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Hajime was pulled along by an excited Mitsuru, who had his hand grasped tightly as he bounced forward, laughing as Hajime stumbled behind him with a smile.
“Mitsuru-kun,” Hajime giggled, trying to pull the other boy to a stop. “We’ve got to wait for Nii-chan and Tomoya-kun to catch up! Look how far behind they are!” Hajime turns around, grasping the top of his wide-brimmed hat and holding it against his head, staring back as Tomoya and Nazuna walk slowly behind them, both talking animatedly.
“Ah, Nii-chan!” Mitsuru shouts, letting go of Hajime’s hand cupping his around his mouth. Hajime watches as both the boys far behind look up toward them, and Mitsuru takes it to keep shouting. “Hurry up! We’ve got so many rides to play in! So, come on! Dash dash!” Mitsuru holds a fist up, before pumping it in the air with a hop. Hajime laughs, waving them both forward as well. He watches as Nazuna and Tomoya share a glance before grins split both of their faces, and they run the rest of the way to where Mitsuru and Hajime are waiting.
The four crash into each other, laughter filling the air and bodies tangling as they try not to fall flat on the ground. Hajime holds tightly onto Tomoya’s arms, feeling the fabric of his dress swish at his legs as he moves. Mitsuru and Nazuna were on the ground, the blonde having jumped at their collision, and everything was perfect.
When they finally settled down, Hajime and Tomoya helped the two on the floor to their feet. Tomoya shouldered the backpack he had on further on his back, grinning widely at his friends.
“Well?” He asks, raising a fist to the air. “Let’s go!”
“Yeah-ha-ha! Dash dash!” Mitsuru laughed, speeding off with his arms stretched out next to him, weaving side to side as he makes soft helicopter sounds with his lips. Hajime giggles as he takes Nazuna’s arm, holding it gingerly as they walk to the park entrance.
Once they’ve paid their fees and have made their way inside, Hajime blinks in surprise at the sight of a boy with sea-blue hair sitting casually in the fountain, surrounded by four other boys trying desperately to pull him out.
“Come on, Blue!” Hajime heard a loud voice shout with a laugh, a tall, brown-haired boy leaning into the fountain to pull out the other. “There are plenty of other places for you to refresh yourself!”
“This is absolutely mortifying,” says another, and this one is someone Hajime recognizes. Midori has his hands hiding his face as he crouches next to the fountain wall, trying to make himself small. “God, I want to die .”
“None of that, bro!” Tetora shouts, and Hajime realizes with a start that the entirety of Ryuusetai is currently standing around the fountain. “We’re here to have some fun together, dude. You can’t go and die on us, you know!”
“Exactly, Midori-kun!” Shinobu replies with a smile, perched precariously on the edge of the fountain, one leg raised against the other, and a hand perched before his face, two fingers pointing up and resting against the bridge of his nose. “We’ve come here to spend time together in the park!”
“Precisely,” the boy pulling the other out of the fountain shouts. “We’re here to be inside the park, so lets, ” he yanks, “ go! ”
“Ah, but this fountain… it relaxes my senses,” the blue haired boy says, sinking deeper into the water. “It makes me feel bubble-bubbly.”
“Chiaki-chin?” Nazuna shouts, making the tall boy whip around, letting go on his grip on the boy in the fountain. Hajime looks between the two boys curiously. “Is that Kanata-chin in the fountain?”
“Haha! You know him too well,” Chiaki says with a loud laugh, and Hajime instantly feels… safe? He blinks rapidly, shaking his head. The other boys surrounding the fountain turn toward them as well, and suddenly it’s like a party.
“Tenma-kun!” The shortest boy shouts, jumping up from his position on the fountain, hopping down and making his way toward Mitsuru, who stopped running in circles the minute his name was called.
“Shinobu-chan! When did you get here?” Mitsuru replies, blinking rapidly in surprise, but a grin still overtakes his face.
“Mitsuru, don’t you ever pay attention to your surroundings?” Tomoya asks with a soft scoff, gesturing to the other unit with a hand. “They’ve been here since we got inside!”
