Work Text:
“Uh, um … hey? New guy?”
Lazily, Itaru looked up from his DS. “Yeah?”
“The bell rang.”
“Ah. Thanks.”
“Wanna go back to class together?”
“Nah.”
“... I’m sorry?”
“I said nah.”
“Oh. Uh … you’re not going back?”
“Not feeling like it,” Itaru shrugged, staring at his console again.
“That’s really not a good idea.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Itaru waved the other student off. “I know, I know. Don’t worry about it. Teachers get used to it after a bit.”
“Maybe, but … oh, well. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
“Tch … didn’t need the warning,” Itaru mumbled under his breath as his classmate finally left.
The school rooftop was nice on a clear, sunny day like this. Sitting behind the entrance offered all the shade he needed to still see his screen, but surely this counted as being outside, right? Good for his health or something. After that Math torture in the morning, he sure needed it. And besides, this was only his second time skipping during his first week at the new school. A damn record, really.
“Chigasaki-kun.”
Gyah. What a deep voice. Was he ratted out? Did they send one of the teachers to get him? Biting his lip, he looked up again and … fuck. Reality must have glitched or something, because the last time Itaru saw a guy this stunning, it was in one of those otome game adverts. Tall figure, dark hair, piercing green eyes and a matching ribbon on his uniform … a third year, huh?
“... Chigasaki-kun.”
And the voice. The voice . Fuck. A bit hesitant and softer this time, it made Itaru weak in the knees even though he was sitting on the ground.
“Aaa … uh, y-yeah?”
“You are late to class.”
“Mhm, yeah, haha … uh, I don’t really give a shit about that, s-so …”
“Please do not use inappropriate language on school premises.”
“Eh? Who are you?”
“Nishiki Gai, student council president.”
“I don’t remember meeting you …”
“You haven’t. But your Gym teacher was concerned because you missed your class yesterday, so she confided in me that you might be struggling as a new transfer student. I am of course happy to help.”
“I’m fine,” Itaru awkwardly smiled. “I just need a break sometimes. And Gym sucks.”
“You should make sure you don’t miss your classes, Chigasaki-kun.”
“And what if I do miss them.”
“Well that would …”
“Hm?”
“That would make you my problem,” Gai mumbled quietly, stepping away and shrugging his shoulders. “Please consider how your behavior reflects on others, and do better in the future.”
Well maybe, Itaru thought as he watched Gai disappear around the corner, maybe other people shouldn’t be so concerned about what he was doing.
It was none of their business, really.
Stupid student council president.
▲▼▲
“Hey, hey, have you heard? The new first year disappeared after the first class again!”
“Eh, really?”
“Really! My cousin is in 1-B too, I hear all about it! He’ll fail the year, right? Hey, Nishiki-senpai?”
Gai looked over at his treasurer and secretary gossiping on the other end of the council room table. “Yes?”
“Shouldn’t you talk to him? Chigasaki-kun, I mean.”
“... I already did.”
“Oh? What is he like?”
Difficult question. What was Chigasaki-kun like? Gai felt like he somehow forgot his face completely, but at the same time … he thought about it a lot for some reason. His expression was a little different than the usual delinquents he chased around to scold. That’s why he was a bit taken back, because … Chigasaki-kun looked …
“Chigasaki-kun is a bit lazy,” he mumbled quietly, shrugging his shoulders. “I will talk to him again, I think.”
“Hey, you should make him do some work then! We need a storage manager, right?”
“Hmm … shouldn’t we entrust the task of cleaning the archives to a more trustworthy person?”
“Nishiki-senpai … us trustworthy members of the school body don’t want to be stuck in that dusty room. That is a punishment!”
“Well, I suppose … if he disregarded my warning he deserves one.“
▲▼▲
“Chigasaki-kun.”
The delinquent’s eyes shot up, and as their gazes met, Gai struggled with some strange feeling again. This guy was being preposterously disrespectful and yet, Gai couldn’t bring himself to scold him properly. Or to talk to him normally, for that matter.
“... h-hi?”
It was worse when he didn’t talk back. Sitting there, in the shade behind the rooftop entrance, hazel hair swaying a little in the breeze and crimson eyes staring up with that blank expression … Chigasaki-kun looked … beautiful?
“U-Uhm, Chigasaki-kun. It has come to my attention that your absences have continued since our first meeting.”
“I guess.”
“I have taken the liberty of suggesting alternative disciplinary action to help you make up the time, and your teacher luckily accepted it.”
“... alternative disciplinary action?”
