Disclaimer: I own Takeru! (mafia-like people Akiyoshi Hongo sent points guns at my face) Err, I own…nothing. ~_~
A/N: This is my first Digimon fic, and ironically this story doesn't contain digimon coz it's AU. It's slash btw, so be warned!
First Day
Forty twinkling eyes turned and curiously stared at Takeru. He had no idea whether those twinkles were encouraging, predatorial, or suspicious—whichever way, he didn't take time to guess. He did feel as if he were stark nude and walking through an auditorium completely filled with people, though, instead of a simple school class. He unconsciously smoothed the nonexistent creases on his school uniform—to make sure he was wearing them—before ducking his head and taking the nearest seat.
"Good morning," said the teacher that briskly came in, surveying the whole class a second before settling his own eyes on Takeru.
"Ah! Yes yes, if you please," he motioned, and Takeru jolted up immediately, his cheeks flushed and his head still ducked. The teacher faced him towards the class.
"Now before I begin, I'd like to introduce you all to our new student, Takaishi Takeru. He's been promoted from 9th grade because of his academic performance, and I hope you all are nice to him, got that?" he grinned, but his voice was teacher-firm. He slapped Takeru's back lightly (lightly for him—Takeru he almost coughed out his heart) and Takeru fell to a low bow.
"N-nice to meet you, I'm T-takaishi Takeru. Please call me anyway you wish."
The class stood up mechanically, and bowed the same way as well, as with the school custom of welcoming a new student. Some voices were enthusiastic, some were bored, and the others were expressionless. It hefted off a bit of nervousness Takeru was carrying.
The teacher made him sit down, and classes began immediately.
Fortunately, today's lesson was about chemical bonds, about which Takeru had just read a few chapters last evening in order to be prepared for his first school day. So he was able to answer a few questions and the teacher—Mr Tachibana—gave him kudos. Some of the girls sighed, while some guys scoffed.
With an unbeknown feeling of something akin to pride, Takeru raised his hand once again. But when he had just opened his mouth to answer yet another question (and hopefully earn more recognition), he was interrupted by something whooshing past him and towards his back. Mr Tachibana had thrown a backboard eraser with amazing accuracy towards the hand of a teen with spiky maroon hair. A piece of crumpled paper launched from the guy into the air and onto Mr Tachibana's outstretched hand. How he did that, Takeru only wondered in amazement. The irate teacher inspected the confiscated item, and found it to be a note. He opened it.
"Meet me at the park tonight?" he read the message written on the parchment aloud. A deep crease furrowed his brow and he looked up with a very reproachful expression. "Mr Motomiya, this is the first lesson after the summer holidays. Why does it have to start already now again? Couldn't you write your love letters during breaks?"
Takeru turned around to look at the person addressed: an exceptionally handsome looking boy tilting on his chair in the last row.
"But, sir, the love letter was meant for you," Motomiya retorted, casually ran a hand through his dark maroon hair and grinned roguishly.
Takeru laughed along with the rest of the class. Even their teacher obviously was not immune to Black's charm and could not completely refrain from smiling. Quickly hiding his amusement, he shook his head in desperation, rolled his eyes and continued with the lesson.
I'd like to be friends with him was Takeru's first thought about that classmate of his. Maybe the boy was a bit too cheeky but you could certainly have lots of fun with him.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Takeru's next class was Geometry. Since every class the seating arrangements changed, he took the opportunity to sit next to Motomiya, who was lightly dozing off, his chair still tipped. He was waiting in the classroom along with the rest of his classmates, throwing furtive, brief glances at the spiky-haired teen. He noticed some girls were wistfully staring at the guy. Some girls, though, had already invaded his privacy by coming close and inspecting his hair and eyes, which were unusual for a Japanese teenager.
"I'm telling you, his hair's gold! He must be French!" exclaimed one giddy girl wearing glasses. Her name was, apparently, Inoue Miyako. She was, disturbingly, bouncing in her seat.
