Author's Notes: Oh look at that, it's Monday! Aha... ahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Seriously though, I am really fucking sorry.

I'm just like... advanced tired lately. Everything is like a chore, even updating this fic (and I wouldn't mind, it's already fucking written!). Partly I think I'm slightly depressed, but now I'm starting to wonder if it's the contraceptive pill I'm on.

Have an angry update.

Junpei was acting like a little prick and Akihiko was seriously considering knocking him out.

Never mind the fact that most of the student body was glaring at him for reasons unknown and never mind that he could actually hear some of them chanting lady-stealer as he walked past; Junpei knew something and he wasn't giving any information, even going so far as to avoid the boxer completely.

It didn't matter how much Akihiko prodded him for answers, Junpei looked like he was disgusted with his senior's very presence, angrily stomping out of rooms whenever Akihiko entered them and pointedly averting his eyes whenever they passed each other in the corridor.

When Junpei shouldered him on the way to his room in the dorm however, that's when Akihiko really lost his temper. Grabbing the junior by the back of his collar, he flung him into the wall separating his and Shinji's room and held him there by the scruff of his neck.

"Hey-what the fu-"

"Dammit Junpei, you better tell me what's going on or I swear I'll start beating it out of you!"

The kid was livid, kicking out with his legs, his hands (surprisingly strong for someone as bony) were yanking hard at Akihiko's wrists.

"Tch, you wanna start hitting me? Go ahead, lady-stealer!"

The rage sizzled up through the taller male's eye-sockets, his grip tightening around the collar of Junpei's jacket until he could see the dark denim pushing into his flesh. The urge to punch him in the face was rising considerably but he knew he just couldn't so he reached up with his other hand, wrenched the hat off the kid's head and whipped him across the face with it.

"Ow, you stupid asshole!"

Hitting him again across the other side and pushing him further into the wall when his struggling intensified, he pointed the brim in the junior's face and hissed, "Call me that once more, I dare you."

Junpei growled, trying desperately to break free but Akihiko's grip was one honed from years and years of wailing away at punching bags and holding shadows down while Mitsuru gutted them.

"Why are people in school calling me that," he questioned, "and why are they talking smack about Yukari-?"

"Oh, so you wanna talk about Yukari now, do you?! Don't gimme that bullshit like you actually care about her, I heard all about you and your reputation!"

"What the hell are you talking about? What reputation?"

"How could you do that to Yuka-tan?! Those guys were right about you; you really are a lady-stealer; goin' 'round, takin' peoples girlfriends and then dumping them when you get bored-"

"Junpei, what are you talking about? I didn't take anyone's girlfriend-"

"Bullshit! Keizo-senpai really liked Yuka-tan, and when they were out on a date, you beat him up!"

A cold feeling settled in the pit of Akihiko's stomach. Keizo was in the same year but a different class... he remembered him as the guy with the deep underbite who attacked Yukari. Releasing Junpei's collar and wringing his gloved hands, he winced when he saw the red mark left on the junior's tanned neck. It wasn't the first time he'd lost his temper because of a similar rumour, and it wasn't the first time he'd been accused of stealing someone's girlfriend.

"Don't deny it," Junpei spat, "I saw the marks on Keizo-senpai's neck. You could have killed him!"

Keizo was obviously sore that he'd stopped him from grabbing Yukari. But he couldn't set Junpei straight without consulting Yukari first; it was such a personal issue for her and Junpei would probably do something crazy if he knew what really happened. Akihiko was completely at a loss, his rage ebbing away in the wake of guilt and sheer disappointment. Lady-stealer. It was happening all over again. He thought he was past it.

"I think you should ask Yukari what really happened, Junpei,"

"... Ask me what?"

"Yu... Yuka-tan!" Junpei spluttered, grabbing his hat off the floor and pulling it back on his head. They were both frozen in place as she approached, a pair of pink pyjama pants and a white tank-top on, a steaming mug of tea in her hand. Akihiko noted her eyes were red.

"I could hear you two fighting," she said, looking warily between the two of them, "So... ask me what?"

Meeting eyes with the Iori and shrugging, Akihiko felt his knees start to shake. He didn't know what Yukari was going to say, and he didn't know how she was going to react either. What if she got mad at him? After all, those rumours about her started because of him; at least it was his final year and he could escape in a few months, he couldn't stand the thought of her living out the rest of her school life shunned because he beat a guy up on her behalf.

