[Fic] Untitled (Uni!AU) Chapter 1

[aya_magic]

Title: Untitled (Until further notice)
Author:iris_aya  (me ^^)
Beta: sweetpaopuwind 
Rating: PG- 13 (because of the f-bomb used more than once) subject to change in later chapters
Genre: Romance, fluff, crack
Word Count: This Chapter: about 6,450 words (I think)
Warnings: boyxboy pairing, my general crackiness, the standards. AU
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with JE, and obviously I cannot "own" these people. I also, in no way, make monetary profit off this.
Summary: Their relationship consisted of glances shot over coffee cups and piles of textbooks from across a room. They had never spoken, never even truly met, but for a few hours every week their world consisted of coffee, books, jazz, and treasured glances.
Author’s Note: It was meant to be a drabble, or no more than 10 pages but then THIS happened.  It is currently about 27 pages, 9,350 words.  Hopefully she still enjoys it even though she’s a bit iffy on it (for once she hasn’t read this fic beforehand ^^;).
This is also because as of midnight my time (right now) is officially my one-year anniversary.  One year ago today I posted As Precious as a Song, my very first Akame fic ever.  This year has been amazing and I can’t possibly put everything I want to say into this author’s note so I’m going to make post on my journal for thanks.  I can’t believe all the support I’ve received, especially when I hadn’t expected any response of any sort.  This is a thank you to everyone who has read my stories in the past year.  I wish I could post the whole fic but it has run away with me so here are the first 19 pages or so.
I would like to say a HUGE thank you to my beta for this fic ^^ she put up with my odd writing style (I don’t normally plan much besides general scene outlines and I just write as I go without thinking much and let dialogue etc flow).  It creates HUGE grammar issues and is a bit confusing because some things totally make sense to me but no one else ( of course -_-) and she brainstormed with me constantly and put up with my inability to stay focused on one topic for too long while tolerating editing my work.  She deserves a prize for her patience.  ♥♥♥

--

[Week Two of Term]

[Friday: Café]

At every light jingle that pierced through the quiet background music, a pair of eyes darted to the door before disappointedly dragging back to the glowing laptop screen.  He frowned absentmindedly as his music, for whatever reason, stopped flowing into his right ear.  He frowned at the odd settings of his iTunes before quickly hitting play so he could go back to waiting for the door to open the right time.

He went back to typing up his write-up, cringing at the memory of the lab he was supposed to be reporting on.  He was certain that Tanegawa-sensei always gave him the acidic or corrosive substances on purpose instead of to his snarky lab partner.  Ryo always seemed to get the fairly standard part, the mixing of base solutions and maybe (just maybe) the diluting of the acids.  But no, who was the one who got to handle the sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and everything else, every time?  Him.

He glanced up as the door opened before focusing back on his screen, again disappointed.  He rubbed the patch of skin on his palm, dried out from contact with only partially diluted phosphoric acid earlier in the day.  He still didn’t believe Ryo’s excuse that he had accidentally brushed past his collarbone right as he was proceeding further with the dilution.

He nearly squeaked when, upon the next jingle, his eyes took in the thin frame walking up to the counter.  The student in question leaned against the counter, idly chatting with the barista after placing his order: café au lait with half the regular amount of steamed milk.  Apparently he had a paper deadline approaching.

Jin cussed lightly under his breath, realizing he was letting himself get distracted; he had to submit this write-up online by midnight or he’d receive an automatic zero.  He sighed and sent the barista a meaningful look.

Less than two minutes later, the barista set another espresso down, in a cup closer in resemblance to a small bowl than a regular espresso cup.

“Deadline?” Maru questioned absently.   At nearly ten on a Friday night, all the other students were out at other places, so business was slow.

“Thanks,” Jin took a long sip before going back to his laptop.

Maru nodded before returning to the bar to stare off into space.

Jin's eyes continued to occasionally drift over to the figure hunched over piles of notes while typing away on his laptop.  A pair of stylish glasses sat precariously close to the end of his slightly crooked (but endearingly so, Jin thought) nose.

Jin pushed his own glasses back up the bridge of his nose.  He forced himself to remember that Tanegawa-sensei would not hesitate to fail him, and if he somehow managed to fail out of grad school in his second year it would be harder to find excuses to watch the attractive man. He bit his lip and forced himself back into his description of the experiment.

