WEEK ONE: Wednesday (Touji)

"Seryou-sama, are you waiting for Shino-senpai?"

I was staring so hard at the turnstiles that the question barely registered. I think I hummed some kind of acknowledgement and heard giggling, but my attention was preoccupied by the stream of people appearing at the top of the stairs, under the Motomachi-Chuukagai station sign. I hadn't seen Yuzuru yet, and it was getting close to time for the first bell. Had he missed my email this morning? Usually he at least sent a thumbs-up so I'd know he was awake, but today there'd been no reply.

I glanced down at my phone, but no new messages had popped up. Should I send him another email, or would that be too much?

"Maybe he's sick today," one of the girls hovering nearby said. "Seryou-kun, come on. If we don't hurry up we'll be late."

"You guys go on ahead," I replied absently, not taking my eyes from the end of the corridor. "I'm going to wait a little longer."

"Then I'm waiting too," she asserted, and her friends echoed the same sentiment. I didn't bother to argue.

Finally I pulled away from the wall, spotting Yuzuru's mop of unruly brown hair at the top of the stairs. I headed for him, ignoring the girls that skittered in my wake, and as he got closer I could tell something was wrong. He looked awful, dark circles under his eyes and his shirt untucked, and he was shuffling like he didn't have the strength to lift his feet properly off the floor.

I reached out and took the bag dangling from his shoulder, slinging it on top of mine. "Are you okay?"

His eyes passed over me, kind of bleary, and his face darkened as he caught sight of the girls over my shoulder. He didn't say a word, just kept walking forward head-first, as if the morning air itself offered too much resistance. I hurried to keep up, pulling a can of coffee out of my bag and popping the tab. I pressed it to his chest. "Here. You look like you need this. Did you really pull an all nighter?" It was hard to imagine. Yuzuru was the kind of guy who valued sleep over everything else.

He grunted unintelligibly, but took the can and sucked its contents down in one breath. I took the empty can as soon as he lowered it, and moved to his right side as we climbed the cement steps toward the school so he could use the handrail. He didn't say anything the whole way to school, until we'd gotten inside.  I handed him his bag back before he went up the stairs to his homeroom, and he gave me a little nod. "Thanks."

When I went to find him after first period, he was slumped over his desk sleeping. Some of his classmates eyed me curiously and I decided to retreat before anybody could start asking questions. Same thing happened after second period, when I drifted by the open door of his classroom and tried to glance inside without being conspicuous. He was awake after third period but didn't look much better, yawning as he met me at the door. I handed him an energy drink and a protein bar, and we went out into the hall. I'd worn my coat in case he wanted to go out on the balcony, but he just leaned against the wall by the window and opened his drink with clumsy fingers.

"Sorry," he said after downing it almost as fast as the coffee this morning. "I'm not very good company today."

"It's all right," I assured him. "How did the studying go?"

"Like shit." He put a hand up and rubbed his temple.

"You're still behind?"

"Yeah. By a lot."

Guilt made me wince. This was all my fault, he'd missed last week's classes because of me. "I'm really sorry, Yuzuru-san."

That seemed to bring him around a bit, and he lifted his head. "Why the hell are you apologizing?"

"You wouldn't have to work like this if it wasn't for me taking up all your time last week."

"Shut up."

Boy, his temper was even worse when he was tired. On one hand it was really cute, but also made me kind of nervous—I didn't want to set him off, and he was so unpredictable. I bit my lip and looked down, fighting the impulse to keep on clucking over him like a worried mother hen. He didn't like being fussed at.

After a second he nudged me with his shoulder. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that."

I shook my head fast. "No, it's just... I wish there was something I could do to help."

"You are helping." He shook the protein bar, and I made a disbelieving noise. Food and caffeine wouldn't make up for a night of lost sleep, especially for someone who loved sleep as much as Yuzuru did. Then he reached out and brushed the hair out of my eyes, his fingers warm and gentle against my cheek. "Really," he said.

I caught my breath, then grabbed his hand and lowered it between us quickly before anyone could see. Someone called his name, and we both looked across the hall. His friend, Koike Arisa, had stuck her head out of his classroom and was glaring in our direction.

"Shino, you better get your butt back in here, the bell's about to ring."

He sighed and I dropped his hand so he could head back in. He looked so miserable I didn't know what to do, but by the time lunch rolled around I'd come up with a plan. It took me a little longer than I would have liked to maneuver out of my homeroom—I told my homeroom teacher I needed to help one of the upperclassmen from archery club, which was mostly true—and then steeled my nerve as I approached his classroom.

