Let's Make it a Double! Furious Fifth: LARBLING for TOMIYO!
For: Tomiyo_hikura2
From:Larbling
Pairing: Sanada/Niou
Rating: R
Summary: A day in the life of Niou Masaharu
5.30 a.m: Friday morning. Niou hits the snooze button twice and finally crawls out of bed when Yagyuu calls helpfully and his voice is husky from sleep and like a phone sex operator.
5.40 a.m: Breakfast is served! Niou eats a banana while cycling to school. A seasoned multi-tasker, he simultaneously administers a Good Morning mooning to the cheerleader that has been filling Sanada’s locker with sappy and suggestive poems.
5.55 a.m: Waves at Yanagi, bites thumb at Marui. Decides it is too risky to execute Collective Team Mooning, what with Sanada’s murderous expression and more importantly, Yukimura’s beaming face.
6.00 am: Systemic physical torture begins with laps around the school compound. Yanagi has on good information that Seigaku is doing the equivalent of 20 - Sanada fulfils his innate penchant for multiples of five and ceaseless one-upmanship with Tezuka and his family, promptly issues 25.
6.05: Team politics are very clearly at play. The noble leaders try to set a good example by powering ahead in what Niou decides is an exaggerated arms race. He puts into action his own foreign policy of apathy and deactivates brain, leaving it in Basic Mode 1 (bum analysis) based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
6.15 a.m: Niou observes the various training tactics of Troika. Sanada declares his Excruciating Lower Body Shaping Regime Surprise with a gravelly ‘tarundoru’. Niou makes a suggestive comment about Sanada’s Lower Body and a staring contest ensues between the two. After losing, Niou graciously admits defeat and blames it on the crooked smile Yagyuu has flashed his way, generating a reflex response of eyelash-batting.
7.30 a.m: When Yanagi’s Upper Body Extra Efficient Strengthening Surprise Regime and Yukimura’s Merciless Mental Endurance Surprise Plus come to a conclusion, morning training comes to a delayed close. Niou showers quickly. Time is no friend of his and he still has to blow-dry his hair.
8.00 a.m: With Kirihara as his scapegoat, Niou raids Sanada’s locker unsuccessfully in search for evidence of documents evidencing the presence of a secret sadism contract between the three. Sighing, he resigns himself to the sad conclusion that Yanagi must have stored said documents in a vault sealed by a sixty-digit PIN code and an illegal clone of Sanada on steroids. In the spirit of surprise, Niou replaces Sanada’s deodorant with cheap spray-on tan.
8.30 a.m: The school bell rings. Niou sits diagonally across from Marui and shares his theory with the so-called genius. Upon receiving a scornful dismissal, Niou succinctly tells Marui what he thinks of Marui’s so-called genius by performing a classic ‘(if you’re so smart) why are you hitting yourself?’
8.40 a.m: Niou receives an A+ on his math test and Marui’s morose expression puts him in a charitable mood once again. Decides to be generous and shares his marks with the redhead by mouthing 98% repeatedly.
8.45 a.m: Bored, Niou seeks out a more stimulating activity than calculus. He obtains permission to go the bathroom and sits on the sink, inspecting his hair in the mirror. Takes a detour and drops by Sanada and Yagyuu’s classroom on the way back. Blows kisses through the window until a kid raises his hand to tell on Niou.
9.15 a.m: Marui and Niou harbor mixed feelings about combined Physical Education with Class 3A. Sanada’s presence implies extra pressure to show off; Yagyuu’s makes Niou’s stomach flop weakly. They are playing an informal version European football, and the four tennis boys and a scholarly kid with abysmal coordination from 3A form a team. There is a slight disagreement about names between Sanada (Team Tennis) and Marui (Suck Our Balls), which is resolved by the exasperated Yagyuu. Team Yagyuu is born.
9.30 a.m: After head-butting a member of their rival team, Niou is forced into playing goalie. He sits in the net idly and fans himself with a limp hand. Despite having to spend the rest of the mini-tournament watching Team Yagyuu decimate the opponent without him, Niou thinks his punishment is worth it. Kiyomatsu-kun really needed to understand that no matter how he cajoles, Yagyuu is
1) Niou’s
2) never going to join his stupid golf team.
10.00 a.m: Later, Niou studies prefixes and suffixes in English. The assignment includes forming words using ‘inter-‘, ‘fore’ and ‘pre’. Beaming, he writes ‘intercourse’ and ‘foreplay’. Peeping Marui spots this and points out ‘pre-come’, earning himself a thumbs-up from Niou.
