Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gakushuu was laying on his freshly washed bed mattress with his back against the wooden headboard, knees up to his chest with a book resting on his thighs when the door of his dormitory room suddenly flew open.

He was expecting his roommate to be a new varsity player that the school scouted from across the country, hopefully a 6-foot basketball player who would be too busy shooting hoops than stay inside their shared room so he could have the space all to himself.

What he was not expecting, however, was a familiar face sporting red hair and even more so a pair of mercury eyes looking at him in surprise. He felt his own jaw dropping from disbelief, looking at the boy up and down to make sure that he was really standing there and it wasn’t just an illusion.

Standing by the door frame was none other than Karma Akabane — the school’s number one delinquent, the face of hell, too smart for his own good, the one who beat him last year, his rival.

“Asano?”

“You must be kidding me,” Gakushuu groaned out. “Don’t tell me that we’re roommates.”

“We’re roommates,” Akabane tells him otherwise. “Thanks for the warm welcome, by the way. I feel so appreciated right now.”

Gakushuu scowls at him and shifts his gaze back to his book, trying his best to not look up from all the commotion Akabane was already making, destroying the peacefulness the room had been in just a few moments ago.

From his peripheral vision, he could see the other boy throw his backpack at the edge of his bed as he kneels in front of his suitcase to zip it open. He then proceeds to hastily organize (although throw in would be a more appropriate word choice) his clothes inside his closet.

“Are these bed sheets?”

He looked up to find Akabane holding white sheets in his hand, shaking it so that dust particles were spewing out everywhere.

See, now that was the reason he had decided to move in earlier. He knew that school provided bed sheets have never really been washed before so all the stains were still evident on them. Akabane let the bed sheets drape open so that he had a full view of the dirty white color, black pen marks were seen at one of the ends and a very suspicious yellow stain right in the middle made Gakushuu want to throw up.

“This is disgusting,” Akabane scrunched up his nose and shoved the sheets back in his closet to where he found them. “How come yours is all fresh and clean?”

“I brought my own and hand-washed it myself,” He answered in a monotone voice.

Akabane tsked, “As expected from the number one. Wait, or should I say number two?”

Gakushuu shot him a glare, “Let’s see if that would still apply this school year, Akabane.”

“Challenge accepted. For now, I think I’d have to steal your bed.”

Gakushuu should’ve expected it. He really should have. However, he only had a few seconds to react before Akabane threw himself beside him. His book toppled on the ground as he was pushed over to the very edge of his bed, about to fall down if he hadn’t gripped Akabane’s shirt to balance himself.

“What the hell are you doing?!” He screamed, fisting the neck of Akabane’s hoodie.

The red head continued to push him out. Gakushuu growled and laid his hands flat on the other’s chest as he struggled to push back, wondering where the hell did he get all his strength from anyway.

“Can I-” Akabane started and Gakushuu used that pause to abruptly shove his forehead with all the strength he could muster up.

He would’ve successfully pushed Akabane away if only the other boy didn’t pull Gakushuu down with him. Their bodies came clashing with the floor, Akabane getting most of the impact with Gakushuu landing right on top of him.

He huffs out in pain, his head hitting Akabane’s chest roughly.

“Please…” Akabane muttered from under him, “Can I sleep on your bed?”

He snaps his head up and glares at him, “Why didn’t you say that before jumping on me, you idiot!” He hisses out.

“Because I know you’d say no.”

Gakushuu continues to glare at the boy. His elbow was digging sharply on Akabane’s stomach which would probably leave a big bruise but that was the whole point

“No,” He says.

Akabane winces when Gakushuu just digs his elbow further, his other hand resting beside Akabane’s head to support the other half of his weight.

“Just let me have my damn sleep, Asano. Just this once!” Akabane exclaims, “I swear, I’d purposely answer 2 questions wrong in the midterms. Just let me-”

“Just 2 questions?”

Akabane closed his eyes and sighed exasperatedly, “Fine, 4 questions from the midterm.”

Gakushuu finally pushed himself off of Akabane and stood up. He studied the boy who was still laying on the floor, his hand gripping his stomach where he had just elbowed him.

All that time he spent cleaning the room was now wasted. There’s trash on the ground, human trash, probably the hardest kind of trash to throw because there was simply no category to put it in. The best option would probably be a disintegrator, or a shredder, or even a garbage dump in the middle of nowhere.

“Whatever, I was going to go out anyway,” Gakushuu says and kicks Akabane’s shin just for good measure. “If you’re still sleeping by night time, I will push you off and hopefully make you get a concussion.”

He grabbed his phone from his bedside table and left the room, slamming the door shut and cursing under his breath.

Out of all the people he could've been roomed up with, it just had to be Karma Akabane. The world hates him.

—

It had already been several hours since he left but when he entered the dorm room again, having gone out to get some lunch and bought some school supplies, he was greeted with Akabane still fast-asleep on his bed. It was now 6 in the afternoon and he had been sleeping for 5 hours, surely that was more than enough to take a good nap.

Yet here he is, Gakushuu’s blanket over him with his red hair peeking out.

He walked over to the side of the bed, kneeling down so he was face-to-face with the back of Akabane’s head. He punched the boy’s back and mentally sighed in relief when he stirred awake, thanking the gods that it was fairly easy to wake the demon up.

“Whadyou want?” Akabane grumbled out, his voice laced with drowsiness.

“For you to wake up.”

“Why?”

Gakushuu didn’t bother to answer his question. Instead, he shoved Akabane out again. A smirk tugged on his lips when he heard a loud thump! and a yelp in pain.

“Stop pushing me out of your bed, dammit,” Akabane huffs out, grabbing his lower back and sitting up from his position on the floor.

“Well, it's my bed and it’s technically night time already.”

“Yeah, what time is it?”

“6.”

Akabane gaped at him, “That’s not night time! Night time is 8 and onwards!”

Gakushuu just gives him a stern glare and stands up, “Then you’d have time left to buy yourself some bed sheets. By the way, we still haven’t set out rules so we can peacefully co-inhabit together.”

“Peace was never an option.”

“Shut up, Akabane. I’ll take it upon myself to personally request for your transfer form.”

“Are you threatening me? Sure, go ahead then. Use your creepy student council president power to get me a new roommate.”

Gakushuu scowls at him. “It’s not creepy. Plus, why the hell are you even dorming in the first place?”

Akabane shrugged, “Got bored in my house. I also got an academic scholarship so try as hard as you can, Asano, but you literally can’t get rid of me.”

“I wasn’t planning to get you expelled, idiot.”

“Aw, can’t afford to lose a capable student, are we? I wouldn’t be surprised if Asano Senior wanted you to act as principal to save ourselves from the current one.”

“Principal Kei is one of my father’s subordinates and is doing his job well, though I appreciate your backhanded compliment.”

Akabane finally gets up from the floor and makes an act of dusting himself off.

“Sure, Asano,” He says, sarcasm oozing out of his mouth. “It’s time for me to leave then. Don’t eat dinner.”

Gakushuu raised an eyebrow at that, “Why?”

“Because I’ll grace you with food as compensation for sleeping in your bed,” Akabane answers.

Gakushuu watched him put on some shoes before leaving the room.

It was now silent again, like the same silence it had been around 6 hours ago, though the remnants of Akabane’s socks surrounding his suitcase on the floor and the suddenly cold bed reminded Gakushuu of the hideous roommate he would be living with for the whole school year.

Was he seriously going to walk around in public with that ridiculous bed hair of his? He thought to himself. A chuckle escapes from his lips.

—

It was the next day already. Akabane came back around 8 last night with a bag full of Chinese take-out and two pieces of milk bread, as well as new bed sheets and a questionable floral blanket. Gakushuu was busying himself with his book before Akabane forced him to eat beef and broccoli from his take-out box, and he would be lying if he didn’t purposely stay awake just to see what Akabane had brought as dinner. Then they slept in their respectful beds, which was the first thing they did normally.

Gakushuu was now typing away in his laptop, still on his bed with his back against the headboard. Akabane had just woken up but he was already 3 episodes in watching this sci-fi show on his phone, the audio booming loudly from the bluetooth speakers that he brought with him yesterday.

“Earphones exist for a reason, Akabane. You’re being too loud,” Gakushuu said when a loud crash! came from the speakers followed by laser beams and shrieking.

“I don’t have earphones.”

“Then don’t use the speakers.”

“But the speakers were expensive! It’d be a waste to not use them.”

Gakushuu placed his laptop to his side and made his way over Akabane’s bed. Now it was his turn to invade his personal space, snatching his phone from Akabane’s loose grip and hiding it behind his back.

“We have to set the rules, remember?” He said when Akabane shot him a criticising look over his shoulder.

“Okay then. First, don’t steal my phone.”

Gakushuu rolls his eyes, “Second, don’t be so damn loud.”

“Third, stop using an alarm. Who the hell wakes up at 6 AM anyway?”

“You and I will once school actually starts.”

“You. Only you will.”

“Whatever. Fourth, if you think about eating dinner at 10 PM again, then stop. It’s not healthy.”

“Fine. I’m disappointed you didn’t eat the milk bread though, cause I obviously did not put wasabi in it,” Akabane snickered.

Gakushuu makes a disgruntled noise before continuing, “Fifth, don’t you dare put wasabi in my food. I hate spicy stuff.”

“It’s not wise to share your weaknesses to your opponent.”

Gakushuu just gives Akabane a stern look. The other boy had the audacity to tilt his head and bat his eyelashes at him.

“I’m going to go out,” He declared.

Akabane finally sits up on his bed, giving him an all too wide grin as he waves his hand around, “Bye-bye, second place!”

Gakushuu shuts the door with a sigh, feeling like this was his millionth time to leave the room because he simply didn’t want to spend more time with Akabane. Although in reality, it’s only been 2 days since he moved in. All hopes for a busy varsity player who’s probably gonna use the room to just sleep has now vanished because Gakushuu doesn’t have the room to himself. He had to share it with Akabane, with Karma.

He was going down the stairs of the dormitory building when he looked up at the sky. He squinted his eyes from the sun’s brightness, his hand covering his face as he started to feel the heat on his skin.

It’s summer.

When school finally started, Gakushuu was totally expecting for Akabane to show up 15 minutes late to class. He woke up earlier that morning and did his usual morning routine, and just before closing the door to their dorm room, he glanced at Akabane one last time and indeed, the red head was still passed out on his own bed.

So when the said boy arrived in class just a few minutes before the clock hit 8:30 AM, and just before attendance was called, Gakushuu couldn’t help the amused smile forming on his lips.

“Karma Akabane?” Their Homeroom and Maths teacher, Ms. Sato, called out.

Akabane glanced at him who was sitting at the very front, reciprocating the smile that he still had. His eyes widened in surprise.

“Here,” Akabane says and takes his seat beside him, alphabetical seating arrangement and all.

“Gakushuu Asano?”

“Here.”

Akabane nudged him with his left elbow, leaning in closer so he could whisper to him, “Stop smiling, it’s creepy on a face like yours.”

“Says you,” Gakushuu whispers back. “Thought you were gonna be late to class.”

“I won’t be late since I heard tardiness could affect your overall grade performance this year. I wouldn’t give you such an advantage, Asano-kun.”

“I don’t need an advantage to win.”

“Should’ve said that to yourself when you lost 3 points against me.”

“Oh, yeah? Then I hope you’re not forgetting your promise to purposely lose 4 points in the midterms, then.”

“That doesn’t count as a promise, I was half-asleep when I said that.”

He could hear the clicking sound of Ms. Sato’s heels against the cold cement and realized that the roll call had already ended. Gakushuu pushed Akabane away from him and sat up straighter, ignoring the strange looks his classmates were giving him.

First day of school and he could already get in trouble for talking in class. Thank goodness Ms. Sato favours him.

—

It was during lunch time when Akabane slid next to Gakusushuu’s seat, sipping his Meiji strawberry milk box in one hand while picking out a grape from Gakushuu’s lunch tray with the other. The other four virtuosos wildly stared at Akabane and they had every right to do so because even Gakushuu was surprised with the sudden intrusion.

“What do you want, Akabane?” Gakushuu sighs out, slapping his hand away when the trespasser was about to reach out for another grape.

“I don’t have any friends!” He whined. Gakushuu was instantly reminded of a 5-year-old kid during their first day of school, except that 5-year-old kid was a 175 centimeter tall guy who could probably kill a man if he seriously wanted to.

“And that’s my problem because?” Gakushuu says, eyebrows raised in question.

“Because we’re roommates! We have to build a strong relationship or else I’d put wasabi in your coffee every morning.”

