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It starts abruptly, which doesn’t shock Kusuo anymore.
Nothing is ever slow with Touma, and they suppose they like it this way. When the rest of the world is slow on the uptake, Touma is direct and to the point, a refreshing quality for Kusuo. Hell, Kusuo doesn’t even think Touma understands the concept of slow.
It starts abruptly, with Touma showing up at Kusuo’s house at 3 p.m. on the dot, as he has been for the past week or so, to watch horse races and silly variety shows. Kusuo’s learned to keep an extra portion of every sweet thing in the house to avoid having to split their own share with Touma.
Then, Touma, not even two steps into the household, states as a matter of fact, "This is our one-week anniversary."
"Huh." Kusuo frowns in response, raising a brow and cocking his head. "Good grief, where’d you get that from?"
"We’ve been dating for the past week, Kusuo-kun." Touma smiles meekly, not even faltering as he kicks his shoes off, using the fluffy guest slippers, and runs up to Saiki’s room. "I thought we were both aware—I certainly read that from your body language—you’ve been—"
Kusuo has learned to tune out Touma’s words. They know the other takes no offense to it, understands that sometimes his words are nothing more than spilled alphabet soup, and that Kusuo has a hard time keeping up with both his words and thoughts when their ring isn’t on.
"And you’ve taken to calling me Touma rather than Akechi, a notable deviation from your regular behavior."
Touma has languidly plastered himself onto Kusuo’s bed as though it were his (the idiot hadn’t even taken his coat off, Kusuo noted sourly) and was already comfortable within the room in a way that Kusuo isn’t sure they’re comfortable with.
Good grief… What had they gotten themselves into this time?
"—a relationship with me." Touma finally finishes, turning over on his side to face Kusuo, who was sitting on their chair.
"Right." Kusuo projects, rubbing at their nosebridge in exasperation. "I’m not asking any other questions."
"That’s wonderful, as I do believe I’ve covered every necessary detail in regards to our relationship here," Touma remarked, pleased. "Do you mind bringing our cakes up?"
Kusuo stands up without another word, teleporting away and flitting back with two chocolate cake slices in hand. If this is what dating Touma is like, they suppose it’s nothing different than usual. And the usual is good.
It starts abruptly, with Touma coming most days. Kusuo’s mom couldn’t be more pleased. She’s grown to expect the blonde boy for dinner, setting aside plates, meals, and desserts specifically for him. The one night in which Touma couldn’t come, she caused a fuss, insisting on Saiki using their powers to track them down and bring them over. (Touma had been eating at his father’s house.)
It starts abruptly, with Kusuo glancing around their room and realizing that it had somehow become infused with Touma’s presence. A few plushies on the bed (Kusuo found themselves frowning as they realized they knew each plushie by name and backstory), Touma’s math textbook cracked open on a specific page on their desk, sticky notes adorning the walls with reminders and lists, coats that Touma left and claimed to have forgotten about Kusuo realizes that half of the laundry their mom brings back to the room is Touma’s stuff.
They find themself smiling at the realization. Embarrassing.
It starts abruptly, with what seems like a twitch in their eye.
"Kusuo-kun," Touma stated. sounding both amused and concerned. He wants to make fun of Kusuo. Nothing new there. "Did you just try and wink at me?"
"Funny." Kusuo rolled their eyes, then again. Twitch.
Touma notices. Because he’s Touma, and he notices everything, and now he’s leaning in close, observing Kusuo’s purple eyes behind their green lenses.
Secretly, Kusuo’s pleased to see the other lean in so close to observe the things that had turned him into stone for hours. He was unafraid of Kusuo, despite knowing what they were capable of.
"There doesn’t seem to be any eyelashes in your eye," Touma frowned. "Look up for me?"
Kusuo complied.
"Hm, perhaps it’s due to your excessive caffeine intake." Upon noticing the way Kusuo rolled their eyes, he quickly added to his statement, "I saw you grab those coffee jellies, and don’t think I didn’t notice all the Cafe Mami receipts in your bag. If not caffeine intake, ah, perhaps it’s—"
Kusuo blinks. Then they blink again. And again. And again. Touma looks cute like this, they realize, the blond haired boy leaning into their space, eyes wide, hair tucked behind his ears, a look of conplete and utter focus on his face, and—
Ah. They understand now. They blink again, and Touma groans in realization.
Touma’s eyes widened, looking horrified at his own realization (one that Kusuo was sure to be ridiculous, as most Touma-isms are): "Blepharospasm is a rare condition that causes your eyelid to blink or twitch. You can’t control it. This is called involuntary blinking or twitching. The twitching is caused by a muscle spasm around your eye. Kusuo-kun, this is a very serious affliction! Serious reasons might include neurological diseases. Blepharospasm affects women more than men. It may run in families."
"Good grief, it’s not—"
"Symptoms of blepharospasm include repeated, uncontrolled eye twitching or blinking. The twitching often happens when you are overly tired, stressed, or anxious. It can also happen when you’re exposed to bright light and sunlight. It might get better when you’re sleeping or concentrating on a task." Touma suggests, raising a finger in the air as though he’d just made the discovery of the century.
