Chapter Text
“Would you like to come visit me at home?”
Hirose has to admit that Nakamura’s question completely caught him off guard. Perhaps it was due to the idyllic atmosphere on the observation deck? Judging by Nakamura’s reaction, the question had not been planned on his part either. He can still remember exactly how his face turned red and how he stammered while trying to get himself out of the situation. “I-I-I mean, o-only if you w-want to! Y-You don’t have to!” As he says this, he gestures wildly with his hands, as he tends to do. “Nakamura? Nakamura?! Nakamura!” Hirose has to address him several times to get his full attention and calm him down a little. “I’d really love to come visit you tomorrow. I’ve always wanted to know what your room looks like!” He grins as he says this, folding his hands behind his head and looking at him. Hopefully, his words didn’t come across the wrong way. Hirose couldn’t deny that he found Nakamura very interesting, and not just as his classmate. He desperately wants to explore this pleasantly unfamiliar feeling in his chest further, and if he wasn’t completely mistaken, Nakamura didn’t seem opposed to him either! With Hana, he had never felt any of these emotions in an entire month. He had been much more relieved when he could finally say goodbye to her at school and go home. Looking back, a lot of things had felt wrong.
And now?
Now Hirose was on his way to Nakamura’s house! Surprisingly, they didn’t live all that far from each other. It only took him fifteen minutes on foot! If only Hirose had known that beforehand, they could have walked to school together much more often! “What isn’t, can still become!” Euphorically, he clenches his right hand into a fist. In his left hand, he carries a cloth bag bearing the logo of his favorite band, Aquapet. It contains various things, including his beloved potato chips and other snacks. Since he unfortunately doesn’t know what Nakamura likes, he simply grabbed things at random from the shelves and brought along a selection of options. Among them are takoyaki chips. “Hopefully he likes the taste of octopus.” Hirose still remembers exactly the day at school when they discovered the living octopuses during cooking class. If Nakamura hadn’t stopped him from holding them under running tap water back then, they probably would have died in his hands. How was he supposed to know that they couldn’t tolerate freshwater and needed saltwater instead? Hirose had already found Nakamura’s knowledge about it impressive back then! “And other people think he’s a freak!” Shaking his head, the brown-haired boy turns left into the side street before stopping a few houses later in front of a pretty little row house. He quickly checks the street name and house number in his chat history once more before letting his gaze wander in search of the nameplate on the doorbell. “Family Nakamura” Hirose reads aloud, and a smile steals onto his lips. His heartbeat immediately quickens at the thought of seeing Nakamura again in just a moment. “We only saw each other less than 24 hours ago!” he admonishes his heart, and before he can think any further about why it is beating so fast, his right index finger is already pressing the doorbell.
*
“Mama?! I think Okuto has completely lost it!”
For five minutes now, Kana has been standing in front of the half-open door of her older brother’s room, watching him through the narrow gap. She was already used to quite a few things from Nakamura—whether it was his nighttime escapades while reading his manga, or suddenly whining and crying his eyes out like most recently and simply refusing to calm down, all the way to his bicycle escape in the middle of the night. However, she can’t keep the sight before her a secret even from her mother.
“What’s going on, Kana?”
As if on cue, the smaller woman hurries up the stairs, holding a broom in her right hand. “I was just…” But before she can finish her sentence, the black-haired girl puts her index finger to her lips while simultaneously pointing toward Nakamura’s room with her left index finger. Without a word, Mrs. Nakamura stands beside her daughter, and when she looks through the crack in the door, she can’t help but laugh. Her eldest son is standing in the room wearing a white face mask, holding a feather duster in his right hand and a damp cloth in his left. While trying to wipe the shelves with one hand, the other moves the feather duster completely aimlessly over his furniture. And to make the scene even more confusing, he is talking nonsense to his octopus Icchan at the same time.
