+ Five Times Nakatsu Makes Mizuki Happy, And One Time He Returns The Favour [Hana Kimi]
Title: Five Times Nakatsu Makes Mizuki Happy, And One Time He Returns The Favour
Rating: PG
Characters: Nakatsu, Mizuki, minor Sano
Word Count: ~3100
Notes: This is all princess_dexter's fault, for being so enable-y and encourage-y. Feel free to place any blame on her.
Summary: "Baby!" Mizuki joins in, laughing wildly. It quite possibly the best sound in the world, and as Nakatsu starts to spin them around in circles, everything else becomes a blur.
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v: "Do your best in the game, Nakatsu," Mizuki tells him.
There's really no need to ask, but he'll do anything for Mizuki, and let him do whatever he likes in return, so he doesn't comment on it. Instead he says, "Of course! It's me, the Mighty Nakatsu!" He aims carefully between the goal posts, and kicks the ball, hard. It slices through the air, tucking cleanly into the top left corner.
"Gooooooaaaallll!" He pulls his jersey over his head and spreads his arms out wide, running across the field in a zig-zag pattern, barely able to see but not really caring.
"How do you do that?" Mizuki catches up and yanks his shirt back down, forcing him to a stop. "Your aim is amazing!"
Nakatsu feels a beam of pride shoot through him, as he does with Mizuki's every compliment, and says, "It's easy. Everything I do is amazing."
He rolls his eyes. "Of course."
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes."
"Okay." He jogs over to the ball and picks it up, bringing it back to Mizuki and dropping it in front of him. "Kick it."
"What? How?"
"Just kick it," he insists. Taking a few steps back, he watches as Mizuki makes four mistakes in a row, and the ball wobbles through the air, hits the top bar and bounces back towards them.
"See?" Mizuki complains, bending to catch it before it rolls too far. "I'm nowhere near as good as you."
"Okay," he rubs his hands together, "soccer basics for dummies, coming right up. First? Stand here." He grabs the ball off him and puts it back down, before dragging him to spot about three paces behind and to the left of it. "If you start diagonally behind it, your kick will be stronger." He moves towards the ball, simulating a slow-motion kick, and adds, "Go up to the ball and put your left foot a bit behind it, pointing where you want it to go. Then bring your kicking leg back, and make sure you hit the middle of the ball with the laces on your shoe." He looks back to Mizuki, who is watching intensely and nodding. Nakatsu straightens and moves aside. "Try it again. I know you can do it."
Mizuki stares at him, and he can feel himself getting hotter. He's just about to ask if there's a problem when Mizuki murmurs his acquiescence and lines himself up.
"Move more to your left," Nakatsu instructs, and he does. "Now do a run up, and don't lean back, just keep pushing forward."
"Mmm." He frowns in concentration, jumps up and down a few times on the spot, and dashes forward, booting the ball with a force Nakatsu finds surprising. For a tense few moments, both he and Mizuki watch the ball as it sails through the air, wobbling only a little bit before flicking into the net.
"BABY!" Nakatsu shouts, victorious, rushing forward to lift Mizuki into the air in triumph.
"Baby!" he joins in, whooping and laughing wildly. It's quite possibly the best sound in the world, and as Nakatsu starts to spin them around in circles, everything else becomes a blur.
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iv: It's not a long story, exactly, just one that's really, really unclear - one that went suddenly from Nanba, Tennouji and Oscar arguing over which dorm would last longest while stranded in a hurricane, to two representatives from each dorm being tied back-to-back and then abandoned in various corners of the school grounds in the rain (reduced to a light drizzle, now, thank goodness). Unfortunately, due to being in the worst place at the worst time, he and Mizuki are the chosen ones from Dorm Two, and now they're soaked to the bone, hungry (well, Nakatsu is), and neither of them have said a word since everyone else left.
Nakatsu sighs, wishing he could see Mizuki's eyes. They're always so expressive, and if Nakatsu could just know what he was thinking, then he'd feel a lot better about their situation.
"Mizuki," he says finally, "are you okay?" And he accidentally shifts sideways, which proves to be a very bad move. Being this close to Mizuki is never safe, and now he can feel the other boy's shoulder blades digging into his back, can feel his spine running down the length of his own, can feel his... softer areas underneath. Areas that make him change his mind, make him thankful that they can't see each other's faces, because that would just be... beyond uncomfortable.
