[Christmas Gift Fic] #11 - Aquarium

[h_itoshi]

Title: Aquarium
Prompt: #11 - Going on a date with another OTP
Wordcount: 2136
Notes: This went entirely out of hand. University AU. Has sequel linked at the end.

Nikaido's not really one of the cool kids. Even though this is univerity and not junior high, it does matter what you do and what you study and how you look. And being a quite ordinary guy with quite ordinary looks studying web design doesn't make you a cool kid. And cool kids don't meet the uncool ones.

“Nika, seriously, just ask him out.” Yokoo tells him over lunch, raising a pointed eyebrow at him. “You're acting like a baby.”

“You just don't ask people out Watta, I'm not gonna leave him a goddamn 'Do I have a chance' note.” Nikaido mutters, tired of this subject yet not tired at all. “He's probably not even into boys.”

The subject is Senga Kento, the hottest guy in the entire university, city, world. If you ask Nikaido at least.

Nikaido had no idea who he was until last semester when he saw him in a dance performance and fell head over heels. Now he knows way too much about him considering they've never actually met, but Nikaido's been working hard on his internet stalking while trying to find a reason to talk to him.

“You do! I did!” Yokoo says, waving his chopsticks enthusiastically.

“Yeah well but you wouldn't have if you hadn't known Gaya since before he got astronomically-sex-god-hot!” Nikaido says, probably a little too loud since the girls at the table next to them glance over and start giggling.

“I would have!” Yokoo objects, looking offended.

“No, you wouldn't, because you know he's way out of your league and he wouldn't even have seen you for all the hot girls flocking around him all the time.” Nikaido rolls his eyes.

Yokoo frowns at the mention of Fujigaya's constant lady company, and Nikaido knows Yokoo would have preferred his boyfriend being a tad more homosexual than he actually is. “... That's not the point, you're getting ridiculous with this crush.”

“I'm not ridiculous.” Nikaido objects without much heat.

“You are, and if you're not asking him out I'll make sure to do it for you.”

Nikaido chokes on his juice in a very unattractive manner and coughs to get it out of his throat. “What?!” He yells just as he feels a hand on his shoulder and a familiar voice laughing at him.

Yokoo ignores Nikaido in favor of smiling at his boyfriend. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Fujigaya says and sits down in the chair next to Yokoo, his hair unfairly perfect and clothing as suitable for a fashion student as ever.

“Lost your fangirls Gaya?” Nikaido mutters since they rarely meet Fujigaya alone these days. Who'd blame the girls though, Fujigaya is hot as fuck, supposedly all gay and in a fashion class, of course they're all over him.

Fujigaya makes a face at Nikaido before turning back to Yokoo to kiss him hello, completely ignoring Nikaido.

Nikaido just rolls his eyes and tries not to be jealous of them, knowing they'll pay attention to him as soon as they've said hi to each other. Physically.

“Taipi?” Yokoo asks when their brief kiss ends and Fujigaya leans over to take Yokoo's little bowl of fresh fruit.

“Hmm?” Fujigaya answers absentmindedly and spears a strawberry on the fork.

“Do you know this dancing-guy, Senga Kento?” Yokoo asks, and Nikaido kicks him under the table.

“Yeah.” Fujigaya says, chewing a little before his eyes narrow and he frowns at Yokoo. “Why? You think he's hot?”

“You're hopeless.” Yokoo shoves at him for being jealous and then gestures towards Nikaido, who hides his red face in his hands.

“Oh.” Fujigaya smirks as he catches on. “Yeah, he's friends with one of my classmates, I've met him a few times. He's a really cute guy.”

“I know.” Nikaido whines. “Of course he is.”

“How do you feel about a double date?” Yokoo breaks in before Fujigaya can call Nikaido a creep, and that sure gets both or their attention.

“What!?” Nikaido yells, but Fujigaya just tilts his head in question at Yokoo and pops a grape into his mouth.

“If you ask Senga-kun to come along we can go to that aquarium you've been wanting to go to?” Yokoo suggests, knowing exactly how to make Fujigaya do what he wants even though it always seems like it's Fujigaya who's got Yokoo wrapped around his finger. “Not as an offical double date of course. And if that goes well, we can go have dinner.”

Fujigaya seems to think of it as he picks up the last piece of fruit, apple, and eats it. “... Yeah that sounds good. If Nika can behave.”

Nikaido stares between the two of them, too stunned to even jab back at Fujigaya. “... Really?”

“I'll ask him.” Fujigaya shrugs. “Can't make guarantees.”

They meet up outside the aquarium at lunch the following saturday. Nikaido's waiting with Yokoo, nervous out of his mind and probably overstyled. He'd spent more than an hour trying to figure out what to wear before Yokoo came over and told him to just take something or go naked. He ended up in black tight jeans, a white, washed out band T-shirt and his favorite leather jacket, and he even bothered to try and style his hair.

“Calm down.” Yokoo tells him as he starts fidgeting with his hair. “Just relax, there's nothing wrong with you. Or your hair.”

Nikaido is very tempted to remind Yokoo of his mental breakdown before his first date with Fujigaya, but he's interrupted as he sees them turn a corner.

Fujigaya's flawlessly fashionable as usual, but Nikaido can only look at Senga.

He's wearing what looks like a hoodie under a jeans jacket and he's laughing with Fujigaya about something as they approach and Nikaido feels his stomach make a flip.

“Baby~” Fujigaya greets Yokoo with a hug while Senga stops a few steps behind, smiling a little uncertainly.

Nikaido wonders if he should greet him first, but then doesn't really dare, and Fujigaya precedes him. He lets go of Yokoo and looks at Senga with his best mood-maker smile.

