Work Text:
“… I don’t get it, Mika. What happened to our date?”
Standing before Yuuichirou was a little study booth, furnished with two cushy chairs and a table for two. A printed assignment he recognized as his own rested on the table, while Mikaela’s lay in a hole-punched, tab segregated binder. The highlighters, colored pens, and sticky placeholders were curtesy of his dorm.
He had hoped the Global AGORA study area was just a shortcut, but his dreams were crushed under the unforgiving weight of academia.
“This is our date. We’re studying together.”
“On my birthday!? You’re not respecting what we have!”
“Your birthday was yesterday.”
During which, they had skipped class, fooled around all day, and ate his favorite dishes until their stomachs burst.
Yuuichirou’s shoulders slumped. “But I wanted to see the leaves at Mount —”
At this, Mikaela held up a written exam, crumpled to the point of illegible. On top lay Yuuichirou’s name, a 48 in pen, and a large E in red.
“Where did you find that…?”
“Next time, don’t throw your tests under my bed while we make out. I clean, you know.”
Yuuichirou snatched his work. “Guren’s just mad I’m the best kendoist in my class! Who needs ‘Principles of Kendo’ anyway!? As long as I know how to fight, none of this matters!”
“You need it. And your coach will agree,” Mikaela replied, installing himself into one of the seats.
Obliging his affectionate pat on the neighboring seat, Yuuichirou slid into the booth. He grimaced when Mikaela pushed his assignment before him.
“I’ll be right here as you read,” Mikaela said with a self-satisfied smile, finding the page he last bookmarked.
Like a child staring at an unwanted meal, he picked at his cracker-thin packet. The work Mikaela put into printing and binding it was appreciated, admired even, but reading “A Critical Interpersonal Distance Switches between Two Coordination Modes in Kendo Matches” sounded painfully dull.
What work needed six authors?
“Mi~ka!”
“Hm?”
His reply was patient and sweet, for he expected his name not even a minute after they started.
“I can’t focus! See?” Yuuichirou flipped through the pages. “There’s only nine, but look how much text they crammed in here! And what’s with all this math!?”
With a loving sigh, Mikaela highlighted the title, the abstract, and the first paragraphs of the discussion section.
“Start with these, Yuu-chan. That’ll help you grasp what you’re reading before you attack the whole thing.”
“… Kay.”
Mikaela returned to his work, and in seconds, his expression softened into one focused and peaceful. At times, he’d knit his brow, or his finger would run across a sentence he mouthed to himself.
“… Pretty.” Yuuichirou mumbled.
At last, Mikaela noticed his staring, and with a small laugh he said, “Now what?”
“If I finish a page, will you reward me?”
Mikaela feigned deep thought and tapped his fingers on his chin. “Depends. You’re not asking me to treat you to Lawson café each time, are you?”
Yuuichirou shook his head. “For every page I finish, I want a kiss.”
He reveled in the newfound rosiness of Mikaela’s face.
“Yuu-chan…!” He gasped, voice low. “We’re in a study area…!”
“But I’m not feeling motivated! If I have a good luck kiss, I bet I’ll read three pages!”
“Okay, okay! Keep your voice down!
He dog-eared his page and, too embarrassed to look forward, motioned him with his hand.
“…Come here.”
Yuuichirou scooted forward so quickly their elbows bumped, and a kiss quick and clumsy graced his cheek.
“T-There. Now get to work!”
Mikaela hid his face in his assignment, and when he didn’t hear a single shuffle of paper from Yuuichirou, he lowered his text to find him in the exact same position.
“… What?”
“What’re you reading?” Yuuichirou asked, with no real interest but to hear his boyfriend’s voice.
Knowing this, Mikaela bookmarked his space with a small sigh and pushed it forward.
“Here.”
“Woah, you’ve read this much since we’ve started? You’re super good at… uh…”
Its title rivaled his own in wordiness and made his eyes cross: “The Discourse Function of the Japanese Dative Subject Construction in Written Text.”
“Discourse… functions.”
“Give it.”
He swiped their assignments back and finished whatever question he wrote at the corner. Something ‘dative’ related, he supposed.
“Mika?” He ignored the irritated groan his call evoked, for he was sure to get a worse response with his real question.
“Can I sit on your lap?”
Mikaela’s assignment hit the table with a firm slap. “Why!?”
