Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Haiji arrives in Tokyo, he’s at the training field before he’s even dropped off his bags.

He wants to surprise the team at the end of training. Maybe he also wants to see Kakeru leading practice, but mostly he wants to surprise the team.

The fact that he’s in love with Kakeru has nothing to do with it.

Obviously.

The sun sits low in the sky. Soft afternoon turns to mellow evening and crowns the leaves in gold.

The team - so much bigger than it was - is running timed intervals when he gets to the field. Kakeru stands in the center of the track with Hana at his side, notebook and megaphone in hand. The megaphone is new. Honestly kind of genius, now that Haiji thinks about it. Much easier on the voice.

Kakeru is chatting with Hana, his hand resting easy on his hip, while a lanky student with close cropped hair runs shrieking from a girl holding out a stopwatch. The wind trails through the trees leaning against the tall fence surrounding the field. Haiji takes in a deep breath of camphor and sweetgum.

It feels like home.

Kakeru grins at something one of the newer runners says, and it feels like home shifted a little to the left.

Nira, who’d been wholly occupied with chasing after stopwatch girl and stringbean guy, barks and turns tail towards Haiji. He’s so prepared. He drops to a crouch and spreads his arms out, calling out who’s-a-good-girl and come-’ere, look-at-you, who’s-the-best-girl, you-are! until she nearly shoves him to the ground with her paws on his chest. He scratches behind her ears like he hasn’t been able to in years. Her fur is soft and well brushed, and he squeezes her face gently between his hands, cooing.

Nira did a pretty good job of alerting everyone to Haiji’s presence, but Jota steals the megaphone out of Kakeru’s hand anyway.

“Attention, everybody!” Kakeru has his fingers in his ears before Jota even starts shouting. Hana is less fortunate. She is - on the ground. Ouch. “The-man-the-myth-the-legend Kiyose Haiji has arrived!”

Hana, supine on the ground, executes a maneuver that soccer people probably have a name for, but Haiji would at best be able to call “a pretty nifty kick”. It results in Hana holding the megaphone and Jota looking at her with an expression best described as horny awe. Haiji doesn’t want to think about it.

He doesn’t have to, because Kakeru is running towards him, and Haiji barely has time to stand before he's face to face with him. Has he gotten taller? Haiji has to look up to meet his eyes. This is terrible. He’ll never be taken seriously again.

He strikes a pose. "So, what do you think? Godly enough for the first years?"

"If gods were honorary Adidas models, sure."

Haiji is spared the effort of responding by Joji and Jota bowling him over in a hug.

It’s pretty clear practice is over at this point, and a couple guys already peel off to run their way home. One of Haiji's bags is shoved into Hana's bike basket, and the other is taken by a burly second year who introduces himself to Haiji with a gruff "Yoshiharu". He can still feel that handshake in his knuckles.

A shorter guy with spiked blue hair gives him a fistbump. "It's cool to finally meet you, dude! Some of the seniors won't shut up about you." He dodges Kakeru's half-hearted punch and catches up to Yoshiharu. "Happy's the name!"

“And don’t you forget it!” another guy yells.

Kakeru laughs next to him, eyes crinkling at the corners. His laugh had been so rare in the past - now it comes freely, and it lights Kakeru up like a sunrise.

Haiji’s screwed.

Haiji -> Hana

You're the worst

Hana

huh???

me??

Haiji

Yes you

How could you do this to me

Not warning me that Kakeru is all Tall and Confident now

You were the only one left on the team I could trust

Hana

your mistake <3

He only stays at Aotake for the night. There’s no party, which is a shame, but Haiji can’t fault them for being sensible.

The morning they leave for training camp dawns overcast, threatening rain. Haiji seems to be the only one up to see it. His knee aches, dull, as he gets ready.

Haiji starts making breakfast with the few supplies he has. This is very clearly a college dorm without a member that can actually cook, save Kakeru, and he’s glad he made sure that Hana is bringing extra for the training camp.

Tires squeal to a stop outside. The front door slides open much more softly, and Hana pokes her head through the kitchen curtain a moment later, braid swinging down from her shoulder. 

"Good morning! Aren't you supposed to be on vacation?" Hana waves a hand at the pots on the stove. Another girl follows Hana in. Haiji recognizes her from yesterday - the one with the stopwatch. She has a streak of blond dyed into her dark hair.

"Old habits," shrugs Haiji. "Want to help?"

Hana and the girl - Yukiko, Hana tells him, a trainee manager - put out cutlery and plates. They sit at the head of the table, eating as the others filter in. The first is Kakeru, who sits next to Haiji, which means their shoulders brush with every movement. 

Haiji stands and fills Kakeru’s plate for him. Hana smirks and opens her mouth, but she’s interrupted by Yoshiharu’s gruff “good morning” as he ducks under the curtain.

"Morning!" Hana says. "Where's Happy?"

"Slept through his alarm. He forgot his phone in my room."

"So his alarm woke you up?" Yukiko joins.

"Yeah."

"And you're not going to wake him."

"Yeah."

"Nice. To the table of dishonor he goes!" Yukiko hands Yoshiharu the eggs.

Yoshiharu finishes eating first. He puts his plate in the sink, pours a coffee into a bright blue mug that he places on the lower table, and leaves. A few minutes later, Happy stumbles into the kitchen and slides onto the floor at the late table. He blindly grabs the blue mug and downs it in one go.

It’s still overcast when they pile into the van. It might be drizzling - the air feels wet.

Kakeru insists on carrying Haiji's bags, even though it's only a couple steps to the van. Meanwhile, Jota ushers Haiji to the passenger seat - as if he was going to drive anyway, he's on vacation - and shuts the door in his face with a wink and a sing-song, "have a nice drive!" Jota joins Joji, Hana and Yukiko in Hana's car and the rest of Aotake piles into the van.

When Kakeru finally introduces him to the Aotake residents - it takes some reminding that Haiji isn’t actually omniscient, despite all outward appearances - Haiji is able to put faces to the names he’s heard from Kakeru and the twins over the years.

The lanky third year Yukiko chased around the field yesterday, the one with the close-cut hair, is Hinai. Everyone calls him Percy. He’s pointing to something on his phone, angled so the freckled second year sitting next to him - Yako - can see it. Yako looks from the phone screen to Percy and back like he’s been waiting for a punchline to hit for several days now. Eiji, the one that apparently got Percy and Yako to join the team, is out cold in the next row, curly black hair staticked to the window.

Yoshiharu and Happy are sitting next to each other behind Kakeru. Yoshiharu is holding up a mirror so that Happy can see what he’s doing while he styles his blue hair into spikes. Yoshiharu's arm droops, and Happy pokes it back into place.

"This is what you get for not waking me, dude, hold it higher- to the right- no, the other right, oh my god."

Sleeping behind them, undisturbed, is a mousy-haired first year. The team apparently calls him Gouke, though his name is Sebastian and no one knows where the nickname came from. He'd transferred from Germany that year with a passion for running but only a loose grip on spoken Japanese. Kakeru had adopted him immediately.

Next to Gouke sits another first year Haiji doesn't know much about - Kakeru tells him he joined the team only recently - called Susumu. He looks a bit like he's trying to become incorporeal to avoid experiencing the van ride, though he isn't half as pale as Prince would get. More green, maybe.

Haiji gives Susumu a piece of gum he tells him is filled with anti-motion sickness medicine, and it seems to help the color, though when Eiji asks if Susumu wants to join their game of Uno two hours into the drive, he still declines.

