fic for kanu_x
For: kanu_x
From: aeslis
Title: Boys Over Magic/Yamada Nino
Pairing/Focus: Matsumiya (Sakumiya?)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: Jun's one of the top students, but not the top. He's got a thing or two to learn from Ninomiya.
Notes: Special love to those who helped me structure and create this world, which seems to have taken me over. I do hope I get to expand on it one day, because there are more stories to be told.
Midterm results go up at lunch, and Jun goes to check, feeling shaky even though he's eaten. The corridor is long, and he can see the crowd clustered around the bulletin board like milling ants, some girls dancing up onto their toes so they can see over the shoulders of those in front. The curlicue script that titles the scores is legible from far away, but until Jun gets closer he can't read any of the names, and he knows what he wants to see and hopes desperately that he's studied diligently enough to see it. His nails bite into his palms as he looks.
"Look!" It's a girl's voice, but Jun doesn't search for her face. There's disappointment roaring in his ears but it doesn't quite drown her out. "Ninomiya-kun made it to the top again."
Sure enough, there he is, headlining every list. Ninomiya Kazunari, Jun's arch nemesis. And right under him, every single time, Matsumoto Jun, list after list, class after class.
Jun clenches his teeth and storms away, and if there are sparks of frustration zinging off him, well. That's all Ninomiya's fault, isn't it?
*
Jun really doesn't understand it. It's his third year at Ichinomiya's Advanced School of Magic and Mysticism, and each year is more frustrating than the last because no matter how late into the night Jun studies, no matter how many books he checks out of the library, no matter how many times he drinks Aiba's atrocious coffee-flavored energy potions that taste like strawberries and jellybeans, he just can't pull the top grade. It has always been Ninomiya Ninomiya Ninomiya even though Jun hasn't ever seen him crack open a single book, even in Historical Magic, which isn't anything but books. It should be impossible!
"Nothing's really impossible," Aiba says, and Jun realizes he's been thinking aloud again. "Did you know you have a cloud over your head?"
Jun looks up. He does, indeed, have a cloud over his head, which is roiling gray with little flashes of impending lightning. He huffs, dissipates it with a wave of his hand, and throws himself moodily onto his bed.
He can hear Aiba rustling around, and when he cracks an eye open Aiba's poking his head over the edge of the upper bunk. "So?"
"So what?"
"So you were about to tell me that Ninomiya-kun beat you again, and you're bitter and want to charm his ass to stick to his chair. Or maybe this time that you want to give him permanent static cling and throw socks at him. Or you could--whoa!" It wouldn't have been the first time Aiba fell off his bunk, but he manages to catch himself before his excitement takes him completely over.
"You're turning red," Jun mutters at him.
"That's because I'm upside down," Aiba says, and Jun covers his face with his hands. "You know, Matsujun, you could just ask him how he does it."
"He cheats!" Jun bursts out. "He's a dirty cheater, is how. I just haven't caught him at it yet."
"Hm," Aiba says, which is what he does when he doesn't agree but knows Jun isn't in a magnanimous enough mood to deal with contrary opinions. He's right, too. Jun wants to throw something, and Aiba is a convenient target.
"C'mon, Aiba, look at the facts. He skips classes almost as often as he comes, and then when he does come he sleeps through almost all of them! And have you ever seen him with a book? Ever?"
"He's mysterious," Aiba agrees, showing an unusual amount of prudence. It only irritates Jun further. Aiba must realize this, because he rolls back onto his bed, and Jun can't see him anymore. "Why don't you ask Sho-kun? If anyone would know, he would."
Jun sighs. It shouldn't be this difficult. He shouldn't be thwarted by a boy like Ninomiya, who is irresponsible and flaky and has horrible fashion sense. (Okay, Jun will admit that wearing ratty old jeans has nothing to do with good grades, but it should.)
"He's a nice guy, Matsujun," Aiba says suddenly, and Jun guesses by the fuzzy quality of his voice that he's half asleep and curled on his side, cheek smushed to his pillow.
The thing is, Jun knows that. He's talked to Nino and always ultimately walks away more charmed than before. Nino has this infectious smile, like he knows all the best jokes. Not to mention the expressive glint of his eyes that make you feel like he's sharing secrets, so that you want to share all of your own. And it hasn't escaped Jun's notice that when Nino cups his chin in his palm during Magi-Botanicals and stares out the window at the scudding clouds, the line of his neck is long and pretty, his profile striking.
And to Jun, that's what makes it so damn frustrating.
*
Jun sits next to Ohno in the back of Channeling with Art. Jun hadn't meant to end up in the back, but after watching Ohno construct a replica of a living tree using two sheets of paper and his pen cap, Jun had turned down all offers for seat switches. Ohno is still something of a mystery to Jun. What he knows is that Ohno has a wicked sense of humor, is enough of an art genius that he's at Ichinomiya on a full scholarship, and that he's one of Nino's best friends. And like Nino, he never seems to be paying attention. When Jun peeks over his shoulder, Ohno is doodling Jun's likeness in the top right corner of his study sheet. It's small and he's only got the head, neck, and one arm, but it's already moving around.
"You're drawing me?!" he says in surprise, leaning in closer. There's nothing to criticize. It's like looking in a tiny, black-and-white mirror, all the way down to his haphazard curls and the rhinestones that glitter on the neck of his uniform. And Ohno has drawn them well enough that they actually glitter.
Ohno startles, and looks up owlishly. "Sorry. I should have asked, huh."
"Are you kidding me?" Jun says, feeling honored. "I've always wanted a Mini-Me." On the paper, the half-finished version of himself is waving an arm to try to get Ohno's attention back. Jun imagines it would probably try to kick at Ohno's thumb if it had feet by now.
