Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe they held you back,” Fushiguro said flatly, leaning on the counter of the small cafe. “You had a scholarship and everything.”

“I told you, they didn’t hold me back, I took a gap year,” Yuuta said again, hauling a tray of pastries through the stock room door, “It’s literally not the same thing.”

The cafe was small, local, and only a block or so off the campus the two of them attended. It had that indie-ish feel, like it was believable that they grew all their coffee and tea in some garden in the back, even if they didn’t. Quaint was a good way to put it. 

Yuuta began working there partway through high school and continued to do so into college. The money was decent, he had consistent hours, his co-workers were (mostly) agreeable. He was also fortunate that the owner had allowed him to retain his position when he returned after a year away. 

Fushiguro began working there shortly after Yuuta and, despite his irritable nature, the two of them hit it off rather well. Most of the other employees found Fushiguro too unagreeable to work long hours with, so Yuuta’s shifts lined up with his more often than not. 

The two of them never seemed to mind. 

"You're still repeating a year,” Fushiguro countered.

“Only technically," Yuuta said, placing another pastry tray on top of the first and wiping his hands on his apron.

“A convenient technicality.”

“Alright, I’ll give you that one,” Yuuta caved, “Deciding to take the year off after the semester started was, admittedly, an oversight on my part. And, yes, technically it reads in my record like I have to repeat a year, but that’s only on paper.”

“To think I used to let you tutor me.” 

"That was in high school and you were atrocious at English. And if I remember correctly, you passed those classes.”

“Did you even learn French or anything cool?” the other boy deadpanned, unimpressed. “Or did you just backpack across Europe like a delinquent?”

“It’s good to be back. And,” Yuuta said cheerily, as he headed back into the stock room, “I get to spend one more year working with you before graduation so I’m looking forward to that as well.”

“ Assuming this is your last year,” Fushiguro said flatly. 

“Fushiguro, please,” Yuuta lamented, stacking a third tray of pastries on top of the other two.

“But,” Fushiguro eased up, finally looking at him. “It will be nice to have you back. Everyone else that works here is unbearable.” 

Yuuta smiled widely at him, Fushiguro glanced to the side, then the bell on the door chimed as it opened and closed.

“Welcome!” Yuuta called out before grabbing the trays and bending down behind the counter to start restocking the front case. “Sorry, can you handle this one?”

Fushiguro looked up and over at the door, eyes narrowing at the two people that just walked in.

“Hey, dude!” The boy strolled up to the counter cheerily as the girl sat down at one of the nearby tables and pulled out her phone. “How's it going?”

Fushiguro looked hastily from him to Yuuta back to him, back to Yuuta once more before resigning to his fate with a deep sigh.

“Can I help you,” His tone of voice implied it was not a question.

“Give me, uhhhhhhhhhhh,” The boy looked back and forth at the menu before turning to Fushiguro instead, “The tea thing, with foam? That one I got last time. However you made it, it was really good!”

Fushiguro tapped the screen on the register, "Anything else."

“I want the pink one!” The girl called over from the table she had sat down at. “The one like your hair, not the one that tasted like watermelon.”

“And that pink one,” He grinned, wide and radiating. “Please.”

Fushiguro's mouth twitched. “Sure.”

He tapped the register again, took the boy’s card, and then started shuffling around the counters preparing what they ordered. 

“Here,” he placed two finished drinks near the pick-up area of the counter and then immediately walked away.

“Thanks!”

“Thanks very much!” Yuuta said, standing back up to full, trays now under his arm, having finally finished refilling the front case.

Fushiguro let out a deep sigh as soon as Yuuta was back in earshot, “That guy and his girlfriend are such a pain.” 

“Hmm,” Yuuta hummed sympathetically and looked over at the two in question. They sat opposite each other at one of the tables tapping on their phones, occasionally flipping them around to show each other the screen, followed by an eruption of laughter. 

“They seem pleasant enough," he concluded as Fushiguro scoffed.

“They never bothered to learn any of the drink names, they just assume I’ll understand their vague requests and remember what I made for them in the past.” He grimaced as the boy snorted loudly which only caused the girl to snort loudly back, “And they’re always so loud.” 

“You’ve got your own regulars?” Yuuta said, turning to stare at him, impressed, “And they know who you are ?”

Fushiguro stared back at Yuuta in a way that indicated he was entirely missing the point being made here.

“I'm so proud,” Yuuta continued, theatrically wiping a fake tear from his eye, “That's a big change from when you used to excuse yourself to the back whenever anyone you found annoying came in. Such growth.”

“People are bothersome, that’s never changed,” he said flatly, wiping the leftover moisture from his hands on his apron. “And you know what. Now that you mention it, please excuse me.”

Fushiguro nodded his head, pushed the door to the stockroom, and proceeded to the back.

Yuuta almost laughed.

Maybe some things hadn't changed as much as he thought.

○○○

Despite many things that seemed to imply otherwise, Yuuta was, admittedly, not a morning person. Given the opportunity, he would prefer to avoid them altogether honestly. But with how his life worked, he had a choice to make: It was either work in the morning or go to class in the morning and the cafe opened at 6 am, sharp during the week. Morning classes at least had the decency to start at 8, so he usually took a closing shift and got an extra hour of sleep. 

Even still, the 8 am to 11 am Tuesday/Thursday slot he had found himself signing up for was incredibly low on the list of things he was looking forward to. And to start the semester off right, he was already running late. 

Yuuta rounded the corner into the door of the lecture hall and looked around. Fortunately, for him, it seemed, the teacher was also running late. He let out a sigh of relief and then proceeded to look for a place to situate himself.

The desks had been set up in pairs, two seats to a table section, most of which had been already taken by other students. Yuuta scanned the room, looking for an open seat anywhere but came up short. Doing a second sweep, he managed to spot a table in the far back corner that was unoccupied. He assumed the angle was unideal for two people which is why it had been left vacant, despite the fact they had managed to squeeze two chairs in its space. Either way, Yuuta was just thankful to have a seat so he sat down, pulled his old laptop out, and loaded up the course materials.

“Ohhhhh, is that my favorite problem child back from overseas, finally ?” a voice sing-songed in his direction.

Yuuta wondered if he still might be dreaming, which meant he was going to be really, really late to class. Still being asleep would be the only good explanation as to why he was here .

“S...Satoru?”

“Hey now, none of that,” The man laughed softly, walking over to his corner. “I swear, you go abroad and lose all your senses. Although, I can confirm that's true from personal experience.” He smiled, “How’s your side of the family?”

“They're fine...” Yuuta responded with cautious uncertainty, “Why...Why are you here?”

The man pulled his glasses down and his bright blue eyes sparkled mischievously.

“Did you not read the syllabus? Falling farther and farther from grace, my dearest Yuuta. And I used to have so much respect for you,” He made a pitying face and reached down and tapped on the course overview screen on Yuuta’s laptop, “I think you should call me Professor . Can’t give the impression we’re too familiar, even if I’ve known you since before you could read.” He laughed, “Although maybe you’re still struggling with that.”

Yuuta squinted at the words and then his mouth dropped open, “Seriously?”

“Seriously!” Satoru beamed back at him, throwing up a victory sign. “Won’t this be fun and interesting!”

He swiveled around on his heel and walked towards the front of the room, switching to a loud, teacher voice. “Welcome everyone! I will be your professor! It’s really lovely to meet you all!”

“Oh and Yuuta!” Satoru called out, pointed directly back at him, causing the gazes of the rest of the class to follow.

“No special treatment!” he narrowed his eyes, “Skip a single class and I’ll knock you down one grade level per absence!”

A universal groan erupted from the rest of the students. 

“Oh don’t worry everyone, that rule is just for Yuuta." Satoru waved his hand, dismissively with a smile. “Any of you can skip whenever you want as long as you feel like you can pass the exams.”

Yuuta jolted, embarrassed, feeling his classmates turn to look at him again. Special treatment might be off the table, but a special torment was apparently still something Satoru specialized in and was willing to dish out whenever he saw fit. Yuuta was having war flashbacks to his youth.

“Now let's learn some physics!” Satoru opened his own laptop and pulled the projector screen down.

He clicked a button and the presentation switched on showing a slide containing a myriad of complex theorems. Yuuta was decent at math but he scanned the slide and realized he didn’t understand a single equation on it. There was a general air of confusion and unease in the classroom signifying he wasn’t the only one missing something here.

One student raised their hand, “Uh...Isn't this an astronomy class?”

“You are correct!” Satoru's face donned what was becoming his signature grin.

“And a general elective?”

"Also correct!"  Satoru grinned wider.

“Why are we learning physics?”

“Our whole universe is made of physics,” Satoru explained, “Voids, vacuums, dark matter~ It’s so neat! Let's be real, looking at pictures of stars and doing terminology matching is just soooo boring, don’t you think? I wanted to spice this class up.” 

“It’s 8 am.”

“A few other things!” He continued, ignoring that last comment. “Your seats are now assigned, so don't go changing them. You'll also notice that you've been divided up into pairs based on seating. Remember this! It will be relevant for assignments later on! This will matter!"

Yuuta looked over at the empty seat next to him. Great .

“Alright, let's get started.” Satoru adjusted his glasses and clicked to the next slide. “Also, I would absolutely recommend taking notes. I promise you the tests are going to be tricky~”

The universal groan returned.

○○○

Balancing school and work was tricky and often left Yuuta’s free time limited. Even still, he made a solid effort to go to the gym at least three times a week. He wouldn’t exactly call himself fit, but he liked to make a continual effort to counteract his own ingrained apathy. 

The school gym was small, but free for students and open all hours. It might seem foolish, but he often found himself heading there after work into the deep hours of the night instead of heading back to his apartment. There was just something satisfying in being able to work out the stress of the day by pushing his body to the point of physical exhaustion and then crashing into bed shortly after.

And it was nice when there was almost no one else around. 

Yuuta exited the locker room and put his gym bag down and began wrapping his hands. He had decided earlier he really wanted to do some upper body work and punch a bag tonight. Punching always felt good, hitting something solid always felt like you were doing something as opposed to running laps in a circle forever.

“Hey you, want to spar?” came a voice, “And please don’t take that as a pick-up line. It’s not.”

“Uh,” Yuuta turned around towards the voice and saw that it belonged to a girl. She was shorter than him, but more muscular in build, hair in a tight ponytail, wearing sharp glasses. 

“Spar?” He repeated, not sure he had heard her correctly.

“Spar,” She confirmed, holding her similarly wrapped hands up.

He had never been asked to spar before and looking around, he found the rest of the gym absolutely barren. He realized this girl was probably desperate for a partner, so he shrugged and responded, “Sure.” It seemed like a nice thing to do.

“Maki Zen’in.” She extended a hand to him, which he took in his own and shook.

“Yuuta Okkotsu.” 

“First names are fine,” she declared for the both of them. Then waved him over to the floor mats, grabbing her boxing gloves that had been placed nearby, “Yuuta, square up.”

Yuuta put on his own gloves and did indeed, square up. He then proceeded to get his legs, immediately, swept out from under him with a perfect low kick. He hit the mats with a thud, landing completely on his back.

“Wh--”

“Again.”

Maki reached a gloved hand down to him which he grabbed. She hoisted him back up with ease. The second round Yuuta was able to last about 3 seconds longer. 

“Again.”

Thud.

“Again.”

Thud.

“Again.”

“G-Give me a minute,” Yuuta said, as he waved her hand away. 

“Are you sure you’ve done this before?” she looked down at him, squinting, “You didn’t seem so green when you walked in. Normally you can tell when someone has that lost ‘I’m not sure what I’m doing’ look in their eyes.”

“I work out for like… health,” Yuuta wheezed, still trying to catch the breath Maki had knocked out of him, “I haven’t actually tried to fight anyone before.”

“Lame,” Maki frowned, disapprovingly, “Punching bags and lifting weights is so boring. Dudes always use them to show off, but it doesn’t do anything. Sparring with someone else is how you’ll really get a good workout.”

“Sorry, I’m not up to your level.”

"You're only a little better than a bag," She huffed, but smiled down at him, “Your balance sucks, but your form is good. Try focusing on staying upright instead of trying to connect punches. That would probably help you in the long run.”

“You should be running classes or something,” Yuuta said, finally sitting up with a wince. “I’d definitely attend.”

“I’m not that good,” Maki reached her hand out and hoisted him to his feet again. 

“Sure,” Yuuta laughed, “Whatever you say.”

She smirked back at him, “Again.”

○○○

“Hey, Yuuta what are you doing this weekend?” Maki asked as the two of them sat down to take a water break.

“Working definitely,” Yuuta shrugged, “And probably homework at some point. Not too much else. Why?”

“Wanna do something fun?” She tilted her head and looked at him with a sparkle in her eye. 

Yuuta stiffened. He was sure that the bit of his brain was able to tactfully process these types of situations had fallen out at some point when he slammed into the floor. The wheels were turning but not a single bit of friction created sparks as he tried to figure out what sort of 'fun' she meant. After a few moments of not knowing what else to do, he decided to just be direct.

“Are…are you asking me out?”

Maki’s face twisted into a sour expression.

“What? No! Urg, we established no pick-up lines, remember?” She scrunched her nose up, “Don’t ruin this whole experience by making it weird.” 

“Oh, thank god,” Yuuta’s shoulders relaxed in visible relief. “I mean… I wouldn’t want… Good. That’s good.”

“Pfft, rude!” Maki's expression softened as she laughed. “But for what it’s worth, you’re not my type either.” 

She began removing her gloves and adjusting the wraps on her hands.

“But I am throwing a party to celebrate classes starting and the enjoyment of all our lives ending because of it.” She grinned. “You should come, it’s gonna be wild .”

“I’m not much of a party person,” Yuuta responded, smiling sympathetically back at her, trying to convey that he really did appreciate the invitation.

“Become one,” Maki tossed a water bottle at Yuuta’s head, which he managed to catch before it collided directly in his face, “C’mon, let’s go again.”

Chapter Text

From: Fushiguro
> 4:45pm: Not working tonight.
> 4:45pm: Scheduling issue.
> 4:46pm: Miwa is covering.

Yuuta read over the messages from Fushiguro again as he opened the door to the cafe, ready as he’d ever be to start his Friday evening shift. He didn't actually know who the Miwa being referred to was, but he was greeted by an overly cheerful girl with jagged blue hair and a jumpy personality. 

She was both kind and klutzy, but if Yuuta had to pick only one of those to describe her, klutzy would probably win. He hadn’t counted the number of drinks that ended up on the floor during their shift, but he wondered if maybe the cafe should create a new inventory addendum about it. 

Despite that shortcoming, the part of her that was kind was endearing enough that he found he didn’t really want to hold the mistakes against her. So he smiled as she locked the front door at the end of the shift and moved to the back room to grab his things as they prepared to close.

“Miwa,” Yuuta called as he pulled his backpack on and walked back towards the front, “Are you almost done?”

“Okkotsu, wait!” Miwa called back, rounding the corner clutching a mop, but she was too late.

Yuuta had already taken the fateful step forward onto the new wet puddle on the floor that had Miwa’s signature all over it. He went immediately from vertical to horizontal as his feet slipped out from under him. 

“I’m okay…” He groaned, now staring at the ceiling. He briefly thought back to Maki mocking his lack of balance and wondered if she might actually have a point. 

“My backpack broke my fall. No harm done.”

Wait. 

WAIT.

Yuuta sat up with a jolt and quickly removed the backpack off his back. Hesitantly, he unzipped the back and shuffled through a few of the contents until he found the cause for concern. Pulling out his laptop he felt the pit of his stomach drop as he looked at the large, brand new dent in the top casing.

Miwa threw her hands over her mouth in a gasp, dropping the mop as she did, and knocking a bucket over as well.

○○○

Yuuta sighed as he trudged towards the campus library the following day.

He had been kindly informed by Miwa that there was a free tech station in the library that acted like a student-run IT department. Students were paid by the school to work there part-time and could use the hours for various course credits. Miwa said he could probably get someone there to at least evaluate the damage and give him an idea about where to go from there. 

She was so eerily confident about this information that Yuuta couldn’t help but wonder if something like this had happened to her before. Or perhaps multiple times. 

Either way, he decided not to dwell on that and instead be thankful for her advice, so Yuuta found himself pressing the button on the elevator he had never used to take him to a floor he had never been to where this desk he had never heard of was indicated to be.

The elevator dinged on 3 and Yuuta stepped out to a room that looked like it could be in a different building. The first thing he noticed was that this floor didn’t actually contain any stacks of books. Instead, there were a few open study tables, a couple of rows of computers, and a large desk that floated like an island in the middle of it all. He assumed the island structure was the place Miwa had been referring to.

Approaching the counter, he saw a blonde-haired boy wearing a mask, sitting at a small computer station set up behind it. His legs were pulled into a crossed position on the swivel chair and he hunched over slightly, tapping at some game on his phone.

Yuuta stood there politely and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

It may have taken him a little bit too long to realize he wasn’t going to get any sort of response unless he took initiative and made one happen himself.

“Um, ca--” Yuuta started, but the boy shot a hand up into his face, cutting him off. Yuuta blinked and went silent, watching wide-eyed as he went back to tapping on his phone. A few more seconds of rapid tapping passed before the screen flashed a VICTORY message in bright colors. The blonde’s shoulders relaxed and he leaned back and looked up at Yuuta. 

“Can you help me?” Yuuta repeated, getting all the words out this time as he pulled out his computer.

He squinted at the piece of technology Yuuta produced from his bag like he wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking at.

“So,” Yuuta started to explain, as he pushed it towards him, in a low voice, “I can’t get my laptop to turn on.”

The other’s eyes looked from the laptop to Yuuta to the laptop back to Yuuta before pocketing his phone and pulling it off the counter between them. He turned it around in his hands, shook it once, then opened and closed the screen, evaluating the damage.

Placing it down on the desk behind the counter, he grabbed a nearby stack of sticky notes and scribbled something quickly before pulling the top one off and slapping it down on the top of Yuuta’s laptop. 

trash

“What?” Yuuta said, leaning over the counter not sure he understood.

He scribbled down another note and repeated the same process, slapping it over the first one.

garbage

Was that meant to be more informative?

“D-Don’t you think you’re dismissing the problem rather quickly?” Yuuta said, not wanting to admit that he might be right.

The other's eyes flattened into a bored expression as he reached over and flipped the laptop open, positioning the screen up to where it would normally sit with one hand. He held out one finger with his other hand, then took his first hand off the laptop. The screen wobbled and then fell completely backward, laying the entire computer flat in a way that looked incredibly, uncomfortably wrong. It was amazing the hinge was still holding the screen on at all.

“Yeah, okay…maybe it’s not supposed to do that.”

The boy closed the laptop back up and tapped on the garbage sticky note again. 

Yuuta felt his stomach drop. This was the news he didn't want to hear. It wasn't that his finances were bad, per se, but he had just come back from a year abroad and he hadn't factored in dropping a large sum of cash to buy something as pricey as a new laptop. The cafe job was comfortable but didn’t pay that well. It was mostly good for spending money on weekends on things like beer and takeout.

“And you can’t do anything?” Yuuta tried again, trying not to let the swirling feeling of dread overtake him. “Any suggestion would be great.”

The boy simply shrugged and gave no further answer. He unpocketed his phone and resumed the game he was playing before.

Yuuta felt the swirling despair switch to annoyance as he was shrugged off. Yuuta looked down at the white block letters reading ‘Tech Desk! Please Ask Me How I Can Help!’ on the green shirt the boy was wearing under his hoodie.

“ Super helpful, thanks.”

Right as Yuuta was about to collect and pack up whatever remained of his laptop and go have a proper burial elsewhere, the elevator opened and someone else entered the floor, wheeling a cart of miscellaneous monitors and other computer parts over to the desk.

“Hey sorry, I was doing a pickup across campus,” This second boy’s brown hair was pulled high in a ponytail and he was wearing a matching green shirt.

He looked over at Yuuta as he moved behind the counter, “Did he help you already?” 

Yuuta wasn’t sure what facial expression he was making but it must have been telling because the second boy quickly added, “Actually, never mind. Don't answer that.”

He sat down at the station next to the blonde and looked up at Yuuta. "Muta. Welcome to the Tech Help Desk. What's the problem you're having?"

“It,” Yuuta pointed to the laptop behind the counter. “It won't turn on?”

“Did you drop kick this?” Muta asked, reaching over and grabbing the laptop. “I mean, I get wanting to take out your anger on frustrating old tech, but damn dude. You crushed this thing.” He flipped it over to look at the bottom. “Even the casing that holds the motherboard is dented. This is a one-hit KO.”

The blonde boy quickly slapped a second sticky note that read trash in the middle on the backside for emphasis. Yuuta frowned at him, unsure when he had even had the time to write that note, but he had already looked away, reengaged with his phone game.

“Yeah, unfortunately, I agree, I don’t really think this is fixable,” Muta concluded. “We might be able to dump your files onto the school’s student cloud storage, assuming the hard drive isn’t already fucked beyond repair.”

He swiveled around on his chair to one of the other computers behind the desk. “Give me your ID a second so we can get access to your folder system.”

Yuuta fished his ID out of his wallet and handed it over. Muta tapped a few keys and then squinted at his screen, confused. “Haven’t you set this up?”

Yuuta shrugged, “Never needed to.”

That got the blonde boy to look up from his phone.

“Dude, you're ... a senior?” 

“Um,” The two of them looked at each other then back at Yuuta who was starting to feel like he was missing something important. “...yes?”

“So all your shits just… on here? Just here?” Muta gestured to the mess of the crushed laptop. “You never backed anything up? In what…. The 10 years you’ve owned this thing?”

“8 years, actually,” Yuuta said, trying to save a sliver of his dignity, but knowing that was likely a lost cause.

“Oh my god--Inumaki, shut up,” Muta hissed at the other boy, who had just started convulsing.

Yuuta didn’t know how he was supposed to ‘shut up’ considering he wasn’t really making any noise, however, he had thrown his hand over his mask (needlessly?) and was turned to the side, shoulders shaking.

“Is he … laughing at me?” 

“Sorry.” Muta said, looking truly apologetic, “He’s quiet, but he’s actually rude as hell.”  

“I noticed,” Yuuta said, unable to keep the small, resurging tick of annoyance out of his voice as he looked back over at Muta, “Is there anything you can do?”

“We might be able-” Muta swatted the blonde on the head which caused him to stop ‘laughing’. “We might be able to get the data off of it by dismantling it and hooking the hard drive up to a different computer. But it could take a while and there’s no guarantee we could save everything. And we have to submit it to a queue and unfortunately,” he gestured to a cart stacked high with electronics behind him, “New semesters usually mean there’s a load of new problems everywhere.”

Muta handed him his ID back, sat down at one of the desk computers, and started typing.

“Inumaki, go set up his cloud for him and show him how to log into the free-use computers over there. He’ll probably have to use them for a while until he buys a new laptop.”

The blonde boy rolled his eyes and looked over at Muta, who didn’t miss a beat.

“I don’t care. I have to create a log for this. Unless,” Muta looked back at him, grinning, “ You want to write up the documentation this time.”

The boy--Inumaki? Yuuta thought he heard Muta say-- rose from his chair and shuffled around the back area. Apparently helping Yuuta was the lesser of two evils. Perhaps whatever documentation the school wanted was just as annoying as submitting the cafe stock reorder forms. It was probably Yuuta’s least favorite part of his own job.

Inumaki pushed through the small half door on the side of the island and stood in front of Yuuta. Without the barrier of the desk between them, there were a few things Yuuta couldn’t help but notice about him.

First, Inumaki was actually quite short, the top of his head looked like it only came up to about Yuuta's shoulders. Second, the hoodie he was wearing was oversized and the sleeves fell down over his hands, which made him look even shorter, honestly. Third, his eyes were a bright shade of lilac and stood out glaringly on his face above the mask he was wearing, despite the annoyed-looking expression he bore.

He gestured at Yuuta to follow him and started walking towards the rows of computers on the other side of the room. He pointed and Yuuta sat down at the first computer and clicked on the login screen. 

Yuuta stared at the screen for about 5 seconds before he realized he had no idea what his login might be.

“How--”

Without missing a beat, Inumaki pulled his sleeves up to about his elbows and plucked the ID out of Yuuta's hands. Leaning over, he positioned himself between the keyboard and Yuuta and began entering the ID numbers and instigating an account setup.

Yuuta blinked once, eyes focusing away from the screen to Inumaki’s face, which was now only inches in front of his own. 

Up this close, there were a few more things Yuuta couldn’t help but notice about him.

First, his eyelashes were a soft ash blonde that were the exact same color as his hair. Second, his hair fell in a variety of different fluffy layers that framed his face and looked as if it might have been a grown-out version of a shorter hairstyle. Third, he had a subtle scent that reminded Yuuta of something natural and sweet, like honey or chamomile tea. It made Yuuta think of the cafe a bit, actually. Had he been drinking something from the shop…?

Yuuta's attention was so unfocused on the login screen so he didn’t immediately notice when the eye nearest to him switched from looking at the screen to his own face. Yuuta jolted, slightly embarrassed, when he realized he had been caught staring and was being stared at in return.

An incredibly awkward beat passed before Inumaki closed his eyes and pulled back, gesturing abstractly at the computer as he walked away. 

It took a few minutes for Yuuta gathered up enough courage to look back over at the desk where he saw the other boys' lilac eyes peeking out above the counter, staring directly at him, meeting his own for a too-long moment before breaking away and glancing back down.

○○○

“You have to have other friends.”

“Didn’t you admit once that you liked spending time with me?” Yuuta responded as the two of them walked down the street that evening, heading towards Maki's house, “I remember it vividly now that I'm thinking about it.”

“Okkotsu,” Fushiguro groaned in that slightly strained tone that meant he didn't have a good comeback to that but also didn't want to admit it.

“Would you believe a different friend invited me to this party?” Yuuta continued, ignoring that.

“I assume you wouldn't have known about it otherwise.”

"You think I'm that lame, huh?"

“Your idea of a fun Saturday night is finding some new foreign show online, drinking two beers, and passing out by 11 pm. I cannot remember the last time you actually went to a party,” Fushiguro responded, looking over at him, “Overseas has changed you.”

“New year, new me,” Yuuta shrugged. “It seemed rude to not show up for at least a few hours since she was nice enough to invite me.”

“She,” Fushiguro stopped walking, raising an eyebrow at him, “So, you’re dragging me along to impress some girl?”

“Yes and no,” Yuuta turned around and grabbed Fushiguro by the wrist, tugging trying to urge him forward. “It's not like that. You know it's not like that.”

Fushiguro frowned but didn't move.

“Please, I’ve had a bad week.” Yuuta tugged again, “Weren’t you the one chiding me for not branching out like 10 minutes ago?”

“ Fine,” Fushiguro finally caved, taking another step and allowing Yuuta's hand to drag him along. “But I want you to know I’m less pleased about this than I was before, which was minimal at best.”

“I'll make it up to you,” Yuuta offered, but Fushiguro just grumbled. He seemed to be done talking to him at the moment.

They continued walking for another block or so before arriving at a large house on the corner of the street. The sounds of the party inside could already be heard from where they were standing. 

Yuuta looked down at the message on his phone and then back at the house in question then back down at his phone one more time to make sure. “Okay, this is the place.”

Fushiguro squinted at the house as Yuuta moved to open the door, “Wait hold on--” But his protests came too late. 

“Heeyyy,” Maki called out, near instantaneously as they entered, making her way towards them across the sea of people. “Glad you could make it!”

“Thanks for inviting me,” Yuuta smiled, Maki smiled back. “I brought a friend. Hope that was okay.”

“Yeah of course! New friends are always welcome. Although, wait a second…” Maki looked over, recognition dawning on her face, “Is that… Megumi?”

Fushiguro had stepped behind Yuuta in the doorway in an incredibly poor attempt to be inconspicuous. It was definitely not working at all as Fushiguro was decidedly not good at looking small. 

“Megumi,” Maki grinned, finding the whole thing to be quite amusing. “I can see you.”

“Maki,” he acknowledged finally, giving up the paper-thin act and side-stepping into full view.

“Wowwww...Didn’t you say last year you ‘Were never coming to another one of these parties ever again ’” Maki stepped forward and threw an arm around his neck, pulling him forward into the house, “Oh how the tables have tabled.”

Fushiguro groaned in the same exact way as earlier and shrugged her arm off before frowning again but offering none of his usual bite-back.

Yuuta’s eyebrows shot up, amused, “You two know each other.”

“She’s like…” Fushiguro scrunched his nose in a way that was far too similar to the way Maki scrunched hers. “My cousin, sort of.”

Yuuta looked between the two of them, noticing more and more similarities between the two by the second, “How did I not see this?”

“Please don’t make a big deal about it,” Fushiguro said, grabbing the alcohol out of Yuuta's hand and heading towards the kitchen to chill it in the fridge. “I don’t.”

“Megumi here doesn’t talk about my part of the family much,” Maki explained, as they followed after him, “Not that I blame him, they’re a bunch of assholes.”

“Maki is probably the only tolerable one,” Fushiguro stated, matter-of-factly, opening one of the bottles for himself. “How did you two meet?”

“I beat his ass,” Maki said with a nod, handing Yuuta a bottle as well.

“She beat my ass,” Yuuta nodded in agreement, taking it.

“That sounds about right,” Fushiguro took a swig of his drink and glanced around the rest of the room. “You know what, I take back what I said about her being tolerable.”

Maki smiled, ignoring him, “Yuuta here could be good at fighting if he really tried.”

“You basically showed me I have no idea what I’m doing,” Yuuta countered, absolutely sure she was just being nice. 

“You’re okay,” she shrugged.

“Yeah, he’s okay,” Fushiguro agreed in an offhanded way that probably wasn't referring to the conversation they were having.

“So,” Yuuta asked, looking back at Maki, curiosity overtaking him, “What caused Fushiguro to swear off coming back here?”

“Oh my god,” Maki said, grinning slyly, a mischievousness growing in her eyes,  “I will have to show you the photos later.”

“Don’t you dare,” Fushiguro hissed, ears turning pink as the other two laughed.

The three of them transitioned to talking about various things. Yuuta was happy he had decided to come. Conversation between the three of them came easily, they were all enjoying the energy of the party around them and the drinks in their hands. Despite his earlier protests, even Fushiguro seemed to loosen up after a while. Yuuta and Maki caught him smiling once or twice.

“And then...” Maki paused, looking down at her phone on her lap that had just buzzed, “Sorry, will have to finish that story later. Gotta go play host for a bit.”

She rose off the couch with a flourish, waved, and sauntered off into the crowd towards the door.

“This is pretty fun,” Yuuta said, looking over at Fushiguro who hummed affirmatively and took another drink, eyes following Maki as she let a new group of people through the door. 

“Goddamnit,” Fushiguro said, expression immediately falling.

“What's wrong?” Yuuta asked, suddenly concerned.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Fushiguro stood up suddenly, “I’ll be back later.”

“Okay…” Yuuta said as Fushiguro darted off upstairs, out of sight. It was then Yuuta noticed a familiar pink head of hair near the entrance. 

He smiled to himself and got up from the couch to head back into the kitchen in search of another drink.

○○○

Two hours later, Yuuta has still not seen a single sign of either of them. 

He had also lost count of how many drinks he had had. 

Normally he’d be better about this, but there was something about the combination of being in a new place with a new kind of high energy after a bad week had made his caution lax.

He had secured a pretty good spot, a comfortable place in the kitchen where he saw many people pass through, although he knew absolutely none of them. It was that pang of sudden loneliness that caused Yuuta to decide that he was done drinking alone and he very much wanted to be drinking with his friends again. So carefully he rose to his feet and he began weaving his way through the sea of people in the house as best as he could, searching for them.

He did a sweep of the party with no luck, wondering just where they could possibly be. The house wasn’t that big, right? Room after room contained so many people... but they just weren’t his people. He eventually wandered back to the main living room, defeated, ready to refind a comfortable spot to wait for them until the end of time when his eyes fell on someone he recognized.

Inumaki, from the library, was on his phone, leaning up against one of the walls in a corner wearing a similar but different oversized hoodie. Yuuta noticed he was still wearing a mask but was also holding a red cup in his hand with a straw sticking out of it. He watched curiously as Inumaki pocketed his phone and pulled the bottom of the mask forward with a finger and then maneuvered the straw underneath to take a drink without pulling it down from his face at all. He then pulled his phone back out of his pocket and continued scrolling whatever website he was on.

Interesting.

Yuuta weighed the pros and the cons of this situation. 

First, Yuuta knew his name already, that was a better starting point than he had with literally anyone else here except for Fushiguro and Maki who were painfully absent at the moment. Pro. 

Second, Inumaki didn't seem to be conversing or engaged with anyone else so he wouldn't be interrupting anything. Pro. 

Third, he was here, at this party, which meant he probably knew Maki, which offered some sort of conversational starting point, and talking to Inumaki would help pass the time faster. Pro. 

Additionally, Yuuta was tipsy enough that he probably wouldn’t be able to overthink too many things which was often a problem he had when meeting new people. So... bonus pro by circumstance? . 

That added up enough, probably. Surely. The additional multiplier to the pro list was that, well, he was lonely. At least he could overcome that particular feeling. Cons list be damned.

“It was Inumaki, right?” Yuuta asked, walking over, leaning against the wall, and taking up the spot next to him.

The blonde boy looked up at him from his phone, eyebrows knitting together, appearing confused.

“I-I met you earlier,” Yuuta faltered a little but continued, “At the library. Remember?” 

He was absolutely sure Inumaki remembered him considering the other boy had been staring at him on and off from behind the desk for something like two hours following the laptop debacle. It had made trying to do his homework that afternoon impossibly uncomfortable. 

“Yuuta,” he said, introducing himself since he couldn’t quite remember if he had formally introduced himself before, “I didn’t realize you knew Maki.”

Inumaki squinted at him, still looking a little unsure, then nodded.

“It's loud in here,” Yuuta took that small nod as an opening to keep the conversation going, gesturing around to the party. 

He nodded again.

“Hard to hear,” Yuuta pointed to his own ears.

He nodded again.

“You seem really soft-spoken.”

He paused, then nodded again.

“Want to go somewhere else?” Yuuta pointed across the room to the back door.

Inumaki tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow.

“Not like--I mean! To talk,” Yuuta added quickly, only then realizing the implications and feeling his subdued anxieties flare up. “J-Just talking.”

Inumaki didn’t give an answer, instead looking away from Yuuta back down to his drink. He swirled the remaining liquid around before grabbing his straw, draining the rest of the cup. He glanced back up at Yuuta and finally nodded again.

“Cool,” Yuuta smiled, this was something, at least. Baby steps, baby steps.

They both stepped out the back door into the cool air. It was a nice night. Summer wasn’t quite over but since the sun went down it wasn’t warm. The hoodie Inumaki was wearing was appropriate. Big and oversized, sure, but like kinda cute, and appropriate.

Yuuta took a step down the back steps, staggering a little, feeling the drunken haze suddenly setting in harder and faster than he had expected. It was fine though, it was fine! He managed to catch himself on the handrail as he felt Inumaki’s hand shoot out and grab him by the arm.

“Don’t worry, I’m okay,” Yuuta said, turning his head back, attempting to be reassuring. He tried to take another step; he couldn’t figure out where the ground was supposed to be, which was really weird, honestly. Why couldn’t he find it? The ground was supposed to be so easy to find. It’s literally called the ground?

Yuuta closed his eyes, trying to balance himself and when he opened them again, Inumaki's face was much closer than it had just been moments before. His hair was a mess and his eyes were wide, looking concerned. He wasn’t sure where he was but maybe he was on his back or... was Inumaki on his back? Yuuta tried to think through what had happened and why he might look so worried but kept getting distracted by his eyes. Even in the dark, they were just so bright. Had he noticed that before? Surely he had to have noticed them before. That was all he could notice now. Was he supposed to be thinking about something else? Probably not, right?

Yuuta closed his eyes again and Inumkai’s face was suddenly replaced with Fushiguro’s, pinched into a disgruntled expression, saying words Yuuta couldn’t hear. Why was he talking so quietly? It sure looked like he was shouting. Why couldn’t he hear him?

