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If there’s one thing that Chiyo knows about herself is that she likes romance. In fact, she loves romance! Romance is like her favourite thing in the world. She loves watching romantic comedies and shoujous and hallmark movies and reading romance books and fanfiction about her favourite characters in those books and those movies and shows and mangas and—The point is that she loves romance.
And she doesn’t just love romance in theory, she loves it in practice too. Or, well, she would love it in practice. She’s kind of a hopeless romantic, you see. She used to have this huge crush on this guy who was totally using her (which she hasn’t realized at the time but irrelevant!) and then she had a crush on a different guy, who basically ignored her existence and then she dated a guy who was a total douchebag and then she fell in love with this other guy who was, or well, is gay. Yap. Her newest crush is gay.
It’s kind of a bummer but Chiyo tries not to be too heartbroken about it. Besides, she’s pretty sure she’s the first person Kaidou is telling so, she feels like maybe she should at least pretend that she’s like, super happy for him and wants him to find the love of his life who will be a boy, apparently (and therefore not Chiyo, who is very much not a boy). And the thing is, she does kind of want to—tell him all that, she means. Because she loves romance and she doesn’t just love romance when it comes to her own self but when it comes to other people too, be that fictional or well, real life people.
So, Kaidou comes out to big romance enthusiast Chiyo on a whim and Chiyo swallows down her own feelings, smiles and says, “Thank you for sharing that with me, Kaidou-kun.”
And it’s still a bummer, if she’s honest and also doesn’t fully make sense because she’s seen him show attraction towards Kokomi and Chiyo too, actually but she’s not going to like, invalidate his feelings. He looks super vulnerable and it’s a big secret to share, based on the fanfictions Chiyo’s been reading about her favourite BTS members, so she will be totally chill about it.
“It’s—it’s okay, then? With you, it’s okay with you that I like boys?” Kaidou asks self-consciously, not even attempting to pull forward his Jet Black Wings persona. Chiyo takes a deep breath in and then out and nods.
“Of course. We’re—we’re uhh, friends. Nothing will change that,” she offers, ignoring the way her heart clenches at friendzoning herself but she is his friend and it means a lot that she is, actually and it doesn’t make what she feels for him any less.
Kaidou nods jerkily, wiping the tears from his eyes and Chiyo, sensing the shift in conversation, leans forward conspirationally and grins.
“Soo,” she starts excitedly, “just who captured our favourite secret superhero’s heart?”
Kaidou squeaks. He actually squeaks. Which, if you were wondering, does help Chiyo to move forward with the journey of getting over one Kaidou Shun.
“That’s—that’s not—I mean, no one! No one, really! Jet Black Wings is a hero who works alone. Ah, how unfortunate, to be cursed forever to remain lonely but I must focus on my mission to defeat Dark Reunion and save humanity from the dangers it presents. Yes, I am too busy for romance. Alas! The hero’s heart aches but no companion could ever be—”
While Kaidou goes on about whatever excuses he thinks he has for being single, fulling entering roleplay mode, Chiyo wrecks her brain to figure out who the crush he clearly has could be. She’d like to say that there is only one answer but it’s not true. Kaidou is quite close with multiple boys, in their friendgroup and he doesn’t have to be close with someone to have a crush on them. It could be Hairo, for example, strong and reliable Hairo who is almost certainly gay, which would make it easy for Chiyo to set him up with Kaidou, if not for the fact that she doesn’t think Kaidou would be Hairo’s type. Well, they would be cute together, kind of an opposites attract thing, and really, Hairo would be a good boyfriend to Kaidou and protect him and take care of him and—
But she’s getting off track. She has to admit that if it was Hairo that Kaidou had a crush on, he probably would’ve just said so. They’re not that close, so it wouldn’t be that embarrassing. Though, then again, Kaidou does like to deflect in almost any and all moments, and treats any level of embarrassment as world-ending, so maybe it is Hairo, who knows. Not Chiyo, apparently.
“Ugh!” she calls out, burrowing her head in her hands. Kaidou cuts himself off in surprise. “I can’t guess. I was gonna be like, well, you’re closest with Kuboyasu-kun, right, but I mean, that doesn’t mean it’s him. Like, if I were you, I’d totally have a crush on Hairo, right? Do you have a crush on Hairo? I think I could set you up with Hairo.”
Kaidou hesitates. Chiyo looks up to see him shake his head. “I don’t think I’m Hairo’s type.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s gay too, though. I mean, not to stereotype or whatever, I also would think that his type would be more like—gym bros or something but he is a gym bro, so maybe he wants something else out of his boyfriend, you know?”
“That’s—I mean, maybe, if I wasn’t like, 99% sure that he has a crush on Nendou, then—”
“Nendou?!” Chiyo screams and Kaidou flinches back. “Sorry! Sorry. But—really?”
“Yeah, it was a shock to me too,” Kaidou shrugs. “But I’ve been, uhh, paying more attention. To these things lately.”
“So, you do have a crush,” Chiyo accuses smugly. Kaidou turns a brilliant shade of red that probably should not be possible. It still makes Chiyo’s heart flutter that she caused that but she ignores it, in favour of— “Come on, Kaidou-kun, you can tell me! I know how to keep a secret. I’ve known who Kokomi’s crush is for like, uhh, well, since last year? It feels like ages ago. Anyway, yeah, I’ve known for a while and I never told anyone!”
Kaidou shifts, thinking. “I didn’t even know Teruhashi had a crush,” he murmurs and Chiyo lights up.
“Exactly! I’m great at keeping secrets. And I’m also good at matchmaking,” she winks and Kaidou, somehow, impossibly, turns even more red. “Come on! Please?”
At first, Kaidou says nothing, just staring at her, contemplative. Then he looks away, shrugs and says, “You already guessed it.”
Chiyo almost jumps in excitement. “So, it is Hairo?!”
“What? No,” Kaidou shakes his head, with furrowed eyebrows. “The other, uhh. The other guess.”
Chiyo had another guess? She only remembers saying that—Oh.
Well, she supposes that makes sense.
“That’s so cute!” she cries happily. “You guys are so close. He calls you by your first name! It’s like you’re already dating.”
“Don’t—don’t say that!” Kaidou scolds half-heartedly but he’s still blushing. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter because he probably doesn’t—he’s probably straight and he’s my best friend, so I can’t tell him and risk ruining that and anyway, I, uhh, Jet Black Wings is a busy hero and um, romance is dumb, anyway and I don’t even really—”
“Romance is not dumb!” Chiyo interrupts forcefully. “I know you’re just trying to deflect again but don’t call romance dumb.”
Kaidou stares at her curiously—his gaze feels almost scrutinizing. Chiyo almost shifts under the attention.
“Do you have a crush on someone?” he asks carefully. Chiyo swallows.
