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"Alright, I'm just gonna say what we're all thinking," Shichino said with a deep sigh. He ignored the others' bewildered expressions, and pointed firmly at Kumagami. "You're in love with Shunsuke."
Stunned silence blanketed the table. "I'm sorry, what?" Kumagami said dryly.
Shichino opened his mouth, and Kumagami swiftly cut him off, "That wasn't an invitation to repeat yourself. It was more like me asking you what exactly prompted that comment."
Shichino shut his mouth, and considered the question. "...I dunno, but it's true, isn't it?"
"No," Kumagami deadpanned.
"Liar," Shichino returned. "Or, if not, then why do you let him hang off of you all the time? And why is he the only one allowed to call you that stupid nickname?"
Kumagami glared. "It's this thing called a 'best friend'," he said. "They get special privileges."
"Uh-huh." Shichino rolled his eyes. "Well, and I didn't wanna say this, but you do know that Shunsuke is in love with you, right?"
"Wh-!"
"Shichino!" Medoki practically shrieked. "You can't just say that to a person!"
"I can when I'm getting fucking fed up with the two of them and their oblivious fucking pining."
"No, you still can't say it," Maedomari said awkwardly. "I don't think you can, anyway."
"Too fucking late." Shichino looked Kumagami in the eye. "Ask him yourself if you don't believe me. Guy's so blunt sometimes I wouldn't be surprised if he'd tell you without hesitating."
Yeah, he wasn't wrong about that part - Shunsuke had the tendency to say whatever came to mind before really thinking about whether it was an actually good idea to do so. But still, to ask him something like this? Kumagami's stomach churned.
Shichino noticed his hesitation, and rolled his eyes. "Fine, if you don't wanna do it that way, then we can try a different tactic. I just want you two to hurry up and get together - doesn't really matter how."
"...'We'?"
Shichino's wicked smirk did not bring any comfort to Kumagami, and he was still not comforted even when his plan was explained...
"Hey, Shunsuke, can I talk to you real quick?"
"Shichino?" Shunsuke, almost as if to enforce how confused he was at the sudden question, tilted his head to the side. "Sure, is something wrong?"
"No, it's..." Shichino's hesitated, chewing his lower lip for a moment. "...Do you think it'd be okay if I asked Kumagami out?"
Shunsuke's smile froze on his face, and Shichino knew he'd caught the other's attention. "I-I know we're really busy, and we should be focused on finding people with abilities," he said, "but I really, really like him..."
Shunsuke cleared his throat and blinked his unseeing eyes a few times, as if by doing so he might understand better. "I, ah... To be honest, I always thought you and Maedomari were a thing."
"...Huh?"
"Well, you were in other timelines. You tried to keep it secret, but you didn't do very well with it." He laughed and gave a slight wave, as if to dismiss that topic. "You and Pooh...? I, well... I guess I'm okay with it. So long as it won't get in the way of anything - and I know it won't, I trust you both-"
"No, wait, let's go back to the other thing!" Shichino shouted. "Me and Maedomari?!"
"Oh, well, yes." Shunsuke frowned at Shichino's apparent affront. "I mean, not every time. Just, I don't know, three or four? Maybe?" He considered it. "Although, that's only the times I know of, I guess... Like I said, you tended to keep it secret..." He paused. "Actually, maybe when you weren't with him, it was because you were more interested in Pooh?"
Shichino grit his teeth. One thing at a time, he decided. For now he'd focus on these two idiots. "Yeah," he said. "Maybe. So do I have your agreement, then?"
"Well, even if you didn't, I could hardly stop you, could I?" Shunsuke laughed, but it was forced, and hollow. "Go ahead and ask him out."
"...Tch."
"Hm?"
"Nothing. Yeah, I'll... Ask him out."
And then, Shichino left, annoyed that Shunsuke was apparently not the jealous type - not enough to try and stop him, at least...
On to step two, then.
"Shichino," Kumagami said, "I am not going to pretend to be your boyfriend just to make Shun jealous."
"But-!"
"You're the one who thinks I'm interested in him," Kumagami said firmly. "I never said anything of the sort."
Shichino scoffed. "You didn't need to. You're obvious enough. And so is he, actually!"
"Then why didn't he try to stop you from 'asking me out'?" Kumagami asked, and Shichino promptly fell silent, shoulders slumping. "Exactly. He's not interested, so drop it."
And with that, Kumagami walked away. Shichino could do nothing but watch, giving a sigh once Kumagami had turned a corner and was out of sight.
