Work Text:
First day back in this new school, and I already feel anxious. I can feel eyes piercing and staring at me. It all because of me that two different schools merged to create the Rain Moth's Institute. I thought everything would be all cool and natural on the first day but I can't focus on anything except for the fact that I'm getting all sorts of looks! I start to feel uncomfortable and chills running down my spine, so I kept my head down. I started walking from the gate without looking up or even seeing where I was going just so I could avoid those stares. Even so, a few people came up to me, asking if I can bend the rules for their benefit.
My goal was simply to make to the building before anyone asks me to get rid of end of year exams! It was all because of my manager, and the fact that he signed the papers before I could even get a chance to know what I was signing. I knew that this could be an opportunity to bring people together, but for some reason it felt like more than that. Before I knew it, more people came by, and I became swarmed with nosey teenagers. Walking turned to speeding, and speeding turned to jogging, then finally sprinting. I kept my golfers hat on low as if I was paparazzi, and looked around for an entrance to the building.
I wasn't the fastest runner, and plenty of people could catch up to me without struggle. As my stamina ran low, I thought to myself, 'What can I do? How else do I get out of this situation?' I couldn't keep running anymore, and as all hope had left me in that moment, a miracle happened. I felt a hand pulling me past everyone, and dragging me to the entrance. The wind brushed past my face and through my hair. 'What is this? What's going on? Is this god?' I couldn't help but wonder. We started pushing past everyone and I couldn't help but notice that my grip on this mysterious person tightened. Once I finally spotted a door, the random figure dragged me towards it at full speed and with brute force pushed the door open.
Without thinking, we both ran to the door, securing it to make sure no one would come through it. After a good amount of time, the entourage finally died down and gave up. I let out a huge sigh of relief and let go of the door. I rested on the metal door and slid my back down till I sat down on the floor. "That was one of the most stressful things I've ever done in my life, and that's pretty big considering the shit I do on a daily basis." I told the mysterious guy. I looked up at him, finally getting a good look of his face.
He seemed around my height, but the school uniform better suited him and his dark purple hair. His lilac eyes really did fit his entire look as well. Once he looked down at me, I just noticed how pretty his eyes really are.. But aside from that, he sat down right next to me with his back against the door. "Is that so? Well, I hope to get to know you better then. I'm Lyle D. Termina. I gotta ask though, why was everyone chasing you around?" He ran his fingers through his hair while he asked me. "Oh right! Art Campopiano!" I took out my hand to shake his. "I'm kinda the reason this school exists. Or at least my manager is.." I muttered the last part so that it wouldn't be awkward in the first interaction.
And tell me if this is weird but when we shook hands, he gave me this smirk that made me think 'Is this casual? This isn't normal. What's going on? What is this?' And get this, he looked me in the eyes and asked "That's interesting, you wanna talk about that while we head to our first class? I've got physics with Mr Green." He said it so casually as well, that's what's throwing me off. And so as we walked to our classes, we had a nice conversation about my manager and what he did for the school. I even told Lyle how much I didn't like my manager, and he agreed with me! "Anyone like that is clearly a scumbag, you deserve better." And he was right as well! I did deserve better.
We didn't share any classes with each other, but we would cross paths in the hallway as we go to our other classes and we'd always talk in between. It made me feel really happy knowing he was here with me. He managed to help get my mind off of my manager for once, since he always finds a way to intervene within my personal life. One time, he came into my aunt's wedding just to talk about the statistics between me and other golfers. My scores are impeccable, since I usually get holes-in-one more frequently than others, but he always says there's room for improvement. Ugh... but enough about my manager.
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Once we finally got a break from our classes, I found Lyle heading towards the library and I rushed to follow him. "Lyle! Lyle! Wait up!" I shouted to him. Once he heard me, he whipped his head behind to see me panting, hands on knees, and in dire need of water. "Art! I was gonna hang out in the library, you wanna join me?" He smiled as he offered. I tried so hard to gain my breathe, but gave up and started nodding vigorously so that he would know I wanted to hang out with him. I tried to push out a few words with the remaining air I had in my lungs.
"*pants*... You got water?..." I managed to say. Lyle just started laughing at me and reached inside his bag. "I got you, don't finish the whole bottle in one go." He managed to pull out a fully cold plastic bottle of water from his bag and tossed it to me underhand. As soon as I caught it, I snapped off the lid and chugged the bottle. I could hear his snarky little laugh beside me. 'Damn, his laugh is so cute...' I couldn't help but wonder.
