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When I meet [someone] worth to put an effort in, then I can truly fall in love. – Tanaka-kun
Observing Tanaka and his efforts to be listless was one of Ohta‘s favourite things to do. For as long as the two of them had been together it had fascinated him continuously. Whether it was observing him in his daily life or his decisions in situations he ran into because of his chosen way to live.
It was surprising how much effortless effort Tanaka used to make sure he could be as lazy as possible. It didn’t make him a bad person, he didn’t ditch his responsibilities, after all, but he did everything with the least possible effort.
“To solve a hard problem, give it to a lazy man.” – this quote described Tanaka quite well.
Ohta blinks out of his gaze when a pencil pokes his nose. From his spot on half laying on the table Tanaka had extended his arm with a pencil to poke Ohta out of his daze. “Oh, sorry Tanaka, did you have a question?”
Nowadays the smaller male tended to come over to Ohta’s house to do homework together. He explained that this way his homework will be 100% done, unlike if he went home and possibly fell asleep or didn’t manage to take his assignments out of his school bag.
The brown haired male had no qualms about helping his friend out, as long as Tanaka wanted it, he was all for the black haired teen receiving as much education as possible. It helped that even though his memory sometimes tended to evaporate he had quite good head and took to things quite quickly as long as he put at least some effort.
“Ohta.”
“Yes?” Ohta met the other male’s black eyes, their endless depths seemed to want something from him.
“Are you finished?”
“Huh?” Ohta tilted his head, one of his bangs falling onto his face quite hilariously. “Yea, are you also finished?”
The listless boy nodded. “I was thinking we could watch some anime, are you watching anything?”
The tall male blinked confused at his friend. Usually once homework was done Tanaka would start his journey home, because it usually took him a while because he was tired. But recently Ohta noticed that he wasn’t the only one initiating contact with Tanaka. The other boy would suggest going somewhere together or as in this case doing their homework together and now he was even suggesting doing something after!
Was Tanaka actually very shy with people and it took him awhile to get used to them?
Not too long after both males were sitting in the living room in front of TV, a recording of an anime Ohta watched in his free time running. The plot didn’t need much explaining as it was right in the middle of a big fight, but Ohta still noticed that Tanaka-kun wasn’t that interested in it and instead was staring at his long haired friends face.
“Do I have something on my cheek?” Ohta asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Your focused face.”
“Hm? Am I making it look scary again?” Ohta says meeting listless black eyes.
“No, you remind me of a cat, it’s cute.”
Huh? Huh?! Huh?!?! Ohta watched as Tanaka turned back to TV like he did not just call Ohta’s face cute, leaving his taller friend in a frenzy.
Suddenly a tabby cat jumped into Tanaka’s lap and at the same time shook Ohta out of his daze. He shouldn’t be so surprised, this is Tanaka after all, he often says everything the way he finds it, without beating around the bush. The dark haired boy started stroking Suiden, the cat immediately started purring, the traitor, Suiden seemed to like Tanaka more than his own owner...
“I envy cats, they can sleep anywhere any time and always seem to be comfortable, they do everything at their own pace and no one judges them for it.” Says the restless boy, one had stroking the purring cat, while the other was supporting his chin in his half lay down position.
Ohta nodded. “Cats do have a good life, they seem like a perfect pet to represent you.”
“Hn, I wish I was a cat.”
The tall boy looked the head full of dark hair and those big eyes and in his head he imagined a pair of neko ears poking through the hair and a lazy tail swishing from his behind. The view was insanely cute, Ohta hoped he would never have to see it in real life or he might get ideas that best friends should not get.
\(*-*)/
Ohta and Tanaka were sitting on the school’s rooftop, the bench was warm – heated up by the morning sun and surprisingly the two of them were the sole occupants of this fabulous place.
They were eating lunch – Ohta his usual sweet bun and strawberry milk, while Tanaka was slowly nibbling on a sandwich while sipping green tea.
Tanaka unlike his taller friend, instead of sitting on the bench was leaning onto it, while resting himself on the tiled ground.
“You know, Ohta,” Tanaka suddenly starts catching his friend’s attention mid bite. “I really appreciate how much you do for me, I would be so lost without you, I am very grateful for your existence.”
