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He'd gotten to class just late enough that almost every seat was taken. Who knew that "Multicultural Children's Art" or whatever it was would be such a popular class? Although, to be fair, it was the most interesting sounding course on the list that the counselor had given him for his GE requirements, so he couldn't really blame everyone else in the room for having the same idea as him.
The only seat left was next to an absolutely ginormous mane of white hair with horns sticking up out of it. An oni, maybe? Great. At least that made avoiding socializing all that easier. The freaks could sit together, and the rest of the class could avoid them. Perfect.
But then the presumed oni turned around in his chair, and the fringe parted to reveal red lines coming down from his eyes (yes, definitely oni) that stretched with his huge grin. Then he proceeded to practically accost the pair behind him with the force of his, "Hey hey! Arataki Itto here, nice ta meetcha!"
The girls sitting behind him laughed. And, notably, didn't recoil in horror, or scream, or run, or whatever. They just introduced themselves, giggling at the way he casually leaned his enormous arm over the back of the chair, muscles bulging under the leather jacket he was wearing - Gorou was, yet again, staring. Not a great first impression.
Well, no point lingering in the doorway. It was clear that was the only seat.
"You've marched into battle, Gorou, you can handle a classroom. They're not even looking at you." He told himself, shoulders back and chin raised high.
He all but marched into the room, hesitating only an instant before sitting down in the chair next to the oni and setting his bag on the floor.
The man, Arataki, had shifted his attention to Gorou upon his swift arrival and was now leaning back in his chair slightly, smile still firmly in place.
"Aha, I knew leaving that seat open was a good idea! And who are you?" He was loud, louder than necessary for how close they were. Gorou’s ears twitched from the volume, and thought briefly about scooching his chair back, but reconsidered, it might appear rude.
"General Gorou of-” he caught himself, coughing to try and cover it up. “I mean, sorry. Just. Gorou."
He'd introduced himself too many times during the war. Some habits were too hard to kick. His counselor had said it would take time, but it was still embarrassing that she was right .
"No last name, Just-Gorou?" Arataki replied, teasing in his voice, but light, no malice.
Gorou didn't really like to get into the fact that he was, in fact, an orphan. People always pity orphans, right off the bat. It was more complicated to further explain that he’d been adopted into the prestigious Sangonomiya family as a teenager, because Kokomi, his then-best friend now-sister, had insisted on making it official after he was practically raised with them. An orphan was one thing, but a rich orphan turned pity to distaste unless they got to know him better.
And you don’t just drop that all on a random guy.
"No, no last name." Gorou said, trying his best to sound casual.
"Gotcha! Well, I'm Arataki Itto, leader of the Arataki gang!” The word gang shouldn’t come out of a person’s mouth with that kind of a smile. “You’ve probably heard of us, we’re pretty infamous. We're not a bad gang though! Mostly go around protecting people from the bad gangs, to be honest." Gorou blinked. That was … a lot of information from a stranger. He was expecting a name, maybe Arataki asking about his major, or how insane parking was that day. Ah, so that explained the leather jacket, which was unzipped over a truly impressively miniscule crop top. Gorou felt somewhat overdressed in his own much more modest crop top. His ended about an inch and a half above his belt, just a hint of skin that he was used to from his uniform. Arataki’s top was so tiny Gorou could see the beginnings of the bottoms of his hefty pecs bursting from the seams, especially with the way the oni was leaning back in his chair like that.
He scrambled to not look like he was ogling the oni, wrenching his eyeballs back up. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Arataki." He smiled, and it was genuine, because well, he seemed… pretty nice.
"Just Itto's fine!" He boomed, whipping a comb out of his pocket and smoothing back the front of his hair, earning him a giggle from one of the girls behind him. He winked at her and Gorou felt his own face blush a little from the… everything.. (Keep your gay thoughts in order, Gorou, he thought to himself.)
Pretty hard to do since Itto was giving him that same look as if he’s supposed to respond to that.
The professor saved him by swishing into the classroom, just in time. Gorou's eyes widened in surprise. A kitsune? Maybe he wasn't so out of place after all. She had large, elegant ears, pink like her hair, but no tail that he could see. She certainly smelled kitsune, and walked with the elegance of one.
Professor Yae Miko was as kind as she was beautiful, if a little bit terrifying. She didn't take as kindly to the fact that Itto couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut, even through such boring tasks as "reading the syllabus" and "calling roll," but there was no malice to it when she said, again, "Mister Arataki, if you don't mind?"
He didn't seem to mind. For the way it rolled off his back, he didn't seem to mind much of anything.
