Chapter Text
Shiroiwa Ruki’s computer was on 10% when he hit the refresh button. With a loud sigh in the form of a blast of hot air, the little laptop got to work and loaded in a new email. Lying on the couch with cans of beer and convenience store meals strewn all over the coffee table beside him: the quintessential scene of a second-year university student currently facing the worst burnout of his life so far.
The system had starred this one as important, so Ruki figured it was from school and not another one of those chain emails that had somehow been finding their way into his inbox ever since his roommate Ren had asked to borrow the laptop a few months ago. He sat up and clicked on it without much thought.
[URGENT] Class Assignment Notice
Dear Student SHIROIWA RUKI,
The administration hopes this letter finds you well. Currently, you have 4 missing assignments for class A_BIO_616: Advanced Biochemistry. This means you are on track to not receive the required credits to pass this course. Depending on your other courses and intended future career path, this could jeopardise your chances of graduation. There are two remedial options available; reply to this email clarifying your decision before tomorrow at 5PM. Failure to respond in time will result in the automatic selection of option #2 and a note made on your academic record.
Option 1. Complete and submit the following assignments below within the next 72 hours, which will be subject to adjusted grading for tardiness in submission:
A. Extended Assessment on Electrophoresis and DNA Profiling
B. Practical Applications of Prosthetic Devices
C. Lesson plan for Osmolarity
D. Quiz #127: Light Absorption and Optical Activity
Option 2. Transfer classes to A_CHEM_624: Organic Chemistry. This is a second semester-exclusive course and will commence the following Monday after the weekend, the 3rd of October. Credits gained from Advanced Biochemistry can be applied to your degree. Adjustments will be made to your schedule if necessary.
If you select option 1, include your professor in the reply email via CC to let them know. We wish you the best of luck in your academic endeavours.
Daiyama University
Ruki stared blankly. This wasn’t exactly welcome information at 10:38 in the morning. The little electric fan sitting on the floor kept whirring air at him like it always had, unaware of how much his life had taken a turn for the worse.
Fuck, this wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to fail this class- arguably the most important one in his entire schedule. What now?
He reached over for and drank the last dregs of soju in his glass left over from last night, during which his friend Junki had insisted on trying “soju bombs”- some kind of soju and beer mix popular in Korea that apparently required balancing a shot on chopsticks on top of your glass and slamming the table to drop the shot glass in. Ridiculous as it initially sounded, a few rounds had rendered everyone present at the dorm giggling and more drunk than they’d care to admit. The stale and slightly bitter taste swirled around Ruki’s mouth as his head thumped with regret. He sighed, picking up his phone and calling the first number on speed dial.
“Hey. Whatever you need, make it quick ‘cause I’m with Takumi-kun right now,” Ren drawled. Ruki’s mouth twitched in the hint of a smile, amused by his best friend’s priorities.
“I have a problem. A very big one.” He paused to swallow and catch his breath, listening to the tinkle of spoons against ceramic and soft chatter in the background. “I’m probably going to fail Biochem and they said I can either do all the missing work over the weekend or transfer into an organic chemistry class…” He trailed off, embarrassed about the whole thing.
There was a beat of silence.
“What the fuck, man,” Ren breathed, a noticeable note of worry in his voice. “I’d tell you to stay in Biochem with me but making you do all that work over the weekend seems cruel. How good are you at chemistry?”
“Absolutely dogshit,” Ruki replied, the corner of his mouth pulling upward. “Carbon makes diamonds. That’s all I know.” He heard Takumi giggling on the other end. Classic move of Ren to put him on speaker so his grievances could be aired to anyone within earshot.
“Well. Let’s put it this way, shall we? You’re already pretty bad at biochem, which is how we got here in the first place. We already have enough work as it is and nobody wants to cram an assignment due two months ago. Plus, this could be a fresh start!” Ren’s tone brightened considerably.
