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“You know..” The dark haired student spoke between sips of his drink. His uniform reaped normalcy, with a few wrinkles in his dress shirt and a tight tie and properly worn blazer and slacks, “Yagami, Ishida. You guys are really close to each other aren’t you?”
From across the table, Yamato’s jaw stiffened and his eyes fell flat. There it was. The small thoughtless comment that could be said a million different ways and it wouldn’t matter in the end. It was always some observation made by a new acquaintance. Some run of the mill gab like ‘You guys are really good friends’ or ‘You two really like each other don’t you?’ There have been a few times when someone went bold and said ‘Are you guys gay?’ or 'What the hell that's really gay you guys!' No matter how it was said it made no difference, because Taichi would always react to it the same exact way.
Yamato looked toward his left to see Taichi and his…glory. Taichi was busy chewing his large bite of food, processing what their classmate across from them had just said. Taichi’s brown eyes remained a neutral tone, that is, until the realization dawned on him. With a loud gulp he swallowed down his food, his eyes now glowed with a new brightness shining with a mischievous glint in the corner of his eye.
All of which made Yamato roll his own eyes and silently groan to himself.
“Ah well, what can I say?” Taichi boasted, pushing his food aside and slinging his arm over Yamato’s shoulders. Yamato flinched, hard, visibly frowning as he was dragged out of his personal space and into Taichi’s bubble, “Of course we’re close to each other. After all, I love him~~”
Yamato grimaced. His annoyance was obvious as he was tucked against Taichi’s neck at the contorted angle. Not this shit again.
Yamato was a simple person of simple tastes. He preferred the quiet of the night. The soothing melody in his headphones. And on occasion, the companionship of a friend. Unlike Taichi, who always tried to insert a cheap joke into everything. Always always ALWAYS, Taichi tried to ruffle Yamato’s feathers, and needless to say it usually worked. Taichi loved to laugh at everything that bothered Yamato off with a carefree attitude and a loud smugness in his tone. So getting the chance to both make himself and another person laugh PLUS the bonus of irritating Yamato off, it was a win-win for Taichi and the arrogant brunet knew that fully well.
Some time ago, Taichi got into his empty head of his that it’d be funny to act gay whenever faced with this situation. How he got to thinking that was beyond Yamato’s comprehension. He just knew that any time someone made a comment about their close regard with one another. Taichi would suddenly be all over him making sick smooching sounds with a glossy shine in his eyes and a hearty mocking laugh. It was a cumbersome habit to deal with.
Well, all was not lost yet. At least Taichi didn’t—
“Neh? Yamato-chan~” Taichi’s whimsy didn’t let up. As he looked toward his best friend with a sneer in his eyes, his smug smirk wet into big fishy kissy lips, pucking up close to Yamato’s face.
—Nevermind. He did it. Bastard.
Yamato’s scowl was ominous as it was icy. Naturally he didn’t like being dragged into Taichi’s stale childish joke. He didn’t like it the first time, he didn’t like it the other fifty times Taichi got wrapped up in his antics. Times like these Yamato wish he had gotten a few more hits to Taichi’s face back when they used to settle their fights with fists.
If he resisted and tried to deny Taichi’s (mock) advances, then Taichi would just up the ante and get bolder with his joke and try even harder for the sake of an extra laugh. Once, and one time too many, Taichi continued his onslaught of wet puckering kisses until he wound up climbing onto Yamato’s lap. Yamato had to yell at him to get him off, and everyone around them noticed and couldn't stop staring. Another time Yamato had stayed silent with a disapproving scowl which Taichi then labeled as Yamato’s mad face. And according to Taichi, the only way to cure Yamato was to ‘hug the smug away’ and Taichi proceeded to crush Yamato’s ribs in with a extremely tight hug.
So far all of Yamato’s attempts to make Taichi stopped have failed. He supposed he could reasonably tell Taichi just how much it bothered him, but that would have to be done when it was just the two of them. There'd be no way of getting out of this situation in this moment in time.
With shifty eyes, Yamato took the chance to glance back at Taichi’s expression. A decision that instantly angered him. Seeing Taichi look so amused with his devilish smirk and his childlike eyes just irritated Yamato.
He had to do something. But what would get Taichi to let go of him and his ugly mug out of his face?
…Well. Might as well try something he hasn’t already.
“Come on…Taichi,” Yamato cleared his throat part of the way through. His tone was light, well, light enough for someone else to believe that he was messing around. To match his act, he plastered on a playful smile, his eyes casting down seemingly coy, “That kind of stuff should be done in private. Not public. You know that.” Yamato tacked on a small chuckle. Chuckling was more ‘fun’ than grinding his teeth and spouting out angry death threats.
The small tension in Taichi’s eyebrows. It was brief, but Yamato noticed it. It was the tell tale sign that Taichi had an initial plan for an event, and something unexpected made him reconsider and toss it aside.
There was no going back now.
“Yamato I love you sooooo much, that I just can’t contain it all!!” Taichi the method actor exaggerated as he leaned against Yamato’s side, cupping him upside his left so that Yamato had no room for escape, “Why should I have to hold back any way! MY love is uncontrollable!!!” Taichi made another smooch sound effect. This time earning a small laugh out of their classmate. Yamato could practically see Taichi’s ego start to inflate.
The act Yamato was trying to put up was gone now. He didn’t have the internal strength to pretend that this was remotely normal and okay with him. Anything that let Taichi laugh off like nothing was wrong just spelt instinctive rebellion in the deep recesses of Yamato’s heart. He wanted to make Taichi feel (or even better yet understand) the discomfort he was feeling right now. He wanted to do it in such a fashion that it’d actually get Taichi to feel a little bad for being pushy and shut him up for a while. At least one little victory in their fighting rivalry that they enjoyed as a friendship.
