Phoenix of Starlight: There will be in due time! I need to have some plot first, for once, and give Fran a little more depth. Don't worry, there's reasons behind this. Haha, butterbutt's one of my worst insults! The last chapter was rushed without any plans, I apologise. DragonKnight1775: Same, don't worry! Thank you for the compliment, it means a lot. Traum-Alptraum: Just realised how hard it is to type your name early in the morning/night lmao. Woe is me for having to retype it at least three times until it was right. Fran's seriously annoying, isn't he? ._. I couldn't tone him down. LMAO! Isolated classroom action will be there someday, I promise you. XD Sob sob, no one understood who his sister was. ShiShiRuKe: Thank you, Hubby! /loves on you Paradoxismminant: I told you I would! Don't underestimate me, ohoho. Kurosawa-Kun: Fufu, I look forward to it then! 6918! D8 -hides away- No, I definitely need you! My Fran was just... no. XD /loves on you ZirciX: Welcome back, haha. And this is where I call you crazy: I don't read the manga and I don't remember the anime, haha. ;) B-Cup's Haru! fgjhfgj that epiphany is disgusting GET IT AWAY FROM ME. nightingale mistress: Haha, thank you! ~oh dear Haru, she'll be oblivious forever~ NothingIcanSay: It's fine! I just like pointing it out when it happens since it's amusing. c: Don't fake my accent! You are godly! ;v; Tsk tsk, reading while studying. You can multitask well, though, so I congratulate you. K-kissing? I was going more for "oh for fuck sake they're killing each other again" approach, but sure, why not? LOL! LAL? XDD I do have Lal as Kyouya's family in another fic, but not this one! You'll see, you'll see.
家庭教師ヒットマン REBORN! © 天野明
Chapter Four—The Guilt's a Catalyst
During this time I go through with you, my feelings alone are all that live.
Viper was the first to react to Haru's exclamation of the green-haired male's name. He rolled his eyes, pushing past the smaller girl before walking across the rooftop, making it so his footsteps were louder than necessary. As always, he kept eye contact with Kyouya for far longer than was needed before averted his gaze, letting it fall onto his little brother of sorts. As Kyouya considered his relationship to be one almost of siblings with Haru, Viper considered the same with Fran, even though the smaller male had never shown any sort of positive response to being dubbed as such.
"This is exactly why I didn't want you to to be together," Viper drawled, his mid-length violet hair falling over his expression for a moment until the wind swiped it out of the way. "You don't get along, even if you insist you do."
"We don't," Kyouya agreed, blinking. He was still in the same position as before, the tonfa pressed against Fran's throat as he refused to move. His grip hadn't been altered, nor was the cold steel of his weapon pulled away by at least a fraction. Only a small amount of his attention was somewhere else, but the situation at hand was the most important to him. "You may have him back, if you wish."
"I'd rather not." Viper frowned in return. "He's an annoyance, just as you are, too."
The brunet narrowed his eyes. "Your words are nicer every time we meet, Viper." They were forgetting that there were two more besides them on the scene, and to remind himself of it, Kyouya pressed the tonfa further against the smaller male's throat, waiting for the distinctive sound of a gasp or at least his breathing being affected. "Why are you here this time?"
"You two just leech our money. Get jobs, do something so I don't have to see that pitiful expression you try to hide." He scoffed, frowning afterwards. "My intention was to kick you both into the right mindset, but if you're going to kill each other," Viper drawled before adding, "as I'd always suspected you would, please, do continue." With a dismissive wave of his hand, Haru stepped in and huffed before grabbing hold of Viper's hand, pulling it down to place it down by his thigh. She intertwined their fingers soon after that, staring at him was an odd expression.
"You two get along as well as ever." She beamed slightly before her expression became horrified again as she set her eyes onto the two males on the floor. In response, Kyouya sighed under his breath, trying to resist the urge to roll his eyes much as Viper had done so before. He didn't want to be like him—if there was anyone he disliked more than him, there was only one. "Kyouya, please," Haru said with a stern expression.