“Ken-chan, this is my boyfriend, Yokoo Wataru.” He says and Senga shakes Yokoo's hand with a smile. “And this is Watta's friend Nikaido.”

Nikaido sends Fujigaya a glare for not giving his full name, but forgets about just about everything when Senga extends his hand with a small smile.

“Hi. I'm Senga Kento.”

It takes Nikaido a second to take his hand, thinking he should maybe wipe the sweat on his palm away first, but then figures it will look really awkward. “Hi. Nikaido Takashi.”

Senga smiles and says hi again, and Nikaido's about to blush when Fujigaya saves him by urging them to go inside because he wants to look at fish already.

For as much as Nikaido normally finds Fujigaya annoying with all his babbling and bitching, he has to give him that he's got social skills Nikaido'll never even candidate for.

He talks lightly about fish and school and clothes and makes fun of Nikaido in a friendly manner as they pay for their tickets and go inside, and makes sure Nikaido and Senga are busy talking about some really strange creatures before discreetly pulling Yokoo ahead with him.

“Is that... is that a suction cap? In the middle of their belly?” Senga points at the small fish that's hardly bigger than his fingertip, sounding astonished. “Why would they want that?”

“I have no idea.” Nikaido tilts his head to look at the colony of suction-cap-fish as Senga laughs and lifts his phone to take a picture. “I'm no scientist.”

“Me neither.” Senga smiles and takes another picture just to make sure it turns out okay, and Nikaido looks at a tiny sparkly monkey dangling from his phone. “What's your major anyway, you didn't say?”

He sets his phone back into his pocket and turns his attention to Nikaido as they head for the next tank.

“Web design.” Nikaido shrugs. “Not that exciting.”

“Really? I'll remember that in case I get a blog or something one day, I barely know what HTML is.” Senga giggles and Nikaido finds that really cute, thinking that he'd make Senga the prettiest website ever if he got the chance.

“It's not that difficult, it just... takes a while to learn.” Nikaido makes a face and then smiles when Senga smiles. “What's yours? Fashion?”

He already knows it's not, but it would be really weird to admit that.

“Oh god no.” Senga laughs and steps closer to the tank with swirly sea horses. “Can't you see I don't know fashion? It's dancing.”

“Dancing?” Nikaido asks, even though that's probably the first thing he learned about Senga. “That's cool. And you don't dress badly what are you even talking about.”

“You think so?” Senga smiles softly and turns away from the sea horses, the blue light from the water tank illuminating his face. “Most people go 'is that a real education?'”

“Well... I don't really know what you become from it.” Nikaido admits. “But I think it's cool that you do what you want.”

“I want to become a professional dancer.” Senga says, determination in his voice and Nikaido thinks he just fell in love for real. “It's difficult though, not that many jobs and not the best paycheck and if you get injured you're out. But I want to do it, so I'll try my best.”

Nikaido looks at him and he's certain he's never seen anyone so beautiful before. “Wow.”

Senga blushes a little and laughs at himself. “Sorry I don't normally go babbling about my life's dreams. Must be something about you that brings it out.”

Nikaido lives on that comment for weeks after.

They continue through the aquarium, looking at sharks and octopuses and some really, really strange fish species, but mostly they talk. Sometimes Nikaido sees Yokoo and Fujigaya, but it's him and Senga alone almost all the time.

“They're really cute, aren't they?” Senga asks suddenly, and Nikaido makes a face, thinking that those small fish with an elephant trunk are everything but cute, before he realises Senga's talking about Yokoo and Fujigaya. He follows Senga's eyes and sees them looking at seals, Yokoo holding Fujigaya from behind and talking in his ear while Fujigaya laughs, hands resting on Yokoo's around his waist.

“I guess?” Nikaido asks, wondering where Senga's going with this.

“You don't think so?” Senga asks with a smile, looking like he's testing Nikaido somehow, but he can't figure out what it is he's supposed to say to win.

“Yeah I mean. I guess.” Nikaido says, but then figures he should just say what he thinks. “I'm jealous of them sometimes. That they have each other.”

He thinks that the smile Senga tries to hide means that he said the right thing.

They go through the rest of the place slowly, marvelling when they get to the tropical part and the first thing they see is a cloud of butterflies fluttering past, and they both jump when a huge fish suddenly just shows up before them when they look at something else.

They meet Yokoo and Fujigaya in the shop and look at everything there is, whining about their student economy. In the end, Nikaido and Senga doesn't buy anything, while Fujigaya makes Yokoo buy him a necklace with a dolphin.

“That was really fun.” Fujigaya smiles as they leave. “Don't you think?”

“Yeah, there are some strange animals on this Earth.” Nikaido agrees, entirely prepared when Fujigaya tells him to look at himself in the mirror.

“We were thinking about going out to eat, you wanna come?” Yokoo asks, a hand gently settling on Fujigaya's lower back, but he's looking at Nikaido and Senga.

Nikaido's just about to say yes when Senga speaks.

“Oh, sorry, I can't come. I've got dance practice and I need to get home and grab my bag. Sorry.” He looks genuinely sad about it, but Nikaido still feels like there's a stone in his stomach.

“Ah, no worries. Next time.” Fujigaya smiles brightly, and Senga doesn't look nearly as miserable.

“Next time.” He agrees, and hugs Fujigaya and Yokoo goodbye.

When he hugs Nikaido, something warm washes through Nikaido's entire body as he can feel Senga's body heat, smell his girly shampoo and cheap detergent.

He barely realises he's said goodbye before they turn and starts walking.

“Nikaido-kun!”

Nikaido turns around to look at Senga who hurries after them with a small embarrassed blush. “Sorry I almost forgot I was going to ask. Ehm... Can I have your mail adress?”

Next: Illumination