je_united gift fic for p3nlight

[ch3ryll]

je_united gift fic for p3nlight

Title: Finally With the Right Person
Pairing: FumaXMarius
Rating: PG
Warnings: No Warnings, but very long
Summary: School AU: Marius has a crush on someone he shouldn’t, a school staff member, but that blocks his feelings for someone else. Fuma has been crushing on Marius for a while now, and is wondering when he’ll finally notice.
Notes: I apologize for the length. I had no idea how long it would be. Other than that, I hope you like it! Happy reading~

Marius, a tall boy with a mop of brown hair, slams his locker door and turns to Sou, his best friend and another freshman. "Hey, Sou..."

His voice trails off as a man passes by the two students in the semi-crowded hallway. Marius eyes light up at the sight of the man and stares after him even as he is long out of sight.

"Marius. Marius." Sou snaps his fingers in front of a dazed Marius.

"Yeah?" Marius turns to look at the shorter student with black hair and dark skin compared to Marius's lighter skin tone.

"You spaced out again." Sou crosses his arms and shuts his own locker door. "You know... when you kept staring at Kento. The school nurse."

"I didn't even realize it." He stares at his feet, embarrassed, but then looks up with a light in his eyes. "Did he notice me?"

"You have a crush on a school nurse and you're worried if he noticed you?" Sou asks as if that's the least of his problems, but he kind of smiles when he says it, because he knows how ridiculous the whole situation sounds when said aloud.

"Sh!" Marius brings a finger to his lips. "I don't want anyone to overhear you."

Sou slowly shakes his head. "What have you gotten yourself into?"

"Nothing." Marius sighs tells him for what could be the hundredth time. "It's just a crush, Sou. It's not like we have a relationship or anything. We barely talk."

"You tell him hi and good morning everyday."

"Yeah." Marius says like it's nothing. "We're friends."

"I don't think he knows that." Sou tells him. "He probably only thinks of you as a friendly student or something like that."

"Unfortunately, you're right." Marius sighs and then says, "Don't rain on my parade."

"I'm not trying to rain on your parade." Sou frowns. "I'm just trying to be realistic. Why would Kento go out with a student? And least of all, a guy? There's plenty of girls at this school. He probably has a girlfriend or maybe even a wife."

"He has no wedding ring." Marius points out, but blushes at the look Sou gives him. The look asks why he knew that, but after all, at least Marius isn't going after a married man. A staff member of his school, but he's not taken.

"So? He could have a girlfriend." Sou points out. "Sorry, but it's risky to get into a relationship with a school staff member when you're a student. Especially when you he's a lot older than you."

"He's not that much older than me." Marius says softly and lifts his head to scan the hallways. "But you're right. I shouldn't take this too seriously."

"I'm just looking out for you, Marius." Sou says and claps him on the back before walking away. "See you in chemistry." He calls out.
A few hours later, Marius sits in the front of chemistry class while Sou sits in the back due to the teacher assigning the students seats. In the beginning of the school year, when Marius was assigned this seat, he was thinking of asking the teacher to assign him a new, not to be with Sou, but just about anyone else but the person he is currently sitting beside.

Marius looks out the open doorway and the school nurse just happens to walk by at the same time, dressed in a khakis complete with a white lab coat. His cheeks flush a little and he starts thinking of what it could be like if Marius could actually just talk to him.
It'd be weird if a student strikes up a conversation with the nurse, Marius dreams, but maybe I can pull if off. Despite what Sou says, he always smiles at me on the rare occasion I actually talk to the guy. Maybe I shouldn't be crushing on an older guy, but I want to at least get to know him before just leaving him behind. He could be really nice, and he's only, like, ten years older than me. I think it's worth a shot.

"Marius, what is the answer?"

"Huh?" Marius pulls his attention from the door and to the woman in front of him, his chemistry teacher.

"Well?" The teacher cocks her eyebrows. "Since you don't know the answer maybe you can answer this next question. What's so interesting in the hall?"

"Oh, uh," Marius sits up straighter and feels his cheeks turn pink. "Nothing."

"That's right." The woman shuts the class door and then takes up teaching the class again.

"You daydreaming?" The kid beside Marius whispers and hits his shoulder.

Marius shrugs and whispers back a little irritated, "I don't know, Fuma."

"You don't know? Marius doesn't know?" Fuma teases the younger boy.

Marius shrugs and shifts his attention to the speaking teacher.

"What?" Fuma acts surprised and grins afterward.

Marius tries his best to ignore the older boy, used to his prying antics.

Fuma... he... is so annoying, Marius thinks and tries to focus on the chemistry lecture.

Fuma, a tall boy, though not as tall as Marius, is an upperclassman. He walks in the hallway and stops to lean on the wall only to stare at a boy ahead at his
locker.

"Marius." Fuma whispers and gives a small sigh.

A few feet away, Marius talks excitedly at his own locker.

"You have to help me come up with an idea, Sou," he says while shoving books into his locker. "I need to talk to him and then I'll decide if he's worth chasing after."

Sou sighs, leaning against his own locker. "Fine. I'll help you, but promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"I promise."

"No, I mean it." Sou says firmly. "I don't want you to say anything that can get you in trouble or do anything at all revealing." Marius nods in response. "I'm not sure about this relationship, but if you really like him, then... I guess I can't change that."

Marius's excited voice changes into a lower, more serious one. "I know, Sou. Stop treating me like I'm a child."

"I'm not treating you like a child." Sou snaps. "It's just not the best thing to do. To form a relationship with a teacher."

"He's not even a teacher." Marius chides and crosses his arms. "He's a nurse and... and I haven't even talked to him yet! So stop telling me all these 'wise sayings' about relationships."

"I'm just looking out for you."

"You always say that." Marius sighs and adds in a carefree tone. "I just want to get to know the guy."
Fuma catches himself staring at the two boys and shakes his head and shoves his hands in his pocket.

What am I doing? Fuma asks himself. Way to make it obvious. I don't want to be caught staring at him.

Fuma looks around to make sure no one saw him and then thinks, I think he likes Sou. But for once they seem to be in a disagreement. I wonder what it's about. I hope he's all right; he looks really upset.

"Hey, Fuma." A small boy, but a teenager, with neat black hair taps the boy on the shoulder.

"Oh, hey, Shori." Fuma turns to him and smiles.

"Did I surprise you?" Shori asks and grips the strap on his school bag.

"What? No."

"Oh, it looked like you were thinking about something." Shori says. "What were you looking at?" Shori looks in the general direction Fuma was staring in.