"I," Kyouya had started before biting down onto his tongue, sending a glare Fran's way before pushing himself up from the ground. He kept his hands firmly gripping his weapons, staring down at the male as he pushed himself up, too, seemingly unaffected from the lack of air within his lungs. Fran simply took a few deep breaths before mockingly making a peace sign with his fingers towards Viper. "I want nothing to do with him any more," he announced before striding past the two adults. Agitated, the waves were practically radiating from him.
Haru immediately responded with a disapproving tone. "Kyouya..."
"Nothing," he spat over his shoulder, making eye contact with Viper as he had said so. The one thing that he didn't like was how they were connected—the longer he stared at the older male, the more he saw him within Fran. The marks around their eyes, their attitudes sometimes, when the situation concerned money, and the disapproving but cold gaze they would both sometimes have. If he had to deal with one only sometimes, having Fran looking like a mirror image, with only a different hair and eye colour, was just as bad.
He suspected that the only reason Viper had ever helped them was since Fran had become his friend of sorts. Then, he'd gotten through to Haru, too, and naturally she'd taken a liking to him. Before long they were together far too often and from seeing her smiling to herself on the oddest of occasions, Kyouya supposed that it would've ruined some of the only happiness she had by suggesting that he wasn't as nice as he had seemed. When Haru had been old enough to legally leave the orphanage, she had done so quickly. Viper had left a year before, but they'd still kept in contact—the apartment that she'd given them had belonged to the both of them n the beginning, and just the thought was sickening.
Kyouya had been stubborn at first, refusing to sleep within one of the rooms from some of the thoughts that were in his head. And then seeing Fran stick his head through the door to enquire why he wasn't asleep only made it worse.
When he and Fran had left, they weren't at the right age, and yet Viper had gone back to sort out of the documents. How he had been able to do it so quickly and able to lie in the meantime had been a complete mystery at the time, and at that moment it still was.
It's just for Fran's sake, Kyouya reminded himself. Was he looking too far into the older male's actions, or was Viper simply determined to show that anything close to him could be easily acquired? They weren't comfortable in the same room, much less when it was just the two of them. By distancing himself from Fran it would be for the sake of his pride, to prove that he was able to live by myself and not needing to share with others. As selfish as it was, he stuck to it.
-x-
From spending only one night away from the apartment and purposely keeping his phone switched off, Kyouya's mood had deteriorated extremely. Though, that didn't mean that his pride had, too. That was still fully in tact as he strode into the classroom the next morning, purposely avoiding eye contact with Fran as he settled himself down onto a seat upon a different desk, blatantly ignoring the other as it was on the other side of the room. If anyone of his classmates had noticed, they didn't say a thing as the lesson continued.
And then before he knew it, days were continuing like that. The brunet had soon found himself sleeping through lessons, either walking around the streets endlessly when it was time for night and solving all of his problems within the school—meaning showering and such—but it did mean his health was taking a hit for his pride. Although the food wasn't exactly great from the convenience store and the money within his bank account wasn't all that much, it was becoming harder to be independent. Fran and him still made eye contact on rare occasions, but chose not to go any further than that. When they did look at each other, it seemed like a contest of sorts to see who would look away first, or whom would be called upon by the teacher at the worst moment.
Although Kyouya hadn't done his homework in the first year, he'd somehow made some appear in the beginning of the second. And since he and Fran were no longer speaking, he didn't see the point of it. There were a couple of lectures from the teacher, yet he simply looked away and diverted his attention to somewhere else when the time called for it. He didn't seem to care what was being said, nor the comments that were passing around the classroom from his behaviour. Fran was still as emotionless as ever, yet he wasn't handing in his homework, too.
