Chapter Text
Jamie flashed an awkward smile, sitting himself next to his (very) grumpy classmate, an uncomfortable silence falling between the two men, however that was quickly interrupted Jamie “I like your bike man”
‘Is this.. him insulting my bike? what a pussy insult.’ Jamie watched the blue haired man puffed out his chest, similarly to an animal trying to make themselves look larger than they actually are “It’s the best of the best!” He grabbed his phone frantically searching up the old photos from before he fixed it up
Jamie let out an impressed gasp “Ooh! nice work, man, can’t beileve it used to look like that”
“Impressive, right?” their eyes met for a short moment, Ryo having a shit eating grin on his face, his mind recalling all the long months he had spent fixing up his precious bike
“I’m plannin’ to get one but if I’m honest” Jamie shrugged his shoulders “ but I’m not really sure which one to get y’know?”
‘I didn't know he was into bikes’ His brown eyes glanced down to Jamie’s hand which were to busy fiddling with a pen. his hands were large, Some area’s on his palms slightly callused, his hand being a beautiful deep mahogany brown however there were few patches where they were a more russet brown due his scars. he knew why he had them, everyone did. It was all over the news when the fire broke out, and for a brief moment Ryo felt a twinge of pity washing over him ‘right.’
Ryo shook his head, a low chuckle slipping out from his lips “I can guarantee one thing. Out of the both of us. I look better on a bike”
Jamie sat there for a moment, a hint of shock on his face before a booming laugh escaping “Ha! As if mate!” his laughter swiftly dying down “so the Edo period?” His lips curled themselves into a small smirk Ryo only nodded, not feeling the need to go deeper into why he choose it
the rest of the class went a lot smoother than expected, Jamie wasn’t as annoying as Ryo had initially thought they talked more about bikes and Ryo even recommended some good ones he could consider buying. Ryo understood why Jamie was ‘Mr popular.’ but that didn’t drive any of the jealously he had. He wanted friends he could trust, but the habit of pushing people away was engraved into him.
Just as Ryo stood up to leave, wanting to desperately to go home for a nap before going to work a voice called out behind him“yo Ryo!” He glanced over at his partner “Mind givin’ me your number?” Ryo stood there a hand messing with the studded bracket on his wrist “Just so we can like, arrange a time to meet?”’ugh..’ Jamie watched as Ryo’s eyes avoided his “Or I can just get your Instagram?”
Reluctantly Ryo pulled out his phone “Number’s fine”
“cheers” The shorter man didn’t look at him while the other did typed in his number, Ryo simply packed all his stuff into his bag “here”
Ryo took back his phone, shoving it into his jacket “Just message me whenever you have the time” ‘you’ll probably be busy if I ask anyway’
“Cool then I’ll see you around boss man” The shorter man gave a nod towards Jamie, leaving the class as soon as possible.
Soon enough, the blue haired man arrived back to his humble abode, the mocking sound of silence welcoming him, taunting him on how he'll always be alone ‘I should be used to this by now’ He sighed as he walked through the corridor, his feet dragging behind him with every step he took. sitting himself down onto the bed, his eyes sub continentally moving to blankly stare at his collection of knifes hanging from his wall in front of him, all of them ranging from different time periods.
‘I wish I was special’ His broad back hitting the bed, having no energy to change and instead allowing himself to lay vulnerable on his mattress closing his eyes a weak attempt to fall asleep. the silence continuing to mock him as he laid dormant. “I hate this” his voice coming out as a low grumble, a small “ugh” sound escaping from him while he rolled onto his stomach, arms reaching for his headphones laying on top of his nightstand.
the moment he places them on his head, his hands swiftly typed ‘enter sandman’ on spotify. The moment the song blasted in his ears he could feel his body relax, finally being able to fully emerge into the world of sleep, the dream he had, felt like more a nightmare, throwing him back to one of the worst days of his life. The cruel moment where he learnt it was better to rely on himself rather than having to rely on others
thankfully for him the painful memories were (thankfully) interrupted by sound of his alarm.
‘I don’t need anyone’ Ryo eyes glanced at the song currently playing through hie headphones, creep. how fitting. Ryo groaned, reluctantly pushing him off the bed, fixing his hair before leaving his miserable apartment.
the second he’s foot crossed the doors threshold a voice behind him called out “Ryo” He jolted his head towards the voice, his eyes interlocking with his neighbour, Klara (killjoy) who was standing hand on her door’s handle “are you heading out?”
“yes” his eyes instantly moved to the hop of her head where Ryo noticed that she was missing her iconic green beanie. ‘she looks so weird without it.’
