Archive of Our Own

Summer. The time when the cicadas start singing their love songs, the heat becomes unbearable and the rain comes pouring in. A time when you go to festivals with friends, watch the fireworks with your loved ones and maybe even have a test of courage or two. But probably the most important and biggest staple of summer for every student would have to be…

“The beach!!!!” Tashiro and Shirahama both yelled out and rushed onto the sand, throwing their shirts off as they raced to the water.

“Wait- don’t just take off!” Miyano called after them but it was too late, they were already quite the ways away. “Geez…”

“Just let them be, Miyano. We indoors type can’t keep up with them anyway.” Kuresawa said, patting his friend on the shoulder as he passed by.

“I get that but still…” Miyano grumbled, and began to pick up their discarded clothing. It was really only Tashrio’s parka and Shirahama’s overshirt, but it was still something they shouldn’t have just left behind.

“Mya-chan,” Sasaki came up and gently grabbed the bag from Miyano. “You don’t have to clean up after them you know,”

“Indeed.” Hanzawa poked around Sasaki and nodded his head. “They do seem to be having fun, though.”

“Is that a camera?” Kuresawa had doubled back after putting his stuff down and was returning to help Miyano and Sasaki with the rest, but quickly got distracted by the camera in his senpai’s hands.

“Oh, why yes.” Hanzawa proudly held it up. “I got into the hobby back at the dorms and figured since Hirano couldn’t make it, I’d snap some shots to show him when I got back.”

“Make sure to get my good side, I want to see them when you’re done so I can show my girlfriend.”

“Of course.” Hanzawa smiled and Kuresawa nodded, picked up the remaining bags and went to continue setting up their spot on the sand.

“Did Hirano-senpai say why he couldn’t come? Perhaps it was due to him spending time with a certain basketball player?” Miyano asked hopefully.

However, Hanzawa shook his head. “No, nothing like that. He simply said that he had to study for one of his classes.”

“Oh…” Miyano deflated. Hanzawa had figured that he would ask and had previously decided that he wouldn’t tell him that while it was true Hirano did have to study, he did have plans to see Kagi-kun later. As well as Niibashi. Originally, Hanzawa had invited them both and Niibashi, but Niibashi had turned him down saying that he had an exhibit he wanted to see. Kagiura had originally said yes – excited at the idea of Hirano going as well – but once Hirano turned down the invite, he also said he couldn’t make it for some reason or the other. Apparently, he had been so mopey about it that Niibashi invited them to see the exhibit with him – but being the cunning junior he was, he got them tickets at a different time so they could go together, just the two of them.

But… after a quick shared look with Sasaki (who was somewhat aware of Hirano’s plans), Hanzawa had decided against telling him anything.

“Miyano! Senpai!! C’mon already!” Tashiro called from the waterfront, waving his hands to beckon them over.

“Well, mustn’t keep them waiting, right?” Hanzawa asked with a smile as the three of them headed towards their spot.

“Mya-chan, what are you doing?” Sasaki peeked over Miyano’s shoulder as he was crouched over.

“Oh, senpai. Look! Tashiro pointed this out to me, they’re tide pools.”

“Heh…” Sasaki made a sound of interest as he looked into the tide pool. There wasn’t anything particularly interesting about it, some rocks. A couple starfish here and there. A snail or two. “Why are you looking into this again?”

Miyano couldn’t help but blush slightly at the question, which just made Sasaki all the more curious. “Mya-chan?”

“I thought… would be a good idea… to be alone…” Miyano mumbled, his face still a shade of pink.

“Do you want me to leave…?” Sasaki asked, a bit confused. He didn’t mind if Miyano wanted some time to himself, but he also wasn’t going to go very far. Maybe to the next pool or two over?

“No!” Miyano quickly grabbed onto Sasaki’s hand and pulled him down to his level. “I just… I wanted to be alone with you so I thought this would be a good idea. Kuresawa and Shirahama won’t come over here and Tashiro is keeping Hanzawa-senpai busy so…” Miyano explained quickly, taking the moment to interlock their fingers. “Is it wrong to want to be alone with my boyfriend on vacation?”

