Len walked to school in a happier mood that day. Sure, Kaito had taken his phone for an apparently stupid reason and the rumors from school hadn't quite worn off yet, but he had spent a fun day together with Gumi yesterday, which was enough for him. It was a miracle that no one had spotted them, even if they came close with Rin.

He walked past a couple of his classmates, easily spotting Rin in the center of the path. Surprisingly enough, she was by herself.

I guess she can't always be with Miku.

He continuted to discreetly glance at her, debating whether or not he should go and talk to her. He hadn't spoken a word to her ever since the start of the rumor, which was just last week, but felt like forever.

Should he risk it? Last time they had spoken she had been relatively nice to him, so he wasn't worried about that. But considering the assumptions she probably had about him, he wasn't quite in the mood to be embarrassed again.

It was no point in contemplating, however, because Rin spotted him as he was looking at her. He realized his mistake as she ran towards him.

"Hey, Len-kun!"

He pretended not to hear her and walked faster, in an attempt to brush her off. This only caused her to chase him faster.

"Hellooo! Can you hear me?!"

He was sure he wouldn't be able to keep up the deaf act, so he stopped in his tracks and looked behind him. Unfortunately, Rin was running at an incredible speed directly towards Len, who wasn't able to react in time as they came crashing down to the ground. Students around them scurried over and around the two.

"Oww!" Len yelled, and then cried out again when he felt pressure on his side. He looked up at the offending source, "Hey, watch where you're step... ing..."

His voice faltered as he realized what position they were in. Rin was on top of him, one of her knees jabbing into his ribs and arms on either side of his head. "Uhh..."

"Eh?" Rin similarily looked down, and yelped as she made her way off of him. "Oh geez, I'm sorry!" She paid no heed to the strange looks they were getting from passerbyers as she stood up, accidentally stomping down onto Len's side.

"Ugh-" He tried hard not to scream again, biting down on his lip to bear with the pain. Little droplets of tears wet the corners of his eyes.

"Eek! Sorry again." She hastily took her foot off him to set it down on the ground, and held out her hand to him. "Here, I'll help you up."

He gratefully took her offer, hoisting himself up onto his feet. He clutched his side with one hand, wincing at the pain.

"Are you going to be okay?" Rin gave him a worried look. "I can take you to the nurse's office, if you want..."

Len gave her a visibly faltering smile. "N-No, I'm okay."

"Oh, if you're sure..." Rin gave him a twice-over, still feeling guilty about their crash. "But it was my fault you got hurt!"

"Ah, no, it wasn't your fault." It was my fault for ignoring you.

"You tried to ignore me?"

...No! I said my thoughts out loud again!

He quickly tried to take it back, flailing his arms around in an attempt to not make her think bad of him. "A-Ahh! Um, I didn't try to ignore you- well, yes I did, but, uhh, it's not because I hate you! I just, uh, um..."

Rin laughed, patting him on the back as she gave him a smile. "It's alright, I know how tired you must be from last week. You probably didn't want to speak too much, right?"

"Y-Yeah..." Atleast she's not mad, thought Len.

"Well, I just came here to say good morning." She shifted her bag so it rested more comfortably at her side, "And sorry about your injury. See you at school!"

Len watched her as she waved him goodbye and jogged to the school. He stood there for a short while, bewildered by the recent storm of events. Thinking back on when Rin had crash landed into him, he realized he hadn't felt an inkling of nervousness or excitement when she was on top of him.

Wait, what! Sure, he didn't really talk much to her, but it was the same even before he confessed to her! Why were his feelings wavering now?

But even when he lifted a hand to his cheek, he didn't feel warm at all. And when he pressed a hand to his chest, he found that his heartrate was at a steady pace.

What was going on?

Len sat in the infirmary, his short legs dangling off the bed. A first aid kit was beside him, as it was being used by the school nurse. The knee jabbing done by Rin unexpectedly left a rather nasty purple bruise. Luckily for him, the mark wasn't too big.

The nurse dabbed some cream on the affected area before wrapping up his side with white bandages, being careful not to hurt him. "It's a minor injury, but it's always best to take caution with these kinds of things. Especially considering some of the shenanigans the students get into here at this school..."