10.45 a.m: Assignment completed, Niou puts his textbook behind a copy of Shounen Jump and feigns deep interest. When the irritable Itako-sensei approaches, Niou drops the magazine and assumes the guileless innocence of a student who has done no wrong.
11.20 a.m: It is time for Chemistry class and another bathroom break. Niou discreetly opens the small stolen packet of sodium and wanders to the Home Economics room. He spots Akaya in mittens (how cute) and a distressed teacher. Niou ducks into class and empties packet strategically. In the confusion, Niou and Akaya sit outside with dishwashing liquid, blowing bubbles leisurely.
12.30 p.m: Niou has lunch from home - cucumber and ham sandwiches with a water-barrier of cheese. For dessert, another banana. Marui too has lunch from home, but joins the queue for Lunch Set B in the cafeteria anyway. Unwilling to indulge in gluttony, Niou heads for the roof and spots his teammates in their territory. The troika barely acknowledge him, immersed in their discussion of Rikkai’s relative merit in comparison to Hyoutei, but Yagyuu shuffles over in a silent gesture of welcome and comradeship. Although Yagyuu does not accept the banana Niou waves threateningly under his nose, he presses some of his dumplings on Niou anyway. They are quite delicious, Niou discovers.
12.40 p.m: Marui arrives, bearing Akaya, Jackal, and energy drinks, which were on sale today. The three begin a heated debate on the relative merits of coffee in comparison to energy drinks, while Niou pilfers a few cans, chugging them down as he and Yagyuu stand by the railings, looking out at the masses.
12.50 p.m: The energy drinks are surprisingly effective. Niou’s impromptu striptease hyperformance scores a well-deserved point for the energy drink camp and augments Akaya’s personal belief that Niou-senpai is crazier than a pregnant woman.
1.15 p.m: After squirting bubble-blowing liquid squarely at Sanada’s groin (in Niou’s Red Bulled mind, it was pulsating with psychedelic lights), Niou and Yagyuu escape to a bathroom until the end of lunch. They emerge looking a little too normal for comfort, invoking a skeptical squint from Marui, who reaches over to Yagyuu’s face to smack him experimentally. He withdraws his hand with a hint of concealer on his palm. Yagyuu merely inspects his chin in the reflective surface of the window and says, “Puri.”
1.30 p.m: Yagyuu sits diagonally behind Sanada in class, but it is Niou who fiddles with the wig, tapping his foot against the leg of Yagyuu’s table. He watches Sanada shift uncomfortably, hiding as much of his lap under the table was possible. Perhaps it is the overconsumption of energy drinks, but Niou’s stomach is feeling queasy. He retches in class, pushing up his fake glasses spectacularly and grabbing at his tie, and a concerned teacher practically expels him to the bathroom. As Yagyuu’s noble fukubuchou, Sanada raises a hand and herds Niou out, censoring the wet patch at his crotch with Niou’s shapely bum.
1.35 p.m: The sound of Sanada’s backhand reverberates throughout the empty bathroom on the third floor of the quiet science wing. Fukubuchou, Niou groans, low and husky. His fingers scrabble at the wet surface of the bathroom counter before they are pinned between Sanada’s sweaty paw and the wet patch. The standard issue button of Sanada’s standard issue Rikkai trousers comes off with a pop, while Niou gives a little more care to his own. Sanada growls a reply into the soft hairs of Niou’s neck, but Niou’s head is swimming and he can only register the growing hardness under his palm and the unchanging hardness of the door against his back. In between a few frantic gropes and being shoved into a kneeling position, Sanada’s large hands displace Niou’s severe brown wig and his blunt fingers in Niou’s fluffy white hair send shivers spiking through both their bodies.
1.38 p.m: The sound of their erratic breathing echoes throughout the otherwise empty bathroom. Niou gags again, but this time it is wholly Sanada’s doing. He looks up to catch his breath and to catch sight of Sanada’s lips parted in a wordless moan. Although Niou’s vision is unfocussed with lust, he is pretty sure that Sanada is mouthing his name.
1.45 p.m: Sanada comes
a) in Niou’s mouth
b) with a low moan that makes goose bumps rise over Niou’s arms
c) wearing an expression so ridiculous Niou cannot understand why he finds it arousing
1.48 p.m: Niou comes without much ado.
