Work Text:
“Do you think you’ll join any clubs?”
Hyuse looked over, having been busying himself with staring out the window absently while he ate.
Okudera was staring at him patiently. Koarai and Taichi also stared, interested in the answer. As if it wasn’t obvious.
“No.”
“How come? Do they not do school clubs in Canada?”
Okudera elbowed Koarai, who looked more offended than hurt. “It’s a real question!”
“A stupid question. Obviously they have clubs in Canadian school, too. But Hyuse was homeschooled, remember?”
Hyuse shrugged, moving on. “I don’t really see the point. I have Border, that’s enough.”
“Dude, that’s so lame.” Koarai had moved on as well. “Border’s fun, but don’t you want to do more than just work?”
He felt like this might be a trick question. “I don’t have time. I’m busy.
“You can’t be that busy,” Koarai pushed. “Everyone finds some sort of time. Like, Okudera does it. Taichi does. Taichi, Hyuse.”
Taichi gave an indignant gasp. “I’m right here.”
“The point stands! If Taichi can find the time, Hyuse can find the time. Tamakoma isn’t that busy.”
He shrugged, taking another bite and turning to stare out the window again. As if that was signal enough to remove himself from the conversation. At least to one of the three, it usually was.
"I'll consider it."
He didn't plan on considering it.
□
"Hmm, so Hyuse wants to join a club?"
"Not particularly."
Yuma leaned back, chin in his hand. Hyuse paid him no mind, more focused on his cup noodles than whatever it was the younger Neighbor was about to say next.
"Why not? It sounds like fun."
"It could be good," Osamu added from over the work he was doing. Even amongst the school papers, Hyuse could recognize the telltale signs of squad strategies and battle tactics that had been mixed in. Always a multitasker.
"Are you joining any?"
"...no, ah. It's--"
"A distraction to our responsibilities."
Osamu offered a placid smile, a small turn of the hand in place of a full shrug. "No, it's just that there aren't any that really interest me. But I'd join if there was."
Beside him, Yuma nodded. "And, Osamu will join anything with me, too. If I ask enough."
Osamu looked tired when he stared at Yuma. But he didn't deny it.
"It still sounds like a waste of time," Hyuse repeated.
"Don't be like that. It could be fun."
Hyuse stared at them both over his noodles. They stared back. An impasse.
"Will this help me win school?"
"Win...school?" Their captain looked confused. Frustrating.
"Yes. Win school."
Yuma snickered. Osamu didn't look any less puzzled. Still, he was thinking it over carefully before giving a so-so motion with his hand.
"It looks better if you do them. Of course, Border will also look good, so. It comes down to you and what you want to do."
"If they both make me look better, then obviously doing both is the best."
"Well--"
Yuma cut Osamu off, nodding vigorously. "Of course. As expected of Hyuse. He's so responsible, setting such a good example for his underclassmen."
"I don't care what they think. I just plan to excel at my given tasks."
With a hum, Yuma tilted his head first to one side, and then the other. Staring at Hyuse for longer than he was comfortable with.
"Don't you want to excel because you're trying to impress somebody?"
Hyuse didn't answer, electing instead to huff into the remains of his cup noodle and avert his attention. He didn't have anyone he wanted to impress. He just needed to prove himself. To command excellence. Be worthy.
To make Rindou see that he was more than capable of handling something like 'school'.
Across the table, Yuma gave a light chuckle. "Osamu, look. A shy Hyuse."
□
"I'm joining a club."
The other three were still loitering around Okudera's desk when Hyuse had made his announcement.
Taichi spun towards him, huge grin splitting his face. "Which one? What made you change your mind?"
The other two also stared expectantly, and Hyuse shrugged.
"I haven't decided yet. But I considered the idea and figured it would be more beneficial to join one than to not."
Koarai laughed. "Geez, way to make it sound so exciting."
Okudera waved Koarai away, leaning around him. Hyuse had stepped away already, settling himself into his desk and not expending any additional effort in being too active in his own conversation.
"What do you like to do? Sports? Liberal arts? You know, stuff like that."
Taichi slammed into Hyuse's desk, leaning back so far in his chair that it was a wonder he didn't fall. "Hyuston! You can do drama with me! It's lots of fun, I can bring you by the club room and we can show you around and it'll be cool."
"No."
The sniper's face fell, and for a moment Hyuse thought that maybe the standard curt dismissal might have been too curt.
"I'm a terrible actor," he amended. If only to curb the suggestion again in the future, and not because he felt any sort of guilt. "And it'd be troublesome to make someone read things for me until it's easier for me to read it on my own."