[Saturday: The next morning]

Jin rolled out of bed, thanking the gods he had no classes on Saturdays, and flipped open his laptop to check his e-mails.

He diligently deleted the occasional piece of junk mail and read through e-mails from his professors.  He noted the e-mail about the extra three hours added onto his research assignment for the week and groaned.  He reminded himself of the great opportunity he was receiving by assisting this particular professor in his research but nonetheless angrily added it into his schedule.

It looked like he would miss his Kame time at the café on Thursday because of the change.  His frown deepened when an e-mail from Tanegawa-sensei popped into his box, having just come through.

‘Akanishi-san,

I know the new term started two weeks ago but something has come up and I’d like to request something of you.  I looked through the schedules of the graduate students and yours suited this purpose the most.  One of my TAs for the Chem 1A Labs has had to resign from the position, and I would be very grateful if you would be willing to take up the position in his place. It will of course count towards your graduate work, and you would be working with a group of ten students.

Your section would be on Tuesdays from 6pm to 8:50pm if you chose to take up the position.

Thank you in advance,

Prof. A. Tanegawa’

Jin bit his lip. He knew he had no choice in this matter, so he quickly typed up a polite e-mail, accepting the position, and once again altered his schedule.  Almost immediately he received a response with classroom assignment, lesson plans, and all other information he would need.  He assumed Tanegawa-sensei must be gritting his teeth at the thought of him being a TA and teaching new chem students, but honestly, the only reason he screwed up in class so often was because Tanegawa-sensei made him insanely nervous by constantly hovering behind his shoulder.

He sighed. At least on Tuesdays, Kame never arrived at the café until around nine, so he was safe.  There went his relaxation time, though.  He always enjoyed crashing in bed for a couple hours after his classes ended on Tuesdays.

“Jin!” Pi called from the living room.

Jin dragged himself out of his room. “What?”

“What does this mean?” Pi pointed at the error message, obviously confused.

Jin sighed, “Why do you try this shit?  You’re a Russian Lit major, Pi.  You shouldn’t be anywhere near your laptop unless you’re typing a paper, and even then minimal contact.”

He remembered the time he had come home to find Pi had somehow wiped his whole hard drive just trying to get the wi-fi to work again.  Apparently the lit genius had failed to notice he had accidentally hit the wi-fi hotkey up by his media controls.

“I’m not a fucking computer science major,” Jin grumbled as he diligently tried a few solutions.  He sighed in relief when it turned out to be a minor problem.

“Thank you,” Pi chimed. “Now what did I hear you grumbling about in there?”

“My research this week is going to run long, and I’ve been asked to TA for a beginning chem. lab,” Jin said as he plucked an apple from the kitchen.

“Oh, don’t look so sour,” Pi chuckled. “You love chemistry too much to complain about added research time or teaching newbies.”

Jin threw an empty paper cup at his friend. “I think I’m heading to the bookstore soon.”

“Again?” Pi rocked back on the hind legs of his chair. “You just went last week…”

“Yeah well I need to pick up another book now that I have that chem lab to TA for,” Jin quickly lied.

“Why not just go to the library instead of buying it?” Pi asked, frowning.

Jin shrugged. “Parents are paying for it anyway. They hardly care.”

[Bookstore]

Jin tugged his baseball cap further down and pushed his sunglasses back up his nose.  He would get indescribable grief if any of his friends ever spotted him or found out about this little secret of his.  He had already picked up the book to be used for the beginning chem class and now all he needed was to make his way to the other side of the bookstore without being seen by anyone he knew.

He smiled as he entered the deserted English section of the bookstore, running his fingers along the spines of pristine books.  His feet took him the familiar path, past the bold print of the History section and right next to the Classics.  The plaque marking where the mysteries were kept sat above the double set of bookshelves that contained the novels of Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime, which detailed the psychology of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Alongside her were the famous Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with his ever quirky Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson and JJ Connington, (or rather Alfred Walter Steward) who was known for lacing science and chemistry into his works.

