Megumi-chan
Tsubasa had been weirdly chipper ever since Aoi had told her that she was free to like him as much as she wanted. Now if that didn't sound like much that's because it wasn't. However with the way Tsubasa grinned at him every time their eyes met in class you'd think he'd accepted a marriage proposal.
It wasn't like he minded. Maybe it was a little narcissistic but he liked being desired. It was one of the reasons he modelled after all, that and the cute outfits. Tsubasa's clear and obvious appreciation was an ego boost and what was the harm in basking in that?
The bell rang out the end of the school day and there was the typical screech of tables and chairs, the flurry of papers and bags being picked up as students hurried out of class, the clamour of voices as teenagers made their way home or to the sport's field. There was supposed to be an inter-school basketball practice later in the day, nothing official but just an excuse for two schools to meet and establish some sort of dominance.
Aoi stretched and turned his head, expecting to see Tsubasa loping over to him with an invitation to go eat somewhere. There was no way he was staying to watch a bunch of sweaty guys chase a ball when he could be doing literally anything else. So lunch; where though? Probably not Café Latté though, Aoi didn't plan to show his face there for a month, so somewhere else. Whatever, Tsubasa would have an idea.
So Aoi turned his head but instead of coming face to face with Tsubasa's stupid freckles, he spotted the girl talking to another girl.
Aoi blamed the weird lurch in his stomach on his lunch and narrowed his eyes at the girl. She was short, maybe his height or a centimetre taller, and usually sat near the front. Her uniform was plain with a buttoned up blazer, a below the knee skirt, and without a shred of customization. For that matter, so was she.
Aoi scoffed and mollified himself with the thought that, wig or not, he was miles cuter than that nerd. Deciding that he was done waiting for Tsubasa's attention, Aoi got to his feet, making sure his chair scraped the ground pointedly.
Tsubasa's eyes darted over to him and she grinned. "Aoi! Are you leaving? I thought we were getting lunch together?"
"You looked busy," he tried not to sound petulant or huffy but he wasn't sure how well he did at that. He nodded curtly at the girl. "Megumi-chan."
"Aoi-kun," she nodded back. Her fingers twisted and fiddled with her skirt as she peered at the slouching Tsubasa through her lashes. Her brown eyes were huge behind her glasses, giving her a helpless, Bambi-eyed expression. Aoi knew that expression; he'd practiced it countless times in front of the mirror. Did Tsubasa like that? Aoi's eyes were blue and he could look doe-eyed if he wanted to. Maybe Tsubasa liked shy girls? Aoi had faked a shy persona before and why did he care?!
While he'd been locked in this swirling vortex of thoughts, Tsubasa had been staring at him and wondering what exactly was going through his mind that had his brow so furrowed. She lifted her finger and poked him in the forehead. "Hey, Aoi!"
"Huh? What?" He jerked back to attention.
Megumi gave him a small but genuine smile that might have made him like her at least a little if his brain hadn't already slammed the word RIVAL on her is blocky letters without his permission. "Tsubasa-kun is going to be in the practice game later," she told him, "I was wondering if you were coming too."
"I-" I would literally rather be doing anything else was what Aoi would have said but then he realised two things.
One, Tsubasa hadn't told him about being in the basketball club. This wasn't a big deal but Aoi felt stupidly hurt that she hadn't shared this with him. Maybe she wasn't all that open with him.
Two, if Aoi didn't go to this sporting event, Tsubasa would be alone with Megumi, a girl who clearly had a crush on his source of attention.
"I didn't think girls were participating in the practice," he answered instead, wincing at how awkward that had sounded.
Tsubasa shrugged. "The girls' basketball team's on a break while the coach is in the hospital. The boy's team has some weird rivalry going on with some other school and they wanted me to play for some reason."
"Don't they know you're a girl?" Aoi stressed the word, eying Megumi all the while. Her expression didn't change. In fact she looked quite curious to hear the answer.
"I guess I look masculine enough to pass. Besides, I like basketball!" Tsubasa mimed tossing a ball in a move so dorky that had to Aoi roll his eyes. He then gritted his teeth when Megumi giggled. "I used to play basketball at my old school but I didn't join the basketball club here since I wanted to try something new."
That at least cleared up something and made Aoi feel slightly better. He folded his arms across his chest and huffed. "I guess I could come. Just to see what all the fuss is about anyway."
Tsubasa blinked up at him in surprise and then she beamed at him. "Great! The three of us can go together!"
Aoi glanced at Megumi and she stared back at him. For a minute she looked disappointed and then she seemed to steel herself and she smiled at Tsubasa. "I'd like that Tsubasa-kun!" Then she flushed pink behind her spectacles when Tsubasa turned that blindingly affectionate smile on her. Aoi felt like someone was very gently but very insistently squeezing his internal organs.
"Yeah, I guess we'll all sit together," he muttered.
"Nice!" Tsubasa got up and stretched. "Well I should head to the gym. I'll see you both later, right?"
"G-Good luck Tsubasa-kun!" Megumi called after her. Tsubasa tossed a two-fingered salute and winked and then she was gone. Aoi watched Megumi place her hands to her cheeks which were bright pink.
He scoffed at her. "You're so obvious."
"Am I?" She jumped and her eyes widened with worry. "Oh gosh, do you think she could tell? I thought I was being subtle..."
Aoi looked at Megumi critically. According to 90% of all romantic media ever created, nerdy girls liked bad boys. While Tsubasa was neither a boy nor was she misunderstood and brooding, her scruffy hair, pierced ears, and the slightly sloppy state of her uniform gave her a relaxed, rebellious air.
So if Megumi was the nerd and Tsubasa was the bad boy, then what was he? The bitchy It Girl? Oh god no, they never got happy endings! Not that he wanted a happy end with Tsubasa.
At this point Aoi was aware that he was sitting in a well of denial and he could either dig deep and completely commit to this or he could swim to the surface and accept that he had a massive crush and Tsubasa and was jealous that Megumi would swoop in with her Bambi eyes and steal her from him.
Hey look, he'd tackled his emotions without lashing out at anyone! Ew.
"You're not creeped out are you Aoi-kun?"
He startled, again, and blinked at Megumi. She watched him, nervously toeing the ground. "Creeped out about what?" He asked.
Megumi's fingers gripped her skirt so tightly that Aoi wondered if the fabric would rip. "That I like Tsubasa even though we're both girls?"
"Oh." Aoi said, a little blankly. "No I don't care."
Megumi relaxed like she'd been holding her breath for a long time. "That's good! Because I really like Tsubasa and I know you're good friends with her! I was hoping we could be friends too!"
Aoi stared after Megumi's retreating figure and then put a hand to his chest. God emotions were exhausting.
Me: I hate love triangles, they are contrived and boring and serve nothing but to facilitate and satisfy an author's wish fulfillment
Me: *adds a love triangle*
To be fair, I can tell you right off the bat that this fic is purely Aoi x Tsubasa, I just wanted to throw in a lesbian character and also Megumi is a cutie-pie I was playing around on one of those online dress up games and basically created a bespectacled sweetheart.
Look, in anime most times LGBT+ people exist to be fetishized or feared by straight people. You get lesbians who can't stop grabbing other women's breasts, gay men who flirt with every dude whether they like it or not, and the bisexual who runs around fucking everything in sight. So here, have some realistic queerness. Will I always add lectures at the end of my chapters? Maybe who knows thank you for coming to my TedTalk.