Work Text:
Ping!
Wataru looked away from his printed out script, “Hm? I thought I turned my ringer off…” He quickly twirled to the desk that his phone rested on. Clicking the button to turn his phone on, he squinted at the notification.
✧ eichi ✧
could you come by the student council room?
Wataru felt a small pinch in his stomach. Was Eichi upset with him?
of course! what for, eichi? ヾ(*'▽'*)
✧ eichi✧
something happened and i am not quite sure what i should do…
ill be there right away~
A good, charming picture would spice up the conversation, so Wataru attached one to the message he sent. He placed his script into his bag, slinging it over his shoulder.
‘ Something happened ’? Eichi was always so vague! Wataru strided down the hallway, hair flowing behind him in urgency.
---
“My dear Eichi!” Wataru exclaimed, “Wh-”
Eichi held a finger up to his lips, shushing Wataru quite loudly (ironic). He nodded his head over to a form laying on the couch, appearing to be… asleep? Wataru leaned over to look over and see who was on the couch.
...Keito?
Sure, Wataru had walked in on Keito sleeping at his desk sometimes, but to see him asleep in front of Eichi of all people was surprising to say the least.
He strided over to Eichi, who was sitting behind the desk front and center in the room. Leaning over his dear friend, he whispered, “So the problem is that he is asleep?”
“Unfortunately, that’s only the half truth, Wataru,” Eichi muttered. “He was helping me clean up in the room today, and while he was cleaning the case over there, he hit his head pretty hard.”
“Quite unusual for our lovingly stuck up vice president to be so clumsy!” Wataru chirped, tucking his long hair behind his ear as he peered back over at Keito’s sleeping form.
Eichi smiled warmly at him, “It makes him human. He can’t always have a stick up you-know-where!”
Wataru had to hold back a chuckle as he saw a figure shift at the corner of his eyes. He turned and there was no mistake.. Keito had finally woken up! A true case of sleeping beauty it seemed.
The boy rubbed his eyes, reaching towards the table in front of him to grab his glasses.
“You’re finally up, Keito,” Eichi hummed, “Wataru and I have been waiting for you.”
“Yes! Eichi came to me in a desperate time of need! Who knew you could be so reckless, my dear rival!” Wataru flipped his loose hair behind his shoulder dramatically. Thankfully it didn't hit Eichi in the face.
Keito’s voice was raspy as he responded, “Ah, my apologies for being so careless… Wataru-san, Eichi-san.” He said their names like they were foreign words, scraping off the tip of his tongue like sandpaper.
...Wouldn't he be scolding Wataru for how he talked to him by now?
Maybe he could chalk it up to exhaustion…
“I’ll be ready to go back to my student council work. I’m fine,” Keito interrupted the silence. “Were you both here for something?”
“...You were helping me clean up, Keito,” Eichi said slowly.
Wataru’s brain was running in circles at the situation at hand. Did a simple bump in the head turn the adorable Keito into a total idiot? Surely he isn't playing dumb for laughs..
He really had to test his theory. “How foolish of you, Keito-kun! You call me moronic yet you’re forgetting the task at hand!” Of course he didn't mean every word he said, but it still earned him a pinch at his side from Eichi.
“I already apologized for that. And don’t imply that I’m a moron!” Keito huffed, “Incorrigible…”
Keito surely hadn't lost his colorful vocabulary, but for the comments Wataru made, his face surely would have been red with rage right now. Something was truly wrong here.
“You can go back to your work, give us a moment Keito,” Eichi smiled warmly and signaled Wataru to turn away from Keito. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking right now?” he whispered.
“Our dear Keito-kun is in trouble and has appeared to lose part of his memory?!” Wataru whispered back.
“It appears so…” Eichi grimaced, “You don’t need to act like you’re explaining it to an audience, though.”
“Force of habit, Eichi!”
Eichi nodded, “Right… But what are we going to do about this? It’s not as if we can just send him off home with his memory gone.”
“Wouldn’t we need to keep an eye on him?” Wataru hummed.
“I could invite him over to my home, but I’m not sure if he would come since he sees me as a stranger now…” Eichi made a sad expression, clearly upset by the condition of his childhood friend.
Wataru put a hand on Eichi’s back, rubbing it softly, “I know you have to be home soon, Eichi.” The gears in his mind turned in search of an answer. This was a situation that neither of the two have ever experienced before. Obviously they shouldn’t have to, but still!
“In fact, I could accompany your dear right hand man, as the left hand of course!”
What a stupid idea.