Before Kusuo could even fathom responding, Touma started up again.
"The uncontrollable twitching can become worse over time. Eventually, you may feel as if it’s difficult to open your eyelids. As the condition progresses, your eyelids may be closed for several hours at a time. Spasms can develop in your face as well.
"Touma," Kusuo spoke carefully, "If you say one more word about my eye, I’m taking my glasses off."
Touma paused. Well, excuse my concern!" He huffed, "I would describe this as a pure and utter betrayal on your part—shame on you, Kusuo-kun! I hope you’re aware that I’m greatly disappointed in this behavior. Ah, if only your friends were here, I’m sure Nendou would—“
"Don’t bring Nendou up." Kusuo rolled their eyes. "He shows up if you mention his name too often; he’s like Betelgeuse."
Touma gracefully takes the topic change, delving into the history of Betelgeuse. But he doesn’t let it go.
It starts slowly, with the twitches turning into long blinks, turning into periods of time where Touma would catch Kusuo looking at him so intensely that it would scare him just the slightest bit. It creeped him out even more when he realized that Kusuo was blinking, they were just blinking in a manner that was so inhumanely fast that it wasn’t visible to the normal eye.
"Is this a new ESP ability?" Touma joked, "Am I going to melt from your gaze?"
He’d meant it as a joke but thought about it too intensely, and the thought of Kusuo shooting lasers into their eyes had frightened Touma so much that Kusuo paused and had to double check that Touma was not about to wet their bed.
It starts slowly, the way Touma quietly eases off questioning, instead choosing to stare back when Kusuo gets into their bouts of blinking. He always smiles back at Kusuo’s stone-faced expression, cheeks glowing pink, eyes alight with an expression that Kusuo can’t easily identify.
It comes to them later. (It's love that they can see in Touma’s eyes—pure and unadulterated love seeping out of his pores—and Kusuo finds themselves in awe of the boy they had somehow found themselves dating.)
It starts slowly, and Kusuo finds that they’re not keen on ending it. Touma is pleased by this.
"Ah, Kusuo-kun—I’m well aware that this isn’t your favorite topic of conversation, but seeing as it is our one-year anniversary,"
Kusuo has learned how to balance the whole thoughts and words issue they’d had with Touma months before. They’ve found that blinking as they take in the information makes it easier. Touma takes no offense to it and understands that it’s another thing that is easy and quick to adjust to.
"I’m remarkably pleased to know that you find me pretty. I will admit that many times I’ve gone out of my way in attempts to impress you, and I’m glad you noticed. I find it quite adorable, though you may find it to be embarrassing on your end."
"Good grief."
(Touma, like on many other occasions, figured out the mystery of Kusuo’s eye problem abruptly, directly, and without much of a fuss.
"Can I ask why Teruhashi-san’s beauty has never phased you?" Touma had softly asked on one of those nights where the thoughts in his head ultimately overpowered the ones in his heart, one of the nights where Kusuo found it easier to follow Touma’s head over his mouth.
"Beauty," Kusuo answers after a second of thought, "sometimes is only skin deep."
Teruhashi is beautiful inside and out. Kusuo hears the thought in Touma’s head before he can open his mouth to speak it.
"Not as beautiful with x-ray vision," Kusuo says in his explanation. As a matter of fact, "I can’t control it. If I look at something too long without blinking, the vision penetrates the skin. I need to blink to reset it, to see people normally."
Touma never asks. Kusuo wouldn’t need to remove their germanium ring to read the question plaguing Touma’s mind.
“I don’t care about what you look like.”
It’s a non-answer. Touma understands it all the same. It means, I love you for more than what I see. It means, perceiving your physical attractiveness is not high on my list of priorities when it comes to loving you. It means, my feelings for you run deeper than the way you look.
It means I love you even if all I can see is your skeleton, I love you because I can see the exact way your heart skips a beat whenever I smile at you, I love your skin, I love your fat, I love you down to your bones, I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you more than you could possibly believe.
“I love you.” Touma says.
“I know.” Kusuo responds.)
"Ah, Kusuo-kun, we’ve been dating for a year now! I don’t suppose that this is still a matter that needs to be tread lightly on! In fact, this is something we should discuss more often! It’s very important to acknowledge the manifestation of our feelings for each other in every way, shape, and form, don’t you agree?"
"I’ve seen you digest your food in real time."
"No, you haven’t."
"It looks like you really enjoyed those instant noodles yesterday; I can see them in your large intestine. Also, there’s a bathroom down the hall.
"Kusuo-kun, we’ve dated for long enough. This is where I break up with you."
It starts abruptly, like the way Touma explodes in laughter at his own joke. Kusuo hides their own smile behind their hand. Like many other things, Touma is quick to notice this.
It starts slowly, the way Touma eases his hand into Kusuo’s hold. Kusuo doesn’t think they’ve ever moved as quickly as they have in order to squeeze Touma’s hand back.