Chapter Text
Isagi Yoichi was a 20 year old alphian statistics major currently just trying not to die of that special brand of starvation and sleep depravation that only university could provide. Midterms were approaching fast and while the Fall semester had been going well enough he still couldn’t claim to have any real grasp on what was going on, and this was his second year.
He’d pulled two all-nighters in the past week, and exams were thundering toward him with all the intensity of an angry bull. He was tired, and had been surviving off canned coffee and instant ramen the past few days in order to give himself more time either at his desk or in the library pouring over the staggering number of lab booklets and data points he had to keep straight for his upcoming midterm project, which would culminate into his final project for the semester. He was headed to a meeting right now with one of his professors who was advising students through the process for the project.
He was tired, and numbers were chasing each other half-baked through his brain, combining and falling apart like puzzle pieces. So deep in his own thoughts that when he saw someone dangling upside-down from their knees off a lamppost he had to do a double-take.
But no, it wasn’t his sleep deprived brain finally giving out on him and making him hallucinate, there actually was someone there. With dark long hair and a blonde undertone, hanging upside-down with his knees hooked into the ornamental decorative wrought iron leading out to the lantern-like street lamp. He had a pad of paper and pen in his hand, and his tongue sticking out, staring at the building across the way.
“What are you doing!?” Isagi found himself bursting out, because last time he checked this was not a normal campus activity.
Isagi ran a couple steps to stand somewhat under this stranger, whose golden eyes flicked down toward him. His expression was shockingly relaxed for someone dangling upside-down. “I’m drawing.”
He waved the sketchbook in his hand briefly, and Isagi could see the outline of the building at center campus in flashes as he did so.
Isagi thought he felt an eye-twitch. “O-Ok? But…why are you up there?”
The young man blinked at him as if confused. “To get a better view, obviously.”
Isagi knew that was probably the point when most people would have just walked away, but he found his feet rooted to the ground. “Uh…cool? But…aren’t you…uncomfortable? That doesn’t seem like a great position to just…hang out in?”
To his surprise, the guy giggled. “Ha! Hang out!” He lowered his arms to swing beneath him a moment, the sketchbook and pen still gripped loosely.
He tilted his head to one side, then the other, eyes back on his topic.
“I was sitting down on the hill, but I felt like I was missing something. So I thought maybe a new perspective would help.”
So you got on top of a lamppost!?
Isagi was trying to find the logic in that and failing, but then a more pressing issue hit him. “Wait, how did you even get up there?”
“Climbed.”
“But it’s like…how did you climb this?” Isagi gestured at the smooth pole at the base of them lamppost. It was at least thirty feet of smooth metal before it got to the point where there was any decoration to hang on to.
The young man again let his head down, arching his back to look at Isagi again. “What do you mean, how? I climbed it!”
I don’t get this.
Isagi heaved a sigh. He was bone-tired, and he honestly wasn’t sure why he was so concerned. His roommate Kunigami had accused him of being far to compassionate, while Kunigami’s court-mate Chigiri had flatly insisted he was just a busybody who stuck his nose into other peoples business.
So this guy, who climbed a lamppost for a better view, which Isagi was sure had to be illegal, was a little too strange to just leave be.
Or maybe that was the opposite? After all, plenty of people had gone by staring and whispering, but none of them had stopped to ask what exactly he was doing.
Isagi felt his shoulders sag. “Is that…so? Ok, well, uh…have fun, I guess?”
“Thanks, you too!” He waved cheerfully, his voice had a ring of merriment to it as if he knew a joke the rest of the world wasn’t in on.
So Isagi kept walking, trying to just keep focused on the ground, because he did have a meeting to get to after all. But when he got to the building door at the other end of the hilly garden-like area that gave some green space to center campus, he glanced up over his shoulder.
And the young man was still up there, arms tucked in and Isagi imagined he must’ve been sketching away.
That was weird…
He considered it almost flatly before he headed inside.
