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When Maki comes into consciousness, the first thing he notices is the glaringly bright lights, and the fact that he can’t open his eyes fully no matter how he tries.
“Maki?”
He stirs. Someone is calling him.
“Maki? Are you awake?”
The voice is sweet, soft, and gentle beyond imagination. Maki wants to know who it belongs to. He tries to take a peek, and fights against the brightness of everything around him. All he sees is white.
“Ow.” He moans, covering his eyes with an arm.
“Are you okay?”
“Bright…”
“It’s okay. Take your time.” The voice says, amusement coloring its tone while Maki struggles against the urge to close his eyes again. “Hi.”
Maki turns his head towards the voice to put a face to it, and when his eyes finally focus…
“Woah.”
Whoever this… Person? Angel? Celestial being? is, he is the prettiest sight to Maki’s literal sore eyes.
“Wow. You’re so beautiful.” Maki says, his words jumbled because of the gauze in his mouth. “Are you an angel?”
“No,” the blonde beauty laughs. “I’m pretty sure I’m a human.”
“You must be the most beautiful human in the world.”
The Most Beautiful Human in the World giggles. Like, actually giggles. A high-pitched, twinkling, fleeting sound. It puts together the parts of Maki’s heart that he didn’t even know were scattered. Oh. He thinks he would gladly hear it forever.
Maki grins proudly, and the swollen cheek makes him look even more adorable than he already was. “You think I’m funny?”
“I do.”
“Then I think we should spend more time together.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“So I can make you laugh more.” Maki says, rising to the challenge. If this angel wants him to sell his appeal, he can absolutely do that. “I’m funny, and I’m cute, and I’m super witty.”
“Are you now?”
“Yeah. Or maybe, like, not now now, but later now when, um.” He tries to think, even though his brain is nothing but a huge pile of fuzz. “When I’m, like, out of the fuzz.”
“Okay, Maki.”
Maki smiles at the sound of his name leaving the world’s pinkest and most kissable pair of lips, then he quickly frowns. “I don’t think it’s fair that you know my name and I don’t know yours.”
“My name is Harua.”
“Harua,” he tests the feel of it in his mouth, then smiles in satisfaction. “Harua. Harua. Hmm. Even your name is pretty. It suits you. It’s pretty. Pretty Harua.”
Harua smiles at him, and Maki positively melts.
“Harua. Maki. Haruamaki. Harumaki. Woah. Our names put together mean spring roll. I like spring rolls. I like Harumaki. That’s yummy.”
“What are you going on about, silly.” Harua laughs, then puts a hand on Maki’s head, petting him gently.
Maki closes his eyes, enjoying the sensation. “I think you’re the prettiest and nicest person I’ve ever met in my life. You have the brightest eyes and the cutest cheeks and the best smile in the whole world. And your hand is so soft. This is so nice.”
“Thank you.” Harua’s eyes crinkle with mirth, but Maki can still detect the sincerity underneath.
A second later, a metaphorical light bulb goes off in Maki’s brain. “Hey. I have a great idea. Let’s make the dream come true.”
“What dream?”
“The Harumaki dream. You and me. Let’s go out. Together. Right now.” Maki tries to get up despite the weight of his limbs that feel a million times heavier than they should.
Harua laughs, holding his arm to keep him down. “We are not going anywhere right now. Sit back down.”
Maki suddenly stills. “You don’t want to go out with me?”
“Not at this exact moment, no.”
“Why?” His face turns calculating. “Do you. By any chance. Um. Do you… have a… boyfriend? Already?”
“Yeah. I have a boyfriend.” Harua replies cheekily, and Maki feels his hopes and dreams crumble in front of his very eyes.
Maki looks so devastated, eyes drooping and bottom lip sticking out in a pout. Harua almost doesn’t have the heart to keep up the act. Almost. But not quite.
“You have a boyfriend?” He whispers, as if saying it quieter will somehow make it any less true. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Oh.” Maki looks down at the blanket covering the lower half of his body and fidgets with it as a means to avoid Harua’s amusement-filled eyes. “Is he nice?”
