[log] Ito Ran, Okawa Noeru
Date: 06.27.07
Rating / Themes: PG13+ / mild gay-bashing, language
Summary: Out to relax after a morning of practice and rehearsal, Ito Ran stops by a new music store -- and runs into a couple of Seigaku volleyball team members. Okawa Noeru is not having a good day, and Ran proves he's not a complete ass. :D;



"Hey! Faggot!"

The trick to dealing with bullies, Ito Ran had found, was to ignore them. Don't let them know that they bothered him, when they tried, or let them think that their existence was worth the effort to either lift his head or even raise one condescending eyebrow in their direction. Just ignore them.

It was a good idea. In theory.

Yet it wasn't always an easy principle to live by.

Least of all when someone started throwing around the "F" word.

Ran paused in flipping through the shelf of CDs, his fingers resting on the edge of one tipped jewel case. The music store was a bit off his beaten path, closer to the street courts he'd come across on one of his runs. But after an afternoon of tennis practice and a session of clothes fitting -- rehearsing various poses and feigned expressions -- he'd felt that he deserved something to brighten his day. Yohji was still on probation so far as he was concerned, and thus, off limits as a form of distraction. More tennis, while ideal, was not a good idea this close to his first major competition in Japan. Even he needed to relax and unwind some days.

Using methods he preferred and not being turned into a mannequin for a bunch of tittering females who shouldn't have been set loose with sewing needles.

Music tended to be the best option left to him, but it was too early for the clubs. So, he was standing in the small, unfamiliar store, shopping, instead. There had even been some promising-looking things thus far though he'd yet to decide what to treat himself too. From the sound of it, he also wasn't going to be doing so anytime soon.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you, fag!"

Ran sighed and lifted his head, pink hair falling in his narrowed eyes. A quick glance around, however, showed that the loudmouthed idiot wasn't even addressing him. Ran raised an eyebrow at the two youths in the aisle across from him.

Well, that was a surprise.

Well, at least the day had started out well, Okawa Noeru figured as he stared down at his feet, and catching a glimpse of the other guy's feet as well. He had left home rather late, his mother had wanted to have a talk with him about his sleeping habits lately. They had been off, to say the least. Nightmares, insomnia, the whole deal. However, he had been naïve enough to think that his mom hadn't noticed, but of course she had. She was rather prone to watching him like a hawk, so why shouldn't she?

After an seemingly endless onslaught of Are you sure you're all right, they're not being mean to you at school are they, why won't you tell your mother anything, what did I do wrong, can you promise me that if something's wrong, you'll tell me, pumpkin, and the like, Noeru had finally managed to escape, using a rather vague lie about since they had the day off, it would be ideal for volleyball practice. Not that he had really said anything about them going to practice for real, so maybe it didn't count as a lie, but either way...

Here he was, at his favorite music store, since music always managed to brighten his mood. That was, until he ran into Fujihito Junpei. He was a member of the volleyball team, and thought of himself as being rather close to their captain, Matsuya Ryuichi, however Noeru wasn't really sure about that. Fujihito was also the type of person who looked down on anyone and everything, especially if they were what was nicely called misfits. Or nerds. Whatever you chose to call it. And that fitted Noeru rather well. Far too well really, and he was quite aware of that himself.

Fujihito wasn't quite the ringleader when it came to the team's treatment of Noeru, that position belonged to Matsuya, popular, charismatic and handsome Matsuya, whom the girls adored and the guys thought was cooler than just about anything. Fujihito shared that opinion, and had apparently made it his life's purpose to do Matsuya's bidding, even when not asked to. And running into Noeru like this was probably a chance too good to pass up.

"Are you deaf, fag?" He reached out and grabbed the collar of Noeru's shirt, pulling the younger boy close. "Talkin' to you here! You think you've got any business here, huh? Your smelly gunk's gonna ruin this place, you know!"

Fujihito paused, suddenly noticing something from the corner of his eyes. He turned around, and Noeru followed suit, eyes landing on a guy with pink hair, a few steps away.

"Whaddya starin' at, Barbie", Fujihito barked.

"Haven't the foggiest clue, but it looks like an overstuffed gorilla in need of muzzle," Ran answered flatly, moving a step back from the slanted shelves of CDs. "You mind keeping it down over there, Sasquatch? Some of us are trying to shop."

Fujihito dropped Noeru, or rather, shoved him away so hard that he slammed his back into the cd shelf behind him, as he quickly advanced towards the pink haired boy. "Whaddya call me, you fruit? Huh? Mind your own fucking business, will you!"

Oh, that was intimidating.

Only…not.

Ran tipped his head to the side, his expression falling somewhere between his normal disinterest and vaguely amused, as he was advanced upon. "Sasquatch," he replied automatically. "Big, hairy thing. Looks almost human, only not really. Rather stupid."

He paused, canted his head in the larger kid's direction and smirked. "Sound familiar?"

A large man who wore the logo of the store on his t-shirt came up to the three boys and said coldly: "You guys mind taking this outside? You start something here, and you ain't coming back here, you get that?"

Fujihito glared at him, over at the pink-haired guy, down at Noeru and then back at the clerk again, before turning around and shuffling outside. Noeru remained behind, eyes huge as he blinked at the guy with the pink hair. "Tha-- thank you...?"

Unperturbed, Ran shrugged at the store worker and turned back to the CDs he'd been browsing. He hadn't, after all, actually done anything that hadn't been provoked. "Might not come back anyway," he decided softly, not with that sort of a headache looming around. Or if he came back, he might drag one of his own teammates with him.

