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The bird outside the window was staring at him. Daichi didn't know why a tiny, fluffy simaenaga would be cocking its head to get a better look at him, or why he was even so sure that the bird was doing something that needed a reason, but without a doubt, the gray fluff ball had been focused on him the entire math class. He shot it a puzzled frown, since he understood quadratics plenty well enough that he could take a second off from the teacher's lecture...
And he could've sworn the bird blushed, then turned away to peck at a branch like it was pretending it hadn't been looking at him. Now he had to be imagining things. Birds couldn't blush. They had feathers! He didn't even know if they had the kind of blood vessels in their bird faces that'd let them blush if the feathers were gone. And that wasn't even getting started on the part where the bird was apparently doing that flirt thing where you stared until the person looked at you, and then you pretended you'd never been looking. What the hell? And now it was even checking back over its shoulder...
No. Absolutely not. Sawamura Daichi absolutely refused to start imagining that a fluffy bird smaller than his hand had just started flirting with him. That was stupid. And weird. And also stupid.
"Sawamura-san?" the teacher called from the chalkboard. He was offering a piece of chalk and an unfinished problem. "If we're not interrupting you, of course."
"Yes, sir," he answered, and ignored the giggles from the rest of the class. Math was a lot less confusing than flirtatious simaenagas.
~//~
"Do simaenagas even live in this area?" Daichi murmured. The bird was back again, for the third time, and this was just getting odd. It was definitely the same bird. He'd gotten to know the little twist of feathers on top of the feathery dude's head that looked like a cowlick (although he wasn't sure birds could have cowlicks), and the tiny dots of darker feathers in his fluffy, gray ball of a body. It was the same bird every day, made extra odd by the fact that their school's rotating schedule meant he had math class at a different time every week.
Next to him, Asahi looked as confused as Daichi felt. "What are you talking about?"
"The bird outside the window. It keeps..."
(flirting with...)
"... staring at me."
Asahi's eyes went wide, and he whipped toward the window -- where, of course, the bird was now pecking non-chalantly at... whatever birds peck at on trees. He wasn't the world's expert or anything.
"Daichi-san, are you feeling okay? Do I need to take you to the nurse's office? It's... just a bird. Doing bird things."
Daichi laughed it off, because what was he supposed to do? "I'm fine, don't worry about it! I'm sure it's nothing!" But no sooner had Asahi looked away than Daichi found himself making eye contact with a fluff butt bird again, and this time the bird didn't look away. It was just a bird, he kept telling himself, but it looked like a dare.
For a moment, he very strongly considered going up to the window and murmuring (quietly enough that the class wouldn't think he'd lost it), "If you want to talk or something, meet me at the convenience store at the bottom of the hill after school."
But that would be stupid. Even stupider than assuming a bird was staring at him. Because, supposing it did understand him and show up, that probably wasn't any normal kind of fluff butt bird. It'd be kind of terrifying.
So if course the most terrifying possible thing happened. The bird chirped, bobbed its head, ruffled all its feathers, and flew off.
Had he just made a date with a telepathic demon simaenaga? That didn't seem safe.
~//~
By the end of the school day, he'd decided to go. Call it curiosity. Call it a desire to prove to himself that none of this had actually happened, and it was all in his head. Call it anything but being terrified that if he stood up the demon fluff ball birdie, he would face dire consequences from beyond the beyond. Whatever his reason for showing up, he walked straight down to the convenience store when his last class let out, and was oddly relieved when there were no adorable puffs of feathers dancing around on the stoop. There was an incredibly hot guy feeding coins into the vending machine outside, with pale hair and the kind of eyes you could drown in, the sight of whom momentarily made Daichi forget what he was doing or why he'd come here, but no birds.
Were collarbones like that even legal? Wow, hot. Geez.
He realized he was staring when the other boy looked back with a smirk. Failing to fight off a blush, Daichi shot his eyes away and...
Studied the incredibly interesting empty umbrella stand, apparently. Could he be any more of a dork? If he talked to the hot guy, was he going to be able to make words? Would he get cursed by a jealous simaenaga demon? Was his breath even okay after having curry bread for lunch?!