After the exchange between him and Dino in the beginning, they hadn't spoken properly since. None of his questions had been answered, and Kyouya didn't want to go out of his way to approach the other. It would have been too out of character for him; staying behind in class or sticking his hand in the air wasn't like him at all. So, he concluded that he wasn't going to start just to quench his curiosity. With his behaviour already being odd from not conversing with Fran, he didn't want more rumour circulating around them and then counsellors approaching him, too. It was bound to happen in due time, after all. The school's counsellors were far too busy butting their heads into everyone's business, attempting to convince them that they could actually help. He wanted to keep his distance until the curiosity died down—meaning, the brunet slept through Dino's class just as any other, not regarding him any different. Even if there were unanswered questions in his mind, he pushed them aside and kept his attention on what was important: appearing fine.
Though, it was obvious he wasn't doing as well as he had thought when he awoke with a dark, noting that it was past the end of class time. He scanned the room to see what had caused the noise to wake him up, raising his eyebrows in bewilderment when he saw Dino standing at the front, leaning down to rest his elbows on the desk as he raised his own eyebrows in questioning.
"Are you sleeping through my lessons out of spite?" he asked in a thoughtful tone, averting his eyes as if it was supposed to make the other feel comfortable. "I thought that at first, but then in the staff room you were brought up as the topic of our conversation. Sleeping through every class, you are."
Kyouya frowned, irked that the blonde was even bothering to repeat anything that he already knew at that moment. Of course he knew what he was doing, and also how it was effecting his grades—it was as clear as glass.
"You must also know that you haven't produced one piece of work in over a week, nor have you approached any teacher to give an excuse, whine about your life or even blatantly state that you're not interested in your education." Dino's expression became dubious as he knitted his eyebrows together, crossing his arms over his chest as he stood up straight.
The atmosphere around them was awkward, even if Dino was located on the other side of the classroom. He could have still gone further, or even given up fully. Kyouya had to give him a little credit, though, as he had the stupidity to actually approach him about the subject; the new approach was new to him, too, as none of the other teachers had bothered before. Was there an ulterior motive that he should have taken note of? If there was, Kyouya wasn't that concerned.
As Kyouya frowned, the blonde mirrored his expression. "Is this to get back at me?" Dino asked seriously.
"No." The brunet blinked, surprised for a moment before he was able to control his mood reflecting upon his face. The agitation still leaked into his tone, though, as his eyes quickly darted around the room to see if there was anyone there at all. "I have nothing to do with you." No one was there. Just his bag, himself and then Dino by the front desk.
"We both know that's a lie." Dino ran his hand through his hair, momentarily revealing his forehead. "Then why are you jeopardising your education just to sleep on your desk? Anyone who does that normal has an excuse," he explained before carrying on, holding up his hand to count upon his fingers. "Health issues, family problems." Two fingers had gone down as his voice was getting lower. "Domestic abuse, mental problems." Two more, only one left as Dino took in a shaky breath. "Rape. You name it, there's reasons."
The emphasis on rape was more than obvious. Raising a thin eyebrow, Kyouya proclaimed, "I've never been raped, or any of what you've mentioned." At least from his knowledge, that was. If there were any problems with his life before he was placed into the orphanage, he had no clue whatsoever. It could have simply been his mind blocking out the memories, or he'd forced himself to forget over the years—get rid of the memories that weren't important, or from the time and age he was living in. "I'm fine."
"Then show it by doing your work." Dino nodded, locking eyes again.
Kyouya stubbornly crossed his arms as he noticed Dino's were by his sides at that point. "No."
"What reason do you have to refuse?" Dino sighed, seemingly exasperated as he ran his hand through his hair again. Nerves, apparently, as he frowned. The troubled expression across his face had only been present the last time—through classes, the blonde was far too happy teaching, even if he had stumbled over his words at certain points. From what Kyouya had heard, he was liked. "This is harder than I thought it would be."
"Don't you need at least one troublesome student?" Kyouya asked, rolling his eyes before pushing himself up from the desk. Reaching down beside him, he averted his eyes while picking up his bag before placing it upon is shoulder, making sure everything was within it beforehand. "Be thankful it's me, herbivore."
"Thankful?" Dino laughed openly that time instead of sniggering underneath his breath. The brunet identified the noise easily beforehand, as Haru had done it far too many times in the past when it wasn't necessary. There wasn't any reason to laugh at the demeaning name. "Gosh, you're the reasons for all of my problems at the moment, I swear," he mumbled, mostly to himself but the brunet was able to catch the point of his words.
