Work Text:
From: Unknown
[18:22:38 17/07/25] Hey cutie 😊
Taki is in the middle of eating a very good shaved ice cream when a message lowers the volume of his series and makes him scream.
“What the fuck!”
All eyes are on him, and Taki sinks into his baby blue seat in the middle of the ice cream shop, looking around for someone who can help him. It’s his fault for deciding that getting a sweet treat alone is a good idea; now there’s a sex bot messaging him and calling him a “cutie”, and he’s probably going to get banned from entering this store again with how loud he’s being.
Ok. Maybe there’s someone he can text. Maki is definitely going to make fun of him, so asking him for help is a no-go. Harua would be even worse, and asking some of his older friends from the swimming team doesn’t sound like a plan. Maybe Yudai would help him, though?
He’s in the middle of texting him when Jo sends a text instead, making him smile and take an optimistic bite of his ice cream –if that’s even a thing.
Jo, of course! Why didn’t he think about him earlier?
From: jojo’s bizarre adventure
[18:24:02 17/07/25] hi
[18:24:07 17/07/25] bro
[18:24:40 17/07/25] some guy at taco bell asked for my number so i gave him yours instead lol
Oh. Well, there goes any help he could have gotten from Jo.
To: jojo’s bizarre adventure
[18:24:50 17/07/25] you what
[18:25:01 17/07/25] jo are u fucking crazy why would u do that to me
what am i supposed to do now
From: jojo’s bizarre adventure
[18:25:39 17/07/25] idk lmao
[18:25:53 17/07/25] talk to him, maybe u find him cute
[18:56:01 17/07/25] his name was yuma i think
Taki gives a sardonic smile after reading Jo’s last messages, deleting his own messages to Yudai before he opens what he now knows is not a sex bot and just another victim of Jo’s lethal visual. He wonders why that Yuma guy even bothered to text him; if you text Taki, his profile picture shows-
A picture of Jo and him. That’s what it shows.
“Okay, this isn’t that bad,” he convinces himself, straightening his posture as if he were about to send the most important message ever. “Just tell him he’s got the wrong number, and he won’t talk to you anymore. Yeah, Taki, you got this.”
Before he does say that, though, he takes a quick look at Yuma’s profile picture as well.
And that’s when it all goes downhill. For Taki, obviously
Yuma looks out of a fantasy movie, with pink hair and what looks like strawberry bubble tea filling Taki’s phone screen, and all thoughts instantly in his head. He needs to start stealing Jo’s personality if guys like these come up to him. His whole vibe is amazing overall, and he looks much cooler than Taki in any picture has ever taken of himself. Then again, Taki has never intended to look cool at all in his life, so it’s not like he’s jealous.
He actually thinks Yuma is kind of cute.
So that’s why Taki, who has never had the best ideas out of all his friends, decides to do something that he’s probably going to regret later.
To: Unknown
[18:58:07 17/07/25] heyyy
[18:58:19 17/07/25] yuma, right? :P
From: rua-chan
[12:37:39 22/07/25] party at my house tn ♪(´ε｀ )
Taki sighs as he unlocks his phone, replying to Yuma’s messages from last night before getting to Harua’s. The great thing about summer is being able to sleep past noon without feeling guilty – especially if the reason he wakes up late is because of how much he and Yuma talk every night.
It’s been about two weeks since they first started talking, and Taki is, to put it mildly, incredibly fucked. He’s done everything from creating a new Discord account to talk to him to getting food delivered to Yuma’s house under Jo’s name just to keep the fantasy alive. He even tried to copy Jo’s voice at the beginning of their late-night calls, but by the third time Yuma asked if he was sick, he knew it wasn’t a good way to go about his plan.
So, they talk every day. Taki knows Yuma’s morning routine by now, how he’s always four minutes late to his bus but won’t ever wake up four minutes earlier, his latest obsession with Blue Lock, and how there’s still an unfinished box of Lucky Charms that’s a week away from going stale. Yuma knows about him too –the bump on his head from being unable to roll over while changing from back to front properly, how his bank account is almost empty after getting yakuniku with his classmates.
