Chapter Text
"Hey, Takumi."
"... I'll show him! This would..."
"Takumi?"
"... Just you wait Yukihira Souma, I'll..."
"Takumi!!!!"
You sighed exasperatedly as once again, Takumi continued to mutter under his breath, not even bothering to pay attention to you.
"It's no use, [Name]. Once Nii-chan goes into his Yukihira Souma rant, there's no stopping him until he gets tired." Isami told you as he continued chopping vegetables, apparently used to Takumi's antics by now.
You huffed out a breath at this.
"Then why did he ask me to come if he's just going to ignore me?"
Isami shot you an apologetic look. "Sorry about him, [Name]—"
You motioned for him to stop and shrugged.
"Don't say sorry, Isami. You didn't do anything. Well anyway, since I've got nothing to do here I'll just get going."
Isami smiled at you sheepishly and waved.
You stood up, dusted your clothes and prepared to leave, but you stopped abruptly when you were near the exit. You approached Takumi, smacked him lightly on the head, huffed, and got out of the door with a bang.
Takumi's small yelp of pain brought a smug smile on your face.
Hah. That'll teach him not to ignore you when he's the one to invite you to come with him. He might be your best friend but you just wanted to strangle him sometimes.
- - - - -
"He did it again." You sighed as you angrily chewed your food, glaring daggers at your supposed best friend, who was sitting at another table away from yours. You were supposed to hang out with Takumi this lunchtime but unfortunately, he's once again immersed in his ploy to defeat Souma.
"What happened?" Megumi inquired as she took a sip of her drink. She reached out for a napkin and offered it to you. "Oh, you have something on your face, [Name]."
You muttered a small thanks and wiped your face.
"I mean the inviting-me-and-then-ignoring-me thing." You muttered sullenly and rested your head on the table and stared at Souma who was eating with you and Megumi. "I mean, I get it that Takumi's finally found a rival in you that he can compete with but this is just bordering.. obsession."
Megumi choked on her rice balls while Souma looked at you weirdly.
"You might be overreacting on the obsession part, [Name]. It's just friendly rivalry." Souma shrugged as he finished his bento box and took a drink from the juice you brought with you.
You narrowed your eyes at him and he just grinned playfully. "Just a sip, see?"
You rolled your eyes and grabbed your drink before he decided to finish it all up like he did with your snacks from this morning.
"Friendly rivalry.. right. Not when all he thinks about is you and how to challenge you every single—" You stopped mid sentence and your eyes widened as you finally realized something.
Takumi's nonstop yammering about Souma.
Takumi's thoughts always occupied by Souma.
How did you not realize this sooner? You cast your wide-eyed look at Souma, then at Takumi, and then back at Souma again.
"Ihavetogo." You said in a rush as you hastily packed your things and waved a hurried goodbye to the two of them.
Megumi and Souma stared at the direction where you disappeared to before looking at each other and laughing softly.
"I think [Name]'s jealous of the attention Takumi-san's been giving you lately, Souma-kun."
- - - - -
The next day, you decided to confront Takumi. You called him and asked if he's free today AND if he's willing to listen to you for a damn minute without interruption. He agreed and you both decided to meet up in his room.
Once you were in front of Takumi and Isami's shared room, you took a deep breath and was about to knock when it suddenly opened and Isami came out.
You blinked, and nodded your head in greeting.
"Good morning, Isami. Going somewhere?"
Isami greeted you back and smiled.
"Morning, [Name]. I'm going to try a new recipe I've come up with yesterday."
"I see, let me have a taste once you've finished, yeah?" You beamed at him and he nodded his head in agreement before he left for the kitchen.
You took a deep breath once again and entered the room. "Takumi?" You called out when you didn't see him in the main room.
"Just a minute, I just finished showering." he called out from the other side of his room. You took a sit at one of the sofas and waited for him to finish.
"So, what's up? It's not like you to be up this early on weekends." He came out of his room, sat down beside you and raised a brow in question.
You bit your lip uncertainly and tried to look anywhere but at him. Damn it. Why did you decide to confront him about it anyway? It's not like it's your business and—
"Oi, [Name]. What is it? Look, I still have a lot of things to do and I need to revise one of my dishes. I also need to find Yukihi—"
"DoyoulikeSouma?" You blurted out loudly and in a rush. Your cheeks flushed red when you realized that he's just sitting there, staring at you, jaw-slacked.
"I— What??" he seemed to snap out of his trance and he looked at you as if you murdered his brother.
"I asked if you liked Som—" You got cut off by his outraged noise.
