This started as a stress-relieving drabble and actually turned into something, so hey. Would ya lookit that?

Enjoy~

"Miku, love you really, but can you really imagine me needing tutoring?" I unwrap the popsicle in my hand, knocking the freezer door close with my elbow. On the other end, Miku whines loudly and I can almost see her wriggling her body pleadingly.

"You don't need tutoring to goto tutoring!" she points out exasperatingly. "I know very well that you are top of the class, star-rated math genius—"

"Oh, you're making me blush!"

"—But this isn't about you, Rin! This is about me! Attending math tutoring alone!" Miku huffs and I plop down onto my couch, grinning somewhat coyly. "How could you even think to let your friend be forced into some afterschool activity all by herself?"

"Ask Gumi to go," I bit into my popsicle. "Or Kaito. Or your stupid older brother. I am not paying for lessons that I don't need."

"Oh come on! The lessons are free for a week! Besides, you're my best friend, what kind of best friend are you?" Miku groans and her voice becomes muffled. Sounds like she just buried her face into a pillow.

I laugh a bit weakly and sit up from my position, rubbing my hair with my free hand. "All jokes aside, I don't have the money to attend tutoring sessions with you freely, sorry."

"That's why I said, lessons are free for a week. Just come with me until I get used to the place, okay? Seven days at five in the afternoon. That's all I'm asking for. Seven consecutive days."

"That sounds exhausting."

"No, that sounds like Rin Kagamine being a good friend to her shy, introverted, leek-loving friend," Miku huffs proudly, certainly not a trait of the shy and introverted, and I roll my eyes.

"Okay one, I never once promised to be a good friend and two, you, of all people, have no right to call yourself introverted," I flump back down onto the couch sideways, holding up my ice cream. "So why are you so nervous about this tutoring place anyways? Bullies attend it? Is it sketchy? Run-down?"

"Not…exactly," Miku mumbles. "It's just, you know, I have to go there late in the evening and come back even later in the evening and it's not safe for a girl to go all the way across town and back at late hours."

I don't believe her.

"And this is coming from the very same girl who once caused the entire neighborhood to go into uproar when she decided to go mountain climbing in the middle of a starlit night?"

"Yes."

I roll around, exasperated and slightly annoyed, but it's useless because I'm already thinking things like it can't be that bad.

It's only for a week, and it's free, plus I could use a bit of a touchup on my studies.

Well, actually I'm really, really good at math, but whatever. I'm not really doing anything else.

"—and I can't believe you would really let me go alone, I mean, you call yourself my friend? Sure, you punched that one guy for me and choke-held the other but can you call yourself my true friend? You're a great girl, Rinny, but how could you—"

"Alright. Fine, fine," I stretch out my tongue, catching the falling drop from my ice cream. "I'll go."

"…Really?"

"Really," I smirk at her stupor.

"Really?" her shock turns to excitement and when I confirm that, yes, I'll really go, she squeals in delight with a voice that makes my toes curl. "Thank you, Rinny! Thank you! Thank you! You're awesome! Amazing! The best friend in the world!"

"Uh-huh," I pop the popsicle into my mouth, savoring the lovely orange flavor. "So, when's this thing gonna start?"

"Lessons start tomorrow! Wait for me afterschool!"

So Miku wasn't exaggerating when she said it was across the city.

"Why'd you make us walk all the way here?" I drop gratefully on the plastic chairs in the waiting room, kneading my calves which were knotted up so tight, I was afraid another step would snap them in two. "We could've taken the bus! Taken someone's bike!"

"The latter is illegal," she sniffs, trying not to look like she's affected even though oh, I know she is hurting too. "And I don't have the money for bus fare."

"I did," I fished out my wallet and dangled it in her face pointedly. "I just didn't think it was this far—why is this so far away?"

"Really, Rin, is all you can do is complain?" she clicks her tongue disapprovingly. "You'd think your mother would teach you how to be grateful."

