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To say Suoh Mikoto was on a mission was an understatement. It was rare he ever cared about schoolwork anyway, but when his teacher had threatened to fail him, he'd grunted, sighed, and hauled his ass to the library, after some urging from Totsuka and Kusanagi.
If he could finish this one research paper with some amount of proficiency, she'd promised not to fail him. And if she didn't fail him, he could finally escape from this high school hell hole. It wasn’t like he was going to university after this shit.
His entire high school career, he'd done an almost perfect job of avoiding the library. Going to the library was effort. Being in the library surrounded by books reminded him of reading, an activity he preferred not participate in.
However, this philosophy research paper wasn't going to write itself, and he needed a total of three sources. Three too many if you asked him. Why he had even taken philosophy as his elective was beyond him. Really should've chosen something else. Of course, of all the options, he assumed talking about some really old dudes’ theories wouldn't require all that much effort or thinking. Oh how wrong he'd been. This class was almost entirely thinking. Thinking and discussions. Two things Suoh didn't excel in at all.
So here he was, the night before the paper was due, at the library, and all he wanted was to punch the woman behind the checkout counter.
Of course it was just his damn luck that the one book he needed, Readings on the Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy was missing, and had been checked out for quite some time.
"Actually," the woman said, looking at her computer, "it seems to be overdue. Well technically it was due back today, so it might still come in..."
Overdue? Suoh rolled his eyes. "Hah..." he grunted, holding in his frustration as long as he could. "Can you tell me who has it?" He could only assume it had to be one of his classmates.
"Ah! Yes, it's Munakata Reisi."
Suoh's brow twitched. Of all the damn people...
Munakata Reisi. Student body president, Mr. Perfect, Mr. Always has something to say in class, Mr. Talks for way too long in class, Munakata Reisi.
Suoh hated that guy, and it was a miracle he hadn't punched him out at least once after class. The guy didn't know when to keep his mouth shut, and it made it all the more infuriating that he was the one with the book. Already he could imagine the smug ass grin on his stupid pretty face...
"He came in here not long ago, so you might be able to find him. I don't think I saw him leave," she said. "I'm sure he'd be glad to share the book with you."
"Mm," Suoh grunted, and immediately turned away from the desk. He was going to find Munakata Reisi, take the book, and finish this damn paper so he didn't have to ever think about school work again.
The library was a surprisingly large building, for the size of their hometown—four stories. Apparently there were different types of books on each floor, but Suoh had never cared to learn what was located where. It really didn't matter to him at all, especially since he planned on never coming back to this place.
There were large windows on each floor, which looked out onto the town’s public pool, and he paused to look as he stopped on the second floor. Suoh thought that was a little cruel, especially with the summer months rolling in. People trapped studying in the library, teased by the view of the cool, refreshing pool in the summer time. He wasn't one for swimming, but lazing about in a pool sounded much better than this.
He sighed, running his hand through his red hair, deciding he had to focus on finding Munakata. The faster he did, the quicker he could get this shit over and done with.
The librarian had said Munakata would be more than happy to share the book with him, and as Suoh weaved through the tables, looking for the dark-haired male, he wondered if that would truly be the case. The two were exact opposites—Suoh was lazy, wanted nothing to do with school, and had never even lifted a textbook to study in his entire career. Munakata, however—he was hardworking, charismatic, and disgustingly perfect.
A few times they had exchanged some words, Munakata saying something along the lines of, "As student body president it is my duty to make sure all the students in our class are at least attempting to participate. Why is it you do not try, Suoh?"
Suoh could remember replying that it was none of Munakata's business, and he'd moved on. Of course, it hadn't stopped Munakata from constantly getting in his face about it, as well as making subtle remarks about his work ethic here and there if only to drive his point home. They'd been classmates in their first year of high school, and Munakata had been equally as annoying back then as well. Thankfully, Suoh had avoided him in his second year, but now, in their final year, they had been together yet again.
Of all the people to get the book from, why oh why did it have to be Munakata? Suoh knew this meant he was going to get a lecture. If Munakata was a normal person, Suoh could've just asked for the book and moved on, but no. Munakata Reisi was no normal person, and Suoh knew it wasn't going to be easy.
He finally found him on the third floor, sitting at a large desk by the window. There were multiple books splayed out across the table. Papers were scattered about as well, and he had a laptop open, staring intensely at the screen. Absolutely horrible personality aside, Suoh had to admit, Munakata was easy on the eyes, especially when he wasn't talking. His deep blue hair framed his face, the strands barely caressing his cheeks, and his brow was furrowed in concentration, his violet eyes peering through his metal frames. He was masculine, but beautiful, Suoh noted.
Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself for the lecture which was about to come.
"Munakata," he muttered, and the president turned, staring up at Suoh. For a moment, Munakata looked shocked, his purple eyes widening, but then he smiled his smug-ass smile, and Suoh knew it was going to take all of his being not to punch the asshole.
"Suoh," he began, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Forgive my surprise; I never thought I'd see the day when I'd come across you in the library," he exclaimed cheekily.
Grunting, Suoh folded his arms. "Yeah. Anyway, you have the book I need."
