The afternoon was just like any other. As usual, Uryu sat at his desk, silently and meticulously taking notes as Miss Ochi prattled about literary devices.
Suddenly, he was aware of movement out of the corner of his eye. Uryu briefly looked up to see Orihime's long hair swishing around her shoulders, and it was evident that she had just turned to watch Ichigo.
Ichigo, who was himself staring gormlessly out of the window at nothing in particular.
Had he been a lesser man, and had he not been wearing glasses, Uryu might have slammed his head against his desk in frustration.
Stupid Ichigo, Uryu thought, an ire bubbling up inside him as he considered how much Ichigo was inadvertently hurting Orihime. Why can't he just turn around and notice?
"Really, the same could be said of Orihime," a low voice behind Uryu said. Uryu jumped in his seat as he turned his head to find Chad facing him. Rats, had he spoken his thoughts aloud? Uryu anxiously scanned the classroom, but nobody was paying him any attention and Miss Ochi's sermon hadn't lost steam. Evidently, Chad, who was now looking at him expectantly, had been the only one to hear him.
Good. Chad was safe.
"I'm sorry?" Uryu asked Chad under his breath, frowning in bewilderment.
"Orihime," Chad repeated. "She doesn't notice when she's being watched, either."
Uryu raised a hand to push his glasses further up his nose, even though he knew perfectly well that they weren't slipping. "I don't know what you mean," he lied.
"I see," Chad said, simply, giving Uryu a knowing look.
"Yes, well, is there anything at all you don't see?" asked Uryu, fighting to keep his composure even though his friend was just casually spouting his deepest secrets right behind him.
Chad looked thoughtful for a moment or two. "No," he decided.
"Of course not," Uryu muttered. "Why are you bringing this up now, anyway?"
"You're being a hypocrite," said Chad, his voice as blunt as a brick. "Your expectations are unreasonable. You expect Ichigo to notice Orihime, but you tell yourself that you don't want her to notice you. It's the same situation, yet you're holding them both to different standards. You're allowing Orihime too much leeway."
Uryu's mouth fell open at the shock of Chad's appraisal of the situation. "This isn't about giving Orihime too much leeway," he hissed. "I just want for her to be happy. Ichigo noticing her would make her happy. The knowledge that I notice her would confuse her and make her upset, because she is kind and she would be too worried about hurting my feelings..."
"And yet, your feelings are hurt," Chad interrupted, sagely. "You're sad. It breaks your heart to watch her loving somebody else."
Uryu closed his eyes and lowered his head, recognising the truth in Chad's words. "Fine. Yes. You're right. And it makes me feel like a terrible person."
Chad regarded Uryu carefully. "There's a difference between selflessness and self-destruction, you know," he pointed out. "How do you think Orihime would feel if she knew she was hurting you so much?"
"Awful," Uryu conceded. "Which is precisely why she is never going to know."
"For a genius, you're an idiot," said Chad. "This is bordering on masochism."
Uryu blinked. "Masochism?"
"Yeah," Chad confirmed. "You like the idea that you're keeping her happy by not troubling her with your feelings, even though it hurts you, and even though by doing so you're setting her up for more sadness when she eventually does realise how long she has been hurting you for."
This analysis made Uryu feel deeply uncomfortable. "What is the point of this conversation?"
"Your feelings matter. It's okay to be selfish, occasionally," said Chad, cryptically.
"Well, well, what do we have here?"
A voice pierced through Uryu's troubled thoughts and he turned to see Miss Ochi standing over his desk, a piece of chalk gripped in her hand in a surprisingly threatening manner.
"Sorry, Miss Ochi," Uryu spluttered, acutely aware that Orihime's eyes were on him.
Miss Ochi glared between Uryu and Chad for a few seconds. "Eh," she eventually said, waving her chalk dismissively as she turned back to the front of the classroom. "That's okay. Neither you nor Sado are delinquents, so I really don't care what you do."
Uryu turned towards Chad with an eyebrow raised, but he was distracted by the sight of Orihime giving him a thumbs-up across the classroom, a cheerful expression on her face.
Don't stare, don't stare, don't stare...
...It's okay to be selfish, occasionally.
On second thoughts, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to indulge his eyes with the sight of her smile for a minute.
Author's notes: I was supposed to be writing Dead Drop, my original novel for Camp NaNoWriMo, but a couple of weeks ago I got distracted writing fluffy unrequited IshiHime one-shots and apparently I haven't been able to write anything else since. My attention span is notoriously fickle. Oh well, at least my NaNo losing streak will go unbroken! :D
I got the idea for this one-shot yesterday at 9am or so, just as I was trying to get to sleep, when it occurred to me that I don't write enough Chad. Nor does anybody else, really, because he's so quiet. I think that's a shame, because he's more of a listener so I imagine he actually sees everything that's going on and just refrains from commenting. I think he would have a lot to say if he felt so inclined.
Aaaand I'm rambling because it's 9am again which means bedtime so I'm going to disappear, now. Until the next idea strikes. :D