Chapter Text
“So, Minamoto-kun-
-who do you choose?”
For the first time in his life, Kou thinks he understands the phrase, ‘The illusion of free choice.’
The scene before him is as simple as could be: to choose between two of his closest friends, in a romantic subtext. It’s not his first time being confessed to -good looks run in the Minamoto genes, it’s a fact he’s grown accustomed to- but he still feels as unprepared as a lobster being submerged into boiling hot water.
And, if Kou was being honest, he felt like choosing to strangle himself in broad daylight, preferably with either of the Mitsuba twins’ scarves. Would red or yellow look better in his casket? Then again, whoever’s scarf he doesn’t use might feel offended -so even in death Kou doesn’t escape having to choose.
But, really, what can Kou do if he can’t?
He’s been friends with Sousuke ever since the two were sat together in the first year of middle school -cherry blossoms metaphorically falling around them, the softest pink cotton-candy eyes he’s ever seen with a mixture of uncertainty and disdain. He’d felt his heart flutter before even registering the butterflies erupting in his stomach, felt queasy and nauseous and on the verge of throwing up his breakfast.
Sousuke had smiled at him, all stiffness and plasticity -he’d seen his nii-chan express that same rigidity enough times to identify it anywhere- but cute nonetheless. Taking his classmate’s hand, he’d wondered how much cuter his real smile would be.
He never quite got close to it, for sometime after winter, Sousuke was gone and a different Mitsuba had taken his seat.
Daisuke.
And, in Kou’s defense, the two looked the same!
Same shade of pretty pink hair, same wide doe eyes, and the same cupid’s heart-shaped lips. They even had the same mole -you really can’t blame Kou for not being able to tell the two apart!
So, when ‘Sousuke’ had reintroduced himself as Mitsuba Daisuke, Kou had obliviously thought nothing of it and assumed he’d misheard Mitsuba the first time.
This Mitsuba was a torrent of emotions -all sharp smiles and witty comments, snide remarks and harsh slaps when provoked, yet remaining unabashedly girly. Pitiful, supplicant and teary expression at one moment, then mocking and plain mean the next. He’d jab at Kou’s sides and throw blows at his head, inserted himself like a missing slot at Kou’s side and joined him whenever he so pleased. A push and pull, a competition with no end, Mitsuba was all pointy edges and the occasional soft spot -more often than not, an ego-centric asshole who was convinced half of the world was enamored with him.
The change was sudden, which probably should have been the first hint that something was off.
An honest mistake! One that ended up with him neck-deep in Sousuke’s bad side for three months and two and a half weeks.
He hadn’t realized his error until he’d seen the twins walking side by side after school, the same way home. At first, he was convinced he’d concussed his head and started seeing double; But the reality almost had him comatose -the Mitsuba twins had switched classes, and Kou hadn’t known.
”How could you not tell that we were two different people!?”
”Yeah! We act completely different, are you that much of a brain-dead moron that you couldn’t realize that?!”
What was he even supposed to say for himself? To make matters worse, it appeared that everyone knew of the Mitsuba twins -except him.
”Geesh, kid, how’d you not realize it? Those two are like night and day,” More like midnight and before dawn!
”The Mitsuba twins? Of course I’m familiar with them -Daisuke is in the Broadcasting Club and Sousuke in the Photography one! Oh, you didn’t know?” How did his senpai from the high school division even know about them?
And, well, when Kou compared them side by side, he supposed there were some differences: Daisuke’s cherry pink hair had strands of fuchsia and browns, his left eyebrow was slitted, and a mop of bangs customarily hid the right side of his face. His complexion was the slightest bit lighter, long-sleeves in the middle of summer no doubt aiding with that. On the other hand, Sousuke’s hair was a full light pink, the same shade as a clematis montana (blame his senpai for his knowledge of flowers!) and he occasionally wore a pair of glasses.
.. Now that he’s listing out their qualities, Kou more or less understands the twins’ ire.
He felt like the world’s stupidest fool -comparable to a court’s jester performing in front of the whole of Earth, not in act but, rather, out of pure idiocy.
So when he finally approached Sousuke to clear up his misunderstanding and explain the total physical ghosting, it’s not like he expected to be forgiven right away! He knew he did wrong -and he was more than willing to be held accountable..!
Except that Sousuke refused to hear him out.
He’d just roll his eyes, put his headphones back on, and jam his hands into his oversized pink cardigan’s pockets, then walk away. When Kou had told Mitsuba about it, he’d simply shrugged it off and said that was how his twin brother was -waved Kou off and amended that he’d get over it eventually.
Eventually ended up being almost four months, in which Kou would spend his free periods trailing after Sousuke -like a kicked puppy, hoping to get one last morsel from a neglectful owner- then spend hours after school with Daisuke.
