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“No, no, no, no—!” Daichi gasped while frantically jabbing the buttons on his game controller. His efforts to overcome his opponent through sheer desperation were, unfortunately, fruitless. He growled in disappointment as his avatar crumpled to a heap on the ground and the word FATALITY plastered across the screen in a bright red, bloody mess. Next to him, his new friend Koushi Sugawara swelled with triumph.
“That’s game~” he chirped with a self-satisfied head waggle. His proud little smirk was wiped off his face, however, when Daichi shoved him in the shoulder hard enough to tip him over. Koushi squeaked in alarm when his side struck the wood of Daichi’s floor; he rolled onto his belly as Daichi stood up to turn off the game system, tucking his chin on his folded arms and holding his legs up over his back with his ankles crossed.
“Aw, sore loser!” Koushi whined and poked his lips out into a dour pout.
“I’m not a sore loser!” Daichi huffed, pausing by the television and entertainment console to frown indignantly at him. “I’m just done playing this game, that’s all!”
“Because you’re a sore loserrrrrrrr~” Koushi trilled, lifting his head to rest his cheeks in his hands. Daichi tried to make himself regret asking Koushi to come over for the afternoon, but despite his slightly irritating grandstanding, Daichi unfortunately couldn’t deny that he’d had a lot of fun.
Daichi just rolled his eyes and looked back down at the game console. He mashed the power button, causing the montage of Koushi’s character beating him senseless to blip out of existence and be replaced by a buzzing black screen. While he was debating what to do next and if said activity would require the television, he mindlessly looked around the room. The debate came to a screeching halt when his eyes passed over the alarm clock resting on his nightstand.
“What the—? It’s already nine o’clock?!” he exclaimed.
“Eh? Really?” Koushi cried while rolling over to sit up. Daichi raced to the window and threw open the curtains—they’d closed them earlier while watching a movie and never bothered to open them back up—and sure enough, he was met with the pitch darkness of night. Koushi came to stand beside him, pouting at the starry night sky and the crescent moon hanging in it.
“Aw, man! I don’t wanna trudge home in the dark…” he whined.
“Yeah. A stick like you will be easy pickings for a mugger,” Daichi teased and pulled the curtains shut. While Daichi turned away, Koushi peeked out of the curtains with a concerned whimper.
“Aw, man. I was just kidding, but now you’ve got me all scared!” Koushi pouted and turned around to belly-flop onto Daichi’s bed. Daichi snickered as Koushi hugged a pillow to his chest. “What’s so funny? I’m about to be snuffed out in the prime of my life, and you’re laughing!”
“Oh, shut up,” Daichi snorted as he walked over to his dresser. He tugged open one of the drawers to procure a gray tee-shirt and a pair of gray-and-black checkered pajama pants. Just as Koushi was sitting up to see what he was doing, Daichi flung the clothes into his face.
“Just change into those; I’m gonna go tell my mom that you’re staying over tonight,” he said.
“You know, I usually like it if a guy takes me to dinner first before I get into bed with him,” Koushi joked, pulling the pajama pants off his head so Daichi could see his shit-eating grin.
“Me too. That’s why you’re sleeping on the floor,” Daichi quipped back as strolled out of his bedroom. When Koushi released an indignant squawk, Daichi cast a wicked smirk over his shoulder and flipped him off with both his hands.
“Fine! Then I’m going commando in your PJs!” Koushi shouted after him as he sauntered down the hall. Daichi just shook his head; guess the trash-talk didn’t just apply to when they were gaming. Still, it was probably for the better that the next morning he discovered that Koushi had accidentally left for home in those pajamas. He didn’t really want to test if Koushi had been serious, even if they were on the fast track to becoming best friends.
Best friends… Yeah, that thought made Daichi smile.
“Heads up!”
“Wha—hey!” Daichi cried indignantly as Koushi suddenly appeared behind him and batted the underside of his snapback to pop it off his head. Koushi snickered triumphantly and plopped the stolen hat backward atop his own. Daichi attempted to grab the edge of it to pull it off, but Koushi swiftly skipped away from him, so quickly that Daichi’s fingers could only just barely touch the fringes of the tuft of grayish-brown hair peeking out from above the adjustable band.
Koushi stuck his tongue out at him from between his teeth, then said, “Man, I thought your reflexes just sucked with videogames, but they suck in real life, too! How is it that you’re good at volleyball but totally suck ass at softball?”
