Chapter Text
Scara absolutely hated his biology class. He hated taking notes, he hated lab experiments, he hated group work, he hated science in general, and he hated it when the teacher placed the new student in the seat next to him.
He hated that.
See, as much as Scara hated his biology class, he did have at least one thing going for him; he had a table all to himself at the back of the room. That meant that no one could bother him, no one could distract him, and no one could drain him of his social energy.
That was… until today.
When Scara walked in the classroom, he found a random-ass, ginger-haired guy sitting on the stool next to Scara’s. He was wearing a stupid red and blue striped shirt with a stupid grin on his face. “Hi, I’m Childe!” he said, looking at Scara with bright blue eyes.
Scara ignored him completely, took the seat next to him, and started digging through his backpack.
“Um… hi, I’m Childe!”
“I heard you the first time.”
There was silence for a moment. “Oh, ok… um, what’s your name?”
Scara turned his head and met Childe’s eyes to let him know that he heard him, then put his headphones on and looked away—just to make sure that Childe was aware that he was being ignored.
“Okay class,” the teacher, Miss.Hina began. “I’m going to take attendance now. Let’s see… Ayaka?”
“Here.”
“Yoimiya?”
“Here!”
“Diluc?”
“Present.”
“Kunikuzushi.”
“Here…”
“Your name is Kunikuzushi?”
Scara rolled his eyes the second he heard the guy next to him open his mouth. “Shut up.”
“Hi Kunikuzushi.”
“Don’t call me that!”
“Then what should I call you?” Out of the corner of his eye, Scara could see Childe leaning in, staring at him with an eyebrow raised.
Scara tried his best to focus on the board. “Just don’t refer to me.”
“Okay Kunikuzushi.”
Scara gritted his teeth together and turned the volume on his headphones up.
This was going to be a long semester
***
Scara was appalled to find out that Childe was in his gym class the next day. Even though Childe’s first day was yesterday, Scara didn’t notice nor care about the new student until he stole Kunikuzushi’s empty seat away from him in their last period. Scara was putting his clothes in his locker when his eyes scanned over the locker for a brief moment and to his dismay, caught sight of Childe pulling his shirt off, revealing his stupid abs and his stupid toned arms.
Noticing Scara’s mouth agape, his best friend, Aether, a short, lean guy with long, golden-blonde hair usually worn up in a braid, tapped his shoulder. “What’s got you so worked up?”
Aether was in the process of pulling his shirt over his head when Scara smushed the cheeks of their faces together and pointed in the direction of Childe’s locker. “That’s the guy Miss.Hina put next to me in biology yesterday.”
Aether rolled his eyes and pushed Kunikuzushi away from him. “Kuni, I don’t know why you’re so bothered about it.”
“B-b-because! I already hate my biology class enough as it is!”
“Trust me, I know. You complain about it to me every single day.”
“Exactly! And now I hate it even more because someone sits next to me!”
Unimpressed, Aether raised his eyebrow at Scara and gave him a weird look. “So… you hate him because his assigned seat is next to yours?”
“Yes! Well, no—well—”.
Scara narrowly managed to avoid it when Aether swung his fist at him.
***
When the bell rang, Scara let out a groan. Fifth period was over, which meant he had biology next. Gross.
Aether had to drag Scara’s up the stairs and into the building where his class was located. “Aether, let go. I’m just going to skip—”.
Scara was unable to finish his sentence when Aether gave him one last push—right into the doorframe of his classroom—and then walked away before Scara could even begin to protest.
Defeated, Scara begrudgingly dragged his feet to his seat. He put his headphones in, put his favorite playlist on shuffle, and then turned the volume as high as possible.
Why exactly did Scara hate his biology class? Well, it was simple; he was bad at biology. Science had never been his strong point—it never made sense to him. Plus, none of his friends were in the class, and he wasn’t interested in meeting new people.
Scara hadn’t been paying attention to his surroundings when he felt his headphones being removed from his head. “H-hey!”
He spun around to face the headphone thief beside him, who—now that he was standing—towered over Scara, holding his headphones over his head with a cocky smile on his face. “What ya listening to?” Childe asked with a grin on his face. He was about to check for himself by putting Scara’s headphones over his ears when Scara jumped up on his tippy toes and snatched it from his hands.
Scara shot him a glare and grumbled, “mind your own business.”
The sound of Childe’s laughter was drowned out by a loud guitar when Scara put his headphones back on, took his seat, and stared out the window for the rest of the class period, ignoring his tablemate.
***
Childe must have decided that there was no use in trying to get along with Scara because the next day, he sat quietly the entire class period. The day after that, he was silent again. And again the day after that. Seeing that Childe had given up, Scara found himself relaxing a little. Okay, perhaps he was being a little dramatic earlier. As long as Childe didn’t try to talk to him, didn’t snore, and respected his space—class should be alright.
