It had gotten dark by now. He wasn't really sure why he was late, but he most definitely was. Perhaps he spent too long contemplating whether watching a movie at Tajima's house would actually be worthwhile. Knowing the kid, he would probably choose something borderline pornographic. In addition to that, he could be using this unexpected free time for something productive like studying or he could be beating that challenging level of his new video game.

As he biked up to the door of the small home, he was beginning to doubt his decision, but the image of Mihashi reacting to something overly sexual egged him on. Haha that could definitely be amusing.

He rang the door bell and almost instantly Tajima was smiling and patting him on the back. "Abeeee~ you're just in time!" He chuckled as he marched him down the hall way.

"On time? I'm an hour late. Don't tell me you haven't started watching it yet?"

"Haha. Not even that, we haven't even decided on a movie. One more vote will be the tie breaker!"

Abe sighed. Responsibility was already being thrust upon him.

As he entered the well-lit den, some of his teammates smiled and greeted him with cheers.

Mizutani waved at him from the floor with Tajima's cats on his lap. He leaned against the low table that had some chips and drinks. Hanai sat on a stool at the end of the couch looking rather upset. Oki had just walked in from the other room with another cup of soda and Mihashi sat on the couch under a blanket.

Abe plopped himself on the middle seat of the couch, much to Mihashi's surprise (apparently). Abe swore he heard Mihashi gasp as he sat beside him. He chose to ignore it for now though. Was it really worth addressing every time Mihashi freaked out? No. The answer was no.

Abe looked over at Hanai, "So Captain, why haven't we picked anything to watch?"

Hanai looked slightly wounded, like his title of captain of the team was being insulted. He raised his voice, "Tajima keeps insisting that we watch some ridiculous movie when I brought this perfectly good one."

Tajima was in Hanai's face now, "School Girls Brawl 2 is an amazing film! Plus, I don't want to watch your...dumb! Documentary!"

"But it's about baseball!"

"I play baseball every day! I wanna see chicks!" Tajima grabbed a fistful of Hanai's shirt.

Just as Abe was going to try and diffuse the situation Mizutani chimed in, "Yeah yeah, we've heard this a million times in the past hour. I have one word for you guys. Aliens." He smiled and looked to Oki for reassurance, but he was shaking his head, "No no no...that won't do...teenage boys shoulder watch something terrifying and scary! It's like a milestone of youth or something! A zombie movie!"

Before long, everyone was bickering about which movie was best, and Abe was glad he hadn't been here for the past hour.

Amidst the arguing, Abe remembered though. There was someone else here. He turned to Mihashi who was silently darting his eyes back and forth between the other players. "Mihashi."

The other boy perked up and blinked at him. He answered with a delayed response. It was hard to hear him over the other guys, "Y-yes Abe?"

"What movie did you want to watch?" Tajima had somehow honed in on the private conversation and belted out, "Mihashi! You think School Girls Brawl 2 is the best, right? Strictly the best!" Mihashi had become flustered by suddenly being addressed by multiple people. He burrowed his face into the blanket around him, making his speech even more incomprehensible, "Uh...if Tajima says it's good then..."

Abe was growing frustrated, all of these movies honestly sounded terrible. But he was more frustrated with Mihashi who wasn't giving his own opinion. It was his job to help him grow as a person right?

"Mihashi! If everyone else brought a movie then didn't you bring one?" The bickering had died down a bit. No one had bothered to ask Mihashi what movie he brought.

Abe sighed. Oh god. Mihashi looked like he might start crying as his trembling hands emerged from under the blanket holding a DVD. "I...I don't...I just thought..." Abe stared down at the case…a super hero movie? This movie actually was pretty good though. Abe had seen it before and it had a good balance of action and it was definitely better than anything else that was an option.

"Alright. It's decided. We're watching this."

Tajima whined, "Mihashiiiii~ School Girls Brawl 2~"

Mihashi's eyes darted to the pleading boy, but Abe looked Mihashi straight in the eye, pulling his attention back, "This is what you want to watch right? That's why you brought it. Give me a straight answer."

Mihashi's eyes sparkled with determination, "Y-yes! IreallylikethismovieAbe-kun!" He panted after taking all the effort to say the sentence.

Abe was proud of him. "I vote for this movie, so that makes it 2 votes. I'll watch School Girls Brawl with you another day Tajima. So come on let's hurry up, it's getting late."

Tajima whined as he took the disc from Mihashi, "Aw man...this movie is more of a romantic movie right?" His eyes lit up as he thought he discovered something, "Does that mean...there will be those types of scenes?"

Hanai was blushing, "T-those type of scenes...?"

"You know..." Tajima smiled mischievously and groped at the air.

Abe threw a pillow at his face, "Watch and you'll find out."

Oki and Mizutani studied the back of the DVD box together, "It says there's action, adventure, romance, and comedy..."

"It doesn't look bad actually! Good choice Mihashi!"

Abe glanced at Mihashi. He was puffing hot air and smiling his typical diamond mouthed smiled. He looked like he was laughing silently to himself. Was he proud?

"Alright, alright! I'm turning off the lights!" The room darkened and Tajima jumped onto the seat next to Abe on the couch. Hanai was on his other side on the stool.

Abe exhaled. Wow. That had been a battle. He settled into the couch.

