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It’s the first week of the little vacation everyone was given after the match against Japan’s U20 National Team, and Eita is currently sitting in the dark of his room at two in the morning after hanging out with everyone, his face lit up by the blue light of his laptop, tab opened up to the description of 'Homoromantic.'
Now, you must be wondering, how the hell did Otoya Eita, the STRAIGHTEST individual ever, come to research ‘Homoromanticism’? Well, that’s thanks to someone in Blue Lock dropping the term when explaining their concerns with their own sexuality. Eita simply teased this person at the time, but he can’t deny that it has been ebbing away at him ever since. Every time after that incident when he was around Karasu, his best friend, the word ‘homoromantic’ flashed in red repeatedly in his head, which upset his stomach—or so he likes to believe.
He brought up his own... concerns with his sexuality with this individual later on, who only laughed at him and said, “Why don’t you look into it?” and so here Eita is, frozen as he stares at the Japanese characters on his screen, a furl of emotions swirling inside of him.
“There’s no way, there’s no fucking way that I’m gay-“ is the only thought bouncing off the walls of his head.
For the longest time, it has only been women. Women, women, women. It’s the only people he has ever dealt with, the only ones he has sexually experimented with—but now the memories of deep, strange feelings towards his best friends throughout his youth are coming up like a sudden urge to throw up. Holy fuck, he used to like his best friend in seventh grade, and he’s only realising now—
No. No, no, no, no—This can’t be real.
Eita feels like throwing up. Those same feelings that he locked away all those instances in the past are the same ones that he feels every time he’s around Karasu Tabito. There’s no fucking way I’m in love with this fu-
Eita kicks off his blanket that has pooled around his lap, the lid of his laptop shutting itself from the sudden movement as he gets up from his bed and walks to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and some churros he bought earlier that day that he didn’t finish because of those feelings that kept eating away at the lining of his stomach when he was hanging out with everyone—when he was hanging out with Karasu. Thinking about it, he didn’t even stay over at that chick’s place, opting instead to drop her off and dip because he “didn’t feel well.” No wonder why. This fuc-
He takes a large swig of water, and a huge bite out of a churro to quiet down his thoughts. He hates thinking too much. When he’s done, he forgets what he was so worried about and goes to sleep, completely forgetting about the research he was doing that night as his worries dissolve during his slumber.
Upon waking up, the first thing Eita does is reach for his phone, turning it on to see a message from the chick last night. He promptly ignores it, his attention instead focused on the message notification from the very devil itself.
Karasu Tabito, asking about last night and how it was, as he always does jokingly. “I’m going to Shibuya to buy my sister some things, you wanna come?”
And Eita doesn’t think as his fingers speak for him.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
Shibuya, as it always is, was full of bustling crowds and laughing couples as soon as Eita arrived. Karasu said they’ll meet at the café they were at yesterday, and go to the underground mall from there—so that’s where Eita is, kicking at the soles of his shoes as he waits. He doesn’t even bother to look up and around for hot Shibuya chicks because—Ah, shit. He forgot about everything last night entirely after sleeping.
Once again, Eita’s thoughts are speaking over one another like they were last night. As he was too concentrated on trying to mute them, he doesn't realise that a certain familiar face was skipping towards him.
“Hey, Eita! Did you get my message this morning?”
Upon hearing his name and expecting to see Karasu, he looks up, only to be met with the sight of the chick from last night. Shit-
“I did ask if you wanted to meet up at Shibuya, and you’re here—but you didn’t reply, so... Are you waiting for someone else?” They question, big eyes seeming hurt at the possibility of Eita being here to see someone else. He was about to say that he was, just to get them off his dick, but he was interrupted by Karasu finally making an appearance before he could manage to speak aloud.
“Oh, you’re from yesterday. Hi.” Karasu greets, the both of them exchanging greetings whilst Eita continues to stand there silently, expression unmoving.
“Oi, Eita—Earth to Eita!”
