Yuki hates straight people

Yukio wasn’t fond of volleyball, as much as volleyball wasn’t fond of him. Nothing about the sport appealed to the boy, so it was a mystery as to why he remained on Calix High’s volleyball team at all. To Yuki, the ball was like a magnet in the worst ways imaginable, often soaring through the air and careening for his turned-head with malice. Sometimes, a spike would leave him with a black eye, others, he’d be left unscathed with nothing more than a few achey muscles that a good nights sleep would fix.
So he can’t help always asking himself why he stays, and why he endures bus rides with all his idiotic friends, and why he even bothers playing against Evolette’s team when they never actually win. 

The only reason he joined in the first place was to spend time with Zeno, but— Ugh. There he went again. Zeno was naturally dressed in his volleyball uniform, notably ironed to perfection,- Yukio knew he had a pet peeve for wrinkles, so it made sense. He had his sunglasses tucked into the collar of his shirt rather than placed upon his head as per usual, as to avoid them falling off; one would think Zeno actually held intention to play the game, in that case, but no. Yuki could only wish Zeno played the game right about now.
Only when a non-specific, bubblegum chewing, ditzy-looking cheerleader arrived, did Yukio start to sing praise of the sport, and how fun it was. Perhaps, if he did, it would be enough to distract Zeno from the brand new bimbo of the week, begging to be flirted with.

Of course, it never did. Yuki was forced to bite his tongue as Zeno strolled over to her, that in favour of participating in a volleyball match that their team never failed to lose. Yuki didn’t get what Zeno was to gain from the random flirting, because he was well aware — or… relatively aware that Zeno wasn’t the type to engage in random flings anyway. He got rejected often, and weirdly enough, he seemed pleased by the fact. Girls would turn their noses up at the sheer audacity of a calix boy attempting to fraternise with them, or the fact that said boy was Zeno, and he appeared to relish in their mortification. It was like watching a teen go around scaring children on Halloween, for nothing other than the fun of it.

Yukio couldn’t help watching, sneaking glances from the corner of his eye, lips quirking into a tight frown as such a vomit-inducing scene unfolded before him. The girl would usually scoff, and put her hand to her mouth in a show of disgust, which Yuki couldn’t begin to fathom himself. The mere idea of Zeno flirting with him shot unforgiving tingles through Yuki’s chest and birthed sweat within his palms. How people were capable of passing the brunet up because of some shitty, untrue rumours alone ( emphasise on untrue ), made no sense to Yukio, but then again maybe he should just shut it and be grateful. Because, while Zeno liked to play-nice and grit out half baked compliments to these girls, nothing ever came of it. 

Until, one day, anyway… 

“So, you’re from Calix?” Yuki couldn’t help but, er, eavesdrop, essentially. There wasn’t that much better to listen to, in his defence, unless he wanted to tune in on the sounds of their volleyball team losing horribly, or yet another of Terry and Auryn’s oh-so-riveting ‘smash, or pass’ debates. Besides, this was the best part, you know? The girl would stifle a laugh, with a knowing look to her friends, and ask about Calix like their school’s name burns while rolling off the tongue. Then, they’d send Zeno on his way, and the boy will have gotten his general tom-fuckery out of his system. It wasn’t a pleasant routine, but still, routine. Zeno was nowhere near, but these preppy chicks were so predictable.

“I’ve never seen you around before, I mean— I’d for sure remember a cute face like yours.” 

Oh.
Oh. 

Well. That was new.
While Yukio’s face instantly ran pale at the response, Zeno surprisingly wore a similar shocked expression, except for the fact that his face rapidly began to grow a bright shade of red. 

“I, uh,” His voice dropped barely above a mumble, hands twitching to do just about anything — finding resolve in his own hair, and trying to organise himself through the familiar action of running fingers through soft, brown strands. Yuki knew Zeno did that when he was nervous. But, why would he be nervous around one of these prissy, high-status, evolette girls? Around her, and her stupid cherry flavoured lipgloss, and obnoxious pom poms. It was a one-off, Yuki knew. She caught him by surprise, and that was all. Anybody could’ve done it.
— Could he have done it? Yuki can’t help but think. Anybody could’ve done it, but still, he can’t manage to pinpoint a specific time where Zeno looked at him like that.

