…
Ai rolled his eyes as Nagisa dragged him through the corridor, his grip on his wrist tight after learning a few too many times once free Ai would slip away to the library for lunch.
In all honesty he wasn't sure why Nagisa was still so insistent they spend time together, he assumed the first day it was guilt after seeing Ai alone. But after he got such a frosty reception from Sousuke he expected to be quickly ditched.
But Nagisa was still everywhere he went, Makoto seemed to have accepted him with open arms and even Sousuke seemed to warm up to him slightly – and only slightly.
Nagisa waved enthusiastically at Sousuke and Makoto while he and Ai joined the line for food.
"You know, you don't have to force yourselves to spend time with me." Ai mumbled, toeing the floor.
"Why would you think we are?" Nagisa gasped, piling food onto his tray. The first time Ai had thought he was getting food for the pair of them but soon discovered that the petite blonde just ate a lot.
"Well, I'm not…" He trailed off. What was he supposed to say? I'm not used to having friends? That would make him sound even more pathetic.
"You're not what?" He probed.
"I'm not really your type of people." He settled for saying instead.
"Opposites attract." He shrugged with a smile.
"I guess." He bit his lip, grabbing a sandwich off the shelf in front of him.
"Three was a horrible number." Nagisa admitted. "There will always be a spare and now we have you. You completed our group Ai-chan, we are all very glad you came along."
"Thanks." Ai smiled softly, he supposed having friends wouldn't be so bad.
Nagisa returned the smile before leading them towards their usual table, it amazed Ai that no matter how busy the canteen got they could guarantee their table would be free. Maybe there was some sort of secret caste system going on that Ai had somehow been thrusted to the top of without even trying.
"Guess what's happening after school?" Nagisa sung as he sat down.
"Oh god." Makoto groaned, already knowing what he was talking about.
"What's happening?" Ai asked them.
"Pep rally." They said in unison, one excited and one fed up.
"Oh right." Ai nodded, an event he had never bothered going to in his previous schools.
"We're not going." Makoto said with a frown.
"We are so going!" Nagisa exclaimed with a mouthful. "It's Ai-chan's first pep rally here, we have to."
"You've been to one you've been to them all." Makoto smiled at Ai, hoping to get the boy on his side.
"I think we should go." Sousuke finally spoke up, both Makoto and Nagisa turning to gape at him.
"But you hate things like that." Makoto said, a little betrayed that Sousuke was against him.
"I know but I have a good feeling about tonight." He said cryptically.
"See? Even Sou-chan wants to go! We have to!" Nagisa practically shouted.
"Fine, fine." Makoto sighed. "We'll go."
"Yes!" Nagisa cheered. "Ai-chan's first pep rally! Are you excited?"
"Erm, I suppose so?" Ai cringed, it sounded fake even to his own ears.
"It will be fine." Makoto assured.
"Besides, you never know what friends you might meet." Sousuke smirked.
"Right." Ai reluctantly agreed. Once again unsure if Sousuke was actually warming up to him or just blatantly mocking him to his face.
…
Ai stared in amazement at the display in front of him, no wonder the entire student population would talk about the event for weeks. He'd never seen anything quite like it.
Sports team after sports team ran onto the field, the crowd cheering loudly for each one, never once losing interest of spirit. And the cheerleaders, well he'd never seen such elaborate routines.
Nagisa screamed and hollered with more enthusiasm than the entire bleachers while Makoto and Sousuke's eyes were glazed over. Why had he been so insistent they come if he wasn't interested?
He barely had a chance to dwell on it before the schools couch was lighting the bonfire and everyone swarmed like ants around the flame.
"Let's go dance!" Nagisa shouted, excitedly squirming in his chair.
"No." Makoto and Sousuke said in unison.
"You're both so boring." He pouted, turning his begging eyes of Ai. "You'll dance won't you?"
"I guess it can't hurt." He agreed, barely having time to finish his sentence before he was dragged into the chaos.
Makoto laughed slightly at his friends, Nagisa fully throwing himself into the fun while Ai nervously swayed by the edge.
"I spy with my little eye something beginning with R." Sousuke grinned.
"What?" Makoto frowned at the unexpected game.
Sousuke gently turned Makoto's head and pointed towards the car park at the edge of the field. The other boy seeing straight away what Sousuke was gesturing towards.
"Rin." Makoto sighed.
"Exactly." He nodded. "Maybe we should take our lovely little Ai over to see him."
"Why are you doing this?" He rolled his eyes.
"I'm uniting two star crossed lovers." Sousuke smirked.
"No you're not, you and I both know Rin wouldn't have fallen for Ai. It was a line to seduce him, nothing more." He frowned. "All you're going to do is humiliate Ai."
"Ah well, sometimes the course of true love hurts." He shrugged.