Jin sighed happily and plucked Death in the Clouds and Cat Among the Pigeons from the shelves.  He counted himself lucky Agatha Christie had written eighty detective novels.  He had made his way through twenty or thirty so far, and he would definitely claim each one was brilliant.  His fingers itched to grab another of the Sherlock Holmes books just for the hell of it, but he knew he had a leather-bound tome at home that housed the complete series.

After a quick perusal of the summaries, forcing his mind into overdrive to process a few of the more difficult foreign words, he hid the two books under the large chemistry book.  He approached the cashier, sighing in relief at the sight of Takki-senpai behind the register.  His senpai seemed to be an eternally busy student now that he was in his final year or two of med school.

“Back again?” Takki smiled knowingly and quickly rang up the two novels before checking the chemistry book. “You were just here last week.”

“It took me the whole week to work my way through those last two,” Jin said as he handed over his credit card.

“Shame you don’t love Russian novels. You could get Pi to help you.” Takki handed the card back and pushed the receipt up for signing.

“As if I would live through that.  You know my friends think I have no appreciation for language.” Jin smiled one last time. “Thanks, Takki-senpai.”

“See you in a week,” Takki chuckled.

When Jin arrived home Pi was on the phone, seemingly flustered.  Jin raised his hand in greeting before scurrying into his room and locking the door.  He pulled out a box and carefully removed the chemistry books sitting on top, which he had placed there because he knew Pi would never go near any of his chem stuff.  The other claimed he had no interest in the intricacies of the physical world and thus no interest in his things.

Inside the slightly battered box sat all of his mystery novels, each one filled with post-it notes defining the words he hadn’t known upon the first read-through.  He added the two new books to the box, knowing he would be spending the next couple of days preparing for his first TA section and wouldn't have time to read them

“Jin!” Pi called, knocking on his door.

“What?” Jin answered.

“Will you do me a favor?” Pi asked, a bit too sweetly.

“You broke your computer again, didn’t you?” Jin groaned, shoved the box into his closet and shut the door. “Did you drop it again?  Because you know I can only fix minor stuff!”

“No,” Pi snapped, “open your fucking door.”

Jin opened the door.“Then what is it?”

“My friend might need a tutor. Not for sure but it’s a maybe.  Would you be willing?” Pi had his hand pressed over the receiver of his cell phone.

“Maybe. Let me see how this new schedule works out and I'll let you know. Now let me look through the lesson plans in peace.” Jin closed the door again and grudgingly opened his laptop.

[Sunday Night: Cafe]

Kame sat at his usual table, scribbling notes furiously into the margins of A Tale of Two Cities.  He looked up again with a frown. He had been surprised when, upon entry to the café, the almost always present man wasn’t there.  He had been so sure that the other spent almost every night here, sipping espresso and working on his laptop surrounded by mountains of science texts.

Maru refilled his cup of coffee--black tonight.  He had left this particular reading assignment far too late and while he loved the café, he wished he was here for almost any other reason.

“Thanks, Maru.” Kame sighed and rubbed his temple, his eyes going back to the empty table near the wall.  It was lonely without his fellow student also forcing himself to do work.

[Week Three]

[Tuesday]

Jin wiped his hands off on a towel after writing some extra notes about the day’s practical labs on the chalkboard.  He smiled at the pristine lab set-ups, remembering his first chemistry classes fondly.  Thankfully, they hadn't been allowed to work with anything particularly dangerous in early courses, because his excitement back then had equaled clumsiness.  He looked towards the door as the first students began filing in, and when a familiar head of dark brown hair came into view, he froze.

“He’s an English Lit. Major, what is he doing here?” Jin thought, “Of all the classes he could have been in…”

He waited a few more minutes for the official start of the period, ignoring the odd looks he received.  He removed his glasses right as time began, hoping to properly see everyone without having to look over the top of the frames.  He sat himself on the end of his workbench and grinned lightly.

“It’s nice to meet you all. Hopefully by the end of today I’ll be able to remember all of your names.” He glanced at the roster on his laptop screen. “Luckily it seems all ten of you are here today.  I’m Akanishi Jin, but feel free to call me Jin; I will be your new TA for this lab.  Sadly Ken had a schedule conflict, so you’ll all get to work with me now.  I’m twenty-four and in my second year as a graduate student in the chemical engineering program.  Currently one of my main focuses is assisting Fujiwara-sensei in his research on dye-sensitized solar cells and improving their longevity, seeing as degradation is a huge issue. However, you’ll still catch me sitting in on a few generalized chem classes here and there, so for those of you taking more than one, you might see me pop in from time to time.

