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“I was wondering where you are,” A voice spoke from the empty classroom.
Scaramouche, a senior who is iconic of his messy hair, panda-like eyes, and laptop always on his hands, looked up from his thesis research towards the junior who was leaning casually against his classroom’s doorframe.
His eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, absently clicking the ‘save’ option before he forgot about it and lost his progress like he’d done twice, “Do you need something?”
Kazuha titled his head with a small ‘Kaedehara Kazuha’ smile on his lips, watching the way the senior squinted at him for a few seconds, squeezing his sore eyes, and harshly rubbed it, “Was it wrong for me to seek my friends?”
Scaramouche blinked at him with his heavy eyes, friends weren’t something Scaramouche was familiar with him being his introvert self. Besides, all they do is talk a few minutes, mostly Kazuha ranting about his daily life as Scaramouche tried to finish his thesis research, even if teacher gave them a year to finish. It’s only been two months, he’s pretty sure his supervisor is concerned for his sleep schedule by the amount of progress he had done.
“Uh,” He dumbly said, “I have a community today.”
Kazuha let out an interested hum, walking towards the empty chair beside Scaramouche, “I always knew you joined a community, but may I ask what you joined?”
“Traditional dance,” Scaramouche closed his eyes, his body desperately needing sleep, which he refused to give, “On Saman,” He kindly elaborated.
Kazuha made an ‘O’ with his mouth, “Saman was quite popular amongst the girls, so it’s not surprising to see someone who knew the moves but did not joined the community, but it seems like you joined, how was it?”
Scaramouche copied a picture from a website for his research, his eyes glancing to Kazuha for a moment before going back towards his beloved laptop, “Even though my memory is bad, I’m very good at memorizing moves instead of letters, I guess that’s why my teacher liked me, so it’s not that bad.”
It’s true, for once in his lifetime, a teacher mentioned his name for a good example, along the words of, ‘Look at Scaramouche; he learned fast, you should look at him,’ Scaramouche actually stuttered on his dance.
“Actually,” He started, “How are you not home yet?” High school was dismissed roughly around forty minutes ago, and as long as he could remember, Kazuha’s moms are always punctual.
Kazuha laughed, “My Mother, the one who usually picked me up, had an important meeting today,” Right, she was the Tianquan, “My Mom also had to do her own business, so they said I could order a ride by my own,” He sighed, faking sadness, “But no one is home right now, and while high school are mostly empty, I still had you.”
Scaramouche hums, “Tell me about your day,” Because he’s bad at keeping the conversation, and Kazuha seemed like he’ll appreciate a company.
Kazuha sent him a grateful smile, “It was like the usual Friday, I suppose. Oh! Actually, I heard from Tomo and Ayato that Ayaka finally asked Yoimiya out, which is good for them, they’ve been pinning for each other way too long,” He huffs a laugh.
He lit up as he remembered something, snapping his fingers, “Actually, I forgot to tell you, but the omelet you cooked was very good.”
It was from cooking class. They switched, in a way of when Kazuha got to listen to lectures about thesis research, Scaramouche will have an activity like cleaning or cooking, because even boys need to know how to look out for themselves, you don’t just have a wife as soon as you turned into an adult, for your information.
This Friday, its Scaramouche’s turn to have this activity class, they’re cooking again. Last time, they’ve cooked a burger, which is where Scaramouche had apparently been called ‘malewife material’ because surprisingly, or not very surprisingly, is that most students don’t even know how to cook a patty.
Today, he saved the day again by him swooping in before his classmates managed to burn the food, again.
Yoimiya had sent him a grateful smile, almost crying on the floor, “Phew, Scaramouche helps again!”
Yoimiya peeked from his shoulder as he flipped the omelet, a former ruined sunny side egg, which he managed to save because they haven’t cooked most of the egg yet; she let out a small squeal, “It looks so delicious! How can you make every ruined food we made into something like this?” She points at the mouth-watering omelet, which is not the best, since it was formerly cooked by someone who couldn’t even crack an egg perfectly.