Once I finished with the bottle, I let out a long sigh. "Ahhhh, thanks Lyle! I owe you one." I gave the bottle back to him, but before he put the bottle back in his bag, he took a quick sip and then closed the lid again. In this moment my brain kind of just shut down. I don't know what it was as well, it's not like I was embarrassed but I guess he just didn't get disgusted like others. That's cool. I didn't know that. I'll just forget it happened. Not that big of a deal. Suddenly, Lyle spoke up. "Dude, you good?" And I couldn't have been quicker with my response. "Uh, yea! Let's go to the library now! Come on."
Once we got into the library, I started to learn a lot more about Lyle. "Wait, so you're like an expert at solving puzzles?" I asked. His eyes lit up at the mention of puzzles. "I just know you won't be able to find a better puzzlemaster than me!" We were sat at this table right next to each other, while his head was resting between his hands in excitement. At the mention of puzzles, I remembered this puzzle that I couldn't quite solve. In fact, it left me so confused for a week, so I had to get my mind off of it with golf. Actually, my manager made me get rid of it, but he's not here so I could probably try it out!
"Hey Lyle, have you ever heard of a Rubik's cu-" Before I even finished my sentence, Lyle sat up straight and his entire face screamed excitement. "Yea I know what a Rubik's cube is! I have one with me right now! I'll show you how to solve it!" "Really?" "Yeah!" He rummaged through his bag before grabbing a half-solved Rubik's cube from the front pocket. My eyes went wide with curiosity. "So, here's the basics that you need to know. We need each side to be filled with only one colour..." For at least 20 minutes, we sat there while he explained to me how to solve it. He seemed so interesting when he was geeked out.
Before he mentioned an important point, I could see his smile grow slightly as he explained it to me. He used grand gestures even just to turn the side one way like a master in his element. He always used cool words to explain how to do something like "3x3" or "False fit". I made sure to ask a bunch of questions because I knew he would feel even better if he knew I was just as interested as he was. But suddenly he stopped in his tracks, placed the cube down, and looked down. "I uhm... I-I think I got a bit caught up in my own head! Sorry if I annoyed you with my yapping-" "No way! Keep going, I want to know what to do next!" He got noticeably flustered, but I knew he was happy.
Just as he continued to demonstrate, someone behind us called out "Art, I've been looking everywhere for you! We need to have a discussion." I could recognize that voice from anywhere, but I didn't want to believe it. Why was he here? Surely he had something better to do than lurch off of my success! "Huh? Sir, what are you doing here?" I turned my chair to face him and his hideous appearance. He cleaned up after himself, and always wore a suit and tie wherever he went, but it could never mask the stench of smoke off of him. "Art, I realized that if you lose even once this year, our income will decrease by 1.55%. So let's discuss some new techniques!"
Before I could tell him anything, Lyle stepped in for me and told him " Art's gonna do great whether or not he follows your plan! He's not the kind of guy to lose to just anyone on the street now, he's Art Campopiano!" He really believed that I was talented, and somehow he knew what I wanted to say. My manager however, gave him a nasty look. Almost like he wanted to burn a hole through his skull, but then his eyes landed on the Rubik's cube in front of us.
"Art, what'd I tell you about these distractions? This is what's gonna lead you to losing!" His hand stretched between Lyle and I as he grabbed the Rubik's cube and threw it down with all his force. As if we were in slow-motion, we yelled out "No!" and Lyle tried to grab it in time before it crashed to the ground, leaving pieces scattered across the floor. It felt like a murder scene, but I couldn't accept what I had just seen. The insides of a Rubik's cube was not as interesting as I had thought. My manager scoffed before grabbing my arm. "Let's talk outside, far from any distractions." And just like that, his grasp on my arm tightened as he dragged me out of the library. As I looked back, I saw Lyle collecting the broken pieces of the Rubik's cube from the ground with such a sad look on his face.
I couldn't believe what he had done. Even as he spoke to me, I couldn't focus. Why would he do that? What would Lyle think of me now? I wish I could've done something to help out at least, instead of just looking around unknowingly. The look on his face is something I can't erase, he looked like he wanted to cry! If he wanted to cry then I would cry! I just don't know what to do anymore. I can't escape my manager though, but I just have to pray for a day where he won't be alive anymore. He leeches off of my success, and just keeps taking and taking! What can I do...?
"Oh right, Art! I'll be picking you up from school today, so be sure to change into your sports clothes before I pick you up." He mentioned. I dreaded that car ride with him. His car would probably reek of old cigars, and I'd be breathing in his second-hand smoke. His radio would be the most busted-up thing ever! And he'd probably have those decorated steering wheels like those Uber drivers. The most uncomfortable car ride imaginable, would be a car ride with him.