He closed his eyes again and Maki was pulling him to his feet again but he was sure they weren't sparring. Right? Had he fallen over again? He didn’t remember doing that. He really needed to stop doing that.

He closed his eyes again and felt himself being pulled forward but couldn't quite keep track of how his feet were moving. He looked over and saw Fushiguro, who looked back at him. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn’t formulate the words correctly like his tongue refused to move in the ways he needed it to.

Then he closed his eyes again and when he opened them this time, Yuuta was lying on his back in his bed in his apartment. Sun peeked through the window, indicating it was now morning and he felt the worst headache of his life begin pounding behind his eyes.

Chapter Text

There's a feeling that comes with being unable to move without pain. An acute helplessness that leaves the body wanting to do nothing but shut down completely. It’s possible to push through it, but it takes a special effort and if the effort isn’t there, it makes attempting to subvert the desire to give up almost impossible.

And so after Yuuta squinted himself awake in the morning sun, saw that the clock read 7:14 am, and felt thoroughly nauseous doing both, he gave up, rolled over, and slept for 9 more hours.

He finally, finally managed to crawl out of bed late in the day when his desire to eat outweighed his desire to sleep, ravenous in desperation to put something, anything into his stomach. He felt a semblance of his former self return after scarfing down the remains of some leftover takeout from earlier in the week in a way that he would never want anyone else to see.  

Coherent again, now starting to feel a bit more normal, Yuuta decided he should probably check his phone, even if his instinct told him that he was in for nothing but trouble.

In the grand scheme of things, 5 missed calls wasn’t horrible. The two from Fushiguro were expected, one was from Maki, and the final two were from… an unknown number? He frowned slightly and checked his texts next.

From: Fushiguro
> 3:04 am: Text me when you wake up.

> Missed Call 11:03 am

> 12:24 pm: Are you dead?

> Missed Call 2:40 pm

> 3:45 pm: Call me when you’re not dead.

To: Fushiguro
> 4:42 pm: Just woke up 
> 4:42 pm: Will call in a bit

From: Unknown
> 11:45 am: yuuuuuta 
> 11:46 am: yuuuuuuuuuuuuuta 
> 11:46 am: hey do u normally not respond to txts

> Missed Call 11:46 am

> Missed Call 11:47 am

> 11:48 am: omg
> 11:48 am: yuuta
> 11:48 am: yuuta
> 11:48 am: yuuta okkotsu
> 11:48 am: my perfect golden child 
> 11:48 am: ur breaking my heart 
> 11:49 am: :((((((
> 11:49 am: :(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

To: Unknown
> 4:45 pm: I’m sorry, who is this?

From: Maki

> Missed Call 1:10pm

> 1:12 pm: hey
> 1:12 pm: call me

Yuuta felt a pang of guilt surge through his gut. Maki’s texts were curt, which made them sound mad. She was probably mad. It made sense for her to be mad. Why shouldn’t she be mad? Maki had invited him to her party offhandedly in a show of goodwill and then Yuuta proceeded to make an absolute mess of himself. 

Definitely needed to call her first. Definitely.

Closing his eyes, he hit the call button. The pit in his stomach sank further as the phone picked up after only one ring.

“Yuuta,” Maki's voice came across the line in a greeting. She didn’t sound too upset. That was a good sign, maybe he could still salvage this.

“Hey Maki,” Yuuta croaked out, voice rough. God, why?! he lamented internally before he remembered this was the first time he had used it today.

“Geez, you sound hoarse.” 

“J-Just woke up, actually,” he said, sounding a bit more even and normal that time.

“Still hungover?”

“A little,” he admitted.

“Amazing,” she sounded genuinely amused.

There was half a moment Yuuta considered just not bringing anything up at all. Given her disposition, he could probably get away with it. But then he reconsidered, feeling like dancing around his very blatant fuck-ups wouldn't be a good long-term habit, especially if he wanted to try to stay in Maki's good graces. And he wanted to stay in those. Absolutely.

 So he sucked it up.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“You seemed angry?” This took Yuuta aback, “In your texts?”

“They’re texts? How can they seem angry?” Maki said, sounding more confused at that assumption than anything else in the conversation so far.

“I thought about… last night?”

“What about it?”

“I drank too much?”

“Oh, yeah. You were super gone. It was hilarious.” 

“Hilarious…?” Yuuta repeated, still trying to clarify her reaction. “You’re… not mad?”

“It feels hypocritical to be upset at someone for getting drunk at my own party where drinking was one of the main activities. You’re hardly the first person to end up a few too deep. So, no, I’m not mad,” She continued, “Actually, I was going to ask if you were free tonight.”

Yuuta almost felt his headache return as relief and concern swirled together trying to comprehend that.

“You can’t tell me your place goes that hard two nights in a row.”

“What? No. It’s Sunday, dude. We’re crazy, but we’re not stupid crazy.”

“Ah,” Yuuta blinked. Oh right, it was Sunday. 

“Ah,” she parroted back at him. “So yeah. Gym?”

Right. Gym.

He briefly conjured up the mental image of getting slammed repeatedly to the floor and that did make his headache return. 

“I’m pretty sure my head would crack in half like an egg after the morning I had. I don't think I can do tonight, sorry.”

“Boooo. Drink some water. Take a cold shower,” then she asked again, “Tomorrow?”

Yuuta could tell that the title ‘designated gym buddy’ was going to become a strong descriptor in their relationship. But, maybe that wasn't so bad. He liked Maki and was happy she also seemed to like him, even if that like included a penchant towards punching, “Maybe, I’ll let you know.”

“Cool, text me!” 

His phone blooped as Maki ended the call. 

As the screen switched back, Yuuta saw another notification on his phone. The mystery number had texted him back while he was on the call.

From: Unknown
> 4:50 pm: omg 
> 4:50 pm: omg u got a new phone and deleted my number 
> 4:50 pm: how could u
> 4:50 pm: ur favorite teacher :(
 

Yuuta stared at the last message, understanding dawning. He entered the number into his contacts.

To: Satoru
> 4:54 pm: You’ve only been my teacher for a few days
> 4:55 pm: Also how did you even get my number?
> 4:55 pm: I got a new phone last year
> 4:55 pm: And I never even had your number before that

From: Satoru
> 4:56 pm: unimportant

> 4:56 pm: ...

> 4:57 pm: unimportant!

> 4:57 pm: What did you need?

> 4:57 pm: you at work?
> 4:57 pm: the cafe?

> 4:57 pm: How do you know where I work?

> 4:58 pm: unimportant

> 4:58 pm: No
> 4:58 pm: I’m not at work

> 4:59 pm: boo
> 4:59 pm: nvm then
> 4:59 pm: first lunch and now dinner
> 4:59 pm: this is so sad

Yuuta squinted.

To: Satoru
> 5:00 pm: Are you
> 5:00 pm: Are you trying to get free food?

From: Satoru
> 5:00 pm: how could you say that?
> 5:01 pm: but hypothetically
> 5:01 pm: would you say that's something that could be possible

> 5:02 pm: Seriously?

> 5:02 pm: what about
> 5:02 pm: favorite teacher discount

> 5:03 pm: Seriously?

> 5:03 pm: regular teacher discount

> 5:03 pm: :/

> 5:04 pm: family discount

> 5:04 pm: Sorry no special treatment

> 5:04 pm: :(

Yuuta clicked away from that conversation, content in not feeling the need to respond to that last message from Satoru. He swiped back over to the phone app, scrolled down, and tapped Fushiguro’s name. It rang once, twice, and then finally a third time before he heard it pick up.

“Finally back in the world of the living?” came Fushiguro’s voice in a drall.

“Yeah,” he said sheepishly, “Yeah, I guess.”

“Can’t believe it only took one weekend for you to go off the deep end like some freshman.” 

Yuuta felt the stab of those words. “That seems harsh.” 

“My clock is telling me it's past 5 pm and you claim to have just woken up.”

“I was very tired,” He offered.

“You were very hungover,” Fushiguro countered.

“I was…” Yuuta considered perpetuating an alternative narrative for a split second before he remembered it was actually Fushiguro who had dragged him home last night. “Yeah, I was very hungover.”

Fushiguro hummed.

“Nothing happened, right?” Yuuta asked, “At Maki’s?”

“Many things happened at Maki’s. I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Fushiguro,” Yuuta responded.

“Okkotsu,” he shot back. “You would still be passed out in the grass behind the house if not for the kindness in my heart.” 

“Since when did your heart contain any kindness?”

“You’re not allowed to make jokes; it was a nightmare getting you back to your place.” 

“If I’m being honest, I can’t remember much of the end,” Yuuta admitted, “Sorry if it was especially troublesome.”

“It was… uncharacteristic, to say the least.”

“Uncharacteristic?” Yuuta raised an eyebrow.

“I didn't know you could be so shameless.”

“Shameless?”

“And loud.”

“Lou-”

“The impression I had of you is definitely shattered,” Fushiguro continued, flatly cutting him off. “I'm very aware of just how uncool you are now. I don’t think you’ll recover from this. You had a good run.”

Yuuta could tell Fushiguro was being sarcastic, but he also knew there was probably some semblance of truthfulness in his words. How bad had he been?

“Lucky you were off today, though, unlike some of us," Fushiguro said, ignoring Yuuta's internal plight, "What are you up to now that you're alive again?”

Right. It was Sunday evening. What was he going to do?

“I might… I don't know. Go to the library? Try to do some homework?”

"The library?" Fushiguro sounded surprised, “Studious.” 

“Necessary, unfortunately.” 

“I can’t believe your classes are that hard already,” Fushiguro paused, “You didn’t change your major again, did you?”

“My computer broke,” Yuuta explained. “The library has free ones.”

“That sucks,” Fushiguro responded, sounding sympathetic for the first time since the call started. “You have been having a bad week.” 

“Absolutely the worst,” Yuuta agreed, with a small laugh.

Fushiguro hummed again. 

“But anyway, thanks again. For last night.”

“Just don’t make a habit of it,” Yuuta heard him huff. “You’re too handsy.”

“Tell me what happened at Maki’s,” Yuuta shot back but his phone blooped as Fushiguro ended the call.

○○○

Yuuta sighed as he pushed open the library doors and stepped inside.

After finishing up the damage control from last night and taking a long, long shower, Yuuta was acutely aware of how screwed over his sleep schedule was about to become. His internal clock was pretty consistent and that meant, more likely than not, he was going to be very, very awake for at least another 8-10 hours. Yuuta hoped that if he was very lucky or perhaps very bored, he might be able to trick his body into falling asleep a little earlier. And, he supposed, it never hurt to be productive. Things still needed doing.

So, yeah, homework.

Yuuta walked into the elevator and hit the button to the third floor. As the doors closed and the box hummed upward, he briefly wondered if he might cross paths with Inumaki again. That hope was immediately dashed however when the door opened and, to his surprise, he found the floor completely and utterly empty.  

Rationally, that made sense because, truly, who wanted to be in the library on a Sunday night. 

He set his bag down and hit the power button on one of the closet computers. As it booted up and the start-up screens flashed, he found himself turning his head towards the desk in the middle of the room.

A curiosity crossed Yuuta’s mind.

It would probably be a weird thing to do. But it wasn’t like anyone else was around.  It was only really weird when someone else was around witnessing you being weird… Right?

He parsed through that in his head as he pushed his desk chair out, walked up to the counter, and then stood there, looking at it.

It was a desk. 

In a library. 

It wasn’t special. 

And it wasn’t like he was trying to do anything malicious. 

It was just… There was something so interesting about a space that’s empty when it’s usually occupied. Like seeing behind the scenes of some production when all the parts usually in motion stay still.

Yuuta tentatively put his hands on the counter and leaned over.

There were various bits of things strewn about. He couldn’t tell what half of them were for, but there were quite a lot of them. A few even had familiar-looking sticky notes stuck to them. He noted that one contained a clearly drawn frowning face and he idly wondered if that had been Inumaki’s handiwork. Probably.

All in all, there wasn’t much else of note. Computer pieces, sticky notes, paperwork.

It was just a desk.

In a library. 

It wasn’t special.

It was a little messy, but otherwise, pretty much what could be expected.

Yuuta leaned back, curiosity saded and turned around. He took a single step and felt himself bump into something solid. Blinking, confused, he looked down and saw the same blonde hair, the same masked face, the same piercing lilac eyes as the first time he had seen him here. As he had seen him last night. As were looking at him now. 

“Ah--” Yuuta’s eyes flicked from Inumaki’s face to the brown paper bag he was holding back up to his face back down to the soft drink with a straw sticking out in the other. 

Food. 

Right. 

The desk wasn’t abandoned, he had just left to get some food. Because it was certainly dinner time for anyone who was having a normal, regular Sunday. That made sense. That absolutely made sense. It made too much sense.

“Didn’t think anyone was working here… today…” Yuuta said quietly, feeling like he had just been caught doing something far more horrible than he probably was.

Inumaki closed his eyes and dropped his shoulders in a sigh, moving around to the side through a small side panel that allowed him access to the back. He sat down at one of the stations, swiveled the chair around, and placed his food on the desk. 

He then looked up at Yuuta, as if to ask, Well, what do you want?

“Actually, you know what? I don’t think I need anything. I’m good,” Yuuta blurted out, throwing his hands up defensively, “Sorry to bother you.”

He made his way back over to the computer area as quickly as he could without breaking out into a full out sprint, sat down where he had originally decided he was going to exist that evening, and stared at the keyboard for a hot minute, trying to convince himself that, even though he’d been caught snooping that, maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t the rudest thing he could have done.

The quiet that followed was almost stifling. 

Yuuta knew, absolutely knew, that Inumaki was staring at him again but he was sure as hell not going to stare back this time.

Absolutely not.

Maybe he could just leave. Maybe he didn’t need to finish this homework. Maybe he could just survive the rest of the semester without ever coming here again. Yeah, that definitely could be probably possible. Probably. Surely?

His internal catastrophizing broke when the silence did and Yuuta heard a loud, papery rustle from across the room. 

Inumaki was unpacking his food, which meant his gaze was no longer fixed in Yuuta’s direction. Oh, thank god. 

And just as he was able to settle in and start some work, a second curiosity crossed Yuuta’s mind.

Inumaki might be able to develop creative ways to keep his mask on to drink but it was probably not something he was able to do to eat. 

Wait.

No.

It was definitely weird to try to secretly watch someone eat their dinner. No question about it. 

But...

Yuuta fought against his more intelligent instinct and did what he said he absolutely wasn’t going to do, looking over at the desk again. For the first time, thankfully, he wasn’t immediately met with Inumaki’s eyes looking back. Instead, the other boy’s head was tilted downward, likely eating whatever he had decided to eat... And the counter was juuuust high enough that his face was hidden from view. All Yuuta could see was the top of his head.

Darn. 

Yuuta paused, surprising himself with his own disappointment.

Is it still just weird or has this crossed over into creepy?

Yuuta shook his head. He needed to refocus. Do his homework. Run out his mental energy so he could sleep. Not fixate on trying to weirdly ( creepily ) watch someone eat their dinner when they were just trying to get through their work shift. Even if the library was a public space, he of all people should know better than to bother people who were stuck somewhere on the clock. They had been subject to some terrible customers of his own at the coffee shop. He absolutely didn’t want to gain that kind of reputation here.

So he turned back to the computer and attempted to put mental blinders on. 

Focus Yuuta.

No more looking over at the desk. No more getting distracted by the only other person here. No more thinking about anything!

○○○

Hours later, truly, he felt like he couldn’t think about anything.

Yuuta wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he was sure that the homework Gojo had assigned was going to be the end of him.

It was a three problem assignment and he had completed only two of them. And completed was being a bit generous. 

He had sussed out that the problem was something about calculating the force of objects colliding with each other within the vacuum of space. But the calculations needed were stupid. And the number of steps in each of these problems were stupid. And the answers he was coming up with were stupid in their own right. 

If this was how the semester was going to be, he might need to rethink that free food ultimatum he made earlier.

He was just about to maybe, possibly, potentially come up with something close to a final answer for the third problem, when a hand tapped his shoulder. 

It was a split-second reaction, Yuuta didn’t have time to switch his brain from one train of thought to another and as a result, his reflexes took over. His hand shot out and he grabbed the one that had touched him, locking it into a vice-like grip.

It took a moment, but Yuuta’s brain finally caught up to his body and he looked over and saw Inumaki standing there, eyes pinched into a wince, as Yuuta's hand gripped his wrist.

“Sorry!” Yuuta let go and put both his hands up in front of him, “You snuck up on me. I--Sorry...”

Inumaki shook his hand out and looked at Yuuta with an expression he couldn’t parse.  

“What’s up?” Yuuta asked as calmly as he could. Inumaki was here, not over there behind the desk. Which meant he was likely trying to tell Yuuta something. And Yuuta had responded by nearly crushed his hand. Great. Really great. 

Inumaki stopped shaking his hand out and then used it to point from Yuuta to the elevator.

“Uh…”

Inumaki pulled his phone out of his pocket and tapped the screen twice before turning it around towards Yuuta. 

His lock screen had a small cartoon panda on it. It was...cute actually. Way cuter than Yuuta would have expected given the bluntness of his personality he had been familiar with up to that point. But Yuuta wasn’t sure why he was showing him his lock screen?

“Um...” Yuuta squinted at the screen, clearly showing his confusion.

Inumaki’s eyes flattened and he pointed to the time listed on the screen. 

12:05am. 

12:05am!?

It was at that moment Yuuta noticed that Inumaki had his own backpack on clearly looking like he was packed up to leave himself.

Oh… Oh!

“You’re kicking me out,” Yuuta concluded with a weak smile.

Inumaki nodded once, repocketing his phone.

“Yeah...Yeah, that makes sense.” Yuuta turned back to his scattered books, “Let me, just pack this up.”

Inumaki took a couple of steps back, turning to face the elevator.

Yuuta didn’t really think too hard as he closed his things up as quickly as he could and shoved them in his bag. How had it gotten so late? How had he not noticed how late it had gotten? 

“Okay,” Yuuta said as he slung his own bag over his shoulder. “Ready.”

Inumaki nodded and started walking towards the elevator. Yuuta followed him.

Once they were both in the tiny metal box together and Inumaki hit the ground button. Yuuta looked down at him. Inumaki looked up in return.

Once again, this close, Yuuta could not help but notice how short he was. And the fluffiness of his hair. And how bright his eyes were. His height, his hair, his eyes… his height, his hair, his eyes. They just. There was just something about them that sent his brain into a weird spiral. A weird stupid, spiral.

Wait. 

Shit. 

He was staring again. 

And really obviously this time. Should he say something?  Would it be more awkward to say something or not say something? What could he possibly say?

The elevator dinged and Inumaki was the first to break their gaze as he stepped out to the main level. Yuuta blinked and then followed after a few steps behind, thankful to have been given an answer to the problem that wasn’t his own initiative.

The library was empty. It seemed they were the last two people there at all. Inumaki b-lined for the door, but stopped to hold it open, motioning quickly for Yuuta to follow.

Once Yuuta stepped outside, Inumaki closed the door and pulled out a keyring. It had a variety of keys and also a small charm of the same mascot Yuuta had seen on his phone. He flipped through a few before stopping on one and sticking it in the door, twisting it one direction then the other.

“Oh, you’re the one who… locks up?”

Inumaki shrugged at him, repocketing the keyring and pulling once on the handle to make sure the door was locked. It was, he turned back towards Yuuta who suddenly realized how all these actions fit together. He worked the closing shift himself often enough.

“Was I keeping you here?” 

Inumaki shrugged at him again. Yuuta wasn’t sure if that was meant to be taken as a confirmation or a dismissal. Before he could ask anything further, Inumaki held his hand up and waved it once, then turned away to walk down one of the sidewalks into the campus.

Oh, a goodbye.

Yuuta held his hand up too, returning the wave, but then quickly pulled it back down realizing the other boy was turned away and definitely wouldn’t see it so he was essentially waving at nothing.

Yuuta made his way back to his apartment and ended up thinking far too long about a lock screen that felt far too cute and a single little wave that felt far too friendly before he eventually found sleep again.

○○○

“Can we just do regular boxing today, please?” Yuuta pleaded. 

“Okay, but I will aim for your face,” Maki responded, setting herself up into an attack stance, bringing her hands up.

"Fine," Yuuta sighed and did the same, “Fine.”

Monday’s class and work had been blessedly uneventful; Fushiguro had even been moderately pleasant. Despite some ingrained exhaustion from his sleep schedule adjustment, Yuuta decided he had recovered enough to meet up with Maki at the gym that evening.

"You suck today,” Maki commented, as she blocked Yuuta’s jab a little too easily. “You can't still be recovering?"

“I’m tired. Stayed up too late. Probably would have stayed up later but I got kicked out of the library at midnight.” Yuuta huffed, changing his stance.

“Midnight? Doesn’t it close at nine?” 

“Does it? Inumaki definitely kicked me out at midnight.”

“Inumaki?” Maki punched, Yuuta dodged.

“Yeah, short, blonde, wears a mask? I talked to him a bit at your party, actually.” 

Maki's eyes widened as she threw another punch at Yuuta but it missed him by a mile.

“You talked to Toge ?"

“Toge?”

“Inumaki--whatever,” She swung again, with better aim this time.

“Oh, yeah,” Yuuta said, throwing an arm up to block. “Is that weird?”

“Really talking ?”

“Ye-” Yuuta was about to confirm, then stopped. Had they been?

“...Huh,” Maki put her hands down, thinking. “Actually, maybe that does make a little sense, even if it doesn’t.” 

“How so?” Yuuta asked. Fushiguro had adamantly refused to talk about anything related to the party so Yuuta still hadn’t been able to piece much of anything together from the second half of the night.

“It was his ass that let me you were passed out in the first place,” She explained. “I’m going to be honest, we probably wouldn’t have even noticed you were back there until the morning.”

“I thought Fushiguro...” Yuuta started but then paused, thinking back.

Actually, wait, no, that was wrong. It was Inumaki that had been there right at the end of his coherence and then a few other places in between. Yuuta hadn’t really thought through the extent of Inumaki's involvement until now. But it must have been more than he thought… oh god , wait, did that make his actions at the library even weirder ?

“Megumi ultimately took responsibility for you, but Toge found you first. I thought he was just feeling kind enough not to leave you there. Didn't realize he was actually, like, with you,” She paused, considering something, before turning to Yuuta with a curious expression, “Are you friends?”

He blinked, "With Inumaki?"

Maki nodded, "With Toge, yeah."

“I… Well,” Yuuta thought about that. “I thought he was kind of standoffish when I first met him, but” the wave from last night came to mind. “He doesn’t seem that bad. I don’t really think we’d be considered friends though.” 

Yuuta looked over at Maki, “We're friends, right?”

“Yeah stupid, we’re friends,” She gave him a sympathetic look, “I hope you don't have to ask everyone that. Are you actually friends with Toge and just don't realize it?"

“No, I really don't think so.”

“So what did happen?”

“It's not something elaborate. I just walked up and asked him if he wanted to go somewhere quieter,” Yuuta shrugged, “Outside seemed like a good choice. That's how we ended up there.”

She stared at him with genuine disbelief, coming to a completely different conclusion. “Yuuta Okkotsu you really don't seem the type.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Oh my god,” She sounded like she was almost going to laugh, “You’re telling me you really pulled a ‘hey let's get out of here’ off successfully with probably the hardest dude to pull that off on and are now claiming you didn't.”

“ I wanted to talk, Maki, to talk,” Yuuta shot back, embarrassment flushing his face at the implication.

“It’s still so wild you keep saying that.” 

“I’m telling the truth!”

Maki hummed, clearly unconvinced.

“So you got Toge to give you his attention for more than 5 seconds, got him to follow you to a secluded place,” She raised an eyebrow, “Then he ultimately saves your drunk ass, but you claim not to be friends.”

“Is this all so...unusual?”

“For him,” Maki squinted at him, “I guess you’re kinda hot for a dude. In, like... an awkward, cute kind of way. I'd want to bully you. Maybe he’s bullying you too.”

“You do bully me,” Yuuta squinted back at her, frowning, “I can’t tell if I should be flattered or insulted.”

"Both, probably." She broke into a grin, “Is he your type?”

“So you guys are what...close?” Yuuta diverted. “You talk like you know him pretty well.”

“Unlike you, I guess, we are friends,” Maki said, letting her previous question go, “We grew up together. Just so happened to end up here together too, even though we were at different high schools before.”

“Is that why he was at your place? He didn't really seem like the party type.”

“Is that why you wanted to talk to him?” She said, circling back, “Trying to figure out what type he is?”

“Maki.” 

“I can usually convince him to come to a few parties a year. I think he comes because he knows I like when he’s there but...” She trailed off. “It’s not the easiest atmosphere for him, you know?”

“I...guess?” Yuuta wasn’t really following. Inumaki was quiet, but he didn’t seem like he was having a horrible time or anything.

“If you really don’t understand then I believe you. You're not friends.” She shrugged, “I don’t think it’s my place to say anything further.” 

“That seems like a cop-out,” Yuuta said, hoping he'd get a little more out of her than that.

“I'm an enabler, a bad influence, and a bitch, but I'm not a gossip about important things,” She said matter-of-factly, “Talk to him about it if you want to know since you seemed so adamant about doing that before.” 

“I think… you’re joking?”

“I'm being completely serious.”

“Now I know you're joking.”

She grinned again.

Chapter Text

To: Panda
> 7:57 pm: Hey P
> 7:57 pm: I got a hypothetical for you

From: Panda
> 7:59 pm: Dude where were you this weekend? 

> 7:59 pm: Maki’s party
> 7:59 pm: Focus, please

> 8:00 pm: I meant yesterday
> 8:00 pm: We were supposed to have a video chat

> 8:00 pm: Oh 
> 8:01 pm: Right
> 8:01 pm: I was working late

> 8:01 pm: Working?
> 8:01 pm: Late?

> 8:02 pm: Got distracted

> 8:02 pm: If youre going to stand me up
> 8:02 pm: You can lie better than that

> 8:03 pm: You’re right
> > 8:03 pm: But I'm telling you
> 8:03 pm: That's what happened

> 8:03 pm: For the 3 years youve worked there youve never stayed late
> 8:04 pm: Ever
> 8:04 pm: You usually fuck off early on sundays
> 8:04 pm: Actually 
> 8:04 pm: You always fuck off early on sundays
> 8:04 pm: I think this is the first sunday in the history of sundays 
> 8:04 pm: where you havent fucked off early???

> 8:05 pm: I get it
> 8:05 pm: I’ll lie next time
> 8:05 pm: Can we get back on track?

> 8:06 pm: Are you going to start
> 8:06 pm: What
> 8:06 pm: Going to all your classes
> 8:06 pm: And waking up before 10 am

> 8:07 pm: P

> 8:07 pm: Next thing you know youll be eating vegetables 
> 8:08 pm: And going to the gym with maki
> 8:08 pm: And drinking the recommended amount of water

> 8:08 pm: Nvm
> 8:09 pm: Forget I messaged you at all

> 8:09 pm: Fine 
> 8:09 pm: Fine
> 8:09 pm: Coming back
> 8:09 pm: Whats the question

> 8:10 pm: Okay
> 8:10 pm: Hypothetically
> 8:10 pm: What to do about
> 8:10 pm: A guy who keeps showing up everywhere 
> 8:10 pm: and won’t seem to leave you alone

> 8:11 pm: Easy answer
> 8:11 pm: Get maki to kick their ass

> 8:12 pm: She’s done that already
> > 8:12 pm: I think
> 8:12 pm: I assume that’s how she makes most of her friends

> 8:12 pm: Oh its a friend of makis

> 8:13 pm: Hypothetically

> 8:13 pm: Sure sure
> 8:13 pm: I guess that makes it a little more complicated
> 8:13 pm: And this friend is bothering you?

> 8:14 pm: Sort of

> 8:14 pm: You know maki doesnt put up with that kind of shit
> 8:14 pm: Even if its one of her friends
> 8:14 pm: If theyre upsetting you 
> 8:15 pm: Shed take care of it

> 8:15 pm: So it's not like
> 8:15 pm: He's upsetting me
> 8:15 pm: Exactly
> 8:15 pm: It's all just 
> 8:15 pm: Weird?

> 8:16 pm: So what did he do

> 8:16 pm: Wanted to talk

> 8:16 pm: Talk

> 8:16 pm: Right 

> 8:17 pm: Lol okay

> 8:17 pm: Right

> 8:17 pm: So did you guys talk or

> 8:18 pm: P

> 8:18 pm: Sorry, sorry
> 8:18 pm: He new or something 
> 8:19 pm: BC that situation is always so funny to watch play out
> 8:19 pm: Is he younger? freshman?

> 8:20 pm: He's a senior but 
> 8:20 pm: He just showed up out of nowhere

> 8:20 pm: A senior?
> 8:20 pm: Mysterious

> 8:21 pm: Right?

> 8:21 pm: And he knows maki?
> 8:22 pm: But this is the first party youve seen him at?

> 8:22 pm: Right???
> 8:22 pm: Seems unpossible

> 8:23 pm: Did he transfer?

> 8:23 pm: No he's been registered here a while

> 8:24 pm: Is he foreign?

> 8:24 pm:  Nah I don't think so

> 8:25 pm: Maybe hes got a dark past
> 8:25 pm: Tried to get away from something tragic
> 8:25 pm: But came back when he couldnt run away anymore

> 8:26 pm: You’re derailing again

> 8:26 pm: Could he have murdered someone?

> 8:26 pm: Wayyy too dorky
> 8:26 pm: Not the type

> 8:26 pm: Murders dont have a type
> 8:27 pm: Thats why theres so many unsolved cases
> 8:27 pm: If you end up dead
> 8:27 pm: Know I was right
> 8:27 pm: Wait
> 8:28 pm: Can I write your obituary?
> 8:28 pm: Hold on

> 8:29 pm: P

> 8:32 pm: 'After dying tragically in an unsolved murder let it be known Toge was actually cool dude when you got to know him, not that he would ever let anyone do that. Three people might remember him fondly.'

> 8:33 pm: You’re off the tracks

> 8:34 pm: Okay okay
> 8:34 pm: Im coming back
> 8:34 pm: What if it was a bad breakup?
> 8:34 pm: Maybe he was looking for a rebound

> 8:35 pm: Doubtful

> 8:35 pm: Why?
> 8:36 pm: If he doesnt know you
> 8:36 pm: And you were by yourself
> 8:36 pm: And he approached you
> 8:36 pm: Trying to talk
> 8:37 pm: I dont think that reasoning is so far off

> 8:38 pm: He was with Maki's one cousin

> 8:38 pm: The angry one? 

> 8:38 pm: The angry one

> 8:39 pm: Like with makis angry cousin?
> 8:39 pm: Or with-with makis angry cousin?

> 8:39 pm: Either way
> 8:40 pm: Her angry cousin laid claim to him later
> 8:40 pm: And they left together

> 8:41 pm: Hmmm
> 8:41 pm: To me
> 8:41 pm: It sounds like this guy came onto you 
> 8:41 pm: And maybe makis cousin was there or something
> 8:42 pm: But that doesnt mean anything conclusive
> 8:42 pm: Bc this guy was definitely trying to talk you up before that 

> 8:43 pm: You're reaching

> 8:44 pm: Also
> 8:44 pm: From what im gathering
> 8:44 pm: Instead of shutting this guy down
> 8:44 pm: Like usual
> 8:45 pm: you went along with it
> 8:45 pm: For some reason
> 8:45 pm: Which tells me somethings different here
> 8:46 pm: Because you have done some pretty spectacular shut downs in the past

> 8:47 pm: I made a mistake
> 8:48 pm: Learned my lesson by falling down half a flight of stairs
> 8:48 pm: I still have a bruise

> 8:48 pm: Whoa whoa whoa
> 8:48 pm: Wait
> 8:48 pm: Back up
> 8:49 pm: Explain??

> 8:51 pm:  We went outside
> 8:51 pm:  He tripped down Maki’s back stairs
> 8:51 pm:  I tried to stop him
> 8:52 pm: But he grabbed me and took me down with him

> 8:53 pm: How did this convo go from 
> 8:53 pm: 'Help P idk what to do about this guy who hit on me'
> 8:53 pm: But definitely isnt upsetting me
> 8:54 pm: To 
> 8:54 pm: 'Help P idk what to do about this guy who hit on me got me to leave the party then tackled me down some stairs'
> 8:55 pm: But still definitely isnt upsetting me

> 8:55 pm: P

> 8:56 pm: This is so unlike you?

> 8:57 pm: It was admittedly one of my weaker moments

> 8:57 pm: How drunk were you?

> 8:58 pm: A bit 
> 8:58 pm: Definitely not as much as him
> 8:59 pm: He passed out on top me afterwards

> 9:00 pm: On top of you??
> 9:00 pm: Hello??????
> 9:00 pm: The details here???

> 9:01 pm: I did mention the tackling part
> 9:01 pm: There was no stopping it

> 9:02 pm: I want you to know that im squinting at you

> 9:03 pm: Alright
> 9:03 pm: Either way
> 9:03 pm:  He doesn’t remember anything

> 9:04 pm: Troublesome

> 9:04 pm: Right

> 9:05 pm: Wait hold on
> 9:05 pm: How do you know if he does or doesn’t remember anything or not
> 9:05 pm: T
> 9:08 pm: ???

> 9:10 pm: I’m coming up with a good lie
> 9:10 pm: hold on

> 9:11 pm: ???????
> 9:11 pm: Dude
> 9:11 pm: ???????

> 9:12 pm: Maybe I saw him yesterday too
> 9:12 pm: And maybe he didn’t like
> 9:12 pm: Acknowledge what happened or anything
> 9:13 pm: So

> 9:13 pm: Wait
> 9:14 pm: Is this where you were last night?
> 9:14 pm: With this guy?
> 9:14 pm: The same guy???

> 9:15 pm: He was there
> 9:15 pm: He was actually being sort of weird

> 9:15 pm: Youre being sort of weird
> 9:16 pm: What were you doing?

> 9:16 pm: Working

> 9:17 pm: On...what?

> 9:17 pm: No I was literally at work
> 9:18 pm: I’ve been telling you that
> 9:18 pm: From the start

> 9:18 pm: He knows where you at work?
> 9:18 pm: And he visited you?

> 9:19 pm: He happened to show up there 

> 9:19 pm: On purpose or

> 9:19 pm: It was situational

> 9:20 pm: ???
> 9:20 pm: What does that mean

> 9:20 pm: It was both on purpose and not on purpose

> 9:21 pm: Alright whatever
> 9:21 pm: The guy tackles you to the ground at a party
> 9:21 pm: Passes out on top of you
> 9:22 pm: Then shows up at your work the next day acting like nothing happened
> 9:22 pm: And then you decide to stay late because you got 'distracted'
> 9:22 pm: Despite that

> 9:24 pm: He was also there the day before

> 9:25 pm: T
> 9:25 pm: You are 
> 9:25 pm: Literally 
> 9:25 pm: The least helpful person to help
> 9:26 pm: You know that right

> 9:27 pm: I just wanted a second opinion

> 9:27 pm: Fine
> 9:27 pm: Ive got a hypothetical for you then

> 9:28 pm: ...Alright

> 9:28 pm: What to do about 
> 9:29 pm: Best friend who doesnt know how to do anything other than be passive aggressive to someone who seems to legitimately want to get to know him better

> 9:30 pm: Man that's a tough one
> 9:30 pm: Considering I haven’t done a single thing
> 9:30 pm: To this guy?
> 9:31 pm: I'd argue he's been doing the things
> 9:31 pm: That's the whole problem I'm having

> 9:32 pm: Youre definitely part of this problem
> 9:32 pm: And if youre in denial 
> 9:33 pm: It means you’re doing that thing you do

> 9:34 pm: 'that thing'
> 9:34 pm: What thing
> 9:34 pm: I told you he's doing the things

> 9:35 pm: That thing you do 
> 9:35 pm: Your loud stare

> 9:35 pm: What
> 9:36 pm: What the hell 
> 9:36 pm: Does that even mean

> 9:37 pm: How to explain...
> 9:38 pm: You have this thing where 
> 9:38 pm: When you stare at someone it's like
> 9:38 pm: Impossible to ignore
> 9:38 pm: Its just loud, you know?
> 9:39 pm: You're loud
> 9:39 pm: You have a loud stare

> 9:40 pm: This is the most ridiculous thing you've ever said 

> 9:41 pm: Bet this guy heard you staring at him
> 9:41 pm: Wait
> 9:41 pm: Oh my god 
> 9:41 pm: Maybe you started this whole thing
> 9:42 pm: He came onto you at makis because you came onto him before that

> 9:43 pm: I
> 9:43 pm: What?????

