Chapter Text
There’s just something about Hajime’s eyes.
“Er…Tomoya-kun?” Hajime asks, smiling despite the confused expression on his face. “Are you okay…?”
“Oh,” Tomoya says, the words practically tumbling from his lips. He feels warmth build up in his cheeks as he whips his head away. It seems he had been caught staring…again.
“Sorry,” Tomoya says, laughing nervously. He brings his hand up to the back of his neck. “Nothing’s wrong at all.”
Hajime’s face softens out, his smile reassured. Those doe eyes of his return to the thick glass in front of them, and just like before, the blue water and pink coral reflects off of his lavender irises. As the sea turtles glide around inside the tank, shades of greens flash and flicker over Hajime’s sweet eyes. Cerulean, rose, and verdant—the colors mix and dance around in Hajime’s gaze like a soft aurora.
Confronted with a sight like that, how is Tomoya supposed to do anything but stare?
“Ah, look, Tomoya-kun!”
Hajime says it suddenly, his eyes widening. He’s smiling with his rosy pink cheeks, pointing towards the end of the tank. Looking far too adorable, Hajime excitedly chirps, “Those fish are so pretty, aren’t they?”
Tomoya really doesn’t want to look at anything other than Hajime right now, but since it’s Hajime asking, he drags his eyes away from his cute friend. Indeed, his gaze falls on a school of pretty fish with colorful scales and ribbon-like fins. They swim together around the larger sea turtles, gliding through the waters as a group. As they flutter down the length of the tank, he hears a young child yelling for his mom to come look, and consequently, the avid shushing of an embarrassed parent.
It’s only then that Tomoya remembers—he and Hajime are in a public aquarium with tons of other people, and the point of them coming was to look at the fish. Not for him to stare at Hajime the whole time and get lost in his own head.
Tomoya dejectedly looks down towards the coral decorating the bottom of the exhibit, smiling bitterly. When it comes to Hajime, Tomoya’s utterly whipped, and he knows it.
“Tomoya-kun?”
Hajime’s soft voice asks for him again. Tomoya flinches in surprise, jerking his head upwards.
“Yes?” he asks, his face hot.
Hajime’s eyes are doing that thing again. They’re big and round, soft and sweet, and they reflect Tomoya so clearly in them, it’s almost though he was a part of them. For just a moment, deep inside the twinkling milky way of Hajime’s lilac eyes, Tomoya feels as though he exists.
His heart flips around in his chest like a beating fin.
“I was just wondering,” Hajime says, his arm brushing against Tomoya’s. And he smiles so tenderly, Tomoya can’t help but tense up in anticipation.
Looking over at Tomoya with a smile like grace itself, Hajime tilts his head. One side of his long blue hair rests against his cheek as his bangs slip over his forehead. Tomoya can’t help but take a peek down at Hajime’s pink cupid-bowed lips. Only a little peek.
As if Hajime notices, he giggles. The sound echoes in Tomoya’s mind, sending tingles into the furthest parts of his arms and legs.
Hajime presses his fingertips together, and his eyes fall closed. Standing there, he looks like an absolute angel.
“Do you want to see the penguins or the dolphins next?” Hajime asks.
And just like that, all of Tomoya’s tension melts away. His surroundings come rushing back to his conscious: the happy families and couples, the tour staff leading school groups, the giant dolphin statues hanging from the ceiling. A moment ago, it was as though none of that had even existed—it had just been Tomoya and Hajime and nothing else.
Something clicks. He hears the mechanical whirring of an air conditioner.
Tomoya smiles.
I should just tell him…
“Hajime…”
The aforementioned boy continues to smile. “Hm?” he responds.
Tomoya pauses for a moment. Then, he gestures to the right side of the hall with his head, ignoring his burning cheeks.
“…How about we start with the penguins?”