Chapter Text
You walked into the classroom early, early enough that your teacher hadn’t even arrived yet. You stood in the doorway, looking in at the dimness. The desks were scattered haphazardly among the blue tiles and you spotted four stacks of papers on the surfaces of the ones in the farthest corners. You checked the time and then your schedule. You took a few steps back out of the doorway. Room 308B, Senior Seminar: Semester 2. You were in the right room.
You flicked on the light switches and the old bulbs flickered on one by one, illuminating the space in a depressing, yellow light. You sighed, already not too optimistic about your class. The straps of your backpack slipped off of your shoulder and the weight thudded onto a spare chair. Despite the current disorganization, you could make out a semblance of a grouping as you took to rearranging the seating. You turned a few around, pushed them slightly to make their corners line up, and were left with four tables made up of four desks each. You glanced back at the clock. You were still early.
Your attention turned to the stacks of paper. The word ‘SYLLABUS’ stood out boldly at the top along with the numbers one through four. And so with a shrug, you slid a stack on each gathering before sitting yourself down at the table ‘4’.
You grabbed a syllabus and plucked your multicolored planner from your bag. Even if this class would be nothing more than a glorified study hall, the very least you could do was pen down each due date for the semester.
You faced away from the door, but you could still guess his approach from anywhere. Hidan’s palms slapped against the space above the door and you immediately scowled at the sound. A ‘general class’. The guidance office referred to it as a ‘general class’ and you supposed that it would be a nice break between your honors and Advanced Placement periods. At least, that had been the mindset you were trying to maintain. You gazed out the window in front of you, spitefully thinking about the waste of time you were in for.
While you didn’t believe that you were particularly better or worse than anyone else for taking higher level classes, your selective placement allowed you to avoid certain people. You didn’t consider having to take a whole semester class with Hidan, but as you did, any optimism you had quickly faded.
He plopped down in front of you, leaning the majority of his torso over the surface of his desk. Hidan sat with his legs spread as far as the confines of his seating would allow him. This had to be a first. Throughout all the years that you’ve known Hidan, he’s never shown up to class on time, that is if he even decided to show up at all. Although, with your school being closed-campus, you didn’t know many places that Hidan could go, so part of you supposed that anyone would come to class if they were bored enough.
He spoke your name with an exaggerated tone of familiarity and you glanced up to see his large, outstretched hand.
“What’s up, babe?” You didn’t bother trying to protest the pet name. Hidan stared at you expectantly, motioning with his sideways facing palm. You pursed your lips together and hesitantly touched the tips of your fingers to the top of his wrist. Hidan slid his hand against you and curled his fingers around yours. A glimmer of mischief shone in his eye, amused that you were unfamiliar with the gesture. You almost jumped as you heard your name called from behind you.
“Are you really gonna dap up Hidan and not me?” You could recognize Kisame from anywhere, but you didn’t think you were actually friends. He seemed friendly enough, but that was all you could really say. He smiled down at you with a big, toothy grin and offered a hand. Now knowing what was expected of you this time, you replicated Hidan’s motion. Kisame snickered before giving you a sharp pat on the back and settling down at one of the other tables. He set his things across from Itachi Uchiha. You hummed to yourself. You didn’t even see Itachi come through the door. Hidan followed your gaze with raised brows.
“Ah, you’re into Itachi, huh? You and all the females in this school…” He scoffed. His cheek melted into his palm. You blinked a few times in disbelief. Two others sat down at your cluster.
“Females?” You repeated. “Is that what you call women?”
Hidan’s eyes met your own. If nothing else, Hidan had very pretty eyes. His grey irises almost appeared purple under the sunlight that passed through the window behind him. You had always found Hidan attractive and objectively, he was. Although, no amount of tall and muscular could erase an obnoxious personality.
“What else am I supposed to call them?” he asked with a slight heave of his shoulders. You made an attempt to keep a worried expression from crossing your face, but luckily, your teacher entered the room as the bell rang out. You glanced back across from you, trying not to make your staring too obvious. Hidan in class. On time. You hummed to yourself and dismissed the thought. Hidan never occupied your mind for long. You wouldn’t let him.