“Do you have anything better to do besides annoy me on my walk home?” Daichi said with a sardonic smirk. After getting his ass handed to him in fighting games every weekend for the last month, Daichi had thought that his fortunes would change when Koushi invited him to play softball with some of the kids in his neighborhood. Apparently, when Koushi wasn’t trouncing Daichi’s ass at videogames, he was trouncing this cohort of middle- and high-schoolers at softball. This weekend, Daichi had the pleasure of being among them.
“Nope,” Koushi chirped, accentuating the “p ” with a pop of his lips. Despite himself, Daichi couldn’t help but chuckle. Having company for his walk home, even if said company liked to bust his balls, was better than no company at all.
“Aw, hey, wait up!” Koushi cried when Daichi started walking again. When he caught up, he fell in step with him and slung his arm around his shoulders. “I didn’t mean it. You didn’t do that bad.”
“Oh, yeah, because you can totally do worse than trying to catch a pop-up ball and instead letting it fall right into your face,” Daichi huffed sarcastically, then reached up to rub the bridge of his nose. Man, it still kind of hurt…
“Yeah, but at least you didn’t take a softball to the nuts.”
Both of them grimaced at the memory of the poor catcher who had suffered the grim fate. In tandem, he and Koushi clapped their hands together to offer a silent prayer to the boy’s descendants, who had likely been wiped out of existence in a mere instant. Seriously, they’d sent him waddling home with a big plastic bag of ice between his legs. There was no coming back from that.
“Okay, so I could barely do worse,” Daichi rectified, still huffy about his sub-par performance. Daichi tried not to be competitive, but something about Koushi brought it out of him. Maybe it was that big, bright grin on his face that practically gleamed of innocence to all the adults, but in reality hid a mind of pure mischievousness. Daichi still didn’t know how Koushi managed to so effortlessly pull the wool over grown-ups' eyes; he was a dastardly little shit and responsible for at least half the pranks causing their school principal to pull his hair out. And when he wasn’t doing that, Koushi was harnessing his impish energy to nag at Daichi.
And Daichi just let him. Guess the wool had been pulled over his eyes, too. And strangely, he didn’t mind at all.
“Hey, hey,” Koushi chirped, increasing his pace so he could start walking backward in front of Daichi. He put his hands behind his head and grinned, “So you wanna have dinner at my place tonight?”
“About damn time. I was wondering when you’d invite me over. I was starting to think that maybe you lived in a box,” Daichi scoffed.
“Hey!” Koushi cried indignantly. “I’ll have you know that it’s two boxes.”
Both of them laughed at the joke. Koushi skipped around, then fell back in step with Daichi.
“Seriously, though, you wanna?” he pressed, looking at Daichi, hopeful. And honestly, Daichi did want to, despite the fact they’d spent the afternoon together. He never got sick of Koushi. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards for them tonight.
“Sorry. Going to my grandma’s for dinner,” he explained with a frown. Koushi’s disappointment mirrored his own, and when he turned to look forward, his lips jutted out in a prominent pout.
They came to the fork in the path where they would split ways, and they stopped walking. Daichi plucked thoughtfully at the dirt-dusted hem of his athletic shorts. It wasn’t like it was a bad way to leave the conversation off, but at the same time, he didn’t want to end it this way.
It seemed Koushi was thinking the same thing because they both looked at each other at the same time to simultaneously ask, “Tomorrow?”
“Psh. What? Can’t spend twenty-four hours without me?” Daichi joked, despite the fact he had literally been asking the same thing as Koushi. He couldn’t miss a good opportunity for a jibe, giving Koushi delivered three times as many to him on the daily.
“You’re my best friend,” Koushi said with a warm smile, and the genuineness of it sent Daichi reeling. “‘Course I can’t.”
Daichi opened his mouth, then clamped it shut tight. When he felt the heat rising to his cheeks, he turned his back; the last thing he needed was for Koushi to tease him for blushing. But he was so stupidly happy, damn it! He palmed his forehead with a groan, but he didn’t even have the heart to even pretend to want to refuse.
“Tomorrow, then,” he mumbled.
“Can’t wait!” Koushi said delightedly, and Daichi heard the scrape of his sneaker against the pavement as he turned around. Daichi looked over his shoulder just in time to catch a glimpse of Koushi’s sunny grin—and then he was dashing down the sidewalk as if running all the way home would make tomorrow come faster. A totally stupid notion, yet Daichi found himself taking off into a sprint, too.