Ohno hums, and adds more detail to the belt. "Nino's told me I should make him an army. I think he wanted to send them on undercover missions."
"What did you tell him?" Jun asks warily.
Ohno's sheepish smile is totally endearing, but does not manage to distract Jun from making a mental note to scour his dorm room for sleeper pranks.
"--Ninomiya-kun yesterday?"
Jun's ears prick. Over to his right and a few rows up, three of the girls in the class are clustered around a desk. From the back it looks like Satomi talking to Rosa and Erika, who's biting the end of her wand in a way that's completely unsanitary. Jun pretends he's not paying attention by staring at the empty seat next to them and kicking his feet nonchalantly.
"What did he say?" Rosa says, whipping around so she's practically twisted in half where she perches on the edge of the desk. Both the girls hover over Erika, who chews on her wand with what Jun now recognizes as a fit of nerves. "Yes? Tell me he said yes!"
Jun taps at his chin and keeps his ears trained on them more than his eyes, but he does flick a glance over as Erika deliberates, lowering her wand so she can twist her hands around it in her lap. "He said there are lots of people who would be good tutors," she starts haltingly. "And, and he could recommend me someone…"
"Oh!" Satomi stomps her foot, and Jun notices she's balled her hand into a fist. "Phoo! Why would he say something like that? You're cute, he's obviously making a big mistake."
Rosa's hand covers her mouth briefly. "I heard he's tutoring Sakurai-kun, if you know what I mean."
"Rosa!" Satomi hisses.
Okay, thinks Jun, that is a new one. He's heard Ninomiya is, at times, uncomfortably friendly, to the point that some rumors have him batting for the other team. Jun even remembers a few times in particular that Ninomiya has sidled into his personal bubble and he's wondered the same while trying not to be distracted by the warm scent of clean laundry. Bad fashion sense Ninomiya might have, but he sure picked the right detergent.
On the other hand, he's never heard anything about Ninomiya applying these particular people skills to Sakurai Sho, one of the richy rich kids whose father has his fingers in every piece of pie there could possibly be. Sho's a decent guy, really, but he has a temper when people don't follow the rules and no one wants to get on his bad side. That's why it's a wonder to Jun that he ever got to be friends with someone like Ninomiya, who seems to be able to re-invent every rule to his own personal tune. Jun can't even say Sho didn't have a choice about it, because even if dorm rooms are randomly assigned, Sho's father has enough clout that Sho could probably take over the principal's office as a bedroom if he really wanted.
Jun doesn't know how he feels about all this, but he tells himself it's not important anyway and focuses on the part of the conversation that doesn't make his chest pang alarmingly. He's never thought about tutoring before, but would he really want to ask Ninomiya for help? There's his pride to consider, after all.
"Oh, Nino's a really good teacher," Ohno says suddenly, startling Jun out of his musings.
"Eh?"
The mini-Jun is sitting neatly at the top corner of Ohno's paper, smoothing out his hair as he stares into a mirror Ohno must have drawn for him. Appropriately perfectionist, thinks Jun. "You were talking about getting tutoring from Nino," Ohno says patiently. "You talk to yourself a lot, you know."
Jun knows. It's especially embarrassing in moments like these. "It was just a thought," he says in as off-handed a manner as he can. "I probably won't bother. Besides, he already turned her down." Jun keeps his voice down as he gestures; he's at least considerate enough not to want to make a fool of Erika. "He won't want to teach me."
Ohno hums a thoughtful noise and rubs at his chin. He must have forgotten to shave this morning, because there's a bristly patch that he keeps scratching his nails over. "You never know with Nino-chan," he says. "The strangest things amuse him."
The class bell chimes, and Jun falls silent as his classmates claim their seats and pretend to pay attention. He pretends to pay attention too, but his brain is humming with thoughts. He doesn't want to be Ninomiya's amusement, but he still can't let the idea go - it tickles at him enough that he talks his way into and out of asking Ninomiya for tutoring at least three times and actually forgets to take notes during the first ten minutes of class.
It's a stupid idea, Jun agrees with himself about that. He shouldn't even be considering it. He should tell himself a definitive no and leave it at that, forget the whole thing and go eat lunch with Ohno in the outer court, or find Aiba and do some studying for Alchemy. He should. He really, really should.
So he does.
*
Jun manages for a full three days to ignore the niggling thought that he could be learning all of Ninomiya's magical study secrets, but by day four it's become all-encompassing, and dammit, Jun wants to and damn his pride. So he does what he has to, and after dinner he finds his way to the dorm room Ninomiya shares with Sho and hovers there, getting suspicious looks from passersby for the few minutes it takes to work up his courage and knock.
The door swings open magically, with no one to welcome him. "Hello?" he says, confused, and pokes his head over the threshold.
The inside of this room is just like the one he shares with Aiba, which isn't surprising. They all have essentially the same layout, with bunk beds, desks that sit side-by-side, and an extra door that heads to a shared bathroom space. It takes Jun's eyes a moment to adjust, because the only illumination is a globe of soft golden light that's floating idly near the ceiling.
A figure sits up in one of the beds, and Jun immediately feels bad. It's Sho, shirtless and rubbing at his eyes, blinking at the open doorway in confusion. "Matsumoto-kun?" he says, sounding surprised and squinting as if he's trying to make out Jun's features from his silhouette.
"Jun-kun?" It's Ninomiya's voice, and oh, Rosa was right. There's an arm around Sho's waist, and the covers wiggle, and then Ninomiya raises his head and peers at Jun with equally bleary, endearing sleepiness.