“Oh!” Mitsuru says, but obviously doesn’t care too much about his ignorance to the things around him, as he just rushes over to Shinobu, running circles around him a few times as the other boy crouches down with his hands clasped together, before pouncing and jumping on Mitsuru’s back.
“Nazuna,” Kanata hums, and Nazuna makes his way over to the fountain, Hajime still hooked to his arm. “It is interesting seeing you outside of school.” Hajime tilts his head slightly, listening to the way the elder pronounced his words, as if his tongue was watery and slow.
“Yeah,” Nazuna laughs. “We’re taking the day as a unit to spend some time together, just for fun!”
“Oh,” Kanata nods, letting himself be shaken by Chiaki’s grasp on him, but staying firmly in the water of the fountain. “It makes happiness bubble, bubble inside when you spend time with your unit mates, correct?” Nazuna nods with a laugh, and Hajime tightens his grip on his leader’s arm, eyes moving from the boy in the fountain to his other two friends. Tomoya was taking to Midori and Tetora, their classmates, while Shinobu and Mitsuru rushed around the park, jumping on stone walls and pattering across them. “Who is the pretty girl with you, though?” Kanata asks softly, sinking into the water slowly, grunting when Chiaki doubles in his efforts to pull him out. “If this is a time to bubble with your unit mates, was bringing your mate really okay?”
Hajime blinked, eyes snapping back to look at the third year, mouth opening to reply that, no , he wasn’t a girl, despite the way he was dressed. It was just easier wearing a dress to places like a water park.
“Girl?” Chiaki repeats before words can leave Hajime’s mouth, turning to look at Nazuna again. His eyes lock on Hajime’s. “I see! The young lady came to spend time with her boyfriend and his group! As a hero, I’ll take it upon myself to watch after you when your beau is off having fun, as I do not plan to get on many rides!”
Hajime’s face reddened, and his hand came up to cover his mouth shyly, as Nazuna chuckled and shook his underclassman gently.
“Hajime-chin’s not a girl, and he definitely isn’t my girlfriend,” he says, making Chiaki and Kanata blink slowly.
“Oh, it’s Hajime, is it?” Kanata spoke, squinting his eyes as he stared at Hajime’s face. “My mind is bubble-bubbly, so it seems I’ve made a mistake.”
“Hello, Shinkai-sempai,” Hajime says softly, nodding his head, before turning to look at Chiaki, who looks like a fish out of water, red faced and gaping. “M-Morisawa-sempai.”
Nazuna nudges at Hajime’s arm, a shit-eating grin splitting his face in half, and even Kanata seems to have a smirk of his own. The taller blue-haired boy lifts himself up from the fountain stepping out with a squelch, dripping heavily on the floor.
“Let us spend this day playing together, yes?” Kanata offers, touching Chiaki’s back lightly. Chiaki jumps, finally tearing his eyes away from Hajime and staring at Kanata, blinking rapidly. “I think, today, many feelings will begin to bubble, bubble to the surface.”
“I think I’ll have to agree,” Nazuna giggles, before clapping his hands together loudly. He gets the attention of everyone rather quickly, and Mitsuru rushes toward him, chased by Shinobu.
“Nii-chan, are we going in now?!” He asks excitedly, jumping up and down. Hajime giggles, moving to his side and clasping his hands behind his back, swaying back and forth slightly. He smiles at Tetora and Midori, who smile back (Tetora much wider than Midori). Tetora motions at his dress and gives two thumbs up, mouthing Looking good, dude , and making Hajime blush again, as he nods in thanks.
“Yes, we’re going inside, but!” He shouts before Mitsuru could run off again. The boy already had a foot in the air, and he froze comically, nearly losing his balance before Hajime reached over and grabbed him, giggling.
“Thanks, Hajime-chan!” Mitsuru said, and Hajime nodded, keeping his hand on Mitsuru’s wrist so the other couldn’t run off before Nazuna finished talking.
“Alright, alright, so, we are going inside, and today, we’ll spend the day together with Ryuusetai, right Chiaki-chin?” Nazuna says, bumping his shoulder against Chiaki, trying to hide his smirk when Chiaki didn’t answer right away. Hajime glanced at the boy and found him, again, staring straight at him. Hajime’s face instantly reddened, and he was quick to look away, choosing instead to stare at Tomoya, who smiled and tilted his head at him.
