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Three times Sena Izumi felt his heart skip a beat.
Neither of them, had he expected in the slightest. All those times he felt his heart skip a beat, they were unforeseen and completely out of the blue. But, strangely, he quite liked the feeling of being surprised in such ways.
It wasn’t odd for the Yumenosaki students to see Izumi drag around a loud, talkative ginger. In fact, the sight was all-too-familiar. The two were like peas in a pod. A package deal. Spotting one of them, almost always meant the other had to be nearby. Befriending one of them, meant you’d have to put up with the other, too.
Izumi might be intimidating, and he very often came off as rude, but it was rather obvious he seemed to have a soft spot for Leo, no matter how much he tried to deny so. It was even more apparent to his unit members due to all the time they had spent together. School, home, malls, small cafes by the sidewalk. They would stroll hand-in-hand. How Leo had managed to convince Izumi to hold his hand, puzzled their friends.
They would be seen walking home together, whether it was because of Leo’s constant demands and whines or Izumi’s small mutters asking for him to go home together – followed by his usual “so annoying” phrase, of course.
But, usually, they would go straight home. So, exactly why Leo insisted on stopping by the park, was completely beyond him.
He obliged, though. It was a fine day to go to the park, anyway. The sun shone brightly, only partly covered by clouds. Leo joyfully motioned him over to a bench, a cheeky grin adorning his features.
“Why exactly did you bring us here?” Izumi asked as he took a seat beside Leo.
The said boy shrugged. “Well, the sun’s really bright, and I thought it would be nice to go to the park. You know, to relax! You also looked so miserable, the whole day. You kept nagging me over and over like a mom, my ears are eventually gonna explode, you know?”
Izumi huffed, “Maybe I wouldn’t have scolded you, if you’d kept quiet and actually been serious during our practice session.”
“I think you would lose your head if I’d actually gone a day without speaking, though,” Leo laughed.
“You’re so annoying,” Izumi muttered back in response, but didn’t get anything in return.
Their eyes were fixated on the summer sky, buckled with clouds that slowly moved along with the wind. The sky was like a multi-colored canvas. Rich hues of blue faded into gradients of brilliant orange as the sun slowly inched closer to the horizon, that looked as if it had been stitched with a thin string of golden, its bright yellow color blending together with the sky.
The view was breathtaking. Izumi felt so lost in a reverie, he almost didn’t notice a pair of eyes staring at him.
With a cocked brow, he tilted his head to lock his gaze with one that had been glued to him. His pursed his lips a bit. Ah – their faces were so close, Izumi wasn’t sure how to act. Had Leo’s eyes always been that mesmerizing?
The pair of brilliant emerald orbs, enhanced by the afternoon sunlight, captured him in a trance. For some reason, they made him feel so relaxed, as if he was drowning in them.
He felt lost, again. Though he would never admit it, he probably wouldn’t mind staring into those eyes for hours.
He wasn’t aware of how Leo slowly leaned closer, their faces inches away. He only snapped out of it when Leo’s eyes shut close. He was about to complain about how the ginger was too close for comfort, but all the words were caught in his throat when a hand gently grabbed his chin, a soft pair of lips soon meeting his.
Skip.
His narrowed eyes widened almost instantly. He knew he wasn’t dreaming at all, but everything felt so unreal. A positive kind of “unreal”? He didn’t know.
His shoulders tensed, mind melting. Izumi was damn sure he was close to passing out. He felt conflicted. Should he close his eyes and kiss back? Should he push Leo away, instead? His head was spinning, he couldn’t think straight.
Leo, on the other hand, found himself enjoying the kiss way too much. The familiar scent of the model filled his nostrils, only succeeding in making his heart beat faster than it previously did. A part of him wanted to keep going forever. He didn’t want to stop. But he began to pull away, so very slowly, until Izumi’s lips felt like feather on his.
