Chapter Text
“Inumaki-kun!”
A mixture of hushed comments and laughter filled the hallway as all pairs of eyes now settled on the everyday display event of what was Okkotsu Yuuta tailing after Inumaki Toge like a lost puppy. It was yet another day wherein Yuuta waited for Inumaki by the school gate to walk with him to the entrance to switch out their shoes by the shoe lockers.
This was only a daily occurrence. For Yuuta to stick by Inumaki—go wherever he went. Everyone in the school knew about this. They sought entertainment whenever the pair was in the presence of any of the eyes of the viewers.
While Yuuta shamelessly continued his endeavors, Inumaki would barely say anything about it given his lack of interest in socializing but it was clear that he didn’t like it one bit.
Everyone knew of the fact that Yuuta was in love with Inumaki and countlessly, Inumaki had turned him down in front of a lot of people.
That didn’t stop Yuuta. He was, at this point, perceived to be the school’s number one Inumaki stalker. Yuuta followed Inumaki everywhere. He was so foolishly in love with his classmate that he didn’t know what to do with himself and ignored the idea of giving up already.
And now, this was nothing out of the ordinary. A flustered and smitten Yuuta tagged behind Inumaki whereas Inumaki didn’t bother to acknowledge Yuuta, hiding his displeasure behind the cloth of his turtleneck.
“Do you want to eat lunch together, Inumaki-kun?” Yuuta offered, tone bright and eyes beaming.
“No,” Inumaki replied curtly, his answer always straight to the point that it didn't surprise Yuuta anymore.
Nonetheless, he reached his side, Yuuta, who was the taller one between them and tilted his head down to look at Inumaki from the side. He grinned with his mood nowhere near dampening down a level. “I made you a bento. Could you please try it?”
Inumaki only sighed. He didn’t have to say anything back to let Yuuta know that he was rejecting him again which was the norm between the two of them. Yuuta would have to believe that he held the highest record for the number of times he had ever been rejected by the person he liked.
Seemingly immune to it, Yuuta pulled his bag to his front to zip it open. He brought out a bento box, clasping it carefully to his hands as he closed his bag. It was when they arrived at the door of their classroom did Yuuta reached out to tug on the sleeve of Inumaki’s uniform.
Inumaki, eyes uninterested, turned to him with a bored expression on his face.
Yuuta smiled wide, putting out the bento box as an offering. “You don’t have to eat it with me. I’ll be grateful as long as you get to try it.”
There was barely a speck of emotion in Inumaki.
Awkwardly laughing, Yuuta glanced down at the bento box and ran a thumb on the side of it. “I made some of your favorite food. I may be an artist but I’m not that knowledgeable when it comes to cooking so the only good thing about this is the plating.” Yuuta added. “I asked my mama for help on some of the dishes but most of it, I did it myself. And well, they're not perfect but I tried.”
As Yuuta pushed the bento towards Inumaki further, Inumaki looked down at it, inspecting it as if it were carrying a deadly virus. Then he frowned. Yuuta may not be able to see Inumaki’s lips but from the way his eyebrows pinch together, he could tell. “You have bandages on your fingers,” Inumaki commented.
“Oh, this,” Yuuta raised his hand to gesture to what Inumaki was referring to. “I wasn’t very careful with the knife so I had a few accidents. I’m fine though.”
“Idiot.”
“Huh?”
Yuuta’s heart stopped for a moment at the unexpected insult from Inumaki who was no longer looking at the bento or him. He had his gaze steered away elsewhere, anywhere but at Yuuta.
Although, Inumaki didn’t have to look at Yuuta for him to know that he was sneering at the utter disgrace of his choices.
From his side profile, Yuuta can see that Inumaki looked bothered or annoyed for some unknown reason.
There was the sound of Inumaki clicking his tongue in disapproval. “We have art class today. How are you going to work properly when you’ve injured yourself?” Inumaki asked.
Confused, Yuuta slowly put the bento down. “I can still draw.” It was a helpless comfort. “It’s really no big deal—”
“Instead of spending your time on something pointless, why don’t you use it wisely to improve your skills?” Inumaki cut him off harshly. “Think about yourself for once and not constantly go off and do the things that are meant to please people more than yourself. It's ridiculous.”
“I just thought…” Yuuta hesitated, the return of a light heartache seeping into his chest. The excitement in his eyes slowly waned down. “I thought you would maybe appreciate it…”
Inumaki clenched his jaw. “As you can see, I don’t.” He settled his eyes on the bento box again, glaring at it. “Honestly. I don’t understand why you always go out of your way to pull a stunt like this for me. I don’t appreciate it.”
Swallowing down hard, Yuuta could feel the tensed muscles around his arms slackened from the effect Inumaki’s sharp words had on him. “I didn’t mean to disrespect you in any, Inumaki-kun. I just…” His voice trailed, not knowing what to add at the end of his sentence.
He just what, exactly?
As a matter of fact, Yuuta enjoyed doing things like these for Inumaki. He didn’t know how to show the other and make him see that it was purely out of good intentions and that he didn’t expect anything in return.
Inumaki waited for him to continue and the only thing he could come up with was— “I like you a lot. That’s why I do these for you.” It was obviously not an excuse but Yuuta had no other way to express it.
“Whatever,” Inumaki said the same thing whenever Yuuta confessed. “It’s almost time for homeroom, I’ll head in first.”
Nodding wordlessly, Yuuta watched Inumaki go inside the room while he decided to linger by the door for a while to properly comprehend what happened. A few of the students who got to witness it sent him pity looks and walked away.
Yuuta pursed his lips, brushing off that encounter he had earlier with Inumaki and putting the bento box back in his bag. He shoved down the unwanted feeling of hurt to the pit of his stomach and entered the classroom with a forced smile on his face.
Whatever… It wasn’t completely a rejection, was it? But that also didn’t mean that Inumaki liked having Yuuta around him like a pest.
He saw Inumaki preparing his things, not sparing a second to look at Yuuta. While for Yuuta, it was just as impossible for him to not stare at Inumaki longingly, his emotions worn at an open sleeve.
He was given a few greetings from his other classmates as he made his way to his seat which was next to Inumaki. As he sat down, the sound of his bag hitting his desk made Inumaki check him over from the corner of his eye.
Yuuta didn’t want Inumaki to know that his words somehow affected him in any way so he laughed when Inumaki looked at him. Yuuta waved at him.
“Inumaki-kun, did you do yesterday’s English homework?” Yuuta asked, trying to ease the early tension between him.
Per usual, Inumaki ignored Yuuta.