Chapter Text
The sun was shining bright on Yawata Primary School as the 1st graders were outside playing on the playground. Joyful children's screams echoed throughout the block as some were playing a game of tag while others were on the blacktop, taking part in hopscotch or attempting to shoot some hoops. Though not all of the students were allowed outside to enjoy the fresh air with their classmates.
Kuramochi Youichi was stuck watching his classmates from the window of his homeroom class. He wanted to go outside and join them instead of sitting in the cold classroom with just the teacher. However, all the unfinished homework assignments were top priority according to his teacher and made him stay inside for recess to get it done. She promised Kuramochi that he can go outside if he finishes before recess.
But that didn’t motivate him as the teacher had hoped it would and by the time recess was over, he barely completed a single problem on his assignment. The teacher decides not to comment on the lack of writing on his almost blank page. His classmates came back inside the buildings, making a bit of a ruckus as they entered the classroom. The teacher lightly scolded them to always enter the building quietly so they do not disturb the neighboring classrooms.
The second half off the day, the teacher introduced a new topic for the math part of the day. Kuramochi was barely paying attention to the lesson, eyes still glued to the window with the empty playground, watching the light breeze push the swing by itself and the merry-go-round to go in circles.
“Can you tell me what six times nine is…” the teacher skims through the eagered students, raising their hands with the answer on the tip of their tongues. Her eyes fall to Kuramochi, who is still looking out the window mindlessly.
“Kuramochi.”
He flinches at his name being called, looking at the teacher with a startled and confused look on his face. Luckily, multiple of his classmates were kind enough to whisper the question the teacher had asked, who didn't look all too impressed with him.
“Uhh 54..?” Kuramochi says with a hint of doubt.
She doesn’t react immediately, still looking disapprovingly with her arms crossed at the young kid. Was it the wrong answer, he panics to himself but does not let it show on his face. What felt like an eternity under her somewhat cold stare, the teacher uncrossed her arms and finally broke her gaze away from and continued on with the lesson.
The rest of the school day went smoothly as the last two lessons left of the day had gone by quickly and it was time to leave. As each student left the building to walk home with their parents, eagerly yelling goodbye and enthusiastically waving goodbye to the teacher as she returned the wave back.
“Goodbye Kuramochi make sure you get caught up on those other assignments alright?” his teacher says as he walks by her.
He offers her a small smile, not feeling genuine about it as he turns around and starts walking back home. ‘I wonder if dad will be home today,’ Kuramochi thinks to himself. Occasionally, his mom will come to his primary school and walk home with him but for the most part, she usually doesn’t and trusts him enough to make it back on his own right after school has ended. But that doesn’t stop him from hoping everyday that she might be there at the front of the building, waiting for him with a smile on her face.
The distance from his house to school is about a fifteen minute walk so it doesn't take Kuramochi too long to reach his front door.
“Mom, I’m hom-” as he opens the front door, he immediately notices the house is crowded with cardboard boxes with some of them already filled up while others are waiting to be. His mom leaves from the kitchen with pans and pots in her hands and spots Kuramochi standing at the front door.
“Ah Youichi welcome back,” she sets them down in the nearest empty box. “How was your day at school?”
Before Kuramochi can answer his mom’s question, he spots his dad carefully walking down the stairs with a full box in his hands. His dad notices him and flashes a smile down at him and as he reaches the last step, setting the box down and opening his arm out, signaling for a hug.
Without wasting another second, Kuramochi runs into his dad’s arms, almost causing him to fall down to the ground. It has been months since he last saw his dad as he had to go overseas for a project his job was working on with his company. Despite the fact, he always made time out of his busy schedule to video call Kuramochi and his mom every day. He hadn’t expected to see his dad for another month or so, but he’s happy that he’s physically with them right now.
“My, my Youichi have you gotten taller since I’ve last seen you?” he chuckles, lightly patting his head.
Kuramochi nods his head excitedly. “Yes! I’ve grown a couple of inches!”
“That’s good. Continue eating your fruits and vegetables and you’ll grow up to be a big, strong man like your daddy here.” he lets out another laugh, earning himself an eye roll from mom that was accompanied with a smile.
Although Kuramochi is beyond happy to see his father, he couldn’t help but wonder with all these boxes around the house. ‘Are we moving? But why would we move all of a sudden?’ His dad must have seen the shift in his face and answered the question that was bugging him.
“We forgot to mention this to you but we’re moving to Tokyo to live with your grandparents and everything gotta get packed up by tonight.”
“Your father and I are very sorry we’re telling you this just now.” His mother adds. “We weren’t sure how to approach this topic. I hope you forgive us.”
‘It’s not like I have any sort of attachment or friends keeping me here’ Kuramochi thinks to himself, ‘at least I’ll be able to see my grandparents everyday.’ Every summer break, Kuramochi will go to Tokyo to spend a couple of weeks with his grandparents. There was never a dull day during his time there as everyday was always a new adventure for the three of them. Whether that be window shopping at an outdoor grocery market, buying a light snack to enjoy on the beach, or visiting a local park to walk a trail they have to offer. Everynight Kuramochi would look forward to the next day, wondering and guessing where next they’ll go. Leaving his grandparents’ was always the toughest part, but they told him not to cry because he’ll be back soon enough. ‘I wish I could stay with them forever’ and now he won't need to say any more goodbyes to them.
