Team Sports Lackeys [Norio/Juon]

[Norio]

It’s not like he wanted to help out with preparations for the sports festival, but this wasn’t even remotely a situation based on what he desired. He’d just been elected as a ‘Sports Festival Committee Member’ outside of his own violation, no one else wanted to do it in his homeroom and no amount of glaring on his end stopped the class president for nominating him to do the work. There was a sense of relief that his classmates didn’t take his rage as seriously as they did at the beginning of the school year, but as he lifted up the step stools into his arms he couldn’t help but wish that wasn’t the case for just this one time. The storage shed was still full of boxes and gear to be walked back to the cafeteria, but he wasn’t ready to bolt off just yet without the partner he was supposed to be getting soon.

“Where the hell is he…”

Norio and some other unlucky third year were just meant to do some manual labor- the girls nominated were the ones actually doing the planning, so the boys were sent off to make sure all the school supplies were ready to be counted up and inspected for damage. Simple stuff, provided that his partner actually showed up like he was supposed to. He couldn’t help but feel like he was going to be left here, alone, to do all the work- something he wouldn’t be totally opposed to if it wasn’t for the fact he was an absolute weakling. Sure, he could probably lift most things in here, but it wasn’t without a considerable amount of effort mixed with a small dose of actual suffering for him to do it. It’s a situation he’d prefer to avoid if he could, which is why he dropped the step stools right outside of the shed and sat up on top of them.

He’d wait. If his partner was going to be a no-show, he’d just blame it all on him. That was a safe road to take, right?

[Juon]

Thankfully for Norio, but unfortunately for that individual, he did indeed end up showing up. Perhaps with even less an amount of enthusiasm than the one who had arrived first seemed to possess him, as the situation held that he had not only not wanted to do this, but originally wasn't supposed to have even been involved.

As always, the blame turned right back to fall on Mori Keiko--who, as always, just loved to shove her work onto him, or sign him up for some kind of additional work that she was also participating in. In this case was the former; she had been the one elected to take care of the manual labor portion, only to toss him the work at the last minute in changing roles, in the moment right before he lose the opportunity to try and pass it onto anyone else, lest the work remain undone past its deadline.

He'd had a fine afternoon planned of studying and yelling at Splatoon; it was the last day of the ongoing Splatfest, and he still had to finish getting his max rank--but it seemed that he wouldn't be getting the opportunity to do that now, what with this proceeding to be taking over all of that timeslot. The studying, at least, he worried less about.

And so he showed up to the meeting place with a blank expression across his face but body language that read that he would rather be dead than be there at that very moment. Slowing to a stop in front of the shed, he stared inside of it briefly with a grimace and turned to the other person he was supposed to be helping out. Tossing up a weak two-fingered wave at the guy--who he hadn't seen around before, and guessed was in another class--he offered a simple, "Yo." He was tired already.

[Norio]

The guy did show up, after all. Norio’s first instinct was to sneer, because that meant that he was going to end up doing the work after all, but that sneer faded as he observed happily that the other guy wasn’t at least as stick like as he was. He couldn’t tell if the guy was actually muscular or not, however, he that he wasn’t a railroad, which seemed to be enough for him. Before Norio had the chance to make any kind of conversation though the other guy already looked like he had a pipe stuck six inches up his rear, the sheer amount of ‘I don’t want to be here’ waves emanating from Juon’s body was practically poignant. There was no stopping Norio’s groan, then, because that was just going to make this whole experience six times worse than it already was going to be.

“Who put ketchup on your ice cream? I don’t want to be doing work either, but you look downright moody to your core.” Norio had gotten on his feet, giving the guy one more once over from head to toe. The only audible comment heard from it was a quick “Foreigner?” before he was turning back around to hold the storage shed door open for mutual access. It was only then did Norio reach up to his bangs and gave his more or less shitty introduction of “It’s Katsumi. What can I call you, unless you are going for the whole ‘I want to get this work over as silently and quickly as possible’ kind of spiel.” Norio already looked agitated.

