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It takes Satoru a decade, he thinks, stealing a billionth glance at Suguru, to realise that perhaps he's been falling for his friend since day one.
It's only good that it doesn't take him another decade to do something about it.
—
Late spring is hot; the world knows summer is coming and it gets somewhat impatient, which Satoru fully understands, even if doesn't appreciate it. He wants spring to go on longer with its remnants of chill during late evening and with all the blooms that are not washed away with typhoons.
He peels his eyes away from the green trees and watches the dark hair in front of him. It looks impossibly warm in the sunlight. It makes him think of a lot of things. It makes him want to say a lot of things.
Satoru chews the words inside his mouth, biting on his lip, until he's somewhat confident about the phrasing, the tone, the intonation of what's on his mind. A rare thing for him to worry about, really. He doesn't try to catch Suguru's attention beforehand, he just finally opens his mouth and says:
"If you had to choose, would you rather kiss me or–"
"Or who?" Suguru's reaction is immediate; the tilt of his head, a moment of locked eyes, and then, he's looking away. Not from embarrassment, though; it was just a casual acknowledgement of Satoru speaking up while they walk to the park.
Satoru furrows his eyebrows.
"Or–"
It vanishes, the perfect choice he has just practiced to sound casual and, depending on Suguru's reaction, goofy or flirty. He grunts, like it's the world's fault.
Suguru looks back at him again and he dares to laugh at Satoru's face.
"It doesn't matter, really," he says, casual . His voice is of perfect tone, too, with perfect intonation, like he has practiced it more than Satoru did (but also like it is given to him the same way as the ability to both annoy and leave Satoru completely smitten ), "whoever's the second choice, I'd go with you."
He doesn't pause or give Satoru a wink or a smirk, or anything of such kind. He just walks on, even speeds up when he spots an empty bench they can sit on to eat lunch.
Satoru wants to fight him, and at the same time he also desperately wants to– to kiss him. He can't believe it took him some ten years to come up with this conclusion in full conscience and not just a fleeting thought of 'and-what-if'.
"Awfully confident with your choice," he says, plopping down next to Suguru and opening a can of grape-flavoured soda. "What if the second choice was some cute idol?"
Suguru lets out a puff.
"As if you'd put yourself against someone better than you," he says and the words unexpectedly hurt Satoru.
"So, what? It's just a choice of pity?" he asks, putting out the salty fire inside with a few big gulps of overly sweet drink.
Suguru shrugs.
"Not really? You are pretty cute when you shut up, so I guess that's that. You'd probably kiss yourself, given the chance, no?" he snorts at his own remark, and when Satoru glances over, Suguru's ears are getting red. Immediately it seems like the heat spreads to Satoru's cheeks, too.
"Oh shut up," he says because he's an idiot, and as Suguru's laugh fills his ears and his mind, the moment passes away.
He wishes Suguru said ' make me ,' and he wishes Shoko would appear out of nowhere to give them a look and call them disgusting lovebirds or something, so Satoru could laugh it off and watch Suguru roll his eyes, but not bother to disagree.
It's silly, but that's everything Satoru has been himself ever since realizing he's been actually falling for Suguru. Or maybe long before that. All those eyes, and he didn't see this coming, still.
"Kugisaki was complaining about you again, you know," Suguru suddenly says, a change of topic. Satoru glances at him and Suguru grins. "She said you're ridiculous."
"I brought them to Harajuku for ice cream and crepes," Satoru says in his defence. "How can any other teacher top that?"
Suguru shrugs.
"Apparently I can, when actually teaching them."
"Boo-hoo." Top me , Satoru thinks and fights the urge to slap himself for the thought. He gulps down a few more big sips of sugar in liquid form. "You know I teach them a lot."
"I do."
"So there's that."
"Mhm," Suguru hums. "There's that."
