Chapter Text
Paris. The city of love. Ike Eveland wouldn't consider himself a hopeless romantic, but sometimes he just wished he would fall in love with that perfect someone and they could be whisked away to their own magical little world, filled with nothing but happiness and their love for each other.
“Can I get everyone’s attention please?” Professor Evans, their homeroom teacher, piped up weakly from the front of the room, trying desperately to get the attention of the hundred or so students in the hall.
The chatter slowly died down, the teacher sighing in relief. “Thank you. Now, I have some very exciting news…”
From Ike’s personal experience, it’s never very interesting. He drowns out the sound of his teacher’s talking, resting his face on the palm of one of his hands, the other hand messily scribbling and doodling nonsense into his notebook.
“...our school has managed to meet ends and get all the seniors on an overseas trip to Paris.”
Now that got his attention. He nearly jumped out of his seat, almost knocking a few books off his desk in the process.
At that announcement, the hall was back to buzzing with life, everyone discussing their plans and places they wanted to go with overflowing excitement.
“Ike! We’re going to Paris!” A voice paired with a thick british accent nearly screams into his ear, throwing an arm over his shoulder and pulling Ike into a side hug.
He smiles fondly at his best friend, wondering how he could always be practically bursting at the seams with the sheer amount of energy he had, like a literal ball of sunshine, even at 8 o'clock on a Tuesday morning.
Mysta goes into a full on rant about the places he’d always wanted to visit, teal eyes glimmering and hands moving around as he talks, resembling a little puppy. If he had a tail, it would be wagging about and thumping against the chair.
Ike couldn’t help but feel excited himself. He was going to Paris. He couldn’t wait to learn about the culture, visit the eiffel tower, take lots of pretty pictures,
fall in love.
“And we could room together! I don’t care, I’m dragging you along with me everywhere, we’re gonna go sight-seeing and eat at all those fancy cafes!” Mysta proclaims, hooking their arms together.
“Students… I know you’re all excited but please lower down your volume…” Professor Evan tries fruitlessly to shut everyone up, mostly to no avail, the noise level way too high for anyone to even hear him, being way too wrapped up in their own conversations.
“Quieten down please!” He bursts, clearing his throat and straightening out his coat when suddenly all attention was on him.
“Right… thank you. As I was saying, later this week, we will be going on an all-paid trip to Paris, in France. Of course we have a whole itinerary planned out, but you will still get some free days where you’re free to explore! However, for safety reasons and because we’re going to a completely different part of the world, you will have to stick close to your partner. We don’t want any of you getting lost in a foreign country.” The chestnut brown haired male explains, picking up a clipboard and flipping through some sheets of paper on it.
At the mention of having a partner, Ike gave Mysta a playful squeeze on his shoulder. Hanging out with Mysta was always so fun. The brit was the spontaneous type, doing all sorts of crazy things and always dragging his best friend along for the ride.
“Your partners have already been assigned.” This earned a chorus of groans from the students, including one from the boy next to him, as well as from Ike himself. Mysta slumped into his side, muttering complaints under his breath that Ike couldn't exactly make out the words of.
“When I call your names, please move to sit with your partner so that I can finish briefing you on the trip. Okay, let’s see here… Sonny Brisko and Alban Knox?”
The smaller of that pair, with a mop of messy brown hair and cute little clips in his hair, jumped up from his seat and threw himself onto the other boy, who caught and carried him by the back of his thighs, both of them squealing in ecstasy.
Professor Evans looks at them in amusement, shaking his head slightly before turning back to squint at the text on the clipboard.
“Next up, Vox Akuma and Mysta Rias?” Ike visibly deflates, his prior plans having been ruined by that announcement. The ash brown haired boy gave him an apologetic look, mouthing the words “talk to you later” as he walks up to take a seat next to a dark haired male.
It’s alright, it’s not like he and Mysta wouldn’t be able to hang out at all. It was fine, he tried to reassure himself, and partially succeeding. And besides, this could be a good opportunity to get to know one of his peers better, everyone here is pretty nice, anyways.
Yet he waits with bated breaths as his name was announced. “Alright, Ike Eveland and… Shu Yamino.”
Oh fuck.
Scratch his previous statement, almost everyone was pretty nice.
Enter Shu Yamino. The most infuriating person Ike had ever met. With his bad pick up lines, pet names and just endless teasing and prodding, matched with bright purple eyes and mischievous smirks. He was just so extremely annoying, Ike could feel his blood pressure rising just thinking about him.
What were the chances? That out of all the students in the auditorium now that it had to be Shu himself? Luck really wasn’t on his side that day.
He groans inwardly as the ravenette approaches him, sitting next to him and being way too close for comfort. “Hey, wouldn't you say it was meant to be, Ikey?”
Ike wasn’t looking at him, yet he could still hear the playful smirk evident on his face.
“How many times do I have to tell you to not call me that?” Ike sighs, shifting in his seat as Mysta gives him a little thumbs up from across the room, the platinum blond giving him a weak smile in return.
“Then what shall I call you that’ll make you happier? Baby? Darling? Princess?” Shu coos, his voice thick with a sickening saccharine sweetness, making Ike’s eyebrows furrow and cheeks flush a light pink. Whether it was because he was so upset, or flustered—which he was not, by the way—the other boy clearly took notice of it.