They joke around. They start watching series and commenting on them together because Taki has never watched Hunter x Hunter, and Yuma blocked him for 10 minutes upon hearing that. Taki tells him off for not sleeping properly, even if he doesn’t go to sleep either unless he makes sure Yuma is resting and won’t reply to him anymore. Taki sends him pictures of his classes –those he shares with Jo, that is, because he hasn’t forgotten who he’s supposed to be–, and Yuma warns him about how dangerous it is to give someone that much information before he sends one back.
Sometimes, Taki will slip up. He will mention swimming instead of basketball, or complain about a younger sister instead of the older brother he’s supposed to, but it’s nothing he can’t recover from. He’s insisted a lot in his friendship –Jo’s friendship– with himself, so small details about his own life don’t come across as weird, but endearing instead. He’s also made sure to make clear that he and Jo are friends, nothing more. They wouldn’t be a good match even if they tried. Not romantically, that is.
However things go with Yuma, though, there’s a more important question he needs to ask now.
To: rua-chan
[12:39:01 22/07/25] is there rly a party
[12:39:29 22/07/25] or are u guys gonna beat me up
From: rua-chan
[12:39:55 22/07/25] if we wanted to beat u up we would’ve done it at maki’s place
[12:40:24 22/07/25] c'mon there’s people i wanna introduce u to
[12:40:24 22/07/25] from gymnastics
Taki blinks twice while reading that last message, praying to every god he knows simultaneously that Yuma and Harua don’t go to the same gymnastics club. Yuma has never mentioned any of his friends there, so hopefully he just does his own thing and doesn’t talk to anyone. Ever.
His hope vanishes when Yuma texts him back, one message catching his eyes and breath from the notification box.
From: yuma-chan <3
[12:43:21 22/07/25] can’t watch an episode tn btw
[12:43:30 22/07/25] im going partyiiing
[12:45:06 22/07/25] would u like to come with me? it’s a house party i think it’s gonna be chill :3
He doesn’t miss how that last message takes a little longer than the others, as if Yuma was thinking about whether he sent it. Taki feels awful because he knows that the invitation is not really for him, but he also high-fives himself because it’s his words and how he treats Yuma that got him that invitation.
But he needs to say no, because Jo is on a trip with his parents, so the man Yuma actually wants to see is definitely not going to Harua’s house. He leaves the small problem of how embarrassingly he’s going to act when he’s face to face with Yuma for later.
To: yuma-chan <3
[12:45:58 22/07/25] at rua’s, right?
[12:46:32 22/07/25] can’t make it :(
[12:46:52 22/07/25] but i bet he’ll organize something else so we might see each other soon :)
He knows Yuma has read the messages even if his read receipts are off, because he’s online and he was about to send something else before Taki turned him down. By the time the reply comes, Taki has already picked up all his stuff from breakfast and is getting ready for his after-lunch run.
From: yuma-chan <3
[15:34:26 22/07/25] aw it’s ok!
[15:34:26 22/07/25] btw i’m gonna be outside pretty much all day so i’ll talk to u later
Taki slams his phone against the kitchen table when he reads that, leaving his protein shake unfinished to start rummaging through his closet, hoping to find something to wear that Harua won’t make fun of.
To: rua-chan
[15:38:26 22/07/25] i’m going
[15:38:26 22/07/25] don’t let me drink or i’m gonna embarrass myself
Taki arrives at Harua's place wearing Nico’s borrowed sleeveless sweatshirt and Euijoo’s light blue jeans, Yudai’s belt holding them in place. The fact that he’s wearing nothing of his own when he’s minutes away from meeting Yuma, the guy he’s been talking to for weeks while pretending to be someone else, seems like a petty joke from fate.