[Juon]

Raising an eyebrow immediately at the guy's comment, Juon only seemed to sour further, not bothering to offer the other a reply--for one thing, what kind of an expression was ketchup on your ice cream? He dwindled on the thought for a moment before he heard one of his least-favorite words being uttered by the other third year. He felt the muscles in his arms tense immediately, only to begin flexing his shoulders to try and ward off the feeling as he entered the storage shed.

He'd do the work, of course: there was no doubting that. But he was hoping that he hadn't also been signed up for a conversation--this thought was promptly shattered when the other went on to introduce himself, only to throw another comment that made Juon want to strangle something.

Without making eye contact and already beginning to go for lifting a box of supplies from the shed, Juon simply offered, "Corea." With grunt of effort, he rose from his core with the box in hands, turning to move it back outside. "Are you even going to be able to lift any of this?" he observed, nodding to the guy's scrawny figure. From the look of him, the only thing he could hold were shitty insults.

For once, Juon found himself almost craving Clip's presence.

These were the kind of people his would-be self was actually useful for dealing with, even if the results were usually sour to both parties. But at least it got the job done.

[Norio]

Norio didn’t even think it was possible for the other guy to look more agitated than he already was at the beginning, but it seemed his own words had really set the guy off. Fan-fucking-tastic. If he had known his partner was going to be this much of a pain, he would’ve bailed on his own ten minutes ago. At least this guy didn’t seem like he was going to pick a fist fight with him just yet- he walked right on by him and went in the storage shed after all to pick up a box, which was taken as a sign of good faith. For a second. His partner introduced himself as ‘Corea’, and Norio was quick to ask “What is that? Chinese?” as he stepped into the shed and pulled a box of basketballs into his arms.

Of course, that’s when the Corea guy went out of his way to push at his pride, to which Norio immediately gave Juon a nasty glare that encompassed his whole face. “Of course I can lift shit, that’s why I’m here, aren’t I? Are you trying to start something?” Norio followed this by tearing past Juon, already starting his trek to the cafeteria. “Come along, Korea-kun, we don’t have all day to get this done, if the way you’re looking has anything to say for it.”

[Juon]

"It's not Chinese," came Juon's flat reply--forced monotone, lest he let his agitation slip too much into his voice. He knew he was already displaying it (not that he was quite aware of the degree) and didn't want to go any harsher than that--but this guy just seemed to continue to want to continue to verbally punch him. Katsumi probably didn't even realize, of course, but as far as Juon was concerned, that only made it worse.

He only gave the other's glare a half-second of recognition before he turned away again. "I'm not trying to start anything," came another dry statement. I'm just saying, they should've sent someone who didn't look like he was about to snap in two to do this work, was what was really on his mind, though.

Drawing in a long sigh through the mouth as Katsumi started hurrying past him, he held it and then swallowed it down as the bastard had to go and mispronounce his name: the pinnacle of his least favorite things. Blowing the breath out then as he could already begin to feel the heat of anger boiling in him, he breathed while following along until he could calmly articulate, "It's Corea."

A small head, meanwhile, had popped itself out from within Juon's bag, which had been left at the shed. It sniggered before beginning to float its way out to trail after the duo.

[Norio]

There wasn’t even a moment’s consideration that he might’ve mispronounced the guy’s name, for one, and there was probably far too much surprise present in Norio’s face that Corea wasn’t Chinese to be anything other than mean. Norio’s thick eyebrows shot up to his forehead as he looked over his shoulder at Corea, then, eyeing him as the guy looked like he was doing everything in his power to keep himself in place. It only really occurred to Norio then that he probably said something insensitive to the guy, in the midst of his own hot headed babbling, but he was already rubbed the wrong enough way not to care. “If it’s not Chinese, what are you? You don’t really look Japanese, you know?” The question came out before he even had a moment to think it over.