1.50 p.m: During the short moments they share to catch their breaths, Sanada does not cuddle, but helps return the glossy Yagyuu wig back to place. Niou tucks himself away, then Sanada, zipping up the fly he’d torn down fifteen minutes ago. In the mirror, each boy grooms himself - Sanada restoring himself into the respectable fukubuchou, the esteemed member of the public morals committee, the straight-A student. Niou dabs his bruised lip with a tissue, straightens a collar, wipes the glasses clean.
[d) over the reflective glasses with thin wire frames]
2.00 p.m: They hold hands until they reach the end of the deserted corridor and part just as a new lesson begins. Sanada rushes off to Physics, and Niou checks himself into the infirmary.
Name: Neo
Class: Above the rest
Reason: Heartache
Name: Yagyuu Hiroshi
Class: 3A
Reason: Asphyxia (from an extraordinary large wiener at lunch)
He hands the clipboard back to the matron and escapes up the stairs when her attention is diverted by a bawling kid with a scrape smaller than a blackhead.
2.15 p.m: Niou stands by the railings on the roof, kicking away a sweet wrapper that has to be Marui’s leftover. His mouth feels disgusting and there is a bitter aftertaste on his tongue. He rummages in his pocket for a stray stick of stolen gum and comes up with a tube of superglue. Yagyuu Hiroshi has been checked into the infirmary for another hour, so Niou stretches and moves off once again.
3.15 p.m: Like salmon, Niou returns to his mothership. He sits on the roof, waiting for Yagyuu and Marui and Akaya. The tube is now half-empty, but there are 100 Yen coins glued to the floors of several corridors, handmade moustaches on the portraits of the members of the prefectorial board, and handheld mirrors strategically stuck between the bathroom stalls. Well, except for the empty bathroom on the third floor of the quiet science wing.
3.30 p.m: By the time Yagyuu reaches the roof, Niou has already changed into his tennis gear. It’s summer and he cowers in the paltry shade from the blistering heat of the sun. Yagyuu looms over him, his shadow stretched like a sweater in a bad drying machine. He punches Niou in the chest hard, and Niou swallows what feels like a ball of steel wool in his throat. Yagyuu’s glasses glint, and he says, You should have given me a goatee, asshole.
Good point, that.
3.35 p.m: They join the rest of the team on the track, and the scene is reminiscent of their morning run, except the faces of Niou’s teammates are gleaming in the sun, tanned to varying degrees. Beside him, Yagyuu’s cheeks are tinted with pink. A meter in front of him, Sanada’s face is shining with determination.
4.00 p.m: Yukimura signals for a water break and the team streams back to where he stands at the water cooler like a proud daddy. Niou’s eyes flick to Sanada again, whose face is now shining with sweat more than determination as he gulps water from his cooler. His breathing is barely laboured though.
Niou’s mouth quirks up at the thought of how a few minutes alone with him can make Sanada’s pulse accelerate faster than a half hour of sprints.
4.20 p.m: “Fukubuchou!!!” Training erupts into its predictable chaos as Kirihara exuberantly points out Sanada’s vividly orange armpits during a particularly impressive move. From where Niou is standing, he gets a good glimpse of the fake tan and wonders which bold, brilliant bugger had the nerve to do a thing like that. Sanada has fewer illusions and in a few moments, Niou’s cheek is throbbing and his jaw is numb.
4.40 p.m: Despite his vehement refusal of any tissues offered, Sanada admits defeat when even Yanagi cannot keep a straight face, and stalks off to the bathroom. Niou contemplates the excessive orange spray that stains Sanada’s shirt and the reason behind this extra dose. He entertains the idea that it was in preparation of their clandestine meeting and an inappropriate delight swells in his chest like helium. In the interests of diplomacy, Niou hesitates, then puts down his water bottle to chase after his slighted vice-captain.
4.43 p.m: One cubicle is occupied. One cubicle is emitting very distinctly frustrated and angry grunts. Niou calls out Sanada’s name with the quivery meekness of a worshipper in the church of a higher power. There is a slamming, and the door shakes inches from Niou’s face. Get out, rumbles the holy thunder of the heavens. Stupid, annoying, immature. How does Yagyuu stand, trust, love you? Niou does not know.
4.45 p.m: It is time for a life-changing decision. Return to training or return home? Yukimura’s smiling face drifts into Niou’s mind ominously. Oh, well. Niou accepts his own blasphemy and resolves to make up for this profanity next week.
5.25 p.m: The Niou Residence looks like every other square, solid construction on the lane. Niou penetrates the lock furiously with his key and races up the stairs of his empty home. Inside his closet: 68 identical blue boxes categorized personally. Niou pries open the necessary boxes and retrieves the necessary materials. He pops the Valium for composure with a swig of his father’s beer for courage and packs everything else into a bag for convenience.
