Chapter Text
The sand grains on the bottom of his hands stung as Kaoru pushed himself off the rubber mats, below the monkey bars. His teacher came running over, and Kaoru got the feeling she was more distressed than he himself. She grabbed his hands with her own and Kaoru flinched back at the touch. He hadn’t noticed the little red droplets that had begun to form on his palms, despite the sting and the warmth he was now painfully aware of. One of the droplets trickled down unto his pants, forming a perfect round stain above his knee.
The teacher, as if on cue, picked Kaoru up into her arms and made her way over to the little fountain where a bunch of his classmates had gathered to watch as Kaoru let the teacher wash his hands. The sting really wasn’t all that bad, the water felt nice as it washed away the dried blood and the dirt from his scrapes.
‘’There—all better! No need for those tears.’’, Kaoru felt her smooth hands glide over his wet cheeks, thumbing at his eyes. The touch wasn’t comforting in the slightest, the sticky substance that had covered her hands was now all over his face and before he knew it, another swarm of tears had made their way down to his chin.
The teacher’s expression morphed into that of an owl, eyes wide and eyebrows high. He would’ve laughed, or chuckled at least, if he wasn’t busy crying his eyes out. The tears didn’t stop coming either, god, it seemed as if an endless stream of water had opened itself, as if the dams had broken, and Kaoru didn’t know what to do.
The teacher started pawing at his face even more, but when that didn’t do the trick, started to lead the way inside. She pulled a chair aside and settled him with a juice box, leaving him to his own devices with the promise that she would ‘check on him later’.
The juice box in itself was fine, apple flavoured, and he made sure not to spill any. The scrapes on his hands didn’t hurt anymore either and his tears had stopped flowing. Really, he should’ve been fine now, was it not for the fact that a little green-haired boy was staring right into his soul.
Kaoru tried to ignore it at first, content with looking down at his yellow shoes, but the boy didn’t stop staring and it was getting on his nerves. He glanced up occasionally, only to avert his eyes again when he locked eyes with the boy opposite of him. He figured he’d just have to wait ‘till the teacher returned and then he could go outside again, try his shot at the monkey bars again.
Kaoru had finished the juice box, chewing on the paper straw as it fell apart in his mouth. He stopped his chewing when he noticed he’d almost swallowed a bit of paper and squeezed the juice box in his hands. It crumbled in on itself and spilled a few droplets on the floor. Kaoru walked over to the bin, passing the boy on his way.
He glanced over the boy’s shoulder at the notebook on his desk and the few crumpled up pages torn from it. The boy noticed him watching and frowned as he continued his exercises, turning around a few times to check if Kaoru was still watching. Kaoru had gotten bored staring at the boy’s back and made his way over to the bin, washing his hands for the second time at the sink next to it. He made sure to use a sufficient amount of soap, enough for the teacher to have scolded him if she had noticed. He checked to see if she hadn’t walked in and added another pump for good measure when she hadn’t.
Now that he was free of the box and sticky hands, he made his way back to his seat again. He looked at the boy’s exercises once more as he passed by but the boy only shielded it further so Kaoru figured it wasn’t worth the fuss. Kaoru hoped the teacher would come collect him soon, because he was getting quite bored and he was sure recess would be over in a bit.
He noticed the teacher from his point of view through the window but she didn’t even spare him a glance, busy encouraging a girl to make her way down the slide. He sighed as he slumped down the chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He really was starting to get irritated now, and he was debating just joining his classmates outside himself if he wasn’t so afraid of being reprimanded by their teacher on his first day.
The thought of recess coming to an end was just as frightening, if he was honest, and he really wanted to go outside before having to continue his reading exercise. Just as he worked up the courage, the green-haired boy groaned loudly, throwing his head into his hands.
Kaoru stood between the door and the chair he had just sat on, completely still, as he looked over at the other boy. He looked at the door again, quickly glanced at his teacher through the window, and at the boy. His curiosity won eventually, and he made his way over to the boy, who was now whining as he ripped another page from his notebook.
