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Every morning on the island was the very same tired old routine. Fuyuhiko would find himself waking up, much earlier than most of his ragtag classmates could even begin to fathom (for good reason, mind you,) and always seem to find a familiar face waiting outside his cabin door, in a rather stiff, less than incognito fashion, accompanied by an equally familiar habit that had found itself creeping back into their respective mornings. Despite telling Peko that they had both ought to act like strangers while on their rather unexpected school trip, the unforeseen circumstances had left more than one sour tasting inconvenience in his mouth and because of this, at times, their rendezvous seemed inevitable.
The various problems that arose left and right from this less than conventional situation (surprisingly enough besides the fact people were being murdered.) tended to be manageable in their own unique ways.... But this problem in particular was a little more delicate in nature, and the absence of his usual right-hand side companion had only made it glaringly obvious that Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu had never learnt how to tie a tie. As risky as it were to be caught in act, he was quite sure of himself that no one else would ever be catching onto the real reason for their not quite impromptu meetings anytime soon.
Aside from the fact that any activity before sunrise was a time often untouched by your everyday island-goer, his closest neighbours weren’t exactly the smartest of the bunch, nor were they ace detectives or anything of that ilk. The only one with any common sense, that Togami guy, had taken an untimely departure soon enough into their trip for them to go ultimately undetected. A regrettable price, but a price, nonetheless. Hinata was... well... at the very least, he didn’t seem to pose much of a threat; he was rather harmless. Nidai would probably have too much respect for Peko to utter anything but lighthearted teasing, if he wasn’t already too preoccupied with training in the first place, and Fuyuhiko was even more certain that no one would ever take any sort of ridiculous claim coming from Komaeda seriously; And if anything, he could always rest assured that that Souda bastard would probably just think up some weird perversion before ever even coming close to scraping within an inch of the truth.
It’s not like the heir to the Kuzuryu clan was an idiot or anything, in fact he had long since grown to resent the extra assistance it took him to be presentable in the morning; but now, standing alone in his cabin, the silence eerie and cruel, he couldn’t help but yearn for the very thing he once thought he’d give anything to shake off. It was humiliating, it was embarrassing and tedious and frustrating and he could never stay still enough, but even so... It wasn’t just a matter of self-presentation at stake anymore... He’d truly give anything to have her back now, even if it had meant having this stupid morning routine be part of his day for the rest of his life.
“What-the-fuck-ever,” he growls out in frustration, breaking free from his depressing stupor; he’d be damned if he spent what pathetic remainder of a second chance at life he had on moping. He’d already made that decision.
He steadies himself, and he’s rather unsure if it’s actually balance in his stance that he’s seeking, or somewhere in his heart, but the act helps all the same as he fumbles with the fabric. It’s unsteady in his clammy hands, and it keeps slipping through his fingers, or getting caught in crooked knots in all the wrong places; he’s hardly used to the skewed vision he was left with, in the wake of Pekos’ execution, and it’s not like he could do it anyways in the first fucking place. He should have known better than to try his hand at it.
But what to do about it... what indeed.
It’s not like there was the help of the internet at his infinite disposal, and the library was far too long a trek to go unnoticed; he stood there weighing up the options in his mind, and while he briefly considered saying fuck it and throwing all self-composure to the wind, he also thought about how honestly shameful he’d feel showing up to face everyone looking like a disheveled mess, braving the crowd in such an undignified and broken looking manner. There was also a chance no one would give half a shit, it was just a tie after all, but knowing everyone on this godforsaken island seemed to be quite touchy feely, he didn’t think he was willingly open to any sort of intervention or god forbid, comfort. Was that really so unhealthy? He didn’t want to risk it.
His lengthy rumination comes to a sudden close as it dawns on him; there was one person he could ask. The only other person that actually wore a tie amongst their fellow classmates; sure, it was a tad embarrassing, but what the hell was the alternative route? Surely something far worse he justified, leaving his cabin and trudging over to the one nearly across from his. He shows up at Hajimes’ cabin door, steeling himself before knocking firmly; he doesn’t get an immediate response, which is bad considering the nerves that were biting at his heels, tempting him to turn and run; he could possibly let himself in, after all it was no secret that the lock to Hajimes’ cabin was broken to hell, but he might also get accused of trying to kill the idiot in his sleep.
Ah whatever.
He lets himself in, it beats standing outside twiddling his thumbs or some shit, at least he thinks so, whilst hesitantly taking his first step through the door frame; he had already gone far enough as to open the damn thing, he wasn’t going to shy away at first blush. The first thing he sees his Hajime staring back at him, blinking slowly and red in the face. Processing. He had obviously just been woken up by the knocking... or at least that's what Fuyuhiko would hope.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty." He deadpans, shooting an impatient look to Hinata.
Hajime looks rather unhappy at being scrutinized, but this was the brash sort of behaviour he'd expect from someone with Kuzuryus'.... background.
“Ah... sorry. I was just-"
“Quit your apologising, I don’t want to know anyways,”
“Oh... I see.”
A short breath of air comes from Fuyuhiko at Hajimes’ timid response; it’s nearly a laugh, and definitely a scoff. “Are you scared to talk to me or something?” He asks, raising an eyebrow with intrigue.
Hajimes’ own eyebrows furrow at the question, and he tilts his head to the side a little, looking rather out of sorts. “Huh? N-not really...” he murmurs, sounding a bit unsure.
Fuyuhikos’ face settles on a smile for the smallest fraction of a second, before it disappears as quickly as it came. “No matter. I have a favour to ask you.”
