Hanabi 10/?? - ReitaXRuki
Title: Hanabi
Chapter: 10/??
Author: chuu ( akichuu)
Fandom: JRock, Gazette
Pairings: ReitaXRuki. Some other pairings in the background that you might find later on...
Overall Rating: PG
Genre: Drop dead fluffy.
Warnings: n/a
Summary: Reita wished he could just die right now...
Comments: Eh! Just as I am about to post this, there's an earthquake! Aaaah~ It's not big, but it's still shocking. It's been a while since the last earthquake... But it's closing in on Bloody May, so I get a little too paranoid. *calms self*
Okay. Chapter 10.
Hanabi : 10
At this point, Reita had successfully bitten his lip enough to make it bleed. How could he not? For the last two restless hours, he had been abusing that lip; biting and gnawing at it mercilessly, so much that he made it bleed. Reita cursed softly as he felt the tangy, metallic taste in his mouth, deciding it would be very, very wise to stop biting at his lip. He concluded that he wouldn't like having it stitched up for such a stupid reason and tried to think of something besides pencils that he could bite on without restraint (pencils, he knew, didn’t taste all that great). He couldn’t decide what was better: to find something else to bite on or to run out of class. The latter choice was suicide, he accepted the fact, albeit grudgingly. If he did that, Gotoh-sensei would surely disown him as a student, scratch a huge red mark in his report book, and then Reita could kiss his sweet future goodbye.
Reita decided, after a bit of thought, to try biting his finger, and maybe he wouldn’t even have to bite it ‘till it bled... As he was preparing to stick his forefinger in his mouth, Reita was saved the trouble of doing so because he realized with a start that Gotoh-sensei had wrapped up the lesson. Had it been two whole hours already? Reita peered up to the clock placed above the blackboard. No, no it hadn't been two hours yet; there was still half an hour left. It was not like Gotoh-sensei at all to leave his students before the period was over...
"Now, your class representative had asked me for permision to have a few minutes and," Gotoh-sensei said while packing his books, "I believe it has something to do with the school festival, which is coming up soon. I will let Sakurai-kun to explain all the details. So," He gave a slight bow, books neatly stacked in his grip, "I'll see you all tomorrow, and don't forget about your homework!"
"Homework?" Reita murmured nervously. What homework? He must've missed the part of the class where Gotoh-sensei was explaining about the homework they were given. Yeah, well, his mind hadn't exactly been in the classroom the whole two hours... Reita reached out a finger to poke the girl who sat in front of him, Oda, but just as the tip of Reita's finger was about to touch Oda's shoulder, she turned around quickly stating, "Page 84, exercise 20, you're out of it again, Suzuki-kun?"
"Ah, just..." Reita blushed, "A little too much to think about..." He flipped open the clean, almost untouched math book, turning slowly to find page 84. "This one?" Reita pointed at number 20. Oda nodded. "Okay, thank you, Oda..." As Oda turned around again, Reita folded the page, drawing a circle around the number 20 with his pencil, and closed the book. Was he really going to work on that exercise? Most likely not, especially while this problem was still in his head...
Ah, damn it. Reita was reminded again about the afternoon, what he was supposed to do and who he was supposed to meet; the urge to bite on his lip came out again. Kuso… He never really asked for anything like this to come across his path, never actually thought of it--having a relationship with a girl--but now... Just because he had been so unlucky as to walk into a scene that he felt like getting mixed up in (he kind of regretted his stupid, impulsive decision to break up the bullying) he was now caught dealing with a much more complicated matter. Reita would have preferred getting into a huge fight with a gangster's leader than have to face a girl all alone...
He wasn’t really the kind of person who talked face to face with girls that often; Oda was a big exception, since she sat in front of Reita and was the only one nice enough to spare Reita the information about things like homework, exercises, or assignments that he missed while not listening in class. Even with Oda, however, Reita had never spoken very much and never about anything more exciting than questions and answers about things pertaining to school.
