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furtive glances, shy smiles and hidden brushes of hands were what takumi’s and souma’s relationship consisted of.
it wasn’t that they were ashamed, not at all. but with both of them being elite ten members, basically the whole of totsuki looked up to them. not to mention japan itself wasn’t really the most open to relationships that weren’t between a man and a woman.
it was really their sense of responsibility that drove them to keep it a secret.
in fact, the only people that knew were takumi’s twin brother isami, for obvious reasons, and kurokiba ryou and hayama akira, and only because those two were in the exact same predicament.
their rendezvous place was almost always shiomi seminar and always in the evening, when the rest of the club had left and the professor, jun shiomi was holed up in her room running more of her nightly experiments.
that was where they found themselves now, the stress of the day leading to a desire to see each other and be free to just be together.
takumi was curled up against souma’s side as the redhead had an arm slung around him, both reading books of their choice. akira was currently experimenting with more spices, ryou’s arms wrapped around his waist. it was quiet, peaceful, almost domestic, the air conditioning’s low hum the only sound.
then without warning, souma closed his book shut, the slam of the hardcover breaking through the silence almost rudely, startling the other three.
“let’s go out!” souma exclaimed, a grin spreading on his face. he was only met with blank stares. “now?” akira asked skeptically.
“no, tomorrow. of course, now! come on, it’s not like we were really doing anything.” takumi checked his watch. “but souma, it’s already 10 o’clock.”
“so?”
“so… isn’t it pretty late?”
souma looked bewildered for a second before he began to laugh. “you guys are so funny. have you never gone out? now is when the city really comes alive.”
he stood up as if not to allow any further argument. “well, i want a change of pace so i’m going. if you guys don’t want to, ‘s up to you.”
there was a silence as the remaining three pondered it. it was late and they had curfew. but….
“i suppose we could use a break.” akira started hesitantly. ryou shrugged in agreement. “yeah, true. today was kinda annoying.”
everyone then turned to takumi who sighed, knowing there was no way he could truly say no, especially not to his boyfriend. “fine. but! if we get in trouble for this, souma, i’m blaming it on you.”
from the smile he got, he may as well have not said anything. “that’s fine!”
souma was right.
the four walked down crowded streets, stores and restaurants wide open, nightclubs with throngs of people waiting, pounding music coming from inside, couples, families, singles, all out enjoying the evening bustle of the city.
“so what should we do? maybe… nightclub?” souma gestured to one of the open doors where people dressed in semi-formal clothing lined up, being checked and ushered in by a burly man guarding the front.
his friends and boyfriend looked at him as if he had grown three heads. “i’m kidding, kidding! we wouldn’t be allowed in anyway. how about…” souma's citrine eyes scanned the streets for something to do.
“ah! i heard about this restaurant! it’s supposedly pretty good, wanna try it?” souma turned to the three for confirmation and received nods in response. “great! let’s go!”
despite the initial qualms about going out, the rest of the night was pretty fun, takumi thought. they had learned more about ryou and akira as the two had learned about him and souma.
though they weren’t the type of people who were necessarily touchy-feely, when it came time to separate after they had arrived back at totsuki safely (thank god), the four left with a newfound sense of camaraderie towards each other. (even if they wouldn’t ever admit it.)
there was a gathering at polar star of their seemingly increasing friend group for some reason. souma never knew the reason for why all of these people were always over but he assumed it was yuuki behind it; it almost always was.
he had no issue with it of course, just found it merely interesting.
however, it was at this particular gathering that changed the current course of souma’s and takumi’s lives.
he was chatting with shun about the benefits of curing certain food when the door opened and in walked isami and takumi, who began greeting everyone in the room.
isami saw souma through the crowd and waved with an exclaimed, “souma nii-chan!”
the room went silent.
everyone turned to souma who realized what was happening and oh. that was awkward.
he spared a glance at his boyfriend whose face was turning as red as souma’s hair and despite himself, souma thought it was adorable.
“nii-chan?”
"why would isami-kun call souma-kun,"
"nii-chan?"
dread sunk into souma and takumi as they could see the lights go off in everyone’s head in succession. isami's face went slack in shock but before he could even think to apologize,
“you two are dating?!?!”
there it is.
a hand landed on souma’s shoulder, a quick pat, nothing more, nothing less, and a quick glance revealed it to be akira on his right and ryou on his left, in a silent offering of support.
resigned, figuring there was no way to cover this up any longer, souma smiled gently at takumi and held his hand out.
takumi stared at him, eyes shaking, whether it was fear or something else souma didn’t know but he surged forward anyway, capturing takumi’s hand and entwining their fingers. (and it wasn’t really the time nor the place but souma found it incredibly cute how much redder his boyfriend got.)
“um, yes?”
“well jesus christ, finally!” this belonged to alice, her ruby eyes twinkling as everyone turned to her.
“you guys have been dancing around each other for ages, i had half a mind to force you two together myself.”
souma and takumi watched in bewilderment as all of their friends smiled and began clapping and nodding in agreement. “congratulations you two.” even erina was grinning.
the expected disgust and/or negativity they expected was not there. souma felt the weight of a thousand bricks fall off of his shoulders at the realization that it was okay. he could actually really be happy with his boyfriend in public. they had friends who would stand beside them no matter what.
he glanced at takumi and saw the tears rolling down his boyfriend’s face and souma grabbed the blond and pulled him into an embrace. the cheers and whistles that followed became a faded backdrop to the few seconds when it was just the two of them and souma kissed takumi’s temple.
“it’s okay now. it’ll be okay.”
takumi lifted his head but aside from the tears still falling, his smile was radiant. he leaned forward and kissed souma on the lips, a soft, lingering one that brought souma’s world into full focus once again, a world tinged with takumi.
his boyfriend pulled away sheepishly, wiping his eyes and smiling in gratitude as people continued to congratulate them.
“also!” alice’s voice piped up once again and everyone turned to her. she grinned in akira and ryou’s direction.
“don’t think you two are subtle. ryou, i have been your best friend for years so don’t think i didn't figure it out.”
this time the attention shifted to the two in question, akira and ryou taken aback by all the stares.
“so that means,” megumi started, before a smile came to her lips. “kurokiba-kun and hayama-kun too…?”
“yeah! what about it?” ryou spoke up, seemingly not caring anymore, arm snaking around hayama’s waist and pulling him close, garnet eyes almost daring anyone to challenge it.
he was only met with smiles and as people surge towards the two couples, yelling their congratulations, takumi glances at the redhead next to him and souma is grinning from ear to ear, eyes wet with unshed tears and takumi kisses him on the cheek and thinks he’s never been happier.
the news got out to the rest of the school soon enough. the totsuki elite ten’s first seat and seventh seat were dating. not to mention another couple found in the fourth and fifth seats.
yet when kurokiba ryou, hayama akira, takumi aldini, and yukihira souma walked the halls of their school, there were, of course, those who whispered, glaring, disdainfully; but they were few and far between.
there was such an overwhelming amount of support ㅡ even from the takumi aldini fan club, mixed in with a few tears ㅡ it was heartwarming.
more importantly, the bravery of the four men inspired a wave of acceptance and understanding towards how wonderfully different everyone is yet at the same time, just how human we all were; thus giving courage to those who struggled with accepting themselves and being accepted as they were.
it was the start of a new era to dawn on totsuki, and maybe, just maybe, to the rest of japan.