Hana, Jota and Nira are waiting outside for them when they pull up at Lake Shirakaba. The lodge is bigger than the one from three years ago to accommodate the growing team. A wooden balcony spans the front of the house, facing towards the lake.

Joji is apparently inside making sure the futons are in order, and Yukiko is goodness knows where, but Hana helps them carry their bags in while Jota hands out candy that he found in Hana's car door. Nira trots over to Haiji and he sneaks her a treat from his pocket.

Joji runs out of the house and grinds to a halt when he sees the rest of Aotake standing next to the van.

"Guys, I think we messed up," Joji says.

"Oh no," whispers Percy, turning to Yako and grabbing his arm in a death grip, "last time they messed up I had to shave all my hair."

Yako pats Percy's hand, then pries it off his arm.

Joji narrows his eyes at them. "No, we just," he turns back to the van, "I swear we double and triple checked, but there's not enough futons for everyone. I think we forgot about Haiji coming with us when we were counting...." Haiji stands up slowly. Nira whines at his feet.

Hana meanders over to Haiji and a bemused Kakeru. "Looks like two people,” she puts her hands on their shoulders and forces them to turn to look at her, “will have to share!"

Yoshiharu raises his hand. "Happy and I can-" Happy cuts him off with a hand over his mouth.

Haiji schools his expression into a generic smile. "Don't make a fuss because of me. The seats in the van lean back. I'll sleep in there!" He does not want to sleep in there, but Kakeru's looking more and more constipated by the second. There’s no need to force anyone to share.

Hana's hand tightens almost painfully on his shoulder, and judging by his wince, on Kakeru’s shoulder as well. But Haiji knows that Hana is kind. Hana wouldn't throw Haiji under the bus.

"Why don't you two share?" Hana is evil. Hana threw him under the bus, got into the driver's seat, and is now doing sick figure eights over his prone corpse. Her evil little eyes gleam with self satisfaction.

"What a good idea!" he says, instead of challenging Hana to a duel on the spot like he wants to. He’d probably lose anyway.

Kakeru pries Hana’s hand off his shoulder. “I’m fine with it, but are you sure, Haiji? The futon’s aren’t that big.”

“It’ll be fine!” Fake it til you make it, emotions edition. “As long as there’s still enough blankets, it’s perfectly alright.”

“We’re one blanket short, too,” Joji adds. This is wonderful! What a lovely start to Haiji’s vacation. “We do have enough pillows, at least.”

“Great! There’s no problem then,” Kakeru says to the sky, looking forlorn.

"It's decided!" Hana pats them on the back, hard. Kakeru’s head whips down to glare at Hana. "Kakeru and Haiji will share. In we get, everyone, we have to make sure we're set up before the rest of the team gets here. First come, first serve!"

Happy cheers and drags a miffed looking Yoshiharu behind him up the stairs. Haiji follows them in while Kakeru and Hana organize paperwork on the roof of the car.

There's two floors to the lodge, each with their own main room and - thank goodness - their own bathroom. Upstairs, the futons are already laid out in uneven rows, split equally between the two large rooms that border either side of the staircase. The view from the balcony upstairs is breathtaking and comforting all at once, and Haiji chooses the futon closest to the window. He can deal with the extra stairs for a week.

Kakeru joins him on the balcony after a while, and they stare out at the lake in silence. The lodge is much closer to it this year - their notoriety from several successful years at the Hakone Ekiden must be great for funds. Below them, Percy and Yako argue over who should be carrying more bags, while Eiji and Gouke lug the food cooler from the trunk of Hana's car to the kitchen.

The lake shimmers sleet grey, the clouds dense and heavy, but, well. It's his vacation. The futon thing is unfortunate, but surely he can survive this new Confident Kakeru for a week! It may have been a mistake to join the team on their training camp after three years away, but he will be so normal about this.

Yelling picks up downstairs and Kakeru straightens, on alert. Knowing how college teams work without supervision…

CRASH. There it is. Kakeru whips around to glare into the lodge, throws a glance at Haiji, then races inside and down the stairs.

Haiji sighs and props his chin on the railing. If something can go wrong at training camp, it will. He just didn't expect it to be so soon.

"Attention Kansei University Track," Kakeru's voice garbles moments later, unnaturally loud. Of course the twins brought the megaphone. "There will be no more piggy-back jousting, or offenders will be running penalty sprints. Oi, Percy, put Happy down, no more piggy-back jousting-" he cuts off-

"-inside! Heyo!" Joji yells through the megaphone.

From the balcony, Haiji has the perfect view of the jousting tournament that unfolds on the dirt driveway. Susumu bows out of competing, saying he doesn't need more motion sickness in his day, and is coerced into keeping score with Yukiko. The lake is a green-grey mass in the background, interrupted only by stripes of white birch trees. Haiji takes a picture with Kakeru’s phone and sends it to himself - Kakeru’s camera is better, and his password is still the same as it was years ago.

The weary jousters of Aotake are soon replaced by the rest of the team arriving in the second van.

Things deescalate quickly enough for dinner when the clouds decide they've had enough of lying in wait all day and let loose. Some of the jousters are unfortunate enough to get caught in the downpour. Haiji dumps a pile of blankets on them when they get inside.

The ground floor of the lodge is split roughly in two, with an open kitchen and several long tables to the left, a sort of living room walled in to the right. In it, a dark brown couch that’s gone flat in its years of use sits in front of a squat black wood burner. Kakeru spends five minutes trying to light it, until Susumu unfurls from the fetal position he’d taken up on the couch and does it for him.

The team gathers on the couch and floor around the wood burner, waiting for the dinner Gouke and Yukiko are making for them. If Haiji had a say in the matter, they wouldn't be eating pasta with pesto, but Hana and Jota keep him from entering the kitchen entirely. Kakeru’s no help, sitting on the armrest of the couch and laughing at Haiji every time he’s turned back.

“Who’s side are you even on?” Haiji asks while he pushes Kakeru off of the armrest.

"Don't feel too bad," says Percy, who's sitting on the floor next to Yako and leaning back on Eiji's legs, "They won't let me into the kitchen either. Joji says it's because 'they don't need another Hana' but I don't get it, to be honest."

"They don't want to be overshadowed by your cooking skills," Yako grunts. "It'd be too embarrassing for them."

"Thanks?" Percy looks up at Eiji with furrowed brows.

Eiji shakes his head, and Percy punches Yako in the arm.

Hana and Yukiko eventually disappear into the small room that branches off from the living room, threatening the rest of them with cold baths for the week if they aren’t quiet. Other team members start peeling off to go to sleep too, but Kakeru stays downstairs, so Haiji stays too. He’s content where he is. He’s lying on the couch with his legs in Kakeru's lap, and Kakeru has his hands resting over Haiji's knees, absent-mindedly playing with the outer seam of his track pants. Haiji fights the urge to drift off.

He catches Yoshiharu staring at them. He's too out of it to do anything but stare back - does he have a problem with them? Is he also just tired? But when Yoshiharu sees Haiji watching him, he quickly turns away. This dislodges Happy, who'd been dozing on his shoulder. He makes an unhappy sound at being disturbed.

Haiji removes his legs from Kakeru's lap with a sigh and stands.

"Time to get to bed, everyone, you don't want to run on empty batteries tomorrow!"

"Okay, mom," says Kakeru, already getting up.

"Hey,” Haiji says to him while helping Percy and Yako stand up, “you're captain, why am I the one telling your team to go to bed?"