He still hated Biology though.
Weeks had passed by and Scara found himself forgetting about Childe’s existence entirely, only registering him as an NPC like the rest of his classmates…
Unfortunately, good things never lasted.
One day, Miss.Hina announced that they would be dissecting frogs–which sucked–with their seat partners–which sucked even more.
Scara really, really, really didn’t want to do it, but he didn’t really have a choice because the assignment made up a big part of his grade. By the time he had cut the stomach open, he realized with a jolt that his lab partner wasn’t helping at all and sure enough, when Scara looked over, Childe wasn’t paying attention at all and didn’t even have gloves or goggles on.
“Um, hello? Childe? Earth to Childe?”
Childe looked up from his cell phone with a blank expression on his face. “Huh?”
Beckoning towards the dead frog with the scissors in his hands, Scara asked, “aren’t you going to help me with this?”
“Huh? Oh! Oh… no, I’m good.”
“Excuse me…?” Scara scoffed.
Childe chuckled awkwardly. “I don’t really want to touch it…”
“And you think that I do?!” Scara couldn’t believe this guy. “You better put those fucking gloves on or I’m going to throw this frog at you.”
Childe only gave an eye roll and a hum in response, looking back at his phone.
Scara bit down hard on his tongue. “You don’t believe me?”
Childe looked exasperated when he put his phone down. “Of course not, you’d have to be crazy to do that. Look, you’re already cutting the frog open, so why can’t you just do this lab by yourself? Just this once?”
Scara couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Fucking brat…”
“What did you just call me?”
“A brat.”
Childe was the one who scoffed this time. “Dude, you don’t have to be such a dick about this—”.
“This is your last warning; Put. Those. Fucking. Gloves. On. Or. Else. I’m. Throwing. This. Frog. At. You.”
“Yeah, sure little guy. Whatever.”
Childe still didn’t believe him, so there was only one thing Scara could do. He put his hands together and bowed sincerely to the dead frog lying on the table. “My apologies, Mr.Frog.”
Then he threw the frog at Childe, guts spilling out and everything.
***
Two days later, they played basketball in gym class.
Scara and Aether were standing at the back of the court, hiding behind their classmates and gossiping with each other. They were laughing at some random guy’s haircut when suddenly, Scara saw something flying at him out of the corner of his eye, and before he even had the time to react, he was knocked onto the ground.
The coach blew the whistle. “You alright there, Kunikuzushi?”
Aether quickly helped Scara up, frantically patting his clothes down and checking his head for any injuries. “I’m fine,” Scara told him as he removed his hands from his head. “I’m fine,” he repeated, louder for the coach to hear.
When Scara glanced in the direction that the ball had come from, he spotted Childe. Scara had not spoken to him since the frog incident—although they did glare at each other whenever they saw each other. He was standing on the opposite side of the court, both of his hands covering his mouth, his eyes wide open.
That’s when Scara realized who threw the basketball at him.
***
Back in the locker room, Aether kept nagging Scara. “Are you sure you’re okay?! H-how many fingers am I holding up?!”
“ Two fingers, Aether. You can stop asking me that already.” Scara slammed his gym locker shut. “I’m fine, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s common to get hit in the head with a ball.” If anything, what hurt the most was Scara’s lips. The ball had hit him squarely in the face and his lip rings were slammed against his teeth.
Scara tried to leave the locker room and Aether behind, but was stopped when Aether grabbed his hand. “It kind of is though! Especially with your condition… I’m only worried because it’s you , Kuni.” Scara stopped in his tracks and sighed, turning around to face Aether. He was looking at the ground, the hand at his side tightened in a fist. When Aether realized Scara was listening, his eyes lit up as he pleaded, “could you at least stop by the nurse’s office? Please?”
Seeing that there was no arguing with Aether, Scara gave in. “ Fine, but only so you’ll stop nagging me.”
Aether straightened his posture and brightened up right away. “I’ll walk you!”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t want you to be late to class.”
“But I—”.
“I can take him.” Both Scara and Aether tensed up immediately when they looked to their left and found Childe standing there awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. Seeing Aether twisted his face into a scowl, Childe waved his hands, slightly embarrassed (or something stupid like that), and said, “s-sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I uh, I just overheard your conversation and thought that I ought to take responsibility…”
“Are you crazy?! You threw a ball at him, and now you want to—”. Aether paused mid-sentence when he felt Scara grab his hand and give it a little squeeze, which was a signal between the two of them that meant ‘it’s okay.’
Childe looked Scara in the eyes and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you with the basketball.”
Scara knew that Aether didn’t believe Childe, but Scara did. Scara could normally tell if apologies were fake or half-assed, and Childe looked genuinely sorry. He actually seemed pretty nervous too—perhaps he had learned his lesson in biology and was afraid of having another dead animal thrown at him.