“Right, uh. We don’t come here much … because, away games…” Surely, there was more to that sentence, yet Zeno trailed off. The girl beside him, Nia, only laughed. Not like how Yuki had imagined it, shallow and judgy, but like a light giggle.
What an annoying sound. 

“Oh my gosh, did I make you nervous?” She asked, the acknowledgment only bringing even more of a flush to Zeno’s cheeks. “I totally did! I was, like, loving flirting, but, like, this is so adorable.” Of course she says ‘like” every other sentence, too. If Yuki could roll his eyes hard enough to lose vision, he likely would. There was just no way Zeno was possibly impressed by the totally not cute, dummy act that this chick was going for. Yuki couldn’t wrap his head around it, as much as he stared,— because, now he was completely staring, oblivious to his friends that were making jokes at his expense from only a few feet away— and rationalised, and complained. It didn’t make any sense.
But, either way, Nia continued to giggle softly, tucked away into one of the gym corners with Zeno. And, as much as Yuki inwardly scrutinised her, it didn’t change the fact that she was over there, and he was over here. 

Zeno blinked a few times, rather bewildered as the word ‘adorable’ bounced around in his now strangely hollow mind. That was an unfamiliar compliment, for sure, but he tried to compose himself with haste anyway. “How couldn’t I get nervous?” He asked. “You’re gorgeous.” While he looked Nia up and down, Zeno’s smile was ever so slightly downturned and boyishly charming. Yuki would’ve melted if such antics were directed at him, but now, he only bit back a gag. Nia, from where she was standing, nicely pressed up against a wall, put her hands over her face and continued to laugh happily.
"Oh my god, stooop!” She squealed. She wasn’t so much as nervous, as she was ecstatic. She wrapped a strand of pink hair around her finger, twirling it thoughtlessly. "You know, actually- there’s this party on Friday," she started. "And, it’s mostly for Evolette students, but…" When she trailed off, she not once broke eye contact as she hopefully gazed up at Zeno.
As much as Yuki wanted to just stop listening already, Nia’s voice sounding akin to nails on a chalkboard, he internally cheered, fireworks shooting off in his head the second he processed the girl’s words. Sure, she didn’t know Zeno hated parties, but Yuki did. Even if the two of them were hitting it off mere moments ago (which Yuki doubted, still presuming Zeno to be talking to Nia only out of boredom), the pinkette had fumbled it now. Zeno always passed up offers when it came to Cash’s house parties, or even general get togethers because the idea of so many people alone deterred him. Not to mention, Zeno was big on keeping away from alcohol, which was always at these shitty, rich, Evolette parties … Or, from Yuki had heard, anyway. He’d never personally been invited.
So, putting all of those details together, Yuki was sure Zeno would shut her down immediately.
So, he was only twice as floored when Zeno agreed.
And, when he let Nia pull out a marker so she could write her number on his arm. Zeno had frequently complained about ink poisoning whenever people did that. Why was he letting her do that? 

"Okay, okay, you better not flake on me, though! I wanna see you there, like it or not." Nia jabbed a finger into Zeno’s chest jokingly, and memories flashed through Yuki’s mind of all of the times where he batted peoples’ hands away for doing things similar.
"Jeez, well now I guess I have no choice but to go…" If Zeno didn’t want to go to the party, he wouldn’t. Yuki knew that, their friends knew that, everyone knew that. "I’ll be there." So why?

When Zeno and Nia finally parted, Yukio didn’t immediately rush over to his best friend’s side, he didn’t even play the game. He just thought. He thought, and he continued to stare at that cheerleader with hair so pink, and vibrant, that he’d be sure Zeno couldn’t stand to even look at it. The girl who throws slang around in the same ‘insufferable’ fashion Auryn does, that of whose vocabulary Zeno hates, but for some reason he seemed enthralled in every word that rolled off of Nia’s tongue. What made her different? For once, Yuki, who was confident in knowing Zeno like the back of his own hand, was left dumbfounded by the boy’s actions. He didn’t like it. Not one bit.