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Ryouma had always been a romantic at heart, of course he was going to be staying up until midnight tonight of all nights. Even though tears pricked the corners of his eyes as he couldn’t stop yawning, he sat up straight at his desk, trying to focus on the anime episode that played on his computer.
It was almost midnight, he couldn’t fall asleep now. Ryouma wasn’t going to miss watching as the name of his soulmate was inscribed on his skin.
He had been really impatient for this day, his eighteenth birthday. To know the name of the person he was fated to be with in some way or another—was there anything more romantic than that?
Ryouma, even though he was hopeful, didn’t have any unrealistic notions though. He knew that the soulmate didn’t necessarily have to be a romantic one, it was someone who was perfectly compatible with his soul, someone important who would go with him through life, whether it was romantic or not.
Was it someone he already knew? Wouldn’t that be incredible?
But, despite how excited he was, a bit of anxiety also welled up inside of him. He wasn’t sure how he’d be able to tell his soulmate that he was actually already in love with someone. Someone who he missed, who he couldn’t see every day like he used to. But since they would be his soulmate, they would probably understand. They would become the best of friends, Ryouma hoped.
Not that he didn’t already love his friends—Kyoutaro, Ata, Taishi, Ichiro… Nanao.
But to add another person into his life, someone extremely special, someone meant for him, his heart couldn’t help but beat faster and faster.
Ryouma rested his chin on his hand. Fifteen minutes left.
His mind then drifted to his friends.
Ata’s birthday had been a month ago and he hadn’t shown or told anyone what name had been written on his skin. He supposed Ata was a more private person, but Ryouma couldn’t help but be curious.
As for Nanao… his birthday had already been almost a year ago, back when they were dealing with being the Karls’ Knights. Even though Ryouma and the others had questioned him, peppered him with inquires as to the identity of his soulmate, Nanao had played coy, giving a smile and a wink saying it was a secret.
Even back then, Ryouma had known about his feelings, so it had been hard. Who was lucky enough to be Nanao’s soulmate? It hurt, imagining that Nanao and his soulmate already knew about each other, picturing them in some sort of secret relationship. His mind couldn’t help pivoting towards Taiju and how close Nanao was with him.
Jealousy wasn’t something that Ryouma relished feeling, so he’d tried to push it down as much as possible, but it was hard.
He’d been in love with Nanao for two years now. And now Ryouma was a third year, and Nanao was in university, and they barely got to see each other. Nanao’s university wasn’t that far away at least—one in a neighbouring city, so they did see each other sometimes, but it was still lonely in school without him.
Ryouma was really planning to take the entrance exam to the same university that Nanao was going to, but then he couldn’t help but wonder if that made him too pathetic.
With a sigh, Ryouma once again glanced at the clock.
11:55.
He sat up straighter, his posture going stiff.
So close. The next few minutes seemed to drag on and on.
11:56.
11:57.
11:58.
11:59.
Ryouma drew up his sleeve, holding his breath until his lungs started to burn.
It turned out the feeling wasn’t painful like he’d imagined—it was more like a tickle as the writing, a beautiful calligraphy started appearing on his skin, one stroke at a time.
When the full name was on there, Ryouma stared at it, lightheaded, his heartbeat rocketing in his chest as his lungs burned as he inhaled sharply.
Because written on his skin were characters that couldn’t be misread by Ryouma, who knew this name very well.
Wakura Nanao.
Ryouma blinked. Was he actually sleeping? Was he dreaming? Was the lack of oxygen making him delusional? Because there was no way… no way that this could be real.
He got off his computer chair and started pacing on the room. He stumbled over a book and stubbed his toe. As pain exploded in the spot of impact, he gasped. Yeah, this can’t be a dream.
But how could it be? How could he get so lucky? To have Nanao’s name on his skin? Nanao, who he’d already fallen in love with when he was sixteen?
Ryouma’s heart and mind were both racing at differing speeds.
He should be happy—and he was, but he was also struggling to process the conflicting feelings.
After all, Nanao would have already known…
For ten months. And he hadn’t said anything!
