"Welcome home, Shin-chan. I got your favorite red bean soup. Do you want that first, or would you rather have your dessert?"
"There'll be plenty of time for both later, Kazu. Could we just sit on the couch for a while? A patient tried to bite me while I was giving him a shot, and another tried to flirt with me while her five year old daughter was sitting right next to her. I tried to tell her I was already married, but she wouldn't listen to me."
"One of my student's mothers tried to flirt with me, too. Never mind that she's about 15 years older than me, but that'd probably be ideal for you. She was upset with me that I gave her kid an F for the semester, even though he never comes to class. I tried to tell her that, and then she started unbuttoning her shirt and asked me if she could do any extra credit. Obviously, I told her 'no, ma'am, I'm married.' Then she goes, 'I can do tricks your wife's never even heard of!' I just show her your picture and say, 'this is my "wife," ma'am.' Finally she got the hint and left."
"Oh, what you said before was wrong. She wouldn't be ideal for me. She's not you, after all."
What a strange dream. I was married to Takao? What was that about? I don't want anything like that- do I?
My dream dictionary tells me that I am going through an important developmental phase in my life. I trust it almost as much as Oha Asa. Speaking of… 8th place? So I need a postcard, and one with a lot of black. The convenience store down the street should be good enough for something like this. I almost call Takao, asking him to accompany me, but I remember my dream and decide not to.
I'm not concerned, but he's in eleventh place today. I have an old dictionary he can borrow, one with a light blue cover.
I'm not being woken up super early by Shin-chan today? Is he sick? What's going on?
My sister knocks on my door. "Are you coming to breakfast, big brother? Mom's starting to get worried that you aren't up yet."
"Just a second, Rina. Your big brother needs to prepare to actually walk to school today."
"So that's why you're still here. Midorima never asked you to take him to school."
"You're too smart for an elementary school kid, you know that?" I ask as we go down the stairs, me ahead of her like a proper gentleman.
"Hey, I'll be in middle school next year!"
"I see that monstrosity is still in the front yard," my mom says.
"Yeah. Apparently Shin-chan didn't want me to come with him on his lucky item search this morning."
"What a surprise. The socially repressed nerd wants to be left alone. Just exactly what do you see in him, Kazunari?"
How do I answer that? "Shin-chan's a funny guy. We're like a comedic duo. Plus he's really hand-" What the hell? Why did that thought even come into my head? Shin-chan, handsome? It's not a lie, though- he's really tall and a lot of girls like him, not to mention the glasses, and the eyes behind them…
My mini gay crisis is being interrupted by my family, who are watching me like I've just turned into a cockroach. Maybe I have, it'd make more sense than whatever crap my brain is coming up with.
"He's handy. With the basketball, I mean." I pretend to look at my phone. "Oh my gosh, is that the time already? I really have to get going. Bye, dad, mom, Rina!"
As I leave, I hear them talk about me.
"Does he realize school doesn't start for another hour?" No, dad, I had no clue.
"Maybe big brother really is sick."
"He's not sick, Rina. Sick in the head, maybe, but I'm sure he'll be fine soon enough."
I walk into the classroom to find a blue dictionary on my desk. There's only one person such a random gift could be from. But where is he?
He walks in 30 seconds before the bell is supposed to ring and takes his seat in front of me. Normally he'll at least say good morning, or at least look in my general direction, but today he does neither of those things. I say it to him, but he doesn't seem to notice.
My mind wanders during class, like always. Normally I think about things like basketball or trading cards, but my mind didn't want to wander that way today.
It wants to go back to that little thought I had this morning.
Why do I have to sit behind someone so big? I can barely see the board when I'm behind this wall of green.
Broad shoulders… His hair hits the back of his neck so perfectly… I could reach out and touch it and nobody would ever know, unless he made a scene, of course… It probably feels soft like grass.
This is so messed up. Did someone slip me some crack when I wasn't looking? Or maybe Miyaji hit me with his pineapple and it messed up my head? I don't understand how this is happening now? It would have made more sense if it happened when we first met, but…
No.
No fucking way.
That can't be why I tried to make him notice me. It's just not possible.
Have I felt that all along?
"Takao." Someone's calling me, but I can't be bothered to figure out who it is. "If you won't listen in class, go stand in the hallway." Somehow, realizing that you're bisexual feels a lot more important than biology.
The lucky item wasn't enough? Impossible! Maybe it sensed that Takao is not a true believer and acted as a bad luck charm instead. I've never heard of anything like that happening before, but there's a first time for everything.
