[log] Kenya & Zaizen

[naniwaspeed]

Who: Oshitari Kenya and Zaizen Hikaru
What: A couple of weeks after Zaizen finds Kenya and Yukari on their date, Kenya and Zaizen get together to study for finals. They talk about their special looooves and playfully rib each other 'cause that's just what they do.
When: Early June
Where: Kenya's place
Rating: G

There was no way Kenya was ever going to admit to Zaizen that he actually really appreciated their regularly scheduled study dates, but it was something that Kenya looked forward to every week. Not just because it was an excuse to not be holed up in his bedroom studying all the time, but that it also meant that he could spend time with one of his favorite people on the whole planet. As fun as it was to interact with him online and he appreciated that Zaizen was so gregarious when he had a screen to hide behind, he also enjoyed their dynamic face to face. First moving to Tokyo he hadn’t been too sure how he was going to handle living so far away and missing out on that banter; it was a relief when Zaizen ended up moving up north, as well.

It was also a great excuse to make sure that Zaizen was eating properly. Kenya knew that he was a little weird about people spending money on him, even though Zaizen was the first to demand that his upperclassmen buy him something from the conbini, it hadn’t escaped Kenya’s notice that he always kept it to things that didn’t have much of a financial impact on Kenya’s wallet. Kenya would have happily forked over more money than would probably really be acceptable as a means of treating Zaizen, but he also respected that he knew when to pick his battles.

But it was definitely a battle that couldn’t be fought at the Oshitari residence - Kenya would ensure that Zaizen couldn’t resist it.

“So, we’ve got fruit and veggies, meat, cheese...” Kenya rummaged around the fridge, pushing things around to get a better look at all of their options. “We’ve got leftovers from dinner the other night that should probably get eaten soon… we could also just be super boring and order a pizza or something.”

Zaizen leaned casually on the counter and watched Kenya all but swim through the Oshitari refrigerator; he could almost envision him with goggles and a snorkel as he pointed out ripe fruit and tempting, already prepared meals like tropical fish.

“Leftovers, fruit, and veggies,” Zaizen decided, extending a leg to prod Kenya’s ass with a socked foot. “And pizza isn’t boring, you ridiculous savage.”

“Hey!” In one fluid motion, Kenya pulled himself out from the fridge, and grabbed Zaizen’s socked foot in his hand. Here he was, just trying to do something nice for his underclassman, and this is how he was repaid - by being poked in the ass. “Keep your feet to yourself.” He gently released Zaizen’s foot, cautiously keeping his hand out to ensure that he was free from the sabotage before turning back to the fridge, looking to see if there were any other potential options.

But pizza was likely to win. He wouldn’t call he and Yuushi food connoisseurs by any sort of stretch of the imagination, but Kenya tried to keep a variety of food in the house if only so that he and Yuushi didn’t resort to downing themselves in nothing but beer and noodles. There were certainly days when Kenya felt like he filled with nothing but noodles. “Should I take that to mean that you want pizza, then? Or should I whip up a fruit and veggie casserole?” Kenya grinned and turned to lean his hip on the fridge door.

Making full eye contact, Zaizen wiggled his toes in Kenya’s grip. They were eventually released, and he went back to his lounge position.

“Fruit and vegetable casserole,” Zaizen made a face like Kenya had just demonstrated his blunt force head trauma. “Don’t order pizza when you have food. Just heat up whatever you have, minus fruit, which should be consumed raw.”

Apparently fruit and vegetable casserole was not going to be a thing - it just figured that Zaizen would rain on his parade. Sigh. “Alright, alright, I’ll heat up food.” Kenya started to remove containers from the fridge that were carefully packed in individual portion sizes so that it was easy to grab and go. Kenya hated waiting. He’d figure out what he wanted to do with the fruits and vegetables after - maybe some sort of tray they could pick on while they studied? “Want something to drink while you wait?”

Considering the speed at which their food would be ready, Zaizen felt that he had made the right choice for them. He peered around the blond at the drinks in the refrigerator and decided, “Tea.” Since he was far from a new guest in the Oshitari home, he helped himself to a glass and plucked one for Kenya too, out of the goodness of his heart. “You probably don’t need the caffeine, though.”