"I'm sorry," Jun says automatically. His throat is tight, the words almost get stuck. "I didn't know." And he turns around and walks away as fast as he can, his heart hammering in his chest, boom boom boom, to echo his footsteps. He's not sure where he's walking to, just so long as it's away, except that image of Ninomiya curled close to Sho's naked chest seems determined to come with him.
"Jun-kun!"
Jun turns a corner and nearly collides with three girls from a lower grade whose faces he knows but whose names he doesn't. Of course he apologizes because he's not an asshole, but he probably has his dragon face on because they scurry away from him, casting confused glances over their shoulders as they go.
"Jun-kun." And the delay has let Ninomiya catch up. He is, Jun notices, wearing blue pajama bottoms and a white undershirt, but even the fact that he's clothed doesn't make Jun feel any better.
"I was just going," Jun says.
"I noticed that," Ninomiya answers tartly. "Would you stop? I don't feel like playing chase all over school, but I'll do it if you make me." He shoves his fingers into his bedhead, combing it out recklessly and for the most part, ineffectively. Jun doesn't know what to say, but luckily Ninomiya solves that problem for him. "What's up? You can't just come to our room out of the blue and say it was nothing, either, so don't try that."
Jun snaps his mouth shut. Dammit. He weighs his options, and finds he doesn't have many. "I was talking to Ohno-kun recently," he starts slowly, reluctantly.
"Nhn."
"He said you're a good teacher."
There's a beat of silence. "And?" The tips of Ninomiya's lips are starting to quirk up. Jun finds that more encouraging than a bunch of the other scenarios he'd envisioned for right now.
"So I wanted to ask you to tutor me," he gets out all in a rush. "I know you've turned some people down for tutoring but If you'd just think about it, I promise I'm not a pain, I learn things quickly and--"
Ninomiya holds up his hands. He looks like he wants to laugh. "Why? You have some of the best grades in the school. It's not like you need tutoring, not really."
"Because I want to beat you," Jun says honestly and without thinking. "Just once. At least once. Hopefully more than once."
And then Ninomiya does laugh, his mouth stretched wide and happy, his whole body rocking with it. But it doesn't make Jun feel dumb, or even embarrassed, like he always is when people laugh at him. Ninomiya laughs like he's pleased, like Jun is included, and Jun feels warmth bloom in his chest for having made Nino laugh like that. He smiles awkwardly.
"I like that," Ninomiya says, laughter still making his eyes sparkle. "Let's do it."
Jun stops, confused. "What?"
"The first thing we'll have to work on is your hearing," Ninomiya says promptly.
"Oi!" Jun says, and takes a threatening step towards Ninomiya. He'd forgotten for a minute there that Ninomiya was a brat. Why did he ever want this? "I take it back!"
Nino ducks away giggling, his bare feet poking out of his pajama bottoms in quick-stepped retreat. "Too late! Tomorrow, come to my room before dinner, and we'll start. And you can call me Sensei!" He's halfway down the hall to his room, waving as he skip-walks backwards in a ridiculous manner that Jun could never, ever manage.
"Like hell!" Jun calls after him.
*
Jun goes back anyway. Ninomiya has a magnetic pull as far as he's concerned, on both the good days and the bad, and it's enough even to get Jun past the trauma of seeing Ninomiya in bed with another man. At least partially. The ordeal still replays itself in morbid, fascinatingly sharp detail when he knocks on the dorm room door: Ninomiya sleep-mussed and blinking, his nose that close to Sho's nipples.
A conversation with Aiba about it had been less than enlightening. "You think too much," Aiba had said, barely looking up from his Care of Magical Creatures homework. (That had been an elective Jun had opted out of; somehow with him the class always ended up being Run For Your Life from Magical Creatures. Ninomiya, brat that he is, had suggested on one of those many days that Jun gave off an eat-me aura. The way chimeras responded to him suggested Ninomiya wasn't far off.) "Aren't you just going for tutoring anyway? So what if he's tangling up the sheets with Sho-kun?"
"I don't want to see that," Jun had said, moody enough that he had to wave away another thunder cloud before it opened up over his bed.
Talking to Ohno over lunch had been slightly better. Even with his mouth full, Ohno had imparted sage wisdom: "Nino's just like that. He holds hands with everybody, and gets into their space…" He had shrugged, spreading his hands meaningfully.
But if Ohno had meant to say that Ninomiya and Sho aren't bouncing the mattress together, Jun is less than convinced. Yes, he's seen Ninomiya wrap his arms around the guys, tickle at their chins, slide his hands into their pant pockets, and that can be explained away as a bizarre friendliness that makes Jun both uncomfortably happy and happily uncomfortable the rare times that it happens to him. But that is something very different from climbing into bed together.
Thankfully, when Sho opens the door he's fully clothed. "Oh hey," he says, sounding like he's unsure of why Jun is there but isn't about to be the one to ask. Jun's not sure himself, anymore, even though he's got all his books in an atrociously tall pile in his arms. "Nino? Matsumoto-kun's here."
"Okay, bye bye, Sho-kun!"
Sho shrugs and gestures Jun inside before he leaves, closing the door behind himself. Ninomiya is sitting at one desk backwards in his chair, his arms folded over the top of it. He hasn't bothered to change out of his uniform but he's loosened up a few buttons. It looks good on him. Very good. The room seems too small and too large at the same time.
Jun clears his throat. "Where do we start?"
"You're in such a hurry," Ninomiya murmurs, but he lets Jun have Sho's desk. When Jun sits down, he notices that the books stacked on Ninomiya's side are old, the pages yellowed and the cover corners mangled. There's big red writing on the page edges that make Jun think of loaner books, library books.