“I, uhh, not really, no, I mean, not anymore, and it wasn’t a big deal anyway, so, it’s—No. Not right now. No crushes for me,” she rambles but Kaidou keeps looking so, to her greatest horror, she keeps going. “I mean, I have crushes all the time! It’s not like I’ve really been in love or anything, so there’s not much to talk about them, just a new boy every once in a while that I pine for and then forget, like, any teenage girl, you know? I mean, maybe not any teenage girl but I just want a romance with someone because I love romance and I’m trying to find the right guy for it but it’s hard because—” she promptly shuts up before she could say that they’re either douchebags or gay. Yeah, she probably should not say that. “High school romance is not easy, is all I’m saying. You know? But that doesn’t make romance dumb.”
“You used to date that guys from our year, right? What’s his name?”
“Takeru,” Chiyo supplies uncomfortably.
“Right. Was he not—Um, was he not a good boyfriend?”
“Not really,” Chiyo shrugs. “He was also just like, super annoying. Yelling at retail workers and stuff. Kind of a douche.”
“Oh,” Kaidou lets out, frowning. “You deserve better.”
“Thanks,” Chiyo smiles at him, trying her hardest for it to not be forced. She hopes that if it is, Kaidou will think it’s due to her bad experiences with dating and not due to the fact that Chiyo was hoping he would that better someone, previously to this conversation, that is. Obviously not anymore. She’s not like, homophobic. She’s an ally. “But this isn’t about me right now! It’s time to plan how I’m going to get you and Kuboyasu-kun together!”
Kaidou blushes again and then squeaks, “Please don’t,” but Chiyo ignores him, taking out her phone because she has important research to do. She opens her favourite fanfiction site and goes to search for best friends to lovers works. She can feel Kaidou look over her shoulder before he blurts, “Why are you on AO3?”
“I’m doing important research, Kaidou-kun, you wouldn’t—Wait, you know AO3?”
“Well, yeah,” Kaidou shrugs. Apparently, this is what his brain decided is not embarrassing. “I don’t think that’s really where we should be researching, though. What am I saying. We should no be researching at all, don’t try to play matchmaker for—Um, it’s not gonna happen.”
“We’ll see about that,” Chiyo says confidently before getting lost in the sea of best friends to lovers fanfiction.
*
Chiyo wants to go with the old and reliable “get locked in a closet together” method first. Kaidou absolutely refuses. They’re at a standstill, arguing in Chiyo’s room when there’s a knock on her door and they both look up in surprise.
“Come in!” Chiyo calls out. The door opens and behind it stands Kokomi with a sheepish smile on her face.
“Hi. I hope I’m not bothering, I was—“ she cuts herself off when she sees Kaidou standing in her room and blinks in surprise. “Am I, um, am I interrupting something?”
Kaidou turns red and blurts out, “No!” so quickly that Chiyo barely catches it.
“I can come back later,” Kokomi offers, smiling at them. Chiyo shakes her head.
“You’re fine, really, we were just talking about school stuff. Is something wrong?”
Kokomi shifts slightly, eyeing Kaidou warily and Chiyo has half a mind to kick him out so she can pay full attention to whatever brought Kokomi here without notifying her first. She feels more comfortable spending time over at Chiyo’s now but she still always texts or calls first, even if Chiyo and her parents have both been adamant about her being welcome anytime.
“I just didn’t want to be at home tonight, is all,” she ends up saying and Chiyo nods in understanding, gesturing for Kokomi to come in. She hesitates some more before finally entering and sitting down on Chiyo’s bed like she usually would. “You two can keep discussing schoolwork, if you want, I won’t interrupt.”
“No, it’s fine,” Chiyo shakes her head. “I was just thinking that maybe we could watch a movie?” she turns to Kaidou, going for a sly smile and probably failing. “Like, maybe Single All The Way? Or Love, Simon?”
“Aren’t those both, like, LGBT movies?” Kokomi asks, furrowing her eyebrows. Before things could get awkward, Chiyo smiles and nods, derailing quickly.
“Yap! I was telling Kaidou-kun about my newfound love for BL and how it opened up my eyes to like, gay medias and he said he was surprised to know there were like, gay romcoms nowadays so I’ve been offering, or more accurately trying to convince him to watch one with me. But we don’t have to watch that stuff, if you don’t want to! There’s always, um, Plus One? Or Flipped is pretty cute too, though I don’t know how much—I mean, they’re so young but yeah, it’s cute.”
“I don’t mind if we um, watch an LGBT movie,” Kokomi shakes her head. “I’ve never watched one. I’m curious what they’re like.”
“If, um,” Kaidou twitches, “if we’re going to watch queer media, please, for the love of God, let it not be Love, Simon.”
It’s easy to miss, the slight surprise on Kokomi’s face but Chiyo’s her best friend, so she catches it. Even if Chiyo was a bit careless, teasingly offering those two options at first, she thinks she gave him a pretty good out if he wanted it but him saying that directly contradicts Chiyo’s words, so, she doesn’t really know how to proceed. Because when he told Chiyo about him liking boys, he was so quiet and scared, basically on the verge of tears and now here he is, making it clear that he knows his way around queer media after Chiyo just said that he told her the opposite of that, making it clear that she lied and probably for a reason. Point is, that it's brave—he’s being brave. Her heart almost leaps out of her chest, as she turns to him and catches the determined look in his eyes.
“What’s wrong with Love, Simon?” Chiyo asks, trying to not to make a big deal out of it.
“Don’t get me started,” Kaidou shakes his head but then he relents, when neither of them says anything. “I mean, it’s—it isn’t like the worst movie in existence but, God, okay, so,” he turns to Kokomi then, chewing on his lower lip in thought. Kokomi, like the mind reader she is, offers an encouraging smile and Chiyo feels her heart swell, “so, when I first—when I first realized I liked boys, I went on Tumblr, right? As one does.” He stops talking for a bit, gauging at Kokomi’s reaction. Her smile doesn’t waver. “And um. Well, I wrote like a list. Of queer medias to watch. And I understand that it probably was like, groundbreaking in a lot of ways, I ended up watching shit like, I saw the TV glow before I got to it and all I could think about while watching it is that it was such a palatable version of the queer experience, you know? I guess I’m not trying to like, say that it’s bad queer media, I just don’t like this type of media personally. Couldn’t get farther in Heartstopper than two episodes either.”
Chiyo nods slowly, considering. She really needs to make Kaidou watch more romcoms but—
“Want to show us that movie? The one, uhh—Something about a glowing TV?”
Kaidou raises an eyebrow in challenge, “That’s actual queer horror. I mean, it’s not that scary in the usual sense but it’s—it can be heavy.”
“I think, um,” Chiyo hesitates. “Well, I keep watching cutesy stuff about boys kissing and all, so, I feel like I kinda probably should know more about, like, what else is out there.”
“I’m curious. Not really in the mood for romance anyway,” Kokomi confirms.
“You’re never in the mood for romance,” Chiyo whines. Kokomi bites back a smile and reaches forward to ruffle her hair. Chiyo does not know how to feel about the odd look in Kaidou’s eyes as he watches the interaction.
