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This was a terrible day for Himeru. Wasn't he supposed to be enjoying his very rare holidays?
Here he was, right next to Tatsumi, dangerously closer than he would ever like to be around the saint bastard. He was shoved into this dark, almost too small closet for his liking, followed by Tatsumi of all people, by his dear unit leader.
After the doors shut, he looked anywhere but at Tatsumi, as he started to count the seconds he had left alone with him.
He ends up looking at Tatsumi not long after, since there really was nothing else to look at, but he catches him staring.
"If you have anything to say, just say it. Stop staring at HiMERU."
"Ah, sorry. It's nothing." HiMERU couldn't tell if he was lying.
7 minutes in this enclosed space with the man he detested the most. There was nothing worse than this that he could think of. How much time had he left?
"Sorry, HiMERU san, I lied. It's just that you're the only thing I can look at here. It's not a bad thing but..."
HiMERU raised his brow.
"You're just beautiful, even up close like this."
HiMERU recalls him saying something similar before, but he still frowned. "It's so dark, you can't even see me."
Tatsumi widens his eyes, and HiMERU could barely see it, if not for his perfect vision. He decided if he talked to this man, time might go faster.
"HiMERU would like to be clear about a few things with you, now that he's alone with you."
He can hear Tatsumi take a deep breath, even if it was barely audible. "What is it that you'd like to tell me, HiMERU san?"
"HiMERU doesn't like you. Not the slightest. It irks him that you're being nice to him, even though it's clear that he's the exact opposite to you."
Tatsumi's expression doesn't show any change, and HiMERU takes this a sign to go on.
"That smile of yours; HiMERU doesn't even understand how you could show yourself after.. After what happened back then. After what you did. After you've failed him. It's disgusting."
It takes a while for HiMERU to realise that he was acting out of character using such a foul word, and takes a deep breath to calm himself down. Time didn't seem to get faster at all.
"I'm sorry."
"Keep those empty words to yourself."
Tatsumi knew that rebutting him was futile, so instead of saying anything, he embraces the man before him into a hug.
HiMERU, too stunned by Tatsumi's actions, could only gasp as the younger man took him into his embrace. It felt warm, and this enclosed space was already warm enough.
"I'm aware that I've failed him. He was, and still is dear to me."
The silence lasted a while, until Tatsumi spoke again.
"I can only hope that I could ever beg his forgiveness one day. When I have finally gained the courage to, and maybe after that, even get to know you."
HiMERU felt that the world had stopped revolving.
"You knew."
Tatsumi lifts his head from HiMERU's shoulder with an unreadable expression, and lifts one of his hands to HiMERU's face, but HiMERU grabbed his arm by instinct. It's rare that he lets anyone touch him, but Tatsumi has made more physical contact with him in this entire 7 minutes (or less, considering they're not out of this closet yet) than he'd ever allowed anyone to in his life.
That doesn't stop Tatsumi from leaning in, and leaving a peck on his lips. He figured he might have reacted pretty badly, because Tatsumi laughed right after, but there was no trace of malice in it.
"Even with an expression like that, you still look beautiful."
HIMERU immediately fixes his facial expressions, and wanted to scold Tatsumi as he tries to figure how to answer the thousands of new questions he had now that he knew that Tatsumi knew.
"Times up, MERUMERU, Tatsumi-chan! Did you have fun?" Ah, HiMERU's beloved unit leader. He was going to deal with him later.
Tatsumi went out with his usual smile, "Yes, it was nice to have some time alone with HiMERU. I just wish we had the time to do that more often, right Himeru san?"
Tatsumi offers his hand to HiMERU, who was still inside the closet. HiMERU accepted it without a second thought. He must be crazy.
Only then did he realise that his mask had completely shattered. Perfect idol his ass, nothing was perfect whenever that saint bastard was a mile or less within his vicinity.
This was the worst thing that could have ever happened, along with the fact that everything happened in front of the man he detested most.