"I heard it the first time! What the hell, [Name]?! What makes you think that I—"
You cut him off this time. "You don't have to deny it, Takumi. Although I'm kinda hurt that you would hide this from me but I guess it isn't a topic you would usually talk to me about. Now that I think about it, it's kinda obvious... Your obsession with Souma—"
"Oi! I'm not—"
"—the way you always seem to look for him—"
"I told you I'm not—"
"—how you just can't seem to stop talking about him. It all makes sense now—"
"WHAT?! [Name], I'M NOT GAY!"
You looked at him softly and smiled.
"It's okay, Takumi. You can tell me. You're still my best friend, whatever happens. I mean, wow. I always dreamed of having a gay friend and—"
"DAMN IT, [Name]! I DON'T LIKE YUKIHIRA AND I'M NOT GAY. YOU'RE THE ONE I LI—"
Takumi's eyes widened and he went deathly pale. There was a heavy silence as you both stared at each other—— Takumi in embarrassment, and you in disbelief.
Was he just about to say that..?
"Takumi—?" You whispered, feeling your cheeks grow hotter by the second.
"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT." He cursed as he went from deathly pale to tomato red in just under a second. It was alarming, to say the least. "That wasn't— I, damn it! You aren't supposed to—" he got up from his seat and started pacing the room, making sure to avoid eye contact with you.
You also got up from your seat and started to approach him slowly, but he kept backing away from you, fear shining in his eyes. You stopped and just stood in front of him, trying to look into his eyes, but he was stubbornly trying to turn his face away from you. "Takumi, are you saying that you..." you started breathlessly, but he shook his head wildly and covered his face with his hands.
"[Name], please.. I, it's not.. It's nothing okay? Just forget about it."
"Don't lie, Takumi. How can it be nothing when you're acting like this?" you paused for a while and bit your lower lip nervously. "Tell me, what were you going to say before..?"
Takumi remained silent and you gave up. Maybe you're just looking too deep into this, and that it's really nothing. Maybe you were just hoping that...
You straightened yourself and stared at him for a minute, before you started to make your way towards the door.
"Alright. I'll.. I'll just go now." you said softly, but before you could make your exit, Isami came rushing back in, pulling you inside with him in the process.
You yelped in surprise as the door shut close once again, and you looked confusedly at Isami.
"Isami, what--?"
"Sorry, [Name]. I forgot something." He explained, and made his way towards his own room. He came out a few seconds later and stared at his brother who was still avoiding your gaze. "Are you going to be a coward again, Nii-chan?"
Takumi looked up in surprise and Isami shrugged. "I'll be going now. See you later, [Name], brother." he shot another pointed look at Takumi and went out of the room. You noticed that he didn't bring anything with him, so what could it be that he forgot..?
The silence was deafening, so you cleared your throat awkwardly. "Uhh, yeah. See you later, Takumi." you almost ran to the exit but you were stopped yet again, this time by a hand on your wrist.
"[Name], I..." He took a deep breath, and looked at you straight in the eye. His face was so red and he was trembling so hard that you feared that he would faint any second now.
"I promised myself that I wouldn't tell you.. not until I reach the top and prove myself." He took another deep breath and your heart started beating like crazy. You were sure that your face was as red as his right now.
"I.. when I lost to that bastard, I didn't know what to do. I was so humiliated and I couldn't even face you and my brother properly. I felt hopeless. And when Yukihira single-handedly defeated that guy..." he stopped and leaned his forehead on your shoulder. You were breathing deeply, your heart beating so fast that you feared that you would have a heart attack any second now.
"These past few days, I kept polishing my cooking and tried to improve my skills. For me, Yukihira is my biggest rival. And until I win against him, I can't consider myself worthy. You're an amazing chef, [Name]. One of the best this year. So I..." he trailed off.
You finally realized the meaning behind his words and you felt faint. Immeasurable happiness started to flood your entire being and your stomach seemed like it's infested with so much butterflies that you felt like it was going to burst.
"I won't tell you. Not yet. I still have a long way to go. So—" You cut him off with a hug which seemed to surprise him as he started flailing wildly. "O-oi! [Name]!"
"Takumi, you're an idiot." You mumbled as you squeezed him tighter. "You don't have to do all that, you know? You're an amazing chef already, and no one can say otherwise."
He looked away. "I want to prove myself to your parents." he muttered and you laughed softly at this. Being the only child of internationally-known chefs must have intimidated him so much.
You pulled away from him and you smiled so brightly that he started to sputter and blush again. "I won't say it too. Not yet. Not until we see the view from the top." You mimicked him and snickered softly.
That seemed to embarrass him further and he slumped his whole body on the sofa. "S-shut up!"
You stuck your tongue out at him before smiling mischievously.
"I still think you're obsessed with Souma, though."
"O-oi!"
- - - - -
Outside the room, Isami shook his head amusedly and smiled.
"I'm glad you finally found your courage after all these years, brother."