Astronomia

Chapter 3

It was interesting, Tadashi found himself thinking, the way people were instantly intimidated or scared by Tsukishima. In reality, it was the very opposite: he was actually a total dork, but just an amazing actor.

There had been a time where he was watching his friend from a distance, and Tsukishima's faced was etched in a near-permanent scowl. People had avoided him, putting more than enough space between the two parties. It was actually kind of funny, because the second Tadashi would walk up to him, the scowl would morph into something less malicious. Really, he was a dork, no one knew it. Tsukishima should be in the theater club, he mused to himself. He was ripped out of his thoughts when he heard a loud crash, and he turned to face the sudden noise.

"Crap, sorry, Tadashi," Tsukishima apologized, bending over to pick up the tv remote he had dropped on the floor. His heart fluttered, just a little bit. It hadn't been long since Tsukishima started calling him Tadashi, only a few days. Remembering how he had been so adorably scared asking if he could call him Tadashi, he was startled again when Tsukishima chuckled nervously. The other teen continued, "Was falling asleep there for a sec."

"Tsukki, if you're sleepy, you can go to bed. We don't have to finish the movie," he replied sympathetically. They were having their first sleepover at Tadashi's house, and they had already watched several movies and played a bunch of games. It was already nearly 1am, so it was understandable if they were tired.

"If you're sure…" Tsukishima trailed off, sighing in relief when his friend nodded. He flopped down onto the mini couch that was turned into a makeshift bed, burying his face in the pillow and groaning. Lifting his face up for a moment, he mumbled, "Don't stay up too late."

"I won't!" he sing-songed in reply, and sat on his bed, sifting through his email on his phone.

Tadashi distracted himself for a few minutes, comforted by Tsukishima's sleepy breaths, before noticing his pale arms in the soft glow of his phone. Frowning, he poked at his arm, slightly disgusted by all the freckles that literally covered his arms. Though he had only been told to his face once that his freckles were gross, he had heard many girls gossiping about how guys are much hotter without freckles or something equally rude and ridiculous.

After a few moments of self-hate and a downward spiral of how much he hated his freckles, he sighed and threw his head back, ungracefully hitting it on the bed frame. He groaned in pain and got up, disappointed in himself that he would spend another night hating his freckles. Sometimes he was able to go to bed, resisting the urge to insult himself, but apparently not that night.

Tadashi stood, slightly lopsided as his leg was asleep. He shook his leg, whining and trying to wake it up, before padding quietly over to his dresser and mirror combination. Taking a deep breath, he stared hard at himself in the reflection, mentally degrading his pale face of which stains littering every area. He poked a little too hard at one of the freckles, scratching it as if that would magically make it come off. He scratched, itched, prodded, poked, his skin turning red, but the freckles didn't fade.

They never did.

He removed his hand from his face, staring at the red spots on his face distastefully. When the red slowly disappeared and the freckles were only more apparent, he whimpered quietly and scratched harder. Maybe this time they would go away, he always told himself, maybe this time at least one would disappear.

But of course, they never did.

"Tadashi?" a voice sliced through the silence, breaking the hateful atmosphere he had formed. The voice continued, sleepy but harsh, "What are you doing?"

He jerked away from the mirror, tripping over his feet as he turned to face a very not-asleep Tsukishima, and chuckled nervously. Tsukishima was still lying down on his stomach, but his head was turned and watching Tadashi carefully, his gaze calculating. Tadashi stammered, "What, no, I wasn't doing anything."

The sleepy teenager groaned, his arms sliding in front of him and pushed him to a sitting position. He rubbed his eyes roughly, trying to force himself awake: he had a feeling that he would be need to be alert. Tsukishima eyed his friend carefully, uncertainty clear on his face. They were silent for a long time, just staring at each other, when Tadashi looked away and broke the silence.

"My freckles are gross," he whimpered.