“I’ll be sending out an e-mail at the end of this class,” he said, tapping his laptop lightly, “giving you an electronic copy of the revised syllabus.  I’ve written the basic changes on the chalkboard to discuss immediately if need be, but I’d prefer to keep the waste of paper to a minimum.” His stomach flipped at the smile that graced Kame’s face. “But if you feel you absolutely need a paper version I’ll be more than happy to oblige.  Are there any questions so far?”

A hand immediately shot into the air.

“Tell me your name really fast,” Jin requested as his laptop slowly came out of sleep mode.

“Tanaka Koki,” he responded. “There’s a huge difference between the first syllabus and yours. Is there a reason you’ve changed the points?”

“Nice to meet you, Tanaka,” Jin started. “I know Ken normally puts an emphasis on in class lab work.  While it’s good to foster skills in lab work, I think your ability to understand and interpret the results, regardless of your personal successes or failures, is more important in the beginning.  You’ll have plenty of time to become master titrators,” he chuckled, “and other similar things, but if you don’t understand the basic lab work and the results that come from it, you’re screwed anyway.  Besides, perfectly running through a lab each time is great, but your failures will teach you a lot about the basics.  Plus, who doesn’t screw up a lab every once in a while?  Especially in the beginning, I think it’d be unfair for me to grade you with an emphasis on your skills and successes in labs.”

He grinned at the obviously relieved smiles of his students, Kame seemingly more relieved than others.

“So while I personally hate them, I want you all to concentrate on your lab write-ups and what you’ve learned from both the successes and potential failures in labs.  Your ability to analyze and learn from the results will be key.  Now let’s go over today’s lab and lab safety. We'll be dealing with minor acids and bases today, so we need to take some precautions…”

--

He glanced at the clock and noted there were fifteen minutes left. He clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention.

“Let’s start wrapping up and cleaning everything.  I’ll come around one last time to check on your solutions, so leave those for last. You’ll be free to go once I come by your solutions; anything left to be done don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it.  Please feel free to stay if you have questions or contact me any time.  I can’t promise to reply to e-mails immediately, but I promise to get to them all within twelve hours on weekdays and twenty-four hours on the weekends.

He chuckled as most rushed to try and compare results with their textbooks.  He dismissed each partnership as he went along, bidding them a good night.  He came to the last pair: Tanaka Koki and Kamenashi Kazuya.  He gulped lightly before putting back up a smile.

“How did you two do today?” he asked as he picked up the glass beaker to examine it.

“Pretty good.”

“Miserably.”

He blinked at the answer and placed the beaker down.  Raising one eyebrow, he asked, “A bit of a discrepancy?”

“Koki’s being nice,” Kame sighed. “I’m pretty useless at this to be honest.”

“You both seemed to be doing fine whenever I worked with your group.” Jin bit his lip.

“No thanks to me.” Kame sighed again and Koki patted his shoulder.

“I’m sure it’ll get better,” Jin said encouragingly, “no one is truly hopeless. I mean, I managed to make it through the programs and I’m fairly incompetent at times.  Congratulations though, you have the best solution of the day.  You’re both free to go now.  Good work today.”

He took their beaker to set alongside the others for proper disposal.

“I somehow doubt his ability to make it through the program should encourage me,” Kame muttered as he put his things back in his bag.

“Well obviously, everyone in the Chemistry department say he’s some sort of prodigy or something.  He’s a lot nicer than I expected, though,” Koki answered quietly.

“What do you mean?” Kame frowned; he’d never heard that.  But then again, even with his friends in the science departments, they rarely discussed their majors or departments besides the usual inquiries.

Koki paused outside the classroom door and glanced back. “Word is he got into the program on full recommendation.  Came in with top marks and a brilliant record, loves his topic of study and spends all his time on it.”

“I could believe that,” Kame said.

