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Kirihara Akaya had two favorite people.
Well, that wasn’t quite true. Kirihara liked a lot of people. Despite his claims at tennis camp that they weren’t all there to make friends, he had a habit of just... befriending everyone. And he adored them all.
It was just, he seemed to adore two of his friends a bit more than the rest, at least as far as outsiders saw it.
[I can’t believe that you’re spending your break visiting those two again.] Zaizen’s comment in the group chat pinged on Kirihara’s phone. He ignored it, because so what if he felt like visiting the people he liked visiting the most? That wasn’t weird at all.
Zaizen was just jealous.
[Tanegashima and Shiraishi are basically married, aren’t you just being a third wheel?] Zaizen continued.
Kirihara made a face and finally texted back. [theyll tell me if they dont want me there!]
[Will they?] came Zaizen’s response.
Kirihara huffed. Of course they would. That was part of what Kirihara appreciated so much about both Tanegashima and Shiraishi. Both of the older men were nice to him, but they wouldn’t lie and say he was welcome when he was not.
They genuinely liked his company. That was a big part of why they were two of his best friends out of dozens. He liked them more than all of Rikkai. He liked them more than his other friends from tennis camp. He liked them more than stupid Zaizen.
[Just let him visit who he wants.] Kaidoh cut in, a voice of reason.
Kirihara moved Kaidoh up his mental hierarchy of friends. Not as far up as Shiraishi and Tanegashima, but definitely higher than Zaizen.
He was cut out of his thoughts by a voice calling out to him.
“Hey, Aka-tan!” Tanegashima Shuuji waved from the driver's side door of his car in the airport pickup lane.
Kirihara slid his phone back into his pocket and dragged his suitcase over to the car. Shuuji popped the trunk like he had half a dozen times before, and Shiraishi got out of the passenger's seat to help Kirihara safely stash his luggage.
“Shiraishi-senpai! Tanegashima-san! It’s great to see you both!”
Shiraishi chuckled. “Get in the car. We’ll greet each other properly when Shuu-san isn’t holding up traffic.”
Kirihara laughed and climbed into the car with the two men. “So what are we planning to do on this visit! Last time was so much fun, this time is going to be hard to beat!”
“Well,” Tanegashima smoothly began as he pulled the car out into the traffic of Osaka. “I was thinking we could go to this new place Kimijima recommended to me. It’s got a massive indoor climbing wall and a laser tag arena, and they do all you can eat-”
“That’s a bit much.” Shiraishi pointed out.
“You’re totally right, Nosuke! That is a bit much-” Tanegashima responded. “-for the first day! Chai!”
"We thought we'd keep it simple." Shiraishi continued, with the composure of a man who had been having this exact conversation for years and had made his peace with it. "Dinner tonight. Probably the aquarium tomorrow since you mentioned last time you wanted to go."
"You remembered that?" Kirihara blinked.
"You said it three times." Shiraishi replied.
“Nosuke remembers everything you say!” Tanegashima laughed, eyes still on the road. “It’s pretty impressive.”
Shiraishi made an embarrassed sound. “Remembering what people tell you is just common decency.”
Kirihara sat back in his seat, something warm settling in his chest that he didn't particularly examine. Of course Shiraishi remembered. That was just how Shiraishi was. Thorough. Attentive. It didn't mean anything specific.
He looked at the two of them. Tanegashima was relaxed at the wheel of the car, Shiraishi was leaning comfortably against the passenger's side window... There was an easy silence between them that only existed between people who had run out of things to prove to each other.
They were really close, those two.
Kirihara had always liked that about them.
The restaurant was nice. Too nice, maybe, for just catching up with friends on his break. It was a fancy establishment, with candles on the tables and a wine list and the kind of ambient lighting that Kirihara associated with dates and anniversaries and occasions that meant something.
He slid into his seat across from his friends and looked at the menu and tried not to feel awkward. Like he was an outsider intruding on a nice dinner between lovers or something.
He lasted a whole four minutes before he spoke up.
“Um...” He set his menu down. “Are you guys sure this is where you wanted to take me? This place is a little, uh, fancy.”
Tanegashima blinked at him. Then laughed, warm and immediate. "Aka-tan, we picked this place for you."
"For me?"
"You placed third at the Guangzhou Open." Shiraishi said it simply, like it was obvious. "We wanted to celebrate properly."
Kirihara stared at them.
"You knew about that?"
"It was in the sports news, Kirihara." Shiraishi looked faintly exasperated at Kirihara’s apparent belief that they somehow wouldn’t know about him placing highly in a tournament.
Tanegashima laughed at that expression before clarifying. “Nosuke has a Google Alert set up for your name. We always know when you place well!”
Shiraishi looked embarrassed. “I have alerts set up for several people!”
“Just Aka-tan and Yukimura!” Tanegashima responded cheerfully, happy to point out how special a Shiraishi Google alert really was.
Kirihara felt something warm bloom in his chest. The same feeling from the car. He ignored it the same way he'd ignored it then, picking his menu back up.
“Okay, but Yukimura-buchou is amazing. It makes sense that Senpai would have an alert about him. I mean, he wins tournaments and stuff...” Kirihara pointed out. “I just-”
“You don’t just do anything, Akaya. You’re amazing, and you’re getting better all the time. Even Seiichi has told me that he expects you to surpass him.” Shiraishi replied, straight to the point. That tone he used when he was saying something he wholeheartedly meant.
Kirihara looked at his menu really hard, a blush spreading to his cheeks. He was weak against genuine praise and he knew it.
“...Thanks, Senpai.” He offered up.
Under the table his phone buzzed. He checked it quickly.
[How's the third wheeling going] Zaizen had sent.
Kirihara typed back one handed. [I'm not third wheeling they got a google alert for me]
A pause.
[That's somehow worse] Zaizen replied.
[A google alert.] Hiyoshi added. [They have a google alert for you?]
[Yes?] Kirihara sent back.
[Unbelievable.] Hiyoshi replied.
[What] Kirihara typed.
Nobody answered that.
Kirihara put his phone away with a frown. Unbelievable? What was so unbelievable about someone having his name on Google alert? Shiraishi was a great friend and senpai. It made sense that he would want to keep up to date on how he was doing on the pro circuit. That way he could do things like plan fancy dinners to celebrate!
“Everything okay, Aka-tan?” Tanegashima asked, eyebrow raised.
“Yeah, Just Hiyoshi being obnoxious and saying I’m not worth a Google alert.” Kirihara pouted. “Anyway yeah, I placed third. It probably would have been second but I ended up facing off against Boss in the semis...”
