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Jo’s nightly sketching session is interrupted by a knock at the door. He pauses, pencil hovering above the paper, wondering if he heard wrong. The clock on the microwave glows an eerie 2:07 am.
The knock sounds again, this time a little softer. Jo frowns. What could someone possibly want from him at such a ridiculous hour?
He shuffles over, pencil still in hand, hoping there isn’t a killer standing outside. His peephole is useless – all it shows is someone’s blurred silhouette. If Maki finds out I let a murderer into our apartment in the middle of the night, he’s gonna kill me again after he finishes laughing.
He tightens his grip on his pencil, prays it’s sharp enough to act as a defensive weapon, and opens the door anyway.
To his relief, the man standing outside doesn’t look particularly threatening. He’s a bit shorter than Jo, with fluffy pink hair, glinting eyes, and an embarrassed smile. In his arms is a stuffed tote bag. Jo wonders if it’s full of limbs.
“Hi,” says hopefully-not-a-murderer. He has a slight lisp. “Sorry this had to be our first interaction, but could I use your shower?”
Jo blinks. He’s sure he heard wrong this time.
Hopefully-not-a-murderer sighs. “I know this sounds ridiculous. I moved into the unit across from you earlier today, but I just had the misfortune of discovering my shower simply does not have any water.”
Jo blinks again. He considers if he might have fallen asleep and drifted off into some weird dream while drawing. That wouldn’t be a first.
“If not, I totally understand,” hopefully-not-a-murderer continues. “This is a crazy request from a stranger. I just really need to shower before I go to bed because I accidentally spilled soup all over myself and if I don’t wash it off, it’s gonna stink in the morning and that would be awful. I brought my own towel and shampoo and soap and everything.” He opens his tote bag to show off a baby pink towel. “I’ll be super quick! Just five minutes.”
Jo lightly jabs himself with his pencil and winces. Definitely awake.
“I’m Yuma, by the way,” Yuma-who-is-hopefully-not-a-murderer says. He grins, and Jo catches a flash of a snaggletooth. “It’s nice to meet you, though the circumstances are rather unfortunate. Sorry for the weird ask! Maybe I’ll catch you around, neighbor.”
He turns to leave with a little wave.
Jo unfreezes. “Wait. You can use it. The shower, I mean.”
Yuma spins back around. “Really? Are you sure? That would be amazing.”
Jo nods, a bit taken aback by this strange man’s enthusiasm and even more shocked at his own response. Nevertheless, the words are already out, so he opens the door wider.
“What’s your name?” Yuma asks as he steps in.
Jo leads him to the bathroom. “I’m Jo.”
“Are you a student?”
“Yeah. Second year. Art major.”
Yuma grins again. “Wow! I’m also a second year. I study chemistry though.”
Jo nods, unsure of what to say. Yuma enters the bathroom. “Thanks again! I owe you one.”
The bathroom door clicks shut. Jo stands outside, slowly processing what just happened. Surely, this can’t be real. In a daze, he goes back to the dining table, where his art supplies are still spread out. He hears the shower turn on. Instead of drawing, he pulls out his phone.
Maki, when are you coming home?
Two minutes later, no response. Jo hopes Maki is on his way back by now. Being an astronomy major, Maki is often out late into the night. Jo decides to text Yudai too. If something happens to him, he trusts Yudai to avenge him.
If I don’t come to class tomorrow, please recover my body from my room. And take care of Maki.
Yudai responds immediately.
what are you talking about?????
I have a new neighbor. He is in my shower right now.
wow little jojo is growing up so fast!!
you move a lot faster than i thought you would!!
stay safe~
and tell me EVERYTHING tomorrow~
Jo feels his ears begin to burn. He has no idea how Yudai managed to extract such a meaning from his text. He hears the shower being shut off as he hastily begins to compose a response.
What do you mean?
Delete.
You have the completely wrong idea.
Delete.
I meant
He doesn’t get to finish though, because the front door opens. Maki comes in, whistling.
“Hey Jo! Just saw your text. What’s up–?”
He stops, squinting. “Why are you so red?”
Jo instinctively reaches up to cover his ears. “Not red.”
Maki simply stares.
Yuma chooses that moment to poke his head out of the bathroom. “Jo, I am so sorry, but is it okay if I come out shirtless? I totally forgot to–”
He sees Maki. Maki’s mouth drops open. He slowly looks between the stranger in the bathroom and his roommate.
“Right. No problem! I understand why you were asking now. I’ll just take my leave.” He all but sprints out the door.
