a/n: I have two other stories that are due for an update, but my brain came up with this idea of a confused and adorable Koushiro before sunrise and I somehow found myself writing it two hours later. Thank you, brain. This might turn into a collection (I enjoy writing collections) but for now, it'll be marked as complete. Enjoy.

There's a moment when he looks at him and sees only his wide smile; only sunkissed skin; only the excited and victorious glint in dark brown eyes; only a light patch of freckles under his eyes and on his nose; and that moment is when he realizes that the balance of their relationship has shifted entirely.

He brushes it off, at first. Physically shakes his head to scatter his thoughts. Pushes down the heat which threatens to crawl up his neck and across his cheeks. Blames the odd flutter in his stomach on the fact that he has not eaten in several hours. Wipes clammy hands on his t-shirt and tries to remember what words are and how to use them properly.

But the sensations return time and time again. It doesn't help that it's almost summer and it's hot and the crowd is cheering and screaming and his eyes keep landing unbidden on the person who he's thought for the longest time to be one of his close friends. His brain has somehow tracked and slowed each of his movements and he only watches as his friend's arms fly up in triumph as his team is announced as the winner.

Watches as his hand rakes through his hair, untamable and wild in the warm breeze.

Watches him draw in breath after breath as the thrill of the game slowly ebbs.

This feeling is foreign and unwanted and yet it demands to be acknowledged and listened to. Human emotions cannot be reprogrammed like computers—they are much more complicated. They are random. They are uncontrollable. There's no particular pattern to this puzzle that his brain can perceive no matter how hard he studies it; no answer to be unearthed after weeks and weeks of digging. It's pure mystery and confusion and he can only wait to see where this ride takes him.

So he sits baking under the blazing sun with his hands clenched nervously into fists, unable to figure out what to do. He stares and stares and he cannot stop because there's something about Taichi's sweat-glossed form which his gaze has found alluring.

For a fleeting moment, their eyes meet, prompting an even darker flush to his cheeks as Taichi's grin widens and his hand dances in a wave. His heart is beating closer and closer to a race, and there's a lump in his throat which refuses to fade even when he clears it.

Well, he thinks to himself as Taichi nears him and the rest of their group of friends with that same cheerful grin; I suppose I'll just have to get used to it.