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There is a smile on Hirose’s face. There is always a smile on his face, and most of the time it is because of the same reason. His boyfriend. His handsome, sweet, kind, caring, absolutely wonderful, and adorable, and did he mention how cute he is when he blushes? Or stutters? Or how he just…exists?!...Boyfriend.
On this lovely day that the universe has gifted Hirose, he finds himself lying down on Nakamura’s lap during their lunchbreak, using his legs as the famous “lap pillow” that he’s read before in his boyfriend’s romance manga. Now, they weren’t the most comfortable pillow in the world (they were actually quite stiff), but they were warm, and the only thing that Hirose could smell at the moment was his boyfriend’s sweet floral and fruity scent.
Nakamura, on the other hand, was not enjoying this moment as much as Hirose was. Don’t get him wrong, he is very much enjoying being so close to his boyfriend, but his legs had slowly become numb after five minutes of being his pillow. He was also currently eating lunch, so Nakamura kept having to turn as he ate his bento or bring it super close to his face so he wouldn’t risk any of his food falling on his boyfriend.
Lap pillows are dangerous, Nakamura thinks to himself at the same time Hirose thinks lap pillows are the best.
“So, since today is Friday, and luckily we haven’t received very much homework this week, what do you all think about doing something after school together?” Okuda asks their little group.
Hamaoka brings a hand up to her mouth as she giggles, “that sounds like a fun idea. Let me guess, you would like to go karaoking?” She teases.
“Yes, please! You know that is my stress reliever and I’ve been begging you to come with me for days! Can we? Can we? Please? Please?” She begs, fluttering her eyelashes and pouting out her lips.
“Karaoking sounds like a lot of fun! I can’t remember the last time we did it, huh Mukai? If you’re going, Hamaoka, then I’m going as well!” Takeuchi exclaims.
“As long as I don’t have to sing a song, I don’t mind coming with everyone.” Kawamura agrees.
“What? No, Kawamura. You have to sing one song!” Okuda tells her.
“Huh? No, I can’t! You know I don’t have a good singing voice!” She starts to blush as she shakes her head and waves her hands in front of her face.
“Don’t worry, you won’t sing it alone. We’ll do a duet, or all of us will come up and sing with you. You can’t go to karaoke though, Kawamura, and not sing a single song. That’s just a waste of money and time. You won’t enjoy yourself at all.” Hamaoka frowns.
“No, no, I promise you I will! They actually have a drink that I love there, so I’m happy to go since I’ll be able to try it again!”
“Oh well, since Kawamurua won’t sing one tiny song with her best friends, I guess we’ll have to find something else to do, Hamaoka .” Okuda sighs.
“Yes, yes, and you were so looking forward to it, Okuda. You were doing your best to make it through the week just for this, but it seems now that you’ll have to continue waiting.” Hamaoka shakes her head side to side.
Kawamura’s face turns red as she stutters out, “f-fine! I’ll sing one song! Only one though!”
“Yay!”
“Kawamura, Kawamura!”
Takeuchi and Mukai share a look with each other.
“Are you free?” Takeuchi asks.
“Pretty much, I’m down to go.” Mukai nods his head.
The two of them both look at the remaining two male’s in the group.
“Oye, Hirose. Wake up. Are you going to go karaoking with us?” Takeuchi asks.
Hirose doesn’t respond; he pretends he doesn’t hear them. The only thing that he wants on his mind right now is his boyfriend, so he’s giving him all of his attention.
“Nakamura? Are you going?” Mukai asks.
Nakamura chews his food and thinks before responding.
I’ve never enjoyed karaoking that much. I’m not a good singer at all, just like Kawamura. Hirose has the voice of an angel though and I’ll always enjoy hearing that. I can’t really remember the last time I hung out with everyone either. It’s been a while since I’ve done something with Kawamura as well. Although I like some of them more than others, I guess technically all of them are my friends. I should hang out with them every so often.
“Okay, I’ll come.” Nakamura answers.
“What?! I’m coming too then!” Hirose shouts, lifting his head straight up.
He didn’t think that his boyfriend was going to say yes! He never says yes to these types of outings!...Usually. Hirose planned on using Nakamura as an excuse to not go since he didn’t want his boyfriend to be alone, but if he says yes then there is no way Hirose isn’t going to go!
“Nice, it looks like everyone is coming then.” Takeuchi says. “Isn’t that great, my dearest Hamaoka?”
