Rely On You

Ohta and Tanaka's first meeting:

"Ouch..!"

Tanaka stirred a little before he finally reopened his eyes to the sound of a small groan. Inky black orbs levelled with hazel ones which were strangely very, very close to his face. Those sharp golden eyes belonged to a tall pony-tailed blond wearing the same uniform as him. "...?"

"My bad. I kinda tripped over you just now." The blond calmly said as he hoisted himself back up and away from the lithe ravenette."Are you okay? "

"I'm..." Tanaka paused for a second. A thousand and one possibilities ran through his head. Should he admit he was feeling fine or should he feign he was in pain instead? The devil in him seemed to triumph as he clutched his knee and faked a whimper. "...not okay. My knee hurts so I don't think I could walk."

The blond immediately leaned closer before giving a quick inspection of his leg like he was checking if something was broken or not. "Is it fractured? Did I sit on you too hard just now. I'm so sorry... uhh..?"

"Tanaka. It's Tanaka." Tanaka said, his voice ever so lifeless. Thanks to this lanky boy in front of him, he lost about seven minutes of nap which equalled to thirty percent of his energy.

"I'm Ohta. Nice to meet you, Tanaka." Ohta smiled kindly and continued, "I'll take responsibility for hurting your knee. The bell rang not too long ago so I'll help you get to class."

That was just what he wanted to hear but...

"Um, what are you doing, Ohta." Tanaka stayed glued to his spot when the blond suddenly crouched down in front with his back facing him.

"Taking responsibility." Replied the blond in an impassive tone, signalling with his head for the ravenette to climb on. "Don't hold back. I just can't leave an injured person and not when I'm the one who hurt him."

Did people not usually lend a shoulder at the very most?

"..you're quite an oddball..." Tanaka mumbled under his breath as he slowly climbed onto the broad back.

"I think I'm a pretty average kind of guy though." Commented the taller of the two and they made their way back to the classroom in a comfortable silence afterwards.

For the first time, Tanaka thought that the dancing cherry blossom petals falling around them looked prettier than he had last remembered.

.

.

.

"Oiiii, Tanaka. Wake up." A light tap on the cheek brought blank dark eyes blinking open to be met with soft golden ones.

"...Ohta? ...Time to *yawn* go home..?" Tanaka spoke in a sloth-like pace while his reliable friend patiently waited for him to finish.

"Nope. We're barely half-way there. It's time for PE so let's get going. Everyone's already left by the way." Ohta briefly explained as he hoisted Tanaka under his arm and they were soon on their way to the changing room.

"...PE, huh..." Tanaka said in a disinterested tone, allowing himself to be carried by his tall friend all the way like he was some kind of a parcel. He was not and probably would never be a sports person when he could barely walk on his own if he didn't have to.

And why did he suddenly dreamt of his first meeting with Ohta, that took place about a year ago?

Is it because I'm starting to feel... impatient?

"What are you doing, Tanaka." Ohta, already in his sports jersey and shorts, side-glanced at the lithe boy who laid on one of the wooden benches unmoved. "You're supposed to change into your gym wear."
"...too tired."

"Is it finally Double Listless today?" the blond guessed for the second time as he retied his short ponytail.

"No... It's still Pampering Tanaka Day." Tanaka recited from one of their old conversations, triggering a grin on Ohta's lips soon enough. "You're saying I should change your clothes for you, aren't you?" He interpreted correctly when the smaller boy gave a few small nods.

"This is why Ohta makes the best wife there is." Tanaka said almost monotonously, lifting both of his arms up for the blond to remove his uniform and so Ohta diligently did, nonchalantly adding, "More like a mom rather than a wife."

"...!"

I would prefer the latter though.

The ravenette grumbled internally but the sharp blond could easily detect a change in his expression, no matter how microscopic it was. "Or I could simply be a doting wife who pampers her husband dearly." Ohta quietly continued, honey eyes fixated on Tanaka's face, carefully eyeing his next reaction.

That very sentence sent Tanaka's cheeks flushing bright pink in a matter of seconds and the boy flinched badly as soon as slender fingers slightly grazed his skin when his shirt's buttons became undone. "...hn!"

Tanaka would have to admit; this was a lot more embarrassing than he initially thought it would be and the ravenette soon regretted for even proposing such a shameless idea in the first place. "U..uh, I'll change by myself after all..." Smaller hands slowly crept to grab the white T-shirt back from Ohta's possession.

"Eh, what are you talking about? I'm not doing halfway things with you." Ohta raised an eyebrow as he and his petite friend engaged in a silly game of tug-and-war with the shirt in the middle of course. "Now, hands off before you tear your own shirt."