Eita snaps out of his unusual daze, his eyes meeting Karasu, who's laughing a little, “What’s up with you today? If you wanted to hang out with yer girl-“ He whispers the last word, gesturing to the chick behind him. “You could’ve just told me, man. I wouldn’t have held it against ya, y’know?”
“No, I didn’t know she’d be here." Eita almost seems to defend himself against the claims of wanting to hang out with some random bitch from yesterday, as opposed to his best friend whom he’s in lo-
“Are you okay? You seem... out of it today.” Karasu enquiries, and the silent look Eita gives him seems to be enough for Karasu to make a face of registered concern, spinning away from Eita and turning back towards the chick, making up some elaborate excuse as Eita continues to mope behind him.
Eita observes the way in which the chick nods their head in disappointment, and begins to leave, waving at Eita and pressing their hand against their ear in a phone symbol as a way to say, “Call me later,” which Eita forgets about as soon as the chick is out of his line of sight.
“Dude, that was so unlike you. What’s up?” Karasu finally asks as soon as they’re alone, his eyebrows furrowed very slightly. Eita regains himself, his form straightening out as he stares at Karasu in mock confusion and says:
“Nothing. Underground mall, right?” He questions as if to confirm their route, only to begin walking past Karasu and in to the direction of the mall.
“Yeah, underground mall...” Karasu draws out, his eyes following Eita with a frown on his face that Eita doesn’t see.
Upon arriving to the mall, Karasu is the one who initiates conversation and attempts to keep the talking going, in which Eita simply hums along and responds with nothing more than one-worded answers. Karasu notes the strange behaviour internally, his eyes furrowing every now and then whenever he glances at Eita.
Karasu decides to test the waters to figure out what exactly it is that’s bothering his friend, as asking Eita upright only ever results in a sly topic change. He likes to think it’s something Eita picked up from himself.
“So, what made you agree to come wi' me? Yer don’t like shopping at all. Planning to buy something for the chick from earlier?” Karasu raises a brow, smirking whilst twisting his elbow into Eita’s side. Eita’s once apathetic expression turns visibly annoyed, his nose scrunching up a little unintentionally.
“Why would I get that random bitch something? I agreed because I wanted to spend time with you.”
Karasu quirks a brow at that, huffing out a laugh, “Yeah? Doesn’t really seem like it with the mood,” Karasu points a finger at him and twirls it around for emphasis, “you seem to be stuck in.”
Eita stares at the ground ahead of Karasu, becoming self-aware and once again remembering what it was that he was researching last night, which gets his stomach twisted and his throat parched from the sudden increase of his body temperature upon realising who exactly he’s with right now.
He doesn’t dare to look up into Karasu’s eyes, but his body has already acted on its own accord. Without his own input, his eyes meet Karasu’s, and it’s then that the air leaves his body upon coming to a realisation against his own will.
He’s in love with his best friend. Oh fuck, he’s in love with—there’s no way this is happening—fuck, fuck, fuck. He’s going to leave—
Karasu lets out a little laugh which brings Eita back to reality, who’s attempting to blink his feelings away to the core of the Earth—far, far, far away from himself.
“God, yer helpless. Let’s get you out of here, ya dumbass.” Karasu grabs his wrist, a fit of laughter erupting from him as he weaves them through the crowds of people in the mall, dragging Eita towards the exit.
“Why the hell would ya agree to come to a place yer know you despise just to hang out with me? Geez, you really are helpless.”
And Eita’s heart seizes at the look on Karasu’s face when he glances over his shoulder, laughing in his face like he cracked the universe’s best joke; creases forming at the corners of his eyes and his mouth split so wide. Eita wants to kiss him and feel the warmth, the spread of his smile against his own lips.
Fuck... He’s in love with his best friend.
Karasu, thinking Eita was in the midst of a claustrophobia induced anxiety attack, dragged him to an arcade to ground the both of them. At least he didn’t notice that Eita’s eyes were in the shape of goddamn hearts whilst he was dragging him earlier, so he’s safe. For now.
