3rd Person POV

Fukunaga wanted to say being deaf was hard, because it really was. But honestly, his skills in legilimency definitely made up for the fact.

He could easily go into people's minds and read their memories, finding out the truth about anything he's told or knows about. Interrogations and secrets are literally impossible to keep for him.

Well, it could be used this way. But he just uses it to hear people's thoughts so he can communicate better.

The majority of his friends knew sign, which he was incredibly thankful for, but sometimes they'll speak telepathically to him if they can't use their hands, they just don't want to, or if it's a simple yes-or-no question. Also... Fukunaga isn't the proudest of it, but he does use the ability to cheat sometimes.. only when he's really in a rut though.

With all of this, you'd probably think: "woah, I'd never want to encounter this guy. Him knowing my every thought and secret is scary."

Maybe, but not if he actively avoids you.

He's timid, but self-conscious. If he likes someone and wants to be their friend, he'll normally avoid them because he's scared to hear their thoughts on him.

Imagine how much that fear is amplified when it's a crush.

All of his friends know a boy named Taketora Yamamoto, while at this point he could be considered at least an aquaintence, Fukunaga avoids him at literally every cost. All the stories he's heard from his friends, the jokes and laughs he's overheard on days where he's had the courage to put his hearing aids on full volume... it's all left such a charming impression on Fukunaga, that despite never speaking to Taketora, he's developed an ever-growing crush on him.

They've been introduced, and immediately after Fukunaga left with his heart racing. Thankfully out of the range his legilimency can hear in.

One of these days he'll need to overcome his fear, and realize just what he means to Taketora.

-----------------------------------------------------

Fukunaga's POV

"Is your arm any better? I know that hit you took from the skrewt was pretty gnarly." His friend Futakuchi asked telepathically with genuine worry. His friend Aone sat next to him, nodding with a worried stare on his face.

Fukunaga nodded, but held his thumb and pointer finger just barely apart to signify that it still stung a little bit.

"Ah damn, want some help?" Fukunaga had no chance really but to nod. The burn on his arm stung like hell. After seeing his nod, Futakuchi unsheathed his wand and very gently took hold of Fukunaga's arm, careful to not touch the singed area on top and pulling back the completely burned through fabric of Fukunaga's robe and shirt. Focused very intently on the wound, he set the tip of his wand against it and, at that moment, it was then that Fukunaga noticed a certain someone in the bed across from him.

There he was, Taketora Yamamoto in all his glory. Arm elevated and thrown to the side of the bed, looking swollen and worringly purple. The rest of his body language spoke volumes. Idle hand laid across his chest and finger tapping impatiently, right leg bouncing up and down on the mattress while the other was carelessly thrown off the side of his bed. Fukunaga couldn't make out his face entirely clearly, but he could tell there was obvious irritation and slight pain.

Soon enough, Taketora's golden eyes drifted to look at Fukunaga's own wide, black ones. His head snapped back to look towards Futakuchi and his eyes teemed with urgency."

"(speak)." He basically whispered, not able to sign it while Futakuchi worked on his arm. The brown haired boy just looked up at him with eyes slightly slanted and judging, already knowing Fukunaga's reasoning since this isn't the first time he had to get him out of this situation.

"(please, quickly.)"

Futakuchi wasn't an asshole.

"You should really start talking to him ya know. You're a little eccentric, so what? If he can't deal with that then fuck 'em."

Fukunaga's eyes went slanted for a second, but then opened once more in what was almost a plea.

Again, Futakuchi wasn't an asshole.

"Right, sorry. I know you really like him and all, but I'm being serious. So what if he thinks you're just a little weird? What if he thinks weird's cute? All I'm saying is give the dude a chance to even get close." While Futakuchi spoke, he could also hear Taketora's voice to the side of his head. He couldn't make out what he was saying, thankfully, but it lit a spark of paranoia in him.

"I also think it wouldn't be fair to Yamamoto if you kept ignoring him. What if he wants to talk? I'm sure he sees you around a lot since you have the same friend group." Fukunaga can only shake his head. Why would he want to talk to him? Fukunaga was definitely quiet, silent, even. He'd have no reason to be interested. His friends never told Taketora about his legilimency either, so that wouldn't be a conversation starter.

Fukunaga has his doubts, and for good reason.

He just isn't interesting.

"Oi, I can tell you're doing that self deprecating shit again. You got it all over your face. You're a great guy. Real sincere, sweet, funny and considerate even if you're quiet. Don't let one guy get you down." After casting a final aguamenti on Fukunaga's arm to calm the stinging feeling, Futakuchi puts his hand in his hair and pats him gently, an annoyed look plastered onto his face although both Aone and Fukunaga could tell it was just because he was worried. He cares too much sometimes, so seeing any one of his friends feel bad over themselves immediately makes him feel like he has to take charge of the situation. Fukunaga just puts his hand gently on top of Futakuchi's, a cat-like smile on his face.

