Chapter Text
“Just my luck!” Mizuki stared down at the straw in his hand. A straw that was significantly shorter than the other ten boys huddled together outside the guesthouse they’d been staying in.
Mizuki looked over his classmates shoulders at the looming mountain slowly eating the last glimmers of the setting sun. The trees bracketing the path bowed inward creating a gate between the safety of the humming lamplights and the domineering darkness of the forest path.
“Better luck next time buddy!” One of Mizuki’s classmates clapped him in the back consolingly. The eager grin on his face did little to convince Mizuki of his sincerity.
“Shouldn’t we just let the girls pick?”
Nearly all heads whirled towards Mizuki with the same fierce opposition. The bravest among the group voiced what the other’s wouldn’t, “If we let them pick they’ll all fight over you!”
”Anran would pick Wuyang.” Another boy chimed in.
”Yeah! Anran WOULD pick Wuyang! Learn to take the L dude! We’re tired of picking up your scraps!” Mizuki heard Wuyang mumble a half hearted protest at being dragged into the soft mutiny against Mizuki.
Of course Mizuki knew about the other’s complaints. It was hard not to be aware of them when his male classmates avoided him and grumbled behind his back constantly. Mizuki felt that all the time they wasted glaring at him could’ve been used to try actually forming a connection with their female classmates, but what did he know?
The Cesarean betrayal wasn’t distressing in the slightest. Instead, Mizuki found himself faced with the much scarier prospect of wandering the woods at night without Kiri. The whole ‘test of courage’ thing was ridiculous enough but now he wouldn’t even have his personal shrine maiden-in-training by his side? With his luck he’d be left behind and end up dead at the bottom of a washed out cliff side.
He couldn’t even voice his fears to his classmates. Likely due to the same inferiority complex forcing them to revel in his current misfortune, he’d never been able to form lasting relationships with his male classmates. They others had some tacitly agreed upon ‘no contact’ order on Mizuki. At this point, even if one of them were to reach their hand across that line, Mizuki wouldn’t take it for fear of damaging his pride.
“Fine! I’ll get out of the way!” Mizuki threw his straw against the chest of the ‘brave’ classmate confronting him, “What other sorry loser’s stuck with me?”
A head of blue-black hair tied into a short ponytail ducked down. He looked up as he retrieved the straw and offered it back to Mizuki.
“Guess it’s you and me,” Wuyang’s awkward smile and optimistic tone made Mizuki want to vomit. Wuyang gave up returning the straw piece and palmed it with his own. Mizuki could see the jagged line where they’d once been joined; Making up one, exceedingly unlucky instrument.
As Kiri tried to approach Mizuki she was stopped by some hapless peon who eagerly informed her that Mizuki had already decided to partner with Wuyang. Kiri looked over the little minion’s shoulder and mouthed ‘you sure?’ At Mizuki who was forced to grit his teeth and nod lest he subject himself to further social martyrdom.
Anran threw her arm over Wuyang’s shoulder and mussed his hair affectionately, “Look at you! Making friends! I’m so proud of you bro!”
Wuyang laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. As Anran’s bright eyes examined Wuyang’s awkward avoidance of her gaze Mizuki dared to hope their ruse would crumble. Unfortunately, Anran shrugged off whatever deception she sensed from Wuyang.
“Guess it’s me ‘n Kiri then!” Anran barked enthusiastically, moving away from Wuyang to encircle Kiri’s shoulders.
Behind the two girls the nine remaining male students gained a cloud of gloom above their heads. As Mizuki predicted, the girls quickly dismantled the boys’ carefully conceived plan by picking each other.
Before Mizuki could take this as a sign to abandon his portion of the rouse he was offered several very silent threats. While it was doubtful any of them could make good on their exceedingly creative hand gestures Mizuki didn’t feel like making any more enemies.
“It’s not so bad.”
Mizuki startled, having forgotten Wuyang’s presence the moment Anran stopped touching him. Wuyang had an understated presence that— when compared to his outstanding sister —often faded into the background. From what Mizuki observed, Wuyang was both aware and ashamed of this fact.
Not that Mizuki spent much time thinking about the other boy. Mizuki was just naturally perceptive and Anran spent a lot of time with Kiri. It would’ve been stranger not to notice, honestly.
“Feel free to just…leave me behind,” Mizuki watched as the first pair of students started down the path. Their forms disappeared quickly, obscured further by the large ‘no hiking after nightfall’ sign placed at the path’s edge.
While Mizuki wasn’t exactly an upstanding citizen, he’d learned his luck was better on the compliance side of any safety based laws. Jay-walking, cleaning supply warning labels, food expiration dates, warning signs, Mizuki abided by them all to the letter.
Mizuki felt a gentle hand tug at the end of his shirtsleeve. He looked down and saw Wuyang looking up at him with a shocking level of concern.
“Why would I leave you?”
Mizuki’s eyes went wide. He could feel the tips of his ears burning. What kind of relationship did the two of them have where Wuyang felt that he owed Mizuki anything? And why did he have to phrase it so…ambitiously?
It almost sounded like a confession with the way it dripped sincerity. The overload of sticky, honey-sweet affection felt like a lead pipe being slammed into Mizuki’s gut. He was out of breath from the shock of it.
Before he could embarrass himself, Mizuki rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue in annoyance, “I just don’t want you clinging to me!”
Mizuki started towards Kiri but Kiri was with Anran, approaching her would guarantee Wuyang following him. Instead Mizuki found a secluded place to sit on the porch jutting out from the back of the guesthouse. To his great dismay, Wuyang followed anyway.
