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They spent that afternoon at Ann’s house, playing board games while eating snacks, and, at some point, both her and Akira joined forces to paint Ryuji’s finger and toenails in purple and red, as a punishment for losing — a pretty fashionable punishment, as she said, making their victim groan in response.
“Woah, when did it get this late?” Ann widened her eyes when her gaze fell on the digital clock over her desk. “You guys better go now, or you’ll lose the train.”
“Can’t we just sleep here?” asked Akira.
“Sure,” she said. “You only have to convince Alice to let two punks sleep in her princess’ room with her.”
Alice was Ann caretaker, and looked like an over-protective grandmother who also practiced wrestling during her free time. She was a sweet woman, but neither of the boys was willing to evoke her fury.
“You know what? Nevermind,” said Akira.
She guided them to the station, just in time for them to get the last train. They waved at her, then sat on the bench, side by side. The best thing about getting back so late was taking an empty train, for a change.
“I feel like my nails are made of plastic…” complained Ryuji, picking at the bright nail polish.
“It looks nice,” said Akira.
Ryuji stared at him in disbelief.
“If it did, it wouldn’t be a punishment,” he said.
“We just did it because we knew you’d react like this.”
“You guys are terrible.”
Akira chuckled, and Ryuji smiled at him, giving his arm a light nudge. His eyes stayed on Akira’s face for a while, though.
“Hey…” he said. “Your hair is kinda messy.”
“That’s just its nature,” said Akira, fixing his glasses. “It’s my rebellious spirit showing up.”
Ryuji laughed at that answer.
“Yeah, yeah… You talk like a real delinquent guy. Just a sec.”
Before Akira could answer, Ryuji reached for his head, starting to fix his hair. Akira simply looked at him, trying his best not to show any reaction on his face, while his brain screamed.
Holy shit …
“There,” said Ryuji. “Lookin’ better now.”
Akira didn’t answer immediately, which made Ryuji show an amused smile.
“Dude… Your face is all red!” he said. “Did I get you embarrassed with my whole mother hen act?”
Akira forced a brief laugh, shrugging while his mind raced to find an explanation for that.
“Nah, I wouldn’t mind if you did it more, to be honest.”
Why was he flirting so openly now? Thankfully, Ryuji took it in a playful way.
“You should be glad I’m here to take care of you, then,” he said, shaking his head. “Damn… Am I turning into an Alice number two?”
“Except you’re not as intimidating.”
“But twice as cool, right?”
Akira answered with an “eh” that cost him another nudge on his arm. He chuckled, and Ryuji watched him for a moment, smiling fondly.
“Man…” he said. “You’re so cute sometimes.”
Akira’s brain froze at those words. He tried to find a casual and funny answer, but the only thing in his mind was the word “cute” being repeated endlessly in Ryuji’s voice. A voice announced the next station, and soon Ryuji got up.
“Ah, it’s my stop next…” he said, glancing at Akira. “See you tomorrow!”
“See you…”
He watched as Ryuji disembarked, keeping a cool face while unable to stop screaming inside.
He got to Leblanc a few minutes later, meeting Sojiro there, who asked for his help with the dishes. They exchanged a brief conversation and cleaned the cafe for the night. It served as a nice distraction, but as soon as Akira got to his room, what happened earlier flooded his mind again. He changed his clothes, throwing himself on the bed, getting under the covers.
He felt a little sleepy, but his brain wouldn’t let him rest. When he realized that feeling wasn’t about to go away, he took his phone, typing a message to Ann.
Akira: aaaaaaaaaaannn
Akira: ann help me
Akira: he said i ’m cute and touched my hair
Akira: ann ……………
Akira: what do i do???
Akira: i love that idiot so much
Akira: someday my self control will go to hell and i ’ll just kiss him
Akira: and he ’ll punch my face and hate me
Akira: and my life will be ruined
Akira: sorry to text you so late but i ’m dying here
Akira: help meee
She took a while to answer, and Akira was starting to doze off when his phone buzzed. He looked at the screen, seeing it was a call from Ryuji. He found it a little strange: they usually talked through messages, unless it was something important. He took the call, and before he could say anything, Ryuji’s voice interrupted him.
“Hey… Was that some kind of joke?”
Akira frowned at that question.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“The fuckin’ messages, of course!”
Akira felt his blood freeze.
“What?” he sat on his bed, suddenly awake. “What messages?”
“You know what messages!”
He looked at the screen, opening his recent messages, and, as he feared, his most recently sent ones were to their group, and not to Ann alone.
Fuck …
“I… No! I mean… They weren’t for—”
He tried to find an explanation, but it soon proved impossible.
