Chapter Text
For a fashion designer, Asahi wasn’t nearly as flamboyant as one might think. His line of work was surprisingly calming and comforting, in the recluse of his office. That, however, didn’t mean his life lacked any sort of excitement or bustle in it: one small-statured man would figuratively barge at his door, the embodiment of thrill itself.
Asahi appreciated his presence, probably even more if it wasn’t 1 AM.
Being 8 hours apart was difficult to say the least, but a link between kindred spirits could be stretched for a distance of a million miles and remain unbreakable: even if the kindred spirits themselves were unaware of the other’s feelings.
Asahi had realized this only recently, where after a solid week of being denied the alleviation of sleep, he would become pensive with thought. He loved this job, no doubt about it, but it was exhausting at times. He tried to find something good out of staying up during those lonely nights. It wasn’t long before he realized: what he would look forward to most during the day occurred at night, where he would call Noya on a daily basis.
It had been about a month since this realization hit him, and he didn’t retaliate against it. He wondered what he could do about it, but doubted if he had it in him. The daily talks with Noya continued, usually late at night for Asahi and sometime in the evening for Noya.
On one arbitrary Tuesday though, Asahi didn’t get a call. Truthfully, he didn’t even notice until he had arisen the next morning (it’s funny, how in sync those two could be).
In the early dawn of 6 AM, Asahi’s mind, strangely enough, had a mind of its own.
Why didn’t Noya call me? Did I upset him? Maybe it’s because I fell asleep too, but how did he know that? Okay, calm down, calm down… If only Asahi had the ability to listen to himself.
You’re a fully grown man, just like Noya. If you're busy, he’s probably also busy. It’s fine, it’s fine!
…
But what if Noya hates me? The mere thought made him shudder.
He had called and texted multiple times, with little reaction. Stuck in this nasty, cyclic mental state, Asahi considered whether or not he should be happy this week was incredibly busy. On one hand, he was hustling the entire week, but rarely with focus. On the other hand, he had something to distract himself from overthinking the situation.
For a few torturous days, Asahi attempted to put his mind elsewhere (although, he was barely awake at this point). The fragile silence of 1 AM was shattered by a soft ringtone. Asahi had absentmindedly picked up the phone, assuming it was one of his numerous clients. He was instead, greeted with a scream heard halfway across the world (a surprise for sure, but not unwanted. Never unwanted.)
“ASAHI-SAN!” Noya yelled with a sense of excitement, nervousness, and felicity dripping from his tone.
After taking a good two seconds to fully comprehend it was Noya that had called him, Asahi was about to speak, if Noya had not interjected.
“I’m so sorry Asahi-san! I saw all your messages and voicemails, I’m not ignoring you, I promise! See I haven’t been able to use my phone for the whole day, I broke it and it’s a funny story actually! And kinda long, and… hello?” Noya may be pretty rambunctious at times, but at least he was self aware. Guilt seeped into him for a second, at the thought of screaming at his friend at 1 am just to ramble about how he broke his phone.
(Noya also couldn’t ignore the internal grimace he made upon thinking that he could only call Asahi “friend.” Nothing more. He wanted more.)
“Noya... “
“Everything okay?”
Asahi let out a long sigh of relief; he could practically feel a heavy weight being lifted off his shoulders. Or maybe, knowing Noya, it was probably thrown or launched instead of lifted.
“God, Noya, I’m so happy you called me. It’s been so stressful this week, I’m exhausted.” Before he knew it, Asahi was rambling without thought, as expected at 1 AM.
“I’ve been wracking my brain over everything, with work and all. This week has been bad, so many deadlines. I missed your calls. Really, I just missed you... I’m glad you're okay and not upset. How do you always know what to say? It’s incredible, what would I do without you?” Asahi let out a soft laugh. “No wonder I love you…”
Noya stayed radio silent. The ramblings of a love-stricken, half-unconscious man truly were lethal.
There was a long pause in the conversation: for Noya, a pause of disbelief and a surge of hope, while for Asahi, a pause of relief and comfort, not realizing what he had just absent-mindedly spoken.
“Do you mean that, Asahi-san?” Noya whispered this so softly, Asahi almost thought it was someone else.
“Hmm? Do I mean…” The realization of what he just said came crashing down on him. Asahi could feel all the color in his body vanish in an instant, replaced with pure dread and shame, that this was the way Noya would find out.
“I”M SO SORRY, I--”
“Do you?” Noya was surely sincere, and sounded as if he was trying to keep his voice from shaking.
“...” Asahi figured that after everything that had happened this week, after all the mental torment and stress with which he had no one to blame but himself, he didn’t have the mental strength to try and lie his way out of it.
“Yeah, I mean it. I’m sorry you had to find out this way…”
“Stop apologizing.”
“R-Right…”
“...How long?” Noya is a man of little regrets, but if there was one thing he wanted to change in his life, it was this. The one thing that really scared him, sometimes.
“I only realized about a month ago, but I’m sure I’ve felt this way for a long time. I always thought you were this amazing guy who could lift up everyone around him, and you know how talking to people is stressful for me sometimes, but it never was with you. I just never put two and two together.”
Asahi would surely be red from head to toe the next morning, when he looks back and everything he’s revealing right now. But right now, he couldn’t find it in himself to care about that. It was so dark in this lonely house he resided, especially at the bleak hours of 1 AM. He could only find himself drawn to the only light he could find, Someone so radiant, even from a million miles away.
Noya, after a good minute of pensive thinking, finally decided to speak. “Tomorrow is an off day, right?”
Asahi looked at his phone, Saturday. Despite how long the week had felt, the days went by in a flash.
“Yeah, it is.”
“I’ll book a plane. I want to see you again.”
“Ah, okay. ....Wait--”
“Let’s figure out how we can make this work in person.”
Asahi took a minute to analyze what Noya meant. He had made a lot of life altering realizations that day (or night, really).
“Wait, does this mean--”
“Yeah, it does. I… I love you too, Asahi-san!” Noya’s radiant smile could somehow still be felt through the small, cramped phone screen. Asahi, although still maintaining the inherent tiredness of 1 AM, was ecstatic.
Asahi does eventually get some sleep, right before Noya comes barging in, but literally this time.
They talk for hours (in person this time!), and Noya does eventually tell him what had happened to his phone. Something about Noya going fishing and dropping his phone into the ocean? Asahi couldn’t remember the exact details; he was too happy to focus on anything other than the biggest smile that adorned Noya’s face. Not that he really needed to remember what happened, he has all the time in the world to ask again. For the calm and comforting life of a fashion designer, Asahi sure was grateful that mundane things like phone calls could be a vibrant ride with the right people.
No, not exactly people, more like person. More like Noya, just Noya.