After they all settle in on Chiyo’s bed, they start watching I saw the TV glow. It’s kind of weird, Chiyo thinks at first and she doesn’t fully understand where it’s going. But then by the end of it, Chiyo’s stomach is in a perpetual twist and she has no words to describe what she’s feeling or thinking but not because she didn’t get it all. She thinks she got it a bit more than she would’ve like to and it’s all so much. It’s like the movie has spoken to her directly and is trying to pull something out of her. The truth perhaps, whatever that may be.
They sit in silence for a while after, Kokomi wearing the same shell-shocked expression Chiyo must be sporting. Kaidou fidgets next to her, maybe afraid of their opinion or something but honestly, Chiyo doesn’t know what to think. She doesn’t know what to say. She feels like she’s been punched in the gut.
“I think I’m a lesbian,” Kokomi whispers after a while. Kaidou turns to her first and then Chiyo too, feeling somehow even more shocked now, her heart beating heavy and her hands starting to sweat.
“That was very brave,” Kaidou says decidedly and Kokomi raises her head, her eyes widening like she just realized she said it out loud. Chiyo swallows.
“Yeah. Thanks for trusting us.” Chiyo offers her a hug and Kokomi nods and lets her envelope her in her arms but it’s nothing like the hugs they would usually share—it’s awkward and uncomfortable and Chiyo pulls away.
They don’t talk much after that. Both of them end up sleeping over, Kaidou on the floor—Chiyo had a spare futon—and Kokomi in the bed next to her. Chiyo lays with her arms slack against her, staring at the ceiling until she falls into a restless sleep.
*
Chiyo doesn’t let herself think about it, throwing herself headfirst into her matchmaking schemes. Kaidou was shooting down literally all her ideas, so she needs a different approach. And she probably needs to stop trying to discuss her plans with him.
It’s just that, she actually enjoys talking to him so much, nowadays. They’ve been such good friends since he came out. On the other hand, things been a bit awkward with Kokomi since she came out. If she’s honest, maybe she even prefers Kaidou’s company to hers lately.
And okay, she knows how that sounds. But she doesn’t care about Kokomi liking girls! She really doesn’t. She thinks the problem is with her. Because, well, Chiyo’s always been affectionate but ever since knowing about Kokomi, she wants to like, touch her (not in a weird way! just holding her hand and stuff) even more than before which is weird because she’s straight (like, she knows she likes boys, she is very very sure that she likes boys) and Kokomi is not and it feels like she’s using her for—for something, she doesn’t fully know. She feels like, predatory around Kokomi. Like she’s one of those weirdos only wanting her because she’s pretty. And she is pretty and Chiyo doesn’t even want her because she’s straight but—
Ugh! See? It’s so, like, complicated now. And Chiyo is a hundred percent at fault for that. So, she keeps a bit of a distance from Kokomi. For Kokomi’s sake.
Back to matchmaking! Last night, as she was sitting at her desk decidedly not thinking about Kokomi—and her smile, or the soft skin of her palm or the way her hair looks right after waking up, the way it gets messy but still looks soft, making Chiyo want to reach out and just carve her fingers through the strands—, she realized that she doesn’t really know about Kuboyasu’s side of things at all. Sure, they are very close and call each other by first name and everything but like, so do Chiyo and Kokomi so that can still be totally, completely platonic. Like, Chiyo calls Chisato and Mikoto by their first names too, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Not that there need to be other examples besides Kokomi because Kokomi and Chiyo are already a good example of platonic besties calling each other by their first name. Anyway!
Chiyo thinks she needs to scout a bit. Ask Kuboyasu a few questions, nothing too suspicious but enough to figure out if Kaidou like, has a chance at all. It’s hard to read Kuboyasu, when it comes to this, or well, more accurately, it’s hard to read Kuboyasu at all, really. But with this one, it’s like, Chiyo’s pretty sure Kuboyasu is into Kokomi at least, but everyone is into Kokomi (except for Chiyo, of course), so, she’s not sure that counts. And he is weird about Kaidou, compared to their other friends. He’s, like, softer with him and stuff. Which could be in a best friend way—like how Chiyo is soft with Kokomi—but maybe it’s not? In all the best friends to lovers fanfiction Chiyo has read the two boys who are best friends always have something special going on but like, she sometimes thinks that some of the things that are in there are totally still in the realms of friendship.
But like, what does she know, right? She’s not a boy who is in love with his best friend who’s also a boy. She’s a girl and she has a best friend but she’s not in love with her either. And like, she’s…different with Kokomi than with her other friends but she’s her best friend and it’s probably different with girls anyway because girls are so much more affectionate and open and this is why she has to stay away from Kokomi because Kokomi actually likes girls and Chiyo is just…she’s just…
She gets the opportunity to talk to Kuboyasu when during art class, the teacher asks them to team up. Kaidou, of course, wants to be with him but Chiyo swoops in just in time for a steal. She sends a wink towards a frustrated and suspicious Kaidou and he stares at her before raising an eyebrow in challenge and going up to Kokomi to ask her to be with him which is—It’s fine! She doesn’t care. She’s glad her friends are becoming friends with each other. She thinks it’s probably good for them to bond now that they’re both gay.
Or, at least out as gay. Semantics.
“Yumehara-san?” Kuboyasu raises an eyebrow at her. “Um, do you need something? Did Shun ask you to do this so he could team up with Teruhashi? Because he’s my best friend but I don’t think—” his eyes widen and he leans closer conspirationally, “Teruhashi’s your best friend, right? Is she interested in him?”
“No!” Chiyo shakes her head quickly, ignoring the twist in her chest. Not that it matters, she realizes because Kokomi’s actually not interested in Kaidou and never could be, or any men for that matter. Take that, men! Kuboyasu seems to misunderstand her eagerness to deny the claim though and he smiles smugly which only makes Chiyo roll her eyes. “Seriously. I was the one who wanted to talk to you. I think it’s his way of getting back at me.”
“Getting back at you?” Kuboyasu questions, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Chiyo swallows at the implication which Kuboyasu probably didn’t mean because he doesn’t know about Kaidou’s crush on him or about—
“Doesn’t matter!” she cuts him off, ignoring the way she can feel the blood rush to her face. Goodness. What is going on with her? She feels so out of her depth now, she’s supposed to be asking Kuboyasu about his potential interest in boys. “Um, do you mind working with me?”
“No, of course, not,” Kuboyasu shakes his head. “We’re friends, right?” he smiles hesitantly and Chiyo nods. “I don’t want to hold you back, though, I don’t know if we like—would want to do the same for this assignment.”
“I can follow your lead,” Chiyo shrugs, not really caring about the assignment at all. Kuboyasu looks at her like she’s a bug under a microscope which is rude and she should be the one looking at him like that because she’s supposed to be trying to figure out if he’s gay or not! “What did you have in mind?”