Klara nodded “ah, right I’m going to be tinkering with my bots tonight, I got some new upgrades for them,” her hands clapping together at the thought “so just a warning it may get loud” He glared at the engineer in front of him, ‘please god no’ clearly noticing the (not so subtle) disapproval written on his face, she stammered out “Its only for tonight! I swear”
Instinctively Ryo clicked his tongue “Whatever” eyes rolling to the side ‘she always say that’ pushing past the woman he continued to walk his way down the stairs. beginning to recall all the sleepless nights he had to endure, ‘At least I took a nap.’ Ryo pinched the bridge of his nose
“welcome back ryo” a soft yet firm voice called out from the front desk,
he sat in the seat next to the black haired lady “hey” His eyes examining her face ‘she looks better’
wei (sage) turns away, that smile she had instantly vanishing, already knowing the reason why he was staring her hand instinctively moving to cover her face “I’m okay”
Ryo couldn’t help but to frown at her comment, knowing full well that it was a lie, sure they weren’t close, the two were only collages at most, but they were similar in a way, they both struggled to depend on others, except wei was a lot more selfless than Ryo, rarely ever putting herself first. Something he didn’t exactly agree but was powerless to stop. It was her life after all, the most he could do was to tell her to stop. but he could remind her every now and again
The man bit his inner cheek “you should take more care of yourself”
she brushed her fingers through her luscious black hair “I am”
“wei—”
before he could finish she was quick to stop him “Can we not? not today” Wei turned to the man next to her, her hand falling to her side “please?”
the door swings open a familiar purple haired woman pushing what seems to be a younger version of herself in through the door. “Zyanya” the young girl calling out to her older sister, the Lucia’s head turning to look behind her.
the women stood there for a moment, sensing the awkward atmosphere “Its alright cariño” her manicured nails rubbed the other’s back while she spoke, Her attitude uncharacteristically softer than whenever she’s walking Uni.
Wei smiled at the older sister, “good to see you again Zyanya” the medical expert standing up to greet her properly, a small wince escaping her but she swiftly brushed the pain off “and its lovely to see you Lucia” the man’s eyes narrow, seeing Wei act like she wasn’t in some kind of pain infuriated him
the three walk to one of the empty rooms Ryo slowly trailing behind the three, watching the two women talk (totally not flirting) ‘get a room..’ “Lucia” the young girl turns to the older man “Do you want me to go grab you teddy?” the brown haired girl only nodded. that was all he needed to excuse himself from the group, silently walking to the backrooms where they kept all the toys and equipment they need
Ryo took a deep breath “evening mate” the man jumped at the sound of his co-worker’s voice
“Kirra!” Ryo yelled before clearing his throat a weak attempt to hide the fact his voice trembling
“Hmm.” Kirra’s bright green eyes watch him closely as he bends down to open the draw, pulling out the cute brown teddy bear “we still going to the gym later?”
standing up properly Ryo can only stiffly bob his head at the question, knowing that if he says no, Kirra would be dragging him alone anyway "I should go..” Kirra watched as the grown man (basically) running away teddy bear in hand
“Lucia!” Ryo opened the door, seeing Lucia sitting on the table while his co-worker looked at all of the young girl’s cast, He silently moved to stand next to Wei, his attitude uncharacteristically softer than the usual tough guy act.
“your overall health is in good condition, your leg.. I’d say roughly in a week you can take these off” a gentle smile curled onto wei’s face, a sigh of relief can be heard from Zyanya “and once youre able to take your cast off Ryo will be helping your physical therapy. just like how he helped you when you hurt your arm”
“okay..” the young girl mumbled, her hands mindlessly rubbing the bear’s soft paws
the rest of his shift went by quickly. Wei and kirra helping the sick/badly injured people who came in (although Kirra would often tell wei she needs her rest). Adrijan and Ryo assisting all the patients which needed physical help while also helping the two women with anything they needed.
“Ryo!” Kirra called out just as he was about to leave, “Didn’t think you could run off without me, right?”
he rapidly shook his head “N-no!!” clearing his throat as a meek attempt to hide the trembling in his voice
“great. Lets go!” the ginger hummed, opening the door for him
“isn’t this great?” Kirra smiled, stretching her arms
‘Honestly I’d prefer to be alone.. but I guess it isn’t the worst’ his brown eyes glare at his co-worker, now (forced) gym buddy, “its. okay” a familiar figure walks over to one of the benches ‘you’ve got to be kidding me.. really?’