“That's a good idea, Wataru,” Eichi said, “It's not like I can do much, unfortunately. I’m about to be picked up soon anyways…”
“Are you two just going to stand there and whisper the whole time you're here?” The two unit members turned around to see Keito looking at them with a sour expression.
Eichi felt himself pale slightly, “Ahaha, sorry, Keito. We were actually talking about how we had to go home soon. I’ll be going to my house, Wataru is staying later, but what about you?”
Keito furrowed his eyebrows, “Is it already that late? I’ll most likely just take the commute home.”
A loud gasp reverberated against the walls of the cold room. “In your condition?! There’s absolutely no way!” Wataru slid over to Keito, planting his hands on the boy's shoulders. “We may be fated rivals, always destined to fight head to head at even the smallest of grievances, but I cannot let you go out when you are clearly unwell!”
“Pardon?” Keito huffed, “I am fine to go home by myself.”
“I don’t think so, Keito,” Eichi said, grabbing his bag off the floor. “I know you aren’t well, you always lie about that. Since we were kids you’ve done that. But you don’t know that now because of your condition.” He smiled sadly at the boy, “Just stay here. For me, okay?”
A troubled expression painted Keito’s features. The urge to please and make Eichi happy easily dominated over his mind's unfamiliarity with the boy. If his subconscious told him to do it, it surely would be fine, right?
“...If that’s what is best.”
“Wonderful!” Eichi beamed, clapping his hands, “I’ll be taking my leave now! See you two tomorrow.” With that final statement he opened the door to the room and slipped out into the hallways, not to be seen until the next day.
Keito sighed heavily as he went to sit on the couch he was sleeping on not moments earlier. He ran his hands through his hair. The pounding feeling he felt throughout his whole head hadn’t gone away since he had awoken, and surely wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon.
“Keito-kun? Are you alright?” Wataru hummed, tilting his head as he leaned forward. His light blue hair slipped down his shoulders and framed around his face quite beautifully, in Keito’s opinion.
‘ This headache is getting to me. I barely even know who this person is right now. ’ He thought to himself harshly.
“Keito-kun?”
Oh, right. “Ah, my apologies, Wataru-san. I’ve just been trying to deal with this headache.”
Wataru gasped, “A headache?! Now this just won’t do, will it Keito-kun?” He smiled earnestly at Keito’s exhausted form. From where Wataru was looking, he looked much smaller and vulnerable. But, now isn’t the time for that, is it? “You’ve said before that there are materials in here to make tea?”
“From what I can try to remember, yes…”
“Perfect!” Wataru clasped his hands together and spun around to look for them. Thankfully, he knew Eichi and his dear right hand quite well, so it wasn’t that hard to find. “What kind of tea do you find to suit your tastes best, sir right hand?”
“Whatever you find first is fine,” Keito murmured.
“Then why don’t we have one that’s bursting with some citrus flavor, hm? Lemon perhaps?”
Keito paused before answering, “Yeah.”
He felt himself nodding off as Wataru prepared the tea for the both of them. At the same time, his mind was running with jumbled, messy thoughts. He wasn’t sure what part of his conscience made him so attracted to Wataru. Was it the way his long hair framed his matured body like he was a fantastical mixture between both a prince and a princess? The way the words he spoke flowed off his tongue like the warm water of a bath hugged your body after a long day of sweating and working yourself to the bone? Keito could find many colorful ways to describe how this Wataru made him feel. A boy he couldn’t even remember made him feel this way and it was embarrassing .
“Say, Keito-kun,” Wataru grinned, staring down at the steaming cup he just placed in front of the mentioned idol, “Are you the type of person who likes their tea with no sugars, or as sweet as candy?”
Keito pursed his lips at the question. Why would he ever want tea that sweet anyways? “Just a few sugar cubes is enough. What about you?”
“Ah~ I’m the same way!” Wataru chuckled, “We really aren’t that different, hm~?”
“It’s not as if I could be the judge of that right now,” Keito replied, watching as Wataru’s hands delicately plopped the glittering white cubes into his dark tea. “Doesn’t everyone like it that way?”
Wataru sat down next to Keito on the couch, “Maybe!” He stared at Keito, tilting his head in question. “Say, Keito-kun?”
“Pardon?”
“I know you don’t remember but,” Wataru inhaled quietly, “I am feeling quite strange with how formal you’re being to me now, heh.”
Keito waved a hand over his tea to calm down the steam. “What do you mean?”
Was he saying too much? Maybe so. But, this formal version of Keito wouldn’t remember much, right? “Before this incident, you were quite the stick in the mud, especially when it came to me!”