Jota, who's already halfway up the stairs, leans over the railing. "The mother hen instinct never dies! It's just buried deep, deep down, until the opportunity to bully college runners brings it back up again." He disappears into one of the rooms before Haiji can reach the bottom of the stairs.

"Dang kids these days." Haiji yells up at him.

"C'mon, grandma, I'll help you up the stairs," Kakeru says with a hand at the small of his back. Haiji shivers. It’s not even that cold. Haiji is weak. Kakeru huffs when Haiji grabs his left shoulder and leans all his weight onto it, but he muscles Haiji up the stairs anyway.

They get to their futon, next to the balcony. Kakeru shifts them around, hand briefly tightening on Haiji's waist, before Haiji drops to the futon, because Kakeru pushed him onto his left side, even as he laughs at him.

Kakeru is framed by the balcony light and the stars, radiant. Haiji's stomach is in freefall. He honestly can't feel his arms, a little bit. 

Haiji rolls into the middle of the futon so he doesn't have to look at Kakeru, but he shifts over quickly when Kakeru starts poking him in the stomach with his toes. Kakeru closes the curtains first, then makes his way back to their futon in the dark. It really is too small, and there’s no way to position themselves under the blanket so that they’re not touching.

It takes a long time for Haiji to fall asleep, that night.

He’s briefly woken up by a clunk and some muffled cursing outside, but when he checks the hallway, it's just Jota.

"Sorry, man, I forgot my phone light, did I wake you up?" Jota keeps throwing glances over his shoulder into the stairwell. It's pitch black, so Haiji gets it. Spooky, or whatever.

"No, no. Do you want my phone?"

"No way, don't worry, just go back to sleep!" Jota's making little shooing motions with his hands, so Haiji smiles at him and slides the door back shut. It's cute how he still treats him like his overworked captain. Haiji's U10 team doesn't treat him with nearly the same amount of respect.

Haiji -> Senior Squad

[Picture of Lake Shirakaba. College runners jousting, just cut off by the lower frame.]

Yuki

For someone who studied art, you’re not very good at taking pictures.

Haiji

I studied literature, Yuki, show some respect

Yuki

Tomato, potato.

Haiji

Anyway,

We’ve arrived

The twins lost a futon somehow

Nico

??????

Yuki

I…

Nico

don’t question it.

make sure to send nira pictures

yuki’s been deprived.

Yuki

Shut the fuck

But yes, Nira photos.

Nico

*please

Yuki

Die.

Chapter Text

The next morning dawns far brighter than the one before. The curtain doesn't fully cover the window, so Haiji wakes to the sun shining right into his eyes and Kakeru's elbow right in his face. 

Kakeru wakes with a throaty hurgk when Haiji rolls him off the futon. 

It's nearly 6am, says Haiji's watch, so it's high time to get up anyway. Haiji stands slowly, weight on his left leg. Kakeru uses this opportunity to roll back into the futon. His hair sticks out of the blanket like an inside-out temaki roll - oo, Haiji should try making that, it could be fun. He leaves Kakeru to it. He’s usually the first to get up, so he surely has some reason to stay in bed. 

Haiji turns to the windows, double checks his watch, and rips the curtains open.

Kakeru, once he blearily un-temakis himself, does the same to the rest of the team across the landing. Haiji takes the time during the chaos that ensues to fold his and Kakeru's blanket. He waves them off on their morning run not long after and makes breakfast with no one there to bar him from the kitchen.

He manages to turn their meager supplies into a breakfast to rival Tokyo Sport’s using the ingredients he had Hana bring - he didn’t even use strawberry protein powder this time, Kakeru remarks when they eat. Probably for the best. Would have been funny, though. 

Kakeru absolutely ruins his plate with mayo anyway. Why does Haiji bother?

They do give Haiji free range in the kitchen after that, though. 

The days fly by. Sometimes Haiji joins the team on runs, riding beside the group on Hana’s bike, sometimes he stays behind with Hana or Yukiko and helps around the lodge while Kakeru leads practice. 

One day, they run into Tokyo Sport, led by Sakaki.

Haiji's immediately on edge. He tries not to let it show, but Joji slides up to him to tell him Sakaki and Kakeru apologized to each other last year, after Sakaki was made captain, so he probably wasn't doing a great job of it.

He still sticks close to Kakeru. There’s no need, though. Apart from some targeted jabs at their teams’ performances at a recent race, Kakeru and Sakaki are entirely civil to each other. Sakaki even grimaces a smile in Haiji’s direction. It’s the little things.

Happy recognizes a runner from Tokyo Sport, someone he ran with in highschool. Yoshiharu, who was talking to Happy, stands awkwardly at the side of their conversation. Poor kid.

"Hey, Yoshiharu," he calls, "I need your thoughts on something."

Yoshiharu throws a look at Happy, who doesn't see it. He jogs over.

"Joji was just telling me about the route you guys planned for your 10k tomorrow." 

"Was I?" Joji mutters.

Haiji walks them over to the board with the biggest map of the area. Thing is, Joji did tell him about their route, and he did have some questions about it - it’s in a part of the region with smaller paths, and it’s not marked as a running route anywhere.

"Joji says you guys are starting here," he points at a trailhead marked in the bottom right of the map and Yoshiharu peers at it, "and running to a field up here," Yoshiharu squints with his whole face somehow, "and then taking this path around the lake, back to the lodge. Can you see okay? Do you need glasses?"

"Huh? No, I was just- I thought we were running a different route?" Yoshiharu looks at Joji, who laughs, high-pitched and thin, and starts rapidly patting Yoshiharu on the shoulder.

"That must have been the route from last year we were talking about, come with me real quick? I need some muscle for the uh- drinks, from the van, yup, let's go help Hana! Kakeru! Haiji has some questions about the route tomorrow!"

Kakeru startles from where he's talking with Sakaki - still mind boggling - and weaves through the rest of the team to get to Haiji.

Kakeru recognizes the route Haiji shows him, so at least that checks out.

Haiji and Kakeru are waiting at the trailhead.

They have been waiting at the trailhead for a quarter of an hour.

The warm wind swims softly through verdant leaves, stray beams of sunlight fall through the dense summer canopy, and the team is nowhere to be seen.

Kakeru is on his third round of warm up reps. 

Haiji pulls his reliable block of a phone out of Hana’s bike basket. Kakeru snorts when he sees it. He can laugh all he likes - Kakerus’s phone was too fancy to bring, just in case it’d fall on some soft sand or something and crack. Haiji types in Hana's number and puts the call on speaker.

"Haiji!" Hana picks up, breathlessly giggling before he’s said a word.

"Hana! Where's the team? Kakeru and I have been waiting at the southern trail for ages now."

"Huh? Weren't you supposed to meet at the northern trail? Hang on, I'm putting you on speaker."

"We were both told to meet at the southern trail," says Kakeru, leaning over the phone like he doesn't trust it to pick up his voice normally. The phone isn’t that old, c’mon.

"That's so weird!" comes Joji's voice. "I guess we told you the wrong route?"

"You guys are getting extra laps when we're back in Tokyo," Kakeru groans.

"Oh no, more running," Joji whines. "So terrible."

"Anyway” Jota adds, “you're there, and we’re about to start here! You might as well enjoy the trail together! Have fun~" The call blinks away. Disconnected. 

"They're getting extra laps at five a.m.. In winter."

Haiji puts his phone in his pocket and inhales deeply. He eyes the shimmers of heat rising from the packed earth and takes off his thin track jacket. 

