A raindrop for tomtoru001! (1/3)

[stormies]

Title : Love Situation
Pairing(s) : Sakuraiba
Genres : Cherry Magic AU, Romance, Fluff, Drama
Rating : PG-13
Summary : It wasn’t in Sho’s plans to reach his 30s as a virgin. It definitely wasn’t in his plans to become a magic user as well, and sure there wasn’t finding out that his rediscovered best friend had feelings for him. But all that was in the world’s plans apparently, and he could only see where it led him.
Warning(s) : None
Author’s Notes : Dear tomtoru001, hello! As soon as I saw your prompts, I knew that I had to go for the Cherry Magic one! I loved that drama, and I keep on rewatching some scenes from time to time. It’s literally my happy place! The story I wrote is of course a bit different, since I adapted it for Sho’s and Aiba’s characters. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless, and also, that I did the original work justice! ^^
Lastly, I would like to thank my beta for sticking with me through this – it was tough, and I wouldn’t have made it without you <3



Sho checked his watch as soon as they arrived in front of the building. They were perfectly on time, just as per schedule, and Ohno even had some time to spare to psychologically prepare to face so many people all at once.

“Are you ready?” Sho asked his friend.

“I’m never ready to face crowds, but I’ll do my best.”

Patting his shoulder, Sho encouraged Ohno to go in, while he led him to the hall dedicated to their university year’s reunion. “You have an exhibition this year, use this chance to warm yourself up to people.”

“Will try,” Ohno replied, forcing a smile.

Their eyes began to meet with several familiar others, but no one had them doing more than a nod and a smile. To be frank, almost everyone there was an acquaintance to them. And even if it wasn’t surprising for Ohno, it was for Sho.

Contrary to Ohno, who studied Fine Arts, Sho had enrolled at university to become an artist agent. As much as he liked arts, his good sense for it didn’t reach his hands, making it difficult to become an artist. Moreover, Sho had always liked to arrange events, schedules and such. In short, he liked to take care of everything. All that boring stuff – as Ohno had named it – was what he was really good at. But even if he was in another course, after meeting Ohno, he would always stick with him and not with his other peers. Even back then, he could see their friendship lasting forever.

However, at the time he sure didn’t plan to be his friend’s agent, though. Seven years ago, someone had taken an interest in Ohno’s works after seeing them at their university’s gallery, and she had asked to borrow them for a kind of ‘new artists exhibition.’ At the time, Ohno didn’t have an agent and Sho had kindly offered himself temporarily, since he himself was having a hard time finding a job.

At first, Sho had agreed to help for a month, which then became three, then six, until Ohno blew up as an artist, and he became his actual, full-time agent. Working with a friend would seem weird for someone, but for the two of them it was great. They were complementary in all aspects of their work and personal life. Sho was the practical one, always networking and finding the best opportunities for Ohno to work, while Ohno was the creative one, free to create his next piece without having to think about anything else but chasing his inspiration; and when things got too much, he was always ready to get the workaholic Sho to slow down to fit his relaxed pace. They were perfect together.

It had always been the both of them, and even now, in the middle of a room filled with people, they stood close to each other. However, just when Sho’s eyes moved to the buffet table, his gaze locked with a very familiar other, and the almond brown eyes of the other person widening told him that he had been recognized too.

Sho and Ohno had always been together, yes, but they weren’t a duo. At university, they were a trio, because the other person he thought to be an everlasting friend was Aiba Masaki.

“Aiba-chan!” Ohno exclaimed, grinning from cheek to cheek.

Immediately, they walked up to the man, who did the same and met them half-way.

“Hello,” Aiba said, smiling broadly. “It’s been a while.”

“Even more than a while, we haven't seen you in ages!” Sho commented, nudging Aiba’s shoulder with his hand, “When did you come back to Japan?”

“Three years ago.”

Ohno pouted sadly, “And you didn’t even think of telling us? Aren't we best friends?”

Aiba’s lips twitched for a second before curving up in an embarrassed smile. “I didn’t really know how to reach you, and,” the man’s eyes moved to Sho then, “I didn’t know if you guys had forgotten about me.”

Chuckling, Sho shook his head, “As if we could.” Then, he added, jokingly, “Rather, we thought that you had forgotten about us after going abroad.”

“I could never,” Aiba replied earnestly, his eyes as serious as ever.

Sho crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows, “Then, why didn’t you even send us a postcard, a letter, or anything else? And when you got back to Japan, you didn’t even look for us.”

Aiba was hanging his head low, a troubled expression plastered on his face. Some seconds went by before the man raised his head and sighed, “I have no excuse for that. I’m sorry guys, I just… I was going through something.”

“Ah—Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” Sho apologized, worried that he had touched a sore point.

“I know, Sho-chan, I know.”

An impulsive smile spread across his face, hearing that nickname after such a long time. Aside from his family, Aiba was the only one to call him ‘Sho-chan’, and just now he realized how much he had missed it. How much he had missed his friend.

“It’s still ‘Sho-chan’, huh.”

“Of course,” Aiba beamed, before turning towards their friend, “And it’s ‘Oh-chan’ as well. I hope it’s the same for you two.”

Ohno placed his hands on the taller man’s arms, looking up at him from his height, “You’ve just gotten taller. Nothing has changed, you’re still Aiba-chan.”

“We should catch up and start to hang out together again. Just like the good old days,” Sho proposed.

“I would be more than happy.”

As if struck by a thunder, Ohno jumped on his feet and grabbed them by their arms, “We should go to drink somewhere after this! Today is the 24th. We could wait until midnight to wish Sho-kun a happy birthday.”

“I would love that!” Aiba immediately replied.

“That is a good idea, I agree,” he said, accepting his friend’s suggestion as well. He wasn’t a fan of birthdays and related parties – he hadn’t planned anything for his 30th birthday this year as well – but if it meant drinking with his two best friends just as they used to do, all three together, then he was up to celebrating all night long.



Sho had gone back to his university days. Ohno was next to him, grinning for no particular reason, while his eyes became more and more blurred by the second. Aiba was in front of them, whining again that he had lost at rock-paper-scissors, which meant he had to be the one to stay sober.

They should have taken that chance to catch up, but instead they spent their time reminiscing about the past, talking nostalgically about the funny touching moments they lived together, like Aiba and Ohno’s first meeting. Soon enough, Sho was laughing as Aiba recounted the way he and Ohno met the first day of the semester because they both got their class wrong. Evidently amused by this, the two had decided to be friends and had started hanging out, taking the same classes whenever possible. Thus, the original duo was formed.

“And then a while later we met Sho-kun too, right?” Ohno slurred, pushing himself up against Sho unceremoniously.

“Yeah,” Sho said, thinking back to that time with a fond chuckle.

“Where was it?” Ohno mumbled.

“Creative and visual art,” Aiba replied immediately.

Ohno chuckled. “How do you still remember that?”

“It pays not to be drunk, I guess,” Sho said, taking another sip of his drink.

Aiba didn’t reply, but just laughed along, until the three of them fell into a comfortable silence.

Sho let his mind wander to the first time he’d seen those two in the classroom, cooped up into a corner, laughing about who knows what. He didn’t introduce himself at first, because as much as Sho was an extrovert with excellent social skills, he was kind of intimidated by the two of them and their close-knit relationship when he first met them. It wasn’t until the end of the semester, when their professor asked them to do a group project, that Sho spoke to them.

Class after class, he, like everyone else, had noticed Ohno’s talent as an artist, – something he himself sorely lacked, – and so, before anyone else could approach the shy duo and snag his chance to get an A from him, he had introduced himself and had asked them to join their group. Sure, he had done that because he was certain that with Ohno’s talent they would receive a good grade no matter what; but in the end, he had gotten even more than he was hoping for from this arrangement when he ended up with two great friends.

From that moment on, even though their classes didn’t always overlap, they became inseparable. They even stuck together after they graduated and each of them got their own place. Or, well, at least up until Aiba told them that he was going to move abroad.

“Aiba-kun,” he called the other man. Unlike Ohno, who had made himself comfortable against Sho’s shoulder, Sho wasn’t that drunk yet. He felt that he could still down some more shots.

“What is it?”

“What’s the real reason you went abroad?” Sho asked him.

The man took a sip of his soft drink before placing it down, avoiding Sho’s eyes, “It’s just as I told you guys back then. I got a good offer, and I took it.”

“But you love Japan, and you love being here. You never seemed interested in working anywhere but here.” Sho rested his chin on the palm of his hand, studying Aiba with his gaze, “There must have been something that made you flee.”

Aiba finally met his eyes, holding his stare and returning it with the same intensity. It looked as though those brown eyes were hiding something, which seemed to weigh on him, because Sho had never seen Aiba’s eyes so dark and hollow. Something or someone had snatched the sparkle that once was typically there away.

“Aiba-kun—”

“So, how’s Oh-chan’s work going?”

Aiba had changed topics so quickly that it caught Sho by surprise. It was clear that his friend was trying to avoid the subject, and as much as he wanted to know more, he had to respect the other’s privacy.

At that moment, the waiter came with the other beer he’d ordered, and he quickly swallowed half of it, feeling it go to his head. “’s going well,” he replied with a drowsy voice. “How about you? What’re you doin’?”

“I work as an art curator in a gallery, I’m usually in charge of organizing exhibitions. I reach out to artists, sometimes select their works, sometimes persuade them to display their art at our—”

“Ah, that’s a perfect job for you then.”

Aiba tilted his head to the side, “What do you mean?”

“Among everyone I’ve ever known, you’re definitely the best one at talking people into stuff.”

“Why so?” The left corner of Aiba’s lips tilted up in a grin as he asked.

“Because you can win everyone over, and you know that you can.” And it was true. Even if Aiba hadn’t been in a relationship during their time at university, it was clear that he knew how to seduce and how to appeal. Thinking about it, that job did suit him pretty well.

“History doesn’t really agree with that, though.”

Sho’s brow furrowed at once, “What? Did someone actually get away from your charm?”

The man smiled sadly, “They did.”

“No way! Someone resisted you? Such a person exists?”

“I guess.” Aiba slumped back in his seat, looking gloomily at his glass. Not bearing to see him that way, Sho tried to comfort him.

“The past is in the past. Let’s focus on the present, shall we?” he said, raising his drink and encouraging Aiba to make a toast. Even if reluctantly at first, Aiba gave in and clashed his glass with Sho’s. After drinking, he questioned his friend again, “So, how’s your love life now?”

“Boring.”

He snorted, “Oh, come on, not even someone you like?”

Aiba shook his head.

“What’s your type then?”

When the man burst out laughing, he nudged his leg with his foot, playfully. He knew that he was asking some teenager kind of question, but he couldn’t help being curious. Maybe the reason was that Ohno and he were the two most distant people from a successful romance, hence they would never have that kind of talk. Ohno had a few flings in the past years, but as for Sho, well, he was an unusual case.

Unusually enough maybe, Sho had managed to reach the age of 29 without having sex. His workaholic self, paired up with his demisexuality, made it hard for him to feel so in touch with someone to want to go to second or third base with them. He wasn’t embarrassed by that, but he did feel sometimes that romance was going to be out of question for him. To be honest, he had even thought of giving up on it completely, since it was unlikely that someone would wait for him to be comfortable enough to get intimate, when even he didn’t know how long that would take.

“... who works hard.”

Sho woke up from his thoughts, and realized that Aiba had been talking to him while he was in his trance. “Sorry, what?”

“Someone who works hard is my type.”

“That’s great,” he said, finishing his glass after. “Someone hard-working like you would be perfect for you.”

“And what about your type?”

“Someone patient.”

Aiba was going to open his mouth, maybe to ask him to elaborate, but Sho quickly picked up his phone. It was his time now to change the topic, “Hey, it’s almost midnight.”

Gladly, his friend seemed to have understood and didn’t ask any further. “You can start to say goodbye to your 20s.”

“Then I need another drink,” he said, ordering a refill.

“Sho-chan, aren’t you drinking too much?”

He smirked, trying to keep his sleepy and tired eyes as open as possible, “I’m just getting started.”

Those were his famous last words, because as soon as he swallowed his new drink, his eyesight became more blurry and the noise around him seemed to be farther and farther away. Within minutes, he laid on the table and passed out.


🍒 🍒 🍒


The sound of a door closing woke Sho up. Opening his eyes, he tried to make out his surroundings, but failed in doing so. He quickly raised his head – a bad idea since he was hungover – and looked around, but nothing was giving him any hint as to who that house belonged to.

He had been sleeping on a futon, at a stranger’s house, in what seemed to be their living room. That’s when he realized that next to him there was another futon, and at that moment the wheels in his brain were set in motion with a stuttering start.

Last night he had drunk with Ohno and Aiba, to celebrate his 30th birthday. He had passed out though, and so had his friend. Since that house wasn’t his nor Ohno’s, that meant…

“Ah, Sho-chan, you’re up!”

Slowly turning to the living room’s door, he saw a beaming Aiba carrying a glass of water and a box of aspirins in his hands. Kneeling beside the coffee table, he left everything there.

“You must have a really bad hangover. This should make you feel better.”

Struggling to sit up, Sho eventually managed to reach the table and take the medicine. He groaned a “Thanks,” and went back to the futon, holding his head. “Ohno-kun?”

“He’s gone back home. I saw him out just now.”

“Didn’t he wait for me?”

Aiba changed his expression to mimic Ohno’s deadpan one, and then cleared his throat to mimic even his voice, “He is sleeping soundly, it doesn’t happen often. He’s probably going to sleep until two in the afternoon. Let him rest.”

Sho burst out laughing, half amused at Ohno’s words, but half thankful. Ohno knew more than anyone how much he overworked himself, so the man would take any opportunity to get Sho to take a load off his feet.

“Well, I do have a day off,” he started, before getting back up once again, “But I can’t lounge around all day.”

