Work Text:
It was that time of the year already. The time of year where the air smelt sickeningly sweet of chocolate as giggling and stuttering students would present painstakingly hand-crafted confectionery as a token of their romantic interest to the other, holding their breath as they waited for the answer to their proposal.
Akutagawa had convinced himself that this year would be the year he finally confessed his undying love to the care-free boy who sat two seats in front of him in class. Ever since he discovered his little crush on the class monitor, Atsushi, Akutagawa has been toying with the idea of finally doing something about it, and what better day to do it than on Valentine’s day?
Except it would not be that easy, it seems. Because Atsushi was not pretty only to Akutagawa’s eyes, almost half the school population had set their greedy little eyes on the white-haired boy. The other half of the population? They were already queueing up outside of the class to give sweet nothings to Akutagawa, even though he had reinforced time and time again that he simply did not care for such meaningless displays of affection when they are not from the one he truly liked.
“Atsushi-kun! There is someone waiting for you outside!” The class erupted in low wolf whistles as red quickly creeped up Atsushi’s neck as he jogged out of the class, sheepish. “Isn’t that like, his fourth confession he got today? And the second period just started!” Akutagawa huffed softly as he rolled his eyes. It’s his 5th one, morons , Akutagawa thought inwardly before berating himself for keeping count of the other’s confessions.
“Akutagawa! Another one is waiting for you this time!” Akutagawa wished he could simply refuse and stay in his seat, but unfortunately basic human decency is a thing in this world. He tries his best to suppress an annoyed sigh as he stalks out of the class to come face to face to a blonde girl, face so red he was surprised she did not have a heat stroke yet.
“A-Akutagawa-senpai!” Ah, he knew this girl, Higuchi or something, was her name. He eyed the girl who seemed to be trying her best not to trip over her words as he slowly tuned her probably heartfelt confession out.
Akutagawa saw the familiar head of white hair in the corner of his eye and he quickly located Atsushi receiving yet another confession along the stairwell. He tried to bite down the growing jealousy in him as he eyed Atsushi but couldn’t help from letting a small gasp out when he saw who was confessing to Atsushi.
A. Junior.
He couldn't believe even a junior(who had an entirely different class schedule than him and Atsushi) had beaten him to the punch when it came to confessing to the class monitor.
“Akutagawa-senpai ?” Akutagawa quickly turned his attention back to Higuchi, who now looked a lot more composed and was looking at him with a concerned look on her face. She slowly followed the line of his sight and he could only watch her eyes widen as she saw Atsushi and processed the entire situation.
“You and Atsushi-senpai ??” she squealed, and Akutagawa couldn't stop himself from clapping his hand over her mouth. He felt his heart drop when he could feel Higuchi smile from behind his palm.
“Akutagawa-senpai, today you are going to bag yourself a white-haired class monitor for a date!” she giggled before scurrying down the hallways. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone!”
Akutagawa only sighed and trudged back to class, the image of a blushing Atsushi frantically trying to comfort the other (unimportant, insignificant) crying boy after rejecting him imprinted into his brain. Recalling his interaction with Higuchi, his resolve only hardened.
By the end of today, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, will confess to the love of his life, Nakajima Atsushi, and hopefully get a boyfriend before the 14th of February ends.
If only it was as easy as Akutagawa envisioned.
Even trying to get just one moment to talk to the boy was a challenge on its own, with both of them being swamped with countless confessions. Akutagawa only had a bite of his lunch before he was swept away by the great horde of students, and he could only imagine how much worse Atsushi’s situation would be.
Realising that trying to invite the boy out to confess would not work well, he decided to try writing a letter and putting it in his locker.
Except it seemed that about twenty other students had the same thought.
He decided that maybe he would have no choice but offering some form of confectionery to Atsushi and considered placing one on his desk, except the thought flew out of his brain when he saw the huge pile of sweets on Atsushi’s table. He felt a sense of dread when he looked over at his table to see the equally high pile of sweets.
The ringing bell that signified the start of lessons brought a sense of relief to Akutagawa, knowing that he was not going to be pestered by the steady stream of confessions he had been receiving.
Such sweet respite can only last for so long, though, and before he knew it, the bell signalling the end of the school day rang. Jolted from his sweet reverie, Akutagawa immediately grabbed his school books and dashed out of the class, trying to find a place in school that he knew no one would be able to find him. He decided that he would leave school in an hour or two, but for now it was of utmost importance that he found shelter.
By now he had already given up on the prospect of being able to confess to Atsushi and he inwardly cursed himself out for not having the same amount of scary determination his in-school fanclub had.
He sighed in relief when he saw the janitor’s closet and quickly retreated into it, slamming and locking the door behind him. Sliding down against the door as his entire body sagged, he put a hand on his chest, hoping to calm down his racing heart.
