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If you were to ask Haruna why he joined HighxJoker, he’d say that a light music club would look good on his report card.
If you were to ask him why he stayed, he’d say without a doubt that he’d grown attached to everyone and that he was having fun with them.
But the question no one asked was why Haruna started attending club meetings regularly after he found out that he’d been in the light music club for months.
Haruna was glad no one asked that question. To him it was a solid answer and a very good reason to stay, the others would probably think of it as weird or awkward.
The drummer started attending the meetings because he thought Sakaki Natsuki was beautiful. And he liked looking at beautiful people.
Haruna was a very honest person. Of course he’d tell little white lies sometimes, mostly to avoid topics he didn’t feel like talking about, like his family’s finances or his father. But outside of topics like that Haruna had no issues being blunt about himself and his actions.
So if someone really were to ask him about his reasons for coming to club meetings after he had literally forgotten that he was a member for a couple months, he would also be honest.
What he didn’t consider was: what if that someone was Natsuki himself?
If it were Natsuki to ask the question, he would stop in his tracks of taking a sip from his glass and let his brain buffer for a moment. Like he was doing right now.
Natsuki and him were at the Karaoke bar together. Lately the two of them had many opportunities to spend time together since Jun took it upon himself to prepare Hayato and Shiki for their upcoming exams.
To Haruna’s surprise Natsuki had offered to tutor Haruna himself. To make it a little easier for Jun, he had said. Of course the drummer didn’t complain and Natsuki was a surprisingly good teacher. With a little patience and multiple ways of trying to explain the exercise to him, Natsuki always managed to get him to understand.
They managed to finish their studying early most of the time and usually decided to treat themselves to Karaoke and Donuts afterwards. Mostly because Haruna enjoyed listening to Natsuki’s singing and the bassist was a lot less anxious about it when it was just one person listening.
Of course Haruna knew that the bassist was out of his reach, anyone who wasn’t as dense as Hayato or Shiki could see Natsuki’s deep adoration for his childhood friend. He didn’t mind it too much because he enjoyed the connection he had with him. If the trouble became too much for Natsuki, he often fled to the roof of the school for some solitude, where Haruna also often hung out. Ever since they met up there a few times and Haruna had offered his friend some Donuts, Natsuki seemed to have warmed up to him.
So whenever things became too noisy or too much for him, he would often seek out Haruna to go to a quieter place together. Sometimes they’d get a small treat, sometimes they’d just take a walk, but everytime they were able to talk to each other completely honestly.
Ever since the wedding event that took place a while ago, in which Haruna had shared his family problems with Natsuki, the two had grown pretty close. The drummer was aware that Natsuki was very observant but it did make him happy back then, that Natsuki was the one who noticed his hesitation and scepticism about the event. Ever since then, they had started hanging out more and Natsuki had also started talking to him about his own fears and insecurities. Haruna didn’t think that the bassist was this close to anyone except Jun so he was really proud that his friend was able to put so much trust into him.
“...Haruna?”
Ah, right. His glass was still halfway up to take a sip of the juice. Natsuki was still waiting for an answer to that question.
Haruna let out a small flustered laugh and put his glass back on the table.
“Ah, sorry, you kinda surprised me with that, y’know?”
Again, he knew he had no chance with Natsuki. But to Haruna that didn’t really matter. As long as he was able to be a close friend who Natsuki trusted like no one else, he was content. And of course as long as he could still watch him do his daily and ordinary tasks with the beauty and grace that Natsuki didn’t know he had.
Haruna rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and chuckled, “I came to the meetings because I thought you were pretty.”
Of course Haruna would be honest about it. He didn’t want to lie to Natsuki, especially not over something that shouldn’t be a big deal.
“... Oh.”
It wasn’t a disappointed “Oh”, it sounded more surprised. And judging by how the bassist’s eyes had widened just slightly at his response, he really was surprised by it. Good. At least he wasn’t weirded out by that.
“You’re a pretty guy. If I came, I’d have the opportunity to look at you. That’s pretty much all there is to it.” he shrugged.
“... I see.” Natsuki turned to look at the clock on the wall but Haruna swore he saw the smallest hint of a smile on the other’s lips.
“...It’s getting late.”
Haruna followed his gaze to the clock and quickly checked his calendar to make sure he hadn’t missed his shift yet because it was indeed a lot later than he thought. He sighed in relief after seeing that his shift would only start in an hour and smiled at his friend.
“Yeah, we should get going.”
The older one got up to grab his bag from the floor next to the seats, “Next study session tomorrow at the same time?”
“... Actually… We’re almost finished with the subjects… So… We could maybe just get lunch tomorrow?”
It was the second time that evening that Haruna stopped in his tracks, bag halfway to his shoulder. Did.. Did Natsuki just ask him out? Was he interpreting too much into this after thinking for so long about him? He knew he wasn’t good at thinking but could he be right this time? He swung his bag over his shoulder and turned to look at his friend who was sporting his usual unreadable expression.
“Sure, lunch sounds great.”
Natsuki nodded in response and also got his bag. If Haruna didn’t know him as well as he did by now, he wouldn’t have noticed that Natsuki was happy about that. But he noticed. And it kind of made Haruna’s heart flutter just a little bit.
They walked back home mostly in silence. It wasn’t an awkward or stifling silence, it was pleasant and also a bit exciting, at least for Haruna. It was rare for the drummer to be unsure of something but he really was unsure if they were entirely on the same page.
That was until he felt the younger boy’s fingers brush against his own. It was just a subtle touch but a lingering one.
Haruna’s heart skipped a beat.
He gently reached out and hesitantly brushed against Natsuki’s warm fingers. When Natsuki softly pushed back against his hand, Haruna entwined their fingers.
After a few moments Haruna glanced at his friend’s face and saw the most gentle and genuine smile he’d ever seen on him. The drummer remembered that they'd have to part ways soon, but he didn’t mind.
Maybe his truly beautiful friend wasn’t out of his reach after all.