It was only when he reached his front door, exhilarated and breathless, that he realized Koushi had run off with his ballcap.
Heh, he thought while running his hand through his sweaty hair, I’ll get it tomorrow.
“Achoo! Ah… It’s so cold today.”
The girl sitting at the desk behind Daichi sniffled miserably and rubbed at her arms, making the thick fabric of her jacket rustle. Despite the fact she was wearing two jackets and tights in addition to her uniform, the poor thing was still apparently freezing to death. Daichi could feel little vibrations in the back of his chair from where her desk was touching his, rattling with her shivers.
Most of the other students surrounding Daichi were faring no better; the classroom was a chorus of sniffles and coughs and angry grumbles to get the day started. The sooner that class began, the sooner they could hopefully distract themselves from the bitter winter that had gripped Karasuno.
All except for Daichi, who was tugging at the collar of his uniform shirt as sweat made it cling to his skin.
Cold? he wondered with a grimace. They can say what they want, but I’m roasting like a lobster over here. Did that have to turn the heat up so high? Sure, the weather had been brisk enough this morning for him to throw on a light sweater, but inside the school, he thought it was quite comfortable. Then again, he’d always been pretty hot-natured.
Daichi sighed. He hadn’t wanted to draw attention to himself by taking off his jacket, but if he didn’t, he was bound to sweat himself to death. With a frown of resignation, he reached over the back of his head to grip the neck of his sweater, then pulled it over his head with a few good tugs. The sticky heat made it cling to the thick fabric of his uniform, making the process even longer than he would have wanted. He could already hear the mutters of surprise; oh, he was in for it now.
Thankfully, Koushi decided that was his moment to make a dramatic entrance.
“Holy mother of all things good and pure, it is cold out there!” he whined shrilly as he stumbled into the classroom.
Daichi, who still had his sweater looped around both his arms, watched with a raised eyebrow as Koushi staggered across the front of the room like he’d been mortally wounded. And with good reason—the dude was in short sleeves. Daichi couldn’t help but wince at the wind-bit and cold-blistered patches of red dotting his pale, bare arms. What the hell was Koushi thinking, wandering around in the snow like that unprotected?
Daichi knew the answer before Koushi said anything.
“The one day I lose my uniform jacket, it decides to turn into a frozen wasteland!” Koushi complained as he toddled down the aisle to his desk, which was right next to Daichi’s. When he came closer, Daichi noticed that his ducky-brown hair was threaded with little ice crystals. “And the bus broke down, so I had to walk all the way here…”
The entire classroom was gaping at Koushi, enraptured by the tragedy. Daichi rolled his eyes, then finished pulling off his sweater. He supposed that he was grateful for the distraction, but it wasn’t like Koushi was doing it for his benefit. He just got in his dramatic moods sometimes and chose to be a spectacle for homeroom.
Ever since the new school year started and the two of them had ended up in the same class, it seemed that his antics had gotten ten times worse. Daichi didn’t know if Koushi wanted to impress him or annoy him, but there was no denying that Daichi felt some sort of way about his soap opera-worthy performances.
“That’s it. I’m done for. I’m a Sugacicle,” Koushi groaned as he half-fell, half-slumped into his desk. “And it’s supposed to be even colder when we leave today… Gah! I’m doomed!” he wailed while tossing his head back over his chair.
One of the girls nearby cooed sympathetically, and Daichi rolled his eyes.
“Stop being dramatic. You’ll live,” he huffed, despite the smile tugging at the corners of his lips. At the very least, Koushi knew how to liven up an otherwise dull morning. Even if he hadn’t been cold, there was no denying that the sullen atmosphere had made him a little morose himself.
“You’re so heartless, Daichi,” Koushi simpered at him. “What will you say if I die of hypothermia, huh?”
“I’ll say that you’re a moron for running around in this cold without a jacket,” Daichi countered with a pitiless smirk. “Seriously, I don’t think the teachers would have cared much if you came in something that wasn’t your uniform jacket.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve lost my other jackets, too.”
“Do you even actually own clothes with how often you lose stuff? It’s a wonder you haven’t turned up to class naked because you’ve lost your school uniform!” Daichi laughed and shook his head. Seriously! At least three times a week, Koushi was complaining about losing some article of clothing or another. He must be keeping all the clothing stores in Karasuno in business just by himself, if he had that many misplaced clothes to replace!