"I don't think I want to be a part of this." He shook his head.
"Come on, I'm doing the kid a favour!" He exclaimed.
"How'd you figure that?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Because he needs to get his head out the clouds and into the real world. Sure it will hurt at first but in the end he will probably be thankful." He said carelessly, in truth if Rin broke Ai's heart and humiliated him while he was at it he probably wouldn't care.
"Just because you're bitter about it don't cause unnecessary pain." Makoto glared, very rarely did he fight Sousuke's schemes but today he was not in the mood.
"I'm not bitter." He scoffed. "He's welcome to Rin."
"Somehow I don't believe you." He shrugged, sure Sousuke had been the one to call it a day on their relationship but as far as everyone else was concerned Rin was still his. And nobody wanted to take on Sousuke.
"Look, they're going to meet eventually. And we either do it quick like a plaster or let it happen later when we're not around to help." Sousuke said.
"I suppose you're right." Makoto reluctantly agreed, whenever it happened he knew it wouldn't be pretty.
…
"Why are we here?" Rin asked with a groan as his fellow classmates danced around the fire.
"Two reasons." Rei explained. "Haru wanted to show us something and Momo wanted to stare at the cheerleaders."
"What? I… Only a little!" Momo spluttered. "They're just so flexible! It must get freaky in the bedroom."
"Is that it?" Rin rolled his eyes, he could watch Momo drool any day.
"Look at that one!" Momo exclaimed, pointing at a random girl. "I bet she could do the splits as I fuck her." Rei rolled his eyes at Momo's crude comment.
"You wish." Rin laughed.
Rin squinted slightly as he watched his fellow students dance around the fire, usually he couldn't care less what they did for entertainment but there was someone among them that caught his attention. Light hair standing out in the crowd, so familiar and comforting. But he knew it was wishful thinking, Ai wouldn't be here at his run down school when his family had their pick of private schools. His parents would never let their precious son rub shoulders with these people.
But still the way the stranger held themselves, the way they awkwardly swayed their hips, the way they reined themselves back all screamed Ai.
Before the mystery person spun around Rin heard a chugging behind and turned to see a beat up car pulling up behind them.
"What is that?" He scoffed as Haru climbed out the car.
"A car." He rolled his eyes at his friend.
"That is a hunk of junk." He teased.
"Better than what you're driving." He shot back, knowing Rin didn't have the funds for even a second hand car let alone anything else.
Not that Haru really had that sort of money either, but his parents spent a lot of time away from home, giving their son monthly allowances to help him survive. Clearly this month he had decided to forgo food and instead purchase the car.
"I love it!" Momo gushed, running up to the car and stroking the beat up bonnet.
"Needs a little work but nothing too difficult." Rei said, the boys already knowing a variety of mechanical theory was flitting around in his head.
"What prompted this little splurge?" Rin asked.
"Ikuya." He replied with a sneer.
"Of course." Rin laughed.
Ikuya attended the rival high school, meaning anyone from Samezuka was almost programmed to hate them but the feud between Haru and Ikuya ran a little deeper.
A few weeks back he'd challenged Haru to a race, ordinarily this wouldn't be an issue they just needed to find a pool. But Ikuya laughed and said they weren't little boys anymore and men raced in cars. Of course Ikuya knew Haru didn't have a car and it just gave him more of a reason to mock the stoic boy.
Usually Haru didn't rise to the bait, but on this fateful occasion Makoto had been there and if there was one person Haru didn't want to be embarrassed in front of it was Makoto. It didn't help that after Ikuya had openly belittled Haru he offered Makoto a ride – and he was not referring to his car.
Like a fool Haru had agreed to the race to save face and since then Makoto had been gushing about how brave he was. He'd trapped himself and he couldn't back down, so the only option was to buy a beat up car and hope for the best.
"You'll never win in that thing." Rin laughed.
"It's fine, we just need to fix up the engine, buff the body a little and she'll run like a dream." Haru said, looking towards Rei for confirmation.
"Exactly." He nodded. "We can do it."
The boys shared a grin, even if it was a long shot they wanted to show Ikuya that Samezuka meant business and they wouldn't take abuse lying down.
…
Ai stood on his tiptoes, desperately searching for Nagisa in the crowd. He was beginning to get hot next to the fire and he desperately wanted to find his friend and leave.
"Oh, sorry." He apologised as he backed into someone.
"Don't worry about it." A deep voice said behind him.
Ai spun around and practically gasped when he saw a tall, red head behind him. He towered over Ai, practically twice his height but his smile was warm and his eyes were friendly. He was dressed in the school's sports jacket but he couldn't remember which team he'd ran onto the field with.
"Hi." Ai said stupidly, forgetting all other words around this gorgeous creature.
"Hi." The boy grinned back. "You alright?"
