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A red pen streaked across a thing, white surface. Words were on each line, scribbled out neatly and with precise effort. "Dostoy, you're missing a comma!"
"Leave me alone, Dazai. It's a single piece of punctuation, and you're about to fail me."
Sitting at one desk, a brunette was correcting a paper, reviewing every little detail. The boy across from him, at the same table, was holding another piece of paper filled with different colors and markings.
"Well, this is what you get for failing me!" Dazai folded his arms. Fyodor narrowed his eyes, responding sternly.
"Because you made an indescribable amount of mistakes. You're lucky I'm the one looking at it and not the teacher, or you'd be sent straight to the principal's office to decide if you're neurodivergent. Or depressed. I don't get why she keeps teaming us up, your papers are all awfully and darkly boring or greatly stupid and unprofessional."
Dazai was offended. "So rude! I just wanted to have some fun, you know!?" He sighed. "I should've known to just redone it because you were grading my paper..."
Fyodor nodded. "Yes, that is correct." His expression was smug, and Dazai rolled his eyes with a scoff.
"God I hate partner checking with you. That 'Niko' guy would've been fun to talk to, why does the teacher always pair us up?!"
Fyodor sighed. "I hate this activity in general. You make it so much worse. Nobody here seems to understand the nuance of literature.” He groaned. Dazai laughed at him.
"And your pain gives me joy!" He said proudly. Fyodor groaned again, even more annoyed. Suddenly, though, a loud, high-pitched sound rang throughout the classroom.
"Ah, saved by the bell!" Dazai stood up happily, racing out of the classroom and skipping. Fyodor gathered his stuff and followed him. Their lockers were close to one another so they walked together every day.
Once they made it to the lunchroom, Dazai was dragged away by an angry blonde man. Fyodor waved goodbye with a monotone look and then made his way to the table he usually sat at. It was loud, as always. Much different than what he preferred.
"Get your disgusting hands off of me!"
"Ohhh but Sigma, don't be such a baby!" Nikolai said cheerily, his arms around Sigma's neck as he was pulling him down. The silver-haired man soon noticed Fyodor and let Sigma go, quickly standing up with sparkles in his eyes. The other fell to the floor and coughed heavily.
"Dos-Kun!!" He squealed and leaped at him, hugging his shoulders.
"Good day." Fyodor looked down, shutting an eye as Nikolai was nuzzling against his cheek. Very oddly affectionate today... "What's up with him?" He pointed to him, not exactly denying him. Bram spoke up to answer.
"He's been hyper all day. He refuses to tell anyone why." The pale teen sighed. He seemed exhausted as always and had his head on the cafeteria desk. Nikolai shook his head frantically, his braid swishing around.
"Not a single soul!" His voice was childish and he hugged Fyodor tighter. The boy sighed and leaned in to whisper to Nikolai. He paused and blinked, listening intently. He looked stunned for a moment, his eyes wide. Nikolai huffed and then whispered back.
Fyodor smiled softly, and Nikolai got off of him, returning to bully the still-recovering Sigma who was desperately trying to get away from the clown. Fyodor finally took a seat at the table and sat down beside another boy with long white hair, except it was not styled whatsoever and was more like a straight line of silver strands. A few stuck out like fluffy spikes.
"And what'd you say to him, hm?" The teen chuckled softly, asking with genuine curiosity and amusement. Fyodor looked over with a smile.
"Let's say I just... promised him something, and he explained his excitement," Fyodor responded, his tone a little sinister.
Shibusawa laughed softly. "And what may that promise be?" He asked with a raised brow. Fyodor shook his head.
"That's a secret, but I can tell you what he told me~" Fyodor crossed his legs and leaned onto the table. Shibusawa nodded and scooted over towards him. Fyodor arched and put his lips close to the other's ear.
His voice low and casual, he murmured with a huge smirk and a hand by his mouth. "Concert tickets."
Shibusawa blinked in surprise, thought for a moment, then laughed again. "To that MSI band he likes, I presume." He sighed. "That makes sense." Shibusawa shuffled his hands in his bag of cheese crackers.
"Want one?" He turned his head back to Fyodor and held out a tiny, orange square. The dark-haired boy nodded and took the one Shibusawa handed him. He popped it into his mouth and chewed slowly. Shibusawa looked him up and down for a moment. He noticed Fyodor constantly fidgeting. "You okay?" He raised a brow, looking at him blankly. Fyodor paused and didn't respond for a while.
He just stared at the floor and chewed.