They stay silent for a little while, Satoru finishing his drink, and Suguru picking tempura pieces out of his convenience store bento box. He starts with the one he likes the least and goes all the way to his favourite kind. It's endearing in a way, even more so when Satoru thinks how Suguru is the type to know exactly what he likes and what he doesn't, and how every day this same Suguru chooses to spend the lunch break with him, like Satoru is his favourite tempura piece in the whole school. Maybe he is.
"What if we didn't stay here to teach?" he breaks the silence once his soft drink can is empty. He tosses it up and crushes it midair.
"You'd be starving because no one would care about your diet," Suguru says with a sigh and the next thing Satoru knows is a shrimp being forced into his mouth. "Eat this."
He eats it, and he shuts up again because what Suguru says is true. He'd be on his own, filling his stomach with sugar for a lonely breakfast, lonely lunch and lonely dinner. Kento or Shoko could possibly join him sometimes, but Satoru is pretty sure it wouldn't fill in the hollow feeling inside that he remembers a little too well. They never really got him the way Suguru does.
"Why do you think we became friends?" he asks, choosing philosophy for today's dessert.
"You want a serious or not-so-serious answer?" Suguru asks back as if he's been expecting the question.
"This time – serious."
"It's actually one and the same answer," Suguru lets out a little chuckle after amusing himself. "I think that was simply fate."
Satoru hums, but he doesn't laugh or tease, or call Suguru a sap.
He accepts it.
-
"The kings have their queens," Shoko once tells Satoru when they're in the first year of Jujutsu High. "You don't have to be alone at the top."
-
Fate has never been generous to Satoru. It has gifted him, sure, but the price he's been paying for it has made the so-called gift into more of a forced purchase which cannot be returned. He doesn't trust it anymore. He still accepts the gifts, but sooner or later, the bills for it always come.
"It's just a way of life, you're overthinking," Suguru tells him, a master of overthinking himself.
"Maybe I am, or maybe tomorrow I will walk to the vending machine and see it empty of strawberry milk drink," Satoru argues as he hugs the overly big plushie cat, which he's somehow won at the game center, closer to his chest. Future problems are for the future.
"Good, your body will thank you for it."
"Genius brain needs its sugar, alright?" Satoru offers cleverly and, after receiving a pointed look from Suguru, adds, "I see you don't have such a problem."
Suguru elbows him and Satoru laughs, and he forgets about fate for a while.
He's surprised he remembers the classes, and missions, and his own name, with how much time his mind spends on Suguru. He wonders if Suguru feels the same, and if the blushes creeping up his neck are meant for Satoru or if it's just the heat of summer night.
He wonders if Suguru's known all along.
-
"I'd kiss him right here and right now," Satoru says. "If he walked in this very moment."
"Shocking," Shoko retorts without looking up from her papers. Satoru grunts.
"You don't understand," he complains. "It's making me– ngh!"
"You've been 'ngh' to begin with," Shoko snorts and finally gives him a glance. "Honestly, you never realised you have a major crush on Suguru? Like, never in a whole decade ? I knew you were a special case, but clearly, I still gave you too much credit."
"I thought that's just friendship feelings!" Satoru squeaks in defence even if he has the same question for himself. For someone bragging to be the best, he really did poorly this time.
"How does it feel to make your students go through dozens of shitty romance movies for emotional training when you don't realise you have feelings for your 'one and only friend?'" She frowns at the words like they leave a foul taste in her mouth.
Satoru sighs, dramatically crossing his arms, "Touchè."
Shoko chuckles at that. She leans back into her chair and takes out a cigarette.
"I actually thought that you two have at least tried kissing."
"I wish–"
"What's stopping you now?"
Satoru shrugs, thinks for a moment, then shrugs again.
"Price for fate?" he finally remembers.
"Fate will give you a discount. Less work for it to do."
It makes Satoru laugh.