"Grateful? For what? At the moment, the only thing I'm grateful for is this plastic chair," I pat the chair under me with a little bit of love.

We wait together for several minutes, resting our throbbing legs and mentally counting the students who walked in and out of the classrooms from the back.

I lean forwards, eyeing the boy who just walked into the room. "Huh, that's weird."

"What's weird?"

"Don't they usually teach in groups?" I point at the backdoor where students had been called to go in. "I've seen everyone just going in and out by ones or twos."

"Oh, that, I didn't tell you?" Miku leans back in her chair, staring at the ceiling disinterestedly. "This place specializes in one-on-one tutoring. Helps give the attention and precise learning that schools cannot offer or whatever. They hire a bunch of smart students to tutor dumb students one-by-one."

"Great. So we're going to be separated?"

"Aw, it's not so bad, just for a couple hours and we get a break in between," she winks at me. "Hey, why don't you start working here? You're smart, aren't you? You'd get some cash and I won't have to attend alone!"

"Not a chance, cupcake, not a chance."

"Miss Miku Hatsune?"

Our heads turn towards the door and Miku jumps up, saluting to me as she goes. "Welp, here I go. See you soon, Rinny!"

Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I stare helpless as she is taken into the door alone, leaving me by myself. I wait for the woman who just called for Miku to call for me too, but she just smiles at me and closes the door, leaving me to gape hopelessly.

I came to keep Miku company, and now I'm the one left alone? Great. Fantastic. Superb.

Maybe I should leave now.

But I don't. I stay, quiet and sulking for another twenty minutes or so when the woman peeks her head out again, checking her clipboard.

"Miss Rin Kagamine?"

I stand, suddenly wanting to leave, but I march towards her and smile, trying to channel her wavelengths.

I don't belong here and I'm really good in math class already, please let me go home.

"Hi," I greet calmly, shoving my hands into my pockets. She bows her head and leads me down a hallways past a series of rooms. She opens one right near the end, leading me into an office-like space except, instead of a dark wood desk and a stern looking principal, there's a light-colored school table and a white board.

"Your tutor will be with you in a second," she says nodding to the chairs. "Please have a seat."

"Thanks…" I sit carefully and she leaves, closing the door behind her so that I feel rather kept away and secluded. The room smells like dry-erase markers and slightly of stained coffee. The carpet is rough under my shoes and there are plenty of old scratch-marks on the whiteboard. Old traces of pen, pencil and erasers litter the top of the table, and I absentmindedly trace the hearts that adorn the side that I'm sitting on.

Then in comes my tutor and wow, in does he come.

At first, since my back is to the door, I don't turn around and wait until he walks into view, but then he speaks and his voice is not old nor serious like I had expected it to be.

"Hey there, did you wait long?"

My head swivels around and if I had ears and a tail, they would have shot straight up because good lord, this is a good looking person. He grins at me, all teeth and all sincerity that should not belong in a greeting smile but does in his. I smile, tentatively, but it's like trying to compete against the sun. Admittedly, he's not very tall and he doesn't look all that strong, but his frame is square, lean, and his shoulders look plenty reliable.

Fluidly, he walks over to the whiteboard and set down his backpack, ruffling through it and apparently oblivious to the hawk-like attention I give him. His long, flaxen hair sweeps over his shoulder as he bends down, and my chest leaps at the simple gesture he used to bring it back up, the ponytail sways and settles, but my head is still rocking.

"Do you use this room often?" I squeak and end up kicking myself mentally for the lame question. He looks up and raises an eyebrow, and it's all I can do to not start shrinking in my chair. To my relief, and absolute joy, however, he smiles and laughs warmly, his voice filling up the confined room like a bath of hot cocoa.

"Actually, this is my designated classroom, every tutor who works for long enough gets his or her own room," he patted the whiteboard fondly as he dropped a number of markers into its tray.

That explains the hearts on the table. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if I caught myself doodling love-shaped figures if I ended up with him long enough.