Eita has no idea how long they’ve been running around the arcade, too distracted by observing Karasu and every little expression he was making to bother with keeping track of the time. He was too busy counting the number of creases around Karasu’s eyes and the amount of teeth that were visible every time he smiled, watching the numerous coloured lights surrounding them dancing in his eyes.
Holy FUCK. He is so, so down deep.
Eita has never liked someone this much. Not a female, not a male. No one. What the fuck is going on? This isn’t normal. He must be dreaming.
The most he remembers from his boy crushes when he was younger was heating up at the slightest bit of contact, like their thighs rubbing against his when they got a little too close. The smallest things. And now here he is, counting teeth of all things. He has never paid attention to any person like this. What is so special about Karasu Tabito? He doesn’t get it. He’s just... a guy.
But he’s his guy.
“Wow, how gay,” Eita mutters to himself aloud, which makes Karasu suddenly swivel around. Eita dismisses him with a wave of his hand, his face heating up as he continues to follow Karasu close by.
They left the arcade a bit ago now, the sun setting and basking the entire city in a glow. Karasu claimed he knew of a spot nearby that he wanted to show Eita, so here he is, obediently following Karasu like a lost puppy as he manoeuvres them towards this so called “spot.”
Karasu leads him into some building that seems fairly secluded, making his way up the staircase automatically. Eita furrows his eyebrows in concern as he stares at the clearly deteriorating walls around them.
“Are we even allowed here?”
“Do you trust me?” Karasu answers with a question instead, pausing his ascent up the stairs and turning towards Eita. The growing silence with the current expression covering Eita’s face was an answer in and of itself, a grin forming on Karasu’s face as he gestures with his head to keep following.
When they finally reach the top, Karasu slowly opens the heavy door to the rooftop, its hinges creaking loudly. The breath is knocked out of Eita for a moment at the sudden close up of the sunset in front of them. He begins to walk towards the edge, observing the remainder of sunlight that was kissing the sides of numerous towering buildings, highlighting the dispersing crowds of the afternoon below, with the crowds of the (soon to be) night multiplying gradually.
“Nice, ain’t it?” Karasu elbows him playfully as he stands beside him, quirking an eyebrow as he grins knowingly at the awestruck expression across Eita’s face. Eita doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to.
He stares at Karasu instead, watching as he turns his head away from Eita to face the dying sun, his eyes closing for a moment as he sucks in a breath—and as if the universe was in love with Karasu Tabito as Otoya Eita is, a gust of wind swoops by at that very moment, ruffling the stray strands of hair that have escaped the grams of gel Karasu entraps them in every new day.
“You’re staring.” Karasu shatters the silence, his lids opening slightly as his eyes divert to Eita’s frozen state, a mocking grin tugging at the corner of his lips. Karasu Tabito is such a tease, and Eita likes to convince himself that he hates it.
“Well, my mother never taught me manners,” Eita shrugs, moving from Karasu’s side to sit close to the edge of the rooftop, his heart pitter pattering inside of his chest like the bass of one of his favourite neo city pop tracks. Karasu is laughing behind him, the sound increasing as he makes his way over to take a seat beside Eita. Their thighs brush for a moment when he plops down, and Eita prays that his best friend didn’t hear the almost animated-like gulp he took upon the contact.
“Yer so stupid, y’know that, right?” Karasu laughs another hearty laugh. Eita turns around to look at him, his brain stopping for a moment upon noticing a shimmer of something in his eyes that he can't discern the emotion of.
“Yeah, I am.” Eita breathes out without thought, his gaze darting down to Karasu’s lips for a moment, only to divert just as quickly back to his eyes. That same shimmer was still there, accompanied by a teasing twinkle. Eita’s heart somersaults, and he swears it plummets right off the roof and to its ultimate demise.
“What’s got you so wound up today, Oto?” Karasu whispers softly, leaning in closer by a mere centimetre—Eita can tell by the sudden fanning of Karasu’s breath on his face, but that isn’t important because Karasu just called him by a stupid nickname and instead of laughing it off, his face is starting to burn—and what’s worse is that Eita can tell Karasu realised the impact that it made.