“You’d be breaking my fifth rule then.”

“Your rules were already broken. I lost your LEGO sharpener and you never even tried looking for it.”

“That’s because I never knew you lost them in the first place, you idiot!”

A cough was heard in front of them. Gakushuu stopped wrestling with Akabane’s desperate moves to steal more food from him and instead looked at Ren who was giving them both an incredulous look.

“Did I hear roommates? You two are roommates?!” He exclaimed loudly, earning a few students in the cafeteria to look at their way.

Araki barks out a laugh, “Perfect! Now you two are really facing each other off this year, huh? I should probably write a paper about this.”

“No, you shouldn’t,” Gakushuu scowls.

“So what’s it like to be living with Satan’s spawn?” Seo asks jokingly.

“Oh, I say it’s rather-“ Akabane started but Gakushuu gives him a sharp nudge below his ribs. Akabane gave out a painful yelp and clutched his side.

“Hey! Stop bruising me!” He complained.

“That question wasn’t for you, stupid,” Gakushuu grumbles out and slaps Akabane’s hand away from his lunch tray. “Get your own food!”

“I’ll leave you alone if you buy me chocolate from the vending machine,” Akabane demands.

“Uh… Asano, should I…” Ren says and makes a gesture of calling the security guards. Gakushuu just waves his hand in dismissal and gets up from the table to follow Akabane to the vending machine.

He ended up buying him more than one chocolate bar, hoping that he would die from type three diabetes.

“Geez if it helps, I won’t die from diabetes. Scowling gives you wrinkles, don’t you know that?”

“Yes, I know that and I was thinking it could be possible for you. Maybe even sooner, so do you want more chocolate?”

“I may eat like shit but I do make up for it during dinner time,” Akabane snickered.

“With what? With the instant ramen they sell in the cafeteria? Or would you finally use your money to buy some actual food?”

“With my amazing cooking skills of course!” Akabane throws his hands up in the air as if he just won the World Cup. “But since I transferred to the dorms, my skill hasn’t been seen of its full potential yet.”

“I don’t think I’d ever want to see you in a kitchen. That would be literal hell.”

“Oh yeah? Don’t judge something you haven’t experienced yet, Asano. Someday you’ll taste one of my creations and think about this day and realize that you were so so wrong.”

“Don’t let the 3-point gap from last year’s finals fool you, Akabane. I’m right about most things.”

“Catch!” Akabane exclaimed out of nowhere, throwing a chocolate bar at Gakushuu.

It was a dark chocolate bar, one that Gakushuu instinctively bought first before remembering that Akabane loves everything with tons of sugar in it. He looked at Akabane with raised eyebrows but decided to not question it. He stuffed the bar inside his pocket and nodded towards the hallway.

“Classes are about to start soon,” He said.

He watched Akabane lick chocolate from his thumb and index finger, gave him a disgusted look, and walked off to class.

The first few weeks of school passed by quickly. Gakushuu immediately found himself getting busier with all the extracurriculars he joined, as well as being elected Student Council President once again and having to attend occasional meetings after school. Not only that, but he had officially become a member of the school’s soccer varsity team and had to attend afternoon practice everyday. To add up to his already hectic schedule, he spends most of the remaining time of his night to tutor other people in Class 1-A to ensure that everyone would do good in the upcoming finals.

He ended up being the basketball varsity player he had hoped his roommate would be. Now Akabane was the one enjoying the room most of the time since Gakushuu was always in-and-out of it.

As usual, Gakushuu came trudging inside the room after spending 2 hours in the library for a group study session that he voluntarily suggested. Akabane had his feet propped on his study table, his head against the chair with his arms outstretched over his head, reading a book that Gakushuu recognized as next month’s reading homework. Of course Akabane was already a month ahead of him, he didn’t join any extracurricular activities after all.

He must have sighed out loud because Akabane dropped his feet to the floor and turned to look at him. Under his gaze, Gakushuu felt all too aware of how he must’ve looked. He probably had dark bags under his eyes, a mouth forever etched to be a frown, hell he was still wearing his soccer shorts since he went straight to the library after practice.

Gakushuu was about to snap and tell Akabane to don’t even think about insulting me right now when the other boy finally shifted his gaze away from him and turned to read his book. Wow, Gakushuu suddenly felt nostalgic.

“There’s dinner in the fridge,” He says.

When Gakushuu made no move to go to the said fridge, which in reality was just a mini one, Akabane glanced up and tilted his head to the side.

“You’re hungry, right? I bought take-out food from that Japanese restaurant near the school,” He says.

“You…” Gakushuu trailed off, his brain short circuiting not because of the amount of math questions he had to answer the past hour nor the laps he had to do around the field, but the image of Akabane going out of his way to buy food again and not because of a compensation but because of pure kindness? Unbelievable.

“Ah-san-oh,” Akabane emphasized. He now has his book disregarded on his lap, a quite concerned look on his face as he looks at Gakushuu up and down. “Don’t tell me you’re too tired to feed yourself. Do you want me to spoon feed you or something?”

At that, Gakushuu stops haywiring and he makes a buzz to kneel in front of the mini-fridge and take out the box inside. He opens it and finds that the food is still hot, meaning Akabane bought it just now, and it made Gakushuu’s heart feel kind of warm. His eyes widen more in that realization.

“Why are you just staring at it? Geez, I didn’t put wasabi in it if that’s your concern,” Akabane mumbled out.

“No, I-” Gakushuu cuts himself off to pop a sushi in his mouth. The flavors of salmon washed over his tongue, and it was savory and sweet at the same time, and he absolutely loved it. He popped one more in and stood up to see Akabane looking at him with a look he couldn’t recognize he’d seen before.

“Thanks for the… dinner,” Gakushuu says and moves across the room to sit in his own study area.

“Well, it’s not the first. Do you like it?” Akabane asks, still looking at him with his soft eyes and slight upturn of his mouth.

Gakushuu, his mouth still full, nods his head a little too excitedly.

Akabane smiles, “Then it won’t be the last either.”

—

Gakushuu was left dumbfounded again when Akabane had entered the library with his backpack slung over his shoulder. He was in the middle of explaining how to solve the volume of a sphere inside a cube when he heard the library’s door open, about to tell whoever entered that it was too late to join the study group when his eyes found Akabane’s. He stopped explaining much to everyone’s confusion and watched the boy walk over to the group, a lazy smile on his face as he greeted everyone.

“Akabane-kun! Is this your first time joining the study session?”

“Hina-chan, it’s not like Akabane needed tutoring in the first place.”

Akabane laughed at that, “Right, I don’t.”

He pat Gakushuu on the back before plopping down in the vacant seat beside him, “I’m here to help Asano out. After all, our dorm gets kinda lonely when I have no one to annoy.”

Hina looks at the both of them and ooh’s, “I forgot you two were roommates! Well, the more the merrier, right?”

Gakushuu feels like he’s been compromised. “I don’t need help, Akabane. I was doing fine,” He hissed out.

Akabane just looks at him and gives him that shit-eating grin that Gakushuu could recognize from a mile away, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. You have 10 people here right now but I bet only half understands your explanations while the other half didn't."

“I’m sorry, Asano-kun, I still don’t understand question five,” A boy from somewhere around the long table spoke out.

“See?” Akabane continues, “You’re discussing question ten but he’s stuck at five. Wouldn’t it be easier to separate it into two groups and have me lead the other one?”

Gakushuu felt all eyes on him. Damn Akabane and his shrewd tactics into getting him to say yes. Is this what peer pressure feels like?

“Fine, you can help me out,” Gakushuu sighs out. “You can take that guy and the rest.”

Akabane gives him a double thumbs up before getting up again and stalking over to the boy who needed help. Somewhere along the way, while they were halfway through the reviewer and Gakushuu had his group take a practice test that he made, his eyes wandered over to Akabane. His group had their eyes set on him and on the notebook he’s holding up, and Gakushuu realized that wow, Akabane looks different when he’s all serious.

“You two would look good together,” Someone whispers from beside him. He slightly froze and turned around to face Hina, her eyes darting from Akabane and back to Gakushuu.

“What did you say?”

She raised her hands up defensively, “I’m just saying, you know? Two of Kunugigaoka’s top students working together and teaching a class? I mean, you guys can conquer the whole world together with your matching personalities and top notch grades.”

Gakushuu’s eyebrows furrowed. Hina is one of his outgoing classmates who was practically friends with everyone, only managing to get into Class 1-A because she excelled in Social Studies and is part of the softball team. Is this what her absurd circle of friends had managed to come up with? Then that would mean at least half of the school’s population thought that too.

“What do you mean by matching personalities? I think the both of us differ a lot,” Gakushuu couldn’t help his curiosity and whispered back.

“Ah, of course, but Akabane-kun’s quite similar to you, don’t you think? I guess it’s the manipulative power you both hold. He’s the only one who you think as an equal, am I right?” Hina shrugs, trying to make it sound like a casual conversation.

Gakushuu thinks a while to fully comprehend what she was saying. “Whatever, forget I asked. Get back to answering,” He says.

Hina gives him a small apology and gets back to her paper. The words ring inside Gakushuu’s head over and over again, and the answer he concludes after a while of thinking is a yes, I think of him as an equal.

Unconsciously, he looked at Akabane again only to find out that the other was already staring at him. His eyes widened a bit, panic surging through him and his mind told him to look away already, when Akabane stuck his tongue out, his finger pulling one of his eyes down in an expression that made Gakushuu snicker softly.

He’s my rival, Gakushuu thought when Akabane had looked away.

My rival.

“That was a close one,” Ren commented upon seeing the results of the finals. Gakushuu had gotten one mistake in English due to the fact that he read the assigned literature book while sleep-deprived. When a very specific question related to one of the side-character’s dialogue came up, Gakushuu spent a minute gauging his brains out but ended up guessing that one question entirely.

“Akabane would've passed you if he hadn’t made two mistakes in Japanese,” He added.

“Speaking about him, you guys seem to get along now,” Araki joins in. “I guess my paper about your hot white rivalry wouldn’t do well, then.”

Gakushuu raised his eyebrows, “No, keep the paper. I want to read it from an outsider’s point of view.”

“Ooh, interested about how we think about you two?” Seo says. “Don’t worry, the school supports it.

“Supports what exactly?”

Ren shakes his head in amusement and points at Gakushuu’s table. “You’ve been buying Akabane his favorite drink since the first day of school,” He pointed out.

Gakushuu looked down and indeed, there sitting in front of him was the infamous Meiji strawberry milk that he saw Akabane drinking everyday.

Wait, is it him who gives it to Akabane in the first place? He’s been buying him his favorite drink and he didn’t even notice?

He snatched the box away and dropped it on his lap, hoping that no one else in class was listening to their conversation. “It’s not like that,” Gakushuu defends, looking at his friends with the most serious expression he could make. It doesn't work.

“Sure, Asano,” Seo teased.

“Wait, seriously?” Koyoma suddenly joined in. “You guys became all soft on Akabane. May I remind you, he’s still the same delinquent from last year.”

As if on cue, Akabane walks inside the classroom and since their seats were at the very front, he immediately picks up on the conversation.

“Who’s the same delinquent from last year? Is it you, Natsuhiko?” He says with that sly tone of his, menacing and challenging for a fight. Besides Gakushuu, Koyoma shivered.

“Whatever, Akabane,” He hissed out.

Akabane snaps his gaze away from Koyoma and lands it on Gakushuu, the deadly look on his eyes now gone as he literally skipped towards him and grabbed the milk box from Gakushuu’s lap.

“Thanks, Asano-kun,” He says before sitting down on his seat.

Gakushuu doesn’t know why, but he felt his cheeks burn.

Thank god Akabane was way too busy poking in the straw for him to notice the undeniable blush on Gakushuu’s face. His friends, however, snickered quietly.

“You guys are being weird,” He commented, pointedly looking at Ren and Seo who were cooing together.

“Your friends are always weird,” Akabane says.

“You’re weirder.”

“Am not! I’m perfectly cool. In fact, you’re the one acting weird.”

“How am I acting weird?”

“Why are you all red? Are you sick or something?” Akabane says and reaches over to feel Gakushuu’s forehead.

And once again, Gakushuu felt dumbfounded. He could feel his pulse quickening as Akabane leaned in closer, his face so close to Gakushuu that he could notice every flaw the boy had and come up with zero, no flaws, nada-

“It’s probably the summer heat,” Ren spoke up.

Akabane’s lips turned into a smirk, “Asano’s weakness number two, he can’t stand the heat.”

“Huh? What’s number one, then?” Araki asked confusedly.