He giggled a little bit, but stayed quiet as she was patching him up. His shirt was off, which was a little embarrassing considering he never stripped in front of anyone before. He would go to the beach, but he'd always wear a hoodie on top. And he never went into the water, ever.

It wasn't like he was ugly or anything, he just felt... inadequate. Especially compared to people like Gumi. That guy could take off his shirt anytime he wanted and people would be fawning over him like they'd never seen a shirtless man before. He remembered it happening before, when they were on a trip to watch the older class participate in the swimming tournament...

Len sat in the bleachers, staring at the lined up swimmers who looked about ready to jump into the pool. Most of them were already perched at the edge of their diving boards, while some of the reluctant ones stood a bit farther back.

All of them were still waiting on one more guy to come out, who was taking a while to get ready. Len wondered if he was stalling for time, or if he was too self conscious to show his naked upper half. Len definitely sympathized with him if that was the case.

Just as one of the teachers was about to check on what was up, Gumi emerged from the changing room, wearing a quite expensive looking pair of trunks.

"Sorry I'm late, I was having some minor difficulties."

"In the toilet?" One of the team members yelled at him, to the humor of many.

"Sure, in the toilet." Gumi rolled his eyes. He stepped out from under the shade of the door, revealing to the crowd... His incredibly toned body?

Almost immediately, the girls in the stadium squealed with delight. Some of them took out their phones to snap pictures. Len was surprised they were allowed to bring their phones to the pool.

Gumi wasn't one to stray away from attention, as he waved at every one of his fangirls, giving cameras the occasional wink here and there. This only caused the crowd to scream louder.

Len strained his eyes towards Gumi. He wasn't gonna lie to himself, Gumi did have a pretty nice body. But it wasn't anything spectacular, just developed enough for someone his age. He shifted his gaze to the other team members. He guessed it was the proccess of elimination that was at play here...

The teachers were having a hard time calming down the audience, which nearly entirely consisted of squealing girls and booing guys. Some of the boys attempted to throw stuff at Gumi, things like food, acccessories, and someone even threw their phone at him. God knows what that idiot was thinking.

Regardless, most of the thrown items ended up littering the pool, and the people in charge had to call off the tournament for the time being, to the collective groan of the team members. Gumi just continued smiling and waving.

Len was at the center of it all, "Geez, that guy hasn't changed at all since we stopped talking." He thought, "I wonder if he'll ever change..."

He didn't even know why he still remembered it, what with it happening before he fell for Rin. Well, it's not like his memory was only limited to the past few weeks, but still...

"I'm done," The nurse suddenly spoke. "I've prepared an ice packet for you to use incase it starts hurting again."

She handed the packet to him. "Oh, thanks..."

Putting on a friendly smile, she packed up the rest of the first aid kit and lifted it off the bed. "If you want, you can stay here for a little longer. I'll write a note for your teacher."

Giving it some thought, Len nodded his head. "Yes, please do that." It wasn't like he couldn't walk, but given the chance to sleep in bed while everyone was in class? Who wouldn't pass up that oppurtunity! He didn't like school that much anyways.

The nurse lifted up the curtain and opened the door to the infirmary to exit, leaving Len all alone. He wondered if she would come back, especially since leaving a student unattended in the nurse's office was potentially dangerous. He was assured in his own abilities to stay put though.

Curling up in his blankets, he shifted so he was laying on his back and stared at the ceiling. He noticed that the bedsheets had a very peculiar smell to them, not unlike a hospital. Unlike most, he didn't mind the scent. If just smelled a little funny, is all.

He took over at the wall behind him for the time. According to the clock, there was still an hour and ten minutes left in his first period. He relaxed more so his head sunk into the pillow, marveling at the softness of the fabric. Soon after, he found himself drifting off...

The sound of the door opening jolted him awake. Was the nurse back?

"You can rest in here..." He heard the nurse say. It seemed like she was with someone else.

The voice that replied back startled Len, "Yes, thank you." It was Kaito!

He stayed deathly quiet as the nurse pulled something out of the cabinet. He heard more rummaging sounds, and a couple grunts of pain come from Kaito. "Now now, I just need you to stay still. This will only take a few minutes..."