“That’s right, Nazuna,” Kanata finally answered for Chiaki. “We’ll stick together for a little while to play in the water, but split up when people want to ride different rides.”
“Sounds awesome, dudes!” Tetora says, pumping a fist in the air. “Taichou, you didn’t plan this did you?” He asks Chiaki, none of the first years (except Hajime, it seems), noticing that the third year was a bit out of sorts.
“Wh--?” Chaiki grunts when Kanata touches his back, blinking rapidly and finally breaking his gaze away from Hajime, who took a deep breath and held his hand on his chest, feeling his racing heart. Tomoya smoothly sidled up next to Hajime, bumping his shoulder, the quiet question of are you okay? lingering in the air. Hajime gave a smile, nodding that yes, he’s fine. Just… Flustered. He didn’t show that on his face though. That’d be his own cross to bear.
“Uh, no!” Chiaki finally answered, giving a laugh, rubbing at the back of his neck. “We didn’t plan for this at all, and that’s what makes this more fun! So, let’s all head inside and have a blast!”
Mitsuru was the first to cheer, jumping high into the air before landing and taking off instantly, Hajime’s hand ripped from his arm and leaving Hajime tipping from the loss of balance. Tomoya had rushed directly after Mitsuru, calling out the dashing boys name, and Hajime could feel himself starting to fall backwards, having never been the kind that was able to catch himself when things like this happened.
“Oh, careful there!” He hears, and suddenly someone is behind him, and he lands against them, hands waving out and finding two to latch onto.
“Ah, sorry!” Hajime shouts, stumbling forward slightly, still grabbing the other person’s hands ( don’t pay attention to how much bigger they are, don’t pay attention to how much bigger they are, don’t-- ). Hajime turns his face, the smile on his face wavering when he found none other than Morisawa Chiaki behind him.
“Don’t worry about it! It’s the duty of a hero to help people in need!” Chiaki smiled, looking down at the smaller boy, eyes searching Hajime’s face.
“Th-Thank you,” Hajime mumbles, squeezing Chiaki’s hand lightly, before letting go, his face flushed. Chiaki blinks slowly as a smile spreads across his face, and he gives his signature laugh, hands moving to his own waist as his shoulders shake.
“As I said before, I’m just doing my duty!” He says, and Hajime gives a soft giggle in response, eyes moving to catch all their friends moving further into the park.
Tomoya chased after Mitsuru and Shinobu, who were both jumping and running along the tops of benches and short stone walls, while Tetora and Midori walked behind them, Tetora pointing excitedly at all the rides he thought looked scariest, laughing as he shouted how much he wanted to ride them. Midori just shrunk lower and lower into himself, too far for Hajime to actually hear him, but noticeably repeating I want to die as Tetora laughed and slapped his back. Nazuna and Kanata walked idly behind that group, Nazuna with his hands clasped firmly behind him, while Kanata’s gently swayed to and from at his sides.
“Would…” Chiaki starts, the sound making Hajime’s gaze snap back to him in an instant, watching as Chiaki’s face reddens. “Would you like to walk with me?” Chiaki asks, extending his elbow for Hajime to take if he so wished. Hajime blinked, before covering his face with a small hand as he felt his cheeks flush with heat.
“I--” Hajime starts, but his voice cracks embarrassingly halfway through, and Hajime clears his throat as he looks down, opting to just take Chiaki’s arm instead. “Yes,” he says softly. “I’d love to walk with you.”
“Lovely!” Chiaki says, starting his stride, which, compared to Hajime’s, was much longer, making the shorter boy walk a little faster to keep up. It didn’t take long before Hajime stumbled slightly, and Chiaki instantly froze, one foot still extended forward as he reached to catch Hajime’s falling form. “Woah there!”
“Ah! Sempai, I’m so sorry!” Hajime squeaked. “My legs aren’t very long, so it’s hard for me to walk too quickly.”
“I see,” Chiaki says, blinking. “I apologize! I’ll walk slower for you.”
They began walking again, this time at a pace that wouldn’t make Hajime trip over himself, and walked toward where their other friends were waiting.