The period dragged on slowly, even more so being the first day of class. You tried to focus the best that you could. You had heard all the information before, but you thought that the very least you could do was pen down a few notes to remember. Hidan, however, held far less interest than you. His knee shook rapidly under his desk and moved like a gnat in your peripheral. He drummed his pencil on his unopened syllabus. The packet deafened the noise, but with enough repetition you had to physically restrain yourself from reaching over the desks to stop him yourself. You hoped that you would have the opportunity to change seats, but knowing how things went on the first day of class, you weren’t optimistic.
Hidan tilted his head down and a bit to the side while you spaced. You didn’t even notice your own harsh glare at his hands until he gave you a small, sarcastic wave. You blinked up at him, his eyes wide in amusement. Hidan resumed tapping again and leaned back into his other palm.
“Wow, that was a lotta zonin’ you were doing there,” he laughed and you couldn’t help but nod your head. You dragged the heel of your palm over your temple and nodded some more. You glanced around briefly. You missed the explanation of the syllabus. Now all there was left was to wait for the dismissal bell.
“Eh, yeah,” you admitted. “A lot of stress and not a lot of sleep will do that to you.” Hidan sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“What are you talking about? It’s the beginning of the semester. Shouldn’t you have new classes for the spring?” You quirked an eyebrow and sighed to yourself.
“Some classes span the whole year, Hidan,” you lectured, shoving your packet into your planner and swapping it out for one of your binders. Hidan watched with a semblance of an interest as you shuffled about. You looked up at the clock. You didn’t have time for much, but you did have time to get a few things in order. Hidan frowned as you flipped through your dividers.
“You coulda just said ‘AP’ you know.” He gestured to your color coated tabs. “AP Bio, AP Physics, and WHAP? Yo I didn’t know that you were into Cardi like that. Wouldn’t have known, that’s pretty cool.” His forearms rested on the desk as he craned further. “You spelled it wrong though. Is this all for school or is a mix of—” You slapped his hand away from your belongings.
“It stands for ‘World History, Advanced Placement’,” you told him flatly. Hidan rolled his violet irises before motioning your way.
“Well why didn’t you just tell me that before?”
You ignored him, not in the mood for putting up with his shenanigans. You never were, but you particularly weren’t to be disturbed when you were working. At the front of your three and a half inch binder sat two worksheets and a packet. You sighed, beginning to read the documents that you should have earlier in the day. But per usual, you were too busy to ever get around to it.
Breaking out a few colored pens, you underlined a few sentences and wrote notes in the margain. Hidan could have busied himself with the two others at the table, but, being ever-nosy, Hidan focused on you. He stared at you while you worked, finding your determined face funny. His leg continued to shake under the table.
“I didn’t know that you were in precalc too,” Hidan mused. “That stuff looks really familiar actually…”
“I’m in Calc II, but Mr. Nara assigned me to tutor after school.” You cracked your neck and rolled your shoulders back in resignation.
“Calc II? Calc too?” Hidan mouthed to himself. You didn’t notice.
“I didn’t even remember signing up as a tutor.”
“NHS matches honors students to students in need of tutoring.” Itachi’s voice cut through the classroom from the table over. He leaned back in his seat, his jacket draped stylishly over his shoulders. “I was assigned by Ms. Senju to tutor in Anatomy and Physiology.” You smiled at him.
“Your Friday afternoons are as shot as mine then?” Itachi let out a small huff that could have been confused for a snort.
“Funny that you think I had free time in the first place.”
You gave an awkward giggle, silently hoping that you were right to laugh at, what you also hoped was, his joke. Hidan audibly groaned, arching his back over his chair. And just as he opened his mouth, the dismissal bell rang. You scooped your things into your bag.
“I’ll be seeing you after school, right babe?” You heard Hidan exclaim to you and you made an effort to head out before him. You waved him off, not even bothering to look back.
“Not interested, Hidan.” And you left.
