"I made it!"
"An hour late, Nakamoto-san."
The blonde boy blinked comically as he stood at the doorway of his classroom. A pregnant silence filled the room before the room burst into a peal of joyful laughter. The boy flinched and turned bright red at the reaction.
Looking back at the teacher, the oblivious boy pointed at the watch strapped on his left wrist. "B-but, doesn't school starts at 8:30?"
The teacher sighed, "it's 9:30 right now, Nakamoto-san." She stared blankly at the panicking student in front of her, "you must have forgotten to set your time or something."
The student gawked at her before finally taking a look at the clock hanging above his teacher's head. Stuttering, he quickly bowed down, "I-I apologize, Mina-sensei! I will make sure to set it properly from now on!"
The teacher nodded before motioning the sullen boy to sit in his chair. Following her silent order, the boy dragged his feet over to his chair, ignoring the snickers of his classmates.
"Already late on your first day here? Tough luck," the black-haired person whispered from behind. He expected an answer but instead, what he got was a mutter that could be heard quietly from the blonde-haired boy.
"I could have sworn I checked everything perfectly... I can't believe I've forgotten to set my time correctly. Everyone's going to think I'm stupid now," the light-haired boy muttered quietly as the boy behind him deadpanned at the response. "Good job Akito, your second day here and you messed it all up," the boy sighed gloomily.
"Oi, bro-"
"Geez, what if the teacher thinks I'm some sort of a bad kid-"
"Bro-"
"Or worse, what if she thinks I'm a delinquent who likes to break rules-"
"Man-"
"And then she reports this to mom- oh God, I can't let that happen-"
Akito felt a sudden pressure from the back of his head and turned around in his seat to find obsidian eyes gazing back at him calmly with a finger right in front of his face. "You good now?" The black-haired boy whispered before pulling his finger downwards.
"Oh... uh- yeah, sorry about that," Akito mumbled back and the other boy waved him off signing that it was nothing. A sudden idea popped up in his head as he determinedly looked at the mysterious boy, "what's your name-"
"Talk later, we're still in class."
That shut Akito up as he turned back only to see the teacher quietly glaring at him. He flinched and quickly scrambled for his books and utensils- all the while thinking how pathetic he must have looked.
It was only after lunch started that he finally got to relax. He slumped down onto his table thinking how he messed up his first impressions for both his teacher and all of his classmates.
"Remember, first impressions are important- don't mess it up, ya brat!"
His mother's voice rang in his head like an alarm and it only pushed Akito to ruffle his hair in frustration. He couldn't help but believe in his mother's words knowing that he, himself is terrible at communicating.
"Guess, I'll just die then."
"But why though?"
The familiar voice chimed in and Akito jumped in his seat and looked at the boy who was supposed to sit behind him standing next to his table with a bento in his hand. Now that he thinks about it, he never saw this person last year in school.
"Ah, well..."
"I'm just joking, we all have our moments," the boy calmly said. "The name is Takamaki Noah by the way. Just call me Noah, no need for honorifics, still not used to that kind of stuff."
Akito blinked at the sudden burst of information pouring out of the new boy's mouth. Pulling himself together, he mustered up all the courage he had left and asked, "by any chance, are you not from here?"
Noah lazily glanced at the Akito before answering, "moved from America last year. Mom's Japanese- nothing much really." He dragged his chair from behind to sit down before placing down his bento box on the table. "What about you, considering your hair and all?"
"Oh this... uh, I dyed it myself," Akito explained while scratching his right cheek nervously. Great, now his new friend is going to think that he's a real delinquent for dying his hair. Instead, what he didn't expect was the look of wonder from the boy next to him.
"Really? I've always wanted to dye my hair on my own but never got to," He rambled. "Or maybe I just kept forgetting," he stopped for a second before a blank look took over his face, "maybe my sister was right, I'm more absent-minded than I thought."