He makes his way across the living room making small talk with everyone, most of his friends already with a drink in their hand. There are too many people Taki doesn’t know, but a face that’s engraved in his brain stands out from the rest.
He’s there. Yuma is there.
“He’s cute, right?,” he hears from behind, Yudai smiling at him, pointing at Yuma with a red plastic glass. Is this a coming-of-age movie or something? Why did Harua get these? “Why don’t you go and talk to him? I’m sure you can bag him.”
“What? You’re crazy, shut up. Also, “bag him”? Who taught you that?”
“I did,” Euijoo shows up from behind, clinging to Yudai’s arm to steal a sip of his drink, kissing his boyfriend’s cheek just as he was about to protest. Taki’s stomach twists as if he just saw his parents making out, which might not be that far off, considering Yudai practically raised him from the moment he started tutoring him years ago. “You can totally bag him, by the way. He’s heartbroken, it’s the perfect moment for you to shoot your shot.”
Heartbroken. Are his conversations with “Jo” really that serious for Yuma? This is like that one lesbian movie on Netflix that Harua got obsessed with a while ago, and Taki has never been main character material. He’s strange and mouthy, and that’s not even the half of it. He’s there for comedic relief, at most.
What do you mean he’s made a guy fall for him while using one of his best friends’ faces?
“You’re scaring him, Juju,” Yudai nags, leaving a chaste kiss on the other’s cheek, which makes him melt in his arms. Taki feels sick again. “Yuma is just a bit bummed that a guy he was talking to isn’t here, that’s all we know. He didn’t mention it being serious, so why don’t you go for it? He is cute.”
Taki rolls his eyes with a tired smile; he’s been watching Yuma’s face from –nearly– every possible angle on video calls for two weeks now: sleepy, happy, frustrated. He knows Yuma is pretty, thank you. That’s why he can’t get near him.
“I don’t know, I’m just gonna get a drink. Say hi to Harua, maybe. Pray he doesn’t beat me up,” the last sentence comes out a bit quieter than the others, as if he was talking to himself, going to the kitchen where he hopes he finds the rest of his friends and no one else.
He’s successful –for a while, at least. Taki plays beer pong in Maki’s team and they both lose to Nico, Fuma and their basketball skills. He then lets Nico make him a horrible drink because “it’s the losers’ punishment.” His stomach starts churning, and before he notices he’s emptying the contents of his stomach in Harua’s backyard. It’s not pretty or pleasant, but at least it’s not awkward.
At least it wasn’t until he sees someone else there, smoking a cigarette while looking at him with a sly smile. A smile he could recognize between a million faces, snaggletooth poking the right side of the guy’s lip.
“Are you done? You almost made me go back inside, but I needed to get out of there for a bit.They're too loud sometimes, even for me.”
There’s no real venom to Yuma’s voice, just the same playful tone that has made Taki smile ever since he first heard it. It’s completely different, though, hearing it in person. Yuma’s voice takes over his brain instantly, leaving him speechless from all the stuff he wishes he could say.
I love your voice. You sound better now than in the audios you sent me this morning. I’m sorry you can’t hide how sad you are now, and I’m sorry I caused it.
“I’m sorry,” comes out instead, and he puts around four to ten mint bubble gums in his mouth that make his eyes water, but he’s not about to go talk to Yuma smelling like vomit. He’s not sure why he’s trying to talk to Yuma at all. “Have you been here for long?”
Yuma shakes his head and flashes a gentle smile, his cigarette now pointing towards Taki, head tilted to the side as he looks at him. Being under Yuma’s gaze is everything Taki had imagined and more, the attention making him feel small and enormous simultaneously. “You’re Jo’s friend! Taki, right? The one on his profile picture?”
Ah, right.
“Y-yeah, that’s me,” he mutters, trying to remember everything Yuma might know about him from all his slip-ups. Then again, if he were Yuma, he wouldn’t really care about what his crush told him about his other friends. At least not as much. “You’re Yuma.”
