Note: Aaaaaalriight! Uhh, hi there. Hehehe, I know it's been forever but uhhh, yeah uh hi! Anyway, I don't want to say more because I know I'll only sound stupid, so I'll go straightly forward to what I needed to clarify. Since I was gone for a year, I have forgotten some of the parts that I wanted to write. I know, and I am not very proud of that. So, there is this one chapter that I deleted because I honestly forgot where that part is going to. I know I have reasons before but I totally forgot. So, I decided to erase it and continue to my initial plan. So yeah, I will continue. No need to read it again. Nothing changes really. But to some, enjoy!
Furihata leans his body against the cold wall of the train station, waiting for the young student council president to arrive. Heaving a sigh, he clenched his fingers for a moment, which seemed to be shaking in apparent nervousness, before sliding them over his brown tresses. He slipped it back to his jacket's pocket.
He fished out his phone to check its clock. It noted 1:32 pm. Akashi was late for thirty minutes, thirty-two to be exact. It's been over half an hour and yet he could still not see even a ghost of the said male.
Yes, he was meeting Akashi today just like he promised to Akashi, to treat him.
Fifteen minutes of waiting had made him think of several kinds of scenario on why the guy was late. Perhaps, he couldn't because he needed to do something urgent, or he might be sick, slipped off the time and so on, and the reason that the redhead could not inform him was because they did not exchange phone numbers and emails. Why the heck did he have to forget such an important matter?
But the most worrisome thought that came through his mind was that Akashi had ditched him. It wouldn't be impossible. But he never expected Akashi to be ditching people. Yesterday, he seemed to be agreeing well with him when he told him the information of their eat out. So, he wasn't very sure onto why the red head suddenly wouldn't show today. It's totally bothering.
And although, this sudden friendship he offered to Akashi was because of his two friends, to sabotage Akashi's scheme to break their relationship this could also be a good start to understand the redhead more beside his evil nature and scary personality. There might be something beyond that that they have never seen before, as what he remembered Kuroko said. He doesn't want to immediately judge the person but as to what he was showing them, he couldn't blame himself and the people around them.
Nevertheless, if the redhead won't appear today and really did ditch him then that would definitely ruin his plan. Talking to Akashi after would be embarrassing and he wouldn't let himself experience such shameful incident again. Instead of getting close to him he will, however, find a way to be sure that the redhead can do nothing with his friends' relationship. He will help his friends all throughout.
Sighing, he checked his phone again. It was already forty-minutes past one and there's still no sign of redhead around. Furihata decided that if Akashi won't arrive for the next twenty minutes then he will leave and forget what happened today.
But not only three minutes passed after, a red haired teen in his casual wear appeared in front of him.
"Good afternoon Furihata-san, I apologize for my lateness. An urgent business came up that I cannot decline," Akashi said in a smooth voice.
The brunette stood straight and returned the guy's smile, "It's alright, and we can't avoid things to happen sometimes."
"Have you waited long?"
Yes dude! , but didn't say anything and instead opted to answer him with a shake of his head, "Let's not talk about that, as long as you are here," he answered rather softly that Akashi couldn't help but stare at his two brown eyes. Akashi's ruby ones seemed to be penetrating through his gaze, which made him turned away quickly, "Shall we?"
He turned left to start walking. The redhead didn't respond and only followed him silently while walking beside him. No one talk as they continue their way and Furihata couldn't find any topic to talk about. With the awkward silence passing between them the ten minutes walk to the restaurant from the station had become very long and overwhelming to the brunette teen.
Think, think Kouki!
Thus, arriving at the restaurant became Furihata's greatest treasure at that moment. He almost released a very long and deep sigh.
"We're here," he announced, stopping in front of the establishment and ending up puffing out a small bit of sigh. If Akashi noticed it, he didn't show it when he answered.
"Shall we go inside then?"
"Sure," he nodded with a smile while glimpsing at the redhead for a moment before stepping inside.
They marched inside the traditional Japanese restaurant. Upon entering, Furihata was welcomed with several customers eating and some playing on their own tables. It seems to be a bit crowded today. The interior is homey and refreshing for Furihata which made him visit the diner whenever he had time.
He took a glimpse at Akashi for a moment only for the redhead to turn to him as well, making their eyes meet. The brunette flinched and forced himself to produce a small smile towards the other. Akashi only gave him a small nod.