Yeah, Futakuchi wasn't an asshole.

---

About thirty minutes later, long after Futakuchi and Aone had to leave his side to finish class, Fukunaga was allowed to leave after the nurse made him drink this fowl tasting medicine to heal his wound and rubbed a balm on his arm to heal the scarring that would come even after the wound would heal.

Before he stepped out of the doors of the infirmary, he heard an all too familiar rough voice at the back of his head.

"He's leaving."

Before he could hear any more, he left as fast as he could, power walking past the entrance of the infirmary until he was sure Taketora was out of range.

"Fukunaga! The hell are you doing?!" Futakuchi's voice was heard slightly in the distance. His savior.

"You know you shouldn't be walking around by yourself!" Futakuchi continues to scold him, striding up to him and holding out his hand. Without second thought, he takes it. It's become a thing at this point, Fukunaga would walk around and hold hands with his friends whenever his hearing aids were turned off so no one would accidentally bump into him without him realizing. You'd be surprised at how a loss of hearing can affect walking in the halls.

Intertwining their fingers, Fukunaga spoke up in his meek voice once again.

"(I could've just turned on my hearing aids.)"

"Yeah but I don't want your ears to start hurting. Even if your hearing aids has an adjustable volume, you and I both know how sensitive your ears are to sound even at the lowest setting." He was stern, and Fukunaga couldn't fight him. He was right, after all. And whenever someone does something that stresses out Futakuchi, he'll never leave them alone or shut up about it. He's a huge paranoid, and Fukunaga appreciates the care, but it can get out of hand sometimes.

Now that he thinks about it, that's probably why most of his closest friends are Hufflepuffs. They're notorious for being more honest with themselves and others among the houses, and Futakuchi hates liars. He chuckled quietly at the absurdity of it all. The biggest secret-keeper he knew hated dishonesty.

What a mom.

"Are you laughing at me? I go through all this trouble, basically being your butler, and this is how you repay me." The sarcasm in his voice is suffocating.

"(drama queen.)"

"No, no it's fine. I'm not hurt. *sniffle*"

...Fukunaga slid his out of the former's for a quick moment to sign something.

"Did you seriously just say asterisks sniffle asterisks?"

"Yessir. Indeed I did."

With a huff, Fukunaga intertwines their hands once more.

He hates it here.

-----------------------------------------------------

Taketora's POV

Taketora is STORMING through the corridors of Hogwarts, trampling down stairs from the Gryffindor tower into the hallways to reach Ravenclaw tower, he almost didn't care whenever he bumped into people in the hallway. He just felt so... overwhelmed.

Racing up the moving stairs to Ravenclaw tower, Taketora only felt his emotions fizz more and more, like a bottle of soda about to blow it's cap off, he worked tirelessly to reach the door to the tower, and the spiral staircase up the floors has never felt longer before.

"What is always in front of you but can nev-"

"THE FUTURE NOW OPEN THE DAMN DOOR."

"Damn someone has an attitude today." The bitchass eagle-shaped knocker says and the door slowly opens. Before it's even fully open, Tora slides through it's crack, muttering something about a "riddle me this headass bitch."

While Tora walked through the Ravenclaw common room, back hunched and face obviously pissed off, he didn't respond to Tsukishima's taunts like he normally would, he didn't take Kai's and Teshiro's offer to have some chocolates, he didn't even internally freak out while walking past Kiyoko's general vicinity.

All that matters was getting to Kenma's room.

And slamming the door open, he did so.

"HE HAS A FUCKING BOYFRIEND."

"Eh?"

Immediately, everyone's eyes in the room were on Yamamoto. They were used to it at this point, so they either said a quick "Hey Tora" or grunted semi-welcomingly.

Tora just waved in response, not sparing any of them a second glance before he walked in and planted his face at the foot of Kenma's bed.

"What are you talking about this time, Yamamoto?" Kenma asks boredly, not bothering to look up from his magic-proof switch.

"Fukunaga has a boyfriendddd...."

"Wait- Fukunaga? That cute Hufflepuff 6th year you've been going on and on about since you first saw him?" Terushima teases him from his bed which was right next to Kenma's, laying on his stomach with his head propped up in one hand, feet swaying in the air.

"YES that Fukunaga. I lost my chance so quickly and I've never even spoken to the guy.."

"Wait- you've never spoken to him? Then how the hell do you like him?" Previously uninterested Shirabu says while shooting him a scrutinizing gaze.

"Have you seen him??"