“You will join the student council as a storage manager.“
“...”
“That means being in charge of the school archives,” Gai added as Itaru stared at him in silence.
“...”
“And they all need to be reorganized, so-”
“ Your student council?”
Chigasaki-kun’s voice was soft, somewhat apologetic even, and it caught Gai off guard.
“Y-Yes. My student council.”
“... okay.”
▲▼▲
Itaru should have protested. Oh, how he should have protested! He regretted it immensely as soon as the girls from the student council committee showed him to the archive room and left him there with a mop and a dust cloth, giggling as they walked down the hallway.
Why did he agree to this? Why the fuck did he agree to this? He felt a little tricked now that it was obvious that he was simply conned into being a cleaning lady, because … well, evidently he was an idiot. Being involved in clubs never mattered to him. He was barely in school, he didn’t need to do other things to feel like he belonged to it.
But.
When Nishiki-san talked to him … this dumb thought of Itaru being part of his student council … fuck. Well, the sooner he’s done with this, the better. Then he can maybe do something stupid like graffiti on the side of the school, so that he gets sent somewhere else again, and be free from this damn overbearing-
“Chigasaki-kun?”
Nishiki-san? Great, Itaru rolled his eyes as the door behind him bumped against a stack of folders on the floor. “I’m here. Didn’t escape or anything, doing my job.”
“But you’re just standing and staring at the shelf.”
“Well excuse me, it’s a lot to take in! This place is a mess!”
“I know. We have been avoiding it since last year,” Gai confessed.
“Ha? Well that’s not, uh … all right and proper, President-san.”
“I know. So I decided I would come and help.”
“... just the two of us?”
“If that is fine?”
“Yeah … it’s fine.”
▲▼▲
It was a long term project, pretty much. Carrying everything to the hallway outside, cleaning the shelves and the closets and the floors, then dusting off every folder by itself, then sorting them by year and number, then undoing everything and starting again when they realized some records were still left in the basement and they’d need to include those too … it was a lot. Itaru considered death and disappearance as a form of salvation more than once, because this was the first time he’d broken a sweat while at this school.
But.
Working in silence next to Nishiki-san was okay.
Itaru snuck glances here and there, occasionally, a little bit. With the summer approaching, some days were already hot, and with sunlight pouring into the archive room through the west-facing windows, sometimes Nishiki-san undid his ribbon and opened a button or two on his shirt, and Itaru didn’t mean to stare, but damn. Fuck. He stared.
Nishiki-san was stunning. And smart. And responsible. And kind, although, also not above being sneaky if it meant getting work done. And popular, as evident by several confessions Itaru witnessed as the two of them sometimes left the school together. And single, as evident by his blunt and simple answer to every girl who asked.
Thank you for sharing your feelings with me. But I am not interested in dating.
Yeah. Right. Of course. He had better things to do. Probably getting into some university somewhere. Not like he’d have time for such trivial things. And if he would … he’d probably, like … be normal, or something. He wouldn’t struggle with all these weird ideas that Itaru sometimes, rarely, just occasionally had.
Well.
More than just occasionally, since the two of them met.
“Chigasaki-kun.”
“Aaa! Eh, uhm … sorry. I spaced out,” Itaru mumbled, realizing he’d been staring at Nishiki-san over his shoulder.
“Okay. I thought something was wrong.”
“No, no, nothing wrong!” Itaru was quick to assure him.
“Hmm. I feel like I have gotten to know you enough to be able to tell when you don’t really mean what you say,” Guy noted, shrugging as he continued sorting the files on his shelf behind Itaru.
“Oh …”
“But there are still many ways in which you are a complete mystery.”
“Aha.”
“I feel like part of it is due to our inherently different approaches to education and personal accountability.”
“... are you saying I’m a loser or something?”
“You’re a delinquent, I believe.”
“Right … well, I guess, sure. Of course you wouldn’t know anything about a delinquent’s life,” Itaru chuckled. “You’ve probably always done everything right, didn’t you, President-san?”
“I’ve tried to,” Gai nodded. “But maybe my perspective is lacking because of it.”
“Well, you’re free to ask what it’s like.”
“Really?”
“Sure. Maybe you wouldn’t be such a hardass if you understood us better,” Itaru laughed again.
“Hmm … well why are you so often absent from class?”
“It’s boring and I don’t like my classmates. Doesn’t feel like I belong there.”
“Aren’t you worried you’ll have to repeat the year?”
“Sounds like that’d be alright. I don’t really care.”
“Wouldn’t your parents be disappointed?”
