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In a way, Taiga is responsible for getting Akira back to the dorms as his senior, in age only now, but he's unable to find a reason to let Akira just leave.
The two sit on a bench in a small, one that's open all day long, ones that people walk through at any time of the day, their day-to-day lives playing out for the surrounding nature to see. Today, that's Taiga and Akira, side by side and talking about their day, then anything that comes to mind after.
The sun is disappearing beyond the horizon to light up the sky on the other side of the world, and Taiga checks his phone, wondering what he should do. Truthfully? He isn't quite ready to let Akira go yet. Not when it feels like the two just began talking, not when they're at this stage when everything's alright, everything's great, actually, better than he could have ever imagined.
There's only one thing he can think really, to prolong this a little longer despite the fact that Akira's dorm curfew is in 45 minutes. And he has an excuse this time, one that he thinks of immediately when he thinks of where he wants to go.
"I still have one of your jackets," Taiga slides into the conversation. "Wanna come get it?"
Akira thinks about this it seems, long legs stretched out over the gravelly path that leads God knows where, Taiga's never walked it far. "You can keep it?" He says, asks almost, smiling in a way that Taiga knows he means it both seriously and in a somewhat flirtatious manner.
As much as this side of Akira makes him hot, it also pisses him off how it's flying over his head. "I can't even fit it. Come get it."
"But—"
Taiga stands up, grabbing his bag and swinging it over his shoulder. He's probably glaring, frustrated, very much demanding Akira to, "Come get it."
Akira visibly swallows and stands beside him, the two now walking down the path towards the direction of his nearby dormitory. "So mean, Hirano-san," Akira pouts, and Taiga can't help but smirk up at him, and he means UP because Kagiura grew AGAIN. It makes sense; he's a 17 year old boy that plays a sport, of course he's gonna grow, but their height difference only lengthens and that's a weird feeling, despite their age.
The moment Taiga keys them into the dormitory, this sudden wave of nervousness drowns him, as if he stepped into a fish tank and submerged himself into the water. It's odd, and it's almost as if time considerably slows in the very tiny lobby of the first-year student dorms.
Their walk is pretty quiet, and that's not unusual, but what is unusual is the subsequent emotion coming over Taiga. Well, not exactly an emotion. It's more of an urge. And he's quick to identify it, gripping the stairwell railing as they go up to the third floor where his room is, aching to suppress it as far down into his fantasies as possible because they have no place up here, and yet here it is, that very same one about that very same junior on his right, somewhat studying the hall as if it's the first time he's been there. It's not, but the other times were short, stalling moments just like this one, without this sudden idea, this shift in atmosphere as he approaches the very last room of the dimly lit hallway.
And Taiga pulls out his key, but he spares a few glances first. One beside him at the end of the hall where it turns to the second stairwell. One to Akira, who is just as oblivious as ever somehow, just watching him and their surroundings curiously, then one to his hand, holding the key.
"Hirano-s—?" Akira was probably seconds away from asking what was taking Taiga so long, but he can't finish the thought before Taiga is taking his hand and almost running him around the bend into the secluded corner of the door by the stairwell, one that's only open from a window, but otherwise private. Taiga knows deep down that if they step into his room together, he isn't sure either will come out and that can't happen, so now he's holding Akira's shoulder until his back is against the wall, hand pressed right beside his arm that stalls by his side in shock.
Akira gapes at him, face blooming a deep shade of pink. It's adorable. "H–Hirano-san...?"
"Sorry." He isn't really sorry, but he supposes he should be considering everything. "I must be a lost cause."
Somehow, Akira gets this immediately depsite the wording, and suddenly, everything shifts, the atmosphere more tense. "We're in the hallway..." he mutters.
And yeah, they are, but for good reason. "I know that, idiot..." Akira with his stupid growth spurts, Taiga has to push himself up slightly on one of his feet. "Can I?"
Akira with his stupidly tempting smiles, he says, "You don't even have to ask."
He does anyway, of course he does, because somewhere inside him often remembers how long it's been. And they do, indulging in such situations that they put themselves in whenever they see each other. It calls for an admission that things have changed, if only a bit, but Taiga knows that that change is just a slight shift on the line of their previous lives. Akira pretty much treats him the same, Taiga pretty much treats him the same too, the change lies in the true meanings, in the extra actions that they take to affirm them.
Taiga would never have guessed how difficult it is to let go one you start. It's hot and cold, it's high and low, it's big and small, and it's everywhere. He'll never admit it, he can't show it either because it's embarrassing and irritating and makes him want to slam his head into the nearest wall, but he knows he's never ready to let Akira go, especially not when he's kissing him like it's the last time they'll see each other, about four meters away from his dorms door, in this dimly lit hallway in the late evening.
Akira has his thumb in Taiga's pocket and it's one of the things that demands Taiga's attention as soon as notices it, except he doesn't want to stop.
"Hirano-san, I have a curfew..." Akira whispers against his lips, and it's then that Taiga opens his eyes and has to claw at the wall with just a blink of Akira's abashed face.
Taiga knows that, duh. He also knows that they live pretty far apart right now, and... "One minute," he replies quietly, leaning his head against Akira's chest. His own feels tight, heart echoing in his ribcage, trying to grasp at something but there's nothing but tiles and wall.
Akira's hand comes up to his hair and smooths it a little bit, and Taiga can't help but lift his head to take in his face again, his juniors fingers brushing hair out of his eyes.
Taiga has to cover his face and try not to slam his fist into himself. "Want me to walk you to the station?"
Akira shakes his head furiously. "No, no, I'll be fine!" Insistent, and Taiga doesn't have to ask why, is actually glad to know that Akira is perfectly capable of doing so himself. "I know you're tired. You should get some rest."
"Yeah." Taiga takes in a deep enough breath to deal with looking at him again. "Yeah."
The jacket is completely forgotten about, and Akira is already waving goodbye and using the stairs they were already near to go back downstairs. Taiga doesn't spare a single moment before stepping inside his dorm room and slamming the door as inconspicuous as possible, then he feels himself gradually sliding down until he's on the floor, hands clasped together over his lips as if it was the first time, or second time, or even third time he's kissed Akira even though it's not.
Yet, each time leaves him with this inescapable hunger and drive that gives him the butterflies that tread where they shouldn't, and it's terrible. That's his junior, after all.
Taiga doesn't even try to get up. No, he sits there and stares at his small one-person room to calm himself down, waiting for the heat all over his body to cease, waiting for his usual Akira to return in his mind before he gets up to put his things away.