And in just twenty six minutes, Reita would have to face a girl he had never ever encountered before (not personally, that is) and, and...
What should he do?
Sakurai had taken his place in front of the class and had already started talking(about(the school festival. Ah yes, that was one of the things that Ruki had talked about with his sister last night, and Reita still felt miserable for being kept out of the loop. He hated not knowing what Ruki would be wearing and why he was so excited to show his outfit to Aoi-kun... Ruki hadn't told Reita anything. No, even when Reita put on his stern face, Ruki still wouldn't talk much about anything. He wouldn't even say what theme his class would be going with. What was with the stubbornness...?
Reita leaned his head down on his table, feeling that it wasn’t a necessity to listen to what Sakurai had had to say; he really didn’t give a damn about the school festival and would rather not take part, no matter the theme his class picked. Last year, when Reita was in first grade, his class went with a Pirate theme. Reita was not included, wasn't appointed as anything important, and anyway, wasn't intending to play too much part... In fact, it was actually better not to, since he was free to slip in to other classes, and could even watch the music performance being held on the field. It was so much better not to be appointed as anything.
Someone mentioned ghost house. Ah, that theme was so common... Last year they had had four classes doing a ghost house 'theme. Someone else argued that class I-B had already taken the ghost house theme. Class I-B? Eh... Ruki's class? Then, Ruki's class was going with a ghost house theme? Ruki wouldn't even tell Reita that much.
Maybe Ruki had gotten appointed as an umbrella ghost. That may have been why he hadn’t wanted to tell Reita, he was so embarrassed at having to be an umbrella ghost; Hahaha~! Reita would definitely like to see that! Or perhaps he had been given the role of kappa. Ruki-kappa… That would be interesting. Reita could even take pictures so that he could humiliate Ruki for the rest of his life... Chibi-kappa. That would be so funny! Reita smirked.
Ah, but Ruki wouldn't like Aoi-kun seeing him in a kappa-suit. He wouldn't be so proud as to want to show his costume in front of Aoi-kun, he would--most likely-disappear off the face of the earth if he was supposed to be wearing a kappa-suit. With the big green clothes, the stupid fake-bald-head, the beak and also the leaf-umbrella, Ruki would probably rather die than have Aoi-kun see him in that sort of clothing. Then what...?
Someone else was saying outer space, and another person muttered ancient Samurai village. Ah, that would be kind of awesome... Reita wouldn't mind wearing a cool samurai hakama, complete with a katana. Oh, it wasn’t as though he’d be appointed as anything and besides, Reita liked it better that way; Low profile, unknown, unnoticed... He hated the fuss anyway. Hmm… The sports theme didn’t sound too bad either.
How much longer did he have? How many minutes till three o'clock? Reita couldn't even find the strength to lift up his head to look at his watch, too afraid that he wouldn’t have much time left. His heart was beating like crazy, almost hurting his chest as it beat, quicker and quicker. Reita thought, at that rate, that he would soon get a heart attack. Ah, that would be so much better, just drop dead here, escape his troubles… That would be so much better than... Oh God.
As he finally lifted his head to check the time he realized that what he had feared would happen had happened; just five more minutes left until the end of class. While the rest of the class was busy voting on the theme (outer space or ancient Samurai village), Reita cleaned up his desk. Shoving his books and pencil case into his bag, he only just realized that he had been shaking the entire time without realizing it.
He couldn't run away, not from this. He just hoped that Ruki would fufill his promise to accompany Reita to the school's backyard after class...
---
"Ruki, I..." Reita panted. "I can't do this... I..." His legs were instinctively trying to escape in the opposite direction that he was being dragging in by Ruki. "I can't face her," Reita pleaded, "What should I say? I..."
"Reita, if you don't meet her, you'll hurt her feelings!" Ruki insisted, not letting go of his grip on Reita's arm, tugging it persistently, dragging Reita along the already quiet alley that lead to the school's backyard. That was where Matsushima was supposed to be waiting, as she had stated in her letter.
"Stop, Ruki, just..." Reita halted and breathed nervously, "Just stop for a while..."