Just as I got to the door I heard a crash, followed by a chorus of dismayed female voices crying, "Shino-kun!"

A lake of fuschia glitter had bedazzled the floor by Yuzuru's desk. There was an upturned, empty jar sitting in the middle of it, and Yuzuru was standing there blinking down at the mess. His hair and the front of his uniform jacket were coated in the shimmery stuff, like some kind of bizarre high school fairy creature.

"Um, Senpai?" I leaned into the room a little, pressing my hands together and bowing. Three dozen angry girls turned to glare at me. I swallowed. "I was wondering if I could borrow Shino Yuzuru-san for a while? The archery club is having some trouble with our festival plans and we need his help."

Yuzuru tossed his head, sending a shower of pink glitter raining to the floor.

"Take him," one of the girls snapped, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Please. You'd be doing us a favor."

I nodded and beckoned him out of the room with me, amid the irritated mutters and eyerolls of his classmates.

"You okay?" I asked, walking with him down the hall and trying not to laugh as I helped brush glitter from his jacket.

He grunted. "What's the trouble?"

"Huh?"

"With the club's festival stuff, you said there was trouble?"

"Oh, yeah." We had reached the stairwell, and when he started to head down I pulled him back and pointed to the steps that led up to the roof instead. "I lied."

He frowned, and I picked some of the sparkly stuff out of his hair with a smile. "I had to come up with some excuse to get you out of there, didn't I? Come on."

I tugged him up the stairs, around the corner, and up another flight until we reached the landing with the rooftop exit door. If it were summer I would have taken him onto the roof, where the big metal HVAC casings made for great hiding spots. But it was far too cold out, and we should be safe enough right here. As far as I knew no one ever came up here except me, and Yuzuru was the first and only person I'd ever shown this place to. I plopped down on the top step and patted my leg in invitation.

"You're exhausted. Come get some sleep while you have the chance."

Understanding brightened his eyes and he sat next to me, glancing at my leg and back to my face. "Really?"

I patted my thigh again, and he dropped his head into my lap without waiting to be asked a second time. His hand came up to cover my knee and he tucked it beneath his cheek like a kid. "You're amazing," he sighed happily.

I pressed my lips together, watching the pink flecks that still sparkled in his long eyelashes, and ran my fingers through his hair to get more of the glitter out. His hair was silky soft to the touch. I didn't realize I was still playing with it until he snuggled his face against my leg. "Mm. That feels nice."

Seconds later he was fast asleep.

🏹 🏹 🏹

Yuzuru was waiting outside my homeroom when school got out, which I wasn't expecting. He still looked tired, but I think the nap at lunch had helped.

"Hey," I said when he waved, "what are you doing down here?"

He cast his eyes sideways a bit sheepishly, as if he knew he was about to ask something he shouldn't. "I don't have cram school on Wednesdays, so I thought maybe we could go see a movie or something."

I bit the inside of my lip. Ohh, how I wanted to take him up on it. Those stolen moments on the stairs at lunch had been magic... the sound of his contented breathing, how angelic he looked when he was sleeping. It was hard to describe the emotions he brought out in me, this longing to be so much closer, even when he was literally lying in my lap.

But right now he was running on caffeine, sugar, and the brief snippets of sleep he'd managed to sneak in today. He was still behind in his studies. I was supposed to go to archery club. Festival was coming up next week and we were swamped with responsibilities. Neither of us should even be considering doing anything else. I sighed.

"You're in no condition to be going anywhere except home to sleep. And a certain someone," I bobbed a meaningful eyebrow, "said he wouldn't let me participate at the festival archery demo if I don't go to practice."

The corners of his mouth turned up. "You'll go?"

"If you go home and rest."

He seemed to consider this for a second, then nodded. "Okay. What about Friday? Cram class gets out early on Fridays."

"Will you be caught up with your assignments by then?" I didn't want to be the cause of any more trouble.

He leaned toward me with a glint of mischief in his smile. "That depends on whether you say yes or not."

As if I could say anything else, I thought bemusedly, but I cleared my throat and tried to look stern. "Get caught up and then we'll see."

He walked me to the dojo before we parted ways. I did my best to concentrate in practice, though the first few rounds didn't go well because my brain kept wandering. Was he home yet? Was he sleeping like I'd told him to, or had he gone back to studying? If I called him later, would it be too much of an interruption? He'd said yesterday that hearing my voice would distract him. I didn't want to make things harder, but would it really be that big of a deal if it was just, like, for five minutes? Or I could text him instead...

