Chapter Text
"You've got to stop with that."
"Hm," Suguru glances at Shoko from the corner of his eye, exhaling smoke the other way.
"Your whole," Shoko waves the hand her cigarette was perched in haphazardly. "Satoru, thing."
Suguru scowls and distantly regrets not blowing the smoker right in her face; she pitched her voice down with an added layer of breathiness in a half-assed attempt to mock his voice, just to be annoying.
"I don't sound like that. And I don't have a Satoru thing."
Not as far as he's concerned.
"You're doing it again." Shoko points her cigarette at him. "And he's not even here to hear it. Stop, it's annoying."
Suguru's scowl deepens as he moves Shoko's cigarette out of his face; he's going to have to have a talk about her not using it as a pointer at this rate. Before he could muster up a further defence, he spots a familiar mop of white hair bobbing over the edge of the school's stairs. He felt a smile tugging at his lips and stood up, stretching muscles that have long grown stiff from how long him and Shoko sat on the stairs waiting for Satoru.
"Yo, Satoru!"
Satoru glances up at the sound of his name, his grouchy expression clearing and an answering grin appearing on his face.
"Suguru," he calls out, bounding up the stairs two at a time now. Suguru braces himself just in time to catch Satoru as the other boy crashes into him, wrapping an arm around his waist to turn them towards the school.
Suguru ignores Shoko's muttered 'save me,' as he pulls away and falls into step with Satoru, the other boy's arm remaining around his shoulders. Shoko joins them on Satoru's other side moments later, digging her elbow into his side.
"So, how were the clan elders?"
Satoru let out a long groan his head tipping back to knock against Suguru's. "So boring, they're always so boring, I don't even know why they bother."
Suguru shoves him off in retaliation. "You really should pay more attention in those meetings, Satoru, you'll be clan head one day."
The boy in question groans again and sticks his tongue out. "I'll start paying more attention once they have something interesting to say."
Never one to stray far, Satoru gravitates back to Suguru's side as he talks, arms brushing together. Shoko leans forward slightly to fix both of them with an unimpressed stare and Suguru was suddenly gripped with dread at the thought of her bringing up their earlier conversation. He's still not sure what Shoko was getting at, but he knew that the last thing he needed was Satoru himself thinking Suguru had a Satoru thing - that boy didn't need further encouragement in any direction. He gave her a pleading look, knowing full well that any attempts at coercion would just fuel her.
Shoko fell back into step with them with an annoyed exhale. "I'm leaving, I can't stand you two sometimes."
She took off down the grounds away from them, throwing an arm up goodbye. The two boys were left standing staring at her retreating back, Satoru squinting behind his glasses. "What's up with her?" he asked.
Suguru tugs on his arm, Satoru letting himself get dragged back to his side easily enough, trudging the familiar path back to their dorms. "I wouldn't worry about it."
"You know something you're not telling me," he accuses, shoving Suguru ahead of him. "Tell me."
Suguru rolls his eyes, continuing down the corridor and not bothering to slow down and let Satoru catch up. Not that he would have to slow down much anyways - he could already hear Satoru's lengthened strides as he hurried to catch up to him. Opening the door to his room, he didn't bother closing it as moments later Satoru barged in, slamming the door shut with more enthusiasm than Suguru would've preferred. He glares at him, only getting a dismissive hand wave back.
Suguru, feeling the very least slighted at being dismissed in his own room, opens his mouth to protest but the words get caught halfway when he catches how tired Satoru looks. Satoru, who for some reason has decided to flop face down onto his bed, glasses thrown haphazardly on the nightstand. Suguru's nightstand that was next to his bed.
Suguru sighed and decided to let it go for the time being. He leans over to ruffle his hair. "Satoru," he calls out teasingly.
There's a muffled noise from the boy who is seemingly doing his damnedest to smother himself with Suguru's pillow. Something that sounds like 'no' and 'nap time', and Suguru snorts. He grabs a book off his nightstand and settles down on the floor, leaning back against his bed. Satoru pats his head absentmindedly before his hand falls slack, curling against Suguru's nape.
Suguru can be normal about this. He can. The touch doesn't bother him.
He tries to focus on the book in his lap but all he can think about is the gentle brush of fingers against the back of his neck. Satoru seems to be completely out of it, barely perceptible even breaths puffing against the pillow. Suguru still hasn't read a single word of his book. He considers waking Satoru up and dismisses the thought almost immediately.
It's not like he's doing anything wrong.
It's not Satoru's fault that Suguru's capacity of keeping it together has apparently ran its course today. A new record, really.
Touch between the two of them isn't anything new, and Suguru would rather sit in detention for the next year than make any attempts at discouraging Satoru. Would probably rather sit there for the next two than admit it. Satoru is the first person that he not only doesn't mind being touchy with, but actively encourages it.
And he's used to it. He really is.
But he's used to Satoru leaning against him, his warmth a steady presence. An arm around his shoulder, his waist. An elbow locked around his. Purposeful and constant touches that Suguru has learned to brace for.
But this gentle barely there touch might just be his undoing.
Satoru is larger than life on most days, confident and exuberant and an absolute menace, and Suguru loves him for it. But he's also gentle and kind when he wants to be, and Suguru knows that that's a side of his best friend only he gets to witness regularly. This reminder is doing weird things to his heart.
A rustle of sheets behind him alerts Suguru that he might have spent more time thinking about his best friend than intended and he tilts his head backwards to catch a glance of Satoru grumpily waking up, nose scrunched up.
Just like a cat, he thinks fondly.
However, Suguru has had enough of Satoru getting away with haunting his thoughts, so he reaches for the hand that's been driving him mad for the past hour and uses Satoru's grogginess to tug him across and over him, making the other boy sprawl out on the ground in front of him with a solid thud.
Satoru squints up at him annoyed, and Suguru, pacified for the moment, goes back to the book he's been trying to read for the past hour. He makes it through five pages before Satoru is wiggling closer to him, settling his head in the dip of Suguru's crossed legs, forcing Suguru to lift his book up.
Suguru looks down at him, unimpressed.
Satoru blinks up at him innocently.
"Do you mind?" he asks dryly.
Satoru lets the grin that was tugging at his corners widen, wriggling in a clear attempt to make himself comfortable. He grabs the hand that isn't holding the book, laying Suguru's palm over his eyes, and waves his own in the air in the same dismissive gesture he had earlier. "Not at all."
Suguru doesn't shove him off immediately, and blames the orange sunset filtering through his window for making everything seem a little warmer, a little softer. He sighs and readjusts slightly, resting the book on his knee, keeping his hand gently over Satoru's eyes. Unconsciously, he starts reading out loud, his voice barely louder than the wind outside. Satoru shifts, and Suguru pauses, realising what he's doing.
Satoru settles back down and taps his wrist, loosely locking his fingers around it. "Keep going," he says, voice barely louder than Suguru's was.
Suguru stares at him for a bit, before exhaling. "Alright, Satoru."
There's a gentle smile on his face when Suguru looks down at him, and Suguru can't help mirroring it.
Just for me, Suguru can't help thinking, before continuing where he left off, voice just loud enough for Satoru to hear.
///
Suguru makes it to class just in time, which is to say, he gets there after Shoko, but comfortably before Satoru. He throws himself down into his seat, boneless in his morning grogginess, and he hears Shoko snort next to him.
"Where's your worse half?" There's a cigarette between her lips, but it's unlit, and Suguru notes that he should suggest getting Shoko more lollipops to Satoru later.
Voice still lagging behind his brain in the early morning, Suguru grunts and shrugs. Slides further down his seat. "Asleep probably, how should I know?"
Shoko gives him that look again, and Suguru definitely feels like he's missing something now. "You really don't know, do you?" she sighs out.
Suguru furrows his brow and tries to figure out what the hell that means. He's barely made it out of his own dorm in time, why should he know where Satoru is? Was there an emergency mission? Did he get called away? Did he get injured? Is that why Shoko is asking him about Satoru?
He looks at her, now fully awake with self-inflicted worry. "Did he get hurt? Is he okay?"
Shoko stares at him. And then stares some more. Suguru tries really hard not to fidget under her gaze. She's still staring at him. And she's still not telling him if Satoru's okay.
Before Suguru can worry himself into a full blown panic, and halfway to talking himself out of doing something stupid like shaking Shoko for answers he decides she must posses, the boy in question slams the door open, stumbling into the room. Suguru's eyes immediately snap onto him, scanning for any possible injury, for anything that might be wrong. He's entirely disheveled, yes, shirt sitting crooked across his shoulders, glasses perched precariously, and hair sticking every which way, but uninjured. He looks as put together as he does every morning. Suguru lets himself relax fully when Satoru looks at him with a bright grin.
"Morning, Suguru."
Shoko's looking at him disbelievingly again, and Suguru really wants to know what she's thinking now. Satoru walks past her to his seat, hand hovering over her head for a moment but at a sharp glance from her, he settles on patting her shoulder in greeting. Suguru hooks his ankle around the chair next to him, dragging it closer before Satoru collapses onto it in the same way Suguru did earlier. He splays himself out across the desks, arm laid out across Suguru's, and Suguru takes comfort in the clearly uninjured Satoru by trying to pat his hair into something less resembling a bird's nest.
"You're late," he says, in lieu of a greeting.
Satoru scoffs but makes no attempt at sitting up or moving away from Suguru's hand.
"Wouldn't be late if you let me sleep with you."
Yaga walks in and interrupts whatever retort Suguru could give, and the boys shift out of each other's personal space after a pointed glance from Shoko, Satoru's chair scraping against the floor as he leans back on it. Suguru is tempted to kick at it just to see if he'll lose his balance, but Yaga is already staring at them with an unimpressed look, and Suguru would like to keep up the pretense of being the mature one of their little trio for at least a little while longer. He crosses his arms and pretends the furrow of his brow is from focusing on the lesson and not the beginnings of a pout.
He takes notes dully and carefully but boredom sets in quickly regardless, and barely halfway through the lesson he's ripping a piece of paper from his notebook. 'Why do you keep bringing up Satoru,' he writes down neatly, quietly slipping the note on Shoko's desk.
Shoko glances down at the note, but doesn't bother opening it for several long seconds as she finishes writing down whatever it was she was writing down. Suguru sincerely doubts its got anything to do with the current lesson. He taps his fingers against his desk, eyes on the board. Does not look at Shoko or the note. She grabs the note and lets out what Suguru can only describe as an angry exhale, and he winces at the sharp scratch of her pen as she writes down her response with far more aggression than Suguru thinks his question warrants.
The note gets deposited back on his desk with a slam but he's left with no more clarification as 'You like him and it's annoying,' stares up at him in Shoko's chicken scratch.
Of course he likes Satoru. He's his best friend, his favourite person, why wouldn't he like him?
Shoko leans over to grab the note back, Suguru's face clearly conveying something she doesn't like, and scrawls something down again with just as much force as before. She deposits it back on his desk with the same slam as well. Suguru really doesn't think that his question warrants this much anger at all.
Just beneath her previous sentence, Shoko wrote 'He likes you as well which makes it even more annoying', and if he was confused before, he's truly lost now. She even underlined he and you, as if the emphasis is supposed to clue Suguru in.
Of course Satoru likes him. He's said as much before, calls Suguru his one and only, he's never doubted that Satoru likes him. Mutual appreciation being a fairly important aspect of friendship, he's been told.
Suguru really isn't sure what Shoko is trying to tell him, and by the growing scowl on her face, she seems to realise this.
A bunched up note sails in front of him before landing on Shoko's desk, and Suguru glances at Satoru to see him holding up a hair tie between two fingers, tongue trapped between his teeth. He looks unreasonably proud of his makeshift slingshot, so Suguru stomps on his foot to get the stupid look off his face. Satoru immediately turns to him with a pout, and Suguru refuses to feel bad. He deserved it.
Shoko replies to Satoru's note with as much aggression as she did Suguru's, and he's not surprised at all when she throws the note back at Satoru's head, none too gently. Suguru leaned back in his chair to make sure she had a clear shot, and all. He looks at Satoru out of the corner of his eye, noting that his ears flushed red as he read the note.
Cute, he thinks absentmindedly.
Yaga dismisses them a couple of minutes later, walking out of the class and leaving them to gather their things up. Suguru wastes no time in crowding his best friend's personal space, leaning over him to try and read the note. Whatever it was, it made him blush, which made it Suguru's business.
