"come on, saihara! it'll be fun!" akamatsu beamed, pulling saihara by the arm towards a hill covered in flowers. "everyone else is there for the class picnic! if you don't come you'll regret it~!" she winked playfully.
saihara sighed. "oh, alright," he laughed. akamatsu giggled and pulled him towards the blanket that she and her girlfriend, iruma, were sitting on.
"ugh.. that little twink is late!" iruma groaned, looking at her watch. akamatsu and saihara sat down.
"who? ouma?" akamatsu asked, seemingly used to iruma's attitude. saihara snickered at this.
"i'm not late!" ouma huffed from behind iruma, coming up and sitting between her and saihara. he crossed his arms. "how dare you assume i'd be late? i'm a supreme leader! i have perfect attendance!"
"sure thing, mr. prank squad." iruma started to open a chocolate bar. ouma rolled his eyes. but they then widened again when he spotted a field of flowers in front of their blanket.
"ooh! flowers! i'm gonna go pick some, who wants to come with?" he asked everyone eagerly.
iruma was about to join him, but akamatsu stopped her. "this is our chance to get them together!" she whispered to her. iruma grinned and nodded.
"i think pooichi should go with you~" iruma laughed, making saihara roll his eyes. but he then nodded, and stood up.
"sure, why not?" he said.
ouma jumped up and down a little bit and clapped his hands. he grabbed saihara's arm and dragged him over to the field.
"they are such homos." akamatsu whispered to her girlfriend. iruma cackled at this. "coming from a lesbian?"
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ouma stopped running when they got a distance into the field, making saihara jolt to a stop. the field was full of lavenders and daisies, and it smelt amazing.
ouma twirled around a bit. "ah, this is so nice," he sighed. he plopped down on the ground. "is it weird to say i miss this?"
saihara tilted his head and sat down next to the smaller. "what do you mean?"
"i miss hanging out. like we did in the..game.." he struggled to say those words.
saihara felt bad for agreeing but he did. saihara wasn't particularly fond of ouma during the game; he made everything seem like a lie. although, the little times he did spend with him were, dare he say, fun. but when they got out, saihara couldn't help but feel a sense of pity for the boy. fans hated him. frankly, he hated himself.
saihara's thoughts were interrupted by a flower being placed in his hand. "isn't it pretty?" ouma asked childishly.
saihara smiled. he reached up and put the flower behind ouma's ear. "now it's pretty,"
ouma blushed profusely and punched saihara in the arm playfully. "you're such a player, shuichi. no wonder akamatsu had a thing for you,"
saihara's eyes widened upon ouma calling him by his first name. then he smiled. "akamatsu's a lesbian," he laughed.
"she is? wow, i wouldn't have known!" ouma teased, and rested his head on saihara's shoulder.
there was a long silence. yet it was a comfortable silence, like all that had been said was all that needed to be said. right now, it was perfect.
the silence was interrupted by a long sigh from ouma. "saihara?" he asked.
"yes?"
"i...um.. never really got to say this, but... i'm really sorry." ouma looked down.
"sorry?" saihara asked. "about what?"
"about.. the way i acted. in the game. i ruined everything for you.." ouma sighed. saihara frowned.
"i do admit you made things harder," saihara said, "but by doing that, you helped me become stronger." he smiled. "so it's alright."
ouma let out a sigh, seemingly of relief. almost as if he'd been holding it in since they got out.
more silence.
"saihara! the fireworks are gonna start soon, cmon!" akamatsu yelled to him, snapping him out of a trance he didn't even know he was in.
so saihara started to stand up. but he stopped upon seeing ouma asleep on his shoulder.
he smiled and pet his head a bit, which he seemed to enjoy a lot, even in his sleep. he picked up the boy and brought him back over to the blanket. said boy, still fast asleep.
iruma's eyes widened when she saw the two of them. "you two are so fucking gay!!" she practically screamed, gathering strange looks from other groups. saihara blushed.
"i-it's not like that.." he said defensively, laying ouma down on the blanket. "he just fell asleep on my shoulder is all."
iruma's smile faded for a second, then brightened up again. "that's good," she said. saihara tilted his head in confusion.
"ouma has.. trouble sleeping sometimes. i'm just glad he could get some fuckin' rest." iruma said as she leaned back against a tree.
akamatsu and saihara smirked. "was that some empathy i heard there, iruma?" saihara joked.
"w-what? no!! you heard nothing of the damn sort!"
"suuure..." akamatsu smiled.
"fireworks in five minutes!" they heard someone announce. akamatsu giggled and clapped her hands together. "ooh, i'm so excited!"
"why? they're just some normal fireworks," saihara asked.
"i.. uhm.. i've never seen fireworks before," she confessed.
iruma and saihara dramatically gasped. "for real?"
"yes, for real," akamatsu laughed.
iruma motioned for saihara to come closer so she could whisper something to him. he confusedly complied."
"so, uh, don't want kaede thinking i'm goin' all soft. so just to let ya know, you might wanna wake up ouma before the fireworks start. he might, uh, freak out if they wake him up." saihara got the message and nodded. but he smiled, knowing that even iruma was looking out for ouma. he wondered, however, how iruma knew anything about ouma. he was so hard to read.
when saihara placed his hand on ouma's shoulder, he immediately jumped and woke up. he looked at saihara and let out a sigh of relief.
"oh! it's just you, shumai. why'd you wake me up?"
"the, uh, fireworks. they're starting soon."
without a response, ouma sat up and leaned his head on saihara's shoulder once again.
"thank you, shuichi." ouma smiled.
"f-for what?" saihara blushed at ouma using his first name again.
"for forgiving me! and being so nice to me."
"oh.. no problem." saihara rested his head on top of ouma's. and like that they stayed.