I mean, not that this is of any concern to me, obviously.
This is too much tsundere, even for me, Takao would say.
That dream is getting to me too much, I think.
After this period, Takao rejoins us in the classroom, and it feels like his eyeballs are burning a hole through the back of my skull, but somehow, I don't mind it. After all, there's one thing about the dream that I can't shake off, no matter how hard I try.
I actually looked… happy. Happier than I've ever allowed myself to feel in my life. Could just sitting on a couch with someone and talking about our days really make me that happy? It's not so different from the way my parents behave when they are together. Mother and Father talk to each other, I sit at the table with my homework, and my sister has her homework that I help her with sometimes.
"Mother. Father. How do you know if you like someone?"
"Stop the presses. Shintaro likes someone? I don't think this has ever happened before."
"No, it has, remember? He found that picture of Oha Asa in her younger years and said he was going to marry her! That's still the cutest thing I've ever seen!"
"It's not Oha Asa this time. I've had a few instances where I thought I liked a girl but then it turned out I was wrong. I just want to know what it'll feel like when it's real."
"We first met when he helped me up after I fell on the ice. We were in the same math class, but we had never spoken before then. I'm not sure we're qualified to give love advice."
"My teacher said it was like when there's one piece of cake left, and you want the cake, but they want it, too, so you let them have it since that makes you happy, too!"
"That's… actually a good way of putting it, Mai. The things they teach nine year olds these days."
"Is it okay, even if the one I might like is a… boy?" Of all the reactions to have, why would they start laughing?
"We've known for a while, honey. We did find all those Kise Ryota magazines in your closet. Actually Mai found them, and said that he was her boyfriend. That would be the other cutest thing I've seen in my life."
"What, you want to meet Kise?" Mai nodded her head furiously. "Alright fine, but don't get upset when he's extremely annoying, okay?"
"Anyways, Shintaro, it's more important to concentrate on the person you love for their personality, rather than their looks or what parts they have. It's a cliché, but love really is blind like that."
If I really do like Takao, I have to confess properly. Take him out somewhere nice (absolutely no Maji Burger,) make sure the mood is right, and say what I want to in a grand romantic gesture. Except, knowing Takao, he'll laugh me out of the restaurant before I even open my mouth. "Oh my God, Shin-chan, this is so lame! I already knew that, but this just proves it! Good luck finding someone else to pull that stupid rickshaw for you, idiot."
Maybe I could just do it normally? Pull him aside after basketball practice and go, "I seem to have fallen for you, Takao." No, I'd probably mess that up, too.
I will have to work on it.
I didn't have to wait that long. By coincidence, we met on the way to school when we were walking. My lucky item today is pants, and I am first in luck. I had no strange dreams last night, so everything is fine.
"Where's your lucky item, Shin-chan?"
"My pants are the lucky item, Takao." Suddenly, he drags us over to a nearby parking lot.
"I don't know why, but I like you. You're super smart and tall and a Miracle. You're funny when you're not trying to be, and you're really attractive, and please cut me off if you don't feel the same. I know I'm just average, but when we're together, I feel like I can be more."
Without even thinking, it all comes out. "Two nights ago, I had a dream where we were married. I was a doctor and you were a high school teacher, and we just sat on the couch and talked, but from the looks of it, I was happier than I've ever been in my entire life. I think it's safe to say that I feel the same way."
I nearly fall onto the concrete and crack my skull open with the impact of Takao jumping on me and kissing me. It feels a lot better than I was expecting, and it was certainly better than the first one I ever got from a certain blond. I feel hands running through my hair, and I pull off to ask what is going on.
"Wow, your hair is really soft, but I was expecting it to feel more like grass."
"My hair is not a lawn." Just as he rests his forehead on mine, I hear a familiar voice.
"You two better get to school, or you'll get a rectal examination with a durian. On top of that, if I ever catch you being lovey dovey anywhere at school, your bodies will be dumped in the Arakawa River. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, of course, Miyaji!"
"Good!" He left with a huge smile on his face. Anybody who didn't know him would never guess that he had just threatened his underclassmen with murder.
We can deal with things as they come to us, even if Shin-chan has a ten step ahead planning process for everything. We're opposites, but we're best together.
I can't believe this came from an astrology text post on Tumblr. (Who am I kidding- yes I can. Midorima.) It was "True facts about the signs" or something, and Cancer's was that they daydream about living with their crush every night. So this is what I spent my Sunday doing.
Thanks for reading!
~Aurora