“Don’t be sorry, it was just an accident,” Scara replied, much more bothered by the fact that Aether and Childe were worrying unnecessarily about him. It was getting annoying. “I can walk to the nurse’s office bg myself though.”
Scara didn’t give Childe any time to respond because the second he heard the bell ring, he quickly made his escape and set off in the direction of the nurse’s office. Once he was sure that he was out of Aether’s sight, he turned around and started heading towards his next class. He felt bad for deceiving Aether, but he really didn’t think it was a big deal.
When Scara turned around the corner, however, he bumped into somebody’s chest. He staggered back, rubbing his nose. “Ow…” When he looked up, he was surprised to see Childe staring down at him. “Hey, watch where you’re going—”.
“Oh, no you don’t!”
Without warning, Childe grabbed Scara by the wrist and started dragging him back in the direction of the nurse’s office.
Taken aback, Scara hurriedly tried to pry Childe’s fingers off of his wrist, but Childe was a bit strong, and to be honest… Scara was feeling a little lightheaded. “The fuck are you doing?!”
Childe didn’t look back when he responded, “I had the feeling that you were just going to go straight to class. I knew it.”
Scara groaned. “So what if I go straight to class? What’s it to you? Just let me go—wait, were you following me?”
This seemed to be exactly the case because Childe almost tripped over his own foot the second Scara mentioned it. “Wh-whaaaaaat? Nooooo, I wasn’t—”.
“Yeah you were,” Scara cut in, expressionless.
Embarrassed about being caught, Childe was silent the rest of the way to the nurse’s office, although he still held onto Scara’s wrist firmly the entire time, his hold eventually sliding down and grabbing his hand. By the time they were almost there, Scara felt himself fading away—which didn’t alarm him, it wasn’t the first time this had happened—but Childe, on the other hand, started freaking out the moment Scara slumped against his shoulder. Before Scara could fall, Childe caught him in his arms. “H-hey—Kunikuzushi! Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” Scara replied weakly with a weak and lopsided smile before passing out.
***
When Scara woke up, he recognized where he was immediately. He was laid down on a bed, looking up at an all too familiar ceiling. He sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes and trying to rack his brain for recollection of what had happened before he got here. The nurse, Miss Yae, a tall lady with bright pink hair and purple eyes, was sitting on a stool next to his bed. She was writing something on her notepad when Scara’s voice suddenly sounded, “did I faint again?”
Similar to a fox, her ears perked up the second she heard his voice and she set the notepad down. She looked up at Scara with a smile. “Oh, you’re awake.”
“ Again?!”
The new voice caught Scara off guard. He searched his surroundings, only to realize that Childe was sitting on a chair on the opposite side of his bed, his hands clasped together and one of his legs shaking rapidly—for some reason.
Scara bluntly asked, “why are you here?”
Childe’s response was… nothing but incoherent babbles. “I-I-I thought you were—I thought—you—why—”.
“He was really worried about you and thought that you would die if he took his eyes off you for even one second,” Miss Yae translated.
Scara missed the pleading look Childe sent Miss Yae because he was too busy laughing. “And you let him stay?!”
“I felt like if I sent him back to class, he would end up being sent right back because he fainted with worry. He even carried you bridal style onto the bed.”
Scara couldn’t help but laugh his ass off. Miss Yae joined in with him while Childe tried to defend himself, only managing to stammer, “I-I-I-I-”.
“So, Scaramouche, where’d you find this guy?” Miss Yae asked, ignoring Childe as she passed Scara a bottle of pills.
Scara popped one in his mouth and washed it down with water. “Him?” he asked, pointing at the boy shaking on the chair. “Oh, he threw a basketball at me in P.E. and then followed me here.”
Scara couldn’t help but notice that Childe was blushing furiously when he exclaimed, “I-I did not!” However, when Scara raised his eyebrow at him, he hurriedly added. “Well—well, I did, but it was an accident! And—and, you weren’t even going to go to the nurse’s office! You were—”.
“What do you want for dinner tonight?” Miss Yae interrupted.
Scara had to think about her question for a moment. “Hm, I’m not sure. Although… I have been craving dumplings recently.”
“Ooh, dumplings sound good right now.”
At this point, Childe was beyond confused–and embarrassed, so he shut his mouth tightly and hung his head.
After Scara swallowed one more pill, Miss Yae patted his back and said, “alright, you’re free to go.” As he hopped off the bed, she added, “stop being so reckless though. You know that you’re vulnerable to fainting.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Thanks Miko, I’ll see you at home.” Scara was about to waltz out of the nurse’s office when he remembered Childe at the last minute. He walked backwards and tapped his shoulder. Childe, who was staring down at his lap, completely defeated, looked up with a start. “Hey, let’s go.”