"So you've worked here long?" I continue ask, egging on a conversation because it's been a really long time since I've had such a good talk with a cute guy, don't judge me.

"Two years? I started at the end of middle school and I liked it so here I still am," he turns to me and sits down, allowing me a full frontal view of his face, neck and pretty hands. He smiles a smile that looks more like a smirk, and part of me melts quickly at the look. "So, enough about me, let's talk about you."

Oh, honey, am I just dying to tell you.

I am enjoying this way more than I should.

"What about me?" I find my courage and try to look as suave as I can, though it's really hard when someone as rudely attractive as him is staring you down. "My name is Rin, I go to Yamaha Prep." And I am single and ready to mingle.

"Ah, a high-end school," he whistles impressively and half of me wants to ask where he goes, but he starts talking again before I can start. "Alright, so what can I help you on?"

Well, for starters, you can sweep me off my feet, run through these hallways with me in your arms, and take me to a nice restaurant with lots of candles.

"Uhh…" I trail off lamely, partially because I'm trying not to daydream or fantasize about this wildly good-looking boy and partially because I had no idea what he's really asking for.

"What math are you taking now?"

"Oh! Trig."

"Okay, so you're about the same age as me," he reaches into his backpack, leaning with such an ease that it's hard for me to actually focus on his words. "So what do you need help on?" He drops a myriad of papers in front of me, showing me all sorts of lessons and worksheets.

Ah, right, we're in tutoring right now. I completely forgot.

I stare dumbly at the papers for a while, hesitant because I kind of want to tell him that I don't need a lesson, but also uneasy because part of me knows that I'll just kicked out since that's just wasting his time.

Okay, call me a liar and color me desperate, but if I'm going to attend these with Miku for a week, I might as well make the best of it. Besides, it's not like I'll ever see him again once my week is through, I'll just enjoy his attention while I have it and then be on my way.

"We're learning this right now," I say, pointing to a piece of paper on the far right. He beams-how can a person even look that good smiling? Is that legal? I mean his eyes light right up-and takes it, reading it over quickly. His mouth settles seriously and he turns to the board, uncapping a marker and scribbling down some key concepts.

"Okay, so I'm just going to reteach you this entire lesson and when you don't understand something, tell me, alright?"

"Will do!"

Halfway through the lesson, I realize I still don't know his name.

Well, it doesn't matter, because he teaches well and even though I know this chapter like the back of my hand, he does help simplify a lot of methods and clarify some facts. Thirty minutes later, he gives me a worksheet based on what he had just gone over with me and I try not to do it too fast, taking my good time with each question, keenly aware that he's watching me attentively.

"Oh wow!" apparently I'm not going slow enough. "You caught on really fast!"

"I, uh," I erase some stray marks, trailing my pencil slowly. "You're good at teaching. I feel like I understand a lot more."

"I'm glad you think so," he rests his arm on the table, cupping his chin as he watches me. He has a lazy smile on his face, and even when I try focusing on my paper, I can't help but feel the intensity of his stare on my neck. "By the way, you look familiar, do I know you?"

"I don't…Think so," I risk looking up again, trying to hold the long look he was giving me.

Oh yeah, I'd definitely remember if I knew him.

"Really? Huh," his voice carried lightly, as if he had no idea of the effect it had on me. I was practically blushing to my hair roots, how is one so delightfully oblivious to their good looks?

Unfortunately, I forgot to pace myself, and before I realized it, I was showing him my work, completed and without error. I flinched as I saw him scan his answer sheet, checking each and every of my answers with a nod. "Wow, not bad, full marks!"

"R-really?" I try to look shocked and happy even though my heart is, undeniably, sinking. "Yes! Woo-hoo!"

He grins and hands me a new worksheet, this one looks slightly harder than the one from before. "Alright, try this one, I took it from an ancient textbook, so good luck!"

Ahh, seriously. His smile could kill a person.

