Vaguely Shinobu -- Hiroki. C&C appreciated.

In Which Hiroki Learns Not to Tutor People


The thing about being a professor at a university, or rather, an assistant professor, was that you couldn't exactly oppose the higher ups who paid you. It counted for any job, but Hiroki was an assistant professor so that was the job that mattered. Hiroki admitted that he hated being given orders, but unless he branched out as a solo researcher he'd have to deal with that in his line of work.

It didn't mean he couldn't grumble about it to himself when he rang the door bell. Why the hell did he, the exalted Kamijou Hiroki, who had a terrible reputation at the university for being an absolute demon to his students, have to tutor the dean's brat? And not even tutor the brat because he needed it, but because he apparently "liked" literature (yeah right) and Miyagi was "too busy" (yeah right) to continue the regular lessons.

The brat opened the door, glared at him, and said, "You're not Miyagi."

Bright kid. "No, I'm not. I'm sure your father told you about what was going on?" Hiroki tried to be polite, though the tic in his eye only grew as he widened his smile.

"I don't want your help. I only want Miyagi."

And didn't that sound like something Hiroki had heard before, all those years ago? Takatsuki Shinobu probably needed tutoring about as much as Nowaki had. Stupid brat, tarnishing literature with his impure intentions. At least Nowaki had the decency to ask for tutoring in something he was interested in. ... Even if he did end up switching to medicine.

"That's fine. I don't want to tutor somebody who doesn't care for literature anyway. I'll leave, we can tell your father you learned a lot, and he'll be none the wiser." Sure, Hiroki had made his way all the way across the city on his one day without afternoon classes to see the kid. It wasn't a problem at all. (To be honest though -- Nowaki was staying at the hospital that night, so it wasn't like Hiroki had anything better to do.)

He'd made up his mind to leave, but suddenly felt himself pulled into the apartment instead. Shinobu slammed the door shut and turned the heat on his glare up even higher. "Are you suggesting that I don't like literature?"

Hiroki could feel a headache coming on. "Look, it's a pretty obvious ploy to get closer to Professor Miyagi. I won't tell anybody, just don't get me involved in this." Great, the brat was blocking the door.

"No! I like it just fine all by itself! I'm not so pathetic just to study something for his sake!" Shinobu's face was flushed with anger, and Hiroki would have felt bad for insulting him if the brat weren't keeping him here longer than he wanted to be.

"Whatever you tell yourself. Let me go now, I have better things to do than get into a shouting match with the dean's brat." There was a used book-store down the street, he could waste time there until he felt ready to go home to the empty apartment.

"No! You're going to teach me literature! I'll show you who's half-assed about things!"

... Great. Just great. Hiroki dropped his bag to the floor. "Fine! But we do this my way!" The brat wanted to witness the demon teacher Kamijou, then he would.


Strangely, Shinobu had actually not been lying when he'd said he liked literature. He wasn't great at it, but he was learning, and he had some interesting interpretations of things. Even if they were often wrong.

"Look, you stupid brat, didn't you read the text? This is obviously the entire turning point in the piece! The narrator's way of looking at the world changes, and how can you possibly deny how important that scene is?"

"And I'm telling you, you stupid old man, that things don't change until the next chapter!"

They stared at each other from across the small table, both seething. Hiroki's pride didn't want to back down, but it would be even more embarrassing if one of the neighbors came by (again) to tell them to keep it quiet.

"Whatever. Just do the exercises, we'll discuss this later." He picked up his book again, hoping the flow of words would help him calm down. Akihiko's works tended to have that effect on him, especially the recent ones. (A part of him felt a small twinge of jealousy, knowing it was that new boyfriend that had made Akihiko happy. Another part of him was just glad that Akihiko had found somebody.)

They sat in silence, Shinobu occasionally asking the meaning of a sentence but keeping mostly to himself. That was fine; Hiroki had found that while Shinobu worked on problems, he could easily take care of more important things, like reading or grading.

"You read that author a lot."

Hiroki nodded in response. "He's my favorite." No need to mention that he knew Akihiko.

"... How long until Miyagi is done with his work?"

He sat back to consider that question. The good professor was currently researching for a new textbook he would be writing with some others in the literature department, and it was eating up most of his free time -- to the point that he was making Hiroki grade a fair number of his tests. "Probably another month or two?"

Shinobu glowered. Probably pissed he wouldn't be getting laid as much -- and gross, that was a mental image Hiroki really didn't need. Just the thought of naked Miyagi made him want to retch. He quickly turned his attention back to Akihiko's novel.


One night, Shinobu had a wet dream. It wasn't that unusual -- he used to dream about Miyagi fucking him all the time. If it had been Miyagi, he wouldn't have worried, just taken it as a sign that he needed to somehow see him that day.

But he dreamt of Kamijou-sensei instead. Throughout the entire dream, Kamijou-sensei yelled at him for his terrible technique, and they squabbled over what was the proper way of doing things and which particle was better placed in what sentence, but in the end Kamijou-sensei had his dick inside Shinobu and it was incredibly hot.

