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Shota gulped as he saw his friends from afar, busy arranging everything for today’s BBQ. He could see Miyadate and Koji already working on the meat, Hikaru helping with the fire, while Abe and Fukka watched as Raul and Sakuma fought with water guns as if they were two kids – well, one of them was a kid at least.
He felt his hand being pulled and he turned towards Ren, who was staring at him with a worried frown on his face.
“You alright?”
“Yeah, why?”
Ren pointed at their intertwined hands, and Shota realized how he had unconsciously tightened his grip around the other’s hand.
“Maybe I’m a little nervous.”
“We’ve been through their teasings when we started going out. We’ll be alright,” Ren told him, before leaning in to whisper in his ear, “Or, we could go back to the car and resume the matter we left unsettled this morning.”
Shota giggled embarrassed, both because of Ren’s hot breath against his skin and because of the mention of their failed attempt to have a quickie before leaving the apartment – they were already running late, unfortunately.
Dragging him along, he sighed, “Let’s just get this over with.”
They greeted everyone when they arrived at the spot they claimed for themselves that day at the park, but Shota didn’t dare moving an inch, and he didn’t let Ren do that as well, keeping him close to him.
“Looking good, Niki,” Ren exclaimed when he saw the fire Hikaru had started.
“Thanks, I managed even alone,” he said, raising his voice during the last word and glaring at Sakuma.
The pink-haired man though was too focused on chasing after Raul to hear that, and so Hikaru’s disapproval went ignored.
“I guess Sakuma had to help you?” Ren asked.
It was Miyadate the one who replied, “Sakuma had told Hikaru that he would have helped him, but then proceeded to go playing with Raul as if he were 5.”
“Typical of Sakuma,” Shota commented.
At that moment, Koji looked at Shota and noticed that he was wearing the shirt he had gifted him for one of his birthdays.
“Shoppi! You’re wearing my shirt!” the man said, cheerfully. “Finally you took it out of your wardrobe. I told you that it suits you perfectly.”
Miyadate’s gaze fell on the shirt as well, but just as he was about to come closer to probably fix it up for Shota, he stopped himself, looked at Shota and then finally at Ren.
The man nodded, smiling politely, “Got it.” He raised his hands and stepped backward, warning Hikaru in the process, “Hikaru, better not get close to Shota.”
“What? Why—” the man’s words died in his throat as a huge, surprised grin appeared on his face. “You did it?”
Shota averted his gaze under the amusement of his boyfriend, who laughed at that sight.
“We did. We had misunderstood each other, we didn’t see that it was actually mutual,” Ren explained.
Hikaru left the BBQ and went to the guy, giving him some strong pats on his back, and then addressed them both, “I’m happy for you guys, I wish you all the happiness.”
“Thank you, Niki. I wish I could have told you sooner but Shoppi preferred to wait for when we were all together.”
“Why so?” asked Miyadate.
“Because we would have said this only once and hopefully limited the fuss for one day only,” said Shota, still uncomfortable that he had four pair of eyes staring at him now.
Then, as if just fallen from the sky, a confused Mukai Koji let out a loud shout, widening his eyes and gaping at the couple.
“You’re hinting at what I think you’re hinting at?! You two… bonded?!”
As soon as Shota nodded heavily, Koji began jumping around excitedly, hugging both Shota and Ren and congratulating them.
“This is incredible! You two are now bonded!” The man turned towards the others then, “Guys! Guys! Meme and Shoppi bonded!”
Shota smacked his head at that moment, without even paying attention to how strong his blow was, “The hell you’re shouting for!”
Raul and Sakuma stopped in their tracks, remaining dumbfounded for some seconds before rushing towards them. Fukka and Abe followed right after. Unlike them, though, the tallest one and the shortest one approached them, casually smelling their scents.
Sakuma’s jaw dropped as his eyes went back and forth between the couple. “Y-Y-You…” He could only stutter hopelessly.
“Meme!” Raul instead exclaimed, hugging his friend tightly, before moving on to Shota, “Shoppi!”
Shota didn’t manage to break free from Raul’s grip and to make it worse Koji joined in for another round of hugs.
“Guys, please, it’s not a big deal,” he tried to underplay the situation, but in vain.
“Not a big deal? Even if you went out of your way to ask for my opinion?” Abe asked, smirking.
“You promised, brainiac!”
“But you’re already out now, aren’t you?” the man retorted.
He was ready to throw a tantrum when Fukka called his attention.
“Wait, you asked Abe-chan? Why not me?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Fukka wore a betrayed expression, crossing his arms and lamenting something about being disappointed with his friends, when Koji walked up to him to reassure him.
“Don’t worry, Fukka-san, you could help me when it’ll be my turn.”
“Wait, Date-san and you…?” Fukka mumbled.
Koji’s head snapped towards Miyadate’s direction, as he wore a canny smirk, “Well, Meme and Shoppi went first, so we could be next?”
Miyadate chuckled, while going to Koji and gently placing his hand on his cheek. He stared at him warmly, a gaze that seemed to carry a lot of meaning, just for the man to say, “Keep on dreaming.”
“Date-san!”
As Koji went after Miyadate, starting to pull one of his usual funny moments, miraculously the others’ attention shifted, and so Shota could finally free himself from Raul’s hug, who went to support Miyadate on why he should never bond with his boyfriend.
Shota exhaled, feeling the nervousness leaving his body. He wanted to make the most out of that moment, since he knew that during lunch tons of questions would be thrown their way. Only at the thought of their friends studying their every move and noting down every detail they were told, Shota held on to Ren, placing his face on his chest, escaping from those nosy eyes he was imagining.
“If they ask something, you’ll be in charge of it,” Shota told his boyfriend.
“Because you’ll be too busy hiding your face on my chest like you’re doing now?”
He made to go away but Ren kept him in place and turned him around so that he was now hugging him from behind. The guy swiftly left a kiss on his neck, right on Shota’s bond mark, taking advantage of the fact that no one was looking at them right now.
“You’re so cute when you’re blushing, I could almost tell them all the details just to see you complaining while your face is red as a tomato.” Shota’s lips were ready to threaten him when Ren continued, “But I won’t, because that day is special. It’s ours and I don’t want to share it with anyone, like your cute blushing face.”
Shota nudged Ren, but couldn’t help to smile like an idiot when he heard those words. One of the reasons why he had preferred to wait was because he was jealous of that day spent with Ren. Somehow, he felt that if he shared any piece of information with someone else then that memory wouldn’t be only theirs anymore. Not like he wanted to keep their friends in the dark about it, but for once, he wanted to keep something only for them.
And the fact that Ren was on the same page was the cherry on top.
“What are you thinking about?” asked Ren, seeing him smiling so widely.
Shota stole a quick kiss from his lips. “That we’re really soulmates.”