Turning around, he refocused his eyes ahead of them. Furihata greeted an old man, with a wide smile as they passed over the counter where the man was cooking over several types of recipes. The other greeted back with same excitement. They sat on the far corner, a bit far away from the eyes of the people. To be honest, it was just his favorite spot.
"You seem to be familiar with people around here…" Akashi spoke all of a sudden which surprised Furihata slightly. It wasn't a question, more like a statement but the brunette still nodded.
Placing his arms over the wooden table, he answered. "Hn…I mean yeah, I've been here more than you can count," he smiled softly, "I like it here," he mumbled over his light chuckles.
"I can see that. You seem to be very fond of this place," the redhead responded with a tint of sincerity on his voice while ruby orbs looking straight at Furihata. One of his arms was bracing his head that was placed atop an open palm.
The look made Furihata a bit conscious. He reflexively scratched his cheek while averting his eyes away from the serious council.
"Yeah, besides their foods are fantastic, you can't get enough of it I tell you," he spouted his opinion casually without thinking. "The people are very welcoming…nice and you later realize that you love coming back. Honestly, I never noticed it until I became close to them," Furihata smiles warmly, looking at the redhead but not seemingly seeing him as his face showed warmth that he apparently was feeling.
"I see…" he answered. "Then I'll have to try it out."
"You won't regret it for sure," Furihata said, a bit more proudly than he had intended. He shyly smiled after realizing his action but didn't take his words back.
The redhead just gave him a look that he couldn't discerned. The look wasn't anywhere near scary nor evil, if possible it was rather calm and, perhaps, understanding…? He wasn't very certain though.
Before anything else, a tall with a huge build brunette halted in front of their table. Furihata's eyes twinkled upon seeing the person.
"Ah, Kiyoshi-senpai!" he grinned at the tall brunette.
"Kouki I'm glad to see you again. How have you been doing? I haven't seen you these past few days," the guy only smiled gently while taking out a pad and pen.
Furihata smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, it's been quite hectic with school. I couldn't come here with all the examinations nearing, but I'm good and still breathing, almost dead but still breathing."
Kiyoshi laughed at that, "So it seems you're not doing well," His hand reached for the sitting brunette's head and ruffled his hair playfully.
"Don't laugh at my despair Senpai, you're not helping at all," he groaned in defeat, losing energy. "I'm totally doomed to fail this term." His head fell over the table forgetting who he was with. Red eyes followed the brunette's action with amusement in his eyes.
"I see, I see. If that's the case then you need to study harder," the man's smile widened as he saw Furihata's expression turned sour upon hearing the word 'study''.
"Uhg, it's a total pain, I hate exams," he grumbled under his breath, but was loud enough to be heard by the two people near him. Furihata swatted lightly Kiyoshi's hand before looking up with a frown, only to find his senpai's face morphed into a wide smile.
"When did we ever do? But it's all part of school Kouki," the male said in a gentle tone.
"I'm well aware of that. But I'm not as smart as you Senpai I totally suck at studying," he answered with a grimace intact on his face before looking down again. He was never fond of studying from the beginning. He wasn't sure why but just looking at those school books for only ten minutes would make him sleepy all of a sudden. He wouldn't last twenty minutes and was already fast asleep with drools on his book.
Again, Furihata felt Kiyoshi placed a hand over his head. It remained there and doesn't seem to be moving anytime soon. However the peaceful situation was interrupted when a new voice spoken which froze Furihata on his seat and reminded him that he had companion.
"If you won't do that, then passing the exam won't be possible. No one sucks at studying," the hand left off his head with a soft muss over his hair, and then the quiet voice proceeded, "It's all about hard work, time and effort we put in our studies to get the scores we wanted Furihata-san and whining about it is not one of them."
Stilled, Furihata doesn't have the strength to argue and instead gulped at the meaning of the words that were conveyed to him. It was obvious. Akashi's voice might remained calm and compose but the clear meaning of reprimand in between his sentences were obvious and undoubtedly firm. He felt ashamed for a second. He has no guts to face and contradict such opinion because he knew that Akashi was right on that matter, whining over it was pointless, and it was his fault for whining in front of this genius and overly hardworking fellow.
