Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

A/N: Written for ChibaHaya Week 2018 Day 3- Eyes.

Eyes

Whether Chiba liked it or not, his eyes were always the main focus of himself.

Sugaya, for example, had drawn hundreds of eye drawings to see if he could manage to draw Chiba's eyes, but they were all incorrect. However, that only seemed to motivate the artist further, and Sugaya vowed to expand his eye collection to five hundred.

Okajima said that he had labelled Chiba as "No Eyes" in his contact.

While Itona had once wondered whether Chiba was a cyborg due to his apparent lack of eyes.

And there was Hayami.

Hayami, who could've probably cared less if Chiba had three eyes or none if he could carry out his work properly. Hayami, who was the closest to him but yet had never asked him about his eyes.

And there was something else he liked about Hayami.

When he made eye contact with someone, Chiba always felt like they were looking at his eyebrows or his nose. Never directly into his eyes. Of course Chiba couldn't blame them, they couldn't see his eyes.

But somehow, Hayami always managed to make real eye contact with him.

Maybe she had X-ray vision and could see through his hair. Maybe she had asked Ritsu to scan his face. Or maybe it was just intuition.

He liked the way her unwavering green eyes looked into his. It was almost like they were communicating silently via eye contact instead of words. It had been a very long time since anyone had stared seriously at his eyes.

Chiba liked this connection.

The connection between him and Hayami.

The first time they made eye contact, it was at the baseball game.

After the boys' victory, Chiba had high-fived many of his classmates. Everyone was ecstatic by their win.

Chiba heard a loud cheer from the sidelines, and spun to see his female classmates pressed against the wire fence, clapping and jumping with all their might. His eyes travelled over their joyous faces until they landed on a certain someone.

Hayami had worn her hair in low pigtails. Chiba absentmindedly thought that the hairstyle was pretty cute.

Hayami wasn't laughing or dancing like some others, but there was a proud smile on her face. She was observing how the boys celebrated their victory, and she felt happy for them. They, the bunch of misfits, had just beaten the baseball team!

Suddenly, Hayami turned and looked right at Chiba.

Chiba couldn't breathe. It was as if the universe had frozen and it was just them. It felt she was right in front of her even though she was actually meters away. It felt like she could see through every barrier until she reached him. It was a bit uncomfortable, but somehow, Chiba craved it.

Hayami grinned and flashed him a thumbs up.

Chiba awkwardly smiled back, feeling his lips stretch unnaturally.

"Group hug!" Maehara announced loudly, and Chiba tore his eyes away. He was immediately smothered by blue uniforms and sweat, all of their exultant faces inches away from each other.

"To 3-E!" Isogai declared once they broke apart.

"To 3-E!" the boys chorused, pumping their fists towards the clear blue sky.

From that time onwards, every time something good happened, Hayami and Chiba would just look at each other.

It was their way of congratulating each other. Their way of acknowledging something good had happened.

When the results of their second exams came out, the entire class was brimming with joy. They had won the trip to the island! They had beaten 3-A!

The duo's grades had also improved greatly. That was the fruit of their hard work, and now they could finally enjoy it.

And there was it again. That brief moment of eye contact. That little polite nod. The way their eyes met, conveying compliments and thanks.

Mistakes were made. They had overestimated themselves. The island assassination had failed. They had failed.

It was painful to think that every time they made eye contact, it was because they accomplished something. And now? They didn't do anything helpful. They were big disappointments.

They couldn't bear to look at each other.

They didn't deserve to be looked in the eye and say "it's fine, there's next time". They didn't deserve comfort. They didn't deserve anything.

And yet, above everything else, they couldn't bear to face all those they had let down. Their classmates who had worked so hard for this important, potentially life-changing assassination. Everyone had done their jobs perfectly; everyone had helped with the assassination. But these two? The ones who were supposed to do the critical, finishing blow?

Failures.

Giant failures.

The two failures stuck with each other, sitting back to back to avoid direct contact. At least they were in trouble together.

They had been fine at practices. Longer distance, unstable shooting platforms, moving targets, these all hadn't affected them.

But the suffocating atmosphere and the crucial moment of "this is it" made them falter.

