I'll Love You Even When The Mortals Have Forgotten Us

Chapter 4

"I think Daichi was staring at me all during math," Sugawara stated as he walked down the hallway to the library for his free period.

"Really?"

He nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. Like the whole time I could feel him staring daggers into the back of my head." Then he spoke with slight panic tinting his voice. "Do you think he knows? I mean, I thought I was doing well as a wingman for him to cover it up."

Asahi scrunched up his face in response and touched the back of his head.

"What?" The gray haired man demanded.

"I mean," The larger friend spoke with hesitance. "Daichi's a really smart guy. He's bound to find out soon."

"I'm sure he already knows."

Both Sugawara and Asahi jumped and yelped when they heard their volleyball coach, Kiyoko, standing behind them. As always, her uniform neat and pristene, and she wore a stoic expression. And as always, she sat behind Daichi during math.

"Oh, Kiyoko!" Asahi gasped, clutching his shirt and looking quite dizzy. However, Sugawara was able to recover before him.

"You think he knows?" Sugawara queired which a rise in his voice. "But-"

"He was making heart-eyes towards you the entire time. It was quite obnoxious. I'd bet he feels the same way. I'm surprised you haven't picked up on it," she said causally and flipped her long blue/black hair behind her.

"Wait, heart-eyes?" Sugawara confirmed with hope.

"Wait, stop!" Asahi announced to the both of them. "Daichi's our friend, who is straight and in a relationship. We shouldn't be talking about him like this, it's wrong!"

Sugawara pouted. "But, Asahi. What if there is a chance he feels the same way?"

"Then that should motivate you to confess you feelings even sooner."

He leaned against the lockers, clearly disappointed above Asahi's sudden wave a maturity. Maybe this was more serious than it seemed. He looked at Kiyoko who just shrugged before she walked away, her footsteps silent as a mouse.

He loved Daichi. It was inevitable. Sugawara's mood will change instantly when he came around and his heart would flutter whenever Daichi shouted compliments about his volleyball skills or even when he looked his Sugawara's general direction. He loved to see Daichi's gently side when others would choose to be vulnerable to confide in him or his aggressive side whenever he became passionate about a game. Whenever Sugawara spoke, he could feel Daichi looking at him. Like he was an admirable butterfly, taking flight for the first time. Then Sugawara would find himself blushing and turning away. He really did love him.

But Asahi was right. It wasn't appropriate to talk about Daichi in this way, and he knows as long as he doesn't get a clear answer from Daichi, he could come up with an infinite amount of conspiracies, so he doesn't face to face the truth.

Sugawara sighed. He knew what he had to do. It might ruin their friendship, but he needed to take that risk. Surprisingly, Asahi was right.

"I'll tell him tonight."

~ *See notes at the end*

"We can make some hot chocolate and get a snack of kimchi," Sugawara said as he walked up the steps to his house. "My grandmother made it last night; you'd love it."

Daichi hummed numbly in agreements as they climbed to steps to the porch. Sugawara unlocked the door, entered first and yelled, "I'm home."

"Oh, welcome home, Koshi," Sugawara's older brother said, jogging down the steps to meet him. "And whos' this?"

"Um, I'm Daichi," - he took off his shoes and extended his hand to shake- "And you are?"

He reached out and shook Daichi's hand with a bitter smile. "Kuma."

Kuma and Koshi resembled each other in many ways. Same gray hair but Kuma's was way longer, running down his neck and shoulder blades. Same pasty pale skin but Kuma's was clearer and shinier. They even had the same hazel eyes. The only two difference between the boy's natural appearance is Kuma was taller, over 182 centimeters, and he had more muscles.

Kuma raised his eyebrows and smirked, putting his hands on his hips. "So you're the infamous Daichi, huh?"

Sugawara yelped and began to push Daichi into the kitchen. "Go away. Kuma!"

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Koshi." He sang out, disappearing upstairs once again.

"God, he is such an ass!" Sugawara whispered, taking the note off the refrigerator. 'Kuma, clean the living room. Koshi, do the dishes. XOXO, Mom.' He looked at the dishes piling the sink and scowled. Sugawara moved to the cabinet and placed the ingredients for hot chocolate onto the kitchen island in front of Daichi. "You, make."

"How come I haven't seen him before?" Daichi asked, obediently putting a pot full of milk onto the stove on high. "I've been here plenty of times."

Sugawara hesitated. "Because I don't. He lives with my dad but for some reason he decided to pop by, and now I'm stuck with him for a month since he's on break from university." He explained, loading up the dishwasher. "He arrived yesterday when I was at school and I found out when he left his room for dinner. Slept in because he was jet-lagged so you guys didn't see him." Sugawara decided to leave out the part when before dinner, Kuma confronted him about his crush.

"I take it you guys don't get along well?" Daichi asked, mixing the sugar and cacao powder together.

"I don't even know the guy!' Sugawara exclaimed. "He just comes here after not seeing him for over two years and walks around like he owns the -place. He drives me insane."