Seeing the sudden change of mood, Akito chuckled a little, "I'm sure we all can be forgetful of the little things we want to do from time to time." He paused for a second, "oh- sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Nakamoto Akito, just call me Akito."
Noah stared at the blonde-haired person in front of him, the long eye contact made Akito fidget awkwardly. At the same time, a string of thoughts jumbled up in his head as he contemplates what he just said.
Did he mess up in his introduction? What did he do wrong? Was he being way too familiar? That must be it, isn't it?! He has to apologize or else Noah wouldn't want to be friends with a weirdo, wouldn't he? Wait, is that what Noah thinks of him? Is that why he's staring at him so long?
Akito slapped himself mentally, he must apologize before he loses his chance to have a friend in this new school year.
"Are you interested in volleyball?"
"I swear I'm not a weirdo, please be my friend!"
Akito and Noah blinked at the other's statement that came out at the same time. The tips of Akito's ears burned red as he realized what just happened. He didn't even apologize and just blurted out what he wants- how selfish of him!
On the other hand, Noah only smiled. "Nothing wrong with being a weirdo, I'm cool with that." Akito tilted his head at the unexpected answer and Noah couldn't help the grin that was slowly creeping out.
"I'm planning on starting a volleyball club for the school!"
"Eh?"
"So, ya wanna be in a volleyball club," A female voice called out as Akito nodded eagerly. The boy was standing in front of his mother who was laying on the couch with a glass of wine in her hand.
She clicked her tongue before flipping the strands of her long black hair from her front to the back. Using her other hand, she picked up the sunglasses that was sitting next to her before putting them on.
"First of all, what do ya think of these sunglasses?"
A pregnant silence before Akito sighed, "Mom, they look great on you." Hearing this the woman nodded.
"And what did yer dad said?"
Akito was about to answer before shutting his mouth. At the silent response, His mom pulled the glasses downwards. God, why does his mom have to be like this every single time? The said boy opened his mouth, "Dad said he didn't like it."
"And?"
"Ya buffoon! Of course, yer pathetic old eyes wouldn't see how perfect these sunglasses are with my facial structure that people would call art!"
"Nonsense, the age gap between us is nothing but a short 3 years- my eyes is at its highest peak, darling! I know only but the best and I believe that those sunglasses are nothing but an obstacle for me to view that face of yours!"
"Mom, dad, it's 1 AM... please."
The sudden flashback that Akito had made him feel exhausted as he repeated what his dad said in a monotone voice.
"Exactly! That father of yours lacks what you call charms and these sunglasses boost my already perfect charm," She claimed in a confident voice. "So, why do you think I chose to wear it despite what that impudent yet handsome husband of mine said?"
"Well, because-"
"Honey, it's because I know myself the best and I do what I want. Nobody can have a say in it," She cut off before Akito could explain. Taking a sip of her wine, she dramatically points her finger at Akito. "Now, ya better make sure ya do yer best, alright? Else ya regret it, son."
"You know, you could just say yes."
"Son, life is a little boring with normalcy and if no one is going to change that," she paused as if she was waiting to do the final blow, "then I shall gladly take the position."
"By the way, mom. Do you still need me to go buy some groceries?"
"Oh yeah, the list is over there."
"Alright, I'm going out then."
"Be careful, sweetie."
"Please don't call me that."
"I call you whatever I want, chicken pie."
"Mom."
"Honey garlic chicken."
Hey hey hey! :D
It's been a while since I feel motivated again to try and write fanfic again so I hope you, who manages to stumble upon this fanfic, enjoyed this short prologue. I will explain more regarding the story, setting, and the characters next chapter!
A few things you might want to know about this fanfic:
- No romance, only platonic. There might be a few intimate actions but there's nothing more.
- Barely any angst so if you're expecting to read an angst fanfic, this might not be your cup of tea, sorry! (but I'm evil so I might put a little, just a smudge)
- English is not my first language so please bear with me (﹏)
I apologize for the short chapter, I'll try to make it longer next time. Stay safe everybody!
Reviews are motivations!