Chapter Text
"S…sorry, Hirose! I uh…" Nakamura swallowed hard as he stared at Hirose, who smiled at him. "I would love to walk home, but I promised…uhh…" Nakamura's eyes shifted back and forth; part of him wanted to jump out and shout, 'Yes, of course I would! Through rain, snow, hail, heat! Anything for you!' But today was different, much different than usual. Nakamura narrowed his eyes and bowed at Hirose. "I'm sorry, I will have to decline! I have something important I need to attend to!
"Oh, alright…" Hirose replied with a smile, even though he sounded outright disappointed with that answer. Truth be told, he's gotten used to walking together with Nakamura; it's become routine for both of them—Hirose meeting up with Nakamura every morning at the crosswalk. Nakamura riding his bike alongside him while they chatted. Hirose enjoyed that part of his morning walks; heck, he even enjoyed it more than with Oomori sometimes. Then after school they'd walk home together and depart as usual. Nothing more, nothing less, and it continued from the end of their first year all the way to the start of their second year of high school. Nothing major, nothing special…or so Hirose thought.
'It's fine, Aiki…' Hirose gripped his schoolbag tightly, 'he's just busy with stuff; it's just one day! There's nothi-'
"Wait up!" A voice came from behind Hirose as he spotted his friend Oomori, running up to Nakamura. "Excuse me, Aiki!"
"O-Omori!?" Hirose stood back as his childhood best friend ran up to Nakamura. "What are you-"
"Oh, uhhh…" Oomori pushed up his glasses and shot a glance at Nakamura, who began to sweat profusely, while averting his gaze. "Nakamura-kun asked me to…"
"Help me study Japanese!" Nakamura blurted out loud. His face turned bright red at his own outburst.
"Really?" Hirose asked as the two nodded quickly. Oomori pushed Nakamura and waved at Hirose while the two ran off.
"Yeah, he really needs my help! See you later, Aiki!"
"Oh…uh, alright, good luck?" Hirose questioned as he watched his two friends run off in a flash. "That was odd." Hirose shook his head and began walking to his locker cubbie. He slipped on his shoes and stopped for a moment.
"Isn't Nakamura great at Japanese? Why would he ask Tsukasa for help? That doesn't make sense unless they are doing something else?" Hirose thought about all the possible outcomes that the two of his friends could be doing.
'Let's see, Nakamura was his usual blushing self, but he kept darting his eyes at Tsukasa…something with the two of them that caused Nakamura to act all flustered, to which they had to run off quickly!'
Hirose then focused on Nakamura's reactions to his friend; the way he stuttered his words reminded Hirose of that same feeling he'd seen before. '
'He's usually like that around me. Now he's acting that way toward Tsukas-' Hirose froze for a moment at that possibility of Nakamura and his friend liking each other. Still, at the same time, he didn't want to think about it, as Hirose was indeed aware of Nakamura's feelings for him. To Hirose's credit, it wasn't like Nakamura confessed to him, but there were definitely signs that Nakamura liked him a lot. It was painfully obvious to the point that nearly everyone in their old class knew about it. That being said, Hirose didn't mind the idea of Nakamura confessing to him; he was, however, annoyed that Nakamura hadn't done so yet.
Sure, Hirose could've easily done it—but something about waiting for Nakamura to confess excited Hirose. That being said, Hirose was unsure how he truly felt about Nakamura; he never really considered liking guys until he met Nakamura. He was different, he was special, he was-
'Gah!' Hirose shouted in frustration. 'Why am I thinking about him like that now?!' He pushed his thoughts of his friend back and winced as new thoughts appeared. It was Oomori and Nakamura hanging out, holding hands and laughing…Nakamura smiling and leaning in toward Oomori and ki-
'STOPP BRAIN! HALT, NO, NO NO!' Hirose slapped his face hard, making the empty hallway echo loudly. He took a deep breath and opened the door to leave school.
"There's no wayyyy, Nakamura is into people like him!!! I'm worrying too much! I need a cola!" With a sudden sad expression on his face, he walked home alone for the first time in a while.
