A/N: hope you enjoy this chapter !! i feel very motivated out of nowhere (i wrote half of this up to 12:42am after publishing the last chapter ) . happy reading ... or maybe not !
"Hakkai, what're you planning on doing for your birthday?? Don't tell me you're gonna have some celebrity exclusive party!" Chifuyu was nagging the model once again about his birthday which was finally on a weekend again. "I'm pretty sure I have work on my birthday. I've got an opportunity to be a brand ambassador for this new shoe company that's starting to become popular." Hakkai answered as he threw away packaging from a new gift from the people he recently modeled for a week prior.
"What? That's so boring! What're you doing Sunday then?" The blond was determined to do something for his friends' birthday one way or another. "I've gotta banquet. Why're you so hellbent on trying to do something for my birthday anyway? You know I don't really consider it a big deal." Hakkai looked over at his friend who was on the couch eating instant noodles. "I don't see why not, I'm surprised Yuzuha didn't arrange something for you." Chifuyu thought aloud and proceeded to slurp on his noodles.
"I agree, but Hakkai always says they're not big on birthdays so," Mitsuya told the blond as he walked in through the garage door. "Mitsuya!! When'd you get here?" The blond exclaimed and waved at the designer. "Few minutes ago, are you here to convince Hakkai to have a party?" He asked as he hung up his jacket and made himself at home. "Love how you just walked in my house unannounced and didn't say a word to me." Hakkai frowned as he adjusted a picture on the wall of him and his sister.
"Oh yeah, hi Hakkai. How's it feel to almost be another year closer to the middle ages?" The lilac haired asked with a blunt smile on his face. "Great, thanks." The model rolled his eyes and continued to go through his many unopened packages he had just brought in after being out of town for a few weeks. "Nice to know! Honestly Chifuyu, there's no reason to try to get Hakkai to do something for his birthday. He's too stubborn and won't listen unless Yuzuha tells him to." The older continued saying which made the blond frown.
"Seriously?? So how'll I convince Yuzuha if neither of them celebrate their birthdays?" Chifuyu groaned and put his empty container on the table. "Food or something pretty and shiny like jewelry," Hakkai told them as he tossed Mitsuya a pair of socks he'd got in the mail. "Very true, I've actually got her to throw him a twenty-first birthday party like that. Of course with food, authentic diamonds aren't cheap," the designer admitted as he inspected the socks that were thrown at him. "Any shoes with a thick sole or high tops go with these, just pair 'em with appropriate jeans." He advised and threw them back at the model.
"Food or jewelry...noted. What if that doesn't work?" Chifuyu asked and looked between the two. "Hell if I know, it always works." "Yeah, food never fails. Especially with the jewelry," The duo answered confidently and looked at each other as they considered what else could be done if that tactic fails. "So, what? I'm just supposed to trust your strategy and pray it's effective?" The blond had a puzzled look on his face with a doubtful tone of voice when he questioned the model and designers' method.
"Yeah, pretty much." "Seems about right." They shrugged and Hakkai held up a pair of shoes he got. "Those would match well with the orange tee you just showed me." The older told him and Chifuyu huffed. "Hakkai, where's your sister?" "Out on a date with that police officer. Don't let him find out you're planning on persuading her with gifts because that guys' got serious issues." "Yeah, he tried to fight Takemichi one time and all he did was offer her a cupcake because it was her favorite flavor."
"Yikes, I couldn't imagine Keisuke doing something like that." Chifuyu winced as he spoke and Mitsuya gave him the most baffled look ever. "Baji Keisuke? We're thinking about the same person right? Same man who would set cars on fire when he got hungry? That Keisuke?" He questioned and felt as if he'd pass out from shock when the blond nodded. "Breathe Taka-chan, don't die on us now." Hakkai told the lilac haired and threw a sheet of bubble wrap to him. "Ooh, you got bubble wrap!" The designer grinned and snapped back to his senses.
"Man, Baji's a completely different person around you. He's honestly changed so much it's hard to believe he used to beat up groups of like twenty people up in like ten minutes." Hakkai hummed and then said, "You're truly a miracle worker Chifuyu. That's a really impressive feat if we're being honest," he grinned widely and and Mitsuya almost died again. "Thanks Hakkai! Honestly, we're just better when we're around each other." Chifuyu chuckled as he thought about his partner.
