Archive of Our Own

"you're weird!"
"everyone thinks you're creepy, you know!"
"we can't play football with you, monster!"
"monster!
"monster!"

"monster! monster! monster! monster!"

"bachira!"

his head shot up from his desk and he blinked, finding the whole class staring at him, and his teacher glaring intensely as he tapped his foot on the hard wooden floor.

"um.. yes, sir?" his teacher sighed, eyebrows creased in annoyance.

"do you not want to be in my class right now?"

"huh?"

"because if you don't, i'd prefer it if you left instead of wasting not just my time, but also that of everyone else."

"right, sorry..."

he could hear faint snickers as his teacher turned back to write on the chalkboard.

that same dream again, he hadn't had it in years, why was it happening now?

slowly, he turned his head to look at isagi, who despite being blank-faced, was intently focused on the many words their teacher was saying as he wrote down formulas for the class. bachira could tell, because he had noticed over the years that isagi had a bad habit of biting his pens when he was trying to retain information. hence, the many chewed ones that resided inside his pencil case.

he felt a sense of pride knowing that the only people aware of this fact were him and isagi's mother, but of course he'd never tell anyone he felt that way.

bachira quickly found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the boy, whose features he had all but burned into his memory.

there had always been something about him that had drawn him in, but he could never narrow it down to just one attribute-

"eh em!"

he jumped, scrambling to grab his pen and continue writing in his notepad which at this point was full of nothing but doodles and different football strategies he had come up with whilst daydreaming.

at this point, he could practically feel his teachers eyes latched onto his head as he began copying notes from his textbook.

------

"god, that lesson was hell!" bachira said, stretching his arms whilst isagi's eyes stayed trained to his phone screen.

isagi rolled his eyes. "it was only hell because you kept falling asleep. and by the way, i cannot think of a single time within that lesson where i looked over at you and you weren't passed out and snoring on your desk."

bachira pouted, "no fair, you know i can't help it..."

isagi smiled at him. "yea, whatever you say."

bachira stared at him, until his gaze was broken when he heard isagi's name called and looked across the classroom to see nagi and reo waving him over.

"oh, i'll be back in a minute."

he stood up from bachira's desk to walk away, and the boy felt a pull to grab his shirt and tell him to stay, but he figured that'd just be weird.

not a minute later he heard chairs scrape and turned his head to find chigiri and kunigami staring at him with raised eyebrows.

he cleared his throat, "w-what?"

the latter two looked at each other before turning back to the boy who sat opposite them.

"... this is getting seriously painful to watch-"

"-just tell him you like him already and get it over with-"

"- we've told you a thousand times that you don't know how he feels, what's stopping you?"

bachira's eyebrow twitched. "easy for you two to say, you knew your love for each other was mutual. and can you stop talking like that? it's weird."

chigiri shrugged, and kunigami began playing with his boyfriend's long red hair out of boredom.

the two of them had been together for about 5 months now but you couldn't really tell, because the both of them were constantly fighting- well, playfighting with one another.

bachira remembered the day they were announced they were together so vividly because he remembered wishing that it was him and isagi saying that instead.

well, he says that's the reason why but it's very obviously because kunigami took chigiri by surprise by kissing him in front of them, to which the redhead responded by kicking him in the back of the knee, resulting in him falling to the floor- pretty hard.

honestly, that's the only reason why any of them remembered that day so well.

"i-i..." bachira took a deep breath in and exhaled. "i.. don't know how to tell him."

"why not?" kunigami questioned, taking a break from braiding chigiri's hair. "you've known him since you two were 10, right?"

"its because i've known him for that long that i can't tell him." bachira whined, gripping his hair in his hands. "i mean, we've always been friends and nothing more- just friends, right? so if i was to just out of nowhere say "oh by the way isagi, i've had a huge crush on you since we were 12, will you go out with me?" it'd be a little bit out of the blue wouldn't it?"

"what would?"

"shit!"

the whole class went silent, their eyes on bachira whose own were wide as his face quickly turned beet red and he directed his attention to a spider that was crawling along the outside of the window. inwardly, he shivered.

to his right, he heard isagi, who had just now returned, try and fail at holding in his amusement.

"shut up isagi, 's not funny." he mumbled quietly, causing the boy to laugh loudly.

"oh no, that right there? was fucking hilarious!"

he felt his face heat up even more, and he attempted to hide it from his best friend.

"i hate you."