“It’s fine because now I’ll be able to see grandpa and grandma everyday now.” A big smile forms on Kuramochi’s face.
The next morning, his father had rented a trunk and loaded their belongings inside with the help of his mom and a few of their neighbors. Kuramochi would try helping as best he can but since he cannot lift the heavy things he couldn’t do much. He just sat on the edge of the sidewalk, thinking to himself how much fun he’ll have in Tokyo. He won’t know it now, but moving there will change his life for the better.
Especially after encountering a certain individual.
~ ~ ~
Kuramochi should have known better that there was a deeper meaning for his family leaving his hometown to live with his grandparents in Tokyo. They were getting older and struggling to do the simplest things like brushing their teeths and walking the stairs. It was tough to see his once active and lively grandparents be reduced to staying home all day in the same spot, barely being able to utter a complete sentence. They don't even look Kuramochi in the eyes anymore.
The health of his grandparents aren’t the only thing that’s going downhill since they moved. His parents had a rough patch and are now in the process of getting divorced. Some nights Kuramochi would hear his parents argue and at times he can tell when the fights weren’t just verbal. But he never got himself involved and pretended like he never heard any of it, praying that things between them would go back to normal as it used to. His dad is rarely home these days and if he is, he’s a drunken mess causing more problems with mom.
School this time around had been enjoyable for Kuramochi. His teachers were kind to him unlike the ones back at his hometown. They didn’t exclude him from activities or recess time whenever he fell behind on his schoolwork, but worked with him during free periods or after school.‘Anywhere is better than home’ Kuramochi thinks. It’s only been two months since the move and things show no signs of getting any better.
One day, Kuramochi was walking back from school after spending a bit of time with his teacher getting help with his English homework. It isn’t like he doesn’t understand the topic they’re going over, he just wants an excuse to spend as little time as possible at home.
Home.
‘Home doesn’t even feel like home anymore.’ As Kuramochi gets closer to the door, he can hear shouting. ‘Not again, they argued already this morning’ he thinks as he pulls his hand away from the door knob and turns around to walk to a nearby park until he hears a loud bang followed by the sound of shattered glass. Something dropped inside of Kuramochi’s stomach and knew that he couldn’t just pretend he didn’t hear that. He rushed back, fumbling his keys to unlock the door and once the door opened, yet again, his heart dropped.
The memory of his parents being so loving and caring to one another is long gone. It’s now replaced with his mom on the ground with cuts and bruises on her legs along with a nasty bruise on her on the outer corner of her eye. His dad is standing not too far from her, tightly holding a glass vase filled with flowers and water. The floor was covered in broken glass that if one of them moved from where they were standing their feet would be impaled.
“Mom…” is all Kuramochi is able to let out in a shaky voice. His mother looked at him with guilt and fear on her face while his father didn’t even bother to turn around and face his son.
“Youichi go. Run away from here as far as you.” his mom starts in a panic voice. “Can you do that for mommy?”
Kuramochi could see her mouth moving, but couldn’t hear what she was saying to him. Everything is completely silent. ‘When did our family become so broken?’ He takes another glance over to his dad and sees his muscles on his arm that’s holding the vase tensing up and slowly starts lifting his hand. Without thinking, Kuramochi runs up to his dad and tries to get the vase out of his hand. He doesn’t want his mother to get hurt anymore even if it means that he’ll receive the pain. However, Kuramochi was just a kid and his dad was a grown adult, so his grip was much stronger than his and teh next thing he knew, he felt something hard and firm make contact with his cheek. His dad had punched him in the face.
The punch sent Kuramochi falling to the ground, the fresh new pain lingering on cheek and the taste of blood in his mouth. He felt himself levitating off the ground and being walked towards the front door as his mother was screaming his and his dad’s name.
“Goodbye son.” his dad's last words to him was before he tossed him outside the house, slamming the door shut.
Kuramochi didn’t bother to pick himself up. He was hurting, tired, confused, and angry. Angry that his dad is abusing his mom when he should be protecting and taking care of her instead. His grandparents can’t do anything about him either as they can hardly function on their own and Kuramochi is just a kid. ‘Damn it’ hot tears build up in his eyes.
“I thought things would get better but why..” tears fell down his cheek. It got chilly outside and Kuramochi didn’t have any to keep himself warm with. And there’s no way he can go back inside the house to get himself a sweatshirt or something so he curled up in a ball, hugging his knees and allowed himself to cry. He isn’t sure how much time has passed since he was thrown out of the house but he heard footsteps approaching him, scared that it might be his father.
“You’re going to disturb the neighbors with your obnoxious crying.” an unfamiliar voice speaks. His heart had relaxed a bit when he realized that it wasn’t his father near him, but wondered who is. He lifts his head up to see a young boy around his age crouching down in front of him. The boy has shaggy brown hair with a headband underneath his bangs, black square glasses, and golden brown eyes staring at Kuramochi’s bruised cheek.