Since Zaizen had graciously taken the glasses out of the cupboard, Kenya busied himself in taking the leftovers out of the storage containers and into something that could be reheated as well. Zaizen was right - caffeine was probably way beyond anything Kenya ever needed to have, but late nights spent studying meant that on occasion coffee was added to his healthy liquid regime of beer.

Kenya grinned and poked at Zaizen’s foot with his own (in retaliation for earlier, of course) as he put the first meal into the microwave. “Yeah, yeah. Prolly not. But something’s gotta get me through school.”

Zaizen was tempted to catch Kenya’s foot on his own, but decided that he didn’t want him to trip (at least not with plates of food). Instead he narrowed his eyes on the blond as if to say I’m watching you.

“I recommend pure sugar,” he suggested. “Active playlists and horror-game playthroughs.”

It was all too easy for Kenya to ignore the eyes burning into the back of his head as he drummed his fingertips on the counter to a random beat in his own head - staying still was definitely not one of his fortes, even if he was not a particularly musically inclined individual and the taps didn’t equate to anything special. “Do you really want me to be hyped up on sugar? Won’t that just make me like an over-hyperactive squirrel? And that’s a really bad idea to have me play horror-games. I’ll take the active playlists, though.”

Ignoring everything that Kenya just said, Zaizen continued to stare and stare, until he ultimately proposed, “You could do all three at the same time. I could film it and go viral as a terrified dancing squirrel.”

“What,” Kenya deadpanned as the microwave dinged indicating that the food was ready. Typical Zaizen - always looking for ways to humiliate his upperclassmen, in particular if it was something that could be done online. He swapped the first serving with the second, and clarified, “That’s a terrible idea.”

After a raised brow, Zaizen said, “Admit that you’ve had worse looks.”

Kenya did sort of twitch like a squirrel, when he held himself from darting off to somewhere.

There was no way Kenya was going to admit to anything as such… but Zaizen was probably right. “I’ll give you that one, but I’m not going to take any of your teasing for it, so don’t even try.” As he spoke, the microwave dinged a second time, and Kenya removed the dish. “But lucky for both of us, food is ready.”

“In all fairness, you probably already did,” Zaizen pointed out, taking up one of the dishes. “Are we eating out here, or in your room?”

He didn’t really care either way, but he assumed they weren’t going to eat standing at the counter (at least, he wasn’t).

“Uh… let’s set up at the table. It’ll make it easier to spread everything around.” Kenya picked up his own food and led the way into the dining room where Kenya had already left his books from a late night study session. As much as possible he tried to separate the places he studied from the places that he relaxed, so he didn’t develop some terrible habit of mixing the two, and fortunately the Oshitari residence had more than enough space to support it. Yuushi wasn’t a particularly loud person, and in fact was much more reserved than his boisterous cousin, but the both of them alone in a big house did mean that Kenya had the liberty of sprawling.

Kenya put down the dish and plopped down in his chair, lifting one of his legs to rest his foot against his inner thigh. The position would help him from jittering too badly and he didn’t exactly want the table to be jittering along with him.

Zaizen nodded and assisted in bringing the plates and moving Kenya’s books enough to keep them safe. He made sure to preserve any page numbers before moving stuff.

After he settled down more neatly and gracefully for Kenya, Zaizen murmured a thank you for the food and asked, “How are you doing with the studying?” The sort of material they worked on couldn’t possibly be more different.

Kenya mimicked the motion before digging in with his chopsticks to get a good helping of food on it before plopping it in his mouth. He chewed, looking thoughtful, as his eyes grazed along the spines of his textbooks. He actually felt decently good about this particular term - the subject matter was more interesting than some of the classes that had come before them, and he had the opportunity to get hands on. As much as he was studious, he definitely learned best when he could actually start doing rather than considering the theory.

“It’s going pretty well, actually.” He held the chopsticks loosely in his right hand, and leaned his elbow on the table. “Definitely not exciting as some of the stuff you get to do, but it’s pretty cool.”

