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There were a variety of awkward, unpleasant situations one could possibly find themselves in. For starters, Akuta supposed something he was rather accustomed to, but certainly did not enjoy, was when his peers whispered about him. They gossiped, pointed, and laughed, molding him into an unwitting jester.
However, if it was a jester they wanted him to be, then sure, he’d play the part. It was much easier to willingly play class clown and be laughed at of his own volition, rather than protest the treatment and still be ridiculed. It was just easier that way. It made him feel as if he had some control, even if he knew that deep down, nothing had really changed. At the end of the day, it didn’t truly make him feel any better, he was just as pathetic as before. As always.
…But this didn’t feel like one of those situations, although it came quite close in awkwardness!
“So, how is it?”
Akuta squinted as he thoughtfully chewed on the strawberry mochi Nanaki had brought to his lips, “Ish good. I mean, you didn’f habe to feed it to me directly though.” He let out a noise as Nanaki chuckled, poking his cheek, “Wuh…?”
“You shouldn’t talk with your mouth full, Akuta.” Nanaki sported an amused grin, his cheeks dusting pink, “But…it is c-cute seeing how stuffed your cheeks are. I could just eat you up…I-I mean, ahem, I’m glad you like it, my brother gave it to me when I visited home earlier today.” He shuffled in his seat like a maiden in love, “If you really like it, I could ask where he got it and buy more myself. We could try the other flavors too, but…um, you’ll have to promise to eat it with me. And Kiroku too, of course.”
See, there was a glaring problem here.
Kiroku spoke up from beside Nanaki, an almost inaudible giggle escaping his lips, “Isotake does…look cute like this. His cheeks are…like strawberry mochi…too.” Despite how quiet he was, a fond smile bloomed across his face, his eyes softening as if he were looking at the love of his life. “It would be fun…to try all the flavors together.”
That was it, the glaring problem.
“Um…” The mochi was rather thick, and it did not go down easily, much to Akuta’s displeasure. “...Yeah, totally. Sounds good to me! Sorry, I need to go get some water downstairs, I’ll be right back in a sec!” Akuta moved to stand up, only to be halted as Nanaki grabbed his wrist.
“If you want, I can make us something to drink. I know you don’t drink coffee, but I did buy some hot chocolate for us too.” Nanaki offered, “We could go downstairs together.” He didn’t look as eager to drink something as he did to spend more time with Akuta, not that the boy could have guessed something like that.
Akuta stared for a good second before letting out a nervous chuckle, patting Nanaki’s hand as he wriggled out of his friend’s grasp. Bee-lining it to the door, he waved, “You’re so funny, Nanaki! By the time you finish making us those drinks, I might choke on this mochi haha. I’mma go grab some water and chill downstairs for a bit, so you and Kiroku…uhh…” He gestured vaguely between them, “...Have fun together! Peace out, dudes.”
“Huh?” Kiroku blinked, “You’re…staying downstairs? Then…me too–” He started to get up, only for Akuta to close the door behind him, hollering out a hasty, “See you guys at dinner!”
Akuta gulped down his water, letting out a sigh as he felt the cold liquid running down his throat. He could breathe a bit better now, think a bit better too. Not that him being able to comprehend this better did anything to calm his nerves.
There was a problem.
The problem was quite frankly–he was pretty sure he was getting in the way of Nanaki and Kiroku’s relationship…or, they were both keeping some sort of secret from him.
A couple of months ago, Kiroku and Nanaki had announced their relationship to the world. Well, actually, it would be more accurate to say he witnessed their love confession to each other right in front of his face. It was wild, actually. It was just like that one meme where someone was confessing to another person via text, and they added another guy to the group chat as, like, emotional support? It was exactly like that.
Akuta remembered standing in the middle of them like some sort of marriage officiant as they passionately confessed their love to each other, too stunned to speak. All he could really get out of that was that Nanaki and Kiroku were brave as hell, because no way would he be able to confess his feelings to someone else while some guy was just in the room with them.
