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If you asked Kuboyasu Aren how he felt about Kaidou Shun—he would probably say that they got along just fine! They were on a first name basis and he hung out with the blue haired boy all the time! They’re just really close friends and that’s all there is to it. A totally normal, platonic relations-friendship— between two teenage boys.
Who is he kidding—Aren was so down bad for his ‘sworn friend’. He isn’t exactly sure when exactly he started feeling like this, isn’t sure when the regular walks home turned to trying to brush hands or bump shoulders, when hanging at each others houses turned into not wanting to leave and long long goodbyes that seemed to stretch on longer each time. Maybe when texts between the two boys went from every once in a while to a good morning and a good night every single day, when phone calls appeared to go on for longer than the day prior.
It doesn’t really matter when it happened—Aren is absolutely smitten—no amount of denial is going to cover it up. Trust him when he says he tried. He really, really did. The issue isn’t that he has a crush on a guy specifically, Aren (begrudgingly) came to terms with his sexuality a while back. No, it was the fact that his crush was on Shun. Shun was his first real friend after transferring to PK academy, maybe one of his first real friends ever. He was the first person to truly accept Aren for who he was, to look past who he used to be and get to know who he actually is now. Which is why developing feelings now is so bad. Aren’s trying to maintain this friendship, not fuck it up.
Everyone knows that falling for a friend is a bad idea, that’s like—the number one do NOT do! Which is why he would rather just keep these feelings to himself, not say anything and keep the truth deep, deep inside. The last thing Aren would want to do would be to ruin their perfect, normal, very platonic friendship all because of some minor (maybe a bit gay) thoughts Aren was (maybe) (100%) having.
Aren could just ignore all these feelings he was having. Shouldn’t be too hard, right? He could ignore the way his heart started racing or his cheeks grew warmer every time he saw the blue haired boy smile too widely or get so adorably excited about something. He could ignore the butterflies in his stomach that would appear every time Shun got a bit too close or was too pretty for his own good, where Aren just couldn’t help but stare.
That was, Aren thought he could ignore it, until his racing heart turned into pounding, cheeks warmed turned into becoming impossibly hotter and hotter while his hands only got colder and colder, until he began stammering over his words and tripping over his own two feet from distraction. He knew how obvious he must look to anyone else, to literally anyone that looked his way, and it was painfully embarrassing.
Aren worried that eventually, it would slip out. That he would mess up and admit everything he had been feeling as the weeks and months went by. Not that he had been succeeding much in hiding it, but how could he when the guy he had a crush on was just THAT perfect. Just THAT sweet, funny, brave, bright—okay getting out of hand.
They had been hanging out together once, the two of them studying for an upcoming exam (no matter what Shun might say—Aren is SO productive during their study dat—hangouts!) Aren had been taking a small break after all his hard work (So what if Shun had complained he had only done one page of the work book— it’s a lot of work!!) His arm was laying on the table, head down over it as he looked over at the boy working diligently across from him. The sunlight was streaming in through the gaps in the curtains, the soft warm light sitting so perfectly on Shun’s face. The light illuminated his face in a way that it was impossible not to stare. He was just so—so beautiful, and Aren could feel his face growing warmer, his mouth getting drier. He could feel himself resisting the urge to just say something, anything, to move closer and closer to Shun, until he could lean in and kiss him senseless.
He was so lost in thought he didn’t even notice when the boy started staring right back at him, with an (adorably) puzzled expression on his face. Didn’t notice until the boy called out his name, asked why he was staring. God—that time in particular was embarrassing, he doesn’t think he had ever worked so hard on studying as he did after that moment. (He only finished 2 more pages but that’s more than enough—isn’t it???) (Don’t answer that.)
-
Aren learned to be careful after that, to try not to stare for too long or hold on to those accidental touches that would happen between the two of them for longer than necessary. He knew that if he kept this up, he’d only end up falling farther and farther, until it became even harder to hide what was already so obvious—the way he felt for Shun.
Aren was already struggling—losing more and more control on the situation as time went on, his friend making it so much harder for him to keep it together when they were already with each other all the time and Shun just wanted to hang out more and more. The more he thought about it, there was definitely no denying his crush, that was a battle he lost a long time ago, honestly, probably way back when Aren first saw that warm smile as Shun looked up at him and felt his small, bandaged hand shaking his.
For now though, Aren could relax—he could stop thinking about this whole mess (easier said than done.) It was a lazy Saturday afternoon, the ac whirring faintly throughout the room to combat the heat of July. He was prepared to do absolutely nothing until Monday as he laid down on his mattress, maybe work on his bike at some point some more if he really got bored.
That WAS the plan, until he felt his phone buzzing from his right pocket. After a few seconds, the now familiar jingle of “judgement knights of thunder” sounded throughout the room as his sworn friend called him. (Shun insisted he change it, although he wasn’t exactly sure what it was saying all that well?) Aren reached to answer the call. Soon after, an excited, slightly exasperated voice came through the phone.
“Aren!!” Shun greeted, catching his breath a bit before continuing, “Are you busy? I’m not doing anything today and I thought we could go to the hangout for a bit? We could work on our manga, I had some new ideas and—“ Aren could tell Shun was excited as he rambled on, but honestly the idea of going into the already humid tent the two had built in this already hot weather didn’t sound all that appealing to him. It would probably be much more enjoyable to hang somewhere inside for the day—preferably with air conditioning and drinks that haven’t gone stale or at room temperature. Aren heard the blue haired boy quiet down as he finished his excited proposal.