Takeuchi is sadly ignored though since Hamaoka and Okuda both clutch each other’s hands and whisper to each other about how Hirose reacted instantly to his boyfriend.
“That was a real life BL moment.”
“Yes, yes, he became jealous in an instant.”
“I love my life.”
“So do I.”
Mukai pats Takeuchi’s back as the poor guy starts to cry, “there, there.”
“What’s wrong?”
Hirose has a chubby pout on his face as he walks behind their friends. It was obvious to everyone who saw his face that he was in a sour mood. Nakamura was actually getting a bit concerned because his boyfriend has had this expression on his face ever since they left school and started walking to the karaoke place. If he didn’t reach out to hold his hand on the walk there then he would have thought it had something to do with him, but seeing as how his boyfriend is holding onto his hand then it must be something else.
“Nothing is wrong.” Hirose mumbles.
Nakamura’s face falls a little as concern washes over him, “that’s not true. Something is wrong, Hirose. Can you tell me? Please?”
Hirose glances over at his boyfriend and immediately feels guilty.
He sounds so hurt, am I upsetting him that much?! I didn’t think that I was! Or would! Damn it, how uncool of me.
“I’m sorry, please don’t worry so much, Nakamura. I’m happy right now, I promise. I’m here with you, aren’t I?” Hirose smiles and laughs.
The expression on Nakamura’s face doesn’t change all that much, “but?”
“But…at the risk of me sounding and looking uncool, I was surprised earlier that you said yes to joining everyone to karaoke.”
Nakamura blinks, “did you not want to come?”
“I didn’t say that–”
“If you would have told me then we could have not gone. I can tell everyone right now–”
“I’m not saying that at all, Nakamura! I love karaoking, it’s just that I know that it’s not something that you enjoy doing, which is why we never do it. I’m wondering why you said yes, if you’re forcing yourself right now, and how I wish you wouldn’t do something that makes you unhappy just to make other people happy.”
“Oh,” Nakamura says softly before a small smile appears on his face. “So you’ve been pouting all this time because you’ve been worrying about me? I’m sorry, Hirose.”
“Ugh, Nakamura, don’t say that. It makes me sound so uncool.”
“Hahaha, I think it makes you very sweet and it makes me very happy. You’re right, I’m not a huge fan of karaoking, but I couldn’t remember the last time I hung out with all of our friends as a group like this. It’s been the two of us walking home together, going out on dates, spending all of our time together since we started dating…and to be honest it’s been heaven for me, but I do feel as if we’ve been neglecting our friends. I enjoy hanging out with everyone every once in a while. I feel as if we should since soon we’ll be graduating and we’ll all be going to different schools and moving to different places. We might not be able to do this as often. We should be taking advantage of this.”
Hirose grows quiet for a second. Have I really been neglecting our friends? Now that I think about it, I can’t really remember the last time I hung out with Takeuchi and Mukai outside of school. Even during school, I usually drag Nakamura away so we can eat lunch together and cuddle. I mean, they haven’t complained to me, so I guess they’re pretty used to it. I’m usually like this whenever I get a new girlfriend, spending all my time with them, but…that’s still no excuse. I was a bad friend back then and I’m still a bad friend now.
“Yeah, that makes sense. We’re not all going to be able to do this after we graduate…but the two of us are still going to see each other every day, aren’t we?”
Nakamura’s eyes widen and he quickly looks over at Hirose. He sees the fear in his eyes for a second and knows that his own eyes are reflecting the same thing.
“Of course! I wouldn’t want anything to change, Hirose!”
“But things probably will. You want to be a marine biologist, right? And I’m planning on becoming a teacher. We might end up going to two different universities–”
“We don’t have to worry about that now! When that time comes I have already made a list of universities that offer both of our majors. We probably won’t have any classes together, but we’ll still go to the same university as long as we both get in. Our grades are pretty much the same, so I don’t doubt that at least one university will accept the both of us. Even if, on the small chance, that we both decide it’s better for our future to go to different universities for our majors, then we’ll just have to make sure they’re close to each other so we can still see each other every day. We can work on getting our licenses to make traveling easier, or we can just move in together. We’ll both be adults by then. We can find some jobs and support ourselves.”
“Nakamura…it sounds like you’ve planned our whole future together.”
Nakamura’s face turns red as he averts his gaze. He’s embarrassed to admit that he’s planned their whole future together since they were first years. He had planned on following Hirose after they graduated high school even if the two of them didn’t start dating. He was still going to hold onto that sliver of hope of what could be, but thankfully their future is going to be a lot happier.
