Daichi was in class today.

Suga was honestly surprised when he walked through the door that morning. Nobody else seemed to notice (or care for that matter) when Daichi sat down in his usual seat. The raven haired man looked across the row at Suga, and he smiled and waved at him. Daichi managed half a smile. Suga watched his face as his eyebrows shot up, almost as if he had a realization. Daichi held up his index finger as if to say "wait a second", and dug around in his backpack. He pulled out Suga's notebook and got up to walk it over to him.

"Sorry," he said quietly, handing the spiral notebook to Suga. "Almost forgot I had it."

Suga waved in dismissal. "Don't worry about it. You copied all the notes, right?"

He nodded and tugged at the ends of the sleeves of his sweatshirt. "Yeah, it took a little while, but I managed to get them down in one sitting. Thanks, by the way."

"No problem." Suga smiled again. Daichi gave him another half-hearted smile and returned to his seat.

Class started off normally. Sugawara didn't really want to admit it, but he kept looking over at Daichi a little more than just a few times over the span of the class. He couldn't help himself; he was just happy to see that he was back in class. More than once, he made accidental awkward eye contact with Daichi and quickly looked forward after a moment.

He noticed that throughout the class, Daichi fidgeted often. He kept tugging at the ends of his sleeves and tapping his pen against his desk and bouncing his leg. But only once throughout the class did Daichi roll back his sleeves, if only a little bit.

But that was all Sugawara needed to see that there were pink and red marks on the insides of his wrist, clear as day against Daichi's paling skin.

It was like everything around him froze. Suga could hear his heartbeat in his ears, and his blood ran cold.

It hit him like a ton of bricks.

It all made sense now; the isolation, not coming to class, his attitude, his solemnness, and his violent change in mood; it all added up.

Suga looked forward when Daichi rolled up his sleeves again. Questions bounced around the inside of his skull; why wouldn't he have told him? Especially after all those opportunities? Did Daichi not trust him? Was he only pretending to be sincere when Daichi had assured him he'd be the first to know if anything was up?

He tried to push the questions to the back of his mind for now, but they couldn't be completely silenced. Suga's throat felt tight, as if he were about to cry. Hit bit his lower lip to keep himself from doing so, and he tried to calm himself down.

After about another hour or so, class had ended. Suga packed up his belongings in record time and made his way across the row to stand in front of Daichi. The raven haired man looked up at him, seemingly unaware of the predicament he had caused the ash blond.

"I-I'd like to talk to you after classes are over later," Suga managed. He wrenched his hands around the strap of his messenger bag. "Meet me outside the apartment building?"

Daichi pursed his lips ever so slightly and furrowed his brow. Other than that, he didn't look fazed. "Yeah, alright," Daichi replied softly.

XXX

It felt like butterflies were trying to eat the insides of Daichi's stomach. A cold breeze blew in his face, and he shivered. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

When Sugawara had asked to speak with him, a nervous flutter had erupted within his chest; what was it that come up so suddenly? Was he transferring? Was something wrong?

Daichi neared the apartment building. He caught sight of Suga's slender figure leaning up against the brick wall, just outside the entrance. The ash blond was clad in a long black button-up coat and a pale blue scarf. Daichi's heartbeat spiked as he walked in his direction. His hands fidgeted in his pockets.

He slowed to a stop in front of Suga. He looked up at Daichi; something about the look in his hazel eyes set Daichi off. It was hard to read his face.

"Hey," Daichi said to break the silence. The wind started to pick up around them. "Something you wanted to talk about?"

Without saying a word, Suga held out his hand. Daichi looked at him for a moment and gingerly took his hand out of his pocket and placed it in Suga's. Gently, the ash blond turned his arm over. Without breaking eye contact, Suga pushed back Daichi's sleeve. It happened too fast for him to process what was going on.

Daichi's arm stung from the sudden coldness, and realized that his scars were visible.