Zaizen helped himself. Since Akaya left for France, his full meals had been pretty much limited to ones he received from the restaurant; the smorgasboard of leftover food suited him just fine.

“Mm,” he took his time chewing, because no matter what it would take him at least twice as long as Kenya to eat. “So for all your talk, you don’t really regret your major.”

Which he mostly knew.

“Nah, not at all.” And it was true - there was little more in the world than Kenya wanted to do than to pursue his studies in medicine. For as much as the family pressure to do so was crippling and left him feeling horrible anxiety that would creep up on him at the most random of times (usually when it was naturally least wanted), he also knew that his family was only applying that pressure because they knew it was something that he wanted; they didn’t want to see him fail.

He played a bit with his food for a moment before clarifying, “I mean, at times I want to quit. It’s just a lot, y’know?” While his Osaka dialect had not waned in the time he had been living in Tokyo, it always did seem to become worse when he was with others from Kansai. “But then I just think of the difference I could make in kids’ lives, and… yeah.”

Zaizen nodded; although he didn’t have the same pressures, he understood what made Kenya tick and why it was both so difficult and so crucial for him.

“That, and I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that you’re not alone anymore,” he smirked and nudged Kenya’s foot between bites. Not that Kenya was actually alone -- first he had his cousin, Yuuji, and Shiraishi in the area, then Zaizen moved as well, and now Yukari.

Kenya mimicked the motion on Zaizen’s foot. “That’s true,” he said with a laugh before shovelling another bite of food into his mouth with his chopsticks. While he very much knew that Zaizen was referring to Yukari, it was the perfect time to deflect because why not. “Everything got better when you came here, Hikaru.”

“Yeah, you missed me so much,” Zaizen said at a sarcastic drawl. “Pining, practically.”

He let Kenya knock his foot back and focused on a few more flavorful bites of leftovers, which were probably more filling than anything he had eaten since Akaya ordered takeout just for him. “Did you have pictures of me in your sock drawer?”

“I always pine for… wait, sock drawer?” Kenya tilted his head with a puzzled expression. He was sure that it was likely some sort of lewd joke, but he wasn’t certain what precisely he would have been implying. “Like… where I keep my secrets or something?”

Zaizen rolled his free hand vaguely, as if to rid Kenya’s silly head of the confusion. “Generic hiding place for a thing being hidden badly.”

Even Kenya probably wasn’t so obvious as to keep his secrets there; that lunacy was reserved for people like his brother. “Though with how much you run, you probably have enough socks to actually lose things in there.”

Oh - of course. Zaizen was absolutely right - the sock drawer was a place that Kenya wouldn’t think twice about hiding something, but he knew that it was a common resting place for those lacking creativity. And he certainly wasn’t wrong about the socks, either; he had way more pairs of socks than any one person could possibly need, but he also went through several a day between his runs, school, and tennis practice.

“Nope, not hiding things in there. But I’m not losing things there, either!” Kenya laughed, taking another bite of food, and chewing thoughtfully. “I do have plenty of places where I might keep my prized shrine of you, though…”

“What kind of shrine are we walking here, how big?” Zaizen asked with mirth in his eyes and gathered all of his rice to one edge of the plate for easy scooping. “Should I apply to a wax museum? How big are each of the Shiraishi’s?”

Because of course he had to determine whether or not it was fair.

Kenya was about to humor Zaizen with how big exactly he was going to make the shrine of his former doubles partner, until the specific comment about the Shiraishis. He tried his best not to choke on his mouthful of food, and took a moment to lay his chopsticks with the tips resting against a holder. It was no secret that Kenya was an easy target for teasing for his apparent romantic attraction to Shiraishi (which wasn’t a thing, he would assure everyone every time), but to insinuate that he would have multiple wax statues of them…

“What the hell, I’m not gonna make wax things out of the Shiraishis. Oh my god.” Kenya didn’t even want to think what that would look like, anyway. “Besides, why would there be multiple Shiraishis? There would definitely only be one, if there were going to be any at all.” Not that he was dumb enough to not follow the rabbit down that hole, but even so.