Scaramouche looks down, “I’m glad it looks great, then,” He gently slicing the omelet into two pieces, since one group had both seniors and juniors of from class B.
“I saw the omelet from class A,” Ayato offhandedly said, grinning as Scaramouche handles the cooking, “It looked awful, thank god we have someone who could cook.”
The omelet has a side burned, since Scaramouche didn’t handle the fire, a junior, who he remembers being called Xiangling, put the fire too high, though he won’t say that.
Xingyan, another junior, points the burnt side of the omelet, “This is for the seniors,” She looks at him hopefully, “Could we get this one?”
Xiangling nods excitedly, “Yes! Please!”
Sara, Xiangling’s big sister, cringed, “No way, a senior cooked this, you did nothing, you get the burnt one,” She huffs. Itto laughed, but agreed nonetheless.
Scaramouche, who didn’t listen to their argument, gently took the other side of the omelet and offers it to Mr. Venti, who watched them with an amused smile. His smile widened, “Aww, for the juniors? You’re so sweet!”
Xiangling cheered, she probably was about to say thanks to him, but realized she doesn’t know his name because… well, he’s a loner who never shines in anything, who expects her to know his name?
“Nooo,” Yoimiya whines, “Scara why are you so kind?!”
Xiangling’s face brightened at the senior’s cries of protest, “Thank you Scara!”
Xingqiu grins beside her, “Thank you!!”
Ayato chuckled, “You became popular,” He said.
Scaramouche titled his head at him, going back to say half-hearted ‘sorry’s at the seniors who is having a screaming match with smug juniors.
…
“Ah, that,” Scaramouche taps his chin, “The omelet wasn’t bad, the burnt side was nothing since the inside we sweet enough to wash it out, but still, omelet without milk is bad for me in general,” He shudders.
Kazuha laughs, “But it was good! My class kept asking who cooked, considering I knew firsthand how nobody seemed to know how to cook—,” Yes, everyone could see the pathetic scrambled egg, still attached to each other and were painted black, it smelled awful, “So the beautifully cooked omelet was a surprise, but I overheard Xingqiu telling Chongyun you made it, it made more sense now that I think about it.”
Kazuha was about to tell something more, before the door opened and Yun Jin, a fellow member of the Saman community peeked in to search for Scaramouche.
“Scara!” She calls out, saying a small ‘hi’ to Kazuha, because this guy seemed to be friends with everyone,
“Saman just started, you should get going.”
Scaramouche nods at her direction, “I’ll be there in a sec, and you can go first.”
“Okay,” She closed the door again.
Kazuha watched as Scaramouche put his laptop on its bag, “Should I wait for you?”
Scaramouche huffed, “Communities lasted an hour, and you think you can handle waiting for an hour doing
nothing?”
Kazuha pouted, “But you promised me we’ll get the ice cream together, and I promised you I’ll treat you
dango, just as you asked.”
Scaramouche paused, “But—,” He shakes his head, “We could do it on Monday, where none of us had
anything to do after school, I’ll feel guilty making you wait for me.”
“But my Mother is always punctual on time,” Kazuha points out, “Besides, waiting an hour for you didn’t
seem much of a bother for me.”
Scaramouche inhales, “Alright, if you want to wait, then wait, then we’ll get that stupid ice cream and my
beloved dango. But if you want to go home, then just go, okay? We’ll find another day for this ice cream
thing.”
Kazuha nods happily, “Okay! Text me when you’re done.”
Scaramouche opens the door, “Will do,” He left.
———
“Kaedehara? Why haven’t you come home yet?” Mr. Zhongli’s deep voice startles him from his train of thoughts.
He sheepishly rubs the back of his head, “Ah, Mr. Zhongli… I was waiting for a friend of mine.”
“They joined a community today?”
“Yes sir, they joined Saman.”
“I see,” Mr. Zhongli rubbed his chin, looking at the darkening sky and the harsh winds nearly toppling over the poor flowers if it weren’t for their strong roots.
“It seems like it’s about to rain,” He settles. As soon as he said it, droplets of water hit Kazuha’s nose, “It would be better if you wait inside, come.”
