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Sakura woke up and slowly analyzed his surroundings: darkness interrupted by the poor light that the curtains let through, it was definitely morning but his brain had not yet woken up enough to guess the time; his body felt warm, a single blanket on it and a soft mattress underneath, the latter gave a completely different feeling than his own futon but over time he had gotten used to it and it was equally comfortable, enough to consider going back to sleep.
Trying to push the thought away, although not really wanting to get up yet, he turned around and immediately noticed the gaze on him; the owner of the bed was leaning on one elbow to look down at him, smiling calmly and in his features and hair it was noticeable that he had woken up just a little before Sakura, who in the meantime lowered the blanket from his torso. Before he could free his arms he held the fabric to his nose; bit by bit the quilt smelled more like himself while still holding the scent of the other boy, the smells mixed not only in that bed but also in the clothes; being close enough to someone for that to happen was still very strange for Sakura, it still worried him and made him overthink, but at the same time he liked it so much that he did his best to adapt.
Having freed half of his body from the heat, he felt a breeze in his arms that helped him wake up a little more. He looked back at the other boy who was now looking at him with a bigger smile, which returned the warmth to Sakura's body instantly, as if he had covered himself again, and that also irritated him enough to bump his hand into that expression.
"What are you looking at?"
Togame just laughed softly and held that hand with his own. Sakura wasn't sure if he was still so sleepy or if the slowness with which Togame moved was his normal speed, because as he opened Sakura's palm and directed it towards his lips it seemed like minutes passed, then the kiss barely felt like a caress. Togame saw this gesture until he looked up at Sakura's face again; Sakura knew he would be blushing but still had to wake up more to worry for his own embarrassment.
“Good morning, Sakura. Can I kiss you?”
His boyfriend's hoarse and lazy voice still disconcerted him, before, he assumed that his normal way of speaking was just like that and now he knew that it could be even deeper and slower; he liked it, just not enough to convince him to do something that would surely wake him up completely and ruin that moment of peace, Sakura still hadn't gotten used to kisses at all.
“Go wash your mouth,” he said as a form of rejection, although he didn't really mind the morning breath. Togame laughed again and turned around to get up, Sakura raised an eyebrow at that, he didn't think the boy wanted to kiss him so much as to obey right away; he could feel the red in his face getting more intense.
The older boy yawned as he got out of bed, once standing he stretched his back and shoulders; only on those occasions was that Sakura was able to notice his boyfriend's full height -he was a little envious- and he thought it was cool that Togame could intimidate others without needing to use all that height, always walking stooped.
Since they started dating, Sakura visited regularly his boyfriend's house because Togame told him that he hated imagining Sakura alone in an empty apartment and that he should visit him whenever was possible; usually, they were both busy in the mornings and afternoons, so they would meet up just before dusk, and Sakura slept over more often than not, and surprisingly, sleeping in the same bed didn't cause him any conflict, after all, he was unconscious most of the time and Togame was incredibly careful and patient with his boyfriend who was hypersensitive to romanticism. That's how Sakura slowly became familiar with the heat, a mattress, a mix of smells, kisses, a deep voice, and the fact that his boyfriend slept with the top of his clothes hang open; even if Togame was on his back, Sakura could still see the muscles in his waist stretching, and as soon as the boy turned around, he could see the entire torso, so he was grateful to be lying down and be able to cover half of his blush with the pillow.
Before Togame looked back at the bed, he glanced at the nightstand and was visibly startled. Sakura leaned on both elbows to straighten up and asked what was wrong. The boy's response was to pick up a small rectangular device with a black screen that Sakura's still too calm mind didn't recognize.
“It seems the alarm went off,” Togame explained, frowning and putting a hand to the back of his neck.
“Huh?!”
That's how all laziness leaves Sakura's body and he throws himself out of bed to reach his pants and take out his phone.
“Shit,” it was late but if he ran he could get to school on time. He had never arrived after the hour, on the contrary, he was always walking the streets very early, which was why Kotoha always bothered him, and he didn't want to start being late now.
“I'm sorry, Sakura,” his boyfriend apologized behind him while he hurriedly put on his pants and approached the chair where they always threw their jackets.
“It's okay, I still have a few minutes,” he answered in the kindest way possible while he adjusted his belt, because his boyfriend's sorry voice made him want to hug him.
