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There's no official first meeting for Haruchiyo and Hanagaki Takemichi because the other boy is everywhere and Haruchiyo may have stalked him for a bit after becoming aware of his existence because he had been so entertaining.
Okay , he was actually really curious after witnessing him charge headfirst into an fight he obviously wouldn't win just to help a girl, and maybe deep down though he'd never admit it in a lifetime, he started to grow worried about this bright boy dying early one of these days from his reckless actions.
If he died then Haruchiyo's days would be extremely boring, that's all.
He just never expected for Hanagaki to approach him and initiate contact one day, acting on friendly terms as if Haruchiyo is just any other person. Haruchiyo considered briefly about fighting Hanagaki, but for some reason he found that he couldn't, not when Hanagaki stared at him so trustfully, so he just went along with what the other boy wanted because, there's no other way he could describe it really, he was enthralled.
Hanagaki in person, up close, is so much different than watching from afar. He's warmer for one and clingy which makes Haruchiyo feel wanted. He still charges like a bull into fights and stands up to protect Haruchiyo even though Haruchiyo can take out those stupid weaklings himself, but it's simply all instinctive for Hanagaki. He may be weak but he's not a coward. He's stupidly fearless and his bravery will be the death of him.
As much as he thinks it's fun watching everything play out to get rid of his boredom, he gets pissed when Hanagaki ends up bruised and limping more often than not. Something had gradually shifted inside of him after spending a month with Hanagaki that he never really noticed until he ends up beating up those people later and teaching them a lesson for hurting Hanagaki.
Hanagaki doesn't know about this, because Haruchiyo is secretly afraid that his perception of him will change, but the other boy boasts whenever those same guys run at the sight of them when they happen to cross paths again, because they clearly remember Haruchiyo's message. They all ended up hospitalized after all.
But after that, Haruchiyo decided he needed to stay away from Hanagaki. He's making Haruchiyo slightly unsettled because he's confused by his own actions and once that happens it's always better to separate from the problem.
Which is Hanagaki.
He's becoming addictive and Haruchiyo is growing more than just protective. He gets jealous and possessive. Wanting to hit more than the people who upset Hanagaki, he wants to hurt the people he's close to, because they might end up stealing him away. But Haruchiyo doesn't own Hanagaki.
Hanagaki has other friends that seem to keep popping up out of nowhere as his social group expands. And Haruchiyo doesn't like any of them. So he stops showing up at their hangout spot, not wanting Hanagaki to notice any of his unnatural feelings that might end up bursting out one day in front of him. But he still watches Hanagaki because that stupid boy needs some sort of protection.
He shows up at the park and Haruchiyo watches as Hanagaki waits. But he doesn't make himself known, even though the other boy stubbornly waits for hours for Haruchiyo to show up even as his other friends eventually leave so he's left alone.
Haruchiyo tries not to feel anything when Hanagaki seems to be sad, his brows furrowed as his lips tug downwards with his shoulders slumping when it continues the next day and the next day, and he should eventually realize and accept that Haruchiyo is never going to appear again. Yet, he only sits down on the swing and looks around. Haruchiyo holds his breath whenever Hanagaki's gaze passes over his hiding spot.
Why doesn't Hanagaki just forget about him already? He wonders with gritted teeth, ignoring the pleasant feeling arising and taking root in his chest.
But Hanagaki is alone and waiting and Haruchiyo is a coward because he hides.
Then catching him off guard, making him freeze up is when Hanagaki suddenly gets up during the last day of the week since he's started avoiding him, because he thinks the boy has given up, but then he sees the look on his face. It's a determined expression that almost looks dark and he's walking in Haruchiyo's direction from where he's hiding behind his signature tree though that can't be right. Hanagaki's never noticed before. Yet he's in front of him in a moment and Haruchiyo feels stupid.
Hanagaki stares with pouty lips, and Haruchiyo is wholly unprepared.
"Hey, don't go touching me with your dirty hands!" He shouts with his heart leaping to his throat when the black haired boy suddenly grabs his sleeve but even though he protests he doesn't really struggle against Hanagaki's hold on him.
Hanagaki is warm. And no matter how fitting it is, Haruchiyo doesn't even think of the sun at first even though Hanagaki is literally the personification of everything embodying the blazing ball in the sky, instead he thinks of the moon. The boy who glows brightly and beautifully at the darkest hours, at least for Haruchiyo, with his eyes glittering like stars. But he never expresses how he truly feels about Hanagaki because it's so inconvenient, and practically pointless when Hanagaki will act like he already knows despite the lack of verbal confirmation. The boy isn't even someone Haruchiyo has ever thought he'd actually admire in any way since he's so weak.