“Do you see what I mean now? He’s even crazier than usual!” Kana whispers to her mother and waits for her response. “I don’t see what the problem is, sweetheart. Okuto is getting a visitor soon and is probably cleaning his room because of that. He briefly mentioned it this morning when he asked me for the cleaning supplies.” She, too, had initially been very surprised by her son’s request—for when did he ever have visitors? “W-Wait a minute!” Kana’s face twists into a shocked grimace. Her brother was getting a visitor? And that person was going to show up here at their house? “Does he have a girlfriend?” she asks in shock, watching her mother walk down the stairs completely unfazed, continuing to clean as well. Kana takes one last look at her cleaning brother before following her mother and staring at her expectantly. How could she be so relaxed in this situation? “I don’t know any more than you do, sweetheart. Okuto didn’t mention a name, so we’ll just have to wait and see. You’re welcome to make yourself useful and help me sweep.” Smiling, she sweeps the dirt toward her daughter, causing Kana to wrinkle her nose slightly. “But you have to know something. You’re our mother, after all! Mothers know everything!” Although it is clearly displeasing to her that she has to help, Kana takes the dustpan and broom out of a small cupboard. Mrs. Nakamura laughs warmly at her younger daughter’s remark. “Oh, I don’t want to know everything. Let’s just be surprised, okay?” She rests her hand on the broom while watching Kana sweep up the accumulated dirt. She had always been more curious than her older brother, and also much louder and more extroverted. She could easily imagine that Okuto often had a hard time with Kana. Unfortunately, because of work, she isn’t at home very often and therefore rarely gets the chance to intervene when things escalate between the two of them. Her hope is that, as Kana gets older, she will eventually realize that her brother is a kindhearted person and come to love him for the lovable person he is.
Before they can continue their conversation, the front doorbell suddenly rings, and a deafening noise from upstairs makes both mother and daughter jump. “I’ll open the door. You go check on your brother, please.” Mrs. Nakamura smiles briefly at Kana before putting the broom away in a cupboard beside her and lightly wiping both hands on her apron. While Kana grumpily climbs the stairs, muttering something about an “incompetent idiot,” she heads to the front door to open it. A brown-haired boy with honey-brown eyes is nervously staring at the doorbell. But when the door suddenly opens, his head jerks upward in surprise. Mrs. Nakamura immediately notices that he is somewhat shorter than her son and must be around Nakamura’s age. “You must be a friend of Okuto’s. Come on in!” She steps aside with an inviting gesture to let him inside. Hirose hesitates briefly before remembering his good manners and gratefully bowing his head. “My name is Hirose Aiki. Nice to meet you! I’m in the same class as Nakamura.” After a few steps, he enters the hallway, takes off his shoes, and looks around curiously. A staircase to his right apparently leads to another floor of the house.
Loud voices can be heard coming from it, followed by an “I wouldn’t have helped you anyway!” Then, all of a sudden, there is a loud clatter, and a young girl with chin-length black hair comes down the stairs. At first, she doesn’t notice the guest because she is too angry, but when she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she spots the bewildered Hirose. As she openly looks him up and down, the brown-haired boy raises his eyebrows in surprise. “I didn’t know my brother had such handsome friends!” is her only comment before she walks past him and disappears into the living room. Perplexed, Hirose stares after her—did she just call him handsome? “That’s Kana, my daughter and Okuto’s younger sister. She’s very direct, you should know.” Mrs. Nakamura looks slightly embarrassed by her behavior and tries to laugh it off. “I have an older sister. I know what it can be like,” the brown-haired boy tries to salvage the situation. Mrs. Nakamura smiles at him gratefully before continuing. “You must want to see Okuto. He’s upstairs in his room. Just go up the stairs and it’s the second room on the left!”
*
Why, again, wasn’t he an only child?
Nakamura couldn’t understand how different two people could be. What had he done to his sister that she was always so unfair and mean to him? As her older brother, shouldn’t he actually receive more respect from her? Why did she always behave so badly? Or was he really as awful as she always claimed? Self-doubt overcame him, but it was overshadowed by the fact that someone had just rung the doorbell, and it had to be none other than Hirose!
And what had happened beforehand?
The moment Nakamura hears the doorbell, he stumbles over his own feet out of sheer excitement and lands on his butt with a loud thud. He is still holding the damp cloth in one hand and the feather duster in the other. As if that weren’t embarrassing enough, his little sister enters the room at the same moment to check on him and immediately bursts out laughing at him. After Nakamura bombards her with a few choice insults, Kana backs out of the room again and simply leaves him sitting there just as he is. “I wouldn’t have helped you anyway!” are her last sassy words before she slams the door shut and stomps away. So much for glorious help!