“Aww are you getting shy? Do you like it when I call you princess?”
“Shut the fuck up, Shu.” Ike says through gritted teeth, turning to look anywhere but the boy next to him.
Thankfully, Professor Evans had just finished assigning everyone's partners, the cohort all already sitting in their pairs and awaiting further instructions. Most of them seemingly pretty happy with who they'd been put with—Alban had already plopped himself on Sonny's lap, Mysta and Vox were in an animated conversation, hands flailing around as they talked about god knows what. Another pair sat quietly in the back of the room, a violet-haired boy resting his head on the other’s chest, the snow-white haired boy soothingly running his hand through his hair. Cute.
And here he was, stuck with Shu Yamino of all people. For the next. Two. Weeks. That’s 14 days longer than Ike would prefer.
“Right! Now that that’s all settled, I’m going to share with you guys some details of the trip, so note this down if you have to.” A powerpoint slide popped up on the screen, with some fun transitions as the text appeared.
“The trip will be this weekend, and we will gather here at around 4 in the morning, where there will be a bus that will drive us to the airport. We’ll get on the plane at around 7am and arrive at night so that everyone can get well rested for the first day. Everything sound good so far?”
Ike nodded along to his professor’s words, writing down the important points and making a mental note to set his alarm for that day. He watches in distaste as the ravenette next to him opted to take a probably very blurry photo of the slide that he’ll probably never look at again. Ike chose to hold his tongue though, deciding against starting a pointless argument with the latter.
“Now, your partner is very important as we expect you to remain in your pairs throughout the trip. You will also be sharing rooms—” “What?”
It took Ike a second to realise that, oh, that word came out of his mouth. His eyes widened comically as everyone turned to face him, some giggling under their breaths.
“Is there an issue, Mr Eveland?”
“Uh— no! Sorry, Sir,” Ike mutters, giving him a stiff smile as Mysta tries his very hardest not to laugh.
Professor Evans sends him one last quizzical look, before going back into explaining what the students have to prepare for the trip.
“Do you really hate me so much that you can't even share a room with me? I'm deeply hurt by this, Ike, how could you,” Shu says dramatically, one hand over his heart and the other hand wiping away nonexistent tears from his eyes.
“You're unbearable.” Ike sends a glare at the taller boy.
“And you,” Shu leans in, way too close, “are cute when you're upset.” Emphasised with a boop to the tip of Ike's nose. Has this man ever heard of personal space?
He scrunched up his nose bridge at that, smacking the other boy in the shoulder, not feeling even the slightest bit of remorse when he jumped back with a yelp.
“Idiot.”
Shu snickers, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he leans back in his seat, the chair balancing rather dangerously on two of its back legs. Ike holds himself back from “accidentally” pushing him over. It would be fun, but he’ll save that for some other time.
“Other details will be sent to your emails so be sure to check them some time today. Exchange numbers with your partners if you haven’t already, and maybe go get some coffee or something, just get to know each other a little bit before the trip,” Professor Evans suggests, before swiftly dismissing everyone with a few flicks of his wrist, ushering them all outside.
Ike sighs heavily, stacking up his textbooks and hugging them to his chest, not even paying any mind to the boy who was rushing along right behind him.
“Ikey baby, wanna get coffee, hm?” Shu calls out as he jogs up to the platinum blond boy, slinging an arm over Ike’s shoulder, taking advantage of their height difference to lean up against him as they walked.
“No thank you,” he replies drily, not in the mood to deal with him at the moment, staggering awkwardly as he walked with Shu’s weight on his body, getting odd looks from students and teachers alike in the hallway.
“Aww come on,” Shu teases, dragging out his words, “Prof said we needed to get closer! I’m just following the rules.”
“I’d rather not.”
“You’re no fun,” Shu pouts, jutting his bottom lip out exaggeratedly. Ike wants to slap that look off his face.
He breathes a sigh of relief, sending his best friend a look of gratitude as Mysta saves him from his current distressing situation, strolling up next to him.
“Mysta! I promised that I would follow you to… mini golf practice, right? Come on, let's go, we're going to be late!” Ike blurts out, untangling himself from Shu's hold, grabbing the brit by his forearm.
“What the fuck are you on ab—” Ike tugs him away before he could finish his sentence, pulling him along till they reach the main entrance of the school, leaving a confused Shu standing in the middle of the corridor.
“Ow! What was that for?” Mysta winced, rubbing at his arm, a light red colour now as blood rushed back to the area Ike was gripped harshly.
“Sorry… I just needed to get away from him. Can you believe we're partners now? For two whole weeks?” Ike rambles, meanwhile gently soothing the redness on his friend's arm.
“Stop acting like a baby, Ike, you're old enough to deal with your relationship issues on your own,” Mysta jokes, not a hint of malice in his tone. Still, he earns a light punch on the shoulder by his friend.
“Ouch! Quit hurting me you bitch—”
“I can deal with my relationships very well, thank you very much. I can put up with Shu Yamino for two weeks, it's no big deal,” he says confidently. “Even if it means I have to sacrifice my sanity and will to live.”
He doesn't say that last part out loud though.
Mysta quirks an eyebrow up at the bold statement.
“I'll take your word on that then.”