"A hot tutor?" Miku groans and flumps forwards in her seat, scratching her hair. "That's so not fair. I was stuck with Ms. Luka-Of-The-Abyss getting lectured the entire time, and you were making kissy faces to your instructor? What did you do? Awe him with your superior math skills?"

"As if," I peeled the orange that had been given to me. "It's harder than it looks, pretending to be stupid." Miku's jaw drops at this and her eyes goes wide.

"You didn't."

"I did."

She lets out a strangled laugh, though her lips are curling upwards. "You minx. Rin, how'd it go? You pretending like you don't know an ounce of Trig?"

"Well, he thinks that he worked some sort of miracle, which is kind of true," I popped a slice into my mouth. "It's not every day I willingly act for a boy."

"Is he that good looking?"

"Oh, Miku, my dear child," I say gravely, looking both ways before nodding. She squealed with laughter, her hands over her chest.

"You're terrible! I hate you!"

"Excuse me, you made me come here!" I remind, jabbing a finger at her though I'm grinning from ear-to-ear. "Consider this your payment. I come with you, but in return, I get to be catered by a nice-looking tutor."

She huffs, turning her head away. "Hmph. Fine. But just until the week is over, then I'm snatching him from you."

"Oh ho, good luck with that, Ms. Twintails."

"Good luck with what?"

We jump from our seats, whirling around to see my tutor, whose name I still do not know, coming up to us, an easy, casual smile on his face. Miku shoots me a look but I can hardly glance at her.

"Her studies, of course," I say, smoothly and she scoffs as if offended.

"Oh really?" he sits a few chairs down from us, producing a banana from seemingly nowhere. "And you? Do you think you need luck?"

"She needs a new head."

I smacked Miku, but she ducked to avoid it, winking at me encouragingly.

"I don't think so," he laughs. "I don't think I've seen anyone pick up on a lesson so quickly!"

Miku scoffs, again, and I have to grip my chair to keep myself from leaping over the table and strangling her. "I'm a fast learner. My teachers are just really bad at teaching."

"Oh really?" Len licked his fingers, cleaning it of banana, and both Miku and I go red at the gesture. "Funny, didn't you say you went to Yamaha? Best school in the district?"

I have to look away. "The school is fine, but that doesn't make up for any particular teacher's slack."

"Guess not," he shifts in his seat but I don't need to turn to guess that he's looking right at me again. I can feel his eyes eating away at my head. "Rin, was it? You really do remind me of someone, though I can't put my finger on who."

"I-I'm not famous or anything," I mumble. Maybe he's dazed by my appearance. Maybe I remind him of his old girlfriend. Maybe he is just so affected by my good looks, he can't help but call them out.

Not.

"So, Rin," Miku saves me with a light cough, her eyes full of concealed laughter. "How's your boyfriend?"

No, Miku this is not the topic we should be discussing right now.

"I don't have one," I sputter, refusing to make eye-contact with the eye-candy next to me. "A-Anyway, isn't break over soon? We should go back to the classrooms."

"Weakling," Miku whispers as she walks past me and I hiss after her. "Do you even know his name?"

"Not yet."

"Not yet?"

"Miku, really, he looks great but can you imagine me dating him? A math tutor? My math tutor?"

"He says he recognizes you, it's a sign."

"A sign that he could potentially know that I'm actually good at math."

Miku just laughed, taking my arm in hers as she pulled me towards the classrooms, hissing into my ear menacingly. "You're a wimp."

So I do end up coming back the next day to tutor with Mr. Hot Stuff, and, contrary to Miku's belief, I do not wimp out the second day and I ask a bit about him while I'm working.

His name is Len, he goes to Crypton High a few blocks down, and he's in the same grade as me and he really, really like bananas.

"Bananas?" I ask incredulously as I'm copying down his practice problem. He shrugs, humming to himself.

"They're great. They keep me energize, they taste good, they're healthy, they're yellow—what's not to like?"

I solve the problem almost too quickly, but he doesn't seem to notice. "The fact that they're practically mush?"