The way Corea mentioned how he wasn’t looking to fight was as dry as they’ve come. Norio couldn’t help but look over his shoulder again in minor surprise to look over his face, he must’ve really said something to piss the guy off because this Corea fellow kept increasingly looking worse and worse for wear every time Norio opened his mouth. He knew then it was his cue then to shut up, to leave the poor guy alone, but as he corrected him on the pronunciation of his own last name Norio promptly went to shrugging and turning back the other way, pulling the door to the gymnasium open for the two of them. “It’s not Korea? Man, these foreign names are all way too complicated…” He shrugged again with one shoulder as his other one kept the door open.

[Juon]

He could feel his grip tightening on the box from the tension in his knuckles as that comment about his looks came in--of fucking course he knew he didn't look Japanese--did this piece of shit really think that this was the first time he's ever heard that? Ah, yes, he began to fume internally. I didn't know at all! Thank you for enlightening me! That explains everything! Wow! Incredible! It's like I have a whole new view on life now. The 'what are you' question, too, was always one that got under his skin.

"I'm Japanese," he insisted, his voice having hardened in his growing inability to restrain the hotness that continued to churn in his stomach. "I'm just half." He wasn't going to mention his other half--that always just ended up in a flurry of more questions, questions that he hated answering especially, because he usually didn't have answers for them.

As the door was held open for them when they got to the gymnasium--only to have another rude comment sputtered ignorantly from the lips of Katsumi--Juon paused, not even wanting to bother going through. He finally let himself shoot a definite glare at the other, letting it sit in the air for a few seconds, before he eventually went on inside to drop off the box, continuing to breathe as steadily as he could, and attempting to distract himself with the thought that Keiko was certainly going to be getting an earful about this later.

Clip had been peering from around the corner, able to feel Juon's building rage from where he was already; at this point, he was just waiting for the right moment... he could tell that this time, if any, Juon might actually even appreciate him... what a concept. But he was excited: he couldn't screw this up. Not this time!

[Norio]

The ‘I’m Japanese’ comment earned Juon another long look over, mostly at his eyes and the shape of his face, proceeding with a couple steps forward so that door closed behind them. Norio put his box of basketballs down on the gymnasium floor and was quiet for a glorious moment before going off for another set of insensitive questions. “Yeah, I guess you kinda look Japanese if you like, really, really, look, but still not really.” He was leading the two of them back out the door again to get another load of boxes as his unintentional interrogation pressed on. “Half what though? You didn’t really answer my question, Korea- I mean, Corea. You’re a bit dark to be Korean, I guess like… Thai?”

A glare was definitely shot his way, this time Norio really noticed that the other third year wasn’t even trying to hide it. Was he really looking for a fight after all? “Whoa, hold it with the scary mug, I’m just asking some questions, nothing wrong with that.” He raised his arms like he was easing back some kind of beast, unaware of how pissed off Corea actually was.

[Juon]

"I would if I was pale," he answered simply, the bitterness really seeping into his voice now. He'd managed to avoid most conversations like this since last year when he's first transferred--and even then, more of the people here than not were decent enough about it not to be too obnoxious, considering the fact that Seiyo had quite a lot of exchange students, so a lot of them knew better. But no matter how Japanese he sounded, acted, was, one thing would always make people think otherwise. "Sri-Lankan," came his reply, but it ended with a finality that declared that he wouldn't elaborate on the topic any further.

Setting down the equipment, Juon stood back up, only to face Katsumi as his defensive statement came in, only to see him hands raised, completely unaware of the true nature of his statements. People like this were the worst--people who thought they were being perfectly innocent, curious, entitled. He wasn't sure why he was getting quite so angry at this guy, considering the fact that he was used to this--maybe it was the gap since when it'd last happened, and the fire beneath him was being lit again. Maybe it was just this dude's overall attitude. Maybe it was Juon's, having already soured from being here in the first place, only to now be engaged in conversation by an idiot. Maybe it was a mix of all three. Maybe it was a mix of even more things.

A sigh.