Shinobu had no idea what to make of it. It was kind of like betrayal, right? Not real betrayal, because he hadn't actually done anything with that bastard, but his thoughts were supposed to center around Miyagi.

It dawned on him as he showered that he hadn't seen Miyagi in over a week -- and he hadn't even noticed. Had they even called each other, or texted? Shinobu couldn't remember.

He went to his father's university that day, just to catch Miyagi at his office. Of course neither he nor Kamijou-sensei were in. They were probably teaching classes (Shinobu was skipping his own that day).

That reminded him -- hadn't he heard Kamijou-sensei called a demon before? It was something he could believe, considering how serious he was about his craft. He kind of had to admire that. Kamijou-sensei wasn't just good at what he did, he loved what he did. He'd found his calling and was pursuing it with all of his passion. It wasn't even that he didn't want to share; Shinobu got the feeling that Kamijou just couldn't stand to see people not love it as much as he did. So Kamijou-sensei tried to beat love of literature into his students.

It kind of worked. Shinobu found a lot more meaning in the works he read now than before he started the tutoring sessions. And wasn't that kind of awkward, having to admit that somebody else was better at teaching than Miyagi was?

In the halls ahead of him, Shinobu saw Kamijou-sensei step into a class room. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, Shinobu followed him in and sat down next to some flakey looking kid.

"I haven't seen you in class before," the guy said.

Shinobu shrugged. "I wanted to see what all the fuss was about this 'demon teacher.'"

"Eh-heh... that might not be a good idea? He's kind of--" A black-board eraser landed squarely on the guy's forehead.

"Takahashi-kun! No talking in my class!"

Shinobu had to try very hard to keep from laughing. It was kind of funny, when he wasn't on the receiving end of that wrath.


A week later, Miyagi (finally) used the spare key Shinobu had given him to let himself into the apartment.

"Where have you been?" he asked, looking at him with the most irritated expression Shinobu had ever seen.

Shinobu shrugged in response. "Reading. I thought you were busy, so I didn't want bother you." He held up the book he had in his hands. A glance at the wall clock told him it was 6pm; he'd been lying on the couch for over three hours now. Strange how time flew when he wasn't paying attention to it.

"Is that... one of Kamijou's books?"

"Yeah. He lent it to me, saying it was good. I think I like Murakami better than Usami though." More like he'd thrust it at Shinobu, saying that he had to read it, and that it would definitely put him in Kamijou's good graces if he did.

Miyagi tsk-ed. "He would recommend Usami." Whatever that meant. Shinobu bookmarked his page and put the book down, sensing he wasn't going to get any more reading done. He got up and moved to the kitchen, opening the fridge to see what ingredients he had.

"Are you staying for dinner? I was thinking of making cabbage rolls."

He couldn't quite hear Miyagi's reply over the drone of the fridge -- and his breath stopped short when he realized he didn't really care anyway.


The next time Kamijou-sensei came over to tutor him, Shinobu tried to figure out why the hell he liked him. Kamijou-sensei was short-tempered and obnoxious and had an ego the size of Australia. He wasn't that much better looking than Miyagi either. There was absolutely no reason why his heart should suddenly skip a beat around Kamijou-sensei instead of Miyagi. He and Miyagi were destined for each other, and he'd spent such a fucking long time trying to win him over, it wasn't right that from one day to the next he didn't care anymore.

This was also the first time Kamijou-sensei's cell phone rang during their tutoring session. Kamijou-sensei fumbled to answer it quickly.

"Hello?"

His tone of voice was curt, and he looked annoyed. "It's fine if-- No, no, it's work, and I don't want to--" For a brief second, his eyes widened and a smile crossed his lips; Shinobu had never seen Kamijou-sensei seem happy about anything before.

"Yeah. I'll meet you at the station. All right." He hung up, looking thoughtful. "I have to go," he said, standing up.

Shinobu glanced at the wall clock. "We still have another half hour."

"I'll stay an extra half hour next time then." He picked up his things and walked out the door, barely even saying "good bye" to Shinobu.

So he had a girlfriend. No, if Miyagi had been right when he called Kamijou a homo, then it was a boyfriend. Shinobu had the worst of luck sometimes. At least it wasn't his sister, and they weren't married.

... Goddammit, he was together with Miyagi, he did not in any, way, shape or form want Kamijou-sensei!

His subconscious treated him to another wet dream about Kamijou that night.


A tall man opened the door to Kamijou-sensei's apartment. Shinobu glared at him. "Is Kamijou-sensei there?"

The man smiled in return. "Are you a student of his?"

"Yes." Sort of.

The man turned his head to call out, "Hiro-san! Somebody to see you!"

'Hiro-san'? God, that was just gross. At least call him Hiroki, Shinobu thought. He couldn't imagine how Kamijou-sensei's pride let him accept a cutesy nickname like that. Thank god it wasn't 'Hiro-chan' though, how embarrassing would that be?