Kuboyasu shrugs, before looking away, staring at the pieces in front of him. “I mean, we built a secret bunker of sorts with Shun, so, I don’t think this miniature should be a big deal for me. Was sorta hoping we would just like, do a small replica of that with Shun.”
“I can do that!” Chiyo agrees enthusiastically and probably way too quickly. That’s the perfect opportunity to gain some insight into their relationship from Kuboyasu’s side. “A secret bunker, huh? That’s so cute!”
Kuboyasu blushes. He actually blushes! “You think so?”
“Yeah, for sure!” Chiyo nods. “You two are soo close, it’s like you spend all your time together! Do you hang out there a lot?”
“I guess,” Kuboyasu shrugs awkwardly. “I wasn’t super into the idea at first but the fact that we built it together makes it special, ya know? We mostly just read comics there and stuff. Not much else to do.”
Chiyo can work with that, she decides. She still doesn’t know if Kuboyasu is gay or not but she can’t just ask that, so, for now, she’ll focus on how having built a secret bunker (a home of sorts, if she stretches it) together is special to Kuboyasu and use that to figure out the exact depth of his feelings. And building a replica of it is the perfect chance to do that!
“Yeah, I get it,” she nods. “What do you think we should use to best represent the base?”
Kuboyasu shrugs and takes a wooden plank from the desk with the materials. “This, maybe? I mean, it’s just a base.”
“Yeah, of course!” she agrees. “The secret will probably be in the decoration, right?” she winks at him and he shifts, like this is embarrassing for him which she decides is a good sign. Probably.
“The secret is the location,” he reminds. “But, yeah, I guess, it’s more the decoration that needs special material, yeah.”
Chiyo has an idea then. After they choose stuff for the walls, she tries taking the lead and takes absolute delight in the way Kuboyasu keeps interrupting her and correcting the way she does it at every tiny detail with growing frustration. And it’s not like she’s doing it bad on purpose! It’s obvious that he’s just bothered that it’s not Kaidou he’s doing this with, who knows the place just as intimately as Kuboyasu does. Very special secret base indeed.
“Sorry,” she apologizes, absolutely not feeling sorry. “It’s just so hard to get it right, you know? Like, I wasn’t there when you built it. Maybe if you brought me there before next class, we could—”
“No,” Kuboyasu shoots it down immediately. Chiyo pouts in response but internally she’s celebrating. “I mean, no, we can’t because, uhh, well because we don’t bring other people there.”
“At all?” Chiyo raises an eyebrow because wow, okay, maybe this really is all the evidence she needs.
“Only if, we’re uhh, both there,” Kuboyasu turns away from her awkwardly.
“Then maybe we should invite Kaidou-kun too!” Chiyo offers excitedly. Kuboyasu actually stiffens at that.
“No, he’s, uhh, busy.”
“The whole week?”
“Yap. School stuff, y’know? His mom is kind of a dictator when it comes to grades.”
“Oh, that sucks,” Chiyo sighs, letting him off the hook. She can literally see his muscles loosen. “Well, maybe another time then, right?”
The way Kuboyasu’s face clouds over immediately almost makes Chiyo crack and laugh but she manages. “Right,” he croaks out.
Definitely something special there. And really, it is entirely possible that Kuboyasu is gay, it’s not like he’s ever been girl-crazy. Chiyo’s pretty sure Kaidou has shown more interest in girls than him and he’s gay, so, really, it would make perfect sense if Kuboyasu was too. She just needs the right scheme now and everything will work out.
“Did you have fun, working with Kuboyasu-kun?” she hears Kokomi’s voice behind her, and she flinches, jumping forward in surprise. She turns to Kokomi who’s wearing a forced smile and nods.
“Yeah! Yeah, it was fun. Did you, um, did you have fun working with Kaidou-kun?”
“Yes, it was quite fun,” Kokomi answers. Chiyo nods jerkily, and having realized that the class is in fact over, waves Kokomi goodbye quickly and runs after Kaidou to hopefully learn more about just what exactly he and Kuboyasu do at their secret base.
*
They’re at cooking class when Chiyo sees the first opportunity for schemes. She ended up being in a group with Kaidou and Kokomi, which is a good group, regarding cooking skills but she knows that Kaidou is terrible at it and having Kuboyasu help him instead of either of them, sounds like the perfect opportunity. So, she says that someone needs to keep an eye on Chisato and switches places with Kuboyasu, sending a thumbs up Kaidou’s way when he turns to glare at her. She’ll thank him once it works.
It decidedly does not work. Kokomi ends up showing Kaidou the ropes, while Kaidou blushes and awkwardly tries to follow (which is a weird reaction from someone who’s gay but whatever) and Kuboyasu covers the other part of the recipe. And since Chiyo’s focusing on that, Chisato ends up eating everything they made with Saiki before they could finish it. Which is a bummer but she’s not too apologetic. It wasn’t even a dessert, so Saiki’s probably not too mad either.
The next time she tries to be a bit more precise and make sure she arranges Kaidou and Kuboyasu to be alone, without any of their other friends around. Now, one might would think that they do that anyway and they probably do but do they have to share a drink at the movies usually? That’s right, Chiyo gives them coupons and tickets pre-bought (and lies that she got them as a present but anything for love!) so the hangout reads the most like a date it possibly can (without telling them it’s a date, of course, since she was supposed to go with Kokomi and she’s so sorry that something came up and she’s so thankful to both Kaidou and Kuboyasu that they’d go instead of them so the tickets don’t go to waste).
It's the perfect plan. Anyone could see that. And yet, when she sees them the day after, clearly nothing is different—she even asks Kaidou about it who just rolls his eyes and tells her to stop trying to butt her nose in this. Which, rude! She’s just trying to help! She’s being a good friend!
She needs a different approach, she realizes. They spend too much time together already, so, being left alone together, no matter how romantic the situation is, won’t do its job. They have a secret base together, really, she doesn’t know what she expected.
Speaking of secret base…
“Kuboyasu-kun?” she smiles at him sweetly at their next art class. “Do you want to work across Kaidou-kun and Kokomi? That way he can help with telling me about how the original looks like.”
“Oh. Sure,” Kuboyasu shrugs. Chiyo bites back a grin—plan C in motion!
They work in relative silence for a while—only discussing their projects, which thankfully means Chiyo doesn’t have to talk to Kokomi (she still doesn’t know how to act around her)—until Chiyo can see Kaidou let his guard down and decides to break the peace.
“Do you have a crush on anybody, Kuboyasu-kun?” she asks suddenly. Kaidou drops the glue he was holding and Kuboyasu splutters, whipping around so, he’s facing Chiyo.
“What!” he screams at her, the tips of his ears turning red. “What, I mean, what are you—why are you asking me that! It’s not proper to—for a girl and a boy—”
“What, I can’t ask you about your crush because I’m a girl?” Chiyo furrows her eyebrows. “That’s dumb. I know all my friends’ crushes. Even Saiki-kun’s!” That is a stretch and a half. She hopes Saiki will forgive her for that one. It’s in the name of romance, after all.
