[ COLLEGE AU PT. 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO ]

[rettangolo]

[ gyro is 100% convinced that that faux-date with kakyoin went swimmingly. sure, it ended up with them hastily removing themselves from the premises, and sure, he has a huge bruise on his side from where he kind-of-sort-of-failed to benchpress kakyoin (he holds to his explanation that he would've done better if kakyoin didn't eat so much fucking bread), but they had a good talk. at least, he thinks they had a good talk. stuffy do-gooder kakyoin isn't nearly as stuffy or do-goody as gyro thought, at the very least.

these are things that he finds prudent to reveal to a choice few classmates the next day, incidentally. he's early to class for once, mostly to get himself a good seat in the corner of the room, where he swings himself up on the desk and motions for a few of the more upbeat guys to huddle around so he can totally tell them how noriaki drank almost a whole bottle of wine on his own after he totally sweettalked a 60 year old italian woman. scandalous, right? noriaki's a good guy, gyro says, and everyone should be chill to him.

it's during the middle of a particularly rousing story about how kakyoin suavely shoved gyro aside and insisted to pay for their dinner that gyro catches a glimpse of the hero of the story out of the corner of his eye— a nyoho later, he raises a hand and waves to his project partner, clearly not awkward at all about the fiasco of the previous night.

the rest of the class turns to look at kakyoin

and a few girls giggle... what has gyro done. ]

Comments

[rettangolo]

[ it's a little amusing, watching kakyoin fumble like this. gyro isn't sadistic enough or malicious enough to continue sabotaging kakyoin in a classroom environment, but he does continue conversing for the sake of conversation, because he's actually read the material that this class is on, for once, and the lecture is largely just a recap of what he already knows. score. ]

i'm not gonna run away, relax

i'm damn sure you're not going to try kicking my ass in front of the whole class, anyway

[ or would he...? gyro's been surprised, before. he's compelled to grin, but the professor still seems somewhat suspicious that zeppeli's awake and taking notes today; gyro's expression remains steeled and steady. ]

[splashdamage]

[ that message pops up on his screen, and kakyoin sits back a little in his seat, frowning. hand cupping his chin, one finger tapping thoughtfully at his lips, he frankly looks more like someone trying to outmanuever a chess opponent than someone reading an IM message.

which might be appropriate, since he kind of considers gyro a weird sort of opponent. someone whose motives he still can't quite pinpoint. ]

I won't

So long as you don't give me a reason to

So we can talk after class.

ktenmei has signed off.

[ he gets the sense that gyro is juuuuuust childlike and petty enough that he'll hang around after class just to make sure he gets in the last word. so kakyoin shoots him a smug sideways glance, then pointedly returns to his note. ]

[rettangolo]

[ childish? petty? surely not, gyro zeppeli is the posterboy of being above it all and mature.

which is totally why he interprets kakyoin's messages as a challenge instead of a very sensible 'we-need-to-talk' statement, and responds in kind by very purposefully taking his sweet-ass time packing up after the lecture, until all the other (still curious) students have left to shuffle off to their next one.

once the coast is clear, he speaks up. ]

So? What did you want to talk about. If you're going to ask me if I told anyone anything incriminating about you—

[ and he stops midsentence, considering all his options regarding where he can take this sentence. ]

—I'd have to ask you what your definition of 'incriminating' is.

[ nailed it. ]

[splashdamage]

[ of course, kakyoin's the type to be neatly packed up within moments, ready to leave the classroom and discuss these matters outside -- but gyro takes his sweet time lingering. standing awkwardly next to his desk, waiting for gyro to be done, kakyoin's stuck silently glowering across the room until it's just the two of them left in the classroom. ]

I'll have you know -- [ edging his way between the rows of desk, kakyoin crosses his arms over his chest when he stops before gyro. ] -- I've actively tried to avoid drawing any attention to myself, so I don't have any reputation whatsoever. So the moment you start saying anything strange, there's nothing to balance it out, and -- ... ... ugh.

[ he could easily keep doing, but something about standing in this classroom, actually saying it out loud, while looking gyro in the face makes it hard to sustain any level of real anger. something about the insufferable, smug, but really-not-actually-malicious look on gyro's face makes his irritation fizzle out anticlimactically, and kakyoin sighs as he brushes a hand through his hair. ]

... you know what, never mind. Just don't say anything else about me.