He Wondered

Todomatsu Matsuno waited patiently for Atsushi's call. The two were supposed to go together for the group date he'd gotten invited to. Granted, Todomatsu had to beg Atsushi to bring him along as he wanted desperately to meet a girl who'll help bring him out of the lowest class in society. After all, he is considered the star of hope amongst his brothers…

He went through his phone and went through his favorite photo app and looked at the past photos he'd uploaded. Most of them were of him posing with cute things, in cute clothes, in cute poses, and some of them even had Atsushi in them. He sighed as he grew impatient.

"I wonder why he doesn't have a girlfriend," he thought out loud. Normally, he wouldn't bother asking since some of the guys he knew had legitimate reasons – though, he didn't care to recall them. They were just group date buddies. They didn't hang out all that much outside of the dates, except Atsushi.

He sighed once more. He knew exactly why he in particular hung out with him outside the dating scene – it's because of his car. Normally, he'd have to take the subway or he'd walk there by himself. For the very fact Atsushi had a car – and he wanted to hang out with him – was more than enough for Todomatsu; but that didn't stop his wandering mind.

"Atsushi has nice clothes, a very good job, a very nice car, and, well, it's weird to say this but I think he has a nice personality." Todomatsu spoke to no one in particular, though he was pretty sure one of his brothers hid somewhere in the vicinity of him, probably Ichimatsu. Still, no matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn't figure out why Atsushi didn't have a girlfriend, especially when he considered how many group dates the two has been together. He couldn't even imagine how many he'd went to prior to meeting him.

Then, he looked at his own situation. He knew exactly why he didn't have a girlfriend. He groaned audibly – he had five shitty brothers. Each one is worse than the last, although, they never hesitated to tell him how he was the worst one or even the "dried up monster". He pouted at the memory when his brothers discovered his part time job and how they embarrassed him during that weekend's group date. It wasn't his fault his brothers are embarrassing like stinky underwear being shown off at the class assembly.

And then he considered the fact that girls always seemingly liked him to a certain point. He would always listen to them, hold their hair when they got too drunk, and even would walk them home. Though, he did almost think of himself as one those guys who'd get mad at being just friends – instead of being angry, he'd be okay with it. He didn't mind being friends or even friendly towards women – they would often call him out for shopping dates and café dates. Nothing ever came out of it but then he wondered if it was because of the fact he had female friends. He wondered if the women were jealous of each other.

That's one angle he hadn't considered.

Before he could think more about it, he felt his phone vibrate and the ringtone he had set for Atsushi. It wasn't anything spectacular; it was something that just reminded him of Atsushi – something classy and suave – just like him.

"Hello?" He answered as cute as he usually did. It was a bad habit he'd have whenever a girl would call him on the spot – he had to be 'on' at all times for them.

Sure enough, it was Atsushi. He told him that he waited outside in his car. Todomatsu chirped and headed out the door, after he made sure his brothers didn't see him. He shuddered as he imagined the five demons in a nice car like Atsushi's.

As the two made their way towards the bar, it was unusually silent between the two. Whenever Todomatsu would try to make small talk, Atsushi wouldn't really respond. Usually, he smiled and tried to make conversation with him and would listen to Todomatsu's complaints about his daily life or even something stupid… and yet he felt standoffish and he seemed irritated. Granted, Todomatsu did had to beg Atsushi to go with him to this group date so he wondered if that was the reason why he was angry.

Did I do something wrong? He thought as the ride continued.

When they had finally arrived at the bar, Atsushi lightened up. He'd apologize to Todomatsu for the awkward ride and promised he'd make it up with a lunch. Naturally, Todomatsu accepted it but he didn't think Atsushi had anything to apologize for.

Still, a free lunch is a free lunch! Can't say no to that! He thought as they made their way to their group who had actually made it before them.

Once they made it to the group, they introduced themselves to the ladies who were there and, as per usual, the women flirted with Atsushi as soon as he mentioned his job title, a really high position, and the fact he had a car. The ladies ignored the other men and, for the most part, focused on Atsushi only.

This irritated Todomatsu not any more than it usually did but as soon as Atsushi left for the bathroom, the women themselves decided to walk themselves to the bathroom to freshen up but it was clear they just wanted to 'bump' into Atsushi when he came out. Todomatsu took this moment to ask the guys about him since his earlier thoughts bothered him.

"Hey, hey," Todomatsu started to get the guys' attention. "How long have you guys known Atsushi? You'd think with how often these women go after him, he would have a girlfriend. Does he have a type?"

The men looked at each other and one of them even raised an eyebrow at the feminine man.

"Are you kidding?" said the man with the raised eyebrow. These weren't Todomatsu's usual buddies – they all looked very high class and, now that Todomatsu had a chance to look at them, seemed to be in the same type of class Atsushi was in. "We had to drag Atsushi to this group date. He wasn't even going to go until he asked if you could join us."

