(no subject)
It'd been a month, two weeks, six days, ten hours, forty-three minutes, and...
Nineteen seconds! A tiny voice very much like Aspergillus oryzae provided helpfully in his mind, and Sawaki bit harder on the end of his pen.
It'd been a month, two weeks, six days, ten hours, forty-three minutes, and ... twenty-five seconds since he had realized the girl at the liquor store was Kei.
It'd been nearly two months since he kissed him.
"..." making a loud, somewhat angrily disgruntled sound ("rrrrgaaah!") at his train of thought, he dug his fingers into his bleached hair and ruffled it up. Afterwards, he froze, and slowly turned. The only person in the lab that didn't look at him was Hasegawa, and he was grateful for that much, at least.
If she did, she'd probably criticize him. He just knew it.
Maybe call him crazy, too. She liked doing that.
But the questioning glances the others gave him?
Definitely not helping in the slightest bit. "Sawaki, are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine!" he answered a little too quickly. "Th-thanks, Misato-san. I'm just... distracted." He gestured at the air, and two of the three nodded with understanding. Oikawa just gave him a strange look. "It's uh. A bit noisy."
Hands at their chins, Misato and Kawahama nodded, while Oikawa just turned back to a sample that she was studying. "I see, Sawaki! Maybe you should go take a break!"
Sawaki shifted, ignoring the microbes that floated around him (or on him, or on his work) as they let out a chorus of "oh!" that clearly told him they didn't believe his lie one bit. "I-I think I might. I'll be back in a little bit, excuse me."
"Tadayasu is a liar! Liar~!" the microbes chimed in unison, and Sawaki did everything in his power to not stop while fleeing from the lab to smack at the air and yell at them. He shoved his hands in his pockets, scrunched his shoulders, and bit his lip as he quickly left the room.
"Sawaki-kun's been acting a little weird lately," Oikawa said lightly, poking at the fungus sample. Were Sawaki still in the room, he'd hear it say some rather unkind things at her. For now, though, Kawahama let out a thoughtful hum and nodded again. Oikawa continued. "Ever since... Yuuki-kun..."
She poked too hard and the glass the sample was on cracked. Hasegawa twitched, and all of them looked at her. Though Oikawa looked a little frightened, while Kawahama and Misato waited for Hasegawa's wrath.
"It's none of our business what either of them does," was the only thing that came, and she resumed typing.
Once free from the confines of the building, Sawaki exhaled softly and looked up. Summer was settling in nicely, everything bright and covered in sunshine. People were busy around the school, a sea of activity that he stood in the center of. Microbes floated by, chattering amongst themselves or at nothing but the air they drifted on.
Digging in a pocket, he pulled out his cell phone (and some microbes that had been playing hide-and-seek with it) and flipped it open. Kei's smiling face alongside his own greeted him, and his shoulders slumped while he chuckled a little. Without knowing why he wanted to, his thumb began to press down on buttons as he mindlessly made a text message up to send to the boy in the picture. One of the many A. oryzae that followed him around peeked over the top of the phone at what he was typing.
I need to talk to you. Are you free later?
"Wao!" a microbe chimed next to him. Sawaki recognized it as something to do with the common cold and swatted at it to keep its distance. Another simply took its place and continued. "Shy boy is gonna make a move?!"
Pains in the ass, tch. Nonetheless, red spread across his cheeks and he looked away from them. "Shut up, I just need to talk to hi..." he trailed off as the phone in his hand rang and vibrated, flipping it open again and swallowing a lump in his throat he hadn't known was there in the first place.
I'm always free if you need me, Sawaki.
The red worsened at the chorus of cheers that surrounded him, and he ducked his head. He could just see Kei standing there, looking down at him with his hands folded neatly in front of him. In front of that skirt...
For some reason, his imagination traveled lower, and for some even more unexplainable reason, it flashed pale thigh at him as the imaginary Kei shifted with a worried look. His stomach leapt up into his throat, although had to fight for room with his heart once it got there. Honestly! Sawaki should've been used to seeing his friend in those clothes by now. But every time he wore them, every time he saw him, even thought of him in them, his mind snapped and the images went too far.
Goddamnit.
