Chapter Text
Sleep… What is sleep? More specifically the concept of the perfect night’s sleep. A cozy bed, cold blanket, cold pillows and maybe even a bodypillow to hug and that one side of your body that's ten times more comfy to lay on than the other. Wise had all of these – aside from the bodypillow of course ‘cause his lil sis would joke about it and laugh at him for even having just a plain one.
But there’s one aspect that rounds it all out – waking up in the morning feeling well-rested, energized and ready for the day, and even more perfect is getting 8 whole hours of sleep alongside that. Wise had heard that even just getting 8 hours of sleep is hard for an academic student, so going with that feeling well rested must be some sort of unreachable dream, needing a 1 hour ritual of just praying for a chance at it.
It's kind of a coincidence since it is his first day at Helios Academy today… wait this sleep is going on for way, WAYYYYYYYY too long without a disturbance… there’s about to be a loud call of his name in a few seconds righ-
“Wise… Wise!...”
Ah shit-
“WISE!”
“I’M UP! I’M UP” he quickly scurries off his bed and stands up – though a little too quickly as his sight is getting distorted.
The woman, Carole Arna, his adoptive mother, puts her hands on her hips and sighs in disappointment “sleeping at this hour? On your first day at the Academy as well??” she puffs out a frustrated breath of air.
“I was nervous last night about today! I couldn’t even go to sleep until 1AM.” he tries to reason with her.
“That’s your problem, you should've set a louder alarm.” she tells him, wagging a finger in his face.
“Okay, I know, I’m sorry, mom-” he suddenly cuts off, realizing what he just said. He slowly turns away from her wide-eyed stare, hiding his slowly reddening face.
Meanwhile, Carole stares at the grey haired rascal she picked up from the streets for longer, until she eventually starts “Wise… I didn’t…”
“It’s… nothing… it is bound to happen someday.” he cuts her off, breathing in a few deep breaths before turning back to her – face still flushed.
“Hahah… I’m happy… that you see me in such a light, if you really want to call me your ‘mother’, then I wouldn't mind at all, in fact, I would be thrilled about it.” Her gaze softens and she smiles as she looks up into the emerald eyes of the taller male.
“R-really?”
“Really!” she chuckles “your sister is allowed to call me that as well, don’t worry.”
“Mm… I see.” he returns a calm smile of his own.
“Alright, time to go to school, Belle already woke up like an hour ago, you are lucky I have to live close to the Academy in case of an emergency.” She lightly punches Wise’s arm and walks to the door.
“Okay, Ca- mom.” he fixes, getting another small laugh out of Carole. Picking his backpack, he jogs through the door, seeing Belle already in uniform and scrolling through her phone.
She looks up from the phone, eyes widen slightly seeing her brother suddenly awake “oh, FINALLY! You are finally!.. Awake.” she tucks away her phone into her pockets, expressing her displeasure by exaggerating the action.
“Yeah, yeah.” he waves his arm around and mocks her previous act, getting a loud gasp from Belle.
“Alright, you two stop fighting, we are heading out.” Carole puts on the second heel and opens the door.
The academy wasn’t very far from Carole’s apartment, just a couple of blocks away, so they would take this chance to add more to the step count. Soon, they arrive at the prestigious Helios Academy, where only the top students may be able to enter.
The walk wasn’t much and the entrance also, they’ve seen it a lot since, well, they would always stop by here when Carole had a meeting for still need to finish teaching a class or two (they would usually end their school day earlier than Carole’s so she would pick them up and bring them inside to keep an eye on them while she taught). But, the feeling of pride still rises, since he is now an official student of the place, not some random kid who’s adoptive mother just so happened to work there.
Though, as he looks past the tall pillars of the entrance, he sees an even bigger, and probably better surprise waiting for him. Time just seems to slow down as his proud smile goes slack and his eyes agape when he sees those familiar fox ears and jet black hair flowing in the wind and… that hairpin. The girl turns around and locks eyes with him, face stoic then shocked.
“Wise..?”
“Miyabi…” the hand holding one of his backpack’s straps falls limp to his side, mirroring its twin.