“No, wait! That’s not what I… I wasn’t serious! Please, just forget about—”
“Akira…” Ryuji interrupted his babbling with a serious voice. “Do you like me?”
That’s it, that’s how he died: with a heart attack at the age of sixteen, because of his own stupidity.
“I’m sorry.”
Saying that, he hung up, letting out a loud, suffering groan. About ten seconds later, the phone started buzzing again, and as much as he wanted to ignore the call and never leave his room again, he ended up taking it.
“Don’t fuckin’ hang up on me, you asshole!” Ryuji yelled at him.
“I’m so—”
“Don’t you dare doing it again!”
Akira, who was about to hang up again, stopped halfway.
“I won’t…” he said.
“Good,” said Ryuji. “Now, answer me: do you like me or not?”
He took a while to answer. Was there any way he could give another explanation to his own words? Of course not… He had been stupid enough to use the word “love”, and talk about kissing his best friend… How could there be a not-gay explanation for that?
In the end, he realized it was useless to run from it. Akira took a deep breath, then finally answered.
“I do.”
There was a brief silence on the other side.
“For real…?”
Ryuji’s surprised voice made his stomach turn in guilt.
“Ryuji, I’m really sorry,” he said. “I don’t want things to change between us, so… Please, forget about this.”
“I don’t wanna forget!”
The answer felt like a punch in his guts.
“Akira, I’m serious…” proceeded Ryuji. “I feel like I’m about to die now. You have to warn me before doing somethin’ like this!”
“It was an accident… I’m really—”
“Stop apologizing, you idiot! I like you too!”
Akira couldn’t say if he had heard it right, or if his mind had made that last part up to make him feel a little better.
“You what?” he asked.
“Fuck… And you called me an idiot?”
Ryuji grumbled something to himself before repeating.
“I said I like you too, you stupid nerd!”
A wave of excitement overcame Akira, and he suddenly felt like jumping on his bed while screaming. So, he did it.
“Dude!” Ryuji’s voice had a hint of a laugh on it. “Don’t scream in my ear like that… You almost got me deaf!”
“Ryuji…”
There were so many things he wanted to say that he didn’t even know where to begin. He felt about to explode, and had to let everything out somehow.
“I’m going to your home now.”
“There are no trains at this hour!” reminded Ryuji.
“I’ll go walking.”
“Stop, you idiot!”
Akira sat on the mattress, groaning in protest.
“But I really want to kiss you right now…” he said.
“You think you’re the only one?”
Akira was about to protest, but the small, still rational part of his brain agreed that it was a ridiculous idea.
“Okay,” he said. “But we’re doing it tomorrow!”
“’Course we are, you nerd!” Ryuji laughed at that answer. “Damn, you sound so happy… It’s so freakin’ adorable.”
“Of course I’m happy! I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight…”
“C’mon, try to sleep a little. I don’t wanna kiss a zombie.”
“I can’t promise that…”
“Just try!”
“Fine…” despite his defeated answer, he still had a wide smile on his face. “See you tomorrow, then.”
“See ya,” answered Ryuji, his voice acquiring a softer tone. “Sleep well.”
Akira ended that call, still laughing to himself. It took him about a minute to notice Morgana was back from Futaba’s house, looking at him with puzzled eyes.
“What did I just witness right now?” he asked.
“Morgana!” said Akira. “Ryuji likes me!”
“Uh… Yes?” Morgana tilted his head a little. “You didn’t notice it before?”
That unsurprised response wasn’t enough to make him feel less excited.
“He likes me!” he repeated.
“I heard you the first time…”
Akira had another fit of laughter, rolling over the mattress until he was on his stomach, hugging his pillow. He felt Morgana jumping on the bed, beside him.
“It’s nice to see you this happy,” said the cat, “but you should be sleeping by now. Do you even know what time it is?”
“Yeah… I’ll try.”
“Really…” proceeded the cat in a playful tone. “To be that happy about Ryuji, from all people.”
“Don’t blame me if you don’t have good taste.”
“Sure…”
A low laugh left Morgana’s throat, and he found a comfortable place close to Akira’s legs.
“But I’m happy for you,” he added. “You deserve to be with someone who likes you.”
A light smile took Akira’s lips.
“Thanks, Mona.”
“No need to thank me. Now, try to sleep, okay?”
He agreed, but it was easier said than done, especially when his mind was filled with everything that could happen on the next day. In all his excitement, he barely thought about the group’s reaction when they finally read those messages in their chat… He doubted they would let something like that go so easily.
But he could worry about it later. For now, he was happy enough with falling asleep, hoping morning would come soon.