“He hates spicy food.”

“Oh.”

Before Gakushuu could feel embarrassed even more, and before he could owe his friends for saving him this time, the teacher for the next subject period walked in.

“Akabane, no drinking in class,” Mr. Aito scolded.

His friends scurried to their seats and Akabane took a long, noisy sip from the box before crushing it in his hands and shooting it inside the trash can in front of the classroom. It seems like Mr. Aito was used to it already because he made no move to scold him even more, and it seriously made Gakushuu think if giving Akabane his favorite drink every lunch time became part of his daily routine that he didn’t even notice it until someone pointed it out.

Then again, ever since they became roommates at the start of April, it seems like Akabane had been part of his daily routine ever since. As Mr. Aito set up his presentation, and as Akabane had sunk deep in his seat with a notebook on his table, Gakushuu wondered how many things he had done with and for Akabane that he didn’t even realize doing.

—

It looks like exiting the school together was one thing part of his daily routine with Akabane. Finals for the first semester have finally ended so Gakushuu didn’t have to host a study session every night nor stay up until the early morning to study, however he still had his soccer practices to attend to. Like now, it’s a Friday afternoon and his practice would start in a few minutes.

They reached the lockers at the front of the school and Gakushuu opened his, not sure if Akabane usually went back to the dorms first or if he stayed around after class.

“What are you going to do during summer break?” Akabane asked him, leaning on the lockers beside Gakushuu’s.

“Well,” Gakushuu takes a second to answer. “I have a game tomorrow. Today’s practice and tomorrow’s game would be the last before I’m officially free from school.”

“A game? Can I watch?”

Gakushuu halts from getting his training bag.

Akabane? Watching him play? Him, Gakushuu Asano, being watched by Karma Akabane? Playing under the scorching heat of the sun with disgusting sweat on his skin? It could be a good opportunity to show off the skills he has. If he makes at least one shot, then that could make Akabane fall for him right? Huh? Fall for him? He sounds like a teen boy who has a crush… fuck.

He gulped, “Sure.”

He shut the locker door close and looked at Akabane, his hands stammering with sudden nervousness. The locker area was unusually quiet. They're alone right now.

Why is he nervous? What’s he about to do? Is he late to practice? How long has he been with Akabane for? How much time has passed since classes ended?

“Nice!” Akabane grins. “I’m gonna go ahead. I’m meeting up with Nagisa and some other people from Class 3-E tonight, so you better not expect dinner when you go home.”

Oh yeah, Akabane buys him dinner every night.

“Okay.”

Akabane looks at him strangely, “You’re acting weird again.”

Gakushuu could feel his heart leap from his chest. Is he being obvious? Shit, does Akabane know?

“Huh?”

Akabane then snickered and punched Gakushuu’s shoulder lightly, “See! I’m surprised you didn’t boast about beating me. Asano, you beat me in the finals. You won. You should be whooping right now.”

A smug smile tugs on his lips, “Trust me, I have the entire summer break to celebrate my win against you.”

“Hm? How are you going to do that? Gonna call me and play some celebratory music?”

“That sounds like something you would do.”

“I’ll do that. Call you, I mean,” Akabane says, looking down at his feet in a way that made Gakushuu’s guts feel warm. Is he shy right now? Didn’t know he was capable of feeling that.

“Gonna miss me already, Akabane?” He teased.

“Pfft, like I would. It’s for scientific purposes.”

“But Ms. Yui-sensei didn’t give us any homework, though?”

Akabane looked up and groaned, a tint of red in his cheeks that made Gakushuu think if Akabane couldn’t stand the summer heat as well.

“Just go to your soccer practice already, Asano,” He says.

Gakushuu laughed and watched Akabane walk off to the school’s main doors, “Don’t gossip about me with your friends, okay?”

Akabane flicks him off, “Will never!”

—

Gakushuu woke up with an empty bed beside him. After returning to the dorms from practice and buying his own dinner at the cafeteria, he couldn’t help but feel lonely whenever the room became too silent. He tried to keep his mind away from a certain red headed boy only to stare at his contact list on his phone and hover his thumb on the call button for a very long time. In the end, he turned off his phone and forced himself to sleep. He had a big game the next day afterall.

Now, his whole body was on fire as he ran across the field under the hellish flames of the sun. He was wearing his blue and white school jersey with the number 10 on his back, his cleats coming in contact with the ball when it was passed to him by his teammate.

He surveys the field for the opponents and finds two of them at either side of him. He was about to shuffle back when his instincts told him that another one was about to steal the ball from behind him. He suddenly makes a dash for it, running as fast he can and dribbling the ball from toe to toe to avoid it being stolen.

He sees his teammate from the other side of the field who was yelling at him to pass the ball. Gakushuu Asano, although his reputation could be seen as someone who looks down on others and manipulates them, is no selfish player. He swings his legs back and kicks the ball towards his teammate, who nodded appreciatively at him and sprinted to the goal with the ball in toe.

His teammate, Daiki, was about to shoot when two of their opponents suddenly came running up to him, one directly in front of him so he couldn’t successfully make the shot.

Gakushuu reels his mind, trying to solve how in the world are they supposed to score when a solution comes to him like a math problem. He backs up and positions himself in a way that his teammate could pass the ball to him easily.

“Daiki-san!” He yells and catches his attention. Daiki frantically passes him the ball and once the ball was in front of Gakushuu’s feet, he swings his leg back once again and kicks it.

The ball flew up in the air and just when the goalkeeper had thought that he could successfully block the ball, it made a sudden curve and went flying to the opposite corner of the net.

Gakushuu mentally thanks his Physics teacher for teaching him about the Magnus effect. His teammates cheered as the score went 1-0, he had scored the very first point.

He runs across the field again to start another play. His heart was stammering in his chest as his eyes roamed around the audience, trying to find a specific boy with red hair and hopefully meet a pair of Mercury eyes.

Black hair, black hair, brown hair, pink hair, orange hair, an awfully dyed green hair, blonde hair-

Finally, he found him.

Akabane had a smile on his lips, his mouth forming into an “Asano” and Gakushuu swears his heart just did a somersault. He smiles back and waves at him, the other boy’s eyes widened and waved back excitedly.

Gakushuu tears his eyes away and continues on with the game, finding a new source of motivation to do his very best and smash the opposing team in pieces.

An hour later and Gakushuu finds himself surrounded with the cheers of his teammates. They won against their rival school with a 2-1 lead.

“Congratulations on the win!” His coach exclaimed. “Seriously, our first year students smashed it today. Especially Asano and Daiki, the first point means a lot in soccer.”

Gakushuu bows his head and smiles, “Thank you, Coach.”

“Couldn’t do it without Asano-kun shooting the goal, right? He’s the left wing, after all,” Daiki added and nudged Gakushuu’s side playfully.

“Hey, don’t forget about your senpai~”

At that, the team laughed and started praising the third years for scoring the last shot. Gakushuu found himself conversing with his teammates for a while, grateful that he joined the varsity team although he knew it could affect his study habits.

He had just finished showering and changing into nice clothes when he suddenly remembered shit, Akabane.

He said his farewell to his teammates and rushed out the locker room, then nearly tripped over when a hand pulled the back of his shirt.

“Hey,” Akabane said and turned Gakushuu to face him. “You looked cool out there.”

He felt himself blush from the complement. Although everyone was praising him just a moment ago, hearing Akabane himself praise Gakushuu is surreal. He felt like going to space and planting his own flag on the moon. He's that happy.

“Thanks,” He says. Their bodies were extremely close, just one more step and Gakushuu’s sure that he could easily lean forward and kiss him.

Fuck, he wants to kiss him.

“Were you waiting outside the whole time?” He says instead.

“Consider me as your number one fan,” Akabane replied with a chuckle. Gakushuu realized that the other boy still had his hands on Gakushuu’s waist, and it looks like Akabane noticed it too because he suddenly dropped it and instead scratched his neck awkwardly.

“Uh, I assume your team’s gonna go out and celebrate. I just wanted to drop by and say congratulations, so... congrats!” He says, hand around his neck and a grin plastered on his face.

No, his team is not going to go out and celebrate. In fact, Gakushuu’s free the whole day.

“Yeah,” Gakushuu ended up saying. Then, when Akabane started to walk away, he internally panicked and grabbed the other’s wrist.

The reason? Gakushuu doesn’t know. Do you want to hang out with me right now?

“Thank you for being here today, Akabane. Seeing you cheer for me made me get this sudden burst of motivation,” He admitted.

Akabane’s surprised look melted into a teasing one, “So I’m the reason you went all beast mode, huh? You look like you were gonna kill your opponents out there.”

“It was a team effort but yeah, I suppose you could say that. Brains and power in one person could be very dangerous,” He replied.

“Brains? Asano, were you thinking about Physics while shooting the goal?” Akabane then laughed. “You’re a nerd.”

Gakushuu felt himself smile at that, “You’re a nerd too.”

“Sure, we’re both nerds.”

“Yeah, we are.”

Now it was Gakushuu’s turn to realize that his hand was still around Akabane’s wrist. He drops it and instead uses it to support the training bag around his shoulder.

“Anyway, keep your promise, okay?” He says.

Akabane raised his eyebrow in question, “What promise?”

“To call me over the break.”

“Oh! Of course, though I don’t need to make a promise to do that. I’ll call you, Asano.”

Before Gakushuu could reply, the doors of the locker room burst open and out came his teammates. They stopped when they saw the both of them, some of them greeting Gakushuu and asking him who he was with.

He turns around to introduce Akabane and finds his spot gone, seemingly like he vanished in thin air. He looks around in confusion and spots him at the other side of the street, his front turned towards him as he waves his hand up in the air like a little kid.

“Bye Shuuey-chan~!” He yelled and even though he was 50 feet away from Gakushuu, he could recognize the shit-eating grin he had on his face.

That motherfucker.

“Shuuey-chan?” He heard Daiki ask curiously from behind him. “Isn’t that Akabane from Class 1-A?”

Gakushuu turns around him and gives him a crisp laugh, “My classmate, my roommate, my friend, my rival, and a ton other things I could call him.”

“He’s still waving at you, you know?”

Gakushuu looked across the street and yes, Akabane was still walking backwards and waving his hand in the air. He waved back, much from his embarrassment, and sighs in relief when the boy finally stopped and started walking normally.

“You two look close,” Daiki says.

“Yeah, everyone says that.”

They were now walking the opposite way that Akabane had gone, everyone was talking in pairs and Gakushuu had no idea where they were going. When he looked back and found Akabane’s retreating form, he felt himself frown in dissapointment.

If only he had asked to hang out with Akabane today, where would they have gone to?

Chapter Text

“–the show was doing great until they somehow fucked it up in the middle. Like seriously, no one accidentally trips over the ledge of a watch tower and comes out alive. Wait, no scratch that, why were they even on a watch tower in the first place? They could’ve just exchanged files on the ground, like what’s the point of doing it 50 meters up?”

Gakushuu had put Akabane on speaker while cleaning their dorm room. The redhead had been talking about this show he’s currently watching so vehemently that Gakushuu finds it quite amusing and endearing at the same time.

“Because then it would give the show a plot twist,” He inputted.

“Plot twists suck!”

He grabs a mystery box out from the fridge and opens it. The rotten smell of salmon engulfed him, his face contorting in disgust before he closed it again. That has probably been in their fridge for a week tops.

He stops crouching over their mini-fridge and grabs his phone off his desk, “Akabane, just come back already. Why are you taking so long?”

Akabane had left to go to the mall 4 hours ago. Gakushuu had finished doing his summer homework, worked out, showered, and even cleaned their room in that span of time.

“My mom gave me 800 dirham from when she went to Dubai. She told me, quote and quote, exchange it to yen and go buy yourself anything,” Akabane said. From the other side of the phone, he could hear pop music and the distant chatter of people. He thought that maybe, maybe, Akabane had used the money to run away somewhere. Turns out he’s still in the mall afterall.

“Or you could save the money in a bank like a wise person, but unfortunately you’re not,” He says.

“If you’re that salty about being all alone in the dorms, then you should’ve gone with me. We could’ve wasted this money together.”

“I don’t like wasting money.”

He hears Akabane groan exasperatedly, “Asano.”

“What?”

“Just come here.”

Gakushuu knows he’s being stubborn. Even before the other boy left their room, he had told Gakushuu about his detailed plans on how to waste that amount of money in a day. He invited him, Gakushuu refused, he grabbed his wrist and tried pulling him out of the door, but Gakushuu just placed his hands on either side of the doorframe and tried so desperately to avoid his foot to touch the outside grounds.