They ate a delicious meal together, Hajime sat between Chiaki and Tomoya as they all talked and shared time together, before Mitsuru got too antsy and got up from the table with a jump, moving to run off. Nazuna grabbed his arm with a smile, and reminded Mitsuru he should wait a little while before swimming or riding any rides, and the energetic brunette sat back down with a pout. When Mitsuru had stood, Shinobu had too, eyes trained on the other boy, before sitting back down slowly when Mitsuru plopped back down next to him. Hajime and Tomoya spared each other a glance before breaking off into giggles.
Can they be any more obvious? Tomoya’s eyes asked, and Hajime covered his mouth with a hand, shaking his head that no, they really couldn't be .
When everyone was done with their meals, they all stood, and Mitsuru bounced in place until Nazuna finally heaved a sigh.
“Yes,” the blonde said, waving them off. “You can go.”
“Yeah-ha-ha!” Mitsuru shouted, jumping up. “Come on, Shinobu-chan! Let’s dash, dash!” Shinobu instantly stood and bounded next to him, running off further into the park. Tomoya touched Hajime’s back lightly, making the blue haired boy smile and nod, before he took off after the two.
“Your unit mates are very energetic, aren’t they?” Chaiki asks, smiling as he stands slowly. Hajime nods, giggling.
“They are! But Tomoya-kun makes sure Mitsuru-kun doesn’t get into too much trouble,” he says with a smile. “Ah~! I want to swim in the wave pool,” he says, standing as well, looking toward Nazuna. “Nii-chan, I’m going to go for a swim. Would you like to join me?”
Nazuna and Kanata share a glance, small smiles growing on both their faces.
“I think I’ll stay with Kanata-chin, Hajime-chin,” Nazuna says, smiling. “Someone has to make sure he doesn’t drown.”
“Yes,” Kanata says airily, sinking down to the table. “This is not the sea, so I am not as protected. We will find a calm pool to find bubble- bubbling happiness.”
“Me and Midori-kun will go on tons of rides!” Tetora shouts, and Hajime nearly chokes on laughter seeing the look of pure disgust on Midori’s face. “Right, bro?”
“Only because you promised I’d get to look at the water parks mascot toys,” Midori sighs. “He’s an obscure character, but he is cute enough…” There’s a small shine in Midori’s eye as he talks about the toy. Tetora drags him off to what looks like one of the tallest slides in the park, and Hajime could hear Midori moaning in despair at the sight.
“Chiaki can accompany you,” Kanata says, as he turns his face to look back to Hajime. “He is quite nice to be around, with a bubble-bubbly personality.” Hajime turns to look at Chiaki, blinking as the boy in question turns a blinding smile on him. Hajime turns to look at Nazuna nervously.
“Nii-chan…” Hajime starts, but Nazuna just smiles and nods.
“Don’t worry about it Hajime-chin,” Nazuna says softly, holding his hand up for Hajime to take. The short, blue haired boy does so, shifting from foot to foot, the fabric of his dress swishing against his legs. “Chiaki-chin is very accepting, right?”Chiaki blinks, standing up straight as he puts a fist against his chest.
“Yes!” He replies loudly, laughing dramatically. “It’s not a hero’s duty to judge anyone!” Hajime nods, before taking a deep breath and adjusting his hat on his head.
“Okay then, Morisawa-sempai,” he says, taking Chiaki’s arm in his hand, staring up at the taller boy with a smile. “Let’s go swimming together!”
Hajime and Chaiki find themselves at a wave pool that was nearly completely empty, since it was fairly early into the park opening, and most everyone went to ride as many slides as they could. Hajime plops down on a chair, leaning to take off his sandals, as Chiaki takes off his shirt. Hajime watches his sempai’s back as the boy stretches, the muscles moving and contracting, making Hajime’s face flush.
“This will be fun,” Chiaki says, turning to look at Hajime, and Hajime is hit with a full view of Chiaki’s chest. “What were you nervous about? Is it that you can’t swim or something? As a hero, I’d be happy to help teach you!” Hajime laughs, standing and putting his hat down on the chair.
“I know how to swim, Morisawa-sempai,” Hajime says with a smile. “Just… well, my bathing suit might be a little strange to some people.”
