Rei knew he shouldn't probably be seen hanging out with Enya's best friend in public, especially in the cafeteria where all rumors and gossips are made, but damn the other boy's smile looked so awkward (and cute) that it made Rei laugh despite every part of him telling him not to.
It looked like he ate something bad, Rei thinks. He fights a smile from appearing on his lips once again.
"What the hell," He whispers, hoping the boy beside him would not hear. Unfortunately, based on the boyish smirk on the latter's face he definitely did.
Xavier cocked his head to the side and looked at the aisle that served various snacks. His eyes scanned the numerous varieties of food served. "Do you want anything?"
Despite knowing that the taller boy wasn't pitying or making fun of him, his pride did not allow him to say yes. He shook his head and sipped his coffee, internally grimacing as it was still quite hot. "I don't need your money."
The boy beside him stares at him openly, confusion evident in his face. Rei tried not to look conscious and play with his hands, which he usually does whenever he gets nervous. He reaches for his coffee again but Xavier suddenly pulls the cup away from the shorter boy's reach, making him look directly at Xavier's dark blue eyes.
Rei immediately looks away, afraid of drowning in the taller boy's eyes. "Give it back,"
"I won't unless you let me buy you something."
"I don't need your pity money." Rei retorted, scowling upon seeing that Enya was looking at them with a weird expression on her face. Maybe she sent him here to goad him into saying yes and when he agrees with his proposal she'll announce that Rei is merely taking advantage of Xavier's kindness and an unlimited supply of money because he's poor and etcetera, Rei's negative side tells him.
The taller boy frowned at Rei's continuous refusal. His shoulders sagged when he realized that Rei would never agree to his proposal. His eyes followed Rei's in a final attempt to coax him into agreeing, but the shorter of the two refused to look at him.
Awkward silence enveloped the two. Xavier stared at Rei for what it felt like a century until he stood up without saying anything and went towards Enya, who immediately looped her arm around his. The girl looked at Rei, raised an eyebrow, and tugged Xavier's shirt as if giving him permission to finally leave the cafeteria.
A few minutes passed and Medea bid farewell to her friends and made her way to her dorky friend's table, bringing a burger. She almost shoved it inside her friend's mouth with the wrapper still on which made Rei realize that he cannot refuse since it would make Medea mad and nobody likes it when Medea gets mad. He unwrapped the burger and immediately started eating it, nodding in satisfaction while chewing at how delicious it was.
"What's with Mr. Knight going to you, the maid in this story?" The girl asks as she bites into her pizza slice. Rei drooled at the sight of the pizza but looked away to not feel even more envious. It's alright, he already got himself a free burger. And he will be getting his wage next week!
He can finally treat himself to a good dinner.
"A maid, really? Can't I be a lost prince?"
Medea gasped out loudly in mock surprise. "Definitely impossible. No prince is as sarcastic and snarky as you are."
"Insolent," Rei finally finished eating the burger the girl sitting across from him gave. "Can't a prince different from the usual character sometimes?"
"Not in Princess Enya's story,"
Medea pointed to a nearby group of girls looking at the two of them with a fry. "Look how the princess's servants are glaring holes at you. They're definitely going for your head, maid."
Rei looked at the girls Medea was pointing at and raised an eyebrow at them. They looked away and pretended to do something else. "If I'm a maid, aren't they supposed to be at my side? You know, servants versus the royalty?"
She grabbed another fry to flick her friend's forehead. "Again, not in Princess Enya's story. Apparently, all the other characters here are your enemies except me."
"Who are you in this storyline, oh esteemed Medea?" Rei feigned curiosity as he sneakily snatched two fries from her bowl.
Medea glared at him but continued the story while doing weird motions with her hands. "I am your Fairy Godmother, bringer of spring and rainbows and everything blue! Would you like a carriage or a blue gown this instant?"
"I'll definitely go for a carriage. I can sell it for a thousand bucks to some folks who like historical stuff," Rei thinks back to a documentary he watched one time on the bus as he went home before of some people with weird fascinations to everything historical. "If the carriage you give me is really pretty, I bet it can be sold for as high as ten thousand--"
"And this is why you're not a lost prince in this story,"
Medea dramatically sighs. "If you were a prince, you would definitely go for the blue gown. You'll wear it to the ball where Jest is the crowned prince and when he proposes marriage to you, you will then tell him--"
The boy interjects. "Jest? Why is Jest the prince?"
"Well, who else? Do you want Mr. Wade to be the prince, instead?"
Inappropriate thoughts of Mr. Wade wearing a kingly outfit filled the boy's mind. He immediately chased those thoughts away and waved a hand in front of Medea who was apparently doing the same thing, except that she's still daydreaming in broad daylight.
Rei wanted to shake her out of it when the bell did it instead of him. Medea jumped from the sudden ring of the bell signifying recess was over, stomping her feet angrily at her daydreaming being interrupted.
She threw a middle finger at the bell and Rei stepped away, pretending for a minute they weren't associated. He was terrified at the thought of being called to the principal's office because of him not reprimanding his friend as she pointed a middle finger at the school cafeteria's bell.
After a few more middle fingers and a lot of cursing, his friend beamed at him after her business. "Your next class is Calculus right?"
Rei sighs. He despised that subject. "Yeah,"
"Well, good luck! I'm skipping that class. See you later, alligator." She says, pinching her friend's cheek and then walking away.
Rei watched her make her way to the next floor that led to the rooftop. He silently wished he could come along, but he knew that skipping a class would affect his grades badly. Studying under a scholarship is hard.
Five minutes was enough to arrive at his next room. Unfortunately, Xavier was already there alongside Jest and Enya. They sat on the front row, which meant it's the farthest row for him. As usual, Enya scowled at him as he passed by. Rei once again thought of the reasons why the hottest guys, everyone else's words not his, are even hanging out with her.
Birds of the same feathers flock together? Rich, popular, and hot?
Again, everyone else's words, not Rei's.
Jest grins at him which Rei ignores. He always did, even on the first year when Jest tried to flirt with him as Enya was busy talking to an upperclassman regarding how to run for the student council. She always had quite unattainable goals (well, for Rei at least).
Rei could still feel someone's eyes on him even as he sat on the farthest row and the farthest chair from the popular friend group. Maybe because he was curious or maybe he just wanted to look around instead of immediately jumping into his notes, he looked up to where that someone seemed to be.
And of course, his brown eyes met familiar dark blue ones.
Xavier tilted his head to the side slightly and smirked. Rei felt his cheeks flush as he turned away. What is he planning?
Rei thought of the situation as a weird thing. Xavier never looked twice in his direction before. He was always behind Enya, always helping her in carrying her bag or any other things that were difficult to be carried alone, or was just silent beside her, watching scenes caused by his friend unfold with an impassive expression on his face. He only talked when necessary. Rei did think before that the boy and Enya were dating, but he happened to hear someone ask Enya about it, and she replied that if she would date him, it would be as if she was dating her own brother.
So, definitely not dating. It was more on a knight and princess thing, except the princess, is secretly a witch and the knight is on a slave contract.
Rei found himself once again lost in thought. What could possibly be the trigger why the once cold and composed boy is suddenly out of his usual character?
Some might think it's bizarre as well that Rei was invested in how the other boy is suddenly almost not like himself, but when did Rei care about what others think?