Chapter Text
The quiet sounds of footsteps echoed through the small apartment, followed by the gentle shutting of a door. With a book bag slung over his right shoulder, a young man slowly crept through the still home, silent as a mouse.
The young man could barely even be called so; he was only fifteen years old. His looks did not betray his age, though. Large, brown eyes sat behind a shaggy head of purple-brown hair, narrowed in concentration. His tanned, sun-kissed skin shone in the bright light streaming through the apartment’s windows as he made his way past the small living room. He wore a dull-grey knit sweater with a tall collar, along with black dress pants that ended at his ankles. Multiple sets of black earrings adorned his ears, somewhat hid by his shaggy, dark locks.
Briefly, the boy glanced over at the sofa where his father laid. The older man snored loudly, an arm draped over his eyes as he was barely even balanced on the seat. The boy stifled a small smile at the sight before making his way past.
No doubt dad had worked another late night. The boy hoped he at least ate dinner before falling asleep.
His black polished shoes stopped at the front door. Carefully, the boy adjusted the bag before reaching his right arm forward, opening and stepping out quietly so as to not disturb his father’s rest. As he shut the door behind him, he re-adjusted the bag before heading off to school.
It was a nice morning, he thought. The sun was bright and high in the sky, yet a gentle breeze shook the passing trees in a way that felt perfect to him. The wind ruffled his loose clothing, making him smile slightly, though it was gone in an instant.
The boy’s name was Adriel Min, son of Asher Min, however his father preferred to go by just Asher. Around him, Adriel had gotten strange stares from the people on the streets as he walked to school.
Perhaps it was his piercings and various scars that grabbed their attention. Or perhaps the black glove that rested on his left hand, despite it only being spring. Or perhaps it was his tan skin and foreign features that made him stand out. Either way, Adriel simply ignored the stares with a blank look. Pulling out his earbuds, he plugged them in before blasting his favourite song.
After what felt like quite a long amount of walking, he had made his way to school. Staring up at the pink building, Adriel couldn’t help but admire its architecture. Though bright pink struck him as a bit of an odd choice, he couldn’t deny the building’s beauty. With a smile, he walked through the front gates, ready to begin his first year. Around him, the cherry trees swayed in the cool wind.
Unfortunately, his arrival had stirred a bit of attention. Even with his earbuds in, and with slightly blurred vision, he could still sense the students around him whispering. Behind yellow-clothed hands and violet-donner shoulders, his rich classmates seemed to pay just a little bit too much attention to his makeshift uniform.
The loose-almost flowy material made him look perhaps too casual for such an elite academy. Still, Adriel simply ignored their burning gazes. He didn’t have any better clothes anyways.
‘Class 1-A, right? That shouldn’t be too hard to find. Let’s just hope it’s close’
“Everyone, please welcome your new classmate! You may come in now”
With a deep breath, Adriel walked into the classroom, closing the door gently behind him. Turning to face the class, his face remained the same: blank and unassuming.
“My name is Adriel Min. Please take care of me”
As monotone as his voice was, the words came out gently, quiet even. His voice wasn’t very deep, neither was it annoyingly high. It was just soft spoken, the class noted.
He didn’t bat an eye as numerous stares were sent back at him. Two twins, a group of gossiping girls, a doe-eyed brunet… Adriel had gotten used to stares everywhere he went, this was no big deal to him. The teacher smiled at him, turning to face the class with a happy look.
“Does anyone have any questions for Adriel?”
Almost immediately, a girl in the back with a ribbon in her hair raised her hand. The teacher called upon her with a smile. “Yes, Renge?”
“Where are you from?”
“Singapore” Adriel responded with a shrug. “It’s a nice place. Really hot, though”
At the continuing sound of his voice, a few people in the room turned pink. At what, Adriel didn’t know. A boy in the front raised his hand, the teacher calling him once more. “Akemi?”
“Why are you here so late?”
“I was a bit busy with personal matters. I asked the school to postpone my enrollment for a few weeks” he responded. Various other questions were asked, and Adriel did the best he could to answer.
“Are you a commoner?”
“Are you single?”
“Why aren’t you wearing the uniform?”
“Why are you wearing piercings?”
“How tall are you?”
‘Is it normal to ask these questions on the first meeting?’ Adriel thought as he replied to each one with a monotone voice. The twins sitting a few rows back kept on staring straight into his soul with calculating eyes, making him feel just a bit more uncomfortable than he liked.
The one on the left raised his hand. “Why are you only wearing one glove?”
