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"Shit," Amachi stared at the rain pouring down from the small public toilet at the park, squeezing the hem of his soaked white uniform to get rid of excess water. The weather had been nothing but sunshine and clear skies for the past few weeks, so an umbrella wasn't on his mind when he set off to go out today. "I should've just called a taxi earlier."
He took off his uniform blazer, leaving him in his black undershirt in the freezing weather.
'At least this day couldn't get any worse,' he grumbled. He went to pull out his phone from his pocket to call for a taxi when he suddenly heard footsteps coming from the public restroom behind him, calling to him with a gratingly familiar voice.
"Amachi?"
Amachi cringed as he looked behind him, seeing the bane of his existence looking at him in surprise with a smile.
"Hey! Haven’t seen you since Manji!” Hana exclaimed, then taking in the sight of the drenched white-haired man, “Whoa! Rain caught you in a bad time?"
"No shit, dumbass," Amachi scoffed.
"Yeah, I'm guessing you don't have an umbrella with you either." Hana made a point by opening his own umbrella, one with a design that made Amachi grimace. '300 yard muscle bar?'
"Is your place far from here?" Hana asked, and Amachi shifted his eyes from the umbrella back to the other man.
"It's six stations away."
"You wanna borrow my umbrella? My place is pretty close," Hana offered, and Amachi would rather die than be caught walking around with something like that.
"Drop it," Amachi waved dismissively, "I was planning on getting a taxi anywa– Ah-choo!" he was cut off by his own loud sneeze, which made the other man jump. The feeling of the cold wind combined with his damp shirt made him shiver involuntarily.
He could feel Hana's eyes on him, and he hates how he can see the sympathy clear as day, clearly worried for him.
"Why don't you warm up and shower at my place first?" Hana suggested.
"You can't be fucking serious." Amachi scowled. Though he knew full well Hana absolutely meant what he said.
"I am!" of course he was, "You're going to catch a cold like this!"
Amachi sighed, "and how would your housemates react, hm?" He was well aware that Hana was living in a boarding house with four other people who would want nothing more than to see him dead.
Hana stammered, forgetting about that part. "I- I'm sure they'd understand! Come on!" He took Amachi's hand, and Amachi was too fed up and cold to protest against the smiling chestnut-head anymore.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
They did not understand.
The moment Amachi stepped into the Umehoshi Boarding House behind Hana, he was greeted by Sakota yelling expletives at his face as he was crowded by the other members.
"What the hell is he doing here?!"
"I know, right?" Amachi replied sarcastically, wringing the drenched blazer from his shoulder, ignoring the glares he received from Hana's other housemates.
"Relax! I told him to come here!" Hana chimed in, jumping in front of him like a barrier. "He's just here to borrow the shower!"
"He certainly looks like he needs one," Hana's timid friend, Tora, piped up. Amachi snorted.
"Right! C'mon, Amachi!" He felt Hana moving behind him, pushing him to the hallway. He just sighed and let Hana manhandle him past his housemates. "The downstairs bathroom is right there! I'll bring you a change of clothes."
"Sure," Amachi replied, swiftly shutting himself into the bathroom to avoid any more awkwardness. He quickly shook off his wet clothes and stepped into the wet area shower, turning on the water. He let out a sigh of relief as the hot water quickly warmed him up. He shivered involuntarily as he shook off the feeling of coldness that still lingered, but felt his muscles relax under the warmth.
A knock on the door broke his trance, along with a muffled voice, "Amachi! I'll leave a change of clothes and a towel here!" Hana called out.
"Sure," Amachi called back. He paused briefly before adding, "Thanks."
First year Amachi would never think to utter those words to anyone who's not a service worker. But he wasn’t first year Amachi anymore, was he?
"No problem!" Hana said before closing the main bathroom door again.
Amachi closed his eyes again and sighed, letting himself be lost in thought as he let the hot water rain down on him, trying not to dwell on the fact that he's showering at his long-time rival's house right now. He tried to think about other stuff, his college application letters he was supposed to send this evening to whatever university his father chose for him abroad, the tempura soba he was planning on getting for dinner at his favorite spot, the plans his friends made for tomorrow, anything to take his mind off of how Hana would still be so kind to him after all he'd done.
When the attempts to distract himself from his current predicament failed, Amachi wanted to groan out loud and bang on the wall, but he would rather not call any attention to himself right now. Instead, he simply started furiously rubbing his face in frustration.
He was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he didn't feel his elbow knocking over a glass toothbrush cup before his reflexes kicked in a little too late.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Hana walked back to the dining room after dropping off a clean set of clothes and a towel for Amachi, taking a seat on a chair with all his friends, who were still slightly on edge but had considerably relaxed once they saw him enter.
"Tsk, to think that jackass is in our house with us," Sakota started as he crossed his arms.
"Jeez, calm down! He's just here to borrow the shower! I can't just let him out in the cold like that, can I?"
Tora mumbled, "You could, actually."
"You really are something, huh?" Renji shook his head, still in disbelief that someone so forgiving like Hana could ever exist.
Takumi laughed, pouring himself some juice he pulled from the fridge. "Maybe Amachi could learn a thing or two from this.”
Sakota scoffed, "What? Kindness? Doubt it."
"Yeah, well–"
A sudden crash and a muffled "Ow! Fuck!" came from the bathroom, startling everyone in the dining room.
Hana sprang into action, immediately running first while everyone else mainly just stood around the table, confused and unsure what to do.
"Amachi! Hey!" He banged on the locked door, "Are you okay?! What happened?!"
"Wait, wait- hold on-" was all he heard from inside the bathroom before the door swung open, letting out a puff of steam before finally revealing a grumbling and drenched Amachi leaning on the doorframe, holding the lazily wrapped towel around him. Hana froze momentarily.