Sure, they were friends and all, but would he have the balls to confess to someone while…say, Muneuji was standing in between them watching, with little pom poms in his hands cheering them on? Absolutely the fuck not. As cool as that sounded, that was probably uber embarrassing for everyone involved (besides Muneuji, maybe. Being the third wheel sounded like it could be super awkward or fun depending on who said third person was. Akuta himself just happened to find it awkward).
Anyway, despite how strange it was that they had to go out of their way to make sure that he was in the room too, and how they all went in for a group hug or whatever afterwards, he was happy for them. He really was. It’s just…it was normal to not want to third wheel, right? Don’t get him wrong, he enjoyed being with them, they were TOGURO, a trio, BFFs even!
They were roommates, groupmates, and friends. But Kiroku and Nanaki had a bond that Akuta did not share with them, and that was the simple fact that they loved each other. In other words, that was a really long winded way of saying that they were dating, and Akuta had nothing to do with it, so why the hell was he even here?
If they were spending time with each other as friends, he could stand it. He could easily overlook the fact that they were dating. He wouldn’t even mind if they held hands or snuck in a kiss or two while all three of them were hanging out as long as they didn’t try to shove it in his face, but that wasn’t the case. Sometimes, the mood was a little too flirty, a little too…intimate. Vulnerable, even. It made him feel as if he were watching some sort of chick flick that he couldn’t pause and put aside to watch another movie.
But that wasn’t even the problem, that wasn’t even the worst part. The root cause of all of his problems was not that he was third wheeling them…it was that Kiroku and Nanaki seemed to not give a flying fuck about it. Not in an infuriating “haha we’re gonna be insufferable in front of you whether you like it or not” sort of way, but…they really didn’t care.
Akuta would even go as far as to say that they tried to make him feel included in the…whatever they were doing, and honestly that was weird as fuck. He was starting to lose his mind. Was he the strange one here? Was it normal for people to treat third wheels like part of the relationship nowadays? Was he not woke enough for this? Yeah, they were friends and all, but surely there must’ve been a couple of moments where they wanted Akuta out of the room so they could spend some quality time together Akuta-free, right?
But no. Never. Not once had they even insinuated that perhaps they wanted to be alone–and they should. They should want to be alone! They were dating each other, not Akuta! From morning to night, Akuta was simply there and none of them complained about it. For a while, Akuta considered that perhaps they truly didn’t mind him being there all the time, but surely there was no way, right?
Their indifference was…off putting. Or maybe it wasn’t indifference, but enjoyment? They liked having Akuta around, and Akuta enjoyed being around his friends, but not like this. This was just freak behavior. He did not need to be in the room while they were whispering sweet nothings to each other. That was just weird.
“Move, Idiotake, you’re blocking the fridge.”
Akuta blinked as he heard a voice speak up from behind him. There stood Muneuji and Ushio, the former with a relaxed smile on his face, the latter with an annoyed frown, as usual. “Oh, my bad.” Akuta stepped aside, allowing Ushio to grab a chocolate pudding from the fridge.
Handing it to Muneuji, Ushio reached back inside the fridge once more to pull out some sort of mild tasting chocolate drink (at least to Akuta’s knowledge–he’d never tried the drink himself, but if Ushio liked it, then it probably wasn’t overly sweet). Once Ushio had grabbed his drink, they loitered about for a moment, with Muneuji breaking the silence.
“Isotake, what are you doing out here?” He asked, stepping around the kitchen to grab a spoon for his pudding, “I heard from Nanaki and Kiroku that you were on a (room) date today.” He did not miss the way Akuta's eyebrows flew up in surprise, and he tilted his head, “Was…that not the case?”