Ohta gapes at his black haired classmate too flabbergasted to say anything, but Tanaka continues, not even looking up. “It took me some time to realize this, but you’ve done so much for me so selflessly, but at the same time you do this only for me and no one else. And a selfish part of me is very glad for that, glad that Ohta dedicates so much time for me.”
Tanaka finally looks up and meets Ohta’s confused stare. “Thank you for taking care of me and I hope you don’t mind continuing doing so.”
And to end it all, like some crazy dream Ohta was probably having Tanaka smiles – small, genuine smile and the brown haired male feels his heart go ‘ba-dump’ like in any shoujo manga ever written.
The tall boy swallows the old bite that was still lingering in his mouth and smiles at his friend. “I will take good care of you.” He says and feels like he just embarrassed himself, but honestly, he couldn’t think of what else to say. The whole situation somehow reminded him of a wife thanking her husband for taking care of her, but in a very weird and complicated way where the husband acts more like the wife - and Ohta should definitely not go with this train of thought.
It was enough that Tanaka more than once implied that he’d marry Ohta if he could. Or that he will nevertheless if it’s legal.
Meanwhile the object of said confusion nodded very seriously to the answer of his gratitude speech and went back to slowly nibbling his lunch.
Probably only five minutes later did Ohta feel like the atmosphere was normal again and he could also once again eat. Sometime he really did not understand Tanaka.
\(*-*)/
“Rino.”
The black haired girl looked up from making breakfast to see her big brother standing in front of her just on the other side of the kitchen counter, his listless eyes full of determination like she had never seen before.
“I want you blessing.” He states, his eyes unwavering, staring deeply into hers.
Rino’s eyes widened at the unexpected statement and her mind went into a haywire of what those four words meant. She had a feeling she would not like what she would hear.
“Today, I’m going to-“
\(*-*)/
From: unknown number
Subject: be careful with what you do
This is Rino, I took your number from my brother’s phone. I want you to know that even though I let this to happen, you better be careful with what you do with my brother. If he ever gets hurt you will have no chance to regret it.
Ohta stared at the cryptic message he apparently received from Tanaka’s little sister with confusion. It seemed to be threatening and oozed with murder intent from the way it was written. But the subject of it was quite a mystery to the tall teenager. Let what happen? Did something strange happened?
The brunet male could only bring up that instance on the roof a few days ago, to be honest, but even then it didn’t seem something to be angry about? But of course, Rino was very protective of her listless older brother and the things Tanaka said might mean more to Tanaka than Ohta realized. Was he missing something?
Ohta watched as Tanaka took his seat and decided to let this matter go, if something was going to happen he will wait until it does. No matter what that means…
Even though he had made the decision to not mind Rino’s message throughout the day more than once Ohta found himself to be tense whenever Tanaka and he were alone. But no matter if it was five minutes alone, or an hour at lunch time Tanaka didn’t do or say anything surprising.
By the end of the day Ohta wrote it off to Rino wanting to mess with him or just the middle school girl being paranoid. After all, today they didn’t have much homework so the black haired boy was going straight home.
“Ah, this is where I need to separate from you,” Ohta says pointing to the other side of the crossroad from where Tanaka was heading to. “I will see you tomo-“
Before Ohta can finish his goodbyes Tanaka grabs his sleeve making the tall boy raise an eyebrow at his friend’s uncharacteristic behaviour. “Is something the matter?” The long haired male inquires stepping back towards his friend.
“Yes,” Tanaka nods, “I forgot something I was going to do today.” He almost whispers with his silent way of speaking.
“Oh, did you need to go the supermarket again? I will be glad to help you shop.”
The ravenette shook his head and once again took hold of Ohta’s sleeve. “Come.” Is all that comes from his mouth as he does an uncharacteristically quick look around and particularly rushes towards a small green area. Once the two classmates go through the bushes they see it’s actually a small square full of grass with an occasional path and quite a few benches.
The two find themselves sitting on a bench Ohta staring at his friend while Tanaka stares ahead, his hands clenching and unclenching with restlessness. “Tanaka, what’s the matter?”
The petit boy turns his face to Ohta and the tall boy is surprised to see an emotion other than annoyance on his face. Instead Tanaka looks a bit hesitant, but at the same time determined. “Ohta.” He starts and for once his voice is filled with emotion, “you know how I say that ‘I wish you were my wife’?”
