Love Me Harder // MatsuHana.

ten

The days continued to blend together, marked by their usual banter and jokes. Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s friendship stayed the same on the surface, but underneath, something subtle had shifted. Neither of them talked about it, and if they did notice it, they brushed it off with the same humor and light-hearted teasing they always had.

One afternoon after practice, the two of them were walking home like usual. Matsukawa had his hands in his pockets, lazily kicking a rock along the sidewalk. Hanamaki walked next to him, swiping through his phone, occasionally mumbling about something he saw online.

“Yo, Makki,” Matsukawa said, nudging him with his elbow. “What would you do if I told you you’re the prettiest guy I know?”

Hanamaki paused, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “You flirting with me again, Issei?”

Matsukawa grinned, shrugging. “Maybe I am. What are you gonna do about it?”

Without missing a beat, Hanamaki slung an arm around Matsukawa’s shoulders and pulled him in close. “Guess I’ll have to take you out on a date, huh?”

Matsukawa snorted, shoving him away lightly. “Careful, Makki, I might actually say yes.”

“Who says I wouldn’t want you to?” Hanamaki winked, his tone playful as ever, but the faintest blush crept onto his cheeks.

Matsukawa laughed, shaking his head. “You’re ridiculous.”

They continued walking, the teasing flowing naturally between them, as if nothing had changed. But every so often, there’d be a small silence, where they’d look at each other, and Matsukawa would feel the flutter of something in his chest that he couldn’t quite explain.

Later that night, they were at Hanamaki’s place again, this time sitting on the floor with snacks scattered around. They were arguing over who was better at a particular video game, the competition between them light but fierce.

“You’re only winning because you cheat,” Hanamaki muttered, mashing the buttons on his controller.

“I don’t cheat,” Matsukawa replied, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. “I’m just naturally better than you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hanamaki grumbled. “You’re just lucky I’m letting you win.”

Matsukawa smirked, not bothering to respond as his character landed the final blow, earning him the victory. Hanamaki groaned dramatically, tossing his controller onto the couch. “This game is rigged, I swear.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Matsukawa teased, leaning back on his hands. “Face it, you’ll never be as good as me.”

Hanamaki shot him a look, his lips curling into a mischievous grin. “Oh, really? I bet I could beat you at something else.”

Matsukawa raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

“I dunno,” Hanamaki shrugged, his grin widening. “Anything. Maybe I’ll challenge you to a ‘who can flirt better’ contest.”

Matsukawa chuckled, leaning forward. “I’d wipe the floor with you.”

Hanamaki leaned in too, eyes gleaming. “Oh yeah? Prove it.”

For a second, they just stared at each other, the challenge hanging in the air. Matsukawa was the first to break, laughing as he sat back. “I can’t take you seriously, man.”

“Good, ‘cause I wasn’t serious,” Hanamaki said, grinning as he flopped onto his back, stretching out on the floor. “But you know what? We’re really good at this flirting thing. We could confuse a whole lot of people.”

Matsukawa rolled his eyes, tossing a pillow at him. “Like we don’t already.”

Hanamaki caught the pillow, sitting up slightly as he looked over at Matsukawa with that familiar smirk. “Think we confuse ourselves sometimes.”

There was a beat of silence after that, but it wasn’t awkward. It was just... there. Matsukawa opened his mouth to respond but couldn’t quite find the right words. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it. The constant flirting, the way they were so comfortable with each other, how Hanamaki could make him laugh and feel more at ease than anyone else. But it was just their thing, right?

He shook his head, breaking the moment. “Nah, we’re just too good at messing around.”

“Yeah,” Hanamaki agreed, falling back onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling. “Guess that’s it.”

But even as they moved on to the next round of their game, there was a lingering question in both their minds—one neither of them was ready to answer yet.