Published: (in Tumblr on) September 28, 2012
Disclaimer: It's really short. I had a plot in mind, but as I wrote this, it sort of started to diverge from the main thought and before I knew it, I had too many words written down to erase it without a guilty conscience. For BlackMaya, because she's one of the few people I can fangirl over No.6 with :(
He wasn't jealous. He really wasn't. He was where he was because he decided he was in a good enough mood to indulge Inukashi with her caffeine crave. It wasn't because, coincidentally, the coffee shop he decided to go to was where Shion was meeting his girlfriend (well, they weren'treally going out, but the girl's in love with him and Shion does nothing to hold back her advances so they might as well be going out, Nezumi thinks bitterly). Never mind that it was five blocks farther than the one closest to his school and he was going to be late for practice. (One of the perks of being talented in what he does is that he is irreplaceable and the director turns a blind eye to some of his quirks.
And he wasn't avoiding Shion either. He just happened to have a trench coat in his car and he felt like it was a waste not to wear it. The hat's because it matched, not because Shion was way too familiar with his hair that a glimpse of it would give Nezumi right away.
The waitress behind the counter looks at him weirdly, but he didn't worry. He could deal with that easily.
"Mochachino, just milk, no cream" he says Inukashi's order in a sultry deep voice and just for good measure, he smiled that charming smile of his. Expectedly, the waitress flushed and stutterd affirmatives before getting to work on his order. She kept her head bent low but often looks up at him in what she thought was "sneaky".
Normally, Nezumi would have been bothered by that and would have called her out, but that'd mean making a scene, and though usually he loved the spotlight, he didn't want to catch the attention of the couple sitting on one of the window booths just behind him. Oh, but not because he was trying to be indiscreet or because his presence was unwanted there; the couple looked like they were enjoying themselves and Nezumi didn't want to destroy the "romantic" atmosphere they've set.
"I'm really glad you came, Shion," he hears Safu say. "I wasn't sure if you'd come or not. It's Saturday and I thought you'd be busy with the council work."
"The council can function without me," Shion replies, blushing just a little. "Besides, we've been so busy juggling school work and now, college applications, that we've barely seen each other! The distance between our schools doesn't help either." Nezumi hears Shion laugh and cringes a little at Shion's denseness. Shion was being too formal, Nezumi notes. The idiot was supposed to use the opportunity she gave to say something romantic – like, say, he'd always make time for her… or something!
Safu laughs but gets more settles in a more serious tone after a while. "So, filed any college applications yet?" At that, Nezumi stiffens and gives them all his attention.
"A couple," Shion says, being unusually curt. So he won't tell her too, huh? Nezumi thinks spitefully.
Fortunately for him, Safu was as inquisitive as Shion himself and wouldn't settle for an answer like that. "Like?"
"A couple of universities nearby. I applied for anywhere convenient, actually."
"Shion. We've been friends since we were babies. I know you like the back of my hand. You wouldn't be placated with just a "couple of universities nearby" because they were convenient." Nezumi could just hear the sarcasm in her tone and he just knew her brows were raised in a "how-stupid-do-you-think-I-am" way. He was all too familiar with that look. It was the one he gave Shion often. Shion wasn't a liar, so when he does not want to say divulge some information, he tries to avoid the subject as best as a he could – which wasn't much, really.
Nezumi hears Shion chuckle a little. "It's kind of freaky how you looked exactly like Nezumi when I told him that too." Safu says nothing and waits expectantly for Shion to continue and when he noticed she wasn't taking the bait, he sighed before saying, "Yeah, okay, so I applied for some big-name universities too, but… I don't know. I don't think I'll be accepted."
Nezumi stifles a groan but Safu does not. "Oh pish posh. You were the top of all our elementary and middle school classes and even though you won't tell me, I know you're the top of your high school classes as well." Nezumi then wishes Safu wasn't as tactless as Shion was because she adds, "Your no-name high school will be nothing when they see your perfect grades!"
Shion smiles ruefully. "Yeah, maybe."
"…Can I ask? Why you picked that school, I mean. You could have gone to mine. You were more than qualified for the scholarship program. We… We didn't plan on going there together or anything, so I didn't have any right to be as shocked and disappointed as I was when I didn't see you in the opening ceremony, but… It was expected, you know? I just… assumed you'd be going there with me because we were inseparable and it's the best school in the region," Safu starts rambling and she avoids looking directly into Shion's eyes.
