victoria☆

“So you’re telling me girls don’t actually shed their skin?!” The white haired devil is glued to your side yet again as you walk out of PSY201.

“No, that was just something girls said to mess with idiotic men like you. You seriously can’t be this stupid.” You sigh, not being able to comprehend his stupidity.

“But I saw TikToks about it everywhere and girls were saying how they relate in the comments…” Satoru responds, completely baffled.

You look at him and can see the tiny gears inside of his puny brain beginning to turn, realizing it was an inside joke between women. You should’ve just told him it was true.

His jaw slightly falls, a silent “oh” falling from his lips, causing an even heavier sigh to escape your lips.

“If it helps you feel better, I used to think guys could shed their foreskin.”

He snaps his head down to you, feeling validated for his own idiocy. “Really?”

“No.”

He frowns, realizing you basically called him an idiot. He faces forward to see you’re heading towards the library.

“Why are we going to the library?” He asks, reaching for the door handle to open it for you.

You walk inside and he follows behind you. “I’m going to the library to study. Our exam is next week.”

“Right, right.”

He had no idea.

You sit down at a table, pulling out your notes along with your other material to study. Satoru sits across from you, crossing his arms on the table and resting his head on it.

You have no idea why he’s even here. He just followed you without a second thought.

Thirty minutes have passed and you look over at him from above your computer and realize he fell asleep. You lean in to see him, watching the way his white lashes rest against his cheek bones, his lips slightly parted.

He looks so peaceful. It’s a little weird to see him like this since when he’s awake, he’s annoying and energetic.

He begins to move, adjusting himself in his sleep, causing you to jolt, backing away. You thought he almost caught you staring and if that happened, he’d tease you about it nonstop.

Another half hour passes, and he’s been awake for the past five minutes. He’s been watching you the entire time, while you’ve been trying to ignore him because you know the second you look, he’ll get the attention he wants.

He lets out the smallest noise, almost like a whine due to his neglect, causing you to sigh internally before looking up to meet those puppy eyes that light up the moment you acknowledge him.

“What?”

“Do you wanna go to a party with me tonight?” He asks, hopefulness in his tone as if you’ve already said yes.

“Parties aren’t my thing. Way too many bodies pressed against each other with music blasting my ear drums and the smell of sex and alcohol contaminating my nose. Hard pass. Plus, I need to study. ” You immediately argue, no room for debate.

He pouts at that. “You’re no fun.”

“I never claimed to be ‘fun’.” You retort. “You can go if you want. No one’s forcing you to stay here.”

“But I wanna hang out with you.” He whines, his pout never washing away.

You look at him for a moment, debating how to deal with the 6’3 man child in front of you. “Then we can study together. Y'know you also have an exam you need to prepare for.”

He looks at you as if you just suggested the most boring thing ever. That’s until he gets an idea, his lips twisting into a grin that definitely means no good. “Why don’t we study at my place?”

“And why can’t we study here?”

“Less distractions.”

“I have a feeling going to your house is going to be a lot more distracting.”

“C’mon…please?” And there it is. Those puppy eyes he starts doing when he’s desperate for you to say yes.

More like desperate for his way.

You let out a sigh. You seem to be doing that a lot lately. “Fine.”

He smiles ear to ear, standing to his feet and grabbing your hand. “Let’s go!”

“Wait— Satoru! Let me get my stuff!”

༺♡༻

He opens the car door for you, grabbing your hand as you step out of his car. You resist the urge to drop your jaw at just how much his house was– in fact it seemed more like a mansion. Not to mention the gate Satoru had to open to even get in here. It’s surrounded by grassy fields with trees, bushes, and flowers that are just beginning to bloom, all property owned by his family within the gate. It was also surprisingly very close to campus.

Satoru doesn’t say anything, seemingly used to the area he grew up in. With your school bag on his shoulder, he leads you to his doorstep. He unlocks it, waiting for you to go inside first.

You try to control your expressions, not used to being somewhere so…expensive, but also not wanting Satoru to think you view him differently just because of his wealth.

Your shoes meet the floor, walking around and analyzing the beautiful, modern home. “This is a nice place you’ve got here.”

“Thanks.” He replies casually as if he’s heard it a thousand times– which he probably has. “Do you want anything? A snack or something to drink?” He asks as he wanders into the kitchen.

You follow behind him. “Water would be nice.”

He opens the fridge, rummaging through it until he pulls out a bottle of water and hands it to you.

You take it from his hands. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” He smiles softly. “Anything else you want?”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“Then let’s go study.” He takes your hand, leading you up the stairs to his room. You’ve noticed that he grabs your hand a lot when he wants you to follow him.

He opens the door to his room with you alongside him.

He puts your bag on his desk, before wandering into his closet to grab clothes. “I’m gonna take a quick shower. Make yourself at home.” He says, walking out of his closet and towards his bathroom. Just as he’s about to shut it, he peeks behind the door with a grin. “And don’t snoop through my stuff and be a naughty perv, okay?” He coos teasingly.

You roll your eyes. “Why would I want to snoop through your biohazard of a room?”

“I don’t know. Maybe to look through my boxers and–”

Before he can finish his sentence, you grab a pillow from his bed and throw it in his direction, causing him to shriek and quickly shut the door before it can hit him.

Glaring at the door, you wondered how the hell he even convinced you to be here. Letting out a sigh, you look around his room– too distracted from his idiocy to look at it when you first entered.

His room is pretty spacious considering it has a walk-in closet. The LED lights are on, but his main light is also on, so it’s barely noticeable. His walls are decorated with posters of bands and music artists consisting of Deftones, Nirvana, Childish Gambino, Mac Demarco, Frank Ocean, and Tame Impala.

In the corner of his room, you see the giant stuffed teddy bear you won him, causing the smallest smile to curl onto your lips. Turning your head, you see he has a shelf beside his desk. Two shelves have mini car models that probably cost a fortune.

There are two other shelves full of manga, which surprised you. Manga is typically considered “nerdy” and Satoru definitely doesn’t seem like the nerdy type, at least not with personal interests. His manga collection consists of Digimon, Attack on Titan, Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, Bleach, and Naruto. So, this is what he’s into, you think to yourself.

As an anime watcher and manga reader yourself, you’re familiar with all of these. He has good taste, which is surprising. However, his taste is typical– full of shonen manga, considering he’s a guy. His other shelf contains videogames for his console.

In front of his bed he has a TV with his PS5 sitting right below it. His room smells like mint and his cologne, which caught you off guard because you expected it to reek of weed. His room is clean for the most part, disregarding his unkept bed and the three empty cans of Monster on his desk.

Something you noticed since you walked in here is that there are no pictures. Not in the main house areas or his room. It’s a bit interesting considering in your dorm, you have pictures pinned on your bulletin board of you and your friends in your room and back at home, your parents have family photos decorated in certain areas.

Maybe it’s because he throws parties here all the time, so he puts them away?

You sigh, not wanting to think too much about someone you hardly know. It doesn’t concern you. To kill time, you sit on his desk chair, scrolling mindlessly through your phone.

After a few minutes, the bathroom door clicks open to reveal Satoru, fluffy white hair sitting on top of his head that had been blow dried with a comfortable sweater on along with some sweatpants.

He looks over at you, a grin curling onto his lips. “Miss me?”

“Hardly.”

“So mean.” He pretends that your words struck a nerve with his pout.

“Anyway, we should study in the dining room or something. We’ll have more room.” You stand to your feet, grabbing your bag.