“Not to mention you can meet someone, if you know what I mean, Ruki… find yourself a cute classmate who can tutor you in all sorts of ways…” Takumi butted in before yelping as Ruki could only assume Ren had elbowed him for the comment.
“I get it, Takumi. Thanks for all your help, guys. Have fun revising gene therapy for the millionth time without me~” Ruki promptly hung up before the two could get another word in. That’s enough for a Friday, he thought to himself.
After getting up (and standing still for a second waiting for his vision to clear while muttering to himself that he really needed to remember his iron supplements), Ruki showered and changed out of the white tank top and boxer shorts he had been wearing. He took the elevator down and just as he stepped out of the dorm building, he sent a reply to the automated email confirming his transfer to the new class. The smell of coffee and fresh bread from down the street triggered his stomach to remind him he hadn’t eaten yet. Soft blue skies and the crisp air of September’s end seemed to suggest that maybe this wouldn’t be so dreadful.
The little corner of metropolitan Tokyo where he attended university was well known for vibrant shopfronts and a thriving coffee shop culture thanks to the regular crowd of students pulling all-nighters, but trust Ren and Takumi to always insist on going to a random hole-in-the-wall place on the other side of town. A 20-minute bus ride if the traffic was merciful yet here he was on his way to surprise them… Ruki sighed at the thought.
The café in question, tucked down an alleyway with only a small blackboard outside the door to let you know it even existed, was named Run&Go and always jam-packed with customers. You had to give the staff credit for running such good business in a terrible location. Ruki’s friends had, to his incredulity, snagged the prime table in front of the bay window and beckoned him to squeeze next to them on the padded window-side seats.
After ordering a black coffee and settling in between the others by the wall, the three settled into a comfortable flow of conversation. Takumi was curious about how things would turn out now that their Biochem trio was being split up.
“Have you looked at the class directory yet?”
“What do you mean ‘yet’? It never even occurred to me.”
“How?? That kind of stuff is important, you know…”
“In what way? I don’t care. I just need to pass the class.”
“Oh my god Ruki, you’re so dense. Let’s all go through it together.” Takumi pulled his laptop out of a tote bag and placed it on the table, angling toward Ren and Ruki so they could see too.
It was pretty big, even for a remedial class, and they mused that the webpage in front of them wasn’t yet the final iteration of the student list as last-minute registrations like Ruki’s were yet to be processed.
“Hmmm…” Takumi hummed, skimming down. “Oh look, Junki is here. Kinjo-san from my ecosystems class, too. Some other vaguely familiar faces it seems- I have no doubt you’ll get by in the friends department at least. Ganbatte!” He turned to Ruki with a fist raised in support, eyes twinkling.
Ruki sighed and nudged him with his shoulder. “What do you mean, ‘get by’? Are you insinuating I have no social skills? Or is this class full of weird people?”
“You didn’t even mention the most offensive part,” Ren piped up from behind them. “He said you’d do well at making friends ‘at least’… but looking at how you ended up in this situation I can’t even defend your academics, man.” Takumi turned back to look at him, sending the two doubling over in peals of laughter. Ruki watched, pretending to frown in disdain.
The rest of the day was rather uneventful. After another hour in the café until they were politely ushered out by staff clearly hoping to close up, Ruki and Ren parted ways with Takumi and headed back to their dorm. Being peak hour, the subway was incredibly full. The two friends huddled up together on the seats, Ren nestling his head on Ruki’s right shoulder as they listened to music. They’d met in a high school biology class, funnily enough, Ruki drawn to the new boy with silver hair and an infectious laugh. Ren had been the one who encouraged him to pursue science for his higher education on the basis that “YouTube isn’t exactly the most profitable career unless you’re extremely lucky”. Ren had been the one who fended off the seemingly endless girls on his trail; occasionally insinuating Ruki was gay, much to his chagrin, if the hopeful suitors were really insistent. Not that Ruki was homophobic or anything! It just tended to lead to said girls wondering if he was dating his best friend. Ren, of course, found this extremely amusing and would always conveniently be interlocking arms with Ruki or something similarly intimate just as a group of students walked past. He seemed to find joy in watching them giggle and push each other around, curious but not daring to talk the pair. “Is Kawashiri in a relationship with Shiroiwa?” was the long-running hot topic of the class Facebook forum for all of their school years.