“Wait, really?” Kaidou asks in surprise. “I was pretty sure Saiki was—”
Oh, God, is Saiki also gay? It would make sense, right? He’s never shown interest in girls after all.
Kaidou realizes what he’s saying and blushes, turning away. “I meant that I didn’t think he had a crush on anyone,” he mumbles unconvincingly but thankfully, no one bothers him about it. Chiyo probably will but that’s for later.
“See? You guys might not know but I do! You can trust me with this, I’m like, the romance expert of our friendgroup. Right, Kokomi?” she grins at the other girl who almost startles at being addressed which Chiyo probably wouldn’t have even noticed if not for how much she paid attention and knew all the mannerisms of Kokomi. Which is because they are that close friends, of course.
Kokomi’s expression is unreadable but she nods. “Right.”
“Soo,” Chiyo turns back to Kuboyasu, deciding to ignore that. “Do you have a crush or not?”
Making sure to pay attention to every little microexpression, Chiyo watches as Kuboyasu’s face from embarrassment to resignation before letting his gaze flit over to Kaidou for a second, followed by him looking at anywhere but Kaidou. This has to be it, right? Now, he will either say that he’d like to keep it a secret or he’ll make up a lie that makes no sense or—
“No,” he denies. “I don’t have a crush,” he emphasizes, almost sounding—disgusted, maybe, at the word. Chiyo purses her lips.
“Are you gonna give me the romance is dumb speech too? Because—”
“No,” Kuboyasu interrupts her. “But crushes are dumb. A real man commits.”
“Aw,” Chiyo coos, leaning in closer. “So, you’re telling me that you’re like, in love with someone?”
His ear is way too red for the answer to be no. Chiyo grins.
“Chiyo,” Kokomi speaks up suddenly, making Chiyo look at her instantly, blinking in surprise at the hardened expression on her face. “Don’t be mean.”
“I’m not being mean!” Chiyo defends immediately, her eyes widening before risking a look at Kuboyasu who looks thoroughly uncomfortable. Is she being mean? She hesitates, turning to Kaidou next, who raises an eyebrow and Chiyo realizes that she totally is being mean.
Say, Kuboyasu does like Kaidou. Is she going force it out of him, in front of two other people, one of whom is Kaidou himself at that? He shouldn’t have to come out, if he’s not ready in the first place.
And even if Kuboyasu likes someone else, he clearly intends to keep it a secret, whatever the reason for that may be. She knows she has a tendency to be a bit too forceful when it comes to this stuff. And sometimes it works out—pushing Kokomi to tell her who’s her crush is got them to be best friends and she wouldn’t give up for the world. But she remembers trying to force Saiki to admit his feelings for Kokomi (which, wow, that feels ages ago. Did she ever even like him like that? Probably not, right?) and how Sayaka-chan punished both her and Arisu for it. Saiki looked uncomfortable too, now that she thinks about it. Maybe it’s because he didn’t want them to know that it was a boy he liked?
“I’m sorry,” she turns back to Kuboyasu, offering an apologetic smile. “I can get intense, I guess, when it comes to this. You don’t have to tell me.”
“It’s okay,” Kuboyasu shakes his head, “but, uhh, I’d like to keep it a secret. For now.” He risks another look at Kaidou who shifts like he noticed and maybe plan C worked after all, even if Chiyo went a bit too far. Maybe she can trust her friends to figure it out.
She almost lets herself accept that but then she remembers that Kaidou thinks that whatever those two guys had in those horror movies he likes that he made Chiyo watch are like, the peak of romance and she loses all trust she has in him immediately. At the very least, she needs to make him watch more romcoms.
Besides, she has her whole weekend free and Kokomi asked to have a sleepover, which she should probably invite Kaidou to, just to be safe. And that way she can get both of them to be more acquainted with romance movies! Two birds with one stone, really.
When she breaks the news to Kokomi, she pretends not to notice the disappointment on her face.
*
After they’re finished with the movie they were watching during the sleepover, Kaidou settles down on the futon and Kokomi in Chiyo’s bed, like she usually would and it’s supposed to be normal, it’s supposed to feel normal but it doesn’t. She can’t stop her heart from beating to fast and heavy in her chest, none of the stupid breathing exercises work, nor does music, nor does nothing. She has half a mind to ask Kokomi to hold her hand because that always calms her down but the mere idea makes her heart beat somehow even faster.
She turns to her side and stares at Kokomi. She’s pretty sure she’s asleep. At least her eyes are closed. She reaches out and stops just short of touching Kokomi’s face and just keeps her hand there. She follows the line of Kokomi’s jaw with the point of her finger, reaching her cheekbone, trailing to her nose, to the curve of her lips…
She has pretty lips, Chiyo thinks. She also thinks that she should probably not be thinking about how pretty Kokomi’s lips are. She really is becoming a weirdo, checking her out like this while she’s asleep but it’s probably better if Kokomi doesn’t know about Chiyo’s newfound interest in her, or her looks or her lips.
She turns back around, ignoring her way too fast heartbeat and takes reaches for her phone on her nightstand. Maybe fanfiction will lull her to sleep. It rarely does because it usually makes her too excited but she doesn’t think she could get more excited than this.
Searching the friends to lovers tag again, she eventually stumbles into something she very rarely sees. The red emblem stares at her mockingly, as she scrolls to skip it, ignoring the clench of her stomach but then her eyes catch on the pairing and she stops short. People ship those two girls? Why? They’re very obviously friends. It’s weird, she thinks, that anyone would think that they’re romantic. Friends can be close like that. Her and Kokomi are.
Out of pure curiosity, she taps the link. And then out of pure curiosity, she reads the entire fanfiction. And then out of pure curiosity, she checks out the other works in the tag for the pairing—which, there aren’t a lot, which makes her pout simply because she would’ve been curious to see what else was out there. And then, still out of pure curiosity and nothing else, she reads all works for the pairing.
It doesn’t mean anything, she tells herself. If straight girls can read about boys kissing, they can sure as heck read about girls kissing too. No biggie. And if she thinks about Kokomi while she’s reading the fanfiction, it’s only because the girls in question are very much friends in the source material and she doesn’t even ship them because they’re obviously friends. Platonic. Besties.
She ends up not sleeping much that night, unable to calm her racing heart.
*
It’s just the two of them this time with Kaidou—they watched a movie again, though it wasn’t a romcom this time. Chiyo was afraid that their tastes would be simply too differing in the long run but they were able to compromise on City of Bones this time around, which they both happen to enjoy. The movie’s nearing its end though and they have a hangout planned at Kaidou’s place—his family’s away at his grandmother’s for the weekend, he only stayed because they have a test on Monday, so he was able to get out of it with the excuse that he needs to study—so, she starts mentally recounting if she packed everything she’d need.