Ruki turned around an irritated frown carved on his face. "But she's waiting for you, Reita..."
"I, I can't..."
"Reita..." Ruki sighed. Walking a few steps to stare Reita in the eyes, Reita knew that Ruki could read his nervousness clearly. Those little eyes glared sharply at him. "Just go and see her and say whatever you want to say. It's better to say something rather than leaving her hanging and making her wait pointlessly for you, not to mention pretty rude."
"What if... What if I hurt her, by saying what I want to say?"
"At least you're being honest..." Ruki shrugged, "Now come on!" He tugged Reita's arm again but Reita stayed still.
"Ruki... Ruki, I..." Reita stopped, feeling Ruki's grasp sliding from his arm to his hand, now gripping him there tightly. Ruki's fingers kneaded his, as if giving Reita the support and assurance he was looking for. It was faint, but it was there; Reita still felt very wary about going into the backyard, but deep down he knew he’d be a big jerk if he didn't go, if he turned down someone without meeting them face to face. "Ruki..." Reita muttered, "Will you... Stay around and wait?"
Ruki smiled, tilting his head to the side, his thumb rubbing the back of Reita's hand which was in his grip softly. "Of course, Reita-chan, I'll wait," he assured gently.
"O--okay, I'll... I'll go see her..." Reita nodded, weakly, finally. Well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. And Reita was a man; No matter how hard it was sometimes, he would make the effort to do the things that a man should do.
"Good," Ruki grinned, "Just don't say anything too rough when you reject her, 'kay?"
Nodding to that and trying hard to keep Ruki's words in his mind, Reita walked nervously behind Ruki, his hand still holding on to Ruki’s, the both of them getting closer and closer to the gate that separated the alley with the backyard. Behind a wall, Ruki stopped, Reita stopping behind him. Their eyes soon caught sight of her.
Yes, there she was, waiting under a tree in the backyard. There was Matsushima Marie, waiting for Reita.
======
click: fanfic list
credits, my beta:
duo_simulacra
Chapter: 10/??
Author: chuu ( akichuu)
Fandom: JRock, Gazette
Pairings: ReitaXRuki. Some other pairings in the background that you might find later on...
Overall Rating: PG
Genre: Drop dead fluffy.
Warnings: n/a
Summary: Reita wished he could just die right now...
Comments: Eh! Just as I am about to post this, there's an earthquake! Aaaah~ It's not big, but it's still shocking. It's been a while since the last earthquake... But it's closing in on Bloody May, so I get a little too paranoid. *calms self*
Okay. Chapter 10.
Hanabi : 10
At this point, Reita had successfully bitten his lip enough to make it bleed. How could he not? For the last two restless hours, he had been abusing that lip; biting and gnawing at it mercilessly, so much that he made it bleed. Reita cursed softly as he felt the tangy, metallic taste in his mouth, deciding it would be very, very wise to stop biting at his lip. He concluded that he wouldn't like having it stitched up for such a stupid reason and tried to think of something besides pencils that he could bite on without restraint (pencils, he knew, didn’t taste all that great). He couldn’t decide what was better: to find something else to bite on or to run out of class. The latter choice was suicide, he accepted the fact, albeit grudgingly. If he did that, Gotoh-sensei would surely disown him as a student, scratch a huge red mark in his report book, and then Reita could kiss his sweet future goodbye.
Reita decided, after a bit of thought, to try biting his finger, and maybe he wouldn’t even have to bite it ‘till it bled... As he was preparing to stick his forefinger in his mouth, Reita was saved the trouble of doing so because he realized with a start that Gotoh-sensei had wrapped up the lesson. Had it been two whole hours already? Reita peered up to the clock placed above the blackboard. No, no it hadn't been two hours yet; there was still half an hour left. It was not like Gotoh-sensei at all to leave his students before the period was over...