Kakeru watches Haiji put his jacket into the bike basket, eyebrows furrowed. 

“We’re here now, we might as well enjoy it,” Haiji says. Kakeru grins. “I won’t go easy on you just because it’s hot out.”

“I wouldn’t want you to.”

“Perfect. Let’s go!”

Haiji keeps to a fairly relaxed pace regardless. Relaxed for Kakeru at least. Despite Haiji’s headstart, Kakeru catches up to him in no time. It’s unfairly hot today - the lake wind stays coyly away, and the small forest the trail starts in soon peters out. The sun shines brilliant and heavy on the fields of knee-high grass stretching out over the southern horizon, Mount Tateshina glowing in the east.

The heat doesn’t seem to bother Kakeru at all. He catches Haiji's gaze often just to grin and look away again, turning now and then to take in the fields and the wisps of clouds gathering beyond the hills that frame Lake Shirakaba. His form has gotten even better over the years, proud and fluid and steady and-

Haiji has to lean into the pedals to catch up to him. He might have gotten distracted, so what. Sue him. 

They reach an outlook towards the middle of their run that overlooks Lake Shirakaba. A young couple is taking a photo on a small raised platform right at the edge.

Kakeru slows to a stop and Haiji brings Hana’s bike around to stand next to him. Gravel crunches underfoot.

"Does your phone take pictures?" Kakeru asks Haiji. 

"Theoretically, yes. Practically? Who's to say. It definitely can't take selfies."

"I didn't know you knew what a selfie was."

"I'm not that old."

"You say that, but you still think the Game Boy is the best console. C'mon, let’s ask them if they can take a picture of us." Kakeru jogs over to the couple and exchanges a few words with them. A new breeze has driven away the worst of the heat, so Haiji pulls on his jacket and rolls the sleeves up in the meantime. 

The woman seems excited by Kakeru’s request, nodding rapidly and tugging her partner over to a better angle on the platform. The kickstand of Hana’s bike doesn’t find much purchase in the loose gravel of the outlook, and the bike teeters on it at a precarious angle. Eh, whatever, it can manage.

Kakeru's face is flushed when he returns to Haiji's side. 

It doesn't take long for Haiji to explain his phone camera to the woman - it’s not that complicated once you get over the size of the screen. He and Kakeru climb onto the platform and Kakeru shifts until he's standing right next to him. Haiji thinks back to Kakeru manhandling him by the waist on the first night of training camp and waits until the woman starts counting down to wrap his arm around Kakeru's waist and pull him even closer.

He can’t resist looking at Kakeru when he does it. He shouldn’t have. Kakeru isn’t tall enough to give Haiji a crick in the neck from looking up at him, but he gets a crick in his weak little heart at the look on Kakeru’s face. His eyes are wide, his awkward photo smile shifting to something soft and surprised. A surge of wind pushes his hair back. He’s looking at Haiji like- like-

"Okay, guys, I got the picture!" The woman’s voice drags him back to the platform, splintered wood below him, lake to his right and strangers to his left. Hana’s bike has fallen over. Kakeru doesn’t move even as Haiji lets go of his waist.

Haiji jumps off the platform to take his phone back - bad idea, his knee twinges, and he inhales sharply. He can manage, though, it’s nothing. He sticks the phone into his pocket and thanks her. 

“No need for thanks from such a cute pair. You two have a good walk!” Haiji stares after her as she takes her partner’s hand and they head down the trail in the direction that Haiji and Kakeru came from. Did she- did they? Was he being so obvious? 

He bends to pick Hana’s bike up, careful with his knee, facing away from Kakeru. He doesn’t want Kakeru to think that he’s hiding his expression from him, even though he very much is. He’s determined to keep the minute twinges of pain under wraps. He can’t help the odd shuffle he has to do to turn back towards Kakeru with bike in hand, though, and Kakeru is already staring at him like he’s about to whip out a magnifying glass and identify everything that’s broken under Haiji’s skin. 

Kakeru picks up his water bottle, which Haiji didn’t realize had rolled away, and puts it back into the bike basket.

“Ready to keep going?” Kakeru asks, soft as the wind that’s playing with the edges of his t-shirt. “We’re almost back to the lodge.” 

“Ready if you are,” Haiji says, and immediately fails at the basics of bike riding. Kakeru catches Haiji’s shoulder and the handlebars and rebalances the bike. 

“Okay, get down. Your knee?” Haiji nods. Of course Kakeru saw right through him. Kakeru toes down the kickstand. He appropriates Haiji’s jacket as a makeshift cushion on the carrier rack at the back of the bike, and goosebumps appear on Haiji’s bare arms. Kakeru then stands there, staring at Haiji like Haiji could simply read Kakeru’s mind and understand what he wants from him. Which, yeah, it’s kind of obvious, but his knee pain is really just a small thing. It doesn’t warrant this… bike taxi. He raises his eyebrows at Kakeru.

Kakeru has, it seems, been practicing his raised-eyebrow eye contact, because he holds on much longer than Haiji is used to.

Haiji breaks first. He gets on the carrier.

The bike kicks forward and Haiji clamps his hands around Kakeru’s waist so he doesn’t fall off.

They’re under the shade of trees again before either of them speak. The late-blooming tree lilacs that line the trail form an avenue to the top of an incline, rustling in the wind. Kakeru’s shoulders shift under Haiji’s cheek as he pedals. The muscles on either side of his stomach tense and relax in a steady rhythm. 

“That woman,” Kakeru says, “she thought we were together.”

Haiji hums. “Does that bother you?”

Kakeru laughs once and falls silent. They coast over the top of the hill and Kakeru stops pedalling, letting the bike’s momentum take over. “Doesn’t it bother you ? You probably have- girls. Where you live now.” 

Haiji lifts his head from Kakeru’s shoulder. “I do?” He doesn’t. 

“I- It doesn’t matter, sorry. You didn’t come here to get grilled about your dating life.”

What dating life? Haiji can’t see Kakeru’s face, can’t discern how he’s supposed to respond based only on the tone of his voice, so he says nothing at all. He rests his head back on Kakeru’s shoulder. The wind streams through the interwoven branches of tree lilacs, whorls of tiny pale petals thrown into the air. Lake Shirakaba appears again in the distance.

“I don’t have one. A dating life,” Haiji says to the trees. 

“You don’t have to reassure me.” Kakeru starts pedalling again, faster than before.

“That’s not what I’m trying to do.”

Kakeru’s back is stiff under Haiji’s chest. Haiji straightens so only his hands are still holding on to Kakeru.

“Why do you care about what that woman thought?” he asks.

“Why don’t you?” Kakeru replies. Haiji is getting more bewildered by the second.

“I do,” Haiji says. Kakeru snorts derisively. “I do care. Not in the way you probably think, but Kakeru...’ he hesitates. Nope, still confused. ‘I really don’t know what we’re talking about right now.”

Kakeru is silent for so long that Haiji starts counting the specks of kayaks on the lake, drawing ever closer through the trees.

“You left,” Kakeru says. Now Haiji is properly disoriented. “You went to America for your surgery and then came back, but you didn’t come back to... to the team. And it’s hard, sometimes, to- think that, maybe, we don’t. We don’t mean as much to you as you do to us, and then-”

“It hurt too much,” Haiji interrupts. The obvious misunderstanding bubbles up hot under his skin. How could Kakeru not know that it was the other way around? But he can’t say that - has to ignore his pulsing heart, because this isn’t the right time - 

“It hurt to be in recovery again. I was focused on Hakone for so long, and when it was over? That was it. I did my thing. It ruined my knee, but I did it. We did it. And then what?” Haiji asks, pressing his forehead into Kakeru’s back. “You shape your present for your future long enough, you lose sight of what the present is. Kakeru - it’s not a comfortable place to be.”

