does asexual reproduction? Like amebas? I prefer that."
"Maybe it's like frogs! You know, they just throw some liquid over their eggs"
"So Sara put eggs?"
"She poops eggs"
"Stop"
Enta's eyebrows dived together. Maybe they were too stupid for a serious date chat.
He chucked down his soda, anxiously, and was about to bring back kappa reproduction anyway when Tooi decided to talk.
"So..." Enta leaned in, wanting to make sure he seemed interested in whatever he had to say "when are we going to tell Kazuki about this?"
Then he leaned away.
He prefered talking about kappas, but-
"If he doesn't know it already", Tooi went on "because we.. well, you weren't exactly subtle about it."
"We were- I was!" Tooi's disagreed. He didn't say a word, but Enta could feel it. "And.. and it's Kazuki. He probably just think we are busy, or might have not even noticed-"
"Yeah, it's Kazuki, Enta", Tooi returned his words. "He's probably thinking we ditched him and we are mad."
"What? Pf, no!" Enta made a dismissive hand move. "Why? We are still hanging with him, and he seems normal! Plus, he's the one who always find excuses to not have lunch and not come back home with us, so we aren't doing anything wrong, or new..."
He stopped talking. Tooi just stared at him, not looking too content.
"W-what?"
Tooi sighed and ignored the question.
"So, again, when we're going to tell him?"
That was starting to get annoying.
"Monday, at school, alright? Can we talk about something that's not Kazuki? It's our date, it makes no sense to-" he was interrupted by Tooi's snicker. "...what?"
"Nothing."
"No, now you gotta tell me!"
"It's just-" Tooi hesitated. He was about to say 'nothing' again, but Enta's glare made him change his mind, apparently. "I never thought you'd be the one complaining about 'Too much Kazuki' during a date."
"What do you mean!?"
"Well... up to last week, you wouldn't talk about anything else."
"What do you mean?" He felt something being implied there, and he didn't like it. "That's not even true!"
Tooi seemed to evaluate his next words.
"I just mean it caught me by surprise, that's all. Sit down." Enta just noticed he waa almost leaving the chair in his agitation, with both his hands against the table's edges. He felt embarrassed, and fixed his posture.
"Sorry."
Tooi nodded.
The waitress apparently was waiting for their little discussion to end, because as soon as it did, their dishes came. They thanked and started eating.
"So-" it was still Enta's turn to pick a subject, but it was Tooi who speaked, again. "...Did you watch Lionel Kappa's daugther's wedding?"
Enta enthusiastically raised his eyes from his food, as if he never had been upset about anything at all. "Yes!" He talked even before he was done chewing. "It was so beautiful! Lionel looked hot in that suit." Admitting it out loud was oddly... freeing. Tooi almost choke.
"Hot???"
"Uhum!" Enta gave off a teasing smirk. "You're jealous? Don't worry, you're hotter~" Tooi rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of pink in his cheeks, which was honestly very satisfying. "And the way she wore her dad's jersey over the dress? Me-- Otone cried so much."
"Otone, sure."
"When I marry, I want to wear Lionel's jersey-"
"Over your dress?"
"No- well, maybe! You don't think I'd look good at it?"
"No, I'm sure you would."
Enta raised his eyebrows. That was not the answer he expected, but he liked it very much. The mood had gotten so much ligther... he felt.. happy. Maybe the date wasn't fated for disaster. Maybe he could still ask Tooi to walk him home and stay in for a little, like he planned before. Maybe they could end the night making out. It lifted his spirits.
The conversation flowed a lot better from then on.
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Tooi didn't want a desert, but Enta insisted a lot. Sharing a single, pink milkshake with two straws across a table with someone he really liked was sort of his life-long dream. Tooi complained about it being too corny, but he still leaned in to drink at the same time Enta did. He never felt so happy. Not even Tooi choking in his drink just half a second after starting sucking and pulling away earlier than he should could destroy the romantic happy mood that they finally managed to build.
"Kazuki-"
But that could.
Enta looked up and, granted, Kazuki was there, standing by the table with his hands in fists next to his body, but lacking a expression. He then pressed his lips in a very thin line, closing his eyes. He looked wounded. It barely lasted a split of a second before he opened a big smile, cocking his head to the side, looking as bright as Kazuki ever did.
"I didn't expect to find you guys here! What a coincidence~" He laughed. "Are you guys on a date?"
"Uhn-"
"I hope you are having fun! You make such a cute couple!"
Enta really wanted to be happy from hearing that. Instead, it filled him with shame.
"I'm waiting for some friends... did I tell you I was called for a blind date thing? I'm so excited for it!" Kazuki kept talking, since neither Tooi or Enta seemed like they were going to. He looked around as if expecting to find someone.
"But you never liked this kind of-"
"Amachi is there! Hehe." He pretended not to listen. "See you guys tomorrow at school?" He didn't wait for a answer. "Great!" And turned to leave, sort of in a hurry and didn't look back.
The conversation didn't flow anymore. They didn't even finish their milkshake.