“Just take it easy, then. How does breakfast sound?”

“Sounds good,” he smiled.

Contrary to the night before, they were rather quiet now. Sho did want to have some conversation, but his dreadful headache was preventing him from doing so. He had only managed to ask Aiba for his number, so that they could get in touch again, but it had taken all his willpower to mouth those words.

After that, Aiba had kindly offered him to freshen up in his bathroom, and now he was back again in the living room, ready to go. He checked his phone, and found some birthday messages from his relatives and friends. Of course, just like any other year, nothing from a lover – or someone that could be called that.

His sigh must have caught Aiba’s attention, since he poked his shoulder and asked, “Something wrong?”

“No, not really.” He said, but then bit his lips thoughtfully, wondering if he should ask for an opinion from his friend. Aiba had certainly more experience than Ohno and him when it came to romance – he could just imagine the strings of girlfriends and boyfriends he’d had in the past 7 years – and maybe he could use some insight. “Aiba-kun, what do you think of reaching your 30s as a virgin?”

“Well, they say that you become a wizard, so I guess it’s interesting?”

Sho made a face at Aiba, who burst out laughing the second after, clashing his hands together as an apology.

“Sorry, sorry. I was joking,” he started. “To be frank, it does seem weird. You know, in this day and age sex is everywhere, and everyone does it, but that’s not the only thing in life.”

“You wouldn’t back out if someone told you that they want to wait?”

Aiba let out a chuckle, shaking his head as if he had just heard the stupidest thing ever. “Why would I? I mean, I surely would have a hard time at first, but if I really care about that person, I would respect their decision. That’s what love is supposed to be, right?”

Those words warmed Sho’s heart. He really needed to hear that, because the more time passed, the more he believed that no one who would accept him existed. However, knowing that at least someone else beside Ohno and he himself did, was reassuring. If someone like Aiba understood – someone who loved sex – then there must be someone for him out there.

“Thank you,” he told the other, sincerely, not even trying to stop his grinning, “You’ve always understood me.” He walked by Aiba, patting his arm, before going towards the front door.

He was putting on his shoes when he heard Aiba calling him from behind. When he turned, he saw his friend coming with his coat, “You’re forgetting it.”

“Ah, thanks,” he replied, taking the coat from his hands, their fingers touching for a moment.

‘As expected, no matter how much time passes, Sho-chan still gives me butterflies.’

Sho’s body froze and his eyes widened in shock as he stared at Aiba. What… What did he just hear?

“Sorry, what?” he asked with a trembling voice.

“I didn’t say anything,” Aiba stated. “You alright, Sho-chan? What happened?” The man held his chin to check his face.

‘Sho-chan doesn’t look that good. Maybe I should convince him to stay here so I can take care of him all day.’

Again, Aiba’s voice. This time, though, he could see that his lips were sealed. He wasn’t talking at all, so… What was this? Was this his inner voice or something? And if it was, how could he hear that?

He jumped away from the other’s touch, and excused himself quickly before finally exiting the apartment. He ran to the elevator and rested his back on its wall as soon as he got in.

“What the hell just happened!?”


🍒 🍒 🍒

Sho got out of Aiba’s building feeling exhausted and confused. The only thing he wanted was to go back home, shut himself in, and be alone.

Since his friend’s place was far from his, he decided to go by train. He was still upset by what happened just some minutes before, and he got on the train in a daze. However, he didn’t even have the time to try to reflect on those events because the rush hour caused tons of people to be pressed against him. And that was when hell happened.

No one was opening their mouths, and yet, they were talking. All of their voices could be heard, but the only one to seem to have noticed that was Sho.

‘I should call her and apologize. ’

‘I hope my boss won’t make me work overtime today…’

‘This new song is amazing! I have to tell my friend as soon as possible.’

Sho’s head was very close to exploding, and he literally ran back home when he got off at this stop.

“I must be hallucinating,” he said, after closing the front door and leaning on it. “I drank way too much yesterday.”

Tossing his shoes and jacket away, he reached the living room and threw himself on the couch. He nervously rubbed his face and groaned out loud. His birthday wasn’t certainly starting on the right foot, but looking at his wristwatch, he saw that it was only 10 am. His day could still get better… Right?



The insistent sound of his doorbell forced Sho to open his eyes. Unwillingly, he got up and went to open his door. There, he found a not so happy face staring at him.

“Jun-kun? What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you that.”

His head was hurting too much for him to try to make sense of that, so he let the other in without saying anything else, hoping that his friend would explain everything to him while complaining about whatever he seemed to have done.

“I don’t care how drunk you are, you could have called to let me know that you preferred to sleep in,” the man started, going straight to his kitchen and placing down the two paper bags he was carrying. Sho stared at him in confusion until he saw Jun take out some lunch boxes, which jogged his memory.

“Ah, our lunch!” he exclaimed, hitting his head with his palm – a very bad idea for his headache.

“Yes, Sho-san, our lunch. You asked me to have lunch at mine for your birthday, and then you don’t show up and don’t even call,” Jun grumped at him, visibly angry, but still setting out the table for lunch. No matter how mad Jun would get, he was still going to put politeness and kindness before anything. “You better eat it now, since I’ve come all the way here,” his friend threatened him. “Happy birthday, jerk.”

“Thank you, and sorry,” Sho said, going to take his seat. At the sight of all that delicious food, his stomach growled, as if it was realizing just at that moment how hungry it was. Checking his watch, Sho saw that it was already past his lunchtime, “Woah, I slept a lot.”

“You must have had a fun night yesterday,” Jun teased, sitting in front of him, “Even though you said you don’t have any other close university friends aside from Ohno-san.”

“There is someone else, actually. We met and the three of us went to drink after. To tell the truth, the reason we went to the reunion in the first place was on the tiny off chance that we could meet him,” he explained, beginning to stuff his mouth with Jun’s food. Having a chef as a friend surely paid off.

“Really? Is he that important to you two?” Jun asked surprised.

“Of course!”

“Then, why is this the first time that I hear about him?”

That was a good question, and it didn’t surprise Sho to hear his friend ask it because, even if Aiba was such a close person to Ohno and Sho, they never talked about him with others. Since Aiba left Japan without giving too much of an explanation, aside from ‘I got a good job offer’, it was as if they had tacitly agreed to not talk about him. There would have been too many questions and not enough answers after all.

“He left to work abroad, in China, after university, and we haven’t seen him since,” he simply said, without giving too much away. However, the other man must have caught something, for he looked straight into his eyes.

“You sound butthurt, you know that?”

He snorted, placing down his chopsticks and swallowing the bite of grilled eggplant he had in his mouth. “Even if I did, I would have every reason to. He was our best friend and he vanished like that. He said that he was going through ‘something,’” he made air quotes, “But we’re his best friends, he could have told us.”

Jun shrugged, “Maybe it was something he couldn’t tell you guys?”

At those words, Sho’s mind went back to yesterday’s night, trying to find any hint that could possibly tell him what reason Aiba would have had to come back without informing them. However, something didn’t add up, “Still, he would have found the time to tell us in seven freaking years, wouldn’t he?”

“What if it would have consequences?”

Sho tilted his head, confused, “What do you mean?”

His friend sighed and put down his chopsticks, shaking his head at what apparently was so obvious for him but not for Sho, “Have you ever thought that his vanishing could have something to do with you guys?”

“With us? That’s impossible, why would—” Sho’s words died in his throat, as Jun’s words triggered a memory that his brain had already tried to bury at the bottom of his mind.

‘As expected, no matter how much time passes, Sho-chan still gives me butterflies.’

No, he refused to believe so. First of all, he still hadn’t figured out what was going on, so he couldn’t be sure if what he heard before he took a nap on his couch was true or not. It could all have been a hallucination.

He didn’t even know what would be weirder: for Aiba to say such a thing, or for Sho to be able to read people’s minds. However, if it hadn’t been a hallucination – or dream of some sort – that thought implied that at some point in the past, Aiba started having feelings for Sho. If that were true, it would have made sense for Aiba to keep them in the dark about his reason for leaving.

Still, though, it was so surreal that Sho couldn’t even wrap his head around it. There must have been a mistake. Aiba couldn’t feel such feelings towards Sho. They were best friends after all, and there hadn’t been one chance in which they could have been more. Also, the mere thought that Aiba could like someone like Sho was impossible in the first place.

Yeah, it’s absurd. Just like this ‘reading minds’ thing.

“Sho-san, are you alright?” the other man put a hand over his, “You became pale all of a sudden.”

“I-I’m good. Just still a bit hungover.”

‘He should figure out that he can’t hold his liquor as much as he thinks he can once for all.’

Sho’s head lifted up at once, while his eyes widened in front of his friend. “Did you just say something?”

Jun, who had now returned to his food, looked at him perplexed, “I didn’t, why?”

“No, you just spoke,” Sho affirmed.

“No, I didn’t,” the man retorted. Jun stood up and put a hand over Sho’s forehead, to check if he had a temperature. “You don’t have a fever.”

‘So, has he gone crazy?’

Sho got up abruptly, pointing a finger to Jun, “You spoke again!”

“Now, yes,” his friend said patiently, “I told you that you don’t have a fever.”

“What? No, you said more!”

By now, Jun’s face was more worried than confused; he looked genuinely concerned. “Dude, are you sure you’re alright?”

Sho blinked and held his temples, “I need to sleep.”

“But you slept all morning,” his friend pointed out.

“Then, it wasn’t enough,” he concluded, “You finish your lunch. And thank you. But I need to go lay down.”

Without explaining anything to the other man, Sho left the kitchen to move to his bedroom, where he threw himself on the bed, closing his eyes.

Whatever was happening, he didn’t like it. He was still hoping to be in a nightmare and to wake up as soon as possible. However, when he pinched himself on his cheek, the pain that hit him was way too real for that scenario to be possible.

What’s wrong with me?


🍒 🍒 🍒


“Well, they say that you become a wizard, so I guess it’s interesting?”

As a virgin 30-year-old, Sho was sure of two things: one was that he had indeed become a wizard, and the second one, that it wasn’t interesting at all.

For the past one week all he had done was to avoid any contact with people. He realized that even just brushing with someone else’s body caused him to read their minds – and he could go as far as visualizing what they were thinking. The first days he tried to endure it, but he soon understood that he wouldn’t last that way.

So, Sho started to go out either on foot or by taxi, or even with his own car. If he had to sit close to someone, he would be sure to leave some inches between them, and to move away fast if the other person approached him. This gained quite some stares from his friends, who would see Sho jump out of nowhere when they were too close to him.

He couldn’t tell anybody about his ‘power’ though. No one would believe him – rather they would send him to a specialist – and if they did, then another issue would arise: the feeling of being spied on. Thoughts were something private and personal, and Sho bet that no one would be happy to know that someone could hear them.

Therefore, Sho had tried his best to keep the secret and to not have any contact with other people. Which was why he was now walking with his umbrella under the rain, refusing to take any form of public transport.

The gallery he was going to visit to check the availability for Ohno’s exhibition wasn’t too far away, and he had taken a liking to walking everywhere anyways.

After half an hour, Sho found himself in front of a modern-looking building. The whole front of it was decorated with various styles of art, from Egyptian to graffiti, in a mix of antique and modern. At the top, in bold letters with a faint yellow-green aura around them, was the name of the gallery, Chartreuse.

As soon as Sho entered the building, he felt in awe at how large the gallery was inside. From the outside, it didn’t look that wide to tell the truth, and he actually pondered on whether to check it out or not at first. He was glad to have decided to give it a chance.

Without wasting much time, he went to the info point to introduce himself.

“Hello, I’m Sakurai Sho, I’m Ohno Satoshi’s agent. I’ve called to book an appointment with the art curator.”

“We were waiting for you, Sakurai-san,” the woman beamed, “The person you were supposed to speak to is currently absent, but the other curator in charge would be happy to discuss things with you in her stead.”

“Sure, that's not a problem.”

“Please wait here, then. I’ll inform him that you have arrived.”

Sho thanked her with a smile and saw as she left to an hallway on the right. When she was out of sight, he took his time to look around, already picturing how Ohno’s works could be displayed.

The exhibition which was currently being held was out of sight, behind some thick curtains separating every room. The big atrium where Sho was standing only hosted some paintings, some of which were on the walls and some which were unconventionally hanging directly from the ceiling.

Sho was so charmed by that place that he didn’t even realize that the lady was back again at her desk. With a glance, she directed him towards the hallway she had previously disappeared into. Sho moved some steps forward before stopping in his tracks, when he saw who the person he had to speak with was.

“So, it was really you!”

An excited Aiba Masaki waved at him and closed their distance in just a few seconds, arriving in front of him smiling as brightly as the sun.

“A-Aiba-kun? What are you doing here?”

His friend laughed out loud before his confused eyes, “That night you were so drunk that you forgot that I told you to note down Chartreuse as a possible location for Ohno’s exhibition, didn’t you?”

Now , Sho thought, it makes sense. When he had found the name of the gallery in his notepad, it was scribbled messily, contrary to his usual neat handwriting. He had tried to remember when he had written that down, but couldn’t remember anything. And how could he, if he had done that while wasted?

“I guess I did,” he replied, laughing along. “So, you’ll show me around?”

“Of course! Let’s go.”

Still smiling, Aiba went behind the info desk and fished something from under it. Without saying anything, he handed Sho a glow in the dark bracelet, gesturing for him to put it on. Sho lifted his eyebrow, but copied the other and put on the bracelet.

When he made sure that Sho had secured the bracelet on his wrist, Aiba led him to the closest room. They pushed aside the heavy curtains to reveal a smaller room, maybe two meters wide, completely in the dark. Sho blinked to make his eyes adjust to the absence of light, the only sign that Aiba was still there being the bracelet glowing in mid air in front of him.

