It had been Fuji's idea to take this particular class, and he would curse him for that until the end of time. Oishi would much have preferred a class that focused more on actual biology than psychology. After all, he was a pre-med student at the university, and could handle the biology of any particular topic. This, however, was beyond him.
Fuji's argument that Eiji's background in animal biology wouldn't have been up to the human reproductive physiology class Oishi had suggested had been a good one, however, and so here they were. He still hadn't quite figured out how they'd managed to pick a class so absolutely certain to send Oishi into a pit of personal mortification every week, but they had. He'd get them for this. It was something he'd sworn after the first week of lecture.
For the first time in three years, Oishi found himself thoroughly regretting the pact they made at the start of their freshman year of college to take a course together every semester, no matter how odd the course seemed. It was a way for them to maintain their friendship, enjoy studying together, and find time in their busy schedules to spend time together. It had worked wonderfully until now. Cleary Fuji had decided their senior year had to end with a spectacular bang.
Looking up at the screen, Oishi felt himself blush yet again. If he'd known there would be photographic slides, he would have protested more. When he'd received the syllabus at the start of the semester, he'd been shocked, but game. It wasn't the teasing of Eiji and Fuji that convinced him to go forward with this, or so he told himself late at night while digging through the textbooks full of pictures of things he'd never really considered.
Oishi was an honors student, expected to graduate near the top of his class. He'd been pre-admitted to the medical school of his choice. A class on human sexuality shouldn't be beyond him. True, the topics had brought more than a bit of pink to his face as he read through them on the syllabus, but he'd been reassured by the academic environment of the university. After all, this was school.
Reminding himself to discover the worst form of retribution to enact upon his friends, he sighed. If his parents ever found out he was sitting through a lecture about bondage, Oishi was quite sure they'd faint from shock, beat him firmly about the head and ears, and then lock him securely away in a monastery for the rest of his life. Brushing his hair out of his eyes, he sighed again before turning to glare at Fuji, who simply smiled back at him. That didn't save the offender from a vicious attack with Oishi's green highlighter, which left stripes along one arm.
"I'll get you for this, Fuji, if it's the last thing I do," he muttered under his breath, still glaring. The fact that Fuji did nothing but chuckle at him in response made him resort to childishly sticking out his tongue as well. Things would probably have devolved from there, given the widening of Fuji's eyes, if Eiji hadn't poked Oishi in the back at that very moment, telling him to pay attention.
Returning his gaze to the projection screen guiltily, Oishi dropped his highlighter in shock. Not even Eiji's snickering could tear his gaze away from the sight on the screen. The image flashed through his mind in pieces. Naked men. Bare skin. Ropes. Eyes closed in pleasure. He stared, enthralled.
Oishi knew he was sheltered, and that his knowledge of the world in general was somewhat limited, especially in regards to personal relations. Eiji and Fuji had done a lot to help with that, but had apparently been extremely gentle with him along the way. They'd certainly never mentioned anything like this to him. Sure, he'd heard random bits of teasing and conversation, but nothing so raw and sensual.
Squirming a bit in his seat, he realized that it was having more than one sort of effect on him as he stared. Giving a silent prayer of thanks that he'd worn baggy jeans today and a long sweater, he tried to figure out what about the image was causing this reaction for him. It wasn't as if he hadn't known he found men attractive. He'd been staring at Eiji since junior high, after all, although he'd never had the courage to do anything about it. When Tezuka had left for Europe in high school and Fuji had begun pursuing Eiji, Oishi figured he'd lost his chance there.
It was good, he told himself, to see Eiji happy and to see Fuji smiling again. True, he had his moments of jealousy, when desire and need would rip through him painfully at the sight of them together, but it had become less a matter of wanting Eiji in particular, and more a gut-deep sense of loneliness and emptiness. No one he'd dated had ever been as close to him as his friends, and so he found he wasn't interested in putting that sort of time and energy into anyone else and avoided relationships.
No, what caught his eye about the images, he finally determined, was the absolute submission of the person on the 'bottom', as the lecturer called it, combined with the feeling that all the actual power in the images remained with that same person. He realized he was right as the lecture continued and he was introduced to concepts like safe words, and learned that it was the submissive, in the end, that controlled everything about the encounter. There was a great deal of power in that.
Oishi was so enthralled by the rest of the lecture that he didn't notice the random stares Eiji and Fuji were giving him as his normal discomfort faded away. When the lecture ended, he found he had taken more notes than he had the past several weeks, and smiled slightly as he closed his notebook and tucked it into his bag. Stretching slightly to try to distract himself from his state of moderate arousal, he turned to look at his friends, who were staring back at him amusedly.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"I've never seen you so interested in one of these lectures, Oishi," Fuji teased lightly, picking up his own bag and standing.
"Fuji's right. Normally you hide your face in your hands and peek out from between your fingers," Eiji added cheerfully, hopping up as well.
Oishi joined them as they made their way down the steps and towards the door of the auditorium. He should have known that even if he showed interest in something, they'd tease him. It was a sport for them. Shaking his head, he just smiled.
"The social dynamics were interesting." Pausing at the door, he looked back towards the lecturer, who was busy packing up his notes. "Go on ahead? I'll meet you in the dining hall. There were a few things I wanted to ask about, that he didn't cover in the lecture. I'll only be a few minutes."
Turning away, he headed towards the front of the room, not looking back. If he had, he might have noticed the look his two friends exchanged at his sudden enthusiasm for the class before they left. Instead, his attention was focused ahead, and he excused himself politely before beginning to ask a small list of questions as the last of the class trickled out. Amazingly enough, the lecturer was pleased with his interest, and provided the additional resources Oishi asked for without a second thought. Bowing his gratitude, he tucked the additional papers and a small card into his bag as he headed to the dining hall to rejoin his friends.
Maybe it was time for him to start coming out of his shell a bit more, he told himself cheerfully. The fact that he was even considering it told him that he might very well have gotten over his partner finally, which was bittersweet. Still, Eiji was happy for now, and maybe it was time for Oishi to find his own happiness as well.