Yet .
Haruchiyo finds that Hanagaki is truly amazing, and it's hard for him to really mean it when he says no, and although he has the capabilities to break out of Hanagaki's grasp because he's so much stronger than him, he never uses all of his strength. He doesn't like it when Hanagaki is hurt even though he has the urge to punch him sometimes because his teeth itch whenever he looks at his face. He wants to pull his cheeks and pinch them and his blue eyes are the same as those puppies he's seen around. Haruchiyo hates that Hanagaki is actually cute.
Annoyingly cute.
And so persistent.
"Haru-chan, why are you hiding out here instead of spending time with me!" Hanagaki shouts in distress and Haruchiyo feels a bit discomforted hearing the tone of his voice, as if he's actually upset he didn't get to see Haruchiyo. People would have been glad about it since he's such a terror.
But Hanagaki's lips wobble and his eyes quiver as they start to shine. Oh shit, he's going to cry. Haruchiyo really hates it when Hanagaki cries.
Because it just pisses him off, makes him want to hit something really hard when it happens.
"Stop that right now!" He shouts, inwardly panicking, though he'll never admit to such a thing. Hanagaki is better far away and out of sight and mind because Haruchiyo doesn't like all these weird reactions and feelings that are being drawn out of him. But Haruchiyo can't resist like a moth to a flame.
"H-haru-chan," Hanagaki seems honestly confused, but at least he's stopped the waterworks except now he's tilting his head to the side like a puppy with his bright blue eyes staring up at him expectantly.
Haruchiyo makes an unrecognizable noise, it's a rough sound of a bunch of garbled words mashed together ripping from his throat, and he looks away with heated ears. "Stop being so, annoying," he eventually manages to say in a raspy voice.
"Oh."
His heart stops at the disheartened tone, and Hanagaki hastily releases his sleeve, and everything is suddenly so cold and Haruchiyo quickly looks back at the other boy. He seems so far away even though he's only standing a few steps back, his expression is only a bit troubled before he sheepishly smiles at Haruchiyo.
"I'm sorry," he says, polite and distant and Haruchiyo hates it with a rage that's almost animalistic.
"You," he wants to scream at the other and shake some sense into him, because why out of everything it's being called annoying that inevitably hurts him? "You're so confusing!"
Hanagaki reels back with hurt flickering in his eyes, and Haruchiyo thinks he's messed up severely but then the other boy's cheeks puff out as he straightens up, and Haruchiyo's come to learn this is him getting ready for battle. It's adorable useless that he takes a stance at all.
"You're the confusing one," he retorts with heat and his cheeks turn red, "if you think I'm annoying then why are you always following me around and watching me?"
"I do not!" Haruchiyo hisses out quickly as he bristles, embarrassed that he had been caught . He's usually so stealthy.
And the other boy, what? Decided this meant he had to approach Haruchiyo to befriend him? Shouldn't he find Haruchiyo creepy?
No sense of preservation.
Haruchiyo really oughta-
He heaves a heavy breath and puts his itching hands on his hips to restrain himself from impulsively doing something stupid.
"What if I had bad intentions, huh?" He challenges instead, because Hanagaki has no critical thinking skills whatsoever.
"If you did then you would have done something by now. I know Haru-chan is a good person," Hanagaki says faithfully with a bashful smile.
Haruchiyo's heart...
It squeezes like a vice before it skips a beat and his face heats up under that sincere gaze. He stumbles back as if struck.
Good?
Haruchiyo has fun beating people up because he likes the look of defeat in their eyes. He feels a rush of power that makes him feel like he's on top of the world.
What's this?
Hanagaki is ignorant.
He knows nothing. He probably just looks at Haruchiyo and sees a normal boy instead of looking deeper into his eyes to see what's really there. Other people instinctively notice that he's different so they shy away. They avoid him. He doesn't even care about that either. He has no time to waste on sissies.
But Hanagaki-
"You're so stupid," Haruchiyo says in a nasally tone and he turns away with his lips pursed.
"But you like me anyway," Hanagaki says confidently suddenly recovered from earlier as he brightens up, and he grabs onto Haruchiyo's sleeve. "So, it's okay."
Haruchiyo snorts, his lips twitching. "You agree that you're stupid?"
"You're not denying that you like me," Hanagaki sticks his nose up in rebuttal with a winning grin.
"Whatever, so you wanna hang out or not?" Haruchiyo asks, a tad flustered, and wanting to move past this moment even though his chest is warm. He doesn't think he wants to bask in it too long since he might start to grow a bit too attached.
(Although, he realizes later, he's been attached since the beginning because he's never once stopped following Hanagaki Takemichi around.)