Thirty minutes later, Isagi was leaving again. His meeting had gone well, he was apparently on track with everything which was a huge relief. He might actually be able to get a full night of sleep, finally feeling like he could take his foot off the accelerator slightly now that he’d received confirmation his work was good. As he walked back over one of the small inclines that gave way towards the main road and eventually to the apartment complex Isagi lived at, his feet pounded the pavement, eyes glued down to his sneakers. His mind was already miles away, planning out the next phase of his project, when something hit him in the back of the head.
He startled out of his headspace, lifting his eyes and turning around to look down at what had struck him.
Is that a pen? Wait…
His eyes slowly moved upward, and indeed, still hanging from the lamppost, there was that guy with the golden eyes. “Hey! That was fast!” He waved with another cheerful grin.
“Uh…yeah, it was just an advisor meeting so…why are you still up there?”
“I’m stuck.”
“What do you mean you’re stuck!?” Isagi demanded, hand already flying down into his pocket and rooting for his phone to call the fire department.
The guy just waved his sketchbook in a lackadaisical manner. “No, no, I’m not stuck stuck! But I didn’t really think about how I’d get back down without both my hands free. And I dropped my backpack after I got up here, so where do I put my sketch book? I tried tucking it in my undershirt, that didn’t work.”
Isagi looked down at the grass and saw the backpack, a horribly beat-up looking thing that might’ve been blue in a previous life but had faded to something closer to gray, as well as the pen that had been chucked at him.
He also added into the mix that this guy was apparently an omega, if he were talking about trying to tuck his sketchbook into his undershirt. Isagi would’ve guessed that, but they weren’t close enough for him to pick up a scent so he hadn’t been sure.
Either way, he was still at a loss. “Ok, so…so your problem is what? You don’t wanna drop your sketchbook down?”
The expression he got for that statement was a wide-eyed glare. “Of course not! I spent way to long on this for it to get all bent up! Besides, this is getting graded at the end of the week!” He waved the sketchbook again.
Somehow I feel like that’s a good reason NOT to climb a lamppost.
Isagi though to himself tiredly, before he shrugged his backpack off and dropped it to the grass. “Ok, so toss it to me! I’ll catch it!”
He received a blank stare in return for that. “You will?”
“Well, I’ll do my best! How else are you gonna get down?”
Another blink, and then his face split into a smile again. “Alright then! Ready? One, two…”
He swung his arms back underneath him and dropped his sketchbook down.
Isagi was careful to catch the thing by the cover so he didn’t accidentally bend any of the pages. “Got it!”
Another bout of giggles escaped the one above him, and he gave him something Isagi would approximate to finger guns. “Nice catch! Ok, I’m coming down.”
Isagi watched with a mixture of fear and amazement as the omega then pulled himself up to the wrought iron adornment, unhooking his legs and swinging freely from one arm. Isagi instinctively surged forward as if to catch him, but that wasn’t necessary. The guy easily swung himself back to the main support post, and wrapped his legs around it. With a whoop of excitement, he glided down like it was a fireman’s pole, sticking the landing.
“Whew! That was fun!” He approached Isagi, putting his hand out. The alpha handed over the sketchbook.
“That was…something, alright.” He finally managed, drawing another laugh from the omega.
Now that they were both on the ground, Isagi saw he stood taller, but he was sure he definitely wasn’t capable of pulling off the acrobatic stunts he’d seen from this guy.
“Well, thanks for the help.” He turned to collect his things. He was wearing a yellow tee shirt over a black long-sleeve, the sleeves of which he had pushed back to his elbows. Similarly, his jeans were cuffed up just below his knees, and his sneakers looked just as beat-up his backpack was.
Isagi watched him bend to pick up his backpack. Compared to his free-spirited way with his other things, his sketchbook he carefully closed the cover of, ensuring none of the pages had gotten their corners caught or bent, and then slid it into his backpack.
Isagi snapped out of it again, turning to pick up his backpack as well.
“So by the way, what’s your…” As he straightened up, and looked behind him again, he shook his head, blinked once, blinked twice.