When she finally made it to the names that started with S, there were no comments, no surprised yells, no... He didn't know what he was expecting, if he was honest, when she called "Sangonomiya Gorou?" and he raised his hand shyly, tail tucked under the chair to hide his all-too-obvious body language.
That was good, he supposed. That he was either anonymous, or that people could keep to themselves.
At every opportunity in that brief hour, Itto chatted. He told Gorou about the gang (there were only five of them, but "six, if you include my granny!" which was endearing) and how he collected beetles (“I'm going to start a beetle fighting club! You can join, if you want!”) and how he was so excited to work at the on-campus day care (“They're gonna love me!”) and anything else that came to mind, it seemed. Gorou didn't mind. It was fun, really, and Itto was easy to talk to. Even if the professor kept telling Itto to “quiet down, please.”
Class was over before he knew it, and they were packing their bags and heading out towards the quad together without really planning it. He and Itto. Still talking, this time about Gorou’s schedule. On the paper the counselor printed out for him, there was a decent two hour break between now and his next class. He'd use it for studying, well, once there was something to study. But for now, he had big plans for a slice of cake and a latte at the coffee shop he'd passed on the way in.
But Itto was still chatting away, and his friend Kazuha was still in class, and sitting alone in a coffee shop was just the kind of thing that he didn’t want to be doing on his first day back to school and normal civilian life; so Gorou very casually held the coffee shop door open for Itto, who stepped in without missing a beat in his story. Then, almost comically, Itto froze, blinking dumbly at the change of scenery, and went, “Oh, where are we? I wasn’t paying attention.”
Gorou laughed and followed him into the building. “Campus coffee shop. Do you have anywhere to be? Class? Work?”
Itto shook his head triumphantly. “Off for the rest of the day! Buying me coffee, Just-Gorou?”
It was a nickname. A cheesy one at that, but it fit how comically larger than life Itto was in the bare hour and a half they knew each other. All that anxiety had melted away with Itto just being... Well, himself.
“Alright, fine,” he replied, walking backwards towards the counter, Itto following seemingly without noticing he was doing it.
“I was kidding, I can't even drink coffee, I'm allergic to beans and all, it’s,-”
“No, no, I’m committed now. What do you want?”
Itto’s grin could blind the sun, Gorou thought.
Gorou paid, they hung around the counter until the order was brought up, and then they wandered to an open table outside in the courtyard. Gorou was very pleased with his cake. Years of no sweets had been tough, he was going to live his best life now that he, well, could.
“So, Gorou, what’s your major?” Itto leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, tea in hand. Ah, that question, finally. Gorou noticed that his toenails, sticking out from beach sandals, were painted black to match his hands. That was some commitment.
“Don’t know yet. This is my first semester.”
Itto’s thick eyebrows shot up. “Wait, really? How old are you??”
“Twenty-four.”
Itto leaned forward in his chair, elbows resting on his knees.
“But how can you be older than me? I’m twenty-two, I thought I was old for a Junior.”
“I was… I fought in the war, so, you know.” Gorou stared at his cake, ready for Itto to make some excuse to leave. Nobody liked talking about the war. But it seemed like Itto could talk about anything.
“Oh, sick! So that’s what you meant earlier. General Gorou. Very cool!” Did he ever stop smiling? It was infectious. He couldn’t help smiling back.
“Thanks. I don’t miss the fighting, but it was kind of nice, having a clear goal in mind. And the troops became like my family. Now, being back here feels weird, like I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing.”
“Well, you’ll figure it out!” Itto boomed, still grinning full force. It didn’t feel dismissive or flippant, but rather, genuine. Like he knew what he was talking about.
“The gang is basically my family! I grew up with Granny, so they’re kind of all I have! And it took me a while to figure out what I want to do, but now here I am! I’m going to be a gym teacher for elementary school. Most people think I don’t have the brains to get through the credential program, but I’ll show them!” Itto sipped his tea triumphantly.
“That’s great. I’m glad you found your passion. A warrior’s spirit like that will get you far, I know it.”
Itto grinned. Again? Still? It was like it was permanently glued to his face. "It's all part of the territory of being an oni!"
"Is that why you said you can't have beans? Because of being an oni?" Gorou asked, curious. He'd read that somewhere, but he didn't know if it was true.
"Yep!" Itto's chest puffed out proudly, taking another sip.
"But… you know coffee beans aren't really beans, right? They're seeds. So you should be fine to drink coffee."
Itto spluttered and choked on his tea.
Timing itself perfectly, Gorou’s phone chose that moment to chirp, the special tone he’d set for Kazuha, and his ears twitched. Itto’s eyes flickered up to them, his mouth dropping into a small ‘o’, then back down to his phone. Gorou cursed internally. He worked so hard to suppress their movement, and now here he was, practically showing off the fact that he wasn’t human.