"Why don't you just give up?" Kyouya questioned with an exasperated tone, staying rooted to the spot while he decided whether to simply leave the room or not. If he had just left, did it seem like he had given up? That certainly wasn't the case, but he didn't want to accidentally encourage the blonde to poke into his business more than necessary. "I'm not a delinquent," he denied, announcing his own opinion. "I don't carry a knife around with me." Still, there was a weapon permanently within his jacket, but he was going to keep that to himself for now. From what he knew, Dino didn't know about it at all. "I don't associate with others either, so there's no problem. Stop trying to get involved."
"Well, I'm sorry for being concerned with how your grades are," Dino snapped before biting his tongue, averting his eyes when he realised his temper had gotten the better of him. In response, Kyouya blinked in surprise from the slip up that had happened, quite shocked that it had happened at all. Of course, when they first met the blonde had let his composure slip back then, but he had been completely fine ever since. Maybe, though, that was since it hadn't just been the two of them. "No one else seemed to be bothered with you. So I'm sorry for wanting to show you there's actually a teacher who does."
"Apology not accepted, then," the brunet murmured in return, narrowing his eyebrows. If it was going to be a repeat of the year before, there was definitely going to soon be a good enough reason for his grades to slip and attendance to fall drastically. "You're just like the last teacher."
"I am nothing like Mukuro and even if I was, I'd hate myself for it." Dino childishly pouted, crossing his arms over his chest as his lower lip jutted out. When Kyouya realised another slip up; meaning that he could tell that they were both somehow connected, he stiffened, expecting the worst at that moment. Had it been a set up to get back at him again? "We specialise in the same subject, that's it. He still gets me into shit." As soon as the swear word had left his mouth, Dino dramatically placed his hand over it, as if trying to take back the word. "Forget I said that, please. Even if I'm going to get fired already, I want this to last just a little bit longer."
"And why would you be getting fired already?" Kyouya asked, grasping his bag's handle tighter than before when he realised it had slipped through his mouth without really thinking about it. It made him seem interested in the other, even though it was only a slight amount.
"Because of you." Dino knitted his eyebrows together again, his tone slightly mocking as if he was conveying that the answer was obvious. "Please, cut the act already. I'm not falling for it again."
Falling for what? Kyouya thought to himself, that time frowning in confusion. Instead of taking a step forward, he leaned backwards against the desk, sitting lightly on the edge while still staring at the older male. "I think you've confused me with someone else," he pointed out with a mocking tone.
Dino shook his head. "Oh, I don't think that's possible, Kyouya."
Stiffening at the sound of his first name, Kyouya corrected him. "Hibari."
"I'm sticking with what you told me." The blonde frowned. "You're Kyouya to me, unless we're in class. Then I have to call you either your last name, or full name. That's how it's going to be and stay." He shrugged his shoulders as though it wasn't a big deal. "Everyone's already calling me Dino, so why don't you, still?"
Kyouya blinked. "I don't recall ever having called you that."
"I said drop the act."
"There is no act to drop," he defended himself stubbornly, the set of his jaw becoming squared in indignation. "Why are you assuming everything is about you? We've met before, yes, but there's nothing more to it than that. There's nothing to remember about it, so stop pestering me with your useless comments." The brunet pushed himself away from the desk, purposely striding across the room as one of his hands was practically itching to reach into his jacket for his own defence. He could feel Dino's eyes on his face as he crossed the room, stepping down the aisle just beside where his desk was.
"Okay, okay," Dino humoured him in an odd tone, stepping forward to approach the other. "I get it. You don't want to remember and that's fine, really, it is." He took another step, not noticing as Kyouya's fingers pressed against the smooth metal of his tonfa as a reflex. "Will you at least allow me to apologise and attempt to convince you I'm actually concerned for your grades?"