"I feel jealous, I seriously thought I'd get a partner before Baji! We even bet on it!" Mitsuya whined into a pillow and Chifuyu laughed. "Didn't you and Dra-" "AHHHHHHH!!! NO! NEVER HAPPENED! NOPE!!" Mitsuya jumped off the couch as he shouted to drown out what the blond was saying. "Oops!" "Wait, I wanna know! What happened??" Hakkai was now intrigued and would now continuously nag the two of them about it until he knew.
"Nothing happened, don't worry your pretty head about it." The lilac haired plastered a grin on his face as he tried to convince Hakkai that the secret wasn't interesting. "Yeah, it's honestly pretty dumb." Chifuyu added and looked at Mitsuya who was seated back down. "From the way Taka-chan jumped up to shut you up, I doubt that's true." The model pursed his lips. "It's really uninteresting, super boring." Mitsuya lied, he never was a good liar.
"Taka-chan, I know you're lying. You always play with your hair when you lie." Hakkai pointed out with an unamused expression. "I dunno what you're talking about, I don't do that." The older snatched his hand away from his hair and looked around guilty. Chifuyu was about to hide in the bathroom when Draken called him. "Hey, speak of the devil!" He exclaimed without thinking and the model raised an eyebrow. "Is it Baji?" He asked and the blond made a face that said "oh.." when he realized.
"Yeah, it definitely is. I'll step out to take the call," He chuckled nervously and quickly left the room, not allowing Hakkai to press him with anymore questions. The younger looked back at his friend who was going to wind up shitting himself trying to come up with a believable lie. "Well, care to elaborate?" "Honestly? Not really." The silence in the room was suffocating, wrapping tightly around their throats as they both had to think long and hard about the words they spoke. "So, you're just gonna leave me in the dark?"
"I just don't really want it to be awkward between you guys.." Mitsuya spoke quietly and held his breath anticipating his friends' response. "Awkward between who? What could you possibly have done that'll make my relationship with someone else awk-" "I dated Draken."
"Wait...Ken Ryuguji??" Hakkai asked in disbelief, the words not processing correctly. He felt as if he was having some sort of system error hearing those words come out of his mouth. The older nodded silently, keeping his head down. "When was this??" He asked, a slight hint of harshness to his words. "High school, it was our second year. But it only lasted for a few months..." Mitsuya had never felt so nervous around Hakkai like this before. He felt so small in this situation, as if he was a mere ant watching as a shoe of a human inched closer and closer to lead him to his fate in slow motion.
"So, you were just never gonna tell me? At all? Ever?" Hakkai's voice trembled as he spoke and the older sucked in a breath. "I wanted to tell you-" "But what? Several years later and you never did, I probably would've never known had Chifuyu not accidentally said anything about it! Where you planning to take this secret to grave with you??" "Hakkai, seriously it's not a really big deal-" "What else have you lied about or hidden from me? Don't tell me you dated one of the damn Haitani brothers too!"
No response from Mitsuya. "Oh. Woop-de-fuckin'-doo!" "Hakkai, if you'd just listen to me!" "I don't wanna hear it. Go tell one of your boyfriends about it." The model left the room and a speechless Mitsuya in it. "So, Draken's actually outside right now guys," Chifuyu said as he walked back into the room still on the phone. "I'll tell him to go home, unless he wants to wind up going back and forth with Hakkai. See ya later Chifuyu," "Oh, uh okay. Call me when you get home safe." "Sure."
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"Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! What the hell is wrong with you?! Such a damn idiot!" Mitsuya yelled at himself in the mirror as he repeatedly punched the sink counter. He looked himself in the eye and frowned. His eyes were red and puffy, his nose had turned red, and just looked as if death had warmed over in general. He'd spent the afternoon in bed, swamped himself with almost completing a previously drafted design that probably would've taken another two weeks to finish with appropriate breaks between.
Chifuyu did call him and talked to him for a bit, managing to calm him down before having to go to work for a night shift. But he still felt terrible and was avoiding contacting Draken at all whatsoever. He'd of course have to talk to him, and Ran Haitani whom he hadn't spoken to in weeks, eventually to tell him that he knew, but right know he just wanted to forget the situation altogether. Hakkai never blew up at him like that, there was so much hostility yet pain in his voice when he spoke to him. As much as he wanted to forget about it, he couldn't shake it off.
"What else have you lied about or hidden from me?!" Those words kept replaying in Mitsuya's head and it would end up driving him mad. He decided to get out of bed and go outside for fresh air instead. He realized that it'd been five days since he'd made any social interaction aside from work. Hakkai's birthday was that weekend and his friends did end up planning a surprise party for him. He was supposed to be the one to trick him into going, but given the current predicament that's most likely out of the question.