Forget his ears. Jo thinks his entire head might be on fire. Yuma looks momentarily stunned, but he quickly bursts into laughter.
“Oh my god,” he wheezes. “That’s so awkward. I am so sorry. Was that your roommate?”
“Y-Yeah. That was Maki.” Jo realizes he’s still cupping his red-hot ears. He quickly lowers his hands, then isn’t sure what to do with them. “I-I, er, it’s fine. You can come out. I don’t really mind.”
Yuma starts cackling at the awkward response, but he steps out in pajama pants, his towel draped over his shoulders. His pale skin glows softly under the dim apartment lighting.
“Thank you so much again,” Yuma says as he pads to the front door. “I’ll make sure to pay you back! I promise this was just an anomaly and I will make a wonderful neighbor.”
Jo opens the door to Maki standing right outside. All three of them freeze, before Maki says, “wait, Jojo, it’s fine, I’m not gonna judge or anything, I was just asking Harua if I could crash at his place–”
“Hi Maki!” Yuma says brightly. “I’m your new neighbor! I was just borrowing your shower.”
Maki’s mouth drops open again. Jo empathizes with his reaction.
“It was great to meet you both. I’ll see you around!” With that, Yuma crosses the corridor and enters his own unit.
Maki turns to look at Jo. “What the fuck?”
—
“That’s crazy!” Yudai exclaims. “I can’t believe you actually let him in!”
Jo rubs his neck. “Yeah, I can’t believe I did that either.”
He’s having lunch with his best friends after Maki called an “emergency meeting” for the next day. They’re in one of the grassy quads on campus, enjoying the spring weather. Yudai’s noodles sit next to him, forgotten, as the man doubles over, laughing. Euijoo is watching Jo attentively, round eyes kind but amused. Harua bites into an onigiri, absentmindedly stroking Maki’s hair as the youngest of the group lies with his head in Harua’s lap. Taki claps his hands together excitedly. Fuma and Nicholas aren’t here, but Jo is confident they will be updated on this silly interaction, courtesy of Yudai and Euijoo.
“That’s not very safe,” Euijoo chides after Jo completes his story. “You definitely shouldn’t be opening the door to strangers in the middle of the night.”
“Exactly,” Harua agrees. “That could’ve ended really badly. And Maki, you shouldn’t have just left Jo there to his own devices.”
“Look, I thought–”
“What did you say his name was?” Taki interrupts. “What did he look like? Was he pretty? What are your thoughts on neighbor meet-cutes?” Jo thanks the heavens for his friend’s curiosity. He doesn’t think his ears can take much more if Maki were to keep talking. Then, he processes the second half of Taki’s questioning and starts blushing anyway.
“His name is Yuma.”
Taki’s face lights up. “No way. Yuma with the snaggletooth?”
Jo thinks back to said tooth making a brief appearance. “That’s him.”
“No way,” Taki repeats. “I know him! Yuma is so cool. I can’t believe this is how you met him though.” He starts giggling.
“Nakakita Yuma?” Euijoo hums thoughtfully. “I think Nico has mentioned this name before.”
“NAKAKITA YUMA?” Yudai yells. “As in, dance team Yuma? My Yuma?”
“YES!” Taki yells back. “Isn’t he so cool?”
“Yuma is a sweetheart,” Yudai beams. Yudai thinks all the underclassmen that he adopts are sweethearts.
“That makes sense,” Euijoo chimes in. “Nico must have been talking about the dance team.”
“I wanna meet him,” Harua whines. “All of you have met him except me!”
“I don’t know if my interaction with him really counts as a meeting,” mutters Maki. “Bro came out of our shower. Shirtless.”
Taki grins. “I like Yuma. I think you have good taste, Jo.”
Jo thinks this conversation is getting a little out of hand. Luckily, Euijoo comes to his rescue. “Don’t worry about it, Jojo. It was probably a more embarrassing experience for him than for you. You can just focus on being good neighbors now!”
—
As it turns out, after Jo has seen Yuma once, he starts seeing him everywhere.
He runs into Yuma at the grocery store the next day (Yuma waves first and Jo gives him an awkward smile), then again at the café near their apartment complex the day after (“Are you following me?” Yuma demands. Jo reddens. Yuma winks, assures Jo he’s just kidding, and saunters off). Sometimes on campus, he’ll catch flashes of soft pink hair or hear Yuma’s characteristic snickering from somewhere nearby. When he passes by the dance building on his way to his art history lecture, he spots Yuma’s lean figure through the tinted windows (he chalks down his admiration of Yuma’s graceful lines as artistic appreciation). Once, they quite literally bump into each other while rounding a corner in the library (“Oof,” Yuma grunts. “S-sorry!” Jo says quickly. Yuma just grins. “My shower savior~” Jo assumes the quickening of his heart is simply from the shock of a physical collision).