It took everything in Sasaki’s power to not push him down right then and there. How was it possible his boyfriend was so cute?!

“Senpai?”

“Of course it’s not wrong, I want to be with you too.” Sasaki said, leaning into Miyano and lightly bumping their heads together. He quickly took a glance around before gently lifting Miyano’s chin and kissing him lightly.

“S-s-senpai!?” Miyano went from slightly pink to bright red in an instant. He looked around desperately, making sure no one was around.

“Sorry, couldn't help myself.” Sasaki laughed, wrapping his arms around Miyano and hugging him tight. “You make me so happy, Yoshikazu.”

Miyano felt his heart skip a beat at the soft tone coming from Sasaki and he returned Sasaki’s hug, “You make me happy, too, Shuumei-san…”

“I feel like I just saw something I shouldn’t have…” Tashiro muttered as he lowered Hanzawa’s camera from his eye. He had somehow managed to convince his senpai that giving it to him was actually a good idea and had walked down the shore a bit. He wasn’t (physically) anywhere near the tide pools but he thought it might have made for a good picture to show Miyano later and had just pointed the camera in that direction.

The camera itself had a pretty amazing zoom feature and when he had zoomed in, he was (not really) surprised to see both Miyano and Sasaki looking into the tide pools together. Just when Sasaki-senpai stood up though, he watched Miyano grab onto him and then saw everything that came after.

He hadn’t meant to but his finger twitched and he had ended up taking a picture right at the moment Sasaki kissed Miyano. He felt bad about spying on his friend, but he hadn’t meant to! It just kinda… happened.

“What do I do now?” He asked himself, looking at the picture. He didn’t know how to delete it and he certainly didn’t want to show Hanzawa what had taken a picture of. If he showed it to Miyano, he would be mortified and if he showed it to Sasaki… he shuttered. He really didn’t want to think about what Sasaki was likely to do, actually.

“Hm? What is it that has you so conflicted, Tashiro-kun?” Hanzawa asked, suddenly appearing from behind and taking his camera from Tashiro’s hands.

“Ah!”

“... what exactly is that you were taking pictures of?” Hanzawa asked, a mixed look of disgust and confusion on his face.

“It wasn’t like that! It was an accident, I swear!”

“Well, for now…” Hanzawa took one last look at the picture before promptly deleting it.

“Senpai…” Tashiro moaned sadly, tugging lightly on Hanzawa’s shirt, “I’m really sorry…”

“It’s okay.” Hanzawa gave Tashiro a reassuring smile and patted his head gently. “I won’t tell them.”

“Don’t you think we should though? I mean, I saw-”

“It’s fine. You’ve seen them before, right?”

The two of them started to head off in the opposite direction of the tide pools, back to where Kuresawa and Shirahama were.

“That was different though. They weren’t dating and it wasn’t that . I just saw Sasaki-senpai reaching out for Miyano, but that’s all.” Tashrio explained. He had told Hanzawa about what he had seen that one day after school, after Sasaki and Miyano had started dating of course. Hanzawa had laughed a whole lot about Sasaki’s reaction, but he also said that it was just like him to do that.

“Sasaki treats Miyano as something precious. It’s best not to tell him that you saw that.”

“I know but… I feel bad about it. Like I was spying on them.”

“Accidents happen, Tashiro. Don’t worry so much.” Hanzawa gave him another head pat. “But, aside from that, did you take any other pictures?” He asked while flipping through the photos.

“I took some of Kuresawa at his request. And of Kuresawa and Shirahama. I was planning on going to the tide pools and taking pictures there but that got changed real quick.”

“Kuresawa-kun’s girlfriend will be pleased with these.” Hanzawa said with a small laugh.

“What do you mean?”

“His girlfriend is in and out of the hospital a lot right? I’m sure she doesn’t get to do things like come to the beach with her friends and classmates. So Kuresawa is doing it in her stead.”