Kaoru stood beside the desk as he watched the boy scribble angrily. He picked up the piece of paper that had just been ripped and unfolded it, reading over the messy characters. The boy had been doing their spelling exercise, the one Kaoru had finished before recess, and failing miserably at it. He had written the word ‘rose’ over and over again, until the page was properly filled with not one written correctly.
The boy snatched the paper from his hands and threw it the other way again, a flush on his cheeks from embarrassment visible on his face. He rubbed at his eyes angrily, looking up at Kaoru over his fists. Kaoru just grabbed another page, this one full of failed attempts at ‘lemon’.
The attempts weren’t even that unsalvageable, and Kaoru was sure he’d never make a mistake like that. Most of them were really just a few strokes too long, or missing them, but they resembled the right characters. The boy ripped this page from his hands too and scowled at Kaoru, tears welling in his eyes.
‘’They’re not that bad.’’, Kaoru said, unimpressed by the scowl.
The boy huffed and scribbled down unto a new page in his notebook again, and Kaoru could see where the messy handwriting came from, with the way the boy was holding the pencil.
‘’You’re doing it wrong.’’, Kaoru huffed, taking a seat next to the boy and snatching the pencil from his hands. The boy looked up with his tear-filled eyes, his mouth open in astonishment.
‘’You’re supposed to do it like this.’’, Kaoru held the pencil between his thumb and his pointer finger, making sure the boy could see his hand clearly, and handed it back. The boy took it from him slowly, trying again, holding it wrong just like he had before, and Kaoru groaned.
‘’I just told you—you’re supposed to do it like this!’’ He grabbed the boy’s thumb and pointer finger and positioned the pencil the right way. He guided the hand towards the paper, rather forcefully, and guided the boy’s hand through the strokes. The characters came out wrong either way, but Kaoru figured it was because of the forceful strokes both of their hands had made.
He released the boy’s hand and urged him to try it on his own, emphasizing that he do it carefully. Kaoru watched over the boy’s shoulder as he slowly began yet another attempt at the word ‘lemon’.
Kaoru felt himself smile with satisfaction when the boy succeeded, grinning towards Kaoru as he looked between him and the word. It wasn’t perfect, really, but neither had been Kaoru’s attempt, though he would never admit that.
‘’See, it’s easy. Do another one, do your name!’’, Kaoru smiled, pointing at the pencil and the paper. The boy’s smile fell as he looked down at his notebook again, to which Kaoru frowned.
‘’You do know your name, right?’’
The boy scowled at him, but nodded slowly as he toyed with the pencil between his fingers. Kaoru couldn’t see why he wouldn’t just write it out then, as they now had discovered the problem of his messy, and quite ugly, handwriting. It had been corrected even, the boy had seen that with his own eyes, so why he wouldn’t just write out his name was beyond Kaoru.
‘’I don’t know how to write it.’’, the boy mumbled as he scribbled down unto the page, a doodle of a flower with a little butterfly. ‘’It’s Kojiro.’’
Kaoru huffed as he grabbed another pencil from Kojiro’s pencil case and unfolded one of the crumbled-up papers from earlier. ‘’That’s just easy, watch then.’’
Kaoru made quick work of the characters, only moving his hand to the side from time to time to let Kojiro copy his movements and strokes. Kaoru felt a little pride in his chest swell at the way his version looked so much better, even if he knew he should be reprimanded for it. He watched Kojiro try once, then again and finally a third time before fully writing out his own name. Kaoru figured the boy should be glad he didn’t have to write out Kaoru’s full name, now that had been a challenge.
Kojiro was ecstatic, grinning at Kaoru with half the teeth and double the enthusiasm. Kojiro’s words of praise made Kaoru’s face feel warm, and he tried to explain that Kojiro’s shouldn’t be so excited over simple words like these, but Kojiro was over the moon. He wrote it down twice more after that. Kaoru was so focused on watching to make sure Kojiro didn’t mess up either of those times, that he hadn’t even noticed the teacher having returned.
‘’I see you’ve met, then! Kojiro just started school this term too, right Kojiro?’’, she smiled at him. Kojiro nodded as he glanced up at her and back down towards his notebook, eager to get her to notice his progress.