"Nothing. I was just spacing out." Fuma waves the question off.

"You know what," Sou tells Marius in a snarky tone. "If you want to talk to him, feel free, because here he comes."

"What?" Marius turns and is a little surprised that Kento is walking in their general direction while looking down at a clipboard.

As he is about to pass them, Marius blurts, "Oh, hey, Kento."

Kento looks up from his clipboard and smiles and nods. "Marius."

"Are you busy?" Marius asks and crosses his arms, trying to look relaxed, while gesturing at the clipboard.

"No." Kento shakes his head. "I'm just looking at a few documents. Have you been keeping up with your classes?" He asks politely.

"Yeah." Marius answers in an airy voice.

Kento turns to Sou. "And you?"

"Yes. Yeah." Sou nods and claps Marius on the back pretty hard and says, "In fact we should be going."

The bell rings, but Marius just gestures to where Sou clapped him on the back. "I think I need to go to the nurse's office for that."

"Haha, it's not fatal." Kento winks at him before turning away. "Have a good day." He calls while holding up his clipboard.

"You, too." Marius calls back before turning to Sou. "Why'd you do that?"

Sou slowly shakes his head and starts walking away as Marius just stares at him, still half-expecting an answer from his best friend.

Fuma, oblivious to what went on between Marius and the nurse, says to Shori, "I need to ask you something."

"Okay, but class is about to start." Shori tells him and leans against the wall.

Fuma cocks his head to the side to indicate a door nearby. He pushes open a door that has a staircase on the other side and Shori follows him in.

"What is it?" Shori asks with a new curiosity. Fuma has to talk somewhere private, where no one is listening.

"I like someone." Fuma says abruptly and Shori raises his eyebrows in surprise. "But I don't think they like me."

"So...you're asking me how to make them like you?" Shori asks skeptically.

"No, no." Fuma shakes his head. "Well, yeah. Kind of."

"Well," Shori thinks for a moment. "You said they don't like you?"

"I don't think so." Fuma says after considering for a moment.

"Why? Everyone likes you." Shori points out.

Fuma lifts a hand to his lips, contemplating. "I tease them." Then he thinks for another moment. "A lot."

"You tease them?" Shori smiles, like that’s an absurd reason. "But you tease everyone. They probably just think you're treating them like everyone else."

"A lot. I tease them a lot." Fuma says again, with a little more force.

"Then stop teasing them so much."

"I can't help it! They're so cute when they're mad. They're cheeks get a little red and they tilt their head at me, so I can see how pretty their eyes--" Fuma feels a
blush creep into his cheeks when Shori laughs at him.

"Tough Fuma is in love?" Shori says jokingly and crosses his arms.

"Gah! It's not funny." Fuma says and playfully bats Shori's arm.

"Okay." Shori puts a serious face on. "Who is it? Maybe I can talk to them."
Fuma shakes his head. "Er..."

"You don't have to tell me." Shori puts his hands up in mock surrender. "You talk to her."

"Talk to them?" It's harder than that, Fuma thinks, and he's not a girl, but I'm not going to mention that.

"Yeah." Shori says. "Just talk to them. Say something nice. Or tell them how you really feel."

"I think they like someone else." Fuma says, thinking of Sou, or if he's into women, Marius will just never like him.

Shori frowns. "Well, you can't help it if they like someone else. Sorry." Shori shrugs and then adds, "But if they start to show an interest in you, I'd confess."

"Confess?"

"Yeah," then Shori thinks for a moment. "Well, I would never have the courage to confess, but if you do, I'm sure they'll think of you as brave."

"Yeah, maybe." Or they'll think I'm being mean and teasing them, Fuma curses himself for being so rude to Marius earlier in the school year.

The late bell rings and the two look up to see the source of the sound.

Shori tells Fuma, "You never know, maybe they like your teasing."

When Shori walks out of the stairwell and through the door, Fuma whispers, "Doubt it."

The school gym coach blows his whistle, signaling for the boys and girls in the gym to go change back into their uniforms in the locker-rooms. Fuma makes sure to stick close to Marius, with his goal in mind.

"Hey, Marius," Sou walks up to him, after quickly getting changed. Marius regards him a nod. "I'm sorry about"-he lowers his voice and leans in-"about the whole school nurse thing. You can like who you want to, so go for him."

Marius gives him a small smile. "You are forgiven."

"Just don't do anything stupid." Sou backs up and leaves the locker-room. "I'll wait for you outside."

In the locker-room, after Fuma finishes changing, he walks up to Marius who is finishing putting on his tie. He wonders what Marius and Sou were talking about.

The younger boy looks at Fuma who's leaning over him since the he is sitting on a bench.

Be nice and don't tease him run through Fuma's mind on replay as he crosses his arms in front of Marius.

Fuma clears his throat and the underclassman looks up at him. "I thought you did really well today." He says and when Marius just stares at him with a blank face, he adds, "I mean, 'cause you're tall, you have an advantage in, uh, basketball."

Suddenly, the corners of Fuma's mouth upturn into a grin. He can't help but smile a little every time he sees Marius's face. Marius ducks down and starts to tie his shoes, the only comment to Fuma's compliment was a curt nod and mumbled "thanks".

Fuma immediately frowns when Marius doesn't do anything else or build on the conversation at all, a small bit of anger overcoming him, when he realizes he needs to keep calm if he wants to make this work.

He realizes he's staring when Marius looks up at him and asks, "What? Did I do something?"

Aw, he assumed he did something, Fuma thinks and then regains focus.

"No," he shakes his head. "But, Marius, I just wanted to, um, apologize." Marius waits to hear the rest. "I- I'm sorry for teasing you all year." Marius studies him for a moment but doesn't say anything. "So are we good?" Fuma asks hopefully.

"You're apologizing?" Marius asks unbelieving and wears a skeptical look on his face.

"Yeah." Fuma says as if it's obvious, but Marius stands up still looking as if he can't tell if Fuma is lying or not. "So do you forgive me?"

Marius's eyebrows scrunch together and he says, "You’re really apologizing? You told me I was stupid."

"I don’t think so." Fuma raises his voice. By now, they're the only ones in the locker-room.

"You said so." Marius raises his voice. "'Oh, stupid Marius made another mistake in chemistry'." Marius mocks Fuma's voice.

"So I'm apologizing!" Fuma shouts at how difficult Marius is being.

"Why?" Marius feels his cheeks turn red out of frustration. "Did an adult ask you to or something?"

"Did an--" Fuma repeats. "No! I just wanted to say I'm sorry. Is that so hard to believe?"