“Good point.” He mumbles, quickly grabbing his MacBook, notebook and pencil– specifically the teddy bear pencil you gave him off his desk before guiding you out of his room.

The two of you make it to the dining room, so you take out your things to get started including your computer, notebook, and pencil pouch. Satoru sits across from you, spreading out his belongings in front of him.

You look down at his items and back up at him. “Where’s your ‘Intro To Psychology’ textbook?”

“We needed that…?” He asks, a regretful look in his expression. “I thought those were optional.”

A dreadful sigh escapes your lips. “They weren’t.” Today is going to be a long day. “It’s fine. We can share mine.”

He gives you a big smile like an idiot. “Great.”

For the next thirty minutes, you explain to him the first chapter of the textbook, which you honestly don’t mind since teaching is the best way to remember and familiarize yourself with the content.

“And Thorndike proposed that behaviors followed by satisfying outcomes are more likely to be repeated.” You speak confidently, pointing at the part in the textbook that goes into detail.

Satoru looks up at you from his textbook to meet your gaze. Your eyes are full of passion and ambition. He can tell you really enjoy explaining the textbook to him as he jots down notes.

And for some reason, he loves seeing the way you glow when you speak so passionately about your interest.

“So, why did you choose this as your major?”

You’re caught off guard by the random question, but once the question processes through your mind, a small smile tugs your lips. “I just love learning about why people act and behave the way they do. It’s fascinating.” You admit.

A smile of his own pins against his lips. “Well, I would love to have the motivation you have while learning about this. If only I could get a reward to keep me satisfied with while I study…” He drags out a soft sigh, looking around innocently.

“And what kind of reward are we talking about?” You raise a curious brow, waiting for one of his stupid suggestions.

“Maybe a kiss?” He coos, tilting his head to the side innocently.

“You’re funny.” You reply sarcastically.

“I know I’m funny, but right now I’m being serious.”

You stare at him for a moment, weighing out your options. “Fine.”

His eyes light up from your response. “Really?”

“If it’ll motivate you, sure. I mean, it’s just a kiss, right?”

He nods with a stupid, big smile, motivation filling him to the brim.

You grin at his reaction, leaning forward against the table. The pressure from the table against your chest causes your breasts to pop out more. You had abandoned the sweater you were wearing earlier due to the warmth of the house, leaving you in your tank top.

Satoru’s eyes drag down at your cleavage. You snap your fingers in front of his face. “Eyes on me, pervert.” You bring your index and middle finger to point at your eyes.

He brings his hands up in defense, a grin decorated on his lips as if he had no shame being caught red handed. “In my defense, they looked at me first.”

You roll your eyes, fighting back a smile from his stupid response. “Whatever, read the next section. It’s your turn.”

A hesitant look pierces his facial expressions, lowering his gaze down to the textbook. “Behaviorism’s emphasis on objectivity and focus on external behavior had pulled psychological–”

“Psychologists’”. You correct him.

He tenses at that, but continues. “The early work of the humanistic psychologists redirected attention to the individual human as a whole, and as a continuous–”

“Conscious.” You correct him again.

He lets out a sigh before standing up to his feet. “I’ll be right back.” He walks away, disappearing to the stairs.

You’re left alone and confused with your thoughts. That was…weird. Why is he being so awkward? Can he not read? There’s no way.

He comes back and when you look up from your phone, he’s wearing…glasses.

And my goodness, he looks handsome. Really handsome.

“Sorry, I had to put on my reading glasses.” He mumbles with a flush on his cheeks.

Oh.

“Why didn’t you just put them on in the beginning?” You ask as he sits down in front of you.

He scratches the back of his neck. “I dunno. I just feel like they ruin my appearance. Make me seem like a geek.”

So that’s what he was nervous about? Appearing less attractive?

It makes you wonder if he used to get bullied because of them, but it’s difficult to imagine him getting bullied.

“You look good with them. They suit you.” You admit, catching him off guard. “Plus, it’s only me. For a second I thought you couldn’t read.” You chuckle.

He closes his jaw due to you catching him off guard before a giggle escapes his lips after processing your words. “No, I definitely can.” He reassures you. “I can see perfectly fine, but when tiny words are right in front of me, it’s difficult for my eyes to focus.”

“But you are a geek since you’re into manga.” You tease.

“So you were snooping through my stuff…?” He drags the question, grinning ear to ear.

“Oh, please. It was in plain sight.” You scoff.

“You wouldn’t be able to tell it was manga unless you approached it.” He argues back and you want nothing more than to wipe that stupid smirk off his face.

“Shut up and get back to reading.”

༺♡༻

“What concept did Hermann Ebbinghaus develop based on his experiments with nonsense syllables?” You read off the flashcards you and Satoru had made to quiz each other.

“The forgetting curve.” He answers confidently.

You nod, a smile threatening to curl on your lips. “Which types of long term memory involves memories of facts and events that–”

“Sematic and episodic memory.” Satoru cuts you off before you can even ask the full question.

“Which type of amnesia involves the loss of memory that was formed before onset of amnesia?”

He doesn’t answer automatically this time, tapping his teddy bear pencil on his chin as he tries to think. “Anterograde amnesia…?” He says it like a question more than an actual answer.

“Retrograde amnesia.” You correct him. “But you were close. I’ll give you that.”

He lets out a sigh, standing up to stretch his body. This exposes a sliver of his toned stomach and you don’t realize you’re staring until–

“If you keep undressing me with your eyes, I might catch a cold.” He teases, bringing his arms back down.

His voice plucks you out of your thoughts, causing you to look up and see his gaze glued onto you with a shit eating grin. You roll your eyes, used to his foolishness by now as you open your water bottle to take a sip. “You’re so corny, it’s gonna make me vomit.”

He giggles at that. “Y’know, you’re hot when you’re mean to me.”

“Oh, really?” You taunt, a teasing grin pulling against your lips as you set the water bottle down.

He feels it jump in his pants.

“Are you some sort of masochist or something?”

“And what if I am?” He counters back, his grin now reflecting yours.

“Then you’re a kinky perv that needs to stay at least five feet away from me at all times.” You joke.

“Oh, come on. You can’t tell me you’re not into that.”

You stare at him for a few seconds, trying to make up an excuse, but you’re left with none. “Whatever. What are you even doing?” You ask, trying to change the subject.

He grins, noticing your change of subject, but lets it slide. “We’ve been studying for what– four hours? Let’s take a break.”

“And do what exactly?”

“Stretch our legs. We have a small trail outside we can walk on.”

Of course he does.

He grabs you by your hand, forcing you out of your seat. “C’mon!”

You grab your sweater with your free hand while simultaneously being pulled by the white-haired idiot. “Hold on!”

The two of you end up outside, walking side by side with the sun just beginning to set. You notice he didn’t take off his glasses for some reason even though the two of you aren’t studying anymore.

“Shouldn’t I leave? I don’t want to interrupt if your parents are coming home soon.”

“Nah, you’re fine. They’re out of town, so you don’t need to worry.” He replies, hands dug into his pockets as he walks beside you.

“Oh, when are they coming back?” You ask, head tilting to the side in curiosity as you look up at him.

He shrugs, his head remaining facing forward. “I dunno. They’re gone all the time, so I’m used to it.”

Well that sounded more depressing than he intended it to sound.

“So…you’re all alone in that big house? Doesn’t that bother you?” You didn’t mean to pry, but part of you was curious.

He lets out a nervous laugh, trying his best to sound unbothered. “Not really. I’m used to it, like I said. Yeah, it can get lonely sometimes but I have friends and my parents call me from time to time, so it’s not that bad. Promise.”