He offhandedly mentions these increased Yuma sightings during one of their friend group movie nights.
“That is certainly very observant of you,” Harua says meaningfully (Jo thinks he’s only that observant because he likes people-watching).
“Adorable,” sniffs Yudai (Jo isn’t sure exactly what part of this is supposed to be adorable).
“Have you heard of the red string theory?” Taki grins (Jo has, but there’s no way fate’s sense of humor involves Yuma needing to use his shower).
“Is this why you keep staring off into space with that little smile on your face?” Maki snickers (Jo is sure he has not been doing such a thing).
“I support you.” Fuma gives him a thumbs-up (Jo doesn’t know what Fuma means, but he gives a shy thumbs-up back anyway, much to the amusement of the other man).
The comment that really leaves Jo dazed comes from Euijoo.
“Oh my gosh,” Euijoo says. He turns to Nicholas, who stares at him with so much fondness that Jo thinks affection might start leaking out of his eyes. “This reminds me a lot of how we started!”
That can’t possibly be right, because Euijoo and Nicholas were so ridiculously obvious that even Jo had to resist some eyerolls when they were still in the phase that Yudai called “the epitome of two smart people being dumb as fuck.” Euijoo, after first seeing Nicholas at a dance showcase, would go watch the dance team practices late into the night with the excuse of being best friends with Yudai and Fuma, although anyone could see the only person he had eyes for was Nicholas. Meanwhile, Nicholas willingly got up before 7am to go on morning walks with Euijoo simply because Euijoo enjoyed seeing the sunrise, when everyone knew Nicholas would sleep until mid-afternoon if left on his own.
“I don’t think it’s that bad,” Yudai laughs. Yudai had truly gone through it during those dark times. Jo nods in agreement.
“Yet,” Maki mutters under his breath. Jo shakes his head hurriedly.
“We’re not even friends,” he protests. “He’s just some guy.”
“Why did you let him use your shower in the first place?” Fuma asks curiously.
“Because Yuma is a cutie,” Taki pipes up. “Right, Jo?”
Jo looks at the ground. Opens his mouth. Closes it again. Yuma does have quite the charming appearance and Jo is not very good at lying. “I mean. I’m not blind.”
Maki hoots.
“From an artistic sense!” Jo defends. “I just think he would be a very interesting painting subject. Skin usually doesn’t glow like that right after a shower.”
He clamps his mouth shut after he realizes what he just said. Seven pairs of astounded eyes stare at him, unblinking.
“We’ve lost him” Nicholas sighs.
—
hi! this is yuma, your neighbor!
is this jo?
i got your number from taki in calculus class
i hope that’s ok!
Hi, yes, this is Jo.
That’s fine. Is there something I could help you with?
hehe ~
just wanted to reach out since we’re neighbors! :3c
never know if my shower will break again…
or yours…
showers are not trustworthy
Please don’t jinx my shower.
awww not what i meant
but if that ever did happen
i’m happy to return the favor!
Thanks.
Do you want Maki’s number too?
ahh your roommate?
why ,, ?
He’s your neighbor too.
ohh i mean that’s true
sure ~
—
After this exchange, Yuma gets into the habit of waiting for Jo in the mornings to take the bus to campus together. Jo isn’t quite sure how or why this started (Yuma claims he just wants to get to know his neighbor, but then why doesn’t he do the same for Maki?), but whatever the reason, he finds himself looking forward to the routine. As they walk to the stop, Yuma chatters about anything and everything, while Jo listens with an increasingly fond smile. Once on the bus, Jo will ramble about his art assignments or the animes he’s been into recently. Yuma is surprisingly easy to talk to – despite his cheeky comments and sarcasm, he asks thoughtful questions and nods encouragingly when Jo struggles to find the right words.
At some point, they start getting meals together. It begins with Yuma bringing Jo to a new sandwich shop that opened (Yuma happily munches through a tuna salad sandwich. Jo can’t help but think he looks strangely like a cat). Next, Jo brings Yuma to an onigiri place in return (“You’re always spreading your rice agenda,” Yuma remarks teasingly. “Rice is a gift to mankind,” Jo replies firmly). Yuma then invites Jo to his apartment for soup (“I promise I won’t spill it this time!”) and Jo feels it’s only right to have Yuma over at his place for noodles a week later (he definitely does not spend an extra half an hour trying to figure out what to wear).