Ninomiya doesn't open a single one. Jun learns over the course of the next hour that Ninomiya really is that smart where problem solving is concerned. He's pinprick sharp, delivering barbed witticisms along with his advice. He watches Jun attempt charms and picks them each apart, and Jun feels like his brain unraveling right along with them, but Ninomiya easily explains it all back together before he goes crazy with frustration. Jun has so many lightbulb moments he's surprised he doesn't electrocute himself.
He's so fascinated he forgets all about dinner, and it isn't until Ninomiya says Ohno and Sho are waiting for him at the cafeteria that Jun realizes just what color the sky is outside.
"Thank you," he says, holding his wand tight in his hand. "I really… I learned a lot." He has a page of neatly printed notes as evidence, and he would have had more if Ninomiya hadn't been so damned absorbing. After ten minutes Jun had abandoned notes just to keep up with Ninomiya's rapid-pace commentary.
Nino's sitting on the edge of the desk now, kicking his feet leisurely, shoulders hunched. He's clearly comfortable in his own space. "Wanna come back tomorrow?"
There's heat in Jun's ears. "Actually," he says, "why don't you come to my dorm room instead?" He would say he doesn't know why he suggests it, but that's a lie. He wants to stay away from Sho's space, from Sho's space that he shares with Ninomiya. He wants to keep Ninomiya to himself for a while.
There's a flash of interest in Ninomiya's eyes, and his smile grows. "Okay," he says.
*
Jun kicks Aiba out two hours before dinner just to be safe. Aiba takes this like a good sport, though he makes kissy faces at Jun on his way out, because Aiba is excitable and forgetful but he's not stupid, and also Jun was talking to himself again before he went to sleep the night before. It's a horrible, horrible habit that Jun vows to break immediately. He also vows to line Aiba's bunk with freezing cold marbles the next chance he gets.
Ninomiya shows up right when Jun is in the middle of fussing with his pencil case, and when Jun opens the door he's not surprised to see a lack of books. "Ninomiya," he greets him. "C'mon in."
Ninomiya gives him a speculative look. "You know, you're the only person in this whole school who calls me that," he says as he saunters in like it's his own room. He throws himself down on Jun's bunk, rolling up in Jun's carefully made covers. His legs are still sticking out, and so is his head. "I think it's time you stop."
"I wouldn't know what else to call you," Jun says dryly, despite knowing very well.
Ninomiya chortles. "I can make you up an engraved invitation, if you really insist." There's a strange looking wriggle from under the covers which Jun assumes is Nino manipulating his wand (there are lots of dirty thoughts that come with this), and then right in front of Jun, from thin air, an invitation with silver embossing appears with an explosion of glitter that wafts down to the floor. It will take forever to clean that up, thinks one tiny corner of Jun's mind.
But the rest of him is drawn to the invitation, and he flips it open. The inside looks nothing like the outside. Written in tiny scrawl, artistic but at the same time quirky, it says, Call me Nino. Please? It's almost childlike, and Jun feels charmed all over again.
"Nino," he sighs, folding the invitation closed. "Is there a reason you're in my bed?"
"That's better. And it's comfortable," Nino points out while cuddling up into the blanket. "Better than the chair."
Jun pretends with admirable ability that he's completely unconcerned about Nino hanging out in his bed. He's fairly sure that Sho wouldn't be pleased with it, and he's not big on the idea of being on Sho's bad side, but if Nino wants to flirt with danger, well. Jun won't tell.
Nino emerges from his blanket cocoon, propping himself up on his elbow, and Jun feels pinned to the spot all of a sudden as Nino studies him, giving him a long, considering look-over, interest mingling with mirth in the corners of his eyes.
"What?" Jun says gruffly, and sits down at his desk, turning away from Nino's prying eyes. This is one of those times that he doesn't think he wants Nino reading his secrets. "Didn't you come here to help me? We should get started."
"You really thought that," Nino says instead, wonderingly. Jun wants to smack himself on the forehead. "I guess you would. That's usually why people get in bed together, isn't it. Sho-kun and I aren't like that, though."
"Looked like it," Jun says, trying to decide on a pencil. There are too many choices. He's glad for that.
"I'm sure it did," Nino says with a sigh. "But it wasn't." The bedsheets rustle. Jun isn't prepared for Nino's hands on his shoulders, Nino's weight leaning onto him from behind. He holds very still, like he might startle Nino away if he moves too much. He's even less prepared for Nino's voice at his ear, breathy and warm. "What do you think about me, Jun-kun?"
Jun drops his pencil. It rolls off the edge of his notepad, off the desk, onto the floor. It is seriously not important right now. "Nino."
"I'm pretty observant, you know," Nino goes on. Jun can't argue with that after an hour yesterday of being the target of Nino's unfalteringly sharp gaze. "I see things you have no idea that I see. You've been watching me a long time, haven't you?"
Jun's only answer to that is the sudden racing of his heart.
There's a touch at Jun's ear: Nino's lips, smooth and warm. Jun forgets to breathe for a second. "You're not quite as observant though, Jun-kun. Because you didn't notice I've been watching you a long time, too."
When Aiba comes back it's not exactly a repeat performance of Jun's fateful evening intruding on Nino's room, but it's close. Jun has to stop kissing Nino to throw a pillow at Aiba, and then another one when Aiba ducks. Nino curls against Jun's chest unhelpfully, full of cheshire smiles and quiet laughter, but there isn't anywhere else Jun would rather him be.
And when finals roll around? Nino's magic works itself one more time. Jun actually does beat him.