“Okay, fine. I won’t use it all up today. We can go to the bookstore and I’ll buy you that book you’ve been wanting,” Akabane continued, sounding determined.

He stood there, staring at their spotless room, all clean and tidy except for Akabane’s clothes on his side of the bed. He refuses to touch them, although he was very tempted to find out how his clothes smell like, but he thinks that’s a tad bit too much.

Finally, he sighs. “Fine. Give me your location.”

“Yay!” Akabane exclaims, his voice so loud and clear that Gakushuu could practically imagine the huge grin present on his face. Then, he receives a notification informing him about his whereabouts.

“I’ll be there in 20 minutes,” He said.

“15.”

Gakushuu senses a challenge coming up, “18.”

“Be here in 17 minutes and I’ll buy the sequel of that book you read.”

Gakushuu knows exactly what book Akabane was talking about. He feels like a kid, like a damn 10-year-old being bribed by their mother to go home from the playground, but does he care? He doesn’t care. In fact, he smiles and throws on a hoodie he found by Akabane’s bed.

“I’ll be there in 15 but you have to buy me the third book to the sequel,” He says while hastily putting on his shoes.

“You have yourself a deal,” Akabane declared through the phone. “See you in 15!”

At that, Gakushuu locks the door shut and proceeds to run.

—

He’s panting, taking long and shaky breaths to calm his heart down. He could feel sweat drip from his forehead as he pushed the sleeves of the hoodie up to his elbows. He had run across the campus, the security guard had given him a questioning look, Gakushuu explained that he really needed to go somewhere before hopping inside a cab, gave the name of the mall, and then ran across the mall to the store Akabane is currently in.

He wipes the back of his hand across his forehead before entering the store. The sudden breeze of air conditioning hit him, and Gakushuu briefly recalled his coach warning them to not get sick from sudden temperature changes. He shivers.

He looked around the store to find the redhead and saw him peering over a cabinet of video games. He took long strides, smoothed down his clothes, before patting the boy on the back.

“Hey.”

Akabane twirled around and glanced down on his watch, “Exactly 15 minutes! I’m impressed, Asano, looks like you really wanted that book so much.”

Gakushuu just laughs, “Yeah, well…”

He mentally cursed himself. Why’s he being so awkward?

“Is that my hoodie?” Akabane then asked, stepping forward and poking Gakushuu’s chest.

He looked down and oh. Yes, he is indeed wearing that navy blue college hoodie Akabane always wore after school. It’s that hoodie he wears after he’s done showering, meaning that he would now spend the rest of the night studying and doing his homework. He knows because he comes back around 8 PM everyday and always sees the guy still hunched over his study table with the hood over his head.

He tugs at the bottom of the hoodie and looks to the side, “I didn’t notice. Do you want to have it back?”

Akabane just pats Gakushuu’s chest, “You’re already wearing it. Plus…”

He snaps his head to face him, “Plus?”

Akabane shakes his head and drops his hand, “Nothing.”

No, Gakushuu wants to know. Plus what?

“C’mon, your book’s waiting for you, you big nerd,” Akabane said and grabbed his wrist.

The question fled from his mind. He looks down at their joint contact and lets himself be pulled outside the store. His hand was cold, probably because he stayed inside that store while waiting for Gakushuu. The mixture of the hot temperature outside versus Akabane’s cold hand wrapped around his wrist is like a confirmation. Gakushuu is indeed going to be sick. From what exactly? Akabane. Not some mere fever, but from Karma Akabane.

They were walking side-by-side now, Akabane had no reason to continue holding his wrist like that, but Gakushuu honestly didn’t want him to stop.

“I’m gonna go to Europe after this,” Akabane suddenly said.

It was so out of the blue and so random that Gakushuu thought Akabane was just joking around. When the other boy just glanced at him, his face void from any expression, Gakushuu realized that he was being serious.

“Why?” He asked, the question flying out of his mouth without much thought. For a straight A’s student, he really is dumb sometimes. It’s summer break, of course Akabane had somewhere to go.

“My dad also came home after my mom did. They wanted me to choose between going to Indonesia or to France, Indonesia for my mom’s vacation purposes and France for my dad’s business purposes.”

“So what did you choose?”

“Nothing. I said I wanted to stay here,” Akabane said and lets go of Gakushuu’s wrist. They have arrived in the bookstore.

“Then why’d you say you were going to go to Europe after this?” Gakushuu asked while walking through the aisles.

Akabane followed him, “It’s not like they allowed that answer. I ended up choosing my dad’s business trip, you know, for the experience and stuff like that.”

Gakushuu finds the books Akabane promised to buy him. He gets it off from the bookshelf and holds it in front of the redhead, “You’re going to France, you lucky bastard. Send me pictures or else.”

Akabane takes the books from him and smiles smugly, “Or else what?”

“Or else…” Gakushuu avoids Akabane’s gaze and looks down. Wrong. He shouldn’t have done that. He wanted to punch Akabane’s smug smile off of his face... with his lips.

He waves a dismissive hand in the air, “I don’t know. How long is your trip going to be?”

“3 weeks.”

Gakushuu’s eyes widened at that. He wasn’t expecting it to be that long. That would take the entirety of summer break, then.

Akabane nods at the direction of the cashier, “We still have so many things to do after this, Shuuey-chan~ We have a whole day ahead!”

Gakushuu didn’t care enough to scold him for using that nickname again. Instead, he finally catches on to what Akabane really intended to do.

He sighs but follows him to the cashier anyway, “You should’ve just said that you wanted to spend time with me before leaving.”

“So you mean I could’ve just said ‘Go on a date with me, Asano, because I’ll miss you’ and you’re gonna run and arrive here in 15 minutes?” He says in a tone that implied that he was joking.

Gakushuu hoped he wasn’t really joking, that he’d actually miss Gakushuu the same way he would miss him. Heck, he’s definitely overthinking this. It’s just going to be 3 weeks, dammit.

“Maybe I would’ve. Although I still prefer my books over your scrawny brain,” He says jokingly as well. He didn’t mean it. He prefers Akabane’s intelligent, witty, lowkey psychotic brain than some book he could always buy with his own money.

Akabane scoffs, “My brain has landed me in first place once.”

“My brain has landed me in first place since I was a kid. I think we know who’s the real winner here.”

Akabane gives him the books he paid for, “Well, brain says that we have a movie to watch next.”

Gakushuu smiles, “My brain says that we should go get some food first.”

“My brain agrees with yours for once,” Akabane said in return.

He grabs Gakushuu’s wrist again and leads him out. He forgot to bring his wallet with him and felt kind of bad that he had to leech on Akabane’s (technically it’s his mother’s) money to buy him food as well as the movie tickets to this new action movie.

Whilst he tried his best to avoid the thoughts nagging him throughout the 2 hour duration, he couldn’t help but think about what Akabane said earlier.

“Go on a date with me, Asano, because I’ll miss you.”

As friends, right? Are they friends? They haven’t even dropped the last name basis yet. Maybe Akabane was really just joking and Gakushuu is jumping in his own conclusions? Is this what being friends with Akabane is like? It’s not like it was his first time hanging out with someone outside of school. He occasionally hangs out with the four virtuosos from time to time, his soccer teammates after games and practices, but that’s really it. He never hung out with just one person. It’s always been a group.

The lights turned on. Gakushuu wasn’t able to know what the ending of the movie was.

Before Akabane could get up from his seat, Gakushuu swiftly turned to him and asked: “Have you ever watched a movie with someone before?”

Akabane turned to him with a quizzical expression on his face, “Yeah. Nagisa.”

Gakushuu feels a strange twist in his stomach. This was his first time watching inside a movie theatre with someone, since his father would just buy him the movies he wanted online and set up their own theatre in the living room.

“Shiota?”

“Mmhm. Our favorite superhero movie had a new release so I asked Koro-sensei to take us to watch it,” Akabane says. “We flew at Mach 20 speed and arrived in Hawaii in an hour.”

Gakushuu's eyebrows shot up at that. This was the first time the other boy mentioned his past teacher.

“Wait, what?” He asked in pure confusion.

Akabane laughed and sat up, stretching his arms over his head and resting it on his nape. He stares at the ceiling, “You wanna hear the story? I mean, you did ask me to tell you all about the yellow octopus that day we graduated.”

Oh yeah, he did ask him that. Gakushuu felt like that was ages ago.

“Yeah, I’d love to hear it.”

Karma felt like he told Asano pretty much everything. He started from the very beginning from when he got suspended to the day Koro-sensei died. He told him his story while on the ride back to school, while they’re going up to their room, and while on their beds before they drifted to sleep. Asano asked questions from time to time but other than that, the blonde was rather quiet and listened from start to finish.

He was now inside the plane, staring outside the window and watching the airport personnel board the baggage. It was early in the morning when he had left, Asano had greeted him off but that was it.

Karma frowned, feeling a strange twist in his stomach. Did he expect something more?

“Karma, put your seatbelt on,” His dad says from beside him.

He was about to reach out for the belt when his phone suddenly rang, the ringtone sounding off abruptly while the flight attendant was busy demonstrating safety measures. He apologized, about to turn his phone off when he sees the name on the screen.

“Asano? Is that Gakuhou or his son?” His dad asked, looking at Karma’s phone screen as well.

“It’s his son,” Karma replied. He pressed answer and put the phone next to his ear.

Then, just because he’s a little shit, he says: “Asano? Missing me already?”

From the other side of the call, he heard the coffee machine beep. Of course, it’s 6 in the morning. Asano always makes his coffee the first thing he wakes up.

“Akabane.”

Karma’s eyebrow furrowed at that, noting the serious tone Asano had.

“What-”

Asano took a deep breath, “Have a safe flight. Tell me once you arrive in France, okay? You better keep your promise and call me over the break. And… and send pictures to me of the Eiffel Tower or else.”

Akabane couldn’t help the smile spreading across his face, “Will do, Shuuey-chan~ Don’t miss me too much, okay?”

“Like hell I will.”

Karma scoffed, “Of course you will. Anyway, we’re about to take-off.”

The call suddenly ended.

He stared at the screen in confusion. That was… that was weird. Not bad weird, just weird because Asano said those words so hurriedly that Karma thought he was rapping at some point. Also weird because from the 5 months he spent living with him, not once did the boy ever call him. Well, it’s not like they had to call each other when they’re with each other most of the time anyway.

“You guys are pretty close,” His dad commented.

Oh shit, his dad. His dad was beside him the whole time.

“I guess...” Karma trailed off. “He’s my roommate, my classmate, and my rival.”

“Is that why you wanted to stay in Kunugigaoka after middle school?”

“Pretty much,” Karma said, trying to make it sound as nonchalant as possible. His hands were clammy.

“Good.”

He tensed, glancing to see his side to understand what his dad meant by 'good'. His father had a small smile present on his lips, different from the usual thinned lips and blank eyes expression he always wore whenever he’s back in Japan.

“Rivalry is good. I’m happy you finally found someone who can bring out the best in you. After all, you called him a childish nickname. I assume you guys are pretty close,” His dad says.

“Ah, that? I just use that to annoy him.”

“Was he annoyed?”

Karma thinks about that. Asano never really told him to stop using that nickname, right?

“No…”

“It’s odd how you boys are still on a last name basis. I heard your conversation because your phone’s too loud. I think Asano Junior sees you in the same way you see him.”

The same way he sees him?

His father looked down and scowled, “Karma, put your seatbelt on.”

—

Karma forgot to tell Asano once he landed. So, when the boy called him in the middle of the night, he was again surprised to hear his panicked voice yelling: “Are you alive?!”

In which, Karma responded with: “I’m dead, Asano. It’s near midnight right now.”

“Oh! Sorry, I forgot about timezones. I’ll just call later,” Asano said through the phone.

Karma peaked up in interest, “I couldn’t sleep anyway. What do you want to talk about?”

“Uh… I don’t really… I just wanted to know if you, like, you know.”

“If I arrived safely? It’s okay to say it, I won’t judge.”

He heard Asano snort, “Yeah, you could say that. Anyway, I’ll be going back to my house tonight. Ren and Koyoma would be coming over as well.”

“Tell Koyoma to fuck off.”

“What’s with you and Koyoma?”

“Kid’s still petty over the fact that I stole his Top 4 spot in the rankings last year.”

Asano snickers, “I think my friends are still a bit petty when your class took over the Top 50 and stole their rankings.”

“Are you still pretty?”

“Because you stole my spot? I’m not petty, Akabane, it’s a competition. Nothing’s gonna come out of it if I just mope around.”

“Yeah, true. You’re still the school’s ace anyway.”

