Chapter Text
Dear Baji-san,
Baji,
Baji Keisuke,
Chifuyu groaned, tipping back in his chair. The paper in front of him glowed in the morning sunlight. Chifuyu almost wanted to wear sunglasses while writing. But he didn’t remember where he had put them, and he needed to focus.
Baji-san,
Chifuyu couldn’t focus. This was a terrible idea, but Takemichi had sworn up and down that if Hina hadn’t confessed to him first, he would’ve done this idea and that it would have worked. And Chifuyu trusted his friends. So.
Baji-san,
I am in love with you.
There. Perfect. Chifuyu sighed happily. It was a lot of work, but in the end he had succeeded. A true delinquent, if you asked him.
Chifuyu folded up the note, stuffed it in his pocket, and continued on.
—
It was easy to slip the note into Baji-san’s locker. Everyone avoided it, and Baji-san was doing something with Mikey today.
Chifuyu felt a burst of pride in his heart as he heard the soft thwip of the paper hitting the floor of Baji-san’s locker.
Class was a bore as always, but Chifuyu was diligent in taking notes for Baji-san in case he was studying something similar. Baji-san . Chifuyu loved him so much. He couldn’t even describe his love if asked, but it was like…
Like since he had met Baji-san everything had started to become a little happier. Like Baji-san made him want to become a person actually worthy of hanging out with him. Like he would punch anyone and everything if Baji-san wanted him to. Like he wanted to stare into Baji-san’s eyes for eternity and lay on the grass with Baji-san and feel his feet pounding against concrete with Baji-san and eat ice cream with Baji-san and cuddle Baji-san and do anything with Baji-san because Baji-san was a fallen angel who had landed on earth instead of hell and now you could see his broken halo every time he tied back his hair and—
“Matsuno-kun? Please don’t daydream in class. Now, can anyone tell me about nomological arguments…”
Baji-san was perfection. And Chifuyu couldn’t wait to see his reaction when he saw Chifuyu’s love letter. Would Baji-san blush? That’d be crazy… Maybe his eyes would widen, and he’d let out a shocked little breath.
Chifuyu sighed, leaning his head against his hand and looking longingly at the door. If only Baji-san would burst into class and drag Chifuyu away from this boring shit with his arm around Chifuyu’s shoulders. Then they could run around for the whole day without worry and ride on their bikes together and maybe even go to Baji-san’s apartment! A lovely day with Baji-san where Chifuyu wouldn’t even notice if the sky was clear or gray, and the buildings around them would just provide watercolor buzzing light and it wouldn’t even matter if it was cold or hot because Baji-san’s warmth was perfect.
“Matsuno-kun! Once more and you’ll be speaking to the principal. Okay, what’s an example of a invalid good argument?”
Chifuyu scowled.
—
“Chifuyu.”
Chifuyu spun around, a smile immediately on his face. “Baji-san!” Baji-san nodded at him. “How was class, Baji-san?”
“Fine. I hated it. Math.” Chifuyu vigorously nodded in agreement.
“Ah, well. I had Core, which I didn’t understand at all. We were learning about Logic, and it’s so weird, you know?” Words kept filling up the space in between them, a frantic energy to every syllable. What would Baji-san’s reaction be to the letter? Would he open his locker and— wait.
“Uhm… Baji-san?” Baji-san glanced over at him. “Aren’t we going to your locker?”
Baji-san glared at the floor. “Fuck no. There was a confession in there.” Chifuyu’s heart stopped for a good second. His mind spun. It was as if he had been punched in the stomach by words. Which was crazy. Either way he was reeling, his body filled with adrenaline, almost vibrating.
“...Oh?” Chifuyu thought his voice sounded kinda high-pitched to him, which was embarrassing.
Baji-san was silent as they walked on. A slight breeze blew through Chifuyu’s sweater, and he pulled his arms around him, looking straight ahead. There was a flower patch to his right, and a bee buzzed past Chifuyu. He thought that Baji-san might be looking at him, but he wasn’t sure.
“I ripped it up.”
“What?”
Baji-san cleared his throat. “I ripped the confession up.”
“Ah.” The previous chill from the wind was disappearing, replaced by a terrible heat in his eyes and a slowly spreading emptiness in his core. Chifuyu knew he should respond better. Maybe say ‘we’ll still be friends, right?’ or ‘I’m glad we have this out in the open’.
But how the fuck would he even be able to say that without crying?
Tears started collecting in Chifuyu’s eyes as he averted his head from Baji-san. He started walking away.
And Baji-san san didn’t even try to stop him.
—
The sky was so beautiful. It was as if Chifuyu was looking through a filter, because the sun looked so high up, and the clouds were about to choke him. All the plants looked greener than they usually did, though. Byproduct of gray light, Chifuyu presumed, laying on the ground.
“Chifuyu!” Chifuyu tilted his head in the direction of the voice. Ah, Takemichi .
“Chifuyu, wassup?” Takemichi stood in a weird-ass pose. His hands on the back of his head, and his legs spread far apart, so that Takemichi was shaking from the strain as he talked.
“Takemichi. … Takemichi.” Chifuyu screwed his eyes shut, wincing as colors burst behind his eyes.
“Oh fri—fuck. Oh fuck.” Takemichi slowly sat himself down next to Chifuyu, fidgeting awkwardly as he glanced around at the park. “Um… so, how’re you doin’?” Chifuyu groaned in response, covering his face. “Aw, dang—damn. Damn. So, uh. Did you get rejected? I mean that’s kinda what it looks like, to me. I know what rejection looks like. Not because I’ve been rejected a lot, Hina-chan’s the only one I’ve ever been with. But rejection can be really… fucking… tough. Yeah.”
Takemichi was being weirder than normal, in Chifuyu’s opinion. But Chifuyu was too exhausted to think about it. “Baji-san didn’t reject me… he just ripped the letter up. And why the fuck are you swearing so weirdly?”
Red slowly crept onto Takemichi’s face. “I—Well, you know. Swearing’s super delinquent-y. And I’m a delinquent. So obviously I swear. Fuck. …Shit.” Chifuyu smiled at Takemichi’s antics. “Wait a sec. Did you just say that Baji-kun ripped your letter up?” At Chifuyu's shaky nod, Takemichi continued, “Dude! That’s awesome! He obviously just didn’t like what you wrote! If he actually didn’t like you back, then he would have said so! Haha, Chifuyu, that’s not a rejection!”
Chifuyu’s mouth fell open. “Are you saying it’s just because I wrote a bad letter?” Takemichi nodded confidently. “Holy cow dude, you’re so right!”
Takemichi glowed from the praise.
“But, Mitchy, bro. What should I write?” Takemichi took on a serious pose, his face darkening as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Hmm… Well, just write what you love about him! If I had confessed to Hina-chan like that, I totally would have given her a note about everything I loved about her! And umm. Maybe a poem, too!” Chifuyu nodded in assent.
His friend was truly a master of romance. This was gonna be awesome.