"No it's not! They're more of an orange tone. Your eyes are beautiful, by the way," another girl said. Yagami Hikari, her name was. Takeru promptly blushed at the statement. No one had ever complimented his blue eyes before. Both of them were dead wrong about his hair color, though.
As the few girls chatted near him, his gaze drifted towards Motomiya again. He was shocked, however, when he found that Motomiya was no longer resting, but rather glaring coldly. Takeru averted his eyes instantly as the bell rang.
Then their teacher, a tall man with grey, curly hair and thick glasses, entered the classroom. "Good morning, everyone."
"Good morning - …." Being the only one who properly replied the greeting, Takeru felt a very self-conscious. Some of his classmates had mumbled a bored "Morning" but most of them just continued their conversations, though in slightly more hushed voices. Consequently, Takeru drew the teacher's attention to him.
"Ah, you're the new student, eh? Takaishi Takeru, am I right? I'm Mr Kudo." He smiled a very infectious smile, and Takeru smiled back. He was oblivious to the girls that were googley-eyed at him.
Filled with a fresh sense of confidence he showed just why exactly he got promoted to this class. Every question directed at him he answered completely. He even contributed some of his own knowledge to the class, such as how to get the cosine of one angle without using a calculator.
Everything was going smoothly until the teacher called Motomiya.
"Daisuke! Who made, taught, and proved the existence of the Pythagorean Theorem?"
Inconspicuously, Takeru slipped a piece of paper, on which he hurriedly scribbled the answer, into Daisuke's hand. The drowsy teen sat up and stared at Mr Kudo for a while, glanced at the paper, and then said, in a tone of disinterest "Uhh, Barney?" which sent the class howling with laughter.
Takeru abruptly stood up amidst the laughter.
"That's not the answer, Motomiya!"
Mr Kudo raised an exasperated eyebrow. At least somebody had interest in his class. "And what is the right answer, Takaishi?"
"It was made by Pythagoras of Samos."
"Correct Mr Takaishi! Mr Motomiya, you should really be more like Mr Takaishi here and follow his example. Heaven knows what happened to your grade point average!" At this, the class chuckled approvingly.
"What, be a geek like him who's turned on by cosines and Pythagoras?" he countered, and the class cackled in laughter, even noisier than a flea market with a sale.
Takeru was flushed beet red, but didn't say anything, and ducked his head as he sat down, pushing his head deeper into his hat.
"Yeah, sir, I don't believe hats are allowed in this school during classes, so…" Daisuke said, matter-of-factly, and glared at Takeru with challenging eyes. Takeru was getting teary-eyed, but angrily complied, pulling his hat off and looking away before anyone saw his glimmering eyes. Daisuke's eyes widened momentarily before 'tut'ing and looking away as well. Thank god Takeru was next to the window, and nobody could see his sea blue eyes dripping.
And lessons continued then, with neither teen speaking. Takeru heard faint murmurs of 'what a geek' and 'I can't believe I liked that dork'.
OoOoOoOoOoO
And it was after said class that Takeru found himself slammed against a wall in an abandoned corridor, the collar of his shirt lifted.
"Takaishi, I think you should now that no one fucks with me," Daisuke snarled, tightening his grip on the shirt. It wasn't a surprise that Takeru was deathly pale of terror, especially when Daisuke held a razor to his throat. "Just leave me alone, okay? We don't need such a smart-ass here who's promoted and shows off with quoting all the books of the world. And, by the way, I prefer it if people ask me before they sit down next to me." With that, Daisuke threw him away from his sight and whirled around, leaving a shocked Takeru behind.
Swallowing hard, Takeru stared dumbfounded at Daisuke's retreating back and the guy dropped on his lap. His threat had hit Takeru hard. He had never meant to behave like a…a…smart-ass. He had even tried to help Daisuke and all the same, Daisuke did not want to have to do anything with him.
Takeru staggered into the opposite direction than all the other students, who were heading for lunch in the cafeteria. He wanted to go outside and be alone. He trotted down the slope in the grounds towards the gardens at the back. Reaching the first trees, he flung his bag to the ground, angrily bit back his tears and sat down, leaning his back against the trunk of a big tree.