The next day, Hirose sat at his desk and adjusted his seat. He spotted his friends Mukai and Takeuchi staring at him with concerned looks.
"Dude, you don't look so good." Takeuchi tilted his head as he poked at Hirose's face.
"Yeah, you look like you've seen some crazy stuff," Mukai replied while leaning on Hirose's desk.
"I'm fine, I just… didn't get much sleep last night because I was…uh…up gaming!" Hirose's eyes shifted as his voice trailed off at the lie. In reality, Hirose spent agonizing hours thinking about Nakamura and Oomori. Every question and possibility kept compounding as Hirose tried to rationalize his thoughts, but it kept piling up until he could no longer lie still.
'Maybe I should ask Nakamura directly to see what's up?? Hirose thought while letting out a loud yawn.
"Don't you think so, Hirose?" Takeuchi asked.
"Huh? What?" Hirose blinked and rubbed his eyes as his friend raised a brow at him.
"I'm saying, do you want to go to the cafe or something after school? Maybe that can cheer you up!"
"You just want to eat, Take-" Mukai scoffed, causing Takeuchi to blush at him.
"HEY! FOOD MAKES PEOPLE HAPPY, ALRIGHT!"
"Whatever, freeloader."
The two continued to argue as Hirose stared at his desk and spotted the pink octopen Nakamura gave him a while back. He picked it up and smiled a little. It was a tad faded, with a few worn marks on it, but it was still in good condition. Hirose kept it close to him; he even snapped at anyone who touched it…even Hana when they dated for a bit.
"Hirose?!" Takeuchi shouted, causing Hirose to drop his pen onto the floor.
"Ah, crap, my pen-" Hirose went to reach for it and stopped when he spotted a hand picking it up. "Hey, that's-" He looked up and spotted Nakamura holding his pen in his hand. "Nakamura!" He jumped back in his seat as the taller male smiled.
"You dropped this, Hirose!"
"T…thanks!" Hirose took the pen from Nakamura's hand.
"You okay? You don't look so good." Nakamura's concerned face felt like a sad puppy staring at Hirose.
"I'm fine! Just didn't get much sleep, that's all! Don't worry about me!" Hirose laughed and stared at the ground. There was no way Hirose was gonna say.
'Oh, I'm just tired because I kept thinking you and Oomori liked one another and were dating because you've been so buddy buddy lately when it should've been ME, Nakamura!'
"You sure, Hirose?" Nakamura questioned as he sat next to Hirose.
"Yeah, don't worry your pretty head about me!"
'DID I JUST CALL HIM-'
Hirose laughed to himself and scratched his cheeks as he spotted Oomori, who waved at the two.
"Hey, Aiki! Nakamura!" Oomori smiled at Nakamura, sat next to him, and proceeded to open his bag. "Oh, I got what you needed, Nakamura!"
"Oh, thanks so much!" Nakamura grabbed the piece of paper from his friend's hand and stared at it before nodding. "This is perfect!"
"What's perfect?" Hirose interrupted, causing the two to jump in their seats.
"Uh…" Nakamura stuttered.
"It's the Japanese homework answers!" Oomori answered, causing Nakamura to nod.
"Yeah! That's what it is…"
"Hmm…" Hirose glared at the two and rolled his eyes. "Whatever." His eyes kept glancing at the paper to take a glimpse of what was written on it, but his tired eyes strained at the ink, causing his vision to blur a little. But he was able to make out the words.
‘D-A-T-E-P-L-A-N-S’
Hirose's eyes widened as the words "Date plans" played in his head.
'There's no way…' Hirose rubbed his eyes to confirm what he saw was true, but sure enough, it said "Date plans" on it. Hirose watched as Nakamura and Oomori chatted with one another. He instinctively leaned in to hear better what they were talking about.
"So, did you check out the movie I recommended?" Oomori asked as Nakamura nodded.
"Yeah! I love it, so much! Had me crying so hard, so many good tense and tender moments, it was PEAK romance."
"Told you so! I knew you'd like it the moment you told me! Oh, I checked out that manga you suggested! I really liked it!"