“I guess.”

Silence.

Karma laid there with his phone pressed against his cheek, wondering if he should say something next and what topic they should talk about. He opted in going through his gallery and sent Gakushuu a photo he took of the clouds.

“Did you receive it?” He asked.

“It’s pretty.”

“Just pretty? Asano, it’s beautiful. It’s magnificent, delightful, brilliant, it’s-”

Asano chuckled softly, “Yeah, I get it. It’s really pretty.”

Karma smiled, “Thanks! I’ll send you as many pictures as I can.”

“I’m not a photo diary, Akabane. Just send me ones with you in it.”

Just photos with him in it?

Through the line, he could hear some loud shuffling. “Uh… You know, for scientific purposes.”

He could feel his heart warm up. He laughed, “Sure it’s for scientific purposes. I’ll send you photos with just my face in it.”

Asano groaned, “That's not- that’s not what I meant!”

“I think you made it pretty clear though.”

“I’m gonna hang up. Ren and Koyoma have arrived.”

Karma knows it’s just an excuse, he hasn’t even heard the door open yet. “Okay then, Asano. I’ll go to sleep now.”

“Okay.”

Karma waits a while. He counted 30 full seconds, both of them just breathing quietly. Asano probably had his coffee mug in one hand and was probably sitting on his chair like he always did every morning. Karma knows because that’s the sight he always wakes up to. He wakes up with the sight of Gakushuu and his messy bed hair, wearing animal printed pyjamas set that Karma had teased him about once, probably wearing glasses because he'd only wear contacts when he's going out. Karma finds it so fucking cute, to be completely honest.

Two minutes had passed and both of them still didn’t hang up.

“Akabane, I-”

Karma heard three loud knocks coming from the other line.

“Nevermind. Goodbye.”

“Wait, what were you-”

The call ended.

–

Karma definitely made Asano his personal photo diary. They didn’t call after that, they just exchanged a few texts with Karma sending him 10-15 pictures everyday of the places he went to. Some were boring; he sent pictures of the business meetings his dad forced him to attend, pictures of the hotel they’re staying in, pictures of food, pictures of the skyline, then Karma started sending him pictures of the famous France tourist spots.

He sent Asano two pictures of the Eiffel tower. One with just the tower itself and the other with Karma’s face in it, a smile present on his face as he holds up a half of a heart with his right hand.

To: shuuey-chan~
complete the heart ヽ(o＾▽＾o)ノ
(15:21)

From: shueey-chan~
the eiffel tower looks nice
(15:25)

To: shuuey-chan~
i kept my promise and sent u the eiffel tower u dick 凸( ` ﾛ ´ )凸
(15:26)

From: shueey-chan~
okay fine
(15:27)

From: shueey-chan~
[ photo attached ]
(15:29)

Karma, who was currently inside a cafe sipping some coffee, nearly chokes. He opened the photo to reveal Asano with the front of his hair tied up in a tiny ponytail. His forehead was visible, his face tinted with pink, and sweat dripping from his temples. He had a small smile on his face as he held up a half of a heart with his left hand.

Holy fucking shit, Karma wants to frame the photo.

From: shueey-chan~
sorry i’m all sweaty. i was playing soccer
(15:31)

To: shuuey-chan~
♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡
(15:32)

From: shueey-chan~
what
(15:32)

To: shuuey-chan~
♡(｡- ω -)
(15:32)

From: shueey-chan~
i need proper sentences
(15:33)

To: shuuey-chan~
u should send more
(15:33)

From: shueey-chan~
but you’re the one 6,117 miles away from me
(15:55)

To: shuuey-chan~
i’ll send u photos of me if u send photos of urself too ψ( ` ∇ ´ )ψ
(15:56)

From: shueey-chan~
deal :)
(15:57)

Chapter Text

Gakushuu was way too excited for school to start again. Here he was, the first one inside their classroom with his legs bouncing up and down as he stares at the clock above the board. His summer break was rather uneventful, unlike Akabane who had the privilege to go to France with his father.

The front door slides open. Gakushuu snaps his head towards it, biting the insides of his cheek as his legs simultaneously stopped bouncing.

“Good morning, Asano-kun.”

A disappointed scowl finds its way on his face. Ren, who had been the one to enter the classroom, gave him an offended look.

“Ah, sorry. I thought you were someone else,” He apologized, looking away from Ren to continue staring at the clock.

“Uh, it’s fine,” Ren says hesitantly. “You seem… out of it lately.”

Gakushuu hears the chair next to him slide open as Ren slips through. His eyes land on the poorly drawn tangerine scribbled in pen ink by the bottom of the desk. It has little devil horns sprouting on top of it and a pair of big eyes and a frown as its face.

His mouth twitches up a little. Akabane can't draw for shit.

“Okay, yeah, I am definitely spooked out,” Ren declared.

Gakushuu meets the other’s gaze and frowns, “Why?”

Ren sighs and gets comfortable in Akabane’s seat. Gakushuu watches him, his form in good posture and his hands clasped on the desk. It doesn’t feel right. He was used to looking at his side to see Akabane either way too deep on his seat with his arms crossed or dozing off in class in such an obvious manner.

“As your best friend, you should know that you can tell me anything,” Ren says.

“Um, okay,” Gakushuu replied quizzically. His eyes land on the door as it slides open again, a group of girls entering and suddenly making the quiet classroom bubble in chatter.

“Asano, do you like Akabane?”

Gakushuu snaps his head towards Ren, heat immediately rushing up to his face as he looks around to make sure no one heard the question. “What?!” He exclaims.

Ren squints at him, “You don’t have to lie. It’s pretty obvious anyway.”

“Then why did you have to ask if you already know the answer?” He grumbled and glared at the other boy.

“I needed to hear it from you.”

Gakushuu sighs and rests his forehead on the cold desk, “Don’t tell the rest.”

“Ah, I think it’s too late for that. They already know.”

He groaned, “Whatever. Just don’t tell Akabane.”

He hears the door slide open again, watching as a dozen pairs of feet walk in front of his desk accompanied by the constant barks of laughter.

“So, you guys have been in touch over the break?”

Gakushuu forces himself to sit properly, massaging his temple that was probably red right now. “Yeah, we called and he sent me pictures of his trip,” He answered.

Ren stares at him straight in the eyes, “That’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

When Ren just continued to stare at him, Gakushuu sighed and palmed his temple, feeling a headache rising in. “I’m not lying, alright? So stop staring through my soul.”

Ren finally drops the intense gaze and shakes his head in amusement. “You’ve gone low, Asano. What happened to the icy ruler of Kunugigaoka?”

Gakushuu’s eyebrows furrow at the term, “Icy ruler? Are you talking about my father?”

“What?! No, I’m talking about you. You’ve become soft,” Ren says.

“How am I soft?”

Ren gives him an outrageous look and points a criticising index finger at Gakushuu. “Remember when the squad went to your house over the break? Yeah, you totally ignored us and just talked to Akabane on the phone.”

“If you’re saying that I prioritize Akabane more than you guys, then you might be right.”

Ren waves his hands around, “That’s the whole point!”

“I…” Gakushuu trails off, feeling confused as ever. “Cut to the chase and just tell me whatever you have to say, Ren.”

“What I’m saying is that you obviously like him a lot. Why the hell aren’t you making your move yet?!”

Gakushuu’s eyes widened at that. He looks to the side and gnaws on his bottom lip, finding it difficult to come across an answer. “Uh, I just… I don’t know. I don’t know how to.”

“I think you’re just scared,” Ren says defiantly.

Gakushuu looks at him in the eyes and scowls, “I’m not scared. Why should I be scared? It’s Akabane.”

“Exactly because it’s Akabane. You like him so much that you’re scared of messing up.”

Gakushuu deepened his frown but a part of him knows that it’s true. “Is that your point?”

Ren sighs, “Look, Asano-kun, I’ve known you since middle school. Isn’t this your first time liking someone this much?”

“Yeah… I guess.”

“Then obviously that person is a special one. You don’t get to meet someone special like that all the time, you know?”

“Right, but… I still don’t know if Akabane’s into guys,” He mumbled.

“Asano, you’re pretty dense, aren’t you?”

“Huh?! I’m not dense!” He exclaimed, forgetting that most of the class has settled in their seats by now.

“Uh, Asano-kun, are you okay?” A girl from three seats behind him asked out.

He turns towards the voice and flashes her an assuring smile, “I’m okay. I was just telling Ren to get back to his seat before Ms. Sato would come in.”

As if on cue, the door slid open again and the familiar click of heels against cement made Ren shoot up from Akabane’s chair. He scurried to his own seat by the window just in time before Ms. Sato could notice him.

“Good morning,” She greeted and held up her clipboard, “Let’s start attendance, shall we?”

“Akabane Karma?”

Nothing.

Gakushuu felt his heart drop.

“Asano Gakushuu?”

He gulped, “Here.”

Shit, his heart feels heavy. He remembered the last conversation he and Akabane had; it was him sending Gakushuu a picture of his luggage and complaining how he couldn’t fit everything in it.

Gakushuu furrowed his eyebrows, realizing that he never really asked when Akabane would come back. All he said was that he’d be gone for 3 weeks. It’s been 3 weeks already, right?

So where the hell is he?

—

Gakushuu woke up in the middle of the night from the faint sounds of footsteps. His eyes flew open, body freezing as he mentally panics.

Fuck, he didn’t forget to lock the door, did he?

He opens an eye and catches a glimpse of a shadow near the doorframe. That shadow was clearly hunched down, body bent and Gakushuu shivers at the image of a half-bodied monster.

Is he having sleep paralysis?

His heart was pounding in his chest, sweat gathering up on his forehead as his mind tried to remember that article he read about sleep paralysis a long time ago. Right, don’t ever try to imagine something bad or else that would come true. Don’t ever look into a mirror or else you would see the image you fear the most. Try to snap yourself awake before the demon could get on top of you and make you feel like you’re going to die from the pressure. Try to-

The lights flickered open. His eyes meet mercury ones and a wave of shock circulates inside of him. Impulsively, he sits straight up and stares at the redhead with wide eyes.

“Akabane?” He asks in disbelief.

Akabane stood properly from where he was untying his shoe laces and turned to him. “You still up? Look, I was wondering if we could drop the last name basis already,” He says.

Gakushuu, without prior thought, jumps out of bed and lets his feet pad over to the boy.

“You can call me Karma and I could just call you Gak-”

Gakushuu threw his arms around him, crushing him in a hug and squeezing the boy’s torso tightly. He buried his head on Karma’s shoulder as the scent of cheap lavender engulfed him. The jacket he was currently wearing was cold, almost damp from the subtle sound of raindrops falling outside, and his hair smells like green tea, different from the strawberry scented shampoo Karma always used.

Then, he reaches a hand up and smacks the back of Karma’s head.

“Ow! What’s that for?!” Karma complained and threw his head back to glare at Gakushuu.

Their faces were so close, dammit. He could lean down a bit and-

He abruptly lets go of Karma and takes a few steps back, shoving his hands inside his pocket only to realize that he’s wearing pyjamas and his pyjamas didn’t have any pockets. He drops his arms to his side, feeling a blush creep its way to his face.

“S-sorry... “ He mumbled out.

Karma snorted, stepping a few steps forward and pulling Gakushuu back in his arms. “I missed you,” He says, his warm breath ghosting over Gakushuu’s neck.

It’s ridiculous, really, how he practically melts into Karma’s embrace. “I missed you too, idiot,” He mumbled out.

“Gakushuu.”

He tensed, the sound of his name coming from Karma’s mouth sends him shivers.

Karma lets go of Gakushuu and drops his gaze to the side, “I can call you that, right? I mean, we’ve been living with each other since April so I thought-”

“Since when did you need my permission? Just do it, Karma,” He says.

Karma looks back up at him, “Alright then, Gakushuu.”

The redhead drops to the floor, Gakushuu flinches at the sudden movement and watches Karma kneel down to zip open his suitcase. He struggled, the zipper stuck half-way through.

Gakushuu kneels down beside him, noticing the bulging suitcase and tries to slide the zipper open but fails. “What the hell did you put in here?” He asked incredulously.

“A dead body.”

Gakushuu turned to look at him and saw a completely serious expression on Karma’s face. He cracked a smile, “I wouldn’t be surprised, you psycho.”

Karma snickered, “Well, it’s definitely a surprise.”

“Don’t tell me you actually-”

Karma successfully zipped it open, the suitcase expanding into twice its size as he pushes one side to drop on the floor.

Gakushuu stares. He first stares at Karma’s clothes that look like it’s gone through hell, and then he stares at the different plastic bags neatly kept on the side.