“Sorry, it’s mostly involuntary,” he said, awkwardly, “I know it’s distracting.”
“No, no, it’s cute!” Itto said, waving a hand, averting his eyes to the side - and was that a hint of a blush? Maybe. Gorou’s phone went off again as a flurry of texts came in, so he couldn’t check if that pink was what he thought.
Kazuha’s class had gotten out early, and he wanted to know where he was. He tapped out a response quickly and placed his phone back on the table, facedown.
“Sorry, my best friend. He’s out of class early. So he-” Gorou wasn’t really sure what he was apologizing for.
“Hey, no worries. It’s just a text.” Itto’s words were just as warm as always, but just a tad bit softer this time. “Hey, Gorou? Don’t forget to finish your cake.”
The cake was delicious, with just the right amount of frosting, and Itto took over the conversation when Gorou asked him what it took to get through a teaching program, going on about tests and observations and -
There he was, a familiar figure jogging up from behind Itto, down campus.
“That was closer than I had initially expected it to be,” Kazuha said by way of greeting, raising a hand to the pair of them. “Gorou, who is this?”
“Arataki Numero Uno Itto!” the oni responded, jumping up from his chair and almost impaling the umbrella they were under with his horns. Almost. The points just brushed the fabric and Itto ducked his head with a grimace, like this happened often. “Ah, tall people problems. Anyway,” He stuck a hand out to Kazuha and shook it vigorously. “The one and Oni! Get it?” he gestured to his horns with his other hand, puffing his chest out excitedly.
“Kaedehara Kazuha. Nice to meet you. Clever wordplay.”
“He’s in my art class,” Gorou said by way of explanation, and Kazuha nodded.
“You’re an artist, then, Arataki Itto?” he didn’t sit down, and Gorou took that to mean that he didn’t intend to stay long.
“Not at all! It’s part of my teaching credential program. But I think it’ll be fun anyway!” Itto shot a glance in Gorou’s direction, locking eyes with him for a moment.
“It does seem like a fun class,” Gorou smiled back, then realized he was the only one sitting.
“Kazuha, are we-”
He nodded, looking down at Gorou quickly, who stood and grabbed his trash, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
“We’ll be taking our leave, unfortunately.” Kazuha smiled lightly at Itto, whose face dropped a little. He really wore his heart on his sleeve, Gorou thought.
“Oh! Well, that’s alright. It was nice to meet you, Kazuha! And thanks for the tea, Gorou. I’ll see you in class on Wednesday!”
“Yeah, see you.” Gorou grinned, bigger than he usually would. His fangs were on display, but who cared? Itto’s were bigger, anyway.
Itto brightened and waved vigorously as they walked away.
“You bought him tea?” Kazuha raised an eyebrow at him as they got out of earshot.
“I need to make some friends, don’t I?” Gorou replied, defensive.
“It was a nice gesture. He seems nice. Very enthusiastic, which is commendable.”
“Mm,” Gorou hummed in agreement. He definitely did not have a crush on the first nice person he’d met at college, that would be stupid.
*****
Okay, maybe he had a little crush on the first nice person he’d met at college. He had met other nice people in his other classes, but none of them had the same… vibe. They’d fallen into a habit easily over the next few weeks, getting tea and cake and chatting until Kazuha showed up to gather Gorou and head home. Sometimes Gorou would get his homework out and spread it out on the table, as if he was going to work on it. He never did, opting to listen to Itto’s mindless chatter and endless stories of his gang’s adventures, the kids at the daycare. It turned out he wasn’t working there so much as volunteering involuntarily, as part of the credential program’s requirements. He liked it though, and Gorou, who wasn’t as good with kids (they tended to want to pull his tail. And ears. He got along better with older people, anyway, from the years of leading the troops.) loved to hear about them.
Or maybe he just loved to listen to Itto talk. The cadence of his voice, the easy way he spoke, the endless enthusiasm he seemed to have for everything in life. Gorou had to admit, he was a little bit head over heels. Just a little bit! Just a little bit.
But Itto was easy to talk to, and he somehow felt like they’d known each other their whole lives, despite it only having been a few weeks, and… it was nice.
So there they were, sitting outside at what had quickly become their table at the cafe, and Gorou caught Itto’s eyes flicking up to his ears one too many times and got bold about it. In the middle of a conversation about something entirely random. He would be lying if he said he remembered what it was about.
"Yeah, yeah, you can touch them, everyone always wants to. Just don't pull, it hurts." Gorou said, smiling cheekily, and leaned forward to the oni who was blinking, slightly stunned. Maybe from the change of subject, or maybe from the sudden change of heart from Gorou.
