I.

Teshima felt like he'd been struck by lightning when he realized it—he and Aoyagi had never been to an amusement park together.

Being a fan of roller-coasters, he wondered why he'd never brought up the idea. It seemed like the perfect date, right? Prizes they would win for each other, cotton candy, the obligatory Ferris wheel ride...

Oh, and the roller-coaster rides where your stomach turned, and the drops were from hundreds of feet in the air... Teshima loved those the most.

No, he wasn't in denial his of plan; he just didn't want it to seem like he had any ulterior motives for taking his boyfriend on a stereotypical, innocent date. That's why, until the day of their date, he would avoid even looking at that notebook—the notebook in which he'd scribbled all of his various plans and strategies to hear Aoyagi's beautiful voice more.

It wasn't as if Aoyagi's quietness wasn't enough for him. No, Teshima adored that, was used to it, and would feel concerned instead of happy if Aoyagi suddenly turned into a chatterbox. There was no problem. Teshima simply craved Aoyagi's voice like a drug—especially since they were now together romantically.

That voice was music to Teshima's ears. Was there any way he could hear more?

Well, he'd written down plenty of ideas in that notebook—which sometimes he thought about Aoyagi sneaking a peak in, and shuddered at that possibility.

Reading his ideas back, he felt that most of them probably weren't going to work. The roller-coaster one would be his best bet; people usually made a lot of noise during roller-coaster rides, right?

The most intuitive part of him insisted that it wouldn't work, though—Aoyagi simply wasn't that type of person.

Whether it would work or not, though, he damn wanted to go to an amusement park with his boyfriend.

Dragging the prodigious trio—a.k.a. Imaizumi, Onoda, and Naruko—along wasn't part of Teshima's plan, but he forced himself not to stress over that. Inflexibility meant failure. Besides, Aoyagi didn't seem to mind their unexpected company at all.

Admission inside the park barely cost anything, and the premises didn't look well-kept at all. Teshima wasn't deterred, though; the shakier the roller-coasters, the better, right?

After eating first—the carnival food was just as gross-looking as the trash littering the ground—Naruko immediately pointed out one of the largest roller-coasters in the park, insisting they would ride it.

Flexibility did pay off, Teshima supposed, mentally giving Naruko a pat on the back.

Said roller-coaster, proudly named the "Rattle Snake" for obvious reasons, seemed to sway back and forth with every jolt of its cars. Even Teshima was slightly surprised at how dangerous it looked; would Aoyagi go for this? Did he even like this sort of stuff? They'd never talked about roller-coasters before...

When Aoyagi replied to Naruko's suggestion with his usual smile and nod, Teshima was relieved.

After almost an hour of waiting in line, the group was finally able to board the ride, Teshima and Aoyagi taking the seats directly ahead of Imaizumi, Onoda, and Naruko. Teshima worried for a second that he was talking too much during the climb upwards, but Aoyagi didn't seem to mind.

The moment before the drop, Aoyagi tightly grabbed his hand.

After the ride, Teshima realized that although Aoyagi had a wide smile on his face the entire drop, he never made a sound besides a few short bursts of laughter. It seemed that Teshima had laughed and screamed enough for the both of them.

Yes, the date was a success, but the plan wasn't. An hour after he returned home, Teshima was back to scribbling furiously in his notebook.

II.

"Do you want a drink or something? I'm feeling thirsty."

Aoyagi looked up from his textbook at Teshima's proposal, smiling and giving a short nod in response. A smile graced Teshima's face as well while he exited his room.

Oftentimes they would do this—Aoyagi staying over at Teshima's after school, sometimes for relaxation and other times for help with homework. Aoyagi wasn't as academically inclined as Teshima, and Teshima was always very patient in helping him, even if he had to explain the same math problem three times over. They were a team, after all.

"Here, I got you lemonade." Upon his return, Teshima held the can out to Aoyagi, who looked to be struggling with the same problem he was working on before. Smiling again, he reached to take the can, but was interrupted by his phone suddenly vibrating.

Aoyagi went for his phone first, standing up when he saw the caller ID. "Mom..."

"Oh, it's fine, you can take it. I'll leave your drink here." Teshima placed the can on his bedside table as Aoyagi walked into the hallway. However, as soon as he heard Aoyagi's muffled voice coming from the hallway, another idea popped into his head.

