Chapter Text
Shuichi Akai would be the first person to admit that he probably needed to learn to stop pushing Rei Furuya's buttons all the time.
They had met as freshmen in their first-period history class, and somehow, they had immediately gotten off on the wrong foot when a discussion question on ancient Roman politics sparked a heated debate between them. Granted, in all honesty, Shuichi was willing to admit (at least to himself) that he shared part of the blame for that horrible first impression. Rei had clearly done his research on the topic as well, and he had brought up good points. But Shuichi hadn't been willing to concede, and, although he would never admit it out loud, there had been something thrilling about seeing his classmate get more and more worked up as he continued to counter all of his arguments.
Their teacher had given them both a week of after-school detention for their little spectacle.
After that, their relationship had only gone downhill from there. It hadn't taken long for Shuichi and Rei to recognize each other's intelligence, but instead of bringing them closer together, it had only made them more determined to outperform each other. They topped the class in every subject, always finishing within less than a percentage of each other (although it varied between which one of them took the top spot), and as the years went by, their determination to beat each other only grew stronger.
Well, maybe it would have been more accurate to say that Rei's determination to beat him only grew stronger. If he had just let things be, Shuichi wouldn't have pursued a rivalry with him, but it was too late to turn back now. True, he could have conceded defeat and let Rei claim his spot as the school's best student, but the temptation to rile him up over their little competition was still too great to resist.
Personally, Shuichi didn't know why he considered him a threat at all. Everyone knew that Rei was easily the most brilliant student in all of Beika Academy. He was the type of person who excelled at everything without even trying. Shuichi was a natural when it came to a few subjects, and he was still capable of earning respectable scores without studying in his other subjects, but he wasn't foolish enough to think that he would stand a chance at beating Rei without the extra effort he put into taking notes.
With a sigh, Shuichi flipped to the next page of his physics notebook, flexing his hand slightly in an attempt to work out the stiffness in his fingers. At least they were both seniors now, which meant that in a few months, they would be going their separate ways, and they would finally be able to put this ridiculous competition behind them. Shuichi had already applied to and been accepted at several Ivy League universities in America. He didn't know what Rei's plan was, but if he had to guess, he would have assumed he was going to attend some sort of prestigious Japanese university (Shuichi had been accepted at a few of those as well, but he didn't plan to attend any of them).
A buzz from his phone interrupted his thoughts. Glancing over at the screen, he saw that he had received a new message from Jodie Starling, a girl in the year below him and, as of two weeks ago, his ex-girlfriend. He hesitated for a moment, unsure whether it would be a good idea to respond after the way their last conversation had ended.
"But why, Shu?" Jodie pleaded, her eyes brimming with tears behind her glasses. "Why don't you want to be with me? Have I done something wrong?"
Shuichi averted his eyes, unable to bear the sight of her crying because of him. He had known this moment was a long time coming, having endured weeks of sleepless nights agonizing over it, but it didn't make it any easier now that the time had come to break her heart.
"We were together for two years, Shu. And now you're just going to throw all of it away? If this is really what you want, then I won't try to convince you to stay, but will you please just tell me what I did wrong? Why don't you want me anymore?"
"You didn't do anything wrong, Jodie," Shuichi answered finally, reluctantly lifting his eyes to meet hers. "I just...don't think things are working out between us anymore."
"But..."
"Look," he sighed. "We had a good run. These past two years with you have been incredible. But let's not kid ourselves about what's been going on lately. We both know that we've been spending less and less time with each other, and things between us have suffered for it. We've both been busy, and it's only going to get harder from here. I mean, I'm going to college next year, and you'll still be at Beika Academy. We'll have even less time to spend together then."
"But it doesn't have to be that way!" she protested. "We can still make this work! We'll just make more of an effort to spend time together, or...or..."
"Or what, Jodie?" Shuichi asked rhetorically. "It's just not going to happen. Our schedules are too full; there's no way we can adjust them to spend more time together. I'm sorry. But sometimes, things don't work out the way we want."