“Uh… some are yours,” Karma speaks out and gets half of the plastic bags out of the suitcase.

Gakushuu raised his eyebrows, “Some?”

Karma laughed nervously and shoved the bags towards Gakushuu, “I just saw some stuff and thought you might like it. I mean, if you don’t then I’ll just give it to someone else or…”

Gakushuu takes it without much hesitation. He opens the bags and sees several things that definitely look like something he would buy. Maybe in a situation where someone would tell him the world was going to end in 10 minutes, Gakushuu would probably use up all his money to buy all these things.

Fortunately, the world isn’t ending. Unfortunately, it’s from Karma.

“You’re saying that you saw a calligraphy pen, stationary notebooks that are overpriced, a glow in the dark miniature Eiffel Tower statue, L'Occitane perfume, and a vintage copy of The Little Prince and thought that I would like it?” Gakushuu rambled on whilst observing the things carefully in his hands.

He looked up to find Karma staring at him, his mouth slightly turned downwards in a frown and his eyes looking sullen.

“You don’t?” He asked. Gakushuu felt a pang in his chest.

He grits his teeth and hits Karma on the head with the vintage book, “I love it, you idiot. Stop giving me that look.”

Karma beams at him, his fangs showing as he crosses his arms and looks at Gakushuu smugly. “I knew you would,” He says.

Gakushuu fights back a smile, “Sure you do. Anyway, stop buying me so much stuff. I can always buy it if I really want to.”

“Right, I forgot you’re also loaded. It’s different when somebody buys it though.”

“How’s it different?”

“Uh…” Karma trails off. He scratches his neck and gets off the floor, dusting himself and shrugging nonchalantly. “It’s just different. I’m gonna shower now, I smell like the airport.”

Gakushuu nods and lets Karma do his business. He crawls back to his bed, the several things Karma had gotten him still in his hands, and tosses the blanket over his body.

He decides to put the rest of the things inside his bedside drawer but keeps the vintage copy of The Little Prince with him. He opened the book, the cover was hard bound and the title was in French, so Gakushuu had quite the suspicion that the rest of the book would be in French as well. He was right, he couldn’t understand what the first few words meant and it would be too much of a hassle to translate everything through the Internet.

He does, however, skim the book to admire the art. He was in the middle of admiring the rose garden image when he heard the bathroom door open.

He looks up and finds Karma in gray sweats and in an old tee shirt, hair dripping wet with his towel over his shoulder. An image of a wet cat pops into Gakushuu’s head, he shakes the thought away and turns back to his book.

“It’s 2 in the morning?!” Karma exclaimed out loud, turning to Gakushuu and flashing him his phone screen. “There’s school tomorrow, right?”

Gakushuu squints at the screen but nods anyway, “Yeah so we should go to sleep.”

“But I can’t sleep,” The redhead whined.

“You didn’t even try yet,” Gakushuu retorted.

Karma gets inside his covers and takes out his phone, “Wanna watch this show with me?”

Gakushuu hears the familiar sound of lasers and raises his eyebrow in question, “The same sci-show?”

Karma smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, I never got to finish it because of school and stuff.”

Gakushuu blinks. Then, he’s suddenly rising up from his bed with his blanket wrapped around him. He stands at the side of Karma’s bed, looming over the redhead and signalling him to scoot over.

“Oh! You want to? H-Here? Beside me?” Karma stuttered out but moved over to make space for Gakushuu anyway.

Gakushuu crawled in, scooting over until their shoulders were touching. He grabs Karma’s hand that was holding the phone and guided it so that it was in the middle of the two of them.

“What episode are you in?” He asked, hand still over Karma’s.

He felt the other boy’s whole body tense, “Episode 3 but, uh... if you want, then I could restart it.”

Gakushuu let go of Karma’s hand and used it to press play on the screen, “Just tell me what I missed out on.”

“Okay.”

Half an hour later and they still sat there, their backs against the headboard, their shoulders touching, and Gakushuu’s head resting on Karma’s shoulder. Karma’s arm that was propped on their knees drops down, phone sliding off to land on the mattress, long forgotten as he finally loses consciousness and drops his head on top of Gakushuu’s.

They sat there, side by side, at three in the morning with their bodies pressed together as they slept.

School, like the piece of shit it is, got them both back in their usual routines. Not like Karma didn’t like his daily routine, not when he gets to see Gakushuu the first thing in the morning, everyday during classes, during lunch time whenever he decides to annoy the boy, and the list of seeing Gakushuu grew longer because apparently they were both selected to represent Kunugigaoka’s Mathlete Team.

Karma got the news during Math period when Ms. Sato called both him and Gakushuu to her desk in front of the class. Everyone was still busy completing their seatworks except them, who were already finished and were trying their best to keep their voices low as they talked about babies and their shared hatred for them.

He was the one who started it, telling Gakushuu out of the blue “I never get why people adore babies so much. All they do is cry and take a shit in their diapers.”

Then, the other surprisingly agreed, saying that “Maybe it’s because I don’t have any siblings, but I truly hate babies when I see one. And they hate me too.”

“Ha! One of Gakushuu’s flaws is that babies hate him.”

“Shut up, I bet babies cry whenever they’d see you.”

“Boys,” Ms. Sato calls out and looks up at them. “I, as well as several other teachers, have noticed that you two have been talking a lot during class hours recently. Asano-kun, if you want to avoid getting in trouble for the first time, stop engaging in conversations with Akabane.”

Beside him, Gakushuu flushes in embarrassment, keeping his head down as he says, “I understand, Ms. Sato-sensei. I’m sorry.”

“Well, I would say the same for you too, Akabane-kun. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to get your scholarship cut off, seeing how one more suspension could lead to an expulsion.”

Karma nods, “Got it, Sato-sensei. I’ll be a good boy and stop getting Gakushuu in trouble.”

Ms. Sato makes a gasped sound, “No, you two make such a great duo! I love seeing both of my top students getting along with each other.”

The both of them shared a look, glancing at each other in mock disgust with Karma letting out a stifled laugh. Gakushuu feels a smile spreading across his face as well, a sudden warmth blooming in his heart.

This. This feeling. The feeling of being able to banter with Karma and pretend that they hate each other when in reality, both of them know that they don’t. The feeling of being a kid again, like getting angry over the pettiest things but forgetting about it a minute later. Gakushuu was able to be a kid at heart again whenever Karma’s around.

“Anyway, you two are going to compete in the upcoming Mathletes tournament in Tokyo on Friday. Which means that you would have to either join the Math Club or review on your own, but I know you both have what it takes to snatch the gold medal this year.”

“Mathletes tournament?” Gakushuu asked in surprise, “Do you mean the national mathematics competition held yearly?”

Ms. Sato grins, “Yes, Asano-kun. It’s a very big deal, right? Joining it would surely make your college application look ten times more impressive.”

“Sure!” Karma said. Gakushuu snapped his head towards him and gave him a glare, Karma returned it with his own shit-eating grin.

“Why the hesitation, Shuuey-chan? Worried that it would bring your grades and extracurriculars down?”

Gakushuu squints his eyes at him. “No, not at all! Karma and I would join, Ms. Sato-sensei.”

Ms. Sato claps her hands together once. Karma smirked when Gakushuu discreetly kicked his shoes, aware how loud he was being and that the class had probably heard him call their ace, their model student, the one everyone looks up to, something embarrassing like Shuuey-chan.

“Great! I’ll email you all the details about the tournament as well as the competencies for it. You can sit down again, boys. Class is about to end soon.”

Just before they were dismissed for lunch break, Karma slides a yellow post-it note towards Gakushuu’s desk. The other eyed it carefully before taking it, he had written “Study date? ;)” on it with pink ink.

Gakushuu slid the yellow post-it back and in there read, “Fine, you little devil”.

Karma snickered and looked at him, the obvious blush that Gakushuu was trying to cover up by resting his hand on his cheek made Karma’s heart bloom in warmth.

He decides to not comment on it, enjoying flustered Gakushuu more than anything else.

—

They were at a local cafe with multiple books stacked to their side. They had been in there for several hours now, both doing their own individual review before Gakushuu suddenly took out his flash cards and started asking Karma several math questions.

After a while of competitive math games, betting that whoever gets a question wrong would have to do a dare only to end up an hour later with no questions missed, that Karma’s stomach started to growl.

“Are you… hungry?” Gakushuu asked as if that was the most questionable thing that Karma had done. It’s not even his own doing to make his stomach growl, it’s a biological function. He wanted to tell him that but decided against it, not wanting to get into the topic of biology when it’s not even part of the tournament.

“Yes, Gakushuu, we've been studying for 5 hours now and I’m hungry as hell,” He replied.

Gakushuu blinks, “Want to get some food then?”

“Finally! I seriously thought you could live off of caffeine and pastry,” He said while packing up his things.

Gakushuu actually nods in agreement, “I could but I won’t damage my health like you do.”

“I don’t damage my health.”

“Say that to me again once you stop drinking your strawberry milk all the damn time.”

Karma thinks about what the other said, realizing that Gakushuu was the one who kept on buying him those in the first place. He bit his tongue to avoid saying just that, not when he didn’t even realize that he had been receiving his favorite drink for so long and it was from Gakushuu. He wondered if the blonde thought about it too, how they were now involved in each other’s daily lives.

They stepped outside of the cafe and the first thing Karma noticed were the red and orange leaves decorating the trees, some of them falling on the ground as they walked on the pavement sidewalk. Him and Gakushuu were side by side, hands briefly grazing each other as they walked. It was late in the afternoon and the wind was cool, the clouds were covering the sun and yet it was still fairly bright out.

He looked at Gakushuu, wind breezing through his strawberry blonde hair, his eyes were soft as it looked forward, different from the usual competent and fake facade he put up in school as a student who had a perfect reputation since middle school.

He looks good. Handsome, even.

Gakushuu then turned to look at Karma, whose eyes widened a little when he realized that he was caught staring at the other. “What are you thinking about?” He asked.

His expression was very soft, so so soft. His face looked content and it made Karma’s heart feel stupidly warm.

You. That you look good under dim lights, under the blinding brightness of our classroom’s ceiling lights, and under the afternoon skies. You look so fucking beautiful that it's unfair.

Instead, he looks back at the view of the autumn trees surrounding them.

“Wanna go eat some hot ramen?”

Gakushuu spluttered into his noodles as tears started brimming in his eyes. Karma had put a tablespoon of wasabi in his bowl while he was in the restroom, simply because he wanted to see the other boy’s reaction and take a photo of it for blackmail purposes. Yes, blackmail purposes, though Karma wasn’t sure if he wanted to share the photo around. He wanted the photo to be in his possession only, because although Gakushuu was glaring at him, Karma found it cute. He was fond of it.

“Delete that, you asshole!” Gakushuu hisses out, gulping down a glass of water and fanning his face desperately.

“I heard drinking milk would help neutralize the spice. Wanna ask for some?” He says, putting his hand up only for Gakushuu to grab his wrist back down.

“Hell no!” He exclaimed. With Gakushuu’s eyes brimming with tears and the amount of water he was currently drowning in, Karma was starting to feel bad.

He smiled, hoping it looked apologetic enough, and slid his own ramen bowl in the middle of the table. “Here look, we can share my ramen. I got it in large, so I couldn’t finish it anyway.”

Gakushuu just continued to glare at him, his hand releasing Karma’s wrist to reach out for his chopsticks. “You’re paying for all this, by the way,” He says before slurping in some noodles.

Karma laughed. There, he saw the same expression Gakushuu had a while ago. His glare softened up immediately, a small smile on his lips as he ate more of his noodles.

“Sure thing, Shuuey-chan~” Karma sung out.

Gakushuu looked up and raised his eyebrows, “Where did you even get that nickname from?”

“I made it!” He says with a smile, then pouts. “Why, you don’t like it?”

Gakushuu just stared at him, “No.”

“The nickname’s cute!” Karma exclaimed and made the life-changing decision to reach over and pinch Gakushuu’s cheek.

“You’re cute,” He says softly, the words escaping his mouth without much thought.

Gakushuu’s eyes widened in surprise, coughing into his noodles the second time today. Karma laughs again and drops his hand, watching the other buy turn bright red. He had honestly expected the worse, one of them with Gakushuu just straight up punching him square on the face.

“It's embarrassing,” Gakushuu says after getting over his coughing sprint.

“Exactly why I call you that.”

“I hate you,” Gakushuu says, his fist clenching around his water glass.

“Don’t confess in public, Shuuey-chan~ I like you too.”