"Mihashi", he spoke quieter as the movie had now started, "Share that blanket with me." Tajima's house had some amazing air conditioning, but Abe had grown accustomed to the light breeze of fans in his house, not a freezing arctic blast. Suddenly an entire blanket was thrust onto his lap in one sweep. He glared at the blanket thrower, "I said share. I don't need all of this." He tossed half the blanket over Mihashi, covering his legs with the other half.

Finally being comfortable, he kicked back and turned his attention towards the screen. It had been a while since he had gotten a chance to do something like this.

As he watched though, he became more fascinated by the other boys' reactions than what was actually happening in the movie.

Mihashi seemed to have a constant expression of wonder and admiration whenever the main character would come on screen. He was always making risky decisions that would end up working out in the end. Mihashi must have admired him for that. Abe guess this was why Mishashi had picked this movie.

When it got to the part where the robots started attacking, both Oki and Mizutani were cheering and yelling. Then, finally the scene Tajima had been hoping for came up. The love interest of the main character, a nurse, began to undress facing away from the camera. Tajima was gripping Hanai's arm and pointing at the screen as Hanai averted his eyes. Mihashi was squirming uncomfortably, just barely peeking out from underneath the blanket.

This was a longer movie than Abe had remembered. He could feel his eyes beginning to grow heavy. He rolled his body to the side a bit, keeping his eyes fluttered open to watch the movie. He soon had to resituate again though. This time, when he moved, he caught a glimpse of Mihashi's face. The other boy was battling sleep in the same manner as Abe. Mihashi rolled over now, facing Abe. Under the blanket their hands brushed.

Mihashi who was, for the most part, asleep now, hadn't noticed. Abe on the other hand felt a shiver run through his body from the unexpected contact. He listened in to the movie one last time. It was around the sad scene where the love Interest/nurse was dying in the hero's arms. He thought he heard some of the guys whimpering. "Oh no..."

Tajima's voice was easily recognizable, "Whyyyy…whyyyy…she was so hot!" Abe gave up on listening in at that point. Sleepily he grasped Mihashi's hand under blanket. I'm not sure why...but I wanted to hold his hand. Besides, it doesn't matter, he's asleep and no one can see. Abe thought as he drifted off. Mihashi must have had some inkling of consciousness left though. Abe felt the delicate calloused fingers intertwine with his and the faintest whisper came from Mihashi.

"Abe~" he drifted off to sleep with that being his last thought, Mihashi's warm hand in his.

The movie ended and the other boys quickly finished wiping away their tears before Tajima turned the lights back on.

Mizutani wailed, "Wow that was great!"

Oki nodded in agreement, reiterating what he had said earlier, "Yeah good choice Mihashi!"

Everyone looked over towards the couch. Hanai commented, "Oh, I guess they fell asleep." Tajima stared at the pair with intense curiosity, "I wonder..."

"Maybe we should draw on their faces or something...heheh…" Mizutani wiggled his fingers mischievously.

Oki chimed in, "Haha you think so?"

Tajima had different plans however, "Shhhhhh! Just…wait...let's see what's under here..." The other boys gave each other looks of confusion as Tajima slowly began to lift the blanket.

He held up the blanket and his eyes grew with surprise. He began to chuckle silently under his breath. "Look, look!" He whispered.

Mihashi and Abe sat asleep on the couch holding hands. Mihashi's head gently resting on Abe's shoulder.

Mizutani gasped, "Eh! Are they...?"

"But they're guys!" Oki chipped in.

Tajima chuckled, "Looks like they're more than just a battery ehehe~! I knew something was up!" The other two looked at him in surprise and wonderment, "Wha~ how!" Tajima smiled mischievously and began to put on a show, "During that one scene...I looked over...and saw them facing each other! And Mihashi turns over and whispers romantically 'Ohhh~Abe-kun~' before he fell asleep."

"Mihashi did?"

"No way, you're lying Tajima."

Tajima began to flail in protest, "No, I swear!" But Hanai began to speak, "Even if they are...more than just a battery...does it really matter? They're out teammates and we should support them… right?"

Oki and Mizutani exchanged glances. "Yeah I guess so" said Oki.

Mizutani giggled a little, "And…well…they are kind of cute!"

Tajima frowned a bit seeing that his little game was over, "Yeah." he pouted at Hanai.

Just then Mihashi cracked an eye. He felt something warm in his hand, but before he had time to assess the situation, there were cheers of, "We support you!" coming from Oki and Mizutani. Hanai gave him a gentle smile amidst the cheering.

Mihashi wasn't sure what was going on and began bowing furiously while sitting down. "T-thank you very much!"

The commotion woke Abe up. He looked over at Mihashi who was bowing.

"Congratulations! We support you!" The team cheered again, waving their arms in the air.

"What are you..." He noticed their intertwined hands and quickly pulled his hand away. He hit Mihashi over the head as he leaned in for another bow, "Stop thanking them! You don't even know what they're talking about." Mihashi looked up afraid and uncertain of what they did wrong.

"S-sorry Abe-kun!"

The team sighed, "So I guess Tajima was wrong?"

"There's no way I was! I know these kinds of things, strictly!"

"Yeah yeah. Sure Tajima."

Tajima sighed. He knew his friend Mihashi. And he knew he was right. Whether anyone else knew it or not. He was right.

The fluttering in Abe's chest and the dusting of pink on his cheeks, said he was right too.