“Ow…” With a pained expression, he places the feather duster on the floor in front of him before carelessly dropping the cloth beside it and rubbing his butt with his right hand. Nakamura then pulls the white face mask from his face and takes several deep breaths. “Why is it always me?” he mutters dejectedly, failing to notice the footsteps approaching his room on the stairs. Somewhat awkwardly, Nakamura gets onto all fours in order to stand up. Luckily, no one can see him like this now! “If Hirose were here right now…” the black-haired boy murmurs embarrassedly and lowers his head slightly. He doesn’t even want to imagine the humiliation! Unfortunately for him, his door opens at that very moment, and two feet in white socks appear in Nakamura’s field of vision. “Am I in the right place?” This simple question makes Nakamura jerk his head up—he knows that voice! “H-H-Hirose?!” Nakamura’s face turns red with embarrassment as he tries to get to his feet. In doing so, he overlooks both the damp cleaning cloth and the feather duster. Cursing, the black-haired boy trips over them, his upper body pitching forward as he desperately tries to catch himself before hitting the floor again. Hirose, who is standing perplexedly in the doorway and watching everything, drops his Aquapet cloth bag to rush to Nakamura’s aid. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have enough time. Nakamura stumbles directly toward him, collides with him in the doorway, and takes both of them down to the floor.
Both boys briefly have the air knocked out of their lungs before simultaneously groaning in pain. “Oof… did you hurt yourself?” Hirose is the first to react. Fortunately, his landing wasn’t too bad, so only the shock remains in his limbs. Nakamura is lying with his head still slightly dazed against Hirose’s chest, prompting Hirose to raise his head slightly. An earthy scent emanates from Nakamura’s black hair, and Hirose can’t help but take a deep breath. [- So that’s what his hair smells like -] An unfamiliar desire leaves him both fascinated and unsettled. Fortunately for him, Nakamura reacts at that moment and slowly lifts his head. “Everything’s okay, I think…” Without being aware of the situation he is in, Nakamura reacts instinctively and tries to get up. He braces himself with both arms beside Hirose’s body and pushes himself upward. In doing so, his right knee lifts slightly until it unintentionally touches Hirose’s crotch. A quiet squeak, closely followed by a hesitant moan, fills the room. Nakamura’s gaze immediately snaps toward the source of the sound, before he suddenly realizes what situation he is in. He is lying on Hirose! With his knee between his legs! His face and ears turn deep red. “Oh… my… God…” he stammers and hurriedly gets up from Hirose. “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention! Come on, let me help you up!” Nakamura is so caught up in his eagerness to help that, fortunately for Hirose, he doesn’t notice the bulge in his crotch. The brown-haired boy’s cheeks are just as red as Nakamura’s, and his breathing comes in short bursts.
When Nakamura extends his right hand to help him up, Hirose slowly comes back to his senses. He takes his hand and is surprised by how soft it feels in his. Looking more closely, Hirose notices how beautiful Nakamura’s hand is and how long his fingers seem. Could you actually find hands beautiful? Lost in thought, Hirose doesn’t even notice that he is still staring at Nakamura’s right hand instead of getting up as planned. Clearing his throat, the brown-haired boy gets to his feet before his gaze wanders around Nakamura’s room. “It’s nice in here!” Reluctantly, he lets go of his hand to grab the cloth bag from the doorway. “I brought us some snacks!” While Hirose closes the door to his room, Nakamura eagerly puts away the cleaning supplies so that another accident doesn’t happen. The compliment about his room nevertheless makes Nakamura smile broadly. “Thank you! I think it’s really nice too!” He points to a small brown low table in the middle of the room, standing on a green tatami mat, and Hirose immediately sits down beside it to unpack his treats. He brought many different snacks, Nakamura notices, and his surprised gaze settles on the takoyaki chips.
Hirose notices and follows his gaze. “I thought you might like them… You can have some of my potato chips too!” Hirose’s gaze uncertainly moves away from Nakamura. Hopefully he hasn’t put his foot in his mouth and brought something he doesn’t like at all! Before the black-haired boy can answer him that Hirose has just brought his favorite chips, he notices the brown-haired boy’s eyes suddenly widening further and further. He pauses and looks over his right shoulder. Had he overlooked something while cleaning? There was only Icchan. “Amazing!” Hirose’s face lights up as he stands and walks past Nakamura in just a few steps, stopping in front of his octopus’s saltwater aquarium. “You really have an octopus at home!” — “His name is Icchan.” Nakamura smiles at his friend’s excitement. Perhaps he could impress Hirose a little with his knowledge about octopuses. “Did you know they have three hearts? They have short- and long-term memories, need sleep just like we do, and can even dream! It’s also amazing that they can curiously explore objects and have the ability to recognize individuals of other species, for example humans they like or find unpleasant.” Hirose listens to him intently. He has never heard Nakamura talk this much at once before! His voice sounds surprisingly pleasant when he isn’t stammering as usual or falling silent from nervousness. “Wow! You really know a lot!” His curious gaze travels over the large aquarium, which is covered at the opening with a board and a stone. He stares at the construction in confusion. “Unfortunately, he’s escaped many times already, and if he’s without water for too long, he dies,” Nakamura answers his question without him having to ask it.
