Work Text:
"What are you working on?"
Arakita didn't bother looking up from his notebook at the sound of Shinkai's voice. He hoped his expression stated the obvious. He was studying math. Entrance exams were right around the corner, and Arakita had found himself migrating to the most isolated parts of the school library in order to get some intense studying done without any distractions (from Toudou). The only reason why he hadn’t invited Shinkai to help him study was because the other was absolutely atrocious at explaining concepts to him.
"Looks tough," Shinkai commented as he pushed the only other chair in the area to Arakita's side of the table.
Arakita hummed distractedly as he stared at his messy writing. He hated limits, he hated derivatives, and he sure as hell hated his inability to take decent notes. If it weren't for Fuku-chan saving his ass and lending him his notebook for the day, Arakita would have been at a complete loss while attempting to solve the practice problems provided by the textbook.
Fully engulfed by trying to memorize the different rules associated with properties of derivatives, Arakita didn't notice Shinkai dragging a pencil lightly across his notebook until he had successfully memorized and understood the Quotient Rule. Looking up from his textbook for a change of scenery, Arakita silently watched Shinkai draw a small rabbit at the corner of the page. On any other day, Arakita would have yelled at him. He would have scolded him for ruining his notes, and jabbed a finger in his arm for being a distraction. But Arakita didn't feel particularly petty that late afternoon. Shinkai's crooked art was the most attractive thing in that god forbidden pad of papers at the moment, and his presence had been comforting, not distracting. Instead of raising an empty argument for the sake of starting a conversation, Arakita returned his attention back to his scrap paper and began solving the next textbook problem.
"Oh, hey Shinkai."
"Yo, Hoshino. What's up?"
Arakita blinked as he pulled his eyes away from his work to glance at Shinkai. Several minutes had passed in blissful silence, and the slight disruption was all it took for Arakita to give up on his current math problem and follow the conversation closely. Shinkai was smiling his usual smile as he glanced up at a fellow classmate.
"I'm trying to find a chair... The others are studying by the big window but people keep moving shit around."
"Things get rather disorganized here around exam time, huh?"
"Yeah, you're telling me." Hoshino sighed deeply as he scratched the back of his head. "Guess I'll look somewhere el—"
"You can take mine," Shinkai noted as he stood up from his seat.
"Oh shit, seriously?" Hoshino asked as he approached Shinkai.
"Yeah, take it. I’m leaving anyways."
"Thanks man!"
Arakita didn't say anything as he watched Hoshino carry the chair across the room and disappear behind several bookcases. He almost asked Shinkai if he was seriously leaving him —genuinely concerned if his only source of comfort was going to abandon him in his time of need, but then Shinkai did something Arakita could only describe as very Shinkai-like. The redhead muttered "Scooch over," as he pushed Arakita partially off his chair with his ass.
"The fuck Shinkai?!" Arakita exclaimed as he grasped the table's edge tightly to prevent himself from falling. "I'm trying to work here! Your fat ass takes up too much of the chair!"
"Would you rather sit on my lap, Yasutomo?"
Arakita struggled to find an answer as his mouth flapped open and shut several times, and he stuck with cursing Shinkai under his breath as he returned to his math —unimpressed but also unaffected by Shinkai's closeness.
Arakita proceeded to scrawl a rough equation onto his scrap sheet of paper while letting Shinkai continue to doodle on his notebook. The proximity made it a little harder for him to concentrate. Arakita peaked at Shinkai's drawings every so often —and added unnecessary commentary whenever he felt he needed a distraction from thoughts of their shared body heat.
Stop talking, Yasutomo!
Arakita scoffed as he watched Shinkai write more words onto his notebook.
Finish studying so we can eat.
Arakita shook his head. He really wanted to ask Shinkai why he was here. Why was he wasting his time in a dusty old library writing absolutely nothing in a ratty-ass notebook instead of being more productive with his life?
Yasutomo
Arakita watched the other write his name down several more times at the corner of his copied homework —sometimes with a star, sometimes with a small carrot or a heart…
What are you? A fourth grader?
Arakita kept his words to himself as the other proceeded to write his own name down, and holy shit was Shinkai's writing a mess. Why hadn’t Arakita noticed before? Some characters were scrawled neatly while others were not. The problem was that the neatness changed within the same characters. It made no sense. It was like Shinkai glazed his eyes in distraction while writing.
Yasutomo is cute when he's quiet.
Arakita would have said something snippy back had he not caught the joke. He wasn't going utter a word. There was no way in hell he'd let Shinkai indirectly call him ugly just by raising his voice.
Yasutomo is cute.
Arakita scowled in embarrassment. His body felt hot as he read Shinkai write the same phrase a few more times before turning the page.
Yasutomo has a nice laugh.
Arakita's cheeks began to sear as he proceeded to read the small compliments Shinkai peppered within his notebook. The innocence was astounding. Shinkai's words ranged from Yasutomo has the best taste in music, to Yasutomo makes the most delicious Tamagoyaki.
The compliments kept going and going until Shinkai hit the last page in Arakita's notebook. His pencil hovered over the only white space available as he contemplated what to write next. Arakita's heart hammered against his ribs as he watched the lead linger millimeters away from the page. Shinkai looked lost. Arakita almost broke his silence to make a joke about Shinkai running out of compliments, but his gut told him not to. He waited for a minute. Then another. Shinkai kept circling the pencil over the paper as if he were about to write something down —but then his hand would freeze and a small tsk of frustration would escape his lips.
Arakita was so lost in the other's flushed cheeks and creased brows that he almost didn't notice Shinkai finally writing something down. Feeling a weird mixture of fear and delight, Arakita pulled his eyes away from the other's face to look at his notebook.
Arakita gawked at the page for a long moment before heat encompassed his entire body. He wasn't expecting...
That.
"Stop writing meaningless shit in the book I'm about to burn in two week's time!" Arakita snapped as he snatched his notebook out from under Shinkai's grasp.
Say those words out loud! He silently urged as he threw the book across the room like a frisbee. He watched it spin behind a bookshelf and land on the floor with a dull thud. His skin was crawling with excitement. He was certain his heart was going to jump out of his throat. Shinkai notably deflated at the act of him whipping his notes across the room, and Arakita decided not to waste any time with misunderstandings as he delicately grabbed his chin and guided their lips together.
I think I'm in love with you.
Arakita hummed in bliss as he deepened the kiss. He couldn't believe it.
I think I'm in love with you.
He couldn't get the words out of his head. Shinkai's feelings were engraved into his memory.
I think I'm in love with you.
Fuck! Fuck, he was so happy.
“Let’s go grab dinner,” Arakita huffed after pulling away from a prolonged minute of kissing. Both he and Shinkai panted heavily as they rested their foreheads against one another, and after a moment, Arakita stood from their shared seat to retrieve his most prized possession —his notebook. He'd keep that stupid thing with him for the rest of his life. Shinkai's confession would forever be etched into his memory and his shitty math notebook.