Unclenching his fingers around the phone, he quickly did up a response (i'll stop by when we're finished with this experiment), slapped it shut after turning it off, and made his way towards Misato and Kawahama's dorm. His stomach sunk as he walked quickly, avoiding as many people as he could, but his heart seemed to lodge higher and higher, until he felt like he couldn't breathe, couldn't swallow. The microbes let out little cries as they were left behind or lost their grip on his clothes, but he ignored them.
It took him only twenty-three seconds to get into the dorm room, if only because the pair that lived there seemed to have forgotten to lock the door again. Either way he'd find the spare key (unless they forgot to leave it out again in a drunk stupor) and make his way in. Locking it behind him, he pressed his back against it and squeezed his eyes shut.
That didn't help any. That just seemed to make the image of Kei in that goddamn Gothic Lolita outfit even clearer, and he cussed softly before biting his lip. This definitely couldn't be good. Okay so yeah he was pretty--maybe without all the black, though, because it drowned him and Kei was supposed to be bright and that lipstick looked ridiculous maybe a light red or something oh god why was he thinking about that!--but really, Sawaki thought, there was no reason to be agreeing with his subconscious or admitting it at all!
There was no reason to be thinking about the bits of pale skin that could show through, either. It definitely didn't help that he'd already seen Kei without clothes plenty of times in their childhood, and his imagination just used that as fuel to feed the fire. Yes, okay, he thought, opening his eyes and looking up at the ceiling where microbes were looking down at him curiously. He kissed me. He likes me like that. That's great, he's still my friend. Nothing changes that! But I don't...
His face flushed even more and he thumped his head back against the door a few times. "Idiot."
Sliding down to sit against the door, he tilted his head up to look at the microbes above him. "I'm an idiot, aren't I? I'm hiding out in here instead of actually doing anything..."
"Tadayasu is a big idiot!" a fungus microbe told him, running around near his tennis shoe before hopping up onto it. "You should go and push him down!"
Sawaki groaned at how all the other microbes agreed, a flood of 'push him down!' hitting him. "Enough!" Waving his hands at them to silence them, he pressed his forehead against a knee and sighed. "God you guys are a pain in the ass sometimes..."
Protests followed this statement, before he shifted to sit up a bit more and give them a look. Brow furrowed, eyes narrowed, they silenced again curiously. For a moment he debated, clenching his fists next to him on the floor, before he moved to stand again. A few microbes yelped and cried out when he went storming past them and into the bathroom. "Ehhh? Tadayasu?"
Stripping from his clothes he wore in the lab, they watched him move around the dorm room, finding where his clothes might've been in the mess that was mostly Misato and Kawahama's. Looking amongst themselves, then back towards him as he hopped around to get a pair of jeans on, it dawned on them. "Tadayasu is changing like he's going on a date!"
"A date?" a group of molds chimed happily and curiously, and Sawaki managed to ignore them as he looked for an undershirt. "Tadayasu's gonna ask him on a date? Go Tadayasu!"
"Shut up! I'm just..." Sawaki fought back the blush again, grumbling before pulling on a button-up shirt after shaking it out quickly. "I just got out of the lab, so I don't... want to wear those clothes."
A low hum came from the group of microbes that had gathered near him, and he glared at them. "Really!"
"Whatever you say, Tadayasu!" He grabbed his bag up again, walking away from them quickly. Unlocking the door, he swung it shut again before they had a chance to follow him immediately. It was difficult to ignore them when he wanted to think and they kept taunting him, so slowing them down now was for the best.
Not looking back to the school, where he definitely didn't plan to return to within the next day, despite the risk of Hasegawa murdering him, he quickly left through the main gates.
It didn't take long for microbes to flock to him again, teasing and annoying, but by now he was deep enough into his thoughts that he could ignore them. Kei'd been his best--and perhaps only--friend for years now, and believed him about the microbes. He helped him when he had problems, and he'd always do the same in return.
To find out his friend liked him that way was a shock, but for some reason, it didn't stay long at all. Right after finding out he'd gone back to get help, and he received it like always. Kei wasn't any different, no matter how he dressed or acted, and even if he liked liked him.
Mature, he snorted to himself and his thoughts. 'Liked liked.' What am I in, primary school? Shaking his head, he looked up from the sidewalk and into the city. He'll always be my friend, that won't ever change, but...