The boy stood up from his crouching position, eyes still lingering on the bruise and started taking off the hoodie. He hands it to Kuramochi, who hesitantly puts it over his shivering body and the kid wraps his hand around his wrist.
“Let’s go.” he says, pulling Kuramochi off the ground and starts walknig away from his grandparent’s house.
The walk had been silent as neither of the young boys had nothing to say to each other. ‘Is it really alright for me to leave mom? She’s alone with dad and he’s drunk and violent again’ Kuramochi thinks. He looks up from the ground to see the boy looking at him before turning his head back forward. After walking for some time, they stopped in front of a house that Kuramochi vaguely remembers passing by a few times during his walk back to school.
“I hope you don’t mind me taking you to my house.” the boy says. Kuramochi shakes his head, not having the energy to speak right now. It seems like the boy doesn’t mind his lack of verbal communications as he takes him inside.
The house was dark and hushed as the boys made it up the stairs, entering a room at the end of the hallway. The kid pulled out a futon from out of his closet, laid it across the floor, next to the bed and grabbed an extra pair of blankets to place it neatly on top of the futon.
“You can sleep here for the night.” the boy looks again at the bruised cheek. “I’m sure things will get resolved by tomorrow.”
“...thank you..” is all Kuramochi is able to muster out.
‘But I don’t feel happy at home’ is at the tip of his tongue but he knew that he can’t stay here forever. He only met this boy today, and heck, he doesn’t even know his name. The little boy leaves the room as Kuramochi lays on the futon and pulls the blanket over himself. Kuramochi didn’t expect to be this tired as he already feels himself slipping into sleep.
“I would like to make a report on a potential domes…” is the last thing Kuramochi hears before falling asleep.
~ ~ ~
“Get yourself in a fight for bad mouthing an upperclassman again and I won’t save your sorry ass next time.” Kuramochi mutters as he tosses his backpack in the corner of Miyuki Kazuya’s bedroom, letting himself collapse on the bed.
Miyuki chuckles as join his friend. “I didn’t know you cared so much if I got hurt. How touching Mochi.”
“Shut up! I won’t anymore after today, I’ll let them kick your ass.” Kuramochi snaps, making the other teen laugh even more.
It’s been about seven years since Miyuki, the boy who would help Kuramochi, provided a safe home environment back then when his father’s abuse became violent. By the next morning after that night, Miyuki had informed him that he reported his dad to the police and they ended up arresting him for charges of domestic abuse. His mother is currently in the hospital getting her wounds treated and luckily she didn’t sustain any life threatening injuries. Fortunately enough, his dad didn’t harm his grandparents as they were in their room sleeping when everything took place.
While Kuramochi’s mom was in the hospital, his grandparents were sent to a nursing home until she came back and he stayed with Miyuki’s family. Kuramochi rarely saw Miyuki’s parents during the time he spent with him. He met his dad twice and never once saw his mother, but learned much later that she and his dad were taking a break at the time.
Two weeks later, his mom was discharged from the hospital and she picked up her parents from the nursing home. However, she never came to get Kuramochi and he grew worried that she had forgotten about him.
“When are you coming to get me mom?” he asked one time when they were talking over the phone, days after her discharge.
She didn’t answer right, long enough to the point that he had to check to make sure she didn’t hang up on him.
“I don’t want you around the house until everything is sorted out with your father.” she says. “He hurt you once and I will be damned if I let him do that to you a second time. I already talked to Miyuki’s father about this and he’s fine with you staying there.”
At first, he was sad that he couldn’t go home right away with his mom, but as time went by, he grew fond of living with Miyuki and his dad. Although he learned very quickly he was mistaken to think Miyuki was a kind, generous kid as he soon saw his true personality was twisted and evil. Despite the sudden change of personality, the two developed a friendship the longer they spent together.
Three months later, Kuramochi’s mom had settled everything with his dad and he’s serving his sentence while losing all custody rights over his son. Never once had he ever tried to communicate with Kuramochi and although he loathes his dad and what he’s done, there’s a hint of sadness. ‘He doesn’t care about me anymore. Has he ever? Was it all just an act?’ All these thoughts ran through Kuramochi’s head and Miyuki was observant and allowed for him to speak his mind out.
Even when Kuramochi had moved back to his grandparents’, he would always go over to Miyuki’s after his friend was done with volleyball practice. Sometimes, he would walk over to his school to watch his practices and would go home together just to spend a little more time with each other.
As Kuramochi looks at Miyuki, who’s too distracted with searching for something in his backpack, he couldn’t help feeling the urge to reach over and run his hair through the other’s messy hair. There’s just something about Miyuki that makes Kuramochi’s heart race so fast and wanting to do things that aren’t what typical friends do. ‘And it’s only with him too,’ his thoughts were interrupted by something being thrown onto his lap.
“First aid kit,” Miyuki lets out a sly smile. “But don’t expect me to clean your wounds for you.”
