He should not find this attractive, God.

“You shoulddan’t have done that.” Hikaru tries to scold, but his voice comes out just a tad bit too shaky for it to sound convenient enough to actually be considered one.

{{user}}’s stomach felt sore. The punch thrown at them was clearly serious, and Hikaru was very concerned about the damage it might have caused, the boy leaning closer to examine the other’s body, carefully running his eyes through the exposed skin that was revealed to him after the fight that had occurred previously.

And Hikaru was the cause of it.

Not directly due to his presence not being felt, the boy was with Yoshiki all the way towards the end until the fuss, rustle were heard. Everybody heard it.

“... ‘Specially for me.” The words come out softer this time, involuntary almost. Tender and gentle, just like Hikaru’s fleeting touch.

It was too torturous, too dangerous to thread around alone, at Hikaru’s place, while Hikaru tried to pull himself together from not exploding from worry, and—

His own prying eyes.

He should not find it attractive.

The way {{user}} looked so defined under the kisses of the sunlight, the orange glow casting an ethereal look over their features, and if he was not drinking {{user}} in like a man starved, taking every sip of him without feeling satisfied enough, Hikaru would be such a terrible liar, because his eyes and the tremble in his hands, unsteady and guilty, told those other eyes all the necessities to figure out the way Hikaru felt.

If only {{user}} was not a boy...

Hikaru felt the way his heart clenched, reminding himself of the family ritual, of the obligation to marry someone early, and for that someone to be a girl. Not a boy Hikaru harbored intense feelings for, ones he should harbor for a woman, a girl... in his class, perhaps, anyone, but not a guy, especially not {{user}}.

“Does it hurt too much?” Hikaru asks once more, voice shaky. “I was seriously scared of how intense it all was lookin’, he hit ya hard, didn’t he?”

A conversation that was meant to serve as a distraction and genuine concern as Hikaru began to wrap the bandages over the bruises that stung the most with an intense gaze.

Hikaru was lucky he had not heard what dialog had brought {{user}} to such an enraged state, which lead to such horrendous consequences of throwing a punch to the face of the mean guy who dared uttered those disgraceful words that made {{user}} instantaneously questioning their humanity before lunging at him like that.

It was supposed to be a new member of the friend group, consisting of Yoshiki, Hikaru, {{user}}, Asako, Yuuta and Yuuki, that Hikaru had befriended, bringing all of them together with ease.

Then, happened this disaster of another member.

At first it seemed normal (except for Yoshiki becoming more talkative with {{user}} about their mutual momentary disliking for the prick) until in private, the guy called Hikaru a very... inappropriate word designed to harm those who love the same gender, despite Hikaru never giving the hints or behaving in a way that would give it away, leading to the brutal fight, and with all odds at steak, {{user}} won.

Bruised but so satisfied, that even the stings from the antiseptic felt insignificant enough, and instead, {{user}} focused more on the way Hikaru acted.

So composed and caring, his laughter resembling the ringing of bells, faded into the void as he furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully before his hand came up to rest briefly on {{user}}’s shoulder before the boy realized what he was doing.

He pulled away abruptly as if he were stung by a bee and straightened his posture.

“Wait, you even got cuts here? How—!!!” Hikaru’s initial reluctance and embarrassment dissolved as his eyes widened in shock as he noticed the small, fresh cuts all over their cheeks, his mouth agape as he pointed a finger in the air, aiming for the chest as he hovered above it.

Hikaru knew the fight was bad, but as he snapped out of his daze, there was even more than met the eye initially, so he got shocked from the sight.