ever after

tutor | keivan

it was a well-known fact that tsukishima and van were the two salty and smart kids of their grade.

and also, both of them could not stand each other.

"she's too annoying." "he's too unkind."

those were the excuses they gave when asked about their distaste towards the other.

don't get me wrong, they don't hate each other. they were sort of rivals, pitting themselves against the other to top in their overall gpa.

presently, there was going to be an additional mathematics quiz worth ten percent of their grade. van was not willing to lose again, because add math had cost her to be just slightly below tsukishima the last round, much to the latter's amusement.

so she cornered yamaguchi after school to get him to help.

"please, yamaguchi! help me out with add math?" she asked with her hands clasped together.

"i'd like to, but i've got plans with san-san after school today," he said apologetically.

"ooh, with sarah?" now van's expression changed, and a smirk played on her lips along with that questionable look in her eyes, then changing back, "sorry, i shouldn't be eating into your date time!"

"we're not dating!" yamaguchi sputtered as his cheeks flashed red, "she j-just needs help with geography and we're going to the library!"

"ah, i see," van said with a nod, obviously playing along, then her expression faltered into one of worry, "wait, then what about add math?!"

"sorry, maybe you could get tsukki to tutor you instead?" he said.

her eyes flashed with disdain, "no, i'm not asking that salt shaker for help."

"oh, come on! it doesn't hurt to try!" he exclaimed, "besides, you two can study together!"

"yamaguchi, are you forgetting that i'm on bad terms with him?" she wagged a finger at him.

"well, no... but it wouldn't hurt to ask him for help, right?" he said, and added on before she could even respond, "i've gotta go, good luck, ryu-san!"

with an apologetic smile and a wave of his hand, the freckled male disappeared into the crowd, off to find his beloved sarah.

van cursed in her head, because a nice girl like her simply doesn't become a barbarian over a boy. trudging over to the blonde unwillingly, she pursed her lips into a thin line. tsukishima looked up and stared at the shorter girl.

"hey, tsukishima, tutor me for add math, would you?" she mumbled.

his mental smirk grew even wider, and he teased, "hah, i can't hear you. speak louder, won't you?"

she gritted her teeth and she glared at him, before smiling while saying louder, "please tutor me."

"no."

"expected," she said with a shrug, "why would you tutor your rival anyway?"

she was about to turn around and leave, calling it quits before going home to rage-scream and filling up her add math workbooks, when tsukishima stopped her, "wait."

van turned around on her heel, "what?"

his lips were pulled into a thin line, his eyebrows furrowed, "i'll help."

her eyebrows raised, "you're going to help me?"

a tick mark appeared at his head as his lip curled, "are you going to accept it or not?"

"sure," she said with a shrug, "thanks for your help."

+

"okay, so what are you unsure of?"

"uh," van said, then pointed at the hated chapter eleven, "trigo."

tsukishima sighed noisily, "i asked you what you were unsure of, not which chapter you were unsure of."

"everything," van said with a shrug, "this topic is a pain in the butt."

tsukishima sighed again, pushing his glasses further up his nose, "you do know which are the positive values in the respective four quadrants, right?"

"yeah," van said.

"good, then we can move on to problem solving."

about an hour and a half came and went, and van felt like her head had been put through a washing machine: tumbling and turning in all directions. the good news was, she had a better understanding on the chapter and didn't make as many mistakes as before. not like she made a lot of them in the first place.

"it's about five, we should pack up," tsukishima said as he closed his notebook.

van nodded, closing hers as well, "thanks for your help today, tsukishima."

"you're welcome."

van looked up, and — holy fish nuggets, was that a smile? did the straight-faced tsukishima kei just smile?

"did you just smile?" she asked, pointing a finger at him.

his face returned to its impassive state, "i don't know what you're talking about."

her face broke out into a huge grin as she proceeded to stand up to cheer, "oh my god, you did! you just smiled!"

his brow furrowed and his lip curled, "oi, shut up. everyone can hear you."

she calmed down and sat back down with a smile, "thanks again for your help. i'll beat you this time."

he scoffed, "stop dreaming big, idiot."

the two packed their stuff up in silence. since van was done packing up, she decided to leave first.

"prepare for your defeat, tsukishima," she announced, "i'll beat you."

"i'm excited," he said in a monotone voice, his eyes emotionless.

just before she exited, she turned around to say, "oh, by the way. you look rather cute when you smile. do it more often."

once that was out of her lips, the room went awkwardly silent, and she exited in a rush with flushed cheeks without saying goodbye.

but if she took a moment to look back, she would've seen the telltale blush on tsukishima's own cheeks.

···

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lmao this wasn't as fluffy as i'd expected + ohwells