“His being a research assistant to Fujiwara-sensei as a second year grad student alone speaks for it.  Fujiwara-sensei is super selective and supposedly he requested Jin-senpai’s help directly,” Koki explained.

“Ah.” Kame nodded, soaking in the information and quietly storing it away. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Where are you going?” Koki frowned, “I thought we were going to the library.”

“It’s Tuesday,” Kame said with a shrug, “I’m going to go study at the café.”

Koki made a face. “I don’t understand how you get anything done there.”

Kame smiled. “It’s quiet there.”

Koki rolled his eyes. “You use any excuse to go there. Any excuse to spend your time watching…”

Kame turned bright red and shoved Koki. “Shut up!” he hissed.

Koki laughed and jumped away. “See you later!”

Kame glanced back to the only lit doorway in the hall and sighed upon seeing their TA at the very back, still carefully dealing with the beakers.  He grinned. Maybe for once, he’d be the first to arrive.

[Café]

He diligently worked on his latest essay. It was due in two days and once that was through, he’d have to crank out another one.  He glanced through his book one last time before setting back to work.  It was his turn to glance up at every tinkle of bells, and try to shrug off disappointment when someone other than Jin entered.  Finally, half an hour after he had arrived, the bell chimed and he saw a bundle of rioting curls pulled back into a short ponytail.

He blinked as Jin briefly shook his head, causing a few clinging drops of water to fly off before he took his seat at his usual table.  Kame glanced out the window, just as he had about eight times before, but this time he finally noticed the wet conditions outside.  He guessed the dark clouds earlier in the day should have been the sign of the coming rain.

He silently cursed that he had forgotten his own umbrella, sadly noting it could have been a way to start up a conversation with his TA.  He stared off dazedly, imagining himself nervously offering to share an umbrella with his equally flustered (in his mind) senpai.  They could walk along, hunched close together to keep their laptops and books safe from the drizzle, chatting about anything and listening to the patter of rain on the umbrella. .  And maybe his senpai would be bolder than he and at the end of the walk lean over for a sweet, perfect kiss before hurrying off to avoid getting soaked.

He was shaken out of his daydream by Maru walking over and wordlessly refilling his cup before trailing over to Jin to get his order.

“Coffee, with a tiny bit of cream,” Jin sighed while carefully inspecting his laptop for any water.

Kame stared at his screen but listened intently, wondering what the other was working on tonight.  He understood little to nothing of the other’s topics of study but it never stopped him from listening in. He had gone as far as enrolling in that chemistry class in hopes of learning something about Jin's work.  He had needed science or math classes for graduation, anyway, and chemistry was one of the more difficult classes. However, he hadn’t been able to resist learning anything about it because of the older man.

“I got an extra three hours added to my research period this week because it happens to line up with that date we meet with Fujiwara-sensei to present our individual results.  He’s also going to be in with me during part of my research period, so I need to reassess everything.  Research only began a couple of weeks ago, but I already need to start organizing everything properly for presentation,” he sighed. “And I need to finish this tonight.”

Kame watched Maru pat Jin’s shoulder out of the corner of his eye.  He felt for the older man. He couldn’t imagine assisting on research on top of his current workload and he could barely imagine how much the graduate student had to do.  And now he was heading his lab period, yet another added duty on top of his work.

He concentrated back on his own screen and willed himself back to work.  He had to take the other man’s example and get to work, especially if he wanted to do well enough to get into grad school himself once he graduated.

 [Thursday: Café]

Kame sat in the café and resisted the urge to pout at every open of the door.  He knew Jin wouldn’t be showing up that day, as the meeting with his professor was probably still going on, but he couldn’t help the kernel of hope developing at each chime of the bells.

Half an hour later, he was still staring at his chemistry homework, knowing he would probably need the full five days before he next had lab to finish it.  He just couldn’t understand why this all made absolutely no sense whatsoever; it hadn’t been this difficult in high school. 

He felt like ripping his hair out after another half an hour had passed.  He just couldn’t figure this out.  His lab write-up was complete, so all he had left was to finish the pre-lab work for next week.  He ignored the opening of the door, expecting to see another random student he didn’t know, but when the voice of his senpai filtered through the quiet café, he looked up.

Jin pulled his hair from the messy ponytail and smiled at Maru.