And just like that the dinner shifted into something easy and familiar, the two of them listening while Kirihara talked through the tournament with his hands, recreating shots and complaining about line calls and generally being completely himself in a way he couldn't always manage with people.
The candles were nice, actually.
He barely noticed them after the first ten minutes.
The apartment was exactly as Kirihara remembered it. Small and comfortable, with Tanegashima's things everywhere and Shiraishi's things arranged with quiet precision around them, the two of them occupying the same space in completely different ways that somehow worked perfectly.
The futon was already set up in the living room. Made up neatly with extra blankets folded at the foot of it, a bottle of water on the low table beside it.
Kirihara blinked.
“Ah! You already set up the futon!”
"Obviously." Shiraishi said.
"We wanted it to be ready for you." Tanegashima added, already heading to the linen closet. "Do you need another blanket? It gets cold at night here lately."
Kirihara shook his head, but Shiraishi cut him off. “Take the blanket. It will make Shuu-san feel like he contributed something since I’m the one that set up the futon.”
“I had a shoot earlier!” Tanegashima protested. “Don’t make Aka-tan think I’m dumping all the chores on you!”
He still went to get a big, fluffy blanket from their bedroom, depositing it on the bed proudly. Shiraishi checked that the window nearby was properly closed. Kirihara stood in the middle of the living room and let them fuss, because there was no stopping either of them when they got like this and also because, if he was being honest, he didn't really want to stop them.
He liked being fussed over. And nobody doted on him quite like these two.
He thought about saying that out loud and decided against it. It would probably come out weird.
He just let himself bask in the moment instead.
"Okay." Tanegashima stood back and surveyed the futon setup with satisfaction. "I think that's everything. You've got your water, your blankets, the bathroom is-"
"He knows where the bathroom is." Shiraishi said. "He's stayed here before."
"I'm just making sure!"
Kirihara laughed. “I remember where the bathroom is, Tanegashima-san! You don’t have to worry!” He paused. “...And thank you both.”
Shiraishi nodded. Tanegashima beamed.
"Goodnight, Aka-tan." Tanegashima ruffled his hair on the way past, which Kirihara accepted with the dignity of someone who had long since stopped protesting it.
Shiraishi paused at the bedroom door. "Sleep well." He said it simply, the way he said everything he meant.
The door clicked shut.
Kirihara climbed onto the fluffy futon, grabbing the extra blanket and spreading it out across him. It smelled like his friends... it had probably come off of their own bed, huh?
That left him with a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. He decided not to dwell on it. Instead he grabbed his phone to text his friends.
[okay so update] Kirihara typed. [they already had the futon set up when i got here. and tanegashima-san went and got me an extra blanket from their actual bedroom because it gets cold at night apparently]
There was a pause, the message sitting on read for a moment before anyone replied.
[From their bedroom.] Zaizen replied with an obnoxious gif of a smug looking cat.
Kirihara didn’t get the gif at all.
[uh yah, its really fluffy and smells nice.] He typed back.
The typing indicators appeared and disappeared several times from multiple people.
[Kirihara.] Hiyoshi sent.
[what]
[You're sleeping under their blanket.] Hiyoshi typed. [That they got from their bed. For you.]
[yeah] Kirihara replied. [they were worried id be cold. they're really thoughtful like that]
[I'm going to lose my mind.] Zaizen sent.
[why????????] Kirihara typed back.
[Kaidoh say something] Zaizen sent.
There was a long pause.
[You like those two a lot, huh?] Kaidoh finally replied.
[uh duh] Kirihara texted back. [theyre my favorite people. i literally flew across the country to see them on my break]
[Right.] Kaidoh replied.
Another pause.
[Goodnight Kirihara] Hiyoshi sent.
[goodnight??] Kirihara typed. [why is everyone being so weird tonight]
Nobody answered.
Kirihara put his phone down with a frown and pulled the fluffy blanket up around himself.
They were all being so strange lately.
He fell asleep quickly.
He didn't think about why.
Things continued as normal for them over the next few days. They ate together, talked together, played together. It was all very comfortable.
Almost too comfortable, Shiraishi noticed. He couldn't bring himself to care too much about it, though. That was just how things with Kirihara always were. Comfortable.
Kirihara had that effect on people. Or, more accurately, on them in particular.
Shiraishi smiled to himself, adjusting how he was curled up on the couch with his book.
It had been decided that today was a day for them to take it easy. And taking it easy they were. Shiraishi was curled up reading one of his pharmaceutical textbooks, while Tanegashima lounged on the futon with Kirihara, laughing as Kirihara occasionally showed him things on his phone and snacking on some potato chips.
It was all very... Yes, comfortable.
Shiraishi hoped things could stay that way. It always seemed so fleeting, the atmosphere that came along with Akaya when he visited.
Kirihara yawned, still scrolling through TikTok with Tanegashima, showing him all the particularly funny bits less often now. Shuuji, for what it was worth, didn't seem to be trying to keep Kirihara awake.
Shiraishi raised an eyebrow, watching the scene with amusement as Kirihara nodded off mid-scroll, tipping over to the side and landing on Tanegashima.
His phone lay discarded on the futon, still playing obnoxious videos.
“He got comfortable.” Shiraishi observed quietly, not wanting to wake Kirihara.
Tanegashima chuckled. “Yeah, guess he did.” He ruffled the sleeping Kirihara's curls. Shiraishi smiled... He wished he had an excuse to touch that messy head of curls as well.
Shuuji met his boyfriend's gaze, sending him a knowing wink and petting Kirihara's hair more on his behalf.
Shiraishi couldn't help but chuckle.
All things considered, he was really a very lucky guy.
Kirihara slept for about twenty minutes before his own phone woke him up. One of the videos autoplayed something loud enough to startle him back to consciousness, and he shot upright with the disoriented expression of someone who had forgotten where they were for a moment.
Then he registered Tanegashima beside him and Shiraishi across the room and settled immediately, like a compass finding north.
"...Did I fall asleep?" He asked, voice still rough.
"For about twenty minutes." Shiraishi replied, not looking up from his book.
Kirihara looked at his phone. Looked at Tanegashima. Looked faintly embarrassed for approximately three seconds before deciding against it.
"Cool." He said, and went back to scrolling.
Shiraishi couldn't quite focus on his textbook any longer. He watched Kirihara and Shuuji over the top of the pages.
“Tanegashima-senpai! Look at this cat! He looks like he has a moustache!” Kirihara laughed merrily, leaning over so that Tanegashima could see.
Shuuji took a look, apparently please by what he saw because he grinned right back at Kirihara. “That's a pretty cute cat! I think I'd call him Sir Whiskertons!”