"Yeah he looks plain."

Taketora had never heard such bullshit before.

"HE IS NOT PLAIN!! He's got these huge, expressive eyes that shine like stars and an adorable little cat mouth like always looks like it's smiling and his skin is so smooth and clear you just wanna kiss it and his hair is so fluffy and he's so talented in every class we have together I swear he should be in Ravenclaw and he's SO goddamn funny he's never told me a joke personally but I've heard him say jokes to his friends and they ALWAYS end up rolling on the floor laughing with tears in their eyes and his voice is so small but smooth and cute and he cares so much about his friends and his nails are so well manicured-"

"Damn you are in deep if you start looking at his nails." Yahaba stares at Tora, slightly worried.

"Yeah I just woke up and I'm already fucking disgusted by the energy we've created in this studio today, goodnight."

"Goodnight Kunimi."

"ANYWAYS- I'm smad."

"Smad?"

"SAD AND MAD!"

"Alright, calm down." Kenma finally puts down his switch to just stare at Tora, cat eyes as piericing as ever.

"How do you know he's dating someone?"

"He was holding hands with that SNAKE from Slytherin."

"Daishou?"

"No. Uhhh I don't know his name but like... if Daishou had light brown hair and wider eyes?"

"Ohhh, Futakuchi."

"Gross, Futakuchi."

There was a silence that dawned on the room for a mere few seconds, and the entire time, Taketora could feel Shirabu's dumbfounded gaze engrave into the side of his head.

"Yamamoto... I've held hands with Fukunaga, Terushima's held hands with Fukunaga. ALL OF FUKUNAGA'S FRIENDS HAVE HELD HANDS WITH FUKUNAGA."

"Wh- W-"

"Bro..he's deaf, it's easiest if he holds onto someone while walking through the halls."

"I mean...I guess you got a point Teru.."

"So you just barged into our room for nothing?"

"..yuh."

"Shirabu leave him alone. It was just a misunderstanding." Kenma finally speaks up, switch now fully off to the side while he sits straight up and looks straight down at Taketora.

"So, Yamamoto, you still have your chance."

"But he doesn't even like me! He hates me!" There was a genuine sadness in Tora's voice, although it could easily be mistaken for whining. But, Kenma thankfully caught on.

"Okay, how the hell did you come to that conclusion?"

"Whenever I'm even near him he immediately goes the opposite direction! I can't get five feet near him before he's running off looking scared for his life! I just... wanna know what I did wrong... because I'd never hurt him on purpose. But he doesn't know that because we've never had a single conversation!"

The silence falls back over the room, blanketing the space in uncomfort. But it's much different this time. The silence isn't thin and able to be easily broken with some sort of joke, no, it's thick and tense and serious. You can feel the nerves of everyone in the room.

Only until Kenma speaks up.

"...Terushima, can you send an owl to Futakuchi?"

"Uh- sure. Which dorm is he in?"

"Probably Hufflepuff. He stays with Aone and Fukunaga until dinner and then he goes back to his own dorm."

"Gotcha." He says and the silence is cut through with the sound of constant pen sratches against rough paper.

"So uh.. what do I ask?"

"Ask what Fukunaga thinks of Tora."

"WAIT- YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT. THAT'S PRIVATE INFO!"

"Well, we'll know if it's private or not depending on what he says in his answer." Kenma says without a care in the world.

..goddammit.

---

Fukunaga's POV

"So... you know Terushima right?" Fukunaga can surprisingly hear Futakuchi's voice from clear across the hall, and looking up, he can see that he's staring at him too. Fukunaga just nods from Hufflepuff table, resting his head in his hand and continue to look at Futakuchi.

"Well... he sent me an owl today asking about how you felt towards Tora." Fukunaga was so surprised he visibly jumped up in his seat, scaring his friends around him. He signed "Futakuchi" and pointed over to where he was. They all dropped it pretty quickly with a nod.

"Should I tell him? I know if I tell him he's either gonna tell Tora directly or have one of his closer friends tell him."

He was about to answer an immediate NO but before he could, Futakuchi began to speak once more.

"Before you answer, I know for a fact he likes you back. Terushima's told me all about the talks he has with the people in his dorm. He's got it baad for you, bro."

Again, Fukunaga's stunned. But not in a shocking, jump-out-of-your-seat way. In that silent and still way where you need to take a minute to just collect yourself and process what you just heard. It sounded almost too good to be true. He avoids Taketora all this time, and yet he still likes him? If he wasn't talking to Futakuchi, he'd think this was all a prank. But, with a shaky, almost unnoticeable nod, Fukunaga says yes, and watches in utter nervousness as Futakuchi goes immediately to writing, eventually strapping the letter with tarnished string to the leg of Akaashi's owl (which flew out from under the table and almost scared Oikawa out of his seat).