"I... Okay," Itto replied, strangely hesitant, and reached out a hand (God, they were so big compared to his head, he thought, stupidly) towards his ears. But, shockingly, he didn't... Touch his ear? Itto's fingers slid into the hair under his ear, smoothly across the side of his head and back until he reached the nape of his neck, where his fingers curled and nails scratched lightly at the skin there, before drawing back.
Gorou couldn't help the goosebumps that flashed down his spine from the sensation.
"That- that wasn't my ear!" He spluttered, embarrassed from the involuntary reaction, flushing a deep red.
"Sorry, sorry! Me and the gang had a bet going if you had human ears too, and I figured... If this was my only chance, I'd solve that mystery!" Itto scratched the back of his head uncomfortably, but laughed while he was at it.
"You could have just asked, I would have told you." Gorou hadn't known that was a talking point. His hair was poofy enough to cover the sides of his head, but there were no ears under it, which he thought would have been obvious. He only needed the one set.
Itto was still staring with interest at his ears, which, he realized, were twitched back in embarrassment.
"You can touch them, really." Gorou smiled just a little at the expression on Itto's face. "New friend special. But after this, that's it!" He was really teasing now, and he hoped Itto could tell.
Once again the huge hand reached out and very gently brushed from the bottom up to the point of his ear. Then, for some reason, Itto sank his hand into the hair below his ear and traced the curve of the front of his ear with his thumb before massaging the point where his ears met his head gently. Gorou let his eyes close, but didn't allow himself to lean into it. One time deal, and all. Didn’t need to out himself as stupidly in love to his new frend.
"Yeah, I thought so." Itto's voice came from above him.
With difficulty, he opened his eyes and looked up. Itto's fingers were still rubbing gentle circles into the most sensitive point of his ears, like he knew exactly what he was doing. It was almost hard to concentrate, with how nice it felt.
"It's the same for my horns." Itto used the nail on his other index finger to tap his horn twice. "The horn itself is whatever, but the point it joins my head? Feels so nice when someone touches there. Whew boy!"
Gorou had probably been listening. But archons help him, the way that this man was messaging his ear was sending every coherent thought out the window. He tried to respond with something smart, but all that came out of his mouth was a very clever "mmm... Uh huh," to which the other man just laughed, boisterous as ever.
“Okay, okay, sorry, I’m done!” Itto withdrew his hand, looking away and, maybe blushing? Or Gorou was projecting, on accounts of definitely blushing. One of the two.
“New friend discount, huh?” Itto turned back, leaning back and grinning. (Was he ever not grinning?)
“It was a joke, like, because-”
“I know, I meant… you think we’re friends?” Itto’s voice softened a little bit.
“I… well… I thought…” Gorou’s mind ground to a halt. Did Itto not think that they were friends? Had he been misinterpreting all along?
“Because that’s great! I think you’re great! I like being friends with you! I mean, I’d like to be friends with you. Or if we’re already friends! That’s great!” Now Itto was stumbling over his words, and relief was washing over Gorou.
“Definitely. Definitely great.” He grinned back at Itto, who stopped wringing his hands and relaxed immediately. It was incredible, the range of emotions he just… displayed, for everyone to see.
Itto sprang back into conversation like nothing, now chattering on about his horns, and how he wanted to paint them, and Gorou was laughing and encouraging him. It was just easy, somehow.
*****
“Oh wait, Gorou!”
Gorou turned. Kazuha stopped as well.
Itto was holding out his phone.
“Can I have your number? For- so I can text you about the assignment.” He was staring earnestly at Gorou, who could feel Kazuha’s gaze on him as well.
“Naturally." This week, Professor Miko had given them a history related assignment, which Itto had bemoaned for something like ten minutes before getting distracted and going back to his usual chatting.
As he typed, Itto gushed a “thank you so much, I’ll try not to bother you, I’m just hopeless with history, you know how it is,” and Gorou smiled lightly, adding the dog emoji to the end of his name for flair before handing the phone back.
“It’s not a problem at all. Talk to you later?”
“Yeah, yeah for sure!”
Gorou didn’t flick his ears back to check, but he was pretty sure he didn’t hear Itto sit back down.
“So. Your number?” Kazuha smiled, glancing edgewise at Gorou as they walked.
“Well, we’re just going to work on our homework together. It’s faster than emailing.” he replied, pretending not to notice the look.
*****
They did not “just” work on homework.
After getting the first “Hey hey hey! It’s me, Arataki Supremo Burr-Itto!” text, it was all downhill from there. Before he knew it, they were texting every day for a week, and then two, and then three. It was a learning curve, Gorou hadn’t really texted much before other than with Kazuha and occasionally Kokomi, but found that he liked it. It gave him a chance to think about his responses before sending them, which he appreciated.
