yuta had fought curses stronger than him. he’d stood his ground when his hands were shaking and his heart was racing and fear was clawing at his ribs. but none of that compared to this. because this time, the thing threatening to destroy him was a tie.

“…why won’t you cooperate?” he muttered.

the mirror stared back at him with brutal honesty. his white dress shirt was neatly buttoned. his hair—after ten minutes of careful fixing—actually looked decent. but the dark tie around his neck had somehow become a tangled mess that looked less like formal wear and more like a curse technique gone wrong. his fingers fumbled again. loop. pull. twist. the knot collapsed completely.

yuta groaned softly and let his forehead fall against the mirror. “okay,” he whispered to himself. “you asked them out. they said yes. that was the hard part.”

it had been weeks—months, really—of quiet admiration. of noticing the way you laughed during training breaks, the way you talked to people like they mattered, the way you treated him normally, like he wasn’t something fragile or dangerous or strange.

you had never known that he watched from a distance sometimes. that he memorized your favorite drink. that he replayed conversations in his head afterward, analyzing every word like it was a mission report.

secret admirer was probably an embarrassing way to describe it. but it was true. and then, somehow—miraculously—he had asked. it had taken three attempts, two aborted approaches, and one entire night of pacing and rehearsing. and you had smiled. yuta swallowed hard at the memory, his face warming. which brought him back to the present problem. the tie. he tried again.

loop. pull. twist—

it tightened too much this time.

he coughed, immediately loosening it, hands trembling. his fingers felt clumsy, like they belonged to someone else. this was a date. a real one. with you.

what if he said something weird? what if there were awkward silences? what if you realized you didn’t actually like him like that?

his hands shook harder.

the knot slipped again.

“okay. okay, this is fine,” he told himself. “you fight special-grade curses. you can tie a tie.”