Mitsuya looked over at his vibrating cell phone to see Yuzuha calling him. He sighed and answered the phone reluctantly. "Taka-chan, we need to talk." "Hakkai?" The lilac haired was struck with confusion hearing the model's video erupt from the speaker instead of his older sister. "Yeah, I figured if I called you off my phone you wouldn't answer.." Hakkai confessed and continued to speak. "Um, I'm actually outside. It's pretty wrong to have a serious conversation like this over the phone."
"Oh. Okay, I'll be there in a moment." The older said and found a shirt to put on before making his way downstairs to open the door. Taking a deep breath, he unlocked the door and opened it while hanging up the phone. "Hey." Hakkai gave a small wave. He looked like he had just gotten back from a meeting judging from his suit, one that he had tailored by Mitsuya. "Hi.." Mitsuya replied and stepped aside so the younger could come in.
"So, um, what'd you want to talk about?" Mitsuya asked as he walked to the couch and sitting down. "Straight to it, huh?" "You know I don't enjoy anticipation. Or wasting time." He stated and pulled a blanket over his legs. "So you consider this a waste of time then?" Hakkai frowned upon that thought as the designer sighed as he reconsidered his words. "Sorry, no. I didn't mean to say it like that." "Well, let's not dwell on it. I wanted to talk about last week." The model finally announced. "Oh. Okay." "I wanna apologize for the way I acted. I let my feelings control my actions and didn't listen to your side of the story. For that I apologize." Hakkai told the man sitting across from him.
"You don't need to apologize, it's my fault. I shouldn't have hidden it from you. You deserve better than to be lied to." Mitsuya apologized and brushed a lock hair out of his face. "No, you're not allowed to apologize. I responded irresponsibly and didn't hear you out. I should've given you a chance to explain. But that's why I'm here, I want to apologize and possibly request an explanation." The young Shiba looked at the older hopefully.
"Yeah, you deserve an explanation. But, can you turn off meeting Hakkai mode? You sound extremely formal and it's making me nervous." Mitsuya chuckled quietly and picked at the stitching on his couch. "Sorry, I just got back from a meeting. It was supposed to be on my birthday but Yuzuha rescheduled it for earlier." He cleared this throat and prepared himself to listen. "Oh, I guess Chifuyu's bribery worked. Um, before I tell you what happened do you mind if I call Draken? It'd be better to get everyone's perspective on this," The older bit at the skin around his nail as he waited for the model's answer.
"Yeah, I don't mind. I mean, whatever helps you comfortably tell me the story." The younger shrugged nonchalantly but Mitsuya swore he saw a look of jealousy flash over his face before going back to his prior stoic expression. "Uh, okay. He might be at work though now that I think about it." The lilac haired thought aloud as he scrolled through his contacts to find Draken's number. It rang twice before the blond answered the phone with a worried tone of voice.
"Takashi! How are you doing, I tried calling you but you never picked up." He told him which wasn't close to a lie. Mitsuya had seventeen missed calls from Draken alone. He figured the way he'd stormed out of Hakkai's place and told him to go home probably set off a radar for Draken and made him worry. "Yeah, sorry. Are you working right now?" The lilac haired asked and glanced over at Hakkai who was looking at his phone in silence, clearly trying to subtlety listen in to the phone call.
"Yeah, I took the day off. Why? Did something happen, you need me to come over?" The blond began to ask a lot of questions. "Yes, something happened and yes it'd be very nice if you came over." "I'll be over in ten." Draken said and Mitsuya could hear the front door closing in the background. "Thanks, see ya soon." He said and hung up before heaving a long sigh and putting his phone faced down on the table. "So, I presume he's coming over?" Hakkai looked up from his phone as he asked the question. "Yeah, he'll be here in a few...do you want something to drink?" The older offered but he shook his head. "I'm fine, thank you."
"Okay," Mitsuya felt really awkward in this situation and hated it. He knew Hakkai since they were kids, and never had he felt so on edge around him. It was so foreign to feel like this. He wished he could go back and just undo everything that led up to this moment. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door, one that the both of them recognized as Draken's signature knock. Mitsuya went to open the door without a word and smiled at the tall blond on the other side of the door.
