Ludibund: playful

Words: 1900

********

Reiji was bored. He was bored out of his mind. If he had to hear one more ticking second telling him how agonizingly slow the day was going, he would collapse. True to his word, he threw himself face-first onto his bed, and groaned as loud as he could. He rolled onto his back, and staring at the monotonous ceiling, prayed that something he could do would come up. Something fun and worthwhile, because it wasn't everyday that he got a day off. If it wasn't band activity, it was helping Starish with their activity, and if that wasn't even needed, well he really had nothing to do.

He slowly inhaled as he readied himself to let out another monstrous groan. And at that moment, the dorm room door opened, and letting out the air, Reiji watched as Otoya walked in. He looked worried and he intended to find out about what.

He sat himself up and raised an eyebrow questioningly. "What's wrong Otoyan?"

"Have you seen Haruka today? She's been missing all day."

Reiji furrowed his brows. "I've been in here this whole time. Have you tried calling her?"

The redhead shook his head. "No answer."

"What about her roommate, Tomochika?"

"She's out on a date. She won't be back 'til later today, but I don't know when."

Reiji scrunched his nose as he pondered over the possibilities. "Well you did check her room right?"

Otoya turned pink and stammered, "We-well no, but it's not like I can just walk in there. It's the girls' dorm."

Reiji chuckled and praised his kohai inwardly for his innocence. He stood up and clapped the redhead's back on the way out, stopping to ruffle his hair.

"Don't worry 'bout it, I'll go check."

Otoya widened his eyes. Before he could manage out his protests against Reiji heading into Haruka's room, the brunette was already out the door.

As he strolled down the hallway to the stairs that would lead him up to the girls' dormitory, he clasped his hands together behind his head and thanked the stars for Haruka's existence.

*****

Meanwhile, in Haruka's room, the girl in question was hunched over a sheet of music, scribbling furiously as a row of notes flashed in her mind. She had to get the melody right and at least finish the rough draft; all the different factors were flooding her brain, the tempo, the chorus, the accents, and the notes, they had to incorporate properly into the song, or Saotome would be dissatisfied. Not to mention, after this piece, she still had a stack of unfinished or yet-to-be-started compositions.

To say the least, Haruka was overworked. She had a bad habit of accepting all the offers that were made to her, and now she was swamped with the workload. She hadn't eaten anything since this morning when Tomochika dropped off a sandwich and smoothie before going out, and her stomach has been growling and grumbling to the point where she wondered if all this was worth the hunger.

She concluded reluctantly that her fatigue could be dealt with after she finished the demos; Starish and Quartet Night were counting on her after all.

She sighed in peace as she dotted off the last staccato of the page and sighed again when she flipped over to a blank sheet to compose the second page. To the same song. At this rate, she'll never get through half the pile like she planned before midnight.

She put down the pencil she'd been gripping for the past eight hours and stretched. Just when she was about to pick up the pencil and get back to a couple more grueling hours of work, there was a knock on the door.

"Haru-chan? You in there?"

She recognized the voice and stood up abruptly in surprise. What was Reiji-senpai doing in the girls' dorm? And at this hour? It was almost sundown; was he here to tell her that Saotome requested another song? She hoped desperately that wasn't the case as she walked to the door. She loved song-writing, but the deadline was too unrealistic for her to truly appreciate was she was putting down on paper.

Haruka was met with a beaming grim and she smiled back before stepping aside to let Reiji walk in.

"I knew you'd be in here, Haru. What have you been doing, holing yourself up in here all day?"

Haruka walked back to her seat at the desk where her compositions laid, and answered wearily, "Just working on music, mostly. I need to hand these in by Wednesday, so I've only got two days."

She looked back at Reiji who was seated on the edge of her bed, peering at her in a way that made her felt like she was caught doing something wrong.

"Um...so what are you doing here, Senpai? Is something the matter?" she asked politely.

She swore she saw his eyes gleam before he grinned and replied, "Nothing, nothing," he waved his hands. "Just checking that you're alright."

He stood up, stepped closer to her and leaned down to scrutinize her face. Haruka felt her face warm with the idol so close to her and backed away slightly. "S-senpai?"

He straightened himself up before stating rather than asking, "You haven't slept much, have you?"

Haruka seemed put off by the sudden realization that no, she hadn't slept. She'd laid in bed and rested her eyes, but if she remembered properly, she'd been awake the entire time, only drifting off once in a while just to snap back awake.

She wrung her hands nervously and glanced up at the brunette, who was glowering at her scoldingly.

