Chapter knowledge required: Sailor (grade eleven, junior)
Chapter contains mild shonen-ai (boy x boy).
The first week of school may have been hectic for the Cadettes but for those well into the school system already, everything was far from a problem!
They knew where the bathrooms were and they always knew where to go. They knew what teachers you could mess around with and what ones you didn't dare step out of line.
So naturally for this group of Sailors, they spent more of their time concentrating on personal problems then on the math questions before them.
One individual alone thought that he had the most long lasting, not easily solved problem of them all. Of course, so did everybody else with troubles in their lives but this boy had a twist to his.
Not being one to receive notes in class, Luke fon Fabre was surprised when a neatly folded paper was nudged onto his desk. He didn't glance around out of fear that the ever looming Professor Van would pop up from his own shadow and start screaming incompetence.
Keeping his eyes glued to his desk, his fingers neatly undid the paper. The light crumpling in the semi silent room made him a bit nervous but he flattened out the paper no less.
Are you okay? You have not spoken but a greeting to me all morning. That is terribly unusual.
Luke smiled, not needing a signature to recognize the loopy penmanship and polite chatter. Though upon reading this, he felt a bit guilty. Natalia never passed notes in class. Ever. She thought it terribly disrespectful to the teacher. Luke must have really worried her with his silence for her to not wait until class was over.
Sorry. It's already been two years and I've barely managed to get under his skin.
Folding the paper up, he nudged it forward to be passed up to Natalia. The reply back took a long while but Luke figured she was working on the math he was supposed to be completing as well.
Oh Luke, I wish you would find something else to worry your time over. I understand how much you adore him but he just does not appear interested.
This wasn't the response he'd wanted to hear from her though he understood where she was coming from. Two, long and painful years was a long time to be dreaming about someone you couldn't lay a finger on. Well, he could but then he'd just freak him out more then he already had.
He could change his mind with my persistence.
Right? Sometimes people just needed that extra push to get things started.
Luke: two years is not persistence. That's an obsession.
Well he already knew that. He'd adored this man since the first time he'd spotted him. The cheesy love at first sight that could never be. He had the option of attempting to lose these misplaced feelings but ... why? He was content enough with the one sided chatter for now even if his patience was at its wits end.
Well it's a brand new year and maybe this year he'll reconsider. I'm another year older!
He felt like he was so close (in a sense), he couldn't just suddenly give up!
HE is another year older as well. Luke, please promise me something. If things do not work out by the end of the year or you make no progress: move on.
Those were some pretty tough terms. He couldn't promise that, no matter how much he hated worrying Natalia.
I can only promise I'll try.
When Natalia got the note and read the message, she gave a sigh and slipped the note into her pocket. It was then that Luke knew their conversation had ended on rocky ground.
--
Our lovely janitor Guy had difficulty choosing his favorite time of day. Considering what he did and who he worked with, he barely had a chance to be alone in his own head. It had taken a whole year of being here to figure out that lunch was that time and another whole year to really, really appreciate it.
During lunch hours, he was so busy cleaning up everybody else's mess that he had no chance for fellow faculty to tease him and no chance for a particular student to bother stepping anywhere near him.
It was bliss!
"Hey sweet thang."
Oh god ... a chill ran straight through Guy's spine, mop halted halfway through a proper stroke. He didn't even want to look up.
"Good afternoon, Luke." He spoke and forced himself to look up at the particular student with a smile. The smile, he knew, was like a trap but it was in his nature to be polite. He looked back down to the floor to continue his work.
An extremely uncomfortable silence followed for Guy. Even his movements in mopping were jerky and unprofessional. It was nerve wracking to Luke to be anywhere near him.
Why him?
There was a tap and Luke gave a laugh. "Is this sign supposed to keep me here?" He questioned, picking up Guy's fixed sign of HALL TEMPORARILY CLOSED.
Guy leaned against his mop and motioned down with his other hand. "Hey, hey. Put that back. That's school property."
The redhead looked it over, shrugged and replaced it where he retrieved it. Glancing back up at Guy, he smiled.
Our janitor shifted and tried to keep a firm expression. "Look Luke-"
"I really, really ..." Luke took a sharp, loud breath in, "like you ..." a sickening silence. "A lot ..."
