You flipped over the page of the manga you were reading under the table, only partially attuned to Sensei talking at the front of the class.

Every now and then, you'd steal glances over at Tsukishima, tracing your eyes over the back of his head, curious to know what was going on inside. Science was the only lesson you shared with him, and you hadn't been able to take your eyes off him since the class started. Not even your book was able to tune you out completely from your surroundings, and that was unusual.

"I expect the finished presentation by tomorrow," was what drew your attention completely back into the lesson. Presentation?

Snapping your book shut and propping it on top of your textbook, you glanced over the instructions on the board and whistled a sigh. You had to work in partners to complete a presentation on the cardiac cycle. How wonderfully stimulating.

"[Y/N]-San?"

"Yes Sensei?" You responded, the corners of your lips twitching into a faint smile.

Her eyes dropped down to the manga on the table with a sigh, though she didn't pursue it further. "Would you mind working with Tsukishima-San, just for today? I know you both like working alone but it'll be much better if you worked as partners for this one."

Part of you was reluctant to agree, knowing it would only raise tensions between you, yet the other half was thrilled to spend more time with him. The only way you'd be able to get close was to force him to talk to you, right? With a simple nod, you began packing away your materials back into your bag to move to Kei's table. There were only three people sat around it, with the tall blonde positioned as far away as possible from the other two.

He jumped in his seat as you dropped your bag onto his desk, whipping to face you with a mixture of surprise and exasperation.

"Sensei wants us to work together," you informed him quietly, not quite meeting his eye as you propped open your textbook.

Sniffing humourlessly, he shifted his chair away from you bent over his own work, his long arms stretching over the table. You bared your teeth in frustration. Of course he was going to make this as difficult as possible - you had gotten off to a rocky start after all, first finding him crying on his porch, and then having a portrait of him displayed for everyone to see.

Your patience waning thin, you calmed your nerves and tried again. "If you do the first half, I can do the second," you suggested, twirling a pen around in your fingers as you anticipated his response.

Tsukishima twisted his head to glare at you over his shoulder. "I'll just do it all," he said bluntly, hitching his glasses further up his nose. "You can just give the presentation."

"Huh? B-but that's hardly fair! For both of us," you added quickly, your eyes sliding to his work. The page was blank - did he have any intention of doing it at all?

"Whatever."

Sighing, you began making notes for yourself to pass the rest of the lesson.

Tsukishima was out of the door the second the bell went. You watched dejectedly as he dashed out of the classroom, still in the process of filing your work into your bag.

"Ah, [Y/N]. How was that?" Sensei asked, tucking his chair under the table and bending down to retrieve something from the floor.

You bit the inside of your cheek. "It was fine," you lied, hoping your smile was convincing enough.

Sensei beamed at you. "I'm glad to head it! Oh, since you got on okay, do you think you'd be able to return this to him at some point? He left it behind." She held out a thin exercise book, the front page creased and labelled in spidery handwriting: Kei Tsukishima.

You bit back your frustration, biting out a smile as you accepted the notebook from her hand and hurried out of the classroom with your bag slipping off your shoulder. Shifting it back into place, you dug your phone from your pocket and brought up Yamaguchi's text streak. The two of you had been talking a lot since he gave you his number earlier that week, and sometimes met up with him at breaks and lunch. You were starting to consider him a friend, and you'd both managed to break each other out of your timid shell after just a few days of knowing each other.

Weaving through the complex hallways, you tapped out a message to the freckled boy. Do you know where Tsukishima goes at break? He left his notebook behind in class. And I have to do a presentation with him, but he refused to work together.

You wandered over to your locker as you waited for Tadashi's reply, busying yourself transferring your books inside. His message came a second later, pinging in your pocket. Not sure anymore. I'm by the bike shed if you want to come.

Biting your lip, you stowed your phone away without replying and made your way to the back of the school. Yamaguchi was loitering in the same place as usual, the patch of grass behind the shed looking as wilted as ever.

"Hey," you said, startling him as he looked up from his phone.

He reached up and scratched the back of his neck. "Oh, hello [Y/N]-San. Sorry for bringing you out here."

You waved away his apology, throwing him a smile. "It's okay. How're you doing?" You asked, leading him over to the wall and hoisting yourself onto it.

Yamaguchi laughed nervously, struggling to get himself onto the wall beside you. "Ehm, not so lonely anymore, I guess," he admitted sheepishly.

Your lips quirked into a grin at this, despite the warmth rushing to your cheeks. "Me too. I guess friendships don't have to form in the conventional way, huh?"

Yamaguchi blinked across at you, his blushed deepening. "W-we're friends?"

You nodded uncertainly. "I mean... I'd like to be. If you want to," you added quickly.

Yamaguchi's lips twitched as he tried to hold back a smile. His entire face was dappled pink now, his freckles appearing less prominent. "Yes. I-I'd like that. So, uhm, about Tsukishima-San, I'm not really sure where he spends his breaks anymore. But you said you had to work with him?"

You quickly filled him in with the details of the lesson, tucking a piece of hair out of your eyes as a cool breeze washed over you. A few students snickered at the two of you as they passed, but you brushed them off.

The two of you dwindled into a reflective silence as you finished, and you gazed up at the sunlight pouring over the roof of the bikeshed, following it down to the puddle by your feet. "It's strange how I'm more aware of him all of a sudden," you wondered aloud, playing with the buttons on your cardigan.

"How do you mean?"

You shrugged, watching Yamaguchi swing his legs to and fro against the base of the wall. "I know it sounds bad, but I never really noticed him before. Now I see him all over school, and - I don't know. It's just weird."

The boy simply hummed, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground below.

"Hey, Yamaguchi?"

"Y-yeah?"

You bit back a growl as the bell tolled, signalling the end of break. "How likely is it that Tsukishima will allow me to befriend him?" You asked as you climbed off the wall, brushing down your shirt with slanted brows.

The boy echoed your frown, running a hand through his light brown hair. "At the moment, incredibly unlikely."

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my lesson was cancelled this morning so i spent my free period writing this instead of doing coursework hahaha suE me ;-;