Adriel looked down at his left hand, the black leather adorning it dully staring back at him. Repeating his already-rehearsed answer, Adriel spoke flatly “I got a burn a couple days ago. I’m just wearing this to cover it up, since it’s still recovering”
The twin seemed to nod, before lowering his hand. After what felt like a hundred more questions, Adriel was finally shown to his seat. Just behind the brown-haired student that he noticed earlier. As he pulled out his notebook, he prepared to study for his favourite subject; Literature.
Flipping through the book (that seemed just a little bit too big), the twins sitting diagonally from him took notice of the various ink-filled pages. Messy handwriting filled each paper to the brim; no doubt he was a literature nerd, they noted.
And yet, Adriel’s small smile, round eyes and gentle expression was enough to make the group of girls on his left blush. Even if it were directed to his notebook, and only his notebook. The twins stared at each other before raising their brows.
“Thank you for having me, Suoh-san” Adriel softly said, shifting in his seat. Across from him, the cheery headmaster only smiled back.
“Nonsense, Min! I only wanted to discuss your scholarship details. It was written on your acceptance letter, but I would like to go more into detail now”
After a nod from the student, the man began to explain.
“For your program, I expect a creative writing piece every two weeks. They must follow the same story as the previous one submitted. After four months, I would like you to start a new story with a different plotline. Along with this, I expect a poem or short story every month.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes. Do you have any questions?”
“One, if I may ask?”
Receiving a nod from the headmaster, Adriel turned pink with embarrassment as he sheepishly smiled. “Do you have a map of the school? I never got one. It took me a while to find my first class”
The man blinked before laughing. “Ah, my apologies! It must’ve slipped my mind. How about I arrange a tour for you instead?”
“Would that be alright?” Adriel asked with wide eyes. His shaggy hair shook as he looked up in surprise.
“Of course, Min. Will you be fine for the rest of the day? I can arrange someone to show you around at the end of the day”
“That would be fine, Suoh-san”
“Splendid! Then, enjoy the rest of your lunch period”
With that, Adriel left the office, breathing out a short sigh of relief. Walking through the halls, he stared out the window as he passed.
‘I hope you’re proud, Mom. I’m doing the best I can’
Making his way down a flight of stairs, he clutched onto the handrail with his right arm as best as he could. Carefully, one foot after the other, Adriel walked down, albeit a bit slowly. When he was at the bottom, he breathed a sigh of relief before smiling slightly.
Around him, the students whispered behind their hands. The strange way he almost seemed to limp with every step… was he on drugs or something?
The back gardens of the school were beautiful, he noted. Taking a seat on a stone bench by an...interestingly shaped fountain, Adriel pulled out his bento. Simply enough, he just had some leftover chili crab and rice from last night’s dinner. Nothing else, other than a small bottle of water that he packed for himself this morning.
After taking one look at the cafeteria earlier, he decided it would be best to eat elsewhere. Adriel wasn’t exactly a very social guy; he was much too scared of crowded places, and too shy to try and strike up his own conversations. Making friends, although wasn’t something he was horrible at, definitely wasn’t his strong suit either.
Besides, he liked the quiet more than chaos. Was it due to his shy nature? Or perhaps his past, unfortunate occurrences in the chaos of rushing crowds that left him feeling anxious around other people? Adriel shook off the thought with a small scowl, going back to his usual blank expression soon after.
Either way, the quiet also made it easier for him to read as well.
Flipping through the thick pages of The Testaments, he ate his food with his right hand, pausing to put his chopsticks down before flipping the page with the same hand. His left arm laid by his side, unmoving. To anyone who could have been watching, it probably looked like an awkward motion. It was a good thing no one was watching, he thought.
As he was reading and enjoying himself, he failed to notice the looks he got from two upperclassmen from the window above him.
The pair were walking by the window when they had spotted the new student from above. Pausing in the hallway, they stared down at him.
The shorter one looked in confusion, quickly turning to curiosity. “Takashi? I’ve never seen him before, who’s that?”
Mori only grunted in response, unable to answer. He hadn’t any idea either. Honey continued to look in curiosity.
“He has piercings… aren’t those not allowed?”
“Hm”
Again, there was a silence between the two. Finally, Honey frowned. “He looks a little scary. Maybe we should be careful around him”
Though he didn’t say anything, Mori silently agreed. The pair continued on their way to the host club, as though the exchange didn’t even happen.
All the while Adriel hadn’t known it existed at all.