“Are you ready Sho-chan?” he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Yeah,” he said, and saw Aiba push aside another curtain to make way into a bigger and more illuminated room.

“The theme of the current exhibition is light and dark,” Aiba explained as he showed him around. “So we played with it quite literally, as you can see.”

The more rooms they visited, the more Sho felt in awe. The whole exhibition was complementing the artist’s work so much that it had become itself a work of art. Some of the paintings were standing in the middle of a dark room with a spotlight on them; some were surrounded by fairy light cascading from the ceiling and creating a dreamy effect; others were only half illuminated, the bright colors in contrast with the suffused light all around.

There was no doubt in Sho’s mind that whoever curated the exhibition had taken every detail into consideration. He was sure that Ohno’s work would be given the respect it deserved here.

“Everything in here is beautiful,” he blurted out as soon as Aiba concluded their visit. “It’s literally a work of art.”

Aiba came up beside him, their shoulders touching slightly.

‘ You are a work of art.’

A shiver ran down Sho’s spine. He had been so focused on understanding his power in these two weeks, that he had totally forgotten how he discovered it in the first place.

Turning towards the other, he studied the look on Aiba’s face: dreamy and happy. Before he could hear any other thoughts, Sho put some inches of distance between them, moving away. He tried to keep a straight face, but once again Aiba had messed him up, and it was almost impossible for him to act as if nothing had happened.

He cleared his throat and pretended to look around some more, while writing some general notes in his notebook. Then, he spoke without looking at the other, “So, I guess that’s all for now?”

“Yes, we’ll have another meeting if you decide to hold the exhibition here. Oh-chan will have to be there.”

“Who should I call in that case?”

“It should be Hashimoto-san, but if you’d like I could step in and be the main art curator in charge. I’m sure she would understand—”

“No, no, it’s fine,” he immediately rejected, “I mean, I was supposed to do this with her, and I don’t want to overstep.”

All that was a lie, and to see Aiba’s dazzling smile disappearing slowly hurt him deeply. But he couldn’t let Aiba be near him because it would be too awkward. It would mean having to collaborate with someone who had a crush on him, and a one-sided one at that, because to him they were just friends. At some point along the way, someone would get hurt, and he couldn’t let that happen.

“I-I see. I’ll give you her phone number then.”

“Thanks.”

After getting the woman’s number, Sho was shown to the exit, where he bid goodbye to a visibly gloomy Aiba, who nonetheless kept his lips curved up until Sho turned the corner.

Sho let out a deep breath, and taking advantage of the truce that the rain was giving him, he set out for Jun’s restaurant, the Funky Hamlet. He needed to have a conversation with his best friend, because this wasn’t just about his power. It was about Aiba, his old friend, almost surely having a crush on him, and how he couldn’t quite get his head around it yet.



“Hello to you too,” a surprised Jun said after Sho came into the restaurant, not even giving the other staff a glance, and went to find him straight to his office in the back.

“Sorry, but I need to take this off my chest.”

Jun sat across Sho and looked at him worried, “What’s going on?”

Raising his head, he faced him and confessed what had been bothering him for all this time. “I can read people’s minds, Jun-kun.”

Placing his forearms on his desk, Jun got closer to study Sho’s face. His eyes looked all over it before he spoke, “Are you drunk?”

Sho snorted, “I’m not, and I know that it sounds crazy but you have to believe me.”

“Sho-san, you’re telling me you can read people’s minds. How can I even believe you?” the man asked, matter-of-factly.

“But it’s the truth!” he said, trying to use his most sincere tone. “Try me.”

“How?”

Sho held out his hand, “Let me read your thoughts.”

His friend stared at the stretched hand in front of him, dubious, but eventually clasped it with his own. “So, what? Are you going to ask me something or—”

“You told me that you named this place Funky Hamlet because it was the biggest role you got in a school play. But did you really?”

From his hand, Sho could feel Jun tensing up. Since the start of their friendship, Jun had always told him how he was actually a member of the drama club during high school, which he then left to join the cooking one. His version was that, after being cast as Hamlet, he felt as if that was his peak, and that he had reached his goal in acting. So, he moved on to his other passion, cooking.

However, that story had always seemed fishy to Sho, because Jun said that didn’t have any picture of the play, adducing as an excuse that both his parents couldn’t be present, so no one took any photos of him at that time. Also, if he loved acting, he would have continued instead of focusing on something else. Even if Jun was known to have many passions which would take turns in his life – and even if he seemed the type who would actually do the whole ‘retire when I’m at my best’ thing, it still made Sho suspicious.

“Sho-san, I think this question is stupid.”

“Reply,” he demanded.

Jun rolled his eyes, grumbling, before nodding, “Yes, I did get that role.”

“Now, think about the true answer.”

“Are we seriously doing this?” Jun was clearly agitated, but that only motivated Sho to push the other, because he knew that his friend was lying.

“What are you afraid of?”

“Nothing,” the man replied, smugly.

They smirked, as if they had just begun a match, a kind of game, but knew that he was going to be on the winning side.

‘I didn’t get the role, I was assigned a secondary one, the part of Horatio. I quit right after because I wasn’t getting anywhere with acting, so I chose to focus on cooking instead.’

Sho’s smirk became wider, while Jun’s one started to disappear.

“It’s hard to make it in the theatre world, right, Horatio?”

Jun retrieved his hand horrified, “What the hell…?”

Sho raised his arms up, happy as ever, “I’ve always known that you were too embarrassed to tell me that you failed in the drama club.”

“I didn’t fail, alright? I was just up against a strong rival – who, by the way, has now become a famous actor and has even won an Academy Award. I lost to the best,” he explained, still building up some pride.

“I don’t care, Horatio, we’ve finally ended this farce. You can change this place’s name to Funky Horatio now, congratulations.”

Snorting, his friend crossed his arms and sank in his armchair, visibly upset. Sho had to write that day’s date down, because he was sure not going to let this victory go any time soon.

After some glares shot at each other, Jun sighed, his anger making room for disbelief. “So… It’s true, huh.”

He nodded, “It is.”

“How? When?”

“Apparently, if you’re a virgin when turning 30 years old, then you become a wizard. I can’t do any magic though, just this.”

“That seems quite the power to me already,” Jun commented. “How did you find out  about it?”

Sho replied with a chuckle, but nothing about it was cheerful. “It’s the main reason why I’m here actually.”

Jun raised an eyebrow, interested, and leaned in to show him that he had all his attention.

“I’ve told you about Aiba Masaki, right?”

“The one who disappeared, I remember. What about him?”

“On my birthday, just before going back, I heard one of his thoughts which was, well, kind of deep,” he told him, struggling to find the right words at some point. When Sho noticed that Jun was probably trying to understand the meaning of that word, he explained further, “Apparently, seeing me now gave him the butterflies, like it did in the past.”

Jun blinked his eyes a few times, in the middle of processing what Sho had just told him. He spoke only several moments after, with a big question mark in his face, “The butterflies? Like in the past? So, was he in love with you?”

“So it seems,” he sighed, and it was his turn this time to sink in his seat, “I feel so stupid.”

“Why so?”

“This is Aiba we’re talking about, Jun-kun. He’s my friend, and I’ve never realized all this time that I have been his romantic interest for who knows how long.” He rubbed his hands on his face, frustrated, “I can only imagine how painful it must have been.”

“That would explain why he disappeared though,” Jun pointed out.

He raised his head, faking a smile, “So it was my fault, thanks for putting it that way.”

His friend rolled his eyes, “He got that offer and he ended up accepting to move on from you. It wasn’t your fault entirely, but you sure were a reason that added up. But that’s in the past, how do you feel about him now?”

Leaning forward, Sho placed his elbows on his knees and joined his hands together. It was the first time that he had felt so lost in his life.

“I’ve never seen him as anything more than a friend, I’ve never even thought about the chance of getting together with him. I don’t think that I will ever be able to cross the line with him honestly,” he answered sincerely. Being a demisexual, falling in love with a friend would be the best option for him actually, but the issue here was that he had never seen Aiba under that light. Not even in the back of his head there was this possible scenario, so Aiba’s feelings could never be mutual.

“Then, that’s it. What’s the problem?”

“... It’s embarrassing to hear those kinds of thoughts, since I’m the one he is referring to.”

“Just avoid him for a while.”

Sho let out a hiss. “About that…” he started, before continuing with his head hanging low, “He is one of the art curators who works at the gallery I went to check today.”

“Change the gallery then?” his friend tried.

He only had to lift his head and to look right in his friend’s eyes, to have him understand immediately. And, indeed, Jun nodded, finally emphasizing Sho's distress.

“You like that gallery.”

“It’s perfect for Ohno-kun’s works! And it’s very beautiful, you should see it.”

Jun went back again to the main topic, “Why don’t you work with the other art curator?”

“I will, in fact, but…” His heart clenched thinking back about Aiba’s expression, “He was forcing himself to smile, but he was clearly down when I told him that. I would like to avoid him as much as possible, but at the same time I don’t want to hurt him.”

The other man stood up to go sit on the chair next to Sho, before patting his shoulders friendly and reassuringly. “You may hurt him now, but it’s for his sake. I honestly think that the less he sees you, the better; it would help him to leave behind any trace of feelings he still has for you.”

“I just can’t stand to see Aiba-kun sad. That’s all.”

“He will thank you one day, I’m sure of that,” Jun said, again trying to encourage him.

“I hope so.”

Sho looked down at his hands, feeling a sort of gloom come over him. He’d missed Aiba so much, and he wanted nothing more than to spend time with him, catch up, maybe even hang out regularly again. But how could he, Sho, try to bond with Aiba again, when it was clear that Aiba wanted something more from him?

He knew the other man would never do or say anything to make him uncomfortable, but he also knew that Aiba used to keep everything that made him hurt inside for fear of inconveniencing others, and he didn’t want him to suffer every time Sho was around. If Aiba had gone so far as to leave the country just to stay away from him, then Sho owed it to him to be mindful of his feelings and stay away.

“Anyway, we have to prepare to open for the evening, so…” his friend trailed off, knowing that Sho understood what that implied.

“Alright, alright. I’m going,” he laughed. He stood up and went to the door, turning one last time to the other, “Thank you for today.”

“Anytime, my friend.”


🍒 🍒 🍒

“I still don’t understand why I have to come every time. I mean, you’re the one who’s going to talk anyway,” Ohno complained, getting out of Sho’s car.

“Because, as the artist, they want to ask you what you’d like to do, what you’d like to display, and what the atmosphere of the exhibition should be like. I can attend all the other meetings alone, and take care of everything else, but the first one has to have you,” Sho explained for what felt like the umpteenth time. He understood that Ohno only wanted to paint all day, but sometimes he had to comply with what being a world-famous artist implied.

“Let’s get this over with,” the man said, walking faster towards the gallery. “And we can’t even have Aiba-chan as art curator! This is absurd, damn bureaucracy.”

“Yeah, damn it,” Sho commented after having caught up with him.

Sho hadn’t been completely honest with Ohno. After telling him that he had chosen Chartreuse among all the galleries he visited for the exhibition, Sho also informed him that their friend worked there. Ohno, of course, was overjoyed after hearing that, and had started to rave about how incredible it would be to work with Aiba, just like they did for their joint project back in university.

Feeling kind of guilty to squash Ohno’s excitement, Sho had lied, telling his friend that since the curator who took interest in the exhibition first was Hashimoto, they had to stick with her and couldn’t just decide to conduct business with Aiba instead. Luckily, Ohno wasn’t a suspicious kind of person, so he bought it right away. Still, he felt bad for doing this, and scared, because God only knew how Aiba would react if he found out his lie.

To prevent that, they had to avoid their friend as much as possible today, hence, as soon as they were in, Sho called Hashimoto to let her know that they were ready to start the meeting immediately, and then grabbed Ohno by his arm, leading him to where he had learned the offices were.

Hashimoto was waiting for them in front of her office, and welcomed them with a warm smile. While sitting down, Sho gained an odd glance from Ohno, who was definitely taken aback by his sudden behavior.

‘The hell was he pulling me for?’

Sho left the man’s arm and whispered an apology, knowing that he had to owe him one even if he hadn’t heard that thought.

Just as per usual, during the meeting Sho was the one who talked the most, while Ohno was only required to state what theme he wanted to go with and why. The man had decided to go for an ‘old and new’ theme, where he would display both drawings from the past and new pieces he had recently made – or was going to.

Hashimoto liked the idea and she started to give her feedback on how they could display Ohno’s works to match both the theme and his personality. Sure, Aiba would have already understood what to do and Ohno could have liked, but he let that thought slip out of his mind.

It was better to not work with him, and moreover Hashimoto seemed pretty skilled too, so there was no reason to not go with her. She would surely do a good job, he knew that.

When they finished their meeting, they thanked her one last time, they exited the office, and walked back to the main entrance.

“She’s a good art curator, I’m sure we’re in good hands with her,” Sho stated, satisfied by their meeting.

“Yeah, I liked her as well. Still, with—Aiba-chan!”

“I know, Ohno-kun, but—”

“No, I mean, Aiba-chan! Over there!” Ohno pulled his arm to look at their right. At the far end of the hallway, Aiba was looking at a painting, while talking with one of the gallery’s guides.

“He’s working, we shouldn’t bother him—”

Almost like it was payback, Ohno dragged him through what seemed like the main hallway of the gallery. There weren’t many people, so, as soon as Aiba turned in their direction, he spotted them in the blink of an eye.

Their friend raised his arm, waving excitedly, and met them half-way. “I’m so glad to see you here! So, you have really chosen us?”

“We did! Sho was in love with the place,” Ohno replied.

Aiba looked at him cheerfully, “For real?”