"It didn't work, huh?"
Maedomari's voice came from behind him, and Shichino jumped as he turned to face him.
Oh, great.
Shunsuke's words rang in his ears, telling him that he and Maedomari had... Dated. In other timelines. He briefly wondered how many before shaking the thought away. "No, it didn't..." he muttered. "He really seems to think I'm just screwing with him, too, or something..."
"You wouldn't do that," Maedomari assured him. "And Kumagami knows it. He's just... Struggling, I guess. It can be hard to suddenly accept feelings like that when you've never considered them before."
Maedomari was as calm and wise as always. Before he could stop himself, Shichino asked, "You speaking from experience, here?"
Maedomari simply gave a mysterious smile and shook his head. "Hey, maybe instead of making Shunsuke jealous, you should try to make Kumagami jealous," he suggested, seamlessly changing the subject. "That would open our options a bit more, too, since Shunsuke is blind. Can't exactly just cling to Kumagami a lot and hope for Shunsuke to notice, right?"
Shichino snorted at the mental image of himself just loudly announcing every time he was hanging on to Kumagami. Yeah, Shunsuke wouldn't buy that for a second. "One problem," he said, "I've already gone and told him about me 'asking out' Kumagami - he's not gonna buy that I'm suddenly moving on to him, now. And I doubt he'd go along if I told him the truth."
Maedomari beamed excitedly, his eyes twinkling with mischief - a rarity for him. Shichino's eyes widened as Maedomari revealed the true genius of his plan, "Who said you'd be the one doing it?"
Maedomari's main plan was to just cling on Shunsuke and talk to him a lot, and pull him away from Kumagami whenever possible. Shunsuke would likely get suspicious if Maedomari suddenly wanted to ask him out, after all.
(Or, well, that was what Shichino had told the guy. Really, he just didn't want Shunsuke blabbing about him and Maedomari in the other timelines he'd been in.)
In any case, their plan had... Had some unforeseen effects.
Namely, Shunsuke apparently had a low threshold for touch from anyone other than Kumagami. Most of the time he was shoving Maedomari off of him with an annoyed glance to Maedomari's general direction, but he never actually said anything - nor did he seem to really mind Maedomari spending more time with him.
So, it was weird, but it proved that Kumagami was definitely special in some way to Shunsuke.
Kumagami didn't seem to buy it.
"If you went and draped your arm around him like Maedomari just did," Shichino whispered to Kumagami, "there's no way he'd push you off."
Kumagami shot Shichino a glare, but sighed and moved to sit next to Shunsuke. Shunsuke turned to him, tilting his head for a moment. "...Pooh?" he guessed.
"Uh, yeah," Kumagami confirmed, mild surprise in his tone. "How'd you guess?"
Shunsuke shrugged, a light smile tugging at his lips. "Lucky guess. Shouldn't you be sitting next to Shichino, though?"
"Oh, I, uh..." Kumagami faltered, glancing helplessly to Shichino. "I... Turned him down...?"
"Oh!" Shunsuke couldn't hide the excitement from his tone, but the way he gripped the cushion he was sitting on told everyone that he was certainly trying. "I, well... Too bad, haha! F-for him, I guess!"
Shunsuke's blindness meant he couldn't see Shichino rolling his eyes at Shunsuke's bad acting. Which was a good thing.
"Mm..." Kumagami hesitated for just a moment before shifting closer to Shunsuke, and then he casually draped an arm around Shunsuke's shoulders. "Do you, uh, need me to tell you what's happening on the screen, or?"
Shunsuke paused, staring up at Kumagami - as much as he could, that is - before slowly shaking his head. "No... I'm good."
He shifted to lean his head against Kumagami's chest. Kumagami's eyes widened, and he looked frantically to Medoki, Maedomari, and Shichino, all of whom gestured wildly at the two of them outright cuddling on the couch. There was no fucking way Kumagami could deny things now, could he?
"...Friends can cuddle."
Apparently there was a fucking way. Maedomari frowned in genuine concern to Kumagami, and Shichino could just see him wondering about the most polite way to tell Kumagami that he was a fucking running dumbass.
"Kumagami..." Maedomari began, "I... I hate to say this, but you... Are a fucking running dumbass."
...Okay, well then.
Kumagami blinked a few times, then looked helplessly to Medoki and Shichino, who both nodded solemnly. "It's true," Shichino said. "It's chronic, I'm afraid."
"And possibly terminal," Medoki added.