"That's a good thing," he checks out my answer and gives me a thumbs out. "You're really rolling today, Rinny!"

And just like that, from head to toe, I feel like I'm being filled up to the brim with hot coffee. "Rinny?"

He gives me a small, teasing smile. "No good?"

"N-no, it's just… Only Miku ever calls me Rinny," I muster my courage, reaching into the depths of my gut for some strength as I say my next words. "So, Lenny, what's next?"

Oh Citrus, the look he gave me in reply was perhaps the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my sad little life.

His whole face lightens up as if he had been wanting me to say that and, with a flourishing wave, begins listing off a number of problems from the whiteboard. "Do numbers one to thirty-five."

What.

"Thirty—Len," oops, I didn't mean to say his name so breathlessly. But diggity-dang, it felt good to do that. "Are you trying to kill me? Overwork me? This is slave labor!"

"I wouldn't do that!" he protests, looking positively elated. "It's easy! Promise!"

I'm not really complaining. All things considered, the problems are easy, but holy cow, that's a lot of problems. He laughs as I grumble to do the work, and I manage to peek at his glowing face before I do, heating right up when I find him staring down on me.

Oh wow, wow, wow. His eyes look really good up close.

"What?" I scowl at him though I'm anything but annoyed. He does a little smirk as if he knows something I don't and shrugs, looking away.

"Never mind."

"Never mind?" I echo, setting down my pencil. "Do I have something on my face?"

He sings to himself, turning away from me pointedly so I was forced to glare into his back.

Damn him, he even sings well too.

Out of spite, I finish the problems quickly, but since he has not turned around yet, I settle with just staring at his back, silently appreciating the way his hair blew under the light breeze of the air conditioner and how he had rolled up his sleeves on his dress shirt so they wouldn't get dirty from the dry erase markers.

So call me shallow, but I could never deny a boy who dresses well.

"You keep staring at me, did I do something wrong?"

Oh shoot.

I freeze as he turns around, a knowing smirk on his face. I think my face is blushing, but I'm so at a loss for words that I can't really find a good response to that. I search for my pride and clear my throat, fixing my posture but I can't quite look in his eye.

"No, you're just…seriously irritating."

That's not exactly what I wanted to say, but okay.

"Oh? For giving you so much work?" he leans over the table and I can see the muscle run firmly under his shirt as he does so. "Looks like you've finished, though."

"I-I didn't check it over yet."

"Really? But it looks alright."

I want to scream. Being able to do everything so attractively should be a sin. He flips through my page, humming under his breath as he does so, and I can only hopelessly watch on as he marks my answers as correct.

"Now why can't I get these scores in school?" I lie, glancing at the perfect mark he gave me. He laughs and a tiny bit of relief floods me.

"Peer pressure?" he offers with a wink and I try not run out of the door in panic.

"A-Anyways," I swallow and straighten my back, changing the subject. "Did you figure out why I look so familiar to you, yet?"

At this, his eyes glint but he shrugs nonchalantly. "Hmm….I wonder. Do you recognize me?"

"Not a chance," I used this opportunity to analyze his fantastic face again. "Did you ever go to Yamaha?"

"Nope."

"Shame, I've been in here since primary school," such a shame, our school would have loved a looker like you. "I don't go out much, so I honestly have no idea how you seem to think me familiar."

"Maybe it's just a feeling," he sits down and rests his head in between his hands. "Maybe it's a 'we're fated to be' type of thing."

Oh my Citrus, please keep talking to me.

"You don't believe in that, do you?" I try to laugh, but my heart has gone racing off without me.

"Oh, I don't know, why did you choose to take tutoring lessons, Rinny?"

Oh boy.

I looked at him, not liking the implying tone in his voice, but before he can make the big reveal that he knows I only attend these lessons to drool over his face, he stands up to the board, replacing the old problems with new ones.

Ahhhh, this boy, I've known him for less than two days and he's seriously going to kill me with this anxiety.

But I do end up coming back for the rest of the week and admittedly, it's not really because of my promise to Miku.