He did the best he could with his pants given the poor light in the room and almost without looking took the jacket from the chair and ran to the entrance, he could feel Togame following him. In front of the entrance he put on his sneakers and put on the jacket, when he opened the door the light blinded him for a moment.
“See you!,” he said, slamming the door behind him and starting to run.
Inside the place, in front of the entrance where he had been watching the silhouette of his boyfriend hurriedly putting on his shoes, Togame was sure he had seen a flash of orange on Sakura before the door closed.
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Sakura ran through narrow streets and turned several corners until reach the main street that would take him to Furin; he was grateful to have walked that path so many times because now his body remembered it on its own. He never stopped to check the time or wonder why some neighbors stared at him too much and murmured, he was still more than used to it thanks to the old place where he lived; what did cause him to slow down was adjusting the sleeves of his jacket that kept slipping off hid arms, but didn't stop to think about the reason for this either.
He was able to take a breath the moment he finally crossed the school's property doors but continued running to get to his classroom. The looks and murmurs were much more noticeable there, so much so that Sakura raised an eyebrow and this time wondered the reason behind; anyway, he didn't stop and climbed the stairs in a couple of jumps, he knew he could ask his friends about it later.
When he got to his classroom he didn't mind slamming the door open and before looking at anything else he looked up at the clock on the top of the wall.
"Good," he said to himself between quick breaths, satisfied with himself for arriving with two minutes to spare. He let out a sigh still catching his breath and took a step to get to his desk, then stopped, his entire class stared at him with their mouths open.
The unusual stillness and obvious perplexity in the classroom made him feel very uncomfortable, he clenched his fists and furrowed his eyebrows. Before any bad thoughts could cross his mind, he spoke:
“What the hell are you looking at?” From his tone and choice of words, he realized that negative thoughts had already reached his head and felt a little bad about it, at least it served to break the freeze of his friends, some even began to smile mockingly and among them, of course, was Suo. Nirei was the first to clear his throat and speak, sitting in the usual half circle in front of the class.
“S-sakura-san, your jacket,” pointing at said garment.
Sakura looked down and stopped breathing, a second later he felt every part of his body red from pure embarrassment and undid the fists but didn't have the slightest idea of what to do with his hands. That wasn't his jacket, it was too big, one of its sleeves was completely fallen off, it was heavier and it was very orange, the only similarity was in the smell; it smelled like himself and it smelled like the real owner: the vice-commander of Shishitoren, Togame Jo, Sakura's boyfriend.
He was able to get out of his shock when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket, he took it out immediately sensing who was contacting him and, indeed, he had a new message from Togame that only said "on the way"; meanwhile he felt his classmates and friends approaching with expressions of pure mockery and a thousand questions.
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Not that it was a secret, Sakura repeated to himself to feel better and, in fact, that was the truth. He would never hide something as important as his first time in a romantic relationship from people who were so dear to him but, at the same time, he was so embarrassed that he decided not to mention it unless he was asked directly and no one had done so, probably out of consideration since more than half of his classmates claimed to have suspected it. Still, his class was only a small part of the school and an even smaller part of the city and Sakura had walked around much of these two wearing his boyfriend's jacket like it was the most normal thing to do and now was nervous.
He waited for Togame sitting on the steps in front of Furin's building, Suo and Nirei by his side on their own initiative; they had given Sakura words of support for a while and when they noticed him more relaxed they allowed him to get lost in thought, of course without leaving him alone and making sure no one else bothered him; Sakura appreciated both of them more than he dared to confess.
Back to his thoughts: he wasn't sure how to proceed, he didn't want to answer questions from absolutely anyone who had seen him with the jacket, was saying he had a boyfriend at Shishitoren enough of an explanation? He also didn't know if he should tell everyone, regardless of whether they were in his circle of trust or not, because he wasn't even sure what Togame thought about it, but he definitely didn't want to lie, although he didn't want to give details either; a while ago, when his class started asking questions such as when they started dating or who had asked whom, that was the moment he escaped from the classroom. He was overthinking and he knew it, but couldn't do anything else as his slow-as-a-turtle boyfriend arrived at school.