"No," Kyouya grunted, firmly gripping his weapon at that point. The blonde was still unaware as to what was happening, blindly taking a step forward without thinking of the consequences. Really, he had given the other enough warning—Dino should have been alerted already that it wasn't safe to invade his personal space. "Get away," he hissed.
Dino still didn't listen to his words or body language. "No," he copied Kyouya's previous tone, not noting the frustration without the set of the brunet's jaw. "You're supposed to listen to me."
"Wrong," he proclaimed, knocking Dino's outstretched hand with far too much strength. With his other he was still gripping onto his tonfa, debating in his mind whether to reveal it or not. Surely, Dino's reaction would've been not what he was expecting, and probably going to cause him problems later in the week.
"I'm not oblivious to what you're doing," Dino stressed, grimacing while looking at his hand before he pushed his luck again. Taking another step forward, he continued to be persistent. "There's definitely something wrong."
Before he could give the other a proper amount of time to think about what was happening, Kyouya had pushed him away with his tonfa that time. The thud as the metal connected with his body was unmistakable, just like the shocked expression that crossed Dino's expression before he winced. The blow was hard enough to leave a dark bruise the coming day and with the action rendering the blonde quiet for a good amount of time, Kyouya took it as his time to leave.
-x-
Later that night, Kyouya supposed his pride was acting up again. Maybe it was from the thought that he wasn't comfortable within the classroom any more, but then he quickly disregarded that and then proclaimed within his mind that he needed to find a more comfortable place. And when he found that the amount of money within his account was enough that he needed to keep for the long time rather than spending it immediately, he ground his teeth together while pondering what to do. Giving up and then going to see Fran was out of the question, but there was one more option that he was attempting to forget.
Yet as his feet trudged towards to the other apartment before he had realised it, Kyouya bit down onto his bottom lip. It was just a natural reaction—it wasn't as though he was going to tell her everything, just to talk for a small amount of time was enough. They had been apart for awhile, too, making the strained conversation from over a week ago even more awkward now that he had looked back upon it. Entering the building he had visited only a few times—since Haru usually stayed with a friend when she appeared in Namimori—Kyouya grimaced to himself before sucking up a small bit of his pride.
Knocking on the wood of the door, he stiffened when he heard voices from within. That meant that she wasn't going t be alone, and there was definitely going to be too much noise from within if he was seen. The friend wasn't exactly one that he liked a lot, and went as far as to avoid all of the time if he ever caught sight of him upon the street. It wasn't as though he hated Haru's particular friend; it was just that the first time they had met, when he was even more awkward than he was at that moment, it hadn't gone particularly well. Having his hair ruffled while a greeting was exclaimed wasn't the best way to approach him, after all.
When the door opened, Kyouya's expression became even more irritated than before. "Viper," he said, making sure to place his hand on the door to make it so it couldn't be shut on him. "Where's Haru?"
"Where do you think she is when we're here?" Viper raised an eyebrow, almost mockingly if the tone wasn't completely neutral. Although with the disapproving stare from having turned up without any notice at all, that was all there was to it. No verbal refusals of any sort. "Don't let him get to you, too."
Kyouya blinked, surprised that the older male had stepped aside to allow him to come inside without any further protest. Maybe it was just him imagining things—if Viper had finally approved of him, it wouldn't have been when he'd finally distanced himself from Fran. He stepped inside without a complaint, checking out of the corner of his eyes to see if the coast was clear before slipping his shoes off and padding through the rooms.
As expected, Haru was within the bedroom with the other male. Viper had walked off somewhere else in the apartment, most likely distancing himself for a good reason and making sure he was out of sight, really, meaning that when the brunet was idly standing outside the main bedroom, he stiffened while wondering whether to leave or push his luck further.
"Better safe than sorry," he murmured, gripping a tonfa with one hand before opening the door, inwardly grimacing as the creak was only audible to him, soon drowned out by a loud squeal. One that, in fact, didn't come from Haru.
"My gosh, I always knew that was your colour. But you never listened to me now, did you?" the male gushed, clasping his hands together as he stared intently at Haru spinning around slowly on the spot, testing out a new piece of clothing. "You may keep it. I'm amazing, I know, you don't need to tell me again."
