M-Chan: Welcome back mina-san by the next chapter of 'Hearts Combined'. And I hope you enjoy it! Now let's get st-

Afuro: Ahem...

M-Chan: *sweat drops* Oh, gomene (sorry) Afuro-kun... can you do the diclaimer?

Afuro: ...Again?!

M-Chan: Please...

Afuro: Sure... M-Chan V does not own IE nor their characters, they all belong to Level-5. And the second one... This story contains yaoi so don't like don't read...

M-Chan: Thank you! Now let's get started, shall we?

Chapter two: Convince

Suzuno laid down on his bed with his gaze locked at the ceiling, deep away in thoughts. You could easily guess what he was thinking about though because of his face being bright red.

He continued to debate in his head regardless of whether he should confess to Nagumo, would it even be the right thing to do? Or would it only worsen the problem?

He knew well enough that, to succeed with Chaos Break, he needed the get this of his mind. But what is the right decision to make? Should he forget about his feelings for Nagumo and act like they are nothing more than friends?

Before he noticed, it was already time for dinner. But, although he was starving, the white-haired teen didn't want to go downstairs to eat, because he had realized recently that Nagumo would be there too…

But after taking a deep breath, he gave in and got downstairs, only hoping nobody would catch onto the slight blush that still dusted his cheeks.

During dinner, Suzuno kept quiet; he didn't say a single word. On a normal day he would chat with the team and maybe learn some Korean since he got interested in the language. And if he did had a bad day or wasn't interested in communicating nor studying, he'd chat with Nagumo and Afuro only.

Although today he didn't and Afuro had already caught onto the reason of his silence but Nagumo didn't and that got the red-haired teen worried. He kept wondering if he had done something wrong or something that had upset the white-haired teen.

The rest of the team noticed the obvious tension in the air between them so dinner was silent after all.

When dinner ended, Suzuno didn't hesitate and made his way upstairs and he ran to his room as quick as possible, probably breaking a world record while at it. While he tried to get as less attention on him as possible.

When he arrived there, he got ready to sleep, he better tried falling asleep soon enough knowing he would not be able to sleep all too easy.

So he grabbed all his stuff and got downstairs to the shower. He expected no one to be there since a habit of the team is to shower right after practice as most teams did. But since Afuro had held him up afterwards, he didn't get the chance to do so.

And as he expected, the shower was deserted, no one was in there, he undressed himself and got into the shower.

A few minutes later he finished, and he left the shower, got dressed and made his way back upstairs. How much more stairs did he need to take today? Upstairs he got into the bathroom, brushed his teeth and went back to his room.

He could finally fall asleep if not… when he laid back down on his bed, a knock sounded on his door. "Come in!" He said while pushing himself up to sit up straight as the sound of the door opening sounded throughout the whole room. And the one that entered the room was none other than, yes, Nagumo Haruya…

This was literally the worse time for him to be here… Suzuno froze, his face turned slightly red and his heartbeat raised dramatically. 'Why did this have to happen now?' he questioned himself. But Nagumo acted quite strange too as if he was nervous because he had trouble speaking up.

"H-hey…" he stuttered. Suzuno, whose body was still frozen, smiled on the inside. This was the first time Nagumo acted this way around him and he thought it was adorable to see him like this.

'That was cute…' he commented the action in his mind, but he shouldn't have done so… Because the blush on his face only increased.

A few seconds later, when he calmed down a little, he answered him nervously: "O-oh… Hey Burn… Is there something wrong?"

Right after, he noticed how stupid that question sounded… 'Why else would he be here?' He quickly erased that from his mind, there would be no need for him to embarrass himself now.

When he looked back at Nagumo, he saw him with his head lowered and his hand fidgeting with the rim of his shirt. But he straightened his posture soon after and started again nervously: "W-well… You were pretty silent during dinner, so…—" he looked the white-haired teen straight in his eyes. This earned a slight blush on his cheeks what however didn't go unnoticed by Nagumo, a rather adorable reaction. "—I came to look up if you were okay."

Suzuno's eyes widened slightly because of the shock, he couldn't swallow Nagumo took it upon himself to ensure if he of all people were okay. It's true that they became pretty good friends over time, but what happened to the fact they still love to tease one another. So yes, he was startled.

"There is nothing wrong…" Suzuno lied but with an obvious hint of unsureness and nervousness in his voice. He didn't want Nagumo catching on what's been bothering him all this time.

Nagumo raised an eyebrow, he had detected that little hint and didn't believe him for that. But, not bothering to pursue his teammate any further, he said slightly annoyed: "Fine, have it your own way!" And he walked out of the room.

The door closed with minor sound and Suzuno sighed in relief. Being glad the other teen left with no more trouble what otherwise may could have caused him to tell his friend.

After checking if he heard any sounds nearby, he laid down on his bed, sighing once again. 'I know he'll just laugh at me if he finds out I'm gay and in love with him of all people… I can't let that happen…'

When he was about to turn of the lights and go to sleep for the second time already, he once again heard a knock on his door… 'Who is it this time…' he thought in pure annoyance. "Come in…" he answered the knocking still equally annoyed as before.

As the door opened he sighed in relief, this time it wasn't Nagumo but Afuro. although he wasn't that excited to see him right now, he knew what the blond was up to… He knew that all too well.

When Afuro completely entered the bedroom of the white-haired teen, he slowly closed the door not to get any suspicion from some of their teammates, let alone from Nagumo who's bedroom was right next door. He slowly walked closer and eyed the teal-eyed teen with a concerned look in his eyes.

Suzuno already knew what was coming, he only hoped he would not get scolded all too harsh... "What just happened in here, Suzuno?" He asked sternly, raising an eyebrow.