“Asshole, you’re the reason why I have them.” Kuramochi says.
He pours the isopropyl alcohol on a cotton ball and lightly pats it on his open wound on his knuckle. The two sat in silence as he was cleaning his injuries while Miyuki was getting started on his homework. Just as Kuramochi was done, he felt a hand wrap around his elbow and turn his arm around. He looks up and meets Miyuki directly in the eyes. Their faces were so close together that Kuramochi could see faint freckles sprinkled on the other’s face that he hadn't noticed he had until now.
“Dummy, you missed one back here.” Miyuki teases as he reaches for the first aid kit that has already been packed up.
“What happened to not cleaning my wounds for me? Had a change of heart?” Kuramochi jokes.
“It’s the least I can do since you did take a punch for me.” he says.
Miyuki gently dabs the wet cotton ball on his wound, causing Kuramochi to wince at the pain a little. It didn’t take him long to finish tending to the wound and he puts the first aid kit back into his backpack. Kuramochi tries his best not to let the disappointment show on his face when Miyuki puts a respectful amount of distance between them.
“Say Mochi,” he starts. “What do you want to do in the future?”
Kuramochi gives him a weird look. “Huh? Where is this coming from?”
“Just… a random thought.” he says.
Kuramochi knows Miyuki better to know that it isn’t just a random thought and that there’s more to it that he’s letting on. However, he doesn’t try to get his true intentions out of the question as Miyuki can be unbearably stubborn when he chooses to be. But in all honesty, Kuramochi hasn't thought much about what he wants to do after he graduates. Besides he’s not even in high school yet, he’s only a 14 year old trying to enjoy his youth as much as he can.
Unconsciously, Kuramochi lets his head fall on Miyuki’s shoulder and almost jumps up when he feels a hand scratching the back of his head. He can feel the back of his neck and face getting hot and he hopes that Miyuki doesn’t notice.
“If I had to decide what I want to do in the future, I guess I would say to be some sort of hero..”
~ ~ ~
“Breaking news, the Kyoko Bank located on Rosemary Street is currently being attacked by an unknown group that is armed and dangerous, demanding a large sum of money unless harm will be done to the workers. Please don’t go to Rosemary Street as it’s dangerous and your safety can’t be guaranteed. I repeat don’t go to Rose-”
Kuramochi shuts off the television as he tirely gets out of bed and looks at the time. 8:03am. It's too early for this shit, he groans loudly into his pillow, earning him a hard hit on the head by his roommate and best friend Ryosuke Kominato.
“You heard the news lady.” Ryo smirks. “Kyoko Bank on Rosemary Street. We got an hour before class so that should be plenty of time.”
Kuramochi removes the pillow from his face and lazily slides off the lower bunk of his bed. He shoves a random pair of jeans and t-shirt in his backpack. Rosemary Street huh, he thinks to himself as he ties the shoelaces on his worn out converse.
“I’ll try to make it back before first class.” Kuramochi waves Ryosuke goodbye.
“Have fun playing hero.” his roommate says just as he closes the door.
~ ~ ~
“There’s five of them in total.” Kuramochi mutters.
He’s squatting on the ledge of the one of the many higher windows the bank had to get a better view and understanding of the situation. Multiple police cars are surrounding Kyoko Bank with officers hiding behind the cars, guns loaded and ready to shoot. All the workers and civilians are backed up into a corner with two of the criminals pointing their guns at them. The other two are collecting money from the bank and the one is just standing there in the center watching everything go down. He must be the leader, Kuramochi thinks as he pulls the mask down to cover his face.
“Time to make my grand entrance.” he smirks.
He pushes himself off the ledge of the window and lets himself fall but not too long as he releases his web to stick on the building, swinging himself into the lower window. The unexpected sound of shattered glass startled everyone in the building, however the criminals wasted no time firing their guns at Kuramochi, barely giving him any time to settle down. Thankfully, he moved his body quick enough to avoid the bullets from making contact.
Before they can fire another bullet, he shoots out webs at their gun, blocking the muzzle to prevent another bullet from escaping. Let’s take care of them first, Kuramochi thinks as he still has the web connected and tucks hard at the web, causing the criminals to fall forward and letting go of their guns.
“S-spiderman came to save us! We’re safe!” A random worker yells among the crowd. Soon claps and cheers started to erupt among the crowd as Kuramochi was finishing up detaining all five criminals.
“Have fun playing hero”. Only his close friends knew that he was Spiderman. It all started during his freshman year of high school when he stayed back after soccer practice to do some personal training of his own. As he was taking a short break and too distracted on his phone, he failed to notice the huge spider sitting on his bottle until he felt something sharp pain sinking into his index and middle finger. And the strange part is before Kuramochi could even find the spider and kill it, it disappeared without a trace.
Everything seemed normal after that until later that night when he was lying on his bed with a stress ball in his hand. Just as he was about to toss it in the air he heard a weird swoosh and didn’t think anything of it until he saw the ball covered in webs that were coming out from his hand. Panicking, he facetimed Ryosuke to see if he’ll have any idea what was wrong with him and he actually took him seriously. After doing days worth of research he came to this conclusion;
“Congratulations, you're this generation's Spiderman.” Ryosuke told him, lightly clapping his hands.