Sometimes, they head to the café. Jo does his daily sketches while Yuma complains about his chemistry lab reports and calculus homework, before locking in and finishing both within the next few hours. When Jo is feeling confident, he even offers Yuma peeks at the art piece he is currently working on, a privilege he rarely gives anyone else. Yuma always reacts enthusiastically without being overly dramatic, which Jo appreciates greatly. He doesn’t particularly know how to respond to excess praise. One time, Jo catches himself staring too hard at his friend and has to force his eyes to his paper. To his horror, a neat sketch of Yuma has materialized under his pencil, complete with brows furrowed in concentration and a little pout. Oh god . He hurriedly flips the page and risks a glance up. Luckily, Yuma is typing away on his laptop, oblivious to the scrambling occurring across the table from him. Jo breathes a small sigh of relief and takes a deep breath, urging his racing heart to calm down.
“Bro,” Maki finally says one afternoon. They’re sitting in the living room together; Jo is absentmindedly sketching while Maki writes up a paper for class. “What’s going on between you and Yuma?”
Jo’s head snaps up. “Huh?”
Maki gives him a you-can’t-fool-me look. “He’s basically walking you to campus every morning, I’ve seen you two at the café together after class sometimes, and you even had him over when I was at Harua’s for dinner.”
Jo decides to not think too hard about how Maki knows that. “We’re just taking the bus together, and the café has a nice atmosphere for art.”
“I have never seen you drawing at the café until recently,” Maki says, crossing his arms. “You always said you liked quieter, more intimate places so you can focus on what you’re doing without people constantly stopping to watch.”
That’s true. Jo doesn’t know how to respond to that. Maki smiles gently. “Look, Yuma clearly enjoys your company. It’s totally understandable that you feel the same way.”
“It’s just… unexpectedly comfortable,” Jo finally says, fiddling nervously with his pencil. He’s not accustomed to speaking so openly about his feelings.
“Why?” Maki prompts.
“I don’t feel forced to act in a certain way or say certain things around him,” Jo replies slowly. “Even though he talks more than me, he doesn’t make me feel like I’m not contributing to the conversation, I guess? And he remembers the things that I do say.”
“Oh, Jo.” Maki gives his shoulder a little pat. “That’s actually so sweet. That’s also probably the most I’ve ever heard you say about another person.”
Jo laughs.
“It sounds like you like him as well. Definitely as a friend, at least.”
“Yeah,” Jo agrees softly. “He’s wonderful.”
—
Ironically, it happens when Jo is in the shower that night. This is the time of day where it’s just Jo, his thoughts, and the too-hot water that leaves his skin red like a steamed lobster. He stands under the showerhead, letting the soap suds run off his body, as he replays his earlier conversation with Maki.
It sounds like you like him as well. Definitely as a friend, at least.
Jo smiles despite himself at the thought.
I like Yuma.
Wait.
Jo suddenly stands up straight, heart pounding. I like Yuma .
His head spins at the realization and he has to rest it against the cool shower wall. At some point in the last few months, Yuma went from a strange neighbor apparently prone to spilling soup to a cute, snarky friend who made Jo feel at home in his company.
“They were right,” Jo whispers to himself. “Yudai called it.”
I like Yuma .
His mind flashes back to Yuma leaving this very bathroom, a memory that might be permanently etched into his brain. Yuma, with his pink hair dripping water ever so slightly down his cheeks. Yuma, with his bright eyes full of amusement and a hint of self-consciousness. Yuma, with his dewy, post-shower glow.
Jo leaves the bathroom dazed. Simultaneously, though, he’s never been so sure of something before.
I like Yuma .
—
Jo sits sandwiched between Harua and Euijoo at the dance team’s spring showcase. They came quite early due to Maki’s insistence on getting front row seats, but there are already lots of other students filing in. The auditorium is full of excited chatter and the flipping of pages as people look through the performance lineup booklet.
“They are truly the club with the most fans,” Taki remarks. He gives Jo a cheeky grin. “You have a lot of competition.”
Jo staunchly ignores the heat gathering in his cheeks. It’s been a couple days but he still hasn’t told any of his friends about his newfound crush. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“K-hyung, Fuma, and Nicholas have lots of admirers because you just can’t take your eyes off them,” Taki says, defaulting to Yudai’s nickname. “But all three of them are clearly taken. I mean, K-hyung and Fuma’s dances together are so obviously charged with tension and anyone who has spent a minute with Nicholas knows who Euijoo is.”