> 9:44 pm: I can see it clearly now
> 9:44 pm: How long did you stare at him the first time you saw him
> 9:45 pm: Was it like
> 9:45 pm: 2 hours or something

> 9:46 pm: It
> 9:46 pm: It wasn't that much

> 9:47 pm: I bet he thought you were pissed off
> 9:47 pm: Because everyone thinks youre pissed off when you do this
> 9:47 pm: The thing that gets me 
> 9:48 pm: Is that he still wanted to talk to you
> 9:48 pm: Despite this

> 9:49 pm: I guess?

> 9:51 pm: Wait
> 9:51 pm: I forgot to ask
> 9:51 pm: The most important question
> 9:51 pm: What’s this guy look like
> 9:52 pm: Is he tall
> 9:52 pm: Nvm I guess everyones tall to you

> 9:53 pm: That was uncalled for?

> 9:53 pm: Youre right
> 9:54 pm: Better question: is he hot?

> 9:55 pm: Maybe he's tall
> 9:55 pm: A little more than normal
> 9:55 pm: Not as tall as you

> 9:56 pm: Answer the other question

> 9:58 pm: I guess
> 9:58 pm: He's not 
> 9:58 pm: horrible looking

> 9:59 pm:  'Not horrible looking'
> 9:59 pm: Elaborate

> 10:00 pm: He's

> 10:01 pm:  Hes??
> 10:04 pm:  Hello??

> 10:06 pm: Sorry the message 
> 10:06 pm: Just
> 10:06 pm: Won't send?
> 10:06 pm: IDK what to tell you

> 10:07 pm: Theyre gonna have to change your obituary
> 10:07 pm: Because im gonna be the one that takes you out
> 10:08 pm: Move over new guy
> 10:08 pm: I got dibs

> 10:09 pm: I’m rolling my eyes at you
> 10:09 pm: They’ve literally rolled out of my head
> 10:09 pm: I'm typing by muscle memory alone now

> 10:10 pm: Good because im sure theyre part of your problem

> 10:11 pm: Fine
> 10:11 pm:  Let’s say you’re right
> 10:11 pm: Hypothetically
> 10:12 pm: What then

> 10:12 pm: Stare at him less
> 10:12 pm: Or stare at him … more?
> 10:12 pm: Depends

> 10:13 pm:  'Depends'

> 10:13 pm: What do you want out of this?
> 10:16 pm: T??

> 10:19 pm: Undecided

> 10:19 pm: Best get deciding
> 10:20 pm: Because if you keep staring at him hes gonna get ideas
> 10:20 pm:  Or someone else is gonna get ideas
> 10:20 pm:  Or im gonna get ideas
> 10:20 pm: Hell im already having ideas

> 10:22 pm: I can't even imagine about what

> 10:24 pm: Alright mr 'undecided' let me know if mr 'not horrible looking' does anything else that's 'not upsetting'
> 10:24 pm: Or if you stop being undecided and decide to do something not upsetting yourself

> 10:25 pm: I’m never asking your opinion on what to do ever again

> 10:26 pm: Wasnt this hypothetical?

To: Maki
> 10:47 pm:  Do I stare loudly?

From: Maki
> 10:49 pm: yes

> 10:49 pm: What the hell 
> 10:49 pm:  You too?

> 10:51 pm: i thought this was obvious
> 10:52 pm: wait 
> 10:53 pm: is this about yuuta
> 10:55 pm: toge

> 10:57 pm: Omg Maki you're breaking up 
> 10:57 pm: So sorry 
> 10:58 pm: I didn't get your last
> 10:58 pm: Three text messages
> 10:59 pm: Also who tf is Yuuta

> 11:02 pm: i fell for that one time asshole
> 11:03 pm: i know u know who yuuta is
> 11:09 pm: toge

> 11:11 pm: Your messages?
> 11:11 pm: Just? 
> 11:12 pm: Aren't? 
> 11:12 pm: Coming through?
> 11:12 pm: This is so crazy
> 11:12 pm: Maki you have got to get a better phone

> 11:13 pm: i stg
> 11:35 pm: toge
> 11:58 pm: urg

Chapter Text

Time passed, the semester went on, and Yuuta found himself falling into somewhat of a normal routine. 

He went to class in the mornings, situated himself in the library most afternoons, worked the closing shift at the cafe in the evenings, and went to the gym after that every other day or so. 

It worked. 

Mostly.

His social life was non-existent, not just because of lack of time, but because he hadn’t had much of one that still remained in the first place. Many of the people he had known were gone and graduated, having moved away and out of the area towards the next part of their lives. It was weird, still being in a place that felt so familiar and perpetual, but also so devoid and empty at the same time. 

He had Fushiguro.

But there was a distinctive disconnect between them, mostly by Yuuta’s own volition. He knew Fushiguro had his own friend group of peers made through his own experiences and Yuuta wasn’t going to try to intrude on that. His problems were not Fushiguro's problems, and he didn’t want to purposefully lump the entirety of his emotional well-being solely on his one remaining, long-term friend.

He was thankful for Maki. 

Their serendipitous meeting gave Yuuta at least one social thread he could latch on to from time to time, even if that one usually involved gratuitous amounts of exercise or gratuitous amounts of alcohol. Looking forward to seeing someone at regular time periods that weren’t work or school-related was nice and having a place to go to on weekends that wasn’t his own apartment was literally life-saving. But Yuuta didn’t want to overextend himself with her either. She knew, so, so many people that trying to monopolize any part of her time that wasn’t previously or willingly offered to him seemed far too selfish. So they were good friends, great friends even, but they never crossed that unspoken line into becoming close friends.

He still didn’t know what to do about Inumaki. 

After his first week of major missteps, Yuuta tried his best to be more thoughtful with their interactions, which, admittedly, garnered him mixed results. 

He had, perhaps, ruminated a little bit too long on a few things Maki had said before, thinking there might be something he could figure out there. 

Yuuta had attempted to wave at him a few times when arriving at the library, trying to finally offer a return gesture from the first night. He quickly gave that up after the 3rd attempt or so when he didn’t get anything beyond a few blinks back from the other boy.

And Yuuta wasn’t familiarizing himself with his shifts or anything, but the one Sunday Inumaki was not working for whatever reason,  Yuuta had been kicked out by 9 pm, so Maki was apparently right on that regard. Since then, he had started setting an alarm to make sure he left before the library closed so as to not keep either of them late accidentally.

Yuuta had even tried, in a show of good faith, to bring Inumaki a coffee from the cafe a few times. Inumaki always accepted the drink with a nod and placed it behind the counter only to toss the full cup into the trash later when he left, having not taken a single sip. 

This left Yuuta assuming the previous friendly gestures on Inumaki’s part were likely flukes and he had pretty much given up on trying to advance any kind of dialog with him. 

Yuuta would not call them friends, even in the slightest. It was more disappointing than he wanted to admit. 

“Not going to talk to him?” Maki teased at one party as she slung an arm around Yuuta’s neck, pulling him down into a headlock. This was, more or less, her custom greeting. 

She motioned over to Inumaki who was, again, in the same corner area he always seemed to reside in. Despite what Maki had said before, he was always there. Inumaki’s normal party routine involved finding an inconspicuous corner, drinking a few drinks out of a red cup through a straw, and swaying out the door in the early AM hours. He rarely engaged with anyone and it didn’t really make sense to Yuuta but he assumed he must be getting something out of the parties anyway.

“Um, no,” Yuuta responded adamantly, craning his neck to look up at her. “I am positive he’s not interested in doing so with me.”

“If you say so,” Maki said with a shrug as she released her hold and walked over to him herself. Yuuta watched curiously as she approached and struck up what looked to be a normal conversation, although it was too loud to hear anything that might be being said. As the two of them interacted, Inumaki became more animated than Yuuta had ever seen. 

It was so different, seeing the other boy pocket his phone and then move his hand around in motions that seemed to affirm or dismiss what Maki was saying to him. He even poked back at her once or twice.

Maki grinned and ruffled Inumaki’s hair. He swatted back at her hand but it was more or less a half-hearted gesture. As she swung her arm around him, pulling him into the customary headlock, his normal half pissed off kind of look that Yuuta had grown accustomed to him defaulting to replaced itself with something a lot, lot softer looking.

It was with that look that Yuuta felt an acute loneliness well up inside of him as he took a particularly large sip of his drink and looked away.

○○○

Yuuta spotted him before he entered the cafe.

“Shit,” Yuuta said instinctively and ducked down behind the counter.

His eyes widened as he saw that Fushiguro had mimicked the exact same motion, the two of them now squatting together behind the pastry case. 

“Wha--”

“Shh,” Fushiguro shushed him quickly, shooting his hand out to clamp over Yuuta’s mouth before he could get the question out.

The bell on the door jingled as they heard it open and then swing itself closed.

They both paused.

A beat passed.

Then another.

Then another.

“Megumiiii~” Satoru called out in an overly sweet, sing-song voice cutting through the silence like a knife, “I know you’re working today.”

Fushiguro scrunched his face up. Yuuta could tell he was mentally weighing his options, calculating his best means of escape to the sanctity of the back room.

“Hiding is childish you know,” Satoru said, peering over the counter, sussing the two of them out with ease, “Oh, Yuuta too, what a treat!”

“Professor...” they both said in unison and then looked at each other confused.

“He’s your teacher too?” Yuuta asked, surprised.

Fushiguro looked at Yuuta, equally surprised, “Why would you be taking research labs…?”

“I’m not,” Yuuta shook his head, “He’s teaching one of my required electives.”

Satoru grinned at them both.

“How many classes are you teaching?” Yuuta asked, standing back up to his full height. Fushiguro followed suit, albeit reluctantly.

“At least three,” Fushiguro said flatly.

“Three?!” Yuuta said, turning to him, contextualizing a bit of Fushiguro’s sudden annoyance. Yuuta could barely manage one of Satoru’s classes. Fushiguro had three?

“Hmmm….” Satoru tapped his chin with a finger and then shrugged. “It’s more like 6...or was it 8? I haven’t been keeping track, honestly. I'm just teaching whatever Yaga needed a fill-in for. This school is always so short-staffed!”

“You’re too smart for your own good,” Yuuta said, still trying to process exactly how many different departments Satoru must be terrorizing. 

“And the good of everyone else,” Fushiguro grimaced, still visibly displeased with Satoru’s general presence. “If you’re really so smart, why don’t you just go do research somewhere? Discover something that will change the world or whatever. Stop teaching classes that are too hard where half the class fails anyway.”

“But research is sooooooooo boring,” Satoru lamented. “And students don’t learn without a proper challenge. Schools nowadays are too soft.”

“Your classes are hard…” Yuuta agreed, thinking back to the very recent long nights he had pulled himself, trying to finish up his midterm project.

“Like his head.”

“Megumi, so mean!” Satoru pouted, “You shouldn’t talk to me like that here! I’m a customer--”

“Paying?” Yuuta asked, raising an eyebrow.

“ --Paying customer in your establishment!” Satoru confirmed with a nod. “Be mean to me like that and I might never come back. Wouldn’t that be sad?”

“We don't need your business.”

“Now Fushiguro…” Yuuta started to say, feeling like maybe, just maybe, Fushiguro’s abrasiveness was starting to hit its limit. They were still at work.

“It's fine Yuuta,” Satoru cut him off, unphased. “I had something to discuss with you, too. Figured I'd track you down later but now’s as good of a time as any.” 

"Are you just going around accosting your students on your time off?" Fushiguro asked.

“Me?” Yuuta said, surprised.

“You’re,” Satoru pointed a finger at Yuuta, ignoring Fushiguro, “In trouble.”

“Trouble?” Yuuta wasn’t sure exactly what Satoru meant by that, but the suggestion that he had done anything wrong set his anxious tendencies on edge. “I-In what way?”

“Your midterm grade,” Satoru continued. “Is going to be bad. As it stands.”

“As it stands…?” Yuuta repeated, still unsure exactly what he was implying, “But I submitted the entire project early. Last week. You haven't already graded it have you?” 

The idea of Satoru doing something like that in advance seemed far too wild to be true.

“Well, I can’t. It’s half missing,” Satoru said, squatting down to look at the pastry case. “Ooo I’ll take this one.” He tapped on the glass and looked back up at Fushiguro with a sweet smile. Fushiguro responded with the most unenthusiastic frown but moved to grab the pastry anyway.

“Half missing….?" Yuuta asked. That didn't make any sense. "But... I did it all?” 

“Right your part, but I’m still missing your partner’s portion. It’s a group project. There needs to be a supplemental... thing. I’m not really into the idea of one student having to do the entirety of the work. Bad teaching technique.”

“But I don't have a class partner. You know this.” Yuuta countered. It hadn’t been a horrible thing, working by himself. It made certain things easier, but also definitely made certain parts of the class more difficult. All in all, he managed.

“Actually you do,” Satoru said, standing up and handing Fushiguro some money for payment, “You’ve just been incredibly unlucky that they haven’t shown up to class once. It's impressive actually.”

“We can't break bills this large," Fushiguro deadpanned, handing it back.

“Wh--” Yuuta started.

“So even if you’re confident that you’ve done everything right, which, like, big confidence on your part given your homework scores,” Satoru cut him off, loudly, handing over a different bill and snatching the pasty from Fushiguro before the other boy could protest again, “That still leaves you at a 50%.”

“Wh--” Yuuta started again, but Satoru kept talking.

“Which is failing,” Satoru took a big bite, “And I cagn't let mhy dear Yuuhta fhail on a tekhnichality. I'd mush rather have youh doh that on youhr own mherit,” He swallowed. “Better teaching technique.”

“Don't talk with your mouth full. It's disgusting,” Fushiguro grimaced, shoving Satoru his change across the counter.

“This feels... I don’t know, unfair ?” Yuuta said, head spinning, trying to comprehend exactly what Satoru was saying while starting to feel unnecessarily targeted by this whole situation. 

“Bring it up with your other classmates. They voted on a group project instead of an individual exam. If I remember correctly you voted for this as well,” Satoru pointed at him before shoving the rest of the pasty in his mouth. “I had noh shay in what ish and ishn't fair thish thime.”

Yuuta paused, taken aback. What Satoru said was correct. 

The class had, well, complained, about some of the more difficult work they’d been doing, so Satoru had relented and given them a choice: they could take an exam they definitely couldn't pass or work on a group project they only might not be able to pass. The class had unanimously voted for the second. 

“And you won’t make an exception?”

Satoru raised an eyebrow. Yuuta sighed.

“So,” Yuuta rethought through what Satoru had just told him, “You’re telling me that unless I can get my partner to submit their portion of this project I'm likely going to fail the midterm and then likely this class?"

“Yeah that about sums it up,” Satoru confirmed, swallowing before licking the last bit of pastry cream off his finger. 

“Aren't teachers supposed to email students in cases of excessive absences like this?” Fushiguro interjected.

“I tried that. No response.” Satoru chimed back. “I don't have time to keep track of all my students.”

“But you keep track of us,” Fushiguro pointed out. “You’re here.”

“I don’t play favorites. And if I did, they should be thankful when I come to save their ass.” Satoru smiled at them both in a way that made both Yuuta and Fushiguro bristle. 

“So…what...” Yuuta said, starting to feel a bit lost with the whole situation. “What do I do?”

“Confront them about it yourself.” 

“How?”

“I can give you their address.”

“Why,” Fushiguro narrowed his eyes suspiciously, “The fuck would you have that information.”

“Oh! That reminds me!” Satoru clapped his hands. “Megumi, we need to talk about your last lab report. You have got to use fewer expletives in your notes. It’s not professional.”

“No, I think I agree,” Yuuta said. “That sure sounds like some sort of privacy violation.”

Satoru just shrugged again and reached into his pocket. “It was in a public file that was submitted by the student themselves for record-keeping and document mailing. Why is that going against any sort of privacy anything? You just need to submit a request. Which, as a teacher, I did and was granted access to. So...”

Satoru held a small folded piece of paper out towards Yuuta.

“Do you want it or not?”

○○○

Yuuta stood outside the door. He looked down at the piece of paper and then back up at the door number then down at the piece of paper again. 

Okay. Yes. This was, indeed, the place.  

He hesitated. Or, more accurately, he continued to hesitate. He had been hesitating for something like 10 minutes at this point.

He could still leave. He could try to come up with some other way to contact this person. But Satoru had given him a scribbled address and literally nothing else. No name, no email, no phone number. Just… this address. It was both incredibly helpful and incredibly unhelpful at the exact same time. One of Satoru's long-term trademarks.

Yuuta started to think through the situation once again. Maybe they just… always had the class time wrong for the entire half of the semester. Maybe they were a shut-in and used to taking classes exclusively online. Maybe they were actually dead and Yuuta could bargain for dismissal of their percentage factoring into his own grade based on that technicality.

He supposed there was no way to know any of these things until he knocked on the door. He took a deep breath. Best, uh, best get it over with then.

Yuuta closed his eyes, reached his hand out, and knocked once. 

No answer. 

He opened his eyes and knocked again. 

No answer. 

He knocked a third time, a little louder and more forceful, for good measure.

No answer. 

Okay, they weren't home.

Yuuta experienced an immediate feeling of relief followed by an immediate feeling of dread.

Oh no... they weren’t home! 

What was he supposed to do now? Camp out and wait for them to show up? Come back and try again later? It was already late... He could keep trying at different times until they finally did answer? All these options seemed incredibly dubious at best. This whole situation was incredibly dubious at best.

Yuuta slumped forward, resting his head on the door, and let out a sigh, allowing himself to feel overwhelmed. He had been trying so hard to get all the work for Satoru’s class out of the way so he could spend some of his mental spoons studying something, anything else. He didn’t want to be cursed with worrying about this class for another whole goddamn week.

He didn't have a good answer for this problem right now. He needed to rethink what to do next and this apartment hallway was probably not the best place to do so. So, home it was. 

Unslumping himself, Yuuta stood up and turned back towards the exit stairwell only to see Inumaki standing a short distance down the hallway.

Yuuta hadn’t heard Inumaki approach at all.  

How long had he been standing there? Did he come out of a different door? Wait, no. He was wearing his backpack, which meant he had definitely come from the library. So he probably just came up from the stairwell. His footfalls must be so quiet?--were so quiet... Why was everything about him stupid quiet all the time?  

“H-Hey!” Yuuta stammered, in what he hoped came across as a somewhat normal greeting and not the complete surprise he was currently feeling, “I didn’t know you lived in this complex.”

Inumaki’s eyes flicked between Yuuta and the door and back again before settling on Yuuta, giving him a look that read very confused or very concerned. Maybe it was both?

“My, er, friend isn’t home, it seems,” Yuuta lied gesturing to the door. “I was just heading out.”

Inumaki slowly took a step forward, eyes locked on Yuuta.

Yuuta instinctively took a step back in response. 

They both paused, in a standoff, waiting for the other to do... something. 

Yuuta swallowed. Inumaki blinked.

Then Inumaki took another step. And another. And another.

He kept taking slow, cautious steps until he was right there, right next to Yuuta, close enough that if Yuuta hadn’t taken that first step back, they’d be occupying essentially the same space. It was...close. Too close? Why was he getting this close? He never got this close to people unless he had to? What was--

“Sorry to be in…” Yuuta started to say, attempting to verbally piece together something that made sense as Inumaki quickly pulled out the same keyring he had used at the library, flipped through a few keys, and inserted one into the same door Yuuta had been knocking on. “Your way…?”

Inumaki turned the key, pushed in the now unlocked door, and hastily stepped inside. He then turned back around, looked at Yuuta for about .5 seconds before slamming the door shut and locking it again from the other side.

Yuuta who blinked.

Ah. 

Oh. 

Oh no.

○○○

“So you were right, I’m definitely going to be repeating a year. I’ve just received confirmation that I’m about to fail everything.”

“What?”

Fushiguro’s voice came across the phone line as Yuuta power walked back across campus towards his own apartment. The amount of embarrassment he was currently feeling was insurmountable. His heart was racing. He was sure he was going to die. He was surprised he hadn’t died on the spot as soon as he had a door slammed in his face.

“Back up. What do you mean?”

“The person in my class,” Yuuta switched his phone to the other ear as he fumbled with his own keys, dropping them twice before he managed to get his own apartment door open, “It’s not going to work.”

“Okay...What does that have to do with your other classes?”

“Simple: I’m just going to fail them, all of them.”

“You know you’re catastrophizing right now, like crazy.” 

“I’m being very realistic, actually.”

He couldn’t go back to the library. Absolutely not. He’d just have to wait until Inumaki graduated before continuing on with his education. That was the only way he’d be assured to never have to run into him ever again.

“Why?”

“He hates me.”

“So what?” Fushiguro responded in a way that Yuuta felt dismissed the problem far, far too easily. “You have a shitty partner who hates you. Why is this the end of the world?”

“He also thinks I was trying to break into his apartment.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”

“It was exactly that bad.” 

“So what?” Fushiguro said again with a similar dismissal. What was he missing? Couldn’t he see how horrible this was? 

“I’m… I’m mortified!” 

Fushiguro grumbled on the other end of the line in a way that Yuuta could tell meant he was wrestling with losing his own patience. Yuuta frowned at himself. Urg, great, great! Fushiguro, too! Maybe today was ‘piss everyone off’ day! 

“And you’re… what? Going to give up?” Fushiguro responded, in a voice that was annoyed but had far less bite to it than Yuuta had expected. “Just because you feel uncomfortable and don’t know what to do?”

“It’s honestly better for us both if I just remove myself from the situation entirely,” Yuuta said as he fell onto his bed with a flump. “Like I said, I can just graduate next year.”

Fushiguro grumbled again.

“Is that why you took a year off? Because of something stupid like this?”

That caused Yuuta to pause.

“That was... It’s not...” He rolled over and stared at his ceiling. He hadn’t really talked about the why behind his absence to anyone and... well, that was a whole different conversation... “That was much worse.”

“But your solution was the same,” Fushiguro continued, unphased, still annoyed. “You ran away. You just up and left and ran away.”

Yuuta bit his cheek. He wasn’t wrong but…

“That’s a huge simplification...”

“At the root of every simplification lies some truth. I’m going to cut to the chase and say I’m still right here.”

“Fushiguro…”

“Okkotsu,” He shot back, “By that logic, this situation can’t be nearly as horrible.” 

“It’s still different...”

“Well all problems are inherently different,” Fushiguro huffed, “Just because you're the least confrontational person I know, doesn’t make this situation particularly life-ending.” 

“Yes, but…”

“The biggest problem you have isn’t some partner who hates you or some class that’s hard or some teacher who’s insufferable … It's that you refuse to be upsetting, especially in instances where the only person who would have any sort of negative consequence is yourself.”

“That's…” Yuuta paused and thought about that. It was true that he had never been very good at standing up for himself. But that… that was too simple. Right? That couldn’t be the root of this whole thing. Could... Fushiguro be right? Maybe he was absolutely right? 

“That's…weirdly insightful, actually.” 

“Why do you think I like working with you?” Fushiguro hummed, voice softening. “I almost never have to clean the bathroom.”

Yuuta blinked, not sure he heard what he thought he just heard.

“Are you making… a joke?” 

There was a pause.

“Maybe.” 

“And what if I try to make you clean it next time?”

“You won’t.”

Yuuta let out a puff of air that wasn’t quite a laugh, a small action that actually did relieve some of the anxiety that had been building up in his chest. He felt incredibly grateful for Fushiguro in this moment.

“My point remains.” Fushiguro continued. “You’ll never get anywhere if you let every inconvenience derail your entire life. Even if it sucks, stop rolling over and choose to be upsetting every once in a while or I’ll be forced to take a page out of Maki’s book and punch you.”

○○○

To: Maki
> 9:32 pm: Hey Maki
> 9:32 pm: Weird question
> 9:33 pm: Do you happen to have Inumaki’s phone number?

From: Maki
> 9:34 pm: why is that a weird question
> 9:34 pm: ofc i have his number

> 9:35 pm: Cool
> 9:35 pm: Cool
> 9:35 pm: Cool
> 9:35 pm: Could I have it
> 9:35 pm: Maybe
> 9:35 pm: Please

> 9:36 pm: what happened to 
> 9:36 pm: hes not interested in talking to me

> 9:37 pm:  Well
>  9:37 pm: I decided he doesn't have to like me
>  9:38 pm: So it's different

>  9:38 pm: what

> 9:39 pm: I found out he's my partner

> 9:39 pm: what?

> 9:40 pm: So I decided to try to take initiative with the whole situation

> 9:40 pm: what???

>  9:41 pm: I’m going to make it work
>  9:41 pm: Between him and me
>  9:42 pm: Even if he hates it

> 9:42 pm: actually
> 9:42 pm: u know what 
> 9:43 pm: sounds good
> 9:43 pm: love that
> 9:43 pm: u can have it
> 9:43 pm: sec

> 9:44 pm: Thanks
> 9:44 pm: I owe you

> 9:44 pm: im not doing this for u

> 9:45 pm: ?

> 9:45 pm: plz give him hell

Chapter Text

To: Panda
> 9:25 pm: P
> 9:25 pm: Help
> 9:25 pm: You were right he’s probably a murderer

From: Panda
> 9:26 pm: YES
> 9:26 pm: I fucking told you
> 9:27 pm: I fucking
> 9:27 pm: Told you
> 9:27 pm: Did you see a body
> 9:27 pm: Tell me you got to see a body
> 9:27 pm: Was he covered in blood?
> 9:27 pm: Did the guy look better or worse covered in blood
> 9:27 pm: Did he have one of those 
> 9:28 pm: now I’ve snapped moments
> 9:28 pm: Where his eyes went dead 
> 9:28 pm: Swearing revenge on someone
> 9:28 pm: For wronging him
> 9:28 pm: Wait this doesnt fit the right narrative 
> 9:28 pm: Hold on let me rethink this

> 9:29 pm: He was at my apartment???
> 9:29 pm: Like leaning against my door???

> 9:30 pm: I told you
> 9:30 pm: I told you shouldnt have turned down the drinks he was giving you
> 9:30 pm: You put a target on your own back

> 9:31 pm: I DIDN'T TURN THEM DOWN
> 9:31 pm: Wtf was I supposed to do???
> 9:31 pm: He kept bringing me coffee 
> 9:31 pm: Black coffee
> 9:32 pm: But who tf drinks BLACK coffee

> 9:32 pm: Him probably
> 9:32 pm: Which might actually BE indicative of murderer behavior

> 9:32 pm: I don’t even LIKE coffee
> 9:32 pm: He could have picked 
> 9:33 pm: Something better
> 9:33 pm: Anything better
> 9:33 pm: Then black coffee

> 9:33 pm: Your pickiness has been your downfall
> 9:33 pm: Once again
> 9:33 pm: This is why youre getting murdered

> 9:34 pm: You know what
> 9:34 pm: If I die be sure to add that detail to the obituary
> 9:34 pm: I want people to know

> 9:35 pm: Alright
> 9:35 pm: For once
> 9:35 pm: I think we should back up here
> 9:35 pm: Assuming hes NOT a murderer
> 9:35 pm: Unfortunately
> 9:35 pm: He was outside your place 
> 9:35 pm: Looking for someone right

> 9:35 pm: Yeah

> 9:36 pm: What if he just had the wrong address
> 9:36 pm: Could have been a regular mistake

> 9:36 pm: Idk idk it sounded suspicious you know
> 9:36 pm: He said it was his friend's place

> 9:37 pm: Well
> 9:37 pm: I mean could be right?

> 9:37 pm: Could be?

> 9:38 pm: I assume thats not going well then

> 9:38 pm: God

> 9:38 pm:  I confirm thats not going well then

> 9:39 pm: I never figured out a good way to like
> 9:39 pm: You know

> 9:39 pm: Do I?

> 9:40 pm: He started leaving well before work ends
> 9:40 pm: Like he had somewhere else to be

> 9:40 pm: Okay

> 9:41 pm: And I cant like
> 9:41 pm: Do much
> 9:41 pm: at Maki’s parties
> 9:41 pm: You know

> 9:41 pm: You keep saying that

> 9:42 pm: Then it seemed like his interest
 > 9:42 pm: just kinda fizzled out
> 9:42 pm: So I figured like
> 9:42 pm: Whatever
> 9:42 pm: Why bother

> 9:43 pm: I guess

> 9:43 pm: But then he showed up here
> 9:43 pm: Idk I panicked
> 9:44 pm: And maybe slammed my door in his face 

> 9:44 pm: I think you leaned way too far into passive
> 9:44 pm: Then did a 180 and went too aggressive again

> 9:45 pm: I’m NOT being passive or aggressive
> 9:45 pm: He's just a weird guy
> 9:45 pm: With weird tendencies 
> 9:45 pm: That dont make sense
> 9:45 pm: And I don’t really understand
> 9:45 pm: Who might wanna kill me now

> 9:46 pm: How are you so close with Maki
> 9:46 pm: Who can become friends with anyone
> 9:47 pm: In like 5 seconds
> 9:47 pm: But you can’t manage one social situation on your own

> 9:47 pm: Why am I getting dragged
> 9:47 pm: When he showed up AT MY APARTMENT

> 9:48 pm: And you slammed a door at him
> 9:48 pm: Instead of doing 
> 9:48 pm: IDK
> 9:48 pm: Anything else
> 9:48 pm: Literally anything else

> 9:49 pm: I told you I panicked
> 9:49 pm: I’m STILL panicking

From: Maki
> 9:50 pm: incoming

To: Maki
> 9:50 pm: What does that mean

> 9:50 pm: :)

> 9:50 pm: Maki I’m having a crisis
> 9:51 pm: I don’t need your cryptic messages rn

> 9:51 pm: wow
> 9:51 pm: ok then
> 9:51 pm: bye

From: Panda
> 9:51 pm: I get that but
> 9:51 pm: I think you may have literally /closed the door/ on this whole situation with that one
> 9:51 pm: Itd be insane if he tried to reach out to you again
> 9:52 pm: After all that

From: Unknown
> 9:53 pm: Hey Inumaki sorry to bother you
> 9:53 pm: It’s Yuuta Okkotsu 

To: Maki
> 9:53 pm: Maki

From: Unknown
> 9:53 pm: From the library

To: Maki
> 9:53 pm: Maki

From: Unknown
> 9:53 pm: And earlier tonight too

To: Maki
> 9:53 pm: Maki

From: Unknown
> 9:53 pm: I guess

To: Panda
> 9:53 pm: He just texted me

From: Panda
> 9:54 pm: ???

> Call 9:55 pm: Maki

“Hello? Toge? Wha--”

> End Call 9:55 pm: Maki

To: Maki
> 9:55 pm: Great
> 9:55 pm: Now that you’re looking at your phone
> 9:55 pm: First
> 9:55 pm: What the hell
> 9:55 pm: Second
> 9:55 pm: What the hell
> 9:55 pm: Third
> 9:55 pm: I know this was you

From: Maki
> 9:56 pm: thought u didnt want my messages rn

From: Panda
> 9:56 pm: Like on your phone
> 9:56 pm: Right now?

To: Maki
> 9:56 pm: You can explain thIS

To: Panda
> 9:56 pm: How else would you text someone
> 9:56 pm: Yes on my phone
> 9:56 pm: Right now

From: Unknown
> 9:57 pm: First off let me apologize

From: Maki
> 9:57 pm: idk what u want me to explain
> 9:57 pm: he asked for ur phone number

To: Maki
> 9:57 pm: And you just give other peoples phone numbers out 
> 9:57 pm: to anyone who asks???

From: Panda
> 9:57 pm: How did he get your number?

To: Panda
> 9:58 pm: You get one guess

From: Unknown
> 9:58 pm: I didn’t mean to surprise you

From: Panda
> 9:58 pm: He hacked the network

To: Panda
> 9:58 pm: NO
> 9:58 pm: WHat???
> 9:58 pm: He can barely USE a computer

> 9:59 pm: It was Maki then

> 9:59 pm: OFC it was MAKI

From: Unknown
> 9:59 pm: At your apartment I mean

From: Panda
> 9:59 pm: Can I be honest

From: Maki
> 9:59 pm: omg
> 9:59 pm: this is so funny

From: Panda
> 9:59 pm: I'm surprised she didnt give it to him sooner

From: Unknown
> 10:00 pm: It sort of surprised me too

To: Panda
> 10:00 pm: I can’t believe either of you rn

From: Maki
> 10:00 pm: ur really freaking out 

From: Unknown
> 10:01 pm: Again sorry 

To: Maki
> 10:01 pm: What did I ever do to you

From: Maki
> 10:01 pm: do u want a list

From: Panda
> 10:01 pm: I guess if you do end up dead, you no longer have just yourself to blame

To: Maki
> 10:02 pm: He’s going to murder me Maki

From: Maki
> 10:02 pm: wtf u talking about

> 10:02 pm: Panda said so

> 10:03 pm: panda doesnt know what hes talking about half the time
> 10:03 pm: he just says things to say things
> 10:03 pm: all hot air and stuffing
> 10:03 pm: and yuutas harmless
> 10:03 pm: less than harmless

> 10:04 pm: He showed up at my apartment!

> 10:04 pm: good for him
> 10:04 pm: i respect that 

> 10:04 pm: How is that less than harmless respectable behavior???

> 10:05 pm: he said he needed u 
> 10:05 pm: for
> 10:05 pm: to do
> 10:05 pm: smth
> 10:05 pm: idk i didnt get the details
> 10:06 pm: but he probably just asked someone for ur address

> 10:06 pm: Who even
> 10:06 pm: Who would he ask

> 10:07 pm: idk your old roommate? 
> 10:07 pm: the library one?

> 10:08 pm: Muta would never
> 10:08 pm:  Wait

From: Unknown
> 10:08 pm: Um anyway

To: Mechamaru
> 10:09 pm: Weird Q
> 10:09 pm: You didn’t tell computer guy where I live right

From: Panda
> 10:09 pm: Give me an update

To: Panda
> 10:09 pm: Hold on

From: Mechamaru
> 10:10 pm: The tall computer guy or the weird computer guy

To: Mechamaru
> 10:10 pm: B 
> 10:10 pm: Both???
> 10:10 pm: Either?

> 10:11 pm: Lmfao
> 10:11 pm: I knew what you meant
> 10:11 pm: But nah I haven’t told him anything like that

> 10:12 pm: God
> 10:12 pm: Alright
> 10:12 pm: Cool
> 10:13 pm: Thanks

> 10:13 pm: Speaking of

From: Maki
> 10:13 pm: whoever did it did u a favor honestly

From: Panda
> 10:13 pm: Give me an update!

To: Panda
> 10:14 pm: Hold tf on

From: Unknown
> 10:14 pm: I have a question I need you to answer about Astronomy 304

To: Panda
> 10:15 pm: Something about a class?
>> 10:15 pm: I'm in?

From: Unknown
> 10:15 pm: Was that one of your classes or

From: Panda
> 10:15 pm: Was it one you actually went to or

From: Mechamaru
> 10:15 pm: Are you still cool covering my shift tomorrow or

From: Maki
> 10:15 pm: are u going to stop being a gremlin now or

To: Unknown
> 10:16 pm: Hey
> 10:16 pm: I am taking that class
> 10:16 pm: Why

To: Panda
> 10:16 pm: No I don't think so

To: Mechamaru
> 10:16 pm: Yeah I got it

To: Maki
> 10:16 pm: I have no idea what you mean

From: Unknown
> 10:17 pm: Okay 
> 10:17 pm: That’s a relief 

From: Mechamaru
> 10:17 pm: Thx appreciate it

From: Maki
> 10:17 pm: u know
> 10:17 pm: i was honestly unsure which one of u was worse
> 10:17 pm: but its def u

To: Maki
> 10:18 pm: Still don't know what you mean

From: Unknown
> 10:18 pm: I've got the right person then

From: Panda
> 10:18 pm: What class?