“Have you not thought about it?”
“To be honest the future scares me, so I guess I don’t really think about it, or at least try not to think about it. I know you’re in it though, Nakamura. You were always going to be in it. You are my best friend, my boyfriend now, and my fated mate. You are always going to be a part of my future. I guess I need to stop being so afraid and start preparing like you if I want to be a reliable alpha. We’re definitely going to need money to rent a place together. I’d love to move in with you when we go to university, Nakamura. It’ll be so nice to hear you welcome me home every single day, and for me to do the same for you too.”
Nakamura laughs a little, his heart fluttering and racing as he smiles. He looks ahead to make sure none of their friends are looking before reaching his hand out. Hirose blinks as his head gets turned and his boyfriend surprises him with a kiss.
“I love you.”
Hirose grins, “I love you too.” He pauses and waits for a moment. “Are you not going to run away?”
Nakamura rolls his eyes and bumps into his boyfriend, “I definitely thought about it.”
“Hahaha, it’s good to know all our practicing has paid off.”
“Hi-Hi-Hirose!”
Hirose would be wonderful as an idol. He has such an amazing voice. He is so cute and charming as well, he would definitely be the baby idol of the group with that young face of his. He could also be the innocent idol with how pure and angelic his smile is. Or the prankster idol with how playful he gets. There are too many good idols that fit him so well. No matter what type of idol he’d be, Hirose would be everyone’s favorite. His color would have to be yellow, no, orange! It would match his tone better. Bright and warm orange.
Nakamura falls completely under a spell as he watches his boyfriend sing on stage. He shakes a maraca that someone handed to him in one hand and has his phone secretly recording in the other (not so secretly in fact since he isn’t even trying to hide it). This right here makes it all worth joining everyone. He needs to start coming here with Hirose more often. If no one else were here then he would be cheering for Hirose, calling out his name like a real crazy idol fan. Nakamura has to control himself right now though in front of all their friends.
Hirose finishes up with a smile and a wink, copying what the singer does on the screen. He had the music video completely memorized, as he does with all of Aquapet’s songs. It’s mainly what he sings every time he comes here, that or western music. His English isn’t perfect though, so he butcher those songs a lot. Something he doesn’t mind if he’s just with Takeuchi and Mukai, but since his boyfriend is in the audience right now giving him his full attention, Hirose can’t afford to look like a fool in front of him.
“Wow, I forgot how hot it gets underneath those lights. I worked up a real sweat, hahaha. Who’s next?” Hirose asks, waving the microphone.
“I believe it’s Kawamura’s turn! Come on, I already chose the perfect song for us!” Okuda cheers as she pulls her up and out of her seat.
“Ah, Okuda! So soon?!” Kawamura gasps.
“What do you mean so soon? We’ve been here for an hour already, come on!” Hamaoka grabs her other arm and starts tugging as well.
Hirose hands his mic over to them and walks back to his seat next to his boyfriend. He plops down right next to him and looks over.
“How did I do, Nakamura?”
Without any hesitation at all his boyfriend responds with, “you were amazing.”
Hirose’s eyes widen slightly before he closes them as he rubs the back of his neck, “ah, really? I didn’t think I did so great. I’m definitely not a singer, but–”
“You were fantastic, Hirose. I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. You were amazing and shined so bright and I loved watching every second of you.”
“Oh, ah, ha ha ha–”
Hirose quickly grabs his soda from off the table and starts to drink it. He already felt hot, but now he was overheating with how intensely Nakamura was staring at him.
Are my pheromones leaking out of me too strongly right now? I know I’m sweaty, but I don’t feel like they are. Can Nakamura smell how happy I am hearing him say that? He doesn’t always compliment me so enthusiastically and especially not so boldly either! It’s usually soft or when he doesn’t realize he’s saying it. I don’t know what is going on right now, but he’s making me feel even hotter.
Nakamura wonders if he had a conversation with Hirose about switching majors and attempting to become an idol if his boyfriend would take it seriously. Then again, if Hirose became famous then everyone would see how charming he is and Nakamura would have a lot more competition. He takes back what he just thought and scoots over closer to Hirose. Nakamura wraps his arm around his boyfriend’s arm and places his head right on his shoulder, snuggling up with him. If his scent leaks out of him to cover Hirose then that is completely an accident.