“Do you think I could hold him in my hand for a moment?” The black-haired boy isn’t surprised by Hirose’s question. Even in class, he had approached the animals fearlessly. “Um… sure. Just be careful and don’t leave him out of the water for too long!” The brown-haired boy nods in agreement before watching in fascination as Nakamura moves the cover aside and the octopus already stretches one of its tentacles in his direction. “Hello, handsome!” Nakamura whispers and smiles at him gently. His right hand deftly moves into the saltwater of the aquarium, where Icchan is already waiting. In one fluid motion, his tentacles wrap around his hand, and the brown-haired boy watches in fascination as he climbs up it. “Wow!” — “You should know, they don’t have any bones. That’s why they’re so soft. And if they lose an arm, it simply grows back!” — “That’s so cool!” Hirose’s honey-brown eyes practically glow with every new piece of information, and Nakamura is also very proud of his knowledge. “This is my friend Hirose. Be nice to him, Icchan!” Carefully, he pulls his hand with the octopus out of the aquarium and holds it out to Hirose. Almost reverently, Hirose reaches out with both hands and is surprised when the octopus’s tentacles release Nakamura and suction themselves onto him. “That really tickles on my skin! Do you think he likes me?” Hirose’s smile, his question, and the way he handles Icchan slowly cause Nakamura’s protective walls to crumble. “How could anyone not like you?” A gentle smile graces his lips. A heartbeat later, he notices the words he has chosen and turns bright red. The brown-haired boy’s gaze snaps up from Icchan to Nakamura, and his cheeks also turn deep red.
To add a little excitement to the situation, the red octopus decides to release Hirose’s hand and instead latch onto his arm. Because of the warm weather, Hirose is wearing his blue Aquapet T-shirt with white knee-length shorts and white socks. This makes it all the easier for Icchan to move, and he begins climbing up the brown-haired boy’s arm. “T-T-That tickles!” Hirose gasps in surprise and can’t react nearly as quickly as he would like. His arm is now covered in countless little love bites from the suckers. Nakamura is just as perplexed. “Icchan!” Before he can grab him, Icchan fluidly climbs into Hirose’s neckline and now begins crawling downward into his T-shirt. “S-S-Stop!” Hirose stares pleadingly at Nakamura. “Take off your T-shirt!” the black-haired boy blurts out without thinking. His words cause an unfamiliar tingling sensation throughout Hirose’s body. Or was it actually just Icchan, who was continuing to move toward his stomach? “O-Okay!” Hirose’s hands move to the hem of his T-shirt, but before he can pull it up and take it off, Nakamura suddenly intervenes and stops him. “Wait!” His breath briefly catches as an idea grows in his mind. “Please… Please don’t think I’m a pervert… I’m doing this for Icchan…” Hirose’s questioning face is the last thing Nakamura sees before he surprisingly quickly steps behind the brown-haired boy, closes his eyes, and slips his hands beneath his T-shirt. Searching, long fingers touch his navel and move frantically over his bare skin. It feels soft and warm. For a moment, Nakamura even thinks he has touched one of his nipples. Hirose’s eyes widen in surprise, his breathing comes in short bursts, and for a moment he seems to freeze completely. Nakamura is so focused on what he is doing that he doesn’t notice Hirose’s body slowly pressing against his. “Got you!” A triumphant cry of victory escapes Nakamura, followed by a broad grin. His hands emerge from beneath the T-shirt and hold the red octopus aloft like a trophy. “And now back into the water with you!” After a few steps, Icchan slips back into his aquarium and retreats into his shelter, visibly satisfied with his little adventure. After Nakamura puts the cover back on the aquarium, he sighs in relief. “I’m so sorry… Icchan normally…” As the black-haired boy is about to apologize to Hirose, he only notices at the very last moment that the brown-haired boy is suddenly approaching him. Without any warning, he stops in front of Nakamura, rises onto his tiptoes, closes his eyes, and breathes a gentle kiss onto his left cheek. His arms hang loosely at his sides. It is a brief moment of intimacy. Nakamura’s eyes grow wide as he realizes what has just happened.