"It's nothing, I accidentally knocked a cup and scratched myself," he raised his left arm, showing a long cut running down his lower arm, still bleeding profusely, unbeknownst to Amachi, who was still too busy rubbing the water from his eyes. By the looks of how much blood was dripping, it was definitely not nothing. Though Amachi was not the only one who was bleeding.
"Blood! You're bleeding!" Hana yelled, panicked and worried.
"I am?" Amachi finally opened his eyes, "Wait- why is your nose also–"
"That's not important!" Hana hurriedly tried to drag Amachi out of the shower by his other hand, wiping his bleeding nose haphazardly on his shirt.
Amachi yelped, using his injured hand to hold on to the bathroom doorframe before Hana could drag him further, "Let me put on some pants first, fuck sake!"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
“It was a long cut, but not a deep one, nothing to worry about too much,” Takumi explained as he finished wrapping up the bandage around Amachi's arm after patching him up. He turned to look at Hana, whose nose was stuffed with tissues, with a face as red as a tomato, watching over them with great worry, and then back to Amachi, “What's up with him?”
“Beats me,” he shrugged as he continued toweling his wet hair, clad in nothing but the damp pair of sweats Hana brought for him that he put on too quickly, wincing as he felt the sharp pain of the cut again from moving his arm around too fast.
“Maybhe I'm gatchin' a gold!” Hana exclaimed, pinching his nose to stop the blood from dropping to the floor. Though he was unsure himself, he still said it in his usual joking manner.
Amachi hummed, watching him for a moment before standing up, letting the towel fall from his head to rest on his bare shoulders. Hana had to tilt his head upwards to meet his gaze. Their height difference was always very noticeable when they stood close to each other. Hana raised his brows, still smiling, though his head tilted in confusion. Amachi stepped closer.
The moment Amachi raised his hand, his friends flinched. They sat straighter, fists clenched on the table, though nobody moved from their seats, still waiting to see what he would do.
Hana didn't flinch, nor did he back away. The way Amachi's hand was nearing his face was too slow, too gentle to be anything violent, and when the warm palm of his hand finally touched his forehead, Hana blinked in surprise.
Amachi smirked.
Not his usual sneer, no, but something more playful, more real.
“I thought idiots don't catch colds?” his eyes crinkled, as if amused by his own joke, and Hana let him have this. He let his hand linger on Hana's forehead for a while, longer than he should have for a joke, as if Amachi truly was trying to check his temperature.
Hana stood still, eyes widening as he took in Amachi's expression. The smirk had long dropped to a neutral line and he had this unreadable look to him, like he was studying him, or maybe he was studying himself? Hana wasn't sure. His eyes were on Hana’s face, but he wasn’t making eye contact, instead looking only at his own hand, occasionally dragging his eyes up and down accross his face as well. As simple as it was to understand his motives, Amachi was still a difficult man to read, after all.
“Not a cold,” Amachi muttered under his breath, as if he didn't even want Hana to hear, but he did.
“Maybe the steam?” Hana answered absent-mindedly, utterly distracted by the actions of the other man.
Amachi hummed. “Maybe," he said, louder this time. "Never seen anyone pop a sudden nosebleed like that," his brows scrunched slightly, Hana stared.
"Oh nah, that happens a lot with him," Tora piped up.
Amachi looked amused, his lips twitched upwards again, "Weirdo." Hana didn't respond.
When he finally lifted his hand from Hana's forehead, he promptly turned back to the hallway without another word, still wanting to continue his interrupted warm shower, acting as if nothing unusual happened, leaving Hana standing there frozen, eyes still following him.
“Thanks, Takumi,” he called out casually.
“Yep!” Takumi responded before quickly looking back with amusement at his friends, “Never thought I'd get to hear the Amachi say thanks.”
Renji whistled, “So you did manage to tame him after all, Hana.”
“Huh,” was all he could muster. Amachi really, truly had changed, hadn't he? Though he wasn't sure if he could take all the credit, he was just glad. He was glad Amachi didn't throw his life away, he was glad Amachi actually accepted his offer to help, he was glad to see Amachi acting like a normal person for a change, teasing him in a way that wasn't disrespectful or condescending as usual.
Hana was glad Amachi felt, well, alive.
“Hana-chan, your nose!” Tora fumbled to get more tissues as Hana bled through the ones plugged in his nose.
“Huh? Oh! Oops!”
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
“Well,” Amachi stood at the front door, clad in Hana's plain blue sweater and grey sweats, with the other man seeing him off. The rain had stopped for a while. “See you around.”
“Or you could stay for dinner!”
“Don't push it.”
Hana chuckled, same old Amachi.
“Are you sure you don't want to dry your clothes first?” Hana gestured to the plastic bag Amachi was holding, containing his soaked uniform, “We have a washer and a dryer.”
“I'd rather admit myself to the psych ward than spend any more time with you guys.”
Hana laughed, “You're such a dick!”
“Took you this long to realize?”
And there it was, the same smirk on his face. Cheeky, playful, teasing. ‘Was it always like this?’ Hana thought.
“I'll wash your clothes before giving them back,” Amachi added.
“Uh-huh,” Hana didn't know what else to say.
“Later.”
“Yep!”
And with that, Amachi left briskly.
“Well, that was nice,” Hana mused to himself.
“No shit,” Sakota added behind him, “he was awfully civil, I was kinda looking forward to getting an excuse to bash his head in.”
“Aw, don’t be like that! People can change!”
“And what a change that was,” Takumi laughed, "I gotta tell Shougo about this."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The next day, when Hana got back from his morning jog, he found a paper bag hanging from the front door, containing his clothes neatly folded and ironed. And under that, a full box of kyogashi, the fancy and expensive kind.
“When the hell did he go to Kyoto?” Hana thought out loud.