To: Panda
> 10:18 pm: Astronomy or whatever
> 10:19 pm: Horoscopes and psychic stuff
> 10:19 pm: WHY would I go to a three HOUR class at 8 AM to learn about that

From: Unknown
> 10:19 pm: So let me explain what's going on

To: Panda
> 10:20 pm: I can get everything I need to know from the internet
> 10:20 pm: I specifically picked that class bc I needed a 300 credit 
> 10:20 pm: And I wouldn’t HAVE to go to it

From: Panda
> 10:20 pm: No dude thats astrology

> 10:21 pm: What?

> 10:21 pm: Astronomy isnt astrology
> 10:22 pm: Its planets and shit
> 10:22 pm: But also like science and math
> 10:22 pm: Space math

From: Unknown
> 10:22 pm: we’ve been assigned class partners for a midterm project
> 10:22 pm: And it happens that you’re my partner

To: Panda
> 10:22 pm: Wait

From: Panda
> 10:23 pm: Omg did you fuck up

From: Unknown
> 10:23 pm: I tried to do it all myself but
> 10:23 pm: The teacher is pretty adamant about needing a portion of the project from you

To: Panda
> 10:23 pm: Hold on

From: Unknown
> 10:24 pm: So I’m reaching out to you for that reason

To: Unknown
> 10:24 pm: I'm confused
> 10:24 pm: Why is there a project?
> 10:25 pm: Shouldn't there only be a midterm and a final?

From: Unknown
> 10:25 pm: Oh
> 10:25 pm: The class voted to change the curriculum
> 10:25 pm: A couple of weeks ago
> 10:25 pm: So the project is the midterm

From: Panda
> 10:25 pm: Omg you DID fuck up
> 10:25 pm: Arent your midterms like in a week

To: Panda
> 10:26 pm: Hold tf on!

To: Unknown
> 10:26 pm: Who would vote for that?

From: Unknown
> 10:26 pm: Everyone, myself included
> 10:27 pm: Well 
> 10:27 pm: Before I realized I’d need your help

From: Maki
> 10:27 pm: normally i dont care
> 10:27 pm: about how u handle other people
> 10:27 pm: because it's ur life 

To: Maki
> 10:27 pm: You're lecturing me now
> 10:27 pm: Right now

From: Unknown
> 10:27 pm: Not saying 
> 10:27 pm: Not because
> 10:27 pm: Not
> 10:27 pm: Not that I have anything against you or anything

From: Maki
> 10:28 pm: yes now
> 10:28 pm: uve been sending mixed signals for weeks
> 10:28 pm: and hes got good intentions 

From: Unknown
> 10:28 pm: But I know you don’t really like me
> 10:28 pm: Which is fine!!

From: Maki
> 10:28 pm: so maybe its fine hes getting all up in ur biz
> 10:28 pm: so u can get out of ur own ass
> 10:28 pm: finally

From: Unknown
> 10:28 pm: You don’t have too!!
> 10:28 pm: !
> 10:28 pm: But I think we should help each other 
> 10:28 pm: So we can pass it 

To: Unknown
> 10:29 pm: So you want to work together
> 10:29 pm: In person

> 10:29 pm: Yes!
> 10:29 pm: I think that’s probably the easiest 
> 10:29 pm: for us both

To: Panda
> 10:30 pm: He wants to do homework together

To: Maki
> 10:30 pm: He wants to do homework together

From: Panda
> 10:30 pm: Is that better or worse than killing you

From: Maki
> 10:30 pm: urg yuuta no
> 10:30 pm:ur intentions r too good

To: Panda
> 10:31 pm: We’re apparently partners for some project

To: Maki
> 10:31 pm: We’re apparently partners for some project

From: Unknown
> 10:32 pm: We should meet up soon to discuss this in more detail
> 10:32 pm: I know it’s not the most ideal thing

From: Maki
> 10:32 pm: ok honestly

From: Panda
> 10:32 pm: Okay honestly

From: Maki
> 10:32 pm: that does make what he said make some sense

From: Panda
> 10:32 pm: The best way to get ahold of you in that case

From: Maki
> 10:32 pm: probably good he got ur number from me

From: Panda
> 10:32 pm: WOULD be showing up at your door

From: Maki
> 10:32 pm: or he’d never corner u like this

From: Panda
> 10:32 pm: Maybe he had the right idea

From: Unknown
> 10:33 pm: And I don’t want to bother you at work so, would there be another time soon that works for you?

To: Panda
> 10:33 pm: Aren't you supposed to be on my side

To: Maki
> 10:33 pm: You’re getting added to a list of traitors 
> 10:33 pm: for the rest of your life

From: Unknown
> 10:34 pm: My schedule is sort of locked in but I’m willing to move some things around to fit yours

From: Maki
> 10:34 pm: does that mean i get to be on team yuuta then

From: Panda
> 10:34 pm: Im just tellin the truth

From: Maki
> 10:34 pm: thank god

From: Panda
> 10:34 pm: Starting to feel bad for the guy 

From: Maki
> 10:34 pm: sounds like much less of a headache

From: Panda
> 10:34 pm: Because you can't deal with that fact someone you thought might not be horrible found you maybe not horrible back

From: Unknown
> 10:34 pm: I know you work afternoons when I’m usually free

To: Panda
> 10:35 pm: First Maki and now YOU?

To: Maki
> 10:35 pm: You and Panda BOTH?

From: Unknown
> 10:35 pm: I work most evenings
> 10:35 pm: I don’t know how that works with your own free time 
> 10:35 pm: So just let me know

From: Panda
> 10:35 pm: RIP

From: Maki
> 10:35 pm: rip

From: Unknown
> 10:36 pm: And we can get everything going

To: Unknown
> 10:36 pm: I'm going insane

> 10:36 pm: Oh
> 10:36 pm: I’m sorry?
> 10:36 pm: Are you okay?

> 10:37 pm: wrong messaggffsgg

To: Panda
> 10:38 pm: I'm going INSANE

To: Maki
> 10:38 pm: I’m going INSANE

From: Unknown
> 10:38 pm: Is now a bad time?

From: Panda
> 10:38 pm: I think you should just try to work with him

From: Maki
> 10:38 pm: thats definitely on u

From: Unknown
> 10:38 pm: Or is there anything I can do to help?

From: Panda
> 10:38 pm: Even if it's just that

From: Maki
> 10:38 pm: just give him a chance goddamn

From: Unknown
> 10:39 pm: How are you going insane?
> 10:39 pm: Maybe that’s a weird thing to ask 
> 10:40 pm: Sorry
> 10:40 pm: I’m not super good at reading tone in text conversations

To: Unknown
> 10:42 pm: I’m fine
> 10:42 pm: I’ll check my schedule 
> 10:43 pm: and get back to you
> 10:43 pm: We can probably meet up early this week

> 10:43 pm: Great!
> 10:43 pm: Great!
> 10:44 pm: Thanks
> 10:44 pm: Looking forward to hearing back from you
> 10:44 pm: Hope you’re okay

> 10:45 pm: I’m fine
> 10:45 pm: Seriously

> 10:45 pm: I'm gonna save your number if that's alright

> 10:45 pm: Um
> 10:45 pm: Sure
> 10:45 pm: I’ll save yours too

> 10:46 pm: Of course
> 10:46 pm: Feel free
> 10:46 pm: Cool
> 10:46 pm: Cool
> 10:46 pm: Good night!

> 10:46 pm: Night

To: Panda
> 10:47 pm: Fine 
> 10:47 pm: I did it

To: Maki
> 10:47 pm: Alright
> 10:47 pm: I did it

From: Maki
> 10:48 pm: was that really so hard

To: Maki
> 10:48 pm:Yes

From: Panda
> 10:49 pm: Are your hands shaking
> 10:49 pm: Palms sweating

To: Panda
> 10:49 pm: A little
> 10:49 pm: Is that normal

> 10:50 pm: Wait really

Chapter Text

► Monday 

From: Inumaki
> 11:17 am: Hey

To: Inumaki
> 11:17 am: Hey!
> 11:18 am: Good morning
> 11:18 am: Technically 
> 11:18 am: I think it still counts as morning

> 11:19 am: Morning
> 11:20 am: Technically
> 11:21 am: So

> 11:22 am: So?

> 11:22 am: So
> 11:22 am: Getting back to you 
> 11:23 am: About the thing 

> 11:24 am: Ah!
> 11:24 am: Yeah
> 11:24 am: Thank you
> 11:24 am: That makes sense

> 11:25 am: I have a double shift at the library starting at noon today
> 11:25 am: But Tuesday is free

> 11:27 am: Oh um
> 11:27 am: Sorry
> 11:28 am: I know we have to get this done within a week
> 11:28 am: I know I said I could move stuff around but
> 11:29 am: I have a hard time finding people to cover on Tuesdays and Thursdays
> 11:29 am: Would Wednesday work?

> 11:31 am: Will have to close the library that night 
> 11:31 am: So if you can come around 6 then should be fine

> 11:32 am: It won’t be a problem that you’ll be working?

> 11:33 am: Mondays can be busy sometimes 
> 11:33 am: But Wednesdays and Fridays are usually dead
> 11:34 am: There’s like a 99% chance no one will even show up

> 11:34 am: Okay
> 11:35 am: I can drop my notes off today
> 11:35 am: If you’ll be there
> 11:35 am: Satoru doesn’t put lectures or materials online anywhere 

> 11:36 am: You don’t have to come by
> 11:36 am: I’ll give you my email
> 11:36 am: Just share your note doc with me
> 11:36 am: I’ll leave comments on it
> 11:37 am: Will be easier for both of us
> 11:37 am: Trust me

> 11:37 am: They’re on paper
> 11:38 am: I was going to give you my notebook

> 11:39 am: How old school of you
> 11:39 am: Isn’t typing faster?

> 11:40 am: Well yes
> 11:40 am: It would be
> 11:41 am: If I still had a computer

> 11:42 am: Oh

> 11:42 am: Yeah

> 11:42 am: Right

> 11:42 am: Yeah

> 11:43 am: A notebook sounds perfect
> 11:43 am: Come by any time

“Hey,” Yuuta said, preemptively, as he cleared the last few strides to the tech desk an hour or so after the text conversation had reached its natural stopping point. 

Despite the casualness of his suggestion to stop by and his (hopefully) apparent calmness in this exact moment, Yuuta had rattled through at least 20 different library-post-hallway-incident scenarios in his head as he walked over from his apartment.

He knew should probably explain himself in some way to Inumaki because, in retrospect, the whole situation had been kind of... weird on his part. (He didn’t want to say creepy, but that word also, tragically, unfortunately, fit. Why did that descriptor keep coming up with their interactions?)

But, like, how could he even start to explain ‘well, my kind-of-uncle who is also our teacher just happened to do something definitely illegal and gave me your address because despite the fact he’s a hardass he’s not above meddling in student affairs when he finds it particularly hilarious and I stupidly went along with it before I realized it was you’?

Maybe...maybe he could bring it up naturally somehow. 

Because that felt like something that could come up naturally… Sure.

After much mental back and forth, Yuuta ultimately decided that fretting was unproductive and useless and he had more pressing matters at hand: He needed to return to the library without giving himself an aneurysm, handoff his notes to Inumaki, and then leave keeping all the positive progress the two of them already made intact (as little as that might be).

He had managed step one at least.

Yuuta hadn’t really been able to see much more than the top of Inumaki’s head because of the high counter before his approach but now that he was standing in front of the desk, he noticed that Inumaki had a variety of computer parts strewn around in front of him. He had pulled his overly large sweatshirt sleeves up to the elbow and was tinkering with something box-shaped that had about 6 different cables sticking out of it in the other. It looked complex. And possibly broken. 

“If you’re in the middle of something I can--”

Inumaki blinked at him before quickly tossing the cable box over his shoulder which landed perfectly into a bin of other complex and possibly broken-looking parts behind him.

“--come back?" Yuuta finished then asked, "Was that important?"

Inumaki shook his head and an all too familiar anxiety began to creep up Yuuta's spine and Inumaki's lilac eyes met his own.

It had taken some thought, a lot of thought, but the best way Yuuta decided to describe this thing Inumaki did to him in these weird little one-on-one staring contests they always seem to lock into was a very, very unique flavor of casual intimidation. One that seemed to be particularly effective on Yuuta for… some reason he was never able to place.

Because it wasn't like Inumaki was directly doing anything right now that could be considered intimidating. There was just something about the way his gaze lingered that always made Yuuta feel more and more off kilter the longer it went on. 

His heart sped up, his hands got sweaty, and his brain stopped processing information entirely. It just always felt like Inumaki was daring him to... he didn’t know. Exist, maybe?

As he highly considered the option of just leaving, Yuuta thought back to his conversation with Fushiguro and the half hearted threat of bodily harm that should befall him if he followed through with that. (Although, honestly the knowledge that he would definitely be getting told off by Fushiguro in addition to the bodily harm was, in itself, far, far more threatening.) 

He decided to push forward with step two.

“Alright,” Yuuta shrugged his backpack off and pulled it up on the counter so he could easily access the contents, “So. Astronomy.”

Inumaki stood up and leaned forward. He also placed his hands on the counter, likely for balance and to hoist himself up just a little bit more. The action caused his big sleeves that had been rolled up to fall back down over his hands. With the way he was leaning over the counter, Yuuta wondered if he was also standing on his toes to get a better view. 

The action on the whole was far less intimidating than his usual air and far more… Well, something else Yuuta couldn't quite place. 

Maybe the next time he was feeling particularly intimidated, Yuuta could think about Inumaki standing on his tip-toes instead of focusing on how pretty his eyes were.

Wait. That wasn't right.

“Um,” Yuuta fumbled with the zipper, as soon as he realized he was just standing there doing absolutely nothing after calling direct attention to himself. Fantastic.

“Here,” He flipped a few things in his bag around before finally removing a thin blue notebook.

“I-I marked the relevant information when I was working through it myself so,” Yuuta continued as Inumaki leaned back on his feet behind the barrier, “Hopefully that will give you a place to start.”

Inumaki nodded, opening the notebook and flipping through a few pages.

“The paper is about black holes which I thought would be easy since it's like, one thing. And I kinda thought I knew what they were, you know big voids in space, but it's actually sort of complicated…” Yuuta continued, “I’ll cover everything in detail on Wednesday as long as you think it will still be okay for me to stop by when you’re working.” 

Inumaki nodded again, closing the notebook and placing it on the counter behind the desk.

“Cool. Then good luck with...” he looked back down at the confusing mess on the desk, “Whatever you’re doing.”

Yuuta was halfway to the elevator about to mentally celebrate successfully completing step three when suddenly he thought of something that could potentially solve their scheduling problems.

“Wait...” Yuuta turned back towards Inumaki, “What if you came to class tomorrow morning? I just realized that’s probably the only section of time that our schedules don’t overlap...considering...well…we’re in the same class. Not sure why I didn’t think about that...before...”

Yuuta wasn’t sure what the exact face Inumaki was making was given that, like always, half his face was covered by the mask he always wore, but no amount of imagining him on his tip-toes was going to make Yuuta feel like he hadn’t just suggested something the other thought was entirely unpleasant.

“Or don’t!” Yuuta backtracked immediately, “Whatever! Wednesday is still fine! Just look over the notes before then!”

► Tuesday

From: Inumaki
> 3:16 am: Your notes are crazy
> 3:17 am: And your handwriting is literally unreadable

It was sometime around 6:30 am when Yuuta squinted down at the text messages. He hadn’t yet sent a response. 

Yuuta had already been asleep when Inumaki texted him and he had woken up, as he did most mornings, in a grumpy haze, upset by the very concept of having to be awake. 

He looked at the message again.

For what was not the first time that morning he considered sending a snippy response back he knew he'd regret. 

Because, like, give him a break. It was hard as hell to write as fast as Satoru talked. Not like Inumaki would know since he hadn’t even bothered to show up to Satoru’s stupid class ever.

Arg, no… that… wasn’t… 

That’s not how he should be looking at the situation. Not how he wanted to be looking at the situation. 

Yuuta began mentally backtracking that entire series of thoughts as he shuffled around his kitchen and set his coffee pot to run before heading to the bathroom to take a shower.

Arg. He hated how his brain worked in the early morning. His own irritability irritated him which caused him to be even more irritable in a self-perpetuating and self-fulfilling, self-irritating cycle.

Yuuta had had less than stellar altercations before. None of which had come to, like actual fights per se ...as much as his one muscly coworker who always, always worked the morning shifts by choice and liked to push the exact buttons Yuuta hated having pushed might have wanted. 

It was one of the reasons Yuuta did his best to avoid talking to people before he was fully awake. Because he never failed to feel terrible about it a few hours later.

(And also another reason he did his best not to work mornings anymore.)

Yuuta took a big swig of coffee out of his thermos as he left his apartment and headed to Satoru’s class. He decided that, alright, Inumaki didn't need to show up to class today and meeting Wednesday was still going to work out because he was going to make sure they worked together and worked together well and maybe, just maybe, they could come out the other side of this whole situation not hating each other and hopefully passing… somehow. 

Positive progress Yuuta!

...God he wished he could go back to bed until he could figure out a response to Inumaki's text. Could he just leave him on read? Would that be acceptable? Probably not. He'd already opened it, so Inumaki could see that, right?

Yuuta was so distracted thinking about what constituted proper text etiquette that it took him a few moments to notice the large message plastered across the whiteboard at the front of the classroom.

Midterm Free Work Period - C U NEXT WEEK!!!

♡ Gojo

Yuuta squinted as he read the words again. Were teachers even allowed to decide to take absences just like that? 

Yuuta sighed. It must be nice to be Satoru, the one guy who rules could never stick to and more often than not seemed to define what felt like his own rules in every single situation ever. Yuuta only wished he could be on that same level. What did that kind of confidence feel like?

He slumped down in his desk chair. Alright well. If that's what this was going to be. He was going to take a few minutes to sit here, finish his coffee, and then figure out what to do next. Probably respond to that text. Yeah, he should still definitely do that...

Yuuta rubbed at his eyes, trying to banish the last bits of sleepiness from them. When they unblurred he was absolutely sure they had refocused incorrectly. Because standing in the doorway was what looked to be a blonde boy with a masked face wearing a huge hoodie. 

That was weird. 

And it was even weirder when Yuuta saw that he was b-lining straight towards him.

“You showed up,” Yuuta said, as Inumaki raised up a hand to greet him, still not entirely sure his eyes weren’t hallucinating... or out of focus... or just incredibly good at lying to his brain.

Inumaki looked at Yuuta, evaluating half-shoved into a corner desk before glancing around the rest of the room.

“No, there aren't any other seats," Yuuta responded, making an assumption of Inumaki's actions.

The blond then pointed at the desk and at Yuuta and then back at himself.

“Yeah so,” Yuuta explained, “The desk we share is kind of small.”

Inumaki raised an eyebrow, questioningly.

“Yes, share. It’s non-ideal.”

Inumaki dropped his bag on the ground next to Yuuta and circled around the side of the desk. Putting two hands on the outer end he pulled, but it refused to budge.

“Tried that, it's bolted down to the ground. Like the school’s afraid someone’s going to steal it or something," Yuuta motioned to the chair next to him, "The second chair is also stuck although it's not bolted in place.”

Inumaki circled back next to him to evaluate the chair situation. After a few moments, he tapped Yuuta on the side of his shoulder. Yuuta looked over at him, Inumaki looked back and repeated the motion.

“...Get up?”

Yuuta stood up and stood back. He watched curiously as Inumaki grabbed the chair, lifted his foot up to brace on the edge of the desk, and not so much pulled as YANKED in an attempt to unstick it. 

Inumaki pulled, once, twice, and finally a third time before standing back, crossing his arms and looking at the chair again.

Yuuta was ready to offer up his seat out of politeness and thankfulness that Inumaki even showed up when he was surprised to see a hand outstretched in his direction, like it wanted to be given something.

Inumaki angled his head up towards Yuuta, eyes looking for some sort of response. 

He couldn't be sure, because he was not even close to being a mind reader, but he did what made the most sense even if it didn’t really make sense to him at all. Yuuta tentatively placed his own hand on top of the outheld one.

Inumaki's hand shifted from resting under his to grabbing his wrist as he moved Yuuta's hand to the chair. Then Inumaki’s hand grabbed the part of the chair above where Yuuta’s hand was.

Oh. Together.

“Got it,” Yuuta confirmed, reaching around Inumaki's other side to achieve a full grip.

“Ready?" Yuuta asked, expecting a nod or something but Inumaki didn’t respond at all. He had all but stopped moving actually. Uh...

“Um,” Yuuta said, curiously, trying to tilt his head in a way to see his face, unsure for the sudden pause. "Inumaki?"

A few beats passed before Inumaki finally nodded in confirmation. 

"Okay, on three then."

Yuuta counted out and on three, he pulled and Inumaki pulled, pressing his back against Yuuta's chest as they attempted to pull together.

Yuuta hadn't exactly taken into account the position they were in but what he noticed right away was that Inumaki fit like, really, really well between his arms. He was just the right size, stacked together like this, nestled in a way that didn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable.

It was an oddly specific thought in this oddly specific situation due to an oddly specific set of circumstances.

Yuuta was also sure that if he tilted his head down his chin would brush against the top of his head. But that--wait, he was supposed to be pulling on the chair--

His train of thought was interrupted as the chair released with a small POP! and they both stagger backward. Inumaki immediately pushed himself off Yuuta, picked the freed chair up, and moved it around to the other side of the table. 

"That works…" Yuuta said, not even trying to hide his surprise, retaking his own seat.

Now seated, Inumaki ruffled through his own backpack, pulled Yuuta’s notebook out, and held it out to him.

Ah. Right. The notes. Yuuta took the notebook back, trying to refocus on the task at hand.

He had tutored people before.

Well, he’d tutored Fushiguro before. 

Back in high school. 

Once. 

Because Fushiguro had requested it. 

So he could probably go over something like a semester's worth of material in a few hours. 

...Easy, right?

“Well since you couldn't read anything, let me start explaining, well... everything.”

Yuuta opened his notebook and was more than a little surprised to see the few pages he had marked out as relevant to their project littered with a variety of different sticky notes akin to the ones Inumaki used at the library.

Some had questions: black holes can just eat stars? like for breakfast?

A few had additional asks for clarification: singularity means one (single), but also means infinity here? confused

A few were just offhanded comments: event horizon sounds lame, point of no return sounds ominous as hell they should just call it that

There was even a sticky note with a little drawing of spaghetti next to the section about spaghettification that read: are you absolutely sure this isn’t about noodles?  

Yuuta raised an eyebrow curiously at Inumaki, “…I thought you said my handwriting sucked.”

The blonde boy reached forward and flipped a few of the pages to a portion of the notes that contained some of the more complex and, arguably, stupider mathematical equations Satoru had covered. Yuuta had sort of just written them down in a flurry, but, admittedly, hardly understood them himself. 

All the sticky notes on these pages just had differently sized ???’s on them.

“Ah. That.” That absolutely made sense. Looking at his hectic scribbles again, he supposed they were kind of unreadable...

“Trust me, I am also mostly,” Yuuta tapped one of the ??? notes. Inumaki raised an eyebrow at him. “But I think I can give you a general idea of everything without going too deep into that part...hopefully.”

Inumaki nodded before putting both his elbows on the table and resting his head in his hands.

Yuuta flipped back to one of the earlier pages and stopped on one of Inumaki’s notes that read: i think im the one about to experience stellar death rn tbh

“Let’s start here.”

► Wednesday

Yuuta arrived the next day at the library feeling a whole lot better about the entire situation. They had gone over most of what Yuuta had wanted to cover AND there had been no major conversational missteps... even if Inumaki still hadn’t actually said a single word. 

They were on a good track. Yuuta felt good about it. It was good!

He exited the elevator to the third floor and was just about to announce himself when a loud, hectic flurry of energy pushed in front of him having just arrived on the floor by running at what seemed to be full speed up the stairwell.

“Muta I--” Miwa stopped in her tracks next to the desk counter, suddenly realizing the person there was not who she was expecting them to be, “O-Oh! Sorry, Inumaki and…” She turned back to look at Yuuta as if finally registering him for the first time, “O-Okkotsu?”

“Miwa, hi,” Yuuta said kindly, regaining his own footing and clearing the last few steps across the floor to stand next to her. “Is everything alright?”

“No!” She responded a bit too loudly with the cheeriest smile on her face that didn’t mask her underlying panic in the slightest. “I was going too-- I need--”

Inumaki snapped his fingers and both their heads turned towards him. He pointed directly at Miwa before making a give it here hand motion.

“Y-yeah!” She responded, opening up the laptop she was clutching far too tightly in her arms and putting it on the counter. Inumaki stood up to get a better look at it.

“I’ll just...leave you two be for now,” Yuuta said, starting to feel just a bit awkward and also not wanting to do anything to upset Miwa further.

Inumaki flashed Yuuta a quick thumbs up before turning back towards Miwa who started rambling at him in distress.

“So I somehow accidentally deleted the ENTIRE file library for my accounting class and I also think that there’s something wrong with my web browser since it keeps doing this weird thing where…”

Yuuta felt his phone buzz. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw a text from Inumaki on the screen.

From: Inumaki
> 6:16 pm:  So I hadn’t accounted for a Miwa incident
> 6:16 pm: This happens sometimes
> 6:16 pm: Impossible to predict when

Yuuta looked back over at the desk and saw Inumaki reaching up to the counter and clicking on Miwa’s computer as she fretted and fretted, pointing at the screen as he worked in a way that Yuuta felt was probably the exact opposite of helpful. 

He had no idea when Inumaki could have sent the text but Yuuta’s mouth gave a small smile and he sent a response back.

To: Inumaki
> 6:20 pm: This might come as a surprise
> 6:20 pm: But I absolutely understand

> 6:23 pm: Ha 
> 6:23 pm: Hopefully it won’t take too long
> 6:24 pm: Will come find u when this is over

> 11:25 pm: Good luck

It was maybe two hours later when Inumaki finally approached Yuuta.

“All done?” Yuuta asked, turning away from the computer to face him.

Inumaki’s shoulders fell and he looked back with eyes that looked like they’d seen the edge of sanity.  He held up a small, shaky thumbs up in the most exhausted-looking affirmation Yuuta had ever seen. 

He looked...the only word Yuuta could come up with was frazzled.

Yuuta should have stopped himself. He absolutely should have stopped himself. But the expression on Inumaki’s face was just enough to send him over the edge.

He snorted.

“I-- You just--” Yuuta said quickly, “Your face--” 

Yuuta tried to stifle another snort as it escaped anyway. 

Inumaki's eyes widened in shock then immediately flattened out in annoyance. He crossed his arms and kicked the leg of Yuuta’s chair.

“Sorry!” Yuuta said quickly as he felt the chair wobble from the vibration of the impact, “I’ve never seen you look like-- it’s just really different. For you--”

Inumaki's expression remained unimpressed. Yuuta could feel another kick coming his way so he took a deep breath and did his best to regain his composure.

“She’s nice at least,” Yuuta offered.

Inumaki half-rolled his eyes in a way that wasn’t completely dismissive of that statement as he sat down at the computer station next to Yuuta. 

“So I printed out the paper while you were busy. I can email you this file if you want since it's the only thing that I’ve got that’s really, well, digital." He handed a few printouts and some larger sheets of sketch paper over to Inumaki. 

"And here’s some accompanying drawings for the project. They’re not great as I’m not really much of an artist. But there needs to be a report and a visual element, it was the best I could do.” 

Inumaki shuffled through them. Turning a few left, then right questioningly.

“These are just quick redraws since Satoru has the other copies and I have not been able to find him anywhere on campus…” Yuuta said, “Do you think you could come up with something better? I think that might be collaborative enough to count.”

Inumaki looked through the pile Yuuta had handed him for a few more moments before he flipped one of the drawings over and scribbled a few words.

I have an idea. 

Will show you tomorrow.

► Thursday

Yuuta didn’t know exactly what to expect when he sat down in Satoru’s class the next morning, but for the first time in probably the entire semester, he was looking forward to it. 

Not only did it seem like they were going to finish the project on time, Inumaki might not actually hate him like he had long suspected. Yuuta would go so far as to say that Inumaki tolerated him. 

(Like him might be going too far… but Yuuta would honestly take tolerate.)

Except as the time ticked away and he looked at the empty chair opposite him, Yuuta began to wonder if maybe he had misunderstood something or ...everything?

He looked at his phone. He had no new messages. So he sent one of his own.

To: Inumaki
> 9:07 am: Are you coming today?

No response came. No response came for hours.

It was well into the afternoon when Yuuta finally felt his phone buzz.

From: Inumaki
> 2:49 pm: I overslept

Yuuta frowned. He supposed it was an excuse, even if it didn't feel like a good excuse. 

It was almost 3 pm? 

To: Inumaki
> 2:52 pm: That might be a bit of an understatement

> 2:53 pm: Where are you?

> 2:53 pm: Thursday
> 2:53 pm: Work
> 2:53 pm: I had mentioned that

> 2:54 pm: Oh

> 2:53 pm: Yeah 
> 2:53 pm: Can’t really talk now
> 2:53 pm: We can figure something out tomorrow

> 2:54 pm: Um
> 2:54 pm: Yeah
> 2:54 pm: Tomorrow then

► Friday

Yuuta sat down at one of the desks on the third floor well into the evening. He hadn't intended on showing up this late. He just hadn't rushed was all. Despite the mess he had to work through with Inumaki, Yuuta still had other things to do.

Nearly immediately after he sat down, Inumaki pulled out the seat next to him and placed something on the desk. He quickly pushed it towards Yuuta.

Yuuta looked down at the offering curiously, surprised at both the quickness of Inumaki's approach and the unexpectedness of being given, well anything.

The object in question was a takeaway cup. 

Yuuta picked it up and turned it around in his hands. There was a green sticky note attached to the back that read: this gross but you like it right?

...What?

Yuuta popped the lid off and looked at the liquid inside. 

“Coffee,” he said in confirmation as much for himself as for Inumaki as he looked over at the blonde.

Inumaki, who had been watching Yuuta intently, quickly looked away. This was probably the first time he hadn't chosen to maintain eye contact.

Yuuta couldn't exactly tell but it almost looked like Inumaki felt… bad?  

Yuuta raised his eyebrows as it clicked in his head.

This was an attempt at an apology. 

"You know… It's sort of late to drink coffee." Yuuta said, half in amusement, half in disbelief.

The blonde boy shifted his posture ever, ever so slightly but still didn't look up. As uncomfortable as it was to have Inumaki gaze constantly on at him when they were together, it was definitely more uncomfortable when he actively avoided looking at him at all.

“But,” Yuuta relented, putting the lid back on. “I guess it is Friday.”

He took a tentative sip. The coffee was cold and it had probably been sitting around for a few hours given the library was close to closing, so it wasn't exactly fresh but he knew drinking it was more of a gesture than anything. 

Although man, it was really not good. Where did he get this? The cafeteria?

“Thanks,” Yuuta said, turning to Inumaki with his best smile, hoping that signified his acceptance of the apology. “So you have something to show me?"

Inumaki put a laptop onto the table that Yuuta assumed was his own, given how much well… nicer it looked than any of the other ones he'd seen him work on at the library.

He clicked a few times, loaded something up, and turned the computer toward Yuuta.

He hit a button and Yuuta watched the screen light up and then tried to load something... before flashing once and then displaying a small error message.

"Um," Yuuta said as nicely as possible, "I don't think it’s working."

Inumaki turned the computer back towards himself and huffed in frustration. Literally huffed in frustration. 

Yuuta’s eyes widened. He was pretty sure that was the first actual sound he’d ever heard Inumaki make. 

Like legitimate, real, actual sound. He hadn't so much as coughed before as far as Yuuta could recall.

“Can you fix it?”

Inumaki typed a few words before turning the computer towards Yuuta again. 

Not here.

“Okay,” Yuuta said, understanding, “If you need to leave I just give me a few minutes to do a few things before you lock u--”

But before he could finish, Inumaki reached over and hit three or four buttons on the keyboard in quick succession, which did...something, but all Yuuta saw was the computer he had been hoping to use start to shut down.

“Hey--” He began but Inumaki had already started walking back towards the tech desk. He opened the door on the side and began rustling around behind the counter. One hand popped up behind it holding up a cord, then a second hand popped up holding up a very, very small laptop, then Inumaki’s head poked up behind the counter last of all. He put the charger on top of the laptop and held both out towards Yuuta.

Yuuta blinked. 

Was he...was he giving him this laptop? 

“Are you allowed to do that?”

Inumaki looked to the left, then to the right, then looked back at Yuuta tilting his head. Yuuta mimicked the motion. The floor was completely empty aside from the two of them.

Yuuta could be sure, but the sentiment of No one is here and No one will know seemed to fit. 

“But isn’t that... stealing?”

Inumaki rolled his eyes and motioned back to the desk, an action Yuuta interpreted as I’ll bring it back.

“Okay...” Yuuta said, taking the loaner computer and power cord out and tucking them securely under his arm, still not entirely sure this was a good idea but not really sure how to offer an alternative. “As long as you won’t get in trouble.”

Inumaki flashed him a thumbs up before ducking back behind the desk to gather up his own things. He seemed wholly unconcerned so Yuuta decided it was probably advantageous to do his best to be unconcerned as well.

Yuuta found being unconcerned increasingly difficult as the two of themleft library and walked across campus in an eerily familiar direction. He was following Inumaki's lead, but he had a growing suspicion he knew where they were going... and his suspicions were all but immediately confirmed when they stopped in front of the door that Yuuta had knocked on about a week ago. 

Inumakis door. 

Inumakis apartment door.

Yuuta watched the blonde pull out his keys and begin to unlock the door, far less hastily last time.

“Are you sure you--” Yuuta started to say but Inumaki popped the door open, stepped inside, turned back to look at Yuuta directly in the eyes for about .5 seconds before he slammed the door in his face for a second time.

Yuuta blinked, completely dumbfounded. He was not even sure how to begin to process what just happened. 

A moment later, the door cracked open and Inumaki’s eye peered out at him, curiously.

“You--” Yuuta started but couldn’t find the words. 

Inumaki pushed the door open a little wider, then a little wider, eventually holding it all the way open for him. 

This action wasn't coming off as aggressive or angry, it was...

“You're joking,” He concluded, “You’re literally making a joke. About that. Really? ”

Inumaki raised one eyebrow and then slowly started closing the door in the same manner he had opened it.

“No, no, no! Wait,” Yuuta quickly reached his hand out to stop it, “Wait.”

“Hilarious,” Yuuta huffed out a sigh and smiled. He then decided now was probably the most relevant time to say something, “Sorry about that whole situation by the way. Outside your place-- here, I guess. I didn’t mean to come off as…” He trailed off, not wanting to say it, “If you want to talk about it later, or have me talk at you about it, whatever, we can. Just please don't slam a door in my face again. I might have a heart attack.” 

Inumaki eyed him one last time before he made a come in head tilt and stepped to the side. That was as much of a welcome as Yuuta expected to get.

“Thanks for having me,” Yuuta said as he stepped over the threshold and entered Inumaki's apartment. 

It was a modest living space, not too small but not something that would be considered big either. It kind of reminded Yuuta of his own apartment. There was a small kitchen, a larger room with a futon with a small table in front of it, and two other doors that Yuuta assumed led to a bathroom and a bedroom. There was also some large computer set up in the corner that was bigger than anything Yuuta had seen. It had...4 screens? Wasn’t that kind of excessive? Didn’t he also have a laptop?

Inumaki moved over to the futon, quickly gathering up a few pieces of clothes that were littered about on it into his arms before disappearing into what Yuuta assumed to be the bedroom. Yuuta thumbed his shoes off at the door and sat down on the now clear futon assuming that was where he was meant to be.

The blonde reemerged a few minutes later sans one of his normal, oversized hoodies Yuuta was so accustomed to him wearing, instead wearing slim joggers and a more fitted t-shirt.