"Hey Takashi, have you been crying?" Draken lifted the lilac haired's face up slightly and examined his disheveled features. "Not important right now, um, he knows." Mitsuya told him as he gestured over at Hakkai who was watching them from the couch. "Oh...Ooh! How'd he find out?" The older whispered and the designer gave him a look. "Chifuyu," Draken said in understanding and shook his head. "I don't assume he was elated to hear that, huh?" He kept his voice low so Hakkai couldn't hear their conversation. "Not in the slightest,"
"Are you guys talking shit about me over there? I can't read lips," Hakkai interjected and threw a pillow over at them. "Nobody's shit talking you Hakkai," Mitsuya sighed and motioned for Draken to some sit down. "Wait, so why am I here?" Draken asked once he sat down beside Mitsuya. "There's multiple sides to a story." Was all the designer said and looked over at Hakkai. "Shouldn't you call the Haitani over too?" He asked and Mitsuya shook his head frantically. "Absolutely not, that's a story for another day. I don't even claim him as an ex to be honest." He rambled, desperately not wanting to get in contact with his ex.
"Okay...well Draken's here so I'd appreciate if you'd begin your story." The model shrugged and made himself as comfortable as he could on the couch. "Alright, well like I said yesterday this was like year two of high school and this lad here wanted to make Emma jealous, it didn't work by the way, and I agreed because there was someone I wanted to make jealous too," Mitsuya began and Draken rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure it was the other way around. You wanted to make Hakk-" "It's literally the same difference old man. Anyway, he asked me out, and I was like oh bet so we dated for like four months but it was kinda weird now that I think about it." He continued and laughed as he recalled those memories from his high school years.
"Honestly, we were just friends with a title over our relationship." Draken laughed along with Mitsuya and Hakkai was absolutely baffled. "So you two dated, just to make someone else jealous? Have you two even kissed?" "Well only when the occasion called for it, but yeah pretty much that's why." The lilac haired nodded as spoke through giggles. Calling Draken was a good idea, it made the situation go over well. "So you two never even-" "Oh no, I don't think I could ever bring myself to do that with Takashi. Leave that to Ran."
"RYUGUJI KEN!" Mitsuya shouted and elbowed the blond in the side. "Sorry, forget I said anything!" He frantically took back what he said after realizing the words that just left his mouth. "Nah, nah, wait. Ran??" Hakkai repeated in astonishment. "At least it wasn't Rindou.." Mitsuya muttered and shot Draken a glare. "I feel personally attacked," Hakkai then stated. He'd dated the younger Haitani for a month or so before ultimately breaking up due to lack of commitment. "Oh I forgot about you two dating!" Draken told the model and looked over at a puzzled Mitsuya.
"Wait, you dated one too?!" "How did we let this slip past us so easily?" "You guys are really oblivious people," The three all spoke at once. "Hold on, let's backtrack a bit. You're telling me that Ran Haitani was your first time?" Hakkai asked a bit judgementally but Mitsuya didn't pick up on it because he really wanted to avoid answering that question. "Yeah he was," He confessed and let himself wallow in a pond of shame. "Oh. How big was he?"
"Hakkai!" The designer exclaimed and threw a pillow at him with full force. "What, I'm just curious. Can you blame me?" The model shrugged, not showing any sign of regret. "From what I saw it looked average-" Draken began but that just sparked another question for Hakkai. "Wait, wait, you saw it?! Where the hell was I at??" "Probably home sleeping, it was like two in the morning and I was sneaking back from Emma's place." Draken told his perspective of that night while Mitsuya sat in silence with his face burning a crimson red from embarrassment.
"Wait so this is when you guys were rooming with each other?" Hakkai asked and Draken nodded. "Oooh, that makes sense why I never knew about this," He nodded as he comprehended. "Okay, enough about me and Ran, what about you and Rindou?!" Mitsuya change the topic and Draken was quick to jump on that train. "Oh." "Yeah, tell us the details!" The blond agreed and was eager to listen to his story. "I think we should call the Haitani's." Hakkai suggested, not wanting to tell the story alone.
"They're probably busy," Mitsuya was still against the idea but Hakkai was persistent with it. "I can assure you they're not. They have this thing where they avoid working for a bit before bouncing back with some really good projects. This is their rest week," the model explained as he found Rindou's number in his contacts. "If you do it, I'll do it." He smiled and Mitsuya groaned before picking up his phone and scrolling through his blocked phone numbers until he found the older Haitani's number and unblocked him.