Hoshimi Miyabi, a master swordswoman. From one of the most well-known families in New Eridu, usually regarded as some of the most beautiful and graceful women out there – she may not have a busty body or a voice that can make you fold in half, but, holy, was she just amazing. She does everything so nonchalantly and confidently that it feels like she doesn’t have a care in the world, or wasn't bothered by anything.
Truthfully, she did, but it is all veiled behind that aloof nature she always had on… for everybody else. There are moments where she does open up for a split second – especially when she is congratulating or praising. Still she wouldn't smile, but when does, it's one of the more unnerving smiles, ones that she forces herself to make during celebrations. Her eyes on the other hand, remain unchanging like perpetually stuck in a state similar to a resting bitch face.
Unbeknownst to outsiders who have only seen the surface of her identity, what she hides under that mask has only been seen by one person. That person is him.
Welllll… he secretly hopes it's just him.
He is not only one of her most trusted, second to her father in fact, but her childhood friend and with being her childhood friend, he is permitted a special side of her.
In the few moments that they made eye contact, Miyabi sprinted towards him, slamming him to the ground.
He yelps when his head hits the floor hard but the ticklish feeling of fur brushing against his chin takes his mind off of the pain and he looks down to be met with a pair of rubies that shines just right in light to give it a few sparkles and the gradual formation of a smile.
“I’ve missed you… a lot, Wise.” she holds her head up, now letting her face be fully shown.
Wise sits up, holding himself with his fore arms, Miyabi backs up a little to give him room “I missed you too, Miya.” he gives her a few pets. Those small actions seem to have made her immensely happier as she closes her eyes, giving way for an even bigger smile, softening her facial to a disturbing level.
Even so, he loved seeing her happy like this. Though, he wishes she would find more people to befriend than just him but he’d understand if she doesn’t.
Miyabi leans her head closer to his hand, unfortunately, it inadvertently causes her hands to slip and drop her head to Wise’s chest. It isn’t a problem though, she would just hug him instead, nuzzling into him and giving Wise’s chin a few more tickles.
They stay like that for a minute or so, just enjoying the other's presence after so long of being away from each other. But just like everything in life, the most pleasant feelings will always have a cost.
Like on queue, Belle interrupts their moment “bro… might i remind you that you are blocking the other students’ way? Also we have classes in like 20 mins, i would like to get used to the atmosphere of the class before anything study related begins”.
“Right, right, sorry, Belle” he rubs the back of his head in embarrassment. Miyabi immediately stands up and fixes her uniform, giving his lil sis an apologetic bow, before turning back to him, outstretching an arm out towards him.
Wise lightly laughs and takes her hand “thanks, Miya”.
“Y’know, I'm starting to feel like you two are not just childhood best friends, y’all are WAYYYYY too close and WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY too intimate with eachother.” Belle continues her talk, turning on her heels to stare at them disappointingly “if i am going to be honest, you two should get together already if y'all have been like for like your whole 15 years of ‘friendship’”.
Wise stands up with the assistance of Miyabi and dusts himself off “Yea, I know, we do show signs of…pretty deep affection to each other, butttttt I’m sure it hasn’t gotten to that point yet” Miyabi nods along but as he said his last few words, he notices her ears drooping down slightly.
Why would she start feeling sad after he said that? And what kind of childhood friend would he be if he wasn’t worried when she suddenly starts feeling down?
So, he turns to her and asks “is something wrong, Miya? You just began to get sad all of a sudden”.
“It’s… nothing, Wise.” She forces herself to put those ears of hers up again but Wise catches on very fast. Now, Wise has been told that he is very dumb to emotions and hints that some of the few girls that had a crush on him gave – Belle has definitely berated him 100 times because of that and she would’ve done it again at the table if he woke up earlier.
He starts thinking, piecing things together and considers that maybe Belle is right and they are into each other… but then Carole intercepts once again, chuckling loudly and shakes her head.
“First class is about to start, you three, best that you start rushing to class before the teacher scolds you. Oh, also, Belle, Wise.” they turn their attention to her “you two will be getting your first experiences with dorms sooo… have fun with that, I guess”.
