The Name You Call

Sawamura Eijun was having a crisis. And like many of his crises, it had to do with his rival, Furuya Satoru. Because out of nowhere Furuya had started calling him by his first name.

The first time it happened, it was during a game. Eijun was almost sure he had imagined it. There was no way that Furuya, who had never addressed him in any way before other than hey ... had called him by his first name. But then it happened again, and again after that, and for some reason, Eijun couldn't stop thinking about it.

It shouldn't be strange, right? A lot of people called him by his first name... all of his friends back home, as well as his best friend at Seidou, Haruichi... and yet, why when Furuya did it, it felt so... weird? Because it was Furuya? Because it came all of a sudden after knowing each other for over a year already? He didn't know, but he did know that it startled him so much that it felt like he couldn't breathe for a minute each time it happened.

Groaning, Eijun turned around in bed a few times, extremely restless. It wasn't that late yet, still around midnight, but he should be trying to sleep, and yet he was being kept up with these thoughts. No matter what it was, purposeful or not, Furuya kept messing with his head. Eijun was frustrated, not knowing what about it was bothering him so much...

But it wasn't like it was only bothersome. It's not like he didn't like it...

He did feel happy that Furuya was apparently familiar enough with him to call him Eijun... especially when he never heard Furuya calling anyone else by their first name, and was always respectful with their seniors... in fact, it made his chest feel all tight and warm... in a way that made him even more restless.

And that wasn't all that was plaguing his thoughts, either. He kept thinking that since he and Furuya were also friends now... that he should try to call Furuya by his first name too. It was a contemplation of huge significance, and it caused Eijun's cheeks to grow warm just thinking about it. He didn't know why the thought of it was so weird... he called Haruichi and his other best friends back home by their first names... but yet, something was very different about it with Furuya... because they were rivals? It had to be that... Furuya was Furuya, after all! He'd always been just Furuya!

But even so, Eijun couldn't help but think it would only be fair that he called Furuya by his first name when Furuya had called his first... after all, they were friends as well as rivals. It shouldn't be that difficult. He was overthinking this. Yeah, that had to be it! There was no reason to feel weird about it...!

Eijun sat up in bed, stretching out his arms. As he thought, he knew he couldn't sleep yet with all this restless energy. He climbed down the ladder of the bed, careful not to wake up his roommates, and snuck out, deciding on a reunion with his best partner at Seidou - his tire.

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