"Sure," he breathed. "If you say so."

It was then that he spotted something peeking in through the door, having apparently caught it before it'd closed completely, and was poking its head from the gap. He froze momentarily as he stared, and then broke away lest he raise the reason for Katsumi to ask any more questions--but he wasn't sure of his feeling. He was almost relieved at the sight, and yet--did he really want to go ape on this guy?

He kind of did.

But also, he knew better, as his heart and mind were battling almost as much as his frustration and restraint.

[Norio]

There was no hiding the bitterness that was just dripping in Corea’s tone of voice, bleeding into his words like a poison that even made Norio back off for a hot second. Norio himself had gone to shoving his hands deep into his plaid pockets as they made the short walk back to the storage shed. He decided to let the Corea guy fume for a moment, figuring he’d get over it if he gave the guy half a second to breathe, although the entire time Norio kept giving the guy questioning looks. Not even a full minute passed, however, before Norio’s big mouth was opening with another remark. “.. No, even if you were pale I wouldn’t say you’d look that Japanese. Your hair is all wrong, too big and wiry, too brown.” He made gestures with his hands at the back of his own neck, emulating the spikes of hair that seemed to protrude from Corea’s head.

Fortunately for Corea, Norio didn’t seem to catch sight of the little thief wandering amongst their midst. He was far too preoccupied with shoving his hands back into his pockets as he beelined for the storage door again and made way to open it, although he didn’t hold it open for his partner this time around. He just seemed to beeline for another light box, although still full of all kinds of supplies, and did his best to push with his back against the closing door. “You’re one of those exchange students, aren’t you? It doesn’t matter if you aren’t super Japanese, it’s not like you’re going to stay here for long anyway.”

[Juon]

The heat had risen to his face now--though that was one nice thing about his dark skin, is that it often didn't betray a thing until things went over-the-top. But it appeared, as Katsumi couldn't keep his big mouth shut for more than a minute at a time, Juon might be reaching those levels soon. He couldn't even think properly through the remarks; he felt like he was going blind as he focused all his energy onto making the other's words go in one ear and out the other--but they kept getting stuck along the way, certain words sticking out to him that only made his knuckles whiter as his hands clenched to tighter and tighter fists.

They passed Clip on their way back to the storage shed, to which Juon looked at him in a way he didn't usually; Clip them was prompt to stow away inside the back of Juon's collar, grinning to himself as they headed back. Though he should've been empathizing with Juon, he was too interested in his opportunity.

When they got back, and he spotted Katsumi again going for a light box, Juon made it a point to also take a lighter box, simply so that there would be less of them for him later on, and the stick would be forced to give some effort. As he'd opened his mouth yet again on his way out the door, Juon had hit his limit. Even through all the noise, in his mind still echoed:

From someone who keeps responsible in all scenarios, to someone can prioritize only his own state of mind... I, me, mine!

It was only a second between the moment when the key charm had plipped into existence did the box drop from Juon's hands and he lunged at Norio, arms outstretched with the intention of grabbing him by the collar and pinning him to the inner wall of the storage shed. His blood was pumping with adrenaline and his muscles were so tight it was practically audible when they moved. "I was born and raised here, just like you. Does that make me any less Japanese than you, you prick?" he rasped. "And where the fuck would I go, huh? Huh? My home country? Where the fuck is that, if not here?" He snarled out a sigh before continuing, his breath hot and fully fueled with free-flowing feeling. "If you keep opening your ignorant goddamn mouth though, I'll surely get out of here before long; I'll leave you in this shed to do all this shit yourself, you worthless sack of bones. You couldn't even lift a fucking finger if you tried."

[Norio]

Other than just looking pissed as hell, Juon didn’t actually appear like he was going to lunge at Norio or anything, so he didn’t feel threatened at all by the other guy’s presence. He went about picking up another box, do he couldn’t have been that mad, but Norio only just started feeling he might’ve crossed some kind of the line with the guy. A thought he’d get back to later, for the brief moment of peace he just eyed the lighter box in the other’s hands and sighed, already catching up to what kind of game Corea was playing at. He knew he was going to have to pick some heavy shit eventually, though, he’d already resigned himself to that fate. He wasn’t about to bitch about it now.

