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。・゜・♡・゜・。
the relentless rays of the sun caused the inside of the school to heat like a furnace. no amount of air conditioning seemed to make a difference. the cheap fan in the corner of the science lab whirred, seemingly only stirring the hot and heavy air around the room. sweat dripped from futakuchi’s eyebrow to his cheek.
“futakuchi, can you please state the three laws of motion?” the teacher asked, inpatient.
futakuchi was spaced out, practically burning in his uniform. he stood up, only to state that he didn’t know, and sat back down. he probably would have cared more if his pants didn’t feel like they were glued to him. besides, aone would force him to make flash cards anyway. he’d memorize the information some way or another. the teacher only sighed, moving on to another unlucky student.
futakuchi was practically begging for the lunch period to come quicker, desperate to seek out a cool room to stay in. as he was considering his options, the math room or the computer lab, the bell chimed, signaling that the class was over. despite the teacher’s incessant squawking, most of the students began hastily packing their things into their bags.
futakuchi followed suit, shoving his notebook into his messenger bag uncaringly. he stood, feeling the slightly cooler air hit the backs of his thighs. he sluggishly walked from his seat, placed comfortably in the middle of the classroom, next to the now broken air vent, and made his way to the sliding door. the cold air that ran through the hallway was a welcome surprise.
he spotted aone, waiting on the other end of the hall. he was so tall that he towered over the other students, like a skyscraper. it made him easy to find. futakuchi would’ve greeted him, but he felt too tired to do much more than follow the other boy to their usual lunch spot. during most of the school year, they sat on the rooftop, but the mere thought of being subject to the heat pouring off the building in waves was enough to ensure they had a special summer hideout.
in one of the classrooms, empty except for cooking club on tuesdays, to be specific. the lights were never on during the day, so aone liked sitting under the window, enjoying how the whitish light shone down on the floor in front of him. futakuchi sat next to him, far enough away to ensure that no body heat was shared. it was way too hot for that. today though, instead of eating, futakuchi decided he wanted to nap. he debated laying down on the floor, taking off his overcoat to use as a makeshift pillow.
he gave a silent wave to aone, which basically told him all he needed to know. aone, ever generous, took off his own overcoat and placed it over futakuchi’s, giving him a slightly better place to put his head. futakuchi gracelessly threw himself to the floor, and promptly fell asleep. aone let him sleep, the heat would’ve made futakuchi throw up anyways. aone ate his own lunch, sparing glances at futakuchi to make sure he wasn’t uncomfortable every now and then.
his lunch was lovingly packed by his mother, aone couldn’t not eat it. besides, he’d be miserable at practice if he was hungry. it made him worry about futakuchi. he didn’t want his friend to be hungry. he looked at futakuchi again, noticing that some of his hair had fallen into his eyes. the humidity must’ve ruined his hairstyle. he gently brushed the hair away.
he must have been hallucinating from the heat, but it seemed that futakuchi had leaned ever so slightly into his touch. about five minutes before the bell would chime, aone woke futakuchi, giving him time to adjust to being awake again. he slowly sat up, blinking the sleep from his eyes. aone practically forced him to drink water at the very least, he didn’t want futakuchi to pass out. he picked up the overcoats, and put one on, aone following suit. soon enough, it was time to make their way towards one of their only shared classes, modern japanese literature.
“ah, the tile felt so nice, i miss it already,” futakuchi whined.
aone grunted, acknowledging that he’d heard futakuchi.
“i wanna go back to bed…” he complained, leaning his head on his friend’s shoulder.
aone merely raised his hand to pat his hair. it was enough of a response, futakuchi thought.
“maybe i can sleep in study hall, it’s not like i have anything due tomorrow,” futakuchi reasoned with himself.
aone shot him a look, basically telling him to work on his homework. he could sleep when he got home. aone just giggled, and with that, he walked in and took his seat. in the left back corner, two seats behind aone. sometimes, when he felt extra bored, he stared at the back of his friend and thought about what thoughts might be swirling around in the silent man’s head. today was a silent reading day, and they had analysis questions on the assigned chapters on the board.
this room was cooler, and cold sweat dripped down futakuchi’s back. the temperature in this classroom was more comfortable than any other class he’d been to, so he allowed himself to burrow a little into his overcoat. he realized it smelt a little like aone. which totally made sense, he’d been laying on both of the coats. it was only normal that that would happen, right? his thoughts began to spiral. from the way aone smelt, to how it would feel to wear his clothes. blood rushed to his cheeks.
they were best friends so it was normal to find comfort in aone’s scent and think about sharing clothes, wasn’t it?
“futakuchi-san, are you alright? your face is red,” the girl who sat next to him, haruka, was it? asked him.