He finally saw him entering through the main doors and went up to find him halfway with the orange jacket in his hand; he noticed that Togame had showered, his hair was still slightly damp, and Sakura assumed that would be the reason for his delay since he was walking at a more or less fast pace, and he also had Sakura's jacket on his shoulders.
"Why are you wearing that?" he asked as soon as they were close enough. Togame laughed before answering.
"I was cold."
Although his school and Shishitoren were now friends, the fact that Togame deliberately wore a Furin jacket without belonging to Furin in Furin territory impressed Sakura a little, who thought about how much confidence his boyfriend must have; he was also annoyed that the older boy did so calmly something that he himself had been extremely embarrassed by, so he hurried him to make the exchange.
Once both boys were wearing the jacket corresponding to their group, Togame looked behind Sakura, towards the entrance, windows and roof of the building, with his usual calm smile; Sakura imitated him immediately and noticed, without any surprise, many people looking, definitely not the whole school since the situation was not one of danger, but the number of people curious for the meeting of the vice-commander of another group and a grade captain of their own school was considerable, even more so given the event of several minutes ago; he also noticed familiar faces that decided to ignore for the moment.
“It seems that the secret is not so secret anymore,” Togame commented making him return his attention. Sakura put his hands in his pants pockets and looked to the side.
“It's not that I tried to hide it. My whole class already knows.”
“Ah, my group too. I think Choji made an official announcement or something,” Sakura suspected it, whenever they were together and met someone from Shishitoren, this person avoided them but kept looking at them; he was grateful that at least they didn't bother them. Hearing it directly from Togame, however, gave him the push to get a doubt out of his mind.
“So you're okay with that? With everyone knowing?” the boy nodded without a blink and then explained.
“Sakura is super strong and super cool, I'm proud to be his boyfriend, I'd love for everyone to know.”
Of course, the confident and calm way in which Togame stated that, as if it were the most obvious thing, made Sakura jolt and blush; although the older boy often told him how cool he was, in the current context it made him even more embarrassed than usual, as well as provoked him an immense warmth in the chest. He tried to regain his composure with a soft “I see” and sinking his head into his shoulders, avoiding eye contact with his boyfriend.
“Would you be okay with that, Sakura? With everyone knowing?” Togame's soft voice made him look even more to the sides, because he knew very well the answer but couldn't give it in such a direct way without dying of embarrassment. He opted to shrug his shoulders with feigned disinterest.
“I wouldn't mind, if someone is bothered by that, I can beat them up and that's it.”
He felt the taller boy approach and stand a step away from Sakura, who made an effort to look up and stare at his face.
“Is that a yes?”
“… Yes.”
“Then…”
Togame raised a hand and placed his fingers on Sakura's chin, raising his face little by little, then he brought himself closer and paused for a second before colliding their lips, he always gave his boyfriend the opportunity to move away if he didn't want the contact; Sakura closed his eyes. It was a kiss so small that it barely caused him a start, but it was enough for him to hear how the people in the building behind them choked on their breathing and held their breath in unison; he found it funny. When he opened his eyes, Togame was watching him happy but Sakura could tell that he had held back and decided to act on it. He pulled his boyfriend down, holding his jacket with both hands and, although blushing, smiled sideways feeling a sudden confidence.
“If you're going to do it, do it right.”
The kiss was much deeper and longer, Sakura could taste the mint in his boyfriend's mouth who had washed his mouth as he had ordered him to, Sakura smiled in the middle of the kiss and could feel Togame doing it too. Towards the end he felt the older boy relax and sink, leaving Sakura all the control and at a higher level than him. When they separated, his breathing was agitated and Togame looked at him dreamily.
“Told you, my boyfriend is the coolest.”
That caused a snort of laughter from Sakura who looked into the other boy's eyes to answer.
“Mine too.”
The reactions they got this time from the audience were whistles of astonishment, some laughter and indistinguishable words, not that Sakura paid any attention to them as he said goodbye to his boyfriend. Before turning around and starting to leave, Togame waved to Sakura's back and when he turned around he noticed his sub-captains still waving their hands in farewell. Suo looked at him smiling and nodding in approval, while Nirei murmured something excitedly and kept a bright expression; Sakura completely relaxed at the sight of his friends. Any uneasiness in his mind disappeared at the affirmative words and actions of his boyfriend and felt on safe ground again thanks to the people he loved. Sakura entered the building again with renewed confidence.
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