“This has gotta be a joke Ryo. There’s no way I can be Spiderman.” Kuramochi laughs.
He stops clapping. “The evidence is all there; you got bitten by some kind of radioactive spider, you can shoot webs from the palms of your hands, your sense of danger and your physical strength has increased immensely. You can’t keep denying it.”
“But..”
But Kuramochi knows that he can’t keep running away from the truth. He has to face the facts and now has to bear the responsibilities as Spiderman even if he doesn’t understand why it happened to him . Ryo would spend many nights with Kuramochi trying to learn how to control power and the practice paid off. They even got someone to make multiple Spiderman suits for them, tricking them by saying it’s for halloween .
It was by the end of his freshman year where he confidently had complete control of his powers and made his first appearance in public. At first, he had trouble balancing being Spiderman while also being a high school student while being active in soccer, but with some time he was able to do it. The only people that knows about Kuramochi being Spiderman other than Ryosuke is his younger brother, Haruichi Kominato, and Sawamura Eijun.
“This is where your luck runs out.” a voice behind him cackles.
Kuramochi turns around to see a new person from the five he originally saw before entering, but he wasn’t alone. He has his gun pressed against the temple of the hostage’s head, who had been blindfolded. The fuck where did those two come from?! He thinks, but it doesn’t matter, all that does is rescuing the hostage and kicking that man’s ass.
“Let him go.” Kuramochi says, trying to see what exactly this guy wants.
The man simply laughs. “You’re in no position to order me around unless you don’t mind having a few casualties on your hands.” He nudged the muzzle in the hostage’s head. Kuramochi doesn’t really have much of a choice in this situation but to comply with the criminal in order to keep everyone safe. Until I find an opening that is . He starts walking towards Kuramochi, keeping close to the hostage as pushes him forward with him.
“Say,” the criminal stops in front of him, tapping his gun on top of Kuramochi’s head. “I wonder, why go by the name Spiderman? Why cover your face? Think about all the money and fame you’ll have if the world knew who you really are. You’ll have millions of dollars and no one would dare to look down on you.”
Perfect. Kuramochi took the chance to take action when the man was too busy in his speech that he forgot to point his gun back at him or the hostage. He released a web on the man’s eyes covering his vision and loosening the grip he had on the hostage. To his surprise, the hostage acted fast and elbowed the criminal hard in the stomach to which he had completely lost the hold he had on, being able to slide out of his grip and removing the blindfold.
“That’s the exact reason why I keep my identity a secret.” Kuramochi says as he knocks the man off balance causing him to fall on his head, having the wind get knocked out of him. “I don’t save people just to get recognized or to try to earn money out of it. I do this because I want people to not lose hope and know that there is someone that will come to their rescue and save them from shitty people like you. That’s what it means to be Spiderman.”
Cheers and screams erupt from the crowd as Kuramochi finishes his speech, tying the last of the man up. Lets hope there aren't anymore surprises , he thinks as he turns around to the crowd. Time to get them out safe and sound.
“Please calmly and quickly make your way to the exit with your hands up in the air so the police know that you’re not armed. If you’re injured by any chance please go straight to the paramedics outside so they can treat any wounds.”
Effectively, but quickly the workers and people made their way out of the bank, allowing for the police to enter and arrest the criminals. Kuramochi decides to stay on the scene a little longer in case one of the robbers slips out of the police’s restraints. People slowly made their way to him, thanking him for his bravery and saving the day.
“You really helped us out yet again Spiderman, you have our gratitude.” the chief of the police squad says, giving Kuramochi a firm handshake. He looks over at the big clock that sits on the top of the bank and realizes he has ten minutes before his class.
“Yeah no problem, I’m just relieved that we had no casualties.” he says. “Looks like you guys have everything under control now, so I’ll head out.”
“Thank you once again for your help.” the chief bowed his head to him.
“Oi there’s no need for you to bow, I’m just doing what any other person with a good heart would do.” Kuramochi says.
The chief looks up at him. “Not anyone would risk their own safety for strangers. Good heart or not.”
He didn’t respond, not too sure what to say back to a comment like that so he just said his goodbyes and headed to school with seven minutes to spar before the professor started class.
~ ~ ~
Kuramochi, Ryosuke, and Haruichi are at their local campus cafe, knocking out assignments and studying for upcoming midterms as they enjoy coffee and sandwiches. A week has passed since the Kyoko Bank attack and things seemed to wrap up smoothly. All the victims were okay and fortunately no one was injured, including the hostage that was held at gunpoint who has chosen to stay anonymous. The criminals involved were arrested, charged with attempted robbery and their court date is set to happen sometime next month. Although everyone is solved, Kuramochi couldn’t help but wonder about the hostage. He never once got a good look at his face, but he just hopes that they are recovering mentally well after going through all of that. I wish they didn’t remain anonymous so I could give them a little something.