"Satoru," he drawls out teasingly, "What does the note say?" He rests his head on top of Satoru's and his hand on the desk, trapping him in place. Satoru freezes momentarily, before slamming his hand flat against the note, and now Suguru is really curious. Satoru tries to give Shoko a pleading look, but she's already halfway out the door and shoots him a middle finger over her shoulder.
Suguru for his part is trying to pry Satoru's fingers off the table, without any success. In moments like these he wishes their strength was a little less equal, but Satoru's palm remains steadfast against the desk despite his best efforts. He tries to ease off in an attempt to lure him into a false sense of security, but the moment Satoru senses it, he's grabbing the note and shoving it into his pocket, standing up suddenly and hitting Suguru in the process from where his head was still resting.
"What the fuck, you bastard," Suguru hisses, rubbing his chin in pain.
Satoru hovers around him uncertainly, hands seemingly wanting to touch, but stopping himself before he can. He shoves one hand into a pocket, and runs the other through his hair.
"I... have to go," he says with as much confidence as he can muster, which by Suguru's estimation, is none at all. Satoru nods as if trying to convince himself. "Yeah, I've got something to do, I'll catch you later." He doesn't give Suguru time to reply before hurrying out of the class.
Suguru's left blinking bemusedly after him, and he sighs when he notices that in Satoru's hurry to do whatever he apparently had to do right this instant, he's left his bag behind. He gathers both of their things up and dumps the bags in his room, making his way outside to wait out the idiot.
He doesn't have to wait long, as not even a half hour later he can see Satoru making his way towards him. He settles down next to him, and Suguru accepts the can of unsweetened tea Satoru pushes into his hand for the silent apology it is. His shoulder is warm against Suguru's where he's leaning more against him than the tree, and he lets himself relax into it as Satoru starts going on about something inane, only half listening.
///
The mission brief wasn't accurate, an occurrence that has been far too common recently. Considering Suguru's Special Grade status, not the end of the world, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.
A handful of Grade 2's the brief said. No more than three.
Suguru left Satoru sleeping in the morning, the sun barely peaking over the horizon leaving him grouchy and unwilling to disturb the other without reason. A handful of Grade 2's. Nothing requiring two Special Grades. He left Satoru sleeping.
Trudging up the stairs back to school, the sun readily sunk behind the horizon, Suguru is seriously regretting his decision. A handful of Grade 2's has turned into a Grade 1, and a handful of Grade 2's flanked by more than a handful of Grade 3's. Nothing he couldn't handle, but chasing them down on his own took hours, with nothing more than the rolling nausea to keep him company. His phone died at some point during the fight, and the bad mood that's been chasing him since the morning returned ten fold when he flipped it open to call Satoru just to be met with a black screen.
His plan of finishing the mission early and grabbing breakfast just in time to stroll back as Satoru was waking up has been thoroughly trampled.
He still had yet to see Satoru at all today, which certainly wasn't helping things. It was supposed to be their day off, with an easy mission in the morning, and the rest of the day theirs to enjoy. There was a bakery they both wanted to go to in the city, and Suguru's mood fouled further when he realised it'll be at least another week before they're allowed out again.
Suguru drags himself back to the dorms, shouldering the door open and kicking it shut behind him. The noise attracted attention from the people occupying the living room, and he realised with tamped down dread that Nanami and Haibara came over and were hanging out with Shoko.
"Geto-san," Haibara calls out with a grin, "welcome back."
Suguru did his best to offer him a tired smile in reply, but his attention was taken by the missing member of their group. "Where's Satoru?"
Haibara's face fell into a confused frown as Shoko waved her hand in the air dismissively as if expecting the question. "He's sulking in his room." Her eyes ran over his form with enough focus to make him uncomfortable, if he wasn't already used to it. "You good?"
Suguru heard the implied question about injuries and grunted in affirmation. "Just tired," he mutters, passing the group in the living room on the way to their rooms.
Ignoring the shouted invitation to join them from Haibara, he walks straight past the door to his room and to Satoru's, not bothering to knock before walking in. He finds him lying in bed, the DS held above his head offering the only light in the room, and glasses looking untouched on his nightstand. Satoru made no move to acknowledge Suguru, and he exhales with wry amusement at just how accurate Shoko's earlier dig was.
Deciding that he can leave Satoru sulking for a little while longer, he moves to raid his closet, grabbing a spare change of clothes, Satoru's favourite Digimon shirt and hoodie included. Suguru never claimed to be above petty thievery in retaliation to the silent treatment he's getting. Walking out to head to the bathroom, he made sure to leave the door wide open, the light from the hallway far too bright for the dark room.
After freshening up and feeling a bit more human for it, but no less tired, he heads back to Satoru's room. The door was still open, Satoru looking like he hasn't moved at all, DS still held aloft, a slight dip between his eyebrows. Would be convincing as well, if it wasn't for the glass of water and pack of mints that have magically appeared on Satoru's bedside table. Suguru throws his uniform on top of Satoru's laundry pile and lets his shoulders drop as he closes the door behind him. He chugs down the water and throws a couple of mints in his mouth and then without giving Satoru any warning, Suguru flops down right on top of him, tucking his head against Satoru's shoulder. He hid his grin at the heavy wheeze his actions got, the other boy having all the air punched out of him suddenly.
"What the fuck, bastard," Satoru snaps, sounding strangled.
Suguru simply hums in reply, happy to just have Satoru close after spending the day apart. Satoru huffs, the action jostling Suguru, who in retaliation blows warm breath across his collarbone. An action that causes Satoru to shiver, Suguru noted absentmindedly, too tired to do anything more with that information.
"No, please, make yourself comfortable, I don't mind."
All Satoru's comments get is another satisfied hum, and Suguru lets himself relax fully as the DS is tossed to the side and two arms wrap around him, one of Satoru's hands running through his hair.
"Did you have dinner?" Satoru mutters, somehow still sounding put off.
Suguru shakes his head, already half asleep now that he's comfortable and warm, Satoru's hand running through his hair a soothing distraction from the aches of his muscles and the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.
His answer is met with another sigh, one with a hint of defeat in it, so Suguru isn't overly concerned about being forced to move. He reaches up to pat the side of Satoru's face, nose burying in the side of his neck.
"Yeah, yeah." Suguru doesn't bother fighting the amount of fondness that runs through him at the petulant tone, Satoru still clinging to his put on annoyance despite his arms tightening around Suguru. "We'll go for soba tomorrow."
Satoru doesn't even like soba that much, but Suguru does so he's not about to complain. He's already asleep by the time Satoru presses a kiss to the top of his head with a mumbled, "Missed you."
///
The afternoon found them lazing around in the living room of the second year dorms, thankfully silent with the first years out on a mission. Suguru wasn't quite sure why they were so insistent on hanging around so much, but blames the fact that it's just the two of them in the year. He can't quite imagine what it would be like if their year was any combination of two between him, Satoru, and Shoko, and doesn't really care to either.
Shoko, drawing the short stick, was chosen to brave the falling temperature to grab groceries, Satoru already agreeing to cook as long as there's fresh produce in the fridge. Suguru, for his part, was happy to stay out of it, his impromptu solo mission a convenient excuse to laze about and boss the other two around.
Suguru still holding onto some form of decorum sat slouched on the couch, while Satoru, possessing none, has thrown himself down onto his lap, one leg extended over the couch's backrest, and the other extended straight over its arm. He might be inclined to offer a token protest on any other day, but still feeling the aches of the mission and relatively relaxed against the couch cushions, he's happy to sit here with a hand tangled in white silky hair, watching Satoru play the DS he's angled just enough for him to see.
Suguru's never been one to be particular about active days off, and he's not looking to start now.
The peace, however, can't last long as Shoko bursts inside in a flurry of cursing and cold wind still clinging to her. Suguru cranes his neck back to watch her dump her jacket and shoes near the door, before she makes her way over to them, throwing the grocery-laden bag on top of Satoru and herself on Suguru's other side. Aside from a huff of air when the bag collides with his stomach, Satoru makes no attempt at moving.
Suguru lets himself relax minutely, which turned out to be the exactly the wrong thing to do. The moment he slumped back, Shoko was leaning over him and tugging his hand out of Satoru's hair. Ignoring the dissatisfied noises from both the boys at the action, she started collecting Satoru's hair at the top of his head, tying them up with flourish. She leaned back looking wholly satisfied with herself, and Suguru couldn't help the snicker he let out at the sight of quite possibly the world's spikiest top knot.
That finally got Satoru to move, and he sits up, turning around so he could glare petulantly at the two of them. The grocery bag was clutched against him, and combined with the top knot, Suguru had a hard time taking him seriously.
"Go put the food away, and bring us something hot to drink," Shoko says, dropping her head on Suguru's shoulder. Satoru makes an offended noise and looks like he was going to argue for all of two seconds, before he realises that Shoko just bought the food and Suguru has a self proclaimed pass, leaving him as the odd one out. "I'll make sure your pillow doesn't move."
It was Suguru's turn to be offended, and he shrugs his shoulder to jostle Shoko, Satoru already up and moving and too far away to bother. "Is that all I am to you two?"
"Yes," came the simultaneous reply, perfectly in sync.
Suguru scowls, but was too endeared to make it stick. He cranes his neck to watch Satoru busy himself in the kitchen, and couldn't help his lips quirking up when he saw that Satoru hasn't bothered taking the hair tie out. It was an awfully domestic sight, Satoru relaxed and languid in a way that Suguru knows he only really lets himself be around him.
Sensing the eyes on him, Satoru turns around, hands tucked into the pockets of his hoodie - my hoodie, Suguru thinks, something warm curling inside him - and met Suguru's eyes with a bright grin. The one that made the dimples in his cheek apparent and crinkled his eyes shut, and Suguru is gone, his own smile appearing without effort. The warm feeling in his chest grows as Shoko snorts next to him and Satoru turns back around to finish their drinks. Suguru is left staring at his back, remnants of a smile still on his lips, warmth and fondness radiating in his body and.
Oh.
That's what Shoko meant.
He turns panicked eyes at her now, slumping down low in his seat as if that'll do anything to hide him from Satoru.
Shoko flails for a moment with the sudden movement, huffing her displeasure and turning to him with an annoyed frown. "What is it now?" she asks flatly.
"Shoko," Suguru hisses, somewhat desperate, still very much panicked. "How long have I been in love with Satoru?"
Shoko looks at him incredulously before throwing her head back with a loud cackle, and Suguru would be happier for the sound if it wasn't at his expense. Unsurprisingly, the sound garners Satoru's attention, which is the last thing Suguru needs right now, so he uses one hand to try and wave him off, while trying to clamp the other over Shoko's mouth to stop her. Satoru, figuring he'll find out what's going on soon enough, ambles back to the kitchen while Shoko desperately tries to hold her laughter back, Suguru's glare seemingly not helping in the slightest.
"You're so fucking stupid," Shoko finally says, amusement still clear in her voice. "Don't worry." She pats his shoulder. "He's oblivious."
Suguru had no idea how that's supposed to be reassuring in any way, but he's on his back foot here so he'll take any win he can, even if it's at Satoru's expense. Before he can make any attempt at pulling himself together, Satoru is making his way back to the couch, balancing three mugs in his hands, tongue trapped between his teeth and poking out slightly. By Shoko's snicker next to him, he figures his face falls somewhere between lovesick and on the verge of a heart attack, but he really can't help it. Considering the revelation he just had, he deserves at least some sympathy.
Satoru puts down the three mugs on the low table in front of the couch before collapsing back into his previous spot, jostling both Suguru and Shoko, Shoko's glare significantly more annoyed than his own. He stretches back out across Suguru's lap, and if Suguru felt panicked before, it's nothing compared to what he's feeling now. Satoru, oblivious to how Suguru's world tilted on its axis not five minutes ago, stretches so he can poke Shoko in the cheek.
"What's got you laughing?" he asks as Shoko batted his hand away. He frowns and then very pointedly digs an elbow into Suguru's side. "The fuck's got you all tense?"
Suguru's halfway to making an excuse, thinking of anything to stop Shoko from potentially incriminating him, when Satoru scowls at Shoko, poking her cheek again. "You broke our pillow," he says accusingly.
Shoko glares down at him, batting his hand away again with far more force than she did previously. "I didn't do shit."
The two of them descend into an argument that Suguru doesn't think actually involves anything other than hurling insults at each other, so he busies himself by gently extracting the tie from Satoru's hair, running his hand gently through the soft mess. Other than Satoru leaning into his hand, his actions seem to do nothing to deter the other two from their bickering and Suguru is happy to just sit back, a hand tangled in Satoru's hair, and let the voices of his best friends wash over him; as annoyed as they sound with each other.
