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Feet pounded against the sidewalk, an imposing wall of large, muscular high schoolers ran and chanted. President Goda lead the group, setting the pace and morale with words of encouragement amidst the upbeat shouts. It was a great day for a run in the park, what with the clear skies and fresh spring air. The river gurgled, birds sang, bees buzzed, flowers bloomed. It was a perfect spring day. No wonder the park was busy.
Busy enough that the gang lost Kageyama in the midst of the crowds and winding paths.
Musashi’s stress levels were increasing as the club members started to freak out and bicker.
“Maybe he needed to stop and take a rest?”
“He hasn't needed to do that for awhile, though.”
“He would've said something anyway.”
Musashi cleared his throat, demanding the attention of the club. “Alright, as troubling as this is, we need to focus on finding Kageyama. Where was the last place we remember seeing him?”
The gang muttered thoughtfully until Onigawara said, “He’s always in the back! Last time I remember seein’ him was when we got here.”
Of course.
Musashi sighed, a poor attempt at calming himself. “Okay. Okay. I'll text him, but I doubt he has his phone with him. For now I guess we'll just have to look around for him…” He pulled out his phone and shot a quick query Kageyama's way. “If we split up we’ll find him faster. Let's meet back here in half an hour. Sound good?”
One resounding “Yeah!” later and suddenly Musashi was the only one still standing around. With a worried huff, he made his way down the path, scanning faces and crowds for the boy.
---
Mob stared at the sky. Endless. It was endless. And blue. A very pretty blue. He wished there were some clouds, though-- he was sweating a lot. It didn't help that he was running as much as his legs would push. He tried keeping up with the other boys, but was quickly losing them. Nowadays keeping up with them wasn't a problem, but today's run was just… different. Mob didn't really know why. He didn't feel great… or something. He was too focused on running, catching up with the now distant club, to think about how he was feeling.
He was too focused to notice the sudden shoving feeling and falling sensation and sudden chill of water until all of whatever happened had happened.
He resurfaced easily, suddenly realizing he was now in the shallows of the river instead of on the path. He blinked.
Well. This was something. He wasn't really sure what to do now. It wasn't commonplace to find oneself sitting in a river not out of one’s own accord.
He blinked again, cold water dripping from his hair. A shudder wracked his frame, but he turned the motion into standing up.
This was weird.
Oh.
Someone was nearby… yelling? It was hard to tell with the water in his ears and the daze in his head. He blinked, mind trying to catch up.
Today wasn't his best day, that was for sure. He wished his mind would work faster today, that he could tell this loud person to leave him alone or ask why he’d been shoved into the water. He really needed to catch up with the others… They'd worry if he went missing. Goda would worry, and that was the last thing Mob wanted to inflict on his friend (crush).
Whoops.
He was back in the water again. Ow. His face hurt. This was weird.
67%
---
“Onigawara, find anything?” Musashi said upon seeing his fellow club member.
“Nah, haven't seen him.” Onigawara fell in stride beside him, both of them with eyes looking everywhere. After a distracted grunt from Musashi and a few moments of silence, he spoke up again. “You worried ‘bout him?”
Musashi raised an eyebrow. “Of course I am. He has a history of passing out on runs like this… and he happens to be a good friend.”
Ugh. Onigawara was giving him that look again, the one that said he knew what was up and he would never ever let him live it down. Musashi shot him a glare and he snorted.
“Oh come on, dude. Dude. It's not that hard--”
“I am not having this conversation right now.” Musashi was not in the mood. He coughed, uncomfortable. “Besides. I've got that under control.”
“Really? Because you seem a little out of control right now. Just tell him you like him!”
Musashi rolled his eyes, trying and failing to maintain his stoic attitude. There had to be some way to ditch Onigawara and this whole conversation. He'd done it before, he could do it again. Not that he didn't appreciate the sentiment, but he really was concerned about Mob.
“Hey, why don't you look over there down that path? I’ll keep looking over here.”
Onigawara shook his head, seeing through the evasion. “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered as he walked down the opposing path. Musashi let out a breath he'd been holding, sauntered down the other path, and tried to take in the scenery. Even though the circumstances weren't ideal, it was still a pretty day out. Mob was fine; probably just taking a breather or something. He had seemed a little out of it today… once he found him Musashi would maybe try to talk to him about that.
