Chapter Text
"Great shot, Gorou!" a girl claps and rises up from her seat, much to Gorou's amusement. He wipes the sweat off his forehead and places a hand behind his head, a little shy from the compliment. "Thanks for the flattery, Yoimiya." He rolls his shoulders and tilts his head, a little tired from all the shooting, but nonetheless, content with the progress he made today. "All your shots scored eight points. I'm impressed, Gorou." another voice perks in, removing the arrows from the target.
The praise made his chest swell with pride. "Much appreciated, Kujou Sara." A chuckle erupted from the woman's lips, turning to Gorou. "No need for formalities, Gorou." Yoimiya hums and wraps an arm around Gorou, startling him. "Yeah, what the ace of the Archery Club said!"
"Alright, alright! Now get out of the clubroom, all of you!" someone seated on a chair with a laidback expression exclaimed, tapping furiously on his phone. All three of them bowed their heads, "Yes, Barbatos!" they teased, and the man named Barbatos whipped his head around, growing red. "You-!" his words were interrupted when someone opened the door, scanning the room. "I'm sorry for the intrusion, but has any of you seen Venti?" Yoimiya had a smug look on her face, sending a look in Barbatos' direction. "Oh? You mean Bar-"
"Diluc! Diluc, what brings you to the Archery Club?!" Barbatos-who was also Venti-jumped out from his seat, a strained smile on his face. Diluc blinks for a moment before giving him a smile, handing out a piece of paper to him. "Morax, the pianist of our school band, wanted me to give you this." Venti's face flushes and he quickly snatches the paper away from the red-haired man, who remained rooted in his place. "It was odd that they brought you the lyrics that should be handed to Barbatos-"
"We're friends! We're friends!" Venti exclaims, chuckling nervously. He quickly picks up his stuff and shoves the piece of paper in his bag, flustered beyond repair. "He is so obvious." Kujou Sara points out, watching as all of this plays out in front of them. "Gorou! Catch!" Venti throws a key in the air as Gorou effortlessly caught it. "Would you be a dear and close the clubroom for me? I have to uh...give these to Barbatos!" he squeaks, before grabbing Diluc's wrist, who was still rooted in his place. "All of you, out!" he gives a warning look to everyone in the room before sending a smile in Diluc's direction. "School president, it's best if you leave them to their own uhh...activities!" Diluc couldn't even get a word in before he was dragged away, leaving the door open.
Yoimiya and Kujou Sara gather their things and casually saunter their way out, leaving Gorou behind. "Wait, what about-" Yoimiya sends him a cheeky grin before sending a peace sign. "You heard Barbatos, right? Have fun closing the clubroom!" and with that, Gorou was left alone in the Archery clubroom once again.
He sighs in defeat as he looked around. Well, a few more practice runs won't hurt him. He pockets the key and makes his way towards the bows neatly tucked in the corner of the room, before walking towards the closet full of arrows. After gathering enough arrows, he makes his way all across the room; the target a few feet away from him. He places the sheaf down on the floor and grabs a single arrow.
Before he could even set it up for aim, the door of the clubroom swung open, and he looks in that direction to find a tall man. The tall man blinked a couple of times before his face turned red, waving a hand in the air.
"Huh, it's your third time visiting the Archery Club, Arataki Itto." Gorou tilts his head, finding the recent visits of this tall man rather peculiar. The tall man in question jolts, before placing a hand behind his head, his face flushed. "Well, I find your glasses- um- adorable?"
Gorou fixes his stance. He stands upright and spreads his feet apart, keeping a relaxed grip on the bow. "I don't wear glasses though," he chuckles, sending a look in Itto's direction; who, in return, looked away. "O-Oh, you don't? My, that's actually uh...shocking?" the stumble in his words made Gorou's heart flutter for a second before it disappeared once more. "It'll get in the way of my training," Gorou adds, and he places the arrow on the bow. With such precision, he turns the bow so it's horizontal to place the arrow on the shelf of the arrow rest. He pushes the nock of the arrow onto the string between the two brass nocking points, ensuring that the cock fletch is pointing upward. Satisfied with the result, he brings the bow back to its original place; in a vertical form.
Itto silently watches from the sideline. He's been going into the clubroom for three days straight, and just watching how focused Gorou is with training makes his heart flutter. He finds a chair on the side and sits down, eyes still on Gorou. He watches as Gorou's fingers fluttered against the string of the bow, before he grips it, the string touching his nose and lips. Itto finds it peculiar that Gorou had his fingers curled, not his fingertips. "Aren't you supposed to use your fingertips?" he interrupts, making Gorou lose his focus.