There's an unspoken I love you that sits on his tongue when he looks down at the boy in his lap now. He's going to have to do something about that soon. Probably. For now, he swallows the words down with no bitterness to be found.
///
The Sister Exchange Event is as annoying and boring as Suguru remembers it being in their first year. It's made only slightly bearable by Satoru being determined to entertain him this time around, rather than annoy him, as he did in their first year.
He only wishes that the Kyoto students also got the memo about annoying him.
All the students are stood around in the courtyard of their school, split into self determined groups. Suguru is standing with Shoko, Haibara, and Nanami, Satoru volunteering to get them snacks for the upcoming event. He knows it really was just an excuse to escape the sight of the Kyoto students so he let him go. He really wishes he tagged along as he shoots a polite smile to the fifth Kyoto student he caught staring at him.
Suguru tunes back into the conversation his friends are having just to in time to catch the tail end of Haibara's animated story.
"And then he approached Gojo-san," Haibara says, and suddenly Suguru wishes that he was paying more attention to the story than he had been.
Nanami scoffs at that, clearly hearing more of the story than Suguru did. "I don't know why he would even want to, Gojo is unbearable to deal with on a good day."
"He's not that bad," Haibara defends, before Suguru's hackles could rise. He could see Shoko narrowing her eyes at him on the side. "Plus," he continues brightly, "he always carries sweets around to hand out, and brings us souvenirs from wherever he and Geto-san get sent to."
Suguru finally decides to join the conversation now that its turned to something that isn't the event.
"You're right he's not that bad," Suguru says with a fond smile, "he's probably worse than what you're thinking." Because Satoru most certainly is, and just because Suguru is apparently in love with him, doesn't mean he's about to go any easier on him.
"You're just as bad as he is," Shoko snorts next to him. Suguru feigns offense, turning his narrowed stare at Nanami when he makes a noise of agreement.
Before he can say anything, he catches sight of Satoru towering over the rest of the students as he makes his way over to them, filled bags in both his hands. He waves him over, meeting Satoru's grin with a matching smile of his own. His smile falls when he sees Satoru get intercepted by one of the Kyoto boys.
Suguru's eyes narrow in annoyance as he measures the other boy up. He's a pretty little thing, he supposes, with narrow features, dark hair swept back, falling just short of Satoru's height. But considering he's standing next to Satoru, he doesn't hold a candle, and Suguru's attention is firmly focused on his best friend. His best friend, who's eyebrows have climbed above his round glasses, and has the beginnings of a smirk pulling at his lips, and what the fuck is Satoru doing.
He's never once entertained any advances during these events, but here he is now, smirking and letting the other boy lean closer to him, clearly amused with whatever he's saying. Something mean coils in Suguru's stomach as he sees the other boy reach for Satoru's shoulder, a dramatic pout on his face as his hand meets the cool coil of infinity. Before Suguru can do something stupid, Satoru is already brushing him off, saying something short to him before he's turning back to their group.
He settles, somewhat, when Satoru comes to a stop next to him and slings an arm around his shoulders, a warm and comforting weight. It doesn't stop him from curling his hand around Satoru's hip, just veering on the side of possessive, hand against sun warmed shirt, thumb slipping under it to meet hot skin, because he can, because he's the only one allowed. He ducks slightly, to meet the eyes of the Kyoto student who's been staring at Satoru since their interaction, a sharp glare on his features. The other boy ducks and turns away, ears burning red.
Satisfied, he turns back to his group of friends, just to meet Shoko's unimpressed stare. "I take it back," she says flatly. "You're so much worse."
Suguru splutters, only slightly chagrined at being caught out.
Satoru only looks at him bemused, and Suguru's never been more grateful for his shameless acceptance of any touch between them. Curses it a little as well, because Satoru will never read more into Suguru's actions, even when all he wants is more.
Suguru's never been one to consider himself greedy, but it's easy to be when Satoru always seems happy to give whatever Suguru wants. Easily takes Suguru's weight when he slumps against him after a mission, lets him run his hand over the expanse of his back during early mornings. But Satoru invites the touch so much that he can't find it in himself to feel any guilt. Especially not in the face of some shameless Kyoto shaman.
So Suguru isn't greedy. Not in a way he'll admit to. But it's hard to deny himself the heady feeling of reaching out, just to find his other half already reaching back.
He blames that feeling for causing him to immediately agree with Satoru's suggestion of finding a clearing to catch a quick nap in when the event starts. Shoko went with Haibara and Nanami, figuring she'll be able to offer them more help rather than sticking with him and Satoru to laze around. Suguru appreciates the effort she's putting in, despite knowing it's got more to do with not wanting to put up with them for however many hours it'll take for the two of them to get bored and clear the forest, than any real sense of responsibility.
The Kyoto students really stand no chance. Suguru wonders, just like he did last year, what the point of the event is if they're just going to let two special grades loose. Solidarity, team spirit, whatever, sure, doesn't change the fact that the moment they decide to end the event, between Satoru's Six Eyes and Suguru's curse inventory they can clear all the curses before the other school can find a single one.
However, that's for later.
Suguru finds himself following Satoru into a small clearing, huffing in amusement when Satoru impatiently gestures for him to sit down, and settles down with his back against one of the trees. Satoru wastes no time in plopping down next to him once he's settled, laying his head down on his lap and Suguru can't help the slight smile as he starts running his hand through soft hair. For someone in constant motion, it never fails to amaze Suguru how easily Satoru relaxes into his touch, even here, surrounded by cursed spirits and sorcerers willing to fight on sight.
His musings are interrupted minutes later when he catches the sound of twigs breaking on the outskirts of the clearing and voices coming closer.
"I saw them go this way," comes the voice of one of the Kyoto first years.
"We'll get the drop on them; I want to get back at them for embarrassing us last year." Suguru almost snorts at the comment, recognising the voice of one of the second year boys Satoru took particular pleasure in tormenting last year. As if anyone here was capable of sneaking up on them.
"I don't know, are you sure they went this way?" a third voice joins them.
Any further conversation is cut off as they break through the tree line, coming to a step several meters away from where they're sat. Suguru first glances down at Satoru, who by the small puffs of air he can feel against his shirt, is already napping, then at the trio who disturbed them. The boy from earlier is with them, he notes sourly, before offering them a placid smile.
The trio seem to regain their bearings, the second year reaching for his weapon with a narrowed gaze. Before they can move, Suguru uses his free hand to summon two curses over his shoulders, a particularly crazed looking grade 2 and a grade 1 that's more eyes than skin. Never dropping his smile or moving his hand off Satoru, he lets the menacing energy of his curses permeate the clearing, the three teenagers standing opposite him freezing as it reaches them.
No words are spoken as all three of them turn on their heels and flee.
Suguru looks down again, just to meet a cerulean gaze filled with mirth who's owner he was decidedly trying not to disturb. Maybe the curses weren't his brightest idea.
Satoru leans up just enough to reach his curses, crowing a bright "Bubblegum," as he reaches out to pet the Grade 2. He gasps as he looks at the Grade 1, making sure to pet it as well. "Look at you," he coos, "you've got more eyes than I do."
The sight is just endearing enough, Suguru just fond enough, that he doesn't mind the sharp elbow jamming into his thigh all that much.
He dismisses them moments later, flicking Satoru's forehead when he pouts up at him from where he settled back down on his lap. Flicks it again when Satoru just keeps staring up at him.
"What is it?"
Satoru just keeps looking at him, and it takes a significant amount of willpower for him not to fidget. He has a dumber look on his face than usual.
"Have you ever heard of quantum entanglement?" he asks finally.
"No." Suguru squints down at him. "Is this one of your weird physics things again?"
Satoru laughs, the sound sharp and bright in the silence of the forest, and Suguru can't help the answering chuckle at the sound. Satoru's eyes catch at the sight, and he's not sure what compels him, but when Satoru reaches out a hand up as if to touch him, Suguru grabs it and guides it to the side of his face himself.
"Yeah," Satoru says, voice soft in a way he's only ever heard it late at night or early in the morning. Never when the sun is high. The hand on his face feels scorching. "Yeah, it is."
The 'I love you' on his tongue is a little harder to swallow this time.
///
The smoke alarm in their dorm hasn't worked since the first week of school. Between Shoko's refusal to be parted with her cigarettes and well, everyone's habit of managing to burn at least one meal a week, it was an easy decision to make. Yaga doesn't visit their dorms anywhere near often enough to worry about him finding out.
Suguru stares up at it now. It's well past midnight and they've just come back from a mission. With several centimeters of height added over the summer break, Satoru was the only one who could reach it comfortably on his tip toes and Suguru remembers standing next to him, arms outstretched as if to catch him. Wonders why Satoru was so insistent he be there to begin with. Moral support, he supposes. Thinks 'How many special grades does it take to turn off the smoke alarm?' and snickers to himself.
Twin half-hearted kicks meet his calves, and he shoots an equally half-hearted glare at Shoko. Kicks Satoru's leg properly, from where he's sprawled out on the floor between his own, head shoved in the open fridge for apparent 'brain fried' reasons. He's leaning against the fridge door to make sure it doesn't slam shut against Satoru, and he's trying very hard not to think about the fact that he's lying between his legs.
"Okay." Shoko breaks the silence in a half-hearted whisper, exhaustion dragging her words. "Satoru, your doctor sanctioned fridge time is over." She looks like she's considering getting off the counter she's sprawled across to do something for a moment. Kick him probably.
Suguru is relatively confident in his assessment so he decides to be helpful and jams his foot against Satoru's hip.
Satoru lets out a groan that is all for show and makes no attempt at moving. Suguru's next kick is aimed at the ticklish spot near his ribs. It makes Satoru snort and squirm enough for his shirt to ride up and suddenly Suguru isn't finding it very funny anymore.
Thankfully, Satoru does eventually sit up, saving Suguru's sanity in the process. He drops a hand to ruffle his hair absentmindedly once he's in reach and he swears Satoru practically purrs under the touch. Suguru indulges him, leaving it there and petting the soft hair gently.
Shoko clears her throat not at all quietly, and when Suguru turns to look at her she's very pointedly staring down at Satoru. He must've had his eyes closed because he's blinking up at her confused, but then something must've clicked because he's suddenly blushing, ears burning red. Suguru squints at Shoko trying to figure out what look could've possibly embarrassed Satoru this much, but doesn't get very far. The look she levels at him is less sharp, but no less exasperated.
Shoko drags her eyes between the two of them and Suguru knows for a fact that he's definitely too tired for the look in her eyes. "Hey, Satoru," she starts. "What's your type?"
Suguru is definitely too tired for this.
Satoru looks entirely too betrayed to be genuine, but the trepidation in his voice is anything but. "My type?"
"Me," Suguru says flatly. Regrets the overt flirt immediately, gets pacified equally as fast when Satoru's earlier embarrassment comes back with vengeance.
"You're not my type," Satoru denies immediately with vehemence, ears very much still red.
"Well you're not my type either," Suguru fires back, like a liar. If Satoru isn't going to take the easy way out of this conversation he offered him, he's not about to make it any easier on him now.
"The fuck you mean I'm not your type," he splutters. "I'm everyone's type."
Satoru in all his indignation has stood up now, leaning against the counter opposite him. Shoko is looking between the two of them like they're one of her case studies. Suguru lets his eyes trail leisurely up Satoru's body until he meets his eyes. Tries very hard to remember that he's trying to rile him up and nothing else. Satoru flushes under his gaze and Suguru feels something warm in his chest at how easily flustered Satoru gets with him.
This boy is going to be the death of him.
"Nah." Suguru is very careful to not let his tone betray him. "I prefer them tougher."
Never one to back down, Satoru pulls himself together in record time. "I'm tough."
That gets a snort out of Shoko, and Satoru turns to her with a glare. "I'm so tough."
"Look at you," Suguru coos, now more determined to get under his skin than ever. "You're not tough at all, pretty boy."
Satoru falters, and flushes an even deeper red, shoulders drawing up, looks like he wants the ground to swallow him up as he draws up a hand to scratch at his nape, refusing to look at anyone. Suguru files that reaction somewhere deep, deep, down in his mind.
Satoru pulls himself together insultingly fast for the second time, and Suguru feels a new desire in him bloom. He wants to draw that reaction out of him again, and properly, doesn't want to give him any space to get himself together like that again, see just how far that blush goes.