Time passed easily, and autumn melted into early winter.
“Now remember, your final is a paper on, what?” Miko said, as the class hurriedly shoved their things into their bags, as college students are wont to do.
“A museum exhibit” they chorused back at her.
“And due when?”
“The last week of class.”
“Right. So it’s in your best interests to be thinking about that museum trip sooner than later, isn’t it?”
The class grumbled half-heartedly as they hurried out, but Gorou lingered. As much as Miko intimidated him, he wanted to ask her for her advice, but didn’t want to do it in front of the entire class.
“Need help there?” Itto asked, as Gorou shuffled through his papers aimlessly, killing time.
“No, I just wanted to ask… Professor Miko a question, but I was trying to wait until…” he looked around a little.
“What were you going to ask?? I can ask her! Or come with you!”
“I just don’t-” he stopped, embarrassed. “Well, I don’t know if there are any museums within bus distance, and I don’t drive.” It was just Itto. He didn’t need to be embarrassed. He knew he couldn’t drive. “I was going to ask if there was some way I could modify the assignment, or something.”
“Oh! Well, why didn’t you say so? We can just go together!” Itto slapped him on the back, knocking him forward onto his hands on the desk.
“W…what do you mean?”
“I can pick you up, or we can go after class or something! Since we both need to go, it’ll just be easier, right?”
“....right”
Gorou couldn’t even meet his eye. The concept wasn’t horrible, it would just be the first time that they saw each other outside of school, which felt more… intimate… or… something.
Well, that made talking to Miko a moot point. Gorou shoved his things in his bag and looked up at the familiar grin on the oni’s face.
“Then let’s get out of here. She makes me nervous!” he whispered, and Itto’s laugh followed him out the door as they hurried out.
*****
“Kazuha he’s… he isn’t even gay, I watched him hit on two girls in our class at the same time the first day I met him!” Gorou spluttered, pulling on his gloves and whirling around to stare at his best friend, who was smiling at him like he knew something Gorou didn’t know.
“Which is why he’s taking you to a museum. Just the two of you.”
“Wh…who else would we bring??”
“I don’t know, Gorou, me and Koko, his gang…”
“We aren’t going for a fun time, we’re going to do homework, I- you’re welcome to come, I mean, but-”
“No, no!” Kazuha laughed, waving a hand in the air breezily. “Please, by all means. Enjoy your museum date with the oni boy you spend all day and night texting. I wouldn’t dream of intruding.”
“It’s not a-” his phone buzzed. “I’m leaving. He’s here. Shut up.” Gorou rushed down the stairs, the door closing behind him.
Itto was a sight in his helmet, horns sticking out through holes that had evidently been drilled through the padding.
“You’re kidding me,” Gorou laughed, walking up to him and standing on his toes to see them better.
“Well-” Itto’s voice was muffled by the visor, which he tried and failed to flip up, hands clumsy in his enormous bulky gloves. “How else was I going to put it on?” He got the visor, then turned to grin at Gorou. “Here’s yours! I’m sorry, I don’t really know how to cut out ear-holes, so I just brought the biggest one I have. We can cut it now though, if-”
“It’s fine, Itto, I’ll just-” he flattened his ears to his head and gingerly placed the helmet on over them. The fluff of his hair helped, it wasn’t too uncomfortable. Itto reached out and adjusted it slightly, and then tried to clip the clip unsuccessfully.
“I can clip it, it’s okay,” Gorou laughed, wiggling his slightly less encumbered fingers at Itto.
“Right, yeah! Motorcycle gloves, you know how it is!” Itto pulled back. Gorou didn’t know how it was, but nodded anyway, clipping and tightening the strap and looking nervously at the back of the motorcycle.
It wasn’t small, but he would be. Very close to. Itto.
It was a good thing he was already flushed from the cold, or this would get embarrassing really fast.
“You’ve never done this before huh!” Itto rubbed his hands together and then leaned back forward to the handles. Handlebars? Whatever they were.
“No, I just-?” Gorou eyed it nervously, and then tentatively placed a hand on the seat and lifted his leg up and over.
“There are little footrests just behind your calves there, and you’ll just want to hold onto me! I’m good at driving in snow, don’t even worry about it.” Itto was looking back at him, and Gorou flipped his visor down quickly to hide the expression he was sure was plain on his face.
“Okay. No worries.” He awkwardly placed his hands on Itto’s waist, trying not to get too close, and Itto flipped his own visor down.