“I’m telling you, Boss! The girls loved him!” Hikaru exclaimed, stretching his arms out to somehow prove his point. “Maybe it’s some new kinda thing? I don’t know, he looked like a thug”
“Piercings, scars, loose clothes and shaggy hair doesn’t really sound like host material” Kyoya somewhat-sarcastically noted. He flashed a fake smile to the rest of the group. “But if what you said was true, why do you think so?”
“I guess the girls like bad-boys or something” Kaoru shrugged, feigning innocence. “But he spoke weirdly politely, though. It didn’t suit his looks”
The four members host club was seated inside Music Room 3, chatting amongst themselves about what seemed to be the hottest news in the school. That mysterious, rough yet gentle looking boy from class 1-A seemed to be getting all kinds of attention, both good and bad.
“Perhaps he might be a tough-on-the-outside-type, but he’s actually a gentle one?” Tamaki asked with a wondering look. “What else do you know about him?”
“His name’s Adriel Min. Moved here from Singapore a few years ago. You can tell he’s a foreigner” Hikaru stated matter-of-factly. “Grabbed a few lovey-dovey stares from the people in our class. From both guys and girls, I mean”
“He got a few glares too. I’m guessing some people don’t like the way he looks” Kaoru added. Before he was able to continue, the sounds of the room’s door opening alerted the small group. Two more people walked in, just as curious in the conversation.
“Who are you guys talking about?” Honey asked as he and Mori made their way into the room, having been a bit late.
The only one who wasn’t present yet was Haruhi, who had been held up by the headmaster.
“Adriel Min, the newest scholarship student” Kyoya answered. He began typing on his computer, clacking away in the background.
“Scholarship?!” Tamaki jumped. “From the sounds of it, he doesn’t seem like the type. What for?”
“...”
“Mommy?”
Kyoya didn’t look over as he answered. “I don’t know yet”
“Wait, you don’t know?” The twins looked at each other in surprise. “I thought you knew everything”
Kyoya didn’t even spare them a glance as he continued to type on his keyboard. Albeit noticeably faster than usual, as though he were growing frustrated in himself. His lack of answer only meant one thing; even the shadow king didn’t know much about the mysterious boy.
His information seemed to be blocked by officials. Why, exactly, Kyoya had absolutely no clue. Even with his skills in web-searching, he was unable to find any sort of data about this strange young man. Though he didn’t let it show outwardly, it was clear that he was ticked off by this fact.
“What do you think, Hika-chan? He seems a little scary” Honey frowned, clutching hold of his bunny a bit tighter. “We saw him on our way here. Have you talked to him yet?”
“Nah, he doesn’t seem like a talker. He’s quiet” the twin answered. “It’s weird, the way he talks. He’s so monotone, it’s off putting”
The door opened and closed again, this time welcoming the last remaining member of the host club. The group glanced over at her.
“Are you guys talking about that new guy in our class?” Haruhi asked as she made her way inside the clubroom, shutting the door behind her. In her hands was a map of the school, as well as her lunch.
“Yeah, that Min kid. He’s kind of weird, isn’t he?” Kaoru asked the girl, lying down on the satin sofa.
“You guys gossip way too much, I’m sure he’s nice” she huffed. As she sat down at a table and began to eat, Haruhi only got stares from the rest of the club. Turning her head to face them, she raised a brow. “What?”
“Haruhiiiiii! Have you been talking with that thug without me knowing?!” Tamaki yelled, grabbing and shaking her by the shoulders. She let out an awkwardly choked sound.
“W-what are you-you ta-alking abo-ut?!” she choked out between aggressive shakes.
Mori grabbed Tamaki by the arms and pulled him away from the girl, earning him a small thank-you.
“How do you know he’s nice?” Hikaru quirked a brow.
“How do you know he’s mean?” Haruhi huffed in response. “Look, I’ll be showing him around later after school, so I’ll see for myself what he’s like. Can we eat lunch now?”
“Wai-hold on, you’ll do what?!” Tamaki shouted in the background, being politely ignored by everyone else. The blond practically sobbed at the lack of attention he got back.
“Is that why you were being held back today?” Kyoya asked, finally shutting his laptop and facing the group.
“Yeah. The headmaster wants me to show him around, since he’s new. I’ll be a bit late for the club, sorry” she responded as she took another bite of her food. Kyoya nodded at the information, wondering if he should keep this instance in mind for future “use”.
Haruhi’s nonchalant attitude didn’t mix well with the rest of the group. They looked around at each other, mixes of worry and irritation clear on their faces (apart from Kyoya and Mori, of course).
From what they had gathered so far, this mysterious boy that grabbed everyone’s attention upon first arrival seemed to be dangerous. What else could explain his scars? Not to mention his strange limp that people had been gossiping about earlier.
