Work Text:
The smell of iron was intoxicating, burning abrasions confused. Eyes coated in broken makeup lifted to follow the line of his fist until it made contact your jaw, by reaction your legs gave out. Bile building in your throat made you move like a new caffeine, barely having time to react to your own movement. You quickly stood up, bringing your knee up to connect with the offender's belt buckle forcefully. He doubled over, giving you enough time to deliver the same punishment.
As you pulled back your elbow, you were ready and willing to give the guy your full force in his face. Eyes bore into the back of your head, you never knew the rapid echo of dress shoes to be the symphony of justice. It was so loud, you thought it to be the new found soundtrack of your life. A voice paired with it, slightly hoarse and dry, but desperate. Despite the voice pursuing you to let go of the person, your death grip wasn't going to loosen so easily. You turned your tender chin to see the owner of the most beautiful sounds that bounced in your skull.
By now, dress shoes realized they were not getting through to you; instead of questioning the offender, trying to remove your vice-like hands.
"I swear-- she just started beating the shit out of me--" He shouted, cowering at the radiant justice. Your leaking faucet nose of blood and rumpled uniform cared to argue.
"Then why is the only mark on you is what I witnessed?" Dress shoes looked down on him, finally disconnecting you from him. Flexing in fear your hands fumbled for his jumper again, but you were stopped. "I admire your tenacity, but you need to go to the nurse's office at once."
Smeared eyes looked up, finally meeting dress shoes face. He was looking at you sternly, but not aggressively. His emotionally complicated eyes tried resting on your face but your injuries made it difficult.
"A-alright." Finally, your jaw unhinged to let out its creek of a reply of compliance.
Allowing you to use his arm as a crutch, dress shoes assisted you to the nurse's office. You were hit with the burn of disinfectant as you were poked and prodded clean. The adrenaline crash was taking its toll on your body, slumping over in your seat, unable to keep your eyes open much longer. The nurse moved you to the cot until you could wake up. Regardless of sleep you could hear the bustle of the room, people chatting and glass tings as the nurse assisted others. You felt someone else in the room with you, but you were unable to even lift a finger in your drowsy state. As your cat nap grew into a days sleep, dress shoes, at least you thought to be, left your side. You couldn't blame him, he was probably missing class for your reckless actions. Though... he did say he admired your tenacity. Maybe you would catch up later.
The next day you stayed in your dorm, giving yourself a little more time to recover from your unsightly injuries. The lack of communication was nice, slouching propped against the wall as you caught up on homework. As much fun you were having, you couldn't stop thinking about the fight. The height of your come back, and the low of the nurse's office trip. And the mediator who ripped you from your conflict. What was his deal? You were kicking ass to the very end, although your expression was lifeless at the time you felt on top of the world. What admiration you thought you held for the stranger was fading into a jealous vice.
It was clear to see that if there was gossip surrounding your scuffle, it had died during your time away. As you were leaving the dorm you could hear the fawning of a small group of girls. Strange. That was extremely atypical of your classmates, someone or something had intruded on your day to day routine. Walking closer you finally make out the words they were humming.
"Aki-senpai is around our dorm building?! Aah~ He's clearly looking for a girlfriend. The nerve of him, he thinks we're easy."
"Only for him though, my Aki-chan is worth the world!"
"D-don't say he's yours! Do you really think he loves YOU?"
Now you were curious. The upperclassmen did appeal to you, ranging from bad boys to clear cut student council. You could understand why they would be so excited.
"Which one is Aki?" You asked, joining the huddle of girls in red scarfs that matched their uniforms.
"Whaaat?! You don't know which one is Akihiko-senpai?! Are you even a dedicated student!" One of the girls throws up her arms and crosses them with a huff. "He would probably think you look like a buttcheek right now anyway." She giggled, mentioning your still rough state.
"Oh yeah, pick on the girl with the ice pack." You retorted, joining in with the laughter.
As you thought things were returning to normal, there is a spike in shrill calls of "SENPAI!" backed with the click and shift of dress shoes. Of course, this couldn't be your dress shoes, guys were required to wear dress shoes, this could be anyone. You let the girls have their time calling out to him, pleading to take them on a date sometime. He looks distracted, his gaze darting and sporadic. Eventually, his eyes lay on the group, quickly scanning while avoiding their questions.
"M-maybe sometime, I'm very busy, I have plans tonight--" He rattled as the girls grabbed hold to his arms, commenting how strong he felt under his bulky jacket. You could finally get a good look at him. Clean short silver hair, interrupted with a bandaid on his forehead, a furrowed brow, and slim jaw.
"You."
His voice shook you from your analysis. The delivery of the word cut through the screeching, making you feel like you were in trouble. Some of the girls let go, turning to look at you. Either with jealousy or concern for what he had to say to you.
"You left the nurses office without a word. Didn't you want to thank me?" What you mistook as anger was boiled into sarcasm.
"I... didn't know you. You didn't introduce yourself."
"If you hadn't passed out I would have." Now he's crossing his arms, all the eyes of the girls shouting in rejoined of "yeah, why did you do that?" Your eyebrows knit, confused, just barely remembering the day. Maybe it felt best to forget how rocked you got, but now it felt it served as a social boundary.
"Anyways, you are late to class." He looks down at his watch then at you, a smirk turning up on his face. "I'll walk you just to be sure you won't get into more trouble." He shed the wrap of girls around him, putting his hands in his pocket. The polite thing to do would be to accept, but his sarcasm made it sound like there was no choice.
"You know you had me worried. All I hear is yelling and screaming, and there you are in the middle of an altercation. You could really get into trouble like that." Dress shoes, no, Akihiko, looks down at you sternly.
"I hate to see that." He turns his face away, a serious tone taking over. Not of scolding, but a hint of genuine concern. Guess this is why all the girls love him, he was caring and strong, not to mention attractive. You didn't want to fall into that trap, since it was clear he saw his fans as more of an inconvenience than a treasure trove.
"You didn't have to do anything. He was getting what was coming to him." Your words fell flat, shoulders growing stiff with agitation. Akihiko could sense this, turning down his sarcasm to deal with how affected you were.
"I don't know what happened between you, but I didn't stop you because you were winning." His eyes lowered, taking offense that his protective behavior was misinterpreted.
"Do you have a reason then?"
"Blood is blood, and it shouldn't be on the ground." Shouldering your comment, he holds the door for you. "We can finish this later." He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.
There was no reason, other than that he wanted the right to say he was your shining justice. It made you gag to think that you looked pathetic enough to need the idol-esque upperclassman to be your savior. All of class you brooded over the bluntness of Akihiko's comments, you wanted to show him a fighter. Your friends on the other hand... had several questions.