“Strange?” Chiaki says, watching as Hajime starts taking off his dress, eyes going up his legs before clearing his throat with a blush. “What do you… oh.”
Hajime stood in front of him, folding the soft white fabric of his dress carefully, putting it under his hat, short, lean legs in full display thanks to his bathing suit.
His one piece bathing suit. A soft white with a cute, sailor style collar. It looked handmade and custom, the stitching perfect and hugging his small amount of curves graciously.
“Well?” Hajime asks nervously, clutching his hands behind his back, swaying back and forth on his feet. “What do you think?” Chiaki cleared his throat, and opened his mouth to speak, feeling nothing but a squeak come out, and instantly shutting it, face flushing bright from ears to chest. Hajime giggled, moving forward and patting Chiaki’s chest.
“Understandable, sempai,” he says jokingly, walking toward the pool. “Let’s swim!”
Chiaki nodded, following after Hajime, stumbling slightly.
Well, Chiaki thinks, watching as Hajime walks into the water, you always knew you were gay, Morisawa Chiaki.
“Shino-kun!” He calls, and Hajime jumps slightly, looking back at Chiaki, halfway into the water, a confused smile playing on his lips.
“Yes?” He replies, staring at Chiaki who was just barely in the water, man-made waves lapping gently at his feet.
“You… You look beautiful,” Chiaki finally says, watching as Hajime tenses, cheeks turning red and spreading down his neck.
“A-Ah, thank you, Morisawa-sempai!” He replies, voice breathy and embarrassed. Chiaki nods, before rushing into the water, diving in past Hajime. When he resurfaces, Hajime is laughing, and Chiaki laughs too, splashing the boy with water. Hajime yelps, before his eyes narrow playfully on Chiaki, and the battle begins.
They spend about an hour playing in the pool, splashing and swimming around each other, fingers gently prodding at the other and getting progressively closer every time the waves turn on, clutching at each other and laughing as they dive, jump, and play. There comes a moment where the rest of the group comes over, all diving into the pool, except for Kanata and Midori, who sat at the water’s edge, just submerged enough to watch.
Chiaki pulled Hajime onto his shoulders, and Mitsuru pulled Shinobu onto his, thus starting a very unbalanced game of chicken, before the lifeguards tweeted their whistles at them. Hajime felt Chiaki twist enough to catch Hajime as the short boy fell back to the water, holding him against his chest with a giggle. They spent another few minutes together before they split up again, going on different rides and slides.
“Chiaki-sempai, let’s ride a slide!” Hajime giggled, not noticing he had referred to the elder by first name, but Chiaki didn’t mind, simply nodding and taking the younger boys hand, pulling him to a row of rainbow coloured slides.
“Look, Hajime-kun, let’s do those first!”
They waited in line after line, bumping into each other’s hips, looping arms together, and even tangling their fingers at one point, but neither of them felt awkward. It felt… perfect. Hajime could feel his heart swelling, smiling as Chaiki would climb behind him in the tubes they rode to slide down as many rides as they could. Finally, puckered out and exhausted, the two groups met at the entrance, soaking wet and covered in towels. Mitsuru and Shinobu had their hands tangled together as they raced around, weaving between people and shops, giggling. Tetora was slapping Midori’s back, voice booming as he congratulated his bro on how many rides he went down, Midori’s lips twitching in a shy smile. Kanata was, of course, back in the fountain, with Tomoya and Nazuna trying to pull him out as the park employees stared at them tiredly. Hajime figured it wasn’t the first time they had caught the blue boy in the fountain that day.
“I had a good time with you today, Hajime-kun,” Chiaki said, clearing his throat. Hajime turned to look at the taller boy, who was standing next to him, their fingers still interlaced.
“I had a good time with you today, too!” Hajime giggled, nudging Chiaki’s side.
“Would…” Chiaki started, before rubbing at his neck with his free hand. Hajime tilted his head with a smile, hoping Chiaki’s next words would be exactly what he wanted them to be. “Would you like to go on a date? Sometime? Just me and you?”
“I would love to,” Hajime giggled, squeezing Chiaki’s hand. “Ah, Chiaki-sempai, I would absolutely love to!”