A small clearing opened up, right up against the river shore. It was kept private by the trees and bushes that bloomed and rustled in the wind. Waterfowl swam in slow circles not too far from shore. He took a step forward, feeling oddly at ease. There were a few benches facing the water--
“Oh. Thanks.” Mob was sitting in one of them. Holding his head back and pinching his nose. Talking to… himself?
“Ah, Kageyama!” Relief washed over Musashi. He was…fine? He approached and stopped in his tracks when Mob turned awkwardly to look at him. Oh god. There was a lot of blood on his shirt. Blood? It was definitely blood, dribbling down his face and staining his shirt. Musashi paled, ice running through his veins.
“Oh, hello Goda.”
A beat as Musashi took in the casual tone.
“Oh my god-- what happened to you!?” He was at his side in an instant, kneeling beside the bench, trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do to help. The mildly surprised look on Mob’s face drifted into understanding.
“Oh. Right.” He kept glancing to the space beside him. “Someone punched me. I'm fine, though--”
“Kageyama you have blood all over your face, there's no way you're ‘fine’!” He processed what he'd said a little more. “W-wait, why did someone punch you? Who? Where’d they go? What happened?”
Mob sniffed. He sounded miserable and it broke Musashi's heart. “Unhappy customer. Recognized me.” Another gross sniff. “Punched me. Iko, uh, a spirit, scared them away.”
Musashi's mind desperately tried to keep up with all this information, trying to hold back this sudden rage at Mob’s missing assailant.
“R-really I'm fine. I think the bleeding stopped.” He gently let go of his nose only to wince and pinch it again. “Nevermind.”
Musashi didn't know what to do with all these sudden emotions, just staring at him with what was probably the most shocked and confused face.
“Mob. You aren't ‘fine’. You are literally bleeding and soaking wet… Why are y-- oh my god.”
Musashi couldn't believe this. He just. Could not wrap his mind around this. He dragged his hand across his face.
“Mob. I can't just accept that you're okay! I like you too much to see you hurt like this.”
His mind snapped at what he just said, body freezing. Reality seemed to pause around them, Musashi refusing to move his hand from his face. Mob was staring at him.
Musashi prayed that a stray lightning bolt would somehow hit him on this clear sunny day.
---
79%
“Yikes,” the spirit sitting next to Mob said. He'd found the spirit after being punched in the face (it had recognized him and spooked the unhappy customer), and it looked humanoid enough to know how to help him with his bleeding nose. Fortunately, the spirit was nice, albeit a tad annoying. Iko stood up at the sudden awkward silence between them. “Well, nice knowin’ ya. Next time you run into ol’ Iko remember not to exorcise him!”
Mob blinked and Iko was gone. He blinked again, eyes moving slowly to look at Musashi again. His face was a bright red and his eyes were boring holes into the ground. Mob’s own face didn't feel much better.
“Um.” Mob wasn't sure what to say. Should he say thanks? Perhaps Musashi didn't mean ‘like’ like. “I guess I wouldn't want to see you hurt either. I like you as a friend too.” There. That was safe. Crisis averted? Was this a crisis?
Mob didn't seem to have the code to decipher what was going on on Musashi's face. He wasn't sure what the raised eyebrows or twitching mouth or rapid blinking meant. It was kind of weird from this angle too. A lot happened in an instant, but his face eventually went calm… resigned? The president sighed, sat down next to him, and stared out at the water.
“Do you need anything?” His voice was soft, and Mob was suddenly afraid he’d said something wrong.
Was this the part of their story where they’d grow uncomfortable and drift apart? Mob’s heart fluttered, hoping that he was misinterpreting whatever was going on here.
“I’ll probably need a new uniform. And some water. And medicine.”
“Ah, right… Um. All that stuff is back at school.”
“Yeah.”
Mob watched the sky; Musashi watched the water. After a short while, he heard Musashi take a deep breath. Mob held his own breath.
Something hung in the air for a moment before it was said: “Mob… I l-like you. More than a friend.”