Wuyang dropped down on the grass, facing Mizuki with his usual carefree cheer. The whole thing felt like a set up. Mizuki checked to see if any of the other boys were sneaking glances at him, waiting for the perfect moment to humiliate him.
But no one was looking. In fact, a large hagi bush effectively hid both Mizuki and Wuyang from all their classmates.
“I’m Wuyang.”
Mizuki stared at Wuyang with confused annoyance, “...and?”
“Well-” Wuyang grinned as he scratched the back of his neck, “I thought you’d like to know since we’re gonna be hiking together, ya know?”
“We’ve been in the same class for the past three years…” This had to be a trap. What kind of play was this idiot going for? Would the whole class start treating him like a new transfer? Act like he was a complete stranger?
“I dunno,” Wuyang withdrew his hand and shrugged, “I thought you might not know. Since we’ve never really…ya know, talked.”
Mizuki thought being ignored was bad enough, now they were going to act like he never existed in the first place? He’d thought he was immune to this pain he’d grown so accustomed to. Thought he’d grown a skin thick enough to withstand rigged party games and muttered curses. But this new hell pierced right through.
Instead of staying and withstanding a single minute more of Wuyang’s bullshit mind games, Mizuki sprung to his feet. He rushed towards the path, shoving the couple next in line for the path out of the way.
Behind him Mizuki could hear assorted murmurs along with the sound of Wuyang’s sneakers smacking against the wet grass, sprinting to keep up with Mizuki. It didn’t matter, there was no chance Mizuki could make it through the whole path with a companion. He’d have ended up alone even if he hadn’t intended to.
“Wait up!” Wuyang called.
Mizuki came to a fork in the road. The sign labeling each path was unreadable in the low light of the forest. Mizuki took the left. Wuyang called out again but Mizuki couldn’t make out the words. Blood was pounding in his ears. His breaths came in sharp and shallow.
When his vision began to blur he finally realized what was happening.
He came to a stop and brought his fists up to wring the unbidden tears from his eyes. He pressed his knuckles into his eyesockets with more force than necessary.
“Woah!”
Mizuki glanced over his shoulder and saw Wuyang bracing himself on his knees in the middle of the path. He had his phone in his hand. Its weak flashlight beam skewed up towards the leaves, face up on Wuyang’s thigh.
“You’re like…really fast!” Wuyang panted for a beat then straightened.
He pointed his flashlight back down the path they’d come from then towards Mizuki. Mizuki turned his back to face Wuyang, careful to keep his tear stained face hidden.
When he spoke he willed all the spirits that ever had been to keep his voice steady, “What do you want from me? You’ve made your point, ok? You don’t know me! No one knows me! I’m just some loser freak! It wouldn’t even make a difference if I disappeared from your memories.”
Wuyang reached out and grasped Mizuki’s wrist, “Dude what-”
Mizuki pulled away violently.
The act sent him tumbling forward. Just two steps. But the second step fell on empty space. Mizuki found himself hurtling forward and down. He braced himself for the fall, looking out into the darkness helplessly.
Something yanked Mizuki back, towards safety. A pair of toned arms wrapped around Mizuki’s shoulders and pulled him tight against a shockingly broad chest. Before Misuki had time to process what was happening, he was on the ground.
Well he was on Wuyang who was on the ground.
“aieee ts-st-st” Wuyang groaned in pain, “You ok?”
Mizuki could feel Wuyang’s breath on his lips. The tips of their noses brushed against each other as Wuyang turned his head to survey their surroundings. Mizuki could feel his heart pounding in his chest and it wasn’t just because of the fall.
Instead of confronting the unfamiliar warmth bubbling up in his chest, Mizuki lashed out. He shoved off of Wuyang and tried to roll away. Wuyang caught him around his waist and sat up, bringing their faces uncomfortably close yet again.
“Dude! Be careful! I don’t want you to fall again!”
“...why…” Mizuki’s voice was soft and hoarse.
Wuyang tilted his head in confusion, “...because you’d get hurt? What do you-”
Anger began to smother the unwelcome flame licking the inside of Mizuki’s ribcage. He gripped Wuyang by the front of his shirt and shook him, “Why did you follow me? Why’d you try to save me? Why’re you acting like you wanna be my friend?”
Wuyang, for his part, was utterly bewildered by Mizuki’s sudden outburst. He held his hands up in surrender and waved them as if trying to deter a small predator.
“I followed you because we’re partners! And what do you mean ‘acting’? I do want to be your friend! Kiri’s always talking about how cool and funny you are! I just thought we could-- ya know? --like bond or something.”
Wuyang’s hands dropped and he turned his head away from Mizuki towards the path they’d fallen off of.
“Also what do you mean save you? That’s like less than a meter.”
Sure enough, when Mizuki looked back he could just make out the edge of the boulder he’d stepped off of. If he were standing it might have come up to his waist. Shame burned in Mizuki’s cheeks, not that Wuyang could see it in the lowlight.
“If anything I made it worse,” Wuyang laughed softly. Mizuki could feel the laugh vibrating against his own chest, “I was just trying to pull you back up but I think I just got us both hurt.”
Mizuki’s eyes went wide. He grabbed Wuyang’s shoulders, “You’re hurt?”
Wuyang laughed again. He carefully moved Mizuki’s hands from his shoulders and softly pushed Mizuki away. Mizuki realized he’d been sitting on Wuyang’s lap and quickly scrambled backwards.
Gravel mixed with the dead leaves coating the ground cut uncomfortably into Mizuki’s palms.
Wuyang gingerly brought his left leg up to his chest. He hissed in pain. Mizuki scrambled forward and gently cupped Wuyang’s ankle. He peeled back the white sock and found angry, swollen skin underneath.