“D-Date…?” Akuta’s cheeks burned, and he hurriedly took another sip of cold water in an attempt to cool himself down. Laughing incredulously, he set his glass of water down on the counter, “That’s…I mean…that’s crazy. I don’t even have a–man, was it Nanaki? Is he assuming stuff again? I swear I don’t have a girlfriend. Or a girl-friend. Or a boyfriend–I guess I don’t mind boys either, but that’s not really the point…anyway, who blabbed?”
Muneuji and Ushio paused, exchanging rather complex expressions. Akuta couldn’t quite make out what exactly those expressions meant, but it was clear that there was something they knew and he didn’t. Perhaps everyone in Day2 were working together to mess with him or something? A prank maybe?
But then again, if it was a prank, it wasn’t really a practical one. Akuta had been feeling out of place ever since Nanaki and Kiroku had started dating, but their dating certainly couldn’t be the prank. He saw how genuine they were when they confessed to each other. Them being extra nice to Akuta certainly couldn’t be the prank either…it wasn’t very funny.
Like, what would the punchline even be? “Haha you fell for us being nice! Now we’re not gonna be nice anymore”? That just sounded mean, and neither of those two would do something like that to Akuta anyway. But maybe Muneuji and Ushio could enlighten him on the truth of the matter. Before he could begin to ask, Ushio spoke up.
“Idiotake, what kind of stupid joke is that?” Ushio narrowed his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh, “I don’t know if you had a fight with them or whatever, but saying that kinda joke is in poor taste, even for you. Get your shit together before those guys come crawling to me crying and complaining. Again. I don’t have any advice left to give them.”
Clearly, “them” coming to Ushio was a common occurrence. But who is “them”? Akuta furrowed his eyebrows. If there was anyone in Day2 that would be willing to play a mean prank on him, it would probably be Ushio–but even then, he doubted Ushio would play a prank this mean. He was a good guy at heart. But also, he genuinely did look annoyed right now…so maybe he was under the impression Akuta was genuinely dating someone?
Even if that was the case, that also meant that there was someone out there who genuinely thought they were dating Akuta, and that was…also really weird.
He could feel his patience running thin. Or rather, perhaps he was already far past that. The dam had already broken.
“Y’know–” Akuta paused, opening and closing his mouth as if he were about to say something, a flicker of rare annoyance in his eyes. It was hard to put into words what exactly he wanted to ask, what he wanted to say. Luckily, Ushio and Muneuji were rather patient, sensing that whatever he had to say was probably important (if not, they were certainly stunned enough by Akuta’s annoyance to not speak up).
Finally, he blurted out, “I have noooo fucking clue what any of you guys are talking about, and I’m completely serious about it. Like, for the past couple of months or something, everyone’s been saying stuff I don’t understand, and Kiroku and Nanaki have been super freaky…like, not even with each other, but with me! I feel like they’re trying to make me feel included in their relationship?”
He continued, his face scrunching up in exasperation, “And it’s weird! I support their love–gay rights happy pride month or whatever–I really do, but I wanna do it from?? A safe distance?? And now you guys are telling me I’m dating someone–can someone tell me what the hell’s going on? Who am I dating, ‘cause that’s news to me!”
Akuta threw his hands in the air as if to say he was done with this whole thing, to which he was met with the mystified expressions of his friends, and the clatter of Muneuji’s spoon falling to the ground.
“Wait…” Ushio’s expression no longer held any annoyance, pure confusion on his face as he stammered, “I…Isotake. You’re serious?” It was clear he wanted Akuta to say otherwise, but when met with a nod, Ushio could only let out an incredulous “huh”.
“Isotake.” Muneuji grabbed Akuta’s shoulder, his expression serious, “You…are dating Kinugawa and Nanamegi, are you not?”
A heavy silence descended upon them as Akuta stared blankly, his lips parted, yet not a single word was spoken. For a moment, it felt like time itself had stopped, and he felt the gears in his brain turning, connecting the dots. If those two really thought they were all dating, then a lot would make sense. Actually, everything would make sense.
