𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐄
「 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 」
AFTER CHIGIRI, it had been Kunigami, then even Bachira — also from the football team. Reo was lucky because none of them got upset, but none of them had worked either, and he came out more affected by the last one than he imagined.
Kunigami was too oblivious. Reo had walked him to his classroom, chatting about nonsense until they reached it, and just as expected, Nagi was already there preparing the presentation they had been working on during Monday. They settled by the door, and Reo pushed one of his bangs behind his ear and smiled coyly, projecting less of his player image and more of his good-boy act.
Kunigami didn't notice there, but to anyone else it would have been obvious by how Reo then shortened the space between them, moving closer to fix Kunigami's collar before his big presentation. He had said something along the lines, "You actually look handsome for once," and had moved his hand from Kunigami's neck to his arm. Doing what every girl that had met Kunigami has always done, he felt the muscle of his bicep and said, "Wow, have you bulked up even more?"
Kunigami shook it off naturally, honestly thinking it was a compliment from an (ex) athlete to another, or from a man with a firm physique to someone with a stronger one. It wasn't until the professor cleared his throat and asked them to move from the entrance, eyeing Kunigami with an obvious don't-do-that-here stare, that Kunigami's face changed.
Reo caught a glimpse of Nagi where he stood by the teacher's desk and found indifference for a second time. Reo wanted to groan, Kunigami held him by the arm before he could walk away.
"Don't play dirty," he said. Reo didn't care enough.
Bachira had been different though, completely different. Reo usually avoided making plans with any of his football friends if it meant he had to wait for them to finish training – as in, he had to wait by the lockers or at the parking lot – but now with his new resolution, he found those opportunities much more useful.
He was waiting for Shidou with his Airpods on, but he wasn't looking at his phone, choosing to scan the place instead. The players were leaving and starting to get in their cars when suddenly Bachira bumped into him accidentally. He was far from Reo's type, and Reo wasn't even sure of his sexuality, but Bachira was also Nagi's friend, Isagi's best friend, and not bad on the eyes. Reo took one of his earphones off, willing to start a conversation.
"Sorry," Bachira said, taking a step back. "Didn't see you there. Are you waiting for Nagi?"
Their falling out had been obvious. They went from being attached by the hip one day to avoiding each other like the plague the other, even Reo's parents had noticed. Reo couldn't be sure if Bachira was being genuine or trying to mock him in any sort of way.
He tried to hold back the venomous part of him that told him to flip Bachira off. "Not really, I'm waiting for Shidou."
"Oh, didn't know you guys were friends," Bachira lied.
Reo didn't understand the guy, he never had. He didn't even know where to begin flirting with him, and the more the silence stretched between them, the more he wondered if he even wanted to. Couldn't Bachira just leave?
As if reading his thoughts, he continued. "I'm waiting for someone too, Isagi's inside with Rin."
Bachira was starting to look into the distance, eyes soft. Reo wondered if he felt lonely, if he felt that now Isagi had Rin – Rin who didn't like to share – and Nagi, like everybody else, he was being left behind. Reo empathized, he heard that Isagi and Bachira were best friends since childhood, and he'd seen how lonely Bachira could be outside of Isagi. He, too, had been abandoned.
"Are you guys going to hang out or something?" He asked Bachira, making an effort to distract him from whatever darkness may be polluting his mind.
"Yeah, we're supposed to see Sharknado or Transformers, uhm, but now maybe Rin will tag along. I don't really know."
"Sorry about that."
"Uh?" Bachira had big eyes and looked at him with surprise splattered across them.
Reo sighed, hating that he may be turning mushy, that his defenses were lowering unexpectedly.
"Just- I know it's weird when your friends start dating or getting other... besties or whatever, and then they always invite someone else to your hangouts, and then you're the one who is the uninvited one that shows up, and then you feel..." was his throat suddenly dry? Why was Reo spilling onto this stranger? He swallowed. "Abandoned."
"Oh."
Fortunately, if Bachira pitied him, it didn't show.
Whatever, Reo didn't know anything about Isagi – luckily, because he couldn't stand him – so he couldn't know if Isagi would do the same thing Nagi did to him. He said that, or at least tried to say it.
"But Isagi's been your best friend for years, right?..." he tried to smile. Nagi was my best friend, he thought, yet Nagi still preferred him and sent Reo to hell. Why was he thinking of Nagi so vulnerably in front of Bachira? Why, why did- why would Nagi abandon him?
Reo was surprised when the next time he swallowed it felt far too hard and heavy. It had been more than a month, Reo, get your shit together. He wanted to yell. He didn't need Nagi, it had to be the other way around, it had to, or else– God, Reo missed him.
