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Takao had his first three beers of high school in second year with Shin-chan, two months too soon and without a formal notice to resign from his initial romance of the idea. He had in the past maintained his distance from drunken debauchery because of basketball, to his credit and to Midorima’s apparent approval, but there were only so many bitter thoughts that Takao could hold onto as a person before it spilled over the edge of his giant reservoir of Teenage Angst.
“So basically, I am an emotional failure.” He took a sip from the last can in the pack, leaned his head against Midorima’s shoulder for support.
“I won’t try to disagree with you,” was all Midorima said. There wasn’t much enthusiasm on his part, to be perfectly honest; he was only here to keep Takao company and pretend that he wasn’t here for that express purpose. He was also being too assertive too late, having only observed from behind the scenes as Takao fell into step with Kaijou against the grain of how he was supposed to execute his strategy and deliver limp words of affection to his videogame hero. And finally, when the case had developed enough that it became difficult for Takao to fully commit to his feelings, Midorima had left him there to wallow in the melodrama. For a hedonistic facilitator such as Midorima, who believed that there did not exist a second chance for redemption after the first emotional fuck-up, it was almost impossible to describe the pain that Takao felt when when he was rejected in the most elaborate fashion imaginable by Kasamatsu Yukio. Even if it was for the second time.
“I wonder if I’m being annoying,” he said, lucidity creeping over into the alcohol swirling around his chest. “I wonder if you hate me just as much as he does.”
“You’re not,” said Midorima, and Takao let it sink in for three seconds and three seconds only, evaluated the beauty of this statement before voicing his next thought.
“I’m really not?”
“Don’t assume things. Your presence does not register a significant level in my personal benefit for it to be annoying, Takao.”
“Ah,” said Takao. “That’s more like it. For a minute I thought you were actually trying to cheer me up. Maybe I am in love with Shin-chan too, maybe that’s why I’m hallucinating so much. Oops, ignore that thought! It was just drunk me thinking out loud. Ha ha ha…”
“Would that really be a bad thing? Falling in love with me,” said Midorima quietly.
A pause. Takao looked up in surprise.
Midorima grabbed the can of beer from his hands and downed the rest of it, wiped his mouth before standing up and walking away.