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Kou sat down with a sigh, watching Mitsuba run away to the restrooms after dropping all his belongings in Kou’s hands. Apparently, asking him politely was above the boy’s capacities, although it shouldn’t come as a surprise to him.
The exorcist had agreed to tagging along for a shopping spree despite having nothing to buy himself, which represented how most of their interactions went most times: Kou doing Mitsuba a favor, and Mitsuba being ungrateful in return.
He was lucky Kou was patient, he thought as he made sure nothing had fallen to the ground without him noticing. Nope, the four different bags and overly decorated phone were fine, no thanks to their owner.
Truly, as he thought when they had met for the first time, the bastard was like a cat – it was hard to tell if he was really upset about things or if it was just in his nature to be moody and dramatic. Mitsuba rarely apologized for his wrongdoings or thanked people.
Despite all this, he had a very sweet side if you ignored all his red flags. Kou smiled as he glanced at the penguin charm attached to the phone in his hand, looking almost out of place amongst the other pink ones surrounding it. It was almost funny to see how attached he was to the object, going as far as crying when he realized he had lost it after their not-date (Nene could believe whatever she wanted).
Luckily, Kou had managed to get another one in one try at the aquarium and pretended it was the original that he had found on the ground. After what felt like their first heart-to-heart, with Mitsuba dropping his mask and talking about his insecurities, then awkwardly trying to comfort Kou in a weird turn of events – well, he would feel bad letting the evening end on a bad note.
He would rather die than ever admit to doing it, however.
His own giant isopod charm was on his school bag, because he would feel bad for throwing it away or abandoning it in a corner of his room, even if it wasn’t ‘cute enough’ – bugs are cool, they don’t need to be cute!
The boy suddenly realized he had no idea what time it was, and decided to check on Mitsuba’s phone instead of bothering with his own. His brother would undoubtedly start worrying if he ended up late to dinner, especially since he hadn’t warned him about his outing, thinking it would be over in an hour or two.
He managed to turn the phone on despite the thick casing making it harder than it should be – seriously, the decorations made the whole phone so unpractical to use – when his eyes widened as he was greeted by an image of himself, looking away with a relaxed expression, clearly unaware of the camera pointed at him. The wide, bright blue sky framing him didn’t reveal where the picture was taken, but Kou could guess it was probably around the prior week, when Mitsuba decided to get seriously invested in photography again.
It reminded Kou of the other student’s vow to only capture subjects he was interested in or particularly cared about, hence his general avoidance of portraits. Snorting, he quickly turned the phone off as he saw a blob of pink approach in his peripheral vision.
“I’m done! Let’s go get ice cream, your treat since you didn’t buy anything.” Was the first thing out of Mitsuba’s mouth.
“Hey! No way, I don’t even want ice cream, I need to go home and prepare dinner!” Kou got up and shoved the bags at him, seeing as he wasn’t even making a move to pick them up. Mitsuba opened his mouth to start whining, but Kou beat him to it: “Alright, I’ll get your stupid ice cream on the way back, now hurry up or I’ll change my mind.”
Mitsuba frowned in a suspicious way. “That was too easy…Also, what are you smiling for? You weird-” Kou simply glared at him and sharply raised the pink phone high up to show he could easily let it smash to the ground. “WAIT! Wait wait I’m sorry, I’m coming now, stop it!” As if Kou would really do such a thing and let Mitsuba’s poor mom pay for the consequences.
Of course, as soon as he graciously handed the item back to him, his friend started grumbling about being surrounded by bullies and whatnot, but Kou had long since mastered the art of tuning him out. For some reason, he was still in a good mood when he paid for overpriced sweet ice cream, when he apologized to his brother for ‘disappearing’ just because he had forgotten to text him on the way home, and even when he finally lied down in bed after his long day.
As soon as he opened his eyes the next morning, he had an idea.
-
“Hi, Yashiro-senpai!”
Here came step one. It was lunch break when Kou approached Nene, Mitsuba in tow, taking advantage of the fact that she seemed alone at the moment. It wasn’t like he disliked Amane and Aoi, but he sensed that it was better if they weren’t here for what he had planned. “Kou-kun! It’s nice to see you! And Mitsuba-kun too, of course…” She trailed off with less enthusiasm, but her eyes crinkled with a barely hidden smile. Kou was happy to see that not only did his friends adapt to Mitsuba’s antics when he dragged the anxious boy to meet them after months away from school, but they also developed a balance of teasing him about his nasty attitude without discouraging him from acting as his true self.
Kou didn’t even have to intervene, being the first one to get acquainted with the ‘true’ Mitsuba Sousuke off school, when a car accident nearly taking his life had made the student realize he didn’t want to keep playing a role all his life.
