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After practice on a Wednesday, Arakita is told by Fukutomi to stay behind and go on the rollers for an extra hour. Despite his grumbling, Arakita complied. Toudou told Fukutomi that he would keep Arakita company, which Fukutomi gave a short nod to in response. Arakita was ready to ride his bike off a cliff.
So now he pedaled and pedaled on the rollers, slouched over his handle bars with his eyes narrowed into very angry slits. Toudou was lounging on his ass on the bench, blabbering away to some poor soul on his phone. Bitterly Arakita thought it must be that creepy guy from Sohoku with the hair that makes him seem eager for Christmas year round.
Wasn't he supposed to be keeping him company? What the fuck happened to that? Not that Arakita wanted his goddamn “company”, but anything would be better than hearing him gush and gush endlessly to “Maki-chan”.
“Hey!” He growls loudly just as Toudou begins to talk about his stupid, non-existent fan club. Toudou doesn't notice, or ignores him, and starts whining about how he feels bad always turning them down.
Arakita grabs his water bottle and chucks it at Toudou. It slams against the locker door beside him with a reverberating crash and Toudou nearly collapses from the bench in shock. His phone clatters across the floor and Arakita sneers in amusement.
“Hey, asshole, Toudou's done talking to you!” Arakita yells at the phone as Toudou scrambles for it.
“What the heck is your problem, Arakita?!” Toudou snaps, snatching his phone before examining it for any damage. Arakita watches him, hunched over the handlebars to his bike, as he lifts the phone to his ear and starts blabbering out apologies and explaining that Arakita was just a big “meanie head”. So that's how Toudou acted with this guy? He acted cute. Disgusting.
“You're annoying the fuck out of me,” Arakita begins in a raised voice, ready to grab his towel off his shoulder to throw it at him too. Toudou eyes him venomously from where he sat on the floor.
“Talk to your buddy outside, or else I'm gonna throw you out,” Arakita says lowly, glaring back at him darkly. He was not going to deal with this shit today. Toudou looks away and mumbles something into the phone, something unheard by Arakita, the buzz of his bike's wheels overlapping it.
He's about to snap at him again but Toudou shuts his phone and looks at Arakita with an annoyed expression. Arakita leans back from his handlebars, preparing to get an earful. As if on cue, Toudou gets up from where he sat when Arakita sighed.
“Are you aware of how rude you are?” Toudou begins, stomping across the space between him and the rollers to stand right next to him. Arakita side-eyes him and bares his teeth in a mocking sneer. Toudou huffs and crosses his arms.
“Well, you're rude!” He says with a glare that was so pathetic it nearly made Arakita laugh. He pauses, huffing again, and then continues, “E-even an asshole! You're an asshole, Arakita. Maybe you should consider not being that. People would like you more. Maybe you'd even get a fan club, like me.”
Arakita lifts a hand to flick Toudou on the forehead. Toudou takes a step back, as if he was mortally wounded, and smacks a hand over his forehead. He looks up at Arakita with a mixed expression of shock and irritation.
“Ooh, you figured me out,” Arakita says lowly with a bitter scowl, “I'm an asshole. Sorry for the heart-breaking news, Toudou. And I don't want a fucking fan club.” Toudou lowers his hand and simply frowns at him.
“Well,” he begins, crossing his slender arms petulantly, “Enjoy the remainder of your hour, jerk.” He turns and begins towards the lockers. Arakita rolls his eyes and doesn't say anything. He looks down to his lap, seeing his thighs rise and fall. This was just such a bother. He wanted to go home, play some video games, maybe do homework, and then take a nap. But instead he's here, thanks to Fukutomi. He glances up to see Toudou opening his locker noisily and grabbing his bag.
“Hey,” he speaks up. Toudou ignores him and slings the bag's strap over his shoulder. Arakita sighs, momentarily resting his forehead down on his crossed forearms in exasperation. Then he lifts his head and says louder, “Hey, idiot! Where you going?”
Toudou looks back at him past his shoulder. He seemed to be pouting.
“Home! I don't see why I should stay. Obviously you want me to go.”
Lip twitching in irritation, Arakita scowls at him. He sees Toudou shift foot to foot, placing a hand on his hip as if he was expecting a protest. Arakita is silent a long moment, and once Toudou heaves a sigh and turns to approach the door, he speaks up.
“Won't leaving earlier seem irresponsible? Won't that disappoint Fuku-chan? You don't want that, do you? You said you would stay. So fucking stay. To keep your word with Fuku-chan.”
Toudou stands there, phone clutched in his hand with his other hand perched on his hip, and eyes Arakita up and down over his shoulder. Then a little smirk pulls at his lips.
“You can just admit you want me to stay, Arakita,” Toudou says cheerfully, nearly singing it, and turns back to approach him again. Arakita narrows his eyes at him, lips pulling back in a sneer. He scoffs and waves a dismissive hand.
“Shut up, idiot. I just know that Fuku-chan would be displeased, knowing you lied to him.”
“I wouldn't have been lying! He is well aware that you're hard to deal with, Arakita!”