“I–...” Akuta wasn’t sure how else to respond, “We’re dating?”
He would have found the expressions of sheer horror upon his friends’ faces to be funny, if it weren’t for the fact that it pertained to him being in a relationship with Nanaki and Kiroku.
“Do you think we upset him? I was really looking forward to our date today since we haven’t had much time to hang out together lately…”
Nanaki sighed, burying his face in his palms as he sat, slumped over his table. Kiroku stood behind him, patting his back gently, his eyebrows knitted in concern. Truthfully, Kiroku wasn’t sure how they’d gotten in this situation either, but he did have to agree that it felt as though Akuta had been behaving more…cold lately.
Well, Akuta had always been that way though. Ever since they’d all started dating, the boy had always paused and laughed awkwardly whenever Kiroku or Nanaki initiated any sort of advance toward him, quickly diverting the conversation or scooting away. At first, Kiroku had assumed that Akuta was just feeling shy, but with time, perhaps that wasn’t it at all.
Still, even if Akuta did have a habit of avoiding and putting off things that made him uncomfortable, Kiroku doubted that he’d treat his boyfriends like this simply because they’d upset him somehow. Although they were lovers, they were also friends, and Akuta had never behaved like this before. It was unnatural. But it was also undeniable that he’d only begun to act this way after they’d started dating.
“Me too…but, I don’t think…we did anything. P-probably…” Kiroku replied. Maybe they did do something wrong? Maybe they’d come on too strong or something after all. What if Akuta wanted to break up with them because of something they hadn’t even realized was bothering him this whole time? The thought made his stomach churn, “Maybe…we should talk to–”
He was interrupted by a bang as the door slammed open to reveal Akuta, his cheeks flushed, his chest heaving as took deep breaths. Had he run upstairs? What was he in such a rush for? Taking large strides, he began to stomp over to Nanaki and Kiroku.
Nanaki stood up, fixing his expression as he plastered a smile over his face, “D-did you forget something, Akuta…?” It was painful to watch Nanaki act as if he was fine, when he was clearly hurt, but Kiroku hardly had time to think to comfort him later, when Akuta spoke up.
“Are we dating? Like, the three of us?”
What? What an odd question.
“Y-yes…?” Kiroku tilted his head, blinking slowly as he turned to Nanaki, who sported a similar expression. Where was this question coming from?
Nanaki laughed, “Yeah? Why’re you asking that question out of–” Upon looking at Akuta’s flat expression, he could feel blood draining from his face. Was he kidding? There was no way that was a serious question, right? “Why…why did you ask that?”
“...Right. So those guys weren’t lying.” Akuta muttered under his breath, bringing a hand over his face. He inhaled, rubbing his temples, “Sorry. I’m, uh…tryina find it in me right now. Um. Sooo you guys think we’re–all of us–are dating…that explains so much, actually.”
Now what could that possibly mean?
Nanaki could only stare blankly, the gears in his brain finally moving. Did Akuta just realize that they were all dating after god knows how many months? But if he didn’t know, then it didn’t really count as dating, right? Well, if he didn’t know then it would certainly make sense as to why he was so…averse to returning their affections.
“Iso…take…did you, really n-not know?” Kiroku asked. He was frozen in place, his expression morphing into one of pure mortification. Indeed, if he really had no idea then that would explain everything. Akuta looking awkward and uncomfortable during their dates, Akuta subtly nudging them away with his elbow whenever they would get a little too close for comfort, Akuta looking at them weirdly whenever they would try to feed him…it all made sense now.
“...So I thought you two were dating.”
Oh my god.
“Then all this time…” Nanaki was as pale as a sheet, trembling as he placed a hand over his mouth, “All of those times…don’t tell me, did it seem like we were…p-possibly…harassing you?” If that was so, then Akuta’s awkwardness was not because he was shy, it was because he thought they were freaks or something?
