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Yuuji might not have been able to drag Fushiguro to Human Earthworm 4, but as he waltzes towards the ticket stand today for Human Earthworm 5, there’s a reluctant but very much present Fushiguro a few steps behind him. Yuuji grins at him as he moves to stand next to Yuuji in the line for tickets—it’s a short thing, only two people ahead of them with their arms slung together. Following by example, Yuuji slips his arm through Fushiguro’s. Fushiguro looks startled, but only for a moment.
“Thanks for coming,” Yuuji feels the need to mention again.
Fushiguro frowns. “I’m only here for the discount,” he mutters, pragmatic as ever. Yuuji sighs dramatically.
“Lame,” Yuuji shoots back half-heartedly, but he knows that discount is the only reason Fushiguro’s here, too. “It’s a weird sort of discount, too, isn’t it? The terms were something like…” He scratches his nose, trying to remember. “You had to show up with someone else…?” He shakes his head before patting Fushiguro on the arm. “Thanks for helping me save some money.”
“You don’t have to keep thanking me,” Fushiguro murmurs, the tips of his ears slowly turning red. Yuuji’s grin widens. He opens his mouth to tease the other some more, but before he can, someone behind them clears their throat. When Yuuji looks up, there’s no one in front of them, and he quickly tugs Fushiguro with him to stand in front of the ticket register.
“Err, hello!” he greets. “Two tickets for Human Earthworm 5, please!”
“We’re going to be the only ones in the theater,” Fushiguro murmurs, and Yuuji shrugs.
“More space for us, right?”
“Your total,” a bored voice drawls, and Yuuji’s attention is drawn back to the front. He frowns at the number displayed on the register.
“Um… isn’t there a discount?”
“The discount?” the person behind the counter repeats. Her eyes flicker between Yuuji and Fushiguro. “Oh. Right.” A few taps later, the register displays a much more amenable number. Yuuji struggles, for a few moments, to dig out the change in his pocket with one hand, but Fushiguro, who already has a card out, is quicker in sliding it over.
Yuuji watches the exchange, his mouth twitching with amusement. “Isn’t that Gojo-sensei’s card?”
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” is Fushiguro’s mild response, and Yuuji laughs brightly.
“Thanks, Fushiguro, you’re the best!”
“...come on, I told you to stop with the ‘thank you’s.”
“So,” Kugisaki asks during lunch after Fushiguro leaves for the bathroom, “how was the date?”
Yuuji chokes on his food. “How was—” he gasps out when Kugisaki helpfully slaps him on the back a few times, “how was—how was the—the what?”
Kugisaki stares at him flatly. “The date? Yesterday?”
Yuuji giggles nervously. “Is this a—joke or something? What date?”
Kugisaki’s stare does not unflatten. “Yesterday,” she repeats slowly. “With Fushiguro. With the couples’ discount.”
“With the what?”
“With. The. Couples’. Discount.”
“That was a…?” Yuuji trails off. His eyes widen. “Oh…”
“You didn’t even know you took him out on a date?” Kugisaki asks incredulously. “You literally dragged him to a movie theater and got a couples’ discount on the most romantic day of the year.” At Yuuji’s bewildered stare, she scowls. “You didn’t even know yesterday was December 24th, did you?”
“Uh…”
Kugisaki rolls her eyes so far back in her head that Yuuji wonders if they’ll fall out entirely. “I can’t deal with you guys anymore,” she says dramatically, and she drops her chopsticks onto a nearby napkin before walking out entirely, just in time for Fushiguro to walk back in. He stares at her retreating figure storming away, bewildered, before moving back to his seat at the table across from Yuuji.
“What’s her problem?” he asks, nodding in her direction, but Yuuji’s too busy thinking about the ramifications of Kugisaki’s words.
“Hey, Fushiguro,” he blurts out. “Was yesterday a date?”
Fushiguro’s eyebrows raise. “No…?” he answers after a pause. “You just needed me for the discount, right?”
“Right,” Yuuji agrees absentmindedly. He pauses, scratching his cheek with his finger. “What if it was a date?”
Fushiguro’s eyes narrow. “But it wasn’t.”
“Right,” Yuuji agrees again. He pulls at his collar awkwardly. “Er, what I’m trying to say, though, is, uh…” He takes a deep breath. “What if I wanted it to be a date?”
Fushiguro is looking more and more like a cornered animal. Yuuji doesn’t think that’s a great sign. “Did you… want it to be a date?”
“Would it be… bad, if I did?”
Fushiguro’s fingers tighten against the table. “Did Kugisaki put you up to this?” he asks suddenly, the words coming out all sharp and pointed. Yuuji reels back.
“No,” he says carefully, all too aware that he’s treading a metaphorical minefield. “I just…” Maybe, Yuuji realizes, it was this dancing around in hypotheticals that was making Fushiguro so wary. “I wanted it to be a date. Yesterday.”
Fushiguro’s eyes widen, but his fingers relax. Yuuji takes it as a good sign and pushes on.
“I really like you, Fushiguro,” he continues earnestly, and revels in the sight of a faint but still noticeable blush on Fushiguro’s cheeks for a moment. “I think everyone except for you knows that already,” he admits, “and I’m pretty sure Gojo-sensei thinks we’re dating already.” At least, that would explain the awkward finger-guns he’d received from Gojo-sensei the day they had returned from the movie.
“That idiot,” Fushiguro murmurs, but he sounds absent-minded. He pauses. “You really wanted to…?”
Yuuji gives him a sheepish grin. “Wait, wait,” he says, “let me try again.” He clears his throat and straightens in his seat. “Megumi Fushiguro,” he starts, overly pompous, and already, Fushiguro’s trying to hide his embarrassed expression in his hands, “will you do me the honor of accompanying me to the theater for Human Earthworm 5… again? As a proper date this time, I mean.”
“You’re so embarrassing,” Yuuji hears mumbled through Fushiguro’s hands.
“Is… that a yes?” Yuuji tries, and Fushiguro finally drops his hands.
“Only since Gojo-sensei’s going to be paying for it,” he mutters, but the red flush high on his cheeks betray his feigned aloofness. Yuuji’s own cheeks feel close to splitting with the force of his grin.
“Then, it’s a date!”