"I don't know," he says, starts something, then thinks again, and starts anew, "It feels complicated, you know? Like, I'm fine like this and telling something super direct feels overwhelming, but leaving it kind of sucks, too, because what if? I don't really see how anyone else could take his place, you know." He lets out a deep sigh, hoping that Shoko butts in, but she just listens while smoking, so he goes on: "Can't he just confess first? I'll gladly accept that, it's obvious , I even asked who he'd rather kiss and he chose me ."
Shoko grunts. She looks at the clock and then back at Satoru.
"What has stopped you from going on further then? If it's obvious."
Satoru flails around as he searches for reasons, "Timing? Change of air?"
"Cowardice?" Shoko offers and Satoru glances at her over his glasses frame.
"Let's not go so low, huh?" he says with raised eyebrows. Shoko gives him a look, crushes her half-finished cigarette and stands up.
"Maybe he feels the same," she says, placing her hands on Satoru's shoulders. It's been years, but sometimes she still seems not used to how his lean teenage frame grew into a whole man. "I have work to do and counselling you about love life isn't part of it. Go talk to Suguru, I refuse to get gray hair because of you two. Shoo."
"Did he also come to you?" Satoru asks expectedly as he allows her to push him through the door into the hall.
" Shoo ."
-
"You're obviously her favourite," Satoru says when Suguru receives a reply from Shoko with a sad emoji. "I just get ignored if she can't join me."
Suguru doesn't deny this, but Satoru doesn't want him to anyway. Both Shoko and he know that Suguru is higher up their list than each other. Be it the fact that he's the youngest of the three or because he's less rude, less loud and less obnoxious than Satoru himself. In their school years they've both thought of Suguru first as a friend, but of each other as classmates before anything else. And apparently, Shoko has always known Satoru's reason for spending more time with him rather than her. She has never seemed to mind, though.
His phone vibrates at the mention of Shoko with a message coming from her that says: you're welcome .
"We'll just go the two of us," Suguru finally says. "If you don't mind, yeah?"
"Alright," Satoru hums in agreement, fighting the little bubbling inside his chest. Should he take the opportunity and joke that it's like a date?
"Shoko is missing out on this awesome date," he says, inner discussion forgotten before it has even started, as he watches for Suguru's reaction.
"Her loss," he smiles and stops by the vending machine before going into the station. Wordlessly, he gets coffee and caramel milk tea which he hands to Satoru.
"We're still going all the way to Gotenba?"
"I have the place booked anyway, you two were supposed to be extras," Suguru explains. "I'd still have to go there for the job, so."
"So let's not waste time."
Satoru wonders if Shoko has suddenly decided not to go with them to leave Satoru alone with Suguru or because she actually is busy. It's probably the latter, but there's some embarrassing warmth coming to Satoru's cheeks at the thought that maybe she's trying to help him.
"You look like a school kid going on a first trip," Suguru comments when they get on the train and sit down.
"Never had it but I assume it feels similar."
He's grinning and it makes Suguru snort, which is a sight Satoru enjoys. Suguru might know this, he probably does, so at this point Satoru doesn't even try to hide his amusement and quite obviously, his fondness.
"You're staring," Suguru says, like the sunglasses were never on Satoru's nose.
"Not staring. Watching."
"I'm not a movie."
"That's right," Satoru grins wider. "You're better than a movie."
Suguru sighs and he pushes Satoru's face to make him look the other way.
A smile doesn't leave his lips, though, and that's all Satoru cares about.
-
He leaves Suguru to his job; some curse, which is on the list of Jujutsu High's preferable ones for Suguru to own, is bothering the neighbourhood, so it will be a double win that Suguru will easily take. Meanwhile, Satoru roams around the town, taking photos of Mount Fuji, checking for any small curses to get rid of as well as dropping by a few local candy shops.
Knowing Suguru, he will probably stay after to talk to people who have complained about the issue and get back only well into the afternoon. Consuming the curse sometimes takes a toll on his mood and well-being, so Satoru makes sure to grab some sweets, coffee and a cold noodle bowl from the convenience store just in case.