Ruki snapped out of his reminiscing session just as the overhead voice announced their stop was coming up. Ren had fully fallen asleep, so Ruki gently lifted him off his own shoulder and brushed stray hair out of his eyes just as they opened.
“Oh my…” Ren began, voice croaking with grogginess. “Are we home yet?”
“Our stop is next,” Ruki replied, yanking his earphones out of their ears and wrapping them around his phone.
“What do you want for dinner?” Ren asked. “I’m too sleepy to cook, let’s order in.”
Ruki agreed. Even for a male college student, he was terrible in the kitchen. “What do you think of pizza?”
“Suits me. I’ll just get our usual.” He turned and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
They got off the train and hurried to the dorms amidst the last bits of evening light, as it had started raining. Since Ren had ordered, Ruki was on pickup duty. After changing once again into more comfortable clothes, Ruki headed back out with an umbrella. The designated pickup point for deliveries to their building was just around the corner, in front of a convenience store. He stood there patiently, whistling to himself and not noticing how his phone was buzzing his back pocket. After receiving the delivery and thanking the driver profusely for making the effort in the rain, only then did he stop in front of their front door to check.
There were at least 10 missed calls from “No Caller ID”.
After a relaxing weekend of online shopping and hanging out with his friends, Ruki now found his heart rate quickening as he stood outside the room for his new class. This wasn’t even a big deal- people transferred classes all the time. He looked down at the pearly white Hawaiian shirt he’d chosen, French tucked into his jeans. Okay. Outfit is fine. Bag is in order. I didn’t forget anything, did I? He opened the messenger bag slung over his right shoulder and peered in. Everything was just as he’d organised it before leaving earlier in the morning. His watch read 9:54, so he took a deep breath and headed in.
Even in the 21st century, the professor had sent everyone a seating assignment chart. Ruki was to be sat on the far side of the room with 3 other students named Kinjo Sukai, Tsurubo Shion and Yonashiro Sho. He weaved through the throng of students milling around throughout the huge space, finding his table and sitting down. He was the first one there, so he leaned over the side of the chair and started getting out his things. Behind him, someone coughed.
“Excuse me,” a deep voice resounding with warmth spoke. “Are you Shiroiwa Ruki by any chance?”
Ruki looked up and his breath hitched.
Had the Greek gods he’d learned about in school turned out to be real? The man standing before him could only be heaven incarnate. Clearly prominent muscles fought against a closely fitted black polo shirt with the top button undone. Beige slacks complimented the casual look perfectly, a silver watch on his left wrist drawing Ruki’s attention to how big the other man’s hands were. He had straight black hair cropped short and bangs falling in sweeping motions across his perfect face. Despite his tall and intimidatingly buff frame, he emanated an aura of gentleness. His smile was dazzling enough to move mountains and have nations fall at his feet. Ruki was sure this was the kind of person who was only born once every 100,000 years.
Holy fuck, he thought to himself. This guy is hot.
“I, uh- um yes, that’s me,” Ruki spluttered. He hoped to any deity out there that his face wasn’t red right now and stood up to extend a hand in greeting.
The other man took it and they shook hands. (Ruki had to fight to not bite his lip at the way his palm was engulfed. The hand clasping his own had a firm grip and was both extremely warm and soft.)
“I’m Yonashiro Sho, by the way. We’re tablemates. Nice to meet you.” Yonashiro flashed a smile again, causing Ruki’s heart to skip a beat.
He stepped back and slid back into his own chair, pushing his hand back through his hair in an attempt to look cool more than anything. Yonashiro promptly pulled out the chair next to his and sat down, dumping his backpack in the space between them.