“Oh, like doing it so she won’t have to kinda thing?”

“Exactly. Seeing your loved one having fun while thinking about you can be pretty endearing after all.”

“Hmm… senpai, do you have anyone like that?”

“Hm?”

“A person you love like that. What happened with that girl you were telling me about before?”

Tashiro was trying his best to make it seem casual, like he hadn’t thought of Hanzawa and that girl dating every day since the day Hanzawa had told him he was meeting up with her. How it totally didn’t keep him up at night and made him lose sleep.

Yeah. That type of casual.

“Oh, right…” Honestly, Hanzawa had totally forgotten about her. He had told Tashiro about her because he had wanted to see his reaction but rather than get openly jealous or anything, Tashiro had just pushed him away. “Well, as you can see, it didn’t really work out.”

Tashiro stopped walking and it took a moment before Hanzawa realized he wasn’t by his side anymore. He turned and saw a look of confusion on Tashrio’s face, “What do you mean?”

“Do you really think I would be here with you all if I had a partner? That I would be spending my precious free time with some high school buddies instead?” Hanzawa asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tashiro continued to stand there confused, however. Hanzawa shrugged and continued on, "Catch up when you're ready."

"... it doesn't make sense…" Tashiro muttered to himself. "It just doesn't make sense! How could anyone not want to be with Hanzawa senpai?!" He yelled out, causing some of the other beach goers to give him a strange look.

How was it possible that there was anyone that didn't want to be with Hanzawa-senpai?? How could it have not worked out? Hanzawa had seemed so pleased when he had told him about her. And even though it hurt somewhere deep in his chest, Tashiro had decided he would be a good friend and junior and suck it up for him. Sure, Hanzawa was kinda a sadist and liked to tease people but he was kind and hard working and generally a good guy all around. 

Not to mention he was extremely attractive. A lot of girls always approached him hoping to get closer to him but he never seemed interested in them other than being their friend… but this girl seemed different somehow. He would always talk about her with this certain look on his face. So why and how could it not work out?

Determined to find out the answer, Tashiro ran after him, catching up to him before he could reach their spot.

 “Senpai!” Tashiro grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

“Tashiro-?”

“Why?”

Hanzawa blinked and tilted his head slightly in confusion, “Why?”

“Why didn't it work out with that girl? You're amazing! Why didn't she want to date you?”

Hanzawa felt a huge smile creeping up on him but he bit it back, “What makes you think she didn't want to date me?”

“You always seemed so happy when you talked to me about her - you had to like her!”

He couldn't hold back anymore and burst into laughter, doubling over where he stood. Tashiro gave him a confused look as he laughed, “Senpai?”

“Sorry, sorry.” Hanzawa recovered and wiped his eyes. “You're just too cute.”

“Cu-?!”

Hanzawa let out a happy sigh, “I was happy because I enjoyed watching your reactions. At first, watching you get all fidgety was way too fun. But then, the more I talked about her the less you reacted. So I stopped talking like that with her.”

“What?” This time it was Tashiro's turn to blink in confusion.

He shrugged, “There was no reason to anymore.”

“So… you're the one who didn't want to date her?”

“Correct.”

Tashiro couldn’t help but grin. Taking Hanzawa’s hand, he started to run back to Kuresawa and Shirahama.

“Whoa-”

“C’mon, senpai!”

“Where?” Hanzawa asked with a laugh.

“To play, of course!”

About an hour or so later, Miyano and Sasaki returned to the group, hand in hand, happily chatting away about something.

“Have fun at the tide pools?” Kuresawa asked, eyeing their held hands.

“Yeah! I found this really cool sea slug, but my phone didn’t get a good picture,” Miyano said sadly.

“I got one though,” Sasaki pulled up the picture and showed it off to Hanzawa and Kuresawa.

“You know, you could have asked for my camera if you wanted to take pictures, I would have gladly lent it to you,” Hanzawa said as he flipped through the pictures on Sasaki’s phone. Surprisingly most of the ones from today were of the tide pools but there was one in particular that made him stop. It was of Miyano, smiling at the camera. 