But a little part of him wanted to object such comment because he knew in his self that he was trying hard. In fact, Kuroko was lending him a hand every time he asked for help, and in those cases he would pass. Barely but he did pass. So Akashi didn't have the right to chastise him about studying. It just doesn't felt right to be reproached over such matter.
Decisively, he fixed his gaze at the person in front of him to voice out his belief, but the words stuck on his throat as he clashed with crimson eyes that seemed to be staring at him longer than he had expected, also the guy spoke before he could.
"Having said that, I know you were working hard yourself Furihata-san. Don't duel over that matter," the red-haired teen took his head off his hand and instead straightened on his seat. "I'm merely stating a fact." The smile that was given to him was not one bit helping.
He wasn't sure if he should be happy or not over the explanation. "I honestly don't know how to accept that," he stated frankly.
"Treat it as compliment," Akashi's tone ended the discussion. He turned his attention to the person next to their table, "I apologize for the rude interruption sir, but I wanted to express my opinion regarding such topic."
The older guy dismissed the apology with a wave of his hand and laughed slightly, "It's alright, and don't be so formal kid. I'm Kiyoshi Teppie. Kiyoshi is fine anyway, and you are?" he extended his hand in front of Akashi.
"Akashi Seijuurou," his curt answer. "It's nice to meet you Kiyoshi-san." His red eyes glinted over the lights around them.
"You too," the huge man smiled warmly at him. "This is actually the first time I saw you with Kouki, you new here?"
"Yes, I just transferred this year in our school and only met Furihata-san a few days ago."
The brunette was silent and merely watching the conversation between them.
"A new friend," Kiyoshi commented rhetorically. "For that, it is my treat today. To celebrate and to console this young man's spirit!" he said ruffling Furihata's brown tresses.
At this moment, Furihata's ears perked up and eyes twinkled at the offer. "Really?"
Kiyoshi nodded with a chuckle remaining on his lips, "But you need to promise that you'll gonna pass the exam. You have to show me your papers after."
The brunette groaned loudly, mindless over the other set of eyes. The payment was pretty hard. "Impossible," he murmured, "You obviously don't want to treat me senpai. That payment is too ridiculous."
"If you can't show me the score then I will ask you for the payment." The other offered again.
"But it was you who offered Furihata…" he clipped his lips in comment which the tall brunette only answered with a shrug. Then, "Is that a deal?"
Kiyoshi grinned with a nod, "Deal."
"Then I'll order lots to make you regret such offer!" he agreed, returning the grin.
"Good! So what's your order?" Kiyoshi laughed.
The older man only smiled and nodded as Furihata ordered with full of enthusiasm. He was obviously enjoying this. Akashi did the same, hearing Furihata's comment of "Order many Akashi-san it's free" with a playful smirk plastered on his face.
And before they knew it, foods were already served on their table with a loud "Enjoy," coming from Kiyoshi. The next thing they realized they were already eating in silence. The awkwardness Furihata felt awhile ago had returned and remained between them.
He cleared his throat, "So..uh…w-what do you think about the food?" breaking the silence with a lame question, but much better than to eat with suffocating atmosphere. With Akashi eating properly had become a chore.
The council looked up from his food, meeting his eyes. He resisted himself to look away from those eyes that seemed to be capturing his every move.
"It's good. I don't have any complains."
He beamed at that. "I'm glad you like it, though I must admit I was already expecting that."
Akashi only smiled with a soft hum, seemingly pleased at the food he just ate.
Unconsciously, the brown haired teen released a sigh of relief at Akashi's answer.
"In the end I did not treat you and instead with Kiyoshi-senpai." It was not that he was complaining, in fact, he was happy. It's just, somehow, he felt like breaking his promise to the other.
"No, it's still your treat. I remember the payment will be your examination's passing scores," the red head stated calmly, as if what he said was normal. But to Furihata it was a burden to bear.
His shoulder immediately slumped down at the reminder. Akashi was right. The payment was his hard earned passing scores. He needed to pass to pay their food and he ordered a lot of food. He already felt his pocket being empty any sooner. Is that deal even fair? Why the heck did he agree again? He heaved a sigh inwardly.
"Well, I'll have to do my best to pass…but I couldn't help to deem it impossible," he mumbled under his breath. "I'll better prepare for the payment already."
"So you'll just give up?" Akashi asked after setting his chopsticks on its holder.