Luckily, he got along with Kou’s friend group quite easily especially after the last school festival, despite his initial fears of rejection. Although he had no idea how his friendship with Nene grew, seeing how Mitsuba kept commenting on her ankles’ size, he seemed comfortable around her – which was all that mattered at present.
Before the two could start a petty war that could last hours, he intervened: “It’s nice to see you too! Actually, if you’re not busy, could you do us a favor?” Mitsuba glanced at him curiously as Nene agreed, as Kou had preferred not to warn him. “Could you take a picture of both of us here?
-Sure! Is there a special occasion, though?
-Yeah, what’s this about, weird earring? Why do you need a picture of us together, huh?! Is this just so you can stand close to me and fulfill your filthy fantasies?” Kou tried putting a hand over his mouth to stop him from saying more embarrassing accusations, but the other managed to evade him and screech louder. “This is harassment! Senpai, do something!”
Luckily, there weren’t many students around and Nene just sighed and shook her head. Less luckily, one of the other said students was Amane, lunchbox in hand and a malicious expression already on his face. And here Kou hoped they could get this done before he showed up…
“What’s all this fuss? Ah, the oblivious couple, as always.” He paused to smile sweetly at Nene (urgh, the irony) as a greeting, but sadly turned his attention back to them, always waiting for an opportunity to antagonize his poor friends for his own entertainment – Mitsuba and him were terrifying when they planned a prank together. Now, he was in the position of the victim, though.
“Urgh, will you stop being annoying for a second? Can’t I just want a picture with my best friend without you making it weird?”
As expected, Mitsuba instantly calmed down and stared at him like he had grown a second head. Although Kou was known for calling people his friend after very little time spent together, it was the first time he acknowledged their friendship was somewhat special, especially in front of other people. The element of surprise was useful for this situation though, even if it was going to come bite him in the ass later in the form of an embarrassed ‘best friend’ for sure.
“Wow, he’s really looking at you like you’ve cursed his bloodline or something, you should have taken the pic just now, Yashiro!” Snickering, Amane broke the tension, which brought Mitsuba out of his shock. To Kou’s relief, he simply crossed his arms and finally agreed to the photo, while keeping a distance to the boy.
“Alright, are you guys ready?
-Wait, they’re waaay too far apart!” Amane interrupted. “This just looks sad. Come on Mitsuba, why don’t you scoot over just a little? It won’t kill you.” Despite his genuine comment, it was clear the student was mocking them, but Kou had to agree. When all Mitsuba did was sneer, Kou decided to take matters into his own hands and wrapped an arm around the other boy’s neck, bringing him closer. Unsurprisingly, his initiative was meant with an instant shove of a hand in his face, but Kou stood strong and only tightened his hold. Mitsuba decided to use his other sleeve-covered hand to push him away, so he licked the uncovered one to the boy’s outrage – they surely looked quite ridiculous like this, wrestling like toddlers while Nene waited with the look of an exasperated but fond mother.
“Let me go!
-Only if you stand next to me like a normal person!” The two glared at each other. Both of their hair was in disarray – Kou took in Mitsuba’s ridiculous ponytail coming half loose, with his scarf hanging awkwardly across his shoulders, just from play fighting for no good reason, and burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. His friend quickly followed, and they both looked up at the sound of Nene’s phone taking a picture. “Hey! Delete this, I bet I look ugly in it!
-No way Mitsuba, I thought you were the cutest guy around?
-Shush, Yugi-kun. Anyway, I actually took multiple photos and they look quite nice, I’ll send them to you!” Good thing Nene was quick to send the images, since Mitsuba decided to try and snatch her phone from her. Meanwhile, Kou took a sneak peek at the pictures he had just received. Satisfied, he snatched his friend by the scarf and took his retreat after thanking the girl. He didn’t expect to get better results, after all, so he might as well leave the two students with some alone time. Who knows, Amane might decide to make a move one of these days.
After they got away and settled down to eat, Mitsuba finally seemed to realize he had the opportunity to interrogate him.
“So…When do you plan on telling me what the point of this was?” Kou grinned as he showed his new lock screen: both of them looking like a mess and laughing uncontrollably. “I decided to copy you!”
He watched as the wheels turned behind Mitsuba’s squinted eyes.
“WHAT!” Kou grimaced as rice spewed from the boy’s mouth. “When- when did you- wait! I knew you were acting off yesterday! How dare you snoop around when I’m gone for two minutes, you weirdo!” He looked like he was trying to hide his flaming face behind his long sleeve, and his embarrassment with anger. After a pause, he added with a pout: “Is this what you’ve been so happy about? Gross.”
Kou decided to steal some of his dessert as retaliation.
-
In the evening, he received two texts. One from Mitsuba, a rant full of nonsensical whining, which he expected on a regular day, let alone with all the recent events.
However, the most interesting one was from Nene:
‘Guess who just asked me for today’s pictures and begged me not to tell anyone? (ㅅ´ ˘ `) ‘