Work Text:
Haruka Isumi was the new kid in school.
He was already a familiar face to Iori Izumi and Tamaki Yotsuba. They had already knew this boy. Although the couple of times they had seen Haruka, they were in less than ideal situations.
They hadn’t spoken with the new student yet, both in the classroom or the workplace. Haruka had a permanent pout on his face and glaring eye that made him hard to approach.
Haruka had been in their class for a month already.
Iori spent that month observing his fellow idol. For the most part, Haruka was always alone. It wasn’t that their classmates hadn’t tried approaching their new peer, but Haruka’s blunt and semi hostile personality generally scared others away.
It wasn’t that Iori felt bad for Haruka, but he found it difficult to watch the younger boy being so… alone.
After pondering the idea, and with some input from Mitsuki, Iori decided he would invite Haruka to eat lunch with them.
***
Autumn weather had arrived. Bright oranges and warm yellows filled the trees along the path to school. The air was cool and crisp against their skin.
“Yotsuba-san” Iori began to speak, breaking the otherwise quiet atmosphere “We should invite Isumi-san to eat lunch with us today.”
“Mmm.” Tamaki mumbled.
Early mornings weren’t the best time to hold a conversation with Tamaki. He was notoriously late waking up for school, and wasn’t fully awake until at least their third class.
If it weren’t for Iori and Sougo forcing Tamaki out of bed in the morning, Tamaki would never make it on time for school.
“Did you hear me, Yotsuba-san?” Iori questioned, turning his head to look at Tamaki.
His shoulders were slumped forward, eyes half lidded, all while nibbling on a piece of toast that Sougo forced into Tamaki’s hand as they were ushered out the door.
Iori sighed.
“Isumi-san is always eating alone. I think as fellow idols, we should try and get along with him.”
“Mmm.” Tamaki mumbled again.
Iori wasn’t sure if Tamaki had heard even half of what he said. As the school building came into view, Iori dropped the subject for the time being, determined to bring it up later when Tamaki was more willing to engage in conversation.
***
Lunch time came rolling around after a long day of listening to teachers lecturing about various subjects. Being the ever diligent student, Iori paid close attention, jotting down notes that he knew he’d have to copy for Tamaki later.
On a normal day, Tamaki would turn around in his seat, place an overly large bag of snack on Iori’s desk along with his bento, and start bothering Iori about something meaningless.
Today was not an ordinary day.
Instead Tamaki pushed back from his seat, waltzed over to the desk nearest to the door and stopped.
The noise in the room was minimal. Everyone’s eyes watched Tamaki intently.
In the desk, staring up at Tamaki was Haruka. Rather than staring, he was openly glaring at Tamaki than anything.
“What do you want?” Haruka asked sharply.
“Come eat lunch with me and Iorin.” Tamaki stated.
Haruka’s face scrunched up and a mix of bewilderment and annoyance.
“Huh? Why should I do that?” Haruka snapped back.
Tamaki clicked his tongue before grabbing Haruka’s bento and walking back towards his seat.
“It’s fine, right? Come on Isumin.”
Haruka sputtered, his face flushing a deep hue.
“Who are you calling Isumin?” Haruka yelled much to loud in the quiet classroom.
Grumbling. Haruka pushed back out of his seat and stomped over to Iori’s desk, where his bento had been placed.
Iori watched the whole confrontation unfold. He could see the annoyance radiating off of Haruka. However, there was less bite to his words than he had had in the past.
As he saw Tamaki take Haruka’s lunch and walk back towards him, Iori pulled out his own lunch, silently shaking his head.
He hadn’t expected Tamaki to act on his own. He didn’t even think Tamaki had heard him that morning.
Yet now he had an unfamiliar lunch sitting beside his own.
“Give me back my lunch.” Haruka grumbled trying to take his lunch off of Iori’s desk, but Tamaki held it firmly in place.
“Just eat with us. Right, Iorin, Isumin should eat lunch with us right?”
Haruka turned his glare towards Iori.
Iori sighed. It had been his idea to invite Haruka to eat with them, but he didn’t want to force him either.
“He can if he wants.” Iori replied.
During the exchange, Iori opened one of the two bentos he had brought with him. The first was his own lunch, a mix of rice, vegetables and chicken, all made skillfully by his brother. The second, however, was filled with an assortment of cookies.
Not long after Tamaki and Iori began going to school together, Mitsuki would always make them a box of pastries to share.
Today was no exception.
The cookies were shaped into cute pandas, their eyes and mouths expertly applied with melted chocolate.
“Whoa, Mikki outdid himself today!” Tamaki exclaimed, his attention taken over by the box of cookies.
“Mikki?”
Iori’s attention was brought back to the other boy beside his desk. Haruka’s expression had softened from his hard glare.
“Mitsuki, my brother, he makes Tamaki and I treats to go with our lunches.” Iori replied.
Haruka hummed in response, no longer making any move to leave.
“You can have some if you’d like.” Iori offered.
“You sure?” Haruka asked, his expression brightening ever so slightly.
Iori nodded his head, pushing the box towards Haruka.
Taking a panda shaped cookie, Haruka bite into the treat, his face lighting up more than either Tamaki or Iori had ever seen.
“These are good!” Haruka exclaimed.
Iori chuckled lightly.
“If you have lunch with us, you can have more.”
Haruka looked at Iori, his expression hesitant.
“It sounds like a bribe… but fine.”
Haruka pulled a chair up to Iori’s desk, pulling another cookie out of the snack box.
Hiding a grin behind his bento, Iori was happy that he had decided to invite Haruka to lunch.