“He’s very nice.” Harua sounds so incredibly excited and sincere that Maki doesn’t even have to wonder if it was a lie. If there’s anything he knows about Harua after getting to know him in the past five minutes, is that an angel that looks like this does not lie. “He’s the nicest person in the world to me.”
Maki‘s brows furrow, expression sad and relieved in equal measures. “Good. That’s good. You deserve nice.”
“Mm.” Harua nods, and he goes off on an explanation that breaks Maki’s heart with each sentence that leaves him. “My boyfriend agreed to fake date me even though he liked me for real, can you believe that? He did so many nice things for me even back then. Like, he baked me my favorite cake, won me plushies at claw machines, and he got rid of bugs for me even though he’s also scared. Among other things.”
Maki’s frowning now. “I can do all those things too. I also hate bugs. But not for you.”
Harua laughs sweetly. “I see. That’s nice of you.”
“I, um. I bet I can do things that your boyfriend can’t.”
Apparently not even a cacophony of pain meds can temp down the competitive streak ingrained within Maki, because he immediately starts selling himself better than he has at any job interviews. “I can sing. Really good. Everyone says my voice is nice.”
“My boyfriend can sing.” Harua counters. “He’s got the best voice I’ve ever heard. Whenever I can’t sleep, he sings me ballads until I’m sleepy.”
Maki scoffs. “I know loads of ballads. All the drama OSTs, too. Like Sudden Shower. From Lovely Runner. Do you know Sudden Shower?”
Harua’s eyes brighten. “Of course! That’s my favorite one!”
“Can your boyfriend sing that?”
“He definitely can. And has.”
“Ugh. Fine.” Maki thinks again. “How about this. I’m really strong.”
“Are you?”
“Yeah!” He sits up in bed so fast that his vision whites out for a split second, but he ignores it in favor of impressing Harua. “I can lift anyone up! I can carry you places! Everywhere! For a long time!”
Harua pushes him by the chest gently so he’s lying back down. “That’s cool. My boyfriend carries me to places a lot, too.”
Maki eyes him, as if considering something. “Yeah. I get him. You’re so cute and tiny he probably just wants to carry you in his stomach pocket. Like a kangaroo. I know I do.”
Harua swallows down a smile. Even though Maki can’t recall who Harua is in his drugged state of mind, he still seems to perceive Harua as cute as he does when he’s sober. Which is endearing, to say the least. Harua loves him. But will he drag this out as long as he can for the fun of it? Yes, definitely. He can always ask for forgiveness later in exchange for kisses. Maki is just cute like that.
“My boyfriend says the kangaroo thing to me sometimes too, you know.”
“Ugh. I hate that he’s right.” Maki then continues again. “Oh! I can speak four languages!” He exclaims proudly, as if he had just found a loophole in the universe that will allow him to win Harua over.
Harua can’t help the laugh that escapes him at how excited Maki seems to be. “Four?”
“Yeah! Isn’t that cool!”
Harua nods his approval. “Very cool. I would love to be told ‘I love you’ in four languages.”
“I can do that, Harua!” Maki puffs out his chest. “I can say everything you want.”
“Oh, come to think of it…” Harua pretends to think for a moment. “I think my boyfriend can speak four languages, too.”
“So we tie, then. But okay. I bet he can’t win over this one. Come here.” Harua leans over, and Maki whispers in his ear. “I’ve been told that I’m really good in bed.”
Harua lets out a choked noise of surprise. “Who told you that?!”
It had been Harua himself who told him, of course. Harua had been Maki’s first (and only), but Maki hadn’t been his. There was a time when the younger boy got insecure over the fact, and Harua had told Maki he was the best in bed to reassure him, and also because it was the truth. But still. Harua was not prepared to hear it out of left field, no matter how many times he may have whispered a variation of those words against Maki’s skin when he’s drifting in and out of consciousness, lost to the pleasure given by his boyfriend as he thrusts inside him. Really…
“I’ve been told. By… someone.”
“Uh huh.”
“That person would never lie to me.”
“You don’t even know who they are, though?”
“I know they’re telling me the truth.”
“How?”
“I trust them.”