"All was well?" Satoru asks when he comes back to the hotel and sees a pair of shoes at the entrance. Suguru appears to have just gotten there, sitting on the floor and massaging his temples. He nods weakly.
"Sorry I'm no fun, it's sometimes so–"
"I know," Satoru interrupts before Suguru can relive the feeling of the curse orb going down his throat. "I got you some stuff."
Suguru watches him change into slippers and walk to the counter. He stands up before Satoru can come to him, but instead of taking the bag, he just rests his head against Satoru's back.
"Thanks."
Satoru would turn around and immediately hug him if not for the things in his hands. He takes a deep breath, places everything down on the counter and settles for simply reaching up to ruffle Suguru's hair.
"We can drop by the onsen," he offers. "Wash away the weariness."
"Yeah," Suguru hums. He reaches for the still half-full bag and takes out the noodle bowl. "Give me a second."
"Sure."
Satoru would give him millions of seconds, if he asked, but he takes only a few hundred to slurp his noodles and finish a can of coffee. Out of habit, the sweets he leaves to Satoru.
The onsen is right next to their hotel, so the walk is short. It's not crowded on a weekday, and once they soak into a bath, there are only a few elderly men in the further corners of it.
A pleased muffle comes up Suguru's throat when he submerges in the hot water all the way to his neck.
"I know," Satoru says even before Suguru speaks up. "Hot springs. Greatest idea mankind ever had."
"Not sure if I'd go that far but yes. And thanks for coming with me, otherwise I would have just stayed in the room."
Satoru gives him a look.
"Even thanking me? You must be really out of your element."
Suguru chuckles weakly, nodding a few times.
"Slip of the tongue," he says. "Now you'll gloat forever."
Satoru smiles wide, "Possibly."
Suguru rests his head back on the stones around the bath, and Satoru rests his eyes on him.
"You're staring again," Suguru warns him after a few moments.
"Watching."
"It's the same thing."
Satoru hums in thought.
"It bothers you that much?"
Suguru shrugs, the little ripples going around him. Satoru breaks one that comes his way with a finger.
"Feels like I should do something when you watch."
"Like what?"
Suguru rolls his eyes, then closes them.
"Like, acknowledge it. Act on it."
"Like, punch me?"
Suguru opens one eye, snorting.
"No, idiot," he says. "Like, send a wink your way or something."
"Ah, flirting Suguru, a rare sight," Satoru jokes, but the words go straight down his stomach. "Go ahead then. Give me a wink."
"No way."
"Oh come on."
"You're bothering the people around."
"I want my wink."
"Keep on wanting."
Satoru sighs, deeply, and sinks lower into the water.
"We should do something about all this," he says after a while and Suguru hums in agreement or maybe just in thought. He doesn't ask what is all that, but Satoru is pretty sure he gets the meaning. Satoru steals one last glance at Suguru's bare shoulders and wet neck, thinks about what it would feel like to touch it with his lips, and looks away to stare at the wall before closing his eyes altogether.
The darkness is somewhat welcome; reminding of Suguru's hair, it's calming.
-
There's a shitty drama on TV and Satoru doesn't know why but they get invested in it – perhaps a prime example of a coping mechanism for overworked minds. It doesn't help that the episode ends up with a cliffhanger, a dramatic moment between the main couple that is yet to get together. Checking all the boxes.
"They make such a big deal about the kiss," Satoru says the moment the ending song starts. He was watching the show lying on his stomach and propped up on his elbows, but now he rolls over on his back, with his head hanging upside down. "Just get over it."
"Of course they make it a big deal, it's a romance drama and it's a first kiss," Suguru says, tilting his head back against the bed frame to level eyes with Satoru. "Haven't you kissed anyone?" he asks, the laughter spicing his words, and Satoru pouts.