You notice the awkward tension beginning to rise, so you decide to ask something else. “What do your parents do?”

“My dad’s the CEO of a clothing design company, so he’s away a lot for meetings and collaborations. My mom is his assistant, so she goes with him.”

“So, are you next in line to become CEO I assume?”

“Yeah, but my dad still isn’t gonna step down for a while. I still need to get my master’s degree in business and then from there gain experience before actually becoming CEO.”

You watch the way his eyes don’t light up when he talks about all of this. “Is this something you want to do?”

That catches him off guard. You can tell by the way his eyes widen. “I mean– yeah. I’ve always been into clothing designs. Just maybe not the specific kind my family sells, y’know?”

You nod, understanding his perspective. “Well, maybe once you’re CEO, you can expand to new clothing designs that pique your interest.” You reply with an encouraging smile.

He looks down at you, a smile of his own forming. “Yeah, you’re right.”

The two of you come across a small pond, the sunset light reflecting off the water. You quickly notice the ducks swimming within it. “Aw, they’re so cute!”

Satoru pulls out a ziplock containing grapes. He opens the bag and nudges a grape to you. “Here, to feed them.”

You smile at this gesture. He must’ve grabbed them right before you guys left. “Do I just throw it in there?”

“Yeah, but first–” he takes a grape out and tears it in half with his thumbs, “you have to break it apart so they won’t choke on it. Then you just toss it toward them and they’ll slowly start coming towards you.”

“Sounds like you’ve done this before.” You arch a teasing brow at him.

A heat creeps up his neck up to his cheeks. “W-well, when I get bored I come out here and–”

“You don’t need to defend yourself. I’m just teasing.” You nudge his shoulder jokingly. “Why not feed them bread? Isn’t that what everyone else does?”

"Bread is bad for them. It irritates me when people feed them that. Grapes are way more beneficial for them." You can see the annoyance written in his expression.

Satoru is the last person you expected to care about a duck's health, but…it’s cute. Really cute.

When you throw the piece of grape into the water, it catches the ducks attention. They look in your direction and see who's beside you.

Suddenly, four ducks swim in your direction and out of the water. When you think they're walking toward you, they go to Satoru instead and begin to quack. Satoru kneels and tears a few pieces of grapes before holding it in his palm for them to eat.

"It seems like they recognize you." You say, trying to hold in your laugh because it looks funny to see him being swarmed with ducks.

"I do live here, so of course they recognize me." He says softly, a smile on his lips alone with a pink tint lightly decorating his cheeks. He looks up at you and holds his hand out. "Come here."

You’re hesitant for a moment, but take his hand anyway and kneel down beside him. Satoru puts some grapes in your hand and a few ducks begin to approach you as more ducks gather around the two of you.

Happiness blooms in your chest as you break apart the grapes, feeding them one by one. You look over at Satoru whose expression resembles yours, occupied by the ducks quacking at him for more as he tells them to be patient.

Suddenly, you remember your promise of a kiss both of you had completely forgotten about. While he’s distracted, you lean in, your lips making contact with his cheek.

His eyes widen from the sudden contact, but he doesn’t move. More like he can’t move. He feels heat creeping onto his neck as his mind goes into overdrive.

Why is he getting so hot and bothered by a simple kiss on the cheek? He’s done more with women, yet he’s never gotten like this. Not even once. So what makes you so different?

“Now you can’t say I broke my promise.” You coo, pulling back with a teasing grin.

He stays silent for a few extra seconds, still feeling the lingering warmth of your lips on his cheek before letting out a soft chuckle.

“Just the cheek? I thought you meant the lips.” He replies smugly, turning to meet your gaze.

“I never specified where I would place it, now did I?” You tilt your head, mirroring his smug expression.

“I suppose, but a peck on the lips wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“Don’t push it.”

This causes a chuckle to rumble through his chest. He opens his mouth to respond before one of the ducks quack in annoyance due to him getting distracted, forgetting to feed them. This causes the rest of them to quack at him angrily.

“Okay, okay! Gimme a sec guys.” He tells the impatient ducks practically screaming at him.

A giggle escapes your lips, watching them quack at the albino in annoyance. You look in front of you to see only two patient ducks waiting for you to feed them while Satoru was surrounded by four.

“Whoops, sorry guys.” You mutter, going back to feeding them.

As you feed them, your gaze wanders back to Satoru. You notice his overwhelmed expression, trying to feed the ducks he made angry. His hair is a bit fuzzy from being fresh out of the shower, his glasses sliding off his nose a bit with his sweater practically swallowing him whole.

He looks so different compared to how he looks when he’s on campus. For some reason, you don’t prefer one over the other. You don’t really care about appearances like that. As long as they’re a decent person, you don’t mind being around them and he seems to fit that category.

But to be honest, you didn’t expect any of this. He seemed like an arrogant bastard the moment he stepped into your psychology class, like he assumed the world revolved around him and maybe in that moment it did.

But now he’s…different. It feels like he’s actually being himself even though you hardly know him.

“Do you wanna hold one?”

You get plucked out of your thoughts at Satoru’s question. You blink and suddenly realize he’s holding a baby duckling up to you.

“Where did they come from?!” You reply in awe, your voice rising an octave higher due to its cuteness as you take them from Satoru’s hands.

“They leapt out of the bushes. I thought you noticed?” He replies as he watches the way you gently pet the duckling’s head with your finger.

“Sorry, I was lost in thought.” Now you’re only half listening, too distracted by the duckling in your hands as you mumble gibberish to it.

He watches the way you coo to the duckling, smiling from ear to ear like an idiot. At least that’s what you think he would see, but he thinks the way you’re smiling right now is the cutest thing in the world, which feels strange for him.

A sudden gust of wind brushes past you, reminding you of the sun that’s beginning to flee as the sky paints itself a deep purple and blue.

He notices. “Let’s head back inside.” The albino says, standing back on his feet.

You let out a small sigh, looking at the duckling in your hand that looks totally confused, just happy to be there. 

“Bye, Harold. Be a good boy to your mama, okay?” You tell the duckling who has no idea what you’re saying before setting them down.

You stand to your feet, turning to see Satoru staring at you with confusion that matches the duckling before you walk past him and back to his house, not paying any mind to it.

“Harold?” Satoru repeats, following behind you.

“Yes.”

“That’s an ugly name.”He says with no real bite behind it.

You snap your head to him and notice he’s now beside you. “I didn’t ask you.” A crease forms between your eyebrows due to your scowl.

“But can I ask why you chose that name out of the thousands of other options you could’ve possibly chosen?” He teases, trying to hide his grin so you think he’s serious.

“It looked confused…like there wasn’t a single thought behind those tiny eyes…then that name came to mind. I don’t even know if it’s a boy, but it is what it is.”

The albino nods, acting like anything you said made sense, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that was a pretty valid observation given the name you gave it because of said observation. “Makes sense.”

The two of you head back, walking side by side once again in a comfortable silence. Even when the two of you aren’t talking, it doesn’t feel awkward. Now that you think about it, you don’t think you ever felt awkward around him, considering how awkward of a person you thought you were. You like that about him.

“Y’know…” you decide to break the silence when a thought crosses your mind, “you’re pretty smart when you actually take the time to study material. You can memorize things in a day that take me at least 3 days to memorize. If I had your memory, I’d take advantage of it.”

He lets out a soft chuckle. “You think?”

“I know.” You retort.