"aw, i was just kidding, i'm sorry," he chuckled, ruffling bachira's curly black hair.

feeling his hand on his head, bachira spun round (he was pretty sure he felt his neck click but he wasn't necessarily paying any attention to that) to face isagi, who was now looking at him with questioning eyes. "what?"

"what... what are you doing?"

isagi looked at his hand, which was still on bachira's head. "honestly? i don't know."

bachira gulped, moving his eyes to look at chigiri and kunigami, who were staring at him with suggestive grins on their faces.

he was sure of it now, he really did hate his friends.

------

the bell rung, signalling the end of the day and the two boys parted ways at the classroom entrance, as isagi headed towards football practice and bachira made his way to the gates.

he found himself walking home alone today. usually, he'd be there too but he developed a really bad fever during their last game and collapsed on the pitch, so their coach had make him take time off to recover, in fear that if he played again too soon it may flare back up.

he walked over to his locker, unlocking the door to change over his slippers for his trainers when a single piece of paper fell out.

he tilted his head slightly and eyed it suspiciously before picking it up and unfolding it to see what it said on the inside.

"hi."

"what."

he looked around, scanning the area to see if anybody was watching him, but they were all busy getting ready to go home. he scratched his head.

"who the hell would leave this for me, then?"

------

"so, what happened at practice today?"

he could hear rustling on the other line. "nothing really? we pretty much just did drills the whole two hours, since that last match coach decided he didn't want to put too much pressure on anyone just yet."

bachira hummed in understanding, his eyes stuck on the light that hung from his ceiling.

"oh, he also said you can come to practice again starting next week."

"that's good."

they sat in a comfortable silence for a while before isagi decided to speak up again.

"bachira? is everything okay?"

"yea," he yawned. "why are you asking?"

"well because you usually have a lot more to say when we speak on the phone."

"i do? oh wait- that reminds me of something." he sat up, reaching over to grab the piece of paper from his desk.

"i got a note in my locker today, it was a little creepy."

"what'd it say?"

"hi."

".... what?"

"it said hi, that's literally all it said."

"well that... isn't very helpful."

bachira scoffed. "i know."

"isagi, your foods getting cold! come and eat it or i'm throwing it in the bin and you can make yourself a sandwich or something instead!"

"n-no no, don't do that mom! uh, i'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

bachira nodded. "yea, sure."

the line cut and bachira flopped back down on his bed, flinging an arm over his eyes.

"who could've sent that?" he asked himself. "dammit."

not long after that, a wave of fatigue washed over him and he closed his eyes, slowly falling asleep.

--

the two boys stood under the bridge, the sound of cars rushing past remained constant overhead. the boy's eyes remained hard as he continued to stare at the retreating backs of the other three children as they ran away.

"why did you do that?" bachira sniffled, staring down at the snow covered ground.

the other turned his head towards him. "huh? do what?"

"get involved! you've made everything worse now!" he exclaimed, feeling tears rim the corners of his eyes.

"they were practically beating you up, i wasn't just gonna let them do that!"

"but now-! now..." he crouched down, burying his head in his knees. "now it's gonna be even worse... they were your friends, and now they're gonna pick on you too..."

the latter stared at the 14 year old, who was now silently crying to himself, snow gently falling onto his head.

he shrugged. "they can be do whatever to me then, i don't care."

bachira lifted his head, visibly confused. "huh?"

"they call you a monster right? because they can't get along with you."

he nodded. "uh, yea.."

"well then i guess i'm a monster too."

his eyes widened. "why?"

the boy gave him a toothy grin, and held out his hand. "because i wanna be your friend, bachira!"

bachira's eyes opened slowly, sunlight peaking through his closed curtains as a tear rolled down his face.

"what the hell is wrong with me?"

------

"hey bachi- ohh man, you look like shit."

he groaned, fully aware of his appearance. he'd had a restless nights sleep due to both the note he had received the day before, and the fact he was all of a sudden remembering things he hadn't thought of in years.

"yea i know, thanks for reminding me kunigami."

"sheesh, what's wrong with you?"

the boys sat down at their desks, bachira immediately placing his head on the table. "i don't know, my mind's been all fucked up since yesterday."

"have you talked to isagi?"

"... no."

the ginger threw his hands up, "dude, just tell him already!"

"leave me alone.."

he lifted his head up again to look around the classroom. "speaking of isagi, where is he anyway."

kunigami shrugged, just as the door rolled open and said boy had walked in.

bachira smiled. "isa-" his face immediately fell when he saw who he had entered the room with.

seishiro nagi. the two were friends, sure, and both pretty sociable, so they were both acquainted with a lot of the same people.

but nagi was always too close for comfort when it came to isagi and bachira didn't like it, it put him on edge.

as soon as isagi met his eyes, he turned his head.