"Well, I rested, but I didn't really notice that I hadn't..." she trailed off when Reiji sidestepped her and moved towards her desk. She frantically tried to shield her works in fear of the idol's wrath.

"Reiji-senpai?!"

The bruntte looked over to Haruka before giving her a soft reassuring smile and ruffled her hair. The composer backed away slowly from her compositions, trusting that he wouldn't do anything rash. The music for his  demo was in there after all.

She watched anxiously as Reiji swept the music into a small pile and pushed it to the edge of her desk, well out of her reach. When he was done, he grasped her hands, which were folded in her lap, in his own, and pulled her to her own bed.

"U-uh, R-Reiji-senpai...I s-should probably get back to work, I really don't have much time."

She tried pulling herself from his hold, but that soon proved an impossible feat. Despite the situation she felt herself reddening from his contact; he had pushed her into bed and was tucking her in, kneeling over her.

Haruka waited until he'd gotten off before she tried to move. She shifted herself into a sitting position and made to push the blankets off.

Reiji had his arms crossed, "Haruka," he warned. "You need sleep."

Haruka conflicted with herself. "But I can sleep after I finish. You guys need new songs to practice with."

His eyes softened. He looked to the pile. "Those are ours?"

The girl in bed stared at him like he should have known this the entire time and nodded meekly.

"Oh Haru. I can just ask to push back the deadline. We've still got a couple more months before the concert."

She shook her head, "No, that'd be too much trouble. Really, I'm almost done anyways."

Reiji warned her again, dragging out her name and looking every part the imposing mother, but somehow, her beating heart and flushed face said otherwise.

"If you try to move again, I'll have to resort to extreme measures."

Haruka furrowed her brows in determination and figuring he was bluffing, swung her legs out from under the blanket and over the edge of the bed.

Immediately, Reiji stepped to her, trapping her legs between his, earning him squeak of surprise. And much to her astonishment, Reiji began tickling her. To Haruka, it felt like his fingers were everywhere, then nowhere; his touch left her gasping for air, and the next had her trying to roll from his reach, laughter spilling from her lips.

She aimlessly tried to wave away his hands, but he skillfully dodged her swings and went back to wriggling his fingers against her sides, reducing Haruka to a squealing mess.

When he finally withdrew his hands, Haruka could still feel his lingering touch all over, and she gasped for air. She threw an arm over her face, her eyes watery from her uncontrollable fits of laughter.

Meanwhile, Reiji's eyes had widened to an almost comical extent. Towering over her on the bed, he finally realized the compromising position they were in.

While he tickled her, she had fallen back onto bed, and her skirt had ridden up. Likewise, her shirt had been pushed up so far up, he could see the rim of her bra. Not to mention, her panting, and her flushed face....he had to will himself to forcefully stop the onslaught of images that flooded his mind.

Before he could control himself, Reiji pinned her between his arms, and leaned down, his gaze on Haruka's lips.

From behind her arm, the composer could feel a soft pressure on her lips, and her eyes widened. Reiji lifted his face from hers, and with a gentle hand, moved her arm away from her face. He was met with an adorable expression, her eyes hazy, the blush on her cheeks having spread to her ears, and Reiji found it so maddeningly endearing.

Yet again, he crashed down on her lips, this time holding her arms above her head with one hand, the other finding its way behind her neck. Haruka whimpered into him, and just when the brunette was going to deepen the kiss, the door swung open, and a feminine voice burst out.

"Haruka! People are wondering where you've been~" Tomochika sang.

Quickly separating, the couple looked to the doorway, Reiji irritated at the disturbance, and Haruka sheepishly embarrassed. There stood Tomochika, looking thoroughly stunned, her mouth agape. It took a couple seconds, but it clicked, and she blinked out of her reverie.

"Oh." She stared at Haruka who was under a pissed Reiji, looking ravished. "Oh....."

The roommate backed out of the room with shuffled steps, Reiji's gaze on her as she closed the door with a soft click. After a second, a loud squeal could be heard from outside.

The idol chuckled and returned his attention back to the girl beneath him. Haruka was avoiding his eyes now, but still looked subtly elated.

Letting go of her hands, he reached down to tilt her head back to his, and leaned down just enough to brush her lips, his breath warm and fluttery. Hovering so close to her, Haruka could close the distance if she lifted her chin a fraction, but she waited for Reiji.

When he spoke, it was low and powerfully seductive, leaving Haruka's mind blank. "Why don't we continue where we left off?"

And that's how all traces of compositions flew far and fast away from Haruka's mind, and how she was once again thrown into overdrive. All by a bored idol who found a delightful way to be playful.