Sawaki let out the breath he didn't know he was holding when he saw Kei sitting outside the store, shifting a glass in his hands as though worried. The way he was sitting said he'd been waiting for a little bit, knees pressed together and body slouched, but not relaxed.
He really did look pretty in the pre-dusk light.
"He's been waiting for you! You made him worried!" the microbes chimed, breaking him from his thoughts and his staring. He pulled a face at them, frowning and grumbling.
"Thank you, ever-constant peanut gallery. What would I do without you? Can you leave me alone for a little bit?" It took them a minute of discussion, but eventually he only had an A. oryzae following him as he took a deep breath, moving to stand in front of his friend.
Startled, Kei looked up at him, setting the glass aside and letting a worried expression show on his face. "Sawaki! What's the matter? You never replied, so I..."
"It's nothing bad. I'm sorry I made you worry. I needed a bit of time to think." As Kei moved to stand up, Sawaki reached out and put his hands on his shoulders, making him sit down again. At the puzzled look he was given, he looked away. He really hoped he had control of the blush on his face right now.
"Sawaki..?" Looking back at him when he put his hands against his arms, he gave him a little lopsided smile at the curious expression now on Kei's face. "What did you need to think about?"
"Well..." moving his hands, Sawaki cupped his face gently before leaning forwards. "This."
Under his hands, he could feel Kei tense up out of surprise, but he didn't pull back from the kiss or open his eyes to look at whatever expression had settled on his face now. Especially since soon after, he felt him relax, as though melting, and he curled his fingers into his shirt as he returned the kiss.
Any taunts the microbes threw their way were ignored, even when Sawaki pulled back slowly and blinked down at Kei. He just chuckled at him and reached a gloved hand up, swiping his thumb across his lips and removing the dark lipstick he left behind.
"You should wear a better brand," the blond teased lightly, despite the blush that had settled across his face. Kei laughed in response and reached up to put his arms around the standing boy's neck, pulling him down and pressing his face against his neck. Sawaki didn't hesitate to put his arms around him to return the hug, cheek pressed against dark hair.
"Push him down! That bench is big enough!"
"Shut up you're ruining the moment!"
"Ah, Sawaki? What're they saying?"
"Nothing."
Nineteen seconds! A tiny voice very much like Aspergillus oryzae provided helpfully in his mind, and Sawaki bit harder on the end of his pen.
It'd been a month, two weeks, six days, ten hours, forty-three minutes, and ... twenty-five seconds since he had realized the girl at the liquor store was Kei.
It'd been nearly two months since he kissed him.
"..." making a loud, somewhat angrily disgruntled sound ("rrrrgaaah!") at his train of thought, he dug his fingers into his bleached hair and ruffled it up. Afterwards, he froze, and slowly turned. The only person in the lab that didn't look at him was Hasegawa, and he was grateful for that much, at least.
If she did, she'd probably criticize him. He just knew it.
Maybe call him crazy, too. She liked doing that.
But the questioning glances the others gave him?
Definitely not helping in the slightest bit. "Sawaki, are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine!" he answered a little too quickly. "Th-thanks, Misato-san. I'm just... distracted." He gestured at the air, and two of the three nodded with understanding. Oikawa just gave him a strange look. "It's uh. A bit noisy."
Hands at their chins, Misato and Kawahama nodded, while Oikawa just turned back to a sample that she was studying. "I see, Sawaki! Maybe you should go take a break!"
Sawaki shifted, ignoring the microbes that floated around him (or on him, or on his work) as they let out a chorus of "oh!" that clearly told him they didn't believe his lie one bit. "I-I think I might. I'll be back in a little bit, excuse me."
"Tadayasu is a liar! Liar~!" the microbes chimed in unison, and Sawaki did everything in his power to not stop while fleeing from the lab to smack at the air and yell at them. He shoved his hands in his pockets, scrunched his shoulders, and bit his lip as he quickly left the room.
"Sawaki-kun's been acting a little weird lately," Oikawa said lightly, poking at the fungus sample. Were Sawaki still in the room, he'd hear it say some rather unkind things at her. For now, though, Kawahama let out a thoughtful hum and nodded again. Oikawa continued. "Ever since... Yuuki-kun..."
