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“Reon, here. This is for you”.
Reon sat down in front of Yuuto at the dinner table of the Argonavis share house, cocking his head in confusion.
“An onsen vacation for two? Huh?!”
“I just thought you might want a break. You have been working very hard both with your band and at university… You deserve it!”
Reon slightly shook his head at his friend, “This is just a present for yourself, isn’t it?”
Yuuto’s smile widened dangerously, “I’m not going with you. There’s someone else who really needs to catch a break”.
“Ah, Matoba. You actually came”.
Wataru itched his cheek with a visibly embarrassed expression on his face, “Y-yeah. Yuuto was so kind to give us this opportunity after all”.
Wataru talked like it hadn’t taken Yuuto about two weeks to convince him to actually go. It had been constant nagging from the guitarist, saying how he needed to relax and that Reon would have been the perfect person for him to chill around.
Wataru felt anything but chill. He was on edge and worrying about every little thing around him. Did he take his wallet? Phone? Keys? Did he wear the right clothes for the occasion?
But most importantly, why did Reon look so attractive?
There was something about Reon that made him shine in Wataru’s eyes. He wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was his blue hair, naturally fluffy but always styled to perfection. Or maybe it was his long, lean fingers and the way he had seen them swiftly move over his guitar. Either way, there was something there. Something that he refused to call a crush, no matter what.
“Should we get going?”
Wataru nodded vigorously and both of them stepped inside of Reon’s car, the redhead taking the passenger seat.
It was quiet for a long time, awkwardness festering in the air. As much admiration as Wataru had for the other man, they didn’t know each other very well and it felt almost impossible to find a topic of conversation.
Reon spoke first, “This is awkward, isn’t it. I don’t know why Yuuto was so adamant about us going together”.
Wataru coughed in his fist. He remembered getting a bit too drunk with his friend, and mumbling one too many praises for the blue haired man currently next to him. From that moment on, Yuuto had been set on getting them together, no matter what it took. His methods were a bit unorthodox but there was no doubt he meant well.
“Uhm, you wanna put on some music? You can connect your phone to my car if you’d like”.
Wataru did as he was told, putting on some generic music he would normally hear on the radio. He had no idea what artists Reon listened to, so he just opted to play it safe.
“You like this kind of music?”, Reon asked, giving a confused glance to the car stereo.
“U-uhm, sure. Yeah”.
“Huh. Alright”.
It was awkward. It was so damn awkward. Wataru hoped the car seat would swallow him and just make him disappear.
Reon and Wataru were in the men’s changing room, both of them getting ready to go to the baths. While Reon was already pretty much done, Wataru was hanging onto the lower hem of his shirt, trying to find the courage to lift it up. This was one of the main reasons he didn’t want to come to a place like this. He was extremely self-conscious about his body. It’s not like he was fat by any means, but he was aware that he couldn’t compare to what someone like Yuuto or Rio had. He held his breath for a moment before quickly pulling his clothes off and covering himself with the large towel he’d brought along.
As they walked towards the water, Wataru felt his shame grow stronger and stronger. The moment where he would have to let go of that towel was getting closer and it felt like a nightmare was waiting for him just a few steps away. It was even worse knowing that Reon was the one who would have to look at him.
When the moment actually came, Reon dropped his towel without second thoughts and stepped in the water.
He looked at Wataru expectantly, “You coming in?”
The redhead tried his best not to stare at Reon’s body, but even through his peripheral vision he could tell he had a great physique. He wasn’t muscular per se, but he was lean and everything about him seemed perfectly proportional.
He swatted the thoughts away and finally dropped his towel, quickly entering the water. He knew how bright he was blushing, so he turned his back to Reon as he tried to breathe his anxieties out.
“Is everything alright, Matoba?”
“Yeah, I… Yes”.
Wataru held his arms crossed in front of his chest. There was no way he was gonna have fun today. He pondered if he should just claim some emergency and ask to leave, but Reon seemed to be enjoying the warm water they were both sitting in and Yuuto would have never let him hear the end of it.
“You know… I’ve never been to a place like this before. Have you?”
Wataru nodded, “Only as a child though. We were planning on going with Argonavis at some point, but Ren insisted we should wait''.
“Why is that?”