The whole time, he’d played coy over who his soulmate was. He didn’t give Ryouma any hints, he didn’t tell him a thing. Even at the Kurotama, Nanao had put a covering over his arm to hide it. Though he hadn’t thought much of it at the time, since even Ata and other boys their age had done the same thing.
But why the secret, considering how close they were?
Was it because he didn’t want it? Did he want someone else’s name on his arm?
Or… or was it that his name actually read something else? Ryouma had heard of that to happen—there had been cases of one-sided soulmates, ones that didn’t match up.
Ryouma grabbed his phone, opening his message history with Nanao. There had been frequent messages exchanged between them since Nanao’s graduation, and the last message had been from Nanao, agreeing that they would meet up during summer break. Which started next week for Ryouma, a couple of weeks later for Nanao.
He started typing in a message and then erased it. One time, two times, three times. He hovered his finger over the call button and then sighed and set the phone down.
“What do I do…” Ryouma groaned out loud.
The way his stomach twisted was unlike anything he’d felt before. This mix of happiness and anxiety.
This could be the best thing that will ever happen to him, or it could be devastating heartbreak.
Should he try to find out right away?
But Nanao was a university student now, he’d probably be sleeping. Unless he made a lot of new friends and stayed out late, which could be possible. Nanao was a very popular person after all, he was polite and friendly and made friends easily.
Which was fine, Ryouma had many friends himself, he wasn’t going to get jealous over it-
Really.
Ryouma went back down to sit at his computer desk again. Then was the question of his parents’ reaction… they were asleep now, but they would surely ask him about his name in the morning. He knew they liked Nanao, they’d met a couple of times at school events, but a soulmate was an enormous thing.
… He really was getting ahead of himself, wasn’t he?
Maybe he should just try to go to sleep, although he wasn’t sure how successful he’d be.
His phone buzzed suddenly and Ryouma jumped. The vibration was loud in his quiet room, startling him.
Nanao’s name lit up his screen.
Ryouma’s heart leapt up into his throat.
He wanted to look, but at the same time, he was scared to.
In the end, curiosity won out over the fear, and he grabbed the phone and looked at the message, his heart racing.
Wakura-senpai: The hydrangeas look beautiful under the moonlight.
Ryouma blinked. What… was the meaning of that? Surely Nanao could be a bit strange and cryptic sometimes, but this seemed very random.
Ryouma: ???? Have you perhaps been drinking, senpai?
Wakura-senpai: I wouldn’t drink underage, Ryouma-kun. 😛
Ryouma: Of course, of course! 🥺🙏🙇
Wakura-senpai: The moon is beautiful from here.
Ryouma: I’m sure it is…
Wakura-senpai: (image attached)
The photo was a dark picture of a bunch of hydrangeas. They looked very familiar. The angle. The tree behind it. The bench that Ryouma walked by on the way to school every day-
Wait.
Ryouma stood up with a start, his chair almost falling to the ground.
His street!
On hurried feet, Ryouma stumbled out of his room, quietly hurrying out his front door into the night.
Sure enough, a bit further down his street stood a familiar figure just barely visible under a streetlight.
Nanao looked up and met his eyes. Ryouma froze. Suddenly, he was out of breath and flushing. He’d hurried out here, but he didn’t know what to do, what to say, what kind of expression to make. He bent over, catching his breath.
He did know that he was happy to see Nanao. No, happy wasn’t a good enough word to describe what he was feeling. Not even stronger words like ecstatic, thrilled felt good enough.
Nanao walked up to Ryouma, his hands behind his back. When he came closer under another streetlight, Ryouma could now see more about Nanao. That he was wearing a causal outfit—jeans and a green t-shirt that looked fantastic on him. The next thing he noticed was the soft smile on his face.
Ryouma straightened up. “Wakura-senpai,” he said on a shaky exhalation. “What… what are you doing here?”
“How could I not be here to wish my favourite person a happy birthday?” Nanao said. There was a teasing lilt in his voice, one that was so familiar, but also one that Ryouma knew by now was sincere.
He smiled. “You didn’t have to.”
Nanao removed his hands from behind his back, holding out two plastic containers—one held a slice of strawberry cake, and the other…
“Ah! My favourite!” Ryouma’s eyes lit up. In the other was the classic getanha cake that Ryouma loved so much. “Thank you, senpai.”