Marius shrugs, too frustrated to say anything at the moment. He leaves the locker-room after gathering his bags and Fuma follows after him. Outside of the locker-room is Sou.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Sou asks Marius as they start on their walk to class, Fuma not far behind.

"Fuma."

"What did he want? To mess with you again?" Sou asks and shifts his bag on his arm.

"I think so." Marius states. "Supposedly he wanted to apologize."

"Apologize?"

"Yeah. He told me he was sorry for teasing me and stuff." Marius says. "He even complimented me about my height."

"So you just don't believe him?" Sou asks.

"It's not that I don't believe him, it's just..." Marius says. I think...I think I don't want to believe him. I guess I have this image of him in my mind and I don't want to make him the good guy. Maybe out of fear he'll turn out to be the bad guy. I don't know. I don't want to think about it right now. "I don't know, Sou. Maybe I just
don't like him." That’s a lie. I like him a little.

Fuma stops walking and let's Sou and Marius get further and further ahead and replays what Marius said, he...doesn't like me?

Fuma's bottom lip quivers for a moment before he pinches his lips together and keeps walking to class. To think that Marius doesn't like him is way different than
actually hearing the boy say it out loud. Now he knows what Marius thinks of him and he couldn't have said anything to change that.

"Marius," Sou whispers. "Look who's coming."

Marius turns after finishing shoving in all of his books into his locker. At first Marius thought Sou was going to point out Fuma or someone distasteful to Marius, but the school nurse starts walking down the hallway.

Marius's eyes get really. "He's early this morning." He whispers.

"You know what time he gets here every morning?" Sou asks, kind of creeped out.

Marius looks offended. "Well, yeah." But after he turns to Sou, he stares at the man walking by and sighs. Then he slams his locker door. "Ow!"

Kento turns around to see why Marius yelped. The student is cradling his hand while Sou shakes his head slowly.

"Did you do that on purpose?" Sou whispers as Kento starts to make his way over to them.

"No," Marius says sadly and then sees that Kento is coming over and he's going to have to go to the nurse's office. He grins. "But I wish I thought of it sooner."

"Marius, are you all right?" Kento asks. "Your hand."

"Oh, uh..." Marius's cheeks flush a bright pink and holds out his hand.

Kento takes it and turns it over. "What do you have first period?"

"Um..." With Kento around, Marius is at a sudden loss for words. "Study hall."

"Okay, good." Kento starts to pull Marius forward, but stops. "Do you want to come to the nurse's office? Your hand is bleeding, so I can bandage it for you."

"Oh, yes. Sure!" Marius says a little too cheerfully.

Sou sighs. "See you in chemistry." He says and walks away.

Kento leads Marius by the wrist into his office down the hall, carefully not to touch his injured hand. They enter his office and Kento gestures for Marius to sit on
a stool in front of the counter, so he does. Kento goes behind the counter and grabs a first-aid kit.

"Hold your hand out." Kento says, in charge, but when Marius is about to lay his hand on the counter surface, he stops him. "Germs."

"Oh, right." Marius agrees and keeps his hand hovering in-between them.

Kento drowns a cotton ball in a clear liquid and starts smearing it on Marius's bleeding knuckles. Then he places small sheets of cotton over the wound and starts wrapping bandages around it.

"Do you want to...talk?" Marius says hopefully.

"Sure." Kento quickly glimpses him from behind his glasses. "How are you today?" He asks, but keeps his eyes on Marius's hand.

"Happy." Marius answers and realizes that sounds kind of suspicious, but hey, who wouldn't be happy to have smashed their hand in their locker?

"Really?" Kento pauses and makes eye contact with Marius.

"You know...before I smashed my hand I was happy." Marius nods to prove his point. He takes a deep breath and asks, "What makes you happy, Kento?"

"Me?" Kento thinks for a moment before answering. "Being with my friends and family."

"And your girlfriend, right?" Marius says and even before he said it he knew it was a risk.

Kento laughs a little. "I don't have a girlfriend."

The phrase sends a tingly fizzy feeling throughout Marius's whole body.

Then Kento thinks for another moment. "You know you're pretty nice, Marius."

"I am?"

"No one else has asked me what makes me happy." Kento says. "You know, I don't have a girlfriend, but I do like someone."

"Same?" Marius says, but it comes out sounding like a question. "Does she go here?" Marius asks, a little slowly because it's risky.

"Go here? Like as a student?" Kento laughs out loud. "I think I'd get in trouble for that." Kento finishes Marius's hand wrapping and says, "Well you're all done.

Have a good day and try not to use that hand too much."

Marius nods, gets up, and starts to leave. Right before he leaves the room, he turns around to catch one last glimpse of Kento, who is on his phone texting someone. Marius smiles to himself and skips down the hallway.

"Sou!" Marius exclaims as he walks up to the freshman at their lunch table. "Guess what."

Marius precedes to tell Sou what went on between him and Kento this morning.

Sou listens carefully, but is taken aback when Marius says, "Maybe he likes me, too?"

Sou doesn't want to tell Marius that's probably not true, because he's sensitive and Sou doesn't want to make his best friend mad like he did a few days ago. He only says, "Maybe."

"I mean," Marius begins. "He said I was really nice and he wouldn't tell me that kind of thing unless he wanted me to know, right?"

"Right."

"What would you do?" Marius asks Sou, leaning on his elbows across the table. "If you thought someone might like you, but also might not?"

"Wait for them to tell me." Sou says after thinking for a moment. He specifically told that to Marius because he doesn't want him to do anything rash.

"Oh," Marius sits back and thinks about that option. "Yeah, but what if he's waiting for me to tell him?"

"What if he's not?" Sou suggests.

Marius frowns and continues eating, not saying anything else.

Fuma slams his locker door, but in the process, half of his books tumble out of the bag slung of his shoulder. He grumbles some curse words, but picks them up
and angrily stuffs them in his bag.

"Fuma, are you all right?" Shori asks him.

Fuma looks up at him, but only sees the boy at his own locker not too far away, the one talking to Sou. He sighs and says, "Yes, I'm fine."

"You've been off for the past week. Ever since gym class last Monday." Shori says.

Fuma glares at him. "What? Have you been watching me or something?"

"No." Shori says defensively. "You broke the pencil I lent you in half after gym that day. That was my favorite pencil."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have lent it to me." Fuma says, though he doesn't know why he's being so rude to Shori who has does nothing wrong. "I'm sorry,
Shori." He says when Shori looks a little hurt. "Something happened."