Zaizen took a bite and smirked around his chewing. He savored the flavor along with Kenya’s dramatics.

After swallowing, he pointed out, “one for each Shiraishi. And I didn’t imply that you would make them, I implied that you already had.”

Kenya made a face as he picked back up his chopsticks and shoveled another mouthful of food into his mouth. “That’s weird,” he said decisively once he had swallowed and took another big bite as though it was going to help him rid of the image of having wax figures of the Shiraishi siblings. “Besides, everyone knows it’d be the oldest Shiraishi sibling, anyway.” Well, if you couldn’t beat them, might as well join them.

“Mm,” Zaizen hummed in agreement as he put some of his own food in Kenya’s plate. As he was getting full, he might as well pass off food to the one burning the most calories. “Yukari-chan is a very tolerant girlfriend.”

Moving his hand out of the way to let Zaizen pile food on his plate, Kenya waited patiently before digging back in. “What do you mean she’s a ‘tolerant’ girlfriend? Just what do you think she thinks of me?” Not that Kenya could argue that too much, Yukari was indeed very tolerant of Kenya’s goofy ways, but that wasn’t what he wanted their shining quality to be.

Leaning back from his now empty plate, Zaizen stared blankly at Kenya and said, “She thinks you have weird taste in sculptures.”

He picked up his glass and brought it to his lips, more to mask the smallest spark of a smile than to actually consume anything. “But I can’t think of two idiots who deserve each other more.” After all, Zaizen Hikaru did have high standards for his friends; since they found each other, he had less vetting to do in the future.

It didn’t take much longer for Kenya to also have an empty plate. He sat his chopsticks down, briefly touched his hands together to acknowledge the end of the meal, and turned so that he could face Zaizen properly. “I mean, she doesn’t actually think that I have sculptures of her and her brother, but...”

“Thanks. We’re really happy.” It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that Zaizen was just trying to mask a smile rather than taking a drink, but he would let him get away with it without comment. Yet, that didn’t mean that he was going to be the only one talking about this kind of stuff. Kenya smiled brightly and lifted his other leg so he could sit cross legged instead. “But, enough poking fun at me. How about you?”

“Me?” this time Zaizen really did take a pull of his drink. “I’m pretty sure that Yukari-chan doesn’t think I have a sculpture of Shiraishi either.”

Because there was never enough poking fun at Kenya. Never.

Zaizen knew fully what Kenya meant, but it didn’t seem like he was going to be able to get it out of Zaizen that way. Which was fine - all it meant was that Kenya needed to be a bit more blunt in order to start the conversation, which wasn’t too far from his usual tactics anyway. He laughed, resting his cheek on the heel of his hand. “Of course she doesn’t. She’d probably assume that it was someone else instead.”

That loaded suggestion dangled in front of him like embarrassment bait.

“She knows that I have a voodoo doll of you,” Zaizen leaned back in his seat coolly. “Does that count, senpai?”

And then of course, naturally, Kenya should have known better because clearly trying to get Zaizen to spill the beans through bluntless was definitely not the way to go about it if he didn’t want to receive responses such as that. Which really only left one possible method, and that was just to assume unless told otherwise.

In all reality, it wasn’t even that Kenya wanted to tease Zaizen. In fact, it was more that he was really glad that whatever the thing was between he and Kirihara, it obviously made Zaizen happy. Ultimately, as one of his best friends, that’s all Kenya ever wanted for him. Of course, it wasn’t exactly fair to have one-sided teasing, but wasn’t that always the case with Zaizen?

“Okay, okay,” Kenya said, waving his hand. “You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to. I just wanted you to know that I’m happy for you regardless.”

Zaizen looked anywhere but at Kenya. “If you have happy feelings to spare maybe I should make use of that doll,” he muttered and lightly kicked Kenya under the table.

Senpai were the actual worst.

“Make it walk super, super slow. Extremely slow. Everyone will make fun of you.”