Daichi hummed in response. They both moved around the kitchen, Sugawara putting the dishes into the dishwasher and Daichi making the hot chocolate. Ten minutes later, they were both in Sugawara's bedroom at his low table with two cups of hot chocolate and one large mixing bowl of kimchi.

"Sorry," Sugawara said, picking at the kimchi with his chopsticks. "I would have gotten another bowl, but I really didn't want to clean one out."

"Oh, it's fine," Daichi assured, grabbing a few pieces of the snack and popping them into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully for a moment before swallowing. He could feel Sugawara waiting for his response. "It's really good."

"Right?"

Sugawara smiled, clearly pleased with Daichi's response. He watched silently as Daichi chewed before he realized his attentions and looked away. He cleared his throat to break the silence and grabbed his textbooks from his bag beside them. "I thought we could get started on chemistry since we have the finals coming up soon."

Daichi let out a prolonged groan and laid his head on the table. There was an awkward silence after so Daichi looked up at Sugawara from the wooden table.

"Sorry, it's just that," He started, trying to form a sentence together. "I missed you. I feel like we haven't spoken lately, and I hate that for us," He mumbled softly but because of their close distance Sugawara could hear him loud and clear.

Seeing the begging, desperate side of their usually strict captain inflamed something in Sugawara. His glossy chocolate eyes looked at him a gleam of longing. He blushed. Longing for him.

"Okay."

So they both laid down in Sugawara's bed, horizontally. Occasionally, their fingers would brush over each other, leaving the two boys mentally flustered at the bare intimacy. They both spoke to each other, but their words reflected off the popcorn ceilings since they've never once made eye-contact while speaking. But what were they talking about you may ask? The memories they had together. Facts about themselves. Or just borderline dumbassery that lead to hysterical laughter. The conversation died down when Sugawara had glossy eyes due to crying from laughter and Daichi was enchanted by Sugawara's voice.

He laid on his side to properly looked at his vice-captain. His elbow helped prop his head up as he admired the boy next to him. Sugawara turned his head to look at Daichi. His position was proper and appropriate, holding his own hands across his torso and his feet crossed. Whereas Daichi felt as if it was germane to no longer hide is attraction to his friend's magnetism.

"Do you remember how we first met?" Daichi started off, his eyes trailing to Sugawara's white hands.

Sugawar smiled. "And how I sent you flying into bushes because I was late to class?"

"And we ended up being so early to class that we decided to hang out before class started," Daichi said. "And I remember feeling so happy when you sat next to me once the bell rung because it felt like I was making my first high school friend."

"Well, it was certainly more appropriate than just sitting on top of your desk." Sugawar chuckled before smiling evilly. "Now you're stuck with me forever!"

Daichi licked his lips and snuck his fingers in between Sugawar's joint ones to hold his hand. Then he took his time to make eye-contact with Sugawara but once he did, there were sparkles for both boys. "Yeah, forever."

The gray-haired man saw himself get distracted by Daichi's lips, now damp with the taste of his mouth. He knew he wanted to taste it to. To control his impulses, he squeezed Daichi's hand, his palms now slightly getting sweaty under Daichi's intense gaze.

God.

Just then, his bedroom door opened with a loud noise. Sugawara opened his eyes, which he didn't know was closed, and realized how he had unconsciously leaned closer to Daichi's face. Daichi looked amused, curious and repulsed all at the same time. Sugawara's heart cracked. One line. He quickly sat up and saw his brother in the hallway, looking at them both with a scowl. "What the fuck are you doing?" He seethed.

Kuma looked them both up and down, paused before speaking and then asked, "Are you two allowed to be up here with the door closed?"

As soon as the words uttered from his mouth, Sugawara stood up and shouted. "Okay, bye, Kuma!" Before shutting the door harshly in his face. He put his forehead against the door and mumbled Fuck to himself for Kuma's bluntness.

Then his hearted dropped to his stomach and the butterflies in his stomach did dissolve into acid. He turned around to look at Daichi, the ever effortlessly gorgeous man on his bed, attested,

"Suga, are you gay?"

Two lines.

~ Bonus ~

"Ooo!" Daichi exclaimed, excitedly. He picked up a piece of kimchi that was a more orange color than the rest. "Try these! They're especially spicy."

Sugawara smiled nonchalantly. "Daichi, I am spicy food," He bragged, but he gave in, leaned across the table and ate the piece of kimchi on Daichi's utensil. He chewed. "That was good but wasn't spicy. Sorry."

But Daichi was busy thinking of other things. One, how pretty Sugawara looked up close. They always kept a friendly six inches between each other so up close Sugawara was the most beautiful and enchanting sight he's ever seen. Two, how he just feed him like a married but unmarried, single, one-sided but actually two-sided couple. And three, the indirect kiss and how Sugawara's mouth, teeth and probably tongue was on his fork.

His face turned red, and he decided to short circuit and die.

"Daichi? Was it really that spicy?"

~1840 words~