I Wanna Be With You Forever

Ata could not understand how Kyotaro always managed to get him so worked up just by being physically close to him. No matter how many times he thought about it, it just didn't make sense.

Kyotaro would very often lean on him whenever he fell asleep. And as much as Ata tried, he couldn't get him off him without waking him up. And he didn't wanna do that, but… Having Kyotaro so close to him always made his cheeks heat up.

It didn't help that Kyotaro would also often hold his hand for no reason at all. But Ata never managed to find it in him to pull away.

And when he did ask him why, as they were going to school together, Kyotaro just shrugged. "I don't know. I just like it. Do you want me to stop?"

Ata's cheeks warmed up, and he squeezed Kyotaro's hand without noticing. "No… It's fine. I was just curious."

Kyotaro smiled at him, and Ata couldn't help but smile back. There was just… Something about the warmth of his hand that felt strangely pleasing.

It wasn't just holding hands. There were times when Kyotaro would lean on his shoulder when they were sitting side by side. Or times when he would nap and use Ata's thighs as a pillow. Or the few times when they were alone and Ata would clean some food away from his cheek. And every single one of those times, without fail, Ata felt his face burn and his heart would beat just a little faster. He wasn't used to feeling like that.

But what had made him actually realise that there might have been something more to his feelings was when they were all together at the bath one day.

Kyotaro was very close to him, leaning his head on his shoulder and almost napping right there. Ata's cheeks were warm, but he tried to tell himself it was just an effect of the hot bath.

The conversation was mostly going on between Ryoma, Taishi and Maasa. Nanao and Taiju were clearly smirking and chuckling at them, as if they knew something, but Ata had decided to try ignoring it. That was relatively easy.

But what was hard to ignore was Ichiro staring at them, his own cheeks tainted with a slight shade of pink.

Ata sighed. "Do you wanna say something, Ichiro?"

"H-huh!? O-oh, well… I was just thinking…" Ichiro started looking away. "...Why is Kyotaro-senpai always so close to you? N-not that I think it's weird or anything! I was just curious…"

"Hm… I wonder." Kyotaro mumbled, snuggling closer to Ata. "It just feels nice to be close to him. I…" He yawned. "I wanna be by Ata's side forever."

He fell asleep on Ata's shoulder as soon as he said that. Everyone else remained silent.

Ata's face was burning. Had Kyotaro really said that? And most importantly: why did it make him feel kinda happy to hear it? It sounded so much like-

"What kinda marriage proposal is that!?" Maasa asked.

Ata's face burned completely. So he hadn't been the only one who thought that. Aside from Nanao and Taiju, who just chuckled at the whole situation, everyone else was in silence.

That was, until Taishi used a bucket to throw water at Ichiro, who splashed water back at him, which eventually escalated enough for everyone to start focusing on having a water fight instead on what Kyotaro had said. Taishi looked back at Ata knowingly, and Ata kept a mental note to own up to him eventually.

Kyotaro was still sleeping on his shoulder, peacefully unaware of Ata's embarrassment. But Ata couldn't bring himself to be too angry at him. Specially not when he couldn't stop thinking about how he felt about what Kyotaro had said. Maybe… Maybe staying with Kyotaro forever wouldn't be so bad.

They had managed to leave the bathhouse without commenting on anything about Kyotaro. Ata didn't even pay attention to if people had been talking to him or not, leaving as quickly as possible.

He didn't know why, but he somehow felt quite happy as he fell asleep that night.

Ata expected to just get his Student Council work done in peace the next day. He was, however, surprised by Maasa immediately bombarding him with questions, smirking.

"So? When were you gonna tell us? Huh?"

"Tell you what?" Ata questioned.

"That you're dating Kyotaro! I knew there was something going on between you two, but Taiju kept thinking I was wrong."

Ata was so shocked that he choked on his own saliva, stepping back away from Maasa. He managed to catch his breath again, but his face felt warm as he replied. "We're not dating!"

"Huh!?"

Taiju laughed.

"Then why did he say that yesterday!?" Maasa asked.

"Well, I don't know either!" Ata took his seat at his desk, trying not to look at either of them in the eyes.

"Hm…" Taiju approached him with a smirk. "I see how it is. Guess I was right, after all."

Maasa raised an eyebrow at him, but Taiju ignored it.

"Tell me, do you like Kyotaro?"

His cheeks heated up even more, and he tried to pretend he didn't know what he was really asking. "O-of course yes. He is my friend."

"You know very well that's not what I'm asking." Taiju chuckled. "Do you like him? Are you in love with him?"

Ata looked away and stayed silent. He had never thought about it like that , but… Was he in love with Kyotaro? That could explain why he liked being around him so much, why he didn't mind it when he touched him. And it could explain why those things made him feel so warm inside.