"It's not that I didn't want to go. It was more like, I couldn't. My dad left – you know that story already – and me and my mom had to move… out of your school's district."
Safu plays with her hotcake pieces with her fork. "The train ride would be long, but the school's allowance money would be enough to pay for that and I know you know that too so… so why?" She takes a bite of the hotcake and looks up at him expectantly and Shion sees the determination and stubbornness in her eyes.
Shion takes a sip from his coffee – flat white with two sugars, Nezumi knows (they've spent too much time together for him not to have memorized Shion's coffee order by now) – and breathes a deep sigh of content from it's perfectly brewed taste but laced with some discomfort from being put into questioning. "The school had a problem with my residential area and my admission was put to a pause. They had to re-examine me and it took a few months."
"But they accepted you, I know, because I checked! Public Information Officer, remember? I deal with people – students and teachers, the lot of them. I've spoken to the clerks in the enrollment desk a lot, and the administrative officers a lot more. What made you stay, Shion?" Safu bites the inside of her cheeks because she knows the answer already, but it's all just speculation and she'stired of this guessing and hoping and she just wants closure already.
"Safu, I – my eyes opened in my first few months in the Western Block. We've read so much about all those tragedies that happened, discussed it, debated it, but in the end, it didn't matter whether we knew the situation in other places because we weren't aware of them. Not really," Shion says, hoping Safu understood. "Experience is the best teacher, and I've learned so much since I started living there. I don't want to live a sheltered life anymore, Safu. All my accomplishments, all those certificates that proved I made even just a little impact on this world – they mean nothing. Not when all I did was read and answer some tests! I didn't actually work for it and it didn't feel like I earned anything."
Shion says nothing that Nezumi wasn't already aware of. Nonetheless, it felt nice hearing Shion say it. Nezumi feared Shion was still the idiot he met four years ago. The innocent one blindly trusting the school staff – the school staff! – of all people. Everyone knows those guys were corrupted. Nezumi remembers the incredulous look Shion had on when he saw that despite his good grades, he still wasn't the top of his class during that first semester. The idiot had yet to learn then, that it didn't matter if he was smart, because all it took was a little money and the teachers would bring everyone else up and him down easily.
Safu clenches her fists and almost draws blood. "That's not everything, is it?" she seethes. "There's another reason. The real reason you stayed."
Nezumi does not hear Shion's reply because the waitress put her hand on his, effectively pulling him out from his concentration. From the look on her face, she had apparently been calling him for some time now. Damn Shion for bringing his guard down.
He mutters a thank you and takes the drink, contemplating getting a new one just so he'd have a reason to keep standing where he was.
"…besides, if we continue this conversation, the idiot in the bloody hot trench coat on the counter's going to look even more awkward and embarrass himself any more than he already has"
Nezumi stiffens. He bends his head and pushes his cap further down. Maybe there was another idiot in a trench coat? He looks around curses. Darn.
"Wouldn't want the star to ruin his image, now do we?" He hears Shion's playful voice again. "Oh no, definitely not," Safu giggles. "His ego might not be able to take it."
He hears distinctive chair scratch on the wooden floor. He feels Shion approach him.
"He might even be compelled to buy another drink to save face," Shion says, appearing beside him looking a little too happy and smug. "Here, let his majesty pay for that," Shion says, throwing Nezumi's nickname for him right back. "Did you enjoy the show, Nezumi?"
"More like letting me do his dirty work," Safu pipes in, giggling. Nezumi flushes bright red and a scowl graces his pretty face. He pays for the drink and mumbles a goodbye to the confused but amused waitress and marches out the door.
"Hurry up!" He calls to Shion. "Or I'm leaving without you."
Shion quickly says a goodbye to Safu and she hugs him back. From outside, Nezumi watches them through the window, annoyed and impatient. His scowl deepens when he sees Safu give Shion a quick peck on the cheek but softens when he sees Shion leave the restaurant.
"Thanks for the ride, Nezumi," Shion says as he straps himself in. Nezumi grumbles an incoherent reply.
Shion chuckles and kisses Nezumi's cheek, startling him. "Sorry you didn't get to finish the show. Maybe I'll tell you how it ended. Maybe."
Nezumi is too flushed to make a retort.
A/N: My OCD makes it hard for me to publish a story without an A/N in the end. So I'll just say how hard it was not to play with the title. And that I started over on the original story line for this fic :)