83%
Nose still pinched, eyes a fraction wider than usual, Mob let out his breath and looked at Musashi. His heart was pounding in his head and he wasn't sure if it was because of his injury or because of what Musashi had just said or maybe it was both. Butterflies and broccoli fluttered in his stomach and he desperately tried to approach some form of intelligence so that he could respond or do something… anything. Because the guy he liked had just confessed and he was just staring at him with a messed up nose and a foggy head and glassy eyes while red stained the front of his shirt.
He must have been silent for longer than was expected because Musashi started to fidget and babble, sweating and blushing like crazy. Mob couldn't help noting how endearing that was, taking a snapshot in his mind.
And then Mob smiled.
And then Mob placed a shaky hand on Musashi's.
And then Mob said “I feel the same way.”
Musashi went from a nervous red to a smiling scarlet.
“R… Really? You r-really do?” His hands were trembling, holding Mob’s a little tighter, and Mob nodded, ignoring the blood that was still dripping down his face, smiling a little wider.
“D-does that mean that… do you want to… d-date?”
Mob nodded again, a little harder.
The rest of the world suddenly disappeared, and it was only the two of them in this quiet place, smiling like idiots and holding hands and holding back tears and awkward laughter and Mob held his free hand over his face in a meager attempt to hide the red stains and it was like Mob’s mind was cleared of his fog.
And then they went to stand up.
Mob promptly passed out.
---
“Oh shit!”
It had been a half hour since the club had started searching. They had all reconvened, waiting for any stragglers. Waiting for the president. Onigawara was the one to point him out, carrying a less than conscious Kageyama.
“What happened?”
“Where’d you find him?”
“Is he okay?”
“Are you okay?”
Musashi couldn't repress the stupid grin on his face. He didn't want to! He was too happy and in a hurry. He blurted a quick explanation and the gang accompanied him on his way back to school, relieved at finding their friend, though he was a little worse for wear. The walk back was quickened by their pace and the entire way there Musashi was smiling.
Onigawara noticed.
The two of them stood outside the nurse's office, a little ways from the rest of the club.
“What's got you all sunshine and rainbows all of a sudden?” Onigawara said with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh… Well…” He just smiled wider and shrugged. “I'll tell you in a bit.”
Onigawara squinted at him, reading him like a newspaper. A playful punch and a smile later and Musashi knew that his friend knew what had him so happy.
“Ha! I knew it. Looks like a you really did have it under control.”
“Hm.” Musashi felt his blush creeping back. “Not really. I had no idea what I was doing.”
---
Mob’s eyes opened and he immediately sat up. Oof. That was a mistake. His nose throbbed in pain and he went a little lightheaded. Gingerly he slung his legs over the edge of the bed in the nurse’s office and cleared his throat. The nurse poked her head out from the door.
“Ah, good, you're awake!” She handed him a change of clothes.
“Your friends brought those for you. You can get changed and be on your way.”
“Thank you.”
He got dressed as quickly as his groggy mind let him. Why was he in here again? It was too late in the day to be regular school hours… he walked out of the office and turned a corner only to see the rest of the club, Goda catching his eye with a big sunny smile.
Oh.
Oh.
Mob felt a crooked smile grow on his own face as he approached. Musashi took a few steps in front of the rest. The mid afternoon sun burned orange through the windows, casting soft purple shadows on Musashi's face.
“Hi.”
“Hey… How are you feeling?”
“Better.” Mob wanted to say something but he wasn't sure what, moth trying to form words, if only to make sure that his memories weren't a dream. “Did… you…?”
“Ah… Uh… I haven't said anything to the others yet.”
Mob smiled a little more. It wasn't a dream. Mob could die happy now.
“Do you, uh, do you want to tell them?” Musashi's face was red again, voice hushed.
Oh. Right. Mob hummed approval and before anything else could be said, he grabbed Musashi's hand and walked over to the rest of the club. The instant Musashi's hand squeezed his, the club running up in excitement to crowd and congratulate them, it was like a tidal wave of emotions struck Mob.
100% Love
---
(It was said that Mob’s smile burned with the same intensity as Musashi's, laughter bubbling in the air as his friends clapped him on the back, congratulating and talking and standing in awe of Mob’s new look. The light in the hall seemed to bend and glitter and condense around his head, and his hand that refused to let go of his newfound boyfriend.
Mob couldn't imagine letting go.
Neither could Musashi.)