“Well, I can say the same for you. You’re attractive, yet whenever I asked anyone if they knew you, they only knew your name. That’s it. And some didn’t know you at all. I’d expect someone as pretty as you to take advantage of that when it comes to social status."

“I don’t care for social status.” You emphasize, wanting to roll your eyes at even the thought of it.

“Why not?” He asks, genuine curiosity in his tone. All of the girls he has spoken to in the past have always demanded attention, to be known by anyone who simply breathed the same air as them.

“It’s stupid and pointless. It’s not beneficial at all, at least for someone like me. I like being in my own bubble without anyone knowing my business except those closest to me. It’s peaceful and drama free.”

Her life is so different from mine, he thinks. Satoru comes from a place where his parents weren’t just emotionally absent in his life, but physically too. Always away for business trips and when they were here, they rarely acknowledged him. Their faces always hiding behind screens or a phone pressed to their ear as they discussed business, locking themselves away in their offices. This led him to pursue attention through women and partying, hoping the noise of it all would fill that validation he craved. All that influence led him into who he was now.

A heaviness fills his heart. Like someone’s clawing away at it little by little until there’s nothing left. He hates that feeling. He hates it a lot.

“Not to mention my ex best friend ditched me for social status, so I could care for it even less. It changes people.”

This grabs his attention, causing his gaze to look down at you as yours remains straight ahead, your expression neutral, regardless of your statement.

“Are you serious?”

“Yep.” You reply, popping the P. “We were in high school and she just one day decided to hang out with people who were ‘popular’.” You put air quotes around the word. “God, I hate that word. It’s such a fucking facade and it pisses me off. You have so many people around you when in reality no one gives a shit about you. None of the ‘friends’ you make are actually genuine and will leave you when you’re vulnerable. It’s so stupid.” You let out a deep sigh to calm yourself.

There’s that heaviness again.

“I’m sorry that happened to you. You didn’t deserve that.” There’s genuine empathy laced in Satoru’s tone.

“Don’t be. I’m over it now. Plus, I might not have many friends, but at least the ones I made now are genuine. I always thought my ex best friend secretly hated me and it turns out I was right. I don't need those kinds of people in my life.” You spoke matter-of-factly, confidence radiant in your tone.

“She hated you because she was jealous.”

His words cause you to look up at him in surprise. “What?”

“You always felt like she hated you, yet she was still your best friend? I may not know the whole story, but no one just stays best friends with someone they hate. She kept you close to keep an eye on you.” He says it like it was the only obvious explanation.

Your eyes widened in realization, facing forward again as you stared at the ground ahead of you to let his words sink in.

Your ex best friend never directly told you she hated you, obviously. However, she would belittle you. Making you feel stupid or ashamed for doing things that were ‘cringe’ or ‘awkward’.

Now that you’re thinking about it, he’s right. You never expected that from someone like him.

“I guess you’re right…” you mumble,

“But who needs her, right?” He looks down at you with a closed eye smile.

You blink at him for a moment before a smile of your own appears. “Right.”

༺♡༻

“This is your idea of fun…?” You’re standing at the entrance of a carnival.

“Yep! They just recently opened it since spring is finally in bloom, so I thought it would be fun!” He removes his gaze from the entrance, looking at you with a close eye smile.

He doesn't have his cap on, abandoning it in the car since he would most likely have to take it off later because of the rides anyway.

Carnivals would be fun…if you were with your friends. They are always able to distract you from the fact that you’re crowded around people in a loud place, so they’re always able to make it fun.

“Sounds thrilling.” You retort, the blankest expression sitting on your face.

He pouts at that, taking your hand and dragging you to the ticket booth. “Shush, it’ll be fun.”

Satoru’s “logical” explanation behind this: An amusement park is perfect. It’s every girl’s ideal date, and even though you barely even view this as a hang out and more like a requirement for him to leave you alone, he has a plan up his sleeve…!

This is his chance to prove himself to you and show off his skills. He’ll be your arm to hold when you get scared, like a knight in shining armor. Girls dig that. He’ll win you stuffed animals and share food with you, it’s every girl's dream. It’ll be straight out of a book. If he’s lucky, he’ll even be able to go on the ferris wheel with you.

“Two wristbands please.” He says to the worker inside of the ticket booth.

After buying the wristbands, the two of you walk around, looking at the hundreds of things to do.

“What do you wanna do first?”

You’re walking beside him, looking off into the distance, looking bored out of your mind. The only thing on your mind was the overstimulating amount of people and noise surrounding you.

You shrug. “I don’t know.”

Shit, he needs to think of something fast.

“How about that one?” He asks a bit hurriedly as if it was a last minute decision.

It was a game with a track and mini race cars as people competed to the finish line.

“Sure.” You agree, not too particular about it.

After waiting in line with Satoru yapping your ear off the entire time, it was finally your turn.

You and Satoru sat beside each other in your mini race cars. You looked over at him and giggled watching him trying to fit his long limbs inside the tiny space. His legs were spread apart and bent in order to touch the gas pedal with his back hunched over as he grabbed onto the tiny steering wheel.

He turns to you, a pouty lip poking out. “These looked bigger from a distance…”

“These are pretty small, but you’re also freakishly tall with scarlily long limbs built into muscle.” You reply to the mini race car’s defense.

He rolls his eyes before a competitive smirk pins against his lips. “Whatever. I’m still gonna beat you.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” You shrug, a smirk curling into your own lips.

The employee explains the rules for a minute before the countdown begins.

3…2…1!

All the cars speed off at the same time, you and white-haired devil right beside each other as you drive off.

You’re at the highest speed, yet you can’t shake him off. He’s just looking at you with a shit-eating grin like an idiot. He steers toward you, bumping into your car, which definitely isn’t allowed, causing you to lose control over your vehicle for a second.

Within that second, he manages to get in front of you, turning his head back to face you, holding up an L with his hand to his forehead and sticking his tongue out at you, tongue piercing in all its glory.

This asshole is calling you a loser!

Distracted by teasing you, someone hits his car hard, causing his body to get lunged forward, the seatbelt protecting him.

He gets pulled back to reality and faces forward to see who hit him and in front of him he sees a little girl, no older than 10 years old with a pink outfit and a tiara sitting on top of her head.

Turning her head back to look at him with a mischievous grin on her lips, she flips him off before driving off, leaving him in the dust.

You stare at the little girl as she drives away and then at Satoru to see his jaw hung low in absolute shock.

You burst into laughter, trying your best to concentrate on driving, but you’re laughing way too hard.

Satoru snaps his head back at you, watching your fit of laughter as he glares his blue eyes at you.

Once the race came to an end, the little girl ended up getting first place. The two of you watch as her friends praise her for getting the title of first place. Due to all the little girls surrounding her and her tiara, you assume she came here to celebrate her birthday.

Her eyes land on the albino in the distance. She grins, bringing her index finger to pull beneath her eye as she sticks her tongue out at him, her face saying, “Suck it.”

“What the hell is her problem?!” He asks, disbelief written all over his expression as a giggle rumbles through your chest, causing him to shoot you with a scowl.

“Maybe she saw you as a threat since you were about to win first place.” You shrug, a smile from your laughter sitting on your lips. “I don’t know about you, but watching that was much better than winning.”

He scoffs, turning his head away from the child with attitude. “She’s lucky she’s a girl– a little girl at that or else I would’ve handed it to her.”

“Oh, I’m sure you would’ve.” You tease.

He looks at you from the side, relieved to at least hear you laughing since your expression hasn’t held a single emotion since you two got here. Even if he’s the one you’re laughing at.