"No. How about Ohta let go of it first?" retorted Tanaka in his ever impassive tone of voice, which notably went a little higher.

"Oh, has our little Tanaka finally decided to be independent? I'm torn between feeling proud or sad." Ohta remarked, tugging the shirt to his side once more. What prompted this childish act between the two of them was beyond his own comprehension.

"...the way Ohta's saying it ticks me off for some reason... I said – give it back to me..!" Tanaka pulled the shirt to his side a little stronger and that was when they both heard it. The ripping sound of fabric reverberated throughout the small locker room.

Rip!

"Ah." They both said.

And Tanaka automatically fell backwards from the recoil with a risk of sustaining a bump to head as soon as he hit the locker behind him. The ravenette clenched his eyes tight, bracing himself for the impact.

"Tanaka!" Moving lightning fast, the blond quickly pulled the thin arm while slamming his other hand against the metal surface to stop the fall, saving his friend in the nick of time. "You okay? Sorry, I didn't mean to do that!"

Gushes of warm breaths tickled his right ear and Tanaka momentarily froze. Ohta was leaning extremely close to him, he knew that much judging by the sound of his voice and the warmth shared from the contact of their skins. Dare he open his eyes now? Another realisation soon washed over him.

Wait, isn't this what they called a... wall slam..?

He remembered Rino telling him about this a while back – said it was a trend right now amongst couples or something.

Couples?

"Oh...ta.." Tanaka's voice came out as a squeak. He slowly reopened his dark eyes which lingered to the floor when he felt Ohta's piercing gaze on him. He tried to slip away from the blond but was stopped midway. "Um, I'm all right now so-..wha!"

"Please don't move just yet..." Ohta suddenly pitted himself against the other, a sharp gasp erupted from the astonished ravenette as a result.

"...what is it..?" Tanaka barely breathed the words out, feeling as if a huge lump had lodged itself in his throat, his cheeks steadily turning crimson red once more. Ohta was literally hugging him, bigger stronger arms wrapping around his slender waist, head against his bare chest whose heart was beating crazily and about to jump out of his ribcage.

"My hair..."

"H-hair?" Tanaka repeated, his tone of voice layered thinly with confusion.

"My hair is tangled up with one of your buttons." Laughed Ohta at the ridiculousness of the turns of events. What were the odds of that happening again?

But, the vibrations seemed to put more tension to his pulled strands of hair so he abruptly stopped. "Ow ow. It even hurts to laugh..."

"..Stay still then. Let me have a look at it." Tanaka could tell how shaky his voice was as he carefully cradled the blond's head closer and used his other hand to untangle the hair knot forming around his second button.

The smell of Ohta's shampoo soon infiltrated his nostrils and Tanaka nervously gulped. The non-existent distance and faint scent of warm sunlight made his head spin, his heartbeat skyrocketed if it hadn't already and the poor ravenette was close to faint from sheer trepidation.

After a few more seconds of fumbling, he finally managed to loosen the knot with the least amount of damage done to both of them. "There, it's loose now..."

"Thanks, Tana-!" Ohta cocked his head in the direction of the ravenette to express his gratitude without realising how proximate they were already.

And then it happened.

Soft moist lips joined together by accident.

Smooch!

"—!" Both Ohta and Tanaka stilled at that instance, pair of equally wide-as-saucers eyes met, a mix of surprise an unidentifiable emotions evident in them.

Time stood in a complete standstill, like in those cliché cheesy romantic movies, their surrounding became a perfect blur and any sounds apart from their thundering heartbeats slowly droned out.

A few seconds passed dramatically slow, slightly dried lips bumping against moist ones for a while longer before they parted, both quite reluctantly.

It took the ravenette quite some time to come back to his senses, by then a full blown blush was already spreading across his cheeks like wildfire. "T-that was..."

"Crap, I wasn't—" Ohta, whose whole face was bright red himself, gasped in horror; to have stolen Tanaka's lips not once, but twice albeit by accident this time.

"I like you." Tanaka suddenly blurted out. Because it felt just right to say that there and then. That it was time to come clean about his long hidden feelings for the blond once and for all.

Golden eyes widened in disbelief when Ohta opened his mouth to say, "You... You too?"

"...too?" Tanaka questioned back, a gleam of hope reflected in his droopy inky eyes.

Ohta slowly reached for the smaller hand before gently gripping it into his. When Tanaka didn't retract his hand away, he felt a lot more confident as he pulled the listless boy into the gentlest embrace there was.