“I— uh… I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Eita mutters, diverting his eyes to instead stare over the edge, his gaze wandering as he searches for his heart that jumped earlier.
Silence falls heavy around them; the sky having turned a few contrasts darker now. There’s shuffling around on Karasu’s end, and Eita wants him to speak up—to fill in the silence—but he doesn’t get what he wants.
“I…” Eita starts, only to shut up instantly when his thoughts start to speak over one another once again. How in the actual fuck is he supposed to come out to his BEST friend not even a full twenty-four hours upon realising he may or may not indeed be: not only bisexual, but also homoromantic, only to top it all off with the fact that he is in LOVE with said best friend. How is he supposed to—
Eita’s racing thoughts are paused by the feeling of a sudden weight around his hand, his head lifting up to see Karasu giving him a hesitant smile, his hand squeezing Eita’s own very clammy one; Eita embarrassingly realises. Karasu’s thumb brushes across the span of the back of his hand once, and then a second time when he feels Eita squeeze back.
Eita exhales, his head turned back to the dimming view in front of them, nodding to himself as self-encouragement, “Okay, so… I might… I might be bisexual and…” Eita bites his lip, ready to jump off the edge to run away but he doesn’t, “and also, maybe, homoromantic.” He squeezes out, purposefully sounding unsure in case Karasu points and laughs at him.
Karasu stares at him from his peripheral vision, letting out a soft sigh as he turns his attention back to the view before them, which slowly turns into huffs of laughter, his body shaking.
Eita looks up at him puzzled, observing and feeling the shaking of Karasu’s body through their linked hands, tempted to snap, “What’s so funny?!” at him, only for Karasu to speak up before he could let out a single syllable.
“That’s—“ Karasu purses his lips to hold back another laugh, looking at Eita with his stupid pretty eyes all crinkled up for the umpteenth time that day, “That’s what had you in a mood all day? Holy shit.” Karasu covers his mouth, his back now turned towards Eita, but his one hand is still intertwined with Eita’s.
“Really? I gave a piece of myself to you and you’re laughing?” Eita scowls, his nose scrunching up once again, which only makes Karasu laugh harder.
“Yer so cute, y’know? So stupid, wow,” Karasu mutters the last part to himself, wiping at the corners of his eyes as he attempts to compose himself.
“Eita, yer fucking goofball. I’m bisexual, too—dumbass,” Karasu flicks at his forehead, with that shimmer of something in his eyes from earlier swirling in them once again. Eita’s mind short-circuits at the newly presented information.
“Wait, what? Since fucking when?” Eita questions almost too aggressively, moving himself close to Karasu in haste, observing that shimmer in his eyes up close to finally try and figure out what it is.
“Yeah, dumbass. It’s not like I hide it. Why else did you think I was so flirty with Red-Princess back in Blue Lock?”
“You like Chigiri?” Eita almost barks, something new swirling inside of himself.
“Fuck—no, dumbass. He’s just attractive. A two in one deal, basically. Weren’t you doing the same?” Karasu raises a brow, which makes Eita look away in thought.
Fuck.
“Is that really what has been bothering you today, dummy? Or is there something else that you’re not saying?” Karasu leans in, too fucking close, which makes Eita nervous.
“I might… I might like… might like…”
Karasu shakes his head at Eita stumbling over his words once again, leaning in even closer to properly close the distance between them.
Eita stares. He stares at Karasu’s peacefully closed eyes as his lips touch his, and he stares at the pretty beauty mark on the left side of his face. He stares, and stares, and stares—till Karasu finally pulls back, the shimmer from earlier much more prominent than before, to the point its practically turning his eyes pink.
“Yer so stupid, y’know?” Karasu whispers softly, his hand lifting up to Eita’s cheek and brushing his thumb across it, his eyes purely focused on Eita’s lips.
“Yeah, fuck—yeah, you make me stupid."
Karasu cackles at that, his head throwing back. His eyes meet Eita’s, the shimmer still there—and Eita has finally deduced what the hell it is.
“I like ya, too—yer absolute idiotic goof.”