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“There’s this one horror game I bought a while ago but never ended up playing. Do you want to try it?”
Hirose nods. “I’m down. I haven’t played a lot of horror games though so I hope I don’t scream and wake up the whole house.”
“Don’t worry, I’m the same way,” Nakamura smiles. “I’ll go get a chair so we can both sit at my desk. Be right back.”
“Alright, sounds good!”
And with that, Nakamura leaves his room. Hirose, now alone, decides to take the opportunity to try getting the game running so they can both start playing by the time he gets back. It’ll be perfect! He’ll be a useful friend and Nakamura would thank him!
Hirose plugs the charger into the side of the computer and opens it, the screen immediately coming back to life. Odd, it was already on. Weirder yet, it opened to a comic page with two very handsomely drawn men on the screen making out like their lives depended on it. The art’s detail is impressive. Hirose’s cheeks heat up just looking at it.
It’s hard to not look at it, really. Intrigued, he scrolls down just a bit to see what happens next.
A lightsaber fight of sorts. And on the next page, one of them is going in—
Hirose hears footsteps getting closer and slams the laptop shut.
“Sorry for taking so long,” Nakamura pushes open the open door with the chair in his arms.
“Don’t worry about it!” Hirose responds too fast. Maybe next time he’ll mind his own business.
“Psst! Nakamura!”
Nakamura props himself up on his elbows from his futon to look for the source of the quiet whisper. It’s difficult to see in the darkness but he can vaguely make out the shadow of another boy sitting across the room.
“So you are awake!” Hirose chirps.
“Yeah,” Nakamura replies. “You alright?”
Hirose nods, forgetting that Nakamura can't really see him. “Yep! I just can’t sleep so I was thinking of getting some ice cream. Wanna join me?”
We’ll be alone together, he thinks. He could never let an opportunity like this slide past him. “S-Sure!” Nakamura stutters out.
Hirose uses the illumination of his phone to guide him through the room’s sea darkness. Meanwhile, Nakamura struggles to see his surroundings. He made an effort to remember the layout of Hirose’s room but it’s a different struggle when both of their belongings are scattered around the room.
A tug at his wrist pulls Nakamura out of his trance. “Come on,” Hirose whispers and cautiously leads him out of the room. Nakamura feels his face quickly heat up.
Nakamura’s heart beats at the speed of light. Does this count as hand holding? The wrist is close enough to the hand to count, right? But I don’t think it does.
Hmm… He looks down at the wrist being gently grabbed by Hirose. What if I…
Despite everything in Nakamura’s brain telling him to keep it together, his impulsiveness was stronger. He awkwardly fumbled with his hand to hold Hirose’s.
He feels himself melt. Oh how he’s always wanted this…
Nakamura’s fantasy is broken when he hears a light chuckle from Hirose.
Fuck , he thinks. Shit, even. But no amount of profanity can properly express the amount of embarrassment he has at this very moment. Nakamura’s face drains of color and he feels his heart rapidly rattling in his ears. His heart shrivels up at the thought of Hirose hating him because he listened to the voice in his head at the wrong time.
While his brain scrambles to come up with an apology, he tries letting go of Hirose’s hand only for Hirose to pick it up again.
“You know… I don’t mind.”
A wide eyed Nakamura stops walking and looks at Hirose and that signature smile of his that never fails to calm his nerves.
“But the walk from my room to the kitchen is really short, isn’t it? Besides, I’m gonna need that hand now to get the ice cream from the freezer,” Hirose laughs.
“Ah…” Nakamura manages to let out. He didn’t realize they were already standing in front of the fridge, let alone that the two of them were in the kitchen. His face burns with further embarrassment. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Hirose pulls the small tub of ice cream out of the freezer and opens it on the counter. He passes a bowl and spoon over to Nakamura who accepts it and promptly begins to stare into the tub of ice cream in front of him. The three flavors in the tub would normally be hard to choose from if it weren’t for the fact that the vanilla and strawberry sides were almost empty and it was the chocolate flavor that was left. Chocolate ice cream is a little sweet for his taste but he likes to indulge in it every once in a while. So chocolate it is.
With one hand, Nakamura holds the tub of ice cream firmly and with the other, he scrapes the spoon against its contents. But the ice cream wouldn’t budge. He tightened his grip on the spoon and scraped it harder than last time. And again. And again and again, still with no luck. Gripping the spoon harder than before, he goes for the kill, stabbing the ice cream with full force. As if God himself was watching Nakamura’s life like a sitcom, the spiritual laugh track from the heavens plays as the spoon in Nakamura’s hand was bent at such a perfect right angle that it could pass for a geometric teaching tool.
Nakamura quickly leans forward and bows in apology. "I’m so sorry," he mumbles.
"That's never happened to me before," Hirose bursts into laughter, causing Nakamura to stand up straight again. Wiping a tear from his eye, he adds, "You're really something special, Nakamura. Don’t worry about it."
Nakamura smiles and laughs along with him.
"Let me try," Hirose suggests, and Nakamura slides the ice cream tub over to Hirose.
With a fresh new spoon, Hirose makes the same mistake as Nakamura in record time.
With matching expressions, they stare blankly at the spoon. It was funny the first time but at this rate, they'll run out of spoons before the ice cream becomes soft enough to scoop out.
"Maybe we should wait for it to melt a little," Hirose leads him to the living room.
Nakamura nods and takes a seat on the couch, "What should we do in the meantime?"
"Hmm…" Hirose puts his hand to his chin in thought. "How about truth or dare?"