“Alrighty! Let’s roll!” he called, stomping on the gas and cranking the gears, throwing them forward. Gorou held in what would have been a rather undignified yelp, but couldn’t stop himself from being pressed against Itto’s back when the force of their quick departure wore off.
“Oops!” Itto yelled back over his shoulder, to where Gorou’s head was pressed sideways into his back. Gorou tightened the arms now wrapped around the oni’s waist and tried to calm his breathing, tail pressed tightly to his leg. There was “walking into battle with nothing but a bow in your hand and a handful of troops behind you” scary, and then there was “practically hugging your probably-straight crush while on a speeding death trap going too fast through the snow on the way to what is definitely not a date, but you kinda wish it was” scary. Gorou would almost rather the battlefield right about now.
As they whooshed through the streets, though, he began to be less incredibly terrified. It was still scary, much scarier than a car, but it wasn’t so bad once the original shock wore off. He didn’t loosen his grasp on Itto, but he relaxed slightly, looking around instead of squinting his eyes shut as hard as he could. It was kinda nice, if not somewhat… horribly cold.
They arrived at the museum and Itto pulled his helmet off carefully, lifting straight up to avoid his horns, and turned to Gorou.
“You can hop down if you want!”
“I… don’t think I can.” Gorou replied, trying to steady the shaking in his voice. His knees were not having it.
“Oh no, are you okay? Here, let me-” Itto swung his leg over quickly, hopping off and reaching out quickly before hesitating. “Is it okay if I-?”
Gorou, leaning forward on his hands on the seat to hold himself up, lifted one up to offer it to the oni, who forewent the hand entirely and grabbed him under the armpits, lifting him easily off of the seat and over the bike. The shock of being lifted hadn’t even worn off by the time Itto was gently placing him on the ground, but not letting go.
“Got your feet under you?” he asked, letting Gorou test by bending his knees slightly before pulling his hands back and starting to take off the gloves.
“Yeah. Just got-”
“Stiff? Yeah! Me too! It’s so cold! You good to walk? It better be warm in there!” Itto unclipped Gorou’s helmet and gently pulled it off, attaching it to his own and strapping it to the criss-crossing elastic on the back of the seat. Gorou stared interestedly at the whole process, ears twitching unhappily from being crushed by the helmet.
“Here, you’re all-” Itto ruffled his hair, carefully avoiding his ears, and offered an arm that Gorou considered, but didn’t think his poor heart could take.
Itto swept the door open and a rush of warm air swooshed over Gorou, who sighed in relief and hurried in. Itto was right behind him, pulling the door closed.
"Boy, it's cold!" The woman behind the front desk glanced up at them, clearly somewhat surprised to see them. It was an odd hour to be at the museum, apparently not too popular on a Thursday evening, but Gorou was a little surprised to not see any of their classmates there.
His fingers felt like they were frozen solid, but he managed to get his gloves off, shoving them into his backpack and following Itto to the desk.
"Two tickets to the… art!" Itto said in his customary too-loud voice, and the woman winced slightly. "Sorry," he whispered, and Gorou suppressed a giggle. He was either too loud or too quiet, there didn't seem to be a middle setting. It was endearing. He reached for his wallet, but by the time he managed to fumble it out of his backpack, Itto was holding the tickets and thanking the clerk.
"Hey, hey, I can pay for my ticket!" Gorou spluttered, chasing Itto as he headed for the coat check window.
"Yeah, but I did! You buy me tea all the time, and me and the gang just did a job, so it's fine." He waved a hand vaguely, refusing to look at Gorou holding out his wallet. "Come on, we got art to see! I wanna see the space exhibit! Give me your coat, unless you want to carry it."
He was really not helping with this whole not-a-date thing.
The space exhibit was almost all the way at the end, according to the map the nice docent had handed them, and so they made their way through the exhibits, wandering past paintings and sculptures and ancient pots. Itto was more interested in anything that was carved out of rocks than anything else, because "that used to be a rock! How sick is that!" but Gorou found himself inexplicably drawn to a little metal train in a case off to the side. He stood in front of it, rubbing his hands together to warm them up enough to hold a pencil, entranced enough by the detail in the engine that he somehow didn't notice Itto coming up to him.
"Oh, are your hands still cold?? Here, I'm warm!" Itto grinned, grabbing both of Gorou's hands with his own enormous ones, fingers pressed together between his palms, which were… yeah, really warm, actually.
Gorou stared down at their joined hands for a moment, and so did Itto, before both of them seemed to realize what they were doing at the same time. Itto went bright red, the lines down his cheeks almost blending with the rest of his face, and pulled his hands back like he'd burned himself.
"Sorry, I should have- asked, I didn't mean to-" he said, awkwardly loudly, and Gorou felt himself blushing too, cutting him off.
