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Shu grasped Mika’s wrist, holding it gently but tight enough to stop him from moving away. His fingers wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet, his tanned fingers a contrast against Mika’s pale skin. Two gem-like eyes looked back at Shu with tears cradling the bottom lashes. Pink pouted lips trembled. Shu traced his purple eyes delicately over Mika, who could barely keep his composure.
“Oshi…Oshi-san?”
“Kagehira, why are you on the verge of tears?”
Mika used his free hand to rub at his eyes, shaking his head in denial. He tried and failed terribly at smiling as the tears finally spilled from his eyes, trailing down his cheeks. A choked whine escaped his throat that was silenced as quickly as it escaped.
Under his grasp, Shu could feel just how hard Mika was shivering. Shu was not sure why Mika was crying nor how he could comfort him; other people’s emotions were a form of art that he struggled to grasp. An art form that slipped through his fingers no matter how hard he clenched at them.
Even though he had knew Mika for a while, his emotions were still too difficult for Shu to understand.
“N-Nothin’ Oshi-san!”
A blatant lie. Did Mika think that Shu was blind or something? Because Shu was far from blind and from where he was standing, he could count Mika’s wet eyelashes.
“Kagehira,” an order, a demand. Mika was doll-like, constantly agreeing to Shu’s demands no matter how unreasonable. Both of them were working on Mika and his tendency to become a passive doll. They were working on helping Mika gain enough confidence to decline requests, especially when they were unreasonable.
This was not an unreasonable request though and Shu wanted an answer. He would not stop until he got one.
“Oshi-san, I…” Mika hesitated, shaking his head. Green hair obstructed Shu’s view of Mika’s face. Then Mika stopped, staying still for a more moment with his head down. He contemplated for a second before he tugged at Shu’s wrist. Shu refused to let go.
Until Mika would tell him the truth, he would not let go.
“Let me show ya…” a defeated whisper, followed by another choked whine. While he wasn’t one to cry often, Mika was doing really well trying to keep his cries in control. If it had been Shu, he would have broken down or would have had another emotional outburst. Sadness never boded well with him; despite knowing how to keep all his emotions in check (perhaps except for annoyance), sadness was an emotion that Shu just could not control.
Shu followed his smaller unit mate, still making sure to keep a firm grip on his soft wrist in case he tried to escape. Mika brought him over to the self-project he was working on prior to him trying to leave the room with a cry.
Mika was constantly trying to improve on his sewing, with Shu often acting as his teacher. Mika had wanted to try sewing by himself for the first time; an extra outfit that he would use for practice. Shu often checked on him, proud of the good progress that Mika was making, however he held back any comments. This was, after all, Mika’s own project.
No matter how much he wanted to criticize, he would wait until Mika asked him to.
Taking a good look at the shirt that Mika was working on, Shu figured out what made Mika tear up. He had made a mistake in the sewing. Not just any mistake, but a particularly large mistake that was difficult to fix even for a professional like Shu. Most of the time, Shu would just redo it all from the beginning if he ever made such a mistake, but that was a rare feat since Shu was meticulous when it came to sewing. Plus, it was not a problem for Shu to restart something, even if it frustrated him sometimes.
However, he could understand why Mika was on the verge of bawling; his first project was suddenly ruined (well, it was only the shirt that got ruined but that obviously didn’t matter in Mika’s eyes).
“It’s ruined Oshi-san, I dunno how to fix it,” he sniffled.
Shu finally let go of Mika’s wrist and sat down in Mika’s seat. The shirt in front of him wasn’t ruined; Shu knew how to fix it. He motioned Mika to come next to him. Hesitantly, Mika crouched down and watched as Shu undid everything. It was a painstakingly lengthy process, one that took Shu 45 minutes despite his deft hands. Throughout the process, he patiently explained to Mika how to fix such a mistake.
If it had been a couple months ago; if Mika had started his project a couple of months before and had made a mistake, Shu would have probably turned his head away and huffed in disappointed annoyance. Luckily, just as Mika was becoming more assertive, Shu was learning to be patient especially with imperfect things.
He had progressed quite a lot.
Once he had explained the process of fixing it up, he asked Mika if he wanted to try. Mika shook his head, afraid of ruining it further but was extremely glad that Shu was helping him. They started talking about the outfit, with Mika finally asking for criticism and Shu providing it.
The fabric chosen could have been better, the colours didn’t mix that well due to their similar hues and the cuffs needed fixing. Other than that, it wasn’t bad at all. Mika did a wonderful job and Shu made sure to let him know by praising him on the positives of the outfit.
