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Sharks and Love By AshTheQueer
It was just supposed to be a fun day. A day with his friends, a way to forget about school. It was only the first day of summer, and boy was it a day. It started like any other normal day. Started. Gods, Souta wished it could've stayed that way. Though, like any other day, that didn't last long. It was just supposed to be a simple day at the beach. Just Souta and his friends. Souta, Nao, Keisuke, and Takeo, no one else, and definitely not the EMTs. That was only the plan though. He should've known that wouldn't last long.
Souta had been in the ocean, swimming with Nao. It was just the two boys, everyone else, being boring, was tanning. Souta was just about to get out of the water, finally feeling tired, when he suddenly got pulled underwater. His entire body was overwhelmed by pain as if one of his legs and his lungs were being crushed. After what felt like forever, whatever had gotten ahold of his leg finally let go and he swam up to the surface. His entire body was in agonizing pain, blood rushing down his leg from just below his knee. He sobbed heavily as he crawled out of the water, unable to walk from the pain.
Nao, Keisuke, and Takeo all rushed over to him, already aware of what had happened. Almost as soon as his friends had gotten there, so had EMTs. They quickly put him on a stretcher, carrying him to an ambulance. Souta wasn't quite sure what had happened. All he knew was that his leg hurt like hell and Nao looked extremely worried. So worried that Souta was convinced he might faint any second, yet Nao stayed up. Nao was with him in the ambulance the entire way to the hospital and according to him, Souta must've fallen asleep at some point. All he remembered was being carried to the ambulance and then waking up in a hospital room.
***
Nao walked up to him. It kind of looked like he'd been crying, but Souta thought nothing of it.
“Hey Nao, you're here?”
Nao scuffed slightly, his normal attitude there as always, even if they had grown a lot closer over the last few years.
“Of course I am dumbass.”
Souta chuckled softly, of course he said that. “You don't need to Nao, it's the first day of summer, you should be having fun.”
Nao smirked softly, a light chuckle escaping his lips. “You genuinely think I would leave my friend alone, and in pain in a place like this? Did you get a brain aneurysm too or something?”
Souta laughed quietly and shook his head. “Don't think so…” Soutas attention returned to the pain in his leg. “So uhm… What exactly happened to me?”
Nao looked over at him with a sad expression. “A shark attacked you. We don't know why it happened or how the shark even got there. It just showed up and boom. Y-you uhm… you got 34 stitches, from your knee to the middle of your calf. The doctor told me to say you probably won't be able to go back to football (or soccer) until the spring. You’ll also have 3 weeks of in-home therapy, he said.”
Souta looked at him with an expression that would make you think he'd been told his dog had died. “No football…but-...football is my life. Without it, I don't even have a way to spend my time. What do you mean by no football? I-I have to play… I can't not play.”
Nao sighed softly and sat in a nearby chair. “Souta, you know what happens when you get injured. You lose all your muscle there and have to get it back. It won't be as bad as you think, trust me. I'm staying with you over the summer to make sure you take your meds and do your exercises.”
Souta sighed and gave up on trying to fight it. “Fine… I’ll try to survive I guess.”
He yawned, feeling extremely tired from lack of sleep the night before. As he fell asleep Nao walked out of the room to talk to Keisuke for a second.
***
A few days later, Souta is finally back home. Nao, as promised, is staying with Souta (sounds chaotic imo.) Souta, dying of boredom, is lying on the couch watching a football game. Italy against Argentina, Italy, as assumed, is in the lead right now.
“Hey Nao, can I have the last slice of pizza?” Souta says, peeling his eyes away from the TV to look over at Nao.
“No, I wanted it,” Nao says, defending his prized slice of pizza.
“Pleaseeeee, I'm so hungry. Oh, and I'm hurt, therefore I need more food so I can heal faster!” Nao chuckles softly, amused by Soutas statement. “That's not how it works, silly. Eating pizza isn't gonna help you heal. Resting and meds are what's gonna help you heal.”
As he says this he hands Souta his pills to take. As expected, Souta tries to resist, but Nao convinces him to take them.
Once he's taken them, he goes back to the topic of pizza. “Seriously bro I thought you loved me?”
Nao smirked and shook his head, cutting the pizza in half. “Here, you better pay me back though.”
He gives him the half with the crust and then goes back to watching the game while he eats.
Souta looks down at the pizza, disappointed when he sees that he got the part with the crust.
“Oh…crust, ew.”
Nao chuckles and looks over at a disgusted Souta. “What's wrong? Too picky for crust now?”
Souta looks over to him, lowkey kind of annoyed. “I don't like crust, it feels weird.”
Nao giggles softly. “And? Be happy I shared my food with you silly boy.”
Souta sighs and tries to go back to watching the game, but he notices that he can't keep his gaze from wandering to Nao. Each time something big happens, or even if something happens, he finds himself watching Nao. Even finding his reactions cute. Nao notices and looks over at him, a slight grin on his face.
“What? Too hot for you to handle or something?”
When Souta noticed Nao looking over, he quickly looked away, blushing softly. “N-no… I just thought your reactions to the game were funny.”
“Sureeeeeee, you keep telling yourself that. I'm gonna go to bed now. I'm getting tired.”
Nao gets up and throws his plate away, tossing a blanket to Souta before going and lying on the other couch.
***
A few days later Keisuke and Inoue, as well as Nao are all over at Soutas house playing Monopoly. Inoue’s convinced she's gonna win but Nao has some tricks up his sleeve.