“Sure, we can go!” Aren agreed—man was he down bad, he was literally just thinking of reasons why it WOULDN’T be all that enjoyable. It was all worth it though as he could practically hear Shun’s grin through the phone. “Did you want me to come meet you at your place and we could head over?”
“Oh uh—no need. I’m kind of basically outside already. I was hoping you would say yes…” Shun replied, a bit sheepishly. Sure enough, when Aren went out and opened his front door, he was met with the sight of his slightly flushed, smiling friend. God, he was adorable.
“Geez, did you run here or something?” Aren teased the shorter boy, chuckling as Shun huffed and turned away. That explains why he was so out of breath over the phone. “I can grab some snacks and then we can go. Do you want to come in for a sec? It’s just me home right now.” He asked, watching as Shun nodded, coming in and taking off his shoes at the door. Aren saw the way he basked in the cool indoor air, closing his eyes as he sighed softly before opening them again to look up at Aren and—right, getting the snacks. Thats what he was doing. He grabbed a few bottles of water (cold, of course,) and a bag of chips that he knew Shun liked. Aren was about to tell him they could go when he remembered there was actually something he wanted to do, and ran to grab some art supplies.
“You ready?” Aren questioned, back now with a small plastic bag to hold the stuff and sliding on his shoes. Shun agreed and joined him in putting his shoes back on, ready to go (which was pretty clear just by taking one look at his face, something Aren would never pass up the opportunity to do.)
-
As they walked down the quiet streets of Hidari Wakibara over to the forest where their hideout was, Aren couldn’t help but smile fondly at the blue haired boy who talked animatedly— talking about things Aren didn’t quite catch. He DID catch the way his hair caught the light from the sun, or the way it caught in his eyes, adding more of a brightness to those already bright, beautiful red eyes, and that slight pout on his lips that Aren’s eyes seemed to linger on, the blush that appeared on Shun’s cheeks as he stopped talking and looked back at Aren and—
“Aren! Were you even listening??” Shun huffed—which was SO adorable but NOT the time.
“Uh sorry I must have zoned out.. we’re pretty much here though!” Sure enough, the hangout that Aren pointed out was up ahead, the green tent with patchwork that they had spent a while building together. Shun had been so excited to show Aren the plan for it, and even though Aren wasn’t as excited about it as first, it did end up being a lot of fun, mostly because it was more time he got to spend with Shun.
Avoiding the traps set up—defense against any invaders that could come by—although Shun is all the defense we’ll need against the dark reunion incase they find us according to him—Aren pushed back the flaps to the tent and walked in, the shorter boy not far behind.
They sat down by the old couch they had scavenged and after getting comfortable (as comfortable as they could in a hot tent with cardboard flooring), began to work on their manga, to talk, laugh, and mess around.
-
Before they knew it, it had gotten late, the sun was setting and the night was cooling (though not by much). For the most part, the two boys had calmed down, and simply sat and enjoyed each other’s company. Aren certainly was glad he didn’t decline his sworn friend’s request, especially when something as simple as drawing and talking in a tent could be so fun when they were together.
“Hey Shun? Would you want to sit outside for a bit before we go back? I think we have a blanket we can sit on outside?” Aren offers up, thinking it would be a nice idea to go watch the stars with his friend.
“Mhm! That sounds nice!” Was what Aren heard in reply from the latter, so he busied himself finding the blanket as Shun grabbed their stuff.
-
They sat down side by side, a comfortable type of silence settling between them once more. Aren looked over at his friend, and by now he was fully aware there was no chance he was going to be able to stop his staring problem anytime soon—he couldn’t stop staring at the way the moonlight reflected over Shun’s face, softening his features and dimly lighting his face. Even through the dark night sky, he could see the slight pink tinting his friend’s cheeks, the honestly kind of nervous expression he had on his face (was Aren imagining things?) He heard the boy’s breath hitch a bit as he started to speak.
“Hey Aren.. uhm..” Shun started, still not quite looking over at the taller, who in all honesty was still admiring his best friend. “Uh— the moon is beautiful.. isn’t it?” He stammered out, a deep flush on his face.
“Yeah, mhm—“ Aren began, not fully realizing what he had just been told, wondering why Shun seemed to look away a little bit— sadly? Wait— did he just.. was that what he thought it was?
“Shun..?”
“I’m sorry, I—I didn’t mean to make things awkward I just—“ Shun stumbled as he tried back tracking, and Aren felt a sudden pang of guilt.
“Hey wait, don’t apologize—I didn’t mean it like that.” Aren took a shaky breath before continuing—was this really happening? His heart was pounding as he gathered his courage to speak. “I uhm—I like you too. Like, a lot.” He gently took Shun’s hands into his, watching as the blush creeped up further into his face, the shocked look on his face, and Aren felt himself smile wide, his chest tighten, his cheeks growing warmer. Aren wondered if Shun could feel his hands shaking.
“Really..? I honestly thought you wouldn’t like me back.” Shun looked at him fondly, a softness in his eyes Aren wondered if he had missed before.
“Yes really—If anything I thought you wouldn’t like ME back!“ Aren replied, feeling a sense of relief and looking happily at the smaller boy in front of him. The boy mirrored Aren’s smile, and the two sat close under the night sky, happy in the quiet with the newfound revelation they had shared.
-
If you asked Kuboyasu Aren how he felt about Kaidou Shun—he would say that he absolutely loves that boy. He would say that he loves him with all his heart.