He puts the bow down and he tilts his head at Itto, confusion on his face. Itto's face flushes and he realized he made a mistake, growing stiff on the chair. "You don't use your fingertips to draw the bow, silly." Gorou sets the bow down and starts making his way to Itto, who started panicking on the chair. "Oh uh, my bad- I- I wasn't- You know?" he fumbles, and he didn't even realize that Gorou was already guiding him toward the aiming area. "You should try it," Gorou offers, and Itto's string of confused words finally stops as he stares at Gorou. Gorou was, well...maybe a tad bit shorter than him, so he gulps, taking the bow from him. Gorou fixes his position and he slots behind Itto, finding that the height difference might make it hard for him to teach him.
Hesitating for a moment, Gorou looks up to find that Itto was silent, eyes looking right in front of him. "Stand upright. Feet must be at least shoulder-width apart, and feet at 90 degrees to the target," As Gorou recites the rules, he adjusts Itto's form. He guides Itto's hand to the bow handle, standing right in front of him. "Keep a relaxed grip on the bow handle." Itto couldn't even get a word in when Gorou went away from his line of sight, staying frozen in his place.
If anyone were to walk in right now, they'd see Arataki Itto- the president of Class 1-A, staying so perfectly still they'd think he was a statue. It wasn't helping that the sweatpants he was wearing weren't doing their job as well, as he started sweating all over. When Gorou finally went back, he hands Itto an arrow. "You turn the bow horizontal," his hand touches Itto's and Itto was sure he was going to die from embarrassment. "Place the arrow on the shelf of the arrow rest, like so." he dictates, and just his soothing voice was enough to fuel Itto for the rest of his stay here. Archons, if this was really happening, then he would never want to go back to sleep ever again.
"You position your fingers on the string with your index finger above the arrow and two fingers below. Tip, the string should sit on the crease of your fingers." Gorou smiles. Did they skip the part where he was supposed to place the arrow? Itto blinks and was surprised to find the bow already in a vertical position. Not only that but he was also surprised to find that they were already drawing the arrow. Wait, what? Itto thinks to himself, Gorou already in between his arms. "I'll explain to you later why we draw it with our back muscles instead of our fingers, alright?" Gorou giggles, and unbeknownst to him, Itto wasn't actually listening. He was just glad to be there with him.
Gorou removes himself from in between Itto's arms and he slots from behind him, reaching around Itto to grab his other hand. He draws the arrow until it touches Itto's nose and lips. "Using your dominant eye, look down the arrow and align it with the target." Itto gulps and does as he was told. "Gorou, there's something I'd like to tell you."
Gorou shuffles from behind him and he leans forward, looking Itto in the eye. "What is it?" By all the archons, this man was ethereal. His hair was a little ruffled and he had white fading highlights on his bangs. Not only that, but he also had a tiny tattoo on his ear, that if you weren't observing close enough, you wouldn't even get to see it. "I- um-" Itto starts, blinking rapidly. He remains in his position but he was sure his legs were gonna give out if Gorou just went a little closer to him. "I like- uh- uhm-" Itto was sure this was going to backfire on him five seconds from now.
Someone, please walk through the door, Itto begs as he fixes his stance a little, chuckling nervously. Gorou, who was still clueless, furrowed his eyebrows. "You like what?" Gorou's other hand, which was still holding onto Itto's shifted, and Itto took a deep breath. "You. I uh...like you...yeah." Silence filled the room for a moment before an arrow was shot, making Itto flinch as he tightened his grip on the bow. Gorou retreated from behind him and Itto wanted the Earth to just swallow him whole.
Before he could even explain himself, Gorou walked towards the target, pulling the arrow out. "You scored a 10." Itto blinks for a moment before placing the bow down on the floor gently. "Is that...a good thing, or something?" Gorou nods his head and makes his way to Itto, offering the arrow to him. "Think of it as a souvenir from the Archery Club!" he exclaims, beaming at Itto. Itto, who was still up in the clouds, thought for a moment. "Did you um- hear what I said earlier?"
Gorou nods and hums without a second thought, making Itto blush. "I did." He gathers all the arrows on the floor and places them back where they belonged, before picking up his bag. He slings it over his shoulder and he smiles at Itto, who was still stunned. "I like you too, Itto. We should hang out more often!" That smacked Itto right on the face.
He stills for a moment before Gorou appeared in front of him, that smile still on his face. "If you wanted to join the Archery Club, why didn't you say so sooner? I didn't know that the President of 1-A had a sharp eye!" Itto blinks rapidly before shaking his head, "Wait, I think there have been some misunderstandings-" he couldn't even continue when Gorou grabs his wrist, walking him out of the door. Gorou shuts the door behind him and he locks it, before beaming at Itto again. "Rest assured, I'll tell Venti about the new addition to the club by tomorrow!" Itto opened his mouth but he shut it tight when Gorou places his hands on his back, pushing him away. "I'll see you tomorrow, Itto!" When he turned around, Gorou was already gone.
He sighs as his shoulders slumped. "He didn't even let me finish."
• ✦ •
Gorou held onto his bow, not minding how heavy it felt in his arms. All he wanted was to get himself home. His face heats up and he clutches his bow close to his body.
This is a dream, right?