"Oh, yeah. I guess that makes sense." Taichi seemed to have recovered quickly, rocking the chair back and forth as he thought.
Okudera mimicked the pose, albeit in a less precarious fashion. "What about soccer? You can come by with me. You seem sporty."
"Sporty?" He supposed he could see it, though he had never really considered himself the type.
"I mean. You're good at stuff. And a really talented agent. I don't know, it just makes sense?"
Hyuse turned his attention out the window instead of answering.
After giving him a minute, the conversation moved past him despite the fact that they were still discussing him.
It felt a little strange, having so much choice over what it was he wanted to do. It wasn't as if Hyuse had ever really struggled with making decisions--he considered himself fairly decisive. But, this just felt different. Not wanting for choice almost felt as restrictive as having no choice at all.
He could be decisive, yes. He could take a stance. Even still, selecting something as stupid and meaningless as an after school club for the school life he didn't even want felt like too much to handle. Hyuse had never felt that in control of his life and the thought of making the wrong decision and having that power taken from him was almost as daunting as having it in the first place.
The club was meaningless.
Nothing.
And yet, it felt like it might be his undoing.
□
"Just stay part of the 'Go Home Club'. Then you can do whatever you want."
Hanzaki was only half paying attention, tapping away at a game while he picked at his lunch. "Everyone takes clubs too seriously. They're like, weirdly into it."
Sasamori shook his head. "It's not weird that they're interested in the things they like."
Although he was listening, Hyuse was more focused on his food. It was spicier than he cared for, but he refused to be bested by a dish.
Beside him, Koarai yawned. "Hanzaki's got a point. It is pretty nice just being able to go home whenever you want after school."
"But being part of a team is its own kind of rewarding, too," Sasamori offered. A lone voice in a sea of growing apathy towards school engagement.
Hyuse glanced up at his former teammate, giving a small nod of his head.
Hanzaki didn't, eyes glued to his console. "You're only saying that as part of the student council."
In response, Sasamori wrinkled his nose. Brow furrowed as he took a pointed bite of his lunch. "No. I'm saying it because it's true."
"Huuuu." The sniper continued tapping. Sasamori rolled his eyes.
"We're already parts of teams," Koarai declared in Hanzaki’s place. "We don't need any more."
Hyuse bumped him with his elbow as he ate. It could nearly be passed off as an accident. "Wasn't my joining a club your idea? You should pick a side."
"That doesn't count! You're new, so you should join a club. I already did club stuff and’ve had my fill. Besides, you didn't even go to school in Canada."
At this, Hanzaki looked up. "Do you not have school in Canada? I know you said Canadians sleep alone, but--"
"Ah. This is different. I was home-schooled."
The slight interest that was piqued had been lost. Hanzaki went back to his game.
"Hyuse," Sasamori said instead. "If you haven't been a part of one before, you should try. We're only in high school once, right?"
A shrug.
"Really. I'll go with you if you want to peek in on some different activities," his former teammate pressed.
He considered this briefly, and then nodded a quiet agreement.
"Fine. Just a few."
□
"You sure you don’t wanna come see my club?"
Taichi was practically vibrating as Hyuse gathered his things, a bundle of excitement as he bounced from one foot to the other.
"I'm not interested in drama," he repeated his earlier statement.
"Aaw, but maybe if you come see it, you'll change your mind."
"I won't."
Taichi deflated, dejectedly returning to packing his own bag. "It's so fuuuun though, Hyuse."
He narrowed his eyes, but Taichi ignored him. He simply continued packing his bag at the pace of a turtle. Hyuse waited expectantly.
Honestly, he hadn't even noticed he'd been waiting until Taichi slung his bag over his shoulder and turned to him with a grin, chirping an overly cheery “thanks!” with the motion. Usually Hyuse was already out of the door by that point, at least one of the other three hot on his heels and the other two not far behind. He chalked this one up to his plans with Sasamori, instead.
To Okudera and Koarai having left early, leaving him alone responsible for the excitable sniper.
"So, drama?"
Hyuse reconsidered the fact that he should have left instead. He turned to do so, stepping away without another word. Taichi followed closely behind, shouting.
"Wait, wait! I won't ask again! Hyuuuuuuse!" He wrapped his arms around one of Hyuse’s as he caught up, latching on tightly even as Hyuse attempted to remove him. But even he could recognize a lost cause when he saw one, and let it go. Taichi stayed attached, letting the other practically drag him out the door in their exit.
To his credit, Sasamori didn’t seem particularly phased by Taichi’s antics when they came out of the classroom practically attached at the hip. He was waiting patiently across from the door, leaning against the window. Beside him, Hanzaki was crouched on the floor with his game out. He barely looked up, eyes flicking up in a brief greeting before returning to the screen. Hyuse felt something like respect. Almost.