“You both still called me that, I could hear you a bit when you were whispering,” Keito muttered.
“Of course!” His personality didn’t change at all. “Either way… You really do treat me differently, don’t you?” Keito didn’t feel the need to respond. “You’d call me only by my last name, telling me I’m so ‘incorrigible’. And yet, when I called you my rival… and when you could drive me away at any time… you simply refused to accept it.” Wataru smiled warily.
‘ Shut up. What are you saying? Just because he doesn’t remember you doesn’t mean you can spout out your idiotic feelings! ’ His mind screamed at him. His mouth was working faster than his brain. No, not his mouth, his heart. The heart that had been shattered into pieces long ago and repaired with the power of hundreds of masks, was speaking how he truly felt for the first time in years.
“I’m not quite sure what makes you stay, and I’m not sure what exactly draws me to you, but at times I feel like your soulmate,” Wataru chuckled, “The you that remembers me, that is. But perhaps we could start something new here~?”
Keito brought up his now cooled tea to his lips, “I’m… not quite sure to say.”
Wataru’s heart twisted, preparing for the worst rejection of his life.
“But firstly, I don’t think you should be propositioning me while I’m not my usual self, no?” The boy deadpanned, leaving Wataru to blink in surprise as he took a sip of his tea.
Keito’s face flushed as he was trying to convince himself to be honest. He wasn’t a filthy liar, but he didn’t blurt out his true intentions like a moron either. A voice full of pure instinct in the back of his head nagged at him to stop what he was trying to do and just stay quiet. Put up his walls, get back to work, and hopefully get his memory back as quickly as possible. But, another part of his brain told him now wasn’t the time for him to be defensive towards the boy sitting next to him.
“Something inside me tells me to try and get closer to you. But another part of me wants to hide from you,” Keito sighed into his cup.
Wataru paused, “You’ve always hidden from me, Keito-kun. Just like everybody else. But you do the most. Are you scared?”
“...Are you?”
Wataru swallowed. Him? Scared? As if he would be scared of his own feelings.
“I’m not sure.”
“Me neither.”
The two quietly took small sips of their tea. The hot liquid felt unusually bitter on Keito’s tongue as a seemingly invisible weight was present on his shoulders. “Wataru I…”
Keito had turned his head, seeing Wataru staring into his cup of tea as he smoothly stirred the spoon in the center, making a whirlpool effect. Drips began to fall into the tea, causing Keito to furrow his eyebrows in worry as he clearly looked up at Wataru’s face.
Salty tears dribbled down the blue haired man's cheeks as he ironically smiled contently at the tea he so happily prepared earlier. His hands shook as he continued to stir the spoon.
His spoon rattled against the cup as he got tremors in his arms.
The cup fell, spilling the dark blackish brown liquid onto the rug.
Wataru sobbed.
“Wataru-?!”
Keito shakily put his cup back down on the table as Wataru shoved his face in his hands in shame. “Keito- I’m not supposed to-”
“You need to breathe Wataru!” Keito exclaimed as he grabbed the arms of Wataru, who’s still shaking hands began to tug at his own hair. He didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t know what the hell was happening.
“I’m not supposed to ever cry like this, Keito! That’s not who I’m supposed to be! I shouldn’t love you!” Wataru rasped, not daring to look Keito in the eyes, instead opting to stare at the hands that held onto his forearms. The hands that had been held up to him in protest every time he made a dramatic remark towards Keito. The hands that had hesitantly patted his back before one of fine ’s performances. The hands of the person his soul knew he couldn’t help but love with all of his heart.
Keito’s wide eyes stared at Wataru’s shaking form.
‘ You’re absolutely incorrigible, Hibiki! ’
‘ You’re quite the charming one, aren’t you, Mr. Right Hand? ’
His head pounded with the memories that had flooded back into his mind. Had he really done this to Wataru? This was all his fault, wasn’t it? Turning Wataru into a sobbing mess in front of him.
“Hibiki…” Keito muttered, “I-”
“Please, Keito-kun,” Wataru looked up, pulling his arms away from Keito’s grip, stronger than Keito despite everything. “I know your feelings already. I can read you. That’s exactly why this is the time for me to go. It was foolish of me to stay and blabber my feelings to you, wasn’t it~?” Wataru stood up, stepping in the soggy puddle of tea below his feet.
Within the blink of an eye, Wataru had disappeared, leaving only stray, withered feathers in his path. They had to have been from a dove.
“If you knew how I truly felt then wouldn’t you know I loved you, Hibiki?”