"Yeah." He nodded.
"You sure? You seem a little spacey." He frowned in concern.
"Oh… crowds I guess." He shrugged, a particularly enthusiastic dancer bumping into him from behind just to prove his point.
"I see." He smiled, holding his hand out. "Seijuro."
"Ai." He replied, tightly gripping his hand.
"Well Ai, allow me to escort you out of this crowd." Seijuro offered, Ai just nodded in response.
"Ai!" He heard a cry sail through the crowd and turned to look over his shoulder with a frown. Why was Sousuke looking for him of all people?
"Yes?" He frowned.
"Come with us." He gestured to Nagisa and Makoto. "We've got something to show you."
"Show me?" He questioned, leaning around to catch Nagisa's eye who was staring at his feet and biting his lip.
"Yeah, it's important." He said, giving Seijuro a look to let go.
"Oh, okay." He agreed, not expecting Makoto and Nagisa to flag him on either side.
He looking over his shoulder at Seijuro as he was helplessly taken away.
"I'll see you around Ai." He winked.
…
Rin was eyeing up a patch of rust on the side of Haru's car when he felt the black haired boys attention suddenly captured, his head shot up and his eyes sparkled. It could only mean one thing – Makoto was nearby.
And sure enough when he turned around there he was, along with Sousuke and Nagisa.
"Hey." Sousuke greeted.
"Hi." Rin calmly responded, wondering just what the other boy wanted.
"I've got a surprise for you." He smirked.
"A surprise for me?" He sighed, not really wanting to play these games again with Sousuke.
"Yeah." He laughed, taking a step to the side to reveal just what – or more accurately who – he'd been hiding.
Rin's eyes widened as he watched the small boy stumble forward, finally looking up and gasping slightly at what he saw. After weeks of dreaming and pining they were finally together again.
"Rin?"
"Ai?" He gaped. "What are you doing here?"
"I moved schools." He explained with a smile, taking a step closer.
"I can't believe you're really here." He gushed. "I wanted to…"
He trailed off when he suddenly remembered where he was, who he was. He felt his friends closing in around him, their judging eyes assessing Ai and if the snort he heard was anything to go by they weren't impressed.
"You wanted me so bad that you had to move cross country? I'm flattered." He teased.
"What?" Ai frowned.
"Go on, I'm feeling generous. I'll give you another go, for old times sake." He held his hand up and got a high five from Momo.
"What are you talking about?" He blushed.
"Come on baby, don't be a prude. We're among friends." He winked, reaching forward to squeeze Ai's arse.
"Stop it!" He squeaked in embarrassment. "What happened to the Rin I met at the beach?"
"I do not know, maybe there's two of us?" He joked. "Try filing a missing persons ad."
"I don't understand." He whispered.
"You know what they say? People act different when in heat." He laughed.
"I hate you." Ai hissed, tears building up in his eyes. "You're fake and a liar and I wish I'd never laid eyes on you!"
"I bet that's not all he laid on you." Momo jeered as Ai ran away, Nagisa quickly following after him.
"Nicely done Rin." Sousuke laughed, walking away with Makoto.
Rin stood completely still, those words coming from Ai's lips had broken his heart. His friends voices blurred into white noise, probably still making jokes at Ai's expense, as his mind was consumed with the other boy.
He wanted to run, find Ai and hold him in his arms again, beg for forgiveness and never let go. He wanted to be sick, disgusted that he made the one person he cared about cry. He wanted to punch his friends, blame them for everything that had happened.
But he knew it was his fault, he was a coward who didn't deserve Ai's love in the first place.
…
Nagisa finally found Ai sat behind the bleachers, hugging his knees as he wept. He dropped beside the other boy and pulled him into a hug.
"He was so nice to me this summer." Ai sobbed into Nagisa's shoulder.
"I know." He nodded, but he also knew how guys lied to get what they wanted. "But he's a rat."
"Yeah." He agreed.
"No, he's worse than a rat! He's a flea on a rat!" He exclaimed.
"He is." Ai nodded.
"No! He's an amoeba on a flea on a rat!" He shouted, finally coaxing a smile out of Ai. "He's not worth your tears."
"I know." He rubbed his eyes. "I just feel so stupid."
"Don't be silly." He shook his head. "Even the best of us get played by arseholes, it's how we deal with it afterwards that defines us."
"Thanks." Ai smiled.
"Listen, my parents are out tonight so the guys are coming to mine. You want to come too?" Nagisa asked.
"I don't know." He bit his lip, he knew his parents expected him home soon and he no doubt had extra studies to work on.
"Come on, it will be fun." He sung with a cheeky smile.
"Okay." He agreed, one night off wouldn't hurt him.
…
I think I killed it :/ I should have just left it as a oneshot I think but now I've started I will commit and finish