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“Can you lend me some comics you recommend?” asked Kakeru.
Prince was surprised, although it didn't show on his face. Prince, like Kakeru, wasn't one to show many emotions.
“No, I—I don't have anything in my room,” said Kakeru, growing embarrassed under Prince's steady gaze. “I thought once in a while...”
Prince couldn't believe it. The stuck-up jock who'd been tormenting him for weeks, practically ordering him to quit the team, was here asking for comic recommendations as if it was some sort of favor. It had to be an empty gesture. A pathetic attempt at playing “good coach.” It was condescending at best.
Prince was about to turn him away, when he was struck by a sudden fancy.
“Do you mind romance?” asked Prince.
Kakeru looked taken aback for a moment, but then shook his head no, so Prince stood aside and allowed Kakeru to follow him into his room, up to one of his many stacks of comics. Prince dug through for a moment until he found what he was looking for. It was a BL comic.
Kakeru wanted to know about his hobby? Well, he'd throw him into the deep end and see how he responded.
Prince handed over the slim volume without a word, grabbed a different comic himself, and climbed onto his treadmill for his evening training. He hated running while he read, but even more than that he hated people giving him trouble for not trying hard enough.
Prince had expected Kakeru to leave with the borrowed comic, but to his surprise, Kakeru sat down and began reading right there.
Prince kept half an eye on Kakeru, curious what his response would be. How long would it take him to realize what kind of book Prince had given him? Would he be shocked? Embarrassed? Disgusted?
But if Kakeru had any emotional response to what he was reading, he didn't give it away. Was he that dense, that he hadn't noticed yet that he was reading gay erotica?
But then Kakeru looked up from the book and Prince quickly turned away, going back to reading his own comic. His gaze felt strangely intense. Prince was used to watching Kakeru, usually from behind, his back in the far distance ahead of him as they ran. He wasn't used to being watched by Kakeru.
“That's it!” shouted Kakeru, suddenly standing up, surprising Prince for a third time that evening, so much so that he fell off his treadmill and crashed into a pile of books.
Kakeru had evidently had a breakthrough on how to train Prince as a runner, using comics to help him improve his form. Prince put up with the new training, the same way he'd been putting up with all of the training until then. He still hated running, but he had to admit that he was starting to feel a little less like he was dying every time he ran.
And still, Kakeru's intense gaze was on him. And Prince found that he enjoyed being looked at that way, although he was certain that Kakeru still didn't see him. He saw a training problem to be solved. Even when he looked at Prince, he was still only staring at the horizon as he ran.
Prince wasn't certain how far Kakeru had gotten in that comic he'd lent him. Every day, Prince half expected Kakeru to show up at his door, demanding an explanation, or blushing as he handed it back and explained that he didn't think he was into that sort of thing.
But when Kakeru finally returned the book, it was with a straight face. “It was pretty good,” he said. “What else do you recommend?”
So Prince gave him another BL comic, an even more hardcore one this time, and again, Kakeru ended up sitting in his room to read it.
Kakeru was spending more and more time in Prince's room. Watching him run on the treadmill and giving him tips to improve his form. Sitting next to him as they both quietly read their own comics, turning pages in unison. Helping him stretch.
It was one of the deep runner's stretches that Prince had seen the other boys do, but had never tried himself. It required a partner, and he was always too embarrassed. But Kakeru insisted. So Prince laid on his back and let Kakeru stretch his leg, deeply, bringing his face within inches of Prince's. Prince blushed and turned his eyes away.
One day, while they were reading together, Kakeru fell asleep on Prince's shoulder. Annoyed, Prince shook him awake. Kakeru looked up at him, still half asleep, and mumbled, “You're eyelashes are incredible. I've never seen anything like them.”
For some reason, this just annoyed Prince more. Kakeru was becoming too comfortable with him, and Prince missed his solo reading time. Besides, there was no way Kakeru actually liked him, even as a friend. This had to be part of some sort of advanced training program Kakeru had cooked up, and Prince was sick of it.
There was only one thing he could think of to truly scare Kakeru off once and for all. Prince raised a rand to lift Kakeru's chin and kissed him on the lips.
But Kakeru didn't shout or push him off or run away in disgust. Instead, Kakeru leaned into the kiss, deepening it. When he finally moved, it wasn't to leave, but instead it was to straddle Prince, never breaking the kiss. Prince felt Kakeru's hands inching under his t-shirt, feeling his bare skin.
Finally, it was too much, and Prince pushed Kakeru away. “Stop it!” he said. “Get out!”
Kakeru looked surprised and hurt and that just made Prince more angry. He threw a book at him. “Get out of my room!”
“I don't understand!” said Kakeru.
“Just go!”
Kakeru glared, and he looked like he was about to argue, but then he just scoffed and left.
Prince sat alone on his floor and felt like shit.