Nakamura's eyebrows raise at the suggestion. The thought of truth or dare with Hirose makes his mind go wild. All the possibilities for making a move are right there. Or even, if he’s lucky enough, for Hirose to make a move on him!
"Sounds good," he says a little too eagerly. "You first."
"Okay. Nakamura, truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"I dare you…" Hirose looks around for inspiration. "To lick the bottom of your shoe!"
Well, shit. He was really hoping for something more exciting and potentially romantic. So much for wishful thinking, Nakamura thought. There's nothing romantic about licking a dirty shoe.
The two of them walk over to the front door and Nakamura picks up a sneaker.
He's had this pair for years and knows damn well they've seen hell at least twice.
He takes a deep breath. This is for Hirose. He squeezes his eyes shut and sticks his tongue out towards the shoe.
His eyes snap back open the moment his tongue meets the shoe. He tosses it on the ground and frantically coughs. Nakamura makes a mental note to toss those sneakers in the washer when he gets home.
"Was that too cruel? My bad," Hirose giggles. "To make up for it, you can give me something cruel too."
"Truth or dare?" Nakamura asks as they head back to the couch.
"Dare!”
The first thing to pop into Nakamura’s head is to dare Hirose to kiss him but that would be too far. He’s already tested his luck once already. Nakamura needs to think long and hard about this. He looks around the room for something to spark an idea…
The spoons! That’s right!
“I dare you to try to straighten one of those spoons!” Nakamura proudly exclaims.
Hirose nods with a look of pure determination, “Okay!”
He quickly retrieves one of the spoons. Either side of the spoon is held by a hand, Hirose’s thumbs firmly lie on the sharp bend.
“Ready for this?” Hirose asks. Nakamura nods.
With tight grips on both ends of the spoon, Hirose pulls the sides, pushing the bend with his thumb and all of his force. Oh shit he’s actually doing it, Nakamura watches intently. Hirose’s arms shake and sweat drips down his forehead, but he’s not prepared to lose to a mere spoon. Nakamura gasps as the spoon’s sharp angle is slowly being undone-
The slightly less bent spoon flings out of Hirose’s hands at the speed of light. The boomerang-like spoon almost slices away at Nakamura, just barely missing and hitting the wall with a thud.
“…Hirose?” Nakamura scrambles to find where the spoon landed.
Hirose walks over, “Oh it’s probably noth-” Once his eyes meet the wall, his jaw drops.
The spoon, nowhere to be seen, is now the least of their priorities. There’s now a hole in the wall. It’s not that big, but a hole of any size is definitely going to upset Hirose’s parents. At best, they’ll see it but not even notice a spoon is somewhere in the walls. At worst, he’ll be banished from the Hirose household forever.
They stood in shock staring at the wall for who knows how long at this point.
The ice cream had completely melted over. It's too late to turn back and decide they don’t want any.
Hirose took two plastic cups—glass could easily break in their unlucky hands—and poured the juices from the tub into each one.
They drank it in silence.
About half an hour ago, Nakamura and Hirose started watching a movie in Hirose’s living room.
Now, the movie goes ignored as all Nakamura can focus on is how Hirose, now asleep, is leaning against his chest. It’s like something straight out of a BL manga he’s read, but no amount of “research” could prepare him for the real thing.
He isn’t even paying attention to the movie anymore.
“Hey, what are you guys watching?” A voice rings from behind the couch.
If Nakamura’s posture could get any stiffer, it would. His voice won’t come out. The most he can accomplish is looking terrified as he turns his head enough to look at Hirose’s sister.
“Oh, Aiki’s asleep? No wonder he finally shut up. If only he were this peaceful all the time,” she smiles. “Enjoy your movie! Don’t stay up too late.”
And with that, she walks away with a bowl of cereal. She seems nice.
Peaceful, huh? It’s a little hard to see from this angle, but he supposes Hirose looks pretty peaceful sleeping. His hair smells pretty nice too.
But is it really fine to be watching him sleep? At the very least not smelling him is difficult because of how close they are. Wrapping an arm around him is definitely pushing it, so he’ll have to stay with his arms stiff and awkward at his sides.
Hirose’s the one that fell asleep on him in the first place, yet Nakamura’s the one freaking out over it. Whatever, he’ll just wake him up when the movie’s over.
Nakamura awoke to a face full of fabric and warmth enveloping him. Blinking himself awake, he realizes he’s pressed up against a certain Hirose’s chest. His arms are around Hirose’s waist, Hirose’s arms similarly wrapped around him with his face nuzzled in Nakamura’s hair.
This is the closest he’s ever been to Hirose—it’s straight out of a dream. The possibility he never woke up to begin with is on the table. Real or not, he never wants to leave.
Maybe he can let himself indulge just a little bit… Nakamura shifts the slightest bit closer to him and freezes when Hirose, stirring in his sleep, tightens his grip on him.
Oh.
He can even hear his heartbeat. Slow, unlike Nakamura’s.
He lies there a blushing mess.
The reality is that he's awake. All he can see or feel or smell is Hirose.
It hurts knowing this might be the only time he gets to hold him like this, but Nakamura knows he shouldn't dwell on that now. He can spend as much time as he wants crying about it later. For now, he'll savor every last second in his arms.
Using Hirose's heartbeats to ground himself, Nakamura finds his eyes drifting shut once more.
He’ll wake up again later to Hirose gently ruffling his hair, the most well-rested he's been in a long time.