Work Text:
A stomach rumbled.
‘Takeuchi, shut up.’ snapped Yushiro, turning a page of his workbook.
The owner of the stomach spluttered and turned to his friend with frustration. ‘What–! Can't a man just be hungry for a bit?’
The other huffed. ‘You're a nuisance. Go get something to eat.’
‘But I already ate all my–’ Takeuchi swivelled to his other friend with hope twinkling in his eyes. ‘Yuichiro-kun, can–’
‘No.’ Blunt and straight to the point, that was Yuichiro's style.
Takeuchi whimpered and tried pulling his mind back to the math exercise he was supposed to be doing. But he'd already forgotten what step he was at. Wait– was his process so far even right?! It didn't look like what the teacher had written on the board, did it? He erased what he had done. New plan.
‘Yuuushirooo-kuuun…’ he began, tentatively. Fortunately, Yushiro graced him with a tired look. He smiled and handed over the notebook. ‘Question five, please.’
It only took a short moment for Yushiro to solve the question in his head. He took out a sheet of scrap paper and began to write. ‘First, you have to define the functions–’
‘That's wrooong.’
The two whipped around to stare at Yuichiro, who was still diligently working on his thick Physics workbook.
‘...What?’ Malice could be heard in Yushiro's voice.
Yuichiro sighed, exasperated and exaggerated. ‘I said, that's wrong. How strange. You didn't come across as deaf to me.’
Oh no.
Yushiro almost stepped over the circular table to shove the notebook under Yuichiro's nose. ‘Wrong? You think so, huh? Come on, tell me then, prodigy, what's the right fucking way?’
‘Obviously, the right way would be to simplify the equation first.’ Yuichiro flicked the notebook away, but not before he glanced at the question. ‘Which, in case you didn't know, prepares it for system representation.’
‘System– what are you even talking about?’ Yushiro reread the question like a madman, his pupils rolling from side to side at the speed of light.
‘Matrices.’
Takeuchi piped up. ‘Um, what are–’
‘Why are you using matrices in this? Graphing it would be quicker, idiot!’
Takeuchi coughed harshly. ‘Wait, gra–’
Yuichiro slammed his Physics book shut and lunged over the table, causing some of their papers to fall to the ground. ‘No, you're the idiot! Graphs? Really?! Do you think anyone has time to draw a whole graph in an exam? Don't rope other people into your tomfoolery!’
‘Fuck you! Work that brain of yours a bit! I bet anyone can draw five graphs by the time you finish your ridiculous matrices!’
‘You’re just not sophisticated enough to use them,’ scoffed Yuichiro, sitting back down and flipping his hair in perfect gloating fashion.
‘Were-you-even-listening-to-the-teacher–?’ managed Yushiro through grinded teeth. ‘Where did you pull matrices from?’
‘Where did you pull graphs from?’
‘Hmm… let's see…’ pondered Yushiro mockingly. ‘Maaaaybe it was the board! Or the book! Or the teacher! I don't know, you tell me! Since you think you’re so much better than everyone else!’
‘Oh, you suuurely jest!’ Yuichiro was trying to keep his nonchalant facade, but the way his voice shook and his eye twitched said otherwise. ‘I didn’t know you actually gave a fuck about anything else other than Tamayo-sensei! Colour me surprised!’
‘Obviously I do?! I’m not some stuck-up, depressed, stubborn bitch unlike someone in this room!’
‘You are in my house, so watch your mouth!’
Although he is the biggest person, Takeuchi didn’t dare get between their argument. He could only meekly whisper, ‘Guys… can we get back to doing our homework?’
Yushiro glanced at Takeuchi, huffed, then crossed his arms and settled down. ‘Either way, I can definitely do the exercise quicker than you.’
Yuichiro’s voice was full of malice despite his smirk. ‘Want to bet?’
A sinister grin appeared on Yushiro’s face. ‘All right. Loser gets both their index fingers broken.’
THIS WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!!! ‘Whoa– guys–!’ Takeuchi frantically extended his hands to try and get the two to stop.
‘SHUT UP!’ Both of them glared so fiercely at Takeuchi that he suddenly felt as weak as a leaf. He whimpered and retreated to his own space.
…Guess he had to solve it on his own while they battled it out.