It comes out more positive than he would’ve liked, which makes the guy next to him not smoke properly, translucent smoke leaving his mouth as he coughs with a smile so bright it makes Taki hurt.
“He talks about me? Jo, I mean,” he asks as if Taki would ever think he’s talking about anyone else, a deeper blush than the one he's wearing staining his cheeks. “I knew he liked me.” Yuma takes another puff that takes like victory, and Taki tries his best not to panic for the fifth time since the conversation started.
“I think he would kill me if he knew I told you, so you didn’t hear it from me,” he sighs, pointing towards Yuma’s mouth where the cig sits, almost entirely consumed by now. “Can I have one?” Taki has never smoked before, nor did he remember Yuma did until now, but if that brings them closer, he better start pretending. At least for tonight, he wants to keep acting like he is someone Yuma might be interested in. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if Jo and Yuma meet and he's there to see it.
To his surprise, Yuma complies and gives him a cig as well as his own lighter, a simple Clipper that’s been bedazzled in pink and purple rhinestones, the word “MEOW” spelled with the darker color of the two. Very fitting.
He spits the thousand gums in his mouth and takes a first puff following Nico’s drunk instructions that he overheard when Maki turned eighteen and begged him for a cigarette, and he sees stars in a very negative way: his eyes water, and smoke fills his inexperienced lungs, bringing him to a coughing fit that turns Yuma into a laughing mess.
Good job, Taki.
“First time?” Yuma asks, the words sounding way too dangerous coming from his mouth and so close to Taki’s mouth. He hasn’t backed away since he lit his cigarett,e and it’s making Taki dizzy in the best and worst ways. “If you’re gonna smoke my cigs, at least smoke them properly, yeah? It’s the expensive brand.”
Taki does know that; Nicholas once complained about his gas station raising the price of that specific brand only in a five-minute voice message solely dedicated to the topic.
“Sorry, yeah,” he gives Yuma the barely smoked cigarette, smiling shyly as he fixes his hair, unaware of how Yuma’s eyes follow the movement of his hands. “It was supposed to be my way of coming back from vomiting in front of you, but I think it kind of backfired.”
“I don’t think it backfired at all,” he hears, the idea of going back inside and drowning his shame in highballs disappearing completely. “At least you smell better.” Taki would argue that tobacco smells significantly worse than the gums in his mouth, but he won’t argue with a single thing Yuma says tonight. He’s finally talking to him in person.
While he can’t ask about stuff they’ve told each other before or reference any of their online interactions, they spend almost the entire party together. He learns that Yuma is just as flirty as he sounds over text, and surprisingly, he’s not affected by it –not negatively, at least. Yuma clings to his friends, ruffles their hair, and makes Harua whine when he tries to kiss his cheek for the nth time. This is the Yuma that he can only see in person, and Taki sobers up immediately when he realizes he can’t go back to texting and video calling.
He needs Yuma like this: flirty and loud and real. How is he supposed to keep pretending after he knows what this is like?
“Taki, hey,” Yuma puts his hand on his shoulder to get his attention, phone in hand, and Taki thinks he’s having a stroke. “I had a really fun time with you tonight. I was kind of sad because of this guy, but you really helped and… well, can I get your number? I’d like to keep talking.”
Shit.
“Oh, uhm.” Quick, think of something. Broken phone? No, he saw you using it. No SIM card? Yeah, as if. Say that you have a girlfriend? And ruin our slim chances with Yuma? Are you still drunk, dude?
“You can say no, it’s fin-”
“No! Like, I just suck at texting but, uhm. Do you have an email account?” You’re not even trying at this point, man.
Yuma opens his mouth in disbelief and then laughs, Taki mimicking his reaction before the situation gets even more awkward for any of them. He doesn’t even know where the email thing came from, but it’s too late to turn back now. Yuma is going to say he’s weird and ridiculous, and then he’s going to text “Jo” about it so they can both laugh at him together like a couple in love.
