Elites Can't Beat the Best | h.harem

36 | bad luck streak

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Babysitting Bokuto, hiding from his psychotic mom, and focusing on dancing and school was hard for Akaashi to balance, who had only ever craved peace in his life. He craved love. He felt as if he had no control at all.

And he found that in dozens upon dozens of women, from the ones that tossed themselves at him to the ones he picked up from different classes with his attractive features.

He just couldn't take the stress and found that sex was a great way to accomplish a sense of control and power. When he met Shouyou, though, he had a new reason for living, a new reason to go on in life.

Shouyou reminded him that there's still something for Akaashi to strive for, to beat Shouyou. Akaashi wanted to prove to himself that Shouyou wasn't better than him. He dropped the hoards of women in his room and began practicing more, staying up with school.

On this path, he found his mother became less and less of a nuisance and left him to his own bearings, too. Since Shouyou had come into his life, Akaashi felt free, he felt motivated, motivated to control such an uncontrollable piece.

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"Shouyou, dear, I need to speak with you, so stay after your shift tonight." A jolt of surprise shook his small body as he nearly dropped the rose he was trimming in his hand.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

The person coming to pick up the flowers entered through the door and went to the counter as Shouyou finalized the last touches. He was trying to focus on the flowers rather than what his mother wanted, so it shocked him when someone pat his shoulder.

He yelped and turned around in haste, only to be even more shocked by the familiar face. "T-Tanaka... San?! What are you doing here?!"

"I'm here for my flowers, obviously, haha!" Though Shouyou tried to laugh it off, it came out more awkward than he hoped, and he could only gulp and turn around to finish adjusting the flowers.

"Well, they're done, but I have to ask... Why such aggression? All of these flowers you picked out are... really resentful."

Tanaka laughed at his curiosity, but the way Shouyou cradled the bundle of flowers in his arms like they were a child endeared his heart.

"Well, they're for my grandmother, she died last week and I'm being forced to attend the funeral."

Shouyou's mother was bringing a vase upstairs, leaving the men alone to talk freely. "Are you angry at her?"

Tanaka rubbed at the back of his neck, kicking invisible dirt on the floor.

"Well, I hate her fucking guts, but that might just be me not wanting to see my parents at the same time. I know half of all the bad things in my life are from her, but she also helped raise me... somewhat? I don't know... I feel like I should just show her I hated the way she raised me... or something..?"

A pinch of a chin, a raise of a brow, and a scrunch of a cute button nose later and Shouyou turned on his heel, holding a finger up to Tanaka.

He was walking into a greenhouse-like room of sorts. Tanaka watched him carefully from afar, and, eventually, watched him walk back over with a small handful of flowers.

He placed the large bouquet Tanaka had bought sitting up on the table and began adding the flowers he had brought into it.

"These are a present from me. This one's an Eglantine Rose." He added it in.

"What's it mean?"

"It means..." A finger, soft and nimble, pressed against Tanaka's chest, just above his heart. "You have a wound to heal."