That changed when a flash of shiny metal caught his eyes, causing Norio to turn and face Juon with a questioning look before suddenly being grabbed tightly by the collar, pushed against a wall of the storage shed at what felt like a break neck speed that knocked the breath from him. His glasses fell a considerable distance down his nose from the knock back, and there was no hiding the surprise in Norio’s face as this ‘Corea’ guy just seemingly switched personalities right in front of him, like a light switch. “Holy shit- are you bipolar-” the question didn’t get to follow through before he was wincing from the immediate pain, his own hands quickly reaching up to grab at the wrists holding him by the collar.

Norio was being yelled at, something he was used to, but the intensity of just how pissed off this guy seemed to get out of nowhere really caught him off guard. It was really like the guy suddenly was barking at him, like some kind of dog, and Norio felt his face shift into an ugly look of disgust before he could even process any of the words being yelled at him. “And how the fuck would I know that?” Was the first thing he said, coupled with a quick jerk of his knee in an attempt to hit the guy in the gut, to get him off of him. “What kind of hot shit are you on about-” stopping again at that last comment, though, he found his teeth grinding and his fists clenching into a hard squeeze. “You’re some kind of piece of shit, you know that? Fuck you man, what the fuck did I ever do to you? Who actually gives a shit about your weird foreigner dilemma?”

He tried pulling away from Juon again, although if anything just to stand in front of the exit. “If I’m so goddamn worthless then why is the first thing you’re planning to do is leave? What a fucking hypocrite!”

[Juon]

Juon was well beyond caring, by that point--mainly in part form the Character Change, which was bouncing all of Katsumi's insults right off of him, which, if nothing else, was keeping him from getting any angrier. Self-interest meant self-preservation, which came in handy in times like this.

"Exactly," he hissed, followed by a quick hrk as the knee pounded into his stomach. "You wouldn't know shit."

Juon pulled back a fist to aim a punch toward the guy; he was so blind to adrenaline and so in-tune with the heat running through his body, he had no idea if it connected, and could feel nothing. As Katsumi then attempted to pull away, Juon made it a point to shove him, pushing with his palms into the guy's shoulders, only to see that he was now blocking the entrance.

"Hmph; wasn't it you who said I didn't want to be doing this? I couldn't care less if this gets done or not." Huffing out another sigh, his posture had shifted into a downward stance, shoulders hunched as he felt his pulse moving through his entire body, pounding in his ears. Clip made the chance to peer out toward the other, now having settled into a glare of his own, which Juon might appreciate later.

It felt good to be openly mad.

[Norio]

Blood began filling up the holes in his brain where logical thoughts ought to have formed, causing his vision to burn over red as the other’s twisted up face just drove Norio into the beginning of a blind fury. The guy was being a purposeful ass and he knew it, which just caused Norio’s fist to clench up all the more before a fist was being thrown directly at his face. Unable to do anything but shift his head slightly out of the way, he managed not to get his nose knocked in, but his vision went white as his glasses came clattering off from his face and his cheek getting the entire force of Juon’s hit. Him stumbling back was entirely in a daze, his hand instinctively lifting up to hold his injured cheek at he glared down at Juon with a decidedly murderous expression.

No more words were exchanged then, not even when Juon goaded his directly, instead he preferred for himself to be the one lunge forward this time. “Shut the fuck up!” Going for a full body tackle, although with his weight the actual likelihood of it going through was dubious. It was during this moment where he was lunging that he thought he caught sight of something strange, hovering over Juon’s shoulder, but he lost track of it as his mind pushed back to the fight. Norio pulled back his left arm- with the intention of hooking Juon right back into that smarmy mouth of his- and growled out a breathless “You selfish dickhead!”.