Work Text:
It was a bright and sunny day at Hyakki Academy. Classes had just ended and almost everybody had left the school—except for the three, Haruaki, Miki, and Izuna. They were unfortunately stuck overworking because of someone's behavior.
“It's so hot in here!” Haruaki exclaimed, feeling numb due to the heat, “You want this to end sooner right?” Izuna snapped “Then quit complaining and do your work!” , after all—they wouldn't be stuck in here if it weren't for Haruaki.
Hours ago, the staff room was unusually quiet, so quiet you can hear everybody breathing. The air conditioner had broken down, leaving the teachers to check assignments under the brutal summer heat. Haruaki had finished first and decided to look at the air conditioner.
“Okay, so the air conditioner is malfunctioning because of the heat?” Haruaki curiously questioned, “Abe-sensei, don't do anything and just wait for the staff.” Izuna replied back even though he looks like he's seconds away from turning into a dropped ice cream.
“Izuna-kun...are you okay?!?!” Haruaki screamed as if he just saw a melting ghoul, dissolving under the harsh sun, his sudden outburst distracted the other teachers finishing work. One teacher asked when the maintenance was coming to fix the issue, but didn't get any answer at all.
Haruaki thought of a bold idea—to plug in the obviously steaming air conditioner, “Ah wait, I’ll just plug this in an-” suddenly, the room went dark, and somehow the heat got worse. Everyone tried to endure because this was the last day before summer vacation.
“Kyaaa!!” Haruaki shouted loud enough for the entire school to hear him. Haruaki had just accidentally caused an outage in the entire school. The principal was pissed, he was wearing heavy clothing that covered him head to toe, the heat was incredibly unbearable. The principal didn't hesitate to ask for Haruaki to come into his office to receive his punishment.
But little did he know, Haruaki expected anything but this—wearing clothes that cover him from head to toe in the most uncomfiest way, Izuna and Miki laughed at how ridiculous Haruaki looked, though, strangely enough, Haruaki looked pleased and happy, instead of—well you know, regretful and lifeless?
Miki whispered to Izuna, “Hey, Izuna-kun, is Haruaki supposed to be happy? This punishment is pretty hot. Pun intended” Miki jokingly said—but there was something off, “there's something inside that, right?” Miki asked. Izuna was clueless at first, but quickly caught on what Miki meant, Izuna squinted and realized that there was a sailor uniform beneath it.
“Hey Miki, I don't suppose there's a sailor uniform underneath?”
Miki scoffed, “Izuna-kun, let’s just continue working”, Izuna nodded.
2 hours passed and finally, every paper on their desk was finished.
“That felt like an entire year..why does time seem to slow down at times like this?” Miki uttered. A strange feeling crept over Miki,he turned around to see Haruaki with a face that looked like he was just given a death sentence, “Abe-sensei?” Miki asked “What happened?”
One minute turned into 5, then to 10, until Izuna eventually got pissed and slammed his hands on the table, “Abe-sensei, just spit it out already.”
“R-right right.. So uhm, the principal gave us extra work… “ Haruaki said with a trembling voice, he knows what's about to happen.
“Us?” Miki frowned “You must be mistakened… weren't you the one who caused the outa-” and before Miki could finish his sentence, the principal walked in carrying a massive stack of papers and cheerfully told them
"Sharing is caring!”, and left, leaving the group stunned, both Miki and Izuna slowly turned to Haruaki with a threatening look
“ahh!! I'm so sorry!” Haruaki shouted as he knelt down until his head got smashed into the floorboard. All the other teachers were already leaving one by one and only the three of them remained.
Afternoon turned into night, and with hard work, they finally finished it all. Haruaki yawned, “That took longer than I thought.” Izuna and Miki didn't say anything—they were just relieved to see all the work finished.
““Come on, let’s pack up,” Izuna said excitedly. Miki noticed his enthusiasm but said nothing; he knew he was just eager to see his wife and children.
“Come to think of it, it’s been a while since the three of us hung out together, hasn’t it?” Haruaki remarked. Indeed, it had been some time since their last outing—and, well, let's just say, the last time they hung out didn’t exactly go as smoothly as they’d hoped.
“I'll pass” Izuna said whilst packing up, he would rather die with his family than hang out with Haruaki again. Haruaki was a walking disaster magnet. Izuna couldn't risk it, especially after last time. Although Miki on the other hand was more than delighted to be with Haruaki
"I can be with you." Miki uttered.
“Great! Where do you suggest we go, Miki-kun?” Haruaki asked, he was quite unsure where he wanted to go.
“Ahh there's a lot of good places .. I don't know, let's ask Izun-” as Miki turned around, Izuna had already left, Miki sighed in disbelief, he didn't know a good place that Haruaki could enjoy as well. Suddenly, a thought clicked in his head.
“Say, Abe-sensei, you okay if I hang out in your house instead?”
Deafening, awkward silence. It was long enough for him to mentally draft an apology, a resignation letter, and a fake illness he wished he could use to disappear. Haruaki blinked once, then twice, and that somehow made the silence worse. Miki's eyes darted around nervously, looking for something to distract Haruaki so he could run away. As Miki prepared a dramatic exit plan, Haruaki's mouth opened—
“Sorry for askin—”
“Yeah! You can come over!” The words came out far too fast.
Miki froze....wait. What?
“Is that so?” Miki tried to laugh it off ” I was worried—very worried that I may have said some forbidden sentence” he tried not to make it obvious that he was flustered and visibly embarrassed, but the redness of his cheeks says otherwise.
“Uhm.. What time is possible for you..?” Haruaki changed the topic, seemingly anxious and jittery, it can't be helped for this was the first time Haruaki would be having someone over.
When Haruaki was younger, he was often seen as weird and unusual due to his obsession with sailor uniforms, so he didn't have many friends, although it was even more surprising to find out that he had friends at all considering his fearful nature. He was easy to bully, making the possibilities of him making friends drop—but despite all of that, Haruaki remained a kind and empathetic person. Miki loves him, not because he is attractive, but because he is someone who accepts Miki for who he is.
He doesn’t know when he felt like this, it could be when Haruaki first transferred here, or the time they met in Kyoto, but it didn’t matter. Miki had made up his mind; he would confess when they had a moment alone, he knew that the longer he waited, the fewer opportunities he would have.