The two of you go on more rides and the longer you’re here, the more he notices you relaxing and becoming more comfortable with his company. However, he hasn’t had a chance to look remotely cool or heroic. You didn’t clutch onto him at all during any of the rides. But at least you don’t look like you’re dreading every moment, so that’s a plus.

“What about that one?” You point.

Satoru follows the direction of your finger and sees the slingshot ride. Perfect, he thinks. This is the ride you have to hold onto someone for comfort, or in this case, holding hands since the restraints would stop you from clutching onto him. Whatever works, as long as he can be your knight in shining armor to look somewhat reliable. Maybe that’s your type, someone reliable. And if that’s your type, that’s someone he’ll be. Anything to win this bet.

“You sure you won’t piss your pants?” He coos, cocking a brow at you teasingly.

“Oh, shut up.” You roll your eyes, walking towards the ride.

When you two are finally up next, an offputting anxiety sits in the albino’s chest the moment he gets strapped down to the seat. The employee begins to go over procedure, but everything he says is a blur. All he manages to hear is “450 feet” and “120 miles per hour”.

You look over at him and it’s difficult to tell what he’s thinking. “Hey, we don’t have to go on this if you don’t want to. I won’t tease.” You tell him honestly, not wanting to make him uncomfortable.

He looks over at you, managing to keep a composed expression. “No, I’m perfectly fine.” He says convincingly, so you let it go.

The employee begins to count down, causing goosebumps to rush across your skin. You can’t see it, but Satoru’s eyes are completely shut, bracing himself.

"3...2...1!" 

And before you know it, you're shot into the air, a gust of wind hitting your skin.

You scream in enthusiasm, a fit of giggles bursting from your lips at the same time. You've never experienced anything even remotely close to this and it’s absolutely thrilling.

Satoru opens his eyes when you're at the peak of how high this ride can go. He feels anxiety poison his chest and notices his vision beginning to blur as his eyes slowly shut.

You’re enjoying yourself until you look at the sky-eyed man to see he's passed out. A wave of worry hits you. "Satoru?!" Nothing. "Hey, are you okay?!" Still nothing.

When the ride comes to a stop, you jump out of your chair the moment the employee unstraps you. You stand in front of the idiot and tap his cheek with your hand a few times, trying to wake him. "Wake up, you idiot!"

Noticing he wasn’t waking up, you slap him with more strength behind it, causing his head to snap to the side from the force.

“Owie…” He bats his white eyelashes a few times before fully opening them. "What happened?" He murmurs.

“You passed out, dingus! I told you that we didn’t have to go on it.”

"Don't worry, it's nothing new when people pass out on this ride. It's because your heart rate slows down causing your blood pressure to drop." The employee says.

"Thanks for letting us know." You say and the employee shows you the video of you two on the slingshot ride.

You can’t help, but laugh out loud as a blush covers Satoru’s cheeks. “Send that to me.” You tell the employee, causing the albino to roll his eyes.

“Do you seriously need to keep it?” He asks, sass obvious in his tone.

”Of course I do.” You reply as you fill out your information on a clipboard for them to send it to you and hand it back to the employee. “Who’s the one who pissed their pants?”

The albino glares at you and you stick your tongue at him teasingly.

“Whatever.”

Afterwards, the two of you grab a bite. He's eating cotton candy in one hand with ice cream in the other to apparently “stimulate his brain” due to passing out on the slingshot. You just chose a Korean corndog, which he paid for.

Both of you are walking side by side and you’re surprised you haven’t ditched him yet. You’re very much to your surprise, enjoying yourself.

“Can I have a bite?” He asks, tossing his paper cone into the trash after finishing his cotton candy before leaning towards your corndog to take a bite as if you already said yes.

You drag the corndog away before he could take a bite. “No, it’s not my fault you decided to get junk and not actual food.”

He pouts at that, shoving his ice cream toward you. “I’ll let you have a lick if you do.”

“I don’t want a lick.” You protest, moving away from the ice cream like it’s poison.

His pout only deepens, trying to give you a cute look as he bats his lashes at you, which by the way, isn’t cute. “Pleaseeee?” He begs like a toddler.

You drag out a sigh, realizing there’s no winning with him. “Fine, but I don’t want a lick of your ice cream.” You bring the corndog closer to him.

He smiles ear to ear before leaning down and taking a huge bite– practically a third of it.

“Hey!” You scold him, as he munches on the very generous bite he just took, your expression turning into one of bitterness. “You fatass! You took such a big bite!”

“You said I could!” He argues back after swallowing, defending himself.

“Yeah a bite. Not a third of it!” You bark back, pinching his arm.

“Ow, ow, ow! Stop doing that!” He whines, pulling his arm away from you. “That’s just how I take bites! You can have my ice cream as compensation.” He holds the ice cream up to you as a peace offering as if it’s the key to solving all the world's problems.

“I already told you I don’t want your stupid ice cream.” You sigh, looking away as you continue walking.

“Hey, what did the ice cream do to you?” He jokes. “And would a fatass have these?” He lifts up his shirt to reveal his abs that have been muscled down to perfection, a grin plastered on his idiotic face.

“Yeah, well you eat like one.”

He lets out a dramatic gasp, with an offended look. “I do not!”

“Mhm, sure.” You mumble sarcastically.

You stop in front of a place that says “Lazer Tag” in bold, neon letters.

“Let’s try this out.” You say before walking in, not letting Satoru have a say.

That catches him off guard, causing him to stumble behind you to try and catch up “Wait!”

He follows you into the building and the two of you are quick to sign up for a round. Once you’re done, you put on a vest you were given and hold the laser gun, which the employees also gave you.

The white-haired devil ended up on the other side, which makes this more interesting.

The lady explains the game while you and Satoru stand on opposite sides, giving each other a competitive look.

"You're going down." You mouth to him, pointing down to further insinuate your words.

He puts an index finger on the inner corner of his eye and runs it down his cheek with a fake pout, pretending to cry. He’s such a little shit. You roll your eyes at his mocking behavior.

Once you’re sent into the laser room, the game begins.

Unfortunately for Satoru, his team sucked, but he’s on a roll. He got five people out within two minutes of the game. It's been ten minutes now and he got quite a few people out without getting hit once.

But there’s no sign of you. He hasn't seen you the entire game, which is surprising because this place isn’t that big.

Right when he thinks this, you appear in front of him and he’s quick to hold his gun up.

You hold your hands out in the air, leaving yourself completely defenseless with your laser gun dangling from your finger.

"I’m not gonna shoot you. We’re friends, aren’t we?" You take a step towards him.

He angles his gun right to your vest where the gun is ready to be triggered. "If you don’t, I will." He taunts, grinning ear to ear.

"No, you won't."

Why is he hesitating? His team is losing! He’s been carrying his team this entire time, so why is he struggling now when it comes to having to tag the one he wants to most? Is it because you’re actually being nice to him for once? (This is his version of you being ‘nice’.)

He takes a step back, but ends up finding himself in a corner. You take another step forward. "C'mon, pretty boy, lower the gun." You look at him seductively and he slowly lowers his laser gun.

Why is he listening to you?! You’re almost like a siren that he can’t help, but obey. You finally have him cornered and there's nowhere to run. He’s trying to avoid eye contact until you grab his chin and force him to look down at you.

He looks into your eyes, lost inside them as if he’s under a spell. Your eyes fall to his lips and back onto him as you lean towards him. 