“Me?!” Arakita snaps, eyes wide with disbelief and anger. Toudou nods with his arms crossed again. Arakita bares his teeth and says a bit too loudly, “I'm the one that's hard to deal with?! You're the one that's hard to deal with! Take a look at yourself!”
Toudou takes a few steps closer, standing beside him again as he continues pedaling away. He smirks. He lifts a hand to inspect his manicured nails.
“So... I must have hit a nerve, huh?”
Arakita narrows his eyes at him darkly and Toudou grins in return. Arakita reaches out to smack his stupid headband off, making his head jerk a little with it, his locks swaying. Toudou snaps his gaze up to him with a fire in his eyes. Arakita actually laughs and wobbles a little on the rollers because of it. Toudou puffs his cheeks out, huffs, and gives him his meanest glare, before he crouches down to snatch it off the floor.
“Jerk. Why did you even convince me to stay if I'm apparently a bother?”
As he slips his headband back onto his head, Arakita watches him blankly. Toudou raises his phone and uses the small display screen on the front as a mirror. He meticulously fixes some loose strands. Arakita looks away, up at the lights on the ceiling.
“Eh, I don't know,” Arakita remarks in a low voice, truthful, and then looks down to his folded forearms atop the handlebars. Toudou lowers his phone and looks at him. Arakita peeks at him and when he does, Toudou looks away to the side. Arakita watches as he turns and approaches a conveniently placed chair positioned against the wall. He takes it and lifts it, walking back to Arakita with it in tow.
Arakita watches him silently. Toudou sets it down close to him and takes a seat, setting his bag against the leg.
“Well,” Toudou begins, crossing his legs and resting his hands in his lap, raising his pretty blue eyes to Arakita, “I'll stay if you want me to.”
Arakita scoffs.
“You're gross,” he remarks, feeling an unwanted warmth crawl up to his cheeks. Toudou hums and begins to jiggle his foot a little. He doesn't say anything in response, only looks up at Arakita wordlessly. Arakita felt weird. He felt uncomfortable. Why did he even stop Toudou from leaving? He lifts a hand to rub at his face tiredly. He just wanted to nap.
For a long four minutes it's silent. Toudou opened his phone at one point to check his messages and Arakita just continued the pumping of his legs, trying his best not to dwell on Toudou's presence. But after Toudou shuts his phone, he speaks up again.
“Arakita, do you regret it that we kissed last week?”
Arakita's arms slip off the handlebars and it almost made him smack his face on the handlebars. He nearly swerves off the rollers but catches himself quickly. Eyes wide and heart racing from that near-disaster, he clutched at the handlebars and slowly looked over at Toudou.
“What?”
Toudou was blushing and playing with the charms on his phone.
“When we kissed... after practice. Did you regret it?”
Arakita stares at him, stunned. He couldn't believe he brought it up. He thought it was an unspoken agreement to never ever bring it up. The hell? He sighs and looks away, to glare at his abandoned water bottle that lays on the floor from when he threw it.
“What the fuck, Toudou.”
He hears him shift restlessly on the chair.
“Do you?”
Arakita side-eyes him and feels warmth burn in his face. Damn it. He hoped it didn't show.
“Why are you asking me this?” He demands, picking up the pace of his pedaling. The turning of the wheels against the rollers is a louder buzz and Toudou drops his gaze to them, noticing Arakita's rising irritation.
He shrugs weakly and peeks up at Arakita.
“I just wanted to know. 'Cause... I would like to do it again... but I don't know how you feel about it...”
Arakita winces at the brutal honesty of it and tries his best to not let his disgust show on his face. Which was weird. He usually just lets it show but he didn't want to upset Toudou. Which was also weird. He lifts a hand and runs it through his black locks, head ducked down, confused with himself.
“I don't know, Toudou,” he begins, jerking his hand back down to the handlebar. Toudou is silent, watching him with a soft expression. Arakita felt gross. His insides felt all tingly and tight. What does that even mean?
“It... it was fine,” he spits out in a mutter, blushing darkly. He picks at one of his gloves and tries hiding his flushed face. He couldn't believe himself. Why did he tell the truth? He usually lied about shit like this. Why was this any different? Fuck. He hangs his head.
“Just 'fine'?” Toudou asks solemnly then.
Arakita rolls his eyes. He decides, fuck this, and climbs off the rollers. That was a little dangerous, but he didn't care. Stepping down, he pulls his bike off before the rollers could send it flying. Toudou watches him, surprised. Arakita walks it to the locker room door, kicks it open, and then goes outside. Arakita grumbles to himself as he situates it in the rack before going back into the locker room. He approaches his locker and pulls it open. He hears Toudou stand and grab his bag.
“Was it something I said?” Toudou speaks up, stepping up to him. Arakita snatches his bag from his locker and drops it onto the bench. He turns to Toudou, scowl on his face.
“Toudou, why the hell would you want to do it again? Don't you have your fan girls you can choose from? Why do you gotta bother me?”
“Because I'm not interested in any of them,” Toudou retorts, setting his hands on his hips, a weak glare blooming on his face. Arakita stares at him, brow furrowed.
“Er... your 'Maki-chan', then?”