Nanaki could feel his world shattering–here he thought that he’d found his happy ending with the loves of his life, and all this time Akuta hadn’t even known they were dating. Honestly, Akuta not knowing that they were dating was probably the least of it–the thought of Akuta thinking that they had been bullying him or something the entire time was incredibly devastating.
“Uh, yeah. Kinda.” Before his boyfriends-not-boyfriends could faint, Akuta quickly added, “Wait, before you guys freak out! I didn’t, like…hate it or anything! And I don’t hate the thought of dating you guys either so chill out and listen to me, ‘kay? First off,” Clapping his hands together, Akuta exclaimed, “I’m super, duper, uber sorry for not realizing!”
Akuta continued, “In hindsight, yeah, I prolly shoulda known you didn’t invite me to your confession as like, emotional support. When it all went down I totally had no idea I was supposed to be part of it, y’know? After you guys confessed to each other, you looked at me and you were like (emotional Nanaki voice), “Akuta?”
–And I didn’t know that meant that you wanted to know if I returned your feelings, I just thought you wanted my input on the confession, so I was like “Yayyy!!” and then I clapped because I thought we were all celebrating you two getting together! And then you guys hugged me and I thought, “Wow! Nanaki and Kiroku are so inclusive haha” and yeah I may have been stupid for that one.”
Where would they even start with this?
“Well…I do accept your apology. But that was really stupid, yeah.” Nanaki didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He did think that it was a little weird that Akuta had reacted like that during the confession, but never in his wildest dreams did he think Akuta had just been completely unaware. Aside from that, they’d been dating for months! He did feel bad that it may have seemed like he was potentially harassing Akuta from the boy’s perspective, but for months…wouldn’t someone normally say something?
“Right…” Akuta nodded, heaving a sigh, “At first, I was kinda weirded out by the idea that you guys thought you were dating me, but then I thought about it some more and I realized that if you guys seriously did think that…then I must’ve been a really shitty boyfriend! ‘Cause I kept bailing on dates and pushing you guys away and stuff…I’m also sorry about that, I probably hurt you, right?”
Normally, if it was anyone else, perhaps Akuta wouldn’t feel as necessarily inclined to apologize. However, it wasn’t like Nanaki and Kiroku were some random fans that had deluded themselves into thinking that they were dating Akuta, they were his friends. Even if it was a really bad misunderstanding, he’d still ended up hurting them without intending to.
There was a pause, before Kiroku softly said, “It did…sting. A bit. But it kind of…hurts less when I found out…you didn’t know we were dating. It can’t be helped…” This whole situation was ridiculous honestly, but it did clear up a lot to know that Akuta had behaved the way he did because he was unaware of their relationship, rather than because he genuinely was upset at them for whatever.
Also, Kiroku admittedly thought this was really funny. “I do have…a question, though.”
“Yeah, shoot!” Akuta nodded, gesturing for Kiroku to continue.
“You said you…didn’t hate the thought…of dating us. And that…you didn’t hate…everything. So, what does that mean?” Kiroku glanced down, fidgeting with his sleeves, “Even if you didn’t hate it…” Even if Akuta hadn’t hated it, now that the misunderstanding was resolved, that was grounds for a breakup right? Then again. They couldn’t really break up–it wasn’t as if Akuta had ever considered himself to be a part of their relationship.
If Akuta did want to break up with them, then it would definitely be awkward for everyone. It would make sense that he wouldn’t want to continue this, but then Akuta would have to live with the fact that his roommates, who were already in a relationship, also simultaneously had feelings for him…Kiroku couldn’t imagine that it would be comfortable.
“Oh, about that…” Akuta rubbed his chin in thought, his eyebrows furrowing, “I was kinda thinkin’ it would be cool to just continue as before, but this time I know I’m part of it? If that’s okay with you guys.”