Once the credits start rolling, she gets up, checks quickly that she indeed packed her hairbrush and then her eyes land on herself in the mirror and she scowls. Not that—she’s been mostly okay with her looks recently. Well, she has a tendency to only look at the mirror if absolutely necessary but when she does, she doesn’t feel horrible about what she sees. Just not really that good either.
But that’s unrelated. The problem is the grease stain on her top, likely caused by all the popcorn they devoured. Sighing, she opens her wardrobe and picks out a different one, not really caring much what it’ll be because it’s just hanging out at Kaidou’s with her friends. She also doesn’t think much of it when as soon as she picked a new one, she reaches for the bottom of her current top to take it off, so she can change.
Well, she wouldn’t think much about it, more like but then Kaidou squeaks behind her and she flinches, turning his way and seeing him cover his eyes, his whole face red under his hands. Chiyo blinks at him in surprise.
“What are you doing!” Kaidou shrieks and Chiyo pulls back the lower half of the top so it’s covering her fully again.
“I had a stain so I wanted to change.”
She can see Kaidou swallow, still not looking at her and then he mumbles, voice weak and also, somehow still high-pitched, “That’s okay, you just should’ve told me to turn away in time, I don’t want to—I mean, I—”
“No, it’s okay,” Chiyo shakes her head, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other. “I mean, I didn’t think it was a big deal? Since you’re gay and all.”
“I’m not gay!” Kaidou cries, and Chiyo’s world comes to a screeching halt. “I’m bisexual. I like both boys and girls. I’m very much attracted to girls. Please don’t change in front of me.”
“Sorry,” Chiyo apologizes, mostly on autopilot because what. What even is going on. “Sorry, I just—um, I didn’t know…that was a…thing.”
“What?” Kaidou asks, voice muffled by his hands and Chiyo sighs.
“You can look. I’m fully dressed,” she tells him, and he slowly moves his hands away, like he’s scared what he will see. It’s kind of cute, Chiyo thinks and then promptly stops thinking. “You like both boys and girls? Like, the same way? The same amount?”
“I, uhh, I mean, yeah? Pretty much, yeah,” Kaidou confirms, coughing awkwardly. “That’s, um, what bisexuality entails. I mean, well, it’s—I mean sometimes people have preferences but um, bisexuality does mean liking um, more than one…gender.”
“I see,” Chiyo says slowly. Processing. Because this changes things. This most certainly changes things. What things, she’s not yet sure.
“Did you not know that?” Kaidou questions, his eyebrows furrowing. “I mean, don’t you like, read tons of gay fanfiction? You’ve said you’ve seen Heartstopper, I haven’t finished it but I saw the um, ‘I’m bi, actually’ meme on Tumblr.”
“I mean, I guess I’ve heard the word before, I just think I didn’t fully process that it means, like, actually liking both? I thought it was just like, another way to be gay.”
“That’s, um. That’s biphobic,” Kaidou tells her and Chiyo winces, the situation slowly sinking in.
“Sorry. I promise I’ll never question your attraction to girls again. I really should’ve known, it always annoyed me how much you were into Kokomi, I think I just—” she cuts herself off, looking up to see Kaidou’s very very confused expression and oh, yeah, she should probably, like, tell him about that. “Cause I used to have a crush on you?”
“What?” Kaidou shouts. Chiyo shrugs sheepishly.
“It was actually a weirdly long-lived crush. You coming out really kicked me getting over it into gear, so, I think I needed to think you were only into boys, for, um, my sake. Sorry about that.” Kaidou shakes his head, looking dazed.
“I am, uhh, sorry too? For springing that on you, back then. I would’ve never, um, if I knew you liked me like that then I wouldn’t have—"
"Oh, don't feel sorry, it was a long time coming, I probably should've gotten over you months ago. No offense! It's just that Mikoto's been saying that we're not really compatible for a while now and—"
"That's bull," Kaidou interrupts. Chiyo raises a surprised eyebrow which makes Kaidou blush deeper. "I just mean since we're friends! If we weren't compatible, we wouldn't be friends either, right? Since um, the basis for a good relationship is friendship and all," he trails off awkwardly. Chiyo feels a giggle bubble out of her.
"You're right, I'm sorry. We are compatible."
"I don't like you like that, though," Kaidou clarifies, still clearly embarrassed. Chiyo pulls her lips into an allowing smile.
"I know," she tells him. "I don't really like you like that anymore either. I think I've gotten over it completely by now. Maybe those feelings weren't that strong after all, huh?"
Kaidou scratches the back of his neck before smiling. "I, um. If it's any consolation, I'd date you if I wasn't hopelessly in love with Aren."
"I've already said I'm over you!" Chiyo argues, rolling her eyes playfully. "But I guess I'd date you too if I wasn't—um, I mean if you weren't...hopelessly in love Kuboyasu-kun."
Kaidou raises an eyebrow then and Chiyo shifts under his gaze.
Bisexual, she reminds herself. Kaidou would date her if it weren't for Kuboyasu. Because he most definitely likes girls, he just likes boys too.
"Can I ask you a stupid question?"
"Always."
"Can, um—" she cuts herself off, wincing. "Can girls be bisexual too?"
"Yeah. Of course," Kaidou confirms and something breaks loose in Chiyo.
"Okay, yeah. Good. I mean good for them, those girls who are bisexual, I mean. Which is not—" she stops, making eye contact with Kaidou again. There is a gentleness in his expression that makes Chiyo feel like she could confess her deepest darkest secret and Kaidou would still accept her as she is. In another universe maybe they really are dating. "I think I'm bisexual too," she admits weakly and really, it's the first time she lets herself think it in the first place but she's glad Kaidou is there to hear it too because he just smiles and this way, all she feels is relief.
"Good. I mean good for you, as a girl, who is bisexual," he teases and she reaches forward to push at his shoulder but she's grinning ear to ear and she feels lighter than she felt in weeks. Or maybe in years.
“I do need to change though, so, turn around,” she orders. He rolls his eyes playfully but complies anyway.
“Yes, ma’am!”
Once Kaidou is not looking at her, Chiyo lets herself think, staring at the blue top she took out to change into but not moving to actually change into it. She’d like to pretend that her realizing she’s bisexual is only due to Kaidou telling her he’s bisexual and her realizing that it’s an option but she thinks she’s lied to herself long enough.
Reading fanfiction about those two best friends—those girls—falling in love and thinking about Kokomi, paying much more attention to Kokomi as of lately, freaking out about Kokomi liking girls because it means she could like her…there’s no denying that her, um, sexuality crisis? Can she call it a sexuality crisis? Anyway, this—her bisexuality, her newfound interest in GL and even her reaction to that stupid movie about that stupid TV show, all of that is connected to Kokomi.
And it’s about her too, of course, it’s about her too. It’s about her always getting obsessive over her crushes on boys, idolizing them to the moon and back to make sure that she’s only focusing on those feelings and ignoring the way pretty girls smiling at her also made her stomach swoop and it’s about wondering if something was wrong with her in kindergarten because when she brought her best friend flowers, she made fun of her—God, she definitely repressed that memory—and about always finding it stupid that she had to choose in numerous situations that were seemingly unrelated but maybe weren’t really. Like wanting to be able to draw a portrait of Kaidou but also Kokomi too, or wondering why it has different when she holds Mikoto’s hand than when she holds Kaidou’s.