"Oh, really?" Nakamura rubbed the back of his head and blushed. "I'm glad you did! I was nervous about showing it to you."
"It's fine, Nakamura!" Oomori smiled. "I'm pretty open-minded about it, and you suggested something cute!"
"That's great! To be honest, the only other person I can talk to about this sort of stuff is Kawamura…"
"I can imagine! She does have some…interesting taste in manga."
"Yeah, it's funny, it's nice to have more people liking these kinds of manga, I can show you more if you're interested!"
"That'd be great!"
Hirose frowned as he continued to listen to his friend's conversation.
'Sharing movies…hah, Nakamura and I watched one together in real time! Oomori's got nothing on that! Oh, and we gave each other keychains! All you got was manga…manga…what kind of manga could they be talking about?' Hirose thought about the manga Nakamura liked a lot and quickly sat up.
'NO WAY NOT BL MANGA!'
"Hirose???" His friends gasped as they stared at him.
"Sorry, I dropped my eraser…" Hirose laughed as he bent down to listen further to the conversation.
'There's no way, Oomori likes BL…does he even like guys? I mean, I guess he is cute…if you're into his type…wait…is Oomori Nakamura's type???'
The bell rang, causing Hirose to stiffen up ward in his seat. The teacher greeted the class and began the lesson. Hirose tried to focus on the lesson, but he couldn't stand sitting still like this…not after seeing his best friend and "possible" friend crush being all friendly to one another. He shot a glance at his best friend Oomori, who was happily writing away.
'Guess if I really think about it, Oomori is kind of cute; he's kind, he also enjoys similar movies to Nakamura, and they would both make a great match together…ugh what am I saying???'
Hirose sighed and shifted his glance to Nakamura, who turned his head and let out a small smile while blushing at him. Hirose smiled back and gave him a small wave, causing Nakamura to turn red and avert his gaze to his notebook. Hirose chuckled and continued to watch Nakamura's movements. He always did like how animated his friend was. From his crazy gestures to the noises he'd make when Hirose was around. He admired how silly Nakamura was. He liked Nakamura like that.
'Wait…like??' Hirose felt the ends of his ears warm up at the sound of his thoughts lingering…he began to imagine Nakamura greeting him with a bigger, warmer smile than usual. The two laughing together and sharing interests, just like Oomori and Nakamura. Hirose froze as his head clouded with the image of Oomori and Nakamura being so close to one another. He slowly sank to his desk and stared at his two friends.
'AGGGHH'
He put his hands to his head and pressed his fingers against his temples. He hated this so much; he glared at his two friends and gritted his teeth over the thought of them dating one another, let alone liking each other.
'Why does this bother me so much?? SHOULDN'T I BE HAPPY FOR THEM??' Hirose felt his chest tighten; his breathing became erratic; sweat dripped from his palms as his hands began to shake. 'I should be happy for them, right? It's not like I like Nakamura like that? I shouldn't be jealous over something like that?!'
Hirose suddenly felt a tap on his head as the teacher stared at him.
"Hirose-kun, please pay attention."
"Right…right…sorry." Hirose buried his face into his notebook as he heard laughter from his classmates. He looked over to Nakamura, who looked at him with the same concerned puppy eyes that made Hirose's heart stutter, which also annoyed the hell out of him.
'Stop staring at me, Nakamura…'
The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Hirose yawned and felt his stomach tumble and rumble. He stared at Nakamura from behind and sighed.
'Maybe I should talk to him…' Part of him wanted to talk, but something held him back. He reached his hand outward to grab his friend's attention but hesitated. His hand fell back to his side as Hirose stared at the ground. He spun around and walked out the door of the classroom.
"Hirose!" a voice called out to him. He smiled and turned around, expecting it to be Nakamura, but frowned when it was Takeuchi and Mukai.
"Oh… It's just you guys."
"Love you too, asshole." Mukai chuckled.
"What's up?" Hirose asked as Takeuchi hooked his arm around Hirose's neck.
"Let's go get something to eat!" Takeuchi poked his friend's cheek and smiled as Hirose stared at Nakamura, who was chatting with Oomori.
