Chapter Text
“Kageyama! I’ve been looking for you all day!”
Ritsu grumbles under his breath at the unfamiliar voice. Her tone is sweet as honey, and just as sticky and stifling to his ears. He turns to see a second-year clumsily jog up to him, the click of her shoes echoing in the emptying hallway. The slip of paper she hides behind her back (not very well, may Ritsu add) and her wobbly smile is all-telling.
“Could I talk to you for a sec? I know we don’t know each other all that well, but…”
She offers him the heart-accented note, which Ritsu gingerly turns down with a bow.
“Sorry, but I– uh… don’t really see you that way.”
Real classy, Ritsu. He chides himself in his head, watching the girl turn bright red and run off with the note still in hand. Rejecting people doesn’t get easier with experience, as he’s found out over the past few months.
His eyes close against the autumn breeze as he makes his way out of the building. Between confessions, student council duties, and the looming threat of high school entrance exams, the last year of middle school was not what Ritsu had expected – or wanted for that matter. His expectations had been set by watching what Shigeo had done before, though Ritsu realizes there’s much more to this year than his brother had let on.
A punch to the arm knocks him out of his thoughts. His stumbling is followed with a laugh from the puncher, who falls into step beside him.
“Damn, you’re pretty out of it. Shitty student council meeting or something? The underclassmen bugging you again?” Shou grins and hands Ritsu a can of colorful soda. “Fresh from the vending machine for you, dude.”
Ritsu takes the can and cracks it open, taking a small sip and screwing up his face. “Ugh. Fresh is definitely pushing it. How long have you been waiting outside?”
“Not my fault these machines don’t have a built-in freezer or whatever. Anyway, you didn’t answer my question. What happened?”
“Another confession. Some second-year, she even ran away after I turned her down. Not exactly what I was aiming for with my response, but oh well.”
“Jeez, another one? That’s like the eighth one this year and it's only September! Real impressive, Mr. student council president.”
“Have you seriously been counting? Seems like you’re more focused on my personal life than your exam preparations, Suzuki.”
Shou elbows Ritsu in the arm again, the drinks left in their hands spilling as they laugh. In the slowly setting sun, Shou’s face is speckled with pink, freckles turning invisible in golden light. His eyes glint as he looks to Ritsu, who promptly averts his gaze. Eye contact has never been his thing, especially with Shou – for reasons he hasn’t bothered to explore.
“Can I hang out at yours for a bit today? I wanna hear more about this confession thing and also, you’re gonna have to teach me some of the stuff on our English homework. I have like, no clue what I’m doing.”
“Nice to see you taking initiative on your homework for once. Sure, but I don’t know how Mom feels about cooking for five tonight. Just warning you.”
“Eh, I’ll leave by then anyway. Gotta make sure my mom doesn’t worry too much either.”
The silence between them on the road to the Kageyama house settles comfortably, sometimes broken by Shou’s offbeat humming. Faint blares from the living room TV greet them as they enter the house and kick off their shoes.
Upstairs, the two greet Shigeo with a wave, the older boy perched at a desk piled high with books. He smiles and waves back, the toll of high school math plainly visible on his face.
Shou tosses his bag down at the foot of Ritsu’s bed, sinking down to lean on it with a groan. Ritsu places his bag down gently and reaches for his English notebook. He rolls his swivel chair closer to Shou and flips through the book’s pages, much to Shou’s apparent displeasure.
“Before you come at me with all those terms I ‘really should know by now’, tell me more about that girl from earlier.”
“Don’t even try that shit. I know if we don’t get started on this homework now, you’ll procrastinate till it's due, get a bad grade, and complain about it for at least three days. The whole confession thing can wait.”
“Touchy subject, huh? Fine, but I’m not leaving without a bit of gossip, so prepare yourself.” Shou shrugs as he digs around in his bag to unearth his assignment.
– – – – – – – –
Shou crams the finished paper back into his bag after an hour of reluctant work. It’s not what Ritsu would call “outstanding”, but everyone’s got their strengths and weaknesses. Shou seems satisfied with his efforts as he leans forward, fidgeting with his plush dog keychain.