“It’s better than being stuck in the past,” Kakeru says, voice strangled. “You taught me that. You and the team. The team that you built from nothing.” The lodge looms up through gaps in the trees- “You left, and I was never able to tell you how much-“

“Oi!” Kakeru flinches and slams the brakes so hard that Haiji is nearly thrown off the bike. His pelvis collides painfully with the bike seat. Percy is standing outside the lodge, holding the megaphone just out of Jota’s desperate reach. “We were about to pick you up! With the car!” Percy gestures at Hana’s car, as if they needed clarification. Jota falls into a squat and buries his head in his hands. 

Haiji feels very much like doing the same. 

What was Kakeru about to say?

Haiji expects Kakeru to give him space now that they’re back at the lodge, but Kakeru holds the bike steady for Haiji as he climbs down - knee smarting when he lifts it over the carrier rack - and locks it to the stair rail. He hovers close to Haiji’s right side the entire way in.

Hana's in the kitchen preparing something, Joji peering over her shoulder. She squeals and skips around the counter when she sees them.

"So,” she draws out, “how was your run? It was so dumb of the twins to tell you the wrong route!"

Joji’s squawk of indignation rouses the group in the living room, who suddenly fall silent. Happy and Gouke stick their heads through the doorway. The others are twisted around on the couch to look at Haiji and Kakeru when they walk past the door. They’re in the middle of a card game that Eiji taught them, though so far only Susumu seems to have understood how it works, based on the size of his stack of cards. Haiji doesn’t understand it at all.

"What took you so long?" Happy asks. Gouke scrutinizes Kakeru through his light brown bangs, as if amazed that he could do anything at a slow pace.

"We needed to take a break from the heat," Haiji says before anyone can answer for him. He ignores Jota waggling his eyebrows at him without much skill, and pats Kakeru's shoulder. "He can tell you guys all about the trail. I'm going upstairs." 

But Kakeru doesn't take the out. He sticks with Haiji instead.

When they're at the foot of the stairs, Haiji pauses. The card game picks up again in the living room. 

"I'm going to do some stretches with my knee, so you don't need to be there. Go help out in the kitchen, we don’t want Hana to poison the team."

Kakeru shakes his head. "I'm captain now, you can't boss me around. Go on, I’ll follow you up.” Haiji looks over Kakeru’s shoulder for help and finds Jota throwing him a thumbs up and winking. 

Helpless, Haiji is shepherded up the stairs and to their shared futon. Kakeru makes him sit at the head of the bed, then changes his mind and makes him move to the center. Haiji is shuffled up and down the futon as Kakeru decides he needs the pillow here - no, under the knee - wait, just stay there -  

"Kakeru, what are you doing?” 

Kakeru collapses at the foot of the futon, stares at the window. "How do you do your knee exercises?"

"Huh?"

"They're easier and more effective when done by another person."

"Absolutely not-" 

"Haiji, show me how you do them." Kakeru says in the same tight voice from earlier, on the trail. "Please." Haiji is weak.

Haiji shows Kakeru how to stretch and massage his knee. 

Kakeru is still for several seconds after Haiji finishes.

"You really don't have to do this,” Haiji says to the side of Kakeru’s head.

"I know," Kakeru murmurs, "but I want to." He looks up from Haiji's knee and makes eye contact with him. "Let me- let me help you." 

Haiji falls onto his back, unable to deal with Kakeru’s earnest expression. It’s all too easy to think that Haiji isn’t the only one reading too much into this.

"Can I?" This time, Kakeru's voice is barely above a whisper.

Haiji can only nod, hiding his face in the crook of his elbow. Heart-on-sleeve, meet nose. Try not to bleed everywhere.

Despite his bravado just moments ago, Kakeru doesn't move. Outside, the wind rustles the trees. Boisterous voices rise through the floorboards, laughs and cheers muffled in the heavy summer air. The futon shifts. Kakeru's hand touches Haiji’s calf, bare in his shorts, and Haiji tenses up. 

The stretches for his knee are different to the cooldown stretches Kakeru has done with the others after meets, and Haiji has to re-lead him through some exercises that are entirely new to him. Each one lessens the ache in Haiji’s knee, and he stops tensing at every unexpected touch. The tightness in his chest only grows.

Haiji's a scant few seconds away from a heart attack when Kakeru finally finishes going through all of the stretches. He lowers Haiji’s leg to the futon, but he leaves his hands resting next to his knee. His thigh is pressed flush to Haiji’s calf.

Kakeru shifts in place, then presses his thumbs into the muscles above Haiji’s knee. Haiji’s leg reflectively jumps, and Kakeru pushes it back down, thumbs digging harder into the side of Haiji’s thigh. Haiji groans.

Kakeru freezes. Haiji’s face feels like it’s about to combust, and Kakeru’s high-pitched laugh doesn’t help.

The hum of cicadas rises and Haiji realizes too late that it’s because the voices from downstairs have fallen silent.

Knocking cuts in, sudden and loud. Haiji nearly kicks Kakeru in the head trying to put as much distance between them as possible, but Kakeru evades and catches his ankle before Haiji can accidentally break his nose. For all of Haiji’s efforts, they’ve ended up in an even more compromising position than before.

“Seriously, guys? I came up to make sure you weren't doing anything that would scar the first years, and lo and behold-" 

Kakeru twists to glare at the intruder from around Haiji’s leg. “Jota, I swear-” 

"He was helping with my stretches," Haiji croaks.

“I’ll bet he was,” Jota cackles. Haiji flounders around, trying to detangle himself from Kakeru, who seems to have given up on life. “Joji! Tell the others it's safe to come up!”

"So many extra laps,” Kakeru says under his breath, staring at the ceiling. “They are getting so many extra laps.”

Haiji finally manages to stand up. He catches Jota in a headlock to distract himself from the urge to go onto the balcony and have a nice, long scream. On the futon, Kakeru rolls himself into their blanket and stays there, motionless, while the rest of the team gets ready for bed.

Haiji -> Senior Squad

I’m in hell

Yuki

You should be right at home then!

Nico

have some sympathy.

what happened, haiji?

Haiji

So much

The twins are being weirder than usual

If Kakeru looks at me one more time I will Implode

Nico

methinks you brought this upon yourself.

Yuki

Where’s that sympathy now?

Haiji

ANYWAY

Ask and ye shall receive!

[photo of nira]

[photo of nira]

[photo of nira]

[photo of nira]

[+8 photos]

Chapter Text

Haiji comes back from a shorter walk than usual with Nira to find the team - mostly Aotake - crowded around a point on the ground. 

Percy, standing taller than everyone at the back, bends over Eiji to point at something. His elbow collides with Yako’s head in the process and Yako shoves him away. Susumu is forced to catch him, and the whole group wobbles back and forth until Percy’s found his equilibrium again. 

Haiji uses this to creep towards them until he’s standing right behind Gouke. Through the mess of shoulders and heads, Haiji can see Jota adding lines to some sort of diagram on the ground with a stick. Hana stands to the side holding another, longer branch. What sort of war council is this? 

“What are you doing?” Haiji asks. Yako shrieks. Nira starts barking. Percy tries to hide behind Yukiko and fails. 