Turning around and seeing a pair of yellow eyes staring right into him did not help calm him down at all as Akutagawa could not help but let out a loud yelp, to which Atsushi quickly slapped his hand around Akutagawa’s mouth.
“Shh… you idiot. You absolute moron. Do you want them to find us here ??” Atsushi hissed, his cheeks red from exertion, brows knitted together in frustration.
Akutagawa clamped down another yelp as he stared into Atsushi’s wide eyes and sighed behind the hand holding his mouth shut.
“Mmrph mm mmph frh”
“... What?”
Akutagawa, who had now recovered from the initial shock of seeing the other boy in there, furiously yanked Atsushi’s hand away from his mouth and sent a nasty glare towards his direction.
But that’s when it hit him.
Akutagawa’s entire reason for even bothering to get through today was standing right in front of him.
He wanted to confess, he had the letter in his pocket, so what better time than now to do that?
He quickly made a list of what could go wrong and decided, well, objectively nothing could be worse than being rejected by his crush but then again, that was bound to happen.
He could hear his heart pounding in his ears now that he finally thought of actually confessing to Atsushi, and he couldn't help but notice a glint in the other’s eyes as he was being studied.
“Ah-” “I-”
A pause.
“You go first” “Nah, you should go first,”
“No really I don’t mind tell me what you want to say first” “No, dude I swear you opened your mouth to speak first go ahead it’s my pleasure”
Akutagawa couldn't help but chuckle behind his palm at the incredulity of it all. Imagine being stuck in a janitor’s closet to escape from the hordes of confessions together with your crush (who you plan on confessing to there and then), couldn’t be him, for sure.
“Ok, I’ll go first then. Well, I mean, I have something to give you, rather,” Akutagawa all but manages to squeak out. He takes a few steadying breaths as he clenches the letter tight in his fist, even though he swore he would try his best to keep the letter free from creases and folds.
“Perfect! I have something to give you as well, why don’t we give it to each other at the count of three then!” Atsushi beams, and Akutagawa tries his best not to dwell on the slight quiver he hears in the boy’s voice.
“One,,”
Akutagawa looks up to meet the yellow eyes staring right back at him, and hopes he doesn't show just how nervous he really is.
“Two,,”
Akutagawa tries to smooth out the crumples on his letter so that it looks at least decently presentable, and prays that his palms aren’t sweaty from holding the letter in his palm for so long.
“Three!”
Akutagawa shoves his letter into Atsushi’s outstretched hand and quickly swipes the matching one that Atsushi was handing over to him. He clenched his hands into fists, trying to ignore the bite of his fingernails into his skin as he eagerly waits for Atsushi’s reaction.
It takes a while for what just happened to catch up with him, but when it does, Akutagawa almost drops the paper he is clutching in his hand.
He gave Atsushi a letter
Atsushi gave him a letter back
“Wait,,” he can feel Atsushi’s eyes boring a hole into him, and he hesitantly raises his eyes to meet the other’s.
“D-does this mean we are, you know, dating or something now,, ?” Akutagawa can’t help but let his heart skip a beat when he sees the pink dusting Atsushi’s cheeks as he reaches for the other and weaves his fingers around the boy’s.
“I’m not sure but, we have lots of time to figure things out,, “ Akutagawa murmurs as he goes against his better thinking and presses a feather-light kiss on Atsushi’s temple, brushing away the choppy bangs as he smiles at the small sound that escapes the younger.
“For now though, let’s get out of here”
–end–
“Now that we are dating, well sort of, I guess that means I can start asking the REAL personal questions,” Atsushi bites out, trying to keep the glee out of his voice.
“What,” Akutagawa bites back, trying to keep a cover of malice injected in his voice even when both of them know there is no real venom in the boy’s words.
“What made you think that, you know, THAT, was a good idea? Not saying you look bad in it, really you’d look gorgeous in anything but THAT?” Atsushi wildly gesticulates at the black-haired man’s atrociously short bangs.
Akutagawa tries to keep his cheeks from warming up at the backhanded compliment that he just received while raising an eyebrow at the choppy bangs the other styled.
“You are really not in a position to say anything, you know, especially considering you probably cut your bangs with those plastic scissors that can’t even cut paper,” he retorts, tightening his grip on the younger’s hand.
He suppresses a giggle as Atsushi immediately stiffens and stomps on his foot with a petulant pout, saying something about how “you are now my boyfriend” and “you cannot be mean to me like this” and “you should love me not bully me, you moron”
“I do love you, you nimrod. I love you so much I decided against ditching class to get away from the hordes of fangirls AND guys, is that not enough?” he mumbles and is barely given a chance to register anything before he feels Atsushi’s lips pressed on his cheek.
“Love you too dumbass,”
–end– (real)