“So. Homework’s done. Your parents haven’t called you down for dinner yet.” He raises an eyebrow.
“There’s not much else to it than what I already told you. Another girl I barely know tells me she’s been longing from afar or whatever and wants to actually talk to me. It’s just getting kind of – well, really annoying. And creepy. Constantly being stared at in the halls isn’t exactly fun no matter what everyone’s actual intentions are.”
“Have you tried, like, actually showing people you’re uninterested in them or anything?”
Ritsu fixes Shou with a blank stare. “What. What do you mean?”
Shou drops his keychain and begins to pace around the room, floorboards creaking faintly as he speeds up and slows back down. “I mean, there’s probably a bunch of ways to get people to leave you alone for a bit. Or at least sorta slow the confessions down.”
“And one of those ways is…?”
“Okay, I didn’t get that far into a plan. Uh, maybe you could try being a complete asshole to everyone so people stop liking you?”
“Not happening for a plethora of reasons. If I want to keep my position in student council, I can’t go and basically commit social suicide. Also, it would seem too unnatural. People’s personalities don’t shift overnight – unless something’s wrong, but I don’t want people assuming that either.”
Ritsu drums his fingers on the cover of the notebook. “There’s also certain people at school who I just can’t see myself being completely rude to. The others in my club, the teachers, and….”
“Me, maybe?” Shou teases, grinning as he dodges the notebook halfheartedly thrown at his head.
“Anyway. Point is, that’s not happening unless we honestly can’t think of anything else. Maybe I should call Takane about this. She had to deal with this before she transferred, so maybe she has ideas too.”
A call from downstairs cuts Shou off right as he nods in agreement. “Ritsu? I’m going to start cooking dinner, so would you please come downstairs and set the table? Thank you!”
“Guess that’s my cue to go. See ya later, Rits! Oh, and tell me how the thing with Takane goes later.” Shou grabs and slings his bag over his shoulder, starting towards the balcony windows. Ritsu manages a brief nod and wave before the other boy is out on the balcony, leaping down to the ground.
– – – – – – – –
The next school day passes in twitchy eyes and tapping pencils. Ritsu wouldn’t call himself a paranoid person by any means, but after talking to Shou the day before, he feels the hallway whispers amplify and follow him around. Lunch theoretically should bring a bit of calm, but he can only make strained small talk with Shou as other kids sneak little glances his way.
By the end of last period, Ritsu all but sprints from the classroom to his locker and out of the gates. He’s never been more thankful for not having a meeting that day, since even his own vice president is starting to look at him strangely.
The pavement blurs a little as Ritsu makes his way home about twice as fast as usual. His dad calls out a quick greeting from his spot on the couch, which Ritsu doesn’t hear over his own steps up the stairs. He slows in front of Shigeo’s room, where his older brother sits on his bed and pages through a thin manga volume.
“Hi, Shige! Sorry to bother, but could you send me Takane’s number? I need to talk to her about something important.” Ritsu leans against the doorframe and retrieves his own phone from his pocket.
Shigeo smiles, acknowledging his brother before setting the manga aside. “Of course. Is this a problem only Tsubomi can fix, or do you wanna talk to me about it too?” He grabs his own phone and taps away at the buttons, pausing to remember a digit here and there.
“I think it’s something I’d rather just talk to her about. Thank you though.” Ritsu’s phone buzzes, the lit-up screen flashing Takane’s number at him.
A few minutes later, Ritsu’s at his desk, waiting to hear the crackling of a voice on the other end of the speaker.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Hi, Takane. It’s Ritsu – I just asked my brother for your number.”
“Ah, Ritsu! Nice to hear from you, it’s been a while since we last talked! How have you been lately?”
“I’ve been a bit busy, but otherwise things are all fine. I do need to ask you something though. You constantly had people confessing to you in your second year, right?”
Takane laugh-sighs loudly. “Don’t even remind me. Honestly, all that stuff was a huge reason why I transferred anyway – but obviously I didn’t tell my parents that. Why’re you asking?”