“They also don’t really care, as long as I’m not in like, mega-trouble.”
“What is mega trouble?”
“Like, some bad stuff.”
“I see. Have you ever been in mega trouble?”
“... a little bit,” Itaru shrugged.
“What did you do?”
“Spray painted the Gym teacher’s desk pink.”
“Oh.”
“Haha … I could feel you shiver back there.”
“Is that what got you transferred here?”
“Mhm.”
“Is that the worst thing you’ve ever done?”
“I don’t really know what’s bad for you,” Itaru smiled. “Like, I also skipped a whole week of classes at once at my old school. Stuff like that.”
“Did you get in fights?”
“A teacher yelled at me once in junior high. Otherwise no. I’m not really of a fighting constitution, President-san.”
“Do you smoke?”
“Tried once to see what it was about and holy shit, never again, it’s disgusting.”
“Drink?”
“A little. Like a beer or two. I’ve only been drunk once, at my sister’s birthday party last year.”
“Have you ever stolen anything?”
“Nope. Never stole anything. Are you just going down a list of delinquent things, President-san?”
“Maybe … is there something wrong with that?”
“No, but it’s funny.”
“I see. So … have you ever ...”
“Geez, what’s with that change of tone,” Itaru found himself preemptively freaked out before Gai even really said anything. “No, I didn’t murder anyone if that’s what you were gonna ask.”
“... I was going to ask if you’ve ever kissed a guy.”
Itaru had a folder in his hand. Or at least he thought he did. Maybe it was on the floor by now. Maybe that’s what the swooshing sound was, if not the rushing of blood past his ears.
“You mean … like … like, another guy?” He asked quietly, his fingers nervously digging into the wooden shelf to help ground him as he struggled between turning around and facing Gai, or running out the door.
“Y-Yeah.”
“Of course not,” he blurted out.
“Me neither …”
“... have you seen someone do it, or …”
“No.”
“Me neither … it would probably be like … really gross or something. Cause it’s … it’s … it’s just fucking weird … right?”
“Right …”
He finally got the courage to look at Nishiki-san despite his better judgment, and the weakness in his knees returned at full force. Nishiki-san was looking at him too, his hair perfectly hiding his eyes just enough to throw a shade between the endless glimmers of green that pulled Itaru in, throwing him deeper and deeper into an ocean he didn’t know how to swim out of.
Fuck.
He wanted to kiss him. He really did. Even if it’d be the grossest thing he ever did, even if he had to wash his mouth with soap afterwards, or change schools again, or move to another continent, or … anything, really. He just wanted to kiss Nishiki-san so badly he didn’t have words for it.
“Chigasaki-kun … do you want to try?”
“H-Ha?!”
“... kissing … do you want to try?”
“...”
“Chigasaki-kun …”
“I want to.”
It was as if time froze, and he could watch Nishiki-san’s every move in slow motion: the folder gently placed down on the shelf, his hand fixing his hair, drawing attention to the blush that painted his cheeks red as he stepped closer to Itaru, bringing their faces together. That was probably where Itaru should have closed his eyes, but he couldn’t. Not until everything became a blur, and he finally felt Nishiki-san’s lips brush against his.
What an idiot.
What a fucking idiot. How could he … how could he have said something like that? It wasn’t gross. No, it wasn’t gross, Nishiki-san was the most beautiful person he’d ever met, of course it wasn’t gross, it was … the best thing that ever happened to him.
And there weren’t many such things, but still.
Kissing Nishiki-san was better than having the house to himself when the rest of his family went on a trip he conned his way out of. It was better than scoring the last limited edition game on release day. It was better than skipping Gym class. It was better than getting an SSR on first pull, or a shiny Absol without hunting for it.
It was better than anything.
“... Nishiki-san …”
“Was it gross?” Gai asked quietly as he pulled away, afraid to look Itaru in the eyes.
“No!” Itaru violently shook his head, his hands grabbing at Gai’s shirt. “No … no … it wasn’t … was it gross for you?”
“No.”
Gai didn’t have words to describe the smile on Chigasaki-kun’s face when he heard that. It was shiny, beaming, more expressive than Chigasaki-kun had ever been, it was … the most beautiful thing.
So he kissed him again.
And again.
And again.
Slower, gentler, pulling Chigasaki-kun into his arms, breathing with their lips barely parted so they wouldn’t have to be away from each other, his hand slipping between strands of Chigasaki-kun’s hair that shined just like the rest of him, bathed in gold from the setting sun.
“... I … I … Itaru ….”