Hana turns to Haiji with the languid patience of a scheming chinchilla, and Haiji’s briefly terrified that he walked into something he wasn’t meant to see.

“We are planning-” she pauses, glances at Joji, who nods, “a prank.” 

“Oh?”

Haiji loves a good prank. There’s not a lot of time to pull pranks when you’re getting a bunch of amateurs to qualify for one of Japan’s biggest races - though, when you think about it, getting a whole bunch of amateurs to qualify for one of Japan’s biggest races is a pretty fun prank to pull on the amateurs. 

“Count me in then!” 

The team looks at him like he’s just announced that short distance running is the superior discipline. Hana pulls Joji down to her and they whisper back and forth aggressively. Susumu’s stare is starting to get uncomfortable. From Aotake, only Kakeru, Yoshiharu and Happy aren’t gawking at Haiji, because they aren’t there at all.

Hana finally whips around and sticks her branch into the ground. She folds her hands on top of it like a general on the pommel of their sword.

“Welcome to Operation: Romance.” Oh?

Hana explains that there are, quote, “two giant idiots on the team that have been skirting around each other for way too long”, and the group is now trying to get them together. It seems a bit unfair to be calling Happy and Yoshiharu names like that, but Haiji can admit that they have been painfully obvious.

They quickly come up with a plan - after voting on the merits of a nice dinner date versus locking them in a closet - and choose which closet, which day, and how. Susumu offers to break the lock of the closet in question so that it can’t be opened from the inside, and Gouke volunteers to clean the inside a little, for ambiance. Adorable.

All that’s left for Haiji to do is wait for the final day of the training camp, where the prank jaws are scheduled to close. He can’t wait.

There's a grand campfire on the last night of the training camp. Hana gets Jota and Yoshiharu to carry food and drinks to the fire pit, and the rest of them set up the fireworks at the docks. Some team members strip down and dive into the lake. Kakeru and Haiji stand at the edge of the dock and watch the battle that ensues after Percy dunks Yako under the surface.

Well. Kakeru watches them fight, lit by moonlight and calling out encouragement to both sides. Haiji watches him.

It's only because of this that he sees the twins sneaking up on them and evades just as they lunge forward. Kakeru is hit with the full force of Joji's shove and falls into the water, flailing. Jota raises his eyebrows at Haiji.

"You-!" Kakeru yells as he resurfaces. "This was my last- everything! I don't have other clothes!"

"You're going to get an unimaginable number of laps, my friends," Haiji says for Kakeru. Jota raises his eyebrows even further.

"Hey, Haiji," Joji says, hand held to his chin in a bad imitation of old philosophers, "didn't you pack extra for the track meet you have to go to after the camp?" Both twins stare him down. Kakeru climbs up the ladder, dripping water all over the docks. He pushes his wet hair out of his face. His jeans cling to his legs. Wait, the twins were saying something. 

Hana drags Haiji inside. She extracts a towel from the team duffle bag in her room and waits with Kakeru on the driveway while Haiji grabs his coach uniform from upstairs and goes back outside.

Kakeru’s dried off in the meantime, hair sticking up in all directions. He goes in to change, and Haiji is left with Hana outside. 

She asks for stories about the kids on his team, and Haiji is happy to oblige. He’s in the middle of telling her about one of his runners making the U10 5k record in Hyogo when Kakeru comes back outside. In Haiji’s uniform.

Haiji didn’t need Hana’s elbow in his stomach to feel like the air’s been knocked out of him. His uniform looks frustratingly good on Kakeru.

The Kiyose printed on the back doesn't help.

When everyone is properly dressed and they rejoin the rest of the team, Susumu, Gouke, and the other first years prepare themselves with lighters at the end of the dock.

The fireworks go off one by one, blossoming blue and yellow sparks, reflected in ripples on the lake. The first years race back up the docks to where the rest of the team is standing, cheering, limned in gold. There's something building in Haiji's throat, in his chest, bubbling and light and leaden all at once. Three years... three years since his rag tag team ran the Hakone Ekiden with him, three years since he graduated, moved away. In three years, Kakeru's managed to build a team even stronger than their first ten months together. It's a team that's no less bright than the one he knew.

Hana and Yukiko hand out sparklers. Kakeru lights his on Eiji's and drifts over to stand next to Haiji. Haiji can only mutely lift his sparkler to Kakeru's. It lights sluggishly, resisting, and Kakeru grabs Haiji's hand to hold his sparkler steady against his own. His palm rests warm against Haiji's cold knuckles, and he shivers. Kakeru's gaze flickers from the sparklers to Haiji's hands, then to his eyes, stays there.

Haiji doesn't want to look away, doesn't want Kakeru to let go of his hand. "Thank you," he rasps when his sparkler finally lights. Thank you , he says, and hopes, as Kakeru squeezes his hand and lets it fall, that Kakeru understands that Haiji isn't talking about the sparkler at all.

The fireworks run their course, ending with a brilliant splash of blue and white. 

They trek back up to the lodge and angle for the clearing that’s close by. Hana and Yukiko hand out drinks, and the fastest of the team commandeer the few logs that are scattered around the campfire in a rough circle. Susumu lights the fire and they all gather around it, crowded together with the size of the team. Some spread out jackets or blankets between the logs. 

Kakeru’s saved Haiji a seat on a low, flat log close to the fire. He's laughing with the others, legs stretched out in front of him, warming the soles of his shoes. The hem of Haiji's pants falls just barely short on him. 

Yukiko gets everyone wrapped up in a game of Werewolf. Haiji initially stays out of it, but Kakeru proves to be so bad at it - in one round, he makes it to the final night as a werewolf against one villager and loses - that Haiji takes over for him. He’s never played, but the rules are easy enough. Haiji’s side - Kakeru’s side - wins every round after that, even as the alcohol settles into Haiji’s bloodstream and softens the sharp edges of his thoughts.

His face is flushed up to his ears, a warm mix of the drinks Hana keeps pouring for him and the wide smiles Kakeru keeps sending his way. 

Haiji vaguely laments everything he's had to drink. He can barely tear his eyes away from the slip of Kakeru’s ankles. But whenever Kakeru shifts and the hem rides up even a little, Haiji is too busy ogling him like a repressed English Victorian to really regret anything. 

He's content, like a drunk cat stretched out in a sunbeam, soaking up the chatter of the team around the campfire - the smooth press of the log underneath his palms, the cicadas and the crackling firewood and wow - the light reflecting off of Kakeru's face, which is so - good. So good. 

Hana and the twins are whispering intensely with one another, but Haiji's too cosy to care. His eyelids are heavy. Coaching a group of actual kids doesn't provide many opportunities to drink. He's lost his touch! After only two - a few - something many drinks. What a shame. He tips sideways, only half on purpose, and collapses against Kakeru's shoulder. This is right. He likes this. He likes it even better when Kakeru frees his arm and wraps it around Haiji's back. His hand rests on Haiji's hip. The firelight glows late summer behind Haiji's eyelids.

Eventually the campfire fades to a blanket of embers, glimmering in mesmerizing, liquid movements.

The team wanders off to bed one by one, patting each other on the back goodnight as they step over the logs and make their way inside. Yoshiharu and Happy go in together, and Haiji stares after them until he’s brought back to the embers by the pop of wood that finally catches fire. The moon inches across the sky. Soon it's the five of them left, Haiji half asleep against Kakeru, the twins showing Hana videos on her phone.

