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Ishigaki could feel Midousuji hovering over him as he fiddled with the lock on the door to his house. The handle was a little loose and needed to be fixed, but with his mother busy with her new promotion at work and him being caught up in studying and applying to universities, it was being put off.
Midousuji narrowed his eyes when Ishigaki pulled open the door, backing up and bumping him into a little.
"S-sorry, Midousuji-kun!" Ishigaki said tensing up a little bit.
Midousuji nodded in acknowledgment and trailed behind Ishigaki as they made their way into the small entryway to the house. Taking off their shoes and replacing them with slippers, Ishigaki turned around and welcomed Midousuji to his house.
This was the first time Midousuji had ever been over to Ishigaki's house. Or anyone's house for that matter. He took a few moments to take everything in. Was this how all other people lived? The smell of the house was unlike his own, and it smelled "weird" he thought. He didn't quite like it but he didn't quite hate it, it was just something he hadn't experienced before and had no warning of, so he wasn't quite sure how to respond. He tensed up a bit and stared around the house, mouth slightly agape, eyes bulging and neck craning.
While Midousuji was looking around Ishigaki grabbed the bag his friend had brought with him and said, "I'll put this in my room, okay?". He paused for a moment wondering if he was going to get a response, but Midousuji remained relatively silent beyond a very quiet "aaaaa" that was trailing out of his mouth on and off. Ishigaki let out a soft, charmed sigh and began to move the bag to his room.
As he moved, Ishigaki could hear Midousuji plodding along behind him after he had taken a few steps. He turned his head back to face the other boy and smiled.
"So? What do you think?"
"It's gross." Midousuji replied robotically, and was quiet until they reached the door to Ishigaki's room before following with, "It's okay. Just gross."
Ishigaki smiled at Midousuji's catchphrase of sorts and slid open the door to his room. He put Midousuji's bag on his bed and headed over to his desk where he tapped the touch sensitive light. Midousuji trailed behind him, watching his every movement, or so Ishigaki assumed. He was never really sure what the taller boy was thinking, but he had learned to just roll with it. Midousuji had a glazed over look on his face and Ishigaki was concerned for a moment that his friend might be getting a little overstimulated by the unfamiliar environment. Midousuji sat down on Ishigaki's bed and blankly stared at the floor, his eyebrows furrowed.
Ishigaki walked over and put his hand on Midousuji's shoulder lightly, "You brought your pillow right?"
Midousuji looked up and snapped, "Of course I did!"
"Is it in your bag, do you want me to get it for you?"
Midousuji's expression didn't change but Ishigaki felt a shift in his body language's tone when he nodded.
"Alright." Ishigaki said with a soft smile. He unzipped Midousuji's bag and brought out the firm, tassled pillow that Midousuji was fond of.
Midousuji reached out and grabbed it from him and clutched it to his chest tightly.
"I need more, Ishigaki-kun... you can't expect me to be comfortable with just this can you? Be a good host! More pillows!" Midousuji directed, a little bit of a pout on his face, but he still looked a little bit scary. Ishigaki sighed.
"You can have any of my pillows." he said, "There's also a few guest ones-"
But he was interrupted before he could finish by Midousuji demanding the fresh ones from the guest closet as Ishigaki's were "gross!". Ishigaki nodded and said "Okay, I'll be right back." before walking outside to the closet in the hall, leaving his bedroom door halfway open.
Midousuji palmed at his favourite pillow and squeezed it in his hands admiring the way it felt, but soon grew bored with it. Feeling bad, but not that bad, (but still a little bit bad), he reached over to the other side of the bed with his long arms and snatched one of Ishigaki's gross pillows. He felt the fabric, it was a sweet baby blue and cool to the touch. He smooshed his face into it and took a deep breath, bracing himself for something awful like a strong perfume-ish smell or the strangling scent of fabric softener.