The brown haired boy nods, unsure of where this conversation was going, some idea were slowly crawling into his head, but he didn’t let any of them take hold, he had a bad history of assuming things that were far from truth.
“Well, I know you always take it as a joke and I always let it slide, but I want you to know,” Ohta sees Tanaka’s lips move, hears the words coming out of his mouth and his heart starts beating loudly inside his chest almost drowning out Tanaka’s words. “that I really like you, I’m not just joking, I actually-“
Ohta slaps a hand on Tanaka’s mouth stopping him from saying anything else. He knows his cheeks are burning and he can still hear his heartbeat banging in his chest. “Stop.” The brown haired boy peeks through his bangs to peek at his small friend, whose usually emotionless face is currently sprouting hesitance and hurt.
It makes Ohta feel like scum, the worst of the worst. So he puts his hands on Tanaka’s shoulders instead and looks him into the eyes, cheeks and the tips of the ears still burning from what he’s pretty sure was about to be a confession from his best friend he might secretly harbour a crush on.
“I think if I will actually hear the rest of the sentence I might faint.” He says quickly glancing at black eyes and then down casting them again at Tanaka’s relaxed palms.
Brown eyes observe as those delicate hands reach up and take Ohta by his cheeks. “Don’t be dumb Ohta,” Tanaka says, a small smile on his face. “You really need to hear it, I already know you answer, but you seem to have never known mine.”
Ohta’s heated skin reduces in heat, he takes his hands off Tanaka’s shoulders and only one of Tanaka’s hands stays on his cheek. But nonetheless, the tall male thinks, his heart will jump out of his chest at any given moment and to add insult to the injury as they say, his stomach was clenching in anticipation to the next words.
“I love you Ohta and it’s definitely romantic kind of love.”
And at that moment Ohta felt like he transcended to heaven, that’s it, you can just dig him up in some hole, he’s reached all he wanted in life. He’s done, his happiness level is so high it feels like he will just burst if anything sharp touches him.
But as always Tanaka knows how to surprise him out of his daze, because when the small male makes a ‘come at me’ move with his free hand, while the one still resting at his cheek pulls Ohta closer and simply mends their lips together.
And on that warm autumn day, in an unknown square on a simple bench Ohta’s life came to the fulfilment level he had never thought possible.
The simple press of the lips, Tanaka’s lips – his mind whispers, makes his body move without even thinking about it and in a matter of seconds Ohta is holding Tanaka’s face between his palms, pulling him closer. (and the small male just lets it happen, he leans in, his hand latches on Ohta’s shirt, like he’s encouraging this move)
He’s not sure who open their mouth first but then their tongues are touching and it’s wet and sloppy and they bump teeth, but Ohta wouldn’t have it any other way.
He pulls away after a bit and looks at Tanaka with eyes which he knows are filled with adoration he feels for his best friend. “I love you too.” He says and the small happy smile h receives in return looks like the most beautiful thing he will ever see.
\(*-*)/
When that day Tanaka returns home – three hours later than on usual days when he doesn’t go to Ohta’s place – he looks like an absolute mess.
His shirt’s first two buttons are open messily, shirt itself rumpled, his hair looks like somebody had brushed their hands through it one too many times and now it stands in an opposite way and no brushing through it was going to fix it. Tanaka’s lips were red and full and he was wearing a grin like Rino had never seen before.
And all her anger about the obvious activities he and Ohta had been doing evaporated in an instant. How could she mad at something that made her brother so obviously happy?
“So how did it go?” She asks, completely unnecessarily, she already knows the answer.
“We’re definitely going to get married.” Is the only answer Rino receives as her older brother flops onto the couch with a happy sigh.
\(*-*)/
Once second year of high school comes around Ohta suddenly realizes that the future up ahead is something he cannot imagine.
Ohta knows he wants to go to a good cooking school, one that’s going to be out of town. But what was Tanaka going to do? Did he want to study anything? Was he going to work? Work what? The future up ahead of them suddenly became gloomy idea that put him down anytime Ohta was happy.
Tanaka was quick to notice his best friend being down. At first he tried to cheer him up by being closer – Ohta always enjoyed them sitting close enough to be touching or walking shoulder to shoulder even if they weren’t holding hands. But that didn’t seem to work, the taller ale would look down at him and his smile for some reason always was bitter sweet.