“I take it your meeting went well?” Maru said, bringing him a coffee.

“Yeah.” Jin started pulling things out of his book bag. “I finished most of my work for the week too, so I just need to grade these papers from my lab session and I can sleep freely all weekend,” he said, a content smile on his face.

Kame chewed on his lower lip, debating.  If he went over there, he was sure he could ask for help on the assignment.  Jin seemed nice enough in their first lab session to agree.  But, he thought, staring at his hands, he wasn’t sure what he would do if he said no.  He would be bothering him after all, especially since he was trying to do some grading.  He tapped his fingers on the table. He had to decide: would he sit here or take some action for once?

Jin glanced up, over the top of his glasses, when he heard a slight cough.  His eyes widened slightly at the slim form standing almost nervously before him.

“Um, Akanishi-senpai?” Kame bit his lip nervously, “it’s me. Kamenashi Kazuya from the Chem1A class you TA for?”

“Of course,” Jin said, smiling nervously. “Did you need something?”

Kame’s heart beat faster. He couldn’t believe he was talking to him after all this time.

“You don’t have to, I know you must be busy, but… could you help me with the assignment?  I... chemistry isn’t something… Well, I basically suck at it,” Kame sighed.  He felt like an idiot, admitting this in front of the chemistry prodigy, and his cheeks burned in embarrassment.

Jin smiled kindly. “Bring your stuff over here. I’ll make some room.”

Kame stared at him for a few moments. “Really?”

“Of course, come on,” Jin said, smiling reassuringly, though he wasn’t quite sure just who between the two of them he was reassuring.

Kame fumbled as he collected his books and quickly relocated. “Sorry to trouble you. I know you’re probably busy…”

“You actually caught me at a perfect time, so don’t worry,” Jin said, waving it off. “So what are you having problems with?”

Kame glanced down at the pre-lab. “How freaked out would you be if I said everything?”

Jin blinked and looked at the sheet.  After a quick scan he couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you taking chemistry? You’re an English literature major…”

“A-Ah, well, you see, I needed it f-for my breadth requirements. To graduate, you know?  And my friend, um, Tanaka Koki?  He’s taking it so I thought he could help me. He’s been trying, but I’m still pretty useless at it. I don’t think any amount of his help will work since it’s his first university level chem class.” Kame paused briefly in his rambling to ask, “How do you know my major?”

“I-I...well, it’s on the class roster,” Jin quickly lied, though he was sure that the information was on there somewhere. “Well, let’s see if I can help any?  I might have better luck since I’ve taken a million of these classes.”

Kame watched, fascinated, as Jin quickly went back over the material, looking as though he was working out how to best explain it so he would understand.

“All right, before we go over this,” Jin paused, turning to fish through the papers sitting next to his drink, until he found the one Kame had written  He chuckled when Kame blanched at the sight. “I’m going to see it no matter what, so it might as well be now.  It's important that you understand all of the previous material before we tackle the new stuff.”

“This is horribly embarrassing,” Kame said, covering his eyes as Jin did a quick assessment of the assignment.

“Mm, not nearly as embarrassing as my attempts in those writing classes I had to take as an undergrad,” Jin responded absentmindedly. “All right, so I think we need to start here.”

--

A few hours later, Jin jumped when Maru placed a hand on his shoulder.

Maru chuckled and shook his head. “Sorry, Jin, just wanted to tell you it’s almost closing time.”

Kame’s eyes widened and he tapped his laptop to check the time. “Oh, God, it’s almost two in the morning.”

“Shit,” Jin muttered. “Sorry I didn’t realize how much time had passed.” He finally felt the edges of exhaustion pressing at the sides of his eyes.  He reached for his coffee to take one last sip and sputtered at the chilled and disgusting drink.

Maru shook his head knowingly and went back to cleaning up.

“Do you think you understand everything enough to finish the work?  Or do you need more help?” Jin nicely asked as he hurriedly organized papers and books beside Kame.  When his hand brushed Kame’s, reaching for the other’s assignment from last week, both of them blushed a little.

“I-I might. I don’t know,” Kame stuttered, rubbing his hand where the contact had occurred.

