Title: frog
Character/Pairing: Sugane, Hajime, Utsutsu, Tsubasa, Joe
A/N: Ahhh, I just wanted some friendship scenes between Sugane and Hajime this season.
Summary: He wished she'd wake up already.
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"Don't worry," Tsubasa repeated, kissing Hajime on the forehead. She kept a hand in Utsutsu's, her turn for the energy donation, and blinked furiously to keep the tears out of her eyes. "I'll handle it from here.
To her credit, she was. And doing a good job of it at that.
Sugane bit his lip as he watched. He had a part to play in this, he knew. They all did. He should have known better than to let it go on as it did,
After all, he was their senior, he was supposed to look out for his juniors.
"I'm sorry," he said. To Tsubasa. To Hajime.
He should have tried harder.
-x-
He kept his scrapbook. As horrible as it looked, it had been his first honest look at himself. Hajime wasn't here to smile as he clumsily tried to fill more pages, but her scissors and paper were.
All of the supplies needed—and he tried not to think how long it had been since he last did this, how long it had been since he had talked to Hajime properly. Since he talked to anyone properly and maybe he had been running in the opposite direction this time, away from his rules and straight into indulgence.
Always going to an extreme; that much hadn't changed.
His fingers folded the paper slowly. Even if it had been a while, he still remembered the basic steps, the basic shapes. His awkward frog and his crooked cutting. If Hajime were here, she would probably say he should try to make it more colourful, so he used a sheet of bright pink for his next attempt.
Two days later, he left the scrapbook under her pillow, and wished she would wake up a little sooner, if just to tell him his frog was a little cuter this time.
-x-
"How is she?" he asked, giving his hand to Utsutsu.
Without looking up, she grabbed it and he winced as he felt his energy flow out of him. No matter how many times she did it, he couldn't get used to the feeling. Hajime's body glowed, the energy healing her slowly.
"The same." Utsutsu shrunk down, hunched over. "I'm gloomy."
Sugane frowned, staring at Hajime's sleeping face. Even now, a month later, she didn't so much as twitch.
"Me too."
-x-
"Hi," Sugane said awkwardly to the three girls.
"Hi…" One replied, the other two looking away. It was weird, meeting them again after the incident.
It was like he was looking at them for the first time. Looking at their relationship for the first time. The pictures on his wall, the ticket stubs in his drawers, they weren't all lies.
But they weren't all truths either.
"How is Hajime-chan?"
"Still asleep." His expression darkened. It had been two months now and still no change.
"Oh. That's too bad."
"Yeah…" His voice trailed off and they stood there even more awkwardly.
He could still hear their voices as they told him the trip was cancelled. It chilled him, to the bone, to realize just what Hajime and Joe meant by atmosphere and what it could do.
Sugane shook his head, reminding himself why he was here. "Can we go karaoke, or camping, or even just eat together?"
He wanted to start their relationship fresh, to become real friends this time.
-x-
"That's not healthy." Joe rolled his eyes, muttering something about young love. Sugane almost dropped his phone, Hajime's livestream playing on the screen.
Ears red, Sugane shot back, "I know your phone has it on too."
"Yeah, but I check it once a day."
"I don't check it that much." Sugane drank the beer Joe bought him and grimaced. He had yet to grow used to the taste of Joe's favourite brand.
"If it's always on, that doesn't matter." Joe shook his head.
"I want to know when she wakes up."
Joe stopped arguing, muttering once more under his breath before ordering another drink. "We all do. Anyways, try not to pass out this time."
"That was once!" Sugane turned bright red, taking a larger gulp of the beer. "I've got a higher tolerance now."
"Once?" Joe raised an eyebrow. "If you say so."
"I can handle it, I promise."
The next morning, Sugane woke up, his head stiff from sleeping on a table.
-x-
"Sugane," Hajime said, and his legs almost collapsed under him. The first time he's heard her voice in months, the first time she's said his name so long.
"Hajime," he responded, coming closer to the bed. Tsubasa and Utsutsu were already there and he could see the tears still dripping from Tsubasa's face.
He was sure his face looked the same.
Hajime smiled at him, waving his scrapbook. "Cute frog."