Koushi was not impressed by Daichi’s jibe, based on the way he was glowering. His gaze slid to the jacket hanging over the back of Daichi’s chair, and his irritated frown slowly morphed into a thoughtful stare. Daichi followed his gaze to the jacket, then whipped his head around with a stern gasp.
“Oh, no you do—”
But Koushi had already sprung from his seat, and even as Daichi spoke, he was snatching the sweater off of the chair. He yanked it over his head, and when it popped through, he was wearing a bright, triumphant grin.
“Aw, thanks, Daichi! How kind of you to offer me your sweater!” Koushi cooed with a bat of his eyelashes. It just made Daichi scowl all the deeper, and he was forced to watch defeatedly as Koushi maneuvered his arms through the sleeves. He wiggled his fingers when they pushed out from the fabric, and then he hugged himself with a satisfied hum. “Ah, and it’s still warm~”
“Stop that. You’re an embarrassment,” Daichi groaned as several of the students around them snickered. “Next, you’re gonna tell me that it smells like me, or something cringy like that.”
“Oooh, but does it?” Koushi grinned, then grabbed a handful of the sweater to bring it to his nose. He made a big show of breathing in deep through his nose, and Daichi just face-palmed.
“I am this close to disowning you,” he warned while holding up his fingers in a pinching gesture. His thumb and forefinger were touching, and quite hard.
“You know, theoretically, atoms can never really touch. So, your fingers technically aren’t touching, and so you could never disown me <3 Now that’s what I call a covalent bond.”
“Get outta here with your chemistry bullshit!” Daichi cried, then crumpled up a piece of notebook paper and chucked it at him. “Just take my sweater and go, ya damn thief! Add it to the collection of crap you’ve taken from me, if you still have any of it, with your forgetful ass!”
Koushi figured Daichi’s reaction was all in jest, so he just laughed as the rumpled paper ball bounced harmlessly off of his shoulder. However, Daichi honestly was a little flustered, prompting him to hide his reddening face behind his hand. He truly wasn’t angry at Koushi for absconding his sweater; he was quite used to that little quirk of his by now, enough to keep back-ups of things in case Koushi made off with them.
No, it was just that something about Koushi calling them bonded made Daichi’s heart pound and his head spin and a giddy smile stretch across his face despite his effort to seem annoyed. It was something deeper than ordinary friendship, and yet, brotherhood didn’t quite seem right, either…
Bah, what was he getting all in his head for? It was just a sweater. Right?
Aaaaaaaany minute now, Daichi thought with a knowing smirk, watching out of the corners of his eyes as Koushi rifled through his duffel bag. Even though me, Asahi, and Kiyoko all texted him a checklist this morning, he’s gonna realize he’s missing something. Bet!
After a long bus ride, the Karasuno Boys Volleyball Team arrived in Tokyo for their training camp and settled into their hotel rooms to wind down for the night. Before getting too comfortable in his futon, Koushi had decided to lay out his outfit for tomorrow’s first day of practice. Most people wouldn’t find that to be something worth watching, especially not with bated breath—but this was Koushi. After two years, the guy still managed to surprise himself with his own forgetfulness, and Daichi had come to rather enjoy his dramatic little spectacles. Who didn’t love one last hurrah before bed?
“Tee-shirt… Shorts… Shoes…” Koushi muttered to himself as he laid out each article of clothing in a neat pile at the end of his futon. “Soc—Wait,” he frowned, and his ferreting through the duffel bag grew more feverish.
There it is, Daichi thought, his smirk widening. It was gratifying, how well he knew his best friend. If Koushi had managed to bring all of his clothes, half of Daichi would be proud—and half of him would wonder if he’d fallen asleep, or even if he’d stumbled into some bizarre parallel dimension.
Thankfully, that reality was not one Daichi had to face.
“Rats!” Koushi huffed, then sat back on his legs and crossed his arms with a vexed expression. “I forgot my socks!”
Chuckling to himself, Daichi grabbed his phone and pulled up the team’s secondary group chat. It was probably one of several, knowing his team’s predilection for shenanigans; this one in particular was one without Koushi, for the rest of them used it to place bets on what he would lose that week, or, when they had to travel, what he would forget to bring. Even the two coaches were in on it; they’d long since given up on trying to amend Koushi’s forgetful ways and instead opted to profit from them every now and then.