#
After that, Kakeru reverted back to the way he'd been when he first moved in. He avoided people, snapped at them when they tried to interact with him, and he spent more and more time out of the house, running.
He and Prince went back to not acknowledging each others' existence altogether.
Prince told himself it was better this way. This is what he'd wanted. For Kakeru to leave him alone.
At their next track meet, Kakeru was running, but Prince wasn't. Prince stood on the sidelines with his teammates and watched Kakeru run past, that intense look in his eyes as he stared down the horizon. For a brief moment, those eyes had been turned on him, and now that Kakeru didn't look at him anymore he found that he... missed it.
Look this way, he found himself thinking every time Kakeru ran past. Look this way. But he never did.
“Did you and Kakeru get into another fight?” asked Haiji.
Prince glanced at him briefly, trying to decide whether or not to respond. “I can't stand guys like that,” said Prince. “Guys that are so proud and full of themselves that they never acknowledge anyone else.”
“But aren't you the one being proud right now?”
Prince glanced at Haiji again, but he was smiling the same enigmatic smile he always was, the one that gave nothing away.
#
Later that night, Prince stood timidly in front of Kakeru's room. Kakeru was glaring at him.
“I think... I need to apologize,” said Prince, looking down and fidgeting with the edge of his shirt. “I was rude to you before, and you didn't deserve that, and I'm sorry.” Prince quickly turned to run away, but Kakeru grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into his room before he could get away.
Prince ended up sitting on Kakeru's floor. Kakeru's room was bare bones, practically empty. The exact opposite of Prince's cluttered room. Kakeru stared at him, and Prince fidgeted under his gaze, and refused to meet his eye.
“Why did you lend me those comics?” asked Kakeru.
“I thought they would scare you away,” said Prince.
“Why did you kiss me?” asked Kakeru.
“I thought it would scare you away,” said Prince.
“And why did you think those things would scare me away?” asked Kakeru.
“I thought you'd think they were gross,” said Prince. “I thought you'd think... I was gross.”
Kakeru approached Prince then, putting both hands on his cheeks to make him look at him. “I don't think you're gross,” said Kakeru.
Kakeru let go of Prince then, and sighed, flopping down on his back. “I did used to think you were lazy, though. And stupid.”
“Hey!” said Prince.
“But then I heard you talk, and you said some incredible things,” said Kakeru. “So I started to notice you, every one in a while. And every time I saw you reading, you would watch the page with such intense eyes and I... I wanted you to look at me that way.”
“I wanted you to look at me, too,” said Prince. “But when you finally did, I thought you weren't really looking at me. I thought it was all part of some elaborate training program, and you didn't really care about me.”
Kakeru sat bolt upright. “You thought it was part of a training program?”
Prince shrugged. “Nothing else made sense to me.”
“You didn't think I might like you?” asked Kakeru.
“It honestly never occurred to me.”
“Well, I like you.”
“You do?”
“Yes!” said Kakeru, exasperated.
“Oh,” said Prince. He thought about it for a moment, and then blushed. “I think I like you, too.”
Kakeru took his hand, and Prince could feel Kakeru's intense gaze on him again. It was too much for him, and he ended up glancing away again.
“Look at me,” demanded Kakeru, and so Prince did, forcing himself to maintain eye contact.
Kakeru kissed him, and Prince kissed back. This time, they both meant it.
“Wait,” said Prince, pulling away.
Kakeru made an annoyed noise. “What is it this time? You can't kick me out, this is my own room.”
“It's just that...” Prince hesitated again. “If we're going to go any further, we should maybe go to my room.”
“Why?” said Kakeru, confused. “Your room is much more cramped.”
“It's just that,” said Prince, fidgeting with his shirt again. “If things got... intense, we could turn on the treadmill and that would be a good... cover for the noise, but if we did anything here.. um, maybe the others would hear us.”
Kakeru blushed at this. “I'm not sure I'm ready to go that far!”
“I'm not sure I am either!” said Prince. “I just wanted to say, just in case...”
Then Kakeru started laughing, and Prince laughed, too. “I think we're bad at this,” said Kakeru.
“We'll just have to train then,” said Prince, kissing Kakeru again. “Maybe we can use my comics as a tool to work on our form.”
Kakeru laughed again and kissed Prince back.
#
The next morning they were chatting at practice, when Haiji came up behind them and slapped them both on the back. “I'm so happy to see you two made up!” he said, with a knowing smile and a wink, before going to talk to Yuki about something.
They both watched him leave, with wary looks on their faces.
“How much do you think he knows?” asked Prince.
“Who knows?” said Kakeru.
“Do you think this was his plan all along?” asked Prince.
“Who knows?” said Kakeru.
“I think he's the most terrifying man I've ever met,” said Prince.
“You've got that right,” said Kakeru.