He hopes this ends well for him.

And it does.

-----------------------------------------------------

3rd Person POV

Today feels different. The air feels more clear, light and safe.  It couldn't have felt better for Taketora or Fukunaga.

The feeling of knowing your crush likes you back is exciting, envigorating. It can even give you a reason to get up in the morning. It's safe to say that because of knowing their feelings were mutual, this is the best either boy would feel in a long time.

But they're still fucking cowards who don't know how to confront each other.

So, it was up to their friends to get the two hopeless idiots together.

-----------------------------------------------------

Futakuchi's POV

"ALRIGHT! Have you guys set up the letters?" Futakuchi screams in the 6th year Ravenclaw dorms, all of it's inhabitants here plus Aone, Kuroo, Yaku, Kai, Shibayama, Lev and Inuoka. He was appointed leader by none other than Kenma.

"Yessir we have! Aone put one in front of Fukunaga's bed and Inuoka put one on Taketora's nightstand!" Terushima yells excitedly, standing up on his bed and hitting his head on the canopy, making Kuroo ugly laugh.

"GOOD WORK, MEN! What about the treats and candies at both of their tables at Breakfast?"

"(Oooh.. owie..) Yessir yessir! Yaku placed the sweets at Fukunaga's spot and Kai set up the ones at Taketora's!" Terushima yells again, kneeling on his bed instead of standing this time.

"Perfect... and do we all have our disguises?" With that, Futakuchi tore off his robe to reveal a dark teal hoodie and put on a pair of white shades. Soon enough, everyone was in their own disguise, even Kunimi, who had fallen asleep in his disguise hoodie and had his shades put on by Yahaba.

"Wait why is Kunimi in here if he's a 5th year?"

"Issues with dorm placement that was never changed."

"I see."

"ANYWAYS- LET'S GO LESBIANS WOOOOOO!!!"

"Wooooo."

"LOVING the enthusiasm!"

-----------------------------------------------------

Fukunaga's POV

Fukunaga made his way up to the astronomy tower after dinner, soon arriving and climbing the spiral staircase to the top, anxiety creating a bigger and heavier hole in his stomach the more steps he took to the top. Once he finally reached it up there, the sight of Taketora's silhouette being illuminated by the stars in the sky was enough to take his breath away and make his face flush completely.

"(h-hey)" He said, lucky enough to be heard in the silent room. Taketora whipped his head around and shot the brightest, toothiest smile Fukunaga had ever seen.

Taketora opened his mouth slightly, about to say something, but quickly shut it with a look of realization upon his face. He settled for smiling and waving.

"Hey! You wanted to meet up here?"

The visible confusion on Fukunaga's face surprised Taketora.

"(...I thought you wanted to..? I got your letter.)"

"What? But I got a letter from you!"

"(how did-? Ohh, nevermind.)"

"What?"

"(nothing... you'll figure it out soon... anyways... I wanna tell you something..)"

"Yeah, me too."

"(yeah... I-)"

"Ilikeyousomuch."

"(huh?)"

"Sorry! It's just... I thought you were cute ever since I first saw you... and I've wanted to talk to you so many times now, but I never had the chance to since you always ran away!"

"(oh..yeah... I'm sorry.)"

"It's ok! I'd probably do the same thing if I were a legilimens... but uh.. now that the air is clear between us.. u-uhm... do.. would you..."

"(yes.)"

"Wh- you don't even know what I was gonna say!"

"I have a hunch." Fukunaga smiled, stepping close to Taketora. The former lifted his shaking arms, unaware of what would happen next and confused on what to do. With a light chuckle, Fukunaga grabs him gently and pulls him in for a hug. He can practically feel the tension release from Tora's body as he slightly falls into the taller boy and limply hangs his arms around him. Thank god he didn't kiss him, if he did, Taketora would've died then and there.

"(you're cute.)"

"Hnhsnsanajankssnsybwoabsi"

"YEAHHHHH WOOOOOOO!!!!!" Lev's voice screamed from under them, startling Fukunaga into jumping up and looking down beneath the grate they stood on.

"Uh oh." He heard his voice again.

"Alright, who the fuck started thinking?"

"Do you know how hard it was to keep a blank mind and not disassociate?"

"I'm tired."

"Kunimi you're always fucking tired."

"...Kenma do your sunglasses have a mustache on a chain connected to it?"

There was a flurry of thoughts that started all at once, normally it'd overwhelm Fukunaga, but now he was too blissful to really care.

Well, at least they're happy for them.

-----------------------------------------------------
(A/N: Stan Kunimi for clear skin)