“I understand. I guess it would be inevitable that you’d want to break–wait, did you just say you wanted to continue the relationship?” Although Nanaki looked seconds away from passing out, his eyes had widened, blood rushing to his head, “Agh–I’m feeling light headed…this isn’t a joke right? I’m not hallucinating or something? Kiroku, slap me…!”
“I’m not going…to slap you…Nanamegi.” Kiroku shook his head, a small smile making its way onto his face. As amusing as Nanaki was, Kiroku was also relieved to see that Akuta had decided to continue their relationship–that is, if this really wasn’t a joke. It seemed that Akuta still had a bit to explain on that front. “Isotake…can you…”
“–Elaborate? Yup, I gotcha.” Clearing his throat, Akuta nodded enthusiastically, “Mm…well! Basically, the reason why everything was awkward for me wasn’t because I disliked it…I mean, I do like you guys, y’know? A lot. Probably more than I should as a friend–and at first I thought it was weird too, because I lowkey thought you guys were trying to prank me or something.
Like…you kept spoiling me and doting on me and it did…g-get my heart racing. Sorta. Agh–I really hate talking about my feelings, this is so embarrassing–TLDR, at some point in the relationship I didn’t know that we were in, I started realizing that I liked you guys too, but I tried to ignore it ‘cause I thought you guys liked each other, not me! And now that I know you guys like me too, it’s…uh, cool?”
Akuta’s cheeks had become bright red, clearly unaccustomed to talking about these sorts of topics. Although it was a couple months late, this technically counted as a confession, right? As unromantic as it was. He’d skipped over a lot of the “feelings” part of his confession, but they supposed there was plenty of time to talk about feelings later.
“So…you like us.”
A nod.
“And we like you.”
Another nod.
“And this is fine?”
“Yeah, unless you guys have any problems with it.” Akuta shrugged, crossing his arms, “I mean, if you wanted to, we can break up and start over from the beginning…or if you want to leave me out of your relationship entirely, that’s fine too. Like I totally get if this whole thing was a deal breaker or whatever–”
“N-no–!”
“Absolutely not!”
Akuta jumped as Nanaki and Kiroku shouted at the same time, leaning closer (menacingly), as to make their points. The two looked frantic, as if they’d blurted out their words before they could think. Holding up his hands in surrender, Akuta replied, not missing a beat, “Right, yes, no breaking up. Got it!” At the very least, it was reassuring to know that despite everything, they still liked him.
“There’s…probably a lot to talk about. I-I mean, I still wanna ask about the details of when you fell in love and stuff like that, but…for now, let’s just say that we’re all officially dating okay? The three of us! 100%! Romantic-not-platonic dating!” Nanaki sighed, being as clear as possible. He knew that Akuta was aware that this was a serious relationship, but…just in case.
If Akuta said a couple months later that he thought they were in some sort of platonic ultra bestie relationship, Nanaki couldn’t even imagine how he would react.
“Then that…settles things.” Kiroku also let out a breath, his shoulders relaxing. Although that was relatively stressful, there was a spark of excitement within him–now that Akuta was officially dating them, there were no more misunderstandings. That meant that he could finally do couple-y stuff with Akuta without the boy pushing him away and making things awkward! “So, now what…?”
Akuta hummed, “I mean we do have a date planned today, right? We can do that! I can put on a movie and we can finish eating the mochi Nanaki brought over–ah, but,” Placing a hand on Nanaki’s shoulder, Akuta smiled sheepishly, tilting his head as he averted his gaze, “Nanaki…b-before…when you said that you could just eat me up…I’ve been thinking about it ever since you said it, and…”
Now it was Nanaki’s turn to blush, practically melting under Akuta’s touch, “Y-yes?”
“...It was really cheesy…sorry, man...”
A snort.
“See, even Kiroku agrees!”
Nanaki fell back onto his chair, feeling his soul leaving his body. Finally…finally they were all dating, but at what cost? (Well, as long as Kiroku and Akuta were happy, he guessed it was fine…he wasn’t that cheesy though, right?)