He cleared his throat and separated himself from Ohno in the meantime, so as not to hear undesired thoughts. “The gallery is very beautiful, and just from the way the current exhibition was organized I already know that you and Hashimoto will be able to treat Ohno-kun’s pieces with the respect they deserve by setting up a great exhibition.”

“Thank you, I’m very happy to hear that.”

Sho wasn’t sure if what he was seeing was really Aiba blushing, or if it was the lights’ fault. He ignored it though to focus on the man who had been staring at him quite intensely for the past minute.

He bowed his head as a greeting, which the other returned, making Aiba remember about the man behind him. “Right! He is Ninomiya Kazunari; he’s a guide here, but most importantly, my best friend.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Ninomiya said, with an energy that clashed completely with Aiba0s. If Aiba was bright, perky, and always on the verge of bursting with all his energy, this man looked more laid back. They looked like a very odd pair, and Sho was surprised that Aiba found a best friend in him.

“How did you become friends?” he asked right away, not holding back his curiosity.

“We bonded over Slam Dunk,” Aiba started, “I was reading it during my lunch break and he came to me to spoil the end of the chapter. Too bad that was my fifth time re-reading it.”

Ninomiya snorted, hiding his laugh with his wrist. “I wouldn’t have spoiled you for real, I just wanted to tease you. I told you, you looked sad and I wanted to cheer you up.”

“Kind of a weird way to do that, though,” Sho remarked, laughing, “Just buy him some fried chicken and he’ll cheer up right away.”

“You still remember that I like it?” Aiba asked, very surprised judging by his open eyes and mouth.

“You told us that you’re made 75% by fried chicken, how could I forget that?”

If before he wasn’t sure, now he had absolute certainty. Aiba was blushing for real. He cursed himself for having encouraged the other’s feelings, and made a mental note to never do that again. He had to help Aiba move on, and this wasn’t the way to do that.

“You seem to go way back,” Ninomiya said. His lips were hinting at a smirk of which Sho didn’t catch the reason.

“We do!” Aiba replied, before going in between Ohno and Sho to put his arms over their shoulders, “They’re the guys I told you about. My best friends from university. We were a magic trio!”

Ohno grinned and threw an arm around Aiba as well, “We still are! If only we could work together on my exhibition, it would be perfect!”

“What?” Aiba let out almost instinctively.

“Sho-kun told me that we have to stick with Hashimoto-san because of bureaucracy, and – really, nothing against her, she’s amazing – but can’t you move some strings and be our main art curator?”

Sho’s heart stopped at that moment. Ohno had just revealed everything and he didn’t even dare to look at Aiba’s expression. Gulping, he averted his gaze to the floor, but he forgot that he still had Aiba’s arm around him.

‘See, Masaki? He really does hate you. You didn’t have him as your boyfriend even once, but managed to lose him as a friend two times.’

“I-I’ll try to do something about it, but I can’t promise you anything,” Aiba replied, finally releasing them and moving away, “Anyway, Oh-chan doesn’t like crowds, right? So, I think you should go now, I’ll show you to the exit.”

“There’s not really that much—”

Without giving them a chance to say anything, Aiba began to walk away. For a moment, Sho’s gaze met Ninomiya’s, which was suddenly colder; even the smirk on his face was now gone.

“Have a nice day,” the man greeted, coldly.

“You too,” they said, before following Aiba.

When they reached the entrance, Ohno was the first one to climb down the stairs, waving at their friend. Sho, instead, felt somehow frozen where he stood. He couldn’t bring himself to leave when he had heard such a hurtful thought. Aiba believed that he hated him, and he had all the reasons to since Sho had even lied just to not work together with him. He kept saying that he didn’t want to hurt his friend, but he was doing exactly that at the moment.

“Listen, Aiba-kun—”

“I’m so sorry Sho-chan.”

Sho let out a confused sound and stared at him perplexed, “What?”

Aiba was gripping the hem of his jacket tightly, “I know I have hurt you, both of you. I didn’t even send you postcards from Beijing, and coming back without telling you anything was very wrong of me as well. And I know that I can’t justify myself, I can only hope that you can forgive me.”

“Aiba-kun,” he whispered with a trembling voice. He wanted to reply but was cut off by the other man, who grasped his hands suddenly.

“I won’t impose on you guys if you don’t want me to, but just know that if you need anything I’m here. I’ll always be here for you two.”

‘And for you, Sho-chan. Even if you will never feel the same, I will still be here.’

With a strained smile, Aiba left his hands and nodded, more to himself than to him. “See you around.”

Sho was left there, alone, as he wanted to be. However, something in him snapped and before he could realize he was chasing after Aiba, blocking him before he could go back inside.

“Aiba-kun!” he took him by his arm, “It’s me who should be sorry.”

“What? Why? I—”

“I guess, I was, huh—I’m a prideful person, you know that, and I hate it when someone treats me like garbage,” he said, which was actually true, “But you didn’t, Aiba-kun. Sure, you made a mistake, but you’ve apologized so many times and showed us that you care about us, and that for you our friendship has never disappeared.”

Aiba opened his mouth, maybe to say something back, maybe to apologize again, but Sho didn’t let him. He lifted a hand, and Aiba’s shoulders seemed to relax as he waited for him to speak.

Sho thanked him silently and continued, “If a friend hurts you, you don’t hurt him back.” It was Aiba himself who had taught him that lesson, when he had to deal with Sho’s rebel days, when he would pass his days holding grudges against basically everyone. Without Aiba, who knows how many mistakes he would have made. He owed him a lot, and instead, he made him suffer. “I’m so sorry, Aiba-kun.”

His friend blinked a few times, maybe to push back some tears threatening his eyes. He didn’t say anything though, and Sho took that as his cue to speak again.

“What I want to say, basically, is that…” he trailed, before taking a deep breath. “I would be more than happy if we could work together on Ohno-kun’s exhibition.”

Aiba’s eyes widened and all of a sudden he found himself in a tight hug.

“I would be honored to have you two by my side.”

Sho’s hands found their way on Aiba’s back, returning the hug that was long delayed since they met at the reunion. He could feel Aiba’s happy grin on his shoulder, which prompted his lips to curve up too. However, that moment didn’t last long and his face turned pale and tense immediately.

‘“Sho-chan, how about we put this painting here?”

“I think that’s great! Let’s write the title here with a pen.”

Their hands touch the pen at the same time, and they stare at each other intensely, deeply, lustfully. Their faces come closer, until there’s barely inches to keep them apart.

“Aiba-kun—”

A finger comes up to brush on Sho's lips, “Sho-chan, just kiss me.”’

Sho’s brain went back to cursing himself. Had he just got himself in trouble?!


🍒 🍒 🍒

Sho slipped out of his sneakers to wear Ohno’s studio’s slippers. He made his way through the mess that was on the floor, careful to not touch anything. It was still a mystery to him how his friend could work in such a messy place.

“Ohno-kun!” he called, to announce his presence.

“I’m here!” the other man replied, his voice coming from afar.

By now, he could understand immediately where Ohno’s voice was coming from, since they had been working in that studio for years now.

Sho passed tons of artworks, finished and still in progress, until he reached a spot on the right side of the studio, where Ohno was sitting, staring at his painting.

“You’re still at it?” Sho asked, “Seems finished to me.”

Ohno liked to portray abstract thoughts and ideas, rather than more concrete ones. Either that, or complex artworks which you had to stare at for hours before getting the whole picture. And yet, there was one concrete subject Ohno would always paint, no matter what: his pug Ariel.

“Who’s the artist here?” the other teased, chuckling right after. He stood up and pointed at the dog’s eyes, “They’re not deep enough.”

“How long are you going to take?”

Ohno chewed on his lips, closing his eyes, “I don’t really know. My princess has to be portrayed wonderfully.”


Spontaneously, Sho burst out laughing, before moving to the side to leave his bag on the table with Ohno’s refreshments. There, he found the list he had asked Ohno to prepare, with all the artworks he wanted to display. “Is the list finished?” he asked, taking the paper in his hands.

“Not yet,” the man replied, “Moreover, why did you laugh before? What was so funny?”

Sho raised his gaze to meet Ohno’s curious one, and smiled, “It’s just that it seems funny to me that, while other artists paint their partners, your only constant subject is your pug.”

“I could paint you if you want.”

He looked at his friend for a solid minute, before they both broke their serious faces, cackling.

“Gotta be honest, I almost believed that.”

“If it had been years ago, I could have actually done that,” Ohno confessed.

Sho crossed his arms and changed his expression from amused to bewildered. “What do you mean?”

Squatting down, Ohno began to mix up some colors on his palette, seemingly lost in thought, but actually pondering on his next words. He spoke after a big sigh, standing up and resuming on working on Ariel’s eyes. “For the first two years of university I had a major crush on you.”

“You what?!” Sho exclaimed. What the hell was it with him and his best friends having crushes on him? First Aiba, and now even Ohno? And why was he finding out about this at such a time, and in such a short distance from one another?

“You are what I’m not, so I guess that was why I was attracted to you,” Ohno explained. “It stopped after I understood that my crush wasn’t very, well, rational, because we could never work out as a couple.”

“That’s true,” he had to admit.

It was true that two people, even if at opposite poles, could work out, but Ohno and Sho were just too opposite to do that. Ohno’s my pace lifestyle was ill-matched with Sho’s carefully curated one. Moreover, Sho wanted his partner to always be within reach, so he couldn’t have survived Ohno’s ‘short alone trips’, in which he would disappear for a week or more. And surely, his friend knew that too, and wouldn’t have forced him to accept that part of him.

He was glad that Ohno had let go of his feelings for him, realizing that they were better off as friends and nothing more. He wondered what would have happened if Ohno had confessed to him at the time. Would he have given him a chance? Even  though, if he had to think about it, it would make more sense for him to date Aiba, who was definitely more well-suited for him.

Right… I wonder if Ohno-kun knew about Aiba-kun’s feelings?

He wanted to investigate the matter, but there was no way he could ask Ohno directly, so he tried to be more casual about it. “How come you never confessed to me?” he asked.

“You didn’t seem to be interested in me – or in a relationship in the first place for that matter – and I didn’t want to risk our friendship.”

“Well, but—” His tone was too pressing, so he cleared his throat to start again. “Even Aiba-kun didn’t have any relationships during those years, but it doesn’t mean that he wasn’t interested in one.”

He hoped that by mentioning their common friend, Ohno would let something slip. After all, there was the tiny chance that Ohno and Aiba knew about their mutual interest for Sho, and had decided to not act upon it and just move on for the sake of their friendship. However, it seemed that unlike Ohno, who managed to stop thinking about Sho, Aiba never could, and so his only alternative had been to fly away.

“But Aiba-chan looked in love, so that’s why we didn’t see him with an actual partner.”

“Do you mean that he liked someone back then?”

“Probably,” Ohno said, scrolling his shoulders.

“And who was it?” Sho asked, trying hard to mask the curiosity in his tone.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?!”

Ohno brought his gaze back to Sho again, looking completely baffled at his behaviour, “Dude, why are you so pressed about this?”

“I’m not pressed,” he denied, even if his stern face was betraying him, “I’m just a friend who wants to know what was happening in his friends’ hearts years ago, since, if you’re forgetting it already, I’ve just discovered that you liked me.”

The other man’s back was shaken by laughter, “So, what? You think that Aiba-chan could be in love with you too?”

Sho crossed his arms, trying to school his face into showing a neutral expression. “Why not?” he asked in what he hoped would sound like a casual tone to his friend’s ears.

“Because you can’t be Aiba-chan’s type,” Ohno commented, shaking his head.

“I can too be Aiba-kun’s type!” he retorted, which prompted his friend to raise an eyebrow at his protest.

Sho realized how it all must look. His vehement objection was definitely giving out the idea that he wanted that to be true. Sho, of course, knew that this wasn’t a supposition, that Aiba really did have a crush on him, but, without that same knowledge, Ohno was probably getting some weird ideas in his head.

Clearing his voice, Sho tried to compose himself under the amused gaze of his friend, “I didn’t mean it that way, alright? It was just, well, I mean, my pride, you know.”

Ohno stared at him for a while, before looking away with a smirk that Sho didn’t like at all.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” the artist replied, “I just thought that you would look good together indeed. Why don’t you ask him out?”

“What?!” He exclaimed, unable to control the high pitch in his voice giving him away, “You’re crazy, why would I?”

“It was just an idea,” Ohno shrugged, before stepping away from his artwork, satisfied with what he was seeing. “Ariel is completed by the way.”

Sho jumped at the opportunity to end that conversation. “Great, then come here and sit down. We have to also start working on the merch’s list.”

Grumbling, Ohno moved to the bathroom to wash the paint off his hands, with poor results. When he came back, Sho was trying his best to hide his flustered face with his focused frown, but, in his case too, with poor results.


🍒 🍒 🍒

Finally, after a few days of brainstorming, Ohno finished the list of works to display at the exhibition exactly on the last day of their deadline. Sho, who hated doing things last minute, entered Chartreuse gallery with an annoyed scowl. He didn’t know why, but this time his friend took more time than usual to decide on which artworks to choose.

The only thing he could do was bow his head to Aiba, apologizing. However, the other man kept on assuring him that it was not a problem, and gently invited him to his office so they could go through the list.

While they were working, even if they were alone, Aiba was acting normally and professionally, not showing any flirtatious behaviour, unlike Sho feared. Nonetheless, since he recognized that room as the same one from the last vision he had when he and Aiba touched, he had been careful since the start to hold his own pen firmly, so as to not cause any ‘accidents’.

After all, it wasn’t Aiba’s fault that he could read his mind, or that he fell in love with him, so Sho took it upon himself to avoid any possible romantic situations with the other, hoping that this could help his friend to stop thinking about him.

Perhaps thanks to that too, their meeting ended without a hitch. Sho smiled, relieved , already holding out his hand for a friendly handshake before taking his leave,  when someone interrupted them with a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Aiba yelled.