She poked too hard and the glass the sample was on cracked. Hasegawa twitched, and all of them looked at her. Though Oikawa looked a little frightened, while Kawahama and Misato waited for Hasegawa's wrath.
"It's none of our business what either of them does," was the only thing that came, and she resumed typing.
Once free from the confines of the building, Sawaki exhaled softly and looked up. Summer was settling in nicely, everything bright and covered in sunshine. People were busy around the school, a sea of activity that he stood in the center of. Microbes floated by, chattering amongst themselves or at nothing but the air they drifted on.
Digging in a pocket, he pulled out his cell phone (and some microbes that had been playing hide-and-seek with it) and flipped it open. Kei's smiling face alongside his own greeted him, and his shoulders slumped while he chuckled a little. Without knowing why he wanted to, his thumb began to press down on buttons as he mindlessly made a text message up to send to the boy in the picture. One of the many A. oryzae that followed him around peeked over the top of the phone at what he was typing.
I need to talk to you. Are you free later?
"Wao!" a microbe chimed next to him. Sawaki recognized it as something to do with the common cold and swatted at it to keep its distance. Another simply took its place and continued. "Shy boy is gonna make a move?!"
Pains in the ass, tch. Nonetheless, red spread across his cheeks and he looked away from them. "Shut up, I just need to talk to hi..." he trailed off as the phone in his hand rang and vibrated, flipping it open again and swallowing a lump in his throat he hadn't known was there in the first place.
I'm always free if you need me, Sawaki.
The red worsened at the chorus of cheers that surrounded him, and he ducked his head. He could just see Kei standing there, looking down at him with his hands folded neatly in front of him. In front of that skirt...
For some reason, his imagination traveled lower, and for some even more unexplainable reason, it flashed pale thigh at him as the imaginary Kei shifted with a worried look. His stomach leapt up into his throat, although had to fight for room with his heart once it got there. Honestly! Sawaki should've been used to seeing his friend in those clothes by now. But every time he wore them, every time he saw him, even thought of him in them, his mind snapped and the images went too far.
Goddamnit.
Unclenching his fingers around the phone, he quickly did up a response (i'll stop by when we're finished with this experiment), slapped it shut after turning it off, and made his way towards Misato and Kawahama's dorm. His stomach sunk as he walked quickly, avoiding as many people as he could, but his heart seemed to lodge higher and higher, until he felt like he couldn't breathe, couldn't swallow. The microbes let out little cries as they were left behind or lost their grip on his clothes, but he ignored them.
It took him only twenty-three seconds to get into the dorm room, if only because the pair that lived there seemed to have forgotten to lock the door again. Either way he'd find the spare key (unless they forgot to leave it out again in a drunk stupor) and make his way in. Locking it behind him, he pressed his back against it and squeezed his eyes shut.
That didn't help any. That just seemed to make the image of Kei in that goddamn Gothic Lolita outfit even clearer, and he cussed softly before biting his lip. This definitely couldn't be good. Okay so yeah he was pretty--maybe without all the black, though, because it drowned him and Kei was supposed to be bright and that lipstick looked ridiculous maybe a light red or something oh god why was he thinking about that!--but really, Sawaki thought, there was no reason to be agreeing with his subconscious or admitting it at all!
There was no reason to be thinking about the bits of pale skin that could show through, either. It definitely didn't help that he'd already seen Kei without clothes plenty of times in their childhood, and his imagination just used that as fuel to feed the fire. Yes, okay, he thought, opening his eyes and looking up at the ceiling where microbes were looking down at him curiously. He kissed me. He likes me like that. That's great, he's still my friend. Nothing changes that! But I don't...
His face flushed even more and he thumped his head back against the door a few times. "Idiot."
Sliding down to sit against the door, he tilted his head up to look at the microbes above him. "I'm an idiot, aren't I? I'm hiding out in here instead of actually doing anything..."
"Tadayasu is a big idiot!" a fungus microbe told him, running around near his tennis shoe before hopping up onto it. "You should go and push him down!"
Sawaki groaned at how all the other microbes agreed, a flood of 'push him down!' hitting him. "Enough!" Waving his hands at them to silence them, he pressed his forehead against a knee and sighed. "God you guys are a pain in the ass sometimes..."