"I'm fine," he answers, and Nakatsu forces himself to focus.
"Are you cold?"
"No. I like the rain."
He feels Mizuki's head move, like he's angling it upwards, into the rain, and he grins. "Me too." Nakatsu waits for him to say something more, but when he doesn't asks, "What are you thinking about?"
"Home."
"America?"
"Yeah. I love it here, but sometimes I miss home. I miss my friends, and Mama and Papa, and Onii-san..."
"And... your girlfriend?" It's hard to ask, and he's far from subtle, but he's always wanted to know, no matter how much he finds himself overcome with jealousy. The idea of someone else having Mizuki is just... wrong. He doesn't like anything about it. It makes him feel like his stomach is on fire, like he would swim to America to find the girl and--
"No!" Mizuki says, though, sounding scandalized and cutting short any further thoughts he has on the matter. "I've never had a girlfriend."
Nakatsu's shoulders inexplicably loosen, and he sags a little further back into Mizuki, finally allowing himself to enjoy his proximity. "Oh."
"It's stupid to miss them," he continues suddenly. "I'm just... stupid."
"Hey. If you didn't miss your family, you wouldn't be Mizuki." He slowly manages to manoeuvre his right hand back a bit, groping and settling his fingers over Mizuki's before he can stop himself. "Are you lonely?"
"No! You guys are my family, too." He's quiet for a moment, before continuing, his tone now playful. "In fact, thinking about it... Sano is kind of like my dad."
Nakatsu snickers - he likes that parallel. He likes any comparison that made Sano and Mizuki's relationship familial rather than... anything else.
"And Doctor Umeda is like my mother."
"He'd love that," Nakatsu says, because he probably would. "What about your brother?" He holds his breath, waiting for the answer, both hoping and dreading that Mizuki will say his name.
"Everyone," he says instead. "Bits of everyone."
"Oh." A pause, as he wonders what to say, before settling on, "What about me?"
"You're you, Nakatsu." He sounds surprised. "You're not like anyone I know."
"Mi... Mizuki..." Even if it wasn't raining, Nakatsu would claim it was, just to cover up the tears in his eyes. It takes a few moments for him to realise just how awkward it is, him half-holding his best friend's hand and getting all teary in a storm, so he lets go and says impulsively, "I could be like everyone you know."
"Eh?"
"Just... tell me who this is." He frowns, just to get into character that extra bit, lowers his voice, and says, "I'm not."
"Sano," Mizuki says immediately, giggling.
"Correct! Want more?"
He feels Mizuki nod.
Nakatsu does impersonations, covering everyone from celebrities to Yujirou, until Sekime comes to save them. Mizuki never stops laughing once.
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iii: "Mizuki! Mizukiiiiii!" He bursts into Mizuki's room with very little finesse and zero poise, but this is a matter of most importance, and so, for once, trying to look cool falls by the wayside.
"What?" Mizuki pokes his head over the railing of his bunk. "What's going on?"
"Arashi!" Nakatsu yells, seemingly unable to form whole sentences. "Here! Outside! Arashi!"
"Eh?" Mizuki's eyes widen. "Here? Why?"
"One of them is Sakurai's--"
"Sekime's."
"--uncle's cousin's sister's nephew's friend!"
"Ehhhhhhh?" He jumps up and clambers down the stairs, coming right up to Nakatsu and pulling on his shirt. "If you're tricking me--"
"I'm not! Honest!" He looks down at Mizuki's hand wrapped in his shirt, thinking about how good it looks there, when someone clears their throat beside him. He looks to see Sano sprawled on his bed, reading a textbook.
"Who's here?" he asks mildly, turning a page.
"Arashi! The band!" Mizuki turns back to his roommate, eyes shining with excitement. "Want to come see them, Sano?"
For a split, heart-pulverising second, Nakatsu thinks Sano is going to say yes... but his inner anti-social bastard must kick in again, because he goes back to his book and says, "No."
"Oh well, maybe next time," Nakatsu says hurriedly, not wanting to give him time to change his mind. He ushers Mizuki to the door. "We better go quickly, we might miss something."
"Let's go, then!" Mizuki doesn't even look back. Nakatsu finds himself grossly cheered by that fact.