Gakushuu chokes on his drink again. Karma laughs, an unknown weight thrown on his shoulder as he tries his best to hide the sudden anxiousness he felt. The confession he just made that he purposely planned out since they entered the restaurant must’ve sounded like a joke to Gakushuu. Karma couldn’t blame him either if he wasn’t able to take his words seriously, he did make it sound like a joke after all.

But he meant it. He likes Gakushuu Asano. A lot.

It was Thursday night and they were the first one to arrive at the assigned bus stop. “I told you we’re too early,” Karma complained as he wraps his arms around himself. It was just mid-November and somehow the night breeze still managed to make Karma shiver like a hairless cat.

“The itinerary clearly said to be here by 8 PM,” Gakushuu says while scrolling through his phone, most likely checking the email Ms. Sato sent them.

“Where’s the others then? Aren’t there two representatives each grade level?”

Gakushuu turns to look at Karma. “Yeah, I’m surprised they aren’t here yet. Punctuality should be number one for students like us.”

“I think you’re the only one so strict about punctuality, Student Council President.”

“Am not!” Gakushuu defends. “Oh gosh, what if we’re the ones that’s late? What if the bus already left without us?”

“Pretty sure they won’t leave the school’s pride and joy all alone in the night,” Karma snickered. He rubs his palms together and blows into them, now regretting to bring a hoodie to keep himself warm.

“But I’m not alone,” Gakushuu says matter-of-factly, “I’m with you.”

Karma raised his eyebrow. “Right, a group of bandits could go up to us right now and I’d make a run for it.”

“No, you won’t,” Gakushuu says straight away.

Karma felt like he was caught. Of course he wouldn’t.

“Yeah, I won’t,” He sighed out. “I’d probably kick them in the balls and carry you out bridal-style, like some knight in shining armor kind of shit.”

It was late at night and the streets that were usually bustling with students were now empty. They were standing just below a street lamp, backpacks abandoned on the concrete as they watched for any sign of a bus. There was a beat of silence, one that made Karma think to himself ‘Did that sound weird? Was that too much detail?’

“No, I’d be the one to take them down first. You can do the finishing blow,” Gakushuu finally responds.

Karma physically relaxes in relief. Then, he says softly, “You know, we could conquer the whole world if we wanted to.”

His eyes meet Gakushuu’s as the other boy took a step forward. Karma suddenly remembered their English lesson – Edward T. Hall had described proxemics into 4 zones: public distance used in public speaking, social distance among acquaintances, personal distance among friends and family, and finally intimate distance for lovers.

They were mere inches apart. Gakushuu was in his intimate space.

Karma could lean in right now and meet Gakushuu’s lips, finally satisfying his need to know how his lips felt like and finally being able to convey his true feelings to him.

“Aren’t we already?” Gakushuu says with the same tone of voice. Karma snapped back to reality and realized that he had been staring at Gakushuu’s lips for way too long. He could feel his heart beat in his ears as Gakushuu leaned in, Karma closed his eyes but a sudden weight on his shoulders made him open them once again.

Gakushuu had draped the jacket that he was wearing over Karma.

Meanwhile, Karma thinks his heart kind of exploded. He immediately recognized the jacket Gakushuu put around him. It was his varsity jacket, the one with his last name in all capital, italicized, and bold letters displayed at the back of it. He often saw Gakushuu wearing it whenever he was out with his team, having just finished attending a soccer practice or playing a match. It sure looked cool being worn by Gakushuu, but now Karma’s wearing it and he felt his whole body erupt in flames.

It’s warm from Gakushuu’s body heat and it smelled nice too. It was the same scent Karma was used to smelling whenever Gakushuu had just finished showering. It smelled like a mixture of his perfume and body wash, an expensive Champagne scent mixed with a sweet berries one. It smells so good. It smells exactly like Gakushuu.

“You know I’m never going to return this, right?” Karma admitted honestly as he put his arms through it.

“I didn’t want you to,” Gakushuu replies. Then, he points behind Karma and says, “Hey, I think the others are here already.”

Karma turned around to see four people running up to them. They stopped just in front of him, grabbing their knees as they struggled to catch their breath. One of them was a guy while the rest were girls, Ms. Sato appearing beside them as well as another teacher he recognized as Mr. Watanabe, the math coordinator.

“Sorry for the wait, boys. I got a call from the bus driver saying that he couldn’t make it tonight, so they’re going to send out another bus to drive us there. It should be here in a few minutes,” Ms. Sato explained.

“Hi! I’m Hayashi Airi and I’m a second year. This is my partner, Ueda Eito,” Hayashi said and reached a hand out. Gakushuu shakes it while Karma just nods in acknowledgement.

“Nice to meet you,” Ueda greets.

So formal, Karma thinks. He watched Gakushuu stand a bit straighter, his ever so famous Student Council President smile present on his face.

“Nice to meet you too,” Gakushuu says. “I’m Asano Gakushuu and this is my partner Akabane Karma.”

“Ooh, I heard all about you, Asano-san!” Another girl says, shaking Gakushuu’s hand as well. “You’re Asano-sensei’s son, right? I’m Matsui Fuyumi and this is my partner Yoshida Jitsuko.”

Her partner, Yoshida, steps in and gives him an embarrassed smile, pulling Matsui’s hand who was still shaking Gakushuu’s away.

“Sorry, Fuyumi-chan was dying to see you,” She says.

Karma’s eyebrows shoot up at that. The so-called Fuyumi flushed red, “N-no I wasn’t! I-it’s because he’s so-”

“Gakushuu’s quite popular, isn’t he?” Karma intervenes, Matsui looks at him in surprise.

“Y-yeah, he is.”

The bus pulled up in front of them and Karma silently thanked the gods, he honestly didn't want to deal with one of Gakushuu’s fangirls right now. The fact that it was a third-year girl just proves how popular the boy is.

So much competition, Karma thought bitterly.

“Okay kids, get in. We’ll be arriving in Tokyo early in the morning so I suggest to get some sleep while on the ride there,” Mr. Watanabe says.

Karma turned to Gakushuu, who had an unreadable expression on his face that he was too tired to try to decipher what it meant, and tugged his arm towards the bus.

Gakushuu lets himself be pulled, allowing Karma to sit near the aisle while he sits next to the window.

“I feel like I’m going to pass out,” Gakushuu says.

“From sleep?”

“No, from hunger. How come we didn’t think to eat dinner before we went here?”

“Because I’d usually be the one getting you dinner anyway.”

He smiles, “Please tell me you brought some food.”

Karma digs inside his backpack and pulls out two matching containers, “Ta-da! Guess I’m your knight in shining armor after all.”

“Keep dreaming, Karma,” Gakushuu snickered. He accepted the box of food and dug in, salmon onigiri and tempura sushi rolls awaiting him. He recognized the food because Karma either buys Chinese take-out or Japanese take-out from the stores near their school.

It didn't take long until the bus reached the highway and the chatter of the students died down. Karma had earphones on and was leaning on his hand resting on the arm chair, his eyes closed although Gakushuu knew he wasn’t really sleeping. He watched the scenery outside the window as if it’s television, watching the transition from gray trees to the lights of the city skyline, the sky black as the moon shines beautifully above him.

He turns to face Karma and mentally thinks fuck it. He dropped his head on Karma’s shoulder, memories of when he watched the sci-fi show in the same position flashed across his mind, and shifted closer so they were literally touching sides.

When Karma made no move to push Gakushuu away, he took it a step further and placed his arm around Karma’s forearm, clutching it to himself as he practically side-hugged Karma like a teddy bear.

Geez, since when did he get so clingy with someone?

He felt Karma tense. Panic surged through him as his brain started making thousands of stupid excuses of how he got into that position.

He was about to lift his head up when Karma grabbed his hand that was gripping his forearm. He laced their fingers through and Gakushuu let out a shaky sigh of relief. He decided to glance up to see Karma’s expression, a soft smile on his lips and his ears slightly pink, and it made Gakushuu’s heart feel warm.

It felt like a huge burden was lifted off of his shoulders. The possibility of Karma liking him back rose to 50% because even though the red head wasn’t pushing him away right now, he could always change his mind and push Gakushuu away later.

He needs the confirmation. Gakushuu knew he had to confess soon or else the burden in his heart would just start to grow heavier.

Baby steps, He reminds himself mentally.

Karma's earphones were playing loud enough so that Gakushuu could make out a tune from it. He fell asleep listening to Karma’s favorite song, recognizing it when he had recommended it to him through one of their calls during summer break.

He reminisced the memories of his summer, glad that even after summer time had passed and they were now in autumn, that he’s still beside Karma and was now even closer to him than before.

—

“Yoohoo! Asano-san, Akabane-san!”

Gakushuu snaps awake and lifts his head up to see 4 pairs of eyes staring at them amusedly. He then remembers who he slept on, turning his head towards Karma who was rubbing his eyes from sleep and taking his earphones out.

“Are we in Tokyo already?” Karma grumbled out.

“Yeah, we just arrived,” Ueda answered.

Gakushuu looked outside the window and saw that the sky was still pitch black. The bright lights from all the 24/7 stores nearby made the streets look bright and he was surprised that there were still a lot of people wandering around.

“What time is it?” He asked.

“Almost 2 in the morning,” Yoshida replied.

“Let’s go, everyone! We need to check-in before 3 AM,” Ms. Sato calls out. Everyone then proceeded to grab their backpacks and file for the bus door.

Gakushuu remembered their laced hands and glanced down. Yes, indeed, they were still holding hands.

Karma must’ve noticed it too because he raised their laced hands together in the air and squeezed his hand. “We should do this more often,” He said.

Gakushuu takes a while to wrap his head around his words.

“Study shows that people sleep better when they’re holding someone's hand,” Karma continued.

Gakushuu finds himself smiling, “Pretty sure you just made that up right now.”

“Pretty sure you were the one who held my hand first.”

“You didn’t push me away though.”

“Guys!” Ueda called out after them. Gakushuu squeezed Karma’s hand hard enough to make him emit a soft ‘ow’, before letting it go and nodding towards the rest of the group.

They were at a motel near the very heart of Tokyo, the boys share a room while the girls share another one. They said goodbyes to their fellow Mathlete girl members before Karma, Gakushuu, and Ueda tread inside their own.

“I think I’m gonna fall asleep anytime now,” Ueda says once he stepped inside the room. “I wasn’t able to sleep during the ride ‘cause Hayachi kept on talking about random things.”

Gakushuu had expected that they would get their own individual beds. For a medium-priced motel in a big city, futons spread across the floor was surely good enough.

“I’m jealous you two were able to sleep. You guys looked rather comfortable too,” Ueda continued, “Mr. Watanabe-sensei even considered leaving you guys there.”

“Sleeping inside an abandoned bus? Sounds thrilling to me,” Karma said and dropped his backpack on the floor. Gakushuu follows suit but places it neatly to the side.

“Ah… yeah,” Ueda then scratches his neck awkwardly. “I overheard Matsui-san and Yoshida-san’s conversation and… well…”

“What about it?”

“Matsui just talked about Asano the whole ride,” Ueda spits out. “I think she has a crush on you, Asano-kun.”

Gakushuu seriously didn’t know how to respond to that statement. So, a default smile spreads on his lips. “We can't confirm that unless she tells me herself,” He says politely. Beside him, he heard Karma snicker.

“Ooh, are you interested?” Ueda presses on. “Matsui-san is kinda pretty, right?”

“Uh…”

“Hey Gakushuu, you can shower up first,” Karma interrupted.

Both him and Ueda turned to look at him.

“Do you know who our opponent would be?” Karma continued, a smile on his lips as he glanced at Gakushuu pointedly.

“Right, I should go first,” He says and scurries to the bathroom. He slides the door shut and stares at himself in the mirror.

Is Karma… jealous?

The minutes were going down as the teams scored off to a tie. Kunugigaoka was against the ace school, Tokyo Fukuoka Highschool, who had been taking home the gold for 3 years straight.

Gakushuu had just answered a question correctly, earning his school another point. They were seated at 3 separate wooden tables — Karma and him at the very left, Ueda and Hayashi at the middle, and Matsui and Yoshida at the far right. The questions were given at different levels of difficulty and with different competencies so each grade level could have a chance to answer.

Now, however, a question was thrown at Matsui and Yoshida’s team after Tokyo Fukuoka got another question right. They were still at a tie and there was only a minute left to counterattack. The host repeated the question again and Gakushuu had quite an idea on how to solve it, so he started furiously writing down on his scratch paper.