“Scowling at your assignment isn’t going to get it done faster, you actually have to write your answers down.” Ryosuke says.
Kuramochi looks up from his paper. “I’m not scowling. Just..thinking that’s all.”
Haruichi raises an eyebrow in curiosity as he takes a sip of his frappuccino while Ryosuke is looking at him, indicating he wants him to elaborate on his thoughts. If it were anyone else, Kuramochi would’ve just continued on doing his homework. But this is Ryosuke and once he wants to know something, he’ll do whatever means necessary to get the answers he’s looking for.
Before he could open his mouth, a loud voice echoes through the small cafe that causes him and Kominato brothers to put their hands over their ears.
“YESSS! YES! YES! YES! YESSS! YES! YE-ACK”
“Oi Sawamura, quit yelling will you?!” Kuramochi delivers a swift kick to Sawamura, who’s now lying on the ground with his hands on his butt where he got kicked. A few people sitting close by glared at the two for making such a ruckus and Haruichi apologized for the noise.
“Sawamura,” Ryosuke starts with a sinister smile on his face as Kuramochi is dragging him to their table. “You better have a good reason for coming into this peaceful setting with your obnoxious yelling. If not, you better be prepared for the consequences.”
“Big bro?!” Sawamura whips his head so fast that Kuramochi was surprised that he didn’t pull a muscle or something. “W-wait lemme explain myself please!! I promise my excitement wasn’t in vain!!”
“Well, go on.” his face expression hasn’t shifted an inch.
The frantic male reaches inside of his- or rather windbreaker that doesn’t belong to him and reveals four tickets to the home game for volleyball against Dokkyo University. Tickets were normally sold at the door the day of the game rather than purchased beforehand.
“Sanada told me that each volleyball player gets two free tickets to the game to hand out to a family member or whoever so he gave me them to use for myself and you guys!” Sawamura elaborates.
“Clearly he gave you more than just tickets.” Haruichi comments, eyeing the visibly oversized windbreaker with Sanada’s name embroidered on the upper chest.
Haruichi’s remarks made Sawamura instantly turn red in the face and started to make lousy excuses why he’s wearing his windbreaker and Kuramochi couldn’t help but laugh at him. According to the younger Kominato, the two knew each other since Sawamura was a second year in high school and Sanada is a year above him. But the feelings were platonic until around the time Sawamura was with his verbally and eventually physically abusive ex boyfriend. It got so bad to the point where Sawamura had called Sanada in the middle of night, crying hysterically.
Obviously concerned, Sanada had rushed over as fast as he could and immediately noticed the big bruise on his cheek and a cut on his lip. He took him to spend the night at his dorms and for a couple of days Sawamura had been absent from school. Neither of the two spoke of the details of what happened that night, but a month later Sawamura had the confidence to finally break things off with his ex. Even after the breakup, Sanada will continue to look closely after Sawamura, especially when his ex continues to harass him. The two had grew immensely closer, to the point you’ll think they’re dating but they always deny the fact they are.
“As much as Haruichi and I would love to see you make a fool out of yourself in front of Sanada for free, we unfortunately can’t join you guys.” Ryosuke says, switching to a softer smile. “Driving up to visit our parents for the weekend.”
Sawamura pouts a little, missing the little side comment about his crush.
“Aww that’s a bummer.” he looks over at Kuramochi. “But you can come right?! As long as no one decides to wake up and chooses violence on a peaceful Friday night?!”
“You’re so loud, jeez.” Kuramochi complains. “And yeah, as long as duty doesn’t call I don’t see why not.”
Sawamura’s eyes lightened up a bit and nodded eagerly.
“Okay! The game starts at 6:30 so don’t be late. I’m going to give Sanada these two tickets he got from his friend back to him.”
With that Sawamura took off out of the cafe to go find his friend. Kuramochi already knows how tonight is going to go with Sawamura gushing and cheering loudly for Sanada as if it’s a football game rather than a volleyball game. But something else happens later tonight that Kuramochi wouldn’t have been able to predict.
~ ~ ~
The game between Seido and Dokkyo has yet to start but the gymnasium is already packed with eager fans who had their faces painted the school’s colors of blue and yellow and signs in their hands ready to be displayed. Kuramochi didn’t pay too much attention to their college volleyball but judging by how many people had shown up, it seems like the team was pretty good.
Sawamura had made them get to the gymnasium two hours in advance in order to get good seats and avoid the long lines. And it paid off as they got seats close to the front so that if a player on the court looked out to the audience, their faces would be recognizable. Sawamura is still wearing Sanada’s volleyball windbreaker and has three thick lines painted on each side of his cheek blue and yellow. Kuramochi didn’t do much besides wearing the school’s hoodie he bought from the gift shop. Although Sawamura insisted that he let him paint his face the same way he did his, he refused, not wanting to have to spend hours scrubbing the paint off of himself.
“Oi, do you even know anything about volleyball?” Kuramochi asks, slouching in his seat.
“Of course I do! Sanada taught me all the rules, positions, different types of serves, and plenty more.” Sawamura yells. “I would never put his teachings to shame and I’ve become the expert on volleyball.”