Len is weird. In a good way, but he's weird.

You see, I am a bit of a shallow person, but that's not too surprising. I like guys for their faces, for how they dress, for their abilities, but I'm not so terrible that I absolutely must get a boyfriend. Looking at boys is like a hobby, as horrible as that sounds, and I'm definitely not playing to toy with feelings.

Yet, once again, Len is weird. Here's the thing: I've always only ever just looked at boys. Yamaha is in no shortage of nice-looking males, but have I ever talked or gotten close to one? No. I don't have the guts nor the gall to do so. Len, on the other hand, is usually the one to approach me, a nice change but definitely one I'm not used to. He watches me closely, and as long as I'm in the tutoring building, it feels like I'm always with him. It's not uncomfortable nor entirely unwanted for he makes good conversations and easy company, but it feels like he really does know something I don't and that is a little daunting. It feels like he's dangling something important over my head, but I don't know what.

Secondly, I think I might actually like him. Oh, shocker! I fell for the good-looking math tutor, but, as stated above, he makes good company and is easy to talk to. Am I good with boys? Well, I'm great at looking at them, but talking to them? Not so much. Len is a first, and though I'm not going to say I fell in love with him, I do like him. I hate having to lie to him, and even worse, I don't really want to just leave after this week and never see him again.

But that's how the world works.

So this is my last day, the seventh of the week and the seventh time I am seeing Len run his marker across the whiteboard. He is entirely unaffected and doesn't look as bothered as I feel on the inside, which is just as well because I don't even think he knows this is my last day.

Not that he would really care, but you know. I care. Because I like him. Ah, Citrus, I really screwed myself over this time.

"Great work, as usual," he sighs contentedly as he reads over my worksheet, tipping back in his seat as he corrects it. "Sometimes, I don't even think you need my help."

"Don't be ridiculous," I try not to stare at him too much today. "You're the one who taught me all these things."

"Really?"

There it is again, the tone that really says he knows something about something I have no clue about.

I raise my head and look him in the eye, nodding. "Really. Do you mind if I leave early today? I have to go home."

"You do?" he folds his arms. "Why? Cooking dinner tonight?"

"Yep," never mind the fact that I can't cook, but the sooner I just leave and forget about him, the sooner I can get back to my peaceful boy-watching.

Len smiles mysteriously, and sits up, producing two slips of paper from his backpack. "But today is your last day, isn't it?"

My head shoots up. "How'd you—"

He waves his ID badge in my face, laughing. "You think I wouldn't know how long my student is staying for? That's probably the first thing they told me about you, that you're just a trial runner."

Oh, right. I completely forgot.

I settled back down, trying not to look as miffed as I feel. "Yeah. It's my last day."

"And you have to leave early?" for a second, he looks genuinely sad, but his pout doesn't stay long when he hands one of the slips of the paper he had taken out. I stare at it.

"More problems?" I whine and Len tosses me a pencil.

"One last exercise, think of it like a final test," he clicks his pen, showing me his own paper. "We'll have a race."

"A race?"

"With a wager," he added importantly. "I'll put five minutes on the clock and whoever gets the most questions right win."

"Uh-huh," I lift the worksheet gingerly, inspecting it. "And what are we betting?"

"Hmm," Len taps his chin thoughtfully, though we both know full well that he had already known what he wanted to put at stake. "Let's make it fun. Whoever wins gets to order the other to do whatever they want."

Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh jolly boy.

"Th-that's unfair!" But I'm grinning, positively elated and cheered up by the idea of getting to order Len around. "You're good at math!"

"Oh? Then why are you smiling?" he laced his fingers. "Don't think I'll go easy on you, I'll have you know, I competed in last year's district-wide annual Math Fest Competition."

At this, my entire body grows cold.

"You did?" I hope that isn't my voice that's shaking. "Did you win?"

He sensed my dread and grinned wider. "Well no, but I competed, and the prelims were pretty brutal."

I know. I won last year's Math Fest Competition.