Maybe Yohji. When he wasn't on probation.

He flipped through the CDs, pulling one out and turning it over in his hand to read the back. "You got any Latino house?" The man pointed him to the international section before turning and walking off. Ran sighed. That was probably a "No."

Or an "I have no idea what you're talking about." Which, really, was the same thing as a "No."

He set the CD back down, glancing over at the nervous-looking kid starting at him. "For what? I just looked at the guy. He's the one that got bent out of shape over it."

Waiting, and waiting, and waiting ever so patiently for a reply, Noeru stood locked in place, shyly studying the other boy's hair - it was pretty amazing - and jumped when he suddenly was spoken to.

"Yeah... Yeah, true, but... Uhm... You kinda... You know... Uhm... Helped me...? So... Thanks... I mean, even if you didn't mean to, you did, and, uh... Yeah...

Ran shrugged in response. "Yeah, well…not like it was problem. Idiots like that need kept on a short leash. Or at least castrated so they don't breed," he groused, moving towards the small selection of international CDs the store worker had pointed out to him. It never hurt to look, after all, and he didn't particularly want to go home. All he had there was a handful of homework, a test to study for, and his stepmother.

None of which particularly interested him. But he wasn't going to relent and head over to Yohji's place until Saturday.

Before Kantou, if his partner was lucky.

Skimming the CDs, Ran curled his nose. "Scottish bagpipes?"

"Wouldn't that hurt", Noeru mumbled, stealing a quick glance down at his own crotch, and when he looked up again, he found out that he was talking to thin air, as the other boy had already moved away. Fidgeting back and forth for a while, unsure of what to do, the second year from Seigaku finally came to a decision and shyly padded after the pink haired guy.

"I like bagpipes", he offered, then gave the other boy an uncertain smile. "I'm Okawa Noeru, second year in Junior High, and from Seishun Gakuen... Who are you? If... If it's alright for me to ask..."

"Eh." Ran shrugged and put the CD back where he'd lifted it from. "Not enough rhythm." He flipped through a couple more, frowning as he came across a CD of Celtic harp and another of traditional Native American flute in the same rack. "Geeze, aren't these in sort of order?" he grumbled to himself, then crouched down to look in the next rack.

"Ask what you want. Ran It-- I mean Ito Ran," he corrected. Ran swore he was never going to get used to stating his family name first. "Hyotei Gakuen, third year."

"Oh? It's nice to meet you, Ito-san", Noeru babbled, shuffling up beside the other boy. "What kind of music do you like? And from Hyotei...? Do you play tennis then? I think a lot of people in Hyotei play tennis, right? And uh... If you want me to shut up, I will, but I wanted to ask you something, so... Uhm... Can I?"

Ran glanced up from where he was squatting, one dark eyebrow arched sharply. "Yeah, sure. Nice to meet you to," he answered with a shrug, then went back to the CDs. "Likes? House, bit of industrial, some darkwave. Random stuff."

He slid over, going through the next rack CD by CD. "Like there's another reason to go to Hyotei? Buchou says it’s the biggest club in the district." And Ran could believe it, with the over two hundred members crowding both the indoor and the outdoor courts. Of course, as a regular, he had his pick of not only courts but opponents. Ran pulled out another CD and turned it over. It almost looked interesting. German, perhaps? So long as it wasn't a bunch of beer songs…

"Already said to ask what you want," he sighed, taking the CD in his other hand and continuing his way through the rest. "If I want you to shut up, I'll say so."

"Ri--- Right", Noeru stuttered. "Well, I mean... You helped me, right? So I kind of need to repay you. I don't have a lot of money, but I could always uh... Buy you something from a vending machine? Your choice which one of course." He tried a cocky grin that turned out far too goofy to be anything but, but at least it was worth a try.

"You don't really need to." Nor, really, did Ran want him to. He still held that he hadn't actually done anything of great importance, beyond being there.

Which was, yes, very important. It was him.

"But if you want to," he conceded, pulling out another interesting looking CD, "water's fine. I'm not eating a lot of junk right now." Not with Kantou in three short days. The last thing Ran wanted to do was to gain a few ounces of weight and put himself in traction on his speed plays.

"Just... Just water?" Noeru blinked, then nodded. "Right. Well... Uhm... Follow me?" He nodded towards the exit and then walked over to the counter, as it seemed like Ito was going to buy some CDs. Maybe he should too... But as soon as the thought appeared in his mind, he remembered that all his money was gone; it had disappeared into Matsuya's pocket the other day.

"Yeah," Ran answered, standing up easily and walking to the register. He flipped out his wallet, absently pulling out his debit card and charging the CDs. "Can you give me bag back too?" he asked the cashier. The man nodded and pulled a large, black tennis bag out from behind the counter while Ran put his wallet back into the pocket of his jeans. "Thanks."

Ran unzipped one of the side pockets and stashed the two CDs inside. "Okay," he agreed, shouldering the bag. "Let's go."

Noeru nodded, eyes still huge as he followed Ito outside. This guy was nothing like anyone he had ever met before, he seemed so sure of himself, so indifferent to everything, as if he stood above the rest of mankind, and that was admirable, the second year decided. He could never do that himself, he was always either in the middle of people or at the bottom, not high above.

Not quite sure what to make of his new acquaintance, he followed silently, fingers nervously flicking a couple of yen coins in his pocket. At least he could buy the guy some water; maybe that would make his life worth at least those 120 yen it would take to buy it?

Noeru hoped so.