"Shu, please..."
"I'm sorry, Jodie," he repeated. "I wish things could be different too. But it's time to accept that life is taking us in different directions and we need to let go. It's better this way."
He had walked away after that, leaving Jodie standing outside their favorite coffee shop in tears. Since then, they hadn't exchanged more than a passing glance in the hallway at school, although he had received a very angry voicemail from Jodie's father demanding to know why Shuichi had broken his daughter's heart. Shuichi, perhaps wisely so, had decided against responding and deleted the message.
Now, he stared at the text notification on his phone, still debating whether to read it. He didn't want to appear rude by ignoring her, but he couldn't imagine why Jodie could possibly want to talk to him now. It wasn't as though they shared any of the same classes, and although they had one or two mutual friends, Shuichi wasn't as close to them as Jodie, seeing as he was a year older. Besides, if any of them needed him for something, they could have easily just texted him themselves.
After a few more minutes of debating, Shuichi ultimately decided against opening the message. If the text said what he thought it was going to say, then it was best to just leave things be. The last thing he needed to do now was accidentally give Jodie a false sense of hope that he might reconsider breaking up with her.
As Shuichi resumed his note-taking, the library door swung open, and he heard a familiar chorus of laughter. He looked up to see Jinpei Matsuda enter the library, flanked by his boyfriend, Kenji Hagiwara, and Wataru Date, the school's judo captain. They were laughing, presumably at a joke Matsuda had just told them. Hiromitsu Morofushi, Rei's long-time best friend and ex-boyfriend, followed close behind, saying something to Matsuda that Shuichi couldn't quite make out. And bringing up the rear was Rei Furuya himself, a small half-smirk on his face as he fired off a series of text messages.
Probably to one of the five million guys practically falling all over themselves to be with him now that he and Morofushi have broken up, Shuichi thought, feeling a strange mixture of amusement and irritation. He wondered why, then decided he didn't have time to dwell on trivial matters such as teenage romance.
He was about to start taking notes again (he really needed to stop letting everything distract him) when Rei suddenly paused and glanced over at him, his face twisting into a scowl. No words were exchanged, but that one, single look was all it took to send a jolt of electricity down Shuichi's spine. At that moment, Morofushi leaned over and whispered something in Rei's ear. Once again, Shuichi couldn't make out what he said, but whatever it was made Rei's ears turn bright red, and he immediately ducked his head to hide his smirk.
Shuichi wasn't quite what happened next, but the next thing he knew, his notebook was being snatched away from him. Startled, he looked up to see Rei standing in front of his table, his ears still bright red. He raised an eyebrow, which only seemed to aggravate the blond even further as his scowl deepened.
"Can I help you with something, Rei-kun?" Shuichi asked, purposely using the blond's first name just to rile him up even more.
"I thought I told you not to call me by my first name," Rei predictably shot back.
"Whatever you say...Rei-kun."
"You-"
"Really, though, what do you want, Furuya-kun?" Shuichi interrupted, deciding it was best to avoid starting a fight in the middle of the library. "If you needed my notebook, you could have just asked, although I can't imagine why you would want it..."
"You're joining our study group today."
Wait, what?
Shuichi blinked, staring blankly at Rei for a few moments as he tried to reboot his brain.
"Is that a code of some sort?" he asked finally.
"No," Rei answered, and if he hadn't been so confused, the way the blond's ears and cheeks turned, if possible, even redder would have been quite amusing. "It's not like this is my idea anyway, but Hiro thinks it would be fun to let you join us. And for some reason, everyone else thinks so too."
"What are you-?"
"Don't ask me. All I know is they've collectively decided to be stupid today."
Shuichi blinked again, then glanced over at Rei's friends, who were all grinning like the Cheshire cat, and back at Rei, who resembled a ripe tomato now.
Oh. So, that's how it is.
Perhaps he should have stayed home today.