"What?"

Fuma stays silent for a moment. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Shori scoffs. "I think that's the biggest lie you've ever told. Nothing's had this big effect on you like this."

"It's complicated." Fuma says while flicking his eyes to what's behind Shori. "It's just... you know that person I like?"

Shori lowers his voice. "Yeah."

"Well, I apologized to them." Fuma pauses.

"And?"

"They didn't believe me. They said they didn't like me."

Shori raises his eyebrows. "She said that to you?"

Fuma shakes his head. "Not to me. To a friend."

"They didn't mean it."

"I think they did."

"No, they wouldn't say that about you." Shori says. "Are you sure that's what they said?"

"Yeah. They made it pretty clear." Fuma says and runs a hand through his hair. "He's so--"

"He?" Shori catches him off guard.

"Er," Fuma stutters, not knowing what to say. "Um, yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Shori asks with wide eyes and Fuma shakes his head.

"I didn't want you to judge me." Fuma whispers, making sure no one heard him says anything. "Besides, it doesn't look like our relationship is getting any better."

"So who is it?" Shori slides him a cocky grin and leans against the lockers.

"Oh, um," Fuma raises his eyebrows and looks to the floor and then back up at a waiting Shori. "Ah, I don't know."

Shori smiles. "Is he embarrassing?"

"No." Fuma hurriedly adds. "I, um, I guess he's just not who you would expect."

"Then let me guess." Shori smirks, but then starts to concentrate. "So he has fourth period gym, and... you said he was cute when he's mad."

"Did I seriously say that?"

Shori laughs. "Yes."

"Great." Fuma grumbles. Why is Shori in such a good mood? Is it really that rare for me to have a crush on someone? Fuma asks himself. Then he looks past

Shori and stares at the boy at his locker talking with his hands to some freshman called Sou.

Fuma doesn't realize he's been staring for so long until Shori waves a hand in his face, "What?" Shori turns around and sees the two freshman talking.

His eyes widen. "Is it Sou?" Shori asks, but when Fuma just gives him a questioning look, he asks instead, "Is it Marius?" When Fuma's features fall into a blank face, Shori knows he's guessed correctly.

"Hey, don't tell anyone." Fuma says seriously.

"I won't." Shori swears. "But he seriously doesn't like you?"

Fuma shrugs. "He said so."

"How bad was your teasing him?"

"Er, I kind of teased him everyday about...something." Fuma runs his hand through his hair nervously. "Like, about almost anything. From if he daydreamed in class to him tapping a pen on the desk."

"Oh, wow." Shori says. "No offense, but if I were Marius, I probably wouldn't like you too much either."

"Yeah." Fuma mutters and starts to walk away. He starts walking towards Marius, but as soon as he reaches him, Fuma realizes his class is in the other direction, so he stops right beside him.

"Yeah?" Marius says and stares at Fuma.

"Huh?"

"You stopped beside me?" Marius says and gives him a "duh" look.

"Oh, uh," Fuma stutters. "I went the wrong way. My class is this way." He awkwardly points toward a laughing Shori. Then he walks off in the other direction.

"What's so funny?" He mumbles under his breath as he passes Shori.

"He's been acting weird lately." Marius says as he watches Fuma round the corner out of sight. "I'm worried about him."

Sou almost takes a step back. "Wait, you're worried about him?"

"Yeah." Marius says bluntly. "He hasn't been teasing me at all. I think I hurt his feelings." Marius has a distant look in his eyes. "I mean, he was annoying, he is annoying, but...." Marius shrugs and makes a face. To himself, I don't really care...do I?

"But what?" Sou asks curiously.

Marius just shakes his head. "Anyway, so I have a date with Kento!"

"Wait, what?" Sou nearly falls over.

"Not a real date." Marius clarifies. "But I'm meeting him right now, so see you in chemistry."

Sou stares after him as Marius walks away, right pass a still kind of laughing Shori.
Marius walks down a few hallways and out the back entrance of the school. Fuma is sitting on a bench not too far away, but Marius doesn't see him.
What's he doing? Fuma asks himself. Class is about to start in ten minutes, so where is he going off to? Should I follow him?
Fuma ponders for a moment, before getting up and slowly walking in the direction where Marius is heading. Fuma stops at another building, the gym. He peers his head around the corner of the gym and sees Marius talking a few feet away to the school nurse.
The nurse? Fuma wonders. Did the klutz hurt himself?

"Um...I don't know how to ask this." Fuma hears Marius say.

"Just say it." Kento says, and immediately Fuma doesn't trust the guy, even if he is wearing a lab coat and staff name tag.

Marius fidgets with his hands before looking Kento in the eyes. "Do you like me?"

Kento tilts his head and gives him a half smile. "Of course I like you. What did you think?"

"No, I mean," Marius licks his suddenly dry lips. "Will you go out with me?"

Kento crosses his arms and looks at the ground before looking up and saying, "No."

"N-no?"

"No, Marius, I will not go out with you."

Fuma pulls his head for a brief moment, he likes the nurse? A STAFF MEMBER? And not that freshman, Sou? Fuma turns back around to see what happens next.

"W-why?" Marius's voice cracks.

"Well, I really have to explain?" Kento says as if it's obvious, which just makes the blow harder for Marius who is now looking everywhere on Kento's face but his eyes. "I mean, I work for the school and you're a student, so our relationship would be illegal. Even if you didn't go here or if I didn't work here, you're underage. Also illegal."

"But-"

"And I just don't have feelings for you like that." Kento bluntly puts it. "Maybe if we weren't in an illegal situation, I would be able to come to... fall in love with you, but not ever like this. Not with the age difference." He sees how hard Marius is trying to look at him without actually looking at him. "I'm sorry, Marius. I didn't know you felt this way about me."

Marius shakes his head while looking at the ground. "Don't apologize. I'm sorry for asking." Marius pushes past him and starts briskly walking towards where Fuma is behind the brick wall. Marius turns and plows right into Fuma who catches him at his upper arms.

"You?" Marius breaks free of his grip. "Were you listening?" Fuma stays silent, mainly because Marius's voice cracked and tears are pooled in his pretty brown eyes, but Marius has his answer. "Why were you spying on me? What is wrong with you?" Marius pushes his chest and Fuma steps back into the wall. "I- I hate you!" Marius shouts and starts wiping his eyes as he walks away to the school building.

"Wait, Marius!" Fuma shouts, but Marius doesn't turn around, he just keeps walking.