"I see. So you do ." Taiju said.

"I didn't even say anything!"

"You don't need to." Maasa smirked. "Just looking at your face is enough."

Ata covered his face with his hands and groaned. He did feel better to actually know what his feelings were, but it being so obvious was still embarrassing.

But he was still glad that Taiju and Maasa knew him well enough to be able to tell so easily. Saying it out loud would be way harder.

"So, when are you telling him?" Maasa asked.

"Hm… Well…" Ata went silent again. He hadn't actually thought about that. How would Kyotaro even react? Considering that he didn't even care about touching Ata, would he even understand what he meant if he confessed?

Maasa sighed. "If you aren't ready, I'm not gonna force you. But this makes it even more frustrating to see you two all cute and cuddly when there isn't even anything going on!"

"You do know all of that is mostly Kyotaro, right?"

"Oh, don't try using that on me. You could very well just push him away. You like it ."

Ata couldn't exactly refute that. He was right. But it didn't make it any less embarrassing.

Ata had kept the idea of confessing in the back of his mind throughout the whole week. However… There isn't really a 'right moment' to do it. Whatever way he thought of doing it, there was no way in which he could do it without bringing it up out of nowhere.

And, as always, Kyotaro was always sticking close to him. But, now that he understood his feelings better, it was like it felt even more intense than before. Even when he didn't actually hold his hand, just having them brush against each other would make his cheeks warm up slightly. And obviously Kyotaro remained completely oblivious. All that ended up making Ata's body tense up whenever they were close.

"Are you okay, Ata?" Kyotaro asked him as they were going back home together.

"I-I'm fine. Why are you even asking?"

Kyotaro shrugged. "You just seemed a little tense to me. That's all." And then he kept walking, satisfied with Ata's response.

Ata wondered if he should use the opportunity to say what he wanted. It certainly would count as explaining why he had been tense. Or maybe he could drag the conversation for a while to be able to back off if he changed his mind…

"What are you thinking about?" Kyotaro asked.

"N-nothing much."

"Are you sure?" He paused for a moment. "You've been kinda quiet the past few days… We always talk when going back home."

"So you noticed that…" Ata mumbled. Kyotaro could be much more attentive than he thought.

"Of course I did." Kyotaro slipped his hand into Ata's, making Ata's heart skip a beat. "You're important to me, after all."

Ata tightened his grip on his hand and took a deep breath. If he didn't say anything, he feared he would just never say it. "Kyotaro… Do you remember what you said at Kurotama the other day? Y'know… When Ichiro asked why you're always close to me?"

"Hm… I think I remember…"

Ata stopped walking, forcing Kyotaro to stop as well. He looked away as he spoke, trying to ignore how warm his cheeks were. "Did you mean it?"

Kyotaro was silent for a second, but then smiled. "Of course I did." He now held Ata's hand with both of his, and there was a hint of pink on his cheeks. "It feels nice to be close to you. I feel so happy whenever I see you. Of course I would want to feel like that forever."

Ata's entire face was pretty much boiling by this point. "Do you even realise what you're saying!?"

Kyotaro's only response to that was tilting his head sideways. Ata took another deep breath, putting his free hand on top of Kyotaro's.

"Look, Kyotaro, I… I wanna be with you forever, too. I… I lo-"

"I love you." Kyotaro interrupted him, his blushing much more obvious now.

Ata choked, widening his eyes at him. It had taken him so long to work up the courage to tell him, while he had just said it so easily?

Before he could even say anything, Kyotaro pulled him closer, resting his forehead on Ata's and closing his eyes. Ata wasn't sure about what to do, or how to react. But he noticed how Kyotaro's lips were much closer to him than they had ever been.

He closed his eyes shut before pulling Kyotaro into a kiss. It made Kyotaro almost jump at first, but he kissed him back right after.

Ata pulled away from the kiss, looking away from Kyotaro as much as he could.

"What's wrong?" Kyotaro asked.

"How are you never embarrassed by any of this!?"

"Because I love you. Why should I be embarrassed by any of it?"

Ata sighed. He would just have to admit that he would never understand that part about Kyotaro. "Forget it."

Kyotaro let go of his hands. Ata finally looked back up at him, but then Kyotaro hugged him. "I'm really happy, Ata."

Ata hugged him back, hiding his face on his shoulder. His heart wouldn't stop beating much faster than usual, but he still felt like such a big weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "I'm happy too…"

Ata's grip on him tightened. He didn't know for sure how long the hug had lasted, but he didn't want it to end. He did understand why Kyotaro liked hugging him so much. It was warm as always, but it felt so much better now.

Maasa would probably tease him about it for a whole week. But if it meant he could be like this with Kyotaro more often, it didn't matter.