Chapter Text
Another small laugh escaped from Gakushuu as he adjusted his hold on the ice pack over the bandage on his face once more.
“Asano-“
“Did,” Gakushuu said, unintentionally cutting Ren off in his nearly manic enthused state, “did you see the look on his face?” He used his free hand to half-muffle the giggles that came after the question, covering up the wide grin on his face. “He looked like he finally malfunctioned!”
“No, I’m afraid I was too busy looking at you at the time, Asano.” Ren said, his tone somehow both dry and filled with an intense worry. “Are you sure you don’t have a concussion? You hit the wall pretty damn hard…”
Gakushuu rolled his eyes, grin not fading as he answered, “I’m fine. You were there when the nurse gave me the all clear, Ren.” He slowly adjusted the way he was sitting on the bed, body still a bit sore from smacking into all of those desks before hitting the wall.
The room was empty except for them, their classmates and even the nurse herself had cleared out after she finished bandaging him up, all of them wanting to give Gakushuu some privacy. The only one who had stayed behind was Ren, the other sitting beside him on the bed, clearly doing his best not to hover.
Perhaps Gakushuu would have been annoyed if it was anyone else who had stayed, but he supposed it was fine if it was just Ren.
He didn’t understand the look of concern on the other’s face though. After all, Gakushuu had finally won. Who cared if his body still hurt or if he could still feel his cheek throbbing? He won dammit.
“Asano…” Ren began, hesitant but with a determined glint to his eyes, “has he… done this before?”
“What, smack me into a few desks and a wall?”
“Asano.”
Gakushuu sighed. “No Ren, this is the first time he’s ever directly physically harmed me.”
“The fact that you had to get so specific is horrible.” Ren rubbed at his face, his expression tired in a way Gakushuu didn’t think he had ever seen from the other before. Gakushuu had nothing to say to that as he set the ice pack he had been holding aside. It wasn’t like he was wrong.
They sat in silence for a moment before Ren spoke up once more, his voice quieter, carefully gentle the way one would address a frightened cat, “So… how are you feeling? I mean really, not just whatever adrenaline rush you’re experiencing right now.”
Gakushuu pursed his lips. “Listen,” he began, tugging at his sleeve in barely repressed agitation, “I’m fine. I mean it.”
Ren opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Gakushuu speaking up again, tugging more harshly at his sleeve.
“I mean, after eleven goddamn years, I finally won! I should be happy, right!?”
Ren’s mouth clicked shut.
Gakushuu got up from the bed and began to pace around the room, “He finally lost! And his teaching methods got proven wrong right in front of him! It should…” he ran a hand through his hair, staring at nothing. “It should be enough. So… so why isn’t it?”
Silently getting up, Ren walked over to the door and locked it, making sure the other would have privacy.
“He’s been so fucking awful since Ikeda died.” Gakushuu said, face flushing a bit from anger as he continued to pace. “He’s done nothing but berate and taunt me for every single minor misstep I’ve made for years. He’s pushed me past all reasonable limits and never allowed me to stop or take breaks, even when it was actively harming me.”
Gakushuu slowed to a stop, a snarl slashed across his face as he grit his teeth. He slammed the side of his fist onto the wall beside him, venting as much frustration into a single hit as he could.
“I… I’m so-” he clenched his fists and took a step back to let his back hit the wall. “I’m so…” he slowly slid down the wall, coming to a stop as he sat on the floor, dropping his face into his hands as the tension drained out of his shoulders. “I’m so tired.”
Ren exhaled quietly and moved to sit down in front of him on the floor, now that he could see that the other had gotten most of his anger out.
“He’s treated me like a disappointment for so long now, and nothing I’ve ever done has been good enough for him.” Gakushuu ran a hand through his hair, tugging harshly at the roots in his agitation. “No matter what award I win or how high I keep my grades, it’s not enough.”
Reaching forward slowly, Ren grasped his friend’s hand and freed it from his hair. “Careful,” he said, gently holding the hand between his, “you shouldn’t hurt yourself like that.”
Heat crept onto Gakushuu’s face at the treatment. “Whatever.” he muttered, pulling his hand out of the other’s grasp.
Ren sighed and leaned back on his hands, lifting his gaze up to the ceiling. “Do you want to hear a secret?”