5.50 p.m: 10 minutes til the end of training. Niou opens the container of cement and slathers it out on the sidewalk where Sanada passes on the way home. He holds up the chopstick and everything he’d been planning on writing seems trite, sappy, ridiculous. The chopstick snaps under the force of Niou’s stressed grip. His fingers tighten around the remaining half and form the crooked characters for Zeus. He imagines Sanada walking up from behind him and glances around nervously. There is only a crow perched high above, cawing with disdain. Niou stabs the chopstick into the cement and his brain screams as the cement is nearly dried. Puri, he desperately thinks, and writes.
6.15 p.m: Training has just ended, Niou realises. His blood pressure is mounting as he lets himself into Yagyuu’s room, making as little sound as possible. Yagyuu’s mother is in the kitchen. He gets to work, quiet as a mouse.
6.30 p.m: Red alert! Yagyuu should not have gotten home this early, and Niou scrambles in the room to clear the evidence. He dives into the closet and ruminates over his own stupidity for that pointless gesture. His presence was obvious. Just as he contorts his body to peek through the crack in Yagyuu’s closet, the gentleman himself walks in.
6.32 p.m: Niou waits, counting down the seconds internally. His stomach has cramped up from anxiety. Yagyuu spends the two minutes staring at the enormous poster of Niou that has been superglued onto the ceiling of his bedroom, directly above his bed. He does not move, which Niou finds himself incapable of doing.
6.35 p.m: In a rush of adrenaline, he bursts out of the wardrobe, sending a few blazers tumbling off their hangers. Yagyuu does not look fazed in any way. You were right, Niou says fiercely, the words stumbling on his tongue. But even we can’t be boyfriends, you can’t get rid of me. He points at the poster and then drops his arm awkwardly. But Yagyuu just smiles the smile of a friend who knows exactly what his other half is thinking. He stretches out a hand and in it is Sanada’s obscenely outdated cellphone.
7.05 p.m: When Niou finishes his trek up the slope to Sanada’s house, he sees not just the sturdy metal plate stating the name of the residence, but the owner himself. Sanada is clean from a shower, his hair damp and tousled. He is wearing a thin grey shirt and track pants and luscious in a way that Niou can appreciate far more than he can understand. Perhaps the curiosity is so strongly reflected in Niou’s expression, but Sanada takes the initiative to answer. You’re the only one who calls me Zeus, he says with a hint of amusement.
I have your cell, Niou counters, retrieving it from his bag and holding it out. And Sanada says, I know; I passed it to him.
7.07 p.m: The sprawling Sanada grounds are empty. Niou follows him wordlessly through the main gate. He has never entered Sanada’s home via this way before. The vast indoor compound is empty too, almost as if someone had deliberately planned for it to happen. There is a tea set laid out on the table.
There is a hungry look on Sanada’s face, his warm brown eyes, high cheekbones, strong jaw, full pink lips. Niou watches the sensuous mouth part and say something. He does not have any idea what Sanada has just said, but it must be something horrendously sensible and yet utterly wonderful. I broke up with Yagyuu before coming, Niou confesses instead, and Sanada’s eyes flash with a peculiar sentiment. He drinks some of the tea.
7.15 p.m: They walk out to the ramen stall which is a distance away from the main urban area and the closest bit of civilization to the Sanada residence. Niou feels a warm, manly paw on the square of his back/top of his bottom and realises with an uncharacteristic blush that this might be a gesture of protection. Possessiveness? Affection? His heart skips a beat.
7.30 p.m: Dinner is a brisk, uncomfortable affair. The air enclosed in the confines of the ramen shack is strung with tension, hot steam, and the stray scents of various deodorants. Salarymen clip Sanada’s right elbow and Niou’s left, jostling, pushing them closer. Niou chokes on a noodle as Sanada’s leg jerks against his own.
7.40 p.m: Friday evening. Sanada and Niou stand to a side of the bus station, braving the purposeful, aimless streams of people. Niou’s stomach quavers. Now, Sanada would stammer an excuse, a name Niou did not want to hear. Invite him home, and they would tumble upon the futon in a mess, and Sanada opens his mouth.
Go home now.
We have training tomorrow.
I’ll call you in the morning.
Niou makes eye contact in fleeting glances, not much, because Sanada might see something not unlike adoration. I’m going to kiss you now, he hears. So Niou chucks his chin up to taste that low murmur. Fukubuchou’s orders.