The alcohol eventually wears off, and a chill has crept up under Haiji's jacket. He shakes himself awake and gathers the dishes lying forgotten around the campfire, heads inside. Kakeru joins him in the kitchen a few minutes later. The twins stick their heads in to say goodnight, and then it's just the two of them.

It's comfortingly familiar, this. Kakeru standing at his shoulder, dish cloth in hand. They clean up methodically, in tandem. Through the open window, the last dregs of cicada-song play in syncopated time with the water splashing around the sink.

Haiji washes the cutlery with more care than probably warranted, tries to draw the moment out, but Kakeru foils his plans when he starts to wash up with Haiji. 

It’s this; their team - Kakeru’s team - sleeping upstairs, it’s the two of them washing dishes at one a.m., slow and quiet, trying not to wake anyone up, that weakens Haiji more than any of the alcohol. It may be three years later, with a different team and a different kitchen, but it feels like home in a way that Haiji's studio apartment in Kakogawa hasn't in all the years he's lived there.

Kakeru isn’t washing anything anymore. He watches Haiji sponge off the cutlery, and the pile of things to dry grows on the towel in front of him. Haiji keeps going even when Kakeru drops his head onto his shoulder.

Haiji wiggles his shoulder up and down, but Kakeru keeps his cheek stubbornly pressed against him. 

“Come on, Kakeru,” Haiji says, “help me finish this up. We still need to get ready for bed.” He pitches his voice just loud enough to be heard over the cicadas and the susurrus of Kakeru’s jacket (Haiji’s track jacket) against his arm.

“Mnnn.”

“I need to be in top shape for my track meet tomorrow!” 

This is a terrible argument, and Kakeru knows it, because Haiji's not running in the track meet tomorrow, the kids are. He hasn't run in a race since the Ekiden.

“Mnnnnnnn.” 

“Fine.” Haiji rinses off a spoon and sets it aside with the rest. He puts his palm flat on Kakeru’s forehead - he’d been smiling behind the curtain of his hair - and pushes him back until he gets the hint and sits on the counter next to the sink. 

Kakeru spends the next few minutes watching as Haiji finishes washing the dishes. Haiji carefully dries each plate and piece of silverware, hyper-aware of Kakeru’s gaze on him. Eventually Kakeru tips his head against the wooden wall and lets his eyes fall closed, dozing, maybe, or maybe feeling just as overwhelmed as Haiji is.

Three years ago, Kakeru trusted them with his past in an overgrown clearing on the other side of the lake. Haiji had spent so long alone - regretting his weakness at graduation, finding a new goal in the Hakone Ekiden - 

Kakeru had taken him seriously, even when that meant telling him in no uncertain terms how foolish he thought Haiji’s goal was. At the end, when Haiji’s knee gave out for good, Kakeru had still been there to support him. And what had Haiji done? He’d hidden his heart under layers of bandages and painkillers, and then moved away - distanced himself completely - when that wasn’t enough anymore. 

He’d always found it easier to help others find their strength than to maintain his own.

But now, in this moment - the rough rasp of the thin dish towel on his hands, the hum of the kitchen light above them - Haiji wants - he wants. He needs to be strong. He can’t run from it anymore.

He dries his hands and hangs the towel, folded, over the faucet. He stands there, leaning against the sink, for several long seconds, not really ready to leave. Kakeru slides off the counter with a thud.

Haiji turns to him. Kakeru’s standing ramrod straight, but his shoulders are tight, and he’s looking everywhere but Haiji’s face. 

Haiji takes Kakeru’s hands between both of his own. Kakeru exhales quickly, the barest sliver of a smile shining through and falling away again. 

It’s clear that Kakeru’s not going to be the one to speak first, and there’s a question that’s been eating at Haiji all day.

“On the trail the other day,” Haiji says, “you started saying something, and Percy- interrupted you.” That small smile again. “What were you going to say?”

Kakeru shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“You can tell me,” Haiji says. 

Kakeru looks out the window. 

“I can make us some hot chocolate if it’d help. We can go look at the stars.” 

Kakeru rolls his eyes minutely. “We’d wake up the others if we went up to the balcony right now.”

He’s clearly not going to answer Haiji.

That’s fine. If Kakeru won’t talk, Haiji will. It’s taken him long enough.

“I have something to say to you, then.” Kakeru glances up and finally makes eye contact with him, and Haiji smiles. He’s shaking now, and he curls his fingers around Kakeru’s, anchoring himself. 

“I know I- disappeared. A little bit. A lot. But it wasn’t because I didn’t care about you guys. I cared too much - I was scared that I had forced my dream onto you, and after the Ekiden was over, you’d realize I’d- used you.”

Kakeru’s brows furrow in the middle and he opens his mouth, but Haiji barrels on, packing as much emotion he can into a whisper, all too aware of the time of night.

“But that’s in the past! I mean, the team now- and you guys running the Ekiden every year- I was being selfish, thinking the way I did. But!” He claps his hands against Kakeru’s and lets them go, stands up fully, draws in a heaving breath and hopes his voice won’t shake - 

But Kakeru beats him to it. “Wait- wait, I do have something to say, stop-”

“ Eh? ” Haiji squeaks. 

“I- you- have to stop talking about yourself like that-

“Kakeru-”

“You redefined running for me, Haiji, you changed my life -”

Haiji grabs onto the sides of Kakeru’s face and shakes him. Kakeru keeps going, undeterred.

“And you’re not selfish, you’re amazing and focused, and everything I’ve been able to do has been because of you-”

Haiji kisses him. 

When Haiji pulls back, Kakeru’s mouth is still open, like he wanted to keep talking but forgot how. His cheeks and forehead have gone completely red.

Haiji brushes Kakeru’s hair out of his face with trembling fingers. 

“Kakeru, will you go out with me?”

Kakeru’s mouth snaps shut. His expression wars between glaring and beaming at Haiji.

“Obviously my answer is yes!” Kakeru whispers fiercely.

“You don’t have to sound so mad about it!”

“I wanted to ask you first.” Kakeru frowns exaggeratedly and Haiji grins, curls one hand into Kakeru’s hair. His other hand lingers against Kakeru’s jaw.

“You’ll have to be faster next time, then.”

Kakeru kisses him quickly, barely a peck. His laugh vibrates against the heel of Haiji’s palm when he pulls back, and Haiji pulls him right back in, kisses him harder. 

It’s far too late at night - soon they’ll have to go to bed, and tomorrow Haiji will have to travel out from Tokyo to a track meet he can’t run at, can only guide from the sidelines. But right now, with Kakeru’s hands on Haiji’s hips and the kitchen counter digging into his thighs, all of that couldn’t be further from his mind. Kakeru’s mouth on his has Haiji fixed firmly in the present. 

It’s not that bad of a place to be.

Haiji wakes up the next morning completely enveloped in warmth. Kakeru's arms are wrapped around him, his leg is slung across Haiji’s chest and his mouth is in Haiji’s hair. Is Kakeru drooling ? Haiji extricates himself from Kakeru’s hold, cold in all the places they were touching, and makes his way down to the kitchen, tiptoeing around all of the figures sprawled out on the floor.

Hana and Yukiko are already awake and dressed, chatting away in the kitchen while coffee percolates on the counter. Haiji’s still in his pyjamas. Hana eyes Haiji’s messy hair and he runs his hand through it self-consciously. That’s definitely drool. It’s fine, he didn’t have any dignity left anyway.