"Have you ?" he asks back because suddenly he doesn't want to answer, and because Suguru knows the answer the moment he voices out the question. The heat comes to Satoru's face, but he blames it on warm blood and gravity.
Who is the six eyes supposed to kiss? Whom he could let kiss him? He's got some fans and some possibly interested acquaintances, sure, but it's one thing to smile and flirt, and completely another to allow anyone, and himself, intimacy. From a young age he was taught that there is no space for friendship; relationships never even made it to the list. In all the years he’s lived there’s been only one exception to the rule and he’s looking at it now.
"Satoru, you know the answer," Suguru says a moment too late, with a sigh, like he's not proud of it, like it changes anything for Satoru.
But Satoru doesn't care who Suguru has kissed before, he can just wipe it all away. He's good at getting rid of unwelcome and cursed things, after all.
"I want to change that answer," he says, suddenly tired of joking and playing. He nibbles on his lip, weighing the pros and cons of crossing the line and wishing that everything was a tiny bit easier.
"Have you kissed anyone and thought of me ?" finally he asks, because he's cocky like that, because he knows Suguru like that, because–
Suguru takes a deep breath; he doesn't need to voice out his answer when it's written clearly in his eyes.
"What if it changes something?" he asks.
Satoru groans.
"I'm tired of what-ifs. Aren't you?"
Suguru chuckles bitterly, purposely not making eye contact with Satoru.
"I'll kiss you, alright," he says, his voice more mellow than usual. He shifts around then, places his arm on the bed and sits on his knees to align himself with Satoru. He locks their eyes, looks right into the frozen pools of blue, the gold melting them. For a change it leaves Satoru on the mesmerized side. "Don't use infinity?"
Satoru manages only a whisper: "I never do with you."
Suguru lets out a soft, content hum.
"This time it really matters."
And it does, because when Suguru leans over, his hair strands that have escaped the bun brush against Satoru's face and his fingers hold onto Satoru's chin to tilt it just a bit for his warm lips to press against Satoru's.
Perhaps it would be underwhelming if it wasn't Suguru who was kissing him, or if he stopped just at that, but Suguru's mouth doesn't leave him. He catches Satoru's lower lip between his teeth and Satoru easily follows, lifting himself up on an elbow and using his other hand to hold Suguru's face as they shift around before Satoru can stumble down. He's sitting up, pulling Suguru up too, until Suguru is kneeling on the bed instead of the floor.
"That's not just a kiss," Suguru comments against Satoru's mouth when they're dangerously close to lying down on each other. "We didn't agree on this."
"You want to stop?"
Suguru smirks and he kisses Satoru again, his tongue working on something else than forming words. He's everything Satoru has wanted; the blue, the red, the purple all at once. And he's more than Satoru has expected, at least when he straddles Satoru and pushes him back onto the bed. An image of his bare shoulders and wet neck flashes behind Satoru's eyelids. Satoru pursues the sight as he savours the touch.
With the next kiss, he melts into Suguru. And he thinks, this is what the actual limitless feels like.
-
"So what now?" Satoru asks, rolling on his side to look at Suguru who has just come back after taking a smoke. He plops down on his bed and looks at the ceiling. There's an ugly mark on his neck where Satoru sucked on the soft skin.
"You're greedy ," Suguru comments when he registers Satoru's eyes on his neck. "I still can't believe you left me with a hickey."
"Who else was I supposed to try it with?"
Suguru gives him a glare, but there's no anger on his face. "Just wear a turtleneck, it suits you," Satoru suggests.
"So you're just going to try everything on me?"
Satoru raises his eyebrows, "Are you offering yourself?"
There's a soft laugh escaping Suguru and a wave of relief washes over Satoru. Nothing has really changed between them. It's not exactly the same with the memory of Suguru's lips on his mouth and hands on his body, but there's no weird feeling hanging in the air.
"I mean," Suguru starts. "We've been dancing around each other for years, I suppose. Though at times I honestly thought you were just dumb or oblivious. Or not interested in general. Yet still charming in the most idiotic way."