"Oh, Luss." Haru smiled warmly, not realising that there was someone else present in the room. Standing still on the spot after regaining her balance, and shamelessly kicking off the shoes she had on, she seemed chuffed with herself, puffing her chest proudly. "You sure you don't want one of my latest creations in return?"
Lussuria's reaction was almost comical. He snorted before covering his mouth with his hand, trying to pretend that the noise didn't happen at all. "No, it's fine, really," he denied her with a dismissive wave of his most likely manicured hand.
A hand that had been saw too close to Kyouya beforehand, causing him to grimace before attempting to close the door and walk away unnoticed. The creak of the hinges was louder than before, though, meaning that it could be heard over their quiet laughter.
"Look who it is." Lussuria raised an eyebrow, purposely jabbing her in the ribs. "I'll keep my perfect skin over here, thank you very much." He nodded, sitting down onto the beanbag in the corner of the room.
"Good." Kyouya scowled in return, making sure to make eye contact for as little time as possible. He was, however, waiting to see what Haru's reaction would have been. Still he wasn't able to figure out what her first reaction to seeing him was going to be; considering that the last time they'd seen each other, he was openly threatening Fran whom she had always considered him close to, he was expecting completely different to what she did.
"My gosh, Kyouya!" she exclaimed loudly, pivoting upon her heel within seconds and causing herself to fall onto the floor with a low thud. Laughing at her slip up along with Lussuria in the background, Kyouya only blinked. She mumbled about pain for awhile, too, before shaking her head to snap herself out of it, clutching the bed to pull herself up. "That didn't go according to plan, damn it."
"Things with you never do." The brunet smirked before he caught Lussuria looking at him peculiarly, adopting the blank expression again.
"Yes, yes, laugh it up." Haru rolled her eyes while smoothing out her clothes of any wrinkles, the apples of her cheeks darkening in colour. "I've been so worried about you, Kyouya."
"...Why?" He furrowed his eyebrows, slightly perplexed. "There was no reason to be."
"No reason to be?" Haru gasped, proceeding to glance at him as if he were a mad man. On the beanbag, discreetly, Lussuria leaned back as if he was enjoying their conversation. "You were rude to not only Viper but to Fran, too, before disappearing for more than a week. Where have you ever been? I went to your apartment and everything!" The older female jutted her lower lip out while crossing her arms over her chest, completely forgetting her happy attitude from only moments before.
"I've been at school, still." He shrugged, indicating that it wasn't a big deal. "I have other places to go rather than staying with him. Did you think I would go crawling back there?" Kyouya leaned against the bedroom wall beside the door, straining his ears to see if there was any other noise within the apartment. From what he could tell, it was only him and Haru that were talking at that moment. Though, he was contemplating whether finding a door that had always been unlocked within the other side of the school was considered a place to go at all or simply luck.
"Oh, come on." She sighed dramatically, shaking her head in time with the noise. "Why must you fight now of all times? You know nothing good comes out of it."
Although he and Fran had fought in the past, they had never lasted very long at all. They never apologised to each other, instead just acting as though nothing had ever happened by either using insulting language to strike up a conversation or mock the other slightly. It had worked in the past, yet they still weren't doing anything more than making eye contact. That was all there was to it, and he was refusing to be the first to give up.
"You don't know that." He raised an eyebrow, pushing the point out of his mind quickly. "Maybe Fran can finally learn to have some respect, and realise people have names, maybe."
"I'm refusing to believe you fell out over names." Haru shook her head again, mirroring his pose by lightly tapping her foot on the ground. "That started years ago and you don't like bringing up the past. See! You're stiffening up just by me mentioning it."
"Then don't mention it, Nee-sama." It was true that he had stiffened slightly, meaning that his muscles had unintentionally tensed, from the mention of the past. He allowed himself to think of it, of course, but mentioning it verbally was too awkward sometimes. "It's none of your business," he said without thinking about his words.