------

he found another one, another note. this time tucked neatly underneath his shoes.

" your eyes are the most beautiful things in the world, a type of gold that you can't find anywhere else, a warmth that never fails to bring me comfort."

that was definitely a lot more words than yesterday.

he immediately felt his face heat up and held the note close to his chest, as if everybody else was able to see it.

"wh-what? why would- why... who-" he stumbled over his words as he fumbled to change over his shoes, not bothering to wait for rin, who he was supposed to be studying for the finals with today. "who.. who would say something like this?"

he spent the rest of the day doing nothing but thinking about that note. he even forgot to do his chores and his homework. and eat dinner.

all he wanted was to know who exactly would be paying that much attention to his eyes.

he stared at the posters on his walls before deciding that he should probably get up from his room and have a shower, at least.

"bachira! are you really not going to eat?"

"uh... no mom, i'm good."

he trudged into the bathroom and yawned, i should probably sleep early tonight.

turning on the shower he jumped in, allowing the sound of the running water hitting the tiles to drown out the many irrational thoughts that plagued his mind.

stepping out, bachira stopped and looked in the mirror as it slowly fogged up, his eyes seemingly glowing on its misty surface.

"... are they really that pretty?"

------

at this point in time, he'd lost count of how many single pieces of paper he had bunched up in his desk drawer.

it'd been over a month now, and everyday as school finished he would open his locker only to find a new note perfectly placed either on top of, or underneath his shoes.

to add on to his arising annoyance, the contents of the notes had never failed to make him feel flustered or turn his face dark red.

"you'll never understand how much joy you bring me, it feels like i can never be sad when i see you smile."

"do you know how beautiful you are? sometimes i'm convinced this is nothing more than a dream, there's no way a real person could be as perfect as you."

"i wish i could always hear you speak, there isn't nearly enough time in the day for me to see you."

"i've always wondered what you think about when you daydream, with that far away look in your eyes."

there was tons more, but every time bachira attempted to recall them, it felt as if his whole brain would turn to mush.

"god..." he whined, his head in his hands.

"um... bachira? hello?"

he slowly lifted his head and turned to look at isagi, who was looking at him with concern. he looked down and began to fidget with his fingers.

"oh, hey isagi."

isagi stood there for a while, before pulling up a chair and taking a seat opposite isagi.

not many people were lingering around the classroom at this point. since it was lunch, most of their classmates had gone out to buy food, so the two were relatively alone.

"you've been really off lately, you know? i've been trying to figure out why, but i can't lie and say i've come to a conclusion at all."

bachira creased eyebrows, and looked up once again to meet his best friends eyes.

well i like you, but i've been getting anonymous notes from someone who's obviously head over heels for me and it's really stressing me out. oh, and also, you've been getting really close to nagi recently, and it sorta feels as if you're pushing me away. no, 'replacing' seems to be a better word.

he shrugged. "i'm fine, there's nothing wrong."

the boy remained sceptical. "oh really? is that why you've been practically avoiding me the past week? and why you haven't been answering my calls? or my texts?"

he froze. "no."

"huh. but you've been talking to kunigami and chigiri just fine."

"..."

isagi sighed, running a hand through his hair. "okay, i get it, whatever, you can't tell me. text me when you decide you actually want to be my friend again."

before bachira could get a word in, isagi had stood up, and walked over to the other side of the classroom, where it seemed like reo and nagi were engaged in a heated conversation.

"you're an idiot, bachira."

he looked at chigiri who was twirling the end of his braid around his finger, whilst kunigami gave him a back hug, eyes closed as he rested his head on the others shoulder.

bachira gritted his teeth and looked towards isagi, who was now laughing along with reo at nagi, who looked between the two in confusion.

he realised something: isagi looked genuinely happy, more than he had for a while now.

and at that moment, he felt as if he had made the biggest fucking mistake of his life.

------

"i saw isagi walk over there, go apologise. having you two on bad terms isn't just affecting you, you know."

bachira pouted, leaning against the wall. “i dont want to.” he muttered. “if anything he would be talking to- ow!”

he rubbed the back of his head, glaring at chigiri who had his hands up. “stop being stubborn already.”

he turned towards gagamaru, who was looking down at his phone uninterested. “gagamaru~” he drawled out, “what would you do?”

gagamaru shrugged.