Still too afraid to say anything, Childe obeyed quietly, following Scara out of the nurse’s office. Scara checked his watch then turned to Childe and said, “fifth period is about to end, so do you just want to head to sixth?” When he heard no response, he stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. “Childe?”
Childe—who was still blushing—was staring at him, his eyes wide.
Scara sighed. “Just go ahead and say it.”
“S-say what?”
“Whatever’s on your mind. It’s practically written all over your face that you have several questions.”
“Can I really ask…?”
Scara rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, just spit it out already.”
“Oh, okay, um…” Childe fiddled with his hands. “Do you… pass out a lot?”
“Oh.” Scara started searching his bag for something. “Yeah, I’ve fainted a couple of times before. I think it’s because I have really low blood pressure. Ah!” He successfully found a pack of mint gum. He held held a stick up in front of Childe. “Want one?”
“No thank you. That must suck.”
“Yeah, I guess, but I’m used to it,” Scara replied, sticking a piece of gum in his mouth with a shrug. “By the way, I go by Scara. Not Kunikuzushi.”
“Oh okay… then—then—how do you know the nurse?”
“She’s dating my mom,” Scara replied casually. He couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit when Childe’s jaw dropped.
By the time they arrived at biology, the bell rang. “I guess we’re a little early,” Scara commented, sitting down.
Childe took his seat next to him and was about to open his mouth to ask another question when Scara held his hand up. “Nuh-uh, you still can’t talk to me in biology.”
***
Aether wasn’t too happy when Childe came up to him and Scara the next day in the locker room. Scara, on the other hand, was too busy changing his shirt to notice the stare on his back. Aether tapped Scara’s shoulder once, then twice in an attempt to get his attention, only earning a response when he tapped his shoulder for the third time. “What?!” Scara snapped.
Aether pointed to something behind him, and when Scara turned around to see what he was pointing at, he realized that Childe had been standing behind him, waiting. “Um… can I help you?” Scara asked, holding the shirt he was about to put on in his arms.
Childe had opened his mouth to respond when he suddenly paused, eyes widening and darting down Scara’s body.
Was he..?
When Childe realized that Scara had caught his gaze, he looked away sheepishly and cleared his throat. “Um… I-I just wanted to know if you were feeling better today…”
Seeing that was all Childe had to say, Scara nodded his head in response and turned back around.
When Childe walked away, Aether grabbed Scara by both of his shoulders and gasped. “Oh my god, he was checking you out!”
Scara didn’t really want to entertain the thought though. “Eh, he was probably just being weird. He’s a really strange guy.”
Aether didn’t seem convinced, but he didn’t press the matter on.
Although…
The entire class period, Childe was staring at Scara. The entire class period.
Their class was playing basketball again, so Scara asked the coach if he could sit down. The coach agreed because he was aware that Scara had health problems. Aether also sat out with him—the coach just let him because he knew that there was no point in separating the two of them; if Aether couldn’t sit out with Scara, he would stand at the edge of the court instead, as close to the bleachers as possible, and just talk to him that way, getting in the way of the game.
Scara was trying hard to focus on his math homework—he really was—but Childe was making it really hard for him by burning holes into his head.
Aether leaned over and whispered, “Childe can’t take his eyes off of you.”
“Yes, I know.”
“I think he’s into you.”
“He’s just being weird. Ignore him.”
Aether sighed and sat up-right again. “Alright, if you say do. Although… there’s something I don’t understand. I thought you two were like, enemies, so why are you guys good all of a sudden?”
Scara put down his pencil, deciding to give up on his homework. “Oh, to be honest… I let out all my anger when I threw the frog at him, so I don’t really hold a grudge against him anymore.”
“You… you scare me…”
“I know.”
***
Scara was hoping that by the end of the day, Childe would stop staring at him, but he was proven wrong the second he walked into biology. Childe’s head popped up as soon as Scara entered the room, although his eyes darted back down to his phone the second Scara’s met his.
Scara awkwardly walked up to their table. As he sat down, Childe smiled at him with a waved of his hand. Scara gave him a fake smile in return and put his headphones on. Thankfully, Childe knew that Scara didn’t like to talk in sixth period, so he didn’t bother him.
But…
He couldn’t focus. He really couldn’t. Out of the corner of his eye, he kept catching Childe stealing quick glances at him. He didn’t like the feeling of his every move being watched and honestly, it was starting to make him uncomfortable.
Childe had been staring at him for over a minute when Scara decided that he couldn’t handle it anymore and turned and glared at him. “What is it?”
Childe became flustered—probably out of embarrassment—and stammered over his words for a bit before saying, “sorry, I just really like your hoodie today.”
Right, that’s why you keep staring at my face. Scara shrugged and decided to let Childe off the hook.
He had no idea what was up with Childe today, but there was only one conclusion; he was just being weird.