Takahiro’spalms were sweating. He had thought that was only something thathappened in books, like the tawdry romance novels Matsukawa read. Aheroine’s palms went slick when she saw her beloved returned fromthe war, the memory of their last fight and angry goodbyes stillringing in her head…

Reallife was nothing as dramatic as that. Real life was Takahiro and hissweaty palms and Watari looking at him like he was growing more andmore concerned for him, and shit, Takahiro had been staring at himtoo long, hadn’the-

“Hanamaki-senpai,is everything okay?” Watari asked. Takahiro swallowed hard and heldout one hand, fingers closed around his sweaty palm. Watari lookedmore confused than ever, but he held out his own hand in acceptance.Takahiro let drop his burden, and with it plummeted his heart, whichthen rose to pound in his throat. He wished he could take it back,but it was too late now; Watari was already pulling his hand back andlooking at the button in his own, not-sweaty palm in confusion.“Senpai?” Takahiro realized he was still holding his hand out andlet it drop to his side, too quickly.

“I,um.” Takahiro’s words died on his lips. Watari looked from thebutton in his hand to Takahiro’s blazer and back again.

“Senpai,aren’t you supposed to give this to someone you like?” Watariasked. “You know, the person closest to your heart and all that?”

“It’syou,” Takahiro blurted. “It’s always been you. I. Um. I do likeyou. Yeah.”

“Senpai,is this a joke?” Takahiro’s heart sank to somewhere around thelevel of his shoelaces. He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants.

“Nota joke,” Takahiro said. “But also not an expectation or anything.I just. Thought you should know, before I go, and all that. But. Um.I’ll be going now.” He turned on his heel and started marchingaway, cursing himself for his own ineptitude.

Thenall of a sudden, a sweaty palm caught at his own.

“Senpai,”said Watari, tugging Takahiro to a stop. “Are you kidding me rightnow? First you drop something like this on me without a warning, andthen you leave before I can even answer?”

“Ididn’t want to pressure you-” Takahiro started, but a fierce lookfrom Watari silenced him.

“No,”Watari said. “You’re gonna hear me out, okay?” His grip onTakahiro’s hand tightened, then softened into something sweet andquestioning. Takahiro squeezed his hand back.

“Goahead,” He whispered.

“Ihave been waiting for two years for you to notice me,” Watarisnarled. “I have been in love with you from day one, and you do notget to just confess and then walk away like that. I demand a futuretogether, with dates and domesticity and hand-holding and kisses.Lots of kisses. So. Start now.”

“Ialready have,” Takahiro said, holding up their joined hands forWatari to see.

“Notwhat I meant,” Watari snapped. Takahiro grinned, leaning in close.

“Iknow it’s not,” he said, hovering just out of reach. Watarirolled his eyes and leaned up to close the distance between them.

Whenthey arrived at the team’sgraduation party a few hours later hand in sweaty hand, a cheer wentup around the room. But it was nothing compared to the celebration inTakahiro’s heart. He turned to grin at Watari, only to find Watarigrinning back at him.