"Pretty good summary," Satoru sighs. "It always sucked when you were with someone else, though. And then I just sulked and ignored whatever that meant for me, I guess."
Suguru snorts.
"You guess ."
Satoru snorts as well, then shifts to lie on his back again.
"Did it feel right?" he asks, in all seriousness, worried about the answer more than whatever he comes against while exorcising curses.
"Kissing you?" Suguru intones and Satoru can feel the confused furrow of his eyebrows at this question. "Yes," he says without any doubts and Satoru lets out a relieved breath. Suguru notices it and a tiny little puff escapes him. "Were you actually worried?"
"Talking to Shoko made me think about this too much. I guess."
"You guess."
"Did she– did you talk to her, too? Told her anything?"
Suguru inhales deeply before answering.
"Nope. But I don't think I had to. Why do you think none of my relationships worked out?"
Satoru thinks for a bare second before a sly grin appears on his face.
"Ah," he hums, full of content, and looks back at Suguru, "that's fair."
"That's unfair."
"And you never told me."
"Right back at you, smartass."
"I hinted with my who'd you rather kiss question at least. But also, I was worried," Satoru confesses before Suguru can comment, "that if fate brings us together, I'd still have to pay for it. Nothing comes at no cost. Sold out favourite drink scenario."
Suguru stays silent for a few moments. Then, he extends his arm to reach all the way to Satoru and gently pokes at his arm.
"Hey," he says with a beam, "don't give all the credit to fate. Fate might have made us meet and has already collected its' share of it in the past, but this ? We did this. By your logic, we only have to pay each other and we can decide on the price."
"I offer you myself," Satoru says, immediately, and Suguru laughs.
"Equivalent exchange, then," he says, and the look in his eyes is filled with so much fondness that Satoru thinks the gold might spill out.
"How are you real?" he suddenly asks. Suguru rolls his eyes.
"They had to send you someone stronger to teach you some humbleness."
"Like kings and queens," Satoru replies instead of fighting for the title of the strongest, and there's a moment of confusion on Suguru's face when he gets an unexpected answer. But then, he breaks into chuckles and his hand moves all the way down Satoru's arm until it reaches his palm. He grabs his hand and squeezes it.
"Right," he says. "Like kings and queens."
-
"I do not want the details," Shoko warns the moment Satoru waltzes into her cabinet. He grins.
"How do you know there are details?"
"You were pining so hard that a) you would have done something consciously or not, or b) I had some faith in Suguru, actually. He's too weak when it comes to you."
"Well, took him a decade, too. I'm not the only fool here," Satoru tries to defend himself, but it doesn't really work on Shoko. She just shakes her head in denial.
"He was pretty forward in the past, but you were so oblivious it kind of hurt to watch you two sometimes."
Satoru frowns, "Like what?"
Shoko takes a deep breath and leans back in her chair.
"Like him giving you his uniform button after graduation?" she starts, "Nearly made me gag. Always giving you the best pieces of food? Literally calling you cute or beautiful? Asking you – only you," she points at Satoru before he can interrupt, "out to most date-y places, like, the beach? Come on? Should I go on?"
Satoru stares at her dumbfounded.
"I-"
"Finally at a loss of words?" She reaches for her cup of coffee to wash away the sweetness the conversation has left in her mouth.
"I always thought that's just what best buddies do," he confesses, feeling the heat in his cheeks. Shoko raises her eyebrows.
"I've never done any of these with any of–"
"Yeah, 'cause you're mean–"
"Sure, sure," she lets out a snort, "anyway, glad it all worked out, but don't be annoying about it."
Satoru opens his mouth to agree, but changes his mind midway, "I mean, I can't really promise that, you know it."
"See, that's why–"
There's a knock on the door and then Suguru appears in the doorway.