She kept her word, because after about six minutes the grunts stopped. She packed up what he assumed was the first aid kit, and put it back in the cabinet. She started speaking again, "You should rest here, you're certainly not in the shape to be moving around. just keep in mind that someone else is also resting here, alright?"

Kaito answered, "Of course."

He had to strain his ears, but he could make out the nurse writing something out on paper. "Here's a note for your teacher. You can just tell her you were hurt and had to go to the infirmary."

A short phrase of gratitude came from Kaito, before the nurse took out another sheet of paper. She approached the curtains around Len's bed, "Ah, Kagamine-san! I forgot to give you your note." She lifted the sheets just enough so she could see him, but was still obscured from Kaito's point of view.

"Oh, th-thank you." He stuttered. He hoped Kaito didn't hear the nurse saying his name.

"You boys just behave, alright? I'll be gone for a short time." The nurse pulled down the white curtains and exited the room again.

A stiffiling silence followed. He wasn't sure what Kaito was doing, but the longest two minutes passed before the other boy climbed into the bed beside him. The curtains provided privacy, but he could still see Kaito's silhouette through it.

"So Kagamine," Len answered with an eep-like noise. "Ahah, what was that?"

"U-Uh, you scared me?" He swallowed the bubbly spit that was forming inside his mouth. His throat suddenly got a lot drier.

"Sorry," Kaito laughed. "So what are you in here for?"

Even though Kaito wouldn't be able to see, Len still turned around in his bed to be as far away from him as possible. "I fell... You?"

"Oh, got into some trouble with my friends again." The blue-head sheepishly scratched his cheek, unbeknownst to Len. "It was crazy, y'know, we all slept over at my place yesterday, so we woke up extra early to squeeze in something fun before school. We were kinda just wandering around before one of them suggested we go swimming! And I told him, are you crazy? We won't have enough time! But he still insisted..."

Len tuned out most of what he was saying, not really paying attention. He could care less about the misadventures of a boy with more friends than him, but he did end up catching a few of the last parts of his story.

"So we ended up using the school's swimming pool. We knew none of us were allowed to, especially since none of us were part of the swim team and it was really early. But we took off our clothes and swam anyway - don't worry we had our boxers on - and took a dive. The water was really cold, but we eventually got used to it. Anyway, I guess we lost track of time or something, because by the time we were about to get out, one of the teachers came to check on the pool and caught us."

"Mm," Len absetmindedly gave him a noise to ensure that he was listening. "How'd you get hurt then?"

"Oh, it's kinda funny actually. While we were getting out of the pool because the teacher was shouting at us, I slipped and fell. I heard a crack and I found out that I ended up twisting my ankle."

"Ouch..." Len winced. He turned towards Kaito's side again without realizing it.

"Yeah, so while my friends were being yelled at I got to leave and get patched up by the nurse. I guess it's kind of a good thing I got hurt, huh?" He laughed again, as if it were the funniest thing ever.

"Mhm." He agreed, "Uh, who are your friends?"

"Ah, their names are Gakupo and Yuuma. Both in the same grade as me."

He didn't recognize Yuuma, but he did recall hearing the name Gakupo once. He was in Gumi's class. "Gakupo, you mean that guy with the long purple hair?"

"Yep, and Yuuma has pink hair." Len saw Kaito sit up and do some stretches, "Pretty unique features."

Len didn't answer, and suddenly they were plunged into another silence. But unlike the previous one, he didn't feel as if it was stiffling. Fifteen minutes passed with just them sitting in their beds, while the ice in Len's pack was starting to melt.

His mind drifted back to why he was trying to avoid Kaito. He had mostly forgotten it over the Sunday, but he remembered it now. "Hey, um..."

"Hm?" Kaito turned towards the curtain in front of Len.

"On Friday, I heard you talking to your friends about me." Len paused, wondering how to say his next words. "They called me g-gay..."

"Oh, geez." Kaito ruffled his hair, "Is that why you took off running like that?"

Len nodded his head, which could be seen as a silhouette through the sheet.

"Look, I'm sorry about that. I know you don't really swing that way, I just didn't know what else to say. I swear, after you left, I yelled at them for making you upset." Kaito suddenly poked his head through the curtain, which startled Len. "Please forgive me?"