Haru widened her eyes at first before frowning, furrowing her eyebrows in the process before a thoughtful expression came across her face. "None of my business," she mumbled to herself, shaking her head before pointing towards him suddenly with her index finger. "Then, tell me," she demanded in a shrill voice, "who pushed you two together after Fran had set fire to your clothes?"
"You did," he said through clenched teeth. "I get it, I get it," Kyouya repeated for emphasis in an exasperated tone. "But that's not going to convince me to tell you."
How was he supposed to tell her it was a misunderstanding? Fran had apparently acquired information that he had no recollection of—if it was an empty threat, where he didn't know exactly what had happened between him and Dino. How had Fran known; was it possible he'd followed after him when the bet of sorts had been placed? Though,that didn't explain the holes in his memory very well. Fran had acted as though nothing had happened he next day and it seemed that only Dino knew what had been going on. Had they explained names before inflicting some kind of bruises on each other? Although they were mostly faded at that moment, Kyouya wasn't oblivious to the red and purple marks that had been across his torso, legs and neck before they'd disappeared. Certainly, they weren't the normal colour of bruises and he was starting to fear for the worse. From the almost intimate way his name was called from only a few hours ago to Dino's attitude, something had definitely gone wrong.
"Don't let it happen again," she said with a stern expression and instead of returning with a rude comment, Kyouya averted his eyes instead, knowing exactly what she was referring to.
Yet he found himself contradicting his thoughts. "Viper can deal with him."
-x-
A loud slapping noise stirred Kyouya from his sleep. He pushed himself up from the desk quickly, blinking in surprise when he first saw that the class was still in session. He pinpointed where the noise had came from quickly; narrowing his eyes as Dino turned around just after he'd caught sight of the smile etched across his lips. Rubbing his eyes afterwards, the brunet sighed under his breath before checking the time on his phone. Almost the end, he told himself, yawning into his hand the next moment.
Haru had convinced Lussuria to let Kyouya stay for two nights, but that didn't mean that it wasn't still awkward being around them. Plus, Viper was looking at him more strangely than before, too, meaning that he was wondering whether the older male was eventually going crazy. Purposely pressing into his eyes harder than necessary, even after yawning, to make himself more alert and able to think straight, he hissed under his breath from the feeling.
It was the last lesson of the day and after it had ended, Kyouya was planning on letting his anger out on some unsuspecting stranger, or student, rather than Haru. It wouldn't have ended well if he had unleashed it upon Lussuria or even Viper, as they were happily providing more than enough food and essentials without really needing to. It wasn't as though he'd said a word about staying there—even if it was his intention—Haru had quickly announced that he had to be under her wing, as she lightly put it, for a few days to see if he was okay or not, mentally. Rather, it was her who needed the mental health check for her erratic moods.
"Anyone without their homework done needs to stay behind and either produce it in your own time, or provide a good enough excuse." Without a doubt, the blonde was staring at him while he ignored it, looking instead out of the window to his left. It was certainly odd still being separated from Fran, but since he couldn't see his reflection in the window, the angle he was at was perfect. "No, staying behind doesn't mean we can talk casually. Anyone left here will be doing their work," he stressed before laughing slightly.
Running his hand through his hair, Kyouya decided to leave with everyone else.
"Kyouya Hibari." Maybe he couldn't leave as subtly as he had hoped. "I'm guessing you'll be staying behind?" Dino asked in a neutral voice, although the twitch of his eyebrow suggested he had wanted to adopt a different tone.
"No." Kyouya crossed his arms over his chest, voice deeper than usual from grogginess.
"So you've done your work?" Dino blinked, surprised for a moment before he whistled quietly. "Wait, wait." He shook his head. "That's just you refusing to stay, right?" Apparently the blonde was starting to know his personality more—no homework was how it was going to stay, and he wasn't going to waste a ridiculous amount of time just to have a repeat of yesterday. Surely there had been a bruise left from their encounter, yet Dino wasn't phased at all from it; he seemed to have been forgetting it, even, as usually a teacher would've made a fuss about being hit from a student.
To answer he simply nodded his head firmly, only once.
