you never told me to stop (acraffles)
A/N: scholarshipping is based on stereotypes and headcanons about schools. i don't quite know who started it but it's a pretty big thing now, and also something we've never meant to be offensive.
aside from being personifications of real-life institutions, of course, everything is ours, and none of this should be taken to reflect in any way on the schools themselves.
i don't like to warn just for same-sex pairings, but this is acsi/riâ1800+ words of silly fictional boys. with art by the lovely capitalhatter!
Both RI and RGS use their words like a whiplash. Their heads jerk up when he approachesâstill in uniform, the two of them, green and white and black.
âYouâre interrupting,â RGS tells him, speaking first. RI has crossed one leg over the other, and scowls into his cup; theyâre arguing, as always, and as always RI is losing.
âSorry,â says ACSI easily, not caring much. He drops into the seat opposite them. âJust saying hello, you know, donât mind me.â
RI is softer than his sister, less forceful, but sharper around the edges. He and RGS exchange glances across the table. âShouldnât you be at the match?â
âI donât have to. Youâll lose.â
RGS laughs while her brother splutters. The cold light isnât kind to him; he is an assortment of bony knees and elbows, one ankle propped on his thigh, radiating all over a kind of steely self-consciousness. ACSIâs tie is askew, and RIâs gaze lingers on his collarbone.
âYouâre on our school grounds,â RI says, cool, clipped vowels and perfect accent. A little jerk of his head, all condescending: âGo away, why donât you.â
âYou can stay,â snaps RGS immediately. âHeâs being pissy.â RI gives her a filthy look.
ACSI pays for both their drinks. RI elbows him in the ribs for this when RGS isnât looking, and stalks off with the remains of his dignity.
(ACSI doesnât want RIâs number but RGS gives it to him anyway.)
ACSI [01:05]: âs handing your ass to you next week
RI [01:10]: How did you get my number?
ACSI [01:13]: whatre you doin up so late
RI [01:13]: How did you get my number?
ACSI [01:13]: wait i know
RI [01:15]: How did you get my number?
âStop being childish,â RI hisses.
ACSI, peering out from behind the podium, barely looks at him. âShut it.â
âIâyou are soââ RI fumes, chokes on nothing, and is silent. After a moment ACSI retreats, ducking back under the heavy curtain, to find him spread-eagled there. Here everything smells like cobwebs and musty wood. RI has dirt stains on his uniform when he sits up.
âHow long before they find us?â
âNever,â says ACSI flippantly, and topples him again. Theyâre backstage, listening to the murmur of crowds outside. RI doesnât often do this, or at least he picks his hideouts wisely. But they had a game earlier and ACSI beat him twice and lost once which is good enough for a truce. Now he watches ACSI stretch, a whisper of tanned limbs.
âThis place stinks,â RI remarks to the curtains. Something stirs within them, scuttles and squeaks and he twists to look at ACSI. âWhatâs that?â
âInsects. Sounds like your choir.â
RIâs foot slams into him. In the scuffle that follows, a glance sideways tells ACSI they are really very close. RI pulls himself up into a sitting position, arms over his knees. His breathing is loud and harsh in the quietâheâs warm, so near it tingles, smelling of clean uniform and boy. Freshly washed. He looks bored.
ACSI presses his face into the curtain. Yeah, it stinks.
âYou can stay here,â ACSI offers. RI blinks at him and ACSI doesnât look long enough to notice RI is staring at his mouth. âThink Iâm gonna go off and, you know, actually talk to people, have a life.â
RI bristles, like ACSI knew he would. âSuit yourself, I have better things to do.â
âMaybe you donât realiseââ RIâs head is up now and heâs glaring, ââI have a reputation and the brains to keep it.â Then he does that thing again, narrows his eyes and speaks with sophisticated contempt: âItâs a little different from you and your less intelligent brotherââ
âYou are a dick,â ACSI snarls and they end up wrestling half behind the curtain and half out, they arenât sure who hits who first. RI blames him for the scolding they get when his principal drags them both out, and ACSI doesnât even pretend to care.
RGS [14:11]: Youâre cool and everything
RGS [14:11]: I donât mind you
RGS [14:12]: But as a sister I feel itâs my duty to warn you not to provoke my brother
ACSI [14:12]: whoa hold up
ACSI [14:13]: this is our thing
ACSI [14:13]: i insult him, he insults me
RGS [14:13]: Ugh you guys are so childish
ACSI [14:15]: i donât provoke him! he provokes me!
ACSI [14:15]: i donât even like him!
RGS [14:30]: What donât you like about my brother
ACSI [14:35]: you know the part where heâs a douchebag? yeah that part
RGS [14:39]: Funny, thatâs what he said about you.
Thereâs a moment when theyâre in the same place at the wrong time. ACSI has his feet up on the table, homework in his lap, he never spreads out his worksheets so his handwritingâs worse than it already is; the others are with him and heâs making fun of how HCI curses in Chinese. Next to him, MGS is eating a cucumber sandwich, and their laughter carries everywhere. They wave RI over. RI drops his bag on a chair and sits, with the rigid poise ACSI would never master (it isnât his style).