“Na-Naka-Nakamura?” Hirose stutters out his name. “I um, I’m kind of sweaty right now.”
“It doesn’t bother me.”
“Oh...well, o-okay.” Hirose responds.
He doesn’t know how else he is supposed to respond. His boyfriend is willingly cuddling with him in front of all their friends, and not only that, he made the first move to cuddle as well. It may not be a first, but it is rare. Little does he know that Nakamura actually enjoys him being sweaty; his pheromones are a lot more pronounced and they’re making him feel such ease being enveloped by them.
As their friends continue to sing songs in the background, Nakamura enjoys being lost in his own little world with only his boyfriend as his companion until a sudden microphone is being held up close to him. Nakamura blinks as he breaks out of his daze, hearing Hirose’s voice speak out.
“Nakamura doesn’t want to sing.”
“Come on, he has to sing at least one song. He can’t have come all this way with us and not sing at all. We all came here to sing, not snuggle and flirt with our partners.” Takeuchi says, holding up the microphone again.
Hirose’s eyebrows narrow as he snatches it away, “stop Takeuchi, don’t force him. Nakamura came here to spend time with all of us. He’s happy just watching.”
“But even Kawamura sang once, didn’t she? And she didn’t want to sing at all. It’s a little bit unfair.” Takeuchi tells him.
“I-I didn’t mind it so much,” Kawamura interrupts, “s-so if Nakamura doesn’t want to, then it should be his choice.”
“He isn’t saying anything though. Nakamura, what’s up? Are you going to sing one or just sit there?” Mukai asks.
“Oh, um…” Nakamura panics a bit.
How lost in his daydreams was he to not realize everyone’s attention suddenly being on him?
“You don’t have to sing alone! You can do a duet! With Hirose! That would be so cute!” Hamaoka cheers.
“Ah! That would be amazing! Go on, both of you! Sing a song together, it’ll be a lot of fun!” Okuda cheers.
“Guys, stop trying to pressure my–”
“Ah, okay.”
“Nakamura?” Hirose suddenly calls out his name.
“I…I’ll sing one song with you. You’ll have to pick something out for us though, please.”
“Yay! Nakamura! Hirose!”
“Nakamura! Hirose!”
“Nakamura! Hirose!”
Their friends all start cheering around for them. Nakamura stands up from his seat and grabs one of the microphones before walking up to the stage. Hirose is still a bit frozen before he follows after him. He walks up close and whispers to him.
“Are you sure?”
“It’s just one song, Hirose. I’m not going to be any good singing next to you, but as long as I am with you it’ll be fine.”
Hirose frowns, “you don’t have to do this.”
“I know, but like I said before, we won’t be able to do this again often. I’d like to make more memories of the two of us. Pick out something easy, okay? I’m not as good of a singer as you.”
Hirose chuckles and shakes his head, “I’m not as good as you think I am, Nakamura. Don’t worry though, I’ll definitely pick out something great for us.”
Right as Hirose says that though, a song suddenly starts playing in the room. He quickly turns around and sees Hamaoka and Okuda waving the pad up in the air.
“Sorry guys, but you both were taking so long to talk, we decided to pick out a song for you! Don’t worry, Hamaoka, Kawamura, and I all agreed on it!” Okuda laughs.
“Hey, wait a second!” Hirose starts.
“The lyrics are about to appear, have fun!” Hamaoka shouts.
Everyone starts cheering for them again, shaking their instruments and clapping their hands. An upbeat pop-rock song is playing right now, one that Nakamura is familiar with. Although he can’t remember the name of it, he has heard of it before. Two male singers sing this song, so it is a good duet for the both of them. The only problem is that Nakamura is sure that this is a love song. He starts to blush as he stares at the screen and looks at the lyrics.
He takes a deep breath before he starts to sing.
“Let’s fall in love instinctively! Why is it there’s nothing I can do, no way to fix this? But I want to keep stepping forward barefoot.”
His voice is dark, low, and monotone at first, sounding pretty scary. Hirose flinches and turns around, seeing Nakamura trying his best right now. He swallows down his glare and moves to his side, singing the next few lines with him.
“It’s so tempting, it almost makes me laugh, but hey I guess I will crack a silly joke instead.”