It’s hard for Harua to argue when his boyfriend is half-conscious but also still praising him to the Heavens and back, and he needs this conversation to end immediately, before he does something embarrassing. “Okay, I trust you. So you’re good in bed. Whoever gets to sleep with you must be very lucky.”
Before Maki could come up with a reply, the door to the room opens to allow two people to walk in. The taller one between them is wearing a doctor’s coat and has the fluffiest brown hair Maki has ever seen, while the other one has flaming red hair that makes him look like a strawberry mixed with an angry cat. In a good looking way.
“People that work here are very handsome.” Maki comments offhandedly as he lays eyes on them. “Where am I?”
The redhead raises an eyebrow at that. “My, my. What do we have here?”
The doctor comes up next to Maki on the bed and asks him to open his mouth, which he does. After he gets a nod of approval that everything seems to be fine, Maki looks at his name tag, which reads Byun Euijoo.
“Hi, Maki. I was the one that did your wisdom teeth removal. How are you feeling right now?”
“Fine.”
“Does anything hurt?”
“Not really.” Maki eyes the other person who just walked in, the one with the cat eyes and all sharp edges and strawberry hair. “Who are you?”
“You don’t know me?” The man says, amused.
“Should I?”
Strawberry Hair starts laughing. “Oh, this is gonna be great. He doesn’t remember a thing. Juju, is he okay, otherwise?”
The doctor, who apparently goes by Juju, nods at him. “It’s just a side effect of the medication. It’ll wear out soon enough.”
“Nice.” The man gets closer to him with a glint of mischief in his eyes, and Maki narrows his own right at him. “So you don’t know me, huh?”
Maki shakes his head.
“Do you know him?” The man is referring to none other than the most beautiful blonde fairy of a human next to Maki, so he nods proudly.
“Of course. I know Harua.” He answers, smug. “I was just telling him how much better I am than his boyfriend.”
Both of the other men start snickering, but Maki doesn't know why. Maybe they know Harua’s boyfriend. Maybe they don’t think Maki is as good as Harua’s boyfriend. Or maybe… one of them is the boyfriend…?
“Which one of you can speak four languages?” Maki blurts out. He will get to the bottom of this, no matter what it takes.
Strawberry Hair raises a hand. “Me.”
Maki narrows his eyes at him. The man is handsome, sure, but surely Maki isn’t going to lose to the likes of him? “What’s your name?”
“Nicholas.”
“Nicholas.” Maki repeats. “Can you sing?”
Doctor Juju chokes out a laugh that he tries to hide with a cough.
“I can sing.”
“Are you nice?”
“I would like to think so.”
“Are you strong?”
“Well, let’s see.”
His doctor seems to sense that something is going to happen, because he immediately gives Nicholas a side eye. “Nicho, don’t.”
Nicholas shrugs, then lifts the bottom of his shirt to reveal (much to Maki’s dismay) an impressive six-pack. He keeps it up only for a second, because Doctor Juju runs up to him in no time at all and pulls his shirt back down. “I said don’t!”
Nicholas laughs, the sound pleasingly deep and rich. “What’s wrong, Juju?”
“I don’t want the other staff members to perceive you again! You remember what happened last time.” He looks towards the door to see if anyone saw the little abs show he put on, but thankfully no one passes by.
Maki frowns, then raises his voice to be heard over his doctor scolding the man. “Excuse me. Are you any good in bed?”
Harua and Doctor Juju both yelp in surprise, but Nicholas is too busy laughing to care. “In bed?”
Maki continues to size him up. “Mhm. ‘Cause I am. I’ve been told.”
“Have you now?” Nicholas throws a glance over to Harua, but Harua has turned himself around to face the wall to hide his reaction. The redness of his ears betray him, however, and even Euijoo starts to snicker behind his hand.
“Oh, this is too good.” Nicholas grins widely. “I’m great in bed. In fact, I’ve been told that I’m the best that my boyfriend has ever had. He said that he has never been ridden so goo-”
“Okay that’s enough!” Euijoo shouts, his own cheeks reddening at an alarming rate. “Please stop talking now.”