It was a very different silhouette than Yuuta was used to. 

Inumaki sort of existed as a bit of a short, baggy circle in Yuuta's mind mostly because of his usual fashion choices. It never looked bad, that’s just, sort of the shape he always was. Yuuta had actually assumed he might be a bit scrawny under all that fabric being as short as he was, but Yuuta could now see that was incorrect. 

Inumaki was slim but definitely not scrawny, lean muscles clearly defined in his arms and calves given the now more visible fit of his clothing.

It made Yuuta think back to the impressive chair dislodging they’d managed to accomplish and wondered if maybe he went to the gym with Maki sometimes too…? He was pretty sure typing on computers couldn’t give you that sort of muscle definition.

Why was Inumaki always hiding under some huge hoodie that made him look like a blob? Was he self conscious? Inumaki looked… well, good right now. There wasn’t a need for him to feel self-conscious at all.

Could he be reassuring? Say something like: You wear your clothing a million sizes too big all the time but I wanted you to know that you look really, really good in tighter shirts and you could definitely wear more of them if you wante-- wait, wait, no, no, no that was the wrong train of thought and implied the wrong--

Inumaki snapped his fingers a few inches in front of Yuuta’s face, which jolted Yuuta back to reality. The blond tilted his head questioningly.

Yuuta realized he had been staring again. Why did he always end up staring!?

“Y-your shirt,” Yuuta offered quickly as his brain desperately tried to start back up again.

Inumaki looked down at the shirt he was wearing and pulled on it slightly, perhaps trying to see if something might be on it. Yuuta had admittedly not even processed what shirt he had changed into, but focusing on it now, it seemed to be the same cute cartoon panda Yuuta remembered from his phone screen and his keys. Probably some franchise he was a fan of? A cartoon or something? Did he watch cartoons? That was sort of cute in its own right...

“Nevermind. It’s nothing.”

Inumaki’s eyes flicked back up to him for a few seconds before he turned away and moved across the room to sit down at the large computer. Yuuta got up and followed him.

He pulled his legs up to his chest and put his feet on the chair as he grabbed the mouse and started moving things around the screen.

“Is that comfortable?” Yuuta asked.

Inumaki opened another window that looked like some other editor window with some jumble of code Yuuta absolutely didn’t understand, typed a few things then hit a button, and the same type of computer window he had seen on the laptop opened.

“Whoa.”

It was some sort of simulation. Like a wholeass computer program.

“You made this?” Yuuta asked, impressed. 

Inumaki looked up at Yuuta and gave a small thumbs up.

"What! When? It can't have been Wednesday night?” 

Inumaki shrugged nonchalantly. Yuuta had no idea how many hours something like that could have taken. The oversleeping thing suddenly made a lot more sense.

“That’s cool, that’s really... cool.”

Inumaki clicked on another and the circular motion started to swirl before a window popped up with an error message and the entire simulation crashed again. 

Inumaki vocally huffed a second time, swiveling his chair back towards the screen that had the code window as he started typing again.

“So how do you--” Yuuta began to ask then stopped himself as Inumaki halted his typing and looked up at him. Yuuta realized at that moment he had almost become his own kind of Miwa-flavored incident. 

“Actually, just show me when you're done, okay? I’ll be over here.”

He moved back over to the futon, opened the small loaner laptop, and decided he would do his best to be as unobtrusive as possible.

► … Saturday?

Yuuta blinked.

The coffee was definitely starting to wear off.

As he squinted at the small screen, unable to even read the display in the corner to see what AM hour it was.

He’d been sitting on Inumaki’s futon for more than a few hours at this point. The blonde had not really moved an inch from the computer in the corner and Yuuta was beginning to wonder if he had been forgotten about. 

Maybe he could just… close his eyes and fall asleep right here. Yuuta wondered what would happen. Probably nothing, right? This futon was pretty comfortable.

He blinked again, slower this time. As tempting as that sounded, he knew should probably go. He should probably leave befor...

“--ey--”

...Whose voice was that? He'd never heard that voice before. Usually, the voices in his head were like, moderately familiar echoes he could attribute to Fushiguro or Rika... This...This wasn’t either of them? Hey mystery voice, what were you doing here?

“--ke up--”

This voice was really quiet too. Like, what was that? He didn’t quite catch--

Suddenly, Yuuta felt a sharp pain. Actually, it was two sharp pains. On both sides of his face. 

Ow, ow, ow--!

Yuuta’s eyes shot open and he saw Inumaki hovering over him. It took about two seconds for him to realize that it was Inumaki who was causing him the pain he was feeling.

He was pinching his cheeks. And he was pinching them hard.

“Ah--” Yuuta said, eyes squeezing closed as Inumaki switched from pinching to pulling on his face before letting go and leaning back. 

Yuuta’s hands moved up to rub his now stinging cheeks as soon as they were free. He squinted his eyes open and looked up at Inumaki. 

Inumaki, for the first time Yuuta had ever seen, looked tired. And Yuuta, realized, was definitely overstaying his welcome. How long was he out? What the hell time was it? Oh god, he should really go.

“I think I fell asleep,” Yuuta said slowly and obviously as he lumbered up to his feet, trying to focus on not falling back down on his ass as he staggered around the futon towards the door. “I’m gonna go.”

He felt an arm grab him but he shrugged it off, not even looking back, “No, I’m gonna go.”

“Thanks for...Thanks,” Yuuta said with a yawn before looking back at Inumaki one more time with a very sleepy smile before he walked out the door into the brisk morning.

To: Inumaki
> 4:07 am: I made it home 
> 4:07 am: Sorry for falling asleep like that
> 4:08 am: I woke up a little in the cold on the way home
> 4:08 am: That’s really unlike me

From: Inumaki
> 4:09 am: You sleep like a rock
> 4:09 am: Also
> 4:09 am: You left your shoes here
> 4:09 am: And 
> 4:09 am: You drooled on my futon
> 4:09 am: Noticed it after you left
> 4:09 am: It’s pretty gross

> 4:10 am: I
> 4:10 am: Oh my god 
> 4:10 am: I’ mso srry

> 4:11 am: I’m kidding
> 4:11 am: Well not about the shoes part

> 4:12 am: I was about to pass out from exhaustion
> 4:12 am: Now I think I might pass out from embarrassment

> 4:13 am: Even if you had drooled it would have been fine

> 4:13 am: You can’t mean that

> 4:14 am: Maybe
> 4:14 am: But really
> 4:14 am: Your shoes
> 4:14 am: Did you not notice

> 4:15 am: I
> 4:16 am: Didn’t
> 4:16 am: I was too focused on getting home

> 4:17 am: That’s some focus
> 4:17 am: Seriously your feet

> 4:18 am: I wear warm socks?
> 4:18 am: I don’t know

> 4:19 am: You’re so weird

> 4:19 am: Would you believe I'm trying incredibly hard not to be weird

> 4:20 am: Yes
> 4:20 am: And you fail spectacularly
> 4:20 am: But
> 4:20 am: I’ll leave your shoes outside my place 
> 4:20 am: So you can grab them whenever

> 4:21 am: I’ll get them tomorrow
> 4:21 am: Today
> 4:21 am: I guess

> 4:22 am: Glad you aren’t in a ditch somewhere

> 4:22 am: Thank you
> 4:23 am: Good night
> 4:23 am: Whatever's left of it

> 4:25 am: Ha yeah
> 4:25 am: Night

Yuuta made his way back to Inumaki’s apartment late the next morning. As Inumaki had said, his shoes were sitting outside the door with a note attached that read: your feet are huge wtf

Yuuta looked down at his own feet, back at the note, and smiled slightly to himself. He flipped it over and pulled a pen out of his bag and wrote back: Yours are just small before slipping it back under the door.

► Sunday

From: Inumaki
> 12:06 pm: I see you got your shoes

To: Inumaki
> 12:07 pm: Yes! 
> 12:07 pm: Thank you!
> 12:07 pm: What you did is really cool by the way
> 12:07 pm: I meant to say that yesterday

> 12:08 pm: Uh thanks
> 12:08 pm: I know you didn’t actually see the finished version
> 12:08 pm: Before sleepwalking out
> 12:08 pm: But it's done

> 12:08 pm: I trust you!

> 12:10 pm: Do you need anything else?

Yuuta wondered if he could ask to come over again but immediately hesitated as his finger hovered over his phone keyboard.

What sort of reason did he have to walk 20 minutes across campus for? He had done the loop twice yesterday. And homework wasn’t even a viable excuse since he had just said he trusted Inumaki’s work. Which he did, for the record. 

To: Inumaki
> 12:12 pm: No I don't think so
> 12:12 pm: Just meet me at Satoru’s office next week for the presentation
> 12:13 pm: Since there is no class

From: Inumaki
> 12:15 pm: Alright

○○○

Inumaki stood next to Yuuta. He had returned to his baggy, circular form. They were in a lounge area near one of Satoru's (many??) departmental offices. Their teacher in question was reclining on a comfortable-looking chair in front of a table, dark glasses on, grin on his face.

“Well here’s the paper and um,” Yuuta handed Satoru the report and Inumaki stepped forward and opened his laptop. 

“Ah the mystery kid,” Satoru said with a grin. “Was wondering if Yuuta’d actually get you to show your face... although maybe he wasn’t exactly successful with that.”

Inumaki’s eyes shot over from what he was doing and to Satoru for just a split second, absolutely picking up on the joke at his expense. 

“Nothing to say, eh,” Satoru proded again, cheery disposition unwavering. “Whatever then, show me what you’ve got.”

Inumaki clicked a button and loaded up the program.

The simulation started, a very pretty space scene appeared and then a black hole swirled into view in the center.

It looked better than the version Inumaki had shown Yuuta last week.

“He made this,” Satoru looked over at Yuuta. “From your incomprehensible little doodles?”

“Yeah, he d--wait, incomprehensible?” Yuuta responded but Satoru's attention had shifted back to the computer.

“So,” Satoru said expectantly to Inumaki, “What does it do?”

Inumaki moused over to a button and, instead of crashing this time, a small image gallery opened and he loaded an image of a star into it. 

He repeated the process with a large graphic of a spaceship, then a planet, then a stock person. Each of them comically flung into the center of the simulation and then stretched and distorted as they disappeared into the black hole in the center. It was actually pretty impressive to watch. And it matched Yuuta’s report pretty accurately.

“Hold on, hold on, hold on. Do Yaga next.”

Inumaki turned his head towards Satoru and knit his eyebrows together like he was sure he hadn’t heard him correctly because there was no way that kind of request could be serious. But after a few silent, expectant moments that gave the impression that Satoru was not going to repeat himself and that he was being absolutely serious, Inuamki tabbed out of the program to the web browser and typed in the school principal's name, and downloaded the first image that came up.

He updated the image in the program and ran the simulation again.

The image of Yaga distorted in a weird and then comedic way before ultimately stretching thin and swirling into the middle of the black hole, eventually disappearing out of existence.

“Ha!” Satoru exclaimed loudly with joy. “Fantastic, this is the best project I've seen yet.”

“R-really?” Yuuta said, not hiding his surprise.

Satoru looked away from the screen back up at both of them.

"Well I mean your math is astronomically off and this is incredibly unrealistic and overall I think it doesn’t quite hit the mark, but still...” Satoru reached over and hit a button on Inumaki’s laptop that sent the image of Yaga swirling into the center of the screen again. “Best project yet!"

“You,” Satoru said, pulling his glasses down to look Inumaki directly in the eyes with his own. “Are very interesting.”

Yuuta watched Inumaki stiffen. Inumaki’s stare might still be the most effective one on Yuuta personally, but no one could deny that Satoru was on another level entirely when it came to mastering the intimidating gaze. It was probably one of the many reasons he managed to live his life in the way he did. Seeing Inumaki out of his element here was well… different.

“C’mere a second, I want to talk with you.”

“Wait, he doesn’t--” Yuuta started to say in protest but Satoru quickly pulled Inumaki into his office and shut the door behind them before Yuuta could even get a full sentence out. “--really do that.”

Yuuta could hear voices from the other side of the door. Well, he could hear Satoru's voice. 

It sounded positive enough, he didn’t seem to be telling Inumaki off or anything but Yuuta couldn't tell what he was saying but it just kept going. And going. And going. 

As far as Yuuta could tell, Inumaki was not offering anything conversationally in response, even if Satoru kept going on and responding as he had. Maybe Satoru was just… really, really good at conversing with himself. Hopefully, Inumaki was okay...

“Alright here you go Yuuta, you can have him back,” Satoru announced loudly, some 20 minutes later as his office door swung open and he shoved Inumaki back out of it with a single push.

Inumaki staggered forward a few steps and Yuuta instinctively reached out to catch him.

“See you both around very soon!” Satoru called as he slammed his door closed again.

Yuuta asked as he looked down at Inumaki in his arms. He looked dazed, but Yuuta was glad that he was ultimately still in one piece.

“You okay?” Yuuta asked sympathetically as Inumaki regained his footing, untangled himself from Yuuta’s arms, and stood back on his own feet. “Satoru can be...a lot.”

Inumaki nodded and held up a now slightly crumpled piece of paper he had clutched in one of his hands. Written in a bright blue pen were the words: You Pass… But Just Barely! along with a scribbled winking smiley face.

○○○

The rest of the week was incredibly boring. Which was honestly perfect. A few of Yuuta’s other exams even felt easy. He had just flopped down on his bed, done (god what a wonderful word) with all of his midterms, ready to spend the afternoon doing absolutely nothing for once when he felt his phone buzz.

From: Maki
> 12:07 pm: yuutaaa
> 12:07 pm: come over this weekend

He smiled at the message.

To: Maki
> 12:07 pm: Having a thing?

From: Maki
> 12:07 pm: god
> 12:07 pm: yes
> 12:07 pm: finally
> 12:07 pm: we haven't had ppl over in like 3 weeks
> 12:07 pm: im dying

> 12:07 pm: Haha alright
> 12:07 pm: I could come over
> 12:07 pm: Celebrating would be fun

> 12:07 pm: projects or whatever go well for u then

> 12:07 pm: Yes!
> 12:07 pm: Very!

> 12:07 pm: cool
> 12:07 pm: drag toge along too

> 12:07 pm: I assume you'd be inviting him yourself…?

> 12:07 pm: o he blocked me

> 12:07 pm: What?
> 12:07 pm: Really?
> 12:07 pm: Why?

> 12:07 pm: it happens

> 12:07 pm: It happens???

> 12:07 pm: dw he’ll get over it
> 12:07 pm: but still
> 12:07 pm: plz grab him 4 me

> 12:07 pm: I guess
> 12:07 pm: I guess I could do that

> 12:07 pm: fantastic
> 12:07 pm: saturday @ 9
> 12:07 pm: bring smth strong

Chapter Text

To: Inumaki

> 7:17 pm: Hey
> 7:18 pm: Um 
> 7:18 am: Question
> 7:18 pm: What are you up to this weekend?

From: Inumaki

> 7:19 pm: Answer
> 7:19 pm: Not sure yet
> 7:19 pm: Why are you asking?

> 7:20 pm: Well Maki’s throwing a party

> 7:20 pm: That sounds like her

> 7:20 pm: And asked me to bring you along

> 7:21 pm: Ah

> 7:21 pm: Do you want to go?

> 7:21 pm: So you’re asking for Maki?

> 7:22 pm: I also think it could be
> 7:22 pm: Um
> 7:22 pm: Fun? 
> 7:22 pm: To go?

> 7:23 pm: So you’re not asking for Maki?

> 7:23 pm: I am both asking and not asking for Maki
> 7:23 pm: Technically

> 7:24 pm: Technically
> 7:24 pm: I see

> 7:24 pm: See?

> 7:25 pm: See what's happening here

> 7:25 pm: Do you?

> 7:25 pm: You’re just the messenger

> 7:26 pm: Um 
> 7:26 pm: Okay
> 7:26 pm: Not exactly the impression I wanted to give

> 7:27 pm: No?
> 7:27 pm: What were you hoping for then?

> 7:28 pm: How about this
> 7:28 pm: What if we walked over to the party together
> 7:28 pm: So I don’t have to go searching for you in every secluded corner of Maki’s house
> 7:28 pm: Because I think I’d probably end up doing that anyway

> 7:30 pm: That
> 7:30 pm: I

> 7:31 pm: Was that too direct?

> 7:32 pm: You
> 7:32 pm: You’re still assuming I was going to go to the party

> 7:33 pm Were you not?

> 7:33 pm: Maybe I wasn’t

> 7:33 pm: No?

> 7:33 pm: Isn’t that why Maki is asking you to ask me?

> 7:34 pm: I’m technically the one asking

> 7:34 pm: Technically

> 7:34 pm: Yes
> 7:34 pm: I’m asking if you were going to go
> 7:34 pm: I’m asking if you want to go
> 7:34 pm: Me

> 7:35 pm: Why?

> 7:36 pm: So I don’t have to find 
> 7:36 pm: some other short guy 
> 7:36 pm: In an oversized hoodie to talk at

> 7:36 pm: Short??

> 7:36 pm: Would you believe
> 7:36 pm: They’re kind of hard to find?
> 7:36 pm: And I already know you so
> 7:36 pm: Do you want to go?

> 7:37 pm: Well

> 7:37 pm: Well?

> 7:38 pm: Since
> 7:38 pm: There’s really nothing else to do this weekend
> 7:38 pm: So 

> 7:38 pm: So?

> 7:38 pm: So 

> 7:39 pm: Is that a yes?

> 7:39 pm: I would say
> 7:39 pm: That it’s maybe 
> 7:39 pm: A yes

> 7:40 pm: Only maybe?

> 7:40 pm: Yes
> 7:40 pm: Fine
> 7:40 pm: Yes
> 7:40 pm: It’s a yes

> 7:41 pm: :)

> 7:42 pm: But you’re buying the alcohol

“Maki said to bring something strong. I mostly buy beer or drink whatever’s available. What do you think counts as strong?”

They had stopped at the local grocery store on their way over to Maki’s. It was small but mostly catered to students as it was one of the only places near the campus that had an extensive alcohol selection. 

Yuuta had picked up Inumaki from his place, even if it was a little out of the way. It realistically made more sense to meet at the store, but Inumaki had opened his door after Yuuta knocked once and greeted him with a small friendly wave that Yuuta already felt made the bit of extra walking worth it.

For the first time since, well, Yuuta’s first party disaster, the two of them were planning to exist in the same space without any sort of preamble. They were doing something together. By their own choice. Not because they had to, not because they needed to, but because they both wanted to. 

(Yuuta hoped it was both, anyway.)

It felt… good. But also different. And a little weird. But also normal? Differently goodly weirdly normal. Like something people just did. Like… friendship? Maybe?

Inumaki bent down and looked over a few bottles before reaching into the back of the shelf and pulling a bottle out. He looked it over before handing it up to Yuuta.

“Inumaki,” Yuuta said, turning the bottle around in his hands, “The alcohol content of this one is almost 100%.”

Inumaki blinked once before simply staring blankly up at him.

“I know I said strong but,” Yuuta said, mouth quirking up into a small smile before holding it back out towards him, “Even I know that’s way too strong. I don't even think you're supposed to drink this.”

Inumaki rolled his eyes but put the bottle back. A few moments of consideration later he held up a different bottle. Yuuta looked this one over. There was nothing egregious about it. Decently alcoholic. Easy to mix with everything. There was even a nice-looking label.

“This looks...fine,” Yuuta concluded and then immediately had a second identical bottle thrust into his hands. “Two?”

Inumaki stood back up, pointed to Yuuta then pointed to himself and held up two fingers. Two.

“Alright… two.”

Yuuta walked over to the register to pay, Inumaki walked past him and out the sliding door to lean against the window outside. 

Yuuta saw the blonde pull out his phone and start to type something. Maybe he was texting Maki, telling her they were on their way, although… wait… Given the situation, it probably wasn’t Maki.

Yuuta had had sort of assumed Inumaki’s social circle was as small, if not smaller than his own given his penchant to interact exclusively with Maki and Maki only. But in this moment, seeing him type, pause, and type again, Yuuta realized he didn't actually know … 

“Texting someone?” Yuuta asked, stepping past the automatic door into the brisk fall air, holding the two bottles in a paper bag.

As soon as the question left Yuuta’s mouth, Inumaki’s finger moved lightning-fast and clicked the screen off, and tilted the phone down, away from Yuuta's eyes.

“Sorry,” Yuuta said, apologetically as Inumaki shoved his phone back into his pocket. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

Inumaki looked up at him. Yuuta felt like he had to say something else.

“Um... will they be at the party?”

Inumaki shook his head slightly. 

“Unfortunate,” Yuuta said, not really feeling like it was that unfortunate. “Hope my company can make up for the lack of theirs.”

○○○

“TOGE!” 

A voice called out almost immediately as the two of them set foot in the house. They looked towards the direction the voice had come from and saw Maki moving at an uncharacteristically quick speed towards them.

“Run,” Yuuta said as Inumaki nodded, turned 90 degrees, and took off for the stairs.

“Toge!” Maki called after him again but Yuuta moved forward to intercept her, creating a wall to stop the forward assault.

“Maki!” Yuuta said overenthusiastically with a big grin.

“Yuuta!” She said mostly out of reflex to respond, eyes still following Inumaki as he scrambled up the stairs into the crowd.

“Maki!” Yuuta said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Yuuta?” Maki said, finally looking over at him.

“Maki,” He handed her the paper bag with the two bottles.

“Yuuta-- Oh!” She looked down at the offering. “Nice.”

Maki glanced one more time at the stairs with narrowed eyes and seeing that Inumaki no longer in sight, turned around and waved for Yuuta to follow. He fell into step behind her.

“I see you succeeded and brought my favorite gremlin along...and then you betrayed me and allowed him to escape. How could you? What did I do to deserve this?”

“He’s not really a gremlin,” Yuuta responded, knowing she was joking, but still wondering what would have happened if she’d managed to get her hands on Inumaki all the same.

“Oh, no?” She tilted her head up at him as they weaved through the party, "What would you say he is then?"

"He's just sort of-- Oh my god!” Yuuta exclaimed, stepping foot into the kitchen. “Maki is that... in a whole cooler??”

On the table rested a cooler, a HUGE blue cooler filled nearly all the way to the top with red liquid. 

“There are two actually,” she pointed to a second large red cooler on a different table, “Which makes this,” she held up the bag Yuuta had given her, “Perfect. Here,”  She tossed him one of the bottles back and motioned to the other cooler, “Dump it in.”

“Dump it in?”

“Dump it in!” Maki repeated, unscrewing the top off of one bottle and turning it upside down. The liquid emptied out with a few glugs into the concoction.

“This is going to kill someone.” 

“Yeah, maybe!” Maki said, cheerfully, shaking the last of the contents out before tossing it in a pile of other bottles in the corner with a loud clank.

Yuuta mirrored her action, uncapping the second bottle and peering down at the blue liquid in the red cooler curiously before upturning the bottle and dumping the contents in.

He placed the now bottle on the table next to it and grabbed two cups from the stack of unused ones nearby.

“Double fisting, Yuuta?" Maki teased. "Weren't you just worried about dying?”

“I’m still worried about dying, actually. But ones for… I'm going to bring one to Inumaki.” Yuuta figured that was both friendly of him to do so and that Inumaki was not going to risk entering into Maki’s attack range for quite some time. “When I find him again.”

“Is that so? Then you should take one of these too.” She opened one of the drawers, moved a few things around, and produced a small package of bendy straws.

“Oh, right,” Yuuta said, thinking back to the literal only method of drinking he’d ever seen Inumaki do. “You keep those here… for him?”

“Of course,” Maki said simply, pulling one straw out of the pack and holding it out to him. "In case he forgets his own or something."

“You’re a good person Maki,” Yuuta said, taking it from her with a smile.

“Ew,” Maki frowned as she scrunched her nose up in that very specific Maki way, “Don’t say that.” 

“It’s true,” Yuuta waved the straw at her before sticking it in his back pocket.

She scoffed, “Yeah, but I don’t want the people to know.”

Yuuta smiled. Maki smiled back at him.

“I still don’t get it. The straw thing. The...” Yuuta moved one hand over his own face mimicking a mask. 

“Maybe you will. Maybe you won’t.” She shrugged. “That’s on him. But I will say. I can tell you're at least trying. That’s more than a lot of people...more than most people do.” 

Yuuta shrugged. It didn’t really seem like a big deal. 

“Inumaki’s funny. And unique. And surprising at times. I want to get to know him better,” Yuuta looked down at the two cups in his hand,  “Even if he’s a little hard to talk to.”

Maki snorted, Yuuta looked back up at her.

“And yes,” He rolled his eyes, “I finally understand that joke. I really thought he hated me for a while, you know.” 

“Toge’s abrasive. And rude. And tactless. And absolutely won't give you the time of day unless he feels like it. But...” Maki rattled off before looking over at Yuuta seriously, “He doesn’t hate people. Well not without a reason anyway. He’s not like that.” 

“He’s not that abrasive,” Yuuta countered defensively, thinking back to a couple days from last week which Yuuta thought he had been surprisingly easy to work with, despite a few hiccups back and forth. “I think he’s pretty kind actually.”

“Kind?” Maki scoffed, “What do you know that I don’t?”

“Can’t claim anything,” Yuuta said, looking back and forth at the two coolers, “What are these anyway?”

“They’re red flavor and blue flavor,” Maki said matter-of-factly.

“...Of course. Which do you think he’d like better?” 

“Probably one that’s a color.” 

“Guess it would make sense to grab both then.”

“You’re a good person Yuuta Okkotsu,” Maki concluded as she watched Yuuta carefully fill one cup with one drink and one with the other. “I can already tell Toge doesn’t deserve you.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that? But thanks... I think?” 

“ I know what I mean and that’s what matters most to me! And I for one think good things should happen to good people.” Maki said slapping him on the back, “We've fucking earned it."

“Sure…?” Yuuta said, more focused on making sure the drinks in his hands didn’t spill than comprehending what she could be implying.

“Tonight feels lucky,” She grinned at him, slyly, “Maybe fortune will smile upon both of us!”

○○○

“I know I said I wanted to not have to search every corner of this house to find you but…” Inumaki looked up at Yuuta as he kneeled down next to him. “I guess that happened anyway.”

Inumaki had squirrelled himself away in a small alcove under the stairs. It might have been something of a closet at one point, but there was no door anymore so it ended up being more like an incredibly private little hallway with a slanted ceiling that led nowhere. It wasn’t exactly tall enough to stand in, so Inumaki was sitting, leaning against one of the walls.

“Here.” Yuuta held out the two cups, “Um, do you want the blueish one or the red-pinkish one? I have absolutely no idea what either of them are.”

Inumaki looked at them both before closing his eyes and holding out his hand. Surprise me.

“Heh. Alright,” Yuuta paused for a moment before handing him the red drink. “Also…”

Yuuta pulled the straw Maki had given him out of his back pocket and held it out to Inumaki. The blonde took the straw and looked down at it for a moment like the small, familiar object might be fake before eventually bending it slightly and plopping it into his drink.

Yuuta smiled, planted himself next to Inumaki on the floor, and took a sip of the remaining drink.

“Oh my god, this tastes…” Yuuta swallowed and then thought for a second, “...Less horrible than I thought?”

Yuuta watched Inumaki take a big drink himself and then immediately screw his eyes closed. 

“Definitely strong though.” Yuuta laughed as the blonde blinked his eyes back open and nodded before taking another sip, slower this time.

“So…” Yuuta said, looking down at Inumaki as Inumaki tilted his head up to look at Yuuta.

They sat like that for a long moment, once again, just looking at each other.

What could they even talk about? Could this have been a mistake? Maybe he should have never asked Inumaki here? Because what could they even talk about? What could--

"You know what. No,” Yuuta said aloud, trying to preemptively sidestep that particular mental spiral. Maki was right, he deserved to have a good night. Anxiety was not going to win, “I'm just going to ask.”

He put his free hand on Inumaki’s shoulder and leaned over to look him directly in the eyes. 

Inumaki stiffened under Yuuta’s touch, eyes growing wide before glancing to the left and then the right, looking like he might be trying to figure out if fleeing from this situation could be a viable option, despite being essentially trapped in a corner.

Yuuta tightened his grip and took a deep breath.

“Do you know sign language or something?”

Inumaki blinked at him and then, still wide-eyed, and unsure, nodded slowly in response.

“I knew it,” Yuuta smiled, triumphantly, letting go of his shoulder and sitting back against the wall. “Well I mean I didn't but--I can't imagine you just never speak and didn't know... something like that. Um...”

Inumaki tilted his head at Yuuta.

“Why don't you ever use it?”

Inumaki's eyes flattened out and he put his cup down. He made a few quick motions in the air with his hands before sitting back, arms crossed, looking over at Yuuta like he expected a response.

“I,” Yuuta blinked, “I didn’t catch that.”

Inumaki gave him a look that gave the impression he expected that response. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he clicked a few times before turning it around. 

Notes are easier.

“Actually… Yeah. The… Communication is a two-way thing.”

Inumaki nodded, repocketing the phone and picking his drink back up, maneuvering the straw to take another sip.

“But,” Yuuta continued, wanting to keep this conversation going if he could, “I'm pretty good at languages. I've always been able to adapt to them pretty quickly.”

Inumaki stopped drinking and raised an eyebrow at him curiously.

“No, really! I know…” He thought for a moment. “Four pretty passibly. Although I'd argue I'm only really fluent in two, mostly due to lack of practice.”

That caused both of Inumaki’s eyebrows to shoot up. Yuuta smiled, finding it entertaining to have caught Inumaki off guard for once.

“It doesn't come up much...almost never actually. Like signing. It’s probably the only cool thing I can do but...”

Yuuta moved his tongue around in his mouth and thought for a moment.

“ C...C'est difficile de parler t-tout seul …It's hard to talk to yourself.”

He sighed and scratched his head, slightly frustrated.

“Arg, even with that. I only picked up French this past year and I haven’t spoken in a few months… I'm losing the correct inflections already.”

Inumaki just gave a small nod, eyes still curiously focused on Yuuta before taking another drink.

“So maybe I could learn, even just a little? And we could talk?” Yuuta said, expectantly. “Show me how to say something.”

Inumaki looked at him for a long moment before he put his cup down and held out the back of both his hands to Yuuta's attention. Bending three fingers down on each hand towards himself, he did an upward motion with both, pointed at himself, placed his hand in the crook of his left arm and did an upward lifting motion, then held up two fingers and a thumb on each hand and moved them up and downward slightly. After completing the series of motions, Inumaki leaned back and crossed his arms before looking over at Yuuta. Your turn.

Yuuta blinked and attempted to mimic the motions as best he could until he saw Inumaki's shoulders start shaking, hand moving up to cover his mouth in a laughing motion.

“Wait, what did that…”

He could see Inumaki's eyes smirking at him before he even finished that question. 

“ Inumaki,” Yuuta said, catching onto the fact the blonde was clearly making a joke at his expense but breaking into a smile anyway. “I meant something like hello.”

○○○

They were on… their 4th? Maybe their 5th cup of whatever they were drinking from the kitchen. They’d been switching colors back and forth. Yuuta was both amused and concerned that neither cooler seemed to empty at all but that was likely due to the fact that the bottle pile in the corner kept growing larger and larger.

Yuuta had excused himself to the bathroom at one point only to find that his mouth was completely stained purple. He figured Inumaki's was probably the same although he had no real way of confirming that theory. Even still, after noticing it himself, emboldened by alcohol, Yuuta made a face and stuck his tongue out at the next opportune moment. He was rewarded with Inumaki’s shaking shoulder laugh which was becoming an enjoyably common occurrence.

“I’ll get us more. Which color do you want this time?”

Inumaki waved his hand back and forth in a Whatever motion, before slumping back against the wall. He looked up at Yuuta with glazed eyes, gaze soft, softer than Yuuta had ever seen it. 

Inumaki looked comfortable.

Inumaki looked content.

And Inuamaki looked, well... really cute.

For once Yuuta really didn’t care that he was being caught staring. Or was being stared at in return.

Even with the mask on, Yuuta could see that Inumaki's cheeks were flushed. Yuuta had never seen his cheeks getting flushed at parties. Maybe they always flushed? Maybe he was drinking more than usual tonight. Maybe Yuuta had just never gotten close enough to notice before.

Yuuta only came back to reality when Inumaki reached up and patted the side of his face twice as if to ask, You doing alright?

“Ah yeah. I’m good.” Yuuta said, still not looking away, “Your face is just... really pink.”

Inuamki slow blinked once before moving his hands up to cover his face, turning his head to the side overdramatically in faux-distress. He then spread his fingers around slightly, creating a gap to peer back out at Yuuta, curiously, playfully…. Yuuta was reminded of the time he did the same thing with his door.

“Stop,” He said, grinning, grabbing Inumaki’s wrists and pulling his hands back so he could see his face again, “It doesn’t look bad… It looks good. Like...Like..."

For all their talk of words, Yuuta found himself unable to come up with any.

"I don’t know. Something. Something good.” 

The blonde gave the most exaggerated eye roll of the night as he pulled his hands out of Yuuta’s, patted him on the face one more time before reaching down to retrieve his own empty cup.

“Yeah, yeah,” Yuuta said, grabbing it out of his hands and getting to his feet with only the slightest stagger. “I’ll be right back.”

Inumaki raised one hand and flashed a V sign, before letting it fall back down on his lap with a frump. Yuuta saw Inumaki lazily fishing out his phone from his hoodie pocket before he turned to move out of their little private corner back into the sea of people.

For the first time in over a year, Yuuta felt warm. Really warm. A kind of warmth that radiated out of his chest through the rest of his body that he was pretty sure wasn't related to the alcohol.

It felt… refreshing...exciting. He definitely, definitely wanted to keep feeling this way. Maybe when he got back he could--

His train of thought was immediately derailed as he felt a hand grip his arm. Turning, Yuuta came face to face with Fushiguro. He hadn’t seen him all night, although it made sense that he’d be here at the party too. Yuuta was about to say hello when Fushiguro opened his mouth first,

“Help.” 

“Wha--Help?” Yuuta parroted back, not sure he had heard correctly. 

“Help,” Fushiguro repeated more forcefully.

“Help?” Was Fushiguro really asking for--

“Help,” He said, definitively, a look in his eyes that was far, far more concerned than Yuuta was used to... “I can’t find Maki or Kugisaki anywhere.”

“Kugisa--Who?” Yuuta began to ask but Fushiguro cut him off.

“ Please, Okkotsu,” Fushiguro said, pressing his mouth into a line in a way that Yuuta hadn’t seen him do in years. He looked distressed...Yuuta could count the times he’d seen Fushiguro look like that on one hand.

“I mean,” Yuuta looked down at the two cups in his hands for a long moment. Inumaki would understand him taking just a bit longer, right? It wouldn’t be more than a few extra minutes. Ten, tops, surely. Yuuta put the two cups down on the nearest window sill. He could replace these. Grab new ones. He knew where the straws were now. It was fine. This would be fine, “Yeah. Yeah, okay, I can help you look for them really quick. Like really, really quick.”

“No that’s not--” Fushigruo cut himself off, gritting his teeth and tugging Yuuta’s arm again, “Just come on.” 

Fushiguro pulled him through the kitchen out the back door. As soon as they entered the backyard, Yuuta saw two people fighting. And they looked perfectly identical.

“They--”

“They’re going to kill each other,” Fushiguro stated.

“Are you sure they aren’t each other?” Yuuta turned towards Fushiguro, still not entirely sure he wasn’t seeing double.

As far as fights went, Yuuta could tell this one wasn’t exactly for show. No punches were being pulled. At least one of them was bleeding. Someone was definitely going to have a black eye. 

From the little Yuuta had seen, Fushiguro’s evaluation was right, they looked like they might actually kill each other. Or at the very least end up needing to go to the hospital when this was all over.

“This is not the time,” Fushiguro said quickly walking down the back porch stairs, “Please just help me stop them.”

“What are they even fighting about?” Yuuta said, following him in step as they moved towards the brawl.

“Again, not the time--” 

“That feels like kind of an important detail--” 

“Okkotsu!” Fushiguro called out as a lawn chair flew across the backyard in towards both of them. Yuuta pulled Fushiguro out of the way as it missed them both it crashed into the back of the house.