Protests followed this statement, before he shifted to sit up a bit more and give them a look. Brow furrowed, eyes narrowed, they silenced again curiously. For a moment he debated, clenching his fists next to him on the floor, before he moved to stand again. A few microbes yelped and cried out when he went storming past them and into the bathroom. "Ehhh? Tadayasu?"
Stripping from his clothes he wore in the lab, they watched him move around the dorm room, finding where his clothes might've been in the mess that was mostly Misato and Kawahama's. Looking amongst themselves, then back towards him as he hopped around to get a pair of jeans on, it dawned on them. "Tadayasu is changing like he's going on a date!"
"A date?" a group of molds chimed happily and curiously, and Sawaki managed to ignore them as he looked for an undershirt. "Tadayasu's gonna ask him on a date? Go Tadayasu!"
"Shut up! I'm just..." Sawaki fought back the blush again, grumbling before pulling on a button-up shirt after shaking it out quickly. "I just got out of the lab, so I don't... want to wear those clothes."
A low hum came from the group of microbes that had gathered near him, and he glared at them. "Really!"
"Whatever you say, Tadayasu!" He grabbed his bag up again, walking away from them quickly. Unlocking the door, he swung it shut again before they had a chance to follow him immediately. It was difficult to ignore them when he wanted to think and they kept taunting him, so slowing them down now was for the best.
Not looking back to the school, where he definitely didn't plan to return to within the next day, despite the risk of Hasegawa murdering him, he quickly left through the main gates.
It didn't take long for microbes to flock to him again, teasing and annoying, but by now he was deep enough into his thoughts that he could ignore them. Kei'd been his best--and perhaps only--friend for years now, and believed him about the microbes. He helped him when he had problems, and he'd always do the same in return.
To find out his friend liked him that way was a shock, but for some reason, it didn't stay long at all. Right after finding out he'd gone back to get help, and he received it like always. Kei wasn't any different, no matter how he dressed or acted, and even if he liked liked him.
Mature, he snorted to himself and his thoughts. 'Liked liked.' What am I in, primary school? Shaking his head, he looked up from the sidewalk and into the city. He'll always be my friend, that won't ever change, but...
Sawaki let out the breath he didn't know he was holding when he saw Kei sitting outside the store, shifting a glass in his hands as though worried. The way he was sitting said he'd been waiting for a little bit, knees pressed together and body slouched, but not relaxed.
He really did look pretty in the pre-dusk light.
"He's been waiting for you! You made him worried!" the microbes chimed, breaking him from his thoughts and his staring. He pulled a face at them, frowning and grumbling.
"Thank you, ever-constant peanut gallery. What would I do without you? Can you leave me alone for a little bit?" It took them a minute of discussion, but eventually he only had an A. oryzae following him as he took a deep breath, moving to stand in front of his friend.
Startled, Kei looked up at him, setting the glass aside and letting a worried expression show on his face. "Sawaki! What's the matter? You never replied, so I..."
"It's nothing bad. I'm sorry I made you worry. I needed a bit of time to think." As Kei moved to stand up, Sawaki reached out and put his hands on his shoulders, making him sit down again. At the puzzled look he was given, he looked away. He really hoped he had control of the blush on his face right now.
"Sawaki..?" Looking back at him when he put his hands against his arms, he gave him a little lopsided smile at the curious expression now on Kei's face. "What did you need to think about?"
"Well..." moving his hands, Sawaki cupped his face gently before leaning forwards. "This."
Under his hands, he could feel Kei tense up out of surprise, but he didn't pull back from the kiss or open his eyes to look at whatever expression had settled on his face now. Especially since soon after, he felt him relax, as though melting, and he curled his fingers into his shirt as he returned the kiss.
Any taunts the microbes threw their way were ignored, even when Sawaki pulled back slowly and blinked down at Kei. He just chuckled at him and reached a gloved hand up, swiping his thumb across his lips and removing the dark lipstick he left behind.
"You should wear a better brand," the blond teased lightly, despite the blush that had settled across his face. Kei laughed in response and reached up to put his arms around the standing boy's neck, pulling him down and pressing his face against his neck. Sawaki didn't hesitate to put his arms around him to return the hug, cheek pressed against dark hair.
"Push him down! That bench is big enough!"
"Shut up you're ruining the moment!"
"Ah, Sawaki? What're they saying?"
"Nothing."