Hirose felt his heart sink at the sight; he wanted to talk to Nakamura about how he felt, but part of him was…scared. Scared that Nakamura and his friendship would falter, or what if Nakamura and Oomori did like one another? Hirose didn't want to jeopardize both of his friendships with them. He didn't want them to hate him for being a terrible person. He let out a sigh and stared at Takeuchi.
"Sure, let's go."
"Alright! That's our AIKI!"
"Don't call me that."
Nakamura watched as Hirose walked away from him. His gaze fixated longingly at the brown-haired teen. He gripped his bag and swallowed hard as Oomori patted his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, Nakamura!"
"Yeah, thanks…" Nakamura slung his bag over his shoulder and sighed.
"Remember, text Kawamura or me if you need anything!"
"Got it…see you." Nakamura waved to Oomori and walked out of the classroom. He spotted Hirose's figure in the distance and clutched his heart.
Hirose sighed while he spun the straw in his drink. He couldn't get Nakamura out of his head. He wanted to be happy for him but-
"Yo, Hirose," Mukai spoke up, causing the teen to stare blankly at him.
"What's up?"
"What's up?" Mukai raised a brow at his friend. "You barely drank your cola, and you're letting your ice cream melt."
"YEAH!" Takeuchi interrupted, "At least give it here!"
"Oh, sorry, sure, here you go, Takeuchi." Hirose slid the treat over to his friend, who happily consumed it.
"You okay, Hirose?" Mukai asked, "You've been really out of it today?"
"Huh, yeah… I've just been thinking."
"You still hung up on your breakup with Hana?"
"What? No! That was months ago, man…"
"Well, clearly it's something…" Mukai typed away on his phone. "You can talk to us- well, me more than Take."
"Hey! I can be supportive!" Takeuchi spat out some ice cream as he protested, causing Mukai to grimace at him.
"Right, cause you're Mister Empathetic."
Hirose let out a little laugh as his two friends argued, causing Takeuchi to smile.
"SEE! There we go! OH, you know, speaking of out of it, did you guys see how buddy buddy Nakamura and Oomori were lately?"
"Those two?" Mukai looked up from his phone and shrugged. "I haven't really noticed. Why?"
"Well, I overheard the girls in our class shipping those two! Like it's all 'Oh Nakamura is so handsome and Oomori is so cute.'
Hirose stopped playing with his straw and leaned in as Takeuchi kept talking. Part of him wanted to strangle his friend to stop him from talking, but he was also curious about what others thought. He shifted his gaze to Mukai, who tapped his phone to his face.
"Now that you think about it, they would make a good match, I guess."
"Crazy, right?" Takeuchi grinned. "I mean, I guess I never noticed how handsome Nakamura is; I can see why Oomori takes a liking to him."
"Would you date Nakamura, then?" Mukai asked as Takeuchi furrowed his brow.
"Hmm, maybe! I mean, I'm not sure if he's the kind of guy I'd date, even though he's super handsome and junk! What about you, Mukai?"
"Nah, he's not my type; I'm more into the outgoing types."
"Like who?" Takeuchi frowned at his friend as Mukai shook his head at him.
"Don't worry about it."
"What about you, Hirose?"
Hirose quickly stood up and walked away from his friends without a word; the air around the table felt so tense it felt suffocating.
"What was that about?" Takeuchi asked as Mukai shrugged.
"I think we might've upset Hirose again."
"All we did was talk about Nakamura; it's not like Hirose has a crush on him or anything."
Mukai rolled his eyes and stared back at his phone while uttering. "Idiot," he said to Takeuchi, who continued eating his ice cream blissfully unaware.
"Idiots!" Hirose shouted in frustration as he walked away from the cafe. "They never stop talking, do they?" He stopped at a crosswalk and stared at the ground. He kept thinking about his friends dating one another…he wanted to be happy, he wanted to be supportive of them, but something in his heart wished it was him that Nakamura befriended more…Hirose wished he liked the same stuff Nakamura did, like BL manga and octopuses. Maybe then Nakamura would take more interest in him. He pulled out his phone and spotted Oomori's name on his contact list.