He had imagined everything to be so different. He had been so happy… When his most fervent wish had finally come true and he was accepted in 10th grade after being forced by his parents for many years, the future had seemed to be bright for once in his life when he got the news that he'd be accelerated…
Secluded and without any friends, he had grown up with no one else but his brother Yamato around. And, naturally, he had never had private tuition but had read book after book, constrained to know everything the students a year higher than him would learn at school. He had read all the required textbooks, most of them several times, and also additional literature in order to maintain the remote possibility that someday he would make it into the top of his class, and therefore end his parents' persistence. He had to be ready. So he had read until his eyes would burn because he just could not give up.
And then the miracle had come true. The school had allowed him to be promoted. Takeru's parents had finally stopped. His brother was very proud of him. He always wondered what it would be like having friends of a higher year, studying and having fun with people for once, but now… now he felt insecure and completely out of place.
OoOoOoOoOoO
In the afternoon, Takeru had English taught by Mr Natsuki, a very fat and jovial man. This time, he sat down at an empty table (which remained empty) and tried not to behave like a nerd. They were to evaluate Macbeth in teams of two. Takeru was left without a partner.
"You don't have a partner? Well, that's not a problem. Like that, I can personally care for you," Mr Natsuki said amicably. "And I can see what your present state of knowledge in Shakespeare is." He didn't have to be reminded that he was exceptional. Daisuke made sure of that a while ago.
It was not a very pleasant lesson. Under Mr Natsuki's scrutinizing eyes, Takeru did not bring off a good contribution to their discussion at all, and to crown it all, Takeru's stomach started rumbling.
"Someone's hungry?" Mr Natsuki asked, winking, after an almost wolfish growl of Takeru's stomach. "Ah, I should be able to solve that problem," he opened his briefcase on the teacher's desk, fishing out a chocolate bear. . He passed it to Takeru. "Here, eat it, my boy. I've got loads of them. You must know I'm really close friends with Aoi Tada, the owner of the chocolate shop north of town."
Terribly ashamed, Takeru grabbed the sweets, murmured a "Thank you" and gulped down the chocolate. He quickly looked around if anyone had noticed, which Daisuke, of course, had.
"Is anyone else willing to make a generous donation for the new student? Maybe, if you're lucky, he's nice enough to explain to you what the apothem of his geekiness is," Daisuke taunted. His remark caused laughter among the other students. Takeru felt the heat rising in his cheeks.
"Motomiya Daisuke, every time and again I hope you will return as a decent boy from the holidays," Mr Natsuki said, half desperate, half amused. Daisuke did not say anything in return but just gave his teacher a hard look.
Finally, the bell rang and the lesson was over. Despite the chocolate bear, Takeru was terribly hungry. He wandered thoughtlessly off a different path from the students. And then a hand caught his.
Fearing it was Daisuke, he started lightly trembling. He dared look behind him and sighed in relief when he noticed it was only Hikari.
"Don't worry about the things Daisuke says," Hikari encouraged him. "He's just a little, spoiled, arrogant brat with a big mouth. Unfortunately, he has crowds of admirers. The little boys think he is sooo cool and the little girls think he's sooo cute." She rolled her eyes and muttered, "It's really pathetic… all the people who mindlessly follow him around and cheer for him… Yeah, that's how things work at this grade. Hey, I guess I should show you around. After all, I'm the president of our class, so it's my job to help new students get to know this building. And trust me, that's not an easy thing. On my first day here, I kept getting lost the whole day."
"It would be really nice of you to help me. It's just… I'm a bit hungry and I'd like to eat something first. I didn't have anything for lunch."
"Didn't find the cafeteria? Got lost?" She grinned at him and then grabbed hold of him when he almost tripped down the stairwell.
"Thanks," Takeru muttered, glad that the little incident had saved him from explaining why he had not had lunch.
A/N: Soooooo Tell me what you think! R&R!