Not the best time for that particular realisation, admittedly.
Unaware of how many issues he's causing Suguru with his existence, Satoru is unrelenting in his defense, for a reason that currently escapes Suguru.
"How am I not tough?" he asks hotly. "Because I don't come back from missions all torn up?"
That gets a chuckle out of Suguru. "That's not why. Plus," Suguru adds, "you're being too defensive, get riled up easy, I don't like that." He's ignoring the fact that he's the one that riled him up in the first place, very much on purpose, and that he's finding it awfully endearing. Satoru doesn't have to know everything.
"That sounds like a pretty tough thing to do!"
"No it's not." Suguru is laughing now. Even Shoko is chuckling at them.
Satoru, not about to back down now, lowers his voice into a teasing lilt. "Am I not tough enough for you?"
His facade breaks almost immediately, and as soon as he meets Suguru's eyes he's laughing as well, leaning into his space to hang off his shoulder. Suguru leans into him easily, eyes crinkling with laughter spurred on by Satoru's.
"You don't even want me," Suguru says, grin still in place.
"I want you to want me," Satoru counters immediately. 'He didn't deny it,' Suguru thinks with something dangerous like hope. Thinks 'I want you more than anything' but doesn't say that either.
"Oh my god," Shoko mutters next to them. "You two are gonna make me homophobic."
"Hey Shoko," Satoru says immediately, sickly sweet, as he turns to lean towards her. He glances at Suguru behind him, and he straightens up, ready to follow Satoru's lead. "How's Utahime?"
Suguru grins, knows exactly where Satoru is going with this, moving so he can hook his chin over Satoru's shoulder. "Yeah Shoko, how's your girlfriend doing?" The question might have been innocent coming from anyone else, but the two of them were being purposefully obnoxious about it.
Shoko's eye twitched as she glared at them. "She's not my girlfriend," she grits out.
"But you wish she was." Satoru sticks his tongue out.
"Satoru, you sure this is the conversation you want to start?" Shoko says, her eyes trailing to where Suguru has draped himself on Satoru's back. Mostly because he knows it would annoy Shoko. Partly because he wanted to.
Sue him, he's tired.
"Nope," Satoru says cheerfully. He's suddenly tense and Suguru frowns, digging his chin into the soft spot between shoulder and neck. "Time for bed, I think."
Suguru yawns at the suggestion and it turns contagious, all three of them standing around stuck yawning between snickers at the others misfortune. Suguru's been steadily leaning more of his weight on Satoru, who hasn't moved a single centimeter. It's nice.
"Okay," Suguru says on the tail end of another yawn. "We're going." Clamps a hand over Satoru's mouth when he looks like he's going to start yawning again. Wipes his hand against Satoru's shirt when he licks it like the brat he is, and Suguru really should have seen that one coming.
Despite his words, it takes him a moment to dredge up the willpower to move away from Satoru, and he doesn't move far before he's tugging on the hem of Satoru's shirt to get him to move as well. He comes easily, even if he flips Shoko off as he turns to leave, Shoko returning the gesture happily.
"Goodnight, Shoko." Suguru calls for the both of them.
"Goodnight, Suguru."
Suguru snorts at the snub and the huffy noise Satoru makes in answer. It's the most civil any of them are going to be this late.
Suguru's room is the closest, so they tumble inside and Suguru walks to his closet as Satoru collapses on his bed. He throws a spare hoodie and sweatpants at the lump, satisfied with the solid thud and an answering groan it gets him. Ignores how he made sure to throw one of his own hoodies at Satoru as he pulls one of Satoru's out for himself. Their closets are almost interchangeable at this point anyways.
Satoru's managed to get himself changed by the time he turns back to the bed and Suguru feels no remorse as he flops down next to the other boy, arm smacking across his chest none too gently.
The beds are too small for them to both stretch out comfortably, the least Satoru could do is not hog all available space for himself.
Satoru clutches at his chest, rolling away from him dramatically. "I'm wounded," he gasps out, "I don't think I'll ever recover. Tell my family to go fuck themselves."
Suguru rolls his eyes, stretching his arms above his head before using one of them to tug Satoru closer. They'll end up curling against each other during the night anyways. Satoru comes easy and props his chin up on Suguru's sternum, looking up at him. His feet are hanging off at the end of the bed. Suguru flicks his forehead to stop himself from doing something stupid like kissing it.
"What's your type anyways?" Suguru breaks the silence, because Satoru never actually said, and Suguru apparently hates himself.
"You seemed pretty confident in your answer," Satoru mutters, which again, isn't disagreement, and Suguru swears his heart skips a beat. Hopes Satoru doesn't catch it from where he's lying.
Satoru props himself up on an elbow so he can look down at Suguru. His hair is a mess and eyes still so brilliantly blue even in the darkness, and so painfully pretty that Suguru is fighting for his life here. He needs to kiss him, maybe, or punch him. He barely stops himself from pushing his face away.
Satoru traces his features with his eyes and Suguru watches him do it, scared to even breathe at this point. He's going to do something that'll give him away and then Satoru will roll right out of bed and leave and never speak to him again. A dramatic reaction befitting of Satoru.
Suguru already decided that he's going to have to tell Satoru eventually. He's absolutely not doing it tonight.
He's brave, but he's not that brave.
He wants to see Satoru's face clearly when he does say it.
"Tough," Satoru says finally, grin firmly in place.
Suguru narrows his eyes at him, poking him in the forehead.
"Okay, pretty boy," Suguru says, just to make Satoru blush again. He can't see it properly in the dark but he's sure it's there.
"Beautiful boy," Satoru counters, eyes locked on his.
Suguru feels himself flush and loses any hope of saving face when Satoru's grin turns self-satisfied. He wishes those eyes of his saw a little less sometimes.
He gives in and pushes Satoru's face away with the flat of his palm, pushing his head down into the pillow. Satoru is deterred for all of 5 seconds before he's shuffling back against him, his laugh a pleasant rumble in his chest where it presses against Suguru's.
'Give an inch, take a mile,' Suguru decides to take a page out of Satoru's book and runs his hands through Satoru's hair, pushing his bangs back. Kisses his forehead before he can talk himself out of it. It's brief, nothing more than a quick brush, entirely innocent, and it feels like it took everything in Suguru to even let himself do it.
Satoru shivers against him but makes no attempt at moving.
Suguru brings his arms around him to pull the other boy closer and lets something he recognises as hope beat its wings against his ribcage.
Notes:
kudos and comments always appreciated, let me know what you think. second chapter should be up in a couple of days, i promise they figure it out
Chapter 2: a truth so loud you can't ignore
Chapter Text
Suguru has a running theory he's trying to prove.
He's also trying to not lose his sanity in the process.
He should've remembered that taking a page out of Satoru's book also meant giving him an inch, and he's not sure if he's strong enough to deal with the mile Satoru took.
In his defense, he had no way of knowing that Satoru will take an innocent forehead kiss and take it as an invitation to start kissing his cheek all the fucking time. Because apparently, that's just what they do now.
He regrets that kiss immensely. He doesn't. But it's all Satoru's fault, anyway.
Because now he's dragging in Suguru by the neck, pecking his cheek in greeting, brushing his lips across it softly with 'good morning' and 'good night' and Suguru is going to combust.
He had a plan.
And now the best he can do is shove Satoru away forcefully and try to gather the frayed edges of his composure together before Satoru's pushing back into his personal space.
If a simple, innocent, platonic, cheek kiss is causing him unravel so entirely he's not sure if he can handle anything more. He might just die on the spot if Satoru actually kissed him. Or if Suguru does. His belief in his ability to do so has fallen off a cliff with the recent development. He might just have to shelve the whole dating idea indefinitely to spare the shards of sanity he still possesses.
He's halfway to convincing himself that admitting to any feelings would be a sort of humiliation he would never recover from and he should be burying them deep, deep, down where Satoru would stand absolutely no chance of finding out about them, when the source of his annoyance and affection walks into the common area.
"You're early."
"You're late." Suguru narrows his eyes at him. "We said we'll head out," he checked his watch. "Ten minutes ago."
Satoru waves him off with a grin as he moves to get his own jacket on. "I don't have time for a history lesson."
Suguru watches him unimpressed, only moving once Satoru got dressed and made his way to the door, opening it with a mock bow and gesturing Suguru to go ahead.
He does, but not before jamming his elbow against Satoru's middle, hard. The boy doubles over with a wheeze. Suguru uses the opportunity to wrap the scarf Satoru has foregone around the brat's neck. Preparation is the key to avoiding any future complaints.
"I try to be a gentleman and this is how you treat me."
Suguru snorts. "I don't think that word means what you think it means."
Satoru huffs as he closes the door to their dorm and Suguru starts down the hall, Satoru not far behind. He slings an arm around Suguru's shoulders when he catches up, and plants an obnoxiously loud kiss to his cheek.
'Why are you like this', Suguru bemoans in his head as he uses the flat of his hand to push Satoru's face away. Satoru throws his head back with a loud cackle and lets himself be shoved away, if only for a moment, and Suguru takes his phone out in order to busy his hands, desperately hoping his face isn't as red as it feels.
By the time they're walking past Tengen's barrier, Satoru migrates back to his side, arm back around his shoulders as Suguru scrolls through the group chat, memorising the list Shoko sent for their weekly grocery run. The list hasn't changed in weeks, but the one time Suguru hasn't bothered checking, she wanted them to get some additional items to tide her over during exams. They hadn't, and to this day the repercussions make him shudder.
He and Satoru might be the strongest, but Shoko is undoubtedly the scariest and he does not need another reminder, thank you.
By the time they make it to the store, the winter's chill is settling in both of their bones. Satoru has managed to weasel himself even closer, arm wrapped around his waist and hand shoved into Suguru's coat pocket to try and sap his body heat. Suguru doesn't think he has much of any left, but he lets him try anyway.
Walking into the warm store is almost worse than the biting cold as the hot air stings his fingertips. He shoves Satoru off, ignoring his indignant squawk, and grabs a cart, barely stopping Satoru from dropping himself into it.
"Are you here just to be annoying?" Suguru glares at him without any real heat.
Satoru nods enthusiastically back. "Yep. You never bring back enough sweets either, you need supervision."
"I brought you two bags worth last time."
"Yeah," Satoru exclaims, too loud for the small store. "And it barely lasted me the week."
"That's not my fault." Suguru shoves Satoru down the aisle with a hand to the back of his head. Satoru yelps as he stumbles forward. "You need to pace yourself better."
"You just underestimate how much sugar it takes to keep a mind as brilliant as mine sharp," Satoru huffs.
"Okay, your brilliance," Suguru snorts. "Go get your sweets then, and I'll make sure to get enough next time."
Satoru grins at him brightly before bouncing off to find the correct aisle and Suguru shakes his head fondly, trailing after him with the cart.
Suguru is trying to decide how many green onions is too many, frowning down at the vegetables as if they possess the answer, when he hears a tentative voice call out his name.
"Suguru? That you?"
He looks up with a squint and meets the dark eyes of a boy about his age. His eyes widen in recognition, even as dread curls in his stomach.
"Jun? Wasn't expecting to see you here," he says with a polite smile, trying to subtly spot Satoru among the aisles. A shock of white hair towering over the shelves shouldn't be this hard to find.
He wasn't particularly feeling up for a reconciliation with his middle school classmate.
Now or ever, really.
He used to think that all his jagged edges would never fit neatly with anyone, and it only took a month in Tokyo to shatter a decade long belief. A month to redefine what 'friendship' meant, and the span of time it took Satoru to become 'Satoru' and not 'Gojo' to define it anew.
After meeting Satoru and Shoko it felt like a disservice to call the few people he got along with in his childhood, friends, much less putting any sort of importance on playground bonds. He made a home of the Tokyo dorms, of Satoru's arms, of Shoko's exasperation, and three perpetually dirtied mugs in the sink.
To have someone who knew him before that staring at him as if he still knew him, in the place he's grown to call home, felt like a betrayal of some sort. There was only a single pair of eyes that truly knew him, and Jun's weren't blue.
An uncomfortable feeling pricks at the back of his neck.
Clearly unaware of the inner turmoil his appearance is causing, Jun closes the gap between them drawing Suguru into a half hug before he can protest. Jun draws away but keeps an arm on his shoulder, grinning at him and not noticing how tense Suguru grew.
God, where the fuck was Satoru?
