Chapter Text
“So, you want to fill me in?” Tetsurou slumped into his usual seat next to Suga. He didn’t have to look at where Tooru sat - several rows behind them - to know that the other boy was still sulking.
Suga sighed, a deep breathy sound. He ran a hand through his silver hair. “It started out over something ridiculous and all too Tooru - aliens.”
“‘Aliens’?” Tetsurou blinked and paused in taking out his books. He shot Suga an unimpressed stare. “Again?”
“Yeah. Although,” Suga interjected before the dark haired boy could do more than grit his teeth with annoyance, “in Tooru’s defence, Iwaizumi has been treating him a little frostily ever since they met. I think it’s because he’s got the wrong impression of him.”
Tetsurou rolled his eyes and flipped his book open to the correct page. “I’d be willing to bet Iwaizumi has entirely the right impression. I think it’s because he’s Tooru.”
“Yes, well.” Suga diplomatically avoided touching that one. They both knew a little too much about Tooru, having roomed with him the previous year. Tooru probably knew a bit too much about the both of them, too. Tetsurou and Suga ultimately ended up being more tolerant of him than anyone else as a result.
Tooru was still a grade-A ass though.
“Iwaizumi,” Suga continued, “rolled his eyes and muttered about ‘bad taste’ when Tooru asked if I wanted to see that new sci-fi movie that just came out. You know - the sequel to that weird prequel movie where all those people die?”
Tetsurou nodded reluctantly, because he did know. Tooru hadn’t shut up about it since they started back.
Suga gave him a pained smile. “Tooru didn’t take that well. He went straight for the kill-shot with, ‘well, what would you know about good alien movies, Mr. My-Parents-Paid-My-Way-In-Here’?” The silver haired boy sounded awkward just quoting it.
Tetsurou groaned and covered his face with both hands. “Fucking hell… He really doesn’t mince words, does he?”
“Unfortunately not.” Suga picked at some invisible lint on his uniform. “It’s a shame though - I honestly thought those two would have hit it off together.”
Tetsurou lowered his hands to find Suga flashing him a small smile. For some reason, it made the beauty mark next to his brown eyes stand out even more. “What do you mean?”
“Well, with the fact that the both of them -”
Of course, Shimizu-sensei walked into the room at that very moment, and Suga immediately went quiet.
There was a reason why Suga was a prefect, and it wasn’t just because of his high GPA. His general deference towards all of the teachers had probably swung it for him. His outward deference, that is. Anyone that knew Suga well enough knew he had a scheming personality only just tamed by the fact that he didn’t like to hurt others deliberately.
Tetsurou could count the number of times he’d snuck out of the dorm building late at night on one hand, and all of those times had been with Suga.
Shimizu-sensei settled into the lesson smoothly. Since it was only the second week of school, they were still rehashing the basics of chemistry, and Tetsurou felt his mind begin to wander.
He was starting to wonder what he’d gotten himself in the middle of. No wonder Iwaizumi hadn’t been happy with him earlier - Tetsurou probably wouldn’t particularly like the friend of someone who acted like Tooru either. But, sadly enough, he was that friend. Suga only got away with it because he had a smile that made caterpillars turn into butterflies.
Just as he was thinking of the warmest smile Suga had ever given him, Tetsurou jumped in his seat as something squeezed his upper thigh. Hard.
Over his shoulder, he heard someone snigger at him, but he ignored them in favour of swallowing thickly. A sly glance down at this legs revealed that someone else’s hand was indeed squeezing inappropriately high on his leg. He side-eyed Suga.
The silver haired boy fixed him with a bland look, but raised an eyebrow as if to say, you should be paying attention. He released Tetsurou’s leg a second later. Too soon, Tetsurou thought.
He’d known Suga for a long time now, but even he wasn’t immune to Suga’s charm. Rooming with him last year had helped immensely, but it had only made Tetsurou tolerant. Knowing the ins and outs of the silver haired boy’s daily routine had allowed Tetsurou to appreciate him as a more rounded individual - rather than the unyielding admiration that the likes of Sawamura had for Suga.
But the silver haired boy was only human, and Tetsurou knew exactly how to push his buttons.
Tetsurou relaxed slightly from the straight-backed position he’d tensed into. Slyly leaning over so that only Suga could hear him, he let his breath whisper against the fine hair of Suga’s neck.
“Hey, you like science, right?” The silver haired boy nodded faintly, his eyes sparkling questioningly before Tetsurou continued with a murmured, “Want to kiss for science?”
As he’d expected, Suga had to bite back the awkward bark of unexpected laughter that bubbled up in his throat. A few heads turned with confusion at the sound and even Shimizu-sensei gave Suga an odd look. The silver haired boy ducked his head under the weight of her concern, cheeks flushing lightly.
The rest of class was largely uneventful, the tediousness of organic chemistry and using curly arrows in chemical reactions making it feel a lot longer than it actually was. The monotony was only broken once more by Suga jabbing him sharply in retaliation the next time Mizz Shimizu faced away from them.
Tetsurou was still nursing his side with a grin when they left the room. He caught sight of Oikawa’s back as he rushed off to his next class, and turned to Suga with a cocked eyebrow. “So, what were you saying earlier? About Oikawa and Iwaizumi?”