“No, no! It has to be Meowstachio!” Kirihara insisted.
“What about Colonel Meowstache?”
“Oh! Oh! FUR-DINAND!”
“That's a great one, Aka-tan, chai!”
They continued back and forth with their amusing mustachioed cat names for awhile, before Kirihara noticed something and paused.
“Ah! Senpai, you have something on your face!” The young man declared, reaching a hand out to stroke a crumb away from the corner of Shuuji’s mouth like it was totally natural.
Tanegashima looked totally caught off guard. He blinked in a way that was surprisingly adorable. “Huh?”
Shiraishi's heart ached a bit. Not from jealousy... It was something more complicated. Something he did his best not to linger on.
He pushed the conversation forward like there was nothing wrong.
“It's nice having you around like this, Akaya. I'm glad that you were able to visit.” Shiraishi smiled at Kirihara, setting his textbook down. He could study more later. For now he'd just enjoy a little more time with their visitor.
Akaya smiled warmly. “I like visiting you guys... It's lonely without you, you know. I miss you both a lot when I'm traveling. Everything feels so flat without you.”
It was honest and unguarded enough to make Shiraishi's breath catch in the back of his throat.
He caught Tanegashima’s eye, looking at the man who was wearing an expression shockingly similar to his own.
Kirihara luckily didn't notice. He'd already moved on to complaining about airline food.
Shiraishi listened to the complaints with only half his attention. The rest was putting everything back in order. Filing all this information away so that he could properly process it all and make judgements based on it all.
The conclusion he arrived at now was not a surprise. Not really. It had been building across every visit, every goodbye that felt slightly too long, every time he caught himself tracking the calendar for when Akaya's next break would be.
He was in love with Kirihara Akaya.
He was fairly certain Shuuji was too.
That was... Fine, really. It was information. Information could be worked with. A plan of action could be drawn up. He just needed to, well, talk with his actual boyfriend before deciding anything.
Tonight. After Akaya went to sleep.
He picked his textbook back up.
Across the futon Kirihara had moved on from airline food to complaining about a particularly bad hotel mattress in Guangzhou, gesturing expressively, completely at ease, completely unaware.
Shiraishi watched him for a moment.
The problem, he thought, was that Kirihara didn't know he was in love with them yet. And until he did, there was nothing to be done.
He turned a page he hadn't read.
They could hear Kirihara through the door when they went to bed that night. The faint sound of his phone while he texted with his friends, muffled laughter, the restless energy of someone who was tired but refusing to just let themselves go to sleep. It was childlike and charming all at the same time.
Tanegashima sat on the edge of the bed and waited for him to go silent. He watched Shiraishi standing by the window, watering his plants and looking... pensive.
He knew what was coming, huh?
Eventually the sounds in the living room died off. Shuuji waited another few minutes, just to be sure Akaya was really asleep. Then he opened the door a crack to peer out at Akaya. Sure enough, his breathing was steady and slow.
Tanegashima closed the door again and looked at Shiraishi. “He’s asleep.”
Shiraishi chuckled. “He takes a while to wind down.”
“Yeah. It’s pretty cute though.” Tanegashima waited as his boyfriend came to join him on the bed, placing his hand on Tanegashima’s and just... smiling.
They both waited, seeing who would say it first. In the end Tanegashima was the one who went for it.
"So we're both in love with Aka-tan."
Not a question. Just a fact, stated simply, the way he stated most things that mattered to him. He looked at Shiraishi while he said it, watching his boyfriend's shoulders do something complicated before settling.
“Yes, I suppose we are.” He agreed. A soft smile spread over his face. “I’m relieved to hear that you’ve come to the same conclusion.”
Tanegashima smiled back. He’d known, obviously. Had known for awhile, if he was being honest. But there was something that was a relief about hearing it out loud. That he and Nosuke were on the same page. That everything would be fine.
More than fine, really.
They stayed like that for a moment, shoulders touching, the quiet of the apartment around them.
"Well." Tanegashima said finally. "What do we do about it?"
Shiraishi was quiet for a moment, which meant he was organizing his thoughts. Tanegashima waited him out. He'd learned a long time ago that rushing Shiraishi's thinking process produced worse results than just letting it happen.
"We wait." Shiraishi said finally.
Tanegashima blinked. "Wait?"
“Akaya doesn’t realize how he feels yet.” Shiraishi pointed out. “It’s obvious he likes us, but if we tell him what we’re feeling it might overwhelm him. I don’t want to make him feel like he has to date us. I want him to come to the conclusion he wants to on his own.”
That... made a lot of sense, really.
Tanegashima had been just planning to tell Kirihara outright how they felt. Just tell him, let him react, and go from there. That was how he usually handled things that mattered to him. It was how he’d handled Shiraishi.
But Kirihara was... Kirihara. He was chaotic and enthusiastic and had a childlike charm. And he was also painfully unaware of his own feelings, that much was clear. Dropping something on this before he had a chance to figure anything out could definitely go very wrong.
He wanted this thing with Kirihara to work out, if they were going to risk their friendship to go for it.
"So we just... sit on it." Tanegashima said.
"We let him get there himself." Shiraishi replied. "He will. It's just a matter of when."
Tanegashima looked at the closed bedroom door. Through it, somewhere in the quiet living room, Kirihara was asleep under their blanket.
"You sound pretty confident about that."
"I am." Shiraishi said simply.
Tanegashima smiled. "Yeah. Me too, actually."
Shiraishi leaned over and kissed his cheek. Tanegashima smiled and leaned in to the affectionate gesture.
He loved his Nosuke so much. What other boyfriend would be willing to plan to seduce another man with him!?
“We’re going to be okay.” Shiraishi pointed out. It felt like he was speaking to the closed door as much as he was speaking to Tanegashima “No matter how this goes.”
Tanegashima smiled. “Yeah, I know we will. I have you, after all.”
He was such a lucky guy. He’s known that for ages. He just hadn't known until recently that lucky could stretch a little further than he'd thought.
He reached over and turned off the bedside lamp.
"Goodnight, Nosuke."
"Goodnight."
Tanegashima threw an arm over Shiraishi, pulling him close to whisper into his ear. “You knoooow, Aka-tan is a really sound sleeper...”
Shiraishi let out an embarrassed squeak. “Seriously, with a guest in the house, Shuu-san?”
Tanegashima kissed Shiraishi’s neck. “He’ll never know...”
It didn’t take much to get Shiraishi to agree.
Shiraishi's protests didn't last long.
They never did.
Kirihara woke up at eight am to the smell of coffee brewing and people chatting over in the kitchen of the small apartment.