He found himself pleasantly surprised, and his heart sped up a little. The pillow smelled like Ishigaki more than the house did, and the more familiar scent put him at ease. He lowered the pillow to rest in his lap on top of the other one, and scooted back so his back was against the wall. His face was heating up and he felt really squirmy inside. He tended to feel like that when he thought about Ishigaki too much. He tilted his head so that he was gazing up at the ceiling.
"Gross..." he mumbled.
Ishigaki came back into the room and a softly slid the door closed behind him.
"Here you go!" Ishigaki said cheerfully and he tossed the pillows over so they landed on and next to Midousuji. "I got you the blanket too." Ishigaki handed the blanket over gently.
"I don't want that." Midousuji snapped, not meaning to sound harsh, and yet...
"Huh? Oh, I'm... sorry..?" Ishigaki said a concerned, questioning tone. He grabbed the blanket but Midousuji snatched it back away.
"Not that!" he hissed angrily, thinking what he had meant was clear (it wasn't). He recognized the look on Ishigaki's face as confusion and sighed exasperatedly as he realized he would have to explain himself.
"I don't want those." he grabbed the pillows Ishigaki had brought for him, and handed them back. "You can have them."
"Are you sure? Will you be comfortable with just your one pillow though?" Ishigaki said, his concerned expression reaching through to Midousuji.
"Idiot!" Midousuji's voice spiked, "I'm taking yours! Your gross ones! I want them!"
Ishigaki froze for a moment and felt himself blushing a little bit. "Why?" he thought, but he knew why.
He nodded numbly and grabbed a pillow from the headboard of his bed and gave it to Midousuji who took it and put it behind his back after folding it in half. Midousuji took his own pillow and placed it above his newest one to create a comfortable prop for his back. Ishigaki took one of the other pillows from the headboard and pushed it up to Midousuji's cheek.
He looked into Midousuji's eyes, and Midousuji looked into his, unblinking and slightly unnerving. Ishigaki felt a little weird from the unwavering eye contact but he smiled and blushed and mumbled, "You're cute..." and affectionately smooshed the pillow into Midousuji's face.
Midousuji screeched into the pillow and grabbed onto Ishigaki's wrists, forcing the smooshing even more. Ishigaki giggled and pulled back but Midousuji wouldn't let him move very much; his hands were locked firmly around Ishigaki's wrists in an icy vicegrip.
Midousuji lowered the pillow a bit, so Ishigaki could just see his eyes peering over the top of it.
"Gross!" Midousuji's eyes narrowed and Ishigaki could swear he heard a muffled giggle coming from the other boy.
Suddenly Midousuji let go and violently pushed the pillow back on Ishigaki. He yelped and stumbled backwards but quickly regained his balance, although in the brief moment that had taken Midousuji was already up and on his feet, flashing his toothy smile at the other boy.
The two giggled and quickly picked up on what the other was thinking and as Midousuji took the first swing with the pillow and Ishigaki dropped and dived over to the side of his bed, grabbing another one. Midousuji's swing connected harshly was Ishigaki along his back and butt. He squeaked and quickly recovered, standing up and holding his pillow with both hands. He took a swing at Midousuji and the pillow swung into his opponent's face with a satisfying BOOF. Midousuji shrieked loudly and Ishigaki was thankful his mother was staying late at work as he was sure the noisiness of their playful pillow fight wouldn't be appreciated.
"Shhhhhh! Midousuji-kun, if we're too loud the neighbours might complain..." Ishigaki warned Midousuji.
Midousuji grinned and narrowed his eyes before lightly prancing over to Ishigaki's desk and tapping the light until it turned off.
Suddenly thrown into the pitch black that comes with a sudden withdrawal of light, Ishigaki couldn't see anything besides the dark night sky outside his window. The full moon was out among the clouds and it illuminated Midousuji's shadow for the split second he was there.
He was gone, moving about in the darkness, much more skillfully than he has any right to, it's almost like he's a cat! Ishigaki thought. He felt a very faint swish in the air behind him, but before he could react a heavy pillow smashed into the back of his head toppling him over. His elbows scraped the carpet leaving a rough, uncomfortable burning sensation, but he didn't have time to think about that.