Yamato couldn’t think of any last ditch plan. All he could think about was Taichi’s borderline narcissistic insistence. His arm clamped around him like a predator and his mouth mere inches away from his face. True to Taichi’s nature, he was obviously joking in his posture and tone. But there was a streak of challenge in his eyes. The kind of challenge that read ‘so what are you going to do about it?’ the kind of challenge that Yamato knew that he should ignore. But he wasn’t a big enough person to turn away from such a brazen dare.
A flash thought without real merit flashed as priority in Yamato’s mind. If that’s what Taichi wanted. Then fine! That’s what he is going to get!
Without so much as a second thought, Yamato turned towards Taichi. Before Taichi could have a chance to react and retract, Yamato went ahead and took Taichi’s ‘offer’ and kissed him lightly on the lips.
It was a small peck. A small pressure between the two boy’s lips really. But it was obviously there, and even after Yamato backed away a second after it happened, the lingering feel was still on the surface of his skin.
Their classmate in front of them was now sitting there with his mouth hanging open, utensils loose in his hand as he kept shifting glances between Yamato and Taichi with disbelief and ‘omg’ written all over his face.
Yamato tried his hardest not to turn red himself. He tried to act as if he could just brush it off and pretend it was no big deal. Internally he was screaming. He was caught up in a blustery gust of wind that circled around and around in a vortex of embarrassment and self regret. But he stomached all of that down so he could retain a cool exterior.
Yamato cleared his throat again, turning around to look at Taichi to see what trick the brunet had in store. He wasn’t sure what to expect. Taichi with his mouth open ready for a new slew of teasing and jokes. Taichi getting mad and slamming on his fists on the table. Whatever it was…it sure wasn’t this.
Taichi was blushing so hard that his cheeks looked like they were radiating heat. His eyes were wide, just like his mouth. His fists were clenched and on top of the able. But he didn’t move a muscle. Gawking in pure shock, Taichi was practically frozen until he slowly stuttered out, “You–you just!” Taichi looked away. His arms had the same consistency as jelly as he covered his face with his hands and slouched forward into the table, “That was my first kiss you idiot!!”
Yamato couldn’t hold back his own redness when he realized that the same applied to him as well, “You kept saying that you wanted one sooo bad. So I obliged! There you go!” Yamato stuck to his guns and tried his hardest not to backpedal.
“I was just joking!! I didn’t actually mean it!”
“Well maybe you shouldn’t joke about such things!”
“I didn’t think that you’d take it that far!”
“You kept pushing me to take it that far!!”
“What am I going to tell people! That my first kiss was with a guy that tried to kill me cause a cherry tree told him so!”
“Hey! You said you’d stop bringing that up!”
“I don’t care what I said! I’ve been compromised! Violated! I’m no longer innocent!”
“You were never innocent to begin with you idiot!”
“I want to crawl in a hole and never get out!”
“Well!” Yamato closed his mouth before shouting up again. He retreated downward in his seat, “That makes two of us…” Yamato ran his hand over his face, muttering something inaudible underneath his breath.
The classmate that was sitting across from them looked back and forth between Taichi and Yamato. Absentmindedly he drank empty sips from his drink, as if that’d diffuse the tension that was thick in the air, “Uh…I think I’m gonna–”
“Yeah you should probably go,” Yamato finished for him.
“See you later I guess,” Taichi politely added on.
“…Yeah,” The student gathered up his things as quick as he could manage. He muttered out a bye with a quick wave before disappearing off toward the classrooms that Taichi and Yamato would eventually have to get back too.
Taichi and Yamato barely uncovered their eyes in their few moments of silence. Taichi stared off at the edge of the table. Yamato at the ground. Both of those things sounding more tolerable than facing each other as is.
“So what now?” Taichi grumbled.
“Think we could try to act like this never happened?” Yamato retorted.
“I’m serious Yamato.”
“Well I don’t know! What do you think we should do?”
“I’m not sure either.” Taichi leaned back against his seat, letting the hard plastic dig in his back as he puffed out a lengthy sigh, “But,” Taichi rolled his head over to face Yamato again, “I’ll stop bugging you like this for sure.”
“…Good.” Yamato stared back at Taichi and nodded.
He got what he wanted in the end. A way to make Taichi stop pressuring him in a situation for the cheap joke of acting ‘gay’ that in of itself made this entire ordeal worth it.
He paid attention to how Taichi was still tapping his foot on the ground and how his cheeks were puffed and his jaw tight. Seeing him flustered like this made Yamato feel a small cheer of victory. No wonder Taichi always liked pushing Yamato’s buttons, it was amusing being on the opposite end of the treatment.
For the time being he could just leave this as that. Knowing the two of them, this would come up again sometime soon. It’d be a joke that was too sensitive for Taichi until time passed and he told it regularly to people over and over again. Just like any other initial awkward moment between them.
The fresh memory of the inherit softness of Taichi’s lips replayed in Yamato’s mind.How he could feel Taichi’s breathing suck in. The heat when he pressed his face so closely against Taichi. All of which made Yamato’s stomach tightened and his thoughts confusing. So he tried to shovel those kinds of thoughts away. Brushing them out of his mind as quickly as they came up. Still there was a lingering feeling that he couldn’t quite place, a feeling that he wasn’t sure what to do with.
Yamato pressed his lips together. Rubbing them slightly and even running his tongue against the back of his mouth. He paused and glanced back at Taichi. His heart skipped as he realized that Taichi may (or may not. There was a chance that he was just being delusional after all) had done the same.