“I focus better when I touch you!”
“What sense does that make!?”
It didn’t, so he offered his signature puppy-dog pout in exchange for explaining himself.
“… Bring your article with you.”
“I was! You didn’t have to tell me!” He sneered. Mattered little. With a hand around Mikaela and another holding his assignment, the pages weren’t spread enough for him to read the paragraphs in entirety. Overcome with boredom, he caught a glimpse of Mikaela’s many highlights: pink for quotes he loved, purple for crucial information, orange for arguments, yellow for examples of the former, and red for main ideas.
‘Wa,’ He read, ‘is often developed by a systematic sequence such as ga, wa in a paragraph. At the inter-sentential level, the systematic sequence aids in delineating a conceptual stage in which…’
His eyes glazed over.
If Mikaela could stand reading that, then his kendo work should be easy to handle.
“Can you read mine to me?”
He earned a drawn-out groan of his name.
“I just need a head start, is all!” He pleaded.
Mikaela laid it out on the table.
“One sentence, and then you’re on your own, okay?”
“Yessir!”
“… In many competitive sports, players need to quickly and continuously execute movements that co-adapt to various movements executed by their opponents and physical objects.”
“Mhm! Makes sense!” Yuuichirou chimed in, snuggling against Mikaela’s cheek.
“In a martial art such as kendo, players must be able to change the interpersonal distance in order to win skillfully. However…”
So close was Mikaela’s face that Yuuichirou stopped processing his words. They transformed into the soft lull of a soothing voice.
He rarely got to study his beauty up close because the former wouldn’t tolerate it.
No wonder he enjoyed his kisses when his lips looked that silky. His cheek outdid his pillows in comfort, his hair was angelic and feathery, smelled terrific, with a hint of—
“Yuu-chan! Get off!”
“Huh? Oh…”
With a nervous laugh, he slipped off his lap and drummed the table with his fingers.
“I can’t help it! Your lap is so warm and cozy, and then you smelled nice, and…”
His voice died down when not a trace of amusement appeared on Mikaela’s face.
“‘Touching me helps you focus,’ huh?”
“Ahaha…”
Mikaela reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone. On the screen was a timer for ten minutes.
“You’re going to read for this long and then get a break,” He said, finger hovering above the start circle. “Until then, don’t bother me unless you actually need help. Got it?”
“Does that include—”
“Real help. Not ‘I need to hold hands or I’ll die’ or something.”
Yuuichirou slumped in his seat.
What could he say? His boyfriend knew him.
“Fine…”
At last, Mikaela returned to his work, but a few pages in, he threw an occasional glance at Yuuichirou. He held the text so close the tip of his nose almost brushed the pages, which had the most adorable little twitch when he read intently. His lips protruded with the slightest pout, and Mikaela’s heart throbbed whenever he tilted his head.
“… Cute,” he mumbled.
“Something wrong, Mika?” He asked, ever-greedy for his attention and a potential distraction.
Mikaela shook his head and continued.
He used each break in paragraphs to steal another glance at Yuuichirou, who undoubtedly glazed over each word without internalizing anything, given how quickly his eyes scanned over each page.
Curious, he resisted the urge to tap his foot with his own and checked the timer.
Had only five minutes passed?
That couldn’t be right.
The more seconds passed, the more enticing his study partner became.
“It’s…” Mikaela shut off his screen. “Been a while. Did you need more…”
Yuuichirou raised his eyes. “Hm?”
“… Motivation? If you need some, I could—”
“Really!?”
Yuuichirou opened his arms for an embrace that, to Mikaela’s irritation, filled his heart with glee to receive.
They hid further into the booth, where Mikaela met Yuuichirou’s mouth with impassioned warmth. When he pried his lips open and graced his tongue, the resulting moan both giddied and mortified him.
He created a monster, an utterly spoiled monster, and he broke their kiss at once.
“… You’re studying with someone else from now on.”
“What’s that mean!?”
“It means I can’t focus with you! You’re impossible!”
Yuuichirou sulked to his chair, but to his surprise, Mikaela placed his kendo paper in his bag. Then his own. Then the remaining school supplies.
“So let’s… just go back to my place.”
“Yay!”
Leaving the study center arm in arm, Mikaela brainstormed a list of study partners that could bring up Yuuichirou’s grade.