It just made so much sense in their heads that Harui was simply unsafe when being around this boy later. The group members looked around each other, and just like that, a plan was put into action.
All without poor Haruhi’s knowledge, of course.
“Hey, you’re Adriel, right?”
“Yeah, and you’re Fujioka?” Adriel tilted his head slightly as he adjusted the bag on his shoulder.
The pair was standing just outside the office, where they were asked to meet. The bell had rung only a few minutes ago. Thankfully, Adriel’s last class of the day was close to the office, so he had no trouble getting there.
Not thankfully, the crowds of students lingering in the hallways did nothing to ease his nerves. Still, he pushed them aside as he faced the one in front of him.
‘I’m at least glad Suoh-san chose him. He seems pretty chill’
“Oh, you can just call me Haruhi. Ready to go?” Haruhi smiled. Nodding, Adriel offered a small one back as they began to walk together.
Through the halls they went, making small idle chatter. As it turned out, the twins were right about Adriel being quiet, but Haruhi could tell it wasn’t out of rudeness.
The boy she was leading around just seemed to be naturally reserved. Throughout their journey, he mostly walked with a blank look on his face, as though he were deep in thought. Yet, Haruhi felt all the more welcome in his presence. Adriel had an air of peace to him, one that overlooked his outward appearance.
Not that Haruhi really cared about those things anyways.
“Suoh-san said you were another scholarship student” Adriel broke their comfortable silence. Haruhi glanced behind her, before flashing a small smile.
“Yeah, for academics. He said the same about you. Are you here for academics too?”
“Not really. I’m here for art”
“Oh, really? That’s pretty cool” she noted with wide eyes. “I bet you’re an amazing drawer, congratulations”
For a moment, Adrien seemed to stifle a laugh. Quirking a brow, Haruhi wondered if perhaps she had just imagined it. It had passed so quickly, it seemed unreal.
Yet the small, amused smile remaining on his face said otherwise. “I’m a writer”
It was quiet for a second, as Haruhi let out a small “ohhhh”. Smiling bashfully, she scratched the back of her head. “Sorry about that. Writing seems pretty cool too! What kind of books do you like?”
“Have you heard of Magaret Atwood?”
“Oh my gosh, no way!”
Just like that, they seemed to click. All previous tension of any sort went down the drain as they began to bond over their favourite books, Haruhi admittedly dominating most of the conversation. It didn’t bother either of them, though.
Just because he was quiet didn’t mean Adriel was a horrible socializer. He just didn’t appreciate the loud, boisterous sounds of crowds. Quiet, calm conversations were more of his specialty. He usually warmed up to people a bit later down the line.
Yet, as they continued their tour, Adriel could tell that Haruhi was going to become a friend in the future. It brought him a sense of comfort knowing that there was at least someone who seemed to understand him in the school. All his other classmates either stared at him weirdly, or bushed and ran away at every single encounter.
And here someone was, geeking out with him over their favourite literature. Adriel smiled. Haruhi was cool.
As she began to explain the plot of a new book she was reading, Adriel couldn’t help but suddenly feel a slight unease. There was a burning at the back of his head, as though countless eyes were staring straight at him. Swiftly turning around, he looked back.
No one was there, but he could see the quickest movement out of the corner of his left eye. Granted, that eye didn’t exactly work very well. Shaking off the feeling, he tried to focus on Haruhi’s words again, only to no avail.
As they rounded another corner, Adriel turned his head sharper this time.
He managed to catch a swift tuft of blond hair ducking behind a pillar. Adriel tilted his head a little.
He didn’t know any blonds. In fact, he had barely interacted with anyone apart from Haruhi today, and those little interactions could barely even be called so. Did he already make another enemy? Sighing, he turned back to face the one leading him around.
“Haruhi, do you think someone’s following us?”
“Uh…”
Haruhi seemed to freeze for a moment, before an irritated look crossed her face. She mumbled under her breath. “Are you kidding me…”
“What?”
“Nothing! Let’s just keep going” she quickly replied, perhaps a bit too quickly for Adriel took notice of her sudden nerves. Yet, he said nothing. Whoever was following them, he didn’t really care too hard.
That was kind of his thing; not really caring about the negatives. Albeit, perhaps that sounded a bit lax, but Adriel didn’t exactly give much attention to the things that hated him. He had been taught to face opposition with respect and intuition instead of loathing. This, of course, didn’t work for every circumstance, but it was a foundation he used most days.