As Zaizen spoke, Kenya regarded him, as though to see if he could could a crack in his expression. When Zaizen made it very clear that he wasn’t going to look back at Kenya (deftly highlighted by a kick to the shin that Kenya just ignored), nor really acknowledge Kenya’s words at all, Kenya frowned a little. He had thought they were past this - that being just the two of them, maybe they could talk a little more openly about stuff like relationships and love, and things that otherwise Kenya didn’t really have an outlet for because of the nature of his own relationship and there was only so many times he could talk about it with his girlfriend directly. It also didn’t really seem all that fair to endure teasing about he and Yukari if it didn’t mean they couldn’t at least acknowledge, no teasing necessary, what had been going on in Zaizen’s life.

But Kenya wasn’t going to push it. He didn’t really have the drive nor the care to - he was getting kinda tired of being blown off by others for one, and for another it truly wasn’t any of his business. He could quietly champion Zaizen without saying the words directly, if that was his preference. Wasn’t really going to affect Kenya, either way.

“Yeah, I bet they would,” Kenya said in response, somewhat absently, as he pushed himself up to his feet and gathered the plates. “I’m gonna put these away - you want anything else before we start studying?”

“....No.”

Zaizen continued to not look at Kenya, but the longer he looked away the more pink his ears became. It wasn’t like him to be so indirect. And it wasn’t that he didn’t trust Kenya.

Just. He had never said it out loud before. Like if he said a thing now, everything between Hikaru and Akaya would be exposed.

But. Looking at Kenya’s clouded, almost disappointed expression...Maybe it was time to start being brave. Just a little. To someone who knew better than to push him.

“...but. Thanks, Kenya-san,” he said. “For your stupid happy feelings.”

Because fuck it was kind of comforting to know that he wasn’t the only person in the world having them.

To hide the extreme redness on his face, he stole the plates — faster than even Kenya — to go on and bring them to the sink for a vigorous wash.

A bit startled as the blur known as Zaizen left as quickly as he came, Kenya blinked at the space his former doubles partner occupied mere moments prior. It took a moment for his brain to catch up with the rest of his body, but once it had, Kenya found himself smiling brightly. It was just somehow very Zaizen to downplay something like that by means of his usual proclamations of things like “stupid” or “ew.” And in his books, feelings were definitely very stupid.

Kenya held off for a few moments, giving Zaizen some lead time in washing those dishes, before he too went into the kitchen. He grabbed a dish towel before stepping up beside Zaizen, and gently picked up one of the wet dishes to begin drying.

“I’ve got a lot more of stupid happy feelings if you want them,” he said, bumping Zaizen’s shoulder with his own. “I’ll even give them to you for free if you want ‘em.”

Focusing on the dishes somewhat mitigated Zaizen’s embarrassment. He stared at his sudsy hands under the hot running water and thought that it hadn’t been...bad, saying it aloud. The feeling in his stomach might even be good, but it was too weird to identify that particular sickness.

Still, he glared at Kenya when he arrived, but the expression was too mild to even cut Kenya’s warm, buttery exterior. “Sure,” he said, handing Kenya a plate. “I’ll pickle them for later.”

“Pickle them?” Kenya laughed, drying the plate, and putting it back into the cupboard. “Why would you wanna pickle feelings? Gonna eat ‘em?” He waited patiently for the next and also began to dry that one before putting it with the others. “I doubt they’d taste very good, but…”

Kenya moved so that he could rest back against the counter, crossing his legs at the ankle. “D’you wanna actually talk about it? Or are you not there yet?” It was an honest question - he could tell that there was a softer tone underlying the usual Zaizen glare, but he didn’t want to push it if Zaizen wasn’t ready.

“It’s pretty common to eat your feelings, Kenya-san,” Zaizen pointed out and put a plate on the rack for Kenya to dry and put away eventually.

Maybe less common to pickle them, but he had a feeling that Kenya might be a little too sweet otherwise.

“It’s not...that,” Zaizen frowned and focused on the plate while he struggled to articulate his feelings on the matter. “It’s just. I don’t really know what to say other than what you already know….that I’m happy and stuff.”