Wait– are you actually going to kiss him?! Was it really that easy this entire time? You’re actually attracted to him– he knew you wouldn’t be able to resist his charm! Were you just faking it till now? Sneaky little devil. Either way, he's through the roof right now.

He closes his eyes, waiting for your perfect lips to meet his. Right when your lips are about to make contact, he hears the sound of a vest chime.

Oh no.

He opens his eyes to see a shit-eating grin pinned against your lips, looking down to see your laser gun is pointed at his chest.

You shot him.

“That’s such a foul move!” He whines, heat flushing to his cheeks in embarrassment.

"Catch up, your team is losing." You coo, your grin never faltering as you walk away effortlessly.

And here he thought he was actually getting somewhere with you. Curse you and your pretty lips.

When the two of you walk out of the building, he’s still sulking from your little scheme.

“Someone’s in a bad mood.” You tease, looking up at him to see he still has a faint blush on his cheeks, probably still embarrassed he thought you were actually going to kiss him.

“Is your heart made out of stone or something?” He looks down at you, arms folded over his chest with that pout he’s had all day.

“Maybe. Haven't given it much thought.” You joke. “That’s what you get for taking a humongous bite out of my corndog.”

“It was one bite.”

“A huge one.”

“Whatever.” He looks into the direction of the carnival games. “Do you wanna try those?”

You look in the direction he’s facing. “Yeah, let's go.” You agree, walking into the direction.

The sun is beginning to set, so this is his last shot to look cool and win you something. The knight in shining armor tactic didn’t work and that just ended up with him passing out on the slingshot.

He tried being cute by sharing food with you, which led to a bruise on his arm. Then he tried to look cool by winning in the race from earlier and laser tag, which obviously both of those were a miserable failure. Not to mention he’s been trying to hold your hand this entire day, but every time he tries, you move your hand away subconsciously.

Today hasn’t been romantic, at least not to him. This is his last chance to do something or else you’ll hate this hang out and he’ll be forced to leave you alone.

The two of you stumble against a balloon dart game. The game is pretty simple, the more balloons you pop by hitting it with a dart, the bigger the prize. 

The employee explains the simple game and then hands Satoru the darts since he insisted on going first.

5 balloons = Small prize | 8 balloons = Medium prize | 12 balloons = Large prize

He’s aiming to get you the large prize, obviously.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

He manages to pop four balloons. He’s feeling more confident now, especially considering that as you two were waiting for his turn in the beginning, a child was able to win a large prize. If a kid can do it, so can he.

He throws his fifth dart.

And he misses.

“Congratulations! Select your small prize!” The employee says enthusiastically.

…

Can I just crawl into a hole and stay there until I’m bone and gristle? Satoru thinks to himself, flushed in embarrassment. He couldn’t even win you a medium sized one…

“W-which one do you want?” The albino asks, trying his best to not sound humiliated.

“Oh, I can choose? Are you sure?” You ask, completely oblivious to his humiliation, not finding it embarrassing even though he just won a small prize.

Satoru nods, not trusting himself to speak because he can’t guarantee he’ll sound confident.

“Okay, then. That one.” You point to the Pikachu plush that’s barely 6 inches tall. The employee takes it down and hands it to you.

“Here.” You hand the plushie to Satoru, waiting for him to accept it.

“Keep it.” He pushes the plushie to your chest, trying his best to sound like the confident man he’s known to be. “It’s yours.”

 “Thank you.” You say softly, looking into his breathtaking eyes with a genuine smile like you’re actually happy he gave it to you.

Satoru feels his face get warmer. It’s just the embarrassment, right?

“No problem.” He says, embarrassment fading away. “Let’s look for another game.”

After walking for a bit, both of you stumble across a ring toss game.

The employee begins explaining the game. "If you manage to land 5-10 rings around the bottle, you get a small prize." She points at the small plushies. "If you manage to get 10-15 then you get a medium prize." She points at the medium plushies. "If you get 15-29 then you get a big prize" she points at the big prize, "and if you get 30 then you get the huge one." She points at the huge ones that are half your body height, maybe more.

The closer you get to the huge prize, the more of a ripoff it seems to be. Ring tosses are hard, at least in Satoru’s opinion. He tried throwing one just to see how hard it was and it was pretty difficult.

"Hey, we can go to another—"

"Can I have the rings?" You ask the worker before he can even get his sentence out, handing Satoru the plushie he won you. "I've got this." You say with blazing confidence. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try.

The game begins and he’s shocked you made it to 5 and then 10 and then...15? How did you make it to 20? 25 is absolutely insane. Then the next thing he knows it’s 30.

"Congratulations, you're a winner! Select your huge prize!" The employee says as Satoru’s jaw quite literally drops. Everyone else playing this game struggled to even make it to five. He can’t even make one for crying out loud.

"That one." You point at the teddy bear plushie that’s almost half your height. The worker takes it down and hands it to you.

Satoru hasn’t felt like a loser like this in a long time. The plushie you won was huge in comparison to the one he won you.

“Here. For you.” You hand Satoru the huge teddy bear plushie. “Since you gave me one.”

He laughs, taking it from you. “You really know how to hurt a man’s ego.” He jokes…partially.

“It’s my specialty.” You joke back with a smile. “Anyway, I think I should head home now. It’s getting late and I wanna study before I go to bed.”

Oh, right. He forgot you actually care about school.

He drives you back to your dorm and parks the car. The two of you sit in silence for a moment, before he decides to speak first. “Hey, so if you didn’t like the hang out, I get it. I’ll leave you alone from now on. Promise.” He says, trying to force a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Oh, no I liked it. We should do this again sometime. I had a lot of fun. Thanks for the plushie.” You smile, opening his car door. You step out of the car and look over at him one last time. “See you in class.” You say before shutting the door, leaving Satoru with his jaw hung open.

You found that…fun?

He was a complete loser today. He embarrassed himself more times than he can count, wasn’t able to be heroic or romantic, won you the lamest plushie…and you still wanted to hang out with him?

You walk into your dorm to see Shoko in the living room, sitting beside the window with a cigarette between her fingers.

“Why are you home so late?” She asks, watching as you grab a water bottle from the fridge before flopping onto the couch, your social battery completely drained.

“I was hanging out with someone.” You reply, obviously not wanting to get into it as you stare at the Pikachu in your hand.

But you messed up right the moment you said ‘someone’. You should’ve known better considering just how nosy your best friend is.

“‘Someone’?” Shoko repeats the word, squishing her cigarette into the ash tray on the coffee table to get closer to you. “And who exactly is this ‘someone’?”

You sigh, knowing she won’t leave you alone until you tell her. “Some guy named Satoru Gojo.” Her eyes widened at that, but only slightly. Your brows knit together in curiosity. “Do you know him?” You ask, opening the lid to your water and taking a sip.

“I did. We were friends in high school, but we grew apart once we hit college.”

You cough out a little water from that before wiping your mouth with your forearm. “W-what?” You cough, trying to clear your voice.

“Yep.” She pops the P. “It’s nothing serious though. People just grow apart.”

“I suppose.” You say softly.

“Why were you hanging out with him anyway?”

“I dunno.” You sigh, feeling yourself melting into the couch. “He was very persistent.”

“Sounds like him.” She remembers how he was back in high school and persistent was definitely a word that could be used to describe him. “If he does anything shady, let me know. I’ll chop off his balls.”

You giggle at that. “That’s what I told him.”

“Great minds think alike.”

Satoru’s POV

“And she said she still wanted to hang out after that.” Satoru lies on his best friend’s bed, a blunt between his fingers as he stares up at the ceiling.