He lay on the futon for a moment, staring at the ceiling, slowly becoming aware of two things.
First thing was that he was comfortable and well rested and his friends were already up and moving around.
The second thing was that he had woken up briefly the night before to sounds. Sounds he hadn’t paid much attention to at the time, but that his brain was now starting to identify as something particular.
He pulled the blanket over his face.
They had forgotten he was there.
Or they hadn’t forgotten. Maybe they’d just assumed he was a deep sleeper. He usually was. Wait, did that mean they were having sex every time he stayed over? Had he just not realized it until now!?
He tried not to imagine it.
He stayed under the blanket for another minute.
He got out his phone.
[so] he typed.
[why are you texting at 7am] Zaizen replied immediately, which meant he was already awake and had no sympathy.
[i may have heard some things last night] Kirihara sent.
A pause.
[What kind of things] Hiyoshi replied.
[things that were not meant for my ears] Kirihara typed. [things that are going to make breakfast very awkward]
[You knew they were dating.] Zaizen sent. [People in love have sex. I have sex with Kenya-san all the time.]
Kirihara made a face at Zaizen bragging about his boyfriend again.
[KNOWING AND HEARING ARE DIFFERENT THINGS ZAIZEN]
[Use your headphones next time.] Hiyoshi replied.
[I DIDNT KNOW I WOULD NEED HEADPHONES]
[Now you know.] Hiyoshi sent.
A pause.
[are you okay] Kaidoh typed.
[im fine I'm just going to have to look shiraishi-senpai in the eye at breakfast] Kirihara replied. [and tanegashima-san. i have to look them both in the eye.]
[Suffer.] Zaizen sent, with what Kirihara could only assume was great satisfaction.
[youre the worst] Kirihara typed back.
[Good luck at breakfast.] Kaidoh offered.
Kirihara put his phone down and pulled the blanket tighter.
He smelled coffee.
The only way out was through.
He got up, totally ignoring the fact that his hair was a complete tangled mess of curls, walking into the kitchen with the composure of someone who had heard absolutely nothing and was going to continue to have heard absolutely nothing for the rest of his natural life.
Shiraishi looked up from where he’d been buttering toast for their breakfasts. Tanegashima smiled from where he was seated at the counter sipping coffee.
“Good morning, Akaya!”
“You’re up early, Aka-tan! Did we wake you?”
It was all very cheerful and normal. Like the two men hadn’t been tangled together naked the last night.
“Morning.” Kirihara once again forced himself not to imagine it. He sat down at the far end of the counter and looked at the wall.
Shiraishi set a cup of coffee in front of him.
Kirihara looked at it. Looked at Shiraishi. Looked back at the wall.
"...Did you sleep well?" Shiraishi asked, with the particular careful composure of a man who wasn't entirely sure what had been heard.
Tanegashima blinked.
“I slept great.” Kirihara replied. “Super deeply, the entire night. Didn’t wake up once.”
There was a pause. Tanegashima looked guilty. Shiraishi turned back to the coffee maker, ears pink.
Kirihara drank his coffee and decided he was never going to speak of last night ever again.
He also resolved to stop imagining it.
Maybe he should start sleeping with headphones on while he was here...
The plan had been simple. A quick konbini run for snacks and drinks, maybe twenty minutes tops, and then back to the apartment.
That was before Tanegashima spotted the crepe stand.
“Oooh, we should get crepes, chai~!” He was already heading towards the stand with the energy of a man who had already decided this was happening. “Aka-tan, you like strawberry, right?”
“I like all crepes.” Kirihara corrected, following behind eagerly.
Shiraishi tailed behind them with the air of someone who had just wanted to go buy a bottle of Pocari Sweat but had accepted that there was no point in trying to keep Tanegashima from derailing things.
It wasn’t like they had anywhere else to be.
The crepes were good. Kirihara ate his in approximately four minutes and immediately looked at Tanegashima's.
"Don't even think about it." Tanegashima said, without looking at him.
"I wasn't thinking anything."
"You were looking at my crepe."
"I was looking at the general area of your crepe."
Shiraishi finished his own crepe with quiet dignity and said nothing.
They drifted down the street with no real destination after that, Tanegashima having properly diverted their quick errand into a proper outing. Tanegashima stopped regularly to look in shop windows as if they weren’t walking through his own neighborhood. Shiraishi walked at an unhurried pace beside Kirihara, occasionally pointing something out.
Kirihara felt totally at ease in their company.
It was Tanegashima who spotted the river path.
"Oh, let's walk down there. There's a nice spot further along where you can sit and watch the water."
"You've been here before?" Kirihara asked.
"Nosuke and I come here sometimes." Tanegashima said simply, already heading down the path. Shiraishi smiled at Kirihara and followed his boyfriend.
Kirihara followed. There was something kind of warm and pleasing to be brought along to one of their spots. It made him feel important. Really, truly liked.
They found the spot Tanegashima had mentioned, a low stone wall overlooking the river, wide enough to sit on comfortably. Tanegashima hopped up immediately. Kirihara climbed up beside him. Shiraishi settled on his other side.
The three of them sat in a row, watching the water.
It was quiet. The good kind.
Kirihara was in the middle of unwrapping a konbini chocolate when Tanegashima reached over and fixed his collar, smoothing it down with the casual ease of someone who had done it a hundred times.
"There." Tanegashima said, already looking back at the river.
Kirihara sat very still.
It was nothing. A totally normal thing to do. Tanegashima was always taking care of him, like a good senpai should. He and Shiraishi always looked out for him, and he looked out for them in turn.
It was normal.
He looked at his chocolate but didn’t eat it. He spent ten minutes thinking about the touch instead.
He got his phone out when Shiraishi and Tanegashima eventually went off towards a vending machine, telling Kirihara to just wait for them on the riverbank.
[okay weird question] he typed.
[No.] Zaizen replied immediately.
[i havent asked yet]
[The answer is still no.]
[ZAIZEN]
[Fine. What.]
[is it normal to think about something someone did for like ten minutes after] Kirihara typed. [like a really small thing. fixing your collar.]
A longer pause than usual.
[Who fixed your collar.] Hiyoshi replied.
[tanegashima-san]
Another pause.
[Seriously Kirihara?] Hiyoshi sent.
[is it weird?] Kirihara was growing concerned. Hiyoshi could be really hard to read.
It was Zaizen who finally replied.
[It’s not weird. It’s normal.]
[really?]
[Yeah, it happens to me all the time. It’s normal.] Zaizen reassured him.
[Are you okay] Kaidoh sent.
