Awkward Beginnings: Chapter 6
"Hey, what do you want to drink?"
"Ehh? I don't know, I want something warm, it's so cold today!"
Marui was listening to the conversation between two girls and felt Niou nudge his leg under the table. That snapped Marui out of the two girls' conversation and he asked, "What?"
"Don't listen into other people's conversation, especially girls, what are you, a pervert?"
Marui's jaw dropped open and his hand that was supporting his head fell down onto his lap. His cheeks flushed red and he stammered, "W-what are you talking about?!"
Niou rolled his eyes, and took a sip of his coffee. On the table laid an open textbook, and the silver head flipped over to the next page. He then hunched over the book and started to study again, like he was before he realised that Marui was being an eavesdropper.
"Niou!"
Said person just ignored Marui, taking another sip of his coffee.
"Niou, I know that you can hear me. I'm less than a metre away from you," Marui said, picking up a napkin on the side of the table and chucked it towards Niou, landing on the page that Niou was reading.
Niou glanced up, and Marui grinned, thinking that he had finally gotten Niou's attention. However, Marui's grin disappeared when Niou picked the napkin up, and placed it back gently down on the table top, away from his textbook, and started to immerse himself into the wonders of psychology again.
Huffing, Marui folded his arms and slouched down in his chair, watching Niou. The two were sitting in the café, their hang out area in the university campus – as there were food, free Wi-Fi, and air-conditioning or heating during cold weather. Niou was busy studying for a test and all Marui could do was sit there in silence. He could have gone home, but Marui thought that Niou might want some company of some sort. Thus, he stayed, leading to the conversation of the two girls, and Niou calling him a pervert.
"I'm bored, and since you're just going to ignore me, I'm going to eat."
Marui raised his hand, waiting for the waiter to come over to their table.
"Are you a pig?" Niou muttered, eyes still fixed on his textbook.
Marui opened his mouth and was going to comment on how Niou only spoke to him to insult him when the waiter arrived. It was the same waiter that Marui saw every Friday. The younger boy with curly black hair and the bored green eyes. Niou and Marui had been frequenting the café so often that Marui even knew the names of the waiters and waitresses working there – they had nametags.
Kirihara Akaya, was the name of the curly haired waiter.
"How may I help you?" he drawled, hands holding a notepad and a pen hung down by his sides.
"I'll have a chicken sa-alad!" Marui said his order, while crossing his legs under the table, accidentally hitting his ankle against metal bar underneath. Kirihara nodded and walked away, writing as he left.
Niou looked up and raised his eyebrow, before he was sucked back into the world of psychology. Marui reached down and rubbed his ankle.
"Ow," Marui muttered, "I hate these things, they're killers."
"Yeah, maybe for clumsy people," Niou replied.
"Are you really just going to insult me all day?"
Niou made a slight movement with his shoulders, Marui couldn't tell whether it was a shrug or just a movement. Since Niou was busy studying, and Marui had already bothered the silver head more than enough, the red head sat there in silence, tapping his fingers against the table top in a rhythmic pattern, a song playing in his head. Marui looked out of the window, watching students wrapped up in their coats and scarves, shivering as they walked past. He felt lucky to be in the warm and cosy café, even when his friend was too busy to entertain him.
Marui heard a thump and turned around. What he expected to see was a plate of chicken salad. However, the item in front of him was a glass of chocolate sundae. Marui opened his mouth and was about to call for the waiter, but the waiter had already left. So, he sat there, staring at the chocolate sundae. The longer Marui stared at it, the stronger the temptation to eat it. But Marui knew that he couldn't.
"What's wrong?" Niou asked, slamming his textbook shut, reaching down into his bag to pull out a file.
"I didn't order this," Marui answered, still staring at the scrumptious looking chocolate sundae.
"Then just tell the workers," Niou suggested, flipping through his file.
"But," Marui said, "what do I say?"
Niou paused in his motion and looked at Marui curiously. "Just tell them that you received the wrong order."
"Mm…" Marui shifted uneasily in his seat. "Okay…" he said, albeit reluctantly.
Niou sighed, before raising his hand. Kirihara walked over and asked in a monotonous voice, "How may I help you?"
"Um, we didn't order that," Niou said, pointing towards the chocolate sundae. Kirihara's eyes followed Niou's finger and replied, "Oh. Just give me a moment."
Kirihara walked away, and Marui watched as the boy tapped another waiter on the shoulder, engaging in a whispered conversation. Marui saw both waiters nod a few times, and Kirihara returned.
"There's nothing wrong with the order, you ordered a chocolate sundae," he said.
Niou glanced at Marui, and the red head shook his head. "No, my friend here said that he didn't order it."
"I ordered a chicken salad," Marui chipped in.
Kirihara frowned, and opened his mouth to speak, when an older male walked up towards their table.
"Did our employee do something wrong?" the male asked, a badge on his uniform told Marui that he was the manager.
"No, um, we just received the wrong order," Niou answered.