They hurry to the makeshift stage, set up outside under a tent, and get there just in time for the first song. They find a spot near the front, with Kayashima and Nanba and Nakao, and everyone jumps up and down, screaming the lyrics. Mizuki grins at him, throwing an arm around his shoulders and bellowing with the best of them, and Nakatsu pretends to know the words, all the while watching Mizuki.
Nakatsu doesn't really like this music, himself. He just knows that Mizuki does, and that's more than good enough for him.
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ii: It gets rather uncomfortable for Nakatsu when Nanba (it's usually Nanba) tries to instigate some Guy Talk. There was a time where he would happily boast about all of his (nonexistent) conquests, but now that he has Mizuki, that's not really something that he takes the time to lie about any more. The guys expect to hear sex stories about his weekend hook-ups (not real), or about the girl he says is waiting for him in his hometown (half-real, or at least she was when he last saw her five years ago), or about Komari (real, but they never even kissed), and when they don't he gets ridiculed, but he just... can't summon up the will to go through with it anymore.
Truth be told, he gets the idea it's even more excruciating for Mizuki. Currently, there's a bunch of them in Nanba's room, and they're going around the circle and spilling their guts about their (most likely made up) latest sexual experiences, and they're only one person away from Mizuki, who's sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest, eyes squeezed shut, even rocking a little bit.
Nakatsu sighs. He can't take it anymore. He hates it when Mizuki isn't happy, and he really needs to do something.
"Yo," he whispers, inching closer and patting Mizuki on the shoulder, "this is boring. Want to take off?"
"Can we?" he asks, looking relieved. "Really?"
"Leave it to me." He gives a thumbs up, always glad to be of service, and stands suddenly, pulling Mizuki up with him. "Hey, guys, me and Mizuki are going to walk Yujirou."
Nanba frowns. "Now?"
Nakao grins. "Together?"
Nakatsu is unsure that he likes what Nakao is implying in public. "That's what I said."
"But you haven't had your turn yet," Sekime says, latching his hand around Nakatsu's ankle. He looks a bit desperate, and as much as Nakatsu feels for him (they are usually allies in these situations, united by their inexperience, not that either of them would ever admit it), he's not going to miss out on Mizuki-time just for him.
"That means I'll have more to tell next time." Winking, he makes his escape, dragging Mizuki behind him. When they get out of the room, they close the door behind them and start running, not stopping until they reach Nakatsu's room and lock themselves in. Mizuki throws himself onto the bed, panting and laughing, and Nakatsu's breath leaves him as he takes in the sight. It hits him far harder than it should, his best friend on his bed, and he has to inhale far too deeply to calm himself.
"Thank you, Nakatsu," Mizuki says finally, sitting up and grinning. "I hate those meetings." He wrinkles his nose, and it's so cute all that breathing was futile.
"Oh," he says, trying to sound nonchalant. "Yeah."
"Really, thank you." His smile becomes deeper, a right out beam, eyes crinkling, cheeks dimpling, teeth showing. "Boys are so disgusting sometimes."
It's a bit of a strange comment, but, considering the way he's feeling right now, Nakatsu can't help but agree.
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i: He finds Mizuki on the oval, standing on the track and staring at the high jump bar. He doesn't have to ask what happened - he passed an aggravated Sano in the hall only five minutes ago, and put two and two together (something someone with even his own limited maths skills would find easy to do).
"Mizuki..." he starts, but stops as soon as he can see his face. He looks so sad, and Nakatsu is suddenly, horribly, helpless. All he wants to do is make him better. To make him smile. To wrap his arms around him and make all the pain go away...
"Too close," Mizuki mumbles, and he realises he's got caught up in his daydreams again and he really, really has got far too close.
"Sorry." He pulls back, and they stand in silence for as long as Nakatsu can manage it. "Hey," he ventures finally, "want to run?" Mizuki shakes his head, pulling further away, but Nakatsu has never been one to give up easily. "I'm serious." He jogs up and down on the spot, fast, grinning at his friend. He smiles back tentatively and Nakatsu feels his heartbeat hasten, but refuses to linger on it. This is about Mizuki, not about himself. "Come on."