[- H-H-Hirose kissed me?! Me?! Did I accidentally die? -]
Unable to do or say anything, Nakamura stares down at Hirose. He can watch as the brown-haired boy’s honey-brown eyes slowly open. His gaze is still slightly unfocused, as though his thoughts have not completely returned to the present yet. As reality slowly sinks in, he blinks several times in disbelief. A quiet clearing of the throat and Nakamura stepping back abruptly pull Hirose out of his mental daze. “Thank you very much for your help.” His words are quiet, almost a whisper. Nervously, the brown-haired boy rocks back and forth on his feet. It is obvious that both of them are overwhelmed by the situation and don’t know what to say.
A louder rumble outside the room breaks the tense atmosphere, and Nakamura raises his eyebrows questioningly. “Did they forecast a thunderstorm for today?” His steps lead him to a glass door on his left, behind which there is a small balcony. Curiously, the black-haired boy opens the door and steps outside. The sky is gray and covered with clouds. “Looks like rain.” Unsure whether he should take Hirose home, he turns around. To his surprise, the brown-haired boy is standing several steps away behind the glass door, staring almost fearfully up at the sky. [- Does he not like thunderstorms? -] His suspicion is confirmed when the next, louder rumble makes Hirose flinch. Nakamura’s heart tightens slightly. “Should I take you home? It’ll be really quick by bike!” The black-haired boy steps beside Hirose before closing the door, protecting them from the approaching storm. “It’s fine. I’m not going to wet myself over a little thunder and lightning!” A crooked, false laugh plays around the corners of his mouth. “Maybe we could play something?” To distract from the subject, Hirose looks around his room curiously. Apart from Icchan, he hadn’t really had much of a chance to look at it closely. “Do you have a game console?” He turns around once, searching, before looking out the window past Nakamura. “No, I don’t have anything like that.” He notices the tense posture of his friend but says nothing about it. If Hirose doesn’t want to reveal his fear, Nakamura respects that and, as a good friend, doesn’t pressure him. “If you want, we can play cards or board games. I also have an old Go set or shōgi.”
[- Hopefully he doesn’t think I’m boring now because I don’t have a game console and instead want to play boring board games with him -]
Nakamura is aware that he isn’t like other teenagers his age. Instead of modern consoles, he enjoys traditional strategy games. Instead of keeping a dog or cat, he has an octopus as a pet. Instead of being popular and outgoing, he is inconspicuous and quiet.
[- All in all, I’m probably just a boring, gay sixteen-year-old boy who has nothing special to offer. Hooray! -]
Doubtfully, he unconsciously clenches his hands into fists. But Hirose wouldn’t be Hirose if he couldn’t also show understanding in this situation. “If you show me how to play shōgi, I’d love to give it a try!” The brown-haired boy takes a seat at the brown low table and waits. “But be warned, I learn quickly and I don’t like losing!” he says with a grin, opening his potato chips and snacking on them in the meantime. Only Nakamura probably notices that his eyes keep drifting toward the window. “Great! Then I’ll get it quickly!” The childlike joy over Hirose’s agreement makes his heart beat a little faster. As he leaves the room to get the game, the brown-haired boy slowly exhales. “What was I thinking, kissing him?” he whispers quietly to himself and moves the fingers of his right hand to his lips. He can still feel the softness of Nakamura's cheek against them. [- It just felt so right in that moment! -] Even now, he can feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest. He would love nothing more than to repeat the kiss, but he couldn’t catch Nakamura off guard again. “And I owe all of this to you, you little rascal!” His gaze falls playfully reproachfully on Icchan, who is still inside his enclosure and has no idea about any of this. Hirose can’t help but smile. This was definitely not how he had imagined his day. His good mood is abruptly dampened when rain begins outside the glass windows, closely followed by the rumble of a thunderstorm. A slight shiver runs down his arms, followed by an unpleasant tingling in his stomach. How much longer could he keep playing the cool Hirose in front of Nakamura before he saw through his pathetic fear?
“I found it!”
With a triumphant smile, the black-haired boy enters his room, carrying a wooden board with matching wooden playing pieces in his hands. That must be the shōgi set. “I had to dust it off a little and promise Mom I’d take good care of it. It’s already very old.” Carefully, he places it between himself and Hirose on the low table. “I’ll explain the rules to you, and then we can play.” Nakamura also kneels on the floor opposite Hirose. He waits for a sign from his friend and receives one in the form of a mischievous grin.
“May the better player win!