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High school senior Isagi Yoichi knew one thing for sure: he was hopelessly in love with his best friend.
He had known Bachira Meguru since they first met in a junior soccer league at the tender age of seven. Given their shared love for the sport, it was only natural that they grow close: from weekly sleepovers to play-dates, they spent every waking moment with each other. In fact, it was their insistence on proximity that led Isagi’s parents to agree to let him attend middle school and high school with Isagi – his school district did not place much emphasis on sports, but Bachira’s did, and they felt better knowing that their only son would enter an unfamiliar environment with his best friend by his side.
Upon entering middle school together, the duo expanded their little friend group to include four more guys – Chigiri Hyoma, Kunigami Rensuke, Mikage Reo, and Nagi Seishirou. From then on, it was the six of them against the world: they hung out at coffee shops together after school to do homework together, expanded their weekly sleepovers to include all six of them, and were generally inseparable.
It was at one of these coffee shop study sessions – just the two of them this time, as the others had bailed – that Isagi realized how royally screwed he was.
Isagi and Bachira sat in a booth at their favorite coffee shop – Blue Lock – and worked on their Physics assignments together. Bachira angrily slurped his caramel mocha.
“Ugh,” Bachira groaned and put his head on the table.”I hate physics. Why can’t we just play soccer for a living, Yocchan?”
Isagi chuckled at his friend’s antics. “It’s not that we can’t, it’s that it’s rather unlikely for us to be able to start on the path to professional athleticism at this point, Meguru. Besides, we still need to get through high school before any of that.”
Bachira groaned again, perching his head in his hands and sighing. “I guess you’re right.”
Isagi laughed before looking up at Bachira again. “What did you get for the normal force for problem 2?”
And then he stopped, because he was met with what was probably the most endearing scene he would ever witness: Bachira’s head was turned, and he smiled at a corgi waddling on the sidewalk. His golden peekaboo highlights shone in the sun, and his eyes softly met those of the corgi.
Bachira had no business being as adorable as he was in that moment.
“Something wrong, Isagi?” Bachira had turned back towards him now, light eyes shining with mirth as he gazed at his best friend. Isagi shook his head and smiled.
“Nothing at all. What did you get for the normal force for Problem 2?”
And they continued. Isagi shoved down the burgeoning realization that he might have a thing for his best friend.
When Isagi ran into Chigiri and Kunigami later, he recounted the experience to them. Chigiri stared at him for a moment before deadpanning:
“Dude, you just noticed this?”
Isagi’s face burned as Chigiri cackled. Fuck you, Chigiri.
“You kind of always have your eyes on him, dude. It’s hilarious that you just realized you were staring.”
Isagi sputtered.
“I do?”
That seemed to do nothing but send Chigiri into another peal of laughter. That little shit...
“Man, how oblivious can you be? We all thought you knew you had a massive crush on him.” What.
“I do not!”
“Sure, Mr. He’s-So-Beautiful-In-The-Afternoon-Light,” Kunigami pitched in. “You sound just like me before I realized I had a thing for Chigiri.” I do? Isagi thought.
“I’d never really thought about it.” And then he made the mistake of thinking about Bachira with anyone else and found himself filled with the urge to roundhouse kick everyone around him. He groaned.
“And now I have. Maybe you’re right.” Chigiri started cackling again, and even Kunigami let a couple of chuckles out.
“We’ll leave you to it. You know where to find us if you need any advice.”
Fuck you, Kunigami. Fuck you, Chigiri. Fuck you, Bachira. His face burned. Never mind. Fuck you, brain.
Fuck everything, because Kunigami and Chigiri were right. And fuck everything, because what were the chances Bachira liked him back?
Isagi found himself noticing more of Bachira’s features, like his simultaneously sharp and soft face, the faint freckles that dotted his cheeks, and his long eyelashes. His laugh, his happy dance, and the way he sipped at his coffee during their study sessions also caught his eye.
His best friend was beautiful, afternoon light and otherwise. And Isagi was hopelessly and madly in love.
Fuck.