“Tayane (raze), what tunes you listenin’ to?” the man’s voice was distant
‘please. don’t notice me’ Ryo watched notice Kirra from his provisional walking over to the benches, “flower girl” He called out “Mind if we do the stairs first?”
stopping in her tracks she head whipped to her ‘friend’ “fine, but call me flower girl again and I’ll break your nose”
He let out a sigh of relief, as the two walked over to the opposite side of where Jamie was, however as much as he hated to admit it his eyes were glued to the man he desperately wanted to avoid
“who’s that?” His head whips toward Kirra “oh? do you have a crush?” Kirra teases, nudging his arm
“what?No.” Ryo pulling his arm away from the women “don’t do that”
her freckled hand covered her mouth, a small chuckle escaping her “whatever you say mate” Ryo’s brows furrowed, glaring at the woman next to him
His eyes dart back, focusing onto Jamie, only for him to see Jamie looking straight at him.
Ryo froze under Jamie’s stare, almost falling off the stair climber. ‘fuck! fuck fuck fuck!! don’t come here!’ His eyes turn back to his gym buddy,
Ryo was the first admit defeat, doubled over starring at his gym partner. he huffed slurping down his drink
due to him being fully emersed on tactics how he can beat the hiker next time they do this, he failed to realise Jamie walking up to the two “Yo Ryo!” His gym partner hopped off the climber, taking a sip of her water “are you free tomorrow?”
“yeah.”
“good. Then I’ll message you when and where” His eyes landed on Kirra “this your girlfriend?” Jamie cooed
“pfft!! no, I have a girlfriend!” Kirra covered her mouth, waving her hand dismissing the teasing comment from Ryo’s classmate
Ryo’s grip tightened around his bottle, not knowing if he should punch Jamie or run away “this is my co-worker”
the red head extended her hand towards him “kirra, and you are?”
He shook her hand “Jamie” His lips curled into his signature bright smile “I’m Ryo’s classmate”
Ryo inched away slowly away from the two “I got to go, I’ll see you” sprinted towards the entrance, leaving the two stunned
“but—” Jamie watched his classmate run away
“odd guy isn’t he?” Kirra laughed at her co-worker running away
“yeah”
Ryo stared at the message on his phone, sent by an unknown number. “1pm tomorrow at the cafe near uni?”
‘who the fuck is this?’ a sigh escaping him once he remembered that Jamie was going to message him. “👍”
Ryo opened the door, the sound of a bell and people chattering welcoming him. His brown eyes scanning across each person in the cafe, Sighing once they landed on his enemy, now project partner “hey” the blue haired man pulled out his chair, sitting across from Jamie, tossing his bag under his hair
“you can go order if you want—” Jamie looked over at the counter
“No” Ryo shook his head, looking down at the table while he emptied out his bag ‘I don’t want to spend more time here than I have to’
Jamie’s usually confident voice wavered at cold tone Ryo gave him “oh- alright” The familiar silence from when they were first paired together returned, only this time being more awkward then the last “your co-worker is really cool” Ryo didn’t look up, only nodded at the other’s poor attempt to start a conversation, Jamie bit the inner part of his cheek, “I can write about the architecture”
that got Ryo’s attention “okay” His eyes looking up at his partner
“I really like architecture, you know” Jamie smiled to himself, pulling out his phone out from his bag
“really?” Ryo glanced at the other’s phone, instantly feeling annoyed ‘he’s just going to say that and be on his phone the whole time?’ the irritation fading away one he noticed what was actually on his phone
“yeah! I always have, that and theatre”
Ryo nods slowly “I forgot you did theatre”
“mhm, do you watch any?”
Ryo shrugged, pausing his movements trying to recall any plays he watched “No”
“oh, I see”
“what’s your favourite?”
Jamie visually lightened up at his ‘lone wolf’ classmate trying to have a conversation with him “ride the cyclone!” Ryo looked at the laptop in front of him, The taller man’s excitement dying down
Ryo watched Jamie struggle to keep up the conversation going, ‘ugh..don’t make that face’ His eye twitched “What’s it about?”
Jamie couldn’t hold himself back, excitedly talking about the play’s plot, his large hands flying everywhere while he does so.
It was weird, seeing Jamie in such a different light, ‘oh’ Ryo always thought Jamie was this ‘cool,’ guy not.. someone who gets excited over someone asking about his favourite Musical. “sorry” Jamie said, pulling Ryo from his stance like state “I rarely get to talk about it, I uhh.. didn’t mean to ramble”
Ryo waved his hand “it’s fine”
The two men sat again in silence, only this time it was less awkward then before, it felt more comfortable, and ryo hated it.
the two worked in silence for an hour, “you’re less annoying than I thought, I can see why you’re so popular, still annoying though”
Jamie sat frozen mid bite into a chocolate croissant “pfft what?” seeing Ryo focused on his paper “yo.. what do you mean?”
“when you’re with your friends, they just cling to you, I didn’t understand it but I can see why”
Jamie's eyes didn't move from the person in front of “thanks man?” as if questioning if he should be offended or not