His feelings are so transparent. Surely Sanada must already know this idiot likes him more than just a friend, Kuramochi thinks to himself. Kuramochi isn’t particularly nosy when it comes to Sawamura’s love life like Ryosuke and Haruichi are, but then again it’s for good reason as they don’t want a repeat of his ex.
But today, Kuramochi felt like prying a little bit in his love life.
“Seems like you spent a lot of your time with Sanada rather than keeping your grades up.” Kuramochi sees the tips of Sawamura’s ears starting to get red.
“HAHA!” Sawamura laughs nervously. “Not true at all! In fact, this Sawamura Eijun is actually doing well in classes this semester. Plus Sanada is very thoughtful and helps me study for my tests.”
Kuramochi is having a hard time trying to figure out if Sawamura is being oblivious on purpose or is truly an idiot. Sawamura clings onto the older male as if he’s a lost puppy or something, but Sanada doesn’t seem to mind. Rather, he actually enjoys Sawamura’s clinglyness. A week hasn’t gone by where the loud male is caught wearing something of Sanada's, whether it’s his hoodies, shirts, bracelets, or hats even. They act very much as a couple, but without making things official which worries Kuramochi a bit.
From what Kuramochi has observed and heard about Sanada, he doesn’t seem like a guy who’ll intentionally hurt Sawamura. That still doesn’t change the fact that their unlabeled relationship can affect their relationship, especially if one day Sanada decides to date someone other than Sawamura. Kuramochi couldn’t even imagine how heartbroken he would be if that were ever to happen.
“Why don’t you guys just date already? I mean it’s very clear there’s romantic feelings between the two of you. So…why not make it official? Unless there's something holding you guys back?” Kuramochi asks.
Usually Sawamura would just brush off any question that involved his relationship status with Sanada. Instead, he was silent, fiddling with the sleeves of Sanada’s windbreaker and avoiding eye contact with Kuramochi.
“Actually,” he starts. “He did ask me out... a couple of months ago.”
“Oh well congrat-”
“But I politely declined.”
Kuramochi was speechless. Sawamura rejected Sanada? It doesn't make sense to Kuramochi why he still wears his clothes, attends every one of his games, and gets red as an apple when his name is mentioned. So why did he reject him?
“I thought you liked him, did you get too nervous and accidentally said no to him?” Kuramochi asks.
Sawamura shakes his head. “I just haven’t completely healed from my past relationship. The things he said to me during our relationship, sometimes echoes through my head and makes me feel unworthy of anyone’s love. I know that he’s a piece of shit and that he can’t hurt me anymore, but I’m…scared. Scared that I’ll be too much for Sanada to handle and he’ll leave me once he’s tired of me. I even freaked out on him when he went to reach to hold my hand, Kuramochi.”
“Sawamura..”
Kuramochi didn’t know what to say. It saddened and angered him that his ex is making an impact in his life. Although Kuramochi didn’t know Sawamura during this time, he heard from the Kominato brothers how terrible his ex was. He knows that this will take time for him to heal from, but he wished that he was able to do something for him.
“I told Sanada all of this because I didn’t want him to think I was toying with his feelings and he asked me if he could hug me, I nodded my head and he instantly pulled me into a tight hug. He didn’t say anything for a while but when he did, he said that he loves me and will wait as long as needed until he can call me his.” Sawamura sniffs a little. “But Sanada said I shouldn’t feel rushed to say yes to him and to take as much time as I need to fully heal from my past relationship and be confident in myself once again.”
Kuramochi pulls Sawamura in a small hug as he processes all that he has said to him. I guess I really had nothing to worry about. He releases Sawamura from the hug and places a firm grip on his shoulder.
Sawamura smacks both of his cheeks. “No more sad talk! We came here to watch the game and to cheer our hearts off for our lovely volleyball team!”
He lets out a small chuckle at his sudden change of moods but he expects nothing less from Sawamura. All of sudden, the crowd started to get rowdy and Kuramochi hadn’t realized the conversation had distracted the two from the opening speech and they had already introduced the opposing team.
“Next on the left side we have Seido University coming out and ready to play on their home court. Let's give them a nice warm welcome everyone.” the announcer yells.
Sawamura stood up and started yelling as the Seido volleyball team started exiting out of the locker room and making their grand entrance to the court. Kuramochi on the other hand decided to sit down and Sawmura pulled at his arm to get him to stand up, but earned an elbow to the side instead.
“SANADAA!!” a girl from behind screams.
“CARLOOSS WE’LL BE RELYING ON YOUR INCREDIBLE SAVES TODAY!!”
“MIYUKI GET US A WIN TODAY!!”
Kuramochi’s heart skipped a beat. Miyuki? His mind straight away went to his childhood friend back in middle school before he moved back to his hometown and lost contact with him since then. Surely it couldn’t be that Miyuki and his old friend Miyuki are the same people. Maybe they just have the same surname and it’s all a coincidence.
“SHUNPEI LEAD THE TEAM!!”
“AMAHISA GIVE US A SERVICE ACE!!”