“You coming, too, Taichi?” Sasamori asked pleasantly, looking between him and Hyuse.
“I can come! Just for a bit. Will you drop me off at the drama room?”
"Aren't you supposed to already be there?" Hanzaki clicked a few more buttons before closing his game and sliding it into his pocket. He stood with stretch, arms high over his head until something popped. "They're gonna kick you out."
Taichi whined, scrunching up his face and pressing it defensively to Hyuse's arm. Hyuse didn't understand why he in particular was still being used as a shield.
"Don't say that, Hanz…! They're just doing the script reading until halfway, then we work on sets. And I'm not one of the actors so--"
"Are they still not letting you on stage after you trashed the set at the last expo?" Hanzaki's lips twitched with a smile, disaffected tone lifting as he spoke. Sasamori rolled his eyes. Taichi whined harder, bemoaning the 'actual' events of whatever ill-fated show they were discussing.
Hyuse regretted agreeing to any of this. But, before he could make any attempts to leave, Sasamori was at his other side and Taichi had started walking and even Hanzaki was following along beside them.
“Are we allowed to bring so many people?” He asked, almost hesitant (if he allowed himself to feel hesitant about these things, which he didn’t).
“Sasamori’s on the council, it’s fine.” Hanzaki replied bluntly. “Like, who are they going to tell? Him?”
Taichi snorted. Sasamori seemed a little more put upon. “It’s not like that,” he insisted. “Besides, it’s fine. We’re allowed.”
“‘Cuz he’s on the council.”
“Because there’s not a rule like that.”
□
While there wasn’t an explicit rule about it, Hyuse very quickly discovered that not many clubs were particularly thrilled about their small entourage intruding. But, because Sasamori was on the council, as Hanzaki helpfully announced each time they asked permission, it was clear that they only agreed to avoid any retaliation (as if Sasamori were capable of such a thing in the first place).
But, perhaps worse than that was the fact that none of this had been particularly enlightening.
No. The worst was that at the end of it, when Sasamori and Hanzaki had other things to take care of or had just gotten bored, it came down to just him and Taichi.
Which then turned into him sitting bored out of his mind as he helped paint additional set pieces against his will for the drama club, Taichi babbling away beside him about this, that, and the other. About how fun this was and how he should totally join the drama club and then they could hang out more often.
As if that were a good thing.
Which this wasn't, because Hyuse hated it. Or, maybe hate was a strong word. Because it wasn't that he necessarily minded the act of painting or even a bit of manual labor. But he hated being told what to do or what to paint and didn't really enjoy it as a menial task. He just wanted to do it to do it. Because it was a whim or fun.
"Heyyyy, Hyuse! You're really good at that," Taichi announced loudly, leaning well into Hyuse's space as he ogled the small doodle Hyuse had made on the unpainted space of the scenery he was working on. "What're you doing?"
"Nothing," he shrugged, slapping the paintbrush over it and filling it in. Hiding it amongst all the other brushstrokes. Something else that wouldn't stand out if you looked at it, even up close.
"Awwwww, no!!! Dude, it was so cool! Do you draw? Are you an artist? Do you like drawing or are you just like, super good at it?"
Hyuse shrugged again, reaching over to drop his brush back in the bucket between them.
"Can you do another one? Like, uhhh….like a….a tomato."
He snorted, but complied, making a quick little tomato in the free space.
"That's so cool!"
"It's...a circle."
Taichi shook his head emphatically, his whole body twisting with the motion. "It's a great circle! With leaves! A tomato!"
Hyuse smiled, just a bit, and then went to paint over it. Before he could, Taichi lunged forward to try and grab his wrist, to stop him from hiding it away. What Taichi did instead, however, was knock the paint can between them onto the floor and their uniforms and the half-finished sets they'd been working on.
There was a small rush of chatter and frantic energy as the other students reacted. Taichi himself seemed mortified, especially as someone shouted about the set getting Taichi'd.
It'd have been amusing, if not for the fact that his uniform was more uncomfortable than usual now and, despite being a (mostly) innocent bystander, Hyuse had been roped into fixing the mess as well.
So maybe spending any significant time around Taichi spelled trouble, and he should reconsider his strategy of winning school by attending it.
He was still contemplating this, scrubbing at the paint splatters, when Taichi reached over--careful, this time--and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hyuse," he started with wide eyes. Like he'd just had the best idea, which only served to make Hyuse wary of whatever he was going to say next.
"What d'ya think about art club?"