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Chiaki should have known that the day would not be working in his favour, really.
He had slept through his alarm, having to face the disapproving looks of arriving late onto his photoshoot set, his co-workers probably thinking that Chiaki had a seriously inflated ego to arrive half an hour past shooting time.
The day had gotten unbearably worse when he'd bumped into Subaru who'd spat some pretty insensitive sentences that Hokuto tried to play off as badly worded jokes. But like the hero Chiaki is, he smiles and laughs and jokes through it.
God knows he was exhausted.
Just when Chiaki had been ready to call it a day and head back to his dorm room where he knew neither Makoto nor Adonis would pry into his life, he was stopped by Midori (of all people, why!) in a nearby hallway.
"Senpai, about the proposal for next month's live…" Midori begins, but looks up at Chiaki and immediately falters. "Um, are you okay?"
Chiaki swallows, maybe a little too audibly, but smiles through it. "Yeah, of course! What's up, Takamine?" Chiaki really couldn't do this right now,
Midori's eyes furrow into a frown, "Senpai-"
Chiaki immediately gives a large smile, ready to push past Midori, which he can tell Midori immediately sees right through. "Really, it's fine. I'm fine!"
Midori doesn't seem upset that he just got spoken over, however something in his attitude seems to have dropped, and Chiaki can tell that he's completely forgotten about their prior conversation. He's staring straight into Chiaki's eyes, unwavering and knowing.
"Takamine…?"
"Do you think," Midori breathes. "I'm that much of an idiot? Do you think I can't see behind this… this mask you have? You're obviously upset." It's almost as if it physically pains Midori to say it, like he'd had to walk through yards and yards of thorns scraping and cutting away at his skin in order to push that sentence out to the world. To Chiaki.
Midori is speaking from the heart to Chiaki, and it's terrifying. He dreads it with every word that comes out of Midori's mouth. He doesn't want to hear it, so Chiaki does what he does best; Deflect.
"Takamine, what has gotten into you today? I'm seriously not sure what you're talking about! A hero doesn't feel upset. I'm not upset! I think I'd know that better than anyone else!" He laughs to top it off, but it sounds blatantly artificial, even from Chiaki's own ears, however he can't take it back now that it's already been said. Midori looks at him with the same observant, watching look. He's being patient, but Chiaki can tell that he's frustrated by the way he bites the inside of his cheek.
Eventually, Midori takes a step forward into Chiaki's space, and places his hands firmly onto his shoulders. Chiaki immediately stiffens.
"Senpai, Just stop it." Midori sounds resigned, breathy. He'd probably wanted a different response, but expected as much as the one Chiaki gave him. "I've grown up now. I can see this isn't you. Please, just talk to me."
Chiaki laughs, his smile becoming harder to maintain. "I'm talking though? Are you sick?"
Midori shakes his head, grip tightening on Chiaki's shoulders. "Talk to me as Chiaki . As you . That's the one I want to hear, why can't you see that?"
Chiaki's heart stutters.
"I'll tolerate this side of you because I know it's a part of you, Morisawa-Senpai. But this isn't all you are." Midori's hands raise up bravely to cup Chiaki's jaw, and Chiaki can't find it in himself to pull away from it, Midori's hands are so soft . They're a lot cooler than Chiaki's, but he finds himself thinking that he would be able to warm them up if Midori let him.
He pushes the thought away before any more dangerous ideas like that arise.
Midori continues, his thumbs reaching Chiaki's cheek in what feels like a soothing gesture. "I'm not a heroine you need to protect. We're equals, aren't we? That's what you raised Ryuseitai to be. So show me a Morisawa-Senpai that I haven't seen before. The one who laughs and cries like everyone else." His voice lowers into a whisper, it's private, concealed between just Midori and Chiaki and no one else. "show me the one you've hidden from the rest of the world."
Normally, it probably wouldn't have made Chiaki completely break. But today was a bad day. So just like that, Chiaki's walls crumbled.
He blinks, looks away to the side. Blinks again. But it doesn't stop the flow of tears that break past the emotional dam of Chiaki Morisawa and reach into the outside world. They're cold against his cheeks, he hasn't cried like this since he'd graduated— but Midori doesn't stop him. Instead, Chiaki feels himself pulled into the warmest hug he'd ever received. He doesn't know why he's crying, but Midori's hands wrapping around his waist and pulling him as close as possible into his body help to ground him to a reason.
Chiaki can't fathom why anyone would willingly want to see him like this. Why would they want to see him vulnerable? People preferred the glowing, shining version of him, the untouchable one. He'd learned his lesson all those years ago in how opening up only leads to disappointment. It was dangerous to act like this in front of someone else; they would never see him the same way as before. All he would be now was a loser to Midori.
It was like Midori had known the exact strings to pull in order to evoke a reaction out of Chiaki. Had he become that easy to read?
Or maybe Chiaki was simply a bomb of unsaid emotions, built up and constricting him with each passing day, more and more until the pressure was too much and exploded colours of red for everyone to see.
Not red for burning passion— but instead red of rage, anger, resentment. Red for every time he was denied a space to be himself, every why can't you let me be me ?