Kento turns around and sees Fuma. They make eye contact and Kento shakes his head, but other than that, they don't interact at all. All Fuma can keep thinking is, I wouldn't care if it's illegal. If I was the nurse, I wouldn't have made Marius cry like that. Fuma almost says something as the man calmly walks away as if nothing happened.

After the class bell has already rung, Fuma slowly makes his way to class.

The bell rings to chemistry class.

"Wait, you did what?" Sou tries to wrap the whole thing around his head. "Marius, you told him this morning?"

"Yeah, I did." Marius exclaims. "And I wish I hadn't."

"So he didn't say yes?" Sou says a little sadly, showing sympathy for his friend.

"No." Marius says and takes a seat before resting his head on his arms not wanting to look at anything.

"I'm sorry, Marius." I just knew this was going to happen, Sou thinks, Marius can be impulsive and he hates not knowing how someone feels about him. I should
have said something to stop this silly relationship. "But that's just how it is."

"I know." Marius grumbles.

"But you didn't even think to consent with me on this one?"

Marius peeks out from his arms, but only to glare at Sou. "Really?"

The chemistry teacher closes the door behind Fuma, the last student to enter and Sou goes to the back row to sit. Marius senses Fuma moving behind him and
sitting beside him, but he doesn't dare look up.

"Today we'll be doing a lab, so you'll have to be working with whoever you're sitting beside." The chemistry teacher says and Marius completely tenses up. He'll have to work with Fuma. "Marius. Head up."

Marius lifts his head up and looks at the woman in front of him who continues to give instructions. "There are already the powders and liquids on your desk. Follow the instructions and you should be fine. I'll be at my desk if you need me."

After he puts on the requires goggles and gloves, Fuma opens his text book to the instructions and places the book in between him and Marius, but Marius has already started mixing things and pouring powders into vials using the instructions from his own book.

Fuma slides his back and says, "You know, you have to work with me." Marius doens't say anything. "Marius." Fuma says, but the boy still doesn't look at him.

"Marius, I'm sorry." He lowers his voice because he assumes Marius wouldn't want anyone else to know what took place a few hours ago. "I shouldn't have followed you."

Marius still hasn't said anything, so Fuma puts a hand on his shoulder, but Marius shrugs it off. Then Fuma puts his hand on his shoulder again, but when
Marius tries to shrug him off, he spins the boy around, but Marius's arm swings and pours blue liquid all over the table and books. "Hey, listen, I--"

"What'd you do that for?" Marius nearly shouts at Fuma.

The teacher sees the mess and tells the students to go to the back of the classroom while she handles the slightly toxic mess.

Sou sees Marius stick close to the wall as Fuma stands only two feet away.

Fuma sighs before saying, "Can I speak to you?"

"No." Marius says and turns away.

"I wouldn't want to talk to me either." Fuma agrees, but takes a step closer to him, which only causes Marius to hug himself even tighter. What have I done?
Fuma thinks. If only I had waited at my bench. Then, maybe, just maybe, I would have been able to comfort Marius instead of hurt him. I don't deserve him. He's sensitive and yet all I seem to do is hurt him time after time again. Right now his cheeks are slightly red and his head is being supported by his shoulder, which means he's mad.

After the teacher finishes cleaning up the mess, the students go back to their seats, but their lab and lab grade is ruined, unless they want to individually make it up some time over the weekends.

Fuma watches the clock tick and when there's only five minutes left of class, he figures now or never to speak to Marius. His cheeks aren't as red, so he's figured he's calmed down a bit.

Fuma brushes his hand against his arm. "Hey, Marius?"

Marius glances at him, but then his cheeks flush again. Fuma sighs and pulls back, but continues to whisper.

"I'm sorry for following you." Fuma says, but Marius seems more focuses on the pencil he keeps tapping with on the desk, lightly, so no one else hears it. "And
I'm sorry for staying even after when I knew you were confessing." Marius remains silent. "Speak to me Marius, any sign of acknowledgement." When Marius still doesn't say anything, Fuma takes his pencil. "Come on, I'm dying here."

"You're, what?" Marius reaches for his pencil back, but Fuma puts it in his shirt pocket. "Like you know what it feels like to be rejected."
The words stung, but at least Marius is talking now.

"I do." Fuma says softly. "And I don't like it, but you can't just keep on ignoring me."
Marius looks confused. "No one ever rejects you. Everyone loves you here." Marius gestures to everyone in the class, which attracts some attention.

"Someone has." Fuma states.

Marius rolls his eyes. "Give me my pencil back."

Fuma is about to say something stupid like "Forgive me first" but instead he just pulls it out and hands it to him. "I just needed your attention."

"Well, you have it now." Marius says, his cheeks a bright cherry color and his voice is loud. "Gone on. Say something."
Marius's words are harsh, but Fuma knows he did something deserving of them.

"I'm sorry, Marius. I mean it. I regret it." Fuma states quietly, aware of the attentive listeners near by. "You don't know how much I regret it."

"No, I don't." Marius says before raising his voice to a shout. "Stop kidding me! I'm tired of it."

By now, all the class is listening.

"Marius, I'm not--"

The bell rings.

"You lie." Marius says quietly between clenched teeth, gathers his stuff, and leaves.

Fuma stays silent because no one has accused him of lying before. He always tells the truth.

Everyone in the chemistry class stares at Fuma and the door swinging on it's hinges from when Marius threw it open and left. Soon, the awe wares off and the students go back to finishing up their lab and leaving the room. Fuma slowly picks up his stuff, his mind racing ahead of his actions.
No one is left in the room, but Fuma and the teacher, or he thought. He's about to leave and go to his next class, when someone taps him on the shoulder.

"What did you do?" Sou asks, not enraged or anything, but kind of mad.

"You mean...with Marius?" Fuma asks, since Sou is Marius's friend and who he originally thought was the one Marius liked.

"Yeah. What did you say to him?" Sou demands. "I haven't seen him this mad in years."

Fuma swallows. He's never been this mad before? Fuma thinks. What have I done? "I-I didn't mean to upset him."

Sou gestures for him to go on.

"I saw something and now he's mad at me for following him." Fuma says softly, like he can't admit his own crime. "It was a mistake. I thought I was looking out for him."

"You? Look out for Marius?" Sou raises his eyes and doubts what Fuma said.

Fuma studies the rings on his hands before lifting his head and nodding. "You're lucky to be his friend."

Fuma leaves the classroom and a speechless Sou.

"Marius!" Sou calls from down the hall the next morning. He just arrives at the school and walks toward his friend whose at his locker, the one beside his own.

