Work Text:
Quiet days were your favorite. Weekends where most of the class made plans to go to the mall, holidays when people went home to see their families, class movie nights that you opted out of. They were some of your only chances to catch your breath. You loved your class, you really did, but they could be overwhelming. Hitoshi understood that, and he was more than happy to do nothing with you. Sometimes he would nap in your room as you did homework, or you would force him on study dates with you, which almost always ended with the two of you cuddling on the bed, notes long forgotten. No matter the outcome, being near them made you feel safe. Nothing could hurt you when the two of you were together.
"Toshi, can you check my English homework? I just started, but it looks wrong." You looked up at him with begging eyes. "I'll help you with math after." They rolled their eyes, nodding and sticking his hand out for your paper. "Thanks."
He took a moment to read it over. "I have quite the boyfriend, don't I? Pretty and smart. You should be fine." You covered your face, sighing quietly.
"That's the dumbest thing you've ever said."
"But you still love me, don't you pretty boy?"
"Yeah, yeah. What do you need help with in math?" You sat up from where you had previously been sprawled out on the bed, and you moved to sit next to your partner. You leaned against their shoulder and read the assignment he was working on.
"Just about everything," he groaned. "I thought I understood yesterday, and now it appears I'm lost again."
"Okay, well," you grabbed the pencil out of their hand and circled numbers on the paper. "You've almost got it, except for this part. He went over it really quickly earlier, but you actually want to do this instead." You quickly wrote out the correct equation. "If that makes sense?"
"What would I do without you," He sighed. "You're so much better at teaching this shit than Ectoplasm is." You rolled your eyes and swatted them lightly with the pencil before giving it back and moving back to your original spot on the bed.
"You're just saying that because you love me."
"Damn right I do, pretty boy" he winked, reaching out to tousle your hair. You leaned into the warm touch before turning back to your English assignment. The two of you worked in silence for a while, the only noises being the scratches of pencil on paper and the occasional rustle from someone moving. Shinsou noticed how you were starting to clench your hand into a fist, and you wrote slower and slower. "(y/n)?" He moved forward and placed a hand over yours, gently rubbing his thumb in circles over it. "Hey, why don't you open your hand up, okay? I don't want you to hurt yourself." You nodded, slowly relaxing your hand and allowing them to interlace his fingers with yours. He could see the faint crescent shaped outlines of your fingernails against your palms; he wanted to blame himself, wanted to wrap you in their arms and keep you safe. They settled for gentle praise instead. "You're doing so well, love. Such a good boy for me (y/n), doing such a good job, just keep holding my hand, okay?"
"Sorry," you mumbled, tapping your pencil against your leg. Shinsou supposed that counted as harmless, but that didn't stop him from watching the movements in his peripheral.
"None of that, you're doing so well, you did such a good job for me. What's going on, love?"
"Just stressed about English," you sighed. "I'm no good at remembering all of this."
"Love, it'll be okay. Learning a language takes practice. It'll get easier."
You hesitated, and Shinsou wrapped their arm around you in a tight embrace. "But what if it doesn't?"
"Then it doesn't." They exhale, a faint smile on his face. "But you'll have me, your bad-at-math partner, by your side to help." They could sense your displeasure, even if you said nothing. "You don't always have to excel," he whispered.
From anyone else, that might have sounded bitter. Jealous, even. From your partner? It sounded like begging. Like how you plead when you're desperate. Like talking someone down off of a ledge.
"Okay," you closed your eyes, took a breath, and turned to them. "I love you."
Shinsou smiled, and you smiled back. "I love you too, pretty boy. Let's get a snack?"
You snickered. "Absolutely. And when we're adults, living in a little apartment with a concerning number of cats, you're on english duty. I'm in charge of the math."
They opened their mouth to protest, but he closed it after a moment of consideration. "Sounds like a good deal to me," he kissed you on the cheek before pulling you off of the bed, homework be damned. "But right now, I'm gonna see if I can steal Kaminari's chips."