Methodically, Kenya picked up the plate, dried it, and then put it into the cupboard all without moving from his spot leaned up against the counter. “Eat your feelings maybe, but not pickle them. Most people would, like… eat a tub of ice cream or something.”

As Zaizen spoke, Kenya took it as an opportunity to watch him out of the corner of his eye. Not outright staring or anything, he knew Zaizen hated to be put on the spot enough as is without being closely watched by his former upperclassman, but admittedly he was curious about this development and how Zaizen felt about it. When he and Yukari had made their relationship official, it took all of Kenya’s willpower to not just shout it from the rooftops - the only thing that had been holding him back was the fact that he and Yukari had agreed to keep it on the down low. But Kenya was overall just a much more expressive person than Zaizen, and based on his reaction and what Kenya knew of his friend, it was entirely possible that this was the first time he was even acknowledging it outside of the relationship itself.

It seemed glaringly obvious by the way Zaizen and Kirihara interacted with one another online, but Zaizen wasn’t exactly one to shy away from public flirting even with someone who he wasn’t attached to in a different light.

“Well, and I’m glad that you’re happy,” Kenya said with a smile, gently bouncing the foot crossed at the ankle. “But like… how about when did it happen~? How did it happen~? That kinda stuff.” Now he was probably stretching, but hey, might as well see if he could get any details.

Dishes and bubbles were fascinating. Endlessly fascinating. Zaizen watched them crowd his knuckles and pop every so often as he scrubbed the cups probably longer than necessary.

“It happened...slowly, I think,” Zaizen said. Slowly and then all at once. “We had a...cuddle experiment. Contest?” he had never actually said those words out loud. God. Maybe he could just crawl into the sink and drown. Instead, he muttered, “Eventually his face was just so stupid that I told him I wanted to to kiss it.”

Akaya, of course, had the option to avoid the kiss completely.

Kenya smiled brightly. That was exceptionally cute - somehow it just seemed like them to do something like that if their interactions online were anything to go by. Admittedly, what Kenya remembered about Kirihara from tennis over the years is that while he was a wildcard on the court, outside of tennis he always appeared to be high spirited and energetic, but easy to rile up. And Zaizen was nothing if not someone who could easily get under one’s skin.

It was a good match. Zaizen could use that sort of influence in his life. Of course Kenya gave that to him to a certain degree, but it had never been anything other than close friendship; there was something different about being in a relationship. Kenya hadn’t quite realized how much it differed until Yukari; even the way their friendship blossomed over the years leading to the romantic entanglement was different than his other friendships.

“In your defense, his face is pretty stupid,” Kenya agreed, gently disengaging the cup from Zaizen’s hand, letting it run under the faucet for a moment before taking the towel to it. “I’d personally more call it ‘stupidly cute,’ but that’s just me.” It was certainly much more direct than Kenya’s own beginnings of a relationship - where they circled around the subject for months before Yukari finally had the courage to ask. “Was the cuddle thing, or whatever, a way to see who would break first? That sort of contest?”

“Right?” Zaizen agreed emphatically about his boyfriends stupid, dumb, cute face before he remembered that he was supposed to not want to talk about it. Having run out of things to wash, dried his hands with the dishcloth and turned to lean against the sink with crossed arms. A single shake of his head later, he said, “To see if I could get him to fall asleep every time.”

And well, it worked after a time. Just sometimes they ended up making out quite a bit first.

“So...you and Yukari-chan,” he said, more direct than he had been before. “How long?”

Somewhere in the very depths of Kenya’s mind he felt that he had heard something about Kirihara and sleep, probably at the tennis camp they had all attended… but he couldn’t place what it was. Not that it really mattered, of course, but… “That’s kinda sweet,” he said as he finished drying the rest of the dishes to be put away.