‘Genya, can we focus, please?’ sighed Muichiro.
The older boy coughed and returned to the exercise that he was assigned. ‘Yeah– uh– sorry.’
‘It's okay.’
Another loud SLAM emerged from upstairs. It startled both of them– Genya accidentally ripped his paper with his pen, while Muichiro's highlighter smeared his book with a radioactive green.
Muichiro could feel a vein popping in his forehead as he gripped the highlighter so tight it deformed. He recalled his brother's words as the members of Ginkgo class hopped upstairs for a group study.
“Don't make a racket, Muichiro. You and your friends are always so noisy.”
WELL, WHO'S THE NOISY ONE NOW?!
The arguing from upstairs practically shook the house. Kotetsu shuffled over, patting a round watermelon in his arms.
‘Wow, they must be going at each other’s throats by now,’ he commented matter-of-factly. The boy walked over to the studying pair. ‘Who do you think will win?’
Despite knowing he had to focus on his work, Muichiro couldn’t help but ponder over this interesting situation. He put down his pen and began to imagine.
‘From what I’ve heard so far, Yuichiro sounds like he’s winning.’ said Genya thoughtfully. ‘I heard him laugh a moment ago.’
Muichiro shook his head dejectedly. ‘It’s not a good sign when he laughs in the middle of an argument. Nii-san usually does that when he’s about to lose it.’
‘Oh.’
Thudding came from the stairs– in a moment, Yushiro and Yuichiro were scrambling and running over to the kitchen. Each of their hands clutched a piece of paper with writing on it. Takeuchi also emerged, though he moved slowly and dejectedly towards the living room, and sat on the sofa.
‘MUICHIRO!’ yelled Yuichiro, skidding to a stop. He slammed his paper onto the table where Muichiro and Genya were working.
‘WHICH ONE OF US IS THE BETTER METHOD?!’ growled Yushiro, doing the same.
Sighing, Muichiro studied both of their work. A confused expression slowly spread across his face as he reread the lines of math. Kotetsu groaned and skirted over to where Takeuchi was.
‘Genya, what do you think?’ he asked, spinning the papers upside down and sliding them to the boy sitting across from him.
When Genya glanced at them, he sprouted the same perplexed look. ‘This…’
‘Right? Can you solve it really quickly? Thanks.’ Muichiro frowned at the competitors. ‘What are you doing?’
Yushiro put his hands on his hip. ‘We’re trying to solve that question there. But your stupid brother–’
‘Don’t call him stupid–’
‘–keeps wanting to do matrices! And I told him it was bullshit because it takes too long! So don't tell Takeuchi that!’
Yuichiro chopped his palm. ‘Like I said, no one fucking has time to draw graphs in the exam! This guy managed to do it as fast as me– but who knows if Takeuchi's dumb ass can do the same thing!’
Muichiro turned to Genya, who was watching the argument with slight interest and fear. ‘What's the answer?’
‘Um… x equals nine.’
The two nodded. That was the correct answer.
‘And how did you do it?’
Genya scratched the back of his neck as he indicated his lines with a pen. The two middle-schoolers leaned in curiously. ‘Um… I just distributed it. And put the x over here, then– well– calculate it like normal.’
Muichiro spread his hands and grimaced. ‘Why did you two have to overcomplicate things? It's literally that simple!’
Yuichiro and Yushiro slowly looked at each other, equally stunned.
‘We haven't even learned matrices yet, how do you expect that dumbfuck to understand it?’ blurted Yushiro loudly after a long period of silence.
The dumbfuck sagged where he sat on the living room sofa. Kotetsu gave him an encouraging pat on the back.
‘Riiiight. Yeah. And for the graphs– I don't think that stupid lump of meat would be able to find the slope or the y-intercept without his brain exploding into pieces.’
The stupid lump of meat sniffled a little. He stomped to the kitchen and held out his own work, drawing all the attention to himself. ‘I… I managed to finish it…! In my own way!’
‘What… answer did you get?’ asked Yushiro curiously. Everyone waited with bated breath.
Takeuchi took a deep breath… and… ‘-4!’
The silence was deafening as Yuichiro and Yushiro cracked their heads to look at Takeuchi, their expressions unreadable.