âI canât do this,â ACSI declares to the rest of them, and gives up. ACSI is smart but doesnât like to do as heâs told; RI likes to think heâs smarter when he isnât. This is one of the reasons ACSI would like to kill him. Itâs not why he canât concentrate when RI is around. Trigonometry can go hang itself.
RI is laughing and coming over to help, so pretentious, and he nearly misses how ACSI jolts in his seat when RI traps his fingers. RI removes the pen with excruciating care, bends to guide him through the equations, and midway realises heâs leaning in a bit closer than he needs to. ACSI isnât even trying to make out RIâs awful chicken-scratch. Familiarity breeds contempt. He squints at the paper for a few seconds but thatâs it.
ACSI looks at him, eyebrows raised, and RI thinks oh.
If it were anyone elseâanyone without their historyâRI would write him off with icy logic, just another boy who caught his interest, another nighttime fantasy. But ACSI is rival and ally and friend. RI doesnât like him but he could fall for him (is falling).
They meet at a debate. ACSI is somewhere in the audience, with the supporters, and halfway through he catches RIâs eye and smirks. Even from this distance itâs wide, careless, and infectious. It makes something stick in RIâs throat. RI loses his train of thoughtâstammers, and sees his opponentâs eyebrows go up and up. Opposite, ACSI is watching him with an odd expression.
ACSIâs team doesnât make it to the finals and for once RI doesnât gloat, just ducks out of reach when ACSI makes a halfhearted swipe at him.
RI avoids him for a month and then visits his campus on a whim, spends an hour learning the shape of it, mapping the long corridors. Just when he thinks heâs gotten away safe, ACSI catches him wandering somewhere near the squash courts. RI whirls around, expecting to be chased off, but ACSI only laughs and walks pastâheâs filthy from playing, looks like heâs in a rushâslaps his bottom and throws a last grin over his shoulder. RI swears he sees the mad flush that burns RIâs cheeks and doesnât even care.
ACSI [16:46]: WHAT WAS THAT
ACSI [16:47]: YOU SON OF A
ACSI [16:48]: THAT WAS NOT A GOAL
ACSI [16:49]: yOU CHEATING SCUM
RI [16:53]: Iâm sorry, I canât hear you over the sound of my sports teams beating yours.
It takes him a while to figure things out.
The rain forces them to seek shelter at the same bus stop. ACSI hasnât got an umbrella, and laughs it off; RI has one and refuses to share. ACSI is texting someone, paying him no attention, and because RI is RI he steels himself and takes the first step.
âIâve never told you,â he begins, âbut I, Iâer, I mean, youâre really quite attractive.â
Heâs been trained to be confident, but so has ACSI and both of them hate to lose.
âI know,â replies ACSI without missing a beat, like he hears this every single day. RI wants to smash his head against a pillar. Instead he grits his teeth and forges on bravely.
âPut your phone away and listen.â
âTrying to tell me what to do?â but he does it anyway. This should be the first hintâRI is too nervous to register it.
âAnd, and I think youâre,â he hopes ACSI will take his stumbling hesitation for sincerity, âyouâre at least worth somethingâno donât look at me that way Iâm sorryâI, right, yeah, and if you donât like me back Iâll justâpiss off, to use your unrefinedââ
âWhat the hell,â says ACSI right in his ear, and RI almost drops his bag. The bus stop is deserted. The roads are cloaked in sheets of rain. ACSIâs more athletic than he is and if ACSI kills him now no one will ever find his body.
âIâm sorry,â he bites out. ACSI gives him another incredulous stare because RI hardly apologises, not to him. âDid you understand all of that?â
âI am not stupid,â says ACSI furiously. âWhat do I have to do to tell you.â
RI blinksâstares fearlesslyâtakes a moment to collect himself. âOh,â he says at last, having found nothing else to say, and feels ACSIâs irritation like a burn. âI see.â
ACSI holds their stunned silence for an instant before he apparently makes up his mind. âThatâs enough, okay, come here,â dragging him closer by the wrist, eyes wide and sharp, âyou think youâre so cleverââ
âOh, but I am,â RI says, just because he can. He smiles a little. Itâs like this, seeâACSIâs fingers tight on his collar, up close in their shared space, swallowing each otherâs air. ACSI is very good at this. Thereâs an old lady at the bus stop opposite whoâll click her tongue at their uniforms, but nobody knows their faces.
The bus comes both too soon and not soon enough.
RI [17:05]: What time do you finish today?
ACSI [17:11]: idk prob around 7+
ACSI [17:14]: why dyou ask
ACSI [17:15]: actually why are you using your phone at all donât you have comps
ACSI [17:19]: whatâs that supposed to mean
RI [17:23]: Iâm on my way.