From:Larbling
Pairing: Sanada/Niou
Rating: R
Summary: A day in the life of Niou Masaharu
5.30 a.m: Friday morning. Niou hits the snooze button twice and finally crawls out of bed when Yagyuu calls helpfully and his voice is husky from sleep and like a phone sex operator.
5.40 a.m: Breakfast is served! Niou eats a banana while cycling to school. A seasoned multi-tasker, he simultaneously administers a Good Morning mooning to the cheerleader that has been filling Sanada’s locker with sappy and suggestive poems.
5.55 a.m: Waves at Yanagi, bites thumb at Marui. Decides it is too risky to execute Collective Team Mooning, what with Sanada’s murderous expression and more importantly, Yukimura’s beaming face.
6.00 am: Systemic physical torture begins with laps around the school compound. Yanagi has on good information that Seigaku is doing the equivalent of 20 - Sanada fulfils his innate penchant for multiples of five and ceaseless one-upmanship with Tezuka and his family, promptly issues 25.
6.05: Team politics are very clearly at play. The noble leaders try to set a good example by powering ahead in what Niou decides is an exaggerated arms race. He puts into action his own foreign policy of apathy and deactivates brain, leaving it in Basic Mode 1 (bum analysis) based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
6.15 a.m: Niou observes the various training tactics of Troika. Sanada declares his Excruciating Lower Body Shaping Regime Surprise with a gravelly ‘tarundoru’. Niou makes a suggestive comment about Sanada’s Lower Body and a staring contest ensues between the two. After losing, Niou graciously admits defeat and blames it on the crooked smile Yagyuu has flashed his way, generating a reflex response of eyelash-batting.
7.30 a.m: When Yanagi’s Upper Body Extra Efficient Strengthening Surprise Regime and Yukimura’s Merciless Mental Endurance Surprise Plus come to a conclusion, morning training comes to a delayed close. Niou showers quickly. Time is no friend of his and he still has to blow-dry his hair.
8.00 a.m: With Kirihara as his scapegoat, Niou raids Sanada’s locker unsuccessfully in search for evidence of documents evidencing the presence of a secret sadism contract between the three. Sighing, he resigns himself to the sad conclusion that Yanagi must have stored said documents in a vault sealed by a sixty-digit PIN code and an illegal clone of Sanada on steroids. In the spirit of surprise, Niou replaces Sanada’s deodorant with cheap spray-on tan.
8.30 a.m: The school bell rings. Niou sits diagonally across from Marui and shares his theory with the so-called genius. Upon receiving a scornful dismissal, Niou succinctly tells Marui what he thinks of Marui’s so-called genius by performing a classic ‘(if you’re so smart) why are you hitting yourself?’
8.40 a.m: Niou receives an A+ on his math test and Marui’s morose expression puts him in a charitable mood once again. Decides to be generous and shares his marks with the redhead by mouthing 98% repeatedly.
8.45 a.m: Bored, Niou seeks out a more stimulating activity than calculus. He obtains permission to go the bathroom and sits on the sink, inspecting his hair in the mirror. Takes a detour and drops by Sanada and Yagyuu’s classroom on the way back. Blows kisses through the window until a kid raises his hand to tell on Niou.
9.15 a.m: Marui and Niou harbor mixed feelings about combined Physical Education with Class 3A. Sanada’s presence implies extra pressure to show off; Yagyuu’s makes Niou’s stomach flop weakly. They are playing an informal version European football, and the four tennis boys and a scholarly kid with abysmal coordination from 3A form a team. There is a slight disagreement about names between Sanada (Team Tennis) and Marui (Suck Our Balls), which is resolved by the exasperated Yagyuu. Team Yagyuu is born.
9.30 a.m: After head-butting a member of their rival team, Niou is forced into playing goalie. He sits in the net idly and fans himself with a limp hand. Despite having to spend the rest of the mini-tournament watching Team Yagyuu decimate the opponent without him, Niou thinks his punishment is worth it. Kiyomatsu-kun really needed to understand that no matter how he cajoles, Yagyuu is
1) Niou’s
2) never going to join his stupid golf team.
10.00 a.m: Later, Niou studies prefixes and suffixes in English. The assignment includes forming words using ‘inter-‘, ‘fore’ and ‘pre’. Beaming, he writes ‘intercourse’ and ‘foreplay’. Peeping Marui spots this and points out ‘pre-come’, earning himself a thumbs-up from Niou.