Mika flushed at his praises and almost tried to act humble. Shu managed to glare at him before he could even say a word; Shu knew that Mika knew that he only ever complimented people when they deserved it. All the praises spewed out of Shu’s mouth were honest praises and Mika, even in his flustered state, had to accept his truthful words.
When the shirt was finally fixed up, Shu gave it back to Mika. There were a couple of final changes the boy wanted to add, but the shirt was practically done. The pride inside of Shu swelled further as he saw Mika let out a giggle in delight.
They swapped places and Mika started working on finishing the shirt. His head loomed over the shirt and his tongue was stuck out in concentration, but Shu couldn’t tell because Mika’s green hair was messily draped in front of his face.
There was this strange urge inside of Shu, to run his hands through Mika’s hair. To feel it between his fingers, to pat Mika on the head. He held back and composed himself.
To ruin Mika’s concentration due to his silly temptation was a sin.
Maybe Shu could convince Mika to get a haircut. If his hair was shorter, perhaps Shu wouldn’t get the urge to feel it.
Keeping his thoughts to himself, Shu went back to doing what he was previously doing; trying to figure out what dress he should create for Mademoiselle. A spark of creativity hit him in that moment; he would create a blue dress with yellow trimmings. It would look perfect on her, matching her beautiful blond hair and her sapphire eyes.
Not only would it match her appearance, but it would also match the eyes of a certain someone.
Shu did not trust Mademoiselle with anyone due to her being an antique doll. However, despite his sometimes clumsy antics, Shu did not mind it when Mika held her.
By the time Shu had finished sketching multiple sketches of Mademoiselle’s newest outfit, Mika approached him. The shirt that he had sobbed over was in his hands, finally finished. Shu observed him as he handed over the shirt before his gazing eyes looked at the shirt.
It was far from perfect, but it was a good first try especially for a beginner like him.
“So Oshi-san?! D’ya like it?”
“While it could be better, for a beginner I must admit that it is quite good. Well done, Kagehira.”
Mika blushed once again, his face painting a lovely pink colour that Shu couldn’t help but trace his eyes over. Despite having seen Mika go pink in the face multiple times, there was something entrancing about it that made Shu muse.
A part of him desperately wanted to paint Mika when he looked like this. Capture his beauty onto a canvas and let the entire world see just how enthralling his unit mate looked. Another part of him wanted to keep Mika’s flushed look all to himself, even if Shu knew that it was wrong to be possessive over someone.
“Oshi-san, would ya wear this?”
A question that Shu did not expect and one that made him tilt his head as he thought about it.
“I would wear it once or twice, if it would make you happy.”
“Would ya wear matching ones?”
“Sure? Kagehira what exactly do you have in mind?”
“I wanted to make matchin’ practice outfits for me and Oshi-san! I only have my outfit done. I was wonderin’ if Oshi-san would let me take his measurements so I could create his outfit.”
A fond sigh threatened to escape from Shu’s lips, but instead he nodded firmly.
“Well then, I have no qualms against it. Make sure to use a different fabric though, the material you used in your outfit is scratchy and I would not be comfortable wearing it.”
“If it makes Oshi-san happy, then of course!”
Shu stripped most of his outfit off whilst Mika grabbed the measuring tape. The vulnerability that Shu felt at being half-naked made him uncomfortable, but it was quite stupid for him to feel that way. There had been numerous times when Mika had seen him half-naked (even naked, once, but they both refused to even acknowledge that time happened for the sake of Shu’s sanity) and likewise, Shu had seen Mika half-naked multiple times too.
Warm hands pressed against Shu’s body as Mika measured him. He shivered under his touch, strangely craving more. His shivers went unnoticed by Mika, which was good. Very good. Shu did not want Mika to question why he was trembling.
Or perhaps Mika did notice, but for the sanity of Shu, he didn’t ask why.
It only took a maximum of five minutes, but by the time Mika was done, Shu could feel how red he was. Mika either seemed to continue to not notice or else he continued to ignore whatever Shu was going through, because he did not question why Shu was so red. He didn’t question why Shu changed so fast, when usually he would take his time to dress slowly in order to not wrinkle his clothes.
By the time he got fully dressed, Shu’s blush had finally calmed down and he could look back at Mika, who was smiling like an idiot.
“Thank ya Oshi-san! Gonna start on yer outfit now! Then we can match when we go out on a date!”
Shu nodded before taking a double take.
“Date?! Kaghira what do you mean?! Aren’t these meant to be practice outfits?”
They certainly looked more like practice outfits anyway, if Shu had to judge by the shirt only.
Mika chuckled out loud, skipping away with a mischievous grin, “Oshi-san already gave me his measurements! Ya can’t back out of this now~”
“Non, Kagehira I do not accept this!! Wait!”