Chapter Text
Part 1
Kou Minamoto didn't know why the boy sitting in front of him chose to speak to him that early morning in middle school. The window near the timid boy's desk was open, letting in a sweet breeze that swept around a lock of pink hair that had escaped the back of his ponytail.
What was his name again?
The small boy shifted in his chair to face Kou, who was sitting cross-legged in his chair with a bitten pencil balanced in his fingers.
“I'm Mitsuba Sousuke.” the boy said. “I guess I'll be sitting in front of you.” He held out a hand to Kou.
Kou's words halted for a moment. He hadn't expected his classmate to turn and introduce himself. Kou hadn't spoken to him before, but he knew the boy was a shy person. Kou took his hand.
“My name's Kou Minamoto. Nice to meet you.” Kou noticed that Mitsuba's nails were very clean, almost like a girls.
Mitsuba Sousuke looked like he was going to say something else, but dropped his hand, opting to smile weakly at it instead as he fiddled. Just then, the teacher walked in and the lesson began. As the teacher lectured, Kou watched the back of Mitsuba's head. Most people knew that Mitsuba didn't stand out. He was seen floating around friend groups or chatting to the photography club member, but he didn't seem to have a place he slotted into. Kou guessed he didn't have many real friends.
After classes, Kou invited Mitsuba to sit with him and his other friends, Yokou and Satou. Mitsuba was painfully polite in conversation at first and couldn't look anyone in the face. But eventually, as they spent more and more time together, Mitsuba slowly got more comfortable, occasionally objecting instead of mindlessly agreeing, jumping in to stories to drop a snarky comment.
Kou didn't know why Mitsuba had chosen to turn around and talk to him that day they met, but he was really glad he had.
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“Jesus, jackass that's fragile.” Mitsuba groaned.
Kou was jogging to catch up with him at the school gate, oblivious to the way Mitsuba’s precious camera bumped against his hip. Kou gave an airy apology as Mitsuba snatched his camera out of Kou’s hand and pouted over its buttons.
“Christ Mitsuba, it's fine. You should be thankful I grabbed it for you after you left it on your desk.”
Mitsuba made a hum of annoyance mixed with appreciation as they began the walk home together. Since Kou had first become friends with Mitsuba, a lot had changed. Yokou and Satou had always been inseparable which led to Kou and Mitsuba becoming closer. Over the years, Kou quickly learned Mitsuba was not who he seemed. The apprehensive boy he had first met turned out to be a ball of cockyness and sarcasm. Kou had found something special in the way he gradually saw Mitsuba show his true colours over the course of their friendship. Deep down, Kou felt a sense of pride. He was the first person Mitsuba had chosen to show his true self to. It made Kou want to wrap it up and keep it like a secret gift.
Kou had always felt the need to be there for the people he cared about. If a close friend or family member had something that was bothering them, he wanted to be the person they came to, the person that could help them. Before his mother had died, she had always said that Kou loved superheroes. She had even sewn him his very own cape. He had worn it so often that the bright red fabric became closer to a faded shade of orange. Superheroes helped people who couldn't help themselves. Kou knew what it was like to be stuck on something that just wouldn't change. He was an exorcist, but he was nowhere near as good as his brother, Teru. No matter how hard he trained, how much he wanted it, Kou could never seem to catch up to his older brother. He felt like a cat scrambling to get out of a bathtub. A creature to be looked at with pity. So instead, when he saw how tired Teru was from training, Kou offered to take on the cleaning and cooking. When he saw how much it took off Teru's shoulders, Kou also took on babysitting their little sister, Tiara. It made Kou feel good. He felt like a superhero. He could be helpful to others, make them feel lighter. Even if that meant sometimes feeling heavier himself.
Kou and Mitsuba walked together. A lot of people questioned why they were even friends. One of them was earnest and friendly, the other was obnoxious and rude. Kou too sometimes wondered how he had become so attached to someone like Mitsuba. He sped up when he passed homeless people for Christ's sake! But Kou loved that there was always something more to know about Mitsuba. Like how he was deathly afraid of getting his skin caught in zippers or even silly things, like how much he loved it when Kou painted his nails for him. And the two personalities balanced eachother out. It wasn't as if Kou never thought bad of anyone; Mitsuba was just the one to say it.
“Your strap's twisted.” said Kou as he reached out to adjust Mitsuba's camera strap on his shoulder.
“Yeah, I got it.” Mitsuba mumbled and quickly turned away to fix it himself.
He'd been doing that alot lately. Kou felt like there was something forming between them, something he couldn't place, like trying to explain a sound to someone who hadn't heard it. At first, Kou thought something might be bothering him, so like always, he offered his help. But Mitsuba just shook him off, saying there was nothing to worry about and giving Kou smiles without looking him in the eye. It bugged Kou. Mitsuba's behaviour didn't make sense when they were normally so comfortable with each other. They stayed over at eachothers house almost every weekend. They watched TV together on a couch barely big enough for them both, forcing them to lean shoulder to shoulder and twine their ankles. They played crappy online horror games in which Kou would shriek and die while Mitsuba scolded him for being a dumbass. And Kou had always been touchy, but they were far past the point of it being awkward. One night after staying over at Mitsuba's house, Kou had walked into the bathroom to find Mitsuba with his hair down, fiddling with his hair pins. Without thinking, Kou had swept the hair up from the back of Mitsuba's neck and tied his hair up for him. Kou remembered how soft his hair was and how good it smelled. It also made his fingers and chest feel like they were tingling, but he chalked that up to a sensory issue, like how scraping a chalkboard made you feel funny.
And all of a sudden, Mitsuba had begun pushing Kou away. And he couldn't figure out why. If he couldn't figure it out then how could he be a good friend. He felt like he was failing.
The two boys had reached Mitsuba's house. They waved to goodbye and parted ways, but before Mitsuba reached his apartment block, Kou yelled, “Sleep tight, pretty boy!”, earning furious and cuss heavy insults being hurled at him from Mitsuba's mouth.
On the rest of the walk home, Kou thought about how Mitsuba had been acting lately. The way he'd shy away from Kou’s touch, how he had been wringing his hands when they talked or how he wouldn't sit as close to him at lunch. Something was wrong, and Kou wanted to help him. Kou always hated seeing people hurting, but seeing Mitsuba like this hurt him too. Somehow, it was more than a need to help him. When Kou thought about Mitsuba drifting further away, it made his throat go tight and his stomach feel leaden.
The first thing Kou did when he got home was fall face first into his unmade bed. Teru was picking Tiara up from preschool on his way home. Speaking of, he better get up and make them some dinner. At least he could help his family. Kou dragged himself up and cringed at the aching building under his temples. As he trudged his way into the kitchen, Kou decided he was going to figure out what was going on with Mitsuba. Because if he couldn't even be a good friend, what could he do?