Glancing out over the table, Munakata scanned the books he had strewn about. "Oya, is that so?" he asked. "I'm so proud to hear you're actually reading a book. I was unaware you had that skill," he hummed.
"And here I thought you'd maybe keep your mouth shut since I'm actually doing what you've been tryin' to get me to do for years," Suoh sighed.
"What's that? You mean you're actually trying to do schoolwork." He stood up, no longer wanting to be staring up at Suoh. "A little late in the game, wouldn't you say, Suoh?" he teased.
"You're not making this any easier, Munakata. I just wanna be done," he growled, glaring at the dark-haired boy.
"Now, now, Suoh. No one said school was going to be easy," Munakata hummed, adjusting his glasses once more.
"Y'gonna give me the book or not?" Suoh groaned, already feeling exhausted by the conversation.
"Hm. Perhaps," he smirked. "Which book is it?"
"Readings on the Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy."
There was a small glint in Munakata's eyes, and he sat back down, folding his arms. "Let me take a guess."
Suoh raised his eyebrow, watching Munakata intently. Really, how difficult was it to give someone a book?
"The teacher is letting you turn in a research paper so you don't fail the class, and if you do fail this class, you won't be able to graduate and you'll be held back a year in an attempt to finish high school," Munakata mused, and Suoh hated how he had guessed everything so damn perfectly.
"Hm."
"I see I am correct," he nodded. "Please sit down, Suoh."
With a sigh, Suoh yanked the chair out from the table, and plopped down in the seat, spreading his legs. "I don't have all night Munakata. I do want to sleep," he muttered.
"Ah, yes, we all know how precious sleep is to you," he replied smugly. Reaching down into his bag, he pulled out the large textbook. "This is the book you need, yes?"
Suoh nodded, "Yup."
"Well perhaps I'd be able to part with it," he grinned. "Unlike you, I finished my final philosophy paper weeks ago. I planned on returning the book once I was done here, as it is due back today. However, most things in life do come with a price Suoh, and I do believe you should be punished for your bad behavior," he said.
Suoh raised an eyebrow and leaned forward on the table. "Oh? Are you going to…punish me, Munakata?" Two could play at this game. If Munakata was going to be a shit, Suoh could be a shit right back.
Munakata's cheeks flushed, his pale skin turning the slightest hint of red, and Suoh was pleased he had made the pompous boy blush for a brief moment.
Clearing his throat, Munakata nodded. "...Yes. I am."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?"
"By making you promise to show up to graduation," he grinned.
At first, Suoh opened his mouth to protest. He had already made plans to sleep through graduation, pick up his diploma later, and be done with it all. Graduations were tedious, boring things, and Suoh had no intention to sit through speech after speech, especially when one of those speeches would be from none other than the boy sitting directly in front of him. He could only imagine how long Munakata planned on talking.
As much as Suoh wanted to say no, he much preferred to sit through a couple hours of people talking than another year of school. If he was lucky, maybe he would fall asleep during the ceremony. Plus, Munakata would have no way of knowing if he actually showed up.
"I personally will come to your house and walk you to the ceremony," he said, as though he had read Suoh's mind.
Rolling his eyes, he reached forward, holding his hand out. "Fine. I'll do it."
"Ah-ah," Munakata grinned, pulling the book back. "Did you really think it would be that easy?" he chuckled. "This is a punishment, so you'll have to play a punishment game," he smirked.
Suoh was convinced Munakata was, in fact, not a real person.
"Munakata," he grumbled. "Just give me the damn book. I'll go to graduation, I'll do the stupid paper."
"It just feels too easy. You've barely done any work all year," Munakata hummed.
With a sigh, Suoh rolled his eyes. "Munakata, have you ever done anything wrong?"
"Wrong?" Suoh watched as Munakata pursed his lips, his face flushing yet again. Suoh could only enjoy seeing the other boy grow a bit flustered.
"Yeah, y'know, skipped class, forgotten to turn in a homework assignment, drank a beer, made out with a chick on school property," he grinned, loving the way Munakata's face turned redder and redder, the longer Suoh listed off things. It was cute—he obviously had done none of those things.
Closing his eyes, Munakata pressed his glasses up and folded his arms. "No, I haven’t done of those things, and I don't see the point," he admitted. "It's much better to stay on task and do things correctly," he continued, staring awkwardly at Suoh.
"Guess you've never experienced a real rush then," Suoh shrugged.
"I don't have to, Suoh. I am quite content living my life this way. It feels good to complete assignments on time, and work hard, and see the payoff in good grades. Unlike you, I will continue my schooling, and eventually have a stable job. In fact, if I continue to excel at school, I can have any job I choose. What do you plan to do with the rest of your life? You have no semblance of stability," Munakata continued.
Suoh shrugged once more. "Guess I'll figure something out. I don't want to waste my time with all this shit," he grunted. Munakata looked surprised by how blase Suoh was. "In fact, I got better shit to do than this paper, so c'mon, tell me this punishment game."
Obviously whatever this game was thrilled Munakata, as he immediately began to smile yet again, looking rather pleased with himself. "Right," he said. "I'm going to put the book back where it belongs, and then you have to find it."
