Chapter Text
Jiro never took school too seriously.
He'd been told more times than he could count how important school was for his future, but as time went on, his education seemed so unimportant compared to the rest of the world. What did someone like him need trigonometry for? It wasn't like he was going anywhere big, he was never going to become some big CEO or some scientist curing cancer. He liked living small with his brothers, gathering information, scraping together enough money to pay rent, and participating in rap battles, it was a simple life for the most part, but it never became too monotonous. It's not like something huge happened every single day, but every day was never quite the same.
That wasn't to say Jiro didn't like school, he was pretty well liked, he received the odd look now and again, the normal for a delinquent, but other than that he never really had issues with his classmates.
Well, besides the occasional fight. Jiro despised bullying, targeting those who couldn't fight back... it made his blood nearly boil out of his skin, it was a painful itch, one that wouldn't go away until he did something about it.
This is where the trouble began.
Besides all the other trouble he's gotten into.
It was the end of a long day, the sun was just about to set, a stream of gold illuminated the halls. Despite how beautiful the sight was, Jiro was especially annoyed. Annoyed that he had to come back to school due to his own negligence, he made the critical mistake of forgetting an assignment in his last class and now he's paying the price for zoning out.
He was getting close to the classroom that held his missing assignment, when he noticed an adjacent door. No one was still supposed to still be here. Maybe another student was in a similar situation as him? If that was the case, why hadn't they left yet? He didn't see anyone enter or exit the room, maybe no one was in there at all and they forgot to close the door. That didn't make much sense either, if you closed it half way why not just close it the rest of the way? Someone was still there, for sure.
Jiro peered in through the gap left open for him and saw a boy cleaning off his desk.
The golden sunshine highlighted his face, making his features more striking. Pitch black hair that anyone would mistake for pure silk highlighted with golden streaks only amplified by the sun shining through, eyes as blue as the sky on a clear day, skin as pale as snow.. the only way to truly describe the boy was, pretty.
Jiro's heart skipped a beat at the sight of him.
What the fuck.
His features were, incredibly cute. His face was both sharp and gentle, it left him at a loss for words, he just stared at the boy until he noticed another, more distressing feature about the other boy.
Tears streamed down his face, dripping down onto the desk and smudging the ink of the graffiti that littered the desk below him.
Jiro was torn between the heat that engulfed his face and the itching sensation that began to creep under his skin.
He had to say something.
"Uh-"
He barely managed to get out a word before the other boy flinched like he heard a gunshot.
"Are, you good in there?" he tried to keep his voice down, not wanting to distress the other boy more than he already had.
"I'm fine! E-everything's fine! Don't worry about it!" the other boy sputtered out nervously. Yeah something was wrong.
Opening the door only caused the other boy to flinch again and start tearing up even more than before, which Jiro was frankly shocked was even possible.
"Something is clearly wrong, you're a sobbing mess, fine people don't just sob in a classroom for fun."
The boy remained silent, but managed to wipe his face with his sleeve, cleaning a bit of the mess that tainted his cute face.
Stay focused.
"Look, you don't gotta talk about it in detail if you don't want to but can you like, take some deep breaths and calm down a bit?"
Something about the pain and fear on his face made Jiro's heart ache, this guy must be dealing with some shit if he's this torn up about it.
"I-I.. just wanted to clean up my desk since it was vandalized.. I'm, fine," he managed to reply through sobs.
Jiro knew that was a little more than a lie, but he probably shouldn't push too hard, he'd probably make the poor guy explode from stress.
He took a seat on the desk next to his and took the time to read a bit of the offending graffiti and it fully clicked in his head what the other guy was dealing with.
Various threats, slurs, and insults littered the desk, with one main message reigning loud and clear.
Kill yourself.
The itch under Jiro's skin grew in ferocity.
"Are you being bullied?" it was a stupid question that Jiro already knew the answer to, but it was probably best to hear straight from the source.
The source didn't respond, but the waterfall of tears that streamed down his face answered his question for him.
Maybe he should try a different approach.
"What's your name?"
The other looked up at him, surprise and confusion plain on his face, but he complied.
"Jyushi. Aimono Jyushi."
Even his name was cute, Jiro cursed the clenching feeling in his chest for betraying him. Men aren't supposed to be so cute, so pretty and delicate.
Well, time to repress whatever the fuck this is and do his best to help the poor guy out.
"Jiro, Yamada Jiro."
"Why, did you ask?"
"To be honest? I just wanted to know your name."
Jyushi's face went red at the statement. Jiro decided that he's not dealing with the fluttering feeling in his chest today, tomorrow, or ever for that matter.
"Do you... need help with all that?" Jiro gestured at the ink covered desk.
"You don't have to."
"It's no big deal really, it probably won't take that long anyways, it's the least I can do after that heart attack I just gave you."
Not waiting for an answer he picked up one of the rags left on the desk and began to get to work. Scrubbing away the offending ink wasn't the hard part, the awkward atmosphere and ear splitting silence was enough to kill both of the boys. The occasional sniffles as they cleaned added to the discomfort, but Jiro already agreed to help and wanted to finish the job no matter how awkward the air was.
Once the top of the desk was fully cleaned, Jiro double checked the rest of the desk, looking for any signs of cruelty that he missed while cleaning. Nothing thankfully.
"Well," Jiro huffed triumphantly, "we did a pretty good job it seems, it's probably cleaner now than it was before it was vandalized."
Jiro's heart almost popped in his chest when he looked over at Jyushi and saw the other boy's gentle smile.
"Thank you, Jiro."
Oh god. Oh fuck.
Jiro thanked whatever god was out there that the night sky hid the awkward blush on his face.
Wait.
"Shit! How long has it been?"
Jiro frantically checked the clock. How fucking long were they cleaning?!
"I really have to fucking go, I.. shit sorry, let me give you my number, I want to make sure you make it home alright, but I can't really walk with you and-" Jiro had to stop himself before he made an even bigger fool of himself.
It didn't seem to work judging by Jyushi's startled face, he wasn't crying but he looked slightly overwhelmed.
"I... Alright?" he replied albeit a bit reluctantly.
Jiro awkwardly apologized and entered his number into Jyushi's phone before making a frantic escape from both the awkwardness of the situation and the darkness of the school.
Train rides were always a good time for reflection, but the commute didn't really work well in Jiro's favor as his mind was plagued with images of Jyushi and thoughts of how incredibly smoothly he handled the situation. Mentally cursing himself for the social catastrophe he caused himself, he thought more about the boy. Why was he even being bullied? What's he like when he's not a sobbing mess? Why are his eyelashes so defined and beautiful? Why is his skin so clear and perfect? And many other embarrassing questions bombarded his brain to the point that he didn't even realize he forgot to pick up the assignment he went back for until he arrived home.
He'll just get it tomorrow. He has other things to focus on now.