“Hey,” Euijoo protests, but he’s smiling.
“Yuma, on the other hand…” Taki continues. “He’s fun, smart, a great dancer, and single.”
“And our school is full of delulus,” Maki adds helpfully.
“You guys are crazy,” Jo says.
He’s saved from any further teasing by the lights dimming. A cheer goes up through the crowd before everyone quiets.
Now, Jo has gone to every dance showcase since starting university. He doesn’t particularly recall seeing Yuma before, as he had always been focused on watching Yudai, Fuma, and Nicholas, but now he’s drawn to Yuma's lithe, sharp movements during the opening piece despite the entire dance team being on stage to kick off the showcase. Yuma is on the smaller side compared to most of the other men on the team, yet Jo finds him almost unfairly eye-catching.
Then, Yuma takes the center position. With his pale skin and white outfit, he seems to radiate light. He moves with careful grace and precision, commanding attention with the way he effortlessly matches the music. Jo feels his own breathing quicken and eyes widen. The crowd around him seems to fade to darkness. It’s just him and the dancers on stage, with Yuma – the star, the main character – at the middle of it all.
At the climax of his part, Yuma catches Jo’s gaze and smirks . Almost immediately, Jo’s mind blanks and he feels his heart rate take off.
Does he know ? Does he know ?
Harua’s elbow collides into his ribcage, jolting him back to reality. His friend gives him a strange, almost smug look. Jo attempts an innocent expression, but judging from Harua’s choked back laugh, he is very unsuccessful.
Jo concentrates very hard on appearing nonchalant for the rest of the showcase. He receives one more visit from Harua’s elbow during Yuma’s solo performance. Oh well. That couldn’t be helped, not with the way Yuma kept making direct eye contact with him.
—
The entire dance team, along with any of their associated friends, gather in Yudai and Fuma’s apartment afterwards to celebrate a successful showcase and the final performance for the graduating seniors. Jo is not one for parties, but he goes anyway to congratulate his friends.
“K-HYUNG!” Taki yells as soon as he arrives with Euijoo, Jo, Harua, and Maki in tow. “FUMA! YOU GUYS WERE AMAZING!”
Yudai catches his favorite underclassman in a hug.
“Thank you guys for coming!” Fuma shouts over the music. He gives them each toothy grin.
“We wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” Euijoo smiles back brightly, then is promptly tackled by a Nicholas backhug.
“You guys are the coolest ever!” Maki says enthusiastically. “I couldn’t take my eyes off of any of you!”
The rest of Jo’s friends chime in with their agreement. Jo is a second behind the rest of them, earning seven knowing looks.
“Someone else caught Jojo’s eye?” Yudai teases fondly.
“A pink-haired someone, perhaps?” Harua adds with a raised eyebrow. He might as well have elbowed Jo again. Jo gives up feigning ignorance. He clearly was not as subtle as he thought.
“Maybe,” he admits quietly. Saying it aloud like this suddenly makes it feel so real, and he almost regrets letting his little secret out into the world. Although he knows he has his friends’ support, he’s never actually confessed something like this to anyone before, always preferring to ruminate over his feelings by himself instead.
He doesn’t expect the seven hugs he immediately receives.
“That’s wonderful,” Yudai says tenderly into his ear. “You got this.”
“Fighting!” Euijoo pats his head.
“Proud of you,” Fuma murmurs.
“I knew it!” Taki whisper-yells. “Get your man!”
“You’re so cute, Jojo,” Nicholas says affectionately. “He won’t stop talking about you at practice, by the way.”
“Go find him.” Harua gives Jo’s shoulder an encouraging squeeze. “He’s definitely here somewhere.”
“I can’t believe this started with a shower,” Maki laughs. He looks so incredibly happy and Jo’s heart swells with fondness for his roommate.
“Thank you guys,” he says softly. He doesn’t think these simple three words can fully convey his appreciation, but they all beam at him anyway. He gently extracts himself from the group and nervously heads into the crowd. He’s not sure what he plans to do once he actually finds Yuma, but something in him aches for his pink-haired friend.
Yuma ends up finding him first. An arm shoots out from the balcony door and Jo is pulled outside into the crisp night air. Yuma looks up at him, snaggletooth peeking out from his small smile. The moon is round and the sky is clear, bathing him in a soft, silvery light. Jo’s heart skips a beat, then starts racing like never before.