“yeah, just feeling a little hot,” he said, thanking god that he didn’t stutter.
she nodded in understanding before turning back to her novel.
futakuchi couldn’t focus for the rest of class. he was occupied thinking about how nice it would be to bury his face into aone’s pillow. or maybe his chest. it only hit him, that he had actually done both of those things. and he damned himself for not enjoying it as much as he should have. what if that was his only chance? he hoped he’d get to do it again. he wanted to do it forever.
it was then that he realized that he’d never thought of being separate from aone. he couldn’t be away from him, but it was normal for friends to think that way, wasn’t it? when the teacher began to erase the board, preparing for her next class, futakuchi thought of two things. one: he’d have to borrow the questions from aone and reread the chapters, and two: he might be a little more attached to his best friend then he initially thought.
he went through the rest of his classes, dazed, and thinking of the faint smell of moderately expensive cologne and sunshine.
(when he got home, he didn’t put his overcoat in the laundry basket, he put it on his bed. it was his problem if he was smothered by thoughts of his best friend in his sleep.)
。・゜・♡・゜・。
even though it was morning, it was still unbearably hot inside futakuchi’s bedroom. he had had some of the best sleep of his life, and he regretted having to wake up. he almost threw his phone when he heard the alarm go off. he spent the first few groggy moments of wakefulness in peace, before the contents of what he consider to be his best dream ever slapped him across the face.
he dreamed about cuddling with his best friend. he’d kissed him even. full on the lips. and he enjoyed it. really enjoyed it.
all of a sudden, every bit of calm, every piece of him that yearned to lay in his bed just that little bit longer died, and he’d practically run to the bathroom. the first thing he did was put on his ugly headband, and splash his face with cold water. then, he went through his regular morning routine, showering, putting on his clothes, with the same unwashed overcoat, eating breakfast, brushing his teeth, and then styling his hair. while most mornings he’d spend this time dreading going to school, today he spent it banishing any and all thoughts about aone to the back of his mind.
when he finished getting ready, he stepped out into the morning heat, yelling goodbye to his parents, and beginning his commute to the station, where he’d meet with aone. how would he look him in the eyes? it didn’t matter, he’d have to pretend it was fine, like he did most times anything happened. his usually calm walk was filled with anxiety, and he knew today would certainly be tiring. doing morning practice without air conditioning sounded better than having to pretend to be unembarrassed near aone.
nonetheless, time dragged on and he did his best to fool his overly observant friend into thinking he wasn’t harboring special feelings towards him or anything. he saw aone standing near the entrance of the subway, and waved to him. he weaved his way through the crowd to get closer to his friend. once he got closer, he looked at his shoes before speaking.
“morning,” futakuchi said, sounding shyer and more timid than he’d ever sounded in his life.
well, there goes his chance of trying to play this off.
aone, of course, gave him a concerned look, that futakuchi tried his best to dispel. he and aone made their way into the subway, sitting next to each other. the subway was always cold, so they sat close. futakuchi couldn’t help but read into the way aone’s muscular thigh touched his slimmer one. he blushed, looking down again.
aone shot him a glance that was practically begging him to tell him what was wrong.
“i’m feeling a little sick… the heat’s really getting to me, you know?” futakuchi tried.
aone looked skeptical, but accepted his friend’s answer without prying. if he wanted to talk about it, he would.
futakuchi always took the window seat, and was effectively trapped. instead of talking about what he did the previous night like he usually would, he simply looked out the window. such behavior only made aone’s worry triple. his best friend was acting weird, and he had no idea why. he’d have to watch him closely today, he decided. easier said than done, but aone was willing to put forth the effort.
once the pair arrived at their stop, they walked the short way to school in silence. aone didn’t mind the silence but futakuchi was always talking. which made it awkward. once they arrived at the school campus, they made their way to the gym for morning practice. which was way hotter than it needed to be, futakuchi was already pouring sweat by the time they made it to their destination. upon opening the doors, moniwa called out to them.
“you guys are a little early today, huh? go ahead and start stretching,” he yelled. moniwa was setting up the gym for practice.
the downside to being early was that no one else was there to help futakuchi stretch other than aone. the realization caused him to blush, which he would forever blame on the heat.
the places where aone’s hands gently pressed down on his back burned. and even after he removed them, though futakuchi’s mind was begging him not to, futakuchi could still feel the ghost of warmth. that feeling remained until his relatively peaceful stretching session was ruined by the boisterous voice of koganegawa, with the much quieter sakunami trailing close behind him.
“futakuchi-senpai! moniwa-senpai! aone-senpai!” he yelled out in a greeting. sakunami gave a polite bow and silent wave.
“i wanna practice tossing!” koganegawa announced.