“ HEY!”  Yuuta called out at the same time Fushiguro shouted, “This isn’t your fucking house, stop destroying shit!”

“Fushiguro, really, that guy?” One of them asked as looked over. Yuuta thought it was the guy who came into the cafe sometimes but honestly, in this lighting, he still couldn’t actually tell who was who.

“Who the fuck is that guy?"

“The guy, guy!”

“What makes you so special?”

“So what--?”

Yuuta didn’t have time to parse what that could mean before he saw one of the two headed right towards him.

“Stop!” Fushiguro called out angrily, but it fell on deaf ears.

So, maybe all the time he’d been spending at the gym with Maki was actually paying off.

This guy was strong, but he wasn’t exactly coordinated. Even though Yuuta’s focus was running on his body’s kick-started situational adrenaline and he probably still drunk, he didn’t really have a hard time blocking the fists being thrown at him.

Vaguely, Yuuta thought that maybe Maki had been right, he could be pretty good at this fighting thing. 

Although maybe this other guy was just, really, really gone.

After dodging a very quick but very messy assault, Yuuta swung an elbow outward, hitting him in the stomach, before turning his body and throwing a solid hook that connected squarely in his face.

The guy let out an OOF, as he flew backwards a few feet before falling to the ground in a pile. A few moments passed. He didn’t get back up.

“You knocked him out,” Fushiguro said, surprised.

“You knocked him out,” The still conscious of the two said, at the same time, equally surprised.

“Yeah, I guess I knocked him out,” Yuuta said, with a huff, walking over to the now unconscious body. He bent down, evaluating the damage, before concluding it was nothing too major, “And I didn’t break anything, so I don’t think I should have to apologize.”

Yuuta pointed to the street and looked over at the still conscious one, “Get out of here. Take him with you.”

He moved to get up from where he was sitting on the ground but as soon as he got to his feet, he staggered and fell back over.

“I...I don’t think I can.”

“Just throw him in a dumpster,” Fushiguro offered, crossing his arms, the concern from earlier replaced with the bitterest frown as he looked over at the conscious one. “Throw them both into a dumpster.”

The still conscious one full-on pouted in a way that made Yuuta’s empathetic side feel incredibly bad for him despite everything...

Yuuta sighed his very deepest sigh, already regretting the next words that came out of his mouth.

“Where do you live?”

○○○

This guy was heavy. And smelled bad. And was definitely drooling on his shoulder. God, Yuuta hoped he wasn’t going to throw up on him. That was really the last thing he wanted to happen right now.

Yuuta had hoisted the guy he punched out onto his back and was following along behind Fushiguro who had his arm around the other--Itadori? Had he heard that correctly?-- supporting him as they trudged along down the street back to campus. The two were arguing loudly about what had just happened.

“Did he get too drunk? Too high? Some combo of the two?”

“I don’t know .” 

“How do you not know?”

“My bro’s just like that sometimes, dude. He starts shit just to start shit and I can’t just let him do it. Fushiguro, look I--” 

“If you’re going to try to twist this into an excuse I don’t want to hear it. I really don’t want to hear it--”

“I didn’t think it was going to happen--”

“You vouched for him--”

“He said he’d be cool!! I--”

Yuuta stopped listening and looked up at the sky. The night had been going so well. He’d been having such a good time. He wanted nothing more than to go back to having such a good time. Not dealing with...whatever was happening here.

It would be fine, could still be fine, had to still be fine... They’d resolve this and Yuuta would sprint back to the party as fast as humanly possible and go back to that small little private corner where Inumaki would still be waiting for him and he’d apologize for taking so long and that warm feeling would come back and ultimately everything would be fine. That would work, it would definitely work.

“We’re here,” Fushiguro said, pushing open the door to Itadori’s dorm with a forcefulness that did little to hide how upset he still was.

“Where do you want me to put uh...him?”

“Drop him on the floor,” Fushiguro said as he walked Itadori over to the bed in the corner, “He’ll be fine.”

“Alright,” Yuuta said before lowering him down more gently than he probably deserved into a pile in the corner of the room.

“If you try to come visit me at work tomorrow, I will never talk to you again.”

Itadori hung his head down, but nodded all the same. Fushiguro huffed one last time before slamming the door shut.

“ Sorry ,” Fushiguro said, turning to Yuuta, really, truly meaning it.

“I assume you don’t want to talk about whatever...that was.”

“No. Not now anyway,” Fushiguro groaned, rubbing at his eyes. “I’ll do the apologizing to Maki tomorrow. Those idiots wrecked her backyard.” 

“She’d probably appreciate that.”

“Want to go home?” Fushiguro asked, looking up at Yuuta. He looked exhausted. “I’ll walk with you.”

“I…” Yuuta began, but Fushiguro had already started moving down the sidewalk. “No, I want to go back. I’m going to go back.”

“It’s almost 3 am,” Fushiguro looked back over his shoulder, “I think the crowd is probably clearing out by this point anyway.”

“That--” Yuuta realized he had no idea how long this whole ordeal had taken. He had been sort of running on autopilot, just trying to get it all over with. Had it been...like two hours? He thought it had been something like 30 minutes, not two whole hours. 

“Wait, wait, wait hold on. I really, really need to send a text...”

“I said I’d apologize tomorrow. Don’t worry about it. Maki has probably crashed already.” 

Yuuta patted his front pockets.

Then he patted his back pockets.

Then he patted his front pockets again.

He began hastily pulling out the contents. Wallet. Apartment keys. Receipt from the store. A few bits of loose change...

Where...where was his phone???

“Something wrong?”

“My phone’s gone,” Yuuta said, a growing sense of unease started to build in his chest.

“Maybe it fell out in the backyard?” Fushiguro offered, “If you want we can look for it together tomorrow. I owe you that at the very least.”

“No I-I was trying to--” Yuuta couldn't even figure out how to begin to explain what or why or who to Fushiguro as he was suddenly overwhelmed by the haze of distress he feeling, “The--I need to--”

“Are you okay?” Fushiguro eyed him, real concern edging into his voice.

“His face was pink Fushiguro! Pink!"

The expression Fushiguro made at Yuuta clearly conveyed that he didn't understand the devastating gravity of this situation.

" And his tongue was probably purple! Like his eyes!”

“And you’re turning red working yourself up. Are you still drunk? Seriously, I’m going to walk you home.”

Yuuta buried his face in his hands and let out one of the most frustrated groans of his entire life.

Chapter Text

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Maki!”

She stood on her back porch, staring down at the two of them. Her arms were crossed and she looked more than a little bit cross herself.

“Normally when you hear someone rustling around in the bushes behind your house it's for nefarious reasons. I was worried some dumbasses from last night might be doing something stupid back here.”

She eyed them over again. 

“Although I might not be that far off.”

After getting forcibly walked home by Fushiguro, his friend had ended up crashing on his couch instead of walking back to campus himself. Yuuta didn't have the energy to argue with him, feeling incredibly exhausted and overwhelmingly defeated by how the night had played out. He fell into his own bed and didn’t so much as sleep, instead tossing and turning back and forth uselessly until he saw light start to peek through his window. He had then abruptly woken Fushiguro up, insisting he make good on that promise from the night before. So the two of them trudged back over to Maki’s, tired, irritable, and probably still just a little hungover.

“What's going on?” A girl with brown hair tied up in two messy buns poked her head out of the house behind Maki. It took a few seconds but Yuuta's brain clicked, recognizing her as the girl that sometimes tagged along with Itadori. One of Fushiguro’s... friends? Why was she here?

“Kugisaki,” Fushiguro said mostly to himself, also seeing her come into view.

“Where’s Toge?” Maki asked crossly, attention still laser-focused on Yuuta.

“Toge?” Fushiguro repeated, turning to Yuuta. “Who?”

“Inumaki,” Yuuta said, still looking up at Maki, feeling a new, weird sense of dread. Maki looked mad, really mad, like really, really mad. She looked pissed in a way he'd hoped would never be directed at him. And yet.

Fushiguro knit his eyebrows together, “What does Inumaki have to do with anything?”

“He was--”  Yuuta started then stopped, taken aback by the sudden realization that his social circles might be smaller than he realized. “You know him?”

“Not well,” Fushiguro held his hand up to his neck and tapped his throat, “He’s got the throat thing, right?”

“The throat thing...” Yuuta repeated.

“He’s mute or something?” Fushiguro offered, still not sure why it mattered.

“Or something,” Maki huffed, clearly starting to lose her patience. “But I think we need to return to the original question. Both of you, answer this right now: What the hell are you doing here?”

“Okkotsu lost his phone last night,” Fushiguro explained, “We’re trying to find it.”

“Okkotsu,” The brown-haired girl repeated, some sort of recognition dawning on her face as she looked at him and then over Fushiguro then back at him. “Yuuta Okkotsu?”

“Um, yeah?” Yuuta answered, still not sure what to make of this new person he'd never said a single word to but now also seemed to know who he was…?

“Yuuta Okkotsu,” She said forcefully, stepping forward to the edge of the porch and jabbing a finger in his direction. “I swear on the ground you're standing on IF you ruined everything I'm going to--”

“Hold on, hold on, hold on,” Maki held her hand out and put it on the girl's shoulder. “Babe, let me handle this.”

“Yuuta Okkotsu,” Maki said, stepping forward and jabbing her own finger in his direction, “I don't know what happened but, IF you ruined multiple things I'm going to--”

“I--” Yuuta threw both his hands up defensively, only really half sure why he was suddenly under a double attack and with absolutely no idea how he could even begin to divert it.

“It’s my fault,” Fushiguro interjected, coming to his rescue.

“Fushiguro, where's Itadori?” 

“Kugisa--”

“Yuuta,” Maki cut Fushiguro off, “ Why aren’t you with Toge?”

“I was but--”

“ Was ?”

“Fushiguro pulled me away and then--”

Maki turned to Fushiguro, “Megumi!”

“Something important came up!” he shot back.

“So you just left him?!” Maki said turning back to Yuuta, “Must have been pretty important!”

“I--” Yuuta started again but Fushiguro cut in again.

“We were breaking something up--”

“And now I might break something else--” Maki countered.

“Someone was going to get hurt then--” Fushiguro countered back.

“And someone's going to get hurt NOW-- ”

“I said it was my fault!” Fushiguro shouted, “Kugisaki,” he said, looking towards the brown-haired girl. “You were right.”

Maki huffed but paused her verbal assault, also turning to look over at the brown-haired girl-- Kugisaki for some sort of clarification.

“Then,” Kugisaki shifted on her feet and frowned. “It was Itadori's stupid brother.”

Fushiguro nodded, “It was his stupid brother.”

“Tch,” She frowned. “I told him not to bring him along.”

“Okkotsu knocked him out.”

“Really,” Kugisaki raised one of her eyebrows, looking over at Yuuta like he might be worth more credit than she had originally assigned him. 

“With a single punch.” Fushiguro continued motioning to the state of the backyard, which, surprising Maki hadn’t commented on yet, “But not before the two of them nearly tore each other and the whole place apart--”

“As impressive as that must have been,” Maki cut in, “Yuuta. I was so sure you had other priorities that you could have thought about…”

“I didn’t think it would--”

“Yeah, you clearly didn’t think,” Maki scrunched her nose up and frowned, “This is the last time I try to set anyone up. Seriously, I'm not doing this again.”

“Wait,”  Fushiguro said, turning to Yuuta, surprised. “You were trying to hook up with someone last night? Okkotsu? You?”

“I…” Yuuta hesitated, the directness of that accusation threw him, leaving him at a loss, “N-no--”

“No??” Maki sounded genuinely surprised and a little disappointed. “For real? You weren't? Yuuta!”

“I mean maybe-- ” He backtracked, thinking quickly that sure he probably wouldn't have been against the idea but he hadn't thought that far ahead. He truly hadn't thought that far ahead.

“Maybe?” Fushiguro pressed.

“Yeah, maybe! I guess! I don’t know!” Why was he getting put on the spot about this all of a sudden?!

“What about...” This time it was Fushiguro who was looking at a loss. “Rika?”

“Who is Rika ?" Maki asked, cutting in.

Oh. 

“Not someone who we need to talk about right now,” Yuuta stated as definitively as he could, feeling a weird pit start grow in his stomach at the mention of that name.

“But-- you-- she--” Fushigruo stammered out, uncharacteristically at a loss for words.

“She?” Maki looked back and forth between Fushiguro and Yuuta before drawing her own conclusions, “Thought you weren't the girlfriend type Yuuta--”

“I don't have a girlfriend-- I--” Yuuta cut in, trying to explain himself before this got even more out of control but that was proving to be more and more difficult as Fushiguro's interjected again grabbing his shoulder.

“You don’t?”  

“No--”

“When did that change--”

“Like a year ago--”

"What? A year?”

“Yes, I--”

“And you didn’t even mention it until now--”

“It didn't come up--”

“You'd usually tell someone about something that life-changing--”

“It wasn’t that big of a deal--”

"I feel like it might be actually--"

“Fushiguro--”

“Okkotsu--”

“Yikes,” Kugisaki said, leaning against one of the porch rails, looking down, almost in awe, at this back and forth, “This is getting messy.”

“Aren’t you Itadori’s girlfriend?” Yuuta shot back, pointing a finger back up at her.

“No,” Maki and Kugisaki said simultaneously with disgust. Fushiguro groaned and buried his head in his hands.

"Okay, listen," Yuuta let out a deep breath, feeling a bit overwhelmed by literally all of this as he turned back to Maki. “I fucked up. It might have been partially Fushiguro’s fault, but I fucked up. Me. I'll own that. I want to fix it. Maki, please .”

Maki’s eyes narrowed as she pressed her mouth into a line, making a face that conveyed she was clearly going to want more of an explanation later but she reached into her pocket and pulled her phone out nonetheless. She frowned, “He still has me blocked.” 

Yuuta’s shoulders fell. Dammit. That wouldn't work then.

“But,” she motioned to the house behind her, “You can come in and look around. I'll let you do that.”

“Thank you,” Yuuta replied in a tone he hoped conveyed his genuine relief.

“What time is it?” Fushiguro said, pulling his own phone out of his pocket, and frowning at it. “I have to go to work. Okkotsu I still want to talk about this--”

“Wait,” Yuuta grabbed his arm before he could move away, suddenly having an idea. “Fushiguro I know you're upset but I'll tell you whatever you want later just,” Yuuta held his other hand out, “Let me send a message on your phone.”

○○○

“Wowwww, you look horrible!”

Yuuta looked back over his shoulder towards the voice and saw Satoru walking towards him. The older man raised a hand and waved in greeting.

“Ah, Satoru, hello.”

The search at Maki’s had turned up nothing so Yuuta was currently in the process of walking back home. He was going to take a shower and then maybe take a small nap before talking to Fushiguro again. 

He hadn’t really factored in Satoru. But it was so hard to factor in Satoru. Please god, he hoped whatever Satoru wanted from him was quick, non-invasive and something he shouldn’t have had to factor for.

“Is this…” The white-haired man looked down at Yuuta, growing almost giddy with excitement. “Are you experiencing a walk of shame ? Right now?” 

“The walk of what-- ” 

“Do the kids still call it that?” Satoru tapped his chin thoughtfully, “The sad, dirty walk home after a night of fun at someone else’s place... I never thought I’d see the day!”

“I--N-No, I--” Yuuta stammered, feeling off-balance at that assumption. There was no way he could seriously think--

“Oh”, Satoru’s grin widened at his reaction, “That’s definitely a yes.”

Yuuta opened and closed his mouth, unsure what to even say in response as Satoru just kept talking and talking and talking, spiraling off into his own tangent.

“Back when I was in school I once saw Utahime carrying a pillow across campus once. A pillow! Like, she showed up to a party holding a pillow...who even does that? It was literally so funny. Didn't let her live that one down for a whole semester.”

Yuuta attempted a smile that looked more like a grimace in an effort to convey his uncomfortableness at this whole topic. But the talking continued. Satoru seemed to be in one of those moods where he had already decided to go somewhere and the world had to resign itself to going along with him.

“You see the trick is to keep a travel-sized dry shampoo on you so your hair still looks good the next day. That way everyone second-guesses it, even if the rest of you seems a little off. Having a good hair day can trick anyone into overlooking your other imperfections. It’s all about drawing attention to your best features... and our family has great hair!"

“Yeah,” He reached over and ruffled Yuuta's hair, causing it to stick out a bit in all directions. "You definitely need a shower. How exciting!"

“Satoru, please-- ” Yuuta huffed, finding his voice again as he reached up to flatten his hair back down.

“I know! Let's get breakfast!” Satoru clapped his hands together. “I'll even treat you! You probably need it.”

“I don’t have time--” Yuuta began, thinking about how he should really try to keep his loose plan on track. He should really go talk to Fushiguro...

“C'monnnn, everyone has time for breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day.”  Satoru whined, “Midterms are over and I know you don't work Sundays. Let's celebrate!”

His teacher's acute knowledge of things he probably should not know never failed to feel incredibly unnerving. 

Yuuta tried once more, despite the overwhelming futility of it all.

“I’m really not feeling up for any kind of celebrat--”

“Shh shhh shhhhh!” Satoru put a finger up, “Carbs have never made anyone feel worse--”

“--that’s not true--”

“--and the waffles at this local place are to DIE for ~”

And so Satoru flung an arm around Yuutas shoulder, adamantly refused to hear any further protests, and all but forcibly led the two of them to a very small, very busy little diner a few blocks away.

“I’ll just...Just a coffee for me,” Yuuta said softly to the waitress as he sat opposite Satoru who was humming to himself, loudly , incredibly engaged with reading their little menu.

“Just a coffee…” Satoru scoffed, peering at him over the top of the menu, “That’s not breakfast Yuuta, that’s not even really food. Let's get…” His eyes scanned the options one last time, before sweetly looking up at the waitress, “Two of the special, loaded up high with extra whip cream please!” 

“Um,” Yuuta spoke up, raising a hand gingerly, resigning himself to being stuck here but still decidedly not hungry, “Plain is fine for me.”

Satoru raised his hand mirroring Yuuta's polite gesture, “Just put it on the side for him, then.”

“I don't really need all that,” He protested again once the waitress had walked away. “I don't want you to pay for something I might not even eat anyway.”

“Psshhshshh,” Satoru made an exaggerated noise of dismissal. "But I'm treating you Yuuta. Feels horrid to treat someone when they order next to nothing. Think of my feelings here!"

“Um,” Yuuta couldn’t really follow that logic, but decided to just let it go, “Alright?”

“Thank you! Geez!”

The diner was, admittedly, pretty lively, filled of good energy and laughter from different tables of people enjoying their brunch. Even still, he couldn’t help himself from looking out the window, mind wandering back to the altercation at Maki’s this morning. Everything was a bit--as Kugisaki had put it--messy. 

“I'm not gonna ask for details but it's about time honestly,” Satoru said, regrabbing Yuuta's attention as he pulled a few sugar packets from the tiny table dispenser and ripped them open. "It’s been so painful, watching you waste your youth away. Really thought your trip overseas would help change that.”

He tapped the bottoms of the packets on the table before dumping them into his glass of water. Yuuta couldn't help but stare curiously at Satoru's actions. What the-- What is he doing?

“But you just came back the same. Well… your hair looks better, again, fantastic genetics." He pointed at Yuuta with a spoon before plopping it into the sugar water mix and stirring it,  "But you were still so in your own head.”

He took a sip, thought for a moment, and then ripped two more packets open.

“Thinking yourself in circles and holding yourself back. With so much potential too!”

“I kept trying to tell you… Nothing happened.” Yuuta said, finally being allowed to get the words out without interruption, “It was actually a pretty horrible night overall.”

“Wellllll,” Satoru shrugged, unphased, “We all have those too. It's not the end of the world. Failures are what help pave the way to successes. Keep at it Yuuta!”

Satoru took another sip.

“But...you’ve always been so shouldn’t, shouldn’t, can’t-- ” He frowned at his water, “I could tell just from looking at you today that something's different. And no, not just because you need a shower.”

He frowned.

“Ahhh, still no good,” Satoru stuck his tongue out, “Would you believe it's too sweet now? Thought that would be impossible!”

“What are you doing…?” Yuuta said as he saw Satoru grab the salt shaker next. He wasn't seriously going too--

"Dunno. Trying something new," Satoru said, dumping what looked like far too much salt into the drink now. 

"But it's water…"

“So?”

“Why do anything to it?”

“I dunno it's here, why not?”

“Because it’s going to end up horrible.”

“Maybe, but maybe not… Ah, wait, here we go!"

In one motion that was far too fluid, Satoru grabbed a small bowl of lemon slices off of a waitress’ nearby serving tray and placed them next to his water. He then proceeded to take each one out of the bowl and squeeze the small bit of juice into the water.

“See! Now it's lemonade!” He took a sip. “And it's far more enjoyable than it would have been as just water.”

“That's incredibly questionable…”

“Yeah maybe it's not perfect,” Satoru admitted, “But it was sort of fun. I had the water anyway. What's the harm?” 

Yuuta didn’t really have a response for that but was saved from having to answer by their food showing up.

A plain waffle was placed down in front of him. And then a small plate of fruit and cream and other additional bits were placed down on another plate.

The smell hit his nose and he felt his stomach turn over in the way where he was suddenly hyper-aware of how empty his stomach was. His mouth watered. He was starving actually.

Tentatively, he reached out and picked up the fork and knife before stabbing the waffle and cutting off a small piece. It took only one bite for Yuuta to realized just how good it tasted and how much he wanted to eat all of it immediately. What was the reason he didn't want this before? He couldn't even remember as he took a second bite.

“Thought you weren’t hungry,” Satoru said, mouth smirked up into a grin as he watched Yuuta take a third bite. He hadn't even touched his plate yet.

“I...I didn’t realize I was.” 

"It's okay to want things, Yuuta,” Satoru said simply, cutting into his own waffle finally. “Even if you might not realize it.”

Yuuta chewed on both the waffle in his mouth and those words for a long moment before he swallowed and glanced up at Satoru.

“I think…” Yuuta furrowed his brow, not exactly sure he believed the next words that came out of his mouth. “I changed my mind. You make a good point.”

“Oh!” Satoru said with what might be genuine surprise, “That's my absolute favorite thing to hear~”

Yuuta huffed a breath out his nose then gave him a small smile.

“It doesn't make sense to hold yourself back, especially from things you want when they’re available to you,” Yuuta poked at his waffle, “And you survive by eating the plain waffle but it probably does taste better with toppings. You shouldn’t feel bad for wanting some syrup to go with it even if you didn’t originally realize you wanted it. Especially since you already have the waffle.”

Yuuta looked down at his plate and then looked over at the plate on the side.

“I do think I will eat these, actually,” Yuuta said, reaching over with his fork and stabbing a strawberry. “Can you also pass--”

Satoru held out a small bottle to him. Yuuta took it and popped the top off.

“You’ve really grown up, huh?”

“I guess you could say I’m going to try to stop waffling,” Yuuta said, laughing as he coated his waffle in syrup.

“Horrible. You're cracking bad jokes now? You?” Satoru said flatly, eyes matching his tone as he frowned, “I've changed my mind. Please ungrow yourself immediately.”

○○○

“Hey,” Yuuta called out as he walked into the cafe and closed the door behind him with a small jingle.

“Hey,” Fushiguro called out in response, emerging from the back. 

“By yourself today?” Yuuta asked, peering around the empty cafe and seeing that it was void of both customers and other coworkers.

“Yeah, but It's not a big deal. I didn’t expect it to be busy anyway on account of various celebrations,” Fushiguro said, wiping his hands on his apron, “Find your phone?”

“No,” Yuuta said with a sigh. “I think it might be a lost cause at this point.”

“Unfortunate,” Fushiguro looked him up and down, “You look the same. Did you go home?”

“No, I got some breakfast.”

“Some...breakfast?”

“Long story. But um,” Yuuta said, before bringing up a hand to rub at his neck, “Speaking of long stories. I think I owe you one of my own.”

Fushiguro hummed before pulling out two cups from behind the counter, filling them both with coffee. He replaced the pot, grabbed both, and set them down on one of the small tables before walking over to the front of the cafe, locking the door, and flipping the OPEN sign to CLOSED. He pointed back at the table.

“Sit.”

Yuuta sat. Fushiguro took the seat opposite him.

“So the thing with Rika…” Yuuta began. Fushiguro looked over at him, wearing that expression he wore when he was not exactly mad, but rather aggressively expectant.

Yuuta reached out and settled his hands around the coffee Fushiguro had given him. The warmth felt nice on his fingers but he clutched it mostly to stop himself from fidgeting.

“She left.”

“What?” Fushiguro blinked, expression changing instantly. That was clearly not the answer he had been expecting.

“She left,” Yuuta repeated again after a few seconds then laughed nervously. "I guess that story wasn’t so long after all."

“She...Really?”

“I mean, it wasn’t hugely ceremonious or anything,” Yuuta gazed down into the black coffee in his cup for a long moment, “It happened last year. Right after the semester started.”

“Is that why you left?” Fushiguro asked, connecting the timeline of events together.

“I needed time to process everything…” Yuuta explained, “It was… hard. And I don’t know if I did, 100%. But I figured I couldn’t just disappear forever, even if I really wanted to some days.” 

“You could have talked to me about it, you know,” Fushiguro looked over at him, “Told me something, anything .”

“It’s not exactly the most enjoyable type of conversation...and if I’m being honest, I thought you’d find the whole thing too bothersome,” Yuuta smiled weakly at him. “Would you really want to deal with me being a sad sack?”

“That’s stupid,” Fushigruo frowned back at him, “Really stupid. You’re not the smartest, but that’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said.”

“I didn’t want you to worry,” Yuuta offered.

“But we’re friends Okkotsu,” Fushiguro huffed, “How do you think I felt when you just decided to up and leave for a year without saying anything? I was worried about you anyway.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Yuuta said, truthfully. “I was being sort of selfish about the whole thing in retrospect. I think…” He laughed weakly, “I’m kind of a selfish person, actually.”

“Not the first descriptor I’d pick for you,” Fushigruo sighed, but smiled back. “But I guess everyone is selfish about certain things. I’m guilty of it too.”

“You’re just a little prickly. You’re not selfish.” 

“No, I'm very selfish,” Fushiguro said definitively then shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “You know since we’re being honest… The whole time I’ve known you, I sort of assumed Rika was sort of a… ‘my girlfriend who lives overseas’ situation.” 

“Well, I mean, she did live far away. I only got to see her once or twice a year after middle school…. but I’m not sure what you mean?” 

Fushigruo pressed his mouth into a line and looked away, “I thought you were lying.” 

“Lying? About Rika?”

"She was always this weirdly constant but invisible part of your life... I’ve known you for over 6 years Okkotsu and I've never met her once. I don’t even know what she looks like,” Fushiguro looked up at him sympathetically, “What was I supposed to think?”

“I hadn’t really thought about that,” Yuuta said, truthfully.

“When you came back and didn't bring her up and I guess I kind of thought maybe you'd grown out of the lie a bit. But you never really said anything one way or the other, so I didn’t really know. Then Maki said you were trying too... I got…” Fushiguro frowned, but it was clear that the displeasure was directed at himself this time, “It was wrong of me to bring something like that up unprompted in front of Maki and Kugisaki. I was just… surprised.”

A silence fell between them. It was stiff, uncomfortable, and full of… something Yuuta couldn't quite place.

“This is hard to talk about…” Yuuta spoke softly, breaking the silence first as he fiddled with the cup in his hands, “But maybe I was a little bit. Lying, I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

Yuuta took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before breathing it back out through his nose. 

“Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you know deep down it's probably not going to work out but you're honestly not really sure what to do about it so you just kind of let it… perpetuate. And it keeps going and going and going until you’re so lost within it that you can't really remember why you thought it wouldn’t work in the first place? And you eventually adapt; the fact it doesn’t work becomes it working.”

He began picking at the edge of the little cardboard sleeve, the tiny overlap where the adhesive held it together.

“It's hard to think any other way because your brain is so set on one path that you keep telling yourself there aren’t other options to try until you reach a point where it all falls apart.”

With a small pop, the cardboard around his cup broke and slid down the cup. He looked down at it before reaching down and pulling it off completely.

“For the first time in a long time, I stumbled into something I think could make me want something else. It might be a horrible idea but… it's progress. And I think that could be worth at least trying for, you know?” Yuuta chuckled softly to himself before looking back up at Fushiguro, realizing he had been rambling a bit, “Sorry, that all might have been… a little out there… Not sure if you understand what I mean.”

Fushiguro's eyes were downturned, expression staunchly neutral and deep in thought as he stared down at his own cup.

“... I think I can understand, actually.” Fushiguro responded a few moments later, looking up at Yuuta, mouth quirking up into a strange half-smiling expression Yuuta had never seen him make before, “You really took my ‘don’t be afraid to be upsetting to people’ advice to heart, huh?”

“What?” Yuuta blinked back at him, not entirely sure what that had to do with anything.

“Nevermind,” Fushiguro huffed out a breath before stating conclusively. “You can’t change what happened. And I think it’s good that you’re at a point where you're trying to move on.” 

 His friend looked over at him, seriously.

“Do you think it would make you happy? Trying this?”

“…Yeah,” Yuuta nodded and sat up a little straighter, after admitting that out loud. He thought back to the warm feeling in his chest he could still vividly remember from last night, “I think it would.”

“Then...here,” Fushiguro pulled his phone out and clicked a few buttons before holding it out to Yuuta.

“Want to see what he said?”

Chapter Text

From: Panda
> 9:26 am: So what are you gonna do with it?

To: Panda
> 9:26 am: Dunno
> 9:26 am: Haven’t decided

> 9:27 am: You could
> 9:27 am: Drop it off a 10 story building
> 9:27 am: Isn’t one of the dorm buildings that tall? 
> 9:27 am: You could take the elevator to the top
> 9:27 am: Stand on the roof
> 9:27 am: And just let it fall
> 9:27 am: Imagine it would make a pretty satisfying smash
> 9:27 am: When it hits the ground

> 9:27 am: That sounds like a lot of effort
> 9:27 am: And I think you need a special key to get up there

> 9:28 am: You could
> 9:28 am: Throw it in the river
> 9:28 am: Watch it slow sink to the bottom
> 9:28 am: Drifting out of sight 
> 9:28 am: Never to be seen again

> 9:28 am: Too far away
> 9:28 am: I'd have to take the bus

> 9:29 am: You could
> 9:29 am: Blow it up in the microwave
> 9:29 am: Watch the screen crack and the battery explode
> 9:29 am: In a glorious burst of flame
> 9:29 am: Really unfixable at that point

> 9:29 am: I do not want to destroy my own microwave
> 9:29 am: Thats stupid

> 9:30 am: He’s stupid

> 9:30 am: Well

> 9:30 am: Trust me on this
> 9:30 am: He is

> 9:30 am: If you say so

> 9:31 am: Cmon lets figure out what would make you feel better
> 9:31 am: Starting with
> 9:31 am: What to do with his stupid phone

> 9:31 am: Sure

> 9:32 am: You could
> 9:32 am: Pop the back off and scrap it for parts

> 9:32 am: Too old

> 9:33 am: You could 
> 9:33 am: Unlock it and try to find some embarrassing photos for blackmail

> 9:33 am: Unlikely

> 9:34 am: You could 
> 9:34 am: Factory reset it and sell it 

> 9:34 am: Nah

> 9:35 am: This is like
> 9:35 am: So much less of a reaction than you usually give dude

> 9:35 am: Mmm

> 9:35 am: You know
> 9:35 am: You can feel upset about this you know

> 9:36 am: I’m not upset

> 9:36 am: Ha
> 9:36 am: I’m laughing 
> 9:36 am: Seriously

> 9:36 am: I’m not upset

> 9:37 am: T
> 9:37 am: Youre supposed to be a GOOD liar
> 9:37 am: That might have been the worst one you’ve ever told
> 9:37 am: And you just told it twice

> 9:37 am: P

> 9:37 am: You might not claim to be mad about this
> 9:38 am: Which like
> 9:38 am: I would be /pissed/ if I were you
> 9:38 am: But
> 9:38 am: Youre still allowed to be upset
> 9:38 am: You can have a whole single sad emotion about this even
> 9:38 am: A whole single one

> 9:39 am: I think I just feel stupid more than anything

> 9:39 am: Its not that youre stupid 
> 9:39 am: Its that we all thought like
> 9:39 am: He was cool
> 9:39 am: Even Maki
> 9:40 am: Maki wouldn’t have essentially given him her seal of approval 
> 9:40 am: If she didn’t think he was cool
> 9:40 am: So if you’re stupid we’re all stupid
> 9:40 am: I'll even TELL Maki she was stupid
> 9:40 am: And screencap the conversation
> 9:40 am: Send it to you for a good laugh

> 9:41 am: For clarification
> 9:41 am: He was never cool
> 9:41 am: He's actually very uncool

> 9:41 am: Dorky 
> 9:41 am: Whatever you said before
> 9:41 am: You know what I mean

> 9:42 am: It was just weird

> 9:42 am: Yeah?

> 9:42 am: And he seemed
> 9:43 am: Really genuine you know?
> 9:43 am: In that too good for his own good kind of way
> 9:43 am: Even our weird teacher was like
> 9:43 am: Be nice to Yuuta if you can he's a kind soul or whatever

> 9:43 am: Your teacher??

> 9:44 am: I dunno 
> 9:44 am: I bought into it a bit
> 9:44 am: Guess I was reading it wrong
> 9:44 am: I’m not
> 9:44 am: Good at this
> 9:44 am: I’ve never been
> 9:44 am: Good at this

> 9:45 am: Dude you being good or bad at this
> 9:45 am: Doesnt change what happened
> 9:45 am: He left you 
> 9:45 am: Saying hed be right back
> 9:46 am: And then nothing

> 9:46 am: Well I do have his phone

> 9:46 am: He didnt come back for it man
> 9:46 am: He was just OUT
> 9:46 am: Bet he didn't even notice it was gone 
> 9:46 am: Until he was somewhere else
> 9:47 am: Long gone already
> 9:47 am: Really surprised you even decided to hold onto it
> 9:47 am: And didnt just drop it in one of Maki’s coolers

> 9:47 am: Didn't feel right
> 9:47 am: He already fucked his computer up
> 9:47 am: Destroying his phone feels
> 9:48 am: I dunno too
> 9:48 am:  Mean?

> 9:48 am: Damn 

> 9:48 am: What

> 9:49 am: You really felt soft for this guy huh
> 9:49 am: Even after sitting there for what
> 9:49 am: Over an hour
> 9:49 am: Waiting for him to come back?

> 9:50 am: Shut up

> 9:50 am: No 
> 9:50 am: I wont
> 9:50 am: Because it still sucks
> 9:51 am: You got led on
> 9:51 am: In a big way

> 9:51 am: I think you're blowing it out of proportion

> 9:52 am: I dont 
> 9:52 am: Because you can still be led on
> 9:52 am: In a small way
> 9:52 am: And it sounded like it was a bunch of small things
> 9:52 am: But all those things add up to a big thing 
> 9:52 am: You know?

> 9:53 am: Maybe
> 9:53 am: He just
> 9:53 am: Kept wanting to try to find ways to talk with me
> 9:53 am: Smiling and shit at the same time
> 9:54 am: Trying to be cool and failing
> 9:54 am: It just
> 9:54 am: He was
> 9:54 am: He
> 9:54 am: It really made me want to try for once
> 9:55 am: ARG
> 9:55 am: Even typing that
> 9:55 am: Feels so stupid to say

> 9:55 am: Not stupid remember

> 9:56 am: Just should have never fallen for the idea of it 
> 9:56 am: I think that's what's eating at me the most right now

> 9:56 am: Anyone would have fallen for the idea of it
> 9:56 am: It's not your fault

> 9:57 am: Yeah maybe

> 9:57 am: Yeah definitely

> 9:57 am: Ha
> 9:57 am: Thanks P

> 9:58 am: Yeah dude
> 9:58 am: Any time

> 9:58 am: I’ll decide what I want to do later
> 9:58 am: I’m still
> 9:58 am: I dunno

> 9:59 am: Take a nap or something
> 9:59 am: Chill out 
> 9:59 am: Don't overthink it
> 9:59 am: You can shoot me a message whenever

From: Unknown
> 10:28 am: I can't explain everything right now but
> 10:28 am: I owe you 
> 10:28 am: The biggest apology ever
> 10:28 am: I can't even put into words
> 10:29 am: How much of an apology I owe you
> 10:29 am: But just know it's absolutely the biggest one

To: Unknown
> 12:23 pm: Who?
> 12:23 pm: Who is this?