"Now, your class representative had asked me for permision to have a few minutes and," Gotoh-sensei said while packing his books, "I believe it has something to do with the school festival, which is coming up soon. I will let Sakurai-kun to explain all the details. So," He gave a slight bow, books neatly stacked in his grip, "I'll see you all tomorrow, and don't forget about your homework!"
"Homework?" Reita murmured nervously. What homework? He must've missed the part of the class where Gotoh-sensei was explaining about the homework they were given. Yeah, well, his mind hadn't exactly been in the classroom the whole two hours... Reita reached out a finger to poke the girl who sat in front of him, Oda, but just as the tip of Reita's finger was about to touch Oda's shoulder, she turned around quickly stating, "Page 84, exercise 20, you're out of it again, Suzuki-kun?"
"Ah, just..." Reita blushed, "A little too much to think about..." He flipped open the clean, almost untouched math book, turning slowly to find page 84. "This one?" Reita pointed at number 20. Oda nodded. "Okay, thank you, Oda..." As Oda turned around again, Reita folded the page, drawing a circle around the number 20 with his pencil, and closed the book. Was he really going to work on that exercise? Most likely not, especially while this problem was still in his head...
Ah, damn it. Reita was reminded again about the afternoon, what he was supposed to do and who he was supposed to meet; the urge to bite on his lip came out again. Kuso… He never really asked for anything like this to come across his path, never actually thought of it--having a relationship with a girl--but now... Just because he had been so unlucky as to walk into a scene that he felt like getting mixed up in (he kind of regretted his stupid, impulsive decision to break up the bullying) he was now caught dealing with a much more complicated matter. Reita would have preferred getting into a huge fight with a gangster's leader than have to face a girl all alone...
He wasn’t really the kind of person who talked face to face with girls that often; Oda was a big exception, since she sat in front of Reita and was the only one nice enough to spare Reita the information about things like homework, exercises, or assignments that he missed while not listening in class. Even with Oda, however, Reita had never spoken very much and never about anything more exciting than questions and answers about things pertaining to school.
And in just twenty six minutes, Reita would have to face a girl he had never ever encountered before (not personally, that is) and, and...
What should he do?
Sakurai had taken his place in front of the class and had already started talking(about(the school festival. Ah yes, that was one of the things that Ruki had talked about with his sister last night, and Reita still felt miserable for being kept out of the loop. He hated not knowing what Ruki would be wearing and why he was so excited to show his outfit to Aoi-kun... Ruki hadn't told Reita anything. No, even when Reita put on his stern face, Ruki still wouldn't talk much about anything. He wouldn't even say what theme his class would be going with. What was with the stubbornness...?
Reita leaned his head down on his table, feeling that it wasn’t a necessity to listen to what Sakurai had had to say; he really didn’t give a damn about the school festival and would rather not take part, no matter the theme his class picked. Last year, when Reita was in first grade, his class went with a Pirate theme. Reita was not included, wasn't appointed as anything important, and anyway, wasn't intending to play too much part... In fact, it was actually better not to, since he was free to slip in to other classes, and could even watch the music performance being held on the field. It was so much better not to be appointed as anything.
Someone mentioned ghost house. Ah, that theme was so common... Last year they had had four classes doing a ghost house 'theme. Someone else argued that class I-B had already taken the ghost house theme. Class I-B? Eh... Ruki's class? Then, Ruki's class was going with a ghost house theme? Ruki wouldn't even tell Reita that much.
Maybe Ruki had gotten appointed as an umbrella ghost. That may have been why he hadn’t wanted to tell Reita, he was so embarrassed at having to be an umbrella ghost; Hahaha~! Reita would definitely like to see that! Or perhaps he had been given the role of kappa. Ruki-kappa… That would be interesting. Reita could even take pictures so that he could humiliate Ruki for the rest of his life... Chibi-kappa. That would be so funny! Reita smirked.
Ah, but Ruki wouldn't like Aoi-kun seeing him in a kappa-suit. He wouldn't be so proud as to want to show his costume in front of Aoi-kun, he would--most likely-disappear off the face of the earth if he was supposed to be wearing a kappa-suit. With the big green clothes, the stupid fake-bald-head, the beak and also the leaf-umbrella, Ruki would probably rather die than have Aoi-kun see him in that sort of clothing. Then what...?