His eyes widened as he watched Sugawara's face go from stoic to pure anguish in a matter of seconds. His hands were shaking as was his entire body. His hazel eyes darted to the ground.

"Why?" came Suga's voice, cracked and just barely audible over the sound of the wind.

Daichi came to his senses. "H-how did you—"

"When you rolled back your sleeves in language arts," he stated, his voice shaking. Suga let go of his hand and clenched his fists at his sides. He squared up his shoulders and bowed his head. "Why wouldn't you...why would you keep this from me?"

Daichi clenched his fists and bit his lip. "I—"

Suga suddenly straightened up and firmly clamped the lapels of Daichi's jacket, pulling him slightly closer. His breathing was coming in short gasps. Tears were streaming down his pale face. "Why would you keep something like this from me? From your friends? There were so many times you could've told me. I just don't understand...do you not trust me? I-is that what it is?"

"No," Daichi whispered, shaking his head. He placed his hands over Suga's. "No, no, no, that's like the complete opposite of it. I..."

He trailed off. Suga looked up at him, tears still running down his face. Daichi stared straight into his eyes. His hands started to shake.

"It's because I—" Daichi stopped himself for a moment. "It's because I was so afraid of you finding out and leaving me. I felt that if I told you...if I told you what I was doing, that you would reject me and let me deal with it myself; I thought that maybe I was a burden to you—"

"Are you insane?" Suga's voice went up in volume, gripping Daichi's jacket tighter in his fists. "Are you truly insane? I don't...I would never consider you a burden, Daichi. In fact, I think you're the complete opposite of a burden. Do you know how much I was worried about you? You occupy my every thought. I was so worried that I wouldn't shut up about you to my friends; I went to them for advice to see what I should do...Don't you ever call yourself a burden ever again, Sawamura Daichi, don't you dare."

"Suga—"

Suga continued to sob, leaning his face forward so that his forehead rested on Daichi's chest. "What in the world could ever make you think something like that? Something like me not liking you? That's ridiculous, as it is that I'm so god damn in love with you."

The two froze. Sugawara removed his hands from Daichi's jacket, clamped them over his mouth, and backpedaled until his back was against the wall. Suga's hazel eyes glistened with fresh tears.

Daichi stared at him, wide eyed. A chill ran down his spine, and he felt heat rush to his face.

That's ridiculous, as it is that I'm so god damn in love with you.

Daichi continued to stare at the ash blond in front of him. Sugawara Koushi—gentle, kind Sugawara Koushi—was losing his composure before his very eyes. Suga's hands lingered by his lips as he processed what had just happened. He balled up his fists and held them at his sides. He started to panic.

"Oh my god, I-I didn't mean to—oh my god, what did I just—" Suga started to incoherently ramble.

A laugh bubbled up in Daichi's chest. It rose in a crescendo, and suddenly he realized he was crying. Daichi cradled his face into his hands and laughed some more, tears rolling down his cheeks. Suga probably thought him insane.

Daichi stood up straight again, furiously wiping at his eyes. He composed himself and looked Suga in the eyes. "Here I thought…this whole time I thought that you wouldn't even dream of wasting your time on me. I can't believe how stupid I was…I just—"

Suga silenced him, his lips pressed gently against Daichi's. Daichi's breath caught in his throat for a moment and felt his cheeks flare up. The ash blond pulled away after another moment, but Daichi didn't let him get far.

He grabbed Suga by the collar and brought the other hand up to rest against the back of Suga's head. The ash blond slowly brought his arms around Daichi's neck, deepening the kiss ever so slightly. Suga rose up on his toes, his fingers carding through Daichi's hair. A groan bubbled up in Daichi's throat.

The two of them broke apart but remained in each other's embrace, foreheads leaning together. Daichi grinned like an idiot. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for that."

"You dork," Suga giggled and pecked him on the lips again. He rested his head on Daichi's shoulder, and the two of them stayed in their embrace like that for a while.

And Daichi smiled to himself; things were starting to look up.