He fluttered his eyes open, expecting a slap or a string of yelling and swearing from Izumi, but he never received them.
Instead, Izumi’s face was full of disbelief, shades of red dusting his cheeks. The feeling of Leo’s lips that still lingered, did not help one bit. Leo’s eyes scanned his face, as if searching for any emotion, at all. But not even Izumi himself was sure of what he felt. Hell, he didn’t even realize his lips had been parted, the whole time, until Leo closed them for him with a teasing grin.
“Sena? You okay?”
No, of course not, Izumi wanted to say. But all he could manage, was a stiff nod before he stood up and walked in the direction of their houses.
They acted like the kiss never happened. Frankly, Izumi didn’t know if he felt thankful or disappointed.
~;~
Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and, before they knew it, a year had gone by ever since their little incident. Neither spoke about it nor brought it up in a conversation. Nothing between them changed. At least, Izumi believed so.
They continued living their lives as they would. There was no tension nor awkwardness between them, at all. However, sometimes, the memory would suddenly pop up in his mind, overwhelming emotions swarming his head. It was distracting. He could be busying himself with practice and photoshoots, but the memory seemed to have its own place in the back of his mind, always lingering and never truly forgotten.
But, of course, he never expressed so. He wouldn’t want anyone questioning his behavior and sudden waves of frustration, especially not Leo. It would be a pain in the ass if he were to ever find out. Actually, Izumi didn’t know what Leo would do. He might tease him for it, Izumi assumed, and further teasing from the very person who was the reason behind it all, might only worsen Izumi’s impulse to punch him.
That afternoon, he attempted to wash away his piling thoughts, muttering under his breath as he made his way towards Knights’s practice room. Practice should make him busy enough to not think about anything else. However, what he got when he swung the door open, wasn’t too favorable.
“Ou-sama.” his mumble almost sounded like a groan.
Leo, sprawled across the floor that had been littered with sheets of his compositions, didn’t even turn to look at him. “Hey, Sena!” he greeted, eyes and hands still working on compositions.
“Why is the room such a mess?” he complained, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. He picked up a few scattered papers, reading through them as he stepped closer to Leo. “If you’re making compositions, it wouldn’t hurt to be tidier and more organized, would it?”
“Mmm sorry, when ideas come, everything else can wait,” Leo said.
“What a bother,” Izumi muttered. “At least, look at someone in the eye when you’re talking to them.”
Izumi could see the corners of Leo’s lips twitch upwards. The ginger laughed and sat up, his eyes meeting Izumi’s bright blue ones. “You just wanted to see my eyes, didn’t you?”
“Don’t be so full of yourself,” Izumi scoffed.
“Aw, Sena’s shy!”
The response Leo received, was a light glare from the model, which only made him laugh more. “Your eyes are pretty, though, if you want me to admit it,” he commented.
“I know they are,” came Izumi’s brief reply. “Where are those other three?”
“Don’t know, I’ve been here the whole afternoon.”
“You’re a pain in the ass.”
Leo’s smile remained, with his gaze still fixated on his figure. Ah, he really is a model, Leo often thought to himself. He kept staring as Izumi fished out his phone, fingers tapping across the screen.
After a few minutes, Izumi’s brows furrowed. He frowned at his phone. “They’re gonna be late. Complications, they said,” he sighed, taking a seat against the wall, legs stretched forwards. “No use practicing without them.”
Leo hummed, shuffling to sit beside Izumi, who sent him a curious look. With no warning at all, he let his head fall on Izumi’s lap before adjusting to find a comfortable position. He ended up staring up at the gray-haired idol.
“What are you doing?”
“I just wanna lie down.”
“On my lap?”
“On your lap.”
A grin adorned Leo’s features when Izumi clicked his tongue and looked away. “Stop staring, it’s rude.”
“Sorry, it’s your fault you look great from every angle.”
Izumi scrunched up his nose. “And stop saying weird things.”