Was he seriously thinking about picking up a random hot guy in front of the convenience store? Well, now that the hot guy seemed to be throwing him a glance and a smirk, he was definitely thinking about it. But first Daichi looked away for a second, trying to act natural. He was here to meet a bird, after all. A cute, fluffy--
Wait. No he wasn't. He was here to prove to himself that the bird wasn't telepathic, and there was nothing wrong with introducing himself to a freaking gorgeous stranger in the meantime, especially when the stranger seemed to be relaxing against the vending machine with some possible intention of letting himself be introduced to.
But just as Daichi was trying to think of something to say besides, "Hi, come here often?" something caught his eye. Well, the corner of his eye, anyway. When he looked straight at the hot guy, he seemed normal enough, but whenever he was in the periphery of Daichi's vision, he could've sworn he saw wings hovering around the young man's back. Big, human-sized gray wings. It was official. This had to be a dream. None of this was real. And he was not going to make a dick and/or a fool of himself by hitting on the gorgeous person who may or may not have been there, and may or may not have had wings, while he was reporting for what may or may not have been a date with a simaenaga who was either a perfectly normal bird and thus probably not here, or a telepathic demon, and what was he even thinking?
He needed coffee. He definitely needed coffee. Daichi walked into the convenience store and bought the blackest coffee he could find on the shelf from the surly punk behind the counter and took a nice, big swig before he walked out the door.
Right into the incensed face of the aforementioned hot guy who may or may not have had wings, and was now blocking his path back to the road. "You're leaving?" asked Mr. Gorgeous, whose voice was ... cute. It suited him somehow. "I thought you wanted to talk, Daichi!"
"Well, I... I did, but I th-- Wait. How do you know my...?" While the hot guy's frown deepened, Daichi noticed a few... little details. Like the cute cowlick on the top of the hot guy's head. And a couple dark moles on his fair skin, in a pattern he remembered all too well. Only the last time he saw that pattern, it was made of feathers. "You have got to be shitting me," he murmured.
"Get out and shut the damn door!" yelled the shopkeeper. "You're blocking traffic!"
Daichi didn't even resist when the hot guy pulled him by the jacket and sat him down on the umbrella stand. "This is why all my friends kept telling me, never date a human! They're thick! Find yourself a nice sun god, Kageyama said, sun gods are great, give up on the dirt dweller!"
"Wait, we're dating?"
"Well, not yet! And believe me, you're going to have to get your act together first!"
"But I don't even know your name!"
"My name? You want to know my name now? I didn't say we were married! I can't tell you my name, and certainly not in public. Honestly, Daichi. But I suppose you can call me Suga for now." The blush on his cheeks as he looked away was just so much like the way he'd thought the bird had been blushing through his feathers. But it couldn't be. It just couldn't.
"Did Tanaka tell you to do this?" Daichi asked. "I mean... I don't know how he got the bird to act so well, or made the dark spots, or guessed where I'd--"
"Nobody told me to do anything except you! You wanted to meet me here, so I showed up! What's so hard to understand about this?"
"But you can't possibly be that bird. I mean... look at you! You're not a bird!"
"Yes I am! I transform into bird shape whenever I want!"
"I don't believe it. It can't be possible."
"I can transform, and I'll prove it!"
"Wait, what?"
Before the words were even out of Daichi's mouth, there was a burst of light, and where a gorgeous young man had been standing, nearly in a rage, not moments before, a tiny gray puffball was now batting his wings to stay aloft and swooping back and forth through the air. Daichi let out a stunned chuckle. This was really happening. And the bird had alighted on his shoulder to peck him in the head.
"Don't laugh! That's rude, Daichi. I am adorable!"
Coffee. He was definitely going to drink all this coffee, as fast as he could. And then he was going to set about getting acquainted with a good looking bird, because why the hell not? If this turned out to be a dream, at least it was a good one.
"And at least I like the taste of coffee, since I can hear you planning to kiss me," Suga sniped.
Daichi didn't even regret nearly choking. This was fine.