“Ah… okay sir,” Kazuha mutters, wiping the droplets of water from his face using his hand. He followed the teacher towards the hall, where once or twice Kazuha could hear a typical Saman scream that was required in the dance, it was very loud, enough for him to hear even in outside.
Mr. Zhongli points down at the seat near the door, Kazuha uttered a small ‘thanks’ as to not interrupt anyone. Sitting down, Kazuha realized it was like having a front row seat on a performance, considering the dance was in front of him, and it’s aiming towards the door.
Automatically, he couldn’t help it, he took his eyes around to peek at a familiar purple head, which he later found Scaramouche being the center of the stage. He watched in awe as Scaramouche took his usual practice.
He might never was interested in traditional dances, but he could appreciate Saman nonetheless. It was fast, and he certainly couldn’t remember that many moves, the head turns, the beat, the lyrics… it was simply too complicated for his own good. But perhaps there’s a reason why Scaramouche liked it, and Kazuha have to admit it himself, Scaramouche looked ethereal.
Being the centre of the stage, the shortest, if you must call it, was the centre of the attention. No matter what, your eyes will soon find the middle dancer, forgetting the fact that you could also appreciate the dancers on the side. Scaramouche was beautiful, he was quick and does his part flawlessly, the teachers must’ve been glad they found a talented short student in their team; it certainly gave them a bonus point.
Scaramouche might rant rarely, but he paid attention when the senior does. Apparently, switching from the ‘even’ into the ‘odd’ was hard. Considering the moves were different for each, like a tempo of ‘a-b-a-b’, it means Scaramouche had new moves to learn, and to adjust to the fact that his usual dances were now switched into the ‘odd’. While the ‘even’ moves where quite complicated, with it being having to stand up and meeting their friend’s hand halfway through, ‘odd’ were less complicated, unfortunately they had this move where they require to be in a position which would bring soreness towards the thigh, multiple times.
He certainly could say it was unpleasant, since Scaramouche’s legs won’t stop trembling over the weekends because of the practice. He tried it once since he didn’t see the problem in that position, but afterwards, he definitely won’t be joining the Saman team, even as the ‘even’. It felt straining, in a sense of way, is like pulling a rope attached to your thigh? It was very weird, and it also hurts. So, easier means moves that made you suffer, good to know.
Unfortunate to know, is that Saman’s ‘perfect position’, is already a pain in the first place. It made your leg sore after a practice, even more because of the boost moves in Saman; you certainly use your legs a lot.
Thinking about it made Kazuha shudders, how could Scaramouche even liked this community?
“I didn’t expect you to actually wait.”
Kazuha looks up; the beautiful face of his senior greets him, sweat running down on the side of his face as he ruffled his indigo locks.
He smiled, “Of course, I promised, you promised,” He said, “I don’t like broken promises.”
Scaramouche rolled his eyes, making himself comfortable on the chair beside Kazuha, sighing in relief as he let his legs rest.
“You finished practice?” Kazuha asked, because Scaramouche’ team seems to have gone to their own place.
“No, our teacher is checking on Team 1, you know, the ‘elite’ team,” Scaramouche huffed a laugh.
Kazuha titled his head, “Why are they considered ‘elite’?” Surely Team 2 is good enough?
“First of all, Team 1’s competition is coming earlier, just around next month,” His senior explained, “They moved way fluently and proven to be the best out of us, so yeah, they are the elite dancers, though the teachers certainly made an effort to make us seem equal.”
Kazuha hums to indicate that he’s learning, “Really?” He mutters, “I thought your team did wonderful.”
The other’s cheek flushed slightly at the praise, “You haven’t seen Team 1 then, I take it?”
The younger was shameless in admitting, “Nope,” He grins at the groan the older let out, “I’m not interested in traditional dances, Saman was cool, but I prefer watching sports.”
Tapping his chin, he thoughtfully adds, “Perhaps this is the only dance I’ve seen willingly, my Mother had to drag me a lot, and unfortunately I still can’t see the beauty in traditional dances.”
