Escapism °• | NANA Fanfiction

[Chapter 19] Big girl pants

Yasu blinked awake in the soft morning light, his hand instinctively reaching for the nightstand where his cigarettes used to be. His fingers found nothing but an empty surface, and he sighed, remembering he quit. He sat up in the soft bed in this remarkably feminine room and realised where he was. He turned back to look at Nanami, who was still asleep beside him. Her bare back faced them, and he felt the urge to kiss her shoulders and kiss down the arch of her back. 

He looked away, sighing as he rubbed his face with his hands. He needed to snap out of it. He moved to get out of bed, the weight on the mattress shifting, waking Nanami up. 

"You're going now?" she asked, her voice groggy.

He hesitated, glancing towards the window where the sun was just beginning to climb the sky. If he didn't leave now, he'd be late for work, but after hearing her voice, he did not want to leave.  Sliding back in bed, he shook his head. "No," he said quietly, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "I'm off today."

Without another word, he slid back under the covers and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. Nanami remained still; his bare skin against her felt great. His hands followed the curve of her body from her shoulders all the way down. She felt his hand between her legs, and she hummed, turning over to her back, letting his fingers slide up.

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Nanami dropped a heavy stack of newly bought textbooks onto the table in front of Shin with a loud thud. He stared at them, wide-eyed and horrified, as though she had just dumped a pile of live snakes in front of him. 

"You can't be serious" Shin asked.

But she was serious, she took out a pile of empty notebooks and pens from her band and placed them on the kitchen table. Shin put away the magazine he was reading; she seemingly came back from a round of shopping and went crazy. 

"These are your new best friends," she replied; her voice was sinister, sending chills down his back. "You're going to graduate high school by fire or by force."

"Wait—what?" Shin's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious, Nanami!"

"Dead serious," she shot back, crossing her arms over her chest. "You can't keep putting this off. You're smart enough, and you're capable. We're going to study together whenever I get back from uni, and you're going to take the exam next year." If she didn't put her foot down now, he would keep putting it off. Shin did not have a formal education, but she was sure he could achieve the impossible. She knew she couldn't put him in school without his parents permission, so she had to do the next best thing. 

"But... I'm not even enrolled in school," he protested, his eyes darting back and forth between her and the intimidating stack of textbooks. "And I haven't exactly been, you know, studying."

"Which is why we're going to start now," she insisted. "I'll tutor you myself. You can learn from me, and we'll make it work."

Shin sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He did not want to do this. But if she insisted, what could he do? "You're really not gonna let this go, are you?"

"Nope," she popped the end of her sentence, and then she searched her bag again and brought out a lollipop and gave it to him as if to ease the impact of her announcement. 

"Fine," he said. "I'll give it a shot." He took the lollipop with a sigh and she beamed in delight. 

"That's the spirit," she ruffled his hair before sitting down next to him. "Now, let's see what you remember from math class."