Kamijou-sensei came to the door and stood next to the tall man, looking strangely small. His eyes narrowed when he saw Shinobu. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you!"

"Do it at the university, or during the tutoring. I don't have time now. How did you even get my address?"

The tall man's hand had slowly crept up to rest on Kamijou-sensei's shoulder; Kamijou-sensei brushed it off.

"I asked my father. Anyway! It has to be now!" Because he didn't want to make the trip out to this apartment again, and he couldn't talk about this any place that Miyagi might be around.

"I said I was busy. Go away." Kamijou-sensei began heading back inside the apartment, and the tall guy was blocking Shinobu's way, so he couldn't follow.

Well, whatever. "Kamijou-sensei!" he yelled. "I need you to have sex with me!"

That stopped Kamijou-sensei cold in his tracks, and the tall man's confused look was now a full on frown. Kamijou-sensei returned to the door, his eye twitching. "Excuse me?"

"I can't stop thinking about you! I even keep having dreams about you! This is your fault, so take responsibility and fuck me!"

"Hiro-san... who is this, exactly?"

For once, Kamijou-sensei looked completely flustered. Hah, he hadn't expected that! Shinobu smirked at him, ignoring the other guy.

"He's the dean's brat, who I used to tutor but now will have to study alone, because no way in hell am I going to get sexually harassed by a student again."

"Again"? What did that mean? But Shinobu wasn't going to be brushed off that easily anyway. "Listen, I need you to fuck me so that I can see if I really want you or if it's my mind playing tricks on me. Miyagi and your boyfriend won't have to know."

The boyfriend didn't look amused; Kamijou-sensei looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground.

"I don't think that will work," the boyfriend said. "Hiro-san is an uke."

Shinobu's own response was cut off by a very loud shriek. "Both of you! Out! Now!" Surprisingly, Kamijou-sensei managed to slam the door shut on both of them.

"Good job."

"He'll calm down," the boyfriend said, sitting down next to the door. Shinobu pointedly stayed standing.

"It would really only be once." Maybe. If it wasn't as amazing as his subconscious was trying to tell him it would be.

"I'm afraid I would still have to oppose." Okay, that was normal. Shinobu would certainly have been against Miyagi sleeping with anybody else. Hell, seeing Miyagi just talking to a girl, or to Kamijou-sensei, sent him into jealous fits. ... Did that still happen?

"... He's not going to let me anyway." How depressing. Now he had to go through the entire hell of being in love with an already-attached person again. Were there other ways he could win Kamijou-sensei over? Loud yelling hadn't worked that well.

"Hiro-san is very loyal." Shinobu wanted to punch the guy right in his bright smile. Good for him, he was actually happy in his relationship.

The door opened slightly, with Kamijou-sensei blocking the passage in. "Nowaki, in," he said as he pointed to the guy. Nowaki (and what kind of a name was that anyway?) stood up, bowed to Shinobu, and then made his way past Kamijou-sensei, letting his hand drop briefly on Kamijou-sensei's shoulder.

"Shinobu-kun, please, PLEASE, drop whatever this stupid act is. It's really nothing but trouble, and I don't intend to jeopardize my job over a student's crush."

"It's not just a crush!"

Kamijou-sensei's glare turned stern. "It's a crush. You are going to get over me the moment this entire tutoring thing ends. Which will be today, if you keep this up. Besides, I'm pretty sure Professor Miyagi would be displeased if he caught wind of this."

Which, okay, was probably true. The entire situation was unfair to Miyagi, but Shinobu couldn't control who he fell in and out of love with. He bit his lip, trying to think of the right combination of words. "Why-- Why that guy? He seems flakey."

Kamijou-sensei shrugged. "Hell if I know. Anyway," and here he pulled the door in, "go terrorize somebody else. I'll see you on Wednesday, as usual." The door closed; Shinobu was left standing alone.


The door was already unlocked when Shinobu got home; Miyagi's shoes were sitting by the entrance.

"Shinobu-chin, you're back!"

"Y-yeah, I'm home." He slipped his shoes off and made his way to the kitchen, to sit at the table next to Miyagi.

"Are you hungry? I brought take-out, it's in the fridge." Not waiting for an answer, Miyagi stood up and walked over to the refrigerator. The dishes were heated up and laid out on the table in front of Shinobu.

"... is this some sort of joke?"

"I thought you liked cabbage?"

Cabbage rolls, cabbage soup, cabbage kim chee, and coleslaw. "I hate cabbage."

Miyagi shrugged, and failed at hiding his smile. "My mistake."

Shinobu glowered; Kamijou-sensei would never have played a prank like that. ... Oh. Kamijou-sensei would never play a prank like that. He let his gaze rest on Miyagi again, who was trying to cover up his chuckles now.

Well, maybe things had turned out for the best after all.


OMAKE:

"I am not a complete uke."

"You want to be on top tonight?"

"... No."