"...So, he wasn't cuddling me as a friend," Kumagami muttered. "You're saying that Shunsuke... Likes me?"
"Yep." Shichino sighed with relief, glad that Kumagami had finally accepted the fact that his best friend was gay as hell for him. "What do you think of that?"
Silence.
Shichino frowned, staring closely at Kumagami, who... Whose face seemed to be steadily getting redder and redder.
"...Is he gonna explode?"
"Probably!" Maedomari said, way too cheerfully.
Medoki rolled her eyes and grabbed on to Kumagami's shoulders. "Hey!" she shouted. "Look at me! Kumagami!"
He did not, and simply stared off into the distance, at some unseeable thought.
Suddenly, Shichino got an idea. He smirked, and said, "Hey, Pooh!"
Immediately, Kumagami reacted. He shoved Medoki off of him, and glared at Shichino. "Don't call me that!"
Checkmate - although Kumagami didn't know it quite yet.
"Why not?" Shichino asked, playing innocent.
"Because!" Kumagami snapped. "Only Shunsuke can call me that dumb name!"
"And why is that?" Medoki asked, catching on to Shichino's plan.
"Because! He-! I-!"
Kumagami fumbled, suddenly coming to the realization that he actually had no idea why he'd always allowed Shunsuke - and only Shunsuke - to call him that ridiculous nickname. He blinked once - twice, and slumped forward. "Oh my god. I'm in love with him, aren't I?"
"And at last he realizes," Shichino said, snickering. Maedomari gave a solemn nod and gently patted Kumagami on the back.
"So... What are you gonna do now?" Medoki asked.
Kumagami opened his mouth, and then shut it, and then did that over and over again helplessly. Shichino thought for a moment that maybe he'd forgotten how words worked.
"...I, uh. I want to say 'I don't know', but..." Kumagami sighed, and held his head in his hands. "That's not right... I know what I want to do, but... Is there really time for that...? Is it really okay if I..."
"I'll tell you what Shunsuke told me when he thought I was asking you out," Shichino said. "So long as it doesn't get in the way of anything - and we all know it won't, we all trust you - I say it's fine." He smiled, and added his own words, "Maybe it'd even make the future we're fighting for even more worth it, yeah?"
Kumagami gave a wry, somewhat weak smile. "Yeah... Maybe so."
Medoki gave him a firm clap on the back, and grinned. "Finally! I was gonna have to start helping Shichino with his scheming if you didn't get your head together by now!"
"Good luck, Kumagami," Maedomari added, smiling brightly and with genuine relief. "We're rooting for you."
Kumagami gave his friends somewhat hesitant smiles, and nodded slowly. "Yeah... Thanks." He stood up, biting his lower lip as he eyed the door to Shunsuke's office. "I'd better do it now, before I lose my nerve..."
He entered the room on somewhat trembling legs, and shut the door firmly behind himself.
(Maedomari and Medoki promptly held Shichino back from pressing an ear to the door)
Meeting Shunsuke's eyes was easier than Kumagami expected it would be - probably helped that Shunsuke was blind.
"Pooh? That you?"
Kumagami gave a hesitant laugh. "You know," he said, "I never noticed how you always seem to realize when it's me who's nearby. You notice other people, but... Not as immediately as when you notice me, I guess."
Shunsuke tilted his head, a curious smile tugging at his lips. "Of course I do. You're the most important person in my life, Pooh."
Kumagami's heart jumped. "You... Do you even realize how that sounds?"
Shunsuke raised an eyebrow. "Do you?"
"...I do now, yeah. Had to get a little help cramming it into my skull, but... Yeah."
Shunsuke's unseeing eyes lit up. "Oh, you've realized, then?" His voice shook with joyous relief, and he stood up to rush to Kumagami's side. "I'm glad, I've waited for so long and-... Wait, help?"
"Shichino. And Maedomari."
Shunsuke stood there for a long moment, processing.
"Shichino never asked you out."
"Nope."
"Maedomari was trying to make you jealous."
"Yep."
"Huh."
Kumagami snorted, shaking his head at Shunsuke's blatant lack of reaction. Shunsuke smiled wryly at the sound, and reached out, searching for Kumagami's hand. Kumagami met their fingers, and Shunsuke's smile grew. "Well, tell them I said 'thank you' later."
"No way. They're gonna mock us forever now."
Shunsuke's laugh was light and bright and all things good in the world. And Kumagami asked himself how it had actually taken him this long to realize how he felt for the guy.