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The hot summer was to blame for all this, Aiba was sure. That and a multitude of other related reasons he was still trying to figure out.
The louder cicadas that disturbed his sleep, maybe. Or the poor feng shui of his bedroom caused by the clutter of horror books and skinny jeans he all threw in one corner, halting his success in life—or so his mom whined. Or the fact he already missed three firework shows that week to catch the horror summer specials on TV (this was less likely, since he watched all the recordings his sister saved for him). Nothing was able to explain his grouchier mood and later LINE responses better than the shitty air conditioning of his room that left him exposed to the dizzying heat hours at a time.
Aiba let out a long sigh. He clicked his pen and stared at the empty worksheet looking at him mockingly, trying to ignore Ohno and Sho’s very public display of romanticism, finding it to be exceptionally distracting. It was definitely not the reason he had become more averse to attending their weekly occult club meetings—coming only to spare everyone the awkwardness of his silly reason.
“Satoshi.” Sho smiled, pointing to a section of a book titled something along the lines of Japan’s Scariest Yokai Ever—the details weren’t very clear since that wasn’t what his brain decided to focus on. “Look at this.”
Ohno’s lips turned up in a way that pricked every corner of Aiba’s weak heart. “This is a children’s book, Sho,” he replied, reaching to ruffle through his boyfriend’s curly hair, giggling softly. “It’s not scary at all.”
“Really?” Sho asked breathily, replying sarcastically, “I think eyeballs on butts are very scary, just so you know.”
“And you’re an idiot.." Ohno groaned, his words so honey-laced in a way that made Aiba want to vomit the contents of his lunch.
Focusing on his homework became hard when it was impossible to concentrate in the first place—something he could've dealt with three weeks ago, before they announced their relationship and before Aiba became aware of his one-sided feelings for Ohno, but not now.
He saw Nino beside him shrug. "We're the third and fourth wheels. I like the number four better so I'm the fourth wheel. Flies, basically. They forget we exist, carried away by their fiery, passionate love." He whispered a little bit too loudly into Aiba's ear. "I'm sick of this, in other words. Aren't you too?"
Aiba silently nodded. He motioned for the door and mumbled some random excuse to the couple as the younger boy followed suit.
"Seems like you got a problem with the two of them?" He asked.
Nino frowned, fiddling with the collar part of his uniform. "No. I just wanted to talk to you about something." He looked up at Aiba, eyes radiating a kind of energy he couldn't read. "How long do you think they'll last?"
Aiba couldn't believe what Nino was saying. "Huh?"
"Their relationship, how long do you think it'll last?" He asked. "Don't look at me like that. I know you like Ohno. You're jealous, aren't you? Think he should dump Sho and get with you instead? Having petty thoughts, at least?"
"I don't care about that stuff." Aiba waved a hand at him, laughing. He pointed to the small glass window built in the door to their clubroom. "What I do care about is how far they've gone." He attempted to wink. "They might kiss while we're gone, wanna watch?"
"Heartbroken Aiba's avoiding the topic now, I get it. Classic move." Nino shifted his legs awkwardly as he stood at an angle, a little closer to Aiba's legs, head leaning on his shoulder. He hated their height distance at times like these.
"And you think being my therapist is the right way to go about this? Seriously?"
"Yeah? It was so obvious you didn't want to be in that room with them." Nino smiled in a way that awfully reminded him of Cheshire cat, a free hand on his hip. "Mr. Sho can say our club's peaceful as much as he wants, but there's no denying the thicker tension in the air recently—and the looks exchanged between the three of you that's all a pretense for something deeper, obviously." He licked his lips as he pinned him down.
The summer heat was a painful sizzle, sending all both of their nerves to a boiling point. Although the hallway was dim, tiny specks of light seeped in through the small cracks in the walls, illuminating Nino's soft hands coming to caress his face.
Aiba knew what was going to happen, and he was ready.
"I know you like Ohno. I also know that the three of you go far back, all the way since middle school. I want to offer you something new."
Their noses were touching now and Aiba was closing his eyes. "Like what?" He asked in the darkness.
He felt the boy's breath on his lips like a promise. "I want to try dating you.” He held Aiba's hand, gripping it tightly. "Been wanting to for a while.”
"Oh. Interesting. Very direct, I like it." He tugged at his shirt, almost clawing at it. "You can kiss me now."
"I know." Aiba heard the smile in his voice as he leaned in.