"No, of course not," he quickly declined, "It's free food so passing the exam is the best option. I'll still do my best but if it won't happen then…" he shrugged; a little hesitation can be heard in his voice.
The redhead only stared at him as he keep on speaking.
"I don't know why but I like reading books. It's just that I always find myself falling asleep just facing my notebook for longer than twenty minutes. I really need to fix that habit of mine. I don't know but non-fiction books just ain't really my thing." He mumbled freely as he stuffed his mouth with foods.
"You can do it," the redhead encouraged him.
"I hope so. Thanks for the encouragement Akashi-san," he smiled, scratching his cheek, "Probably I'll go ask Kuroko-kun to help me study, that is if he wasn't teaching Kagami, otherwise I'll just do it myself." He submitted to his fate.
"I'm not simply encouraging you. I'm saying you can do it." Akashi stared straight at his eyes, freezing him on the spot. He could only bit his inner cheek. "I can help you," Akashi suddenly said.
This time, his world stopped. His eyes widened and lips pressed. His brain froze for a second and his hearing was giving him weird signals. In that whole time, he felt the crowd around him was gone and it was only him and Akashi. Did he just hear that right? Akashi was willing to help him? He wasn't just hearing things right? Right?
"What?"
"I will help you study," Akashi said the second time. "That is if you want me."
After confirming that his ear wasn't playing with him, he blinked, once, twice. He couldn't compose a response as it was an impossible feat. The food that was in between his sticks fell back on his plate as he stared continuously at the redhead in front of him. Is this Akashi? Or an alien?
He analyzed the situation. If this scary person were to teach him will he be saved in the end? It looked unrealistic. But Akashi was offering him a good help. It was help.
"Really?"
"Since he was treating us, it won't be bad to lend a hand," Akashi continued to eat silently, "Do you want my help or not?" his voice hinted impatience.
Does he want it or not? Will he be able to live or not? But the eyes that look straight at him, waiting for him, was very impossible to decline. It's like he will be killed any second if he did answer no. So in the end...
He nodded, no voice coming out except, "Thank you Akashi-san, if it's not a bother."
"I offered it myself," the redhead said then asked, "So you like reading?"
Furihata blinked at the sudden shift of the conversation but answered, "Yeah, but just novels and fictions, can't really read those jargon words in school books. It hurts my eyes and damaged my brain," he jested, trying to lighten the situation with a joke. He was trying to calm his own nerves.
And from then on, their talk strayed to the books they read, debated, and gave opinions to each which somehow made Furihata forget about his fraying nerves. They didn't notice the time until it was late.
~~~~~~~~AKAFURI~~~~~~~~~
"Is that Akashi and Furihata?"
The speaker's companion perked up at the names and turned to the place where the other had been looking. It was quite havoc and had become a huge topic in the school about Furihata's confession to Akashi. The speculation's that the red head rejected the brunette harshly. Some felt anger over Akashi and sympathy towards Furihata. However, to those homophobic and prejudice people, they'd laughed at Furihata's misery with mocks and disgusting insult. People have their own opinion but saying hurting words are absurd.
"Seems so." They were in the perfect spot since the duo can't see them in this direction but they could easily locate and observe them. Perfect.
"Together?" twinkles on the eyes were thrown at each other.
"Do you think they're together? Did Akashi really reject him, because this situation really defies such information? Now I doubt that rumor." A smug noise.
"Yeah. It doesn't look like Akashi-san refuse his confession…what do you think? What if…he did accept it?" a mischievous smile was thrown at the other person.
"How about we confirm that?" a smirk, then took out the camera off the bag.
Smiled evilly, "I like that."
Later...
Two sets of eyes met after seeing the brunette and the redhead.
"Did you see that?" a giggle had passed over someone's mouth.
"With my two sharp eyes," the other responded. "And the camera…captured everything," showing the device in the hand.
The other person's mouth formed into an "O" and giggled. "Everything?"
"Certainly," a smirk, "I don't do work half-ass. I'll make proof with high probability of validity."
A curl up of lips, "Good," a moment before a comment, "So they're really official, huh."
"Yeah, and it's a big scoop."
Monday came in a blast as big news rattled the students of the Rakusei high school. Chit chats and rumors spread then and there. The news? Well, Akashi and Furihata is officially a couple.
Note: I'll definitely update soon. Sorry for the very long wait, if the old reader is waiting haha. Anyway, thanks for reading.