"How have you been? We haven't heard anything from you since you moved to that fancy boarding school of yours." Jun drags his eyes across his form as Suguru steps back, brushing Jun's hand off his shoulder in the process. "I see it's been treating you well."
"I've been good, just busy. Haven't really found the time to go back, you know how school is." He's lying, but Jun doesn't know that. There just wasn't much point traveling back to the countryside when he was perfectly content staying in the dorms with Satoru. He'll take watching Digimon reruns under the same blanket with his best friend over faking smiles in the village he holds nothing but indifference for any day of the week.
"Oh come on." Jun jostles his shoulder. Suguru's smile grows a bit more forced; he's never liked people invading his personal space, and that hasn't changed. "Really can't find some time in your busy schedule for your oldest friends?"
As if knowing him when he was still the 'weird kid' and not 'one half of the strongest' mattered in any way.
"I'm afraid not." Keeping up the polite facade is getting harder by the second as he tries to find a reason to cut the conversation short.
"Suguru," comes an all too loud call of his knight in blackout shades and Suguru relaxes. Whatever reservations Suguru holds for cutting off an uncomfortable conversation, he's sure Satoru will have no such qualms. "They're out of your favourite mints but I found these two instead."
Satoru comes to a stop at his side, shoulder bumping into his as he waves two packs of something in front of his face with a satisfied grin. It's far too close for Suguru to properly see. He watches Satoru's face as he realises they're not alone, his face falling into a frown. He throws an arm on Suguru's shoulder to lean against, as he tilts himself forward to face Jun.
Jun for his part looks a little starstruck by the sudden appearance of the other boy, and Suguru can't really blame him. He gives it until Satoru opens his mouth for it to pass.
"What do you want?" The white haired menace decides to prove him right.
Jun blinks as if shaking himself out of his daze, and gives the other boy a smile. "I'm one of Suguru's old friends, you must be one of his classmates."
Suguru bristles at that for a reason he can't really place but before he can correct Jun, Satoru is already talking, clearly not liking the statement any more than Suguru.
"I'm Suguru's best friend." His eyes narrow behind his glasses. Jun doesn't see it, but Suguru does.
Jun blinks, seemingly taken aback by Satoru's hostile tone. Suguru would usually try to reign him in, but he wants Jun to leave more than he cares for propriety at the moment.
"Jun," calls a woman that Suguru recognises as the other boy's mother. "It's time to go."
"Ah," Jun turns to them with a smile. "Well it was nice seeing you Suguru, maybe I'll catch you next time you're back."
"Maybe." Polite smile firmly in place, Suguru has no intentions of ever seeing any of his old classmates again.
Jun hovers awkwardly for a moment, not quite knowing what to do with Satoru still hanging off Suguru's shoulder, before settling on patting his other shoulder in farewell. Satoru watches this with a narrowed gaze, chin now propped up on his shoulder alongside his arm. Suguru flicks his temple when Satoru's gaze remains on the retreating back of the other boy.
"So, was that guy really your friend?"
Suguru shrugs, choosing to ignore the strange tone Satoru asked the question with. "Kind of? We've been in the same class since we were kids, but we never really hung out outside of school. The village is small enough where everyone knows everyone, so."
Satoru gives a small huff in answer and moves off his shoulder. Suguru tamps down the urge to drag him back.
They finish the rest of their shopping in relative silence, Suguru backtracking no less than five times to put back the several cakes Satoru dumps into their cart. Satoru says nothing about all this, and Suguru is growing increasingly concerned with the ongoing silent treatment he's getting.
Satoru has never once kept his complaints to himself. He's not really the type to keep anything to himself. Suguru is convinced Satoru likes the sound of his own voice more than Suguru does, which all in all is an impressive feat.
They split the bags between each other, Satoru not even making an attempt at offloading his to Suguru, and make their way back out into the biting cold. Suguru curses and huddles into his scarf at the cutting wind, and sees Satoru do the same from the corner of his eye. He shuffles one of the bags to his other hand, waiting on Satoru to plaster himself to his side like he did on the way here.
Satoru makes no such attempts, and Suguru frowns, turning to stare at the side of his best friend's face, who is resolutely looking ahead and not at him.
"You know, it's rude to stare," he mutters.
Suguru ignores the hypocrisy of that statement and just narrows his eyes.
He spends most of their way back to campus alternating between staring at Satoru and poking his cheek, trying to get a reaction. Despite his attempts, Satoru remains stubborn and gives no reaction other than shooting him a glare once in a while. Suguru tries to backtrack and figure out what could've happened to cause Satoru's mood but blanks. He manages to convince himself that at least that it couldn't have been anything he's done, since he couldn't remember actually doing anything out of the ordinary.
That thought is dashed away when they find Shoko smoking outside their dorms, and Satoru crows a loud and obnoxious call of her name, face immediately lighting up in a grin. Suguru can't help but frown, ignoring the look Shoko shoots him.
'He might just be mad at me,' he thinks sourly.
Suguru goes to stand on Shoko's other side, partly so he can continue trying to glare an answer out of Satoru, partly to see if Satoru will try to bridge the gap as he usually does.
Satoru doesn't, and it's all the confirmation he needs.
Once they're back in their dorm, food safely stowed away, Satoru sets off to their rooms and Suguru follows him, grabbing the back of his shirt at the neck and dragging him into his own room before Satoru can go lock himself away.
Suguru is slightly surprised when Satoru doesn't immediately try to leave, but he doesn't attempt to do anything else either, standing in the middle of his room and refusing to look at him. Suguru sighs and goes to lie down on his bed, watching Satoru stand around indecisively.
Satoru's impatience seems to win whatever mental battle he had going on as he huffs and grabs Suguru's DS off the nightstand, plopping himself down on the floor, back leaning against the bed.
'Bingo,' Suguru thinks. There's a hint of relief in it as well, knowing that even if Satoru is mad at him, he doesn't want to leave.
That line of thought brings his attention back to the problem at hand. Not giving Satoru enough time to even start up a game, Suguru shifts so he can prop his chin on Satoru's shoulder.
"Satoru," he drawls, hooking his arm over the shoulder he's not leaning on so he can pinch Satoru's cheek.
All Suguru gets in response is a slight furrow between Satoru's brows.
"Satoru," he continues in the same drawl, knocking the sides of their heads together.
He gets a petulant huff this time, so Suguru counts that as progress.
"Satoru," he repeats for the third time, adding a teasing lilt.
That gets the biggest reaction yet, but not the one Suguru wanted and he frowns as Satoru moves away from his hold and stands up.
"I'm hungry, gonna go grab something."
Once Satoru is gone, Suguru drops his head into his sheets and lets out a drawn out groan. He gives himself a minute to feel bad for himself, before getting up and following Satoru.
Surprisingly, and not surprisingly at all, he finds him in the kitchen.
Surprisingly, because Satoru is the most valued customer of the old vending machine near their dorm, unsurprisingly, because Suguru didn't think Satoru actually wanted to leave. It really is cold as fuck outside, and they're fully stocked on melon soda.
Even if Satoru is still acting weird, being proven right is gratifying. He likes knowing Satoru well enough to call him predictable, knowing that no one else does.
Satoru's eyes snap to him, and he looks just about ready to bolt again, so Suguru wastes no time in crowding him up against the counter. He cages him in, splaying his hands on top of it behind Satoru.
Satoru, for his part, has craned his head to avoid looking at Suguru, gaze somewhere over the top of his head.
Suguru has to suddenly try very hard to remember why they're in this position and not get distracted by the exposed curve of Satoru's neck. He's not doing great, thoughts preoccupied with imagining that ivory skin marked up with his teeth. But he's not acting on them, so he's not doing terribly either. Considering the circumstances, he's managing fine.
Satoru brings him out of his thoughts with a half hearted shove at his chest. His hands feel warm through Suguru's thin shirt. Suguru doesn't bother giving the attempt any mind and stays in place.
"What do you want?" Satoru mutters with a slight pout.
Suguru blinks as he tries to remember if there was a second part to his plan or if his thought process ended at corner Satoru. He was kind of hoping Satoru would have the second half to his plan covered.
He's apparently taking too long to come up with a response as Satoru scowls and gives him another shove. Suguru gives it as much consideration as the previous one and doesn't bother moving a single bit. If he really wanted to, Satoru could easily push him away, and as long as he doesn't do that Suguru isn't about to move of his own volition.
"Seriously," Satoru is fully pouting now. His ears are red, Suguru notes. "What's your problem?"
Suguru finally dredges up his voice as he tilts his head back just enough to catch Satoru's eyes, raising an eyebrow up. "So you're allowed to invade my personal space anytime you want and I'm not allowed in yours?"
Satoru huffs and Suguru has to fight a shiver as his breath skirts his neck. "You know that's not what I meant."
Suguru isn't about to let him off the hook that easily. He spent the entire afternoon being ignored for fuck's sake.
"Do I?" He moves one of his hands to poke Satoru's side. "Someone's been ignoring me," Suguru adds pointedly. "Maybe I'm taking it personally."
Satoru scowls and hoists himself up on the counter. Their hands brush with the movement, and Suguru shuffles closer, arms curling behind Satoru as he stands between his legs. Giving Satoru space means giving him a means to escape, and he's not making that mistake.
If he had any less practice at being this close to Satoru this conversation would be a lot harder to have. Even then, it's taking a lot of restraint to keep his attention on Satoru and himself off Satoru.
"You finally gonna tell me what's wrong?"
Satoru mumbles something vaguely incoherent and Suguru furrows his brow, nudging Satoru's back where his hands rest behind him. "I'm gonna need you to repeat that a little louder."
Satoru looks away and Suguru barely restrains himself from reaching out to get those sky blue eyes back on him.
"I just figured you'll wanna go hang out with your other friend," he finally says, with an awkward shrug. "Thought I'll give you space so you can leave if you want."
Suguru looks at him in disbelief. The effect is lost on Satoru, who said most of this into his own lap and is refusing to look at Suguru.
"Satoru," Suguru starts, fond exasperation in his voice. "When have you ever given me space?"
He decides to overlook that Satoru's idea of giving him space is ignoring him, for the time being. Sounds like a future problem.
"First time for everything, I guess," Satoru mutters.
What an idiot, Suguru thinks fondly.
"Satoru." Suguru finally gives in and cups Satoru's jaw, using his thumb to nudge Satoru's chin up until blue meets purple. "I've never once wanted space from you," he promises.
Satoru looks at him, eyes searching, but doesn't seem to find what he's looking for, and Suguru furrows his brow.
"That's not what's bothering you."
Satoru shrugs, back to looking at his lap, and Suguru drops his hand so it's resting on the side of Satoru's waist. He taps his thumb against his side unconsciously as he thinks. It's unusual and slightly worrying to see Satoru this unsure, and Suguru doesn't like it one bit, especially not knowing what's causing it.
"Hesitation doesn't suit you, spit it out." Gentle prodding clearly wasn't working.
"You know that guy we met at the store?" Satoru finally blurts out.
"Jun?" What does his old classmate have to do with anything? Did he say something to Satoru? Was there something he missed?
"Yeah, sure, him. You said you guys are friends... So, I don't know, I figured you'll wanna go hang out with him. Go catch up, or something. What friends do. Away from the school." Away from me, goes unspoken, but Suguru fills in the gap of Satoru's stilted speech.
He also realises what's bothering Satoru. Satoru, who's first and only friends were Suguru and Shoko, who was suddenly faced with the possibility of him being one of many and not one and only, to Suguru.
That won't do at all.
Suguru sighs and wraps both arms firmly around Satoru's waist, stepping closer so he can properly hug him. Satoru sitting on the counter makes their height difference more pronounced, so Suguru buries his face into his collar, nose brushing against his neck. Satoru seems slower on the uptake, but eventually wraps his arms around Suguru's shoulders.
"You're the only one I ever want to hang out with, you know," Suguru says quietly.
"But," Satoru trials off, clearly clinging to his stubborn belief.
"No buts, I don't care about my old classmate, I don't want to see him. You're my best friend, only you." It's more honest than what Suguru was initially going for, but Satoru needs to hear it if this conversation is anything to go by. Suguru can give him that much, at least.
"Yeah?" Satoru's voice is still a touch hesitant.
"My one and only," Suguru promises, arms tightening around Satoru's waist.
"Okay," Satoru says quietly.
Worries put to rest for the time being, Satoru wastes no time in reverting to his usual clinginess, and Suguru's hug is returned ten fold as long limbs wrap around him, Satoru using his position to wrap himself around Suguru like a koala.