Ninomiya’s head peered from behind the door. He bowed his head at Sho slightly before turning to the art curator. “Aiba-kun, ready for lunch?”

“Yes, we’ve just finished,” the man said. Sho nodded at Aiba with a tight-lipped smile, ready to exit the room, but his friend was faster and called him back, “Sho-chan, do you want to come along?”

Sho stared at the two men in front of him, who were looking at him with two different kinds of gazes: an hopeful one and a rather entertained one. Why, every time he made eye contact with Ninomiya, did it feel as if the shorter man was looking at him waiting for his next move?

Am I like a TV series for him? He thought.

“So, Sakurai-san?” the said man urged.

“I don’t know guys, I have stuff to do, and I don’t want to bother you while you’re on your lunch break—”

“We would be more than happy to have you come with us,” Ninomiya declared smoothly.

Aiba nodded vigorously, and Sho could only accept their offer. Immediately, his friend threw an arm around him, “Let’s go then!”

‘I’ll see the cutest sight ever again: Sho-chan filling his cheeks with food as if he were a squirrel!’

Sho regretted his decision right away, but it was too late to go back now, as the two best friends dragged him out of the gallery, heading to the family restaurant right across it.

Reasoning that one of them had to sit alone on a side of the table anyway, Sho sat in the middle of his booth, hoping that the others would get the hint. That way, he could have avoided any unnecessary contact, which was essential since he had Aiba around.

Although Aiba did just as he hoped, sitting on the other side, Ninomiya had other ideas since he sat next to Sho, squashing him unceremoniously against the window. He looked at him furrowing his eyebrows unconsciously.

“Oh, sorry,” Ninomiya said, “I can sit here, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” Sho could only answer.

“Here, Sho-chan,” Aiba exclaimed then, handing him the menu, “You’ll like their food.”

“Thanks.”

“Why don’t you order for him, Aiba-chan?”

Aiba and Sho’s heads snapped in his direction, both surprised at the man’s suggestion. Seeing them like that, Ninomiya snickered, while opening the menu as well.

“I mean, this is the first time that Sakurai-san has lunch here, and since you two have known each other for a long time, I bet that you know what he could like here.”

“I think I do, but…” Aiba trailed off, blushing.

“I wouldn’t want Aiba to have such responsibility,” Sho started, trying to turn the man down gently, “I can order by myself.”

Then, Ninomiya snapped his fingers as if he had just thought the best idea ever, “Then, just share this responsibility and order for each other.”

“Nino,” his friend admonished with a severe gaze. But the gallery guide didn’t seem to be in the mood to back down and kept on insisting.

“Sakurai-san, you must know what Aiba-chan likes, right? Or, did you forget about it?”

And now, Sho understood what game the other man was playing. He didn’t know if Aiba had told his friend about his feelings for Sho, but even if he hadn’t, Ninomiya must have seen through it all, and was now making an attempt to bring them closer. He was rather bold, though, with his approach, and even Aiba appeared uncomfortable at the situation.

Despite not desiring to give in to that scheme, Sho could see how his friend’s eyes saddened as Ninomiya asked if he had forgotten about him.

Sho, remember, yes you have to stop Aiba-kun’s feelings but you mustn’t hurt him.

Returning the provocative smirk of the other man, Sho opened the menu confidently, “There’s no way I can forget Aiba-kun’s tastes.”

Just before he could say what he was going to choose out loud, Ninomiya took out his notebook and produced two pieces of paper out of it, passing one each to them. “Write your orders here and then I’ll tell the waiter. Suspense will make it more exciting.”

“Nino, aren’t you taking this too far?”

“It’s fine Aiba-kun, this sounds fun,” Sho assured him, taking the piece of paper and the pen Ninomiya was handing him.

Ninomiya was challenging him, and no matter how pointless it was, Sho had to win every battle he was presented with. Moreover, he had to prove to Aiba that he didn’t hate him but he still cared for him – as a friend, of course.

It took Sho only one scroll through the menu to know what to order, and he wrote down the dish without hesitation. Stealing a glance at the man in front of him, it seemed to be the same case for Aiba. Both finished, they entrusted their orders to Ninomiya, who stood up to go to the counter. Meanwhile, Aiba’s phone rang, and the man excused himself to go to the bathroom to take the call.

Ninomiya returned after a few instants, but didn’t sit back down. Instead, he took his jacket and waved at Sho. “Sorry, something sudden came up and I have to go. I’m sad that I’ll miss the showdown, but I count on you to tell me the results.”

“What do you mean, Ninomiya-san?” he asked, but the man was already walking away, “What sudden—”

“See ya!”

Sho was left to look bewildered at the man’s back. “He challenges me, creating all this mess, and then he goes away?”

“Sho-chan, what happened?”

A confused Aiba returned, looking around in search of his other friend. “Where’s Nino?”

“He said that something sudden came up.”

Aiba furrowed his eyebrows before his eyes widened in what seemed an abrupt realization. Taking out his phone, he probably dialled the man’s number, while staring outside the window to see if he could spot him. However, his call didn’t go through and he crossed his arms annoyed, leaning back. “Can’t believe that guy.”

“Aiba-kun?” Sho called.

Clearing his throat, his friend composed himself and sat properly. “Nothing, it’s nothing,” he mumbled, looking down.

Sho felt his foot colliding with Aiba’s when the other shifted himself, and he wasn’t fast enough to move away, since he ended up reading the man’s mind.

‘Oh God, is this a date now? What should I do? I haven’t been alone with Sho-chan since forever, I can’t even look him in the eyes.’

If before he was only weirded out by Ninomiya’s behaviour, now he was straight up mad. He left them alone on purpose, but if Aiba was this nervous, then it meant that he didn’t want that to happen. It mustn’t have been something they’d discussed, and now Aiba was uncomfortable, which made him uncomfortable too.

He crossed his arms and grumbled, “That friend of yours, I don’t know if I like him or not.”

“Maybe it’s mutual then.”

Sho narrowed his eyes at the other, “Excuse me?”

Aiba looked sad, and sighed heavily, “After you asked me to be your art curator, when I went back, Nino kinda hinted to me that he didn’t like you that much. Sorry about that, but I can assure you that he is a very nice person.”

“I don’t know.”

“He is, trust me.”

“You seem to care a lot about your best friend,” he said, his tone sounding more resentful than he meant for it to be.

Aiba tilted his head before smirking, “Are you jealous of him?”

“Why would I?” Sho asked rhetorically.

“Then why do you look annoyed that I’m defending him?” the man pressed on.

“Because he might not be the right person for you.”

Aiba’s eyebrows lifted amusingly. “And who might be the right person for me?”

Sho opened his mouth to speak but closed it soon after realizing what his answer could imply. Luckily, he didn’t have to stand Aiba’s eager stare for long since their orders arrived at that moment.

The dish that Aiba chose for him was minestrone. A rather bold and weird choice, someone would say, but, as expected, Aiba still remembered. He raised his head to convey his gladness, when he saw that his friend was staring blankly at the plate on the table.

“Aiba-kun, what’s wrong?” he asked, worrying that he might have done it this time, “Did I get it wrong?”

“Sho-chan,” the other started. He met his gaze with his mouth agape, “Over all the favorite dishes I have here, this is the one I like the most.”

“Well, I know you, so of course I could understand.”

“No one has ever got it though.”

Sho’s cheeks got flustered, and he could only nod and begin eating in silence. He didn’t even dare imagine what Aiba could be thinking now.

But what could Sho do about it? When he saw the wakame soup on the menu, he couldn’t not order it. After all, that rainy day was still plastered in his mind. When they were caught in the sudden pounding rain, Sho had brought them to his aunt’s store, and once there Aiba didn’t hesitate to order that dish.

“My grandmother used to make it whenever I felt down. To warm my body and soul, she said,” Aiba had told him at the time, laughing affectionately at his memory.

Still, he could have chosen another dish that was still one of Aiba’s favorites. Fried chicken, soba, anything else could have done it, but nope, he had to show Nino that he was… better than him as a friend. As if guessing correctly that dish would have made Aiba understand that he couldn’t replace Sho.

He of course knows about my favorite dish because he loves me, damn it. The heck am I doing?! He’s never going to forget about me this way!

To try to save the situation, Sho added nonchalantly, “Well, I order food for Ohno-kun all the time, so I have loads of experience with that.”

“Ohno-kun?” Aiba asked with a weird expression on his face.

“Yeah, aside from his trips, we are basically always together.”

“So, working with him’s going well I presume?”

“As unexpected it may seem, it actually is. We’re a great team, I’m proud of what we did in these years,” Sho replied sincerely.

Aiba stirred his spoon in his soup distractedly, before finally taking a spoonful and drinking it. “You must have good chemistry then.”

Taken aback by the sudden shift in Aiba’s mood, Sho took a few seconds to study him. There was no doubt, Aiba’s aura appeared gloomy to him now, and he realized something: Aiba must have known about Ohno’s feelings for Sho. After all, Aiba would never have confessed to him when he knew that Sho was his best friend’s secret crush. He would surely prefer to keep it a secret and live in pain, if it was what it took to not ruin their friendship.

Aiba wasn’t risking only his friendship with Sho due to his feelings, but even his relationship with Ohno. He must have felt suffocated by all that and this must have been what led him to go away. Aiba didn’t only want to move on from Sho, he wanted to save their trio. Sho had resented Aiba for breaking them up when he left, when the man’s only desire was to protect their friendship.

Aiba was really… a really kind person.

”You know, Aiba-kun,” he called for his attention, “You’re the best friend anybody could ever ask for, so I’m really happy to have you back.” Those words came from the bottom of his heart, and he hoped that his sincerity was conveyed.

“What’s with the sudden cheesiness?” Aiba laughed Sho’s words off, but it was obvious that he was touched by them.

“I know that Ohno-kun’s is not here, but,” Sho picked up his glass for a toast, “The trio is back again.”

Shyly, Aiba mimicked him and brought their glasses together with a clinking sound.

“I hope I won’t become the sweet couple’s third-wheel though,” Aiba then whispered under his breath, and it was almost impossible for Sho to catch that.

He acted as if he didn’t hear that, though, and ate his soup in silence, trying to swallow down the weird sensation that Aiba’s misunderstanding had brought him.


🍒 🍒 🍒


“Wait a moment, let me do a quick recap,” Jun exclaimed, raising his hand and starting gesturing in mid-air with his finger. “Ohno-san had a crush on you as well, and probably Aiba-san knew it, and that adds to the reasons why he left Japan. But Ohno-san was over you after some time, and moreover he didn’t get that Aiba-san was in love with you. So, now you are worried that Aiba-san might feel bad because he thinks that Ohno-san and you have something going on.”

“Exactly.”

Jun stopped in his tracks, in the middle of the park, closing his eyes and trying to make sense of Sho’s muddled considerations. It took him a few minutes before he came back to reality, and resumed jogging with him.

“So?” he asked, eager to have another opinion over this matter, “What do you think?”

“That you’re hopeless, Sho-san.”

“What? Why? What do you mean?” he complained angrily.

“You keep saying that you don’t want Aiba-san to suffer, but don’t you understand that the only way for him to be happy is to have his feelings returned?”

“I know, but, I mean,” he muttered, not wanting to believe what Jun was saying, “There must be a way to turn him down without hurting him.”

Jun snorted, “Sho-san, you’re turning someone down, there’s no way that it’s not going to hurt. Alright?”

He sighed, his head hanging low, defeated in front of the ugly truth. As much as he wanted to protect Aiba, he couldn’t do anything to avoid his heartbreak. As Jun said, the only way to avoid it was to return his feelings, something impossible for Sho, since he couldn’t see anything more than a friend in the other.

“Ah, there’s a way maybe.”

Jun’s words lifted his spirits immediately, and he stared at him expectantly.

“The best way to get over a person is to get under another, so we could match him with someone.”

Sho narrowed his eyes, incredulous. “And that would work?”

“Most probably. We just have to find someone that will make him forget about you.”

“But that’s going to be too difficult,” Sho whined, this time him halting, “Where can you find someone better than me?”

Jun stayed still for a while, before crossing his arms with a bothered frown, “You know, I do wonder what he sees in you. Ohno-san came back to his senses, why hasn’t he  yet?”

Rolling his eyes, Sho nudged his shoulder, before they moved again. “Ohno-kun understood that we could never work,” he said, ignoring his friend’s teasing comment, “But Aiba-kun and I have many things in common, that’s why.”

“Act as if you don’t have anything in common then?”

“How?”

“Lie?”

Sho gave him a slap on his forearm as a reply.

“Okay, fine. Then, I don’t know, be a jerk?”

“Jun-kun!”

The man stood in front of Sho, facing him. “Listen, Sho-san,” he said, panting due to the jogging, “I told you what are the three ways to end this. Either you break his heart, find him someone new, or fall in love with him. Think it over and choose one, and then come back to me and I’ll help you with your plan. Alright?”

Sho knew that he had been pestering Jun with this for the last two weeks, but he was the only one he could go to, since he couldn’t talk about this with Ohno, who was directly involved in this mess, even without knowing it. And Sho also knew that Jun was right, that there was no way for Aiba to come out without wounds from this, if not for the last scenario Jun proposed.

“Alright,” he exhaled, tired, “I’ll let you know.”

“I’ll be waiting,” the man squeezed his shoulder, before his eyes fell on his watch, “Ah, I have to go now. Gotta meet with a client. Bye.”

“Bye, and thank you,” Sho waved at his friend as he ran away.

That weekend, Sho really had to take some time off, sit down, and reason on what to do with Aiba. The more he stalled, the more his friend’s feelings might deepen, increasing the intensity of the damage that his heart would take if it were to break.

“I have to solve this soon.”

“What do you have to solve?”

