Chapter Text
Elevator buttons and morning air.
College is often looked upon and revered as a place of learning and potential. Where the youth flocks to further educate themselves and realize their ambitions before breaking out into the 'real world'. Somewhere they experience love and heartbreak, learn and teach, and make unbreakable bonds.
For the students, on the other hand, it is a place they best associate with feeling sleep deprived regardless the time of day, and food being their only short-term motivation to get through their last lectures.
"Living on a prayer" has never been a more relatable lyric.
But this particular morning, (Y/n) (L/n) swears that the kids with her in the elevator look more corpse-like than they usually do. Perhaps it is that she is more observant with nothing to distract her, or that with each passing day, her fellow students at Tokyo University just manage to get one step closer to becoming actual zombies.
Strangers' silence makes me wanna take the stairs.
She shifts awkwardly, hefting the bag on her shoulder to give herself to do as one guy legitimately snores in his corner of the elevator. Honestly, the heavy and hazy silence makes her wish she'd just taken the stairs instead.
A sigh escapes her chapped lips, momentarily filling the void of silence that fills the seemingly never ending elevator ride before dissipating into nothingness and plunging them back into a soundless space. The girl behind her drops her head against the wall resulting in a metal clang that startles Snoring Boy awake.
If you were here, we'd laugh about their vacant stares. But right now, my time is their's.
It isn't just the depressing silence that is getting to the young architecture major. It's the lack of a certain bed-haired young man's presence beside her that has her wanting to join the Zombie Parade. If Tetsurou were there, he'd probably whisper some wise-crack about the living dead bodies surrounding them that would make it a challenge for her to breathe properly from laughter, but unfortunately, she's alone for the morning and as alive as the rest of them.
At long last, the elevator opens and she pushes past the sleepy bodies so she can be the first one out. With a burst of energy, she speeds down the hallway to where she knows the lecture hall for her first class is and breezes through the door, heaving a sigh of relief as she did so.
"(Y/n)-san!" one of her friends (acquaintances?) waves her over to where a small group of girls are clustered as they usually are.
Slowly, a little reluctantly, (Y/n) smiles and walks to join them, slipping into a seat clearly left for her. "Good morning," she greets politely, tugging at the sleeves of her sweater.
The girls greet her in scattered unison and the conversation commences once again, this time with a few inputs from (Y/n). It seemed that Runa (one of the girls among them) had recently gone through a breakup and was in the anger stage where she could probably easily be convinced to shave her ex's eyebrows off in his sleep even though it didn't seem like he'd done anything wrong.
(Of course, she keeps this opinion to herself. Runa might just shave off her eyebrows instead.)
"Say, (Y/n)-san," Miya says, turning the focus of the group onto the (h/c)-haired girl. "You're in a relationship, too right?"
A smile touches her lips as she nods her head in confirmation. "Yeah. We've been together since our second year of high school."
Seems like there's always someone who disapproves.
There were 'awws' and a few squeals around the group that have her idly wondering how their vocal chords haven't given out yet. "Oh, did he walk you here today?"
And of course they pick the on day he didn't do that to ask the freaking question.
"Uh, well, he usually does but he had early morning practice today so..." She rubs the back of her neck as she trails off.
"He's on the volleyball team, right?" Runa asks irritably. "So is Tooru. I swear, that jerk would rather date the sport than me. I'm glad I dumped his sorry ass. You should be careful, too, (Y/n)-san. These athletes are maniacs who don't pay attention to their girlfriends."
Cue the thoughtful murmurs and passionate remarks of agreement.
They'll judge it like they know about me and you. The verdict comes from those with nothing else to do.
Sighing, (Y/n) swallows her irritation and thanks whatever deity is up there for having the professor enter the room at that very moment. Turning around, she lets herself roll her eyes. Honestly, Runa and Tooru Oikawa's one month fling had nothing on the three-year-old relationship she had with Tetsu.
'Screw Runa,' she thinks to herself decisively. (Y/n) actually supports Tetsurou's pursuing volleyball and being so dedicated to the sport. Sure, she hates waking up so early to say goodbye when he has his early practices, but it's not he's making her exercise with him. He never complains, so why should she?
Love needs a little compromise sometimes. Girls like Runa ought to understand that.
At long last, the lecture finishes and they're dismissed. Avoiding the gang of girls, she hurries towards the door as fast as she can without looking like she was obviously trying to run away. That sense of speed only disappears when she's slipped through the doorway and come face-to-face with her favorite bedhead.
"Tetsu." She blinks. "What are you doing here?"
He grins at her in that same way that had him labelled as 'the scheming type' back in high school, but she's come to learn that it's just his face. "I didn't get to walk with you in the morning," he states.
"Yes, I'm aware" Her eyebrows rise. Behind her, she can feel the gang of girls slow down, their stares boring into her back and scrutinizing Tetsurou.
Evidently, he notices as well, looking at her almost quizzically. She wrinkles her nose to show that she's not particularly fond of them, and his lips quirk upwards in amusement.
"I missed you." He pouted, hamming it up for all he's worth to put on a show for their audience. "I wanted to see my beautiful girlfriend before my Organic Chemistry class. Is that such a crime?"
This time, it's her lips that twitch upwards in amusement as she playfully rolls her eyes, muttering "Dork" under her breath. Honestly, she thinks that if anyone's a doting boyfriend a girl can show off to her friends, it's Tetsurou. Pressing a quick kiss to his lips, she whispers a promise to meet him for lunch before they part ways once again to go to their respective classes.
As she passes Runa's clique, a smirk touches her lips as she feels grounded in the security she has with dating Tetsurou. Yes, he's a volleyball maniac a lot of the times, but he's also more than just that, and she loves every part of him knowing that he loves every part of her as well.
The jury's out, but my choice is you.