“Me and Yukari?” He parroted, also leaning back against the counter. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to rest, but it would be as good as anything. It wasn’t as though Kenya wasn’t game to put studying off to the side as much as possible. “I mean, do you want to know officially or unofficially? ‘Cause if it’s the former, Christmas Eve. If it’s the latter, well…”

Were Kenya to be completely honest with himself, it had been years. It was a slow build, he didn’t recognize it for what it was becoming at the time, but looking back on it now, he knew full well that he had been falling in love. “...A while,” he concluded a bit sheepishly.

Zaizen knew it was kind of sweet -- probably more than kind of sweet -- so he chose to ignore that comment entirely.

“Mmm.” Part of him knew that he should probably care more about secrets being kept from him, but honestly, Zaizen couldn’t care less. It was a private thing, feeling safe enough to talk about it. However, he could think of someone who would probably have more of a bone to pick with the furtive couple. “He’s not going to hate you, you know,” Zaizen said, nudging Kenya as he walked past him toward where they left their study materials. “Shiraishi-san.”

Kenya knew as well as he did the longer they kept the secret, the more damage it could cause.

Dutifully Kenya followed Zaizen back to their study spot, resuming his place at the table with his leg pulled up on the chair, and foot pressed against his thigh. Zaizen didn’t need to say a single word to bring to the forefront something that Kenya had been turning around and around in his head since the moment Yukari said yes.

It was… complicated. They had made the decision right from the get go that they weren’t going to tell Shiraishi. Ultimately Kenya didn’t think it was really his place to, anyway - even if he was the best friend, Yukari was still the younger sister, and it would be entirely up to her how she wanted to handle the situation. But Kenya really just didn’t know how Shiraishi was going to react… while he didn’t doubt that Zaizen was correct, Shiraishi wouldn’t hate him, Kenya just wasn’t convinced that it couldn’t somehow affect their relationship.

“Yeah, I know.” He reached for his textbook, then his pencil case, and started to rifle through to collect supplies he’d need to mark up the text. “It’s just, y’know, kinda awkward. I mean, who wants to be the best friend dating the little sister?” Kenya laughed a little, twirling a highlighter back and forth between his fingers.

Zaizen shrugged as he sat down and tapped a few keys on his electronic keyboard. “Who wants to be the brother and best friend kept out of the loop?”

It was nothing Kenya didn’t know already, really. “I’m not...judging. I get...wanting to keep it for yourself,” after all, Zaizen had done the same thing for a good amount of time. “But maybe both of you should talk about trusting a little more. Before it becomes too big and people find out the wrong way.”

If Zaizen were honest, Kenya and Yukari were pretty goopy together online. And in person. They weren’t the kind of people who could hide affection.

Zaizen definitely did have a point - that much was not lost on Kenya. It wasn’t like it hadn’t been something that Kenya had turned around in his head for months prior to even considering there was a possibility that the romantic relationship could come to fruition. He hadn’t thought of it in the matter of trust, though - that didn’t seem quite right, but he understood how that’s how it could feel to a third party. And that was certainly not taking into considering that Shiraishi could see it that way…

“I don’t feel that it’s a matter of trust or not having trust because obviously there’s a large amount of trust between all of us, but…” Kenya frowned a little. “Thanks for the perspective, though. I’ll give that thought. I definitely don’t want it to turn into this whole big deal, just Kura as you know has been a little... ”

Zaizen could only shrug -- he said what he intended to say.

“A little, yeah…” he agreed, because he didn’t know how else to explain the mental state of their former captain. “But, more reason to actually strategize. After finals -- I think everyone is distracted enough with that for now.”

Obviously Kenya and Yukari’s relationship wasn’t about Shiraishi. For practical purposes, however, they would have to consider him if they wanted to be happy together.

And Kenya knew that the right thing would be to tell Shiraishi - sooner, rather than later. Even if for whatever reason it were to turn their friendship south, the last thing Kenya would ever want is for something to happen in the relationship between Shiraishi and his sister. Shiraishi wasn’t the sort to become so wrapped up in things like relationships, anyway, he truly was the sort who would want above all else for the couple to be happy. Kenya just needed to hold onto that instead of the anxiety that spread lies to his thoughts telling him that wasn’t actually the case.

