NOOOO. NO WAY. NO. HELL NO. NO FUCKING WAY IN HELL.

WHY? Why do mean things always happen to him? Was he cursed? As far as he knew he a nice WHY?

It had all started a week ago.

Kagetora-san had given them assignments that had to be completed at all costs within a week's time. the clincher in that deal was that it accounted for almost 60% of credit.

But of course he had to while away two precious days of the week gaming with Fukuda before even starting to research for the damnable assignment. Which made him eventually come to the realization that unless he foregoes sleep for the next four days, he would be in knee deep shit with no reprieve whatsoever.

And so, he manned up, hoarded up an entire week's supply of junk food, a bottle of Tums at the ready and started slogging his way through the cumbersome assignment. There wouldn't have been a chance in fucking hell if he didn't do this, he reasoned.

What he hadn't expected when he submitted the report today (yesterday?) evening just before the clock ran out, with a smile as bright as the SUN on his zombie face, was to hear Kagetora-san to tell him that there was a test he needed to complete to get the effing credit.

But OF COURSE there HAD to be a fucking catch. 60% credit for just an assignment had sounded too good to be true. They just HAD to hand his ass to him this way. He knew, he just knew, fate would never be kind to him. Hadn't ever been. Will never be. It had to be just a stroke of sheer luck that he had completed the assignment on time.

Pondering over his misfortunes wouldn't get him anywhere, he thought, as he rushed to his room to frantically go through the notes for some last minute preparations. He needed to make sure that he knew what he was going to write a whole damnable two hour test about instead of letting his sleep addled brain take over.

By the time he deemed that he had reached the if-I-am-going-to-get-screwed-then-so-be-it stage of learning, it was 1AM. Arming himself with his laptop and charger he went to the study hall thinking that at this time of the night, he can take the test in peace and then wallow in misery for the rest of the school year.

He thought wrong.

He stood there at the entrance of the hall and just gawked.

Apparently everybody else had gotten the same memo that it was a fun idea to take up the test at 1AM too. All the machines were plugged in and were being abused by fellow zombies. He searched high and low for a place to sit and get wrecked but to no avail. And excuse him for being a person who is not good with crowds. There is pleasure in solitude, thank you very much.

He heaved a weary sigh and resigned himself to the fact that he was going to not take the test and consequently fail a year before he remembered the Starbucks near the campus. He brightened up instantly and literally fled to the coffee shop.

The strong smell of coffee and freshly baked brownies calmed him down a little as he sat in the corner to finally, finally, take the exam. He ordered a soy latte with whipped cram and chocolate sprinkle, and taking a sip of the delicious drink, he opened up the browser to begin the fated exam. It was a mile-long questionnaire with a time limit of two hours and it had to be done online.

When he was halfway done with only 50 minutes left to go his laptop notified him : Sorry buddy, I love you but I have only 10% charge right now, so I am gonna die soon if you don't feed me immediately.

His blood ran cold.

That brought him to his current disposition.

Raking a hand through his chestnut hair which hadn't seen a shower in forever he scourged for a plug point for his charger before his dear grandmother-of-a-laptop decided to bail on him. He discovered to his ever growing dismay, he had been at THE ONE end that didn't have a power source.

Oh, someone up there was having a free hand with their bitch pass. And as usual, HE was the bait.

He looked around to find two other corners filled with dead-to-the-world students like him using their technical accessories which where, unfortunately, plugged in, That left him the corner right across him.

The guy sitting there quite regally and sipping whatever he had ordered out of his cup was typing away at his phone. Kouki discovered with brimming relief that there was a plug point near him and he wasn't using it.

But Kouki felt like not moving an inch from where he was now. His self preservation instincts which usually proved very very useful were warning him to stay at a minimum ten mile radius from the red-haired guy.

Now that he looked closely the guy was what one would call beautiful. He had red eyes that were too big for his face, a really sharp aristocratic nose, high cheekbones and a killer jaw line. His red hair wasn't exactly red either, it was more like crimson met magenta and had horny night. Sure at past 2AM, if the guy didn't have a disheveled look, then there was a problem. He had a frown on his lovely face and his jaw seemed tense as well. At this his instincts warned him to NEVER do anything to even instigate that expression.

Which riled up quite a bit. After all there were only 45 minutes left and his laptop wasn't going to charge itself. Well, he said to himself, fate has played with him from first, so if he was going to get screwed royally, he might as well do a damn good job of it. He steeled himself, carried his laptop, charger and latte across the shop, all the while his instincts screeching at him to stay the fuck away, and sat down near the drop dead gorgeous but very pissed redhead.

