Synopsis: Leo and Adonis admire each other from afar and without the other even knowing, until the day when they finally meet and talk for the first time.
Tags: Crushes, Secret Crush, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, High School, Yumenosaki Private Academy (Ensemble Stars!), Muses, Musicians, Music, Crush at First Sight, First Crush
A/N: I made this for a fic exchange with @cultoficarus! Hope you guys like it and let me know if anyone would like to do an exchange, too, as this was super fun!
If you prefer, also read it on AO3!
Adonis was often grateful for being so forgettable.
Not invisible, as much as he wished to. He could never be invisible when he was just so different from everyone around him.
Taller, darker, broader, more awkward, and friends with one of the school’s biggest troublemakers at that. No, he could never claim to be the person that could walk into a room unnoticed or that wouldn’t draw attention in a crowd.
But he could be thankful for being so unremarkable aside from that, that people quickly forgot about him being in the room once the novelty of his presence had passed.
He preferred it like that. It gave him the chance to watch and listen without being noticed. And there was only one thing he felt like watching lately.
Or rather, one person.
Leo Tsukinaga was the opposite of Adonis in every way. Once you had seen him, you could never forget about him. He was a bright star that commanded the attention of everyone around him when he was there, and that lingered in their thoughts when he wasn’t. He was loud and unapologetically himself, even somewhat selfish at times, but even that Adonis found charming.
He was a light always surrounded by other people basking in his presence, and that was exactly why Adonis could never get near him. It was both physically impossible and impossible to even imagine.
Not that he needed to get close to him. Adonis was happy just existing in Leo’s vicinity.
Being able to look at him excitedly talk and compose and – the best treat of all – hear his songs from time to time, be them hummed to himself or performed out loud in halls and cafeterias, was the height of Adonis’ happiness on his days at the school.
It were the only times when Leo’s excited nature truly settled into a calm and gentle performance, his songs moving like a cry from deep within your heart and his voice as melodious as an angel’s. Adonis felt truly blessed to be able to exist at the same time and in the same vicinity of a true genius.
But then, it was no surprise that Leo had no idea who he was. Why would him? They weren’t in the same grade, didn’t participate in the same clubs or ran in the same circles at the school. And, even though he was part of the coveted Yumenosaki Academy, Adonis didn’t think his singing abilities were all that extraordinary.
Not enough to catch the attention of a genius, anyway.
But it was okay. Adonis would just linger at the back of rooms and close his eyes as he heard Leo perform his latest song.
That would have to be enough.
~~//~~
Sometimes, Leo wished he wasn’t just so freaking awesome.
He knew it couldn’t be helped since he simply was, but sometimes being so loved was extremely inconvenient! He didn’t have nearly enough time to compose all the songs he wanted, and kept being found out and dragged back every time he wandered off to some place quieter to focus. Besides, school life was always the same so there was nothing else he could use as inspiration for his songs from these boring people that were always talking about the same things.
Worst of all, they kept him from talking to people he actually did want to talk about!
But he did like the audience and the applause. So, so, very much. S o it always got him between a rock and a hard place. He also tended to be easily distractable so whenever he remembered and could find some time to slip away from them, the object of his curiosity was always long gone.
A donis Otogari. Finally, finally, someone truly different and interesting had come to their school!
He had caught Leo’s eye from the first moment he had seen him, a walking contradiction in human form. So large, but trying his best to make himself small, so attractive, but trying his best to make himself unnoticeable, so talented, but always acting humble and meek.
Leo had found himself starstruck in front of the door to the music room as he heard that melodious voice. He had run to the door, face pressed against the glass to try to see where the song was coming from, and the surprise was so great he had almost crashed through the door to see and hear even better.
He would have done it, too, if Izumi hadn’t pulled his arm and dragged him away to their own lesson, no matter how much Leo complained and pleaded with him. By the time he could finally make it back to the music room, it was already empty.
Ever since that day, it seemed like the universe was conspiring against him. He had immense trouble finding Adonis when he was looking for him (someone so tall shouldn’t be that hard to find!), and was always kept from getting close to him when he did find him. He was even start to believe some intergalactic interference was happening here, but whenever he thought of that he got inspiration for three new songs so that didn’t help, either.
He had almost lost hope, when one afternoon, as he was leaving club activities, the gods, or Buda, or some other galactic intervention had smiled his way.
The sweet melody guided him to that same music room, and the sight inside was even sweeter than last time: Adonis was not singing, but playing an instrument now: a small flute in a way Leo had never seen before. Its sound was so beautiful, it filled Leo with inspiration just by listening to it. He lost himself in the sound and before he knew it…
The door had opened and he had fallen face first on the floor.
He rolled on his back, holding his nose to check for blood. But when he opened his eyes the first thing he saw was a pair of warm golden eyes staring straight down at him.
“Tsukinaga-senpai? Are you alright?”
“Ah! It’s really you!” Leo got up in a flash, making Adonis look even more alarmed than he had been before.
“Yes? I am me, I suppose.”
“No, no! I mean: Finally I get a chance to talk to you!"
That got him a startled silence he didn’t understand.
“Hmm, did you by any chance hit your head, Tsukinaga-senpai? I’m not…”
“Yes, yes! You are Adonis Otogari-kun, right? I was looking everywhere for you.”
“For me? Do you… Know who I am? But we never talked.”
“Yes? What’s the surprise, you know who I am, too.”
“Yes, but you are one of the stars of Yumenosaki, and I am, hm, just a first year.”
“You are more than just a first year, you are my muse!” Leo grabbed Adonis’ hands in his, staring at his face with more excitement than he had truly felt all week. “Everything about you is perfect. Your atmosphere, your personality. And your voice! I could write a dozen songs for your voice only. I have to- No, need to! Know everything about you! Please, Otogari-kun!”
Leo really didn’t understand why Adonis looked so shocked and why his face was so red. Clearly he had to know what an interesting person he was, right?
“I have never been called a muse before. I don’t know if I can properly fulfil that role. I wouldn’t know what to do, or even where to start.”
“You don’t need to do anything but be you! Please let me talk to you and be your friend, Otogari-kun. I am sure I will be able to write the best songs of my life this way!”
“Tsukinaga-senpai-”
“You can call me Leo!”
“Leo-senpai… I don’t know if I-”
But Leo had stopped listening, because Adonis had put his other hand up in a placating gesture, and the sight of the small instrument inside it grabbed all of Leo’s attention.
“Ohhhh, is that what you were playing before? The sound was so magical, it brought me right to you. What is it?”
“Ah, this, it’s an ocarina. I brought it from my homeland.”
“An ocarina! I had never seen one before, how do you play it?”
That made Adonis go silent and contemplative. The small furrow of his brow made Leo’s fingers itch for a pen and paper.
“It's difficult for me to explain. I'll just show you."
He started playing again, transporting Leo straight to heaven. His calm face, the movements of his fingers, the melody of the ocarina… It all swelled inside Leo in a way nothing had ever done before.
Someone had left their backpack at the music room. Leo stole a notebook and pen from there and wrote and wrote and wrote until the pen ran out of ink, as Adonis played and sang and eventually felt comfortable enough to actually start talking to him.
Leo was sure Adonis was a gift sent straight from the heavens.
~~//~~
Adonis was often very, very grateful for being so forgettable.
Because it meant that when he was alone in the music room, practising or playing or simply studying, the only person that ever found him was Leo.
And he wouldn’t mind at all to have things remain like that for a little while longer.