Len contemplated it, before pulling out his phone. "Th-Then what about this?" He went to Kaito's phone number in his contacts list, "You took my phone and put your number in without asking me!"

"Hey, I didn't take your phone. You dropped it!"

"Same thing! And when I got it, you said I was your b-bootycall... That's gross!"

"I was trying to make you laugh."

"Well you didn't!"

Len closed his phone again, and put it back in his pocket. "...I'm just gonna go now."

Kaito reached out for him, nearly falling off his own bed. "N-No, wait! Please, I really am sorry!" Figuring that staying seated was only going to cause trouble, he stood up, with some difficulty because of his twisted ankle, and went in front of Len, blocking his exit. "I only want to be your friend."

Len raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

He nodded his head, "Really."

The blonde sighed in response, and grabbed his bag off the bed. "...Fine, we can be friends."

Almost immediately, Kaito's face brightened up.

"But, can you move out of the way first? I have to get to class."

"Ah, right." Kaito lowered his arms and stepped to the side, allowing Len to pass through.

When he left the room, he checked his cell for the time. There was still thirty minutes left of the first period, and he wasn't keen on going to class just yet. Looks like I lied to Kaito...

But could anyone blame him? He was being too forward, and people like him made Len nervous. Popular people who hanged out with lots of friends didn't usually talk to someone like him, much less try to be his friend. He couldn't help but think that Kaito had some sort of ulterior motive.

But wait, doesn't Gumi talk to me a lot too? He thought, as he began to walk to the entrance of the school. Now that he was thinking about it, Gumi was pretty popular. But did he have any friends?...

He tried to think of any potential guy friends that Gumi might've had. He thought hard about it, but the only thing that came to mind was himself. In all other instances, the boys in the school were always picking fights with the green-head and being jealous over his ability to charm girls. There was nothing else that came to mind.

He sighed again, still doesn't help my case. Well, friendless losers always stuck by each other. Even if Gumi was far from being a loser.

Gumi was sitting in class, actually paying attention this time since a big Math test was coming up soon. He was jotting down everything the teacher was saying, when the door opened to reveal Kaito.

He walked in, handing the teacher a note and explaining how he was injured. The teacher gave him an incredulous stare before handing something to him. Gumi caught a glance of what it was when Kaito passed by him. A detention slip.

Heh, sucker. Gumi smirked. He personally had never been in detention before, but he bet it was really boring. Sitting in a room for an hour while doing homework? No thank you. That's why he worked extra hard to be academically surperior to everyone else. There were other reasons too, but...

He shook his head and continued listening to the teacher's lecture. Class would be over in ten minutes, and soon they'd all go to their second periods-

The bell rang, interrupting his train of thought. Or not.

Quickly, all of the students gathered up their things and scurried out of the room. Five minutes was not nearly enough to get to each class for most of them. Gumi did the same, and lesiurely made his way to the Science class. As he was walking, he noticed Len standing outside from a doorway.

What was he doing there? Without thinking, he made his way over and opened the door that Len was leaning on, causing him to be pushed off.

"W-Woah!"

"Hah!" Gumi stepped outside with him, letting the door close behind them.

"Gumi! You surprised me."

"I should say the same. What are you doing out here?" He dramatically gasped, "Don't tell me you skipped!"

"What, no!" Len abruptedly turned around, slowing down as he felt a sharp pain in his side. "Ow, ow..."

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah." Len quickly straightened up, "I didn't technically skip, I just got hurt so I stayed in the infirmary for most of the period."

"You got hurt? How?" Gumi worriedly glanced at his side.

"I'll tell you later. Anyway, shouldn't you be getting to class now? It's been four minutes."

Gumi looked at his phone, "Oh crap, you're right!" As he was opening the door, he turned back to Len. "You're telling me when we walk home together." Then he turned back and ran to his classroom.

Len smiled and nodded his head, walking to the other hallway to hand his note to the first period teacher.

Author's Note

New update :)

Most of this chapter was spent in the infirmary, sorry 'bout that! I try to put in Gumi/Len interaction in every chapter though, otherwise it's gonna feel like I'm writing Len/Kaito and I don't like that.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!