“A favour?” Hajime repeats, taken aback; he really hopes it’s nothing like the usual favours he’s asked for around this place. He really had thought Fuyuhiko would have more self-respect than that, good grief.
“Yes stupid, a favour. You think you can handle that?”
“H-handle what, exactly? You haven’t even told me what you want yet.”
“Tch, shut up.. you're fucking stupid, I know that." He hesitates for a moment.. and his gaze drifts down to his feet for a few moments before he focuses them back on Hajime. "My.. tie." He states plainly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world; he picks the end up from where it had been hanging loose around his collar. "Tie it for me.” He all but demands, staring at Hajime expectantly.
Hajime has to process this for a minute and he finds himself cautiously looking down at his own hands, swallowing heavily. "Me? Why do you need me to do it? can't you just do it yourself?" he asks, looking back up quizzically.
"Don't you fuckin' patronise me, I'm not a kid, don't treat me like one." Fuyuhiko bites out a somewhat harsh sounding sentence, but there's more bark to it than anything, and by the end of the sentence, it's sort of fizzled out. It sounds rather.... sad in a sense. It pulls at something in Hajimes' chest.
"I really wasn't I..." He stops mid-sentence; he starts to gets the feeling he's really stepping the line of a sensitive subject here, so he decidedly backs off. "Ah... sure. If you insist." The taller of the two murmurs, getting to his feet. "Let me take care of y.. well... that.. for you.. I'll take care of it."
He walks over to Fuyuhiko, and awkwardly situates himself in front of the other, stood firmly like a statue of sorts. "Um... let me just..." He mumbles, reaching out and taking the lengthy material between his fingers.
Fuyuhiko begrudgingly waits for him to finish, his head turned bluntly to the side; staring at the bewildered concentration on Hajimes' face was unbearable, let alone all the quirks he could only notice up close and personal that left a strange knotting feeling in his stomach and chest. It was fucking weird. Minutes pass, and it feels like he's getting a crick in the neck.
"What the fuck is taking you so long?" He finally snaps, turning back to face a nervous and equally frustrated looking Hajime. It never took Peko this long.
"Um..."
"Spit it out."
"Well ah... truthfully..." Hajime drops the tie and reaches behind his neck, rubbing at nape in shame. "I only really.. learnt how to do this from um... YouTube tutorials? and uhh..."
"Are you fucking kidding me? You do your own tie every damn day, what the hell's the difference?" Fuyuhiko cuts him off, looking more agitated by the minute. "I came to you asking for you help and what? you wanted to make me look stupid? you're such a bastard!"
Hajime honestly was starting to feel worried for himself right about now. He had to remedy the situation, fast. "No I... ah... I know how to do it but.."
"But what?"
"It's reversed.." Hajime mumbles, looking sheepish as ever.
"Reversed?"
"The tutorial it um... I can only tie it on myself like this?" He explains, making a gesture as if he were tying his own tie. "It's confusing trying to do it the other way."
"God you're hopeless." Fuyuhiko tuts, but there's a small air of sincerity in his tone, as if he almost found it cute or something. Almost.
"Oh.. err.. I'm sure you'll probably get mad at me for this but... I have an idea," Hajime announces suddenly, turning his hand into a fist and bringing it down against his palm decisively. He slowly moves behind Fuyuhiko, hesitantly nestled behind him as if they were queuing up for something in a rather cramped lobby.
"W...what do you think you're doing?" Fuyuhiko asks in a state of shock, his voice sounding very near embarrassed.
"Ah.. What? I can tie it this way if I just..." Hajime answers, leaning his head over Fuyuhikos' shoulder, while creeping his hands and arms around the front of him, grabbing the material between his fingers once again. "Do it like this." He finished in a whisper, as he stopped talking, and started to promptly fix Fuyuhikos' tie for him. He thought it fair to be rather quick about it after stalling for so much time before hand.
He can feel the brushing of hands against his shirt as slender fingers accidentally misstep during the process, and he finds himself holding his breath, as though he was scared, hell terrified, that he'd break if he accidentally bumped into his new found helper. His new found helper who felt surprisingly warm just hovering around him... and oddly comforting; There was a certain air to him that was hard to describe and he thought he wouldn't mind more of it.
"All done, Ta-da!" Hajime exclaims, retracting from Fuyuhiko in a way that made the shorter of the two want to slink back into the touch already; He stood himself back in front of Fuyuhiko, adjusting it a little from the front, before giving him a small pat on the shoulder.
"Thanks... Hajime." He mumbles thoughtfully, intentionally keeping quiet as if it were too embarrassing to thank him any louder. "B-but.. If you tell anyone about this, I'll have you done in, this was a one time thing," Fuyuhiko suddenly glowered, oddly afraid of the implication that came with sounding too grateful. He really had no idea why he was acting like such a jackass truth be told.
"Hmm.. I think I can live with that." Hajime nods, giving Fuyuhiko a kind-hearted smile, accompanied by soft eyes to match. He had definitely seen a different side to the ultimate yakuza, if only briefly, nonetheless, he liked what he had seen.
Fuyuhiko nods back once, as if signifying an unspoken agreement between the two, and turns on his heels, swiftly making his way out the door in a beeline fashion, trying make as much distance between himself and Hajimes' cottage as humanly possible, as fast as possible. It seemed he had been more or less overcome by a more demure demeanour; Hajime follows him to the doorway much like a lost puppy, and calls out to Fuyuhiko from behind him.
"Oh, Fuyuhiko, one more thing!"
Fuyuhiko stops in his tracks at this, not yet daring to turn and face Hajime. "Yes?" He calls back in question, lingering on the words.
"See you again tomorrow."