“I saw you in the front row,” Yuma says. “Did you enjoy the performance?”
“Yeah,” Jo breathes. “I always try to come to the dance showcases for my friends.”
“Yudai, Fuma, and Nicholas, right?” There’s a hidden question in Yuma’s eyes. He looks as confident as he always does, but escaping from the cracks is a vulnerability Jo has never seen before.
“For them,” Jo agrees. “But you’re my friend too.”
Yuma’s smile wavers so slightly that Jo thinks he might’ve imagined it, but it’s quickly replaced by a brighter one. He breaks eye contact, hand dropping from Jo’s arm, and leans on the railing, gazing off at the night sky. “Good. It would’ve been awkward if it was one-sided.”
His tone is light, but Jo detects a hint of something else. Sadness? Not quite. Regret? Also no.
It’s resignation , he suddenly realizes. Yuma is resigned to be friends. To just be friends .
Emboldened, he says, “it might be, actually.”
Yuma turns to him with a frown. “Hmm?”
“If you see me as a friend, I think it’s one-sided,” Jo says slowly.
Yuma tilts his head, confused. “So you don’t think we’re friends?”
Jo hesitates. His heart is moments from bursting out of his chest. “No, we are friends.”
“What do you mean then?”
Screw it. “We are friends, but I would like to see you as more than a friend.” The words are barely above a whisper.
Yuma’s eyes are two round saucers. He’s completely frozen, with only his hair waving in the wind.
“I’m sorry if I read something wrong,” Jo continues, willing his voice to not shake. “But I wanted to tell you.”
Yuma unfreezes and starts laughing. He laughs so hard that Jo starts to get worried. “Yuma?”
“Oh, Jo,” Yuma wheezes between laughs. “I like you too.”
He closes the distance between them and wraps Jo into a tight hug. “I like you so much, in fact. From the moment you opened your door, I was a goner.”
It’s Jo’s turn to be frozen. “Since then?” he manages weakly.
Yuma backs up slightly to look at him with a serious expression. “Since then.”
Jo can’t help the smile breaking out across his face. “I’m sorry it took me so long to figure it out.”
“That’s okay,” Yuma says contently. He looks so pretty under the moonlight. “What matters is that we made it.”
When they re-enter the apartment holding hands, they’re greeted by seven shrieks of excitement.
—
A month later .
“Yuma,” Jo begins. They’re lying side by side on Yuma’s bed, holding hands, having just finished watching a season of Yuma’s favorite anime. “How did you manage to spill soup on yourself?”
Yuma traces lazy circles on the back of Jo’s hand. “You mean when we first met?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a bit embarrassing,” Yuma laughs.
“That’s okay.”
“Well, you know that I like cooking. Or trying to, anyway. I wanted to make soup for my new neighbors to foster some early neighborly camaraderie.”
“At 2am?”
“I was just practicing some recipes,” Yuma says defensively. “I wanted to choose the best one. But then…” he trails off. Jo turns to look at him. “Don’t be embarrassed.”
“IsawyouearlierthatdayandwhileIwasladlingsoupintoabowlIwasthinkingabouthowprettyyouwereandhowexcitedyoumightbeifIshowedupatyourdoorwithsoupbutsinceIwasn’tpayingattentionthebowlstartedoverflowingandwhenItriedtocleanitupIhitthebowlwithmyhandanditspilled.”
Jo blinks. “Huh?”
“You can’t laugh,” Yuma warns him.
Jo nods solemnly. Yuma takes a deep breath.
“I saw you earlier that day and while I was ladling soup into a bowl I was thinking about how pretty you were and how excited you might be if I showed up at your door with soup, but since I wasn’t paying attention, the bowl started overflowing and when I tried to clean it up, I hit the bowl with my hand and it spilled.”
A beat of silence. Jo starts laughing.
“Hey!” Yuma swats at him. “You said you wouldn’t laugh!”
“S-sorry,” Jo manages. He forces himself to calm down. “Why would you do that and then knock on my door though?”
Yuma looks a bit sheepish. “I tried everyone else’s units first, actually, but no one was awake or crazy enough to let me in.”
Jo starts laughing again and presses a kiss onto the top of Yuma’s head. “Good thing I was crazy then?”
Yuma pouts, but then starts grinning wickedly. Jo’s laughing immediately dies down.
“What?” he asks suspiciously.
“Yudai told me your first impression of me was how my skin glows after I shower.”
Jo groans and grabs a pillow to bury his face into. “I forgot about that.”
“I won’t let you~”
Jo smiles into the pillow.