Who had socks? he texted.
As soon as the little bubble of text appeared on the screen, several people started typing. Then, the messages started to come rapid-fire. Most of them were lamentful, and some were downright indignant. It seemed that, in some devious scheme, Kei had convinced most of the others that Koushi would be more likely to forget something else—despite the fact that socks were easy to miss for anyone—and monopolized the betting pool to rake in over ten thousand yen. Daichi hadn’t fallen for his little game, and so he’d netted a nice little sum himself. He knew Koushi best, after all. The dude showed up sockless to practice at least once a week. There was no way in hell that he’d remember to bring them for this training camp!
Daichi made a mental note to secure his winnings from the rest of the team tomorrow morning, then left the group chat to dogpile Kei with disgruntled texts. There was no reason to get involved. The sadistic little first-year was probably reveling in it.
He rolled onto his side to plug in his cellphone charger; when he rolled back, he was greeted with a pouty Koushi.
“Daichiiiiiiiii,” he whined. “I need to borrow some socks…”
“Of course you do,” Daichi chuckled with a shake of his head, pulling himself into a sitting position. He then grabbed his travel bag, tugged it over, and began rummaging through its contents. Yes, Koushi was very lucky that Daichi knew him so well, for the dutiful captain had started packing extra sets of clothing items for him.
On the other hand, Koushi was unlucky that Daichi was his best friend because that opened him up to Daichi’s whimsical shenanigans. When Daichi procured a pair of knee-high gray socks plastered with black crows, Koushi’s bright smile fell into a shocked gape.
“... You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m dead serious,” Daichi grinned mischievously and gave the socks an emphatic shake. “Come on. I spent an hour trolling the Internet for these bad boys. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find socks with crows on them.” When Koushi glared dourly at him, Daichi cocked a brow and pressed, “You’re not gonna let my hard work go to waste, are you? Plus, I’m willing to bet your legs will look great in these.”
“Fine, I get it! This is my punishment for telling you three that I had all my shit when I clearly didn’t!” Koushi huffed and snatched the socks out of Daichi’s hands. He stood up to march over to his futon, but stopped halfway to shoot Daichi a reproachful glare over his shoulder.
“And jokes on you, my legs will look great in these.”
The next morning, Daichi graciously ate his words. Koushi flaunted the gaudy socks with pride—and they did make his legs look pretty great, Daichi wouldn’t lie. Between half of the gym cracking up and the rest having a little bit of gay panic, no one could hardly focus on their practice matches. It was so bad that Coach Ukai drove to the nearest store to grab a package of drab white socks for Koushi to replace the fabulous crow socks with. Daichi was admittedly disappointed.
He’d packed a whole week’s worth of them, after all.
“Tch. Where is he?” Daichi grumbled, arms crossed and staring at the door to the locker rooms. He’d arrived with Koushi, but here it was ten minutes into practice, and the guy had yet to join them. Daichi fleetingly wondered just what could be taking him so long, and then he arrived at the obvious conclusion: Koushi had forgotten his practice clothes.
It seemed that he wasn’t the only one to determine so.
“I swear, that kid would walk off without his head if it weren’t attached to his body,” Coach Ukai muttered as he glanced disparagingly at the locker room door. “I thought you told him to keep a spare set in his locker, Ittetsu?”
“Ah, well, I do recall him saying that he used the spare set yesterday and took it home to be washed,” their other coach laughed nervously while rubbing at the back of his neck. “Seems he forgot to bring it back… In addition to the set he’d normally bring…”
“Good grief,” Coach Ukai huffed and rolled his eyes. “He’s the most forgetful-ass kid I’ve ever met. He’s practically turned it into a sport in and of himself!”
The two adults’ griping was interrupted by the sound of the locker room door being thrown open.
“Sorry I’m late!” Koushi trilled, waving as he trotted across the gym. “I had to find a spare change of clothes since I forgot mine.” He stopped in front of the two coaches and Daichi and gave them a bright smile; however, it quickly dropped from his face when he realized all three of them were gawking at him. “What?”
“Koushi. That’s my game uniform,” Daichi sighed and face-palmed. He should have known that Koushi would go plundering in his locker (he’d long since memorized the combination to the lock), but he hadn’t expected him to nick his jersey and shorts! Daichi kept a spare set of practice clothes in there himself. Had Koushi already absconded with that, and Daichi hadn’t noticed?