“Well, maybe she has a thing for losers.” Suguru jokes, sitting on the edge of his bed with his eyes fixated on the screen in front of him as he moves his thumbs on the control.

“Ha ha, very funny.” He scoffs, sitting up. “If I was able to choose the girl then this would be way easier. I’m sure any other girl wouldn’t be as stubborn as she is, but I can’t say that to Hakai because she’ll say that I just can’t get this girl to fall for me.” He gruffs, bringing the blunt to his lips.

“Why do you even care what she thinks?”

Satoru inhales, letting the smoke invade his lungs before dragging it out, watching a cloud of smoke form. “I don’t, but then it’ll make me think I can’t get her to fall for me, which I know I can. I just need to try harder.”

“All of this is fucked up though, I hope you realize. Betting on a girl to stay loyal to for an entire term and mixing your ego into it, so now it’s not just about being loyal, but also getting her to fall for you.” Suguru explains, trying to get the idiotic albino to understand.

“It’s not. I’m sure she won’t fall for me that badly. It’s only for a term.” Satoru defends. “Plus, if it’s so bad, then why don’t you tell her what I’m doing.”

“You’re going to be late if you don’t get up.” Your best friend/roommate says, spraying on your perfume.

You let out a muffled groan into your pillow, shifting and putting the pillow over your head. “Five more minutes…”

Before you know it, you feel the blanket being yanked off you, causing you to hiss when your skin hits the cold air, bringing your knees to your chest for warmth.

“Nuh uh, because later you’ll whine that I’m a bad friend for not waking you up even though it’s your responsibility.” She says, walking toward the door, her only purpose being there in the first place to put on your perfume since you always have the best ones.

You sit up, bed-head wince worthy. “You’re so mean, Sho.” You scowl at her.

She turns her head just enough to look at you. “Thank me later.” She coos before walking out.

With a very dramatic sigh, you hop out of bed, throw on a robe, and head to the bathroom to freshen up. Once you’re done, you go to the kitchen to find Shoko sitting on the island, scrolling through her phone.

“One week isn’t enough…spring break needs to be longer.” You sigh, opening the fridge, shuffling past all the beer (that Shoko bought) to grab a bottle of water.

“Tell me about it.” She returns the sigh before realizing the time. “I’ve gotta get to class. We’re still meeting at the library later, right?”

You open the water bottle, nodding. “Yep.”

She walks up to you, pecking your cheek lightly along with a hug. “Okay, I’ll see you later. Love you!”

You smile softly. “Love you too.” (Yes, the two of you have lesbian allegations.)

When the door shuts with a soft click, that’s your signal to get ready yourself because you have classes not too long from now. Dragging your feet, you walk back into your room.

After putting on an outfit, doing your hair/makeup, and smelling like you just walked out of Bath & Body Works, you head to the main campus.

Your classes were alright for the most part. It was the same as usual, just listening to the teacher ramble about the syllabus for God knows how long.

When you finally make it to your last class, Psychology, which happens to be your major, you sit down and listen to the lecture. After your professor is done with their rambling for an hour about the syllabus, they jump into notes.

Pulling out your notebook and pencil, you get ready until your fingers are numb until you hear something, or rather someone entering the class. You turn your head to the noise to see a young man with white hair and blue eyes catch the attention of everyone, their necks practically breaking to get a glance at him. He’s wearing a black cap backwards, his white hair poking out of it through the hole adjustment.

Your eyes run down his body to see he's wearing a white shirt that hugs his muscular frame perfectly with grey sweatpants to match. Just looking at him, you could tell he’s one of those stereotypical frats who have no real reason to be on campus other than finding someone to sleep with. Your eyes make their way back up to his face to see he’s…already looking at you?

Shit.

You immediately turn your head, looking down at your notes and mentally cursing yourself, feeling heat rise up your neck. Damnit, he caught you staring.

“Sorry! Slept in. You can continue.” He says aloud to the professor with a sweet smile, and typically one would get scolded for interrupting class like that, but the professor let it go (probably due to his pretty privilege) and continues with the lecture.

Much to your dismay, you see him sit down next to you from your peripheral vision.

Why did it have to be you…?

There were plenty of empty seats, so why… why?

You mentally sigh, trying your best to ignore him and get back to writing notes until–

“Pst– do you have a spare pencil I could borrow?” You hear the nuisance beside you asking.

Seriously? A college student couldn’t even remember to bring the biggest necessity…?

Even though you want to ignore him, you also want this term to be a peaceful sail for you. It’s fine, you tell yourself. You’ll just deal with him today and sit somewhere else next class to avoid him from here on out. You know better than to negotiate yourself with a frat boy.

You turn to him and immediately fight back the gasp that was about to escape your lips. He has the most gorgeous pair of eyes you’ve ever seen. They remind you of a bright blue sky with tiny clouds moving inside of them. His skin is absolutely flawless with not a single pore in sight, which makes you believe acne fears him. He has his eyebrow, lip, ears and helix pierced. Not to mention the way he bats his albino lashes at you with every facial feature looking like it had been carefully handcrafted by God himself.

Immediately, you break eye contact, not wanting to fawn over this recipe for disaster anymore. “I think so.” You grab your pencil pouch and fish out a mechanical pencil and hand it to him. “Here.”

He takes the pencil from your hand, looking at the little bear sitting on top of it. “A bear?” He asks, tilting his head as if mocking you.

Embarrassment invades your veins, being so used to your pencils and completely forgetting that most people don’t have little bears on top of their mechanical pencils. “If you have a problem with it, then don’t use it.”

“No, I like it. It’s cute.” He coos, flashing you his perfect rows of teeth, his smile reaching his eyes. “Can I keep it?”

“If you don’t ask me for another one, then yes.” You reply, looking back at the screen on the projector to get back to your notes.

“Deal.” He says with such a dorky smile, you almost forget this guy is supposed to mean trouble.

Satoru’s POV

“Oh, come on! I just don’t like it when they get clingy! I make it very clear that it’s just for fun, and then they completely dismiss it after one night. It’s not my fault!” Satoru protests, gesturing his hands everywhere as if that’ll somehow prove his point.

“Yep, you’re an asshole,” Suguru replies, arms crossed as they sit at the campus’s cafe.

Satoru pouts at his response. “I just don’t want something serious. Labels are unnecessary.”

“If that's what you think, but one day that thinking will be your demise.” Suguru stands on his feet, stretching like a cat. “I’m gonna take a leak. I’ll be back.” The raven-haired man says before turning his heel and walking away.

The albino watches him walk away, practically boring holes into the back of his head. Why would that be his demise? Girls only want to be with him because he’s hot and nothing else. What would he have to lose?

“I bet you couldn’t keep a girl for the entire term even if you wanted to.” Someone says beside him. He turned to the sound to see Hakai, who he had completely forgotten was there.

He has no idea why she’s even here. He hangs out with her sometimes at frat parties when he’s too high or drunk to know better than to talk to someone who’s so widely known for being an asshole.

She is pretty, with irises consisting of a hot pink, her hair a light, wavy pink, and its length making way to the valleys of her breasts. Always wearing something anyone would consider “skimpy”, but who was Satoru to judge? He didn’t care what she wore. That wasn’t any of his business.

However, he’s heard the way she causes rumours, homewrecks relationships, the list goes on. So, in all honesty, he couldn't care less for her.

Sometimes she’ll follow him and Suguru around like they’re friends, but in reality, neither of them has the heart to tell her to go away.