“thank you.”

“hey!”

they turned towards the voice, and saw wataru kuon jogging towards them, a wad of papers in his hand.

“have... have-“ he gasped, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

“how much did you run?” kunigami questioned.

“the other side... of the school.” he panted. straightening himself up, he took a deep breath and looked at bachira with serious eyes, causing the boy to gulp.

kuon thrusted papers into his face. “you,” he started. “give this to isagi.”

"w-wha-huh?" bachira stuttered, slightly shrinking back. "why me?"

the other boy tilted his head. "aren't you two best friends?"

bachira blushed slightly, looking down at his feet as he felt everybody's eyes on him.

after a moment of silence, he groaned. "ugh, fine! i'll give them to him."

taking the papers out of kuon's hand, he turned and began marching in the direction in which chigiri said he'd seen isagi.

"stupid isagi," he muttered, turning the corner. "why couldn't he just get these himself? stu-"

".... you, nagi, this means so much to me."

he stopped.

peaking around the wall, he saw isagi looking down at his hand with a slight pink tint evident on his cheeks. looking back up at nagi he smiled.

bachira immediately felt his throat tighten, and his fists clenched by his side.

without thinking, he began to approach them, his footsteps alerting the two boys as isagi's eyes widened and his hand shot behind his back.

"bachira?" isagi stammered. "what- what are you doing here?"

bachira held out the papers, and forced a smile onto his face. "best friends are supposed to tell each other everything, right?"

"bachira, it's not.." it was only then that he'd noticed a tear had escaped his eye without him noticing.

he turned back around, wiping his face and ignoring isagi's calls from behind him as the slowly became quieter.

kunigami spotted him walking back towards them and a smile appeared on his face, but quickly faded as he saw bachira's eyes.

"wait," his hand darted out to grab his arm before he could walk past them completely. "what happened? why are you crying?"

his head remained downcast, refusing to show anybody else the state he was in.

"well, i gave him the papers."

he yanked his arm out of kunigami's hold and walked off once again, before anybody else could get a word in.

many people tried to talk to him as he walked down the hallway, but he ignored them all, wanting nothing more than to get out of there as quick as he could.

not long after, he reached a place within the school that only he knew about. sliding down against the wall, he placed his head in between his knees.

it was then that the tears really began to fall, and he could no longer contain the sobs that were previously lodged within his throat.

------

they hadn't talked for weeks now.

bachira still hung out with kunigami and chigiri, along with gagamaru and naruhaya who were both new editions to their friend group.

as for isagi, he was now hanging out with nagi and reo. to bachira, it didn't seem as if he missed their interactions at all.

he tried not to let it bother him, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt as if he was losing a battle within himself.

he was still receiving notes too, but he'd left them all in the state they came in. these days, he wasn't in the mood to think about those.

"bachira!"

he quickly turned his head towards the voice to find both kunigami and chigiri staring at him, although he could see gagamaru and naruhaya fighting over food in the corner of his eye.

"y-yea, huh?"

chigiri sighed, running a hand through his hair. "dude, we called you three times?"

kunigami nodded. "you're not doing as good as you think you are. you do know you've been staring at isagi for the past 5 minutes right?"

his eyes darted between the two. "what? no i wasn't!"

"yes you were." he heard gagamaru chime in, but chose to ignore it.

"we know what you saw was bad, but who's to say it wasn't a misunderstanding?"

bachira looked at them with a blank look on his face. "i know what i saw."

"no you don't," kunigami groaned. "look, just go and talk to him, so you can confirm that it was actually what it looked like."

he could feel himself getting more worked up as they continued to try and convince him. "i've told you how many fucking times, i'm not-"

the bell had gone in the middle of his sentence, and he turned back around as their teacher walked back into the classroom to start their lesson.

------

"bachira, could you answer this question for me? since your head always seems to be in, or rather on your textbook."

the boy sighed and got up from his desk, walking up to the blackboard.

he took the chalk out of his teacher's hand, his eyes scanning the sentence on the board as he attempted to figure out the question.

"i'm sorry, sir, i don't know." he handed the chalk back and began walking back to his seat.

his teacher stared at him for a while before nodding. "okay. well, since you don't want to be in my class, i suggest you leave, i'm tired of using up my time on people who aren't bothered to pay attention for even half of the lesson."

the boy stopped, turning back around. "what?"