Just once.
From: aeslis
Title: Boys Over Magic/Yamada Nino
Pairing/Focus: Matsumiya (Sakumiya?)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: Jun's one of the top students, but not the top. He's got a thing or two to learn from Ninomiya.
Notes: Special love to those who helped me structure and create this world, which seems to have taken me over. I do hope I get to expand on it one day, because there are more stories to be told.
Midterm results go up at lunch, and Jun goes to check, feeling shaky even though he's eaten. The corridor is long, and he can see the crowd clustered around the bulletin board like milling ants, some girls dancing up onto their toes so they can see over the shoulders of those in front. The curlicue script that titles the scores is legible from far away, but until Jun gets closer he can't read any of the names, and he knows what he wants to see and hopes desperately that he's studied diligently enough to see it. His nails bite into his palms as he looks.
"Look!" It's a girl's voice, but Jun doesn't search for her face. There's disappointment roaring in his ears but it doesn't quite drown her out. "Ninomiya-kun made it to the top again."
Sure enough, there he is, headlining every list. Ninomiya Kazunari, Jun's arch nemesis. And right under him, every single time, Matsumoto Jun, list after list, class after class.
Jun clenches his teeth and storms away, and if there are sparks of frustration zinging off him, well. That's all Ninomiya's fault, isn't it?
*
Jun really doesn't understand it. It's his third year at Ichinomiya's Advanced School of Magic and Mysticism, and each year is more frustrating than the last because no matter how late into the night Jun studies, no matter how many books he checks out of the library, no matter how many times he drinks Aiba's atrocious coffee-flavored energy potions that taste like strawberries and jellybeans, he just can't pull the top grade. It has always been Ninomiya Ninomiya Ninomiya even though Jun hasn't ever seen him crack open a single book, even in Historical Magic, which isn't anything but books. It should be impossible!
"Nothing's really impossible," Aiba says, and Jun realizes he's been thinking aloud again. "Did you know you have a cloud over your head?"
Jun looks up. He does, indeed, have a cloud over his head, which is roiling gray with little flashes of impending lightning. He huffs, dissipates it with a wave of his hand, and throws himself moodily onto his bed.
He can hear Aiba rustling around, and when he cracks an eye open Aiba's poking his head over the edge of the upper bunk. "So?"
"So what?"
"So you were about to tell me that Ninomiya-kun beat you again, and you're bitter and want to charm his ass to stick to his chair. Or maybe this time that you want to give him permanent static cling and throw socks at him. Or you could--whoa!" It wouldn't have been the first time Aiba fell off his bunk, but he manages to catch himself before his excitement takes him completely over.
"You're turning red," Jun mutters at him.
"That's because I'm upside down," Aiba says, and Jun covers his face with his hands. "You know, Matsujun, you could just ask him how he does it."
"He cheats!" Jun bursts out. "He's a dirty cheater, is how. I just haven't caught him at it yet."
"Hm," Aiba says, which is what he does when he doesn't agree but knows Jun isn't in a magnanimous enough mood to deal with contrary opinions. He's right, too. Jun wants to throw something, and Aiba is a convenient target.
"C'mon, Aiba, look at the facts. He skips classes almost as often as he comes, and then when he does come he sleeps through almost all of them! And have you ever seen him with a book? Ever?"
"He's mysterious," Aiba agrees, showing an unusual amount of prudence. It only irritates Jun further. Aiba must realize this, because he rolls back onto his bed, and Jun can't see him anymore. "Why don't you ask Sho-kun? If anyone would know, he would."
Jun sighs. It shouldn't be this difficult. He shouldn't be thwarted by a boy like Ninomiya, who is irresponsible and flaky and has horrible fashion sense. (Okay, Jun will admit that wearing ratty old jeans has nothing to do with good grades, but it should.)
"He's a nice guy, Matsujun," Aiba says suddenly, and Jun guesses by the fuzzy quality of his voice that he's half asleep and curled on his side, cheek smushed to his pillow.
The thing is, Jun knows that. He's talked to Nino and always ultimately walks away more charmed than before. Nino has this infectious smile, like he knows all the best jokes. Not to mention the expressive glint of his eyes that make you feel like he's sharing secrets, so that you want to share all of your own. And it hasn't escaped Jun's notice that when Nino cups his chin in his palm during Magi-Botanicals and stares out the window at the scudding clouds, the line of his neck is long and pretty, his profile striking.
And to Jun, that's what makes it so damn frustrating.
*
Jun sits next to Ohno in the back of Channeling with Art. Jun hadn't meant to end up in the back, but after watching Ohno construct a replica of a living tree using two sheets of paper and his pen cap, Jun had turned down all offers for seat switches. Ohno is still something of a mystery to Jun. What he knows is that Ohno has a wicked sense of humor, is enough of an art genius that he's at Ichinomiya on a full scholarship, and that he's one of Nino's best friends. And like Nino, he never seems to be paying attention. When Jun peeks over his shoulder, Ohno is doodling Jun's likeness in the top right corner of his study sheet. It's small and he's only got the head, neck, and one arm, but it's already moving around.
"You're drawing me?!" he says in surprise, leaning in closer. There's nothing to criticize. It's like looking in a tiny, black-and-white mirror, all the way down to his haphazard curls and the rhinestones that glitter on the neck of his uniform. And Ohno has drawn them well enough that they actually glitter.
Ohno startles, and looks up owlishly. "Sorry. I should have asked, huh."
"Are you kidding me?" Jun says, feeling honored. "I've always wanted a Mini-Me." On the paper, the half-finished version of himself is waving an arm to try to get Ohno's attention back. Jun imagines it would probably try to kick at Ohno's thumb if it had feet by now.
