Work Text:
"Nanamiiiiiii!!!" The long yell echoes out across the training yard, causing two teenage boys to turn towards it automatically, both mutually pausing in the middle of their training session.
"Nanami, look, Haibu is calling for you!" Yu points out unnecessarily, waving with his whole arm as their fellow first-year runs up to them. Nanami grunts, sounding disinterested, but Yu knows that's just an act. If he didn't want to see what Haibu wanted, he would have immediately demanded they continue training. It doesn't take long for Haibu to reach them and once she abruptly stops in front of them, she grabs onto her knees with a dramatic cry, trying to catch her breath.
Used to this, Yu simply smiles. "Hi, Haibu!" he greets with enthusiasm. She looks up and shoots him a smile, even as she pants loudly, her short curly black hair sticking to her face where it isn't being held back with a yellow headband.
"Hey, Haibara!" she says happily. Once she gets her breath back, Haibu straightens up, beaming. "Nanami, Nanami, look I found the perfect one for you!" She sways towards Nanami, who leans back slightly in the face of her excitement.
"I told you that you didn't have to do that, Haibu-chan," Nanami says, sounding vaguely disgruntled as he is wont to be; though the fact that he is still standing here is telling all on its own.
"I wanted to!" Haibu chirps back, her yellow rounded sunglasses flashing with the light of the sun. Unlike Gojo-senpai's, they're clear so you can still see her dark brown eyes.
"What are we talking about?" Yu asks, wanting to be involved. Two heads swivel to look at him, as if forgetting he was there while they had their back and forth. Yu doesn't mind; the two of them have been dancing around each other for a while now. Or well, Nanami has. Haibu, on the other hand, has been pursuing Nanami with such a single-minded focusedness that Yu is amazed Nanami hasn't noticed yet.
At the reminder, Haibu starts snickering as she drags her large oversized black sweater up, high enough to expose her compression shorts underneath. Nanami, pointedly, looks away. Yu doesn't bother, knowing that Haibu hardly cares.
Though he has always been curious about who, exactly, allowed her to use a large sweater in place of their uniform jacket.
She whips out her white DS, absolutely covered in pokémon stickers, posing with it in a flourish. "I told Nanami that I'd name a pokémon after him, and I finally found the perfect one!"
Immediately, Yu is onboard, crowding towards her with his fists raised up. "You did?! What is it, let's see!!"
"Hehe, you're a man of taste, Haibara!" Haibu says gleefully before opening the DS up and clicking some buttons before turning it around for both boys to see.
Though Nanami hasn't said anything, he joins Yu in leaning closer to get a better look at the screen, which makes Yu smile.
Seeing the pixelated sprite, Yu lets out a loud laugh. "Aw, it's a Scyther! That's a great pick, Haibu!"
She beams, wide and proud, the beauty mark in the center of one cheek moving up with the force of her smile. "It is, isn't it? What do you think Nanami? It evolves into a Scizor, do you know what they look like?"
"No," he answers back, still staring. Yu's aware that Nanami doesn't know a thing about pokémon, somehow. Honestly, it's surprising that they're even having this conversation. Nanami isn't really interested in video games, Yu has come to find. However, he can totally imagine Haibu catching Nanami in conversation, going into some long-winded explanation of her game that ended in her volunteering to find one that resembles Nanami, all without much input from the teen himself. It's definitely the type of thing she would do.
"It's a slicing bug!" Haibu explains happily. "It reminded me of you with your blade. It'll be even cooler when it evolves—it turns red and instead of blades, his claws are more rounded. Kinda like how you blunt your knife with the cloth! Oh, and it becomes a bug and steel type, isn't that so neat!?" She smiles wide at Nanami, feet shuffling slightly in the dirt as she waits for his verdict.
Yu is also curious about how Nanami will react, nervousness swarming in his stomach even if he's only a bystander. Sometimes, Nanami is very callous and doesn't understand when Haibu is looking for his approval or praise. This feels like another situation where he'll say something thoughtless and Haibu will leave looking dejected. He winces at the thought before Nanami even replies.
There's a noticeable pause as it seems like everyone holds their breath before Nanami speaks, "I see," he says slowly. "It's, uh, thoughtful. Thank you, Haibu-chan."
Haibu cheers, jumping up and down with excitement and Yu nudges Nanami with a large smile, though Nanami looks like he doesn't understand why they're both so ecstatic.
"Haibara." Haibu's tone is suddenly deadly serious as she straightens up and he freezes automatically. "I need you to trade with me."
"Oh," he laughs a little, rubbing the back of his head. She scared him for a second! Luckily, that's easy to do. "Yeah, no problem! Say, which pokémon would I be?" He points to his face. "Pick one for me!"
She hums thoughtfully, eyes taking him in for a moment before looking down at her DS and presumably clicking through her boxes.
"This one," she says turning it around and Yu eagerly presses closer to see.
"A Chingling?!" he says, aghast. "Why did you pick that?! I should get something cooler!"
Haibu shrugs, unapologetic. "You're always smiling, it fits."
Before Yu can react, Nanami's voice interrupts them, "Can I see?"
Quickly, Haibu hands him her DS and he looks over the pokémon thoughtfully. Yu knocks his shoulder against Haibu's, leaning down so they're almost the same height. She does it back and he knows they're waiting for Nanami to pass judgment, his word in this matter final. If he agrees with Haibu, then Yu will officially be a Chingling for the rest of his days. He begs in his mind, Please Nanami! I'm should be something else, right??
When Nanami looks up Yu reflectively shoots him a smile, before his eyes widen with panic. Maybe he shouldn't have smiled?! Wait, Nanami no, don't—
"It suits you," Nanami says, and Yu groans as Haibu does a victory dance.
"You see, I'm the best at this," Haibu says, voice smug. She holds out her hand and Nanami gently places the DS into her palm. Yu thinks he might see their fingers linger a second too long, but it could just be wishful thinking on his part.
Yu makes a face. "That's not even its final form!" he complains.
Haibu sticks out her tongue at him. "You're just a poor loser. Sorry you give off happy bell energy, that's not my problem."
"What would you be, and our senpais?"
She squawks. "That's so many! I don't have the whole dex yet!"
The three of them walk towards the school—training all but forgotten—two embroiled in an impassioned argument about which pokémon their senpais would be, while the other idly listens, likely not understanding most of what they're saying.
Yu finds himself wishing that days like these would last forever, where it feels like life pauses for a moment, and they're free to just be kids for a while. He knows it won't last; the career they've chosen means they'll have to grow up faster than they ought to. But he hopes that they'll still be able to find pockets of time like this, ones where they can laugh and make memories together.
Memories of good days that will last them through the bad ones.