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“chihiiiiiroooooo,” kiibo whines, wandering into their sister’s room and slumping on their bed.
“hm? what’s up, kiicchan?” she asks, not looking up from her laptop.
“i think i have a cruuuush,” they complain.
chihiro slams her laptop shut.
“you what.”
kiibo blushes brightly. “if you’re going to make a big deal about it then i’m not going to tell you!”
“noooo, kiicchan, please!” chihiro begs. “c’mon, i just want the best for my itty bitty baby sib!” (she’s five months older than them.) “kiiiiiiicchaaaaaaan! spill the teeeeeaaaaa!”
they sigh. “it’s… saihara-kun.”
chihiro grins. “saihara? really? i mean, i caught you staring at him in his yukata at tanabata—”
“i was not staring!”
“—but i didn’t think you, like, like-liked him!” she stands up and grabs her nail polish bag. “c’mon, i’ll do your nails while we talk.”
“and, he’s just so kind and stuff,” kiibo rants, “he’s so smart, too, and he laughs at all my jokes, and,”
“your standards are pretty low,” says chihiro, swiping a gentle coat of glittery gold over kiibo’s nails. they huff at her, and she shrugs. “why are you booing me? i’m right.”
“my standards aren’t low!” kiibo complains.
“‘he laughs at all me jokes’ quoth iidabashi kiibo, 2022,” chihiro says. she finishes the nails on their right hand and picks up her phone, typing something. (probably texting her girlfriend.)
“says the girl who fell for the first buff girl she saw at the gym?”
“hey! sakura’s so much more than just a cute buff girl!”
the doorbell rings.
“go get it,” kiibo says. chihiro shakes her head, her shoulder-length hair swishing.
“no, you go get it.”
“my nails are drying!”
“and i’m working on a time-sensitive project for dad. go get it.”
kiibo sighs and gets up.
they open the door (taking care not to smudge their nail polish) and see…
saihara shuichi.
fuck.
their face heats up in precisely two milliseconds. “a-ah! saihara-kun! what’s up?”
shuichi grins (in that self-deprecating way he likes to grin), scratching the nape of his neck (where his ponytail lies, and fuck, that’s cute). “ah, iidabashi-san! um, your sister said she wanted me to come over?”
they knew it. of course chihiro is behind this. she’s such a gremlin.
“ah, really? she’s in the middle of a time-sensitive programming thing for her dad,” kiibo says—then, taking care not to trip over their own sentances, they add, “but if you want, y-you can hang out with me instead?”
shuichi’s cheeks turn a bit pink. “i-i’d love that, iidabashi-san.”
fuck.
he is really very cute.
shuichi and chihiro are best friends. (have been for a while, actually—before taichi and chihiro moved in with kiibo and their father, shuichi was their next-door neighbor.)
but slowly (and with some encouragement on their sister’s part), kiibo begins to earn that spot as well.
“hey, iidabashi-san, wanna go get some taiyaki?” shuichi asks. kiibo shakes their head.
“my sensory issues don’t really let me eat most meat, for some reason,” they explain. shuichi’s eyes light up.
“sensory issues? are you autistic too?”
“ah, yes! so you are too?”
“um, yeah, i am! i’ve gotten pretty good at masking, but yeah!”
kiibo’s smile might take up their whole face.
finally, there’s somebody who really, truly understands them.
“yo, iidabashi, who’s your simp target?” calls kiibo’s best friend from across the lunchroom. they bristle, speed-walking over to her.
“not so loud, iruma-san!”
miu just sniggers. “please, i know you’ve been wanting to bone somebody for a while, just tell me who it is!”
“with your loud mouth? no way!”
she blushes, eyes watering. “l-loud mouth?”
“wow, getting wet at such a small comment?” says kokichi, popping up from underneath a table. “nishishi, you really are a whore!”
“wh-whore?!” miu exclaims, seemingly collapsing into a sniveling mess.
“hey, don’t get your panties soaked!” he scolds. “i’m here to get the dirt on iidabashi-chan’s detective lover!”
“detective?!” kiibo asks. “d-don’t be ridiculous, ouma! saihara-kun and i aren’t dating!”
“i never said saihara-chan,” kokichi says. “how’d you know i wasn’t talking about kirigiri-chan or samidare-chan, huh?”
“y-you—!”
“yeah, yeah, your reaction told me all i needed to know.”
sitting together on the rooftop to study, shuichi and kiibo’s hands brush.
“ah, sorry,” kiibo says.
“y-yeah,” shuichi replies.
the thing is, neither of them are looking at their books or their homework. they’re looking at each other.
“saihara-kun,” kiibo whispers, “you’ve got hair in your eyes.”
they gently brush the navy strand out of saihara’s face. their gazes lock for a moment, and kiibo’s heart is thumping, and they’re wondering if this might be just like the shoujo mangas tsumugi’s always yammering about, and then—
“saihara-kun! there you are!” kaede shouts, bursting onto the rooftop.
“kuzuryuu-kun!” shuichi greets them, suddenly pulling away from kiibo.
“ah, are we interrupting something?” asks (speak of the devil) tsumugi, a glint in her eye.
“n-no! nothing at all!” shuichi stammers.
“are you sure? no developing romance?” she teases.
“sh-shut up, shirogane! you’ve got it all wrong, th-there’s nothing between iidabashi-san and i!”
“y-yeah,” kiibo says, halfheartedly. “nothing.”
(they cry in a supply closet for seven and a half minutes.)
“hey, i-iidabashi-san,” says shuichi. kiibo walks past him, ignoring him like they have for the past two weeks. it hurts, but they need to stop leading themself on. it’s just like shuichi said the other day: there’s nothing between them.
“iidabashi-san,” shuichi says, louder (he’s starting to garner attention). kiibo speeds up their pace.
“kiibo!”
kiibo turns, pulse racing at the use of their given name. shuichi’s face is desperate, and they’re starting to feel regret.
“what is it, saihara-kun?”
“i-i…” he pulls the brim of his hat lower. “please… meet me at the rooftop at lunch, okay?”
kiibo can’t respond, not with their heart beating in their throat.
“i-i’m sorry, for what i said,” shuichi says, hands folded stiffly behind his back. “i can see it hurt you… i never meant it to get under your skin the way it did. the reason i lashed out like that was… well, i…” his face is bright pink. “i really, really like you, iidabashi-san.”
kiibo can feel every sound in the world rushing in their ears, but none of it matters, not the way what shuichi just said does.
they leap into his arms.
“i like you too, shuichi!”