Suga waved his hand vaguely. “It doesn’t matter. I just think they have more in common than they realise.”
“Really?” Tetsurou didn’t know what to make of that. He thought of Oikawa’s overbearing personality and Iwaizumi’s gruff look. “I don’t think they could be any more different.” He leaned into Suga and put an arm around his side. “A penny for your thoughts?”
Suga didn’t bother batting away Tetsurou’s arm - he just smiled. “Oh, you’ll see.”
“And then, he called me an asshole, and I -”
“I know - I was there.” Daichi sighed. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little, Oikawa?” He knew that was the wrong thing to say, even before the other boy narrowed his eyes at him.
Oikawa constantly stepped along the fine line between charming and downright disturbing at all times. The look he was giving Daichi would have terrified most first years, but the dark haired boy accepted it with a bland expression. (The appropriate reaction in any interaction with Oikawa - because it gave him no further ammunition to use against you.)
“Don’t you think you’re not reacting enough, Dai-chan?” Oikawa raised his chin haughtily. His eyes were still stormy. “Iwa-chan obviously has zero taste, and he’s rude about it as well!”
“‘Iwa-chan’?” Daichi spoke around a mouthful of his food, decidedly not commenting on how rude Oikawa had been as well. You had to pick your battles, after all.
Daichi bit back an amused smile as Oikawa flushed. “Yes. Well. He’s still Suga-chan’s roommate. Even if he is an ass.”
“You’re not talking about yourself again, are you?” Kuroo slid into the free seat next to Oikawa. “Wait - stupid question. You’re always talking about yourself.” He flashed Daichi a smirk that had the other boy failing to hold back a grin.
“Hey!”
“How was English and Biology, Sawamura?” Kuroo smoothly interjected, focusing only on the other dark haired boy. Oikawa hunched further in his seat - muttering under his breath petulantly - and Daichi was left impressed by how well the other boy handled him. Whenever Daichi ignored Oikawa, he got even louder. Maybe there was a knack to it.
“Uh, OK, I guess.” He hadn’t realised Kuroo knew his schedule that well. “How was Chemistry and… Music?” His voice lifted hopefully on the last word.
Kuroo shook his head as Oikawa picked at his food sulkily. “Swapped it out for Art this year. Kenma told me I should try doing things whilst I still have the chance.” He gave Daichi an odd, lopsided smile before biting into his bread. His face crumpled into ecstasy. “Oh man, I forgot how hungry I was.”
Daichi pushed his plate to the side. He had finished most of his own lunch during Oikawa’s lengthy rant. “Maybe you should have got up in time for breakfast then.” Daichi didn’t have a lot of sympathy for the other boy at this point. He picked up his drink.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have kept me up so late,” Kuroo commented without inflection. He made eye contact with Daichi as he choked.
Oikawa finally spoke up again. “I don’t think I want any more of this.” He pushed his plate away with a sour face.
Kuroo rolled his eyes whilst Daichi was still coughing. “Oh, please, you’re just jealous -”
“What is Oikawa jealous about?” Ushijima settled into the remaining chair next to Daichi. He gave his red face a concerned glance, but Daichi just shook his head.
“Oh, just how athletic Daichi is.” Kuroo grinned across the table at him, ignoring the dark look Daichi shot him. He’d had never been so glad that Ushijima was both a deep sleeper and slept with earplugs in.
“Kuroo,” Daichi started warningly. He didn’t think that Ushijima was completely ignorant, but he didn’t need to know everything. Or anything, actually. If he’d made it this long without understanding the full details of everything Daichi got up to in his free time, then he didn’t need to know at all.
Ushijima gave Daichi a careful once-over. He frowned consideringly. “You are quite well-built, Sawamura.” The sincerity in his tone had Daichi flushing a little darker unexpectedly, even when Ushijima turned to Oikawa and continued, “But so is Oikawa.”
Oikawa preened under the attention. “Always the flatterer, Ushiwaka-chan,” he cooed. He fluttered his eyelashes at the other boy, but his warm smile was tinged with sincerity.
Kuroo’s mouth twisted with distaste. “And you think I’m disgusting.”
Ushijima turned to Daichi as the other two started bickering. “Where’s Bokuto?”
Daichi felt his eyebrows crease. “I’m not sure actually.” It was unusual for him to be missing - especially as he was likely to be as starving as Kuroo had been. But Daichi hadn’t seen him since roll call.
“Oh, Kou-chan got called to help Shirofuku-sensei with moving some notes back to her office.” Oikawa interrupted them. He and Kuroo seemed to have given up on their argument much faster than usual, and neither appeared particularly satisfied, if their matching folded arms were anything to go by.
“Really?” Daichi asked as Ushijima grunted his acknowledgement of the answer.
“He offered to help.” Oikawa shrugged. “She seems to like him.”
“Huh.”
Bokuto was always a bit of a hit or miss with teachers and other students alike. Either they liked his loud and boisterous behaviour, or were put off him entirely. It didn’t help that he had a tendency to shout out answers in class, or interrupt the teacher whenever he thought of a question.
Daichi knew he’d had problems with Maths teachers in the past for the same reasons, so it was nice to hear that he was getting along with his teacher this year.