“Well, after you left Salt, all the students decided they needed a sort of replacement for you.”
“Damn. That’s a harsh way of putting it.”
“It’s just the truth. Anyways, people have started confessing to me more often and staring at me in the halls, so it’s basically like I’m your successor or whatever. When you were still here, what’d you do to make people leave you alone?”
“Dude, I didn’t really do anything. I mean, I knew I was gonna leave soon, so I didn’t bother with trying to stop it by myself. Sorta just let things run their course, you know?”
“That’s… really unhelpful. Do you at least have any idea what you could’ve done?”
“Blunt as ever, aren’t you? In my fair opinion, I think you should wait it out. It’ll be over eventually – it’s your last year of middle school, so you’ll be free pretty soon.”
“Thanks for that expert advice there. Definitely keeping my spirits nice and high.”
“Hey, you asked me in the first place. If you need any more awesome guidance, call me back! I am curious to see what you end up doing about all this. Keep me posted if you can, bye!”
The end tone rings unceremoniously, a dull end to a not-exactly enlightening conversation. Ritsu sighs, saving Takane’s number in his phone. He can’t deny the small amount of comfort her words gave him.
– – – – – – – –
The next morning, Ritsu finds Shou waiting at his desk in their homeroom. Odd. Ritsu’s always one of the first to arrive, while Shou doesn’t seem to have the phrase “early to class” anywhere in his brain.
“You’re here pretty early, Suzuki. What’s up?”
“Can’t a guy show up early sometimes if he wants to? I just wanted to ask how the Takane thing went ‘cause I forgot yesterday.”
“Not great. She didn’t exactly suggest anything besides telling me to let the student body do their own thing. I tried to come up with some ideas of my own last night, but I don’t think any of them would be particularly effective.”
“Actually, I also wanted to tell you that I thought of something that could probably work…” Shou trails off, his usual confident demeanor slipping into nervousness. Also odd.
“Okay, let’s hear it then.”
“Nah. I’m telling you later. If you don’t mind, I’ll walk home with you and tell you there.” Without waiting for confirmation, he strolls over to his own desk as their teacher enters the classroom.
All day, the exchange floats around in Ritsu’s mind, replaying over and over when he has nothing else to focus on. Shou’s tone was worrying – Ritsu just hopes his plan doesn’t involve having to commit some kind of crime.
He manages to keep his composure through a student council meeting, even though his sentences are noticeably clipped. Shou is standing next to his locker, and the two walk home in a similar silence to two days before.
Shou is unnaturally silent as they enter the house and places his bag down on Ritsu’s floor with a care he rarely shows. Ritsu eyes him with mostly suspicion, even though he is a bit curious. And desperate, for that matter.
“Alright, man. What’s your idea? Shoot.”
Shou tugs on the hems of his sleeves.
In one long breath, he mumbles, “I was thinking maybe we could like, pretend to date so people wouldn’t ask you out anymore.”
A less comfortable quiet falls over them as Ritsu mulls over what he just heard. It’s more of a plan than what he’s got, it wouldn’t involve hurting anyone, and that’s pretty much all the convincing he needs.
Right as Shou says “Never mind, that was kinda a stupid idea”, Ritsu chimes in with a “Sure, why not?”.
“Wait, what?” Shou blinks at Ritsu, who shrugs and gestures vaguely with his hand.
“I mean, it’s worth trying. If it doesn’t work out, we can just try something else. For now, it’s also kind of my only option besides not doing anything.”
A crooked grin forms on Shou’s face. “Okay, I’ll be back here tomorrow morning at seven to figure more of this stuff out. I gotta dip now though, Mom told me to grab some groceries before I come home. Later!”
Back to his normal level of energy, Shou snatches his bag and shoots finger-guns at Ritsu.
“Thanks for helping me with this weird mess. You really didn’t have to do all this.”
Shou turns, surprise on his face and hand on the open balcony door. “Happy to help! That’s what friends are for, dude.”
The sun glows hazy orange in front of him as he hops down into the grass below.