‘’Oh, what do I see right there?’’, she grinned towards Kojiro, crouching down next to his desk and moving her finger up and down the page, tracing along the words. ‘’Isn’t that amazing! So, I see Kaoru’s been helping you, that’s nice! And you did them so very well too…’’
She stood up again, hands on her hips and smiled down at the boys as she towered over them. Kojiro was still grinning with a satisfied look on his face, no doubt very thankful for her praise at his hard work. Kaoru himself also hadn’t let her comment about him gone unnoticed, averting his eyes as she watched them with a soft smile.
‘’I’ll tell you this—since you two worked this hard, I’ll extend recess with ten minutes, okay? Then you’ll still be able to play outside with your classmates! This time without any accidents, I hope.’’, she pointedly looked at Kaoru when she said the last bit, but her voice kept a warm and cheery tone, not at all the scolding he had feared. The boys didn’t need to be told twice and dropped both pencils down as they ran towards the playground, not looking back to see if the teacher followed them.
Both Kojiro and Kaoru immediately blended into the chaotic crowd as the stepped outside and joined their classmates. Kaoru made his way over to the monkey bars, shooting his shot once more and noticed Kojiro sticking close to him. He didn’t pay him any mind though, just held unto the bars as he tried to make it from one side to the other.
About half way through, the same problem as before occurred, Kaoru’s hands started to feel slippery and he tried desperately to hold on. He groaned as he felt both of his hands starting to let go of the bars and dreaded another fall, one his teacher had specifically warned him for.
Just as he thought that he would have to accept his fate and move on, he felt a pair of strong shoulders underneath his shoes. He looked down and saw Kojiro grinning up at him from below his feet, holding both of his ankles steadily between his hands. As Kojiro took the first step, he encouraged Kaoru to move his hands.
Kaoru had no problem making his way over to the other side with just half the weight to hold and smiled proudly as he had reached solid ground again. Kojiro, having seen three boys pick up a football from around somewhere, hadn’t had the time to share Kaoru’s satisfaction at having completed the monkey bars, and had instead dragged him across the playground by the arm.
Kaoru scolded Kojiro for the brutal way he had dragged him all the way across and even pushed him lightly, but Kojiro didn’t mind any of that. He instead kept begging Kaoru to join for a game, which Kaoru eventually agreed to.
They turned it into a race, whoever scores the most points wins, after Kaoru had tried to convince Kojiro that his team wouldn’t win without him. Kojiro only encouraged their banter by stating that Kaoru wouldn’t stand a chance against them.
Both boys did give it their all and when the teacher called for them to come inside, both teams ran over to the boy they had assigned ref. Their beaming smiles fell though, when the boy declared no winner, and instead stated the game ended in a draw.
The other boys didn’t seem to mind all that much and quickly made their way inside, following their teacher. Kojiro and Kaoru weren’t as quick to follow her. Only when she called out twice again did they turn around and jogged up to the rest of their class.
‘’You didn’t win.’’, Kojiro said, looking down at the rock he was kicking in front of them.
‘’Neither did you.’’, Kaoru scoffed.
Kojiro turned to look at him, the rock forgotten as they passed by their teacher, who was holding the door for them and encouraging them to hurry as they went inside.
Kaoru forgot about Kojiro for a second and instead searched for his place again, only to find it taken by a girl, happily chatting with another girl next to her. Kaoru wanted to comment on it, but remembered they didn’t really have assigned seats and everyone had changed seats. It wasn’t like he had made friends with the girls around him either, and it felt rude to ask her to move when obviously she had made friends with them. He still wanted to sit in his seat, though.
‘’Kaoru, go find a place to sit please.’’, the teacher ushered him away from his former seat, lightly pushing him in no apparent direction. He looked around the classroom as the teacher started to clap her hands together and sing a song, gathering all their attentions. Almost all seats were taken, except for a pair of two in the back. He sighed as he grabbed his pencil case and notebook, and made his way over to the pair at the back. He’d just have to sit on his own then.
He slumped down in his chair and leaned his head on his fist, mouthing the words of the song along quietly. He looked around at all the other kids giggling with their friends and hoped that maybe the next day he’d have someone to sit with again.
