Work Text:
Passing idle time, Tomoya drummed his fingers against his thighs, matching the rhythm of the rain pattering onto the car. He couldn’t quite keep his eyes focused on one thing, looking from his hand, to the windshield, the window to his left, down to his shoes, back to looking at—
“Are you nervous?” came Hokuto’s voice, breaking the silence and tearing Tomoya from his trance.
“Yeah, you could say that,” the laughter that followed was definitely, unmistakably nervous. It was a surprise Hokuto had to ask at all.
Hokuto hummed in acknowledgement, mirroring the drumming of Tomoya’s fingers with tapping on the wheel of his car. “No need to be nervous. We’ve gone to much more intense auditions.”
“Well.” It’s not the same , he tried to voice, ultimately falling short in favor of fueling the silence between them.
“It’s not the same.” Tomoya couldn’t help but think Hokuto must be some kind of mindreader, but chose not to let that slip past his lips. “Without Hibiki-buchou, you mean?”
Tomoya found it a little irritating to hear Wataru’s name, putting him on edge as quickly as hearing his actual voice. That didn’t mean Hokuto was wrong, of course. Hokuto was rarely wrong when it came to Tomoya, he’d come to find out.
Pausing, Tomoya rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe that’s it.”
Seeming to find Tomoya’s reluctance to admit why he was so on edge amusing, Hokuto chuckled. Hearing such a lighthearted sound, Tomoya’s edge quickly slipped away. It was hard to stay mad when he was so enraptured by anything Hokuto did.
“Knowing him, he’s probably going to show up. It’s our first audition without him, but I liken him to a pest for a reason. He’s never going to fully leave us alone,” Hokuto assured. “Perhaps now that he doesn’t have the power to harass you, you can live in peace in Hibiki-buchou’s presence.”
“Hibiki-buchou isn’t our buchou anymore, you know.” It felt wrong for Tomoya to correct his admired senpai, but it’s not like he was insulting Hokuto or anything of the sorts. He could never! He’d just heard him say it so many times now, that it was hard not to point out.
Hokuto, a little ruffled at the fact that he got caught in his old habits, grew the slightest bit red in the face. Any normal person wouldn’t have noticed such a small, unreadable difference in Hokuto’s complexion… but for all the normalcity in Tomoya’s life, he never did act very ordinary in Hokuto’s presence.
Tomoya could have sworn there were stars in his eyes, staring at Hokuto slack-jawed. “I made you blush…”
“I’m just embarrassed. It was a slip of the tongue, really. Since he’s no longer our club president, I’ll refer to him as—”
“Kyaaaa! Hokuto-senpai, you have the cutest blush!” Tomoya blurted before he even had the chance to think… and even after he had the chance, he didn’t seem keen on stopping. “Not that you’re not still cool! You’re the coolest! I think the fact that you can blush is super cool! B-but it’s really cute, too! I’ve never seen you look so—”
“Tomoya.”
“—So cute! I’m so lucky to get to see it! I really am a lucky junior, aren’t I? Even so, I hope I didn’t—”
“T-Tomoya....”
“—Embarrass you too badly! I’m just so happy, happier than you could ever imagine! You’re the best senpai a boy could—”
“Tomoya!”
“...Hokuto-senpai?”
Had they not been driving, Tomoya could have sworn Hokuto would have slammed his head into the horn to hide his face. One hand on the wheel, one covering his mouth and cheeks the best he could. He wasn’t just blushing anymore, his entire face was flushed.
It was such a beautiful sight, Tomoya might have cried.
“S-sorry! I didn’t mean to! I didn’t mean to embarrass you so badly! Really!” Tomoya quickly tried to make up for it, but was clueless as to how to go about it. He often found himself flustered by Hokuto’s… everything, but he’d never seen the situation flipped on its head.
If only he could just bask in this…
If only he could just watch Hokuto while he looked like this, watching the way his face contorted while he tried to quell his embarrassment, but…
“”H-H-Hokuto-senpai! Eyes on the road!”
Hokuto snapped his head up, hurriedly returning to both hands on the wheel and veering the car back in place quick enough to make Tomoya’s heart skip a couple beats. It probably wasn’t a good idea to be getting distracted on the road. Probably not a good idea to do it when it was pouring rain, either. Probably.
Silence fell over them again, both trying to catch their breath. Tomoya was the flustered one now, eyes turned to the side and hands clasped tight enough together to make his knuckles white.
Maybe it wasn’t a very good idea to have carpooled together, just the two of them. It’s not like they hadn’t simply been in a car together, even just to go to similar auditions. The difference is Wataru was the one driving, and it was impossible to distract him with just about anything.
(Even if he was distracted, he could probably maneuver the road with his eyes closed.)
“Sorry again,” Tomoya managed, only barely avoiding sputtering each syllable twice.
“It’s fine. I’m sorry for getting distracted.” Hokuto sounded hesitant.
Awkward.
While the silence continued, it eased into something more comfortable, as it normally did. Ever since Wataru graduated, the Theatre Club appeared a lot more quiet, but it never seemed like a bad thing. Especially not to Tomoya.
Having the chance to be alone with Hokuto with no scary pervert to ruin his day, Tomoya was finding more and more happiness in the silence that each other’s presence drew. Being able to nestle into the couch next to his senpai, the only sound being the flip of the pages of some script Hokuto dug up from the cabinets to read… Nothing made Tomoya happier.
He really, really loved Hokuto.
Pulling him from his thoughts, the car slowly rolled to a stop. Tomoya blinked, finally looking back at Hokuto after staring at the passing road for so long. Just as handsome as he remembered!
Even if he wasn’t blushing anymore. That was disappointing.
Hokuto pulled the keys ignition, meeting Tomoya’s gaze once he tucked them away in his pocket. “Are you ready to go in?”
Were this any other time, any other audition, any other theatre trope with any other boy, Tomoya would have a sickening anxiety building in his gut at the realization that they were finally here, and he couldn’t avoid his audition now.
But in this moment, here with his admired senpai, only Hokuto and no other person to dwell on… it felt like he could face anything.
Every bit of nervousness from before faded, and he met Hokuto’s sirene smile with a grin.
Yes, Hokuto-senpai. I’ve never been more ready to do anything, especially with you.
“It’s pouring rain, you know. I don’t want to get out.”
“I’ll let you walk under my jacket. Let’s go, Tomoya.”