"Oh my God!" Ishigaki whispered as loudly as he could and he pushed himself back up to face toward where the blow had come from.
He didn't hear anything besides the sliding of his door as it opened and Midousuji presumably had darted out before Ishigaki could even turn around.
Rolling his eyes, heart beating with adrenaline and an odd affectionate feeling, Ishigaki smiled, grabbed his pillow, and got up and slid the door open some more and slipped out into the hallway too. The hallway was dark, the lights had been turned off, and he saw the light in the kitchen and den area flick off too.
"Midousuji-kun!" Ishigaki called out, but he heard nothing. He wandered forth out of the hallway only to be greeted by a thick pillow blow to the face as soon as he stepped out from around the corner.
He could hear Midousuji's high pitched giggling as he recovered from the startling blow.
"That wasn't very fair, Midousuji-kun!" he chided into the darkness but received no reply.
Ishigaki wandered forward, on guard, pillow at the ready, his eyes finally beginning to adjust to the darkness. He saw something moving in the kitchen area and quickly darted over to it. Midousuji was looking out the kitchen door's window at the patio and yard behind the house. The light wasn't on and Ishigaki wasn't sure if there was anything Midousuji could see out there, but the moon was once again illuminating Midousuji's thin silhouette. He crept up behind the taller boy and lightly bopped him on the head with the pillow he had brought. Midousuji didn't move. Ishigaki closed in from behind and wrapped his arms around Midousuji's midsection. He felt him tense up a little so he eased his grip and stepped a few inches back.
"Is this alright?"
Silence.
"Midousuji?" Ishigaki said softly, trying to get his friend's attention. There was a moment of silence and Ishigaki moved to peer around at Midousuji's face when he heard Midousuji's voice.
"Midousuji-kun." Midousuji said firmly but calmly, with a hint of what Ishigaki believed to be playfulness in his voice.
"Midousuji-kun," Ishigaki corrected himself, "Is this alright?"
Midousuji turned around a looked Ishigaki in the eyes. Ishigaki was a bit taken aback, with Midousuji leaning in closer and closer to his face until their noses were almost touching. The unbroken eye contact with Midousuji made Ishigaki feel uneasy as it used to be reserved for less... amiable situations, but he was getting used to it in this way too. He used to think that when Midousuji was staring at him he was silently judging him or, seemingly, looking through him rather than at him. Ishigaki couldn't keep the direct eye contact up much more and lowered his eyes.
Ishigaki blinked and Midousuji felt his face heat up a bit when Ishigaki's eyelashes brushed against his cheeks. Ishigaki had lowered his head now so the two were no longer nose to nose but rather... nose to forehead.
"I didn't say that it wasn't." Midousuji mumbled and wrapped his long arms tightly around Ishigaki. Ishigaki felt himself tensing up and heating up as his friend squeezed him tighter and tighter.
After a moment, Midousuji's grip loosened a bit and he pressed his nose firmly against Ishigaki's forehead.
Ishigaki felt very warm and... very happy.
This wasn't the first time this had happened, but it hadn't happened again since the first time. Ishigaki remembered the warm summer day, a few days after the interhigh. He had been asked by Midousuji to meet at the Kyofushi bike team's clubhouse. The room had been stuffy and humid and Ishigaki had been worried that Midousuji was coming to chastise him personally for any number of mistakes he had made during the the biggest and most important race of the year for the team. What actually had happened was both sort of expected, in that it was a very Midousuji way of doing things, but completely unexpected in that Ishigaki had had no idea what Midousuji was going to do after the taller boy had cornered him. Midousuji had been silent as he craned his neck out and pushed his face up very close to Ishigaki's, mostly disregarding his personal space.
"You are gross. You make me feel gross, Ishigaki-kun." Midousuji hissed.