Because the omega was already gone, and after a moment spent adjusting, he could see him, nearly full-tilt sprinting off towards center campus.
“…name.” Isagi finished the sentence to himself, before he racked a hand through his hair, his eyes traveling down. And to his surprise, he noticed the pen that’d hit him in the back of the head, lying abandoned in the grass. It looked like a pretty nice pen, sleek and black, with a golden clip and clicker, and an orange hair-tie wrapped around it. He stooped to pick it up, staring at it for a few seconds, waiting for his eyes to focus, sleepiness tugging at him inescapably.
“…I really am tired.” He grumbled to himself. Unzipping a random pocket on his backpack, he tossed the pen in, then made for home.
That Night.
“Sounds like you had quite the adventure.” Chigiri commented from where he was sitting on the couch, cross-legged with his laptop resting on a pillow in his lap.
Isagi sighed. “Remind me why you’re here again?”
“You ought to treasure my presence.”
“Again, why?”
“My alphas your roommate, genius, and he’s been so busy with exams I’ve barely seen him.”
Isagi felt a wry smile growing on his face. “Aw, miss the attention? I’m sure he’ll spoil you rotten when he’s finally done.”
Chigiri scoffed, finally lifting his eyes from his laptop long enough to catch the can of soda Isagi had thrown his way. “He better, our two-year anniversary is coming up soon. If he forgets he’s dead.”
Isagi chuckled as he came into the living room. His and Kunigami’s shared apartment wasn’t the largest. It had two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a somewhat cramped living area and kitchen space, with a small table fit between the two. Chigiri also lived in this same complex, in a single-person studio because he insisted he wouldn’t be able to stand having a roommate all over him. However, he’d spend more time here than not, and it wasn’t like Isagi actually minded his company. Far from it. Watching Chigiri and Kunigami trade jabs with each other was the highlight of his week.
“So this guy was just hanging off a lamppost for like…an hour or two? That sounds painful.” Chigiri muttered.
“That’s what I thought! But he obviously was fine, he ran away at the speed of light the second he got down.” Isagi muttered, cracking open his soda can and taking a swig.
Chigiri raised an eyebrow at him. “…hang on a sec…are you sad about that, maybe?”
Isagi gave him quite the perplexed expression. “What? I mean, no? I was kind of curious about him because like who the hell climbs a lamppost for a better view of a building? But like, whatever, I guess he had places to be.”
“Was he cute?” Chigiri pressed, his eyes widened and lighting up.
“Oh my god, no.”
“Oh my god, yes.”
“Chigiri.”
“Isagi.”
“Stop it!”
“Stop it!”
“Ok now you’re just being a brat.” Isagi accused, to which Chigiri just snickered at him again.
He then closed his laptop to focus all his attention on his friend. “Seriously, though, was he? You usually don’t get hung up on people, and you’re like he friendliness nosiest bastard I know, you meet like a dozen new people every day from how ‘helpful’ you are.”
“Rude.” Isagi accused, before he thought back on it.
“I mean…”
It was that giddy smile that brought it back to him, and sure he had certainly cut a unique look, two-toned hair and golden eyes and all, but it was the smile. The smile, and the ringing to his voice like he’d just heard the funniest thing.
“…yeah, maybe a little.”
Chigiri gave a comical gasp. “Isagi Yoichi, noting a lowers appearance, hang on, what’s the date, gotta write this down.”
“Chigiri, you aren’t helping! What do I do with his pen? It’s obviously not cheap so I feel bad just keeping it.”
Chigiri shrugged, lifting his can of soda to his mouth again. “Didn’t he mention something about his drawing getting graded? So he’s in the art department. Just go by there, maybe you’ll run into him.”
Isagi considered it a moment. “That…is actually a good idea.”
“If you thought I wouldn’t have an idea why’d you ask me?” Chigiri muttered, eyes narrowing at the backhanded compliment.
Isagi stuck his tongue out, and received a pillow to the face as his reward.