"you heard me."

he could swear he heard chigiri groan.

bachira scoffed, gathering his stuff up and shoving it into his bag.

approaching the front of the classroom he heard his teacher say, "you're mother will be thrilled to hear about this."

"do what you want, you bald bastard."

with that he walked out and slammed the door behind him, drowning out the sound of his teacher yelling his name as he made his way towards the lockers.

all of this was bullshit.

he'd lost his best friend, he was kicked out of class, and in the spur of the moment he insulted his teacher.

chances are he was probably going to get suspended now, but he planned on asking his mom to transfer when he got back home.

she noticed he'd been having a hard time lately, and had asked him if he wanted to move schools but he had declined. he thought things would get better, but for him, everything seemed to be falling apart.

now, he just wanted to start over.

approaching the area, he heard a door squeak and his feet stopped. he raised his eyebrows.

"who else is leaving at this time?"

as he got closer, a male figure slowly came into view, and he felt his whole body lock as he watched him open his locker, and place a piece of paper on top of his shoes.

"... isagi?"

his hands immediately stopped, his head slowly turning to face the boy he hadn't talked to in weeks.

"b-bachira.. um this is... this is uh... um..." his words slowly began to die off in his mouth.

bachira began making his way towards isagi, whose face was now bright red as he attempted to look anywhere but in his eyes.

"these notes," bachira began, reaching into his locker to retrieve the piece of paper. "they were from- they were from you?"

isagi stayed still for a while before nodding, finding that he no longer had the ability to speak.

bachira searched his face, eventually scoffing and taking his shoes out the open locker. "yea, like i'm supposed to believe that."

isagi looked at him in surprise. "wait, what?"

"why are playing around with me like this?"

"what are you talking about?"

"do you think this is funny?"

at this point, isagi was beyond confused. "... huh?"

bachira looked at him, his face full of hurt. "whatever, bye isagi."

before he could walk away, isagi grabbed a hold of his arm, keeping him in place.

"let me go!" bachira exclaimed, staring at his hand. "what the hell is wrong with y-"

before he could finish speaking, for a split second, bachira felt isagi press his lips against his.

pulling away, bachira placed his hand to his lips, looking at isagi in pure shock.

"w-w-wha-what are you.."

he noticed isagi looking at him with determination burning in his eyes. "meguru bachira, i like you. no, actually, i love you."

it felt like the whole world stopped.

"..what?"

isagi smiled. "i love you, bachira."

his vision became flooded with tears and he felt his knees give out as he collapsed to the floor, the other immediately rushing to his side to support him

"shit, bachira, i'm sorry, are you okay? i knew it, i shouldn't have said that-"

"isagi," bachira whispered. "are you telling me the truth?"

isagi looked at him in confusion, scratching his head. "ah.. the notes were too cheesy weren't they.."

bachira shook his head frantically, throwing his arms around the boy and burying his head into his shoulder. "thank you isagi, thank you so much."

he took no time in hugging him back, feeling all the stress he had built up instantly fade away.

------

the two boys sat against the lockers, bachira's head resting on isagi's shoulder as they sat in a comfortable silence.

"isagi?"

"hm?

"when i saw you and nagi the other day in the hallway, what was you smiling at?"

"oh that? that's why you left without hearing me out, isn't it?"

bachira pretended to pick lint off his pants, causing isagi to laugh.

"well, you changed the combination for your locker again and along with him having a photographic memory, his locker is right near yours, and he saw you put in the new numbers and gave them to me."

bachira groaned, holding his head in his hands. "remind me to apologise to him later."

"why?"

"i've been airing his messages for the last three weeks because i thought you two were, you know.. together."

"hm? so you were jealous?"

"please shut up."

they fell into a silence once again

"i've liked you for two years, you know."

isagi's eyebrows shot up as he looked at bachira, who was grinning at him. "really?"

bachira nodded. "yup, i win~"

"no you don't," isagi flicked his forehead, causing him to wine in pain.

"hmph.." he rubbed his head. "how long have you liked me then?"

isagi smiled slightly, looking down at his hands. "well..."

bachira edged closer to him. "well? well?"

".. the first day i transferred to your middle school."

bachira's eyes widened. "what? that long?"

isagi nodded.

"but- but we barely even talked then!"

"we didn't need to."

he sat in thought. "then... what was it?"

isagi moved to hold his hand, and looked directly into his eyes. "it was the first word you ever said to me."

------

three years prior.