“Yeah, definitely,” Kenya agreed, flicking the highlighter up in the air before catching it and putting it on the table with his pencils. “I wanna talk to Kura ‘bout stuff, anyway. I think he just needs his friends, y’know?”

“Except me,” Zaizen drawled, a bit of humor tugging on the corner of his lips. “Probably he doesn’t need another swim in the river.”

Kenya and Yuuji were more suited to tackle this kind of problem. Zaizen would leave it in their capable and much more sympathetic hands.

Kenya laughed, flopping over the table to drape his arms over his unopened textbook. Studying could come later; he was just enjoying Zaizen’s time. “Oh yeah? Did you push him?”

Playing an idle scale, Zaizen hummed along and answered, “Potentially. If I did, he definitely 100% deserved it and received my message loud and clear.”

The message being I know anxiety is difficult and all but I miss my friend so stop being a jerk please and thank you.

There was little doubt that Shiraishi would have gotten Zaizen’s message just fine - he was intuitive like that, even when there were times that he wasn’t himself. There was a conversation that Kenya wanted to have with Shiraishi, too, even putting aside anything he needed to do for the sake of his and Yukari’s relationship. He was concerned for him, just as Zaizen was, and he was hoping that he would be able to help his best friend... if even just a little bit.

“I’m sure he did,” Kenya said reassuringly, reaching out as though on reflex to gently push some of Zaizen’s bangs out of his face as he played. “Thanks for looking out for him, Hikaru.”

The strangely gentle caress made him stop and frown. Zaizen knew better than to expect his touchy feely senpai to keep his limbs to himself, but still.

“Yeah, well,” it was impossible to tell if Zaizen was embarrassed, the way he looked down at his keyboard. “You guys are up now. Ganbatte.”

Kenya watched Zaizen quietly for a moment, resting his cheek in his hand. It was a random thought, and Kenya wasn’t entirely sure where it came from, but it made him feel really proud to experience the man that Zaizen had become. Many of the same biting qualities that made the entering first year so charming when they first met were still present, some of which came out more vehemently now than it had back then back even, but he had also blossomed into a man full of confidence and maturity who Kenya perceived to be more comfortable with himself.

And never in a billion years would he have been so open about something like a new relationship back then. That was fun to see.

Taking far too long admiring Zaizen to the point where he was probably going to deserve any snarky remark Zaizen wished to dish out, Kenya came back into motion, leaning back in his chair and pulling closer his textbook to actually begin reviewing. “Yup, we’ll take care of it.” He opened the book and flipped through the pages to get to the chapter he needed. “Might need to resort to dumping him on his sister, though,” he tacked on with a laugh.

Zaizen couldn’t be sure what Kenya was thinking, what with all of that staring into space. Most likely rehearsing for a BL drama, he thought, deciding that dating a woman really wasn’t a true barrier to that possibility.

“You’re making it weird,” Zaizen complained, pulling a music text protectively close. “I might need to resort to dumping you on Yukari, too.”

“Wouldn’t be me if it wasn’t weird,” Kenya said decisively, though a grin still tugged on his lips. “I don’t think Yukari would mind, that’s kinda the point of dating, y’know.” And of course, there was definitely no way that Kirihara would complain if Kenya had dumped Zaizen on him, too.

“Weird and gross,” Zaizen concluded, any of the vitriol that could have made that comment burn was absent from his tone. “I almost feel bad for Yukari.”

But he didn’t.

The words were familiar - comforting in a way, even though anyone would overhear their conversation and wonder in what world would that ever be comforting, but Kenya knew the utmost fondness by which Zaizen spoke, especially with the decisive lack of his usual tone.

Kenya untipped the highlighter and ran it over a couple of lines of text as he skimmed over the pages and said teasingly, “Her eyelashes are definitely too pretty and her face too dumb to feel bad for, anyway. Just like Kirihara.”

Zaizen narrowed his eyes. The only appropriate response to that was the one Kenya got: a crumpled piece of paper to the side of his head.

Stupid, Zaizen thought privately, ignoring the equally dumb, contented smile on his own features.