The grin Leo previously wore had turned into a frown – almost looking like a pout. “Is it weird for me to compliment you?” he asked.
Izumi didn’t answer. Really, Leo confused him sometimes. He would tell him he looked great, out of the blue. Was he supposed to feel flattered or weirded out? Though, he admittedly did like hearing them.
Leo seriously puzzled him. Especially on that one day at the park. What was going through his head? Izumi would never understand why he had done such a thing so suddenly. Someone could have seen them, and their profiles would be tainted. But it’s Leo. He wouldn’t care about the consequences, would he? Izumi still blamed him, though, for making quite the distracting memory.
“Hey, Sena,” Leo spoke, again, tone softer than it previously had been.
The said boy looked down at him. The smile that laced Leo’s lips confused him. “What is it, now?”
“Do you wanna know something?”
Izumi cocked a brow.
“I love you.”
Skip.
Once more, Izumi was rendered speechless. It felt like their little kiss, all over again, with Leo grinning widely at him. He, on the other hand, froze.
Izumi huffed, “Why are you suddenly telling me that?”
He felt the boy shrug on his lap. “I just thought you needed to know,” he admitted, before smiling up at Izumi, again. “But I think you know that already, don’t you?”
The other frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, sure you do,” Leo said. “Come on, we both know it happened. You can’t act like it never did.”
But you played along with the act, Izumi found himself wanting to retort, but bit back his words. He was really discomposed, and he blamed it on the troublesome ginger.
“Ou-sama, stop messing around,” he said, averting his gaze.
“But I’m not! I really do love you, Sena!”
“Alright, off my lap.”
Izumi began forcing Leo off of him, but they both knew he put little to no effort in his pushes, and that made Leo laugh. “Wahah, how mean! You’re not going to say it back?”
For once, Izumi was glad Ritsu walked through the door, even if it was to only fall asleep, right away.
~;~
The third time he felt his heart skip a beat, he wasn’t expecting things to go down like how it did, at all.
It was right after Knights’s live. The faint sound of cheering could be heard from the backstage. The air was hot and it reeked of sweat and warm tones of cologne – a mixture they didn’t quite like. But they paid no mind to it, too exhausted to do anything about it. Their faces showed visible relief that the live was over.
“I think we did great,” Arashi chirped, grabbing the towel Tsukasa offered her.
“Well, it was satisfactory,” Izumi said.
“Oh, lower your standards, Secchan, we did well,” Ritsu muttered, earning himself a light-hearted frown from the said idol.
With a small nod of agreement, Tsukasa gathered the energy to get back on his feet. “I believe we should change and refresh ourselves,” he suggested.
“Go ahead, too tired,” Ritsu said, but was pulled up by Arashi.
“No, let’s all head back. We’ll feel much nicer once we change,” she commented, ignoring Ritsu’s whines and complaints. “Come on, you two.”
“Yeah, just a bit,” Izumi answered back, gesturing to the water bottle in his hands. He watched them leave the room before gulping down his drink. The feeling of cold water sliding down his throat refreshed him, to say the least.
He had only taken a step out of the room, when he stopped and flinched. “What are you doing – are you trying to scare me?” he hissed at Leo, who had been leaning on the wall outside the room.
“Tempting, but of course not, I’m waiting for you,” Leo said, impatiently waving him off. “Done, yet?”
“Yeah,” Izumi trailed off, scanning his face as if trying to figure out his motives.
Leo huffed a laugh. “I wasn’t trying to do anything, stop suspecting me!”
“That’s pretty easy to doubt.”
“You’re a big jerk,” Leo said, pushing himself off of the wall before leading the way to the changing room. “Wahh, can’t believe I waited for you and this is what I get in return.”
Izumi let out a small scoff, walking right beside him. “I didn’t ask you to wait for me, that’s on you.”
“At least, a ‘thank you’?”
“You wish.”