After about the third time I got scolded by the upperclassmen for my lack of focus, though, I figured something out. If I couldn't keep my mind off Yuzuru, then I needed to stop trying. Instead of fighting to stifle thoughts of him, I drew my bow and let myself picture his sleeping face. His gentle, even breathing. The peace I'd felt, sitting there with him in the quiet. As if we were untouchable together, far from the hectic world of school carrying on below.

The arrow flew, and found the bullseye.

"That's more like it," said our teacher when I'd finished the round with three more dead-center shots. "Good work."

When we were done shooting, tidying up the dojo, and performing maintenance on the equipment, he called us back to the mat to talk about the upcoming festival.

"There will be three demonstrations each day," he said, "one with the first-years, one with the second-years and one with the third-years and club alumni who attend. Tajiri-san, do you want to talk a bit about the other activities?"

Tajiri Hana, one of the second year club members, stood up. "It's supposed to be cold next week, so we're hoping to have a stand near the dojo entrance where visitors can buy hot drinks. A few club senpai will be offering lessons in the basics to anyone who wants to try shooting a bow for themselves, and Hirata-chan and I will be giving tours of the dojo. We still need a couple of volunteers to work as runners for the shooting lessons—"

My hand shot into the air, and she nodded. "Okay, Seryou Touji-kun. Anybody else?" She took down the names of a couple other girls, and went over the schedule for each of the days of the festival. I also volunteered to help clear the archery field in the middle of the morning both days, since the calligraphy club would be borrowing it for their demonstration. I wish I could say I was doing it out of passion for the club, but in truth I wanted as many excuses as possible to stay close to Yuzuru.

After we were dismissed, Tajiri stopped me on my way to the boys' locker room. "Seryou-kun, can I ask a favor? I know this is really late notice, but our arrangements for the drink table fell through today. You're the only one I could think of who might be able to—"

I waved a hand, cutting her off. "No problem. I'll talk to my brother tonight. We're already doing the maid cafe in the gym, so setting up a second station here shouldn't be an issue."

"Really?"

I nodded, and relief and gratitude spread over her face. "Thank you so much, you're a lifesaver."

I turned to go and she piped up again. "Hey, can I ask a personal question?"

"Hm?" I prepared myself to turn down another of her requests for a date. She'd asked me out last week, too. It had kind of made Yuzuru jealous, or at least I think it had. I couldn't be too smug about it though, because she'd also been fawning all over him, and that wasn't nearly as much fun. Tajiri was nice but she was a bit on the fickle side.

"Who are you dating this week?"

"There's someone," I answered vaguely. She knew I didn't tell people who I was seeing, so why was she asking?

"Is it possible... Well, I heard something earlier, but it seemed so crazy..." She flushed a little and shook her hands dismissively. "Oh, never mind."

I shrugged and made for the locker room door.

"Is it a guy?" she blurted out.

My feet got stuck underneath me, as if I'd suddenly stepped in superglue, and I stopped with my hand on the door. "What?"

"Someone said today... I mean I know it sounds ridiculous, I was probably hearing it wrong..."

I knew Nakamura and her friends weren't going to let this rest. What do I do? I chose my words very carefully. "Where did you hear that?"

"Some first years were talking outside at lunch, saying you had a boyfriend."

"I see."

"And I was just wondering, you know, if you're actually into guys as well as girls? Since it means even more competition to worry about on Mondays." She added a teasing lilt to that last part, though it was obvious she was trying to make light of the awkward question.

I wasn't sure where to start. I could flat out lie, or tell her it was none of her business. Those were probably the wisest and most decisive options, but I wasn't very good at being mean and lying felt somehow disloyal to Yuzuru, almost like I'd be cheating on him.

I summoned the most charming smile I could manage. "I don't talk about who I'm dating," was what I went with, echoing her teasing tone and throwing in a wink and gunshot hand gesture for good measure. Before she could ask anything else I shoved the locker room door open and whipped behind it, huddling against the wall until the door closed.

Oh my god, that was awful. Not just the squirm-worthy discomfort of the conversation, but the fact that if a second-year had already heard, it was sure to be all over school in no time. Yuzuru and I hadn't even had a single real date yet. I was pretty sure the school gossip mill didn't care much for such technicalities, though.

I guess it was inevitable that we would deal with this sooner or later. I just hadn't thought it would happen only three days into our new relationship. How was I going to talk to him about this? What if he got angry? What if he decided to simply pull the plug on everything?

That night, I must have flipped my phone open and scrolled to his number a dozen times. I chickened out before I could bring myself to hit the dial button, though. Finally I settled for sending him an email.

Goodnight~  ♥