The manager turned to face Kirihara and the curly haired boy shook his head. The older male moved his attention back on Niou.
"What did you order and what did you receive?"
"We ordered a chicken salad, and we received a chocolate sundae," Niou replied, gesturing towards the chocolate sundae sitting on the table top. The manager glanced back at Kirihara and said, "I'm very sorry for our mistake, we'll fix that order right away." He gestured towards Kirihara to retrieve the chocolate sundae and the younger boy did that, before bowing apologetically and leaving.
"Now that wasn't too hard," Niou said, when the two left.
"It's hard for me!" Marui hissed back, "I've never done anything like that before!"
"But thank you," he added.
Niou smiled and said, "No problem." He looked down at his notes neatly filed into his file and sighed.
"Hm?" Marui questioned.
"I'm so going to fail this."
Marui picked up a napkin and unfolded it. "No you won't."
"What are you doing with that napkin? And yes I will, nothing is sinking in," Niou sighed again.
"Come on, you've been studying for the past…what 3 hours? Something must have gone in. Be positive."
"You're not exactly a positive person too." Niou threw a napkin at Marui. Marui looked up from his napkin that he had unfolded, and shrugged.
"I think everyone just says that they would fail before they sit a test."
Niou placed his elbow on the table and rested his head on his palm. "Yeah I guess so."
"In this case, you're that person who's being negative, and I'm the positive friend. Not a really convincing one though."
Niou laughed, and said, "Yeah you kind of suck at it."
"I can't believe that I sat here for 3 hours doing nothing besides watching you study and eavesdropping on other people's conversation, only to get insulted by you."
"Oh?" Niou grinned, "So you admit that you've been eavesdropping?"
Marui tried to fold a crane with the napkin, but it ended up looking more like a wingless bird. "Yes, yes I have."
"On girls?" Niou wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"On everyone in earshot basically," Marui replied, ignoring Niou's taunt.
Niou rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Tch, no fun."
"Here you go, one chicken salad." Kirihara stood beside their table, holding a plate of chicken salad. Marui and Niou moved their things out of the way and Kirihara placed the plate down. "We're very sorry for the inconvenience."
"It's alright," Marui said, picking up a fork and stabbed into the plate. When Kirihara was out of earshot, Niou looked at his wristwatch and said, "I need to go in half an hour."
Marui looked up, his mouth full and nodded. "Yeah, just let me finish eating this," he said, after swallowing.
"You don't need to rush you know," Niou said.
"Yeah I know, but I want to go with you, it's on the way to the exit anyways."
Niou smiled and shook his head. "You weirdo."
"You know that," Marui nodded, waving his fork in the air.
"Okay," Niou muttered, "some more last minute cramming, here I go."
"Good luck!" Marui encouraged, a lettuce hanging out of his mouth.
Niou let out a laugh at the sight before focusing on his notes.
.~.
Marui stood at the side of the table, his bag on his shoulders. Niou bent down and stuffed his file and textbook into his sling bag, pulling on the strap and pushed his chair back, standing up. As he did so, he accidentally knocked against the metal bar underneath the table and cursed softly.
Marui clutched his stomach and laughed.
Niou glared at the red head and hissed through his teeth, "Shut up!"
"Karma for saying that I'm clumsy!" Marui continued laughing. Niou rolled his eyes and pushed his chair in.
"I'm leaving." Niou started to walk towards the exit, with Marui stumbling behind him, still in fits of laughter. Niou tugged his coat closer to his body when he exited the warm café, into the cold. The silver head sped up, moving in the direction to where his test would be held.
"Niou wait up!" Niou heard Marui calling him from behind and stopped, spinning around on his heels. Marui jogged to catch up and said, "Don't leave me behind…"
"Maybe if you didn't laugh so much…" Niou left the sentence hanging.
Marui pouted and replied, "You've been insulting me the whole day! Can't I just laugh at something?"
Niou sighed. "Fine."
Marui's face lit up and he grinned widely.
"Now let's get going, I don't want to be late."
"Okay~" Marui chimed, walking alongside the silver head.
.~.
"Good luck!" Marui called out, giving Niou a wave.
"Don't be so loud idiot," Niou hissed, flicking Marui on the forehead. "It's just a test."
"But it's fun."
"What are you, a kid? I thought that I was the only one who was young at heart here."
Marui smiled a toothy smile and nodded furiously. "Yup! I'm a kid!"
Niou shook his head and smiled. "I'm going in, see you."
"Bye! And good luck!" Marui repeated, this time, a little louder, drawing the attention of some students passing by and Marui clamped his palm over his mouth, embarrassed.
"I told you not to be so loud," Niou smiled, "but thanks." With that, he turned and walked away.
Marui watched Niou's back for a few moments before making his way out of the university campus. He didn't know why, but even after being insulted so much by the silver head, just a tiny "thanks" from Niou could make him smile like a kid who had received a new toy…
A/N: Hello.