Disclaimer: Don't own. All that good stuff.
Author's Note: Not really a serious one-shot or anything of mine. I'm just bored. Yeah, I know it sucks. But whatever.
Horohoro was usually a below-average student. Meaning, C's, D's, and sometimes, even F's. Not that he really cared, because his only purpose to go to school was to talk with friends, and eat lunch with them. He could care less about his academic life.
Lately, though, his grades had dropped even further because he hadn't been paying much attention in class. He had been distracted.
Distracted by the face of a new student.
His mind would just wander off as he stared and stared and stared, and he'd be able to think of something other than numbers and letters. Hell, he still had no idea what the kid's name was, but he liked it. It felt nice. And, now, he had another good reason to go to school - to stare at and dream about the new transfer student from China.
"Like what you see?"
No answer.
"I know what you're looking at."
No answer.
"Horohoro?"
"Huh?"
Horohoro blinked rapidly and turned around to face his friend, Asakura Yoh, who had been trying to attempt communication with the zoned-out Ainu for the past few minutes.
"Did you ask me something?" he mumbled, finding his gaze shifting back to its original target.
"You're staring at the transfer student," Yoh pointed out.
"Yeah? So?" Horohoro answered absently, not really paying attention to Yoh at all. There were better things to focus on.
Yoh gave Horohoro the usual lazy grin. "You know, staring's not going to do anything for you in the long run. Maybe you should step up your game a bit? Talking to him is a good place to start, I suppose. Or maybe you could..."
"Yeah," Horohoro answered, brightening up as if he had been enlightened. "Yeah. I think I'll go talk to him. I still have time, right? I mean, class hasn't started yet, right?" He glanced at the clock, and judging by the time, he knew he was right. Good.
He straightened out his tie and uniform collar. He had to look neat, he had to look sharp, he had to look smart. He had to make a good first impression. And with that, he rose confidently from his seat and swaggered in the transfer student's general direction.
"Yo."
The Chinese boy looked up at Horohoro, a blank look on his face.
"You do understand Japanese...right?" Horohoro inquired, remembering that the student has recently transferred from China, and maybe he only spoke Chinese.
"Yes," the dark-haired boy replied, glancing back to the front of the classroom, obviously uninterested.
"I'm Usui Horokeu," Horohoro added, ignoring the boy's apparent boredom. "But you can call me Horohoro if you really want to."
"Huh."
"And, may I ask your name, O Mighty Cute One?" he pressed on, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder and adding a wink for emphasis.
The Chinese student looked up at Horohoro, an expression on his face that one might have if some dung was placed under their nose.
"Excuse me?" he hissed, glaring coldly at Horohoro, not pleased at all with what he had addressed him as.
The blue-haired Ainu swallowed. This wasn't going as well as he had planned. It wasn't supposed to go like this. Horohoro always got what he wanted with the girls, and even sometimes, as Yoh said, "his charm would turn any straight man gay." They'd fall head-over-heels for him in seconds, regardless of their gender. So why would this intruiging new student be any different?
He tried again.
"Can I have your name?"
The boy sighed, clearly irritated. "It's Tao Ren."
Horohoro grinned. "Lotus, huh?" he replied. "That's a pretty name. It suits you."
Ren simply glared.
The bell rang.
The class fell silent.
Horohoro failed to notice.
Apparently, in his irritation, neither did Ren.
"Stop screwing around with me," he hissed.
Too bad for him, the whole class heard.
The class's female population immediately broke out into a peal of giggles. Apparently they liked to think dirty. Ren's cheeks instantly flushed scarlet, realizing he had chose the wrong words to use in a classroom full of impure minds.
Horohoro just smiled in this maddening way, like he knew some funny secret about Ren that even Ren himself didn't know about.
"Oh, don't worry," he grinned, giving Ren another cheerful wink. "I'm not done 'screwing around' with you quite yet. In fact, I've hardly even gotten to the good part-"
This comment was met with a hard, solid, pure bitch-slap to the face before it could even be uttered out in its full entirety. The force was enough to make Horohoro stagger backwards, holding his burning cheek.
"What was that for?" he spluttered. This was so not happening. The new kid was supposed to be flattered with his comment on his name, then fall desperately in love with him, having the typical high school crush - and then the fireworks would begin.
But, no. Life's not fair. And things don't always work out.