“and you will. now start stretching,” moniwa replied. it amazed futakuchi how moniwa could deal with koganegawa without bursting a blood vessel.
futakuchi’s silent streak continued throughout morning practice, but only towards aone. he acted normal with everyone else. maybe it was something he did. he would have to ask him about it in the club room. so, when moniwa announced that practice was over, aone decided he would corner futakuchi and make him spill. his intimidating looks could sometimes be of use, he supposed.
futakuchi kept his head down, still embarrassed about his earlier thoughts. he noticed that aone was keeping a close eye on him, he was onto him already. shit. he simply pretended that he didn’t notice and continued to make his way to the club room. he tried to change as fast as possible, but when he was going to leave, aone grabbed his wrist. he was screwed.
“are you upset with me?” aone asked. almost everyone on the team had their eyes on the peculiar pair.
futakuchi began to panic. aone thought he was mad at him? he didn’t want aone to feel bad or think he hated him when it was quite the opposite.
“no, not at all!” futakuchi said, meeting aone’s eyes for the first time.
“then what’s wrong?” aone questioned once more.
“nothing! nothing at all! it’s just…” futakuchi stopped.
aone gave him a look that said he should continue.
futakuchi leaned his head against aone’s chest. meekly, he whispered to him.
“please don’t make me say it. at least not now,” futakuchi practically begged.
with that, aone gently wrapped his arms around futakuchi. it was his way of saying that it was alright.
“just don’t ignore me please,” aone said to him.
futakuchi never wanted to hear those words come from his mouth again. he loved aone, after all.
。・゜・♡・゜・。
after that day, futakuchi went back to his usual self. he was simply a little shyer, which aone found to be adorable. he’d always been rather fond of futakuchi. he understood him like no one else, except for maybe his family, could. futakuchi put forth effort to get to know him, despite his looks. not to mention that futakuchi was a pretty boy. it showed in his perfect hair and easy smile. his love for sour gummies and kind personality.
aone was glad that futakuchi was acting normal around him again.
practice had just ended and aone and futakuchi were getting ready to walk to the station together.
“can we stop for ice cream? it’s way too hot…” futakuchi complained.
aone gave an affirmative grunt.
and with that, the pair headed to an ice cream shop they frequented. it was a small little shop, owned by a nice old couple. the cold from the inside of the shop was welcomed by futakuchi. he sighed happily.
“welcome!” a young part-timer greeted.
aone gave a nod and futakuchi waved.
since aone and futakuchi came here so often, they already knew what they wanted. sometimes futakuchi liked to try new things, but his all time favorite was cookies and cream. aone usually got a plain flavor like vanilla or chocolate. occasionally, he had strawberry flavor. futakuchi thought that it was funny that even though aone liked all of the flavors of neapolitan individually, he refused to eat them together.
the pair stepped up to the counter to place their order.
“hi! how can i help you?” the same girl greeted.
“hi, can i have two scoops of cookies and cream, and he’ll have…” futakuchi looked to aone, who pointed to the chocolate flavor, “two scoops of chocolate!” futakuchi completed.
the girl rang them up, and they sat down at one of the few tables to wait for their order to come out. futakuchi talked amiably, and aone listened, sometimes giving a noise of acknowledgement or even statements. futakuchi thought that they must’ve looked like a strange pair, but they matched each other’s personalities so well. opposites really do attract. soon enough, their orders were at the counter for them to grab.
they ate their ice cream in the shop so it wouldn’t melt, enjoying the comforting silence. futakuchi liked moments like those the most, because they were so calming and so natural. the sun was getting close to setting, which meant it would be slightly cooler. once both aone and futakuchi finished their frozen treats, they made their way to the park nearby. futakuchi wanted to go on the swings. even though it was still hot, the air conditioning from the ice cream shop long gone.
aone followed futakuchi wherever he went, like a big intimidating dog. though, once you got to know him, he was significantly less scary and a lot softer.
the sun was finally beginning to sink below the horizon, the long days of summer always seemed to last forever, and the sunlight turned from white to yellow. the golden rays were beautiful, and filtered irresistibly through aone’s stark white hair. the trees rustled softly in the breeze, and futakuchi knew he wouldn’t be able to hold back for much longer. when he sat down on the swing, aone right by his side, he steeled his resolve.
he leaned closer to aone, closed his eyes, and their lips met. futakuchi wasn’t expecting anything, so he gasped when aone started to kiss back. it was his silent “i like you too.”
sure, the humidity made futakuchi’s hair look messier than usual, but aone didn’t mind. futakuchi was always pretty to him. sure, it was hot as shit outside, and the added warmth of another person made it practically unbearable, but aone would bear it for as long as futakuchi wanted. sure, the cherry blossoms weren’t pink and pretty, but aone couldn’t care less.
after all, he wasn’t looking anywhere other than futakuchi’s closed eyes.
summer was the worst season by far, but if summertime meant ice cream sticky kisses then they both could learn to appreciate it a little more.
“that’s all i wanted to do. fuck the swings it’s too hot for this shit.”
“fair enough.”
hand in hand, the pair walked home.
。・゜・♡・゜・。