And with that movement over and done with, he was sure that Fran was smirking at that moment while Dino was pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. It was usually left up to the green-haired male to torture their new teachers at least a little bit, but since the first day, from what the brunet could tell they had hardly spoken to each other. Was he alone in it then? Although, it wasn't intentional.
When the rest of the class were ushered out since the lessons had ended for the day, Kyouya stayed within his seat with the intention of making the conversation as quick, painless and as obvious as possible. He needed to make sure what Dino expected of him, and how he expected the blonde to act like the rest of the teachers. They didn't hassle him, since they had practically given up, and that was how he should have been acting, too.
"Let's get this over and done with, then." Dino sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose again as he was closer than before, leaning onto the desk three in front of where the brunet was seated. "You're still not doing any work at all, are you?"
Kyouya just stared at him as if he were an idiot. The answer was obvious—he hadn't even unpacked his bag that day, instead placing it beside his feet before sleeping upon his arms even though he had had at least a good amount of sleep the night before. It could not have hurt to have more, though, as he always urged himself.
"I'll have to call your parents if this happens to continue, but I think that you know that already." Dino ran his fingers through his hair again, not making eye contact as he had murmured that. Surprise flickered across his expression when Kyouya snorted quietly from the words, not finding them threatening at all. Really, who was he going to call? "I'm not bluffing."
"Good luck with that." Kyouya smirked, shaking his head at how oblivious the older male. If there were no parents to contact, then of course discipline wasn't going to be as strict where he lived. "There won't be any answer."
"Wrong number?" the blonde questioned, sighing afterwards as he imagined that his guess was correct. Possibly it had been done in the past to him, but then again as Kyouya considered his age, he didn't think so.
"Wrong lifetime is more like it," he murmured quietly, rolling his eyes at the other's oblivious comments. "There's nothing you can do."
"I'm doing more than anyone else, it seems." He raised his eyebrow until it dropped back down, Dino clearing his throat as he did the same to his expression. "I don't get it, Kyouya. You say you're fine and now I just think you're looking for attention, really."
The brunet blinked in bewilderment. "And why would I want this attention?"
"Who knows?" The older male shrugged, perplexed by the mere thought. "Maybe to get your friend to talk to you again?" He was definitely referring to Fran, and with the mention of him being pathetic enough to do such a thing, Kyouya scowled in disapproval. With his lips in a firm curve down, Dino apparently paid no notice to it. "It'll get you noticed, but probably not in the way you want."
"...Your impression of me is wrong," Kyouya interrupted him bluntly, a serious expression across his face as he scowled. His eyes had become narrowed despite his best attempts at seeming neutral. "Severely wrong."
Without hesitation, Dino agreed with him. "Definitely. I need to fix it."
Was the comment supposed to be sarcastic? "Quite." He wanted to say that he would never have stooped that low at any point, but he assumed that would've been initiating more conversation than was necessary. He reached down to pick up his bag after that, deeming the talk over—at least for that moment—and choosing to force himself to forget that there was someone else in the room.
Noticing his reaction, Dino sighed again, that time quieter than before before saying, "At least take some notes in classes if you're not going to work outside of class. If I see you sleeping again, I'll throw something."
Swiftly walking past Kyouya only replied, "I'll make sure to throw it back twice as hard."
AN: Trying to focus on college more while writing in my spare time and I have to say, it isn't working well so far, haha. Okay, so! Haru was supposed to be the older sister of sorts and then Viper was there, too, but it wasn't obvious at all unless you were me. No Fran moments in this chapter but as I've said before the pairing is not decided. After chapter eight, I'll stop the voting (as I've got things planned out) and then the pairing with the most votes will win. That's it, simple, and it looks like it's Dino right now. I don't particularly like Fran and Kyouya together anymore, haha, I don't know what I was on at the time.
Would anyone want to be my beta? ;A; I don't like asking different people every single time. /gets nervous. Thanks for all the reviews, too!
Keep the votes coming! (Only four more chapters left to vote in!) So far it's:
Dino: 42 / Fran: 17