A few weeks of such behaviour continuing ant Ohta not saying anything Tanaka closed his text book with a bang distracting Ohta from whatever stream of thoughts that had captured him this time – he always got distracted after doing his homework.
“Ohta, what is bothering you?” He asks once Ohta undivided attention is on him.
The tall male looks down and Tanaka takes the matter into his own hands, if his boyfriend wasn’t going to talk on his own he was going to make him talk.
The listless teenager crawled around the table and crawled straight into Ohta’s lap. There he made himself comfortable and grabbed Ohta by his cheeks – he liked doing this, touching the brunet without any second thoughts, being free to do whatever he wished. He could be selfish all he wanted without having to feel bad about it because he knew Ohta didn’t mind and that he could latter ‘repay’ all the carrying Ohta did with a couple of kisses.
“Tell me what’s bothering you.” Tanaka says looking deep into brown eyes.
Those eyes stare into his for a moment, but then they seem to collapse under pressure and fall down. “What will you do once you finish high school Tanaka?”
The black haired boy blinked surprised and tilted his head, his hand reached up and circled Ohta’s neck. “Oh, this? I have it all figured out already.”
Ohta put his hand behind Tanaka’s back, raising an eyebrow. “Really?”
The black haired boy nods. “Yea, I already chose a course in Oxford university I want to complete online, once I do that I will find a job from home. This way whatever you choose to do I can stay with you, aren’t we moving in together once we finish high school?”
A laugh went through the room as Ohta let out all the frustration and worries he had gather through the past few weeks. “Simple as that,” The taller male leans down to put a kiss on his boyfriend’s forehead and smiles down at the slightly confused teenager. “I had no clue about you plans for the future and too afraid to hear something that would put as apart to ask you about it.” Ohta smiles widely. “I plan to go to a culinary school out of the town, I will gladly live with you.”
Tanaka nods and lies down on the ground, pulling Ohta alongside. “Now that everything is figured out we can relax.” He declares while putting a kiss on Ohta’s uncovered collarbone.
\(*-*)/
“Ohta?”
Ohta turns his head to look at his boyfriend a basket full of groceries in one hand and a wallet in the other. “Hmm, did you forget something you wanted in the shop?”
“Nah.” Tanaka shakes head. “Can you buy me a lottery ticket?”
“Yes, sure, do you like lottery tickets? I’ve never seen you buy one before.” Ohta says while taking a ticket from their stand by the cash register while unloading his basket contents to the moving conveyer.
“Never, I just felt like it.”
“Tanaka is feeling spontaneous, how rare, which one do you want? A scratch one, the TV show one?”
The listless boy stares into nothingness for a moment before answering with a small nod. “A scratch one will be fine, I want to try it now, you choose which ticket it is.”
It’s strange, Ohta thinks, while paying for the groceries. “Here you go.”
Tanaka takes the lottery ticket and the offered coin and puts it on the nearest wall to scratch it off. Ohta watches his boyfriend scratch it with surprise, he’s never seen Tanaka put such effort into anything other than to be listless or when he wanted to do something romantic with him.
“Ah.”
Ohta looks at Tanaka’s smiling face. “Did you win something?”
“Yea.” Tanaka extends the ticket for Ohta to see, he points at three same icons. “It means I won ten thousand yen.”
“What?” Ohta blinks surprised. “That’s so rare, at best you usually win back the money you paid for it, to actually win a prize… Do you maybe had a sixth feeling or something about it?”
Tanaka shrugs. “I don’t know, I just wanted to try out a lottery ticket, you chose the lucky one.”
“What are you going to do with the prize money?” Ohta asks one they cash out the lucky ticket and are on their way to Ohta’s house.
“Eh, I don’t know, save it? I was thinking of starting saving up for when we start living together.” Tanaka says with a small shrug. Like it’s nothing big, like he did not confess thinking about their future together in his free time.
Ohta did a quick look around and after not seeing anyone grabbed Tanaka’s chin pulled him up and kissed him. “You are amazing.” He whispers, once they are at reasonable distance from each other. “And I love you very much.”
Tanaka smiles that small little smile of his and Ohta’s heart melts. “I love you too.”