“Ah, my shy Juju. So cute.” He caresses the doctor’s cheek of all things, and the taller man just blushes. Instead of reporting him to security! But also…
“Why are you doing that to my doctor! In front of Harua!” Maki yells and glares, though the roundness of his swollen cheeks have cost him any and all intimidation factors he may have possessed previously. “Harua! You can’t be dating… that! He’s obviously flirting with the doctor!”
“Shhh!” Doctor Juju turns so red that Maki is slightly concerned for him as he puts his index finger in front of his mouth. “He’s not flirting. He’s just being a menace, is what he is. Also, he’s not dating Harua!”
Maki turns to Harua to clarify and sees that he is clearly having the time of his life, laughing at the lovers spat in front of them and clapping his hands in the cutest way possible. Maki wants to bottle up the sound of his laughter and play it night after night like a music box for the rest of time, if only to ensure that he will never have bad dreams ever again.
“Are you not dating him?” He asks to make sure.
Harua shakes his head, amused. “No. I am definitely not dating him.”
“Is that guy dating my doctor, then?”
Euijoo covers his face with his hands. “Unfortunately, yes he is.”
Despite what he says, Doctor Juju doesn’t look like he feels unfortunate, and Harua seems to be happy for them, if the fond look on his face is any indication.
Either way, Maki breathes a sigh of relief. “That’s good, then. So where is Harua’s boyfriend?”
Nicholas walks over to Maki and smacks him in the back of the head. “That’s you, dumbass. When you’re no longer high and are ready to leave, I’ll be waiting for you downstairs. Let’s go, Juju. Let’s leave these two to their nonsense.”
The two of them walk out not-quite-holding-hands, probably because his doctor is on duty, but Nicholas sticks close to him and their hands brush each other’s with every step they take anyway. When the door closes behind them, Maki starts to process what he’s just been told.
“Harua?” He asks, turning to the angel next to him, eyes wide and hopeful. “Am I really your boyfriend?”
Harua smiles at him, patient as anything. He brushes a lock of Maki’s hair behind his ear and nods. “Mhm. You are.”
Maki grins so wide, Harua worries whether or not his mouth hurts from the force of it. “Wow. How did I manage that?”
“With great patience.” Harua tells him, “and with lots and lots of chocolate snacks as bribes.”
“Oh. I must be-” Maki yawns, eyelids falling shut. “Be good at buying snacks.”
Harua laughs, decidedly endeared. “The best. Go to sleep, Maki.”
“When I wake up, will I still be your boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
“Pinky promise?”
“Pinky promise.” They hook pinkies and tap thumbs, and Maki keeps his eyes on Harua’s hand the whole time.
“Your hand is so small. So tiny around mine.”
“Okay, that’s enough out of you.” Harua pulls his hand back quickly. His cheeks flame red at the words, recalling the last time they were said in a less than innocent setting than this one. He knows Maki doesn’t remember at the time being, nor will he be able to read Harua’s mind, but still. Harua does not need the image right now. Not when Maki is high as a kite off meds and can’t even remember anything beyond Harua’s name.
“Are you mad?”
“I’m not mad, Maki.” Harua leans over and gives him a kiss on the cheek, careful not to put too much pressure lest he hurt him. “Go to sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Maki wakes up ten minutes later.
“Harua?”
“Hmm?”
“Am I still your boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
He falls asleep again.
The next time Maki wakes, his brain feels much clearer, his vision unblurred, and his limbs their normal weight.
“Maki?”
“Hi, Rua.” Maki turns and breaks out into a smile at the sight of him, like a sunflower to a ray of light. “I missed you.”
“I was next to you the whole day.” Harua teases, but his fingers find Maki’s cheek and strokes it lightly. “How could you possibly have missed me?”
Maki frowns. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“Do you not remember waking up and telling me that you think you’re better than my boyfriend?”
“I did that?”
“Mhm.” Harua nods smugly. “Wanna hear the voice recording?”
“There’s a recording?”
“Of course. I had one chance and I took it.”
“Ah…” Maki covers his face with his hand to hide his embarrassment. “I hope I wasn’t too pathetic.”
(Spoiler: He was.)
“I hope you didn’t send this to the main group chat or anything.”
(Spoiler: Harua did.)
“Why do I get the feeling that the others will never let me live this down?”
(Spoiler: They do not. Especially Nicholas.)