The lyrics on the screen turn pink, meaning that it’s Hirose’s turn to sing alone. He glances back at Nakamura and smiles at him to try to make him feel relaxed as he sings the next part
“Putting on a stranger’s face, feeling scattered across the classroom floor. Crossing the boundaries of words and common sense…Lo-Lo-Lo…”
The color changes again and Nakamura takes a deep breath before he starts to sing. His voice comes out more even this time as he stares at Hirose’s handsome face to give him courage before looking at the screen.
“When problems make us feel like crying we’ll just sing some anisongs instead. Even when I’m about to give up, babe–go! Go! Go! Let’s go!”
Hirose laughs as Nakamura yells the last part out. He messes up singing the next line of the song, but quickly catches his breath and sings along with Nakamura again, this time reaching for his hand as their voices sing together.
“Let’s fall in love instinctively! But there’s no helping it, nothing else to do, maybe I’m just low on calories? It’s so tempting, it almost makes me laugh! But hey I guess I will crack a silly joke instead. Unsaved and unrewarded because I’ve been making a quiet effort. To be forgiven or to be hated, I just want to purify myself. Let’s go! Let’s fall in love instinctively! Why is there nothing I can do, no way to fix this? But I want to keep stepping forward barefoot. It’s so tempting it almost makes me laugh, but hey I guess I will crack a silly joke instead.”
Nakamura pants out loudly as the song fades away and ends. His face is bright red, but he isn’t too sure if it’s because he’s feeling hot right now or because he’s feeling embarrassed. Their friends all start to clap and cheer and Hirose looks over at him with a bright smile on his face.
“That was great, Nakamura!”
Nakamura gulps and nods his head, a smile appearing on his own face as well, “y-yeah, it was.”
Nakamura hums a song to himself as he walks home with Hirose. The sun had been setting for a while now, so the sky was slowly becoming darker with each passing minute. The two of them should be able to make it home before it completely gets dark, hopefully, but at least the streetlamps were turning on. Hirose glances over at Nakamura and chuckles to himself. His boyfriend looks back at him and tilts his head.
“What?”
“Nothing, it’s just you’ve been humming that song on our entire walk home.”
“Oh, I have? I’m sorry.”
“No, no, don’t be. I’ve been enjoying myself listening to you. I got upset before that we didn’t get to pick our own song to sing, but I’m happy now that you actually liked it.”
Nakamura scratches his cheek as he looks away, “w-well, I’ve heard it before. It had a nice melody, but I never really paid much attention to it until today. I guess I really liked the lyrics, and hearing you sing it, Hirose.”
“Hmm, I enjoyed hearing you sing it as well, Nakamura. I love your voice.”
“It’s not good.”
“It’s not bad either.”
“Yours is better.”
“I like listening to your voice better than my own.”
The two of them go playfully back and forth until smiles appear on their faces and they start laughing. Hirose gets a silly idea and grabs both of Nakamura’s hands. He spins them around in a circle as he sings out loudly.
“Let’s fall in love instinctively!”
Nakamura laughs and starts to sing as well, “why is it there’s nothing I can do, no way to fix this?”
Hirose grins and starts moving them left and right, “but I want to keep stepping forward barefoot.”
Nakamura tries his best to follow his lead, “it’s so tempting, it almost makes me laugh, but hey I guess I will crack a silly joke instead.”
The two of them laugh and sing as they poorly dance the rest of the way home. By the time they make it to Nakamura’s house the two of them are breathless, cheeks hurting so much from smiling the entire time. Nakamura reaches out and hugs Hirose close to him, burying his nose right in the crook of his neck.
“I had so much fun today, Hirose.”
Hirose smiles as he closes his eyes and rests his head against Nakamura’s shoulder, “I’m glad, Nakamura. So did I.”
“It was a bit embarrassing to sing in front of all of our friends…but I would like it if one day just the two of us went together.”
“Hahaha, oh, that would be so much fun. It’s a date.”
“Yeah, okay.”
The two of them pull away from each other and stare into each other’s eyes.
“Call me when you get home safely?”
“I always do. Love you Nakamura, good night.”
“Good night, Hirose. Love you too.”
Nakamura bends down and presses his lips against his boyfriend’s, giving him a small good night kiss. Well, it was meant to be small, but neither of them really pulls away. Hirose tilts his head as he playfully nips at his boyfriend’s lips and Nakamura slowly opens up his mouth. Their tongues meet and dance with each other, their pheromones escaping out of them and leaking into the air.
Their goodbye kiss probably lasted longer than it needed to be, but it left both of them returning home with a smile on their face.