Suzuno shifted his gaze to his side, he actually didn't want to answer the other teen. But decided to tell him after all, after Afuro's gaze bored deep into his eyes when he'd turned back.

Because of that, Afuro could easily tell if he was lying or not, the only solution was to just tell the truth to him. And so he started explaining what just happened a few minutes ago in this exact same tiny bedroom of his. When he completed his explanation, Afuro let himself fall into the chair next to his bureau, he buried his face in his hands and sighed. This was going nowhere!

He had to find a way to help his teammate, but where was he supposed to start...? Afuro knows that Suzuno can be really stubborn, so talking him into something he doesn't want is easier said than done... Afuro was hopeless...

He turned back to Suzuno and the white-haired teen saw the worry shimmering in the maroon-colored eyes of his fellow forward that were lit up by the small nightlight that lit on Suzuno's bedside cabinet.

He sighed, he realized himself this was going nowhere, just like Afuro had realized a while ago. Both of them were lost, this was a problem they couldn't just fix... Or so Afuro thought at least.

Suzuno opened his mouth and asked the question that has been lingering in his mind this whole evening: "What would you do in my place, Aphrodi?" Afuro was shocked.

Suzuno, the ex-captain of Diamond Dust, one of the three master-rank teams from aliae gakuen, was asking for his opinion. Truth to be told, he'd once asked Nagumo if Suzuno had ever asked for someone's opinion because he was kinda cold to everyone at first, but the red-haired teen answered with strict: "No, he hasn't."

Afuro felt that they were finally getting closer to the solution to this all. Suddenly the blond realized that he needed to answer his teammate, he'd been staring in awe at him for quite a while now and the other teen has been giving him all kind of weird looks.

Afuro coughed once in his hand to break the awkward silence that had been formed between the two, and answered him: "If I was you I think I'd just confess to him..."

Suzuno raised an eyebrow and a questioning look appeared on his face, and after a few seconds he said: "Are you sure about that? It's not that easy, right...?"

Afuro eyed the boy in front of him once again, he saw how Suzuno let his head hang low, his bangs covering up his eyes. "What is there to lose? Why are you doubting this?"

He knew that that were too many questions at once but he needed some sleep so he wanted to end this quickly, while not trying to upset his teammate by suddenly leaving. Suzuno's head shot up at the questions of Afuro, uncertainty filled his normally calm and cold eyes, but he let his head hang again right after.

"I-I don't know... I don't know anything right now..." he mumbled, Afuro once again raised an eyebrow, and tried to encourage the other boy a bit.

"You know you love him, isn't that enough? I'm sure it'll be alright..." And this clearly had an effect on the teen, as he lifted his head, Afuro saw a light shimmer of hope gleaming in his teal eyes.

Not long after that his eyes lit back up completely, did he manage to reach the white-haired teen? Finally! Afuro was relieved, and he was glad he finally got through to him.

But Suzuno, being as stubborn as always, hid that soon after and said: "Fine then..." Afuro smiled, he laid one hand on the white-haired teen's shoulder and nodded at him before he left the room. As he closed the door, he looked behind him once more and saw Suzuno smiling while his eyes were full of hope and confidence.

The door closed and Suzuno frowned a little. 'Now how am I going to tell him?' He sighed and got out of bed, he should first find out were his fellow forward was. He got out of his room and made his way to Nagumo's room what luckily wasn't that far. He may should have revised the idea otherwise.

Arriving there, he knocked twice on the door and slowly opened it. Darkness filled the room and not a single sound was present. 'Maybe he isn't here...' he considered. He flinched when the lights suddenly went on and he saw Nagumo sitting on his bed.

'It is now or never...' He walked closer to the bed and sat down on the side of it, all the way followed by Nagumo's gaze. That freaked him out. While he sat there, he tried to stop his heart from beating out of his chest.

It wouldn't surprise him if Nagumo heard his heart since he himself felt his heart beating faster than ever. He tried regulating his breathing although that was to no avail, before speaking up, howbeit in a whisper: "Hey."

Nagumo raised his eyebrows but answered the other boy nonetheless of his confusion: "Yo." Nagumo looked at the white-haired teen and saw how he fidgeted with his shirt, suddenly, the realization kicked in and it got through to Nagumo why Suzuno was here.

"If you wanna talk about earlier, I'll listen..." he said to comfort the nervous teen, Suzuno looked up and nodded before moving his gaze down again and continued fidgeting with the rim of his shirt.

He took a deep breath and looked Nagumo straight in his cat-like yellow eyes; he smiled a little too himself when a little blush crept up on the red-head's cheeks. "Well..." he started, "Aphrodi came up to me after training to ask me something... and... I decided that... I...—" He stopped and looked down.

Boy, this is hard... 'Just say it...' he tried convincing himself. He took a deep breath and regained eye contact before continuing: "After all this time, I need to tell you something."

Nagumo looked at Suzuno with a curious glimpse in his eyes. "Sure," he said to the teen who awaited an answer of him. Suzuno was dead nervous, but he had to go through with this now.

"Iloveyou" So, it was out... Nagumo's eyes widened slightly in surprise, did he heard this correctly? 'Gazel l-loves me...?' he repeated in his thoughts. 'What!?'

Suzuno looked down, he didn't expect to get an answer of Nagumo straight away but the silence was killing him. His breath hitched, and he felt his heart beating outside of his chest.

"Gazel? I-I...—"

"I get it..." Suzuno interfered Nagumo as he ran out of his room.

Nagumo lowered his gaze. "—Love you too..."

M-Chan: Thank you all SO MUCH for reading this chapter of HC! I'm so sorry that it took so long, I might post an explanation for that on my tumblr. And I will try to post the next (and probably last) chapter as soon as possible!

Well, cya!

Afuro: Bye!