“Happy birthday, Ryouma-kun.”
Ryouma suddenly felt choked up, tears burning the backs of his eyes. It was just cake, it was just cake, and yet…
It was thoughtful, it was wonderful. Nanao’s presence here meant how much he cared, and that was why Ryouma was almost bowled over with a wave of undefinable emotions.
“Thank you. Thank you, senpai.”
Nanao smiled and raised a brow. “Had my message woken you up?”
Ryouma coughed. “No. I was staying up.”
“I can imagine why,” Nanao said, gazing at him with humour in his eyes.
Oh. Oh. Was Nanao going to bring it up first? Ryouma was still a bit scared, but more hopeful than ever, gazing into Nanao’s eyes.
“I wondered how long it would take you to figure out the meaning of my message,” Nanao said instead, tilting his head.
“Geez,” Ryouma said with a breathless laugh. “The hydrangeas? It was so random. You couldn’t just say that you were here normally?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Nanao teased. “But anyway, you ran out here really fast in your pajamas to see me, I’m honoured.”
Ryouma flushed, looking down. He was indeed still wearing his orange pajamas. At least they were normal pajamas and not something embarrassing.
He met Nanao’s eyes again, taking in a deep breath. “Of course I came to meet you right away! You’re…”
The one I like. The one I love. My soulmate.
Ryouma wanted to say all of them, but heat flooded his cheeks and the words died in his throat before he could get them out.
After all, no matter how confident he was, there was no escaping the slight bit of uncertainty at the same time.
“I’m…?” Nanao leaned in closer. They were standing so close together that Ryouma could smell Nanao’s shampoo. It was dizzying.
But what was this? Did Nanao want Ryouma to say it first? Ryouma looked Nanao right in the eyes, staring into them, his heart pounding. He was too flustered, nervous to go ahead and say it first. But he couldn’t help but wonder if there was a small part of Nanao that also felt that nervousness, and that’s why he teased, trying to get Ryouma to mention it first? Did Nanao feel any sort of uncertainty as well?
His chest started burning, a deep fluttering sensation spreading throughout his body. “You’re my soulmate.”
Nanao leaned back, his inquisitive expression turning into a warm smile. He gently took Ryouma’s arm—the sleeve had still been rolled up—and gazed at his own name.
“That I am.”
It was difficult to discern exactly what tone was in Nanao’s voice, but it was warm. Perhaps, if Ryouma wasn’t being too full of himself, it was also proud.
He tried not to come across as too excited but it was almost impossible. “So…so… Wakura-senpai! Your arm is…?”
“Are you eager to see it, Ryouma-kun?”
Ryouma lost the reason he should pretend to not be eager. “Yes!”
Before Nanao even offered it up, Ryouma stepped closer and took his wrist in his hand, lifting his arm so Ryouma could see it better under the streetlights.
Right there, in neat, but not nearly as fancy as Nanao’s, characters, was his name.
Kirishima Ryouma.
He sucked in a breath. “Wow, it’s real. It really is real…”
Nanao laughed, but rather than teasing, it sounded fond. “Were you expecting it not to be?”
“I don’t know,” Ryouma answered. “Sometimes the marks aren’t mutual, I’ve heard…”
Nanao gently removed his arm from Ryouma’s grip and took his hand in his. “I didn’t need the mark to tell me where my feelings lie, though.”
Wow. Ryouma’s eyes widened. Was this… what Ryouma was hoping it was? His heart started pounding. But, there was one thing he needed to know first.
“But Wakura-senpai, it’s been ten months since your birthday! Why didn’t you tell me?”
Nanao lifted Ryouma’s hand so he was holding it with both of his. One clasping it, the other on top, caressing the top of Ryouma’s hand with his finger.
“First of all,” he said, giving Ryouma another smile, “I didn’t want to ruin the experience for you of finding out yourself on the right day, I didn’t want to take the anticipation away. Wasn’t it fun?”
Ryouma blinked. “I hadn’t looked at it like that.”
Nanao laughed. “And?”