10.45 a.m: Assignment completed, Niou puts his textbook behind a copy of Shounen Jump and feigns deep interest. When the irritable Itako-sensei approaches, Niou drops the magazine and assumes the guileless innocence of a student who has done no wrong.
11.20 a.m: It is time for Chemistry class and another bathroom break. Niou discreetly opens the small stolen packet of sodium and wanders to the Home Economics room. He spots Akaya in mittens (how cute) and a distressed teacher. Niou ducks into class and empties packet strategically. In the confusion, Niou and Akaya sit outside with dishwashing liquid, blowing bubbles leisurely.
12.30 p.m: Niou has lunch from home - cucumber and ham sandwiches with a water-barrier of cheese. For dessert, another banana. Marui too has lunch from home, but joins the queue for Lunch Set B in the cafeteria anyway. Unwilling to indulge in gluttony, Niou heads for the roof and spots his teammates in their territory. The troika barely acknowledge him, immersed in their discussion of Rikkai’s relative merit in comparison to Hyoutei, but Yagyuu shuffles over in a silent gesture of welcome and comradeship. Although Yagyuu does not accept the banana Niou waves threateningly under his nose, he presses some of his dumplings on Niou anyway. They are quite delicious, Niou discovers.
12.40 p.m: Marui arrives, bearing Akaya, Jackal, and energy drinks, which were on sale today. The three begin a heated debate on the relative merits of coffee in comparison to energy drinks, while Niou pilfers a few cans, chugging them down as he and Yagyuu stand by the railings, looking out at the masses.
12.50 p.m: The energy drinks are surprisingly effective. Niou’s impromptu striptease hyperformance scores a well-deserved point for the energy drink camp and augments Akaya’s personal belief that Niou-senpai is crazier than a pregnant woman.
1.15 p.m: After squirting bubble-blowing liquid squarely at Sanada’s groin (in Niou’s Red Bulled mind, it was pulsating with psychedelic lights), Niou and Yagyuu escape to a bathroom until the end of lunch. They emerge looking a little too normal for comfort, invoking a skeptical squint from Marui, who reaches over to Yagyuu’s face to smack him experimentally. He withdraws his hand with a hint of concealer on his palm. Yagyuu merely inspects his chin in the reflective surface of the window and says, “Puri.”
1.30 p.m: Yagyuu sits diagonally behind Sanada in class, but it is Niou who fiddles with the wig, tapping his foot against the leg of Yagyuu’s table. He watches Sanada shift uncomfortably, hiding as much of his lap under the table was possible. Perhaps it is the overconsumption of energy drinks, but Niou’s stomach is feeling queasy. He retches in class, pushing up his fake glasses spectacularly and grabbing at his tie, and a concerned teacher practically expels him to the bathroom. As Yagyuu’s noble fukubuchou, Sanada raises a hand and herds Niou out, censoring the wet patch at his crotch with Niou’s shapely bum.
1.35 p.m: The sound of Sanada’s backhand reverberates throughout the empty bathroom on the third floor of the quiet science wing. Fukubuchou, Niou groans, low and husky. His fingers scrabble at the wet surface of the bathroom counter before they are pinned between Sanada’s sweaty paw and the wet patch. The standard issue button of Sanada’s standard issue Rikkai trousers comes off with a pop, while Niou gives a little more care to his own. Sanada growls a reply into the soft hairs of Niou’s neck, but Niou’s head is swimming and he can only register the growing hardness under his palm and the unchanging hardness of the door against his back. In between a few frantic gropes and being shoved into a kneeling position, Sanada’s large hands displace Niou’s severe brown wig and his blunt fingers in Niou’s fluffy white hair send shivers spiking through both their bodies.
1.38 p.m: The sound of their erratic breathing echoes throughout the otherwise empty bathroom. Niou gags again, but this time it is wholly Sanada’s doing. He looks up to catch his breath and to catch sight of Sanada’s lips parted in a wordless moan. Although Niou’s vision is unfocussed with lust, he is pretty sure that Sanada is mouthing his name.
1.45 p.m: Sanada comes
a) in Niou’s mouth
b) with a low moan that makes goose bumps rise over Niou’s arms
c) wearing an expression so ridiculous Niou cannot understand why he finds it arousing
1.48 p.m: Niou comes without much ado.