[yeah why does everyone keep asking me that] Kirihara replied. [im just sitting by a river with my friends and i can't stop thinking about a collar]
[That’s a nice spot for a date.] Zaizen observed. [Kenya-san and I go there a lot.]
Kirihara groaned and put up his phone. What was with Zaizen and his constant need to brag about his spazzy boyfriend?
Shiraishi came back and handed Kirihara a canned coffee without being asked.
Kirihara stared at it.
He knew exactly what kind he liked and everything.
He put his phone away and looked at the river and tried very hard not to think about collars or canned coffee or the specific way Tanegashima had reached over without even looking.
It wasn't working.
The next day Shiraishi had class and Tanegashima had a set scheduled, so Kirihara had arranged to take the Shinkansen up to Kanagawa to spend some time with some other friends.
Kirihara had forgotten how much he missed playing with his old teammates until he was actually doing it again.
Yukimura was as terrifying as ever, moving around the court with that serene expression that meant he was approximately three points away from destroying you completely. Sanada was solid and relentless, the same as he'd always been. Playing against them was like being seventeen again, which was both nostalgic and slightly humbling.
Kirihara held his own. Mostly.
They took a break after the second set, Kirihara happily dropping to the bench and chugging his water. His legs ached pleasantly. This was good. This was something he had been missing on his break. Something physical and familiar to stop him thinking about collars and canned coffee and the specific weight of being handed something without having to ask.
It wasn't working as well as he'd hoped.
Yukimura sat beside him, elegant even while catching his breath. "You seem distracted today."
“I’m fine!” Kirihara responded on instinct.
Man, it was scary how observant Yukimura could be.
“You missed three returns you could normally make blindfolded.” Yukimura pointed out dryly.
Oh, Kirihara supposed that he had. He chuckled nervously.
“I’m a little tired, I guess.”
Yukimura looked at him with that particular expression he had. The one that meant he knew exactly what was going on and was deciding how much of it to say out loud.
"You know," Yukimura said, conversationally, "sometimes when we can't stop thinking about something it's because we're trying very hard not to think about what it actually means."
Kirihara blinked.
That seemed... specific. Like he was supposed to understand what it meant without Yukimura saying what it meant. It sat in his chest in a way he didn’t quite understand.
He opened his mouth to ask what Yukimura meant, but was cut off by Sanada barging into the conversation.
“Kirihara!” Sanada barked, looking at Kirihara with the expression of a man who had been working on something all morning. “I need to talk to you!”
Yukimura sighed and looked exasperated, but allowed his boyfriend to take over the discussion.
Kirihara looked between them. "Uh. Okay?"
Sanada sat down on Kirihara's other side with the gravity of someone about to deliver very important news. He folded his towel. He appeared to be choosing his words carefully.
"I have noticed," Sanada began, "that you visit Shiraishi and Tanegashima frequently."
"...Yeah." Kirihara said slowly.
"More frequently than you visit anyone else."
"They're my friends."
"They are." Sanada nodded. "They are in a relationship."
"I know that." Kirihara frowned. "I'm not an idiot, Sanada-san."
Yukimura chuckled just a bit.
“I’m not suggesting you are. These things are just complicated!” Sanada pressed forward. It was clear he had rehearsed this in his head. "I am suggesting that spending a significant amount of time with a couple, particularly a couple you are... fond of, it can sometimes lead to... complications. Emotional complications. That you may not be aware of yet."
Yukimura rolled his eyes. Tell that to Renji.
“I’m just warning you to be careful. With your heart.” Sanada finished proudly.
Kirihara stared at Sanada.
His brain was doing something, pieces clicking into place slowly. Very slowly, like a door cracking open and then closing slightly again.
“I...” He didn’t know what he wanted to say.
“What Genichirou is trying to say-” Yukimura cut into his mental turmoil quite calmly, “-And doing very poorly, might I add-”
“-I was being clear!” Sanada argued. Yukimura ignored him.
“-Is that it’s perfectly normal to develop feelings for people you’re close to.” He continued. “And recognizing those feelings for what they are is almost always preferable to remaining wilfully ignorant of them.”
“Like Renji.” Sanada grumped.
Another silence.
The door in Kirihara's brain opened a little wider.
“Renji’s in love with you two!?” He settled for deflecting.
Yukimura’s eye twitched dangerously. “Don’t try to change the subject, Akaya.”
Akaya swallowed and stared at his water bottle. Yukimura put a hand on his shoulder.
"You don't have to decide anything right now." Yukimura said pleasantly. "Just something to think about."
He stood up, smoothed down his shirt, and walked back onto the court.
"Ready for the third set?"
Kirihara sat on the bench.
Sanada patted his shoulder with the heavy sincerity of a man who believed he had been helpful.
He had not been helpful.
He had, however, accidentally been exactly what was needed.
Because Kirihara was sitting on a bench at a tennis facility in Kanagawa thinking about collars and canned coffee and the specific way two people reached for him without thinking about it...
And for the first time, he thought he might know why.
He remained seated. Sanada took his place on the court, giving him some time to process things.
He reached for his phone.
[oh no] he typed.
A pause.
[What happened] Kaidoh replied.
[oh no oh no oh no] Kirihara sent.
[KIRIHARA] Hiyoshi typed.
[i think] Kirihara started. Stopped. Started again. [i think i have a problem]
[We know.] Zaizen replied immediately.
[YOU KNEW?!]
[We've known for months.] Hiyoshi sent.
[MONTHS]
[Kirihara.] Zaizen replied. [You fly across the world to visit them whenever you have a moment. You couldn't stop thinking about a collar for ten minutes. You described their blanket as smelling nice.]
[You never visit us like that.] Hiyoshi added on.
Kirihara swallowed. He didn’t know how to respond.
[Everything you say about them sounds like how I feel about Kenya-san.] Zaizen brought his boyfriend up again. This time it didn’t sound like bragging. Maybe it had never been bragging. Maybe Zaizen had been trying to tell him something all this time.
Kirihara stared at his phone.
[i like them] he typed. [like. LIKE like them. both of them.]
[Yes.] Hiyoshi replied.
[simultaneously]
[Yes.] Hiyoshi replied again.
[is that normal]
[For you? Yes.] Zaizen sent.
[ZAIZEN]
[I meant that as a compliment.] Zaizen replied. [...Mostly.]
A pause.
[what do I do?]
[Figure out if they like you back.] Kaidoh offered.
[how am i supposed to do that]
[Kirihara.] Hiyoshi sent. [They have a google alert for you.]
Kirihara sat with that for a moment.
[oh] he typed.
[Yeah.] Zaizen replied.
[OH]
[There it is.] Hiyoshi sent.
Kirihara put his phone back in his bag and looked across the courts to where Sanada and Yukimura were rallying.