Jin calmed himself at the nervous tone in Kame's voice. “Well, if you need any more help, then just come over and bother me?” he suggested, wincing at the question-like tone. “I mean, I’m always here and I’m sure I can find enough time to help you.  Or coming to my office hours would be fine too, of course.  Even just to chat. From what Ken said when he handed over all the material, no one's come in to office hours yet.”

Kame looked into Jin’s eyes, slightly surprised by the open suggestion. “Is it… really okay?”

“Of course, for you, yeah,” Jin said. “I mean-wait well you’re a student after all and it’d be bad for me to not help you when you need it and… I don’t mean that you… just...” He hit his forehead. “This is why I belong in a lab.”

Kame laughed. “I think I know what you mean?  Maybe?  Who knows.”

Jin joined him in walking towards the door and frowned when he unexpectedly cursed.

“I thought the rain was supposed to only last through the morning,” Kame groaned, shifting his book bag.

“No umbrella?” Jin asked and Kame shook his head.  He was distracted by a little daydream for a moment before shaking himself out of it. “Here, we can share.  I don’t want you getting sick because I kept you out so late.  I’ll walk you to your apartment.”

Kame stared at him for a few moments. Was his daydream happening in reverse?

“Come on, I insist.” Jin carefully grabbed his elbow and pulled him through the door, before calling, “Good night, Maru!”

“Night, Jin,” Maru waved, smiling lightly to himself. “Now isn’t that interesting… I wonder how much teasing time I can get back at him for with this…”

--

Kame winced at the silence between them. It wasn’t particularly awkward, but he couldn’t help but feel the need to fill it with something.

“So… how did you get roped into being a TA?” He wanted to hit himself for that choice.

Jin smiled. “Tanegawa-sensei hates me, but apparently out of all his students, my schedule fit the best.  I’m sure one of these days he’ll be interrogating all of you to find a reason to get rid of me.”

“It can’t really be that bad,” Kame reasoned. He decided he liked this smile much more than the ones he usually caught from hurried glances in the café.  Definitely not as much as the ones he had received earlier, though, when every time he  successfully conquered another idea during their tutoring session, flashed him a bright smile that was maybe a bit crooked at times, but showed both rows of teeth.

“Mm, you’d think that.  But I always mess up something because I just get nervous when he’s looking over my shoulder in class.  It doesn’t help that this is like my… fourth or fifth year having him as my professor,” Jin explained.

Kame blinked. This was news to him.  He hadn’t seen the other around campus until two years ago. “You went here before grad school?”

“Huh?  Oh yeah, I got my undergrad here. They do have, like, the best chemistry department in Japan after all,” he explained. “Why does that surprise you?” He couldn’t think of any reason for that to confuse the younger man.

“No reason, really,” Kame mumbled, “I just hadn’t seen you around here until two years ago.  Well, I mean, I just I’ve seen you around a few times, and you’re almost always at the café, so…”

“You’re almost always there, too,” Jin replied, wincing at how that sounded.

Kame hid his pleasure, glad the other had admitted to noticing him before even if he already knew about it.  Kame grabbed his elbow and steered him down the right road towards his apartment building.

“Well, this is my apartment,” Kame said, trailing off as he stopped at the steps to the main doors.

“All right, well, goodnight, Kamenashi.” Jin tilted his head lightly. “Sorry for keeping you out so late.”

“It’s fine,” Kame quickly assured him. “Goodnight, Akanishi-senpai.”

Jin frowned. The reality had turned out nothing like his imagination earlier, but he stopped from turning when something occurred to him. “How about… you just call me Jin?  Akanishi is a bit too formal, I think, if you can call me Jin in the classroom I think you can call me Jin outside of class?”

“I can?” Kame smiled brightly. “Then call me Kazuya… or Kame, I guess.”

“Kame?” Jin tried out the nickname and grinned. “That’s kind of cute.  Goodnight, Kame.” He waved briefly before turning to leave.

“Goodnight, Jin,” Kame mumbled, standing just out of the rain’s path.  He watched the other until he disappeared around the corner.  As soon as the sight of the umbrella disappeared he did a little dance before hurrying out of the cold.

When he reached the apartment, Koki popped his head out of his bedroom. “Where the hell have you been?  It’s past two!”

