even in the cold, i'm warm with you here

It was quite the random pair. You could tell from the minute you’d met him that Leon was trying to put on some ‘cool guy’ act. His self-introduction at the start of the year (which each of you had to do infront of the class) subconsciously revealed everything Leon was trying to hide about himself, though no-one else seemed to notice. For starters, you could tell the ginger was insecure; his hand movements awkward and his eyes not looking into a fellow classmate’s for too long. You could also tell that the ultimate baseball star wasn’t as thrilled about his talent for the sport as he was saying he was. Out of all of the new faces you’d met that day, Leon’s was the only one you were dead set on seeing again. You expected his cool-guy act to greet you when you tried to chat with him during your first break that day, what you didn’t expect was for his nonchalant facade to crumble the second you reminded him of your ultimate talent.

You’d enjoyed singing ever since you were young, your parents telling stories of how you’d hum along to songs even as a barely conscious baby. You also knew that you were above average at singing; observing how other children would be told to quieten down when their pitchy singing had annoyed the adults around them, but adults would listen in awe whenever you sang. It made sense that, many school performances and online videos of your singing later, you’d be scouted to attend Hopes Peak Academy College as the ultimate vocalist. Was it a dream come true? Sure. Was it the best form of validation you’d had in a while? Hell yeah. Therefore, when you’d reminded Leon of your ultimate talent, his mask of nonchalance slipped right off and he started geeking out about music. You could practically see the shine in his eyes as he asked if you were in a band, what kinda music you were into, if he could hear you live, and so on. It was cute to you, and you felt like the ginger was being genuine for the first time that day. It was also hilarious to watch as the man realise he was blabbering on about music like a loser and try his best to regain any cool-points he possibly could.

That was the start of your unlikely friendship with Leon Kuwata, a friendship which only bloomed and deepened with each passing day. The two of you would spend any free time you had during the school day together, chatting about how boring lessons were or gossiping about your classmates’ relationships - mainly you telling Leon stuff ‘cause he never knew what was socially going on around him. Leon started looking for your face in the stands during games, knowing he’d always find it in the bleachers cheering his name. You could always count on the ginger having a spare bottle of water which he’d hand you after voice lessons; an extra bottle he only carried ‘cause he knew you always forgot yours. You two knew eachother. It was as simple as that. Two friends who could spend all day together and not get bored; from morning runs before class, to late night talks about life and the future during weekly sleepovers. It wasn’t until other people commented on your friendship that cogs started turning.

The first people to mention to the red-head how close he and you were, were Mondo and Chihiro. The biker’s comment was only meant to be slightly teasing at most:

“Oh yeah? Come back when you’ve finally professed your undying love to [name], then you can talk to me about Taka” Mondo and Chihiro laughed at the biker’s wit and moved on in the conversation.

Leon on the other hand was stuck on the comment. Undying love for you? And that emphasis on the word ‘finally’ as if this was obvious to the pair. A blush settled on Leon’s sharp-featured face as his mind kept repeating the comment. The first person to bring up how close you and Leon seemed to you, was Sayaka. Trying to gossip, the idol tried to sneakily ask if there was anything between you and the ginger. Despite denying it, Sayaka responded with a simple, unconvinced ‘uh-huh’ due to your face deepening with a blush and your stutter at the start of your rebuttal.

All it took were a couple comments from friends for thoughts of eachother to consume both your thoughts and Leon’s. That being said, neither of you could dream of letting silly thoughts - of dates and being greeted with a kiss after a game or a performance - interfere with your friendship. A friendship the two of you valued more than you realised you did. Nonetheless, it was expected that this ‘small’ pining would rear its head from time to time. For instance, one time, Leon was round your place after college had ended for the day; your flat was closer than his, plus the ginger always looked for an excuse to spend for time with you. As he took off his jacket, you didn’t even realise you were practically ogling him. Your eyes drifted over his muscular arms and biceps as they flexed and stretched to take his jacket off. Then, your gaze wandered over to Leon’s t-shirt - which was somehow pulling against his body in a way which showed off his pecs and abs so fucking perfectly.

“Careful, [name]. If you keep undressing me with your eyes, I might catch a colddd~” the ginger teased you, snapping you out of your staring match with his body.

You chuckled the comment off, blush creeping onto your face as your eyes were forced onto Leon’s face; his insanely attractive face, with his sharp jawline and sexy eyes, his piercings a nice touch.

But it wasn’t just you who would let your feelings show before quickly shoving them back down. Leon would ogle you too, appreciating your objectively attractive figure, fixating on your charming smile and handsome face. But this was typical for Leon, unconscious or conscious, he did this on the reg. Could you blame him though? Your entire class couldn’t help but notice that your looks were at least above average. Anyways, Leon’s unresolved feelings for you didn’t affect him by making him shamelessly stare at you and fantasise about you, no no. Instead, these feelings manifested as jealousy. Such as the one time Mondo took his teasing a little further and asked you who out of himself, Leon, and Chihiro would make the best boyfriend. The ginger tried to act nonchalant, but his ears blurred out all noise other than your response. You stuttered and tried to deflect, but when you defeatedly blurted out Chihiro’s name, Leon’s head snapped towards you. To you, it made sense to NOT say the name of the guy you were trying not to ruin your friendship with ‘cause of your hidden romantic feelings. Though without that context, Leon just poured and mumbled that he’d definitely be a better boyfriend (especially if he was yours). In moments like these, it was pretty obvious that you were both hopelessly pining over eachother.