'This is all his fault! I should've never introduced him to Nakamura, stupid stupid Oomori-' He began typing out his frustrations at his friend. His thumb hovered over the send button, and he froze as he thought about it.
"What am I doing? Why am I doing this?" Hirose felt his lip quiver as he gripped his phone. "I'm such an idiot…" Hirose began thinking about the time Hana called him boring and broke up with him. Hirose was kind of happy Nakamura saw it happen. He was happy to be free from that. He was happy when he thought about inviting his friend to see a movie that he didn't think he'd enjoy, but being with Nakamura was different; it felt different to him. He remembered how stressed he felt when Nakamura didn't text him back after inviting him, only to laugh when Nakamura sent a single text to him. He liked that they hung out after the movie too; the restaurant was fun, the park was a blast… seeing Nakamura shout how everything about him was charming filled Hirose with so much joy… but nothing could beat Nakamura's face upon seeing the octopus keychain Hirose spent hours trying to find.
'That was a fun date, to be honest…wait…date? It was a hangout, right?'
Suddenly, a million thoughts of dating Nakamura filled his mind. Holding hands while walking to and from school, going to the cafe after school and chatting, smiling…watching more movies together and even listening to music together. It made Hirose's heart soar more than anyone has ever done in his life. He stared at his phone, scrolled to Nakamura's name, and began typing.
'Hope you're doing alright, Nakamura! I miss hanging out with you; we should chat sometime!'
He hit send without a second thought and waited for a response. He spotted the delivered sign and continued to wait for Nakamura to respond.
'Maybe he…ugh, forget it, this is too annoying right now… I'll worry about this later, I wanna go home.'
With that, he put his phone in his pocket and slowly walked home, his hand clutching his chest as his other hand played with the crab keychain attached to his school bag.
"That was nice!!" Hirose fell to his bed after his bath and sighed as he dried off his hair. "I needed that." He let out a small smile as he scrolled through his phone. He stopped at Nakamura's contact and frowned a little as he still hadn't gotten a response. He put his phone on his bed and began staring at his ceiling, gently tapping his fingers on his stomach.
"He'll text me back for sure! I just gotta be patient…" He hummed to himself, checked his phone, and kept doing that on repeat till he flailed his arms and legs around.
"HOW LONG IS THIS GONNA TAKE, NAKAMURA!!" Suddenly he felt his bed vibrate as his phone lit up with a text. "OH THERE WE-"
'Hey, Hirose-kun, it's Matsu-'
Hirose frowned, deleted the notification from his phone, and whined to himself.
"Does he hate me now??" He sat up on his bed and put on his headphones. "Maybe some Aquapet can help keep my mind off of it."
Hirose played his favorite music and smiled as the familiar melodies eased his worries; however, Nakamura kept lingering in his mind- how Nakamura treated Hirose during his lowest point after the breakup, how much Nakamura tried to befriend him even though Hirose thought of him as a friend early on, how Nakamura acted around him on a daily basis.
'He definitely treats me like I'm special and charming…'
Hirose's thoughts then moved to Oomori and Nakamura being together, how they chatted so casually and even saw how happy Nakamura was being with Oomori, even more so than he was when he was with him. He felt his phone vibrate again and looked at the screen with glee.
‘Hirose-kun!! It's Ma-'
"Ugh…" Hirose deleted the notification and fell back onto his bed. "Why am I feeling like this? I don't even like Nakamura like that! Then again…" He sighed and clutched his chest tightly. "I don't hate Oomori or Nakamura…just seeing them together, hanging out, and dating just makes me so angry…and if they do date I'd have to see them holding hands and even kis-"
Hirose froze at that thought and angrily threw his pillow at the wall.
"THIS IS SO STUPID!" He shouted. He let out a huff and recalled the conversation Mukai and Takeuchi had earlier that day. Maybe Hirose did like Nakamura like that; maybe the thought of Nakamura dating someone else pissed off Hirose so much because HE wanted to be the one Nakamura chose.
