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Arakita has a problem.
He’s had a crush on Fukutomi for over a year now and still can’t bring himself to tell him.
Confessing wasn’t really his style. The only time he’s ever good at talking involves bad-mouthing people.
So he doesn't know how to convey his feelings to Fukutomi. At all.
In hindsight he shouldn’t have asked Toudou for advice.
"You should try calling him by his first name," Toudou suggests. "That always works."
And so Arakita tries it.
It didn't work.
Not only did it not work, Arakita doubts Fukutomi even registered it. The entire thing lasts for about two seconds in which Arakita beomes a nervous wreck that yells, “Morning Juichi!” so loudly several other club members turns to look at them.
Fukutomi didn’t even look at him when he replies with, “Morning.”
Arakita spends the rest of morning practise glaring at Toudou.
“I guess it should have been expected,” Toudou says later, when he deems Arakita calm enough to approach again. “Hayato calls us all by firstname. Fuku’s probably used to it.”
He’s right. Arakita sighs as he pedals with his head down. They’re doing warm-down now, school is going to start soon.
“Maybe I should just confess the traditional way,” Arakita mumbles.
“No way,” Toudou insists.
“Why not.”
“Why? Isn’t it obvious?”
Arakita glares at him. “Get to the point.”
“Because a confession is not beautiful!” Toudou points at him with the usual grand flare.
“...” Arakita gets off his bike and heads towards the showers. “Why did I even ask your advice.”
Briefly, Arakita wonders if he should ask Shinkai. He’s been with Fukutomi for longer, and would probably know how to get through Fukutomi’s iron head.
In the end he doesn’t. Much too embarrassing.
---
During lunch, Toudou ambushes him.
“I thought about it all morning. And I got it. You just need to buy him a present.”
Arakita just looks at him, unimpressed. “A present.”
“Yes! A present. So thoughtful and out of the blue, but also so clear, that Fukutomi will be smitten in an instance. It’ll be BEAUTIFUL!”
Arakita skips the rest of the day’s classes so he could cycle into town and find a suitable present.
He hands it to Fukutomi when they’re changing for practise.
“What’s this?”
“Just something I had hanging around,” Arakita says, because he can’t speak nicely or honestly to save his life.
Fukutomi looks at the hearts covered wrapping paper in confusion. “Did someone give it to you?”
This was the part where Arakita says ‘no, of course not!’
“Yeah, Some loser confessed to me.” Damn it.
But it was okay, Arakita didn’t listen completely to Toudou this time around. He made sure to leave a message on the present.
“I think you should at least open it before handing it to people,” Fukutomi holds the present towards him.
Arakita backed off a few steps. “That kind of thing grosses me out. You open it.”
Fukutomi looks at him with the usual expressionless stare, but thankfully agrees to open it.
It was a portable fan. Perfect to carry around to help keep the heat away during summer.
“This will be useful, Arakita. You should keep it.”
“At least turn it over,” Arakita suggests. There’s a message for him at the back.
Just as Fukutomi begins to turn the fan around, the door slams open.
“Fukutomi-san! The bikes. There’s been an accident with the bikes. The teachers are really angry.”
Fukutomi dumps the present in Arakita’s arms and runs outside.
“Ah, that was so close, Ara-chan,” Toudou says from the other side of the room.
“You shut up!” Arakita yells. “And if you call me Ara-chan ever again, I’m going to punch you right in the face.”
“Hey, don’t joke about that. You shouldn’t ruin this beautiful face I’ve been blessed with.”
Arakita glares. Toudou seems to get the message and turns back to his locker.
Neither speaks while they changed. Then suddenly, Toudou snaps his finger.
“I got it! You can-”
“NO!”
“But-”
“Enough!” Arakita yells. “I’m not listening to you anymore.”
Toudou actually pouts. But then turns serious. “Well, I guess when you’ve run out of ideas, you can always just try adding 'chan' to the end of his name."
“What?”
“It worked for me pretty well.”
As if on cue, Izumida walks into the clubroom just then. "Toudou-san, there's someone asking for you."
“Maki-chan!” Toudou lights up and bounces towards the door. “He’s early! Maybe he’ll climb the mountain with me.”
"Who?" Arakita asks.
"It's the guy Jinpachi’s always competing with," Shinkai replies from his locker, making Arakita jump.
He forgot Shinkai’s changing too. Great, he hopes the sprinter won’t tell Fukutomi about how he had just clearly attempted to confess through the use of a present.
Thankfully, Shinkai seems more interested in reminding Arakita who this ‘Maki-chan’ was. "He was the one with the unusual climbing style. The one that sways left and right,” Shinkai says. “He was in that last competition where Toudou lost, remember?"
Arakita tries to think back. Weird climbing style. That must have been the guy with green hair. "They know each other?"
"Know each other?" Shinkai chuckles. "They've been going out for months."
Going out...
Toudou calls his boyfriend 'Maki-chan'. Did that mean if he added a -chan to Fukutomi's name, that means he’ll be going out with Fukutomi?
He had to try it!
Of course, it was easier said than done. Arakita tries all through practise to address Fukutomi as ‘Fuku-chan’, but each time he loses his nerves, or suddenly there’s a downhill curve and he has to concentrate.
Finally, at the end of the day, when Arakita decides to stay a bit longer to train, he finally dares to say it.
“I’ll see you tomorrow...Fuku-chan.”
Fukutomi freezes on the spot.
Arakita feels his heart clench uncomfortably. Fukutomi’s iron mask got even more incomprehensible.
Maybe Fukutomi was going to read him the ‘let’s just be friends’ speech now. Or maybe he’ll get disgusted. Or maybe…
Either way, he’s glad he has his bike. It makes escaping that much easier.
Just as he was about to cycle off, a hand lands on his shoulder. Arakita looks over to see Fukutomi beside him, on his bike, looking ahead resolutely.
“Let’s practise together a bit more today,” Fukutomi says, the lightest blush on his cheeks.