1.50 p.m: During the short moments they share to catch their breaths, Sanada does not cuddle, but helps return the glossy Yagyuu wig back to place. Niou tucks himself away, then Sanada, zipping up the fly he’d torn down fifteen minutes ago. In the mirror, each boy grooms himself - Sanada restoring himself into the respectable fukubuchou, the esteemed member of the public morals committee, the straight-A student. Niou dabs his bruised lip with a tissue, straightens a collar, wipes the glasses clean.
[d) over the reflective glasses with thin wire frames]
2.00 p.m: They hold hands until they reach the end of the deserted corridor and part just as a new lesson begins. Sanada rushes off to Physics, and Niou checks himself into the infirmary.
Name: Neo
Class: Above the rest
Reason: Heartache
Name: Yagyuu Hiroshi
Class: 3A
Reason: Asphyxia (from an extraordinary large wiener at lunch)
He hands the clipboard back to the matron and escapes up the stairs when her attention is diverted by a bawling kid with a scrape smaller than a blackhead.
2.15 p.m: Niou stands by the railings on the roof, kicking away a sweet wrapper that has to be Marui’s leftover. His mouth feels disgusting and there is a bitter aftertaste on his tongue. He rummages in his pocket for a stray stick of stolen gum and comes up with a tube of superglue. Yagyuu Hiroshi has been checked into the infirmary for another hour, so Niou stretches and moves off once again.
3.15 p.m: Like salmon, Niou returns to his mothership. He sits on the roof, waiting for Yagyuu and Marui and Akaya. The tube is now half-empty, but there are 100 Yen coins glued to the floors of several corridors, handmade moustaches on the portraits of the members of the prefectorial board, and handheld mirrors strategically stuck between the bathroom stalls. Well, except for the empty bathroom on the third floor of the quiet science wing.
3.30 p.m: By the time Yagyuu reaches the roof, Niou has already changed into his tennis gear. It’s summer and he cowers in the paltry shade from the blistering heat of the sun. Yagyuu looms over him, his shadow stretched like a sweater in a bad drying machine. He punches Niou in the chest hard, and Niou swallows what feels like a ball of steel wool in his throat. Yagyuu’s glasses glint, and he says, You should have given me a goatee, asshole.
Good point, that.
3.35 p.m: They join the rest of the team on the track, and the scene is reminiscent of their morning run, except the faces of Niou’s teammates are gleaming in the sun, tanned to varying degrees. Beside him, Yagyuu’s cheeks are tinted with pink. A meter in front of him, Sanada’s face is shining with determination.
4.00 p.m: Yukimura signals for a water break and the team streams back to where he stands at the water cooler like a proud daddy. Niou’s eyes flick to Sanada again, whose face is now shining with sweat more than determination as he gulps water from his cooler. His breathing is barely laboured though.
Niou’s mouth quirks up at the thought of how a few minutes alone with him can make Sanada’s pulse accelerate faster than a half hour of sprints.
4.20 p.m: “Fukubuchou!!!” Training erupts into its predictable chaos as Kirihara exuberantly points out Sanada’s vividly orange armpits during a particularly impressive move. From where Niou is standing, he gets a good glimpse of the fake tan and wonders which bold, brilliant bugger had the nerve to do a thing like that. Sanada has fewer illusions and in a few moments, Niou’s cheek is throbbing and his jaw is numb.
4.40 p.m: Despite his vehement refusal of any tissues offered, Sanada admits defeat when even Yanagi cannot keep a straight face, and stalks off to the bathroom. Niou contemplates the excessive orange spray that stains Sanada’s shirt and the reason behind this extra dose. He entertains the idea that it was in preparation of their clandestine meeting and an inappropriate delight swells in his chest like helium. In the interests of diplomacy, Niou hesitates, then puts down his water bottle to chase after his slighted vice-captain.
4.43 p.m: One cubicle is occupied. One cubicle is emitting very distinctly frustrated and angry grunts. Niou calls out Sanada’s name with the quivery meekness of a worshipper in the church of a higher power. There is a slamming, and the door shakes inches from Niou’s face. Get out, rumbles the holy thunder of the heavens. Stupid, annoying, immature. How does Yagyuu stand, trust, love you? Niou does not know.
4.45 p.m: It is time for a life-changing decision. Return to training or return home? Yukimura’s smiling face drifts into Niou’s mind ominously. Oh, well. Niou accepts his own blasphemy and resolves to make up for this profanity next week.
5.25 p.m: The Niou Residence looks like every other square, solid construction on the lane. Niou penetrates the lock furiously with his key and races up the stairs of his empty home. Inside his closet: 68 identical blue boxes categorized personally. Niou pries open the necessary boxes and retrieves the necessary materials. He pops the Valium for composure with a swig of his father’s beer for courage and packs everything else into a bag for convenience.