Falling into a rhythm with the other Mitsuba twin was natural, though perhaps a bit too easy. Bantering flowed smoothly, and Daisuke’s hits lingered a few touches more than necessary -straying up Kou’s arms, yanking him by the collar of his shirt as if the blond were nothing more than a rag-doll for his own amusement, all semblance of violence met with a gentle kiss of skin-ship.
Hot and cold, fervid burning and frigid hypothermia, pulling teeth and crushing molars -at some point, Kou could no longer tell if it was just the adrenaline making his heart race.
Hanging out with Daisuke meant being in the presence of the rest of the twin’s club members and, for some reason or another, Kou could not stand Amane’s twin brother. Mitsuba seemed to like him, albeit barely, and compared him to a younger, mischievous cousin. Natsuhiko gave him the creeps, and Sakura-san was always something of a mystery; Either way, that left Kou to wait out Sousuke’s fury by hanging out with Amane and Nene -accidentally running into the girls’ bathroom of the old school building had served to solidify the three’s friendship, as fate would have it.
So, spurred on by Nene-senpai’s encouragement and Amane’s teasing, Kou continued pestering Sousuke ceaselessly until one of two outcomes happened: one, Sousuke caved and accepted Kou’s begs for forgiveness, or two, Kou got jumped by the Mitsuba twins and doesn’t live to tell the tale.
With Sousuke’s penetrating glares and standoffish behavior, coupled with Daisuke’s exponentially increasing affections, Kou did not have the highest of hopes.
..And he was right, since the very first complete sentence that Sousuke said outright to him was, ‘You’re an asshole.’ Kou had to plead on his hands and knees, suffer public humiliation as Sousuke took several pictures of him from various angles, and kiss the back of the boy’s hand.
Was it worth it, though?
Without a doubt.
Sousuke led him to beaches miles out of town and into the most hidden crevices of Kamome, venturing into the outskirts of their city and under the depths of night -forcing (entrusting) Kou to be in charge of holding his camera and equipment, and rewarding him with the ‘grace of his presence’ as Sousuke so called it.
Sousuke didn’t have many friends -selfishly, Kou wanted to keep it that way. His personality was too haughty, demeanor too cocky and bitchy, silence and politeness taken as uppity arrogance -all facets partially true, in some aspects. Sousuke couldn’t dismantle those views as hard as he tried, so he simply stopped bothering to. The pink-haired wasn’t a loner, but he wasn’t as open as his twin -kind on the surface to peers and acquaintances alike, catty and crude to a selected few.
Kou liked spending time alone with Sousuke, his presence as addictive as those sugary drinks that Teru-nii always told him to steer clear of -but he didn’t at all mind when Daisuke began joining in on their hangouts.
Bursting into Sousuke’s room whenever Kou was over at the Mitsubas’ cramped apartment, tagging along in their in-school activities, and even stringing Kou along to indulge whatever whim had taken hold -soon enough, it’d become the three of them: Sousuke, Daisuke, and Kou.
..Admittedly, it never quite struck him that his friendship with the Mitsuba twins crossed the threshold of purely platonic until he’d already done laps and passed the line so many times it faded.
Holding hands while walking to the ice cream store, sitting close together while at karaoke with Yokoo and Satou, letting dainty soft hands play with his hair -it became a habitual routine between him and Sousuke, as instinctual as a reflex. Serenity suited Sousuke, the soft closing of his eyes and the dusting of his cheeks whenever Kou brushed hair out of his face had the blond’s heart racing a marathon. He found himself laughing at Sousuke’s corny jokes, savoring the way the other’s petunia pink eyes crinkled with giggles, the way the prettiest of smiles blossomed on his face. If Kou was fall, then Sousuke was Spring.
With Daisuke, conscious intensity remained a looming weight set just beyond the horizon. Grazing fangs whenever the pink-haired punched him too hard, burning aggression veiled behind immature rough-housing when Mitsuba pushed his buttons too far -at this point jammed beyond recognition, yet always yielding to Daisuke’s touch. But, still, tenderness remained. Mitsuba holding him as Kou cried, snot dribbling down his chin and heaving onto his friend’s lap, feigning indifference but nonetheless emanating the warmth of comfort. Daisuke had succeeded in digging his claws deep beneath Kou’s skin; Likewise, he’d become entrapped within the barbs and thorns that made up the blond’s rough exterior. If Mitsuba’s apathetic suicidal ideations were winter, Kou would be Summer.
Kou thinks that maybe he should have seen this scenario coming from a mile away. Then again, he’s never been good at taking preemptive measures.
So, with an uneasy and wobby smile on his face, he looks at the two Mitsubas before him.
“..Both?”