Shibusawa waited for a few moments, then heaved a sigh. They weren't easily heard, as the cafeteria was filled with screaming teens everywhere. And their table was extremely loud anyway. They were conversing casually, but it sounded hushed compared to the rest of the large room. Shibusawa leaned towards Fyodor and held his chin in his palm.
"Dostoy, tell me what's wrong." The silver-haired boy demanded quietly. Fyodor closed his eyes softly, just resting on Shibusawa's hand. He hummed softly.
"I'm a little tired is all."
Shibusawa couldn't help but chuckle. "As tired as Bram?" To this, Fyodor shook his head.
"Everything's loud..." He complained. Shibusawa could tell he wasn't really too stressed about the noise, but it was true. The sound level today was much louder than usual. And his last period, Shibusawa knew, Fyodor shared with his greatest school enemy.
"Do you want a distraction?" Shibusawa smiled, and his thumb lifted to caress Fyodor's cheek and rub at the area beneath his eye. Soft, dark circles were underneath. Shibusawa now knew Fyodor was telling the truth, he probably was tired.
Fyodor looked at him and nodded. "Mhm..."
Their voices were soft as they talked. With a final nod of confirmation, Shibusawa spun around and leaned back towards Fyodor a little more.
"This is the one time, Dostoy. You can toy with my hair for a bit, mkay?"
Fyodor looked at him in shock. Usually, Shibusawa was very sensitive to people touching his hair. Oftentimes during their math period, he'd let Fyodor run his hand through it. But never for too long. Now, though, he was letting him actually play with it?
He took another moment to process it, not even reaching out to the long, white streak. Shibusawa spoke again.
"So?"
Fyodor snapped back into reality and narrowed his eyes. His hands slowly moved toward Shibusawa's hair, and soon he was just- holding a bundle of it. He moved his face lower to look through it, and his fingers glided right through it.
There were no tangles and not a single knot. It was soft and comfortable to play around with. Fyodor found himself just running his hand through it for a while. However, white flashed in his vision. He looked over curiously to find Nikolai running around the table, his hair close to falling loose.
Fyodor thought for a moment and then got an idea.
Shibusawa felt Fyodor's movements in his hair change. He, curious, slightly tilted his head to see. However, Fyodor quickly shifted the teenager's head back into place.
"Don't move."
"Eh??" Shibusawa said, clearly puzzled. But, he sighed and did as he was told. He sat patiently. Soon enough, with only a few gentle tugs of his hair, Shibusawa realized what Fyodor was doing.
Finally knowing, Shibusawa smiled and laughed softly. Fyodor noticed and raised a brow.
"What's so funny?" He questioned, tone serious. Shibusawa shook his head.
"Nothing, just continue."
Fyodor shrugged and continued to work with Shibusawa's hair.
Many minutes passed, and the lunch bell was going to ring soon. Voices were still loud as ever, though, and everything was still chaos. But, here, at this table, two boys felt like they were in their own world together. Just them both, away from every other person and thing.
Fyodor truly was distracted from his surroundings, his whole mind focused on Shibusawa's hair. Soon, with one last tug of the silver hair, he finished. He tapped Shibusawa's shoulder.
"I... did it." He said quietly. He looked a little embarrassed, and Shibusawa chuckled a little, feeling the back of his head as he stared at Fyodor.
"You did great, Dostoy. I didn't know you could braid so well." He smiled. "It's difficult to do with long hair, you know?"
"I just learned from Nikolai back in Middle School... he'd do it in the school bathroom and I'd watch him," Fyodor explained, looking away with a little bit of shame in his expression. Shibusawa laughed and moved close to him, caressing his cheek with his finger.
Right below his eye, once again.
"Well, you're a great learner." Shibusawa continued to praise him like he was a child. Fyodor grew more embarrassed, and his brows furrowed. He pouted and shut his eyes to avoid looking at the other.
Shibusawa grinned, and let out an amused huff. "Don't sulk now, Dostoy. It's all true." He laughed. Fyodor gently nudged him, as if saying 'shut up'. He continued to hide his expression.
Another loud ring sounded through the cafeteria and Shibusawa looked up. Bram stood up rather quickly and left the place in a hurry. Shibusawa stood up and held out his hand towards Fyodor, who accepted with a sigh.
"I think it's rather funny how you never tried to braid my hair. After all, you've known me much longer than that Gogol." He chuckled. Fyodor beside him shrugged.
"You never allowed anyone to touch it. How would I know you'd want me to?"
Shibusawa laughed at that, patting Fyodor's shoulder as they walked out of the lunchroom. "Oh, you shouldn't need to worry about it at all anyway. You're very strange, Dostoy."
Fyodor smiled softly.
"Isn't that exactly how you like me?"
.
.
.
END.