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Ohse was thankful to be free of the humidity that clung to him at the beach; his frail build might not have been able to keep up with the others for any longer. The night was cool, the air motionless around him. It accentuated the liveliness of the festival and the way people were enwrapped in their individual conversations, their voices all blending together to create a low murmur that enveloped his ears comfortably. It was crowded, but not to the point of discomfort. Rows upon rows of stalls were illuminated by lanterns that strung themselves just above his head, and Ohse marveled at their warm glow. They perfectly lit up the night sky, which was painted with such a dark hue of navy that he thought he might get sucked in by its vastness. As they were in the city, there were no stars to watch over this occasion- and yet, Ohse could appreciate its emptiness all the same.
Ohse found himself enjoying the scenery so much so that somehow, he had managed to stray from his friends. Or perhaps, they had strayed away from him- they weren't exactly the most patient group, after all, and they must've thought it better to leave a worthless person such as himself behind. Despite his usual self-deprecation taking over, however, he decided to give into his selfish desires to search for them.
"Not here, where did everyone go…?" He talked to himself as he roamed in no particular direction.
His steps clicked against the pavement. Ohse thought about the geta on his feet, and the yukata which sat so comfortably on his body. He wondered how and when Iori had made them for everyone, but he supposed things such as spare time and resources were trivial problems to Iori.
Oh, Motohashi Iori. Though none of Ohse's housemates could be considered normal in the slightest degree, Iori was definitely the one who perplexed (if not intrigued) him the most. Always looking out for others, disregarding his own needs, considering himself completely empty inside: Ohse wondered how someone so committed to selflessness could even exist. They had shared the same sentiments about themselves, and yet approached their severe lack of self-esteem in vastly opposite ways. Ohse at least had his art to fall back on in cases of further spiralling downwards, but Iori? He had nothing to himself. No hobbies, interests, anything personal to himself, and it seriously affected Ohse when he found himself thinking about him too often at night. Perhaps he saw himself in Iori- perhaps he was projecting at times- but because of their indistinguishable similarities, Ohse felt a strange attachment to him. While he danced around interactions with his other housemates, scared of saying one wrong thing or the other, he found himself being entirely straightforward with Iori. Did his honesty come from the will to close the gap between them, or was it something more?
Ohse shook his head harshly. He stopped himself from thinking about Iori any further, or his cheeks might have burst into flames. The strange attachment made itself known yet again. He was unsure what his problem was, and why he was such a freak when it came to his friends.
Embarrassed by nothing but his own mind, Ohse swiftly turned the corner.
"We have to hurry, the fireworks will…"
Speak of the devil, and he appears- or in Ohse's case, his friend who ran through his mind slightly more often than what is considered a platonic amount.
Iori's attention was focused entirely at the stall in front of him, while he remained unaware of Ohse's sudden presence. He peered curiously in the same direction as him, and he noticed candy apples with a smell so sweet that Ohse couldn't help but savour it for a moment. He then called out to Iori with the same strangely fond nickname he always did.
"Oh… Io-kun?"
"Eh-"
Iori's eyes widened, and Ohse could swear he saw a flash of guilt in them.
"Is there something wrong?" Ohse asked gently.
"Ooouuahh! Nothing! Gee, I wonder where everyone went? I better go find them. The yukatas turned out pretty good, but the geta were a complete failure, huh?"
Worrying about others, as always, Ohse thought. Iori's voice wavered as he hastily spoke- he seemed desperate to get any words out of his mouth to fill the void. His nervous demeanour did not go unnoticed by Ohse.
"Your feet must hurt, I'm sorry. Stay right here, I'll go look for them." Iori turned, starting to walk in the other direction.
Maybe it was a little selfish of Ohse to want to keep Iori from the others, but he supposed he could grovel at their feet begging for forgiveness later.
Ohse grabbed his wrist, spinning him around to face him once more. "Wait!"
"Oh- what's wrong?"
He paused for a slight second, the mumbling of the crowd filling in the silence that followed. In that moment, Ohse mentally tossed aside all of his other priorities. His first and foremost goal was to get Iori something he finally wanted for himself- even if it would kill him to admit that to Ohse.
"...The candied apples."
"Huh?"
"You want to eat one, don't you? You were looking at them just now."
There was no use in Iori attempting to lie to him. The gaze of someone longing for something was one he was no stranger to, after all.
"Huuh? W- What do you mean?" Iori replied, his eyes now deciding to settle on anything except his friend in front of him. Ohse held his stare.
"Aren't you going to buy one?"
"No way. There's no time, I have to go look for everyone else."
"Don't worry about the others."
Another moment of silence followed, and the crowd spilled back into Ohse's ears. Of course, he knew that telling Iori to not worry about others was as pointless as trying to tell a dog to not worry about their owner abandoning them forever. He would still persist, however, in any way possible. Ohse would not give up on Iori.