"...Are you ready?" Yukimura called.
Kirihara stood up.
He was not ready at all.
He picked up his racket anyway.
Kirihara arrived back from Kanagawa the next morning, having spent the night with Sanada and Yukimura before catching the shinkansen in the morning.
He came bursting in with his usual energy, declaring his was starving and asking what they would be having for lunch.
Normal Kirihara behavior. Totally normal.
Except that he didn't quite meet their eyes when he said it.
Shiraishi noticed immediately. He filed it away and said nothing, moving to check what they had in the refrigerator.
Tanegashima definitely noticed too. Shiraishi could tell by the way he tilted his head, the bewildered look that flashed across his face for just a moment.
Something wasn’t right.
“How was Kanagawa?” Tanegashima asked, his tone normal and even as he prodded for what was wrong with Kirihara.
“Great! Really Great! It was great to see Sanada again! And Yukimura is great as always!” Kirihara babbled nervously. “Good tennis. Really great.”
Tanegashima and Shiraishi looked at each other before looking back to Kirihara.
“I lost count of how many times you just used the word great.” Shiraishi confessed.
“That’s because it just was.” Kirihara replied. “Great.”
Something had shifted. That much was clear. Kirihara was performing normal with the specific energy of someone who had recently had a realization and was not yet sure what to do with it. He was talking slightly too much and making eye contact slightly too little and had already reorganized the items on the kitchen counter twice without appearing to notice he was doing it.
"I'll make curry." Shiraishi said, because lunch still needed to happen regardless of anyone's internal crises.
"Great." Kirihara said. Then seemed to hear himself. "I mean... good. That sounds good. I like curry."
“You’ve told me.” Replied Shiraishi, offering Kirihara a smile.
Kirihara looked at his hands.
They ate lunch carefully, with Tanegashima carrying most of the conversation and Kirihara only really contributing to the conversation with his usual enthusiasm when the topic was tennis or food or anything safely removed from whatever was happening in his head. When conversation lapsed into comfortable silence he stared at his curry with more concentration than it warranted.
Shiraishi watched from across the table, quiet.
It was just a matter of time, he’d thought. Maybe that time was coming sooner than anticipated.
After lunch Kirihara excused himself, telling them that he wanted to go drop in to say hi to Zaizen for a bit. That wasn’t unusual, but Shiraishi didn’t offer to come along to see Kenya like he usually did. He just smiled and saw Kirihara off with a wave before turning back to Tanegashima.
They watched from the window as Kirihara headed off to see his friend.
There was an air of excitement in the room.
Tanegashima spoke first. “Something happened in Kanagawa.”
“Yes.” Shiraishi agreed with a nod. He couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face.
“He knows.” Tanegashima seemed jubilant. Shiraishi could understand that reaction.
“He’s getting there.” He agreed.
Tanegashima smiled. Shiraishi felt the warmth of it without looking.
They waited.
Zaizen had been expecting Kirihara to show up eventually.
The texts had made it painfully clear that something had cracked open for Kirihara, and Kirihara was not a quiet person. He was going to seek someone out for advice. And Zaizen, unfortunately in this situation, was the only one in a relationship.
He was also the only one in Osaka,
All of this made him the natural choice for Kirihara to come running to.
He answered the door before Kirihara could knock a second time.
Kirihara just stood there, looking like his whole world had been rearranged without his permission. So dramatic, Zaizen thought.
“...Hey.” He greeted, stepping aside to let Kirihara in. “Come on in. Kenya-san’s here.”
Something flickered across Kirihara’s face at the mention that Zaizen’s boyfriend- a man who had been best friends with Shiraishi since childhood- was there sitting on Zaizen’s couch, sucking on a protein jelly drink and looking totally ready to witness this conversation.
“He won’t, uh... talk to Shiraishi-senpai about any of this, right?”
“Kenya-san’s no snitch.” Zaizen went back over to sit in his computer chair, actually putting his headphones back on his head like he was going to continue working on the song he was currently in the middle of.
Kenya smiled at Kirihara. “Kirihara-kun, you look like you’ve had a long couple of days.” He offered a bag of potato chips to Kirihara.
Kirihara took the chips and collapsed on the couch. “It has been a really long couple of days, yeah.”
Zaizen waited, saying nothing.
Kirihara lasted approximately forty seconds before it all came out.
The whole thing. The collar. The canned coffee. The blanket that smelled like them. Everything feeling flat on tour. Sanada's catastrophic speech. The google alert. All of it, tumbling out in the specific chaotic stream of consciousness that was Kirihara Akaya processing something important.
Zaizen listened, even though he already knew most of it from the group chat.
When Kirihara finally ran out of words he looked at Zaizen with the expression of someone waiting to be judged.
Zaizen opened his mouth.
"So what do I actually do about it?" Kirihara asked before he could say anything. "Like practically. What do I do."
Zaizen closed his mouth.
He didn’t actually have an answer. After all, his relationship with Kenya had gone much easier. Kenya had just jogged to his house one day and declared that Yuushi had just helped him realized that he was in love with Zaizen and that they should start dating immediately.
Zaizen had been under the impression they were already dating, so he’d said yes. Nice and simple. For him. Maybe not for Kenya-san, who had needed his stupid cousin to help him realize they were in love.
He looked at Kenya.
Kenya looked back, clearly knowing what needed to be said.
"Kirihara-kun." Kenya set down his empty jelly packet. "You said everything feels flat on tour without them, right?"
"Yeah."
"And you come back every break specifically to see them."
"Yeah."
"And you can't stop thinking about small things they do for you."
"...Yeah."
Kenya nodded. "Then I think you already know what to do. You go back to that apartment, and you tell them how you feel. Clearly and directly. No performance, no buildup. Just the truth."
Kirihara stared at him. "That's it?"
"That's it." Kenya confirmed. “Worked for me.”
Kirihara blinked. “But Zaizen said he thought you were already dating at the time you confessed.”
Kenya had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "That's beside the point."
"Is it though?" Kirihara asked.
"The point," Kenya continued, with the composure of a man steering firmly away from his own romantic history, "is that I knew how I felt and I said it out loud. That's the part that matters. Everything after that was just details."
Kirihara considered this.
“But what if they-” Kirihara began.
Kenya cut him off. “I’ve known Kura since we were kids. Long enough to know what he looks like when he’s in love.” He paused. "He set up your futon before you arrived. He remembers what coffee you like. He has a google alert for your name."
Kirihara opened his mouth. Closed it.
"Kuranosuke doesn't do those things for people he isn't serious about." Kenya said simply. "I can promise you that."
