Amused

Amused - Like Muse, Get It?

Itoshi Sae was the worst free period tutor the first years could imagine, and that was entirely deliberate.

He signed up to be a tutor for the free credit, and the professors liked his work so much that they gave him a slot and let him do pretty much whatever he wanted. What he wanted was his own free period, so that's what he used it for. A free credit and whole hour and a half during which he could conduct his own work was a luxury no third year ever got.

He'd spent the first two weeks of term effectively conditioning his assigned first years not to ask him anything or to even try speaking to him. He did this by giving them cold or confusing answers to anything they did ask, or subtly suggesting that they ought not to be in their program of study if they couldn't figure it out. Few of them tended to put up a fight, and if they did, it wasn't much. By the end of the third week, the first years were warning each other against speaking to him or seeking his guidance, and he was pleased with how well his hard work had paid off.

There was one person he tolerated. This too was something the first years quickly picked up on and had learned not to question. First year free study periods were closed to anyone not specifically assigned to them, but a blind eye was sometimes turned towards other first years who were friends with those assigned or just needed extra study blocks of their own. Another third year entering a first year study period, especially one like Shidou Ryusei, was entirely unheard of.

He walked into each of these study periods after everyone else was seated and knee deep in their own work, loudly announcing his arrival before falling into the armchair opposite Sae, which everyone else knew quite well was his seat. He then proceeded to dump out his bag and art supplies all over the table between them, even though this was technically supposed to be a language and literature study block.

Today was no exception.

"What the fuck is up, room 1310?" Ryusei said as he passed through the doorway.

One of the guest students looked up. "Hey, you can't-"

Their friend was quick to nudge their arm and shake their head. "That's Itoshi's study partner."

Study partner. This is what the first years had learned to refer to Ryusei as. Because, of course, this was what Sae referred to him as. Sae was the only one who seemed to have no idea that Ryusei was indeed his boyfriend.

Nobody really knew how it started. How this person, this loud, obnoxious person ended up being the one person Itoshi Sae had chosen to spend his time with. The truth of the matter is that it just happened. Sae would call it an accident. Ryusei would call it fate.

They met for the first time in the late hours of the library at the start of term. Sae noticed someone all the way across the massive book filled, dark wood adorned space staring at him. Any other person would probably have found it unsettling, especially when it was a well built boy in eyeliner who dyed his hair pink and was doing such staring in this unapologetic manner, but Sae didn't.

It was interesting to him, actually.

He let it go on for an hour or two, but then his notebook became unable to hold his focus and his curiosity got the better of him. He closed the notebook, tucked it into his bag, and walked over. This stranger watched him the entire time. Not once did he look worried, nor did he flinch.

"Hi, beautiful," was how he greeted Sae.

Like everything else he'd done so far, it surprised him.

"You're staring at me," Sae accused anyways.

"I wouldn't say that," Ryusei told him.

"What would you call it?" Sae asked.

"I was looking at you," Ryusei said.