Sho yelped and jumped on his feet. Turning around, his shock became only bigger because in front of him there was none other than Aiba. “You want me dead?” he panted rhetorically, bringing a hand to his chest.

“Sorry, Sho-chan, I wanted to surprise you.”

“Well, you startled me actually.”

Aiba clasped his hand in front of his face and bowed, apologizing with his puppy eyes, and Sho could only laugh and forgive him. At that moment, something touched his leg and looking down, he saw a furry ball curled up on his foot.

“Atem, don’t sit on Sho-chan’s feet, come here.”

Sho realized that Aiba had a leash in his hands, so his question came automatically, “It’s yours?”

“No, it’s my brother’s. He is out of town for some days so I’m looking after him,” the man explained, “We’re here for a stroll.”

He crouched down to give some pats to the dog, who welcomed them very gladly. When the dog began licking his hand, Sho decided that he had reached his limit, and stood up.

“You still can’t stand when they lick you, do you?”

“Can’t help it.”

After some chuckles and shy stares, Aiba looked at his clothes and spoke again, “So, you here for a jog?”

“Yes, I come here every Saturday if I have the chance.”

“It’s a nice place indeed.”

“First time here for you?”

“No, no,” Aiba replied, “I actually come here quite often too. I like the atmosphere, and also it’s usually crowded, and I like to see people strolling.”

Sho stared at a bunch of them, wondering what part of watching people walk was entertaining. Failing in doing so, he gave up and asked, “Why?”

“Because I like to see people happy.”

Those words unlocked a memory that apparently was sealed in his mind. At once, he was in a movie theatre with his best friends. Aiba, who sat in between Ohno and Sho, was crying while the credits were rolling on the screen. The movie had a good ending, and yet Aiba was bawling his eyes out while they stared at him, half amused and half concerned.

“You’ve always liked that, right?”

“What?”

“To see people happy. Whenever you read or watched something where everyone ended up living happily ever after, you would cry.”

Aiba blushed visibly, lowering his head hoping to hide it. Sho playfully nudged his chin though, making him face him again. “It’s not a bad thing, you know?” he assured him.

“You think so?”

“I do. It shows how warm-hearted you are.”

Looking into Aiba’s eyes, he could see that a bit of his usual sparkle had returned there. And even if that made him happy, he knew that the cause of this – i.e. himself – wasn’t going to last. How he wished that he could really make Aiba happy, without worrying to hurt him in the process.

“Thank you, Sho-chan,” the man said, beaming.

“Anyway, I really have to go now, so…” Sho cut off the conversation promptly.

“Ah, yes, sure. Just one thing though,” Aiba stopped him from walking away, “I would like to see Oh-chan’s works in person, when do you think that would be possible?”

Visualizing their schedule in his head, Sho had the answer in a matter of seconds, “How about Monday at around 5 pm?”

“That’s perfect. See you there then.”

Sho quickly bid goodbye to his friend and went away, jogging at a faster pace than usual. He felt Aiba’s burning stare on his back and had to get away from there as fast as possible.


🍒 🍒 🍒


“Sho-san…” His friend’s exhausted tone came from the other side of the line, making Sho catch his hair in his hands. “You have to make him move on, and you flirt with him?”

“It wasn’t my intention!” he tried to justify himself, even if he knew that he was guilty on all fronts, “I just wanted to reassure him that happy crying is nothing to be embarrassed about!”

“But you’ll make him fall harder this way!”

“Then, what am I supposed to do?!” he asked, at a loss. “I can’t even compliment him or say nice things to him?”

“Not for the moment, since you’ll just raise his hopes up.”

“I’ll try,” he said, dejected.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door of Ohno’s studio, and Sho realized that their guest had come.

“He’s here,” he said in the receiver, secretly glad that he had an excuse to hang up before Jun could lecture him some more. “I’m hanging up.”

“Be careful, or you might end up with his lips on yours.”

Sho glared at his phone’s screen, picturing Jun’s face. He knew he had made a mistake, but that was just the way he was around Aiba. They were used to complimenting each other, unlike Sho and Jun, who had a less affectionate friendship, for example. He couldn’t just change the way he acted around Aiba in the span of a day.

“Hello! May I?” Aiba called out from the entrance.

“Sure! Come in!” he shouted from his corner of the room. “I’ll be there in a second!”

Putting his phone inside his pockets, he went to greet the art curator, who was donning a sporty apparel, which contrasted with Sho’s formal one.

“Are you wearing a suit here?” Aiba asked, surprised.

“Well, I’m on duty, you know,” Sho explained. “And you? I thought that you wanted to see Ohno-kun’s artworks because of the exhibition?”

“Yeah, but we’re not at the gallery, so I thought it was going to be more, you know—”

“Kind of a laid-back thing?” he completed for the other man, who seemed to struggle to find the right words.

Aiba nodded before bursting out loud right after, “But I guess that ‘laid-back’ is not in your dictionary, is it?”

“You got it,” he affirmed. He stretched out his hands then, “Give me your jacket, I’ll put it away.”

“Thank you.”

Grabbing the jacket, their fingers briefly brushed under it.

‘He sure is hot with a suit on, though. He hasn’t spared me once since we’ve met.’

Sho brought the jacket close to his chest, moving his hands away abruptly. With a forced smile, he walked to the resting area of the studio, where a tired Ohno was resting on the couch.

“Ohno-kun, Aiba-kun is here.”

The man moved his hand in mid-air, as if shoving Sho’s away, before he mumbled with his drowsy voice, “Just gimme five.”

He ruffled the other’s hair and left him behind. He returned to an Aiba staring intensely at him. I hope he’s not still thinking about my suit.

“Not even you can get Oh-chan out of bed – well, couch,” Aiba commented with a giggle. “He’s still the same.”

“He’ll be here shortly, I’ll show you around in the meantime,” Sho said, “We—Well, I, organized the works we want to display over there.”

“Oh-chan is lucky to have you putting order in his life.”

Sho felt a weird sensation inside himself. As if he wanted to scream at the top of his lungs that Ohno and he weren’t together. He couldn’t bear to witness Aiba’s dejected face, but he couldn’t say anything. Aiba was unaware that Ohno had gotten over his crush, or that Sho could read his mind for that matter, so denying a romantic relationship with Ohno out of the blue would come off as weird.

He had to endure it and hope that Aiba understood that there was nothing going on with their friend.

“So!” he exclaimed, hoping to distract Aiba and lift up his mood, “Here are all the artworks. As you can see, some are still unfinished, but he’ll get to them eventually.”

“They’re all very beautiful,” Aiba commented as he admired the paintings.

The man’s appreciative eyes made Sho smile proudly, on behalf of Ohno. His talent had been clear since university, but he had become even more skilled with time, and his ideas keep on amazing everyone. “I suppose you’ve never been to one of his exhibitions?”

“No, I—I was afraid of meeting him,” Aiba muttered, looking down, “If that happened, I wouldn’t know how to face him.”

“Well, most probably you would have only met me. Ohno-kun likes to step away from the crowds and go hide in the bathroom or somewhere else,” Sho confessed.

“Wait, so you’re the one present at the exhibitions the whole time?”

“Yeah, if I have the chance, I’m there constantly.”

“Then, we will meet each other every day when Chartreuse will host it.”

Aiba turned towards him grinning widely, and Sho lost himself in the view. Somehow, he felt as if the man was pulling him, and for a moment the idea of meeting Aiba every day for the exhibition didn’t seem that bad.

After their eyes locked, it seemed impossible to make them look elsewhere, as if they refused even the idea to lose each other. However, the sound of a camera snapped them out of that trance. Blinking, they looked around and found Ohno not too far away from them.

With his phone raised up, Ohno had just snapped a picture of them.

“What are you doing?” Sho asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

“Inspiration,” his friend replied, as mysterious as ever. “Anyway, Aiba-chan, what do you think of my artworks?”

“They’re amazing,” the man affirmed.

Even if it was for Ohno’s art, Sho was still wondering why Ohno had taken a picture of them, and so he questioned him once again, “Why did you take that picture?”

“Why do you care so much?”

“Because I’m in it and I want to know what you are going to do with it,” Sho retorted, a little upset.

“Oh, come on, Sho-chan!” Aiba exclaimed, “I’m sure that Oh-chan has tons of pictures of you. One more won’t hurt.”

“What?” Ohno’s face had puzzlement written all over it. He came over to them and asked, “Why would I fill my phone with pictures of Sho-kun—”

Judging by his face, Ohno must have understood why Aiba had said such words and burst out laughing suddenly.

“W-What?” the other asked, confused.

“Aiba-chan, I stopped liking Sho-kun in our second year! I told you at the time!”

The man’s eyes widened as he gasped, staring in panic at Sho, who reassured him immediately that Ohno didn’t let anything slip, “He told me the other day. I know.”

“Ah.” Was the only thing Aiba could say at that. He cleared his throat after, and added, “Well, there was the chance that you fell for him again…”

“Past crushes just stay past crushes. It’s their destiny to be forgotten,” Ohno declared, speaking as if he were a romance expert of some sort. “Like yours too. Who was it by the way? Sho-kun and I were wondering about it last time.”

“Who was what?”

“You kept it hidden from us, but it was clear that you liked someone,” the man explained then, before smirking, “Come on, who was it? You can tell us now, it’s been ages.”

Aiba’s cheeks reddened as he began to panic for real, his breath suddenly heavier as well. He ran his hand through his hair, ruffling it nervously, “I—Huh, well—It was not important, forget it.”

Ohno pouted and nudged at their friend’s arm, begging him to reveal the name of his secret crush. Sho couldn’t bear watching Aiba in that difficult position, so he went to his rescue.

Taking Ohno by his shoulders, he brought him away from Aiba, and scolded him, “Enough, Ohno-kun. Aiba-kun doesn’t have to tell you his crush’s name. Just because we’re friends, it doesn’t mean that we can’t keep some secrets to ourselves.” He then moved his gaze to Aiba, and for the first time in a while, willingly touched him, placing his hand on his upper arm, “You don’t have to tell us anything. Alright?”

“Alright. Thank you.”

‘First you break my heart, then you treat me gently like this… My heart can’t take it, you know, Sho-chan .’

Sho watched as Ohno apologized, before leading Aiba close to the artworks so he could answer Aiba's questions.

‘My heart can’t take it’ ... He repeated that phrase in his mind and finally came to the conclusion of the dilemma that had been eating him in the past days. In the end, he hadn’t managed to choose a plan to make Aiba forget about him over the weekend. However, he now knew what he had to do.

Aiba’s heart didn’t deserve a heartbreak, it needed healing, and so, Sho would have to look for someone to replace his place inside Aiba.


🍒 🍒 🍒


Sho wasn’t surprised to see Ninomiya’s inquiring eyes snapping to him the moment he crossed the gallery’s entrance. The shorter man was at the far end of the aisle, and yet he locked his eyes with Sho, not leaving him for a second.

Taking a deep breath, Sho walked towards him, after greeting with a nod the usual lady at the info point – Suzuki. The other put his hands inside his jacket, and waited for him to stand in front of him, before showing him his wry smile.

“Sakurai-san, what a pleasure.”

“Ninomiya-san,” he greeted back.

“Aiba-kun is in his office if you’re looking for him,” he informed him with his usual trademark smirk.

“Actually, I’m here for you.”

That must have caught Ninomiya off guard, since he let his face show a surprised expression for some seconds, before returning to his previous relaxed one.

“How may I help you?”

“Well, I’m here for a certain business, and I was hoping for your cooperation.”

Ninomiya studied him with his gaze, intrigued by Sho’s words, “What is it about?”

“I meant to ask,” Sho started, feeling slightly hesitant now, “is Aiba-kun single, by any chance?”

Ninomiya’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly at that. “Single?” he repeated, in a voice that was way too loud for Sho’s tastes. “Why do you ask?”.”

Sho cleared his throat. “Well, you know, I have a friend who would be perfect for him, and I wanted to make them meet.”

The other’s face muted in a deadpan expression, as he blinked a few times. Then, several minutes passed in which Ninomiya stayed still without saying anything, not even moving his lips to mouth something. If he were a robot, Sho would have wondered if he had broken it, but until proven otherwise Ninomiya was a human like him.

“Hello?” He called, gently tapping his shoulder.

“What the hell do you want to do?”

Sho was taken aback by that sudden outburst. “I want them to meet each other, why?”

“To set them up?” Ninomiya confirmed.

“Yeah.”

“And to be clear, you really do have a friend you want to introduce to Aiba-kun, you’re not just making that up to find out for yourself,” he said in a cold tone.

“Of course the friend is real,” Sho lied, feeling his cheeks become warm and praying that the other wouldn’t notice and call him out on it.

Ninomiya snorted, avoiding his eyes and bringing them to the ceiling. He shook his head while whispering under his breath, “I can’t believe this.”

Sho composed himself. “What’s wrong about that?”

“You’re going to break his heart like this,” Ninomiya said, as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

“No, I will heal his heart this way,” Sho retorted. From the other man’s point of view, it might have looked like that was what he was doing, but he had to show him that he was only doing this for Aiba.

Nevertheless, Ninomiya didn’t understand him, and confronted him – something that sooner or later would have happened anyway. “Heal? Are you freaking dumb?”

“Listen—” he tried, but was cut off.

“Whatever,” the man turned his back on him, ready to take his leave, “I don’t like to meddle into my best friend’s love life.”

And now, Sho’s patience had truly finished. He grabbed the guide’s arm and harshly turned him around. “You sure about that? Didn’t look like that to me.”

“Why?”

“You know why.” Sho took some steps forward, returning Ninomiya’s deadly stare.

Aiba’s best friend was sharp, very sharp, and it had been clear since their first meeting. He had realized that Aiba felt something special for Sho, different from the bond Ohno and he shared, and he immediately began to set his plan into motion to get them together, without even confirming with Aiba if his hunch was correct.