"Hey, Sou." Marius says really peppy despite the current situation.

"You seem...happy." Sou tells him. "Are you all right? You know...with the whole Kento thing?"

Sou had guessed what Fuma had seen, exactly what happened, and why Marius is angry at Fuma for following him.
Marius looks down and for a minute he has a blank look on his face, but he looks back up and gives a small smile. "He's a staff member. And I barely knew him, so...I'll get over him."

Sou softly smiles. "Good."

Marius shrugs in response.

"I need to tell you something, though." Marius looks to Sou. He's listening. "It's about Fuma." Marius's lips curl a bit, but for the most part, you wouldn't even be able to tell they've had an argument. "I talked to him at the end of class yesterday and he seemed...sorry. He seemed genuinely sorry."
Again, Marius shrugged. "He hates me."

Sou takes pity on Fuma, because of what he said about Sou being lucky to be friends with Marius.

Sou continues, "I don't think so. He told me he thought he was looking out for you by following you."

"Looking out for me?" Marius scoffs, which was Sou's first reaction to the statement, too, and continues to switch out the books in his locker for ones in his bag. Even though he's not facing Sou, the other boy can tell that something has changed in Marius's demeanor when he tells him that.

"He said I'm lucky to be your friend."

Marius freezes for a moment, but then continues, slamming his locker door. "That's nonsense. You must have misheard him."

"No. I didn't." Sou reassures him and Marius just stares at his closed locker door, but he seems to look past it, thinking.

"I've been hard on him." Marius whispers, not to Sou, not to anyone. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in. "If what he's said is true...."

Marius opens his eyes and tells Sou, "I'll be right back."

Marius turns and walks away, going toward Fuma who's at his locker down the hall. Fuma doesn't see him coming, so he leaves his locker and the boy heading toward it. Fuma walks away with a short boy with silky black hair. Marius recognizes him to be Shori from another class. Marius is about to call out, but thinks better of it when he realizes he doesn't want Shori to hear what he has to say. Then the two boys turn around a corner to a short hallway with a dead end to a janitor's closet.

Marius follows him to the corner, and is about to poke his head around it when he hears Fuma and Shori talking.

I shouldn't stand and listen, Marius thinks, or I'll be doing the exact same thing Fuma did to me.

Marius is about to leave when something he hears makes him turn around.

"It's not getting any better. If anything it's worse." Fuma says in a hushed voice.

"I'm sorry." Shori says to comfort his friend. "If it's any help, I've been rejected before."

So he really was rejected by someone, Marius thinks. But who?

Fuma shrugs. "It's my fault they hate me."

"I'm sure they don't hate you." Shori assures him.

Even I don't hate Fuma. He followed me, but I'm about to apologize for acting so rude to him, so I can't hate him. And he teases me like crazy, but can't that be taken as a sign of affection? Marius shakes his head. A sign of affection? What am I thinking?

"That's what he said." Fuma says.

He? Marius thinks. I said I hated Fuma, but I didn't. Not really. Either way, this is none of my business.
Marius walks away from the spot.

A few weeks later, fourth period gym starts up.

"So you don't like Kento like that anymore?" Sou asks Marius as they get changed in the locker room before gym is about to begin.

"Like I've told you the other three times you've asked." Marius begins, because Sou has asked him that every Monday for the past three weeks. "I do not like him anymore."

"Well, do you still say hi and stuff in the morning like you used to?" Sou pries.

"I don't go out of my way anymore." Marius replies and looks over his shoulder at Fuma who's slipping on his gym shirt. Before the fabric slides down his torso Marius catches a glimpse of his chest and he finds himself heating up at the thought at running his hand down it. He shakes his head to clear himself of the thought.

"I'll be right back." Marius excuses himself and he walks up to Fuma, who he hasn't spoken to in all of three weeks. Even when the chemistry teacher made them work together, they didn't say anything. Only occasionally would Fuma try to tease the younger boy, but Marius would only turn away and focus on his work. Despite the fact that they weren't necessarily on good terms before their heated argument, Marius didn't like how distant they've become and it's been driving crazy Fuma.

"Hey, Fuma." Marius says hesitantly as he walks up to him. Fuma lifts his head and looks at him but doesn't say anything. "May I say something?"

Fuma looks at him to go on.

Funny how the roles have been reversed.

"I'm sorry for being so rude to you." Marius might not have been able to tell, but Fuma is as surprised as a mouse falling ill to a mousetrap. "When you tried to apologize. I just wasn't thinking very clearly that day, so, you know, sorry." Marius gives him a small smile, but his lips quickly return to a resting position. He adds softly, "And I accept your apology."

Fuma gives him a curt nod and says quietly, "Okay."

"Are you all right?" Marius blurts to the boy in front of him who now jerks his head up at him. Marius looks the boy over who's usually so talkative. He hasn't seen Fuma smile in a while.

Then he does. He gives Marius a small, sad, knowing smile. "I'm fine."

Marius nods before he turns away and walks back to Sou.

Why was he apologizing to me? Fuma thinks. I thought it was only me in the wrong, but I guess in a way we both were. And did he really ask me if I was all right? Does he care? Shouldn't I have been the one to ask him that?

After gym when everyone is heading to their other classes, Fuma decides to take a big risk. Before Marius meets up with Sou to walk to their fifth period, Fuma goes up to Marius who's waiting for Sou outside the locker room.

"Can I walk with you to class?" He blurts because he knows if he thinks about what he's going to say he's not going to follow through.
Marius fidgets with his hands and pulls at the collar of his shirt, but he says, "Yes."

Sou comes out of the locker room and sees Fuma and Marius talking and he gives Marius a questioning look. The other boy gives him wide eyes and a shrug, but he turns to walk with Fuma.

As the two boys walk to their next classes together, leaving the gym building behind, Marius asks, "Is there something you wanted to talk about?"

"No." Fuma replies. He notices he's only two inches (five centimeters) or so shorter than Marius. "Er...how are you?"

Marius flinches at the questions which practically drains the life out of Fuma's confidence.

"Um, good." The younger boy replies. "What about you?"

"Fine." Fuma replies.

This is awkward. Marius can't help but think. Where's that playful --but annoying, definitely annoying-- teasing relationship we used to have?
Oh, no. Fuma thinks. What do I say next? Oh, no. Oh...no. Ohno. Like that guy from Arashi. No, no, never mind this.

"So what do you like to do?" Fuma asks in attempt of small talk. They're already walking in the academics building now.

