Chapter Text
'why am I even outside, anyway?'
Takumi bitterly thought to himself, looking up at his younger twin instead of the grass below.
That's right, Isami insisted that since it was a 'lovely day outside' they could kick one of his old, stained footballs around the back of their yard.
'How pointless' Takumi thought again.
It's not like he hated being outside, But the day just wasn't one of his best, all he wanted was some sleep.
"Hey bro, i'm gonna head in for a quick drink, alright?" Isami softly kicked the ball towards his brother, "At least try to wait for me." His voiced carried a slight teasing tone as he ran inside and Takumi huffed out a breath in half-hearted annoyance.
"whatever" he muttered outloud and Kicked the ball as hard as he could muster up at the time. The ball went further than Takumi intended and soon enough, it was over the fence of one of his neighbour's yards.
After about 10 seconds of wondering what he should do, Climbing the fence (stupid as it sounds) seemed to be the best option.
In Takumi's opinion, it was better than having to awkwardly do the whole knock on the door thing.
He ran across the yard and looked up at the fence.
'Jump over, throw the ball back, and then jump back yourself' All he wanted was to get this over and done with as quick as possible, to avoid being caught, and to avoid Isami's teasing.
He jumped about 3 times before actually being able to grab the top of the tall fence with his hands, and once he managed that, Takumi used all the strength in his body, aswell as his legs pushing him up from anything they could find, to lift himself up and fall off the other side of his neighbour's tall obstacle (as Takumi referred it to).
And suddenly he was cold, wet, and lifting his head out of a pond full of goldfish. He coughed a few times before wiping his eyes and looking up to see a boy, probably around his age, Dying of laughter just outside the doorway of what Takumi assumed to be his house.
It took 6 seconds for Takumi to realise exactly what had happened and he could feel his entire face, and probably his neck too, flush bright red.
"O-Oi, stop laughing!" Takumi tried to be intimidating to the tall, spiky red headed teenager. But with the way he looked in that moment, In a pond full of fish and plants strewn over him, even a rabbit wouldn't be scared of him.
"I- I Just-" The other boy cut himself off with his own laughter.
'Isn't he at least going to ask if i'm alright!?' Takumi fumed.
"Hey! Stop that!" Takumi stood up, his foot slipping on the slimy rocks below and almost falling again. The red head definetly didn't miss it as he coughed out another minute of holding his stomach with tears in his eyes.
"S-Sorry" He said to Takumi as he evened out his breathing again, only a few extra chuckles escaping.
He walked right up to Takumi and held out his hand for him to grab. Takumi gripped it tightly as the boy pulled and helped him out of the pond.
"I'm Souma" The red head - Souma - Introduced.
Takumi mumbled out, "My name's Takumi."
"Nice. Hey, Want a towel?" Souma stiffled his chuckles, biting his lower lip to prevent them being heard too loudly. That doesn't mean Takumi missed it though. Nor did he miss just how soft his lips looked.
"Um, yeah. Please." As he was being lead inside by Souma, Isami's voice could be heard from his own yard,
"Takumi! Oi, Takumi! You better not have run away from our game!" Takumi's faded blush had come back again as he tried to urge Souma to ignore his dorky sibling.
"who's that?" he questioned.
"Isami, he's my brother. He's also the reason my ball's over your fence."
"That's why you're here, then. Did he kick it?" Souma questioned again,
Takumi sighed, "No, I did. I was just frustrated about being outside so I let it out on the ball while Isami went in for a break or something."
Souma smiled and lead Takumi a few steps inside the door where he grabbed a towel from a small drawer and handed it to him, "Get back to your brother, then. Make sure to return my towel at some point, you Goldfish."
Takumi scowled as he flushed again, "Shut up! We won't ever speak of this, okay?!"
Souma laughed, putting his hands on Takumi's shoulders and leading him out his front door and around to the front of the soaking boy's house. It only took around a minute, but the awkward tripping Takumi endured made it seem like forever.
"See ya later, Takumi." Souma let go of his shoulders and grabbed the unused towel, throwing it on Takumi so it would land around his head and shoulders.
"I'll wash your towel and bring it tomorrow." Takumi promised as he looked up and directly into Souma's face for the first time.
He had nice eyes, he noted.
Souma smiled, nodded and left to walk the short path back to his front door.
"How am I going to explain this to Isami." He mumbled to himself, a thing he does quite often, and pushed the door open to see a slightly concerned looking Isami in the living room.
"Takumi! Where were you?!" He looked Takumi up and down more than necessary before speaking, "What.."
"oh no" Takumi gasped as he realised, He had left the stupid ball at Souma's. Even after that embarrassment, he couldn't even get what he intended to in the first place. He spoke to himself once more, "I guess i'll get it tomorrow."
Isami strutted up to Takumi, and after another look at him, he burst out laughing, "what happened to you?!" he cried whilst also noticing the foreign towel on Takumi's head.
"B- Be quiet!" Takumi yelled back, again trying his hardest to look intimidating. Which very obviously doesn't work well for him in situations like these.
Although he did think that maybe he was right earlier about not wanting to be outside. Especially if it meant doing dumb things like that, just to make himself seem more like an idiot in front of people he would much rather look cool to.
'I will do my best to seem cooler tomorrow when I visit Souma again' Takumi promised that to himself, hoping for the best.