Bachira's touch on his face felt foreign yet warm, and he didn't take offense at the delicacy, as if Bachira knew he was dealing with a spooked animal, one that could bite at any given moment. Bachira cupped his face, thumb rubbing over his cheekbone.
"You're right," he started. "Isagi is my best friend, I'll be fine."
Reo had to look down to maintain eye contact with Bachira, and he felt stupid. Tall, cool, rich Reo, allowing a stranger to look into a wound that he felt far too ashamed to even admit was there. Tall, cool, rich Reo, what an idiot.
"Sorry," he repeated. He was clingy, emotional, overdramatic. He's always been a lot; Reo used to believe Nagi didn't mind.
"You'll be fine too," Bachira assured him. Reo nodded, holding onto Bachira's elbow, and Bachira squeezed his cheek almost as if teasingly. Weirdly enough, Reo giggled.
Isagi's voice popped the bubble they'd been trapped in. "Bachira?" he asked, eyes zoned in Reo instead.
Bachira detangled himself from Reo naturally enough, not as if they had been caught doing something because they hadn't. But Reo had allowed Bachira to see him, to really see him, and he blushed.
"Nagi," Bachira said. Reo looked at them to find Nagi standing right beside Isagi, hands inside his jogger's pockets and eyes as intense and closed off as they'd started to become around Reo. Reo was the first to break eye contact – another thing he wasn't supposed to do, he acknowledged – and he put back his AirPods as if the other three players weren't there. He didn't press play on his phone.
"I'm, uh, what were you guys- uh" Isagi tried, eloquently enough.
"Just talking," Bachira downplayed it. "You didn't tell me Nagi was coming, I was actually expecting Rin."
Isagi grimaced. "Yeah... I couldn't ask him to come. Sae interrupted and I had to step back, you know how it is." Sae and Rin tended to fight after practice, calling each other out on their mistakes way harsher than their coach did. It could take them minutes to talk or hours if they lost themselves in practice and strategies. Even Shidou knew to leave them alone for their alleged bonding time.
Speaking of, Shidou came to Reo's rescue before awkwardness could finish eating him alive. He held him by the waist and Reo jolted at the sudden contact, looking at Shidou like a deer caught in the headlights. Shidou let out a confused chuckle.
"What? I thought you were expecting me?"
Reo nodded and forced himself to relax. Shidou's arm around his waist was weird — definitely a change made in order to help him — seeing that plan make-Nagi-jealous was still in motion and Nagi was right there, behind them. Reo wasn't used to it though; none of his friends held him like that – aside from how he and Nagi would be all over each other's back when they were best friends – and Shidou wasn't touchy either, only ever throwing his arm around his shoulders and reserving the whole hugging or waist-touching to Sae.
Reo didn't hate it, yet it wasn't as natural as carrying Nagi on his back.
Then his eyes went wide and he almost squeaked in panic when Shidou's hand slipped downwards, squeezing at his hip before he put his hand in Reo's back pocket.
"Sae's gonna kill you," Isagi said suddenly, looking at Shidou disapprovingly as if he were cheating just by doing that. Reo's face heated up further; he was lucky Sae was his tentative friend, and he was glad Sae's levels of jealousy were minus zero because he could stand his ground but Sae would absolutely wreck him in a fight.
"Nah, he's aware of how close Reo and I are," Shidou replied, sticking out his tongue at Nagi. Nagi, who hadn't said shit. Hell, it was an obvious provocation.
Reo tried to walk away only for Shidou to pull hard at his pocket, keeping him in place. "Aren't you going to say bye to our friends?" He smirked. "I thought you said you were well-mannered, purple bun."
Reo's attempts of flirting with other people before had been initiated by him, which was why now, as he found himself under all the attention and so caught off guard, shame was curling in his stomach and making him nervous. If Reo were in control of his plan, he would grin and bat his lashes and make Shidou laugh even, but as he was not, Reo only looked at Shidou for reassurance. He felt lost, confused, why was Shidou making him do this right here, so obviously?
"Go on Reo, we taught you better than that," he said, implying what, Reo had no idea. It sounded like a purr. Since when was Shidou good at flirting?
"Bye guys. Nice talking to you, Bachira," Reo said robotically, looking over his shoulder. Shidou's hand left finally and Reo turned back and started walking, not without catching Nagi's scoff from the corner of his eye.
That was done, over with, enough. None of the three said anything in return, and Shidou's hand slapped his ass too fast for Reo to even fucking predict it. "Well done," he whistled.
Reo shoved Shidou in automatic response and Shidou laughed, unmoved, settling his arm around Reo in a place that was actually natural for them.
They walked away to Shidou's car and Reo swore he could sense eyes on him. He huffed when Shidou rushed to open the passenger door for him.
"What? It worked, didn't it? Nagi right there was fuming."
shiii, if i ever need a wingman, it looks like shidou ryusei is at the top of my list~