Chapter Text
“Hajime,” the pink-haired girl began, staring up from the handheld device that her eyes were glued to ninety percent of the time (the other ten percent she could probably be found either napping, or technically awake but far too caught up in her daydreams to be classed as actually awake). “Is there something wrong? Your face looks kind of funny.” Chiaki finished plainly, immediately diverting her gaze back to the Nintendo she’d been playing on after the sentence left her mouth.
Hajime didn’t reply right away, being that he was completely caught off guard by both her bluntness, and the realisation that he had momentarily been the centre of her undivided attention. That didn’t happen often, despite them having been close friends since they were pretty young. She only ever paid much mind to the outside world if there was something she was worried about, or something she deemed more important than her animal crossing village. And said village was of the utmost importance, of course. So - though Hajime appreciated that she noticed he was fidgeting, just like he always did when he got nervous - he couldn’t help but feel slightly intimidated by what her lazy stare was insinuating.
The more he thought about it, the more obvious it became that her remark wasn’t actually particularly surprising. After all, they’d essentially grown up together; living on the same street served as a good enough basis for them to start being friends (because that’s just how a kid’s brain works), but they’d ended up getting along so well that they’d stuck by each other’s side throughout their highschool years. Even after all that time, there they were, sitting beside each other in a library on their college campus, one about to confess to the other about the feeling he couldn’t quite explain, but had labelled as romantic love. “Ah, it’s fine, I was just thinking. It’s not that big of a deal, but, uh, there was something I wanted to ask.” he watched her once he’d finished speaking, awaiting some kind of affirmation from the shorter girl.
“Sure, go ahead.” she replied, still focused on her game and unbothered by Hajime’s odd shift in tone.
Shit, this is it, huh? I’m finally going to stop being such a wimp and just... ask her out? Damn. Taking a deep breath, he paused for a second, running over the lines he’d practiced in his head a million times before. All he had to do was ask her out. It was an infinitely simpler task than Hajime was making it out to be, but he couldn’t help overthinking it. Hajime wasn’t entirely sure if what he felt even was love, since he was rather inexperienced in that field, but he knew Chiaki made him happy, and he cared about her a lot - there was no doubt about that. And she was pretty, too. Still, he’d always imagined love as something more grand and magical, like a feeling that wouldn’t need any kind of reassurance. He’d just know. That’s probably just me being dumb, though. Yeah, my nerves are getting the best of me. I just have to get on with it, I guess.
“Um. So,” he spoke with bated breath, though he couldn’t tell if he was hesitating more out of uncertainty, or actual nervousness. Fuck it, there’s no going back now. “Do you maybe want to go on, like, I don’t know. Like a date, or something?”
Putting her Nintendo down, she turned to stare at the boy beside her with a sympathetic look. Oh no. I’ve made a mistake, haven’t I? “Hajime, you do know I have a girlfriend, right? The one from my graphic design class I was telling you about, Ibuki.” she said softly, reaching out to pat Hajime’s shoulder; an attempt to be comforting in some way, or at least, as comforting as she could manage to be. Chiaki had never really been the type of person to be physically affectionate, so shoulder pats were about as reassuring as it got.
Oh my god. I could’ve handled a rejection, but this? This is beyond embarrassing. Jesus Christ, I’m an idiot - and a bad friend. He vaguely remembered somebody being mentioned before, but he’d been too focused on whatever he was doing at the time to actually internalise it. Which was something he’d now come to regret. Fuck. Now I have to come up with something to get me out of this mess. His brain whirred, fighting to think up an excuse to save the both of them from the awkwardness he knew would follow if he didn’t. Ah, I’ve got it!
Hoping she wouldn’t notice his change in demeanour - or the fact that his bullshit excuse didn’t make much sense - he broke the silence between them, “What? Of course, I know! I hadn’t finished what I was saying,” he said, mock-sighing. “I was trying to ask if you wanted to go on a double date.”
She’d abandoned her Nintendo altogether now, which was proof enough that the gears in her head were turning, clearly trying to make sense of the garbage Hajime had chosen as a cover for his dumbassery. “A double date?” she started, Hajime gesturing for her to continue with a sharp nod and a quiet ‘mhm’. “So, you’re telling me you’re dating someone?” she deadpanned, though it was obvious the question wasn’t rhetorical.
Picking up on his cue to speak, he replied, “Yup. We’ve been dating for a while, but neither of us really wanted to make it public. Too much pressure, y’know?” It was a passable response, given the amount of time he had to conceive it. “I won’t tell you who it is yet, but we can meet a few days before the date - if you and Mioda-san do want to go on a date. It can be a surprise, it should be fun.”
“Ah, sure? I mean, Ibuki is almost definitely going to agree, and I don’t mind at all, so yeah. I won’t lie, I feel like half of what you said just now barely made sense, but I don’t have the energy to pester you for a coherent explanation, so I guess I’ll let you off the hook,” she giggled, playfully nudging Hajime’s shoulder. “Ah well, I’ve got a class to get to, but I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Yeah, see ya.” he said, sending a smile and a wave Chiaki’s way before pulling his phone out of his pocket. He had quite the dilemma to sort out whilst she was gone. He didn’t have long - they hadn’t settled on a date yet, but it seemed he didn’t have more than a few weeks to figure out a plan. Keeping the time restriction in mind, he began typing with a newfound determination.
hinata: hey
komaeda: hiii hinata-kun !! how are u? :)
hinata: im good thanks lol
hinata: apart from one thing hdsfhjk
komaeda: oh ?? is it something i can help with ?
hinata: uhh yea kinda i guess i was gonna ask u
komaeda: go ahead !! im happy to do just about anything :D
hinata: aha okay so
hinata: this is weird and u can totally say no but
hinata: plz can u pretend to be my boyfriend for a bit?
hinata: we’d have to pretend for a while but i wont make u do anything thatd made u uncomfortable. n ofc i dont want u doing anything that makes me uncomfy lmao
hinata: aghh im sorry this is such a strange thing to ask haha i just didnt know who else to go to cuz i feel like u know me better than most ppl lol fshjkfsw so i feel like we could maybe make it work
hinata: like as in make it convincing lol idk
hinata: sorry im rambling ahaha
hinata: so u can say no but,,, are u up for it?
komaeda: ahh of course yeah !! i don’t mind at all !
hinata: wait omg fr? r u sure?
komaeda: mhm totally !!!!
hinata: ahh epic ur a lifesaver dude! thank u
komaeda: wdhkdsw don’t worry abt it !! :3
hinata: wanna come to mine this week so we can sort out a story, set up some ground rules n stuff? i have tomorrow off so if ur not busy that could work
komaeda: yeah i’m free !! i’ll see u then !
hinata: thank u again haha
hinata: anyway lol bye goodnight
komaeda: byee sweet dreams hinata-kun !!
Ignoring the rosiness on his cheeks and the slight smile that’d somehow made its way onto his face, he put his phone aside (because he probably looked like a downright idiot staring at a
phone screen
with a cheesy grin) and settled in his bed, shifting so he was comfortable enough to fall asleep. Not that he’d dare to ever admit it, but he still found himself getting oddly giddy over the prospect of fake-dating Nagito. No - that wasn’t it. The jitteriness was only because of the drama of the situation, obviously. It wasn’t like he
actually
had feelings for him. That’d just be weird.