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After our conversation, I couldn't help but wonder about Lyle. Since we didn't share any classes together, it became more difficult to check up on him. And even worse, I couldn't find him during our classes. It felt like he was either avoiding me, or I was just so unlucky to the point he was invisible to me. I couldn't take any notes during my class because I was too afraid of what could happen between us. I didn't want him to leave me alone completely, but until I was able to find him, it seemed like that was the case.
Eventually the end of the day came and he was no where to be seen. I had completely given up on Lyle, it seemed like fate didn't want us together at all. So I headed to the front gate alone and as I took my phone from my pocket, I called my manager only to be met with his voicemail. 'Great, I went through the effort of changing into my sports clothes just so that he won't even take me to practice.' I thought. It was so clearly a stupid thing he'd do, to show up fashionably late to any kind of situation to make himself look super important. But I could deal with it. I'm used to it at this point.
As I waited, I sat on the curb playing Solitaire while other students walked past me on the sidewalk. Even if I wanted to go home, it would be a half hour long walk, and I've missed the bus so there's not much options. Before I even noticed how much time had passed, I felt water pouring on me heavily. I looked up and found dark grey clouds swarming the sky and covering the sun. The rain kept hitting me to the point where I felt annoyed. Once I checked the time, I couldn't believe how late he was. The time read 5:03PM, and we finished school at 3. I didn't have an umbrella or hoodie to cover myself, so I sat there while water poured down on me miserably.
I couldn't believe the situation I was in, and if I had walked back home 2 hours ago I would've made it faster than he arrived. But suddenly, I felt the rain stop pouring over me. I looked up and found Lyle standing there with an umbrella raised above me. He seemed shocked that I was still here, but he wore different clothes than our school uniform, so clearly he had just stumbled across me. "What are you still doing here? School finished 2 hours ago!" The concern from his voice made the situation seem worse than it was. "It's nothing, I guess my manager forgot to pick me up..." I told him. He seemed upset at something, his eyebrows furrowed when I mentioned my manager.
"...I really am sorry about the Rubik's cube." I looked down when I apologized. He just scoffed in my face and extended his hand to me. "Get up, I'll walk you to my home." I stared at his hand for a good second or two, and I took it as he pulled me up. "I don't care about the Rubik's cube, I have tons of them." While we still held hands, I walked with him as we crossed the street. "But aren't you upset that he broke it?" I tried keeping up with Lyle's speed to keep my head underneath the umbrella. "Lyle, you seem upset. You can tell me if you're mad!" He just continued walking faster, not looking behind him.
"I'm not mad." "It looks like you are". Lyle started to slow down in his tracks before stopping suddenly. "I'm not mad, it's just... I saw how happy you were with it, and it killed me to see how quickly he was able to destroy it. He shouldn't have that much control over anything, especially not your life. You deserve to be treated so much better, by someone who actually cares about you. You need someone who's willing to give up everything for you, and it kills me to know you don't have that." He turned around to show his face blushing. "I can be that guy for you!"
I suddenly realized that his hand was slightly shaking while he was holding mine, and the situation became clearer to me than ever. He likes me. Woah... he likes me? He's clearly afraid of what I'd say to him, and to be honest I didn't know what to say as well. "You... want to be the guy to what?" His hand started to shake slightly more, but now he has faced me directly and stared at me straight in the eyes.
"I want to be the guy who treats you right, who you can rely on for anything. I really care about you, and I know that if you give me a chance, I can make your life so much better." Now his face has turned fully red, and I can tell that he's thinking of every possible situation. So... should I...? I mean my manager isn't here to say anything about it... why not? "Lyle, can you close your eyes for a second?" I asked him. "Huh? Uhm, ok sure.." He replied. Once his eyes were closed, I made my move. I placed my hand on his shoulder and moved in closer. It's rather strange, I used to think he was less awkward than this, but I guess this kind of situation can change your perspective on things.
Just then, Lyle opened his eyes to see what I was doing, so I shot him a look with a smile to tell him to keep his eyes closed. I pressed my lips against his, kissing him softly. I felt him relax once I kissed him; his grip on the umbrella loosened and the rain started to pour over us. In that moment, everything slowed down and no one was here to experience this moment, only us. This was our moment, and our moment alone. I'm glad I got to have my first kiss with a guy that I liked so much, and he's willing to do so much for me! There's finally someone who I can complain to about my manager, and there's someone who I can talk to about anything!
Once we let go, I noticed Lyle's face grow more red than usual. "Lyle? Are you ok?" I waved my hand in front of his face to see if he was responsive, and luckily for me, he responded immediately. "Yea! Yeah, I'm just kind of in shock.. Like I can't believe this just happened." He brushed his hair with his fingers. Instinctively, I decided to pinch him. "Ow! Why'd you do that?" "Now you know this isn't a dream" "...Thank you"