And what if she believed some of the things they were saying about him...? He didn't care what the people in the school thought, but he cared very much about what Yukari thought of him.

"Yuka-tan..." Junpei straightened up under her scrutiny, "there's... there's a story going around school about how Akihiko-senpai beat a guy up to... uh... to get you to go out with him..."

There was a long, extremely uncomfortable silence and Yukari didn't change expression at all. The boxer resisted the urge to either hold his face in his hands or punch the door. It was a long time before she said anything at all, the grip on the mug in her hands was making her knuckles turn white.

"... Who told you that?" Her voice sounded so tiny and far away.

"It was Keizo-senpai-"

"What does he look like?"

Akihiko studied the threads binding the leather together in his gloves as Junpei described the male to Yukari. She wasn't stupid, she would come to the same conclusion as him to see that Keizo was spreading those rumours.

"Junpei..." she started slowly, like she was speaking to a child, "Akihiko-senpai beat that guy up because... because he attacked me." Yukari's face was completely expressionless as she sipped from her mug and watched as Junpei spluttered and kept looking back and fourth between them, shaking his head like he was still confused.

"But... but he told me about... and..." he struggled to find the words by waving his arms around, "and you two came home together that night! I thought-"

"We came home together because after Keizo attacked me," she cut across him calmly, "I had a panic attack. Akihiko-senpai brought me to Hagakure so I could calm down and get something to eat."

The boxer watched as the gears slid slowly into place in Junpei's brain and his face started going red. While he continued to search for words and gesture to the air with his hands like he was trying to pick a sentence out in front of him, he finally said, "So... so that's it?! Keizo-senpai... he tried to hurt you?"

"Use your head, Junpei, why would Akihiko-senpai just attack someone in the street? You know he's not like that."

"He's a creep," Akihiko added with disdain, "I saw him reaching for her when I was on my way to the gym and she told him to back off. He wouldn't listen."

Yukari was nodding, and it took some time for the confused noises coming from Junpei to stop. When he finally leaned back and sighed, he bowed fully at the waist with his hands clasped in front of him-

"Akihiko-senpai, Yuka-tan... I'm so sorry."

"Yeah well, just try not to believe everything you hear," Yukari sighed, sipping her tea and looking about twenty years older from the argument alone. He tried to make eye-contact with her he really did, but she was staring into her drink like her life depended on it.

"I... I dunno how to set it straight in school, I mean," Junpei turned to the archer, "I can tell people it's all lies, but you probably don't want people knowing he... he tried to-"

"Please don't tell them the truth," she was grimacing, "I don't like the idea of people knowing my personal business."

"I won't."

Nodding and reaching up to flick the brim of Junpei's hat, she muttered the word "stupei" before turning on her heel without looking at him once, and made her way up to the third floor. Briefly Akihiko felt a little part of his heart crack and if felt awful. Not that she ignored him, just that she looked so fed-up and so upset and hurt and he didn't know how to fix it.

"Dude... you," he saw, or at least he thought he could see a sheen of tears in Junpei's eyes before he pounced on the boxer, pulling him into a spine-crushing hug, "you, like, actually saved Yuka-tan."

Uncomfortable and feeling like a few vertebrae were going to pop out of place, he tapped the kid on the arm a few times, both as a reassurance and as a plea to release him.

"Seriously," his voice was muffled against Akihiko's vest, "you totally saved her. You're like... my freakin' hero!"

It took a while before the junior finally released him; he was rubbing his face furiously in his hands and wiping away tears that he probably didn't want Akihiko to see. Apologising profusely and vowing to set the record straight in school, the boxer calmed down when he realized that Junpei was on his side again, and the tension between them was gone. He hated the idea of fighting with anyone in their dorm; they had far too much to lose as it was without losing camaraderie.

They both went into their separate rooms, and as Akihiko shut the door behind him, he couldn't help the deep sadness that rooted itself in his chest.

If there were magic words to make the tired look in Yukari's eyes go away, he's say them like a mantra. He wanted to go up to her floor and give her a hug and tell her it would be okay and try to cheer her up-

But couldn't stop feeling like it wasn't his place.

Author's Notes: Jesus I need to either sleep or stop sleeping entirely.