“Welp Keisuke, guess u owe me $75. Pay up,” Nao says with a smirk, racking in all the income.
Keisuke gets up from the table and walks into the kitchen to have a cold glass of water. As he's getting up, Nao decides to follow him, also wanting a quick drink. As they both stand in the kitchen with their drinks, Keisuke notices Nao watching Souta. He seems content, an expression that shows being at ease. Not even with yourself perhaps, but with your surroundings.
“Whatcha lookin' at Nao?”
Nao looks over at Keisuke, slightly flustered as he realizes he has been staring. “Oh uh- I'm just watching them play.”
Keisuke chuckles, knowing Nao isn't telling the whole truth but not wanting to push it. “Sure… Imma go back now.”
They both put their cups in the sink and rejoined the group. As they finish the game, Nao does end up winning, and then Keisuke and Inoue both leave. Once everyone has left, Souta and Nao are both sitting on the couch watching ‘When Harry Met Sally’ (I haven't watched this yet so if I say something dumb I'm sorry).
Nao yawns. “Yawns Souta, you have to take ur meds”
Souta groans but, not wanting to upset Nao, he hobbles over to the counter and takes all of his meds. He goes back to the couch and sits next to Nao, almost falling asleep throughout the movie. He looks over at Nao and finds him completely immersed in the movie, chuckling softly as he gently leans his head on Naos's shoulder and falls asleep.
***
About a week later, Souta had just finished his physical therapy and was taking a nap on the sofa when Emi ran into the living room screaming her head off. Nao looks up at her, giving her a stern look as Souta is still sleeping.
“What's wrong? Why are you screaming and running around like a chicken with its head cut off?”
She slowly calms down, taking deep breaths so she can speak. “A-a- a spider… there was a spider. And it just showed up out of nowhere.”
Nao looks at her for a few seconds trying to hold in his laughter but ultimately bursting out laughing. “You're screaming like this, over a spider!? Cmere.”
Nao summons her over and she sits beside him. He ruffles her hair playfully despite her swatting his hand away.
“Now where is this spider you speak of?”
She giggles softly before speaking in a soft but urgent voice. “It's in the hall…”
He gets up and grabs a paper towel and then goes to the hall. Once he's there he finds a small plastic spider near the wall.
“....Is this your spider?”
She nods, wanting him to squash it. He giggles plottingly and throws the spider at her. Watching her jump back and let out a shrill scream.
“It's plastic silly!! It's not gonna hurt you!” He chuckles softly and walks back to the couch, but as he’s walking Emi runs behind him and playfully tackles him, pushing him to the ground. He giggles and pins her down instead. As they're wrestling in the hall, Souta wakes up and finds them.
“What are y'all doing?”
Emi giggles, laughing uncontrollably as she continues to wrestle with her brother. “We’re wrestling!”
Souta laughs, amused by their childish behavior as he goes to the kitchen and gets a glass of milk. “Do y'all wanna go to the movies?”
Nao finally beats Emi. When they both come back, Nao shrugs. “Sure what do you wanna watch?”
Souta thinks for a second, before turning to Emi. “Why don't you pick, what do you wanna watch?”
She thinks for a second before finally deciding. “ I wanna see Barbie.”
Souta groans but agrees. “Ok, we can see Barbie.” They go to the movies and watch Barbie (cause I'm trying to keep this short.)
***
Once they finish the movie, they all go back to Soutas house. Emi is sent to the guest bedroom since it's late and Nao and Souta collapse on the couch. Emi had convinced them to get some ice cream after the movie as well so they were extra tired. Souta turns on the TV to watch the Olympics cause why not? As they're watching, Nao finds his gaze continuously wandering back over to Soutas. He has a question he's been dying to ask Souta, but he's afraid of what could happen if Souta said no. He'd grown to have Souta as his closest friend and didn't want to lose him.
Should I ask him? But what if he says no…? Or if he says yes? Gods, he might not even like me back, or maybe he's straight and it's all for nothing?
He takes a deep breath and looks back at Souta again. “Hey- hey, Souta…?”
Souta looks at him, sensing by Nao's tone that this is probably a serious conversation. “What's up?”
Nao blushes softly… God, Soutas voice is so soft and sweet and adorable.
“U-uhm… have you ever thought about dating someone? Like, being in a relationship?”
Souta looks away slightly for a second, contemplating what to say. He had a feeling he had a crush on Nao for a while now, but he had never considered Nao might like him back. “Uhm.. I mean, I probably would…why?”
Nao blushes softly and looks back at the TV for a second. “Uhm… would you want to maybe date- date me? Maybe?”
Souta blushes softly and looks down at his hands. They're cold and clammy., Oof course they are.
“I- uhm… sure- wait… you’re gay!?”
Nao giggles softly. “Yeah, I'm gay. But are you?”
Souta chuckles softly. “Yeah, I am… and uhm, y-yea…I- I think I'd like to date you.”
“Really?? You-you want to date…me?”
He giggles softly and nods. They both look in each other's eyes for a few seconds. They gradually lean closer to each other, eventually closing the distance with a small, quick kiss. Then they finish watching the Olympics for the remainder of the evening. Around 9 pm, Souta falls asleep on Nao's shoulder again, he's careful not to move, eventually falling asleep beside him for the night.
***
A few days later, school starts. Souta and Nao go back as a couple. They've told their closest friends but no one else. Most of the day is just spent catching everyone up on what happened rather than learning. However, they couldn’t care less. This was their senior year in high school, and they were gonna enjoy it.