“Is … is it alright?” Itaru mumbled, wide-eyed as Gai’s silent whisper echoed through his mind.
“I don’t know,” Gai blurted out. “You are a first year and a delinquent and we haven’t known each other for a long time … but I wanted to … I wanted to use your name …”
“Can I use yours too?”
“Yes.”
“... Gai … is it alright?” Itaru asked again as he felt Gai’s whole body shiver.
“Yes,” Gai nodded, lifting his hands to cup Itaru’s face. “Itaru … Itaru, I want to kiss you more.”
“I want that too,” Itaru nodded as best as he could, with a smile stretching across his face and tears of joy welling up in his eyes as Gai returned to him.
They could stay like this forever. Gai wouldn’t mind. But alas, before long, someone came to see if they were done so that the room could be locked up, and Gai barely managed to hide Itaru behind a full shelf in time. If someone saw them … it could be bad. They’d probably get in trouble too.
Well, at least there was still one day of work left tomorrow.
▲▼▲
Itaru rushed to the archive room as soon as his classes were done. Gai joined him shortly after, together with two other student council members who came to marvel at their work and poke fun at what good of a job the delinquent did. Usually Itaru didn’t mind, but this time … this time, he couldn’t wait for them to leave.
But once they were finally gone, he didn’t understand why Gai was tucked away at the back shelf, stacking folder after folder like a hyper-focused maniac as if Itaru weren’t even there.
… did he regret what they did yesterday?
Itaru would understand. He spent the whole night thinking about it too. And some of those thoughts were not nice. But still … still … still! His heart felt like it would break in two and sink to the bottom of the ocean if Gai wouldn’t even look his way again, wouldn’t even talk to him, wouldn’t even-
“Gai …” he called out to him, tugging on his sleeve once he couldn’t take it any more.
Slowly, Gai turned to face him, his cheeks as red as they were the day before, and eyes filled with longing. “Itaru …”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing? I’m just trying to get this done as soon as I can, so that … if you’d want …”
Itaru’s eyes widened, and his chest suddenly felt like an inflating balloon. Gai didn’t regret it, he didn’t regret it, he didn’t resent Itaru, he … he still looked at him the same, he wanted to be with him again!
Itaru had never worked as diligently before in his entire life. And just as his last folder was sorted and stored away, a pair of arms snuck around him from behind, with Gai resting his head on Itaru’s shoulder for a moment before pulling Itaru around so that they could kiss again.
They had so much more time. And yet, it seemed to pass in the blink of an eye: afternoon turning into a lazy sunset with the two of them sitting in a dark corner behind the shelves, eyes and hands and lips only for each other.
“Gai … do you like guys?” Itaru asked quietly, sitting on Gai’s lap and sinking into the warmth of his gentle hug.
“I never thought about it,” Gai answered after a short silence. “I just … with you … I felt things I never did before.”
“Mhm. Me too.”
“Do you like guys?”
“... I think I might,” Itaru admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. “I just … I don’t know, I think I like both.”
“Both?”
“Girls too.”
“... oh.”
“But not now!” Itaru rushed to explain. “Right now, I … I like only you.”
“... I like you too,” Gai nodded, bringing a smile to Itaru’s lips before giving him another soft and drawn out kiss.
“Do you want to … I mean … I know we finished the work here, but … even if it’s something else, do you want to spend time together sometimes?”
“...”
“Gai?”
“Just sometimes?”
“Oh … oh, Gai, you …”
“I want to be with you all the time.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
All the time probably wasn’t an option. But Itaru would do his best to get as close to it as possible.
▲▼▲
“What are you gonna do after you graduate?”
They lay in Itaru’s bed on the first night of summer vacation, enjoying the empty house left behind by Itaru’s parents and his sister rushing to the seaside the week before. He wasn’t explicitly told not to have friends over … but he also didn’t need to be, because he didn’t have any friends. And so it would only make sense that he also wouldn’t have someone like Gai.
But he did. And he didn’t regret inviting him to stay at his house after school at all.
The fan in the corner blew air across the room, further entangling the green and dark blue ribbons on the floor with each passing swoop. Itaru was in heaven, and he wanted to make sure he would never leave.
“I had plans,” Gai gently whispered, kissing the edge of Itaru’s ear.
“You don’t anymore?”
“When I made them, they didn’t include …”
“Gai?”
“... Itaru … what are we?”
“We’re … I mean … Gai, I …”
“Would you want to spend more time with me?”
“Yes! Always!”
“Even in the future?”
“Yes!”