Ishigaki froze in place, unsure as to what to do or say. "I already knew that?" he thought, wondering what could possibly be Midousuji's goal in this. Was this just the usual tongue-lashings the ace would give? "If so why did he made me come here by myself... wouldn't humiliating me in front of everyone be more his style..."
Midousuji narrowed his eyes.
"Ishigaki-kun. Ishigaki Koutarou-kun. Gross. Gross!" Midousuji repeated himself with slight variation, furrowing his eyebrows and making a frustrated face. He leaned in closer to the point where Ishigaki could feel his breath lightly on his face.
"I-I know. Is there anything else, Midousuji-kun?" Ishigaki avoided the ace's unblinking eyes and looked down, his face slightly flushing.
"Why?" he thought, but he knew why. It was his little un-admitted... crush. on the younger boy making him feel so heated and awkward. Not that anyone wouldn't with someone like Midousuji in their face.
Midousuji let out a little groan.
"Ishigaki-kun," he leaned back to make his eye contact more stable, "What do you feel?"
"Excuse me?" Ishigaki said, not sure what he meant, but growing increasingly more uncomfortable with each passing moment.
"Ishigaki-kun makes me feel gross." Midousuji paused, breaking eye contact and slumping a bit for a second, thinking. He regained his posture and connected back to Ishigaki's gaze, squinting and looking directly into his eyes.
" What do I... Midousuji Akira-kun, make you feel? Ishigaki-kun?"
Ishigaki was frozen in place unable to form an answer to the question with his own thoughts, he felt so shaky and jumbled and flustered, he just sputtered out a question back at the other boy.
"Gross? What do you mean... gross..?"
"Gross!" Midousuji said very loudly in response, and then paused for a moment, reconsidering what he meant. His voice was low when he clarified.
"Icky. Squirmy. Hot. Uncomfortable. But I don't think that I..." Midousuji trailed off.
Ishigaki's heart was beating out of his chest. What was going on? Is this actually happening? What is happening?! "Does Midousuji mean... what I think he means?" Ishigaki's head was spinning.
Midousuji suddenly pushed Ishigaki against the wall, his hand on his shoulders. He made unblinking eye contact with Ishigaki once again.
"I don't hate it. I feel gross but I don't hate it. It's disgusting and I hate that I don't hate it. What about you."
Ishigaki felt dizzy and like he was in a dream. This couldn't be real, this was absolutely ridiculous. "Did Midousuji just. Admit to having some sort of crush on me?" Ishigaki was totally floored.
"Hey!" Midousuji said loudly and shook him by the shoulders.
"I... yeah." Ishigaki blurbled.
"What?"
"Yeah, me too."
"I make you feel gross?"
"Yeah, but like... uh," Ishigaki paused, "In a good way. The good kind of gross. I think I like it. A lot."
Midousuji narrowed his eyes.
"Gross."
After that day Midousuji had become gradually less cruel to Ishigaki, although he still had his... peculiarities. The two had started spending time together outside of school, and both found it pleasant. Midousuji was awkward and behaved bizarrely at times, although that wasn't particularly out of character for him, and Ishigaki began to find it endearing. Well, more endearing than he already had.
Ishigaki was swimming in the strange warmth of that memory when he felt something warm make its way from the bridge of his nose to tip of his forehead and drifted back into reality.
Midousuji released him and stepped back, wearing a blank expression. He cocked his head to the side and said, "Ishigaki-kun, do you have any video games we could play? I want to beat you at one, like I did in the pillow fight." and his toothy grin spread across his face.
"Uh, yeah." Ishigaki waved his hand towards the den area, which was through the wall, but Midousuji understood and lumbered off to find the games.
Ishigaki put his hand up to his forehead and rubbed it. He was surprised to find that it was wet where he had felt the warmth travel up his face.
"He licked me. Oh my God he licked me." Ishigaki realized in his thought. He had no idea how he was supposed to react to this. Strange, affectionate(?) gesture.
"Gross!" he whispered, smiling.
But he didn't mind. It was the good kind of gross.