"I need some popcorn, hold on." Draken said and got up to put a bag of popcorn in the microwave. "You're a bitch Hakkai," The lilac haired grumbled and pressed the FaceTime button on accident. "Thank you, I appreciate it." The younger smiled and pressed Rindou's number so it dialed his number. "I said wait dammit!" Draken ran back into the sitting room with a steaming bag of popcorn in hand. "Oh my gosh! Rindou, look! It's my favorite ex!" Ran grinned at the phone screen after answering without hesitation. "Funny, Hakkai just called me." The other brother said in the background.
Mitsuya looked over at Hakkai who was not on the phone despite them calling the brothers at the same time. "Must be a prank, too bad." Ran frowned but looked down at his screen. "Hey beautiful, missed me yet?" "As if, tell your brother to answer his phone. We're trying to get the details about his and Hakkai's relationship." The designer scrunched up his nose. "I thought you were engaged to someone," He raised an eyebrow. "Oh no, we broke up. I let her keep the ring though, since it had her initials in it and shit. Rindou, my boyfriend said answer your phone!!" Ran called to his younger brother and they heard him groan loudly in the back.
"We're not together Ran, no wonder your fiancé left." Mitsuya sighed in frustration and looked over at Hakkai mouthing giving a look that said "see" regarding to the Haitani's odd obsession with him despite their relationship being over for several years now. "Well, I left her but same difference. But, can you blame me? There's a special side to each other that only we've seen, kind of hard to let that go." Ran told the lilac haired. "It's honestly pretty simple, you just refuse to do so. Talk to you later Ran." "That means we'll have more conversations? Well, until then my love."
Mitsuya grimaced and hung up the phone and frowned at Hakkai. "Now you see my hesitation to call him?" "Oh, yeah. He's not really okay in the head from the looks of it." Hakkai had a scowl on his face after hearing that phone call. "Well, let's hear your story. Rindou's on the phone right?" Mitsuya asked and reached into Drakens' popcorn bag. "Yeah he is, I'll put it on speaker."
"Ran, Mitsuya-kun seriously doesn't like you dude! It's been like three years, come back to earth and get your head outta cloud nine!" They could hear Rindou on the other line fussing at his older brother. "Rindou, you're on speaker." The model told him and waited for his attention to return to the phone call. "Oh, hey other people in the room. I've gotta keep this short because Ran's having an existential crisis after having to come to terms with the fact that he's hopelessly single due to his incapability of getting over this one ex of his." he began and cleared his throat before talking again, "Anyway, yes Hakkai and I dated...as a joke. For like a few weeks, might've been a month? Up till White Day I think, we started going out Valentines so yeah. It wasn't really anything serious, Hakkai wanted to make Mitsuya jealous and I went along with it. Boom, end of story, have a nice evening. Ran, stop wiping your tears with your sleeve!" Rindou hung up the phone and Hakkai shrugged before turning his phone off.
"Fun," Draken said to break the silence and finished off the popcorn he and Mitsuya wound up sharing. "Ran's still a bit mental I see." Mitsuya mumbled and finished off the handful of popcorn he'd snagged before the blond ate the rest. "Rindou's still easily agitated as well." "Well, not much has changed with them." Draken laughed and went to throw the popcorn bag away. "I think I've successfully done my job here, the tension in the air is gone, for the most part, and nobody's screaming or crying. Now I have to get home before Mikey and Emma tear the place down."
"Alright, thanks for coming Draken. Drive safely." Mitsuya got up to walk the blond to the door and give him a hug. "Save as much of the house as you can." He laughed and his childhood friend waved before pulling off down the street. The designer closed the door and looked over at Hakkai who still had a pout on his face. "You look upset, don't tell me you're jealous?" He tilted his head a bit as a smirk crept across his face.
"Jealous? Of what?" Hakkai scoffed as he stood up to approach the lilac haired. "Maybe the fact that my firsts weren't with you, but with someone else you know? I mean, I'd be pretty jealous in your shoes." Mitsuya shrugged and looked up at the younger with a teasing smile playing on his lips. "Perhaps I am jealous about that," the taller started but paused to consider his next words. "But there's nothing I can do about the past. I can only control the present and pray it leads me to a future I aspire for." He spoke quietly and smirked at the man who stood before him with his mouth agape.
"You've certainly matured Hakkai, I give you that." Mitsuya gave a pat on the shoulder before going to his room to shower. "Oh, and clear your schedule for tomorrow if Yuzuha hasn't already. Happy early birthday darling."
A/N: thank you for reading this chapter! i hope you enjoyed ! have an amazing day/night! stay safe and hydrated ! comments, shares, and kudos are always appreciated ! i love y'all ! 💗💗