He shoots her a glare, threatening to twist his lips in irritation. “Uh, yeah, I could.” He scoffs as if it would be the easiest thing in the world. “I could last a relationship with any girl for that long. No one would be able to resist me, realistically speaking.”

“Then let’s bet on it.” She says, mischief already curling on her lips.

“On what?” He tries his best not to sound annoyed.

“I get to choose the girl you have to date for the rest of the term. Since no one can resist you, it’s only fair that I get to choose.” Her finger dances across the rim of her glass. “That is unless you don’t think you could do it…?” She looks up at him, biting back her grin.

Satoru’s pride swells, almost bursting out of his chest as challenge blazes in his eyes. A smirk slowly pins against his lips. “You’re on.”

Hakai looks around the room, looking for a victim to pierce her fangs into.

And at the perfect moment, you walk into the cafe, chattering with a brunette-haired woman with eye bags visible from a mile away.

The pink-haired woman lets out a pleased hum. “Her.” She tuts her head in your direction.

Satoru follows her gaze, and it lands on you. “The girl from my psychology class…?” He asks, tilting his head and squinting his eyes to make sure it was you.

“You know her?”

“I just met her yesterday during class.” He says, watching the way you laugh at something your friend says, which he also recognizes, Shoko. They used to be close in high school, but grew apart once they got into college.

“That’s great! You’re already familiar with her!” Hakai replies enthusiastically, already finding this her new source of entertainment. “It should be even easier since you already know her.”

“For a DAY,” Satoru emphasizes the word to make it clear he hardly knows you.

“So, you can’t do it?” She taunts, tilting her head mockingly.

Satoru didn’t mind pursuing you at all. He thought you were beautiful the moment he set his eyes on you, hence why he sat next to you.

His ego and pride come running back at the sound of that. “Of course I can. You’re on.”

“I heard a rumor that she's dating the girl beside her. It’s only a rumor, though, so I’m unsure. You’ll have to figure that part out yourself.” Hakai says, analyzing her manicured hand in front of her.

…

Wait, what?

༺♡༻

The next day, you walk into your psychology class, making sure you sit in a spot beside someone. You need to avoid him, especially since you saw him talking to Hakai earlier. She’s bad news. 

Unfortunately, the person sitting next to you had spotted a friend who arrived to class a bit late, so they got up to sit with them.

Of course.

However, the lecture has been going on for at least half an hour, so maybe he’s a no-show–

“Hey, cutie.” The albino sits beside you, and you can’t help the sigh that escapes your lips, not even making eye contact with him yet.

“What did you just call me?” You turn, staring daggers into him.

“I called you a cutie…? I thought it suited you. You also don’t look very pleased to see me.” He pouts, crossing his arms on the desk and laying his head on it as a cushion, head still turned toward you.

“What gave it away?” You reply sarcastically, continuing with your note-taking.

“I’m pretty good at reading people.” He smirks, proud of himself like he just solved global warming.

“Well, this is psychology.” You reply, multitasking as you speak to him and write down the key takeaways from the projector.

Satoru just stares at you, his head still lying on his cushioned arms with a pout, not caring to even pick up a pencil at least look like he’s doing something.

“I saw you at the cafe yesterday.”

“Did you?” You saw him too, but he doesn’t need to know that

“I did. You were with a girl. Are you two dating?”

This makes you pause the movement on your pencil, snapping your head to look at him in disbelief at such a conclusion. “What?”

He tries to come up with a reason as to why he would jump to such a conclusion, when in reality, he was just confirming, in case the rumor Hakai was talking about yesterday was true.

“You two just seemed to get along really well when I saw you two together. You looked really happy around her.” He says as his defense.

Your eyebrows touch in confusion. “Because she’s my best friend…? Why wouldn’t I enjoy being around her?”

He shrugs. “True.” Thank God you’re single.

You want to punch him.

“Can I have your number? To send me the notes?” It was partially an excuse to get closer to you, but also…he wanted pictures of the notes.

You slowly look away, going back to moving the pencil on your paper. “Stop talking to me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

༺♡༻

For the next week, he’s been annoying you nonstop. He’s been asking you to send him photos of your notes (which you didn’t, leaving him sulking), telling you the most random things that happened at his frat party the night before, and just being a total thorn in your ass.

“And then Suguru barfed like really badly. All over the toilet. I told him not to drink that much, but he didn’t listen.” He shrugged as if it were a lost cause. “It was chunky too.”

You cringe at that, looking up at him as you walk out of psychology class with him glued to your side. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Okay, I was half joking on the last part. It’s true, but I also just said it to get a reaction out of you.” He admits, sticking his tongue out teasingly.

He has a tongue piercing…?

Has that always been there?

“Why are you still here?” You ask, stopping in your tracks. “Don’t you have a party to get ready for or something?”

“Nah, there isn’t one today.”

“Then why are you here?”

“To hang out with you.”

You look at him suspiciously. “Y’know I don’t do one-night stands, right?”

“Oh, come on. That’s not what I meant. I like talking to you. I don’t wanna sleep with you.” He was somewhat telling the truth.

Yes, he was talking to you because of the bet, but when he did talk to you, he genuinely enjoyed your company, as mean as you were sometimes. Also, he wouldn’t mind sleeping with you, but if that’s not something you want, he won’t cross that line. Ever.

“Why are you even interested in someone like me? I don’t like partying, socializing, and basically everything that makes you well– you.” You speak a bit too boldly, trying to emphasize you’re his opposite.

“Ouch.” He says, bringing a hand to his clothed chest over his heart and clawing at it. “How could you?” He says, a dramatic look of anguish piercing his expression.

You shrug nonchalantly. “Sorry, but it’s just how it is.”

“What if that’s what I like about you?” He admits.

You can’t help the crinkle between your eyebrows. “Huh?”

“What if I want a break from all of that? Partying and all that crap. And that ‘break’ happens to be you?” He says with a grin as if he said something remotely smart, which he didn’t.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m not a vacation. I know this might sound crazy, but I’m actually a real person with a life outside of your foolishness.” You cross your arms in defiance, an irritated look taking over your expression.

God, you’re so stubborn!

Usually, girls would’ve already thrown themselves at him by now, so why haven’t you?! Can it be that you don’t think he’s attractive? No way. That can’t be true. He’s Satoru Gojo for crying out loud! Women want to be with him, and men want to be him. It’s been that way for as long as he can remember. There’s no way you can’t fall for him. He just has to try harder. That’s it. Or this might do some serious damage to his ego he won’t be able to recover from in a long time.

“You’re not just some escape. I really do like hanging out with you. You’re fun to be around, and I never met anyone like you. It’s really refreshing. Can we just hang out? Once? If you hate it I promise to leave you alone.” And maybe a small part of that was true that he unconsciously didn’t recognize.

Your eyes visibly widen, but only for a moment. You take a second to process his words, to determine if what he’s really saying is the truth or if he’s got some stupid ulterior motive. And maybe a small part of you appreciated what he said that you didn’t consciously recognize.

After a bit of thinking, you let out a sigh. “You’ll promise to leave me alone?”

“If you hate it, yes.” He admits, nodding his head.

Well, you’re sure you’ll hate it. So, all you have to do is hang out with him for a few dreadful hours, and then it’ll all be over.

“Fine, but if you’re fucking with me for some kind of sick entertainment, I’ll chop your balls off.”

“Oh~~ Kinky~~.” He teases with a smirk. You pinch his arm in return. “Ouch!” He pouts, rubbing the spot.

You turn your heel and begin to walk away. “Let’s get this over with.”