> 12:25 pm: Megumi Fushiguro.

> 12:25 pm: Megumi Fushiguro?

> 12:25 pm: Megumi Fushiguro.
> 12:25 pm: I’m related to Maki.
> 12:25 pm: Who I believe you know.
> 12:26 pm: And this is Toge Inumaki, right?

> 12:26 pm: Uh
> 12:26 pm: Yeah
> 12:26 pm: I know Maki
> 12:26 pm: And this might
> 12:26 pm: Be he

> 12:26 pm: Right.
> 12:26 pm: So that’s who this is.
> 12:26 pm: And that’s who you are.

> 12:27 pm: No
> 12:27 pm: I mean
> 12:27 pm: Yes
> 12:27 pm: But
> 12:27 pm: Why are you apologizing?

> 12:27 pm: I'm not.
> 12:28 pm: That was Okkotsu.

> 12:28 pm: Okkotsu
> 12:28 pm: Yuuta?

> 12:28 pm: Okkotsu.
> 12:28 pm: Yuuta.
> 12:29 pm: He borrowed my phone.
> 12:29 pm: He lost his last night at Maki’s.

> 12:29 pm: Did he?

> 12:29 pm: He did.

> 12:30 pm: Well that sucks for him

> 12:30 pm: He was pretty distraught.

> 12:30 pm: Again sucks for him

> 12:31 pm: Although I think the source of the distress was more relevant to you than it was to losing the phone in general.

> 12:32 pm: What does that 
> 12:32 pm: Mean

> 12:33 pm: He couldn’t text you.
> 12:33 pm: On account of no phone.
> 12:33 pm: He doesn't really care that much about the phone itself.
> 12:33 pm: Or that’s what I was able to gather. 
> 12:33 pm: From last night and this morning.

> 12:34 pm: Last night 
> 12:34 pm: And this morning huh

> 12:34 pm: Yes?

> 12:35 pm: How nice for both of you

> 12:35 pm: It wasn't actually.
> 12:35 pm: Trust me.

> 12:36 pm: Oh nooo

> 12:36 pm: I don't know much about you, admittedly.
> 12:37 pm: I didn't even know you and Okkotsu knew each other before today.
> 12:37 pm: But when I say he was distraught.
> 12:37 pm: I really do mean he was distraught.

> 12:37 pm: Send him my deepest condolences
> 12:37 pm: Since you seem to
> 12:37 pm: See him all the time
> 12:38 pm: But didn't know we knew each other
> 12:38 pm: Or whatever

> 12:38 pm: I take it back.
> 12:38 pm: I think I do owe you my own apology.
> 12:38 pm: For dragging him away last night.
> 12:38 pm: I hadn't realized he was um.
> 12:39 pm: Preoccupied with anyone.

> 12:39 pm: What a way to phrase that

> 12:39 pm: Yeah well.
> 12:39 pm: It still seems unrealistic to me honestly.
> 12:40 pm: He's not really the type to just do those kinds of things with anyone.
> 12:40 pm: Well I should say anyone fleeting.

> 12:41 pm: Fleeting
> 12:41 pm: Your word choice remains so original

> 12:41 pm: One-off. 
> 12:41 pm: You know what I mean.

> 12:42 pm: One-off

> 12:42 pm: Okkotsu doesn’t do hookups.
> 12:42 pm: One-night stands.
> 12:42 pm: Flings.
> 12:42 pm: Whatever.
> 12:43 pm: So either he's changed into a completely different person.
> 12:43 pm: Or you're important to him in some way.
> 12:43 pm: And the latter seems more likely.
> 12:43 pm: But again, I don't really know. 

> 12:45 pm: Important?
> 12:45 pm: For sounding like you know him pretty well
> 12:45 pm: It also sounds like maybe you also don't

> 12:46 pm: We don't talk about these things. 
> 12:46 pm: I'm operating a lot on assumption.
> 12:46 pm: But there's more ways to figure out what's going on in someone's head than just talking about it.
> 12:46 pm: I'm sure you're aware of that.

> 12:46 pm: Wow
> 12:47 pm: Has anyone ever told you
> 12:47 pm:  That you kinda come off as a bit insulting?

> 12:47 pm: Weren’t you just critiquing my word choice?

> 12:47 pm: Only because it sucked and was weird?

> 12:48 pm: Look.
> 12:48 pm: I had a problem.
> 12:48 pm: He helped me fix it. 
> 12:48 pm: Unfortunately it took longer than expected.
> 12:48 pm: Losing his phone complicated everything.
> 12:48 pm: That's the gist of it.

> 12:49 pm: Is that what happened

> 12:49 pm: Yes.

> 12:49 pm: Gonna be honest
> 12:49 pm: Sounds like a bad excuse

> 12:50 pm: Would you believe Maki said the same thing?
> 12:50 pm: I’d like to really reinforce the fact that it's not.
> 12:50 pm: An excuse I mean.
> 12:50 pm: He really helped me out.
> 12:50 pm: Unfortunately at your expense.
> 12:50 pm: And he feels horrible about it.
> 12:50 pm: So, I'm sorry.

> 12:51 pm: Apology acknowledged
> 12:51 pm: I'm sure he'll get over it

> 12:51 pm: Okkotsu’s more torn up about this than I've seen him torn up about anything in years.

> 12:51 pm: Like I said
> 12:51 pm: I'm sure he'll get over it

> 12:52 pm: I know you've only known him a couple months.
> 12:52 pm: But even you should know that's a lie.
> 12:52 pm: He isn’t like that.

> 12:53 pm: You know what
> 12:53 pm: Maybe he won't
> 12:53 pm: But
> 12:53 pm: I’m tired of being told
> 12:53 pm: What he is and isn’t 
> 12:53 pm: Doing
> 12:53 pm: Feeling
> 12:53 pm: Like
> 12:53 pm: If he wants to tell me something that's not some
> 12:53 pm: Generalized apology 
> 12:53 pm: Or second hand whatever 
> 12:53 pm: He should just do it himself

> 12:54 pm: I’ll tell him that when I see him.

> 12:55 pm: Don't feel pressed about it or anything

To: Traitor
> 2:13 pm: Maki

From: Traitor
> 2:15 pm: toge
> 2:15 pm: god
> 2:15 pm: toge where are u

> 2:16 pm: In my apartment
> 2:16 pm: Where else would I be?

> 2:17 pm: ok good
> 2:17 pm: yuuta was over this morning
> 2:17 pm: w/o you
> 2:17 pm: he said he left u at my place 
> 2:17 pm: last night?

> 2:18 pm: Yeah that tracks for how events went down

> 2:18 pm: u ok

> 2:18 pm: Perfect

> 2:18 pm: toge

> 2:19 pm: Maki

> 2:19 pm: i was worried

> 2:19 pm: You?
> 2:19 pm: Really?

> 12:19 pm: toge

> 12:20 pm: There was nothing to worry about

> 2:20 pm: liar
> 2:20 pm: u know and i know 
> 2:20 pm: thats not tru

> 2:20 pm: I mean I guess it wasn’t a great night
> 2:20 pm: Your party kinda sucked actually
> 2:20 pm: I think you’re starting to slack
> 2:21 pm: Resting on your laurels
 > 2:21 pm: Don't think it'd be worth going to the next one
> 2:21 pm: If it's gonna be as boring as this last one

> 2:22 pm: alright yeah ur pissed
> 2:22 pm: look
> 2:22 pm: i know i was the one 
> 2:22 pm: who told u to give yuuta a chance

> 2:23 pm: Yeah that tracks for how events went down 

> 2:23 pm: i still think hes not a bad dude
> 2:23 pm: probably
> 2:23 pm: but hes definitely stupider
> 2:23 pm: than even i originally thought

> 2:24 pm: Ha
> 2:24 pm: Would you believe Panda said the same thing

> 2:24 pm: panda is right

> 2:25 pm: Gonna screencap and send that to him

> 2:25 pm: urg fine
> 2:25 pm: im not gonna apologize for yuuta
> 2:25 pm: bc he should do that himself
> 2:25 pm: but i am gonna say im sorry
> 2:26 pm: that this happened to u

> 2:26 pm: You're going soft Maki

> 2:26 pm: shut up
> 2:26 pm: i care about u
> 2:26 pm: u know

> 2:27 pm: Gross

> 2:27 pm: yeah gross
> 2:27 pm: do u want me to come over 
> 2:27 pm: bring u food
> 2:27 pm: or anything

> 2:28 pm: No 
> 2:28 pm: I don't think so 
> 2:28 pm: I don't think I want to see anyone right now

Knock.

Toge's focus snapped away from the phone screen as a knock echoed through his quiet apartment. 

Toge was laying on the futon because he had fallen asleep on the futon because he had flopped down on the futon last night after walking home alone and decided walking the extra 10 steps to the bedroom was just not worth it when the futon was literally right here. He had also decided after waking up the next morning that doing anything other than laying on the futon for the rest of today also seemed like way too much effort. 

He wasn't moping or anything. 

Seriously. 

He was fine. 

Seriously.

Existing in a futon-state was just a comfortable, completely normal, and not sad way to spend the day. He could wrap himself up in a blanket, roll over, and nap whenever he wanted. It was great. Honestly, more humans should just give up and become futon people. 

But with that Knock , for the first time in hours, Toge rolled over. He pushed himself up on one arm, and shifted slightly so he could glance at the door over his shoulder.

Then there was another Knock.

Toges half-considered flopping back down on the futon, closing his eyes again mentally willing the ideas of No one lives here and Why were you even trying and You literally cannot go away fast enough to sink into whoever was knocking's thick skull.

But then a voice called out.

“Inumaki?”

Oh. Wait. That voice. He knew that voice.

It spoke again.

“Are you home?”

That stupid, dorky, very uncool voice.

“I don't know if you're in there or not. And if you are, I understand if you’d rather not see me but I have a few things I wanted to tell you so…”

There was a small rustling sound and Toge saw something slip under the door.

What was that...A note? From where he was sitting he couldn’t exactly tell… 

Damn, the futon’s one singular flaw. 

He rose to his feet to investigate what the stupid, dorky very uncool person who the voice belonged to had decided to slip under his door.

Toge picked it up and held it in his hand.

Turns out it was, indeed, a note. A small one ripped off some tiny spiral notepad. He squinted at it for a moment and he was able to discern that, yes, this was definitely his bad handwriting. It was--

His eyes widened as he started to read the words. 

I think you're very funny even if I've never heard you tell a joke. 

Another slid under the door. 

I think it's cute the way your fingers poke out of the bottom of your sleeves.

Then another.

Your eyes are so bright and expressive. They're also the perfect color. 

And another.

I think there's something special about the way your shoulders move when you laugh. 

Even if the first time I saw you do it you were laughing at me.

People think you're rude but I think that's because they don't understand how to understand you.

I want to try to understand how to understand you better.

You're so interesting and clever and I absolutely know you're out of my league.

But you still went to a party with me and that was probably the best thing that's happened to me all year.

No, I'm sure it was the best thing that’s happened to me all year.

I absolutely did not want to leave last night.

I’m so, so sorry.

You're all I was thinking about.

You're still all I'm thinking about.

I literally can't stop thinking about you.

It's sort of driving me crazy… is that super lame to say?

Toge's heart was beating so fast it was almost painful. His mouth felt dry to the point he knew he wouldn't be able to swallow even if he tried. And his face felt so goddamn hot like he was experiencing the sudden onset of a fever.

It was disorienting. He could count the number of times he had felt these sorts of things on one hand. However, he had never quite experienced them all, simultaneously, at once quite like this. 

Was he dying? This is what dying felt like, right? This was surely an indication he was headed to an early grave.

Wait…

Holy shit. 

He looked at the notes in his hand then at the door, then back at the notes in his hands. His heart continued to beat at a rapid-fire pace.

Panda was right. He was getting murdered. 

He was getting murdered by Yuuta Okkotsu's stupid, sweet goddamn notes about... how much he… 

Toge reached for the door handle and then froze. Slowly he reached his other hand up to touch his uncovered face.

Even if… He couldn't just...

Toge scrambled for the nearest thing, something, anything within reach. Fortunately, due to the weather getting colder and his normally unfortunate habit of tossing his clothes into piles, it didn't take him very long to find something usable. He unearthed a scarf and quickly wrapped it around the bottom half of his head.

Cautiously, carefully, and as casually as he could despite the fact he was literally beginning to pass away, Toge cracked open the door and peered one eye out.

Yuuta was there, outside his door, bent over in a half squat holding a small notepad in his hand, already in the middle of scribbling out something else. Toge felt his face get hot all over again.

How many things could he possibly have to say?!

Yuuta stopped his writing as soon as he noticed the door move. His dark blue eyes looked up from the notebook to meet Toge's own.

“Hey,” Yuuta said in greeting, smiling with what might possibly be the softest smile Toge has ever seen as he stood back up.

There were a few things about Yuuta that had always stood out to Toge:

First, despite being 6-foot god knows how tall, Yuuta had this strange habit of trying to make himself small and non-invasive in whatever environment he ended up existing in. Toge had concluded he had just never really mentally grown into his own body. 

Second, Yuuta had this perpetual nervousness which made him weirdly jumpy and act a bit like a cornered animal in most situations. It was incredibly easy to cause him to backtrack and Toge could admit to exploiting this once or twice for fun.

Third, he was handsome as hell and Toge was absolutely sure he was not aware of that fact himself.

Today though, as Yuuta stood up and looked down at him with an oddly pointed determination, looking weirdly sure of himself, the first two things felt so far from applying that Toge wondered if they had even applied in the first place. 

(The third still did, very much so infact, much to Toge's continued distress and rapidly depleting life force.)

“I don't have my phone… I lost it. But I know Fushiguro told you that. And instead of going back and forth and back and forth...”

He held up the notepad he'd been writing on and smiled softly again.

“I figured notes might be easier.”

Toge felt a thrumming in his ears. Death was all but imminent at this point.

“I'll absolutely leave if you want but… I really don’t want to and…”

Yuuta swallowed, exhaled a breath through his nose, and stared Toge directly in the eyes.

“I don’t think you really want me to either. Can we try to figure this out?”

Chapter Text

Yuuta stood in the doorway as he waited for an answer. 

It was a weird and foreign feeling, to realize he wanted something like this. From someone else. In such a direct way.

In other situations, with other things, he’d have written it off, perpetually cycle through enough negative mental scenarios to convince himself that whatever he might have wanted wasn’t worth it because the outcome couldn’t possibly be as good as he hoped it would be. It was always better to let the entire want fade than to deal with the inevitable disappointment. That was the easiest path to resolution. That was the easiest path to continuing on. That was the path that resulted in the least amount of change.

Because change was scary and change hurt. 

Well, change in Yuuta’s life hurt, anyway. And his incredibly poor track record had left him debilitatingly bad habits he hadn’t even realized he’d cultivated. 

But...Bad habits could be broken, and maybe changes could be as positive as they could be negative.

Maybe.

In this, just this once, Yuuta was doing his absolute best to have a little bit of hope. Because he wanted to have hope for this. He wanted this. And because of that he decided he was going to latch on to that want, that warm feeling in his core that bubbled up when he thought about Inumaki, move past the cold, swirling void of his own self-doubt, and finally succeed at understanding and acting on his own feelings for once. 

Ah. Wait. He was getting ahead of himself. 

Because. Well… He still needed Inumaki’s response. His feelings mattered here, too. 

Inumaki’s lilac eyes peered up at him through the door’s small opening, pulled in as far as the little lock chain would allow. They blinked, stared at Yuuta for a moment longer, blinked again, then disappeared behind the door as it shut with a click.

Yuuta might have been holding his breath. He wasn’t sure. He was standing, listening, waiting for... something. This was the actual moment of truth, the end or continuation of this whole scenario, the yes or no that would really decide the next steps he had to take.

(Or the pieces he’d have to pick up.)

He heard some jingling and another small click and did his best to not allow himself to think about the sounds fading away, and the door in front of him remaining shut and locked for good.

It shouldn’t happen. It wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t happen...

Then, as Yuuta held his breath, the door creaked back open, swinging inward, as Inumaki stood there, in full, looking nearly the same as he did last night, no longer existing as just a sliver.

It was a yes then. 

A yes, you can come in. A yes, we can talk about this. A yes, I’m willing to hear you out. A yes, I don’t want you to go away.

Yet, at least. And that was more than enough of a place for the two of them to start.

Yuuta took the invitation, stepping forward over the threshold into the apartment he had only seen for the first time something like a week ago.

As he looked back at Inumaki, he noticed the smaller boy wasn’t wearing his usual facemask. Instead, he had his head wrapped haphazardly in a scarf with his nose popping out of the top, just a little.

It was strange. Yuuta had never seen him like this. It felt too casual, almost exposing… In all likelyhood, he’d caught Inumaki off guard with his arrival. Yuuta wondered if he should apologize for that too, on top of everything else he wanted to say.

“I see you read what I wrote,” Yuuta pointed out instead, gesturing to the crumpled paper in Inumaki’s hand, as the other boy finished shutting and locking the door behind the both of them. 

Inumaki looked down at the balled-up pages he was holding like he had forgotten they were there. He quickly stuffed the lot of them into one of his hoodie pockets. 

Yuuta smiled, “I’m glad.”

The blonde didn’t respond to that. Instead, he turned and stiffly walked past Yuuta over to the futon in the middle of the room. He took a seat to the far side, leaving enough space for Yuuta to take a seat as well.

Yuuta took that invitation too. He down, balled his fits up and drew in a breath, fully intent to start saying his piece when Inumaki abruptly turned away.

Uh…? Oh.

What was he grabbing? Yuuta hadn’t really expected Inumaki to give him anything back--

“Wait is... is that...”

Inumaki held out a small rectangular object that had been the main point of Yuuta’s distress for the last 24 hours. 

“My phone-- Wait, where did you get--”

Then he had a dawning realization of where it had been this whole time. 

“At Maki’s,” Yuuta said, answering his own question, “It fell out of my pocket when we were... You were going to give it back to me when I got back... then... That… that actually makes sense. I hadn’t thought of that.”

Inumaki nodded and tucked his hands into his pockets.

“Thanks,” Yuuta took it back and looked it over. No damage. Nothing major out of place. It looked exactly like it had the last time he had seen it. 

This was good, actually. One less thing to worry about later, even if Yuuta had made his own workaround to the major problem caused by its absence already. 

“Sorry. Please give me just a second.”

Yuuta unlocked the screen and quickly sent off a few quick messages. One to Fushiguro, then one to Maki. Quick assurances that he found his phone, Inumaki had it, and yes, he was with him now, and thank you for earlier today.

Inumaki eyed him curiously as he typed, like he still wasn’t sure what to make of this whole situation until Yuuta finally looked back up from the screen.

“Okay. Now that that’s done, we should talk about the things that are actually important.”

Yuuta put his phone face down next to him, re-took the deep breath he’d been preparing to take before, and turned towards Inumaki, giving him his full and undivided attention.

“Last night... Last night, well...” 

Yuuta felt himself fidget habitually, then forcibly willed himself to stop.

No, none of that. Not now. Not this time. 

“It was good. It was so good. Until it was bad and then it was really bad... I hope you can believe me when I say I really didn’t want to do the bad parts and I really, really want to do the good parts… again... with you.”

Yuuta leaned in. He half wanted to grab Inumaki’s hands out of his pockets and hold them, just to feel a little connected, to reinforce his point, but the other half was worried any sort of movement might disrupt his own concentration, causing a pause he didn’t want. Yuuta settled on balling his hands into fists in his lap as he continued.

“Today. Tomorrow. Next week. Any time. And not just the drinking part or the party part… Although sure, we could do those again too. I mean more, like, I want to do the being near you part, the me talking at you part, even... even the you making fun of me back part… I want to do all that again with you and more.”

Yuuta did his best to maintain eye contact while trying to will his words to keep up with his brain.

“You’re just... so attractive in a way that’s been eating at me ever since I first met you. I’m sorry it took me this long to decide to do something about it... To realize what I was feeling when I was with you. You deserve better than that. I’m gonna try to be better than that from now on.”

He swallowed. His mouth felt simultaneously too dry and too wet; his tongue sluggish and slow. He wondered if he might be slurring a bit, but there was literally no stopping now.

“I just don’t want to miss out on the chance at something that could be so good by being stupid, you know? And maybe that sounds stupid itself. But…” 

Yuuta’s eyes fell down to the scarf wrapped around Inumaki’s face.

“...I really want to kiss you. I wanted to kiss you last night and... maybe even before that, too. I just… I haven’t exactly figured out how to do that yet. So... What do you think?” 

A silence fell. Yuuta’s heart pounded. He was absolutely sure it was audible. 

That’s okay, it was okay, that was probably normal, having just, well, admitted you wanted to kiss someone to their face. He’d never actually done that before, so... yeah. Heart? Pounding? Very normal. He had said what he wanted to say, so, so yeah… heart-pounding worthy. Definitely. And that was okay, because he was direct. He wassure Inumaki understood him now. That was a success. A really, really nerve-wracking success. 

Yuuta looked back up into Inumaki’s eyes. They were wide and… confused? Was that right? Um...

They stared at each other for what felt like too long of a second before Inumaki glanced down to the side, awkwardly and pulled the scarf up over his nose, looking a bit like a turtle pulling its head into its shell.

Yuuta admittedly didn’t know what reaction he expected, but it definitely, absolutely was not that one.

For the first time since he showed up on the doorstep, Yuuta’s determination-fueled confidence faltered and he felt a lead drop in his stomach.

Oh.

Oh, fuck.

Wait, was... was he actually wrong about the whole thing? That couldn’t be... could it? Maybe he needed to say something else, punctuate that last thought better? Maybe... maybe he could salvage this. Oh god, oh god, fuck, um--

Not knowing what else to do and with a strong need to fill the incredibly uncomfortable silence that was building between them, Yuuta looked away himself and started to ramble.

“However you want to respond is fine! Even if it’s not at all and you want to slam the door in my face again. I’m not trying to force you into anything. Really, I mean that! I can leave right now, actually. You kicking me out would absolutely make sense too since this whole thing is probably a little forward and maybe a little out of the blue because of my own hangups and you’re probably still mad at me and I’m honestly just really glad you were willing to hear me out at all and--”

Yuuta heard the futon creak and felt it shift slightly. 

“And--” 

Yuuta didn’t have the chance to finish that thought, as the words that had been spilling out of his mouth caught in his throat. Hands reached out and grabbed the sides of his head, turning it back. Then, he saw the top of Inumaki’s face enter the entirety of his field of vision... much, much closer than he’d ever been before. 

Yuuta heard a small rustle of fabric and felt a nose bump his.

Oh.

Oh, wait.

He was still stuck in his mental backtrack a bit, but if he could understand this new, very close, position correctly, he was sure Inuamki’s mouth was just the smallest, smallest distance from his own. 

If Yuuta expected anything to be said at this exact moment, he was sure Inumaki’s words would be something along the lines of: Well, you said you wanted to kiss me, so are you going to do it or...?

Had it been 24 hours earlier, maybe even last night, Yuuta would have issued his own retreat due to nervousness or embarrassment for being put in such a spot. Talking himself back into the self perpetual worry of overstepping whatever unspoken boundary existed between him and other people. 

But he was here, now, not then. And he had come so far and said too many things and god did he want this so badly. 

So, Yuuta pushed forward, not back as he tilted his head down and closed the small gap Inumaki had left between them, connecting their lips.

It was weird, finally kissing someone you only just realized you’ve probably wanted to kiss for months.

But it was a good kind of weird--the best kind of weird--his new favorite kind of weird.

Given everything he knew about Inumaki, Yuuta knew this whole situation was going to be a bit of an unknown… But he was thrilled, absolutely over the moon, to discover that Inumaki’s mouth felt soft against his. Softer than anything he expected. Soft enough to give him heart palpitations. He liked it. He liked it so much. He liked it so fucking much and it felt so fucking good and Inumaki’s mouth was so fucking soft. Yuuta was absolutely sure no other mouth in the entire world could possibly feel this soft.

God, was he so lucky to finally be kissing it. 

It was then Yuuta wondered what his own mouth felt like in turn. He hadn’t thought about his own mouth, well, ever, but it must at least be a little rough by comparison. Were his lips chapped? Oh man, he hoped they weren’t, but they very well might be. He should have thought through this better. He should have--

Then Yuuta stopped thinking altogether when Inumaki shifted slightly, adjusting the position of his head and fitting his soft mouth fitting against Yuuta’s a bit better, moving just a bit closer. Yuuta’s heart fluttered.

Well, however his mouth felt, it must not be bad.

Yuuta hummed appreciatively, trying to convey in his own wordless way to Inumaki that Yeah, that was good, I liked that.

And Inumaki hummed back, like a punctuation, before pushing his mouth against Yuuta’s with more force, something Yuuta was happy to respond to as well.

This push and push back continued, small reverberations traded between them as they shared in this new type of connection with each other. It was good, so good, but starting growing a little stiff, leaning like this. The angle wasn’t quite right. Yuuta was just a bit too tall and Inumaki was just a bit too short and they were tilted towards each other in a way that made this difference more and more apparent by the second but Yuuta absolutely didn’t want to stop --

Yuuta slowly opened his eyes, vision refocusing on the face that was still just so, so close to his. He then wondered if it was weird to look at the person you were kissing. 

Inumaki’s eyes were still closed, his ash-blonde eyelashes splayed out, resting against his face. Wow, uh, for staring at his eyes for most of the time Yuuta had known him, he’d never actually noticed how different they looked up close. How much prettier. Longer. Was that because they were so light? Almost invisible? Or was that because the color of his eyes always ended up being so distracting? Were there other things Yuuta could notice about him up close like this? Just how many other things--

Ah. Hold on. He was supposed to be doing something else.

“Wait,” Yuuta breathed out as he broke away and pulled back for the first time since they connected. He didn’t retreat too far because he still had that little inkling of fear that pulling too far away from Inumaki would make this whole thing abruptly stop somehow and he definitely didn’t want to risk that.

Inumaki’s eyes opened a second later, giving an unsure, searching look. They looked a bit like trying to figure out the reason they were no longer kissing. 

That was a good sign. 

Yuuta reached his arms out, wrapping them around Inumaki’s middle, finding his smaller waist hidden under the layers of his clothes, and pulled the blonde’s body forward towards him. It was not exactly the most fluid maneuver, but Yuuta managed to half-direct, half-allow Inumaki to figure out what he wanted, as a leg over Yuuta’s waist and Inumaki sat down on his lap.

“Better?” Yuuta asked, being the one to bump their noses together this time as he smiled. 

The weight on Yuuta’s lap was reassuring, growing heavier and heavier as Inumaki slowly released the tension in his legs and stopped holding himself up. It grounded the situation in its own way. That weight. It let Yuuta know that instead of being ready to dart away at a moment’s notice, Inumaki was instead conveying to him that Yeah okay, this is okay.

Yuuta’s understanding was reinforced as Inumaki shifted forward not a few moments later, reconnecting their mouths on his own this time, bringing them both back to where they had been before.

He kept fighting between the two voices in his brain shouting slow down slow down slow down and faster faster faster, feeling like he needed to make up for lost time because who the hell knew kissing someone could feel like this -- There was something here, now, with the way the two of them that felt so much better, so much more right, than anything Yuuta had ever hoped to experience with another person before. 

He allowed himself to venture into the unknown a little bit, giving in to one of his bolder intonations, as he tilted his head a different direction and opened his mouth. 

Inumaki responded to this, almost immediately, twisting his head the other direction, opening his in turn, and slotting their open mouths together.

It was wetter than what they had been doing before. A little sloppier, more complicated, and now with the added problem of teeth. 

Although maybe calling it a problem wasn’t exactly true.

Yuuta was trying to figure out what to do with his tongue, not entirely sure if he needed to ask permission for something but also unsure how to even do that when he felt Inumaki shove his own tongue into his mouth with no real preamble or hesitancy. 

Yuuta let out a breathy sound of surprise, one that didn’t have a chance to go anywhere with Inumaki’s mouth pushed flush and open against his, keeping him close. 

He hadn’t been expecting that.

Inumaki had, he just... he had just gone for it. In a way that made Yuuta’s senses light up, made the heat in his chest grow. He figured that was more than enough of a go-ahead to respond in turn. 

It turned out this was a much better type of kissing.

They fell into a pace, slow then fast then slow again, tongues swirling against each other as Yuuta found he liked not only the feel of Inumaki’s mouth, but the taste of it too.

He hadn’t been expecting that either.

When he felt teeth grazing his lower lip, biting down in a way that didn’t exactly hurt, Yuuta only just barely repressed a strangled sound that would have probably been embarrassing in any other situation. It sent a shiver down his spine.

He had expected that least of all.

For as private as Inumaki had come off, he had seemingly no problem being the forthcoming one in this. And for someone’s mouth Yuuta still hadn’t even seen before, he was quickly learning so many things he really really liked about it... Because, honestly, if Inumaki wanted to keep licking and biting at and into and around his mouth like this Yuuta decided right then and there he really, really didn’t mind. Not even a little bit. His true feelings could be described as the exact opposite actually. Hell, he’d actually be willing to let Inumaki bite at some other places too, if he wanted.

But maybe he was getting ahead of himself again. 

He knew he was making too many words in his head. 

He should just focus on kissing back.

Moving his mouth correctly.

Making sure his tongue--

Focus on how--

Okay and then--

Oh yeah, that--

Yeah, that definitely worked--

Yuuta was catching up, finding his own rhythm, growing more confident moment by moment. His efforts were rewarded with small sounds back from Inumaki; breathy and needy and almost unhearable, but Yuuta’s ears caught each and every one.

It was amazing reinforcement, the little noises. It pushed him on, just a bit, just enough, renewing a vigor within that he didn’t even know he had. Yuuta liked the way this made him feel, liked that he could tell he was making Inumaki feel good, liked that they were doing this together. He’d be willing to keep this up forever as long as Inumaki wanted it.

Yuuta lifted his hands from where they were folded against Inumaki’s back up to his head. His fingers ran up the sides of Inuamki’s neck as he reached forward to cup his face. He wanted to hold him in his hands and just... just touch him more.  

As his thumb swiped over one cheek, Yuuta felt something strange. The skin was rough and a little uneven, a distinctly different texture from the softness he’d felt everywhere else. As soon as he grazed that uneven skin, Inumaki jerked backward with such an immediate force, Yuuta was sure he’d accidentally hurt him in some way. 

“Ah--! I’m sorry! I’m--” Yuuta apologized instantly, shocked first by the sudden movement then by the fact he was really, actually, looking at Inuamki’s full face for the first time, “…Sor...ry…?”

Yuuta always knew he must look like something. Everyone looked like something. Back when they first met, Yuuta’s mind would wander, wondering what he could possibly look like, wonder if there was something unseemly or weird concealed under his mask. But, looking at him now, in full, no, Yuuta could see that Inumaki didn’t look weird at all.

Inumaki’s face was incredibly well proportioned. His nose was cute, just a little round at the end. It fit nicely on his face which had surprisingly distinct cheekbones, although it also had a small bit of roundness too, which soften them out. His mouth was small, also cute, with lips that currently looked more than a bit puffy.

(...Although that may have been from all the kissing.)

The skin around Inumaki’s mouth contained a spattering of blemishes (...maybe they were burns?). They created distinct patches of discoloration that stood out vividly around his mouth against his lighter complexion. It looked older, healed with time, set in and permanent. Something that was now a part of him, even if they hadn’t been at some point in the past.

Yuuta was only about to take in the entirety of his face for a couple of seconds before one of Inumaki’s arms flew outward at him, forcibly diverting Yuuta’s gaze as the smaller boy turned away, scrambling around for something he couldn’t quite find. He was looking for...something? Maybe the scarf that had ended up discarded earlier?

“Hold on,” Yuuta said, reaching up, pulling his arm back down easily. “Do you… Do you think it’s ugly or something?”

Getting a full view of him again, truly, Yuuta didn’t think a single part of Inumaki’s face was ugly, marks or burns or whatever included.

“Is that the reason you hide it?” 

Inumaki stopped twisting and his eyes fell. He couldn’t exactly tell, but he thought that maybe he looked a little embarrassed…? Yuuta wasn’t sure if he should take that as a confirmation or denial, but...

Yuuta reached back up to cup his face, successfully this time, making sure their eyes met.

“It’s different, sure, and it wasn’t something I was expecting, but,” Yuuta thumbed over his cheeks again, taking in his face in full, “Trust me when I say you have a nice face. And finally, seeing all of it, I…” Yuuta sighed and then smiled, genuine and full of feeling, “I think I could just look at you for hours.”

He moved Inumaki’s head forward, now with less resistance, and took a bit of a chance, tilting Inumaki’s face and kissing his cheeks; kissing the marks. 

It was sappy. It was. But Yuuta had come to realize that maybe he was a little sappy at heart. And that was probably okay.

Inumaki reached a hand up, and pushed his head back, although not nearly in the same forceful way from before. His face fell into a dismissive expression, but Yuuta didn’t miss the pink that rose up in his cheeks and spread to his ears.

Yuuta smiled.

“You’re cute, you know? I’ve always wanted to tell you that.”

Inumaki raised an eyebrow at him skeptically.

“Yes, still cute-- cuter even --now that I can see your entire face. And not just because you’re small,” Yuuta thought for a moment, then added, “Although I like that too, I think--Don’t give me that look, you are. It makes sitting like this a little easier.”

He resettled his arms around Inumaki’s waist and Inumaki put his hands on Yuuta’s shoulders. Yuuta considered leaning forward to try to kiss him again, but decided that just sitting here, looking at each other, was nice too.

Although… there was still something bothering Inumaki. Yuuta saw his mouth twitch, and he looked a bit like he was chewing on something that tasted bad. 

“Is something wrong?” Yuuta asked, his concern about the situation growing again. Was it something with his mouth? Or maybe he actually was uncomfortable with all of this? With them?

Before Yuuta could think anything further, Inumaki opened his mouth.

“I--” 

Yuuta’s eyes widened.

“Wh-”

“I--Yuu--ta.”

The voice came out louder than expected, in a broken half-croak of a sound. Yuuta’s mouth fell open.

Wait, had he just heard-- had he just heard him speak?

Almost immediately, Inumaki winced, as if in pain, face flushing from pink to a deep red, redder than anything else Yuuta had seen thus far. 

And he looked... he looked absolutely mortified.

Yuuta’s mind flew back to Fushiguro’s mention of “the throat thing” as he started to piece a few things together. Inumaki wasn’t mute, but he wasn’t exactly able to talk either. He was… well, he had some sort of difficulty beyond refusing to speak out of choice. And, right here, right now, he had just put himself on the spot, exposing that handicap that directly to Yuuta. He had exposed it by saying Yuuta’s name.

Having had his own slew of embarrassing and mortifying experiences, Yuuta could tell what was about to happen before Inumaki even made a move.

“No,” Yuuta wrapped his arms around firmly Inumaki’s middle right at the moment he began to squirm away, “No, no, no, stop it’s okay-- ”

Inumaki was trying to run, to flee. Trying to lock himself behind some other door, some other barrier, away from where Yuuta was now, from where they were now, in a full scale retreat.

But Yuuta wasn’t going to let him. Not this time.

Yuuta’s grip was tight, as he pulled Inumaki solidly against himself as he attempted to push away. Even with his own surprising amount of strength, Inumaki must have realized he would not be able to break free. Frantically, in a last-ditch effort, the smaller boy pulled the hood of his oversized hoodie over his head and yanked the cords, closing it completely over his face.

Yuuta had to admit, he hadn’t considered hiding in his own hoodie an option. Yuuta would probably have been a little impressed had the circumstances been different.