They had done their best, but it wasn't enough.

The next time they made eye contact, it was when they received the real guns from Karasuma.

It wasn't an exchange of confidence or comfort. It was mostly one of "but we just failed" and "we can't do it".

But everyone was looking them with such urgent expressions. Hayami and Chiba had to admit it that, at the moment, they were the most suitable ones for gun wielding. It was absolutely staggering how even Korosensei and Karasuma, their superhuman teachers, were depending on them.

They were acutely aware of the power they had. Bullets were disastrous, but in their case, they could use it to save their class.

Once upon a time, the sniper duo had airguns, aiming to kill.

But now, they had real guns, and aiming to save.

They were scared out of wits, with the big burden of defeating Gastro resting heavily on their backs.

But then Korosensei said, "I have some advice for you."

Hayami instinctively spun to look at Chiba to see his reaction, but he was staring at something else.

And they listened.

It wasn't just the two of them taking the responsibility. They had friends, classmates, teachers behind, ready to support them. This wasn't something they would do alone. This was something the class would do together.

And that gave them the boost they needed.

Chiba slowly turned to see Hayami looking at him. She was obviously nervous, but after Korosensei's advice, it seemed to have struck a chord in her.

Their lines of sight crossed, expressing silent wishes.

Let's move forward.

Gastro was tied up, they could proceed. Among the class' jubilant cheers, two souls searched for each other.

Congrats on your shot, Hayami thought.

Thanks for that shot, Chiba thought.

Chiba knew Hayami couldn't see his eyes, so it was especially impressive how she made direct eye contact with him every time, without fail.

This was no exception.

"Good shot," Hayami's eyes seemed to say as she raised her arm for the customary arm bump. "I'm proud."

They had saved the class. They had recovered from their earlier falls.

They had done something good and worth celebrating.

They weren't ashamed of their eye contact any more.

Chiba shrugged off the stress and tension and grinned, bumping her arm with his.

A while later, Chiba asked what Hayami thought when she looked at him without seeing his eyes.

(It was the first time Chiba had mentioned his eyes to Hayami.)

"You can't see my eyes, but you keep on making eye contact with me."

"Well," Hayami tapped her chin. "We don't like to talk, so we can communicate through eye contact. Plus, I feel like you would like to be acknowledged." There was a pause. "I'm sorry if it makes you feel uncomfortable."

"No no, I like it," Chiba reassured her. His cheeks turned pink. "Umm, I don't mind it," he rephrased his sentence.

Hayami fiddled with her fingers, not knowing what to make out of his "I like it" comment.

"I wonder why you always manage to look directly in my eyes. Most people just stare at my eyebrows."

Hayami shrugged, genuinely puzzled. "Instinct?"

Chiba liked a partner who would look at him in the eye.

So even when Hayami became his secretary, he never thought of her as a subordinate.

No, they were working for the same company, they were just playing two different but equally important roles.

Chiba was sure his company- their company would've never flourished if Hayami wasn't there.

Hayami was the only one to really look at him as if his bangs weren't there, yet she never inquired about them. She was the one who acknowledged him first whenever he succeeded. No matter what happened, he knew they always had each other's backs.

Nagisa often said he liked how Korosensei would "properly look at them". When further prompted, Nagisa would explain and say Korosensei would understand them and accept all of their strengths and flaws. He would appreciate and respect them.

Well, Chiba thought Hayami "properly looked at him" too.

Hayami didn't see him just as a socially awkward guy. She didn't see him as a random classmate. She saw him as her working partner and as someone of use. They respected and trusted each other. She wouldn't pry into his uncomfortable areas.

So Chiba properly looked at Hayami too.

He saw a hardworking, stoic girl. He saw someone who constantly took care of the burdens of others. He saw someone with high expectations of herself. He saw a partner, his partner.

A/N: Thanks for the support! According to canon, Chiba and Hayami do stare at each other at celebratory moments. I find it cute and it tells us about their character and relationship.

Guest: Thank you! Well, I think Chiba and Hayami's biggest fear is being a burden to other people. I also think Chiba might have a fear of being bullied due to being bullied for his eyes when he was young.

Thanks for reading and please review! :D