But again, you’d both rather die than let these feelings negatively affect your friendship. So, you both kept hanging out everyday, chatting about random stuff, and sleeping at each other’s places. If anything, these feelings bubbling beneath the surface made you both more receptive to deep conversations; eager to feel like a shoulder to lean on for the other. It was during a late night chat at Leon’s apartment that he started opening up about how he didn’t actually like baseball that much. With the TV as quiet background noise, you listened attentively and offered small pats on Leon’s shoulder as he let all his feelings about his ultimate talent out. He talked about how he felt forced to play, how he had nightmares of being in the field, and how his real passions lied in music. Whilst you remained quiet for most of the conversation, trying to be passively supportive and listening, you piped up at the mention of Leon dabbling in music.

“Wait- you took music classes? What did you play??” You asked excitedly.

“Ah- Uh I wasn’t like.. good or anything haha..! Nothing like you anyways…” Leon chuckled in embarrassment; hand scratching his neck and his eyes darting to the side to avoid your hopeful ones.

“Aw c’mon pleaseeee~ Tell your best friend in the whole world, Leonnn~” you dragged out your words and jokingly tried to act cute as you begged.

You were painfully unaware how much your playful charm worked on the ginger beside you - his brain literally melting to mush as a blush crept on his face.

“Haha… okay okay fine. I used to- well I still do- whatever, I play guitar” Leon fumbled over his words, feeling as if his details were unnecessary and further embarrassing him. He couldn’t be more wrong though, every word that came out of that man’s mouth had you falling for him more.

“Seriously?! No way that’s so cool! Guitar is sooo the best part of a band, wish I could play” you ramble, excited over this revelation but also just happy that Leon felt comfortable enough to share stuff about himself.

That conversation went on throughout the rest of the night. You’d learnt that Leon had originally started playing to impress a middle school crush but that he kept up with it ‘cause he genuinely enjoyed it. You both joked about pretentious music teachers you’d had experiences with. It was weirdly bonding; knowing that you were both even more similar than you already thought you were. Eventually, inevitably, you asked to hear the ginger play you something, and after more stuttered, blushing refusals, Leon of course gave in. He found it increasingly difficult to say no to you as the days went on. You watched with a smile on your face as your friend skilfully plucked the strings of his guitar and played a western song you didn’t fully recognise; unaware of the love song Leon was playing for you. Even if you were oblivious to the song you were being played, you were able to realise that Leon was seriously downplaying his skills. Whether he was naturally humble (unlikely) or just embarrassed, it didn’t matter; Leon was fucking good at playing guitar.

As the song came to a soft end, you gave a small round of applause and shot a couple compliments Leon’s way - to which he stuttered out a ‘shut up’ and grinned. It was then that a brilliant idea struck you, the lightbulb illuminating:

“We should sign up for the summer festival!” You shouted excitedly, following up with a wince and a mumbled apology as you realised it was late and Leon had flatmates.

“Huh? And do what? Also why are we on about the festival all’a sudden?” Leon responded in confusion, not putting two and two together immediately.

“Perform? Duh! We could so sign up as a duo and perform a song or two!” Your excitement kept amping up.

Before Leon could even argue against the idea, you were already planning the logistics and what songs you’d play. And, even though Leon would rather die than embarrass himself on stage in front of the entire college, he physically couldn’t bring himself to crush your hopes. You were already so excited at the idea of performing with the ginger, and the thought of you wanting to do something like that with him so bad? It stroked Leon’s ego quite a bit, y’know?

That was how the summer festival whirlwind started for you and Leon. Before you knew it, you were both approved for a two-song section on stage. A good time-slot too! Performances ran from the start of the festival to the end, acting as background music for festival goers. Luckily for you, much to Leon’s dismay, you were placed around 7pm; aka the time which the festival was most crowded. As the date got closer and closer, you spent most of your free time deciding on songs and practicing together. You and Leon worked well together, naturally getting on each other’s frequencies and pacing yourselves in time with eachother and the music. However, you would both also get easily distracted, and not just from talking about random shit ( even though that did also happen a lot). The main distractions came from watching each other; admiring each other. It was almost impossible for Leon to focus on playing guitar when your voice just sounded to beautiful; it felt like it was lulling him to sleep yet making him feel awake, alive, and turned on at the same time! You, on the other hand, physically could not keep your eyes off of Leon and how fucking HOT he looked playing an electric guitar! Seriously, the way his arms looked in his baggy t-shirt as he played, his hands rough and a little veiny as he plucked the strings, and damn his hair framed his face so fucking well as he rocked along to the music.