For a moment, Suoh stared at Munakata's smug face in silence. "Hah?"
"Basically it's a test to see if you even know how to use a library properly, Suoh," Munakata explained.
He groaned. Leave it to Munakata Reisi to attempt to teach him the most useless information. "Don't care," he grumbled.
"You're going to have to if you want the book," he replied, waving the textbook in front of his face.
"Fine," he grunted, though he had half a mind to lunge over the table and grab the book from Munakata's hands.
"Wait here for five minutes, then use the computer system to find the book number," he smirked. "It's not really that difficult, Suoh. I trust you'll be able to handle it."
"Yeah, yeah, hurry up. I don't got all day," he grumbled, sick of Munakata wasting his time.
He watched the other walk away down the hall towards the rows of books. Perhaps that meant the book belonged on this floor. Suoh mentally kicked himself for not paying attention when someone had explained how the library worked. He seemed to recall one class coming to the library specifically to learn how to research—too bad he'd most likely fallen asleep in some corner of the library until Kusanagi had come to get him.
What a pain this was. However, it was kind of cute how into this game Munakata had gotten. Perhaps the nerd was just a little bored. He tapped his fingers on the desk, and stared at the books spread across the table, and notebooks upon notebooks of various notes. Damn, Munakata really did work hard—no wonder he had zero time for anything else. It was a little sad; the idiot clearly hadn't done anything but school work and student council paperwork his whole high school career.
When it seemed as though five minutes had passed, Suoh sauntered over to the computer and stared at the search engine. Shit. What was the damn book called again? He yanked out his phone from his pocket and pulled up the title. Right. Readings on the Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. What exactly were these so-called 'Ultimate Questions'? Suoh's ultimate questions were why he had to play hide and seek with a high school student and why he even had to write the damn paper in the first place.
He jotted down the call number. B29 J56. That told him absolutely nothing. It didn't give him a floor number, or an idea of what section this book would be in.
He glanced around the second floor, peering down the hall. There was a large room on one side which had a sign that read Young Adult Fiction, and on the other side there was a large sign which just said Fiction. Neither of those things were what he wanted, though he was sure he'd seen Munakata walk down the hall. It was possible he'd used a different staircase to go to a higher floor.
He trudged up the stairs, making his way to the third floor. This floor had rows and rows of larger books, which seemed to be a bit closer to what Suoh was looking for. He wove through the shelves, not seeing the letter B at all. In fact, it felt like he had seen every letter but B.
He kicked at a larger shelf and cursed when it echoed against his foot and throbbed inside of his shoe. Dammit. Damn Munakata and his stupid game, and damn his dumb teacher for forcing him to do this stupid paper. Maybe he should've just dropped out.
Suoh stormed up to the fourth and top floor, swinging the door open angrily—it had to be on this floor. It took him a moment to orient himself, as he once again began weaving his way through the bookshelves, until finally, he found it. B. And through the shelves he saw Munakata leaning against one of the windows, next to an empty desk.
"Found ya'," he grunted, stepping out from between the shelves and storming towards him. He turned down the correct row and scanned for the book, hidden among the other massive textbooks. Pulling the book out, he walked over and waved it in Munakata's face, as the other had done earlier. "Done."
"Ah, not bad, Suoh. It only took you about fifteen minutes to get up here. It would've taken far shorter if you actually knew what books were located on what floor, but I suppose you did a decent job," he mused.
"Y'know, I could've just walked through the shelves until I found you," he pointed out.
"But you didn't, did you?" Munakata asked, as Suoh glanced down at the book.
"Nah," he shrugged. "I played your game. It was cute, how into it you were."
"Eh?" Munakata blushed. "Cute? That's…preposterous, I'm not cute."
"Yeah, cute," Suoh said, and he placed the book on the desk, leaning his hand against it. He shot a hand up and gripped Munakata's chin, tilting his head down as he moved in close, pressing him against the window. "Now we're gonna play one of my games."
He connected their lips, and kissed him gently, swiping his tongue over Munakata's lower lip. The other boy was surprised, taken aback, and he stood frozen, his back against the window. He kissed back when Suoh opened his mouth, and let out a sigh against his lips, though. Their lips brushing against each other, Munakata sucked air in through his nose quickly. Suoh's tugged on Munakata's lower lip with his teeth before letting go with a pop, grinning as he pulled away, staring at Munakata's flushed face.
"W-What th—what was that!?" he hissed, staying as quiet as he could in the library.
"It was way overdue if y’ask me. Now you've done at least one naughty thing. A punishment for a punishment. Hope no one saw," Suoh chuckled.
"...You're such a damn brute," Munakata muttered, turning away from him as he brought his fingers to his lips."
"Eh, I'd say we're even now," he smirked. "Thanks for the book."
Frowning, Munakata puffed out his cheeks, and rolled his eyes as Suoh began to walk away. "You better return that when you're done with it tonight Suoh. You'll pay any late fees if I have them," he warned .
"Yeah, yeah. See ya' at graduation," Suoh called back, waving the book back towards Munakata one time.