It should have been nothing and yet, it wasn’t. There was something… different about the smile. It was like it was one reserved only for Sasaki.

Sasaki also must’ve sensed what it was that Hanzawa had stumbled across, as he quickly took his phone away.

“They’re still going?” Miyano asked, looking out to the oceanfront at Shirahama and Tashiro. They had gotten redressed and seemed to be arguing about something in front of them.

“They haven’t stopped for a moment since we got here,” Kuresawa said flatly.

“I bet they're starving…”

“Tashiro! Shirahama! Are you guys hungry?” Kuresawa called out to them, making Miyano jump. He hadn’t expected him to bluntly ask like that.

“Yeah!”

“Then come over here and let’s figure out what we want!”

The two quickly returned to the group, a half inflated beach ball in Shirahama’s hands.

“Oh, is that what you guys were arguing about?”

“Yeah, I think we should use a pump but Tashiro says we should just blow into it.”

“It’s not that big, it’ll inflate in no time.”

“First, before you guys start again, pick what you want to eat.”

“Oh, I wanna eat grilled squid!” Tashiro yelled, raising his hand high.

“If we’re on the beach it’s gotta be yakisoba, right?” Shirahama inquired.

“Yakisoba? I think shaved ice is more typical…” Hanzawa said with a laugh.

“Well we want something filling, right? So wouldn’t yakisoba or grilled squid be the right choice?” Miyano asked, looking up to Sasaki, who shrugged.

“I’ll eat whatever you want, Mya-chan.”

“So, Miyano is the deal breaker huh…” Kuresawa said as everyone turned their attention to him. He looked between his friends, conflicted.

“Uh-”

“Let’s do yakisoba! I heard there’s a place nearby that makes really good stuff during the summer. Limited and everything!” Tashiro suddenly said.

“Limited? That sounds good.”

“I’m okay with yakisoba.”

“Same here,”

“Then it’s decided! Yakisoba it is. Senpai, Miyano, are you guys going together to get it?”

“Yeah, we’ll bring it back.” Sasaki agreed,

“I’m assuming Shirahama and Tashiro both want the limited version, whatever it is.” Miyano asked. They both gave him a thumbs up. “Kuresawa? Hanzawa-senpai?”

“I’ll take the normal version.”

“Whatever’s popular,” Hanzawa said. Miyano nodded, jotting the notes down in his phone. Soon after, the pair left to gather the food, leaving the other four behind. Shirahama and Tashiro quickly went back to arguing about what the best way was to fill the beach ball as Hanzawa took his place beside Kuresawa on the towels.

“I’m glad you guys made up,” Kuresawa said lightly after a few moments of silence, taking a sip from his water bottle.

“Hm?” Hanzawa was absently pointing his camera at the duo in front of them, taking quick snapshots.

“You and Tashiro.”

“We weren’t fighting.”

“Oh. Then I'm glad you talked to him. He was really depressed.”

“Depressed? Tashiro?”

“Haven’t you noticed, senpai? You’re the only one that makes him that emotional. He only shows that side to you,” Kuresawa said, nodding towards Tashiro.

“I'm sure that's not true,” Hanzawa said, shaking his head while lifting his camera once more.

He pointed it at Tashiro, focusing on his face. He was smiling, just like he normally did. A grin on his face that showed just how much fun he was having.

He had the (finally) inflated ball in his hands, and he looked up and saw that Hanzawa had his camera pointed at him.

Lifting the ball high above his head, his smile grew even brighter, lighting up his entire face, “Senpai! Come on! Let's play!”

His smile was… blinding. He looked happy before but this… this was different. It was a smile Hanzawa had seen so many times when they were together and yet…

“Eh?” Hanzawa’s face went red as he felt the shock run through him. That smile was for him alone.

His finger twitched and he heard the shutter go off, forever capturing Tashrio’s special smile in a picture perfect moment.