Suguru hides his smile in the curve of Satoru's neck.
"Okay," he repeats, just as quietly.
Shoko finds them in the kitchen ten minutes later, still wrapped around each other, and leaves them there with a pointed "Are you fucking kidding me," as she walks down the hall to her own room. Suguru only startles a little bit, content to stay where he is.
///
"I've cracked the code."
"You haven't cracked shit," Suguru drawls.
"No, shut up, I've cracked it."
Suguru grins up at the ceiling from where they're lying on the dojo floor.
"Shut up," Satoru insists, poking at his side from where he's sprawled out next to him.
"I didn't even say anything," Suguru says, laughing.
"I heard you thinking it." Satoru gives up on his attempts, too tired from the spar to be annoying.
Suguru snorts. "Didn't realise you added mind-reading to your arsenal."
"The Six Eyes see all," Satoru states haughtily, a giggle interrupting the tail end of his statement.
Suguru snickers in response, throwing an arm out so he could lay a palm over Satoru's eyes.
"There," he says, satisfied. "Can't see now."
Satoru laughs, making no effort to remove Suguru's hand. "You know that doesn't actually do anything."
Wait, what.
Despite what Satoru just said, Suguru makes no attempt at removing his hand.
"You told me it helped," he says, furrowing his brow. "Last year, when I asked what I can do to help with your migraines."
"It does," Satoru says happily. "It just doesn't stop the Six Eyes from seeing."
That was entirely unhelpful.
"How? I thought the point was blocking your eyes."
"Kinda."
"I don't get it," Suguru admits.
Satoru huffs and turns over, Suguru's hand falling away in the process, lying on his stomach, chin propped up on his palm so he could look at Suguru. He manages all this while groaning loud enough to garner concerned attention if it wasn't late enough for the training grounds to be abandoned.
Suguru looks at him unimpressed. "You're not that tired."
"Don't tell me what I am," Satoru shoots back immediately.
Suguru snorts and avoids looking at those blue eyes as he trains his eyes at the ceiling. His hand feels cold, uselessly splayed out under Satoru where he propped himself up.
"Anyway," Satoru stresses. "Back to what I was saying."
"Please, don't let me interrupt you, young master." Suguru sweeps an arm in an arc in front of him.
Satoru scowls, and then leans down and bites his shoulder. "You're always interrupting."
Suguru freezes.
He feels quite incapable of interrupting right now. In fact, he's feeling relatively incapable of a lot of things. Especially thinking about things that aren't Satoru and teeth and Satoru's teeth on him.
Satoru is talking. Suguru knows this because he hasn't managed to tear his eyes away from his mouth, every flash of white having him fight a visceral need to have Satoru fucking bite him again.
God, Satoru can never find out.
That would be so incredibly embarrassing.
"Suguru."
That has Suguru finally tearing his eyes away from Satoru's mouth, but now he's staring into his eyes which might just be worse. Satoru looks as annoyed as he did when he bit him.
Suguru fights the urge to ask him to do it again.
"Did you hear a single word I said?"
"Of course," Suguru lies. He's still quite stuck on the whole biting thing, excuse him if he hasn't managed to be quite as attentive as he usually is. It's all Satoru's fault, anyway, he doesn't get to be annoyed.
Satoru groans and lets himself collapse, ending halfway sprawled out on top of Suguru. His head ends up being awfully close to where he bit Suguru moments ago.
"You're so annoying," Satoru mutters.
Suguru smacks a palm lightly against the side of Satoru's head. "You're the annoying one." His hand stays resting on Satoru's head.
"I'm a delight." It's said mostly into Suguru's shirt and he can feel Satoru's lips moving through the thin cotton.
Suguru really doesn't know how he keeps finding himself in these situations.
"Yeah," Suguru agrees easily, hand now running through Satoru's hair. "Doesn't change the fact that you're annoying."
"Bet you can't name a single person who finds me annoying," Satoru continues petulantly, ignoring what Suguru said.
"Shoko told you that it's 'too early to look at you for more than 5 minutes' just this morning."
"That's because my beauty is blinding, it's a burden I have to carry. Not everyone can handle it."
"A modern day Atlas, truly," Suguru snorts. "Not to mention, Utahime hung up on her the moment she heard your voice."
"Utahime has no taste. My voice is the best thing to hear in the morning."
Deep and raspy and languid with sleep, it might just be Suguru's favourite thing in the morning, but that's irrelevant.
Suguru's long since accepted that some of his views on Satoru might be somewhat compromised. Doesn't make him wrong, though. Satoru's morning voice is nice.
"Your voice is the last thing anyone wants to hear in the morning," Suguru grouches. "Nanami dumped his tea on you last week when you shouted good morning at him."
"That was an accident," Satoru counters primly. "He apologised, and it's not like it actually spilled on me so it's fine."
"Haibara made him apologise, and I'm pretty sure he was only sorry it didn't spill on you."
Satoru pushes himself up and pouts down at him. "You're just assuming the worst in everyone and don't understand the dynamics of my friendships."
Suguru makes a vague sound of disagreement and pushes Satoru's bangs back from where they've fallen into his eyes. "What could I possibly know about your friendships, you're right."
Satoru's eyes sparkled as he looks at Suguru, so he lets Satoru's bangs fall back into them to stop them from distracting him, hand falling down to rest at his side near Satoru's. Satoru hooks his pinky around his. Suguru tries to ignore how that little action made him feel all warm inside.
"Exactly, Suguru is so dumb."
Suguru snorts, and then sweeps the arm Satoru was using to prop himself up aside, causing him to flop back down on top of him. They both get the air knocked out of them, but at least Suguru was braced for it. Satoru just let himself fall down gracelessly.
Suguru's starting to see how some of these situations are at least partly self-inflicted.
Ah, well. Nothing he can do, really.
He wraps his arms around Satoru, trapping him against him. They got their fighting for the day out of the way, he's allowed to indulge. He squeezes his arms tighter around him. His very own stress ball. Satoru doesn't seem to mind, if the way he tucks himself against him is of any indication.
They lie there for several minutes, Suguru trying to be subtle about the way his hand is dragging Satoru's shirt up higher with every pass of his palm up his back.
It's a very delicate operation, and Satoru remains none the wiser. A win on every front. Suguru tries not to look too smug about it.
"If we stay here any longer, you're gonna have to carry me to bed." Satoru broke the silence.
Suguru rolls his head to the side to see the dark skies behind the windows and groans, thumping his chin into the top of Satoru's head. It's late and someone is going to come looking for them soon, but his willingness to move has hit an all time low. Satoru's back is warm under his palm, he'll get frostbite if he moves, he's sure of it.
"I'm not carrying you anywhere," Suguru says with a snort.
"You have to, I asked." Satoru's head popped up, indignance written all over his face.
"You didn't ask, you just said," Suguru replies dryly.
"You would've agreed anyways. I just skipped a step to save us both the time," comes the cheerful, but no less irritating, reply.
Suguru gives himself a moment of mourning for the loss of contact, before forcefully shoving Satoru off. Satoru went easy, sprawling out on the ground next to him with a yelp.
As with most things these days, it immediately backfired.
The shirt that Suguru oh so carefully raised was still very much rolled up, but now revealed the long expanse of his middle as Satoru stretched, both arms above his head, back arching for a moment before Satoru settled back down with a satisfied hum. He made no move to right his shirt, lean muscle and sharp hipbones fully on display, v-line disappearing beneath his waistband, and holy shit, Suguru, pull it together, you've seen him shirtless before.
His mouth has never felt drier.
He reaches blindly behind him for the discarded water bottle that he's sure is there, not quite willing to tear his gaze away yet. Satoru's crooked shirt is more or less entirely Suguru's fault, but he needs him to fix it immediately for the sake of his sanity. Suguru is sure the remnants of his composure can be found in due time, accordingly.
Satoru either reads his mind, or grows bored and restless without Suguru holding him down and sits up, and how many times does a single person have to stretch in the span of a few minutes, stop doing that, Satoru.
His shirt, finally, thankfully, unfortunately, slides down loosely, granting Suguru's attention freedom and returning some oxygen to his brain.
Suguru follows suite, sitting up as well and finally manages to grab the water bottle, gulping down half of its content before feeling any sort of satiated. He feels Satoru's eyes on him, but refuses to meet them, feeling a little like live wire. He waits a little longer, concentrating a little too hard on screwing the cap on his bottle on correctly, to collect the fraying edges of his composure, before finally meeting the bluest eyes he's ever seen.
And immediately regrets it.
Satoru is sat smirking at him, as if he knows exactly what's been going through his head.
"You know, Suguru," he starts, tone deceptively light. "If you see something you like, you should just take it."
Scratch the maybe, Satoru definitely knows what Suguru was thinking about.
Unfortunately for Satoru, his dumb crush isn't going to stop him from meeting Satoru head on.
"Should I, now?" Suguru hums, hoping his voice doesn't register the increased tick of his heartbeat. "You're the greedy one here, Satoru. Maybe you should take your own advice."
He's not going to make the first move.
Satoru falters for a split second, so briefly that if Suguru was anyone else he would've missed it. But he's not, so he drives it home, letting his eyes track up Satoru's body, far more brazen than when he's been ogling him earlier, and is rewarded with a blush when he finally meets Satoru's eyes.
Who seems to be quite unwilling to meet Suguru's own. His mouth ticks up into a grin.
Not one to back down, Satoru falls back to familiarity, and Suguru prays to anyone that would listen for Satoru to not hear the hitch in his breath when Satoru shuffles onto his knees, planting a hand by Suguru's side, arm brushing against his thigh, and leans towards him, always so comfortable in Suguru's personal space.
"Maybe I will." Suguru can feel Satoru's breath against his face.
Satoru's always been the braver one of them.
"Maybe you should," Suguru whispers, heart caught in his throat. Satoru is so close. Faint freckles on the bridge of his nose. Flecks of light blue shrapnel in his eyes. Suguru could stare at him forever, probably. A solid couple of hours, certainly.
Despite how close he is, Suguru refuses to read into this as anything than Satoru's usual attempts at embarrassing him. Satoru flirts with everyone, if he's wrong about this, if he reads too much into Satoru's actions, then he's not sure if he can deal with the fallout.
Suguru needs to be sure, and for that to happen, this needs to happen on Satoru's terms. He's not going to be the one to escalate this into something Satoru might not want.
Satoru's eyes flicker down to his lips, and Suguru only catches it because of how close they are. This time, he's sure Satoru catches the hitch in his breath.
Then suddenly, a swipe underneath his eye, and the warmth of Satoru's breath replaced by a cold breeze. Suguru blinks, trying to wade through the familiar haze of having Satoru close and stares up at the problem in question who managed to stand up and is now very carefully brushing himself off, looking anywhere but at Suguru.
"You had an eyelash," Satoru offers, sounding entirely unconvincing.
Suguru's brain is working overtime to figure out how they went from whatever just happened to having an entirely normal and unusual amount of space between them. Satoru is still refusing to look at him, which may or may not be helping. He hasn't decided yet.
"At least help me up, if you're going to play chicken," Suguru huffs, hoping to break whatever cloud is over them. The sooner he distracts himself from almost kissing Satoru the better.
Oh god, he almost kissed Satoru.
Satoru shuffles closer, offering him a hand, and Suguru hauls himself up easily. It leaves him a lot closer to Satoru then he anticipated, and he's stuck standing chest to chest with him, hands still clasped together. Suguru would feel worse about staring at Satoru's lips if Satoru himself wasn't staring at his in turn.
Back to square one it is. Suguru might have to go ask Shoko about how young is too young for heart problems.
Satoru stumbles back with an overly loud cough and Suguru winces, tilting his head back and staring at the ceiling to avoid looking at Satoru.
Several cobwebs up there. Ancient wood beams. They're still holding hands.
"We should uh," Satoru clears his throat. "Back. Go back. Dinner and stuff," he trails off.
"Right, yeah, dinner, we should." Suguru cringes at himself. They can't both devolve into stilted awkwardness, they'll never get out of here. At least one of them needs to keep it together.
Satoru nods, once, twice, and then sets off determinately out of the dojo. Suguru is still doing his best at rebooting his brain, so he stumbles slightly as he's dragged along, Satoru's hand warm and slightly clammy in his.