"Like hobbies?" Marius asks for clearance and Fuma nods in response. "Drawing. Cooking. And so on." Marius looks to the ground while he walks, but then remembers it's polite to make eye contact while talking to someone and that he should ask the question back. Marius looks up and into Fuma's eyes. "You?"

Fuma looks away while he thinks for a little bit, then looks up to the boy to his left. "Playing the guitar. Manga."

"Do you watch a lot of movies?" Marius is surprised to hear the question coming from his lips.

"Sometimes." Fuma admits. "I like them. I take it you do?"

"Yeah." Marius breathes out. "I like a lot Western movies and such."

Fuma swallows his doubts and hesitantly suggests, "Maybe we can go see one together."

Fuma starts wiping his hands on his pants when Marius doesn't answer for a few moments.

"Of course." Marius says before turning into a classroom and walking in, leaving Fuma to walk alone in the hallways.
The coach blows his whistle, signaling for the volleyball play to begin. Fourth period gym is playing a mock volleyball game, which is almost always a hit with the class.

Marius, who's in the front middle of the court, looks through the net at Fuma who's diagonal from him to the right. He thought it is weird that Fuma has suddenly started teasing him again and will occasionally walk to his next classes with him and Sou. The teasing can be taken as both a plus and...a hindrance to getting work done in chemistry.

Sou is to the left of Marius and follows his gaze. Marius has been into that boy lately, Sou notices. He used to complain about having to sit beside him in chemistry all the time. I wonder what's changed. Now when I barely mention chemistry or one of Fuma's friends, Marius launches into a conversation about him. He still complains about his teasing, but he has a soft smile when he does. I think it's kind of weird, but whatever, feelings about someone can change.
The ball hits Marius in the back, causing his team to lose a point.

"Marius!" The rest of his team shouts at him. "Come on."

Marius turns around to pick up the ball and roll it to the other team so they can serve. "Sorry, guys." Sou sees how Marius's cheeks flush a light red.
The opposing team rotates, so that Fuma is right in front of Marius. The only thing between them is the net. Fuma stares right into Marius's eyes, intimidating the boy even though he's taller. When Marius looks away, Fuma gives a small smile at the younger boy's shyness.
The other team serves and it travels well over the net, so Marius turns around to face his team and, you know, actually play instead of staring at Fuma.

"Mine!" One of the students from the back row shout, and they pass the ball to Sou who passes it to Marius after he calls, "Here."

The ball flies over the net and lands on the ground as no one from the other team was able to get it up into the air.

"Point." The coach referees the game.

Since Marius's and Sou's team got a point, they rotate one position to the right. Sou now stands at middle front with Marius one place to the right. Fuma regards Sou, but doesn't make eye contact or go out of his way to make him blush. The team serves, and with the ball in the air on the other team's side of the net, Sou and Marius only watch until the other team successfully passes it over to the other side. The ball makes its way from the back of the court to Marius who sets it up and over the net.

Marius praises himself. Yes, I did-

"OW!" Immediately, Marius's hands go to cover his face as he coach blows his whistle, signaling for the game to stop for a moment. Everyone in the class looks to Marius.

Right after the ball had barely gone over the net, Fuma took his chance to jump up and spike the ball. Unfortunately, he wasn't really aiming and the ball hit Marius in the face.

Sou steps over to Marius and Fuma ducks under the net.

Marius moves his hands from his face to reveal slightly wet eyes and cheeks and a bleeding nose and lip. He glares at Fuma, which stops the other boy in his tracks.

"I'll take him to the nurse's office." Sou calls out to the coach who nods and then appoints two students to take their places.

"Fuma." Sou and Marius hear the coach demand as they walk out the doors. "Stop gawking and get back in your position."

All of the other students in the class go back to trying to win the game.

"Come in." Kento calls from behind his desk as Sou knocks on the door to his office. Kento looks up and sees Marius crying a little and bleeding. Immediately, he stands and preps himself to care for a patient. That's all Marius is to him.

"Sit down, Marius." Kento gestures to the stool across from a counter, the same stool Marius sat on weeks ago to get his hand bandaged.
Marius sits down and Sou on the stool beside him. Kento comes around and curls his fingers under Marius's chin to tilt his head upwards. Luckily, the bleeding has stopped on his nose and lips.

Instead of feeling the fizzy, tingling in his stomach like he would have if Kento held his face a few weeks ago, Marius feels nothing but embarrassment; embarrassment from confessing to Kento, and embarrassment from not paying attention in gym class.
Kento walks around the corner, grabs a small white towel, and dampens it with water. "Here." He hands it to Marius to apply to his nose and lips. "You should be fine. Nothing is broken or damaged." Marius only nods and holds the towel to his face. "So how did this happen?" Kento looks to Sou for an answer.

"A volleyball hit him in the face." Sou tells Kento.

Marius stopped crying when they came into the nurse's office, but the reminder of what happened makes him want to cry again. His face is flushed and puffy from crying, but not too much.

"Got it." Kento says and then turns to Marius, "Do you want an ice pack?"

"Yes." Marius answers, but the dull pain in his lips and upper mouth stops him from saying anything else.

Kento opens a mini-fridge/freezer and hands Marius the small pouch of ice.

"Thanks." Marius says and then continues to stare at his knees so he doesn't have to look at Kento, or anywhere else.

Kento looks at Sou. "You can go back to class if you like."

Sou looks at Marius who nods and says, "Go on. I'll be fine."

Instead of arguing, Sou gets up and opens the door to leave. On the way out, Sou sees Fuma walking towards the nurse's office. He glares at him and Fuma definitely picks up on that. Sou turns the corner and is out of sight. Fuma slowly shakes his head, not at Sou, but at himself for being so stupid. He was finally gaining different responses from Marius that aren't "stop that", "I'll tell the teacher", or "leave me alone", and now the boy is probably mad at him for slamming a volleyball into his face.

Fuma softly knocks on the nurse's door and pokes his head at him. Fuma sees the ice pack Marius is holding to his face and frowns. When Marius sees that it's
Fuma, he goes back to studying his knees.

"Yes?" Kento asks.

"Er, can I speak with Marius?" Fuma asks softly, so soft, Marius barely heard him and didn't think Kento would.

"Go ahead." Kento says. He recognizes the boy who's visiting Marius, but he can't place where.

Fuma sits on the stool Sou was previously sitting on, and moves it a few inches closer to Marius.

Kento goes over to his desk, but then he frowns. "Uh, guys, I left my glasses in another classroom, so I'll be right back. Marius, don't leave."
Kento opens the door, leaves, and shuts the door behind him. Marius and Fuma are alone.