Even Kojiro was sitting with the three other boys they’d just played with. He was laughing with them and a pit started to form in his stomach, jealousy making him frown.
The song ended and the teacher instructed them to continue their exercises where they left off before their break. Kaoru obliged and started scribbling down in his notebook. Despite his annoyance and reluctance to go, the calligraphy lessons his parents had forced him to do had paid off. He didn’t find the exercises difficult like most of the children seemed to, and he was done way quicker than them too.
He was left staring out of the window after having finished them, recalling a few of the exercises his personal calligraphy teacher had made him do. He’d figured that she would have him do the same ones this afternoon and scowled only at the thought.
He didn’t even notice the tap on his shoulder the first time, only when Kojiro called out his name did he notice the boy had taken the seat next to him. Kaoru’s thoughts about his plans in the afternoon had disappeared as he watched Kojiro carefully. The boy was grinning at him sheepishly and pointed at his notebook. Kaoru took a quick look to notice most of it was wrong, and he was sure Kojiro himself had noticed this as well, if the embarrassment evident on his face was any indicator.
Kaoru just scoffed as he picked up a pencil and started instructing Kojiro to follow his lead, showing him repeatedly until he was sure he understood. The jealousy in his stomach had replaced itself with a cheery and light sensation at seeing Kojiro’s smile, one not unwelcome. Even at Kaoru’s reprimands, not unlike his teacher’s, Kojiro didn’t stop smiling. He just listened carefully and tried to correct himself.
Kojiro remained Kaoru’s table partner for the rest of the day and Kaoru found himself happy at having made a friend. Even after he had spilled glue over Kaoru’s arms and he had spent quite a bit trying to scrub himself clean, or when he jostled Kaoru too hard which had resulted in Kaoru making a horrible slash with his pen in his notebook.
Despite all the little mishaps, reprimanding on Kaoru’s behalf, and clumsiness Kojiro seemed to carry with him like a sixth sense, Kaoru was very content. The feeling at the bottom of his stomach hadn’t left since Kojiro had taken the seat next to him and had travelled all the way up to his chest, and even up to his cheeks, tinting them red at certain times.
At the end of the day, when the bell rung, Kojiro didn’t know how fast he had to get out of the classroom. Kaoru himself didn’t mind taking a bit longer, gathering his things slowly, but Kojiro obviously wasn’t up for that. Kojiro urged on for him to hurry up, almost jumping with anticipation. When Kaoru did finish, Kojiro dragged him along by his hand.
Kaoru tried to convince him to let him go but Kojiro was too caught up trying to find his mother amidst the crowd of parents. When Kaoru realized it was hopeless to try and talk to Kojiro, he started to search for his own mother. Just as he noticed a flash of pink among the parents, Kojiro had noticed his own mother.
Dragged by the hand again, Kaoru was soon met with the body of a woman. Kojiro, in his excitement, had apparently forgotten he was holding onto someone and as he rocketed into his mother for a hug, had taken Kaoru with him. Both boys had ended up engulfed in a big hug by the lovely woman crouching down.
‘’Amore mio, come è andata oggi? Ti sei divertito a scuola?’’, the woman beamed at her son, one of her hands still on Kaoru’s back.
Kojiro nodded and looked over at Kaoru, his beaming smile the same as his mother’s. He opened his mouth to maybe introduce Kaoru to his mother, or explain why he had dragged him along, but before he could get a word out a cough sounded behind them.
‘’Kaoru, honey.’’, Kaoru’s mother called. She smiled politely down at the three of them, but eyed the other woman warily. Kojiro’s mother, still crouched down, stood up very quickly and introduced herself with a thick Italian accent. She bowed politely and Kaoru’s mother returned it, but didn’t introduce herself. Instead, she grabbed a hold of Kaoru’s little hand and dragged him along as they made their way over to their car.
Kaoru tried to look back at Kojiro and his mother, but his mother tapped his head with her fan before he could get a proper look. He tried again when his mother opened the car door for him and was glad to see Kojiro waving enthusiastically at him. When he tried to return it, his mother gave him a proper swat over his hand with her fan.
‘’Don’t do that, Kaoru.’’, she sighed. ‘’Now tell me about your first day of school, dear.’’