Kaname just doesn't get it.
Cupid shots just don't fail like this.
He'd checked, multiple times. They’re compatible. Futakuchi was the target. Fine. His cupid's gun was working.
He'd shot him almost two years ago though, and still, Futakuchi shows no signs of falling for Kamasaki. Why? Was he losing his touch? Had his aim been off?
It hadn't. Cupids are sharpshooters. Give him any kind of ranged weapon—he'll hit the target. (Sadly, setting doesn’t count) Midway through his second year, he'd got the assignment, lined up his shot, taken aim, fired... and nothing. It's not even like Futakuchi's been shot already by another Cupid, or shown any signs of being in love already. It's ridiculous, is what it is.
It's been bothering him since he noticed the utter lack of signs between the two of them. They'd hang out in club, but rarely out of club. When they all go to the cinema, he tries to get them to sit together and they'll always somehow evade his efforts. Futakuchi usually ends up sitting next to Kaname and leaving over to make comments to him instead of Kamasaki.
Dammit! He’s had plenty of successes before them and since his attempt, but that’s his one failure. Everyone else has worked, so why not them?
This, the final get-together before all the third years move on to different universities, is his one last chance. He’d thought it might be easy, pushing them together–
But here he is, sitting outside, watching as they don’t even look at each other. He’s actually considering trying to instigate stupid party games, such is his level of exasperation. Honestly.
“Captain?”
He twists. Backlit by the party behind him, Futakuchi steps out onto the deck with him, drink in hand, and sits down next to Kaname.
Kaname is running on the fumes of confusion and frustration.
“How come you’re not with Kamasaki?” he asks. Normally, he prefers to be subtle, despite it not being generally known as a cupid’s art. Now, he’s at his wit’s end. Why didn’t it work?
“Because… I’m here with you?” Futakuchi offers, sounding just as confused as Kaname. “I could ask how come you’re not with Kamasaki,” he replies; when Kaname twists to look at him, Futakuchi seems a little nervous.
“You’re meant to be with him.” That’s how it goes. Unless it interferes in some way, the bullet of a cupid is infallible…
Futakuchi laughs, a pitch too high to be normal. “Am I?” Kaname nods morosely. “Like… romantically, or just, physically next to him?” Kaname huffs.
“It’s not a magnet,” he murmurs under his breath, and when Futakuchi makes a questioning noise, he huffs again. “You’d work together,” he asserts, winding his hands together. Or at least they’d meant to.
Futakuchi runs a hand through his hair, the motion attracting Kaname’s gaze; only then does he notice the shading of heat on Futakuchi’s cheeks, his emotions in flux.
“We wouldn’t, believe me,” Futakuchi states, uneasy. Kaname pouts. He has honest-to-goodness proof they would, or were meant to. The window might have passed, now. Maybe there’s still time–
“I mean, I kinda came out here to say that I’m more interested in you, actually.”
Huh?
Kaname blinks at him owlishly; Futakuchi catches his gaze, and laughs at what he finds there.
“Did you never actually consider that? I… made it pretty obvious, I thought,” Futakuchi mumbles. Kaname is calculating, changing the equations in his mind– all the times that Futakuchi went towards him instead, despite him pushing him towards Kamasaki, all the times–
He’d not put himself into the equation, at all. So focused on being an outside observer, he’d just–
Futakuchi shifts, making to stand.
“I only said it ‘cause I don’t want any regrets after you leave,” he says, but his tone is heavy, and his emotions. All because Kaname hadn’t considered himself in this.
His hand whips out to clamp around Futakuchi’s wrist; Futakuchi stares at him wide-eyed. Kaname doesn’t know if the cupid is allowed this, but maybe– maybe he can try.
Kaname smiles. He’ll give it a chance, being on this side of the scope.