Marius doesn't acknowledge Fuma in anyway. He just looks in the opposite direction like he would in chemistry class when Fuma is bothering him.

"Marius," Fuma lays a hand on the younger boy's shoulder, but Marius shrugs it off. "Look at me."

Marius turns around, giving him the benefit of the doubt that Fuma didn't purposefully hit the ball in Marius's face. "What, Fuma?"

"I'm sorry." Fuma apologizes.

"You're always sorry." Marius mumbles.

Fuma only says, "It was an accident. I didn't mean to hit you."

Marius lifts his head up and sits a little straighter in his seat.

So it was an accident....

"It's all right." Marius tells him and makes peace with the situation. "I should have been paying attention anyway."

The two kids sit in silence for a while.

Just his presence makes me feel better, Marius shamefully admits to himself. Even if it is his fault, it was an accident and he's sorry.
Fuma breaks the silence.

"We're good? Friends?" Fuma holds his hand out to shake Marius's.

Was I just friend-zoned?

Marius puts the ice pack down, now that his face is feeling better, numb, but better. He shakes Fuma's hand.

"Would you like me to kiss your boo-boo?" Fuma fake pouts at Marius who laughs a little, but then blushes and says, "N-no."

"Was that yes?" Fuma pretends not to hear him and leans in. Instead of flinching or leaning away, Marius stands stone-still as Fuma lightly presses his lips to the tip of his nose, sending a warmth throughout the numbness. He pulls away as quickly as he came in. Fuma sits back and now it's his turn to study to his hands.

After Fuma doesn't do anything, Marius hesitantly asks, "Why did you do that?" It's not accusatory. It's gentle and more of in awe.

"Because I like you." Fuma whispers and Marius almost doesn't realize what he's saying, but the words finally hit him.

"Well, I hurt my lips, too." Marius says softly, and hesitantly, for only Fuma to hear even though they're alone. "So you can kiss those if you want."

Fuma looks at him with amusement dancing in his eyes. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah." Marius says shyly.

Fuma smiles and then cups his hands around Marius's face before firmly pressing his lips against his. Marius searches for some part of Fuma to hold onto, but he's so flustered, he settles for resting his hands on his shoulders. Fuma pulls away and leaves without a word, which is good, because Marius can hear Kento's steady footsteps somewhere down the hall.

Marius raises a hand to brush against his lips as he just stares at the left open door.

Days later.

"Let's sit over here." Sou, one of his other friends, one of Marius's close friends, and Marius walk to a table in the back of the lunchroom, carrying their lunch
boxes.

They sit down and begin to eat.

The other two friends begin to talk, so Sou turns to Marius and says, "What's been up with you?"

"What?" Marius leans away from Sou and gives him a confused look.

"You haven't said anything for the past four days." Sou tells him. "Ever since you went to the nurse's office during gym." Then Sou's face fills with realization.

"Did you and the nurse....?" He doesn't have to finish the question.

"What? No." Marius dismisses. "Everything's fine."

"I didn't ask if anything is wrong...just different." Sou tells him. "So what's changed?"

"Nothing." Marius insists, but his eyes dart to a random place in the lunchroom and then back to Sou. A tell-tale sign that Marius is lying.

"Something." Sou shakes his head and then engages in conversation with the other two guys.

Marius stands up and tells his friends. "I'll be right back."

He walks over to the table where Fuma is sitting and gently taps him on the shoulder. Fuma turns around and his eyes seem to light up to Marius, or maybe it's just a trick of shadows.

"I need to talk to you." Marius says, and now everyone at Fuma's table is looking at him, which makes him squirm under their gaze.

Fuma says, "Okay," but makes no move to move.

"Um, alone." Marius specifies and gives him the duh look.

Fuma nods and then turns to his friends, "I'll be back."

Fuma and Marius make their way through the lunchroom and into the hallway where no one is since everyone is either in the lunchroom or in a class.

Fuma leans against the wall and looks at Marius. "Yes?"

"You know why I'm talking to you." Marius gives him a pointed look.

"I have a pretty good guess." Fuma smirks, but wipes the grin off his face when he sees how serious Marius is right now. "Sorry about that."

"You kissed me." Marius firmly says, not as a question, or asking why, but as a statement.

"You kissed me back." Fuma tells him, causing Marius to blush and cross his arms.

"Look, do you like me?" Marius just asks.

Fuma's face softens. "Yes. Of course."

"Well, I like you," Marius states and steps closer. "But I don't want to have a relationship where we talk every other week."

"Me either." Fuma says and nods for emphasis. He leans and whispers, "I'll be a good boyfriend."

"B-boyfriend?" Marius tenses up.

"Yeah, we're dating now." Fuma ruffles his hair, backs away from the lockers, and puts his arm around Marius. They start to walk back to the cafeteria. When
they enter through the double doors into the lunchroom, Fuma playfully pushes Marius away.

"Fuma." A girl from his table calls out and gestures for him to come over there.

Fuma turns and winks at Marius before jogging over to his table. Marius walks back to Sou who's staring at him, mouth gaping open.

"What?" Marius asks defensively as he sits down beside his friend.

"What was that?" Sou asks, then whispers, "Did Fuma just wink at you?!"

Marius shrugs and smiles to himself. "Yeah." He continues eating, as if nothing happened and Sou just stares at him until he realizes Marius isn't going to say much more.

After school, Kento is shoving his bags into his car and getting ready to leave for the day. School has ended and sports practices have been canceled since it poured earlier today. It's sunny and warm now, but the ground is too wet to do much. Without any students in the school, the nurse has no reason of being there, so he's leaving.

He's about to drive away when there's a tap on his window, so he rolls it down to reveal two of his students there.

"Oh, hey, Marius." Kento nods to him and the boy beside him. It's the same boy who was listening to Marius confess to him. Then he realizes, that's the same boy who came into the nurse's office looking for Marius. "Can I help you?"

"I just wanted to say something." Marius tells him, but the last time he said that to Kento, he confessed to him. Kento had tried to put the memory out of his mind, but every time he saw the kid in the halls, that's all he thought of. Marius is a nice boy and all, but Kento is already in a relationship with a woman outside of this school. Plus, she's not a student and more of his age.

"I don't like you anymore." Kento jumps a little in surprise of not just the statement, but the bluntness of it. "I mean, I like you, but not like that. Just making it clear."

"Oh, okay." Kento says slowly.

"Have a good day." Marius says cheerfully and then turns around with the boy and they walk away, further down into the parking lot.