“Hehe, it was the only thing in your locker!” Koushi chirped while turning his body left and right in brief stretches. “I took the extra set of clothes in there last week, but I must have forgotten to bring them back. Oops! Sorry, Daichi.”
“Don’t apologize, because you’re not sorry,” Daichi said wanly and lowered his hand from his face. Koushi met his weary smirk with an innocent grin, one that was belied by the mischievous glint in his eyes.
Daichi didn’t comment on it. He was too busy feeling some type of way about how Koushi looked in his uniform.
He bit down on his lip as all the moisture was suddenly wicked from his mouth and his chest grew a little tight. Despite himself, his eyes continued to slowly rove up and down Koushi’s form, drinking in the way the uniform fit him—or, rather, didn’t fit him. Daichi was broader than Koushi in a lot of places, and that realization was just… doing things to him. What was wrong with him? This definitely wasn’t the first time he’d seen Koushi wearing his clothes, so why did it bother him now? Well, bother wasn’t exactly the right word. That implied that Daichi had a problem with it, and it being a problem was the furthest thing from Daichi’s mind.
Koushi looked good. Sinfully good. Good enough for Daichi to think screw the practice clothes, Koushi could wear his uniform from now on instead.
“Yoo-hoo! Earth to Daichi!”
Daichi blinked to suddenly find Koushi standing in front of him, his hands on his hips and smiling teasingly.
“Cat got your tongue? I know I look good, but there’s no need to stare,” Koushi said with a wink.
“Psh,” Daichi huffed, and Koushi yelped when he pushed him away by the head. “In your dreams. I was just hoping to God that you weren’t going commando under there.”
“Never gonna let that one go, are you?”
“Nope. Never,” Daichi grinned, then hooked his arm around Koushi and tugged him close to affectionately tousle his hair. Koushi squeaked and squawked indignantly about Daichi “ruining his devilishly handsome good looks,” even though his hair would be a sweaty mess by the time practice was over anyhow.
Nope. He’d never let that go. He’d never let any part of Koushi go. Koushi could lose everything else, but Daichi was the one thing that would stick to him like glue. He’d make sure of that.
“Brrr! Is it just me, or has the temperature dropped ten degrees since we’ve been walking?” Koushi whined with a full-body shiver, feverishly rubbing at the sleeves of his jacket in an effort to bring warmth to his chilled extremities. “Winter really is the worst time of year… I can’t believe we have to play at the Spring Interhigh in this weather… Why do they call it the Spring Interhigh when it’s at the beginning of January, anyway?”
“Beats me,” Daichi chuckled with a shake of his head. “I’ve never really thought much about it. Weird thing to be thinking about the day before the tournament, by the way.”
“If I think about weird things, I don’t think about the fact that I’m slightly terrified for tomorrow,” Koushi responded with a wan smirk. “But thanks for reminding me. Now I’m back to being terrified,” he added with an elbow to Daichi’s ribs.
“It’s not fair if I’m terrified and you’re not,” Daichi said, elbowing him back.
They both chuckled, then fell into silence. The only sound was the crunch of their shoes against the layer of ice coating the sidewalk. Daichi had been surprised that morning when Koushi had suggested they walk to the school instead of taking the bus, given how much Koushi loathed winter weather. But now he understood. It was easier to gather their thoughts this way, trekking along the quiet road rather than cramming onto a crowded bus. Daichi knew he needed to mentally prepare himself for the trial ahead; but, like Koushi, he found his thoughts wandering everywhere but.
“... Hey. You remember that really cold day last year?”
Koushi tipped his head to the side as he searched his memory, then smiled.
“Oh, yeah! The day I almost became a Sugacicle because I forgot my jacket,” he laughed. “You gave me yours, didn’t you?”
“No, you took it. You never gave it back, by the way. Along with the one hundred other things you’ve stolen from me over the past three years.”
“Three years, huh?” Koushi smiled wistfully, too busy reveling in sudden nostalgia to respond to Daichi’s jibe. “Time really flies, doesn’t it? Won’t be long before we’re graduating.” His gaze was half-lidded as he stared into the swirl of snow flurries and whirling wind that partially obscured the stretch of road before them. “This really is it for us…”
“Yeah,” was all Daichi said. It was all he really could say. That thought had been on the forefront of his mind for some time now, and yet he still hadn’t really processed the fact that his high school career was coming to an end. It simultaneously felt like it would never come, yet scared him with how close on the horizon it loomed.