"alright, alright! everyone in their seats."

they finished their conversations and unwillingly went back to their seats.

the teacher cleared her throat, pushing her glasses further up on her face. "despite it being the middle of the school year,we have a new transfer student today."

immediately, the classroom erupted in murmurs. was it a girl or a boy? were they pretty? or handsome? or ugly? were they smart or stupid?

she hit her ruler against the podium, which caused the chatter to slowly die out. turning towards the door, she began to speak, "okay, that's enough. you can come in now."

the door slowly opened, and 13 year old yoichi isagi walked in to stand at the front of the classroom, catching the attention of quite a few people.

the teacher smiled. "go on, introduce yourself!"

isagi scratched the back of his head. "hi, um, my name's yoichi isagi, i hate math and i'm training to be a professional football player, a striker actually."

many of the boys took an immediate interest to this.

"hm, well isn't that interesting? maybe you could join the school's football club, they're looking for new members."

isagi shrugged, "maybe i will.

his teacher gave him a seat in the classroom and he began walking towards it, receiving greetings from many students on his way.

sitting down, he felt a hand tap his shoulder and turned towards the person. he had told him his name, but isagi had forgotten pretty quickly.

"hey, don't talk to that kid over there, he's really creepy."

isagi raised an eyebrow, "who?"

he pointed to the boy who was sleeping on the desk next to him, although isagi only glanced at him.

"his name's meguru bachira," the nameless boy began. "he's always acting as if he's talking or playing with someone when we play football. it's really weird, so nobody talks to him."

isagi shrugged once again. "alright then."

the boy grinned, nodding. "cool."

over the next few weeks, it remained just like that. isagi never talked to bachira, hanging out with the other boys in his class, who he found it surprisingly easy to get along with. he'd see bachira eating lunch by himself, or going home by himself, even playing football by himself. even after he joined the school's football club and they begun to have practice matches, it seemed as if to him, it was just him and the ball on the field, which lead to the other boys picking on him even more, calling him a 'monster' and a 'freak' due to the way that he moved around with the ball, and the way he scored.

isagi never voiced his thoughts, but the way bachira played drew him in, and at rare times he found himself absolutely mesmerised by his movements. despite the fact everyone else saw him as someone abnormal who refused the concept of teamwork, isagi saw him differently. to him, bachira wasn't playing alone, in his eyes he could faintly see who, or what bachira was playing with, and he wanted to know more about it.

to put it simply, he had decided that he wanted to play with him more. he wanted to be the person bachira decided to pass to, one day.

so he decided he was going to try and talk to bachira.

the bell for lunch rang, and students immediately ran out the classroom. it was wednesday, and for some reason the school's food always seemed to taste the best on a wednesday. but isagi took his time packing his stuff away, unlike the rest of his friends.

"hey, isagi, you're coming right?"

"yea, i've just gotta do something quickly, i'll meet you guys later."

the boys left the classroom, messing about and laughing with one another.

when the noise had faded away, isagi sighed, and looked in bachira's direction. the boy was once again fast asleep on his desk, head resting in his arms.

they were two of the only five students who had stayed behind during lunch, although the others were studying instead.

he pulled up a chair and sat opposite the sleeping boy, whose hair was a mess from the constant turning he had done whilst he was asleep. isagi snickered, before poking his arm.

"hey bachira." he began, "hey, wake up. hey."

no response.

sighing through his nose, he carried on for a while before finally deciding that that approach wasn't working.

so he decided to flick his forehead.

bachira jolted, placing a hand to his head and whimpering before finally sitting up.

"finally, you're awake.."

he stopped as he took in bachira's very obviously half-asleep appearance, golden eyes half closed as he stared at isagi's face, hair sticking up in many different directions, and his bottom lip stuck out in a pout at the action of being woken.

for a while isagi was lost for words, he found himself unable to look away from bachira. though, he quickly snapped himself out of his daze in fear that he looked a bit weird.

"i've been meaning to talk to you for a while but i wasn't sure how to approach you because well... you're always sleeping, and every time i do try and talk to you you've left or you're doing something else so it's kinda hard to- wait, sorry i'm rambling." he noticed that bachira was staring at him with a drowsy expression on his face.

grinning at him, he leaned closer to the boy, who was yawning. "we haven't actually talked yet, have we?"

bachira shook his head, but kept quiet as he continued staring at isagi.

"well, my name's yoichi isagi!"

bachira tilted his head, confusion visible on his features.

"isagi..."

and after hearing that one word, isagi had a feeling that he was finally aware of what it felt like to be in love.