"No, no, it was fine, I don't mind, you were right, your hands are… they are warm, it's…" Gorou trailed off awkwardly, not really sure where he was going with it.
"Oh. Yeah, they are. I run warm, I know. Here." He held his hands out again, this time waiting for Gorou to close the gap this time. He hesitated, just a second, and then put his hands into Itto's, softly. The oni immediately started to gently move his hands around, pressing them between his palms, bending his fingers, using his body heat to warm Gorou up. It was too much, too intimate, the gentle scrape of his calloused hands against Gorou's own making him feel like he was going to shiver and twitch away.
So he did the only logical thing and tried to fill the silence with… whatever he could think of.
"So is it because you're oni? The… being warm, thing." Gorou said, and it sounded a lot lamer out loud than it had in his head, but Itto didn't seem to notice.
"Not sure! I would have thought so, but Takuya's oni too, and he's nowhere near as warm as me. He also isn't as big though, so I dunno."
"Mm." Gorou hummed thoughtfully. "Must just have good circulation I guess." Itto didn't look up, focused on the task at hand, and Gorou cursed himself internally. Why was he still bringing attention to it??
"Oh yeah, definitely!" Itto took that moment to look up, both of Gorou's hands still held in his, and their gazes locked. "I've got a good heart!" He smiled.
"No kidding." Gorou replied, softly, smile growing as he looked back up into his bright eyes. He could feel his tail wagging, but found he didn't even care.
"Y- yeah." Itto stuttered, and time froze for a moment as they stood there, hands clasped, smiling at each other.
And then, of course, a family wandered into the room, and they both turned to look, before snapping their gazes back down to their joined hands.
"Are, uh, your hands warmer?" Itto asked, and Gorou nodded, pulling them back. They really were, Itto was hot.
"Thanks. I wanted to take some notes on this little train. I love how detailed it is." He pulled out his notebook and pencil, taking some hasty notes about his first impressions of it and copying down the artist information from the little card while Itto talked excitedly about the train and the art next to it and the time he'd been on a train and whatever else his brain came upon. It was really quite endearing, Gorou thought. Unfortunately.
Notes taken and notebook shoved back into backpack, the two of them moved along to the next room, and the next. Some of the art was, in Itto's words, super boring, but Gorou liked the historical rooms with their ancient tools and various weapons, and Itto seemed interested in hearing Gorou's seemingly endless well of knowledge on what said old tools and weapons were used for and what they were replaced with. He nodded and said "oooh!" in all the right places, at least, which was a good sign.
"I think we're at the space one! Come on!" Itto cried suddenly, as they were walking down a hallway between exhibits, grabbing Gorou's hand and pulling him down the way and around the corner. Sure enough, they were standing in an enormous, very dark room, with glowing paintings around the outside and an interactive display that was made to look like you were standing in the night sky in the middle. Gorou let Itto lead; taking them around the outside of the room, cooing over the glow art, pointing at ones that he liked the color of.
"When I heard they were doing this exhibit I knew we had to come here! It's looked so cool online!" Itto enthused, looking up from the asteroid piece in a glass case he'd been gawking at. He still had Gorou's hand, but he wasn't complaining.
"Yeah, this is actually way cooler than I imagined, to be honest." Gorou replied, looking up at the ceiling, which had the zodiac constellations labeled on it.
"Space is rad!!" Itto was grinning at him, and tugged his hand gently. "C'mon, let's go see the installation."
Gorou followed, helpless to it. Itto had this gravity to him, and he felt like he was trapped in orbit around him, drawn in by some unseen force. And, well, the hand that was still engulfing his own.
When they reached the center of the installation, Itto loosened his fingers slightly, and Gorou suppressed a moment of regret before Itto adjusted his grip, so their fingers were intertwined. They both looked down at their hands, and then up at each other, and Itto asked, quietly, "Is this okay?"
"Yeah, it's-" (Great? Perfect? Wonderful? Making my heart beat out of my chest, but not in an anxiety way, in an excited happy way? All I've been thinking about the whole day?)
"Fine. Good! Yeah." Ok, well, not what he wanted to say, but a safer option for sure. And there went his tail again, betraying him, of course.
"Okay." Itto smiled, squeezing slightly, and then looked around, grinning at the stars.
"I've always loved space! Seeing all these stars is so cool. It's like we're really there. See there?" Itto pointed. "That one's Trifolium! You can tell because it's basically just a square. It's supposed to be a four leaf clover, I guess, but it just looks like a square to me. And Lapis Dei, obviously, which is the god of Geo's constellation, it doesn't look like much either. I guess most constellations don't really look like much unless you know what you're looking for, but whatever! And over there is-" he cut off, looking down at Gorou.