“KAZUYAAA!! GOOD LUCK!!”
Abruptly, Kuramochi stood up from his seat to get a better view of the court and the players as he scanned through the Seido team. Next to Sanada, he spots a familiar brown shaggy hair that had grown a bit longer than before, with the black headband he constantly wore as a kid that Kuramochi was so tempted to hide from him. He still had the orange tinted sports glasses that he thought made him look ten times cooler and behind them were his warm brown eyes who was looking up at the stands alongside Sanada.
“SANADA DO YOUR BEST!” Sawamura yells and surely enough Sanada hears him.
He nudges Miyuki and points at Sawamura, flashing a big smile with his fist out towards him. Miyuki must have teased him about Sawamura because after whispering something in his ear, he covered half his face with his hand as the man was laughing his heart out. Kuramochi truly thought that he’ll never see him again as his communication skills sucked ass, but here he is.
After he finishes laughing, he looks up back at the audience to where Sawamura is, letting his eyes wander to the right of him to where he locks eyes with Kuramochi who is staring right at him. Kuramochi could see from the stands how Miyuki’s body froze a split second as he recognized his old friend in the crowd.
The two probably would have continued staring at one another if one of Miyuki’s teammates hadn’t called his name. Reluctantly, he broke the gaze first and started walking back to his teammates. Kuramochi wasn’t satisfied with the short interaction he had with Miyuki after years of not seeing each other. There isn’t much he can do from the stands but he wanted to do something that gets a good reaction out of him.
“KICK SOME ASS MIYUKI!!” Kuramochi yells, startling Sawamura but he doesn't care.
The only thing he cared about is if Miyuki had picked up his voice from the rowdy fangirls. He turned around, focusing directly on Kuramochi and gave him a toothy grin followed with a quick wink before turning back around. Kuramochi ignored the way his heart skipped a beat.
“You damn idiot.” he says to himself.
~ ~ ~
“Sanada you guys did amazing!” Sawamura runs up to give him a hug, almost knocking him down to the floor.
The game ended with Seido winning the home game, winning the three sets of the five they played. Although the game had ended, people were still lingering around in the stands, discussing their favorite parts of the game. For not having too much knowledge about volleyball beforehand, Kuramochi enjoyed himself and even got a little stressed during some rallies.
He and Sawamura were in the front of the boy’s locker room where they met up with Sanada after the game was finished. Kuramochi was hoping that Miyuki would’ve been with Sanada, but was a little disappointed to see he wasn’t. He must have already gone back to his dorms or something he thought as he awkwardly third wheeled with Sawamura and Sanada.
“Woah Sawamura, easy there.” Sanada laughs, returning the hug. “But thanks. I couldn't have done it without a certain brunette cheering for me very loudly in the crowd while wearing my jacket.”
Sawamura’s cheeks reddened at his comment.
“That’s because you insisted I wore it tonight, saying that it will give you strength! So how can this Sawamura Eijun refuse to?!” he says, making Sanada laugh even more.
Man I wish Ryo or Haruichi were here right now so I wouldn’t be third wheeling here. Kuramochi groans in his head just wanting nothing more than to go back to his dorm and just play on his switch. However, it is nice to see Sanada for more than a brief and seeing how he interacts with Sawamura, confirming the fact that he’s genuine with his feelings.
It reminded him of his friendship with Miyuki, but only without the feelings being known about. The feelings that Kuramochi was always too scared to admit or say out loud so he just buried it away, convincing himself that it was phase and would eventually go away.
Sawamura glances over at Kuramochi. “Oh Sanada, I know you saw Kuramochi around, but I want you guys to formally meet each other. Sanada, this is Kuramochi. Kuramochi, this is Sanada.”
Kuramochi held his hand out. “It’s nice to meet you, though it already feels like I already know you because of how much this moron talks about you.”
“Oh? Really now? I hope he didn’t say anything too embarrassing” Sanada takes Kuramochi’s hand. “But for real, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Sawamura looks at the time on his phone and back at Sanada. “We should probably let you go. It's getting late and you played a long game today so you need a good night's rest.”
“Hold on wait.” Sanada says. “Why not join me for dinner with a few of my friends? The place is close by and the food is pretty delicious. Plus it’s relatively cheap.”
Kuramochi looks at Sawamura, who is also looking at him, seeing if he wants to tag along to dinner with him. To be honest, he would really like to go back to the dorms, but he had a gut feeling that he might run into Miyuki again and there was so much he wanted to talk to him about. He nods his head to Sawamura, taking a gamble that Sanada and Miyuki are close enough friends that they will eat out together.
“Sure thing! Better be right about the food otherwise you owe us.” Sawamura says.
“Don’t worry, knowing your taste, you'll definitely enjoy it.” Sanada chuckles.
So the three made their way to the restaurant and according to Sanada, his other friends were already there waiting. During the walk, Kuramochi couldn’t get the stare and smirk Miyuki had given him before the game out of his mind. The look in his eyes was unreadable but also mixed with a bunch of feelings.
Asshole. Don’t look at me like that and make no effort to see me afterwards.