Chapter Text
The chatter, laughter and clamor that greeted him as soon as he stepped through the front door was deafening - loud enough to even drown out the party music that was being played, rendering it unrecognizable. Only the fast paced bass line remained, although Jinshi was fairly sure that he felt it more than he heard it.
He wanted to close the door behind him in a pointless attempt to protect the neighbors from at least some of the noise, but a drunk couple pushed past him and started sloppily making out right in the doorway. Ugh.
He stepped further inside to get some distance from them and attempted to paste his social smile on his face. It took him longer than usually, making him wonder if it would be better to just turn right back around and leave. But no, he had promised to show his face, no backing out now.
"Jinshi-sama!"
The squeal was so high it managed to carry over the awful noise in the room enough to make several heads turn. In an instant, Jinshi was surrounded, his shoulders being patted by people he couldn't name while a flock of girls batted their eyelashes at him, caressing his upper arms. Jinshi forced the smile to stay on his face in spite of the headache he felt coming on.
"You look great, Jinshi-sama," a brown haired girl with a button nose simpered, pushing out her chest in a way that was most likely meant to be alluring. Jinshi accepted the compliment with a graceful nod and a smile that had her look like she was about to faint.
"Yeah, bro is so pretty I sometimes wonder if he even has the equipment to make him a man!"
The jeer came from a guy with a mullet who slung his arm around Jinshi in an overly familiar way that made Jinshi's skin crawl. Jinshi thought he might have seen him before in a student council meeting. Although the comment had garnered only a few laughs, another guy across from him who hid his receding hairline with a baseball cap piled on:
"Equipment or not, with a face like that, I wouldn't mind having his lips wrapped around my - -"
He was stopped mid-sentence by a hard slap across his face. It was dealt by a short girl in glasses who had previously attempted to attract Jinshi's attention by tugging cutely at his sleeve and now postured in front of him, trying to seem intimidating. Her, he had seen on campus. He was fairly certain they shared a business class, although her name evaded him.
"Don't you dare talk about Jinshi-sama like that! As if he would touch you disgusting lowlife with a ten-foot pole," she shouted at baseball cap.
Jinshi felt the pounding in his head get worse.This was getting out of hand.
He lifted his hands placatingly.
"Now now, let's stay calm" His gentle tone belied his inner annoyance.
Mullet squeezed his shoulders where his arm was still resting. The sour smell of alcohol hit Jinshi's face when he spoke again.
"Yeah, honey, relax, my bro Jinshi knows we're just joking. It's just guys messing around, no reason to go batshit."
Jinshi was decidedly not mullet's bro, but he was not about to escalate this absurd situation. This was what he was here to do. Make nice, socialize, engage people. All to promote the student council, that he had somehow been elected to preside over.
"Oh you poor thing, you're positively shaking." He supported the comment with a honey sweet smile and short touch to the shoulder of the bespectacled girl who had so valiantly defended him.
"Come on, let's get you a drink."
It was as much an out for her as it was for him but she looked lovestruck as she followed him to the kitchen.
He poured her some punch, smile still firmly stuck in place while he watched her wreck her brain trying to come up with something to talk about so she could prolong the moment.
He gently handed her the punch just as she was opening her mouth. He beat her to it.
"If you'll excuse me, I think I see Basen over there, I haven't greeted him. Enjoy the rest of your night."
He left her there with a distinct feeling of relief. He saw Basen's familiar head just across the room but he was still stopped multiple times for small talk before he finally made his way over to him.
His childhood friend greeted him with a worried look.
"You okay, man? Lihaku said there has already been a physical altercation over you and you only just got here."
Jinshi just shook his head in mild exasperation. Surrounded by peers as they were, he couldn't vent his frustrations right now. Basen studied him briefly.
"If you want you can escape to my room for a bit. You have your migraine face on."
Basen's friendship was a treasure that Jinshi never failed to appreciate. His steadfast support eased many of the hardships that came with being him. He gave a grateful nod before turning towards the stairs.
Of course he had to weather multiple more surface level conversations before he finally reached the top floor, but with reprieve close enough to grasp, he managed to keep smiling, shake hands and offer supporting words.
Finally, he entered Basen's room, the smile slipping off his face. He'd been to this room so much in his life, it offered a familiar sort of comfort. With a sigh, he closed the door and leaned against it.
Only then did he notice that he wasn't alone. A slight figure in a green hoodie was sitting in the arm chair by the window. Jinshi couldn't help but curse inwardly. He'd really have preferred to be alone. He was not entirely sure if he was capable of putting his sparkly persona back on right now.
The person, a young woman he noted, had looked up at the sound of the door closing.
She studied him briefly, with a blank face, before she went back to perusing the book in her lap.
Huh. That was... Unusual.
Jinshi dared to venture a little closer. The girl's hair was so dark it almost seemed green. She seemed so engrossed by her book that Jinshi would have thought that she was still ignorant to his presence in the room if she hadn't just looked at him directly.
"Hello there," he greeted gently. He didn't want to startle the timid creature.
It took a moment before she looked up again, face blank, and gave him a tiny nod.
Then her eyes dropped back to her book.
A complete dismissal! Jinshi was flabbergasted. With new determination, he stepped even closer to her. He opted for a sparkly smile after all.
"I'm Jinshi! I don't believe we've met."
Once more, she looked up at his voice. At the sight of his smile, her blank stare immediately devolved into an expression of utter disgust. Jinshi shivered as she regarded him with a contempt that he'd never seen directed at him before. He felt like a swiveling worm in the dirt by her feet. For some reason, this delighted him greatly.
"I know who you are," the girl stated, voice completely devoid of emotions. She had already stopped looking at him in favor of her book again. Jinshi's breath caught. He had been wrong. She was not timid, not at all. No, it seemed she really and genuinely did not care about him, didn't care to know him, or to get to know him.
His pulse picked up in fascination as he tentatively stepped even closer to her chair.
"Well, I am flattered by your knowledge of me. But I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting," he positively purred at her. "What's your name?"
An actual shiver shook the girl at his voice, like she physically couldn't contain her disgust. Jinshi felt his cheeks heat in excitement at the delightful reaction. She seemed determined not to engage him again, eyes firmly fixed on her book.
Jinshi was itching to distract her, to tease her, to make her look at him again.
But before he could think of the best way to do this, the door flew open. The noise from downstairs flooded in, reminding Jinshi of the headache that he'd completely forgotten about over his chance meeting with this girl.
"Maomao, there you are! Up, up, now! You promised me you would actually partake in the merriment tonight!" The girl who had burst in had pink hair and was waving multiple colorful little flags.
The delightful creature on the chair let out a long-suffering sigh before audibly closing the book and getting up to follow her friend out of the room. The door slammed shut behind them.
Jinshi sunk down in her place, mindlessly picking up the book. It was an educational botany book Basen hadn't cared to dispose off yet, even though it was decidedly not within the scope of his interests. Jinshi recognized it from their biology class in high school.
He flipped through it without really reading it.
Maomao, huh?