"Sorry, I'm talking too much again, aren't I? You're just staring at me." Gorou blinked. He had been staring, huh.
"No, please. I love- I love hearing you talk about your interests. You just looked so happy. I'm sorry for staring." He apologized, quickly looking away, looking for the constellation he'd been pointing at.
A warm hand gently slid up his cheek, turning his head back to look at Itto again. It was too dark to say, but Gorou could swear there was a soft blush sitting on his cheeks, and a smile on his face. The look in his eyes made Gorou's breath catch in his throat, but he couldn't look away. He felt entirely helpless to stop himself from rising to his toes, eyes closing, and finally, finally kissing Itto, there in the dark, surrounded by stars.
It was soft, and sweet, and slow, like the world had paused to let them have their moment, but too fast, over too soon. Itto was breaking the kiss and straightening up to crow "YES! I've wanted to do that for so long!" And Gorou grinned, heart full, before grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him back down for another.
"Inside voices, Itto, we don't want to get kicked out quite yet." He said quietly, foreheads pressed together.
"I mean, if that's how you're going to shut me up, I'm not thinking I'll be very motivated to- ouch!" He yelped, Gorou pinching his arm. "Rude!"
And, archons above, it was so easy! So simple! To stand there, shoulder to shoulder, looking up at the stars with Itto, bumping his head into his arm a little, face pulling into a grin every time they caught each other's eye. Natural, like they were meant to swing their hands between them as they walked back down the hallway after finishing looking at the last exhibit. Let Itto softly pinch at his chin while waiting to get their coats back. Reluctantly let go of his hand to put the gloves back on as they left.
It looked like it had snowed briefly while they were in the museum, enough that the buildings were dusted with white, and they were glad for the awning they'd parked under, but not enough that the streets were dangerous. This time, Gorou held Itto, heart racing, but with exhilaration.
"I think you'll like this!" Itto shouted over his shoulder, turning… exactly the wrong direction to get home.
And Gorou looked around, realizing why.
The scene he was looking at was picturesque in every way possible. Colorful lights and garlands hung from the storefronts, lanterns hung over the streets with ribbons between them, and the littlest bit of snow swirled through the air gently as they sped through downtown. Gorou saw stands selling toys, kites, flowers, and even what looked like fireworks. He blinked in awe, not registering the cold or the speed anymore.
"It's like a… a… matsuri, isn't it?" He leaned forward to shout into Itto's ear when they stopped at a stoplight.
"Yes! Lantern Rite. A festival they hold here once a year. The actual festival isn't for another few weeks, but they get ready early so there's plenty of time to enjoy it!" Itto called back. The light turned, and they sped off, down a few more decorated streets before Itto turned them back around and headed home.
This time upon pulling into the parking lot, Itto hopped off and wrapped both arms around Gorou's waist, lifting him into a hug that allowed him to straighten his legs and gather his bearings before Itto loosened his arms, sliding his hands to his hips but not pulling away entirely. Gorou did the same, hands resting gently on Itto's chest.
"That was fun," Gorou said, smiling. "We should do it again sometime."
"The museum? Or the kissing??" Itto asked, equal parts enthusiasm and sincerity as always. "Because the museum was fun but so was the kissing and I think the museum would have been less fun without the kissing but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't have been fun at all I'm not saying that I just meant that-"
Gorou grabbed the lapels of Itto's jacket and pulled a little while rising to his toes and Itto stopped speaking immediately, mouth still open and eyes bright.
"How about both?" Gorou murmured, tilting his head the slightest bit, and Itto closed the gap easily.
"I like both!" Itto grinned when Gorou settled back down into his heels. "I'll let you get inside, it's cold out here!"
Gorou shot a glance up to where he could clearly see Kazuha peeking through the blinds and flipped him off quickly, waiting until the shape vanished from behind them to turn back and give Itto, who was now sitting astride the bike with his helmet in his arms.
"I'll… see you Monday?" Gorou asked, suddenly hesitant. Should he be inviting Itto in? Was that too soon? Did he want to go home already? He hadn't cleaned, there was-
His train of thought was interrupted by Itto reaching out a finger and booping him on the nose gently. "I can see you thinking. I'll text you later about the assignment! And then I'll see you Monday!"
"Okay." Gorou nodded.
"One last kiss for the road?" He asked, blinking up at him with pleading eyes.
"Hey, puppy dog eyes are kinda my thing, don't you think?" Gorou laughed, and Itto pouted.
But, with snow in their hair, lights twinkling, breath puffing tiny clouds in the air in front of them, he got his kiss for the road, both of them knowing full well it wouldn't be the last.