***
You didn’t actually like the library in your school. After all, most public school libraries were similar in their unpleasantness. You sat on one of the many chipped tables. The bulbs in the ceiling above appeared dim which made you wonder when the last time anyone did any much-needed maintenance in your school. You laid your bag on the table and it sank against one of the pushed-in backs of a chair made of cheap wood and even cheaper finish. Glancing at the door, you decided to check your email again.
You decided that you had too many tabs open on your phone. You had so many, in fact, that not only did you not find the email, but you didn’t notice another presence with you in the library until a heavy book bag dropped down next to you.
“Hey, uh, did you need something?”
Hidan handed you a small stack of paper. Glancing down, you saw familiar figures.
“You’re my math tutor,” Hidan announced, chest puffed almost triumphantly with his hands on his hips. You gaped as Hidan stood over you and immediately moved to scour your messages. And surely enough,
“... my student from section… Hidan will meet you at the library at 3…”
Some more course information suddenly came to you. Precalculus, the last required math course for seniors to graduate.
“Oh.” Hidan already began to sit at the table, eyes glued to your upper thigh as he waited expectantly. His papers spread out across the table and you quickly jumped down to the ground. You hardly pulled your bag out before sinking into your chair. You scrambled for your pencil bag. “So, uh, do you have lecture notes?” Hidan stared at you, dumbfounded.
“Do I have what?” You sighed.
“Okay then, we’ll just… start from the beginning then.”
But even starting from the beginning, the session felt more akin to pulling teeth than a learning experience. You sat, stiff with your hands in your lap. You pointed to the paper using only your pencil as you tried to help Hidan with his homework, but he either didn’t care or didn’t understand. Something told you that it was a mix of both.
Hidan, on the other hand, seemed to take up as much space as possible. Compared to your shrunken in shoulders, Hidan’s posture felt like a looming presence. He ignored your small voice and answered each of your questions with a certain amount of confidence. At the very least, you were thankful for that. No awkward silences, only very soft corrections.
You broke down each example, but Hidan still squinted at the page. You walked him through each equation down to the multiplication and yet, despite his loud tone, you still didn’t feel as if anything you said stuck with him. An hour and a half passed by by the time you finished the second page. At that point, you slammed your pencil down with a sigh.
“I think it’s time to end for the day.” Hidan almost looked as relieved as you did. “We did a lot.” He slouched in his chair, slinging one arm around the back.
“So…” he began, “How’s lunch sound?” You checked the clock.
“It’s four-thirty,” you told him flatly. “I’m pretty sure that lunchtime has passed.” You stood up from your seat causing Hidan to stand along with you. Quickly, you packed up.
“So it’s dinnertime then. I like that better if imma be honest.” He leaned against the table, hovering over you as he ran a hand through his hair. It rested on the back of his neck. “I think taking you to dinner sounds far more romantic.” You stared up into his pretty bright eyes in amused exasperation.
“Since when have you ever been a romantic, Hidan?” You placed a hand on his chest as you pushed passed him. Hidan followed adamantly behind you, running forward to hold the door open to you. He continued to follow you down the hall.
“What?” he asked, a tinge of mock hurt in his voice, “Do I not look like a romantic? I’m full of surprises, you know, but I’m willing to share. Wait until you get a load of my—”
You pushed through a set of double doors, leaving them to slam in Hidan’s face. Although unfortunately, you didn’t make it far down the hallway before your nuisance caught up with you. You purposefully sped up your pace, though Hidan’s significantly longer legs nullified any distance you attempted to put between the two of you. Rather, he seemed blissfully unaware of your acute annoyance.
You passed the gym and almost reached the exit when you noticed that he no longer walked with you. But instead of turning and running while you still could, you turned to look back. He stood, bent over a large pile of black bags. He fished up one, slinging one strap over his shoulder and two long sticks pointed up into the air. The way he picked up the, no doubt, heavy bag made it look easy. You weren’t quite sure how you’d fair picking up just one baseball bat.
“I almost forgot to take his home.” he laughed, only having to take a few strides to catch up with you. You walked out through another set of double doors in the direction of the sport fields. You crossed the baseball field and headed towards the bleachers. Hidan continued to follow.