Nonetheless, there was still something that Sho couldn’t figure out.

“It’s still lost on me why you did that, though,” he said, referring to Ninomiya’s attempt to leave them alone at lunch that time. During our first encounter, you gave me such a look that made me believe you could turn someone to ashes with just your eyes.”

“I did try to do that, indeed,” the man joked, his tone too serious for a joke, though. “And how can you blame me? You lied to Aiba-kun and made him think you didn’t want to work with him, or even see him for that matter. How was I supposed to react to that?”

“Then, why did you leave us alone if you hate me that much?” he crossed his arms and waited for an explanation.

Ninomiya copied his stance too, “Because even if I don’t stand you, Aiba-kun is my best friend and he seems to care a lot about you, so I helped him. I just want to make him happy.”

“Then, we have the same goal, I want to make him happy too.”

“No, you don’t want to make him happy, you just want him off your shoulders.”

Sho’s whole body stiffened, as his hands clenched in anger, “Take back what you just said.”

“Isn’t that the truth? You feel awkward about it but you don’t have enough guts to reject him, so you’re trying to do that in a roundabout way.” Ninomiya’s eyes filled with sadness suddenly, “Don’t you understand that this would make him suffer even more? Don’t you understand that there’s only one way to not make that happen?”

Not wanting to be affected by such a stare, Sho averted his gaze, “And you should know by now that it’s impossible.”

“So we saddle him with someone?” the other chanted ironically, before shaking his head in disagreement, chuckling, “No, no, I don’t think so.”

“Ninomiya-san—”

“No, you, listen,” Ninomiya’s voice was now firm, not admitting any interruption. “This would be a huge blow for him, alright? If you care about him at least a tenth of how much I do, you won’t do that. If you still want to go on with it, though, be my guest, but I’m not going to be a part of this.”

Sho stared at him for a while, his annoyance not making him able to understand why the man was so against his idea. If he couldn’t make Aiba happy on his own, why was it wrong to have him be happy with someone else? This way, his wounded heart would be cured by someone else’s love. Moreover, why break his heart with a rejection, when he could just fall out of love naturally?

He found himself sighing, disappointed that Ninomiya couldn’t understand his good intentions. There was only one thing to do at this point. “Fine, then, I’ll do it alone,” he declared.

“You’re a horrible friend,” were the last words that Ninomiya spoke, before going away and disappearing out of his sight.



Sho entered the Funky Hamlet in a hurry, instructing the head waiter to tell his boss that he needed to talk to him as soon as possible. The man followed his request and reached Jun, who was chatting friendly with some customers – probably some friends who came to have a lovely dinner. When Jun was informed of his presence, he turned towards him and signalled with his hands to wait in his office.

Gesturing a ‘Got it’ with his hand, Sho made his way through the tables and then the staff-restricted area, before going into Jun’s office and closing the door after himself. He sat on an armchair and clasped his hands together, trying to hold in the rage that was growing inside him.

He took some deep breaths to no avail, so he ended up standing up, crying out his anger in a scream.

“Woah, I’m not coming in if this is the state you’re in,” Jun declared, stopping at the doorway.

“I’m fine,” Sho affirmed, even if his current condition showed otherwise.

“You sure I won’t risk my life?” his friend teased, but upon seeing Sho’s serious stare, he apologized and came in eventually. “What’s wrong?”

“I decided that I want to match Aiba-kun with someone, so I went to Ninomiya-san to ask for his help. However, he wasn’t very fond of the idea,” he explained, somehow managing to calm himself. “I’m sure that he knows that Aiba-kun likes me, so I don’t understand why he would be against this. He should want his best friend to move on, right?”

Jun took a few steps in his office until he was next to the window, where he looked outside, moving the curtains. “As you said, it’s his best friend, so of course he’s rooting for you two.”

“But it’s clear that I don’t like him – heck, I took such a decision for that reason – so why lecture me on how I would break Aiba-kun’s heart, when I would anyway by not returning his feelings?”

Jun sighed, finally distancing himself from the window, before sitting down at his desk and looking at Sho like a teacher who was ready to make his student understand his mistake. Realizing that, Sho grumbled, irritated.

“You think the same too, don’t you?”

“Sho-san, if you were to introduce someone to Aiba-san, he would surely have a heartbreak. And that’s legit, think about it: the only thing he wants from you is your love, and instead you find him a date. Of course you’re going to hurt him.”

“So, am I a horrible friend now?”

“You’re not, calm down,” Jun reassured him, raising his hand and gesturing for him to sit down too. Then, he brought his hands together and leaned on his desk, “You just went about this the wrong way. Didn’t I tell you to come to me?”

Figuring that the man had already thought of a plan, Sho asked, “Enlighten me, then.”

“You don’t have to introduce someone to Aiba-san directly, you have to stage their encounter.”

Jun’s plan got him interested and he patiently waited for his friend to lay out the rest of it.

“At the end of February, we’re hosting an event to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Funky Hamlet, right? Since you and Ohno-san are invited, why don’t you bring Aiba-san and Ninomiya-san as well? I have a list of all the guests, I can choose someone and then casually introduce them to Aiba-san this way.”

“That’s…” he trailed off, taking the time to picture it in his mind for a second, before his face lit up enthusiastically, “A great idea!”

“Then, it’s settled,” Jun proudly declared, stretching a hand out to Sho so he could hold it, confirming their plan with a handshake.

However, Sho’s mind couldn’t erase Ninomiya’s words. An uncomfortable feeling began to spread in his stomach when it dawned on him that they were actually going to get Aiba in someone’s bed just to get rid of his feelings. They weren’t even giving him a chance to actually convey them, they only wanted to bury them with other, new ones.

Was that cruel? Was that heartless? Why did such a perfect scheme now look flawed in Sho’s eyes?

“Why the sudden long face?” Jun asked.

Sho had just realized that his best friend had taken out a bottle of whiskey and had already poured some for the both of them. Sho took the glass that he was being offered and drank from it, hoping that this would choke down his worries. When that didn’t happen, he sighed, and voiced what was on his mind.

“This is for his sake, isn’t it? He will be happy, right?”

Jun stared at him with a neutral expression, “I guess…? It’s your friend, not mine, how would I know?”

He was taken aback to hear such a reply. Up until this moment, he believed that Jun was advising him taking into consideration Aiba, but how could he when they didn’t know each other? If Ninomiya was acting in Aiba’s best interests, then Jun was doing the same, but for Sho.

Sho was the one who wanted Aiba to stop thinking about him, but not for his friend’s sake, but because first and foremost it troubled him. He felt awkward, so he was desperate to find a solution, any solution to stop his friend’s feelings. Even if Sho did have Aiba’s best interests in mind, he was looking out only for himself.

“I’m a horrible friend.”

“Don’t know what that’s about, but here,” the other poured down some more whisky for him, “It will comfort you.”

Sho drank everything in one go, wishing to shut his mind off, which was filled with piercing thoughts even if he wasn’t touching anyone.


🍒 🍒 🍒


Sho’s headache had not spared him a second the whole day, and he vowed to never drink again on a night before work days, no matter how much he needed it. Moreover, when his head required silence the most, his day was packed with meetings, making it impossible for his brain to rest, if not only for two hours during lunch break.

First, meetings with the press, then with TV stations for Ohno’s appearance, and finally with Aiba to show him the final sketch for the artworks’ display. He lost count of how many painkillers he had taken, but he sure knew that they had been all ineffective.

So, Sho was now dragging himself out of the gallery, rubbing his temples, hoping that it could help ease his pain. Aiba was walking next to him, checking up on him as he had been doing since their meeting started. He couldn’t really hide his emotions, so it was written all over his face that he was worried for his friend.

Since it was late, Aiba had finished his shift and so was exiting the gallery with him. Upon seeing him unstable, the man held his arm to keep him in place, helping him to climb down the stairs safely.

“How are you going home?”

“I’ll get a taxi,” Sho replied, bringing his eyes to the street, looking for one. Luckily, he spotted one soon but as he was raising his arm, Aiba stopped him.

“I’ll drive you home.”

Sho kindly refused, “Thank you, but there’s no need. I’m fine.”

He turned around, but did it too quickly and lost his balance. Aiba caught him; he could hear his amused giggling close to his ear.

‘I’m not leaving you here in these conditions, Sho-chan. You need someone to take care of you.’

Sho looked up at him and pulled away slowly. “Aiba-kun…”

“You’re clearly not fine,” the other interrupted him. “I’m taking you home and I’m not taking no for an answer. Come on, let’s go.”

Not having the strength to refuse, Sho followed Aiba to his car.

“Just put the address in the GPS,” Aiba told him when they were in.

Sho did as told and then leaned back onto his seat, closing his eyes. He stole a glance at Aiba only when he started the engine and drove off.

Even if Aiba was indeed in love with him, Sho knew that he was doing all this just out of pure kindness, and not to carry out some hidden agenda. And this made him feel even worse about what he was doing behind his back instead.

His headache wasn’t only physically painful, but even emotionally because it was a reminder of what he realized last night: that he was putting his own interests before Aiba’s.

“Aiba-kun, I’m sorry,” he blurted out loud.

“It’s no trouble driving you home, Sho-chan, don’t worry,” his friend assured with a gentle voice.

“Sorry,” he repeated, ignoring the other’s words.

He didn’t know if Aiba replied or not, because everything around him became silent as he dozed off.



Sho woke up in his bedroom, even if he didn’t know how he reached it. Around him everything was pitch black, signalling that he must have woken up in the middle of the night. Sitting up, and opening his eyes completely, he noticed that, actually, a dim light was coming from his kitchen.

Before he could worry, he remembered about Aiba driving him home last night. Maybe he forgot to turn out the lights when he went away, he thought, getting up from the bed to go into the kitchen.

He was so sure of his guess that he was left agape at what he found in front of his very eyes when he came into the room.

Aiba, wearing an apron, was cutting some vegetables, while a pot with water was on the stove. The man took all the chopped ingredients and put them on the pot, stirring them and adding in what looked like some kind of spice.

“Aiba-kun?” he called.

His friend turned surprised, probably startled by Sho’s arrival. “Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“No, you didn’t,” he said, going to the kitchen counter and sitting on one of the stools, “What are you doing?”

“Well, since I was here, I thought that I could make something for you,” he explained, “You never liked cooking, so I figured that a grumpy and annoyed-at-his-headache Sho-chan might have appreciated a good dinner.”

If giving him a lift was kindness, going to such an extent was instead the result of Aiba’s feelings for him for sure. If he were to date Aiba, then he would be waited on hand and foot, since the man was probably the most attentive person he knew. To be honest, even if he considered himself quite the catch, he was surprised that Aiba fell in love with him, because Sho, on the contrary, wasn’t very good at everything that ‘taking care of someone’ implied – he would already have problems with cooking for them after all.

When Aiba stopped stirring the pot, he walked away to return to the counter, where he took the rice previously prepared to make onigiri.

“And those?”

“I made too much rice, so this will be your breakfast tomorrow.”

“You’re too good to me, Aiba-kun,” he mumbled at that sight.

“I’m just being a good friend,” Aiba told him, with a smile that hid some bitterness.

Several moments passed in silence, since Aiba was focusing on cooking, while Sho was enjoying the calm in the kitchen: his brain was definitely appreciating that the only sound was Aiba’s gentle humming.

To break that peaceful atmosphere, though, was Sho’s phone, ringing in his pocket. Taking it out, he saw Jun’s incoming call.

“Jun-kun?” he asked himself out loud, before excusing himself, “Sorry, I have to take it.”

“Oh, don’t worry, that’s fine,” the man said.

Sho went back to the bedroom and picked up the call.

“Hello?”

“Sho-san, you alright?” Jun’s voice seemed worried on the other hand of the line.

“Yeah, why?”

“I sent you some texts today to check on you, since last night you looked wasted, but you didn’t reply.”

“Ah, sorry,” he sighed, “I was so out of it today that I didn’t even realize. But I’m alright, thanks, just a bit tired.”

“Great,” Jun took a sigh of relief, “Should I come over?”

“No, it’s fine. Actually…” he threw a glance over his shoulder, checking that Aiba wasn’t within ear-shot, “Aiba-kun is here.”

There was a brief pause before Jun spoke again, “Have you changed your mind over the plan?”

“No, I fell asleep while he was driving me home.” He bit his lips, regretting already what was going to say next, “And I just woke up and he is now cooking me dinner.”

“Wow, he loves you a lot.”

“Which side are you on?!” he complained.

“I’m just stating a fact,” Jun justified himself, “It’s the truth after all.”

“I know but… I really don’t need to hear it right now, when he also made some onigiri for tomorrow’s breakfast. I feel bad to be on the receiving end of his attentions, when I’m plotting behind his back.”

“You can always date him yourself.”

Sho rolled his eyes, and sighed, throwing his head back, “You know what? Forget it. I’m too tired for this.”

“Here he goes again, angry just because I’m evaluating all the options when I see that he’s faltering,” even from his tone Sho could sense the smirk of amusement that his friend must be wearing at that moment.

“I’m not faltering. I’m just feeling guilty. That’s all. Goodnight.”

“Have fun with your date—”

Sho closed the call frustrated. Having no choice but to go back to Aiba, he decided to get rid of his work clothes and switch to his casual ones. He slipped into a pair of black sweatpants and T-shirt, and returned to the kitchen, where a familiar fragrance had started to spread.

Is this curry? He thought.

Aiba, who was still at the stove, stole a glance at him and failed to contain a chuckle.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, just,” Aiba cleared his throat, trying to contain his laughter, “I expected a camo pajama.”

Sho went around the counter just to nudge the man’s head playfully. “You still find it funny?”

“But you love camo, right? It also suits you, so it’s obvious to think that,” Aiba replied, stumbling over every word he said due to his laughing.