The room went quiet.
Zaizen watched Kirihara’s expression as he absorbed all that. Yup, the idiot was finally getting somewhere. Good.
Akaya was making a decision.
“Okay!” He declared. “I’m heading back to see them!”
“Right now?” Zaizen blinked. You’d just gotten here, Kirihara. He’d kind of been hoping to spend some actual time with his friend.
Well, whatever.
"Right now." Kirihara confirmed, already heading for the door. He paused with his hand on it, looking back at them both. "Thanks. Seriously."
He left. The door clicked shut behind him.
Zaizen looked at Kenya.
Kenya picked up a new packet of potato chips like nothing had happened.
"You could have said all of that." Kenya observed pleasantly.
"I could have." Zaizen agreed.
He hadn't though. Some things were better coming from someone who actually knew Shiraishi. Someone who meant it from firsthand knowledge rather than from a group chat.
Kenya glanced over at him, smiling in that quiet way he had.
Zaizen looked back at his screen.
"...Good advice, by the way." He said, to the monitor.
"I know." Kenya replied.
Kirihara came back to the apartment at half past four and didn't take his shoes off before he started talking.
"I like you both." He said it to the genkan, to his own feet, to the general direction of the living room where Shiraishi was reading and Tanegashima was watching something on his phone. "Like. A lot. More than I'm supposed to, probably. I just figured that out and I thought you should know."
Silence.
Kirihara finally looked up.
Shiraishi had closed his book. Tanegashima had set down his phone. They were both looking at Kirihara with expressions that Kirihara couldn’t quite recognize, and for a moment Kirirhara was worried that maybe he’d misread things, that Kenya had been wrong.
But then Shiraishi smiled, warm and sunny.
“We’d suspected.”
Kirihara blinked, surprised. “You suspected?”
“You’re not really good at keeping secrets. Well, except maybe from yourself.” Shiraishi’s voice was clear and kind and totally certain. “We just wanted to let you figure things out before we went and brought it up to you.”
“Yeah, we were planning to bring it up tonight!” Tanegashima added on cheerily, already crossing the room to pull Kirihara into his arms. “You beat us to it!”
Kirihara stared. Mostly at Tanegashima, who was holding him like he was some kind of treasure.
“So you both...”
“Yes.” Shiraishi replied as he joined them, reaching a hand out to ruffle Kirihara’s curls.
“Both of us.” Tanegashima smiled. “For awhile now, Aka-tan.”
Kirihara looked at Tanegashima. Looked at Shiraishi, still on the couch, watching him with that quiet steady expression.
"I flew across the country every break." Kirihara said slowly. "And I didn't know."
"You're a little oblivious." Shiraishi said. There was something in his voice that wasn't quite fondness and wasn't quite exasperation and was somehow both at once.
"A little?" Tanegashima laughed. He finally let go of Kirihara.
“Okay.” Kirihara took a deep breath. “So what do we do now, then?”
Tanegashima reached out and fixed his collar. The same gesture from the riverbank, easy and automatic, like breathing.
"Now," Tanegashima said, "you take your shoes off and come inside."
Kirihara looked down at his shoes.
He took them off.
He came inside and stood in the living room, the three of them occupying the same space they'd been occupying all week, except that everything was different now and also nothing was different at all.
Kirihara blushed. “I guess this means we’re... a thing now, right? Is that how it works, Tanegashima-san?”
As the oldest Tanegashima would clearly know.
Tanegashima chuckled. “Yes, we’re together now. Three of a kind. And you can call me Shuu-san! You've been calling Nosuke Senpai this whole time and I've been so jealous."
Kirihara blushed. “Shuu-san. Shuu-san and... Kura-senpai.”
Something about saying it out loud made butterflies dance around in Kirihara’s stomach. He was feeling good. Brave.
He liked the look on Shiraishi’s face when he used that nickname.
He took Shiraishi’s hand. “Maybe... just Kura, even.”
Tanegashima laughed. “So daring, Aka-tan. Maybe I should be daring too”
And with that he leaned in and kissed Kirihara. Just a brief meeting of their lips, but Kirihara seemed to melt into it.
Shiraishi chuckled and followed it up with a kiss of his own. “We’re all daring today.”
Kirihara smiled brightly and threw his arms around both men to hold on. “You guys can be as daring as you want with me!”
Tanegashima’s eyes sparkled with a mischievous air. "I guess you don't have to sleep on the futon anymore."
Kirihara went red from his collar to his hairline.
Shiraishi cleared his throat.
"We'll discuss the logistics later." He said, with complete composure.
His ears were still pink.
Atobe always threw massive parties after the Japan open, but this one seemed even more extravagant than usual. Probably because Tezuka Kunimitsu had been the one to place first, beating Echizen Ryoma in the final round.
Kirihara had placed third. He’d beaten Yukimura for that spot.
Nothing could spoil his mood after that.
Kirihara had done all the right things after the awards ceremony. Smiled for the cameras. Given a good interview. Said the right things about his opponents and his training and his plans for the rest of the season. He'd been professional and composed and exactly what his sponsors wanted to see.
It was exhausting.
The party was already in full swing by the time he arrived, Atobe's venue as extravagant as ever, maybe more so given that Tezuka Kunimitsu had placed first. That was worth celebrating, apparently. Or at least worth an open bar and a string quartet and enough canapes to feed a small country.
Kirihara took a drink from one of the waiters, bubbling grape juice that he knew was only being offered because Atobe himself was under legal drinking age. Oh well, the stuff tasted better than actual alcohol.
He scanned the room. He spotted Ryoma near the punch bowl looking deeply unimpressed with the entire concept of a celebration party, which was about right. He spotted Tezuka being congratulated by approximately fifteen people simultaneously with the expression of a man who would rather be anywhere else, which was also about right.
He spotted Alexander Amadeus being pursued across the room by a robotic waiter, which was...
Okay, that was hilarious. He couldn’t help but laugh as Amadeus ran away from the machine, ducking behind a pillar to try to hide from it. Like it was actually pursuing him.
The robotic waiter rotated in a slow arc, scanning the immediate area, and then trundled off in a different direction. Amadeus watched it go from behind his pillar with the expression of a man who had been personally wronged.
Kirihara laughed so hard he had to put his drink down.
Someone appeared at his elbow. He looked over to find Byodoin, watching the whole scene with an expression that on anyone else would have been a smirk but on Byodoin was somehow even more satisfied than that.
"It's gotten him four times." Byodoin said.
"Four?"
"He keeps going back for the food."
Kirihara looked at Amadeus, hiding behind his pillar and eyeing the canapes. They were really good looking canapes.