Gakushuu blinked. “A secret?” he asked. What could he possibly…?
“I hate your dad.” Ren said, still not looking at him. “Like genuinely hate.”
“Oh,” Gakushuu said. “Well I guess that makes sense after watching him hit-“ he was cut off however, by the shake of the head from Ren.
“No,” he said, “I mean that I’ve hated him for nearly as long as I’ve known you.”
“What?” Gakushuu asked, stunned. He knew that the other was aware that the principal could be a bit much sometimes, but he thought that Ren had bought into the principal being wonderful like every other student in the main campus. “You did?”
Ren nodded. “Yeah, I never said anything cause I knew you would probably consider that line of thought dangerous for the good of the student council, so I kept it to myself.” He frowned before shaking his head. “He lost a student to bullying and then turned into the worst sort of bully himself.” Tilting his head down, he finally looked his friend in the eye. “I hate bullies, honestly. They’re the worst.”
Gakushuu’s lips twisted at that before looking away, unable to hold the other’s gaze. Neither of them spoke for a few moments, the heaviness of the atmosphere weighing them down.
“I want to hate him.” Gakushuu said, clenching his fists on his lap. “He’s been an awful parent, and he shouldn’t even be allowed to have kids. I don’t even feel safe at home!” He shook his head, frustrated. “I should get to hate him after all of this! He’s put me through hell for years! So…” he blinked back the beginning of tears stubbornly. “So why can’t I hate him?”
Ren sighed quietly. “I can understand the feeling.” he said, looking exhausted suddenly.
Gakushuu tilted his head at that, confused. “You can…?”
For a few moments Ren said nothing, only studied Gakushuu’s face as he appeared to think something over. “I think,” he began, finally seeming to come to some sort of internal conclusion, “that I have something of a story to tell you.”
“A story?” Gakushuu questioned.
Ren nodded, a wry sort of look on his face. “The story technically starts about fourteen years ago, but,” he smiled gently at Gakushuu, something unbearably warm in his eyes, “it doesn’t truly start until about seven years in.”
Gakushuu got the feeling that he was missing something important.
And likely had been for quite a while.
“Alright.” Gakushuu said, not fully knowing what he was agreeing to, but feeling like he’d agree to anything the other requested if he would continue looking at him like that. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind listening.”
Ren huffed a small laugh and started to get up, moving into a crouching position. “How about we go somewhere else then? It’s a pretty long story and I don’t particularly feel like telling it on the floor of the nurse’s office. I’m pretty sure they never actually sweep in here.” He aimed a crooked grin at his friend, looking for all the world like there wasn’t a single issue going on that could hope to weigh him down.
“School isn’t over though…” Gakushuu protested, more out of habit than any sort of desire to stay.
With a shrug, Ren said, “I’m pretty sure class is canceled for the rest of the day after what happened. Besides, there’s quite a few hours left before the end of the day. We can go to a cafe to chat and still be back right before the end.”
“That sounds… acceptable.” Gakushuu could use the break, really. It’d be nice to get away for a while.
Ren stood up fully at that with a bright grin shining on his face before leaning forward a bit to offer his hand to his slightly wide eyed friend still sitting on the ground. “Let’s go then, I feel like we have a lot to talk about.”
And Gakushuu…
What was this overwhelming feeling of nostalgia he was experiencing?
Why did this feel so familiar…?
“Are you ready to go, Gakushuu?”
Looking up to meet his eyes in surprise at hearing his name come out of the other’s mouth after so long of not hearing it, Gakushuu felt something pull within him. “You know,” he said, mouth moving almost without his permission, “you can call me Shuu again.” At Ren’s shocked expression, he added hastily, “Only if you want to, I mean. I just…” He shook his head more forcefully, steeling himself against his sudden strange bout of shyness. “It’s foolish to get rid of something you enjoy just because it might be deemed ‘childish’. So, if you still want to…” he trailed off again, glancing to the side as he felt heat creep into his cheeks.
“Thanks, Shuu.” Ren said, his voice somehow cradling the word as though it was some valuable and beloved treasure. “It means... more than you’d think.”
Looking up at his friend’s soft smile, Gakushuu could only offer his own in return. “I think maybe I’d like to learn.”
And with that, Gakushuu reached up and took his hand.