The Miya Triplets? M. Akagi

Chapter 27

Ginjima POV
"Hey Suna. Mind if I sit here?" Suna looked at me without speaking for a few seconds then buried his head in his arms again. "You're already sitting next to me. Do you want something?" He finally answered.

Alright, so he's not in the mood for unnecessary politeness. I noted. I tried not to stare at him too openly, but still took the time to consider his demeanour. Suna was hunched over and curled in on himself as if he wanted to shrink his body out of existence.

We both stayed completely silent in the time I took to try and assess the situation. The silence felt thick and suffocating at first, but the pressure started to lessen a little in the time we just sat there, vaguely aware of each other's presence, the loudest noises being the two of us breathing.

Suna's breaths were incredibly shallow and far too forced and regular to be natural. He sounded like he'd been crying or maybe he was about to start crying, it was hard to tell. I watched his body shake slightly, which just caused him to curl up even tighter. I looked away awkwardly when he harshly rubbed his red eyes that glistened with already newly forming tears.

I looked back to see him put his chin on his crossed arms, allowing me to see his face, and his body untense slightly. If this isn't a signal for me to start talking I don't know what is. I ran a hand through my hair even though it didn't really impact it at all with how short my hair currently was. Then I addressed Suna with as much certainty and validation as I could muster.

"You kinda look like shit." I told him which got a small scoff as a response. "I don't mean physically, I mean beside your eyes you could barely tell you've been crying. But well, the fact you're literally sat curled up on the stairs ruins that a bit."

I would've preferred some more direct reactions. Even bad ones. But instead Suna glanced around as if I had only just reminded him of where he was. Then he wiped his hand over his eyes again and open his mouth to speak. I waited patiently but he just closed it again and slumped down further.

I smiled slightly. I could very much understand the frustration of not knowing how to tell people things. I leaned back and looked around to see if there was a clock somewhere around. There wasn't so I reluctantly had to check my phone instead. I felt Suna's eyes follow me as I pulled out my phone, looked at the time and put it away again.

12:13. And class starts at 1. Then I asked Suna the question that had been on my mind this whole time. "Did you come here just to be alone?" Or did you remember that I said I always pass through here to go eat?

I don't know if or why he would decide to go somewhere specifically so I would find him, but it was a large coincidence if not, especially since I had told my friends where I went during lunch several times.

"I don't know." He spoke quietly and I had to strain my ears to catch everything he said. "I guess it wasn't really about being alone just... not being around-" He cut himself off and I watched him blink rapidly as tears gathered in the corners of his eyes.

"Is it Osamu?" I asked as gently as possible. Now, I had never actually been told by anyone that there was something going on between the two, but by now I was pretty sure that they weren't just your average platonic best friends and that suspicion had been all but confirmed in the past week as even before the weekend I had picked up on a noticeable shift in their relationship.

Something had changed and I wasn't sure what. I had thought it was just Suna, since he had been much more withdrawn lately and barely spoke in practice most days last week, but thinking about it some more now, I wondered if it was Osamu who had started acting differently around Suna.

I realised things that my mind had retroactively decided were Osamu showing concern about Suna's sudden quietness had actually happened first. All the incredibly obvious glances across the court, the whispered conversations, the incessant jokes that never failed to make Suna smile and occasionally laugh. Was Osamu doing that on purpose?

"Yeah." Suna finally answered, pulling me from my thoughts. "I-" he exhaled heavily. "It's not his fault though." He whispered, placing his head back on his knees gently.

I gave him a sympathetic smile. "Hey I get it." I said sadly. Suna didn't lift his head, but hummed in response. "You like him right? And he-" I started before Suna cut me off. "He never will. I don't have a chance and I know it. I mean I've known that for two years, so why-" His breath caught.

"Why did I think this was any different?" He had turned to look at me and I watched him wipe the tears from his eyes before any could fall. "I know he's straight. He's told me. But every time I feel like he's acting different in some way, a part of me can't help but hope that maybe he's catching feelings for me or something stupid like that. And every single time he's just being friendly or it passes and he acts like it never happened, like he didn't flirt with me, like he didn't look at me like that and he doesn't know how it makes me feel every time I have to squash down these stupid feelings because Osamu is my best friend and nothing is taking that away from me."

By the end of his rant Suna had sat up and was facing me. I watched him while he took a moment to catch his breath and saw the tears finally spill over and run down his cheeks.

"I just-" His voice broke and I said nothing while he swallowed and started speaking again. "I just wish we felt the same way about each other. It would be so much easier if I just saw him as a friend or if he liked me back. But it's been two years Gin. What am I even supposed to do at this point?"

A/N Some part of me really needs therapist friend Ginjima and I'm not sure why. Also Osamu really thinks things are back to normal between him and Suna, sorry but no, there's a lot those two need to talk about if they want to keep a good relationship. Sorry again for the delay on this chapter and I'll see you again for the next one in a week!