Ohno hums, and adds more detail to the belt. "Nino's told me I should make him an army. I think he wanted to send them on undercover missions."
"What did you tell him?" Jun asks warily.
Ohno's sheepish smile is totally endearing, but does not manage to distract Jun from making a mental note to scour his dorm room for sleeper pranks.
"--Ninomiya-kun yesterday?"
Jun's ears prick. Over to his right and a few rows up, three of the girls in the class are clustered around a desk. From the back it looks like Satomi talking to Rosa and Erika, who's biting the end of her wand in a way that's completely unsanitary. Jun pretends he's not paying attention by staring at the empty seat next to them and kicking his feet nonchalantly.
"What did he say?" Rosa says, whipping around so she's practically twisted in half where she perches on the edge of the desk. Both the girls hover over Erika, who chews on her wand with what Jun now recognizes as a fit of nerves. "Yes? Tell me he said yes!"
Jun taps at his chin and keeps his ears trained on them more than his eyes, but he does flick a glance over as Erika deliberates, lowering her wand so she can twist her hands around it in her lap. "He said there are lots of people who would be good tutors," she starts haltingly. "And, and he could recommend me someone…"
"Oh!" Satomi stomps her foot, and Jun notices she's balled her hand into a fist. "Phoo! Why would he say something like that? You're cute, he's obviously making a big mistake."
Rosa's hand covers her mouth briefly. "I heard he's tutoring Sakurai-kun, if you know what I mean."
"Rosa!" Satomi hisses.
Okay, thinks Jun, that is a new one. He's heard Ninomiya is, at times, uncomfortably friendly, to the point that some rumors have him batting for the other team. Jun even remembers a few times in particular that Ninomiya has sidled into his personal bubble and he's wondered the same while trying not to be distracted by the warm scent of clean laundry. Bad fashion sense Ninomiya might have, but he sure picked the right detergent.
On the other hand, he's never heard anything about Ninomiya applying these particular people skills to Sakurai Sho, one of the richy rich kids whose father has his fingers in every piece of pie there could possibly be. Sho's a decent guy, really, but he has a temper when people don't follow the rules and no one wants to get on his bad side. That's why it's a wonder to Jun that he ever got to be friends with someone like Ninomiya, who seems to be able to re-invent every rule to his own personal tune. Jun can't even say Sho didn't have a choice about it, because even if dorm rooms are randomly assigned, Sho's father has enough clout that Sho could probably take over the principal's office as a bedroom if he really wanted.
Jun doesn't know how he feels about all this, but he tells himself it's not important anyway and focuses on the part of the conversation that doesn't make his chest pang alarmingly. He's never thought about tutoring before, but would he really want to ask Ninomiya for help? There's his pride to consider, after all.
"Oh, Nino's a really good teacher," Ohno says suddenly, startling Jun out of his musings.
"Eh?"
The mini-Jun is sitting neatly at the top corner of Ohno's paper, smoothing out his hair as he stares into a mirror Ohno must have drawn for him. Appropriately perfectionist, thinks Jun. "You were talking about getting tutoring from Nino," Ohno says patiently. "You talk to yourself a lot, you know."
Jun knows. It's especially embarrassing in moments like these. "It was just a thought," he says in as off-handed a manner as he can. "I probably won't bother. Besides, he already turned her down." Jun keeps his voice down as he gestures; he's at least considerate enough not to want to make a fool of Erika. "He won't want to teach me."
Ohno hums a thoughtful noise and rubs at his chin. He must have forgotten to shave this morning, because there's a bristly patch that he keeps scratching his nails over. "You never know with Nino-chan," he says. "The strangest things amuse him."
The class bell chimes, and Jun falls silent as his classmates claim their seats and pretend to pay attention. He pretends to pay attention too, but his brain is humming with thoughts. He doesn't want to be Ninomiya's amusement, but he still can't let the idea go - it tickles at him enough that he talks his way into and out of asking Ninomiya for tutoring at least three times and actually forgets to take notes during the first ten minutes of class.
It's a stupid idea, Jun agrees with himself about that. He shouldn't even be considering it. He should tell himself a definitive no and leave it at that, forget the whole thing and go eat lunch with Ohno in the outer court, or find Aiba and do some studying for Alchemy. He should. He really, really should.
So he does.
*
Jun manages for a full three days to ignore the niggling thought that he could be learning all of Ninomiya's magical study secrets, but by day four it's become all-encompassing, and dammit, Jun wants to and damn his pride. So he does what he has to, and after dinner he finds his way to the dorm room Ninomiya shares with Sho and hovers there, getting suspicious looks from passersby for the few minutes it takes to work up his courage and knock.
The door swings open magically, with no one to welcome him. "Hello?" he says, confused, and pokes his head over the threshold.
The inside of this room is just like the one he shares with Aiba, which isn't surprising. They all have essentially the same layout, with bunk beds, desks that sit side-by-side, and an extra door that heads to a shared bathroom space. It takes Jun's eyes a moment to adjust, because the only illumination is a globe of soft golden light that's floating idly near the ceiling.
A figure sits up in one of the beds, and Jun immediately feels bad. It's Sho, shirtless and rubbing at his eyes, blinking at the open doorway in confusion. "Matsumoto-kun?" he says, sounding surprised and squinting as if he's trying to make out Jun's features from his silhouette.
"Jun-kun?" It's Ninomiya's voice, and oh, Rosa was right. There's an arm around Sho's waist, and the covers wiggle, and then Ninomiya raises his head and peers at Jun with equally bleary, endearing sleepiness.