Luke looked as uncomfortable and out of place as Guy felt. Neither moved. Neither breathed.
How was Guy supposed to say anything to that face?
Luke stood beside the sign and kept his gaze at a slant.
Being the braver of the two for the situation, Luke picked up one foot and turned his body in slow motion. Each one of his steps was like walking on glass with bare feet. Lucky for them both, Luke was around the hall corner in moments.
It was only then that either learned to breath again. Guy put his hand over his mouth and relied heavily that his mop wouldn't give way under his weight.
His stomach gurgled and Guy felt like he was being crushed in such a confusing fashion.
Why him ...? Why him ...?
"Oh my, what a dilemma."
This was not Guy's day at all. The janitor turned around, refusing to let his mop hold him up anymore. He looked highly conflicted. "Look, Jade, it wasn't what it looked like."
"And what was it supposed to look like?" Vice Principal Jade questioned, his grin ever so vibrant.
That was a good point. What was it supposed to look like?
"I swear I didn't do anything to provoke it."
"Of course not. You were just being your regular self."
"Exactly!"
Jade continued to smile but he kept silence. It was only until Guy replayed that road of conversation did he realize why Jade was having so much fun teasing him. Guy hadn't done anything, he was just his regular self. And Luke fell for that. Quite hard actually. If the boy thought he hadn't gotten under Guy's skin, then he wasn't paying attention.
"Alright, I know I know. It's not like he's a bad kid or anything. You've seen him run around as much as I have." Guy tried.
Jade chuckled. "Oh I doubt that. I spent most of my time making sure our principal doesn't escape his office to interrupt classes with his ramble."
The sad part about that being was that Guy could imagine that being the furthest thing from a lie. "Speaking of which, why are you even here?"
Jade waved his finger in the air and made a quiet tsk tsk noise. "Now now, don't change the subject. And if you must know, I took the liberty to install a door handle that will lock from the outside. He should be perfectly harmless."
Guy's mouth fell open. "You locked Peony inside his office? Are you mad?"
"I like to think I'm perfectly sane. Your opinion matters quite little. Now about this little conversation I happened to ever so innocently stumble across."
Bull. Jade probably followed Guy around to see if anything interesting was going to happen to him today. "You can't tell Peony. You can't."
Jade smiled and put his hands behind his back. "Of course not. That is, naturally, if you speak the truth to my following question."
Guy's entire spirit fell. He hated Jade's questions. Why? Because they were always that one single question that could pin you down in a corner with no way out. And with the thought of Peony knowing (it was bad enough Jade knew) he really had no other option.
"Fine." Guy grumbled reluctantly. "Ask your question."
"Excellent." Jade smiled. "So what do you plan to do now?"
Guy blinked, waiting for the explanation.
"A young man to whom has been following you around for two years now has finally gotten up the courage to tell you why. Though I doubt that sorry display was the moment he envisioned, I doubt it really matters now. The truth is out in the open. So: what do you plan to do now?" Jade elaborated.
"Uhh ..." Guy babbled and then contemplated the idea.
So what was his course of action? He'd been dreading the day Luke finally gained up the courage to tell him he'd been Guy's personal stalker from the day he entered high school. A little extreme but through Guy's vision, he was pretty much dead on.
As he said to Jade earlier, Luke wasn't a bad guy. Sure he seemed to have his faults like everybody else but he seemed like a good friend. He was always hanging around that blond girl Natalia. Always smiling and laughing and generally having a good time. He didn't seem like a bad kid: he was never wandering the halls during class or anything like that. He made it to everything on time and was never late. If asked to run an errand for certain teachers, he would gladly do so.
But that was where the problem lied. Luke was a brilliant student. Guy couldn't ...
"Ignore it."
"Hmm?" Jade hummed. "Come again?"
"I'll ignore it. Like he never said anything to me. It'll just make him more awkward whenever he sees me, right? I mean, I don't want to bug him or anything. He has his studies to think about. He's a Sailor, he only has two years left. He can't spend that time on me, he has much more important things to think about." Guy nodded firmly.
Jade just stared at him a moment but then gave a smile. A short laugh followed. "You never cease to surprise me."
Guy grinned. "What, with how brilliant I am?"
The vice principal shifted his feet and stood in a fashion that indicated he was going to leave.
"With how naive you are."
TBC ...
Review, please!
