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———— "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT DATING?"
"he never asked, so we aren't," [y/n] twirled the pencil between her fingers. natsusa was trying to wrap his head around the entire thing. it had been weeks. there was no way. "stop overthinking it, he's probably just overwhelmed."
"it's kind of hard to not overthink it," natsusa whined, dramatically flailing his arms around. "do you think he has commitment issues? is he scared? maybe he doesn't know how to ask you out. or, hear me out, he is secretly married in another country and doesn't want to accidentally open pandora's box."
"i should charge you five bucks every time you speak for my therapy."
"ugh, you're no fun."
"hey guys," ibuki took a seat beside [y/n], setting down an energy drink for her and one for himself, "anything new?"
"yasunari is a bitch and still hasn't asked [n/n] out properly, but other than that, nothing's new," natsusa said.
[y/n] groaned as she cracked open the energy drink, "natsusa, it's really no big deal. i don't care."
"but if you guys aren't dating, then technically, anyone could flirt with you and ask you out since you're not committed to each other," yuu pointed out. [y/n] shrugged her shoulders a bit.
"honestly? not my problem. if i get asked out, i get asked out."
"she has a point, y'know. she's not obligated to close her options just because yasunari isn't doing what he's supposed to be doing," ibuki offered, and [y/n] gestured to him.
"exactly."
"he really will kill himself," natsusa sighed.
"wait, but what happened to working on getting him comfortable with the whole relationship thing?" yuu asked.
"i've been trying. he's getting better, but it's a slow process. besides, you really just have to tell people what they want to hear," [y/n] replied.
"don't you like him, though?" yuu frowned.
"i do. a lot, actually. but, i can't be the one constantly doing everything. it gets exhausting."
"yeah, the pre-dating phase is pretty exhausting," ibuki sighed, draping an arm on [y/n]'s chair.
"like you're a damn expert. you just go to clubs and pay women to be interested in you," [y/n] snorted, natsusa holding back a laugh. ibuki shot her a glare and she sarcastically blew a kiss, laughing at his defeated face. "damn, speak of the devil now," she muttered, yasunari making his way over.
"sorry i'm late, fuuga messed up on our project so we had to stay back and fix it," he shook his head, placing a kiss on [y/n]'s temple as he pulled up a seat next to her, eyes glancing at ibuki's arm but choosing to ignore it. "so, did i miss anything?"
"yeah-" natsusa began, but ibuki kicked his leg under the table.
"we were just talking about the next game. i was going to see if [y/n] wanted to wear my team jacket," ibuki said. he was trying to set up yasunari to see what he would do.
"oh, were you now?" yasunari said, almost robot-like.
"yeah, to show some team support and spirit, y'know? i don't think i've worn any team stuff to the games yet, so it might be fun to try something different," [y/n] added, turning to look at yasunari. he had that look in his eye; the one where he was upset but didn't want to make it obvious.
"o-oh. uh, okay. sounds cool," he swallowed the lump in his throat, both ibuki and [y/n] mentally smacking themselves on the forehead. he's a damn idiot.
"you know, yasunari, maybe [y/n] would want to wear your jacket?" yuu offered.
"but, if she's already wearing ibuki's..." he trailed, and [y/n] just about slammed her head on the table. ibuki shut his eyes and took a breath, trying to not punch yasunari in the face right now.
"no no, it's okay if she doesn't want to wear mine, since she's your girl," ibuki exaggerated. natsusa was watching the entire interaction and really wanted to scream at yasunari, but decided to let it play out. he could now see that [y/n] had made a point; she really was putting in too much effort. even seiichirou was annoyed with this entire thing, and he almost never got annoyed.
the corner of yasunari's mouth twitched a bit as he turned to look at [y/n], nudging her slightly. she turned her head to look at him, eyes showing she was listening. "so, uh, would you want to maybe wear my jacket to the game?" he managed to spit out, and [y/n] gave him a closed-lidded smile and a simple nod.
ibuki wanted to say something, but he didn't want to run the risk of someone getting upset. it made him angry at how dumb yasunari was being about this. the girl was here and she was willing to do anything for him, but he won't do the same for her. it was frustrating to watch; he couldn't imagine actively being part of it.
"hey, slackers!" ethan grinned, walking up to their table with a bag. he dug through and pulled out a pastry, handing it to [y/n]. "these are your favorite, right? i remember you talking about them!" [y/n]'s jaw almost dropped. she had loosely mentioned liking them once.
"oh, yeah, they are. thanks, ethan," she took the pastry, giving him a smile. yasunari was a bit shocked at the exchange. he didn't realize so many people paid that much attention to [y/n]. it started to make him nervous.
"alright, looks like i've got to get to my next class and then head home. my brother is expecting me to call him. i'll see you guys, and thanks again for the snacks," [y/n] gathered her things and headed out.
"hey, idiot. why don't you go walk her?" natsusa deadpanned.
"oh, she doesn't really like when i walk her. she said she doesn't want to waste my time since this is my "lunch" before practice," yasunari twirled his thumbs. ibuki just let out a huff and got up, gathering his things.
"where are you going?" seiichirou asked, as if he didn't already know the answer.
"to walk [y/n]. i'm headed that way for my next class, anyways. what's being a few minutes early going to hurt?" ibuki said, heading out after the girl. he caught up with her and caught her by surprise. she almost punched him.
"dude, what the fuck? you can't be creeping up on people like that," [y/n] gasped, trying to catch her breath. ibuki let her catch her breath and took a breath of his own, looking her straight in the eyes.
