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Jin’s heated glare is sent across the table and to a student who doesn’t even acknowledge him that sat on the other side of the cafeteria. Insufferable boy… How dare he come into his school- his life- and steal his attention. What gave him the right to waltz in here and make Jin’s mind go blank?
He arrived just shy of a month ago; his presence would have probably gone unnoticed by Jin had Noel, his sister, not made friends with him in the clumsy way she manages to do (she somehow managed to almost poison him with her cooking.) He is loud, almost to the point of obnoxious, crude, and maybe even a little dumb. Even so, the blond’s heart will still pick up a few paces when he catches sight of him. Even now during lunch, his loud laugh takes Jin’s breath away
What the fuck?
Ragna, as it was, is insufferable, loud, crude…
One time, while he and Noel were outside, Ragna approached them- her- with a small lunch. It was an apology gift for running into her and nearly sending her flying, apparently, but Jin wasn’t too focused on the story. He was too stricken by how the sun casted on his white hair perfectly to make it glow, his intimidating, sharp eyes softened by casual talk, his voice deep and smooth.
Insufferable, loud, crude… Generous.
He helped Jin once when a pile of papers spilled onto the hall floors. He was no doubt late to his class, but the boy stayed to help. They didn’t exchange many words- not like Jin could. He was too focused on trying to get his heartbeat to slow down. There was another occasion where Jin did not have the time to eat lunch and was thus starving. He’d been holed up in the council room with Tsubaki when Noel interrupted them with a small container in hand. It didn’t look like much, just a salad, but he was told Ragna didn’t want the salad he prepared and sent it to Jin instead (he was glad it was a simple salad nothing to do with meat).
Generous, kind, attractive boy…
Those where only a few, small things Ragna has done for him in particular. For the most part, he resided with Noel, which he grew to find a little irritating considering how kind he always was to her. On another note, while they befriended each other, Jin and the other council members took to his sister Saya. A rather short girl with long, purple hair, red eyes expressing boredom most of the time while her voice was monotone.
She’d get a little spark of giddiness or mischievousness whenever Ragna was brought up and never failed on telling a story about him, good or bad. Through her, Jin managed to gather even more information about her brother that made him want to hit his head against the wall.
He was a cook, a fairly good one at that, in good physical shape, and trained under Jubei of the Six Heroes- which meant he had to have more than a decent grip on sword fighting. What perfect, generous, kind, attractive boy he was. It irked him. It really irked him that he didn’t know how to control himself whenever Ragna was around.
Jin is the definition of calm and collected; a good head on his shoulders. An ideal student, overall. Jin didn’t get flustered when a good looking student came his way. He didn’t get flustered when he made eye contact. His mind doesn’t blank out and his words don’t fumble whenever he is spoken to. It just didn’t.
But it did with Ragna and that was the problem.
“Jin…” Tsubaki’s voice cuts through his musings, “Jin, you’re doing it again.”
The blond takes a deep breath and adjusts his glasses, as if staring had skewed them. “I know.”
Tsubaki offers a small smile, as if she understands his predicament. She does to a degree, as he has voiced his frustrations to her and called him out on his feelings almost nervously. You complain, but it seems like you are complimenting him more than anything… Do you like him? is what she had said. “Like” as a relative term most kids use for “crush.”
Jin doesn’t do “crushes.”
“Are you upset he isn’t over here or because he offended you in someway?”
Jin has to think about that. He furrows his brows and plays with his glasses as he does so, leaning forward a bit. Upset he isn’t over here? Implying Jin wanted him in the first place… He glances back to Ragna, who grins at something Makoto said, and flushes a bit. He wouldn’t complain if they were seated together. As for offending him: yes. Yes, on many accounts. How dare he ruin Jin and not even acknowledge his undoing.
He doesn’t get back to Tsubaki with his answer. Instead, he gets up when they are signaled that it is time to return to class.
“Why not try talking to him?” Comes Tsubaki’s advice as she quickly follows Jin’s hurried steps; as if being away from Ragna would change the situation. “Maybe if you talk, you’ll find out there’s nothing to like. You could just be feeling physical attraction, you know?”
Poor Tsubaki. Jin feels a little guilty having make her get nervous when he is like this- like she has to walk on eggshells. She doesn’t and Jin doesn’t wish her to feel that way, but she probably feels like it since she too realizes this is a new concept to Jin and doesn’t want to pester. She’s not. If anything, her advice leading up to now has been perfectly sound and he is quite grateful to have her around.
“Yes, that might solve a thing or two…” Jin agrees, albeit a tad nervous at the thought of approaching Ragna. His friend was right though, physical attraction was one thing but actually connecting was another. While he knows things about Ragna, he can never truly determine where he stands if they don’t interact directly.
With that in mind, the blond does set out to search for him after the day of classes is done. Thankfully, it isn’t a hassle to find him, as the student is making his way to the cafeteria for dinner, and is pleased to find that he is alone. Determined, he walks right up to the taller boy, having every intent on speaking his mind until they make eye contact.
There, right in front of Ragna, he blanks out, their eyes just staring into each other silently for a few seconds.
“You need something?”
Oh God, don’t speak. His words are already cutting his brain off from formulating a sentence; not to mention his voice alone makes his knees weak.
“Oi…”
There’s a shift in Ragna’s expression from mild confusion to discomfort. Fuck, fuck.
“This is kind of creeping me out.”
“Noel,” Jin finally speaks, coming out more like gasp for air, “Looking for you. She is looking for you.”
Ragna blinks and slowly nods. “Right. That’s all you needed to say. Not stare me down like that.”
Jin bites the inside of his cheek and feels his face start to heat up. He already blew it. “Sorry. I’m sick. Feeling sick, not… actually sick. Not yet. I need to lay down. Not here though, of course. In my-”
He needs to stop talking. After a quick goodbye, Jin leaves just as fast as he came, his face flushing the more he replayed the memory. He didn’t need to embarrass himself like that. What’s more, he didn’t even find out if he was actually attracted to him or not, so he was stuck in his infatuated state.
Ragna stops by his room later that night, Noel probably telling him his room number, and drops off some mushroom soup. Even then, Jin couldn’t muster out intelligible words, only looking at the other with wide eyes while his mind raked his brain for anything to produce.
What an asshole.
“Why not write to him?” Tsubaki offers next after patiently listening to Jin throw a bit of a fit. “It will be easier to find your words on paper. Maybe you can do that to start things off?”
What would he write? What should he write?
He asks himself this when he is stationed in front of Ragna’s room with a still blank piece of paper. There isn’t much he can focus on other than the fact he might be caught by anyone, or Ragna in particular. When he manages to force his shaking hand to still, he presses the paper against the door to scribble something down before folding it and wedging it into the door’s crack.
When he enters and sits next to Tsubaki casually, he suddenly breaks into a cold sweat and lowers his head onto his arms on the table. The red-head, concerned, starts fretting and asking if he is actually ill. Boy, does he feel like it. His stomach is churning and his heart feels like it will combust at any moment now.
Managing to sit up after a few deep breaths, he looks around and notices Ragna has still not arrived. His face says he is calm, but on the inside, his stomach just dropped while his thoughts scream at him to run back to the note.
“Jin…” Tsubaki frowns, worried, “Did you write something?”
Just then, Ragna enters with long strides, head held high as his fists clench at his sides. Their eyes meet, and this time around, a rush of adrenaline shoots through Jin when Ragna’s eyes are sharp with mild anger. He approaches briskly with brows furrowed, a scowl inching its way across his face.
“The hell is this?” he growls as he drops a sheet of paper in front of the two.
Get out of my school.
-Jin