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“ Mi-ko-rin , are you even listening to me?”
Startled, Mikoto forces himself to focus, zeroing in on a pouting Sakura. “Sorry, sorry- say it again.”
“I asked if- um. You choose the flowers that go in the backgrounds, right?”
“Yes…?” She knows that. She’s watched him do it. With a squint, he tries as hard as he can to read her mind. This is starting to feel like the lead-in to a trap of some kind. Thankfully they’re close t0 the front gate, so if needed, he can run. Who cares that the school day hasn’t even started, not him, not if he can avoid whatever she has up her sleeve. Who needs an education anyway.
Nervously, she starts fidgeting, pressing her fingers together and looking away. Something on the ground to the right must be terribly interesting, to deserve such intense scrutiny.
“And, um. You decide based on their meanings?”
“Yeah?” Was that weird? No, Nozaki had praised him for the attention to detail, and so had several reviewers that had noticed them. It was a skill to be proud of.
“So if. Perhaps. Someone wanted to give a bouquet that meant something along the lines of ‘I’ve had a crush on you from the first day we met, and I’ve grown to perhaps l-love you since, and we should try going out, but only if you want, because I’m okay with just spending time with you, we can just be friends-’” Blushing, she slaps her hands over her mouth, forcefully stopping her own rambling. She breathes out, trying to calm herself. “If someone wanted to say that, what flowers would you use?”
It takes three blinks and a handful of mental replays to parse the question, but once he has it, Mikoto beams. His expertise and brilliance is finally being recognized. What else can he do but give his beloved kouhai his advice?
“There are a few I can think of off the top of my head, but for something that specific, I would have to look at my books, but I think we can get something along those lines.”
A weight falls away from Sakura, and slams into Mikoto when she beams, eyes sparkling. “Really?! Thank you so much, Mikorin, I knew I could count on you!”
Hands on his hips, he basks in her praise. Until the bell rings, and they both startle, trading wide-eyed looks before sprinting to class.
They meet at his house after school, spread his books out, and get to work. For a bouquet like this, it needs to not only have meaning, but also be aesthetically pleasing. Ever the good student, Sakura listens intently as he explains the deeply intricate language of flowers, filling her notebook almost faster than he can talk.
“And this one here means patience, which you could add to get the I’m willing to wait aspect. Or there are these ones, which- depending on the color- could mean longing , waiting , or in love .”
Sakura blinks. “How do you get colors across in manga?”
“That’s what skilled shading is for,” he winks. But really, sometimes it’s only for his knowledge, his own little secret. He’s been hoarding more and more of them recently, it seems.
After they exhaust his reference books, Sakura packs up, but lingers in the doorway. “Hey, Mikorin? How much do you think this will cost?”
“Well…” he hedges, scratching the back of his head. “The ones I’ve looked up are usually between nine thousand and fifteen thousand yen.”
He can see the exact moment her soul leaves her body. Swaying unsteadily, grasping the doorframe, she mouths the numbers back at him in disbelief.
“Of course, it will depend on what flowers are available, and how much you’re willing to spend!” he hastens to add. “We can always buy individual flowers and make it ourselves too. I can help!” Not much, that figure preorder really took a big chunk of his allowance, but his friend is in dire need! “Let me shop around and I’ll bring some options.”
Slowly, she brightens again, giving him a genuine smile. “Thank you, Mikorin. I really appreciate you helping me.”
The day they meet next is unfortunately the same day Nozaki has a manga emergency. The first couple hours are spent in silence, with only the scratching of pens and pencils to distract them.
“I think it’s time for a break,” Nozaki announces, stretching. A satisfying pop comes from his back as he stands up. “I’m going to grab some snacks from the corner.”
He looks at them expectantly, and before Sakura can agree to join, Mikoto kicks her under the table. “That sounds great! Can you grab me some pocky? And a juice.”
“Oh…? Oh! T-that sounds good to me too. We’re just going to finish these two pages, so we can relax when you get back.”
They almost feel bad when he starts waxing poetic at having such dedicated assistants, but this is as much for his benefit as Sakura’s. If everything goes right.
As soon as Nozaki closes the door behind him, they scramble to pull out their catalogues and lists. “Okay, so I found a little greenhouse in the next town that does deliver. They have the camellias in basically every color, and this one, Queen Ann’s lace, makes a good accent to make the other colors pop.”
Sakura hums, tapping her pencil repeatedly. “I’m going to have to save up some more….”
“What are you two doing?”