"Okay," Tsukishima replied simply. He pushed himself off the makeshift bed and shuffled over to Tadashi's desk, roughly jerking a desk drawer open and rummaged for something. A question was on the tip of Tadashi's tongue, when the other young man grunted in satisfaction and waves a black marker in the air.

Before either of them could say anything, Tsukishima stalked over to his friend and firmly took Tadashi's wrist, pulling his right arm out in front of the two. He looked over the arm, carefully gauging the freckles, before humming in contentment. Tsukishima glanced up at his friend, enjoying the confused but intrigued expression he had, biting his lip, and took the marker cap off.

A line here. A line there. A line connecting that freckle to a different one.

Several strokes of the marker soon showed the Scorpio constellation on Tadashi's right arm. He gasped, looking up with sparkling eyes at Tsukishima, and opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped when Tsukishima shook his head.

"I really like astronomy," he explained offhandedly. The double meaning didn't go unnoticed as Tadashi blushed as Tsukishima let the right arm go, and brought the left arm out. He gazed at Tadashi's arm again, eyes flitting back and forth, looking for a pattern. Shaking his head, he chuckled, and once again connected another constellation with the freckles. When Tadashi finally realized what the constellation was, he laughed. It was glorious, the laugh and the way his eyes crinkled, and the extreme contrast to the Tadashi from mere moments ago.

The constellation?

Libra.

"You have Scorpio on your right arm, and Libra on your left," Tsukishima pointed out in amusement, though neither of them needed the explanation. He carefully, gently, almost lovingly, ran his fingers down Tadashi's arm, marveling in the shiver that was produced. His fingers paused at the Libra constellation on the forearm, before he chuckled and looked up, gazing into Tadashi's eyes. "Looks like I won't be getting rid of you for a while. We'll be with each other forever, apparently."

Tadashi looked upset, unsure, and just in general a big bundle of nerves and emotion. Tsukishima was waiting, actually expecting him to reply with something equally romantic and ridiculous, when Tadashi burst into giggles. The taller boy's face twisted into confusion and amusement, waiting as his friend held onto his shoulder, bent over, giggling like there was no tomorrow. When the giggles slowly turned into gasps, Tadashi looked up at his friend, his eyes wet, and a smile stretched from ear to ear.

"Tsukk~ii," Tadashi whined, drawing out the last vowel, "That was ridiculously cheesy! How did you even say that?"

"I don't, uh, I don't know? You were all sad and I, uh, didn't know what to do, and yeah..." Tsukishima stammered, seeming very flustered as he looked away, his face uncomfortably red. Ninety nine, Tadashi counted. He took a second to compose himself, and coughed awkwardly before facing Tadashi again. Very quietly, and definitely embarrassed, he continued, "Um, I kind of asked you out. Are you going to say yes?"

"Yes, yes of course!" Tadashi blurted immediately, no thought required.

"Oh, okay, good. Yeah, good," he stumbled in reply, and rubbed the back of his neck. He leaned forward slowly, as if not to scare the boy, and hugged him. Though both boys were blushing, Tsukishima's face flared even more red, incredibly embarrassed but pleased.

"One hundred," Tadashi murmured quietly, burying his face into the crook of Tsukishima's neck. He ignored the confused expression that adorned his boyfriend's face, instead reveling in the feeling of warmth and comfort that radiated from the simple hug. He even smelled good.

It was funny, Tadashi thought, the way people were instantly intimidated by Tsukishima. It was funny the way people always labeled him as the 'big scary kid', or 'that one asshole.' It was funny how easily Tsukki could fool everyone else. It was funny, because none of it was true. Tsukishima was just a teenage boy who liked astronomy and dinosaurs just a little too much. He was just a teenage boy who didn't reach out to people and came off as cold when he didn't know how to respond. He was just a teenage boy who blushed at the silliest things, and he was just a teenage boy who knew Tadashi way too well.

It was funny, Tadashi thought, that those people would never see Tsukishima the way he did. And it was funny, Tadashi thought, how that idea didn't bother him that much.