For a while, no words were exchanged between them – nothing but a moment of silence and the tapping of their shoes against the floor. The silence was nowhere near awkward. In fact, it was rather comforting for the both of them, just basking in the other’s company. It helped calm himself, though Izumi might never admit it.
It was interrupted, however, by the quiet voice of Leo’s.
“Hey, Sena, have you ever kissed anyone?”
Izumi shot him a dangerous stare, but Leo laughed him off. “Other than me,” he teasingly added.
The other narrowed his eyes and huffed. “No.”
Leo’s face contorted into one of pleasant surprise. “Sena’s never dated anyone?”
“No,” Izumi said, eyeing him. “Why’re you suddenly asking?”
To his annoyance, Leo ignored his question and came up with one of his own. “So, then, you’ve never had any experience in it, at all?” The teasing tone he used irked him even further.
“No,” he said, again. “You talk like you’ve had experience, yourself.”
Leo shook his head. “Nope,” he admitted. “That makes the two of us, huh? Oblivious and completely clueless.”
“What are you trying to say?”
Izumi was puzzled. Sure, he caught a hint of what Leo might have in mind, but wanted to make sure he didn’t misunderstand his words.
The laugh that escaped Leo’s lips only baffled him even more, but the words that came out right after it, made his head spin.
“Don’t you think it’s time for you to surrender, already?”
Izumi felt like the world paused around him. He pursed his lips into a tight, thin line.
“Surrender?” he breathed out
Leo made no effort in enlightening him. He was left with a smile from Leo to let the words sink in.
“So?” Leo spoke up, again. “Don’t you think it’d be easier for the two of us, if you’d surrender, too?”
Slowly, the gray-haired idol processed what the other was saying. When he finally caught up, he felt like exploding. By then, both had ceased in their tracks, facing one another. “Are you serious?” he quietly asked, still rather apprehensive.
“I am. So, what do you say?”
Izumi opened his mouth to speak, but hastily closed them, again. It was as if everything around him stopped but spun, at the same time. He felt his face grow warmer by the second. He tried to speak, but no words came out.
He closed his eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath before sighing it out, but neither helped. “Ou-sama,” he started to say, but Leo immediately interjected.
“Sena,” he said, tone soft yet firm. “Be my boyfriend?”
Skip.
Suddenly, Leo’s kiss and “I love you”s felt like such little gestures compared to Leo’s question. He felt his mind melt, once again, body growing weak. He wanted Leo to repeat the words, disbelieving what he had just heard. His mouth opened and closed, as if he was soundlessly gasping for air. Izumi was unable to get a grip, trains of thoughts were racing, and the words echoed in his head.
“What?” was all he could manage.
Leo’s smile grew wider, reaching out both hands in front of Izumi, waiting for him to take them. “Surrender.”
As if the word casted a spell on him, Izumi’s expression gradually softened. Slowly, with a sigh, he placed his hands on top of Leo’s palms.
“As you wish, Ou-sama,” he finally said, eyes still staring into Leo’s emerald ones that shone with glee at his answer, a wide grin growing on his face.
In one swift movement, he pulled the gray-haired male closer, their lips immediately colliding with one another. This time, with a fluttering heart, Izumi wasted no time in shutting his eyes close, completely giving into the kiss. Feeling him do so, the corners of Leo’s lips curled upwards in delight. Everything felt so right, so in place. They were contented with how things turned out. Though unexpected, neither would want to change anything.
Reluctantly, they pulled away with faint, mirrored smiles adorning their features.
Huffing a small laugh of joy, Leo leaned in and leaned his forehead against Izumi’s. “I love you.”
With his softened heart beating at its usual pace, Izumi’s smile grew just a tad bit wider. “I love you, too, Leo-kun.”
Three times Sena Izumi felt his heart skip a beat. Neither of them, had he expected in the slightest. But he had to admit, he was glad Tsukinaga Leo was the cause of them all.