Toudou looks away for a moment, at Arakita's open locker and says, “It's not like that. We're just friends.” Then he fixes his gaze back on Arakita and shifts foot to foot, seemingly impatient. He arches a brow at him. Arakita's eyes narrow and he frowns.
“Are you trying to tell me something, Toudou?”
Throwing his hands up, Toudou makes a noise of exasperation and rolls his eyes. Arakita can't help the little amused smirk that pulls at the corner of his mouth. Toudou looks at him then and notices it.
“You jerk! You know what I'm trying to say!” Toudou says loudly with disbelief, smacking him on the arm. Arakita laughs, a light amused snort, and lifts a hand to pluck off Toudou's headband again. Toudou looks annoyed and snatches it from him before he could chuck it. Arakita smirks. He had an idea of what he was trying to say, but not entirely. It was fun seeing him get flustered.
“Well, what are you trying to say? Spell it out for me, Toudou.”
Toudou glares at him as he fixes his hair, slipping the godawful headband back onto his head. He blushes as he sweeps back some loose locks and looks away.
“Well...”
He hesitates, biting at his lip. Arakita leans against the lockers, crossing his arms and giving him his undivided attention. He arches his brow in the most mocking way possible. Toudou huffs and shifts foot to foot. He looks back into Arakita's eyes. Arakita wonders if he's trying to act cute. He's giving him that gooey, soft look with his eyes and blushing. Toudou clears his throat and speaks up in a quiet voice, fidgeting his hands in front of himself.
“I kissed you last week because I want to date you.. I was hoping that would get it across.”
Arakita's smirk falls and he stares at Toudou wordlessly for a moment. Toudou shifts restlessly again and peeks up at him. Arakita didn't know how to react. He just stares at Toudou.
After the pause went on for too long, Toudou smacks him lightly on the arm and says in a whine, “Stop that! You're embarrassing me, jeez.” Arakita blinks. Then he realizes he was blushing deeply. His face burned so he lifted his hands to place them over his cheeks. Then he realizes that points out his blatant blush so he jerks his hands back down and tries his best to maintain a believable glare at the other.
“You're so gay, Toudou, what the hell.”
Toudou stares at him for a second, stunned, and then he laughs.
“Yeah, I am,” he says, a grin lighting up his face. Arakita narrows his eyes at him. Toudou's grin softens and he looks up at Arakita with gross, lovey-dovey eyes. Arakita makes a face and then jumps when he feels gentle fingers curl around his hand. His hand twitches but he doesn't yank it away.
“Well?” Toudou presses, taking a step closer. In return, Arakita takes a step back and Toudou takes another one towards him. Arakita felt dangerously trapped and his heart raced away in his chest. His palms grew sweaty and he swallows hard, eyes glancing to and from Toudou's deep gaze.
“Er...” Arakita begins, lifting his free hand to rub at the back of his neck. Toudou's hand was now holding his entirely and it was really weird and distracting. He swallows thickly again and looks down at their feet.
“I am fine... with kissing,” he begins slowly, flicking his gaze back to Toudou's. “But I am... I don't date. Sorry.”
Toudou smiles at him, a surprising response, and he nods.
“That's fine, I kinda expected that anyways.”
Arakita feels relief. He exhales heavily and nods, unsure what to say now. Toudou's smile turns into a smirk and he takes that final step closer until they're chest to chest. He has an amused, mischievous look in his eyes.
“So you're fine with kissing?”
Narrowing his eyes down at him, Arakita's hands itch to push him away. But he doesn't. His lips form an uncomfortable grimace and he nods a little, fidgeting his long slender fingers around Toudou's soft hand. Toudou hums and raises his other hand to set it gently on Arakita's shoulder.
“So if that's the case--”
Rolling his eyes, Arakita lets him save his breath and leans down to kiss him on the mouth.
Whatever. It was whatever. They could kiss. Arakita could throw his pride out the window once in a while. He lifts his other hand and rests it on the side of Toudou's head, his fingers slipping into his long soft locks. Toudou is frozen for a moment, probably stunned, but soon he melts and quickly responds with an eagerness. Arakita thought that Toudou's lips were ridiculously soft and.... tasted like cherry?
Toudou's hand raised from his shoulder to rest over the back of his neck, and that really flustered Arakita to the point that he had to pull away. He lifts his hand from the side of Toudou's face and wipes off his mouth with the back of it, turning his head away with a deep blush. Toudou laughs, an infuriating giggle, and runs his hand down from his neck, sliding over his collarbone. He finally leans away, giving him some space.
“Okay, well,” Toudou begins softly, earning a side glance from Arakita, “Let's just do that later on then?”
He gives a little pleased smirk as if that was the smoothest thing he's ever said. Arakita narrows his eyes at him once again.
“You wish,” Arakita mutters, snatching his bag. He escapes by turning and striding up to the locker room door. He hears Toudou whine his name from behind as he shoves outside into the cloudy, chilly afternoon. Wind blows against his face, disheveling his hair as he trudges up to the bike rack. His heart still raced, which was annoying.
Much to his dismay, he hears Toudou follow after him through the locker room door, calling his name again.