Sighing loudly, Sho leaned with his back to the stove, next to Aiba, “I’ll always be the camo guy, won’t I?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Since their friends had found out about his liking for camouflage, he had been always linked to it, and apparently, even for Aiba it was still the case after all this time. Ohno would be happy to hear it, since now they could team up against him, with even Jun on their side.

When Aiba moved away to grab some spice from a paper bag, Sho peeked into the pot, learning that his hunch was indeed correct. His friend was making curry at freaking 9 PM.

“Wait, you’re making curry?”

“Yeah, I thought that it would restore your strength.”

“Isn’t this going to take a lot?”

“I didn’t know how long your nap was going to be, so…” the man trailed off, running a handkerchief on his forehead, covered with tiny drops of sweat.

Sho shook his head in astonishment, when he realized something. “How could you make it, though? I don’t usually have many ingredients at home.”

“Well,” Aiba pointed at the paper bag behind him, “I might have paid a visit to the convenience store after dropping you here.”

“You what?” Every action of Aiba surprised him. He didn’t know if it had always been this way, or if he was just paying attention now because he knew about his feelings, but Sho’s heart couldn’t help skipping beats whenever something like this happened.

“Also!” Aiba exclaimed. He reached for a cutely wrapped package, with golden decorations and a red ribbon. “They were selling this, so… Happy Valentine’s Day, I guess.”

Sho caught the box that Aiba tossed at him and turned it over in his hands. “Today’s Valentine’s Day, huh,” he blurted out. He had been so focused on the exhibition and his powers, that he had forgotten about the day in which love and lovers are celebrated. Not like he usually paid attention to it in the first place, since it had been years by now that someone had given him chocolate.

Was this Aiba’s silent confession? Did he have to say something?

He looked at the other, who had his eyes fixed on the pot, doing his best to not sneak a peek at Sho’s reaction. Nonetheless, he could still see the faint blush in his cheeks.

“Thanks,” he eventually said, “You didn’t have to, though.”

“I always treat myself to some chocolate, so,” Aiba explained.

“Really? Then, where’s yours?”

Aiba’s hand stopped stirring for some seconds, before resuming when he muttered, “I-I ate it on my way back.”

Sho nodded but couldn’t help smiling sadly at the other’s lie. It must be awful for Aiba to be in this kind of situation. Maybe he should do something just to let him know that he appreciated him, even if not as a lover, but as a friend.

He remembered that in the past, Aiba used to prepare him dinner whenever he could, and as a pay back he would invite him over to eat it together. Unlike Ohno, their rooms were in the same dorm, just across from each other’s, so they would do that often. Maybe, that was the day in which they could restart that habit.

Coming closer to the other, Sho leaned in on the stove to smell the delicious curry’s fragrance. He raised his head again, but didn’t bother to distance himself from the other, “I suppose that you haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

“I haven’t. I’ll eat once I get home.”

“Join me for dinner, just like you did back in university. This curry is too much for just one person,” he proposed. “Even though… Spending Valentine’s Day with a friend, instead of a lover… I mean…”

“I would love to!” Aiba exclaimed happily and in a matter of seconds, threw himself on Sho’s arms, hugging him tightly. “I always wanted us to eat dinner together once again!”

“Glad to see you so excited,” he chuckled, patting his hands on the man’s back.

‘Am I having a dinner date with Sho-chan on Valentine’s? This must be a dream! I hope Sho-chan can’t hear my heart pounding…’

Somehow, hearing that thought didn’t make him as awkward as the other times. On the contrary, he felt content to be able to make his friend smile. Hopefully, this would make up for the upcoming heartbreak he would give him.

“S-Sorry,” Aiba freed Sho from his embrace, embarrassed, “I should stop doing this kind of thing, right?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, frowning.

“Hugs,” the man specified, “We’re adults, after all. I bet you have had enough of my unnecessary skinship.”

“Oh, please, don’t say nonsense,” Sho laughed, “I could never hate that. You could touch me all over and I wouldn’t have any issue with it. You could even kiss me and I wouldn’t mind.” Sho didn’t put much thought into what he was saying; only after noticing the other’s shocked expression, did he realize what he had just said.

“Sho-chan…” Aiba whispered with a heavy breath. “You—What do you mean?”

His heart began to beat furiously, as if desiring to crack open Sho’s chest and flow out of the window. Well, if he could, Sho himself would jump out of the window for what he had let slip. And the worst thing wasn’t even what he said, but the fact that he didn’t know if he really meant it or not. He couldn’t understand, and his brain refused to cooperate to find a way out.

The only thing he could do was to take his eyes away from Aiba’s, breaking that intense contact which was making him even more agitated. Afterwards, he took a deep breath and gathered all his courage to speak.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

He was going to walk away when his arm was pulled in by Aiba’s, making him bump on his body, his nose brushing the man’s lips. He was going to apologize, but when he looked up, he froze at Aiba’s dark, entrancing eyes.

Aiba’s hand, which was around his wrist, moved to his own, intertwining their fingers together. His hand was sweaty, but so was his, as his body filled with a sudden warmth which made him restless. He was nervous, anxious, he was trembling, and Aiba’s face coming closer inch by inch wasn’t making it any easier.

He had to move away. He couldn’t let this happen, otherwise he would only give his friend false hopes when instead he didn’t stand a chance. And yet, why wasn’t he able to move? Why was Aiba’s gaze piercing through his soul, freezing him on the spot, and making his way towards his heart?

The other’s breath was crashing against his lips by now, causing a shiver to run through his back. Instinctively, he closed his eyes, but just before their lips could touch, a ringtone broke the tension in the air, and finally Sho could focus again.

Since that ringtone wasn’t coming from his phone, Sho figured that it must have been Aiba’s. “You should take it,” he muttered, before clearing his throat and freeing his hand from the other’s, which was holding onto him for dear life.

Aiba nodded absentmindedly, and then exited the kitchen to pick up his call. At that moment, Sho went to hold himself on the kitchen counter, letting out the breath he had been holding back. He could still feel his heart pounding in his ears, and he was sure that he was red all over his face.

“The hell was I doing?” he questioned himself.

He approached the sink to splash some water on his face, to cool himself down.

“Focus, focus, focus,” he chanted, as he grabbed a towel and dried his face. He was folding it back when Aiba returned to the kitchen, visibly embarrassed. He didn’t know if the reason was what was going to happen if they weren’t interrupted, or the interruption itself, so he limited himself to a tight-lipped smile.

“Sorry, that was my mother,” the man said, keeping some physical distance from him. “She still calls me whenever.”

He chuckled, but didn’t make any comments about that. He felt even more tense than before now, making it impossible for him to speak or act normally. However, it somehow comforted him to see that his friend seemed to be in the same state as well.

Aiba moved only after instants spent looking around nervously. He got back to the stove only to stir the curry and then cover the pot with its lid. “This will be done in two or three hours. Just stir it from time to time and check on it. If you feel that you can’t wait, you can eat the onigiri I made.”

“Oh, huh—A-Are you going away?” he stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck with his eyes fixed on the ground.

“Yes, it’s getting late, and—Well, I-I’ll eat at home anyway, it’s fine,” Aiba stumbled over his words as well. “Goodnight, Sho-chan.”

“Goodnight,” he had barely finished talking when Aiba walked away and literally ran from his apartment.

As if suddenly releasing all his stress, Sho’s legs couldn’t hold him up anymore and he slid to the ground, exhaling a tired sigh. That was the first time he had been that distressed, and he couldn’t even imagine how he could face the other man the next time he would see him. How was he supposed to work with him as if nothing had happened?


🍒 🍒 🍒


“Tell me a good reason why I should let you in at freaking 7 AM,” Jun’s sluggish and slightly annoyed voice said as soon as he opened his door.

“I couldn’t sleep well last night and I’m not running on 2 hours of sleep.”

His friend crossed his arms and leaned on the doorframe, “Try again.”

“You’re my best friend.”

“Try again,” the man said, this time louder.

Sho bit his lips, and after a moment of hesitation confessed, “Aiba-kun and I almost kissed last night.”

Jun’s eyes flashed open, as if he fully woke up as he heard that. “Now, this is a good reason. Come in.”

They settled down in Jun’s spacious living room, Sho crashing on the black couch, while Jun curled up in an armchair of the same color.

“Tell me what happened, I’m listening,” the man said, resting his head on his folded arms.

As Sho recalled everything that happened last night, his body relived the anxiety he felt, causing him to be on edge when he finished his story. He leaned his back on the couch, and waited for his friend to say something, anything, while gripping his hands around the fabric of his sweatpants – he was so scatterbrained to have realized he was still wearing his tracksuit only after getting in his car – tightly.

Finally, after what felt like eternity, Jun spoke. “Do you think that, if you weren’t interrupted, you would have kissed him?”

“No! I mean, I don’t know? Maybe?” he stuttered, confused.

“What if you had kissed?” Jun asked one more question, but elaborated further when he saw Sho’s lost face, “Like, would you have considered going out with him?”

Sho opened his mouth and closed it a few times, not finding an answer. The truth was that he didn’t even want to think about that scenario, because he was so scared of what could have happened. If they had kissed, what emotions would he have felt? If they had kissed, would he have pushed Aiba away, or lingered on the touch? If they had kissed, would his mind be clearer, perhaps?

On his left, he heard a chuckle, and he turned just to see Jun laughing up his sleeves.

“What’s so funny about me being miserable?”

“You’re not miserable, Sho-san,” the man remarked, “You’re in love.”

At once, Sho stood up, gaping at him, “I’m what?”

“And the overreaction testifies it,” Jun continued, after looking at him up and down.

“I-I was just shocked at your assumption,” Sho hurried to justify himself, sitting back down. “I’m not in love, and how would that have happened anyway?”

“Love doesn’t happen because of a reason, it just happens.”

“Do me a favor, spare me the fortune cookie quotes.”

“I’m just being real. Something clicked in you, and Aiba managed to win you over, somehow?”

Sho sighed, standing up once more and pacing around the room. Maybe I’m just letting myself be influenced by his feelings. After all, I haven’t dated anyone for a while, so maybe I’m seeking for Aiba out of selfishness?”

Crossing his arms, Jun squinted his eyes, suspicious, “Your words sound so measured that it seems like a lie made up to fool someone.”

“I’m not in love,” he repeated, firmly.

“And I played Hamlet in high school.”

Sho grumbled angrily, “Are you sure you’re on my side?!”

“But you fell in love, what am I supposed to do?” Jun bit back, matter-of-factly.

“I’m telling you what you’re supposed to do,” he started, taking his coat from the couch and wearing it, “Find Aiba’s date for your anniversary party.”

“Won’t you regret it?”

“No, I won’t.”

Without adding anything else, Sho turned his back on his friend and left his apartment.



Sho returned to his place exhausted, both physically – his restless night was still weighing on him – and emotionally. He understood his friend’s point of view, of course from the outside it looked like he loved Aiba back, but he knew himself, and he wasn’t feeling love in his heart at the moment.

He was sure that his desire for a relationship was taking advantage of the situation, trying to make him feel something for Aiba. Hitting on him would be playing safe, and in the matter of a few days they would be officially boyfriends already. Moreover, Aiba adored him, and he knew himself very well to know that he was weak to flattery.

“I can’t play with Aiba-kun’s feelings, he is my friend and I have to treat him fairly,” he told himself when he was climbing up the stairs to his floor – the elevator had broken down the day before, just his luck.

He had just turned around the corner when he panicky stepped backwards, hiding. Carefully, he peeked from his position to spy on Aiba, who was in front of Sho’s front door. He seemed to be mumbling something, as if he was rehearsing what he wanted to tell him, but judging by his troubled expression, he must have been struggling to come up with something nice.

After some deep breaths, Aiba found the courage to ring his doorbell. Sho didn’t know what was the best decision to take at that time, but he sure knew that he didn’t have the courage to stand in front of Aiba, so he stayed hidden.

Aiba rang once, twice, thrice, and added some knocks on the door for good measure.

“Come on, Sho-chan,” he heard him saying, his eyes gradually filling with tears.

After having waited for a while, Aiba decided to take out his phone to write a text, which he received right after. Sho opened it, and saw his friend putting his hand on the door, as if he was trying to connect him through that.

Sho looked down to read the text.

Sho-chan, I don’t know if I have screwed things up, if I have ruined everything between us. If that’s the case, then I’m sorry. I should have held myself back last night, and not let my heart run freely, taking control over my mind. If you’d let us, we could restart again, taking this slowly, and see where it will bring us.

Aiba’s foot was nervously tapping the floor, as anxiety was eating him up. Sho’s mind went blank, leaving him alone as his hands trembled before his phone, not knowing what to type. He was too lost on what to do, what to think, what to feel.

He didn’t love Aiba, so why were his fingers refusing to type that? It should have been simple. ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t feel the same’, it wasn’t hard to write, was it? After being rejected, Aiba would be able to move on, and then have a nice date at Jun’s party. So, why was he hesitating?

In the end, the only words that his fingers accepted to type were ‘I need time to think.’ And it was the truth, because he seriously needed to be alone and understand what was going on with him.

Aiba read the reply, and his head went to rest on the door immediately after. His hand clenched in a fist, as tears began to flow down his face. Sho saw his back shaken by his sobs only for some more seconds, until Aiba stepped away from his door to go away.

Sho swiftly hid behind another wall, and as Aiba’s cries reached his ear briefly, his heart clenched as it had never done before.

At that moment, Aiba wasn’t the only to have experienced a heartbreak.


Part Two
 

Comments

Re: And

[yuuki_nyanmaru]

Thank you for this comment! I'm not demi so I can only imagine how difficult it can be. Really glad that I could portray that struggle well.

P.S: I'm very sorry about the late reply 😔