But running away was not an option, not now, not that they’d this far.

“Hey,” Yuuta reached up and placed a hand on Inumaki’s back. He moved it up and down in a way he hoped read as comforting and calming. 

“Come back out... Please?”

The hood shook itself back and forth, unbudging. Yuuta exhaled a breath in a sigh.

“Okay, I... I uh, I’m gonna say a few things then.”

Yuuta reached over and held Inumaki’s hands in his own, running his thumb over the smaller boy’s knuckles. 

“I figured this should have been obvious, but when I said I wanted to understand you better... I meant in whatever way worked best for you. I never really expected you to say anything.” 

Yuuta felt the tension in Inumaki’s hands release and fall. Taking a chance, Yuuta reached up and pulled at the edge of the tightened hood, loosening it before pulling it back down. His eyes met Inumaki’s again as the hiding place fell away. 

“Hello, again.”

Inumaki still looked a little like he wanted to run away. Despite that, he looked up toward Yuuta and drew in a breath through his nose then said in a much, much quieter voice than before.

“It’s hard... To be loud.” 

This time as he spoke each word was supplemented with a small hand gesture. A sign, an emphasis. Like he was trying extra hard to explain something he didn’t quite know how to explain to someone he knew wouldn’t fully understand.

His voice was still rough from disuse, but with the decrease in volume it didn’t seem to cause him quite the upset it had before. Considering how long it must have been since the last time he’d said, well, anything, Yuuta was impressed how nice it actually sounded.

This was likely a more complicated conversation. One that might be a little difficult and hard to have and maybe it wasn’t right to delve into at this moment. That was fine though, they could figure out more of the details later. He wasn’t planning on making this, them, a one-time thing after all.

None of this changed how he felt. 

“Okay, then. Don’t be,” Yuuta said, simply, smiling, “Easy solution.” 

The look Inumaki gave him reflected the fact that he felt Yuuta might be crazy for suggesting something so simple. Yuuta just reached up and ran his fingers through Inumaki’s hair. It was just as soft as he always thought it would be.

“You’ve always come off as a bit of the quiet type anyway.”

Inumaki blinked back at him. Yuuta laughed at himself.

“Was that joke bad? Sorry.” 

Inumaki leaned forward, resting his head on Yuuta’s shoulder, burying his nose into Yuuta’s neck. Yuuta continued to run his fingers through his hair as he held him again, without the squirming from before.

“This is still okay, right?” Yuuta asked.

He didn’t see so much as feel the small nod. Yuuta smiled, feeling the warm feeling building up inside his chest again. 

“Thank you. For my name. I liked it.” 

“Stupid,” Yuuta heard a small huff next to his ear and felt fingers reach up and grip at his shirt again. 

“Haha, yeah. I am stupid, but I think you still like me anyway. At least a little bit.”

Yuuta was content to sit here, just holding Inumaki for the rest of the hour, the day, forever, really. He was so... happy right now, in a way he hadn’t been in a very, very long time.

But his placated thoughts were interrupted as Inumaki suddenly pushed himself back, taking Yuuta by surprise.

“Um,” He started, not knowing what else to say, “Is there something else?”

Inumaki wrinkled his nose and frowned. He looked down, poked Yuuta in the chest, and huffed a breath through his nose. It was easier to glean his non-verbal implications now that Yuuta could see his full face. 

This one very clearly conveyed: You stink.

“Oh,” Yuuta responded, catching onto the meaning, his own face reddening as he realized Inumaki was probably right, “I had... a bit of a morning before coming here and I haven’t had a chance to well… shower yet.”

Inumaki’s frown deepened.

“What. At least I changed my shirt,” Yuuta shot back in mock offense, “You’re wearing the exact same thing you were wearing last night. Or did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

He pulled Inumaki close again, face to face. The other boy, admittedly, didn’t smell bad, Yuuta was sure he actually did smell worse, even still...

“We probably both need a shower,” Yuuta concluded, then, offhandedly, completely, entirely as a joke, added, “Maybe we could save hot water and take one together.”

Inumaki opened, then closed his mouth, looking, ironically, at a loss for words at that suggestion.

Yuuta was about to laugh, call out how bad his humor was again and suggest he head home himself with the promise of returning later when Inumaki simply said,

“Okay.”

○○○

Yuuta averted his gaze as Inumaki crossed his arms and lifted his shirt up. The water in the shower was already on, heating up, presumably for the both of them. 

Despite literally standing in the bathroom, Yuuta was still wondering if, in some strange and incredibly unlikely turn of events, what he had suggested was really, actually about to happen.

Inumaki had shucked off his hoodie earlier after rising up from Yuuta’s lap to his feet. He walked towards the singular small hallway in the apartment, down which Yuuta assumed must be the bathroom. Before disappearing completely around the corner, the blonde had shot back one, single questioning glance as if to ask: Well, are you coming?

It was incredibly undignified, the half-scramble to his feet Yuuta performed after that.

Because he wasn’t just going to sit there. Not with that kind of invitation.

However...

For the second time since he showed up on Inumaki’s doorstep, Yuuta’s confidence faltered. 

Ha. Ha.

Wait.

Oh. Oh god, wait… 

What’s the protocol for this? It’s not like. Yeah, they just kissed a lot, but that doesn’t mean-- They’re not like-- Well, not yet -- He couldn’t just--

Yuuta felt a tap on his shoulder then heard Inumaki’s quiet, raspy voice, barely audible over the sounds of the shower say:

“You can look. If you want.” 

Slowly, tentatively, with as much caution as he could muster, Yuuta shifted his eyes downward from the ceiling they’d been fixated on down to Inumaki who was standing in front of him.

It took nearly every fiber of Yuuta’s being to stop himself from leaning forward, opening his mouth, and kissing Inumaki again until they both ended up breathless, hot water forgotten. 

“Everything about you is so…” Yuuta began, but… what even could he say when he was looking at someone so… Nice? Too boring. Perfect? Too much. Cute? Although true, that didn’t really fit here…

“Unexpected,” Yuuta settled on, before adding, “In the best way.”

“Nevermind,” Inumaki huffed out, reaching out and tilting Yuuta’s face back upward, forcibly diverting his gaze. “No looking.”

“This might be hard then…” Yuuta laughed as he pushed away Inumaki’s hand, “I’m going to rely on you to catch me if I fall.”

It was half a joke. Yuuta knew he was likely too big and Inumaki was likely too small and the results would be nothing less than disastrous should that particular situation come to pass. Trying not to think too far ahead, and deciding to move on with this whole situation, Yuuta started to pull his own shirt off, then began working on his pants. He couldn’t exactly shower with them on.

Yuuta thought he heard something else, but decided that was probably the sound of the water. He was still doing his best to look at the ceiling. 

He took a tentative step into the shower after Inumaki, bracing himself against the wall with one hand, doing his best to keep his balance. The tile was only a little slick, but he knew there was still danger here.

“Wait, what if I--”

He reached forward with both hands, feeling around a little before finding and grabbing onto Inumaki’s shoulders.

He ran his hands over them, feeling both the softness of his skin, the slickness of the water, and the firmness of the muscle in them. He squeezed slightly, and then immediately felt hands shoot up to remove his. 

“Aww, c’mon. You have to give me something,” Yuuta moved his head downward, keeping his eyes closed, “I don’t exactly have the best balance. I can’t promise I won’t take you down with me when the inevitable happens.”

Yuuta felt the press of fingertips on his chest. They had a slight weight behind them. If he had to guess, he would assume Inumaki had leaned forward towards but was not quite leaning up against him. 

Then he heard possibly the quietest whisper of a voice he’d ever heard. 

“My shower. My rules.”

“Fine, but,” Yuuta responded and then before his brain could catch up tell him no, cracked one eye open and, feeling emboldened by a sudden thought, asked, “Does that mean if I can get you to come back to my place sometime I get to make the rul--”

Inumaki slapped a hand over his mouth before he could get the full sentence out. His mouth pressed into a line in a way that absolutely translated to No talking either. 

Despite that, Yuuta noticed a flush creep up the smaller boy’s body in a way that didn’t seem to have anything to do with the heat of the shower.

Yuuta smiled against Inumaki’s palm.

○○○

From: Fushiguro
> 2:47 pm: You said “with” him, what does that mean? 

From: Maki
> 2:57 pm: yuuta
> 2:58 pm: hows toge

From: Satoru
> 3:42 pm: heyooooo yuuuuuuuuuta
> 3:42 pm: was thinking about earlier
> 3:43 pm: figured i should ask if u needed more advice
> 3:43 pm: with something else
> 3:43 pm: maybe
> 3:43 pm: idk
> 3:44 pm: either way i’m just soooooo bored today :(
> 3:44 pm: wanna get dinner too?

From: Fushiguro
> 4:25 pm: Okkotsu?

From: Maki
> 5:11 pm: yuuta
> 5:11 pm: ???

From: Satoru
> 5:37 pm: helloooooooo?

From: Fushiguro
> 6:31 pm: Actually, I changed my mind.
> 6:31 pm: You don’t have to answer that.

From: Maki
> 6:50 pm: i c
> 6:50 pm: lets talk later 

From: Satoru
> 7:02 pm: so its like that huh
> 7:02 pm: geeeeez
> 7:02 pm: fineeeeeee
> 7:03 pm: i guess it’s to be expected
> 7:03 pm: have funnnn

Chapter Text

“So it is a burn,” Yuuta said, looking over at Maki for confirmation.

“Yeah,” Maki nodded, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat. “It’s a burn.”

She had sat them both down on her couch in her strangely empty living room the following day. After a bit of a back and forth with Inumaki, he had given Maki the go-ahead to do some of the more...difficult parts of the talking.

Yuuta had been serious before when he said he didn’t care, not in the sense that it didn’t matter, but because he knew his feelings weren't likely to change either way. If Inumaki hadn't wanted him to know, Yuuta wouldn't have pushed for further explanation. He wondered how many other people had been made aware of Inumaki’s situation outside of excuses to divert idle curiosity. He assumed very few if any. It felt like a special kind of trust. 

Yuuta had taken a seat at the end of the couch, leaning against one of the armrests. Inumaki had settled in next to him, positioning himself as close as he could, despite the vast expanse of the rest of the couch being open. Yuuta ended up shifting around, unsticking one of his arms, and with far less hesitancy than he would normally have, settled it on the top part of the couch, above Inumaki’s shoulders. 

“Toge's family home caught fire. When he was little,” She continued, “Pretty bad too if I remember correctly. I guess he almost choked to death before they got him out of there."

“I’m sorry, that sounds awful,” Yuuta said sympathetically, looking down at Inumaki. The other boy just rolled his eyes dismissively like it wasn’t a big deal even if Yuuta could tell it absolutely was.

"His throat got all fucked up from the smoke and or something, it didn't develop properly after suffering from intense trauma... I think. Is that right?" She paused, considering, looking over at Inumaki who just shrugged. She shrugged back. "I dunno, I’m not a doctor. But, yeah, that's the gist of it.”

Yuuta moved his arm down from the couch that had been thrown around his shoulder pulled him a bit closer. Inumaki leaned into him. The physical contact was reassuring.

“All in all, it put his family in kind of a bad spot, losing everything like that,” Maki continued, “Toge actually lived with me and my family for a while. Our parents were acquainted, it was just something that ended up being convenient at the time.”

“That was nice of them,” Yuuta had known they’d known each other from childhood, but he hadn’t assumed they’d actually lived together.

“Nice isn’t how I’d describe it. But that’s an entirely different conversation…” She huffed, shifting in her seat, “Regardless, we became close that way."

“You're actually a bit like siblings then,” Yuuta pointed out.

“That's... not wrong,” Maki tapped her chin, considering that, “I guess if I had to admit it, Toge is a bit like my bratty little brother.”

Inumaki narrowed his eyes at her which got a scoff in response.

“I don’t care if you’re technically older than me,” she said sticking out her tongue. “You get little brother status.”

It was probably bad form, but a small laugh escaped from Yuuta as Inumaki looked up at him with a poignant look of betrayal.

“Sorry," Yuuta squeezed his shoulder again,  “It's a little funny.” 

“Exactly,” Maki chimed in with a grin. “It's a little funny.” 

Inumaki jabbed Yuuta lightly in the ribs before crossing his arms and settling back into Yuuta's side with the quietest huff. Maki snickered.

“So the mask then…” 

Despite the fact it was just the three of them, he had still chosen to wear one. Yuuta had wanted to tell him that he didn’t need to do that but...

“I mean,” Maki shrugged, “I get it, even if I don’t like it, I get it.” 

“What do you mean?”

Maki looked over at Inumaki, “I’ve always told you to just give the middle finger to everyone. But,” She turned back to Yuuta, “You have to understand that people are quick to make judgments about things. And it’s even harder when you quite literally can’t provide answers.”

She shook her head.

“I remember in primary school kids would ask Toge the same questions over and over and he could never get the words out fast or loud enough and just…”

Maki shifted, crossing her legs and leaning back. 

“It didn’t end well. I don't blame him at all for choosing to just avoid those situations altogether as an adult. Especially because he never really redeveloped any real voice.”

Before Yuuta could ask anything else, Inumaki pulled his phone out. Yuuta was in a position where he didn’t even need to turn the screen to see what Inumaki was typing.

It’s a habit. 

And it's not uncomfortable. 

“Okay,” Yuuta paused, then added, “If you...you don’t have to but if you want to keep wearing it, it’s fine, even in situations like this. But you don’t have to. Just so you know.”

Inumaki looked up at him with eyes that looked a little bit like they might be smiling. Yuuta smiled back down at him.

“Aaaanyway, it comes down to the simple fact that people suck,” Maki stated, pulling them both back to reality. "Eventually, they left him alone with a little persuasion but, Toge just kind of adopted wearing a mask after that.”

“So you beat them up?” Yuuta looked back up at Maki.

“Me?” Maki asked, pointing to herself, eyebrows raised, seemingly surprised.

“Y-Yeah,” Yuuta stammered, having assumed that was obvious, “I mean… that sort of seems--”

“Were you about to say I seem like the type to start that kind of shit?” Maki cut him off with a grin.

“I--” Yuuta wasn't sure how to respond, because that was exactly what he was about to say.

“Well you’re right, and I did, but would you believe the one throwing the most punches was…” 

Maki trailed off, turning her wrist around changing the direction she was pointing over to Inumaki.

“What?” Yuuta said, shocked at that revelation, looking down at Inumaki who had his face half-buried in his hoodie, distinctly turned away from Yuuta. “Really???”

“Yeah we were both little shits,” Maki grinned as Inumaki kept his eyes averted from Yuuta, ears going pink. “I think that's partially why we became such good friends.”

○○○

“I’m glad it worked out.”

Yuuta looked up from Maki’s couch to see Fushigruo standing in front of him. It was later that week at another party Maki had hashed together just because. Yuuta was pleasantly buzzed with alcohol and probably having one of the most enjoyable times he’d ever had at a party. Inumaki had gotten up to use the bathroom and probably grab another drink. Yuuta was more than content to simply save their spot on the couch until he got back.

“Fushiguro!” He grinned, wider than he normally would, feeling the alcohol in his veins, happy to see his friend. “Were you waiting to come over to talk to me?”

“Maybe,” Fushiguro said in a way that definitely meant yes. “You looked...occupied.”

“I, uh--”

“You haven’t so much as looked at anywhere else. I could have stood here for twenty minutes and you wouldn’t have noticed. You’re completely enamored. Honestly, it’s a weird look on you,” Fushiguro pointed out flatly before Yuuta could flounder out some half excuse that wasn’t true.

“Fushigu--” 

“Okkotsu,” Fushiguro cut him off, then added. “At the same time, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile so much. That’s also a weird look on you…” Fushiguro took a drink from his own cup. “But not a bad one.”

Yuuta grinned again.

“...Thanks.” 

Fushiguro hummed.

“Anyway, I’ll excuse myself before Inumaki comes back. Just wanted to give you a real congratulations about… everything.”

“Wait--You don’t have to leave, you know.”

“No,” Fushigruo shook his head. “I think I should.”

“Why?” 

“I don’t know if…”  His friend paused and made a sour face. “...I don’t think he likesme. So, I didn’t want to give the wrong… I don't want to ruin anything for you accidentally. Again.”

Fushiguro looked genuinely uncomfortable at that admission. Last time had been a mistake and a misunderstanding but it had worked out. Yuuta didn’t have any hard feelings and definitely didn't place any blame for the situation on Fushiguro. He sort of assumed Inumaki didn’t either considering he’d never brought it back up.

“I don’t think you should worry.”

“You don’t think so, huh…” Fushiguro frowned. “He keeps sending me cryptic images I don’t understand over text at something like 2 am. They’re always the first things I see when I wake up,” He shifted slightly on his feet, “I think some are meant to be… Warnings? Or threats? I don’t really get it. Can you please ask your boyfriend to be more direct if he has something he wants to say to me?”

“I--” 

Fushiguro’s request was genuine, but it still caught Yuuta off guard. It was the first time anyone had actually used the term boyfriend.

“I-I’ll see what I can do,” Yuuta said, trying to repress the sudden fluttering in his stomach. “Although, I think it’s still probably a misunderstanding.”

“Alright fine,” Fushiguro sat down next to Yuuta with a fwump and pulled out his phone, “What does this mean then?”

Yuuta leaned over and squinted at the screen trying to make sense of what he was looking at.

He didn’t know.

“I don't know.”

“How about this?” Fushiguro flipped to a different image.

A pause.

“No, I’m not sure either.”

“This one.”

Another pause. 

Then another. 

And another.

“I don’t think I know what any of them mean, actually.”

“Right?” Fushiguro grumbled, sounding genuinely frustrated, “It’s very frustrating.” 

If Yuuta had been a little less taken aback and a little more intoxicated he would have laughed. This was such an odd reaction for Fushiguro, the normal blasé indifference he wore cracking just a bit from such a trivial thing.

“I’m surprised you’re giving it any thought at all. Normally you’d disregard stuff like this altogether.”

“The problem is the sender of these messages is dating a very good friend of mine. I don’t want to not like him and I don’t want him to not like me,” Fushiguro said offhandedly like it was the most obvious thing in the world as he flicked his finger up, scrolling through more text messages. “I just...haven’t figured out how to make sure of that yet.”

Yuuta blinked. 

“Wow, that’s...” Yuuta trailed off, still trying to figure out what to say.

“That’s what?” Fushiguro turned towards him, confusion growing on his face.

“Nevermind,” Yuuta smiled, deciding maybe he didn’t need to say anything, once again grateful to have Fushiguro in his life. “I'm starting to think I don’t give you enough credit.”

“Definitely true,” Fushiguro huffed, finally giving up and repocketing his phone, “But thank you... I think.”

“What about you? How are, uh, other...things?”

“Glad to see your conversation skills remain top-tier,” Fushiguro turned his gaze out towards the crowded room. “But I’m working on it. It’s...good. I think.” 

“You think…” Yuuta parroted and turned to look out at the crowd himself.

“You know how it can be. Bothersome people and all.”

Yuuta’s eyes scanned the room for the first time in a while, he had been, as Fushiguro put it, a bit occupied and not fully aware of the surroundings. It didn't take him long to spot Itadori, who happened to be very pointedly looking over at him and Fushiguro. He couldn't be more obvious. 

As soon as their eyes met, Itadori stiffened, turned 90 degrees, and walked directly into a wall. Recovering as quickly as he could, he turned 90 more degrees and shuffled off down the nearby hallway. 

“...Is Itadori afraid of me?” Yuuta asked not sure how else to gauge that kind of reaction.

“A little,” Fushiguro’s eyes glanced over to the wall Itadori had run into a few moments earlier, very aware of where he had been, “He’s been making incredibly stupid efforts to avoid coming within 20 feet of you ever since you knocked his brother out.”

“Right…” Yuuta said, suddenly more than a little self-conscious about the whole thing. Although maybe the Itadoris had deserved it, he didn’t want to accidentally develop some sort of reputation, “I should probably apolog--”

“No,” Fushiguro cut him off, getting back up to his feet, “I want to see how long this goes on for. It makes work less loud...” 

Yuuta didn’t miss the small smile that quirked up on his friend's lips. 

“And it's sort of hilarious.”

○○○

“You’re off,” Maki huffed, throwing a particularly quick hook Yuuta barely just managed to throw an arm up to block.

“Sorry,” He said, pushing her arm down. “Distracted.” 

Maki was in a particularly offensive mood today. Honestly, Yuuta should be paying more attention. But...

“Distracted,” She repeated, annoyed. “And here I was about to yell at Toge.”

They had met outside the gym after both of their work shifts had wrapped up for the night. Maki was particularly fired up to see both of them show up for once. Yuuta had been right: Inumaki had been her sometimes-but-not-always gym partner in the past. It was a mantle that had been all but passed to Yuuta when he ended up being much more reliable at returning her phone calls. 

Inumaki’s gym habits (and return calls) could be described as inconsistent at best. 

The brown-haired girl from before was there too, standing behind Maki, her own gym bag in hand. Yuuta couldn’t recall her name but he remembered her as Fushiguro’s friend...Itadori's not-girlfriend... and Maki’s… well he wasn't sure what her relationship was with Maki, actually. 

He gave a slight wave in greeting, not really sure where the two of them stood, especially since she had been a bit hostile during their last encounter. She raised her eyebrow, clearly unimpressed, before turning and walking into the building after Maki. 

They changed into casual clothes, stretched, and split off. Inumaki gave Yuuta and Maki one small wave before heading over to the running track. Kugisaki crossed her arms and followed after him, after getting told by Maki that, no, Yuuta would be her partner since Kugisaki had no real experience sparing herself.

The two of them only did a total of about three full laps each before individually giving up and plopping down in the corner with where they had put the rest of their stuff. 

“He’s not even doing anything. He’s just over there playing a game on his phone sitting next to Kuga--Kugis--”

“Nobara.”

“Nobara,” Yuuta repeated, knowing he’d probably forget her name again as he swung a kick around at Maki who dodged it without much effort.

“You’re right and wrong,” Maki smirked, “Toge’s definitely not doing anything,” She threw a return punch, “But he’s also not, not doing anything.”

“He’s killing time,” Yuuta offered, pushing her arm down again.

“Yes,” Maki huffed a breath out her nose, “And he’s also staring at you.” 

“What?”

“It’s extra obnoxious,” Maki rounded a kick at Yuuta’s side. “Figured that’s why you couldn’t focus.”

“He's not--” Yuuta said, shifting his own footing as he blocked.

“He is.”

“He's not!”

“He is.”

“He--” 

“Just ask yourself this,” Maki cut him off, “ Why would Toge even come here? It wasn't to work out. It wasn’t because he was bored. There are at least 3 other places I’m sure he’d rather be. But he’s here and...” Her eyes flicked to the side, looking past Yuuta. “He’s definitely looking at your butt.”

“M-My--” Yuuta stammered, staggering as he misstepped, almost falling over but catching himself at the last second.

“Fucking no subtlety, I swear,” She threw another punch Yuuta just barely managed to deflect. “At least Nobara has the decency to be a little less obvious.”

Yuuta knew it was a bad idea, a horrible idea actually, but compulsion overtook him and he couldn’t help himself. Turning his head to the side, Yuuta just barely managed to see Inumaki avert his gaze before Maki socked him square in the face and he spun sideways hitting the ground with a thud.

○○○

“I'm surprised you still show up here. Especially now that you’ve got a laptop.”

Muta, Inumaki’s co-worker and friend (?), called over to Yuuta as he exited the elevator to the third floor of the library. Yuuta admittedly still didn't know much about him other than his name and the fact he knew Miwa. They had a sort of neutral acquaintanceship, two people who saw each other all the time but never really spoke.

“Will I be bothering you?” Yuuta asked, walking up to the desk.

“Nah, it's nothing like that,” Muta waved a hand dismissively, “Most people don’t come to this floor unless they have to. Did Inumaki tell you the wrong schedule or something?”

“I like the library. It’s easier to focus.” Yuuta countered, feeling like he needed to defend himself just a little at that accusation. “This floor is always the quietest one.”

Yuuta had sort of developed a habit of coming here to get his homework done. He hadn't really felt the need to change that. 

“The most boring one you mean. But whatever works for you, I guess,” Muta swiveled back and forth in his chair behind the desk, “I’d personally choose to lay around on the quad if I didn’t have to be stuck in here all the time but to each their own.”

He spun around on his chair once then asked: "How’s the computer working by the way?”

A week or so prior when Yuuta had arrived one afternoon at the library to do some homework, Inumaki had waved him over to the tech desk. Much to Yuuta’s surprise, he had presented with a laptop. 

“Uh. For me? To keep?” Yuuta asked, not really sure what to make of the sudden gift.

Inumaki nodded pushing it towards him over the desk.

On it was stuck a series of sticky notes:

it’s not new

i pieced it together from some scrap 

but it works

He found one more note stuck to the keyboard after opening up the screen:

don’t crush it

Yuuta felt like it was too big of a thing to just receive out of the blue but Inumaki dismissed all his protests claiming that he benefited from this too, since they'd have the convenience of never having to stay late at the library again.

Inumaki had even preloaded all of his files and set the background to be some version of that cartoon panda Yuuta remembered from his phone. Yuuta had opted not to change that.

“Good so far, no problems yet.” 

“Glad to hear it. Inumaki was pretty thorough putting it together,” Muta shrugged, “I told him he could cut more corners building it, especially since it was going to mostly be used for text documents. But, ah, he was insistent.” 

"It was a really kind thing for him to do. I'm still not really able to afford a new one myself."

"Yeah, it was," The other boy paused and thought about that for a second. “If only everyone could all be on the receiving end of such kindness from him.”

“What does that...mean?” Yuuta said raising an eyebrow.

“It means we aren’t all so fortunate,” Muta responded with a slight grimace. 

○○○

“Sitting a little close aren’t ya?” Satoru asked, walking to the back of the classroom towards Yuuta and Inumaki’s desk after class wrapped up one morning. “People might start getting ideas.” 

“How else are we supposed to sit?” Yuuta replied, “I'm surprised we can find a way to fit in here at all.”

They had started making an effort to come to class together, mostly on Yuuta’s request.

It was, admittedly, a bit clunky, figuring out a system that worked for that. 

Inumaki was a far, far worse morning person than Yuuta ever was. How he had even managed to get to class on his own that one time before midterms became a growing mystery once Yuuta became more aware of how sporadic his sleeping habits were.

Every attempt ended up being a challenge. Yuuta would simultaneously call Inumaki’s phone while knocking on his apartment door until, eventually, sometimes tens of minutes later, it would crack open and a groggy-looking lilac eye would peer back out at him.

It became a bit of a routine. Yuuta would wake Inumaki up, the two of them would trudge to Satoru's class together, they would then acclimate to whatever position ended up feeling the most comfortable (this often involving Yuuta slinging one arm over Inumaki's shoulder in an attempt to make both his arms useable while trying to accommodating another person in the limited space), and finally, Inumaki would fall back asleep 5 minutes later. 

Inumaki had told Yuuta he was simultaneously the “worst alarm clock and best pillow”. That had made Yuuta laugh.

This entire process was a bit silly and didn’t really feel like a good long-term solution. Every time Yuuta tried to figure out an alternative he kept arriving at the same conclusion: What made the most sense would be just...spending the night together. They'd both be able to sleep a bit more and it would cut out the need for banging doors and missed phone calls.

They'd sort of done that once already, having ended up in a ball on Inumaki's futon the first night they'd gotten together. Neither had wanted the other to leave and just sort of made sense in the moment even if it hadn't been particularly comfortable. But even still... Yuuta had never actually slept in someone else's bed before.

He knew he should just ask. But he also knew Inumaki was a bit of a private person overall. And their relationship still felt new. It came off to him as sort of...invasive? presumptuous? rude? to just invite yourself into someone's private space like that. Even if they were someone you were dating.

Maybe Inukami’s patience ran out first. Or maybe he had just arrived at the same conclusion on his own. Either way, on one particularly late night, it was Inumaki who grabbed Yuuta’s wrist when he began to leave and gave the indication that he should just stay instead.

Inumaki tilted his head towards the bedroom and Yuuta felt an all too familiar anxiety rising up.

“I can crash here,” Yuuta floundered, motioning down at the futon. “If you'd prefer?”

Inumaki's mouth twitched and then pressed into a line. He dropped Yuuta's wrist and made a few quick signs with his hands, then pointed to the futon.

Yuuta wasn’t particularly good at reading hand motions yet, especially since Inumaki signed them so quickly but he did manage to pick up: stupid, sleep, and here. 

“I--” He replied, comprehending the gist of it. “I know I slept here before but I didn’t… I didn’t want to rush anything.”

Inumaki’s eyes flattened, matching his mouth. His hands moved again as he began to sign something else before abruptly stopping. As if changing his train of thought, he leaned over the side of the futon and shuffled a few things around before grabbing a small notebook and scribbling something very quickly.

He turned the book around so Yuuta could see. It read in bold letters: i’ve already seen you naked how is this rushing anything???

“T-That was different,” Yuuta felt his face heat up remembering that yes, that was true, even if it had been more of a fortunate accident, “That was-- Ow !”

Yuuta’s rambling was cut off before it could even start as Inumaki swatted him lightly on the head with the notebook before tossing it back to the side. He then stood up, grabbed Yuuta’s wrist again, and tugged it forward a bit more forcefully this time.

Well, Yuuta supposed he couldn’t really misinterpret that. 

Yuuta felt his heart speed up as Inumaki pushed the door to the bedroom open. He hadn't actually been in this room before, the two of them usually spent time in the living room where they had access to Inumaki’s television and computer. The room was small and really only contained a bed that was pushed up next to the window and a dresser which, based on the dirty and clean piles of laundry next to it, didn’t get much use.

“As long as you’re su--” Yuuta started to say before he felt himself being pushed forward. His shins hit the edge of the bed and he fell forward onto the mattress with a small Oof. Yuuta scrambled, quickly attempted to right himself, turning around just in time to see Inumaki climbing into the bed next to him and pulling his hoodie off.

Okay, maybe he was sure. 

Inumaki's weight made the bed dip as he sat next to where Yuuta ended up sprawled. The streetlights bleeding in from the window caught across the Inumaki’s face, half-illuminating it. Yuuta felt his heart skip a beat.  

Inumaki tilted his head curiously, almost like he wasn't sure what to do now that they were at this point...or maybe he was waiting for Yuuta to do something… was Yuuta supposed to be doing something…?

“Alright, well, if we're going to sleep you should lay down too.”

He reached out and pulled Inumaki forward, adjusting his position, wrapping his arms around his waist, and pulling him haphazardly flush against him. 

“Is this what you wanted?” 

Inumaki huffed a breath out of his nose and opened his mouth as if he was about to say something. Then, as if changing his train of thought, Inumaki stopped, and bent his head down, and kissed Yuuta instead. 

It was a soft kiss, closed mouth, and a bit sleepy, meant more to be the punctuation at the end of a sentence than the start of a new one, but Yuuta could understand what he was trying to say. 

“Yeah,” Yuuta said, bumping their noses together when Inumaki pulled back a few moments later, “Me too.”

The bed ended up being much more comfortable. 

...For the most part.

Inumaki, it turned out, was an incredibly clingy sleeper in a way Yuuta had not expected of someone who seemed so averse to having people close to him. Yuuta often woke up first with one or more of his limbs locked in what felt like a death grip. He had no idea how this small boy seemingly increased three times in weight when he slept, but Inumaki became as heavy as a rock when he completely passed out.

Despite that, Yuuta found that Inumaki's sleeping face subverted his own morning grumpiness more than coffee ever could. It was calm and unbothered with none of the usual incisiveness he constantly exerted when he was awake. He even drooled a little sometimes. It was very cute.

Yuuta would often take a few moments to just take in the sight before doing his best to wake Inumaki up and start their usual routine.

“I suppose it is a little on the cramped side,” Satoru said, tilting his head, really looking at the desk set up for probably the first time ever. “Honestly they should replace this entire wing of the school but ah, poor funding and whatever. Guess it’s a good thing you two don't seem to mind.”

“Turns out we’re pretty good partners.”

“He really just hits the snooze button hard, huh?” Satoru raised an eyebrow as he looked down at the sleeping boy in Yuuta’s arms, before adding, “Am I really that boring?”

“I take notes for the both of us, it’s fine,” Yuuta responded, before adding back, “And yes, you are.”

Satoru clicked his tongue before crossing his arms, face shifting into an exaggerated pout.

○○○

From: Inumaki
> 4:10 pm: Are you still coming over today?

To: Inumaki
> 4:11 pm: Last time I checked 
> 4:11 pm: It was a day that ended in “Y”
> 4:11 pm: So probably

> 4:12 pm: Nice
> 4:12 pm: We’re finally getting to the really good part 
> 4:12 pm: I want to see what you think of the end
> 4:12 pm: I think you’ll like the twist

> 4:12 pm: Oh right
> 4:13 pm: The cartoon

> 4:13 pm: ‘Cartoon’
> 4:13 pm: Yuuta
> 4:13 pm: Please

> 4:14 pm: Hahaha 
> 4:14 pm: I’m looking forward to it

> 4:14 pm: I’ll get us something for dinner
> 4:14 pm: So just head over when you’re free

> 4:15 pm: Thanks
> 4:15 pm: Just need to finish up a few things 
> 4:15 pm: Oh!
> 4:15 pm: If we're getting to the end of this show
> 4:15 pm: Can I pick the next thing we watch?

> 4:16 pm: Hmmmmmmmm
> 4:16 pm: As long as it’s not a documentary or something boring

> 4:16 pm: It’s not a documentary
> 4:17 pm: It’s foreign
> 4:17 pm: A drama story
> 4:17 pm: Sort of a romance
> 4:17 pm: But I don’t think it’s boring

> 4:17 pm: You mean I’d have to read subtitles?

> 4:17 pm: We can leave them off if you'd like

> 4:18 pm: I'm not you
> 4:18 pm: I can't just understand things people say
> 4:18 pm: In any language
> 4:18 pm: Like I didn't believe you 100% at first
> 4:18 pm: But you're really are
> 4:18 pm: Some weird copycat

> 4:19 pm: Thank you
> 4:19 pm: I think
> 4:19 pm: Also
> 4:19 pm: You know your cartoon has subtitles right?

> 4:20 pm: Well

> 4:20 pm: Well?

> 4:20 pm: Well

> 4:21 pm: You can just admit I’m right

> 4:21 pm: I will simply admit that I cannot say you are wrong

> 4:21 pm: Close enough
> 4:21 pm: I'll take it
> 4:21 pm: And it's interesting 
>4:21 pm: I promise

> 4:22 pm: Okay
> 4:22 pm: Fine
> 4:22 pm: I’m holding you to that
> 4:22 pm: I guess we can watch 
> 4:22 pm: Whatever your show is

> 4:23 pm: :)

> 4:23 pm: And I'll try to pay attention 
> 4:23 pm: Even if it ends up being boring

> 4:24 pm: Wow
> 4:24 pm: So kind
> 4:25 pm: What did I do to deserve that?

> 4:25 pm: You’re just lucky I like you

> 4:25 pm: That's true
> 4:25 pm: I am

> 4:26 pm: No 
> 4:26 pm: You
> 4:26 pm: You’re supposed to

> 4:27 pm: Supposed to what?

> 4:27 pm: You're not supposed 
> 4:27 pm: To agree
> 4:27 pm: Just like that

> 4:28 pm: Why not?

> 4:29 pm: It's embarrassing
> 4:29 pm: For you

> 4:29 pm: I don't feel embarrassed

> 4:29 pm: Nvm

> 4:30 pm: Wait
> 4:30 pm: Are YOU embarrassed?
> 4:30 pm: That I like that you like me?

> 4:30 pm: Nvm

> 4:30 pm: Cute

> 4:30 pm: NVM
> 4:30 pm: Just come over
> 4:30 pm: So we can finish my show
> 4:30 pm: And start watching yours

> 4:31 pm: Hahaha
> 4:31 pm: Yeah
> 4:31 pm: I'll see you soon 
> 4:34 pm: ♥

> 4:39 pm: ♥