your local timeskip dealer

You looked at him as if to say “Should we turn around now?” and without answering, he stood up and turned his chair in one quick motion. Wow, what an overachiever- it would’ve been sufficient to simply turn yourself around in your chair. The stare saying “Come on, be proper in front of strangers” didn’t come- he wasn’t even looking at you.

In order to not be behind, you turned around your chair as originally planned. “And this is my seatmate. I hope we can have a good project.” Conversations disappeared all too often. In an awkward attempt to introduce yourself, you shot up a quick wave and nodded in acknowledgement. Despite Shirabu’s diligence, all those two said were “Cool” and “What’s our topic?” 

Despite having over three hours of sleep, details of last night’s homework raced through your mind more than whatever the project was. The “matter-of-factness” in his tone and the notes he took, angled for you to see a bit more clearly, made everything easy to understand. Of course, nothing could beat listening to every word, but catching some and reading the notes was surprisingly enough. 

Topic proposal, analysis report, slides and presentation… 

“... either of you…” question 4 can’t have been 41… “interested…” maybe I can fix it during lunch…. Shirabu’s voice weaved between your thoughts. 

“I’m good with anything.” 

“Same. Anybody else have an opinion?” 

Ando was playing minesweeper, and Azuma’s smile cracked as she showed Ando her completed Wordle. 

Shirabu hadn’t cracked a smile at all this morning. He didn’t have a typical smile, but he usually had a pleasant expression upon greeting you in the morning; his lips curved just a little. Perhaps it was barely a smile, but a smile from Shirabu was a smile.

His bangs grew out a little. Maybe his hair is bothering him? I remember him earlier messing around with his hair… Even then, he hasn’t touched his bangs in a bit… 

“... Ando on the slides, and Azuma on the topic report. Does that sound good with everyone?” All he received were nods. Azuma wrote it down in her planner; almost every space was filled. How could someone be that busy?

You look at Shirabu for help; you didn’t hear what you were doing. Shirabu’s stare caught you by surprise- but he quickly turned to the other two in the group.

“Ando, can you submit a topic by lunch? I’ll create a group chat and share the timeline and distribution there.” All she did was nod and continued playing minesweeper.

Wait- if Ando had the slides and Azuma had the topic report, then the two of you had the analysis report to work on? Everyone was required to show up for the presentation anyway… Why would he choose the hardest part of the project? But it was him who made the distributions, though... You shot him a worried look.

He leaned in close to your ear, “They don’t seem interested in the project. I know you’ll be disappointed if we get a bad grade because of them, and the analysis is most of the grade.” When did he get so bold as to whisper in your ear? 

That made sense though. You didn’t want to worry more about it. If you’d been by yourself, that would’ve been bad, but at least Shirabu knew what he was doing- or at least didn’t panic and always solved problems the best he could. That did make him pretty reassuring.

Ah, his smile was back. 

“You know, I asked you which part you wanted to do, but you were clearly half asleep,” he whispered again. You froze. Please, stare, don’t come this way. You peeked at him. Why was he still smiling? Why wouldn’t he be at least a little bit upset you didn’t listen to what he said? That was pretty rude, although it was totally the school's fault for starting so early.

“Sorry I didn’t listen…” you mumbled an apology. Ando and Azuma probably didn’t care, but you didn’t want them to hear. 

Ando and Azuma stopped their conversation. “Let me know if you need something changed.” He brought out his phone and typed that to show it to you. You nodded. There was nothing to change, so you smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. Oh, he smiled a little more.

You looked at the time; five minutes until class ended. You pointed at your messages app, looked at Shirabu, and gestured towards your groupmates. He nodded to you in acknowledgement before asking the group for their numbers to add to the group chat.

He handed you his phone. “Yours first, then we’ll go around counterclockwise. Just make a new contact with your name on it, and I’ll make a group chat.” That earned two “okay”s from the group and you simply put your contact information in. Was it strange it was the first time he got your number, despite being seatmates for weeks now?

When the group chat appeared, his name was the first to appear. It was auto generated, but it was nice to have Shirabu’s name visible first. Perhaps that made the project less of a pain in the butt than it would’ve been otherwise. 