“I guess you’re right,” Ryouma said. “There was nothing like it. The wondering, the anticipation, the hoping…”
“Hoping?” Nanao repeated, his face looking surprised for a moment.
“Yes,” Ryouma quickly replied, happiness and confidence overflowing. “I was hoping it would be you.”
Nanao made an expression just then that Ryouma had never seen on him before. He practically beamed, a light flush dusting his cheeks.
Nanao leaned down and kissed the top of Ryouma’s hand. “That’s the other reason I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want the marks to make you feel obligated to anything.”
Ryouma’s eyes widened, his stomach twisting. “Ob-obligated? No, no way that’s possible! I fell in love with you two years ago, so it has nothing to do with-” his voice dropped off, embarrassed as he averted his eyes, “-that.”
His face grew redder and redder the longer the seconds ticked on. Nanao dropped Ryouma’s hand. Shocked, Ryouma looked back up at Nanao.
“Wakura-senpai?”
He barely got a chance to see the kind of expression Nanao was making because he was leaning forward and kissing Ryouma.
Wow.
He had fantasized about what it would be like to kiss Nanao, but this was better than all of them.
Nanao smelled so good, and he tasted good too. He must have drank some fruity tea before coming to meet him, and Ryouma couldn’t get enough. Nanao’s hands were on the sides of Ryouma’s face, in his hair, and Ryouma’s hands ended up on Nanao’s waist, warmth and electricity exploding in his veins. The kiss… wasn’t chaste to say the least, and even though this was Ryouma’s first kiss, with how good Nanao was, it wasn’t hard to keep up.
But rather than anything else, Ryouma was focused on the warmth, the butterflies, the happiness overflowing around him.
And it was over what felt like too soon.
Nanao pulled away first, resting his forehead against Ryouma’s. Staring into Nanao’s eyes like this was a whole new way to steal more of his breath. It was intimate, it was warm, it made his insides feel like mush. Nanao’s feelings, which Ryouma could only guess at before, were shown clearly in his eyes this time.
“Wow,” Ryouma breathed.
“That good?” Nanao’s voice was just as breathless.
“Yes,” Ryouma said immediately. “Not… not that I have anything to compare it to. But, it was pretty great.”
And then his face started burning again. Why did he have to be so embarrassing?
Nanao chuckled. “I thought so, too.”
Neither of them made a move to back away quite yet. Ryouma quite liked this view of Nanao up close, this look into his eyes, even though it was making him extremely flustered. More flustered than he already had been, at least.
“About what you said before,” Nanao said quietly. “Me too.”
“Before…” What had he said before? His brain wasn’t quite working correctly.
“For me,” Nanao said quietly, staring into Ryouma’s eyes seriously. “It was pretty much love at first sight. So to have your name on my arm felt miraculous, like something I didn’t deserve.”
“Oh.” Ryouma blinked rapidly, his heart doing all sorts of things to him, but most of all, it ached. Because as happy as he was right now, they could have been together a long time ago.
But… he shouldn’t think of that. Nor the fact that the distance (not long, really, just a city over, but long enough) would hurt even more now.
“I’m happy. So happy,” Ryouma said, feeling like he might cry. He really, really might. “It felt miraculous to me too, everything.”
Nanao briefly kissed Ryouma one more time. “Ryouma-kun. My honey. My first love, my soulmate. When I start summer break, let’s go on a date. And then many more.”
Hearing Nanao’s sweet words to him was making him light-headed. Was this actually a dream after all?
“Yes,” he breathed. “Of course. I can’t wait!”
Nanao smiled brightly, stepping back. “I should let you get to sleep, now. We’re both still students, after all. But I’ll call you in the morning.”
“Y-yes.” Ryouma nodded vigorously.
And after another smile thrown his way, Nanao turned and walked away.
Oh.
Oh wow.
Ryouma didn’t know how he managed to get back to his house when all he wanted to do was collapse into a pile of goo on the sidewalk, but he somehow managed.
Nanao… he could still taste him on his lips.
He didn’t know how he’d wait until their first date.
But it was worth waiting two years for, he could wait two weeks.
Ryouma smiled, putting his hands on his hot face. Yeah, he didn’t think he’d be able to sleep after all.