Wataru felt an amused smile grow on his face at the memory, “He said you should only go to hot springs in the spring. They wouldn’t have called them that if they wanted you to go during other seasons”.
Reon snorted through his nose before letting out a spontaneous laugh. Wataru noticed the way he scrunched his nose as he laughed and how pretty and long his lashes looked as they laid on his cheeks. He started laughing too, some of the nervousness leaving his body.
“That Nanahoshi is just a wild card, isn’t he”, Reon chuckled, “I still can’t believe the way Nayuta turns into mush around him”.
“You should have seen Yuuto’s face when Ren told us they were dating. It was like the whole world fell on him”.
Another laugh erupted from both boys as they thought about Yuuto’s hilarious shocked face, one they had both come to be familiar with through years of being his friends.
When they went quiet again, it felt like the air was lighter. Wataru didn’t really feel the weight on his chest anymore. He let himself slip further into the water, a quiet smile on his face.
“I’m glad you’re smiling. It looks good on you”.
“H-huh?”, Wataru exclaimed, covering his mouth with both of his hands.
“Didn’t mean to make you self-conscious, sorry. You just seemed so worried earlier”.
Wataru felt Reon’s gaze on his face, a hint of worry in his eyes. “N-no, it’s okay. I’m over it now”.
There was a moment of silence before Reon spoke again, “I-if it’s your body you were worried about, you have no reason to worry”.
Wataru felt like he had just been blasted by a heat gun, every inch of his skin turning red as his brain processed the other’s words. Did he mean what he thought he meant?
“I-I’m just saying, you’re a really attractive person. I’m sure people don’t mind, uhm, looking at you”.
This could as well have been how Wataru Matoba passed away. He already imagined the writing on his tombstone: ‘ He died after receiving a compliment from a cute boy ’. What an embarrassing way to go that would’ve been.
He splashed his own face with water to calm down. Reon was just being nice, and he had no reason to get so worked up about it. Why not make the most of it?
“I think your body looks really good too”.
He didn’t have time to regret his words before Reon turned into a blushing and stuttering mess, much like Wataru must have been a few minutes earlier.
“I-It’s uh. Huh. I-I work out, sometimes. And stuff”.
It was adorable. Wataru had never felt so compelled to kiss someone before that moment. It would have been so easy to just lean over and leave a swift kiss on the other’s lips.
He quickly snapped himself back to reality. It would have been wrong, doing such a thing when Reon probably had no romantic interest in him. Plus, well, there were at least a dozen strangers around them. It would have been a terrible call.
“Should we get a snack and move to the outdoor pool?”, Reon spoke.
Wataru quickly agreed. Might as well make the best of their time together.
Once it started getting late, both of them reluctantly slipped out of the water. They took their time drying up and getting ready to leave, content expressions never leaving either of their faces.
A satisfied sigh left Reon’s lips, “We should come back sometime”.
Wataru was buzzing with happiness. It was clear that they had both ended up enjoying each other’s company, but the fact that Reon had enjoyed it enough to ask for a repeat made Wataru’s toes clench with excitement.
As they sat in the car, Reon invited the red-head to play his own music again.
“You can play whatever, you know? You don’t seem like the type of person who likes radio music”.
“I-I don’t love it…”
“Play something you love then. I want to hear it”.
Pop punk music from the 2000’s quickly filled the car as a smile appeared on Reon’s face.
“Yeah. This suits you more”.
As they pulled over to the Argonavis share house, Wataru felt low-spirited. If in the morning he was only hoping for this day to end, now he wanted to hold back the ticking of the clock.
“Thank you for today”, he said, a melancholic smile on his face.
“I would love to see you again soon”.
Wataru cocked his head, “Yeah, I’m sure we’ll bump into each other at university anyway…”
Before he could finish his thought he felt a hand grab his shirt and pull him in. Reon’s lips were soft and sweet as they landed on his own, better than any dessert Wataru had ever tasted. He shut his eyes and let himself relish the feeling, his hands grabbing tightly onto the lower hem of his own shirt with excitement.
Reon spoke again as they separated, “I-I meant I would love to take you out. On a date”.
Wataru stared at the other man dumbfounded, the feeling of their kiss still lingering on his lips.
“I would like that”.
Blue eyes stared into amber eyes for a moment, before their lips crashed into each other again.
They would have to thank Yuuto later.