It's always been there. She just kept ignoring it, until she couldn’t anymore.
And the reason she couldn’t anymore, the reason she’s here now, the reason she’s admitting all this, even if only to herself (for now) is because—
“Kaidou-kun?” she asks quietly. Kaidou only hums in question, not turning back around and Chiyo silently thanks him for it. “Can I admit to one more thing?”
“’f course,” Kaidou says softly, not breaking the intimate atmosphere.
Chiyo breathes until her lungs fill to the brim, and then, as quickly as she possibly can, she blurts, “I’m in love with Kokomi.”
“Good for you,” Kaidou replies immediately which—what? “I’m pretty sure she’s in love with you right back.”
And that’s—well, that’s something Chiyo hasn’t even considered. Is Kokomi in love with her back? Does Chiyo want her to be?
Okay, yeah, she definitely wants her to be. She doesn’t need to think about that. But, like, why would she be, right? Kokomi could have anyone she wants, probably even most straight girls. Chiyo isn’t actually straight but like, she’s sure even straight girls know and appreciate how pretty she is.
But then again, as much as Chiyo thinks Kokomi is pretty, that’s not why she’s in love with her. That has to count for something, right?
Still, she’s her best friend. She probably shouldn’t risk ruining that.
Yeah. She’ll get over this, she decides. Eventually.
She quickly takes out a different top instead of the blue one and changes, so, Kaidou can stop awkwardly keeping his back to her and then they both get ready to leave.
Realizing she’s going to see Kokomi soon, she can’t help the blush from spreading on her cheeks but then, she remembers that Kuboyasu will also be there and decides that she’s going to distract herself from her feelings with her matchmaking schemes one last time.
And then, when she gets home tomorrow and will have a chance to be alone, she’ll decide what to do about the Kokomi situation.
*
The plan is simple, really. She just needs everyone to agree to play a party game, preferably something that has a tendency to end in kissing, like the Pocky game, or a more daring spin the bottle, or maybe even—
“How about seven minutes in heaven?” she raises an eyebrow. “That way there’s still a possibility for a few blooming romances but no one is forced to do anything, and you can just like, talk about whatever with your partner for seven minutes if you prefer.”
Thankfully, no one argues, seemingly resigning themselves to her whim, which is great, even if no one is particularly enthusiastic either. Even Kokomi, who would usually have her back in whatever stupid stuff she comes up with, if a bit shier about it, seems to only tolerate the way she jumped on the idea for them to play a game. She keeps avoiding her eye and she sits the farthest point from her in the circle which—well, it hurts a lot but Chiyo gets it. She’s been a jerk lately. She’s going to have to fix that, once she figures out what exactly she wants to do about her newfound feelings because she’ll either have to get back their friendship to what it was or she’ll have to confess, or something. And it definitely matters exactly which one she’s going to do.
The plan sets in motion, so she quickly covers step two, choosing a bottle that seems just the right weight for it to end on Kuboyasu if Kaidou spins it—they are sitting directly next to each other, so, she’s hoping that it will just go around like twice. She has never really been good at physics, so, she doesn’t have that much faith in this part but hopefully, fate will be on her part and if it isn’t, she’ll just come up with a new rule that somehow forces them to go together or something. Now, all that’s left to do is—
“Why don’t you go first, Kaidou-kun?” she smiles at him sweetly, after having placed down the bottle.
“Me?” Kaidou asks in surprise, blushing slightly. He’s still cute, she thinks but then she mentally shakes the thought off. She has a mission here.
“Yap! Then we can go around starting from you.” Oh, that’s perfect! That way Kuboyasu goes right after Kaidou and she has two chances in a row. This plan can’t fail.
“Why does it matter who starts?” Nendou asks, in confusion. “I can start, if Chibi doesn’t want to.”
Kaidou blushes deeper, likely having a few not very nice words about the nickname but then he blinks, sitting back on his heel, turning back to Chiyo and tilting his head to the side innocently. Chiyo’s trouble senses tingle.
“Yeah, Yumehara-san, does it matter who starts?” he asks sweetly. Chiyo stares at him in suspicion.
“I mean, I guess not but—"
“Then why don’t you start? Since it was your idea,” Kaidou offers and everyone looks to her and now it would be weird and awkward if she insisted that he should absolutely go first because she doesn’t have like, a good reason for it, so she just nods.
It’s whatever, really. She’ll spin the bottle, it’ll land on someone, they’ll chat a bit in that closet for seven minutes, they walk out and then it will eventually be Kaidou’s and then Kuboyasu’s turn, during which one of them will spin the other, surely and then the close proximity will get them to confess their feelings and make out and she’ll finally succeed in her matchmaking schemes. Easy peasy!
Except, she spins the bottle and watches as it goes round and round and round and round until it slows down and lands…on Kokomi. Point blank. She just barely holds back from a flinch.
She swallows, trying not to seem scared as she feels, raising her head to gauge at Kokomi’s reaction. She shifts awkwardly before offering a smile and standing up. For a second, Chiyo genuinely thought she would refuse. It relieves her and scares her at the same time that she doesn’t.
“Sorry. This is probably very awkward for you,” Kokomi says, once they’re in the closet. Chiyo shakes her head, closing the door and leaning back against it. “Was there someone you wanted to go in with?”
“Not—really,” she ends up choking out because if there was, it’s the one she is in there with but she can’t say that. “I’ve just been trying to, um, play matchmaker? For Kaidou.”
“Oh,” Kokomi lets out, furrowing her eyebrows. “I didn’t know he liked someone.”
“You didn’t?” Chiyo tilts her head to the side. “I mean, that’s good! Yeah. I promised him not to tell anyone but it’s hard to, um, keep secrets from you.”
Kokomi hesitates, looking away. “I mean, we haven’t really talked that much lately,” she says silently and Chiyo’s heart clenches at the admission. Because while the exact reason for them not having talked that much is because Chiyo can’t really lie to Kokomi the same way she lies to herself, she never really realized how much it could hurt her, if Chiyo just started avoiding her, out of nowhere. Especially, after Kokomi just told her she’s a lesbian. Really, she’s a horrible friend. Just the worst. She should be governmentally forced to wear a hat that says ‘bad friend’ on the front and ‘stupid bisexual’ on the back or something.
“Sorry,” she apologizes, wincing when Kokomi only shrugs. Shit. “It’s not that—I mean, this is gonna sound like I’m making excuses and I swear I’m not! I just don’t want you think you did anything wrong. You didn’t. I’m the bad friend.”