He locks his fingers around his Mizuki's slim wrist (ignoreitignoreitignoreit) and pulls him after him, starting slow at first, but speeding up quickly, and soon Mizuki is running on his own. Nakatsu howls in delight, the wind whipping his skin and blowing his hair into his eyes, and Mizuki joins him, and then they're howling and laughing and running together, and Nakatsu knows that this is what love is.
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♥: "Now, repeat after me--"
"Are you sure about this, Nakatsu?" Mizuki peers out from the boxers strategically placed on his head, and Nakatsu is torn between admiring Mizuki's adorableness and hoping that he looks just as cute while adorned in his own underwear.
He forces a stern expression, reaching out to smack Mizuki lightly on the shoulder. "I'm always sure, stupid. Just... don't fall off the table."
Mizuki hesitates a second more, then nods decisively, a determined look crossing his face. Nakatsu turns back to face the front of the room, steadying himself, his own position on the cafeteria tabletop more than a little precarious. "Repeat after me - I like English!"
"I like English!"
"And spin!"
"And spin!"
They turn to face each other and grin, wiggling their hips and shimmying to one side of the table, then the other.
"I'm not a failure!" Nakatsu continues.
"I'm not a failure!" Mizuki repeats.
"I like English! I'm not a failure!"
"I like English! I'm not a failure!"
"And spin again!" He grabs Mizuki's arm, hauls him into his arms, and dips him, his hands burning with the feel of Mizuki's body underneath them. They finish in an unintentionally intimate position, faces pressed close together, and Nakatsu knows that this is it. He's going to kiss Mizuki. Finally, everything he's been feeling, everything he's been wanting and needing and craving will be out in the open and Mizuki will admit he's been feeling the same way and then Kayashima will move out of his room but then Mizuki can move in and they can spend every hour together and--
"What are you doing?"
They look down to see Sano, sports bag slung over his shoulder, staring at them strangely, and Nakatsu immediately loosens his grip on Mizuki, who drops on to the table top with a loud thump. Nakatsu darts forward to help him, panic rising in his chest, but Sano beats him to it, curling an arm around Mizuki's waist and pulling him down to the floor.
Nakatsu watches, dread and loathing rising irrepressibly inside him as they look into each other's eyes, until Mizuki shakes himself and pulls away.
"Thank you, Sano," he says quietly.
"What were you doing?" Sano reaches forward to tug the boxers off Mizuki's head. "Why do you have my underwear?"
"It's a victory dance," Nakatsu says quickly. "Mizuki got one hundred on his English test."
"And Nakatsu got fifty one," Mizuki adds, looking so proudly at him that he can't help but smile back.
"Cool," Sano says, eying them again before continuing on to the doorway, where he turns and tosses his underwear back to Mizuki. "Make sure you wash them before putting them back."
He leaves then, and Nakatsu feels himself relax a little. When Sano is around he's always on full alert, his senses turned to maximum. He feels like he needs to compete, compete with his friend, and he doesn't like that sensation at all. He loves Sano like a brother - it's just he loves Mizuki in a different, and stronger, way.
"He's probably going to practice," Mizuki says, staring after Sano.
"Probably," Nakastsu says dully. He starts to pull his own shorts off his head, just knowing that Mizuki is going to follow his roommate, but instead Mizuki turns and frowns.
"What are you doing?"
Nakatsu stops, confused. "What?"
"We're not done, are we?" He climbs back up onto the table before reaching up to replace Nakatsu's boxers.
Nakatsu feels himself redden, feels his scalp and neck get prickly, feels hyper-aware of Mizuki's almost-embrace, feels the intense and overwhelming desire to throw himself on his best friend and ravish him--
"There's still more to the song," Mizuki continues, pulling back to observe his handiwork, making one adjustment to Nakatsu's hair before nodding in satisfaction. "Good." He replaces his own boxers and looks expectantly at Nakatsu. "Ready?"
It's hard to breathe, and Nakatsu finds himself staring, feeling ridiculously touched. He's still here. He didn't follow Sano, and it doesn't seem as if he had any intention to. He's here, with him, instead. He's...
Mizuki falters for a second. "Nakatsu?"
"What?" He shakes his head, "Sorry, sorry, I was... Anyway, let's dance!" He strikes a pose, one he thinks will make Mizuki laugh.
It does.
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