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This was kind of weird to say, but these days, Takeda Ittetsu often forgets he isn't a cis guy.
Well, why not? There had been some… confusion, apparently, regarding his sex as a baby. His parents had been prepared, that something might be different about him. After a few bad experiences in elementary school, the whole family picked up and moved away and he'd been registered as a boy at his new middle school. And that was that.
He forgets that other boys don't have periods, or have to wear a compression shirt under their clothes to hide their (thankfully small) breasts. Actually, the only time he ever really thinks about it, is when he sees a hot guy and—
Oh. Right. Daydreaming about dicks is all well and good, until you remember they're expecting you to have one, too.
Ittetsu does, actually. He's got a kind of floppy packer dick that he used to be into but now, mostly waves at his cat when she's being an asshole. He's got a couple of options for his strap, one of them so unnervingly realistic that he actually can't take it seriously. He's got whatever kind of dick you could want, but. Guys—maybe even especially gay guys—tended to be… a bit closed-minded.
It was fine, really. Ittetsu's not all that invested in casual hookups; he figures, the right man won't mind. He just has to be patient.
📉
Unfortunately, his heart has other plans.
📈
Ittetsu's never met someone who hits every one of his buttons like Ukai Keishin.
He's just, god. The hair? The gruff attitude over a heart of beaten fucking gold? Even the smoking is… bad, but it's so hot. Ittetsu's never smoked in his life and would probably die but he still jerks off thinking about Ukai shotgunning him in a back alley with wandering hands.
He's going to go insane. That's all. Because this is in no way an ideal situation—if Ittetsu comes on to him, he'll have to tell him at some point. If he tells him, there's a significantly-more-than-zero chance that he'll take it badly. And unlike every other guy Ittetsu's scared off, he can't just walk away.
He's still thinking it over by the time they make it to Nationals. It's a long ride to Tokyo, longer still to corral a bunch of high school boys into the inn they're renting. It's not the first time he's shared a room with Coach Ukai, and every other time it's been completely normal. Aside from Ittetsu's rampant horny imagination, nothing weird has ever happened.
And that must be why. He feels safe here, he's felt safe with Ukai-kun since they met, and that plus the exhaustion—
He pulls his pjs and toiletries from his bag, intending to go take a shower in one of the private stalls. He's halfway to the door when a voice stops him.
"Oi, Sensei. You dropped something."
He turns back, only to come face to face with Ukai Keishin, holding out a box of tampons.
…Yeah, Ittetsu's going to expire on the spot it's just that simple.
Ukai shakes the box a little. "Are they yours, or did one of the girls ask you to get some? Good thinking either way."
He's giving you an out, Ittetsu thinks frantically. Take it, take it, take it—
"They're mine," he says, quietly. He takes the box, tucks it back into his bag. By the time he's done, Ukai's already headed back to his half of the room, trying to crack a window open so he can smoke. "Do you… have any questions for me?"
"No?" Ukai glances at him, an eyebrow raised. "Your business, not mine."
Right. Of course. He's doing this backwards, for the first time in… maybe ever. He's never had someone know who wasn't family or… undressing him in the pursuit of mutual passion. This… this was new.
He takes a deep, steadying breath.
"What if I want it to be?"
Ukai pauses, mid-fumble for his box of cancer sticks. "I'm sorry?"
Okay. Maybe that did come out weird. "I just mean… that maybe I. Want you, to be. Part of my business."
Ukai flicks the box closed, and sets it down.
"Sensei," he mutters, low and a little husky, "are you comin' on to me?"
He didn't freak out immediately, Ittetsu reminds himself. Your gaydar's been pinging on him since day one. The worst he can say is no.
He squares his shoulders. "Yes. I am."
Ukai gives him a long, slow look, all the way down, all the way back up. He doesn't even pause on Ittetsu's crotch, not a single hesitation.
Then his eyes kind of… shutter, and he looks. Tired. "Pretty sure you can do better than me, Sensei."
"I really, actually, can't." Emboldened now, Ittetsu steps forward, gets right into his space. "Most gay men either freak out when they find out I'm different, or they're closeted straights. Which sounds incredibly weird, but it's happened more than once."
Ukai tips his chin up to look at him—not challenging, though, every line of his body is relaxed and easy. "Seriously? Not a single guy out there ready to appreciate a pussy?"
Crass, Ittetsu thinks, but for some reason heat floods his face. He's never—no one's ever—talked about it, about the actual parts he has that he honestly is pretty ambivalent about on the whole. He's healthy, that's the important part, the details have never mattered.
But… he's realizing, now, that there's a difference between ignoring a part of yourself that you don't care about… and letting it be recognised, as a part of you, despite not caring about it.
"…Not the guys I've known, no."
"Well," Ukai says slowly, "that's a crime. I'm bi, I like it all, and…" he shrugs. "…It's you."
Ittetsu feels his face heat even more. "Wh-what's that supposed to mean?"
Ukai—Keishin, perhaps, if they were going to do this after all—pushes a hand through his hair, taking the headband with it. "Means I've liked you ever since you showed up in a suit to try and win me over. Thought you were insane, mind, but…" his eyes flick up, and this time, they burn. "I knew you'd drive me crazy, too."
📊
After, with Ittetsu leaning on Keishin's chest and playing with his hair in a drowsy way, he finally brings up something that's been bugging him. "Most guys I know flip out just seeing a tampon, let alone picking up a whole box."
Keishin snorts. "I have a mom. It's not like she hid things from me. Hell, I used to stick a clean pad on my forehead and pretend it gave me superpowers. It's just another item, after all." His fingers slowly stroke behind Ittetsu's ear, playing with the damp curls there. "Besides, we sell 'em at the store. Can't freak out about a product."
"…Oh." Ittetsu goes quiet. "I always thought your mom handled… that part of the store."
"Nah, I'm a big boy, I can handle a few paper products." His thumb brushes the shell of Ittetsu's ear. "I mean, you've been coming in for months to buy your shit, I don't know why you're surprised I'm okay with it."
Ittetsu's voice cracks a little. "You knew?!" Fuck! He'd been so careful, only coming in when Keishin wasn't working—he just didn't want to have that conversation if he could help it. And now, here they were.
"Yeah? My mom talks, haven't you met her? 'Aww, Keishin, the pretty teacher you like was in buying tampons, he must have a wife!' 'Ma, don't call him pretty, he's not married. Maybe he's got a sister.' Only you don't, you live alone, so it was pretty easy to put two and two together."
"And you never… said anything??" Ittetsu's still reeling, not sure how to feel about any of it.
"No? Not my fuckin' business, Sensei." He drops a kiss on top of Ittetsu's head. "But it is now, if you want it to be. You could be my business, I don't mind."
Ittetsu just… smiles, that moment of nerves fading away. Keishin really was just… an immensely good person, he's known that, but until now he never truly felt the extent of it.
"I'd like that," he whispers, tucking his head under Keishin's chin. "Be my business, and I'll be yours."