Chapter Text
1.
“you’re such a dummy”, kuboyasu mustered out in between fits of laughter, causing one of kaidō’s pillows to be hurled in his direction.
“shut up”, kaidō muttered, crossing his arms and lightly kicking kuboyasu’s shin with his foot as the two sat in kaidō’s room, kaidō on his bed and aren standing next to the bed, “studying” when in actuality all they’d done is discuss the fact that kaidō had just discovered that soup contained water.
“BUT WHAT DID YOU THINK MADE SOUP?”, kuboyasu burst out in a wheezing-laughter and kaidō moaned into a pillow.
“I DON’T KNOW, I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT. like a special...soup liquid or something-“ kuboyasu interrupted kaidō’s listless train of thought with another guffaw of laughter and kaidō hurled his last pillow at him, smacking him square in the face, knocking his glasses crooked.
“HEY!”, kuboyasu exclaimed, adjusting his glasses before taking the pillow off the floor and hitting kaidō with it.
“what do you mean ‘hey’? you were asking for it!”, kaidō giggled, shielding his head from kuboyasu’s attacks. as kuboyasu threw the pillow down on kaidō once more, kaidō grabbed the pillow, yanking kuboyasu onto the bed in one swift, unexpected motion. kuboyasu blinked, startled, as he lay propped up over kaidō. kaidō, however, continued to laugh hysterically and kuboyasu felt a smile spread to his face, backing off of kaidō to lay down on the bed next to him. kuboyasu tilted his head to face kaidō as kaidō began humming contently to himself, a dopey grin tainting his face.
“what is it?”, kuboyasu asked quizzically and kaidō shrugged coyly, plucking the glasses off kuboyasu’s face and placing them onto his own.
“mm nothing, dummy”, kaidō murmured and kuboyasu let out a laugh in the form of an exhale, shaking his head softly.
“kaidō-“, kuboyasu began
“shun”, kaidō interrupted and kuboyasu turned his head quickly to meet kaidō’s as the two lay on the bed next to each other, there faces closer than ever before. kuboyasu felt his face grow hot as he realized just how close the other boy’s face was to his, how he could trace and memorize every detail of his face from this distance. he raised an eyebrow, mulling kaidō’s response over.
“call me shun, kuboyasu. it’s my first name”, kaidō — shun — explained, breaking the silence, turning his head back to face the ceiling. his face had grown hot and was now painted with an obvious flush of pink but kuboyasu was too distracted by his words to notice.
“you...you want me to call you by your first name?”, kuboyasu repeated, making sure he heard kaidō correctly. kaidō rubbed his hands through his blue hair anxiously, as if questioning whether his decision had been the right one.
“shun...i like it. ok shun”, kuboyasu muttered quietly, still taken aback by the offer. no one had ever insisted they be on a first name basis with kuboyasu. it made him feel...warm. warm and wanted. kuboyasu saw kaidō’s face light up and a smile bubble across his face, knowing he made the right decision.
“...but...”, kuboyasu continued and kaidō turned his head to stare into kuboyasu’s eyes as he spoke. kuboyasu felt his breathing hitch as kaidō’s deep brown eyes met his own but he cleared his throat to continue.
“if i call you shun then you need to call me aren”, kuboyasu stated, sighing shakily; he’d never done this before. he never had this level of trust and comfort in a person. growing up as a thug, you learn to never trust anybody, certainly not enough to be on a first name basis with them. but kaidō was different. he accepted kuboyasu for who he was and trusted him.
cared for him.
loved him?
“ok...aren”, kaidō whispered back softly, eyes averted to his hands as he began fidgeting with his red bandages nervously and aren sighed with a smile, eyes scanning over kaidō with admiration. kaidō’s eyes flickered back up to aren’s and now they were even closer together than before but neither of the boys cared. aren slowly pressed his forehead to kaidō’s, feeling the heat of the slight touch send shockwaves through his body, and kaidō smiled nervously, cheeks flushed. what were they doing?
“SHUN! HELP ME WITH THE GROCERIES!”, a voice, recognized as kaidō’s mom, rang into the bedroom despite the closed door. kaidō’s eyes stayed on aren’s briefly, almost apologetically, before getting up with a groan to help his mom. aren let out an exasperated sigh once kaidō left, leaning on his back on the bed, palms digging into his eyes under his glasses, face flushed. what the hell was that? and why couldn’t either of the boys’ hearts stop pounding?