"...I'm gonna go look for them."
"No! Buy the apples!"
He grabbed his wrist once again, dangerously inching close to his hand. At this point, he was almost glaring at Iori, as if he was daring him to challenge his own stubborn resolve. Would Iori have the guts to go against Ohse again, he wondered?
"O- Ohse-san?"
When it came to this man, all of Ohse's senses were knocked out of him. He was now acting purely on what he desired; he had eliminated all logical thought processes five minutes ago. Any other person would not believe this was Minato Ohse moving right now, but it seemed as though Iori could bring out a different side of him pretty often.
He grasped Iori's hand in his own, and dragged him closer to the candied apple stall. His hand was warm, if a little damp from nerves.
"W- Wha- Ohse-san! Hold on-!!"
Ohse glanced back ever so slightly, fearing that if he faced Iori fully that he would melt into a little Ohse puddle on the floor.
"If you don't want to buy them, then I'll buy one for you."
He let his hand drop from Iori's (whilst the irritating part of his mind complained ever-so-slightly) and reached over to hand his money to the vendor. As he spoke for a minute and claimed the two candied apples in his hands, he turned to find Iori bashfully glancing at the floor. Ohse handed him one of the apples, to which he hesitates before accepting it- although, Iori appeared as though he doesn't plan on taking a bite anytime soon. They decided to settle on a nearby bench; Iori still refused to look up and meet Ohse's eyes.
"O- Ohse-san, seriously…" Iori started, speaking with a hint of shame behind his voice. "I'm not sure why you wasted your precious money for this.
"It's not a waste. You wanted one, right?"
Ohse longed to find a way to reassure Iori that it was okay. Something, anything, to get it through that frustratingly thick skull of his.
"...You can give this to someone else. Thank you for the offer, but I really need to go find the others."
Iori then attempted to return the apple. Ohse, expecting this reaction, did not let his selflessness win, and wrapped his hand around Iori's- specifically the one that held the apple. He'd like to say it was a planned move that he thought out beforehand, but rather, it was Ohse finding that he desperately wanted to feel Iori's warmth on him once more… He cringed at himself.
Iori, unsurprisingly, jolted at this sudden contact from his friend.
"S- Something's gotten into you, Ohse-san… Is something wrong?"
A faint pink colour bloomed across Iori's face, making something within Ohse's chest twinge. He steeled himself once again- now was not the type for hopeless pining.
"You've put up with this piece of shit for so long, you deserve compensation for it. This is my apology to you."
"Now, stop talking about yourself like that again, you know it's no good-! No need for any fuss over an apology, Ohse-san. I simply cherish you and your wellbeing: seeing you happy and healthy is enough."
"...The same could go from me to you, Io-kun. If these apples will make you happy, I want you to have one."
At this moment, Ohse gently pushed Iori's hand back towards his chest, and rested his own on his lap. He had laced his words with the same deep concern he had always felt towards him, and hoped that the message would reach Iori in a way that mattered.
Ohse paused slightly, before being unable to resist tracing Iori with his eyes. His expression was distant, as though he was struggling to grasp the concept of Ohse's words. Iori's mouth opened slightly. Ohse prepared to listen- he'd always listen, if it was Iori.
"Oh, Ohse-san, I don't need to be happy. I am truly empty inside. A blank slate, if you will! Don't waste your energy on me, it's okay, really~"
"You're empty, and yet," Ohse forces himself to look away. "people will continue to appreciate who you are, as a person, all the same. Including myself."
They slip into a silence. A silence where Ohse is unsure of what his next move is, what he can do for Iori, how Iori react, wh-
A whistle pierced the air. Then, a burst of light shot through the sky. Sudden flashes had erupted, followed by more and more until eventually, it was all overidden by streaks of colour everywhere. Ohse's eyes didn't know where to focus. The cacophony of fireworks bombarding his vision was overwhelming, so he settled on trying to fixate on the small slivers of the night's darkness peeking through. The world was loud around him, but the steady evening gloom and Iori's presence was enough to keep him grounded. Ohse lowered his head- and he could swear, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Iori staring directly at him in something that might've been curiosity, or perhaps concern.
"Io-kun…" He had lifted his head back up at this point, but had yet to fully face him. "You focus on what me and the others want, but have you ever considered that what we want… what I want… is for you to accept yourself?"
Not wanting to linger on his previous statement too much, Ohse concentrated his attention onto his neglected candy apple. It made a loud crunch as he bit into it, its sweetness almost overpowering. They stayed in silence for what seemed like years, unmoving, perhaps both of them simply not willing to move. Ohse wondered if Iori enjoyed his presence today, or if he found him to be even more of a nuisance than before. Iori probably wanted nothing to do with him anymore, and he'd probably stand up and throw away the candied apple Ohse had bought him now.
He shrank down, slightly, before he heard a noise come from beside him.
Crunch. Crunch.
Ohse smiled.