(god its been so long i feel like my writing has gone to trash now)
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First class, just normal introduction and simple talk between students and homeroom teachers, some of them seem fine.There’s some guy who seems to like to laze around a lot called Asaba Harumasa, then there's Tsukishiro Yanagi… hmmm seems intelligent, nice to talk to but easily embarrassed… There are a few more Japanese students here than he expected.
And of course, Miyabi is in this class as well, though she didn’t seem too… happy? Neutral? A-anyways, she seems more downcasted, specially after the convo they had at the gate… he should apologize to her later and fast.
Maybe even invite her to have a talk about their relationship, maybe they are really going somewhere but he has been too much of a dumbass… maybe.
Introduction continues for a few more periods, nothing special, nothing crazy, then there are a few classes that actually teach but they are just boring subjects. So he decided to turn off his brain for the classes and soon enough, break time! YAYYYYYYYY!!!... Now he had to go confront Miyabi… shit.
“Miya, can we go somewhere else to talk?” he starts, shifting ever so slightly in discomfort at the thought of having to ask about the subject of their relationship. Miyabi looks up for a moment then stands and nods.
Wise navigates out of the many rows of seats and students with Miyabi tailing close behind him. Reaching the shiny wood door of their classroom, Wise opens it softly and exits through, waiting for Miyabi to exit as well then closes it with the same feather-light push until the small *click* is heard.
They wander in the bright, long hallways of this establishment, but… they seem to have elongated for some reason. Hm, there has been this nagging feeling of anxiousness or worry sticking out for some time now, it’s been there since the moment he thought about the talk with her.
This sense of nervousness only grows as they walk out into the main square. Seeing the sight of thousands of students and teachers just buzzing in this large place only made the aching feeling grow, if anything, it was turning into something more akin to fear.
But a fear of what? Rejection? Miyabi would still be his friend if she wasn’t… y’know, into him. Could it be… the fear of losing his connection with her? Oh god, this is starting to give him a headache – a really severe one, the kind that really just feels like someone stomping repeatedly on your head with the force of a truck or something like that.
For fuck’s sake, how big is this place?? And how are the students infesting every corner of everywhere??? Yea… the stress is starting to get to him and not to mention he has Miyabi following behind him, probably thinking he is just trying to waste her time.
Turning a random corner somewhere behind the building, he finally finds a quiet and secluded spot and stops walking.
He takes in many deep breaths and turns around “so… Miya, you seemed a lot more down since the talk with Belle at the gate… Are you alright?”
Miyabi’s eyes widen slightly, surprised to know that he has been paying attention to her state “like I said Wise, it’s nothing really”.
“But you’ve been like this for way too long and I’m starting to get worried, Miya.” he reaches out just to grab her shoulders but accidentally glides over her face. He reels back, only to be stopped by Miyabi grabbing his hand and pulling it back to her face, just letting it lay on top of her as she leans in closer.
This sight confirms his suspicions but still left him speechless and out of breath, just this… whole scene felt like a dream, a dream that felt too good, too perfect, there had to be a side effect… right?
But no, hell fucking no, it is real and truly it had no underlying consequences to it, just pure love and suppressed need for his warmth that has been held back probably years.
Like thunder just flashed by, Miyabi realizes and pulls back quickly “I-I’m… I’m sorry, Wise.” Her ears fall and her face contorts into a mess of pain and regret. He has NEVER seen her make such a face, such a pained expression and it mentally broke a large piece of his heart just seeing this. Instinctually, he lunges forward incasing her a tight hug.
The sudden embrace stumped her, she stumbles back a few steps but her hands grasp tightly onto Wise’s uniform. A few tears stream down from her eyes when she hugged him back just as tightly, the overwhelming joy causes her to let out small sobs.
In response Wise gives her head a light stroke and a loving praise, then another, a few more, they continue to come in pairs until Miyabi’s soft cries turn into small purrs.
He slowly pulls out from the hug to gaze at her appearance. Her hair is slightly tangled from a few of his more hard pets. Her face, stained from dried tears, supports the widest and most amazing smile he has seen on anyone and eyes that stared back at him with so much love that he felt like those two extra pieces of chicken nuggets that the employee gave him ‘cause they were feeling nice three months ago in her look.