Chapter Text
Takashi Mitsuya smiles to himself as the low whirr and clicks of the sewing machine put him at ease. He loves when he can be in the moment like this, focusing on a project without needing to worry about supervising his sisters or making sure his friends don’t do something stupid and injure themselves. To him, sewing is the most peaceful activity on earth. He allows himself to fall into a meditative state, just listening to his machine clicking and occasionally repositioning the fabric under the needle. This goes on until he senses a hovering presence nearby and looks up.
“Ah, Yasuda-san. Do you need help?”
Yasuda was also in her last year of high school, and she acted as the second-in-command in the home economics club. Normally, she spoke in a confident voice, even having scared Peh-yan away when he tried to apologize to Mitsuya for the Moebius incident back in middle school. This time she speaks softly, and with a slightly worried look on her face. She opens her mouth, pauses, then closes it and looks away, squinting as though thinking about something.
“Mitsuya-san...I really don’t want to overstep here, but we’ve known each other for a long time and I feel like...I should say something”.
This makes Mitsuya pause, removing his hands from the fabric and his foot from the pedal of the sewing machine. He turns towards Yasuda, giving her his full attention.
“What is it? You can tell me anything. Is someone bothering you?”
She shakes her head and sighs.
“It’s about him,” she starts, and Mitsuya follows her gaze to the door of the home economics room, where he sees his best friend, Hakkai Shiba, leaning against the wall. He’s reading from a small book in his hand, probably assigned to him for one of his classes.
“...Hakkai?” Mitsuya asks, not quite sure if he’s looking at the right person.
“Yes.”
Mitsuya raises one eyebrow and waits for her to go on. She sighs again and puts one hand on her hip.
“He’s here every single day. He comes about thirty minutes after classes end and he waits for another forty-five minutes until you’re done here, the entire time standing by the door. He doesn’t come in and ask for a chair, he just stands there. He does this because he’s really polite and respectful, and he doesn’t want to distract you or any of us. When we leave the classroom, he smiles and greets all of us...”
She pauses again, and then she looks directly into Mitsuya’s eyes.
“And Mitsuya-san, I think he’s in love with you.”
Mitsuya feels his mind go blank, all of the sounds of the home economics classroom disappearing around him while he tries to focus on the words that just left her mouth. Hakkai? In LOVE? With him?? He frowns slightly and feels his cheeks heating up.
“...Where on earth are you getting that from?” he asks.
She frowns back and crosses her arms.
“ You don’t notice it because he’s actually pretty good at hiding it from you, but when he stands out there he just stares at you with the dumbest smile on his face. You do nothing in here but sew and help us out, and it shouldn’t be that interesting, but he watches every second of it. We don’t mind his presence because he isn’t a nuisance– unlike your other ex-delinquent friends– but he acts like a lovesick puppy and it’s bothering me to see it go on like this. Please, Mitsuya-san, have some consideration for how that boy feels. That’s all.”
With that, she gathers her school bag and nods at Mitsuya, before heading towards the door. He watches her go, slack-jawed, trying to process what she just told him. Just as she said, Hakkai steps aside and greets her on her way out, offering her one of his dazzling smiles. After she leaves, his smile drops back to his usual blank face, and he turns back to Mitsuya. Their gazes connect and it clearly takes him by surprise, because his eyes widen before he shoots Mitsuya the exact same smile he just gave her, if not even bigger now. Mitsuya feels his cheeks redden more, and he looks down at the table to let his bangs fall over his face.
Could she be right about Hakkai’s feelings? Mitsuya doesn’t think that’s likely, because she doesn’t know Hakkai the way he does. They’ve known each other for too long, if Hakkai ever felt that way about him, wouldn’t he have known it by now? Hell, Hakkai basically helped him raise Luna and Mana ever since they first met, so he probably thinks of him as an older brother at this point.
Her words trigger another thought to cross Mitsuya’s mind: did he see Hakkai that way? He thinks about this while he resumes working on the stitching he started. Mitsuya already knows himself to be attracted to men, this was actually established when he realized he had a little crush on Draken back when they were younger. He also knew Hakkai had no hangup about Mitsuya being into guys- he didn’t explicitly confirm this, but Mitsuya was pretty sure Hakkai was the same way, or at least open-minded.
In addition, Hakkai was handsome- no, beyond that, he had this charm about him that just screams attractive , from his smile to his soft-spoken demeanor, which usually shocks people considering his above-average stature and intimidating appearance, especially with the scar. Mitsuya couldn’t lie to himself– he liked taller guys, and Hakkai absolutely checked that box off of his list. Maybe he checked a few more boxes? The rest of his club hour is spent pondering these things, and occasionally helping the other girls with their projects.
---
“Taka-chan!”
Hakkai called out as Mitsuya walked towards him, turning around to lock up the classroom before continuing on. He smiled as they fell into step, side-by-side.
“What’s the plan for tonight? Dinner and homework? You wanna grab something from the convenience store before we head to your place?” he asks, all while Mitsuya replays Yasuda’s words and his own thoughts in his mind.
He finds himself trying to look at Hakkai while they walk together, instead of just listening. He watches his new chain earring swinging from his left ear, and stares, as he reaches up and tucks his bangs behind said ear. He’d grown his hair out ever since they dissolved Toman a few years ago, and it was reaching the bottom of his neck in the back. Was his long hair always so smooth and shiny, though? Huh. Interesting.
Quickly, he realizes he’s been silent too long, as Hakkai slows his walking and looks back at Mitsuya.
“You good?” he asks, his head tilting to the side.
“Yeah,” Mitsuya coughs and grips the strap on his bag a little tighter.
“Just thinking. I’m down for a convenience store dinner.”
Hakkai straightens his posture and smiles again. “Cool! I’ll buy this time, as a thank you for helping me study for exams!” Mitsuya can’t help but smile as he follows his friend home.