If the current team couldn’t answer the question after 20 seconds, then the rest of the school’s team could answer it for them. It had already been 20 seconds and yet Matsui sat still, pen not moving, while Yoshida was gripping her hair tightly from frustration.

Gakushuu came about to a final answer and was about to reach for the buzzer when Karma’s hand stopped him so. He looked at him in panic, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Do you trust me?” Karma mouths.

Gakushuu stopped to stare at him.

10… 9… 8…

“Of course,” He mouths back and lets his hand fall away from the buzzer.

7… 6… 5…

Karma slammed the buzzer down and everyone’s eyes suddenly went on him.

“Yes, Team Akabane and Asano?” The host said through his microphone.

“4,” Karma declared loudly. That was definitely far off from Gakushuu’s final answer of 32.

There was a moment of deadly silence, of absolute nothing, until the lights turned green and Gakushuu didn't think twice to jump out of his seat. He crushed Karma with a hug, his hands finding its way around his shoulders, feeling Karma’s hands lace themselves around his back as he tugged him closer.

Matsui and Yoshida came up to them with tears in their eyes as the girls joined in their hug. Ueda and Hayashi threw themselves at them as well, laughter and smiles everywhere as the host announces Kunugigaoka’s first win after 4 straight years of losing.

Ms. Sato was absolutely bawling, tears streaming down her face as she pat Karma on the back. “Thank goodness you two became roommates. I didn’t think Akabane-kun would join if it weren’t for you,” She told him through her tears.

Karma’s grip on him became tighter, his head still burrowed on Gakushuu’s shoulder. Everyone in the audience was clapping them on and their fellow teammates were still praising Karma for getting the last question right. Yet, Gakushuu only focused on the boy he’s holding tightly. The stage lights felt hot against his skin, probably the hottest he ever felt, he could feel the adrenaline grow stronger in his chest as he pressed his head against Karma’s.

Then, Karma leans back with a wide grin on his face, “So, knight in shining armor?”

Gakushuu smiles back, “Knight in shining armor.”

Everything happens in a blur. They do the formalities, shake the oponnents’ hand, receive their medals, until they are dragged backstage so the host could do a proper ending ceremony.

Karma had his arm slung over Gakushuu with golden medals present on their necks, Ueda was biting down on his own while Hayachi stood in the middle with the big, golden trophy in her hands, standing beside her were Matsui and Yoshida who were holding their medals in the air.

Click!

Mr. Watanabe lowers down his camera and motions for them to come closer. “Congratulations on the win, everyone!” He exclaims. “You kids have worked so hard to get to this point, so I’ll treat you to a celebratory dinner. Would you guys like that?”

Around Gakushuu, everyone yells in agreement. Karma raises a phone in front of his face and squeezes their cheeks together, his tongue sticking out while Gakushuu smiles shyly.

“Who are you going to send that to?” He asked from between Karma’s clutch.

“To everyone,” Karma answered. Then, out of nowhere, he pulls Gakushuu in a headlock and ruffles his hair.

“Now this is for me,” Karma says after taking another picture. Gakushuu yelps and pries his hands away off of him, patting his hair down and pouting just a bit.

“What, starting a private collection now?” He says jokingly.

“Gakushuu.”

“Yeah?”

Karma tugs on his wrist, “I have to talk to you.”

He suddenly felt nervous. His heart was stammering in his chest as he let Karma pull him away from the chaos of the backstage and into a dressing room down the hallway. He shut the door close behind him, Karma’s back turned to him with their hands still clasped together.

“What is it?” He croaked out.

Like a flash of lightning, Karma turned back and pinned him to a wall. Their faces were so close that Gakushuu could see the hue of pink on Karma’s cheeks, how a bead of sweat was falling down his temple, and fuck he wants to-

Karma had just pecked him on the lips.

“You can do better than that,” Gakushuu snickered out.

The redhead smiled and cupped the side of Gakushuu’s cheek, his other hand finding its way on his hair as he tugs it back lightly.

“Needed to know if you’d push me away,” Karma whispered.

Gakushuu couldn’t resist himself, like seriously? Was it not obvious enough?

He took it upon himself to push Karma’s head forward, their lips coming in contact once again. For his first kiss, this wasn’t bad at all. It’s good, it’s nice, it feels wonderful, delectable, perfect. He tasted like bubblegum, the super sweet strawberry one that Karma had been chewing in the bus while on the way to the theatre. His lips were soft, too. All those months he spent wondering how it felt like to kiss Karma and finally, finally it happened.

Karma pulled back, “I like you. A lot.”

“Took you long enough, idiot,” Gakushuu says softly. “I like you too. A lot. Probably more than you like me.”

Karma raised his eyebrow, “Oh yeah, how long?”

“Ever since you moved in,” He answered.

“What?!”

Gakushuu jumped in surprise, “What?”

Karma pulled him and caught his lips again. “We could’ve been doing this sooner,” He says into his mouth. He licks Gakushuu’s bottom lip, asking for entrance, and he lets him. Their tongues meet each other, a low moan rattled inside his throat as the kiss went from careful, shy, unsure to heavy, wet, and passionate real quick.

Gakushuu pulls back first. There was a string of saliva connecting them and he watched Karma karate chop it awkwardly, trying to stifle back a laugh when it didn’t disconnect at the first try.

Karma smirked. “What’s so funny, Asano?”

Gakushuu’s suddenly laughter died down. Seeing Karma with his hair all tousled because he had roamed his hands there during their kiss, the top three buttons of his white polo open baring his neck covered in sweat, his cheeks that were flushed pink, and he had this look in his eyes that he felt like he could get lost into. Gakushuu did that. He was the reason why Karma’s looking like a hot mess right now.

A smug smile finds its way on his face. He tugs Karma’s hair, pulling him forward to connect their lips again. He sinks his teeth on Karma’s bottom lip, enjoying the whimper he emitted, before kissing him hastily. Their tongues met each other again but he pulled back before they could go even deeper.

Karma whined at the lost.

“The others must be looking for us,” Gakushuu points out and turns his head to the door. He tries his best to avoid looking at Karma, especially when he looks like that. He just wants to kiss him again and again and again.

“They could wait.”

Gakushuu meets his own eyes in a mirror hung up across the room, realizing that wow, he’s no different. If Karma’s hair was tousled, then his hair looked like a tornado threw it around and left it like that.

“We can do it later,” He says when the other boy tilted his head in confusion.

Karma pouted, “But you look so good right now.”

Gakushuu felt his face burning up. “I- I don’t, you- what do you- shut up,” He stammered out and covered his face with his hands.

He counted silently in his mind, a technique he used whenever he felt nervous. Usually he uses it whenever he’s about to present in front of the class, but now he’s using it because of Karma.

The said boy pried Gakushuu’s hands away from his face and smiled at him. “Better keep your words then,” He said and reached out to pat Gakushuu’s hair down.

As if on cue, the door creaked open and in a terrifying moment where the both of them slowly turned their heads towards the door, with Gakushuu’s mind thinking of all the different explanations he could give out, Yoshida’s head popped in.

She looked at them for a while, the gears in her brain turning before her eyes flew open and her mouth slacked.

“Yoshida-san, this isn’t what it looks like. We were-”

She stepped inside and closed the door behind her quietly. Her hands were up in the air, a devious smile suddenly present on her lips. “I knew it!” She whispered excitedly.

“Huh?”

Gakushuu must’ve looked terrified because Yoshida then gives him a serious look. “Don’t worry, Asano-kun. Your secret’s safe with me. I won’t tell the others, okay?” She says.

Karma dropped his hand from Gakushuu’s hair and used it to pat his hair down as well. “Why? You could easily out us. What’s with the kindness?” He asked suspiciously.

Yoshida perks up, “Well… I had always thought you guys were dating. Actually, we all thought that.”

“Oh.”

“Ah well, let’s forget about this conversation, yeah?” Yoshia laughed, “Everyone’s looking for you guys. I mean, we’re hungry after all. A dinner sounds nice after a well-deserved win.”

“Thank you,” Gakushuu says.

Yoshida gave them an earnest smile, “There’s nothing to thank about, Asano-kun. It’s the 20th century, I know at least five gay couples and a whole lot more closeted people in our school. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, thank you, Yoshida-san. We’ll tell the others when we’re ready,” Karma said.

“Of course!” Then, she pushes both of their backs towards the door. “Everyone, they’re here! They got lost while looking for the bathroom.”

—

Gakushuu had more eyes on him than usual. Not like he wasn’t used to it already, seeing how he had always been popular with the girls and would often catch them staring at him in the hallways. But right now, something feels off.

His theory was proved when two of his girl classmates, ones he recognized as serious people who would often place top 5 and 6 in the class rankings, were gushing to each other and glancing at him. It was outrageous. They weren't even trying to hide that they were talking about him.

He lets his instinct take over and walk over to them. He noticed how they halted, glanced at his neck, and started giggling. What the hell?

“What are you-” He started once he reached their table.

“Asano!”

He turned around to see the four virtuosos approaching him. He sees Ren and Seo glance down at his neck as well, which made him self-consciously cover it with his hand.

“Did you get hit by a poll or something? There’s a bruise on your neck,” Koyama pointed out.

Seo hits him at the back of the head. “That’s a hickey, you idiot!” He hissed out.

“Ow! Geez, okay I was just saying.”

The feeling of Karma sinking in his two canine teeth on his neck flashed in his mind. Right, him and Karma did make out after getting back to the dorms. They actually made out multiple times. And he forgot to cover it up. So much for being a smartass.

“So who’s the lucky girl, Asano-kun?” One of the girls asked him.

He will not be teased for this. He refuses to be teased by other people who are not Karma Akabane.

“Mind your own business,” He glared at them.

“But you rejected every girl who confessed to you! You rejected my confession last year, remember? At least tell me who you accepted this time,” She replied, batting her eyelashes at him.

Is she guilt tripping him? Seriously?

“C’mon girls, respect our class president’s privacy,” Ren laughed nervously.

“I don’t owe you anything,” Gakushuu continued.

“Just give me the name. It’s not a big deal.”

“I don’t want to give you the name.”

“Oh, look! Akabane’s here! Asano, Akabane is here!” Araki exclaimed loudly, pointing at the said guy who had just arrived in class. Karma stopped by the doorway, saw that 7 people were already looking at him, assessed the situation, before bursting in laughter and throwing Gakushuu his jacket.

“You better cover that up, Shuuey-chan~” He teased and sat down on his seat.

He held the jacket in his hands and raised his eyebrow in question, “I thought I told you that you can keep this?”

Karma turned back and smirked, “You clearly need it more than I do.”

Gakushuu felt like that was a challenge. A challenge he doesn’t mind partaking on.

“Shuuey-chan?” The girl muttered in shock.

Ren looked at them, “Uhh, it’s a… it’s a rival thing.”

“Oh.”

He heard Ren give the two girls an apology and explained why Gakushuu was acting weird, something to do about winning sickness and missing Tokyo, and it made Gakushuu want to laugh at their faces for believing such a lame excuse.

He went back to his seat and wore his jacket. “Stop with the look, Karma. I’ll make you pay next time,” He says.

“When’s next time?”

Gakushuu turned to him and pinched the bridge of Karma’s nose hard.

“Ow! What was that for?!” The boy complained, raising a hand up to swat Gakushuu’s hand away.

“Everyone’s been staring at me because of the stupid hickey you gave me, you idiot,” He angrily whispered, making sure that no one was able to hear them.

“Aww, shall I not do that again?”

Gakushuu takes a while to answer.

“No.”

“No I shouldn’t do it again or-”

“I meant you can do it again but don’t put it in such an obvious place, you big dumbass.”

Karma grinned triumphantly.

“Stop acting like you’ve won. You didn’t win anything.”

“I’ve won you.”

Gakushuu covers his face with his hands and counts 1 to 10.

“What are you doing?” Karma asked curiously, prying Gakushuu’s hands away from his face. Their faces were so close again. If it wasn’t because they’re inside the classroom right now waiting for Homeroom to start and that they were sitting at the very front where everyone could see them, Gakushuu thinks he would’ve kissed Karma already.

“Having you as my boyfriend is so much worse,” He grumbled out.

“So much worse than what? I can be your rival, your friend, your boyfriend, your-”

Gakushuu slaps his hand on Karma’s mouth, “Stop being so loud.”

He felt something wet poke his hand. Karma had licked him.

He removes it and wipes it on his trousers, “You are so disgusting.”

“You didn’t find it disgusting when we shared salivas.”

Gakushuu felt like the heat of a thousand stars glowering on him.

“I hate you.”

Karma smiled. “No, you don’t.”

Gakushuu stupidly smiled back, “No, I don’t.”