So he shrugged off the weird stalkers, continuing his conversation with Haruhi, who seemed to be walking a bit faster now. Her pace was a bit harder to keep up with, as Adriel needed to push his right foot forward harder now. It almost looked like he was skipping, oddly. If his limp wasn’t noticeable before, it definitely was now. Though Haruhi didn’t seem to see it, only focusing on attempting to shake off their followers.
As they quickly approached a flight of stairs, he took his right arm out of his pocket and prepared to grab a hold of the handrail on the wall.
Only for Haruhi to grab his hand and quickly make her way down the stairs in haste. Or, at least, she tried to.
It was a moment of complete tomfuckery, Adriel quickly realized. His eyes widened at the unexpected tug, stumbling over his legs. In an instant, he had lost balance, tripping over his own intertwined feet as he fell forward. Unfortunately, he took Haruhi down the stairs with him.
Crack!
“Ah!”
“Ow!”
There was a sudden crashing feeling of his back against the polished ground as he blinked, dazed. He mumbled under his breath. “Again?...”
Sadly, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened to him.
Pulling himself to a sitting position, he quickly ran his right hand over his legs and other arm, wondering if anything had possibly been damaged. His left leg seemed to be fine, but he had yet to check over his left arm yet. When they fell down, he had heard a sickeningly loud cracking sound, however he was unsure as to who or where it came from.
‘Hopefully not Haruhi’ he thought.
Haruhi was sprawled on the ground beside him, at the foot of the staircase they had unfortunately tumbled down. Luckily, neither of them were truly hurt, however their fall had grabbed the attention of the group that was stalking them earlier.
Especially with the loud, crunching noise that had erupted from the action.
Quickly standing back on her feet, she began to stammer. “Oh god, I’m so sorry! Here, let me help you up”
Reaching down, she grabbed Adriel’s gloved hand out of a slip-of-mind. His eyes widened, as he quickly realized what was about to happen.
“Oh no wait don’t-”
Haruhi pulled her arm back, and a loud Pop! echoed through the halls.
Her arm felt way too light to be holding the weight of one person, and Haruhi realized very quickly that something was very wrong. She opened one eye cautiously, mind swarming with terribly gruesome thoughts as to what could’ve made the popping sound. With wide eyes and a shaky figure, she glanced down at her hand in fear.
Just as she had been thinking, but attempting not to, in her hand was Adriel’s arm. Adriel himself not-attached.
They stared at each other awkwardly for a few seconds, as though time had frozen. Adriel’s eyes were wide with surprise and slight fear. Haruhi at this point was way past the point of slight, though.
“Uh, Haruhi?”
“AAAAHHHHH!!!!”
Dropping his left arm, she collapsed onto the ground in fear, her knees unable to hold anymore. Haruhi seriously felt like she was going to puke.
On the bright side, there were a few good things in this situation. For one, the hallways were barren of any visible students, meaning that Haruhi’s scream didn’t attract anyone new’s attention. That was good news, especially to Adriel, who kind of looked like he wanted to disappear at that moment.
On the down side, her scream did unfortunately alert the group of stalkers that had been following them previously. Having already been worried of her fall down the stairs, a rush of footsteps quickly drew near as the host club made themselves known.
Tamaki was the first to arrive, having jumped up as soon as he heard Haruhi yell. In his head, a thousand thoughts ran through his brain at the speed of light, each more worrisome than the last. It was a horrible idea to let her go alone with that thug, he thought avidly! Who knows what that boy did to her!
The two third years were quick to follow behind. The only reason why they seemed to be slower was because Tamaki was practically pushing past them, in his hurried state. The twins came after, although they too were quite fast. Finally, Kyoya walked at a normal pace over to where the situation was, being left behind in their dust.
Down the staircase Tamaki ran, almost tripping himself. He saw red; Haruhi was on the floor, shaking in what seemed to be fear. Across from her, that mysterious boy held his arms out to her, seemingly speaking to her.
If Tamaki were to slow down and actually use his brain, he would realize that Adriel was attempting to calm her down.
Unfortunately, the king was not that kind of person. All he could see was a thug reaching out at Haruhi in an attempt to try something. Jumping up into the air, he brought his foot forward into an almost comical-looking pose.
Adriel froze hearing the sounds of rushing footsteps to his left. From his blurred vision, he could make out the figure of someone jumping straight at him. He would’ve laughed at the absurdity of it all, had it not been for his literal shaking fear.
“Tama-chan kick!”
Turning his head to the left, he came face-to-foot with the host club king’s black polished shoe.
Man, Adriel was always bad at first impressions.