Chapter Text
issei likes the way takahiro looks at him.
their height difference was perfect in first year, he laments. takahiro had been at chin height and issei had quickly gotten comfortable leaning on him, letting him sleep on his shoulder on the bus, standing chest to chest on the train ride home. then the coming summer they'd both shot up like weeds, takahiro more than him and then they'd been basically the same height for months.
thankfully, issei's paternal genes always come through when it came to his outward appearance and he'd only gotten taller from then on.
he likes how takahiro has to tilt his head up ever so slightly to look at him. issei likes having to look down, even if sometimes his neck hurts because of how often he ends up being the tallest in a room, he doesn't mind it when it's hiro he's getting a crick in his back for.
because it's him, with his pretty, condescending face and pretty, intimidating eyes. issei loves the little things, the crinkle when he's laughing at one of issei's shittiest jokes, the way they get lower lidded as the night gets darker when they're staying up watching a movie.
he loves his eyes in the morning, when he's tired and leaning on issei's shoulder on the way to school but when he looks up, the morning sun makes his grey eyes go molten silver and achingly soft when he smiles.
issei wants all his morning smiles, every little grin and wants to collect the sheen on gold on his cheeks from the morning sun in a pan, like gold in a river. the rest of the world is the water and soot and takahiro's laugh is the gold hidden beneath the bedrock.
issei tells him his eyes are lovely, one day, on the way home from school after a late practice, the sky dark and the moon the same color as his eyes. takahiro had looked surprised, like he'd never been complimented for them before. his cheeks had bloomed pink.
he'd smacked issei on the shoulder and said embarrassedly, 'shut up, asshole,' and issei had shrugged it off, laughing slightly. he's a patient man. there'll come a day when he can tell him daily how gorgeous he is with those eyes and that smile. for now he ruffles his hair.
he ruffles his hair and laughs harder as he groans and daydreams about kissing his eyelashes where they rest on his cheeks