"I'm sorry," Jun says automatically. His throat is tight, the words almost get stuck. "I didn't know." And he turns around and walks away as fast as he can, his heart hammering in his chest, boom boom boom, to echo his footsteps. He's not sure where he's walking to, just so long as it's away, except that image of Ninomiya curled close to Sho's naked chest seems determined to come with him.
"Jun-kun!"
Jun turns a corner and nearly collides with three girls from a lower grade whose faces he knows but whose names he doesn't. Of course he apologizes because he's not an asshole, but he probably has his dragon face on because they scurry away from him, casting confused glances over their shoulders as they go.
"Jun-kun." And the delay has let Ninomiya catch up. He is, Jun notices, wearing blue pajama bottoms and a white undershirt, but even the fact that he's clothed doesn't make Jun feel any better.
"I was just going," Jun says.
"I noticed that," Ninomiya answers tartly. "Would you stop? I don't feel like playing chase all over school, but I'll do it if you make me." He shoves his fingers into his bedhead, combing it out recklessly and for the most part, ineffectively. Jun doesn't know what to say, but luckily Ninomiya solves that problem for him. "What's up? You can't just come to our room out of the blue and say it was nothing, either, so don't try that."
Jun snaps his mouth shut. Dammit. He weighs his options, and finds he doesn't have many. "I was talking to Ohno-kun recently," he starts slowly, reluctantly.
"Nhn."
"He said you're a good teacher."
There's a beat of silence. "And?" The tips of Ninomiya's lips are starting to quirk up. Jun finds that more encouraging than a bunch of the other scenarios he'd envisioned for right now.
"So I wanted to ask you to tutor me," he gets out all in a rush. "I know you've turned some people down for tutoring but If you'd just think about it, I promise I'm not a pain, I learn things quickly and--"
Ninomiya holds up his hands. He looks like he wants to laugh. "Why? You have some of the best grades in the school. It's not like you need tutoring, not really."
"Because I want to beat you," Jun says honestly and without thinking. "Just once. At least once. Hopefully more than once."
And then Ninomiya does laugh, his mouth stretched wide and happy, his whole body rocking with it. But it doesn't make Jun feel dumb, or even embarrassed, like he always is when people laugh at him. Ninomiya laughs like he's pleased, like Jun is included, and Jun feels warmth bloom in his chest for having made Nino laugh like that. He smiles awkwardly.
"I like that," Ninomiya says, laughter still making his eyes sparkle. "Let's do it."
Jun stops, confused. "What?"
"The first thing we'll have to work on is your hearing," Ninomiya says promptly.
"Oi!" Jun says, and takes a threatening step towards Ninomiya. He'd forgotten for a minute there that Ninomiya was a brat. Why did he ever want this? "I take it back!"
Nino ducks away giggling, his bare feet poking out of his pajama bottoms in quick-stepped retreat. "Too late! Tomorrow, come to my room before dinner, and we'll start. And you can call me Sensei!" He's halfway down the hall to his room, waving as he skip-walks backwards in a ridiculous manner that Jun could never, ever manage.
"Like hell!" Jun calls after him.
*
Jun goes back anyway. Ninomiya has a magnetic pull as far as he's concerned, on both the good days and the bad, and it's enough even to get Jun past the trauma of seeing Ninomiya in bed with another man. At least partially. The ordeal still replays itself in morbid, fascinatingly sharp detail when he knocks on the dorm room door: Ninomiya sleep-mussed and blinking, his nose that close to Sho's nipples.
A conversation with Aiba about it had been less than enlightening. "You think too much," Aiba had said, barely looking up from his Care of Magical Creatures homework. (That had been an elective Jun had opted out of; somehow with him the class always ended up being Run For Your Life from Magical Creatures. Ninomiya, brat that he is, had suggested on one of those many days that Jun gave off an eat-me aura. The way chimeras responded to him suggested Ninomiya wasn't far off.) "Aren't you just going for tutoring anyway? So what if he's tangling up the sheets with Sho-kun?"
"I don't want to see that," Jun had said, moody enough that he had to wave away another thunder cloud before it opened up over his bed.
Talking to Ohno over lunch had been slightly better. Even with his mouth full, Ohno had imparted sage wisdom: "Nino's just like that. He holds hands with everybody, and gets into their space…" He had shrugged, spreading his hands meaningfully.
But if Ohno had meant to say that Ninomiya and Sho aren't bouncing the mattress together, Jun is less than convinced. Yes, he's seen Ninomiya wrap his arms around the guys, tickle at their chins, slide his hands into their pant pockets, and that can be explained away as a bizarre friendliness that makes Jun both uncomfortably happy and happily uncomfortable the rare times that it happens to him. But that is something very different from climbing into bed together.
Thankfully, when Sho opens the door he's fully clothed. "Oh hey," he says, sounding like he's unsure of why Jun is there but isn't about to be the one to ask. Jun's not sure himself, anymore, even though he's got all his books in an atrociously tall pile in his arms. "Nino? Matsumoto-kun's here."
"Okay, bye bye, Sho-kun!"
Sho shrugs and gestures Jun inside before he leaves, closing the door behind himself. Ninomiya is sitting at one desk backwards in his chair, his arms folded over the top of it. He hasn't bothered to change out of his uniform but he's loosened up a few buttons. It looks good on him. Very good. The room seems too small and too large at the same time.
Jun clears his throat. "Where do we start?"
"You're in such a hurry," Ninomiya murmurs, but he lets Jun have Sho's desk. When Jun sits down, he notices that the books stacked on Ninomiya's side are old, the pages yellowed and the cover corners mangled. There's big red writing on the page edges that make Jun think of loaner books, library books.