Kokomi looks to her, hesitating. “I know why you’re avoiding me,” she says and there is not a sliver of a doubt in her voice. She just sounds like she doesn’t want to say it. “Because I like girls and you’re a girl and I make you uncomfortable. And I won’t say that it doesn’t hurt but I don’t blame you. I just wish you would’ve tried to talk to me, instead of—”
“No!” Chiyo interrupts her quickly. “I swear, I swear, Kokomi, it’s nothing like that. I don’t mind that you’re a lesbian. If, um, if it was just that, I wouldn’t be avoiding you. You can totally have friends who are girls, close friends even, as a lesbian, I promise, okay? And I wish it could be me but I—” she cuts herself off, swallowing. She probably shouldn’t have said that. She’s not sure if Kokomi’s close friend isn’t what she will want to be, once she considers how to deal with her romantic feelings for her.
“You what?” Kokomi questions, sounding actually frustrated now. She doesn’t usually get frustrated, like she doesn’t allow herself to. Part of Chiyo is glad that she feels safe to show her feelings like this around Chiyo. Another part of her hates that she made her feel like this. “You only like gay love when it’s between boys? Or—”
“No!” Chiyo interrupts again. “No. Um, no. I mean, okay, I can’t sit on a high horse with this one because I’ve literally been spending the past, like, two weeks, trying my hardest to just focus on getting Kaidou-kun and Kuboyasu-kun to kiss and wow, actually, I am the worst friend in existence. But that’s not what you need to hear!”
“Then what do I need to hear?” Kokomi asks slowly and Chiyo knows that this is her last chance. Well, realistically it’s not her last chance but it is Kokomi’s ‘no more bullshit’ tone and Chiyo doesn’t want to keep making her feel bad so, she throws out all plans and caution the window, and smiles at Kokomi, probably bittersweet but at least honest, for once.
“I like you,” she admits, heart beating in her throat. “I’m, uhh, I’m bisexual. As it turns out. I don’t know if you know what that is because I didn’t, but basically: I like girls, I just also like boys. So, I was like, kind of having a crisis all this time, and I felt like I was using you, as my only lesbian friend for whatever weird shit I had going on but really, I just like you so much because you’re, like, everything I ever could want in a partner. You’re kind and patient with me and you let me ramble on and whenever you trust me with stuff it makes me so happy and I want to be the person you rely on in everything, like, forever, and you’re genuinely so beautiful but not like, not because you’re like the most attractive girl in the world, which, you probably are, I haven’t actually met every girl in the world so I can’t be sure but I wouldn’t care if you weren’t because to me, you are the most beautiful because of your laugh and your smirks and the way you look at me, when no one is looking, because those times, I’m sure that what you feel for me is genuine and we really are friends and I—I love our friendship, I do but I want you so much and I just felt like, every time I would so much as hold your hand, that I was using you, for my own personal gain and it’s stupid because my feelings for you don’t change that we’re friends and—I’m rambling so bad, what am I even saying? All I’m trying to say is that I like you, Kokomi. For everything you are and everything you mean to me. And that’s why I’ve been avoiding you. Because I didn’t know what to like, do about it. I didn’t know how to deal with my own feelings and that’s why I avoided you and I’m sorry.”
Kokomi lets her go on. Chiyo doesn’t know why she doesn’t interrupt, to tell her that Chiyo’s ridiculous and Kokomi could never like someone as mediocre as her back or to tell her that she only sees Chiyo as a friend, or maybe, to kiss her midsentence (a girl can dream) but Kokomi does neither, she just listens. Once Chiyo’s done, she sighs, and steps closer, completely backing Chiyo against the door, raising her hand to cup Chiyo’s cheek and—
Oh. Oh, Kokomi is actually kissing her. They’re kissing!
“Wha-what?” she stumbles out, pulling away just enough to do so and Kokomi giggles.
“Chiyo, I love you but you can be such an idiot. Of course I like you too.”
Chiyo short circuits. “Of course,” she repeats numbly and Kokomi leans in again, humming against her lips in agreement.
“That’s why I gave you space in the first place. I thought my feelings scared you,” she admits.
“You could never scare me,” Chiyo tells her because it’s the truth. Kokomi smiles and kisses her again, fulling pushing Chiyo into the door, which is good actually because Chiyo’s knees have gone weak. Like, completely useless. She’s at Kokomi’s mercy here which is fine because all Kokomi does is hold her gently and kiss her so good that she forgets about literally everything else.
Like their friends outside of the closet door she’s propped up against. The very door that opens up behind her while she’s completely lost in kissing Kokomi (she’s kissing Kokomi!) and she stumbles back and Kokomi stumbles forward and falls on top of her and she decides that this is the single most embarrassing moment of her life but she doesn’t even care because it’s also one of the happiest ones.
“Fuck yeah!” Kaidou calls out, raising a hand towards Kuboyasu, who high-fives him happily. “I told you that would work.”
“Yeah, I guess, you were right,” Kuboyasu grins. “Maybe it’s because of all the tension? It needed to be resolved.”
“God, at least there was a point to Yumehara making me watch all those stupid romcoms now,” Kaidou says tiredly and Kuboyasu chuckles.
“Hey,” Chiyo scolds weakly. Kokomi giggles and that’s when they both realize she’s still on top of her. Kokomi turns red which is adorable but Chiyo knows she’s not faring better, so, she doesn’t dare comment on it. “Did you two…were you two scheming behind my back? To matchmake me and Kokomi?!”
“You bet we were!” Kuboyasu grins.
“Yeah, except we were actually good at it,” Kaidou adds smugly. Chiyo feels her jaw fall on the ground.
“No way,” she mumbles. Kaidou laughs at her because he’s an asshole.
“Yap! Got tired of you trying to set us up, so, I just told him and now we’re dating,” Kaidou confirms. Chiyo thinks about getting up and strangling him but she’s actually very happy for them and she’s very happy with them because—
She gets up, holding a hand out to Kokomi with a smile and helping her up too. “We should date too,” she tells her then, when they’re in a less awkward position.
“We should,” Kokomi agrees, trying and failing to bite back a smile. “Is that your way of asking?”
“Do I have to ask?” Chiyo whines and Kokomi shakes her head, raising Chiyo’s hand to give a kiss to her knuckles. It makes her blush again but she can’t even care.
“No,” Kokomi murmurs against her skin. Chiyo’s heartbeat skyrockets. Wow, she is so lucky. “But you do have to arrange our first date. I deserve it.”
“You do,” Chiyo agrees. “It’ll be the best date of your life.”
“I look forward to it.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Kaidou interrupts them.
Kuboyasu grins and goes, “That’s right, we still have a game to play, ladies. Chop chop, get back in the circle.”
Chiyo and Kokomi look at each other and burst out into giggles before intertwining their fingers and walking over to the circle. This time, they sit next to each other, as close as they can get and no one bats an eye or says a word because they’re dating now and also because they’ve always been like this, if Chiyo’s honest with herself. Really, she should’ve seen it coming.
She’s read way too many best friends to lovers stories after all. But in the end, theirs is her favourite.