Once again, Mayu’s silence is their downfall. Even Mikoto had forgotten he was sleeping in the corner- not that he was usually that aware of the other’s presence, not at all! And at some point, he had woken up and now he’d seen everything. He knew they were doing something they didn’t want his brother to know about.
We have to get rid of witnesses, Sakura’s eyes say.
No! It’s Mayu.
That’s even worse .
She turns to Mayu with empty eyes and he has to act fast to prevent a murder. Lunging across the table, he pins her hands down. “Sakura! Hey, hey, maybe he can help.”
“Help with what?”
Mikoto yelps, startled by Mayu’s suddenly too-close face. When had he joined them at the table?
For a moment, he’s distracted. What god decided that not only should he be unfairly handsome, but also got to have thick, beautifully dark eyelashes that accentuate the depths of his serious gaze?
Ah, he’s been staring. Flushing, he wrenches his head back to look at Sakura as she finishes stuttering through her explanation.
“If getting real flowers is so much work, why don’t you just draw them?”
“But what if he thinks it’s just another background?”
She leans forward in anticipation as the silence drags for a moment.
“Draw the two of you on it,” he finally says.
Stars light in her eyes as the genius of the simple solution hits her. “Like the cover art for an important chapter! I can add colors then.” Determined, Sakura gathers her art supplies and hightails it out the door.
“That was a good idea, Mayu. Is that how you would confess?”
He’d meant it as a tease, but Mayu’s face turns serious and thoughtful. “No, that’s too much work,” he answers finally. Clearly done, he lays his head back on his arms.
“But Mayu ,” Mikoto whines, ignoring the fact that he had just recommended too much work to their friend, “cute confessions are the best. Don’t you want a cute person to like, I don’t know, sweep you off your feet with a grand gesture?” Like what, he doesn’t know. Something judo related? How that translates to romance, he’s not sure, but he can figure it out- not that he needs to, because why would he need to figure that out? It’s not like he’s going to be confessing to Mayu , his good friend and kouhai.
“No.”
“Then how would you do it?”
Mayu frowns for a moment, thinking. When he comes to a conclusion, he straightens, sitting up fully for once. Oh, he’s taking this seriously , Mikoto realizes. He too adjusts his posture to fit the new atmosphere. He can’t help but fidget a little when Mayu levels his dark eyes at him, pins him in place and holds him there in anticipation of the words to come. Surely, for someone so in his head all the time, he must have something beautiful to say.
“Mikoto-san? I like you.”
It takes a minute to sink in, but when it does, Mikorin’s entire face turns bright red. His ears too, if the burn is any indication. “That- that’s way too straight-forward! You can’t just say it outright, you’ll give m- them a heart attack.”
“How would you do it then?”
At this, he falters. How would he confess to someone? Realistically. He can wax poetic about grand gestures all day long, but in real life, he would die if he actually tried. Flirting with people he doesn’t know is different, like acting on a stage. If he had a special someone, he would want to be sincere.
“I think,” he says slowly, the plan unfolding as he says it, “if I liked someone, I would want to be their friend first. I’d want to spend time with them and get to know them without the pressure of a romantic relationship looming.
“And then I’d want to go somewhere important to both of us, and ask if they wanted to go out with me on a date date. And then- well, um. You know.” Mikoto falters, examining his companion’s face for his reaction.
Instead of saying anything, Mayu looks around the room. “We’re friends,” he states point-blank. “And this is somewhere important to the both of us.”
When his expectant gaze comes to land on him with full-force, Mikoto feels trapped. He’s going to faint. There’s too much blood rushing to his face and roaring in his ears and this is exactly what he was saying but it’s too soon-
No no, it’s Mayu . He’s not-
Those dark eyes give him something to hold onto, patiently waiting for him to work through his anxiety. And he- he wants to say something.
“Mayu,” he starts after taking a deep breath, “I-”
The door opens.
Mikoto springs to his feet, backing into the wall when he realizes just how far he’d invaded Mayu’s space. Nozaki frowns at the two of them, setting the bags on the table.
“I passed Sakura on the way- why did she leave?”
The disappointment on Mayu’s face is evident as he looks at Mikoto, but the moment is ruined. There’s no way he’s confessing to him while his brother is in the room-!
Oh.
He’d been seconds away from confessing to Mayu.
“I- I have to go too! Sorry, Nozaki-kun!”
The door slamming is loud in the small apartment. The brothers stare after Mikoto’s speedy retreat in silence, letting the echo ring in their ears.
“...I missed something, didn’t I.”