True humiliation. Maybe Midori saw it coming. And maybe, just maybe , Midori hadn't wanted that bomb to self implode.
Chiaki burrows his face into Midori's chest in a hopeless effort that his racks of sobbing won't be heard by anyone else, fully knowing that he was definitely soaking Midori's shirt. Chiaki vowed to buy him a new one by the end of this.
Surprisingly enough, Midori does not push Chiaki away. Instead, he places one of his hands on the back of Chiaki's neck, and rests his cheek against the messy brunette locks of Chiaki's head. Just who was this Midori? He was so… loving. So kind to Chiaki. This was no longer the Midori that pushed him away during high school, the one that would sigh sadly and never reciprocate Chiaki's attempts at affection.
Now? Midori was giving affection. To Chiaki of all people. It was completely new.
It felt so right. Like Chiaki belonged here, in Midori's arms. He couldn't help but think that he'd been missing out on this for years . If Chiaki had just let himself be normal , then he could have been doing this years ago with Midori.
Eventually, Chiaki's sobs begin to die down, but Midori still doesn't break the embrace. He hadn't realised when, but Midori had brought them closer to a wall, further away from any prying eyes.
"It's okay," Midori says into Chiaki's hair. "Whenever you need this, just come and get it. I'll be there."
Chiaki simply nods. Too tired to excuse himself, and lays still in Midori's hold, listening to the sound of birds chirping and Midori's heartbeat pounding steadily.
–
The next time it happens, Chiaki doesn't even ask. He knows there's no point in putting up a front around Midori anymore.
It may be in the middle of Ryuseitai practice, but Chiaki is sure that Kanata has it covered. He's tired, and he needs a break, and he knows that if he isn't the one to do it, then Midori will be the one to drag him out of the room. Chiaki is sure no one will notice, with Shinobu and Tetora too engrossed in their conversation with Kanata to realise anything.
In a blur of time, Chiaki walks up to Midori and pulls him by the sleeve weakly to get his attention. He's just about ready to fall into Midori's arms, but thankfully Midori gestures his head towards the door, indicating that they should get out of this stuffy room. He just about stumbles out of there before collapsing into Midori's shoulder, who immediately wraps an arm around Chiaki to pull him in closer. It's secure, safe. Everything Chiaki has ever wanted.
Neither of them say anything, Chiaki knows that speaking may alert their unit members to come outside and walk in on whatever this was, but Chiaki didn't care. Midori simply lies against the wall with Chiaki in his arms, stroking a hand up and down Chiaki's back reassuringly.
He could seriously stay here forever.
After what feels like eternity, Midori's fingers run up to toy with the hair at the end of Chiaki's neck playfully, and Chiaki laughs void of any of his prideful tone into Midori. Wanting to get even more closer, Chiaki moves slightly to angle his head and bury it into the crevice of Midori's neck.
It must've been only five minutes, but the silence soon becomes too much for Chiaki.
"Takamine." He speaks into Midori's skin. Midori hums in a quiet reply. "... Why did you do this for me?"
It takes a moment, but Midori's hand continues to card through Chiaki's hair. He can't imagine it's that fun to play with. "Remember at the end of your third year? I saw you crying in the gym. You had your back turned to me." He adds, "you thought no one saw you. It was stupid." Chiaki laughs, but Midori continues. "But it was even more stupid of me not to not help you. You had no one…"
Chiaki lifts his head to face Midori, but neither doesn't let go of their grip on each other. "Takamine, it's fine. That was forever ago."
Midori shakes his head, "The memory came back to me when I saw you the other day. And I realised that I was never fully there for you the way you were for me." Timidly, he brings one of his hands to Chiaki's cheek. "I guess I wanted to have something with you no one else had. Maybe comforting you like this was a half excuse."
Chiaki frowns, and lays his hand on top of Midori's. "I don't understand. If you just wanted to hug me, you could have said so."
"No, I didn't just want to hug you, Senpai." He sighs, and bites his lip, but Chiaki waits just like Midori waited for him. "In high school, I wanted to be the only one to make you feel better, to be the only one you came to. But I knew it was selfish, you deserved so much more than that. So I pushed everything away, including you, I guess…"
Chiaki gulps. Although it was brief, Midori's insinuation was there. Tentatively, Chiaki brings his arms to wrap around Midori's neck. "... Do you still feel that way?"
Midori nods, sure of himself. "Of course I do."
It didn't take that much for Chiaki to push himself forward and kiss Midori. And just like his hands, they were so soft . When Midori pulls back, smiling, Chiaki goes back for more, again and again until they're both breathless and in serious need of oxygen.
Fuck, Chiaki is seriously screwed. Somebody cared, Midori cared. Was there anything more that Chiaki could ask?
Midori's still smiling, and nuzzles his cheek against Chiaki's. "I finally got it through, huh. Thank God."
Chiaki smiles, genuinely this time. "Yeah, thank God."
A knock from inside of the practice room makes Chiaki jump, alerting that that their time was almost up. He'd thank Kanata for stalling them later.
And when they went back inside? Well, no one questioned why the two of them had even left.
(It was almost as if everyone knew. )