Ninomiya doesn't open a single one. Jun learns over the course of the next hour that Ninomiya really is that smart where problem solving is concerned. He's pinprick sharp, delivering barbed witticisms along with his advice. He watches Jun attempt charms and picks them each apart, and Jun feels like his brain unraveling right along with them, but Ninomiya easily explains it all back together before he goes crazy with frustration. Jun has so many lightbulb moments he's surprised he doesn't electrocute himself.
He's so fascinated he forgets all about dinner, and it isn't until Ninomiya says Ohno and Sho are waiting for him at the cafeteria that Jun realizes just what color the sky is outside.
"Thank you," he says, holding his wand tight in his hand. "I really… I learned a lot." He has a page of neatly printed notes as evidence, and he would have had more if Ninomiya hadn't been so damned absorbing. After ten minutes Jun had abandoned notes just to keep up with Ninomiya's rapid-pace commentary.
Nino's sitting on the edge of the desk now, kicking his feet leisurely, shoulders hunched. He's clearly comfortable in his own space. "Wanna come back tomorrow?"
There's heat in Jun's ears. "Actually," he says, "why don't you come to my dorm room instead?" He would say he doesn't know why he suggests it, but that's a lie. He wants to stay away from Sho's space, from Sho's space that he shares with Ninomiya. He wants to keep Ninomiya to himself for a while.
There's a flash of interest in Ninomiya's eyes, and his smile grows. "Okay," he says.
*
Jun kicks Aiba out two hours before dinner just to be safe. Aiba takes this like a good sport, though he makes kissy faces at Jun on his way out, because Aiba is excitable and forgetful but he's not stupid, and also Jun was talking to himself again before he went to sleep the night before. It's a horrible, horrible habit that Jun vows to break immediately. He also vows to line Aiba's bunk with freezing cold marbles the next chance he gets.
Ninomiya shows up right when Jun is in the middle of fussing with his pencil case, and when Jun opens the door he's not surprised to see a lack of books. "Ninomiya," he greets him. "C'mon in."
Ninomiya gives him a speculative look. "You know, you're the only person in this whole school who calls me that," he says as he saunters in like it's his own room. He throws himself down on Jun's bunk, rolling up in Jun's carefully made covers. His legs are still sticking out, and so is his head. "I think it's time you stop."
"I wouldn't know what else to call you," Jun says dryly, despite knowing very well.
Ninomiya chortles. "I can make you up an engraved invitation, if you really insist." There's a strange looking wriggle from under the covers which Jun assumes is Nino manipulating his wand (there are lots of dirty thoughts that come with this), and then right in front of Jun, from thin air, an invitation with silver embossing appears with an explosion of glitter that wafts down to the floor. It will take forever to clean that up, thinks one tiny corner of Jun's mind.
But the rest of him is drawn to the invitation, and he flips it open. The inside looks nothing like the outside. Written in tiny scrawl, artistic but at the same time quirky, it says, Call me Nino. Please? It's almost childlike, and Jun feels charmed all over again.
"Nino," he sighs, folding the invitation closed. "Is there a reason you're in my bed?"
"That's better. And it's comfortable," Nino points out while cuddling up into the blanket. "Better than the chair."
Jun pretends with admirable ability that he's completely unconcerned about Nino hanging out in his bed. He's fairly sure that Sho wouldn't be pleased with it, and he's not big on the idea of being on Sho's bad side, but if Nino wants to flirt with danger, well. Jun won't tell.
Nino emerges from his blanket cocoon, propping himself up on his elbow, and Jun feels pinned to the spot all of a sudden as Nino studies him, giving him a long, considering look-over, interest mingling with mirth in the corners of his eyes.
"What?" Jun says gruffly, and sits down at his desk, turning away from Nino's prying eyes. This is one of those times that he doesn't think he wants Nino reading his secrets. "Didn't you come here to help me? We should get started."
"You really thought that," Nino says instead, wonderingly. Jun wants to smack himself on the forehead. "I guess you would. That's usually why people get in bed together, isn't it. Sho-kun and I aren't like that, though."
"Looked like it," Jun says, trying to decide on a pencil. There are too many choices. He's glad for that.
"I'm sure it did," Nino says with a sigh. "But it wasn't." The bedsheets rustle. Jun isn't prepared for Nino's hands on his shoulders, Nino's weight leaning onto him from behind. He holds very still, like he might startle Nino away if he moves too much. He's even less prepared for Nino's voice at his ear, breathy and warm. "What do you think about me, Jun-kun?"
Jun drops his pencil. It rolls off the edge of his notepad, off the desk, onto the floor. It is seriously not important right now. "Nino."
"I'm pretty observant, you know," Nino goes on. Jun can't argue with that after an hour yesterday of being the target of Nino's unfalteringly sharp gaze. "I see things you have no idea that I see. You've been watching me a long time, haven't you?"
Jun's only answer to that is the sudden racing of his heart.
There's a touch at Jun's ear: Nino's lips, smooth and warm. Jun forgets to breathe for a second. "You're not quite as observant though, Jun-kun. Because you didn't notice I've been watching you a long time, too."
When Aiba comes back it's not exactly a repeat performance of Jun's fateful evening intruding on Nino's room, but it's close. Jun has to stop kissing Nino to throw a pillow at Aiba, and then another one when Aiba ducks. Nino curls against Jun's chest unhelpfully, full of cheshire smiles and quiet laughter, but there isn't anywhere else Jun would rather him be.
And when finals roll around? Nino's magic works itself one more time. Jun actually does beat him.
Just once.