Someone else was saying outer space, and another person muttered ancient Samurai village. Ah, that would be kind of awesome... Reita wouldn't mind wearing a cool samurai hakama, complete with a katana. Oh, it wasn’t as though he’d be appointed as anything and besides, Reita liked it better that way; Low profile, unknown, unnoticed... He hated the fuss anyway. Hmm… The sports theme didn’t sound too bad either.
How much longer did he have? How many minutes till three o'clock? Reita couldn't even find the strength to lift up his head to look at his watch, too afraid that he wouldn’t have much time left. His heart was beating like crazy, almost hurting his chest as it beat, quicker and quicker. Reita thought, at that rate, that he would soon get a heart attack. Ah, that would be so much better, just drop dead here, escape his troubles… That would be so much better than... Oh God.
As he finally lifted his head to check the time he realized that what he had feared would happen had happened; just five more minutes left until the end of class. While the rest of the class was busy voting on the theme (outer space or ancient Samurai village), Reita cleaned up his desk. Shoving his books and pencil case into his bag, he only just realized that he had been shaking the entire time without realizing it.
He couldn't run away, not from this. He just hoped that Ruki would fufill his promise to accompany Reita to the school's backyard after class...
---
"Ruki, I..." Reita panted. "I can't do this... I..." His legs were instinctively trying to escape in the opposite direction that he was being dragging in by Ruki. "I can't face her," Reita pleaded, "What should I say? I..."
"Reita, if you don't meet her, you'll hurt her feelings!" Ruki insisted, not letting go of his grip on Reita's arm, tugging it persistently, dragging Reita along the already quiet alley that lead to the school's backyard. That was where Matsushima was supposed to be waiting, as she had stated in her letter.
"Stop, Ruki, just..." Reita halted and breathed nervously, "Just stop for a while..."
Ruki turned around an irritated frown carved on his face. "But she's waiting for you, Reita..."
"I, I can't..."
"Reita..." Ruki sighed. Walking a few steps to stare Reita in the eyes, Reita knew that Ruki could read his nervousness clearly. Those little eyes glared sharply at him. "Just go and see her and say whatever you want to say. It's better to say something rather than leaving her hanging and making her wait pointlessly for you, not to mention pretty rude."
"What if... What if I hurt her, by saying what I want to say?"
"At least you're being honest..." Ruki shrugged, "Now come on!" He tugged Reita's arm again but Reita stayed still.
"Ruki... Ruki, I..." Reita stopped, feeling Ruki's grasp sliding from his arm to his hand, now gripping him there tightly. Ruki's fingers kneaded his, as if giving Reita the support and assurance he was looking for. It was faint, but it was there; Reita still felt very wary about going into the backyard, but deep down he knew he’d be a big jerk if he didn't go, if he turned down someone without meeting them face to face. "Ruki..." Reita muttered, "Will you... Stay around and wait?"
Ruki smiled, tilting his head to the side, his thumb rubbing the back of Reita's hand which was in his grip softly. "Of course, Reita-chan, I'll wait," he assured gently.
"O--okay, I'll... I'll go see her..." Reita nodded, weakly, finally. Well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. And Reita was a man; No matter how hard it was sometimes, he would make the effort to do the things that a man should do.
"Good," Ruki grinned, "Just don't say anything too rough when you reject her, 'kay?"
Nodding to that and trying hard to keep Ruki's words in his mind, Reita walked nervously behind Ruki, his hand still holding on to Ruki’s, the both of them getting closer and closer to the gate that separated the alley with the backyard. Behind a wall, Ruki stopped, Reita stopping behind him. Their eyes soon caught sight of her.
Yes, there she was, waiting under a tree in the backyard. There was Matsushima Marie, waiting for Reita.
======
click: fanfic list
credits, my beta:
duo_simulacra