He turned his head and spotted the crab keychain on his school bag and remembered how flustered he felt getting it…how, in return, when he got Nakamura an octopus one, he felt super giddy on the inside that Nakamura looked so happy. Hirose wanted nothing more than to keep Nakamura smiling forever. It felt good seeing someone he cared about smile at him. No one else made him feel this way; no one else called him charming- no one but Nakamura.
Images of Nakamura's smiling face echoed in Hirose's mind; his heart raced a million beats per second as he wanted to continue making Nakamura smile because he-
'Oh…'
"Oh…"
Hirose sighed and picked up his phone. He scrolled through his contact list, spotted Oomori's name, and began typing.
'Can we chat after school tomorrow, please? It's important-'
He hit send and jumped as Oomori responded not soon after.
'Sure! Hope everything is okay? Do you need anything?'
Hirose let out a soft smile and replied.
'I just need a friend right now, thanks!'
With that, Hirose let out a loud yawn and turned out his lights. His heart felt a bit lighter now that he'd finally realized something that's been in the back of his mind for months.
'Yeah, maybe I really do li…'
Hirose tapped his foot against the ground as he eagerly waited for his friend to meet up with him. He was amazed at how fast the school day sped along. Which was a good thing; he couldn't stand staring at Nakamura the entire day without exploding. He swallowed hard and looked at Oomori's text saying he was on his way over.
'What's taking him so long?' He thought as he heard footsteps from behind.
"Sorry, Aiki!" Oomori huffed and heaved as he rested his palms on his legs. "I- geez, sorry I lost track of time."
"No worries…"
"Yeah, was helping Nakamura out with something."
"Oh…" Hearing Nakamura's name sent Hirose's heart fluttering, but he immediately dismissed it when he realized it was Oomori who spoke his name. "What was it?" Hirose didn't care why Oomori was so late; he just wanted to confirm whether Oomori was being truthful, which he doubted.
"Uh, just schoolwork that's all!" Oomori chuckled and waved his hand in front of him. Hirose narrowed his eyes; Oomori was hiding something, but that didn't matter to Hirose at all; what he really wanted to know was something that had plagued him these past few days.
"No worries, Oomori!"
"Really? I mean…yeah!" Oomori raised a brow and shook his head as he took a deep breath. "So what's up? What did you wanna talk about?"
"Uh…what do you think about Nakamura…" Hirose whispered, causing Oomori to stutter and move closer to his friend.
"What was that?"
"What do you think about Nakamura?" Hirose spoke up a little louder, but Oomori shook his head at him.
"What do I think about?" Oomori's voice trailed off, causing Hirose to grow bright red.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT NAKAMURA! Geez!" Hirose angrily huffed at Oomori, who pushed up his glasses and laughed.
"Oh? I think Okuto is pretty cool!"
'Okuto??? HE LET YOU CALL HIM HIS FIRST NAME?? TRAITOR!'
Oomori nodded and continued, "Yeah, Okuto is really cool; he likes a lot of the same movies I like! He knows so much about octopuses it's really amazing! He's so nice, and kind and thoughtful and-"
"OH SHUT UP ALREADY OOMORI!" Hirose shouted, causing the other teen to tense up in shock. Hirose's face was bright red, his fists clenched tightly, and tears formed in his eyes as he breathed heavily. Oomori stared blankly at his friend, who had just yelled at him. He was surprised, but not as surprised as Hirose, who took a few steps backward. He stared at his knuckles, which turned white from squeezing so hard. He brought his hand to his chest and began shaking. “I’m…so sorry, Tsukasa… I'm sorry I didn't mean-"
"No, no, it's okay, Aiki. I'm sorry that I made you upset!" Oomori gently patted Hirose's arms. "I guess when you asked what I thought about Nakamura, I thought you were curious what I thought about him as a friend!"
"Friend?" Hirose asked, his breathing slowly calming down.
"Yeah, he's my friend?" Oomori tilted his head at Hirose, confused at the question. "He's our friend? Isn't that why we hung out a lot at the end of our first year?"