"Hey, smoke break?" he asks and only then scans the room. "Ah, you guys are busy," he says and still walks in. "Hey, Satoru."
"Hi, Suguru ," Satoru nearly purrs and Shoko scowls, eyeing Suguru's turtleneck.
"I really need that smoke," she says as she stands up and gulps down the remaining coffee from the cup.
"Can I join?" Satoru asks and before Suguru can answer, Shoko drags him out the door.
"No," she says, but Satoru still follows.
-
As Satoru waits for Suguru for lunch, he thinks that everything went too easy. Principal Yaga did call them both into the office when he heard from the first years that their teachers are dating, but he only asked if they understand that it can't affect their work and responsibilities. Even as they were agreeing, Satoru knew that no matter his status with Suguru, if something were to happen to him, it would surely affect Satoru greatly. Principal Yaga was neither blind nor stupid, so he knew this, too; history is a good teacher, after all.
"What could possibly make you look so serious?" Suguru asks as he appears in the stadium. The second years are sparring for practice, but Satoru ignores it the same way he ignores his lunch sandwich with strawberries and cream.
"Was thinking about what Yaga said," he confesses as there's no point in hiding it from Suguru.
"Still surprised how easily he let this slide?"
Satoru hums in agreement, then lets out a deep sigh. He leans back against the upper benches.
"You think he's worried what if one of us was on the verge of dying again? Or actually died?" he asks, but it sounds more like just a voiced-out thought than a question. "Given our history."
Suguru laughs lightly, but it sounds too bitter for Satoru's liking.
"Strange as it sounds, I don't think it's his worry," Suguru says. "Or at least not anything he could prevent anyway. I think he's worried about what would happen if we broke up. Given our history."
Satoru snorts.
"Think it'd go bad?"
Suguru nods.
"At least Principal Yaga thinks so. I mean, Satoru, you can turn borderline crazy in certain situations, and I nearly left Jujutsu High and all my values behind over a failed mission. It could have gone very bad."
"But it didn’t. You stayed."
Suguru looks at him, his eyes soft and with a touch of sadness. "Yes, and you were literally the only reason."
Satoru smiles at this, but even he withholds from a cocky comment in this situation.
"We're not teenagers anymore."
"For better or worse," Suguru agrees, and Satoru feels a strong urge to embrace him as tightly as he can. For now, he settles for resting his head on his shoulder.
"You think we might break up?"
"I'd bet on not."
"Good," Satoru sighs, relieved. "Because I'm good at counting decades with you by my side."
Suguru lets out a puff and opens his lunch box.
"You're such a sap."
Satoru laughs, savouring the warm feeling spreading in his chest.
"Guilty as charged."
—
"Half a decade," Satoru announces, watching the rich green tree behind the window. Suguru grunts when he opens his eyes to the overly bright blue sky and then buries his face in the crook of Satoru's neck.
"Kudos to us," he says, voice hoarse from sleep. Satoru shifts his glance from the world outside to the world next to him. Suguru's hair shines in the morning light, smooth and silky even after the whole night. Satoru runs his fingers through it before Suguru can gather it up in a bun for the day.
"Still no regrets?"
Suguru's chuckle tickles Satoru's neck. He tilts his head to breathe but doesn't move away from Satoru.
"My only regret is that I didn't just straight up confess to you sooner. Annoying as you sometimes are, I can't help liking you."
"Sounds almost like a complaint," Satoru notes.
"It's not," Suguru says. "But I can make it up to you anyway," he teases, but true to his word, Satoru feels his hand on his stomach under the covers, going down to the waistband.
"First thing in the morning? Suguru, so generous."
Suguru hums.
"It's the weekend. And neither of us has any curses to hunt, so."
"At your mercy, then."
Suguru laughs, and Satoru closes his eyes, the pleasure seeping in at Suguru's touch.
"I'm crazy for you."
"I'm crazy for you, too. Have always been."
Satoru smiles.
It's good to have company at the top.