Setting: SEALED School AU
Sho's POV
Notes: Too long, again. /sweats/... I guess I will have to change drabble collection into story collection.

In this AU, Sho is still struggling to control his Gift.

They have only been dating for two weeks when Sho suddenly stops meeting his eyes.

Toya has done nothing, as far as he can tell, that warrants this treatment. He tries to read Sho's body language whenever they are together, but Sho is carefully guarded and it is hard to tell what he is thinking when his eyes are hidden. They are both still new to this relationship, learning how to be together as lovers and not just friends, learning how to see each other in a new light. Toya had thought they were doing fine, but then Sho suddenly stops meeting his eyes.

There are normally a few reasons for this: First, he has done something to offend Sho. Toya understands that sometimes the things he says can be taken wrongly, can be seen as condescending or haughty, but he has never intended to sound that way at all. It's a good possibility that he has said something unknowingly offensive to Sho, but he knows Sho long enough to think that he would've said something if that were the case.

The next reason would be that Sho is hiding something from him. This doesn't bother him if it is true; everyone has something they don't want anyone else to know. He of all people understands this, despite his age, despite being a high school student. The problem is that it must involve him if Sho is not meeting his eyes, and not knowing what it might be is affecting him more than he cares to admit.

The final reason—the one that bothers him the most—is that Sho has decided that Toya is not exactly what he had hoped for and his feelings has changed. This, Toya thinks, is the most likely reason for the sudden loss of eye contact. There isn't anything he has that is worthy of Sho's affection—admiration, perhaps, but not love. When he tries to think of why Sho chose him and not someone else, all he finds is silence. There is nothing inside him, just a hollow emptiness that he has averted his eyes from for as long as he can remember.

"Why don't you just ask him?" Nagi says when he tells her this. Because if he ends up being right, he does not want to hear it.

He does not have to answer for Nagi to know what he is thinking. She sighs, closing her notebook. "Your problem is that you think too much. Just ask him."

For as little words as Nagi speaks, she offers sound advice. So he waits outside Sho's classroom door when the home bell rings, outside the back door that he has noticed Sho leaving most of the time. As expected, Sho steps out directly in front of him, spotting him and stopping in his tracks for a split second before making his way over. The one thing Toya does not expect, however, is the surprised look on Sho's face, like as if he did not know Toya is going to be here waiting for him. Huh. He had figured Sho would've foreseen this. It seems, Toya thinks, that Sho is not able to predict everything.

Sho meets his eyes and then trails his gaze to the side. "This is unusual," Sho says. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Toya pauses, wondering if it's really that unusual for him to be here, especially since now they are dating. "I just want to see you."

It is a casual remark, a careless truth he tossed out without much thought, but Sho's face immediately flushes and he ducks his head. Damn it. He did not intend to sound so romantic, but now Sho's reaction is making him feel embarrassed too. This sudden reaction, this language Sho's body is telling him, makes Toya momentarily confused. Sho still likes him, enough to react to such a simple comment, and now he isn't sure why Sho won't meet his eyes anymore.

He coughs, adjusting the bag strap across his shoulders in an attempt to appear casual, trying to ignore the warmth in his cheeks. "Shall we walk home together?"

Sho nods, still not meeting his eyes, still too shy to lift his head, and so they walk together, side by side, neither looking at the other. It's painfully awkward, especially with Toya's unintentional blunder in both their minds. Yes, he wants to see Sho, but only because he has something he needs to ask. He glances beside him at the thought, catches Sho looking at him too, but when their eyes meet Sho immediately turns away. Enough. He cannot take this awkwardness anymore.

"Sho, why won't you look at me?"

Sho stiffens at his question, but does not attempt to deny the accusation. Toya watches him carefully, his heart anxious in his chest as he waits for Sho's answer.

"My Gift," Sho says slowly. "I don't have full control over it yet."

The shift in topic confuses Toya, because he does not quite grasp how Sho's clairvoyance has anything to do with avoiding his eyes. His heart sinks the longer he thinks about it, because Sho sees the future, and if he does not like what he sees then it must not be good. Ask, he reminds himself. If their relationship is going to survive, he will need to ask and not over-analyze everything.

"I'm sorry. I admit I'm a little confused. Is there something you're afraid of seeing when you look at me?"

"It's not that." Sho's words are hurried now, tumbling over each other with nervousness. "It's not the future I see when I look at you. You're a private person, Toya—I don't want to—Gods, this is hard to say."

The way Sho speaks of him feels intimate, like he has seen something Toya does not want anyone to know, and now he is nervous too. But he is patient, and Sho is obviously struggling to explain, so he waits for Sho to continue.

"Vision can mean different things. Not just clairvoyance, but also—also, I can see someone's heart. Sometimes when I look at you, I look into your heart too."

Ah. Everything falls into place: the sudden loss of eye contact, the observation that Toya is a private person, the fear Sho has of offending him. And it is true—he is a private person, does not enjoy the thought that his heart has already been read, does feel a little unsettled that his privacy has been invaded without his permission. But the most surprising thing is that he finds himself not minding if it is Sho.

"I see." He forces himself to speak, knowing that if he is silent for too long Sho will take it the wrong way. "It's true that I prefer to keep things to myself. But I think I'd rather have you look at me than to avoid my eyes like this."

"But I will read your heart," Sho protests, and he sounds angry at himself for not being able to control his own Gift, for reading Toya's heart, even though they are dating—or perhaps because they are. Sho makes things harder for himself, Toya thinks, because he cares too much about how the other would feel when his Gift can be so invasive.

"Go ahead. I don't have anything to hide from you." Toya stops, thinking of the emptiness he does not enjoy looking at, thinking of Sho seeing that side of him. "Or rather, I do not feel it is wrong for you to see the truth about me."

It occurs to him now that dating someone with Sho's Gift will take some adjusting to do. Granted, Toya knows he himself is not the easiest person to get along with, but Sho's Gift makes it hard for anyone to hide anything. There will be no means to safeguard against Sho's eyes, and Sho's reservations about revealing his power makes complete sense. It would scare most people, or at least people who do not understand life with a Gift, people who are not prepared to sacrifice their sense of privacy for a seer. They make an unusual pair: Sho with his ability to read people's hearts, he with too many thoughts inside his head. But if Sho is willing to be with him despite that, he does not mind adjusting to Sho either.

"Look at me, Sho." It takes some coaxing, but Sho finally meets his eyes. Toya smiles to show that he isn't bothered by Sho's Gift, even if it will not be easy to get used to. "I really don't mind. So please, stop avoiding my eyes."

"I don't have that much control. I can't stop when I want to. Are you really alright with that?" Sho doesn't seem to think Toya understands the full implications of his Gift, and perhaps he is right. But the reason Toya agreed to this relationship in the first place is because he is willing to accept everything of Sho, no matter what it is, even if it is invasive and unsettling.

"Yes. And perhaps you don't have as much control as you like, because no one is willing to be your subject for you to practice on." He looks into Sho's eyes, thinks about how frighteningly clear they are, how they reflect what lies buried deep inside his heart like a mirror. "But you are not on your own anymore, Sho. You have me."

And Sho smiles, a relieved, warm smile that melts away the apprehension in his eyes, a radiant smile that is filled with wonder and gladness that his Gift has been accepted so readily. He is dazzling in his joy, and though Sho doesn't express himself in words his eyes reveal everything in his heart too, and it is like looking into a pool of pure, clean water and seeing everything at the bottom in full, crisp detail.

This relationship will not be easy, but if it means getting to see Sho's face light up like this, Toya is willing to do anything.