Honour

XIV : Salty

You sat back down cross legged at the small coffee table with the cinnamon bun you stole from Haise a few moments ago, waiting for Ginshi to close the television before you could tackle your endless pile of homework.

"Alright dude, I don't wanna know about that Trump guy anymore." You sighed when the blonde's eyes were still glued to the screen. "That's enough bullshit from America. Tooru, close that thing."

Before Mutsuki could take the remote control, Saiko took it and closed the TV while you both thanked her and Shirazu whined.

"It's entertaining!" He argued. "Come on, it's super funny to see how downhill that country went!" You couldn't help but agree with him.

"No wonder you're failing math." Urie muttered from beside you. "Listening to an idiot like that probably influences your brain as well."

"Someone's salty today." You remarked. Urie's been a bit meaner towards Ginshi today, but you didn't know why exactly. You just blamed it on the rivalry those two started when the QS squad became a thing.

"Let's just get this stuff over with." Shirazu sighed before hauling his math binder on his lap to work on the things you had to hand in soon.

"I don't understand that!" Ginshi exclaimed while pointing down at his exercise book.

"Then figure it out. The teacher didn't give us notes for nothing." Urie retorted while writing something for his biology class.

"I read the fucking notes, excuse you. I'm not an idiot." The blonde boy snapped back. "But I still don't understand."

"Sounds like an idiot to me." Kuki muttered, absolutely done with his shit. You weren't exactly expecting him to help him, though. Urie categorically refused to help anyone, even his own squad, when it came to school work. You're still surprised Haise chose him as the squad leader. Sure, he had the strength but the guy had zero interest in teamwork (other than with you, as you recently learned).

"Here, I'll help." You suggested, getting up and stepping over Urie to reach Ginshi who was on the other side of the couch. "What's the issue here?" You then asked while you sat down next to him.

You really regretted sitting down, considering you were almost squished between him and Saiko, but you couldn't get up now. You felt like it would be sort of rude, in a way.

"This fucker." He then pointed down at an equation. "I don't remember what number the n in the parenthesis has to be." You heard Urie grumble out another insult under his breath and you could basically feel the eyeroll that came with it.

"That's because we don't know it." You hesitantly answered. Did he not read the instructions that came with the problem? It literally read 'find n'.

"Then how the fuck am I supposed to solve the problem?!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air out of frustration. In the corner of your eye, you noticed Mutsuki leaning in to check what the issue was.

"You're supposed to find the value of n. It says it right there, Shirazu." The green haired male pointed at the few sentences at the top of the page. "Did you read that?"

"... I thought that was irrelevant." He muttered, turning bright red.

"Oh my god." You facepalmed. "Thank goodness being in the CCG doesn't require that much math."

"But how am I supposed to solve it?" Ginshi asked. You had to bite back your groan of frustration at how clueless this boy was. Does he even listen in class? (Not that you're much better, you ditched your biology class to blackmail the principal... But at least you understood science!)

"You isolate the variable." You briefly told him. He nodded and went to work while you let out a sigh of relief and went back to your spot. You just hoped you didn't need to go through anything like that ever again (now you sort of knew why Kuki didn't help you guys).

"He's a fucking imbecile." Kuki muttered while you gave him a nod of agreement.

"He is, but I somehow love him anyways."

"Oi, that's not how friends treat each other!" You heard Ginshi warn behind you.

"He fucking sucks. What an asshole." You added, taking back your previous words. Urie glared daggers at Ginshi (who was satisfied with your insults) before returning to his homework while you tackled yours.

You scratched your head as you read the question for what must have been the millionth time. Your pencil has been floating over your physics assignment for well over five minutes now, without having written anything down at all. You had no idea how to start any of it. It's like at this point, you didn't even know how to read.

Urie soon noticed your trouble. "Having issues?" He asked, leaning over to see what you were working on. "That problem's easy."

"You think?" You snapped back. "I have no fucking idea what to do, Urie. Keep your teasing for later." You really didn't think being patronized by Urie would help you advance in your homework.

"The variable you need is here." He then pointed down at a number on your page. You caught a whiff of his cologne (you think he wears cologne? Maybe not, you don't really know) and you swore you could have fainted right there. "It's the basics he taught us Monday. That's the formula you need to use."

"Oooohhh..." Something inside you clicked and within moments you were writing like your life depended on it, using your spare hand to man the calculator near you.

"Mucchan, pinch me." Saiko said, glancing between the two of you. "He did not just help (Y/N) with their homework."

"I think he did." The green haired male confirmed. "I don't know what (Y/N) did to make him bend to their will, though."

"That's scary to imagine. I don't think (Y/N)'s capable of blackmailing." Saiko said, supressing a shiver as she watched Urie explain a physics concept to you.

"They are." Shirazu butted in. "They blackmailed the principal into not expelling Urie, apparently."

"No way..!" The bluette quietly gasped. "No wonder Urie's got a soft spot for them."

Both Mutsuki and Shirazu were about to object to the possibility of Kuki actually liking someone before they turned their attention to you and the purple haired mystery.

"Thanks, Kuki!" You exclaimed, flashing him a bright smile to which he responded with his own soft smile. You secretly started smiling more just to see his, actually. It's so beautiful and rare...

"No problem. Tell me if anything else is bothering you, but I doubt it. You're a pretty fast learner." He answered before going back to the book he was supposed to read in a certain class that you didn't have yet.

"Okay, yeah, I've got nothing here." Ginshi muttered, almost appalled. "But he's gotta be doing it to manipulate them, right? Maybe he wants something from them."

"That's..." Tooru looked back at the two of you for an instant, calculating the possibilities. "I doubt it."