Ding! The project summary text from him came in on your way to your next class. Ah, all the information you needed was at the top. 

word count | 962 words

You looked at him as if to say “Should we turn around now?” and without answering, he stood up and turned his chair in one quick motion. Wow, what an overachiever- it would’ve been sufficient to simply turn yourself around in your chair. The stare saying “Come on, be proper in front of strangers” didn’t come- he wasn’t even looking at you.

In order to not be behind, you turned around your chair as originally planned. “And this is my seatmate. I hope we can have a good project.” Conversations disappeared all too often. In an awkward attempt to introduce yourself, you shot up a quick wave and nodded in acknowledgement. Despite Shirabu’s diligence, all those two said were “Cool” and “What’s our topic?” 

Despite having over three hours of sleep, details of last night’s homework raced through your mind more than whatever the project was. The “matter-of-factness” in his tone and the notes he took, angled for you to see a bit more clearly, made everything easy to understand. Of course, nothing could beat listening to every word, but catching some and reading the notes was surprisingly enough. 

Topic proposal, analysis report, slides and presentation… 

“... either of you…” question 4 can’t have been 41… “interested…” maybe I can fix it during lunch…. Shirabu’s voice weaved between your thoughts. 

“I’m good with anything.” 

“Same. Anybody else have an opinion?” 

Ando was playing minesweeper, and Azuma’s smile cracked as she showed Ando her completed Wordle. 

Shirabu hadn’t cracked a smile at all this morning. He didn’t have a typical smile, but he usually had a pleasant expression upon greeting you in the morning; his lips curved just a little. Perhaps it was barely a smile, but a smile from Shirabu was a smile.

His bangs grew out a little. Maybe his hair is bothering him? I remember him earlier messing around with his hair… Even then, he hasn’t touched his bangs in a bit… 

“... Ando on the slides, and Azuma on the topic report. Does that sound good with everyone?” All he received were nods. Azuma wrote it down in her planner; almost every space was filled. How could someone be that busy?

You look at Shirabu for help; you didn’t hear what you were doing. Shirabu’s stare caught you by surprise- but he quickly turned to the other two in the group.

“Ando, can you submit a topic by lunch? I’ll create a group chat and share the timeline and distribution there.” All she did was nod and continued playing minesweeper.

Wait- if Ando had the slides and Azuma had the topic report, then the two of you had the analysis report to work on? Everyone was required to show up for the presentation anyway… Why would he choose the hardest part of the project? But it was him who made the distributions, though... You shot him a worried look.

He leaned in close to your ear, “They don’t seem interested in the project. I know you’ll be disappointed if we get a bad grade because of them, and the analysis is most of the grade.” When did he get so bold as to whisper in your ear? 

That made sense though. You didn’t want to worry more about it. If you’d been by yourself, that would’ve been bad, but at least Shirabu knew what he was doing- or at least didn’t panic and always solved problems the best he could. That did make him pretty reassuring.

Ah, his smile was back. 

“You know, I asked you which part you wanted to do, but you were clearly half asleep,” he whispered again. You froze. Please, stare, don’t come this way. You peeked at him. Why was he still smiling? Why wouldn’t he be at least a little bit upset you didn’t listen to what he said? That was pretty rude, although it was totally the school's fault for starting so early.

“Sorry I didn’t listen…” you mumbled an apology. Ando and Azuma probably didn’t care, but you didn’t want them to hear. 

Ando and Azuma stopped their conversation. “Let me know if you need something changed.” He brought out his phone and typed that to show it to you. You nodded. There was nothing to change, so you smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. Oh, he smiled a little more.

You looked at the time; five minutes until class ended. You pointed at your messages app, looked at Shirabu, and gestured towards your groupmates. He nodded to you in acknowledgement before asking the group for their numbers to add to the group chat.

He handed you his phone. “Yours first, then we’ll go around counterclockwise. Just make a new contact with your name on it, and I’ll make a group chat.” That earned two “okay”s from the group and you simply put your contact information in. Was it strange it was the first time he got your number, despite being seatmates for weeks now?

When the group chat appeared, his name was the first to appear. It was auto generated, but it was nice to have Shirabu’s name visible first. Perhaps that made the project less of a pain in the butt than it would’ve been otherwise. 

Ding! The project summary text from him came in on your way to your next class. Ah, all the information you needed was at the top. 

word count | 962 words