Why hadn't he thought of this sooner? This was a surefire way that he would be able to hear Aoyagi... But he couldn't just eavesdrop like that, could he? What if his mom was telling him something extremely important?

Teshima figured that he wouldn't even be paying attention to the words, anyway—only the sound. So that didn't count as eavesdropping. Perfect.

He crept behind the door, pressing his ear to it as he listened carefully. It seemed like Aoyagi's mother was doing most of the talking and he only said a few inconsequential phrases, but they were enough for Teshima's heart to flutter. His voice was so... unique, Teshima thought, perfect for someone destined for victory. Aoyagi always had something reassuring to say, whenever they were caught in a difficult part of a race or Teshima was feeling anxious about something, so hearing that voice at any time at all brought him so much comfort. Just listening now, he felt like all of his problems were melting away...

"...Junta."

Startled out of his reverie, Teshima's eyes widened when he realized Aoyagi was standing right in front of him, the phone call long ended. With his ear pressed against the door like that, Teshima could bet that Aoyagi had some idea of what he was trying to do...

"Oh, Aoyagi, I was just...! I wasn't trying to eavesdrop or anything, ok? I just wanted to..." Teshima trailed off, trying to sound sincere but not sure how he should say it. Luckily, Aoyagi pressed his finger to his lips, silencing him with a knowing look and pecking him on the cheek.

Being caught wasn't a part of his plan, but Teshima didn't write it off as a failure this time either.

III.

In a dimly lit room, around one in the morning, on a Saturday night—that was the place where Teshima knew, just like any other time they were together, they didn't truly need words. Yes, he couldn't see Aoyagi's expression well enough in this light, but he could practically feel the response on his skin.

Does this feel good?

Are you okay with this?

Can I go faster?

Do you want to go slower?

Who do you want to lead tonight?

How do you want me to touch you?

They needed no words to ask these questions, and likewise, the responses needed no words either. By this time, Teshima may have truly believed that they were psychic after all; how else could this understanding be so blatantly obvious without any words necessary? He could easily comprehend what Aoyagi wanted, and Aoyagi could easily understand the same of him—there was no preamble needed.

Actions always spoke louder than words. All Aoyagi needed to do was pull on his hair, kiss him in a certain way, lace their fingers that tightly, or touch his thigh ever so lightly—and Teshima understood, reciprocated accordingly. It was almost surreal. Neither of them had ever felt this connection with anyone before; obviously by now, that must have been why they became a team in the first place.

But like every other scenario, Teshima was always the louder one when they were caught in this bliss. Not that either of them were excessively loud at all, but Teshima always had at least a few moans and groans to expel before the night was over. Aoyagi, like Teshima expected, didn't like to raise his voice.

Even so—Teshima could still hear it whenever Aoyagi placed his lips right up against his ear. Amidst those frantic and heavy movements that seemed so much louder than anything else, Teshima could catch Aoyagi's shorter puffs of breath in his ear, sometimes mixed with a melodic and quiet hum, or maybe a soft sigh.

Teshima always responded with a louder sigh—I love it when you do that, I love you, I love you.

I love you.

IV.

Aoyagi knew perfectly well what Teshima was always trying to do, and it was likely that he would never stop. But it had always been like this, hadn't it? Teshima greatly appreciated anything Aoyagi had to say, understood when he didn't want to say anything, and still loved his voice that much. It made Aoyagi feel... well, happy.

So, he figured he might as well continue giving Teshima something that he wouldn't give anyone else. Even if it was a simple, "Junta, we did well," after a particularly intense club practice. Seeing the elated look on Teshima's face gave him an exhilarated feeling.

"...Why do you like my voice so much?"

Teshima, understandably, was surprised by the sudden question from his soft-spoken partner, and had to think for a few seconds before answering.

"Well... It sounds nice. We're a team, so... Your voice is like a part of myself, too. It comforts me to hear it..." The feelings were rather difficult to explain, but it didn't look like Aoyagi needed much of a spoken explanation at all; he was already smiling.

When they kissed, Teshima could hear it the loudest. Aoyagi's voice was in everything he did—all Teshima had to do was listen carefully.