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Now Isagi had to grapple with his urge to read more deeply into every interaction with Bachira – and with his body’s tendency to adopt the hue of a cherry tomato whenever his best friend was close by. (Chigiri found his pain hilarious . Sadist.)
He recalled one particular moment during their friend group’s weekly sleepover (Isagi begrudgingly wondered how the hell his parents were ok with their high school-aged son having weekly sleepovers at his friends’ places when he really should be preparing for college exams) when he had to leave the room because of his best friend’s flustering antics.
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“Yocchan!” Bachira cheerfully climbed into Isagi’s lap, disregarding any and all personal bubbles as he usually did. Isagi, trying to hide his embarrassment, rolled his eyes.
“Bachira, we see each other every day, and you do this almost every time we have our sleepovers,” he softly pointed out. Bachira pouted.
“But you’re so warm and comfortable, and I like giving you hugs!”
Isagi couldn’t protest after hearing that.
During their sleepovers, the group either baked together or watched movies sitting on their couches. Sometimes, they dabbled in typical party games like Truth or Dare, but they found that they had trouble coming up with inventive questions and provocations after a while and that the game got boring rather quickly. And sometimes, during midterms and finals seasons, they treated their sleepovers as giant group study sessions.
This time, they opted to watch a movie – it was Bachira’s turn to choose, and, ever the clown, he decided to subject the group to the monstrosity known as Joshua and the Promised Land.
“ Why would you make us watch this?” Reo groaned and pantomimed tossing popcorn kernels at the screen. Nagi hummed in assent.
“Because it’s a classic !”
“In what world is Joshua and the Promised Land , a free movie you can find on YouTube, a classic?” Reo protested again. “How does that make any monetary sense?”
Isagi shushed the others.
“It’s his turn to choose, so let’s watch the movie. Maybe after this we’ll all be brain-dead enough to have to make ourselves focus on our work.”
“Simp.” Chigiri nudged him and snickered when Isagi turned to glare at him. Bastard.
And that’s how they ended up sitting on Reo’s giant couch (seriously, the man was loaded) watching what was quite possibly the trashiest movie of all time. Bachira, of course, decided it was prudent in this situation to clamor into Isagi’s lap for more hugs. Isagi couldn’t help being endeared as well as a little annoyed, but at least Bachira’s head blocked the television screen from him so he wouldn’t have to watch more of the awful animation.
He was also grateful for the darkened room because his face felt like it was on fire – Chigiri was rather amused by his plight. Isagi silently cursed both Bachira – while he normally loved his best friend’s penchant for physical contact, it was the last thing he needed to be dealing with upon figuring out that he had a crush – and Chigiri for what felt like the hundredth time that evening.
The movie couldn’t have been over fast enough, especially because it contributed to Bachira’s final decision to leave Isagi’s lap. (But he also missed Bachira’s presence there? Crushes were seriously weird.) However, Isagi was exhausted, so he found himself retiring to his futon much earlier than the others.
He wished he could have experienced authentic surprise when he woke up to find Bachira clinging to him, tangling their legs together as he slept.
He had it bad.
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Bachira seemed to ramp up the intensity of his antics during their one-on-one hangouts. From grabbing his hand to randomly tackle-hugging him to making him lunch, Bachira seemed to revel in the opportunity to treat Isagi like his boyfriend.
Wait, do I even know Bachira’s sexuality? Isagi realized he didn’t with a start. What if he was just a really enthusiastic straight man? He had to know, and so he found himself bribing Chigiri with a week’s worth of coffee in exchange for the information.
“Dude. He’s the fruitiest fruit to ever exist. There is no goddamn way that man is straight,” Chigiri snorted before agreeing to ask just in case.
“According to him, he’s pan. He doesn’t care about gender in the slightest,” Chigiri reported to him when they next met. Isagi did not want to know how Chigiri had proceeded to obtain said information, but he was grateful nonetheless.
“ Thank you , Chigiri!” Now he could flirt, guilt-free.
And thus began weeks of planning on Isagi’s part as he attempted to formulate the perfect way to hint to Bachira that he liked him and wanted to be his boyfriend. Unfortunately, however, every way he came up with was too cliche in his eyes.
