"I'm thirsty."
"That's nice." Akihiko didn't look up from what he was doing.
"Really thirsty," Junpei said helpfully.
"Uh huh."
Junpei sighed and looked around the room. Hospitality wasn't Akihiko's strong point, apparently, so he'd have to find something himself. He spotted what looked like milk and picked it up. Any port in a storm.
Akihiko had glanced up at Junpei while he was prowling around his room. His eyes widened when he saw Junpei grab his drink. "Oh, hey, that's--"
Junpei waved his hand impatiently. "I just want a sip."
Akihiko watched in morbid fascination as Junpei started to drink it. He wasn't surprised a second later when Junpei slammed it down on his desk and started coughing violently. "You're making a mess," he observed mildly.
"What the hell was that?!"
"Protein."
"Ugh. How can you stand to drink that stuff?"
"It's an acquired taste." Akihiko finished messing with his gloves and put one on experimentally. "Besides, I need it to build muscle tone."
"I got a real big muscle. Wanna see it?"
Akihiko still had his glove on and he raised it threateningly. Junpei took a step or two back. Satisfied, Akihiko slid the glove off and set it down. "Besides, that's not even a muscle. It's spongy vascular tissue."
Junpei straightened up. "It just so happens I wasn't even talking about that. Get your mind out of the gutter."
"Oh, I'm sorry Junpei. What muscle were talking about, then?" Akihiko put his hands on his knees and gave Junpei his full attention.
"Um…"
"Yeah?"
Junpei cast his mind back over health class in desperation. "The, uh…um…quadratis femoris. Yeah." He was pretty sure that was a muscle.
Akihiko raised his eyebrows. "Oh really. Show it to me, then."
Junpei stuck his bottom lip out. "I don't want to anymore." No way he was going to admit he didn't know where it was.
"But you got me all excited."
Junpei turned away. "Yeah, well, sorry to disappoint you." He was digging around in his pocket to see if he had change for the vending machine when he jumped suddenly and let out a surprised yelp.
Akihiko stepped back. "It's there, by the way."
"Christ, Senpai! Kiss me on the back of the neck when you do that." After Junpei's breathing calmed down a little he glared at Akihiko. "Or at least take me to a movie first. Something."
"You do crap like that to me all the time."
" 'Cause you love it."
"…Yeah. Anyway, you're the one who owes me a movie, not the other way around. In fact it's more like about ten movies."
Junpei said nostalgically, "Really? That many?"
"At least."
"Okay Tsukiko, grab your purse and let's go."
Akihiko was confused enough by the abrupt change of subject that he forgot to kill Junpei. "…huh?"
"The movies, obviously." Junpei was already vanishing through the door to go get shoes.
Akihiko stuck his head out of the doorway and called after him. "Hey…wait! You said you were really going to study this time!"
"Can't hear you!"
"Son of a bitch," Akihiko muttered, and went to get his jacket.
On the way to the movies, Junpei felt the need to make a long-overdue observation. "You know I've never seen you wear that stupid jacket? Why do you carry it everywhere if you ain't gonna use it?"
"I might get cold."
"How do you even do stuff with only one hand, anyway?"
"It isn't like it's hard…" To illustrate his point, Akihiko dug out his wallet to pay for his ticket.
Junpei shoved past him. "Nuh uh! I said I'd take you." Akihiko looked a little annoyed but didn't say anything, especially after he noticed the guy at the ticket counter looking at them strangely. Junpei turned around triumphantly with the tickets and they went in.
They just managed to get seated before the movie began, which was fine with Akihiko since he hated previews. He got comfortable and shifted his jacket over into his lap. He noticed Junpei staring at him and said irritably, "What?"
"Just wondering why you didn't hang it on the back of your seat."
"Those seats get dirty. Do you have any other stupid questions?" Before Junpei could answer, someone in the row in front of them told them to shut up and their argument halted. Akihiko was glad since he was tired of hearing about his jacket.
He had just gotten into the movie when he started to notice something. His jacket was moving. A second later he hissed and dug his fingers into the armrests and then turned to glare at Junpei. Junpei was staring straight ahead at the screen, of course. Akihiko realized that he looked conspicuous and forced himself to try and watch the movie again, but he wasn't able to focus on it.
As he sank a little deeper into his seat and bit his lip, it occurred to him that there wasn't a good way to tell Junpei to cut it out. If he said something, or grabbed Junpei's arm, it might be noticed. There was nothing for it but to give in and get Junpei back later. At least it was dark. Akihiko's eyes drifted shut and Junpei smiled a little.
After it was over (fortunately it was during a loud action scene) Junpei reclaimed his hand and sucked on the fingers for a minute. Akihiko didn't have the energy to turn, so he just whispered angrily, "I can't believe you did that."
Junpei deliberately misunderstood him. "Wasn't that bad. They say protein's an acquired taste."
"You're dead when we get out of here." Then they were told to shut up again.
Akihiko didn't do anything on the way back to the dorm because he didn't feel like getting arrested, but he was silently planning his revenge the whole way. They had just gotten in when Fuuka stopped them.
"Did you two go to see that new movie?" She asked brightly. "I wanted to see it but I don't think I'll have time now…how did it end?"
Junpei turned to Akihiko. "Yeah, Senpai, tell her. You're so much better at that kind of stuff than me." He went off to his room, leaving Akihiko trapped.
"Uh." Akihiko panicked. For obvious reasons he hadn't noticed anything that had happened after about the first twenty minutes. "Um. …The good guys won."
Fuuka blinked up at him and Akihiko muttered, "Excuse me," and hurried off up the stairs.
He wasn't surprised to find Junpei's door already locked.