Lavi sat at his desk, idly tapping his pen against the notebook in front of him. The classroom was buzzing with the usual chatter, the soft murmur of students catching up after the break. It had only been a day since they'd all returned to campus, and Lavi was still adjusting to the shift back into his routine. He glanced over at Kanda, who was sitting across the room as usual, staring at his own notebook with a focus that seemed impenetrable. Lavi hadn't had the chance to speak with him since their return, and that heavy silence between them hung like a shadow.
Lavi wasn't sure how to breach the tension. Since that night at the frat party, when Kanda had stepped in to help him out of a mess with Tyki, everything had felt different. Kanda had been avoiding him ever since. The distance between them had only grown in the weeks since. Lavi had hoped things would return to normal after the break, but nothing had changed. Kanda was still as distant as ever.
He sighed and refocused on the lecture at hand, but his mind wasn't really on the lesson. It never really was. The thoughts circling his head were always about the same thing—his strained relationship with Kanda. If things kept going the way they were, he wasn't sure how they would ever get past this.
The professor's voice broke through his reverie, and Lavi blinked, realizing she was now at the front of the room, holding a stack of papers in her hands.
"Alright, class," she began, drawing everyone's attention. "We'll be starting our next project today. Please pay attention—there are some important details."
Lavi sat up a little straighter. A project? He hadn't realized that was coming up, but then again, it wasn't like he'd been paying close attention to the syllabus. The professor continued.
"Since we're working on something that will require collaboration, I'll be assigning partners," she said, flipping through the papers. "I've paired you up with someone based on your strengths and your recent assignments, so please be sure to work together. I'll call your names shortly, so get ready."
Lavi froze. He hadn't prepared himself for this. Partnered up with someone. Who would he get? His mind immediately went to Kanda. They had a few shared classes, and if the professor had assigned partners without regard to personal preferences, it was entirely possible that they'd be forced to work together on this project.
The idea of working with Kanda, especially with all the unresolved tension between them, made Lavi's stomach twist. He wasn't sure he could handle spending more time with him like this—especially when Kanda had been avoiding him for so long. The thought alone made him feel uncomfortable.
"Lavi, you're with Kanda," the professor announced, interrupting his train of thought.
Lavi's heart skipped. Of course. Of all the possible partners, he had to end up with Kanda. He glanced at Kanda's desk across the room, but Kanda didn't even look up. His gaze was fixed firmly on his own work, giving no indication that he cared one way or another about the partnership.
Lavi let out a breath, trying to remain composed. He wasn't sure how to approach Kanda. The last time they had been this close—during that incident with Tyki at the frat party—it hadn't exactly ended on the best note. Not to mention the more painful truth Lavi had revealed to Kanda about his past, something that had obviously caused a rift between them.
Taking a deep breath, Lavi stood up from his desk and made his way to the back of the room, where Kanda was still working in his usual solitary manner. He set his bag down beside Kanda's desk, trying to remain calm, but his palms felt suddenly clammy.
"Hey," Lavi said softly, trying to sound casual, though his voice betrayed his unease. "Looks like we're partners."
Kanda didn't respond at first, his hand still moving across his paper with the same concentrated effort he always put into everything. Lavi shifted his weight, watching him carefully. Finally, Kanda lifted his eyes, his gaze meeting Lavi's briefly.
"Is that so?" Kanda's tone was flat, as if it didn't matter to him one way or another. His expression remained unreadable, and he didn't offer any further words. It was clear that Kanda wasn't interested in making this easy.
Lavi hesitated before sitting down beside him. The chair creaked under his weight, and for a moment, the room seemed unnervingly quiet, even though the professor continued speaking at the front of the class. The silence between them grew, but neither of them made an effort to break it.
"Well," Lavi said, trying to fill the gap, "we should probably figure out what we're doing for the project, right?"
Kanda's eyes flicked toward him briefly, but he didn't look at him fully, instead focusing on the paper in front of him. "We'll figure it out," he replied nonchalantly.
The casual dismissal stung more than Lavi expected. He had hoped for something more—some indication that Kanda was willing to engage. But it seemed like Kanda's mind was elsewhere, his attention completely absorbed in whatever he was doing.
Lavi shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The tension was thick between them, and it felt as though the entire room could feel it, even though no one else had a clue about the history they shared. He couldn't help but feel like he was walking on eggshells, constantly afraid that he might say or do something to make Kanda pull even further away. The weight of everything between them—everything that Lavi had tried to hide for so long—felt suffocating.
For the rest of the class, the two of them worked in silence. Lavi tried to focus on the project, but his mind kept drifting back to Kanda, to the growing chasm between them. It was difficult to concentrate on anything else when the only thing he could think about was how badly he wanted to fix things, how badly he wanted to undo the damage his past had done.
But he didn't know how to fix it. And he wasn't sure if Kanda even wanted him to try.