Todomatsu blinked, confused at the man's statement. "Huh?" He said it as innocently as he could but his confusion was evident. "That's kind of weird…"

The other men snickered at Todomatsu's confusion.

"Really? You hadn't noticed?"

"Wow, you're an idiot."

"Atsushi-kun is super obvious!"

"Think about it. He always comes to these dates a lot more often whenever he's with you. He's always talking about you and always showing off pictures. Didn't you notice that Atsushi would never let anyone else in his car? Man, you low class guys are so pathetic – it's laughable!"

Insults aside, Todomatsu's brain started to move its gears as he recalled certain events. It was true that it was just the two of them in the car. He'd rarely, if ever, saw anyone else in his car and Atsushi seemed to be more or less cold towards anyone else. Sometimes, it'd seem that he's uncomfortable around the women who'd fawn over him.

But… wouldn't anyone get tired of that eventually? Disgusting! Why can't Atsushi appreciate what he has?! I'd kill for something like that!

His thoughts must've seemed to be reflected on his face because the men started to laugh again. Before he could've questioned them, the women came back and the men switched their personalities back to faux charming and sweet. Todomatsu glared at them. They really didn't seem to understand the bond that he and Atsushi had. Granted, it was only for the common goal, to get a girlfriend, but it's good to have a comrade in these situations.

Soon, Atsushi came back and sat back down. He seemed to look at Todomatsu and gave him an apologetic look though he didn't seem to give that same look towards anyone else. Todomatsu didn't think too hard about it. He knew that Atsushi was a bit awkward around other men like him; although, he seemed to be just as awkward around their regular buddies as well…

Eventually, the ideas in his head started to click and he started to realize the little things he'd do, especially his privacy. Only Todomatsu had his personal phone number as he seemed to give the women a fake number, which had always puzzled Todomatsu.

Throughout the date, as expected, the women all threw their numbers at Atsushi and tried to goad him into calling them later. Now that he noticed, Atsushi had an uncomfortable look on his face as he forced a smile and a nod of acknowledgement. Todomatsu wondered if these women just weren't his type – while Todomatsu was desperate for any woman at this point, Atsushi is a high-class guy. He deserves someone who can, not only look good on his arm, but someone to talk to him like an intellectual. The two men had what Atsushi was possibly interested in but… was there a way he'd be interested in Todomatsu?

Todomatsu had always dressed feminine and was open about wearing the color pink; there wasn't a qualm over it – in his eyes, it's just a color that he liked the most. It made it easier to color code between him and his brothers, for sure, but he felt that pink truly encapsulated who he really was. Though, he'd never considered anything more than a friend, well, a group date buddy of Atsushi's. Sometimes the two would go out together for lunches and maybe a shopping date or so and, now that he thought about it, he seemed much more comfortable on one-on-one settings.

Eventually, the date ended and, naturally, Todomatsu didn't leave with anyone's number. Usually, this would bother him and he'd talk Atsushi's ear off as the two would make their way to the after-party bar hop. Again, now that he noticed, he noticed that Atsushi was, once again, much more comfortable with one-on-one dates.

As they drank their beer, and ate their snack foods, Todomatsu's lips were just loose enough to finally echo the thoughts he had since earlier that afternoon.

"Man, Atsushi," he said while he laughed, "you're so attractive, so rich, so powerful! And you have such a nice car!" His words slurred as he enjoyed himself. Atsushi seemed to be a little buzzed himself but he smiled a lot more than he did previously. "Ah! Do you not like group dates, Atsushi? Why do you always come when I go? Why do you force yourself if you don't like it?"

Now the conversation had turned uncomfortable but not too much to kill his buzz, Atsushi merely laughed in response as he took a drink from his bottle. He seemed to refrain himself from responding.

"Atsushi~! Do you like me? Do you think I'm cute?"

"Uhh," Atsushi muttered. He wanted to respond but, again, he stopped himself. He took another drink and found it within himself to respond. "N-no, I think you're a pretty entertaining guy… I like your company." It was obviously a lie. Todomatsu was the king of lying. He knew when someone lied and Atsushi was lying. "W-we just have the same type of women!" Again, he took a drink.

The drunk Matsuno laughed obnoxiously. I wonder… if that was true…

He checked his phone as soon as he heard the familiar sound of a text message. Once he checked it, all thoughts concerning Atsushi had instantly – Osomatsu had apparently found his pachinko stash! After Atsushi sobered up a little bit, the ride back to his home was a blur. He did remember touching Atsushi's hand but he figured he had to remain balanced. And yet, as soon as he was home, he passed out.

When he woke up, all the thoughts he wondered were clouded by the hangover that pounded in his head. He didn't even remember what sparked his thoughts in the first place…