The day seemed rather dismal, but was one of the few warmer days that marked the official approach of spring. A few clouds hung in the bright, blue sky. You could occasionally make out the sun before another cloud passed ahead, but you didn’t mind the greyish tint that took over the world. You found that you didn’t mind being around Hidan either. For a loudmouth, he had a comfortable presence. He was just goofy and for the near decade that you knew him, you knew that he would never act on anything you didn’t explicitly want. It was an odd feeling: knowing someone since you were kids but not being friends. You liked short moments like this where he remained quiet. The real worry came when he opened his mouth.
“Hey, where are we going anyway? I’m not sure if you know but I actually spend a lot of time out here.”
“I’m going home.” You told him without breaking your stride.
“Wait a minute. You don’t have a ride, babe? Why don’t you let me help you out with that!” Hidan blocked your path. You stopped short. “I’ve been told I’m a pretty good ride.” He smirked, still playing confident despite your pained expression.
“You have a good day, Hidan. You can stop following me now,” you said, maneuvering around him. Hidan was left, defeated.
***
“He’s awful.” You leaned against the counter on the other side of one coffee machine or another. You let your shoulder sink. “How could you ever stand being in the same room as him?” Deidara rolled his cerulean eyes before moving to a different spot behind the counter. You followed him from the customer side, slightly offended that your friend would completely ignore your complaints.
“Hidan’s a fucking idiot but he’s not the worst.” Deidara said, his answer short as his focus stretched from task to task. He held up a near-empty carton of milk to the light. He tilted the carton and then his head. “Does that look like a cup to you?” You stared up.
“That’s definitely less than a cup.” Deidara sighed and shrugged before he added the rest of the liquid to the drink he busied himself with before bending over to get a new gallon from the little fridge below. You fiddled with a straw that you picked up in preparation for your beverage. The tip of the paper tore between your nails. “But you haven’t been with him for as long as I had to yesterday. I swear he couldn’t go a full hour without making a sex joke.” Deidara bobbed his head.
“A full hour, hm? He must have been really trying to keep it together.” You scoffed.
“Har, har, har. It was annoying.” Deidara turned his attention away from his work and onto you.
“My take; if he didn’t say anything about your ass, you caught him on a good day.”
“Deidara!” you scolded, glancing around wildly and finding some relief that no one else was around.
“What? It’s the truth,” Deidara disappeared somewhere behind the counter. “He thinks he’s funny that’s all. He’s a dummy, don’t let him get to you ‘cause that would be stupid as shit.” He resurfaced. “If you’re really worried about spending time with him, then you better move from where you decided to sit today though.” You perked up from your moping.
“Wait, we have class together and you didn’t sit next to me?” Deidara pursed his lips but decided to stay quiet. You cocked an eyebrow, a smug smile tugging at your lips. You continued to play with the straw between your fingers. “You got a name for me, Dei? You gotta tell me who.” His cheeks went red and he turned his blush from view.
“Oh shut the fuck up. You didn’t even notice I was sitting ten feet away. Too busy talking to Hidan. You should be more worried about that research project coming up.” You tilted your head back and forth in indifference.
“You know I usually rock those, though.” He faced you, expressionless.
“It’s a group project and if you didn’t notice, you’re sitting with Hidan.” Deidara slid your drink across the counter. You groaned to yourself at the prospect, shoving a few bills into the tip jar. Deidara plucked them out and threw them back at you. “On another note, would you make fun of me if I did set design for the musical?” You nearly choked on your drink, shoving your bills back into your bag.
“You? Within ten feet of the musical?” Deidara planted his hands on the flat surface in front of him and hung his head. He nodded a few times. “You know that they’ve been working on Shrek: The Musical right?” Deidara nodded a few more times.
“Please don’t remind me.” You took another sip of your beverage. You looked down at it. Deidara really did know how to make a mean latte.
“If you wanna impress whoever it is that you want to impress so badly I’d say go for it.” Deidara picked himself up from his moping. “But as for making fun of you…” You trailed off into a giggle as your friend glared at you.
“Get out of here with your fucking coffee before I make you pay for it.” You left through the door in higher spirits that you were in before.
“Good luck with your love life, Deidara!”