Hirose began to laugh; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Oomori thought of Nakamura as just his friend, of course! Nothing was going on between them. Hirose felt relief, foolishness, and hopeful giddiness. He held his hand to his face and clutched his stomach with the other.
"Oh my god, I feel so stupid!"
"What do you mean?" Oomori asked as Hirose calmed down.
"I'm saying…I uh…" Hirose sighed and realized why he was so upset to begin with. He felt so horrible about what he said and thought about Oomori these past few days. Hirose had no right to lie about how he felt. He clutched his chest and took a deep breath. "These past few days, I began noticing you and Nakamura have been hanging out together a lot. At first I didn't think much of it, but the more I thought about it, the more I kind of thought…you and him were dating or liked each other. It made me feel weird seeing you both so close. I'm sorry."
Oomori stared and crossed his arms while nodding at Hirose.
"Ah, I see now, it all makes sense!" Oomori let out a chuckle and shook his head. "Look, he's cool and all, but I don't like Nakamura like that! Don't worry! I won't steal him from you!"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?" Hirose whined as his friend giggled at him. Oomori turned around and put his hands behind his head as he winked at Hirose.
"You've been acting differently lately, but I understand why now."
"What do you mean?"
Oomori turned around and poked Hirose's cheek while smirking.
"You…like him, don't you?"
Hirose blushed and looked away. He tapped his shoe onto the ground and pursed his lips.
"No…I don't like him."
Oomori raised his brow at Hirose, who sighed.
"Okay, maybe a little."
Oomori shook his head in annoyance.
"Aiki, I know you... you're terrible at lying!"
Hirose chewed his lip and thought about last night, when he couldn't get Nakamura out of his head; his heart felt like it was bursting at the seams. He wanted to run away like he always did, but seeing Nakamura's smiling face caused him to plant his feet. He couldn't stand hiding it anymore…he took a deep breath and stared at his best friend.
"OKAY FINE, I ADMIT IT! I LIKE NAKAMURA OKUTO! I CAN'T STAND IT; I CAN'T STAND HIM WITH ANYONE ELSE FOR SOME REASON...HE MAKES ME FEEL SPECIAL, HE MAKES ME FEEL RELAXED...HE MAKES ME FEEL LIKE ME!"
Hirose let out a loud gasp as he felt the weight off of his chest be released and fly away. Admitting his feelings made Hirose feel lighter, happier, like he could finally be honest with himself and he didn't need to hide anything anymore. He stared at the ground and waited for Oomori to say anything, but nothing came; he lifted his head but froze when he felt Oomori's warm embrace. Oomori began to laugh in the embrace, causing Hirose to blush at him.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, it's just nice to see you so open about stuff, especially your emotions. Ever since you met Okuto, you've changed for the better! I'm honestly kind of jealous he was the first person to make you open up."
"Really?" Hirose thought about it…and smiled as Oomori was right. It was because of Nakamura that Hirose was able to speak out about his feelings…he doesn't want to run away anymore…he wants to-"
Hirose jumped as he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled out his phone and saw that Nakamura texted him back.
'Hey, Hirose! Sorry for not replying sooner; I had stuff I needed to work out, and can I speak to you at the school rooftop? It's urgent!'
Hirose let out a gentle smile and began typing.
'Sure! I'll be there soon; I am helping Oomori out with something!'
'Great, see you there…take your time.'
Hirose stared at Oomori, who nodded at him.
"I should go…"
"Don't let him go, Aiki! Okuto's really cool!"
"I…yeah…but what does that have to do with anything? All Nakamura texted was that he wanted to talk…I wonder what, though?"
"Just go for it, Hirose! You won't be disappointed." Oomori let out a wink as he pushed Hirose back toward school. "Just go!"
"Oh, alright, thanks, Tsukasa…for everything!" Hirose ran back toward the school as Oomori waved at his best friend. He giggled to himself as he recalled the "Date plan" sheet he gave to Nakamura.
'I gave him all the things Aiki likes! Okuto should have all he needs for future dates…after he confesses, of course! You really are the only one for him, Okuto! I know it!'