“Just lost track of time at the café is all,” Kame answered, in a blissful daze as he practically danced to his own room to collapse in an exhausted heap.  But sleep didn't find him easily as his mind reeled with excitement.

[Pin Apartment]

Jin dropped his keys in the basket and frowned at the glow of the TV. “What are you doing awake? Don’t you have an early morning class or something?”

Pi grumbled something incoherent from where he was curled up on the couch, covered in about three different blankets.

“Don’t go to sleep there,” Jin warned, and when he received a pillow in the face, he followed up with, “Fine but when you feel like shit in the morning I’ll get to say ‘I told you so’.”

“Fine!” Pi sat up. “Why are you so late, anyway?”

The pink haze came back to Jin's cheeks. “None of your business! Now go to sleep.  I am not listening to your whining when you wake up late and miss your classes.”

Pi smirked. “Aww, did Jinny get some?”

“I would not be doing the walk of shame at two in the morning!” Jin threw the pillow back at his roommate before slamming the door to his room shut.

He attempted to read a portion of Cat Among the Pigeons, but he couldn’t concentrate long enough to read a single line, not even for Dame Christie.  He mind kept drifting about, wondering if Kame would join him for another study session again; he had looked so cute concentrating  on the work.

[Friday]

Kame discreetly searched the lecture room for Jin, finally spotting him in the very front row with the other TAs.  He sighed and took his normal seat, realizing it would be slightly odd for him to walk straight up to his TA when class should be starting.

“Who are you looking for?” Koki squinted around the classroom. “Ah, there’s Akanishi-senpai.” He lifted a hand and waved when he noticed the older man had turned around.

Kame glared at Koki and inwardly cursed when Jin waved back with a smile. Why hadn’t he thought of something as simple as that?

“Why are you giving me that look? I’m just being nice,” Koki scoffed, flopping into his chair.

“No reason.” Kame pouted and glanced back to where Jin was chatting with a seemingly frustrated TA.

--

Jin waved at Tanaka with a smile, glad at least some of his students didn’t seem to hate him.  The scowl on Kame’s face, though, was absolutely hilarious.

“Jin, pay attention when I’m talking to you.” Ryo snapped his fingers.

“Yeah, yeah, stay calm,” Jin drawled, turning back to his friend. “You were saying?”

“Were you… waving to your students?” Ryo asked, a horrified look on his face.

“Yeah, not everyone is as unfriendly as you.” Jin rolled his eyes. “How I got stuck with you as my lab partner for, like, four years, I don’t know.  What did I do?” he asked the ceiling.

“If I remember correctly, Akanishi-san, your partner freaked out when you nearly spilled the sulfuric acid and Nishikido-kun was the only student brave enough to work with you after that,” Tanegawa-sensei said, lightly hitting Jin on the head with a clipboard.

“It’s not my fault she bumped into me,” Jin defended himself.

“He is right,” Ryo grudgingly admitted. “He’s a great partner when someone doesn’t accidentally trip or scare him.”

“Aww you do like me after all!” Jin jokingly hugged the shorter man.

“Dude, get the fuck off me,” Ryo shoved him away, then blinked and turned when he thought he felt a stare at him, but shrugged it off.

“And with that I’m taking my leave.” Tanegawa-sensei walked to the platform. “Let’s try to keep the affection in the room to a minimum today, students.”

--

“See you later!” Jin waved Ryo off before looking around for Kame.

Kame nearly jumped when Jin tapped him on the shoulder as he walked out. “Oh, hey.”

“How's the homework coming?” Jin asked.

“It’s… okay,” Kame admitted with a frown.

“Well, if you want…” Jin started but paused with uncertainty.

“Is it okay if we make the tutoring thing regular?” Kame asked hopefully.

“Yeah, of course,” Jin said. “What days are best for you?”

Kame smiled. “Tuesdays and Thursdays are always good for me.”

“Then I’ll see you at the café on those days?” Jin suggested, pulling out his phone to enter the information into his schedule.

“Perfect.  Wait, it won’t trouble you?”

“It’s no problem at all, don’t worry!” Jin assured him.

“Great, I have to get going to class…” Kame trailed off.

“Go ahead. I need to go too, actually. See you later, Kame!” Jin checked the time and hurried to his next class.

Chapter 2