"I like you. I like you too, Tanaka. Please, be mine and stay with me forever." Ohta hugged him tighter, and Tanaka could easily discern he wasn't lying, from the way his voice quivered, to the way his fingers trembled. Almost as if it took his everything just to confess his feelings and Tanaka's whole being was suddenly brimming with overflowing joy and happiness he never knew he could even experience.

"Forever is a long time..." Tanaka shyly pecked him by the cheek before hiding his face against the broader chest. "..but I wouldn't mind spending it by your side."

You've captured my heart from the beginning. All that was left was to for my whole being to fall for you too.

"So, please take care of me from now on, Ohta." Tanaka impassively said but the redness of his ears didn't go unnoticed by the perceptive blond.

He's as much as embarrassed as I am, isn't he?

"Eh – haven't I been doing so from the beginning?" Ohta softly chuckled, locking his arms around Tanaka's small waist once more. "And you've been dutifully relying on me all this while, huh? It makes me happy."

"...don't get cocky." Tanaka adorably pouted in response, and fluttered his eyes close when the taller boy leaned down to kiss him – longer and sensually deeper this time.

"Mhm.. th.. the gym...?" muttered the ravenette in between their deep wet kisses but Ohta couldn't be bothered. "That'll have to wait. We're going to have our own private lessons today." A hand dug under his shirt, trailing on his bare back and Tanaka shivered ecstatically.

"...pervert."

Meanwhile...

Shiraishi made her way to the male's changing room when prompted by their gym teacher to check out on their two missing classmates. She couldn't exactly refuse when she was the class representative. Although mostly because she wanted to see Tanaka herself and perhaps... get lucky in the process.

The idol of the school walked with a dreamy look on her face as she imagined a topless Tanaka changing into his gym clothes and almost bumped into a wall beside the slightly ajar door.

She was just about to knock when her ears picked up muffled voices coming from inside the changing room, Tanaka's and Ohta's presumably.

"...it tickles. Stop it, Ohta..." Came Tanaka's ever so lifeless voice, with a hint of disconcert in it surprisingly enough.

"What do you mean stop when you're the one whose arms wrapping around me so tight?" chuckled the blond and silence ensued a couple of seconds later.

Wait a minute... are they..?

Shiraishi shakily covered her mouth and tip-toed to one side of the door as quiet as possible. She was fully aware of how wrong her actions were but curiosity easily won over her. Peering into the small crack of the door, what she saw almost made her scream – Ohta and Tanaka embracing each other and... kissing. So very passionately too.

Yes, they are!

"...!?" The bespectacled girl stumbled away from the door and made a dash for it without so much as to produce any loud noises.

She soon bumped into someone in the hallways, and fell flat on her butt.

"O-ow... Ehh, Shiraishi-san? I'm so sorry! Are you hurt!" The other person turned out to be Miyano, who totted around the pink-haired girl like an overly concerned little puppy.

"I..I'm alright..." Shiraishi quickly covered her nose with her handkerchief and took the offered hand to stand back on her feet. 'I think I may have opened a new door to a forbidden world though. Ohta-kun and Tanaka-kun together... I... I ship it..!'

And she completely forgot the reason she was sent there in the first place.

Later...

"There you two are! Where were you guys? Wait – why are you wearing that baggy tracksuit again, Tanaka?" Katou called out to the pair as soon as he saw them entering the gym.

True enough, the lithe ravenette could be seen wearing a carmine red jumpsuit twice his size so that he had to roll the sleeves up a few times, with a boring look on his emotionless face.

"Let me guess, you were too lazy to get into gym clothes so Ohta offered to help but then you got shy and changed your mind and accidentally ripped your shirt in the middle of a tug-of-war which resulted in Ohta lending his tracksuit to you because you didn't even bother buying one for yourself at the beginning of school this year?" Shimura solemnly speculated in length and while Katou gave him the weird stare, Ohta tersely nodded in agreement, "Yep, that's exactly (read: partly) what happened in a nutshell."

"Seriously..?" Katou readjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose with a bewildered look on his face still. "Man, you could be a detective with that level of deduction."

"I'm awesome, right~" Shimura proudly nodded to himself and they began chattering away until the gym teacher appeared from behind and started scolding them for slacking off.

Amidst all the ruckus, Ohta and Tanaka quietly glanced at each other, a secretive smile took form on their lips. Unbeknownst to them and the others, an invisible strand of red string coiled around their pinkie fingers, linking them together.

End~ (still cheesy af I know...)

This has been in my draft for months. My sad third attempt in writing this chapter since I've been so busy to even polish my writing skills and I guess you can tell how rusty I became after reading this chappie. *sighs* I wish final year projects will all be exterminated from the surface of earth...

Well, thanks for reading and see you guys around~ ^^