Hajime Hinata was in love. It wasn't right; he knew it. When his parents always hinted to him that he should be looking for that perfect someone to spend his life with, he knew they meant a girl. Hajime knew his parents wouldn't be happy if they found out he was utterly enchanted by the thought of this boy.
Nagito Komaeda…even his name was beautiful. Nagito was far from perfect, but Hajime couldn't stay away. He felt an aching in his chest whenever the other boy was mentioned. He felt physical pain when he saw what torture Nagito went through. He even tried standing up for him sometimes.
He was in love with Nagito, plain and simple. He wanted to confess, but there was no way his feelings were returned. He also always had this nagging fear of what would the others think? Nagito wasn't just a boy; he was also mentally unstable. Everyone knew that.
He tried not to get his hopes up, even if sometimes he thought Nagito might feel the same. He tried to act normal, even trying to make himself like Nanami. It just wouldn't work, and he had to face it.
Souda seemed to realize something was going on when he caught Hajime staring at Nagito from across the room at breakfast. "Eh?! Are you…are you in love with him?!" he'd asked, putting two and two together.
Luckily, no other person had heard his exclamation. Hajime had blushed even though he desperately tried not to, cursing his emotions for betraying him. He tried to stutter out a reply to his friend, but apparently the look he had on his face answered Souda perfectly.
Although the pink-haired mechanic was freaked out at first, he eventually came to the conclusion that you really couldn't help who you felt love for, and he told Hajime as much. He also told him that he was getting kind of sick of staring at his lovesick, heart-broken puppy-eyes every day and tried to push him to tell the other boy.
Hajime didn't even try to deny anything. He simply told him "I can't. He's crazy and he's probably into girls." He repeated it like a mantra. It was true, after all. He knew, though, that Souda could tell Hajime didn't care Nagito was insane.
It all changed when Nagito confessed to him. Well, he almost confessed. They both knew there was no way of covering up that slip-up. "Aishiteru," Nagito had said—started to say—and Hajime wondered why he'd chosen that word specifically. It was such a cheesy way of putting it, after all. Of course, that's not what he'd focused on. Shocked, he stuttered out a, "N—K-komaeda," because he was so used to using his first name in his mind, "What did you…?"
"Oh, it's nothing, Hinata-kun." However, Hajime was already leaning closer before he could lose his nerve.
He was so close that they were touching noses, and he looked into Nagito's surprised eyes with a relieved smile. "I…I love you, too."