Scaramouche’s cheek still felt hot, thankfully both of them ignored the red mess on his cheeks, a praise from Kaedehara Kazuha always felt special, “Why— why did you said it was great though…? It was only a practice,” He mumbles shyly.
Again, this boy seems to now know when to be embarrassed, “You made it look more beautiful,” Blunt, to the point. He spends too much time with Lumine—
Scaramouche covers his reddening face, “Ugh, alright, I get it, jeez.”
Giggling confusedly, he spoke with a cheery voice,” Always my pleasure.”
There wasn’t much happening afterwards. Scaramouche continues practicing, while Kazuha looks at his phone when they started to learn new moves. He continues scrolling Twitter until Scaramouche pinched his cheek to get his attention, pointing at the nearly empty hall to say, ‘we’re going or not?’
He brightened, standing up to follow Scaramouche. The rain had ceased, only leaving wet trails and droplets of water sliding down flower leaves. The younger hums a small song as they pass the gates. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Scaramouche’s relaxed posture. The silence was certainly awkward for him, but if it’s comfortable for Scaramouche, it means the older is just not in the mood for talking. Sending a friend request to an introvert was certainly hard, but it was worth it in his opinion.
They stopped once they’re reached the ice cream shop Kazuha had been eyeing for a week. He’d heard from his friends it’s great, and he hasn’t got great ice cream for a long time.
The bell jingles as he opened the door for Scaramouche, you know, like a gentleman. Scaramouche rolled his eyes at his wink, honestly dealing with nobles are not on his list today. Getting ice cream though, he won’t complain, he did have a sweet tooth.
“So, what are you having?” Kazuha started a conversation, “Because I honestly don’t know how to feel about you if you ordered vanilla,” To point this out, he spread his arms on the many rows of ice creams they could choose.
Scaramouche raked his eyes over the signs, macaroons, red bean, red velvet… what with these flavors? Curry? Are they nuts??
As if sensing what he’s judging at, Kazuha smoothly announced, “Curry was good, I hear, Ayato had tasted it out of curiosity, he certainly didn’t regret that questionable choice.”
Scaramouche furrowed his eyebrows, damn; he might be considering getting vanilla at this point. Was that ginger—?
He saw flashes of a certain annoyance named Childe, for good reasons, his scowl was deeper than before. Rosalyne seemed like she’ll order it and… he didn’t know, said it’s a good flavor just for the sake of him scrambling for water, because who made ginger flavored ice cream?
Thankfully, Kazuha seemed to have the same problem as he, overwhelmed by the amount of flavors they could took. Money wasn’t a problem, Kazuha was literally the adopted son of the Tianquan, he could buy this whole store if Scaramouche asked to. The problem is that what to choose for their ice cream flavors.
“You can have samples if you want?” The lady from behind the glass offered helpfully, seeing customers being confused seemed like a daily thing for her to deal with.
“Well then… I’ll try the chocolate spice.”
Scaramouche was really considering he might attract weird people to be his friends because simply, what.
Kazuha raised both his hands in surrender at Scaramouche’s judging eyes, “Hey, might as well try on flavors I never seen, you can get strawberry and chocolate on every ice cream store, just saying.”
“I’ll try the macaroon one, thank you,” He nods at the lady, outright ignoring the weirdo he was friends with, although he had a point. He loves macaroons, and it sounded sweet enough for his tastes.
Straight to bullseye, it is. He let out a pleased hum a the taste, it was sweet, tastes exactly like macaroons, except making those wonderful desserts into ice cream tastes a bit better for some mundane reasons.
Kazuha’s eyebrows rose at the taste of chocolate spice, “It tastes interesting… perhaps I’ll try on flavors I’ve never taste, it would certainly be a surprise,” He mumbles to himself.
“I’ll take macaroon and yoghurt, ma’am,” He finally decided.
Kazuha smiled at him, “You can search for a seat for us, I’ll be there in a quick second.”
“Alright.”
Kazuha seemed like he’s considering getting weird combinations, whatever it is, Scaramouche knows he definitely won’t want to taste whatever he’s getting.
…
Ginger and chocolate spice? Really?