“Better fill out my collection of Daichi clothes before it’s too late!” Koushi grinned suddenly, and Daichi turned to see him greedily eyeing his scarf. “You’re hot-natured anyway, so you won’t mind if I take that, would you?”
“Nope. Not this time!” Daichi huffed and quickly yanked it away.
“Aw, what gives?” Koushi whined. He stopped walking, and Daichi stopped too, holding the ends of the scarf protectively.
“I want you to stop taking my stuff.”
“If it bothered you, why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Koushi pouted guiltily at him. “Half the time I just do it for the bit, you know… I still have all of it, if you want it back.”
The information made Daichi’s heart warm, for he wasn’t angry at all. It had been a long time since Koushi’s habit of filching his clothes had even remotely bothered him. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Daichi wanted Koushi to have them.
“Just stop talking and hear me out, silly,” Daichi chuckled. As Koushi watched with a perplexed expression, Daichi unwound the scarf; he then looped it around Koushi’s neck and pulled him close, eliciting a small gasp. Daichi had pulled him close enough for them to be nose-to-nose, their white breath clouding the small space between their faces. Koushi gazed up at Daichi with a mixture of apprehension and expectation, and Daichi just smiled softly.
“I want you to stop taking my stuff because I want you to just ask instead. I’ll gladly give you anything you want,” Daichi explained. “In return… Just stay with me, okay?” He reached up to gently brush a few strands of Koushi’s grey-brown locks from his face, and warmth bloomed where his fingertips brushed.
“... How long did you practice that one in the mirror?” Koushi snorted, but his smile was bright and full of happiness. He pushed closer to Daichi, eagerly crowding his space until their chests were touching and the space between their faces was mere centimeters. “I knew something was up when you walked outside in a scarf. You’ve never worn one for as long as I’ve known you.”
“Damn, and here I was thinking I was being slick as hell,” Daichi said, but he couldn’t even pretend to be disappointed with the mirthful smirk stretching across his face.
“Mmm, if I didn’t know you so well, it would have been a pretty smooth move,” Koushi conceded.
“You gonna keep making fun of me, or are you gonna answer my question?”
“Oh, is the answer not obvious?” Koushi smirked back. He threw his arms around Daichi’s shoulders, then leaned in to press a small, chaste kiss to his lips. He didn’t retreat, just murmured adoringly against his lips, “‘Course I’ll stay with you. How else would I get new clothes?”
“Um, shop , like a normal person?” Daichi laughed.
“Ugh! The horror,” Koushi huffed in mock disgust. But like Daichi, he was too busy grinning to even attempt to fake a pout. He hummed as he kissed Daichi again, long and lingering and relishing in his warmth.
“It took three years, but you finally stole something from me,” Koushi remarked after they came apart again. When Daichi looked at him puzzledly, he rolled his eyes. “My heart, duh!”
“Hey, cut me some slack. I was up all night practicing that line. I’m kinda sleepy, yanno,” Daichi chuckled.
“Fine, I’ll give you a break, only because that line was a pretty good one,” Koushi teased, then grabbed the scarf and further looped it around their necks. He snuggled up close to Daichi and snaked his hand down to grab his hand and squeeze it tight. “I just hope you know what you’re getting yourself into. My thieving habits are gonna get ten times worse.”
“That’s not a problem,” Daichi hummed. “Everyone’s gonna know you’re mine.”
“Oooh! What a line,” Koushi cried while fanning the bright red blush that blossomed in his cheeks. “And you didn’t even practice that one, did you? I’m impressed.”
“If you keep making fun of me, I’m gonna take the scarf back.”
“Noooo!” Koushi whined and plastered himself against Daichi’s side. “I’m so warm and toasty now. Don’t leave me to freeze!”
“Heh. You know I’d never,” Daichi smiled and squeezed Koushi’s hand. “A covalent bond is the hardest one to break, right?”
“You remember that?!”
Of course he did. All of Daichi’s memories with Koushi were so special, so vivid. Because of all the things that Koushi had stolen over the years, Daichi’s heart was probably the first. And Daichi was more than happy to let him keep it, because he got Koushi’s heart in return.
