Chapter Text
When Mitsuya steps into his house, he’s greeted by the sound of Luna and Mana giggling. He removes his shoes and enters the living room only to find Hakkai seated on the floor, with one of Mitsuya’s sisters standing next to him on either side, holding his long hair and trying to tie it into pigtails. His face is red, but he’s also sporting a big grin. Mitsuya covers his mouth with his sleeve and tries not to laugh too hard because Hakkai, though clearly embarrassed, is too sweet to tell the girls to stop.
“Hey, I gotta steal him so we can get our schoolwork done. You two have some homework too, right? Why don’t you guys start on that right now.”
The girls groan before they both slink away towards their backpacks. Hakkai remains where he is, hair still in lopsided pigtails. He scratches his cheek shyly before asking, “Were we..going to have dinner before studying?”
Mitsuya nods. “I have some leftover beef and rice, and I’ll make some miso soup right now.”
Hakkai smiles again and gently takes the pigtails out.
“Great! I’ll set the table.”
---
After dinner, Mitsuya makes sure the girls have completed their schoolwork before he lets them watch a movie together. Then, he and Hakkai make their way to his room.
Once they’re alone together, Mitsuya notices Hakkai acting nervous again. He thinks back to how his own anxiety was worrying Hakkai a few weeks ago, and feels guilt creeping in once again. This time, he uses that guilt to push himself to finally do something about it.
Tonight he sits on the same side of the table as Hakkai, rather than across from him. He sees Hakkai stiffen at this positioning but he wills his own nerves to remain steady. He opens their textbooks and flips to the section they left off on, trying to get started on the schoolwork while also brainstorming about the best time to bring up the topic of his feelings.
Now wasn’t a good time, so should he wait until they take a break? Should he wait until they’re saying goodbye, just to make sure Hakkai actually studies all the material he needs to? Maybe he should walk him outside and say it, just in case his sisters are watching. He stays silent while he weighs his options, the only sound between them for several minutes is the flipping of pages and scratching of pencils on paper.
While reaching for another book, Mitsuya feels his thigh brush against Hakkai’s. “Sorry,” he begins saying, and then he looks up at Hakkai’s face and– oh no. Hakkai is crying.
Hakkai is crying? Oh shit, this wasn’t part of Mitsuya’s plan at all.
“Hey, hey! Why are you crying? Are you okay? Hey, look at me.”
It’s no use, Hakkai is crying harder now, the tears are beginning to roll down his red cheeks.
Mitsuya feels awful now, and he’s not sure he knows how to fix this. He does all that he can think of doing in the moment: he gently grabs Hakkai’s face, holding it between both his hands, and forces him to look him in the eyes.
“Hakkai, please. You can tell me if something is wrong. Please look at me. Let me help you.”
Mitsuya stares into Hakkai’s eyes, trying to convey all of the meaning behind his words in his gaze, lilac irises meeting blue. He sees Hakkai opening his mouth, and he hopes that he’ll tell him what’s wrong, but all he says is “...D..Daga-chyann…” before his body is wracked with sobs.
Mitsuya kneels and pulls Hakkai into a hug, keeping one hand on the back of his head and carding his fingers through his hair. The other hand is rubbing soothing circles into Hakkai’s back, while he slowly sways him side to side. He isn’t sure if this is the kind of comforting he needs right now, but it’s what he’d do for his little sisters.
They stay like this for a few minutes. Mitsuya isn’t actually sure how long, he just knows that Hakkai’s sobs have lessened into hiccups and sniffles and his own knees hurt from being there, but it’s worth it if Hakkai is calming down.
Mitsuya keeps brushing through Hakkai’s hair with his fingers, and he almost misses it when Hakkai whispers something into his shoulder.
“Hmm? I couldn’t hear what you said.”
“…Taka-chan. I think I’m in love with you.”
Mitsuya’s hand stops, and he freezes. He listens to his own heart pounding in his ears, and then realizes he can feel Hakkai’s doing the same against his chest. He places his hands on Hakkai’s shoulders, leaning back to be able to look him in the eyes.
“...Really?”
Hakkai nods, his bottom lip trembling. “I’m really sor–” he starts, but Mitsuya can’t help himself and he’s tackling his best friend to the floor of his bedroom and laughing. At first, Hakkai is staring at the ceiling, frozen, but when he turns his head to the side and makes eye contact with a grinning Mitsuya, he smiles back, and both boys are overtaken with laughter. They laugh until they’re both crying this time, and Mitsuya keeps his arms wrapped tightly around Hakkai. They let themselves come down from the laughing fit, both taking slow, deep breaths until they’re calm again.
Mitsuya twists so he’s laying on his back next to Hakkai, and he reaches a hand down to intertwine their fingers. Hakkai is still sniffling, so Mitsuya reaches over with his other hand to push the long bangs out of his eyes and wipe away some of his residual tears. Hakkai blushes, but this time he doesn’t look away.
“...How long?” Mitsuya asks.
Hakkai is rubbing circles on the back of his hand.
“...How long have I loved you? Or how long have I known?”
“Hm…both?”
Hakkai chuckles.
“Well…I think I loved you from the moment we met. I wouldn’t know what love is if it weren’t for you...Taka-chan, you really turned my world upside down.”
Mitsuya feels like his heart is going to burst from his chest.
“...and how long have I known? Uh...heh... Yuzuha told me like...two weeks ago? It sounds pretty stupid, but I really didn’t understand that what I was feeling wasn’t like...brotherly love, you know?”
Hakkai looks him directly in the eyes now, and it keeps Mitsuya rooted in place.
“...and you? Taka-chan? You love me too, right?”
Mitsuya feels his own cheeks heating up.
“Of course I do! Hm...I’d say I’ve known for a couple weeks now, too. I really didn’t want to scare you away, or ruin what we had. But now that we’re like this, I realize I was stupid to think that way. I know now that you wouldn’t have abandoned me.”
Hakkai’s face shifts, and he looks horrified.
“Taka-chan– you thought I would ABANDON YOU? I could never, Taka-chan I need you! I need you like...like how bees need honey!”
Mitsuya manages to stay quiet for about a second before he bursts into laughter all over again, and eventually Hakkai does too. Once they stop, he rolls over on his side so he’s completely facing him.
“Hakkai, can I kiss you?”
He watches Hakkai swallow hard, before answering: “Yeah.”
Offering his best reassuring smile, he cups Hakkai’s cheek with one hand and leans in to kiss him. The second their lips touch, he feels electrified. The kiss is rather short, and somewhat chaste– he doesn’t want to scare Hakkai now, not since they made it this far. He kisses him softly, once, twice, and a third time before he opens his eyes and sees Hakkai staring back at him with a look of pure adoration. He starts blushing all over again, and he looks away because he’s not sure he can handle the intensity of Hakkai’s gaze.
“...well...how was that?”
Hakkai breaks out into that dazzling, closed-eyed smile again, and Mitsuya thinks he could die happily on the spot.
“Your kisses taste like your miso soup! So salty!”
Hakkai laughs at his own joke, and Mitsuya is too enamored to feel embarrassed.
“Hey, I thought you liked my cooking!”
Hakkai is still grinning.
“Of course I do! Come back here and let me have another taste.”
Finally, in this moment, Mitsuya knows that this is exactly where they’re meant to be. Stuck with each other, like bees and honey.