“Yeah, I got an email account. This is the weirdest way anyone has told me to keep in touch, just so you know,” Yuma pulls up his phone and, to Taki’s disbelief, there it is. Yuma’s email. He sends a short message –“hey it’s taki lol”– and when the notification does pop up in the other’s phone, making him giggle, Taki feels like flying.
“Is that a bad thing? This being the weirdest way someone has talked to you?,” he asks, expecting a yes or no answer at first. But it’s Yuma, and his smile tells Taki that the answer is probably going to make him even more nervous than the doubts in his head.
“I don’t know yet. Depends on what you email me.”
After a week of emailing daily, Taki is medically insane.
If pretending to be someone else was hard, it’s nothing compared to pretending he’s not in love with Yuma by now. He likes everything about him: how he insults Taki’s choice of emojis and food, the way he complains about how long Taki takes to reply to his emails, how he just found Gmail has storage limit thanks to Taki’s “stupid” cat memes –which Yuma uses to reply the next day–, how he plays with the fonts and formats to get even more expressive.
They even use Google Meet to videocall, and Taki is thankful he doesn’t need to search for a way to justify that his camera isn’t working. Who cares if it looks a bit like a work meeting? Yuma makes fun of his exaggerated expressions, calls him out when he gets a bit too quiet and his eyes are a bit too fond, sees Taki blush when Yuma genuinely asks about his day.
Halfway through the week, he notices Yuma has practically stopped talking to “Jo”. No more updates about his classes, if he was late, if he saw that white and orange stray cat again. Those messages make their way to Taki’s inbox instead, and by the end of the week, he stops getting messages as Jo all together.
He misses them at first, but being able to give real details about his day is liberating. He sends pictures of himself in class, of the food he’s eating, of Yudai and him after a tutoring session, and things couldn’t go better.
Until Taki messes up.
They’re video calling at night to catch up on what they did for the day when he laughs at Yuma being kicked out of class because he was late again, trying as hard as he can to not be too loud and wake up his parents when he says it.
“How are you always late? Yuma, four minutes less of sleep aren’t going to kill you, y’know’”
Yuma’s frown turns into a mischievous smile upon hearing that, leaning back in his chair before tilting his head in a way that makes Taki gulp almost too loudly.
“I never told you about the bus thing. How do you know I’m always four minutes late?” he asks, his tone more accusatory than curious. Taki’s unable to speak.
Yuma doesn’t wait for an answer, grabbing his phone while still on call to quickly type a message, and Taki’s message tone ringing louder than ever, and Taki wonders if you can block someone’s email address. Yuma should do it.
“I've known for a while. Since you talked to me at Harua’s. Your voice is too annoying to go unnoticed.” Ok, that definitely throws Taki off.
He sits up in the bed and, after Yuma is done laughing at him, he speaks up again.
“Wait, and you still talked to me? Even when I lied and you don’t like me? Why?”
Yuma laughs again, rolling his eyes in exasperation, hitting his webcam as if it was Taki’s forehead. God, he’s gonna have a heart attack. “Do I have to spell it out for you? I think all the water from swimming is getting into your brain.” He crosses his arms and looks down, something he only does when he’s embarrassed, and it’s like Taki’s eyes open up for the first time.
Yuma didn't fall for how pretty Jo was, he fell for the way Taki would compliment him sincerely, how he would keep a conversation going for hours on end. Yuma fell for Jo because he was Jo.
Yuma fell for him.
“Oh,” he says, trying to organize his thoughts so he doesn’t say anything that might ruin his chance to get all he’s wanted for the past month. “Well, do you wanna go to the movies tomorrow? Detective Conan is playing, right?"
For a moment, Yuma’s shock scares him. But then he’s smiling, snaggletooth poking the right side of his lip, and he’s not scared anymore. Not even a little bit.
“Sure, “Jo.”," he answers, and it's Taki's turn to hit the camera on his laptop. "Let’s go to the movies.”