“Hey, Shiroiwa.” Another person had just reached their table. Next to him was a man with a grecian nose that Ruki thought he’d seen somewhere before but couldn’t quite remember. “I’m Tsurubo Shion and this is Kinjo Sukai.”
How do you even know my name? Ruki wondered as Yonashiro got up and greeted the other two, clearly on much more friendly terms than he was with any of them. They also took their seats, Kinjo on his left and Tsurubo opposite.
The class was an hour long, mostly consisting of an introduction to the syllabus and quiet work time to download necessary materials. It would have been awkward to attempt conversation in such a large room while nobody was speaking, so Ruki settled for stealing glances of his tablemates. Particularly the one on his right. He found it increasingly difficult to concentrate when not only was his brain doing overtime just watching Yonashiro take notes with a mechanical pencil that seemed comically small for his hands, the other man radiated body heat so aggressively Ruki swore he could feel it from where he was sitting.
This was going to be a very long semester.
-
Ren happened to open the door just as Ruki turned into the hallway.
“Oh, you’re back already? Come in, lunch is ready.” He made a beckoning motion with his hand and stepped out to hold the door open with his body as Ruki loped closer. They both headed into the living room, where Takumi was setting cutlery on the table.
Ruki ran and dove headfirst onto the couch, sighing loudly. “Guys,” he said. “As of today, Shiroiwa Ruki is gay.”
The other two froze in their tracks, mouths slack with surprise.
Takumi broke the silence first. “What did you just say?” He didn’t put down the chopsticks in his hand, staring.
Ruki sat up. “You heard me… as of today, I like men. I am a homosexual.”
"Wait, like full gay? Or are you bisexual? Or anything else?"
He waved his hand. "Don't get caught up in the details. Point is I'm not straight anymore."
Ren cut in. “What- what possibly brought this on?” With an apron on and a rice paddle in his grip, Ruki found him the quintessential suburban mother.
“He means he met someone in his class,” Takumi clarified as he set the chopsticks down. He turned to Ruki and grinned. “What did I say? Congrats! What’s his name?”
“Don’t get too excited, Takumi. I just met the man, after all,” Ruki laughed. "I'm a simple person: We made eye contact and I knew I couldn't be straight."
Ren huffed as he brought the rice cooker over to the table. "Well I'm very glad of how easily you came out, since God knows I took a lot longer to figure myself out. I always figured you had something a little fruity to you anyway- it was fun watching you squirm and blush when I flirted in high school."
"Aw, don't say that now, everyone's journey of self discovery is important," Takumi said. "By the way, this smells really good, is it nasu genkaku?"
"Mhm. Eat before it goes cold, won't you?"
The three clasped their hands together. "Itadakimasu!"
-
"So," Takumi began after lunch was finished and all the dishes packed away. "You never actually told us who you like." He wriggled his eyebrows and popped a candy into his mouth.
"Ah, his name is Yonashiro Sho-"
"YONASHIRO SHO?" Ren gasped. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?"
Ruki frowned. "Why, do you know him?"
Takumi wore a similar expression of disbelief. "You don't? He's friends with a lot of our friends."
Ruki shook his head. "That's crazy, I'd genuinely never heard of him until we met."
"Oh, this can't be good..." Takumi furrowed his brows. "Look at the man- he's a gym rat, for God's sake. Straight as they come."
Ren poked him in the arm. "We go to the gym. Does that make us straight? Don't be ridiculous."
"Ehe. I'm just saying, using my expert gaydar, he doesn't seem to like guys."
"Your gaydar is terrible. You bet money with me that Ruki was straight, and now look at him!"
"I was right until an hour ago! How were we supposed to know he'd get a college crush?"
Ren huffed and crossed his arms. "Whatever." He turned to Ruki. "For what it's worth, I can almost certainly vouch for him being gay."
"How?" Takumi and Ruki said in unison.
He shrugged, smiling. "Just a hunch, man."