However, even if you were both distracted for most of it, practice eventually came to an end; the festival stage set up with a microphone and guitar for you and Leon. You were a little nervous to tell the truth. You hand shaking slightly as you heard a random teacher announce you and Leon as the next act before walking up on stage. Of course Leon noticed, he noticed everything about you; from the way you but your cheek when you were deep in thought, to the way you flexed your hands whenever you tried to shake away fear. You were snapped out of your spiralling thoughts, thoughts of embarrassing voice cracks and forgetting lyrics, by Leon’s hand sliding into yours. His palm was calloused from baseball bats and gym weights, rough but grounding in the best way. The ginger didn’t need to say anything, you understood that he was trying to reassure you, so you smiled and gave each other a quick nod before walking out on stage. You took the liberty to reintroduce yourself and Leon to the audience as the baseballer strapped his guitar on, hyping up the audience as well as you could; past performance experience coming in clutch. When Leon gave you a nod, you looked back to the audience with a smile.

“Our first song tonight is a western new release, it’s called ‘Maggots for brains’, we hope you enjoy!” You shout to the audience, readying yourself and clearing your throat.

The first chords of the song echoed throughout the festival ground from the speakers, Leon’s guitar skills shining as the crowd easily recognised the song. Your as you started singing, you saw the crowd’s eyes widen like they usually did when your voice rang in their ears. It was harmonious really, amazing how your vocals merged with Leon’s guitar in a way that was so pleasant to listen to. The audience cheered as you ran through the first chorus with both vocal and physical energy - if ultimate training taught you one thing it was how to hype up a crowd. By the time you’d reached the bridge of the song, the crowd was mesmerised. Your voice was borderline angelic, layering beautifully with the prerecorded track of your own voice. Leon’s guitar worked with your voice in a way which could only be described as perfect. But it was your stage presence with Leon which really had the audience hooked. It was as if you two were a real couple up on stage, your facial emotion and physicality embodying the lyrics of the song as you looked at Leon like a lover; lyrics of not being able to stop thinking about the man you were singing about, feeling brainless whenever he’s not around. It was safe to say that not only had you hyped up the crowd, but you and Leon received a wild round of applause as you finished off the song just as practiced.

“Hahaha thank you everyone! Our second song tonight is by the same artist, we hope you enjoy it, this is ‘stupid song’” you explain once the crowd quietens down.

Your second song started a lot softer than the previous one, your vocals the main focus for the first verse as you sang softly to convey the lyrics. You sang of the pain and ecstasy of developing romantic feelings in such a way that the crowd was speechless. Leon couldn’t take his eyes off of you as he readied himself to come in with the guitar on the second verse, it it weren’t for not wanting to disappoint you, he would have come in late for sure. A quick few notes of guitar fill the silence between your words as the second verse starts, the tone of the song shifts to more energetic; the crowd rocking along with Leon’s guitar. Again, the crowd felt like they were watching a reenactment of the lyrics on stage as you sang passionately of how badly you wanted the man you were singing about; unaware of how you were literally singing the song to the man beside you on stage. Your eyes rarely left Leon’s to look out into the crowd, tears forming and a blush creeping up your neck as you sang your heart out on the final chorus. Leon’s fingers stung from how quickly he was plucking the guitar strings, but it was worth it to hear how you harmonised with the instrument.

Finally, the song ended on a whispered final lyric. Silence ran across the stage, accompanied by muffled background noise of festival goers. You panted as you caught your breath, eyes still on Leon’s as the man beside you gave you a soft smile, a love-drunk look on his face as he looked into your eyes. You were both snapped out of your gaze by the sound of the audience roaring; applause and cheers filling the stands. Your head whipped towards the audience as you couldn’t help but smile. Without thinking, you quickly grabbed Leon’s hand and the mic, walking to the front of the stage and bowing.

“Thank you for having us Hopes Peak! Happy summer festival!!” You shout, running off stage with Leon’s hand in yours.

“Hahahahaha that was incredible! You were so cool on that guitar, Leon!” You waffled excitedly as you both stopped behind the stage. Leon couldn’t get a word in, settling for just appreciating and admiring the way you were rambling about the performance, how cute you were when passionate, thinking of how much he just fucking loved you.

“I can’t believe we actually did that! We were so good! You’re so cool, Leon! I can’t- mphhh!” You were abruptly interrupted. Not by anyone cutting you off, but by your best friend’s lips on yours.

Your eyes widened before you leant into the kiss and closed them. The ginger’s hand was cupping your cheek gently as his other arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you into his muscle sculpted chest. Leon’s lips moulded into yours perfectly as he groaned against your mouth, the feeling of finally kissing the man he’d been wanting for so long hitting him. The moment was perfect, your heart was pounding and your mind was running 100 miles a minute; you couldn’t be happier. As you pulled away from Leon’s lips, you both looked into the other’s eyes as you panted and caught your breaths. Blushes spread across your face and Leon’s as you both awkwardly pushed off of eachother and tried to talk about what just happened. Though you both failed miserably, choosing to just quickly offer a ‘hehe so uh… wanna go like check out the stalls?’

Mondo had to hand Chihiro ¥2000 that evening for losing the bet on when you and Leon would get together; the pair noticing you and the ginger walking hand in hand from stall to stall.

Can you guys tell I fucking love Olivia Rodrigo? Album of the year fr fr

Hope I did the request justice <3