5.50 p.m: 10 minutes til the end of training. Niou opens the container of cement and slathers it out on the sidewalk where Sanada passes on the way home. He holds up the chopstick and everything he’d been planning on writing seems trite, sappy, ridiculous. The chopstick snaps under the force of Niou’s stressed grip. His fingers tighten around the remaining half and form the crooked characters for Zeus. He imagines Sanada walking up from behind him and glances around nervously. There is only a crow perched high above, cawing with disdain. Niou stabs the chopstick into the cement and his brain screams as the cement is nearly dried. Puri, he desperately thinks, and writes.
6.15 p.m: Training has just ended, Niou realises. His blood pressure is mounting as he lets himself into Yagyuu’s room, making as little sound as possible. Yagyuu’s mother is in the kitchen. He gets to work, quiet as a mouse.
6.30 p.m: Red alert! Yagyuu should not have gotten home this early, and Niou scrambles in the room to clear the evidence. He dives into the closet and ruminates over his own stupidity for that pointless gesture. His presence was obvious. Just as he contorts his body to peek through the crack in Yagyuu’s closet, the gentleman himself walks in.
6.32 p.m: Niou waits, counting down the seconds internally. His stomach has cramped up from anxiety. Yagyuu spends the two minutes staring at the enormous poster of Niou that has been superglued onto the ceiling of his bedroom, directly above his bed. He does not move, which Niou finds himself incapable of doing.
6.35 p.m: In a rush of adrenaline, he bursts out of the wardrobe, sending a few blazers tumbling off their hangers. Yagyuu does not look fazed in any way. You were right, Niou says fiercely, the words stumbling on his tongue. But even we can’t be boyfriends, you can’t get rid of me. He points at the poster and then drops his arm awkwardly. But Yagyuu just smiles the smile of a friend who knows exactly what his other half is thinking. He stretches out a hand and in it is Sanada’s obscenely outdated cellphone.
7.05 p.m: When Niou finishes his trek up the slope to Sanada’s house, he sees not just the sturdy metal plate stating the name of the residence, but the owner himself. Sanada is clean from a shower, his hair damp and tousled. He is wearing a thin grey shirt and track pants and luscious in a way that Niou can appreciate far more than he can understand. Perhaps the curiosity is so strongly reflected in Niou’s expression, but Sanada takes the initiative to answer. You’re the only one who calls me Zeus, he says with a hint of amusement.
I have your cell, Niou counters, retrieving it from his bag and holding it out. And Sanada says, I know; I passed it to him.
7.07 p.m: The sprawling Sanada grounds are empty. Niou follows him wordlessly through the main gate. He has never entered Sanada’s home via this way before. The vast indoor compound is empty too, almost as if someone had deliberately planned for it to happen. There is a tea set laid out on the table.
There is a hungry look on Sanada’s face, his warm brown eyes, high cheekbones, strong jaw, full pink lips. Niou watches the sensuous mouth part and say something. He does not have any idea what Sanada has just said, but it must be something horrendously sensible and yet utterly wonderful. I broke up with Yagyuu before coming, Niou confesses instead, and Sanada’s eyes flash with a peculiar sentiment. He drinks some of the tea.
7.15 p.m: They walk out to the ramen stall which is a distance away from the main urban area and the closest bit of civilization to the Sanada residence. Niou feels a warm, manly paw on the square of his back/top of his bottom and realises with an uncharacteristic blush that this might be a gesture of protection. Possessiveness? Affection? His heart skips a beat.
7.30 p.m: Dinner is a brisk, uncomfortable affair. The air enclosed in the confines of the ramen shack is strung with tension, hot steam, and the stray scents of various deodorants. Salarymen clip Sanada’s right elbow and Niou’s left, jostling, pushing them closer. Niou chokes on a noodle as Sanada’s leg jerks against his own.
7.40 p.m: Friday evening. Sanada and Niou stand to a side of the bus station, braving the purposeful, aimless streams of people. Niou’s stomach quavers. Now, Sanada would stammer an excuse, a name Niou did not want to hear. Invite him home, and they would tumble upon the futon in a mess, and Sanada opens his mouth.
Go home now.
We have training tomorrow.
I’ll call you in the morning.
Niou makes eye contact in fleeting glances, not much, because Sanada might see something not unlike adoration. I’m going to kiss you now, he hears. So Niou chucks his chin up to taste that low murmur. Fukubuchou’s orders.