///
It is far too early for any reasonable person to be awake on a Saturday. Unfortunately, Suguru’s grasp on reasonable over the past couple of months has been tentative at best, so here he is in the dorm kitchen cooking up a breakfast for his more reasonable friends. He thinks back over that statement and rapidly reconsiders. He’s willing to admit to a lot of things, but he hasn’t reached a point of considering Shoko and Satoru of all people to be more reasonable than he is.
Suguru considers if it’s worth waking the two of them up to drag them down into his current brand of unreasonable. Shoko might be a dead end, he’s not convinced that she hasn’t gone to sleep mere hours before he woke up, but waking up Satoru doesn’t seem all that far fetched. He’ll be grumpy about it, but Suguru is well versed in melting Satoru’s ire to honey.
But that, he thinks reluctantly, squinting into the sizzling pan, would defeat the purpose of his breakfast in bed plan.
He’s still weighing his options when the boy in question comes stumbling into the kitchen, sleep rumpled and bare eyes squinting against the morning light.
Suguru turns just enough to give him a smile, letting his eyes linger on Satoru’s frame for just a moment, before turning back to his cooking. Satoru doesn’t say anything, but moments later he slumps over Suguru’s back, strong arms wrapping around his middle through his hoodie’s pocket.
Satoru squeezes tight once. Good morning.
Suguru leans back into him minutely in reply.
Generally, Satoru’s sensitivity is worse shortly after he wakes up, and speaking too much and too loudly at him in those moments is a sure fire way to ruin the rest of his morning. Suguru’s long since learned to wait him out and let Satoru decide when he’s awake enough to handle conversations.
He continues cooking, Satoru now a comfortable and warm weight on his back, and even if it limits his movements he’s not too bothered about it. There’s a lot more he would happily give up if only to let Satoru hold him exactly like this for as long as he wanted.
“Morning,” Satoru finally murmurs, voice deep and steeped in sleep. He’s tucked his head into Suguru’s shoulder, nosing at his neck, and he can feel the shape of the word against bare skin.
He hopes that Satoru dismisses the shiver it causes on the winter chill perpetually clinging to the walls of their dorm.
Suguru's prayers are seemingly answered, even if all it accomplishes is Satoru wrapping himself tighter around Suguru. He's a furnace on the best of days, and it is chilly, so Suguru isn't about to complain. Knowing Satoru, he only has a few minutes at best with this sleepy and clingy version of his best friend, and he'll happily enjoy it while he can.
"How'd you sleep?" Suguru says, matching Satoru's volume. He cracks another egg into the pan, and silently pats himself on the back for having the foresight to prepare all his ingredients on the counter before starting.
"Like shit, your bed's comfier. You should let me sleep with you," Satoru says mostly into his shoulder.
Suguru has to clear his throat before speaking. "We have the same beds, they're standard issue."
"Okay," Satoru agrees far too easily to not be suspicious. "You should come sleep in mine then."
Suguru stares very hard at the egg currently frying in the pan. He really should be used to Satoru just saying these things by now.
"What, so you can steal mine?" Suguru aims to guide this conversation into more familiar territory.
Satoru, the bastard, doesn't seem to get the memo.
"Obviously not," he scoffs. "Why would I be in your bed, if I've got you in mine."
This conversation is not good for Suguru's heart. For what feels like the millionth time, Suguru has to remind himself that if Satoru liked him, he would've said so clearly and there's nothing more to what he says or does than what's stated.
It's a little difficult considering his current position.
"You just said my bed's comfier."
"Yeah because you're there and you're comfier than any bed, anyway." Satoru says this all matter of fact, as if it's not making Suguru's brain melt a little. Satoru is just saying these things, as if Suguru is just meant to stand there and be unaffected.
Suguru can't stand him, truly.
Awake enough now, Satoru untangles himself from Suguru and Suguru tries to not be overly unhappy about it. Satoru wanders off to grab a clementine and then hoists himself up on the counter next to Suguru. He gives him a sideways look, he's trying to cook here, thank you very much, and is rewarded with a tongue poked out at him. Suguru clicks his tongue in mock annoyance.
Satoru starts peeling the fruit, so Suguru turns back to cooking, content with the occasional brush of Satoru's leg against his side. A soft slice of fruit is pressed against his lips and Suguru dutifully opens his mouth and gently grabs it between his teeth, humming at the sweet taste on his tongue. He glances over at Satoru to see him pop the next slice into his mouth and smiles slightly.
They share the rest of the fruit, and by the time they finish it, Suguru is done with breakfast, which is just as well because as soon as Satoru was done with the fruit he decided that he's starved for attention. The leg that's been brushing against his side has become a little more pointed.
Suguru doesn't think he's ever not paying attention to Satoru, but he can't really tell him that.
Satoru helps him bring their dishes to the kotatsu table and Suguru lets him tangle their legs together underneath it when they sit down. He probably would've done it if Satoru didn't, but it's been easier to let Satoru dictate these things. Suguru doesn't trust himself enough to not accidentally push too far, take too much. The incident in the dojo is stuck in the back of his mind at all times, and he knows for a fact that if he somehow drags Satoru that close again, he might not be able to stop himself from kissing him.
So if he has to keep his hands to himself so be it. He'll only be in mourning until the end of time.
With that in mind, he sits there happily poking at his food and listening to Satoru with a smile on his face. The early morning light casts a warm glow over Satoru's form, and between the bright glow of his eyes and even brighter grin, Suguru is happy to sit here and listen to Satoru talk for the rest of the morning.
Just as well, considering that Satoru took exactly one bite of his food before launching into a no doubt well thought out Digimon deep dive, chopsticks more props than utensils. Suguru is mostly focused on how pretty Satoru looks like this, animated and happy. He's just glad that Satoru's running theories don't require his input.
Or, well. Didn't.
"Suguru." He's never heard his own name sound so serious coming from Satoru.
Suguru blinks and draws himself out of his Satoru induced reverie to actually pay attention to what Satoru is saying. He's twisting a chopstick between his fingers as a nervous habit and Suguru reaches out to pluck it out of his hands, Satoru immediately latching onto his hand instead. He lets him fidget with his fingers, but when Satoru refuses to continue with what he was clearly about to say, Suguru tangles their hands together and tugs until Satoru is looking at him again.
"Remember what I told you about hesitating," Suguru prompts.
There's a slight furrow between Satoru's brows, but he nods, once, and then nods again, and keeps nodding until Suguru places a finger against his forehead to stop him. Satoru blinks at him as if he didn't realise what he was doing, and Suguru blinks back, mostly caught on how cute he is.
Then, suddenly, Satoru is drawing his hand back and Suguru doesn't have enough time to even mourn for the loss of contact because Satoru is moving, but he's moving closer to Suguru, who doesn't quite know what's going on but knows enough to not trust himself, so he's shuffling backwards at the same time. Suguru's back hits the front of the couch and before he can make an escape, Satoru is climbing on his lap, knees bracketing him in.
Which.
Okay.
That's fine.
That's cool.
Suguru can deal with this. It's just Satoru. Satoru. Satoru who's sitting on his lap. No problem. No problem whatsoever.
Big problem.
Satoru perches there like it's his rightful throne, arms coming up to loosely hang over his shoulders. He's looking down at Suguru with determination, but determination to do what, Suguru isn't sure of.
Causing him a heart attack maybe.
"Suguru," Satoru starts again, and there's that tone. Suguru thinks that if Satoru just kept saying his name like that, he'll be willing to do just about anything. Satoru licks his lips, and Suguru's eyes snap down, attention firmly diverted. "I want you to kiss me."
Suguru blinks back up at him blankly.
There's no way he just heard him correctly.
He uses the hand that's been uselessly hanging at his side to pinch his thigh. It stings. He pinches it again, just to make sure. When he goes for a third, Satoru huffs and catches his hand and drags it to his own waist.
"What." The way Suguru's voice manages to crack on the singular word is impressive.
"The flirting isn't working, so clearly I have to be more direct," Satoru mutters.
Suguru opens his mouth, but another 'what' might get him punched so he closes it again. "You've been flirting with me." Suguru settles on in the end. He feels a little lightheaded.
Satoru huffs and Suguru feels it skitter across his face. He doesn't think he's capable of having any sort of productive conversation in this position. He's feeling quite incapable of many things at the moment. There's a distinct lack of oxygen getting to his brain.
"Have been for the past year, thanks for noticing." Satoru sounds entirely put out. Suguru doesn't blame him. A year. He's missed out on a year of flirting back.
"You're kinda shit at it." Suguru's voice comes out strangled, but doesn't crack which is an improvement. Baby steps. He's buying himself time. Satoru's been flirting with him, on purpose.
"Suguru, I'm not gonna ask again."
"You didn't ask at all," Suguru replies faintly.
There's a hand on his jaw now, and oh, Satoru is very close. He's very pretty. The prettiest boy Suguru's ever seen.
"If you don't kiss me right now I'll die, probably, so you need to make a decision immediately," Satoru says, and Suguru recognises the slight catch in his voice as nerves.
Rapidly, the reality of the situation hits him all at once. Satoru has climbed into his lap, asked him to kiss him and the best Suguru has done is stare at him like an idiot. The thought that Satoru doesn't know just how much Suguru wants him is suddenly unbearable.
Suguru takes a deep breath. In and out.
Before he can second guess himself, he drags a hand up to Satoru's nape and slots their lips together.
Satoru makes a noise in the back of his throat that is going to live in Suguru's head for the rest of his life, and he winds his arm firmly around Satoru's waist, pulling him closer, his other hand tangling in his hair. The hand on his jaw angles his head so Satoru can deepen the kiss, his other hand undoing Suguru's bun and raking through his hair.
It hits Suguru all at once, and with a sudden realisation he gasps as he tears himself away from Satoru. Or as far as he can, considering Satoru still looks quite comfortable on his lap.
"No, come back," Satoru whines, using the hand in Suguru's hair to pull him closer.
There was something he wanted to say, Suguru thinks. Maybe. He's not quite sure anymore, but whatever lead him to stop kissing Satoru is clearly a capital offense. Helpless as ever, and entirely unwilling to not indulge Satoru, he goes easy, not quite being able to smother the grin he presses against Satoru's lips. But Satoru is smiling too, so he reckons that's alright. He wants to keep kissing, but Satoru giggles, and Suguru can't help but copying him, and regardless of how much they want to continue, they're both just giggling now while pressing their faces together, more than anything.
"I can't believe you've had a crush on me for the past year, you're so lame," Suguru teases, eyes still closed as he rests his forehead against Satoru's. He's never felt this good, he thinks. This moment right here is an all timer.
Satoru nips Suguru's bottom lip in retaliation, swallowing Suguru's gasp with his mouth. Just as fast, he draws back, thumping his forehead against Suguru's with a bit more force than necessary. "Been in love, actually. Keep up, would you." Satoru's eyes are sparkling when they meet his and Suguru can't help grinning. This boy, this wonderful boy, is in love with him.
Suguru never wants to stop feeling this way. Floating is part of Satoru's technique, but he thinks it might be rubbing off with the way he's feeling entirely weightless.
"I love you, too," Suguru says, words tasting as sweet as Satoru did. "See, I'm keeping up," he adds, pressing one, two, three kisses to Satoru's lips, unable to help himself.
The words cause Satoru's smile to turn into something sweeter as well, the one that makes dimples appear on his cheeks, the corners of his eyes crinkling. It's Suguru's favourite, and seeing it aimed at him now makes him want to keep doing anything and everything to keep it that way.
And because he can't help himself, he cups Satoru's face and brings their lips back together. Suguru might be addicted. He wants that smile pressed against his lips, always.
Satoru pulls back just enough to mutter "Hell yeah," and Suguru takes the opportunity to slip his tongue into Satoru's mouth. He swallows the moan that gets caught in the back of Satoru's throat, his hand slipping underneath Satoru's shirt to explore the warm expanse of skin. One hand curls over Satoru's hip to hike him closer, while he uses the other to run blunt nails down Satoru's back, feeling the muscles tense beneath his touch. The groan it gets him goes to his head, and he trails his lips down Satoru's jaw to his neck, not quite knowing what he wants, but knowing he wants more. Knows that he's never going to get enough.
"Suguru," Satoru breathes out his name with reverence, hand tugging at his hair as he tilts his head back to give Suguru better access to his neck.
Suguru wrenches himself away, realising that they're still very much in the common room, and that anyone could walk in on him feeling up Satoru in broad daylight. He just barely finds it in himself to care.
"I want to take this off," Suguru says, tugging on the hem of Satoru's shirt. "So we should probably take this to one of our rooms."