The guy looked up from is phone and fixed him a glare that would have frozen the Amazon. Though that made him shiver from his hair tip to toe nails he chose to ignore it and fed his starved laptop its desired food. And only when his laptop thanked him by showing him the plugged in sign, he looked at the guy and said, "Hey dude, I am really sorry but i have this online exam that is essential to me getting my sorry ass to the next year and my laptop was dying. Since you were the only person not using the point, I had to come here. So if you will excuse me, I will continue my path to self destruction now."

He promptly chose to ignore the looks of go-up-in-flames the redhead gave him in favor of the task at hand. He, of course, felt the glares that the redhead sent his way (did he even blink?) but he stood his ground. Intimidatingly attractive or not, his future was more important.

Soon thinking about solutions to different and extremely complex problems contained in the reservoir of questions that bombarded him made him forget everything else, stunning-but-irritated-redhead included.

It wasn't until he had finished and had pressed submit with only one minute left to go that he let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. He had done it! The feeling of exhilaration reverberated through his exhausted frame before he remembered where he was. Probably wasn't the place to tap dance in joy.

Sighing audibly, he worked out the kinks in his back and shoulders that had come from slouching in from his poorly lit laptop for so long. It was almost 3:30 and his week of minimal-to-none sleep was catching up to him. He felt like a zombie right now and couldn't wait to drop face down on his lumpy mattress fully clothed and not wake up for another century. When he rotated his stiff neck to the side, he noticed that the redhead was still sitting next to him. Closer up, he noticed the redhead was even more attractive; his hair which was defying gravity at the moment looked super silky to touch, his red eyes with elongated pupils looked bloodshot and had bags underneath, his cheeks were a little sunken but that added to his I-am-better-than-Michelangelo's-David look and he had a jawline to kill for. His fingers were long and lean as they typed away what-not at his phone and he wore a turtleneck that clung to him and highlighted his lithe features. He knew from one glance that guy worked out at the gym at least three times a week and probably had better abs than him. He could sense that he was strong too. He was positive that if they stood head to head they would be the same height. His musings were cut short when a silken voice snapped, "Are you done?"

He was shocked to say the least. Not only did the guy have a fine art body that he would sell magazines like hot cakes but his voice was like a siren too? Are there even male sirens? Did they exist? Did they take up human forms and come to Starbucks at 3AM on a school night? He shook his mind clear of thoughts when he heard someone clear their throat.

"Aah, yeah! Done! The test went okay, I guess. Oh, i never got to thank you. Thanks man. I couldn't have done it if hadn't let me."

"Congratulations on finishing your arduous examination. Its the least I can say for someone who barged into my personal space, used it as there own, without so much as an apology, and after completing, openly ogling at me." He said sardonically.

Kouki did a double take. This didn't sit well with him. He growled,"Hey, I had no choice. It was the only station available and you weren't even using it. And as far as I can remember, I did offer up an you are going to be all high and mighty about this well too bad dude, you got the wrong guy."

The guy looked like he was going to protest when he cut him off saying,"And besides, its not my fault you are breathtaking! If you knew I was drooling at you, you should have said so instead of letting me continue."

"..."

"..."

"...did you just call me breathtaking?"

"..."

Kouki felt his entire body flush at that, Oh holy crap. He hadn't meant to say that out loud! Definitely not to the guy's incredible face! He cursed his sleepy brain for not bothering to filter his thoughts. He looked down at his lap wishing the ground would open up and swallow him now, right now. He chanced a glance in the guy's direction to see if was more livid than he was before but felt his eyes widen slightly at the expression the other wore.

The redhead was blushing.

Blushing just a shade of lighter than his hair from one end of his ear to the other and looking at him incredulously.

They both averted their eyes immediately when they realized that they were staring at each other for too long to be considered healthy.

Oh, but he wanted to look at him. Again and again and again and never look away.

Kouki coughed and decided to take a leap of faith. Where was this new found bravery coming from, he mused. He held out his hand with a tentative smile,"Furihata Kouki, sophomore, T University."

When his hand was gripped in a slightly larger warmer and paler counterpart, he looked up to see the redhead returning his smile. Oh my. Be still, my heart.

"Akashi Seijuro, sophomore, K University."

Maybe fate wasn't so bad after all. It needed to be a pain in the wrong place to push him to his destiny.