Love is Blind: a Jouno and Tetchou story

I guess we're going on a date

It was when Tetchou came down the stairs that Jouno knew he was in deep trouble. Usually on weekends, Tetchou wore his favorite hoodie. He was one of those people who never zipped up his hoodie and then complained it was cold, which annoyed Jouno more than Tetchou's fondness for ketchup in strawberry bubble tea. Today, however, Tetchou wasn't wearing his hoodie.

"If you went to the trouble of dressing nice, I have to tell you I'm staying like this." Jouno said. Tetchou seemed to consider what Jouno was wearing. "You look nice, though." Jouno stifled a laugh. "Yeah, yeah. You're just saying that because I'm not wearing the rainbow knee socks underneath." Jouno had learned that wearing rainbow knee socks under ripped jeans would annoy Teruko with almost 100% certainty.

"Are you ready?" Tetchou asked. This was getting worse with every passing minute. "For what?" He asked hesitantly. "For what Teruko planned." No one said anything. Jouno could hear the lights buzzing overhead, but nothing else. "She didn't tell you." Tetchou said in a way that was more of a statement than a question.

"No, no she did not." Jouno said. He didn't make any move to stop reading his book. "I have a list." Tetchou said. Jouno sighed. "Let's hear it." Tetchou took a deep breath. "Okay, so movies at 11:00, lunch at this cafe she likes at 12:30 (she saved us a table) walk into the park until 1:00, planetarium at 1:30, walk in the park at 2:30, library at 3:00, walk in the park at 4:00, be back for a surprise at 5:00."

It sounded like something you'd threaten someone with in a military interrogation. "For God's sake." Jouno said. "How many times does she think we'll walk in the park?" Sure, it was a couple's thing to do. But how many times could two people do that in one day?

Jouno was bad with feelings. To most of the world, he was a closed off individual who betrayed very few emotions. However, Jouno felt something when he was around Tetchou. It was a new feeling, and one he wasn't entirely sure if he liked or not. Worse yet, whatever it was, Teruko had interpreted it as a crush on Tetchou. She'd set them up on the date from hell. Jouno could hear his heart hammering like his own death knell.

"We probably have to do this, right?" Jouno asked. "Teruko will be angry if we don't, and I don't think anybody wants to see that." It sounded like Tetchou was running his hand through his hair. "I know it's kind of awkward. We don't have to if you don't want to." Tetchou's heartbeat was also picking up. "No, no. I don't want to have Teruko mad at me. Her enemies never last long." Tetchou shrugged. "If you insist." Jouno clenched his fists. "I'm not the one insisting." It was Teruko. "Fine." Tetchou said, and started walking towards the door. "The movie starts in half an hour." It appeared Jouno and Tetchou were going on a date.

*

Jouno slouched back against the seat in the movie theater. The movie itself was boring, predictable, and Jouno probably could have figured out what was going on without the described video. It wasn't quite as robotic as his app, but it also didn't provide nearly the level of information that sitting next to someone who could see the movie did. Jouno liked bringing Tetchou if he ever did decide to see a movie. This was one of the few times it was good Tetchou talked too much.

"Okay, so the superhero guy just caught his girlfriend when she fell off the building." Tetchou said. Thankfully, they were drawing near the end of the movie. "American heteronormativity at its finest." Jouno said. The one good thing about this outing was that it had popcorn.

Jouno was getting exhausted already. He didn't want to think about what was next in the day, let alone Teruko's mysterious surprise that could only spell trouble. Jouno pulled out his phone and started looking through his contacts for anyone to bail him out.

Some middle aged lady behind Jouno tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me young man, but you're not allowed to have your phone on in the theater." Jouno put on his best innocent expression. "I'm blind." This was something Jouno never got tired of. Frequently, when he was caught doing something he wasn't supposed to do by people like this, he'd just say that, and they'd get all apologetic. Once, a man had actually said "I'm so sorry. I'm not an ableist." Upon catching Jouno shoplifting. It amused Jouno to no end what he could get away with. The lady shut up, obviously uncomfortable.

It was shortly after this brief confrontation that the first incident happened. Jouno could feel something strange bumping into his fingers. He realized that Tetchou was trying to hold his hand. Jouno wanted to pull away, but he also thought it would make the lady behind him even more uncomfortable. Yeah. Not only am I blind, I am queer. Jouno reached over and took Tetchou's hand, smirking at the slightly surprised intake of breath from the lady behind him.

Tetchou's hand was warm, but was sort of ruined by the fact that it felt like he bit his fingernails a lot. There were all sorts of rough, jagged edges and small upraised pieces of skin that Jouno's fingers brushed over. His hand was also covered in blisters, like he'd been practicing with his sword for too long. Jouno turned to Tetchou . "Maybe it's good Teruko made you take the day off." Tetchou seemed to frown. "What do you mean?"

"Your hands. That feels like it hurts." Tetchou brushed his other hand over the top of Jouno's. "What's a bit of pain in the name of justice and protecting the innocent?" Jouno couldn't think of anything to say to that. Tetchou was such a good guy, and it wasn't even annoying him right now. That new feeling struck Jouno again, and his heartbeat picked up. What was it about being alone with Tetchou that did this to him?

*