"I see, well," if he recognized me as the champion, he would have said something by now, right? I'm safe, right? "Well, I'm really fast at solving problems!"

"You bet you are," he sets his timer. "Are you going to do it?"

My fear turns to determination and I'm smirking at him boldly. "Might as well."

"Alright, then…Ready…Go!"

The last thing I fear is him finding out I'm good at math, because why should I be? It's my last day anyhow and here's a chance for me to get Len to do whatever I want? I'm pulling out all stops this time. I listened to the timer and calculated as fast as I could, as if I was participating in the Math Fest again.

I'm not champion for nothing.

Half way down the page though, I ran into something I hadn't seen in a while. I glanced at the word problem, knowing that Len had definitely not taught me that lesson yet, and I knew that was still chapters ahead from what I had been learning before. I glanced at Len and saw that he was smirking widely and, when he looked up saw the dawning realization on my face, he laughed loudly.

He knew. He's known all along.

The timer rang and both of us had finished the page, my whole right arm cramping up and my mind is still spinning with equations, but I'm so irked by the fact that he found me out that I hardly notice it.

"How long did you know?" I asked but he was ignoring me, chuckling as he counted up our scores.

"Well, well, well, would you look at that?" he sighed dramatically and threw the papers down onto the desk. "The Champion reigns again."

"Len, how long have you known?"

"You get one wish from me," he ignored my question, holding up a single finger. "I'll do whatever you want, as long as it's within reason."

I open my mouth again to demand an answer, but I stop.

He walked right into this challenge knowing he would probably lose. Why? What did he want from me?

"Fine, fine," I stood up sharply, but Len only turned up his head lazily, smiling calmly. "I'll use the stupid wish and I wish you would tell me how much you know and since when?"

He blinked in surprise. "Really? You'd waste your one and only chance to manipulate me for that?"

"Who says I want to manipulate you?"

"Well, your friend said—"

"And I will kill her later," I swore, completing forgetting about how Miku tended to be. "Did she tell you about me too?"

"About how you're actually the best in the city with math?" he rolled his shoulders and if I were not so annoyed, I'd probably be rolling with them. "No. I told you, I thought you looked familiar since Day 1. I was thinking about over and over and, I remembered, I have your name highlighted, marked and cursed on my wall at home."

"…What?"

Len laughs at my expression and stands up as well. "So, you know that Math Fest last year? I was really serious about that. Super serious. I studied for months."

"And you're mad at me for winning it?"

He shakes his head and I'm more confused than ever.

"Well there's that, but since you clearly don't remember me," he takes a dramatic pause. "I was your first match at the tournament. We were the first match of the first day of the tournament. And you wiped the floor with me."

Oh.

Oh.

The look of shock and embarrassment is written all across my face. Memories of him, bent-backed and furiously scribbling onto the tournament paper flashing across my mind. I rubbed my forehead, remembering his look of utter hatred and defeat as I had walked away to the next table.

He was the kid who looked like he was about to punch me. Great. I have a crush on the guy who swore me to be his arch-enemy.

"I remember you."

"Do you?" he hums again, highly amused. "Well, after that, I took your name from a copy of the tournament brochure and cut it up and paste it to my wall, hating it forever. I even went to your school, you know, to Yamaha to ask frequently about the Math Fest since it was held in your school. When I found out you won, I nearly punched a hole through my ceiling. I was super pissed."

I was silent by now, not trusting myself to speak. I could clearly see him walking up to my front often, learning that I had won, and trudging home with an evil glare in his eye.

"I never expected you to actually come to get math help, so that's why I didn't recognize you at first," Len admitted, now only arms-length away from me. "I was dumbfounded. What the heck did High and Might Ms. Champion want to do here? Were you here to torment me? Laugh at me? I didn't think you'd even remember me, which you clearly didn't, but I thought you were here to spite me. But, you know, as the days rolled on, I realized that you were seriously trying to make it seem as if you didn't know any math and I had no clue as to why…"

I groaned loudly, mentally begging him to stop. If he's known since the first day then that means, for six days, he's been playing along with my stupid ploy and he probably has a hang of why I did it now.