“Fair, I don’t blame him.” Kirihara agreed.
Byodoin snorted. It was approximately the warmest sound Kirihara had ever heard from the man.
They watched Amadeus lose his internal battle and creep back toward the robot in real time. It was genuinely compelling television.
Tezuka and Ryoma materialized from somewhere, joining the small group with the natural gravity of people who had also noticed what was happening and found a good vantage point.
Ryoma watched Amadeus for a moment. "He's done this three times already."
"Four." Byodoin corrected.
"Huh." Ryoma seemed to file this away.
Tezuka said nothing. He watched with the composed expression of a man observing something he had no framework for.
It was around this point that Tokugawa appeared, navigating through the party with quiet purpose, making his way directly toward Byodoin with an expression Kirihara recognized distantly as someone who had made a decision and was going to act on it before they talked themselves out of it.
He pulled Byodoin aside.
Byodoin went, which was interesting in itself.
Kirihara watched them retreat and mused, mostly to himself. "What do you think Tokugawa-san needed Boss for?"
"Maybe he's planning to confess." Ryoma shrugged. He glanced at Tezuka, who looked entirely unbothered.
Kirihara's eyes went wide. "Do you think that's it?! We should follow them and see!"
Ryoma looked at him like he'd suggested something genuinely unhinged. "Why would I want to do that?"
"To see how it goes?"
"Nah." Ryoma turned to refill his punch. "That would be rude to Tokugawa-san. How would you feel if I followed you around snooping while you were trying to have a moment with your weird-ass boyfriends?"
Kirihara opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Ryoma said it so casually. Like it was just a fact about Kirihara's life that everyone already knew and had simply been waiting for Kirihara to catch up to.
Which, now that he thought about it, was exactly what had happened.
"...Yeah." Kirihara said finally. "Yeah, that would suck."
"So give Tokugawa-san some privacy." Ryoma said, already walking away.
Kirihara stood there for a moment.
Ryoma had known. Of course Ryoma had known. Ryoma noticed everything and cared about approximately none of it, which meant he'd probably clocked it months ago and filed it under not my problem.
Tezuka glanced at Kirihara sideways. Something in his expression suggested he had also known, in the quiet methodical way Tezuka knew most things.
Kirihara decided not to think too hard about how many people had seen this coming before he did.
"In that case," he said, to no one in particular, "I'm going to go find Kura and Shuu-san."
He found them near the far end of the room, which was honestly the first place he had thought to look.
Shiraishi was chatting with Fuji Syuusuke, composed and unbothered. Tanegashima was beside them, saying something that made Fuji laugh politely. They looked like an ideal couple. Totally at home in each other’s company.
Kirihara made his way over to them, smiling brightly. Feeling like he was heading home.
Tanegashima spotted him first. His face did the warm immediate thing, just slightly more so now, in the way that Kirihara was still getting used to and hoped he never fully got used to.
"Aka-tan! Third place!" He said it at a perfectly normal volume with perfectly normal enthusiasm, like he hadn't already sent approximately forty seven congratulatory texts.
"Third place." Kirihara confirmed, stopping beside them. Close enough. Not too close. A careful kind of togetherness that he was still learning the shape of.
Shiraishi looked at him. Just for a moment, that small warm thing happening in his expression before composure settled back over it.
"Well done." He said simply. "You played beautifully today."
Kirihara looked at his drink.
He was getting better at keeping his face neutral.
Not that much better, judging by the way Tanegashima was very carefully not smiling too much.
They stayed like that for a while, the three of them drifting through the party at an unhurried pace, saying hello to people, doing all the things you did at a party like this. It was comfortable. Easy. The same as it had always been, except that Kirihara now knew exactly why it felt that way and the knowing made everything simultaneously simpler and more overwhelming.
He was in the middle of eating his third canape- they really were exceptional- when Sanada appeared.
"Kirihara."
"Sanada-san."
Sanada looked at the three of them carefully, studying Kirihara’s expression. Studying how Taneshima was standing a little too close to him. How Shiraishi looked a little too okay with that closeness. He took it all in.
Kirihara could see the truth dawning on his face.
"...Did my advice work?" He asked.
Kirihara felt Shiraishi go very still beside him.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Kirihara said carefully. Cameras. Journalists. Not the conversation to be having right now.
Sanada studied him for a long moment.
"It worked." He concluded.
“Sanada-san...” Shiraishi began, ready to step in and potentially shut Sanada up. Somehow.
"I knew it would." Sanada said, with the deep satisfaction of a man who had no idea how close he'd come to being catastrophically unhelpful. "Sometimes people just need someone to lay things out plainly for them. I could tell you were struggling."
Yukimura materialized at Sanada's shoulder with the timing of someone who had been watching this unfold and decided to intervene before it got worse.
He assessed the situation in approximately one second.
He closed his eyes briefly.
"Genichirou." He said.
"It worked, Seiichi." Sanada informed him.
“Yukimura-buchou also gave me advice...” Kirihara pointed out.
Yukimura looked at Kirihara with an expression of profound apology. Then he looked at Shiraishi and Tanegashima with an expression of quiet congratulation. Then he looked back at Sanada with the fond exasperation of a man who had made his peace with something a long time ago.
"Come, Genichirou." He steered Sanada away with practiced ease. "Let's get some punch."
"I'm just saying, my advice clearly-"
"I know." Yukimura said pleasantly. "Punch."
They disappeared into the crowd.
Kirihara watched them go.
Across the room he spotted Renji, standing slightly apart from the nearest group with a glass of water, watching the party with that particular calm observational quality he always had. Like he was taking notes.
Kirihara thought about what he'd said in Kanagawa. Renji's in love with you two?!
He looked at Renji.
He looked at Yukimura and Sanada, now at the punch bowl, standing close together the way they always did.
He looked back at Renji.
Huh.
He filed that away under not his business and turned back to Shiraishi and Tanegashima.
Beside him Tanegashima made a sound that was very carefully not a laugh.
Shiraishi said nothing. His ears were slightly pink.
“I mean, he’s not wrong... Sanada-san is the reason I figured it out.” Kirihara admitted. “Well, kind of. A lot of other people helped too.”
Tanegashima finally let the laugh out, quiet enough that it didn't carry. Shiraishi's mouth curved.
Kirihara looked at the two of them, standing close in the warm light of Atobe's extravagant party, and thought about compass needles and flat feelings on tour and blankets that smelled like people he loved and the specific weight of being handed something without having to ask.
He thought about how long it had taken him to figure it out.
He thought about how it didn't matter at all, now that he had.
"Come on." Tanegashima said quietly. "Let's go find some more of those canapes."
They went.