“Sleep well?” Hana asks Haiji in a voice that’s entirely too laden with sarcasm for this time of morning.

Haiji smiles wide and ignores the question. He puts on water to boil. While he’s waiting for it to cool down, he turns back to Hana and Yukiko.

“You excited for Operation: Romance?” Haiji asks.

Hana throws Yukiko a smug look that Haiji doesn’t have the braincells to unpack right now. He prepares himself a cup of green tea and leans against the counter as it seeps.

“Definitely,” Yukiko says. “It’s taken them long enough.” Hana smirks behind her cup of coffee.

The anticipation carries Haiji through the tedium of packing up and marshalling everyone through cleanup while Kakeru plays luggage tetris with the van outside. 

Kakeru sits next to him during lunch - no closer than usual, but Haiji still buzzes with it, like a teenager with a new crush. It’s a relief when they break up to finish cleaning, and Haiji is able to wash the dishes in peace. 

He’s toweling off the last plate when Gouke sticks his head through the front door and asks him in his clumsy Japanese to get the fabric cleaner from upstairs - something urgent about coffee and Hana’s car seat.

Haiji can’t find it in either of the main rooms. Happy is still packing his duffel bag in the one on the left. He doesn’t know where it is either - but it’s probably in the closet, right? They check together, Happy angling his phone light around Haiji so he can see better in the dim room. 

It’s only after Happy shoves him into the closet and locks the door - a door that doesn’t open from the inside, of a closet that is distinctly lacking in dust - that Haiji starts to suspect that he may have been an idiot. 

Happy’s wheezing laughs recede from the room.

His suspicions are confirmed when Kakeru is pushed into the closet only minutes later. There’s no space to sit or even breathe - it doesn’t feel like the door was designed to be closed with one person behind it, let alone two. They’re completely stuck. Kakeru drops his head onto Haiji's shoulder.

“Haiji, why are we trapped in a closet?” Kakeru asks into his neck. He’s too tall to be bent over like this, and it’s clear that he isn’t leaning his full weight on Haiji. He appreciates it. The angle isn’t great with his leg.

“I am ashamed to say that I may have had something to do with this,” Haiji says. Kakeru’s ear bangs into Haiji’s jaw as he pulls back to stare at him. Haiji makes a worried noise and cups the side of Kakeru’s head.

“What?” Kakeru asks.

“In my defense, I thought the whole thing was about someone else.”

“Who? What?”

“I caught the team planning this prank, right, and I wanted to take part, and they let me! Hana only said it was supposed to get two people on the team together because they’ve been stupid about each other for ages. I thought she was talking about Yoshiharu and Happy because they weren’t there.”

Kakeru gasps out a laugh. Haiji grabs onto Kakeru’s elbows for leverage.

“Listen, it made sense to me at the time!”

“You’re so smart for some things and then for everything else-”

“Don’t you dare-”

“- you’re so stupid-”

“Says the guy who thought we would hate him for righteously punching his awful coach!”

“I’ve grown a few brain cells since then, I’ll have you know!”

“What, two?”

“Give me a little credit, it’s at least three .”

Haiji muffles his laughter into Kakeru’s neck and Kakeru wraps his arms around him. 

“I wonder when they’re going to let us out?” Kakeru asks. Haiji checks his watch. They’re supposed to be leaving in an hour.

“They’re probably listening at the door,” Haiji replies.

“Definitely listening at the door.”

“We could make them wait for us…”

Kakeru makes a sad little noise into Haiji’s hair.

“On the other hand,” Haiji says, “it’d be a bit awkward with them listening the whole time, huh.” Kakeru nods, his chin bumping against Haiji’s head. “Well, at least we can hold it over their heads forever that they got the timing totally wrong.”

“Hm?”

“I mean, they’re late.” He pulls back and raises his voice. “We’re already together!” Kakeru grins, eyes creasing into crescents. Haiji kisses him, then knocks on the door over Kakeru’s shoulder.

“You can let us out now, we know you’re there.” 

There’s some chatter from outside, then the lock rasps to the right and the door swings open. Hana stands in the doorway, key in hand. Behind her, most of Aotake is gathered around the closet.  

Hana glares at them. 

“Since when have you ‘been together’?” she asks.

“Since yesterday!” Haiji beams at her around Kakeru’s shoulder. Hana’s disgruntled expression clears faster than a rainshower in summer, and she settles back on her heels, looking viciously pleased with herself. Joji and Jota highfive behind her back, and Kakeru squints at them. 

Haiji pushes Kakeru out of the closet when it becomes clear that he’s content with staring menacingly at the twins over his shoulder, still bracketing Haiji against the shelves. 

“Okay, everyone,” Haiji says, “no more free entertainment for you, we have to pack and go!” The herd of runners disperses down the stairs, footsteps chaotic against the wood. Happy stays behind to tell Haiji the fabric cleaner was in the other closet. Kakeru pulls him into a headlock and ruins Happy’s spiked hair, but when he’s released, Happy just salutes them and springs down the steps. 

“Do you think he overheard your comment about him and Yoshiharu?” Kakeru asks Haiji.

“I hope not. Otherwise you can’t prank them back.”

“I couldn’t. Hana could, though.”

Haiji shudders theatrically, just to hear Kakeru laugh. “Hana definitely could.”

Once Haiji finally locates all of his clothing - he can’t simply give Kakeru his coaching jacket, he only has the one, c’mon, Kakeru - Kakeru helps him pack his bags into Hana’s car.

Kakeru opens the trunk, only to find it blocked by something large and soft, rolled up into a tube.

"Is this-" Haiji tries to say, then starts cackling when Kakeru unrolls the Thing to reveal a futon. Kakeru's face screws up the longer he looks at it. When he glances over at Haiji, who's still trying to get his breathing in order, Kakeru cracks and giggles. Giggles. Oh my god.

"'There's not enough futons,' my ass." Haiji says. "They planned this!"

"Hang on," Kakeru says. Haiji shifts the futon aside when Kakeru half-climbs into the trunk. He tugs at a colorful piece of paper that sticks out from behind the futon.

The paper reveals itself to be an ad for a couples' retreat at a hotel at the southern side of the lake.

Kakeru hands the paper to Haiji and settles down at the trunk’s edge. Haiji sits down next to him. The futon digs into his thigh.

“Enjoy the last of the summer blossoms and the rich scenery of Chino and Tateshina on this romantic route around Shirakaba Lake.” Haiji reads out. “They specifically gave us a route for couples!” Kakeru takes the paper and flips it around, as if looking for more clues on the back.

Haiji lists over onto the futon, stares at the wisps of cloud brushing the sky white behind the lodge.

“I guess we didn’t beat them. It was all part of their master plan.” 

"I can't even be mad at them," Kakeru says. Haiji hums in agreement. 

Haiji -> Senior Squad

↵ reply to: don’t question it.

Did you guys know about Operation: Romance?

Yuki

No.

Nico

definitely not.

Yuki

Not in a way you could prove in court.

Haiji

…

Anyway

It was a success

In case you were wondering

Yuki

OH THANK FUCK

Nico

all hail Hana and the Dumbass Duo for ending our Everlasting Suffering.

Haiji

Perish <3

No more Nira pictures for you

Yuki

NO WAIT COME BACK

Nico

we are very happy for you,

you are very cute together,

running soulmates for the win,

please don’t cut us off from nira photos.

Haiji

I am appeased :)

[photo of Nira]

[photo of Nira]

[photo of Nira and Kakeru]

[photo of Nira]

[+19 photos]