"I don't mind giving someone a show," Satoru smirks.
"I don't share," Suguru murmurs, lips back on Satoru's neck. There's addicting, and then there's whatever Satoru is. Turns out that being caught staring was the least of his problems.
"That's hot," Satoru gasps. "Carry me."
"You're so bossy," Suguru complains mildly. He hauls himself to his feet with the help of the couch, Satoru clinging to him. He holds Satoru up by his thighs, squeezing the muscle there as Satoru wraps his legs tightly around his hips, lips already trailing down Suguru's jaw.
Suguru gets them about halfway down the hall to their rooms before his composure breaks, and he slams Satoru against one of the walls, palm slapping against it as he tilts his head back with a groan to give Satoru more room to work with. Reliable as ever, Satoru catches on quick and slips from Suguru's hold, using a firm hand against his chest to shove him up against the opposite wall, the few centimeters of height he has on Suguru helping him to crowd him in and drag him into another kiss.
As much as Suguru would like to claim he's grown out of his rivalry with Satoru, he's never been great at lying to himself, so with an unrelenting grip on Satoru's waist he pushes him back up against the opposite wall without breaking their kiss. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he's vaguely aware that they're not exactly being quiet in any regard, but then Satoru's tongue is in his mouth and he's got better things to focus on.
They eventually zig zag their way down the hall, Suguru scrambling behind him for the handle when his back slams against his door. He could probably open it faster if he stopped kissing Satoru, but sacrifices have to be made. A couple tries later and they're tumbling into Suguru's room, and he uses Satoru's slight stumble to turn them around and slam the door shut by pushing Satoru up against it.
"Okay," Satoru gasps out, and the sound of his voice makes Suguru shiver. "Off, now," he continues, already shoving Suguru's hoodie up. They come to a minute standstill as Suguru is similarly pulling at Satoru's shirt, neither willing to relent, neither willing to separate.
"I asked first," Satoru says, voice still sounding ruined even through the hint of petulance. His hands slide up Suguru's side, taking the hoodie with them, and Suguru accepts defeat for the time being and lets Satoru strip it off him. It feels less like a defeat when Satoru's hands suddenly feel like they're everywhere, not a single patch of his skin going untouched, and Suguru can't help the groan when Satoru's hands travel down his chest, nails lightly scratching down over his middle.
"That's still not asking," Suguru manages, barely. He sounds more put together than Satoru, maybe.
Satoru, he notes, who irritatingly enough still has his shirt on.
"Off," Suguru growls, barely recognising his own voice. His hands splay across Satoru's middle, under his shirt, in clear indication.
"Okay, yeah, shirt off, on it," Satoru pants, face flushing. Suguru uses all his remaining willpower to give Satoru enough space to slip his shirt off, but once it's off, his hands are back on Satoru. He doesn't want them anywhere else ever again, Suguru thinks faintly, higher brain function entirely voided by Satoru nipping at his collarbone. That's fine, he doesn't need it as long as Satoru keeps doing what he's doing.
They stumble towards the bed mostly by muscle memory, and Suguru pushes Satoru down on top of it. There's a split second of hesitation where he wonders if he's being too rough, but then he looks down at Satoru splayed out and he looks delighted, flushed red, so Suguru figures that's probably alright.
When Satoru pulls him down on top of him, arms wrapping tight around him, he can't help smiling into the next kiss; gentle as he delights in being touched and being able to touch in return, infinity never a barrier when it's just the two of them.
Suguru can get used to this.
///
By the time Suguru left his room again, the sun was high in the sky and he didn’t particularly feel like checking just how much of the day he and Satoru have kissed away. Not like he was planning on stopping anyways, but a snack break was a necessity, especially when it comes to appeasing Satoru. Even if trying to drag himself away took a lot more strength than fighting any curse.
Really, the last 10 minutes did more to prove him part of the strongest than any mission before.
His hoodie found a home in some corner of his room where Satoru threw it earlier, and he didn’t bother looking for it. He was vaguely appreciative of it, if for no other reason than the fact that it was the first item of clothing Satoru’s stripped him of. That felt like something to be appreciative of, Suguru thinks. And he didn’t trust Satoru’s treatment to leave it unscathed if Suguru dared put it back on, so shirtless it was.
The reasoning seemed fairly bulletproof right up until he ran into Shoko in the kitchen and felt her eyes zero in on the several marks he knew Satoru left on his neck and collarbones.
Shoko zeroes in on him immediately, entirely unimpressed and with a cocked eyebrow.
Suguru runs his hands through his hair and crosses his arms in an attempt to look slightly less mauled. He doesn’t think it’s particularly effective, but he can bluff with the best of them. He’s not going to let Shoko stare him down this easily.
He lasts exactly 30 seconds before he breaks.
“Satoru is worse off,” Suguru says, an automatic defense from all their fights. As soon as he says it, he tries not to wince, realising that it’s far more incriminating than anything else he could’ve said.
Shoko snorts and grins at him, letting out a low whistle. “Always took you for the possessive type, but it’s good to know the other idiot isn’t all bark after all. Also, I'm not healing either of you.”
“Hey,” Suguru protests weakly, knowing full well Shoko had the front row seats to him ignoring Satoru’s flirting attempts for a year apparently. As far as he’s concerned, Satoru could use a little less bark. Climbing into his lap proved itself more effective anyways.
Nothing of which Shoko has to know. He’ll have to corroborate a story with Satoru that’ll be less embarrassing. For Suguru at least. Satoru’s always a little embarrassing, he can take the hit for the both of them, probably.
Shoko’s grin lost some of its sharpness. “Took you two long enough though. Just keep it out of the common areas.”
“No promises,” Suguru says cheerfully, having no intention whatsoever to stop touching Satoru, ever. “You know how Satoru is.”
The unimpressed look was back. Shoko pointed a finger at him. “I know how you are,” she corrects him. “You have never discouraged him from anything in your life, don’t try that with me.”
Suguru tried to give her the most innocent smile he could, well aware that Shoko will see right through him. There wasn’t much he could say in his defense, his priority was Satoru first and everything and everyone after that. He wasn’t about to deny that to the one person that probably knows it better than anyone.
He has the sudden thought that that's not the only thing Shoko now knows.
"Hey,uh," Suguru hesitates. "If anyone asks..."
Shoko interrupts him, which is just as well because Suguru wasn't really sure where he was going with that sentence either. "Don't worry, I've been telling everyone you guys are dating since the start of the year."
That was not the response he was expecting.
"What." Suguru really isn't a fan of how many times he's found himself on the back foot today.
"It's easier than having to explain this whole thing you two got going on." Shoko waves her hand vaguely in the air. Suguru's not quite sure if Shoko or Satoru is to blame for the origin of that particular gesture, but he's become adept at reading its dismissive nature nevertheless.
And thankfully, dismissive it is, because Suguru has a very pretty boy waiting on him in his room that he's eager to return to.
Shoko sighs at whatever look she sees on his face and turns back around to continue making her coffee. Suguru, eagerly taking the opportunity, quickly gathered the snacks and sodas he came to the kitchen for, before making his way back to his room. They’ll be good for at least another couple of hours.
“What took you so long,” Satoru grouches, already making grabby hands at him from where he's leaning up against the head of his bed.
Suguru grins, tossing his prize on top of his desk before getting happily dragged back on top of Satoru. He hums happily as Satoru went right back to kissing under his jaw, steadily going down to nip at his neck. He lets his hands roam, palm splaying across Satoru’s middle to feel the twitch of muscle underneath as Satoru holds himself up to keep kissing him, another tangling in Satoru’s hair to guide him back to his lips.
"Shoko knows," Suguru gets out, before Satoru manages to get him thoroughly distracted again.
Satoru pulls back, looking vaguely dazed, blinking a couple of times before his eyes clear up. "Yeah, I know, she knew before you did."
"No, not that," Suguru flushes. "I ran into her in the kitchen, she knows we're..." Suguru freed a hand to gesture at the minuscule space between them. "Together."
"Oh, we're together now, are we?" Satoru says, wiggling his eyebrows.
Suguru rolls his eyes, moving slightly back to perch on Satoru's lap, hands moving up to cup Satoru's neck, fingers messing with the hair at his nape. "I don't know, are we? You haven't asked, you know."
"All this talk about asking," Satoru rolls his eyes. "As if I haven't made myself quite clear." Satoru squeezes his sides with intent.
"I'm not that easy you know," Suguru says, ignoring the fact that he is, in fact, that easy. It's hard not to be with Satoru underneath him like this. "At least take me to dinner first."
"I can do that," Satoru grins. "Anything for my boyfriend."
"Boyfriend, huh?" Suguru mutters against Satoru's lips, pulling him closer. He tries to tamp down the fluttering in his stomach; it wouldn't do him any good to lose composure now.
"Yeah," Satoru breathes out, a blush settling on his cheeks as he stares at Suguru with bright eyes.
"I like the sound of that," Suguru murmurs, and seals it with a kiss.
Notes:
kudos and comments fuel me, hope you enjoyed and that this silly little thing i wrote made someone smile
Pages Navigation
ShyanandBokuaka on Chapter 1 Thu 11 Jan 2024 06:25PM UTC
Comment Actions
noctetsai on Chapter 1 Fri 12 Jan 2024 12:12AM UTC
Comment Actions
sugarsongs on Chapter 1 Fri 12 Jan 2024 12:42AM UTC
Comment Actions
noctetsai on Chapter 1 Fri 12 Jan 2024 10:52PM UTC
Comment Actions
Rougish on Chapter 1 Fri 12 Jan 2024 02:01AM UTC
Comment Actions
noctetsai on Chapter 1 Fri 12 Jan 2024 10:53PM UTC
Comment Actions
Laura_Risuel on Chapter 1 Fri 12 Jan 2024 05:21AM UTC
Comment Actions
noctetsai on Chapter 1 Fri 12 Jan 2024 10:57PM UTC
Comment Actions
rathouse on Chapter 1 Fri 12 Jan 2024 09:41PM UTC
Comment Actions
noctetsai on Chapter 1 Fri 12 Jan 2024 10:58PM UTC
Comment Actions
Wills (Guest) on Chapter 1 Sat 13 Jan 2024 01:09AM UTC
Comment Actions
noctetsai on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Jan 2024 01:08PM UTC
Comment Actions
Zara_purple on Chapter 1 Sat 13 Jan 2024 04:34AM UTC
Comment Actions
noctetsai on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Jan 2024 01:09PM UTC
Comment Actions
begaydoartcraft on Chapter 1 Sun 24 Mar 2024 05:36AM UTC
Comment Actions
Moonzyyy on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Jan 2024 06:53AM UTC
Comment Actions
noctetsai on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Jan 2024 01:25PM UTC
Comment Actions
IridiumQuality on Chapter 1 Wed 07 Aug 2024 01:58AM UTC
Last Edited Wed 07 Aug 2024 01:59AM UTC
Comment Actions
crowjoker on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Jan 2024 03:58PM UTC
Comment Actions
noctetsai on Chapter 1 Tue 16 Jan 2024 07:02PM UTC
Comment Actions
justwangxian on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Jan 2024 05:03PM UTC
Comment Actions
noctetsai on Chapter 1 Tue 16 Jan 2024 07:03PM UTC
Comment Actions
minvoragine on Chapter 1 Tue 16 Jan 2024 07:28AM UTC
Comment Actions
noctetsai on Chapter 1 Tue 16 Jan 2024 07:01PM UTC
Comment Actions
WCHLS on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Jan 2024 10:20PM UTC
Comment Actions
begaydoartcraft on Chapter 1 Sun 24 Mar 2024 05:32AM UTC
Comment Actions
reki_mylove on Chapter 1 Tue 02 Apr 2024 04:40PM UTC
Comment Actions
what_is_even_going_on on Chapter 1 Wed 01 May 2024 11:52AM UTC
Comment Actions
bananaflavoredwalnuts on Chapter 1 Fri 24 May 2024 06:36PM UTC
Comment Actions
chococolots on Chapter 1 Sun 02 Jun 2024 07:22AM UTC
Comment Actions
arteimis on Chapter 1 Thu 27 Jun 2024 11:47AM UTC
Comment Actions
Dragonslayer on Chapter 1 Sun 30 Jun 2024 08:56AM UTC
Comment Actions
PrincessNymphette on Chapter 1 Wed 17 Jul 2024 03:02AM UTC
Comment Actions
Pages Navigation