“... the very far away future?”
“Yes!”
“Would it, ah … would it be acceptable to call you my boyfriend then?”
“...”
“Itaru, it’s okay if you don’t want-”
Speechless, Itaru shook his head, catching hold of Gai’s hand. “Gai … I want to. If you’re okay with it, I want to have a relationship with you!”
“... the kind of relationship where I can tell you all my feelings?”
“Mhm. If I can tell you mine too.”
“You can.”
A deep breath. Blood rushing to his head. Heart pounding as he kissed Gai a few more times, just to gather the courage.
“Nishiki Gai-san … I’m in love with you.”
“Chigasaki Itaru-kun … I’m in love with you too.”
They laughed, they cried and kissed some more. As the night finally cooled down enough for them to turn off the fan and hide under a light blanket, it finally hit them that this would be their first time falling asleep together … waking up together … spending almost a whole week together, without anyone else.
It wasn’t much.
But it was enough for Gai to make new plans - ones that included a boyfriend this time.
▲▼▲
“Oh, you must be Nishiki-san, right?”
“Yes,” Gai bowed his head to the older lady he ran into on the stairs. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you as well! The landlord said a new student will be moving in, ah, we haven’t had a university youth here in a while! Well, they’re not the smallest apartments, not the best fit for most students - ah, Nishiki-san! Are you perhaps moving in with your girlfriend?”
“No,” Gai shook his head, smiling softly. “I’ll live alone. Maybe a friend will come visit every now and then … and who knows, I might save on rent some day and get a roommate too.”
“Ah, so responsible … I have a grandson your age, I wish he were more like you!”
“Thank you, miss,” Gai bowed his head again. “I hope to be a good neighbor, and I will see you around.”
“Of course! Feel free to ring the bell two doors down if you need help with anything!”
He didn’t need help with anything. He just needed to finally get back to his new home, so that he could put the groceries in the fridge before they wilt, and put himself in bed before he too would collapse from the exhausting move-in day.
With everything taken care of and the lights turned off, he finally reached for his phone to fulfill his promise. “Hello … Itaru …”
“Gai! Oh my god, Gai … I thought you wouldn’t call!”
“Am I too late?”
“No! Wait, just … ugh, sorry. Had to close the door, everyone’s home.”
“That’s okay,” Gai smiled at the muffled sounds of the house he’d spent so many beautiful moments with Itaru in this past summer. “I’ve made you wait, I can wait too.”
“Okay, so … fuck, Gai, is everything okay?”
“I think so,” Gai nodded slowly. “Well, I thought the fridge wasn’t working, but then I realized it was not plugged in. So everything is fine. Except …”
“Except?”
He sighed, running his hand across the empty space on the mattress next to him. “Itaru … I miss you.”
“I miss you too!”
“Hurry up with school and get here already.”
“I’m trying,” Itaru laughed on the other end of the line. “I’m going to all my classes this year, like I promised.”
“Gym too?”
“...”
“Itaru.”
“I skipped this week,” Itaru mumbled in defeat. “I’m sorry, Gai … I’m just not strong enough.”
“Well there’s an uphill walk from the station here, so you’ll need to get in shape to see me.”
“I’ll do my best!”
“Good,” Gai nodded. “And the student council?”
“Also doing my best,” Itaru assured him. “This year we’re organizing the school festival supplies in the basement. I think I will ask the new president if we can recruit another storage manager. Any ideas on where to find one?”
“Pick up a delinquent from the rooftop,” Gai smiled. “Worked well enough for me.”
“... did it?”
“Yes.”
“Are you really happy with how things are?”
“If I had to choose, I would prefer it to be a third year,” Gai shrugged. “Because then I could take a picture with you at graduation, and you’d be here right now.”
“Mhm …”
“But you’ve got many other improvable faults, so I will try not to get too hung up on the misfortune of your age.”
“Hey!”
“Shhh … you know I’m right.”
“Just wait. I’ll work so hard this year, you won’t even recognize me anymore when I visit.”
“Maybe not that much,” Gai calmed him down. “I’d still like to recognize my boyfriend, please. If you want to have some personal growth spurt, get here and do it where I can watch.”
“Okay. Then I’ll grow a moderate amount. Just enough to not be a delinquent anymore, so your landlord lets me move in.”
“That seems like a good plan. I’ll be waiting for you … Itaru.”
“And I’ll be running towards you as fast as I can … Gai.”
“Sleep well, and don’t be late tomorrow.”
“You too. I love you, Gai.”
“I love you too, Itaru.”