Maybe I should combine them? Bachira loves physical touch, but I don’t know if I can handle that at this moment.
The last thing Isagi was expecting, however, was to essentially blurt it out the next time he saw Bachira.
The two sat together in their English classroom as they waited for class to start. Bachira had reentered the days of Rainbow Loom bracelet-making, it appeared, so he fiddled with the rubber bands as he attempted to make an excessively vibrant bracelet for himself.
Isagi found it adorable.
“God, you’re adorable,” he mumbled. Bachira’s head snapped up, a faint blush coating his face as he stared at Isagi. He smiled quickly, attempting to cover up any signs of his flustered state.
“Aww, thanks Yocchan! You’re rather cute, too,” he teased. Isagi’s face felt like a Northern California wildfire. He wasn’t quite sure of how to respond, and so he just gaped at Bachira.
Did I say that out loud, or was that just some freaky coincidence? It’s happened before with Bachira. Bachira smiled back comfortingly.
“You said it out loud.” He returned to bracelet-making. “You know, you should say it more often. You’re cute when you blush.”
What.
Isagi had to resist the urge to kiss Bachira right then and there.
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Weeks more of what he hoped was flirting continued, as they hung out one-on-one and shared milkshakes, walked home under a single umbrella, and initiated physical contact with each other much more often than they would otherwise. It was, quite frankly, nice, and Isagi enjoyed the more frequent displays of affection, whether or not they were romantic in nature.
Isagi also continued to call Bachira cute in pretty much any setting. Sometimes he said it laughingly, and other times he said it while caressing the latter’s face as they lay in the dark during their sleepovers and tried to fall asleep. (They both failed).
Isagi also began carrying Bachira around much more frequently, as the latter would randomly jump onto his back or into his arms. He also got used to Bachira’s random “cuteness aggression” episodes, where he would playfully bite Isagi after he said something nice.
Isagi, quite frankly, didn’t know what to make of their new relationship, but he was determined to find out.
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Bachira and Isagi were hanging out in the former’s bedroom when they had The Conversation.
“Why do you call me cute?” Bachira asked as he flopped on his bed. His golden eyes gleamed with curiosity, and Isagi had to resist the urge to stare.
“I don’t know, you just look cute,” he responded quickly. “I like your new bee clips.” Bachira beamed, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Aw, thanks, Yocchan! It’s sweet of you to notice.” Isagi paused for a moment – he looks like something is bothering him – before deciding to ask.
“Did I do something? Your smile looks strained.” Bachira hesitated.
“I don’t want to screw things up,” he murmured, averting his gaze. Now Isagi was curious. He lay down next to Bachira, perching his head on one of his hands as he faced his best friend.
“No matter what, even if you killed everyone else on the planet, screwing up our friendship is impossible,” he whispered, tucking a lock of Bachira’s hair behind his ear. Bachira froze, staring at the hand before leaning forward himself.
“Is this ok?” He asked when he was two centimeters from Isagi’s face. Isagi closed the gap.
And now they were kissing. It was pretty clear neither of them knew what they were doing, especially since they kissed tentatively, but they could tell exactly what the other was feeling simply based on the kiss. It was remarkably transparent, and therefore it was reassuring. Isagi pulled back.
“I don’t know if this was what you were going to say, but I like you. A lot. And I’ll always be on your side because you’re my best friend. You could never screw us up, Meguru ” he breathlessly admitted. Bachira teared up.
“I like you, too. You were my first friend, and I don’t want to lose you. I can’t imagine a world without you, Yoichi.”
“Well, you won’t have to.” To prove his point, Isagi reached forward, wiping tears off his best friend’s face and holding it in what he hoped was a tender manner.
And then Bachira lunged forward, hugging his best friend with everything he had.
“Just to be clear, you meant romantically, right?” And Isagi laughed.
“Idiot. Of course.” And he silently thanked the caramel mocha Bachira was drinking that day, Chigiri for dealing with their antics, and Bachira himself for being him.