"I'm sorry…"

"So I asked your friend," he leans down slightly and I don't even have the energy to duck away from him, so his face is super close to mines. "And she confesses everything without even blinking. And do you want to know what her answer was to me?"

"No, I don't," I utter, a horrible, horrible sinking feeling in my chest because Miku knows that I like him and what did I do to deserve this?

He grins and his smile is so genuine and real, I can see the skin near his eyes crinkle a bit and everything in the room feels to have gotten lighter. "Okay, since you don't want to know, let's talk about something else."

I want to go home.

"Er, Len, I'm really, really sorry for trying to trick you—"

He waves it off, showing he wasn't bothered. "Don't worry about it, I had a lot of fun, I learned a lot about you. It's weird, but I'm kind of glad you did it."

"Fun?" I echo and he nods brightly.

"Oh yeah, it was fun. After I got over the initial confusion, seeing you struggle to slow down or pretend to be having trouble was really funny."

Great. I looked like a complete idiot and he was laughing at me the entire time.

"You made all sorts of excuses and you praised me a lot, though most of them were just to cover up how good you were at math. Better than me, even."

At this I dared to step forwards a bit. "You are good at teaching though! I…already knew the material, but you are really good at teaching! Really! They weren't…empty…praises…" I trail off, because Len's eyes had turned from bright and mirthful to something much softer.

"Thank you, I really, really appreciate it. I know you weren't just saying them, thank you, Rin," he pauses and then continues on with his usual cheery tone. "Also, I've been wanting to get to know you more. I had, well still have, a bunch of questions: Why put so much effort into pretending to not know? Why do you only eat oranges during the break? Are you good at the other school subjects? What's your phone number? Things like that."

Things like that.

Those are—

I shouldn't get excited. I shouldn't. I should be remorseful, regretful, and thinking about my consequences. I really shouldn't get excited but…

"If…If I didn't know any better," I'm talking really slow now, really carefully, because I'm trying to gauge his reaction as well as try to keep my own heartbeat steady. "I'd say that you just asked for my number."

"Rinny," I love it when he calls me that. "What I'm saying, is that I'm trying very, very hard right now to flirt with you."

Citrus lords, someone's gotta hold me back or I'm gonna kiss him.

"Len… What exactly did Miku tell you?"

"You already used your wish," he smirked, though it hardly looked menacing. "Instead, you answer me, are you free this weekend?"

By some power of the gods above, I found my wit and replied quickly. "I don't remember owing you an answer. Why do you want to know?"

"I really like you, Rin, isn't it obvious?"

Citrus.

Good honey, Citrus.

Then Len does the warmest thing anyone has ever done to me. He takes my hands and rubs them gently with his thumbs, and every area in my body suddenly feels like it was dipped into a vat of soft cream. That's all he does, just holds my hands, and the gesture is so gentle it hardly feels like he's touching me, but he is, and my body is screaming in pleasure.

"H-How was it obvious?" I stammer, absolutely shocked but not having the heart to move my hands from his feather-light grasp. He looks taken aback and a little worried, as if he's done something wrong, and I scramble to clarify. "I-I mean, I like you a lot, I do, it's not that I don't. I really like you, but I thought—How was I—How were you being obvious at all?"

Len stifles a laugh, biting his lip and I'm about to throw a fit in embarrassment, but he pulls me close and plants a gentle kiss on the crown of my head, effectively cutting off all my sensible thoughts. "I let you win the race, didn't I?"

Fin.

Can you smell my sleep-deprivation? I wrote this in a single day which is incredible and miraculous and I can only do this when I'm procrastinating on a huge project for school. Why.

My issues aside, thank you, again, for reading, supporting, reviewing and/or following my stories! It's always a pleasure to write for ya'll!

Mush Luvve

~asianchibi